Surreality
By Perse
Chapter 2
oOo
By early afternoon, when they were done with classes for the day, Harry was feeling that ache again. He felt as if there was an incredible pressure weighing on him. He just felt…tired. He wanted to go back to bed.
Especially if there was any chance that he might have another dream like the one he'd had last night.
He tried sitting in the common room with Hermione and Ron, but he couldn't keep his mind on their conversation. At one point, in the midst of some argument they were having, Ron turned to him and asked him to back him up. Harry stared at him blankly, then said, "Sorry, what was the question?"
"You're not even listening, are you?" Ron accused with a slight smile.
"Sorry," Harry said sheepishly as he stood. "Look, I'm rather tired. I think I'm going to go up and take a nap."
That earned him another concerned look reminiscent of that morning. "Are you sure you're feeling all right?" Ron asked. When Harry shot him a glare he added, "It just seems that you're sleeping an awful lot. It's not like you."
Now that Ron had voiced his concerns, Hermione would take up the charge. Sure enough, she came over to him and pressed a hand to his forehead. Harry rolled his eyes, then looked at her expectantly.
She shrugged. "He feels normal."
He snorted. "Normal. Normal would be nice."
He regretted saying it, for they exchanged a glance and then both looked at him with a slightly anxious, slightly pitying look. He sighed and said, "Never mind. Wake me for dinner, will you?"
As Ron promised to do so, Harry turned to head up the stairs. He could feel them both watching him, probably worrying. But there was really nothing to worry about. He just wanted to sleep; that was all.
oOo
"Would you relax? It is perfectly normal for teenagers to fight with their parents."
Harry paused with his hand on the kitchen door, figuring it was nice to wait until people were done talking about you to interrupt them. Instead he stood still and leaned closer, listening.
"We are not fighting," Lily asserted. "We are simply having a minor disagreement about his curfew and how far he is allowed to go on that broom."
"He told her she was overreacting," James confided in their guest, with a definite bit of amusement in his voice.
"Yes, and the disrespect itself should add to his punishment. And you were no help whatsoever!"
"I'm sorry, Lil! You know I'm no good at playing bad cop. But if you think we should ground him, I agree."
"Oh, come on James!" another voice interrupted. "You've at least got to let him go with us to the game."
Suddenly a quiet voice came from behind Harry, much closer. "Hear anything interesting?"
Harry jumped, spinning guiltily to face Remus Lupin. The older man had a half-smile on his face as he raised his eyebrows.
"They're discussing my punishment," he said sheepishly.
"And what did you do?"
Harry flushed slightly. "I missed curfew by a few minutes." When Remus just continued looking at him he confessed, "Okay, a lot of minutes…because I was too far away to get home on time."
"And have they settled on anything yet?"
"Mum wants to ground me for a month. A month! I wouldn't get to leave the house until I go back to school!"
Remus nodded sympathetically. "Let me guess…your Dad thinks that's too severe?"
"Well…not him so much as Sirius. He's campaigning to let me go to the Quidditch match. Remind me to tell him how much I love him, would you?"
Remus chuckled. "He knows. He loves you, too. So do your parents." He leaned down, catching Harry's eyes. "You shouldn't scare your Mum like that. She just wants you to be safe."
"I was safe," he protested slightly. "But I know what you mean," he admitted forlornly, then looked up with his best puppy dog eyes. "I still want to go to the match."
Remus smiled and put an arm around his shoulders. "Let's see what we can do about that," he said as he pulled him through the kitchen door.
The three adults in the living room looked up at them as they entered. Remus released Harry and he went to the couch, taking a seat between his father and Sirius, trying to look contrite and not as hopeful as he was feeling.
The thing about Remus and Sirius was that they were practically family—immediate family. His parents had never had any qualms about taking care of family business in front of them or with their participation, though sometimes he thought his Mum was a little miffed by it. They had been his Dad's friends first, after all, and the three of them still shared something his Mum would never be a part of—full moons. But she did love them, nevertheless. And she certainly didn't mind punishing Harry in front of them.
"I'm sorry Harry, but you know the rules. You're grounded for the next two weeks," his Mum stated.
That was a bit less than a month, but it still covered the Quidditch game. Harry turned to his Dad, puppy dog eyes firmly in place again.
But it wasn't working. "I'm sorry, Harry. Your mother's right," James declared.
Harry frowned, then scooted away from him and settled against Sirius' shoulder, pouting.
Sirius wrapped an arm around him, gently grasping his chin with his other hand. "Oh, come on, Prongs. How can you resist this face?"
"If we had resisted a very similar face we wouldn't have landed in half the trouble we did growing up," Remus interjected wryly as he took a seat in the nearby chair.
James managed a short, "Hey!"
"Yeah, and we wouldn't have had half the fun," Sirius shot back.
"Fun is not the point here," Lily said firmly.
Sirius released Harry's chin and lay his head against his, adding his own puppy dog eyes to the mix.
James snickered. Lily rolled her eyes, but didn't budge.
"I think Harry might be willing to take an extra week if he could be allowed to go to the match," Remus suggested softly, looking to Harry.
Harry met his gaze. That wasn't exactly what he would have wanted, but he supposed it was a fair deal. He nodded, looking to his mother.
She hesitated, then she and his father shared a moment of silent communication before she looked back to him. "All right. But you stay right with them at the game, understood? Supervised at all times."
He jumped out of Sirius' grasp and went to give her a hug. "Thanks, Mum."
She returned the embrace, then stood to head for the kitchen, leaving the boys to their antics.
Harry returned to the couch. "Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Siri."
"No problem. See how good I am with women?" Sirius teased with a smug smile, speaking to Harry but obviously meaning for James to hear.
"Uh, I think that was much more Remus than you," James shot back. "And don't talk about my wife like that, you crazy git."
Harry jumped out from between them before he could get caught in the crossfire and headed in the direction his mother had gone. He caught Remus' eye, and the older man gave him an approving smile.
In the kitchen, he went straight to his mother and hugged her lightly from behind. "I'm sorry, Mum. I didn't mean to worry you."
She turned around with a gentle smile. "I know. You're a good boy, Harry. I just want you to be—"
"Safe, I know," he said with a smile.
From the living room, they heard a howl of laughter, and a thump that was probably a couple of bodies hitting the floor.
Harry raised his eyebrows and headed back towards the door. "Though really, I think you should have told me to watch them instead of the other way around."
"I think you may be right."
He looked back at her standing at the sink, tried to return her radiant smile, then headed back into the fray.
oOo
When Ron woke him for dinner, he almost told his friend to go without him and let him sleep. But his stomach was rumbling, and Ron looked worried enough. So he dragged himself from his warm bed and his dream and made his way to the Great Hall.
As they walked he wondered why he found a dream about punishment so happy. But he concluded that it was because it was such a normal scene; what he very well might have had if he had been a normal child. And because the people in it were the adults he should have been able to love. The dream showed great relationships and caring despite the situation.
The one drawback was that he was now even more tired than he had been before. He was half-asleep as he sat down with his friends and began to eat. He was only a few minutes into his meal when he felt a prickling on the back of his neck, a sign that generally meant someone was watching him.
He glanced up at the teacher's table. Sure enough, Dumbledore was watching him, probably noticing that he looked ready to fall asleep in his soup. Harry gave him a slight nod, meant to convey that he was okay. The wizard gave him a slight, gentle smile before looking away.
However, the prickling didn't go away. He let his eyes drift over the rest of the teacher's table, then froze in surprise.
Snape was watching him as well.
That woke him up a bit. The Potions Master did not look away as the Headmaster had. He held Harry's gaze as he narrowed his own eyes, brow furrowed. It wasn't menacing, exactly, but it did have an air of suspicion.
It was Harry who finally broke the stare, turning back to the table with an unsettled feeling. He was used to scrutiny from Snape when it came in conjunction with criticism and insults. He wasn't sure what to make of the man studying him so intently from across the room with no actual words exchanged.
He tried to shake it off. He wasn't afraid of Snape anymore; he had too many negative emotions towards him. He still blamed him, at least partially, for Sirius' death and he'd developed a very small opinion of the older man. It was hard to be afraid of someone you had so little respect for.
But he had managed to make him uncomfortable now. Harry finished his dinner hurriedly, then excused himself to go back to the dorm.
As he walked out he knew his friends were once again watching him in concern. But they were not the only ones, as a glance back confirmed. Dumbledore's gaze was on him again. And it was possible that Snape's had never wandered. Feeling as if he were in a fishbowl, Harry quickened his steps and left the Great Hall, making for his bed and his much more comfortable dream-world.
oOo
to be continued