Authors note: Hello everyone, for all of you that have been reading my other stories, I'm sorry to say they are gonna be on a bit of a break for a while because I need to work on this while I still have the inspiration, but I shall finish them. If you have any questions about anything that doesn't seem to be right, always check the bottom of the page. I do not own anything except my OCs that will be coming later and the plot, and maybe not even that at certain points. Enjoy :D

Prologue: a midnight spell

Never...

Never in a million years did he, the famous Harry James Potter, the boy-who-lived, the boy who killed he-who-must-not-be-named. Never in a million years had he thought he would have what he always longed for, a family. And right at this minute, one of them had just woken up, screaming their head off.

Harry was a light sleeper, always was, so it came as no surprise when a sudden shriek from the room next door startled him awake. His bright green eyes darting around, looking for any sign of disturbance. The room he was in would have been almost completely white during the day, but what else could be expected of a hospital. He had been on an auror mission, pretty average, but a couple of direct hits with the Sectumsempra curse and one hit to the chest with a poorly done though still painful Fiendfyre. He had multiple slashes all over his body, which, if it hadn't been for the healers, would be still bleeding. And the most painful of all his newly acquired injuries, would be the burn mark across his chest, which you wouldn't see through all the white bandages that covered most of his body. The only parts of his body that weren't covered in the white fabric where his head, though only his face was visible, and his wand hand, with, thankfully, his wand on the desk next to it.

Harry began to regain his senses as he remembered he wasn't at home, he wasn't being attacked, his family wasn't being attacked, everything was fine. He laid back his head against the soft pillow, slowly turning his eyes to the right, where a clock was set up by one of the healers next to his wand. It was twelve midnight. The room he was in was almost completely black, the only source of light coming from the open curtain windows, shadows were nowhere in sight as he turned to the double open doors to the left. The scream had come from behind those doors, where at this point, his family resided. When he was put into the hospital, his family had come immediately to the blank room and smothered him in gentle hugs and worried words, they had refused to leave his side until there wasn't a choice, then they simply went into the waiting room and slept there. Instead of silence befalling the room like before the noise, if Harry strained his ears hard enough, he could hear soft whimpers being uttered from beyond the doors.

Harry came to the conclusion that one of his children had woken up, because it certainly wouldn't be his wife. Ginny rarely ever woke up screaming in the middle of the night, and even if she did, she literally never started whimpering. James was also a definite no, he slept like a rock. Harry had tried to wake him up early one morning when they were supposed to go to the park and would only wake up when Ginny had thought enough was enough and tipped a glass of water over him, and even then he was slow. Little Lilly crossed his mind but then he thought back to about a week ago. She had woken up and was screaming and whaling until Harry had come in and got her back to sleep, which took three hours, from what he could remember. That only left one person, Albus. The middle child, and usually, the level headed kid among his brother and sister, James being the prankster and Lily being the little hyper child of the family.

Harry's heart was close to breaking point, the whimpers he was hearing from the waiting room were starting to turn into sobs, his heart felt like it was being ripped to shreds. He'd hate to see any one of his children in this position, let alone hear it. He wished so badly, wished that he could run out that door, scoop up Albus in his arms and hold him close. And he tried, he tried to get up, tried to sit up and run down the hall and through the doors to where his distressed child was, but the pain held him down, it made sure that he wasn't getting out of that bed. Like a big cold hand pushing him down, he couldn't even call to him, every time he tried it only came out as a mere whisper. Harry felt useless, he couldn't get to him, and Albus would never come to him unless he called. Sometimes he was way too polite for his own good, he never came to him unless it was about another family member, always keeping his own concerns to himself, he was pretty complex for a four year old.

Harry then remembered his wand, but would he be able to do it? Hopefully he had enough energy to cast the spell, and he would need a lot of it if he could only whisper the incantation. But with his son in such a state what was he supposed to do? What father would he be if he just left his son out there to be alone in this state. Something had to be done. He lifted his right arm from his side, the pain kicked in as soon as his arm left its resting place. His hand closed around the rigid wood of the wand which he never parted with, then he pointed it to the right side of his bed, and whispered with a rasping voice.

"Expecto Patronum"

With those two words, silver slivers of light began to whisk themselves out of the tip of his wand, coiling and curling as if blown by an invisible gust. More and more slivers poured out of his wand, combining into a shape that grew bigger and bigger with more strands added to it. After what felt like a minute, what stood before him would have been breath taking to others. The ghostly light of the magnificent stag seemed to cascade around the room, the shadows that where absent before now danced across the floor and walls. It's form shimmed as in shook its head, showing off the big antlers that sat on it's head as it glowed like an oversized candle light in a pitch black room. Harry took a minute to listen, the sobs where still continuing past the doors. His heart wretched as though it was being tugged out of his chest, he couldn't stand it anymore. He pointed his wand to his forehead, silently thanking Ginny for helping him discover this little trick as he spoke the incantation, and without even a noise, his head fell back on the pillow and his wand fell from his grip, clattering on the floor as his arm fell and swung for a bit over the edge of the bed.

Anybody would have just thought he had used the killing curse on himself, but thankfully, this was not the case.

He had really performed the bewitching sleep charm, it turned out that one day a few days ago, he had been working in his office to around about the same time as now, and Ginny had walked in telling him to go to bed. He didn't listen to her and summoned a patronus to relay the newest information he had found on a criminal they were tracking to his brother in law and one of his best friends, Ron Weasley. But at that point, Ginny was literally on her last straw, and with that, cast the charm on him and he fell limp. But to Ginny's utter amazement and shock, instead of fading away, the patronus had begun to yell at her with her husband's voice, asking what she did, but right about then, the patronus noticed Harry's body lolling in his chair, and then asked with the most confused voice in the world "why am I sitting in that chair when I'm talking to you now?"

They had figured out that somehow, when Ginny had put Harry to sleep while his spell was still active, that somehow (yes they still haven't figured it out) seemed to transfer Harry's own consciousness into his patronus, making it solid and last longer, and Harry could still feel and sense things the same way any human would. But when this wears off, he is basically knocked into a dreamless sleep, only to wake up at the usual time he would when he had taken a nape or something of the sort. That was exactly what was happening now, Harry saw his own body laying on the bed he had been on just a second ago. It still gave him the shivers when he saw this, but he couldn't dwell on it now, he strained his ears again for his son's sobs. Sure enough, he heard him, the small noise still audible from the waiting room. Slowly, he turned on the four hooves he now had and began to walk to the double doors, even though he new that his patronus was solid, there was no sound made when his feet hit the floor. It didn't even feel like he was walking on all fours, it still felt like the way he would usually walk around. He came to the sandy brown wooden door and slowly pushed it open. It felt like he was using his hand to push it open and the patronus mimicked him in its own way, by using its antlers racked upon its head.

The head of the stag peered through the door slowly, cautious to not make a sound. As he suspected, his family was still there, almost all of them sleeping silently on the green leathered couch. Well, all save James who was snoring like there was no tomorrow with his feet over the arm rest on the far left side. A small pool of saliva on the right side of his lolling head, his dark brow hair even messier then it usually was. Ginny sat by James's head, her head also lolling to the right, through no snore escaped her red lips. It was still apparent that she wasn't waking up anytime soon. It seemed almost everyone in the family inherited being deep sleepers from there mother, or maybe just the Weasley family in general. Her red hair seemed to be hanging round to the right as well, and in her arms, was little two year old Lilly, her brownish red hair still pretty short as she nestled in between her arms, a brown blanket draped over the both of them, and James splayed out on the floor.

Harry inwardly smiled at the sight of his family, but then noticed that another blanket seemed to be hanging half way off the seat. Harry noticed the sobs again, definitely not needing to strain his ears this time. He turned his head to the far left of the couch, not there. Turned back to the far right, not with his family either. He turned around, and sure enough, by the double doors, with his legs pulled to his chest and his tiny little hands cuddled around a small toy lion and wearing his plain blue PJs and almost jet black hair, was Albus. Harry couldn't believe he didn't notice him, he couldn't believe that Albus didn't notice a glowing stag walk into the room! There was something definitely wrong. He moved a bit closer to see how bad it was. Pretty bad. His face was pretty obscured by him smothering it into the toy, but Harry could still make out tears rolling down his face, which made is heart ache.

"Albus?" he called, his voice no longer confined to a rasping whisper.

The young four year old stopped, though his sobs turned back to small whimpers. His gaze slowly fell on the shining stag as it edged a bit closer, which caused him to immediately back up against the wall with a small yelp. It was to be expected, even if you live with a family that performs magic day in and day out. You don't usually see a glowing silver stag walk up to you and start speaking.

Albus's face was red from crying, his green eyes wide open with fear as he clutched the toy lion harder, as he tried to move even further back against the wall. Harry didn't move another step, afraid that if he did he would just further terrify his already petrified son.

"Al, Al it's ok, it's just daddy, there's nothing to be afraid of" he said in a calming tone.

Albus seemed to to visibly relax a bit, loosening his grip on the stuffed toy. Though he still refused to move away from the wall.

"D-daddy?" he asked, his voice quivering in response.

"Are you alright? I heard you scream and-" he didn't even get a chance to finish as Albus shot off and hugged the shining form and let loose with more sobs. Harry bent down and hugged him, or at least, it's what it felt like he was doing. In reality the stag bent it's neck down and rested it on the four year olds back, pulling him closer to his body as the tears continued to pour down his face.

"Sh, sh, it's alright, your safe with me, what happened?" he asked as the patronus rubbed it's head across his back, which seemed to calm him down a considerable amount as he continued to whimper against the stag's body.

"I-I had a nightmare, I dreamt t-that a big man came into our house an-and you and mummy and James and Lilly where on the floor and you weren't moving and-and this red stuff was coming out of your neck and... And..." he stopped in his tracks as more sobs came, his body shaking with the memory as it played over and over in front of his eyes.

"Sh, it's ok, the man is gone and where all still here. There's nothing to be afraid of, your safe" Harry spoke as his son's sobs increased, they just stood there for a moment or two, Harry let his son's sobs continue as he held him tight, unwilling to let his son be alone in this state. It was a while before Albus spoke again.

"And t-then, he started laughing at me and said I-I'm useless and just wouldn't stop" he whimpered.

"It's alright, your perfectly safe with me, and your not useless"

"Yes I am"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, I can't do magic. James and Lilly could both do it since they were one and I cant do anything" he exclaimed as he went back to sobbing, but that was when Harry had enough. He gently pried his son off him, then looked him in the eye as best as a silver stag could. His patronus's form reflected out through Al's bright green eyes. Those bright green eyes that so long ago, where his mother's. Many people said that he had his eyes, and it was true, every time he looked into his eyes he saw himself, and, of course, his mother too.

"Albus Severus Potter" he would use his full name when ever he started talking seriously "no matter what you hear, no matter what anyone says to you, no matter what... You are not useless, and you never will be, that I can promise you"

"R-Really?" he asked as the tears seemed to stop.

"Yes son, really. Never, and don't you ever think twice about what I'm saying now, because I will not hear of it, you are in no way useless"

For a moment, Albus just looked into the stag's silver glowing eyes, trying to process what his dad had just said. He felt so, happy, all the fear and sadness from moments ago just melted under his fathers words. Never in his short life that he's lived so far had he felt like this, though he still found it hard to believe. The stag looked at him with a loving gaze, then slowly reached forward, and nuzzled his cheek with its snout. Harry watched with utter joy as a small smile broke across his son's face and more tears poured down as he came out of his trance, he leaned into the touch, and after a few moments of this, Albus flung his arms out around its neck and and embraced the shining being in a hug.

They stood there for a while, they didn't know and they didn't care, but after a while, Albus couldn't feel anything for a moment, like he was holding nothing but air. Albus opened his eyes from where he stood, nothing, there was nothing there, no giant silver stag standing there glowing magnificently, nothing. Albus began to panic as he looked around, eyes darting everywhere looking for a glimpse of silver. His eyes finally fell on the double doors that lead to where his father had been resting, and with that, as fast as his short legs could carry him, burst through the double doors, falling flat on his face in the process.

"Albus?"

Albus would have started crying again if he hadn't heard that voice. The voice that he had heard only moments ago. He looked up from where he had laid. His joy came back with full force in three seconds flat, the very middle bed from where his father had been recuperating in, sat the very person who didn't even have it in him to speak a moment ago, was his dad.

"Daddy!" was all that left his mouth before he ran to him and jumped into his arms, very nearly making him fall back down as he held his middle son in a close embrace and chuckled to himself.

"I don't think we need to worry about you not being able to do magic" he stated with a wide grin.

"How come?" he asked, still not giving up the hug as he snuggled closer to his chest, his toy lion that he had been holding now resting on the floor, all but forgotten.

"Well other than the fact that you were hugging me out in the waiting room and now I'm suddenly able to sit up and talk normally, try lifting your left hand"

He gave his father a puzzled look before complying to the request, and there, where his tiny hand had just been, was one of the many cuts he had a second ago, disappearing before his green eyes. When it was all gone, he turned back to his dad, completely speech less and mouth a gape.

This only lasted a minute before he was grinning ear to ear, tears of complete and utter joy rushing down his face like there was no tomorrow. And with that, the cheers began, they cheered for who knows how long before Ginny and the others walked in. Or rather James walked in and Ginny carried Lilly in her arms. After Harry explained to Ginny what happened, James only hearing the part with the patronus and Albus being able to do magic. After that, everyone started cheering and congratulating Albus in there happiest voices. Even Lilly seemed to know what was going on as she kept chanting "Albi, Albi, Albi!" like the parade was on.

The very next day resulted in them going to the ice-cream parlour (not the muggle one of course) to celebrate. For the rest of the day, Albus, James and Lilly couldn't stop bouncing off the walls.

Authors note: as promised, explanations are right here. First for the whole patronus thing, that I can't really explain too well on how it happens, but I can explain the new ups and downs to this.

Ups: when this effect is, well, in effect, the casters consciousness is transferred into their patronus, giving it a lot more power and the effect of being solid. This also results in them being able to control it a lot better and the time of how long the spell is active is no longer hindered by focus on that happy memory (though you still need that happy memory to conjure the patronus in the first place)

Downs: this effect, even though not hindered by the happy memory, only lasts an hour (though one can build up there magical energy to make it last longer). When the effect wears off, the caster will be knocked into a state of dreamless sleep for up to the same amount of time.

The last down is that the patronus can no longer go through walls or windows or anything because it is now solid (though it can still fly)

Now for Albus's first little bit of magic, well it seems to me after watching the movie a continuous amount of times, that the first bit of magic is caused by a very strong bit of emotion from the candidate, which in Albus's case was, happiness. We should also remember that the first use of magic often ends up being random or a certain situation. In this case, it was sort of both, the magical energy built up by the emotion flowed into the person that caused this emotion to occur, in the case, Harry's patronus.

When the hour was up, Harry's consciousness went back to his body, with the magic in tow, which resulted in Harry's early awakening, and the healing of his wounds, and when Albus put his hand on one of those wounds, seeing as the magical energy came from him, the effect was increased and went more quickly.

Well I must have sounded like a total nerd right there but what the heck. Hope you like this and there will be more to come hopefully soon. Till then, see ya! :D