o0o0o0o
Ron felt his heart both drop and become weightless simultaneously as he clambered into the Gryffindor common room and saw, sitting on the floor by the fire around the coffee table, his twin brothers. Ginny whizzed past him and threw her arms around both Fred and George.
"What Gin, you missed us? I was under the impression you couldn't stand our — what was it George? — "
"'Incessant, childish pranks'" George nodded.
"Oh yes, right, right," Fred joked, but there tears forming in both of their eyes as they clung to their sister. Ron followed Ginny, running over and throwing his arms around his three siblings.
"Oh goodness, no, this is far too much," George cried, pretending to try and wriggled free of Ron. "You haven't even taken me out for dinner yet!"
"Shut up, you prick," Ron choked, turning his face into Ginny's hair, trying to hide the tears leaking down his face.
"I'm the prick, you're the lot who disappeared on us," George pulled away and looked his sister over. "In all seriousness, are you all ok?"
"We're fine now," Ginny said. "Ron was the only one who was actually hurt."
"Oh, yes, I always forget, it's not my little sister I have to look over, it's my little brother," Fred turned and pinched Ron's cheeks. "Did little Wonnie-kins fall down?"
"Gerroff," Ron swatted at Fred and George as they tried to smooth out his mussed hair and wipe a smudge from his forehead.
"What happened after we left?" Hermione asked cautiously as she sat down in an armchair. "Your mom wouldn't tell us any details."
"I wish we could tell you more than they probably already have, but we got knocked out pretty fast," George said scratching his head.
"Literally," Fred added in.
"We were running towards the Burrow with everyone else, we saw Kingsley go down, we saw Bill go down — "
"— We tried to get to Bill and Fleur because she was on her own trying to help him — "
"—But then Dumbledore and Moody came out of no where and did some really intense magic — "
"— It was amazing, it was like they created a tidal wave of blue light that pushed all the Death Eaters back," Fred said, throwing his arms up as if he was the wall of energy towering above them.
"Unfortunately, we were still pretty far from the Burrow, so the spell kind of took us out as well," George explained, scratching his head.
"Next thing we knew we were in the hospital wing and you lot were gone," Fred said as he and George nodded together. "What happened with you?"
"Hermione disapparated," Ron started and then paused. "That's about all I remember."
"Ron and I both got knocked out," Hermione said, glancing at Ginny who had her eyes on the floor. "When I woke up, Ginny and I set up camp. We tried to contact the Order through our patronuses, thank goodness it worked."
"Have you heard anything from Harry?" Ginny suddenly spoke, her red eyes still fixed on the scarlet rug.
"No, sorry Gin," Fred said ruffling his hair as he looked away.
"But there is some good news," George said. "Voldemort's been active more now than ever."
"How is that good news?" Ron cried.
"Because he doesn't know where Harry is either," Hermione said quietly. "He's looking for him too."
Fred and George both nodded.
"He's alive, and he's out there," Hermione said confidently. "And it's only a matter of time before we find him. He has a good reason for disappearing."
"And like Dad said, Dumbledore and Sirius are both back, and they wouldn't come back if they didn't have information," Ron added.
"They're back?" Fred said raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know that."
"Mum's trying to keep everything quiet as usual," George said sighing. "You'd think they'd let us know, we're old enough to join the Order — "
"Like Mum would ever let you two do that," Ginny scoffed.
"And also," Ron said suddenly, "Dad went back to the Burrow, and he found this."
He reached into his pajama pants pocket and pulled out the small curled up parchment and passed it to Fred.
"'I'll be back soon'?" Fred muttered. "This is Harry's writing, isn't it?"
"It looks the same as the other one we found," Hermione noted.
"When do you think it was sent?" George asked. "Before or after the creepy skeleton hand came through the fire?"
"I hope after…" Ginny sighed. Hermione put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It'll be ok," she smiled. Ginny gave a weak smile back.
Suddenly, the common room fire burst into life, deep purple flames rolling around the hearth. The Gryffindors jumped away from fire, Ron tumbling backwards over the couch and slamming onto the hardwood. Hermione whipped out her wand, her hand shaking as she kept her wide eyes on the purple flames.
"H-Harry?" Ginny said hesitantly, slowly inching towards the fire. A whistling sound and a white flash accompanied a slip of parchment. It spiraled through the air before drifting onto the rug in front of the fire. Ginny reached forward and picked it up.
"What does it say?" Hermione whispered.
"'HELLO?'" Ginny said quizzically. "What d—?"
The whistling sounded again making everyone jumped. Ginny covered her eyes as pops of white light flashed from the fire and parchment after parchment shot out of the fire. Ginny ran away from the fire as the paper whizzed out of the fire place. Hermione tried to peak between her fingers but the light was blinding.
As quickly as the flames erupted, they curled inwards on themselves and extinguished. Hermione shakily stood up from her crouched position and walked towards the piles of parchment that now littered the common room floor.
"They all say the same thing," Ron said as he too began picking slips up off the floor. "'HELLO?' over and over again…"
"Why did he send so many," Hermione frowned.
"I think he's getting impatient," Fred said.
Ginny looked down at the first parchment still clenched tightly in her hand.
"He wants a response."
o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
The next morning, Harry woke up screaming. Remus leapt from his bed, Sirius tumbled out of his with a yelp, and James sat up with such force his pillows flew to the other side of the room. Peter was gone.
"Harry? Harry!" Remus called anxiously trying to hold him down and stop his writhing, but Harry kept screaming. Remus pulled the sheets down, revealing his injured arm that was soaked in a deep scarlet. Remus felt his hold on the world world fade as he stared at the bloodied bandages.
"What is that?" Sirius said aghast. James eyes grew wide as he spotted the red as well.
"Harry, please, Harry," Remus struggled as he tried to calm Harry down.
"Its on fire!" Harry screamed, as he fought to separate himself from the pain. He began to claw at the bandages.
"No, Harry —" Remus tried to stop him, but Harry scraped at the bandages until they unravelled, revealing a black and purple burn, irritated and bleeding.
"What the fuck happened to him?" Sirius cried. "I'm getting Madam Thompson —"
"No, don't," Remus shouted. Sirius halted, confused.
"Lily, get Lily," Remus said, pulling the pillowcase off of one of Harry's pillows, balling it up, and pressing it as hard as he could against the burn. Harry howled.
"James, can you cast a silencing charm on the room?" Remus called. James starred. "James!"
James reached into his side table and took out his wand and began tracing the walls and muttering incantations.
Lily and Sirius came back quickly, Lily carrying her medical kit.
"I told you, I told you," Lily growled, throwing the box to the ground and digging through it. She took out the serene blue potion again. She tilted Harry's head back and poured a gulp of the pain reliever down his throat. Harry began coughing, but his body visibly relaxed.
Lily lifted Harry's arm and looked at it, sighing with frustration.
"It's still burning. His skin is literally still actively burning and getting damaged." She took another pillowcase off a pillow and cast a cooling charm on it before wrapping it around Harry's arm. "We need to try and cool it to prevent it from damaging more."
"What happened to him," James asked as he and Remus moved forward. Beads of sweat were forming on Harry's head and he was shivering slightly.
"Harry was incredibly stupid, and burned himself," Lily muttered as she dug through her kit once more.
"Why don't we just take him to the Hospital Wing?" Sirius asked.
"He doesn't want anyone knowing," Remus answered, not taking his eyes off of Harry.
"Why not? He clearly needs to go," Sirius said nervously.
"He, he was breaking school rules and doesn't want to get caught," Lily said hurriedly.
"Lily, I have broken millions of school rules, and if I was in this condition I would be seeing the nurse," Sirius responded.
"And I agree, but he doesn't want to," Lily mumbled as she began pouring a different potion into smaller viles.
"Don't you think we should make him?" James said, his heart thumping in his chest. "He doesn't look good."
"He's going to be fine, it's just a burn, I can handle it," Lily snapped. James stepped back.
Lily stood up and rolled Harry's head towards her.
"Harry?" She called, his eyes fluttering open. They were unfocused. "Can you understand what I'm saying."
Harry nodded, but barely.
"Ok, good, I've poured out doses of a potion, you need to drink it every five hours. I'm going to make a salve to put on the burn to help it mend. I've also left you some of the potion I just gave you in case the pain becomes too much, but don't take it if you don't have to, ok?"
Harry gave another feeble nod and then closed his eyes.
"This is literally the last thing I need to be dealing with," Lily muttered furiously as she threw everything back into her kit, save for the viles she had prepared which she placed on Harry's nightstand.
"I'm sorry to ruin your Saturday with this, but can you please stay with Harry while I prepare this salve? Let me know if he get's worse." Remus nodded and Lily left.
James and Sirius stood bewildered.
"Remus, please tell us what's going on," Sirius said quietly.
"Harry will tell you when he decides it's what's best…" Remus muttered.
"You said that to me last night," James said angrily. "And look at him, clearly he doesn't know what's best. If he did, he would have told us, because something is obviously seriously wrong."
"It's not right for me to tell you," Remus said with exasperation.
"It's not right for me to wake up to Harry screaming his arm is on fire!" James cried, before storming out of the room and slamming the door. Sirius followed close behind.
o0o0o0o0o0o
"My Dark L-Lord," Peter squeaked, bowing low. He stood in an old classroom that hadn't been used in a number of years. Long ago he had disguised the door to appear like it wasn't there at all so he could frequent it without fear of someone walking in. He had also cast many unfamiliar spells around the windows and on the fireplace in order to ensure security. Through the green flames, Peter could barely make out the image of a hooded figure.
"What do you have to tell me Wormtail," the figure spoken hauntingly.
"It's, it's Williams, my Lord," Peter trembled as he spoke. "I-I seriously think there is something about him that isn't right."
Voldemort's eyes narrowed as the green flames flickered.
"What do you mean?"
"He doesn't seem normal, my Lord. I know he knows something about me, he knows that I communicate with you my Lord. James Potter seems to think he's involved with you, but you know nothing of him. Per-perhaps he is of threat to you, my Lord."
"A mere boy?" Voldemort scoffed.
"I-I know it does not sound important, but I have been around him for months now, my Lord, and I k-know there is something about him…"
"What is his name again?" Voldemort said, clicking his fingernails against his dark mahogany chair.
"Harry Williams," Peter squeaked, shaking.
"Williams…" Voldemort muttered.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Voldemort suddenly threw his fist on the table. The Death Eaters jumped and all eyes fell on him. Lucius Malfoy slowly sunk back into his chair at the long table.
"I-I am sorry my Lord, I only though perhaps we should —" Malfoy began, but Voldemort ignored him. Voldemort stared blankly around the dark room, scanning the faces of his Death Eaters. His chair scraped on the stone floor, and with a swish of his cloak Voldemort exited the dungeon.
"My Lord?" Malfoy called.
"This meeting is over. Get Severus for me." Voldemort spoke as he climbed the stone steps. "I need to see what he remembers about Harry Williams…"