Chapter Four

Um … ……... Ergle

"We'll meet you there soon," Harry said before pulling his head from the spinning green flames of the floo.

Susan had gone most of the day in silent contemplation about Harry's offer only breaking the silence during lunch and when he asked her if she was ready to go to the estate.

She nodded and smoothed out her jeans that she had changed into a little earlier. When she rose Harry slipped behind her and sat a wrap around her shoulders. She smiled her thanks but it seemed forced to Harry.

"I'll be there for you, and we can leave anytime you want."

"Thank you, Harry, but I have a feeling that they won't let me leave until I've told them everything."

Harry took Susan by the shoulders and turned her around. "As I said before, we can and will leave whenever you want."

His face turned grim. "Susan, everyone knows what happened. They don't need to know every grisly detail."

"Then how will they find the Death Eaters who broke in?"

Harry checked that his wand was secure up his sleeve. "They don't care, Susan. Remember when I gave them all those names at the end of last year?"

She nodded.

"I gave Fudge the names of all the Death Eaters that had a part in killing Cedric. Did you see Lucius Malfoy arrested? Avery, Goyle, Macnair, Pettigrew, all the others? The only reason a few of them are in Azkaban now is because there are Aurors, that can't be bought, who actually saw Voldemort at the Ministry while his band of murderers were trying to kill me and my friends."

Susan flinched at the use of the Dark Lord's name.

"He killed your Aunt. I think you've earned the right to say his name.

She shivered in memory of the attack. "I … I can't, not yet."

Harry shook out his frustration when he saw what it was doing to Susan. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said …"

She grabbed his arm firmly. "No, Harry, you need to be firm with me. You and I have to stick together."

Susan released her grip and let her hand slide down his arm into his hand. "You're the only one who knows ... who I can talk to … who understands."

Harry nodded slightly and let her see a soft smile in answer."

(OoO)

Crack!

Harry and Susan, who was holding tightly to his arm, Apparated to the tree line in front of the Bones Estate. She looked over the damage to the front of the main house and then turned to Harry for distraction.

"And how, exactly, are you able to Apparate being only sixteen years old?"

Distraction seemed to be the theme of the afternoon. "Fifteen, actually. I've got a few more weeks 'til my birthday."

Harry could see the nervousness and her attempt to stall for just a little longer before moving on.

"You're not answering my question."

Her eyes tilted toward the Auror's that were at the front of the house and that were now walking their way.

"I have connections."

"Can you be a bit more vague?"

"Ministry connections?"

"I guess you can."

"Hey, Tonks," Harry greeted the first Auror. "Kingsley."

Shacklebolt seemed a little antsy. "Miss Bones, are you ready to give your statement?"

"Are we in a hurry, Kingsley?" Harry asked in a serious tone.

The Auror turn on him. "The scene is three days old, Harry."

"And yet we still know who did the deed, don't we? Does it really matter if Susan tells you how it was done?"

Tonks jumped in between the two of them before anything else was said. "Harry, I promised I'd make sure we take it easy."

Kingsley continued on as if Tonks wasn't even there. "Mind if I asked you how you are Apparating at your age, Harry?"

"You can ask."

Harry looked up and around into the air. "Huh, and not a Ministry owl in sight. Imagine that."

Before he received a reply he turned to Susan. "Do you want me to be there for the questions?"

Susan lowered her head, letting a few strands of hair fall across her face as she eyed the tall Auror that was glaring at her escort and she nodded quickly.

"Family only," Kingsley said with a slight smirk.

Tonks elbowed her partner out of the way and set her arm around Susan's shoulders. "I'm sure we can make an exception this time."

(OoO)

Harry was not surprised to find the utterly awful condition of Susan's home. Burn marks adorned most of the furniture, walls, portraits, floor, and almost every conceivable item the Bones' had owned was destroyed or desecrated.

"They did this when they were looking for me," Susan said as she looked around with subdued horror at her family home.

"How many were there, do you think?" Tonks asked.

Susan looked like she was trying to remember. "Around ten that I saw, but I also heard them upstairs. So there could have been more."

Tonks nodded and gave her shoulder a little squeeze. "Feel like going upstairs and seeing what we can find in your room?"

Susan nodded silently in return as Tonks led her to the stairs.

"You stay down here, boys. This is a girl thing."

Kingsley turned and proceeded to the living room without a word and Harry watched until Susan gave him a reassuring look over her shoulder that said she was okay for now.

Harry looked around him and found a fairly undamaged brown chintz chair where he could wait. He had no desire to reopen discussions with Kingsley and he took the time to rest his mind for what was sure to be an emotional day for his new friend.

Thinking over yesterday's conversation at Grimmauld Place, Harry knew he was sincere about what he told Susan and about what he offered her. He knew he wasn't, by conventional thought, ready to be married. Settling down at this point in his life was far from realistic, but he also knew that he might never have another chance to feel, apart from the physical, what it was like to actually be with a girl and not have it only be about the bloody boy-who-lived.

Susan would be safe from unwanted suitors, and if he did manage to get himself killed sometime in the near future then she wouldn't ever have to worry about just getting by. Thanks to Sirius' money, Susan when be able to do whatever she wanted. Harry made a mental note to change his will sometime over the next few days. Even if she turned him down there was more than enough money to give her a healthy share in the event of his death.

His thoughts drifted to more mundane matters such as the sleeping figure on his couch this morning and the feelings it awoken in him that he had once thought buried after the fiasco with Cho Chang. He remembered the unadulterated frustration he felt whenever the thought of his … what was she anyway, a girlfriend?

Sure she made him feel all gooey inside whenever she chose to grace him with a genuine smile, but even that always feel short when she started blubbering and all but compared him to Cedric every chance she got. Heck, even Susan who was a Hufflepuff hadn't so much as mentioned Cedric and she had known him for years, being in the same house and all. Of course it had only been a day since she had been around. Give it time, Harry. Maybe it's best she turned you down. It would have only been a matter of time before she brought it up.

He wasn't sure he convinced himself.

Sounds from the stairs alerted Harry that they were finished with whatever they were doing on the second level of the home, and Harry opened his eyes from his contemplations. Susan led the way while Tonks was levitating a scorched truck close behind.

Susan's eyes were puffy and red-rimmed from what Harry recognized as the result of someone being upset. When he rose and made his way to the bottom of the staircase, Susan met him with a slight smile indicating she was fine. He didn't ask her anything further knowing from personal experience what she was going through.

From the side he heard Kingsley approach from the living room. "All set, Miss Bones." He didn't even pause for approval before he started. "I think it would be best to begin from when the …"

"Kingsley," Tonks interrupted. "I've got the statement. It's time to let these two be on their way."

"But …"

"Kingsley," Tonks cautioned.

"But …"

"Do I have to bring up the incident with the Polyjuice Potion and the drunken …"

Kingsley held up his hands in defeat. "Fine. Now shut it."

Susan stepped off the stairs and into Harry's arms giving him a thankful squeeze before letting go and stepping back.

"Thanks for finding Tonks, Harry."

"No problem," he said in response and shrugged nonchalantly.

"Harry, I'd like to talk to you before you two leave," Tonks indicated as she turned to Kingsley and pointed at him. "You behave."

The tall Auror only rolled his eyes and, somewhat disgruntled, leaned on the nearest wall mumbling to himself.

Harry took Tonks' lead and followed her to the living room, out of earshot but where he could still keep an eye on Susan.

Tonks leaned in and whispered, "You're being a gentleman to her?"

"What?" He was taken aback.

The Auror raised an eyebrow. "She's in a very fragile state right now, Harry."

"I think I know exactly what kind of state she's in right now."

Tonks frowned. "She told me about the proposal."

Before Harry could defend himself, Tonks held her hands out. "However gallant your intentions are you have to think of the consequences of your decisions."

He seethed in silence for only a moment. "Thanks for the reminder that I don't have the brain to think through a problem, Tonks."

"That's not what I meant and you know it," she replied. "Susan likes you, you prat."

Harry was about to shoot back something scathing but he stopped and his face relaxed.

Tonks added only a few more comments. "I mean she really likes you and if you take advantage of what I just told you …"

Harry turned his head and saw the lithe blonde girl brushing off the top of her trunk with a concerned look on her face.

"I won't … I haven't … I," he stumbled through his thoughts. "I want to protect her."

"She doesn't need a dog, Harry. She needs a friend," Tonks continued. "Don't ask her that question again unless you are really sure what you are asking."

(OoO)

Standing in the foyer of number twelve Grimmauld Place Harry once more levitated Susan's trunk in front of him.

"What say we bring this to your room and unpack?"

She nodded in silence.

Once upstairs, Harry set the trunk down, with a light thud, on the hardwood floor. He looked around and noted the dreariness of the room. Thanks to Dobby it was clean, but lacked any sort of 'lived-in' feeling.

"Maybe I shouldn't," Susan warily said.

"Shouldn't what?"

"Unpack."

Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "Why wouldn't you?"

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, calming herself. "Tonks said Wizarding Family Services would be contacting me. I know Aunt Amelia had a will … just in case. I'll probably have to stay with the Abbots or some other friend of the family."

The thought hadn't occurred to Harry that she might not want to stay with him. He didn't know if it was his ego that was hurt or the thought of having to spend the rest of the summer alone without a friend to, at the very least, talk about even the most mundane of topics.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked pensively at the ground. "Um … well, whatever you want to do, I guess."

Susan dropped to a sit on the bed and worried her hands as frown deepened. "I don't want to be a burden."

An uncomfortable feeling crawled down his spine. Hadn't he already told her time and again that she was welcome? He looked around nervously with a need to find something to say.

"Susan," he started. She didn't look up at the sound of her name so he stepped forward and knelt down in front of her. His hand slipped over hers in a comforting gesture. "If you'd rather spend time with your friend, well, I can understand. But I need you to know that you're welcome to stay here as long as you want."

Harry still couldn't see her face clearly as tendrils of blonde hair made a curtain protecting her from whatever fear she felt. However, he did hear her quickly sniff. Regret flooded through his head. "I'm sorry … I shouldn't be pressuring you."

Susan shook her head in response and he caught a glimpse of her tear-filled eyes. "Harry, that's not it at all," she half-giggled.

She raised her head and pushed back the tears with the heels of her hands. "It's just … I really didn't think I had a choice."

This is something that generally didn't sit right. "What do you mean?"

She sniffed once more and looked back down to Harry's hand atop her own. "Aunt Amelia was strict with me."

Harry tensed, remembering his own background with his own aunt and uncle. Susan slipped her thumb over his, gripping him slightly.

"She wasn't mean, just strict," she reassured him. "The thought of me living with a boy, much less without a proper chaperone … well."

"Oh," Harry responded. His eyes rolled up and a smirk appeared on his lips. "Darn, and here I was thinking I was being clever; had it all planned out and everything."

One of her hands slipped out and sandwiched his between the other. "The girls at Witches Breath would be all agog," she giggled.

His smirk turned into a rueful smile. "Had to bring that up, did ya."