Hey everybody! I'm back with another chapter. I hope you guys like it. It's taken me forever to write since my computer kept crashing. Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my imagination! There are some quotes in this chapter although I'm not quite sure where... Everything was based on my memories instead of the actual books plus I put my own spin on certain things. Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter and don't be afraid to tell me what you think!

Harry carefully stirred in one of the last ingredients of the potion he was brewing. He had been right. The book he had found in the old Black house had been extremely helpful. It was probably one of the most interesting books he had ever read. It was full of interesting potions and spells that all centered around the mind. There were spells to create delusions, manipulate dreams, and even cause insanity. Harry ignored the fact that everything in the book would be considered dark magic and that the Ministry would crucify him if they ever found it in his possession. The heir of the most well known Light family caught with books on dark magic during the war against You-Know-Who? He'd be lucky if they only locked him in Azkaban and threw away the key. Harry chose not to focus on that, though. Instead, he focused on learning as much as he could from the book.

He had even found two branches of magic he had never heard about called Legilimency and Occlumency. As far as he could tell, Legilimency was breaking into another person's mind while Occlumency was protecting your mind from invasion although the book said that Occlumency was commonly used to organize the mind. He made a point to mark the pages. It would be handy to be able to protect his mind since there was a war brewing in the wizarding world.

But the most important thing he had found was the Memini Somniorum potion. It was possibly one of the most terrifying potions he had ever made, and that included polyjuice potion. Harry probably wouldn't have even tried to make it if he wasn't so desperate. (Who was he kidding? He totally would have made and drank it.) The potion was supposed to bring back old dreams. He would relive (redream?) every dream he had ever had and remember them clearly after he woke up. Harry thought that if he could finally remember the nightmares then he would stop having them. That's what all the dreams had in common; he would always forget only problem was the fact that he was terrified to drink the potion. It had five drops of Belladonna and seven drops of Hemlock in it. It could very well kill him if he made it wrong.

Harry carefully ladled the dark purple potion into several bottles. His hands shook slightly as he held the bottles. Exhaustion was finally getting to him. It had taken him five days of constant care to brew this potion. He had fallen asleep at the cauldron several times only to awaken to a sharp pain and the smell of burnt flesh when his hand slipped into the fire.

His family was beginning to get scared of his self-exile; Harry could tell. Nobody had been allowed into his room since he started brewing which worried his siblings to no end. His room had always been a safe haven for them and it worried them that for the first time in their lives they weren't allowed in. Harry couldn't afford to let them near the potion. It was dangerous enough for him to be brewing it; he wasn't letting his little brother and sister anywhere near something so dangerous. Unfortunately, his siblings had decided to team up with their parents for the first time in their lives. The younger two had always taken Harry's side in everything, but, evidently, that didn't include Harry blocking them from seeing him. The family had started to take turns trying to coax Harry out of his room since he had locked and warded it so that nobody could get in. He had decided to use all the tricks he learned over the years, thinking if it was ever a time to use them, it would be now when he was so close to stopping his nightmares. James had been furious (and secretly proud) when everything he had learned during his Auror training couldn't get him into his son's room. After his parents and the Marauders tried to break into his room and failed, his family resorted to other methods. They had tried everything from begging and pleading to blackmail and threats. Nothing had worked since he couldn't afford to leave the potion. Luckily, he had a little bit of food stashed in his room or else he knew his parents would have tried to trap him in the kitchen.

Harry glanced at his watch before swearing. It was five in the afternoon, and he needed to drink this potion now since it was more potent after just being made. There was a slight problem, though. The potion had a very specific instructions set of instructions. First, he needed to drink a pain reliever potion first so that he wouldn't become violently ill after drinking the dream potion. (Thankfully, he always kept those on hand.) After he drank the Memini Somniorum potion, he needed to slip into a deep meditative state so that he could dream without interruptions. The book suggested laying in a body of water such as a pool or a bathtub full of water since water was known for its calming and healing effects in the wizarding world. The only problem was he didn't have a bathtub in his bathroom. All he had was a shower, and the book specifically said to lie in a body of water. The only bathtub in the house was at the end of the hall which meant he would have to walk past his younger siblings' room. It was going to be nearly impossible after avoiding them for almost a week.

Harry carefully began to take down the wards surrounding his room so he could get out. Maybe he could sneak out without anyone noticing. As soon as he was finished with the spellwork, Harry carefully peeked out into the hallway. Thankfully, nobody was out and about, but Ivy's door was open. He wouldn't know until he passed it if she was in there, and by then, it would be too late and she would see him. Harry cast a Disillusionment spell on himself. It would be enough to trick Ivy, but he doubted it would get him past anyone else in his family.

Harry carefully stepped out of his room and silently closed the door behind him before making a dash for the bathroom. A quick glance into Ivy's room showed that she wasn't there. He couldn't tell if that should be relieving or worrying. It seemed like the only one in his room was Julian. Harry quickly ducked into the bathroom and locked the door. Harry started to apply the wards he had on his room before he paused. If he put the wards on the room then it would be obvious that he was in here and then it would lead to awkward questions when he came out. After all, who put wards up when they went to the bathroom unless they were doing something particularly...embarrassing. Harry shook his head and decided to forgo the magical means. Instead, he shoved the chair to the vanity underneath the door knob. It would buy him time if his parents did try to come in, although it was doubtful since nobody ever used this bathroom.

Harry dropped the Disillusionment charm and began to draw himself a bath. Harry perched on the edge of the large clawfoot bathtub, waiting for it to fill. Carefully, he uncorked the purple bottle in his hand before swirling the liquid around. It truly was an odd potion. It contained deadly poisons yet it was so beautiful. That could be a metaphor for most things in life, though. Usually, the most beautiful things were the deadliest.

Harry drew his wand preparing to do the final step to make the potion compatible to him. He drew his wand down the half-healed cut on his finger from a few days ago, holding back a winced. Blood immediately welled up and began to run down his finger. Carefully, Harry positioned his finger over the mouth of the bottle and let two drops of his blood fall into the potion. As soon as his blood touched the liquid, it bubbled and the blood turned a strange silvery color that reminded Harry of how unicorn blood was described to look like. The silver blood left strange streaks in the potion, not fully mixing with the purple liquid. It was time.

Harry quickly shut off the water and set both the pain reliever and the dream potion on the little self beside the tub before undressing to his boxers, leaving his clothes in a heap by the bathtub. He did not want to be naked if his parents came bursting in. It was awkward enough as it was if they tried to come in.

Harry slipped into the water, ignoring how nervous he was. He needed to do this. He needed to remember. Harry reached over and grabbed the pain reliever potion before uncorking it with his teeth and gulping it down. Wincing at the terrible taste, he put the empty bottle back down on the shelf and picked up the dream potion. Harry took a deep, calming breath. He could do this. He knew he had brewed the potion right. Everything would be fine. In fact, everything would be better than fine because once he drank this potion, he would remember his dreams for the first ever. Determination filled him and Harry quickly drank the potion before he became scared once more.

As soon as the first drop touched his tongue, he began to feel dizzy. The room was spinning around him, and blobs of strange colors filled his vision, blocking part of his view of the room. The potion had a strange taste too. It was thicker than he thought it would be and had a tangy taste to it that he hadn't expected. When he emptied the bottle, Harry tried to put it back down on the shelf but frowned when he looked down to find three hands holding the now light purple bottle. That wasn't right. He only had two hands. Why did he now have six? Harry shook his head in confusion, but immediately regretted it when he felt extremely dizzy. He dropped the bottle, ignoring how it clattered to the floor, and sank deeper into the water until his face was just barely out of the water. Harry hummed in satisfaction. Yes, this was perfect. Exactly what he needed. He didn't feel dizzy anymore. In fact, he felt- he felt like he was floating on a cloud! Harry giggled at that image before he began to feel exhausted again.

"I...I should sleep. I deserve it...after this week! Sleep...sounds….amazing…." Harry thought before drifting into the realm of dreams.

Harry sat curled up in his cupboard, sniffling quietly. It was late, and Uncle Vernon wouldn't be happy if Harry woke him up. He had already made his uncle mad once today; he couldn't afford to do it again.

Harry winced when he accidently touched his arm. He hadn't finished his chores fast enough today, and Dudley had told on him. It wasn't his fault! Dudley had spilt blue paint on the carpet! How was he supposed to get that up? He had tried to explain it to Uncle Vernon, but he had been so mad! Uncle Vernon had been yelling at him and then he pushed him.

Harry shook his head. No, he slipped. That had to be it. Uncle Vernon wouldn't push him down the stairs...would he? And he seemed scared when Harry couldn't move his arm, and it just dangled down awkwardly. He panicked even more when he saw the strange bump in the middle of Harry's arm. But...Uncle Vernon only shoved him into his cupboard and locked it. Weren't grown-ups supposed to kiss boo-boos better? He had seen Aunt Petunia do it to Dudley when he scraped his knee. Surely he deserved a kiss for this? It looked so much worse and it hurt so bad! It deserved two kisses.

Harry sniffled again, quietly, and carefully drew a cake he had seen Dudley get once into the dust using his good arm. "Happy Bi'thday to me. Happy Bi'thday to me. Happy Bi'thday, Deaw Hawwy. Happy Bi'thday to me…"

Harry stalked down the hallways of Hogwarts, his face carefully blank, but he was seething on the inside. He was going to kill that bitch one of these days. She was a teacher! She was supposed to protect the students, not torture them! His hand throbbed just at the thought. How was he going to survive another detention with her?

Harry glanced down at his hand. The scarf he had it wrapped with was soaked through completely, turning the golden stripes red. It hadn't stopped bleeding since last night. He was kind of scared to look at the words actually. He had been carving them into his hand long enough that he knew it would scar. He would be stuck with the constant reminder of that bitch.

The closer he got to her office, the more his steps began to falter. His courage was giving out on him. He didn't want to do this. He was so fucking tired of everything. He was tired of lying to his friends. He was tired of people calling him a liar. He was tired of Dumbledore looking at him like he was a monster!

Her door finally appeared in front of him. His hand shook as he knocked twice on the door. Harry knew he wouldn't survive another detention, not if she got mad like last time. Last time the shakes didn't stop for-

"Hello, Mr. Potter. I'm so glad you could finally join me. You're ten minutes late."

Harry suppressed a wince. That was definitely going to add an hour or two onto his detention. "I'm sorry, Professor Umbridge. I had to stop and talk with Professor McGonagall."

Umbridge tutted and shook her head. "That's no excuse, Mr. Potter. Now, come on. I know you're dallying. Unless you've learned your lesson?"

Harry's face hardened. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"In that case, you know the drill, Mr. Potter. Why don't we start with three hours this time, hmm?"

Harry sat quietly on his swing. It was extra dark tonight. The park had long since emptied. The Dursley's had kicked him out for the night since he hadn't finished weeding the garden before it got dark.

Harry kicked his legs, quietly. It had been one hell of a year, and coming back to the Dursley's had just put that in perspective. He had met his dad's friends, learned he had a godfather, and learned his parents had been betrayed by one of their best friends in the course of one school year. For the first time in his life, he actually knew something about his parents besides the fact he looked like his Dad and had his Mum's eyes. Now he knew his Dad was a prankster, and his Mum was brilliant. It wasn't enough, though. He didn't know how his parents fell in love or when they were even married. Why did nobody think to tell him these things? Did they just assume he would know these things since he was their son? It wasn't fair. None of this was fair! Why was any kind of family he ever got stripped away from him?!

He had been so close to having a family! It had been right there in front of him. Sirius had claimed Harry could come and live with him, but that all went out the window after that rat escaped. He had been so close, but now, now he hadn't even heard from Sirius in two months. There went his shot of ever having a loving family.

Harry looked up at the sky and picked out the brightest star in the sky.

"Star light, star bright," Harry whispered, "First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight."

Harry squeezed his eyes tight, only one thought running through his head. 'I wish I had a loving family.'

Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat curled up on the couch in front of the fire, giggles escaping them every now and then. The rest of the Gryffindors had gone to bed hours ago.

"Whose bright idea was it to stay up all night on a school day?" Hermione mumbled into Ron's shoulder.

Ron chuckled. "Probably the same witch who thought she could drink an entire pack of butterbeer without getting tipsy."

"Ooops. I forgot I did that."

Harry snuggled down deeper into the pillows. "What I want to know is whose idea was it to sneak into the Slytherin common room to turn Draco's hair pink."

"That was your idea, dumbass!" his friends chorused.

"Oh. Right." Harry mumbled before complaining, "Why haven't we gotten any pain relief potions yet? They really didn't appreciate us sneaking into their common room like that."

Hermione giggled. "It was totally worth it though. And I think we decided to drink a bottle of Firewhiskey for 'medicinal purposes'."

Ron fake gasped. "Who are you and what have you done to Hermione?!"

The group started giggling again before falling silent. Hermione began to draw random patterns on the couch cushion with her finger. "Do you think we'll survive this war?"

A somber feeling settled over the group. "Maybe," Harry whispered eventually, "I hope we do."

"It's likely that at least one of us will die," Hermione whispered.

"Well, I hope it's not either of you two," Harry said throwing an arm around his friends, "I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

Ron snorted. "We all know you'd be dead by now if it weren't for us, mate!"

"Yeah," Harry said quietly, a small smile forming on his face, "I probably would be."

Harry bit down on his tongue, trying to stop scream from escaping. Blood began to fill his mouth, causing him to choke. It felt like his blood had turned into lava. It was pulsing in him, through his heart, through his head. He could hear loud screams fill the air. They were torturing someone else as well. Wait, no, that sound was him. Suddenly, the pain got worse. It felt like his head was going to split open. Oh God, make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!

Harry began to writhe in the bathtub. Water sloshed out of the tub and splashed into the floor. As the memories of the pain got worse, he began to whimper quietly. With every jerk of his head, he sank deeper into the water as if he was trying to escape the pain.

Suddenly, the pain disappeared as if it had never been there. He gasped for breath before leaning over and coughing up a glob of blood. Harry tried to slow down the shakes. He wasn't going to show he was still in pain. Harry carefully used the tombstone pulled himself up, ignoring has his legs felt like jello. Snickers filled the air when he almost collapsed to the ground again.

Voldemort raised his hand, silencing the Death Eaters. "Now, now, it is improper to laugh at someone so clearly helpless," He said with a smirk, "We are purebloods after all."

Harry snarled when Voldemort stepped on Cedric's back to get closer to Harry. The boy was only seventeen, barely even an adult, and he had ordered Wormtail to kill him like he was nothing. A spare. Voldemort was truly a monster.

A smirk slowly came across his face that terrified Harry deeply. "What do you say, boys? Let's teach this filth to respect his superiors."

Spells were flying all over the room. Dangerous flashes of reds, blues, and greens were thrown back and forth between the two groups. They wouldn't last much longer. The full Order wasn't here to help. Only about half had been able to show, and the group that Harry had originally lead into the Ministry were all grievously injured. Harry stood back to back with Sirius, each dueling a Death Eater.

"Harry, get out of here! Take the rest of your friends and run!" Sirius shouted over the rest of noise in the chamber.

"No! I'm not leaving you! If I leave you here now, you're going to end up dead!" Harry sent a stunner at Dolohov, but the Death Eater quickly dodged it.

Sirius sighed. "I know you want to help but-"

"Sirius, watch out!"

In the middle of Sirius speech, Malfoy Senior sent a killing curse at him. Harry quickly shoved his godfather out of the way and disarmed Malfoy at the same time.

"Nice one, James!"

Harry froze before going back to the duel, not saying a word. He went through the motions stiffly. Sirius didn't seem to notice. He bounded up almost immediately and was now completely engrossed with the duel.

He should have expected this. Everyone always compared him to his parents. It had been only a matter of time before somebody slipped up and called him by his father's name. He just hadn't thought it would be his godfather.

Harry dodged a purple curse he didn't recognize. He shouldn't let this affect him. Sirius adored him and would do anything with him. They were in the middle of a battle for Merlin's sake; Harry couldn't take offense to everything the man said. This was the first time his godfather had been in a battle since the first war, and Harry looked almost exactly like his father. Sirius probably had a flashback or something to when he had James protecting his back. He just got confused was all. Harry could understand. It was fine. Everything was fine. He would just ignore what his godfather had said, and maybe the entire thing would go away.

Harry finally disarmed the Death Eater he was fighting and stupefied him. He turned back to his godfather. "I'm going to get Neville, and get out of here! He won't last much longer. Watch your back!"

Harry took off running for Neville before he could hear Sirius' answer. Neville was cornered by two Death Eaters at the far side of the room. Blood was covering half his face and he was walking with a severe limp. Harry quickly disarmed the Death Eaters and grabbed Neville.

A small smile flickered across his face. "Thanks, Harry! I appreciate the help."

"No problem," Harry said breathlessly, "Now, come on. We've got to get out of here."

Neville winced when Harry tried to drag him a few steps. "I don't think I can. Something's wrong with my leg. I can't walk on it."

Harry forced down a sigh and wrapped Neville's arm around his shoulders. "Come on. I'll help you."

The two slowly began to make their way towards the exit. They were forced to stop every few minutes to dodge stray curses from the duel. A voice filtered above the rest. A voice Harry recognized.

"Is that all you've got, cousin? Azkaban must have really done a number on you!"

Harry turned around in time to see Bellatrix shriek. "How dare you sully the Black name! You are fighting against the very thing our family stands for! La famille est toujours pur!"

Sirius laughed as he dodged another spell. "La famille est morte parce que leur pureté!"

Bellatrix screamed in fury and let out a flurry of curses. Sirius simply laughed and danced out of the way of them.

"Come on, Bella! Show me what you-"

"Stupify!"

Harry watched it as if it was slow motion. A red streak left Bellatrix's wand heading straight for Sirius. He was too close to the veil.

He took off running for his godfather, hoping he could help. "Sirius, watch out!"

Sirius didn't hear him. In fact, it looked like he wasn't processing what was happening at all. The red light hit him square in the chest. His smile faded slightly and he fell back into the veil.

Harry tossed and turned in the water. His arms knocked against the sides of the tub with a bruising force. He slipped deep into the water, trying to avoid the memories. He could barely breathe anymore. His nose just barely stuck out from the water.

An inhuman shriek escaped Harry's lips. He ran towards the veil but a pair of arms stopped him from going any further.

"Let me go! I have to help Sirius! Sirius! Sirius, come back!"

"It's too late, Harry. He's gone! There's nothing you can do!" a voice said but it sounded like it was far away. All the sound from the battle was drowned out. All he could focus on was Sirius.

"No! He's not gone! He just fell! He's fine!"

"He's gone, Harry!" the voice said.

"Let me go! I can save him! I can help him. He's fine! Just let me go."

"I can't. I'm so sorry. There's nothing we can do. He's dead," the voice that Harry finally realized was Remus'.

"How can you say that?! He's your friend! He's fine! You saw him! He just fell through the veil. He's fine! "

Remus forced him around until Harry was facing him. "Listen to me, Harry! Sirius fell through the Veil of Death. There is nothing we can do for him."

"No," Harry whispered in shock, "No, you're wrong."

A shrill laugh filtered through the air. "I killed Sirius Black!"

Harry turned around to face his godfather's murderer. She was laughing and jumping up and down victoriously. "I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black!" She sang loudly. She paused when she saw the raw fury in Harry's eyes. "Oh! Is poor baby Potter sad?" she baby-talked to him. "Are you sad that your dog had to be put down?"

A terrifying calm settled over Harry. All that was left was a cold fury. "She killed Sirius. I'll kill her."

Harry carefully opened the door to the old, abandoned houses, keeping his wand at the ready. It swung open silently. Harry narrowed his eyes at that. This building looked like it had been abandoned years ago. The door should have creaked. Instead, it swung open silently as if it was regularly used.

Harry exchanged a glance with Hermione. She nodded before quietly saying, "Homenum Revelio."

After a moment she turned back to him and nodded. Someone was inside the building. Hermione held up her hands, lifting six fingers. Six someones were inside the building.

Harry gnawed on his lip before nodding his head towards the door. They needed food desperately. Harry couldn't even remember the last time he had eaten something. He and Hermione had been running for days now, and this was the first house they had come across. They wouldn't last much longer if they didn't get some rest.

Hermione's eyes widened at his gesture, and she shook her head wildly. Harry glared at her and nodded towards the door again as he pulled out the invisibility cloak. Hermione glared right back at him, her lips turning into a thin line before she conceded and stepped close to him. The cloak barely covered the two of them, but it would do. He cast a Disillusionment charm over them, though, just in case the cloak slipped.

Harry carefully stepped into the house, keeping his wand ready in case they were attacked. It was eerily quiet in a way no house that had six people in it should be. The house looked like a plain muggle house, except for the fact it seemed to have been abandoned. The family room looked as if the people had just walked out one day. Unmoving pictures of a smiling family still sat on the mantle, and the furniture hadn't been touched. There was a thick layer of dust over everything, although the floor was suspiciously clean.

Harry slowly made his way into the kitchen. Now, this room looked as if it had been ransacked. All the cupboard doors were open showing empty shelves. Somebody must have had the same idea as him. Harry turned back to Hermione, pulling the cloak off himself and wrapping it around her. "Why don't you look for food? I'm going to check up stairs."

Hermione grabbed onto his arm, her nails dug into his skin. "We shouldn't split up, Harry!" she whispered furiously, "Remember what happened last time?! You almost died!"

Harry winced when she brought that up again. That hadn't been his fault! "I'd rather know where these six people are rather than be surprised by them, Don't you think it's a little odd how quiet it is?"

"Fine," Hermione huffed, "But you're taking cloak. You always get into more trouble than I do."

Harry flashed her a grin before wrapping himself in the cloak. He had some people to find.

Harry began to search the house. It was a fairly small house; he should be able to find six people. Nothing was on the ground floor so that left the upstairs. This had the potential to be very bad. There would only be one way out if he went upstairs besides Apparition, but he wouldn't leave Hermione. He wasn't going to leave her, not after everything they'd been through.

Harry made his way up the steps, testing out each one to see if they creaked. There was only three rooms on the top level, and all of them were bedrooms. They all looked like they had been abandoned on a normal day. The beds were unmade and clothes were scattered across the floor.

Every room was empty. He had searched every room extensively, but he had found nothing. Harry growled. If Hermione said there was six people here than there were six people here, he just had to find them. He had searched all the rooms-

Harry paused. What if he hadn't searched all the rooms? Sure everything looked proportioned on these two floors, but from outside, the second floor looked much larger. Maybe this house had an attic. It would explain why the ceilings were so low on this floor.

Harry began whispering every charm he knew that would reveal something hidden. A smirk flickered across his face when a pull out ladder appeared on the ceiling. That explained a lot.

Harry paused before he pulled down the stairs. Did he really want to do this? Surely they had would felt the charms they had used to hide the stairs disappear. They would be ready for him. His curiosity was getting the better of him, though. If they were enemies they would have attacked him by now. It was probably just a group of scared muggleborns or halfbloods. He needed to check.

With a sharp yank, he pulled down the stairs, ready to bolt at any moment. He waited tensely for a moment for the group to attack him but nothing happened. Not a sound came from the attic. Something wasn't right.

Harry slowly began to climb the stairs, making sure to keep the cloak wrapped tightly around him and to stay on one side of the the stairs. They wouldn't be as likely to hit him if he was on the edge of the stairs rather than the middle.

"Oh," Harry whispered breathlessly when he stepped into the room.

He had been partially right. The people in the room were obviously not a threat to him. They weren't a threat to anyone anymore.

The room had been set up as a hospital of sorts. It was a strange mix of muggle technology and magical healing means. Six beds lined two of the walls; three on each wall. On each of the beds laid a person. Two of the people were obviously older. They looked to be in their late thirties to early forties. Their beds were side by side and closer together than the rest. Harry could see matching wedding bands on their fingers.

The other four beds had children of various ages on them. Three of the beds had boys on them, ranging from about eighteen all the way down to around eight. The last bed had a small girl on it who reminded Harry too much of Luna for him to be comfortable with.

He hung his head low. He hadn't expected this at all. Scared muggleborns, yes, but catatonic people, no.

"What happened to them?"

Hermione stood behind him, staring at the people on the beds. A deep sadness seemed to resonate from her, but she wasn't letting it affect her. Three years ago, she would be close to tears, but now she looked at the family with a steely look in her eyes.

"I think they were the family who lived in this house." Harry walked over to the bed nearest to him. The young girl, who looked barely even ten, was on it, staring at the ceiling. Her blue eyes were oddly blank. He had seen that look a few times before.

"They were kissed," Harry muttered before something caught his eyes. The girl's shirt was slightly pulled up, showing part of her stomach. He carefully pulled it up past her bellybutton, being as gentle as he could possibly be.

"Harry, what are you doing?!" Hermione hissed.

"I think they were tortured first."

There, carved into her skin in large block letters, was the word 'Mudblood'.

Harry heard Hermione gasp behind him. "Oh, that poor girl."

"Why'd you come up here anyway? I thought you were going to look for food?"

"I was, but I looked outside, and I saw a girl."

Harry looked over at her sharply. "Did she see you?"

"She's dead."

Harry winced. "What happened to her?"

"I'm pretty sure she died of natural causes, or, well, she wasn't murdered. I think she fell off the porch and down the stairs. Her neck was broken. She was a witch, though. I found her wand."

Harry sighed. "She was probably the one taking care of these people. It would explain why they don't look like they have been taken care of for a while."

A solemn silence came over the two. Although they had seen a lot of horrible things in the past few years, it was still depressing to see an innocent family in a state that most people considered worse than death. Their only crime was having two witches for daughters.

"This could have been my family," Hermione finally whispered.

"Don't think like that, Hermione!"

"But it could have been! This is obviously a muggle family that was targeted because they had two muggleborn witches! That girl out there with the broken neck could have been me! This could have been my family if I hadn't sent them to Australia."

Harry grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look into his eyes. "Hermione, you can't think like that! You'll only torture yourself."

A series of sharp cracks sounded outside the house. The two froze, staring at each other. "They're here," They whispered at the same time.

Hermione paled as she looked around the room. "What are we going to do with them?! We can't hide them again; their caretaker is dead."

Harry's face became completely blank as he stood deep in thought. "Hermione," he said eventually, "Why don't you go back downstairs to get some food. We'll need it if we're going to continue to run. I'll figure out what to do with them."

"What are you going to do?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

Harry growled and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know, but we need to hurry or else the Death Eaters are going to catch us like they did Ron! Now, go!"

Hermione gasped sharply before her face hardened. "Fine. Do what you want," she said as she stiffly walked out of the room and down the stairs.

Harry groaned and kicked one the walls hard enough to break through the plaster. He hadn't wanted to bring up Ron, he truly hadn't, but he needed to get her out of the room. She would never agree with what he was about to do.

There was nothing he could do for this family. If St. Mungo's hadn't been compromised, he would send them there, but Death Eaters had infiltrated the hospital at the start of the war. If anyone one who was remotely Light went to the hospital they would either go missing or die mysteriously. He didn't want to think about what would happen to a group of muggles and muggleborns. If Harry sent the family there, he didn't doubt they would be dead before the day was up or worse, they would go missing and end up back with the people that tortured them.

There was no other place he could send the family. He didn't know who to trust. There were many spies on both sides of the army. If Harry sent them to the wrong person, they'd end up dead. He couldn't even send them to the Weasleys even though he trusted them with his life. The Weasleys were barely treading water, and that was only because Percy was vouching for them at the Ministry. If they were caught harboring muggles and muggleborns, they would be dead before you could say 'Avada Kedavra'.

Harry couldn't leave the family here either. The girl, who he was assuming was one of the couple's daughters, was dead. From the state of the family, she had been their only caretaker. They were soulless. Nothing was inside their bodies but blood and muscles. They had no spirit in them. If he hid the family again, they would only die a slow death, but that was only if the Death Eaters didn't find them. If the Death Eaters found them, the family would end up getting tortured again even though they were now soulless. There was absolutely nothing he could do to save these people. Not in the few minutes that he was given. There was only one thing he could do for them.

Harry ran over to the potion cabinet, looking for anything that might work. Thankfully, the girl must have been interested in potions or just very prepared. He grabbed the small bottle with the label of Aconite on it. This would work perfectly.

If Harry couldn't save these innocent people, the least he could do was give them a quick and painless death. Anything would be better than whatever the Death Eaters would do to them. Hopefully, the family would be dead long before the Death Eater even reached them.

Harry slipped over to the bed nearest to him, the one with the eighteen-year-old boy on it. He gently opened the other boy's mouth, ignoring how his hands shook, and allowed a few drops to fall into it. He ran to the next bed before he could see the boy's reaction to it.

Harry quickly did the same to the others. The hardest one was the little boy. He couldn't have been more than eight years old. He was an innocent. Harry shook his head and reminded himself of what would happen if the boy ended up in the hands of the Death Eaters. This was clearly the better option for the little boy.

There was only one person left, the little girl who he had secretly dubbed Little Luna in his head. He gently opened her mouth and tilted the bottle over it. Nothing came out. Harry's eyes widened. He hadn't used a lot, only about two drops for every person. He couldn't be out. Harry shook the bottle, hoping that a drop would fall, but nothing came out. With a loud curse, he ran back to the cabinet. He knocked away the insignificant bottles, looking for anything that might work. There was nothing else in the cabinet that would work as a poison.

Harry ran his hands through his hair and squeezed his eyes tightly closed. He didn't have much time left. He couldn't just leave her here. Who knew what the Death Eaters would do to a poor, defensive girl? There was only one other thing he could do.

Harry's face hardened, and he snapped his wrist, allowing his wand to fall into his hand. He stepped closer to the girl until he was standing at the foot of her bed. This was the only way left. He couldn't allow the Death Eaters to get a hold of this tiny, little girl and do who knows what to her. "Avada Kedavra."

Harry slipped under the water.

Julian yawned and rubbed his eyes. He was exhausted. Harry had been acting weirdly all week. He had locked Julian and Ivy out of his room for the first time in their lives. Julian had spent the entire week trying to talk to his brother but he was ignoring him.

He couldn't figure out why Harry was ignoring them. His older brother knew they would always be there to support him, didn't he? Julian and Ivy were willing to do anything for him. He should know that by now.

Julian sighed. His brother was really getting to him. He needed comfort food immediately. Maybe his Dad would be willing to make him some hot chocolate.

With a loud yawn, Julian tumbled out of bed and stumbled out of his room. He walked past his siblings' rooms and down the stairs before freezing. Something didn't feel right. Julian quickly ran back to his brother's room, his sock feet slipping on the wooden stairs.

Something wasn't right with Harry's room; Julian could feel it. Something was different. Julian stared at the closed door in confusion before his eyes widened. The wards were gone! Harry was letting them back in!

The redhead smiled brightly and ran into Harry's room. "Harry! Harry!"

Julian froze when he saw the state of the room. "Harry?"

The room was an absolute mess. Books and papers were strewn throughout the room. In the very center of the room was a cauldron and various potion ingredients.

"What?" Julian whispered in confusion as he stepped closer to the cauldron, "Harry never leaves out his potion ingredients."

Harry would never leave a mess like this. His room was always the tidiest of the three siblings. The potion ingredients were what worried Julian the most. Harry knew that leaving certain things out would cause them to go bad. He had drilled that into Julian's head ever since he could remember.

Julian bit his lip nervously. Something wasn't right. He had to find Harry. He left Harry's room and began to walk downstairs again when he heard something. A strange sloshing sound was coming from the bathroom. Worry spiked in Julian. Nobody ever used that bathroom, and since Harry was the only one he didn't know where he was at, it had to be him in the bathroom.

Julian knocked quietly on the door. "Harry? Harry, are you alright?"

Harry didn't respond, but the splashing got louder, and there was a strange thumping noise. Julian tried to open the door, but it was firmly locked. "Harry? Harry, open the door! Let me in!"

Suddenly all the noise stopped, making the room eerily silent. "Are you alright, Harry?" Julian paused, "Look, if you don't open up, I'm going to get Dad!"

Julian waited a few minutes, but Harry didn't say anything nor did the door unlock. He scowled. "Fine. I'm getting Dad!"

Julian bolted down the stairs into the kitchen. James was making a sandwich at the counter .

"Dad! Dad, Harry left his-Why are you making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"

James blushed before stammering, "It's for uh, Ivy. Yeah, it's for Ivy," James shoved the sandwich away, "What did you say about Harry?"

"Oh, right!" Julian became serious again, "The wards on Harry's room are gone, and he wasn't in his room."

James paled and cut his son off. "What? Then where is he? He hasn't come downstairs. Crap, he hasn't run off again, has he?"

Julian rolled his eyes. "That's what I was trying to tell you! I think Harry's in the bathroom at the end of the hall. I heard some weird noises in there, but when I tried to get in, they stopped."

"Weird noises?" James said carefully, "Like what?"

"It was a weird sloshing sound. Like when you get the bathtub too full and the water splashes out! And then there was a weird thumping sound. I thought he had fallen, but the sound kept happening."

James was beginning to get worried, but he hid it well in front of his son. "Okay, you go give this sandwich to your sister. She's outside. I'll go check on Harry."

Julian nodded as he grabbed the sandwich and ran outside. James quickly grabbed his wand and went upstairs. When he made it to the bathroom, it was completely silent. So quiet, he doubted anyone was in it. James rapped loudly on the door. "You in there, Harry?"

He waited for an answer, but nothing happened. There wasn't even the sound of movement in the room. "If you don't answer me, I'm coming in."

He waited a few more seconds before trying to open the door. The doorknob wouldn't move at all. "Harry, open the door!"

When it was obvious that his son wasn't going to do anything, James aimed his wand at the door and magically unlocked it. He tried to open the door again, but ran into when the door didn't open like he expected it to. James rubbed his nose (he had smashed it into the door when he had tried to walk in) and stretched out his magic to see if Harry had cast a spell to lock the door. Confusion settled in him when he didn't feel any kind of spell or ward.

"I guess I'm just going to have to do this the physical way," James mumbled before backing up a few steps and ramming his shoulder into the door.

The door flew open, sending the chair that was blocking it flying across the room and James crashing to the floor. He sat up with a groan before looking around in confusion. Harry wasn't in the room. It was completely empty, although the tub had overflowed, leaving large puddles of water on the floor.

James narrowed his eyes. In the middle of one of the large puddles was a pale purple potion bottle. There was also a potion bottle on the little table beside the bathtub. Both were empty. Fear began to settle in his stomach, and James quickly scrambled over to the tub. What he saw would forever be etched into his brain.

Harry was at the very bottom of the tub. He looked almost serene as if he was asleep. The wild, fly-away hair he had inherited from his father gently swirled around his face. There were no bubbles of air floating to the top.

If felt as if James' heart had stopped in his chest. His blood became ice, and terror filled him. The years of Auror training flew out the window and all the father could think was, "No, no, no! This can't be happening! Not my son! Not Harry!"

He blinked trying to get over the shock before quickly shoving his wands into the water and dragging his son's body out of the tub. James carefully laid Harry on the floor and checked to see if he was breathing. His head lolled to the side, but other than that, there was no motion from the boy. He was like a rag doll.

"Daddy, what's wrong with Harry?!" a voice shouted from behind him. James turned sharply to face the door. Julian and Ivy were staring at their older brother with wide, fearful eyes. They must have come upstairs when they heard the noise of him breaking down the door.

"Not now. I have to take care of Harry," James said sharply as he turned back to Harry.

"But what's wro-"

"I said not now!" James snapped, the stress beginning to get to him. Ivy burst into tears and Julian immediately hugged her close, their eyes never leaving their older brother. "Julian, take your sister and go downstairs. Wait for your Mum."

"But-"

"Now!"

Julian nodded hesitantly before he tried to drag his little sister away from the doorway. Ivy yanked away from him before running back to the bathroom. "Whatever's wrong with him is your fault!" she shouted at James, "If you and Mummy had never been mean to him this wouldn't have happened!"

Ivy shoved past her older brother and ran down to the family room, her loud sobs echoing through the house. Julian trailed behind her, but not before sending one last terrified glance at his brother.

James quickly focused on Harry again. He didn't have time to think about what his daughter had said, not when his son's life was on the line. Harry laid completely still on the floor, his chest not moving. He wasn't breathing.

James quickly pointed his wand at Harry's throat and cast the spell that was supposed to clear his airway, but nothing happened. His terror spiked. There wasn't any type of spell to force a person to start breathing again. The wizarding world didn't think it was necessary.

James began to wrack his brain for anything that might help. He couldn't think of any potion or spell-. He froze. Lily had said something about some kind of muggle procedure, SeaPea something? He couldn't remember, and Lily wasn't here to do it. She had left for Diagon Alley thirty minutes ago and wasn't expected back for another hour.

He forced himself to calm down. He needed to remember. This may be the only way he could save his son.

"Okay, okay, Lils said something about the chest, but what was it?" James thought to himself, " Lay him on his chest? No that's not right. Wait...Pressure! I'm supposed to put pressure on his chest. And something else… Clear the airway? But I've already done that. Damn it, what was it? Something to do with the head… Tilt it back maybe? But why?" James shook his head, "Doesn't matter. If it helps, I'm doin' it."

James knelt beside his son and carefully tilted his head back before putting his hands on Harry's chest. He sent up a silent prayer to whatever god was listening to him and started to press on his son's chest repeatedly. He tried to do the compressions fast and hard like his wife had described to him years ago, but he didn't know what he was doing. He didn't know if he was pressing too hard or soft, or if he was going to slow.

After about a minute of compressions, James was close to giving up. Shouldn't he have started breathing by now? Tears began to blur his sight, but he kept doing compressions. He couldn't let his son die. He had to do something. He couldn't have his son's blood on his hands.

James choked on a sob two minutes into the compressions. It wasn't working. Tears slowly made their way down his cheeks. His son was dead. His Harry was dead all because he didn't know what to do. He had failed as a father. If Lily had been here, she would have been able to save Harry. Instead Harry had been forced to rely on his incompetent father to save him. His son was dead because of him.

Suddenly, Harry convulsed under him. James' eyes widened in surprise, and he quickly turned his son over onto his side. He gently rubbed Harry's back as he coughed up what seemed like a gallon of water. "You're all right," James said through a shuddering breath, "Daddy's got you."

James paused a moment to see if Harry would complain about his wording. After the age of three, Harry had decided he was too old to say 'daddy' and got mad whenever James brought it up. A frown flickered over his face, when Harry said nothing, much less the snappy retort he was used to. Shouldn't Harry be awake now?

James carefully settled him back on his back, trying to make it easier for him to breathe. With a loud groan, James leaned back against the tub. Now that Harry was breathing again, everything was hitting him at once. He had been so close to losing his son, the son he had fought so hard to protect. His mind was a swirl of emotions, but all he could focus on was the steady movement of Harry's chest going up and down. That's all he could allow himself to focus on, because if he didn't, he would break down and wouldn't be any help to Harry at all.

"Oh, Harry, you're going to be the death of me," James mumbled as he roughly scrubbed his hand across his face, wiping away the tears. He let his hand fall to the ground as he began to push himself up, but paused when his fingers brushed something glass in the puddle by the tub. With a frown, James sat back down and picked up the pale purple bottle he had forgotten about in all the commotion.

His Auror training kicked in, and he began to carefully inspect the bottle. It was a strange potion, one he didn't recognize. He sniffed it and immediately wrenched his head back. The potion had a sickeningly sweet smell that had his animagus shying away from it in terror. Whatever was in it had to be dangerous to get that much of a reaction from the stag. A tiny bit of the shimmery purple-silver potion was still at the bottom of the bottle. He would have to get it tested later.

James grabbed the other bottle from the table. This one he recognized. He would know that smell anywhere. He had drank it enough times in the past to be able to immediately recognize it. The only question was why would Harry need a pain relief potion?

Theories began to form in his head. The pain relief potion had been set down on the table, but the mystery potion had ended up on the floor, far away from the table. So Harry must have drank the pain reliever first before the mystery potion. The pain reliever wouldn't have affected him so much that he dropped the other bottle. But what was in the mystery bottle?

James was afraid to find out. Everything in him was telling him that this potion was bad. He had his suspicions about what exactly it was but he hoped he was wrong. All the evidence was pointing to it though. The bottle dropped on the floor. His animagus terrified of the potion. His son dead in the bathtub. Harry had tried to commit suicide.

So what did you guys think? Let me know in the comments!