Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

So sorry for not updating in so long. I had my hands full these last few days. I hope to update sooner. Hope you enjoy the new chapter!!

Chapter Nine

Lily walked past the groups of students, making their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. They cast odd looks her way as she was walking in the opposite direction to most of the castles habitants. Lily was making her way steadily to the Gryffindor tower. Lily had waited anxiously for morning to come so that she could see Harry. Damien had come alone the night before, saying that Harry had changed his mind and had gone to bed.

Lily was disappointed as she had made plans to spend time with both her sons that evening. Lily had noticed the uncharacteristic troubled look on Damien's face. But try as she might she couldn't get Damien to talk to her about it. It was apparent that something had transpired between the brothers that night. Damien only spent an hour with Lily and James before claiming that he was tired and had left hurriedly to return to his dorm.

Lily had gone to bed early that night but had not managed to sleep very well. She promised herself that she would speak to Harry first thing in the morning. She knew that if Damien was upset about something it meant that Harry had to be upset as well.

Lily picked up the pace as she approached the staircase. She wanted to speak to Harry before he disappeared for class.

xxx

Ginny waited until the others had left to go downstairs to Breakfast before heading towards the boys' dormitory. She thanked the old fashioned rules that meant that although boys couldn't enter the girls' dormitory, girls could enter the boys' dormitory without any hassle.

Ron had said that Harry as still in bed and was supposedly still asleep. Ginny knew that Harry was going to be uncomfortable because of what had happened last night. The conversation between him and Damien had taken an awkward turn. Ginny hated to admit it to herself but she had been a little freaked out by what Harry had said.

Last night, after Damien left to see his parents, the three teens stayed up to discuss what had happened. They felt that they had spent so much time with Harry but still didn't know him at all. When Damien had returned back from seeing his parents he tiredly joined them. It was then that they all calmed down and realised one thing. They had been by Harry's side for so long now that they almost made themselves believe that Harry was a normal wizard. The sad fact was that Harry was not normal and no matter how hard everyone tried, Harry would never be normal.

Last night was a reminder to them of how Harry had been brought up. How the instinct to kill to survive was a normal part of his upbringing. By the time the four teens retired to bed, all of them were thinking deeply about Harry's upbringing. None of them really knew how Harry was brought up. They knew the basics of what Harry's past involved, loyalty to Voldemort, the assignments he completed and the things he must have done to get the title of 'The Dark Prince'. But all four of them had seen the other side to Harry, the side that had protected them and others from harm. The part of him that rebelled against his upbringing and protected the innocent. It was because of this part of him that made the four teens quietly promise to themselves that they would not judge Harry. They would always be by his side no matter what they might learn about him in the future.

No one was more determined about this than Ginny. That was why she had stayed behind as the others left for breakfast. She wanted to see Harry and talk to him before the others got a chance. He had to know that nothing had changed between them.

She stood in front of his door for a moment before knocking twice. When there was no answer she quietly opened the door and stepped inside. The four beds were empty as Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville had left for breakfast. There was only one bed with the drapes still around them. Ginny walked over and gently opened them. Harry was still asleep. Ginny had expected him to be awake by now. She reckoned she should close the drapes and leave but somehow couldn't pull herself away from the sleeping teen. Harry looked so cute sleeping like that, on his stomach, hair messier than ever. He looked so…innocent. Ginny felt herself being pulled closer towards him.

With a mischievous gleam in her eyes, Ginny moved closer to the bed and climbed onto it. She lay down next to him. She remembered the horribly embarrassing time Harry had woken up to find her lying next to him. She had fallen asleep while trying to bring down his horrendous fever. Ginny would never forget how awkward she had felt when she had woken up to find Harry awake and in obvious confusion as to why she was lying next to him. She decided it was only fair that she got a chance to rectify that embarrassing moment.

Just as she reached up to brush back Harry's bangs, his emerald eyes shot open and looked directly at her. Ginny waited for him to react, to sit up and ask confusedly 'what are you doing here?' or something like that, but Harry only cracked one of his smiles at her, one of his smiles that were genuine and always made Ginny melt.

"Now that's what I call a wake up call." Harry said as he rolled over onto his back.

Ginny smiled at him and moved back a little. She was glad that he seemed to be normal with her. He was always much more at ease with her when they were alone.

"Sorry, couldn't help it. You just looked way too cute and cosy" she remarked with a smirk.

Harry eyed her for a moment, not saying anything; Ginny knew he was going to retaliate for her calling him cute and cosy.

"Hmm, tell me Miss Weasley what would anyone say if they were to see you in my bed?" Harry asked, in a playful tone.

Ginny blushed but was determined not to break eye contact with him. She wasn't going to let him win at this game.

"They could think what they like. I've never cared for what anyone else should think, why start now?" she answered and just to make her point she moved closer to him until she could feel his warm breath on her face.

"Ginerva" Harry said in a fake warning tone.

"Don't call me that. Only my dad calls me that." Ginny replied.

Harry surprised her suddenly by wrapping a strong arm around her waist, in effect stealing her breath and threatening her brave act.

"Alright Ginny, so why the comforting wake up call?" he asked, eyes locked with hers.

Ginny kept eye contact when she responded.

"Can't I come up to see you?"

Harry gave her a calculating look, one eyebrow raised slightly.

"Did you want to say something that couldn't have waited until after breakfast?" he asked finally.

Ginny knew not to lie to Harry. He knew that she was here to see him largely because of last night. Ginny managed to wrap her fingers around Harry's and held on tight. Her expression changed to one more serious although her eyes still kept their warmth.

"It doesn't matter, last night and everything, I didn't want you to be all freaked out about it" Ginny quietly said.

After a few awkward moments Harry replied.

"I don't think I'm the one who was freaked."

Ginny bit her bottom lip as a flush of shame washed over her. Harry had noticed their reactions last night, not that it wasn't obvious. Ginny however refused to let that fail her. She moved even closer to Harry, not letting him look away from her.

"Harry…"

"It doesn't matter." Harry curtly cut her off.

Harry's eyes had lost the playful look and Ginny could see the expressionless mask already drifting into place. She tightened her grip on him. She really didn't want him to close up.

Ginny was desperate to make Harry understand that they didn't think ill of him, that she didn't think ill of him! She didn't want Harry to think that last night he had revealed something about himself that they already didn't know. It wasn't his fault that they had momentarily forgotten his past.

Ginny moved to close the small gap between them. Placing her hand on Harry's face she leaned in and kissed him. She kissed him with all the sincerity she had. This was the first time that Ginny had initiated a kiss. She really wanted Harry to see that she was fine with him, happy to be with him. That nothing had changed. When she pulled away she saw Harry's emerald eyes glisten with surprise. She saw the small smile on his lips.

"We knew this about you before we decided to become close to you. It's not like you hid anything from us. Last night hasn't changed anything." Ginny told him truthfully hoping that he would believe her. She could tell by the way he was looking at her, that he did believe her. For the first time Harry showed trust towards someone other than Damien.

Grinning like mad, Ginny made to get up but realised that Harry was still holding her around the waist. That was when she noticed the playful smirk on his face. She noticed that his whole body was much more relaxed than a few moments ago.

Putting on a serious voice, Ginny tried to get away from his grip.

"Mr Potter, would you be ever so kind as to release me from your bear hug?"

Harry only responded by pulling her even closer. Ginny tried but couldn't keep a straight face. She laughed as Harry teasingly pulled her so that she was lying almost on top of him.

"Well, we won't get into any trouble for this." Ginny joked.

"I thought you didn't care if anyone saw you with me?" Harry asked, emerald eyes shinning with mischief.

Ginny sat up and gave Harry a funny look. She leaned over and captured him in another kiss. She silently loved the fact that Harry didn't pull away from her. He was quite willing for Ginny to be close to him. Just as Ginny pulled away she heard a sound from behind her.

"Hem Hem!"

Ginny whipped around and saw to her horror that Lily was standing at the door, staring at her who was sitting almost on top of Harry. With a yelp Ginny made to get away from Harry and his bed as fast as possible. In her haste to get away she managed to somehow get her foot caught in the covers and as a result came tumbling off the bed. She quickly stood up and faced a stern looking Lily. Harry on the other hand was still lying in his bed looking quite relaxed with the whole embarrassing event.

Ginny didn't know what to say or where to look. Lily Potter was a strict teacher and also happened to be Harry's mum, which made the whole situation all the more uncomfortable and embarrassing. Ginny stood red faced but didn't dare say anything.

"Miss Weasley, you better hurry along or you'll be late for your first class." Lily said in a calm voice. She didn't look very happy though.

"Yes Professor" Ginny said quickly. Without looking back at the still smirking Harry, Ginny rushed out of the room.

Lilly closed the door after Ginny left and turned to look sternly at Harry. The raven haired boy sat up in his bed and looked back at his mum with a smile on his face.

"What?" he asked innocently when Lily had not spoken.

Lily cocked up an eyebrow at him in response.

"Oh calm down, nothing happened. We were just talking" Harry said as he climbed out of bed.

"Well, unless you are stone deaf, I hardly think you needed to be in such close proximity to talk." Lily replied.

Harry turned to her and asked.

"Can I help you with something?"

Lily decided to go with the topic change. She would address the whole issue with Ginerva Weasley later. Besides, she didn't really know what to say to Harry about it. He didn't look embarrassed with what had happened in the least. This was definitely a job for James.

"I wanted to come and see you as you refused to come and see me last night." Lily said purposefully making Harry sound guilty.

Harry started pulling out his school robes.

"I was tired"

"So I see" Lily responded.

Harry turned to face his mum with a sigh.

"It isn't a big deal. I was too tired and I went to bed early. I figured you would understand. I'll come and spend the weekend with you if that makes you happy, okay. Now I have to go, or I'll be late for class." With that Harry left to go and get changed and get to class.

Lily sat down on Harry's bed with a sigh. She hardly ever got a chance to talk to Harry. He was always rushing off. She doubted that Harry would spend the weekend with her. He was only saying that so that she would leave him alone. Lily figured she better get up as well, otherwise she would be late for her class.

Just as Lily got up to leave something caught her eye. On the bottom of the bed, almost hidden under the corner of the drapes was an empty potion vial. Curiosity took over Lily and she picked it up. She looked closely at the vial and noticed the Hogwarts crest engraved on it.

Lily knew that the potion was taken by Harry as it was under his bed. She hesitantly brought the empty vial up to her nose and took a sniff to decipher what potion had once been in it. At once she knew that it was Dreamless Sleeping potion. She had spent countless hours brewing this for the school infirmary. There was no way she wouldn't recognise it.

It wasn't all that odd that Harry had taken the sleeping potion. After all it wasn't a dangerous potion to take or anything like that. Nevertheless, Lily found herself getting very angry that Harry had taken this. She instinctively reached for the small bedside drawer and pulled it open. Sure enough there were half a dozen bottles of sleeping potion lying there. All of them had the Hogwarts crest engraved on them, indicating that they belonged to the school infirmary.

Lily stood up still clutching onto the empty vial and stormed out of the room. It was time to pay a certain school nurse a visit.

xxx

Poppy placed the last file in the filing cabinet and sat down at her desk. There was too much paperwork associated with this job. She had to make sure that every student had their medical history up to date and with all the accidents that happened in this school it was near impossible to keep on top of it. Finally she had finished the gruelling task and had sat down at her desk. She had stayed up much of the night to get it all done. Just as Poppy reached for her cup of tea she heard the doors to the hospital wing open.

Sighing she got up and walked out of her office. It was bound to be another student that had somehow got themselves into trouble. 'Here we go' she thought to herself as she opened the office door and walked out. She was quite surprised to see the potion professor standing in her hospital wing instead of a student.

"Lily! Oh I was expecting…oh never mind. What can I do for you?" she asked pleasantly.

Lily however didn't look very pleased. She briskly made her way towards the school nurse.

"I need to speak with you. It's urgent." She said.

Poppy looked at her with surprise. She gestured towards her office and both women went inside.

"What's wrong, Lily?" Poppy asked as soon as they were seated.

"This!" Lily said as she held up the empty vial.

Poppy looked blankly at the vial.

"Um…I don't understand…"

"You gave this to Harry, didn't you?" Lily asked in an accusatory tone.

Poppy looked at her with confusion.

"Yes but…" Poppy was once again cut off.

"You gave him a full stack of sleeping potion! I found at least half a dozen in his drawer. All of them had the school crest on them, which means they came from you!" Lily told her heatedly.

"Lily, I don't understand what the problem is" Poppy said.

"The problem is obvious. You should not have given him so many vials. What possessed you to prescribe him so many bottles? What if he took more than one at any time? You know how dangerous that is! You shouldn't have given him these without letting me know!" Lily hadn't meant to say that last part out aloud.

"Lily, Harry's seventeen. He is quite capable of knowing what dosage to take." Poppy calmly told the enraged mother.

"And as for letting you know, Harry's medical history is private. If he wanted you to know he would have told you himself. It isn't my place to inform you."

Unknown to the school nurse, that was the thing that was bothering Lily the most. That was the reason she was so angry and annoyed. That she was there at the school and she didn't know that Harry had to take sleeping potions to sleep at night. Harry needed help but he hadn't come to her for help, he had gone to Poppy.

"Just tell me why you prescribed these to him!" Lily asked in a forced calm voice.

Poppy looked at Lily with surprise. She always liked Lily. She had always thought of her as a sensible and well mannered woman. Today however, she was acting very rash and rude.

"Lily, I'm sorry but that is Harry's business. I shouldn't be the one to…"

"Poppy. Just tell me! I'm his mother. If he's in some sort of trouble or if he's unwell then I should know about it!" Lily exclaimed loudly.

Poppy saw the tears threatening to come out in Lily's emerald eyes. She felt a stab of pity wash through her. She had been through so much in the past year. She was only looking out for her son. With a sigh, Poppy decided to explain.

"Alright, Harry came to me about a week ago. It was quite late in the night and he…well…he just looked awful. I could tell that he had not been keeping well. He told me that he needed some Dreamless Sleeping potion so I..."

"So you just gave him it! Did you not think to ask why he needed it? You should have at least asked him why he…" Lily was cut off as Poppy raised her voice.

"If you would let me finish!" Poppy almost yelled.

Lily quietened down but threw her a glare nonetheless.

"I did ask him if he wanted to talk about what the problem was but he was adamant not to talk about it!"

Poppy was very similar to Lily, in the sense that her temper was not one to be tested either. She forced herself to calm down a little before continuing.

"I figured that he was having problems because of…because of what happened with…with Lestrange." Poppy watched as Lily's face drained of whatever little colour was left.

"He was quite…um, well distraught, I guess is the only word, about what happened. He said that he was having trouble settling down at night and asked if I would help him by giving him some Dreamless Sleeping potion." Poppy looked on in sympathy as Lily's face collapsed into her hands. With a gentler voice Poppy continued.

"I care deeply for Harry, if he asked for my help I would always give it to him, if it were in my power to do so. I understand that you are concerned about his health and you should be. You're his mother. But Lily, don't get angry with me for helping him. I can only imagine what he's going through right now, losing…her…like that." Poppy faltered a little but pushed on.

"He couldn't sleep because of it, so tell me how could I not help him?"

Lily looked up at Poppy. She felt awful for losing her temper like that. Poppy was only trying to help Harry. Lily had noticed that Harry was looking worn out these last few weeks. She had suspected that Harry was having trouble with sleeping but she didn't think it was so bad that in order to catch a few hours sleep he needed the help of potions.

As much as Lily hated to admit it, Bella's death had shook Harry. He was undoubtedly suffering nightmares because of her death. Now that Lily thought about it, Harry had looked quite worn out and tired before her death as well. Lily remembered on Damien's birthday, she had noticed the dark circles under his eyes and she had tried to talk to him about it, but like always Harry had avoided her questions. That meant that Harry had been suffering for quite a long time, maybe since Voldemort's death.

"Lily, are you okay?"

Poppy's voice shook Lily out of her reverie.

Lily quickly got up, muttered a haste goodbye and rushed out of the infirmary. She had to talk to James about Harry. Both parents had to talk to Harry about this. It was only when she was hurrying to find James that she saw her fifth year students, standing outside her class, waiting for their potions lesson.

xxx

Harry was late for his Defence Against the Dark Arts class. As Harry walked in, he noticed that James was waiting impatiently for him to take his seat.

"Mr Potter, take care not to be late for my class again, otherwise I will have to give you detention. Please take your seat." James told him rather harshly.

Perplexed at his dad's unusual mood, Harry took his usual seat between Ron and Hermione.

"He's got his tail in a twist today. He's already taken points from Dean for taking out his books too slowly" Ron whispered to Harry.

Harry knew his dad was a strict professor but this was not like him at all. Furthermore, James was not likely to take points away from Gryffindor. Wondering what was wrong; Harry took out his books and started on the notes already put up on the board.

The lesson was uncharacteristically tense. James was in a foul mood and was doing nothing to hide it. Harry found himself getting more and more worked up at James's behaviour. He was just sitting there, at his desk, visibly seething with anger about something. He had pretty much left the class to write down the notes that kept appearing on the board.

When class ended, James was the first one to leave.

"Whatever was all that about?" Ron asked as they packed their bags.

"Merlin knows" Hermione responded.

They were all so wrapped up in what was wrong with James that none of them even remembered the awkwardness of last night.

xxx

"Hiya Harry!"

Harry groaned as the small fourth year rushed towards him. Harry had only just walked into the hall for lunch with Ron and Hermione when Dennis had enthusiastically rushed over to him.

Harry didn't even answer him but that didn't stop the small Gryffindor.

"I was just wondering Harry, um, I have this transfiguration essay that I can't really work out and Damien said that you are really good at transfiguration and everything, of course you're good at everything! So I was wondering if you could, you know, help me with it."

Harry just looked at Dennis in bemusement for a moment before turning and walking away from him. Dennis however didn't understand this and hurried along behind him.

"It doesn't have to be in until next week, so you can help me whenever you have time, I'm sure that you'll get the answer right away, you know, being the most powerful wizard and all, but I was wondering if you could help me because transfiguration is the only thing I'm not good at. I'm okay with most classes but…"

Dennis was cut off as Harry spun around and Dennis only just stopped himself from bumping into him.

"Listen to me closely because I'm only going to say this once." Harry hissed at him.

Dennis gulped a little but stood listening to him.

"I don't care what you're good at and nor will I ever care. Stop pestering me or this most powerful wizard will transfigure you into a bug."

Harry left the rather hurt and pale looking Dennis at the door, and spotted Damien sitting at the table, already half way through his lunch. Harry, Hermione and Ron joined the fourteen year old at the table for lunch.

Hermione's face was pretty red after witnessing Harry belittling Dennis. She sat in stony silence while the boys talked.

"Guess what Harry?" Damien asked as soon as Harry had sat down.

"The first set of Aurors are here for the Duel club. Guess who one of them is?"

Harry shrugged, he didn't particularly care.

"Tonks!" Ron said loudly.

Damien turned to him in astonishment.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"I just saw her walk into the Hall" Ron answered as he pointed towards the doors.

Harry spun around to see the bubblegum pink haired Auror walk in with two other Aurors. Harry didn't recognise them though. Harry felt a bizarre feeling erupt inside him at the sight of Tonks. He met her eyes and she gave him a hearty wave. Harry only smiled back at her, feeling strangely very happy to see her.

Before Tonks could come over to talk to him she was met with Professor June and the three Aurors were ushered up to the staff table.

"I'm definitely going to check out the Duel club. I want to see what the Aurors are going to teach." Ron said.

"What's the matter with you?" Damien asked when he noticed that Hermione had hardly touched her food.

Ron quietly filled him in on what had happened with Dennis.

"Can't you ever be nice?" Damien asked his brother with a sigh.

"No" Harry answered simply.

"All he did was ask for your help." Hermione said quietly. She spoke for the first time since coming into the hall.

"He shouldn't be asking me for help. If he can't do his work then he should tell his professors. That is what they are there for" Harry replied.

Hermione opened her mouth to argue but seemed to change her mind.

"Come on Hermione, Dennis was very annoying right now. He should lay off Harry for a while." Ron added.

Hermione refused to speak to them and after a few minutes got up and walked away to sit with Dennis, no doubt to offer him help with the essay.

"She's too soft" Ron said as they went back to their lunch.

"Her and the rest of Hogwarts population. You have to figure out your own problems. That's the only way you learn. That's how I learned. I never had anyone tell me the answer. You have to work it out yourself." Harry stopped as Ron visibly tensed at the mention of Harry's childhood education.

Harry mentally scolded himself. He had to stop doing this. Damien cleared his throat, catching Harry's attention.

"I was checking out the book this morning." He said as casually as he could.

Harry turned his full attention to him.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." Damien replied with one of his big grins plastered over his face.

Harry waited to hear what Damien had been using it for.

"Did you know that there are three thousand two hundred and fifty two different potions that use human hair? And ebony hair is preferred. And don't even get me started on toe nails…"

Damien stopped and laughed as Harry dropped his head into his hands and shook his head in shame. Ron laughed as well as Harry looked up at Damien with a 'that-book-is-wasted-on-you' look. But Harry was laughing by the time Damien finished listing all the stupid things he had checked with his book.

Ginny walked in just before lunch was over. She immediately turned a shade of beetroot red as she met Harry's eyes. Harry only smirked at her, making the other two boys look on in puzzlement.

"Is everything alright?" Ron asked, looking between Harry and his sister.

"Everything is fine Ronald!" Ginny answered a little too quickly.

Ron kept throwing her and Harry cautious looks but didn't say anything.

Harry leaned over and whispered to her.

"So much for being brave and not caring what others think!" Harry teased her.

"I don't care what others think but I do care what your mother thinks!" Ginny told him in a humiliated voice.

Harry laughed and only stopped when Ginny threw him a glare. He smiled apologetically at her.

"Where were you anyway, Lunch is almost over" Damien asked Ginny.

"I was helping Professor Flitwick. There was a whole load of quills that had exploded in class just before the end of the lesson. We were having a class test and some idiots had tried to cheat using 'quick answer quills'. They exploded in class and covered everything in ink." Ginny shook her head.

"Where did they get them from?" Damien asked.

Ginny pulled out a handful of small colourful leaflets, all advertising some type of potion or artefact. She threw them onto the table.

"Apparently these came with the Daily Prophet last week. Adverts that promise quick fix solutions and success. There were a few items in there that are supposed to help you in wizarding exams. Potions that make you more intelligent, potions to better your memory, loads of stupid things. Most of the students still had these stuffed in their pockets." Ginny told them.

Damien picked one up and saw an advert for a potion promising to 'help build those abs and six pack'. He put it back down again with a nod.

"Yeah, I remember them coming last week." He said, shooting that particular leaflet a wishful glance.

They all finished their lunch and got up, ready for their next class. Before Ginny could leave, Harry grabbed a hold of her hand and pulling her near him he whispered to her.

"I don't care what anyone thinks, that was the best wake up call I have ever received."

Harry left for his next class leaving behind a slightly blushing but grinning Ginny.

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Please let me know what you think!! cheers.