“Dad?” called Harry from the downstairs foyer. He looked around the room and noticed a bag leaning against the wall by the entryway. “Well, someone is here,” he said excitedly. Zane started to rush up the stairs only to come flying back down them and stand beside Harry, his tail wagging so quickly it was hitting the teen’s leg every second or so. It hurt a bit, but Harry didn’t have the heart to push him away and allowed the vigorously wagging tail to thump the side of his leg to Zane’s content.

Finally someone walked down the stairs and his earlier assumption became known as fact. Deliverance was here. Harry waited until she was off the stairs, as well as his father, before he rushed her and found himself in a warm hug.

“Hello, sweetie,” she said softly, running her hand through his hair as she clung to him. Harry wondered why she seemed so sad but didn’t question it. “Where have you three been?” she asked as she pulled away and noticed their messy clothes, particularly the leaves that still stuck to Harry’s hair.

Harry quickly looked at his father and smiled brightly. “We actually have a question for you,” he said with an innocent lilt to his voice. He figured the gatehouse was valuable and they might not be allowed to make it into their own personal clubhouse, so to speak. But, now that he’d seen it, he wanted it badly. It was smaller than the Manor by a long shot, but could pass as a small cottage really, rather than a gatehouse. He assumed the manor had at some point been taken care of by servants who lived out in the gatehouse to take care of the grounds, while the house-elves took care of the Manor. At least, Malfoy had told him so, and he knew more about this type of life than he did. Harry had been the one who had taken care of the house and the yard at the Dursley’s, he had been their own personal house-elf. He shuddered and brought his thoughts back to the present.

“What do you want?” asked Severus; already knowing his son wanted something by the tone of voice he used. He had been hanging around with Draco much too often, as the boy was rubbing off on him. He smiled.

Looking towards his friends, especially Draco, he asked with his eyes what he should say. He’d gotten them this far, but he hadn’t expected to get acknowledged.

“Do you remember the gatehouse out on the grounds?” asked Draco politely.

Severus nodded, wondering where this was going. “Yes.”

“Well, we were just wondering if you would mind if we used it?” asked the blonde carefully. “We wanted to fix it up a bit, it’s rather run down, but we could make it passable as a living habitat again, I should think,” he said quickly, looking towards Harry to back him up.

Severus looked thoughtful, but Harry wasn’t certain if he’d let them have a house that was quite so large all to themselves. “Please, Dad?” he pleaded. “We won’t burn it down or anything, and we’ll fix it up so if you ever need to use it for anything, you c-could, too,” he stuttered to a halt at the look Draco was giving him. Perhaps he shouldn’t have offered to let his father use it as well. He tried again. “We just want a place for ourselves, where we can go and just hang about without bothering you or anything.”

Fred was smiling at Harry’s attempt at convincing Severus to allow them the gatehouse, but was actually beginning to believe Harry had won his father over, despite the lame attempt. Obviously, Harry was new at swindling a parental figure into letting him do something his father might not want him to do. He frowned at the thought of the smaller teen living with his horrible relatives. He knew they had never let Harry do anything he had wanted to do, and in fact, would have probably hurt him had he even asked. He found himself looking into Severus’ eyes, begging with his own to just let the kid have this one little thing.

Severus seemed to be reading Weasley’s thoughts and nodded his head at his son. “You may use it,” he said, garnering a surprised yell from the raven-haired boy.

“Really!” he exclaimed, having expected to be turned down. “Thank you!” he said emphatically, smiling shyly at his father and then his friends.

“But, I expect you to take care of it. It has been in the family for generations and I’d rather it wasn’t destroyed while you are ‘fixing’ it up,” he said, looking stern.

Deliverance grinned and gently began plucking the stray leaves from Harry’s messy hair. “I think it’s a wonderful idea,” she stated firmly, giving Severus a look. “When will you start working on it?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders, looking towards his friends for their opinion. “Oh, I don’t know. As soon as we can get out there and into the gatehouse, I guess we’ll just take it from there. It’s locked, Dad. Do you have the key?” he asked, hoping his father’s stern voice from just a moment before didn’t mean he had changed his mind.

Severus frowned. “You know, I’m not sure where that key is. I’ll have to search for it.”

Deliverance looked confused. “Why can’t they just unlock the door with a spell?”

“It’s charmed not to open unless it is with this particular key. My great grandmother used it as her own personal quarters when she was younger and wanted to protect it from her prying brother. So, her father, my great, great grandfather, charmed the door to only open with the key she kept perpetually with her at all times, on a chain around her neck,” he explained. “I’ll look for the key. Or, if you’d rather, I wouldn’t mind if the three of you tried to look for it. Deliverance and I have many things to discuss today.”

Harry looked up at his father inquiringly. He wondered what they were discussing, but wasn’t one to pry into his father’s personal affairs. “Are you going to be staying for a while?” he asked Deliverance hopefully.

“Yes, I am dear. For quite a while, in fact,” she said, once more adopting that sad lilt in her voice.

The older woman’s melancholy ate at Harry’s heart, but he didn’t know what was wrong in order to make it right again. Not that anything he could do would make something right. “Is something wrong?” he asked worriedly, glancing at both his father and his ‘grandmother.’

“Oh, no, Harry. I’m just thinking of staying for a while. I hardly ever get to see you, and Zane loves to be with you as well,” she stated, indicated the dog that was still beating Harry’s leg with his tail. He briefly looked down and realized he’d probably have a bruise on his lower thigh.

“I’m glad you’re staying then,” he said happily, having wanted just this to happen. He missed Deliverance when she left, and his dog, Zane as well. They never stayed long when they did visit, and this made all the more sense, for Harry at least. The Bed and Breakfast Deliverance ran out on the Island wouldn’t be finished for a bit longer and now she wouldn’t have to stay around while those men fixed her home. He still couldn’t fathom why she looked so sad, though he was beginning to have a feeling he probably did know, he just wasn’t allowing himself to acknowledge it.

“Where should we look for this key, sir?” asked Fred, taking part in the conversation he had previously kept quiet in.

Severus looked towards the ceiling, as if mentally cataloging where all the rooms where and trying to remember which one would benefit their search. “I believe your best option would be the third floor, last room on the left. I believe that had been her room. As children, we weren’t allowed to go inside, but I don’t mind if you do.”

Harry, Draco, and Fred all nodded and started up the steps, but Severus’ voice halted them before they were even half way up.

“And please don’t mess things up too badly in your search. That room hasn’t been touched in quite a while, but the house-elves do keep it clean. Please leave it the way you found it?” he asked, clearly a demand, but not spoken harshly.

“Yes, Dad.”

…………………………………..

The room they found themselves in was actually quite large, even bigger than the bedroom Severus slept in. Harry had always assumed it was the Master bedroom, but perhaps he’d been wrong. This one they were currently standing in would appear to be the Master bedroom, unless his father’s great-great-great grandmother…or whichever, had begged for a room larger than all the rest. She seemed to Harry the type of woman who would be slightly bratty. Or at least terribly spoiled, considering she’d gotten the entire cottage out back to live in while she had this perfectly good room to sleep inside of. Harry was glad they were being allowed to use the gatehouse, but he couldn’t imagine staying out there all the time, even during the night. It would be too odd not to be where he knew his father was. He sighed when he realized he only felt safe when he was around Severus.

He realized he also felt safe around Fred and Draco; otherwise he’d be running back to his father at this very moment. He pushed these slightly depressing thoughts from his mind and focused on finding the key to the gatehouse. Harry headed for the desk that was up against the far wall while Fred headed towards the closet on the other side of the room, closer to the door. Draco was apparently just looking around nonchalantly and stopped beside the frilly four-poster bed and the bedside table sitting beside it. Once Fred disappeared inside the apparently walk-in closet, Harry started rummaging around the desk, opening drawers and shoving things aside that still lay on top of the desk. There were papers that he could barely read, the ink had faded so drastically, but he wasn’t really interested in those. There was a music box standing beside an antique looking clock and Harry very carefully lifted the lid. Surprisingly, the music box still worked as it started to play a soft song, something Harry imagined a ballet dancer would listen to.

He looked through the music box but didn’t find the key. The music was starting to grate on his nerves and he shut the lid before moving on to the desk drawers for a more thorough search. There were a variety of different things inside the drawers. More papers, that woman must have loved to write. A few quills and a bottle of ink. He closed the first drawer and opened the one below it. This one was almost as bare as the one above it. There was a deck of cards inside, probably to some game he had never heard of. He picked them up, intending to look them over, when he noticed a tiny hole towards the back of the drawer on the bottom. It looked just small enough to fit your finger in and he doubted anyone would have noticed it if they hadn’t been searching specifically for it. He didn’t know how he had happened to notice it, but he had.

Thankfully, his fingers were small enough that he could fit his index finger into the slot and pull upwards. As he had suspected, the panel on the bottom of the drawer pulled upwards and there was a hidden compartment beneath. He nearly jumped up from the desk in his excitement as he found what he’d been looking for. He’d found the key.

He found it was a bit tricky to pull the key out of the small compartment, but with a few turns and struggles he pulled it free and sat just staring at it. It was old, that was for sure, completely black and rather large for a key. But, looking back, he recalled that the keyhole on the gatehouse door had been slightly larger than normal as well. He was just happy he’d finally found the damn thing.

“Hey guys,” he called, waiting for them to stop their own searches at the sound of his voice.

“Did you find it?” asked Draco. He slammed the drawer of the cabinet he’d been searching in and came strolling over just as Fred popped his head out of the closet. Considering how long it took him to come out, Harry was beginning to wonder just how large the walk-in closet was. He didn’t go to look though, but held up the key he had found.

“Found it!” he exclaimed.

“Great! Let’s go see if we can get into the gatehouse now,” suggested Draco, already starting for the door.

“Wait, we can’t just leave the room like this,” said Harry, motioning with his hand towards the bedside table and the desk he had been sitting at. “We have to put things back the way they were or my Dad won’t even let us go out to the gatehouse. And I’m not getting into trouble over this, either. So, let’s clean up.”

Fred disappeared back inside the closet while Draco hurried back over to the bedside table to put things back in order. Harry sat back down at the desk and rearranged things to look like they had when he’d first entered the room. It didn’t take more than ten minutes for them to finish and then they were down the stairs and heading for the back veranda.

“I take it you found the key?” asked Severus from the hallway behind them.

Harry spun around, not willing to admit the sudden voice had startled him. “Yes, we found it,” he said, holding up the key for his father to see.

“You three need to be careful in the gatehouse as well. No one has been inside that house for years. I trust you can take care of any problems that might arise, but if there is something you’re not sure of, come and get either myself or Cella.”

“Yes, sir,” stated Harry, eager to go outside and have a look around at the cottage.

“Harry?”

Harry turned back around with a huff, though he tried to hide it. “Yes?”

“You have visitors,” he said, brow raised humorously. Ron and Hermione had been standing in the doorway to Severus’ study the entire time and Harry hadn’t even noticed them.

Blushing clear down to his neck, Harry waved stupidly in their direction. “Hey, guys.”

Hermione stepped out of the doorway then and walked over towards them. “Hey, Harry!” she said happily, this being the first time they’d seen him out of bed since before the ‘incident.’ She gently hugged him and despite herself, hung on even more when she felt Harry flinch at her touch. “We’ve missed you,” she said once she pulled away.

“Yeah, me too,” he said.

Ron came up next and did the same as Hermione had, only his hug was a bit more firm than Hermione’s had been and Harry had almost pulled away from it. Almost. Right about the time that he’d started to put his arms around his friend, Ron had started to get self-conscious and had pulled away himself. “Sorry, mate,” he said, hoping he hadn’t scared him too badly. He only thought his Uncle’s physical abuse had made Harry flinch away from them…he had no idea how far off the mark he was…and yet so close as well.

“Do you want to come with us out to the gatehouse?” asked Harry and Fred simultaneously. They glanced at each other and Harry had to hide a grin at the two of them speaking at the same time.

Hermione looked curious and Harry instantly went into everything that had happened that morning concerning the gatehouse and finding the key. She was instantly engrossed in what Harry was saying and wanted to see it immediately. Ron looked less interested but wanting to go nonetheless. He was giving Draco a glare that could have rivaled one of Severus’ on a good day. Harry sighed at the hostility and gave Ron a glare of his own.

“Let’s go,” he said, not waiting to see if anyone followed him.

The walk into the woods was a quiet one, and Harry didn’t feel inclined to break it. His friends would just have to learn to get along with each other. He knew if they just gave each other a chance, they’d become friends. Heck, even Fred had pushed aside his differences with Draco and would at least speak with him most of the time. That was an improvement. He figured Hermione would be quick to come to the same conclusion, but Ron gave him cause to worry. He didn’t know if they’d ever get along.

“There it is,” said Fred suddenly, pulling Harry from his thoughts. He glanced up and saw that they were indeed right on the path that lead directly in front of the gatehouse. “We’re going to have to beat down a path to the gatehouse, though,” he muttered to himself.

Before, they had just crashed through the overgrowth surrounding the unused house to make their way to the door. Now, with the amount of time they intended to spend out here, they’d have to make a pathway for easier movement, otherwise it was going to become a pain in the arse. Especially when they started bringing stuff in to help fix it up.

“I agree,” said Harry softly. He stood contemplating the area directly in front of him and found himself wondering if they had a lawn mower…that was the only thing he could think of to get rid of all the overgrowth, though he was fairly certain there was some type of spell to get rid of it. He didn’t know it though, and even if he did, it was summer holidays…and he wasn’t completely sure, but he doubted they’d get away with it, even out here on Severus Snape’s property. If anything, his father would probably have his own wards to indicate if underage magic was used. It seemed the type of thing he would do, even if the Ministry were blocked from ever knowing due to the wards surrounding the Manor.

Then he looked towards Fred and realized with a stupid feeling in his chest that the teen was of age in the Wizarding world. In fact, Fred had been able to use magic for over a year now, as he was 18. He could use magic and it wouldn’t set off any wards his father had set up. “Do you know any spells to get rid of it?” he asked.

Fred looked towards Harry then back at the overwhelming amount of grass before them. “Yes, I do, actually,” he said, as if the idea had just occurred to him. He pointed his wand towards the grass, muttered something under his breath, almost as if he didn’t want anyone to hear him, and suddenly, the grass was all flying up in the air as if it had just been attacked with a scythe and then the path was clear, the grass was gone and they could walk comfortably to the front door. Harry didn’t remark on the spell that had been used, instead rushing up to the front door, eager suddenly to see inside.

He pulled the key from his jeans pocket and took the final step up to the door. He compared the size of the keyhole to the key in his hand and was positive it was the key they needed. He’d been only slightly worried they’d found the wrong key, but now he just knew it was the one. He slid the key into the lock and turned it. With a loud a shocking ‘click,’ Harry was able to unlock the door and push it open. It was surprisingly heavy and he had to get some help from Draco to even open the thing.

It turned out there had been a chair pushed up against the door, causing the issue with opening the door, but finally they were inside and able to look around. The door apparently opened up into the living room and Harry could just barely see a small kitchen through the open doorway on the left. He stepped into the house and let everyone filter in behind him. There must have been an open or broken window somewhere, or something, because there were leaves scattered all throughout the inside of the house. Some fresher than others, indicating this had been going on for years.

Harry sighed. “This is going to take a lot to fix up,” he muttered, once more forgetting about magic and remembering the way he had had to clean his own relatives house and the shed out back, which basically reminded him of this room when he’d first stepped foot inside of it. He shivered at the amount of time it had taken and the blisters he had gotten on his hands after tackling that shed out back. His aunt had decided the best way to clean them would be to dunk them in a bucket full of cleaning solution, which she’d been using to mop the floors with that horrible afternoon. A more violent shudder crept up his spine and he flinched at the hand that was suddenly on his shoulder.

“Alright there, Harry?” asked Ron, suddenly beside him rather than wandering around the gatehouse with the rest of their friends.

Harry gave him a shaky nod and smiled…though it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m fine.”

Ron didn’t look convinced and spent the next few moments firmly at Harry’s side, keeping a keen eye on him. “Why don’t we go see what’s down there?” he asked, pointing towards the door directly opposite of the front door. Harry nodded and followed him through another open doorway. He knew Fred, Hermione and Draco had gone towards the kitchen and whatever lay beyond it and hoped to take this moment to calm himself down away from even more prying eyes. He couldn’t believe he’d let that memory get to him so severely.

He let his thoughts slowly flow from his mind as they came into a tiny hallway, more of a cube of space than a hallway though. To the left was a door that revealed a bathroom, which was in desperate need of cleaning. In front of them was an empty closet with nothing more than cobwebs to fill the space and to their right was an empty bedroom. It wouldn’t be too hard to clean downstairs, Harry was beginning to realize, with the use of a few judicious cleaning spells.

They went back into the living room and head into the kitchen. Harry saw a table standing in the center of the room with four chairs pushed up against the wall. He wondered why they were like that, but didn’t really dwell on it. The kitchen was slightly small, but would come in useful if they ever decided to spend a lot of time out here, what with snacks and everything. To their right was another open doorway and Harry and Ron went through it to find a back door that led outside where there was only more overgrowth and lots of trees. To their right was a staircase, a rather rickety stair case, but they could hear voices upstairs, so obviously it wasn’t that dangerous if the others had managed to get up there without incident.

Harry went first with Ron following closely behind him. “These stairs hold much to be desired,” he said shakily. “Is this really safe?” he asked, having not said a word since they had been out in the living room, Harry almost jumped. Then he laughed, having been thinking those same thoughts.

“I hope so. Besides, if your brother, Hermione and Draco can make it up them in one piece, surely we can too.”

Ron nodded, but was clearly unconvinced. “Well, when we fall into the bathroom below us, I’m going to blame them.”

Harry laughed and the two of them managed to get upstairs without any fault. They found the staircase led up to an rather large bedroom. A door right beside the staircase proved to be yet another bedroom, though much smaller. The rooms upstairs, as opposed to the ones downstairs, were all fully furnished from the four-poster beds right down to the carpets on the floor.

“Find anything interesting downstairs?” asked Fred, glancing at the two who had just entered the room.

“Nah, nothing like this. Everything is completely bare downstairs. Why did they leave stuff upstairs but not downstairs?” asked Ron curiously.

Harry shook his head. “Who knows, but this is going to take a lot of work to fix up, guys,” he intoned after a moment of silence. “Are we sure we want to tackle this?”

Fred looked slightly surprised and Draco looked downright scandalized. “Harry, we came this far, you’re not giving up now are you?” he asked.

Harry just shrugged. “I’m not giving up, I’m just stating the obvious. It’s going to take a lot of work to fix it up.”

“Not if we use magic,” said Draco, still arguing the point.

“We can’t ask Fred to do all the dirty work, Draco. He’s the only one here old enough to use it and not get us in trouble.”

Draco didn’t look pleased at the idea of having to do actual manual labor, but seemed more willing to do it once he remembered this could be their sanctuary once it was finished. “Well, can’t Fred do some of it, so we don’t have quite so much to do?” he asked, giving Fred a pleading look. He was also eyeing Harry with a slightly protective look and Harry understood in that moment that Draco didn’t want him to be doing so much hard work. Harry looked at the floor, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

“He’s not your slave, Malfoy,” hissed Ron suddenly, breaking into the conversation.

The look on Draco’s face would have send any sane person running, but Ron was too pissed to notice. “I know he’s not my slave, Weasley! I wasn’t implying he do everything! I thought he could just do the harder things so we ALL weren’t breaking our backs to fix this place up.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure Malfoy! You just wanted my brother to do all the hard work so you could sit on your lazy arse all day and do nothing! Well it’s not going to happen, so forget about it!” he yelled, clenching his fists tight. Harry actually thought he was going to hit the blonde teen. He didn’t really want to interfere, as it hadn’t worked well in the past, but he wasn’t going to allow this either.

“That’s enough fighting!” he yelled, startling the two of them so much that Draco looked down at the floor, chagrined and Ron unclenched his fists.

Ron looked back and forth between Harry and Draco, still fuming. “Harry, you’ve got to agree with me that Fred shouldn’t be doing everything, right?”

Harry nodded. “Of course I don’t think Fred should be doing everything. But, I also don’t think that was what Draco was intending when he asked Fred to help us out a little bit!” he said, his voice slightly high as his anger grew. “Why does everything have to turn into a fight with you two?”

“Well, I think he was!” yelled Ron in return. “And I don’t understand why you always take his side when we argue! I thought I was your best friend!”

Harry groaned. He had worried this would happen, that Ron would think Draco was taking over his spot in his life, but he wasn’t. It was actually possible to have more than one friend, as Hermione should be able to testify to. He cared just as much for Hermione as he did Ron, and now for Draco and Fred as well. This was ridiculous! “You are my best friend, so is Hermione! And now Draco is too! You’re just going to have to deal with it. I don’t know why you won’t just try to get along with him! Fred’s my friend; he’s made at least an attempt. Why won’t you?” he asked, his voice fading as his temper went with it. “I just want everyone to get along.”

Ron sighed, still looking irritated. “I’m sorry Harry, but it can’t just change that quickly with me.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Why don’t we just get back to work?” stated Fred suddenly and Harry was more than willing to agree with that.

”So long as you’re not doing all the work,” hissed Ron, still glaring daggers at Draco.

The blonde took it all in stride, but Harry had just about reached his limit. “Would you just stop it!” he yelled, looking at Ron with a pleading look in his eyes. “This is supposed to be a fun day!”

Ron huffed. “It’d be more fun if Malfoy wasn’t here,” he mumbled, obviously talking only to himself, but Harry heard him anyways.

Harry nearly growled. “You know what, I give up. You guys stay here and fix the place up or go home, or do whatever the hell you want to. I’m going back home,” he hissed and marched for the door. He knew he was probably being a bit dramatic, but he was too strung up with the memories and the emotion right now to be able to handle all the arguing today. He was almost at the door when Draco grabbed his arm and spun him around. Harry flinched so hard that he ripped his arm clean out of Draco’s grasp and nearly fell down the stairs. Draco grabbed him again to stop his descent. He had to actually fight against Harry to keep him from falling, but as soon as they were safely back in the middle of the room, he unhanded the smaller teen and watched in dismay as Harry backed into the wall and collapsed against it, trembling.

“Oh my God,” whispered Hermione, having not seen Harry react quite like that before.

“Get out,” demanded Fred, his voice so hard yet concerned that none of them failed to adhere to the words he spoke. He crouched down in front of Harry, still closed off and trembling against the wall, not daring to touch him.

“Fred?” asked Ron, his voice a mere whisper. He was scared to death at what he’d just seen and worried even more that he and Draco had been the cause, basically, once again. Snape was going to kill them.

“He’ll be okay, just go, all right?” he said softly, using the tone of voice he would have used when Ron was younger and had had a frightening experience. “I’ll take care of him,” he paused, though. “Go get Snape, ok?”

Ron nearly groaned…yes, Snape was going to kill them.

………………………………………………..

“This is all your fault,” stated Draco as they all hurried back to the Manor house.

Hermione groaned. “This is what got us in this situation in the first place!” she growled. “Enough arguing! You two are going to get along even if it kills you! And you’re going to do it because Harry wants you to! Is that understood?”

Draco and Ron were so stunned they stopped in their tracks halfway to the house. “Yes, ma’am,” said Draco sullenly, having been put in his place and having realized Harry wanted…no, needed them to get along together. If Harry needed this, then he would make it happen. “I’m sorry, Weasley. Let’s just put our differences aside, all right?”

Ron nodded, too upset to even argue; yet knowing he would never fight with Malfoy again, even if it did kill him. He would never cause Harry to react like that again. He was still shaking from what he’d just witnessed. “Why did he react so badly?” he asked no one in particular as they went in through the veranda and through the back doors. He was starting to feel nervous once they were inside the house and getting closer to the man he would have to face.

“I touched him,” muttered Draco, not realizing he’d said it out loud.

Hermione was looking a little too aware than Draco would have liked, as if she was beginning to understand what was really going on with Harry, and that worried him more than he cared to admit. Too many people knew already and if Harry found out, he feared what would happen.

They rounded the corner and stopped in front of Snape’s study. They could hear the older man and his cousin talking just beyond the doors. Draco took a deep breath and knocked on the door once before pushing it open.

Severus stood up the second he saw their faces. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Ron and Draco were fidgeting and Severus had a look on his face that made them take a step back. Then Draco took charge and quickly explained what happened. “We got into a fight,” he stated, jabbing Ron with a pale finger. “Harry got mad and went to leave. I grabbed his arm and Harry flinched from my touch, causing him to almost fall down the stairs. I had to grab him around the waist to keep him from falling and after that he just lost it. Fred made us leave and he wants you, sir,” stated Draco quickly with his eyes downcast. “We’re sorry,” he thought to mutter.

Severus sighed and Deliverance looked vaguely alarmed. “Do you need me to come with you?” she asked.

He shook his head, knowing too many people would just make it worse. “No thank you, Del. I’ll have to handle this. I’ll be back shortly,” he said, glaring at the boys on his way out. “We’ll be having another talk, gentlemen,” he added out in the hallway, making the both of them shiver.

“We’re going to die,” muttered Ron.

Draco nodded. “And we’re going to deserve it,” he said, causing Ron to glance at him in surprise.

Ron realized then just how much Draco cared about Harry and it shocked him to the core. “Yes, we are.”

…………………………

Severus moved as quickly as his long legs would take him, not entirely sure which path to take, but going on instinct alone. It was a little easier when he saw footprints in the muddier sections on the ground and followed them. He saw the gatehouse sooner than he thought he would and picked up the pace.

He opened the front door, still unlocked thankfully, and instantly heard a sound that nearly caused his heart to break into a million tiny pieces. Harry was sobbing. It was those heart-wrenching noises that could tear him apart and he cursed the house for not knowing the layout. He had to search to find the damn stairs, but once he did, he bolted up them. He found Harry collapsed in Fred Weasley’s arms, sobbing for all he was worth and gasping for breath.

“Oh, Harry,” he whispered.

………………………………………

Fred gently placed a hand on Harry’s knee, expecting the jolt that his knee would give, and stayed his hand just the same, keeping it securely in place. Harry looked up then, a look of fear and confusion written plainly on his face, and Fred felt like his heart would stop. “It’s just me,” he whispered. “You’re fine, it’s just me. I won’t ever hurt you, I promise,” Fred said adamantly.

Harry nodded blankly and still tried to pull his knee free of Fred’s hold. He couldn’t seem to meet the redhead’s eyes and ended up bending over slightly and rested his head on his knees, which also had the plus side of getting Fred’s hand off him. He sighed then and a shudder went through his entire body. “Why can’t I control this?” he asked weakly. “I knew it was just Draco. I knew that, and I still got scared! What’s wrong with me?”

Fred sighed and tried to place his hand on Harry’s head, smoothing the messy locks of hair with his fingers. “I don’t know, Harry,” he said, even as Harry fought his need to move away from the touch in his hair.

The tears started to fall then, and Harry scrubbed roughly at his face with his sleeve. “I can’t even let you touch me,” he moaned into his knees, and Fred couldn’t help it, he moved until he was sitting beside him instead of in front of him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

Fred was surprised when all Harry did was tense up, but allowed the touch better than he thought he would. “What do you think about that causes you to flinch from us if you know who we are?” asked Fred, simply curious, but also wanting to find a way to help Harry through this. There had to be some type of trigger.

“I-I’m not sure. It just doesn’t feel like you at first…”he trailed off. “It’s hard to explain.”

“Can you try?” he asked, not wanting to push and yet needing Harry to talk about this. There had to be something they could do to fix this…and talking was supposed to help.

“Maybe.”

Fred sighed and tightened his arm around Harry’s shoulders, surprised when the smaller teen’s head lolled and landed on his shoulder. “I’m so tired,” he whispered.

Fred wasn’t sure if Harry was saying that to get out of the conversation or if he honestly was tired. Then again, they probably both were true. He stayed quiet then, just letting Harry soak up his strength and hoping the boy would start to talk.

It took a moment, but Harry finally did start to talk again. “I think it’s him at first,” he muttered, his eyes closed. “I think it’s him touching me, not one of you. I don’t know why that happens.”

“I don’t know either, Harry,” he said softly. He wondered if now that the dreams had come out into the open, the memories, that he was beginning to associate any touch, whether it was friendly or not, as a threat. Considering he’d gone from not remembering to remembering so quickly, it was possible his mind just hadn’t figured out that he still wasn’t in danger from the ‘threat,’ Vernon Dursley. It was just a theory, but he wasn’t sure what else the reason could be. He hoped to Merlin that Harry didn’t honestly think any of them would do ‘that’ to him. He couldn’t fathom the idea of hurting someone like that; taking away all their control and forcing themselves on someone like Harry…he shuddered at the thought.

“Are you okay?” asked Harry.

Fred nodded and sighed. Harry was the purest soul he had ever met, even despite all he’d been through. He always thought of everyone else before himself, even just now. “I’m fine, Harry.”

Harry just nodded and stared off, his eyes drilling a hole into the wall directly across from them. Fred didn’t even know he was crying again until he looked down into the face resting against his shoulder and saw the tears rolling silently down his face.

“Harry?” he asked gently.

Harry raised his hands in the air slightly and let out a sudden sob that had Fred tilting forward in order to see his face. “Harry?” he asked, stunned. But Harry just continued to cry, trying so hard to stifle the sobs that threatened to come from his throat that he whimpered.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me!” he gasped out, his breath coming in short gasps now that he couldn’t seem to get himself under control. The tears were falling faster now and he looked so broken that Fred wrapped both arms around him and pulled him close.

“It’s all right, Harry. I’m right here. I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again,” he muttered, running his fingers through his hair once again, trying to bring some type of comfort to him that wouldn’t frighten him. All he could do was listen as Harry’s cries grew more desperate and as his grip tightened on his arms so much it hurt, but Fred allowed it. He’d do whatever it took if he could make Harry all right again, and if he got a few bruises because of it, so be it.

He didn’t hear anyone enter the room, but Harry’s name spoken softly from the doorway alerted Fred to the presence of someone else in the room. He looked up and saw Snape standing there looking just as distraught as he imagined he himself looked.

Severus came closer to them and sat down on Harry’s other side, resting his hand on his son’s shoulder. Harry’s entire frame shuddered at the new touch and his face came up from Fred’s shoulder looking quite frightened. Then he caught sight of his father.

“Dad,” he whispered, trying desperately to get the tears to stop, but they just kept falling. “I can’t get them to stop,” he whimpered, and suddenly collapsed in his father’s arms instead, needing that support he would always get when he felt his father’s arms surrounding him. He felt safe.

“Then don’t stop, Harry. Just let it go.”

Harry nodded against his father’s chest. He cried so hard it exhausted him. He didn’t remember falling asleep.