A/N: Thanks for all the reviews everyone! In the last chapter, I got a review that the story felt like it was moving too fast and a bit overwhelming. I do feel that way as well, but I'm not exactly sure how to slow it down. So, this chapter was my attempt at slowing it down.

I've been forcing myself to get out at least 5k words chapters every week, but I think I'll be making it less (3.5k?), because I believe it's forcing out content that belongs in the chapter afterwards.

However, once in a while I will post 2 updates on the weekends, if my writing is ahead. It's slower then it used to be, because I can't sit for too long so I just write on my phone now.

Also thank you Red Renera, over on discord for showing me my grammatical mistakes of the last 2 chapters!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any works by J.K Rowling.

Chapter 11

The first thing Harry felt when he woke up was the familiar sensation of something warm against him.

And it would be the stray of blonde hair in his face that would cause him to sneeze.

"ACHOO!"

Daphne began to stir when the strong vibration of Harry's sneeze shook the bed.

Harry would find himself laying face to face against an awake (and annoyed) Daphne.

"Did you really have to wake me up like that?" She muttered, irritated.

Harry only gave her a small grin. "Good morning," he said.

Daphne only grunted and curled deeper into him. Harry tried to gently shove her away, but she only clutched onto him even tighter.

"Daphne, you need to let me out of bed."

"No. Your fault for waking me up." She mumbled.

"You woke me up when you crawled into my bed last night."

"Nightmares…"

Harry's eyes softened at that. Daphne woke up in the middle of the night teary eyed, and begged him to let her sleep with him. He didn't even ask why, and just moved over to let her slide in.

While he didn't admit it, he also was glad that she did wake him up. He remembered tossing and turning that entire night and it wasn't until Daphne joined him when he finally calmed down.

The two of them had built up a habit sleeping together for the past year, and now, neither of them seem eager to break it.

So, Harry just sighed and allowed her to lay there, her arms wrapped around him.

He didn't know how long he'd been awake, but it must've been a while since the sun started to shine through the window in their room.

Harry was able to gently slide Daphne off of him when he noticed her breathing steadily again, completely fast asleep.

When he got out of bed, he noticed Astoria sprawled out on the bed across from them starting to stir. When she saw him, Astoria began rubbing her eyes.

"…papa?"

He walked over and gently pulled the covers over her, whilst stroking her hair.

"Hey…Tori…," Harry whispered softly. "What are you doing being up so early?"

"No…mama…papa in bed…" she mumbled. "Miss…mama…"

"Well…why don't I get you into bed with mama? How does that sound!"

"…'Kay."

And with that, Harry moved to attempt and pick her up. He draped one of her arms around his neck, but found out he could barely even lift her.

"Merlin, you're getting heavy, Tori." Harry muttered. "Either you're growing up too fast or I'm not at all…"

He only got a grunt in response, as the girl seemed to have gone back to sleep and began snoring away on his shoulder.

"And…now you're drooling on me. Great…"

Harry slowly began his slow attempt to carry her into the other bed. Astoria's legs were hanging a bit above the ground, as he couldn't exactly lift her fully. After a bit, he somehow managed to get her onto the bed with Daphne, where she immediately went to cuddle with her older sister. Daphne just responded by pulling her even deeper into her embrace.

Harry had to smile at the scene in front of them. The two girls were curled up into one another, snoring away without a care in the world. He did have to stifle a small chuckle when he saw them drooling onto one another.

After taking care of his morning necessities, Harry decided to let Daphne and Astoria sleep in, and instead he slipped out of the room to explore Ravenclaw tower.

The tower was eerily quiet, as it seemed no one even seemed awake yet. It was still very early in the morning and he was sure that classes wouldn't begin until 2 hours later.

Harry soon found himself in the common room. The only signs of activity was the fireplace being lit and a figure sitting behind the couch.

The figure turned around when they heard Harry's footsteps.

"Harry? What are you doing up so early?"

It was Penelope. She had a surprised look on her face as she saw him.

"I could ask the same thing of you Penny," Harry cheekily.

She chuckled at his comment and patted the seat next to her.

The two of them sat next to each other in comfortable silence. Penelope was skimming through a thick book as Harry looked on with interest.

"You know…" Harry started. "I never did thank you, Penny."

She stopped reading and looked at him inquisitively. "Whatever for, Harry?"

"Everything, Penny. The station, the train, getting me to Madame Pomfrey, Flitwick…you've been so kind to us."

Penelope blushed at his comment. "It's really nothing…" she muttered. "It's just that the two of you really reminded me of myself."

"Yourself…?"

"Well…"

Penelope paused for a second, as if she was trying to internally decide something. She started talking a few times but hesitated, then going back to her internal debate.

After a few seconds, Penelope finally decided to talk.

"Something…similar happened to my mother," Penelope admitted. She pursed her lips for a second, deep in thought before deciding to continue.

"She was sent to Azkaban…" Penelope said after a while. "They found her standing over 3 dead muggles."

"…"

"…oh."

Penelope stared at him for a second before chuckling at his lame response. However, she immediately became serious again as she continued her story.

"The truth was that my mother was there to fight off death eaters, saving as many muggles as she could." Penelope explained sadly. "…but when all was said and done, the death eaters were gone and the muggles were dead."

Penelope sighed, lost in thought. Harry noticed eyes were starting to moisten.

"Penny…it's okay you don't have to-"

"No, Harry. I do."

She took a deep breath before continuing.

"When the aurors found her, they didn't even try to question her. They immediately had set up anti apparation charms and just took her in," Penelope said bitterly. "They weren't producing any results during that time, so they needed to take in someone to look like they were doing something. And since she was a pure-blood, it made it even easier."

"My parents fought the case until the very end. But it was always stacked against them, evidence that was manifested out of thin air. She died 2 years later in Azkaban."

Penelope let out another long sigh, leaning back into the chair. Her eyes were faraway, as if she was reliving everything that she told him.

"Penny…how did you hold up afterwards?" Harry asked quietly.

She snorted. "Better than my dad, that's for sure," Penelope muttered. "He's a lawyer. He was the one who fought tooth and nail for her case. He blames himself for not being able to save her, but he keeps forgetting there's so much a muggle one can do."

"Your dad's a muggle?" Harry asked in surprise. "How could they even push that your mom was a death eater?"

A humorless laugh rang out from Penelope. "She was-" Penelope raised her hands to make quotation marks. "'-using him as a cover.' They went as far as to plant love potions in our home, miraculously discovering them after a search. I could probably go on about everything they did, but we'd be here all day."

Penelope only sunk lower into the couch. "It was a long time ago anyways," she mumbled. "I've already done my best to move past it. It's just, seeing the two of you…I knew it wouldn't be right if I just ignored it."

Harry didn't know what to say. Was there even anything he could say? Penelope just poured out something so personal, and to top it off, it was her reason for helping them out so far.

He decided there wasn't anything he could do. No words would be enough.

Penelope would slightly jump in surprise when Harry pulled her into an awkward hug.

"I'm so glad we met you, Penny." Harry whispered into her ear. "Thank you for trusting me with this."

Harry felt her arms wrap around him, returning the hug. He didn't see her face, but he knew she was smiling. They stayed like that for a minute until Penelope spoke up.

"Harry, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're trying to cop a feel on me."

It was lighthearted. Whatever seriousness and awkward tension that was created in the atmosphere was suddenly gone with that one sentence.

The boy quickly jumped away from her to see a mischievous smile on her face, then tumbled over the couch. Penelope roared with laughter, seeing his reaction.

"Do-don't say it like that!" Harry shouted, blushing furiously. He quickly jumped up from the ground and stood hesitantly away from her.

"I'm kidding, Harry." Penelope laughed. "I know the only one you have your eyes set out for is Daphne.

He felt his face burn even hotter.

"I-I-I…I don't know what you're talking about!" Harry stammered.

Penelope just rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Harry, if anyone just spent 2 minutes talking to both of you together, it'd be pretty obvious the two of you have the hots for each other."

"You…you think she likes me?" Harry squeaked.

"Yes, you idiot!" Penelope exclaimed. "She looked like she wanted to kill me when I hugged you on the train. It just confirmed my suspicions."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "You mean to say that the hug was planned?"

"Well…you seemed like a very adorable first year, (and still are), so it was sort of planned?" Penelope said thoughtfully. "Anyways, why did you two decide to tell me about your pasts at that time? Usually we're supposed to get to know each other more."

Harry just shrugged at her question. "The people we met in the past year weren't very…nice…" Harry explained. "If they didn't know who I was, especially if they saw Tori, the first thing they'd assume was that we were irresponsible kids who had a child. Or if they knew who I was, they'd just be annoying pricks. You sort of learn to deal with it after while though. "

"However, when we met you, we were a bit…enthusiastic, seeing someone sensible for the first time."

Penelope beamed at him. "I'm glad that I was your first sensible person," she said, but immediately paused before her next sentence. "Although it is sad about how they treated you. The magical population hasn't been very smart. I think it's really come down to all the fear mongering since Voldemort."

"Everyone's just stupid then. The man has been dead for years now, and they're still scared of more dark wizards?"

Penelope just shrugged. "Sometimes fears are hard to get over. It makes people do irrational things."

She suddenly became crestfallen after remembering just what those irrational things had done to two of them.

"You think it's ever going to change?"

Harry saw Penelope's face hardened. She closed her book and sat up a little straighter.

"I'm going to change it," Penelope declared. "I'll become minister one day, and I'll make sure that no one innocent is going to be hurt like that ever again. No more of this stupid fear mongering, no more corruption, and nothing like what happened with my mother will ever happen again!"

"…"

"…"

"Those are some pretty big ambitions."

Penelope's face flushed. "H-hey! Don't make fun of me! I'll actually do it!"

Harry only chuckled at her incorrect assumption. "I'm not making fun of you Penny, I swear. I believe you can do it, hell, I hope you do become minister. It's just…students don't typically have such high ambitions like that. I'm just a bit surprised is all."

"Why not?" Penelope shrugged. "We should set our sights as high as we want. Especially you, Harry. You have 7 years here, you have time-"

Penelope froze, and immediately moved to get out her wand.

"Tempus." She muttered.

A clock appeared in the air which pointed to 7:50.

Penelope grabbed her book and jumped out of her seat, quickly stuffing everything into her bag.

"Penny?"

"…sorry Harry," Penelope said hurriedly. "Prefect duties. I have to help prepare to make sure the first years get to their correct classes, and some other things."

She quickly moved to head to the door, but turned around to call back to him.

"Meet me in the Great Hall entrance after dinner! Bring Daphne too! I want to start your lessons tonight!"

And with that, Penelope ran off, leaving a dumbstruck Harry. He shook his head and began making his way back to his room, muttering along the way.

"That girl can be really something…"

＊＊＊

"She wants to tutor us tonight? Already?"

"Yeah, Penny was in a hurry but that seemed to be the one thing she remembered."

"So I take it you didn't ask for her to check in on Tori."

"She ran before I could even get the chance."

The blonde girl only groaned in annoyance.

Harry and Daphne had just finished their breakfast, and were making their way towards their first class.

Defense Against the Dark Arts. And a double class as well.

While Harry was nervous to see Sirius and Lily. After everything that happened, he wasn't sure how they would even treat him.

Daphne, sensing Harry's fears, locked her hands into his.

"Don't worry, Harry." She whispered. "I'll be right here next to you."

He gave her a small smile, and the two of them entered their class.

The classroom was fairly large, with windows overlooking a lake outside. Some Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students had already arrived, and were picking out seats.

When the entire class saw the two of them, everyone fell silent, save for the few whispers and mutters.

Harry and Daphne quickly made their way to a corner of the room, ignoring all the stares, and found 2 seats next to each other.

The classroom would go back to talking, albeit quieter than before the two of them came in. They wouldn't stop until the doors once again opened to reveal Sirius Black and Lily Potter, striding towards the front of the classroom.

"Alright, alright settle down," Sirius said loudly. "My name is Professor Black, and the lady beside me will be helping teach the class."

Lily raised her hand and waved towards the class, giving them a friendly smile. "Hey everyone! My name is Professor Potter."

Sirius began doing roll calls. During that time, Harry felt a bit uneasy. He wasn't sure how they would address him or Daphne, and Lily's eyes were constantly looking in his direction.

Daphne felt uncomfortable as well, and she made sure to tell Harry. She leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Harry…does it feel like your mo- sorry - Lily's been looking at us?"

Harry scowled. "Yeah," he muttered. "Although I don't know what her deal is. But I could care less. She gave up her rights to be my mother a long time ago."

Daphne looked like she wanted to say something, but just sighed and subconsciously leaned onto Harry. The two of them sat quietly until Sirius called Daphne's first name, and eventually Harry's. Soon, he began his lecture.

You could say what you want about Sirius. His handsome roguish looks may make him seem like someone who you could hang out with, doesn't translate into his teaching style.

Professor Sirius Black was very good at teaching his subject.

He was much more efficient in the classroom than expected. Sirius began their first class by teaching them the basics and fundamentals of what the dark arts really were. Most of the students, especially the Ravenclaws, hung onto every word he said.

Lily however, was different.

She didn't say much, only interjected about once or twice. Instead, if anyone was looking closely, they could see her spending all of her time staring at Harry and Daphne's attention.

Surprisingly, most of the Ravenclaws in the class didn't even spare a glance at the two notorious kids in the corner. It was mainly the Hufflepuffs who would pay attention to Harry (and sometimes Daphne).

The most annoying Hufflepuff would be Ernie Macmillan and his group of friends, who somehow seemed bent on making their time in the class as miserable as he could.

Ernie and his group had come in a minute before the professors arrived, and the first thing they did was sit down 2 seats to Harry's left. The group stared at the two of them for the entire class, and would quietly make snide remarks.

At the moment, they were given a small break and Ernie had decided to make full use of it.

"You know, I'd reckon dark wizards' live pretty sad lives," Ernie was saying to his friends. "Most of 'em probably don't have any real friends, considering they'll just betray them in the end. Too power hungry for my books."

He glanced sideways towards Harry before continuing.

"They're bloody cowards as well, always hiding and waiting for good guys like Jamie Potter to be at his weakest point - that's when they strike you see."

Harry just ignored him, continuing to focus on his quiet conversation he was having with Daphne. Ernie, seeing no reaction from him, started to get angry.

"It's even a surprise they could even be intimate with anyone," Ernie said loudly. "I'd want to feel sorry for any lass who'd be with 'em, but I'm sure they're no better than 'em. Probably can't even have any children to be honest, and even if they do, the one's they'd raise probably turn out to be deformed monsters-"

At this point, Harry abruptly stood up. His fists have been clenched for a while now and it had taken Daphne everything to make sure he didn't react. But the last comment made his blood boil.

Harry angrily stomped over towards Ernie's direction. The boy was sitting down with his group of friends sitting around him. He smirked when he saw Harry come over.

"You got something you want to say to me?" Harry growled.

Some of the students in the class had gotten quiet, and began looking at the altercation with interest.

Ernie confidently stood up, revealing that he was about a half foot taller than Harry.

That didn't deter Harry. He just coldly stared straight into Ernie's eyes, unblinking. Ernie flinched for a second, quickly recomposed himself, returning to his confident smirking self.

"Yeah, I got something to say to you. You're a rat and a bloody coward, that's what you are."

"Same old, same old. Got anything else, you duffer? Or is that the best you could do with that Hufflepuff brain of yours?"

Being called a duffer made Ernie's face flush red. His smirk was quickly turned into a snarl. But Harry didn't stop there. He just continued his tirade of insults.

"Maybe that is all you got. I wouldn't be surprised though, you seem to be in love with my brother. That's just a sure sign your brain doesn't seem to be functioning right. Maybe…"

Harry pretended to ponder for a second, and then his face lit up. "I know! Maybe, things aren't really working down there, and the only one you have a chance with is my idiot brother!"

At this point, the whole class was looking in. Many of the Hufflepuff girls and some of the Ravenclaw girls looked downright murderous at Harry, hearing how he insulted their king.

A few of the student's did however seem like they were trying to hold back their laughter, Daphne included.

Ernie's hand balled into a fist, and he began moving it. But before a punch could even come close to connecting, a loud voice appeared in front of them.

"Is something the matter, gentlemen?"

Harry and Ernie turned to voice to see Lily Potter standing there, arms crossed, looking at them sternly.

Ernie just scoffed, and sat back down to his seat. "Nothing, Professor Potter." He muttered.

Harry however just averted his eyes to Lily. "Nothing wrong here, Professor," he said, the last word almost venomously. He quietly made his way back to his seat, with Daphne waiting for him.

"That was brilliant," Daphne whispered. "Although, try not to react too much next time, okay? I don't want to see you get into trouble."

"I wasn't going to let him insult Tori like that," Harry growled.

Daphne just smiled, seeing how overprotective he was of Astoria.

The rest of the class went on without a hitch. Ernie didn't talk much anymore, but would occasionally send a glare their way. Once the class was over, Sirius dismissed them and immediately left. However, before Harry and Daphne could go, Lily called to them.

"Harry, could you stay back for a second?"

The whole class was already gone at this point, all of them in a hurry to make it to their next class. The only ones left in the room were Harry, Lily, and Daphne.

Daphne looked awkwardly at Harry, hesitating for a second before making her way to the door.

"Wait, Daphne, stay with me." Harry whispered to her.

She turned around in surprise, but nodded nonetheless.

Lily frowned. "I'm sorry Miss Greengrass, but I believe I asked for Harry only.

"Excuse me Professor, but I know longer go by that name. Please just call me Daphne."

"Very well…Daphne. But back to my point. This conversation-"

Harry cut her off. "Daphne will be staying with me, Professor. Anything you tell me, I'll just tell her afterwards. This'll save us that trouble."

Lily stared at the two of them, standing side by side, hands almost touching. She let out a sigh before she said her piece.

"Harry…you shouldn't get into fights like that." Lily said. "You're lucky I was able to stop it."

"I'm sure I could handle myself, Professor."

"Harry, you don't have to call me that when we're in private."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that's very professional, Professor. Especially considering I'm a student here. Now is there anything else you need, Professor, or can I go to my next class now?"

Lily had a hurt look on her face. Harry saw this and just scoffed, and turned away. He grabbed Daphne's hand and began leading her out of the classroom.

"DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM YOUR MOTHER YOUNG MAN!"

Lily's shout echoed through the classroom.

Harry immediately turned around with a snarl on his face.

"You lost the privilege for you to call yourself my mother a long time ago," Harry hissed. "Where were you when I was locked in that room and starved? Where were you when I had nightmares of a killer who tried to kill me? Where were you when I was kicked? Where were you, oh dear mother?"

When he said mother, he said it was as much hatred as he could possibly convey into the world, something that Lily painfully noticed.

"You don't know the full story, Harry!" Lily tried desperately to explain. "I care about you! Everything I've done, it's all been for you!"

"If you cared so much, why didn't you come see me in the hospital last night?"

At that question, Lily froze. Harry watched her intently, waiting for her answer. It became clear that she didn't have one when he saw her shaking.

He had enough, and opened the door of the classroom, ready to leave with Daphne in front of him.

However, Lily wasn't done.

"I'm sorry to do this, Harry. But you're making it very difficult for me. Please know what I'm about to do is for your own good."

A sigh came from Lily before she played her hand.

"That will be 25 points from Ravenclaw for talking back to a teacher and detention on Friday. Report to me at 8:00 that evening.

Harry didn't even say anything. His response was the door loudly slamming shut, as his footsteps stomped away from the classroom.

A/N: There was a reason I chose Ernie to play the role of "bully." After extensive research (basically me skimming through the wiki), Ernie was actually the one who firmly believed that Harry was the heir to Slytherin in Chambers, and made sure everyone knew about it. As a Hufflepuff, I would assume he felt extremely strongly about what Rita Skeeter printed, hence his extreme reaction.

Harry of course, gets angry when he feels like someone is referencing Astoria in some way. His dad vibes are coming in.

Penelope's backstory will of course be much more expanded in a future chapter (soon), and this was just a taste.

Next chapter we will be back to Daphne, and something will happen between her and Harry!

Thank you for reading my story this far!