Piece By Piece

Chapter Twenty-Three: Family Matters

      After that meeting Harry had a lot on his mind; so when it disbanded and each department left to have their own meetings he took the Aurors straight to the training complex for an extended training session. Maybe it'll clear my head a bit, he thought. He had them work on more takedowns, which he figured they'd need when they stormed Malfoy Manor. They trained until it was time to break for lunch and then came back afterwards for their scheduled lesson. It passed without incident, which was remarkable given the fact that Harry was teaching them how to resist the Imperius Curse. 

      When the session ended Harry shooed the rest of the Aurors out of the room so he could practice on his own. He was met with protests from both Ron and his mother, who seemed more insistant on actually talikng to him instead of training, but he forced them out remorselessly. He desperately needed time to himself. 

      Harry ended up training by himself until it was 30 minutes to dinner. He half jogged-half dragged himself to the showers to wash off the puddle of sweat that was forming on his body. As the cold water flowed from the shower head to his own he rubbed his face with his hands in an effort to take the exhaustion out of his eyes. He sighed. Despite the amount of training he'd done that day his head wasn't nearly as clear as wanted it to be. He still thought about the upcoming mission with near-perfect clarity. He couldn't shake the thought about the many ways it could go wrong, how many people he could lose, some of whom would be dying for the second time. Could he bear losing the ones he loved again? It didn't matter that inevitably he'd still have Sirius because he couldn't go; if Harry lost his parents for a second time... 

      He shook the thoughts away and finished washing up. He turned the water off and reached for his towel to dry himself as much as possible before putting on the change of clothes he'd brought with him. When he was done getting dressed he checked his watch. Ten minutes to dinner, he told himself, perfect. He gathered his things and left the training complex, arriving in the cafeteria right as dinner began. He sat down at the usual table with Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Ginny. Now that there were enough of them back from the dead the adults had moved to a separate table; but Harry couldn't shake the feeling that his parents were staring at him for the entire meal. 

      Dinner passed like any other meal had. Ron and Hermione attempted to get Harry to talk about his day, or his thoughts, or anything really, but he just shook them off and continued to scarf down his food like he hadn't eaten in weeks. He was starving after the amount of exercise he'd gotten that afternoon; but the truth was he just didn't want to talk. He preferred listening to his friends anyway. 

      After dinner ended he found himself relaxing in the Common Area; but so did his parents. He saw their faces appear above him as he lay down on one of the couches. Startled, he sat up. They picked some stools in front of him and sat down.

      "We're worried about you," His mother said.

      "I could tell," Harry deadpanned.

      His father let out an exasperated sigh. "We just want to make sure you're okay."

      "I am."

      "Mentally."

      "Oh," Harry paused. "Well that would take a bit of a miracle at this point."

      "That's what we mean, Harry," His mother put her hand on his knee. "Last night and this morning you- you were willing to die. We're just-" She stopped and used her free hand to wipe away a tear.

      His father put an arm over her shoulder and took over. "We just want to help. We don't expect you to be perfectly okay; at this point we know that's a bit much to ask. We... we want you to know that we're here for you. That whatever you need or whatever you want to talk about... we're here for that. You can come and talk to us."