The fading terror of a nightmare tore Harry from sleep. All that could be heard in the stillness of the night was his frantic breaths rattling his chest. Before logic returned to his exhausted, confused mind, Harry tore down the steep staircase and into the downstairs bedroom. He jumped into the bed and threw his arms around the sleeping necromancer.
"Eh, what? Harry?" She grumbled, rousing from sleep. "It's the middle of the night, what did you do now?"
Harry did not respond, he sobbed, great heaving things full of terror and snot. Now panicked, never had she seen him this upset, her arms gently pried his iron grip free and she sat up in the bed flicking a light on. Harry resettled into her lap without stopping his desperate tears.
"What has happened? Are you injured?"
"I had a dream," he wailed between gulps of air. "I heard mum, she - she was begging for my life. There was a man - I saw the flash of light -" He whined, curling up harder. Her arm draped across his back with hesitance.
"Well shit kid. Yeah I can see how that would be traumatizing. It must be the necromancy influencing your dreams." Her voice was gentler than usual and she made no move to remove him, instead gifting him a pat on the head. The nightmares of necromancers had been known to drive some mad. It was particularly cruel for the boy to have to witness his parent's deaths. "C'mon. Let's get you a calming potion and a cup of tea."
"Can I stay with you tonight?" Harry whined. His white-knuckled grip clung to her like his life depended on it. The reaction confused Alabasandria. Why would the kid want to stay here, when she had a perfectly good solution available that would ensure he could return to his bed as normal? It was a dreadful habit that he'd picked up from Luna, a desire for physical affection.
"I - I suppose? Would that help?"
Harry nodded fervently. "Please, mama. I don't want to be alone anymore."
She looked down at his tear-covered face. Oh. This wasn't some elaborate, cruel prank. He really did consider her his mum. He came to her for comfort, of all things.
"I am right here," she said, faltering over her words. Hell and Hades, what was she supposed to do? She wasn't cut out for this!
Harry beamed up at her, his sadness subsided by her words alone. He wondered what his mama was thinking about, he'd never seen the look on her face before, it was something understanding, solemn. She smoothed down his hair again, her unease obvious.
Alabasandria did not what to do with her hands. Did she keep petting him like a dog? Did she hug him? Should she keep talking? Harry's mop of hair burrowed into her neck as he wrapped his limbs around her. Harry clung to her and nuzzled in close. After what felt like hours of this, but was likely only minutes, Alabasandria could not reign in her discomfort any longer.
"Let's get you something to soothe your stomach, alright? I'll read you Babbity Rabbity again?" She begged. Harry pulled out from the koala-esque hug.
"Can I have the honey ginger tea? And some chocolate biscuits?"
"Sure."
"And then I can stay in here with you?"
"For tonight, I suppose."
Harry was a bed and blanket hog. He sprawled, arms and limbs spread out as far as they could and entangled his fingers in her shirt. He snored, loud and thick from the copious amount of crying and snot and Alabasandria knew she would not be sleeping. Still, she figured that for once, she'd done the parenting thing correctly. Harry felt at ease around her, was comforted by her presence and for some reason, she could not shake the small, warm feeling of pride that evoked.
.....
"Mama!" Harry ran into the kitchen, colliding with the table and causing the pitcher of juice to spill everywhere. "MAMA! Look what came today!" Flailing in his arms, trapped in a headlock was a struggling owl who was trying its best to bite Harry's fingers off.
"Put the owl down, Harry," she sighed. A flick of her wand cleaned the spill. Harry was a bundle of energy and he often collided with furniture. She'd ended up enrolling him in several muggle sports teams to give him an outlet or else it was impossible for him to sit still during work times. She held a moment of silence for the Hogwarts staff. Soon it wouldn't be her problem to keep up with his hyper behavior. It had been a long time since she'd been blessed with a second of peace and she was very excited for several months of quiet.
Harry released the owl. The bird fluttered its wings angrily and dropped a letter on the table, flying away as fast as possible. The boy paid it no mind as he hurried toward the letter and read the envelope:
Potter
The Upstairs Bedroom
The Spooky Cottage in the Forest
"It's from Hogwarts!" he cried with joy. He read it eagerly and then passed the papers over to her.
"This potions book they assigned is rubbish," she sighed.
"Mama, I know all the first-year potions already, it'll be fine."
Alabasandria gave her apprentice a stern look.
"Exactly! Are you sure you want to go? The wizarding world thinks you're dead anyway, and you'll be ahead in most of your classes. You know you get… antsy… when you're bored." Again, Alabasandria could not stress enough, Harry was very energetic and needed lots of mental stimulation to not be literally bouncing off the walls. Literally. He'd taught Luna that trick and the Lovegoods had complained for weeks. Being a parent was exhausting, and as much as she had just been excited about getting a break from the little shit, it was also her duty to ensure he was properly educated, even at the cost of her own sanity. Alabasandria had not attended Hogwarts herself, and thought it was a little overrated.
"Between me and your tutors, you can learn everything Hogwarts can teach you in less time. It will be hard to practice any necromancy under the watchful eyes of Albus Dumbledore."
"I want to go!" he said. What mama didn't teach him, he learned straight from long-dead masters, forcefully resurrected to be his tutors. Since they only had easy access to British bones, most of them had gone to Hogwarts themselves and had told Harry lots of interesting stories about the castle. "Please, mama. I'll study independently if I get bored. Besides, you couldn't find a corpse that wasn't rubbish at transfiguration so I'll bet I'm behind there."
"Watch your mouth," she said, rolling her eyes. "You mark my words, you'll be bored to tears by Yule and begging to come home."
Harry just shot her an impish grin.
"Then I'll explore the castle and the Forbidden Forest! It sounds so exciting. And I want to be around other humans. I'm sure I'll make lots of friends and won't be bored at all." He continued on as though she'd already agreed. "I already have all this stuff except my uniform and the books. Can we go to Diagon today?"
She rolled her eyes. Fine. "It's six in the morning, Harry. Could we please eat breakfast first?"
Harry ate breakfast as fast as a growing pre-teen boy could and stared at her as she ate at a temperate pace, reading over The Quibbler as she did.
"Should we write them back and tell them you're coming or do you want to show up on the first day of school and surprise everyone?" she asked as they put away the dishes.
"What if I shift into a ghost form and pretend that I'm dead but I don't know that I'm dead and everyone would be like "Harry you're a ghost!" and I would say "No I'm not, I'm a normal child.""
"That would be very humorous," she said deadpan. "But please don't joke about revealing your magic. I feel the urge to remind you not to cause suspicion or do anything stupid."
"I'll be alright," Harry insisted, giving a dramatic sigh. "I know all the rules! Honestly, mama, what are the chances I'll run into a basilisk or a dementor in a school?"
"Honestly, kid, you attract danger to a ridiculous degree. It would not surprise me if you managed to find one. I'm still debating if you should leave your horcrux at home for safekeeping."
"I would rather bring it. I do trust you with it, but I don't want you to wear it. It'll make you sad." If one listened very closely, the faint crying of the Freak in the Cupboard could be heard, like a grating whisper in the back of the mind whenever one got too close to Harry's ring. "I'll be very careful, mama! I promise."
"Alright. It's your soul. I'll respect your decision. But you had better be on your best behavior. No unnecessary exorcizing of any of the Hogwarts ghosts, no silly pranks, and I expect perfect Potions grades."