~A/N> Finally, here's the third installment of the "Within" trilogy and the sequel to "The
Fear Within". I hope it lives up to your expectations and remember, no matter what bad things may happen in a
chapter, there will always be a happy ending in my stories.
The days of peace since Harry and Hermione Potter helped defeat Voldemort in the summer before their seventh year had
been wonderful. Hermione had given birth to their son Conlan Sirius during their sixth year at Hogwarts, their daughter
Lillian Jane two years after that, and then little two years after Aemilia Cherelle was born. Now, eleven years later,
Harry worked as an Auror and had been hunting down the remaining Death Eaters and individuals still loyal to Voldemort,
while Hermione worked as a healer and ran her own clinic in Diagon Alley giving witches and wizards an alternative to
St. Mungo's when they were sick or injured. The only downside to the Potters' jobs was that they were hardly
home. They also saw very little of each other, since Hermione worked during the day and Harry worked mostly at night.
At times when Harry didn't arrive home on time and Hermione had to go to work, Molly Weasley would come watch the
kids for them, insisting that it was no trouble at all since she thought of them as her own Grandkids. Harry and
Hermione rarely spent any time alone either.
One night, about a week before he was to return to Hogwarts for his fifth year, Conlan had gone upstairs after their mandatory nightly dinner as a family, unable to sit at the table and watch his parents pretend that everything was all perfect and fine. He and his little sisters knew their parents weren't getting along and it was starting to become very uncomfortable at home. Starting to feel angry with his parents at their behavior, Conlan walked over to his Muggle stereo and cranked up the volume as one of his favorite songs started to play; thankfully his Mum had insisted they live in a Muggle neighborhood, which meant they had electricity and he had the ability to lose himself in music any time he was angry or upset.
"Conlan Sirius Potter, get down here RIGHT NOW!" came the very angry voice of his Mother. Conlan turned the music down and left his room to answer his Mum's summons; she must be really mad to use his full name and shout over the loud music like that, instead of coming to his room to talk to him like she usually did.
As he stepped off the bottom stair and made his way back to the kitchen, the first thing he saw was the very irate expression on his Mother's face. She had this way of glaring at someone and making him or her immediately afraid; Conlan knew he was in big trouble.
"Did you do this?! What have you done?!" Hermione shouted, gesturing towards his youngest sister. He tried not to laugh at what he saw; her hair was turning from green to blue to yellow every few ticks. When he looked at his Dad he really had to stifle his laughter; Harry was still sitting at the table, battling with himself to keep the smile from forming on his face. He knew his Dad would appreciate the prank, but he didn't think his Mum would overreact like this.
Resigning himself to his imminent punishment, Conlan sighed and said, "Yes Mum, I did it. I used one of Uncle Fred and Uncle George's Rainbow Hair Tonics that they gave me for my birthday. It should wear off in about five minutes."
"I like it," stated Aemilia, smiling up at her big brother, "How'd you do it anyway?"
"A couple of drops in your water when I refilled it for you," Conlan replied, smiling down at her. Out of his two sisters, Lia, as he affectionately called her, had always been his favorite; she was fun loving, carefree and loved to go flying with him, very unlike Lillian. She was starting her first year at Hogwarts this year, and he hoped that she would be in Gryffindor with him. He had been surprised when Lillian had been placed in Ravenclaw; a part of him felt guilty when he remembered how relieved he had been that she wouldn't be in his house.
"How mature Conlan," stated Lillian, it was as if thinking about her brought her into the conversation. Out of the three of them, she was most like her mother; about the only things to occupy her thoughts were reading, schoolwork and following the rules, all the things that their Mother held dear. Conlan thanked Merlin that he had ended up, as his Mother so often reminded him, "just like his Father".
His Dad was his hero; he knew it was corny to call him that, but it was the truth. Harry would come home from work, very early in the morning, and grab about five hours of sleep. After that, he spent the remainder of his time with his children, and loved every minute of it. Conlan and his sisters often sat on the couch with him, listening to the tales of the trio's adventures at Hogwarts. He and Harry had spent many Sunday afternoon's at Grandma and Grandpa Weasley's; Harry had taught him all there was to know about flying and being a Seeker even before he had started Hogwarts. He already knew everything there was about Quidditch since Harry had been taking him to matches since he was five. Conlan had gone out for the Gryffindor house team, and just like Harry, had been selected as Seeker in his first year. When he had owled his parents to tell them the good news, Hermione had sent a letter that said, "Better let Madam Pomfrey know that she will have another Potter to patch up soon."
Conlan snapped out of his thoughts as Hermione shouted, "Are you even listening to me?!"
Conlan sighed and resignedly said, "Yes Mum."
He knew Hermione hadn't bought into his lie when he saw her lips had formed a straight line; he just wished she'd dole out his punishment and be done with it.
"Maybe you shouldn't go flying this weekend," she suggested, turning towards the sink, handing out the worst punishment possible.
"What?!" Conlan almost shouted, "It's the last weekend I get to fly with Dad at Grandpa Weasley's, you can't do this to me!"
"Yes I can," Hermione replied, turning back to him with an even angrier look on her face, "You are too old to be pulling these juvenile pranks on your sisters Conlan; when are you going to grow up?"
"Hermione," interrupted Harry, "Don't you think that's a little harsh?"
"No I don't Harry," she replied, turning her anger on him, "Don't you think it's time to act like his Father and not his friend? If you weren't so irresponsible..."
"And if you weren't so damn strict and lightened up a little maybe you would see that it was just a harmless joke!" Harry stated, standing up from his chair.
Hermione turned and stormed out of the kitchen, waves of anger practically radiating off of her as she left the room with Harry close behind. As he passed Conlan he put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry son, we WILL be going flying this weekend."
Conlan watched him leave the room and then turned back to his sisters. Lillian sat there glaring at him as she said, "Just brilliant Conlan, you caused yet another argument. Mum's right, when ARE you going to grow up?"
As he watched her stalk out of the room too he felt Lia grab his hand and turned back to see a sad look on her face. "Why do they fight like that all the time? Is it because we are bad?"
"I don't know why they fight Lia, but I'm sure it's not because we're bad" Conlan replied, wrapping his arms around her small body as she hugged him. He had no idea what was going on with his parents, or if their marriage was in trouble; all he knew was that he couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts and get away from all the tension. Unbeknownst to him, a horrible evil was waiting for him to return to Hogwarts, and soon something would happen that would either tear his family apart or finally bring them back together; something that had been foretold years before in a prophecy, which had been foolishly forgotten by all.