Harry Potter woke with a start, twisted in rope-like tangles of sweat-soaked sheet, in a dark bedroom of Number 12, Grimmauld Place. He took a deep, shuddering breath and began to disentangle himself from his sheet. Across the room, Ron Weasley muttered in his sleep and rolled over, hitting the wall with a dull thud. With a sigh, Harry rolled over, but he could not sleep.

Morning came sooner than Harry had thought it would. There was a faint scent of breakfast coming from the kitchen - Mrs. Weasley was up already. Ron stretched, grunted "G'morning Harry," and yawned widely.

Harry yawned, too. "Hey - er - Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you, er, did I - last night, did you hear anything odd?"

"No, why?" said Ron, looking puzzled. "Was Kreacher in here or something? If he was I'll murder him, the little b-"

"Actually, Harry, I heard something last night." said Hermione from the doorway. She walked in and sat on the end of Ron's bed. "You yelled in your sleep again. You were dreaming about Sirius."

Harry said nothing. The summer was almost over - nearly two months had passed since Harry had been deceived by Lord Voldemort and had lead his friends and fellow students Neville, Hermione, Ron, Luna, and Ginny into the Department of Mysteries. Two months it had been since he had faced Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters - and escaped once again. But none of that mattered. It had been, for Harry, two months since he had lost the closest thing to a father he had ever known. Sirius.

And it had been his fault. No matter what Dumbledore said, it was his fault.

He wanted desperately to talk about Sirius, but at the same time he couldn't bear it. Even talking to Ron and Hermione was hard. And they were his two best friends who had helped him rescue Sirius from a fate worse than death in their third year at Hogwarts.

He looked up, and saw Hermione and Ron regarding him with concerned expressions.

"Harry, mate," began Ron, "You know you can talk to us. We understand."

"Do you?" said Harry sharply. "I suppose you both know just how I feel, right?"

"Harry," said Hermione reluctantly, "We miss Sirius, too."

"You think you do, yeah?" said Harry in a dangerously low voice. "You both know how it feels? HOW IT IS TO LOSE THE CLOSEST THING TO A PARENT YOU'VE EVER HAD?"

He hadn't meant to start shouting. "Sorry." He muttered, not meeting their eyes.

"I think you need to talk about it, Harry. Otherwise you'll never heal. I'm going down to breakfast." Hermione stated. She left abruptly and clattered down the stairs.

"Sorry, Ron, I -"

"S'ok," said Ron gruffly, "Maybe I don't understand. But you're my best mate Harry, so I'm still going to try." With that he rose and followed Hermione to the kitchen, with Harry following close behind.

"In your pajamas? Still!" Molly Weasley raised her eyebrows, tossing toast to their plates as they sat down. "Eat your toast! Hurry! Get a move on! We're going to Diagon Alley today for your school things!"

Fifteen minutes later, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny were dressed and waiting in the entrance way.

"All ready? Good, good…. We just have to wait for Remus and Tonks - they're coming with us." Molly said.

At half past ten, they were on their way.