Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter, never have and probably never will.

A/n -If you think you've read this before, you probably have, but I decided to split it to three chapters to make it easier to read. : )

*Warning - Child abuse

CHAPTER 2

"So, let me get this straight, Snape. You've been having some crazy dreams about a wife and a kid, where you're calling them names and hitting them?"

A barely audible 'yes' came from where Tobias was resting his head against the table. He was at the local pub with one of his closest friend's having lunch, but he hadn't had much of an appetite as of late. It had been a week since he's started having the dreams and they were driving him crazy. He needed to talk to someone about them. Stephen was the only one out of all his friends that he trusted. He knew the man wouldn't call him crazy or tell him to lay off the bottle for a while.

Tobias could feel the man's eyes on the back of his head, he knew Stephen was weighing his words carefully. "The woman in your dreams, have you ever seen her?"

"Yes."

He heard Stephen sighing heavily at his response. Yes, he knew he'd seen the woman before, but he didn't know from where. She was definitely not someone who lived in Spinner's End.

"Tobias, look at me,please," Stephen asked him. Once Tobias has made eye contact with him he said, "Why don't you stay a couple of days at my house? Julie wont mind and the kids love having you around."

"How's that going to help me?" Tobias asked surly.

"It might not, but it might help to keep your mind off these dreams. I think you just need a break from your solitary life as a bachelor. Besides, the kids have been asking for their Uncle Tobi."

A small smile made its way across Tobias' face at the last comment. "Fine, if Julie wont mind, then I'll spend at least the weekend with you lot."

Paying for their meal, they made their way back to the port. Tobias feeling a little better at having told someone about his dreams.

Looking up at the sky, he noticed how much darker it looked. It was the middle of October and he knew that soon, his hours at the port were going to go down, since they didn't like working too much at night. He'd have to see about getting a part time job at the town Mill, if he wanted enough money to pay for the gas bills and new clothes for the winter.

"Listen, Tobias," Stephen said as they got closer to the port. "Don't think the worse of yourself, got it? Just because you dream of being a total git to that woman and the boy, doesn't mean it's real. Raising kids is a tough job, tougher than our own paying jobs. No parent automatically becomes a pro at raising their kids. We have to work hard to teach them what's right and what's not. The trick is to never doubt yourself. The second you start doing that, you'll start failing your children...I guess what I'm trying to say is, just because you'll think you'll be a horrible dad, doesn't mean you will be one. You just have to suck up that stubborn pride of yours and ask for help when you need it."

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His vision was blurry, making him struggle to walk in a straight line. He had been drinking again, just like the day before and the day before that. Drinking was his only way to forget about his freaky family.

Stumbling through the house, he made his way towards the sitting room. He didn't want to waste his energy in trying to make it to his bedroom. Walking into the room, he saw a small boy laying on his stomach on the floor. A book was open in front of him, and from the moving pictures, Tobias could tell it was one of those freak books. His lip curled in disgust at the sight of the boy and the book.

'Unnatural,' he thought to himself. 'What five-year-old reads for fun?'

Clenching his hands into fist, he quickly made his way to the boy and grabbed a hand full of his hair. The action had scared the boy enough for him to scream in fright. Tobias ignored the crying boy as he threw him onto the couch, almost knocking the boy onto the wall that separated the room from the kitchen.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Tobias shouted at the small frighten boy.

"N-n-not-nothing, daddy," the boy said as he tried to keep the tears from spilling down his face. Tobias hated boys who cried, it made them weak; and it made him angry.

"What did I tell you about doing weird stuff around the house?"

"I was only reading!" the little boy said trying to defend himself.

Tobias simply snarled as he quickly took off his belt and struck the child. "Normal boys don't sit read books! They play outside with other normal boys. STOP THAT SNIVELLING!"

"TOBIAS!" a woman's shriek made him stop from hitting the boy. "You monster! What in the hell do you think you're doing? He didn't do anything!"

Tobias watched as the woman crossed the room and carefully picked up the crying child. He could see blood from where the buckle had hit flesh, and felt a sickening satisfaction at the thought that it might just teach the boy to be normal.

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His mind was clearing up as he felt a cool cloth against his face. He didn't dare to move though, afraid that his stomach might betrayed him.

"Was it that dream again?" he heard Stephen ask him.

Tobias' response was throwing up again.

"I'll take that as a yes," Stephen wearily said as he tried to help his friend. "Why didn't you tell me your dreams where this bad?"

Taking a shuddering breath, Tobias waiting before responding, "They hadn't been this bad before."

"I see." After a couple of minute it seemed Stephen deemed it safe enough to move Tobias. "Let's get you cleaned up, Julie is already making you some peppermint tea."

Tobias could only let his friend help him to stand up, since his legs felt like lead. By the time they made it back to the kitchen, Tobias was feeling completely drained. But again, the fear of sleeping outweighed the need to rest.

"Here you are, dear," Julie said as she placed a cup of tea in front of Tobias. "It's still very hot, so make sure you don't burn yourself."

"Thanks," Tobias murmured. He took the cup in his hands, letting it warm them up before he gently blew on it too cool it down and taking a sip. He watched as Stephen lead the twins back to bed while Julie pulled a chair up next to his. She draped an arm across his thin frame pulling him into a small hug. "Want to tell me about it?" she asked.

He was so deep in his thoughts that he was taken by surprise when he felt a hand brushing against his cheeks. It was then that he noticed he had started crying. He figured Julie didn't really know about his dreams. Tobias didn't know how he would explain them to her, after all, she was a mother herself and might kick him out for dreaming about beating children.

While he was contemplating on how to explain his dreams, Stephen made his way back and took the seat on the other side of Tobias. "Okay, mate, what happened this time?"

Tobias couldn't help draw in within himself, his arms wrapping around his middle. "I hit the kid with my belt buckle," he said quietly.

He felt as Julie's small hands brush away his hair from way from his face. "It was just a dream, Tobias," she said quietly. " I know you would never hit a child in real life."

"How do you know that?" Tobias asked, his voice filling with anger, frustration – fear. "How do you know I would never truly hurt a child? I've never been around them long enough for them to anger me?"

"Because, I know you," she said wrapping her arm more firmly across his back. "Yes, you can be git at time, but that's only when people are stupid enough to get in your way when you're obviously mad. But I've seen that anger disappear as soon as you see a small child just having fun. You've never noticed this, but, you always get this far away expression on your face whenever you're watching the twins. These dreams, maybe they're a warning."

"A warning?" Tobias asked in confusion. "Are you saying that these dreams are somehow telling me what my future is going to be like? Maybe I'm just going crazy! I mean, why would I dream about books with moving pictures in them?"

"What did you say," Stephen asked in almost a whisper.

Tobias hesitated before answering, "The boy in my dream was reading a book. But the pictures in the book were moving."

He could feel them having a silent conversation over his head and wondered if they thought him crazy. Of course they did. He didn't know may people who dreamed about moving books. At least an adult, a child might have those sorts of dreams, but he was far from being a child, no matter what his mother said.

After a long silence Julie said, "Why don't you finish your tea and we'll talk about this some more later in the morning?"

Tobias simply nodded his head and quickly finished his cold tea. Without a word to them he made his way back to the guest room where he was staying. He wasn't going to fall asleep, he never could after one of those dreams. As soon as he head the other two enter their room, he changed into his day clothes and left the house through the window in his room. For all he knew, they would probably call the cops on him and have him sent to an asylum.

Maybe he just needed to get away from Spinner's End.