Advent '10 - December 16th
December 16th - 9 days to go
Harry woke up that morning with a pounding head.
He didn't think he'd ever felt this bad before.
No wait. Voldemort. Never mind.
He groaned low in his throat keeping his eyes tight shut. He didn't want to know what sunlight in his eyes would actually do.
He was answered with a sympathetic trill and felt one of his puffskeins nudge his temple.
It could only have been Ash. He was the only one that hogged his pillow.
Well, now it could be Stryker, he supposed. It depended on whether or not Ash was following his instructions.
Carefully Harry rolled over and pried his eyes open. He was faced with Ash, just like he had originally thought.
The light was making his headache worse so Harry closed his eyes and tried to remember why he was feeling like this.
Oh yeah. That's right. He'd set off the portkey and they'd had to stay in New Orleans another night.
He'd also drank something green that was really, really strong and was giving him frog flashbacks for some strange reason.
He groaned and tried to bury his face in his pillow.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
A noise to his left alerted him that Fred and George were now getting up. He let out another pitiful moan.
"Harry, mate, you okay?"
"No." He grated out. "My head hurts."
"Well you did drink a lot last night."
Harry could hear the smirk.
"Can I have a pain relieving potion?" He asked pathetically.
"No!" Both the twins shouted.
Harry grimaced as the loudness pierced his head and made his headache that much worse.
"Ow." He pushed himself up and squinted at them. "Why not?"
"Because the last time you drank that stupid green drink and had one you passed out and lost a day's worth of memories."
Harry frowned. "I don't remember that."
"Exactly."
Harry hung his head. "But I'm in pain." He whined.
"That's too bad," George smirked. "Maybe it'll teach you to not drink anything green again."
"But how was I to know that it was going to be bad?"
"Harry," George said slowly, "It's the same colour as an AK. Why did you think it was going to be good?"
"You're just doing this to me because I set off the portkey."
"No, we aren't." Fred denied, "We just don't want a repeat of France, that's all."
Harry frowned, "What did happen in France anyway?"
He watched in suspicion as Fred and George glanced at one another then turned back to him.
"You don't want to know."
Harry briefly thought about pushing the issue but his head started to pound once again so he just dropped it.
It couldn't have been that bad after all.
He levered himself up and off the bed, clutching his forehead as the room started to tilt. "I'm gonna go take a shower."
At the word 'shower' all of the puffskeins that had burrowed into his blankets started to bounce and squeak. Harry tried and failed to shush them. Instead he just said "If you be quiet you can come too."
It worked instantly and Fred and George watched in amusement as Harry stumbled into the bathroom trailing a line of brightly coloured puffballs.
The hot water soon soothed almost all of the pain, his headache reducing until it was just an all encompassing ache rather than the stabbing pain it had been previously.
The puffskeins were having a ball of a time, chasing the water that was running down the warded plughole and bouncing up and down, trying to catch the falling water droplets.
Julian and Stryker seemed to be having the most fun, bouncing around like crazy.
Harry made a mental note to never give those two sugar.
Harry spent a long time just sitting and playing with the soggy balls of fur that, by the sounds of the purring, were enjoying the treatment.
It had been a while since he had gave them so much attention.
After they had all been shampooed and cleaned, Harry dragged them out the shower and dried them all the same way he had previously done so.
Julian and Stryker didn't seem to know what to make of their static fur and started to slowly roll across the floor, squeaking.
It took Harry ten minutes to calm down his laughter, but the sound of squeaking would set him off again.
Instead of letting them bounce across the bedroom floor, Harry got Ash to gather them together and then levitated them onto his bed.
They seemed to really enjoy this as they all started to wave their tongues in the air as he moved them from the bathroom and into the bedroom.
Fred and George just rolled their eyes, used to Harry's strange pets by now.
Harry sat down on the bed and grinned as his puffskeins piled on top of his lap. He started to stroke them.
"So what are we doing today?"
Fred shrugged as George went into the bathroom. "Me and George are going to go to the ministry to get another portkey. Dunno what you want to do."
Harry hummed, "I might go back to Sanctuary. I forgot to pick up the recipe when I was there yesterday. Why don't you meet me there when you're done?"
"You gonna take the puffskeins with you like?"
Harry shrugged, "Might as well. Means that I have to apparate straight in 'cos I don't think I can get away with strolling through Jackson Square with them attached to me…" He trailed off as he contemplated it.
"No. You can't." Fred said blankly.
Harry grinned at him and shooed his pets off his lap, digging out his wand.
He quickly cast a couple of sticking charms to himself and summoned his pet to him where they all started waving their tongues out in the air.
"Right," he said to Fred, "you go and get the portkey and meet me when you're done at Sanctuary. We can say out goodbyes and after that we can head off."
He paused, "By the way, what did Remus say when you talked to him last?"
Fred shuffled nervously in place.
"Was he worried?" Harry continued, his eyes narrowing, "Does he know we're coming home?"
"Er, yeah." Fred coughed, "To all of them."
Harry stared at him, "Maybe you should call again to explain why we didn't arrive last night."
"I will!" Fred cried, shoving Harry towards the door, "Leave it all to me! You don't need to talk to him at all."
"You're acting very suspiciously…"
Fred gulped, "No I'm not."
"As long as you're not blaming this on me."
Fred rolled his eyes. "Harry, you don't need to worry about that."
Harry gave him once last suspicious glance before he nodded and apparated out with a loud crack.
The bathroom door swung open and George entered the bedroom in a towel. "What was that all about?" He asked, drying his hair.
"Harry was asking about the mirror call we made to Remus."
"What mirror call?" George asked in confusion.
"Exactly."
They twins looked at each other and grimaced.
Harry reappeared in the middle of the, thankfully empty, Sanctuary.
Remi, who was behind the bar getting it ready to open for the morning, jumped at the sudden noise and dropped the glass he had been holding.
"Whoops!" Harry winced.
Remi turned around and was about to berate Harry when he froze, unable to look away from the seventeen balls of fluff that were stuck all over Harry with their tongues waving in the air.
"What the hell?" He asked instead.
Harry grinned at Remi's expression and wandered over to the bar.
"Hey, what's up?"
"There's more of them?" Remi asked in disbelief.
Harry snorted and then winced as his headache got worse for a moment.
"Guess we're not opening up to the humans today."
Harry waved him off, "Don't worry, I'll be gone soon. I just came by to pick up the recipe. As soon as Fred and George get back from the ministry we'll be out of your hair."
Remi nodded. "So you're really going home today?"
"We should have gone home yesterday. I do the stupidest things when I'm drunk sometimes."
Remi snorted and grinned at the understatement. "You want anything to eat or drink whilst you're waiting?"
"Ooh! Breakfast would be nice."
Remi nodded towards one of the many empty booths. "Go sit down and I'll see what we have. Do…er…" he looked at the puffskeins, "do they eat anything?"
"Scraps and stuff. I'd ask for sugar but I don't think they need it at the moment." Harry looked down fondly at his pets.
Remi nodded and was about to head towards the kitchen when he was distracted by Savitar striding through the door.
"Savy!" Harry called out, a bright grin on his face. "What are you doing here?"
"I own this place. Do I need a reason to visit it?"
"Yes?" Remi mumbled under his breath, only loud enough so that Savitar could hear him. He gulped when Savitar shot him a glare.
"I guess not." Harry smiled at him.
"So what are you doing here?" Savitar asked politely as he came to a stop besides Harry.
"I was just ordering breakfast. Do you want some too?"
"Maybe a little wouldn't hurt." Savitar conceded.
"Great!" Harry grabbed his arm and dragged him across to a private booth with a round table. "Double the order!" He called back to Remi who stared after them with wide eyes.
Harry chattered happily to Savitar who spent most of the time waiting for the food mostly silent, only grunting every now and then to show that he was listening. Harry didn't seem to notice though and when the food came, with an extra plate of bacon scraps for the puffskeins, he continued.
He did notice that every once in a while one of the weres would poke their head around the kitchen door and stare at them with wide eyes.
He had absolutely no idea why.
Savitar seemed happy enough just watching him talk and feed little scraps to his pets, even pushing his plate over to Harry so he could take his leftovers.
It was a while later when Fred and George apparated in, wide eyed. They took a quick look around the empty place and spotted Harry, who was looking at them questioningly.
They nudged Harry over until he was pressed against Savitar and sat down. Mainly because they didn't think Savitar would actually budge if they tried to move him but also because they didn't think that Savitar would let anybody but Harry get that close to him.
Savitar wasn't complaining.
"Fred, George." Harry greeted in confusion, twisting to face them, "Did you get the portkey?"
The twins glanced at one another. "We've got a problem."
Harry flinched and was about to start panicking when he felt Savitar's hand drop onto his shoulder. The warm weight was comforting and he found it impossible to worry too much.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
Fred, ignoring the hand, spoke quietly, "They've closed the borders."
Harry stared at them in confusion. "What?"
"The borders." Fred repeated, "Britain has closed it's borders."
Harry tensed at the news.
Britain hadn't closed it's borders in decades. Not even during Grindlewald's reign in the Second World War, or Voldemort's campaign more recently.
Though that could be contributed to shoddy ministry work and spy's in the ranks.
To have Britain close it's borders now would mean a Dark Lord of even greater proportion. And as the resident 'Chosen One' he would probably be called upon to save them all again.
He couldn't go through that again!
Then a terrifying thought crossed his mind. All his friends and family were still in Britain. Were they okay? What was happening?
He started to hyperventilate and would have continued if not for Savitar who shifted until he was pressed against the entirety of his back. Harry could feel his body heat scorching his back even through the layers of clothing and the wetsuit.
He shifted in place as heat coiled though him when Savitar moved his hand and pressed his thumb in the muscles at the base of his skull, massaging gently.
"That's not all." George said, "There's this too."
He threw down a folded Daily Prophet.
"The American Ministry gets an edition of all the major world news papers delivered each morning so they can keep up to date with the world news." Fred explained.
Harry reached out to grab the paper but was stopped when George placed his hand on top of his.
"George, what…?"
"Just," George looked at him seriously, "try not to freak out too much, okay?"
Harry stared at him and then, without promising, ripped the paper from the table and unfolded it.
'Dark Lord Potter!' blared out at him from the front page with a picture of him looking awkward underneath.
Harry could only stare in horror.
"What…?" He asked faintly. "What the bloody hell…?"
Fred winced, "Now…don't freak out…"
"Freak out? Someone's polyjuiced themselves as me and become a Dark Lord!" Harry shouted.
Fred and George winced. "Um…"
"What?" Harry asked, confusion taking over some of his anger, "That's what's happened right?"
"…Not…quite…"
Swallowing harshly Harry tried to read the article but was shaking to bad to hold the paper steady enough.
Thankfully he had Savitar to help him. The taller man leaned closer and wrapped the hand that was previously on his shoulder around his waist. The other hand came and plucked the paper out of his grasp, straightening it with a flick of the wrist.
He propped his head on Harry's shoulder and proceeded to read the article silently to try and get a grasp on what it was saying.
Harry tried to too, but his attention kept being brought back to the huge black headline that proclaimed him a Dark Lord.
He wanted to know what it was saying, he really did, but he just couldn't read it. Instead he trusted that Savitar would tell him what it was all about.
But by the way Savitar's arm was tightening around him and the low growls he was making right next to his ear, he could tell it wasn't good. He closed his eyes.
After a moment or two more Savitar threw the paper down on the table in disgust and raised his head off Harry's shoulder. "Are they serious?" He hissed at the twins with restrained fury.
The twins winced and nodded and Savitar growled, his hand tightening on Harry's hip so much that Harry whimpered.
Savitar loosened his grip but dragged Harry closer to him until he was almost sitting in his lap.
"What is it?" Harry asked quietly.
Savitar growled in anger as he thought about what the article said again.
He had only know Harry for a short period in time, and over half that time had been spent thinking up ways to kill him. But even he knew that the 'facts' printed in that 'newspaper' were all lies.
"Guys, please." Harry begged. "What does it say?"
"They're using the aftermaths of your pranks as evidence of you being a 'Dark Lord'." Savitar snorted in disgust. "They've also made up some other 'supposed' crimes that you've committed."
Harry winced at the news.
"Oh, and they believe that you're currently in Russia building up an army of Inferi. Whatever they are." Savitar added.
"Zombies." George clarified.
"Huh." Savitar said with a grimace, "You still have those?"
"Yeah, and they're every bit as terrifying as they're supposed to be." Harry murmured.
Savitar was about to demand Harry tell him exactly when he had met Inferi but he was cut off.
"What about your family?" He asked Fred and George, "My family?"
They shrugged, "It looks like they've all hidden under the Fidelus at Grimmauld Place again. You know Sirius didn't take it off because the Ministry still wants him. He was unhappy about having a place where he could hide from them."
Harry swallowed and nodded. "At least they're safe…" he murmured to himself, sinking back into the warmth of Savitar. "But what do we do now?"
Remus was sitting in the kitchen alone drinking his afternoon cup of tea when the fire turned green. He didn't even have time to get his wand up when the entire Weasley family, including Hermione and Dean tumbled through.
"What…?" He asked in disbelief before he was smothered by Molly.
"Oh Remus! It's terrible! I can't believe the things they're printing about Harry!"
Remus pried himself away from Molly's ample bosom. "What?" He asked again once he could breath. "Molly, I don't know what you're talking about."
Molly just handed him the morning's Daily Prophet.
Sirius and Tonks came into the kitchen.
"Hey," Sirius said, "you alright Remus? We heard a noise…" he trailed off as he took in the pale faces of the entire Weasley clan plus two. "What…?"
"Sirius." Remus growled, his eyes glowing amber as the Wolf took over.
Sirius swallowed. "Yeah?"
Remus held out the paper so that Sirius could see the front page. "Why does it say that my little cub is a DARK LORD?"