Harry Potter jolted awake; the details of his dream already slipping away. All he remembered was that it wasn't good.
"Daddy?" Harry's six year old daughter Lily asked from the door. "Are you okay?"
He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of her. Barefoot, with her pyjama top on backwards and her shorts twisted sideways with her knotted hair- which Harry later swore to Ginny that it was sticking straight up- completing the picture.
"Come here sweetheart." He told her, patting the bed next to him.
Ginny had taken the two boys to a Quiddich match that she was covering for the Daily Prophet, and had decided to make it a mother-sons weekend. Harry was perfectly happy to spend the weekend with his little girl, but had forgotten that the anniversary of the end of the war was that Friday. He never coped well on May 2nd, with nightmares and reminders of whom and what had been lost haunting him; even though it had been 16 years since the Battle of Hogwarts.
When Ginny was around, she was like a patronus; keeping all the memories at bay, or helping him deal with them. But with Ginny gone, they were all hitting Harry full force.
"Daddy, I heard you call for Mummy. Did you have a bad dream?" Lily had climbed up onto the bed and was cuddled into her father's side, tiredly looking up at him. Harry smiled gently down at her.
"Yes, I had a bad dream. I'm sorry I woke you sweetheart."
"It's okay Daddy. Was your bad dream about when you fought the bad guy when Teddy's parents and Uncle Fred went to heaven?"
Sometimes it amazed Harry how perceptive his youngest child could be; even while half asleep she could see right through him.
"I think so, but I'm okay now." He whispered, seeing how it was getting harder for her to keep her eyes open.
It was silent in the room; the only noise was the sound of their breathing and the family owl flying in after a night of hunting.
Lily waited until she was sure that her daddy was asleep before she whispered "Don't worry Daddy; I'll make sure the bad guy doesn't hurt you anymore." She then carefully extracted herself from her daddy's arms to softly kiss his cheek, and then cuddled back up to his warm chest and quickly fell asleep.
All was well.