Welcome Home

Harry awoke from the stone cold floor and realized that he was still in the alleyway. Nothing had changed except for the light. It was now day time, probably around noon. He decided to go home, as he had nothing else to do. Perhaps his last moments were just a dream. He must have just slipped and fell unconscious. For all he knew, "the stranger" could have knocked him unconscious and he dreamed the rest. A time-turner? Someone else would have seen it. It was too shiny not to be seen.

As he left the alley, he saw Ginny run towards him. He couldn't move. He was frozen in time. What was she doing there? She wasn't supposed to be, well, alive. She ran right into Harry, nearly knocking him over. She expected him to move, but he didn't from his state of shock.

"Ginny! What are you - what are you-" Harry managed to stammer. She merely beamed at him, glad to see him again.

"There you are!" she yelled and dragged him by the arm towards another Weasley who was just as happy as she was. It was Ron.

"Harry!" he exclaimed. He didn't notice how petrified Harry looked. He didn't seem to care. Ron led Harry and Ginny to a table full of the rest of the Weasleys.

The thing that calmed Harry down had to be Mrs. Weasley. She always made sense of any situation and just seeing her sitting there nearly brought tears to Harry's eyes. How were all of them there? This had to be the dream, not the night before. How was all of this possible? How were all of them sitting there, smiling? Actually, how were they even there?

Harry slowly sat down as Ginny pulled out a chair for him. She wasn't sure what the matter with him was but she seemed pleased enough that he was there.

"Harry was at the back of an alley. He looked pretty groggy," explained Ginny.

"How did you get there?" asked Fred. Like usual, his twin brother, George, was there to finish his sentence.

"You were supposed to meet us at Madam Malkins."

"I - uh," Harry began. He hadn't gone to Diagon Alley with the Weasleys for years. All this was so strange, but he had to admit that it was the best dream he'd ever had. He decided to just flow with the dream, knowing that it would dream eventually. "I took a wrong turn somewhere. I don't think I'm feeling too well today."

Mrs. Weasley instantly took his well being as her responsibility. "You must eat now, then! Everyone, give space, give space. I'll stay with Harry and the rest of you can finish up your shopping. We'll meet you back at the Burrow," Mrs. Weasley ordered, shooing her family away.

Harry put his hand on his forehead, trying to make sense of the situation. How could a dream feel so real? Again, he decided to relax into the dream and let it happen. He didn't dare to wake himself. He missed the Weasleys so much.

Mrs. Weasley went to get some food for Harry and kept on glancing back at the table as she left. She never trusted for her family to be okay and always worried for them. Harry was as good as family to her.

"Harry!" said a voice in Harry's ear. He didn't need to turn around to see who it was but he did anyway. Seeing her again, even in a dream, was always wonderful. Harry instantly smiled more than he had in a long time.

"Hermione!" Hermione walked out in front of him so that he didn't have to turn around to see her. She then said down in the chair next to him. "What are you doing here?"

"You mean you don't feel different?" she asked, concerned.

"Different? No, I don't feel different."

'Does she know?' Harry wondered, but he didn't have much time to think about it because Mrs. Weasley was returning with a slice of pizza. She hadn't realized that Hermione was there and didn't think of getting her one. She didn't want to get her one and merely smiled at her.

"I'm sorry but I need to go," Hermione said as she stood up. She gave Harry a look as if to say "We'll talk about this later," which left Harry wondering. What did Hermione know? He watched her leave and walk down the street. He was as confused as ever.

Looking over at Mrs. Weasley again, he saw that she was smiling at him like she always was. She never failed to be there for him but he didn't feel like telling her what happened. He still had to figure out whether it was a dream or not. Why would Hermione ask him that if it was a dream? He knew he needed to talk to her but she was far gone. He knew that the next time he could talk to her would be at school, assuming that this was reality. How could it be, though? How could this really be happening? Harry had to get what happened in the alleyway straight before he could draw any conclusions. He had no idea how long it was until school started again but he knew that he'd have at least a couple of days to think it over. He could only hope that he would wake up the next day and not have time to think about it. There was only one problem circling Harry's mind. Did he really want to wake up?