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Chapter 5: The Comfort of Friends

The next few days passed quite pleasantly. Harry did have a few nightmares, but he had Sirius and Remus's comfort to help him get through them. They were often nightmares of his uncle and the terrible abuse he had inflicted on him. Occasionally he dreamed of Voldemort murdering everyone he loved, and this really got to him as well. Sirius and Remus tried to reassure him that Voldemort was not back in power now, that they would stay safe, that they'd protect him from anything that was going to happen.

It was now five days after Harry had arrived in the little apartment, and Sirius and Remus asked him that morning, "Harry, would you like to have the Weasleys over today? Molly firecalled me last night and wondered if you wanted to have them over. Hermione's not with them yet, she's still with her parents. But she will be coming to the Quidditch World Cup. But today, Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny can come if you'd like."

Harry bit his lip. He felt nervous about facing his friends after what had happened. Would they notice a difference in him and ask awkward questions? How would he answer them if they did?

Seeming to sense his discomfort, Remus soothed, "It's okay Harry. You don't have to tell them anything you don't want to. If they start asking questions, just tell them you're not ready to open up about it yet. They'll understand; I can tell that they really like and respect you. Believe me, nothing that happened was your fault, so it won't in any way turn them off you."

Harry continued to think about it. "Okay," he said finally. "I'll have them over."

So Sirius made the appropriate firecall to Mrs. Weasley, and later that morning, she, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny flooed in to what the three occupants now called Marauder Place.

"Hey, Harry!" said Fred when they arrived.

"It's so spiffing to see ya, mate!" said George.

"Hey, mate," said Ron, pounding him on the back.

"Hi Harry," said Ginny quietly.

"Hey guys," said Harry, not being able to resist smiling at his friends. "Good to see you too."

Molly, Sirius, and Remus sat down in the living room to have a talk while Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny went into Harry's room. "Wow, this room is cool!" Ron exclaimed. "Look at all the Quidditch posters on the walls! Did Sirius and Professor Lupin do that for you?"

"Yeah," smiled Harry. "But you don't need to call him Professor Lupin anymore, remember? He said you could call him Remus."

"It'll just take some getting used to," said Ron.

"Hey, mate," said George, "you won't believe how mad Mum's been at us the past couple of days."

"She almost didn't let us come today," said Fred.

"Why not?" asked Harry curiously.

"Well," said Fred, "my partner-in-crime and I here have been making joke supplies. Inventing, you know. We want to start a joke shop when we get out of Hogwarts."

"Yeah," said Ron. "So they made these things called Ton-Tongue Toffees."

"What do they do?" asked Harry, interested.

Fred and George started snickering. "Well, we gave one to Percy," Fred chortled. "And his tongue grew to the size of a python!"

Ron burst out laughing. "It was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life," he gasped.

"Percy wasn't amused," said George in a voice that clearly showed how he couldn't understand that fact. "He's such a git. He won't talk to us now. Dad had to fix his tongue!"

"And Mum confiscated all the rest of the candies," grumbled Fred.

"Well, brother dearest, we'll just have to make some more, won't we?" said a laughing George.

"Why did Percy eat it at all?" said Harry. "Anything you two give him is suspicious."

"Hey, I take offense to that!" said Fred mock angrily.

"Yeah, me too!" echoed George.

"He ate it," said a quiet voice belonging to Ginny, "because he's a git."

"Right in one, little GinGin," the twins said together.

Harry felt comforted in his friends' presence. He knew these four would be there for him no matter what, and Fred and George's humor made him smile. The twins always had a joke to share when times got tough.

"So, are you looking forward to the World Cup?" Ginny asked Harry.

"Yeah," Harry answered. "Sirius and Remus told me about Viktor Krum."

"Yeah, he's bloody amazing," said Ron excitedly. "Best Seeker in the world. Not as good as you, though, mate," he said, blushing and grinning at Harry.

"Come off it," Harry smiled. "I'm no professional!"

The conversation turned to Quidditch after that. Fred and George talked about some of the amazing moves Viktor Krum could execute on a broomstick, and Ron chimed in. Ginny, however, only said a few things now and then. Harry wondered if it had anything to do with how she was always nervous around him.

"Hey, we've been talking about Quidditch, why don't we go play some?" suggested Fred.

"Yeah, good idea, brother mine. We brought our brooms with us," said George.

"Okay," said Harry. "It's a really nice day out today; hopefully Sirius, Remus, and Mrs. Weasley will let us."

"Mum had better let us," said Ron. "Just because she's mad at you two," he pointed at Fred and George, "doesn't mean she should take it out on all of us."

"Why is she angry with us anyway?" grunted George. "She knows Percy's the biggest prat in the world, she just doesn't admit it!"

The five friends went into the living room, and the three adults did give them the okay to go out and play Quidditch. So outside they went, and they had the time of their lives. They took turns playing the different positions. Ginny was an excellent Seeker, and even beat Harry to the Snitch once. He gave her a smile when she beat him, and she gave him a shy smile back.

After this, it was time for lunch. So the five friends plus the three adults all sat down in the kitchen. Sirius had conjured some extra chairs for the guests to sit in, and they enjoyed a sumptuous lunch of sandwiches, potato chips, and chocolate cookies.

"Mum, when are you going to forgive us?" whined George as they were eating.

"When you stop harassing your brother," Mrs. Weasley answered, giving the infamous twins a glare. "When you two start behaving yourselves, I'll think about it."

"Oh, lighten up, Mum," said Fred.

"You know you love us," said George.

Mrs. Weasley was trying to fight the grin that was slipping onto her face, but Fred and George caught it and started chuckling. The sound was infectious, and soon everyone was laughing.

"Hey, I told you those twins are just like us, Moony," said Sirius.

"Yep, so you did, Padfoot," grinned Remus.

"Hey, what did you say?" exclaimed Fred suddenly.

"Did you just call each other "Moony" and "Padfoot?"" George asked incredulously.

"We sure did," Sirius said.

"I don't believe it!" the twins chorused. "You're two of the Marauders!"

"Right in one!" Remus said. "Harry's dad was Prongs, and our ex-friend, who you probably heard about in the news, Peter, was Wormtail."

"So where did you come up with the nicknames?" Fred asked.

"Want to tell the story, Padfoot?" said Remus.

"Yeah, I'll tell it," said Sirius, and he launched into the tale of the three Marauders becoming Animagi to help Remus survive his transformations into a werewolf.

"Hey, I want to become an Animagus too!" said Fred, his whole face lighting up. "Is it hard?"

"Well, it took us three years, but it would have taken us a shorter time if we hadn't had to wait for Peter to catch up," said Sirius, trying not to let the anger show when he said Peter's name; this was not the time or place for it. "But once we got it, we romped around the Forbidden Forest at night and went on our merry way."

"That's against the law, you all could have been arrested!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley, scandalized.

"Yeah, I know," said Sirius, "but we'd do anything to help our friend." He patted Remus on the shoulder. "Right, Moony?" Remus grinned at him in reply.

"Believe me," said Remus, "I was worried about the three of them getting into trouble. Sirius and Peter both had to pay a fine to the Ministry, because obviously, on the night Sirius was exonerated, he had to tell the whole story."

"Yeah, it's a good thing I didn't have to go back to prison," said Sirius, his eyes glazing over with memories for a moment. "But you know what? I'd go back to Azkaban a thousand times rather than not help my friend when he's in need."

Remus looked choked up over this. Never in his life did he ever think he'd have such good friends. He smiled gently at Sirius and said, "Thanks, mate."

"Anything for you, Moony," said Sirius.

Everyone continued to talk about Animagi and transformations, and what it was like. They learned that you didn't choose the animal, the animal chose you, similar to how the connection between a wizard or witch and their wand worked. "Wo, I want to try it," said George.

"Oh, no you don't," said Mrs. Weasley, glaring at the twins again. "You two are not breaking the law. If either of you are going to try it, I want you to wait until you can register."

"Fine, Mum, fine," scowled the twins. "We promise. But what's life without a little lawbreaking?"

"Life without Azkaban, that's what," said Mrs. Weasley. The twins just looked at her with identical grins on their faces.

"Life's never boring with us around," said Fred.

"My thoughts exactly," said George.

"You couldn't be more accurate," Mrs. Weasley muttered under her breath.

After lunch, the five friends went back to Harry's room. The twins started talking about their joke shop again, and the curiosity of Harry was peaked. "What are you going to call it?" he asked.

"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," the two chimed together. "We want it to be in Diagon Alley," said Fred.

"Or Hogsmeade," said George.

"What kind of things are you going to make for it?"

"Well, they have an idea for something called a Skiving Snackbox," said Ginny. "Basically, it leaves you sick for an hour so you can't go to class."

"Wow," said Harry. "So could I take it if I don't want to go to Potions?"

"Yep," said the twins. They then chanted, "There's Fever Fudge, Puking Pastilles, Fainting Fancies, Nosebleed Nougat, Coughing Cobblers, and Boil Biscuits."

"Yeah, that's what they've come up with so far," said Ginny.

"We're also making Canary Creams," said George. "When you eat one, it'll turn you into a canary for a minute." A wide grin was plastered across his face.

"Yeah, and I've just thought of another one," said Fred, clapping his twin on the back. "Whaddya think of this, George? Memory Mints! They modify your memory for an hour so you can't remember anything of what you learned in the last day! You can drive the teachers batty!"

"Yeah, I love it, twinnikins," said George.

Ron and Harry grinned, but they noticed right away that one person in the room hadn't. It was Ginny. She'd gone as white as a ghost.

"Ginny, what's wrong?" exclaimed Fred, worried.

"Don't use Memory Charms on the candies!" cried Ginny unexpectedly. "Please, please don't use them!"

"Hey, Gin-Gin, what's this about?" said George, putting a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "We were only kidding around. I don't even know if we can make such a thing."

"It doesn't matter if you can or not!" Ginny yelled, shrugging off George's hand. "Never mention Memory Charms in front of me again!" And she ran out of the room.

Fred and George exchanged bewildered glances, and Harry took off running after Ginny. Ron made to go after them, but Fred said, "Leave it alone, Ron. I don't think she wants to see any family right now."

"Let me go to her!" said Ron, but Fred and George held him back. "No, little bro," said Fred. "I think she really needs Harry right now."

Ron was fiercely overprotective of his little sister, and kept trying to go to her, but the twins finally convinced him that she really needed Harry now. "After all," said Fred jokingly, trying to make light of the situation, "our little Gin-Gin needs to find a nice man to go out with one day. Maybe our Harry-lad can be the one."

"She's too young for that!" exclaimed Ron furiously.

"We were only joking, ickle Ronniekins," said George. "we know she's too young."

The three of them then sat in silence, wondering what on Earth was going on, wondering where Harry and Ginny had disappeared to.

xxx

Harry walked out the front door after Ginny. Sirius, Remus, and Mrs. Weasley were still quietly talking in the living room when they had disappeared. Harry thought about telling them where he'd gone, but figured that the twins and Ron would probably go and tell them. Harry knew Ginny shouldn't be alone right now. Whatever the twins had said, it caused her to have a bad reaction. Something about Memory Charms; it really confused Harry.

As he walked into the garden, he saw Ginny sitting on a bench, sobbing like her heart was breaking into a million pieces. He didn't know what to do; he wasn't very good at this comforting business. But since he'd been comforted by Sirius and Remus so much in the past few days, he hoped he could at least give something back to someone who was in need.

"Ginny?" he said softly, putting an arm around her. "Ginny, what's the matter?"

But Ginny couldn't speak, she was crying so hard. So Harry just hugged her, patting her on the back and reassuring her that whatever was wrong, everything would be all right.

When she could finally speak again, she said, "N-no, it won't. Nothing will e-ever be all right again. If only the t-twins and Ron knew what was really going on. N-none of my other b-brothers know either. Only M-Mum, Dad, and P-Professor Dumbledore do."

"What happened, Gin?" Harry asked quietly, dread creeping into him. The look in her eyes was haunted and so terribly sad. A girl this young shouldn't look like that. "What was it the twins said about Memory Charms that made you so upset?"

Ginny started crying again, and Harry really started to get worried. She was crying as much as he'd had that first night, the night he was rescued by Sirius and Remus from that terrible nightmare Dursley household.

"Ginny," he said gently, "has someone hurt you?"

Ginny didn't answer for a few seconds. But then a barely whispered "y-yes," answered his statement.

"Who was it? Who would hurt you so badly?" Harry asked. He suddenly felt a connection with this girl like he'd never felt with anyone before. If he was asking Ginny these questions, he thought it was only fair that he shared his pain with her too. It was the last thing he wanted to do, and he was uncomfortable talking about it to anyone, let alone someone he barely knew. But the pain in Ginny's eyes spurred him onward; he knew he had to tell her she wasn't alone.

"I was hurt this summer too," he said softly.

"How do you mean?" Ginny sniffled,

"My uncle," said Harry quietly. "He ... beat me up, and he ... he killed Hedwig."

"Oh, Harry!" Ginny cried, throwing her arms around him. "I'm so sorry, so, so sorry!" she sobbed.

"Ginny," Harry said earnestly, "who hurt you? I know it wasn't any of your family, none of them could ever make you so sad like this."

"N-no, it wasn't them," Ginny sniffed. "But the one who hurt me ... he ... he put Memory Charms on me afterwards, to make me forget that it happened. I've been seeing a Healer this past year, and she's been lifting the charms. I've been trying to act happy the whole time, but ..." Another sob caught in her throat.

Bile began to rise into Harry's throat as he suddenly had an idea of who she was referring to. Hadn't it seemd that after the whole thing had gone down at the end of second year, she'd seemed perfectly happy again? How could he not have seen that it was just a façade? Of course, thought Harry. Who was the one person who was so evil that he felt it was his right to control minds, to possess people, to make them act in ways they would never act? "Who was it?" he whispered.

His suspicions were confirmed when she looked straight into Harry's eyes and answered quietly, "Tom Riddle."