Harry threw Neville a horrified glance, when he again began to feel sick. He quickly conjured a bucket with a wandless Spell and emptied his stomach. When he was finished, Neville took the bucket, cast a Scourgify Spell on it, and helped Harry lie down on the sofa. Sitting on the edge of the sofa, he asked, “Harry, what happened? Did he attack you again just now?”

Harry told him what had happened but had to admit that he wasn’t sure if Dumbledore had really talked to him or if it just had been his feverish imagination. He thought about the voice he had heard and finally said, “No, it probably was Dumbledore. We had just spoken about the old fool when it happened. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

“No, probably not,” Neville agreed pensively and resolved to speak with his colleagues about it. He glanced at his watch. The first years’ double Herbology lesson was nearly over. “Harry, what should I do with you? Do I need to take you to Poppy?”

“No, please don’t. She can’t help me anyway. Just let me go back to class, it’s okay. I want to be at least physically present for my classes,” Harry objected and allowed himself to be led back to the greenhouse. The lesson had just finished, and Harry’s classmates threw him a relieved glance when he approached them and Neville went to talk to his colleague.

Harry led his classmates up to the Charms classroom, followed by the Hufflepuffs, who were glad to have a guide through the huge and unfamiliar castle. Enid joined Harry and Evelyn, while they were walking.

“Hey, Enid,” Harry said pleased. “How’s Hufflepuff? Do you get along well with everyone?”

“Yes, everyone is nice, although I’m a bit sad that we’re all in different Houses. When can we meet in the room you showed us on your birthday, Harry?” she asked eagerly.

Harry sighed. “Sorry Enid, but not today. But we probably have most of our classes together, as they always pair Ravenclaw with Hufflepuff for most of them, so I’ll tell you when I’ll be able to flash us to the room.”

They had already arrived at the Charms classroom and hurriedly sat down. Harry chose to sit in the last row, while Evelyn and Brian took the seats next to him. Harry had just sat down when Lily entered the classroom from her office with Isabella in tow. Isabella quickly looked around the room and saw her adored brother. She let out a joyous, “Hawwy!” and stormed up to Harry, ignoring her mother’s protest.

Harry lifted the little girl and settled her onto his lap, cuddling her close. Isabella frowned as Harry still felt hot to the touch like before. She turned her head and asked, “Hawwy goo?”

“I’m fine, Isa, thanks,” Harry whispered. “But you have to be quiet now, Isa, otherwise Mummy will become very angry.”

Isabella gave him a nod and leaned back into his robes, putting a thumb into her mouth while her other hand was busily cuddling her beloved teddy. Harry tried to listen to his mother for a while, until he tuned her out. His head felt so heavy that he couldn’t help resting it on his sister’s head. Isa stirred and quickly slid down to the floor. She determinedly walked over to her mother, ignoring the giggles and ‘aww’s’ that followed her through the class.

Reaching her mother, Isabella said accusingly, “Harry fik!”

Lily gave her daughter a sad smile and answered quietly, “Yes, sweetie, I know that Harry is sick and should be in bed but we’ll talk to him after the lesson. Go sit in your corner and play for a while, Isa.”

Isabella shook her head and went back to Harry’s lap, where she stayed quietly for the rest of the lesson. Lily shortly pondered if she should call her back but a look in Harry’s flushed face convinced her that Harry wouldn’t learn much today – with or without his sister on his lap.

“Sorry for the interruption,” Lily addressed the class. “My daughter hasn’t yet gotten used to the fact that her brother is a student. Now, let’s practise your first Charm.” She showed the class how to do the ‘Wingardium Leviosa’ Charm, and with a flick of her wand everyone had a feather on their table.

Only Lucy managed the Charm, while the others tried again and again to no avail. “Very good, Miss Tailor, ten points to Ravenclaw,” Lily commended. “Mr. Snape,” Lily then turned to Harry, whose head shot up. “If you’re able to do magic around the little angel on your lap, could you please show your classmates how to do the Charm?”

Harry pulled his wand out of his robe pocket, which forced Evelyn to giggle as everyone else had already been practising the Charm for ten minutes. Then he let his feather hover to Isabella’s delight. She squeaked happily and tried to get hold of the feather to the great amusement of the surrounding students.

“For our next lesson, please read the first chapter in your book and write a short summary. Mr. Snape, please stay behind for a moment,” Lily said, before she dismissed the students. “You don’t have to wait for Harry; to find the Great Hall you just need to go down the stairs around the corner,” she told the students, seeing that all Ravenclaws and even a few Hufflepuffs were lingering by the door, obviously waiting for her son.

Harry turned his head and gave his new friends a comforting nod, and the first years hesitantly left the room. Lily sat down next to Harry in the seat Evelyn had just vacated. She put a hand on his forehead and frowned.

“Harry, you’re burning up. What are you doing here? You are in no condition to attend and follow any lesson,” Lily asked, reprimanding.

“Yes, I know, but that’s exactly what he wants, making me miss lessons starting the first day,” Harry explained. “It’s not by chance that he attacked me yesterday and today.”

“Today?” Lily asked horrified. “Dumbledore attacked you again?”

“Yes, but he didn’t send me a vision; he only talked to me.”

Suddenly, Harry felt a new sharp pain in his head and he heard Dumbledore say, ‘Your father will regret what he did.’

Harry quickly passed Isabella over to his mother and gripped his head with both hands.

“Again?” Lily asked terrified, only getting a groan as an answer. Lily rushed to the fireplace and Floo-called her husband. She quickly filled him in about Harry’s problem, and ordered him to come and try to help Harry.

Seconds later, Severus stepped through the Floo, picked Harry up, and carried him through Lily’s office into the living room, where he laid him onto the sofa. Lily followed with Isabella before she lit the fireplace and tried to Floo-call Minerva, but the Headmistress had already left her office, for lunch in the Great Hall. As Lily knew that Minerva was the only one who kept her mobile phone switched on in the Great Hall, she quickly took Severus’ mobile phone and called Minerva to excuse them from lunch and Harry from his afternoon classes.

In the meantime, Severus entered Harry’s mind. Harry showed him the vision Dumbledore had sent him the night before and let him hear what the old man said to him. Pensively, Severus left Harry’s mind and waved his wand at his son to check on him. He shook his head and told Harry, “I’m afraid you have to stay here for the rest of the day. You’ve a high fever, and you’re in no condition to attend classes. Brewing potions in your condition is, as you know, especially dangerous, and you have Potions after lunch, right?”

“Yes,” Harry said darkly. “But don’t you understand, Daddy? That’s just what he wants.”

“Yes, but we have to find a way to stop him. We are having a staff meeting this afternoon once classes are over, and I’ll talk to the others about it. You may rest either here or in your dormitory if you want but only if Fawkes is with you,” he finally conceded, giving Lily a short glance.

“Then I have to take his perch with me, otherwise he won’t like it at all. He told me before that he doesn’t like dormitories and prefers to stay here.”

Severus frowned and addressed Dobby, who had just brought lunch for the four of them. “Dobby, please purchase another perch for Fawkes and have the money taken from the Snape vault. Place the perch next to Harry’s bed in his dormitory.”

“Yes, of course, Professor Snape, sir. Dobby is seeing to it immediately,” the elf answered and was gone with a ‘Pop’.

In the meantime, Lily had fetched one of the spare mobile phones out of Harry’s stock and had quickly charmed it. “Here, Harry, take this with you and phone us when you have problems. I’ve already charmed it for you,” she added.

“Thanks, Mummy,” Harry replied gratefully and handed back Lily’s phone.

“Harry, I want you to stay here at least until the next lesson is finished. During class, I’ll brew a potion out of the very strong Pain reliever and the Fever reducer, so that you can take it with you and only have one potion to take if you need it. However, it’s so strong that you can’t take more than three phials of it within twenty-four hours, is that clear?” Severus asked, looking sternly at his son while he handed him two phials.

“Yes Dad, thanks,” Harry replied and gulped down the potions.

“wunf, wunf, now, Hawwy!” Isabella impatiently joined the conversation.

“Yes, let’s have lunch,” Lily agreed.

Harry only slightly shook his head before he lay back and closed his eyes, while his parents exchanged a worried glance. “You can leave Isa here with me, Mummy,” Harry mumbled, before he drifted off to sleep.

Harry woke up to a sloppy kiss being placed on his cheek. “Hey, Isa,” he mumbled lazily.

“Hawwy pway?” his sister invited him cheerfully.

Harry groaned inwardly. “Shall I read you a book?” he asked hesitantly, hoping one of his parents would be back soon to rescue him as his head still felt as if it had been run over by a hippogriff.

Isabella gave him a delighted nod and dashed away only to return a minute later with what had once been Harry’s favourite book about a dragon that was friends with a snake and a phoenix. Harry patted the enlarged sofa to motion his sister to lie down again next to him and started reading the story to her. None of them noticed Severus entering the room when Harry was about half through the story. He waited patiently until Harry had finished reading before he addressed his son.

“Now, Harry, the afternoon classes are over, and I have to attend the staff meeting. So far I’d left open the connecting doors so that I could hear you if something happened but now you’d be really on your own here. Do you want to return to your dormitory since your classmates will probably return soon?”

“All right, I’ll ask Fawkes to flash me over. Shall I take Isa with me or will you take her?”

“Ifa tay Hawwy!” his sister shouted excitedly.

“You have to rest, Harry, and if something happens phone me immediately. I won’t switch off my phone, all right?” He handed Harry a shrunken batch of potions. “Remember, Harry, not too often. If it’s not too bad you only need to take a sip of it.”

“All right Dad, I’ll be careful,” Harry ensured his father before he turned to his sister. “Sorry, Isa, but I’d like you to go with Daddy now. It’s my first day of lessons and I’ve promised my classmates to help them with their homework. If I go to dinner today, you can come and eat together with my friends and me, all right, sweetie?”

“Harry, you are to go to dinner. If you really can’t attend, please have one of your classmates tell either your Head of House or me. That doesn’t apply only for today but anytime there is something wrong.”

“All right,” Harry agreed and called Fawkes, who flashed him to his dormitory.

Aware of the fact that his classmates would return any minute, Harry walked down to the Common room and made himself comfortable on the sofa in front of the fireplace while several older students filed into the room. He pulled out his new mobile phone and quickly made shortcuts for the most important telephone numbers, so that he could call them with only dialling one number. The group of first years joined him shortly after he finished.

“Harry, where have you been?” his friends shouted excitedly. “We were worried about you,” Evelyn added quietly.

“Sorry, but my Dad made me take a nap,” Harry told them uncomfortably. “As I said this morning, I’ll tell you after dinner. Now, shall we start doing homework?”

“No, wait,” Brian objected. “We’re all together, so why can’t you tell us now?”

Harry sighed. “Alright, then let’s go to our dormitory. It’s not an interesting story though.”

The ten first years entered the boy’s dormitory; Harry placed a strong Silencing Spell at the door before he explained to his classmates what he was doing. They sat down on Harry’s and Brian’s beds and Harry started to tell them about Dumbledore wanting to torture and perhaps even kill him because he feared that in the future Harry might be more powerful than him. He also told them how Dumbledore had tried to kill Lily and him and how Professor Riddle had saved them. He didn’t tell them about being de-aged however as he didn’t think anyone else should know about it, and he felt uncomfortable enough being so far ahead of everyone else even without them knowing the reason.

To his great relief, nobody interrupted him while he was talking. When he had finished the others started to ask questions.

“So, this Dumbledore is after you because your magic is so powerful? But you told us he’s in Azkaban, didn’t you?” Brian enquired.

“Yes, he’s in Azkaban because he tried to kill me several times,” Harry said darkly.

“And Professor Riddle saved you and your mother and brought your mother back when you were seven? Why not earlier?” Lucy asked curiously.

“I had to say an incantation and Dad had to brew a potion with my blood in it. My magic, which was in my blood of course, had to be strong enough for the potion to work, and I had to be able to cast the Spell properly. So we couldn’t do it earlier.”

“Professor Evans-Snape is your mother, right?” Aidan questioned.

“Yes, and Professor Snape is my Dad, Professor Riddle is my great uncle and my godfather, and Madam Pomfrey is my godmother,” Harry admitted.

“I don’t understand though why Dumbledore wanted to kill your mother in the first place,” Brian said pensively.

“I have no idea. Maybe so that she couldn’t give birth to any more powerful babies,” Harry mused, before he gripped his head and moaned in agony.

“Was that an attack again?” Noah asked, while Evelyn, who was sitting next to Harry, soothingly rubbed his back.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t a vision. They’re the worst. This time, he only told me not to tell lies about him, which I’m not doing, and sent me a curse. I don’t know what it is but it causes me so much pain that I get bad headaches and fevers from it, which won’t even go away with potions easily,” Harry explained quietly, reaching for one of the phials on his night table. He took a small sip and told his friends how Dumbledore had always attacked him on his birthday, so that he had been ill on Christmas, and not able to enjoy it.

Just then, their Head of House entered the dormitory, astonished to find all the first years huddled together on Harry’s and Brian’s beds. “Oh, am I disturbing an important meeting?” she asked, wondering about the disturbed faces on her students.

“No, Professor, Harry just told us about the attacks,” Brian explained to the teacher.

“Oh, you told them?” Luna said astonished. “That’s good, Harry, well done. In fact, I came to see how you were doing. Do you feel better?”

Harry slightly shook his head, and Noah answered for him, “He just had another attack happen, Professor.”

Luna’s face darkened visibly. “Your father told me he gave you a potion, so that you don’t have to wait for anyone to come. I also want you to put your mobile phone on the night table, so that your roommates can call us faster if you need us.”

“Yes, I already thought about that,” Harry explained and showed the others his phone. “I’ve programmed a few numbers. Just press ‘1’ for my father, ‘2’ for my mother, ‘3’ for Madam Pomfrey, or ‘4’ for Professor Lovegood.”

“Now Harry, your father and Professor McGonagall just went to the Ministry in order to ask the Minister to have the Dementors give Dumbledore the kiss; just to let you know.”

Harry let out a small snort. “You don’t think they’ll kiss him, do you?”

“Why not, Harry? The Minister owes you a lot. You have invented the cure for Lycanthropy and it was you who invented the Charm so that everyone in the magical world can use mobile phones. You’ve always collaborated with the Minister, so yes, I’m quite sure he will decide to have Dumbledore kissed,” Luna replied softly.

Harry’s classmates listened to the conversation in awe. An instant later, however, Harry was pulled into a vision. Harry and a group of students were sitting next to the lake, obviously studying together. Suddenly a huge group of Dementors came. Harry started to shiver violently. He desperately tried to conjure a Patronus. A phoenix Patronus appeared but flashed away immediately, leaving the Dementors free to continue their destruction. Just before the Dementors kissed each of his friends, Harry managed to get out of the vision. He leaned over the edge of his bed and was violently sick.

“Please go to the Great Hall for dinner and tell someone at the teachers’ table that I’m going to miss dinner because I’m staying here with Harry until you return,” Luna ordered Harry’s friends sternly, and everyone quietly left the dormitory.

Luna helped Harry take the rest of the potion and lie down, before she cast a slight warming Charm on him, seeing how he was shivering. “What was it, Harry?” she then asked softly, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

Harry reached for his wand and quickly asked Fawkes to fetch his Pensieve, so that he could put the vision into it. Luna was slightly shivering as well when she left the Pensieve. “Oh my, that was horrible, Harry. I hope it won’t take long until he receives the kiss.”

“Hopefully, because I don’t know how I’ll be able to even study at all otherwise,” Harry admitted.

“Now, don’t worry about that now. Fortunately, you don’t have to study a lot for your classes.”

“But Luna, I’ve already missed my first Ancient Runes class today. If this continues, I’ll have to drop it,” Harry replied in an upset tone.

“So, worst case scenario, just drop it, and pick it back up next year. It’s a third years’ class anyway. Apart from that, you can ask any of the third years to give you their notes. That’s not a problem. But you mustn’t do any homework or studying when you’re ill. It’s not your fault and you can’t change it. Don’t forget, you already know enough to take your OWLs. So, you don’t have to worry about your studies at all. You only have to care of yourself and stay healthy. Everything else is unimportant. And it’s very good that you told your classmates the truth because you may need their help and understanding,” Luna told Harry in a quiet voice.

“Thanks, Luna,” Harry mumbled tiredly.

Suddenly, Severus entered the room. Luna quickly filled him in about Harry’s vision, and Severus entered the Pensieve to watch it. When he left the Pensieve, he let out a deep sigh and quietly spoke to Luna as Harry had his eyes closed. “The Minister told us they probably won’t be able to give the Dementors to kiss Dumbledore. He wasn’t exactly sure, but he said the Aurors have obviously lost their control over the Dementors. That’s all I know at the moment. The Minister promised to enquire about it and contact us tomorrow.”

Luna gave Severus an exasperated look. “You don’t think Dumbledore is in control of the Dementors, do you?”