The Portkey Solution

CHAPTER 16 - Reassembling

As he plunged toward the ocean, Harry spotted Sirius and Staci on Buckbeak, swooping toward him. He saw Staci slipping off the hippogriff's back when he hit the water, feet first.

He instinctively spread his arms and legs to slow his momentum, but the impact took his breath away and he began to struggle. He managed to kick his shoes off. He tried to swim to the surface and get out of his robes all at once. One arm got tangled in the sodden cloth and he thrashed about for something to grab onto as the weight of his robes began dragging him down....he couldn't breathe, he couldn't kick hard enough...

Then there was something, a slippery large something that got under him and pushed him to the surface. He gulped in air. A wave snatched away his glasses where they dangled from one ear and he squinted, trying to see what had saved him.

A dolphin chattered at him, trying to nudge him onto its back. He wrenched his arm back through the sleeve and laced his fingers together, looping them over the dorsal fin, as he coughed and sputtered salt water. The dolphin began swimming along the cliffs, away from the cave and Malfoy. Harry could barely make out a blur above him in the darkening evening sky, and he supposed it was Buckbeak. After several minutes, which gave Harry time to notice just how bone-chillingly cold the water was, he realized the dolphin was dragging him to a small sandy area. They got fairly close to the shore, then the dolphin seemed to change shape under him. His hands slipped down a human back, and then, as the person turned, he realized it was Staci.

She swam to shore, helping him along, until their feet found the bottom. It took the last of Harry's strength to stumble onto the sand and he shuddered from cold as the wind knifed through his wet clothes. Staci wrenched her wand from the long seam pocket in her jeans and flicked it. "Siccare!" Instantly they were both dry. "Accio glasses!" She caught his black frames as the sea gave them up.

Harry put them on just as Sirius convinced Buckbeak to land. Sirius flung himself off the hippogriff and went to Harry, looking him over and seeing that he was relatively unscathed. He embraced Harry briefly, murmuring "All right, there?" and let go when Harry nodded.

Then he whirled and grabbed Staci by the shoulders. "Don't you ever scare me like that again! You could at least have told me what you were about to do!"

She disengaged herself firmly. "There wasn't time. Harry, are you all right? What can we do?"

Harry looked at her, coughing again, still not quite sure what had happened. "You're an Animagus?"

"Yes, of course I am. Mom is, Lise is, Ben probably would have been one. It runs in Mom's family. A lot of Native American tribes have more than the usual number of Animagi. I told you that."

"You didn't tell me you personally were one."

She shrugged under the accusing stares from both sides. "A dolphin isn't exactly the most practical of forms to pop in and out of. I sometimes forget myself, if I'm away from the ocean long enough." She conjured up a thick blanket and wrapped it around a still-shivering Harry. "I'm taking him to the beach house," she told Sirius. "Meet us there."

She put her arms around Harry and they disappeared with a clumsy crack like a pistol shot.

*****

Malfoy seethed, trying to spot Potter and avoid the sudden onslaught from Black. He was dimly aware of someone going into the water after the boy as he repelled yet another attack. Then Victor was behind him, full of accusation and complaint, and Malfoy gave up in disgust as Black soared away on the hippogriff. He mentally noted the answer to several unanswered questions about Black's escape from Hogwarts.

"Why did you let him get away?" Victor yelled at him.

"Why didn't you contain him in that precious contraption of yours? The one he wasn't 'strong-willed enough' to break out of?"

"I don't know how he did it! I need my data, I need to study it, see everything I missed, but he damaged the hard drive and destroyed half the printouts! I need--"

"We need to leave!" Malfoy roared in Victor's face. "Any minute Black will bring reinforcements!"

"No, you have to help me! I can't leave everything here!"

"I do not have to do anything! You were the one who came to us, full of your Muggle-ridden plans, and now we have nothing to show for it!"

"Just because you bunch of isolationists haven't got the imagination of a flobberworm!"

Malfoy wanted to Disapparate in the man's face, but Victor had a firm grip on his arm, trying to pull him back into the cave. They descended into a furious, name-calling tug-of-war.

*****

Instead of directing Buckbeak west to the Patterson cottage, Sirius steered him back to the cave. Malfoy was still there, struggling with an unfamiliar wizard. Sirius seized his chance and drew his wand again.

"Stupefy!" His aim was off and he sent a shower of stones down on them. They sprang apart to avoid being hit. Malfoy Disapparated immediately, but the other wizard turned and ran back into the cave. Sirius ordered, "The cottage, Buckbeak. I'll meet you there." He Disapparated, reappearing in the mouth of the cave, and pointed his wand at one side. "Ignicio!" He ran into the depths of the cave, leaving a bright blue signal-fire to guide the others.

He pounded into the cavern, barely registering the array of machines around him. The other wizard was trying to gather papers into his arms, pull some kind of small black square out of a grey box, and hook a leather satchel with his foot. Sirius levelled his wand at the man. "Who are you, and what have you been doing to Harry?"

The man took one look at Sirius, his face crumpling almost to tears in frustration. He Disapparated with a whipcrack that echoed loudly in the cave as Sirius' Stunner hit the desk a second too late.

Sirius cursed long and fluently. After a minute he calmed down and began poking around the mess that had been left behind, trying to find something that could answer his questions.

*****

Staci and Harry reappeared in the cheerful main room of the cottage. Harry took one look at the familiar surroundings and simply collapsed to the floor where he was. Staci Summoned a cordless phone from the kitchen and dialled quickly. "Dad? I've got Harry, we're at the beach house. Let Albus know. We need Arthur and Molly here to stay with Harry while we check out that cave."

Harry clamped his fingers around her wrist and she looked at him. "Please, Staci...don't leave me... Can't...can't the others do that?" His voice trembled, hoarse and exhausted.

She hesitated a moment, thinking furiously, then spoke into the phone again. "Dad, wait. See if you can locate Egg and Og. If Victor was part of this, then whatever was going on involved computers and they'll be the best at untangling it. I'll stay here with Harry. Albus has a Portkey from Hogwarts to Kent, if he hasn't used it already, set to ten miles north of St. Margaret's. It'll take you to about four miles north of the cave." She listened for a moment, then hung up with a quick "Right. Bye."

She turned to Harry and checked him over. She paused with a hand on his forehead. "You're burning up. Those idiots probably didn't bother to heat that cave at all, did they?" She Summoned a small plastic bottle from the bathroom and got up to fill a glass with water.

"I wouldn't know. All I could see was the house on Privet Drive." Harry swallowed the three pills she handed him and gulped water. His stomach twisted painfully, as if he might send it back up. Staci took his left hand and gently removed the needle. She examined it closely, and then closed the puncture in his hand with a touch of her wand and a "Sanare".

"No medication or poison, just a sugar drip. Harry, what the heck were they doing? This doesn't seem like Death Eaters to me."

Harry sipped the water more slowly, willing his stomach to behave. "It was Hugo Victor. Him and Lucius Malfoy."

"Malfoy we saw," she nodded.

"They had some kind of computer set up, attached to the kind of machine that hospitals have to scan with. It was..." Harry stopped and looked at her warily.

"I understand. They had something like an MRI. Go on."

He drew away from her slightly. He had to ask. "How do I know I'm not still a prisoner? How do I know they didn't simply present me with a rescue so I would stop fighting it?"

Staci looked completely puzzled for a moment, then gasped. "Oh, hell! Victor's dream project was enhancing VR!" She seized the phone and dialled rapidly. "Scott, it's Staci. Is Egg still there? . . . Yes, please." After a brief pause, she spoke again. "Egg, I'm at the Channel house with Harry. I think Victor was trying out that virtual reality theory of his on him. Harry's still not sure he's been freed. When you get to that cave, hang onto every single piece of paper and equipment you can. Hurry, and send Sirius or my dad here ASAP." She hung up and turned back to Harry.

Harry had been listening as closely as he could while trying to take in his surroundings. He felt miserable: starving and dirty, coughing and having trouble breathing. His fingers traced the faint ridge of his scar. Nothing seemed to be interfering with his memories, no matter how quickly he jumped from one thought to the next. He was able to remember the drive from Surrey to this house in July; his birthday party; being taught to swim, to defend himself, to Apparate. He wanted to believe, he wanted to desperately, but he couldn't be sure yet.

Staci reached out to him and he pulled back. Bad enough that his parents had been part of that awful illusion. If it turned out that Staci was part of that same lie, he didn't think he could bear it.

She looked at him a moment, then spoke gently. "Let me help you. At least let me get some food in you, and you can shower or take a bath..." As he watched, she began waving her wand all over the place, using spells to put together fruit juice and hot chicken broth in seconds. She set the resulting tray in front of him.

"You usually don't use magic like that, so...flagrantly," he began cautiously.

"You usually don't need a demonstration and I'm usually not in that much of a hurry," she replied. "Please, eat it. Between no food, a cold cave and a dip in the ocean, you're primed for at least a good bronchial infection if not pneumonia. When the others have finished investigating that cave, they'll come here and show you that all that equipment was definitely dismantled."

"But..." Harry felt completely lost, but he was also starving. He began sipping the soup. Staci went to work, making the bed in his old room, shrinking some of her dad's spare clothes from the family's stash to fit him, and finally drawing a bath and charming it to stay hot until he was ready for it. He watched her warily, concentrating on his actions and trying to feel a difference between now and what he thought was yesterday.

He couldn't be sure yet. He couldn't let himself be sure about anything yet.

*****

The cave was filling up rapidly. Dumbledore was talking to Sirius as they stood near a magical fire to get warm. Bill was trying to convince Molly not to descend upon the cottage immediately. Two young wizards, barely in their twenties and dressed in Muggle clothing, had begun sifting through the remains of the devices, talking to each other in incomprehensible jargon while Arthur watched them eagerly. Hagrid, stooping slightly, obligingly shifted heavy equipment for them as they requested it.

The heavier of the two broke off from telling the one with the ponytail something to grab Hagrid's arm as he was about to yank a handful of cords from the CPU. "Wait! Wait, those unhook. Like this..."

Egbert "Egg" Patterson and Anthony "Og" Ogilvy, two of the plentiful Patterson cousins, were following Staci's instructions to the letter. They conjured boxes and labelled them, sorting papers into one box, data storage into another, and peripherals into a third. Og picked up one sheaf of printouts and scanned them. "Evil," he said out loud. "Just plain evil."

Dumbledore heard him and broke off his conversation with Sirius to approach the heavyset cousin. "Why do you say that, Mr ...?"

"Ogilvy, but call me Og." He flashed a friendly smile at the headmaster. "It looks like Victor had set up a virtual reality machine capable of drawing most of its data from the victim's own memories by magic. All Victor had to do was punch in--" he glanced down at the papers in his hand "--'Privet Drive', for example, and Harry's brain would register it and automatically produce that setting. It kept Victor's work maintaining the simulation to a minimum, not having to program in endless details."

Egg, the one with the scraggly ponytail, noticed the confused looks from the others and stepped in. "Think of it like this: Victor had Harry trapped inside an illusion, one where Victor didn't have to do all the research, or expend the energy to create it. He was able to make Harry fill in the details from his own memories, creating an illusion so seamless that frankly, it's a wonder Harry managed to break it down."

"But he did? Break it down, that is," Dumbledore interrupted.

Og grinned. "You bet he did. Came close to blowing this cave out of the cliff, if you ask me."

Neil pulled Sirius aside. "I think we can let them get on with it. The boys know the beach house, being family of course, and they'll bring all this stuff over when they've sorted it."

Sirius shook his head. "I'll wait. I summoned more of us to help guard this place until we've finished with it." He started pacing the perimeter of the cave.

Molly broke off from her argument with Bill and stormed over to Neil. "I want to go to Harry! I want to know he's all right!"

Neil hesitated a moment, watching the maternal fury quiver so strongly around her that it almost sent sparks through her red hair. "Molly, what if you went to Hogwarts and let your children know what has happened? If what we suspect is true, Harry's going to need as few people around him as possible, until he's convinced that he's really home. And...I'd like to know how your daughter is, and how she found Harry."

Molly didn't soften in the least, but she accepted his hints and Disapparated with a loud pop. Bill smiled and gave Neil an amused wink.

Neil nodded to him and approached Dumbledore. "Are you ready to go?"

Dumbledore took one more look at the scene before him: the two young men tossing odd-shaped pieces of plastic and metal into one box, papers covered with line after line of numbers in another. For the first time in many, many years, Dumbledore truly felt old. He considered himself an expert on Muggles and their affairs, but this...insidious, terrible assault on Harry's mind frightened him. He hadn't been paying enough attention, focusing solely on Voldemort, and now there wasn't enough time to catch up.

He let Neil take his arm and Apparate them both away.

*****

They reappeared in the cottage, and Staci looked up from where she was sitting, curled up in a slouchy chair with a mug in her hands. She spoke without preamble, "He's soaking in a hot bath. We may be able to keep him from getting seriously ill. The upshot is he's not quite convinced that he's free of the VR scenario, that they made him think he'd escaped just to get him to stop fighting it."

"What's it going to take to convince him otherwise?" Neil asked.

"I don't know. He hasn't given me any details yet. Frankly, the best option may be to leave him alone about it, just keep him from getting sicker, and getting him back to Hogwarts in time for class Monday."

Dumbledore nodded. "Returning to one's routine is often the best solution. But, Anastacia...Neil..." His shoulders sagged and he put fingers to his forehead in weariness. "How could the Death Eaters possibly be responsible for this? They scorn all things concerning Muggles!"

Staci answered, "Well, the Death Eaters were certainly aware of this, as Sirius and I saw Malfoy for ourselves or someone who looked just like his picture. If they recruited Hugo Victor from the States, like they did before--"

"Before?" Dumbledore interrupted.

Both Pattersons nodded and Neil replied, "Yes. The last time he was rising in power, Voldemort poked around briefly in some major cities in the U.S.: New York, Washington, L.A., Chicago. Vicks was one of the people he approached. But then he tried to kill Harry and vanished, and those people just resumed their lives quietly, since there was little proof of any criminal activity."

Staci nodded and continued, "Anyway, his presence explains most of this. Victor is part of RIMA, the agency that researches magic, trying to come up with new spells and applications, and he's famous for his attempts to create not just illusions, but virtual reality with magic."

Neil nodded in agreement. "It could be either way: the Death Eaters may have approached him or he may have come to them with his ideas. But we're dealing with a whole new ball game now. One thing about Hubert Vicks that never changed...he's a man obsessed with knowledge, with proving his theories. Now that he's had a try at Harry, I would bet the Patterson Global Charter that he'll try again with someone else." He looked straight at Dumbledore. "We ought to ask the Ministry to issue warnings. And the rest of the kids at Hogwarts will need protection."

Dumbledore straightened at that. "And they will have the best, if we all work together."

*****

Harry emerged from the bath, feeling much better for being clean. He dressed in the altered Muggle clothes and added the dark blue robes hanging behind the door. He still felt chilly, but it seemed he was breathing more easily.

He heard voices and looked into the main room. Staci, Neil and Dumbledore were talking quietly, doing something to the gas jets in the fireplace. Finally, they had a fire going merrily and Dumbledore stepped back and nodded in approval. "That will do nicely for now. I'll let the Floo Network know of the temporary connection here."

Harry frowned, a memory surfacing unbidden. He fought down the urge to panic at the sensation and stepped forward. "If you weren't connected to the Floo Network before, how did you send that letter to Dumbledore's office from here, that first day I was here?" He watched them closely, looking and listening for the slightest indication that the program was trying to compensate for the unexpected question.

They all turned around, and Staci and Neil exchanged looks. Neil explained, "It's a bit of a trade secret, Harry. One of the second-generation Pattersons discovered a way to connect any fire to any other, as long as you know the location. So there are fires in every single Patterson's location around the world and we use the Cinders dust to send things through. It's best for small objects, as it only opens a space half as big as the destination fire."

Dumbledore's eyes widened a bit at this and Harry could see him thinking of all kinds of applications. He had to admit, it seemed to be a handy trick. He came forward to warm himself at the fire. Staci put a hand to his face.

"Your fever is down. How do you feel?"

"Cold. Weak. Tired. Like...like I could reach out and peel away this wall and find another illusion behind it." Harry tapped the fireplace.

Staci reached out and embraced him tightly. Neil put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. Dumbledore looked on, acutely aware of being the outsider among family. After a moment, Harry moved and they let him go.

Staci guided Harry to sit down in the chair closest to the fire. "How about more soup? Hopefully you'll be ready to go back to solids in a day or so." Harry nodded and she went into the kitchen.

The men sat down as well. Neil glanced at Dumbledore and began, "Harry, if you're ready to talk about it, we could use some idea of what happened. We've got people combing the cave and they should be here soon, but we only have guesses at this point."

Harry hesitated. Was this an attempt on the machine's part to learn from its past mistakes? Could magic-enhanced machines do that? Everything felt right so far; his thoughts and memories reacting just as they had before he'd left to meet Sirius in Hogsmeade. He blinked, realizing he had no memory of that day after setting off from the castle. And there was no sensation of something rushing to fill in the gap.

Staci had apparently sped things up again, as she returned with a bowl of broth, beef this time, and a pot of tea large enough for all of them. Harry watched her pour out, thinking of his mother and the row over tea with the Dursleys. That memory felt as real as any other.

"I was in the house on Privet Drive. My parents were alive and we'd only just moved in. All my friends from Hogwarts were back in my old neighbourhood. My parents said I had been imagining the wizarding world for years, that I'd been writing stories about it.

"Every time I tried to do magic, nothing happened. I tried to contact Staci but her phone number didn't exist. I tried Hermione's parents but that number was to some restaurant. I kept trying and trying to figure out a way back to Hogwarts...I was thinking of going to London and King's Cross as soon as I could get away."

Staci reached over and squeezed his hand as he faltered. He shuddered and gulped some tea. Dumbledore leaned forward.

"Harry, how did you get out? I've been told that the illusion was almost perfect, as it was drawing its information from you."

"I...little things didn't add up. The teachers at the school called me 'Harold', and that's not my name. My parents kept talking about taking me to a therapist, and, well, that didn't seem right."

Neil gave a small chuckle. "It would if you lived in the States. The pop psychology culture has trained people to seek professional help over the smallest things."

"Even with all those little things, it felt so real. I was actually almost ready to believe what I was being told...and then Ginny came to me."

The adults all paid closer attention. Dumbledore asked, "How did she do that? She hasn't woken yet to tell us what happened."

Harry looked alarmed. "Is she all right?"

Staci patted his hand. "We think so. She just exhausted herself badly, whatever it was she did."

He frowned in an effort to remember. "She said something about returning to her body when she said she'd go for help."

The Pattersons shrugged but Dumbledore paled. "She had left her body?"

"Well, that's what she said. She certainly didn't have one when I saw her. My hand went right through her, and she was standing in my desk." Harry watched as Dumbledore swallowed hard. "Professor?"

"Those spells haven't been touched for a hundred years. I thought every reference to them had been removed from the library."

"Professor," Harry repeated sharply.

"I'm sorry, Harry. But I believe Miss Weasley has found a way to astral project. The practice has been discouraged for a very long time, after a number of wizards and witches failed to return to their bodies and were lost."

Harry's eyes widened and Staci's mouth dropped open. Neil spoke urgently, "Albus, are you positive Ginny is all right?"

"Oh, yes. She did return to herself. She was on her way to my office when Anastacia and the others found her. But she obviously pushed her magical capabilities to the limit in the process."

Harry looked at them. "I want to go back. When can we go back?"

Neil shook his head, but Staci looked at Harry a long moment. "If you'll agree to stay in the hospital wing until Monday, we can go as soon as we've heard from the others."

Harry nodded eagerly and bolted the rest of the broth.

*****

Lucius Malfoy stalked into the largest dungeon of the mansion. Snape had taken it over and it now had shelves full of ingredients and half-a-dozen cauldrons of varying sizes. The Potions Master was hovering over the smallest one, stirring a sticky black liquid with care.

Snape's eyes flickered briefly to Malfoy and back to his brew. "So, Potter was rescued?"

Malfoy stopped at one stone wall. He leaned against it angrily, almost flinging himself, and folded his arms. Snape had seen Draco do the same thing many times.

"He was...after he escaped on his own," Malfoy said, his voice surly.

Snape glanced at Malfoy again, one eyebrow forming a quizzical arch. "I thought the point was that Potter wouldn't be able to escape."

"Yet he did. Made things burst into flames. Summoned his glasses without a wand."

Snape stopped stirring and stared. "He did what?"

"You heard me. He performed a flawless Summoning Charm without a wand. To do that, the average wizard has to be over, what? Eighty? Ninety? And even then the control is suspect. Oh yes, and then he tossed off a Shield Charm that knocked our Mr Victor on his overconfident arse."

The potion in the cauldron had solidified to a tar-like goo. Snape cursed and removed the cauldron from the fire. He picked up his wand from the table and waved it over the mess. "Evanesco!" He turned to his shelves and began pulling out various jars and boxes.

"This is not good, Lucius. If word gets out that Potter is capable of wandless spells as a teenager, many who have remained neutral will go to Dumbledore's side out of fear of what Potter may become."

"Don't you think I know that?" Malfoy snapped. "You haven't seen him do it at Hogwarts, have you?"

Snape shook his head. "I have not. And there have been no rumours among the students or staff." He paused for a moment in thought. "I presume Potter was under some stress at the time? Finding his surroundings changed? Being attacked?"

"Yes."

"Then if the story spreads, counter with that. Instead of an early development in his magical growth, say he had reverted to pre-training levels, where the magic simply erupted from him the way it does with children. That he lost control."

Malfoy's eyes lit up and he pushed himself off the wall. "Yes, that's excellent. It would certainly fit in with the fires. Brilliant idea, Severus." He watched for a moment as Snape began adding things to the cauldron again in careful measurements. "How is the potion coming?"

Snape threw him a disdainful look. "I am having difficulty with the base. It has to be a certain consistency or the blood will not be absorbed properly. As you saw, any hesitation and it thickens too much. And the measurements are not precise."

"When do you think it will be ready?"

"Not for some time. Once it is properly prepared, it must steep for a fortnight."

Malfoy shrugged philosophically. "There's no hurry now that Potter has escaped--ah, that reminds me. I believe I know how your old school chum Black managed his miraculous escape from Hogwarts that time."

Snape's face darkened in fury and he spilled rosemary seeds over the table.

"Yes, he was mounted on a hippogriff, almost certainly the one Macnair was supposed to dispose of. I don't know who could have freed it and ridden it to the window, since Potter and his intrepid friends were in the hospital wing the entire time."

Snape gathered the rosemary seeds into a mortar and began grinding them to a fine powder, imagining Black's face under the pestle.

*****

The Floo Network dumped them into Dumbledore's office. Harry managed to keep his balance and looked around. Staci, Dumbledore and Sirius had come with him; Neil had remained behind to assist the cousins as they tore the virtual-reality device further apart to study it. Professor McGonagall was dozing by the fire, possibly awaiting further communication.

Dumbledore touched her gently on the shoulder. "Professor?"

She started awake. "Albus? Oh, Professor, I'm sorry."

"It's quite all right, Professor. We have had very little sleep this past week, but all is well." He pushed Harry forward gently, and McGonagall moved as if to embrace him before remembering herself. She settled for patting him on the shoulders. "Mr Potter, welcome back."

Staci spoke up. "He's staying in the Hospital Wing through the weekend, to make sure there are no after-effects. I don't suppose there's a shortcut?"

McGonagall pursed her lips, but Dumbledore smiled and beckoned. "Follow me."

The shortcut began behind a set of bookshelves that held tomes written by previous headmasters and came out next to the Charms classroom. Harry paid close attention, as this passage was not included in his Marauders' Map--perhaps it had been added after the map had been made. He noticed that Sirius was also stealing glances as they walked.

A few first or second years were leaving the Hospital Wing as they approached, one with a bandage around her head. They looked at Dumbledore and his companions curiously. Harry avoided their gaze and let himself be guided in.

He spotted a group of red heads and one with bushy brown hair gathered around a bed in the rear of the room. One of the twins looked up and cried, "Cor! Harry!"

The resulting stampede enveloped him as Hermione threw her arms around him, nearly knocking him down, and Ron and the twins pounded him on the back. Mrs Weasley tsk-tsked over how thin he was. Staci slipped around to consult with Madam Pomfrey, and after a few minutes Harry fought through to get to Ginny's bedside.

She was deeply asleep, taking long and slow breaths, her hair flaming against the white pillow. Harry touched her hand, which was warm and relaxed.

Madam Pomfrey glanced at Dumbledore. "She keeps moving ever so slowly into normal sleep. I expect she'll wake up sometime in the next day or so. In the meantime, Mr Potter, take off those robes and let's have a look at you."

Once he was in his pyjamas and settled in the bed next to Ginny's, with gently smoking ears from a dose of Pepperup Potion, they began throwing questions at him. Harry tried to explain what had happened, but only Hermione, given her Muggle familiarity with computers, seemed to understand even a portion of it. Finally, as the hour grew later and later and he couldn't keep from yawning, Madam Pomfrey shooed everyone out so he could get a decent sleep.

*****

Ginny could hear voices. One was sharp; the other soft and pleading. She lay still and listened hard, wishing for an Extendable Ear.

"He's still sleeping, Miss Chang. Hardly the time for a visit."

"Please, Madam. If he doesn't wake up before lunch, I'll go."

An impatient breath. Ginny imagined Madam Pomfrey throwing up her hands. "Very well. But do not disturb him if he doesn't wake on his own."

The scrape of a chair being dragged across the floor. Something being set on a table and the rustle of robes. Ginny carefully opened one eye, looking through the hair that had fallen over her face.

Harry was asleep in the next bed, looking pale and almost gaunt, as if he'd lost ten pounds he couldn't spare. Cho Chang was sitting next to the bed, staring at the vase of flowers she must have brought. Ginny was instantly repelled by the look on Cho's face. She didn't look at all worried, but patient, even kind of eager. She didn't even seem to realize just how fragile and ill Harry looked. As he shifted onto his side, Cho brightened, then looked a little crestfallen when he settled back into sleep.

Ginny lay very still, remembering Harry the last time she'd seen him. Trapped. Afraid. Despairing. She'd tried to assure him that he wasn't going mad, that what he remembered of his life was real, but really, why would he believe a ghost?

That wasn't the right word, but it would do. Her astral form had been able to pass through things and move at amazing speeds. She remembered the feeling, and hungered for it. Daydreaming about the sensations, she had almost drifted back to sleep herself when she heard Harry stir again. She peeked through her hair.

Harry opened his eyes and squinted. Cho picked up his glasses and handed them to him. He put them on and blinked at her in surprise. "Oh...er, hullo."

Cho smiled. "I never got the chance to thank you for the chocolates you sent."

He looked blank for a moment, then remembered. He glanced away, blushing somewhat. "I just...I saw you looking at them and thought..."

"It was very nice of you," she reassured him anxiously. "No one ever sent me sweets before."

"Well...you're welcome," Harry paused, searching frantically for something to talk about. "Um...how's your year going?"

"Rather well, so far. It's nice not to have the O.W.L.s hanging over my head, and for once Ravenclaw has a real shot at the Quidditch Cup! We go against Hufflepuff in two weeks and we think we can take them if it's a quick game."

"That's good." A ghost of a smile touched Harry's lips. "Remind me to apologize when we dash your hopes in May."

Cho giggled, but with a we'll-see-about-that look on her face. She chirped, "You've missed quite a few classes, and in the O.W.L. year yet. I'll be happy to lend you my notes if they'll help."

"Um...sure. I hadn't really thought about it yet." His first thought at the mention of classes had been of arguing with Mrs Warren that his name wasn't Harold. He shoved the memory out of his head almost frantically.

Cho looked slightly nonplussed at his lack of reaction. "Well, do you think you'll be back in class tomorrow? You always bounce back from these things all right."

Harry stiffened at that, but what caught Ginny's attention was the bitterness that had crept into Cho's voice.

"Bounce back? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean you always make it back from wherever you go...the Chamber of Secrets...the presence of You-Know-Who himself!" Cho's face screwed up in an effort not to cry.

Harry stared at her, completely taken aback. Ginny realized that the conversation was no longer about Harry, who had come back, but about Cedric Diggory, who hadn't. It was all she could do not to interrupt them, yelling at Cho to leave off over something that hadn't been Harry's fault.

"Cho--"

"Well, look at you! None the worse for wear and this is how many times you've been attacked?"

Harry sat up, starting to get angry. "Hardly 'none the worse'! You have no idea what they tried to do to me! I'm still not sure what they tried to do! If it hadn't been for Ginny, I'd probably still be trapped there, convinced I was a Muggle with a wild imagination!"

Cho was crying now, the tears streaming down her cheeks, but said defiantly, "But you're here. You're alive! You're the Boy--"

"Don't you dare call me that!" Harry hissed. Cho gave one last gasp of outrage and bolted the room. Harry flopped back on his pillow and yanked his glasses from his face, pressing the fingers of his free hand to his eyes. Ginny waited a few minutes to let him get control of himself, then emerged from her blankets and reached out a hand.

He saw it and hesitated a second, until their fingers touched and he could feel warm, solid flesh. He gripped her hand tightly and she squeezed it, not saying a word.

*****

Draco Malfoy paced furiously around his room. His mother had sent him here when he arrived home in disgrace, and except for the meals being brought to him by the house-elves, he had seen no one. Now, nearly five days later, he heard the heavier footsteps of his father coming down the hall. Draco grabbed a book and scrambled to the chair by the fireplace, trying to look settled and relaxed.

The door opened and his father strode in. "Draco."

He laid the book aside. "Father."

"So, now that you're no longer confined to Hogwarts and the influence of that fool Dumbledore, are you ready to be of some use to us?"

"Of course, Father. What do you need me to do?"

Lucius pulled out a sheaf of papers from a pocket in his cloak. "First, I need you to study this information, memorize it. You'll be paying a call for me within the next few weeks and you must know your lines by heart."

Draco took the pages and scanned the first one, frowning. "But, Father, won't they be expecting someone older?"

Lucius set a flask of liquid on the little table next to the chair. "Yes, they will."