Chapter eleven: … gets rewarded

Ron was ready when Harry's knees went as the realisation of what he'd just done hit him, and had his arm around his friends waist and was moving them briskly up the stairs before Harry made a spectacle of himself in the foyer. The shock lasted all the way up to the tower and into the dorm room, with Ron almost dropping Harry onto one of the empty beds. He watched as his friend drew his knees up under his chin and shook, panting for breath in the aftermath of their actions.

"Ron," Harry whispered and Ron joined him on the bed, sitting comfortably and watching his friend closely, "Ron what am I going to do?"

"Go to Grimmauld Place and have Professor Lupin tutor us I guess," Ron shrugged. Harry was always solid as a rock in the midst of a crisis. It was the aftermath he usually had trouble with. He'd had never had family to teach him how to cope with his feelings and he'd certainly never had a family that had supported him emotionally.

"Us?" Harry seemed to realise who was with him, because his eyes widened and he grabbed Ron by the shoulders, "Ron! You have to go back down there and tell them that you're staying!"

"What?" Ron spluttered. This was the last thing he'd been expecting and part of him felt a little betrayed. It had been no easy decision to stand up and throw his lot in with his best friend - his loyalties at war with practical reality. He'd never make Auror if he didn't get good grades, and students who were privately tutored often found the NEWTS harder than those that attended school.

"Ron this is your future! You can't leave school just because of me!" Harry's face was anguished and Ron understood what the green eyed teen hadn't said.

"Harry, everything I need for my future is right here," Ron replied gently. Obviously his friend would need this spelled out to him, "There is only one future for me and that is with you."

"Together?" Harry asked the question in such a small voice that it was impossible to resist gathering him in close, feeling the tremors and hitches in his best friend's breathing. Ron tightened his hold possessively. They had been getting closer to each other all summer, and truth be told Ron was looking forward to the next step. Young as he was, he could recognise forever when he saw it, and if he and Harry took that step then forever was what he'd have.

"I won't leave you. I want to be with you. Together," Ron promised and Harry moaned softly, his own arms wrapping around Ron and clinging tight. They sat that way until Molly Weasley cleared her throat in the doorway.

"Harry, Ron, we have to leave," there was evidence of tears in her voice and under her eyes, but she smiled when her son and adopted son - soon to be son in law? - let go reluctantly and moved to gather their things.

"We should prank the dorm and common room," Ron sighed as they headed for the door; knowing his mother would never allow it, "Think of it as a farewell gift."

"What have you got?" Mrs Weasley asked and both teens nearly tripped over themselves in surprise.

"Mum! You're not serious?" Ron spluttered and got a look from his mother that usually came from the twins. Ron realised that his very strict and authoritative mother would be able to rival the twins on a spree, the way she was twinkling at them.

"I am," she said firmly, and Ron looked over at Harry for a moment before grinning and diving into his trunk. By unspoken agreement they only put a small prank in Neville's bed, as he had spoken up for Harry very loudly. They pranked their own beds as well in case someone decided to move into them. They thoroughly mined the common room and had to wait for Mrs Weasley to return from the direction of the girls' dorm, with a very un-motherly expression on her face. She hugged them both tightly then led them down the stairs, their trunks much lighter. Grimmauld Place awaited them, and Ron hoped Harry didn't think about who was there until they were in the front door. He wondered how James and Lily would react.

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Sirius looked up in surprise when the front door opened and dropped the books he was holding when Harry stepped over the threshold, burdened down with his school things, followed closely by Molly and Ron Weasley. His godson was pale and unhappy, and the noise of the books thundering to the floor had them all wincing as it echoed through the entry hall. Lily hurried from the study where she and Sirius had been sitting, looking for information that Dumbledore had requested in his attempts to understand how Lily and James had been sent forward in time, and she gasped at the sight of her miserable son. By the time Sirius and Ron had got the books picked up once more, James and Remus had appeared as well and everyone headed to the kitchen, an anxious silence hovering over them that no one felt like breaking. Molly shut the door and glanced at the newspaper, the front page proclaiming that Hogwarts had been attacked. The parents of the magical world had already known that, as Dumbledore had sent them warning and port keys to allow them to get to the school this morning in an organised fashion. She had gotten the letter to Harry's guardians - there was no point in upsetting the foursome here by rubbing it in that they were confined to the house.

"What's going on?" James demanded as Sirius and Remus separated Harry from Ron and sat him at the kitchen table, each with an arm around his shoulder. Sirius pulled Ron down on his other side and slung an arm around the redhead as well, suspecting that he was dealing with his future godson-in-law by the way Harry had been crowding close to his friend.

"You read about the attack," Molly decided that for once an adult was going to explain the more difficult aspects of being Harry Potter, "When the parents all arrived this morning most of the students had a similar tale to tell. Harry was the focus of the attack and most of the children seemed to have gotten it fixed into their heads that they were no longer safe at school if Harry was there. The Headmaster did his best to calm things, but when the parents started calling for Professor Dumbledore to step aside, Harry offered to exclude himself from the school."

"And Ron too," Harry said faintly, "Ron did too."

Sirius squeezed the redhead in silent thanks and felt his lover lean around Harry and himself to pat the redheads' shoulder. Harry was shaking a little, and refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Obviously he was expecting to be punished for what had happened, and unfortunately his father reinforced that belief.

"I don't believe it," James exploded, and Harry flinched, burrowing into Sirius side for protection. That simple reaction said more than words ever could about the way the Boy-Who-Lived had been raised, and silenced James like a slap to the face.

"M sorry," Harry mumbled, "I didn't want to. But they need Dumbledore at the school. I was hoping Moony would tutor me or something. I'll pay, I promise."

"Harry, no payment is necessary. I'll tutor you and Ron happily," Remus said gently, "Were you hurt Cub?"

"No," Harry sighed, the warm breath gusting over Sirius neck, "I didn't get much sleep. Professor McGonagall had me stay with the first years in the Room of Requirement."

"By yourself? I thought you weren't a prefect?" Lily frowned and James put a hand on her shoulder. Sirius glared at them. Hogwarts had a long history of relying on Harry to do things that he wasn't supposed to. He had all the responsibility of a prefect without the badge. In fact he had all the responsibilities of an adult without the rights and privileges of one at times, something that Sirius was planning to do something about as soon as he and Moony came up with a halfway decent plan.

"He's as good as one," Remus spoke up, "A badge doesn't mean you're not able to handle the responsibility."

Sirius felt Harry move, his hand grasping that of the werewolf in silent thanks. Molly was nodding and so was Ron, and once again Harry's parents by blood were on the outside looking in. James resented that, as did Lily, and there was nothing that Sirius or Remus could do to make them understand. Harry was complex, with many different hang-ups and responsibilities that had been forced upon him at an early age. He had worked hard to fulfil those responsibilities, regardless of how realistic they'd been, and Sirius had confided to his lover how guilty he felt that he hadn't been there to act as a barrier for his godson.

"Ron, take Harry upstairs," Molly broke the tense silence and Ron was up in a flash. With a bit of luck the redhead would get Harry to rest for a while, as it was obvious that he hadn't slept last night with his 'teddy bear' elsewhere. While the boys were upstairs, Molly, Remus and himself would be able to sort out the Potters once and for all. They hadn't mentioned that they thought Harry had been abused by the Dursley's but now was the time to do so, as well as explain the more complex expectations that the Wizarding world had of the Boy Who Lived.

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