UnExpected

Chapter 32

He was going to be fine, and Harry felt the weight of the world melt away from his shoulders.

Mrs. Weasley came rushing into the kitchen at Grimmauld Place at five in the morning, assuring everyone that Mr. Weasley was all right and going to be all right. There was a collective sigh of relief from everyone in the room, and soon after, a heavy onset of exhaustion from their lack of sleep. And after eating a small breakfast, one that had to be prepared by Mrs. Weasley seeing as Kreacher was nowhere to be found, the group set off for a short nap before visiting St. Mungo's. Well, everyone except for Harry, who was afraid that the moment he closed his eyes he would find himself looking through snake eyes again and attacking someone else he cared about. And that was not something he was willing to chance.

Tonks and Mad-Eye arrived later on that afternoon, after everyone had awoken from their short sleep. They were going to escort the group, sans Sirius, across London to visit Mr. Weasley. Deciding to take the Underground, seeing as it would attract far less attention, Harry tried to avoid answering Tonks's pestering questions about his dream. The one he hated to remember, much less retell aloud...again. He also tried to avoid her questions of whether or not there was Seer blood in his family. It was a long and uncomfortable ride that was for sure.

Finally, they arrived at a station in the very heart of London, which thankfully ended any more of Tonks's inquiries. The large group moved themselves from Underground to above ground and to very bustling streets filled with Christmas shoppers. Following Tonks's lead and ignoring the nagging feeling that Mad-Eye was keeping his one special eye on him, Harry thought back to the previous conversation he'd had with Sirius, the one he'd had before his so-called refreshing nap.

"Did you tell Dumbledore this?" Sirius asked, as they both stood in the darkness of the pantry. Away from well-known prying eyes and ears, and after Harry had retold every detail of his dream. Including the part where he believed he was the snake.

"Yes," Harry answered. "But he didn't tell me what it meant. Well, he doesn't tell me anything anymore."

"I'm sure he would have told you if it was anything to worry about."

"But that's not all," Harry said, his voice lowering to just above a whisper. "Sirius, I...I think I'm going mad. Back in Dumbledore's office, just before we took the Portkey...for a couple of seconds there, I thought I was a snake, I felt like one – my scar really hurt when I was looking at Dumbledore – Sirius, I wanted to attack him!"

There was a pause of silence and Harry tried to read Sirius's expression, but his face was covered too much by the darkness.

"It must have been the aftermath of the vision, that's all," he reassured him. "You were still thinking of the dream or whatever it was and –"

"It wasn't that," Harry said. "It was like something rose up inside of me, like there's a snake inside of me."

"You need to sleep," Sirius told him firmly. "You're going to have breakfast, then go upstairs to bed, and after lunch you can go and see Arthur with the others. You're in shock, Harry. You're blaming yourself for something you only witnessed, and it's lucky you did witness it or Arthur might have died. Just stop worrying."

And then Sirius left, and that was that. And Harry was left again feeling as though he were being tossed aside. Because apparently his feelings and concerns just didn't matter anymore.

"Right," Tonks announced.

Hearing her voice snapped Harry out of his thoughts, and he refocused his attention to the very large, shabby, red-bricked department store they were currently standing in front of. Purge & Dowse, Ltd. was its name and apparently, 'Closed for Refurbishment'. Looking into the windows, he found badly maintained dummies. Creepy, old, badly maintained dummies that seemed to be wearing clothes ten years out of date.