Molly Weasley was waiting for them as they landed. And no sooner had they appeared than they were all enveloped in a warm hug as she rushed around the room greeting each of them - just as enthusiastic to see Harry and Hermione as she was her own children. The twins joined them a moment later, and between the lot of them managed to drag all the trunks upstairs to the appropriate bedrooms. Harry would be staying with Ron while Hermione would be bunking with Ginny. Molly was already frantically trying to figure out where to put everyone else once the rest of the company arrived.
"Now, I'm going to move Percy into the twin's room so that Professor Snape can have his room," Molly informed Harry. "And I'll have Charlie bunk in with Bill so that Remus and Sirius can have his room - you don't think they'll mind bunking together do you?" She looked worried at the thought.
Harry stifled a laugh at that. "I'm sure it will be fine," he informed her. Both men had written to him regularly and as far as he could tell there had been no further advancement in their relationship, though Sirius was eternally hopefully. He was certain that Sirius at least would not complain about the sleeping arrangements. If Remus did, then Sirius could always sleep on the couch in dog form, something he'd done often enough in the past. As it was he had a surprise for the two men that he was hoping would make both their lives easier eventually. He couldn't wait to see them.
"I can't believe you married Professor Snape, Harry," Fred exclaimed as he and George set their trunks down in Ron's bedroom.
"How's it been, mate?" George asked with mock horror. "He poison you nightly with foul smelling potions?"
"Don't worry, Harry," Fred continued. "We've got all sorts of nifty new products to try out on him when he arrives."
"Don't you dare!" Harry protested, surprising both boys.
"Yeah, guys," Ron agreed. "Imagine the revenge he'll take on Harry if you do anything too evil."
The twins shuddered in horror.
"That's not what I meant," Harry said in exasperation, shoving his glasses more firmly onto his nose. "It was hard enough getting him to agree to join us for Christmas as it was - if you annoy him, he'll never join us again."
All three of the Weasley boys stopped what they were doing and stared at Harry in confusion. "Ah, Harry," Ron asked. "Wouldn't that be . . . like. . . a good thing?"
Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance. "No, look, just trust me on this . . .he's been nice. I'd rather get along with him than go back to the way things were before all this happened. He's . . .you know. . ."
"Nice?" the three of them asked in unison.
"Yes," Harry agreed. "Just trust me for once, will you?"
The three brothers looked at each other in confusion, but shrugged their shoulders. "If you say so Harry," they agreed.
"Harry!" two more tall red-heads pushed their way into Ron's small room, and a moment later Harry found himself being hugged enthusiastically by both Bill and Charlie. They greeted Ron as well but both seemed far more interested in the golden wedding band Harry was wearing on his hand.
"From what I hear you were nearly married off to one of us," Charlie teased.
Harry found himself blushing at the though. He wondered how much different married life might have been if he had married either Bill or Charlie. "Well . . ."
"Hell, he was nearly married off to me," Ron informed them. "We were desperate to find someone."
"But Snape?" Charlie exclaimed. "I would have been a much better choice than Snape!"
"What are you talking about," Bill cut in. "I would have been the best choice of all. You would have forgotten all about your new bond-mate the moment you saw your next dragon. At least I would give him the attention he deserved."
"Well, what about one of us?" one of the twins protested. "We're of age, and much closer to Harry."
"Not to mention," the other twin added. "He'd get two for the price of one."
"Yeah, if one of us wasn't around, the other could fill in for him and Harry here would never notice."
"Maybe Harry could throw over Snape and pick one of us instead," Charlie agreed. All four men turned toward him earnestly. "What do you say, Harry?" they asked in unison.
Harry just stared at them open-mouthed, feeling both flustered and awkward, not certain how to respond. "Um. . .I . . ." he stammered, only to find himself blushing furiously as a moment later all four of them burst into laugher.
They hugged him again, ruffling his hair. "We're just teasing with you, Harry," the twins assured him.
"As long as Snape hasn't poisoned you yet, I reckon things are all right," Charlie agreed.
Harry just laughed, throwing Ron a glare for not warning him. "Welcome to my world, " Ron grumbled, and Harry understood that this was what it was like to have brothers.
They spent the day goofing around in the backyard, despite the cold. They bundled up in warm jackets and gloves and fought a war with snowballs for most of the day - the twins spicing things up by adding in a few of their products, particularly a powder that when sprinkled on a firmly packed snow ball reshaped it into the form of a flying dragon. Getting clobbered by a flying snow dragon was a lot more fun than simply getting hit by a snowball.
When night began falling - something that happened very early in the afternoon in December - the boys trekked back into the house to warm up. At Arthur's bidding, they returned to their rooms to don warmer winter gear so that they could decorate the outside of the house with fairy lights. As the temperature was dropping fast, Harry pulled on the heavy winter cloak Severus had brought to him before he'd left that afternoon. As he fastened the silver clasps that held it together, he noticed something heavy inside one of the inner pockets. Reaching in, he pulled out a small leather case. Inside he found numerous single-dose vials filled with a dark blue liquid. At the sight of them he knew immediately what they were, the realization sending a warm pleasure through his body.
"What's that?" Ron asked curiously, noticing Harry staring at the case of potions.
"Dreamless Sleep," Harry said with a silly grin on his face. "I forgot to ask for some to bring with me. I guess Severus remembered for me."
Ron said nothing for a moment, an odd look crossing his face. Harry glanced at him curiously. He knew both Ron and Hermione had heard him refer to Severus by his first name before, so he doubted that had startled him. No doubt he was surprised by the act of kindness from their normally gruff Potions Master. But Ron surprised him.
"Are you still having nightmares, Harry?" he asked softly.
Harry sighed. "There not bad, Ron."
"Harry, you used to throw a silencing charm on your bed at night," Ron reminded him. "We all used to joke around about why Seamus or Dean might use silencing charms on their beds at night. But I always knew that you did it to stifle your screams at night. We all knew it, Harry. We just didn't know what to do to help you."
Harry stared at his friend in surprise. He hadn't known he'd been so obvious - or perhaps he had simply not expected his friends in Gryffindor to be so observant. He was guilty sometimes of under-estimating all of them. "I never liked talking about them," he admitted carefully.
"You can, you know," Ron told him. "I know I'm not the most sensitive bloke around, and I know I don't understand things the way Hermione does. But I'll always listen Harry if you need to talk or anything."
His words washed over Harry like a pleasant balm to the sharp tug he felt on his heart. "Thanks, Ron," he smiled.
Ron just grinned in embarrassment as he realized he'd been caught in a mushy moment. He motioned to the leather case. "Does it help - the potion?"
"Yeah," Harry admitted. "He makes a special batch for me now - they only allow peaceful dreams to come through. I take it nearly every night."
"I guess that's the good thing about having a Potions Master in the family," Ron grinned.
"That's what he said," Harry admitted.
They heard a shout from the twins downstairs, urging them to hurry up. Harry carefully put the leather case away in his trunk where he could find it when he needed it. Then the two of them hurried downstairs to help Mr. Weasley put charmed Fairy Lights on the outside of their house.
Harry had never stayed long at the Burrow before, but the ensuing days were just as crazy as he imagined with that many people in the family. Though Harry was a bit overwhelmed by so many Weasleys, he found he loved every minute of it. He and Ron spent that first night whispering to each other late into the night as they used to do in Gryffindor tower - something Harry had missed down the dungeons. But oddly enough he found himself actually missing Snape's presence in the bed along side him. He'd grown used to sharing that enormous bed down in the dungeons, and felt somewhat uncomfortable alone again. If nothing else having someone strong and powerful beside him had given him a sense of comfort that he'd never had before. He knew that if anything happened during the night, Snape would be able to deal with it. He couldn't help wondering though if Snape was grateful to have his bed all to himself again.
Remus and Sirius arrived a few days later and Harry greeted them both joyfully, flinging his arms around the two men as they came in from the cold. Both men looked tired and somewhat ragged from whatever mission Dumbledore had sent them on, though a few good meals from Molly Weasley soon had both men set to rights. But they were both happy to see Harry and pleased to be able to spend some time just relaxing with everyone, all of them forgetting about the cares of the world for a few short days.
Harry could tell from the way they reacted to each other that Sirius had made little headway in his mission to woo and win Remus Lupin. But then he suspected that had more to do with how busy they had been than in any true reticence on the part of the reluctant werewolf. If anything Remus seemed flattered by Sirius's attentions, if somewhat cautious.
Sadly however he suffered a sever set back when Fleur Delacore, who was currently dating Bill, stopped by to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Though Sirius, out of a need for secrecy, had resumed his Animagus form, he like most of the other men in the room was still affected by the beautiful Veela girl. Arthur and Remus alone seemed to have some sort of immunity to her.
Harry found himself watching the Weasley boys fawn over the beautiful Veela girl with some amusement. He definitely found Fleur beautiful - but she didn't have quite the affect on him that she did on the others. Even during fourth year he had noticed his reaction had not been like those of his classmates. Still he found it amusing to watch the others gaze at her with such sappy expressions on their faces. She wasn't a full Veela, so she didn't inspire the madness a true Veela did. But it was obvious that the men in the room found her very interesting.
He watched as Ginny and Molly just rolled their eyes at the men in disgust. Hermione, after giving Ron some absolutely furious glares, abandoned the men to join Molly in the kitchen. Remus, after greeting Fleur politely, stood off to the side for a moment and watched in annoyance as a certain scruffy looking dog wagged his tail enthusiastically and gazed adoringly up at the Veela girl while she cooed over the 'sweet puppy' and scratched his ears. So enamored of the attention he was getting, Sirius never even noticed when Remus left the house to take in the fresh air outside.
Shaking his head ruefully, Harry followed Remus outside. The man was standing on the far end of the porch, staring thoughtfully out at the gray sky. There was another snowstorm blowing in.
"You okay, Remus?" Harry asked carefully.
Remus turned to glance at him and for a moment he thought that the man's gentle amber eyes flashed yellow in the cold light. Harry's own eyes widened behind his thick glasses. The werewolf turned away quickly.
"I'm fine, Harry," he said tightly.
"She's a Veela," he explained, just in case the werewolf didn't know. He was fairly certain that Remus had never met Fleur before, though he was bound to have heard about her from the Triwizard Tournament. "They can't help themselves."
"She's a half Veela," Remus amended. "Werewolves have a very keen sense of smell. And as far as not being able to help it, they can all help it if they so chose. She's not affecting you or Arthur."
Harry just shrugged. "I don't know why. She's never really affected me. And I guess Arthur is just . . . " He almost said 'too much in love with his wife to notice' when he realized that would probably be a rather condemning thing to say with regards to Sirius' behavior.
"Yes, Arthur is," Remus agreed despite the fact that Harry had not finished his statement.
"I just meant. . ." Harry broke off and Remus sighed.
"Sirius is not affected by the Veela charm either," the werewolf told him. "He's too strong a wizard for it to bother him, and in his Animagus form it has no affect anyway. He's just acting like that because it amuses him. He likes being the center of attention, and he's getting a kick out of the fact that he's getting petted by a beautiful woman while the other men in the room are being ignored."
"But it still makes you jealous," Harry said quietly.
Remus looked up startled, then surprisingly flushed with embarrassment. "How did you . . ."
"I see the way you two look at each other," Harry told him. "And I've seen the way he's been flirting with you. It's kind of hard to miss - the way he touches you all the time. The suggestive statements."
"You don't mind?" Remus asked hesitantly.
"Of course not," Harry assured him. "I think it's great. You two belong together."
Remus shrugged ruefully at that. "I don't know about that," he muttered.
"You like him, don't you?" Harry pressed.
"It's more complicated than that," Remus told him with a sad look in his eyes.
"Because you're a werewolf," Harry nodded. "I know. And so does Sirius."
Remus threw a glare back toward the house. "If he really understood he wouldn't be in there making a fool of himself. He has no idea how hard it is controlling the territorial instincts of the wolf. She's a sweet, innocent young girl who's very much enamored with Bill Weasley and all I can think about is going in there and ripping her hands off for touching Sirius."
His words confirmed what Harry suspected, explaining the flash of yellow he had seen in the man's eyes earlier. Remus was one of the calmest, most gentle men he'd ever met, but it didn't change the fact that he had a beast hidden deep inside him. "Did it ever occur to you that that's why Sirius is acting this way?" Harry mused.
Remus looked at him in shock. "What do you mean?"
"Remus, he trusts you implicitly. He knows you won't hurt someone - knows you won't let the wolf out. Hell, even that first night I met him when you turned into a wolf in front of all of us, he first tried talking you down in human form. Despite the fact that he knew you hadn't taken your potion, he said he trusted the heart of the man inside you. But you're right, Sirius does like being the center of attention - did it ever occur to you that what he's trying to do is make you jealous so that you'll give him the sort of attention Fleur is giving him."
Remus looked startled at the thought. "Harry, it just isn't safe to make a werewolf jealous. We don't do jealous. We have calm and we have enraged. There's no in between."
"I never said it was a smart plan," Harry conceded. "But this is Sirius we are talking about. He acts impulsively. Give him a chance, he'll grow up eventually."
Remus smiled fondly at him. "You know it's funny - you sounded an awful lot like James just then in one of his more adult moments. He was good at giving advice."
Harry smiled, pleased. "Let me guess, he was really bad at taking advice however."
"Pretty much," Remus laughed. "Which is probably why it took nearly seven years for him to get your mother to even talk to him."
They heard the front door to the house open and a moment later a large black dog came trotting out, looking hopefully around. He started wagging his tail happily when he spotted Remus and Harry, though Harry thought there was something somewhat apologetic in the tilt to his ears as he hurried over to the two of them. "Speak of the devil," Remus grumbled, his voice almost low enough to be called a growl.
Padfoot sat down on his haunches, gazing hopefully up at the two of them. His tail thumped eagerly against the wooden porch.
"Did you enjoy meeting Fleur?" Remus asked with a deceptively mild tone.
The dog's tail slowed its wagging though his ears perked up curiously. "Yes, I'm sure," Remus sighed. He patted Harry on the shoulder. "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back in a bit." And with that he headed down the front steps of the porch and headed out across the field. Padfoot stared after him mournfully.
"Go after him," Harry hissed at the dog. Padfoot's ears perked up immediately and he looked at Harry. Harry rolled his eyes. "Good grief, you're hopeless. Go after him. You're supposed to be man's best friend - well go prove it."
Padfoot didn't need any more prompting. With an eager bark he was racing off across the field to catch up with the retreating form of Remus. He brushed up against the man's legs as he caught him and then danced around him in the snow, barking joyfully as if playing a wonderful game.
Remus glared at him for a moment, and then Harry saw him shake his head and smile at the dog's antics. To Harry's surprise, Remus bent down and picked up a stick from the snow and tossed it ahead of him. Padfoot took off after it, barking with glee.
Harry found himself laughing. Weird - very weird. But then he supposed the relationship worked for them. With a smile, he headed back into the warm house and let the wolf and dog work things out for themselves.