"POOF!"

At least an hour and a half past midnight.

It was, as Harry Potter lay in the fourth bed to the right in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ; half awake, trying to ignore the pain in his currently dissolved left leg, wondering how exactly he had let the same thing that had happened to his right arm in his second year happen to his left leg in his sixth, waiting for the goblet of Skele-Gro he had taken exactly thirty-three and a half minutes ago to fully kick in (And man let me tell you that stuff tastes like a combination of flobberworm guts and frog spawn marinated in armadillo bile. Just don't ask me how I know that. I will never eat Berty-Botts every flavor beans again.), counting the tiny dots on the painfully white-washed wall ; that he saw her.

The girl was levitated into the Hospital Wing by Professor Dumbledore, closely followed by Professor McGonagall. Frowns creased both professors' foreheads and McGonagall seemed to be muttering incoherently to herself. This confused Harry for Professor McGonagall was not the type of person of whom you would expect to be talking to herself. Harry knew that his curiosity often got him into trouble, but he couldn't help laying wide awake and listening.

Professor McGonagall suddenly turned to Dumbledore and asked in a (if Harry didn't know any better) slightly scared and confused voice, "Albus... what... how do you think...Albus that's impossible. Are you sure that she didn't have an Invisibility Cloak? She could have snuck up into your office and... and... well, I don't know. How could she have Apperated on school grounds? That's impossible! How could —.".

Harry's eyes were wide open in the dark. After having to tell him several times, Hermione had finally got through his thick scull that it was impossible to Apperate at Hogwarts. How had this girl managed to do what was said to be undoable? As soon as Harry got out of the Hospital Wing, he was going to go strait to Hermione to tell her what he had overheard. Harry wasn't sure he believed his ears. He then wondered what Hermione would say when he told her, and smiled. She was hardly ever wrong about anything.

Dumbledore stopped professor McGonagall's rambling with a silent hand. "Minerva, you know as well as I that this young lady is not a student. If not by Apperation, how would she have entered the grounds in the first place? I can tell whenever someone enters the grounds, so she couldn't have possibly walked up to my office. She would have also had to sneak past several teachers. She doesn't seem to have a wand on her person and she is plainly dressed as a Muggle, so I presume that she either lost her wand, or that this girl is not aware of the fact that she is a witch. After Madam Pomfrey is done examining her, we will wake her up and hear what she has to say for herself.".

"But..." seeing the expression on Dumbledore's face McGonagall stopped. All three adults stood and stared at the girl. (Madam Pomfrey had come in a few moments after the other two and had gone to work strait away while listening intently.) Harry took this opportunity, while everyone else was facing the other direction, to take a closer look at the girl.

The girl had slightly longer than shoulder-length black hair with light brown highlights. She was wearing fitted clothes that were a bit worn and dirty. The knees of her jeans had holes in them and the cuffs were frayed at the edges. Her shirt had a couple of stains, one that looked mildly like blood and a small rip in the collar. A closer examination rendered that she was wet.

As if reading Harry's mind, Dumbledore said, "She's wet. I must not have noticed when I first discovered her." and quickly preformed a charm to dry her off. After several moments of awkward silence, Madam Pomfrey announced that the girl had some water in her lungs but that she had got it out. Besides the water, the girl had a slight case of shock, but that wouldn't last long. Madam Pomfrey said that she was a little underfed, but otherwise almost perfectly healthy.

"Thank you Poppy. Would you mind doing me a favor? Collect all the staff and assemble them in my office? Tell them that I will be there shortly?" Dumbledore asked Madam Pomfrey.

"Certainly Headmaster. Right away." said Madam Pomfrey before turning in one fluid motion and exiting the Hospital Wing.

"And now," said Dumbledore, pulling out his wand once more, "we wake her up. Ennervate.".

With a flurry of movement, the girl sat up in her bed, wide awake, fumbling in her pockets. Both Dumbledore and McGonagall held their wands aloft while Harry inconspicuously grabbed his wand off of the stand by his bed. The girl stared at the two professors with evident shock on her face. She looked around at the Hospital Wing and started breathing faster and faster until she was hyperventilating. Tears streamed down her face, she looked at the adult's wand and started crying harder. Dumbledore put his wand away and asked the girl some questions in an overly soft voice. McGonagall waved her wand behind her back and the next moment produced a paper bag for the girl to breath into.

"Hello. I'm Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. May I ask your name? This is Professor McGonagall, she teaches Transfiguration, and that over there, pretending to be asleep is Harry Potter." at this, all three heads whipped around to stare at Harry. He sat up in his bed, grimacing. Harry noticed that the girl had pretty hazel eyes. She reminded him of someone, but he couldn't think who.

McGonagall was glaring at him so forcefully when he glanced at her, that he actually jumped a little. He quickly turned to Dumbledore, who's seemed to be trying to look angry and keep from laughing at the same time. The latter won, and he broke out into a huge grin. Harry smiled at this.

"Sorry. Couldn't help it." mumbled Harry looking at the third button on his pajamas. He looked up only to receive the full blast of the girl's stare.

"Harry Potter?" she whispered. For the first time in a long time, it was not Harry's lightning shaped scar that the girl was staring at, it was his eyes. She seemed to be searching them for something. She found what she was looking for, and said, "Yes, you're Harry Potter all right." she stared for a little while longer before seemingly becoming aware that staring was rude and looked down at her bed sheets. "Sorry..."

"It's OK. It happens all the time.". Harry couldn't conceal a small grin. It was very refreshing not to have his scar marveled at.

Dumbledore repeated as if nothing had happened, "May I be so rude as to ask your name?"

The girl said, "Oh! Oh yeah... It's Philomena, Philomena Peters. Phil for short. I hate my name.".

"Ah..."said Dumbledore, "'Lover of the moon'. Would you kindly tell me how you got to be here and how it is that you have come to be without your wand?"

Phil glanced at Harry and back to Dumbledore with pleading in her eyes. Dumbledore promptly whispered something to McGonagall and told Harry, "If you don't mind Harry, I think Philomena here would like to have some privacy. Professor McGonagall will be placing a Imperturable Charm on your bed curtain. She will take it off when we are finished talking."

Harry had to try very hard not to pout. He had wanted to know how the Phil girl had managed to Apperate into Hogwarts. Phil looked relieved. Mcgonagall pulled the curtains around his bed and waved her wand at them. It was as if someone had just plugged his ears. Besides the sound of him breathing, Harry was engulfed in total silence.

It had been at least thirty minutes when at last Professor McGonagall removed the curtain from around his bed. Harry looked around eagerly. Philomena was sitting in her bed hastily wiping tears from her eyes. Harry broke the uncomfortable silence by asking, "So... how did you know for sure that I was Harry Potter? I mean usually people look at my scar... you didn't."

Phil looked up from her sheets. "Well... you see... um... well... my family isn't the richest or most connected family in the wizarding world. By far. My dad's not even a wizard." she had a strange look in her eyes as she mentioned her father. "We don't get The Daily Profit. We live in a Muggle neighborhood. We got The Profit when I was little but well..." at this point she lowered her voice and the strange look came back in her eyes. If Harry had to describe it, he would call it hate. "My father hated when owls came to our house. He hates everything about our world. Mum didn't tell him that she and I were witches until I accidentally made his shoe-laces trip him one day. After that he slowly started to— ".

Phil seemed to notice that she was telling him her whole life story and looked horrified at the fact. She said rather quickly, "Anyway, back to the point. My mother told me all about the Dark Lord–". Harry cut her off coldly, saying, "Don't call him that. That's what his Death Eaters call him.". Phil looked at Harry sadly, but continued.

"My mum told me all about Voldemort and the horrid things he's done." she paused. Harry was mildly surprised, the only person his age that he had ever heard say Voldemort's name was Hermione. He smiled grimly. "In your first year there was that whole thing with the Sorcerer's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets in your second year. We stopped getting the Profit in your third year. And then there's the fact that you have no parents. I just figured that you had to have seen some real horrors in your life. Those kind of horrors leave scars, scars that hardly anyone but you knows how deep they really go. Not scars on your skin, the scars inside. Those scars show in your eyes. Most people can't even imagine the things you've been through.". Phil looked slightly embarrassed by the fact that she had just made a speech.

Harry looked into her eyes. She had that same sad look that Sirius got from Azkaban and Lupin got from being a werewolf. Harry cringed, thinking of Sirius made his heart ache. Is that what she meant? Did he have that same look too? "And you can imagine? It shows in your eyes too." Harry said.

Phil seemed to be considering telling him something, but all she said was, "Not as much as you.". After several minutes she said, "Professor Dumbledore is writing to my mum. I'm going to stay at Hogwarts. He said that he'd get the sorting hat and sort me at dinner." she looked confused at that part. "Dumbledore said something about you showing me around tomorrow. I think he'll tell you himself though. Oh look, there's the note now.". As she said this, a small piece of paper appeared on his bed stand.

Harry picked it up and read it. It said:

Harry,

If you don't mind, I would have you take Philomena to each of your classes today and show her around the school a bit. All of your teachers already know that you are bringing her. Ms. Peters is going to stay at Hogwarts for the remainder of the year and will be sorted at tonight's feast. I know that you would like to stay awake tomorrow so I suggest that you go to sleep soon. I will be sending along Ms. Peters' wand as soon as possible.

—Dumbledore

Harry looked up at Phil and said, "Yeah, he wants me to take you to each of my classes. He said that he will be sending you your wand soon. He wants us to go to bed A.S.A.P..".

Philomena laughed. "OK. Say, why are you in here?"

"I made a bad landing in Quidditch tryouts and broke my leg. My friend Neville tried to heal it and, well... The same thing happened to my right arm in my second year. It's like rubber now. There are no bones left.". Both Harry and Phil winced.

Harry picked up his leg and it flopped around a bit. Phil let out a hiss of sympathy. Harry glared at his leg, thinking about how nice it would be to make Neville's leg wobble like that, when he realized that Phil had asked him something. "What? Sorry, wasn't really listening.".

"I said: So you play Quidditch?".

Harry answered, "Yeah. I've been playing Seeker ever since my first year. My mate Ron's Keeper. I'm the Captain this year."

"That's so cool." replied Phil. "I've read all about Quidditch. I love to read. My mum got me a Clean Sweep for my birthday two years ago, but I hardly ever got I chance to ride it. My dad, you see. She had told me that she had wanted to get the best, but, well, it cost too much and all. But I was just happy to have a broom at all. I've only ever seen one small game played, and that was by some kids in my grand's neighborhood. She lives in a wizarding community. We only visit her once a year.".

Phil looked kind of sad, but cheered up rather quickly when Harry replied, "I know what you mean about your dad. I have to live with my Muggle aunt and uncle. They would scream if I even made a noise that sounded remotely like anything to do with magic. If you want you can come to our next game. It's tomorrow. You can hang out with Hermione in the stands. Hermione's my other friend. She'll be there too. You'll probably like her and Ron. Ron loves Quidditch more than me and Hermione loves to read. She's the reason Ron and I haven't failed yet.".

She said, "Thanks! I think that I will go. I'd love to meet Ron and Hermione. They sound great. I really don't have many friends because all the kids in my neighborhood thought that I was a freak. I once made this boy's dog bite his own master's butt on accident. They didn't really bother me after that. One of the best days of my life." Both Harry and Philomena laughed so hard that they were on the verge of tears.

"I can understand that too. My aunt and uncle tell everyone that I go to St. Brutus's School for Incurably Criminal boys. I once made my uncle's sister blow-up like a balloon for calling my mother a bitch. I lost my temper." Harry explained. "I got in trouble for that one." he scowled at his sheets remembering.

Phil looked like she didn't know wether to smile or not, and decided to look sympathetic instead. Harry said, "It was so worth it. You should have seen the looks on their faces.". Phil smiled and laughed.

When they had stopped laughing Phil said, "We should probably get some sleep now. I wouldn't want to fall asleep tomorrow.".

Although still not able to think of who Phil reminded him of, Harry agreed with her and they both said goodnight. Each of them feeling better that they had upon entering the Hospital Wing.