Author's Note: Hey everyone. Ugh, I've been brought down by the Flu or something similar. I think it's my karma for making Harry so sick all the time in Recnac. I've now had it for a week, the longest I've ever been sick. And it seems to keep mutating, introducing new symptoms as old ones fade away. I think Sirius might have slipped something into my food in revenge for torturing Harry so much, since this thing is just unnatural, lol. Anyways, I apologize, but I'm just too wiped out to do review responses for this chapter. I have read all your reviews and thank you so much for all of them. I wish I could respond, but this happens to be one of the rare times when I'm both awake and not delirious. I went to school yesterday and at one point, I forgot the names of everybody that sits around me in Econ. It was so weird. I just kept staring at people, trying to remember their names and I couldn't. I also took a chem test yesterday and you can see how that probably turned out. Lol. Well, I'm off to go cuddle up with my current best friends: the tissue box, the Vicks VapoRub, my giant teddy bear (that often doubles as a dancing partner on healthier days) and my Moulin Rouge DVD.
"Hello?" Harry called out into the Stensons' home. He had just Flooed in.
"Harry?" Kota asked, coming down the stairs.
"Hey Kota, what do you know about four-year-olds?" he asked.
"Why, decided to boost your maturity level up a year?" she asked with a teasing smirk.
"Oh ha ha," he said sarcastically. "But seriously. My friend's godfather is having a date with a single mother of a four-year-old girl, and she's bringing her daughter. He's never been around children in his life."
"Alright, what do you need to know?"
.
"Okay, so they're out of diapers and they run around. They can talk pretty well but don't generally follow sarcasm. They can still be a bit messy and they still need people to help dress them," Harry said following Snape around as he paced throughout the house. Draco was down talking with the house elves about what to make for dinner.
"Dinner things, Harry, dinner things. Do they still drink out of a bottle? Do use silverware? Do they eat solid food?" he asked, sounding very stressed out.
"No on the bottle, yes on the solid food, though it might need to be cut smaller for them. And I'm pretty sure they can use silverware. Not knives, but spoons and forks I think. Though maybe you shouldn't confuse the girl by putting five forks next to her plate," he suggested with a grin. "Oh, and curse words: not good, even stuff like 'bloody' and 'hell.'"
"This isn't going to work."
"Yes it is," Harry insisted. "You're prepared. She's going to be here in about ten minutes. It'll be fine. Good luck," he said as they made their way into the living room. Harry began walking over to the fireplace.
"Where are you going?" Snape asked sternly. Harry turned around in confusion.
"Er…home?"
"Aren't you staying for dinner?"
"I didn't know I was invited. Besides, as you've seen, I'm probably not the best person to have around for a nice dinner. I'm not really in with the whole high society behavior thing yet," he reminded the Potions master. "I'd just mess it up."
"Don't be ridiculous. You helped get me into this, you're staying," Snape said firmly. Harry blinked at him.
"Are you sure?" he asked in surprise.
"Of course I'm sure or I wouldn't have said it. Besides, it's not going to be a fancy affair, but a casual one."
Harry looked at him incredulously. "Apparently we have different definitions of casual."
"Well, I'm allowing you and Draco to wear Muggle clothes aren't I?" he asked as if that settled it.
Draco chose that moment to enter the room looking pleased with himself.
"Well, I've just checked on dinner and it's coming along perfectly. The house elves have been working on it for hours and it shows."
"Thank Merlin. Then everything should go smoothly." Snape said coolly, sounding a bit relieved.
"Of course it will," Draco said knowingly. "I planned it, didn't I?"
Snape rolled his eyes and Harry chuckled at his friend's arrogance.
"Let me just go tell Sirius I'm staying here for dinner," Harry said.
He quickly talked to Sirius through the fireplace, who got quite a kick out of the fact that Snape had a date until Moony pointed out that at least Snape had a date. That shut Sirius up.
As seven o'clock approached, the flames in the fireplace roared to life in emerald green, and Laura stepped out, setting her daughter down on the floor of the living room. Both were dressed in light blue robes that showed off their eyes. The four-year-old girl was a carbon copy of her mother, just smaller, with larger eyes and more freckles. She stuck close to her mother, peering out from behind the woman's legs.
"Hello Severus," she said pleasantly. "Hello Draco. Harry," she said nodding to each of the boys. The two boys greeted her in return, while Snape was looking warily at the little girl.
"And this is my daughter Anna," she said gently patting the young girl on the head. "Anna, say hello."
"Hello," she said shyly.
Harry looked at the other two males and seeing that they weren't going to do anything, he stepped forward.
"Hi Anna, I'm Harry," he said, holding out a hand. The young girl giggled and shook his hand with her tiny one. "I hear you like Quidditch."
The girl smiled brightly and nodded enthusiastically. Seeing that her daughter was occupied, Laura went over to talk to Snape.
"Well, Draco and I play Quidditch. We're Seekers. Do you know what those are?"
"Yes. They're the ones that look for the Snitch," she said knowingly. "I like them."
Draco walked up to them, looking slightly unsure of himself.
"This is Draco," Harry introduced when the Slytherin made no move to do it himself. Draco nodded at the girl and said a stiff hello, but Anna was not put off by him.
"You have pretty hair," she said, causing Draco to look mildly startled. "It's white and shiny."
Draco smirked.
"The girl's got good taste," he said to Harry who rolled his eyes.
"Anna, come meet Severus," Laura called. Harry saw Snape quickly hide the horrified look that flittered across his face.
The young girl ran over and looked up at Snape with her big blue eyes. Snape looked wary of the small child, as if she were planning to attack him. Of course, this seemed to slip right past Laura.
"Er…hello," Snape said awkwardly, looking down at the child suspiciously.
"Hi," she said back. "You're tall," she said bluntly, as if it were a very necessary thing to get out into the open.
"Er…yes, well, you're short," he said awkwardly. Laura chuckled and Anna broke out into giggles, while Snape remained bewildered at what he was supposed to say to such a young child.
A house elf popped into the room and announced that dinner was served, saving Snape from conversation with the child. As they walked to the dining room, Anna ran back to the boys and began asking questions.
"Do you have brooms?" she asked excitedly.
"Yes."
"Are they fast?"
"Yes, but Draco's is faster than mine. He has a Lightningstrike and I have a Firebolt," Harry explained. "Well, actually, it's more like two pieces of a Firebolt, but Draco lets me borrow his extra broom."
"I don't know those. Who is better?"
"I am," they both said at the same time, simultaneously shooting playful glares at one another. Anna looked between the two of them before putting her hand over her mouth and giggling.
"Do that again. That was funny," she declared brightly.
"Maybe later," Draco said vaguely.
"Is Sevus you're daddy?" she asked them both.
"Severus," Draco corrected.
"That's what I said," Anna insisted.
"No you didn't," Draco argued.
"Draco, are you really going to start fighting with a four-year-old?" Harry said quietly. Draco scowled at him.
"So is he?" she asked.
"No, he's my godfather," Draco said.
"What's that?" she asked curiously.
"It's someone who your parents choose to take care of you if they can't."
"And Harry is your brother, right?" she said knowingly.
"No, he's my friend."
"No, he should be your brother," she insisted. "You look like brothers."
Harry and Draco looked at each other. Draco raised his eyebrow and Harry tried not to laugh. How the girl could think they looked related was beyond them, as they were hard-pressed to think of any two people that looked more different.
They finally arrived at the elegant dining room. Laura exclaimed how nice it looked, as Harry's eyes grew wide, having never seen such a picturesque table. The lights were dimmed and much of the light was coming from the beautiful candelabras strategically placed at the table. House elves waited around the edges of the room, holding large covered dishes.
Snape pulled Laura's chair out for her and Anna insisted on sitting next to Harry, who lifted her into the chair before taking his own seat in between the girl and Draco.
After they were all seated, the house elves approached, setting out all the food, the larger dishes in the middle with appetizers surrounding it. Harry couldn't imagine the five of them being able to finish it all. He wasn't too sure about the food either, especially after his last meal at Snape Manor. None of it was recognizable to him and every dish looked very elaborate. He knew his taste buds weren't used to all the spices so he couldn't bring himself to be very excited about eating all the alien foods.
"This is wonderful, Severus. Everything looks great. Oh calamari, I love that!" she exclaimed as everyone began to put food onto their plates.
"What's calamari?" Harry whispered to Draco.
"Squid in fried batter," he whispered back. Harry looked at him in horror.
"You're joking," he said hopefully.
"You are so uncultured," Draco said in response. "Just try some," he said passing the dish to Harry, who reluctantly put a couple of pieces on his plate.
Just as everyone was about to begin their meal, Anna stood up on her chair and reached across the table to grab her water. Unfortunately, the glass was too heavy and she only succeeded in knocking it over, right into the candelabra. The candles tipped over and in a flash, the tablecloth caught on fire.
Everyone jumped up. Harry plucked up Anna out of her chair and carried her back from the table, the top of which was now completely engulfed in flames.
Anna looked at the fire in horror and began crying loudly, hugging Harry's neck and insisting repeatedly that she was sorry and that she didn't mean to. Harry patted her back and told her it was okay.
Laura and Snape were dousing the flames with water from their wands as quickly as they could, but by the time they succeeded in putting them all out, the room was filled with smoke and the dinner was charred beyond recognition.
They all went out into the hallway as the smoke got too bad. Snape looked flustered, Draco seemed to be in mild shock, Laura was apologizing over and over, saying that she'd pay for any damage, while Harry held the sobbing Anna to his chest, trying to comfort her saying that it was alright, that it was just an accident.
"Don't worry about it," Snape assured her, looking extremely disappointed. He called for a house elf who reluctantly told him that there was no more food, that everything they had bought and prepared was now burnt.
"Oh Severus, I'm so sorry. Everything's ruined," Laura said in distress.
"It's okay. I should have been more prepared. Now there's nothing to eat."
Harry stepped up. "If you guys don't mind a lower class meal, and if I could use the kitchen, I could make dinner," he suggested. "I'd only need about fifteen minutes."
Laura brightened up and looked at Snape. "That would be great with me."
Snape nodded at Harry in a slight daze.
"Alright," he said cheerfully, handing Anna to her mother. "You all go relax in the living room and I'll make you a Muggle meal."
He darted off into the study to use the fire and quickly Flooed to the Lighthouse.
"Harry?" Sirius asked as his godson darted through the living room into the kitchen.
"There was a bit of a disaster with the food, so I'm doing a rescue mission," Harry called out as he loaded his arms with dry spaghetti, a big jar of marinara sauce, boxes of Macaroni and Cheese, a few sticks of butter, a spatula, a loaf of bread and a stack of cheese slices. He grabbed cans of gingerale and cranberry juice and stuck the lot of it in a big pot.
He darted back through the living room, shouting goodbyes to Padfoot and Moony before Flooing back to Snape manor. He raced down to the kitchens, which were spectacularly large, with tons of stove burners. There were immediately two house elves at his side awaiting instruction.
"Senri, Baz, how are you two?" Harry asked politely. The two gleefully told him they were good and asked how they could help. "All right, I need another large pots and a medium sized one. I also need a frying pan, butter, two strainers if you have them and three stirring spoons, please," he said as he began opening up packages. "Oh and a large pitcher, if it's possible."
The house elves immediately scurried off, bringing back the supplies he needed. Harry thanked them profusely, much to their delight, making them more eager to serve the friendly boy.
He had the elves fill two of the pots with water and began preparing the meal. He made up a bunch of Macaroni and Cheese, a whole package of spaghetti and as many grilled cheese sandwiches as the serving platter would fit, cutting each into four triangles for appetizers.
He mixed the cranberry juice and the gingerale together in the pitcher and had the house elves put the other food into nice looking dishes.
Exactly fifteen minutes after he had left, he was walking back up to the living room, carrying the platter of sandwiches as house elves trailed behind him to carry everything else.
As Harry had instructed, two house elves lay out a blanket on the floor and the others set the food on top of it. They lit a fire in the fireplace to eat by, but put a screen around it to make sure Anna didn't have any more accidents.
"We're eating on the floor?" Snape asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh like an indoor picnic, how lovely!" Laura said excitedly, taking her seat on the blanket.
"Grilled cheese!" Draco exclaimed as he saw what was on the platter that Harry set down, and immediately took his place on the blanket.
Snape also sat down, looking slightly lost as to this new concept of eating on the floor.
"What is that?" he asked suspiciously.
"Macaroni and Cheese. A Muggle delicacy," he joked, taking a seat as well. "Nobody can resist."
Everyone piled food on their plate, and the two adults tried the food somewhat cautiously.
"Wow, Harry, I'm impressed. This is delicious!" Laura exclaimed.
"Mummy, I like this. Can we have this again?" Anna asked, her hands and face covered with cheese and marinara sauce. Snape looked at the mess in distaste, unnoticed by Laura, who leaned over and wiped her off with a napkin.
Draco contently ate grilled cheese sandwiches to his heart's content.
"Okay, I still am not fond of Muggles in general, but I must admit they have good food," Draco announced as he tried the orange noodles.
"Harry this is excellent," Laura said.
"Well, it wasn't hard to make or anything," Harry said with a modest shrug. He was slightly disappointed that Snape hadn't made a single comment about the food, not that he had really been expecting him to. But now he was a bit nervous that the man didn't like it, and was just eating it since it was their only option. He quickly reminded himself that Snape didn't give compliments. It would go against his moral code.
They all chatted about various things, Draco and Laura doing most of the talking. At one point, Anna crawled over to Snape and began asking him questions. While Draco and Laura were immersed in a conversation about how corrupt the ministry was, Harry watched Anna and Snape in amusement.
"Do you like black?" Anna asked curiously.
"What?" Snape asked in annoyance.
"Your robes are black and your shoes are black and your hair is black and your socks are black," she explained all in one breath. "Do you always wear black?"
"Yes."
"So you like black," Anna stated in conclusion.
"Yes, I suppose so," Snape said cautiously.
"Why?
"Why what?"
"Why do you like black so much?"
Snape stared at her in apprehension. "Because I just do," he snapped. Anna didn't seem to pick up on the annoyed tone of the man's voice.
"You look like a vampire."
Snape scowled at her and hissed, "I do not look like a vampire."
"Do you have fangs?" she asked excitedly.
"No."
"Can I see?"
"No."
"If a werewolf and a vampire were in a fight, who would win?"
"I don't know, what kind of question is…."
"Do you eat a lot of chocolate?" Anna interrupted.
"What? No."
"I think you do because your hair is brown like chocolate."
Snape looked at her as if she were insane.
"Do you like kids?"
"No," Snape snapped.
"Why not?"
"Because they ask too many questions," he growled menacingly, but Anna only giggled.
"You're funny."
"I am not funny," he said indignantly.
"You're funny and grouchy. Do you need a nap?" she asked innocently. Harry bit back a laugh at the look of horror on Snape's face. Before he could say anything, Anna grabbed his hand and placed her palm on his.
"You have big hands," she declared. Snape pulled his hand away with a scowl. "You teach kids, right?"
"Yes," he said with an aggravated sigh.
"Do you like it?"
"I only enjoy teaching students who are interested in learning. Unfortunately, my classes are filled with incompetent fools who wouldn't know how to make the simplest potion if their life depended on it, and those students are a waste of my time."
Anna stared at him blankly for a few moments, not understanding what he had just said. "What do you like?"
Snape's eyebrow shot up at the question. He wasn't asked it very often.
"Potions."
"And?"
"And Defense Against the Dark Arts and dueling," he said in a hurried, hushed tone.
"Do you like Draco?"
"Yes."
"Do you like Harry?"
Snape's eyes glanced up to find Harry watching them. Harry blushed guiltily and looked down at his plate.
"Why don't you go back to your mother?" he asked the little girl, trying to shoo her away. Harry's heart sank a little at the answer.
"Do you like my mum?" she asked curiously.
Snape looked slightly flustered.
"Um…yes. She's a very nice person," he said quietly, looking up nervously at Laura to make sure she wasn't paying attention.
"I mean do you want her to be your girlfriend?" the girl asked in frustration that Snape was trying to get around her questions. Harry could have sworn Snape looked a bit afraid of the girl at that moment.
"Anna! Are you bothering Severus?" her mother asked sternly. Anna's head whipped around.
"No, I was just talking to him, really. He's my friend now," she announced. Harry quickly turned his laughter into a cough, as Snape shot him a glare.
The rest of the night went fairly smoothly. Both Anna and Laura became quickly attached to the three males. Laura and Snape set up a proper date to the opera (Harry and Anna made faces at this, while Draco looked slightly jealous). Harry volunteered himself and Draco to look after Anna if Laura couldn't find a babysitter. Laura had to pry Anna from Snape, since she had locked onto his legs and wouldn't let go, much to Snape's surprise.
As soon as the females were gone, the two boys looked at Snape, waiting for him to give his opinion. He did his best to ignore them.
"Well?" Draco asked impatiently.
"Ten minutes and the kid nearly burned down the manor," he scowled.
"I think she liked you," Draco teased. "You're her friend now, right?"
"Draco, you do realize there are dungeons underneath the manor," Snape said sharply.
"So, you obviously liked Laura if you're taking her to the opera," Draco said matter-of-factly.
"If only she didn't have that child," he said as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. "She didn't even scold her for lighting fire to my dining room!"
"It was just an accident," Harry piped in. "Obviously, fire and four-year-olds aren't a good mix."
"I told you I didn't know about kids. Wasn't it your job to figure that sort of stuff out?" Snape snapped.
Harry blinked. "Sorry," he said defensively. "It all turned out all right in the end anyways."
"Oh yes, sitting on the floor eating low-class, Muggle food cooked up in fifteen minutes, how magical," Snape said sarcastically.
Draco rolled his eyes at his godfather.
"Well fine then," Harry snapped, feeling stung, "I'm sorry I tried."
He stalked off with a huff down to the kitchen and began gathering up the unused food and put it back into the pot from the Lighthouse.
Snape burst through the kitchen doors.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you it's rude to walk out in the middle of a conversation?"
"I wasn't aware we were having a conversation," Harry said coldly.
Snape looked around all the ingredients Harry was packing up.
"So did you help cook it then?" he asked casually.
Harry looked up at him with an odd expression before focusing back on gathering his things together.
"Of course I did. It's not like the house elves know how to make low-class, Muggle food," he said, mocking Snape's earlier words.
"I didn't mean it like that."
Harry looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "There's another meaning for low-class? Or do you mean there was another meaning behind the condescending tone?"
"When did you start talking back to me?" Snape asked sternly.
Harry sighed. "Sorry," he said, picking up his pot, packed with cooking supplies, "I won't do it again, sir. Now if you'll excuse me…" He made to leave the kitchen.
Snape rolled his eyes. "Wait. Look, I'm…" Snape just couldn't bring himself to apologize. It was just something he didn't do. "I didn't mean it. Besides, the food wasn't that bad," he said with a lot of effort.
Harry looked over at him and sighed, realizing that he wasn't going to get an apology. It was obvious the man was stressed, and Harry knew from experienced that Snape liked to take out his anger on others. It really should be expected that the target would be Harry for a while until they hopefully got out of old patterns.
"It's okay," he said with a sigh.
Snape looked mildly surprised that his feeble attempt to apologize had worked so easily.
"I better go. Don't worry, Laura and Anna both like you and you'll learn all about dealing with kids soon enough," Harry said with a nod before exiting the kitchen.
He ran into Draco on his way back to the living room fireplace.
"You know Sev's just a bastard when he's stressed. He always has to complain about something," the blonde said, annoyed with his godfather. " Besides, I thought the Muggle food was great and we both know that my opinion's the only one that matters."
Harry smiled at Draco's arrogance, but didn't feel the same way. Snape's opinion did matter, though Harry wasn't sure why.
.
As Harry finally decided it was time to build the Quidditch pitch in the backyard of the Lighthouse, he also decided that it would be the best time to start trying to get Draco to interact with the Weasleys.
He proposed the idea to Draco, who, after failing to convince Harry to not invite the Weasleys, promised he would try his absolute best to be well behaved. The Weasleys boys weren't too enthused about the idea but Ginny helped Harry talk them into giving the Slytherin a chance. Granted Ginny hadn't really known the blonde that well at Hogwarts and wasn't all that familiar with his former self, but after what Draco's father had done to Ginny in her first year, Harry thought it was pretty noble of her to insist they give the younger Malfoy a chance. Ron and the twins eventually gave in, but made it clear that they would exact quick revenge if Draco said anything derogatory about their family.
.
Draco walked gracefully out of the fireplace into the living room of the Lighthouse. Harry was talking quietly to the three Weasley boys who were looking less than pleased. Ginny was the first to see him and gave him a nodded at him politely, giving him the best smile she could muster given who it was. The rest of the Weasleys simply did their best not to scowl at him.
Harry turned around and shot Draco a supportive grin.
"Hey Draco, did you bring your extra broom for me?" he asked brightly.
Draco bit back the sarcastic reply of "No, Harry, I was planning on riding these both myself," and simply nodded and held his Nimbus out to Harry.
"Great! Let's go!" Harry said. The Weasley boys led the way outside, with Harry, Draco and Ginny following.
"So, er, Draco," Ginny said with difficulty, trying to think of something to say, "how has your summer been so far?"
Draco looked at her in surprise, shocked that any of the Weasleys was going beyond just tolerating his presence. "It's been surprisingly good, thank you," he said with as much politeness as he could muster. "How about yours?"
Harry shot him a proud look.
"Mine's been good as well, except I'm sure Harry told you about how I smashed his broom into oblivion," Ginny said with a guilty smile at Harry. Harry just chuckled.
"Oh yeah. Nearly as smooth as being knocked off your broom by a Bludger from your own team after everyone's stopped playing," Draco said, referring to the Quidditch game from the previous year.
Ginny and Harry both laughed, the former surprised at the effort the blonde was putting into getting along with her. Plus, she had never suspected he was one to have a real sense of humor.
"Seems Harry here's saved both of our arses at some point," Ginny said with a grin as Harry blushed.
"What can I say, it's a hero-complex thing," Harry said with a shrug.
The three Weasleys looked back curiously as they heard their sister, friend and enemy all laughing together behind them.
Finally the six got out to the field where Sirius and Remus were lying out on lounge chairs sipping margaritas and chatting.
"Oh I'm glad to see you two are going to be a great help," Harry said with a roll of the eyes. The two Mauraders grinned at him and took sips of their drinks.
"We're on spell duty," Sirius said with a shrug.
"You need to have someone down here to make sure everything's even," Remus added, taking a sip of his margarita with a wink.
The six walked over to the field and began discussing measurements. They pulled out wizarding tape measure that would stretch as far as they wanted, never ending if needed. They were soon all running across the field in different directions, pulling the measuring tape between them and marking where each goal post would go with bright red X's. Next, they all worked together to carry the huge poles that Sirius had bought over to the pitch. Luckily Fred and George were able to cast spells on them to make them lighter and easier to carry.
Harry, Draco, Ron and Ginny tied ropes to the circular part of a goal post and mounted their brooms. They flew up together slowly, pulling the ropes so the huge goal post was pulled upright. Once it was vertical, Fred and George guided the bottom to the red X. Remus and Sirius shouted directions from the ground, telling the fliers to move one way or the other to make the pole straight. When everything was right, Remus, Sirius, Fred and George all pointed their wands at it and said a joint spell, which sank the post several feet into the ground.
They repeated the process with each goal post until all six were up and even. All they had to do was paint in the lines needed and they were done.
Draco and Ron had done a pretty good job at staying out of each other's way the entire day, not saying a single word to each other. Yet, unfortunately, their paths met when drawing the lines and Draco accidentally (or purposely as Ron insisted) got the white paint on Ron's pant leg.
"Idiot!" Ron snapped as he saw his ruined clothes. Draco glared at him.
"Oh I'm the idiot? You're the one who walked into where I was painting. It's not my fault you didn't look where you were going," Draco said in annoyance.
"You did it on purpose!" Ron accused him.
"Sorry to break it to you, Weasel, but I wouldn't waste the paint on you," Draco said imperiously.
"What, are you saying I'm not as good as you?" Ron asked hotly.
"You said it, not me," Draco said challengingly.
"You guys, what's going on?" Harry asked worriedly, jogging up to the pair. The other three Weasleys were right behind him. Remus and Sirius hadn't noticed anything yet as they were deeply involved in their conversation.
"Harry, how can you be friends with this spoiled little brat?" Ron asked angrily.
"Ron, come on, that's…" Harry started.
"Maybe he was tired of being stuck with a dimwit like you all the time," Draco snapped to Ron.
"Draco! That isn't tr…" Harry protested, but the two were no longer paying attention to him.
"News flash, ferret face, Harry's still my best friend," Ron yelled. "Not yours."
"Getting territorial, Weasel? You obviously know I'm a threat then. Well, I can't help it if I have more class than you will ever even come close to. But don't worry, you must have something to offer. Let's see…that's strange, I can't think of a single thing."
"Arrogant, ass-kissing ferret!" Ron shouted furiously.
"Sniveling little weasel!" Draco shot back heatedly.
"DEATH EATER!"
"PAUPER!"
"Draco! Ron! Stop it!" Harry yelled angrily. "Now, I'm friends with both of you and you're going to have to learn to deal with that! I'm not going to stop being friends with either of you and if you two could just try to get along for about five minutes maybe you'd see that there's a reason I am friends with both of you! I mean, Ginny's getting along with Draco fine, why can't either of you just try?"
There was a momentary pause before Draco and Ron rounded on each other again, each blaming the other for being the one that wasn't putting in the effort.
Harry let out a cry and grabbed his head.
"Oh very funny, Harry," Ron snapped. "If our fighting's giving you a headache, then you shouldn't invite…"
Harry looked up at Ron with a wide eyes and blood trickled out of his nose. He pressed the heals of his palms into his the sides of his head with a gasp. The redhead's face paled.
"Harry?" Draco asked in fright, but Harry's eyes closed as he lost consciousness. Draco darted forward and grabbed him before he could hit the ground.
"Oh gods! Oh gods!" Ginny shrieked.
"SIRIUS!!" Fred yelled frantically as Draco lowered Harry's unconscious form to the ground and turned him onto his back.
Sirius and Remus raced across the field. The two men pushed their way through the kids and knelt by Harry, trying to wake him.
"Oh no. It wasn't an attack, was it?" George asked fearfully, referring to the night where Harry had collapsed at the Burrow. They had all just assumed it was an attack. None of them had thought it could be something with his health. Wouldn't Snape have caught it?
"Draco, go get your godfather and hurry," Remus instructed. The blonde nodded in fright and sprinted to the house as fast as he could. "Ron, did anything like this happen when Harry had his cancer?" he asked seriously. Everyone's face paled.
"No, not like this. Um…he collapsed in the hall once, but that wasn't like this, he was just really sick and had a lot of other symptoms than a headache, and he did again when he, George and I were flying around, but that was because he didn't take some medicine he was supposed to. This…this can't be like that. He doesn't have cancer anymore. He's fine!" Ron insisted, sounding a bit panicked.
There was a soft moan from Harry.
"I think he's coming to," Sirius announced, petting Harry's hair encouragingly. "Come on Harry. That's it. Just wake up now," he coaxed as Harry struggled to open his eyes.
"What happened?" he asked confusedly, sitting up with great effort. He looked around and his expression grew slightly scared. "It happened again, didn't it? It wasn't an attack at the Burrow, was it?"
"Harry, we don't know what's going on, but it doesn't look like it was an attack. Draco's getting Snape," Sirius explained, just as Draco and Snape came running from the house.
Harry wiped the blood from under his nose with his sleeve as Snape marched up authoritatively and knelt by Harry to start checking him over.
"Was it the same type of headache?" he asked.
Harry nodded.
"Do you feel any remainders of it? Do you feel anything out of the ordinary at all?"
Harry shook his head. "I feel fine."
"I can't find anything wrong, but then again, I couldn't find anything wrong in your blood samples though something's obviously wrong. We're going to have to take you to St. Mungo's," Snape concluded. "We'd better go right now."
"But I feel fine, really!" Harry insisted.
"That's what worries me the most," Snape said grimly.
Sirius pulled Harry to his feet and led him back inside, everyone else following in a frightened silence.
Once they got to the fireplace, Snape asked Lupin if he could stay with Draco. The werewolf agreed, though he would have really liked to come along.
"Wait, no," Draco protested hotly. "I'm coming."
"So am I," Ron announced vehemently.
"Me too," said Ginny.
"Same here," the twins proclaimed simultaneously.
"None of you are coming," Snape said sternly.
"If something's wrong with Harry we want to know," Ginny said firmly.
"There's nothing wrong with me, I'm fine," Harry insisted, clearly embarrassed. Everybody rolled their eyes at the typical Harry line and ignored him.
"If you're going, I'm going," Draco informed his godfather.
"I am going because I am the only one familiar with Harry's medical condition and am the one who invented what brought him back and got rid of his cancer," Snape said sharply. "Sirius is going because he's Harry's godfather. The rest of you are not coming. You'll get in the way."
"No we won't, we'll just stay to the side and won't bother anyone," Fred insisted.
"Yeah, we just want to know what's going on! We must have some unofficial-big-brother rights here!" George added.
"Or one of us could just go so they can act as the messenger if they find anything. And being Harry's best friend, that should be me," Ron declared.
"We're wasting time arguing about this, so you might as well just let us all go so we can get Harry there," Ginny said firmly.
"No more arguing, you are not coming," Snape commanded.
The kids began arguing again but immediately stopped when Harry let out another cry of pain and grabbed his head, doubling over in pain. This time he did not pass out, but blood streamed out of his nose and down his face. The pain quickly passed, but the blood didn't. Snape made Harry tilt his head back and pinch his nose.
"That's it, I'm taking him," Sirius said quickly, a bit panicked. He guided Harry to the fireplace and the pair quickly Flooed to St. Mungo's, Snape following right behind them after dishing out threats on the lives of any who dared to come after them and get in the way.
Fred and George immediately Flooed home to inform their parents of what was going on, while Ron and Ginny adamantly refused to leave, wanting to hear any information as soon as possible.
There was nothing to do but wait.
Harry nervously sat on the examining table in one of the many sterile rooms. He struggled to fill in the many forms with one hand while pinching his nose with the other. The blood was slowing down, but an occasional drop would drip down onto the form, something that Harry was sure would be frowned upon by those who had to handle it. Yet he was the only one who could answer most of the questions, so he had opted to fill out the form himself while Sirius paced the room and Snape sat in the corner, occasionally sneering that the healers were taking too long and wasting their time.
"Are you sure you don't want me to help you fill that out, Harry?" Sirius asked for the tenth time.
"No I got it," Harry said quickly. He found many of the questions rather embarrassing and would not like his godfather dictating them out loud or even considering them. There were a few types of talks he was absolutely certain he did not want to have with his godfather.
Finally, a Healer entered the room, shutting the door behind him. He was a kind-looking man with floppy brown hair. He gave Harry a comforting smile.
"Good afternoon. I'm Healer Callahan," he said brightly. "You're lucky. I've just finished my studies in Muggle illnesses and I'm the only healer here who has studied them. I'll say we don't get too many cases like yours, Mr. Potter. Now do I understand this correctly? You had Muggle Leukemia and carried it to its last stages and was cured of it, and you were killed but was brought back to life? I read the story in the Prophet and thought it was just another fabrication, but you've told Nurse Johnson that it is in fact true. Does somebody in here know the details of that?" he asked hopefully.
Snape stood. "What do you need to know?"
"How much do you know?"
"Well, I invented the potion and spell that did it, so I probably know the most out of anyone," Snape said, constantly sounding snappish, suspicious and annoyed. Healer Callahan didn't seem to mind.
Snape tried to explain the details of what he had done to Hr. Callahan, who listened intently, seeming to understand it all.
While the two other men talked, Sirius came over and cleaned the blood off Harry's shirt with a wave of the wand.
"How ya doing, kiddo?" he asked quietly as to not interrupt the others. Harry tentatively pulled the paper towels away from his nose to find that the bleeding had stopped. He pointed that fact out to his godfather.
"I'm feeling fine. I just hope we can get out of here soon," he said quietly with a sigh.
"I know. I don't like hospitals much. I want to get out of here just as much as you, but we need to find out what's wrong first. Your health is number one priority."
"It's probably just some whacko side effect from going from so sick to healthy so quickly," Harry said reassuringly.
Sirius's expression seemed a bit lighter as he agreed with the statement.
"I mean, really," Harry continued, "I really don't think it's anything serious."
Suddenly, pain shot through his head again.
He distantly heard Sirius call his name, right before he blacked out.
A/N: Random note for you guys. I got Anna's name from the "Annabella's Song" by Everclear. I don't know if any of you have ever heard it, but I, for one, love it. Okay, this new QuickEdit thing on ff.net is actually a pain in the ass. It keeps deleting my star paragraph separate-ers!! Does anyone know how to keep spaces in between paragraphs without putting little periods and such in between them? It hasn't been working for me since Recnac, and I'm not doing anything different! Anyways, review please!