Hogwarts is my Home

Chapter 18: Harry, Here (CS CH3)

"Harry!" I gasped as I jumped forward and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. 

"Hi," he awkwardly got out as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "How-" before he could say another word, Molly had popped into the room.

"Where have you been?! Beds emptied! no note! Car gone! What were you thinking? You could've died, you could've been seen!" She rounded on Harry and I. "Of course I don't blame you two." She turned back to her three sons. "Arthur and I were gonna get him ourselves on the second!"

"But they were starving him, Mum. There were bars on his window."

"You best hope I don't put bars on your window, Ronald Weasley! Want some breakfast, Harry?"

"Yes, please."

Everybody took a chair at the table, but there were only seven of us- two were missing.

Ginny ran down the stairs, and upon entering the kitchen, saw Harry, gasped, and darted upstairs to her room and slammed the door. "That's odd. She's never shy."

"Who was that?" Harry asked.

"Ginny, My sister. She's been talking about you all summer." 

"Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph," Fred said with a grin. He caught his mother's eye and buried his face in his breakfast. 

The three Weasley boys ate quickly and George was the first one to stand up. "I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed and-"

"You will not," Molly snapped. "It's your fault you were up all night. You're going to de-gnome the garden for me; they're getting completely out of hand again-"

"De-gnome the garden! Who's de-gnoming the garden, dear?" Arthur asked as he entered the room and poured a cup of coffee. He must've only got about six hours of sleep. 

"Your sons flew that enchanted car of yours to Surrey and back last night to get Harry."

"My dear, did you really?" he asked in amazement. "How did it go?" There was clattering about how amazing it was before Molly smacked Arthur on the arm which made everyone stop. "I mean... that was very wrong, indeed, boys. Very wrong indeed. 

"Now, Harry, you must know all about muggles. Tell me... what exactly is the function of a rubber duck?"

Harry was thrown off by his question, muttering, "Oh...um...?"

"I think it's a toy for muggle kids to play with in the bath. I never had one, though," I said rather sadly.

"Why not?"

"Well, Amara-" I started, exasperated.

"How was work, Dad?" Fred asked quickly to change the subject away from my cruel mother.

"Nine raids. Nine! Some night!"

"Raids?" Harry asked Ron.

"Dad works in the Ministry of Magic in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. Dad loves muggles. Thinks they're fascinating. Hints the duck question."

"You better get started on the garden," Molly advised.

"Oh, Mum," George groaned.

"And you two," she rounded on Ron and Fred. "Harry, you can go up to bed. You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car."

"Oh, that's okay; I'll help Ron. I've never seen a de-gnoming-"

"All they do is chuck them as far as they can over the hedge- pretty boring. Although, if you're not tired, I'd like to have a talk," I spoke as I got up and placed my dishes in the sink.

"Yeah, of course!" Harry said eagerly, like he'd just met his biggest crush or something.

I waited a few seconds before turning around, trying to contain my smile.

Harry and I sat on a bench near the garage- far away from the twins and Ron so I knew they couldn't hear what we were saying.  

"I thought you forgot about me," I blurted heavily.

He grabbed my hand, which was resting on the bench. "I'm sorry, I wasn't receiving your owls. This House Elf visited me and told me not to go back to Hogwarts. He had been intercepting all my letters. I thought you forgot about me, too. I thought all of you did. It was like a really bad dream." 

"I could never forget about you, you tried to save my life."

"You actually saved my life. Did I ever thank you for that?"

I laughed light-heartedly. "You don't have to." I wanted to say, "I'd do it again," but decided to just leave it at that nice little moment.

I finally looked down to see his hand still rested on top of mine. It being there felt so natural that I didn't notice. He jerked it away at once and turned to look at Fred, George, and Ron. 

"I'm gonna go help them."

"Okay." He stood up and started walking away from me. "Harry!" I called. He turned around. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks. It's the best one I've ever had. The first one I've spent with friends."

As he walked away, I saw Molly and Arthur's heads in the window as if they were watching us. And if they were, I didn't care. I didn't have shame about the appreciation I had for Harry.