Come Back

Chapter Four

Settling In

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Now that Harry had shared his side of the story he was expecting a flood of questions from all of them. He himself had some questions to ask them. But he found himself exhausted and wanted nothing more than to take a good nap. Because of this he was grateful when Mr. Weasly stood up and addressed them all.

"Well, I think that's enough for one day Harry. Where are you staying at, the twins and I will go and fetch your things. You can stay here and have some dinner."

"I'm at that Inn on the outskirts of Hogsmead, but I can go collect my own things Mr. Weasly." Said Harry standing up from the table.

"Nonsense Harry, you can't apparate can you? We can, it will be faster if we go for you. Come on boys." And with that Mr. Weasly, Fred and George left the kitchen with several loud cracks.

After a few moments Harry sat back down at the table and placed his head in his hands. The excitement of the day winding down and his eyelids felt heavy, but he knew the day was still young and that it would be several hours before he would be able to sneak off to bed.

"Hey Harry?" asked Ron. "Why can't you apparate, I mean we learned how in our sixth year didn't we."

Hermione looked at Ron, "Well, he hasn't had a chance to take his test has he."

Harry looked up at them. "No I haven't, and that is on my list of things to do now that I'm back."

The fact that Harry couldn't apparate had been haunting him for years. The fact was that he never had quite mastered the art. He had been so preoccupied in his last two years over Voldemort that he didn't give his school work much notice. He was hoping that he could find someone to help train him, because he defiantly couldn't spend his life flying brooms, flooing everywhere or worst of all, riding the Night Bus.

Harry hadn't even noticed that Mrs. Weasly had got up from the table. She was now bustling around the kitchen making dinner for everyone. Harry really wanted to leave the table, but didn't want to seem rude by getting up and walking away. So he compromised and got up to help with dinner. After a few moments arguments with Mrs. Weasly she finally gave in and let Harry peal potatoes while she stirred a large caldron of stew in the fire.

It felt good to just be standing there next to Mrs. Weasly, helping. He felt normal for the first time in a long time, but somehow he didn't quite feel like himself. He felt like he was a different person all of a sudden, he felt younger than he was. He had gotten used to taking care of himself, not needing anyone else. Now that he was back he assumed that Mrs. Weasly and the others would help him out some, but he still wanted to be the person he had gotten used to. He still wanted to be independent and somehow, staying with the Weasly's would stop him from being that way. But he knew he had no choice, and after all, it may feel good to be taken care of again.

"Well Harry, I'll just put your things upstairs." Came Mr. Weasly's voice from the living room. He, Fred and George had just returned carrying his beat up trunk and Hedwig's cage.

"Here let me help you." Said Harry, dropping his knife he was using to chop up celery. Harry hurried into the living room and grabbed one handle of his trunk while Fred kept a hold of the other end. Mr. Weasly lead the way up the stairs with Hedwig in tow, Harry followed.

Harry had expected Mr. Weasly to open the door to Ron's room but instead he kept walking down the long hallway.

"Mr. Weasly, which room am I staying in?" Harry asked wondering. Perhaps they had rearranged rooms for Hermione? But wouldn't Hermione just stay with Ginny?

"Well Harry, there is still a lot we need to talk about, but you can take this room, its empty."

Mr. Weasly pushed open the door and Harry stepped inside. Harry was sure that this room had once belonged to Bill or Charlie because he had never seen the rest of the Weasly's use this room. The wall's were bare and in need of new wall paper. The bed looked old and rusty and needed sheets on it. The only other item in the room was a three drawer dresser and it was covered in dust. In fact, the room reminded him of the room he was staying in back in Hogsmead. But this room was larger and overall more inviting only because of the house it rested in.

"It's perfect Mr. Weasly." Said Harry with a smile. "It's really kind of you to let me stay here."

"Don't think of it Harry, your welcome to stay as long as you like. I'll let you unpack. If you need anything I'll be downstairs." Mr. Weasly said as he put Hedwig on top of the dusty dresser.

"Need a hand Harry?" asked Fred as he dropped his end of the trunk on the floor.

"No, I got it, thanks for your help." Harry said, dropping his end too.

Harry took a moment to look around the room, his heart felt sad at the thought that this room once belonged to one of the older Weasly boys. But at this point in his life he was grateful for anything he could get and thought it better to not think about this rooms past owners. As he picked up Hedwig and swished his wand over the dresser to remove the dust, he realized that Ron was standing in the doorway.

Harry looked up at him and he said, "I'm sure you thought you would be staying with me. I'm sorry this room is so horrible looking."

"No, its perfect it really is. Look, after sleeping on rocks for two and a half years, this is heaven." Harry said while hoisting his trunk onto the bed.

"Harry I need to tell you something. I need you to know why you can't stay in my room." Ron said not looking at Harry.

"Alright, what's wrong Ron?" Harry asked after he looked up and noticed that he wasn't looking at him.

"Harry, you can't stay with me because…because, well, that's where Hermione sleeps."

"What? You mean you switched rooms with her?" Harry asked perplexed.

"No mate, Hermione and I are, were married." Ron finished still not looking at Harry.

"What? You're married? But Ron, that's fantastic! When did that happen? Oh I wish I could have been there for you!" Harry said thoroughly excited at the news.

Once Ron realized that Harry took the news well he finally looked up at him, "I'm so glad you're happy for us. I thought you would be upset, don't ask me why. We got hitched about a year ago. We sort of turned to each other after we thought you were gone and all."

Harry didn't know what to say at first, the thought of them consoling each other because they thought he was dead just brought up more questions that he just didn't have the energy to ask.

"That's great, Ron, I always knew you two would be together." Harry said as he walked forward and shook Ron's hand.

"I wish you were there Harry, It was hard on both of us, and you should have been my best man." Ron said looking at the ground again. He cleared his throat and turned away, "Well, I'm going to let Hermione know that you know. Come back downstairs when you're done unpacking."

"Alright" Harry said as he watched Ron leave the room.