A/N: Thank you all for the great comments, suggestions and theories! Keep them coming - they sometimes inspire me to write something totally different than what I had planned ;)

tefe203: Sorry - next time maybe. I thought it would be very hard for Harry to be that far away from home for his first holiday. It being winter only means that you don't need an excuse to wear cozy clothes and wrap up in a blanket ;)

mizzrazz92: They all do ;) Too much action in such a short time - they all need to relax and enjoy life a bit :D

Zoysite: Ja wir auch^^ Wir haben noch eine Prüfung vor uns und dann fliegen wir gleich am nächsten Tag weg - bloß nicht zu lange hier sein ;) Nagini ist immer die coolste :D allzu viel wird nicht mehr passieren... momentan schaut es noch nach zwei bis drei Kapitel aus und dann ist Ende im Gelände... Die One-Shots kommen ziemlich sicher^^ Miu sama und ich haben einen Haufen Ideen :)

Mephistopheles: Yes she really is cute and badass ;) Jup. I can still remember the first time I wrote something down for it and now we are pushing 50 chapters. Crazy. It's been over a year. I started writing Feb 2017 and posting March 2017 :)

Wolvie26: He did. I hinted at it in a previous chapter but I think I only talked about it in the comments. He kind of brainwashed her like they do/did during war. So that if a triggerword was said she would suddenly do what he had programmed her to do. Rather awful if you ask me...

Azael-Ruthven: It sounds like a really wonderful place. I have only been in the area around Nice and Cannes and then in the direction of Monaco/Italy and the alpes. We'll see what will happen ;) Thank you for the offer but my French is quite good and I'm not sure if I'll even use any ;)

ThePhoenixandtheDragon: Hmm... Not sure if she's up to that...I think his coffin is already sealed up with the amount of nails already in it ;)

Guest: It's a bit far away. I wanted them to stay closer to home - especially with everything that has been going on. Although I have been in Florida two years ago and California last year and I enjoyed it very much ;)

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling - I just played a bit in her universe.

Thanks to miu-sama95 for prereading, betaing and helping with the storyline ;)

Chapter 49: Packing Panic

Words: 3259

Harry's room was a mess. It looked as if one of the weirdest joke products the twins had on offer had exploded in the middle of it. Or a prank gone wrong, come to think of it. There were clothes everywhere. They were in heaps on the floor, neatly folded on Harry's desk, strewn over all of his furniture and nearly none of them left in his closet.

In the middle of the room was an open but nearly empty trunk, waiting to be filled. It looked similar to his Hogwarts trunk only a bit smaller, In the midst of it all was Harry, fluttering about, trying on clothes but not deciding on anything.

He was still amazed by the amounts of clothes he now owned. His parents had taken him shopping more than once in the last ten days. He never knew that a man, especially a growing teen, could need that many clothes.

While living at the Dursley's Harry had owned maybe twenty items of clothing altogether excluding his school uniform. Now he owned more than twenty T-Shirts alone. It was mind-boggling to him and on their first shopping trip he nearly had had a panic attack when he saw the number of things his parents were getting for him.

The bigger problem right now was that he had so many things that he didn't know what to pack and what to leave. It was infuriating.

"Do I need a jacket?" Harry asked while vanishing in his closet again. "Or a cloak?"

"How would I know? I've never been there." Ron answered from his (clothes-free) spot on the bed.

He was relaxing on top of the comforter with the current Quidditch Monthly magazine. A half-eaten chocolate frog was sitting on its wrapper next to his arm, just waiting to be devoured completely.

"You are not helping!" Harry whined when he emerged from his closet once again – this time with shoes.

"I dunno, love. I never think much about it when I'm packing. Firstly, Mum checks over everything anyway and secondly, we are wizards – we can clean, sow, warm or transfigure clothes in a jiffy." Ron said with a shrug of his shoulders before returning to his article. It was about the new keeper the Chudley Cannons had hired and the guy didn't look half bad.

"This is impossible! I can't do it, Ron!"

There was a thumping noise and when Ron looked up he found his boyfriend lying spread eagle on the floor next to his open trunk, staring at the ceiling,

With a quiet chuckle he got up from the bed and joined Harry on the ground. He pulled the other boy into a hug and kissed his temple before he tried to motivate him to keep going.

"Hey, now. It's not that bad. You are only gone for two weeks, so you won't need that much."

"Can you help me, please? I've never been on holiday before."

"I know and of course I'll help, love. It was just too funny to see you throwing around clothes." Ron promised with a smirk.

"Haha, very funny." Harry said with a pout.

Not being able to resist a cute, pouting boyfriend, Ron drew him closer and kissed him lightly. Being the hormonal teenagers that they were they didn't end after one sweet kiss but proceeded to make out right there on the floor in the middle of all of Harry's clothes.

That was how Sirius found the two when he went upstairs to check on Harry's progress. He loudly cleared his throat which made the teens jump apart.

"So that's what you call packing nowadays?" He asked with a smirk.

"Sirius! We weren't… It's not… I mean…" Harry stumbled over his words before he blushed the colour of Ron's hair and hid his face in his boyfriend's chest. That alone had the older wizard barking with laughter.

When shortly afterwards a muted "Go away!" came he started laughing so hard he had to hold onto the doorframe, otherwise he would have fallen to the floor.

"Alright, I'll leave you two lovebirds to it but be careful not to get caught by your parents."

"How's that fair?! They shag everywhere in the house, but I can't even kiss my boyfriend."

"That's the curse of being a teenager, pup. Enjoy it."

With one last grin Sirius vanished down the hallway before the boys decided to throw things after him.

"Come on, love. Let's get this done." Ron decided and helped Harry up. "He seems a lot happier and more… grounded?"

"He's doing a lot better since he started seeing that mind healer. It's amazing to see what two weeks of therapy can do."

As Narcissa had decided, she had dragged Sirius to see a mind healer shortly after his parents wedding. Once that woman set her mind on something there was no way to steer her off that path.

For three days she showed up every morning after breakfast and dragged him off to his appointments. The first morning she had actually resorted to pulling her cousin along by his ear. Harry, Marvolo, Severus and Remus all had a good laugh at that once they were out of the house.

On the third afternoon they had been visited by Amelia Bones for something pertaining the trial. Sirius had started to complain to her but after she shut him up with a glare she told him that even the aurors stationed at Azkaban for longer than a day were required to see a mind healer once they were done with their shift.

She also explained that if he ever wanted to rejoin the force he would need a clean bill of health which included mental health. The last argument she threw at him was that his magic could react extremely volatile in completely harmless situations thus making him a danger to those around him. Making him a danger to Harry.

The next morning, he was ready to go by the time Narcissa stepped through the floo. Her face didn't betray her surprise, but Severus had been… interrogated by her later that day.

Sirius had also started spending more time at the ministry in the last two weeks. He said it was to get his things in order again but they all knew he just wanted to spend more time with Amelia and she nearly lived in her office at the moment to get everything ready for the trial.

Harry was hopeful that once all that was over, they would go out together or something.

"So, you'll be gone for two weeks which means you don't need a lot." Ron pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah. I got the pants and socks done ages ago. Swimming trunks and jammies was also easy."

"So that leaves the regular clothes, right?" Ron asked.

"Yes. I'm awful with that whole matching things up thing."

"And you're asking me for help? I don't know a knut about that. Gin would know."

There was a pregnant pause before Harry decided to jump into the deep end.

"How's she doing?" He asked tentatively.

"Better. Mum is happy to have her back at home." Ron answered with a sigh.

Ginny had been released into her family's care after a week in the hospital. They had pushed her through an extensive amount of therapy and counseling and she still had to meet a healer every day. But the healers had decided that she would have a faster recovery if she were at home and with her family.

Harry had not yet visited the Burrow. At first there was so much going on in his own life that he just hadn't found the time. Now he was just being a chicken and made up excuses. He was afraid that if Ginny saw him it would stir up bad memories and she would relapse.

His parents had tried to reassure him, but his mind was conjuring up all these horror scenarios especially after Ron had told him what exactly had happened that fateful morning. He just couldn't get himself to go over to the Burrow.

It was too late to worry now anyway. He had invited the whole Weasley family (including Ginny) to his birthday party. If anything could happen, it would happen there. Which could probably ruin his party…

"That's good. Do you think she'll come to my party?"

"She said she would. But who knows with girls these days?"

That made them both chuckle and it lightened the mood considerably.

"So, what do you think? Blue and gray shorts? Or the red ones?"

"Why not all three? For two weeks that should be enough."

"Probably. Do I need fancy clothes?" Harry asked unsure.

"Depends. What do you have planned for your birthday party?"

The mentioning of the party alone put a huge grin on Harry's face. He was already giddy with excitement at the thought of it.

His parents had sat him down one evening and told him they wanted to throw him a proper birthday party. That alone had gotten each of them a special Harry-bear-hug.

When they had told him that they would portkey his guests to their holiday destination since they would still be gone on his birthday they had to send him outside to calm down. He had started jumping up and down in his excitement.

Marvolo had found it hilarious while Severus simply summoned his broom and sent him outside to get rid of some energy.

Later that night they continued with his birthday plans. Harry had been tasked with putting together a guest list – a guest list! – while his parents had organized the rest.

They had even sent out very official looking invites to all of Harry's friends. It was just crazy! It would be his very first birthday party and he was sure his parents would be hard pressed to top this next year. It would be awesome.

"Harry? Mate?" Ron was waving a hand in front of his eyes.

"Huh?"

"Where were you just now?"

"I was remembering when Dad and Papa told me about my party." Harry said with a grin.

"It's going to be awesome – no matter what it will be." Ron agreed.

"It will."

"Do you even know what they have planned?"

"Nope. Not a clue. But it's my very first party and we are celebrating it on holiday. It's bound to be awesome." Harry decided with a grin.

"Maybe you should ask if you need fancy clothes. They would know."

"Good idea. Give me a minute." Harry said before he dashed out of the room.

He ran to the stairs and slid down the banister before rushing to his Papa's office. For once he didn't need to check first if there was anything no suitable for teens was going on since he knew his Dad was brewing the Wolfsbane potion for Remus.

Marvolo looked up from the document he was reading when he heard footsteps coming closer to his office. After listening for a second he knew it was Harry and he relaxed back into his chair to wait for the teen.

So much had happened the last few weeks, he couldn't wait to go on holiday and push it all out of his mind. He would have never thought that he could be this content and dare he say happy with his life. Especially without his past favorites of torturing and killing. But he was.

Maybe it was because he had been confronted with the sad consequences of his actions. It had been eye opening to learn about Harry's past which was at least partly his fault. He had never wanted anyone to have such an awful childhood as he himself had had.

During his time as Dark Lord he had never thought much about the people he had killed or their families. But now that he had one of his own he knew that he would do anything to keep them safe. Maybe he should set something up for the families of victims of the death eater attacks.

"Papa?" Harry asked the moment he burst through the door.

"Yes, son?"

"Do I need fancy clothes or wizarding ones for the holidays?"

"It wouldn't hurt to bring dark slacks and a white shirt. And you'll be in dress robes anyway because of the trial." Marvolo advised. "How far are you with packing?"

"It's taking me ages! I just can't decide what to take." Harry bemoaned.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." Marvolo chuckled as his son dashed out of his office again while throwing a "Thanks, Papa!" Over his shoulder.

Teenagers.

Harry ran the whole way back to his room and once he was inside again he had to take a moment to get his breathing back under control.

"Everything alright?" Ron asked surprised.

"Yep. Just ran too fast."

"So, what's the verdict?"

"Slacks and a white shirt. I'll be in wiz fancy from the trial anyway."

"Right. That was easy. That would leave T-Shirts and shoes?"

"Maybe a sweatshirt as well. I don't know if it might get chilly at night."

"Good idea. Let's choose 15 T-Shirts. That should be enough."

The two teens hunted around the room to find all the nice tops Harry should take with him. Harry also grabbed one of his favorite sweatshirts and a thin cardigan and dumped them in the trunk.

"That should be enough. Now, shoes…" Ron stated.

"I'll be wearing dress shoes for the trial. Just sneakers and flip flops I'd say."

"Don't think you'll need anything else."

"Finally!" Harry exclaimed and fell down on his bed. Packing was exhausting.

If he would have known how exhausting it was he would have asked one of the elves to do it for him.

"Yup. That's done. Now I fear my own packing next week." Ron said when he laid down next to him on the bed.

"It's so awesome that you'll join us on holiday."

"Yeah, that conversation was… memorable."

They both thought back to the day Severus had visited the Burrow. Harry had had another excited morning when his parents had told him that they would invite Ron to spend their holiday with them. In the end he had been so hyped that Severus had sent him outside again and left before the teen had returned.

Harry had been in a mood all day because his Dad hadn't taken him with him. Severus had been more stubborn than his son and had simply sat it out until the teen had snapped out of it on his own.

Ron had had the shock of a lifetime when his Mum had called him down that morning and his Potions professor sat in their kitchen with a cup of tea. Of course he knew that Snape was also Harry's Dad, but he had just woken up and just not expected it.

After he had sat through the sleep inducing pleasantries between the man and his mother the Potions Master had finally told them his real reason for visiting.

"Molly, Ron. I'm here for Harry."

"Harry? Is he alright?" Molly worried.

"Of course he is. Marvolo and I will take him on his very first holiday after the trial of Dumbledore."

"Oh, how wonderful! How long will you be gone?"

"We will be gone for two weeks and although Sirius and Remus will join us, we think he will have a lot more fun if someone his own age is there as well."

"Of course!" Molly cried. "Teenagers get bored so easily."

"That is why we would like to invite Ronald to come with us."

While Ron had been completely shocked at the generous offer Molly had started arguing that it was too much to accept.

The teen had watched dazed as the two adults had argued back and forth for over half an hour before they had come to an agreement.

Ron had still sat at the kitchen table when Severus stood up and took his leave and a moment later he was alone in the kitchen with his mother.

"What just happened?" He asked in wonder.

For once Molly wasn't bustling about in the kitchen but sat down at the table next to her son and too his hands in her own.

"The Prince-Slytherins have invited you to join them on their holiday."

"Yeah, I gathered that much."

"We agreed that you would join them on the 27th so they can enjoy part of their holiday as a family. You are allowed to stay with them until you all return home together."

"Am I dreaming, Mum?"

"No, Ronald. You are wide awake." Molly said amused. She could understand why her son was shocked. It was a very generous offer and the whole situation was still very new to everyone.

"I… I need to talk to Harry." Ron mumbled before he raced upstairs to get changed. Oh, young love. What a wonderful time.

Molly went back to her cake in the kitchen and when she heard her son's return from upstairs she only said a short goodbye before she let him go.

"Be back before dinner!"

They were growing up so fast. She could still remember the day she had held her little Ronald for the first time and now he had a boyfriend with whom he would spend his holiday. It made her quite sad since it meant that soon all of her kids would be adults with their own life.

"That was a crazy day." Harry agreed with his boyfriend's assessment.

"Do you think it will be a good vacation?"

"I hope so. I have no idea what to expect at all."

"We slept in tents in the desert when we visited Bill in Egypt, so I have no idea what a hotel would be like either." Ron said. He had slowly moved his arms around Harry so that he could pull him into a tight hug now.

"Mhmm… That's nice."

"Thanks, I think so too."

"Of course! You have me in your arms – that's always nice!" Harry declared arrogantly.

He actually sounded a bit like Malfoy which made Ron snort in amusement.

"Prat!"

"But you love me!"

"I do love you. But you're still a prat."

"I love you too." Harry said softly before he leaned over to kiss his boyfriend. There was nothing innocent about this kiss. It was a fight for dominance between their tongues and got even steamier from there.

They were rolling around on the bed while making out when another voice surprised them.

Again, they jumped apart and guiltily looked over to the door.

"So that's what you call packing." Severus sneered but he was too amused for it to really work.

"I'm already done, Dad."

"Then what is this mess all about?"

"Well… It wasn't an easy process. All that is not in my trunk needs to be put back where it belongs."

"Ahh… And when were you planning on doing that?" The Potions Master interrogated his son.

"After dinner probably."

"I see. I came to call you down for dinner and I believe you are expected at home, Ron."

"With that Severus walked back downstairs but not before he flicked his wand to put all of his son's clothes back where they belonged.

The teens headed downstairs to the floo where they said their goodbyes. They would not see each other again until Ron joined the family for their holiday.

"I love you. Bye." Ron said before he kissed Harry one last time.

"I love you, too. See you soon."

TBC

Our official holidays started! That means I have more time to write my chapters :D

If you were wondering: Harry's room closely resembled miu-sama's Wednesday at 11PM when I helped her pack for her Thursday 9 AM flight to Boston :D

She is over there for an internship (she starts on Monday) and in two weeks my boyfriend and I will go on holiday in the US as well :D

I hope you all have an awesome summer! Ours is looking to be one of a lifetime :D

First posted on: 08. July2018

Next update planned: 22. July 2018