11

September Showers

September first came, and Draco boarded the Hogwarts Express, Narcissa, Lucius, and Aradia were there to see him off. Aradia clung to him and cried, until Draco told her she had to be a big girl and help Mama and Papa.

"I can do it, 'Raco!" the little imp said enthusiastically. She gave him a gap-toothed smile, having lost her first front tooth a few days ago. Then she gave him a pitiful frown. "But I'll miss you."

Draco sighed. His baby sister was such a drama queen. "Look, I'll be home for Christmas, Aradia. If you're good while I'm gone, I'll bring you a surprise."

Aradia brightened. "A s'prise? For me?"

"Yes. But only if you're good." He warned.

"I'll be good! I will! I will!"

"Now go to Papa, all right? The train's going to be leaving soon." Draco told her, handing her to Lucius. "I'll see you all for the holidays." He sprang onto the train, turned and waved goodbye to his family, then disappeared inside.

The Malfoys waited until the train left the station before Apparating back home, and Aradia wasn't the only one with tears in her eyes, though Lucius swore it was cinders from the blasted train.

Page~*~*~*~*~Break

September was a busy month for all concerned at Heatherton Cottage. Severus had new influx of patients, requiring him to work later hours at the hospital. Lucy and Lily were left to tutor their sons in different courses. They had set up a course of study that was similar to yet different from that at Hogwarts. In the mornings was History and Etiquette Class, where Theo and Harry learned about the history of both wizarding and Muggle Britain, as well as proper etiquette among wizarding families. Lucy taught this class, saying that it was always necessary to learn the forms and good manners, even if you weren't born to a pureblood family, plus it helped the boys understand why and how certain customs came about. Then came Charms, they both taught this one. Lily taught basic charms to Harry and Lucy taught small household and cooking charms to him. While Harry learned those, Theo had advanced maths, which he claimed was as much fun as Charms, because he was very good at geometry and algebra. After lunch, Lily gave them both a potions lesson. Sometimes, if Severus came home early, he would assist her or give an additional lesson. Then Harry would have Transfiguration and Theo would study about magical creatures. They both had Herbology, since even a Squib could participate in that class. For recess, Harry, Lily, and Theo would fly for an hour.

They had Astronomy every other evening, and Theo could participate in all but the spellcasting portion of that class. Severus taught them some basic Healing spells and also English Literature. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they studied Art with Lucy and even visited some museums and art galleries in York and Manchester. Lucy explained that she had to study Etiquette, Magical History, Art, and Music as part of her early education, and also Penmanship. The Penmanship lessons were given by all three adults, and there was a formal lesson for half-an-hour every night before doing homework, but after supper. Lucy said she would make time for Music after the holidays.

Every other evening, Harry would have meditation classes with Severus, and take walks with him out on the moor to fine tune his control over sensing a storm and then walking away from it. This September was a stormy one, and Harry found it difficult to control his power, as his instinct was to first summon a storm and then let it rage, fueled by his power.

Theo and he were out in the herb garden one afternoon, gathering some parsley and thyme for Lucy for tonight's roasted herbed chicken dinner when Harry felt his head start to throb and his eyes burn. He could sense the coming cloudburst on the horizon, and feel the rain storm forming. It made his skin tingle irritatingly.

"Harry? Something wrong?" asked Theo, noticing Harry was just staring off into space, the parsley forgotten limply in his hand.

"A storm's coming," Harry replied in a soft tone.

"Where?" Theo looked around and couldn't spot anything.

"That way. From the west." Harry pointed unerringly towards the setting sun.

"But I don't see any clouds. And there's no wind. Are you sure?"

"Yes. I can feel it." He felt a sudden urge to join with the storm, and his eyes began to glow silver as he started to reach out.

"Harry, stop!" cried his friend in alarm. "Severus said you weren't supposed to call storms unless he was with you."

Harry swung about, his eyes shimmering silver in his face. "I . . . can't help myself, Theo! Get inside! Quickly!"

Theo shivered, for Harry looked utterly unworldly with those silver glowing orbs, and he was frightened of the change in his friend. He turned and bolted for the house, yelling for Lily.

Lily appeared on the back porch. "Theo? What's the matter?"

"It's Harry!" Theo slid to a stop, panting. His crooked foot throbbed. "He said there's a storm coming and he's . . . he's calling it."

"Blessed Merlin! Get in the house, Theo," Lily ordered. Drawing her wand, she approached her son, who was standing still in the middle of the garden, his face lifted towards the sun. "Harry! Look at me!"

But Harry was far away, his mind entwined with the coming storm. He barely heard Lily, his whole focus was upon the clouds, wind, and rain sweeping down towards him.

"Harry!" Lily reached out and shook his shoulder hard. "Let go of the storm and look at me." She pulled his head about until his silver gaze was looking at her face.

He blinked. "Mum? The storm . . . it's calling to me," he cried. "Can't you feel it?" On the horizon, thunderheads appeared, and the air was suddenly laced with the ozone scent of lightning.

"Harry, listen to me. I want you to try and ignore the storm as best you can. Close your eyes and keep your mind here with me. Don't focus on the storm, don't reach out to it. Leave it be." Lily said, trying to keep her voice even and calm.

"But I have to, Mum!"

"No, you don't, Harry. Break off the contact." Lily urged, wishing she knew Mind Magics like Severus did.

Harry's face twisted as he tried to do as his mother said. It was hard, letting go. But he finally disengaged from the storm front and shook his head. "I . . . I don't feel that good." He groaned.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Lily asked tenderly, reaching a hand up to feel his forehead. "Great Merlin! You're on fire!" she gasped.

"I feel all cold and shivery," her son groaned. "My head hurts and I feel dizzy."

Lily put an arm about him. "Let's get you in the house, Harry. You might have a kind of spell drain. You certainly have a fever."

Lily managed to get Harry to his room, and helped him undress and get into pajamas. She then called Theo and asked him to tell Lucy that she needed a Fever Reducer, a Pain Reliever, and a glass of ice water.

"Is Harry going to be all right, Lily? He looks horrible." Theo said. Harry looked gray and his eyes, though no longer silver, looked glassy.

"Yes. He just needs some potions and some rest." Lily said. She went into the bathroom cabinet and fetched a Dreamless Sleep vial.

Harry swallowed all his potions with a grimace, washing them down with the ice water. Lily sat beside him, gently stroking his hair until he fell asleep. He slept peacefully until the storm arrived, then he stirred restlessly in his sleep, moaning.

Lily listened to the sound of rain on the roof, normally a sound that soothed her, but not today. Today she wished the rain would go away, for she wanted her son to be able to sleep peacefully and not cause the storm to get worse. Right now it was a hard rain and windy, but without thunder or lightning.

Beneath a light sheet, Harry tossed and turned. Lily stroked his hair and whispered, "Sleep, my Harry. Just sleep." Then she looked out the window and hissed at the storm. "Go away, damn you! Just go away!"

The rain pattered down, and soaked the ground. Lily grew more agitated, as Harry groaned and thrashed about. But finally he settled, as the storm drifted off.

"How is he?" asked Lucy, standing in the doorway.

Lily looked up at her. "He's sleeping a bit easier now that the rain has stopped. I think he would have tried to become one with the rain again, if not for the Dreamless Sleep. Oh, Lucy! I don't want him taking that potion too much, it can be horribly addictive, but what could I do?"

"You did what tha had to, Lily," Lucy reassured her. "If Severus were here, he would have probably done the same."

"Sev wouldn't need to. He could just trance him," sighed Lily.

"True. But he wasna here, and thee handled it just fine."

"If you say so." Lily peered again at Harry, smoothing his hair from his brow. She bent and kissed her son on his scar. "I think I need a bit of a lie down, Lucy. Just until Sev comes home."

Lucy smiled. "Tha go and get some rest. Before you become all peaky, eh?"

"Right." Lily chuckled weakly, then went to her room. She fell asleep almost instantly, only waking when she heard Severus' voice in the hallway, speaking with Theo.

"He started to call another storm, Severus, but then Lily managed to get him to stop and put him to sleep. But it was kind of scary, especially when his eyes did that weird glowing thing." Theo was saying.

"Where are Lily and Harry now?"

"They're asleep." Theo replied.

She heard Severus' soft footstep outside her door and sat up, brushing her hair back from her face and murmuring, "Sev? Is that you?"

The door opened and Severus stood in the doorway, an expression of concern upon his face. "Lily? How are you feeling?"

"Tired. But much better now than before. Severus, we almost had another incident today when that storm blew in . . ." she quickly related the events of the afternoon to him.

He came and laid a hand upon her shoulder. "Lily, you did all right. You kept him stabilized and managed to keep him from summoning an even larger front."

"You would have done better," she disagreed.

"Perhaps. Or perhaps not. It would all depend upon how well he listened to me," Severus said quietly. "You place a great deal of confidence in me, Lily. I am not so certain I deserve it. There is much that I do not know about the nature of a stormcaller, and some of my methods are untried and could fail. All I can do is try my best. Just as you do."

"But Sev, what if my best isn't good enough? What if we . . . lose him?" Lily asked, her lower lip trembling.

"Lily, you have to think positively. So far he has managed to not lose control utterly of himself. That is a good sign. We have to hope that as we teach him, he shall endeavor to gain control over his power, enough so he can resist the madness. That is all we can do, and it is more than anyone else has yet managed."

"You're right. It's just that . . . sometimes I get so scared." Lily whispered, turning her head away to dab at her eyes with the corner of the sheet.

Severus slipped an arm about her, and murmured, "Me too, Lily. But we can't let fear rule us. Then we shall be useless to help Harry."

"I know." She abruptly turned back and hugged the Mind Healer. "Thank you, Sev. For always being there when I need you."

He hugged her back and didn't say anything. Her heartfelt regard was all he needed. And he prayed that he could keep her son from the path of self-destruction that always seemed to follow in a stormcaller's wake.

Page~*~*~*~*~Break

Another storm lashed the moor and the surrounding area near Heatherton Cottage two days later. This time Severus was at home, it being his day off. Harry was inside, writing an extra essay for Lily for "forgetting" to do his homework in Astronomy and going exploring in the small wood just outside the cottage with Theo the previous evening. Lily had been quite put out with her son's casual attitude towards homework and had read him the riot act about academics being extremely important, even if he wasn't attending a wizarding academy like Hogwarts, that didn't mean he could choose what assignments to do and ignore those he didn't like.

Harry was feeling irritable, since the approaching storm was beginning to make him get another headache, and he answered his mother back angrily, "All right, Mum! Don't have a hippogriff, it's not like I skipped class, you know."

"Don't you give me any cheek, young man!" Lily scowled, her green eyes snapping. "You know very well you were wrong in not doing homework before going exploring, now mind that mouth before it gets you in worse trouble."

"Like what?" he grumbled. "You are so overreacting. Merlin's pointed hat!"

"Harry! You sass me once more and you'll be over my knee and writing that extra essay with a sore bottom. This is your final warning."

"Yes, ma'am," he muttered, lowering his eyes, but inside he was still seething. Who cared about some stupid old Astronomy assignment anyhow? He turned and headed to his room, muttering about how unfair his mother was and how he wished he had gone to Hogwarts with Draco.

Lily stiffened, having caught some of what her son had muttered, and she longed to give him a firm smack. She didn't know what had gotten into him that day, but she wasn't going to put up with it. She was hurt and angry that Harry didn't think she was a good enough teacher, as if the professors at Hogwarts were any better!

Theo caught her expression and said softly, "Lily, he didn't really mean it. He doesn't know how good he's got it, learning at home instead of with strangers, or stupid kids who make fun of you. I think you're a great teacher. Much better than the ones I had when I went to wizarding primary school." Lucy had tried sending him to one of the private wizarding schools when he was a toddler, but it proved to be an utter disaster, and after Theo had been mocked and bullied for a month, pulled him out and taught him at home.

"Thank you, Theo." Lily gave him a slight smile. "Have you finished reading chapter three yet?"

"No, ma'am. But I'm almost done."

"Good. You may study until supper."

Severus had returned from Diagon Alley at that precise moment, placed his purchases from the apothecary in his private lab, and went into his room, which had an attached bath, to shower. While he was in the middle of shampooing his hair, there came an almighty crash of thunder. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

The loud noise was followed by a sharp crack of lightning, and Severus quickly rinsed off and shut off the water, not wanting to risk getting electrocuted. He was drying his hair and had just pulled on some trousers and a soft buttondown gray shirt when he heard the sound of glass shattering across the hall.

He tossed the towel on the floor and raced out of the bathroom. Harry's room was across from his and Severus feared the worst as he threw open the door.

The window in front of Harry's desk was a spiderweb of shattered glass and wind and rain was blowing in, scattering Harry's unfinished essay across the floor, along with his quill and ink stand. Harry was standing transfixed in front of the window, his hair plastered to his head from the rain, unmindful of the wet and freezing wind, his eyes fixed upon the huge branch of lightning just outside.

"Harry!" Severus yelled, struggling to be heard over the howl of the wind. Staggering, the Mind Healer managed to make his way into the room, getting splattered with raindrops and his wet hair blown all over by the fierce wind. "Harry, release the storm!"

He grabbed the boy's shoulder, spinning him about.

Once again, Harry's eyes glowed an eerie silver, like liquid mercury. His skin felt hot to the touch, as if he had absorbed the lightning's fire.

"Harry! Pull back!" Severus ordered, trying to bring the boy back to himself. He shook the slender boy slightly.

More thunder crashed and lightning sizzled through the air.

Harry could feel his control splintering as the desire to be one with the storm overwhelmed him. He threw back his head and screamed, feeling the power of the storm reverberate through him, making him burn with the need to strike something. Lightning smashed into the ground a few feet away from the house, drawn by Harry's anger.

"Stop it, Harry!" Severus ordered sternly. He touched the boy on the forehead with his wand. Then he slipped inside the boy's mind, trying to create a mindshield that would cut Harry off from the storm's power, enabling him to quit feeding off it, and becoming lost within the maelstrom of wind, rain, and lightning.

Harry fought him at first, but he was no match for a disciplined Mind Healer, and though he had a strong will, it was not strong enough to pit himself against Severus. Abruptly he felt his connection to the storm begin to dim. He could still feel its might, but not with the urgency he had previously.

"Breathe, Harry. And focus. That's it, look at me and remember who you are." Severus encouraged.

Harry took several deep breaths, feeling his chest tighten. He wanted so badly to shove Severus away and jump out the window, becoming one with the savage little squall. But Severus' mind clamped down even harder on the shields, forcing Harry to ignore the siren song of the sudden storm.

Harry shuddered all at once, and exhaled sharply. All of the tension went out of him and he crumpled to the floor, exhaustion sweeping through him. As well as guilt and shame. "I'm sorry, Severus. I . . . I broke the window. I didn't mean to, but when the thunder boomed, I drew the lightning to me, and the window just . . . broke."

Severus helped him to his feet. He mended the window with a brief flick of his wand, then mopped up the mess on the floor with another spell. Harry was wobbly, so Severus steadied him. "You're soaked, boy. Better change before you catch your death of a cold."

Harry's teeth chattered, but he managed to get undressed without further ado and put on some new clothes. He rubbed the side of his head, groaning.

Severus picked him up and carried him to bed. "Stay put, Harry. I need to get some potions from my medicine chest." The Healer departed, leaving Harry with a bad headache, and a churning stomach.

Harry tried to ignore the sick feeling, but it grew worse. He clamped a hand over his mouth, his eyes widening. He wasn't going to be sick, not in his room, he wasn't going to be sick.

Severus returned with the potions but before he could coax Harry to take one, the boy vomited . . . all over Severus' trousers.

Grimacing, the Healer took a step back, gripping his wand. "Child, why didn't you tell me you were nauseous?"

"I didn't mean to, sir!" Harry cried. "It just happened. I'm sorry."

Severus sighed and banished the mess. "It wouldn't be the first time that's happened to me. Do you still feel sick? Would you take a Stomach Soother?"

"My head hurts," whimpered the boy.

Severus nodded, clearly the headaches were a byproduct of the boy's power. He handed Harry a Headache Remedy, which Harry gratefully took. Then he gave him the Stomach Soother. Once Harry's stomach had settled, Severus sat him up on the bed.

But before he could speak further, Lily burst into the room, followed by Theo and Lucy. "Harry, are you all right? I heard . . . at least I thought I heard . . . something crash."

"That would be the window," Severus told her. "But I mended it."

"I'm fine, Mum. Just a little sick."

"Sick?" she glanced questioningly at Severus.

"He vomited all over me. I believe it was caused by his headache, which seems to appear whenever there's a storm in the vicinity or when Harry uses his power." Severus said matter-of-factly.

Lily moved and put a hand on her son's forehead. "Sev, he's burning up!"

Severus immediately cast a diagnostic. He frowned. "He needs a Fever Reducer. And lots of liquids. He seems to have caught a virus on top of his headache."

This time Lily summoned the potion and gave it to him, Harry made a face, but didn't argue. He drank thirstily from the glass of ice water Theo brought in, then lay back against the pillows, feeling gross. His eyes closed slowly and then he slept.

"Poor baby!" Lily whispered, stroking his hair. "How on earth did he contract a virus?"

"Lily, he's not immune to disease. He could have caught it from me, I'm surrounded by people at the hospital, and some of them sneeze or cough right on me. Don't fret, he should be fine in a day or two."

Severus was correct in his assessment. Harry recovered in a day, only to have Lily and Theo come down with the same virus two days later.

Severus was kept busy nursing the two of them over the weekend. Lily improved after a day or two, but Theo oddly enough did not. The young Squib remained in the grip of a high fever, thrashing and groaning as terrible muscle spasms wracked his small frame. Severus struggled to keep liquids down him, and Lucy hovered at his bedside, praying he wouldn't die, for he was slowly dehydrating and his fever was dangerously high.