A howling wind seemed to call his name, while the raindrops tapped on the glass, and the light of the lightning revealed that young Harry Potter was awake. His eyes were focused on the door where he had sworn just a few seconds earlier that he had seen the shadow of a figure, only to realise that it was his jumper hanging from a hook. It hadn't been the storm outside to wake him, but the sound of a woman screaming that left him wide-eyed and sitting up in bed. However, as the eleven year old listened, he could hear that the rest of the household remained quiet, meaning everyone was still asleep.

Part of him wanted to climb out of his bed and make his way to his parents' room for comfort, just as he had done so many times before when he was younger. Harry would make his way in and squeeze his way between his mother and father, cuddling into one of them for the rest of the night. However, as he swung his legs over the side of his bed, Harry stopped himself and looked down to the floor.

According to his parents, in just a few months time, he would be starting at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It meant that he would be away from his family for months at a time and to Harry, it meant that whenever he was frightened, he couldn't go running to his parents' room. More than likely there would be thunderstorms that took place while he was at school and he would have to brave through them by himself.

Bringing his feet back onto his bed, another roll of thunder caused him to jump as he felt the whole cottage shake. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, holding his legs to his chest. Thankfully, the storms never seemed to last very long, but that particular night, it seemed to last forever. The way the thunder shook the cottage left Harry's heart racing, but he felt his entire body freeze when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching his door.

Harry held his breath as he watched the doorknob turn when the lightning lit up his room, but he almost let out a cry of relief when the door opened revealing his mother.

Renata Potter had been woken by the storm as well and decided to check on all her children, starting with her eldest. She had her wand in hand, the tip of it lighted to guide her way through the dark home, allowing her to see that Harry was awake.

"I figured you wouldn't be able to sleep through this storm," she said, adjusting her sleeping robe with her free hand, " one of those rolls of thunder nearly rolled me right out of the bed. Are you alright?"

Lowering his legs back down, Harry swallowed before nodding his head. He wasn't truly okay, but he didn't want to confess that he was still having nightmares, the same nightmares that he had suffered through since he was a toddler. The dark shadow of a man standing in his room, the sound of a woman screaming, and what always started it all, the lightning. However, the flash of light outside was different from the flash of light that took place in his dreams; that light was green.

However, Renata didn't appear fully convinced as she lowered her wand and made her way to sit next to him on his bed. She ran one of her hands through his messy hair, wiping away some of the sweat that had beaded on Harry's forehead. He thought that she was going to call him out about the nightmares, but instead, she moved her wand to have the light facing the wall, illuminating the room.

A small smile formed on Harry's lips as he watched her place her hands in front of the light and start to make the shadow animals. Paired with ridiculous noises that sounded nothing like the animals she was attempting portray, Renata had Harry laughing within seconds. And eventually, Harry joined in, placing his hands near hers and created his own animal variation and noises.

The raging storm outside had been completely forgotten during that time, however, between their noises and the thunder, it was difficult for anyone else in the household to remain asleep. A few minutes later, the door opened, interrupting the shadow puppet show as Harry spotted his little brother standing in the doorway.

Monte stood with his hands covering his face as the light from the wand blinded him. But his little hands struggled to get the job done as he squinted.

"What are you doing?" his little voice called out. "Are we playing? I want to play!"

Handing her wand over to Harry for a moment, Renata chuckled as she walked over and lifted the four year old into her arms and brought him over to the bed. As soon as the three of them were together, Monte climbed over to sit on his brother, who was still holding the wand. With absolutely no hesitation, he started placing his hands together to make his own shadow figures, however, between Renata and Harry, they had no clue what the youngest Potter was attempting to make.

But rather than saying anything, the two exchanged smiles and allowed Monte to continue. And whenever there was fun and people having a good time, Harry knew that his little sister was not going to miss out on it, even if it was long past midnight.

And he was right.

As if it was a party and guests were arriving every few minutes, the door opened again and this time, it was Ilaria that made her entrace. The room grew incredibly quiet as the six-year-old placed her hands on her hips, looking slightly offended that no one had come for her while they were all having fun. Her bottom lip was turned downwards in a pout but it didn't last very long before she ran over to jump onto the bed.

"My turn! My turn!"

"You just got here!" Monte whined.

"Which means it's my turn!"

"Says who?"

"Says me!"

Monte gave an exasperated look in their mother's direction, waiting for her to intervene, causing Renata to stifle a laugh. "Ilaria, it was Monte's turn, so when he is finished, you can take your turn. Don't fight."

Shooting a triumphant look in Ilaria's direction, Monte continued with his shadow creature, leaving Ilaria to make a face before she turned her attention to Harry.

"Want to go downstairs and get some biscuits?" she whispered to him.

It hadn't even crossed Harry's mind to indulge in any sort of sweets that evening, but since Ilaria had managed to bring it up, he couldn't bring himself to say no. Of course, he glanced over to Renata, looking for permission, knowing that a mother's hearing could pick up on any sort of little secret plan. She gave a quick nod of her head that went unnoticed by Ilaria before Harry turned back to his sister and nodded as well.

Quickly, the two slid off the bed, Ilaria in the lead before Monte realised something was up.

"Hey! Where are you two going?" Monte called after them as they made their way towards the door. "I want to go!"

"You can't," Ilaria told him as she looked over her shoulder.

Monte scrunched up his face at her. "Why not?"

"Because it's your turn, remember?"

She made a gesture with her hands that resembled what Monte was doing to make his shadow puppets with a little grin as Monte stuck his tongue out at her. But it seemed she had won that round as she grabbed Harry's hand and led him out of the room.

As the two headed down the stairs, the noise brought Leone, the family kneazle to lift his head up from where he rested on the sofa. However, at the familiar sound of their footsteps, no alarm was raised and he settled back to sleep. The container of biscuits was rested on the counter, within Harry's reach but Ilaria tended to be the adventurous one of the Potter children as she started to pull herself up to climb on top of the counter.

She reached the container and opened it, grabbing one chocolate digestive for herself and one for Harry.

"Did the thunder wake you up?" Harry asked her before taking a bite of his.

"That's not thunder! That's Daddy snoring!"

The two instantly fell into a fit of laughter as all the children could attest that James' snoring could definitely cause the cottage to rattle a bit, especially after a long Quidditch match.

"Oh really?"

The sudden sound of the voice caused the laughter to die down immediately, Harry almost choking on his mouthful of biscuit while Ilaria jumped. They looked over to where James had made  his way downstairs after being the last one to wake up. He had his arms folded over his chest, his hair just as messy as everyone elses. And although he did seem tired, even he couldn't fight the smile that was forming on his face, especially catching the two out of bed raiding the biscuit jar.

But even being caught in the act of calling her father's snoring louder than thunder, Ilaria only looked over at James with a grin.

"Yes! You snore loud!" she said before dramatically imitating snoring sound. "Mummy said the dead can hear you!"

Harry's smile faded slightly at the mention of the dead, thinking back to the scream that he heard within his nightmares that was always cut off so abruptly after the green light blinded him.

"Well, I will talk to Mummy about that later," James said, lifting Ilaria off the counter into his arms. "But for now..."

He took a bite of the biscuit that was in her hand, leaving Ilaria's mouth to open in shock that he would do such a thing.

"Hey! That was mine!"

"And now it's mine."

As Ilaria took to protecting the better half of her biscuit from her father, James turned his attention to Harry, who was staring off into the distance looking slightly pale. He had felt Renata get out of bed during the storm and he knew very well that she was off to check on Harry, who still suffered some terrible night terrors and nightmares, especially during storms. However, after Renata didn't return to bed after some time, James got up to investigate, only to find Renata and Monte in Harry's room.

She told him that Harry and Ilaria had gone downstairs for a snack, where he had found the two.

"Are you alright, Harry?" James asked him, placing his hand on the top of Harry's head and ruffling his hair.

Harry had heard that specific question so many times during his upbringing, usually following after a time where he had fallen or gotten hurt. But in more recent times, it wasn't after falling or even scraping a knee and he had to wonder if he really was alright? After all, his little brother and sister didn't have nearly as many nightmares as he did. They weren't afraid of thunderstorms and Harry was sure they didn't hear a woman screaming in their heads.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, "I'm fine."

James was just about to ask him if he was sure, but as he opened his mouth, Ilaria came to notice that there was a bit of her father's spit on her biscuit, left over from his previous bite. And rather than finishing it off herself, she decided to shove the rest of it into James' mouth. Their father's eyes widened drastically and Harry and Ilaria started laughing at his expression as James seemed to be stuck in a state of shock.

It was then that Renata arrived with Monte, who saw that everyone was indulging in biscuits without him. He looked into the jar to get one for himself, only to see that it was empty. His eyes fell on his father, who still had his cheeks puffed out from the biscuit that had been shoved into his mouth.

"Oh no! Daddy ate the last biscuit!"

James started to chew so he could swallow and defend himself but it was too late as Monte frowned and shook his head at him. He looked to Renata for help, his eyes pleading for a solution so that he wasn't the biscuit monster in his son's eyes.

"Well, why don't we make some biscuits?" she suggested. "We're all up anyways."

Monte and Ilaria readily agreed while Renata made her way over to Harry. She masked her concern for Harry's abnormally quietness with a smile before she bent over to his eye level.

"How about you lead this time?" Renata said to him. "After all, you are my sous chef. You just tell us what you need."

"I can do that," Harry told her, before turning to everyone, " okay, I'm going to need some eggs!"

"I'll get them!" Ilaria said raising her hand. "Don't let Daddy get them, he might give them a bath!"

James looked to Renata after he placed Ilaria down, he settled his hands on his hips.

"You give eggs a bath one time and no one ever let's it go. I knew we shouldn't have told Sirius that story!"