Lily picked up a stuffed dragon of Harry's that he had thrown on the floor in a temper when she had tried to put him down for a nap yesterday, she had been so tired after wrestling with her cranky son that she hadn't bothered to pick it up until this morning. She tucked it under her arm, glad Harry was in a much better mood this morning, eating his cereal and fruit without a fuss and now he was sitting in his little chair in front of the TV watching cartoons.

Though her house was primarily a wizarding establishment, Lily refused to give up all ties to her Muggle life, and so she had some Muggle things in it, such as a TV, refrigerator, and a stove and oven. James had wanted them to get a house elf, but Lily had put her foot down, she found the whole idea of binding another intelligent creature to serve her as utterly abhorrent. "I may be a wizard, James Potter, but I'm not a pureblood and I refuse to have a slave in this house to do things I can do myself. We abolished slavery in England centuries ago and I won't bring it back now, no matter if it's the way it's always been done."

That had been one of the first major arguments they'd had, she thought with a flicker of sadness. But it had been one that she had won, and had never regretted it. Until now, when she was exhausted, rundown, and plain miserable. Today, she thought with a weary sigh, she could have used a house elf to help her pick up after her son, and mind the little mischief maker while she had a bit of a lie down. The past four days had been hellish, she was always tired and James was everywhere in the house.

Every time she turned around, she found another picture, or an article of clothing, his broom was in the coat closet, his clothes were still in the dresser, the other morning she had gone to take a shower and found his razor and soap in there and started bawling uncontrollably. Yet when she tried to make herself get rid of his things, she found herself unable to let go. She had buried him, did she have to erase all traces of him from her existence now? How would Harry remember his father if she kept nothing of his to show her son when he was old enough to understand?

And yet, she found herself haunted every time she walked into a room. She kept waiting for the Floo to flare green and her husband to step out of the fireplace, wearing his familiar grin and calling, "Hey, babe, I'm home!" Or she would wake in the middle of the night and reach over to hug him only to clutch empty air and shadows. She had taken to putting Harry in her bed with her so she was not alone, and thank Merlin the child did not seem to mind the new sleeping arrangements. But her son was no substitute for the presence of a strong man's arms about her.

Biting back a sob, all she seemed to do lately was cry, and she hated it, she had never wept much before this, Lily sat down on the soft blue sofa and hugged Harry's plush dragon to her, sniffling sharply. Her mother and father had called three times so far to ask how she was doing, she had told them she was managing. That was a lie, she wasn't managing anything. She, the competent, successful, witch who had graduated Head Girl alongside Severus Snape, hailed the brightest witch of her generation, was slowly falling to pieces.

It was all she could do to get out of bed in the morning lately, only the fact that she had a child to take care of motivated her enough to do so. I can't deal with this any more. He's everywhere, all over this house. I turn around and I see him, standing there, laughing over some stupid joke Sirius told him, I go to eat and he's there at the table, arguing with Sev over the nutritional value of donuts, yesterday I was doing laundry and I found his shirt in the hamper. And I still have to go through his desk, and see what bills he owes to the tailor's and the Quidditch store and I don't know what all else.

Unnoticed, two tears trickled down her face to land on the stuffed green dragon.

Harry giggled at something silly Tom did to Jerry and Lily looked up at the TV and managed a slight smile. Watching cartoons was something she and Harry had always done together on Saturday mornings, especially when James was away. She could recall doing the same thing with Sev when they were kids and he was sleeping over her house. They had always woken up at 7AM and crept down into the den and turned the TV on low and watched Bugs Bunny and Batman and Superman and whatever else was on until her mother woke up and dragged them away from the TV by their ear to eat breakfast.

Mum always used let Sev and I eat in the den though, because she knew we'd fuss if we didn't get to see all the cartoons that were on. And Tuney would be furious, since she hardly ever got to eat in there with her friends, because they were slobs and made a wreck out of everything.

Her sister, who was four years her senior, had always resented the fact that Lily had magic and had never lost an opportunity to belittle and taunt her sister or Severus, whom she called a charity case, at least until Hal had caught her one day and had made her apologize to Severus and grounded her for three weeks and lectured her into next week as well.

But Tuney wasn't as insensitive as she had seemed, her sister had sent her a huge arrangement of flowers for the funeral, since Vernon flatly refused to attend any freak function, as he put it, and a sympathy card as well. Lily hadn't seen her sister in over six months, they lived over an hour away and Lily and James had never gotten along with Vernon, who detested them and was even more magic-phobic than Petunia. It was sad though, that she was no longer close with Petunia, for she could have used a sister's comforting embrace right about now. Once, they had been close, when they were younger, before Lily's powers had begun to show themselves and she had met Severus. Once, when she had worshipped her older sister, and thought Petunia knew everything.

James used to call Petunia Lady Sourpuss because he said she always had a sour look on her face, like she'd just swallowed a handful of pickle-flavored Bertie Botts Beans. And every time she saw us kissing or holding hands, she would sniff and click her tongue at us like a disapproving grandmother. Petunia had hated that, and would say that James was nothing more than a hormonlly driven rich playboy out for a good time, Lily recalled. Her sister had been wrong about that, as she had about a great many things. She used to rant to Lily that Severus would never be more than a drunken bum, like his old man Tobias, but Severus was a brilliant Master Healer, one of the highest accredited wizards in his profession and now he was a hero as well.

She pressed the heel of her hand into her forehead, she had a massive headache brewing again, and no more Headache Remedy left, nor did she have the ingredients in her small lab to brew more, she had intended to visit the apothecary last week, but hadn't gotten around to it. And now . . .now she did not feel motivated to do anything except sit and mope in her house, overwhelmed with memories of a dead wizard husband.

Just then there came a sharp knock at the door, and Lily stiffened. Oh Merlin, please, not more reporters. Don't tell me they've come again with another request for an interview or comments about what kind of man James was at home, or . . .or some other stupid thing. Lily was tempted to just ignore the knock and see if they would go away, but Harry had heard it too and was looking over at the foyer.

"Door, Mummy. Knock, knock." He told Lily, his little face alight with hope. "Dada home now?"

"No, sweetie. Dada's not home," Lily repeated for what seemed like the thousandth time. "Just a minute!" she called, allowing a bit of irritation to enter her voice as the knocking was repeated.

She went to open the door, followed by her inquisitive son, to find her three best friends on her porch. "Moony! Padfoot! Sev! What are you doing here? Don't you have work?"

"Lil, it's Saturday," reminded Remus quietly, taking in the haggard witch's appearance with alarm. Lily looked as if she hadn't slept or ate properly in a week.

"We figured you could use the company," said Sirius, giving her a gentle smile.

"And some help with Harry," added Severus, upon catching sight of the child peeking out behind his mother's legs. "Hello, scamp."

"Sevvy!" Harry crowed, his green eyes lighting up. He came out from behind his mother and raced over to Severus, who picked him up before he could fall off the porch steps. "Mummy, Sevvy come." He threw his arms about the Master Healer and gave the dark-haired man a sloppy kiss on the cheek, much to the amusement of the other two.

"Guess we know where we stand, huh, Moony?" Sirius remarked, pretending to be insulted.

"A little humility is good for the soul, Black," Severus said, smirking. Then Harry noticed the other two standing there and cried, "Moony! Padfoot!"

"Hiya, kiddo!" Sirius reached out and rumpled the little boy's hair, which was a mess, as usual. "Gimme five!" He held out his hand, and Harry slapped his own little one down on it.

"Hey, imp!" Remus grinned at the child, who held out his arms to the blond werewolf, and Severus handed the wriggling boy over to his other "uncle".

"Come in, please," Lily said, flushing as she realized she had kept the three of them standing outside for five minutes. Lily Ann Potter, where are your manners? Mum would be ashamed, she scolded herself.

The two Aurors and Harry filed past her into the house, Harry babbling to them about some kind of cereal commercial he'd seen on TV, which the two wizard-raised men had no clue about.

Severus stepped inside next, but unlike his two friends, he noticed Lily's pallor and exhaustion and said softly, "When's the last time you had a decent night's sleep, Lily? Or something to eat? You look like a condemned prisoner about to be given the Kiss."

Lily dropped her gaze to the floor. "I feel that way too, Sev. I just . . .I don't know, don't have any energy, all I want to do is lie down and sleep. But then I dream of him . . ." she trailed off, blinking rapidly.

"Come with me," Severus ordered, putting an arm about her and leading her into the kitchen. "Siri, Moony, can you keep Harry occupied for a minute? I need to run a quick diagnostic here."

"Sev, that's not necessary . . ." Lily began.

"Sure, no problem," called back Sirius. "How d'you work this thing again, Harry?"

"It most certainly is," Severus insisted, drawing his wand. "Now be still." He frowned at the results of the spell. "How long have you had that headache, Lil?"

"I don't know. It started this morning," she responded listlessly.

"Where's your Headache Remedy?"

"I don't have anymore."

Severus shook his head. "Merlin, Lil! Here," he summoned his black bag with a snap of a finger, and removed a vial of a standard Headache Remedy. "Drink that all, Mrs. Potter, no arguments."

She made a face at him. "There's no need to get so dictatorial, Healer."

"Oh, yes, there is, seeing it's you." Severus scolded gently, holding out the vial.

She drank it down, not up to arguing with him. It began to work immediately, and her headache cleared up.

"Better now?"

"Much. Thanks."

"Now, let's get you a proper breakfast, before you fade away into nothing."

"Severus, I can cook for myself. I'm not an invalid."

"But you haven't been. So therefore I'm going to do it for you." The Healer moved over to the fridge and pulled out an egg, some sausage, and bread and butter.

Eight minutes later he set a plate of scrambled eggs, sausage, and buttered toast in front of her, as well as a cup of mint tea. "There. Now mind you eat it all, hear?"

"Yes, Dad." She rolled her eyes at him, but picked up her fork and took a bite, since it smelled too good to resist, and she found she was hungry after all.

Severus fixed himself a cup of tea as well and sat next to her while she ate. He drew two other vials from his bag and set them on the table. "After you're done eating, I want you to take a Calming Draft, Lil. The other one here is a Dreamless Sleep, so you can get a decent night's sleep tonight. Why didn't you call me before it got this bad, huh? You know I'm always available to you."

"I thought . . .I could handle it by myself," she said in a small voice.

"Oh, Lily. You don't have to handle it yourself, I'm your friend, that's what I'm here for. And Moony and Padfoot too. That's why we're here now, to help you go through James's stuff."

"What for?" she stopped eating to glare at him.

"Because it's not healthy for you to be dwelling on him like this. Look at you, you're exhausted, worn to a shadow, you aren't eating properly, and you're becoming depressed as well. You need to quit being reminded of him at every turn."

"But I don't want to forget him, Sev! He was my husband!"

"I know, I don't mean forget, but . . .you need to get out of this house for awhile. Before you drive yourself crazy wishing for something that can never be again." He was genuinely frightened by her seeming apathy and feared she might sink into a depressed state unless something were done. "Perhaps you might go to visit your parents for a bit?"

Lily suppressed a sigh. Vi had suggested that very thing yesterday, but Lily had said that wasn't necessary. Except now, with Severus eyeing her like some kind of injured doe . . ."My mother asked me if I'd like to stay with her and Dad for a few weeks or something. I didn't think I needed to, Sev. I just need some time .. .time to come to terms with the fact that James is . . .is gone." Tears welled up in her eyes and she swiped hastily at them with the handkerchief Severus handed her. "Sorry . . .I can't seem to stop crying every time I think about him."

"I don't have time to grieve, Severus. I have a thirteen-month-old to look after." Lily said exasperatedly.

"Which is exactly why I think you should move in with your parents for a month or two. Then you'll have help with Harry and be able to let yourself grieve normally." He urged. "Lil, please listen to me. You can't go on like this, you're tearing yourself into pieces. And I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here and watch it happen. If you make me, I'll hospitalize you, if that's the only way I can get you to take care of yourself," he threatened, playing his last card.

"Severus, you wouldn't dare!" she cried, shocked.

"I would. You're my patient as well as my friend, and I'll do whatever I have to in order to preserve your health, Mrs. Potter. Nothing matters more to me. Nothing."

She stared at him for a full minute, her brilliant emerald eyes meeting his dark ones, and in them she saw a steely resolve and a concern so vast it nearly swallowed her. And beyond that was something more. Something she had not seen in any man's eyes save one, and he was gone forever. Severus loves me, she realized. He always has. She shut her eyes, unable to deal with this new development. But the thought of it warmed her cold sorrowing soul nonetheless.

"All right. What do you recommend, Healer Snape?"

"Are you going to follow my advice?"

She nodded.

"Very well. I want to help you go through James's things, along with Sirius and Remus. It'll help all of us through the grieving process, to remember good times and bad." He ran a hand through his hair. "I miss him also, Lil. He was my friend too. Granted I was never as close to him as Padfoot was, they were like brothers, and I was always closer to Remus. But still . . ." His eyes flickered regret and sorrow, causing Lily to lay her hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry, Sev. I'm being selfish, thinking I'm the only one who misses him, just because I loved him as a wife does her husband. There are more kinds of love than just that, and you knew him as long as I had." She sipped her tea, then asked, "What else, Healer?"

"You take whatever potions I prescribe for you. And you get eight to ten hours of sleep every night. And start eating decent meals, you're too thin. Lastly, let your parents or one of us help you with Harry. You shouldn't think you have to do it all yourself, what are you trying to prove? That you're Wonder Woman?"

"He's my son, I should be able to look after my own child," she objected, a touch of anger coloring her tone.

"Yes, if you were not sick with grief over your dead husband. But you are, and so you need to let someone else shoulder the burden for a time. I know your parents would be more than happy to have you move back in with them for awhile, just until you've gotten back on your feet. I think it would be a wise decision. You're too isolated here, and worse, you're reminded of him every time you turn around."

"Why is that bad?"

"Think of it this way. Your losing James created a great gaping wound in your heart. You've managed to bandage it back together and it's scabbed over somewhat, but every time you look around here you're reminded of him, and the wound in your heart is torn open anew. You can never heal if you're always tearing your heart open, Lily. You need some distance right now, so that wound can scab over and heal. Do you understand?"

Slowly, she nodded. "Yes." Then her eyes narrowed. "Have you been talking to my mother lately, Severus?"

He looked away quickly, but she could see by the faintly guilty look in his eyes that she was right. "She told me I needed to visit you, Lily. Said she didn't think you were as fine as you pretended, and I should drop by and see for myself how you were. I'm glad I took her advice, Lil."

"Severus Snape!" She shook a finger at him. "I thought you were my friend, and here I find you're . . .collaborating with my mother!"

"She was worried about you, Lily." Severus said quietly, not looking chastened at all. "As am I. And Siri and Remus too. We don't want to see anything bad happen to you, flower. James would come down from heaven and kick all our arses if that happened."

She smiled a little at the image his words conjured. "He would, wouldn't he?" Then she eyed him shrewdly. "All right, Sev. You win. I'll move back with the folks for a bit. Damn you for a sneaky slick-talking Slytherin!"

"Good thing, because I doubt if any of the lions could have persuaded you, they're all bark and not enough bite." Severus chuckled, relieved that she would do as he had told her. And neither of them love you the way I do, whispered the truthful part of his heart. "Finish you tea, please, then we can start going through stuff."

"Yes, sir, Healer Snape!" she mimed a salute at him, and he laughed.

Just then they heard Harry yelling from the den, "NO! Don' want you to read, Padfoot!"

"Huh? But Harry, you love being read to, and it's almost time for your nap," Sirius persuaded.

"No! No read an' no nap!" the little boy cried.

"Harry, can I read to you instead?" asked Remus.

But the little boy refused the werewolf as well. "No! Not you! Want Sevvy!"

"Uh oh. You're being summoned, Sev," Lily smirked.

"Sevvy!" shouted Harry. "Where you?"

"In here, scamp."

Two minutes later the pitter patter of little feet were heard and then Harry came into the kitchen, he had managed to take his shoes off yet again, Lily observed with a sigh, and he had some kind of stain on his Snitch shirt that she suspected was chocolate. His two doting uncles could never resist his forlorn stares.

He grinned when he caught sight of Severus, running up to him and demanding imperiously, "Sevvy! Read, Sevvy! Read me book!"

"Excuse me?" Severus pretended to frown down at the little imp.

"Sevvy, read! Read me!" Harry repeated, giving the Healer his best pleading stare.

"Manners, Harry," his mother reminded. "How do you ask?"

Harry thought for a moment. Then he cried, "Pease read me, Sevvy? Pease?"

Emerald eyes implored him and combined with the word ‘Please' proved too much for even Severus to resist. "All right, I'll read you two books, and then you'll take a nap, Mr. Potter. Agreed?"

Harry considered, before nodding. "‘Kay, Sevvy. Read me!"

He grabbed the Healer's long fingers and tugged, drawing him back into the den. "Come!"

Severus allowed himself to be led back into the den, where he sat down on the couch. "All right, Harry. What book are we reading?"

Harry raced to the middle shelf of books and tugged out one with a bright orange cover. "Moon book again, Sevvy."

Severus groaned. "Oh no! Not Goodnight Moon again."

"Yes! Moon book. Sevvy read me!" Harry declared, and Sirius and Remus grinned at each other.

"I'll be damned. What's with him liking Sev all of sudden?" Remus asked his partner.

Severus looked up at the two Aurors. "I'm the one who's been babysitting him these past months, while you two and James were off hunting Voldemort." He sighed as Harry crawled up the sofa and into his lap, clutching the dreaded story in his chubby arms. "How many times does this make, Harry?" the Healer muttered. "Five hundred? I don't even need to look at the words."

Harry grinned up at the Healer and opened the book. "Read, Sevvy!"

The Master Healer cleared his throat. "Are you sure you want to hear this one, Harry? What about The Littlest Unicorn?"

"No. Moon book. Read me!"

Harry leaned against Severus's chest and sucked his thumb, looking at the pictures of the baby bunny and the room and every so often he would point a finger and say, "Look! Mouse, Sevvy! Mouse there!"

"Yes, the mouse is over there. Very good, Harry." There was a tiny white mouse in almost every page of the book somewhere in the picture, and Harry had long since memorized where it was and loved pointing it out over and over.

"What mouse?" Sirius looked over the couch at the book, squinting. "I don't see a mouse in the picture."

Harry twisted around to look up at his uncle, frowning. "Mouse there, Padfoot!" The tiny hand stabbed down at the picture, showing the tiny mouse near the fireplace.

"Oh." Sirius blushed. "Merlin, do I feel dumb. The kid is smarter than I am," he muttered to Remus, who just laughed.

"He's got his mother's brains, Black," Severus smirked. Then he resumed reading. "Goodnight room , goodnight moon, goodnight socks, and goodnight fox. . . goodnight house. Goodnight mouse." The Master Healer continued reading, as the bunny in the story bid goodnight to all the things in his room and outside as well, and as he did so, the room got darker and darker. "Goodnight nobody, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere."

As Severus read the last page, Harry snuggled into his chest and yawned. "More, Sevvy. More moon."

"Okay, scamp. Here we go again, Merlin help me." He opened the book and began to read it over again.

Remus, Sirius, and Lily, who had come in just as Severus had finished reading the book for the first time, put their hands over their mouths and giggled silently at the way the clever child could manipulate Severus into reading him the same book over and over.

But by the time they had read the book again, Harry's eyes were shutting in spite of himself. Severus gently set the book down on the sofa and rocked the little boy, and Harry cuddled into his shoulder and fell fast asleep, after murmuring, "Night, Sevvy."

"Looks like you've got the magic touch, Sev," remarked Remus.

"Either that or the magic book," Sirius said. "What is that book, anyway? I've never heard of it."

"It's a Muggle children's book." Severus replied, sighing. "It's probably required reading for every parent or caregiver with a child four and under."

"I loved it when I was a little girl," Lily said, gazing down at her sleeping child tenderly. "It was so soothing. It always put me right to sleep. Just like it does Harry." She reached out to take her sleeping son from the Master Healer, who surrendered him a bit reluctantly.

Once Lily had put Harry down in his room, they converged upon the master bedroom, where the men began going through James's clothes, which were many and varied, mostly wizard ones, though there were quite a few Muggle ones among them.

"Look at this, Moony," said Severus, pulling a set of James's Quidditch robes out of the armoire. "Remember the last Quidditch game of seventh year, which was the last time he wore these?"

"How could I forget? That was the game when he broke his damn arm and didn't let anyone know till he caught the Snitch," said the werewolf with a rueful smile. "Then he landed and nearly passed out at my feet."

"And Madam Pomfrey let you mend his arm, right, Sev?"

"She did. Told me there was no time like the present to start practicing my Healing skills," recalled the Master Healer. "And James just looked at me and says, "You'd better know what you're doing, Snape. I need my arm." Then I made him drink a Class Five Pain Reliever before I set the arm and cast a Bone-Mending Charm upon it. That wasn't the last time I patched him up either. He was as accident prone as any two-year-old."

"Poor Anna must have had her hands full when he was kid," Lily said.

"You've no idea," Sirius laughed. "For not only was James careless of his safety, he was always forgetting rules too."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Forgetting, Sirius? Say rather deliberately disobeying."

"That too," admitted the Auror. "The pranks we used to pull. We were like whirlwinds. Always up to something. Drove everybody crazy."

"Did you ever get in trouble for those pranks, Siri?" asked Lily.

"Uh. . .yeah. Charles never let us get away with much. James was always sassing him and getting his mouth washed out for it or spanked for something or other. And so was I, since the Potters were almost like surrogate parents to me when I was growing up, and I was over there more than I was at my own house." The Auror chuckled. "I remember one time, James and I were eleven, just finished with out first year at Hogwarts, and his Aunt Cleopatra came over to visit, she must have been around a hundred and ten, and James gets this brilliant idea to play a joke on her."

"I'm almost afraid to ask. What did he come up with to scare the old woman to death?" inquired the Master Healer, sorting through a pile of socks.

"Uh . . .we waited till she was putting sugar in her tea, then we transfigured one of the sugar cubes into a little mouse. One minute she was holding a sugar cube and the next she had a mouse by the tail and nearly dunked it in her tea. Merlin, did she ever scream! I though she was gonna die right there. But James was cracking up, he thought it was the best joke ever. Least he did till his dad caught us and made us apologize, then he gave the both of us a good smacking with a blasted slipper." Sirius winced in remembrance.

"You two deserved it!" Lily scolded, waving her finger under Padfoot's nose. "You could have given the poor old lady heart failure."

"We never thought of that," Sirius admitted with a rueful chuckle. "All we thought about was having fun."

"Typical Gryffindors," snorted Severus. "Remember the apple tree dare, Lily?"

"Merlin, yes! I don't know what you two were thinking that time, Padfoot," she recalled, laughing softly. "Eating almost my whole apple tree in an afternoon."

"And Merlin, did we pay for it after!" Sirius groaned. "I had the worst stomachache in the history of the world, and all you two brilliant scholars did was make fun of us."

"Because you were so stupid. I warned you about eating too many apples and you just ignored me," Lily pointed out.

"And at least she had some Muggle medicine to give you for indigestion," Severus reminded.

"Yeah, and I almost puked taking it," grumbled the Auror.

"Glad I missed that one," Remus said. "I think I was home sick that day or something."

By the time they had finished the bedroom, removing nearly all of James's clothes, shoes, and personal effects, most of which could be donated to a secondhand shop in Diagon Alley for those families who couldn't afford new clothes, all four friends were much more relaxed and their reminiscences were colored with affection and warmth as well as tears.

"What next?" asked Remus, dusting off his hands.

"Now we do his desk," Lily said, and they moved into the study, where James had kept his Auror texts and Defense books and ledgers with the household expenses.

Predictably, James's desk was unorganized, with parchment scattered everywhere and letters and half-finished treatises stacked on top of each other.

Severus threw up his hands in horror. "Great Merlin's ghost! How the bloody hell could he work like this? It's-it's chaos."

"Not to James. He worked best in a mess," Sirius smiled sadly.

"Once I asked him how he found anything. He told me that he knew exactly which pile to look through," Lily said, brushing a tear from her eye.

"How the hell did he ever graduate the Auror Academy with study habits like this?" muttered Severus, who had been drilled in neatness by both Eileen and Tobias and cringed every time he looked at his former friend's desk.

"He charmed the instructors with his smile," Moony said.

"Yeah, Sandra Applegate had the hots for him," Sirius grinned. "When she found out he was getting married, she was devastated."

Lily recalled their wedding night, when her husband had said that he was the luckiest man alive, since he had married the girl of his dreams. My reckless, devil-may-care, wild love. You may have died young, but you lived enough for three lifetimes, God knows. And I will miss you, but at least I have your son, your legacy, to comfort me.

Then she bent to start shuffling through the piles of papers, sorting the genuine articles and such from the trash.

They spent a whole three hours straightening the study, until Harry woke up, and then Lily went in to feed and change him, discovering that the wound in her heart had scabbed over a bit while reminiscing about all the crazy things James had done. And she resolved to follow the rest of Sev's advice and move her and Harry to her parent's house for the time being, for she knew that with the coming of night, James's ghost would return and haunt her dreams. Until she recalled the vial of Dreamless Sleep upon the kitchen table, and silently thanked Severus from the bottom of her heart. Perhaps, with the help of her friends, she would get through this.