Love, Lies & Loneliness

Chapter 4
(Common Knowledge)

“…Bloody hell Harry. Not even Fred and George have started their transition yet and they turned 17 in May.” Ron goggled at Harry from the other side of the carriage. Although his two friends had arrived the previous week at Grimwold Place, Harry just hadn’t found the time to talk to them both alone. When Harry had tried to find a moment during the day some member of the order would always interrupt, and although Harry had the opportunity to tell Ron at night in their shared bedroom, Harry didn’t think it fair not to have Hermione hear it as well. Then there was Snape, his presence in the house was unpredictable and Harry didn’t dare think of the consequences should the potions professor hear them talking about his and the headmasters private conversation. Admittedly Snape had returned to Hogwarts the day before Harry’s birthday but it was too late then to find the time to talk to his friends. The first and only opportunity that had arisen was now in their carriage on the Hogwarts express. The entire order had turned out to escort Harry to the train; the only notable absentee’s were Snape and Dumbledore. Sirius had seemed tense to Harry, as they’d said their goodbyes at the station. Sirius’ hug seemed to last a lot longer than any other they’d shared. The elder man having whispered something strange into Harry’s ear just as he’d boarded the train.

“Don’t let him push you around Harry, and you know where I am if you need me.” The comment was strange but Harry had not replied and merely waved enthusiastically to the party that waved back at him on the platform until the train was out of sight. Perplexed but not overly concerned by Sirius comment, Harry had found them an empty compartment on the train and begun explaining what had happened over the summer to his friends.

“I know, Remus said it doesn’t usually happen till 17.” Harry looked from Ron to Hermione who was nodding in agreement.

“Well at least we know you’ll have an advantage over Malfoy in the dueling club this year, who knows you may even hex him into next month.” Ron and Harry laughed at Ron’s joke, Harry relaxing more about his situation as he realized that neither of his friends thought his situation was weird.

“Ron!” Hermione scowled at the ginger haired boy sternly before turning pointedly to Harry who had barely stopped laughing. “Harry can’t just go hexing people, not now anyway. Transition is a really delicate phase and Harry has to be careful what spells he tries. Even simple charms we learned in first year may turn disastrous until Harry’s magic settles.” Hermione looked seriously at Harry who nodded slowly in understanding.

“Yeah its true. Last summer Percy went through his transition.” Ron looked sympathetically at Harry as he continued. “He was hell to live with, moody cause mum had banned him from doing spells in the house until the transition had finished. Dad thought that getting him to do a bit of housework outside would be okay and help him learn to control the magic.” Again Ron paused Harry already on the edge of his seat having heard partly the story of Ron’s brother’s transition earlier in the week when he’d been listening at the kitchen door. “Well Dad told him to paint the fence out the front…”

“There’s no fence out the front of The Burrow Ron.” Hermione interrupted quickly noting already what Harry had thought of.

“Exactly. Percy tried to spell the paintbrushes to paint the fence green and instead blew the entire fence apart. It was the biggest bang I’d ever heard, even with Fred and George’s experiments. We were picking pieces of the fence up for months afterwards and I think there’s still a splinter stuck in the garage shed that even Dad can’t shift.” Harry couldn’t help himself but snigger, the idea of Percy Weasley blowing up anything was beyond funny, the boy just seemed far too proper. Ron too chuckled at Harry’s amusement but again Hermione’s groan of frustration at their childishness made them silent.

“Well anyway Harry, I think it’s best if you try just simple spells first, I read in one of the books in the library that if you start by controlling the simpler spells first you become more accustomed to the change and then the more complex spells come easier.” Harry smiled at Ron as he rolled his eyes at Hermione’s reference to the books she’d read. If there was one thing Hermione was good at it was reading, and while it came in handy sometimes, most of the time it was just plain irritating.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. Until I’ve been to this hearing at the ministry I can’t practice magic and the only reason I’m still going to Hogwarts this week and not serving my suspension is that Dumbledore promised Fudge I’d not be attending classes.” Harry sighed heavily, he looked forward to the start of the new school year and when Dumbledore had told him of his suspension from classes, it seemed a small price to pay to be still allowed back to the school.

“Don’t worry Harry, Dumbledore will fix it, they can’t snap your wand if you were using it in self defense, and who could have predicted that the hex would go so wrong.” Ron smiled sympathetically at his friend. “Besides me and Ginny were there when Sirius brought you back from the Dursley’s, you were a mess Harry. Mum barely stopped herself from passing out there was so much blood.” Harry shivered as he remembered the pain that Vernon had brought down upon him, and he couldn’t stop the memory of fear that flashed through his mind. The only thing that had kept the nightmares of the incident at bay had been the knowledge that he’d never have to go back there again, Sirius had promised.

“He’s right Harry, you didn’t deserve that.” Hermione moved over to sit next to Harry on the bench her arms going up and around the neck of her friend and hugging him deeply. Harry relaxed under her hug and he smiled apologetically at Ron who looked only the slightest bit jealous of the contact.

“Dad says it took four of them to hold you down while Snape took out the glass, they even had to put up a silencing charm so that your screams wouldn’t upset mum and Tonks.” Ron swallowed hard and Harry sighed apologetically at his friend, sure that Ron had probably been just as upset as his mum had been. “Ginny saw Snape come down afterwards, she reckoned he had tea towel full of glass and that he still hadn’t changed from when you’d been ill on him, apparently he spent all night sitting up looking after you.” Harry was surprised to hear Ron’s account of when he was brought back to Grimwold Place. It seemed strange that Snape would do anything remotely kind for him, and Harry wondered if Snape had been forced to help him by Dumbledore. Thinking back however Harry did remember seeing a blanket and pillow draped over the chair in the corner of his room, as well as how tired Snape had looked when he’d first awoken.

“He probably saved your life Harry.” Hermione sat up from her hug of Harry, allowing him to sigh heavily.

“Again.” Harry noted glumly already realizing that Snape had in fact saved him more times than he could count on two hands during his time at Hogwarts. Harry had put it down to obligation put onto him by Dumbledore but he now wondered if Snape didn’t have other motives. That thought disturbed Harry though and he pushed it aside as Ron spoke again.

“Doesn’t mean we have to like the greasy git, after all he’s still Snape.” Harry nodded in agreement with Ron, only to watch as Hermione rolled her eyes dramatically and sighed audibly at her two friends. Harry wondered if Hermione had gotten that habit from her mother, cause it seemed an awfully natural expression.

“True and I think Dumbledore’s put him up to something, cause I heard them talking last week about something very suspicious….” Finding it the right moment to talk to his friends about what he’d overheard in the bathroom, Harry leaned conspiratorially close to his friends and began the long explanation of what’d exactly had happened, for the rest of the train trip.
TBC>>>>>>>>>>>>>>