Harry stood at the window in his office, but the bright afternoon sunlight did nothing to improve his mood. The state of his marriage weighed heavy on his mind. He wanted to make things work, but he wasn't sure how to fix the mess that it was in.

The thought of his children was what kept him going now. He couldn't bear the thought of breaking off his marriage when he considered the affect it might have on them. But he also had to wonder if it might be better for the children if they did split up. It couldn't be very good for them to see how strained things were between him and Ginny.

He picked up Ralph the llama from where he was laying next to his desk. He smiled down at the stuffed animal in his hands. It represented the best part of his life. If only everything else could be that simple.

"Is there something I should know?" Remus stood in the doorway grinning.

Harry smiled back, "it's not mine, he's Lily's. She told me to keep him so that he could keep me company." He set the stuffed animal back down on his desk.

"She's a very sweet little girl. You know you could go home on weekends and the occasional weeknight like Charlie does, you'd get to see her more often."

Harry sighed, "I'm not sure if I'm wanted at home."

Remus put a hand on the younger man's shoulder, "I'm probably not the best person to give you advice since I'm not married, but keep trying. Even if you do seperate you still need to try."

"Thanks Remus," Harry knew that he was trying to help, even though it didn't help much.

"I know you may not want any more advice, and I don't know how much help it might be, but if you need to talk to someone I would suggest Severus. He's made it through a few rough spots in his marriage, and yet I've never seen a man who is more in love with his wife than he is."

"I can't imagine that he would be of any help."

Remus chose his next words carefully; he knew a few things about the Snapes' marriage that they didn't want widely known. "You'd be surprised Harry. There were a lot of us who doubted they would make it those first few years. They've been through a lot together, and not all of it has been pleasant."

"Like what?" Harry didn't really want to pry, but if it would help save his own marriage he was ready to try anything.

Remus shook his head, "I'm not the one who should tell you. You'll have to ask Severus or Morgan about it sometime."

Harry found himself wondering if Remus knew what he was talking about. From what he could see the Snapes' marriage was close to perfect.

Meg felt like she was ready to give up for the night. She needed to feed Alan, but the rest of her children were simply refusing to go to bed. The stress of caring for all of them by herself left her close to tears some days.

It had been a major disappointment for her when Charlie hadn't come home that weekend. She had known he probably wouldn't be able to make it back for the first weekend of the term. But now it was Monday night and the start of the week left her feeling rather desperate for her husband.

She finally managed to wrestle the twins into their pajamas and tried reasoning with her two older girls again, who kept insisting that they wanted to stay up and play just a little bit longer. "Kassandra, Diana I want you in bed now. I'll be in to tuck you in as soon as I get Bran and Branwen in bed."

She listened to the protests and sighed wearily, they usually didn't put up this much of a fight. "No dearest, don't do that," Meg picked up Branwen and gently removed her daughter's thumb from her mouth. She and Charlie were still trying to curb their youngest daughter's habit of sucking her thumb. Now she only did it when she was tired or upset.

The twins had finally drifted off and Meg finished tucking them in before heading back to Kassandra and Diana's room to get them into bed, hoping that they wouldn't fight her too much, she was exhausted. She surveyed the toys that were scattered all over their bedroom and made a mental note that they weren't doing anything tomorrow until that mess was cleaned up.

"Alright both of you, into bed now or there won't be any story tonight."

Meg could have cried with relief when Charlie entered the room to the delighted squeals of his daughters.

"He quickly embraced Meg and kissed her softly, "go check on Alan, I'll take care of these two," the love he felt for his wife showed clearly in his eyes.

Meg headed to the nursery and gently picked up Alan. She smiled down at her infant son, when he opened his large blue eyes and blinked sleepily up at her. "Hello darling, are you hungry?"

Meg laughed softly when her red headed little boy, who was just a month old, merely scrunched up his little face. She sat down in the rocking chair with him so that he could nurse. Meg closed her eyes and rocked slowly, it felt so good to just sit after having spent her day running after children.

She had nearly drifted off when Charlie came in. He gently took little Alan, who had fallen asleep, and placed him back in his crib. "I think its time I got you to bed Mrs. Weasley, you look like you're completely done in."

Meg started to protest when Charlie bent to pick her up but he silenced her protests, "no complaining, this is the least I can do for you after the day you've had."

Meg relaxed and let her head fall against her husband's chest as he effortlessly carried her down the hallway to their bedroom. She let her eyes fall shut; she could hear Charlie's heart beating because of the way her head lay against his chest. It was such a comforting sound.

Charlie gently moved to set his wife on their bed and laughed softly when she refused to let go of him. "Are you going to let me set you down?" There was a smile in his voice.

"No... I like being held too much," Meg replied.

Charlie sat down on the bed so that he could continue holding her, "how was your day?"

"Long."

"Did the kids give you trouble?"

"Not until it was time to get them in bed. Ginny and Lily were over today and I think the girls were still a bit wound up."

Charlie shifted his wife slightly so that he could hold her closer, "How is my little sister doing? I haven't had a chance to see her in awhile."

Meg sighed, "She's depressed. She's still worried about her marriage."

Charlie kissed the top of Meg's head, "I'll go see her the next chance I get."

A sudden thought occurred to Meg, "Why are you home?"

Charlie laughed at his wife's change of subject, "Are you saying you don't want me here?"

Meg playfully jabbed him in the ribs, "of course I want you here, have I ever given you reason to doubt that?" She pouted slightly.

Charlie dipped his head and kissed her in response. "I felt bad about not being home over the weekend, so I thought I would surprise you."

"I like surprises like this."

"Then I'll have to surprise you like this more often."

"I'd like that," Meg smiled as she buried her face in her husband's chest. As his heartbeat came to her ears again she felt herself relax. She fell asleep cradled in his arms within minutes.

Nimue sat up with a start, breathing heavily. She closed her eyes against the darkness of the room as she tried to block the images of her dream from her mind. It had been so vivid, so real. She tried to think about what she should do.

She knew that she had told Dierna she would tell her parents if she had another vision, but was that what the dream had been? Nimue clutched a pillow to her chest as she rocked herself back and forth slightly. It had seemed so real, but maybe it had only been a nightmare.

She shuddered as she remembered the dream. The same figures in dark cloaks that had haunted other dreams had been there. They had talked of a prison break and they had mentioned one particular name. Voldemort. Nimue tried to think logically, no one would really want to break him out of Azkaban. He had been administered the dementor's kiss. He couldn't be used to cause any further harm.

She shivered in the darkness. Usually she found the dark to be peaceful, but tonight it seemed to press in on her, it was foreboding. Nimue wrapped a blanket around herself and headed down to the common room. She sat on a sofa in front of the fireplace and gazed into the dancing flames, praying that no more nightmares or visions would haunt her. She fell asleep sitting there just before the sun rose.

Nick, Dierna, and Serena walked out the main doors of the school towards a shaded area that contained a number of temporary animal pens. They were having their Care of Magical Creatures class outside today, which had Dierna convinced that whatever they were working with would be big and most likely dangerous.

"Why do we have to work with things that move? Couldn't we just use books instead?" Dierna whined as they approached the fenced in area.

"Now where would the fun in that be?" Nick joked as he playfully pushed Dierna, "Besides, I've heard stories from my dad about his school days, according to him Professor Weasley's animals are tame compared to what Hagrid brought when he taught this class."

"Come on Dierna, they're not that bad, some of them are actually kinda cute." Serena egged her sister on.

"Cute!" Dierna snorted indignantly, "I damn near got my hand bit off last year. This is only the second week of classes and I bet anything whatever it is we're going to be studying is going to try to eat me, just like last year."

"It's only because you taste good," Serena replied sweetly.

"Are you sure, she doesn't act sweet so I can't imagine that she'd taste good, but maybe we should ask Stefan, he'd know about that." Nick quickly stepped back as Dierna swung at him.

"That's not funny Nick," Dierna narrowed her eyes.

"Of course it is, plus it's true. So, how does Stefan think you taste?" Nick grinned wickedly.

Dierna rushed at Nick trying to tackle him to the ground, but he was too quick and bigger than her. Nick held Dierna off then swept her off the ground and threw her over his shoulder. He carried her that way to where the rest of their class was congregating despite her loud protests.

Nick held Dierna behind her knees to keep her from falling as she tried to struggle out of his grasp. "Are you going to behave or do I need to keep you like this?" He asked with laughter in his voice.

"Put me down right now Nick!"

"What's the magic word?"

"I'm going to kill you if you don't put me down now!"

"Not quite what I was looking for, but that will work." Nick bent down and put Dierna back on her feet.

Dierna glared at him, "don't do that again," she spoke through clenched teeth.

"Or what, you'll try to tackle me again? We both know how well that worked, but that's nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you if you try something like that again." Nick tried very hard to put on a stern look without laughing.

Serena laughed at her sister's affronted look, "he looks serious Dierna, you may not want to try that again."

"I can take him," Dierna looked like a cat ready to pounce.

"Really? Then why don't you try?" Nick spread his arms, inviting Dierna to take her best shot. But she didn't get a chance as Professor Weasley chose that moment to start the class.

Charlie grinned at the assembled students; the class consisted of a combination of Slytherin and Gryffindor sixth years. So far it had proved to be his most entertaining class, due mainly to the Snape twins and Nick Wood. As long as they didn't disrupt the class Charlie was more than happy to let any small pranks slip, the trio reminded him a lot of his own twin brothers.

Charlie was excited for today's class; he had finally gotten permission from the Ministry and the school to bring in an animal that truly excited him. "Alright class, for the next three weeks we're going to be working with baby Egyptian sand dragons. They are still fairly harmless but you still need to use precaution and common sense when handling them." He continued with a basic lecture on their eating and behavior habits before instructing the students to break up into groups and for each group to take one dragon.

Nick, Dierna, and Serena worked together as the always did. As they approached their assigned pen Dierna eyed the dragon warily, "I don't care what he said about them being harmless that thing looks pretty vicious to me." She took an involuntary step backwards as the baby dragon shuffled up to the side of its pen, rubbing up against the bars.

"Awww... it's so cute!" Serena exclaimed as they entered its pen. She bent down to pet the baby dragon, which was about the size of a kitten. She grinned when the little dragon rolled onto its back so that she could rub its soft stomach.

"Adorable," Dierna muttered with ill concealed distaste.

"Now that's no way to talk about our baby, be nice Dierna. What should we name him?" Serena sat on the ground and picked up the baby dragon, setting him in her lap. She gently ran her hand over his scales, which were in shades of brown and pink and gold to blend in with the Egyptian sands.

"We do not need to name him, things like that do not deserve names," Dierna stood at the opposite end of the pen.

"Come on Dierna, he's not that bad, besides you like working with dragon products in potions class, consider this background information." Nick tried to get her to come over to where the dragon was contentedly laying in Serena's lap.

Dierna snorted, "I like pieces of dragons, not the whole thing."

"Come on," Serena coaxed, "he's really very sweet." She petted the dragon's head when he rubbed up against her hand.

"I think he should have an Egyptian name since he's an Egyptian sand dragon," Nick said as he took Dierna by the hand and dragged her over to where Serena was sitting. He pulled her down to the ground so that the three of them were sitting in a close triangle.

"How about Seth, he looks pretty evil." Dierna commented dryly.

"That's still not being nice," Serena rolled her eyes at her sister, "How about... Ptah? I think he looks like a Ptah."

"I like it. Come on Dierna, why don't you pet him," Nick poked her in the side.

"Fine," Dierna sighed and reached out to pet the little dragon who closed his eyes when she gently scratched his head before quickly turning and snapping at her fingers. "I told you he was evil!" Dierna glared at her sister and Nick who was trying not to laugh, "every time, some damn animal tries to take my hand off. I'm not touching him again."

"You're upsetting him!" Serena glared back at her sister before turning her attention back to little Ptah. She rubbed him under his chin as he settled back down in her lap.

"Sure, take the dragon's side, because he is so innocent," Dierna replied sarcastically.

Nick laughed at the hurt expression on Dierna's face, "He's a lot more innocent than you are."

"How are things going over here?" Charlie approached the group. Although he knew that the baby sand dragons were a very tame species, he still needed to keep a very close eye on his students while they were handling the animals.

"Fine," Serena stood up as she handed the dragon to Nick, "Dierna doesn't like him very much though."

"Having problems again Miss Snape? I thought we cleared this up last year." Charlie turned towards Dierna.

"Professor, its no my fault if every animal we study tries to bite me, I don't do anything to them." Dierna eyed the dragon warily as it curled up in Nick's lap.

"They can sense any fear or hesitation, if you try to get past that I'm sure you would have a much better experience in this class," Charlie smiled down kindly at her.

"How big will this guy get?" Nick asked as Ptah flopped over onto his back so that Nick could rub his stomach.

Nick and Professor Weasley got into a detailed discussion involving the habits and characteristics of that particular species of dragon that lasted for almost the rest of the class. By the time class finally ended Dierna was more than ready to leave.

She watched as Nick and Serena reluctantly left the little dragon behind, she couldn't understand their fascination with a creature like that. She much preferred the feeling of excitement that brewing potions produced for her. It was much more satisfactory than any animal.

Nick walked between Serena and Dierna as they headed back inside and wrapped an arm around both girls' waists. "We have practice tonight, you girls feel ready?"

"We're always ready to practice Nick," Serena smiled at him.

"Of course we are, especially since we're going to bring Slytherin down this year. I will not stand for a repeat of what happened last year." Dierna tried to repress the memory of their horrible defeat in the final game of the quidditch season the previous year.

"Good, 'cause I have every intention of working you hard this season, I want that quidditch cup this year," Nick stated determinedly, his competitive nature coming out.

"We won't let you down this year Nick; I know we're going to win." Serena spoke confidently.