Chapter Four

Morning. What little sunshine that made it through the clouds which littered the sky, met a new obstacle- Twelve Grimmauld Places' windows. Though you may not have been able to see it if you were walking by, the occupants of this particularly grubby house were all awake- and most were to be found in the kitchen, which had taken on a very different role than it had the night before.

Seated around the table, six teens were propping themselves up with their hands in to stop them from falling asleep- only five were successful- no-one bothered to try and revive Ron after his head hit the table with a dull thud after the fifth time it happened.

Much to the audible disgust of the teenagers, Mrs. Weasley had somehow come up with the idea that an early wake up call and a "spot of cleaning" would set the holiday off to a good and productive start: none of the children shared this view. However, they weren't going to be completely alone in their chores; Tonks was, as ever, more than willing to help around the house, and had somehow managed to drag a somewhat protesting Lupin out of his bed to put in his support. This, for Harry, made the morning plod by instead of its dreaded crawl; he didn't know why exactly, but whenever Lupin was in the room Harry felt safe: like he was back in the Defence Against the Dark Arts office, when Lupin was his Professor and mentor. These memories above all was what kept Harry going in these times- the warming knowledge that, although he might not have said it, Lupin would always be there to listen if Harry needed someone to talk to. Harry's reveries were broken when he heard one of the twins yelling rather heatedly about something.

"What do you mean "lousy"! Who do you know that could have pulled off a prank like that any better?"- Harry turned round just in time to see George (or was it Fred?) crossing his arms over his chest and staring beadily across the room: a dry chuckle could be heard coming from behind a very old and dusty tapestry opposite Harry.

"Who else? In our prime George, we could have run rings around you two: and I dare say I still could if I wanted to! Right, stand well back everyone." A rather dusty looking Lupin stepped out from where he had been, just in time to catch the heavy material in his arms. He looked at it for a second, his eyes roaming over the many intricately woven stitches and holes- before dumping it on the floor, dusting off his hands and looking over at the now thoughtful looking Weasley. A flash of panic crossed Lupin's face before he spoke, albeit hesitantly.

"Might I be as so bold as to ask why you have that look on your face? Or do I not want to know?"

An un-impressed female voice interrupted the conversation before the red-head had the chance to reply.

"Please don't encourage them Remus- they're bad enough as it is without you egging them on to complete more mischief. George, don't answer that question and get on with your work. I don't need you disrupting this."

Mrs. Weasley's second twin looked up with an indignant squeak.

"Mother! How could you say such a thing! George was merely asking an innocent question: and you know full well that we have resolved to ally ourselves with innocence. We promised you that. There's no threat of mischief making here!" A derisive snort came from the corner where Lupin seemed to be busying himself with the Tapestry, but not so busy that he was able to mutter something in which the phrase, "Innocent my tail!" could be distinguished. Turning back to his polishing, Harry smirked- it seemed that no matter how old he would get, the Ex-Marauder now struggling to roll up the very long and stubborn piece of material, would still have a way with words and tricks.

A week passed in the same fashion in the house that holiday: members of the Order passed in an out of the house every hour of every day- all with a mission to accomplish or to report on. Harry, on one rather unpleasant occasion, had the mis-fortune to literally bump into Severus Snape on his way into the kitchen as Snape was heading out of it. Needless to say a sarcastic comment followed this, before he swept out of the hallway and out into the street. As Harry was rubbing his arm to try and prevent the rapidly approaching pins and needles, Harry was sure that he felt a blast of warm air which seemed to ruffle his hair, before the atmosphere returned to it's normal cool temperature. Thinking no more of it that something from the kitchen, Harry shrugged this occurrence off and continued the action he had originally wanted to complete by walking into the kitchen. He was greeted by a slightly tense Mrs. Weasley: she was sitting down in the same place as he had seen her the night before breathing heavily through her nose- her face had gone a violent puce. The colour soon melted away when she saw Harry lingering in the doorway. She smiled, but as Harry had grown to recognise, it was a forced and none too genuine one. Harry sighed inwardly before he too put a smile on his face and stepped fully into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley stood up from the table.

"What did Snape want?"

"That's Professor Snape to you dear."

"Alright, Professor Snape then; what did he want?" Harry sat down, tilted his head to the side and waited for his answer. Mrs. Weasley seemed to stop and think for a moment, choosing her words before she spoke.

"It seems that Remus has, what I suppose you could call, had a little "chat" with him. Professor Snape came here looking for you to tell you that he is going to continue his Occlumency classes with you, for definite. I told him you were busy though, I didn't want to disrupt the good work you had been achieving." She watched Harry carefully as she said this- evidently testing the air after last night's occurrences. Harry nodded: although he might not admit it out loud, he was quietly relieved that Snape was going to do this- he didn't want a repeat of last year, especially after what happened. Standing, Harry went over to the fridge to get a drink- he didn't really want one, it's just that he wanted to do something: to relieve the tension that was now hanging in the air. He picked a glass from the cupboard and filled it with the orange juice that he had chosen, but all the while he knew that someone was watching him and, as he had thought it was, Mrs. Weasley's gaze had been the stare he had felt. He decided to challenge her on it- this soon proved to be a mistake.

"Mrs. Weasley, are you okay?" Then it happened. Mrs. Weasley let out a gasp, a short, high pitched one before she collapsed into her chair and let out a sob. Harry instantly regretted that he had investigated and slammed his glass down on the work surface; rushing over to her, he subconsciously put his arms around her and held her to him- remembering that Lupin had done that when Mrs. Weasley had encountered the Boggart in her room, and that it had calmed her down a bit. They sat like this for a while, Harry an immobile statue- his arms wrapped around a now subdued and hiccoughing Mrs. Weasley; they broke apart and Harry could see the full extent of Mrs. Weasley's face. Lines had been drawn across her face where there had been relatively flawless skin over her brow, and deep shadows had been painted beneath her eyes: Harry couldn't believe that this was the same woman that had been so cheerful in the past, that had always got a smile and a hug for everyone.

"I…I'm sorry Ha…Harry. I don't mean to be like this: I'm just so worried about you. I just want to look after you, like Sirius did but failed to accomplish because of those Blessed Death Eaters. I'm just trying to be the mother you never got to know- I just want to be happy…" And with that, she burst into even more tears and continued to sob into Harry's shoulder once more. Harry started to rock, all the time shushing and uttering stupid nothings into the distraught woman's ear: he hadn't meant to hurt her either, he just wanted to try and let the wounds heal, to leave the past behind. Distant footsteps on the floor above soon became nearer as they descended the stairs and a very worried Lupin burst into the kitchen.

"Is everything alright? I could hear crying." He stopped in the doorway, watching with a shocked expression at the scene before him: he knew Molly could break down sometimes, but never like this: and on Harry's shoulder- Harry! He crossed the room, before tentatively clearing his throat.

"Um, Molly- are you alright?" He had opened his mouth to say more, but Mrs. Weasley had already launched into an uncontrollable stream of apologies about her behaviour now and the previous night.

"I'm so sorry Remus! I didn't mean those things I said! I never meant to hurt anyone- especially you- oh please don't be angry at me!" She was now clutching at his robes before grabbing hold of him by his waist and started sobbing again. Now it was Lupin's turn to look alarmed- scared even. He put his arms around her and kept on saying the same two sentences over and over again.

"It' alright Molly, I'm not angry. You were just upset." He continued this for a few minute before pulling her away from him and, wiping the tears from her eyes, he spoke again.

"Molly, we all said harsher words than we should have done. I know I'm not proud of what I said to you, but it's in the past now- and that's how we should leave it." He smiled, "There now, that's better. For a moment there I thought we were going to have to build an ark- and Lord knows I'm terrible at M.I.Y"

Harry looked confused, but Lupin noticed this and explained that M.I.Y was similar to D.I.Y- except it stood for Magic It Yourself.

That night, everybody was laughing and smiling at each other. The cleaning was done, Fred and George hadn't played a single prank on any one (much to Lupin's relief) and the air that had been very tense between Mrs Weasley, Harry and Lupin was peaceful once more.

Back in their bedrooms, the dog star shone brightly in a young boy and wolf's eyes.