kbinnz - Harry's New Home

" 'M sorry," Harry gulped. He was too. He thought his heart had stopped when Seth came off the broom.

"No harm done тАУ except to my nerves," Brunhilde said cheerfully, approaching with Seth in tow. "But I think we're done with flying for the day."

"Indeed!" Snape snapped, shrinking the three brooms and putting them in his pocket.

"Sorry," Seth mumbled, staring at the ground so that he wouldn't have to see his brother's annoyed expression.

Harry put an arm around his shoulder. "It's okay. I should've known better," he admitted.

Jonah huffed in exasperation and looked away, but Seth felt a little better. At least Harry didn't hate him.

"What can we do now, if we can't fly anymore?" Jonah asked, a bit grumpily.

Harry looked over at his da. Surely they wouldn't have to leave?

"I think we should have some ice cream to recover from the shock," Brunhilde said firmly. "Therapeutic chocolate, yes?"

The boys perked up instantly.

"Go find us a picnic table while we get the treats," she instructed, linking her arm in Snape's. "If you aren't sitting quietly when we get back, we'll eat all the ice cream ourselves!" she threatened.

Seth and Jonah laughed, and even Harry had to grin. What's more, his da had lost his grumpy look and was looking at Brunhilde with an almost soft expression. "You're much too lenient," Snape remonstrated with her, but it was clear to all that his heart wasn't really in it.

She tugged the normally dour man off and the boys, not wanting to risk losing their ice cream, ran to find an unoccupied table. There were a lot of families at the park, but they eventually found an empty table way off at the edge of the nearby woods.

"Here," Jonah called to the others. Harry and Seth hurried over, but Seth promptly tripped over a tree root and went sprawling.

"You all right?" Harry stooped to check on the younger boy.

"You need to watch where you're going," Jonah scolded, even as he helped his brother up.

Seth pulled free, coloring. "I'm fine!"

Jonah rolled his eyes and pointed to the boy's scraped knees. "Yeah, you're so fine you're bleeding," he snapped. "Give me your handkerchief and I'll go to the fountain and get it wet so we can clean you up before Brunhilde sees."

"I'll do it myself," Seth protested, but Jonah just pushed him onto the picnic table's bench and hurried off.

Seth hunched his shoulders and grimaced horribly at the table. "I'm not a baby!" he muttered. "I could've done it myself. I don't need anybody's help!"

Harry sat down next to him and patted his shoulder sympathetically. "I know you could've," he assured the other boy, "but sometimes it's good to let other people help you. Y'know, for a long time, I had to do everything myself because there was no one who wanted to help me."

Seth's eyes widened and he forgot his sulk. "But you're The Boy Who Lived! You're famous тАУ everyone must want to help you!"

Harry laughed humorlessly. "I'm not famous in the Muggle world and my тАУ the people I lived with didn't like me one bit. So I had to learn to do everything for myself and not count on anyone's help." He glanced over at the younger boy. "Now I've got my da, and sometimes he doesn't let me do a lot of stuff that I know I can. He says I'm too young or it's too dangerous or whatever." Seth nodded. He got that a lot too. "But you know, as much as sometimes it makes me mad, it's still a lot better to have other people who care about you and want to keep you safe and to help you with stuff. That's how they show how much they love you, yeah?"

"Yea-ah," Seth said slowly.

"Sometimes it can be hard to let someone else help you, especially if you've been used to not trusting anyone or letting them close," Harry continued, as much to himself as to Seth, "but it really feels good when you do, when you let other people take care of you. Because, though I would hate to admit it to my da, we're not really big enough to take care of ourselves yet, and it's nice when you don't have to any more. You need to let other people help you and not try to keep stuff to yourself all the time or try to fix things all by yourself. If you do, you're likely gonna screw it up, and you make the other people feel bad too. I mean, Jonah wouldn't go to get the water if he didn't want to make you feel better, right?"

Seth smiled crookedly. "I guess not," he confessed. "And my knees really do sting."

"The water will help, and with the blood washed off, maybe no one will notice 'til after the ice cream," Harry grinned.

"Here." Jonah returned just then and bent to sponge off Seth's knees. He was a little surprised when his brother didn't protest or try to kick him away, but the younger boy just held still.

"Thanks," Seth said softly. "That feels better."

Jonah blinked in surprise. "You're welcome," he managed to say. "I'm your big brother; I'm supposed to help you out, y'know."

Seth smiled, though he kept his head down.

"Good thing your godmother doesn't get too cranky," Harry said once they were all seated and waiting for the ice cream. "I don't think my da would've let us have a treat except for her."

"Your da's pretty strict," Jonah observed.

"Yeah, he takes safety stuff really seriously," Harry acknowledged. "You really are okay, right?" he asked Seth.

The youngest nodded. "I was just a little scared," he admitted, blushing. "I mean, back when I first fell off."

"Are you kidding? I thought I was going to fall over when it happened! I don't think I was so scared even when I saw Voldemort in person!" Harry exclaimed.

"Honest?" Seth's eyes widened.

"Yeah, and your brother grabbed my arm so hard I think he left bruises," Harry added, much to Jonah's horror.

Seth spun to face his brother. "Really? Were you worried too?"

Jonah shrugged elaborately. "Well, I mean I'm used to you, y'know. It would beтАж weirdтАж if something happened to you. That's all."

Seth beamed. That was about as mushy as his older brother ever got, and it was a clear declaration that he had been frightened too. Suddenly Seth didn't feel like such a baby after all.

"What did I tell you, Igor?" A strange voice spoke from the nearby woods and startled the boys. "It is Harry Potter, and he's all by himself. Not an Auror in sight."

The children spun around to find that two men were standing by the table, looking at Harry with an evil gleam in their eye. "How much do you think he's worth? The Carrows would love to get their hands on him."

"Alive or dead?" the other man replied with a casualness that sent chills up Harry's spone. "I mean, he'd be a lot easier to transport dead."

"Go run for help," Harry hissed at the other boys, stepping between them and the men. He flicked his wrist and felt a little better when his wand flew into his hand from its holster. He knew he wasn't supposed to do magic over the holidays, but he suspected his da wouldn't mind one bit under these circumstances.

"Oh, look, Igor. The little brat thinks he's a big man and wants to fight," the first one sneered.

"Like I said, it's easier to kill him outright."

That did it. Harry remembered what Professor Flitwick had said about fighting against greater odds, and he sent a Stunner at the second man, then threw up a quick Protego when the first retaliated.

The second man ducked and grabbed for Harry's wand arm, then yelped in surprise as Jonah landed a punch in his stomach.

"Leave him alone!" Jonah yelled, flailing at the wizard with fists and feet.

Meanwhile, the first man directed a levitation charm at the bench near Harry and used it to knock him flying.

Harry struggled to his feet, only to find his wand arm seized in a grip of iron, while another hand clamped itself over his mouth, preventing him from yelling for help. "Come on! I've got him! Let's go!" the attacker shouted at the other wizard, dragging Harry towards the woods. "Get out the portkey."