Ron entered the dorm room, trying to find Harry. He spotted Harry sitting on his truck, staring vacantly at the floor. This was never a good sign. While Harry was able to put on the Golden Boy show for the rest of the world, he occasionally slipped out of it. When he fell out of the role, he fell far. He would enter states of catatonia—sometimes for minutes—sometimes for days. No one ever knew what exactly started these reactions and Ron was always scared to ask about it once Harry had recovered.
"You ready to go to the feast mate?" Ron asked anxiously, trying to pull Harry back to reality. He repeated himself twice before he noticed any change in Harry.
Harry finally looked up at Ron with completely hollow eyes and blinked a few times. "Is it time already?"
"More than. We need to hurry to make it there in time for the speeches. Let's go!"
"Yes, yes. In a minute" Harry replied absently, running his fingers over his perfectly clear wrists. He kept a glamour on his skin at all times…at the beginning of the year in order to cover the cuts and bruised and throughout the year to keep his tattoos concealed. After all, The Boy Who Lived couldn't possibly have any tattoos.
"It will be all right Harry. We know the tattoos work and you can come stay with me when you need to. You know mum loves it when you stay. And I'm sure someone else would like to see you" Ron slyly slipped in.
Harry forced a small smile which fooled no one. "We're going to be late! Get down here boys!" Hermione called out from the bottom of the stairs. "Don't make me come up there!"
"We'd better go, mate. Don't want her to get her panties in a twist. Don't worry. It will all work out."
"Yeah. Sure. I guess I'm ready then."
The trio made their way quickly to the Great Hall and had just gained their seats when the Headmaster stood up to give his traditional end of year announcements. "This year I am proud to award the house cup to Hufflepuff!" Cheers rang out from the Hufflepuff table and some confused clapping came from a majority of the Ravenclaws and a few Gryffindors. Hufflepuff won for the first time in decades, largely due to the squabbling between Gryffindor and Slytherin that had reached an all new high this year. Ravenclaw mainly stayed out of the whole mess which neither gained nor lost points. It was the quiet Hufflepuffs who came out on top then for trying to break up fights and helping to prevent some.
Harry's attention faded in and out throughout the speech. "I would remind you that we are at war…" Honestly, isn't it obvious that we are at war? How could anyone forget that? Harry thought furiously. "Voldemort" (shudders spread across the hall) "will stop at nothing to…" Harry was almost completely lost in his thoughts when he was rather violently pulled out of them by Dumbledore's next statement. "I would ask all of you to stay where you are safe this summer. Do not attempt to leave without express permission. Have a nice summer!" With that ridiculous platitude Dumbledore sat down and the food appeared.
Hermione nervously turned to Harry. "Do you think he knows? Did he somehow find out?"
Harry remained silent, thinking it over. Ron jumped in. "He can't know. I mean, can he? We did everything off the grounds and some of it was even done in muggle London. How could he possibly know?"
"I don't think he knows everything, but I think that he suspects."
"Oh Harry, what are you going to do?" Hermione anxiously asked.
"Nothing. I'm just going to let this play out however it does. Maybe I won't even need the protection after all. I grew a little bit this year. Maybe he won't…" he let the words fade away as they all thought about the implications. Each knew that it was highly unlikely that he would be safe without the new spells.
"Don't worry about it. You are safe now and he'll just have to deal with it if the Dursley's ask you to leave." Ron's words of advice might have seemed a bit flippant but he knew that Harry needed a friend right now, not someone to analyze exactly how bad his situation was and then point out the ways in which it could get worse. They all knew that there were many, many ways in which Harry's uncle could hurt him without touching him. They just had to pray that Vernon didn't resort to any of those.
"You will owl me often, won't you Harry?"
"Of course, Hermione. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Harry's stomach clenched as he thought of what he faced at home. He could do this. He had protection this time. Everything would be fine.