Hello everyone, I know it's been a long time and for that, I am truly sorry. I put this down for a bit because a lot was going on in my life, it still is, but I just didn't know how to continue this. I still don't know how to continue this, I want to write and have a million ideas but when I try to write, nothing seems to flow. Anyways, I hope all is well and that you enjoy this chapter. As always please be kind to yourselves and others, you never know how much one look, one word, one action can change someone's life. Enjoy.

-Kel

Tom quietly and tiredly followed James back to his quarters, suddenly exhausted. His limbs felt phantom to him as if they were just sand bags moving of their own accord. His mind is empty and racing at the same time. James continues quietly as if lost in his own mind, this wasn't the case however, James was listening to the slow steps behind him and listening for Tom's laboured breathes that seemed to come too slow. They reach the door and James glances sideways over his shoulder to get a quick assessment of his friend before he ushers him in.

What am I going to do… James thinks to himself as he toys with the idea of placing protective wards on Tom. He drops this idea immediately though, when he realizes that he had already placed charms on all of the rooms to alert him if an occupant was in distress or injured. He had placed these for Harry but is thankful that they apply to any and all people who enter his quarters.

Tom plops over to the couch and wordlessly incendio's the log in the fireplace, staring vacantly at the flames as he rests his head and lays down.

"drink up"

Looking over at the glass held out in front of him he reluctantly reaches for it.

"I'm not thirsty"

"yet" James countered, knowing full well that the man sitting before him is in desperate need of a glass of water after the distressed state he was just in.

"Why don't we move you over to a bed? Hmm" James asks as he awaits an answer.

Without looking up he takes a sip of the water and shakes his head "no, I'm fine here."

James frowns but doesn't want to push his luck trying to make his friend move into a bed. Instead he grabs his wand and silently accioed pajamas for the man lying in front of him.

"I'll be back in a moment, why don't you get changed." James suggests, as he wanders down the hallway towards his room.

James himself isn't changing yet, he needs to go check on Harry once more before he retires for the night. Instead he makes his way towards a chest at the end of his bed and pulls out some blankets and spare pillows. He waits a moment before returning to the sitting room.

"Here are some spare blankets and pillows, I'll be back in a bit, I'm going to check on Harry." He stated eying up Tom, who hadn't changed clothes.

Making eye contact for a second he nods. Tom knows how important it is for James and all of them to establish a relationship with Harry and to check in on the boy to make sure he was dealing with his new surroundings well. Tom could only imagine how petrified the boy must be after being found out let alone his racing and constantly changing thoughts.

As James makes his way out the door, Tom calls over "say goodnight to him from me if he's up." Giving a sad smile to James.

"of course." James reply's and leaves.

As he closes the door he quickly checked to make sure his charms were still in place and left towards the infirmary.

Xxx

Back in James' quarters, Tom finally takes a relaxed breath and contemplates cutting. He finally finds his strength again and moves around towards the kitchen. He retrieves a knife, not his preference but it'll work and makes his way towards the bathroom. He pulls down his pants slightly to expose his hip gently placing the blade in between two cuts he had made previously. Before he presses down though, a thought occurred to him, the rooms may be warded to alert James if something were to happen to Harry. Breathing out heavily he grabs his wand and checks. Yes, they're there. Thinking to himself, he realized that these specific charms are also activated if someone tries to interfere with them. With this in mind, he shrinks the knife and hides it while stowing his wand. He goes back out to the sitting room and reaches for the door. Fortunately, the door wasn't warded or set to alarm James if he were to leave. Opening the door, he moves for the nearest classroom that he could remember from when he was a student here. As he enters he dims the lights, feeling exposed from their brightness and lowers his waist band once more. He stands there for a brief moment, choosing a spot again and then enlarges the knife back to it's original size. Placing the knife back between the two cuts he applies pressure and his face softens.

One cut, that's all I needed. He thinks to himself as he prods the newly forming cut with his finger the release more blood.

Shrinking the knife, he places it back into it's hiding spot in his shoe and casts not only a glamour on his side but also a shielding charm to not alert James when he re-enters his rooms. Once inside, he changes to appease James and lies down once more. His final thought as he pulled the blankets over himself were that he hoped Harry never reached the low that he is currently at.

Xxx

Pushing the door to the infirmary open he walks steadily to the only blanketed body occupying the vast, moonlit room. Not wanting to wake the child he moves silently at a slower pace towards the end of the bed and reads the boys' chart. The moonlight illuminated everything on the pages and in the room as it streamed in through the tall paned windows that looked out upon the distant mountains and forbidden forest. To his surprise, the Harry's chart did not reveal anything that would point to such abuse as he had faced. The only things that would hint at any abuse were his weight and height but being an athlete may have prevented him from gaining weight or he might have been a late bloomer in terms of puberty. Both of which would be likely reasons why no one would suspect anything, if no one had noticed his glamour when he returned to school. He pondered this thought for a minute, if the boy wore glamours to conceal his injuries surely someone in the first week of school would have noticed the glamour… Thinking this through he thought it best not to dwell on these thoughts until he could properly speak to the teen sleeping peacefully in front of him.

James pulls up a chair next to Harry's bed and just watches him sleep for a bit, it was nice and heartbreaking at the same time to see him so at ease. But this may be from the side effects of a dreamless sleep or calming draught that Poppy may have given the teen. James stands and places his hands interlocked behind his back and moves towards the window. Inhaling deeply as he finally has a sense of peace. Reflecting on todays events with both Harry and Tom, he couldn't quite believe what was happening. The boy who lived, abused. His close friend, whom he had mentored bulimic? No He tossed this idea to the side, he felt like there was something more but not bulimia. Taking one last relaxing breath, admiring the scenery in front of him he makes a mental list of things that need to be done tomorrow. The list is long and also involves him going to his practice to visit patients. He knew he could trust Tom with Harry but wasn't sure if it was the best option for either of them, perhaps he should call Robert to come and assist Tom so they both can see patients tomorrow… As he thinks through these plans he turns slowly and takes one last glance at Harry before wordlessly leaving the infirmary to go check on Tom and get some sleep himself.

Xxx

"I cannot believe that man some day's!"

"I know Minerva but he does have a heart and does care for the boy. Remember Quirell? Everything he did to protect him. When the time comes he'll always do the right thing." Filius states as he moves from his chair to place a comforting hand on Minerva.

"that's besides the point… I asked him to check on that poor boy and he doesn't even have enough decency to do that, knowing full well that I had suspected something was wrong." She glared at the tiny many in front of her.

"I'm sorry you feel that way but let's look at it this way. At least Harry's no longer with his family and now has three men looking after him as well as all the staff here at the castle." He says with a strong affirmative voice.

"I think I need a walk, thank you for your company tonight Filius." She says.

At this, professor Flitwick vanishes the tea pot, cups and saucers and turns to leave but before he goes he turns back and says

"Try to give Severus another chance Minerva, he may surprise you."

Now leaving, he hopes the new headmistress will make the right decision.

Xxx

When the charms professor left Minerva knew she needed a walk, she didn't know where she was going to go to but she had to walk off her frustration before she says or does anything that could hurt someone. In the dimly lit hallway, she meanders aimlessly through the corridors, stopping to say hi to the bloody Barron and to tell Peeves off. However, through her thoughtlessness, she finds herself in the dungeons and decides to knock on Severus's door. To her astonishment, he doesn't answer right away which is out of character for him. Usually the tall, darkly dressed man was swift with business and never left room for dawdling. Growing slightly concerned and feeling guilty for her behaviour early she calls for a house elf. Within a second one appears at the sound of a crack to her right.

"Dobby, can you please go check on Severus and ask him to answer his door." She pronounces in one of her softer voices.

"of course headmistress, dobby'll be right back!"

With the snap of his fingers the little elf was gone. The headmistress merely paced to one end of the dungeon to make a face at a portrait of a battle involving centaurs. When she went to inspect the picture closer she heard movement, hopefully from Severus's quarters and went back to her spot by the entrance. When the door opens, it was to a dishevelled looking potions professor and a worried looking elf.

"Yes Headmistress" he breathed, the scent of alcohol radiating from him.

Scrunching up her face she makes to move into his sitting room and is surprised when he just huffs and allows her in.

" you know Albus would just himself in too…" He stated not so happily.

"mmm. Severus, I do hope it wasn't me to have pushed you to drink all of this" She states as she picks up an empty fire whiskey bottle, scrunching up her face in the process.

Rolling his eyes, he moves to grab the bottle but stops as he realizes it would be pointless. He doesn't say anything.

"Dobby would you mind bringing us some tea?"

Dobby nodded and snapped his fingers and a tea set and biscuits appeared, he dismissed himself and left. Although she wasn't in the mood for more tea she knew she owed it to Severus to talk to him and find out why one of her colleagues was as drunk as he was.

"I just came down here to apologize for earlier Severus. I was angry but I should not have yelled at you and embarrassed you in front of the other staff members and for that, I am sorry." She says in her authoritative voice, setting a tea cup over to where Severus was standing.

"it's fine headmistress." He clumsily reached for the tea cup and took a sip, letting the blend of leaves to wash over his trained palate, trying to decipher every leaf that was present in the tea.

"If this is fine Severus, I'd hate to see what was not…" She states as she sets her cup back on her saucer, looking up over her thin glasses.

Shrugging he moves to light the fire and they sit in companionable silence. Severus surprised by the sudden change of heart by his old professor turned boss and warmed slightly by the thought of her caring.