Hollywood or What?

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Interlude
Back To Reality?

The vortex opened, disgorging them flat on their faces. Harry looked up at the sound of a scream to see Clough, still flying, the momentum from his fall and the angle of his entry propelling him a fair distance. He landed with a crash of breaking branches in a wooded area some way away.

Harry glanced at Ginny, beside him. She was lying, bruised and groaning, on the front lawn of… Hogwarts?

It was there, behind them. The castle was unmistakeable. But something felt wrong.

Apart from anything else, the ground was covered with a thick layer of snow.

He looked around. The gates were wide open, and down by the lake… Dumbledore’s tomb was gone.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” he muttered. “Come on.”

They hurried in through the gates, trying to avoid being seen. This was easier than they had expected; the halls were deserted.

“Where is everyone?”

Then they heard laughter and music from the Great Hall. The door was ajar, and within…

…they saw hundreds of students in elegant robes.

No, not robes – gowns. They were open at the front, showing elegant but in many cases distinctly muggle clothes beneath. A few of the older students even wore muggle dinner jackets, with their robes draped casually over one shoulder.

“This doesn’t make sense. This is two years ago,” Harry said, astonished. Then he saw Hermione. He recognised the scene – he had seen her arrival himself the first time around. But this was all wrong. “That has to be Hermione… but those robes…”

“Wrong colour,” Ginny agreed. “She’d never wear those.” A look of immense disappointment crossed her face. “Still not home.”

Harry sighed deeply. “Another jump, then.”

Ginny nodded, slightly dejected.

“Still, maybe this is close enough to get home,” Ginny mused, fiddling with her wand. She pointed it at the wall, thinking as hard as she could about the Burrow. “Recro Foris,” she whispered.

The silvery screen popped into existence in the alcove she had pointed it at, shrinking to fit the narrow space.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Harry said, preparing for his runup.

Then, out of nowhere, the screaming figure of Clough appeared at the doors, barrelled past him, tackled Ginny and dove into the vortex.

Harry blinked, then swore under his breath and followed them in.