Harry had to fake surprise at the feast he was greeted with when he and Arthur got home. He faked relief at his clearing. He caught a slight hint of disappointment on Sirius' face, and found a moment to slip away from everyone else and talk to him.

"Sirius." Harry said, catching his attention.

"Harry. Congratulations are in order." Sirius smirked.

"I know... I know you don't want to be alone here." Harry said. "I promise that when this is over, I'll stay with you. You just have to stay alive. That's all you have to do. Stay alive so that I can come home."

Sirius pulled him into a hug. "We'll be a proper family." His godfather whispered.

"Well, I don't know about 'proper'," Harry said, "But we'll be a family for sure."

Sirius laughed, and let Harry out of the hug, only to ruffle his hair.

"Oi!" Harry complained, but the warmth that the gesture gave him far outweighed momentary annoyance.

~~~

There were several times someone made a comment, and it made Harry's skin itch with irritation. He knew it was the locket that was causing the reaction, and buried it as best as he could. He really did need to find a better place to keep it than on himself.

The second time he'd felt the locket's effect, it had been accompanied by a slight burn at his scar. Which answered another question he'd had. He was still a horcrux. 

Harry tried not to think about that. He was a walking, breathing, horrible dark magic artifact. He was connected to Voldemort in the worst way possible.

Ron made a comment about nasty slytherins once, and Harry had to promptly leave the room. As his blood cooled from boiling, Harry reminded himself that this Ron hadn't outgrown his prejudice against slytherins. Harry realized he wouldn't very well be able to keep a farce of hatred for the green clad house.

Well, maybe. Depended on how much of a git they were. Harry would probably just find them more annoying than evil, if he was honest with himself. 

And damn, he'd gotten comfortable in his truce with Draco Malfoy. They weren't friends, but they were... Friendly acquaintances? Classmates that didn't hold ill intent to the other? Harry didn't know if he'd be able to break the habit he'd been used to with eighth year Draco Malfoy. The banter they shared then was friendly, and they even showed concern for each other.

Harry pushed Draco Malfoy and slytherins in general from his mind. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. He'd noticed that his appetite was gone over the past days, but he'd thought it was from his illness around the time hopping. Now, as he looked at his bare chest, he came to a different conclusion.

He didn't look like a skeleton, but he could still see his ribs standing out more than they should if he had been healthy. He guessed Mrs. Figg's description of 'rather skinny' was more appropriate than he'd realized previously. Harry tugged his shirt back on, and made a note to himself to be careful when he ate. He didn't want to overdo it and puke it all up again.

Harry missed having gotten clothes that actually fit him. Oddly enough, it was Malfoy who'd actually gotten that fixed for him. The slytherin claimed it was because he didn't want to see Harry's horrid 'clothes, if you can even call them that' around the eighth years' dorm. Harry had been incredibly lost on that trip, but Malfoy had seemed thrilled about making a fool of Harry.

On another occasion Harry had to hold back the unwanted anger, he took solace with Hedwig. He buried his face and fingers into her feathers. At first she'd seemed a bit startled, but then she'd warmed up to it. She even closed her eyes and leaned into Harry's touch when he found the perfect spot for scritches. 

Harry lost track of time when he did that. Her happy little hoots and trills distracted him from everything. He didn't think about her death, he didn't think about horcuxes or Voldemort. Harry laughed when Hedwig's trills startled Ron. Most people didn't expect the shrill tones or bark-like quacking from the beautiful snowy owl.

As Harry combed his fingers through her feathers, he wondered if he still had his animagus shape. After all, if he was still a horcrux then he probably wasn't still an animagus. He wouldn't deny that the idea was disappointing.

Harry had thoroughly confused a few members of the Order when he walked downstairs with Hedwig sitting faithfully on his shoulder. Molly was the only one who said anything about it, and she complained that 'why couldn't Pigwidgeon behave like that'. The others just took a long moment to be confused, and then did their best to ignore it, seeing as Hedwig wasn't causing any trouble.

Sirius noted Harry's quiet joy with Hedwig. He leaned over to Harry and whispered a question. "What's with the new accessory?"

"I missed her." Harry said softly.

"You missed her?" Sirius frowned, keeping the conversation quiet.

"She took a killing curse aimed at me." Harry replied, as Hedwig leaned precariously to the side for scritches, much like a cat would.

"Oh." Sirius said.

Harry found that he understood more of Hedwig's attempts at communication than he had before. It just clicked. Ron thought he was losing a couple marbles when Harry talked to Hedwig casually, asking her opinion about one of Ron's comments.

Hedwig had given an owlish quack, and promptly gone to preen at her already perfect feathers. "She thinks it's rubbish." Harry had told Ron. Hermione had giggled rather loudly.

George and Fred apparated into the room. 

"We heard giggles-" George said.

"-What's the gossip?" Fred finished.

"Harry said Hedwig thinks my plan is rubbish." Ron complained.

"Well it seems to us-" Fred said.

"-That Hedwig's the only sane one here." George finished.

"You didn't even hear my plan!" Ron said.

"Didn't need to." George replied.

"What other words of wisdom does she have for us?" Fred asked.

Harry looked at Hedwig. "Well, she thinks you should use your legs to move, like respectable individuals." Hedwig did indeed seem nonplussed about the apparition.

"Blimey-" Fred said.

"-Has our dear Harry learned to speak-"

"-With our feathery friends?"

"It's not that hard." Harry said. "She can talk just fine, she just doesn't use English."

Fred and George exchanged a look. 

"You two will leave Hedwig alone." Hermione warned them. "Or I will send Ginny your way with rather complex hexes."

This time the twins shared a brief look of fear.

~~~

On the last day of the holidays, Ron came into the room. "Booklists have arrived." Ron said, and tossed one of the envelopes he was carrying to Harry. "About time, I thought they'd forgotten. They usually come much earlier than this..."

Harry didn't bother opening his.

Fred and George apparated into the room, and startled Harry.

"We were just wondering who assigned the Slinkhard book-" Fred said conversationally. 

"-Because it means Dumbledore's found a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher-" George said.

 "And about time too-" Fred added. 

"Oh?" Harry asked, having forgotten what he said last time he had this conversation.

"Well, we overheard Mum and Dad talking on the Extendable Ears a few weeks back," Fred told Harry, "and from what they were saying, Dumbledore was having real trouble finding anyone to do the job this year."

"Not surprising, is it, when you look at what's happened to the last four?" George said.

"One dead, one's memory removed, one sacked, and one locked in a trunk for nine months." Harry counted off, being careful not to mention anything from the future.

"What's up with you, Ron?" Fred asked.

Ron didn't answer, and Harry saw that he was standing very still, gaping at his Hogwarts letter. Ah. That's right.

"What's the matter?" Fred asked impatiently, walking around to look over Ron's shoulder. Fred's mouth fell open too.

"Prefect?" Fred said incredulously, "Prefect?"

George leapt forward, and snatched the envelope. He tipped it over and Harry saw the badge fall into his palm. "No way," He whispered.

"There's been a mistake," Fred said, snatching the letter out of Ron's grasp and holding it up to the light as though checking for a watermark. "No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect."

The twins turned to Harry then, and made their exclamations about how they thought he would have been prefect.

"Oh, Mum's gonna be revolting." George groaned, shoving the pin back at Ron.

Ron, who had been silent the whole time held the pin out to Harry, mutely asking if it was genuine. Harry didn't move to take it.

"Yeah. It's the real deal." Harry said. "A prefect."

Hermione appeared in the doorway, having just caught Harry's words. "Did you-? Did you get-?" She spotted the badge that Ron was still holding out toward Harry, and shrieked. "Me too, Harry! Me too!"

"No, Hermione." Harry said calmly. "Ron is prefect."

"Ron?" Hermione blinked.

"It's my name on the letter." Ron said.

"I..." Hermione seemed just as flustered as Ron. "Wow, well done! That's really-"

"Unexpected." George finished, nodding.

"No," Hermione frowned, blushing slightly. "That's not what I was-"

The door opened wider, and Mrs. Weasley came in with a pile of fresh laundry. "Ginny said the book lists had come at last," she said, glancing around at all the envelopes as she made her way over to the bed and started sorting the robes into two piles. "If you give them to me I'll take them over to Diagon Alley this afternoon and get your books while you're packing. Ron, I'll have to get you more pajamas, these are at least six inches too short, I can't believe how fast you're growing... What color would you like?"

"Get him red and gold to match his badge." George suggested, smirking.

"Match his what?" She asked absently, folding a pair of socks.

"His badge," Fred said. "His lovely, shiny, new prefect's badge."

It took a moment for the words to sink in. "His... But... Ron, you're...?"

Ron held up his badge.

Mrs. Weasley let out a shriek like Hermione's. "I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Oh, Ron, how wonderful! A prefect! That's everyone in the family!"

"What are Fred and I, next-door neighbors?" George said indignantly, as his mother pushed him aside and flung her arms around her youngest son.

The memory played out in what he thought was how it had happened before, if the sense of Deja vu was anything to go by. Eventually the others left, except for Hermione.

"Harry?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"Congratulations." Harry said, and this time 'round he meant it. "You've earned this."

"Thanks." Hermione said, and blushed slightly. "Erm... Can I borrow Hedwig to tell Mum and Dad? I mean... Being prefect is something they can understand..."

"Of course." Harry said, and loosed two soft, quiet whistle notes. Hedwig was an owl, and flew silently, so when she landed on Harry's shoulder she took him by surprise. Harry pointed her to Hermione. Hedwig then flew over to the desk nearest Hermione.

Hermione tilted her head. "You've gotten really good at communicating with her."

Harry frowned slightly. "I have?"

"Clearly." Hermione said, walking over to the desk. "When did you work that out with her?"

"I don't... I didn't work it out with her." Harry said. "I think... Maybe I just started talking to her more like her? And not a human? I dunno. I didn't mean to do anything different."

"Well, whatever you did has turned pretty well, I think." Hermione said, finding a sheet of parchment and a quill.

Harry walked over to her, and offered a hug. She gladly accepted. He pressed a brotherly kiss to her temple before letting her go. "I really do mean it, Mione. You've earned this. I'm not upset."

Hermione gave him a thoughtful look. "You've been acting so strange lately."

"Don't mean to be." Harry said. 

"So you know that you've been off?" Hermione frowned. "Are you okay?"

"I spent the summer at the Dursleys, and was attacked by dementors, and put on trial in front of the entire Wizengamot." Harry said. 

"That is a fair point." Hermione admitted.

Harry shook his head, smiling. "You do realize what this means, right?" He asked, pointing to Hermione's badge.

"What do you mean?" Hermione frowned.

"If Ron was made prefect, then so was Malfoy." Harry said. "You're gonna have to keep Ron from going after him."

"Do you really think Malfoy is a prefect?" Hermione asked, frowning slightly.

"I do." Harry said. "But I also think that won't be as much of a problem as you might think."

"Right. Well, I'm a prefect too." Hermione said. "So that ought to count for something."

"That it does." Harry said. "Now, write that letter. Your parents will be excited to hear."

A/N

Double update this week :) See you again at the scheduled time.
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