Draco smiled over at his cousin and snickered. The adults in the room all had the Daily Profit in their hands as they tried to make sense of the headline.
"It took them a bloody week to even realize I was gone." Harry nearly growled. He honestly thought it would take them a bit longer than that.
"Are you really sulking?" Draco asked as he looked down his nose at Harry. "You need to pout a bit more. I'm not buying it."
Harry seemed to growl at him as he grabbed the paper back and read it for a third time.
The Boy Who Lived Missing!
This reporter is sad to report that our believed boy who lived has been reported missing. He was last seen at the World Cup with the Weasley family, but had become lost in the chaos that insured during the celebration. Eye witnesses have said that they saw Harry Potter, arguing with four of the oldest Weasley kids. No one seems to know what the argument was about, but Harry Potter cursed the four and ran off into the forest. And as of now, that was the last reported sight of the boy.
We must ask ourselves, why had it taken a week for a report to be made that our savior had been missing. When asked, Dumbledore replied that he believed the boy had gone back to his muggle family, not feeling safe after his disagreement with the elder Weasleys. It was only brought to their attention that Harry Potter had not returned home when owls came home with unopened letters.
"He is just off sulking." Ron Weasley explained when we asked. "He is used to being the center of attention. When my brothers wouldn't give him the attention he wanted, he ran off. I'm sure he will return to school in september. He thrives off the attention he receives from all his little fans."
"I'm not sure what the argument was about." Replied the youngest Weasley child, Ginerva Weasley. "He was following my oldest two brothers around like a lost puppy. They probably got tired of him tagging along and he got angry with them. But he'll come back. He and I have been getting close lately and are hoping to explore that while at school."
"Harry can't function without Ron or myself." Hermione Granger said. "He'll be back with some sort of problem the two of us will have to fix for him. I just hope he won't get himself expelled before school even starts."
There you have it folks. Harry Potter, our beloved Boy Who Lived, has run away due to lack of attention. The fame seems to have gone to the poor boy's head. Let us hope he can be brought back safely due to recent events. We would also like any information you may have on the whereabouts of Harry Potter. If you see him, or know of where he has run off too, please contact Dumbledore, Hogwarts Headmaster.
"Well I guess I guess I know where Ron and Hermione's loyalties truly lie." Harry said with a huff. "Should have known with how jealous Ron gets over the stupidest things."
"Harry, why didn't,"
"You tell us,"
"About your feelings,"
"For our sister." The twins finished together. Harry glared over at them both. They just smiled innocently back.
"You two should know better than most, that I am not interested in your damn sister." Harry growled. Fred and George exchanged glances and burst out laughing. Harry just glared at them even harder.
"I'm missing something here." Draco said with a raised eyebrow. "I had my suspicions, but to be honest, that was a very slim suspicion."
The twins snickered. "Marcus Flint in the showers?"
Harry instantly attempted to jump to his feet and go strangle whichever twin he got to first. He didn't get too far as Charlie grabbed him around the middle and held tightly as he tried to wiggle free. Draco's mouth dropped in surprise at his cousin's reaction. Not to mention the showers had also been where Draco had started to suspect. Believing he had seen Harry's eyes linger on his Captain a bit longer than necessary.
The commotion seemed to attract the attention of the adults as all eyes turned towards the teens. Harry didn't seem to even care as he still attempted to free himself from Charlie.
"So he did let his eyes linger." Draco said with a knowing smirk.
"More than linger." Fred said with a snicker.
"Got his first reaction in the showers." George said as he jumped out of the way as Harry almost got a kick to land.
"I don't think I had ever seen him so red." Fred said as he also got out of the way.
"Was that last year?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow. "I remember him trying to hide in one of the corner stalls with you two bugging him."
Fred and George burst out laughing. "Oh no. Our little Harry here found out his preferences pretty early."
"First year early." George dodged out of the way as Harry got his hands on a butter knife and flung it at him. Fred quickly dodged a fork soon after.
"Poor kid was scared to death about what was happening. Good ol big brothers Gred and Forge here got to give him the bird and the bees speech." Fred said, sounding way too pleased about it.
"Didn't realize who had caught his eye till a few days later." George said and smirked as Harry huffed and leaned back against Charlie's chest. He realized he wasn't going to get free of the dragon tamer and the twins had already said too much. So he pulled his legs up and turned the hold into a cuddle. This whole bond thing was getting annoying. At first it was just with the people that had stayed the night with him. But now his bond seemed to extend to everyone in the Manor.
"At first we thought little Harry was watching Draco with how much he was watching the Slytherin table." Fred said with a shrug.
"That was till we made Draco spill his tea all over Flint. He stripped his shirt off right there and little Harry turned redder than a tomato." George said with a snicker. "We tried to help our little buddy out."
"Help me out! You kept trying to get me alone with him after that!" Harry growled at his friends. "I wouldn't be surprised if he thought I stocked him!"
Draco burst out laughing. "Oh Harry. I don't think he would even notice. He isn't exactly smart. Probably has the intelligence level right above Crabb and Gayle."
Harry huffed. "He just acts that way so no one expects anything from him."
Charlie, the twins and Draco all burst out laughing at Harry's declaration. They all knew Marcus Flint. Harry's crush seemed to have him in denial of the Large Slytherins' intelligence.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Actually… if you ask the two professors in the room, they would probably be able to tell you. That is if they think about it long enough."
Lupin and Severus glanced at each other. They were both thinking the boy was giving Flint too much credit till they both started to think about things. Flint always seemed to do well with the theory of things. But his answers and performance was always poor. Almost deliberately bad. They both cursed under their breaths when they realized Harry was right.
"And how did you notice when none of his professors had?" Severus asked and couldn't help but smirk at the blush that came across the boy's cheeks.
"I may have ran into him a few times in a couple abandoned classrooms while I was avoiding Filch or Severus." Harry admitted. "I was under the invisibility cloak so he didn't know I was there. But he was doing his homework. He had two different assignments. The one he turned in and the one he did correctly. And before you ask, I know because it was my second year and the homework he was doing was for Lockhart. I saw the paper he turned in when I had detention. My hand was cramping from answering his stupid fan mail so flipped through the homework he had on the desk. Honestly his answers were kind of brilliant. He was pretty much calling him an idiot."
Harry smirked as if he was remembering something fondly then his eyes flickered over to his father. "Hey, talking about idiot defense professors. What exactly was that thing on the back of the stuttering idiot's head? Cause I'm guessing it wasn't you."
The room went silent.
"What do you mean by that Harry?" Severus asked. He had heard the story from Dumbledore. But the old man left out more than he even expected.
"There was a face on the back of his head. That was what was under that stupid turban he always wore." Harry replied as he looked around the room at all the adults. "I was led to believe the face was Voldimort."
The room was silent again. Severus then pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. "That is how Dumbledore had convinced you that the Stuttering idiot, as you put it, was possessed. My best guess is he had the wizarding version of schizophrenia. When a magical person has schizophrenia, their magic can cause their hallucinations to become real. When the stuttering idiot went on sabbatical, it was actually Dumbledore manipulating his hallucinations. He got the poor man to believe he was being possessed by Voldimort."
Once again the room was silent.
"That's fucked up." Harry finally broke the silence. "Makes me wonder who he is going to hire this year. One out of three good teachers isn't the best track record."
"What happened to Lockhart? Mom was a bit upset he didn't write any more books." Bill asked and Harry snickered.
"I'm surprised that one got hushed." Harry said as he wiggled and got more comfortable in Charlie's arms. "The idiot tried to use a memory charm on us using Ron's broken wand. It backfired. Didn't even know his own name after that."
The room fell silent again. Harry just huffed. "I'm going to start keeping tabs on how many times I can stun the room to silence."
"Back to the prior conversation...as your father… You are not allowed to date till you are thirty." Tom said as he looked over at his son, still sitting in Charlie's arms. He watch for a few seconds more as Harry stared a hole into the side of Bill's head. The young boy then pulled on the arm of Bill's chair. Moving it and the man sitting in it closer to him. When the chair was close enough to his liking, he nodded and flipped his feet over both arms of Charlie and Bill's chair, then placed his bare feet under Bill's thigh. Bill sent a slight worried look towards Tom and was a bit surprised to see Tom trying to hide a slight smirk. Tom cleared his throat.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, no dating till I'm thirty. Marcus should have graduated last year anyway."
Severus smirked to himself. Marcus Flint should have graduated the year before but had failed his NEWTS. So Severus offered to let the boy retake his seventh year. He was going to have to have a little talk with the young man now. Since he knew he could do better. There was no reason for him to pretend.
Harry sighed as he felt the Black bond ease with the closeness of the eldest Weasleys. "I seem to be claiming more and more family. Is that even normal?"
Narcissa and Regulus exchanged knowing looks. Narcissa smirked behind her hand as Regulus smiled and explained things to his son. "I believe you had already seen the Weasleys as family. And with them being here while your bond was so unsettled, it has latched on to them as well. Bringing them into the family as siblings."
Harry thought about it for a moment then nodded. "That makes sense. That's what I'm feeling through the bond. It's weird. It's a lot different than Draco's."
"That's because you two are basically twins with the soul brother bond." Fred said with a smirk.
"But not as cool as us." George replied with a smirk as well.
"Yeah magical twins are better." Fred said as he stuck his tongue out at Harry, who returned the gesture.
"Wait… what is a soul brother bond? And what is up with all these bonds?" Harry said as he got up and turned to look at the adults in the room.
"A soul brother bond happens when both sets of parents are close. It's a bond that makes the children as close as twins." Draco explained. "Some can feel the others emotions. Some, it just makes them really close."
Harry slowly nodded as he leaned back into Charlie. "Is it normal that I can feel the difference between the bonds? Like with Charlie and Bill… It is like I feel them being my protectors. The twins are more like confidantes. And Draco being like my equal. The same with all of you. My dads are well my dads. Narcissa, Sirius, Lucius, and Moony my Aunts and Uncles. And Snape… ok that's weird. It's like a step above uncle but a step lower than father… just… weird."
Severus nodded at the boy in acknowledgement. "That would be the Godfather bond."
Harry threw up his hands and groaned in annoyance. "How many damn bonds am I going to end up with? Am I like a bond magnet? Is there a limit? Do I hold the record for the most bonds?"
Charlie chuckled and ruffled up Harry's hair. "Naw, We all have some sort of bond with others. Its considered normal to have multiple bonds. Some are just not very strong or noticeable. The reason you are being so affected right now is because you had your bonds blocked. If that hadn't happened, you would have grown up with them. Probably never even felt them."
"Dumblefuck's a dick." Harry groaned.
Tom raised an eyebrow at his son. "We should have a discussion about your language."
Harry snickered and smiled innocently over at his father. "Just chalk it up to me being raised by those horrible uncouth muggles. And the old bag of bones that left me on their doorstep."