I Will Remember You

Third Stage: Hogwarts

Harry opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. A big spider was climbing the wall; he looked at it and smiled. Then he suddenly became aware of something. He hadn't had his usual nightmare. It wwI It was the third time he'd slept without any nightmares. What was different? Why had he slept so well?

Hermione took a deep breath in her sleep.

'Hermione,' thought Harry. 'Ever since she's been with me, I'm not having the nightmares.' He looked down at her. 'But why?'

Hermione moaned and covered her eyes with her hand when a ray of sun entered the window.

Harry felt that his arm was hurting him under Hermione's body. He tried to move it as slowly as possible.

When he was almost free, Hermione slowly opened her eyes and looked at him sleepily, then she smiled. "Good morning," she said in a low voice.

"Good morning," answered Harry, smiling down at her. "Did you sleep all right?"

"Hmm, almost. I had something behind my back that hurt me all night," she said, rubbing her back and wincing.

"And I had someone on my arm that hurt me too," he said massaging his own arm.

"Oh, Harry I'm sorry," said Hermione, turning to rub Harry's arm.

"It's not your fault," said Harry quickly. "We just fell asleep too quickly and didn't move for the whole night."

"Is it better?" Hermione asked Harry. She wasn't listening to him, but kept massaging his arm.

"Yeah," answered Harry, flushing. "Fairly better."

"That's good, because I'm starving and I want you to be able to use your wand," said Hermione, beaming at him and sitting up on the bed.

Harry snorted. "Was that the only reason that you were rubbing my arm?" he asked, sitting up next to her.

"No, of course," said Hermione, moving closer to him. "Also because I felt guilty. I slept on it."

Harry couldn't help laughing. "What do you want to eat?" he asked her when his laughter faded away.

"I don't know. I think that anything will be fine with me," she said pensively.

Harry decided that they could eat bacon and eggs, just for celebration. Celebration of what, though?

Hermione seemed very pleased with the breakfast. "Harry it was wonderful," she said, licking her fingers.

"Yeah, I'm a pretty good cook," joked Harry.

Hermione laughed and jumped to her feet. "I'm ready to go," she said happily.

"Well," said Harry, vanishing the plates of their breakfast, "I'm ready too. But we shouldn't forget our backpacks. You did have some more clothes in it, right?"

"Yeah, why?" asked Hermione, slinging on her backpack.

"Because I think we'll be able to take a shower in Hogwarts," said Harry, picking up his own backpack.

Hermione stopped abruptly. "Do you think that I stink?" she asked hesitantly.

"What?" exclaimed Harry, taken aback. "No, no. Of course you don't! It's me, I think I need to take a shower."

Hermione looked at him suspiciously, but followed him down the stairs.

Outside the sun was already high in the sky.

Harry stopped in front of what remained of the Hogsmeade Station. "Look," he said to Hermione. "Hogwarts is over there." He pointed at the hill.

"Let's go then," said Hermione, walking ahead of him.

"Hey, wait for me, you don't know the way," said Harry, catching her wrist.

Hermione looked into his eyes and nodded. "You're right. I just can't wait to be there," she said, laughing.

"Really?" Harry grinned. "Try to stay behind me, then," he said, beginning to run away.

Hermione stared at him, stunned, as he ran over the hill. Then she started to run after him. "Wait for me," she called after him.

"You have to catch me," said Harry, slowing just a bit.

They ran for all the hill up to Hogwarts. Their laughter was the only thing that could be heard for several miles.

Hermione was right behind Harry, her hand stretched in front of her to seize his robe when Harry stopped so abruptly that she bumped into him and fell to the ground.

"Ouch," she said, rubbing her lower back.

"Oh, Hermione, I'm sorry." Harry offered his hand to her and help her to get on her feet. "Are you ok?" he asked worryingly.

"Yeah," she said, still rubbing her back. "What did you do that for?"

"What?"

"Why did you stop short?"

Harry turned to look in front of them. Hermione followed his gaze and looked in the same direction. She was breathless. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. They were standing next to a high broken gate, not far from which was a huge great castle.

Harry looked at her. "It's Hogwarts," he whispered.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Hermione, without taking her eyes away from it.

"Oh, yes, you did. You just can't remember it," said Harry matter-of-factly.

Hermione nodded, still not looking at him.

"I can't believe that it's still here like nothing happened," said Harry, looking around him in shock. "I mean, it should be a ruin, but it's here and it's undamaged - like something defended it."

Unexpectedly Hermione took Harry's hand and smiled at him. "Well, I think we should go and have a look around," she said, walking up the path towards the castle.

Harry let her guide him up the path. It was such a great sensation being at Hogwarts again, and with Hermione at his side. The only things missing were Ron and Ginny.

They reached the Oak Front Door. It was all locked up.

Knock. Knock.

"What are you doing?" asked Harry, bemused, when Hermione knocked on the door.

"I'm knocking," she answered simply.

"Oh, yes, like anybody would-"

Harry's words were interrupted when the front door opened enough to permit an old man to look out.

"Who are you?" he asked rudely.

Harry hadn't yet recovered from the shock of finding someone in Hogwarts, so Hermione answered. "We're just travellers. We wanted to ask you if we could come in and find a place for the night."

The man looked at Hermione with his lamp-like eyes.

'Lamp-like eyes?'

Harry looked at him intently.

"Filch," he said, surprised, stepping back.

Filch looked at Harry as if he was seeing him for the first time. "Potter," he hissed. Then he came back to face Hermione and seemed to think very hard.

"And you're that Granger girl," he said to her.

Hermione's face brightened upon hearing that the man knew her.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked him.

"What do you think?" answered Filch, opening the big door a bit more so that Harry and Hermione could enter. "I live here," he said, making his way down the hall.

"Yeah, I know that you live here, you always have, but my question was, more to the point, why aren't you dead?" Harry asked him directly.

Filch snorted. "Maybe I'm stronger than any one of you has always believed," he answered sharply.

Harry ignored him and seemed to think hard. "Of course," he exclaimed while they were passing the door of the Great Hall. "You were in Hogwarts when the Wave of Power spread from mine and Voldemort's wands. Hogwarts protected you."

Filch stopped and turned to face him. "Very interesting theory, Potter, but I wasn't here," he said, smirking. "I was in Hogsmeade."

Harry seemed taken aback at this revelation. 'Why would you have survived when loads of braver wizards and witch-?'

"You are not a wizard," Harry cried, his eyes wide.

"How dare you, Potter?" Filch's eyes were just a couple of slits as he took a step toward Harry.

"That's why you haven't died," said Harry quickly, backing from Filch. "It's because you're a Squib, and there's nothing magical about you. You survived because the Wave of Power destroyed only magical things and people."

Filch gritted his teeth.

Harry beamed at his brilliant theory and turned his head to face Hermione, but she wasn't there. He was sure that she had entered the Great Hall next to him, but now she wasn't beside him. He searched for her and for the first time looked around him. In the Hall, the four House tables were in their original positions and so was everything else. It was like all the students would just walk in at any time. Finally he spotted Hermione on the other side of the room. She was walking peacefully and looking at all the things that she came across.

Harry walked to her, leaving an infuriated Filch behind him. "Seen anything you recognise?" he asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Hermione looked at him, rather surprised to find him next to her, then she shook her head. "Nope," she said, sighing.

Harry followed her while she kept walking in the Great Hall. She was interested in everything she saw, but the paintings captured her attention above everything.

"Harry look at those things, they move," she said, pointing to a small painting where a witch was knitting serenely.

Harry smiled. "Yes, I know. And guess what? They talk too," he said, greeting the lady in the painting. She smiled and answered him. Hermione looked at her, excited.

"Harry this place is wonderful!" she said, walking between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables. "I want you to tell me everything about it."

Harry looked at her. 'That makes me feel strange,' he thought. 'You're the one that read 'Hogwarts: A History' about a hundred times, and now you want me to talk about it.'

"How long will you two stop here?"

Harry heard Filch's voice, but didn't find him next to the Slytherin table, where he'd left him. He glanced around the Great Hall.

"I'm over here, Potter," said Filch, sounding rather annoyed.

Harry looked over at the staff table. Filch was sitting in the Headmaster's chair, and was looking at Harry.

"I don't know yet," said Harry, making his way towards him.

"Why did you come here?" Filch asked rudely.

"Because we're searching for something." This time it was Hermione that answered.

Filch looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "What are you looking for at Hogwarts?"

"My memory," she said, walking towards him.

"Your memory?" Filch looked at her and laughed. "Oh well, I haven't seen it around."

"Maybe it's because you're not a wizard," said Harry sharply, stressing the word 'not'.

Filch glared at him and the laughter faded away. "Do you want to sleep in the Quidditch Pitch?" he asked, his voice as sharp as Harry's had been.

Harry glared back at him.

"Can we visit the Castle?" Hermione's voice came unexpectedly to both Harry and Filch.

Filch looked at her. "Yes, you can," he answered surprised.

"I don't think we need his permission, anyway," said Harry to Hermione.

But she wasn't listening to him. "Thank you, Mr. Filch," she said, taking Harry's hand and forcing him to follow her out of the Great Hall.

"Which way?" Hermione asked Harry when they found themselves in front of the marble staircase.

"Do you want to go up or down?"

"Both," said Hermione, looking at the stairs that led to the first floor.

"Let's go downstairs and then up to the first floor," he said, descending the stairs.

He led her to the Potions classroom and Snape's office, the deserted kitchens and dungeon five, trying to remember all the important things that she should have known.

When they climbed the stairs, they didn't stop at the ground floor, but kept going till the first, where Harry showed Hermione such classes as Defence Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, Muggle Studies and the Hospital Wing, where the beds were all made up.

When Harry thought that she had seen enough, they climbed another flight of stairs and reached the second floor and so on - until they reached the seventh one.

Every time Harry showed her something, all that Hermione could say was just 'wow'.

"This Castle is wonderful," she said, looking at the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy.

"It is," said Harry, looking out of the window.

"And it's huge, too," said Hermione, following Barnabas as he tried to teach the trolls to dance. "It took us a lot to visit it all. What time is it?"

Harry shrugged and looked around, searching for one of the grandfather clocks that usually stood in the corridors. He found one next to the statue of Lachlan the Lanky and read the hour.

"It's almost 2 p.m.," he said to her. "But about the hugeness of Hogwarts, we haven't finished visiting it yet."

"What?" asked Hermione, bewildered.

"Yeah, we have to go up the Towers," he said, smiling.

"How many are there?"

"Well, let me count them," said Harry, counting the towers on his fingers as he named them. "There's the Astronomy Tower, the Owlery, the Ravenclaw Tower, the Gryffindor Tower, Dumbledore's Office and the North Tower. No, wait, I don't think you want to go there," said Harry, drawing back a finger.

"Why?" asked Hermione curiously.

"Because the Divination Classroom's up there, and you stopped that subject after only a year. It's not going to be really useful for your memory problem," said Harry thoughtfully.

"Why did I stop that subject?" asked Hermione, interested.

"Because you thought it was a complete waste of time," said Harry, smiling softly.

"Oh, I see," said Hermione. "So, when are we going to climb the Towers?"

"Hmm, whenever you want, but I thought you would have wanted to eat first," said Harry, who was starving.

"Oh, I completely forgot about eating. This place is so exciting," she said, smiling brightly.

"Well, I'm a bit hungry," said Harry, placing a hand on his rumbling stomach. "If you want, you can always look at me as I'm eating-"

"No," Hermione said, cutting him off. "I think I'll eat with you, I'm pretty hungry, too."

Harry grinned and thought about a place where they could eat something peacefully. His eyes glanced along the corridor without focusing on anything in particular, then something captured his attention; the Fat Lady was waving cheerfully at him.

Harry realised that they were exactly in front of the Gryffindor Tower entrance, and what was better than the Gryffindor Common Room for sitting down and eating something?

Harry stepped near the portrait of the Fat Lady.

She smiled at him. "Oh, then what that fool Sir Cadogan was shouting all around Hogwarts is true. Harry Potter has returned to Hogwarts," she said, looking at him.

"Good morning, Fat Lady," said Harry politely. Hermione stopped next to him and looked up at the portrait.

"Oh, you're Hermione Granger," the Fat Lady said, looking at her.

Hermione smiled shyly, and nodded.

"What brings you here?" the Fat Lady asked Harry.

"We're looking for Hermione's memory," said Harry, placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"Oh," said the Fat Lady. "Looking for her memory? That's the strangest quest I've ever heard of."

Harry shrugged. "Well, we're visiting all the places that were familiar to her. Actually, can we go in the Gryffindor common room?"

The Fat Lady raised her eyebrows. "Do you have the password?"

"Nobody has the password, there isn't a single wizard in this place," said Harry to her.

"So I understand that you don't have the password," she said, looking intently at him.

"No," Harry hissed, getting annoyed.

"I cannot let you in, then," she said strictly.

Harry was ready to shout all the curses he knew at her, when Hermione spoke before him. "Well, I'm not sure, but if there's nobody here from whom we can get the password, I think that you should tell us. Although nobody will be able to enter."

The Fat Lady and Harry seemed to think about her speech. Harry couldn't think how that would have convinced the stupid portrait to let them in, but the Fat Lady seemed satisfied.

"Hmm, I think that you are quite right," she said thoughtfully. "The password is 'Butterbeer'."

"Thank you very much," said Hermione, smiling slyly. "Butterbeer."

"Come in, please," the portrait said, moving away from the hole in the wall.

Harry looked at Hermione with his mouth wide open whilst they climbed into the Gryffindor Common Room.

"You were great," he said to her.

"Oh, just for that," she said, flushing.

Then they both looked around. The room was filled with armchairs and tables, and was exactly as Harry remembered.

"It's a lovely place," said Hermione, sitting on an armchair next to the fireplace.

"Yes, it's nice," said Harry, sitting next to her. "What do you want to eat?" he asked her, smiling.

"Anything will be fine with me, Harry. I just want to eat quickly and go up the Towers," she said, looking around dreamily.

Harry waved his wand and a couple of plates appeared on the table in front of them. They were filled with mashed potatoes and steaks. Then two Butterbeers also materialised.

Hermione ate and drank quickly, and looked at Harry, still finishing his meal. Harry, feeling her gaze on him, raised his eyes. "Did you like the meat?" he asked her.

Hermione nodded, still looking at him.

"Hermione, you don't have to wait for me. You can go explore the Towers without me," he said to her.

"Oh, but I want to wait for you," she said quickly, smiling at him.

"Well, there is a place you have to go to by yourself," said Harry, chewing a mouthful of meat.

"Really? Why?" she asked, surprised.

"Because I'm not allowed in there. It's the Girls' Dorm," he said, pointing at the staircase that led there.

Hermione reached the bottom of the stairs, she stopped and turned, biting her lips. "Are you sure-"

"Yeah, of course, Hermione," said Harry, cutting her off. "Go ahead, I'll be waiting for you right here. I'm not going anywhere."

Hermione nodded, smiling at him, and started to climb the stairs.

Harry followed her with his gaze until she vanished from sight, and then he came back to his steak and mashed potatoes.

'I'm a good cook,' he thought, cleaning his mouth with a napkin. When the Butterbeer bottle was also empty, he waved his wand lazily in front of him, and everything disappeared.

He leaned back in the armchair and closed his eyes, trying to remember how the common room had been filled with Gryffindors, young and old. He saw a seventeen year-old Ron playing Wizard's Chess, and next to him Neville was trying to write a Potions Essay. Lavender and Parvati were giggling on the other side of the room.

And then, in the middle of the chamber, stood Ginny, who was smiling at him. Harry imagined himself coming nearer to her, taking her head between his hands and kissing her. He tried to remember how it felt. After what seemed ages, Harry imagined that they broke apart, but when he looked down, she wasn't Ginny anymore. It was Hermione.

"Harry. Harry!" Hermione's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "If that was you, it wasn't funny at all," she said, sounding rather afraid.

"Me? What?" asked Harry, jumping to his feet and ready to act.

"I heard voices again," she said, looking at him fearfully.

"What?"

"I heard voices again," she repeated tremulously.

"What did you hear?"

"It was a girl, she was talking about hair and things like that - I was too scared to pay much attention to it." Then she glared at him, her eyes burning into his. "Was it you?"

"What? Why would I do something like that?"

"I don't know."

"And you just said that it was a girlish voice," said Harry defensively.

"Oh, please," said Hermione, waving her hand. "You can fly, you can make things appear, and you have a magic wand. Don't you think you could also disguise your voice?"

Harry looked at her. "Well, actually, I can't," he said seriously.

Hermione sighed. "Then it wasn't you."

"It wasn't me," he said, shaking his head.

Hermione got closer to him. "I'm afraid."

"Hermione." Harry put his hands on Hermione's shoulders. "There's nothing to be afraid of. Hogwarts is full of ghosts and moving paintings; maybe it was just one of them."

Hermione seemed reassured and smiled.

"Are you ready for the tour of the Towers?"

Hermione nodded. "I'm ready."

"We can leave our backpacks here," said Harry, throwing his own on the armchair.

They visited the rest of the Gryffindor Tower and the Astronomy Tower, but they couldn't get in the Ravenclaw's because the painting was more intelligent than the Fat Lady. They visited the Owlery, but they passed the North Tower without stopping.

"Oh, Harry this castle is wonderful," said Hermione, climbing the stairs down from the Owlery.

"Yeah, and it's not finished yet," said Harry, helping her down. "There's still one more place to see."

"Which one?"

"The Headmaster's office," said Harry, walking in the direction of the Grand Staircase.

"We have to come back to the second floor. That's where the entrance is," explained Harry, descending the stairs.

When they reached the statue of the gargoyle, Harry thought he didn't have the password and the statue didn't talk.

"Fizzing Whizbee," said Harry aloud.

Nothing happened.

"Sherbet Lemon," he tried.

The statue stood still.

"Cockroach Cluster."

Nothing moved.

"What are you doing?" asked Hermione, puzzled.

"I'm trying to guess the password for getting into the Headmaster's office," said Harry, trying to concentrate.

"Those names are too stupid to be passwords," said Hermione matter-of-factly.

"Well, my dear Know-It-All," said Harry, grinning, "I would like to inform you that all these stupid words were passwords once."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "I'm not a passwords expert, but I don't think they can work anymore if they have already been used."

Harry looked at her. In fact, what she was saying made total sense.

"Let me try something else, then," he said, thinking hard.

Hermione leaned against the wall and listened to Harry while he enumerated all the names of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and almost all the sweets that he could remember from Honeydukes.

"Harry maybe we should give up our hopes of getting in there," said Hermione when he started to kick the gargoyle statue.

"No," said Harry, jumping up and down holding his foot. "Dumbledore would have used one of these words, I'm pretty sure about that, and - no wait," he cried, snapping his fingers. "Dumbledore wasn't the last Headmaster here!"

"No?"

"No, it was McGonagall," said Harry. "Oh, blimey, I don't have any clue what kind of passwords she would have used."

Hermione followed Harry with her gaze as he started to pace up and down in front of her. "No, maybe I have. Maybe she chose the passwords for the Gryffindor Comm-"

But Harry didn't finish his sentence, because at the word 'Gryffindor', the statue of the gargoyle started to rotate and showed a spiral stone staircase behind it.

"Gryffindor," muttered Harry. "Professor McGonagall must have missed being the Head of our House. Let's go," he added, taking Hermione's hand and jumping on the stairs that were already spiralling upwards.

The stairs stopped in front of a highly polished oak door. Harry, still holding Hermione's hand, seized the handle and threw open the door.

Inside, the office was exactly as Harry remembered it the last time he'd seen it. Professor McGonagall didn't have the heart to change anything in there.

Harry heard Hermione's breath becoming shallower and looked at her.

"What is this place?" she asked, looking around at the strange little silver instruments that emitted puffs of smoke.

"The Headmaster's Office," said Harry. "All these things were Dumbledore's."

"What are they all for?" she asked, letting Harry's hand go and walking slowly around the circular room.

"I know as much as you about these things," he said, looking around. "And I don't think that anybody knows any more than you and me about this stuff-"

"Speak for yourself," a nasty voice said from the other side of the room.

Harry walked towards the source of the voice. There was nobody there, but Harry knew where to look.

"Phineas Nigellus," said Harry to a portrait.

"Well, well, well, Potter," answered the small wizard in the picture. "I started to miss your presence in this room."

"Really? I wasn't missing you, though," said Harry rudely.

"How dare you? When I was Headmaster-"

"I know, I know," said Harry waving a hand in front of him. "Nobody would have dared to speak to you like that. Shame you're not the Headmaster here anymore, and haven't been for a long time," he added, smirking.

Phineas Nigellus glared at him. In the meantime, Hermione got closer to Harry and started to listen to the conversation, interested.

"And what are looking at?" Nigellus snarled at her.

Harry opened his mouth for screaming some insult back to him, but someone was faster than he was.

"Oh, close your mouth, you fool," said a woman's voice.

Harry thought the voice sounded vaguely familiar, and when he turned his head to face the portrait the voice had come from, he understood why.

"Professor McGonagall," he said, chuckling.

"It took a lot for you to pay a visit, Potter," said Professor McGonagall, smiling thinly from her painting.

"P-professor McGonagall," repeated Harry.

But Professor McGonagall wasn't looking at him anymore. "This cannot be," she whispered, staring at Hermione. "You should be dead."

Hermione smiled shyly. "W-well, I'm not," she stammered shyly.

"How can this be possible?" Professor McGonagall asked Harry, trying to sit up in her chair to get a better look at Hermione.

"I don't know," answered Harry, recovering from the shock of speaking to the dead Headmistress.

"You don't know?" she asked, bemused. "Didn't you ask her?"

"Nope, I couldn't."

"You couldn't?"

"No, she's the victim of a Memory Charm," said Harry matter-of-factly.

Professor McGonagall looked at Hermione. "I saw you on the Battle Ground. You should be dead."

Hermione shrugged, looking down.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "If only Albus would have been here, we-"

"What?" exclaimed Harry. He had totally forgotten that there was a portrait of Dumbledore too in that room, since Harry's sixth year.

"I was saying," said McGonagall stiffly, "that if only Albus would have been he-"

"What are you talking about? He must be here," said Harry, looking around to find Dumbledore's portrait.

"Potter," McGonagall called him.

"I know that he's in this area-" said Harry, looking at the wall where Professor McGonagall was hung up.

"Potter." Professor McGonagall's voice became louder.

"-I saw him since the end of my sixth year," continued Harry without looking at her.

"Potter!" McGonagall shouted

Harry finally faced Professor McGonagall again. "Sorry Professor, what were you saying?" he asked.

"Potter," she said, her voice back to normal. "Professor Dumbledore's portrait is no longer here, not since the Last Battle."

"What? Why? Don't tell me that Voldemort-"

"What? Oh, no, no. You-Know-Who doesn't have anything to do with Albus' portrait," said Professor McGonagall quickly.

"Then, who-?"

"It was me," said McGonagall unexpectedly.

"What?" Harry understood less with every moment.

"It was my fault," she said blankly. "Albus asked me to take his portrait on the field. He wanted to witness the death of You-Know-Who. He wanted to be sure that this time he was really gone."

"Was his portrait destroyed?" asked Harry, fearing the worst.

"I don't know," said Professor McGonagall. "I tried to protect him with all my strength, and I was killed while I was covering him with my body."

"Oh," was all Harry could manage to say.

"That's terrible," said Hermione.

Armando Dippet looked at her from his portrait. "Terrible? On the contrary, my dear girl, I would say that it is wonderful."

"What?" asked Hermione without understanding.

"She gave her life for protecting his portrait. If that isn't love, I don't know what is," he said warmly.

"Oh, Armando," said McGonagall. "Anyone would have done that."

"Oh, yes, of course," said Dippet unconvincingly.

"So," Harry interrupted, "Dumbledore's portrait is gone."

"I don't know," repeated Professor McGonagall.

"If it was there on the Battle Field, then it must have been destroyed; everything was destroyed," said Harry despairingly.

"Oh, that's what I thought, too," said McGonagall. "Before I saw Miss Granger here." She nodded towards Hermione.

Harry seemed to think hard on these words.

"Aren't you wondering why she's still alive?" asked Dippet.

"Every moment of every day," said Harry seriously, flashing Hermione a quick smile.

Hermione felt something in her stomach, like butterflies, at the idea that Harry thought about her 'every moment of every day'.

"Ah, Miss Granger, you really are the cleverest witch of your age."

Hermione turned her head, but couldn't understand which portrait had spoken to her.

"Hermione?"

She looked at Harry with a startled expression. "Yes?"

"Are you okay? You look strange," asked Harry, concerned.

"I'm fine, it's just that - never mind," she said, shaking her head.

Harry looked at her. "If you're sure," he said, unconvinced.

"I am," she smiled.

"Well." Harry turned his face towards Professor McGonagall again. "Our next stage is the ground where the Last Battle was fought, so if Dumbledore's portrait is still there, maybe we'll find it."

"Why are you going back to that place?" asked Professor McGonagall, worried.

Harry took a deep breath and started to explain what had happened to him - to both of them - in the last three days. When he finished, Professor McGonagall was wearing a horrified expression on her face. "And you think that she'll recover her memory just walking around places like Hogwarts?"

"It doesn't hurt to try, does it?" said Harry, shrugging his shoulders.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "No, I suppose it doesn't."

"When are you leaving?" asked Armando Dippet.

"I don't know, but as soon as possible," answered Harry.

"Why? Filch hasn't been kind to you?" asked Phineas Nigellus maliciously.

Everybody ignored him.

"How are you going there?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"We used the Weasley's flying car for getting to Hogsmeade. I think that we can use it to get to the Last Battle Field too," said Harry.

"Why don't you use another way to get there?"

"I'm pretty tired of walking, and getting to where we fought the Last Battle is quite a long walk," Harry pointed out.

"Oh, of course it is," said Armando Dippet quickly. " But we were thinking about something else."

Harry looked at Professor Dippet first and then at Professor McGonagall, with no clues of what they were talking about.

"Minerva, will you explain to him, please?" said Dippet.

"Of course, Armando," replied McGonagall. "Potter, will you please open that cupboard?"

Harry stepped towards the cupboard and opened it.

"Now, can you see that silver teapot?"

Harry nodded.

"It's a Portkey. It is directly connected to the Trotternish peninsula, also known as the Last Battle Field," explained Professor McGonagall.

"Why there would be a Portkey that connects Hogwarts to the Last Battle Field?" asked Harry, confused.

"I created it," answered the portrait of Professor McGonagall. "I needed a way to get there with Albus' portrait and without being seen. Can you remember, Potter? Death Eaters were everywhere."

Harry nodded. "That's great; we'll be there sooner than I expected."

Minerva McGonagall and Armando Dippet nodded and smiled, while Phineas Nigellus just snorted from his portrait.

"I think we can leave tomorrow," he said, then he turned towards Hermione.

"Don't you want to have a shower and eat something?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I think I definitely do," she said, nodding.

"Let's go back to the Gryffindor Tower, then - Ah, Professor McGonagall?"

"Yes, Potter?"

"Thank you very much," he said, smiling.

"Yes, thank you," repeated Hermione behind him.

"You're welcome," answered Professor McGonagall, feeling happy for being helpful and seeing two of her former students again.

They climbed down the stairs from Dumbledore's office, walked up the hallways, passed in front of several portraits that looked at them curiously and went through the hole behind the Fat Lady.

They both took a shower, changed their clothes, and ate fish and chips in the Gryffindor Common Room. When Harry had Vanished the empty plates, Hermione looked at him and opened her mouth to say something, but she looked like she thought she wouldn't at the last moment. Harry didn't notice, however.

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"What about sleeping?" asked Hermione, yawning.

"I reckon that's another brilliant idea of yours, Miss Granger," said Harry, yawning too. "We can sleep in the Boys' Dorm," he said, getting up.

"Aren't you forgetting something? I can't come in, I'm a girl," said Hermione.

"What? Oh, no, no, you can come in, the charm is only on the Girls' Dorm," said Harry, climbing the stairs to his old Dorm.

"Really? Why?" asked Hermione, following him.

"That's funny," said Harry. "Once Ron asked you the same thing. You said something about girls being more trustworthy, or something like that."

Hermione laughed. Harry couldn't help smiling as well.

They climbed the staircase till the Dorm on the top. "Sorry for all the stairs, we could have stopped at the first door, but I wanted to see my old bedroom," he said, opening the door on which there was the writing 'Sixth Years' in golden letters.

They entered, and Harry felt the odd sensation of being transported back in time. It was exactly as he remembered.

He sat down on the four poster bed that once was his and looked around.

Hermione sat down on Ron's bed. "I think I'll lie here."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"I don't know, I like the view from here," said Hermione absently.

Harry nodded and laid down on his own bed.

"I like Hogwarts," said Hermione, looking at the ceiling.

"I like it too," said Harry, smiling.

"Harry, when I recover from this Memory Charm, can we come and live here?" she asked unexpectedly.

Harry looked at her. "I don't know, I mean, now there's only Filch, but maybe in the future it can be a school again," he said uncertainly.

"I understand, it was just a thought," she said, turning on her other side and showing Harry her back.

"But Hermione, there are so many places where we can live in peace around here," he said quickly.

"We?" Hermione was smiling brightly when she turned her head to face Harry.

"Yeah," said Harry, blushing a little. "We."

Hermione turned on her back. "Good night, Harry," she said, closing her eyes.

"Good night, Hermione," Harry whispered back.

When they woke up the next morning, Harry and Hermione had their breakfast while they were still in bed. Then Hermione insisted on saying goodbye to Filch. And, at the end, they climbed the stairs to Dumbledore's office, where Harry swore to Professor McGonagall that they would bring back Professor Dumbledore's portrait if it was still intact.

Then they reached for the teapot in the cupboard.

"At the count of three, we'll touch it and we'll be transported to the Last Battle Field, okay Hermione?"

"Okay," she said, smiling nervously.

"One."

Harry took Hermione's hand.

"Two."

They raised their hands.

"Three."

They touched the Portkey and felt a great force, like a hook being pulled just behind their navel.

The only thought Hermione had time for before the Headmaster's Office disappeared from her sight was, 'Fourth Stage: The Last Battle Field.'