Harry leaned back on the palms of his hands, his eyes closed as warm sunbeams caressed his skin. He sighed happily as he felt the sun next to him shift suddenly informing the boy that someone had sat down next to him.
"Hello, Draco," he said softly, not bothering to open his eyes.
"Hello, Harry," Draco said, without any hesitation.
"How'd you know it was me?" Harry asked, sitting up to look at the blonde.
Draco leaned back on his hands and looked out at the unending sea before them.
"I'm not actually sure," he said softly "I just knew,"
Harry silently accepted the other boy's explanation. They both sat in silence for a long time, a Seagull flying high above them cawing loudly.
"Draco,"
"Harry,"
The two boys blushed in embarrassment and Harry looked up into silver eyes.
"Why did you lie about being a Scamander?" Draco burst out, surprised at himself.
"I don't know," Harry said softly, "But I really was adopted by Newt Scamander,"
Draco stood up suddenly.
"That's not true," Draco said suddenly "Newt Scamander has no children we learned so in class! Besides I'm sure someone would notice if Newt Scamander adopted the boy who lived!"
Harry stared at Draco's outburst in surprise.
"You're just a liar," Draco declared, sticking his nose in the air "Famous Harry Potter pretending to be a Scamander,"
"I am a Scamander!" Harry said also standing on the burning sand.
"You are not! Besides even if you were adopted you still wouldn't be a Scamander! You have no family! You're just a freak and a liar!"
Harry gasped at the harsh words, his chest panging painfully. Draco's eyes were cold and full of hate, his face split by a disgusted sneer.
"Look at you," he continued, mercilessly "Harry Potter, orphan, and a liar! Did your mother not teach you how to be honest, Potter? She never teach you decency? Oh! That's right! I forgot, she's dead!"
"Shut up!" Harry yelled, tears falling down his cheeks.
"You're not worthy of being a Scamander! Look at you," Harry looked down to see his previous clothes had been replaced with the large baggy ones that he had thrown out a year before, his pants held up by a cinched shoelace. "You are pathetic! Barely even worthy of the filthy Potter name!"
Harry sobbed more as he curled his scarred arms tight around his stomach. The environment around them shifted and changed to the Dursley home.
"You're a freak!" Draco shouted, angrily shoving Harry onto the living room floor.
"You're a freak'!"
Harry looked up to see Dudley standing over him.
"I didn't do anything!" Harry cried, rubbing his elbow from where it slammed off the ground harshly.
"You killed that dog didn't you, Freak?!" Dudley yelled, angrily kicking Harry in the ribs.
"I didn't touch any dog!" Harry cried out, curling into a ball on his side.
"You liar!" Dudley yelled, angrily tugging Harry up by his hair and dragging him towards the sliding glass doors that looked outward into the back garden.
Harry cried out in pain and was forced to look at the back porch where a dog lay on the stone with a garden shovel sticking from it's sticky neck. A pool of blood surrounded the stray mutt.
"I didn't do it!" Harry cried, wincing at the sigh "I didn't do it!"
"You liar!" Dudley yelled, wrenching the boy's head back. "I'm telling dad!"
"No, please!" Harry cried "Please, I didn't do anything!"
Harry thrashed against the older boy's meaty grip.
"Freak!" Vernon's angry voice screamed throughout the room.
Suddenly, Harry was being dragged by the back of his collar up the stairs. He cried out against the rough steps scraping against his delicate skin. He twisted in the grip trying to escape the torture that awaited him at the top of the stairs. His foot hooked around the wooden peg of the stairs and Harry winced as it cracked being pulled free, only offering a moment of suspension. Vernon grunted as he pulled the tiny child up to the upper level. He paused at the top of the stairs to punch Harry in the face making the boy stay still in shock. Harry was yanked into the bathroom and next thing he knew water was being shoved down his throat. He looked around the water around his head in horror, realizing somehow he had been transported into the bathtub. His throat was raw from screaming and he struggled to sit up in the tub. Hands pushed his chest down till his body was submerged under the water. He coughed and air came out of his mouth bubbling to the surface of the tub. His lungs burned painfully as this filled with water and his arms and legs flailed uncontrollably trying to get something, grab something to pull him up. Vernon's red face appeared above the water, grasping Harry's neck he pinned the small boy to the bottom of the bathtub. Harry cried and wrapped his own hands around the man's chubby wrists trying to pry them off his neck.
"This is what happens to no good freaks!"
Harry heard through the muffling water. His eyes felt as though they were about to pop out of his head and his vision was blurring. Suddenly though, Vernon's hands weren't on his neck anymore, and Harry sat up in the scalding water and coughed harshly, water projecting from his mouth.
"Harry,"
Harry turned his very red eyes to see his aunt standing in the doorway, a frying pan in her hands.
Harry sat up in his bed and screamed loudly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And that's when I woke up," Harry finished his story off, holding his head in his hands.
"Have you had these dreams often?"
"Most nights I have two or three," Harry admitted, sniffling softly. "What do they mean?"
Cordelia sat back in her seat and thought for a moment. She held a delicate china teacup in her hand and the small cup platter in the other. Harry looked up at the blonde woman, noticing a run went up her light stockings. Her pencil skirt was pulled tight against her legs and Harry wondered if having to sit in such confinement was uncomfortable. She wore a light peach blouse that went well with the black skirt and heels she bore. Her hair fell in soft curls that caught the sheen of sunlight just right to make Harry think of how a lemon might look as it was picked off the tree. He wondered if she set it in curlers or if it was naturally mousey that way.
Cordelia sat straighter and placed her cup on the coffee table in front of her before turning to the blossoming young man.
"Harry, you know how when you use the computer in your room it get's hot?"
"Yes,"
"Then when you turn it off it cools down," Cordelia continued, "Well our brains are sort of like computers. They run all day and then, at night, they cool down. That's how brains heal, through sleep. That's why doctors recommend a lot of sleep when we are ill, to help us heal."
Harry nodded and listened to her soothing voice.
"When we dream it is our brain's way of helping us deal with the information we have been given. It's sort of like," she paused in thought "well, like when I was a young girl I woke up to a spider crawling across my chest. A big, hairy one. For months after I would have nightmares about these giant spiders coming to eat me, but the dreams weren't real. They just helped me deal with my fear of spiders. Your dreams are there to help you deal with your fears as well. The important thing to remember Harry is that dreams can't hurt you. They aren't real,"
Harry looked into her light blue eyes and swallowed hard.
"But my dreams were real,"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry swallowed hard as he leaned against the wall of the hallway. Cordelia and Newt were just inside the living room on the other side of him, talking in hushed tones.
"I think Harry is afraid that he will have to go back to the Dursley family," she was whispering softly to the man, "I think part of him doesn't believe he will be allowed to stay here forever. Is there any specific reason why he may feel that way?"
"Well," Newt said softly "We had to bend quite a few rules to get Harry here, but surely he knows I would rather die than allow him to be taken away?"
"What I would suggest," Cordelia said softly "is that you spend some time with Harry, really try to bond with him,"
"You think that would help?" Newt asked, softly.
"I think it might help, and even if it didn't you and your son will have a stronger bond because of it so what's the harm?"
"Of course," Newt said softly "thank you Doctor,"
"Not a problem," she said softly "you have a good evening, Mr. Scamander,"
"Have a good evening,"
