Saving Harry Potter

Arthur

Arthur walked down the stairs to find Harry sat on the sofa, staring into the fireplace. "Hey, Harry."

"Hello, Mr Weasley." Harry replied automatically. His eyes never leaving the pile of coal and firewood.

Arthur had gotten quite good at noticing when Harry starts to get too quiet before anyone else did. Every automatic response was just another indicator as much as no response at all.

He stepped towards the sofa. Now he could Harry's face more clearly. The rising redness in his eyes, the way they seemed unfocused.

Harry blinked and the fireplace awoke with crackle and a roar.

"How are you holding up today?" Arthur asked and took a seat next to him.

"Fine. You?"

"I'm doing okay. Would you like to help me with something?"

Harry blinked a couple of times, finally turning his head away from the fire. "Um, sure, yeah. What do you need to know?" He asked, thinking Arthur wanted to know about a muggle thing.

Arthur smiled a sad sort of smile. "Actually, it's more of a 'do-it-yourself' project."

"Oh."

"I'm going to start rebuilding Sirius' motorbike. If you want to help then you are more than welcome to. I wouldn't know where half of what goes where." He explained with a small chuckle.

At the mention of Sirius' name the fire died down until it went out completely. Harry remained unaware to the way his magic was acting up. "I'd like that."

They spent the rest of the afternoon outside working on their new project. The longer they worked on it, the more Harry started to talk again. They didn't stop until Molly came out to get them for dinner, by which time Harry seemed in a much better state for socialising.

As his wife walked Harry inside the house, Arthur undid a few easy bits. Not enough that it would be noticed, but just enough that it would take them that bit longer to finish. He decided that whenever he found Harry too quiet again, he would bring him out here to focus on fixing Sirius' motorbike and distract him from whatever battle he was fighting in his head that day.