Chapter 3: Skeletons In Closets

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any money from writing this. It is merely for my own entertainment. Harry Potter is the sole property of Warner Brothers and J.K Rowling.

"I don't care what it sounds like! We were pulling a standard job on some Italian piece of shit's little late night poker game, and we see a fucking skeleton in all leather driving a motorcycle straight towards us! We thought we were fucked, but it just goes right into the building, knocks the door clean down. Those screams man, I'll never forget 'em. What do you even do after seeing something like that? I mean, its fuckin' head was on fire!"

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Hermione paced back and forth in Ron's room. Harry had arrived less than an hour ago, but the news he'd brought had not been good.

"A skeleton with its head on fire? You're sure that's what you saw?"

Harry himself looked resentful still, even after shouting at her and Ron for not telling him what had been going on.

"Pretty sure if you ask him again, Harry'll blow a gasket," George said, not bothering to tiptoe around Harry's anger.

"Yeah," Fred said, "he's getting redder than our hair!"

Sure enough, he was. Hermione felt terrible, but it was nothing compared to her burning curiosity. Harry seemed to think that the skeleton and Johnny were two different people, but Hermione had a hunch.

It won't be close to anything you imagined

She didn't doubt that now, and a skeleton with a flaming head was definitely very far from what she'd thought of. Something with fire, yes, but not this.

"If we're all done waiting for Harry to explode," Fred continued, "let's get a better idea of what their saying, eh?" He and George dangled extendable ears in front of her. She hardly participated in their eavesdropping initially, but when Hermione's curiosity got the better of her, she had to admit that it was a good way to pass the time and keep up with Order business. Rarely was that the case though, as Mrs. Weasley often caught them, and just last week had disposed of all of the twin's stock... or so she thought, apparently.

They crept out of the room and over to the second floor's landing. With the extendable ears, the six of them; Harry, the twins, Ginny, Ron and Hermione, were able to listen in on the conversation below. Though it was more of a rant than any kind of discussion.

"- jeopardized the entire mission! What if we had been attacked!?"

"That's Moody," Ron muttered from her right.

"Alastor, I highly doubt that-"

"He changed, Albus, into whatever thing you saw in his memories, and split off from us. We should've wiped his memory and sent him on his way from the start! Veritaserum can be fooled and memories modified!"

"I do not believe that-"

Suddenly, the door was shoved open. They all jumped, while heavy footsteps made their way towards the dining room. It was Johnny, looking normal, though it was impossible to see his expression from the angle they were at. He looked down at the extendable ears, before entering the room.

"I didn't do it on purpose," he said immediately, "one moment I was flying just fine, and then the next I was transforming and heading straight down to the city. Some people robbed a house and killed the owner."

Silence greeted this initially, and Hermione desperately wished she could see what was going on.

"I have control of it, mostly, but I swear to you, I didn't do it on purpose."

"We will deliberate on this," a voice that was unmistakably Dumbledore's said, "for now, I must ask you to allow us to do so in private. If it comes to it, we'll procure a memory from you again."

More silence, and then the door to the dining area burst open. Johnny walked out, expression mutinous, before stomping his way up the stairs. The twins disapparated with a crack, taking the extendable ears with them and leaving only Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Harry on the second floor's landing.

"Thought I saw your mom look at the ears when I walked in," he mumbled to Ron, "better let Fred and George know to hide them." He looked at Harry for only a second. "I'm sorry." And then he walked away, entering an unused room that hadn't been cleaned out yet, closing the door quietly behind him.

Hermione frowned.

The room was dark and cold. Cobwebs hung from the areas he could see, and the floor had a thin layer of dust over it from years of being untouched.

Moody was right, what was he even doing here? The old man was too trusting, too willing to give Johnny a chance. He worked better alone, that's why he left New York in the first place. People didn't need him around to mess their lives up. Then he thought about the boy, and the demons masquerading around as people in London and remembered far too easily just why he was here. The Order presented him with the best chance to take Mephisto's underlings down. Whether he'd knowingly let them come here or not, they needed to be stopped. He was struck by a sudden urge then, to leave and seek them out, but quickly discarded the idea. It'd only get him into more trouble.

He didn't like the look on Sirius' face. Not angry, no, though that would have been preferable to the disappointment so clear on his features. Reminded him of the look on his dad's face when Johnny had told him that he wanted to stop doing stunts. His emotions were erratic; going from sadness to guilt to anger and back to sadness all within a matter of seconds that stretched into minutes. All the while Johnny just stood there in the dark.

The desk rattled.

He never even saw it when he came in. They hadn't cleaned out this particular room yet, and suddenly he was gripped with a strong feeling of uneasiness. The drawer burst open, and something leapt out of it. The room was too dark, but Johnny could still make out a sort of mass moving around in the blackness. It shifted, and so did he. What was with this house and having all kinds of creatures inhabiting it? The shadow got taller, now the exact same height as himself.

Its head burst into flames.

Johnny couldn't believe it, he was looking at himself. Or, more accurately, he was looking at the Ghost Rider. Decked out in his familiar leather jacket, now with small spikes protruding from the shoulders. It stared him down but didn't move just yet. How was this possible? How could Sirius house this? Did he even know about it? For the first time in a year, Johnny felt afraid.

The Rider lunged for him, and he was powerless to stop it. Gloved hands wrapped themselves around his throat, lifting him off his feet and slamming him into the wall. Oxygen was fleeting, Johnny could feel himself dying. The head of the Rider went back to normal, no longer ablaze. But it wasn't his own face that he saw. Even in the dark, he would never forget it.

"No, no no no - you're not real!" He grit out.

The face grinned and squeezed harder.

And then the door opened, and Sirius burst in, Hermione at his side.

It looked at Sirius, before letting go and transforming into the dead body of Harry. Sirius looked momentarily shocked before bellowing; "Riddikulus!"

The form changed once again, this time into Snape being suspended in the air by his ankle. Sirius barked out a laugh, but it was forced. The floating Snape disappeared with a pop.

He met Hermione's eyes first, and he knew then, that she'd seen everything. When he looked at Sirius, Johnny nodded appreciatively. "Thank you." He said, still trying to return his breathing to normal. "What was that?"

"A boggart," Hermione answered, still looking at him with great concern, "it changes its form to whatever the person who is looking at it fears most."

"Ah," he said emotionlessly, voice cracking, "makes sense."

She kept looking at him all throughout dinner, long after Dumbledore had left and taken Johnny's memory of the night with him.

Most of the Order had left too; only Remus, Tonks, Mundungus and Bill, whom Johnny had only met that night, staying to eat as well.

"We watched it," Sirius had assured him, "and just so you know, I believe you. Pretty hard not to, now. Mad-Eye's all grumpy about it."

It was relieving, in a way, that Sirius, more than the others, believed him. Comforting.

Mundungus, Ron and the twins were on the other end of the table, laughing loudly at something the stout and greasy man had said. Johnny didn't know what to think of him, other than he seemed untrustworthy. Molly looked on disapprovingly from the kitchen area. Arthur was in deep conversation with Remus and Bill, and Harry caught up with Sirius.

"The pig one Tonks, please!"

He sat beside Tonks, while Ginny sat directly in front of him, and Hermione to her right.

The Auror scrunched up her face, and her nose became a pig's snout. A metamorphmagus, is what she was, apparently. Johnny stopped trying to understand it all on the first day of being here. Ginny giggled, while Hermione merely smiled at the display. Her eyes flickered over to his once more. He sighed, leant his head into his hand, and just watched her. When Hermione looked again, she flinched a little at being caught. Johnny gave her an unimpressed look.

"Oi!" A finger snapped in his face, and he looked over at Tonks. "Stop brooding at Hermione."

"I don't brood," he mumbled defensively. Tonks merely rolled her eyes, before he was staring at an identical copy of his face. Which, admittedly, looked broody.

"Wow," she said, looking down at her chest, "you look good with a rack."

Ginny guffawed at that, and even Sirius barked out a laugh. The comment was so ridiculous that it took him out of his conversation. Johnny was sure his face was red.

There was more loud laughter, this time from Mundungus and the Weasley boys, interrupting whatever Bill was saying from beside Arthur.

"-and if you'll believe me, lads," Mundugus said, barely able to choke the words out, "the gormless gargoyle buys all 'is own toads back orf me for twice what 'e paid in the first place -"

"Dinner is ready!" Molly called out loudly, plates flew out with steaming food on them. She glowered at Mungungus with scary malice but sat down without a further word. They dug in, and Johnny could not remember a time when he'd had such a delicious meal, let alone one that wasn't takeout in the past year. There was a general hum of conversation in the dining room. Harry was whispering something to Sirius that Johnny did not want to intrude in, so he turned his attention back to Tonks.

"So what's an 'Auror' anyway?"

Tonks, who had a chunk of chicken in her mouth, and shock evident on her face from Johnny initiating a conversation, struggled for a moment to answer.

"Eir like a mubble police mn," she said with food still in her mouth.

Hermione looked disproving, but Ginny giggled again.

"Thanks, really cleared that up," he said sarcastically.

"She said they're like muggle policemen," Hermione translated, still looking at him a little oddly. He knew what she was thinking, of course, but if she wasn't going to ask, then he wasn't going to tell.

"Only we handle problems on all kinds of threat levels," Tonks said brightly, having swallowed the chicken, "anything from petty theft to murders and assassination attempts. Though the former is usually for rookies."

That seemed weird to him, having only one force to go against all crime, especially when one considered that the number of non-magical people had to outnumber the wizards, considering all the secrecy. At least in England.

"We've got multiple different organizations in the States:" he said, "local police, FBI, DEA, probably a few more that I'm missing too."

Tonks seemed interested in this. "Well we have other sub-departments too, but they're a little understaffed nowadays, Fudge, the Minister, has almost every available Auror put on my dear old cousin's case."

He nearly laughed at the name 'Fudge', wizard names would never cease to amuse him. Johnny then realized what she had said at the end. "What's your cousin done?"

"Oh! Nobody's told you, I'm talking about Sirius, we're related. His cousin is my mum." Johnny's eyebrow's raised in surprise. "Sirius is innocent obviously, but the Ministry doesn't know that. Technically, I should be arresting him right now."

That was certainly interesting. He knew that Sirius was on the run of course, having been told that his first proper day here, what truly surprised him was that Sirius had any family left at all. The way he made it sound, the only person left in the Black family was him. Dinner continued on nicely, and Johnny had seconds of his food, including a treacle tart for dessert. By the end of it, he felt like he was going to burst. Ginny had moved from the table to the floor, close by to a going fire. A rather ugly-looking orange cat chasing the bottlecaps she rolled around. Butterbeer, Tonks told him it was called, was where the caps came from. It was fine, he supposed, if a little too sweet for something that had beer in the name. Arthur was dozing in his seat while Bill lazily played with the tooth attached to his necklace. Tonks was patting her stomach contently. Harry was also looking around the room, Mundungus was speaking in hushed tones with the twins. Remus was talking with Sirius idly. Ron was eyeing another helping of chicken with a longing look and Hermione still stared at Johnny with concern.

"Nearly time for bed, I think," Molly said with a yawn.

"Not just yet, Molly," Sirius said, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Harry. "You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."

Immediately, the atmosphere in the room changed. Molly shot Sirius a severe look. Arthur seemed to be wide awake now. Bill still played with his necklace but kept shooting looks between Molly and Sirius. Tonks looked wary. Ginny had stopped playing with the cat. Ron still looked like he'd grab another drumstick at any moment. Remus had the expression of someone who wished they could be anywhere but here. Harry seemed to struggle internally with something. The twins had perked up at Sirius' words. Mundungus looked bored with the whole thing. Even Hermione's attention shifted off of Johnny now.

"I did!" Harry finally said indignantly. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so -"

"And they're quite right," Molly said. "You're too young."

She no longer looked tired now, in fact, she looked quite angry with Sirius.

"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asked Sirius. "Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been happen -"

"Hang on!" George said loudly.

"How come Harry gets his questions answered?" Fred said angrily.

"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" George said.

" 'You're too young, you're not in the Order,' " Fred said, in a high-pitched voice that sounded uncannily like his mother's. "Harry's not even of age!"

This was absolutely none of his business. They weren't his kids, he could care less what they knew or did not. Though one look at Molly's face and Johnny quickly decided that trying to beat a hasty retreat would not go over well if noticed. He suddenly wished he could teleport like the twins. Sirius tried to assuage them calmly, but it didn't really work.

"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," Sirius said. "That's your parents' decision. Harry, on the other hand -"

"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" Molly said sharply. Her normally kindly face looked dangerous. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"

"Which bit?" Sirius asked politely, but with an air as though readying himself for a fight.

"The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know," Molly said, placing a heavy emphasis on the last three words. Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George's heads turned from Sirius to Mrs. Weasley as though following a tennis rally. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned butterbeer corks, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Lupin's eyes were fixed on Sirius. Bill looked a little scared now. Tonks had an angry look on her face to match her cousin's.

"I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly," Sirius said. "But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back he has more right than most to -"

"He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!" Molly said. "He's only fifteen and -"

"- and he's dealt with as much as most in the Order," Sirius said, "and more than some -"

"No one's denying what he's done!" Molly bit out, her face now a deep scarlet. "But he's still -"

"He's not a child!" Sirius said impatiently.

"He's not an adult either!" Molly said. "He is still in school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"

"Meaning I'm irresponsible?" Sirius asked, his expression frosty.

"Meaning you've been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and —"

"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this if you please!" Sirius said loudly.

Johnny felt as if she was being a little unfair now, and frowned at the woman.

"Molly," Arthur said, the first person to interrupt the spat, "it is unfair of his to continue to leave Harry in the dark while he stays at Headquarters. He's dealt with it the entire summer, but I highly doubt it will be tolerated much longer."

"Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!"

"Personally," Lupin said quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, "I think it better that Harry gets the facts - not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture - from us, rather than a garbled version from... others."

He didn't have to say it, but it was pretty clear to Johnny that Lupin knew that some extendable ears had survived Molly's purge.

"Well," Molly said, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, "well . . . I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has got Harry's best interests at heart -"

"He's not your son," Sirius said quietly.

"He's as good as," Molly said fiercely. "Who else has he got?"

"He's got me!"

"I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this," Lupin interrupted loudly, cutting off what was sure to be another long-winded argument. "He's old enough to decide for himself."

"I want to know what's been going on," Harry said at once.

It impressed Johnny, to see someone so young be so passionate about something like this. Though he supposed that in the same position, he'd want to know as well. Harry wasn't that much younger than him anyway.

"Very well," Molly said, her voice cracking. "Ginny - Ron - Hermione - Fred - George - I want you out of this kitchen, now."

There was instant uproar.

"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed together.

"If Harry's allowed, why can't I?" Ron shouted.

"Mum, I want to!" Ginny wailed.

Hermione, though she did not speak, looked like she desperately wanted to argue as well.

"NO!" Molly shouted standing up, her expression livid. "I absolutely forbid -"

"Molly, you can't stop Fred and George," Arthur said wearily. "They are of age -"

"They're still at school -"

"But they're legally adults now," Arthur said in the same tired voice.

Molly was now scarlet in the face. "I - oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron -"

"Harry'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!" Ron argued hotly. "Won't - won't you?" he added uncertainly, meeting Harry's eyes. The raven-haired boy's expression was stony for a few moments, and Johnny truly believed that he would not tell his friends a single thing. But seconds passed, and finally, Harry nodded.

"'Course I will," Harry said. Ron and Hermione beamed.

"Fine!" Molly shouted. Everything was clearly not fine. "Fine! Ginny - BED!" Ginny did not go quietly. They could hear her raging and storming at her mother all the way up the stairs, and when she reached the hall Mrs. Black's earsplitting shrieks were added to the din. Lupin hurried off to the portrait to restore calm. It was only after he had returned, closing the kitchen door behind him and taking his seat at the table again, that Sirius spoke.

"Okay, Harry... what do you want to know?"

The days leading up to his trial passed in a blur of chores for Harry. Grimmauld place was far from a clean household, and Mrs. Weasley did not let up on working them to the bone, even enlisting the help of Johnny when he wasn't working on Sirius' bike in the spare room on the first floor. He knew this purely by luck when passing by one day to clean under the staircase.

"I don't know how you listen to this stuff, what kind of band name is 'The Weird Sisters? "

That was met with a rather loud rejoinder from his godfather, who gestured at the wizarding wireless defensively.

Harry had felt a little jealous at the time. Sirius had been avoiding him a little, hiding out in Buckbeak's room or working on the bike with Johnny, and any attempts at conversation were mostly met with surliness. Granted, it wasn't only him feeling the brunt of Sirius' rather depressing mood, as Remus and Tonks had both complained to Arthur about his behaviour.

"He's only actin' like such a baby because he knows Harry's going to win the trial and go back to Hogwarts! N' then he feels guilty for wanting him to lose and stay in this shitty house with him!"

So why then, did he seem fine with Johnny? Why was he so different? Then, the image of a flaming skull made its way into his mind, unbidden and quickly dismissed. He had thought that the two were separate, but after listening in, that was obviously not true, and now they all knew it.

Ron gave Johnny a wider berth than before now. The twins still teased him all the same, though with an air of caution to it. Ginny regarded him with no small amount of wariness. The only person out of the teens who had not changed their behaviour to this newfound information was Hermione, who continued to shoot odd looks at Johnny during meals, and could often be found with a pile of books in the library, or teaching the young man more about the wizarding world.

"She'll have him as a fully-fledged member of SPEW soon," Ron had said to him while they cleaned out a small doxy nest one day. Harry did remember seeing the two of them seated by the fire that same night, Hermione speaking animatedly about something, with Johnny listening intently.

That wasn't the only new piece of information he learned however, last night's dinner provided some much-needed clarity. Knowing what was going on was important. and after two months of being left in the dark, if they had point-blank refused then Harry did not know what he'd do.

Finally, August twelfth arrived, the day of his trial. A tense air had settled over Grimmauld place. Harry sat in the dining area, wearing one of Mr. Weasley's old robes, while everyone else busied themselves around him. Molly was washing dishes aggressively by hand. Sirius was with Buckbeak. Remus, Bill and Mundungus were all out doing their own thing, but the former had wished him luck before leaving this morning. After what seemed like an eternity, Mr. Weasley came down the stairs, a grim look on his face. He began to open his mouth to say something to Harry when another two sets of footsteps came down behind him. It was Johnny, dressed in the same form fitting white shirt and black jeans that Mrs. Weasley kept washing for him. Beside Johnny was a sour-looking Sirius, who avoided Harry's eyes.

"There something you wanna say to your godson?" Johnny asked him, nudging Sirius with his elbow.

Sirius, looking much like a scolded child, mumbled out an apology.

"I'm sorry, Harry."

Johnny nudged him again. "And...?"

He pushed past Johnny and Mr. Weasley, making his way over to Harry. He put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes properly now. "And I know you'll win. Dumbledore'll be there, and there's no way he's letting you get expelled."

Harry was still understandably nervous, but it was in a slightly more hopeful mood that he left Grimmauld Place with Mr. Weasley.

There was an incessant clucking noise that she was doing with her tongue.

"What's gotten into you?"

Tonks looked up at him from her seat at the dining table, a trademark guilty look on her face. "I'm bored."

Johnny rolled his eyes. She was twenty-one but still acted like a little kid. Unfortunately, Tonks did not miss his expression.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that! It's bloody depressin' in this house! Sirius mopes, you and Harry brood, Kreacher keeps calling me a freak, and a fancy-looking robe tried to choke me out two days ago!"

"I don't brood," he defended instantly.

To be fair though, he was already getting quite sick of being cooped up here too. Johnny had no idea how Sirius put up with it at all. And Kreacher had called him a freak too, along with many other interesting expletives' that got the little elf a loud telling off from Sirius. It didn't really bother him or weird him out either. He'd seen demons from hell, a little angry elf was nothing in comparison.

"Are you suggesting a breakout?"

Tonks' eyes lit up with mischief, and Johnny immediately regretted humouring her.

"I am, actually," she said excitedly, "there's a nice shop with this wicked pair of boots that I saw not that long ago before I moved in here. Aannndddd... a music store, filled with muggle cd players. I heard you complaining about the lack of good music in the house."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Stop trying to pull me into your little escape plan with the promise of good music. Besides, Dumbledore wouldn't like it."

She sighed obnoxiously at him, hair shifting from its lime green colour to a mousy brown. "You sound like Hermione,"

Johnny shrugged.

Tonks seemed to sense her defeat. before looking at him slyly. "They might have a Smashing Pumpkins record there. I heard you mention them to Sirius."

"Let me go get my jacket."

Her hair went pink.

"Oi! We're goin' out!"

He grimaced at her, did she always have to be this loud?

Molly looked disapproving as she popped her head over the banister, but did not argue.

They stumbled out into the August heat, literally, in Tonks' case, who clipped her right foot against the bottom of the doorframe on their way outside.

"I'd apparate us but I don't fancy having you throw up all over me," she told him far too cheerily.

Not even five minutes into their little trip, and Johnny was regretting it immensely.

"Moody's mad enough at me as is, you know," he said half-heartedly.

She snorted at his wording but otherwise kept walking.

On the two occasions before that Johnny had actually left headquarters, he never really took in the sights. The neighbourhood was a little plain, if he was being honest, but from the shops, he could see up ahead, that particular area looked quaint, which he had a soft spot for.

When they finally got into the town, Johnny noticed the odd looks sent Tonks' way. Her hair was a very distracting bubblegum pink, contrasting greatly with her attire, which was similar to his with a black jacket and pants, as well as a clunky-looking pair of boots.

"Ah, here we are!" Tonks announced, grabbing his arm and pulling him into a shop. He shrugged her off when they got inside, too busy glaring at the people gawking to notice that there was a record store right next to them.

His eyes immediately sought out the CDs, and Johnny wandered off to see what they had. The man behind the counter looked up when they entered, but if he was surprised by Tonks' appearance he did not show it, instead preferring to return his attention to the magazine in his hand. The shelves, of which there were many, held dozens of CDs and vinyls.

There was some Pink Floyd, which was expected. Prince, Michael Jackson, Green Day...

"A Tribe Called Quest?"

It came out as a question from Tonks, as she held the Midnight Marauders cd in her hand. "Are they, er, rubbing that microphone on their, uhm-"

To see her look a little flustered was funny to him, the normally flirty woman being made speechless by a provocative album cover.

"That's a good one," he said, smirking at her a little, "nice find, Tonks."

"I'm not sure I'd qualify this as a nice find," she mumbled with a frown.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees it. The oversaturated cover making it obvious. He grabbed at the Siamese Dream album he saw with barely restrained excitement, and now it's Tonks' turn to smirk at him.

"Shut up," he told her. "I haven't got money for this, I hope you know."

"Ah, bollocks. Didn't think of that."

It's not as if he's broke, Johnny has plenty of money saved up in a bank account, though clearly not here.

"Where were you staying before we found you?" She asks him.

He shrugs. "A motel,"

Tonks just raises her eyebrows, indicating that he should elaborate further.

"Took money off of... undesirables, that I dealt with. But I left it all there, and it's more than likely been cleaned out already. I only rented it for a few days."

Johnny really didn't want to spell it out for her any more than that. Saying that he lifted money off the people he killed was a fantastic conversation ender, which was proven by how the conversation was now over.

She walks up to the cashier and checks out three CDs as well as a player with some crumpled bills. They leave, and he hears her mutter "you're lucky I have a good salary,".

Hermione finds him later, in the bike room, loud music blaring that Molly has asked her to investigate. She had meant to talk to him anyway, to offer comfort after what she'd witnessed with the boggart. It was likely to go poorly, Johnny was a private person, and Hermione rather doubted he'd be receptive, but the idea, and general worry, kept nagging at her. But her Gryffindor courage failed her, and days passed without it being mentioned.

Now though, she could hardly say anything to him, mostly because Hermione rather doubted he'd be able to hear her over the music.

Sometimes I give myself the creeps

Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me

It all keeps adding up

I think I'm cracking up

Am I just paranoid

Or am I just stoned?

It was a muggle, the last line was a dead giveaway. Growing up, her parents mainly listened to classical music. Very rarely did they ever stray from the genre. So this was something that she was unfamiliar with. The guitar and drums blared, with the singer's nasally voice singing along. Johnny was fiddling with something under the bike, but still in clear view, his white shirt dirtied up and a small grease smear on his left cheek. A glint in his eyes that she'd never seen before.

Sirius was next to the cd player, wand pointed at it lazily and increasing the volume even further.

"What kind of album name is 'Dookie' anyway, eh?"

That was met with a laugh, a genuine laugh from Johnny. Hermione had never seen him so relaxed in this house before. She closed the door gently.

Perhaps he had the comfort he needed already.