A/N: Thank you everyone for your incredible support! I'm so glad that you are still enjoying the story – I hope you like the new chapter :)

"Find the place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain." – Joseph Campbell

"Indeed. I believe Harry's relatives should be notified."

For a few seconds all Snape could do was stare, dumbfounded, at the Headmaster. Surely Snape must have heard him wrong? He couldn't possibly be suggesting to contact the very people who had obviously been abusing the boy.

"Pardon?"

Dumbledore sighed, "My boy, I know after all these events you have some suspicions about the Dursley family but we do not have concrete evidence at this time and so we must update them about Harrys' condition as per our school policy."

Snape choked. "Suspicions? No concrete evidence? Potter is the evidence, what more do you need than that?"

"I'm sure it can be agreed that Harry is not exactly…sound of mind at the present moment Severus. Until he has been returned to his regular self we do not know exactly about his home life. This is a serious allegation so once this mess is all behind us we can sit down and have a chat with him."

"Right, where he'll deny everything and insist that nothing is wrong. I've dealt with abuse cases before Headmaster, I know how this charade goes. If we follow along then we might be too late when something bad happens. If we follow up now then we have a chance to be ahead and assure that Potter never has to go back there." Snape tried to explain.

"And if you're wrong? Not only will you be accusing an innocent family of something terrible but you could deprive Harry of the safety of the blood wards around the family home should they not take them back after all the trouble."

"Those blood wards will be rendered useless if he is killed inside the home.."

"Enough!" Dumbledore bellowed. "I have told you how we are going to proceed Severus. This is what is best for Harry and this is the procedure we must follow, the procedure that we have promised every parent and child in this school. It is not your place to question this. Now, if you really feel this strongly about the situation, maybe it would be best if Minerva or I were to contact the Dursley family…"

"No" Snape interrupted. "No that is quite alright Headmaster. I apologise for my earlier outburst but as this incident happened during my class, I should be the one to explain to Potters' family what is happening."

"Very well Severus" Dumbledore smiled thinking that he had finally got his own way. "All is forgiven and I am glad that we can finally come to an agreement on this matter."

Snape nodded slightly and turned to leave the office, a smirk threatening to burst on his face. Feeling like the true Slytherin he was, he was glad that Dumbledore hadn't focused too much on his words. He was definitely going to get in contact with Harry's family and Dumbledore wasn't going to like it one bit. He was the one who asked for it though.

"Good morning Miss Granger, I am glad you stopped by." Professor McGonagall smiled. "Please take a seat."

"Good morning Professor" Hermione replied sitting down with Harry in her lap. "I was wondering where Harry could stay while I was in class?"

McGonagall's smile dropped and Hermione instantly knew that she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.

"Yes. Well it has been decided, mainly by the Ministry, that Harry should remain in all of his classes…"

"But he'll have no idea how to get there or what is going on" Hermione protested.

"Believe me Miss Granger, I know. I have voiced my concerns but the Ministry is adamant that Mr. Potter continue his studies. They believe that this is only a temporary situation but even so, he should not miss his education due to his mistake." McGonagall explained. "Additionally, the Headmaster is trying his best to appease the Ministry, especially after the fiasco last year, so he is not in the best position to argue against their decision."

"So what is the plan going forward Professor?" Hermione inquired.

She hated that the Ministry was so involved in Hogwarts business, but she understood that she needed to cooperate to the best of her ability for Harry's sake. She was going to do everything in her power to protect her cat boy best friend currently sitting in her lap playing with her hair.

"As the Headmaster has placed Mr. Potter in your and Mr. Weasleys' care, it has been decided that he shall stay with you considering that you three basically share most of the same classes anyway."

"Oh…well about that Professor, it seems to just be me looking after Harry currently. Ron has been a little…overwhelmed since the incident and I felt it was best for Harrys' wellbeing to give him a little space. Is there anyone else who could assist me with Harrys' care? Seamus mentioned about setting up a schedule with the Gryffindors.."

"I see." McGonagall interrupted. "That is unfortunate. We were hoping to affect the lives of as little students as possible. I apologise that this has all fallen on your shoulders, Miss Granger. Perhaps we can arrange a deal with the Ministry for Harry to be taken into the care of his relatives until the counter potion is ready?"

"No!" Hermione exclaimed and then immediately felt sheepish about her outburst. She would never let that option be used. Never again. "I'm sure I can figure it out. Maybe for the time being Harry could just come to all of my classes?"

"That sounds like a reasonable request, Miss Granger. Now, you best be getting off to class before you're late."

Hermione hurried out with Harry safely on her hip. She was glad that he was oblivious to the conversation happening around him, still tired after his nightmare. She had no idea how she was going to manage all of this by herself.

Going to her classes with Harry in tow was going better than Hermione had expected. Fortunately, most of her teachers found the situation just as ridiculous as she did and didn't expect anything from Harry. She was mostly trying to devise ways to keep him entertained and distracted so that he wouldn't get too bored or fussy. So far the best solution had been letting Harry draw on spare pieces of parchment. He had never been allowed to do something as simple as this before and he was having a great time and was lighting up every time Hermione gave him praise on his scribbles. She's sure that she even saw a few of her teachers absolutely gushing over how cute Harry was.

They only seemed to run into problems when it came to Defence Against the Dark Arts. Umbridge seemed determined to try and antagonise Harry any chance she could and the poor catboy was going further into his shell.

"Mr. Potter" Umbridge snapped for the tenth time. "I will not tolerate laziness in this class. I have instructed the class to read chapter seven and you are too busy with your doodling. I will be seeing you tonight in detention."

The once quiet classroom erupted into protest. Nobody could believe that somebody could be so cruel to a child who hadn't even made a peep since the class started.

There had been mixed opinions on Harry after the stories in the Daily Prophet over the summer. However, seeing Harry as a cute little half cat after the potions accident swayed the overall opinion in his favour. Even the Slytherins were fiercely protesting on Harrys' behalf.

Umbridge was flabbergasted. She has expected to be able to come into Hogwarts and punish the boy accordingly without anyone caring. She believed he deserved it after the amount of trouble he had caused the Ministry since stepping foot into the Wizarding World.

It seemed that Harry Potter had achieved something that no one in Hogwarts history had never been able to do. Harry Potter had somehow united the four Hogwarts houses.

The realisation only strengthened Umbridges' resolve. She was determined to follow through with her plan, she just had to be more careful than she first thought.

This school will be hers.

After classes had finished for the day, Seamus and Dean were sitting in the Gryffindor common room with their textbooks spread around them. Yet they could not concentrate on trying to finish their last minute essays. They could not agree on who to go to with their revelations about Harry.

After all, it had to be someone trustworthy and who would take them seriously. The pair were starting to understand why the golden trio tended to go about their shenanigans on their own without informing any teachers. In fact, the hard thinking had left the pair looking quite sullen when Neville came up to find them.

"Hey Nev, you alright mate?" Dean asked the shy boy, not wanting to scare him away with their bad mood.

"Hi guys, I just…I am rather worried about Harry…" Neville started.

"Join the club, Nev" Seamus grumbled.

"Well, it's just…his nightmare was pretty bad last night. When he was his normal self we would usually sit and chat when either of us had a nightmare. He always told me it was just 'You-Know-Who' stuff but last night…"

Although he trailed off, the pair knew what Neville was alluding to. Harry at the current moment was only four and hadn't gathered the same amount of 'You-Know-Who' trauma as his older self, meaning that the material must have come from another source.

"I think we're all on the same page here." Seamus started. "So Nev, would you like to help us with our plan?"

"Plan to do what?" Neville asked cautiously.

"Dean and I have recently found out certain things about Harry, which I believe are similar to your suspicions and we want to do something about it." Seamus answered.

"We originally wanted to inform a teacher. The only problem being that we have absolutely no idea who to turn to." Dean explained.

Neville nodded his head. "Well, that is easy to solve."

"It is?"

Neville smiled slightly. "'Course! We don't go to a teacher. We go to someone Harry trusts completely."

The boys were still staring wide eyed at Neville not sure where he was going.

"We go to Hagrid."

Hermione and Harry made their way to the library after their classes had finished. Hermione knew it was unlikely, but she was hoping that there would be some childrens' books for Harry and she could try to complete some homework.

She was going to have to work out some kind of schedule to keep on top of her schoolwork and care for Harry. Ron may come round one day but until then, Hermione was going to have to figure this out on her own. She would love to take Seamus up on his offer of the Gryffindors all making time to look after Harry but deep down Hermione knew that Professor McGonagall was right and she shouldn't take away their education. She had been deemed the smartest witch of her generation so she should be able to handle this, even on her own.

"Dway!" Harry shouted, distracting Hermione from her musings.

It made her smile that the librarian was cooing over Harry too much for her to scold him over his excited outburst. She sat down at Draco's table knowing that Harry wouldn't quieten down unless she did.

"Draco" she greeted.

"Granger" Draco acknowledged. "Hi Harry, how has your day been?"

Harry scrunched his nose a little. "Strange. Everyone was really nice though…except for one meanie…"

Hermione listened to Harry tell Draco every moment of his day as she brought out her papers and books to start on her work.

"…and I promised 'Mione that I'd be good while she does her works and she pinky promised that after we can go play outside!" Harry told Draco excitedly. "Cans you come too Dway?"

"Well, if Granger doesn't mind I'm sure I could tag along Harry."

"Of course you can, Harry loves seeing you." Hermione told him. "I'm afraid I have quite a bit to catch up on though, so we may have to wait a while."

Draco laughed. "You're already a week ahead of class and you call this catching up?"

Hermione sighed. Maybe it was excessive, but this was the only way she knew how to keep on top of everything. Should she dial it back for Harry's sake, even at the risk of her usual grades? He had been so good all day and it was still the start of the year so surely it wouldn't hurt to take a day off.

Draco saw Hermione struggling with her thoughts and decided to jump in with his offer. "Hey, how about I take Harry out for a while and show him the grounds? That way you can finish your work and he can burn some energy."

It was a really tempting offer. "Don't you need to do your work?"

"I've already finished mine. Plus I'm not willing to do next weeks' work until next week." Draco joked. "It'll give you a bit of peace and quiet and Harry some fun. We can meet you back here say in an hour or hour and a half?"

"Please 'Mione!" Harry begged with his signature kitten eyes that he had even before the potions accident.

"Ok" she agreed. "Only if you are absolutely sure Draco?"

Draco nodded and swung Harry into his arms making the catboy giggle.

"Bye 'Mione!" Harry called out waving enthusiastically.

As Hermione waved back, she wondered whether the librarian was sad at the loss of the cute catboy or happy that her library was finally back to being quiet.

Harry was having the best time with Draco. So far he had seen the courtyard, the lake with a giant squid monster in it (although Draco reassured him that the giant squid was friendly) and a sports pitch. Harry was sure that Draco was just teasing him when he explained the game of Quidditch on the flying broomsticks. He was still getting used to the concept of magic afterall.

However, Draco took Harry into the stands and they watched the players practice for a little while. Harry was awestruck and Draco pinky promised that when Harry was a bit older he would be allowed to play, he was just a bit too young at the moment for the dangerous game.

Whilst leaning against Draco and watching the players practice, Harry felt a wave of tiredness wash over him. Unsurprising really, considering he had nightmares all night and was with Hermione all day during her classes. Harry could only imagine how tired 'Mione must be after not getting much more sleep than he did, having to actually pay attention all day and she was still working even now.

Although Harry wanted to stay awake and spend as much time as possible with his best friend, he couldn't fight the comforting warmth of being snuggled up with Draco or the feeling of complete safety for the first time. Burrowing closer into Draco's robes he let himself give into the sleep, his last thoughts hoping that he wouldn't have any more nightmares.

Severus couldn't help the smug smile that refused to leave his face. For as long as he knew Dumbledore, the man had been plotting and manipulating anything he could. Now, however, he was going to get a taste of his own medicine.

The Headmaster had become too cocky, believing that Snape would do something that he was against just because the Headmaster was the one to ask it. Snape was glad that he would be the one to knock that confidence down a peg and he refused to miss a single moment of it.

"Headmaster" Severus greeted strolling carelessly into the mans' office.

"Hello my boy, I must say it is nice to see you looking so chipper."

"Yes, well, I have come to inform you that I have carried out the task of letting Potters' family know of the incident that occurred. I must say they were terribly worried, in fact they are on their way now to discuss with you the next stages of Potters' care." Snape explained, oddly gleeful.

"I must say I am glad to hear that they are taking this matter seriously, but how are they getting here Severus? Surely it would be best to send them a letter perhaps?"

"Nonsense Headmaster" Snape replied. "It is well within a guardians rights to speak to the Head of the school concerning their child. They wanted to have this conversation face to face, all of which is allowed under school policy."

Before Snape could accidentally give any of his plan away, the floo in the office roared to life and out stepped a very angry Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

"Dumbledore! Where the hell is our cub?"

A/N: Is there a hint of a plot coming along? Hopefully coming soon…

Thank you for sticking with this story, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And thank you for the lovely comments you left, I will try my best to respond to all of them 3