Chapter Nine: Harry at Home

Chapter Nine: Harry at Home

"Hey, Ron! I'm glad you stopped by! I listened to the game on the Wizarding Wireless yesterday. You were brilliant, mate!" Harry said, letting his friend into the house, then closing the door behind him. "I was just going to have some breakfast. You want something?"

Ron followed Harry down to the kitchen. Harry was dressed in a drab, somewhat dirty, brown bathrobe, purple boxers with animated Charmed Golden Snitches on them, a white vest, worn thin, with a tear in it, and a pair of drooping, stretched-out socks that had once been white but now bore a pale pink blush, except for the soles, which were practically black.

"Breakfast?" Ron asked. It was almost noon. He'd celebrated the night before, but despite his words to Ginny, he had only had a few drinks before heading back to his flat."That's okay. I ate earlier. I actually thought I'd invite you to lunch. That new place in Diagon Alley, the Love Apple...yeah, the name's terrible, but the food's terrific, and today is their Italian lunch special. Their linguine in red clam sauce is great." He took a seat at the familiar kitchen table.

"I don't know. Maybe later," Harry replied. "Have some tea. I made it just before you got here. Sure you don't want some cereal or something?"

"Nah, that's okay." Ron Summoned a mug from the rack by the sink and poured himself some tea and stirred in a little sugar.

Harry shook some corn flakes into a bowl. He Summoned a bottle of milk from the cool cupboard, flipped off the cardboard lid, gave it a sniff, shrugged, and poured it over his cereal. He spooned three heaping teaspoons of sugar over it. The wooden chair screeched on the slate floor as he dragged it out and sat down.

"Milk?" Harry asked, dribbling a little into his own mug and then putting the bottle down near Ron.

"Just black today," Ron replied with a dubious glance at the milk bottle. He replaced the cardboard cap.

"You must have been celebrating," Harry said with a grin.

"Yeah, we went out to this pub in Durham. It was wild. Lots of fans. But it was a pretty early night. I was home by eleven, actually."

"I should have gone to the game. I didn't have to work yesterday."

"You're not working today, either, from the looks of it."

Harry shook his head and chewed his cornflakes. "Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Sometimes Friday afternoons, if there's a late week delivery that needs unloading."

"I'm surprised you haven't quit yet," Ron said.

Harry shrugged one shoulder. "It's easy enough and all. And look at my arms." He pushed back one of the bathrobe's floppy sleeves and made a muscle. "Better than a work-out."

"Stocking for a Muggle grocery isn't my idea of a fun job, work-out or no."

"They put me on the cash register for a while last week when one of the girls was puking her guts out. I think she got herself knocked up." He took a swig of tea. "I like working in the back better, or stocking the shelves. It's more peaceful. My boss is a good guy, too, but he's beginning to get ideas. He was suggesting I might want to work more hours so I could work my way up to assistant manager or something. That's not for me."

Ron sighed and shook his head. "What about the Aurors? I thought you were just going to take a short break and then join the MLE. This was just going to be a bit of a lark, I thought."

"I don't know. I'd like to do something at the Ministry, but it seems that everyone wants me to join the Aurors, and I'm not sure anymore if I want to do that. I can't start it and then quit later if I change my mind. There's just . . . too much pressure right now and all. I think it would be cool to work in the Department for Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. But as long as I'm Harry Potter, everyone will think I belong in the MLE. And I think that will be forever. I don't have any NEWTs, and even though they're waiving them if I join the Auror squad, I don't know if they'd do the same for some other department."

"Well, as long as you're thinking about the future," Ron said. He took a long swallow of tea. "To be honest, you look like hell."

"What?" Harry looked down at himself. "Eh! I didn't have to work yesterday, I'm not living with anyone, I'm not dating anyone, almost no one just drops by...I'm glad you did, though...and so I just wear what's comfortable."

"I thought you had a date last week."

Harry rolled his eyes and pushed his empty bowl back. "That was a disaster. I don't know what I was expecting, but Padma was all over me at the restaurant, but then I brought her back here, and twenty minutes later, she's storming off like I've offended her somehow. I never should have agreed to the date in the first place, but Parvati kept telling me how much Padma liked me, and I thought it could be fun. It wasn't."

"Sorry about that, mate."

"Yeah, well, once she's out of school, Ginny and I will get back together, I'm sure," Harry said. He grinned and winked at Ron. "Better not to get too used to being a free man and all."

Ron let out a breath. "Uh . . . yeah."

"What is it?" Harry asked. He got up from the table and dumped his tea in the sink, then turned to the cool cupboard and took out a can of Coke. It popped open with a hiss.

"Ginny's actually started seeing someone recently. I ran into them yesterday in Hogsmeade. I went to meet Luna."

Harry's brows came together. "She's seeing someone? Maybe it was just one of those Hogsmeade weekend kind of dates."

Ron shook his head. "I don't think so. I don't know if it's serious, but I think they're actually seeing each other regularly. Hermione mentioned something about them revising together for the last few weeks."

"Who is it?"

"It surprised me, to be honest, but it's, um, it's Draco." Ron shrugged one shoulder.

Harry stared.

"Here, she sent me a letter to give to you. Got the owl this morning." Ron felt through his pockets until he found the letter and held it out to Harry. Harry just stared. Ron put the letter down on the table. "I just thought you should know. I suggested that she tell you herself, but she's up at Hogwarts and all."

"Draco? Malfoy?"

"He calls himself 'Newman' now, but yeah, him." Ron bit his tongue, keeping himself from ranting about Malfoy. It was hard enough to tell Harry as it was. He wasn't going to make it worse...and he did want to stay in his sister's good graces.

Harry sank back down into his chair, putting his can of Coke down with a clunk. A little of the brown liquid overflowed and fizzed on the table. "You're not joking, are you?"

Ron shook his head and pushed the letter toward Harry. "Wish I were, mate. Was quite a shock to me, too."

Harry picked up the letter and looked at it, but didn't open it. "Bugger," he said softly.

"If it's any consolation, she only just started seeing him recently. After you two broke up."

"It's not any fucking consolation," Harry said. "What's that friggin' bastard up to? How dare he think he can date Ginny?! He's a mother-fucking Death Eater, for Merlin's sake!" He slammed the letter back down on the table, making the can of Coke jump and spurt.

Ron raised one hand slightly. "Calm down. He was never a Death Eater. You know that. Luna assures me he's changed, too. I'm not enthusiastic about it, but it's probably just a passing thing. You know that Ginny's been confused lately. She . . . she probably just wants to have a little fun."

"Have a little fun? Yeah, like that was on her mind last summer. Every time we got together, I tried, and she . . . Fuck!" He picked up his empty cereal bowl and hurled it across the room. It hit the wall with a loud bang, then crashed to the ground, but it didn't break.

"Listen, Harry, that's not fair. It's not like any of us were up for much fun last summer, not really. Mum dead, Percy dead...and Ginny felt even worse about that than the rest of us because of how he died...let's face it, it was not a good summer for the Weasley family."

"I know, I know. I tried to help her forget it all, though! It's not fair! All that time, all through school, she kept wanting something with me and I couldn't get involved, and then finally when my life's my own, when I can finally begin living, she changes her mind! How could she do this? How could she?"

"I'm sorry, Harry. Really, I am."

"And Draco? What's she playing at, choosing him? Wants the bad boy? And him, if he's been . . . been touching her!" Harry's lip curled in disgust. "He probably just wants to get a leg over and no one in his own House will give him the time of day anymore, so he's conned Ginny. Sweet-talking Malfoys, born with a silver spoon in their mouths and a snake in their hearts."

"Harry . . . you're my best mate, you know that, and I know that Ginny cares about you a lot. She may get back together with you sometime in the future, or she may not...let me finish, Harry...but I don't think that flying off the handle is the way to improve your chances with her or even just keep her friendship. I don't want to be caught between you two, either."

"If Draco's been . . . if they've been doing it, I don't want her back, especially since . . . well, I don't want her back," Harry said, his brow lowered grimly. "She's out of her mind, Ron. You've got to see that. Quitting Quidditch, then breaking up with me, and now this."

Ron shook his head. "She seemed happier and more herself when I saw her yesterday than in a long time. You could tell at Easter that she was feeling better, and she seemed less tightly strung, but yesterday, she seemed happy. I'm not in favour of her seeing Draco, myself, but I do want her happy. And as you pointed out, NEWTs aren't that long off. Once she's out of school, she might not see him anymore. It could just be a passing thing. Dad said he thought she was moving back to the Burrow for a while, at least whilst she looks for work."

"What's she going to do?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. Dad said that they might have a place for her in the Department for Magical Games and Sports. She might be interested in that."

Harry sighed. "I don't want you stuck in the middle, either, mate. I just can't believe it . . . You know, for so long . . . everything I did was focussed on Voldemort. The rest of my life, it was what I did in between. Now . . . I don't know. Being the Boy Who Lived and the Wizard Who Didn't Die Twice doesn't exactly prepare you for what comes after that. Maybe I should just give in and join the Aurors," he said, shaking his head. "I used to really want to be an Auror like my mum and dad."

"You'd be good at it. You have a lot of talent, Harry, and a lot of magical ability. And you have never wanted Dark wizards or bullies to get their way. You could do some good as an Auror."

"I suppose . . . I still can't believe Ginny." He ran his finger along the short edge of the letter that still lay on the table. He blinked and swallowed. "She left me and went straight to him. I just . . . I don't know what she wanted from me, but I guess I didn't have it."

"I think . . . I don't say this to rub salt in, Harry, but I think that you reminded her too much of all the pain of the last few years, especially of Percy and what she did when you went out to meet Riddle. And she said something similar to me once, actually, that she didn't know what you wanted her to be, but she wasn't it."

"Yah . . . but if I see Malfoy before he sees me, somebody better be there to hold me back, that's all I can say." Even as he said the words, however, Harry sounded resigned, and not threatening.

"Listen, you go get dressed and I'll take you out for lunch in Diagon Alley. We'll go to the Love Apple...in the middle of the day, it's not so much a couples' place...and we'll stuff ourselves with pasta and drink cheap red wine and forget our troubles for a while. You might even meet someone. There's a cute wait-witch there...I think she was in Hufflepuff a couple years ahead of us. Julia. Very cute, blonde, nice arse, friendly smile."

"All right." Harry shoved back from the table and stood. He looked at the letter for a moment, then picked it up and put it in his bathrobe pocket. "I'll be ten minutes. Fifteen...I should probably shower." He rubbed his jaw. "And maybe shave."

"Take your time. I'll just read yesterday's Prophet." He pulled the newspaper toward him, then shrugged. "Last Friday's Prophet."

Author's Note: Next up, Arthur learns the news.

You may have noticed that I started adding titles to the chapters, retroactively...I was getting tired of referring to a chapter as "the one where Ron visits Hermione at Gareth's," or whatever. Also, it's easier to go back to a specific chapter when I've got a title for it in my document bookmarks. I don't have to wonder whether I want chapter eight or nine.

I have about 16 chapters drafted, and anticipate between 20 and 24 chapters for the fic, partly depending on whether I take the couple past the Leaving Feast.

Thank you again to Stefdarlin and Ang of Hogwarts Duo for their feedback on the chapters.

Thanks for reading!