Harry hugged his older brother Bill as tight as he could, not wanting to let go; Bill had recently graduated from Hogwarts and had managed to get a job as a curse breaker with Gringotts bank, who were sending him on his first assignment to Egypt.
"I don't want you to go," Harry whimpered into Bill's shirt, making Bill smile down,
"I know, little brother, but it's not like I'll be gone forever, you know? I'll come back to visit before you even realize I'm gone."
"You promise?" Harry asked softly, looking up at his adopted brother,
"I promise," Bill replied with a wink, making Harry giggle before he pulled away and stepped back so the rest of the family could give hugs of their own.
Now, you'll remember to be careful, won't you?" Molly asked as she gave her eldest a warm hug,
"Don't worry, mum," Bill laughed, "I'll be fine; I doubt they'll let me into any of the hazardous tombs until I have more experience,"
"I should hope not!" Molly said quickly, making Bill laugh,
"Be safe, Bill," Arthur said quickly as he gave his son a hug,
"I will, dad. I'll write once I have something worth writing about!" Bill said with a smile that made Arthur grin happily;
with a final wave to his family, Bill took hold of an old tin can and disappeared without a trace a second later.
XXXX
It had been a year since Harry had first appeared at the burrow, and were you to look at the child now, you would never be able to see the scared little boy he had once been. In contrast, once Harry had been shy and withdrawn, flinching any time someone tried to touch him, he was always smiling and laughing alongside his brothers and sister.
Thanks to Dora Tonks (who had made it known to everyone that she had adopted Harry as her little brother, much to Ginny's chagrin), Harry had even gotten much better at his shapeshifting powers, though nowhere near as good as Dora; he was still able to change his hair on command now as well as his eyes and skin pigment, which he did quite often.
Today, Harry was sitting in the living room with Ron, playing a game of wizard chess; so far, Harry had lost every game that he played against Ron, and yet it did not discourage him; instead, it seemed to make Harry more determined than ever to finally beat his brother, if only once.
As Molly began washing up after breakfast, a small grey owl suddenly swooped through the window and landed on the table in front of her; curious, Molly took the letter it had in its beak and slowly read it before producing a quill and writing back a quick response, which the owl took in its beak and flew off with.
"What was that, mum?" Ron asked as he put Harry in check for the third time,
"It was a letter from the Lovegoods; they want to know if I would watch Luna for a few hours while they celebrate their anniversary, which I told them I would happily do," Molly replied warmly,
"Who's Luna?" Harry asked,
"She's a sweet girl, Ginny's age; you'll like her," Molly replied,
"Mental is more like," Ron said softly,
"Ron!" Molly barked, making Ron turn pink,
"Well, she is!" Ron countered,
"She is NOT mental," Molly said sternly, "She is a sweet girl, and you will behave yourself when she gets here, do you understand me?!"
"Yes, mum," Ron replied softly as he put Harry in checkmate for the third time in less than an hour,
"Want to play again?" He asked Harry, who nodded quickly.
XXXX
An hour later, Harry was introduced to a small pale girl with long silver hair and silvery-blue-gray eyes; what caught Harry's attention the most, however, was her outfit; Luna was dressed in a bright yellow dress with an equally bright pair of red shoes, and around her neck was a necklace of what looked like bottlecaps.
"What are you wearing?" Ron had asked thoughtlessly, making the girl tear up a little before Harry had elbowed Ron in the side and come to her rescue,
"I like your dress," Harry said softly as he approached her, "It's very pretty."
Luna had looked at Harry with surprise at that before a small smile came across her face, and she muttered something too softly for Harry to hear,
"Would you like to come play with us?" Ginny asked as he held out her hand to her, "We're going to play hide and seek."
Luna nodded at Ginny, though her eyes were still on Harry, and a little pink had spread across her face, much to Harry's bemusement; as Ginny led Luna outside, Harry stopped Ron and whispered to him,
"Don't make fun of Luna anymore, okay?"
"Why? She's freaky," Ron retorted quickly,
"So was I once, remember?" Harry replied, making Ron pale for a moment before he nodded his head in understanding, and the two followed Ginny and Luna outside.
Listening from the kitchen, Molly smiled and dabbed at the tears in her eyes; she had been about to say something when Harry had spoken up in Luna's defense and had been so proud of her adopted son when she heard what he said; Harry had come a long way from how he had been when he had first arrived, and it warmed her heart to see that he could understand Luna better than anyone else.
XXXX
Over the following weeks, it became evident how much of an impact Harry had on Luna as she would often ask to come to the burrow to play, and even Ron had warmed up to her after a few tense visits; Harry seemed to be her favorite person at the burrow and could often be found close to Harry, who would often make her laugh by changing his hair color for her.
One day, after a very intense game of tag, Luna was coloring with Ginny when Harry suddenly began laughing hysterically from the bathroom; a moment later, he came out to show how he had given himself a pig's snout, making Ginny and Luna collapse in laughter; Ron and the twins came downstairs a moment later to see what all the fuss was about and seeing Harry, had begun likewise laughing without control.
"Suits you, mate!" George called between breaths,
"Maybe we should start calling you Hoggy instead!" Fred added, wiping tears away,
"What's going on out here?" Molly asked as she and Jaya walked out of the kitchen from making lunch,
"Hi, mum!" Harry replied, turning to her, and making her stare at him for a moment before dissolving in fits of laughter,
"Master Harry! What happened to your face!" Jaya cried as she, too, began laughing at the absurdity of what she was seeing.
"I was practicing like Dora taught me, and I finally managed to change my face!" Harry laughed,
"Any chance you can change it back?" Molly replied with a smile, "I'd rather not have a piggy for a son if it's all the same to you."
Harry closed his eyes tight for several seconds, and Molly began to worry as nothing happened; then, to her relief, Harry's face began to morph and change until, at last, he looked the way he usually did, albeit with bright green hair, that was currently his favorite color.
The family shared another laugh before Molly ushered everyone into the dining room for lunch; as they moved to sit down, Molly noticed with a grin that Luna was holding Harry's hand, to his embarrassment and her delight.