Professor Minerva McGonagall was not easy to surprise. In fact, the only two recent times in which she had been surprised were when Harry James Potter joined the dark, and the second time, which was when Harry Potter decided to join the light again. She stared hard at him. It was hard to think of the teenager that sat harmlessly on the grass, picking at a daisy, as a cold hearted mastermind.
"So, why have you decided to rejoin our side?" McGonagall demanded. The young boy gave her an inquisitive look, a condescending one at that. He was looking at her as if she had just asked him the most stupid, boring question in the world.
"Well. It's die or die if I don't," he said simply. "I can't return to darkness. They will destroy me, slowly and painfully. If I don't join the light, you too will kill me. The Ministry is after me as well. This is the only path that does not lead to my demise. Besides," Harry said, turning his head to watch the Weasley family rejoice in the return of their two daughters, "I'm…not really sure why I left in the first place." His eyes held an emotion that McGonagall could not accurately describe. There was pain, confusion, and regret, certainly regret. The professor sighed. He could be lying. He could be trying to trick them all, and yet…he seemed so…sincere. She supposed that sincerity could be faked—Severus Snape had certainly accomplished that—but for some reason, she didn't get the same odd feeling around this young man as she had around Severus. She folded her arms.
"You will not be allowed to rejoin the light," McGonagall said. "Or, rather, you won't be allowed to join our association. We will however hide you from those that wish harm on you. You can stay here, and we will redouble the wards."
"No," Harry said. McGonagall guffawed at him.
"Pardon me?" Harry turned to look at her, looking her straight in the eye.
"No. You won't redouble them. I will. I have more knowledge of the dark than you. I know more about what they can, cannot, will and will not do. You may check them when I finish," Harry said. He stood. "There are new dark spells out there that you haven't ever heard of. No one has, because I developed them myself. In fact, I could be very valuable to your…association as you so wish to call it. However. I realize that trust takes time. When you're ready to accept me, I'll be ready to accept you." McGonagall blinked. It wasn't often that she was told what to do. Hesitantly, Mcgonagall nodded.
"Fine then. When you've finished with the wards, make sure to contact me," she said, and with that she turned on her heel and left. Harry smirked once she was gone. This was all too easy. He could protect Rose by strengthening the wards on this one house, gain trust in the Order and then go back to Voldemort with information to avoid punishment. 'Sincerity can be faked is right, McGonagall, and you've just fallen into my trap.' With that thought, Harry headed inside the Burrow.
The creaky old house was exactly as Harry remembered it. It was warm, cozy and happy. All in all, Harry thought, it was absolutely disgusting. Rose came up to him immediately, smiling. Harry's heart gave a sharp pang for a moment, but he quickly stomped it out. The Snake felt no emotion! He was insulting himself by merely having that emotion. The Snake was cruel, The Snake was a mastermind, The Snake was anything but emotional.
"Welcome home, big brother," she said. The other Weasleys stopped what they were doing and looked at their new houseguest. The older Weasley boys looked murderous, Harry observed with slight amusement. The youngest Weasley boy simply looked perplexed—a simpleton in all areas, especially thought and emotion, Harry thought. Mr. Weasley looked at Harry with a mixture of fear, hatred and gratitude, an odd combination. Mrs. Weasley looked at him with the warmth of any mother, which threw Harry completely off track. Why didn't she have similar expressions to her sons and husband? Harry frowned mentally. She'd take some time to place in a small, categorized box in his mind. Ginny was looking at him…with suspicion? Harry almost grinned. Now that for sure was interesting. He had just saved her life, or at least spared her a horrible violation, and yet she still didn't trust him? She was just as interesting as her mother, perhaps even more so. Harry had to admit, he was intrigued.
"Thanks," Harry said warmly to his little sister. Even if Tom would never understand his affections for his little sister, even if he would almost certainly punish him if he knew, Harry still had them. It was the only human thing left about him.
"Where is he? I don't believe this!" an outraged voice yelled from another room. Mr. Weasley ran to see who exactly had come through his floo. Harry froze instantly. He knew exactly who had just flooed in.
"Sirius, Sirius you need to calm down!" said a firm voice belonging to Remus Lupin. Rose grabbed onto Harry's arm. She'd stick up for him, even against Uncle Sirius! Harry just looked blank. He'd never really given his loving 'uncles' much of a thought after his parents died. It was as if Harry's soul had just dropped off the planet, retained only in the slightest piece by Rose. Now Harry felt an emptiness being filled with full force again despite his attempts to stop it. His stomach did flip-flops, his mind raced in turmoil. What had he done? What had he done! Harry held a hand to his mouth. He was going to be sick. Harry ran to the bathroom without another word, only slightly remembering where it was. When he was finished, he sat against the wall, shaking uncontrollably.
Ginny had seen, along with everyone else, Harry run out and head straight for the bathroom. Curious, she had followed. She found Harry shaking uncontrollably, his eyes wide. She ran water onto a washcloth and gently washed around his mouth—she could tell he'd been sick. Harry seemed too distraught to do much other than just let her help him. Ginny cocked her head. Rose's older brother really puzzled her. One minute he was her Knight in Shining Armor, the next he was cold and distant, and then he was a frightened and sick little boy. He looked very lost and confused.
"It'll be ok," Ginny said to him soothingly as she heard Sirius bellowing louder from the living room. She winced at his words.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S STAYING HERE? WE OUGHT TO WRING THE LITTLE WEASEL'S NECK!" Sirius hollered. Ginny saw Harry shuddering violently now, and, acting on instinct, she pulled him into a warm embrace.
"It's ok—he doesn't really mean it," Ginny said. She looked over his shoulder at the wall in despair. She knew that Sirius meant every word of it. Harry had done a lot of damage to everything. He'd caused so many people so much misery…and yet, Ginny found that hard to believe. Was the mastermind really this shaking boy she held in her arms?
"What have I done? What have I done?" Harry said in a rasping whisper, clutching to Ginny more tightly, burying his head deeper into her shoulder. Ginny was surprised but thought better of moving.
"It'll be ok," Ginny repeated. Her instincts were taking over as she whispered soothing words to him and stroked his hair gently. He picked up his head, blinking.
"I—I'm sorry," he said, shaking his hair. He couldn't believe he'd just had a total melt down, and right in front of—well really on—this girl! He found himself blushing furiously. 'I'm a fool!' he thought. Ginny found herself blushing as well.
"Uh, no problem," she said. Why was she all silly now? Ginny scolded herself lightly. She'd just been trying to help him, nothing else! The shouting outside had stopped. "We should um, probably go back to the living room, Harry." Harry nodded and they went back to the living room to find a beet red Sirius being almost restrained by a frustrated Remus, and an upset Weasley family standing all around. Mad-eye Moody and McGonagall had even shown up! Harry felt weak in the knees. What was he doing? What had he done? His mind was racing uncontrollably to the point of where he couldn't think straight. His eyes wandered forlornly to Remus and Sirius. 'He hates me, he hates me, he wishes I were dead…' Harry thought frantically. 'They all hate me, and I have no one to blame but myself. I should die, die like they want me too…I've brought shame to my name, shame to my family, shame to my sister, shame to the Weasleys, to the Order. I should die, I should die.' Harry's thoughts were jumbling randomly.
"I'm sorry," he whispered before he collapsed.
Harry woke to see red. Long red hair was all that he could see. He shifted backward. He found that he was in a bed with warm sheets and a pillow. Little Ginny Weasley was sitting by his bedside.
"You're finally awake," she said, getting up to open the windows.
"What…happened?" Harry asked, confused.
"You collapsed. Madame Pomfrey stopped by and said it was from an overload of mental distress. She thinks Sirius was the cause," Ginny paused. "I…think he might be a little bit sorry." Harry couldn't process this information, so he simply nodded. The pretty girl with the red hair just kept talking, so Harry just kept listening to her voice. He smiled. It was a very pretty voice to go right along with the pretty girl.
Ginny frowned.
"Harry, are you listening to me?" Ginny asked when she noticed Harry looked a little loopy. 'He must be delirious,' Ginny thought, and, worried, she grabbed a thermometer and bent down to Harry's face to put the thermometer in his mouth. His fever must be going up.
Harry watched as the pretty girl got closer to him. He wondered what would happen if he kissed her? It might be nice. Decisively, Harry put his lips on hers.
Ginny pulled away quickly, the delirious Harry just falling back onto the bed. Her face was completely red. 'Oh my god! Definitely delirious!' she ran out of the room.
"Mom!" she called. "Harry's fever went up!"