A/N: Welcome to the last chapter of Adflictation Lair! We hope you truly enjoy it!
I………………………I
Chapter 20: Forever Falling
It took a while for Harry to get over the initial shock that the reporters had forced upon him and soon curiosity replaced it. Why are we driving a car? Couldn't we have just flooed or used a portkey? It was just all a bit too strange for Harry.
He must have fallen asleep because Harry was woken up to strong arms trying to maneuver him out of the car. "What's going on?" he mumbled, trying to wake up.
"It's alright Harry, it's just Mr. Weasley, and I'm going to get you in this wheelchair and take you up to the Burrow, is that alright?"
Harry nodded his head. "Yeah…"
He felt himself be lowered into the chair and pushed inside the Burrow. The Burrow brought back a lot of happy memories that Harry had, and now that he was here, he didn't know if he would ever be like that again- happy. The word sounded so foreign to Harry.
Mrs. Weasley bombarded Harry as soon as she saw Mr. Weasley pushing him in. "Oh, Harry, dear!" she exclaimed. "Did you have a nice nap? Are you still tired? I could give you a snack and you could have another nap. How's that?"
Truthfully, Harry was still immensely tired. He didn't know why he had to sleep so much. It was really starting to worry him.
"Sure," he responded.
Mrs. Weasley prepared Harry a small snack which he ate quickly. All he wanted to do right now was get to bed and sleep- sleep until all the pain would go away. But Harry knew that no amount of sleep would do that.
"Harry, do you think you can walk up the stairs? Ron and Hermione said that you had trouble with your leg that other day..."
"Yes," snapped Harry. He hadn't meant to be so cross, but why did everyone have to know everything that went wrong with them. "Yes, I can walk up the stairs."
Mrs. Weasley nodded her head, tears burning in her eyes. "Alright, love, I'll be behind you just incase."
It took Harry an immensely long time to walk up the stairs. Walking up them seemed to aggravate his burn and it was now hurting more than it had when he had taken a walk with Ron and Hermione.
Harry turned to walk into Ron's room, when Mrs. Weasley stopped him. "No, Harry, you're not staying in there. You're going to stay in here, love."
Harry's eyes grew wide. "But-but that's Percy's room. I couldn't-I can't-"
"Not any more…" Mrs. Weasley opened the room- and she was right, this wasn't Percy's room anymore. The Weasley's had all gotten together and gave Harry his own room. It looked liked Mrs. Weasley had knitted him a comforter with snitches on it. Ron had been nice enough to give Harry some of his Chudley Cannons posters to make Harry's room looked more comfy. He had a dresser which was already full of his clothes and his trunk was stuck back in a corner of the room. Last but not least was a desk, full of all of his school supplies.
"Wow," he whispered. "You did all this for me?" He asked in awe as he went down and sat next to the bed, fingering the new comforter gently.
"It was Ron's idea. He said that you never really had a room of your own. He helped get this organized. I made the quilt and he did the rest. The furniture is from Hermione; her parents had some extra and let her use it for this room. The books over there are also some of Hermione's."
It touched Harry's heart to know that his friends cared about him enough to go through all of this work for him. "It's great, I love it. But, what about Percy? Are you sure you want me to have this room?"
Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Oh, well, I think Ron sent him a very rude Howler and the next day Percy came over and took all of his stuff out. It's okay, Harry. Percy was never going to come back to us. You're more like a son to us, anyway."
"It's great, thanks Mrs. Weasley." He felt touched at her worlds.
"I'm glad you like it, Harry. Ready for that nap?"
Harry nodded his head as he climbed into his new bed. It was almost more comfy than the one at Hogwarts. "The bed is great," he sighed.
Mrs. Weasley got up and tucked Harry in, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Harry, is there anything that you need to talk about? Something looks like it's bothering you?"
Harry averted his eyes to the ceiling. "I dunno…"
"Harry, I promise I won't tell anyone. It would do you good to get something off of your chest."
Harry closed his eyes. "I just-I don't want the Ministry to get me. I don't want to live there."
Mrs. Weasley sighed. Sometimes Dumbledore really infuriated her. Couldn't he tell that Harry was worrying about this problem more then ever? She wished Dumbledore had not told Harry anything. "Oh, Harry. We'll sort it out. Don't worry; I won't let anyone take you away. I promise."
He cracked open his eyes; halfway. "Alright, I trust you."
He must have been half asleep when he said that because two seconds later, his eyes were closed and he was in a deep slumber. She didn't believe when Harry told her he trusted her, after all he had gone through when they were supposed to watch him. He shouldn't trust anyone.
I………………………..I
Harry had just finished getting dressed when he heard a knock at his bedroom door. "Come in," he called.
To Harry's surprised Fred and George walked in, but something was wrong. For one of the first times that Harry could remember, they were not smiling. In fact, they seemed-depressed.
"Um, hi." Truthfully, Harry didn't know how to start a conversation with them. The last time they had talked, he had blown up at them-telling them that they weren't true friends.
"Sit down on the bed, Harry. We need to talk to you," said George as he went to go sit next to the bed.
"Oh, um, well you know, I'm kind of busy right now. I better get going-"
"Harry," started George so furiously Harry stopped his descent towards the door and set himself on top of his new bed.
Harry rubbed his neck out of nervousness, trying to quell the shaking that had started in his hands. Why was he so scared? It's not like they were going to hurt him or anything, but then again he had just yelled at them.
"Harry we just wanted to come and tell you that we're sorry for the way we acted at St. Mungo's the other day, it was wrong of us to try and get you to talk about the Dursley's. We should have waited; you've been through so much stuff and we just piled more on top of that," sighed Fred.
Harry brought his head up. They weren't mad at him. He couldn't believe it. They were actually apologizing
"Harry, you may not know this but you are like a brother to us. We would do anything for you. You are an honorary Weasley, except for that black hair, that is," Fred smiled.
"Thanks…"
"But Harry, before we leave you we need to tell you something-or well ask something of you," muttered George.
"What's that?"
"We just wanted to let you know, that if you ever need to talk to anyone. That we'll be there. Or you can talk to just George or me. Whomever you feel like. We won't tell anyone what you said, strictly confidential," smiled Fred.
"Oh, thanks, really. But I think I'm okay. All healed and all," lied Harry. He wasn't close to being healed, but he wasn't about to divulge that to Fred and George.
"That's not what we're talking about Harry. We're talking about the emotional part of you-the part of you that hasn't healed yet."
"How do you know it hasn't? I'm fine," said Harry defiantly.
"Harry, quit lying. We know you; we can tell when you're lying. We aren't going to get in another fight over this. So that's all we're going to say. We are here if you need us, Harry."
Harry looked next to him, at both Fred and George. "I know," he replied. But there was no way he would ever talk to anyone about his problems. He was going to keep them secret- secret like he had the Dursley's. There would be no way that any one would find out how he was feeling. He had already put his friends in too much pain, he wasn't about to do it again.
Mrs. Weasley walked through the door with a grin on her face. "Dinner, dears."
Fred and George smiled at each other "Fabulous! We've been starving," laughed Fred.
The two boys stood up and helped Harry off of the bed. "Dinner time at the Weasley's- always a blast," George added.
The three walked to the kitchen, Fred and George on either side of Harry, helping him along slowly. They reached the kitchen assisted Harry as he sat the end of the bench at the table.
As soon as Harry sat down the rest of the Weasley's seemed to file in around him. Ron and Hermione sat across the table, with Fred and George to one side of him and Mrs. Weasley to the other. Mr. Weasley and Ginny sat at the opposite end of the table.
Mrs. Weasley smiled brightly. "Now we have an especially nutritious meal today," she said happily as she started dumping food onto Harry's plate.
On the small table there seemed to be every single fruit and vegetable imaginable, complete with pots of different soups and salads.
"Oh mum," George complained, "Nobody wants to eat any of this nutritional junk."
Mrs. Weasley shot her red-headed son a deathly glance. "Well, I thought it was important today for us to all eat just a little bit healthier."
Harry felt his cheeks burn red, realizing that Mrs. Weasley had cooked especially for his designated diet. "You know, Mrs. Weasley, you didn't have t-"
"Oh, but Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley interrupted, "I wanted to; nobody has had a truly healthy meal in this household for years."
Harry felt his cheeks grow an even darker shade of red.
"So how's the room, Harry? Is it comfortable?" Ron asked, desperate to get the conversation off of food.
Harry smiled gratefully at his friend and nodded his head. "Yes, it's great. Very comfy."
"I'm glad. I was kind of nervous about whether or not you would like it," Ron said happily.
"Oh, no worries," Harry said quietly.
The rest of dinner continued in a sort of awkward silence, with Ron and Hermione throwing a few questions at Harry every once in a while.
"Well, I'm, um, quite exhausted," Harry said once he was tired of the awkwardness and Mrs. Weasley shoving food down his throat. "I think I'm just going to head up to bed."
"Oh, Harry before you go I have to give you some potions," Mrs. Weasley said, slightly disappointed that Harry hadn't eaten more.
"Oh, um, me and Hermione can go with Harry. The doctors in the hospital taught us what he needed and everything," Ron volunteered, sensing the distress in his mother's voice and not wanting to subject Harry to his mother's constant persistence of his eating habits.
Hermione quickly nodded her head. "Yeah, it's no problem."
Mrs. Weasley nodded her head, "Alright dears, but please do be careful that you don't overdo it."
"No problem, mum," Ron complied as he rose from the table and helped Harry to his feet. Hermione followed suit and together the three headed up the stairs.
I………………………………………..I
Hermione smiled and walked back over to where Ron sat on the small settee. She quietly sighed and glanced at Ron, a glimmer of happiness in her eyes. "He's asleep," she whispered.
Ron tiredly nodded his head.
"Which means," Hermione continued, "that we can do whatever we want for the next few minutes."
Hermione smugly smiled as she kissed Ron passionately. Ron suddenly pulled away and stood up as Hermione looked at him in shock.
"Listen Hermione, I just don't think that we should right now," Ron said quietly.
Hermione looked at him in disbelief. "What?"
"I don't think we should be together right now," Ron couldn't believe his own voice.
Hermione sat in silence for a moment. "Why? Because of Harry?"
Ron nodded his head. "He needs me- us right now, more then ever. If we're doing what we've been doing, we can't give him the attention that he needs. Remember what happened last time? He got kidnapped. I don't even want to think about what will happen this time around."
Tears started to stream down Hermione's face. "I-I can't believe you're breaking up with me. Ron, I love you."
Ron once again sat down next to Hermione, taking her hands in his own. "And I love you, more than you can ever imagine. But Harry's my best friend; I have to be there for him."
Hermione nodded her head, "I know. It's just so hard, I always thought we would grow up and get married and you know, and have children."
Ron brushed a tear from Hermione's cheek. "Hermione, we still will do all of that. Don't think of this as breaking up, we're just taking a break to help Harry."
Hermione sadly looked at Ron, "I understand."
Ron took Hermione and held her in his arms, silently brushing her bushy hair with his fingers, as tears leaked from her eyes.
"I, um, think I'm going to go to bed now. Big day tomorrow," Hermione said quietly, standing from the settee.
"Okay, love, have a good night sleep," Ron whispered.
Hermione silently nodded her head and turned to leave the room.
"'Mione?"
"Yeah?"
"You still my girl?"
"Always," Hermione whispered.
I………………………………………I
"I'm so bored," cried Ron, "Can't we please do something other than read?"
Hermione looked up from her book with a frown. "Ron, you know that you need to study!"
"Yes, but not all the time. It's summer vacation! We shouldn't be studying all the time! Don't you agree, Harry?"
"Hmmm..."
"I take that as a yes! Come out, let's go outside we can play some-we can just hang out, okay? Please, Hermione?"
"Fine! But we're going to study some more later on," she demanded.
"Deal."
As the trio walked outside, Ron had decided that he wanted to go sit next to the lake. They were, now all huddled next to each other. Everyone had taken their shoes off, their feet now wadding in the cool water.
"It's so hot out here!" exclaimed Ron.
"Yes, we know Ron," said Hermione. "Are you feeling okay, Harry? Is your leg hurting you? It was quite a long walk."
"Yeah, it's okay," said Harry, not fully telling the truth.
"You know, do you think that cloud over there looks like a ferret? Reminds me of Malfoy," wondered Ron as he pointed his finger up to the sky, pointing out a cloud that did surprisingly look like a ferret.
Hermione laughed. "Yeah, it really does. What do you think, Harry?"
"Malfoy, the amazing, bouncing ferret. That just never gets old…" he laughed as he lay down on the ground, Ron and Hermione following suit.
"Oh! Does that one look like a book to you?" squealed Hermione in delight.
"Oh, please, Hermione that does not look like a book."
Hermione pouted. "Fine, what does it look like, then?"
"A box or something. It's way too square to be a book. Honestly, Hermione. Harry, please, help me out of this."
"Well, I think that cloud over there looks like an owl."
Hermione and Ron looked to where he was pointing. "Oh, yeah, Harry that looks, like an owl."
"Hermione?"
"Oh, Harry, its looks like Hedwig."
Harry cracked a smile. "You guys are such bad liars. That doesn't look like an owl at all."
Hermione laughed at Harry's joke as she got a good look at him. This may be fun and games now, but she could tell-Harry was only putting up and act. He wasn't happy, he was just acting it. Right, now, Harry was scared, more so than every before and she could do nothing about it.
"Hey guys!" a voice called from near the Burrow. Ginny came bounding over to them.
"Hey Harry," she said in a softer whisper.
"Hey," Harry said back, surprised that Ginny was talking to him.
"Well, listen Harry, about earlier at the hospital- I'm sorry. I wasn't really thinking with my head," Ginny apologized.
"No, it's alright- it was my fault. I was just, ya know," Harry added quietly, his cheeks growing red as he thought about how he had yelled at Ginny.
"What do you say? No harm, no foul?" Ginny asked with a small grin.
"Deal," Harry added, with his own small smile.
"Well, I'm going to head in now. Ron, Hermione, it's getting kind of late. You should come in soon," Ginny said with a sly wink.
Ron and Hermione nodded their heads in acknowledgment. "We'll be in soon, just give us a few more moments."
"Great," Ginny said with an excited squeal as she ran off towards the Burrow.
Harry looked at her awkwardly, "What was that about?" he asked in confusion.
"Oh, it's nothing," Hermione said a little too hurriedly. "It's nothing- Ginny, ya know, crazy girl- been giddy all day," she finished lamely.
Harry looked at Ron and Hermione suspiciously, the two were acting kind of odd.
Ron looked at Hermione, "It is getting kind of dark. We should head inside."
"Yeah, definitely. Come on, Harry, supper will be finished soon," Hermione added, helping him carefully to his feet.
The trio once again walked up the small hill towards the Burrow.
"You, know," Harry began as they approached and entered the back door to the old house, "you two have been acting very odd the last few-"
"Surprise!" everyone cheered, jumping out from behind couches and tables.
Harry stood astounded, his jaw dropped wide open. He surveyed the large crowd; everyone he had ever known in his lifetime seemed to have been there. Neville stood at the front of the group, along with Ginny, Fred, George, Seamus, and Dean Thomas. Behind them was an even larger group of Gryffindors, including Lavender Brown, Parvati and Padma Patil, Colin and Dennis Creevey, and the entire Quidditch team.
Harry's eyes wondered to the order, with McGonagall standing with a small grin on her lips as Tonks smiled brightly. Moody stood with them, as well as Kingsley, Bill and Charlie Weasley, and the rest of the Order. Harry's eyes flickered to the back of the room where Dumbledore stood with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
He turned to Ron and Hermione who were both had large smiles on their faces at Harry's shocked look.
"But-but I don't understand? Why- what is this for?" Harry whispered to Ron.
"Harry, it's your birthday today," Ron said happily.
Harry's jaw dropped even wider. "I had completely forgotten," he whispered back.
Ron laughed, "Well, we didn't. Happy birthday, Harry."
A tear threatened to drip down Harry's cheek. He had never had a birthday party before, much less even expected anyone to want to come to a birthday party for him.
He once again looked at the crowd of people standing in front of him. "I-I don't know what to say. Thank you," he whispered slowly.
Mrs. Weasley clung to a tissue at the back of the room, tears leaking from her eyes at Harry's reaction. "Well, um, everyone, we have food set up in the kitchen and tables outside if you want to sit and chat. Feel free to do whatever you want," she finished.
The crowd started to disperse throughout the house, the adults mostly went and sat outside in the cool air as the children sat inside the house, chatting and gossiping about all that was going on in the wizarding world.
Harry sat on the large settee in the living room, as his Gryffindor roommates bombarded him with news of the Quidditch season.
"Well, things are really shaping up for Ireland right now. They got a new seeker named Johnson or something, anyways he's really great- can't wait for the next match up with him and Krum- should be exciting," Seamus said in one breath.
"I haven't really had time to keep up with all of this, how are the Cannons doing?" Ron asked Seamus.
"Oh, the Cannons, they're kind of falling behind. It's not all they're fault; they have got to get a new keeper! Soon, to, if they ever expect to go anywhere. I'm telling you Rony couldn't see an elephant coming his way, even if it was thrown right at him-"
"I honestly don't see what's so fascinating about that stupid sport. Now if it were soccer, I'd be interested," Dean interrupted.
"Oh shut up you twit," Seamus angrily said, "Harry doesn't give a damn about that stupid muggle sport. Oh Harry! Speaking of which, it's rumored that you're going to be the next Gryffindor team captain- you're going to lead us to the Quidditch Cup, I can just feel it," Seamus said in a dramatic tone.
Harry smiled sadly, "Well I-"
"Don't know for sure," Ron interrupted, knowing Harry wasn't ready to spread the news of his leg, quite yet. Harry smiled at him gratefully. "No one is going to know for sure until McGonagall makes the announcement. "Now back to the Cannons- could it possibly be their strategy that's making them lose? I did notice last year that they seemed to be slipping on quite a few moves."
"Well, no, it's their keeper! I'm telling you…"
From outside Dumbledore watched Harry through the window of the Burrow. The older man sat alone at a picnic table, picking at a small plate of food.
Mrs. Weasley walked up to him, a smile on her face. She looked too looked at Harry through the window, her smile slowly fading.
"Albus?"
"Yes, Molly," Dumbledore diverted his eyes away from the window to Molly.
"Do you think he's going to be alright?" Mrs. Weasley asked, her voice sugared in concern.
"I think that he needs to heal right now. He needs time; unfortunately I'm not sure how much time we're going to have."
Mrs. Weasley gulped, "What do you mean?"
"Harry's going to have a hard time. It's horrible going through everything that he has been through, but now he's going to be reflecting on it- no matter how much he tries to block it from his mind, it's always going to be there. According to Ron, the nightmares about Adflictation Lair have already begun- they're going to get worse and worse the more he thinks about that dreadful place.
But right now would be the ideal time for Voldemort to attack- right as he knows Harry is weak. Horrible things are going to happen Molly, to Harry, it's inevitable. I often think and dream about how I would do anything to take on the burdens that Harry carries. He's so young, so innocent, and I think in some way he actually feels he deserves all of this."
Molly once again stared at Harry through the window. "I love him, Albus. I love him as my son, I sometimes feel as though he's my own flesh and bones. I would do anything for him- I just wish I could get him to see that."
"He sees something, otherwise he wouldn't have come back to us. Harry is a very-"
"Fireworks! The fireworks show is about to begin!" George shouted above the crowd, interrupting Dumbledore.
Harry and his friends made his way to the Burrow's backyard and sat down on the green lawn. The sky was dark and the stars illuminated the sky with a spectacular glow.
Harry sat in between Ron and Hermione. His face with a bright smile as fireworks lit up the sky. Gryffindor colors sprouted from many of the sparks in the most stunning shapes and sizes he had ever seen.
Ron and Hermione would never forget the moment they watched their best friend's eyes brighten as one amazing firework followed the next.
"Wow! Fred and George certainly know what they're doing!" Harry yelled to Ron over the sounds of the explosive gun powder.
"Yeah, the certainly do- look at that!" Ron shouted at Harry pointing up at the sky.
The words 'Happy Birthday to Harry Potter- the Boy Who Lived!' illuminated the seemingly endless sky.
"That's you Harry! The boy who lived!" Ron said with a bright smile at his best friend.
Harry turned back towards the show as his smile flickered from his face. A tear ran down his cheek. "No," he whispered to himself. "Harry Potter- the boy who just wouldn't die."
I……………………………..I
A/N: Congratulations! You have now survived Adflictation Lair! Thank you all so much for reading our fic and hopefully enjoying it. If you liked Adflictation Lair, you'll definitely have to check out our sequel entitled drum roll please Tortured Imagination, coming to you sometime in August.
Pandas rule the world- Thank you so much for your review! Yes, Ginny was harsh to Harry. The way we write her in the story is our take of her from the book- basically bossy, demanding, and she actually thinks she can relate to Harry rolls eyes No one can relate to the pain that Harry has gone through- not even Ginny.
Harryginnyluv4ever- We hope we've updated soon enough- of course we had to go with the dramatic exit by finishing our story the day before HBP came out, lol. We're glad you liked the last line- it's so true! The world does love Harry Potter- how could you not? Unless, of course, you're he-who-must-not-be-named…
Centra-gal86- Don't you just hate the paparazzi? Especially when they attack our favorite, young, raven-haired boy… Thank you so much for your review! We hope that you enjoy the sequel as much as you said you liked this story! It's going to be awesome so make sure you tune in for it!
Christina- Thank you so much for your review! You're so nice. We both love Mrs. Weasley's warm and loving character. She's one of our favorites to write. She just has this motherly glow about her and Harry seems to look up to her as a mother. Thanks again!
HaRryRoXmUhSoX- Thank you so much for your review! How was your trip to New Orleans? We hope it went well! We're so glad you liked the chapter! We had to find some big loss for Harry in our sequel and Quidditch just seemed to work perfectly. We're mean authors and we just LOVE to torture Harry in any way that we can find Mwahahaha
Phorycs- Thank you so much for your compliment on how well we torture Harry! That means so much to us! Torturing Harry, sadly, is actually a lot of fun for us. We get to put our favorite character in all of literary history through all of this pain and agony and it gives us loads of pleasure… hmmm…
Charl1e- Now, if we're not mistaken, you are one of the few and amazing who have stuck with us since chapter 1 of Adflictation Lair. Which means that you have a very- VERY special place in our hearts. Thank you so much for being so great and always encouraging us with your reviews! You rock!
CheshireCat04402- Thank you so much for your awesome review! This last chapter was pretty much a take it easy chapter to wrap everything up- no new adventures quite yet. You will most definitely have to read our sequel, though to find out who gets custody of Harry. It's going to be AWESOME! Thank you so much for al of your reviews! They always mean so much to us because you always seem so excited about our chapters, which get us excited about writing. You definitely have a FABULOUS energy that seems to carry over from your computer to ours. Thank you so much!
Anexandra- Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews! We always love to hear that we've made someone cry cause that means we must of touched your heart in some way. Thank you so much for letting us know! Hope you enjoyed this last chapter!
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