This chapter is for pixiestixz, my first reviewer, thank you :).

Hope you all like the chapter.


James couldn't sleep. It often happened on the first night back, the bed was unfamiliar the noises of the other boys loud in the silence and excitement about being back clashing with worry about the upcoming year made sleep entirely impossible. With a sigh James gave up and grabbing a book from his bedside table slipped down to the common room.

He arrived in the common room and took a seat in the armchair next to the fire bending over his book, he'd only read a few pages when a murmur from a nearby couch nearly made him drop it, turning he saw Linnet asleep and apparently having some sort of nightmare. He had no idea what she was doing down here (although he had a suspicion Jenny Macmillan had something to do with it – she'd been shooting Linnet nasty looks all the way up to the tower and her sister, Anna, was one of the girls who'd been glaring at her at the table.) but she was obviously distressed and her movements were getting more violent, her murmurs louder, so he reached down to try to wake her up. He'd always hated it when either of his younger siblings got nightmares and it was one of the few things he didn't tease Albus about and seeing Linnet, who particularly now she was asleep looked so very vulnerable, in the throws of a particularly nasty one brought out half a dozen protective instincts. So he reached down and shook her shoulder saying her name. She sat up so fast she almost fell off, he grabbed her shoulder, catching her and a book tumbled from her lap to the ground. She stared at him in horror for about a minute then her expression became utterly confused; it made her look much younger than eleven. It was also quite amusing: she looked so shocked to see him and he wondered who normally woke her up, or if she was aware she'd woken up.

"Linnet?" She just continued to stare. "Linnet, it's me, James, James Potter, Albus's brother" to his slight irritation at this last one recognition flared in her eyes and she blinked and apologised. James shook it off, then couldn't help but ask her why she was in the common room so late. At this she smiled and replied with "Why are you in the common room so late?" Her smile was infectious and once again James couldn't help but smiled back, feeling vaguely surprised at her willingness to throw the question back.

"I asked you first!" he finally responded, and she sighed, " I thought you might say that", her smile had faded and she seemed to be searching for words, eventually James took pity on her and asked if the girls in her dorm were the problem. Her sigh and the way she gripped her left wrist and stretched out her arm (a gesture he already recognised as a nervous habit) told him he was right and her words confirmed it "Not all of them, Ella was really nice and tried to make them stop and Lucy doesn't know what's going on – she's muggleborn – but Jenny really hates me and Angela and Marigold seem to as well. It just seemed easier to wait till they'd all gone to sleep" she was looking down at her hands as she finished. James felt anger bubbling up but quickly suppressed it; him going off the deep end wouldn't help anyone and would probably alarm Linnet. Realising there was nothing he could do to help right now he changed the subject.

"Do you often have nightmares?" He'd been wondering since he'd woken her and she'd looked so terrified then so confused. He'd expected a negative so was surprised when she looking down again, nodded. "Nearly every night, normally I find Scorpius but…" She trailed off and James nodded understanding, suddenly worried about Lily again; she didn't often have nightmares but when she did they were really bad, normally she'd come climb into bed with him afterwards, unable to sleep, apparently Linnet had a similar reaction, just she had more regular nightmares.

James sighed and wondered if Scorpius would mind Lily climbing in with him when she was scared, he hoped not, he hated to think of his little sister on her own and terrified. Turning back to Linnet he realised that he could offer her the comfort of someone she could curl up to and with a sudden grin that she eyed somewhat suspiciously he caught up her wrist and pulled her to her feet "Come on", her suspicion changed to confusion as he pulled her towards his dorm stairs, then understanding at which point she tried to pull away muttering that he shouldn't be silly, that she was fine and that it would stop him sleeping. In response he told her he wasn't, she wasn't and that Lily, his sister did it all the time so he was used to. However, she continued to resist until he explained that he was hoping Scorpius would let Lily do the same thing and therefore needed to offer her the same comfort. At this point she allowed him to drag her up the stairs to his dorm and curled up against him, quickly falling asleep with the knowledge someone was nearby.

James smiled down at the tiny creature, so different from his sister and yet in some ways so similar. He slipped his arm round her and as she nestled closer, fell asleep thinking about his tiny new sister.