The Lost Wizard

Hermione's and Ron's flat in London was old. The painted was chipped, many of the doors didn't fit properly in their frames and most of the furniture looked like it had been pulled out of a dumpster. Actually Ron had found the loveseat, the bookcases and the dining-room table on the street, castaways from people presumably upgrading their decor. Hermione always protested when Ron came back with what he called "a real steal" but she hadn't the time or money to do anything about it.

Hermione had to admit to herself that the beat-up look had grown on her. She didn't feel ready to be a real adult and the couch with the broken springs, the three-legged coffee table and the banged-up desk all seemed to be defenses against the adult world. She liked the way the floors creaked and whined whenever she walked around. They were conscious of her presence, proving that despite the fact she was not a productive member of society that she existed enough to make at least some impression on them. She didn't like those squeaks so much however when Ron and Saren were in his room. Did they have to be so loud?

Ron had been dating Saren for about a year. Some friends, who had thought that they would be perfect for each other, had set them up. Ron was blown away that she knew as much about Cannons and the inter-England AAA league as he did. She liked the fact that he was willing to talk quiddich with her. At the end of the date, they both declared that they liked each other so much that they didn't want to ruin it with a romantic relationship. That hadn't lasted past the second date. It was a measure of their devotion that Ron didn't mind the fact that she was a Birmingham Bludger fan. It even seemed to turn him on whenever they argued about quiddich.

"The Bludgers win all the time because Steindoch just buys the best players."

"Oh, so you like the Cannons because they've lost for a hundred and fifty years?"

"We almost won the All-England Cup!"

"You lost 240 to 0."

"It was 240 to 5!"

This odd score had come about because the one time the Cannons had come close to scoring, the quaffle only made it halfway through the hoop before suddenly reversing directions and flying to the other end of the field. Cannon supporters cried foul because, as they said, it was bloody obvious someone had used a charm even though an investigation hadn't turned up anything. Riots between Cannon and Bludger fans were on the verge of breaking out until Cornelius Fudge, as Minister of Magic, awarded the Cannons five points. As he put it, it didn't matter much if the difference was 240 or 230. The compromise hadn't really pleased anyone but it gave the Cannons just enough to back down. They consoled themselves with the fact that it wasn't a shutout.

Ron, at the time, was upset that neither Harry nor Hermione shared his concern. Hermione didn't pay much attention and Harry tried to keep a straight face as Ron kept coming up with more and more outrageous explanations for the bizarre turn of events. The breaking point came when Ron tried to convince Harry that Voldemort was responsible.

"Harry, I'm telling you, it was You-Know-Who!"

"Ron, I really don't think Voldemort was worried about the England Cup. Anyways, I thought you said that the goblins fixed the match."

"Yeah, it was You-Know-Who and the goblins. They wanted to throw the wizarding world into chaos."

"Ron, everyone thought that the Cannons were going to lose. Fred and George even bet against them."

Ron hadn't talked to Harry for days...

Hermione smiled. That had been a long time ago. She hadn't though about Hogwarts for awhile. Perhaps her lunch with Viktor was putting her in a nostalgic frame of mind. Viktor's quiddich team was traveling to England for a series of exhibition matches. He had looked her up and proposed they go to lunch together. Hermione had eagerly accepted. She was spending too much time with classes and books. Talking to Vik would be a nice change.

She pulled her hair through a scunchie and put on some lipstick. She considered the eyeliner but decided against it; she didn't want to seem too anxious. She pulled on her jacket and Apparated into Snorgans. Snorgans was filled with its usual lunch crown of wizards and witches, most of whom were professionals from the nearby Aquatower. Snorgan had recently decided to change the cuisine, got rid of the greasy fare and replaced it with proto-nuvo-cusine. The regulars sent a storm of Howlers and Snorgan, who was ever the sensitive businessman, quickly changed the menu back to its original form. Of course he forgot to change the price back and, thus, you could buy a 10 galleon hamburger. On the plus side, the place did seem a little cleaner. The menus had not yet reverted to their grease-stained glory of the previous 23 and a half years of Snorgans. She was convinced that it was simply a matter of time.

She quickly spotted Viktor sitting at a table. "Viktor, it's great to see you."

"Herm-own-ninny, it is good to see you, too. It has been too long." Viktor quickly ducked out of Hermione's embrace and sat down. "How are your studies coming?"

"Good, Good. I'm working on finding the origins of Transfiguration. I think Goodwin is all wrong. You know how he thinks all the other magics were separate and were grouped together by early magicians. Well, I think that the magicians started with one sort of magic and only later did the different branches...I'm sorry, I'm boring you." Hermione laughed.

"No, no, I am just having trouble following you."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I keep forgetting that everyone doesn't find early magical history as interesting as I do."

"No, no. It makes me very good to see you so happy."

Hermione blushed and looked down to her menu.

"You are still living with, vhat vas his name, Ron?"

"Yes, we share a place in London."

"And Harry, you are still friends, yes?"

"Well, I haven't see him in few years."

"You haven't seen him recently?"

"No, I haven't," Hermione replied a little testily.

"I do not think you would not recognize him."

"Black hairs, green eyes, a giant scar on his forehead, I think I would."

"I would not be so sure. I saw him awhile ago. In Bulgaria. He had trouble with some Satchel men."

"Satchel men?"

"Satchel is like your ministry. Harry kept saying that they were Malfoy men. I tried to calm him down but he yelled I was in Malfoy's pay, stunned us, then disappeared. He was not the same as I remembered him."

Hermione sat still. "A lot has happened since the Tournament."

"I know he has seen much. And done much but still...he is very troubled. I though you might know vat is vrong with him. I vanted to know vhat I could do to help him."

"I don't know." Dumbstruck, she suddenly realized that she didn't know where Harry lived or anything. What was he doing?

"I am sorry." The waiter arrived and they ordered lunch.

Hermione could not get Harry out her mind that afternoon. They had drifted apart that last year at Hogwarts. She and Ron had started to become more then friends. When they did try to make some time with for Harry, they couldn't find him anywhere. Finally, Harry did not show up for graduation. Dumbledore had left immediately, leaving Professor MacGonnal to finish the ceremony. Late that evening, a stunned Percy showed up to tell Professor MacGonnal that You-Know-Who and Dumbledore were dead. Apparently, there had been a giant confrontation between Dumbledore and You-Know-Who. Harry was the only survivor. All the Wizarding community hailed Harry as Hero. There had been thousands of celebrations where Harry was the guest of honor. The magazines and newspapers overflowed with photos full of wizards and witches giving Harry the latest honors and the latest awards. The one time Hermione and Ron had run into him, he did not seem that eager to see them. She had tried to talk to him about Dumbledore but he quickly made some excuses and slipped away. A couple of years later, Hedwig, extremely disgruntled, turned up on their doorstep. They tried to find out why but Harry never answered their owls.

All in all, she was fed up with him. He clearly did not want to spend them with them so why should she worry about him at all. His new friends could take care of him. She slammed the door. She didn't want to think about Harry Cipher. She giggled as she saw the magical, famous Harry Potter running around with a giant question mark on his face.

"What's so funny?" Ron stuck his head out of the kitchen.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about Harry."

"You, too?" Ron came out with a glass of pumpkin juice in his hand.

"He's on your mind also?"

"Yeah, I had lunch with Neville today. We started talking about our classmates and he mentioned that he saw Harry recently." Ron took a swing. "He barely recognized him. Said he was as skinny as a broom. The moment Neville started walking towards him, he disappeared."

"Neville or Harry?"

"Sorry, Harry. Neville said that he wouldn't of known it was Harry except for the scar."

"That's odd. Viktor told me that he had a run in with him, too. Harry was acting crazy and Vik tried to calm him down. Harry ended up stunning him and then vanished."

They both sat at the dining room table, quite for a moment. Hermione raised her voice. "Do you think anything is wrong with him?"

"I don't know. I really don't think that much about Harry anymore," Ron said flatly with an edge of bitterness.

"Come on, Ron."

"I don't think we're special enough for him to care about now he's famous and all."

"He was famous when we first met him."

"Yeah, well he didn't think he was special. It was a long time ago. He changed."

"It was. We've all changed."

They both looked at their class picture from Hogwarts, hanging on the wall. The two of them were sitting close together, with Ron making faces while Hermione tried to looked shocked and keep a straight face at the same time. Harry was on the other end, hiding in the corner, ducking his face. He simply looked like a scared boy hiding from the camera.

Suddenly there was a shriek. "Oh, my God. That's Saren!" Ron dropped the juice and dashed to his bedroom at the other end of the apartment. Hermione followed quickly behind. Saren was standing in Ron's room with her bathrobe on.

"I saw someone. I just walked in and he was going through our things." Saren looked at Ron. "I just screamed."

Ron walked over to Saren. "Are you fine?"

She looked up at Ron. "I think so."

Ron hugged her. "That's good."

Saren looked over the room. "I don't think he would of hurt me. He just to a look at me and ran off."

"What did he look like?"

"I don't know. He shocked me more than anything. I really don't remember what he looks like."

Hermione looked around. The window was broken, smashed in. "Is there anything gone?"

"I don't know." Saren walked over to the bureau and looked in her purse. "Oh, no. He took my cash. And I had just come back from Gringotts."

Ron quickly looked at the rest of the room. "I think that's it. You must of scared him off." He looked back at Saren. "We don't have to go to Ginny's opening if you don't want to."

"No, I'll be alright. I'm not going to let some bastard prevent me from meeting your sister. Just give me a second and I'll be fine."

Hermione apologized. "I though I had redone all the defensive wards. I must have forgotten this room. I'll do it tonight."

Ron quickly looked back at Hermione. "Are you sure? Ginny will miss you."

"I'll make it up to her. Besides, I need to do some reading. You two, go off, have some fun."

"Yes, we'll do that," Saren said, some of her humor returning to her voice. "I'll be fine in a minute." She looked over to Ron with a grin. "And maybe a little sooner if lover boy stays around."

Ron flushed red and gestured helplessly to Hermione. "I'll help Saren clean-up."

Hermione rolled her eyes, turned around and walked out. She sat down in her favorite chair and started reading. It was Moureux, the famous French wizard. Hermione had to read him for Social Origins of Magic Class. After fifty pages, she found him too dense and mystical. She got up and walked back to Ron's room partially to clear her head. Saren was in there applying some make-up. Hermione cleared her throat "I'm sorry, I'll go. I just though that I would do those wards. You know, so I don't forget again."

"Oh no it's all right."

Hermione started inscribing the symbols for the spell on the wall of the room. There was silence. She spoke up. "So you haven't met Ginny?"

"No. Ron's been a little shy about introducing me to his family."

"I wouldn't worry about it. He probably doesn't want to scare you off."

"I didn't think they were all that bad."

"No, no the Weasleys are just a force of nature. They are very loving but can be very overwhelming. They'll adopt you on the spot."

"Well, that shouldn't be to bad," Saren said a little nervously.

"You haven't met Fred and George. They take no prisoners. They treat their foes bad and their friends worse." Hermione smiled a wicked grin.

"So I've heard. Ron talks about them a lot. He also talks about a Harry. Was that Harry Potter?"

"Yeah."

"Oh..."

Hermione looked at the wall, studying its cracks. "They were pretty close. Ron was the closest Harry had to a brother and Harry was Ron's long lost twin. The two of them were always getting into trouble."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. We drifted apart. Harry stuck mainly to himself that last year and afterwards...afterwards we didn't see much of him."

"The two of you stayed friends."

"I know," Hermione said quickly. "I don't know what happened with Harry. I guess it was a part of growing up."

They both waited for the other to speak. Saren decided to give in. "Well, it'll be interesting to see Ginny. I think we might meet her boyfriend."

"Ginny has a boyfriend?"

"I don't know for sure. Ron just said that she really wanted to introduce someone to him. He figured it must be a boyfriend."

"I'm surprised Ron thinks Ginny has a sex life. I still think he sees her as his little sister who couldn't stop prattling."

"Well, it will be interesting at the very least. You need any help with that spell?"

Hermione turned back to her forgotten charm. "No, I'll be fine. I think Ron is waiting for you."

Saren nodded, finished her makeup, collected her things and walked out the room. Hermione waited and then sat down on Ron's bed and thought about Harry, Ron and Hogwarts. What had happened? They just grew up and went away. Like people do, like she told Saren. Wasn't that what had happened? She let out a long sigh and went back to her books.

Moureux quickly drove such thought out of her head. She just couldn't get over his concept of the first magician.

For how did the first wizard cast the first spell if he did not have the conception of magic? Magic cannot exist without the conception of magic and the conception of magic cannot exist without magic. To cast a spell, one must know that one is casting a spell just as when one speaks one must have the conception of speaking. If one had no conception of speaking, one would utter meaningless syllables and no one could understand those attempts at words. So if one had no conceptions of a spell, one would utter meaningless syllables and the world would not understand these attempts at spells. Hence there would be no magic.

But wizards cast spells and man speaks. How did man and wizard develop such conceptions? There must of existed a Great Magician. The Great Magician would be born with such concepts a priori for he could not of learned them from kin, kith or society. Instead the Great Magician would be the vessel from which such concepts would be poured. And it would not be enough for a man to merely be a vessel. He would have to posses the abilities to convince others of these concepts for man does not accept such conceptions without proof. He would have to be able to convince others that there is such a thing as magic, that muttering syllables can produce changes in the physical environment. The Great Magician would have to posses the ability to persuade others to follow his teachings.

But how is a man borne with such gifts. He must be created by God, a Great Spirit or a Creator for it is highly unlikely that nature would produce such endowments in any of it's creatures, much less man...

A frantic knocking interrupted Hermione.

"Hold on a second, Ron. I'm coming." Hermione stood up and walked towards the door.

The knocking continued more frantic.

"Hold on Ron! I said I was coming!" She yanked open the door.

It was Ginny. She looked tired and worn out. She was wearing old robes, stained with the dyes with which she worked,

"Oh, my God, Ginny come in." Hermione grabbed the younger women and pulled her inside. Ginny complied, not resisting. "Sit down, Sit down." Ginny again followed her commands and sat down at the edge of the coach.

"I'm sorry to bother you. I just didn't know where else to go."

"Let me make you a cup of tea."

Hermione quickly walked into the kitchen to brew up the kettle. Another sound from the door; Ron walked in with Saren. "We waited but Ginny didn't show up. Hermione, did she owl you?" He looked into the living room. "Hermione?" He looked again. "Ginny, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Ron, you need to help me. Something's wrong," Ginny said, looked up, as Hermione set the tea tray on the coffee table and poured a mug for her.

"What's the matter?"

"It's Harry. I think he's going to hurt himself."

"Why would he do that?"

"He came over. I was waiting for him. He said he wanted to get his things back. I said no. He got upset and said that if I didn't want to help him he knew who would. He said he wanted to end it all. After he left, I waited then looked for him. I couldn't find him. I need some help."

Ron stared at Ginny. "He wanted his things back?"

"He's in trouble. I need to do something. Will you help me?"

Ron turned looked back at Hermione then back to Ginny. "Shall I make a cup of tea?" And he dropped down abruptly next to Ginny.