Hyper9: Thank you! Im glad you're enjoying this new one and the old.

A/N: Please R&R

Chapter 8:

Hermione groaned loudly as she scrunched up a piece of parchment in her hand. She had been called in today after she got home from Laura's to go over a proposal that was to be passed soon regarding the rights of werewolves. She had been working hard on it for the past two years and it was about to go up to the Wizengamot for consideration, but it had been delayed again.

Some of the members felt that it needed a redraft and more specifications on what will and will not be made law. This confused Hermione as they didn't offer any further notes and it frustrated her to no end. What part of "equal rights" were they not understanding in the proposal.

Hermione sighed as she sat at her desk, staring at a little snow globe Ron had gotten her for Christmas. It was a Muggle one which surprised her the most when she opened it up. It was of London, Big Ben to be exact and there were little white puffballs and glitter which was supposed to simulate snow. She loved it dearly and she sometimes found herself winding the key at the bottom to hear it tinkle out "London Bridge is Falling Down" to ease her frazzled mind.

She was startled out of her momentary peace from the snow globe by a loud bang on the door. Hermione jumped at the sound before looking up at it, annoyed. With a wave of her wand the door opened revealing the one behind it. Her expression softened at the sight of her associate and friend, Miri walking in with her arms loaded down with books.

"Gracious, what is all this for?" Hermione asked her. She stood up and grabbed a few from the top and put it down on the desk. Miri muttered a thanks and stumbled over the rest of the way to toss the remaining on her own desk.

"It's for the Werewolf rights proposal. If they want more on it then damn it I'm going to give them all I can!" She stated. She flopped down in her chair behind her desk and grabbed a pad of paper and quill, reaching for the first book on the stack.

Hermione absolutely adored Miri. She had the same passion and sense of what's right and wrong as Hermione did. She worked just as hard and was just as knowledgeable. The first thing Hermione had brought up once she joined the "Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures" was S.P.E.W. Miri jumped in right away and stated she agreed.

They had spent four years working up proposals and lobbying to get laws passed to free the House Elves. Though in the end they weren't granted freedom. Instead, laws were passed that gave the Elves certain rights and created a committee of oversight for them to prevent further abuse and mishandling of them. But the House Elves were still considered slaves. Just slaves with benefits, which sounded strange, and still completely wrong to Hermione. She had been very disappointed and still felt like she had failed.

However, their department head considered it a success and deemed that it was time for the pair to move on to another avenue. It infuriated her to no end, and a drunken night out at a bar with Miri, Ron, and Ginny had made her dedicated to keeping up with it on the sidelines. That she would not give up until she got the Dobby Law passed and all Elves were free.

Hermione walked over to Miri's desk and grabbed a book from the pile and flipped through it as Miri scratched quickly on her parchment taking notes.

"Sometimes I feel like we're not getting anywhere you know." Hermione sighed. Miri stopped writing for a moment and looked up in confusion.

"What do you mean? We've done loads. We have oversight for Elves, we have more protected land for Centaurs, we have protected lakes for merpeople. And soon we will have equal rights for Werewolves." She argued.

Hermione sighed and put the book back down on Miri's desk before walking over to her own. Not even bothering to straighten her desk she just grabbed her jacket and purse getting ready to leave.

"Wrong. We won't have equal rights; they'll have SOME rights. They will hopefully be better off than they are now but they will still be treated as some diseased thing that is unworthy of having a decent life compared to every other witch or wizard." She zipped her jacket up and grabbed her wand from her desk.

"It may not be perfect, but they'll have a somewhat better chance." Hermione turned back to her, Miri stood up as well to stare down her friend. "It's a small step but it's gotta start somewhere damn it. Don't give up." Hermione shook her head sadly at her. She wished she could feel the same way, but she was seriously starting to feel disheartened.

"Hermione…." Miri tried to start again but couldn't think of what to say and just shook her head sadly at her friend. "Why don't you take a few days off and relax. You just moved, enjoy your new house and Ron. You're just stressed. Do some light reading and come back next Thursday. You'll have a better perspective." And with that she sat back down and went back to her notes.

Not thinking of what else to say she turned back to leave and closed the door behind her. Perhaps her friend was right. Maybe she was just a bit stressed from the move, but she doubted that it was. She knew it was Harry. Finding Harry had put her out of sorts. Everything was up in the air suddenly and her world had once again changed. She and Ron had this huge secret that they were keeping while fighting the never-ending panic of him disappearing again.

Hermione walked through the Ministry towards the apparition points so that she could apparate home, suddenly feeling a need to see Ron. She missed him greatly. He had been gone for 4 days previously and then of course Harry on the weekend. Even Sunday when they were together with nothing planned it still felt like they were separate, working on their own things, lost in their own thoughts. She wanted to see him and spend time with him and remind him of course that she loved him.

She was sorely disappointed when she came home however to see the note on the fridge that he had gone for a walk. She figured he probably went to his brother's house and considered going over as well but decided against it. She certainly wasn't in any mood to handle children, or happy people in general.

She looked down at her watch and noted the time as 7:30. She wondered if she should cook dinner or if he was eating over at Bill's house. Deciding no point in actually cooking tonight, and that if they were hungry later, they could go out, she just went to the living room and picked up the book she was reading off the table and lounged on the couch to read it.

She was startled awake by the feel of a hand wiping a piece of hair over her forehead. She blearily looked up and looked into the blue eyes of Ron. She smiled sleepily at him.

"Hey, you, I must have fallen asleep. What time is it?" She asked him looking around. It was dark in the house except for the lamp next to the couch she had turned on to read better. He smiled down at her then looked at the clock on the wall.

"About 10:30. Why didn't you just go to sleep?" He asked her as she sat up, stretching a bit.

"Well, I didn't mean to fall asleep. I was waiting for you. Did you go over to Bills?" Ron looked away thinking. She watched Ron pause as he sat next to her.

"I meant to, but I ended up at Harry's instead." Hermione raised her eyebrow in surprise.

"Oh? And how was it?" she asked. She wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him till he told her everything and gossip like a girl. But decided a curious approach would be a better option. And slightly more mature.

Ron shrugged and started picking at the lint on his sweatshirt.

"It was fine. Had fruit punch, cookies, all that." He stated. Hermione rolled her eyes at him. She wondered occasionally if he did this dense act on purpose or if he really was this, well, dense. Obviously, she wanted more than that.

"And…...?" She prompted. She sat up full and turned her body towards him sitting Indian style on the couch. Ron looked at her confused.

"And…. what?"

"What did you two talk about?" She scooted closer to him. He sat up a bit straighter in his spot.

"Aren't you a nosy little gossiper?" he teased her. He knew how much she hated being a gossip, and how she sometimes couldn't fight it when something really juicy came around. She gave him a death glare as he reached out for her and brought her to him. He squeezed her tightly and kissed the top of her head.

"Don't keep me waiting Ronald. Tell me everything!" She was becoming impatient now, she pulled away from him enough to look up at him.

"Seriously Mione, chill. We didn't talk about much. I mainly did a lot of the talking. Answered all his questions about the family. Talked about Quidditch. I told him all about Dobby's Law." He smiled at her delight that showed on her face. "He was quite proud of you for that. Even though they aren't free, he's proud." She nodded, taking a deep breath. She had hoped he would be.

"How'd he take talking about Ginny?" She asked curiously. You couldn't avoid talking about Ginny when speaking of the family, especially when talking about Quidditch. Ron looked decidedly uncomfortable at the mention of his sister. "What happened?"

"Well, we didn't really talk about her so much. Aside from telling him of course she's with the Harpies, we kind of skipped over her." He admitted. Hermione was confused.

"Why?"

"I don't know, it was awkward."

"For you or him?" She asked, annoyed. She wanted to gauge what happened to determine if it would be a good idea to wait or not to press the matter of him seeing the others.

"For both of us Hermione. '' He separated from her and got off the couch. He headed towards the kitchen to get a drink. Hermione was right on his heels.

"What do you mean? Did he not want to know about her? How she's been for eight years?" Her voice was rising, a sign to Ron that no matter what he said or didn't say an argument was about to happen.

"Of course, he did, but I couldn't very well tell him anything."

"Well why the hell not!" She shouted. Ron rolled her eyes.

"What the hell am I going to tell him? That she's still broken up over his departure even though it's been years? That she hasn't really dated anyone else in all that time? That she really has no life outside of family and quidditch? Tell me, how well do you think that will go over?" He spat out at her. He slammed his drink on the counter and turned around to lean against it and look out the window. He waited for Hermione to voice what she was thinking. To tell him what he did wrong. To tell him what he should have said.

After a few moments of nothing he turned back around to look at her. He couldn't really see her in the dark but could see her arms wrapped around herself and could hear the silent sniffling of her trying to hide that she was crying. He reached over to the left to flip on the kitchen light switch, blinking at the sudden light as he watched Hermione, his arms itching to wrap around her and comfort her. But he resisted, his heart feeling heavy.

"And what am I going to tell Ginny?" He asked her, his voice soft and quiet as if afraid to be heard. Hermione looked over at him in slight confusion. Ron shook his head, a derisive chuckle escaping him. "No matter how long you are in the wizarding world Hermione, and how smart you are, sometimes I feel that you will never fully understand things about it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She bit out through angry tears.

"Just that you always think like a Muggle. You want everything to be like the Muggles. Well, you know what, we aren't Muggles" He shouted at her. More tears leaked angrily out of Hermione's eyes. She was confused, why was he yelling at her like this.

"What did I do? Why are you being such an arse!" She shouted back at him.

"Nothing, you didn't do anything." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. He felt bad for raising his voice to her. She really didn't do anything wrong; his emotions were just all over the place lately. He knew he shouldn't take it out on Hermione, and he had immediately felt bad for doing so.

They stood in silence for several moments, each just staring at the other. All Ron wanted to do was go upstairs and take a shower before crawling into bed. He wanted to pull her close to him and just fall asleep to her soft breaths and not have anything to worry about. He didn't want to think about Ginny and the rest of his family and their possible reactions to Harry. But he knew the time was coming and as much as he didn't want to think about it, he knew he had to.

"I mean how do I tell Ginny that Harry's moved on? He has a child, Hermione. He's unmarried and has a kid. That doesn't happen in the wizarding world. It's like a major black shame on the person." He explained to her.

"Well, that's stupid and archaic. And what's that have to do with Ginny?" He took another deep breath, annoyed that she wasn't getting it.

"Not only will Ginny be heartbroken that Harry moved on, but think how it will be reflected on her? She was dropped by Harry only for him to move on and have a bastard child."

"DON'T!" Hermione shouted at him. "Don't call Evelyn that. She is a sweet child. And so, what? It's been eight years. And what if Ginny and Harry get back together?"

Ron laughed wickedly at that comment, as if it was the funniest joke on the planet. Again, Hermione looked confused. After a few moments he calmed down enough to take a few gulping breaths. He wiped his fingers over his eyes, unsurprised to feel them wet. Though if they were tears of mirth, sadness, or frustration he couldn't tell you.

"I don't understand," She admitted, sounding defeated. She sat down at the table. Ron looked at her sadly. He walked over to her and crouched on his knees in front of her grabbing her hands.

"Having a child out of wedlock, or if he was married and divorced, that's completely taboo in the wizarding world. We generally find our mates and we're together till death. Even what we are doing is kinda considered wrong, but still more acceptable."

"What do you mean by what we are doing?" she asked, interrupting him. He placed a kiss on her hand.

"Living together. Sharing a bed. It's slightly more acceptable because we are engaged, especially for how long we have been. Even if we were to have a child right now before we were married, it would still be mostly acceptable. But if Ginny and Harry got back together." He paused for a moment, looking down at her hands.

"What? What would happen? They'd be happy, and in love. And they could finally start their lives together." She pressed. Ron looked up at her.

"And Ginny would take on all the shame of Harry's illegitimate child. Even though she will undoubtedly love Evelyn as her own, she would still be considered a harlot woman. She would be an outcast of sorts for society. Always on the gossip pages, treated as mud."

"She would get that anyway for being with Harry. Even now he's the biggest thing since sliced bread still." She argued. Ron barked out a laugh at that. It was true though. Anybody with Harry would be in the tabloids frequently, which made him worry for his sister even more.

"And think of Evelyn. She'd be treated as a leper. She wouldn't get the same impunities; she'd be treated as unwanted dirt. As well as any other children Harry has will be treated the same. Do you really want that for them?" They sat there in silence for a few moments, each thinking of their friend Harry.

"You sound like you don't want him to come back to the Wizarding world." She whispered.

"Maybe it's for the best, if he decides not to. As he's told us, he has a life here. Maybe we should let him live it." He stood up from in front of her and sat in the chair next to her. Hermione turned quickly to face him.

"Are you suggesting that we just leave Harry be? Pretend we never found him so he can move on and not be subjected to the stupid prejudice of the wizarding world?" She demanded, angry yet again. But Ron didn't rise to it. He suddenly seemed very tired. He reached over for her hand again, always enjoying the feel of her soft skin on his.

"Never." He said simply. "I'm never letting him go ever again."

They sat in silence for a few more moments before Ron stood up and tugged her hand and led her up to bed.

Author's note: I know nothing about what is required for his field of study. I'm just making it up as I go.

It was raining again. Big surprise though considering it was England, but that didn't mean that Harry had to accept it willingly. He'd had a decidedly bad day today and he didn't think it was going to get any better. He quickly exited his car, grabbed his backpack, and ran up the stone stairs to the building he was supposed to have been in 10 minutes ago.

Being Thursday, he had a class tonight, and was running kind of late as it was with trying to get Evelyn out of the house and to Laura's, only to get stuck behind an accident. He considered it lucky that he was only 10 minutes late, but it still aggravated him to no end.

"Thank you for joining us this evening, Mr. Potter." His teacher, a very nasty teacher by the name of Helia Cruz said as he quickly entered the classroom.

"Sorry for being late" He apologized. She just gave him a sneer and continued on with her lecture. Not for the first time since he signed up for this class, which was on the developmental aspects of abuse on a young child, he wondered how a woman like that had gotten to teach a class like this.

He sat there for over an hour taking notes and highlighting passages in his textbook as the lecture continued. They were going to be breaking up into groups after the break and to begin on a major project that would continue till the end of July and determine if they are eligible to continue on to their last year of their degree.

Harry sighed in relief as Ms. Cruz set them free for half an hour for a lunch break. He packed up his books and notepads and went to the small dining area near the classroom to try to snag the last burrito from the vending machine. In his rush to get Evelyn to Laura's he hadn't been able to grab anything to eat and his stomach rumbled with hunger. With a satisfied grin he paid for the burrito and stuffed it into the microwave on high and waited for it to cook.

"So, what's your excuse this time?" His friend, Tess, asked him, startling him. She sat down at a table near the microwave where he stood nuking his snack. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he watched it go round and round.

"Same thing as always" He stated. She chuckled as she popped some M&M's in her mouth.

"That Evelyn girl. Were you ever on time before she was hatched?" She asked. It was a running joke between him and Tess that she believed, due to the lack of information Harry didn't give on Evelyn's mother, that she was in fact found under a rock and hatched by Harry.

"Not by much. I had a tendency to get lost or get into some kind of trouble." The microwave dinged then, and he grabbed the burrito from it and sat down. They ate in silence for a few minutes.

"So, this project, it's going to be a complete nightmare" she said, He nodded in agreement and pulled the packet of information out of his folder.

They were given information on 5 children with various backgrounds. They were to research each child, determine the extent of their situation and come up with various outcomes to change in the Child's situation such as environment, education therapy etc. In the end they had to write a report on each child and then present it all in a presentation sometime in July with their group. They were to work in groups of 4.

It was going to be a very long project which caused Harry to worry. He was already spread so thin with work and Evelyn as well as two other classes. Adding his other commitments along with Ron and Hermione coming back into his life, he wasn't quite sure how he was going to manage. He felt weary and tired, something he was very familiar with but was at least glad it was in a different way than he had known before.

"So, what are you doing this weekend? I thought maybe we could get the other two and join up at the library for a study session or something. Maybe the two of us can grab a coffee?" Tess asked. He looked up from his paper. She had a hopeful look on her face.

Harry groaned inwardly. She was a really good friend and all, but he knew she had a major crush on him. He had known that for a while. They've been in most of the same classes for at least 2 years now, being as they were both going for the bachelors. He only liked her as a friend though. She was great to talk to, offered great advice and was great with kids. He knew that whatever she did with her degree she would be great at.

However, he had made a big mistake last year after finals. He went out drinking with a bunch of classmates and had gotten a little more drunk than he had anticipated and ended up sleeping with her. It was very awkward afterwards. Harry had worked extremely hard after that on their friendship. He didn't want to lose her as a friend. She had laughed it off as a one night stand, friends with benefits thing but he could tell she was hurt, and he felt bad for causing it.

Harry sighed and looked up to her hopeful face, feeling guilty. It was a familiar feeling when it involved women. He wasn't celibate by any means, he enjoyed going out and having a good time with women. Over the years he had had several relationships, but none of them lasted long. He found it difficult to juggle having a satisfying relationship with raising a young child on his own. Evelyn would always come first to him and so most of his relationships had ended amicably after either a couple dates or a romp in the bedroom.

Afterwards he would always hate himself for a little while as he poured all his energy into raising his daughter and not thinking of the pain in his chest that occurred at feeling he betrayed Ginny. Though he fully believed that he lost his chance with Ginny and had hoped beyond anything that she had found happiness with someone, he couldn't deny his heart still belonged to her and each person he slept with was a betrayal.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing yet. I think I somehow made plans with an old friend this weekend." He admitted shaking his attention back to his friend. She looked surprised at that.

Harry tried to ignore her bewildered stare at his proclamation as he glanced back down at his paper. He knew he had a reputation for being a nice guy and most people he found did like him, but he also knew that he had a reputation for keeping everyone at a distance. He didn't like being close to people. It was something that had been ingrained in him long ago, long before he even went to Hogwarts. You can't trust people. You can't let them in. They will either get hurt or they will hurt you. Not even Ron and Hermione had escaped that. He did trust them, but they got hurt because of him.

"What friends would this be? " She asked curiously. Harry glanced at his watch and started packing everything up again as class would start in a few minutes.

"Just some friends from my old school." He stood up, throwing the remainder of his lunch in the trash.

"Oh...Tell me more, Can I meet them?" She was practically begging. He couldn't help but laugh at her antics as they walked back to class.

"We'll see. Now get in before Ms. Cruz decides to kill us for being late."

Class after that seemed extra long for some reason. They broke into groups for the last half hour of class, Harry being paired with Tess of course, but was also joined by Adam and Nera. They discussed some kind of plan of attack and a basic outline for the project before they were dismissed for the evening.

Harry was pleased to see it had stopped raining by the time he got out. It was past 9:30 pm and he didn't relish the idea of attempting to get Evelyn in the car when it was raining at night.

As he drove towards Laura's house Harry thought of his daughter. It had been increasingly difficult to do anything without her. Evelyn had been having a hard time being separated from him. He had thought that once she had started school, even part time in preschool it would get a tad easier, but it just seems as if she misses him more. He was worried about how Ron and Hermione's presence would affect her. His daughter seemed to like them, but she did seem more attached to him the past week.

Harry turned one last corner before stopping his car in front of his friend's house and just sat there for a moment thinking. He enjoyed these few minutes of solitude he was granted during his drive to and from school. Sometimes it was the only time he really had to himself. But taking a deep breath he turned off the car and got out, walking up to the front door of his friend Laura's house, pausing a moment before knocking on it. He heard little feet running to the door and groaned inwardly knowing it was Evelyn still awake. He'd have a hard time getting her to sleep tonight.

The door opened slightly but just enough for a little girl to slip through and jump on him. She started crying immediately, sobbing "daddy" between breaths. He looked over at Laura as she leaned against the doorframe with a sad smile on her face. He ran his hand over her back soothingly, making shhhing noises at her and trying to calm her.

"She's been asking when you'll get here for at least an hour." Laura said. She reached her hand out to brush some hair out of Evelyn's eyes.

"She's been crazy clingy this week." He told his friend. He started rocking her gently. His arms were getting kinda tired. She wasn't as light as she used to be. He slowly headed towards the car with Laura following close behind.

"She's probably feeling a bit insecure, Harry." He looked over at her confusedly as he opened the car door. "Your new friends Harry. Or should I say Old? It's kinda my fault." She clarified.

"How is it your fault?"

"Cause if I hadn't had to leave her with Hermione, she'd have never known about you most likely." Harry stood up after buckling his daughter in and shut the door to look at Laura.

"I'm sorry Laura, I must be really out of it. I'm still not understanding why she's feeling insecure. I'm quite pleased to have my friends back. And quite frankly I'm quite pleased with their reactions. I figured I'd be hexed into the next county after they smothered me." He chuckled at himself but quickly stopped at the confused look at Laura. "Anyways…It's been barely a week." he tried to recover.

"Yeah, but obviously you've been preoccupied with them. She's sensing she must share you even more and she's feeling a bit insecure about it Harry. Just try to be patient." She reached out and gave his arm a little squeeze and then walked back to her house.

Harry peeked into the back window to see Evelyn sitting in her car seat slightly dozing much to his relief. Even though their house was just a couple blocks away, he had to carry her up to bed. His mind was preoccupied thinking of Laura's words as he dressed Evelyn for sleep with little resistance from the little girl and tucked her into bed.

He stayed there sitting on the side of her bed for a little bit watching her sleep. He loved watching her sleep. She always looked so peaceful; he wondered what it was she dreamt about. Sighing Harry looked around her room, looking at the various toys and such that was all round it.

The room itself was beautiful. Once he moved in 3 years ago, he painted it a lovely shade of light blue with clouds rolling in and out with rainbows sprouting. He had charmed it so on rainy days a little sun would creep up in a corner of the room and cause the rainbows on the wall to glitter and shine. She loved it.

He stood up to walk around the room and started picking up some various clothes that had ended up on the floor, and replace books on the shelf that she forgot to put away. After the room was tidy enough to his liking, he glanced back over at Evelyn.

The differences between their childhoods sometimes amazed him.

Harry tried as hard as he could to be a good father. It's part of why he chose the profession he did. He tried to give her everything she needed, and some of what she wanted without turning her into another Dudley. Even though in the end, Dudley changed and turned out alright, Harry didn't want her to be pampered.

He glanced around the room again. Remembering his own room when he was 4. He was In the cupboard under the stairs by that time. He had a couple broken soldiers to play with that he had stolen from Dudley's clutches, and a cot that, while small, was still too big for him.

He did chores by then too. A LOT of chores. By the time he was four he was washing all the dishes, doing most of the gardening, as well as many other tasks a four year old shouldn't have had to do. Harry made sure that Evelyn had some kind of happy childhood. And became even more determined after thinking about Laura's observation, that perhaps she was right. He should spend more time on her.

But mostly what he struck him the most about the differences in their childhoods, and the one thing he felt the most secure in, was that Evelyn was growing up being loved. He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel like a failure at times with his daughter, he's made many mistakes and knew more was on the way. But one thing he knew for certain was that Evelyn was loved. Not a day went by when he didn't tell her he loved her. It was the one thing he had wanted his entire childhood.

With that thought Harry looked once more at Evelyn, seeing her peaceful slumber, his heart twinging with the love he felt for her, he whispered a final good night and placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving the room. He left the door cracked open so she could see the light from the hall and then headed to his own room, feeling weary and tired.

Grabbing his pajamas, he had left on his bed that morning, Harry headed to the ensuite for his nightly ablutions. He placed them on the counter as he reached for his toothbrush to brush his teeth, grimacing at remembering that he hadn't had Evelyn brush hers before she went to sleep. It was too late now and a small thing, but Harry couldn't help but kick himself over it. It was just another thing that fell through the cracks as he tried to navigate his life.

After rinsing his mouth, he lifted his shirt to take it off, pausing as he caught himself in the mirror. He stared at the scars that littered his body, feeling numb at seeing them. Most of them he had obtained over the course of his years at Hogwarts, and the war. Those didn't bother him as much. It was as he lifted his left arm up to look at the long jagged scars on it that he felt slightly sick. Some like the ones on his arms were self-inflicted. Done to himself during the darkest time in his life.

Harry didn't like to think about it too much, on how close he had come, on more than one occasion, to ending his own life during the years following the war. He had resigned himself previously while hunting horcruxes with Ron and Hermione that death could happen, he could die, and in all honestly it was probably inevitable. It hadn't really ever affected him or really hit him. Even after he had, for all intents and purposes, died when Voldemort had hit him with the killing curse destroying the horcrux within Harry.

But the cuts on his arms, done by him, that is what affected him the most. It was a reminder of the mental pain he had been in at the time. The overwhelming feelings that had consumed him and he had just wanted it all to stop. Harry knew he could do something about them, get rid of them. He couldn't bring himself to do that though. If there were a chance that someone would see him without his shirt, he would just put a glamour on but for the most part he just wore long sleeves all the time. He wanted the reminder of the scars. Needed them really, to remember what he had lost, and what he could lose.

Sighing tiredly Harry dropped his arm and put on his night clothes, tossing his dirty clothes into the hamper in the corner of the bathroom, ignoring the reminder that he had laundry to do in the next couple days. He turned off the light and crawled into bed, covering himself up he just stared at the ceiling and waited for sleep to come. Hoping the next day would be better with less thoughts of his painful past.