“Everything is your fault, you pampered little urchin. Because of you, my family thinks badly at me and I couldn’t finish school. But I promise, you’ll pay for it.” The man drew his wand, pointing it at Harry. “Cruci…”

Harry quickly drew his wand and shouted, “Expelliarmus!” before the man even had a chance to finish his spell. Harry quickly cast the Wingardium Leviosa spell and let the two wands hover onto the top of the huge wardrobe at the left side of the room.

The two men didn’t take these actions well. They approached the child and started beating him badly before Harry could use any more magic. Unfortunately, the seven-year-old child was not able to fight against two adults, the Muggle way and he soon fell to the floor, dangerously wounded. Just before he fell unconscious he got a glance at his familiar, appearing at his side in a flash.

Quickly assessing the situation, Fawkes flashed onto the beach, hovering in front of Severus, who, sensing that Harry, who had yet to return, could be in danger, didn’t waste time. He grabbed Fawkes’ tail feathers. It only took seconds for Fawkes to flash back to the room, where the two men were still grabbing their noses, which Fawkes had hacked into in order to force the two men to stop their attack on Harry. Before Ron and Mungundus could even move, Severus drew his wand and stunned the two men.

“Fawkes, please go and get Poppy immediately,” Severus instructed the phoenix before he carefully picked up Harry. He had just carefully laid him down onto the bed, when Fawkes arrived together with Poppy. While Poppy quickly waved her wand at Harry, Severus instructed Fawkes to fetch Lily. He quickly filled his wife in and asked her to write a short notice to Minerva about what happened, so that she would send Aurors to take away the culprits.

Lily obeyed immediately and half an hour later, while Poppy and Severus were still working on Harry under Lily’s watchful eyes, Fawkes returned with Minerva, Tom, Nymphadora Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt in tow. Minerva introduced the two young Aurors to Lily, and Lily relaxed a little, knowing that they were on their own side. The five adults discussed for a moment if the Aurors should take the two men to the Ministry or question them on the spot and decided on the latter, hoping to be able to speak with Harry afterwards as well.

-----

When Tonks held out her hand for the two men to turn over their wands, they tried to lie, saying that they hadn’t brought their wands. This, however, was too absurd for the Aurors to believe and they decided to administer Veritaserum.

“Why did you come here, Mr. Weasley?” Shacklebold asked.

“To punish Harry,” was the straight reply from the red-haired man who gave the small figure on the bed an angry glance, which wasn’t missed by the two Aurors.

“Were you going to curse him?”

“Yes, I wanted to Crucio him but he was faster and took our wands away, levitating them onto the wardrobe.”

“Therefore, you decided to beat him. Did you want to kill him?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s his fault that I couldn’t finish Hogwarts and that my family thinks badly of me now. I’ve even lost my girlfriend because of him.”

“How did you know that he was here?” Tonks enquired.

“My brother Percy had requested information within the Ministry in case Harry used his wand, so that he could tell me about Harry’s whereabouts. Percy alerted Mungundus and me today that Harry had been tracked, so we Apparated to the beach in order to get to Harry.”

“Been magically outdone by a seven-year-old, Mr. Weasley?” Severus sneered, while Poppy turned to Lily and Minerva and filled them in about Harry’s condition after throwing a Silencing Spell around them.

“I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to question Harry today,” Poppy told Tonks and Kingsley firmly when they had finished questioning Mungundus.

“All right,” Kingsley acknowledged immediately. “Would it be possible to have his memory put into a Pensieve?”

Severus beat Poppy answering, “Yes, I suppose that would be possible. Fawkes, could you please retrieve Harry’s Pensieve?”

A minute later, Fawkes returned with the requested item and Severus sat on the edge of Harry’s bed, talking softly to his son. “Harry, do you know how to put a memory into a Pensieve?”

Harry looked at his Daddy, the ‘No’ clearly written in his face. “All right then, Harry,” Severus said and patiently explained, “You have to put your wand here…” – he showed Harry the spot – “…and think of what happened from the moment you first noticed that something was wrong until I arrived here and stunned the two men. Do you think you can do that?”

Harry held out his hand for his wand, which the two men had been too stupid to take from him, and concentrated on the memory. When the others went into the Pensieve to watch what had happened Lily stayed sitting next to Harry, softly speaking with her son and trying to ignore the attackers who were again stunned at the other side of the room.

After viewing the memory, Severus sat down on the edge of Harry’s bed while Shacklebolt explained to Lily what they had seen. “You’ve probably been told that Dumbledore took a lot of money out of Harry’s vaults and gave part of it to Ronald Weasley, right?”

“Yes,” Lily replied hesitantly. “Severus told me about it.”

“All right,” Shacklebolt continued, “Mr. Weasley obviously had the impression that it was Harry’s fault that he couldn’t go to Hogwarts anymore, and so he tried throw unforgivable spells at him. However, Harry beat him magically and took his wand away, so they decided to beat him. Fortunately, Fawkes seemed to have arrived in time.”

Lily gave him an appreciative nod. “Thank you.”

“All right, Messrs,” Shacklebolt said grimly, turning to the two stunned men. “This will be a one-way-ticket to Azkaban, I’m afraid, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Fletcher.” He went over to Ron and activated his Portkey while Tonks took Mungundus away.

-----

“Should we return to Hogwarts?” Lily asked the others, still sitting next to Harry.

“You mean because of what happened or because of Harry’s injuries?” Severus enquired.

“Both,” Lily replied, giving her husband an anxious glance.

“What happened won’t happen again. You don’t need to leave because of that,” Tom threw in.

“I think so as well,” Minerva agreed. “Just don’t let him go anywhere on his own.”

“In fact I’d prefer to take Harry with me,” Poppy said pensively. “We have healed everything I believe. However, he had many injuries on important organs and we still have to see if they are all going to work properly. Therefore, I’d like to be able to cheek on him every now and then. Do you think Fawkes could flash me here a few times during the next twenty-four hours?”

“How about you all stay here for the rest of our stay?” Lily asked suddenly. “Then Poppy could look after Harry whenever he needs it, and I’d feel much safer with all of you around.”

“Yes, that’s a good idea,” Severus agreed immediately. “Tom, why don’t you ask Rolanda to join you for a few days? And Minerva and Poppy…”

“We could share a room, Severus. We’ve already shared a dormitory when we went to Hogwarts together; but we don’t want to disturb you on your Honey Moon!” Minerva told him sternly.

“You won’t disturb us, Minerva. Weasley and Fletcher already managed to do so. However, Lily would feel safer with you around and I’d feel better with Poppy here for Harry.”

“Will you stay with me, Mummy?” Harry mumbled and – receiving a comforting nod from Lily – closed his eyes.

In the end, they all agreed to stay for a few days. Harry woke up in the morning to his parents talking to each other quietly.

“No, Lily, I don’t mind at all. I’m just happy to have you back, and it’s Harry’s safety that counts most. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to him. But I think that it was only a one-time thing because of…”

“Ssh.. look, Sev, Harry’s smiling,” Lily said, sounding very happy.

Harry lazily opened his eyes to see his parents leaning over him. While his mother was smiling amazingly, his father’s expression held a tad of concern.

“Good morning, sweetie, did you sleep well?” Lily asked.

“Mowning,” Harry mumbled tiredly.

“How do you feel, Harry?” Harry could hear his daddy’s voice penetrating his ear as he slowly fell back to sleep.

When he woke up the next time, his parents were already dressed and sitting on the edge of his bed, talking quietly and obviously cuddling each other. Harry tried hard not to giggle at the sight and remained silent for a few minutes until the lack of his even breathing seemed to alert his father that he was awake.

“Good morning, Harry. How do you feel?” Severus asked, turning around to his son.

Harry’s “fine” stuck on his lips when he first tried to move and it was soon replaced by an “ouch”. Everything hurt terribly. “I’m sore,” he mumbled, averting his eyes from his father.

“I believe that, Harry. You’ve been beaten badly and were in a really bad condition yesterday and although Poppy has healed everything, you’ll be quite sore for a few days,” Severus explained and carefully put a cool hand on Harry’s forehead before he stood up abruptly. “I’m going to get Poppy so that she can check on you, right? Afterwards you can get a pain relieving potion.”

When Severus left the room, Lily lay back next to Harry and cuddled him, careful not to aggravate his injuries. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and stood up immediately when Severus returned with Poppy.

“Hello Aunt Poppy and thanks for healing me yesterday,” Harry told his godmother when she came into view.

“Oh, sweetie, you’re welcome. Are you in a lot of pain?” Poppy asked, noticing how Harry tried to follow her wand movements with his eyes without moving his head.

“Yes, my head and my stomach hurt,” Harry admitted.

“Where exactly does it hurt?” Poppy asked moving her wand once more over the spot Harry showed her. “All right, Harry, I’m very sorry but you have to stay in bed today. You can have a Pain Relieving Potion now and I’ll be back with your breakfast in a few minutes. Then we will see what happens. You’ll probably be fine or at least well enough to get up by tomorrow.”

After taking the potion, Harry felt much better and even managed to sit up in order to eat the porridge Poppy brought him for breakfast.

“Daddy,” Harry asked lying back after eating, “Why? I mean why did these two men attack me?”

Severus sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed. “Harry, do you remember from the memories of your grown up self who the red haired man was?”

Harry slightly shook his head. “No, Daddy. I remember that I have seen him in the memories but they are so far in the back of my mind, you know the only thing I remember really well is magic – spells, charms and whatever. I only know that I knew him but nothing more.” He glanced at his father whose face had once again taken on an emotionless expression.

“This man, Harry, is Ronald Weasley, Ginny’s brother. When you went to Hogwarts, he, Hermione, and you were best friends. Everyone called you ‘The Golden Trio’.” Ignoring Harry’s disbelieving look, he continued, “However, after you were de-aged and I received the guardianship over you, we found out that he had only pretended to be your friend. In fact, he received money from Dumbledore, which he had taken from your account, for befriending you. Once we ordered the money back from Dumbledore’s account, Weasley had to leave Hogwarts because his parents couldn’t pay his school fees anymore. As far as I know he didn’t even try to find a way to get the money for his last year and a half of schooling but decided to work at his brothers’ joke shop. And now he wanted to blame you for not giving him any more money, although you were four years old when this happened and he shouldn’t have been in a position to have any of your money at all.”

Harry didn’t understand everything his daddy told him, but when Severus added, “Anyway, none of this is your fault but only Dumbledore’s. Mr. Weasley has been brought to Azkaban because of what he did, so he won’t be able to attack you again,” he visible relaxed.

“Mummy, can you read me a story?” Harry proceeded to ask his mother and smiled happily when Lily complied and chose one of Harry’s books to read to him. “Thanks, Mummy, that’s my favourite story,” Harry squealed happily when Lily started to read the story about the dragon, the snake, and the phoenix, which Harry loved so much.

Lily carefully stroked his cheeks and patiently read the story for Harry three times. Then she proceeded to talk to her son. “Harry, you still have to tell me about your friends. What are their names, how are they? I want to know everything, you know.”

Harry gave her a small smile, but he just couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore and his breathing evened after a few seconds. Glad that she hadn’t missed all of his childhood, Lily lay down next to her son, cuddling him close. Soon, she fell asleep too. When Severus looked up from his book seeing his wife and son asleep, a small smile played around his lips.

Harry woke up when Poppy came to check on him. She waved her wand a few times before she explained to Harry in a low voice, as not to wake Lily, “Everything seems to work well. However, I’m afraid that you will be in pain for a while and we have to watch your organs further because you have a slight temperature. If it’s not worse tomorrow, you may go to the beach after breakfast.”

“Thank you, Aunt Poppy,” Harry replied. “But can’t I get up now? I feel fine.”

“No, I’m sorry, sweetie. You only feel fine because I gave you a strong potion. You aren’t fine yet. Do you want Granny to visit you for a while?”

“Um… could you or Granny perhaps stay with me for a short while, so that Mummy and Daddy could go to the beach together? I’m so sorry for them, I mean… it’s their honeymoon, and they can’t do anything together because of me.”

“Oh, Harry, you’re such a cute, loving sweetie. Of course, we can stay with you if you don’t mind your parents being away,” Poppy answered, astonished and turned to Severus to tell him about Harry’s suggestion.

Severus gave his son a surprised but grateful look and asked if he was sure before he turned back to Poppy. “Poppy, I’m very worried about Lily. She always seems to be tired and since we’re here she is taking at least two naps during the day. Do you think she’s all right?”

Poppy gave him a comforting smile. “Yes, Severus. Believe me, I’ve already checked on her, and she’s completely fine, she only needs a lot of rest. There’s nothing else we can do for her than letting her rest as much as possible. How about you wake her up and take her out on the beach or wherever you want to spend some time on your own? On your way out you can ask Minerva if she would mind spending some time here with Harry and I. And, please, take your time Severus. As this was Harry’s suggestion, he’ll be fine with you being away for a few hours.”

While Lily and Severus enjoyed a few hours resembling a real honeymoon, Minerva and Poppy stayed with Harry, talking to him, reading him books, and playing with the child until his parents returned after eating dinner as Poppy had instructed them firmly. When Harry saw Lily and Severus returning to their room with happy smiles on their faces, he knew that it had been worth spending the afternoon without them as badly as he wanted to have his Mummy near-by.

-----

When Harry was finally allowed to go to the beach on the next day, he played a while in the sand before Lily knelt next to him and helped him build a sand castle. When they were finished, Harry gave his mother an excited glance. “Mummy, can you make it look like Hogwarts again, please?”

Lily complied and waved her wand resulting in many happy squeals from Harry. The boy happily showed the castle to Minerva and Poppy who were sitting on Lily’s other side. Tom and Rolanda had taken the spaces next to Severus earlier, but they had since decided to go on a long walk.

“Do you know, Harry, that your mother had the best marks in her Charms NEWTs that anyone had achieved in more than a century?” Minerva asked, and Harry threw a proud glance at his mother.

Harry proceeded to read through his books for a while before he got bored and glanced around in order to find something to occupy himself. Unfortunately, Poppy had forbidden him to go swimming at least today and had made sure that Severus had heard this instruction. But it surely wouldn’t hurt to go into the water just with his feet Harry thought and seeing that his mother was asleep, his father was engrossed in his book, and the others had gone for lunch, Harry decided to go and play in the water for a short while. He carefully got up, slightly wincing at the pain in his stomach, and went down to the edge of the water.

As soon as Harry put a foot into the water, a girl and a boy who were playing with a beach ball invited him to join them and Harry accepted the invitation happily. He soon noticed that it was great fun playing with the two children. After trying to catch the ball for a few minutes however, a wave made Harry stumble and he couldn’t help falling into the water. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach when he tried to get up and Harry was reminded that he hadn’t been allowed to enter the water at all. It took out a lot of effort to make it out of the water and onto the beach, where he fell down, crying.

His play partners were at his side in an instant. “What’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself?” the girl asked worriedly.

However, before Harry could even answer, Severus had been alerted by his son’s cries and was at his side in a blink. “Harry, it’s all right, Daddy’s here,” he said, putting a comforting hand on the child’s shoulder. “What happened?” he then asked the two children who were standing next to Harry, watching him.

“We were playing beach ball in the soft water and then a huge wave came and made him stumble, and then he suddenly started crying as if he was hurt.”

Severus quickly instructed the children to call Poppy, who appeared at their side within minutes, worriedly checking on Harry. “He has aggravated his injuries, and he’s bleeding internally,” she mumbled only for Severus to hear before she mumbled several incantations to heal her godson’s injuries a second time in two days. Twenty minutes later, she looked up at Severus, relieved. “The internal bleeding seems to have stopped. Can you carefully carry him to your room, please? We have to give him a few potions.”

“Is he all right?” Severus asked, concerned.

“He will be all right,” Poppy promised. “However, I don’t know how fast it will heal this time. He’ll have to stay in bed until further notice. And frankly speaking I don’t pity him this time. It is entirely his fault, going into the water against my explicit orders.”

“Yes, you’re right, Poppy,” Severus agreed, sighing.

The next day, Harry’s condition was worse. As he obviously was in a lot of pain and had a high fever, Poppy kept him asleep nearly the whole day to let his new injury heal. Everyone took turns staying with him, so that Lily and Severus could at least spend a little time on the beach as it was the last day of their holidays.

After breakfast the next day, it was time to return to Hogwarts.

“Mummy, Daddy, can we come here again next year?” Harry asked, sitting in his bed and looking out of the window at the blue sea in front of him.

“We can’t promise you anything now, but I don’t see a reason why we couldn’t do so,” Severus replied, softly nudging his son. He still had a very serious conversation to conduct with his son, but it could wait until they’d returned home.

-----

Fawkes flashed them home to Hogwarts just before dinner and brought Poppy and Harry directly into Harry’s room, while everyone else headed straight to the Great Hall. They took turns telling Hermione, Pomona Sprout and Filius Flitwick, who were the only teachers present at the moment, about the happenings during their holidays. When they were finished with their story, Flitwick cleared his throat, changing the topic.

“I have thought about something concerning the Transfiguration position. It’s not a good idea to have Lily take over this position.”