It had been about a month since Harry's birthday celebration. The Weasleys were in Egypt with the eldest, Bill, Hermione was in France, and Ben was with his mother and sisters in America. It was the latter that had the most impact on Harry's day-to-day life, as without Ben in Grimmauld Place, it was more quiet, though Harry did miss all his friends.

Speaking of birthdays and friends, Harry received a couple of presents from them. Ron had given him a Pocket Sneakoscope, Hermione got him a Broom Servicing Kit, Hagrid gifted him with a copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which Sirius figured out how to calm down. In regards to Sirius, he gave Harry a new picture of his parents that Harry didn't have. It had been up in his room with a letter. Remus gave him a copy of The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts, which he had bought before he was informed that he was the newest Defense Professor and Hogwarts. Ben gave him a pair of Seeker's gloves, as Harry didn't actually have his own. Ginny gave him a well made drawing of his parents, based off of a photo Harry had shown her. Harry was deeply touched by her gift.

Before Ginny's birthday, Harry sent a necklace that was enchanted to protect against mental assaults, which was used as a precursor to learning Occlumency. He thought it was better than what Ben was talking about getting her, which was a non-magical journal for her to use as a diary if she wanted to.

Harry went to the kitchen for breakfast, finding Sirius reading the Daily Prophet as he finished his breakfast. "Morning," Harry greeted.

"Good morning," Sirius stated. As Sirius looked up from the paper, Harry noticed his expression was one of worry and pain.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"A Death Eater broke out of Azkaban last night. He murdered Wormtail, but it says that it appears that he was interrogated."

Harry nodded, indicating he understood. Although he didn't think of him often, Harry had wondered if Pettigrew had regretted his actions. Harry understood that, even if he was a Death Eater, Sirius would still mourn his old friend, the boy he was.

"Do they know why or how the Death Eater broke out?"

Sirius shook his head. "No. No one knows how Dolohov escaped. I think that he's looking for Voldemort."

Harry frowned, worrying about the possibility of Voldemort returning. Sirius caught his expression.

"Harry, don't worry, they'll catch him before anything happens," Sirius reassured him. Harry could tell that Sirius didn't really believe that, but appreciated what he was trying to do.

"When's Ben coming back?" Harry asked, changing the topic.

"Today," Sirius said, clearly relieved for the change in topic. "Remus went out to pick him up, actually. Ben apparently decided to take a really early portkey."

Harry nodded at that, not terribly surprised at that. Ben was notorious for his earliness. If he wasn't going to arrive at least five minutes early for anything, he would claim to be running late.

Harry had just finished his breakfast when Remus and Ben entered the kitchen. When Harry spotted Ben, he noticed immediately that something was different. There was no one thing that pointed to it that Harry could discern, but he noticed Ben seemed more melancholy than Harry had ever seen him.

"Good morning," Ben said, smiling brightly.

"Welcome back," Sirius stated, hugging him.

"It's good to have you back," Harry said.

"It's good to be back," Ben replied, voice wavering slightly. "Is breakfast still on, I'm rather famished."

Sirius nodded, calling Kreature to fix Ben a good, hearty breakfast.

"How was your time with your family?" Sirius asked.

"Good," Ben said. "It was good. Mum and I had a wonderful time together, I spent long hours discussing magic with Hope, told Joy all about my friends, reassured Charles I was doing well in my studies, and had plenty of free time to walk around the woods."

Ben seemed to wilt slightly after that, although he was still smiling.

"We're going to meet the Weasleys and Hermione in Diagon Alley tomorrow, right?" Ben asked, changing the subject.

"Yes," Sirius replied.

Harry was concerned about the change in Ben's overall demeanor. Harry noticed Sirius and Remus exchanging looks, both a bit concerned.

Ben nodded. "Okay, if we get there early enough, we can get our supplies, gawk at the new broom that came out. Oh, that reminds me, could I get a broom for a birthday present? I wanted to try out for the Quidditch team this year and, even if I don't make it on, I like flying and will probably help train Harry if we bump into each other on the pitch. Now, where was I ... ah! right, so after gawking at the broom, we can meet up with the Weasleys and Hermione and spend the rest of the time hanging out with them while they go shopping."

"Sounds like a plan," Sirius said, looking to Harry to see if it was alright with him.

Harry nodded.

The rest of the day was spent in relative quiet, as Ben seemed to only want to discuss a few things.

AN: So, the reason why I am uploading this now and why I missed one of my usual update times was due to a combination of moving and writer's block and a want to make it up to you guys. I will be posting the next chapter next week. Oh, and Happy Halloween!

Uploaded: Oct. 30th, 2020