"Daddy, when are they coming?" Abyan asked, peering at Platform 9 3/14 intently from Harrison's shoulders.
"Soon honey, they have to let them out gradually to not make a scene."
"I wish he was here now; we've waited so long to see him!"
"I know," Tom answered. They were silent for a while. Tom and Harrison were brought out of their revere by a squeal from Abyan.
"He's here!" she exclaimed, scrambling over Harrison's head and leaping deftly to the floor.
"Be careful!" Harrison cried but Abyan was already half way to an unbenowned Harry. She threw her arms around his knees before he even noticed she was there.
"Harry!" she said, hugging him tightly.
"Abby!" he smiled, picking her up and giving her a proper hug.
"I've missed you so, so, so, so, so, so, so much," she cried, punctuating each "so" with a slobbery kiss on the cheek. Harry wiped her spit from his face but the grin never left his lips. Hermione and Ron came up behind him. Harry turned around and Abby squealed again. "Hermione! Ron!"
"Hey Abby," Hermione smiled. "I like your dress."
"Thanks, I picked out Gryfindor colors especially for today. I said it right right?" she asked Harry with such sincerity that his heart burst.
"Yep, you said it perfectly."
"Come here Abby," Ron opened his arms wide for a hug and Abyan leapt from Harry's arms to Ron's.
"I heard you got on the Quirditch team."
"Yeah, I'm Chaser for Gryfindor," Ron answered, blushing.
"Well, I bet you're the best chaser that's ever lived!" Abby whispered in his ear, causing him to blush even more. By this time Harrison and Tom had caught up with Abyan.
"Harry!" Harrison exclaimed, catching Harry in a bone crushing hug. "It's so good to see you. There's been a scarcity of letters lately." Harry blushed, how could he explain? Luckily he was saved coming up with an explanation by Tom who mirrored Harrison with an even stronger hug.
"Hello Hermione, Ron. Where are your parents?" With a worried sideways look Hermione smiled.
"My parents are right over there," she pointed at Dr. and Dr. Granger coming toward her.
"Uh, my Dad got in a bit of an accident and Mum's at the hospital with him. My brother Bill will be by in a minute to pick up me and Ginny. Have you ever met my sister?" As if on que, Ginny walked over with a taught expression.
"Where's Bill Ron?"
"He should be here any minute. Have you met Harry's parents?" Ginny shook her head, looking at Harrison and Tom.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. and err, Mr. Um-"
"Please, call me Tom," Tom shook her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Ginny."
"I'm Harrison, nice to meet you." Ginny tried her best not to look stressed out but it didn't really work. Ever since the night Harry saw the vision and all of the Weasleys along with Hermione had spent the night at Sirius's Ginny had been ashen. It had nearly killed when Dumbledore sent them all back to school. It'd nearly killed Sirius too for that matter.
"What happened to your Dad?"
"Snake bite, he's at hospital," Ron answered, hoping his answer to be sufficient.
"I'm sorry, I hope he's okay."
"He'll be fine." Ron hastened. Harry had explained the extent of their knowledge. He'd told them everything up to Sirius. They knew about the Chamber of Secrets and the Sorcerer's Stone. After that, though, the explanations had run out. Things had grown more complicated then just good against evil. They didn't know about Voldemort's rebirth or Sirius and Remus. They didn't know about Peter's betrayal or anything past Voldemort killing the Potters and leaving poor Harry.
"There's Bill," Ron sighed in relief. He walked over and reached Bill with Abyan still in his arms. It was only when Bill pointed this out that Ron noticed.
"Uh, Ron, last time I checked, I only had one sister and no nieces."
"Oh! Sorry Abby," Ron exclaimed.
"It's okay Ron! Hi, I'm Abyan Barkler, who are you?" Abyan asked, extending her hand to Bill.
"I'm Bill Weasley, Ron's oldest brother. Who do you belong to?"
"I'm Harry's sister." Bill smiled and nodded.
"Where are Fred and George?" Bill asked.
"They should be here in a minute," Ginny answered. "See, they're coming now." Fred and George clambered up to Bill with their trunks in hand.
"Oh hey Abby," they smiled, pulling a few sweets from their pockets. "Why don't you take these and go back to Harry. Maybe we'll see you sometime before we go back." Abby grinned and took the sweets.
"Happy Christmas!" she yelled, waving over her back at the grim group of Weasleys. They smiled and waved in response. She walked back to Harry and climbed onto his trunk. He and Hermione were having a discussion in low voices while Daddy and Papa were chatting it up with Dr. and Dr. Granger.
"Hermione, I'm worried. I have no idea how to tell my parents let alone Abby. I'm afraid they're going to be hurt either way. Papa won't be able to handle Sirius and that's without the rest of it. I don't want to bring them into this but if they're going to be in danger then I feel obligated."
"I know," Hermione brushed Harry's arm sympathetically (in a strictly friend-friend way). "But really, what are you going to do about Sirius? He'll be heart broken if you don't come for at least one day. I don't think he understands that you really do have live parents."
"I know! I don't know what to do and, for the first time, I can't ask my parents for help. This is so confusing. I feel guilty about Cedric and they don't even know! I'm also afraid that if they find out about all this stuff they're going to pull me out of Hogwarts. They don't get the vast scale of it all."
"Harry, come on, let's go. I'll get your trunk, you get Abby," Tom called finally. Hermione squeezed Harry's hand. Harry turned and grabbed Abby off the trunk. He smiled at her.
"How was your autumn?"
"Good," Abyan responded softly. What did Harry mean? Who was serious and about what? Why couldn't he tell any of them? Against what did they have to be protected?
Harry hugged Abyan closer to his body as they stepped into the cool, winter air outside the train station. The streets were thick with people carrying bags and packages. Black taxies sped around like ants and big, red, double-decker busses maneuvered their way through the car-choked streets. Over the past three years everything had become so confusing.
On the car ride home Harry and Abyan were silent. This was not lost on their parents who tried gamely to lighten the mood and failed miserably. "We've left the tree for decorating and I was thinking we could go out to dinner tonight, how does that sound Harry?"
"Good," Harry answered, trying his best to smile. He was worried about Sirius and Mr. Weasley.
"Abby, why don't you tell Harry about your Christmas performance on Christmas Eve?"
"I'll tell him later."
"I'd like to hear all about it," Harry smiled at Abby.
"Later," she answered definitively. They again fell silent and remained that way till they pulled up in front of the house.
"Harry, why don't you hurry up and change. Just something a little more dressy then that," Tom requested, sending Harry up the stairs to his room. It had changed a lot over the years. He had abandoned the Spider Man wallpaper in favor of simple, red paint. His race car bed had been long since forsaken replaced by a double, wrought iron, sleigh bed that had been bought without his knowledge. He had Chudley Cannons posters up all over his wall and a closet full of cloths he would never wear. A full length mirror stood opposite the closet and was also very seldom used.
"What's wrong with what I've got on?" Harry wondered aloud. He was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt that he thought perfectly fine but when Papa said change, changing was the only option. He fingered through his closet till he found a pair of kakis and a green sweater. He pulled on both and changed his tennis to brown, dress shoes. After raking a distracted hand through his hair, he left the room with his trunk on the floor. He got half way down the stairs before remembering his wand. It wouldn't do to be anywhere now without it, especially now.
"Are you almost ready Harry?" Harrison called up the stairs.
"Yeah, I'll be down in a minute," Harry replied with a holler. He grabbed his wand out of his jeans pocket and slipped it up the sleeve of his sweater. He then bounded down the stairs to his awaiting family. They were all in winter coats and gloves including Abby who was wearing a purple dress coat with matching gloves and hat.
"Now that looks much better," Tom praised. "Here's your hat and gloves. We have to hurry or they'll give away our table." Harry pulled on the corduroy coat and wool gloves before following his parents and sister out the door. They piled into the car and were off in a flash.
"Where are we going?" Harry asked
"Floriana, you'll like it. It's Italian and there's live music and everything." Tom answered.
"Do I like Italian food Papa?" Abby asked curiously. She seemed to have forgotten the conversation she overheard.
"Yes dear."
"Harry, do you think I'm a witch?"
"I don't know, have you ever done any magic?" Abyan shrugged. It was another quiet ride to the restaurant which looked quite ritzy. They were lead inside and seated.
"So Harry, how was your semester?" Harrison asked, looking over the menu casually. Harry had to think hard. How had his semester been? Stressful would be a word to describe it. Yes, stressful, he'd just have to lie about the reason for the stress.
"It was stressful," he answered, not making eye contact.
"Why, was the school work hard?" Tom asked.
"Yeah, it was really hard. OWLs are coming up this year. They're big and they determine the classes you'll be able to take 6th and 7th years."
"Oh, sounds bad. I hope they're not working you too hard." Harry ordered oysters on a bed of angel hair pasta drizzled with a white whine sauce. Abyan ordered ravioli . Harrison and Tom split a plate of spaghetti. It was a quiet affair for the most part, that is till Tom decided to open his mouth a bit further.
"So how exactly did Ron's father get bitten by a snake. It seemed a bit more serious then they made it out to be. Was it like the basilisk in your second year?" Harry answered before thinking.
"No, it wasn't a basilisk at all."
"What was it then?" Harrison asked, his eyebrows raised. Harry mentally punched himself.
"It's kind of hard to explain." Harry answered, his eyes downcast.
"Try us," Tom replied with a slight edge to his voice. He'd always been able to tell when Harry was hiding something.
"I'd rather not go into the details. It's just too complicated to explain to somebody on the outside," the words flowed from his mouth before he had time to reel them back in. He immediately regretted saying "outsiders" though that's exactly what they were, rather over informed outsiders.
"Well maybe we wouldn't be "outsiders" if you'd fill us in a bit more," Tom countered, looking emotional.
"Look, I'm sorry but this is just too big to explain okay. Everything's just gotten so huge and I don't want you to worry or perhaps be endangered, especially Abby." Abyan came in before either of her fathers.
"Who is serious?" of course she didn't know that "serious" was a name. She assumed somebody meant something seriously but it had done it's damage. All eyes turned to Harry who's face was growing red. Not being able to answer Harry left the table and the restaurant. He needed to think.
A/N- I think I'm cranking these chappies out compared to my previous lack of updating, what do you think? Anyway, things are quickly changing from comedy to drama. I wanted to really analyze what would go on (getting a bit to serious?). Anyway I hope you enjoyed and I'd love you to review!
