That evening, Mrs. Weasley assembled a party for Ron and Hermione. Harry supposed Deja vu would be a normal feeling at this point. It was rather odd.

Harry heard Moody confirm the presence of the boggart upstairs. Harry frowned. It had really gotten to Molly... Maybe he could take care of it for her. She didn't deserve to see her kids die. Even if it was just a boggart.

Harry heard snippets of the others' conversation. Tonks was just as cheerful as ever talking with Ginny, Hermione and Remus were talking about rights, Ron was talking about brooms to anyone who'd listen.

Mrs. Weasley was trying to get Bill to cut his hair. "-getting really out of hand, and you're so good-looking, it would look much better shorter,wouldn't it, Harry?"

Harry was momentarily surprised at being dragged into the conversation. "Um. Well. Actually, at this point if he grew it out a little longer he could tie it back. I think that might suit him." 

"Thank you, Harry!" Bill exclaimed.

Harry made a quick escape, heading over to Fred and George, who happened to be by Mundungus. Mundungus got nervous, but the twins told him that Harry was their 'financial backer'. Somehow Harry helped the twins get a deal on illegal items by pointing out that Moody might see.

"... Why Dumbledore didn't make Potter a prefect?" Kingsley asked.

"He'll have his reasons." Remus replied.

"But it would've shown confidence in him. It's what I'd've done." Kingsley persisted. "Specially with the prophet having a go at him every few days."

Harry walked away. He didn't want to hear more of that. It didn't matter anyway.

Molly slipped from the room, and Moody approached Harry. "You all right, Potter?" He grunted.

"Yeah, fine." Harry said.

Moody took a sip from his hipflask, his magic eye staring at Harry. "Come here, I've got something that might interest you."

Moody pulled out the photograph of the original Order of the Phoenix. Sirius was his unknowing savior, catching Moody's attention so that Harry could escape. 

Harry took the stairs two at a time. And Damn! Molly was already crying. "Sirius!" Harry called out loudly, as he dashed into the room.

For a moment Harry froze at the body of Ron on the floor, that then changed to another Weasley. The transition was enough to send him back into motion, and he placed himself between Molly and the Boggart. The body vanished, and as soon as it did, Harry turned to look at Molly.

She was leaning heavily against the wall, wand in her shaking hand, sobbing. 

Sirius and Remus charged into the room, with Moody right behind them. "Help her!" Harry pointed to Molly. Remus did, while the other two were seemingly frozen in place.

Sirius and Moody were staring behind Harry. At Harry's boggart.

"I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black!" Bellatrix Lestrange crowed.

Harry went stiff, and turned to look. She looked just as she had at the ministry. "I killed Sirius Black, I killed Sirius Black!" She continued to singsong, the same thing he'd heard repeated in his nightmares since.

"Harry-" Sirius said, and Moody moved toward the Boggart. Harry didn't notice.

"I killed Sirius Black, I killed Sirius Black!" She cackled.

A snarl curled on Harry's lips for a moment, and he shoved his palm out towards the Bellatrix. Wispy threads of color almost seemed to lash through the air, and she screeched in pain for a fraction of a moment before exploding into dust. 

For a moment, it was silent, except for Molly's subsiding sobs. Harry's fingers relaxed, and his arm fell to his side. Harry turned to walk from the room.

"I thought your boggart was a Dementor." Remus blinked.

Harry didn't reply.

"I've never seen that before." Moody grunted, his magic eye looking between Harry and where the boggart had been. "That wasn't a spell."

Harry didn't have an answer. His heart still felt like it had fallen into his gut.

Sirius carefully reached out to Harry, setting a hand on his shoulder.  Molly sobbed into Remus' shoulder, while the man tried to calm her down.

Then Moody walked straight for Harry. "Now, why was Bellatrix Lestrange your boggart?" He asked Harry is a quiet, gravelly voice. "You've never even seen the madwoman. Unless from a photo, but even then you wouldn't have her voice. And you certainly don't have a reason for her to be your boggart."

"Did you not hear what she was saying?" Harry returned. 

Moody narrowed his two eyes. 

"Your greatest fear... Is my death?" Sirius asked Harry.

Harry looked where the boggart had been. "I..." Her voice still rang through his head. He felt sick.

"If it was just your death he was afraid of, why didn't we just see your body?" Moody retorted.

"I... I'm going to throw up." Harry said, and walked out of the drawing room and charting a course for the shortest route to the bathroom. After he had washed out his mouth, something else caught his attention.

Sirius and Moody were in a shouting match. After a moment, more voices joined in. Harry returned to the drawing room, but couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on. "Hey!" Harry shouted, but it only added to the din. The locket practically hummed against his skin.

"Stop!" Harry shouted. "Stop!" For a few excruciatingly long seconds, everyone but Harry seemed frozen in time. Again, Harry saw traces of wispy color wrapping around them. Then all at once, they regained control of themselves, and the color was gone.

Harry felt fifteen again. His scar hurt, he was angry, he was scared. "Please stop." Harry whispered in the silence that followed that moment.

Sirius took a gentle hold of Harry, and began to lead him away from the others that had gone upstairs to investigate the noise. Remus followed closely behind. Harry might've thought he heard his old professor mention hot chocolate, but it didn't register in Harry's mind.

Harry had done two things of accidental magic in the past half hour. He'd just seen the embodiment of his most recurring nightmare.

Sirius sat Harry down, and then took a place right beside him. Sirius kept a hand at Harry's back, between his shoulders. "She's the one who did me in, then?"

Harry nodded.

Sirius went silent. Hot cocoa was set down in front of Harry, and Sirius as well. It took Harry a long moment to remember that you were supposed to consume said substance. When he reached for the mug, his hands were still shaking enough that Harry absently thought he'd spill it.

"I promise." Sirius said.

"What?"

"I promise I won't leave the house."

Harry looked at him in surprise. Sirius was staring at the wall, and then looked down at his godson. Sirius managed a half smile for a second.

"Thank you." Harry whispered.

Remus sat down on the other side of Harry, and gave his shoulder a brief squeeze.

"Did you see it?" Harry asked, just as quietly as before.

"See what?" Remus asked.

"The color." 

"The color?" 

"When the boggart... And when they stopped..."

Remus and Sirius exchanged a look. Sirius' hand moved to Harry's shoulder, and held him in a side hug. "We didn't see any color." He said carefully.

Harry frowned. He didn't know what was going on, what was happening. But Sirius and Remus were here. He reached out, and took one of their hands into each of his, feeling the warmth in them and letting them rest on his lap.

Harry closed his eyes, trying to enjoy the moment. Just a couple weeks ago, they'd both been dead. It hit him then, how much he could've had- how much he had lost before he'd even known what he had. He wanted this to last forever. 

The smell of the cocoa eventually lured his eyes open, and his hands had stopped shaking enough that he could drink it. Hesitantly, he released their hands to take a drink.

Then some of the Order filed into the room. Harry's brief respite was over.

"You should get more control over that accidental magic." Moody said. "Especially with the ministry breathing down your neck."

"That's never happened before." Harry said.

"Reckon it might have something to do with that dark object hanging at your chest?" Moody glared. "You didn't think I wouldn't notice, did you?"

Damn. 

"Dark object? What's he talking about, Harry?" Arthur asked.

"I- I don't know." Harry frowned.

"Hand it over, boy." Moody said. "You shouldn't mess with things you don't understand."

Harry stood up abruptly. "I shouldn't mess with things I don't understand?"

"That's what I said." Moody said. "Now-"

"No." Harry said. "You think I don't understand-"

"You're just a boy!" Mrs. Weasley said.

"Just a boy who's old enough to be hunted! Voldemort has attacked me, tried to kill me-" Harry shouted. "But I'm not old enough to fight back?"

"He has a point." Sirius said.

"Shut up Sirius, this isn't about you-"

"No, you shut up!" Harry interrupted. "You listen to me for once in your lives! According to you, I'm old enough to be murdered, but I'm too young to defend myself. What the hell kind of logic is that?"

He saw looks that passed over their faces, but he didn't stop talking.

"Next time I run into Voldemort, should I just drop my wand and let him kill me? Is that what you'd like?" Harry's gaze was murderous. "Well, that's not what I'd like. I'm going to destroy him. That isn't debatable. So are you going to let me or are you going to get in my way?"

"This isn't your responsibility-"

"Not my responsibility?" Harry's throat hurt from the yelling, but he didn't stop. "Tell that to Voldemort. Tell that to all the people Voldemort has killed. Tell that to the people he will kill if he isn't stopped. Tell that to their families, when they have to bury their parents, bury their children."

Then Harry stormed from the room.

~~~

Harry sat down on his bed, and set his searing forehead in his hands. Harry hadn't worn the locket this long before. Even when it had just been Harry and Hermione, they had taken turns each day.

Now, it was almost like a constant anger just under the surface. Harry hated it. He had been quick to anger before he'd died- while he was still a horcrux. After it was gone he'd felt far calmer. Now the anger was back, and Harry was still trying to be as calm as he used to be. Logic over dark magic was hard.

Hermione and Ron slipped into Harry's room, and he wasn't surprised.

"Blimey, mate, that was some speech." Ron said.

"Thanks." Harry said awkwardly. He sat up straighter, and tried to ignore the pain.

"Ron's right. That was something that needed to be said." Hermione said, then sat down next to Harry. "But what was Moody talking about? Do you have a dark object?"

"No, 'course not." Harry told her.

"Are you sure?" Ron asked. "Moody's an Auror, he's got that freaky eye-"

"I don't have a dark object." Harry said. "Maybe there's so much dark magic in this house that he got confused."

"Yeah, I'd probably get confused too." Ron said. "This house still gives me the creeps."

"If all the dark stuff got cleared out, I think it could be quite lovely." Hermione said.

"But it's still full of dark stuff." Harry said.

Hermione nodded.

Ron sat down at the foot of Harry's bed, and Harry scooted over so that they could all sit and see each other. 

"Excited to be prefects?" Harry asked them.

"Well, yeah!" Ron said, "I'm a little worried about what Moody said, y'know, the extra hexes coming my way..."

Harry smiled. "Oh, yeah, definitely glad I didn't get the badge. Already got enough coming my way."

Ron's face fell slightly. "Are you okay, Harry? I mean, I don't know why they picked me over you-"

"Because you were the better choice." Harry said simply. 

"Do you really mean that?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. I do." Harry said.

Fred and George apparated into the room then. 

"Well, Harry-"

"-We gotta say-"

"We're quite impressed." They finished in unison.

Ron snatched his broom from George. "Keep your grubby mitts off it."

"How come Mum got you this one-"

"-It's expensive!"

Ron frowned. "I don't know."

"Happy early Christmas." Harry said.

Their eyes went wide.

"I didn't buy the whole thing, I just pitched in." Harry said quickly. "Told your Mum the money'd go to better use in a broom than some chocolates."

"Mum actually let you do that?" Fred asked.

"Yeah. I guess I had a convincing argument." Harry said. 

"So- Do you have a dark object? Like Moody said?" George asked.

"No!" Harry said. "Do I look like I'd want a dark object?"

"Okay, okay," Fred said. "Sorry."

"No, you're not." Harry said.

"No, we're not." They chorused in agreement.

"What happened upstairs?" Hermione asked.

"There was a boggart." Harry shrugged.

"A boggart caused that big of a ruckus?" Ron asked incredulously, having dealt with his own in third year.

"I guess." Harry said.

"Oh, come on!" George said.

"Details!" Fred added.

"Your Mum got upset, so I stood closer so that it'd be my boggart instead. Then Sirius and Remus got there, Moody right behind. Remus went over to your Mum, to check on her. And then Moody didn't like my boggart." Harry said.

"Was it You-Know-Who?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. 

"Then what was it?" 

"Doesn't matter. It didn't make sense." Harry said, "But I think I killed it."

"You can't kill a boggart." Hermione frowned. "They aren't alive in the first place."

"They're like ghosts." Fred said.

"Like Peeves, really." George said.

"I don't know," Harry said. "But it isn't there now."

A/N

Not all sunshine and rainbows at Grimmauld Place, eh?
Don't forget to vote if you enjoyed! It's great to see the support this story's gotten already.