Not Who You Think

Twenty

The next two days seemed to pass as a blur for Harry. He visited Ron and Hermione in the hospital wing with Ginny, Neville, and Luna, making sure they were healing well, and spent any time that he wasn't in the hospital wing with his friends holed up in the Chamber, not wanting to talk to anyone as he tried to work out everything going on in his head and the grief that was overwhelming him. When he was around his friends in the hospital wing, they tried to help him work through everything he was feeling, letting him just sit with them in silence when he didn't feel like talking and chatting with each other to give him supportive company, and letting him rant and rave and get everything out when he needed to - which only happened once.

By the time that the train arrived to take them home, Hermione and Ron were both fully healed and out of the hospital wing. The group of them crowded into one compartment together, locking the door to prevent any interruptions during the trip, wanting to just be together for the ride home; after everything that happened at the Ministry, everyone wanted to get closer to the six of them, all of them having featured in the Prophet a lot in the two days since it happened.

Harry spent the train ride staring out the window as the others talked, trying to work out what he was going to do when he got to Slytherin Manor; while he was still definitely going to head there, he wasn't sure how he would go seeing his mother and father after everything that had happened at the Ministry. Especially after the duel he had had with his mother after seeing her kill Sirius, who she knew was under the Phantoms' protection, and with how his father had possessed him to try and get Lemons to kill him. The others let him just stay in his thoughts, all of them working on their own projects throughout the trip, not having to worry about hiding it as no one was able to come in and see their work.

"Harry, you need to change. We're five minutes away," Luna said gently, shaking his shoulder and pulling him out of his thought. He nodded, and stood up, grabbing some of 'Golden Boy's' clothes and changing into them as the other boys did, the girls leaving the compartment to change in the bathroom, before sitting back down and leaning against the window again. As the train pulled to a stop, Harry stood up and grabbed his trunk, before he followed the others out of the compartment and off the train.

"Remember to keep in touch. We have our ear pieces, and we can have a meeting if anything urgent comes up," Hermione said.

"Please keep in touch Shadow. We're all here to help," Ginny added. Harry gave them a small smile and a nod but didn't say anything.

"Have a good holiday guys. Feel free to back off the work a bit, especially since we won't have the turner," Ron said.

"And you can always come visit me if your masks get too much," Luna said. The group said their last goodbyes before splitting up, Luna and Neville going to find their dad and gran respectively, while the other four headed over to where a small handful of Flaming Chickens were waiting for them. Molly engulfed them all in hugs, fussing over them as soon as they reached the group.

"How are you all. You especially Harry, dear. It's so good to see that you're all ok after what happened on Friday."

"Right Potter. We're coming with you to have a few words with your relatives about how they treat you," Moody said.

"Albus has decided that you're going to stay there all holidays to hopefully work through losing Sirius, and we think they need to be informed about what you're going through," Mr Weasley added. Harry nodded but otherwise didn't respond, even though he was sure that that was a bad idea. Harry headed over to the archway that led back to the Muggle world and crosses through, the Chickens following close behind him.

Harry stood back as the Chickens spoke to the Dursleys and winced slightly at the expression on Vernon's face once Moody was done. He already knew that he was leaving as soon as possible so he could go stay with his parents, but now he knew he would have to make that even sooner unless he wanted to be in pain. He waved to his friends as he followed the Dursleys out of the station. When they reached Private Drive, Vernon pulled him out of the car and dragged him into the house, before going back to grab his trunk, dropping that next to him in the hall.