Harry woke up after a nightmare about Cedric's death. This was yet another time since he returned from the graveyard that he had this type of dream. He hoped he didn't wake up anyone else in the house this time. He didn't wake up shouting this time, so he hoped not. He looked at the alarm clock next to his bed and noticed it was early, but not too much more than when he usually did.

As he looked around the room, he could hardly tell that this was previously Sirius's room. The walls, once coated with Muggle posters of scantily clad women, were painted a nice burgundy color, even if they were bare of any decoration. Aside from the clothes in the closet, the only personal items to indicate the ownership of this room were his photos on the end table by his bed. These included photos of his friends as well as his parents. His favorite was of him and Ginny laughing while relaxing by the lake. The photo was from a week after the Third Task. Harry didn't remember what was being discussed, but he did remember the warmth that had been a bit foreign during that week. Admittedly, that same warmth was still a bit hard for Harry to feel right now, but he was getting better.

He hoped having the Weasleys around helped him recover faster. Since they were known blood-traitors, they were coming here to be safe from being targeted. Sirius had offered his house for the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Thanks to Harry retrieving the prophecy and learning Occlumency, the only thing the Order was doing was recruiting and warning people that Voldemort had indeed returned, which included the Department of Mysteries. They had, according to Sirius, replaced the prophecy with a blank sphere and put the true sphere in a more secure location.

Harry descended the stairs after laying in bed for a time and then going about his morning rituals. Even after doing that, he was still the first person downstairs. Kreatcher was preparing breakfast as Harry entered and sat down at the table. When Kreatcher finished preparing breakfast, Ben came down, looking more awake than anyone should in the morning.

"Good morning, Harry," Ben said, hair fluffed in a way that showed he just got out of the shower.

"Morning, Ben."

"You excited for the Weasleys to come over?"

"Yeah," Harry replied. "I hope it's been a good few weeks for them."

They ate breakfast in silence after that. When they had finished, Sirius and Remus came downstairs. Sirius was less awake than Remus, as per usual. The pink hair he was sprouting wasn't though.

"Er, Sirius," Harry asked, as Ben was trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, pup?"

"Do you know your hair's pink?"

Sirius stopped for a moment, took a sip of coffee, then turned to Remus. "I hate you."

With that exchange Ben lost it. He howled with laughter, with Remus following him a moment later. Harry started chuckling along with them as Sirius grumbled good-naturedly.

-Break-

It was a bit before noon before the Weasley's and Hermione arrived at Grimmauld Place. He was in the kitchen with Ben when Ben heard the front door open. He and Ben had just entered the entrance hall when Sirius started greeting Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

Ginny was the first to greet him, "How are you, Harry?"

"I'm fine," he replied. That wasn't the whole truth, but he didn't feel like giving more details in front of Mrs. Weasley.

"Alright, mate?" Ron was next.

"Yeah."

The twins apparated on either side of him.

"Harry!"

"It's good to see you," the one on the right said.

"Too good, too good," the other stated.

"You two passed your Apparation tests, then?"

"With distinction," Fred said.

"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk over," Ron complained.

"Time is Galleons, little brother," said Fred.

"Alright, knock it off you two," Bill said.

"Wasn't expecting to see you here," Harry said while Ben greeted Ginny.

"I applied for a desk job so I could come home and work for the Order," said Bill. "I do miss the tombs, though."

"But, there are compensations, aren't there?" George asked leadingly, as Bill lightly glared at him.

"What d'you mean?"

"Remember old Fleur Delacour?" said George. "She's got a job at Gringotts to eemprove 'er Eeenglish —"

"— and Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons," sniggered Fred.

"Charlie's in the Order too," said George, "but he's still in Romania, Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off."

"Couldn't Percy do that?" Harry asked, ignoring Bill glaring at the twins. The last he had heard, the third Weasley brother was working in the Department of International Magical Cooperation at the Ministry of Magic.

"He can't," Mr. Weasley said. "Hello, Harry, Ben, good to see you."

"What do you mean, Mr. Weasley?" Ben asked.

"He's been promoted," Mr. Weasley replied. "He'd been offered a position in Fudge's own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts — Junior Assistant to the Minister. He accepted, realizing that part of the reason he was offered was that he was expected to spy on us."

"That's horrible," Ben said.

Mr. Weasley nodded. "He came home, told us all about this. He asked us to act as though we had a massive fight, with him denouncing our support of Dumbledore. He already picked out a place in London to live in, even if we were leaving the Burrow."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Harry said.

Mrs. Weasley chose that moment to wrap Harry and Ben into a big hug. "How are you, dears?"

"Doing alright, Mrs. Weasley," Ben squeaked.

"I'm fine," Harry gasped out.

"Right, let's show you to your rooms," Sirius said, interrupting her hug. Sirius started showing them around the house pointing out the various rooms.

"Ginny, Hermione, you'll be taking this room," Sirius said, pointing out which room they were taking as they passed them. "Ron, you'll be in this one. Fred, George, that one's yours. Arthur, Molly, the one over there's yours. Bill - "

"I've got my own place."

Sirius smiled. "Good, I was going to say that you may need to set up in the drawing room."

Everyone chuckled good-naturedly. Everyone split up to unpack into their rooms, while Sirius, Remus, Harry, and Ben went to the drawing room to sit and chat while they waited for everyone else.

AN: Well, I can officially say I hate writer's block. Sorry for the long wait, but I only had a vague idea of what this chapter was. I don't know what the next chapter is going to be like, but I'll try to take less time trying to figure out.

Uploaded May 21st, 2023, Edited Jan 10th, 2025