Professor Lupin arrived two day later.

He was really cool and seemed to know his stuff, even going so far as to offer to look over Harry's DADA Essay for him, giving him almost full marks, and told him of a book that would help make it better for when school started back up. It may have knocked him back an essay, but he wanted to impress the man, for once it looked like the school would have a decent Defense teacher. He couldn't wait to tell Hermione.

It almost made up for the existential dread of his upcoming kidnapping, or relocation as the Headmaster put it. He still had no clue why that woman would be taking him, if he was fine at Hogwarts then why was he being given to some American that had nothing to do with him. Chills ran up his spine as he thought once more of the "escapees" that she had house elves hunting. Maybe she was a crazy cat lady like his neighbor Mrs. Figg. Just some type of magical cat or other animal.

He pushed those thoughts into the back of his mind and focused on the book in front of him. It was a book on Charms, even after 4 days of working on the summer essay he had restarted 3 times. He kept hitting dead ends on the research and circling back on the topic. It was a lot harder than the previous year's, and he couldn't quite wrap his head around the whatever its called Theory. It was so hard he couldn't even pronounce it's name, and the creator was some Italian sounding guy. It had something to do with why charming a living thing was harder than a non-animate object, and all the charms books that he could understand weren't very helpful, there was only so many times he could put, "Because of the soul" before it started to sound overdone. He became frustrated with the constant back tracking he had to do and closed the book with a snap, he would have to put it and a few other's back now that he was leaving in another day, he could always ask his care taker to take him shopping if he needed to. Knowing his luck, they probably wouldn't allow it, from the way she spoke to the Headmaster she was probably like the Dursleys.

He decided to explore the castle, maybe he'd find something to cheer himself up.

He ended up along the second floor, standing before the same bathroom that haunted his nightmares every few nights. It was almost always the same dream up until the ending. Sometimes he would die, sometimes Ginny would, Hermione might be there, or Ron. One time his parents were even there to tell him how much of a disappointment he was. Mrs. Weasley once walked in and killed the snake with a rolling pin, then everyone, including Riddle, ate cake. He blamed all the sweets he had before bed on that last one. Speaking of sweets.

"Lemon drop, Mr. Potter?" It was weird that he had known the Headmaster was nearby, but he also didn't at the same time, almost like a sixth sense.

"Lemon drop?"

The man shook a bag of yellow candies at the boy, "A marvelous invention made by the muggles, such a tantalizing treat. I first discovered them in the early 30s, a student of mine always had a bag with them. I remember once when I gave them detention for being out of bounds past curfew, stalking around the dungeons without a care in the world. They offered me a candy then and I turned them down. After that they made it their mission to offer me a candy every day after that, at any time too! Before class, after class, even during! The amount of times they would walk to the Head table and offer me a candy in the middle of dinner or breakfast. I had to stop assigning detentions because they would corrupt my fellow teachers into liking the diabolical sweets."

"But they won in the end?"

"Yes, yes, win they did. I've been obsessed ever since, though I have yet to get any of the newer members of staff to try them besides Filius. Even among the students Messer's Fred and George Weasley are the only ones to take to the sweets. The amount of time I've caught those boys out after hours, only to end up losing half of my bag to them and giving nothing but a word of warning and a slap on the wrist. I was much harsher on them during their first two years here you know, they were such free spirits, however they were much to focused on the House Rivalry with Slytherin. I had to ah… convince them, that targeting one group of people was not within the true nature of pranks. Since then they've been much better as their magic continues to grow. I cannot wait to see what they come up with every year."

Harry grinned as he listened to the man's speech. It was like listening to a grandfather talk about his grandchildren, going on and on about how great they were. He remembered an old neighbor who had done that, always talking about how great his grandson was to anyone who would listen. Harry wondered if one day the man would talk about him that way.

"Of course, I would my boy!" Had he spoken out loud? "Every student in this school is like my own grandchild. My door is always open to anyone who needs it, whether its for a simple cup of Hot Chocolate, or to talk about some issue at home or in their dorms. You would be surprised how many late-night visitor's I've had that simply needed an extra ear. Do you need one my boy?"

"I-," Did he need to talk about anything? He had never spoken at length to anyone about the Chamber, or even first year with the stone. Seeing Ron lying on the ground motionless, Voldemort sticking out of the back of his DADA teacher's head. Learning that Voldemort had been teaching him all year. Even that first Halloween in the school as he faced down a Troll. "I'd like that Professor, but-,"

"But we all need time yes?" the man finished for him, "Everyone needs time to think, Harry. Whenever you're ready my door is always open. If you ever wish I know Ashleigh would allow you to visit the school if you need. I'm sure Fawkes would be glad to give you a ride should you need it as well. I must say Phoenix travel is much better than any other type of magical transport. It's as if you've been embraced by a warm hug from your closest friend."

"You'd allow that professor?"

"Of course!" The man was practically beaming at the scarred boy. "I do not own Fawkes, nor does he own me, we are merely friend's that enjoy each other's company. You know he was the that got me to finally try the lemon drops?"

That shocked Harry, "How'd that happen?"

"Well you see my boy,"Albus began as he ushered Harry away from the nightmarish bathroom, "I came across that student of mine one night. She was in the Dungeons once more, but this time instead of exploring she was crying. Fawkes had led me to her, it was quite some ways in, and I was…"

Harry listened as the old man told his story, and before he knew it, he too had a lemon drop on his tongue as they walked through the Fat Lady's portrait and into his common room, a yawn escaping his mouth. Maybe things weren't so bad.