Chapter Twelve
Harry rolled onto his side as someone rudely shook him awake. He groaned in frustration and turned to face the person that had awoken him from his slumber. “What do you want?” Harry asked moodily.
“Mum made pancakes and you haven't eaten in a long while so get your arse down there and eat.” He said in one long breathe. Harry eyed him.
“You're mum's words or yours?”
“Both now get up.” Ron pulled the blankets off him. Harry glared at Ron as he sat up in the bed. Ron didn't budge, he was silently waiting for Harry to get out of his bed and come down to breakfast.
“Is she down there?” He asked bitterly.
“Think Harry, would I honestly be telling you to get down stairs if the girl was there? No, so stop asking questions and get up.” Ron was tired of Harry and his moodiness and everyone could tell. Harry just slipped out of bed and walked with Ron down the stairs. When Ron pushed open the doors everyone smiled.
“Hullo Harry dear.” Mrs. Weasley beamed proudly at Harry. He was definitely a hand full, but Molly loved him like her own just the same. Harry nodded in response and sat down in the chair at the corner of the table. He ate his pancakes quietly without a word to anyone as they talked away. He doubted they really noticed.
“So Harry how did you sleep?” Hermione asked out of nowhere. Harry jumped slightly as she said his name. He wasn't expecting anyone to talk to him.
“Er, could have been better.”
“Understandable.” She said with a smile. He half smiled back at her, but he really didn't feel like talking. Even if it were with one of his best friends. He slowly got up and left the room. They watched him as he left, but he didn't really mind. He knew they wanted to follow him, but he also knew that they had figured it was better not to.
He slowly climbed the stairs back to his room when he stopped before the first door. Two people were talking and he knew exactly who they were. It was Bill, Ron's oldest brother, and of course Reign. He stopped and listened to what the two were talking about.
“You like the pancakes?” He asked her.
“Yeah, they are really good. So back to this girl you knew. She just up and left?”
“Yeah, right after I finally realized that I liked her too.”
“That seems really mean. Why would she leave if she had someone like you... “She paused and giggled. “Who liked her.” She finished.
“Thanks, but I honestly I don't think it was just to keep her away from her father. I think she had to find herself.”
“Find herself?” Reign asked. She was confused that was for sure, but also curious.
“Yeah, she had to find where she really belonged. You know, sort things about her life out.”
“Did she ever come back?” By now Reign was deeply into what Bill was talking about.
“Yeah she came back.”
“Well?”
“Well what?” Bill said, pretending he didn't know what she was talking about.
“What happened between you and this girl?”
“Friends?”
“You've got to be bloody joking.” She said in disbelief. “After all of that you just stayed friends! You bloody idiot!” Bill laughed.
“All right, we dated for a bit.”
“Anything else?”
“I broke up with her.”
“You are a bloody idiot! Merlin I don't think I have met someone that could be that stupid. You loved her did you not?” She asked knowingly. “Well?”
“You know too much for an eight year old.”
“Daddy always said I was intelligent.”
“Really? How intelligent?”
“Ich weiss es nicht. He taught me to say that. I was,” She put her finger to her chin in thought. “Five.”
“Well I guess I will have to admit you are much more intelligent than I.” He smiled when she laughed.
“Nope!” She said happily. “Everyone is smart!” She smiled.
“You sure are happy this morning.”
“Yeah, well daddy also told me all the time that I was Bipolar.”
“And you believe him?”
“Of course not, I am not that dumb.” Bill laughed at that.
“Billy, are you going to get married?” Reign said the last word slower than the rest and watched him. Bill stared at her in shock.
“Well maybe. Depends if the I meet the right girl and she feels the same way.”
“Will you marry me?”
“When you're older.” Bill said simply, even Harry had to chuckle at that.
“Wicked!”
Harry crept slowly away from the door to his own. He didn't know what to do. He had all day, but something told him he wasn't going to have all day to walk around the house because Reign would be.
He opened the door to his room and sat on his bed. He stared at the wall, lost in his thoughts for hours, when he heard laughing from outside. He peered out of the window to find Ron and Hermione having a snowball fight. He wondered why they hadn't asked him, but that reason came to him quickly. He hadn't treated them like friends and he acted like he wanted to be left alone, but still. Seeing his two best friends playing in the snow outside and having fun without him seemed wrong.
Harry, still lying in his bed, listened to the hallway floor creak as people walked past his door for various reasons. He wanted to be alone sure, but yet he longed to be out there with them. Harry shook his head to stop from thinking about these ridiculous things. He stared back at the aging wall just as Ron opened the door, dripping wet from the snow, cheeks red with coldness, and hair messed up from the wind.
He breathed out as he set his cloak on the chair to the right of his bed. “You should have joined us mate. I saw you watching from the window.”
“I was just trying to see who was making all the noise.”
“You sound like Percy and that's not a good thing. If you start reading how to take power I am going to send you St. Mungos because you surely would have become nutters.” Ron laughed, but Harry stared blankly at him. “Mate you really need to lighten up. Ginny's right you know.”
“About what?”
“You need to stop dwelling on everything that makes you angry. If you do then that's all you will become, one bitter angry person. Which, Ginny added not me, would make you no better than He-who-must-not-be-named.” Harry threw his pillow at Ron and turned on his side. “Hey Ginny said it not me.” Harry listened to Ron leave the room and after the door closed he closed his eyes in hope to get some sleep.
Harry walked the dark and quiet halls of Grimwauld Place later that very night. Everyone was asleep, to his knowledge at least. He had been asleep too, but his mind just wouldn't let him stay resting so he decided to walk around. At first he watched Ron turn in his bed trying to find the most comfortable position, but soon that too fell useless so he got up and left the room as quietly as he could. He wasn't quite sure where he was headed so he just let his feet guide him. He stopped originally in front of the room Hermione and Ginny were sleeping in. He opened the door just a crack to make sure they both were sleeping soundly. As he had predicted they were sleeping peacefully in their beds, dreaming of dates on cloud nine or reading a really new and exciting tome.
Harry smiled and soon felt bad about how he had treated them earlier. His friends were one of the only things that kept him sane.
Harry twisted the knob of the door and very slowly closed their door and began on his journey down the hall. He came across the next door, but did not open it. He just ran his fingers down the soft wood. Sirius. Harry shook his head and moved down the hall until he reached the very last door. He heard someone from the inside, but couldn't make out what was being said. He knew, for sure though, that the person who was in the room was alone.
Harry grasped the metal knob, but paused. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what the person was saying. Without really realizing what he was doing he pushed the door open just barely. Reign was sitting on the bed with her back to the door, staring out of the window.
“Why did you leave?” Harry was shocked at first. He hadn't expected her to say something like she had. Harry watched as she pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them. “Did you even think?” She looked back up at the sky from the window and Harry finally realized what she was doing. She was talking to Sirius, the star. In some ways Harry realized that that made sense, but he also felt angry that she was doing so.
Harry stood glued to his spot as she continued. “No you didn't dad did you? You said you'd never leave, but you did. And now you wont ever come back. You're gone forever. Bloody hell!! Forever is a long time!!” Harry's eyes widened at such language come from her. Well not really from her, but from the fact that her inner child was saying such things. “I hate you for it. I hate you so much for it.” She was crying and he could tell. Without realizing what he was doing he whispered to her. “Get some sleep Reign.”
Harry closed the door and waited. He heard the bed creak under the sudden movement, but all went quiet after that. Harry at that time decided to take his own advice and headed off to bed as well.