The Family that Chooses You

Chapter 78: Gestures of Kindness

"Everything okay Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry smiled wanly.  "Oh sorry, I mean, yeah everything's fine.  Nothing's wrong really."

It was true.  Nothing was overtly wrong.  He had the best summer in his life.  He finally left Privet Drive.  He had a new family with Sirius and the three Tonks.  His health was on the mend and he felt a lot better, better than he ever had before.

As a continuation of his Sirius' campaign to make up for things, he had gotten tickets to the Quidditch World Cup.  He and Tonks took Harry and Hermione with them and they met their friends at the Cup location.  The game was incredible and he could not wait to try some of the things he saw.  There had been an odd disturbance that night but it was swiftly stopped by the Aurors and even Sirius had jumped in.

The days after the World Cup had been a rush of fun and fond memories.  For the first time in four years, Harry had been a little reluctant in leaving for Hogwarts.  The previous three years he had chomped at the bit to go and it was odd feeling a little forlorn now that the Express had left King's Cross.  Sirius, Andromeda, and Tonks had sent him off and even they looked a little teary when he got on the train.

"I guess, I never felt like this before," Harry said softly.  "I wanted to stay with them at Grimmauld.  It's weird to feel like that when before I couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts."

Hermione smiled gently.  "You're homesick."

"Oh?  I've never been homesick before."

She squeezed his arm.  "You've never had a home before."

Harry smiled.  "That's true.  So it's normal to feel like this?"

She nodded.  "I felt like that too, feel it now.  I miss my parents dearly during the year but it's been better since we can exchange more letters and things more often.  Especially since Hedwig is so kind to do that for me, though, I need to tell mum to give Hedwig less bacon."

Hedwig barked angrily from her cage at Hermione.

"Yeah I wouldn't do that," Harry said amused.  "She thinks all the bacon in the world belongs to her."

Hermione giggled.  "And I wanted to really thank you."

Harry's eyebrow rose.  "For what?"

"This was the best summer I've had in a long time too.  I mean, I like traveling with my parents but this summer I got to see you a lot and the others.  The first summer I saw friends.  And now that Sirius is my magical co-guardian my parents can learn more about the Wizarding World and be more involved.  They feel a lot better about things now and they're really happy."  Her eyes shone.  "I feel a lot better about everything now and it's all thanks to you."

Harry blushed.  "It wasn't my idea for Sirius to be your co-guardian but I'm happy it happened.  Now we're even more like sibs."  He hugged her and she returned the hug with a very strong grip.

The door to the compartment opened and Katie and Lyla appeared.  "Harry!" Lyla exclaimed and slid next to him on the chair, throwing her arms around him.

"Hi Lyla," Harry greeted warmly.  "Already wearing your robes?"

"She's so excited," Katie teased.  "Almost left the house in them today.  Then again, she's been waiting for a long time for this.  She stole my robes after my first year and wore them whenever she could."

"I think I did that to my brothers," Angelina said with a smile.

"You people and your healthy sibling relationships," Alicia said frostily.  "Your positive sincerity is making me sick."