The morning after the Yule Ball, the students that were returning home for the Winter Holiday boarded the Hogwarts Express and took it back to London. Despite the name, the Ball was held near the beginning of the break so that students could enjoy the majority of the holiday at home and the majority of the students left as they usually did.
This year, Harry had a place to go to and he had happily joined the others in packing and then taking the carriages to the Hogsmeade train station. It would be his first Christmas holiday away from the castle, his first time being somewhere where the people wanted him there. It was an intoxicating feeling and he was equal parts giddy and nervous.
Hermione had enjoyed his obvious excitement and happiness, content to bask in his open pleasure. Usually he was one to hide what he was thinking and feeling, so seeing it out in the open made her equally happy. Ron enjoyed seeing Harry happy too and their compartment was full of good cheer.
Mostly.
Evan was with them of course and he was noticeably distracted and slightly withdrawn. He wore that easy smile many were accustomed to seeing him have, that disarming grin and eyes that had a hint of merriness to them. But it was obvious that he was not completely there and that he was lost in his thoughts a lot. He went through bouts of engagement and being present to going back into himself, absent-mindedly petting Wisteria and Hedwig and Crookshanks who crowded on his lap or shoulders.
When they reached London and Platform 9 and 3/4s, Harry had shot him a concerned look and Evan noticed. Shaking his head, he looked more there and clapped Harry on the back before playfully pushing him out of the compartment. He shrank everyone's trunks and things, much to their relief and pleasure, and they got off the train onto the crowded platform.
Sirius and Andromeda were there to receive them and greeted them warmly, hugging Harry and Evan and looking incredibly happy to see them. Harry was then swept into a rib-crushing hug by Molly Weasley and he coughed but smiled at her fond embrace.
"Good to see you," she gushed, smiling at him when she let him go. She then saw Evan and her eyes widened. "My goodness! You do look like Harry! Only taller and older of course."
"That's because he is Harry, but taller and older," Ron groaned. He sighed when she swatted his shoulder.
"Enough of your cheek," she scolded lightly. She turned back to Evan who was looking at her wistfully and her gaze softened as she noticed the other details that set him apart from his younger counterpart. "Powers," she said softly, leaning close. She rested a hand on his cheek, noticing how he flinched ever so slightly and her gaze softened even more. "What happened to you?"
"A lot," Evan said huskily. "It's really good to see you again." He coughed when it was his turn for a rib-crushing hug.
"It's wonderful to see you," Molly said. "Hopefully you and Harry and the rest can come visit us a bit over the holiday or we might come see you." She frowned playfully. "You need some proper feeding too."
"Actually, I think he can outeat Charlie," Fred grinned.
"And Bill," George smirked. "We've seen it."
"Oh a challenge then!" Molly smiled. "Now we must meet and see."
"I'm sure we can arrange it," Sirius said with a wide smile.
Evan smiled but it was not a simple one as he watched the Weasleys leave. The Grangers appeared then, Jean and David, and he watched with another pained expression at seeing them greet their daughter lovingly.
"Potter," David said, looking down at Harry with a slightly stern expression, making Harry gulp.
"Daddy!" Hermione poked her father in the ribs.
"Just doing my fatherly duty!" David said, wincing when Jean stepped on his foot.
"Ignore him," Jean said to a visibly relieved Harry. "He's being a prat." She looked pleased when she opened her arms and Harry willingly, and shyly, stepped in for a hug. "We'd love to have you visit over the holiday too." She winked at him. "Sure we've known about you for years now, but now we really want to get to know you for many reasons."
"How about you and the family come to us for a few days?" Sirius asked, grinning broadly and winking at a red-faced Harry and Hermione. "Andi's husband is a Muggleborn too. We'd be happy to answer any questions you have and spend the holiday together. I have to do my godfatherly duty too after all!"
"It wouldn't be an imposition?" Jean asked.
"Not at all," Andromeda smiled. "Grimmauld Place has many rooms and Teddy, my daughter Nymphadora, and I will be there as well."
Jean and David exchanged looks and smiled at Hermione's earnest nodding. "Sounds good to me," David said, shaking Sirius' hand. "There's a lot we'd like to know and that'd be really great." He turned to Evan and looked surprised but also held his hand out. "Wow, you two really do look like brothers."
Evan shook his hand. "Glad it worked out that way." He blinked with surprise when Jean hugged him easily.
"Can't wait to spend more time with all of you," she said with a smile. She and David made a show of turning away when Hermione hugged Harry goodbye and kissed him on the cheek. Harry flushed happily when she did. He caught Evan's expression and hurriedly gave Hermione a clumsy kiss on the cheek back, making her beam back at him with sparkling eyes. They waved goofily at each other and the Grangers left together.
"Young love," Sirius said tearfully, dabbing at his eyes with a pink floral handkerchief, grinning at Harry's scowl.
"Let's go," Andromeda clucked, her smile as broad as Sirius'. She and Sirius took Harry and Evan with them to the stable apparition point at the Platform and with her hand on Evan's, apparated away with Sirius holding onto Harry. They appeared in a secluded alley on a quiet London street.
"Where are we?" Harry said, head spinning slightly from the apparition. He looked down with concern at Hedwig in her cage and the snowy owl also looked disoriented, hooting with disgust.
"Grimmauld Place," Evan whispered, petting a very disoriented Wisteria who was also disgusted by the magical travel.
Andromeda had given Evan a considering look when they reappeared and her eyes widened slightly. "You can see it?" she asked.
"Did we mess up the Fidelus?" Sirius asked, also sounding surprised.
"No, I'm familiar enough with the place," Evan said. "It's hazy here, but I can feel the magic around it."
"Extraordinary," Andromeda said. "But yes." She handed Evan and Harry pieces of paper. When they read the address, the magic lifted around a building in a row of houses, appearing more clearly to them. "Number 12, Grimmauld Place."
"So cool," Harry said, looking at the building. "Are you the Secret Keeper?"
Andromeda nodded. "As is Sirius. Come come, let us get out of the cold."
Harry looked around with interest as they entered the home. On the outside it looked like a normal enough townhome in a modest part of London. Within, however, it was much larger and well decorated. Dark woods gleamed from cleaning and care and the furniture looked expensive. A long staircase soared up into the air with more floors than it appeared to have from the outside. "This is so cool," he repeated. He looked at Evan and frowned.
Evan looked like he had seen a ghost, eyes wide and skin slightly pale. He looked around the house slowly with a deeply haunted expression. His free hand clenched slightly and he looked like he was trapped in a memory.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, concerned.
Evan shook his head, as if shaking thoughts free and away, and looked down at Harry. "Yeah, I'm alright," he said, also noticing Sirius and Andromeda looking at him worriedly. "I just have a lot of memories of this place."
"Me too," Sirius said sympathetically. He clapped Evan on the shoulder. "We can redecorate it together. Make it better for all of us. We haven't gotten around to it yet, mostly cleaning it and getting it habitable again which it is mostly. Oh speaking of, Kreacher!"
A crack heralded the arrival of a very old house elf. He also was the meanest house elf Harry had ever seen and he gave Sirius a look of pure loathing. "Yes Bad Master?" he croaked, his voice steeped in age and venom.
Sirius took no notice of his tone or demeanor. "Kreacher, meet Harry Potter and Evan Potter. They are my godsons and are a part of the House of Black. You will treat them accordingly."
Kreacher gave Harry a baleful look but paused when he looked up at Evan, his bitter countenance becoming confused. "Your magics are similar," he said slowly, looking back and forth at them.
"We're brothers," Harry said, giving Kreacher a wary look.
Kreacher said nothing and when he looked at Evan, he was startled to see Evan giving him a look that was oddly kind.
"Good to see you again, Kreacher," Evan said softly.
Unsure of what to say, Kreacher bowed creakily and left without another word, disapparating with another loud crack.
"That was weird," Sirius said conversationally.
"Tends to happen around us," Evan said, gesturing at Harry who nodded.
Sirius and Andromeda exchanged looks. "Oh uh, one more thing. When you walk past this line," he pointed at a faint line etched into the floor, "be a little careful in the rest of this entryway."
"Why? Is there a trap for burglars or something?" Harry asked.
Sirius guffawed. "Not a bad idea! Though a trap would be kinder. No, there's a sound dampening charm here in front of the ward line but past it any noise will wake up something more dangerous and unpleasant than any trap." He pointed ominously at a large shrouded shape on the wall.
"Oh no, if I'm here again, I'm not dealing with her for long," Evan said. He put Wisteria's cage down and opened the door for her before stepping over the line with purpose.
"Her?" Harry asked, doing the same with Hedwig's cage and following Evan.
"Wait, you know?" Andromeda asked, following after the boys.
"Hey! Wake up!" Evan shouted and slashed with his hand.
Harry gasped when the shroud around the shape flew off a large painting, revealing a very angry looking woman sitting in the frame. She had large brown eyes that were full of anger and hate, her hair flying all over as she started to scream. "YOU! TAINT OF MY FLESH! SHAME OF THE FAMILY!" She pointed dramatically at Sirius and Andromeda who both sighed and looked pained.
"Who's that?!" Harry gasped, taking a step back and Hedwig and Wisteria landed on Harry's shoulders and hissed angrily at the painting.
"Meet my mother," Sirius said, looking at the painting with deep disgruntlement. "Walburga Black."
"And who are you?!" Walburga shrieked, staring at Evan who was walking to the side of the frame.
"Sick of your shite so shut it!" Evan shouted back and Andromeda and Sirius gasped when Walburga did indeed go quiet for a moment, glaring with large bugged-out eyes, mouth opening and closing without sound and looking like a gasping fish.
"How did you do that?!" Sirius asked, running up to Evan.
"My Sirius made me his heir when he died," Evan said shortly as he ran a hand around the back of the frame. "Made it official. It got to a point where we were using Grimmauld as a safe house and I put some of my blood into the magic and it let me do some things. Wasn't sure it'd work here, but guess it does."
"The House allowed that?" Andromeda asked, eyes wide.
"Well, I had to stop it from trying to kill me because of it," Evan said as he continued to grope around. "Took a bit but I managed to cow it. Now as for this cow…" Evan found what he was feeling for and pulled hard. A loud snap filled the air and the painting fell face first, hitting the ground.
"Oh thank Merlin and everything!" Sirius shouted happily. "We couldn't figure out how to move it! I thought we were going to have to burn it, which I wasn't against at all."
"I didn't know about it until there was a lot of damage and learned about it after the fact," Evan said with grim satisfaction. He shrank the painting to normal size. "Kreacher."
Kreacher appeared and looked surprised that he had indeed come at Evan's call. His surprise grew when he saw Walburga's painting on the ground. He stared at Evan.
"Go on, take it," Evan said. "Put it with the others."
"Go ahead," Sirius said when Kreacher looked at him.
Kreacher reverently picked up Walburga's portrait and then bowed to Evan before disapparating once more.
"Oh, blessed silence," Sirius said, looking at the blank spot on the wall. He threw an arm around Evan's shoulders. "I'm going to get you even more stuff now."
"Don't worry about it," Evan said, smirking back. "It was for all of our sanity."
"Let me show you guys your rooms," Sirius smiled. "Follow me!" He led them up a flight of stairs and down a hallway. "I thought you two would like to be near each other but not exactly next door," Sirius said. "This one's for you Harry, and your door to yours is down the hall Evan. You'll be across the hall neighbors. Close enough for holding clandestine meetings, far enough to have your own privacy."
He opened Harry's door and beamed at Harry's obvious pleasure. It was a large room, completely furnished, with a bathroom attached. Harry walked in, looking around with large eyes as Hedwig flew around, barking happily.
"This is bigger than any room at Number 4," Harry grinned.
"Yeah it is," Evan said, also enjoying seeing Harry happy.
"Thanks Sirius!" Harry hugged his godfather hard.
Sirius wiped a tear away. "Welcome home, Harry," he said huskily. "As long as Grimmauld is here, this room is yours. You'll always have a place here."
He turned to Evan. "You too, of course." His merriment faded at Evan's closed demeanor. "You alright?"
Evan smiled. "Of course. Just a bit tired. Don't mind me. Thanks, Old Dog." He kept the smile up, relaxing a little when Sirius focused back on Harry but he missed Andromeda giving him a careful look as he turned away.
-0-
"Wotcher Harry!" A young lady shook Harry's hand warmly. She was dressed in artfully torn jeans and a Weird Sisters shirt, her short pink hair completing the look. "Pleased to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you too!" Harry then shook the hand of a kind looking man with soft brown eyes and short hair. "And you!"
Edward Ted Tonks smiled back. "Same, heard a lot about you," he said warmly.
Nymphadora, call me Dora or else, Tonks looked at Evan carefully. "Huh, so you're the one that saved Mad Eye's arse by kicking his imposter's arse huh?"
Evan smiled at the memory. "That's me." His expression softened when he looked at her, his eyes darting back to Ted. "Good to see you," he said.
"Same!" Dora said cheerily, though she looked slightly confused by his expression and tone. "Heard you're pretty good at dueling and spellwork. Feel like going at it later?"
"Dora," Andromeda chided.
"I'd like that," Evan said smoothly, smiling once more.
The next couple of days were wonderful to Harry. Despite the name and the surface atmosphere, Grimmauld was turning into a home for him. He could relax there, not be worried about being yelled at or belittled for something. He had his own room. He could eat whenever he wanted and his fill. There were people there that actually liked him and wanted to spend time with him.
Sirius was an enthusiastic presence. He shared plenty of stories with Harry about his time at Hogwarts and about James and Lily, stories Harry devoured unstintingly. Remus was much the same, being happy and also sharing experiences and anecdotes. It seemed the years had lifted off of Remus' shoulders and he and Sirius would frequently argue and fight and laugh together.
Andromeda was a font of knowledge and also shared about her time at Hogwarts, not to mention she could scold and keep a rein on Sirius like no one else and it was always funny to see. Ted was incredibly kind and funny as well, happy to talk about his work and his experiences as a Muggleborn during that time. Dora was what he imagined an older sister would be like. Eager to show off and teach him spells and things, share stories, make him laugh with them or changing her appearance using her metamorphagus abilities.
Even Kreacher was just shy of being polite with him. The cantankerous house elf was like no other elf that Harry had met. He was foul mouthed, eager to argue and hiss insults at Sirius and Remus. He ignored Ted, frowned at Dora, but was very proper with Andromeda. While he muttered around Harry, he still did as asked. Interestingly, aside from Andromeda, Kreacher treated Evan with a wary respect.
Which led to the one dark spot in Harry's current mood.
Evan was acting very odd. He would hole up in his room for periods of time, not even letting Harry in. Something he never did while at Hogwarts. Whenever he was out, the young man frequently looked around, as if hearing or seeing things that were not there. He frequently looked distracted, preoccupied. Though when he did interact with Harry or the others, he was there and contributed fully to the occasion. There was still a hint of something else though, something hiding beneath the surface that never left his thoughts.
It worried Harry.
After the second day, in the afternoon, Harry went to the kitchen and made a tray of food. Ignoring a protesting Kreacher, he made a few sandwiches, grabbed a large bag of crisps, and filled a pitcher with lemonade, and went to Evan's door. He knocked a few times and waited.
"Come in."
Harry let himself in. Evan's room was the same as his: large and complete with furniture and quite comfortable. It was bare of decoration, however, save for the golden egg that sat on the owl tower and served as one of Wisteria's nests. The small horntail model and the Godzilla model sat on a shelf, but other than that, there was precious little in the way of personal effects.
Evan looked up from where he sat at the desk and smiled a little. "What's up?"
"Thought you'd like something to eat," Harry said, putting the tray down in front of Evan. "I've noticed you haven't been eating as much."
"Thanks little bro," Evan said, touched. He tousled Harry's hair. "I don't think I need to eat as much as I did when I first arrived. I still do when I want to be fair." He bit into one of the sandwiches, chewing on it appreciatively. "Appreciate it."
"You're welcome." Harry waited for him to finish the first one before speaking again. "You alright?"
"Fine, why?" Evan said, looking at Harry inquisitively.
"Just that you've been looking…distracted," Harry said slowly. "Like something's bothering you."
Evan chewed slowly. "You shouldn't worry about me," he said at last, giving Harry a sad look. "You should be enjoying yourself."
"I have been," Harry said. "But that doesn't mean I can't be worried about you. All of this is only possible because of you."
Evan opened the bag of crisps and held it out to Harry who took some. "Sure beats Privet Drive," Evan snorted, popping some crisps into his mouth.
"Understatement," Harry said, mimicking him and they laughed together. "I just want you to be happy too."
"I am happy," Evan said with some honesty. "We're not there. Old Dog is free. Auntie Andi is here with Dora and Ted and Remus. You're not in the tournament. We already have a bunch of the things Riddle's using to stay alive. Riddle is still on the back foot. Everything's going fine."
Harry waited for a moment. "So, why aren't you happier?"
"I don't recall being this observant at that age," Evan said lightly.
"I guess Hermione's been rubbing off on me," Harry said. He flushed at Evan's amused look. "Dude!"
Evan laughed and it was the first loud honest laugh that Harry had heard since they arrived at Grimmauld, making him feel better. "Sorry, too easy," Evan grinned.
"I'm telling her you said that about her," Harry said with a sharp smile. He yelped when Evan kicked his chair, sending him falling backwards before he was frozen in place and in midair.
"Just try it and see what I do back to you," Evan grinned. He curled his fingers and Harry's chair righted itself, landing on all four legs like normal.
"Well?" Harry prompted gently after a moment of silence.
Evan sighed deeply, a low sound that traveled from the deep within. "I keep thinking about my time here in my plane. We hid here for a while because it was the safest place to be. We were actually stuck here, watching the world go to hell around us. People came and went, eventually never coming back at all. Then we had to evacuate it when it got compromised and I burned the place down myself."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Harry said, seeing the lines in Evan's face. "That must be really hard."
"I keep expecting to run into someone," Evan whispered. "Thinking someone I know…knew…is just around the corner." He coughed and drank deep of his cup of lemonade. "Not fair to you or the others. Sorry."
"I don't think you should apologize for that. I can't imagine what you've gone through," Harry said, subdued.
"This is why I didn't want to tell you," Evan said kindly, patting Harry on the shoulder. "This is going to be your first really good proper Christmas after the first year at Hogwarts."
Harry nodded. "And I'm sure this will be a decent one for you too, right?"
"You have no idea," Evan said with a sad expression.
"You deserve it too," Harry insisted. "Really. All you've done since you've come here, you deserve to have a break too."
Evan looked at him with a complicated expression. "Maybe," he said at last. He ate and drank some more, shaking his head hard. When he looked at Harry, he looked more mellow once more. "So, meant to ask, how was your date with Hermione?"
"Really great," Harry said, unable to keep from smiling.
Evan smiled too. "Glad to hear it. 'Course I had an idea with how soppy you two were being on the train ride back."
"Were we that bad?" Harry asked, flushing.
"Not really," Evan chuckled. "Just you know, in comparison to the usual, it was very different."
"I guess so," Harry said, still smiling. "How about you and Fleur? Did you knock her socks off?"
"No idea," Evan snorted. "Did my best to but you know French girls and Veela, high standards."
"I honestly don't know that," Harry said, making Evan snort again. "I'll take your word for it. I think she looked like she was having fun. You too."
"I had fun," Evan admitted, looking away.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Harry asked.
"Usually," Evan shrugged.
"Are you still thinking about how her and Bill were together and had kids?" Harry asked. "And not wanting to interfere? I thought with you being here and doing things, those things might not happen the same."
"It's been getting a little harder not to think about that," Evan said quietly. "And you're right, things aren't the same and that's the point." He spoke while Harry opened his mouth, "Look, I know what you're doing, and I appreciate it. Really, I do. I'm just…I'm just still coming to terms with a few things."
Harry nodded. "You deserve being here and enjoying things too," he said softly but firmly.
Evan smiled a little. "Thanks." He rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'll try."
-0-
The next day, Evan was true to his word. He moved with noticeably lighter weight on his shoulders and grinned like he did while at Hogwarts. He spent less time in his room or sequestered in the library, instead spending more time with the others.
He and Dora had a spirited dueling session in the basement of Grimmauld, a practice space designed for spellwork and other activities. Harry had watched with awe as the two dueled each other. Dora gave as good as she got and the first duel went back and forth and Dora was eventually defeated.
"Holy carp," she said, pushing herself up and staring at Evan. "You're good!"
"Thanks," Evan said, breathing heavily and grinning. "You're really good too."
"I knew that," Dora said without shame. She hopped up. "But now I can get better by practicing with you. Again!"
Eventually they stopped from exhaustion, with Evan taking the lead in bouts won. Harry learned a lot from them and they continued to talk about spells and situations, happy to share skills and tactics. After they showered and cleaned up, they made their way to the kitchen where the other adults were.
"Oh, hey Boss Lady," Dora said when she saw Amelia sitting there beside Sirius.
"Tonks," Amelia said genially, nodding to her. She gave Evan a look when he appeared. She flushed lightly when Evan saw a box on the table top with a happy Sirius admiring the flask in his hands. He had the grace to say nothing, only winking at Amelia, causing her to sigh and nod at him.
She suddenly stiffened, hand going to her pocket. She removed a slim leather wallet and opened it, looking at an ornate badge. It was vibrating lightly and she turned to Sirius. "May I use your Floo?"
"Go ahead," Sirius said. "The office one has privacy charms for communications." He watched her leave. "I hope it's nothing bad." After a few minutes she returned, looking thoughtful. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"That was Jones," she replied, sitting back down. "There was an incident today and she wanted to clue me in. There was an explosion at a graveyard in a village. Turns out it was magical in nature so a team went out to investigate."
"Where?" Dora asked.
"Little Hangleton," Amelia said. She noticed Remus' involuntary flinch. "You've heard of it?"
"We were there recently actually," Remus said slowly. "Following up on leads to find Voldemort. You said there was an explosion there? In the graveyard?"
Amelia nodded. "Turns out Moody left a couple of charms there to alert anyone messing about while there and using magic. They went off and alerted the Auror Office and when the team went, there were signs of an explosion. They shut the area down and managed to get things under control. They didn't catch anyone, no suspects either. Just spell damage to fix and get rid of traces of magic."
"Was there a lot of damage?" Andromeda asked.
"Yes and no. Basically a lot of damage localized into one small area. The majority of the graveyard was spared, save for a specific plot," Amelia said.
"Riddle?" Remus asked, eyes widening.
"Yes," Amelia said, narrowing her eyes at him. "That was what Jones said after investigating the records." She saw Remus look to the side and she stared at Evan who took a sandwich from Kreacher. "I take it you were there too, Mister Potter?"
"Hmm? Oh yeah, I was there," Evan nodded, biting into the sandwich. "With Remus, Al, and the Headmaster."
"You call Mad Eye, Al?" Dora asked, eyes wide with one turning bright blue.
"I don't recall seeing anything that would cause an explosion and I know the spells we left wouldn't have done that," Remus said.
"No, none of your spells would have," Evan nodded.
Amelia heard Remus groan slightly as he remembered something. "What did you do?" she asked sternly.
"I threw a coin into the grave for disturbing them and for the boatman," Evan said, munching on the sandwich. "It also had a spell on it to explode if someone tried to unearth the graves for the bones within."
"Would Master Evan like another?" Kreacher asked in the ensuing silence, unperturbed by the shocked others.
"Yes please, thank you Kreacher," Evan said.
"You booby trapped it?" Remus asked faintly.
"Yeah," Evan said. "Look, no one was opening that grave unless they wanted the bones for the ritual. It would also only go off if the graves were being cleared with magic so mundane methods would be ignored. So I was just covering my bases."
"Was anything left?" Sirius asked, giving Evan a look before turning back to Amelia.
"No," Amelia said, staring at Evan.
"Good," Evan said, his smile cold. "He's going to have to figure out a different way to get a body now."
"You know I could have you taken in for destruction of property, desecrating remains, and other broken laws," she said dangerously. A pall fell over the kitchen and everyone looked nervously at one another before looking at Evan for his response.
Evan finished his sandwich and stood straight. "You could," he said simply.
She gritted her teeth. "Do you remember our conversation a few weeks ago?"
"I do." He looked at her steadily. "Do you?"
"I do," she said stiffly.
"Threatening to arrest me is doing wonders for that trust we talked about," Evan said snidely, making her growl.
"You're going to go too far and you won't have anyone helping you then," she said sharply.
"Wouldn't be the first time I'd be on my own," Evan shot back. "Kreacher, hold that sandwich please." He turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" Andromeda asked, rising to her feet.
"Out. Last minute Christmas shopping," Evan said shortly. "I'll be back when I'm back." He shook his head at Harry and left the kitchen, the door swinging shut behind him.
Sirius winced with Andromeda making the same expression. "He just apparated straight through the wards," Sirius grunted. "Good Merlin, that's power." He looked at Amelia. "Amy, what the fuck?!"
"He can't go around doing shit like that!" Amelia said, flushing. "I don't care what he went through. There are rules!"
"He's been through a lot," Remus said slowly.
"Has he?! He hasn't exactly told us everything! And yes he's getting results but there's a right way and a wrong way!"
"I believe him," Harry said quietly, cutting through Amelia's words. Everyone turned to look at him. "He's doing everything he can for me, for us. He doesn't want things to turn out the way they did for him. If things weren't that bad, he wouldn't be going through all of this to do it."
"He's acting like a desperate man when he doesn't have to be," Amelia said sourly.
"That's the thing when you're desperate," Harry said coolly. Everyone stared at him, hearing the tone of his voice. "When you're that desperate, when you've been desperate for that long, you tend to keep acting like that. It just shows that you've never been like that before." He turned and left the kitchen too, leaving it silent behind him.