...

Harry watched as the Minister left the hospital wing, unable to believe what he just heard. Fudge didn't believe Voldemort was back. Snape's Dark Mark, which was considerably more noticeable now, failed to convince him. So did Harry's suggestion of making a vow; Fudge insisted that since he believed it to be true that magic would deem it truthful.

Looking down at the bag of Galleons that had just been tossed onto the table next to him, Harry felt a wave of revulsion. It wasn't worth it, it wasn't worth any of this.

Arms wrapped around him, comforting and strong. Fred rested his chin on the top of Harry's head, feeling him trembling underneath.

"Voldemort's back because of me," Harry whispered.

"No, it's not. It's no one's fault but You-Know-Wh— Voldemort's." Fred's voice shook on the name, but he didn't recoil.

Harry swallowed a lump in his throat as the impact of the night fully hit him. Screwing his eyes shut, he tried to hold back the tears.

A loud slamming sound made him jump, accidentally banging his head against Fred's chin. Remus was standing by the window, hands cupped around something. "Sorry."

Sirius handed Harry the vial. "Here, more dreamless sleep potion."

Harry drank it in one gulp. Instantly, his eyelids grew heavy. He was vaguely aware of Fred lowering him back down into the bed before darkness enveloped him.

Over the course of the next month, students were avoiding Harry in the halls. Harry guessed they all believed Rita Skeeter's articles, which didn't surprise him one bit. Only his friends stayed with him, giving glares to anyone who spoke badly about Harry. The Gryffindors especially were wary with Fred there. He had been tempted to alter the canary creams into doing something slightly more malicious than just transforming the consumer into a canary for a minute, but George pointed out it wouldn't change anything.

The Leaving Feast was its own kind of awful, with Dumbledore announcing Voldemort's return and mentioning Harry's escape. Not everyone seemed inclined to take Dumbledore's words seriously, and Harry would wager that their parents would be the same.

As the students were headed for the train, Harry heard his name being called. It was Cedric, who had separated from his friends and was now running over.

"Hello," Harry said.

"Hey, look, I don't think this will make much of a difference, but I believe you. About You-Know-Who being back. And I know my parents do, too."

"Thank you." He was right; it wouldn't make a large impact, but after all the suspicious stares, Harry was more than happy to hear this.

"I tried to talk to the other Hufflepuffs," Cedric added. "Some of them looked like they might believe you, too. Anyway, that's all. Bye."

"I'm surprised Rita Skeeter hasn't said anything," George commented as he turned away.

Fred noticed the old vindictive gleam in Harry's eyes. "What did you do?" he asked.

"Me? Nothing." Harry looked up at his boyfriend innocently. "But remember how I was talking about the Muggle electronics and bugging?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I mentioned it to Moony and Padfoot. Remember that night in the hospital wing? Remus saw a beetle on the windowsill and caught her."

"A beetle?" Luna said. "I bet she's a very pretty beetle. Too bad her personality isn't."

"Blimey, Harry! You're brilliant!" Fred said.

Harry grinned. "I'm gonna have to ask him where she is now."

They found a compartment on the train and sat down.

"Oh, before I forget," Harry said, dumping the bag of Galleons into the twins' hands, "here."

"What?" Fred said.

"I don't want it. So here, take it. You know, for your joke shop."

"You're mental," George said.

"So I've heard. Now take it. Consider it a late birthday/extremely early Christmas gift or something."

"But—"

Harry took out his wand. "I will hex you if you don't accept."

"Okay, okay," George said quickly. In a loud whisper to his brother, he said, "Your boyfriend is scary."

"I know," Fred whispered back.

"And he can hear you," Harry said, beginning to braid Luna's hair.

"That's one good thing that came out of the tournament," she said.

"What's that?"

"You learned more spells. They'll be very handy, I'm sure."

Eventually, they reached King's Cross. Harry had barely stepped off the train when Sirius lunged forward and scooped him up in his arms. "Padfoot!" Harry yelped, laughing. "Put me down!"

"But I missed you!" Sirius whined.

"I miss you, too. Now let me go so I can hug Remus."

Remus laughed. "Ready to go?"

"Wait!" Fred said. "One more kiss?"

"Wha—?" Harry was cut off by Fred's lips on his own.

"I'll miss you, Harrykins. Remember to write, okay?" Fred ruffled his hair and skipped back to his family.

"Yeah," Harry said dazedly. He turned back to Remus and Sirius. "Let's go." He grabbed onto Sirius' arm and King's Cross disappeared from view.

Four years down, three more to go