Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.

Chapter 9: Lily

"Er, Harry, can you move, please?"

"Oh," I reply, still transfixed by what just happened. "Sure."

I move away from the doorway of Harry's common room. I must have blanked out when I met Harry in that strange wasteland. I remember when I first saw my green-eyes on a face like Potter's. I noticed, but didn't really want to notice what that meant. I know do and I wish I could continue living without this knowledge of this possible future.

Great. There I'm at it again, trying to pretend that this is not real. Going at it like all the facts before me mean nothing. Harry called me mum. I see my eyes on my face. I read that book last night that said Lily Potter.

"Harry." I turn to find Alice's son gazing at me. He fiddles a bit with his bed hangings. "Are you okay? You look a bit frazzled. You're not letting those rumors get to you, are you?"

I raise Harry's eyes. Rumors. I'm beginning to hate that word. All anyone in this time seems to want to talk about the latest rumor. These people must be completely bored, or something.

Yet, this boy appears so caring, smiling hesitantly like Alice would when she wants to comfort someone. It wouldn't hurt to express a bit of my pain to him.

"I just realized something I didn't want to realize and now that I realized it I don't want it realized." I lay a cold hand on Harry's forehead. Like always, I can't find the words to explain myself. This time no vomiting is preventing me. Only I am preventing myself from making sense.

"Hard to explain." Alice's son nods, his bucktooth sticking out of his mouth. "I get it. You don't have to explain."

"I don't want it to be true," I gasp out. I want him to know what I'm trying to say. "You see, I hate knowing something so outlandish could come true."

That's it. I can't imagine myself lowering my standards to the pit of an ocean to have a son with a boy who hurt an old friend of mind. Its ridiculous to find that in a few years I may have a relationship with an egotistical boy who believed himself better than me and never once tried to understand who I am.

Alice's son is still standing by his bed, waiting patiently for me to continue or maybe leave him be. "I'm sorry. I don't really know what I'm getting at. I appreciate you listening to my big mouth."

I really do. It's usually Alice and I venting together. We would override each other every second, leading to a loud mass of two voices that annoyed my ears. Gosh, my ears must hate me. Those storms often lead to a frustrated Marlene forcing us to stop speaking.

"It was nice to talk." Alice's son grins. "You spend so much time with Ron and Hermione, I…" He shuts his mouth quickly in alarm.

"You, what," I ask. I move to stand next to him. His abrupt stop made me curious. "I won't judge, promise."

He shakes his head and chews roughly on his lips. "It doesn't matter."

"Of course, it does. What you want matters?" Why is Alice's son so secretive? Alice must have scared him with her stories of all the times vindictive girls told her secrets. The Flap-a-dill one was the most recent. In it, Potter and his gang stuck dill pickles under her shirt during dinner and later forced her to dance with the pickles falling on the floor in our dormitory. Piper Walker and Mary MacDonald promised not to tell anyone, but of course they did. Leaving poor Alice to cry all during her Charm's O.W.L.

"Like, I want to the Dancing Feet Spell to be outlawed. And you want …" I look at him expectantly.

"I. Well. I want." He stammers. "For. Er. I like this. I like us talking."

"Oh, you want for Harry, I mean me to be your friend."

He blushes nervously. "I don't want to get in the way of you three."

"You can't!" I exclaim. "You just need to stop being so hard at yourself. I like you." And based on you acting so friendly with me, I'm sure Harry likes you too.

Alice's son grins bashfully. I'm pleased to see he accepted my words.

"Aargh. Neville, get away from him. He's possessed by You-Know-Who." A sandy-haired boy howls as he runs over to us. "Get out, You-Know-You. I won't let you kill me like you did Cedric."

What is he talking about? I thought You-Know-Who was dead. That's what the history book I read said. But did Harry kill someone? That doesn't match the scared boy I met for a second. Okay, that second didn't show much. I know his father. The loon who finds thrill through hexing people, who says his son wouldn't kill.

"He didn't do kill Cedric," Alice's son defends Harry, shaking a bit nervously. He shifts to tell me. "That's the latest gossip, people are saying…"

The sandy-haired boy interrupts him, "You possessed Harry Potter. Please, don't murder me, now that I know."

"It's a lie," Alice's son snaps. "I don't want to do this, Seamus, but you need to stop believing the worst in Harry."

"Oh, Neville, whatcha going to do? Poor another failed potion over me?" Seamus snorts.

"Hey," I snap. "That's not nice. If you don't like me, fine, but don't ridicule my friend."

I hate it when entitled boys ridicule other boys about their failures. Why can't they understand we're all only human?

"I don't want to start a scene." Neville gazes back and forth between us. "Maybe its best…"

"…if I leave," I finish for him. I glare at Seamus before I exit the dorm. There's no point in fighting with that tosser.

Yet, nothing stops me from eavesdropping. Its not like I'm going to use what I hear against them. Leaning against the dorm's door, I hear Alice's son say quietly, "You can't believe that, Seamus? Harry's Harry and he would never…"

"Of course not. I know he's not possessed by You-Know-Who. But you heard what he said about my mother."

So Seamus's accusation comes from some bad words between Harry and Seamus, not from any real conviction. That's a relief. I can't imagine continuing this act all alone with the knowledge that I'm in a murderer's body.

Anyways, I should look for Ron and Hermione. I need to see if they figured out anything about the possession problem and maybe learn about the whole Cedric murder. It's been forever since I last saw them. Last night, when I returned from trying to help Regulus, they quickly left with the prefect duty excuse. I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to get kinky without a third wheel. Patricia Hensen and Tyler Abbot often used that excuse to do their thing.

Its now an hour later and I still haven't found them. Ugh. Everyone I asked had no clue or rushed by me with frightened expressions. Great, Harry's now a social pariah and I have to deal with all its horrors. There are only so many hateful stares I can take. Maybe, I should succumb to more hours in the library alone searching for answers. Nah, I decide, I'm tired of that. If only I could chat with Alice and Marlene. But no, they're not…

Holy shite, I spend all this time checking every single hallway for them and I find them when I'm not even trying. Okay, I only looked at the regular Hogwart's hangouts, but still.

Ron and Hermione come over to me. Hermione smiles gently while Ron scowls. I wonder what I did to make him mad.

"We need to talk to you," Ron snaps.

I begin to answer when Hermione says, "Not here though, Umbridge might come by here. We're going to a classroom we practiced in last year."

I follow them, but still ask, "What's this about? Did I do something wrong?"

"You better hope not." Ron glances back at me, his eye's fierce. "I mean, you're fine with me if Hermione's right."

Is he convinced Harry murdered the Cedric guy? And Hermione must have proof that's not true. That must be it.

"I am," Hermione grumbles. "Come on, in here."

She quickly enters into an empty classroom. The room is filled with the typical remnants of leftover quills and ripped robe pieces. I recognize Professor McGonagall's small pillow where she sometimes rests on in her cat form during breaks. I'm one of the few people she told about her private activity. I think it's cute.

Hermione leads us to some chairs in the middle of the room. Once were settled, Hermione explains, "We know the truth. We, er, realized it last night. After you left, we followed you and listened to your conversation."

"Oh," I gasp, amazed that I didn't notice them following me. "I didn't even notice."

Hermione gives out a light chuckle. "We're now pretty good at following people."

"Yeah." Ron smiles suddenly. "And then I learned Hermione already knew something I tried to get you to saw yesterday."

Hermione shakes her head, grinning. "I still can't believe you thought I made all that murtlap for house-elves."

"You made all those bloody hats for them," Ron retorts, raising his hands in fake despair. "What was I suppose to think?"

"Well, I would think you would actually tell me about what Umbridge was doing way before the whole possession mess. But no, you kept silent."

"Harry wanted me to."

They both stare intensely at each other and I can't stand it. So good they realized I'm not Harry, but I need them to help me, not bicker.

"Quit it," I yell at them. "So you two have some communication issues, so what. I think the whole body swapping issue is more important."

I'm pretty sure Harry and Ginny are in Regulus's and my body. It's what I hope for, anyways. I simply can't think about the possibility they are now stuck in their minds. That would be too cruel.

"Ginny's right." Hermione flips her head to look at me. "We have a more serious problem."

Ron grimaces, now watching me closely. "You are Ginny, right? And Ginny's Harry?" There is a harsh pleading in his voice that makes me wish I could say what he wanted.

"Actually." I feel a tightening sensation sizzle throughout the body I'm in. I hate feeling this nervous. "I'm not. Do you both remember the name I told you?"

Ron jumps up. His chair slams to the ground behind him. "Do you mean some random boy is in my sister right now? Doing Merlin knows what?"

"Ron," Hermione shouts. "Calm down."

He turns to Hermione, his hands shaking. "You told me I was wrong. It was just Harry in my sister, but no. I can't believe you. All morning I told you …"

With that Ron stomps out of the room, glaring once at me.

"Great." Hermione sniffs and her eyes burn red. "Stay here, I'll deal with him and you're friend. Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out."

"No," I insist, following her as she rushes after Ron. I can see him at the end of the corridor. No matter what, I will follow her. This is as much my problem as it is theirs. "You need my help. The guy possessing Harry is actually not my friend, but I know him."

"Just stay here, okay." Hermione walks even faster and then runs after Ron. I run alongside her. Thankfully, she's not too fast.

"Where do you think he's going?" I ask. By now she must understand I'm not giving in.

Hermione groans and stops suddenly. "Look, I don't need you to pretend to be my friend anymore."

Those words hurt. Its like I'm on top of a snowy mountain with the wind blowing against my face.

"I tried to tell you both, but you saw what happened, I kept vomiting instead."

Hermione sighs. "I know you didn't mean to, but that doesn't really matter to me. I don't want your help, all right?"

"I.." I start to say something, but then I notice she is no longer listening.

She stares straight ahead to the corridor before us and clenches her hands. "Look what you done, now I lost him."

And I can't imagine how bad the confrontation between Ron and Regulus will be. From what I heard, Regulus has done some nasty shite. Ron won't know what hit him.