A/N: So, I really thought I was writing Julian after my niece and nephew but I just arrived from a trip where I met Devin, my brother's girlfriend's kid who's three, and this chapter is completely based on him. He's the cutest kid alive; he makes friends wherever he goes, young and old, he's super hyper and as much like the Julian that I have described as possible. My brother tells me he's usually very well mannered and obedient, but, who knows why, he decided I would be his new toy, so he pulled my hair, and threw water, cups, and stuff in general. He got in so much trouble and I felt really bad because I thought he was going to hate me, because anytime he did anything to me his mom punished him or scolded him or something. It's either poor kid or poor me!! So, this chap goes to the cute, although he might hate me, Devin.

Chapter 8: How was the date? And, Severus's day

When Harry arrived at his house's common room after another date with Anthony, he was mobbed by a blur of brown hair. Hermione, had been waiting for him and wanted to know every detail of the day. But Harry wasn't in the mood; it had been his fifth date with Anthony in three weeks and something was off. He had a strange feeling.

Hermione noticed his state as he knew she would, but instead of leaving him be as he wanted, she immediately threw a question at him.

"What's wrong, Harry? Did you have a bad time?"

He gave a sigh. Maybe if he talked about it with his friend, she would help him figure out this strange feeling. They moved towards a secluded part of the common room and he started talking.

"I don't know what's going on. I just have this weird feeling, but it might be me being paranoid."

"What's it like? Is it about Anthony?"

"Yes and no. I don't know. It's like, we go out and he's great, he's funny and attentive and he's interested in everything I have to say, you know?"

"But...?"

"But then you see how he's with me when it's just the four of us, right?"

"Yes Harry, he's very nice, polite and sweet, what's the matter?"

"Let me just give you an example. Today he waited for me after every one of my classes, he walked me to the next class as well as back here after classes, all the while carrying my books or holding my hand as if we were this long time couple. And it felt kind of weird. He smiled to the people looking at us and, I don't know, it was as if he craved the attention and you know how much I hate it."

"Go on."

"That's it, 'Mione. I don't think he really cares for me, Harry; he cares for me the celebrity and stuff. He doesn't even know me and yet he's very taken with me, he's always complimenting me and saying he really likes me and he's talking about a serious relationship when we've barely even kissed. I mean, he kissed me the other day and it was ok, better than Cho's, but not exactly mind blowing. Am I expecting too much, Hermione? Am I so damaged I can't enjoy what all my friends seem to? I know it's ridiculous to think about hearing bells ring and seeing stars flash when you kiss, but I thought it would be more."

"Oh Harry!" She turned and gave him a tight hug. "Why would you think you're damaged? You are a normal boy, you just don't work on autopilot as many boys your age do. Maybe you just need the right person to kiss."

He felt a bit better but not much. His defeated tone gave him away.

"No my 'Mione, I am damaged. All those years of living without any love, or anyone who cared for me, while growing up left me without the ability to love or to feel. I have a vacant body."

"Harry Potter, don't you dare say that ever again! You are as normal as anyone else, and you do know how to love, you love me, right? You love Ron and Evan and Julian and Ginny? You loved Sirius, right?"

She felt bad for bringing the painful topic that was Sirius up, but she had to get him out of this funk. He looked at her with a bit of hurt in his eyes, so she kept on going.

"How can you say you are a vacant body when I can see millions of emotions flashing behind your green eyes? No one is as passionate as you; when you get mad, you get furious. When you're happy, you're ecstatic. When you're sad, you're devastated. And when the day comes and you fall in love, I know, my Harry, that you will love more passionately and profoundly than anyone else and until that day comes you just have to be very patient and keep the hope alive."

They were embracing now. She was talking into his neck and he leaned into her as much as he could, trying to capture as much of her warmth as possible. Suddenly, he didn't feel as hopeless as before and he let go.

"So, what do I do with Anthony then?"

"I'm sorry Harry; I don't know what to advise. Do you like him?"

"He's a nice guy, but I don't feel anything for him."

"Ok, do feel like you will develop feelings for him, are you attracted to him?"

"No, definitively no."

"Then you have to stop this thing you two might have before he falls in love with you and you really break his heart, or it evolves into something you don't want."

"You know what? You're right. He's very infatuated with me and I feel absolutely nothing towards him. I have astronomy with him tonight. I'll talk to him."

"Just make sure you don't screw things up, Harry. Try to have some tact, let him down easy."

"Ok 'Mione, thank you very much. I was very confused, but now I feel so much better."

"That's all right, Harry, that's what friends are for."

He gave her a hard hug and muttered into her hair, "No, 'Mione, that's what sisters are for."

He stood up, gave her a kiss on the top of her head and left her sitting there with the beginning of a tear in her eyes and a silly smile on her face.

Ron found her like that seconds later.

"Hermione? Are you ok? Did something happen?"

She turned to face her boyfriend with a pleased look on her face.

"I'm not an only child, Ron, I have a brother! He's a little bit clueless and a little bit rash, but he's my brother and I love him so much I would give my life for him."

"Hermione, what are you talking about? What brother?"

"Harry, Ron, Harry. I just realized he's my brother now; he's always been, actually, and I just now realized it."

Ron didn't know what to say or do, so he just gave her a hug and held her for a while. He didn't know what had brought this on, but sensed now would be the perfect time to just let it go. She would explain it to him later. He didn't feel threatened; Harry was his brother, too, and a part of his family and Ron knew there was nothing more than filial love between his two best friends. It had always been that way; he had always felt something different for Hermione than what Harry felt for her. It just took a little time to stop being so stubborn and do something about it. He reckoned that's why they used to fight so much...

No, that wasn't it. They still fought like cat's and dogs, they just made up differently now.

Astronomy class was hell. Harry had been a ball of nerves since the moment he had seen Anthony waiting for him outside the portrait of the Fat Lady. Blessed Hermione had stayed right by his side until it they arrived at the Astronomy tower, talking to Harry and trying to ease his nerves.

In class, Anthony had paired up with him, so they shared a telescope. Harry tried to avoid the touches and innuendos made by his partner; now that he had a clear head and knew that the Ravenclaw was not what he wanted, he didn't particularly like being fondled by him. By the time the class was over, he was ready to dump the other teen down the stairs.

"Class is dismissed. Be sure to finish your charts for next class."

With that, the class was over and for a moment, a wave of panic washed over Harry. It quickly washed away when Anthony put a possessive arm around his waist.

This has to end tonight.

He motioned for his friends to go ahead. Hermione gave him a supportive hug and Ron, who had been filled in on what was going on, gave him a thumbs up.

He then motioned to Anthony to follow him, and walked towards the Room of Requirement. He paced three times in front of the tapestry, all the while thinking of a neutral place where he could break up with Anthony, and a door appeared out of nowhere.

Meanwhile, Anthony was ecstatic. Harry had walked him to the Room of Requirement, and that could only mean one thing: a very good snog. He could not have been more wrong.

When they entered, Tony was surprised to see a plain room containing two armchairs facing each other, with a small coffee table in between them and placed in front of a fireplace. Not exactly what he expected, but he would make do. He moved to embrace Harry but was stopped by the green-eyed boy.

"No, Anthony we need to talk."

Ok... "Sure babe, what about?"

Babe! "Take a seat, please"

They sat facing each other. Harry fidgeted for a bit but finally found the courage to say what was on his mind.

"You know, Tony, you're a great guy."

"I think you're great too, Harry."

It seemed he was not going to have it easy. But he had a fail-proof plan to break up with Tony right now, and stay friends with him at the same time. It was perfect.

"Ok, I have something to say and I need you to hear me out. Try not to interrupt me, please." Anthony gave a nod and Harry took a deep breath and kept going.

"Ok, I think you're a great guy but I've been thinking and I'm not ready to have a relationship with you and I don't think you are ready to have a relationship with me, either."

The change in Anthony's face would have been funny had it not been so sad. His expression completely fell to the floor, but Harry held up his hand to stop him from making any comment.

"Let me be honest with you. For a while I thought I was a normal person and that I could have a normal life. But let's face it, a normal person doesn't have a madman after him and a normal person doesn't live his life on the front page of the Daily Prophet. We are in a time of war and to tell you the truth, I cannot make you a target. I have lost many loved ones to Voldemort and I can't get in a relationship with you and have a clean conscience while I know for a fact that he will, as he has done in the past, target anyone that I care for at all. To tell you the truth, I don't think I'm even ready for any type of relationship, regardless of that bastard."

He took another deep breath. Everything he was saying was the truth. He was baring his secret fears to Anthony and he hoped it would work.

"I have a responsibility, however unwanted it might be, to be an active part of this war. I am not ready to give my heart right now, and I also really don't want to put you in danger."

He felt bad for the desperate look Anthony had on his face.

"Harry no, you're safe in Hogwarts, and I'm safe, too. There's no reason to put your life on hold until the war is over; you never know what might happen, and meanwhile you can't close yourself to love. I know I won't."

"Are you really ready to die for me, Anthony? People I love have the tendency to do that. Are you ready to be tortured because of me? Hogwarts has proved it's not as safe as it's supposed to be; just look at how the third task of the Triwizard Tournament went. We had a Deatheater as a teacher, for crying out loud. Think about it. I don't think you are ready and I am not going to let you try. It's been fun going out with you, Tony. You have opened my eyes to a whole new world but the consequences are more than what I'm willing to pay."

With that he rose and left a very stunned Anthony in his wake.

Things went back to normal for Harry. Or, as normal as they can be for a guy like him could be. In the following week, he had two more visions of the same burning town, and some more nightmares; he went to classes sleepy, and tried to stay awake in them. The good part was that even though it looked like Anthony had taken their "break up" hard, he was not pursuing Harry anymore.

Harry took care of Evan and Julian as he had always done. He was a bit worried as time passed and Evan remained very introverted, but since Snape had said this was normal of his eldest son, Harry wouldn't say anything about it. He did try to get Evan outside more, though.

It was Friday afternoon when Harry went to visit his favorite pair of boys, and found himself helping the Potions Master cut some weird looking roots.

"So, Professor, how was your day yesterday? Did you enjoy your time with Malfoy?"

How was my day yesterday, he asks. Did I enjoy my day with Malfoy?

In truth, Snape's day had been a nightmare. His usually nice and well mannered younger son had acted completely out of character. Julian had pushed around, yelled at, thrown water on, and spat on Draco, as well as pulling his hair. It was so utterly unlike Julian to do those things that Snape couldn't understand the boy's bizarre behavior.

It had all started the previous day, when he had been working with the younger Malfoy on a delicate potion that needed all of their attention. Harry had been with them for a while, taking care of Evan and Julian. The latter had been a bit crazier than usual, but nothing that could not be explained by the chocolate frog he had eaten earlier that evening.

As soon as Harry had left, stating he needed to study, Julian had gone insane. He had cried for Harry not to leave, jumped on the couch, and played with his father's instruments, which he knew his father had strictly forbidden him to even touch. He got sent to his room three times, and when bedtime came, he refused to go to sleep.

"Daddy, I want water, I have to go the bathroom, I don't want to sleep, Daddy, where's my blanket, my pillow, my juicy cup, can I have another glass of water, can I have juice, can I stay up..."

It went on and on and on for hours, until Draco left. The potion was not ruined by some miracle, but this new behavior of his son worried Snape. Sure, Julian could get a bit out of hand, but he had never before acted spoiled or anything like he had done that day.

Harry had been told of the situation by a very disgruntled Malfoy, who had come up to him that morning while walking towards DADA, and asked him "How can you stand that kid?" and then proceeded to tell Harry everything Julian had done to him the previous evening.

They had walked together while they talked, and when Harry had sat down with his friends he had realized they were looking at him strangely.

"What?"

"You were really chummy with Malfoy, coming in."

Harry was a bit startled, but instead of reading anything into it he turned a cheeky grin towards Ron.

"Why? Are you jealous?"

"Harry! Stop being an ass and tell me what the ferret wanted."

"Ok, ok! He didn't want anything; he was just telling me about what happened last night at Snape's place. It seems he didn't get along well with Julian."

"What? I know Malfoy's not being a git this year, Harry but do you think it's wise to get all friendly and conversational with the son of a known Death Eater?"

"It's ok, Ron, I think he's coming around. And I don't care who his father is, if he wants to be civil towards me, then I'm not going to throw that in his face."

"All right mate, if you say so, just don't expect me to like the little ferret."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Ron, and don't worry, you're still my best mate."

Ron blushed but a huge grin took up a quarter of his face. Class went on and nothing else was said about the subject until the three of them where walking towards Care of Magical Creatures, when Harry took up the subject of Julian's behavior with Hermione.

"Hey 'Mione, do you know anything on child psychology?"

"No, Harry that's not one of my areas of expertise but tell me what you want to know and we can research it."

Harry groaned but told her of Julian's behavior anyway, thinking it could only help. During lunch Hermione was nowhere to be seen. Later that afternoon they had Transfiguration together again.

"Harry! I found something that might be interesting."

"Tell me."

"Well, I found a book on child rearing and it says that sometimes, when children Julian's age feel threatened on their affections of their parents or close ones, they will act out against that threat, in this case, against Malfoy. So, I wouldn't worry so much about it; Julian will get used to Draco, or at least realize that no one can take his father's love away from him, and stop acting out."

"Thanks 'Mione that's a lot of help. I'll tell Snape tonight."

And that's why Harry was in the dungeons that same night, helping Severus put the children to bed and very relieved to see that Julian had gone back to being his sweet self.

He saw the opportunity to tease his teacher about it, though, before he told Snape about what 'Mione had found.

How was my day yesterday, he asks. Did I enjoy my day with Malfoy?

It said a lot about the changes that had occurred in their relationship when instead of biting Harry's head off, Severus answered the question honestly.

"It was a nightmare. I have never had so much trouble with Julian, not since he came to live here. I don't know what got into him, but he was on his worst behavior. I had to give him three time outs and in the end, the only way he went to sleep was when he got tired of crying, and believe me it was a long time from when he started to when he finished."

Harry tried very hard not to burst out laughing. It wasn't working and the affronted look on his Potions Master's face only made the problem worse.

"I'm sorry, Professor, but you should have seen your face!"

"Potter!"

"Oh sorry, sorry."

He did a better job of stopping his laughter, brushing a tear from his cheek and turning back to the disgruntled Potions master. They spent the rest of the evening discussing the book Hermione had loaned Harry and possible scenarios on how to reassure Julian that they where not going to love him any less just because there was someone else around they may care for as well.

It was later, while safely under the covers of his bed in Gryffindor, that Harry realized that Julian's behavior had applied to him too. Julian had been outright nasty to Anthony during a break when Harry had taken the children outside and Anthony had joined them for a while. They had had to go back in when Julian had thrown a handful of mud at in Anthony's backpack.

Harry smiled contently; he was sorry for Anthony but this meant that Julian saw Harry as a part of the Snape family, and it gave Harry a sense of great satisfaction and belonging, for the first time in many years. It also gave him a warm fuzzy feeling that he didn't know quite how to analyze but he was so happy that he didn't want to think about it.

A/N: nice chapter... yes? No? review people, there were very little reviews for chp 7 so I might take a while in posting chapter 9 (yes, that is a threat!) it's almost done so.....

Anyway, I'm not really that mad, just say something, anything so that I feel like I'm doing this for something. To the people who reviewed thanks. You guys are always there for me and make me want to write so I'll stop rambling now,

Thanks to: gbaudier, LeeLeePotter (I'm going to try to make regular updates but with school and everything I can't promise), athenakitty (maybe, maybe), CrimsonTearsOfPain (thanks for your patience), Bound-to-Evanesce and your sister, jbcna (it should be like 2 or 3 chps before they really get together), borneshadowchilde, ataraxis (going back to the snarry), lovelydarkness, cRudEdly, mel, Mara727 (hope you get well soon), Saadia10 (he told him because there was no reason not to, right now there's nothing between them so why shouldn't he tell him), Tazthedevilman (this has got to be my favorite review! You are great, thanks 4 the support it's reviews like yours that make me want to work harder and not give up on this story so thanks), Crys Skywalker (this is definitively a Harry/sev story, no doubt about it), Queen of the Slash, SiLvErFaTeD, Lenora (yeah I know I can't wait til it comes out!), flame girl, Miki23, Lutheyl, jez two, Cassa-Andra, Dracula5555, Potrickterman (wow, really liked your review, I'm glad someone has seen what I'm trying to do), Miss Blizzard (ohh wouldn't we all), Arigazi (Noooo, not the puppy dog eyes!!!!), and last but not least, Yana5.