Underneath the Mistletoe

ChapterThirtyNine

Harry's POV
FifthYear

The first night at Grimmauld place had been incredibly hectic. It was a mess of figuring out who would share a room with who. People were rushing around trying to organize their possessions, yelling to one another from different parts of the house.

While everyone else was running around, Harry just wanted to be alone. He needed to gather his thoughts. He felt numb and tired. He barely managed to dodge the twins on his way up to the room he'd be sharing with Ron. He loved them like brothers but right now he couldn't take their energy.

Closing the door behind him, Harry let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't just the twins, he didn't feel like talking to anyone right now. In fact, he was too frightened to even be around anyone at the moment. That dream that he'd had, the one that had probably saved Mr. Weasley's life, hadn't been an ordinary dream. Actually, Harry didn't think it had been a dream at all, he feared that perhaps he'd been possessed.

Now that Harry was alone in the room he found that he didn't know what to do with himself. He leaned away from the door and the noise that came from the other end.

He sorted, well, really he rummaged, through his belongings for some time, as he was lacking of anything more interesting or productive to do.

Once he heard the sound of people coming up the steps and nearing the room Harry turned out the lights, and with his clothes and glasses still on, threw himself onto his bed, feigning sleep. And just in time because seconds later the door swung open, letting light from the hallway flow into the room. The person in the doorway, who must have been Ron, stood there for quite some time. A voice, which Harry easily identified as his best mate, muttered "Lumos." He closed the door behind him. Only the tip of Ron's wand lit up the room as he bumped around and got ready, Harry assumed, for bed.

"Knox."

The light went out and the room fell silent,
except for both the boys shallow breaths. However, in the dark, Harry's eyes were wide open. He had no intention of sleeping. If Voldemort really was possessing him while he slept than he just wouldn't sleep. At least for now. Until he found a long term solution.

-x-

Harry was the first person in the kitchen the next morning. The night before had been long and sleepless and he was sure he looked absolutely awful.

Mrs. Weasley was the second person down. When she saw him a look of sadness washed over her face, mixed in was understanding. She gave him a sympathetic smile but didn't try to pry or ask questions. For that he was grateful.
He'd planned to sneak away before anyone else joined them in the kitchen but that plan went down the drain when two boisterous men entered the kitchen in colourful pyjama bottoms. Harry identified the short, burly one as Charlie Weasley. (Which wasn't hard due to the trademark red hair he had.) The other man looked to be the same age but Harry couldn't place a name to the face. They both came and sat, almost on top of each other, at the kitchen table.

"Hey there Harry," Charlie gave him a broad grin. "How've you been doing?"

Harry cleared his throat and tried to stop staring at the two young men. "Good, I'm good, you?"

Charlie, who could clearly see that the younger boy was flustered, chuckled and thumped a hand down on the table. He gestured for him to sit down in the chair across from them. Harry obliged with only a small amount of hesitancy. "I'm doing just fine. Say, I don't believe you met Sean in all the chaos of last night."

So that was the other man's name; Harry looked him over. He was taller and leaner than Charlie, who was only about 5'8" and stocky. Sean had blond hair and green eyes. He extended a hand. "Nice to meet you Harry."