Disclaimer: no I don't own, never did never will sadly… so before I start sobbing let's move on.
"Harry come on mate you're going to miss the train if you don't …get…up." The boy who lived promptly became aware that Neville was standing over him and shaking him roughly by the shoulder. It took all Harry had not to flinch away. He had learned from uncle Vernon that if someone shook you that hard for anything, bad things would happen in the future.
Shaking his head lightly he racked his hand through his unruly raven hair and moved up slightly on his elbows and grabbed his glasses on the nightstand next to his bed. He didn't even remember falling asleep at all. He had tried all night to stay awake so that yesterday wouldn't end. Harry didn't want to wake up the next morning and be filled with dread of what would come over the summer. He wished he could do what he usually did over the holidays. To just stay at the castle called Hogwarts or maybe even join Ron and stay with the Weasleys like he had once or twice.
Harry knew that three weeks before the summer was done that he would more than likely be at his best mate's house anyway. However, no one knew how much damage the durselys could cause in those two months they had with him.
Once his glasses were located firmly on his face he looked up only to get a face full of Neville. "Oh good your up come on I told everyone that I would wake you up Harry but Merlin, your worse than my gran to get up I swear."
Harry gave his friend an amused look; it was the only happy look he had given anyone in these last horrible days.
"I'm up I'm up, don't worry Neville, how long do I have till the train leaves?"
Neville looked up from his trunk he was going to drag away. "You've got two hours to get ready and on the train."
"Cool see you then." Harry said back in his monotone voice as Neville picked up his school trunk and drug it out of the room.
With a sigh, Harry used most of his strength to get up and put on his uniform. It was no use trying to fit into his muggle clothes for the ride home. He had forgotten his belt in Dudley's second bedroom and without it; the clothes wouldn't fit on him, mostly because his cousin was the size of a baby elephant.
It never did accrue to Ron or any of the golden boy's friends that when they saw Harry's bruises on his arms or chest whenever he changed, that his uncle who was a muggle could have caused them. The poor boy had made tons of enemies in the wizarding world and most of them were death eaters or insane murders who wanted him dead. Therefore, they all assumed he could have gotten himself banged up in a fight with Malfoy or in that years adventure.
After he was ready, he took a moment to sit back down on his bed and enjoy the silence. Harry loved moments like this. When everything was peaceful before something bad happened. The silence and aloneness was like the calm before the storm to him. Yes, he did love having his friends around they were great to him. Nevertheless, when you know something bad is going to happen its nice having a few minutes of your own. In a way, it was as if Harry was sorting out his own personal game plan in the time he had left to go to his demise. He would try his best to stay out of everyone's way and he would work harder than he ever had before one, in his chores and two, in hiding the wizarding world away from his uncle. No one would want the durselys to get wind of Harry being alone again.
He chuckled lightly to himself and almost started laughing in hysteria. He could not believe that he had just thought he wanted time to himself and aloneness. When he had been begging for attention from his godfather almost all the time these last days at Hogwarts.
Harry snapped up as he realized that he hadn't sent his last letter to Sirius yet. He had written it while he tried hard not to fall asleep last night. It wasn't that good to him but could you really believe that it would be? The seeker had written it when he was half-dead on his feet. He was in no state to be writing a pleading letter last night. Still he did because it was the only time he knew he would have and hopefully it was the letter Sirius or even Remus would responded to. Harry couldn't even care right now if they only wrote back to him to tell him they didn't want anything to do with him anymore. At least then, they would have told him that he shouldn't have hope. Then he could go back to knowing he was on his own with no promise of a proper family. Even though one had been offered only last month. However, oh well he guessed that's how things were just meant to go in his life. Beside Hermione and Ron people, more correctly adults were only on his side for a short time. When the time was over then they would start hiding things from him or become distant. If Sirius responded that, he never wanted to see Harry again well that would not be a first for him from someone he cared so deeply about.
It was a good thing that Hedwig was sitting in the alcove that he had used last night. In a matter of minutes Harry had the letter wrapped around her leg and the window open.
"Go and deliver this to Sirius girl and this time make sure he reads it ok?"
As if to tell him she understood she hooted softly and pecked lovingly at one of his fingers on his right hand. And with that she flew off leaving Harry to shut the window and sit there and watch her fly till she had become nothing but a white dot in the open blue sky.
An immediate soft knock on the door caused him to get up and turn around as he had for Hermione last night. But it wasn't her trying to get his attention; it was his other best friend Ronald Weasley.
"Hey Harry mate... Are you um going to come down and talk with the rest of us anytime soon?"
Once it left his mouth, he must have realized how stupid it sounded out in the open because his face was once again was matching his hair.
Harry gave a small smile and looked towards the floor. "Do you all really want me down there?"
It seemed that the more than awkward sentence was not what was troubling him as much as it was Ron.
The boy who lived friend raised his eyebrows and leaned against the doorframe with his hands finding themselves in his jeans pockets.
"What in the bloody hell do you mean by that?" Ron questioned, of course he would want Harry there to talk to, and he was his best mate.
"Well it just seems that these last bloody days I've been walking around with my own personal Dementor or Boggart over my head."
"Oh come on man I've known you for five years so far, I know that before you get better or decide to act on something you seem to cause yourself to go into a terrible depression."
It was Harry's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Thanks Ron you really know how to cheer a guy up." the sarcasm was once again in his voice clearly.
Ron smacked himself in the forehead with the heel of his hand. He then made his way over to his friend and sat down on his bed, where Harry followed in suit.
"That Harry is why I leave the cheering up and working through your problems to Mione. She can handle that stuff being the girl that she is and I'll just be your normal guy friend and stick around to be loyal to you, help you get girls, and play Quidditch with."
"Sorry Ron I know I can be kind of hard to deal with at times, no wonder you'd want to leave my problems to Hermione and wait in till you got your best friend back." he put his head in his hands as he finished talking.
With a sigh, Ron continued he knew that his friend did not mean to hint at him that he was a bad friend in that sentence or to put all the blame on himself about why Ron couldn't help Harry work through his many problems. It was just that he was extremely upset and with no Hermione to be found, he was going to have to try his own hand at this cheering up and talking it out business.
"Oh come on man you really can't believe that Sirius doesn't care about you can you? You know you weren't the one he kept up all night asking you to tell stories about the trouble we all got into. You weren't the one that got questioned about things that you Harry are into almost every second of every day."
"Ron it's like I said before to Hermione that was then he could have changed his mind once he got to know a side of me he didn't like."
"Fine then do you want me to come up with something that no one else has possibly said to you yet?"
Ron got up and offered his hand to Harry who took it. Once they were both on their feet and walking in the hall and out the common room, Harry agreed that he wanted to hear what Ron had to say.
"Ok then let's try this, Harry Sirius doesn't deserve you if he keeps treating you like this."
He took one glance over at his friend with glasses and saw the smirk currently on his face. Ok so what he said wasn't working through his problems with Sirius but if it cheered Harry up a bit then why not continue then?
"No, then what about you can get such a better godfather that Sirius Black." he said next.
That was all it took before Harry broke down into the hysterics that were threatening to come before. Ron couldn't help but laugh aloud too as they walked into the great hall and sat down next to Hermione and the others.
"What? You said say something no one said to you before and I'm pretty sure that hasn't been said."
"No it's not that Ron it's just that you're making him sound like an ex-girlfriend or something close to it."
Harry couldn't really name why but he kept the smile on his face as he looked over the food and at his many friends. Maybe Ron was better at cheering people up than both of them had thought. Or maybe he was just happy that he had a few moments with people that wanted him around before it all went sour. Who knew what had happened to him but whatever did it sure had worked for now.
Hermione smiled, as she looked from the newly smiling Harry to her other friend Ron. She knew that if she sent Ron upstairs to collect Harry that things would either end up being really awkward between the two or it would cheer Harry up. And boy was she ever glad things worked out in her favor on this. Ron had a tendency to make things a little worse if Harry was down.
She looked at Ron and caught his attention without words so she wouldn't distract Harry from the conversation he was currently having with Seamus.
Quietly she mouthed, "What did you do?" To Ron on the other side of the table. But all he did was shrug and smile, it was his own way of telling her things just went his way up there. Because he had to admit he was a little afraid that Harry would take offense to what he said up in their room.
Things continued on like that till they all boarded the train together. It was as if Harry had thought before; it was the calm before the storm. It was the quiet before all the hell would break out at the durselys. Too bad Harry had no idea what would lay ahead in his future this summer. But who knew maybe things would have to be worse before they got better for him.