Harry jerked awake. He had the feeling that he should be scared, but all he could feel was a sense of calm and safety.

"I'm surprised he didn't give himself a brain rush."

"Maybe he did—his face is kinda blank."

Harry blinked a few times, finally taking in his surroundings. The scarlet velvet curtains explained exactly where he was. "How the hell did I get here?" Harry looked around, noticing there were no Chudley Cannons posters, no spewing cactuses, and there was only one other bed. The bed he was in was twice the size of a normal bed.

"Earth to Harry." Fred laughed lightly, snaking his arm around Harry's waist and pulling him back to lie on the bed. George's arm came to rest above Fred's, leaving Fred's arm to settle over Harry's hip. Harry blushed.

"How do you feel?" George asked, making Harry shiver as warm air caressed his ear.

"Tired and hungry." Harry snuggled into the covers which caused both boys on either side of him to laugh and move closer.

"That's 'cause someone hasn't eaten for a day and a half," Fred mentioned in good humour.

"Oh, McGonagall wants to speak with you about skipping classes yesterday."

Harry groaned, laying his head on George's chest. "Do you think she would let me get away with it since it was Friday, Snape and Umbridge are trying to kill me using sleep deprivation, and I had to sleep?"

"Doubt it!" They answered together, chuckling quietly.

"But we enjoy the humour—"

"—And the attempt," George finished, petting Harry's head. A deep purr started in the back of Harry's throat. Fred and George shared a happy look before Harry turned back to Harry.

"Harry, we were wondering—"

"—if you would allow us—"

"—to court you." George never stopped petting Harry but his hand had started to shake.

"Court as-as in d-date?" Harry stammered, getting up to kneel between them.

"Yeah, date." Fred shrugged, pushing himself up to lean back on his elbows. George followed suit and leaned against his left arm.

"Um, I have to go, uh, see McGonagall about missing classes." Harry tried to scramble over Fred, but he was pulled back between them. Harry puffed. "Why is your bed so bloody big?" He made one last attempt to squirm away before lying down in defeat.

"Because we magicked our beds together."

"And after second year, the elves got fed up with separating them, so they left them together." George smiled mischievously.

"Now answer the question—will you allow us to court you or not?" Fred pushed while petting Harry's ribs.

"I don't know—not right now, I have a lot to worry about. And I have to meet McGonagall and I have the detentions and Voldemort, and—just not now, alright?" Harry stammered.

"Alright, then next month you're ours! But you're welcome in our bed any night." Fred winked suggestively. "Anyway, we have to go get you to eat and find our head of house." Fred and George both jumped out of bed in order to get dressed.

Harry just sat watching until he got smacked in the face. His vision went black and he started to claw at the clothes covering his eyes. When he was free, he glared at both twins, not sure which was guilty because they were both laughing hysterically.

"Glad I can give you both a laugh," Harry growled. "But you really could have broken my glasses—wait, where are they?"

"On the bedside table," George gasped out around his laughing. Harry grumbled before scrambling to get his glasses, but he yelped and jumped back onto the bed when his feet touched the cold floor. Fred and George burst out laughing again.

"Our poor little kitten doesn't like the cold," Fred managed to force out.

"Our room's usually warmer. Why isn't your furnace on?"

Fred and George both looked at each other before turning to the furnace. There was no light seen between the gaps of the grill. "Hmm, Lee must have put it out. Do you want us to light it again?" George asked sweetly.

"How do you not feel it?" Harry asked while attempting to put his pants on without having to get off the bed.

"Our creature blood," they chorused.

Harry sent them an odd look. "What's your creature blood?"

"We are not allowed to tell you."

"Only because our blood has to remain secret to the outside world," Fred rushed on to explain at the hurt look on Harry's face.

"We can tell you once you're ours," George tried to encourage. He went to the bed and started to rub Harry's back before Harry jerked away and out of bed.

"And what if I don't want to become yours?" He could feel his legs start to ache from the cold.

"Trust us Harry, we would never leave you." Fred wrapped his arms around Harry from behind, casting a quick warming charm on Harry's legs and the floor. Harry sighed softly before shaking his head and pulling away from Fred.

"I can't trust you, with Vold—"

"Moldyshorts," the twins corrected.

"Fine. Moldyshorts chasing me, trying to kill me, I just can't trust anyone to stay." Harry stood a few steps away with his arms wrapped around himself before he turned. "I have to go." He sounded like a bubble had formed in his throat. Harry quickly walked to the door, flinging it open and running out.

"Fred, how do we show him we won't leave?"

Fred never got to answer as a knock drew their attention. George walked over and opened the window. A large brown owl flew in, landing on the footboard of the bed. Fred went to it and it instantly stuck out a leg. He grabbed the note while George came over to hand the owl a few treats.

"George, I don't think we'll be able to show Harry anything for a while." Fred handed over the note. George just stared at it.

Harry, on the other hand, had run all the way to the great hall. He stopped in front of the doors, panting heavily. He almost screamed when a hand landed on his shoulder. He jumped and spun to see Ron and Hermione staring at him. Ron's hand was hovering close to his shoulder, telling Harry he had been the one to scare him. Hermione smiled before grabbing Harry's arm and leading both boys into the Great Hall.

"Where have you been? I've been worried sick! You haven't been to any classes and McGonagall is looking for you. Plus we have three essays you have to learn about—we just got them yesterday." Hermione forced Harry into a seat and piled food onto his plate before placing a select few items on her own. "You've lost that weight again, Harry. You really need someone watching your diet, don't you?" Hermione questioned, watching Harry.

Harry blinked a few times and tentatively stabbed a sausage. He and Hermione had been fighting over his weight since the beginning of school. Really it was only a five pound difference each time. Harry could go play a Quidditch game and lose the five pounds that Hermione was currently forcing him to regain.

It didn't take long for them to fall back into a regular conversation—Hermione talking about homework while Ron and Harry made faces when she wasn't looking. They laughed and had a good time right up until McGonagall came to stand over Harry.

"Mr. Potter, follow me." Before Harry had actually moved she was sweeping out of the room. Harry groaned and scrambled after her.

When they finally got to her office, she motioned for Harry to go in and shut the door behind him. She made a gesture and sat behind her dark wooden desk, waiting patiently for Harry to settle into the chair opposite her.

"Professor Snape told me about your double detentions. I've spoken with both Professor Snape and Professor Umbridge and neither are willing to move your detention to next month. So I am willing to allow you one period each Friday to catch up on your sleep."

Harry sat with his mouth open in shock.

"Of course, you're still responsible for getting all homework assignments and doing them in time for their due dates. Meaning if there is an assignment due on a Friday during my class, you will be present for it." Harry had expected this and knew it wouldn't work any other way.

"And of course you are only allowed to skip my class. Now close your mouth or you will catch flies."

*o*o*o*

Harry had almost floated back to join Hermione and Ron in the common room. Hermione suggested they walk outside to finish their homework, but on their way out, Fred and George were coming in. Harry just glared and hurried after his friends out the door.

"I think he's leaning towards a no for dating us," Fred whispered to George.

"He'll come around." George sounded confident, but he was trying to convince himself as much as he was Fred.

*o*o*o*

The last few months after his detentions (which ended up with him having to drink a pepper-up potion every third day seeing as his detention with Snape went until 6:00am) had been quiet. Harry couldn't really say peaceful considering he had horrible dreams and he was getting lonely.

He had looked up courting between his classes and detentions, after the twins had so bluntly questioned him on it, and had stumbled on more the he wished to know. Things that included magic inheritance, and mates, and how some mates wished to court their intended before they fully took said mate- this generally happened with multiple pairings or mating's. Harry had to wonder if he was the twins mate, but would the twins be creatures who had mates? Surely he would have noticed it if Bill and Charlie and Percy were too. Yet thinking of the twins always brought a feeling of loneliness that generally he ignored but at some moments, he just curled up with his head in Hermione's lap as she pet him.

He didn't know why he felt the need for comfort but the want to crawl back into Fred and George's bed was getting more and more prevalent. But Harry continued to avoid the twins like they were a plague. He didn't want to continually avoid them but every time he got close, he couldn't help the feelings of hurt and betrayal, if they were creatures and he was their mate and they wanted to court him that would mean that they had more than one mate, and Harry just wasn't sure if he could share.

But at the moment, Harry was relaxing in the warm May sun near the black lake.

"Hey Harry!"

Too bad Ron had to ruin the perfectly peaceful moment.

"Hey Ron." Harry didn't move, or open his eyes. He heard Ron drop to the ground, followed by three more people. Harry cracked one eye open to see Hermione, Luna and Neville all sitting on the other side of Ron.

"'ello everyone," Harry greeted, getting a chorus of hello's in return. "What are you all doing?"

"Enjoying a beautiful Spring day!" Hermione answered.

"Harry, have you seen Malfoy?" Luna looked blankly at Harry, while Hermione glared at Luna.

"Luna?" Harry's brow creased in confusion. Why would Luna care if he had seen Malfoy or not?

"Just a thought," Luna whispered back. Hermione's glare could have made Voldemort shrink behind a rock, but Luna seemed unfazed by it.

"Okay, what's going on here?" Harry sat up, looking between his friends. Not one of them looked back.

"Hey Harry—"

"—can we talk to you?"

"Great!" Harry hadn't even turned around before two sets of arms were pulling him up and away from his friends. He was still angry with the twins, but he couldn't pull away from the safe feeling their bodies and arms were giving. He resisted the urge to bury deeper into that embrace.

"What do you want?" Harry snapped at them.

"We just wanted to tell you," Fred started, nuzzling his cheek against Harry's hair.

"That we didn't mean to leave you, and—" George was brushing Harry's bangs away from his face.

"—If you need anything, come to us, alright?" Harry felt two light pecks on his head before both boys were completely gone. He didn't get time to look around before his head pounded in a very familiar way. His legs gave underneath him, causing him to fall—he didn't notice Hermione quickly made her way to his side—as he was sucked into his mind.

Voldemort stood over Sirius, asking him where "it" was. Sirius never answered. Voldemort quickly got frustrated with the silence and cast a crucio over Sirius. He jerked and fell to the floor, biting his lip. Harry knew he was trying not to scream, and felt like he wanted to cry for his godfather.

"—ry." Harry could hear a voice, but looking at both Voldemort and Sirius, he realised neither had spoken. "—arry!" Harry tried focussing on the voice—he didn't want to watch his godfather suffer, he wanted to save him.

"Harry!" This time Harry realised it was Hermione calling for him, shaking him lightly. Harry watched the scene before him start to waver before it was gone altogether.

Harry was left staring at a very worried Hermione. Ron was standing on her right side and Luna was on her left with Neville off to the side looking like he was going to faint. Harry tried to swallow, but his mouth was too dry.

"We need to go help Sirius—he has him. He has Sirius," Harry rasped out, watching Hermione pale a few more shades.

"Harry, are you sure?" She asked gently, not wanting to anger him.

"Yes!" Harry went to get up, only to fall back to the ground, his head spinning and his vision blurring. When his vision cleared, Ron was standing directly in front of him, offering his hands which Harry accepted. Ron helped Harry stand, steadying him when he wobbled.

"We should check HQ to make sure Padfoot isn't there," Hermione suggested.

"How? The Ministry is watching all Floo networks," Ron protested. He allowed Harry to pull away from him, only to steady Harry a moment later as he tripped over a root.

"Not all—Umbridge's office is unwatched."

The five raced off to her office, reaching it in world record time. "I'll go through and check if he's there, you guys stay here and keep watch."

Hermione pushed forward to stand between Ron and Harry. She pulled Harry to her, making Harry feel safe and warm. "You don't have to go—I have a feeling it's a trap," she whispered. Reluctantly, she allowed Harry up for a breath.

"I have to check, Hermione—he's my godfather. He's the only thing I have living from my parents." 'Other than their enemies...' Harry shuddered at the thought. He heard Hermione sigh before passing him the Floo powder. Harry grabbed a handful of powder and jumped into the fire. He felt the small tug and watched the doors that were fireplaces pass by. Finally, he felt the slow drop and crashed into the hard floor, rolling out of the fireplace.

Harry quickly got up and looked around the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Nothing looked out of place.

"Sirius!" Harry yelled.

He got no response.