“Harry.” Harry tightened his hold on the dark wool fabric that was under his hand, nuzzling his head, and taking a deep breath, breathing in the smells of potions.

“Harry, darling, you have to wake up,” the sweet voice said again.

Harry turned his head, but did not lift it. He wasn't ready to abandon the soothing comfort the shoulder he was laying on was bringing him. When he opened his eyes, he was met by a woman with beautiful red hair and a pair of eyes that were as green as his.

Recognizing her from the pictures he had, Harry lifted his head to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

“Mum?” Harry gasped out.

A warm smile graced the woman's lips.

“Yes, Harry,” Lily said. “It's me.”

“Mum.” Harry felt his throat burn with tears. “I wish you were here.” Harry laid his head back down on the shoulder but kept his eyes on her.

“I know, baby,” Lily soothed. “But I'll always be with you. Both your dad and I will always be with you. I want to tell you, I'm very proud of you.”

Harry began to grin at his mum's admission, but the smile soon faded when he thought back over the past year, alone. He remembered seeing his parents and Cedric at the cemetery and he couldn't help the feeling of disappointment for not being able to save anyone and for everything being his fault.

Lily could see the change of emotion on her son's face, and as much as she wanted to hold her son, she knew she couldn't. She was there for a reason, but she would comfort her distressed child first.

“Why do you look so upset, my love?”

Harry looked up at his mum and couldn't help the tears that slid over his nose, down to the black wool robe he was laying on. Her heart clenched seeing her baby crying.

“I'm sorry, mum,” Harry cried. “It's all my fault. You and dad died because of me. It's all my fault.”

“No, baby. It was not. It was a very dark wizard's fault.”

“You died because of me.”

“I died doing what any mother would do for her child. If I had to do it over, I would do the same thing. Harry, you are my child. You were my baby and I would have put my life before yours in an instant. Your life was, is and will be very important. Knowing that you lived made my sacrifice that much more. I do not blame you. Your father does not blame you. Do we wish that we were the ones raising you, protecting you? Yes. Do I regret what I did that night? Not on your life. You, Harry James Potter, are my son and I would and did die to protect you. Now, there is something that I must share with you. And this is something that I must entrust you to do and complete for me. Do you understand?”

Harry, his head now off the comforting shoulder, looking at his mom, nodded his head.

“Now, before I died, I placed a protective charm over you that was built on love.”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, Professor Dumbledore told me. That protection kept Voldemort from touching me.”

“That's right,” Lily nodded. The pride in her child began to show on her face. “But certain events this year have circumvent my charm.”

“Voldemort coming back.”

Lily nodded.

“You need the love protection of another to override mine.”

“I won't have your love anymore.” Panic began to fill Harry's voice.

“Oh no, baby,” Lily soothed her child. “My love will be there, always. No, this love will be added to mine. This will amplify my original charm so that you will still be protected by my love, but with the love of another.”

Seeing her son's shoulders relax, she knew she had calmed down his fear of losing her love.

Harry's relief of still having his mother's protection along with someone else's made him sigh and lay his head back down. Lily knew that she didn't have much time, but before she could continue with why she was there, she knew she had to soothe and comfort her child.

“How do you feel about your Professor?” Lily asked.

Harry's head shot up once again and he looked at his mum. He thought about the question. How did he feel about the Professor? At one point he was scared of him. But then who wasn't scared of the Potions Professor? He had that way about him. In his first year, he would have thought that he was evil, but only to find out that he was protecting him throughout the entire year was a little unsettling for him since he always thought that Professor Snape hated him. Then second and third year just seemed to amplify his fear of the Head of Slytherin. But even after he did what he just knew he would be expelled for, Professor Snape still tried to protect him and his friends from Remus when he turned to a werewolf. His fourth year, Harry thought, was the most confusing regarding their mutual feelings for each other. When Harry's name came out of the Goblet, aside from the sneers and jeers he was getting from the student body, when he was walking towards the back where the champions were suppose to go, he saw Professor Snape's face. There wasn't his usual sneer whenever he saw Harry. No, there was genuine concern on his face that moment they stopped and looked at each other. Then after Harry left Dumbledore's office, he almost ran into Karkaroff as he stormed out of the Professor's store cupboard. He didn't know why he was so angry, but when Karkaroff looked at him, Harry's first thought was he knew he didn't want to be in a dark alleyway alone with the man. Still thinking on what he saw while at the Headmaster's office, he wasn't paying attention to the fact that he was about to do that very thing; being alone with Karkaroff. Not that it entered his mind, but he was brought out of his musing by Snape calling his name. At first he made it seem like Harry was going to get in trouble for walking around, but he just held him there for a few minutes. Accusing him of stealing from his stores, but Harry knew he hadn't. He didn't want to tempt fate a second time. Even though that fear he once had for his Professor subsided, it was still there. But his fear of his Potions Professor quickly went away when he found out that it was he who once again saved and protected him. Once again, it was Professor Snape who made sure he was taken care of. It was Professor Snape that shielded him from his relatives even when Professor Dumbledore wanted him to go back.

“Harry,” Lily said, bringing the child out of his musing. “How do you feel about Severus?”

A smile came across the boys face. “I wish he would always be there to protect me.”

The redheaded woman smiled at her son, leaned down until her mouth was next to her son's ear. She then whispered what he was to do. When she stood back up, she saw the bewilderment, and disbelief in her son's eyes.

“Just trust him, Harry.” Lily soothed. “All will be well.”

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Hermione woke up very excited. She had been waiting for this day all summer vacation. Before school let out, she was called to Headmaster's office. He told her that she would be going home to her family, but to be expected to be port-keyed to the Order's headquarters. He then gave her a small worn sock. She looked incredulously at it, and with a twinkle in his eye, he informed her that the sock would turn into a port-key when it was time to meet together.

Even though it has been almost a month, and she loved being with her parents, she was eagerly excited to see her friend's. Her parents were fine with the fact that she would be leaving earlier than before. Actually, after meeting one of her friends parents right before her second year, Mr. and Mrs. Granger didn't mind Hermione staying with the Weasleys during the summer.

Hermione was packing up her satchel. She'd been practicing an extendable charm since her third year because of all the classes that she took that year. Even though she didn't take that many classes anymore, knowing the charm had been a huge convenience, especially being friends with Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. After finishing packing, Hermione headed down stairs.

“Good morning, mum,” Hermione greeted her when she saw her mom sitting at the kitchen table.

“Good morning, sweetie,” Mrs. Granger responded with a smile. “All packed?”

“Yes mum,” Hermione said, filling her plate with the small breakfast that was laid out on the table. “Where's dad?”

“He had an emergency last night and just got home about an hour ago,” Mrs. Granger said, going back to the paper she was reading.

The Grangers were well known dentists in the community. Very rare did they get called out in the middle of the night for an emergency, but when it did Hermione had accustomed herself to know they would be home soon. This time it was her dad who had to leave. She knew it had to be something horrific if they called her dad to come at night.

Mrs. Granger seeing the worried look on her daughter's face she quickly reassured her, “It's not as bad as you're thinking. A couple of boys decided they wanted to try their hand at dentistry and knocked a kids tooth out and broke a few others. They called your dad so that he could try to fix the damage that they caused.”

“Oh,” Hermione sighed.

“What time do you leave?” Mrs. Granger asked, while pouring herself some more coffee.

“Professor Dumbledore told me that the port-key would activate at ten. I hope that dad is up so that I could say goodbye before I leave.”

“I'm sure he will be,” Mrs. Granger assured. “I am going to miss you.”

Hermione looked at her mum and could see tears starting to build up in her eyes. It was always hard to say goodbye to her parents. Hermione could feel the lump in her own throat as she saw the tears in her mum's eyes. Hermione got up from her chair and walked over towards her mum. She climbed into her mum's lap and encircled her arms around her neck. Mrs. Granger wasted no time in enveloping her only daughter in a hug, slightly rocking side to side.

“I'll write, mum. I promise,” Hermione muffled in her mum's shoulder.

“Of course you will.” A smile graced Mrs. Granger's tear-streaked face. “Take care of yourself.”

“I will, mum,” Hermione promised.

They sat like that for a few minutes. Hermione, not even caring that she was fifteen years old, loved the small moments when she could just be a child and sit on her mum's lap. When Mr. Granger came down for his morning cup of coffee, that was how he found his two special ladies.

_____0000___________00000__________00000_____________0000__________0000_______00_

Harry began to stir bringing his hand to rub his eyes. When he opened them, fear began to seep into his stomach. He did not recognize where his was. He had never seen this room before. He reached for his glasses that where on the bedside table. Putting them on, Harry looked around the room. There were pictures of different dragons plastered over the walls. For the way the room was shaped, Harry figured he was still at the Weasleys. He thought about his mum and what she said, and he couldn't help but feel hurt. For again, when he woke up he saw that he was alone.

Where was his Professor? Harry thought.

Harry was about to get up when the door to the room opened.

“Pup,” Sirius said, as a smile spread across his face. “You're wake.”

“Where am I?”Harry asked. His voice was a little groggy.

“Charlie's room,” Sirius answered. “You've been unconscious for about a day.”

“What happened?” Harry asked, sitting up. Sirius sat down on the bed beside his godson.

“What's the last thing you remember?”

“Being taken away from Professor Snape and you.” Harry scrunched up his brow. “The twins. Then all I wanted was to get back to m- the Professor.”

Harry hoped that Sirius didn't catch his slip. He didn't know how Sirius was going to take that Harry's protector was going to be Professor Snape and not him.

“You had displayed some very powerful magic last night. You apparated onto Snape's lap and were stuck to him for about three hours.”

Harry couldn't help the flush he felt to his face upon hearing that. Not only did he embarrass himself in front of his professor and Sirius, but he was clinging onto his professor like a baby. Now he knew there was no way that Professor Snape was going to make the charm to protect him if he was going to become an inconvenience.

Unaware of the struggle that Harry was thinking on, Sirius continued.

“We didn't know how to calm you down. You were shaking so badly. And even being in Snape's arms didn't calm you down.” Harry looked up at Sirius.

“What did calm me back down?” Harry asked.

Sirius didn't answer he just looked over Harry's head and towards the pillows on the bed. Harry turned his head in search of what his godfather was looking at. There he saw one more reason to be embarrassed. There laying at the head of the bed, being used as a pillow, the black bear that Professor Snape gave him had now made its way to the Burrow.

Oh great, Harry thought. Now the Weasleys know I have a teddy bear.

Now, sensing the turmoil that is going through Harry, Sirius looked at his godson with a small smile to reassure him that all will fine.

“No one will make fun of you, Harry,” Sirius said. “We were all just worried about you.”

There was a knock on the door and it cracked opened to reveal who was on the other side. Remus poked his head in the door. When he saw Harry awake, he opened the door all the way.

“Harry,” Remus smiled, walking in the room. “Come, cub, Molly's getting breakfast ready.” Remus held out his hand to help Harry up and Harry took it. Standing up on shaky legs, Harry stood between his father's two best friends. Once steady, all three headed down to have breakfast with the others in the house.

TBC