A/N: Hey everyone! It's me! Okay! Well, here is the next chapter of the story! YAY! Sorry for the delay since I updated. But work must come first if I am to save enough for college, ne? I reeeeeally wanna get my anthropology degree. SO! Let's get this puppy started!

Disclaimer: ONCE more and that's it I'm not doing it anymore. I do not nor will I ever own Harry Potter, and if you think I could afford such a lawsuit *scoffs* I would die of starvation and all other things. But a girl can dream…..*sigh*

FORWARD!!!

Unexpected Reunion

By LGSF

Chapter Two~ Confusion, Confrontations and Strange Meetings part 1

Harry awoke the next morning exhausted, yawning non-stop; after gaining only a few hours sleep The-Boy-Who-Lived was rather…irritable. After snapping at Ron, he gathered his clothes and headed to the bathroom to shower, hopeful that it would wake him a bit more.

"Harry? Harry? Harry!"

It didn't work.

The wizard snapped out of his stupor and turned bleary eyes to one Hermione Granger, best friend, resident Know-It-All, and, at the moment, the evil woman of doom and destroyer of naps.

It was, by now later that morning and the raven haired teen had been dozing at the breakfast table, when he had been rudely interrupted by a certain bushy haired female.

"What?" he grumbled.

The girl frowned at the reply as she studied the boy next to her. "Harry, are you alright? You don't look so good."

'I was fine until you woke me up,' he thought but replied with, "I'm fine, 'Mione. I just didn't get much sleep last night."

Ron who had been glaring at Harry since they sat down paled.

"Y-you d-didn't dream o-of You-Know-Who, did you?" the red haired boy asked his best friend from across the table. "Is that why you were awake so early?"

"No, Ron," Harry sighed in annoyance (though he wasn't annoyed by his friends questioning him, more to the fact that these two were not going to let him finish his nap.) "No, I didn't dream about Voldemort-" Ron flinched "I just couldn't sleep."

"And why is that, dear?"

The trio turned to see Mrs. Weasley standing behind Harry with a plate piled with food, which was obviously meant for Harry. She deposited the plate before the dark haired teen, and waited for an answer.

"I'm really sure, Mrs. Weasley," Harry lied as Katherine Emeras' smiling face flashed before his mind.

"Well, why don't you run up back to your room and rest a bit? I'll just set this aside for you for later. Now go on, Harry dear," the Weasley matriarch stated as swept Harry's plate away for safe keeping.

"It's alright, Mrs. Weasley, I'm fi-"the boy began.

"Upstairs. NOW." She barked, hand on hip.

Knowing he wouldn't win, Harry muttered, "Yes, Ma'am." Turned to his friends with a shrug and headed upstairs to his room.

When Harry was out of earshot, and Mrs. Weasley had returned to the kitchen, Hermione turned to Ron and whispered, "I don't like this. Did you see how he looked?"

"I'm not blind, Hermione." Ron snapped but looked troubled nonetheless. Harry really did not look good. His eyes had been red and were slightly dark underneath and he had been pale.

"Are you sure he didn't dream of…of V-voldemort?" Hermione asked. Ron flinched at the name, causing Hermione to huff in annoyance and scowl at him. "Honestly, Ron! After all we have been through- after all Harry's been through! You could at least not flinch when you hear his name!'

The red head glared at the girl but remained silent.

"Well, if Harry had dreamed of y…" Ron quailed under the glare Hermione gave him. "I mean V-v-v-voldemort." The boy shuddered. "I would've known, wouldn't I? We've seen how Harry gets when he sees him and all, so wouldn't I know if he did?"

Hermione bit her lip and nodded, "I suppose your right. But what is troubling him, I wonder?"

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The boy in question had reached him room and collapsed onto his bed with a sigh. Now what? He knew full well that he wasn't going to be sleeping, as he was no longer tired thanks to Hermione. He couldn't go back downstairs, lest he face the wrath of his surrogate mother, Mrs. Weasley, so all in all…he was stuck.

Sighing he rolled onto his back and as he stared at the ceiling his thoughts began to wander. His thoughts drifted to her and to that first day of friendship.

Flashback

It was early afternoon, and the class was attending art class. They were finishing the afternoon assignment (a drawing of their favorite their favorite place), when the teacher clapped her hands and said, "Alright, everyone! Who would like to talk about their drawing?"

Instantly, everyone's hands went up into the air, every ones except two. Harry didn't raise his hand because he knew better than to draw attention to himself. And though he barely knew his companion, he already was sure that Katherine Emera, who had remained with Harry the whole day, wouldn't because she was just too shy.

The teacher, meanwhile, had other ideas. She just smiled at the class and said, "Alright, wait a second! Why don't we let the newest member of our class go first?"

Katherine Emera, who had been happily coloring a flag of some sort, froze at her teachers words. She looked up at the teacher and shook her head furiously, then bowed her head over her drawing.

"Aw. Come on, sweetie. Come up here and show the class what you did. I bet it's a great drawing." The teacher said, thinking the little girls refusal was from embarrassment.

Harry watched as tears began to form in the girl's wide frightened eyes and he lightly touched her arm whispering her name. She didn't answer but kept shaking her head.

"Katherine Emera?" the woman was confused at the child's behavior. "What's wrong?"

"Uh…Ms. Stevens? I don't think she wants to go." Harry stated.

Ms. Stevens looked at Harry in surprise, as he never really talked before, an turned to his companion and asked, "You don't want to come up and show your drawing, Katherine Emera?"

The blue haired girl shook her head causing tears to fly from her face. Katherine Emera finally looked up at the woman to reveal the flowing tears as she whimpered, "Please don't make me."

The young woman felt her guilty when she saw the tears and knelt before the small child. "It's alright. You don't have to go up if you don't want to, sweetheart. No one's going to make you."

The girl nodded relief flooding her face, Ms. Stevens hugged her tightly then stood and with a bright smile said, "Who wants to go first?"

Harry ignored the boy that went up and looked to his partner. She was bright red as she wiped her tears, relief evident as her body shook.

"You alright?" Harry whispered as he leaned into her. Katherine Emera jumped slightly at the contact, but nodded as more tears fell. She reached out and grabbed Harry's hand and looked at him, still not meeting his eyes, and sniffled, "Thank you. I-I don't like t-talking i-in front of p-people. It scares me."

"That's alright." Harry smiled. "You didn't want to go and I just told Ms. Stevens that." He paused, then added, "I-Isn't that what f-friends are for?"

Katherine Emera blinked at the question then turned crimson as she nodded shyly as squeezed his hand.

End of Flashback

Harry blinked then frowned as the last bit of the memory filtered out of its resting place, and into his thoughts. With a frustrated grunt, Harry rolled back onto his stomach and resigned himself to try to get a bit of sleep. "When is this going to stop?!" he thought before sleep finally found Harry and left him to his dreams filled with the strange little girl that was or was not imaginary.

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Meanwhile…….

As they cleaned, Ron and Hermione worried about their friend, and they soon found themselves turning to Sirius for help, though they was more like Hermione insisted more than Ron. The redhead was a bit hesitant to speak about his best mate behind his back. When the duo finished explaining the convict frowned and shook his head, stating, "And Harry won't say what's wrong?" He suddenly grinned, "Maybe it's a girl problem?"

It was the teens turn to frown.

"Sirius! Please, be….." she trailed off, turning pink while Ron began to snigger.

"Be serious?" the elder wizard grinned wider. "I'm already Sirius, 'Mione."

"Oh, honestly!" the girl huffed. "This is a very important matter. And I don't think it involves Harry thinking about… about some girl!"

"Neither do I, come to think of it." Ron added in. "If Harry was thinking about some thing like that…..don't you think Harry would talk about it. Even if was a little bit….wouldn't he? At least he would with me or you, Sirius? I mean, I would tell him if it were me."

Sirius frowned. "Not necessarily. This is Harry we're talking about. He isn't the most open of people, now is he? He doesn't talk much about anything that involves himself."

Hermione nodded. "Even when it involves nightmares." She bit her lip. "I'm worried about him. I just want to know what's bothering him."

"Hermione, I appreciate that you're worried about Harry, but maybe it's just as Harry said. Maybe he just couldn't sleep. He's allowed to have a sleepless night once in awhile." Sirius patted the girl on the shoulder. "It was most likely a one time thing, you two. But if it happens again tell me. We shall deal with what's bothering Harry then."

Hermione frowned at the Animagus. "But if Harry's-"

"Harry is allowed to have one sleepless night, Hermione. We may just be blowing this out of proportion. I'm just as concerned about my godson as you are 'Mione. But he doesn't need nor want people hovering over him like mother hens. Just give it a few days and if it keeps happening we'll talk to him. Until then let him try to sort it out on his own, he may just come to us when he's ready."

Ron fidgeted feeling very uncomfortable. Finally blurting out, "Maybe we shouldn't interfere, at least not this time. I think this is different. It looks…I dunno…more personal."

"Well, personal or not, if it starts to affect much worse than this, as his godfather, I think I should know what's wrong with my godson." Sirius stated. "If we have to speak with him, I want you two, and maybe Ginny, to confront him. See if he will be willing to talk to you, alright?"

Hermione nodded resigned to obey the elder wizard, while Ron looked at both and sighed, not saying a word. He was extremely uncomfortable with the thought of confronting Harry on something he clearly did not want to speak about.

Hermione didn't seem to notice the redheads behavior, as she contemplated on how to approach the subject when the time came. She had actually wanted to confront him today and demand what was wrong, she was very worried about her "little brother".

Ron studied the bushy haired girl and shook his head, 'Harry is not going to like this.' He decided internally.

What Ron didn't know was how right he was going to be…….

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Later that morning, Harry awoke to Hedwig hooting softly next to him. Harry smile at his pet and whispered, "I'm up Hedwig, I'm up. What time is it?"

The snowy white owl stared at him as if to say, "How am I to know? I'm just an owl!"

Harry chuckled and rose from bed, after a quick glance in the bathroom mirror; he headed downstairs only to find Mrs. Weasley with his plate on the table. He looked at her confused.

"I heard you coming down while I was cleaning." Was her way of explaining. Harry nodded and began to eat his reheated breakfast. After eating Mrs. Weasley sent the young man to the drawing room to help the others free the room of doxies….whatever those were.

Harry reached the room and found his friends and Sirius with some sort of spray bottles with nozzles and such with rags over their faces as they sprayed strange little…things.

'Those must be the doxies.' Harry thought.

"Need some help?" the boy-who-lived asked.

At the sound of his voice the group looked up and greeted him with waves and motioned him over. Sirius handed him a bottle potion they were using, along with a rag. Harry took the proffered items and set to work with a sigh; at least he won't thoughts won't wander to Katherine Emera as he sprayed the vicious sprites.

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Two days went by in a haze of dust, cobwebs, and doxies; Harry continued to be plagued by dreams of the small girl, and was left to awake at all hours of the night arguing with himself. Arguing if the girl did truly exist, or if she had been a playmate of his imagination; he still didn't have the answer and it was driving him insane. The hours spent in his personal hellish debate were beginning to take there toll on the boy, as he tended to doze at the table during meals. He had also managed to get himself bitten by a doxy as he wasn't paying attention. And when asked if he was alright at any time, he would give a sleepy smile and reply, "I'm alright. Just didn't get much sleep last night."

Hermione, Ginny, Sirius and Ron, decided it was time to talk to Harry. Well, the girls and Sirius thought it was time, Ron, on the other hand, didn't want to face his best friend this at all. He very concerned about Harry's lack of sleep but didn't want to confront him about the reason behind it. He was thinking more along the lines of a sleeping potion or knocking Harry unconscious with a prank or a good punch. All in all, Ron was dreading the row that was about to take place.

After finishing another room, the trio asked if Harry would talk to them for a moment before heading down for lunch. Harry, not knowing what was to take to place, agreed and the small group headed to the boys room. When the messy haired boy sat exhausted on his bed he looked to his friends and asked, "What did you need to talk to me about?"

The three looked at each other in silent agreement, Hermione bit her lip, "Harry…you know we're your friends and that you can tell us anything."

Harry looked confused but nodded slowly. His eyes began to narrow in suspicion, "Yeah, I know, 'Mione. What's that got to do with anything?"

Ginny step forward, "Harry, we want to know what's been bothering you lately. Everyone is worried at your behavior. What's wrong?"

A/N: Ah! I have decided to break this chapter in two. For one thing I really wanna update and it's getting kinda lengthy, which I like! But don't really have the patience for at the moment. This has been sitting in my computer for awhile but I finished up where I think would be a good stopping point for now and will finish the rest of this chap. In the next.

R&R PLZ!!! Would much appreciate! Thank you for all those who have added this story to their favorites lists. It means so much to me!! *animated anime plushies nod along with pet radioactive jello butterflies* Til next time JA!