Chapter Seven: Harish's Quiet and Totally Not Awkward Holiday
(hear the sarcasm in my voice)
Harish lay in bed, semi-awake, feeling the cold bite down on his ears and the top of his head. He didn't want to get up. It was so warm and comfortable, and he didn't want to have to go and do school work.
Then, he sat up abruptly as he remembered. It was Christmas break, he didn't have school work! He stood up, shivering and changed into a warm sweater as fast as he could. Then, he took his small bag and stuffed it in his pocket. Harish had gotten Professor Flitwick to put an extension charm on the bag and he had used that to pack up the things he would need for his week at the Burrow. He trotted into the common room and settled himself on the couch in front of the fire, letting the warmth wash over him.
After who knows how long, Fred and George bounded up the steps, into the common room and they trotted over to where Harish was sitting. "Ah I see someone's already—"
"Bright and bushy tailed this morning," the twins said happily.
"You ready to go then?" Harish asked them.
"Yep! Fit as a fiddle—"
"And itching to go!"
Harish just shook his head as they headed down to breakfast, the twins falling into step on either side of him. Harish thought it was funny that, with the twins' beater build, most people believed them to be Harish's body guards. The twins seemed to find equally amusing and if they saw someone ogling at them, they would grin at each other before shooting menacing glares at the offender. They seemed to find it fun to play the bodyguards.
After they finished breakfast, they headed for Hogsmeade station and climbed aboard the beautiful red engine.
Hours later, after lots of sweets, jokes, and even pranks on other people going home for the holidays, they arrived in London. Harish and the twins clambered off the train and wandered over to where Percy and Charlie were standing. There, there were four other people. A woman, short and stout was kissing the boys. Standing next to her, with a hand on her shoulder, was a tall, balding man. Accompanying them were two children, a young boy and a girl who was even younger, and they all had flaming red hair.
"Wow," Harish said as they walked up. "You have a really big family."
"Yeah," Fred said eying the rest of his family. "There's—"
"Nine of us."
Harish whistled, "We only have me and my dad."
Just then, the woman, Mrs Weasley, noticed Harish and came bustling over. "Oh, and you must be Harish! We've heard so much about you. Come on, we'd best get going. It's so nice to finally meet you Harish dear," he didn't have any warning as she suddenly pulled him into an embrace. As the family walked off, Harish lagged behind, rubbing his arms.
"She does that—"
"To everybody."
Harish just shook his head and followed them.
TOO-MANY-PEOPLE—DON'T-TOUCH-ME!
Harish smiled as they drove through the country, past some chickens, and stopped right outside of a building. There was a sign that said "The Burrow" outside of the rickety old house. Snow was piled up everywhere. There was a little tumbledown garage in a small yard. The base of the house looked like it had once been a rather large stone pigpen, with extra rooms added here and there until it was several stories high and so crooked that it looked like the only way it could be standing was if it was held up by magic. Four or five red chimneys were on top of the roof and several chickens that had gotten out of the barn were huddled in the warmth by the door.
"Come on, you'll be sleeping in our room," Fred said showing Harish the door.
"Mum moved a bed in there, it's a bit cramped—"
"But there's still enough space for the three of us."
"We know it's not much—"
"Compared to that manor of yours—"
"But it's home."
"No," Harish said honestly, not wanting the twins to feel bad for themselves. "This is much better than a huge, silent manor. Here there are people to play with!"
The twins grinned at him appreciatively. Harish could seem a bit cold at times, but they knew that he was really a good person on the inside.
YAY!—HAPPY-HAWISH!
Ron looked out the window and watched his brothers play Quidditch. He had been invited but he had declined and stomped up to his room. He didn't want to play with some snot nosed Slytherin brat, whether he was friends with the twins or not. He had heard Fred and George talking about how Harish lived in a manor. He probably had lots of money and got whatever he wanted. It just wasn't fair.
He knew that one day, the twins would regret befriending the boy, when he ran off to You-Know-Who and all of the other Death Eaters. He glared out the window. He had seen the way Fred and George follow Harish around like he was their little lord. If Voldemort never came back like Dumbledore said he would, the older boy would probably become the world's next Dark Lord. He growled and flung himself on his bed, pouting at the ceiling.
BAD-ICKLE-RONNIKINS—HE-GOING-TO-GET-BIT-IN-THE-BUTT
Harish sat at dinner still flanked by the twins. He swallowed heavily and glanced around. It was the second full day he had been here and so far he had managed to charm the parents and the girl. Though he seemed to have charmed Ginny a little too much. She was sitting across from him, staring at him with a starry eyed expression on her face. Ron was next to her, shooting Harish menacing glares. On the other side of George was Percy. He was obviously staring at Harish and the younger boy could tell easily that Percy was suspicious of him. He looked up at Mrs Weasley who was trying to convince him that he was 'as thin as a stick' and needed fourths on turkey. Harish glanced at Ginny again. He gritted his teeth and resigned to staring at his plate.
After dinner, he went up to the twins room, with them in tow. He sighed and sank onto his bed. "Yuck," was all he could manage.
The twins burst out laughing. "I think that Ginny—"
"Wants your autograph!"
Harish glared at them. "This certainly is the most interesting holiday I have ever had, I'll have to give you that. First, there's Ron who seems to hate my guts. Percy who obviously believes that it's all my fault that you're in Slytherin. Ginny, who was literally drooling over me. I'm serious! She was drooling all over her food!"
Fred and George were bent double and clutching their sides from laughter at this point. George looked up, wiping tears from his eyes. "She did—seem t-to have a th-thing for you—d-didn't she?" he asked, in between fits of giggles.
Harish rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it's hilarious."
That only seemed to make them laugh harder.
Harish couldn't help but laugh as well. The twins looked really funny bent double with their faces bright red from laughter. He liked his friends, they were nice to him.
Draco was nice, but the Malfoy heir was nine; the boy just didn't get it. He wondered what they would do if—no, when they figured out that his father was Lord Voldemort. He didn't want them to start hating him because of that. Harish decided that he would have to slowly ease them towards the 'dark side'.
When the three of them had calmed down, Fred asked, "Don't you think it's weird that your dad let you come here?"
"Yeah," Harish replied, remembering his father's reply.
"I wonder who 'the people he works with' are," George said thoughtfully.
By Friday, things had cooled off and the Weasleys presented him with yet another surprise.
"We have decided to celebrate Christmas slightly early so that the twins and everyone can give you your presents before you leave tomorrow," Mrs Weasley was saying.
He then followed them to their sitting room and plopped himself on a chair. The twins went first and handed him two identically wrapped presents. Harish ripped off the paper on the one from Fred to reveal a set of Quidditch supplies and several dung-bombs. He also received a book on how to jinx family members without them noticing and several screaming yo-yo's from George.
Harish thanked them and handed them their presents. He laughed as they ripped off the paper to reveal similar presents. Harish hadn't really known what he should get them, so he stuck with Quidditch and pranking supplies. Though he had gotten George a book on how to evade getting in trouble and for Fred, a book that had 256 pages' worth of pranking ideas.
Then, Mrs Weasley came forward and handed him a beautifully wrapped box. Harish took off the wrapping paper and pulled off the lid of the box. Inside, there was a sweater and a tin of brownies. He held up the sweater to inspect it. It was green with a silver H stitched in the centre of it.
"Yeah, she makes—"
"Those for everyone. We—"
"Get them every year. You'll like—"
"It. They're awfully warm."
Mrs Weasley beamed at them. It was so nice to hear them say that. Ron, on the other hand, always complained. Maroon was cheaper; he'd just have to deal with it.
Harish smiled at her and tugged the sweater over his head. The twins were right, it was warm. Then his smile vanished. According to Mrs Malfoy it was bad form to accept a gift if you hadn't gotten the giver of the gift a present as well.
"B-but," he stuttered at her, "I didn't get you any presents."
"Oh, don't worry dear," Molly said, thinking about how he was a sweet boy, "I don't mind. Children normally don't give gifts to their friend's parents. I'll get plenty of other presents."
Harish nodded, his face feeling hot. He hated feeling foolish.
"Now," Molly said, turning to the other children, "You may each open one present. Only one, mind you!" she added shaking her finger in their faces and putting her hands on her hips.
The others immediately crowded around and chose a gift. Ron grabbed the largest one he could get his hands on. Soon after, Ginny started whining that the present Ron had chosen had hername on it.
The twins glanced at her before smirking at Harish.
"We'd better go." Fred said.
"Soon this will be turned into a free-for-all." George finished.
Harish nodded and followed them, deciding he would rather return to their room than stay in the same area as Ron and Ginny, whose faces were growing increasingly red as they argued.
Harish and the twins entered the room and sat on their beds. They talked for a little while and played some Exploding Snap. Eventually, after the long day, Harish fell asleep, sprawled across the bed.
The twins smirked at each other and silently stood up. They had tried to snoop in Harish's trunk once when they were bored and found that it had been spelled to not let people snoop in it. Ever since then, they had been curious what Harish kept in there.
Now, Harish was asleep and he didn't have his trunk. Harish had a bag that he had gotten Professor Flitwick to cast one spell on. They knew what was on it too; they were there when Professor Flitwick spelled the little bag for Harish.
Fred kneeled at the end of Harish's bed and pulled out the bag out from underneath it. George was soon at his side and the two of them dug through Harish clothes and pulled out a leather bound book. They grinned at having found one of their friend's cherished possessions.
It was Harish's drawing journal. They knew how their friend liked to draw in this journal when he was bored. He had never let them look at what he had drawn, but that had only sparked their curiosity. George opened it to a random page. On the paper was a picture of what looked kind of like the Dark Mark. There was a skull with Nagini coming out of its mouth.
Fred snatched the book from George and turned the page. They gasped. There was someone with long blonde hair in Death Eater's robes and mask. They knew of one person that Harish saw often, who had long blonde hair and that was Lucius Malfoy. The twins also knew that Lucius was once a Death Eater and that their dad suspected him of having dark artefacts in his house.
Quietly, Fred closed the book and stuck it underneath the clothes where it had been. Then, the two of them sat on their beds and stuck their heads together, whispering.
"Why does he have pictures of Death Eaters in his notebook?" Fred asked.
"And the skull!" George exclaimed quietly, "He's showed us pictures of his dad's snake Nagini before. Why was it in that picture?"
"Maybe his dad's a Death Eater," Fred replied.
"Hmm. Harish doesn't seem that bad, and his dad sounded pretty funny too. I don't know about Dumbledore though. Something about him seemed fishy."
"I know what you mean. The other day, he was staring at Harish in this way… He looked like he wanted to hurt him or something."
"Let's just act normal and try to figure out some more about the three of them." George said and his twin nodded.
POTS-OF-FISH-BREWING—DEATH-EATER/DUMBLEDORE-ALERT
The next morning, at precisely ten o' clock, Harish's father apparated into the Weasley's sitting room. Everyone took in the man's dark appearance, his tall figure, and his pale pointed pace. The twins noticed how much Harish resembled his father. He had brown hair and the same facial structure as the superior looking man. Immediately the two boys hopped up and started shaking Mr Blake's hands.
"It's so nice to finally meet you!" they chorused.
When they had sat back down, the man turned to Harish and said, "Harish, it is time to go now."
"Okay!" Harish chirped happily, gripping his father's forearm.
The man then turned to the senior Weasleys. "Thank you for the hospitality you have shown my son." He said just before they apparated back home.
"Did you miss me, father?" Harish asked, once they reappeared in Voldemort's study.
Voldemort looked at the boy with uncertainty. He did not miss the boy… Did he? He opened his mouth, but for the first time he could remember, he had no idea what to say. He didn't want to have missed the boy, but he couldn't tell him that he hadn't missed him. His mind went blank and he began to panic, looking for a way out of this situation.
"Yes, I do believe I did," He heard, not sure whether the words had come out of his mouth or not. Then, he felt something in him, snap as he finally realized that he had missed Harish.
He had grown accustom to always hearing the boy playing or reading, but this year, the manor had been completely silent. He watched the boy smile happily and walk away. How could he continue being a dark lord, if he felt love for this boy! Dark lords don't love people! He sat heavily in his desk and put his face in his hands. Why did he have affection for this child? He tried not to love the thing, but he couldn't help it.
He sighed. There were probably plenty of dark lords that had children that they cared for. Plus, the whole reason he had adopted the boy was so that he could use the boy's powers. Caring for Harish wouldn't harm his plans. It would just mean that he had a son. There was no problem with that.
AWWW—HAWISH-BROKE-VOLDIE—HE-BEEN-NICEFIED
Christmas went off without a hitch and even though Harish had fun with his father, he couldn't wait to go back to school to see his friends again.