A/N Please review!

Disclaimer- It's JK Rowling's, not mine.

It had been a long day at work, and Harry was running late to the Burrow for a family get together. "Bloody paperwork," he muttered to himself as he reached the assigned fire and threw a handful of floo powder in, shouting 'the Burrow!'

Throwing his hands out to steady himself, Harry Potter clambered out of the fire and began to make his way into the kitchen- normally the hub of the Weasley household. However, suddenly he noticed that something was different.

Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were each sat around the living room, staring at him rather unnervingly.

"Um.. hi?" he said tentatively, feeling slightly confused, "Sorry I'm late- paperwork a mile high, and-"

He was about to continue, but Mrs Weasley interrupted.

"Have you seen the Daily Prophet today, Harry dear?"

"No, I-" Harry groaned. That must have been why Harris was so keen to keep hold of the paper, and why everyone was shooting furtive looks at him all day. In the end, he had snapped at young Ronolfson for putting him off his work, practically reducing him to dust. Flopping into a chair, Harry glanced around at them.

"What is it this time?" he asked tiredly. "I'm used to it by now, I don't care about what rubbish Rita Skeeter has come up with about a love triangle or feud in the Potter household."

"This isn't what the article is about, Harry" said Ginny quietly.

"Look, I've told you everything about the war. It can't be something new."

"It's not about that either, mate." Said Ron, as Harry glanced over at him in confusion. Hermione was gazing at him with an expression bordering on horror. When she saw Harry looking at her, she sighed impatiently.

"Just read it, Harry,"

Still in confusion, Harry picked up the Daily Prophet and was about to flick through to find the article, before noticing the front page was emblazoned with a picture of him looking worn out- probably on the way home from work in the past week or so.

"Hmmm- font page worthy" he said dryly. "It must be good. Let's see."

He began to read the article aloud: 'Harry Potter: The Tragic Childhood."

He snorted.

"Hardly breaking news."

Nobody else laughed.

Then, he began to scan the article. 'As we all know, Harry Potter's childhood was tragically blighted by the death of his parents, leaving him an orphan. However, as the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal, his childhood was also blighted by abusive guardians."

Harry felt as though water had filled his ears. All these years spent moving beyond this, and carving out a new happy family, and something like this had to remind him. He scanned the rest of the page. 'Violent Uncle', 'Starved', 'Locked away in cupboards for weeks on end, perhaps to blame for his unhealthy appearance', 'Punished for accidental magic', 'Neglected', 'Saviour of the wizarding world treated like a criminal by his relatives', 'Fulfilling the duties of a house elf.'- Hermione would have liked that one, he thought wryly.

Once Harry reached the end of the article, he took a few deep breaths, and risked a look at the occupants of the living room. They were all watching him cautiously, as if he was about to blow up at any moment.

"How did she-" he burst out, angrily, before stopping himself. The damage had been done.

"So it's true?" asked Ginny.

Harry tried to avoid her gaze, but instead found himself pulled towards her eyes.

"I thought you knew," he murmured, shaking his head as if to shake water from it.

"How could I know if you didn't tell me?" shouted Ginny. Harry took an involuntary step backwards, then mentally shook himself. The article had brought back all these stress reactions which he had buried. He hoped that it had gone unnoticed.

He noticed Ron and Hermione glance at each other worriedly. Them Harry glanced back at Ginny. Her gaze had softened somewhat, but she was still visibly angry. The air around her seemed to crackle under the influence of her emotions, her long red hair accentuating her aura of anger.

"Look," began Harry heatedly, "It's all in the past now. The only reason I haven't gone into the specific details is because I didn't need reminding of it all. You all knew I hated them," he said, gesturing around the room. Hermione looked stricken.

"You must have known there was a reason for it. I mean, Ron," he said, holding his gaze, "You must have known when you rescued me in the flying Ford Anglia-"

At this, Ron looked slightly worriedly at Mrs Weasley, whose eyes flickered slightly at the mention of that particular escapade. Mr Weasley merely looked seriously at Harry.

"There was bars on my windows, for Christ's sake!" exclaimed Harry.

Ron nodded, looking guilty. "I s'pose- we did know they were awful. It's just when it's written down like that…"

His voice faded as he gestured towards the Daily Prophet article.

At this, Harry closed his eyes and sank into the nearest chair.

"If only the press would leave me alone," he muttered.

IN an unusual moment of tact, Ron seemed to detect a need to lighten the mood.

"No chance of that, is there mate. Not after you won Witch Weekly's 'Most Handsome Wizard' award the other year."

Harry glared at him, and threw a pillow across the room at him.

"Children," intoned Hermione, though her eyes betrayed humour.

"So," said Ginny, reaching for Harry's hand, "Can we go and hunt them down?"

Harry sighed. "No, Ginny. I'm over it. Anyway, they were terrified of magic. It's just a terrible combination of circumstances."

Ginny looked ready to complain, but Harry looked pleadingly around the room.

"Look, can we just- I don't want to think about it. I've got a new life now- a new family."

"What do you mean, a new family!" Ron spluttered, glaring at Harry in outrage.

The entire room burst into laughter.

"Honestly, Ronald," laughed Hermione. "Don't be ridiculous."

Harry and Ginny glanced at each other.

"Well, actually," began Ginny.

Mrs Weasley's eyes filled with tears, whilst Ron looked ready to explode.

Ginny and Harry fell about laughing.

"Honestly, mate," chuckled Harry, "I'll know to be on my guard when it's really time!"

A/N – Bit of a random one shot that came into my head. Please review!