Chapter Fifteen: Going Home

The next day Harry was discharged. When he walked up to his room to put away his things he was surprised by a banner and many beautiful, magically enhanced cards. But there was something else waiting for him there too, a stack of letters piled high on his desk. Sirius, who had followed him up, shrugged as Harry gestured to them. "They started coming in after the story broke in the Prophet. They're addressed to you, so we didn't read them."

Harry held one of the letters in his hand, Stevie's words came to mind 'You can't make me stay in a room with some fag'… He picked up all the letters and shoved them into the lowest drawer of his desk. He glanced up at Sirius, who was regarding him with a concerned look, but said nothing.

Harry turned back to the banner and the cards "It was nice of everyone to do this" He commented, noticing that cards from Fred and George seemed to have bewitched their cards the flash alternating words, together they read "Get well Soon" and "We're glad you're not dead" He laughed.

Sirius nodded, "Harry I wanted to talk to you about something…" He said as he took a seat at Harry's desk.

Harry gave him a worried look, coming to sit on his bed nervously. Recently it seemed whenever anyone needed to talk to him it was about something bad. "What's up Sir?"

Sirius smiled, he liked that Harry had picked up Remus's nick name for him. He reminded him more of his father every day. "Well, the day after you were hospitalized, when we talked to the Weasley's and Hermione about what had happened, something came up." He and Remus had warned Harry while he was still in hospital that they had had to tell his friends about what happened. "Ginny told us, and her parents, that she knew you had been cutting… She told us that she has been cutting herself as well."

Harry sucked in a quick breath, glancing nervously at Sirius. "Are they mad?"

Sirius frowned, he thought that was a strange question for Harry to ask. "Of course not, Harry, Molly and Arthur love Ginny, they want to help her." After a second thought he added "They have never hurt Ginny, have they?"

Harry shook his head quickly "No! they aren't like that… I meant…. Are they mad at me? Because I didn't tell anyone what Ginny was doing?"

Now Sirius nodded in understanding, "Of course not Harry, we all understand that it was a very tricky situation… and while I wish you would have spoken up about what both of you were going through sooner, I understand that you weren't ready. I only wanted to talk to you about Ginny because even though I understand why you didn't tell, I want you to promise me that if you ever find out someone is harming themselves, or being harmed by someone else, I want you to promise me you will tell an adult. I know it's hard, especially when they are your friend and they ask you not to. But these kinds of problems aren't supposed to be placed on kids, and you've been dealing with adult problems for far too long."

Harry thought about Draco, about what he had told him about his father. But he said he doesn't hurt him… and the hospital already knows… I don't think there is anything they can do about it. "Okay" he promised, not really feeling comforted by his thoughts of Draco, but Sirius was changing the subject.

"Your Hogwarts letter came yesterday! We've already coordinated with the Weasley's and agreed to meet them in Diagon Alley for lunch tomorrow. They will be going shopping afterwards, but Remus and I thought you might rather go before, when it's a bit less crowded, just the three of us."

Harry could only imagine the headlines 'Boy who lived to go crazy; shops with ex-con godfather and werewolf' He sighed, "Can't we just order my stuff to the house? Or ask the Weasleys to pick it up for me? I don't really want to deal with all the fuss…"

Sirius sighed, he had had the same argument with Remus, but Moony seemed to think that the longer Harry and Sirius hid from the press the worse it would get. "I think we'd best just get it over with. Or at least Remus thinks we should… I'm with you on this one… but he's probably right. And he said the ministry has offered to send an Auror with us, to arrest anyone who gets out of line. They seem to think that if they lay down the law now it will keep the vultures at bay."

Harry sighed, smiling a bit at Sirius's joke "Well I hope they send Tonks, she's my favorite."

Sirius waggled his eyebrows mischievously at his godson "I think you're not the only one with that opinion" he said with a smirk.

Harry laughed, and Sirius smiled, it was good to see Harry laugh again… not that he had seen it much before. As a baby he had always been smiling though.

Taking a deep breath Sirius continued, hoping to get all of the talking over with so that they could relax for the rest of the evening. "I also wanted to tell you something else."

Harry rolled his eyes "Sirius I was only gone a week, what else could there be?" Then, trying to hide a look of horror he added "My uncle is still in jail, right?"

Sirius nodded quickly "Of course, they haven't sentenced him yet, but I promise you Harry he will be there for a long time." When Harry's face calmed, Sirius continued "I wanted to tell you about a good thing… or at least it's supposed to be a good thing, I'm not totally sold yet." He laughed at himself, then continued, he just needed to spit it out. "Your doctor, the one who helped me clear my name… afterwards I had a nice chat with her, and she suggested that I see a therapist. She thinks that considering everything I've been through in the past fifteen years, it could really help… and it would make me a good role model for you or something like that. I wasn't sold on the idea at first, but I talked it over with Remus for a long time, and I saw the person she recommended yesterday… I am going to keep going, at least for a while. I don't particularly like it, I think you and I are pretty similar in that sense. But I wanted you to know, because there is no shame in being in therapy, and we all have demons that we have to fight, so you're not alone, okay?"

Harry smiled, he could see that Sirius was rambling because he was uncomfortable, so he flung himself at his godfather and gave him a big hug "I think that's great Sirius, and thank you for telling me."

The next morning was tense. Sirius was in a bad mood, having been woken up well before his normal time, and Harry had been so nervous that he insisted he couldn't stomach any breakfast. He and Remus (Sirius was not quite awake enough to take part in the argument) had finally compromised on an ensure and a cup of coffee. Remus had looked at the breakfast and been sure he was the worst parent in the world, so to make up for it he had forced Sirius to eat some toast with his coffee. This hadn't accomplished much, other than making everyone frustrated and angry by the time they were to leave the house.

As they gathered in the living room Remus couldn't help but think how everyone thought Harry looked exactly like his father, but Remus saw the spitting image of his best friend in the young teen. They were both a bit irrational, and very stubborn.

Once they arrived at diagon alley Sirius and Harry agreed to be in a better mood, conspiring behind Remus's back that if the press was going to make a spectacle of them, Harry and Sirius would give them something to write about. Sirius spent the whole morning grabbing Remus's butt and pecking his cheek, calling him "honey" as loudly as he could. While Harry laughed and introduced them to shop keepers as "his dads"

Remus was mortified, but didn't protest all that much because he liked seeing his two favorite people enjoying themselves for once.

The press was awful, they followed them everywhere. At first, they crowded around them asking rude questions, but Tonks quickly put an end to that, and instead they followed them around, giving them a perimeter of about ten feet in which to move, and constantly taking pictures.

When it was finally time to meet the rest of the group for lunch Harry was getting tired, so they agreed to go to an indoor pub where they could put some space between them and the cameras.

It was great to see his friends again. At first, they all hugged him tightly, speaking in hushed voices as if he was still in the hospital. But after Harry made a joke about how he was cursed to be "the boy who lived" even when he was trying to die, everyone calmed down a bit. He and Ginny didn't get much time to chat, in the craziness of it all, but he managed to pull her aside for a moment.

"Hey," he said as he grabbed her arm, covered by a dark purple long sleeve shirt "How are you doing?"

She smiled, a kind of resigned smile that Harry was all too familiar with. "I'm alright, my parents took all my razors, and they seem to follow me around everywhere… but I'm doing my best. I met my therapist the other day, I think it's the same one you're seeing…. Lou?"

Harry nodded "Yeah, she's pretty nice…"

Ginny nodded "It doesn't seem horrible… I'll just be glad when school starts and everyone calms down a bit."

Harry nodded in agreement "Well I'm glad you're okay… who would have thought, the two of us actually getting healthy and crap?"

Ginny laughed, and they rejoined the group. As they sat around the large lunch table the pub had let them use (one in a private dining room, away from prying eyes). Sirius was loudly telling stories about his school days, which of course fascinated the boys as much as it horrified Molly. For a moment, Harry smiled, not to anyone, so that they would worry about him, but just to himself. Maybe this year really would be different, maybe everything would actually be better now.

The next day the daily prophet ran a tear jerker story about how the orphaned chosen one had finally found his unconventional family. Sirius and Harry thought it was hysterical, Remus laughed too, but tried to give them each a stern look. Giving the press something to write about wasn't going to make them leave the story alone. But at least Harry was laughing.

Harry had been bustling around his room packing for almost an hour when Remus came in to check on him. "How's it going kid?" He asked kindly as he flopped onto Harry's bed to survey the teen's progress.

Harry shrugged, carelessly throwing a pile of balled up shirts into his trunk. "I'm almost done. Sirius promised me we could play a game of quidditch when he gets home from therapy."

Remus laughed, standing to look into Harry's trunk. "Harry, none of these clothes are folded! They don't even look clean!" He started

Harry shrugged, "The elves will wash them when I get to school, no point in washing them now."

Remus shook his head "Does Ron's mum let him go back to school like this?"

Harry blushed "No, but Ron's mum is… well a mum!"

Remus was pulling all of Harry's clothes back out of the trunk now, they had bought him more (winter clothes, dress clothes, a proper jacket and the like) the day before. Harry hadn't gained as much weight as Remus had hoped he would this summer, but the boy needed clothes for school. The ministry was giving Sirius a huge sum of money to not sue them for wrongful imprisonment, so they decided not to worry about it. "Well you've two dads now" he said with a laugh "And just think of the stories the prophet would conjure up if they see you in wrinkled and dirty clothes."

Harry rolled his eyes "But now you've completely unpacked me!"

Remus shrugged "Sirius and I can help you pack back up after we wash them, don't worry you can still play quidditch before dinner. Bring that pile down stairs and help me get the washer started."

They had a beautiful last evening, Sirius came home from therapy ready to work out some of his energy, and Harry was pleased to find that his godfather was an excellent quidditch player. They didn't have enough people for a real game, so they spent most of the evening showing off their flying skills, while Harry put himself through a few drills with the dummy snitch Sirius had given him.

They ate dinner on the back porch, laughing and talking smack about the game. And after dinner was cleaned up they gathered in front of the TV to watch one of Harry's favorite movies while they all worked to fold his laundry. Harry couldn't help but think about how different his life had become in just a few short months.

As he crawled into bed that night, Sirius and Remus came in to say good night. "You going to be alright kid?" Sirius asked softly, "Tomorrow is going to be a pretty big day."

Harry nodded, not wanting to admit he was worried about going back to school. He had never been afraid to go back to Hogwarts before.

Remus smiled and perched on Harry's desk. "It's okay to be nervous Harry, you've had a lot of change this summer."

Harry shrugged "Yeah… I guess I'm kind of scared… I don't want Hogwarts to change too. Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy about most of the changes. I love living here, and having you two be my guardians, even when you are a pain." He stuck his tongue out at Sirius and laughed. "But, Hogwarts has been the only good thing in my life for so long, the only safe place I had. And now it's a little like my life is upside down. Being here with you guys, it's the safest I've ever felt at home… but Hogwarts, with everyone knowing about what happened… It's scary." Harry's mind flashed to Stevie from the adolescent unit.

Sirius nodded in understanding "I'm sorry kid, I know this is going to be hard. But Hogwarts is still the same magical place it has always been. It will always be a safe place for its students. No one can take that from you. And it's going to be hard, but you don't have to do it alone this time, okay pup?"

Remus nodded "We are right here for you, night or day. If you are having problems all you have to do is floo home for a cuppa."

Harry smiled, he hadn't thought of that. He gave them each a quick hug and then said good night.