Easy Mistake ; Harry Potter

O N E H U N D R E D A N D F O R T Y S I X | No Turning Back Now

Josh felt small in Harry's arms. He was light too, light enough that Harry suspected he could lift him up.

Harry had never had any siblings and the strange thought occurred to him that he had never hugged anyone as young as Josh before. But it felt nice, and knowing Josh was safe and alive made Harry feel so relieved he thought he would pass out from the strength of it.

Josh's body began to shake. Harry felt Josh dig his face into the crook of his neck and begin to sob. Harry felt his heart break, he knelt more comfortably on the floor and embraced Josh tighter.

"Hey," Harry said softly, very aware that they didn't have a lot of time before the Death Eaters caught up with them. But he didn't want to scare Josh anymore than he probably already was. "It's alright. You're safe now."

Josh continued to sob. "I thought they were going to kill me. And then they said they were after you, and I thought that they would kill you. It was so dark where they kept me, and I tried to tell the teacher at school not to let me go with that man, b-but they let me go anyway-"

Josh was talking nonsense. He was rambling but it allowed Harry a clear enough picture of what had happened and it broke Harry's heart. "Josh, listen to me-"

"And one of the Death Eaters was a Werewolf, at least I think he was. He kept coming at me, I tried to get away, I tried to crawl away, but h-he said, he s-said he could smell me. And he kept looking at me hungrily, and said that he was sure I would taste salty-"

One of Harry's friends made a disgusted noise. He didn't look to see who it was. He was focused on Josh; sweet innocent Josh, who Harry felt such brotherly love and protection for it was startling. He made a vow to beat the crap out of the Death Eater when he found them, and he had a pretty good idea on who the Death Eater was. There wasn't many Werewolf Death Eaters around and Harry vowed to make Greyback pay.

"Hey," Harry said softly again. He gently took Josh's face between his hands. Josh was still shaking and his face was red and tear stained. He looked scared and traumatised and Harry couldn't blame him. "You're safe now, okay?" Harry made Josh look him right in the eye. "I won't let anyone hurt you again."

The look in Josh's eyes made Harry's heart ache. It was full of innocence and as he gazed at Harry, his eyes were so full of trust.

Josh leaned his forehead against Harry's. "I'm so glad you're safe."

Harry smiled. "Right back at you, kiddo." Harry suddenly had an idea. "Listen, you still want to learn Quidditch right, and ride a broom?"

Josh looked confused but nodded. Harry used his thumbs to wipe away some of the stray tears still running down Josh's face. "Well, when we make it out of here, I promise to teach you to ride a broom, despite if your parents say no. But you've got to listen to me for a little while, okay? And stay by my side, got it?"

Josh's face lit up slightly and a smile broke out on his face. "Yeah, okay."

Harry stood up. He turned around and realised half of his friends weren't with them. Just as his chest had lightened at finding Josh, it now plummeted again with dread. "Where are the others?"

"I don't know!" Hermione said, a bit frantically. "I thought they were behind us!"

So did Harry. But he could hear footsteps approaching and knew they had to move. "Right, we need to move. We will have to find the others along the way. If we stay here we might as well yell and give ourselves up to the Death Eaters."

The others nodded grimly and all clutching their wands tightly, made their way forward.

Harry gripped on to Josh's hand, and felt Josh's small fingers close around his own. They began to run, Harry only hoped he could find the others and get them all out of the Ministry safely.