A/N: I've been waiting to write this for two years now – hopefully I'll do the idea justice (but I didn't have time to re-read the novel so if there's anything that is wrong, I'm at fault.) Obviously I have a thing for Harry and surfers. There's also not enough GhostWalker fiction out there.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JKRowling. GhostWalkers belong to Christine Feehan

Fandom(s): Harry Potter/GhostWalker

Timeline: Set during Shadow Game

Warning: Slash, swearing, spoilers for Shadow Game

Pairing: Harry/Jeff Hollister

Part: 1/10

Summary: With Jeff locked in his own mind in one of her guest bedrooms, Dr Lily Whitney knows that waking him up is going to take more expertise than she has, so she does the only thing she can think of – contacts the person that was hired by her father to train her when she was a child.

Harry is a man who holds his cards close to his chest and with the mastery of the mind arts that he has, Lily won't be finding out any of his secrets any time soon. But she trusts him and he is the one person in the world that she knows is on her side and who will be able to help.

#~#~#

We are the GhostWalkers, we live in the shadows
The sea, the earth, and the air are our domain
No fallen comrade will be left behind

~ Extract from The GhostWalker Creed

#~#~#

Lily found herself fidgeting as she gazed on the comatose figure of Hollister, plucking at the hem of her sleeve as she debated what to do.

She knew what she could do, but would he help? Harry and her father had had a pretty major falling out several years back and despite her best efforts, her father refused to get back in contact with him. She didn't even know what the argument was about; though she had a feeling it was something to do with her past.

He had sent letters addressed to her for the first few years, but her father had intercepted them all and Lily had watched with tears in her eyes as he burned them in front of her. Eventually, Harry seemed to realise that something wasn't right, and the letters tapered off to until there was nothing.

Lily had cried for a week straight the year that no birthday card arrived. Her father had seemed sorry, but by the time she had finished there was something broken in their relationship. She still loved him, but he had driven away the one person that she could sit in a room with and not be bombarded with thoughts and feelings. The person that had taken a twelve year old girl and shown her how to block the minds pressing in on her so that she could get some sleep that wasn't bombarded with the evils people had committed. Sure, he had filled her life and home with people who were psychic-nulls, but it wasn't the same, at all.

Harry could help Hollister. If anyone could go into someone's mind and bring them back it would be him.

Unfortunately, Harry was the only person she couldn't find with her talents. The man was a black hole. No, that would imply there was an empty space, it was more like he could shield his mind so that it blended seamlessly with the surrounding objects. Once, when she was thirteen, and was practising finding people with her eyes closed, she had mistaken him for a pebble.

Lily sighed, unknowingly attracting the attention of Ryland, and nodded to the men crowding around Hollister's bed before slipping quietly out the room.

Ryland caught up with her barely seven paces away from the door.

"Hey," he whispered, his hand reaching out, fingers circling her wrist, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

He raised an eyebrow. "That was a pretty big sigh for nothing. Besides, I can feel your turmoil. What is it?"

Lily had the grace to blush, caught out. She opened her mouth and then closed it again when she realised she has no idea what to say. Fingers brushing lightly over her cheekbone startled her into looking into Ryland's steel grey eyes.

"Lily." He said softly.

It was enough. "I know someone who can help." The words were out of her mouth before she realised what she was doing. Ryland's breath caught. She wouldn't say that he was jubilant at the admission but there was a certain spark of hope in his eyes that hadn't been there before. Lily mentally cursed; even more when she realised that the silence from the room she had just left was a lot thicker, a sure giveaway that every man in that room was listening to the conversation.

"Who?"

Lily grimaced. "His name's Harry. Harry Potter."

"And," Ryland asked slowly, "you really think he'll be able to help Jeff?"

Lily shrugged, feeling worse by the second, "He trained me." She admitted, "If there's anyone on this planet who can help, it'll be him. He's even better than me."

The spark of hope bloomed into something more.

"And you're sure he'll help?"

Lily shifted, the fingers curled loosely around her wrist feeling more like a shackle. "Yes." She said reluctantly, "I'm sure he'll even help with the rest of you once he finds out." She shrugged awkwardly, "He's got this saving people thing…"

"That's…that's great!" Ryland smiled brightly and Lily felt it like a blow. It was even worse when the rest of the men piled out of the room behind Ryland.

"You mean that?" Nicolas asked quietly, the rest of the men held their breaths.

Lily nodded. "I was thinking about contacting Dr Adams, but if I'm right about this being a dreamwalker trap…"

"And this Potter, he can handle himself?"

Lily thought back, Harry had always been steady. A rock in her life when everything seemed like it was falling apart. He had handled everything she had thrown at him, her horror at the thoughts she was being tormented by, the grief of the victims, the anger that she was the only one having to experience it, her terror of losing herself.

Yes, Harry could handle it.

"But what about the brain bleed you were talking about?"

Lily looked up to see Ian McGillicuddy staring at her. She shrugged, then belatedly realised that that wasn't going to be good enough as an answer.

"I…" she sighed, "I might be wrong about that…"

Ryland's fingers tightened around her wrist. "What do you mean? Did he, or didn't he bleed into his brain?"

"Without the proper equipment it's all just speculation…"

That had Ryland's grip tightening until it was slightly painful.

"Damn it, Lily! Brain damage isn't something to speculate about!" Ryland grit his teeth and the rest of the men shifted into attacking positions. Lily eyed them warily, uncomfortably aware that they were all trained killers who were just a little mentally unstable and vulnerable to outside influence and control, "Would this Dr Adams be able to help with that?" Ryland continued.

"I know it's not something to speculate about! Do you think me completely heartless, Ryland? Is that it? Yes, Dr Adams would be able to help, but so would Harry." Lily tugged at her wrist, enough so that Ryland loosened his grip with an apologetic look. She huffed in reply, rubbing at the skin.

"Is Harry some kind of brain surgeon then?"

Lily shook her head.

"Then how would he be able to help?" The challenge was obvious.

Biting her lip, Lily debated telling them the reason. On one hand, it would assuage their worries; on the other hand Ryland was probably going to go ballistic. Eventually the assurance won out. She sighed, her shoulders slumping.

"Because he helped me when I started to bleed into my brain."

Their reactions were predictable. Half the men relaxed at the knowledge that the man they were contacting for help was experienced in the situation they found themselves in, the other half didn't relax, but did look relieved. Ryland blew up.

"What?" He snapped, "When did you bleed into your brain?"

Lily couldn't help the small roll of her eyes, "Oh don't worry, it was a long time ago."

Ryland made a frustrated noise, "This isn't something you should just brush off!"

"Ryland," Lily said slowly, "its fine."

"No, it certainly isn't fine! You could have died! There could be long lasting effects! Have you been to see a doctor?"

"Would you just stop that?" Lily asked, beginning to feel annoyed, "It happened when I was thirteen, more than ten years ago, and as my very successful exam scores and career can prove, it hasn't affected me negatively. And yes, my father took me to see a doctor but they couldn't even find any hint that I'd haemorrhaged in the first place, never mind anything else."

It didn't look like Ryland was completely satisfied with the answer but Lily refused to let him get another word in.

"Besides," she continued, "Harry is the sweetest, kindest man I've ever met. He wouldn't have done anything to hurt me."

Ryland scowled at her praise of another man but he was interrupted of saying anything by Kadan this time, "Right, so you trust him, he can help, that's great. Get in contact with him and bring him over here."

"There…may be a small problem with that." Lily grudgingly admitted after a moment of standing under the weight of their expectant gazes.

Gator rolled his eyes, "Of course there's a problem. There always is."

"Hey," Lily protested, "it's not my fault!"

"Lily," Ryland gently coaxed her into looking at him again, "he wasn't blaming you, he just meant that problems always crop up around us. We can get over the problem. What is the problem?"

Lily glanced away and then back to him again, "I…don't actually know how to get in contact with him."

The statement took a moment to sink in, but when it did the reactions were a mix of disbelief and crushed hope.

"You mean," Gator said, "that you know a guy who can not only help with Hollister, but with our training, but you can't get him here because you don't know where he is? How do you know he's even alive?"

"He's alive." Lily snapped at him, ignoring the panic and hurt that curled in her chest at the thought that she might be wrong. She turned back to Ryland to find him pinching the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed. "Ryland?"

He sighed and straightened, "Okay, so this Potter is out of consideration then, how quickly can you get in contact with Dr Adams?"

"He's not out of consideration," Lily said, affronted on behalf of her childhood mentor, "just because I don't know where he is right now doesn't mean that no one does."

"You don't have any letters or anything?" Gator asked after a moment.

Lily shook her head, "He used to send me letters after he left but my father…" she trailed off in embarrassment, uncomfortably aware that the rest of the explanation would paint her father in a bad light, and these men already had enough reason to hate him.

Ryland seemed to realise that she was holding something back; he could probably tell by the way she was feeling as well. "You father?" he asked gently, offering her an out if she wanted to take it.

Lily squared her shoulders; she owed it to Harry to tell the truth. Her father had been in the wrong, and though she didn't want anyone to hate him for the decisions he had made, the truth of it was she couldn't protect him from people's judgement any more than he could protect her from people's thoughts and feelings.

"My father burnt them all in front of me." The memories caused tears to prick at the back of her eyes. Her father had taken something away from her that she couldn't forgive him for, it was their only point of contention, and even though he was dead she still couldn't forgive him. It probably made her a bad person but all she could think of was the years wasted and a friendship ruined.

She could see the men sharing glances with one another and Ryland looked like he wanted to step forward and hold her, to protect her from the bad memories. She wouldn't let him though, it hurt, but she was stronger than this. She lifted her chin, challenging them to say something, about her father, about her.

They didn't, though she could feel Ryland holding himself back.

"That still doesn't solve the problem of how to get in contact with him." Nico pointed out, "And if you're right and your father destroyed all correspondence…"

Lily gasped, a sudden idea making her smile.

"What?" Ryland asked.

"He might not have destroyed everything!" Lily said, turning and hurrying down the corridor to her father's office. She could hear the scramble behind her that indicated the men where following her.

"Lily!" Ryland jogged up until her was striding alongside her, "damn it, Lily, tell me what you're thinking."

"My father," Lily said absentmindedly, her thoughts centred on Harry and the possibility of seeing him again after so many years, "and Harry were pretty close. He might have kept something of his as a memento in his office."

Ryland grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a halt. Lily turned on him in frustration as the men scrambled to a stop so they wouldn't run into them.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Lily, you just said that your father burnt all your letters from him. Why would he keep one in his office?"

Lily tugged her wrist free. "I don't know." She said, "But it's worth a shot, right? Or do you expect me to just shrug it off and say 'Oh, no, well there's only a small possibility that I'll find something so there's no point in even looking?'"

Ryland flushed, "That's not what I meant."

"It sounded like it." She replied as she started walking quickly to her father's office again, "I know it's a long shot, okay." She said quietly, "But at the moment it's the only shot we have and I'm not just going to not look because the odds are against it."

She stopped outside the door, staring at the wood grain for a few seconds. The chance of finding a letter from Harry that her father had kept was unbelievably low if she was going to be honest with herself, but there was still a chance. Her father liked to document things, it was conceivable that he had kept some sort of record of Harry living with them and if she could find that then she might be able to find an address or something for Arly to be able to track.

A hand on her arm had her jumping and she turned to find Ryland and the rest of the men looking at her.

"We'll help."

She smiled, tremulously and punched in the code to open the door. A quick fingerprint scan later and they were into her father's inner sanctum. Lily stepped to the side as the men crowded into the room after her, eager to start the search. She felt a little lost all of a sudden, as if she was missing something and hadn't noticed until just now. Supressing a shiver, she wrapped her arms across her stomach and turned her face away from the way these practical strangers were coldly going through her father's life work. All except Ryland, who stepped close to her and gave her a quick hug.

"Are you okay?" He murmured into her hair.

She pressed her face against his chest, breathing deeply, focused on his emotions, immersing herself in his concern. She took a few selfish moments, basking in his heat, scent and mind before pulling away and straightening.

"Yes. Now, help me find something."

#~#~#

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing. Lily had known it was a long shot, but there had still been the small nagging doubt that her father would completely erase everything to do with a part of his life. And it wasn't even as if Harry had been a small part, he had lived with them for three years, he had saved her life, for crying out loud.

She didn't know the details of their fight but it was starting to look like more than the usual argument blown out of proportion between two stubborn people.

She rubbed her forehead as she flipped through even more papers. They had already covered them all but she was taking a second, sometimes even a third look.

"Lily…"

Ryland sounded tired but she refused to give up, there must be something in these papers that could tell her where Harry was.

"Lily, there's nothing here."

"No." She snapped, throwing the papers back onto the floor, "there is, we just haven't found it yet!"

Ryland stepped into her personal space and this time she had to look at him.

"Lily, we've been going through this room for the past six hours. There's nothing."

"Damn it." She cursed, and melted into his embrace when he circled his arms around her, dragging her to his chest. "I know my father, Ryland. He wouldn't just get rid of something like this. He was a scientist. A scientist. Do you know what that means? It means that we catalogue everything. Just destroying something…" she trailed off shaking her head.

Ryland glanced around the room at his men who had slumped on the floor, their exhaustion finally catching up with them, not to mention the crushing blow of hope ripped away.

"Come on, I think we all need to get something to eat, and then we can decide what to do next."

He kept his arms around her as his men grumbled good naturedly to themselves as they levered themselves to their feet. He waited until they had all filed out past him into the hallway before he let go, giving Lily a concerned glance.

Lily stared at the mess of papers in the office for a few seconds before sighing. "Okay, fine. But I still think we're missing something here."

Ryland nodded, and led her out of the office with his hand placed in the small of her back. "And as soon as we've all eaten and drank something then we can come back and find it." He hesitated, "But Lily…there might not be anything. And if there isn't then we have to plan for what we should do next."

Lily bit her lip but she couldn't deny that it was selfish for her to prolong helping Jeff for the off chance of finding Harry. Yes, he was her first chance, but only for so long. Reality had to assert itself sometime and it was fast approaching that point. Yet, she still couldn't just give up.

"Just one more look."

Ryland smiled softly at her, "Of course."

They walked quietly for a few minutes until they arrived at the kitchen where, surprisingly, Rosa was still up and bustling around, feeding the men and looking completely in her element. Lily spared a little smile at her, but it quickly dropped off her face when she slumped down onto a bar stool.

She was so caught up in trying to figure out where her father would have hidden anything to do with Harry that she didn't notice Rosa talking to her.

"Huh, what was that Rosa, I'm sorry, I was caught up in my thoughts."

Rosa smiled at her as she plucked a glass from the cupboard. "I asked what you were thinking about."

Lily sighed, "I'm trying to figure out where dad would have hidden any correspondence with Harry."

The sound of shattering glass had every eye in the room turning to look at Rosa who had paled and was trembling, the glass littered around her feet.

"Rosa?" Lily asked, standing from her seat, "Is everything okay?"

Rosa brushed off her concern. "Mr Potter?" she asked, and let out a shaky breath when Lily nodded, "Been a long time since I heard his name in this house. No, no," she waved at Gator who had stood up to offer her his seat, "I'm fine, I just wasn't expecting it." She turned back to face Lily, "Why you need to speak to him? Your father refused to let anyone speak of him after…"

Lily tampered down her curiosity, "We need his help, the man upstairs, Jeff Hollister, only Harry can help him. I've, we've, tried searching the office but…"

"You won't find anything there." Rosa said certainly and Lily slumped in defeat.

"So it's pointless after all."

Rosa winced, and fiddled with her fingers. "Is it important?" She asked eventually.

Lily's eyes narrowed, "Yes," she said slowly, "Jeff could die."

Rosa winced again and glanced unseeingly down at the floor before she seemed to make up her mind. "I don't know why I'm doing this, if your father ever found out…" she trailed off, then gave herself a little shake.

"Rosa," Lily said, "do you know where Harry is?"

Rosa looked miserable for a second before the expression passed, "We've kept in contact," she admitted, "I didn't agree with your father, but I didn't want him to know."

Lily felt like she had been punched in the gut, she took a deep breath when black started to rim the edges of her vision. All this time searching and Rosa had had the answer all along. The rest of the men seemed to realise this too as the despondency that had fallen over the group had completely disappeared. Now they were all sitting up straight, completely alert and listening in to the conversation.

"Do you have any way to contact him?" Lily asked, "An address would do."

Rosa nodded, "He gave me his phone number a long time ago, I've never used it and I don't know if it still works but…"

"Rosa," Lily almost strangled herself saying it slowly enough that she could be understood, "could you go get that for me right now?"

Rosa shot a nervous look at the men before nodding and bustling out of the kitchen. There was silence after she left which Lily broke with a slightly hysterical laugh, "All this time…"

The tension didn't break until Rosa returned with a thick parchment envelope. Lily had to restrain herself from snatching it out of her hand. From the looks of it the rest of the men did too. When she did finally have it, she opened it as quickly as she could and scanned the text for the phone number, once done she practically ran to the kitchen phone and dialled the outgoing line before keying in the mobile number.

To her relief it rang. At least he hadn't had his service disconnected. Or at least she hoped it was Harry who would answer.

"Hello?"

Lily sagged against the kitchen counter at the sound of Harry's voice. It had been ten years but she would never forget the smooth calm tenor that had helped her through all the bad times. She was so caught up in her relief that she almost forgot to answer.

"Who is this?"

"Harry." She said, a smile creeping its way across her face. Around her the men nudged one another.

There was a pause and then a shocked, "Lily?"

Her smile widened, "Harry, I'm so glad I could get you!"

"Lily! What? How? What about your father?"

Lily's throat closed up, "Dad is…missing…"

"Oh, Lily. I'm so sorry."

Lily bowed her head at the regret in Harry's voice.

"Lily, not that I'm not ecstatic that you're calling me, but...why are you calling me?"

She cleared her throat, "I, er, need your help."

There was silence on the other end of the line, but she could feel the change in atmosphere, "Lily," Harry said carefully, "are you in trouble?"

"No, well, yes. A little. But it's not for me I'm calling. There's a man," she rushed to explain, feeling like the twelve year old she had once been, "my father was running, um, experiments on some soldiers and one of them had a stroke."

There was an explosive noise on the other end of the line. "Let me guess, he's trapped in his own head?"

"Yeah, but that's not all…"

"Of course it isn't." Harry sounded weary. "It never is with your family." Before she could refute that he continued, "Okay, what else?"

"There's…we think there's someone else in his head, keeping him from regaining consciousness, or at least laying a trap…"

There was another silence and Lily feared that Harry had hung up.

"Harry? Please, I know you don't owe us any favours but-"

"Lily," he cut her off, "Don't worry, I'll help."

Her breath left her in a whoosh. "Oh, oh thank God. Do you want me to send a car to pick you up? How quickly can you get here?"

"Give me half an hour," He replied sounding amused.

Lily had a brief thought as to how he could get here so quickly but gratitude won out and she just chalked it up to Harry being Harry. She could remember when he would just pop up out of nowhere when she was a teen.

"Harry, thanks."

"Don't thank me just yet." He said and hung up.

Lily slowly returned the handset to its cradle and turned to look at the men. "He'll be here in half an hour."

#~#~#

Harry stared at his mobile for a few seconds in disbelief. He was almost tempted to check the calls received to check that that had actually happened. But no, he'd only given one person his number after he realised that Peter was probably messing with his letter.

Thankfully his forethought had paid off. But not in the way he had thought. Instead of an older Lily calling to reconnect, he had an older Lily begging for help.

He glanced around his barren apartment and smiled.

Time to play the hero once again.

#~#~#

I'm in the middle of exam month and I have a million and one other things to do (including other fics to finish) so I don't have a specific date for when this will be updated. The good news is that it's all planned out so it will, eventually, get finished!