A/N: Yeah, I haven't written anything for H/Hr in forever. And definitely never had it posted on-line. I've had this idea in my head since the end of the 5th book, I guess I better post it up now before B.P. hits the stores. Please be kind-first ficlet! If there are some imperfections or the like in the story, please inform me! Thank you!
< /Glitch>
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Harry guided himself slowly through the attic. Here he was, and has been for the past weeks since he came back to Grimmauld Place. The moment Mrs. Weasley had heard of Kreachers actions, she threw him out, uncaring or unaware of where he ventured. This both pleased and angered Harry, who had wanted to face Kreacher personally for weeks on end since summer started. The Order, and Weasley's practically avoided him since his arrival, only speaking in kind, gentle tones if they needed to communicate with him. Harry didn't mind, it allowed him the time to search for his own solace within the old walls.
From there, he finally found the entrance to the attic, and lo and behold, found his place of peace. Harry spent most of his hours there with no one but Buckbeak and the sporadic boggart to keep him company. Slowly going through ancient artifacts of the Black family, ranging from clothing to photo albums, to little baby toys. Taking his time in sorting them, Harry had already cleared, cleaned and organized half the attic.
At the moment, the boggart had gone somewhere else and Buckbeak was a few steps behind Harry. The hippogriff was three times his size and was actually a lot quieter than one would expect, but that still didn't stop him from practically laughing at him as they explored the last area of the attic they hadn't reached yet. The area was small but it was crowded, dirty and filled with new treasures for Harry to uncover. Harry was bumbling around in the dim light of the candle, careful not to set alight any objects at eye level.
"Will you stop that?" Harry whispered. Immediately Buckbeak stared at Harry, offended, but did as he was told.
"Sorry…" Harry told him, keeping in mind the proud nature of Buckbeak's kind. Buckbeak nodded quite dignified with such little moving room. Turning back to the front Harry continued on only to fall over and throw his candle up over-head, which Buckbeak jumped to catch, only to fall back onto the floor with a heavy thud and began crowing manically. Panicked, Harry, still spread out over the box to fall him, motioned Buckbeak to stop screeching. The creature did as it was told, although quite comically.
Harry didn't want anyone to recognize Buckbeak and come to investigate. Harry didn't want anyone else to come and help him clear the attic. This was his special place. He could think with that special solitude where you knew no one could disturb. He could spend time learning things about Sirius that no one else knew.
When no one apparently was going to investigate the noise, Harry stood, as did Buckbeak, candle still lit in his beak.
"Can I get that back?" Harry whispered holding out his hand. Buckbeak's head tilted forward and dropped the candle into Harry's hand. "Thank you."
The creature bowed again.
Turning back to what Harry had laid out upon, Harry cocked a brow.
"An invisibility cloak?" He mused. The box, he now noticed, was half visible and the rumpled, visible portion of the cloak had a protruding silver-
"What is that?" Harry questioned, and without further thought, ripped the cloak off the box…
Only to see there was more hidden under the cloak than he expected. With a loud thump, he fell back, Buckbeak crowing noisily behind him for throwing dirt up.
"Sh… uh… Sh Buckbeak…" Harry muttered as he half-heartedly waved to the hippogriff behind him forgetting how easily offended they could get. Buckbeak however seemed to have grown understanding of the wizards around him because he only shook his head in irritation and walked back to the clearing they had made and the bed Harry set for him.
Harry gaped. He knew it hadn't been a dream since his acceptance into Hogwarts but now there it was, sitting before him.
A black motorcycle sat in front of him, gleaming in the dark. Unlike most of the things Harry found in the attic, it still looked new and incredibly useable. The handlebars and exhaust pipes that swooped around the bottom of the entire contraption were gleaming chrome while the rest was an extravagant glimmer of black. The seat was leather, and even that seemed to shine. The wheels, it appeared were still full of air, possibly due to some enchantment.
Harry walked up to it, hesitant to touch it.
The bike from his dreams, even to this day would emerge once in a blue moon through his heavy nightmares. The one he dreamt of riding to the Dursley's that one night with an inexplicable pain in his forehead. What was it doing here? Unless…
It belonged to Sirius…
Harry slapped his forehead unconsciously. It made perfect sense! Sirius was-is his Godfather! He was the kind of person to own such a bike! Of course he would have dropped Harry off! He had been on the run then, doing as Dumbledore most likely instructed. The bike belonged to Sirius, Harry concluded with a grin.
The bike could fly…
Harry hadn't flown since the last time during Umbridges reign. His Firebolt was still in her office and none of the teachers or Dumbledore had managed to return it as of yet. He had received a letter from McGonagall stating they were inspecting the broom in case Umbridge had any ideas for him. It seemed to be Umbridges type of thing so Harry let them do what they would to his broom, knowing fully well it was the second time the Firebolt was being stripped and searched. But here he was, with a bike that could fly. The legendary bike from his dreams! The legendary bike from his dreams that belonged to Sirius!
Harry never felt himself so giddy.
In a few moments he had rolled the bike out into the clearing besides Buckbeak who seemed just as surprised as Harry had been.
"Look Buck! This belonged to Sirius… Do you think he would mind if I had a go?" He asked. Buckbeak gave Harry a patronizing glare as he walked over and dragged Harry by the sleeve to the small missing planks in the roof that Harry had covered with tarp. Sunlight was still blaring through and immediately Harry understood.
"Oh… I suppose it is too early to fly it…" He reasoned, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley and whoever from The Order was downstairs would surely notice a flying motorbike.
"Tonight then," He concluded. "I'll fly it tonight."
Buckbeak squawked and tapped his heavy talons on the old, wooden floor. Two floors below, Harry could hear Molly Weasley and her daughter arguing about what was for dinner that night. Their voices suddenly called another fact to his attention.
"How am I going to bring this down without anyone noticing?"
He didn't want the Weasley's, The Order, or Hermione to find out about it. The bike was for Harry and him alone. He found it hadn't he? It belonged to his Godfather didn't it? Why should he want to share it? Why should he share it?
He knew quite well that he was being possessive, but frankly he didn't give a beaters bludger what anyone thought. It hadn't been fair, he only knew his Godfather for 3 years and like that he was taken away, and apparently everything in this house, the memories and the bike was all he had left of the man. It seemed to be poetic justice for him to be able to keep the bike to himself.
"Harry!" Ginny called, shaking Harry out of his reverie. Quickly, he began to panic. Buckbeak, apparently much more level headed than Harry, had already pulled up the trap door heading into his room and jumped down. Following the hippogriffs example, Harry quickly jumped down, yanking the trap door closed along the way.
"Harry?" Ginny called as she entered the room just as Harry landed on the bed. The two stared at one another for a moment before Ginny asked suspiciously, "Were you… jumping on the bed just now?"
Harry stared at Buckbeak who hid his face with his paw as if to say to keep him out of it.
"Er… yeah…" He answered. He and Ginny was caught in an awkward silence before Ginny nodded.
"O…kay…" She stated before closing the door slightly. "Mum says dinners almost ready. You might want to come down…"
"Alright Ginny, thanks…" said Harry as he gave a cheerful wave. Ginny stood in the doorway staring suspiciously at him for a few more seconds before shutting the door behind her. Harry waited until her footsteps died away before collapsing on the broken hippogriffs bed.
"That… was close…" He stated. Buckbeak squawked. Upstairs, the boggart was back and was throwing photo albums to the floor.
+~_+~_+~_
Harry ducked the his head from the flying roast duck that was quacking and flapping around as if it hadn't been stuffed, braised and sitting in the oven for the past few hours.
"FRED! GEORGE! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT PLAYING WITH THE FOOD?" Mrs. Weasley shrieked, causing the rafters overhead to rattle slightly and the portraits in the other rooms to scream. Tonk pushed away from the table and casually announced she'd take care of it. Everyone else was either trying to catch the living-dead duck or watching. Harry was one of those watching, his head resting in a hand with an amused smirk on his face. Of course, his mind also seemed to be focused on another magical flying something; specifically on a black motorcycle two floors overhead…
He was brought back to reality when the duck flew directly between his eyes and pushed him and his chair down to the floor.
"Very good Harry! You got it!" Lupin panted. He had been running about the kitchen waving his wand in vain trying to stop the roast. Harry, sitting in his chair, held the duck back as it struggled fiercely to fly back up. So fiercely in fact, Harry was being pulled upwards slightly.
"George and Frederick Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley stated. Fred and George hid their amused grins as they bowed their heads to please their mother. Fred waved his wand and muttered a few words and Harry suddenly fell back into his chair, knocking his shoulder blades against the headrest of it, as the duck landed square in his chest.
"Here…" Harry groaned as he raised the duck up. Lupin took it and unceremoniously dropped it back into it's original platter.
"There we go!" Lupin smiled as he helped pick up Harry and his chair. "Now that we've worked up an appetite…"
"Quite right Reamus, quite right," Mrs. Weasley stated as she stood between the twins and clutched a shoulder of each. "Except these two, who'll go without dinner tonight!"
"But Mum! We haven't eaten yet!" Fred exclaimed.
"Yeah! We've been at the shop all day! Ask Ron, he was the only bludger eating there!" George added.
"Was not!" Ron stated. Harry snorted into his pumpkin juice, recalling quite well how Ron had walked in a few minutes ago holding a bag filled with boxes of half eaten candy from Honeydukes.
"Look who I found outside!" Tonks called as she walked in guiding Hermione by the shoulder.
"Hermione!" The twins turned to exclaimed as they escaped their mothers grip. George guided Hermione towards the table to sit by Harry as Fred took her bag.
"I'll take this to your room Mione!" George grinned politely.
"You look tense Mione, mind if I rub your shoulders a bit?" Fred asked as he kneaded the girls shoulders before her consent. Hermione raised a brow knowingly and leaned towards Harry.
"Did they cause the toilet to come alive and vomit again?" She asked. Harry shook his head.
"Nah, we brought dinner to life," Fred answered with a smile.
"Well Hermione, you arrived at the right time!" Mrs. Weasley sang, obviously forgetting her earlier punishment as she sat besides her husband who had been in a heavy dispute about muggle glass eyes with Moody who was obviously growing impatient with him and dinner. "We're having roast duck tonight!"
"Quite fresh really," Ron stated as he leant back into his chair. Fred and George and gone back to their seats and were now glaring daggers at their brother. "Seemed like only a few minutes ago it was flying about, making noise…"
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After dinner Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny and the twins were wasting the evening away in the drawing room doing nothing interesting in particular. Hermione was reading as Ron and Ginny had a go of Wizards Chess. Fred and George were testing out their newest appearance spells on a mouse they had caught earlier. At the moment the mouse had an odd blue and purple pattern as its fur color. Harry was sitting besides Hermione on the couch The Order had conjured, dreaming.
"Harry are you alright?" Hermione whispered to him. She had her book up and was leaning towards him slightly as to not draw attention.
"Of course… `Mione'," Harry added. Hermione gave him a knowing look as she raised a brow.
"Are you sure? You've been… distant all through dinner. Now you're doing it here so I was just curious…" She told him. Harry waved her off.
"I'm fine," Harry assured her quickly. Hermione nodded.
"But you know you can tell me right? If anything's bothering you?" She asked him just as quickly. Harry groaned in good nature and dropped his head between his knees before sucking in a breath and sitting up. Folding his hands and dropping them into his lap, he rested his head on her shoulder and jutted out his bottom lip.
"Mione…" He whined, causing her shoulder to shake with laughter as she shook her head in disbelief. Her bushy brown hair tickled Harry's ear. "Stop worrying…I'm okay…" He continued in the same whiny-babyish tone.
"Okay, Harry I believe you," Hermione laughed as she playfully patted his head. Her features then became solemn as she turned to look down at him. "I just can't help but worry about you sometimes. You get so lost in your own world sometimes it's like you don't see us anymore…"
"Aw, Mione, I didn't know you cared," Harry joked. Hermione slapped her paperback book on his thigh as she gave a lady-like snort.
"Of course I care! You're my-"
"You're what?" Harry found himself asking as he raised his head to look at her. He found himself incredibly curious to see what she thought of him. Hermione smiled as she pressed her forehead against his.
"My best friend," She answered with a grin before sitting back, bringing her legs up and returning to her book. Harry somehow felt disappointed.
"Oh…" He replied as he sat back staring blankly.
"What in bloody blazes are you two doing?" Fred asked as he dangled the mouse by its tail. It was now glowing like a neon sign changing from a neon pink to yellow, to green, to blue and back to pink.
"Nothing," Hermione answered as she peeked over the top of her book, an unusually playful smile perking on her lips.
"Liars," Ginny grinned. "You both are dating behind our backs aren't you?"
"Ginny!" Hermione flushed. Harry, who had been accused of this many a time for the past two years and should have been used to it by now, did also.
"So it's true?" Ron asked amazed as he threw a pawn at Harry who caught it by instinct. "I thought we were best friends you bloody idiot? Why didn't you tell me the two of you managed to get together?"
"We're not! We're just playing around!" Harry replied, throwing the pawn back to hit Ron on the head.
"Ow! Mate that hurt!" He exclaimed.
"We're simply platonic," Hermione stated. Harry nodded and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"Exactly. Platonic," He repeated with less fervor as she laid her head on his shoulder.
"I don't know… You two seem a bit more… flirty, with one another lately…" Ginny stated crucially as she observed the two with narrow eyes. If Harry hadn't known there really was nothing going on between him and Hermione, he'd be nervous with the way the girl was glaring at him.
"I never did like the word platonic," George stated as he stared at his brother before he and Fred shook their heads and turned to Hermione and Harry. "Sounds like one of those muggle inventions that explode. Not a really good omen word if you ask me."
"Hey Hermione! I've known you for the same amount of time as Harry has! How come you don't act that way with me?" Ron asked curiously before the mouse that was now as red as the Weasley's hair hit him.
"Because you're a git with women," George answered holding up a finger as he stood.
"You have no tact," Fred added, holding up a finger of his own.
"You're testosterone is bad," Ginny stated as she waved a captured night at Ron.
"So you should feel bad," All three Weasley's stated. Harry had to cover his grin but that still didn't hide his snorts of laughter. Hermione had given up reading altogether and was now laughing into her hands.
"You all are a bunch of backstabbing platonic buggers, that's what you all are," Ron sighed as he dropped his head on the chessboard, the mouse, disguised in his hair suddenly emerged and chased the running chess pieces. The king, unfortunately, stumbled and fell causing Ginny to grin.
"I win by forfeit," She stated. Ron stared at his befallen king and groaned deeper.
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