"The Healing Salves are nearly ready. I think this weekend we can begin applying them to your arms."

Harry looked up at Severus' announcement. It was Friday evening at the close of the first week of classes and they were eating dinner---shepherd's pie, a fruit salad, and treacle tart for dessert.

He just stared at the professor for a minute, not sure how he felt about the news. At one time, it would have been music to his ears to hear that he would soon be well enough to return to Gryffindor Tower, but now...well, it would be hard to leave Severus' rooms. He hadn't even realized how much he'd come to enjoy being here, until now when his departure seemed imminent.

Harry couldn't help but wonder what would happen between Severus and himself once he wasn't living here anymore. Would they still be friends? Or would Severus slowly become more distant from him, the way Remus had? It would be easy for that to happen, wouldn't it, once they were caught up in the busyness of everyday life at Hogwarts? Even worse, would they somehow go back to being enemies?

And aside from his worries about that, there was another reason he didn't want to return to the Tower yet. He felt his face turn red just thinking about it and he looked down at his half-eaten food.

"Harry? You don't seem very happy."

He looked up to see Severus watching him intently and wondered how he could explain it all. Maybe if he started with the second reason...

"Well, it'll be great for my arms to be all right," he began. In spite of his concerns, his lips quirked as he added, "Be nice to finally be able to feed myself again. Oh, thanks for doing that, Severus. And for never being mean about it, even at the beginning."

Severus huffed. "It would have been extremely unfair to ridicule you for something that was completely beyond your control."

And it wasn't unfair to bully me all those years just because I look like my father? That's a little beyond my control, too. But Harry didn't want to think about the past. There was no point in letting that come between them now. Not after everything Severus had done for him and when they were getting along so well. He resolutely pushed those thoughts away.

"And I want to thank you for working so hard on the salves and all my potions, too," Harry smiled at him. "You saved my life. Again."

Now it was Severus' turn to look uncomfortable, as if he weren't used to being thanked. Nonetheless, he reached over and laid one hand over Harry's, saying quietly, "You're most welcome."

Then he gave Harry's hand a light squeeze. "But this doesn't explain why you seem troubled at the idea of the salves being ready."

Harry sighed, "It's just that I still have nightmares all the time, and you know how bad they are. Once my arms are well, I'll go back to Gryffindor, and I just kind of hate for the other guys to see me like that. If it were just Ron, or maybe even Neville.... I mean, I don't think Dean or Seamus would be horrible about it, but still..." His voice trailed off, and he looked away, feeling embarrassed for some reason.

Severus squeezed his hand again. "There's no reason to be upset, Harry. Anyone would have nightmares if they'd suffered half the things you have. I would hope your Gryffindor friends would understand that. Still, I can sympathize with your feelings."

He sat back in his chair and regarded Harry thoughtfully. "There are a couple of solutions. There are potions that repress nightmares and help a person to sleep."

Harry opened his mouth indignantly to demand why he hadn't been given them earlier, but Severus' next words halted him.

"However," Severus raised an eyebrow at him as if he knew exactly what Harry wanted to say. "None of them are designed for long-term use. The sleeping agent in them can be addictive, so these potions must be used sparingly."

"Oh," Harry sighed. "Not much use to me then."

"I'm afraid not," Severus agreed. "I would have given them to you long ago, Harry, if not for that."

Harry nodded, feeling a little guilty. He should have known that Severus had a reason for not offering the potions.

"Another possibility is for us to resume Occlumency lessons," Severus said slowly, gauging Harry's reaction.

"Occlumency? That would help with nightmares?" Harry asked doubtfully.

"I've found that it helps with mine."

"I thought it just kept other people from seeing into your mind," Harry said.

"That is the primary purpose. Repressing nightmares is an added bonus," Severus hesitated. "We could do better at it this time, don't you think, Harry?"

Harry looked into his eyes, at the warmth and concern there now, and said softly, "Yeah, we could."

They were quiet for a moment; then Harry spoke again. "But Severus, even if I can learn Occlumency, and I was rotten at it last year, so maybe I can't..."

Severus shook his head. "You can resist the Imperious Curse. With proper instruction, you should be able to learn to Occlude as well. It's my fault that you were ‘rotten at it last year', as you so eloquently put it. I'm very sorry."

"That's all over now," Harry replied. "But, anyway, even if I can learn Occlumency, it'll take a while, won't it?"

"Yes." Severus considered him, then said slowly, "If you would like, you may continue to sleep here until your nightmares cease."

"I could?" Harry tried not to sound too eager. "You wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not." Severus smiled. "Although if you're going to be here indefinitely, then it's high time you had your own room."

"My own room?" Harry repeated blankly.

"Well, you've been in my bedroom because I needed to keep a close watch over you, and my room connects to my office. But once your arms are healed, you'll be able to have a little more privacy. We'll make your room after we've eaten." Severus speared a bite of treacle tart with a fork and offered to Harry.

A short time later, Harry watched as Severus carefully spelled a new room into existence. It was next to Severus' and had doorways that led into both the living room and into the professor's own room. ("If you need me during the night, I can come more quickly if our rooms connect," Severus remarked.) A third door led to his own small bath.

The bedroom was not large, but it was cozy. An enchanted ‘window' gave the illusion of looking out over the lake, and Severus conjured a four-poster bed, a chest of drawers, a night table, and a desk, all made of gleaming mahogany wood.

He glanced over at Harry and gave a flick of his wand. An instant later, the bed was covered with a soft thick comforter, crimson with a pattern of tiny golden lions, and deep, fluffy pillows covered with crimson and gold striped shams. Velvety crimson drapes were tied back from the ‘window' with a silky golden rope, and a warm rug in Gryffindor colors covered the floor.

Severus turned to Harry. "Is this satisfactory?"

"It's wonderful," Harry whispered. Just like at his birthday party a few weeks ago, he was afraid he might cry from pure joy. His own room. He hadn't had one since he was a baby living with his parents. He didn't count the bedroom at the Dursleys. They had given it to him grudgingly, and it still felt as if it belonged to Dudley. Harry was only an unwelcome intruder who had to stay there for the summer.

But this room was really his. A sign that he was wanted here. Severus had even decorated it in Gryffindor colors for him. Happiness washed him, and Harry felt as if he might burst from it. He turned and flung his arms around Severus. "Thank you."

"Your arms, you foolish child!" But Severus hugged him back for an instant before stepping aside and examining Harry's arms, which fortunately, were not bleeding.

Harry had to spend the next little while in his room...lying on the bed, sitting at the desk, getting Severus to move his trunk from the other room to rest underneath the enchanted window, lying on the bed again.

But when Severus came to his door and asked dryly, "Are you ready for bed now, or would you like to play a game of chess?", he grinned and went back to the living room. They settled down on the sofa and Severus arranged the chessboard.

"You do realize, don't you, Harry, that it might also help to get over your nightmares if you talked about them?" Severus slid a piece across the board, without seeming to pay much attention to it. His black eyes were trained on Harry.

"I have told you about them," Harry said.

But Severus shook his head. "Only in the vaguest of terms. That they're about Voldemort and the Death Eaters, or sometimes about your godfather. I could guess that much on my own, you know."

Harry studied the chessboard as if the fate of the world hung on his next move. But when he'd finally ordered his knight into position, he looked up to find Severus still watching him, waiting patiently for a response.

He sighed. "Severus, you know how you said I could say if I didn't want to talk about something? I don't want to talk about my nightmares. Please?"

"Very well, then." Severus' voice was heavy, and Harry was surprised to see a flash of emotion in his eyes. Harry paused, realizing that he might have hurt the professor's feelings. He didn't want to do that, but it was so hard to talk about what had happened. Maybe he could tell just a little bit, though.

"It isn't that I don't trust you," he tried to explain. "It's just...hard to talk about. It brings it all back. Besides, you know what happened when the Death Eaters kidnapped me, and with Sirius. It just happens over again in my nightmares."

Severus laid a hand on his shoulder. "All right, Harry. I understand."

Harry tried to smile at him, and they played for another hour, talking only about the match. But when the clock chimed and Severus returned the board to its table, Harry remembered something that he and his friends had talked about that afternoon.

"Severus? I wanted to ask you something."

The professor just raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

"It's been great of you to let Ron and Hermione visit. I don't know what I would have done without them, so thanks a lot, really..."

"Harry, you do not have to thank me for every little thing," Severus gave him a weary look. "Skip ahead to the question, all right?"

"Well, I just wondered if maybe some of my other friends could visit, too? I'd like to see Neville and Luna, now that they're back at Hogwarts."

Severus gave him a look of mock horror. "Not Longbottom and Lovegood, Harry. Of all the students in the school.... Longbottom is sure to cause something to explode and Lovegood will try to turn my home into a sanctuary for Graphorns."

Harry grinned, but just said, "Please, Severus? I really want to see them."

"Oh, all right. But I'm holding you responsible for any damage they do."

"Can they come tomorrow?"

Severus nodded. "I suppose. Now, come on. It's getting late."

"Can I sleep in my room tonight?"

"I'll have to move my cot in there, too. You can't sleep alone until your arms are well."

Harry nodded and said brightly. "That's all right." He went over to Severus and the professor wrapped an arm around his shoulders as they headed for Harry's room to retire for the night.

***

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna all came down after lunch the next afternoon. Severus let them in and quickly escaped to his office, while Harry proudly showed them his new room.

"So you're going to be staying here a while still?" Ron asked as they trooped back to the living room and sat down on the sofa and various chairs. He looked disappointed. "I hoped you'd come back to the Tower soon. It's not the same without you there, Harry."

Harry bit his lip, wanting to explain to Ron, but not sure if he could open up that much in front of all the others. Maybe he should wait til it was just Ron and Hermione and him. But Ginny, Neville, and Luna cared about him, too. Enough that they'd risked their lives to help him last spring. He could trust them, Harry realized.

"Well, I'm going to go back to classes pretty soon, and I'll visit in the Tower sometimes. But I'm going to keep on staying here for a while." Harry took a deep breath. "See, I...have really bad nightmares, about...you know, everything that's happened. And I'd like to be over those before I move back."

Neville looked at him, concern written all over his kind, round face. "Harry, you could come on back. We'd all understand. Nobody would give you a hard time."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Dean and Seamus have been worried about you. They keep asking if you're doing all right, and when you're gonna be back."

Harry smiled at them. "Tell them thanks. It shouldn't be too much longer. But, I'm really glad to stay here. Severus has been great to me. I know it's hard to believe, but...."

"He's been different in class, too," Ginny remarked. "He hasn't even taken points from Gryffindor yet. Well, I have to take that back. He did take a few when Colin Creevy was tardy yesterday, but any professor would have done that."

"Yeah, I don't think he's taken any unfair points in our class, either," Hermione said.

Neville grinned. "Obviously, he's in a better mood now that I'm not in Potions class anymore."

"What classes are you taking?" Harry asked, changing the subject. He was happy to learn that Severus really was trying to change his teaching style and be more fair to the Gryffindors, but he also had a good idea that Severus could hear them. His office wasn't that far away, and the man had extremely sharp hearing.

"Oh, Herbology, of course," Neville answered. "Defense, Divination, Muggle Studies, and Charms. I got an E in Charms. McGonagall thought I should try for a N.E.W.T. in it." Neville looked a bit proud of himself.

"That's great, Neville," Harry told him, and the conversation turned to classwork and studies for a time. Ginny and Luna bemoaned the amount of work they had to do to prepare for O.W.L.S. while Ron comfortingly told them that it only got worse. The others kept Harry amused with tales of the feud between Trelawney and the centaur Firenze, and then the discussion turned to Defense and what a fantastic instructor Dumbledore was.

"You've got to get well and come back soon, Harry," Hermione told him. "You'll love Defense this year. We're learning so much. Of course we're all still struggling with nonverbal magic, but I still think we've learned more in one week with Dumbledore than we did all of last year."

"Well, that's not saying much, considering we had Umbridge," Ron grumbled at the memories of last year. "Dumbledore is awesome, though. I'll give you that."

"We learned a lot in DA meetings," Ginny pointed out.

"Yes, the DA meetings were the best part of last year. Even better than playing with the thestral foals," Luna added.

"Oh, Harry, Dumbledore said we could start the DA up again, and everyone wants to," Hermione said. "You'll come, won't you?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Harry agreed, though he wondered when he was going to fit the meetings in, since schoolwork took up so much time---Ron was right about sixth-year being tough---and he was already going to have those private Occlumency lessons with Severus.

Still, Defense was important, and he'd pretty much decided against playing Quidditch this year, so he supposed he could make time for the DA. Thinking along those lines reminded him of the meetings, how they'd been a bright spot in that long, dark year, and how much they'd all learned. A good thing, too, considering what had been in store for them.

Harry looked around at the circle of kids surrounding him. "Um, guys, you should all know something. I don't think I told you before the end of term last year, and I should have. But I'm really sorry that I dragged you all to the Ministry with me. You could have been killed, and...."

"Harry," Ron interrupted firmly, "You didn't drag us anywhere. If I remember correctly, we had to fight with you before you agreed to let us come. And none of that was your fault."

"Yeah, Harry, we wanted to come," Ginny said softly and the others all nodded in agreement.

Harry looked at them for a long moment, then he nodded, too. "Well, I really appreciate it. You're all great friends."

The girls all hugged him, even Luna. And Ron and Neville clapped him on the back. They were quiet for a while after that, but it was all right. They didn't have to talk.