Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.
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Ron was the only one in the Gryffindor common room when Harry came back. "Where've you been?" he demanded.
"Oh, I just wandered around the halls a bit after my lessons," he said. He yawned. "I'm going to bed; I'm exhausted."
"Listen, Harry, I've got to talk to you about Hermione," Ron said, his brown eyes serious.
Harry stopped. "What's wrong with her?" he asked.
"She's been really worried about you, mate," Ron said. "We've all been. But Hermione just…she just wants you to be happy again." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "She cried, Harry. After you yelled at her. She's just so worried."
"I know," Harry said softly. "I'll talk to her tomorrow."
Ron eyed him oddly. "Y'know…you're already starting to sound more like yourself," he said thoughtfully. "Anything…happen?"
"Yeah, Ron," Harry said. "I suppose you could say that."
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Allicot peeked into the nursery. Tonks was sitting in the middle of the floor, Harry on her lap and Celine sprawled out beside her. She was telling them stories, and it had obviously lulled the two little ones close to sleep.
She placed a hand on the young teen's shoulder. "We're done with the meeting," she said softly. "I'll put them to bed." Tonks grinned gratefully, handed the little boy to Allicot, and left without rousing the drowsy toddlers.
Harry nestled against Allicot, his scrawny body barely weighing down her arms. She kissed the top of his head and tucked him in. "G'night, Harry," she whispered. He smiled a lopsided, sleepy little smile and cuddled into the blankets.
Celine, however, was not as complacent. "Can't I stay with Harry?" she begged. "I don't wanna be alone, Mumma!"
"Hush, he's trying to sleep," Allicot whispered. "If you're very quiet and don't kick, you can stay with him, all right? Promise to be good?"
"Cross my heart," Celine vowed. She didn't make a sound as her mother tucked her in beside Harry. Allicot turned on the nightlight and left.
The two toddlers nestled together, Celine's soft pale locks mingling with Harry's dark hair. He whimpered and turned around under the covers, caught in a wisp of a nightmare. Celine blinked hazily, waking with his movement. Tentatively she reached out with a soft, tiny hand and smoothed his hair. Before long he stilled, drooping into exhausted slumber. Celine snuggled against him, warming his icy body with hers, and they fell asleep together.
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"G'morning, sleepy head!"
Harry bolted upright with a panicked shriek. He grabbed his glasses with a trembling hand and shoved them on. Thistle's face came into focus as she sat at the foot of his bed and rocked with laughter. Rowan scowled and poked her.
"Thistle, you scared him," he said. "That wasn't nice."
"No, it wasn't," Harry panted, agreeing with his older brother.
"Thought it was all a dream, eh?" she said, still struggling to breathe through her laughter. "Too bad, though…it was real!"
He rubbed his forehead. "You mean you and Rowan, or the dreams I keep having?" he yawned.
"Yes," Thistle said promptly.
"Yes what?" Harry asked. He yawned again. "Never mind, I don't really want to think about it early in the morning…"
"But we have to tell you about the visions!" Thistle pestered. "You have to pay attention to us!"
Harry pulled a shirt over his head. "I have enough trouble with visions, thanks," he said dryly. "I don't need any more of them."
"But that's what we're here for," Rowan said. He sat down cross-legged on Harry's unmade bed. "Listen, Harry, we're here for one reason and one reason only- to give you three visions, visions of anything you want to see."
Harry stopped tying his tie. "Are you serious?" he said. "You mean I could see…anything?"
Thistle nodded vigorously. "In reason," she said. She batted his hands away and took hold of his tie. "Let me do that…we can't show you things like how you will defeat Voldemort, that would be too easy…but things that are important to you, things that are so important that you think your heart will burst out of your chest if you don't see them." She twisted his tie into a smooth knot, then kissed him on the cheek. "Think it over carefully, Harry. Very carefully."
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Harry hummed to himself as he walked down the halls. He felt better than he had in months. It was chilly in the hallways, so he shoved his hands in his pockets and kept humming- a bit tunelessly- as he walked.
"Hey, Looney, watch out!" he heard a voice call out. "Don't walk into a wall again!"
He frowned. The words sounded kind, but the tone was the nastiest he'd ever heard before. And unfortunately, it sounded familiar.
"Looney Lovegood, go stick your head in a guillotine and do everyone a favor!" the voice said, sounding even nastier than before. Harry rounded a corner and saw a very pale Luna Lovegood staring down Padma Patil, her immense blue eyes growing larger and larger by the second and her knuckles whitening as she gripped her schoolbag.
"Leave her alone," Harry said. "She's not hurting anything." Padma scowled, but left with a final shove on Luna's thin shoulder. Harry reached over and steadied her. "You all right?"
"Fine, thanks," Luna murmured.
"It seems like I've been rescuing you a lot lately," Harry smiled.
Luna tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You seem happy today, Harry," she said. "I haven't seen you smile in quite a long time."
"I haven't had a reason to," he countered, picking up a scattered schoolbook and handing it to her.
"I've glad you found your reason, then," she said. She flashed him a soft, tentative smile and vanished down the corridor.
Abruptly Harry sensed two presences behind him. "Oh, he's got a reason, all right," Thistle murmured under breath. "And she's right there…"
Rowan elbowed her hard.
"Ouch! Quit it, Rowan!"
"Make me!"
"Both of you stop!" Harry hissed. "And I don't like Luna. I mean, I like her, but I don't like like-"
"You might as well give up, little brother," Rowan smirked. "We know you too well."
Harry could feel his ears turning red. "Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to go to Transfiguration before I'm late, or someone catches me talking to myself!" He stomped off down the hall.
"I think he's getting used to us," Thistle commented.
Rowan just gave his little sister a look.
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