In His Eyes

In His Eyes

In the beginning, this story is set during the Order of the Phoenix, then afterwards, during the Half-Blood Prince. NOT COMPLIANT WITH EITHER.

It was exactly one year since Harry Potter's disappearance.

It had been a blustery Autumn day. Normal. Except for two things. One, it was October 31^st. Hallowe'en. And two, Harry Potter was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't until everyone was well into the Hogwarts feast, that someone noticed he wasn't there.

'Ron, have you any idea where Harry is?' asked Hermione suddenly.

'Not since we were leaving the common room together. Maybe he's ill?' replied Ron, shrugging his shoulders.

'Or maybe he's still up there,' suggested Ginny, tucking into a "live" sugar mouse.

'No, I don't think so,' said Hermione, frowning. 'He wouldn't miss the Hallowe'en feast for anything.'

'Well, maybe he doesn't feel like eating.' Ron adjusted his sitting position. 'You know, seeing what day it is,' he said pointedly.

It was an anniversary of Harry's parents' death. As all of them knew.

'Anyway, we'll look for him afterwards,' he finished, eyeing up a Pumpkin Pasty.

~ • ~

But Harry wasn't in the Hospital Wing, nor was he in the Common room.

'In fact, he isn't in Hogwarts at all!' said Hermione worriedly. She scanned the Marauder's Map one more time.

'He could be at Hagrid's?' Ron suggested.

'No, remember, Hagrid was at the feast,' Hermione replied, tucking the map into her pocket. 'I think we should go to Professor Dumbledore about this.'

'Mm, I agree,' said Ron, which wasn't surprising, as he seemed to agree with everything Hermione said these days. They had made their way to Dumbledore's office, and were feeling stumped about the password, (no matter how many times they had told the gargoyle guarding the doorway that it was urgent, it had still denied them access) when Professor McGonagall appeared.

'Mr Weasley, Miss Granger, what are you two sitting outside Professor Dumbledore's office for?'

'We really need to talk to him, but we don't know the password!' Hermione said exasperatedly. 'It's about Harry! And it's urgent!' she added desperately.

McGonagall paused slightly, and then nodded. 'Well, why didn't you say so at once?' She stood in front of the gargoyle and said loudly, 'Liquorice Snaps!' The gargoyle obediently jumped aside, and they all hurried into the office.

Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, engrossed in a magazine, but he looked up immediately when the group burst through the door.

'Minerva, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?' His light blue gaze pierced each of them in turn.

'Miss Granger informs me that it is about Harry Potter, Headmaster,' McGonagall said, walking over to stand by the desk, facing the students.

'Yes, it is! Sir, Harry's vanished!' blurted Hermione. There was silence in the room.

'Do you mean vanished as in, invisible, or--'

'No! We mean vanished, as in, disappeared,' Ron cut across him. 'As in...gone...'

McGonagall gasped. 'G-gone? H-how could he h-have gone?'

There was silence again. Dumbledore's brow furrowed. Ron and Hermione sat down against the wall, head in hands.

After what seemed like hours, Dumbledore spoke. 'When was the last time you say you saw Harry?'

'Just before the feast,' replied Ron miserably.

'And was he acting oddly or strange in any way?'

'No, he wasn't,' mumbled Hermione, ashen-faced. 'He just said that he had to put his bag in the boys' dorm, and that he would catch us up. But he never got to the feast. He n-never c-came...' She burst into tears.

'Mr Weasley, could you please escort Miss Granger to the lavatory for some tissue?'

McGonagall closed the door behind them, and turned to Dumbledore, who was once again, deep in thought.

'How can this have happened, Albus?'

'I don't know, Minerva.'

'You don't think--he couldn't have--run away?'

'I do not think for one minute that Harry left the castle tonight voluntarily,' Dumbledore answered solemnly. 'And no one could have Apparated in, because of the protective charms and spells that I myself put in and around Hogwarts. The Floo Network in this school is also being monitored .It might have been someone from inside Hogwarts. Minerva, I would like you to go and ask The Fat Lady who the last few people to enter and leave the Gryffindor common room were. I will ask the ghosts to search the school. Hagrid, I'm sure, will search the grounds.'

~ • ~

But, Harry was nowhere to be seen, in or around Hogwarts. News of his disappearance quickly spread, inside and outside of Hogwarts. Soon the whole wizarding world knew. Aurors were put on red-alert, and world-wide searches were made. Dumbledore himself often travelled to many different, and dangerous, places, in the hope of a glimpse of Harry. But to no avail. Members of the Order, especially Sirius, Lupin and Mrs Weasley, were at a loss. There were seldom any smiles to be seen, and laughter seemed but a memory.

Mrs Weasley frequently started crying, and even Sirius and Lupin were seen with watery eyes. Everyone half expected Voldemort to burst in through the door at any given moment, because Harry had been their last hope.

And every day, according to the Marauder's Map, Dumbledore paced his study. Christmas was not the same, and afterwards there was a moderately large pile of presents still waiting under the tree, for everyone was hoping Harry would return.

His birthday was even worse. On what should have been his sixteenth.

The Dursleys were unusually subdued after someone came and told them about how Harry had vanished.

And then, almost as quickly as he had gone, he returned.

~ • ~

It was just like before.

Ron and Hermione slowly descended to the Hallowe'en feast, Hermione holding back tears, and sat in two adjacent seats, saving one next to them, as always. They were almost half way through the feast (a much quieter event this year, as everyone apart from Slytherin ate in relative silence. Slytherin were mainly supporters of Voldemort, so it was like Christmas had come early for them,) when there was a creak as the doors of the Great Hall opened, on their own. Ron and Hermione looked at each other in disbelief, and then turned to the doorway.

Standing there, with his black hair blown forward in a sudden draft, was Harry Potter.

The whole room fell silent, and a few people, including some teachers and Dumbledore, got up, to get a better look.

Harry's gaze swept the room, and then he walked over (amid a lot of whispering) to where Ron and Hermione were sitting, and slipped into the place beside them. The whole table stared at him, lost for words.

'Thanks for saving me a space guys,' Harry murmured.

'Harry, is that really you?' Hermione asked uncertainly.

He looked at her as if she was mad, as he often did, but there was something different about him. 'Of course it's me, who'd you expect?' He stared at a plate of Liquorice Wands in front of him, but did not eat. No matter how hard his friends tried to get him to have something, Harry kept replying that he wasn't hungry.

When the feast had finished, Harry was the first to leave, which wasn't at all like him.

As soon as the others left, he was immediately surrounded by a large group of people. Dean Thomas pushed his way to the front, and was the first to ask, 'Where were you, Harry?'

Then it began, a huge babble of voices, getting louder and louder. After a minute or two, Harry could take no more. He looked at them in confusion.

'Please be quiet,' Harry said. It was barely more than a whisper, but he said it with more power that anyone had ever heard him possess. The crowd fell silent instantly.

'I need to go to bed,' he muttered. And with that, he walked off towards the dorm, the people parting for him as he went.

Dumbledore and McGonagall watched him from the shadows. They gave each other shocked looks at his powerful exit, and McGonagall said, 'Aren't you going to talk to him, Albus?'

'I am, Minerva, but not tonight, he looks rather sleep deprived.'

They nodded to each other, and walked away.

~ • ~

But Harry didn't sleep that night; he just lay on top of his bed, staring at the canopy. As soon as Ron and the others started to wake up and move around, he pretended to be asleep. No one came to wake him, and when he finally got up, the corridors were deserted. It was a Hogsmeade weekend, Harry remembered. He decided to go down to breakfast, (even though he wasn't hungry) rather than to walk around aimlessly. He went down to the Great Hall, unsure if breakfast was still being served, and to his delight, found that it was.

There were very few people in the hall, most were probably in Hogsmeade. The Great Hall seemed to have resumed the layout of a previous Christmas dinner, with teachers and pupils all on one table and just the right amount of chairs. Harry spotted Ron and Hermione, and went to join them.

'Harry!' Ron exclaimed, spraying pumpkin juice everywhere.

'Hi, Ron, Hermione. Is everyone else in Hogsmeade?' He sat down, and felt most of the table's eyes on him, including Dumbledore's.

'Yeah,' Ron replied, setting his goblet down. 'We didn't think you'd want to go today, so we stayed behind to keep you company.'

'Besides,' Hermione said, 'there's another trip in a few weeks.'

Harry looked round at the people on the table, who quickly went back to their food. 'Um, guys,' he whispered to his two best friends, 'have you any idea why everyone is acting strangely towards me?' He saw them exchange uneasy glances. 'I mean, stranger than normal.'

'Erm,' Ron said uncertainly, 'Harry, mate, you might not realise, I mean, I don't know how you couldn't know--'

'Oh, for Merlin's sake, Ron! I'll just say it,' snapped Hermione irritably.

'No, don't!'

This reminded Harry of the time Hagrid told him he was a wizard.

'Harry,' Hermione's voice overrode Ron's complaints, 'I don't know how to say this, but you've been gone for a year.'

Everyone had stopped eating to watch, and now the whole table was silent. Harry's eyes narrowed. 'What do you mean? Of course I was here!'

'No, mate, you weren't.' Ron put his knife and fork down. 'Ask anyone, no one's seen you for a year. A whole year yesterday, in fact. Everyone's been searching for you, Aurors, the Ministry, the lot.'

'B-but they can't have. I-I've been here.'

The whole table was carefully watching his reactions. Some people had even tilted forward in their seats to get a better view, teachers especially.

Harry leaned back in his chair. What was going on? Without really knowing what he was doing, he shoved back his chair and half-ran, half-walked to the huge wooden doors. He was well aware of all the pupils present, and not to mention teachers, staring after him. The doors slammed behind him. It was just like his entrance the previous day, only in reverse.

~ • ~

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