AN: This chapter didn't really go how I had planned. Mostly because this was supposed to be the World Cup chapter, but I messed up my own timeline and had too much time between Harry's birthday and the Cup, so I had to move things around. But I think I'm back on track now. And hopefully it's not too riddled with errors, though I am half falling asleep while I type this note so who knows.

As always, thanks for reading and let me know what you think! Y'all know I need reviews and comments to survive lol.

The party had lasted long into the night, only ending when Fred and George tricked Neville into trying one of their newest inventions. A Ton-Tongue Toffee. Mr. Weasley had quickly shrunk Neville's tongue, which had grown at least a foot, but Mrs. Weasley had exploded on her sons, sending them ahead of her through the floo.

Most everyone else began to clear out after that, leaving only Albus, Minerva, Remus, Evelyn, and Brielle.

Minerva and Evelyn were busy making plans for next Thursday's breakfast, with Evelyn assuring her that she could spare the time away from work.

Now though, it was the next afternoon and Snape was busy pouring over a potion he was perfecting for St. Mungo's. The hospital was running low on a few of their more advanced potions and had sent out requests to Snape and a couple others for help. Snape was glad to have something new to do and had been working on them all day.

But then the floo roared to life in his lab, distracting him and nearly causing him to lose count of the amount of times he'd stirred clockwise.

"Snape? Are you there."

Snape rolled his eyes. Sirius Black.

"I'm busy, Black," he said over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off of the potion that was gradually turning blue.

"This is important," Sirius said. "Can I come through?"

Snape sighed. "Very well."

Snape waved his wand at the potion, putting it in stasis before turning around to face Sirius, who stepped easily out of the fireplace.

"Where's Harry?" Sirius asked, looking around.

"He's out flying with Draco. What do you need?" Snape moved away from the table and leaned against the side of his desk, crossing his arms over his chest impatiently.

Sirius seemed nervous as he clasped his hands in front of him. Finally, he said, "Remus says that Harry's been having nightmares about his uncle."

Snape frowned. "Why would he tell you that?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Why else? Because he's worried about him. We all are. Has he had any in the last few days?"

"Just get to your point, Black," Snape snapped.

"Several weeks ago, Remus convinced me to talk to a mind healer," Sirius said with a sigh. He moved to the work table and took a seat on the stool, facing Snape. "I was given a small supply of Dreamless Sleep which I've kept in my bag. I hadn't had a reason to use it lately because talking to the healer has been helping and I haven't been having as many nightmares. But I needed some last night and when I went to get it, I noticed that several vials were missing."

Snape didn't appreciate what Sirius seemed to be insinuating. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "And?"

"And I don't want to get Harry into trouble, especially when I don't actually have any proof, but he is the only person besides Remus who has had access to my bag recently." Sirius looked away before reaching for an empty vial on the table. He turned it onto its side and gave it a gentle spin, reminding Snape of the way that Harry was always fidgeting with things when conversations became hard for him.

"You think Harry stole them?" Snape asked.

Sirius shook his head. "I hope not. But the day that he came to hang out while you and Draco went shopping, I gave him a picture and asked him to put it into my bag while I went into the kitchen to help Remus with lunch. I don't want to think that he would steal from me, but if the nightmares are as bad as Remus said, maybe he's desperate to make them stop."

Snape considered his words. He also didn't want to place blame on Harry without any proof; he'd made that mistake once already and he wasn't interested in doing it again. But if what Sirius said was true, it made sense that Harry would be suspected.

But now that he thought about it, Harry hadn't mentioned any nightmares in a couple of weeks at least. Snape had assumed that since Harry had finally begun talking with Remus and was opening up more, that they were getting at least a bit better. And in any case, wouldn't he have heard if Harry were waking up from them?

Snape sighed. "How many vials are missing?"

"At least four," Sirius answered immediately. He sat the vial he was spinning back upright and stood. "Like I said, I don't have any proof. But if he is abusing the potion, that's dangerous and I thought you ought to know."

Snape nodded. "I will look into it."

Sirius moved toward the fireplace, taking a bit of floo powder from the mantle before stepping inside.

"Black?" Snape called out before he could leave. When Sirius glanced back up at him, he said, "I appreciate you telling me."

Sirius gave a single nod before dropping the powder and disappearing.

Snape sat in his lab long after Sirius left. The potion was still in stasis because he knew that there was no way he would be able to concentrate on it now. Not after what Sirius had told him.

Part of Snape wanted to find Harry and demand that he tell him what is going on. He wanted to know the truth about the nightmares and the potion and he wanted it now.

Another part, however, simply wanted Harry to confide in him on his own. If what Sirius had said was true— if the nightmares were so bad that Harry was taking potions in order to keep from having them— why hadn't he told him? Did Harry not know that Snape would do anything for him? Didn't he understand that if there was something he could do to stop the nightmares, he would?

Was there a way to stop them? He didn't think that Harry was old enough to start learning Occlumency, but he could teach him how to clear his mind at night. That might help.

Then again.

Snape abruptly stood from his desk and crossed the room to the bookshelf on the back wall. He ran his fingers over the spines of several very old books until he found the one he was searching for. A leather bound tome that was nearly falling apart. The spine cracked when he opened it.

He flipped to the middle of the book and his eyes scanned the text, stopping at the words, "For Trauma." It was a complicated potion even for Snape who hadn't even tried to brew it since he was in school himself. The outcome had nearly been as disastrous as the time he'd blown up half the kitchen. And it might have been if Albus hadn't shown up when he did.

The idea was that the potion would repress specific traumatic memories. The drinker would still know what had happened, but wouldn't be able to recall the memory in detail.

Snape could practically hear Remus telling him what a bad idea it was. Suppressing the memories wouldn't make them go away. Not really. It would just mean that Harry would have to deal with them later.

With a frustrated sigh, Snape snapped the book shut and replaced it on the shelf. That wasn't a solution. Harry needed to work through this. And he was making progress with Remus. Snape hadn't expected the nightmares to go away immediately, but he supposed that Harry had.

Guilt was churning in his stomach. He should have talked to him more. He should have explained things better— made him understand that it wasn't an instant fix.

He would have to do better.

He could do better. They just had to get through this part first.

Snape left the lab and went outside to find Harry. He had no idea what he was going to say or how he was going to handle this, assuming Sirius was right in the first place, but he knew he had to start with asking Harry about it.

"Harry," he called as he watched both boys flying above his head.

Harry turned on his broom to look at Snape before waving.

"Come down here," Snape shouted, motioning with his hands for Harry to land. "Draco," Snape called, this time gaining the blonde boys attention. When Draco looked down at him, Snape pointed to his watch. "Lunch in twenty minutes."

Draco nodded, and when Harry touched down on the grass beside Snape, they both turned and went back inside the Manor.

"Your Godfather was here a bit ago," Snape said casually.

Harry paused as he let his broomstick lean against the wall. "Oh, yeah?" he said after a few seconds. "What did he want?"

Instead of answering, Snape took a seat in his armchair and crossed one ankle over the other knee. "Is there anything you want to tell me, Harry?" he asked. "Anything at all?"

Snape could see the way that Harry's eyes shifted up toward the ceiling before he swallowed hard and shook his head.

"No, sir," he said, calmly.

In that moment, Snape knew that Harry was lying and his heart broke a little.

"Are you sure?" he asked again. "Harry, if there's something going on, I'd much rather you just tell me the truth. You don't have to—"

"I don't have anything to say," Harry cut in.

They watched each other for a long moment before Snape sighed and pulled out his wand. "Accio Sirius Black's potions."

The seconds ticked slowly by until at last a small vial flew through the room and landed in Snape's outstretched hand.

Harry closed his eyes and let out a small sigh.

"Sit down," Snape said quietly. "Why did you lie to me?"

Harry did as he was told, dropping down heavily into the couch and letting his head lean against the back, but he didn't answer.

"Harry?" Snape's tone was deathly calm. He spoke in the same way he did in class; in that slow way that got the attention of his students.

It got Harry's attention now.

"I don't know," he said without looking at Snape.

"Yes, you do, young man. I gave you the opportunity to tell me the truth and even though you knew that I would find out anyway, you still lied. Why?"

Harry dragged his hand down his face in frustration. "Because you would know that I'd stolen them," he snapped. "I didn't think you'd accio it down here."

Snape huffed. "Setting that aside, you did steal the potion from Black? Even after I told you that Dreamless Sleep was a highly addictive potion, you went looking for a way to get it anyway?"

"I had to," Harry defended, straightening up and looking at Snape. "I had to make the nightmares stop and you wouldn't have given it to me."

"Because it's not safe to take this every night," Snape shot back, holding up the potion. "How many of these did you steal?"

"Only four," he said softly. "I've only taken three."

"You took one vial each night for the last three nights?"

"Yes, so you don't have to worry about me being addicted or anything. It's fine."

Snape grit his teeth before he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Except that each of these vials holds two doses. For three nights, you have taken double the amount meant for a grown man."

For the first time Harry looked taken aback. "I-I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't, because once again, you did not come to me."

Snape abruptly stood up and paced the length of the living room while Harry remained seated on the couch.

"I know what it's like," Snape said, turning to face him after a moment, "to be plagued every night with nightmares. I know how it feels to be so desperate for them to stop, that you would be willing to try anything. Believe me, I've tried them. But this," he held up the vial for Harry to see, "is not the answer. This is an occasional relief. It's temporary at best and the more you use it, the less effective it becomes. That's why I think it's so important that you continue talking about these things—"

"But I've been talking to Uncle Remus and the nightmares haven't stopped!" Harry burst out.

"It's not instant, Harry," Snape said, doing his best to keep calm even though Harry had just yelled at him. "I know you likely thought it would be but it's not. It takes time. But taking potions like this will not speed up the process. That's why I wanted to know when you had one. So that I could be there for you in the moment, but you—" Snape paused, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Harry. "How did you keep me from hearing them?"

Harry turned his head away and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Harry James, answer me this instant. I've heard every nightmare you've had since coming to live with me until the last few weeks. What changed?"

Harry pulled his feet up onto the couch and wrapped his arms around his knees. "I've been putting up silencing spells around my room," he mumbled.

"That's a fifth year spell," Snape said with a frown.

Harry shrugged, still staring at his knees. "It wasn't hard to learn. I only messed up once when I forgot to get the bathroom door and Draco heard."

"Draco knew?"

Harry seemed to realize what he'd said because he glanced up then. "I told him not to tell you and that I was fine. Don't be mad at him."

Snape felt his anger and frustration simmer out and he sighed before retaking his seat. "I'm not mad at either of you," he said softly. "I am however, very disappointed in you, Son. Between the stealing, the lying, doing spells without permission during the summer—"

"You've let me before," Harry cut in.

"This was different and you know it." Snape tapped the arm of his chair a few times before coming to a decision. "I need a bit of time to decide how to handle this," he said calmly. Before Harry could protest, he went on, "For now, it's time for lunch and afterwards, I want you to spend the rest of the day in your room."

"Dad, that's not—"

"I know that it's not what you want to hear, but I need to put some thought into this. I don't want to feel like I'm punishing you unfairly, but you've broken a few rules here even though you felt like you had a good reason."

With a sigh, Harry nodded, dropping his head to his knees once more.

"Evelyn and I were going to go out tonight, but in light of everything, I'm going to cancel that—"

"No!" Harry interrupted again. "Don't do that. Not because of me. Please, Dad, just go. I'll be fine."

Snape shook his head but Harry let his legs drop back to the floor and stood.

"I'll stay in my room and you can even get Remus to babysit if you're that worried."

Snape considered Harry's words. He and Evelyn did have reservations at the restaurant, but he didn't know how he felt about leaving Harry knowing that this was all unresolved between them.

He sighed. "I'll see if Remus is free, but if not I'm canceling and you won't argue about it. Now, go call Draco for lunch."

Harry didn't say anything before turning and leaving Snape alone in the room.

Snape straightened his tie as he stepped into the parlor where Remus and Draco were waiting.

"Dress robes," Remus said, his eyebrows raising into his hairline as he took in Snape's midnight black robes. "You must be taking Evelyn somewhere particularly fancy tonight."

"Sorcellerie," Snape answered much to Remus and Draco's bewilderment. Chez Sorcellerie was a wizarding restaurant in Paris with a breathtaking view of the city below. The restaurant is hidden from muggles in the same way that Hogwarts is. It is also only accessible by apparition and only ever with a reservation.

"Sorcellerie?" Draco said, sitting up so suddenly that Rook who had been asleep at his feet, lifted his head to look up at him. "In Paris? How in Merlin's name did you get a reservation there?"

Snape smirked before adjusting the sleeves of his shirt. "Lucius Malfoy is not the only one with connections, you know." Before either of them could say anything else, Snape went on, "Alright, I've got to go, or we'll be late. Our reservation is at seven and I shouldn't be home too late." Snape walked a few steps toward the door before turning back. "What am I doing? Harry needs me here right now, and I'm going to leave to go on a date?"

Remus stood and quickly crossed the room. He put his hands on Snape's shoulders and forcibly turned him around. "Yes, you are," he said. "Harry is fine. I'm here and I will take care of things. You'll only be gone a few hours and if you miss this reservation, you will never get another one."

They made it to the front door before Snape pivoted so that he was facing Remus once more. "I should go talk to him."

Remus shook his head. "He's not going anywhere. We're going to have dinner and so are you. I will go up and talk to Harry in a bit. Everything is going to be fine, Sev."

Snape glanced up the staircase one more time before taking a deep breath and slowly nodding. "You're right. I don't know why I feel so out of sorts about this. He's fourteen, Remus. Just now fourteen. He shouldn't be taking sleeping potions."

"No, he shouldn't. But let's just be glad that we know now and not weeks down the road. Harry is going to be fine. And if you spend this whole evening worrying about him instead of enjoying your time with Evelyn, I'll personally kick your arse when you get back. Remember, term starts in less than six weeks and then the two of you will be seeing a lot less of each other."

Snape's brows furrowed at that. Six weeks? That was all?

Before he could think much further on it, Remus opened the front door and practically shoved him out before closing it behind him.

Harry sat alone in his room later that night. Remus had tried to coax him into talking to him several times, but Harry hadn't felt up to it. He was feeling sorry for himself and wanted to wallow.

He couldn't believe he had been so stupid. He regretted ever stealing the potions in the first place, but more than that, he hated that he had lied right to Snape's face.

Why had he done that? He'd clearly already been caught and Harry knew from personal experience that lying always made things worse.

He mentally listed his crimes.

One. Lying about the nightmares. Harry wasn't sure that one should count. Snape hadn't ever actually said that he wanted to be told if Harry had a nightmare. But he had been there for every one before Harry started hiding them. And he'd told him plenty of times to come to him when he was upset. But this was different. Harry was fourteen. He should be able to handle them on his own.

Two. Stealing the potions. That one definitely counted. No matter how Harry tried to spin it— and he'd tried a lot— nothing made stealing acceptable and Harry knew that. But then to actually take the potions. He'd be lucky if Snape didn't chop him up into tiny pieces just for that.

Three. The Silencing Spells. Harry figured that one deserved a pass as well. Snape had let him do magic outside of school before. He remembered Christmas last year when Snape practically begged him to use Leviosa to put the star on top of the tree. It didn't seem fair for that rule to only count when Snape wanted it to.

Four. Lying when Snape asked him directly if there was anything that Harry wanted to tell him.

Harry groaned and dropped down onto his back. He pulled the pillow over his head to muffle his scream of frustration. He was so tired of being in trouble.

After this he was done. No more trouble for Harry Potter-Snape. He was going to go back to Hogwarts and be a model student. He'd study so hard that it would put Hermione to shame. Well, maybe not, but he was serious about the trouble part.

That was if Snape ever let him off restriction in the first place.

As if thinking of Snape made him magically appear, Harry heard him knock at the door.

"Yes," he said softly, knowing that Snape's bat ears would hear him through the door even though his voice was still muffled by the pillow.

Snape opened the door and stepped inside. "Smothering yourself won't get you out of talking to me," he said mildly.

Harry pulled the pillow away from his face and glared at Snape. "Would anything?"

Snape smirked as he pulled out Harry's desk chair and sat down. "No."

Harry sat up and leaned against the headboard to wait for Snape to start the conversation, but when he only watched him as if he were the one waiting, Harry took it as his cue to lead.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely.

Snape arched a single eyebrow. "For what?"

Harry narrowed his eyes. "You know what for. I—" He paused to let his head drop back against the headboard so that he could stare up at the ceiling. Getting frustrated now wasn't going to help anything.

"I shouldn't have stolen Sirius's potions," he said finally, looking back up at him. "I shouldn't have hidden my nightmares from you, and I shouldn't have lied about it all." Harry took a long breath. He licked his lips and ran a hand through his dark, messy hair. "I shouldn't have taken the potions. Especially when I didn't know how much to take. I was tired of having the nightmares and I wanted them to go away. I wanted to be able to handle things on my own so instead of coming to you like I know I should have, I found a way that I thought would help."

"Tell me why you thought it would help," Snape said.

"Because I thought that if talking to Uncle Remus would help them stop happening, then I could just take the Dreamless Sleep for a few nights and by the time I was out of the potion, the therapy would have worked and they would be cured." Harry twisted the edge of his blanket around his fingers tightly. "I didn't think it would be like this. Honest, Dad, I just thought it would speed things up, you know? Or at least it would make it easier to deal with until they were gone completely. It wasn't like I wanted to get dependent on it. I'm not an idiot."

Snape sighed. "I didn't say you were. But part of having a parent is being able to come to them when you have problems. I feel like once again we are dealing with trust here, Harry. If you can't trust me with things like this, how will you trust me with worse situations? Should I just expect that you're hiding things from me all the time?"

"No," Harry said quickly. "I do trust you. I know I keep saying that, but I do. I just… I don't know how to…" He trailed off, shaking his head when he couldn't come up with the right words.

"You don't know how to ask for help," Snape finished for him. "You don't know how to come to me." Harry didn't answer and Snape went on. "I get it, Harry. I really do. For twelve years you didn't have anyone that you could go to. You had no one but yourself to rely on. You had to make all the decisions and you had to figure everything out on your own." Snape paused to let that sink in before he said, "But that's not how it is anymore. Now, I'm the parent, and you're going to have to learn to let me in. To let me be the one to take care of you. I know it's hard, but I promise you that we'll get through this."

Harry didn't know what to say. He wanted all of those things, and it sounded so easy when Snape said it, but Harry didn't know how to make it happen. He didn't know how to just let Snape handle the hard stuff. "How?" he asked.

Snape nearly smiled as he leaned forward to let his elbows rest on his knees. "Well, for starters, I want to know when you have a nightmare. No more silencing spells. If I don't hear you, I want you to call out to me. Or even simply speak Jenka's name if that's all you can manage to get out. She'll know and she'll get me."

Harry nodded. He didn't like it but it wasn't unexpected either.

He sighed. "I guess I'm in a lot of trouble, huh?"

Snape nodded. "A fair bit, yeah."

Harry only looked at him expectantly and Snape went on, "You're grounded for a month for stealing and lying."

Instantly, Harry's shoulders dropped. "But the Cup is—"

Snape held up a hand to stop his protest. "I'm going to allow you to go to the Cup, but you had better be on your best behavior, young man."

Harry nodded. He had been so sure that Snape wouldn't let him go after this but he was willing to do anything if it meant he still got to see the match. "I will," he said.

"You are going to apologize to your godfather for stealing his potions and you're going to help me in the lab while I make replacements for him."

Harry didn't miss the way that Snape said, 'help,' and he instantly knew that it would most likely involve him doing some awful task while Snape did the actual brewing.

"Furthermore, you are going to have scheduled appointments with Remus for therapy each week and I will not listen to even a moment of arguing about it."

Again, Harry thought that was expected. "Yes, sir," he agreed.

Snape nodded. "Alright, well then I think it's about time you went to bed. It's pretty late."

He stood up but Harry said, "Wait, that's it?"

"Should there be more?" Snape asked as he pushed the chair back under the desk.

"I dunno," Harry said, "I just thought that after everything I'd be grounded into the school year. And you didn't even mention anything about taking the potions."

Snape frowned. "Yes, well, I think that the after effects of the potion are likely enough of a consequence in itself. It was only six doses in three days, so I doubt it will be too terrible, but it still won't be pleasant. I should think at most it will be a bit of insomnia, which you will unfortunately just have to muddle through because giving you anything for it would only make things worse. You might feel a bit agitated and your skin might feel itchy. I do have a soothing balm that will help with that, should you need it."

Harry didn't like the sound of any of that, but he nodded anyway. "Good night."

Snape stepped toward the bed and leaned down to drop a kiss to the top of Harry's head. "Good night, son. I love you."

Harry burrowed under the covers, then took his glasses off, placing them in Snape's outstretched hand. "Love you, too."