“You said you were going to visit.”
Harry lifted his head to the sight of Alex standing below their tree, which brought a surge of energy to his system.
“What- what are you doing here?”
“Doing your job, I guess,” Alex said. “Visiting.”
“I’m sorry… I didn’t know where you were.”
“Did you ask?”
Harry ignored the question. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Alex climbed up the tree, brushing her hair back behind her shoulders once she’d reached the branch with Harry. “Do you care?”
“Of course, I care! Alex, I’m- I’m sorry, I just- it’s been…” Harry struggled for the words to describe the haze that had taken over his mind the past few weeks.
“It’s alright,” Alex relented quietly. “I know what you mean.”
“What are you doing here?” Harry asked again. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but, won’t you get into trouble?”
Alex shrugged. “It’s early recess. I can make it back to my school on time, it’s only a few streets over.”
“How are you? Is- is the foster home okay?”
“It’s fine,” Alex shrugged again before a smile graced her lips. “I have some good news, actually.”
Harry wasn’t sure if he had ever heard good news before. “What is it?”
“My mom is out of rehab and she’s working on getting me back!”
Harry was still unsure if he had ever heard good news before. “Oh, uh, that’s great! Does- does that mean-”
“I’ll get to move back to Privet Drive,” Alex grinned.
Now Harry was smiling, too. “Really? That’s great! When do you think it’ll happen?”
“Probably soon! Some people are just trying to decide if my mom is, like, fit for me or something, I dunno. She’s my mother, so of course she’s fit, I don’t know what’s taking so long!”
Harry wished that there was someone to decide whether or not the Dursleys were fit guardians for him. He didn’t think that blood really mattered all that much in these cases, if someone were a crap parent then they were a crap parent. He just hoped that wasn’t the case for Alex.
“That’s great, Lexie,” Harry smiled encouragingly. “Hopefully it’ll all be worked out soon.”
Alex grinned back. “Yeah, hopefully. Anyway, I better get off to school. Have a good day!” She gave him a quick hug before making her departure, sliding down the tree and running off to school, leaving Harry to wonder how he could possibly have a good day at his own.
***
Harry didn’t wake up with a scream after being shaken awake from a nightmare, but it was a near thing once he noticed the large figure looming over his cot. If the dream wasn’t scary enough, that certainly was.
“Dudley, what, what the-”
“Um, sorry,” Dudley apologized, which didn’t answer Harry’s questions in the least. He struggled to collect himself after the intense dream of cold dead eyes staring up at him, even more so now that he had an apparent companion to witness his mini freak out.
“I was just going to the kitchen for a snack and I heard you and-”
“I was making noise?” Harry asked, alarmed. That could become a major problem for his health if these nightmares continued and Uncle Vernon was to hear him.
“Nothing major,” Dudley assured quickly. “Just some rustling, and I, uh, wanted to check and make sure you were okay.”
Harry blinked. “What?”
It was too dark to really tell, but Harry thought that Dudley was blushing. “I just wanted to see that you were alright, mate.”
That last word was what brought Harry back to reality. He sat up, trying to make himself appear larger (which was nearly impossible next to Dudley) while huffing, “I’m not your mate.”
Dudley looked away, seemingly chastised. “Yeah, I know, sorry, Harry, I just…”
“Well don’t,” Harry sighed, feeling too exhausted to deal with his cousin’s apparent personality crisis just now. He lay back down, pretending that he was actually capable of falling back to sleep as he turned his back to Dudley.
It took several long moments, but Dudley eventually did leave, offering a “Sleep well, Harry,” on his way out.
Surprisingly, he did.
***
It took a few more months, but the day that #10 was resided in again brought something like a jolt to Harry’s system. He knew that it would happen eventually, but it still felt like a shock.
It was a bigger shock, however, when Alex came running out of the house.
With a dog.
And… a baby.
***
Severus awoke with a jolt. He stared at the darkness of his bedroom for a moment, unsure of what had woken him until he heard it again. A scream, or something similar.
Severus then jumped out of bed and hurried down the hall to Harry’s room. The boy was tangled in the sheets, flinging his arms about as if to fend off some invisible attacker. Severus approached him quickly but cautiously.
“Harry,” he stated firmly. “You need to wake up.”
The boy continued to thrash about and Severus hesitantly reached a hand out to shake him awake. “Harry. It’s time to wake up now.”
Suddenly the boy’s eyes flew open and he darted away from Severus, back making rough contact with the headboard. They stared at each other for a bit before Harry seemed to deflate, shoulders drooping as he calmed down.
“Are you quite alright?” Severus asked after a moment. Harry nodded quickly.
“Well… try to go back to sleep,” Severus said, hesitating just a minute before leaving Harry alone, closing the door behind him and returning to his own bedroom.
This trend continued for several nights in a row until Severus finally asked, “Would you like to talk about it?”
The boy still rarely spoke, and when he did it wasn’t much more than one-word responses to questions Severus would ask. He didn’t say anything now, but then, Severus hadn’t really expected him to. They sat in silence for several minutes, and when Harry’s eyes had begun to close Severus stood to leave. A hand caught his own and stopped him before he could exit.
“Just… stay. Please,” Harry whispered, voice so soft Severus would have missed it if he had not been listening for it. But he always was listening, in hopes that one day maybe the old Potter would come back, the smart-mouthed and snarky Potter, the Potter he thought he knew.
The Potter that had never truly existed.
“Alright,” Severus murmured, sitting back down beside his ward. “I’ll stay.”
Harry nodded but did not let go of Severus’ hand as he laid his head back down on the pillows, closing his eyes after several minutes.
Severus watched as he fell back to sleep, torn between feeling glad that Harry would reach out to him for comfort and sad that his defenses were down so low that he would latch on to anyone, even someone who had shown little care for him in the past.
Conversations in the Night
Chapter End Notes:
I know this is a rather short chapter compared to the others, but it both the past and present scenes lead directly into the next chapter and I had no filler and nothing more to accomplish here. Hopefully, the next chapter will be soon, I keep thinking it's finished but apparently it's not XD thank you for the support!!! I'd just about given up on writing this story which I never want to do but then I got some comments that really encouraged me to keep going, so thanks for that. I didn't edit this chapter as thoroughly as I normally do so I apologize for any mistakes.