Phoenix Tears

Chapter 12: Familiar haunts

Harry whacked at the grasses that bordered the house, stumbling over the garden gnome burrows because he had silenced the navigation from his staff...too annoyed with everyone to bear even the vibrations. When the sharp scent of mint replaced the more subtle grass aromas, he knew he was approaching the kitchen steps.

Someone came running up behind him.

"Harry, mate! You can't just run off again!" It was Ron.

Harry braced for impact, but Ron stopped short and didn't grab him. He let out the breath he was holding. He reached out his staff to find the steps to the back door that he knew were near and then sat down on them with a huff and slipping his staff into his holster. Harry pushed his hands through his hair and tried to remember how to calm his racing heart with measured breaths.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked.

Harry drew in a breath and let it out slowly before answering, "I'm trying to calm down."

"Why are you so worked up?"

Harry tried to shoot an annoyed glance at Ron... remembered he couldn't see and put his head in his hands.

"I can't stay here, Ron. I'm putting everyone in danger. I shouldn't have come here in the first place. You lot were safer when I was living off carrots underground."

"It turned your nose turned orange, mate."

"Seriously? Is it still orange?" Harry asked while touching his nose as if he could feel the oranginess.

"It's getting back to normal," Ron laughed.

"Well, at least you didn't have murderers and soul-suckers and aurors stomping through your garden! And I can't even tell my nose turned orange... so so what! I have an orange nose and your house isn't getting blown up!"

Ron sat down on the step, squeezed in next to Harry and leaned in to him and said, "It's not like that doesn't happen on a regular basis around here anyway... what between the twins' experiments in their room and dad's tinkering on muggle artifacts in the shed. And if Ginny wasn't in such a funk, she'd be doing her fair share as well."

"You heard what Auror Bones said... your house has been compromised. You all have to find another home! And what's going to happen then? This mess follows me everywhere... and one of you is going to get hurt or worse... and I just can't live with that. Look what happened to Ginny! Riddle was after me! He was using Ginny to get to me. She almost died!" Harry tried to swallow the sob that rode the words but it escaped anyhow and he put his hands over his mouth to prevent anymore from getting out.

Ron swung an awkward arm over his shoulders and pulled Harry into a tight side-hug. "You can't do this by yourself, Harry. We want to help you."

"That's right," Hermione said in a hoarse whisper and Harry whipped his head up. He hadn't heard her approaching, but he did hear others behind them and soon he was surrounded by the whole jostling group again trying to reassure him that they didn't care that he was Death Eater bait.

"I care!" Harry shouted, standing up and pushing them away from him. "I can't do this to you!"

He clasped his arms around his chest and turned in a tight circle, thinking hard about the safe coolness of the underground cave, the damp earthy smell almost invading his nostrils and suddenly he was being sucked through the compressing tube of apparition and landing in a heap on the cool compacted dirt of the cave. He reached out a hand and found the tiled edge of the pool right where he imagined it would be.

Nio squirmed against his belly and hissed at Harry, as angry as he'd ever heard the little snake. Harry put a protective hand over the bundle of snake at his navel.