Ron and Harry both shot up in their beds. Footsteps pounded down the hallway and their door was thrown open by a scared werewolf wearing slippers and a blue housecoat. "That's the emergency alarm!" Remus called out with his wand drawn. "Everyone is to meet down in the kitchen! Hurry, stick with me!"
Throwing back their covers, Ron and Harry rushed out of the room and into the stream of people rushing down to the kitchen. Harry's mind was reeling, whatever was going on had to have something to do with the portrait seeing him, but how could a portrait have set off some sort of emergency alarm? He needed an excuse and fast…
Everyone in various stages of undress were sleepily crammed into the kitchen at Grimmauld Place. Sirius looked like he probably didn't sleep in anything since he was only wearing his jeans from the day before that weren't zipped up. Harry saw Mr. Weasley whisper to his godfather who quickly zipped and buttoned the trousers with a roll of his eyes instead of any embarrassment.
Ginny and Hermione were both leaning against each other looking like they could fall asleep at any point in time, and the Weasley twins were already asleep once more, propped up in the corner. The only people who looked on the alert and ready for danger were Remus and Snape. Harry was very confused about why the potion master must be staying at the house. He was wearing his normal black robes and seemed way too awake to have been woken up by the alarm. Both Snape and Remus had their wands out and stood in front of the others while obviously waiting on the arrival of someone.
The kitchen door opened, and the two alert men visibly let out a sigh of relief when Albus Dumbledore, wearing a pink and green dressing gown, entered through it. "This had better not be another of your drills," Snape sneered menacingly at his employer.
"Unfortunately, it isn't," Dumbledore looked around the room and seemed to be counting up the residents anxiously. His gaze lingered for a second on Harry and the old man's face softened in relief and care. "Phineas woke me up screaming that a monster was in the boys' room not five minutes ago. I checked the house, and I can't find anything out of the ordinary."
"Really?" Snape narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Harry, not even looking over to where Ron was sneaking a biscuit out of the tin on the counter. "What sort of monster did the former headmaster see?"
Dumbledore waved his wand and tea started making itself on the stove and the tin of biscuits flew out of Ron's hand and onto the table. "He wasn't sure, only that it was tall, cloaked, and hooded."
"Erm, Headmaster…I think he may have just seen me," Harry added tentatively. He'd worked out a quick excuse and the description the portrait had given (Thank Merlin!) fit within his hastily constructed excuse quite well.
"Oh really, my boy," Dumbledore turned twinkling eyes to his favorite student. "Were you tall, cloaked, and hooded in your room?"
The dementor-in-hiding chuckled to dismiss the concern. "I don't think anyone has ever called me tall, sir. However, I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep. I decided to go through my trunk and pull out some damaged school robes. I was trying them on to see if they could be repaired or if I'd need to replace them before school starts back. I guess if you saw someone in a cloak in the dark that you believed to be asleep, it would be a bit concerning. I didn't know the portrait in our room was connected to you, sir. I thought he was just a normal portrait."
Harry was more than a little upset that he'd been put in a room with a portrait directly connected to the headmaster's office. It seemed like a huge breech of privacy in his mind. He really, really didn't want to make a big deal out of it though as he didn't want any more attention on him or the fact that he was only borrowing the body he was currently in. He prayed that it'd all pass over and the headmaster would buy his excuse.
"I completely agree, Harry," Dumbledore smiled at the teen. "I'd probably have been concerned to see someone in a cloak standing over your bed in the dark as well. Maybe next time go through your robes in the daylight." He gave a little laugh at the end, very happy the teen was safe and that this was all a happy misunderstanding.
Snape glared at his student as if the alarm was completely Harry's fault. It was, but only because no one had told him that his portrait was a spy. Harry avoided the man's eyes, fully aware he tended to see more than others did when he looked at his students directly. Harry didn't know how he knew when someone was lying, but he figured it couldn't hurt to not give the man the opportunity to study his face in more detail.
The teapot and mugs joined the biscuits on the table and Mrs. Weasley started pouring cups for everyone. "Well, I guess back to bed for anyone who thinks they can go back to sleep, and good morning to everyone who can't," Dumbledore said as he turned to leave the room once more.
Remus turned to the teens, as well as the three adults who hadn't been fully alert. "All right you lot, we need to have a discussion about emergency procedures and what it means if the alarm goes off."
"I'll leave you to it, Lupin," Snape shot a parting glare over at Harry before leaving the room in a swirl of robes.
"Why's he staying here anyway?" Harry whispered to Ron as Remus started in on having your wands and shoes accessible at all times during a war.
Ron shrugged as he chewed his biscuit. "He has a potions lab set up in the attic. I'm not sure if he's actually staying here or if he's just brewing a lot of potions. He pops up at random times like an evil bat."
"Well, I for one don't think I'll be changing my clothes in our room anymore," Harry remarked dryly as Ron paled and coughed on the bit of a biscuit.
●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●
No one was able to get back to sleep after the forty-five-minute lecture by Remus Lupin on emergency preparedness. Molly Weasley eventually gave up and started cooking breakfast around the time that Sirius conjured shadow puppets to appear on the wall behind the werewolf. "And, Padfoot, you of all people as a former auror should know to at least sleep in your pants in case you have to run and fight," Remus concluded after a stinging hex at the laughing man.
"Aw, Moony, I'll just fight in the buff. Everyone would be so distracted by my magnificence that I'd take 'em all out," Sirius winked at Harry when his godson couldn't hold back a chuckle at that claim. Remus threw his hands in the air and stormed out of the room, presumably to either get ready for the day or booby-trap his friend's room, maybe both.
"Eat up all," Mrs. Weasley stated as she plopped eggs and bacon onto the table. "Sirius, I'm having the kids clean the upstairs library today. Could you get that elf of yours to do something, anything in another part of the house so he can't keep stealing the things we toss out?" She asked exasperatedly.
The atmosphere quickly turned into almost a party as everyone made fun of each other's pajamas and speculated on if Snape ever slept or if he wore his teaching robes to bed. Sirius was telling stories of his time at Hogwarts as the twins, and surprisingly Arthur Weasley, eagerly questioned him. Harry sat back with a smile on his face until that smile suddenly fell. He realized he was hungry.
He'd shoved a couple pieces of bacon and eggs down his throat already and wasn't used to being hungry at all anymore. The hunger he was feeling was almost palpable though. He felt that if he didn't eat something soon, he'd implode into the empty place in his stomach. It only took one more bite of eggs before he realized that Jamie wasn't hungry…the dementor was.
The laughter and good mood of those around him was swirling tangibly in front of his face. He knew that he could pull it in, those happy moments and good feelings. If he only took just a little…there wasn't much if any conscious thought that went into Harry skimming a little of the good mood off the top of the room. He pulled it in, feeling the emptiness within himself fill and a warmth blossom in his heart.
He only skimmed a little and no one seemed to notice, well, no one besides Sirius Black. Sirius stopped in mid-sentence and let out a little gasp. His head shot up to look around the room. Immediately, Harry pulled in his aura as much as possible and didn't touch the mood in the room anymore. It took a few seconds, but Sirius seemed to brush off the feeling and turn his attention back to the conversation he was in.
When everyone was distracted once more, Harry quickly stood from the table and rushed out of the kitchen and back to his bedroom. Never again, never again, never again…He kept thinking over and over in his head. No feeding from friends and family, nope, never again.
The guilt was eating him alive as he crashed onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow. The even worse part of it all was he was still hungry. He'd never been hungry before since he was changed, but he'd never been around happy people either. The Dursleys were all bad feelings and irritation.
After feeding the little that he had, Harry could still feel everyone in the house in the back of his mind and what their emotion currently was at the time. From where his head was buried in his pillow, Harry could tell that Sirius was still a little weirded out, Mrs. Weasley was feeling stressed, the twins were both excited, Ron was tired, Mr. Weasley was peaceful, Hermione was a little concerned (probably about him), Ginny was curious about something, Remus was feeling mischievous, and Snape was annoyed and more than a little stressed. "Why?!" He yelled into his pillow. "I can't do this!"
"May I ask what it is you feel you can't do?" A voice drawled from the other side of the room.
Harry shot up in the bed, his glasses askew. He'd forgotten about the portrait. "You're Phineas, right?" He asked as he straightened his glasses once more.
The man's eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms. "That's Headmaster Black to you," he corrected.
"Er, sorry, sir," Harry said as he awkwardly stood up. "Thanks…I guess for trying to save me and Ron. Even though we didn't actually need it."
The former headmaster stared him down. "Albus may believe your story, boy, but I know what I saw," he said with deep suspicion. "I don't know what's going on, but I find I'm very curious…something I haven't been in quite a long time."
"There's nothing going on, sir," Harry assured him as he fished his clothes out of his trunk to make a quick escape.
"Boy, I've seen more dark magic in my life than that upstart calling himself Voldemort. I know dark magic when I see it, and you, my friend, are not a light wizard," Headmaster Black stated sternly before turning and leaving his portrait, Harry stared at the empty painting in his wake.
"Yeah…that's going to end well," Harry muttered sarcastically as he left to change his clothes in the bathroom and get started on whatever that cleaning project was Mrs. Weasley had been planning to keep his mind off the hunger that was now gnawing at his stomach.
●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●
It turned out the library was Harry's favorite room in the house, though he hadn't visited the basement yet. That was probably going to be excellent judging by his reactions to the aura of the house so far. When he stepped inside, he just wanted to sit and enjoy the almost warm feeling of the room. Everyone else was grumbling, complaining, and decking themselves out in gloves and protective supplies. It helped his feeling of hunger that no one was happy anymore though.
It didn't take long to realize that something was in the room…something was calling to him. Harry trailed his dust rag across the shelves in the library, separating from the others and looking for whatever was calling to him. It was like…treacle tart or the best chocolate cake. He could almost smell the sugar wafting throughout the room. There was a treat for him, if only he could find it.
A glint of gold caught his eye, and he could feel his dementor instantly perk up. What in Merlin's name is it with dementors and shiny things? Harry thought, even as his eyes were arrested by the shiny gold locket sitting innocently on the shelf.
He took in a deep breath…food…a soul. There was a soul just sitting there, no body, no one would miss it…Harry was transfixed. His hand inched towards the chain. "Harry, watch what you touch!" Mrs. Weasley called out in warning. "I haven't looked over those shelves yet."
Harry was trying to stop himself, but he didn't think he could. There was no moral directive keeping him from the soul without a body, and he was just so, so hungry.
A loud pop resounded throughout the room before Harry could give himself away by pulling a Gollum and calling the locket "my precious" or something equally mortifying.
"Kreacher was being distracted by the bad master. The mudbloods and blood traitors are taking the treasure of House Black once more. Kreacher will stop the desecration of the mistress's house!" An ancient elf stated as he tried to stare down Molly Weasley.
In the distraction, Harry quickly pocketed the locket. The movement caught the attention of the ancient elf who turned his yellow eyes instantly over to the shelf that no longer contained the locket. "Kreacher is…" the elf stopped mid-thought as his gaze fell on Harry being the obvious one who took the necklace.
Instead of yelling at the teen, as Harry and probably everyone else in the room expected, Kreacher let out an inhuman shriek of fear and ran from the room. He didn't apparate or pop or whatever elves do, he just ran, ran in more fear than Harry had ever seen an elf before.
"Uh…what'd I do?" Harry looked to the others in the room in confusion. Could the elf see him as he really was? That wasn't going to go well when he returned to Hogwarts which had an army of elves to run the castle.
"No clue, but you're my cleaning buddy from now on!" Ron exclaimed with a smile. "Kreacher is Sirius's elf that came with the house. He's foul! If you keep him away, you're coming with me everywhere."
"Ron, really! He's just responding to the ill treatment he's had at Sirius's hand," Hermione berated him. "He needs to be shown more kindness and understanding."
"I'm pretty certain he'd murder you in your sleep if he could get away with it," Ron informed her as the elf's pureblood beliefs were evident from even that one interaction.
"Yeah, maybe we should all move into Harry's room," George chuckled as his twin rolled his dusting rag and snapped it at his butt.
"Children, please," Mrs. Weasley sighed in frustration. "Just keep cleaning and watch what you touch."
●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●
Later that night, after moving invisibly through the house to avoid people and snooping portraits, Harry finally found the basement. It was just as wonderful as he had predicted. There were manacles on the stone walls, dampness around the edges of the room, and even some rust-colored stains still on the floor, presumably dried blood. It felt very relaxing and like a home should feel like. Dusty boxes filled the corners of the room; Harry guessed they contained the cursed objects collected from the house as their aura seemed warm and inviting to him. He hovered cross-legged over the floor breathing in the feel of home in the dungeon. Since no one was on that level of the house, Harry even allowed himself the luxury of slightly letting go of his aura some and the room dropped several degrees in temperature.
Happily warm for the first time in a long time, Harry pulled the shiny, golden locket out of the pocket of his tattered robes. He'd put a lot of thought into those robes since he'd been turned. They were a part of his magic as a dementor, but they had pockets…that seemed too practical for something that must have the sole purpose of contributing to the aesthetic of scary. He did take off the robes once, so it was possible, but a couple minutes later they reappeared back on his skeletal body. So much for changing out the robes for some jeans and a graphic tee.
Eerily smiling, the dementor sat in the basement and stared at the locket, reveling in the feel and smell of it. He could only take the beautiful torture for a minute before his opened his chapped lips and pulled the soul out of the casement and into his body. It really was like eating the best chocolate cake he'd ever had. It was sweet and tangy and just a little spicy. Giving off a deep sigh, Harry breathed in relief that he was finally no longer hungry and had a pleasant full feeling in his stomach. He knew he should be worried about how he'd handle being at Hogwarts, this wasn't normal behavior by any definition of normal, but he pushed those thoughts aside for the moment. He hadn't been at peace since before the Triwizard Tournament, he wanted to enjoy this moment and deal with his anxieties over feeding the dementor in the morning.
●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●
Yes, it was a really bad idea. He knew it was a bad idea. Even as he clasped the locket's chain around his neck, he knew it would only cause him problems. But…it was just so shiny! After a few rubs from his robes, the gold shined brightly on the locket engraved with an elaborate script "S" on its face. The dementor wanted to be able to see the shine throughout the day and look at it whenever he felt like it. It was either that or steal Dumbledore's star robes. Something told him this was probably the lesser of two evils.
I'm really doing a bang-up job at this whole being normal thing. Harry thought wryly as he walked out of his bedroom in his Harry-suit the next morning, not-so-proudly wearing the locket around his neck on top of his ratty t-shirt. Self-control…yeah, that's what he desperately needed to work on. At least he wasn't hungry though.
Initially, no one noticed the locket at all. Ron was oblivious to everything except for the food on his plate, the twins couldn't care less what jewellery Harry wore, and Ginny was avoiding Harry's eye for some reason . Hermione was the first (of course) to realize something was different. "Harry…wasn't that in the library we cleaned yesterday?" Hermione looked at the prize around Harry's neck in suspicion.
Harry shrugged and ate another piece of toast. If everyone was going to flip out and raise a ruckus, he wanted to make sure Jamie was well fed first at least. "It's fine, I checked it out," Harry sort-of told the truth. He had removed the dark object…by eating it.
"Pup, did I hear right? Are you wearing something you found in this house?" Sirius asked in concern from where he had been fixing himself a cup of coffee. "How are you feeling? Any feelings of unexplained murderous tendencies, lust for someone you don't know, self-destructive desires?" Harry's godfather asked as he put down the coffee and rushed over to look Harry in the eyes and feel his forehead.
"You feel a little cold. Is this normal, Molly?" Sirius asked, deferring to the mother in the room.
Molly's hand took Sirius's place on Harry's forehead. "You do feel a little cold dear, but I don't think it's anything to worry about. How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine everyone," Harry laughed and grabbed another piece of toast to butter. "Really, not everything is cursed, or we wouldn't have beds to sleep on or silverware to eat with."
"One set of silverware was cursed to make the users agree with the master of the house," Remus stated as he walked into the room. "We tossed it and had to use another, even though Sirius protested that he wanted to keep them. What're we talking about?"
"Harry's wearing a locket he found in the library," Ron explained in concern to his friend.
Remus frowned and immediately started casting spells at the locket. "Harry, can you take that off please?" The former professor asked after casting a few spells.
The dementor sighed. It took all his willpower, but he did unclasp the locket and placed it on the table. "Well, he can remove it; that's a good sign," Remus mumbled as he cast a few more spells.
"Anything?" Hermione asked as she looked Harry over, trying to see any changes.
"Cool it, Hermione," Harry scooted farther away from her as she leaned into his personal space. "Really, there's nothing wrong with me."
"He's right…I can't find anything wrong with it," Remus finally stated after what seemed like a very long time of countless spells. "I don't think it's cursed."
"Pup, you can't go scaring me like that!" Sirius sank into the seat beside Harry with a sigh and dramatic clutch to his chest. "You see something you want, you ask me or Remus first, ok? We'll check it over so you don't accidentally curse yourself."
"I'm sorry, Padfoot," Harry said, feeling bad for his impulsive actions, though they had been mostly out of his control. "I shouldn't take things that're yours anyway."
Sirius laughed and pulled Harry into a one-armed hug. "Pup, you're my only beneficiary in the will. All this is yours anyway. Here," Sirius picked up the necklace and clasped it around Harry's neck again. "You want this old piece of junk, then it's yours."
"Thanks, Padfoot," Harry smiled and hugged the man back.
"All right, now that's settled, the school lists came in today," Mrs. Weasley said in a business-like manner as she passed Hogwarts letters around to all of them. "I need your book lists and clothing or supplies related that you need. Dumbledore is going to send Order members to get your things as it's not safe for you all, especially Harry, to be wandering around right now."
After seeing the shiny badge fall out of Hermione's envelope, Harry's dementor was actually reasonable enough to be happy to not see something shiny fall out of his. A prefect position was the absolute last thing he needed to have to worry about on top of everything else going on this year. The badge might have been pretty, but the responsibility was just too much. It was surprising when Ron got one though. Regardless, as long as it wasn't him, Harry was happy.
While all the Weasleys were going through their trunks to determine what they needed, Harry easily passed his list over to Mrs. Weasley, not needing much besides the new books this year. "Thanks, dear. We'll just have it charged to your account if that's ok with you?" She looked at him questioningly.
"Sounds good!" Harry smiled at her and ran off to join Sirius who was going to show him around the house, to his excitement and the animagus's disdain.
●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●
The tour of Grimmauld Place had been everything Harry hoped it would be. The rooms that hadn't been decontaminated by Mrs. Weasley yet were glorious. They had various tiny creatures living in corners and beautifully colored mold. He even found a boggart in an old desk when Sirius had left him for a minute to go to the loo. Like Kreacher, the boggart immediately ran screaming out of the desk, looking like a copy of Harry's dementor-self, and jumped out of the window into the shadows of the house. "I guess I won't need the boggart repelling spell anymore," Harry mused as he heard Sirius returning. He was beyond grateful he'd been alone when he'd opened the desk's cabinet. Harry decided he'd do his main exploring of the house by himself in the coming days in case he ran into another situation like with the house elf and boggart.
The Order of the Phoenix was meeting yet again a couple nights later. It seemed that Snape only joined everyone for dinner when there was an Order meeting, and he hid in the corner the whole time. Harry found himself fascinated by the man in an odd way. He'd never liked Snape, still didn't, but the professor lived as a spy and seemed to just randomly be at the house at odd times and interacted with the Order members in unique ways. He hated Sirius and Remus, but he seemed to tolerate the older Weasleys. He actually seemed to get along with the pink-haired auror named Tonks strangely, or at least he tolerated her when she made him talk to her. For someone who was hiding every part of himself, the spy who lived in the shadows was an interesting study, at the very least, Harry figured he might learn a thing or two.
This night, Snape's eyes seemed to drift to Harry's new locket occasionally with a speculative look on his face. Harry wasn't sure if the man thought it strange he was wearing a locket or if he recognized it for some reason. His question was answered when the potions master immediately pulled Dumbledore aside when the elderly man showed up for the meeting. The pair talked intensely for a couple minutes, both shooting looks towards where Harry was eating and making the teen feel very self-conscious.
"Ah, Harry, my boy, could I ask you where you found that wonderful necklace?" Dumbledore said with a smile as he finally walked over to the table.
Everyone looked between the headmaster and the student, causing Harry to blush and feel even more self-conscious. "I found it in the library," he finally said as he played with the locket nervously. "Remus checked it over for curses though. He said it was fine, and I feel fine too. What's the big deal about me wearing an old dusty necklace anyway?"
"Potter, your new adornment just so happens to have the symbol of Salazar Slytherin on it," Snape drawled from behind the headmaster. "It would be your luck to stumble on the lost locket of Slytherin while decontaminating this dump."
"Hey!" Harry protested, upset that Snape insulted his house. He wasn't really sure when he had started thinking of Grimmauld as his house, but it had happened gradually, and he really didn't want to leave now. "This place is wonderful! It just needs a little polish and it'll be fine. It's very homey."
At this, literally everyone in the room looked at Harry like he may have lost his mind. "Er, pup, even I agree with Snape on this one, as much as I hate to admit that," Sirius placed his hand on Harry's head once more. "You sure you feel ok?"
"I'm fine," Harry shrugged his hand off. "Stop asking me that!"
"Harry…may I please see that necklace?" Dumbledore now looked like Sirius did, that something must be wrong with the teen.
Harry rolled his eyes and took off the locket and placed it on the table again. Dumbledore quickly cast several spells that were probably just repeats of Remus's, and then some more complex ones added onto that. The headmaster looked at the necklace in frustration. "I can't find anything wrong with it," he said in amazement. "I do believe it may actually be Slytherin's lost locket."
"Does that mean I can't keep it?" Harry asked sadly. He really did like his shiny locket and didn't have anything else that pretty.
The adults all seemed to have a silent conversation as they stared at each other. Judging from their emotions that Harry could still feel, Sirius was concerned, Molly and Arthur were both fairly indifferent, Remus was suspicious, Snape was angry for some reason, and Dumbledore was a mix between confused and hopeful. "Well, since there's nothing wrong with it…I don't see why you can't keep it." Dumbledore said slowly.
"Headmaster, you certainly aren't going to allow a student to wear around a founder's artifact!" The Potions professor protested in indignation while almost making the word 'student' sound like a swear word.
"I can't prove it's a founder's artifact at this time," Dumbledore shook his head. "I may find a way to prove it eventually, but Harry is a responsible lad," Snape scoffed at that pronouncement. "He'll keep it safe for us until we can determine its authenticity," Dumbledore finished, ignoring the man.
Harry grinned at his headmaster and quickly put the locket around his neck once more. "Thank you, sir. I'll take good care of it!"
"I know you will, my boy," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at him. "Now, I need to ask you once again…have you had any visions of Voldemort or has your scar pained you any at all?"
"No, sir. I'm sorry, but I don't have anything for you," Harry responded sadly. He really did want to help as long as he was able to keep out of the action and keep Jamie and his secret safe.
Dumbledore just smiled brightly and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "No apologies, Harry! That's good news!" He assured the teen happily.
"Now, everyone off to bed! We need to get this meeting started and you all need to finish up any homework you've put off until the last-minute tomorrow!" Molly Weasley instructed as all the younger inhabitants of the house were shooed out of the kitchen.
Hermione grabbed onto Harry and Ron as she followed them both into their room. "Ok, spill Harry. What's really going on?" She asked him in a hiss as Ron plopped onto his bed.
"Yeah, mate. You've been acting a little off lately," Ron added in, sounding much less concerned than Hermione.
Harry shrugged and pulled his knees to his chest on the bed. "I'm fine really."
"I don't believe you for a second," Hermione crossed her arms and stared him down. "There's something going on. Even the adults are noticing. Hell, even Sirius noticed, and he calls you James half the time."
Harry frowned and picked at a string on the comforter. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it…could you both just trust me for now?" He asked hopefully. He knew Hermione and Ron would be the ones to find him out. He just wasn't able to tell them, not yet. Who would want a dementor hanging around them anyway? "I promise I'm ok, or as ok as I'm going to be anyway," he added on.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron's face clouded in concern. He hadn't thought anything was actually wrong like Hermione had. He just thought there might be something bothering his friend.
Harry shrugged noncommittally. "Just that if Hermione's right and there is something going on with me, that doesn't mean I'm ready to talk about it. Especially if there isn't anything you can do anyway."
"But maybe there is something we can do," Hermione sat beside him on the bed and almost pleaded.
"Not this time 'Mione," Harry smiled at her sadly. "Really, I'm fine…I'll tell you sometime, but let me process it all first, ok?"
Hermione narrowed her eyes and studied her friend in front of her. "I'm not going to let you bottle this up like you always do…I'll give you some space for now, but I'm not letting this go completely. I care too much about you to do that."
"Of course not, Hermione," Harry laughed. "Then you wouldn't be you."
"You got that right," Ron laughed as well while Hermione rolled her eyes at them before joining them in laughter.
"Hey, maybe you could both give me a heads up when I'm acting strangely? That would actually help a lot," Harry asked sheepishly as they stopped laughing. "Sometimes I do things without even knowing I'm doing it until everyone is looking at me weird. Maybe you could poke me or something?"
Ron and Hermione looked at each other in concern but nodded. "How about we come up with a word like 'pineapple' or something that we say when you're doing something off?" Ron suggested.
"Why pineapple?" Hermione asked with a raise of her eyebrow.
"I don't know…why not?" Ron shrugged. "It was the first thing that came to mind."
"Er, maybe something a little easier to work into conversation," Harry thought for a minute. "Hey, how about you ask about my friend Jamie? It would change the subject of the conversation to distract from whatever it is I'm doing, would sound fairly natural, and we don't already have a friend named Jamie."
"Do you actually have a friend named Jamie?" Hermione thought about it with a frown.
Harry nodded. "Sort of, more of an acquaintance. Do you think it'd work?"
"Yeah, I think it would," Hermione nodded in approval. "I'm concerned about whatever is making you act different, but you still seem to be Harry just a little odder…so I'll go with it for now."
"Yeah, mate, you promise you aren't really a Death Eater polyjuicing as Harry?" Ron questioned suspiciously.
"You tried to turn Scabbers, who was really Wormtail, yellow on our first train ride to Hogwarts, your dad's car saved us when we went to see the acromantulas in our second year, third year you had a crush on Pansy Parkinson and didn't tell anyone except Neville and me, fourth year…"
"Yeah, ok, I got it!" Ron cut him off as he blushed bright red. "No need to go on, you're Harry."
"Pansy, really?" Hermione laughed heartily. "I can't believe you liked Pansy!"
"It was a moment of weakness," Ron grumbled and threw a pillow at Harry.
"Hey!" Harry threw the pillow back at him before an all-out pillow fight broke out.
A/N: Thanks for reading and please vote and comment!