Flawed Perfection

by Celebony

[Sequel to Recnac Transfaerso] Finally, Harry's in for a perfect summer with his godfather and friends, or so it begins. But being Harry Potter means that nothing can stay peaceful for long. {Complete}

26. Flawed Perfection

Author's Note: sheepishly enters Er...hey guys! cringes at angry glares Sorry about that! I know, I've just been so busy with all this college...anyways, here's an extra long chapter....and the last one! Can you believe it? That's right. This is the end...ish. See the note after the chapter!! It's important. And sorry! I didn't have time for review responses if I wanted to get this up this weekend, so I'm sorry!! But I swear I've read every single one and I'm so thankful for all of them! Thank you so much!!

And thank you so much to my beta, Senri!! Senri, you rock and even if you don't always have too much to correct, you know just how scary some of the chapters would have turned out without your help, so thank you!!

I..................................................................................................I

Draco was sitting at Harry's bedside. The adults had all gone to get coffee so the kids were all scattered around the room. Hermione was quietly reading, but everyone else was getting some sleep, sprawled out over the couch transfigured from a few chairs while others had laid their heads on the table to catch a few winks.

Draco sighed and took Harry's hand.

"Hey, Har," he said quietly, ignoring Hermione's glance up at him. "It's time to come back now. We're all waiting here for you. I...I need you okay? There, I said it. You're my first and only friend; you know that. I can't bring myself to talk about what happened until you're back. I'm not getting in trouble without you and, um, I just don't know how to tell Sev what happened so I want you there with me to help me do it. So it's time to leave the place you're in and come back to us. We really miss you."

Harry looked up as Draco walked in.

"It's time to leave here, Harry. Time to come back to us. We're all waiting for you," he said, holding out his hand.

"I'm scared," Harry admitted.

Draco just nodded. "I know."

Harry took one more look around his cupboard before sighing and taking Draco's hand.

Draco suddenly felt Harry's hand squeeze his weakly. The blonde's eyes widened.

"Harry?" he asked breathlessly.

Harry swallowed and struggled to open his eyes.

"That's right, Harry, come on! You can do it! Open your eyes," he encouraged excitedly. Hermione was at Harry's other side in an instant, helping Draco coax him awake.

Finally, Harry blinked up at them tiredly through half-open eyes.

"Hey, Harry," Hermione said with a teary smile. Harry closed his eyes and swallowed before looking up at her again.

"Hi," he whispered hoarsely. Just the one word seemed to take a lot of effort and Harry winced as it hurt his sore throat.

"Don't talk, Harry. Just take it easy," Draco ordered, smiling in relief.

Hermione woke up the others with a yell and called for someone to get a healer. Neville reluctantly ran from the room to fetch one.

"Harry!" Ron cried in relief, somehow getting in there to carefully hug his friend.

"Ron, be careful! He just woke up from a coma, so give him some room," Hermione scolded. "And Ginny, I think Harry could do without his feet being coddled right now."

The redhead girl looked up through her teary smile. She had indeed latched onto Harry's feet and was kissing them through the sheet, the only part of him she could really get to with all the others crowded around.

Neville burst in the door followed by a healer who quickly shooed everyone away from Harry's bed. Behind him, all the adults burst into the room led by a big black dog who quickly transformed back into Sirius. The spell Mrs. Weasley had taught Sirius had let the man know Harry was awake.

The healer stepped in front of them all.

"Everyone out of this room, right now. Harry has just woken from a coma and I do not want you all overwhelming him. Mr. Black and Professor Snape may stay but that is all. You will all get your time with him later. Now out!" he demanded.

Everyone reluctantly followed orders, promising Harry they'd be back.

"I'm Healer Luhrman," the man informed them.

"Before you do anything, can I see your arm?" Snape asked sternly. "Hr. Callahan ended up being a Death Eater and we don't want to take that chance."

"Of course," the healer said, lifting up his sleeves and letting Snape check for concealing charms. "Just so you know, the hospital is doing a sweep of the staff, checking for Dark Marks in order to not let something like that happen again. Also, I'm related to Albus Dumbledore. He asked me to look after Harry here after what happened before."

Snape nodded and let the healer go about checking over Harry. The Gryffindor boy was tiredly smiling at his godfather who was holding his hand and crying with relief, thanking any god who was listening.

When the healer was done checking Harry over, he assured them all that Harry was on his way to recovery though he'd need to stay in the hospital for a little while to assure that everything was all right.

I.....................................................................................................I

Harry drifted in and out of sleep for the next few days, but as each day passed, the more he was able to stay awake for longer periods of time. Gradually, it took less effort and energy to talk with people, who all competed for time with him, especially when he was awake.

The healers steadily let more people into Harry's room at a time, which had the drawback of not allowing for serious talks that took privacy.

As soon as Harry had gained enough of his strength back, Draco and Harry had to tell their godfathers the entire story. Draco nervously told his godfather about what he had done. Snape made sure Draco knew he was proud of him for doing what it took to protect himself and his friend. Draco was relieved beyond words.

Sirius informed Harry that he would never be letting Harry out of his sight again.

"So wait, let me get this straight," Snape said after they were done. "Your brilliant plan was to let Harry get kidnapped by Death Eaters and hope you all could get out without anyone catching you?"

Draco and Harry looked at each other for a moment thoughtfully.

"Well, it doesn't sound as good when you say it," Draco pouted.

Sirius shot Harry an incredulous look and Harry shrugged sheepishly. "Well, at least I'm improving. In first year, my plans were only to go running after the bad guy and see what happened next. Now, I do escape plans," with a hint of pride in his voice.

Sirius shook his head. "Well, it's the end of your plan-making days, understand? No more rescue missions or battling evil of any kind, got it?" he asked sternly.

Harry nodded.

There was a knock at the door before Remus stuck in his head with a tired smile.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked.

"No, we were just listening to the full story of what happened," Sirius said, his tone clearly indicating that it was not a delightful tale.

Remus shut the door and walked over to Harry, ruffling his hair fondly. "How you feeling, kiddo?" he asked warmly.

"Fine, ready to get out of here," Harry said.

"Harry! You can barely walk on your own. You are in no condition to leave the hospital," Snape said in exasperation.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Well, I thought you might all be wondering what the Order's been doing all night," Remus said, conjuring up a chair and sitting down. Everyone perked up to listen. "Well, the second we got word of a Dark Mark we immediately checked it out. We got there just minutes after it was shot up, we guess you did that, Draco?" he asked kindly.

Draco nodded.

"It was perfect to let us know how to get there. Anyway, some of the Death Eaters immediately Disapparated, but we realized that a lot of them were trying to get to this room in the center of the building. We captured quite a few who got trapped in Anti-Apparation warded parts of the place. But many of the Death Eaters were trying to destroy evidence in what appears to be where Voldemort and then Lucius made their plans and kept a bunch of files and such. They were smart enough not to keep certain things, but we found Portkeys that led us right to their other headquarters and notes and books that Lucius used for researching the connections between the Dark Marks and Harry's scar. So, the Order quickly got to another one of the locations and used the information there, and some of the captured Death Eaters, to call the rest. They all Apparated there to meet and, I guess, figure out what to do and we were able to catch them by surprise and round them all up. We don't know for sure that we got all of them, but we definitely captured a great majority, including Healer Callahan. They're all awaiting trial, but they don't have much of a case to defend themselves with. Anyway, Dumbledore's looking over the notes and he says he's figured out how to disable the connection between the marks and the connection between them and your scar, Harry, and is on his way to where they're being held to do it, so the marks and your scar will now only be physical marks with no magic behind them," Remus said with a smile.

Snape and Harry both looked immensely relieved.

"I have a question though," Harry said a bit confusedly. "The healer said Hr. Callahan had been giving me blood thinners and such, but why? I mean, I know he was a Death Eater and all, but it just seemed like it would have been a waste of time to do that sort of thing when the effects were so small."

"He was trying to weaken you," Snape said surely. "You've been so hard to beat that they wanted to make sure they'd be able to kill you more easily while still having you seem as if you were perfectly healthy. I'm sure very few people knew about what Callahan was doing. And obviously, they were uncertain enough about whether they'd be able to kill you or not, that Callahan gave you that potion. That way, even if you escaped as usual, they'd still get their revenge and hopefully pass it off to the unknowing Death Eaters as a result of the injuries they gave you. Obviously, even that didn't work. Lucius tried not to make the Dark Lord's mistake in underestimating you, but still did nonetheless."

"By the way, I saw the condition of the Death Eaters. You two must've put up one hell of a fight," he said with a proud tone.

"Let's not talk about it anymore," Draco said in a pained voice.

Harry nodded in agreement, thinking about the person he killed with the sword. It made him feel sick. He just wanted to forget about that whole night.

Snape stood. "Draco and I are going home. We'll come back and visit you later, Harry."

Harry nodded as the two Slytherins left, Snape's arm draped over Draco's shoulder as if the blonde might disappear if Snape didn't keep a hold on him.

Before the door closed, it was pushed open again as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley entered. Mrs. Weasley ran over and dropped some Tupperware containers on the nightstand before turning to Harry and immediately gathered him in his arms. She began half screaming at him for putting himself at risk, half thanking him for rescuing her son. Harry chuckled as the woman nearly cut off his air supply with her tight embrace.

"I don't trust this hospital food they're feeding you, so I brought you some soup and sandwiches and tonight I'll cook something nice for you. What would you like, dear?"

The moment was broken, however, when Harry noticed Sirius giving Mr. Weasley a deadly look.

"Get out before I strangle you with my bare hands," Sirius growled through gritted teeth.

"Sirius!" Harry gaped at him. He looked at Remus for support, but the werewolf didn't look as if he was going to make any move to stop Sirius. Mrs. Weasley looked like she didn't quite know what to do either. She let go of Harry and stood up.

"Now, you two, I will not have any fighting between you, especially not in Harry's presence," she scolded.

"Look, Sirius, I'm sorry about what I did, but it all worked out and we have all the kids back and whatever you might think, I care about Harry..." Mr. Weasley protested, but stopped when Sirius lunged at the man and punched him in the face. Mrs. Weasley screamed and even Remus seemed surprised as Mr. Weasley looked at Sirius in shock, blood trickling down from his lip.

"Oh my God, Sirius!" Harry shouted. "Stop it!"

"You CARE about him? Oh really?" Sirius yelled furiously. "Sending him off to be killed?" He took another swing, but Mr. Weasley dodged it and whipped out his wand, but Sirius grabbed onto the end and pushed it away, sending a jet of light shooting into a vase, making it explode.

"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley screamed. "Put your wand away, you're going to hurt someone!"

"Sirius, stop this now!" Remus yelled, but jumped back as another jet of sparks shot out of Mr. Weasley's wand as the two struggled for it and tried to get in punches at each other. The door swung open and the twins, Ginny and Ron appeared in the doorway, stilling in shock at the scene.

Harry scrambled down to the foot of the bed yelling for Sirius to stop, but his cries just blended into all the other shouting. He reached out to put a hand on Sirius's shoulder, but got in the way as Sirius threw his arm back so he'd be able to get a good punch in to Mr. Weasley, and his elbow collided with the side of Harry's face. Harry fell off the foot of the bed and crashed to the floor.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked.

The whole scene stilled. Sirius never even followed through with the punch. As soon as he felt his elbow hit something, he turned around, praying it was Remus and not Harry, but to his horror, found his godson trying to sit up on the floor, still weak from being in a coma, holding the cheek which would soon have a bruise on it and looking up at him in shock.

Sirius immediately forgot all about Mr. Weasley and hurried to Harry's side.

"Oh gods, Harry, I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were there. I didn't mean to. It was an accident. I'd never hurt you on purpose, I swear," he said desperately.

"It's okay, Sirius," Harry muttered.

"Let me look," Sirius said, holding out his hand to pull Harry's away, stilling when Harry flinched at the movement.

Everyone stared at them in shock before Mrs. Weasley stepped into action.

She first turned to her children. "You four, leave," she ordered.

"But Mum..." Ron protested, wondering if he should tell someone about what he saw in Harry's part of the Nightmare Chamber. He wanted to scream at Sirius to get away from Harry.

"I said, go!" she yelled dangerously.

The four immediately left, shutting the door behind them.

"Now, Arthur, Sirius, apologize to each other this instant!" she commanded.

Sirius took one look at Harry's upset look and immediately turned to Mr. Weasley.

"I apologize, Arthur. Really, I was out of line," he said seriously. He wasn't sorry he'd hurt the man but because he should never have started something like that in front of Harry and, of course, because he had hurt his godson in such a way after all Harry had been through with his relatives.

Mr. Weasley nodded, casting a worried glance at Harry. "I'm sorry too, Sirius, I really am."

"Now both of you apologize to Harry for your behavior!" she said furiously.

"No, you don't need to..." Harry started, embarrassed, but Mr. Weasley interrupted him.

"No, Harry, I want to tell you I'm sorry. Not only for this but for encouraging you so much to go risk yourself for Ron," he said, but Harry doubted he really meant it.

"It's fine," he said firmly, wanting him them all to just stop talking and leave him alone.

"Harry, I am so sorry. I should never have done that with you here," Sirius said sincerely.

"You shouldn't have done it at all! It wasn't Mr. Weasley's fault and what did you expect? Ron is his son! He'd do anything to get him back!" Harry yelled, clearly upset.

"Well, it's not like he was offering to let any of his children go risk their lives to get him back," Sirius exclaimed, trying not to let his temper rise too high again.

"Of course not! They're his kids. I'm just...I'm just Ron's friend.

"Harry..." Mrs. Weasley started, but Harry cut her off.

"It's okay, really. I never expected to be anything more than that," he said with a reassuring smile that was tinged with sadness.

Mrs. Weasley gave her husband a sharp look and Mr. Weasley looked properly ashamed.

"Molly, Arthur, I think we should leave Harry and Sirius to talk," Remus said, sounding doubtful of his own idea. Nevertheless, he led the two Weasley parents out.

"Harry, how could you just forgive him like that? He sent you on a suicide mission!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Sirius, just think about it. What if you had a son and what happened to Ron happened to him? You would have done the same thing! You wouldn't want to lose your other kids too, because you'd love them just as much!" Harry exclaimed, putting a hand to his head as he was beginning to feel lightheaded. He was still recovering, after all.

"Harry, I think of you as my son," Sirius said, regarding Harry worriedly.

Harry sighed and looked away.

"If you did, you would understand how Mr. Weasley felt," he said quietly.

"Harry..."

"Harry!" a new voice exclaimed from the doorway. The pair looked up to see the main nurse looking over Harry. She had taken a great liking to the boy in the few days she'd gotten to know him. "What are you doing out of bed? And on the floor, nonetheless? Get back in there right now! And Mr. Black, Harry needs to take his meds now so you'll have to go so Harry can get his rest."

"Can you give us a few minutes?" Sirius asked hopefully. "We're kind of in the middle of something."

"I'm sorry, we have to stick to schedule and since Harry's still toward the beginning of his recovery, it's even more vital that he gets these on time. He needs his rest in order to make a full recuperation. You can come back later though," she said kindly yet firmly.

Sirius sighed and gently pulled Harry to his feet, insisting on helping the light-headed boy into bed.

"Harry," he whispered, looking into his godson's sad, emerald eyes, "I love you, kiddo, just as much as Arthur loves Ron. Right now I can't fathom myself doing what he did, but it's quite possible that I'd do the same in his position. Your mother told me once that love makes us all hypocrites; that the greatest shame comes from the foolish things we do for those we love. I guess this is what she means. I still want to rip that man to shreds, but I promise I'll think about what you said and try to put myself in his position, okay?"

Harry nodded, looking at his sheet.

The nurse gave Sirius a reassuring smile as she took his place, asking Harry how he was as she prepared his medications.

Sirius walked dejectedly out of the room, only to be approached by a very stern-looking Ron.

"I need to talk to you," he said harshly.

"I'm sorry I hit your father, Ron," Sirius said wearily. "You don't understand..."

"I'm not happy about you hitting my dad, but that's not what I need to talk to you about," Ron said with a slight glare.

"Fine," Sirius relented, following Ron into an empty hospital room. The redhead closed the door behind them.

"I wasn't sure if I should tell you about this, but I guess I'm going to have to so you'll understand how much you just screwed up and how hard you're going to have to try to fix it," Ron said, crossing his arms and looking very unpleased.

"What?" Sirius asked, getting a bit worried.

"I don't know if Harry told you, but the two of us accidentally got ourselves stuck in a psychological torture chamber called the Nightmare Chamber, which, as you might guess from its name, makes the people in it feel like they're in their worst nightmare. Harry could see mine and I could see his." Ron suddenly lost the sharp edge to his voice, and looked almost sympathetic toward Sirius. He sighed and continued. "His worst nightmare was...well it involved a lot. I didn't like him, my family rejected him, and you, you hated him. You tried to give him back to the Dursleys but they wouldn't take him, so you became violent. That's where a lot of Harry's injuries came from, because the Nightmare Chamber makes them sort of real or something if you let it suck you in."

Sirius blanched, looking in horror at Ron. "What? He dreams that I hurt him? I gave him those bruises?"

"Well, you didn't hurt him, just his dream version of you," Ron said with a helpless shrug.

"But, in Harry's mind, I was the one hurting him. Oh Merlin. Oh gods," he muttered. "How could he ever think that? How could he ever think I'd do something like that to him?!"

"Harry's been treated like crap all his life by people who are supposed to love him, and I think...or I know that it's had a deep effect on him. Deep down, he still thinks we're all going to turn on him, not because of us, really, but more because he doesn't think he's worth it, or some crap like that. I guess if your family spends the first decade of your life drilling it into your head that you aren't worth anything, you start to believe it. I didn't tell you this to make you upset, but I want you to see how much your hitting Harry, even though it was an accident, is going to affect him. You have to try really hard to make him realize that you're not turning into his uncle, that what just happened is never going to happen again and that you'd never ever do it on purpose."

Sirius nodded, stunned.

"This time, you might actually want to talk to him. I think a lot of us will be giving him talks of some sort, but I really think that yours will be the one that matters the most."

"I will. Thank you."

Ron nodded and started toward the door but paused and turned back to the man.

"I want him back," he said.

Sirius didn't have to ask what he meant. It broke his heart to see the careless joy gone from Harry's eyes where it had been earlier in the summer.

He wanted Harry back too.

I................................................................................................I

"Harry!"

Harry jerked awake just as he heard Laura yell after her daughter and something landed on his chest.

Harry opened his eyes and gave Anna an amused smile as she peered down into his face, looking worried.

"Harry, Mommy says you're sick. Are you? Are you almost better?" she asked, smoothing her small hand along his forehead for some unknown reason.

"I am so sorry, Harry. She's been begging to see you so I was just peeking in to see if you were awake and she just ran passed," Laura apologized profusely as she tried to pull Anna away, but the little girl latched onto Harry, wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging onto his hair with a cry of protest. "But, unfortunately, we're going to have to go soon."

"Nooo!!"

"Anna, Mummy has to run an errand," Laura said to her daughter before turning to Harry. She put her hands over Anna's ears and whispered, "There's this ancient potions book a friend of mine just excavated and I've been running around trying to get it translated into English as a present for Sev and I can finally pick it up today! Don't tell him yet though."

"Is that why you've been going out of town so much?" Harry asked curiously.

Laura nodded with a smile. "Yeah. I couldn't take Anna with me because if she found out, she'd blurt it out to anyone who'd listen the first chance she got, but I can take her with me to pick it up and just make sure she isn't around Sev until I give it to him."

She finally let Anna pull her hands away from her daughter's ears.

"I can watch Anna. She can just stay here with me," Harry assured Laura, wincing as Anna pulled at his hair in her attempts to latch onto him.

"Oh please, Mummy, please! I want to stay with Harry!" Anna pleaded.

"Harry, you need your rest," Laura protested, "and Anna's not exactly the calmest thing."

"It's okay. I'm awake and I haven't seen Anna for awhile," Harry said as Anna loosened her grip on his hair and he was able to scoot up so he could sit against his pillows.

Laura sighed, shaking her head at her daughter. "Okay, if you're sure. Sev should be here in a few hours to drop in and check on you, so you can just send Anna off with him."

"Yeah, that'll be fine," Harry said.

"YAY!!" Anna exclaimed, burying her face in Harry's chest.

Laura set down a bag. "If she starts whining for food, there are snacks in there. Feel free to have anything you'd like in there for yourself, as well."

Harry nodded. Laura kissed his cheek and patted his head fondly before taking her leave.

"Harry, I missed you," Anna said fondly, imitating her mother by patting his head.

"You did?" Harry asked, taken aback.

"Duuhhhhh," she said with a giggle. "Sevvie said you've been in bed for a very long time, so I brought toys for us to play with so you're not bored!"

Anna scrambled off the bed and began digging through the bag, throwing what Harry guessed was the wizarding equivalent of a few Barbies onto the bed, along with all the accessories for it. Harry's eyebrow shot up as he prayed he wouldn't actually be expected to play Barbies.

He picked one up curiously, but dropped it in shock when it poked at his hand with its small wand and gave him an annoyed look. The doll stood up and shot him an indignant look before lying down and going stiff again.

Harry decided these were much creepier than Barbies.

Anna hopped back onto the bed with a grin. "Okay, this is Diana. She likes to play with animals and has a cool bow and arrow that's..." she trailed off, searching for it, "...well, it's somewhere here. And this is Venus. She's the beautiful one and has the prettiest clothes. Oh and here's my new one, Quidditch Iris! She has a broom and some of the balls. I lost one of the Bludgers though. Um, um, Mercury, he's a boy...here he is! He can play Quidditch too! Right now he has blonde hair, but watch..."

She ran the miniature brush through his hair and it turned black. She tapped at his face and to Harry's surprise, the doll blinked and when the eyes opened back up, they were bright green.

"Now he looks like you!" Anna pointed out excitedly. "Come on, Mercury, stand up now," she instructed the doll.

Harry spent a few hours with Anna eating cookies shaped like magical creatures and following her instructions, picking out outfits for the dolls to change into and such, all of which he would never admit to anyone that he ever did.

Eventually, Harry drifted off to sleep. Anna continued to make the dolls march around on his chest for a little longer before pushing them all away into the covers. She curled up next to Harry and fell asleep, her small head resting on his chest.

I..............................................................................................I

Harry later awoke to find Anna being lifted off of him. He felt the painful marks from where his glasses were digging into the side of the face.

He looked up in confusion, as it was Fred who was holding a sleeping Anna in one arm, and grabbing her bag with the other. George was sitting in the chair beside Harry's bed.

"Snape's here, so we're handing Anna on over to him. We need to have a chat with you," George explained, helping Harry into a sitting position.

Fred soon came back into the room, and sat down on Harry's other side. Harry expected to see the jovial, mischievous expressions of the twins, but instead was met with stern looks and crossed arms, reminding him unexpectedly of Mrs. Weasley.

"How are you feeling?" George asked in concern.

"Fine," Harry answered. Seeing their skeptical looks he added, "I'm getting better."

"Harry, what were you thinking?" Fred demanded.

Harry blinked up at him in confusion. "Huh?"

"We said no more dangerous stuff! We shook on it!" George said in frustration.

"You guys, Ron..."

"You should have told us what you were doing! Ron's our brother, but so are you," Fred said seriously.

"We're really thankful for what you've done. First Ginny, now Ron, but you're not immortal, Harry! You could have been killed! In fact, it's a miracle you're still alive, and you don't even seem to care!" George exclaimed.

"Well, we had a plan..." Harry started to protest.

"That failed," Fred pointed out.

"No, we just had a slight hitch. It all worked out okay," Harry insisted.

"It all worked out okay?!" George exclaimed. "You've just emerged from a coma that nearly killed you and the Malfoy boy—er, Draco—is traumatized because he had to murder his father. You were both so nearly killed! And you think that's okay?!"

"Do you think Draco's really traumatized?" Harry asked worriedly.

The twins looked at him incredulously. Fred seized Harry by the shoulders, causing the raven-haired boy to yelp in surprise, but Fred just looked him searchingly in the eyes.

"Harry, do you seriously not get how important you are? Do you seriously not care about yourself? Do you seriously not care that you nearly died?" Fred asked with slight horror.

"Sure I care about myself," he said without much conviction, "but I didn't die. I'm fine! It's not that big of a deal. I've done this sort of thing before and nobody reacted like this. You guys used to send me candy and toilet seats when I did stuff like this, so I don't understand why you're yelling at me now," he said with sincere confusion.

The twins were struck speechless. Harry was right. He had drastically risked his life for others every year in Hogwarts and no one had told him it was wrong until the cancer. In fact, they had all congratulated him for it. By not scolding Harry for it previously, it had been a message to him that it wasn't a big deal, that his life and safety weren't big deals in comparison to everyone else's. They had unknowingly helped drill in the Boy Who Lived title into Harry, making the boy think that's all he was to other people.

"We were stupid," Fred said finally.

"Complete morons," George added.

"We should have been yelling at you since your first year..."

"Because it's not your job to rescue people or play hero all the time..."

"And we don't want you to do it..."

"We want you to be done with all this..."

"We want you to just have a normal life from now on..."

"Or as normal of a life as you can have being practically family with us..."

"No more 'Boy Who Lived'..."

"Only Harry..."

"Deal?" they concluded simultaneously.

"I'll try," Harry offered.

"What is this 'try'?" Fred asked, acting shocked. "There is no try here. This is a do or don't situation and you have to promise us that you won't do this kind of stuff anymore!"

"I can't promise that," Harry said apologetically. At the twins upset expressions he went on. "Well, I can't! Every time I think this stuff is over, it's not. I'll always be a target and that makes people around me targets just because they're associated with me!"

"Harry, it's not your job to play hero all the time!" a distressed George protested.

"It is when it's the only way. It's my fault these things happen in the first place so it's my job..."

"Harry!" Fred interrupted sharply. "Don't be ridiculous! It's not your fault any of this stuff happens!"

"Ron got kidnapped as a trap for me," Harry pointed out. "The whole school nearly got slaughtered because Voldemort was after me! Cedric..."

"Harry, those things aren't your fault, you can't actually think those things are your fault!" George said in frustration.

"It's not your fault psychopaths are always after you just because a curse backfired when you were one."

"Look, what would you have done if you had been in my position? What would you do if you knew that you could get Ron back and you were the only chance he had? What if you found out something bad was going to happen in the school, but nobody would listen to you? Would you try to stop it or just let it happen?"

Fred and George were silent.

"But why is it always you?" Fred asked with a sigh.

Harry thought about the question for a second.

"Aside from the whole Boy Who Lived thing, I guess it's because I'm nosy," he concluded with a laugh. "Because when things start going on, Hermione, Ron and I can't let it go and have to figure it out, especially Hermione. At least that's how it started out."

"Okay, new rules!" George jumped in. "First of all, no more being nosy. Second, if you are ever being nosy or planning on doing something stupid or anything like that, you have to tell us, okay? You have to promise."

Harry hesitated.

"Harry!" Fred exclaimed.

"Well, you guys would stop me from doing whatever I was going to do!" Harry said helplessly.

"You bet your arse we wou—OW!"

"What my dear brother was trying to say," Fred said with a glare at George, who was rubbing his forehead where the piece of candy Fred had thrown at him had hit, "is that if you absolutely had to go on some crazy heroic escapade, we would want to make sure it would be as safe as possible for you and help you with it."

"Liar," Harry said with a grin.

"Okay fine, I'm lying," Fred admitted, "but look, Harry, maybe in the past you've been swept up in all these messes, but from now on, it's not your job to do this stuff! Let someone else do it! It doesn't have to be you."

"Harry, you've done enough heroic stuff in your life, okay? You're done. You've already died for Merlin's sake! We can't take it anymore! I hate coming to hospitals and hospital wings all the time because you're in there once again. You don't know what you do to us when you do this sort of thing!"

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be sorry about things that are already done, it's useless. Just don't do them again," George implored.

Harry nodded.

"Alright, well it looks as if you can use some rest, so we'll leave you to it," Fred said, getting up and ruffling Harry's hair fondly.

The twins left the room and exchanged a knowing look. They were going to need to do some serious work on Harry's self esteem and they would make that kid have a sense of self-worth if it was the last thing they did.

I.........................................................................................I

Harry looked up as Ginny walked into the room with a smile. He immediately began struggling to sit up, and she hurried to his side to help prop up his pillows, causing Harry to blush.

"Thanks, Gin," he said with a shy smile.

"You're welcome. Now budge over," she said, sliding into the bed next to him. She gasped and then pulled out a small plastic bow and arrow out from underneath her. "Er...Harry, have you been playing with Diana dolls?"

"You've found me out," Harry joked. "My secret passion." He smiled tiredly and leaned back against his pillows. "I'd watch out, I think Anna brought more stuff in here than she took out. I woke up earlier to the pain of Quidditch Iris and her broom jabbing into my shin."

Ginny chuckled and set the plastic toy on the dresser.

There was a long silence before Ginny turned and pulled Harry into a hug, despite the awkward position.

"Ginny, are you alright?" Harry asked worriedly.

She pulled away and turned her body around so she was kneeling on the bed facing him. She looked directly into his eyes.

"Harry, I don't want to do this anymore, this trying to pretend I just want to be your friend when the entire world knows that's just ridiculous. Harry, don't you get it? I'm crazy about you," she said seriously. "Don't feel obligated to feel any particular way about me. I swear I won't set my brothers on you. I just wanted you to know because I suddenly wasn't sure if you did know."

Harry looked at her, slightly shell-shocked before looking down at his lap.

"Ginny, you deserve so much better than me," he said, looking up at her with sadness in his eyes before looking away again. "Don't get me wrong, I...um, well, I like you more than a friend...a lot more than a friend," he said sounding very flustered, blushing at how stupid he sounded, "but I'm such a mess and everything around me is a mess and everything I touch becomes a mess and you could be with someone who's so much better and perfect and um...un-messy," he finished lamely.

Ginny chuckled at his comment and lifted his chin with her fingers so his eyes met hers. "Harry, think of who you're talking to. You know my family and what my house looks like. We're already chaotic and I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, don't you think I already know your life can be messy at times? I want to be part of your mess, if you want me there, that is."

Harry blinked at her in disbelief. "You do? Are you sure? It's really messy. And dangerous. And..."

"And so is the twins' room, but that's never stopped me from going in there to get what I want," Ginny said with a grin.

Harry grinned as well. "Are you really, really..."

"Oh shut it, Harry," Ginny said, leaning in and capturing Harry's lips in hers. "I've never been surer in my life," she whispered against his mouth.

"Good," he whispered back before sliding a hand up to the side of her face and, somewhat shyly, kissing her again.

"Ahem," somebody cleared their throat from the other side of the room. The two shot apart and whipped their heads toward the doorway to find Healer Luhrman standing there with an amused expression. "It's time for some potions for you Harry, including a nice sleeping potion."

"Now?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Yes, now. As romantic as hospital rooms are, there will be no pre-marital, underage sex on my ward, especially right after you've emerged from a coma, Harry," he said with a look that was stern yet joking at the same time.

Harry's jaw dropped and he blushed furiously. Ginny blushed as well but laughed.

"We weren't...we didn't..." Harry stuttered.

"That's what they all say," Healer Luhrman teased, handing Harry a few cups, waiting to make sure Harry drank them all. "Now, I'd say you two have about a minute left of snogging time before Harry here is passed out, have fun," he chuckled as he left the room.

Harry was already beginning to feel the effects of the potion as he looked over to Ginny, who was grinning at him in amusement.

"So this is really romantic, huh?" Harry asked with a tired smile. "A minute after we get together and I'm falling asleep."

"And who could dream of a better setting?" Ginny chuckled as she helped Harry settle down, adjusting his pillows. "White walls, hospital staff barging around, monitoring spells making strange beeping noises in the background."

"Well, at least I've got my most stylish outfit on," Harry joked, gesturing to his striped hospital pajamas.

"Yet you're still gorgeous," Ginny said with a smile, leaning down and kissing him quickly, finding his surprised look at the compliment too adorable to resist. "I'll keep from telling everyone about all this for awhile so you can focus on getting better rather than people harassing you about this, okay?"

Harry nodded sleepily.

Ginny laid down next to him and the two turned toward each other, Harry's eyes struggling to stay open. Ginny removed his glasses and placed them on the nightstand before lightly running her finger up and down the side of his face until his breathing evened out.

"I love you, Harry," she whispered to the sleeping boy. "Never doubt that."

I...............................................................................................I

Harry scooted up in bed as Healer Luhrman came in to look him over.

"Hey, Harry, how's it going?" he asked as he took Harry's arm and prepped it for taking some blood.

"Fine. How soon can I get out of here?" he asked as usual.

"Very soon. You're making a good recovery. But you're going to have to take it easy of course."

"Yeah, yeah," Harry said dismissively. He'd had the lecture multiple times before.

After the healer had checked over Harry, he smiled down at the raven-haired boy.

"You have quite the family, you know," the man said with a grin. "An Animagus, a Potions master, a werewolf, Slytherins, Gryffindors, a Hufflepuff, redheads, blondes, brunettes, witches, wizards, Muggles, a bunch of adults, a bunch of teenagers and a little girl."

"Oh, they're not my family. The closest is Sirius. He's my godfather, but my real family's either dead or would die before coming to see me," Harry said with a sad sort of chuckle.

The healer sat down on the edge of his bed. "When you were flat-lining, you had your friend Ron screaming and crying in here looking as if he would die if you did. Outside this door, everyone else was fighting like you'd never believe to get to you. Now, despite any animosity between each other, they're helping each other and working together because you are more important to them than anything. Everyone out there loves you like crazy and needs you in their own way, even if it might not always be obvious. It doesn't matter if they're related to you by blood. They may come from different backgrounds, have different ideals, and look very different from you and each other, but each of them has a part of them that would die if you did, and that is what family truly is."

The healer winked at him and left the room, giving Harry a lot to think about.

I............................................................................................I

Harry stepped out of the fireplace into the living room of the Lighthouse. He had finally been released from the hospital. Sirius stepped out right behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Happy to be home? Tonight you'll be able to sleep in your own bed and eat normal food rather than that scary hospital stuff, even though I know that occasionally my cooking can be just as frightening," Sirius said with a smile.

"I like your cooking," Harry said quietly. "I should go unpack," he said, heading toward the stairs.

"Wait, Har. What do you want for dinner? It can be anything you like, and if we don't have it, I'll owl-order some take out."

"Anything is fine," Harry said with a strained smile before heading up the stairs.

He made his way to his room and shut the door behind him. He looked around and took a deep breath. It should have felt good to be home, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't supposed to be there, that he didn't belong.

In the hospital, they had all insisted that it would be different now, but he doubted it would. The healer said he had almost died, but Ron had talked him out of it. He never got up the courage to ask Ron what he had said to make Harry change his mind, not wanting to face questions about why he had almost chosen to leave. He remembered something about a dark place and his parents and something holding him back, but that was it. He wished he could remember what had happened with his parents. What if they had said something to him that he should be remembering? The healer had said anything he might have dreamed was just that, a dream, but how did he really know? Maybe Harry had been so close to death that his parents had actually managed to communicate with him and he couldn't even remember.

He grabbed a framed picture of his parents off his nightstand and sank down to the floor, leaning against his bed. His parents smiled and waved at him. James tickled Lily's sides and the redhead laughed before spinning around and smacking James's arms to make him stop. The two hugged and then looked back at Harry, smiling at him again.

He could have been with them.

Harry set down the picture and brought his knees to his chest. He put his face in his arms and began to quietly cry.

Why had he chosen to come back only to face the nightmares again? Why come back to people that didn't even want him?

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his back and he jerked his head up to find Sirius crouched down next to him, looking at him sadly.

"Sirius? I just...I um..." Harry stammered, trying to wipe away the tears and stop the rest from coming.

"Shhh...Harry, come here," he said, pulling Harry gently into a fatherly embrace.

Harry stiffened, waiting for it to be over, but Sirius just held him and after he realized Sirius wasn't going away any time soon, Harry couldn't stop the tears anymore.

"I'm sorry, Sirius," he sobbed hysterically. "I'm sorry I wasn't a better godson. I'm sorry I broke your rules. I'm sorry I disappointed you. I'm sorry for being a stupid burden. I'm sorry for keeping you from living the life you wanted. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'll move back to the Dursleys' so you can have your life back or, or, I can be more like my father if you want. I...I'll do whatever you want, I just don't know what you want me to do!"

He was crying harder than he ever had in his entire life, everything that had been weighing on his mind rushing to the surface to feed the flood, and he couldn't seem to stop talking either.

"I don't want you to hate me like the Dursleys do. I thought they loved me and I was so stupid to think that! But now I can't tell! I can't tell and everyone who said they cared about me really doesn't and I'm just so confused I don't know who to believe because everyone lied! You all lied!"

"Harry," Sirius said, now crying as well, "Harry, I never lied to you. I do love you and I would never, ever send you back to the Dursleys. I don't want you to be like James. I want you here and I want you the way you are," he insisted.

Harry wrenched himself away from Sirius and fell back into his dresser, still weeping. "Please, just stop lying to me! I can't take it anymore!" he screamed.

Sirius crawled over and grabbed his protesting godson and pulled him back to his chest.

"I'm not lying, Harry. I swear to you. Please trust me. I love you."

Harry shook his head wildly. "I'm a FREAK, Sirius! I'm a freak! You can't love me! You CAN'T want me around! It doesn't work that way! I'm just ruining your life like I ruin EVERYONE ELSE'S!" he sobbed helplessly.

"Harry, Harry listen to me," Sirius said firmly, holding Harry by the shoulders so he could look into his godson's face, which was contorted in emotional agony. "You are not a freak. Whatever the Dursleys hammered into your head is complete and utter dragon-shit. Everything negative they ever said to you was complete crap."

Harry shook his head. "You're wrong. I'm weak and whiny and arrogant and nobody wants me around. I'm no use to anyone anymore now that I don't have the wandless magic and extra power thing. Now I'm just leeching off everyone's happiness and I don't want to do that; I don't." He took a shuddering breath as tears rolled down his face. "I'm, I'm annoying and..." He let out a sob. "...an embarrassment. And I know that everyone's sticking around me because they feel obligated or they pity me or something. And..."

Sirius cut him off, once again hugging him. "Harry no. No. Merlin, no. Listen to me. You have so many people who care about you, Harry, but I won't speak for them right now. I'll speak for myself. Your wandless magic thing doesn't matter. You're a very strong wizard, even without all that extra stuff, and that extra magical energy was brought on by you having cancer, so I'm more than happy it's gone. Besides, your use is not to go around saving the world, it's to be you and to be happy and to be my godson. I would love you just as much if you were a squib. I don't give a damn about how powerful your magic is. You're not leeching off my happiness, Harry; you are my happiness. You are what chases away my bad thoughts and dreams. You are the reason I've been able to move passed Azkaban and that whole horrible nightmare. You are not annoying and never an embarrassment. I love you as if you were my own son."

Harry nodded but looked skeptical as he began to calm down, sniffling and occasionally hiccupping as he tried to control his tears.

"Harry, one day when I tell you I love you, you're going to believe it and you're going to know it's true," Sirius promised quietly as Harry pulled away, wiping his face on his sleeve.

"What if I turn out like my uncle?" Harry asked quietly.

"What?" Sirius asked, completely taken aback at the ridiculous inquiry.

"They say this sort of thing continues," Harry said, a bit hysterically. "They say if you get abused the chances are good you'll be abusive yourself. It's that whole cycle thing. I might end up like that! I..."

"Harry, don't be ridiculous!" Sirius exclaimed. "Wait, is this why you've been refusing to babysit Anna?"

"I don't want to hurt her," Harry said tearfully, looking away. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

Sirius put his fingers under Harry's chin and turned his face back so Sirius could look Harry in the eye.

"You are nothing like your uncle," he said slowly and deliberately. "You are nothing like him."

"But what if I..."

"You won't," Sirius cut him off firmly. "You don't have that in you."

"Sirius, I've killed two people!" Harry protested.

"Voldemort and a Death Eater, both of whom were trying to kill you. It was self-defense and self-sacrifice, not something you wanted to do."

Harry sniffed and wiped some of the tears from his face.

"I'm sorry for everything," he said quietly.

"Harry, listen to me. Yes, I'm upset you went after Ron without telling me. Yes, I'm upset that you risked your life. But, it's because I care about you so much. It would destroy me if I lost you again."

Harry blinked up at him in surprise. He numbly shook his head.

"Yes, Harry, it would," Sirius insisted. "When you...when you died, my life just lost all meaning. The entire time, I just sat next to your body lying there on Dumbledore's huge bed. I didn't eat or sleep, I just sat there, wishing I could die too..."

"Don't say that," Harry whispered.

"It's true. I think Remy's the only thing that kept me from doing anything drastic. You hadn't even seen your room..." Sirius trailed off, getting emotionally worked up at the memory.

"I love my room," Harry offered.

"I wanted it to be perfect when I was working on it. I just felt that if I made it perfect, you'd want to stay in it forever...you'd never want to leave it and therefore you never would. You'd just stay here forever with me and you could just be my godson and we'd just talk and eat in this room and never leave. You'd never leave..."

"Sounds nice," Harry said quietly with a sniff.

Sirius smiled at him fondly. "Yeah, it would be nice but that's not the way life works. If I hid you away from the world, you wouldn't get to experience all the good parts of life."

"I'm sick of the rest of the world," Harry said angrily. "All they care about is drama; they're addicted to it and they don't care about the people it's happening to. I'm sick of playing hero to people who want me to beat the bad guys but find it almost more exciting when my name's smeared in the dirt. They stick me up so high on this pedestal that of course I'm going to fall!"

"Are you still talking about the public in general or maybe people closer to you?" Sirius asked knowingly.

Harry opened his mouth to speak but then changed his mind and just shrugged, looking out the window.

"Maybe people like me?" he asked sadly.

Harry looked over at him in surprise. "No, I didn't mean..."

"Harry," Sirius said gently, "look, I need you to know that despite what you might think, I do not wish you were more like James."

Harry immediately looked away.

"I know I've been constantly commenting on how you aren't like him, but I swear to you that it was just out of surprise," Sirius insisted firmly. "I've just been seeing more and more how different you two are, which is just interesting because you two look so similar and are, of course, so closely related. I never was disappointed in the fact though."

Harry looked up at him with a glint of hopefulness in his eyes.

"Okay, the rest of today's going to be one long talk. Let me go order some owl-delivery and get my list."

"List?" Harry asked, allowing himself to be helped to his feet.

"I, er, I made a list of things I wanted to talk to you about...really talk to you about...so I don't forget anything," Sirius said with a tinge of embarrassment.

"Wow, that's really nerdy," Harry teased, but the thankful look on his face pushed all of Sirius's doubts away.

"Harry, please. I am never nerdy. I am the essence of all things cool and suave," Sirius said matter-of-factly.

Harry snorted with laughter and Sirius ruffled his hair indignantly before slinging an arm over his shoulder and leading him downstairs for a very overdue talk.

I................................................................................................I

Harry jerked awake from another nightmare about his uncle. He was shaking and sweating as he looked wildly around his room. He fumbled for his lamp and switched it on, making sure the tall shadows were nothing more than bits of furniture and such. He shakily put on his glasses and hugged his knees to his chest.

Suddenly, his door opened and Harry nearly jumped out of his skin. Sirius padded into the room and Harry looked at him in surprise.

"Siri? What are you doing up here? How did...did you fix the squeaky stair?" he blurted out in bewilderment.

"Ah, I thought that might have been how you've been knowing when I'm coming. Yes, I fixed it. Now, what was your nightmare about?" Sirius asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Harry blinked at him owlishly. "I didn't have a..."

"Harry, please let me help you. I could go through and guess what it was about, but it would be a lot easier if you told me," Sirius said.

Harry paused uncertainly.

"My uncle," he murmured.

"Ah, the king of bastards himself," Sirius nodded. Harry looked up at him in surprise. "Where did it take place?"

"Um, it started out here. He came out of my closet," Harry admitted, looking at his lap. "And then I was back at Privet Drive in my cupboard."

"And what was he doing?" Sirius continued to prod patiently. He had finally realized that Harry needed the questions.

Harry shrugged, not looking at his godfather. "The same stuff he always did. Yelling and um, other stuff."

"He was hurting you?" Sirius prompted.

Harry nodded with a sigh. "I know it's stupid. I don't know why I'm still having these stupid dreams, I should be over it..."

"Harry, it's not stupid. Of course it's still affecting you. The Dursleys didn't only physically abuse you but they mentally abused you your entire life. Don't shake your head, Harry; it's true. They neglected you and treated you horribly. But that's because they were scum, Harry, not you."

"They hated me," Harry said quietly. "I embarrassed them."

"Well, you make me proud every day," Sirius said sincerely.

Harry looked up with such a thankful look in his eyes for the compliment that Sirius's heart melted and he immediately pulled Harry into a fatherly embrace.

He finally pulled away and ruffled Harry's hair. "Want to come stay in my room tonight? I have a huge bed made for about five people," he said, trying to make it sound enticing.

"No, I'm fine," Harry said with a weak smile. Sirius didn't miss his eyes flicker to the closet.

"Okay," he said, remaining sitting on the bed. "Well, I'm going to stay here until you get to sleep."

"Sirius, I'm fine, really. I'm never going to be able to get back to sleep with you watching me," Harry said with a blush.

"Alright, but I'll know if you don't go back to sleep. And Harry, I want you to come to me if you ever need anything, okay? My door's always open, even if it's just that you don't want to spend the night alone, okay?" Sirius said intently.

Harry nodded and settled down under the covers.

An hour later, Sirius knew Harry had not yet gone back to sleep and went back upstairs.

Despite Harry's protests, Sirius sat next to Harry until the tired boy drifted off to sleep only five minutes after Sirius had come in.

I..............................................................................................I

Sirius continued this every time Harry couldn't sleep or woke from a nightmare. Gradually, Harry began sleeping through the nights on his own, and on the nights he couldn't, he stopped protesting when Sirius offered to stay until Harry fell asleep.

One night, Sirius woke knowing that Harry had. As usual, he waited a little while to see if Harry would come to him, and just when he was sitting up to go to him, he looked up to see Harry standing in his doorway, looking like he was having an internal debate with himself.

"Hey kiddo," Sirius said, making Harry jump. "Come on." He nodded toward the spot on the bed next to him.

"Are you sure? I mean, I..." Harry said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Harry, of course I'm sure."

Harry padded his way over and unsurely climbed into the bed. Close up, Sirius could see that Harry had been crying and was still on the verge of doing so.

"Harry, come here," Sirius said, sitting up slightly against the pillows.

Harry suddenly burst into tears and buried his face into his godfather's chest as Sirius rubbed his back comfortingly.

"Harry, shh, it's okay. Tell me what's wrong," he said gently.

"I'm so sorry about everything. I don't mean to make you upset or angry! I just want you to like me and I promise not to break the rules again. I don't mean to be bad. I'll be better, I swear. Please don't give me back to the Dursleys," Harry sobbed, gripping onto Sirius's nightshirt.

"Oh Merlin, Harry, you're not bad. I do like you and I would NEVER give you back to the Dursleys," Sirius said in horror, tightening his grip around Harry as the younger boy cried. "Was this in a dream? Did you dream I try to give you back to the Dursleys?"

"You tried but they wouldn't take me so you got mad," Harry admitted sorrowfully. "I'm sorry I dreamed that. I just..."

"Did you dream that I hurt you?" Sirius asked with a pained expression.

Harry paused.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why, I just dream it every once in awhile," he apologized desperately.

"Harry, I swear to you, I would NEVER hurt you. I'd give my life for you," Sirius said firmly.

"I know, I'm sorry. It's not just you so please don't be offended. Everyone hates me in my dreams," he said, sounding haunted.

"Well, in real life, you have a whole bunch of people who love you, including myself. You're like my son, and I wish you were every single day," Sirius reassured him.

Harry began to calm down. "Thank you," he whispered with a sniff. "I'm sorry."

"Harry, stop apologizing for things you don't need to apologize for. I'm glad you came to me," Sirius said sincerely. "I will always be here for you, no matter what, until the day I die, and even then I'll be keeping my eye on you."

"I don't want you to die," Harry murmured, sounding scared.

"Well, I don't want you to die either, which is why the two of us are going to take it easy on the danger for the rest of our lives. No more crazy adventures, no more playing hero, no more revenge, deal?"

"Deal," Harry murmured tiredly, laying his head on Sirius's chest as Dudley used to do with his father when they were younger.

As a child, Harry had occasionally run to his aunt and uncle's room for comfort when his cupboard wasn't locked, but was always immediately sent back. A few times, he'd just watched miserably from the doorway as Dudley scrambled into the larger bed and curled up with his parents, his heart aching.

Harry stiffened and pulled away. "Sorry, Siri. I'm acting like a five-year-old," he said sadly.

"Don't be ridiculous, Harry," Sirius said reassuring him. "Besides, not only did you miss out on your childhood, but I missed out on raising you. We have a lot of childhood to make up for."

Harry smiled and settled back down against his godfather feeling instantly comforted.

"Your parents would be so proud of you," Sirius commented softly after a few moments of silence.

Harry glanced up at him skeptically before looking away. "Not if they saw me when I was at the Dursleys. I turn into a cowering mess when I'm around my uncle. Hell, I still do even when I dream about him," Harry said in self-disgust.

"Harry, it's okay to be afraid. Everyone's afraid of something. Your parents would be proud of you for everything you've become, fears included," Sirius said comfortingly.

"What are you afraid of?" Harry asked curiously.

"Swear not to tell anyone? Not even Moony?" he asked after a moment's hesitation.

Harry looked up in surprise. "Swear."

"Cats," Sirius said with a slight shudder.

Harry couldn't help but laugh. "You're afraid of cats? But your Animagus form is..."

"A dog, yes, I know. That's why nobody can know. There must have been some serious miscalculation there when the spell decided I'd make a good dog. I'm the only dog that runs from cats rather than chasing after them," he said sheepishly. "Of course, I'll put on a brave front in front of others, but inside I'm just a shaking mess and if it comes near me I find an excuse to get away. Luckily most cats will run off as soon as I bark, so my friends never really knew, but I've had a few times where I've gotten really close to one or had one chase after me, and I become a shame to the canine kind. So I just tell people I'm allergic to them."

"I'll make sure Hermione not to bring Crookshanks around," Harry said with a tired smile.

"Thanks, kiddo. So, afraid of anything else?" Sirius asked mischievously.

"Well, I don't like small spaces and thunderstorms seem to get to me for some reason," Harry admitted quietly. "What about you?"

"Hmm...snakes and sharks. I know you're great amigos with all the lovely snakes out there, but it's harder for the rest of us to convince them not to sink their fangs into our nice juicy ankles, and sharks...you know how when you're swimming in the ocean and you can't see anything through the water? Don't you ever all of a sudden wonder what's underneath you?"

Harry was silent for a moment. "I've never been to the beach. The Dursleys went all the time, but they never took me. I can't swim very well anyways, so it's probably best that they didn't take me or I would have probably drowned," he said with a slight pain in his voice that he was obviously trying to hide.

"Well, I'll take you to the beach, though I'm not swimming out deep in the water where all the large carnivorous sea creatures like to find their meals. You've swum in the swimming hole, though, right?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded tiredly. "Yeah, but I've never been in anything bigger...except for the second task in the Tri-Wizard tournament, but I could breathe under water for that. I can swim, sort of, but not well."

"Well, I'll teach you how," Sirius vowed.

Harry looked up at him and thanked him with a smile.

Sirius started quietly telling him about a time the Marauders had gone to the beach with Lily and her friends.

"...and of course we didn't realize the tide had been getting steadily higher and closer to us. So, after they buried me completely in the sand, this wave came. They saw it coming and tried to pull me out, but they'd packed me down too much. It wasn't a huge wave or anything, but it was freezing. And when the wave went back out, there were all these little sand crabs it had left on the sand on my stomach and they started burrowing in. Oh Merlin, Harry, I could feel them get through the sand and hit my skin and, urgh, it was so disturbing. I was screaming and wriggling, which just made it harder for them to pull me out and suddenly all the water disappeared, being sucked into the ocean. That's when you know there's a really big one coming. So the girls dropped to their knees and began digging as fast as they could, looking behind me with this look of horror on their faces, so I looked around and there was the largest wave I've ever seen in my life, I'm not joking. So finally, Remy and James went behind me and were able to lift me out of the sand and we all ran as hard as we could, screaming as the wave crashed down behind us. We didn't get caught in it, thank Merlin, but it did knock our feet out from under us. And now you're asleep, having missed the whole second half of my story, but it's alright, because, as Moony always says, I enjoy listening to myself talk," he chuckled fondly, stroking the black mop of hair with his fingers. Harry had an arm thrown over him and his head was settled comfortably on Sirius's chest, allowing his godfather's presence to keep the nightmares at bay. "You know, kiddo, I think we're going to be alright. I think we're going to be a really good family, you and I. And Moony, of course, as godfather number two. A bit of a strange family, but really great. I promise you that much, Harry."

Sirius fell asleep soon after, an arm loosely wrapped around his godson's shoulders.

I..................................................................................................I

Remus and Harry were sitting together on the living room couch while Sirius was attempting to make tea after his first batch somehow exploded, though nobody could understand how. Thus was the magic of Sirius's cooking.

"Well, I probably should get going," Remus said with a sad smile.

"Where do you have to go?" Harry asked. Remus chuckled.

"Home. Thank Merlin we're getting a break from the Order. For awhile, that seemed like all my life was."

"Can't you stay here then?" Harry asked hopefully.

He didn't know why, but Harry had felt closer to Remus ever since he'd been in his coma. He had a feeling that Remus didn't really want to go home, though he wasn't sure where he got that idea.

Remus gave him an almost suspicious look. "Do you...do you remember anything I said to you when you were in your coma?"

"No, I don't remember anything people said..." he trailed off, giving Remus the impression that he was leaving something out.

"But..." he prompted

Harry sighed. "I have these vague...feelings...I think, and I could be completely wrong, but I feel like my parents were there, like maybe I talked to them or saw them but I can't remember."

"Harry..." Remus started sympathetically. Harry looked up at him almost pleadingly.

"What if I'm not just imagining it? What if I did talk to them and can't remember?" he asked, clearly getting upset.

Remus put an arm around Harry's shoulders and gave him a comforting smile.

"I don't know if you did or not, but if you did, I'm pretty sure I could tell you what they would have said."

Harry looked at him a little warily. "You're going to get sappy, aren't you?"

Remus laughed. "Yup. They would have said how proud of you they are, and that as much as they'd like to be with you, you need to stop these crazy, risky escapades because it is definitely not your time yet. They would have said how much they miss you and how much of your mother you have in your personality, even if you have James's physical looks.

"And maybe to be wary of Sirius's cooking," Harry said with a sly grin.

The two chuckled as Sirius called from the kitchen, "Did someone say something bad about my cooking again?"

"Of course not!" the two called back.

"Don't beat yourself up over this, Harry. One day you'll be able to talk to them as much as you want, and until then you get Sirius for a parent...good luck," Remus joked. Harry grinned.

"Well, I have you too, so I think I'll be okay."

"Yeah, but Padfoot's your godfather," Remus pointed out.

"Well yeah, but you pretty much are too. Sirius is just here more often and is more...emotional, where you're more of the practical, responsible, 'talk to me' parent figure."

Remus stared at Harry momentarily, digesting his words, before grabbing him into a hug that Harry returned in confusion.

"Remy, are you okay?" Harry asked, looking up at him as if trying to figure out if he should be concerned.

"I'm...I'm really good actually," he said with a grin.

"Oh no, you've been hanging out with Siri too long, haven't you?"

"Voila!" Sirius announced, carrying in a tray of steaming cups from the kitchen. "I have created tea!"

Remus and Harry warily took the cups they were offered.

"Oh come on, this is good now!" Sirius assured them. "Of course it won't be as good as Harry's tea, but I didn't try anything magical this time so no more explosions...perfectly safe for drinking!"

The two cautiously sipped their tea and were relieved to find that it was fine.

"Yeah? Yeah? I told you!" Sirius said smugly, plopping down in a chair and sipping his own tea.

Sirius and Remus soon began reminiscing about their Hogwarts days, as they often did and Harry succumbed to the pull of sleep.

Sirius lowered his voice and pointed to his sleeping godson. Remus looked down at Harry, whose head was resting on Remus's upper arm.

"Looks like we bored him to sleep," Sirius said with a grin.

"Not hard to do when you're doing most of the talking," Remus teased.

Sirius shot a playful glare at his friend.

"I take it you put his medicine in his tea?" Remus guessed.

Sirius nodded. "He wouldn't have taken it otherwise since he knows it puts him to sleep. He's like a little kid, wanting to stay up with the big kids..."

"Or at least one big kid," Remus interjected mischievously.

"Better a big kid than a big...a big..." Sirius scrambled to think of an insult to Remus that wouldn't implicate himself as well.

"That's right, no good comebacks. That's a real shocker," Remus teased.

Sirius laughed.

"I guess we'd better put him to bed," Sirius said, starting to get up.

Remus's head shot up, looking almost alarmed.

"Can't he just stay here for a little while? After all, you said he sleeps better with people near him, right?" Remus said hurriedly.

Sirius caught the almost desperate tone in his best friend's voice and suddenly understood something about Remus he hadn't even given much thought to before.

"Sure. I think Harry would like that," he said, sitting back down. He watched as his friend maneuvered Harry so he was lying down, his head settled on Remus's lap. The werewolf levitated a blanket over to him and affectionately covered Harry with it. He gently removed Harry's glasses and set them on the nightstand.

"Remus, what would you say about moving in with Harry and I?" Sirius asked.

Remus looked up at his friend, taken aback. "Me move in?"

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it," he stretched the truth. He had been thinking about it, at least for the past minute or so, "and I would really like it if you moved in. You could have the guest room and do whatever you like with it."

"But you and Harry..." Remus started.

"I think Harry would really like the idea. Besides, I could use your help with him, your advice. I think Harry could really use your help too, when mine's not enough or I'm doing something wrong or I don't know how to help him. He doesn't understand that people love him and it's going to take a lot to change that. He needs to have people who love him around him as much as possible. Besides, I have to start realizing that I can't do this all on my own, as much as I'd like to say I could. You're the one that hasn't screwed up with him. Merlin knows Snape and I have on several occasions, and as much as he loves Molly and Arthur, he's never gone to them for anything and I don't think he ever will."

"Yeah," Remus said sadly, "especially after what Arthur did recently. But I guess even before then, they were too closed off, already having their own family. That's one of Harry's problems, I think. The Dursleys pounded it into him so much that he was intruding on their family and shut him out so much that he feels like he could never be a part of an already formed family, he'd feel like he was intruding."

"See this is why we need you. You can be part of this helter-skelter family we're patching together. Harry needs that. He needs you. You can understand things like this and make these connections that I can't just see like you can. I just don't have experience with the family stuff, and I'm learning but it's going to take time and Harry can't afford to have me screw up again and have nobody to turn to."

"But Sirius, you realize if Harry turns to me for things, the reality is that he may develop a closer relationship with me than you. I'm not saying it's anything personal, but Harry's at a stage where he's testing out all these new familial relationships and he's going to cling to someone, and just by having me here increases the chances that it could be me, just because I'm here, do you see?" Remus said practically.

"I understand, and I want to have a close relationship with Harry, of course, more than anything, but I've realized that it's not as important as Harry's well-being, so if you can help him more than I can and if a relationship with you benefited him more than one with me, then I wouldn't fight you on it," Sirius said gravely. "I don't ever want Harry to be in that dark place he's been in lately again."

"You know that's only a remote possibility, Siri. Harry loves you so much..."

"Remy, I know," Sirius interrupted. "We'll just have to see how things go and do what's best for Harry. Now back to the subject at hand."

Remus looked down at the sleeping boy. He lifted his head again and smiled unsurely at his friend. "Well, I could still keep my house to go to for transformations and to go to once in awhile when you two need bonding time..."

"And I can go there if you and Harry want bonding time," Sirius pointed out. "I mean, we're really both practically his godfathers, it just happens that I have the title because of that legal garbage about werewolves and children, which we both know is a load of crap."

Remus grinned with more happiness than he'd felt in a very long time.

"Do you really think Harry would like that?"

"Hey Har," Sirius called.

"Hmm?" Harry murmured without opening his eyes, still basically asleep.

"What do you think about Remus coming to live with us?" Sirius asked, knowing what Harry's answer would be already.

Harry nodded sleepily against Remus's lap. "Good," he mumbled.

"Alright Har, you can go back to sleep now," Remus said with a light chuckle, running his fingers soothingly through Harry's messy locks, but Harry was already out.

"Well, Harry living with two bachelors isn't exactly a normal home life," Remus mused.

"Yeah, but think of what he had before," Sirius said darkly. "It doesn't matter if it's not conventional parenting as long as we can start fixing all the damage those relatives of his caused."

Remus nodded in agreement. "There's a lot of damage to undo," he commented sadly.

"Which is why he can use all the help he can get."

The two men looked down at the boy they each regarded as a son and then up at each other.

"He'll be fine," Remus said confidently. "Give it time and some work and I really think he's going to be fine."

"I think we're all going to be fine now," Sirius said, taking a sip of tea.

I......................................................................................................I

Sirius landed the motorcycle on the dirt road leading to the Burrow, kicking up a large cloud of dust. Harry grinned and jumped off the bike.

"Whoa, Harry, wait up," Sirius called as Harry began running toward the Burrow.

Harry stopped and spun around. "Hurry up, Padfoot!" Harry said impatiently, "I want to show Ron your motorcycle!"

Sirius chuckled and caught up with his godson, ruffling his hair.

"Siri!" Harry whined, quickly smoothing his hair back into place. Sirius threw an arm around his godson's shoulders and the two walked up to the Burrow together.

Harry bounded up the steps and knocked.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley said fondly as she opened the door, pulling him into a motherly hug. "It's good to see you up and about. You've always been one for quick recoveries. But I still want you to take it a bit easy, all right?"

"All right, Mrs. Weasley. I just wanted to show Ron Sirius's motorcycle. He's here, isn't he?"

"Of course, dear. He's in the kitchen," she said, stepping aside to allow the two into the house.

"Thanks!" Harry said brightly before hurrying to the kitchen. He flung open the door and stilled in shock as a flash went off.

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, Draco (who was holding Anna), Eloise, Neville, and Kota were all standing under a large, homemade banner that read, "Happy Birthday Harry!" shouting, "Surprise!"

"Oh my God," he choked out, taking a step back in shock, bumping into a grinning Sirius who gave him a gentle push forward into the room. He put a hand to his mouth and kept sputtering, "Oh my...oh my God...oh my God..."

"Such a wide range in vocabulary," came a sarcastic voice. Harry quickly looked over to the side of the room to find Snape standing with Laura, Remus and the Stensons, with Mr. Weasley capturing Harry's response on film, snapping pictures continuously.

Harry just looked around in complete shock, jaw hanging and eyes wide.

"But it's not my birthday," he protested breathlessly.

"Well, that's true, but we missed your actual birthday," Hermione said, beaming.

"And we figured this would make a much better surprise," Eloise added.

"I can't believe it. Oh my God," Harry said, just beginning to let everything sink in. "You didn't have to..."

"Harry," Ron interrupted quickly, slinging his arm across Harry's shoulders, "you're our friend. We wanted to give you a party."

"And," George threw in,"since you're honorary Weasley number eight, we're doing it Weasley style."

"Now, this fact might scare you, and it should," said Fred, "but it'll at least be memorable

"We wanted to have Ginny jump out of your birthday cake, but mum was opposed to the idea for some reason," Fred said quietly with an apologetic shrug.

Harry blushed deeply.

"We're going to try turning Snape's hair pink," George whispered into Harry's ear to make sure the Potions master didn't hear. Harry laughed and wished them luck with that.

"Harry, Harry, Harry," Anna shouted, hugging his knees until Harry looked down to acknowledge her. "Up!" she demanded, holding up her arms with a grin. Harry obliged and lifted the little girl up into his arms.

"I made you..." she rustled through her pockets and pulled out a wrinkled, folded piece of paper. "I made you a picture for your birthday!" she said proudly, unfolding the drawing and thrusting the piece of paper too close to his face.

Harry took it with his free hand and held it back to look at it. There were many different colored lines and odd shapes splattered across the page. Across the top of it, there was an H, a triangle, a single backwards R and a humungous Y to show who the picture was for.

"Look! Look! I spelled your name all by myself! Do you like it?" she asked eagerly.

"Oh wow, Anna, it's really lovely, thank you," Harry said, rapidly trying to figure out what it was. He looked up at those around him who were watching him in amusement. Laura looked especially sympathetic, no doubt having had to go through this many times before. Mrs. Weasley was smiling at him fondly, looking strangely wistful.

"What's your favorite part?" Anna asked eagerly.

"Um..." Harry started, trying to make sense out of the strange symbols. "That part," he concluded, randomly pointing to a misshapen, multi-colored blob in the middle of the page.

"Tell me what it is," Anna challenged, looking excitedly at the picture she'd drawn. Harry wondered if Anna even knew.

"Er..." He looked up at Laura desperately but she just shook her head helplessly. "A Bludger?" he guessed hopefully.

"No, silly, that's Miney doing my hair in pigtails, see? There's brown for Miney's hair and there's yellow for my hair." she said as if Harry was being stupid.

Hermione looked over Harry's shoulder at the picture to see Anna's rendition of her and grinned.

"Wow, Anna, that's really good," Hermione said, exchanging an amused look with Harry.

"I know," Anna said boastfully. Everyone looked up at Draco.

"What?" Draco asked indignantly. "If the girl's got talent she doesn't have to pretend to be modest."

Harry, Ginny and Hermione laughed. Anna giggled simply because Harry was laughing and buried her face in his shoulder. Even the Weasleys couldn't help but grin, a sign that they were finally getting to know not to take Draco seriously all the time.

"Come on, birthday boy," Eloise said finally, "let's head out back. We've got something quite interesting to show you. Kota's idea and very interesting."

Harry looked at Kota suspiciously but she only grinned happily.

Laura took Anna and distracted her by giving her to Snape.

The teenagers all ushered Harry outside and to the border of the woods. Just through the trees, Harry could see that they had dug a swimming hole, just like the one near the Lighthouse.

Harry looked back at them curiously but when he saw their mischievous expressions, immediately knew something else was going on.

Suddenly, Fred and George darted forward and grabbed Harry, picking him up between the two and Harry finally realized what they were doing.

He didn't even have time to protest before they tossed him into the swimming hole in all his clothes.

He came up sputtering and glaring at his laughing friends.

"So that was your brilliant idea, Kota?" Harry asked with a roll of the eyes as he treaded water.

"Taste it," she responded with an eager grin.

"Taste what?" Harry asked in confusion. "You mean the water?"

They all nodded.

Harry cautiously scooped up some of the water in his hand and sipped it.

"It's Butterbeer!" he exclaimed in surprise.

Suddenly there were splashes on all sides of him as everyone else started jumping in.

"Is this really Butterbeer?" Harry asked Fred.

"Yup, and we've charmed it to stay clean so it's perfectly safe to drink," he said, flipping onto his back and spitting out a spray of Butterbeer up into the air.

They all began goofing around in the water, but Harry noticed Draco was only sitting on the edge with his feet dangling in.

"Draco..."

"Hell no, Harry," Draco cut him off.

"But Dray..."

He didn't have to finish though because Fred and George popped up near his feet, grabbed his ankles and dragged him in with one tug.

"Ugh!" he exclaimed when he surfaced. "This cannot be sanitary."

He started to get out, but felt someone splash his back. He turned around with a glare and immediately picked out Ron as the culprit, who was sniggering shamelessly.

"Oh I don't think so, Weasley," Draco growled before jumping back in and splashing Ron in the face.

It soon became all out war.

I.................................................................................................I

Later, after having drying spells performed on them all, Harry and Eloise stood watching everyone interact.

Draco was showing the twins his tricks he had learn to deal with high-class society annoyances.

"Okay, when you have to kiss a girl's hand, but she's completely disgusting, you take her hand like this," he said, taking Kota's hand with his thumb resting across the top, "and kiss your own thumb. Even the girl can't tell you didn't kiss her nasty hand."

"Nasty hand?" Kota asked indignantly.

"Not yours," Draco said with a smirk, "more like the girls who you see wiping their noses on the backs of their hands and then hold them out for you to kiss."

"Lovely," Kota said, making a face. George took her hand and practiced Draco's trick, before kissing her hand for real to make sure she knew he didn't find her hand disgusting. "Oh, you're such a gentleman, Mr. Weasley," Kota said in a mock-high-class voice.

"Hey, I can be a gentleman," George insisted, sticking his chest out.

"Right," Kota said with a smirk. "I'll buy that when you pull out my chair for me and let me sit down on it rather than pull it out further to watch me fall on my bum."

George laughed. "That's a great idea, thanks!"

"I told you," Eloise said matter-of-factly to Harry, who had been watching the scene with amusement.

"Told me what exactly?" Harry asked.

"When you first told me you were friends with Malfoy, I told you that something randomly good was going to come out of this friendship with Malfoy. I was right; he saved your life. He helped save Ron's life. I also told you how I believed in karma, good things happening to good people in the end, and look at us all," she said gesturing around the room.

Harry looked around and smiled. She was right. Everything had turned out right in the end.

"Of course, we still have a few love lives to plan out. I think Malfoy's been avoiding me just because I offered him a free love-life consultation."

Harry chuckled.

"Oh, it looks like your love life's coming this way, so I'm going to go talk with Hermione," she said with a grin, before walking over to the bushy-haired girl.

"Hey birthday boy, want to help me get out silverware?" Ginny asked with a mischievous grin.

The two walked into the kitchen and Harry followed Ginny over to the silverware drawer. The two laughed and joked around, making each other lose count of their respective piles of silverware multiple times.

Harry yelped as Ginny poked him in the side with a spoon.

"You know, I'd retaliate, but I don't think it would have the same effect since I'm doing knives," Harry pointed out, holding up the handful of steak knives to show her.

"Yeah, that would just be so cute and romantic if you stabbed me with a steak knife," Ginny laughed.

Harry suddenly looked a little awkward and uncomfortable.

"So, what exactly are we? Are we, um, are we, uh, boyfriend and girlfriend?" he asked quietly and quickly so Ginny could barely make out what he was mumbling as he looked glanced at her with a nervous gaze.

"Well, do you want to be?" Ginny asked slyly, wanting to see Harry blush, which he sure enough did.

"Well, I mean, yeah, if you want to, because you don't have to and you might not want to and that's okay of course because you can change your mind or something and that's fine because it's really up to you but if you..."

Ginny chuckled and playfully pushed Harry up against the counter.

"Of course I want to. I always have, you idiot," she said with a mischievous, loving smile before pressing her lips against his.

It caught Harry by surprise at first, but he quickly relaxed into it, running his hand through her red hair as she buried her hand in his messy raven locks.

"EWWWW!!"

The two immediately broke apart and whipped their heads toward the doorway where Ron was covering his eyes and pretending to gag. Hermione stood next to him with a teary grin.

"Oh, it's about time!" she said happily.

"Ugh, I just saw Ginny snogging!" Ron said in disgust. He looked up at them. "You've got to warn next time or something because that's just disturbing. But 'Mione's right, it's about time!"

Harry and Ginny exchanged embarrassed looks.

"It's about time for what?" asked Fred as he and George paused in their run for more fireworks.

"Harry and Ginny are finally together," Hermione said with a contented sigh. "I've got to go tell Eloise. She's won a bet with Draco," she said before running out.

The twins walked over, grinning. They patted Harry on the back and vigorously shook his hand, much to Harry's mortification.

"Oh, Harry old boy," Fred said, slinging his arm over the emerald-eyed boy's shoulders. "I remember back to when you were a wee lad of eleven. George and I were your guides to the wizarding world..."

"You helped me get my trunk into my compartment," Harry reminded him.

"Yes yes, and you know why, Harry?" Fred asked, somehow sounding a lot like Dumbledore.

"Uhhh..."

"Because we knew," George continued, "that one day, love would conquer all."

Harry looked at him sympathetically. "Kota's been making you watch romance films, hasn't she?"

"Oh yes," George said. "I think she's hoping I'll learn a thing or two."

"And have you?"

"Well, I now know that in some scenarios, Muggles are supposed to express their feelings in random bursts of song, though where the background music comes from, and how everyone else in the vicinity seems to be able to join into the song, along with matching dance moves, I've yet to figure out."

"Now you have fun with our sister, Harry," said Fred.

"But not too much fun," George said. The two wiggled their eyebrows suggestively.

Mrs. Weasley hurried in, oblivious to what had just been going on.

"Come on outside. It's time for dinner!" she said.

"Hey Mum, guess what?" Fred said, shooting a mischievous grin at Harry and Ginny.

Harry's eyes widened and his face turned red, knowing what was coming.

"Harry and Ginny are dating," George informed her happily. "Now what were you saying about dinner?"

Mrs. Weasley gazed at Harry and Ginny, holding her breath, waiting for an indication that it was true.

When neither protested, she gasped in delight. She laughed happily and scooped the two into her arms and hugged them fiercely.

"Oh, that's so wonderful. That's so adorable. Now you really will be like part of the family, Harry!"

"Mum," Ginny muttered embarrassedly, "we're just dating, not getting married."

"Oh, of course. I know, darling," she said, though the look in her eyes informed them that she was thinking differently.

"Mum, leave poor Harry alone and let's feed him," Fred called.

"Right, of course. We need to put some more weight on you, dear. I do hope you like it," she said warmly.

"She worked harder on your birthday dinner and desert than I ever remember her working on any of ours," Ron informed him.

"Yeah, we think you're secretly her favorite," Fred said.

"Oh, you two stop it and help Harry and Ginny carry this silverware," she said before hurrying away, casting a fond smile back at Harry.

Ginny bit her lip and looked at Harry with an apologetic grin.

Harry laughed and gathered up the knives.

I................................................................................................I

Dinner was a fun affair, and Draco quietly admitted to Harry that he too thought Mrs. Weasley's cooking rivaled anything he'd tasted in high-class cuisine.

When the sun went down and dinner was done, Mrs. Weasley levitated out an unbelievably big cake, making it appear that Ginny jumping out of it wasn't such a far-fetched idea after all. Snape, Sirius, and Mr. Weasley carried out presents behind her.

Then, Harry was sung the birthday song for the first time in his life. Needless to say, the whole thing had Harry blushing extremely hard.

When he unwrapped his presents to find all his friends had chipped in to buy him the Lightningstrike 2000, he had been struck speechless as he gazed at the broom in awe. He took it for a zip around the yard and insisted that it was one of the defining moments of his life.

As the twins set up their fireworks, Eloise plopped down next to Harry on the grass.

"I almost forgot to ask you, how did the party go?" Harry asked, referring to the party he'd agreed to talk Neville into going to in return for Eloise's silence over the magazine thing. Of course, he still had no idea of Eloise's slight bit of treachery and was blissfully unaware that the Weasleys had gotten a hold of the magazine despite his efforts.

Eloise laughed. "Well, Neville was a bit nervous."

"Oh no," Harry said, knowing where this was headed.

"Oh yes. He knocked over this huge oriental screen at my aunt's house and it broke into about twenty pieces. That's not to mention the tray of Champaign he knocked into my grandmother and then there was the incident with him telling Mr. Darcy that he was pretty sure my uncle hated his job."

"Well, a lot of people hate their jobs so that's not that bad," Harry reasoned.

"Mr. Darcy is my uncle's boss."

"Ooh, ouch," Harry winced. "So do you regret inviting him?"

Eloise grinned. "No way. It was the most exciting one of those parties I've ever been to. My aunt and uncle weren't too fond of him, but my grandmother thinks he was offering her a drink and thinks she knocked the tray. She's a bit senile, but hey, she's rather fond of Neville. And then poor Neville was so upset and embarrassed over it and I had to spend hours reassuring him until we could both laugh about the whole thing." She sighed happily. "It's all exactly the way I wanted it."

"Flawed perfection," Harry found himself saying in vague surprise.

Eloise looked over at him curiously and nodded with a grin. "Yeah. Exactly. Flawed perfection. Isn't it wonderful?"

Harry watched as one of the fireworks Fred and George set off accidentally hit the table, blowing away all the food, causing Kota and Neville to break out in hysterics. Laura's and Snape's hands were folded together discretely under the table as they talked with the rest of the adults. Ron and Draco were bickering about something or other, but with the way Hermione and Ginny were giggling, Harry knew it wasn't a heated argument. Anna scrambled up to Harry as fast as her short legs would carry her and jumped into his lap, giving him a quick sloppy kiss on the cheek before settling in and watching as the twins set up their next firework. Ginny caught his eye and smiled at him before starting over with Hermione, Ron and Draco, the two boys still squabbling.

Harry grinned and let Anna pick up his hand to compare the size to her own.

"Yeah. It really is."

I.................................................................................................I

"Siri! I told you we were going to be late!" Harry laughed as his godfather pulled him along, racing through the train station.

"Well, I wanted to give you a homemade breakfast before you had to leave! Is it my fault the pancakes caught on fire?" Sirius asked, dodging a lady who huffed in exasperation.

"Well, you were the one who wanted to test if pancakes were flammable, so I'd say yes," Harry pointed out.

"Okay, I can't think of a good argument for that, but when I do, I'll owl you," Sirius said as they neared the platform, running straight through it as the train whistle began to sound.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were there, and motioned for them to hurry.

Sirius hugged Harry and said he'd try to visit before he died of boredom all alone at the Lighthouse.

"Oh quick, Harry, the train's going to leave," Mrs. Weasley said hurriedly. She grabbed him into a hug and kissed his cheek before shooing him along. Ron and Hermione opened one of the doors as the train began to move and motioned for Harry to hand them his trunk as he ran along side it down the platform. The two threw it behind them before each grasping one of Harry's arms and pulling him on. Harry turned around and waved to his godfather, for the first time feeling that he was going to school, with someplace warmer to return to for the holidays, where somebody would be genuinely happy to see him.

He finally had a loving home and a family, however quirky either might be.

Things couldn't be more perfect.

I............................................................................................I

A/N: THE END!!! SORT OF.... Lol, okay so there's still an EPILOGUE, so don't take me off the authors alert list quite yet. After that, I'm going to write a short sequely-thing...just a one-shot, so don't get too excited. It'll jump to their early twenties just to give you guys a glimpse at that. I'm not sure when it'll be out, but hopefully not too long. Also, I'll probably do a deleted scene of Harry talking to Snape and perhaps Sirius's full talk with Harry, since I didn't have time to put any of that in here. If there's anything you guys wanted to see in this fic but didn't, just email me or put it in a review and I'll write it and post it on my yahoo group. I'm looking for things to write for contest prizes so I'm open to ideas. Okay, my sis just got asked to prom by a guy she doesn't want to go with, so I have to go do girl talk. Please review?????