Red thread of love

born from the ashes

They decide to go back to Cheshire first. Harry needed the warmth and calm of his home. Anne was so worried that she asked for an extended leave for family emergency reasons, Gemma was back home as well since she had finished uni and was now trying to find a job close. Harry asked everyone to wait until they told the boys they were back, he wasn't ready for visits or pity looks. He knew he was in bad shape, but the look on his mother's face when she picked up both boys at the airport will be ingrained in Harry's brain forever, it was like she had seen a ghost, she went pale, covered her mouth with both of her hands, and when she hugged him it seemed like she was trying not to hug to tight, afraid of breaking him.

Luke decided to go the first couple of weeks to his family's home as well. They both needed rest and Contentment that only their mother could give them. Harry didn't even argue his decision. He didn't begin to imagine the amount of pressure Luke must have felt all those months being the only one capable of bringing money home.

The day after they landed, after Harry cried himself to sleep in his mother's arms, Anne dragged him at the wee hour of the morning to the nearest hospital and asked a bunch of tests to be run on Harry. Thankfully she was a doctor herself so they could bypass the doctor appointment just to ask for the tests to be requested. They extracted a blood sample, made him pee in a cup and said they were going to have the results back in a few hours. They went back home and his mother cooked him a full English breakfast. Harry felt he was famished and golfed down the entire plate of food in front of him. When he finished he saw his mother looking mortified at him.

"What's wrong mom?" Harry asked confused, still munching the last portion of his breakfast.

"You eat," Anne mumbled.

Harry was bemused by her response. "Of course I eat. What you mean by that?" he asked.

"Do you purge?" She asked, whispering, seemingly afraid of Harry's reaction.

Harry's eyes grew like plates and then it clicked, his mother thought that his weight loss meant he had developed an eating disorder. He stood up and went to hug his mother tightly. "I don't. I swear, mom," he gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I know what it looks like, I know I've lost a ton of weight, I just didn't feel like eating back in the US. It was never on purpose, I forgot to eat, to drink water, how to function basically," he confessed, hugging her again, too embarrassed to look her in the eyes.

"You need help, baby," his mother mumbled into his chest.

"I don't. I already feel so much better. I'm back where I feel safe. I don't even feel like smoking anymore. I didn't even have a chance to try and find a job back there because my stupid actions got me banned from LA basically," Harry said, trying to sooth Anne's mind. "But I know I do have them here, and I am going to stop my bullshit and start all over. I just need a little bit of time to recover. A few of your hugs, maybe a dozen more meals to gain what I lost, get back in track with my exercise routine. Everything will be back to normal," he held his mother with trembling hands. And took a deep breath.

"So, I heard my little bro was back in town and I had missed all the welcome parties because I was in London," Gemma's voice interrupted the moment.

Harry felt himself smile with fondness and turned around, he was now much more taller than his sister, which meant he could hug her and lift her until she was pinching him and demanging to be put down.

"Gems!" Harry excitedly greeted his sister and hugged her tightly.

"Haz," she exhaled a puff of air and Harry felt she relaxed under his hug.

"I missed this," Anne said with a watery voice.

They both turned to see their mother nearly in tears and went for a group hug.