A/N

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its characters does not belong to me. The plot does though...

Ok here's Chapter 9. Not beta-ed though. My beta is having some problem. Anyway Enjoy.

Chapter 9

"Plimpy"

At that word, a hidden door somewhere on the fourth floor of the castle, slid open soundlessly. A red head, namely Ron, adjusted the pack he carried, took of his cloak, hanged it on the cloak hanger and dropped his bag unceremoniously, causing a thud. He flinched at the loudness of the sound, waiting for Hermione to come out of somewhere usually the kitchen, and start berating him. When no Hermione came barging out of the kitchen, he wondered, 'Where is she?'

Suddenly he heard a small sob coming from their room. Curious, he went to the door and opened it slowly. Hermione looked up sharply at the sound of the door opening, proceeded to hug him and started to bawl her eyes out. Instinctively, he hugged her back and started petting her head, whispering, "It's ok. Whatever happened, it's gonna be ok. We're going to work it out."

"No, it won't be," she said in a hoarse voice. Not knowing what to say, Ron continued holding her until she finally released him. She picked up a piece of parchment that was on the bed, thrust it into Ron's hands and said, "Read it." Then she stalked of to the bathroom, presumably to freshen up.

A few minutes later, Hermione came out of the bathroom, looking much calmer than she felt, to find Ron sitting on the edge of the bed motionlessly, staring of into space. She understood that he needed time to digest the information, so she sat right beside him leaning on him and waited for him to snap out of it.

After a while of sitting in silence, Ron finally spoke, "Mione, does this means he's dead?"

Tears sprung into Hermione's eyes at that question. She took a deep breath trying to hold them in and softly said, "I don't know Ron."

She felt his hold on her tighten when he spoke again, "I don't understand. Where did you get this letter?"

"Oh, Ron I forgot you weren't there." Groaning at her own stupidity, she told him their confrontation in the Hospital Wing and how she came to this letter. When she finished Ron immediately stood up and said, "Do you think he has one for me?"

Startled by his sudden movement, she questioned, "What do you mean?"

"A letter! I mean does he have a letter for me too." Ron said, wringing his hand anxiously, the letter flipping in his hold.

Hermione quickly retrieve the letter from him before he could damage it and said, "I would think so."

"Then I'm going to see him. Now."

With that he marched out of the room with Hermione rushing to keep up.



??

"Severus? Albus?" Ron halted when he saw these two men outside Harry's door. "What are you doing here?" Ron and Severus said simultaneously.

"To see Harry." They answered, simultaneously again. Albus and Hermione gave a small smile when the two men started glaring and bristling at the 'coincidence'.

Albus tried placating them, mostly because he was impatient, by saying, "Well, it looks like we'll have to see him together, don't we." All the other three looked apprehensive at that notion but nodded anyway. The headmaster then started knocking on the door and waited.

The wall slid open slightly and Sylvain's head popped out. He scowled magnificently and said venomously, "Back so soon?"

Albus gave a sigh at the boy's protectiveness towards his father. "Yes. Your father did say to come back once we've finished dealing with the letter's contents."

The young wizard remain in his current position with an apprehensive look on his face, still staring at them before sighing and said, "You do know you're slowly killing him?"

Taken aback by that comment Severus snapped, "What do you mean?"

Raising his voice Sylvain said, "I mean, he is not emotionally well and this fiasco is draining him magically and that is not good for his already fragile health."

"Magically, how?" Hermione asked curiously as there seems to be no connection between these two aspects.

The boy gave another sigh retrieved his head and opened the door fully. "I guess you'll need to come in. It's a long story."

Ron, who was quite sure Sylvain wouldn't want Harry to be hear this as he himself felt that way, said "Is this a good idea? Your father-"

"This is what I'm talking about okay! He's now in the library doing 'research'! So just come in!" The boy half shouted that the adults.

After they all al seated and served tea, Sylvain started his tale.

"My father, Harry, adopted me three years ago. When I first saw him, he looked scary. Not intimidating scary, more like haunted scary, if you get what I mean. Anyway, I only agreed to be adopted because he sounded and acted really kind and caring. He took me to this house in Argenteuil, France and we lived there till I finally got my letter from Beauxbatons. He was really a good person but I don't think he was meant to be a father. He bought loads of book to learn how to be one. I didn't really noticed at first but he's really weird. His smiles are somewhat strained. Don't get me wrong I think he really loved me but I guess he's not comfortable with that in the first place. Then slowly I realized more things. He doesn't 

sleep much. He only eats with me. He's always doing something. There's no relax time where you lounge around, not for him."

Hermione interrupted with a question, "What do you mean by he doesn't sleep much."

"Just that. He sleeps a few hours at every night. Sometimes I think he doesn't sleep at all." Sylvain answered.

Wondering how much a few hour actually means in this context, Severus asked, "A few hours?"

"Yes, one or two hours usually. At most three. I stayed up a few nights to ascertain this." He paused, and continued, "Before you ask, when I say he only eats when I'm around it means he only eats when we are having a meal together. When I'm over at my friends or something he doesn't even bother cooking."

Making sure they had no more questions he continued, "He was like that for a while, steadily getting worse. One day, about six months later, he pulled me aside and asked me a very weird sounding question. 'Would you rather be an orphan once more or would you rather have a new father?' To say I panicked was an understatement. He calmed me down eventually, according to him it took him half an hour or so, and explained his intentions. It was rather bizarre. I had a hard time accepting his proposal. He gave me a week to decide. I told him I would rather have a new father the very next day."

"But- I- How could-" Ron sputtered incoherently.

"Before you judge me, I would rather you listen to what I have to say." Sylvain said darkly, shutting Ron up effectively.

"He told me soon he would be incapable in mind to raise me properly and he doesn't want me back at the orphanage. So he has been doing some research on how to solve this problem. I don't know how he did this but what he meant at that time was a different person in the same body. The father I know would be lost or dead according to how you see it, but I would get another father in return. It took some getting use to but Silas is a good father. He tried to be, at least. It was rather funny at first, how he would consult a booklet for a reaction to everything and anything I do. I got away with a lot of things Harry would punish me for. Eventually got the gist of it and you could say he's still learning. He was less haunted at least."

All of them sat in silence for a while, their thoughts still on the subject where, Harry somehow replaced himself with Silas. After a while Ron spoke, "You still haven't answered our initial question."

Confused, Sylvain was going to say he had no idea when he suddenly remembered, "You meant how he was drained magically?"

"Yes." Hermione said solemnly.

"When he's stressed he usually occupies himself to the point of magical exhaustion. That is why he hides in the library a lot and walks around half dazed most of the time. Even worst, I can't be here all the time 

to keep an eye on him. This 'fiasco' of yours is stressing him out. Just being around you all, landed him in the infirmary. Soon enough he's going to collapse again."

Shocked by how much they influenced Harry's lifestyle, Severus cautiously asked, "So you would suggest us not to bother him again today?"

Giving that question a thought Sylvain finally sighed heavily and said, "Might as well get it over with. At least I'll be here during the weekend. Go on, he's at the library doing spell research as usual."

"Thank you and sorry" Hermione and Albus said in earnest.

Scrutinizing them, he came to a conclusion that they are sincere. The young wizard gave a small smiled and gestured for them to go.

??

All of them arrived at the study table in the library to find Harry waving his wand in a peculiar manner, dictate his quill and continues waving it. Deciding to risk being accidentally hexed and get this over with, Ron started poking Harry's shoulder, "Ha-Silas?"

Harry stopped waving almost immediately, lowered his wand and blinked owlishly at Ron, "Ron? Oh do you need something?"

"Ermm yes. Do you have Harry's letter for me?" Ron said, deciding to go straight to the point.

Harry smiled serenely and replied, "Of course." He went to his desk banished some books and parchment, retrieved a box, opened it and handed one of the parchment to Ron.

Turning around he addressed the rest of his guest, "All of you are here. I take it that you've read Hermione's letter?"

"Yes," Ron said hesitantly.

"Good. So do you want to go see Harry?" Harry said indifferently.

"Yes," all of them said at the same time.

"Follow me then."

With that he started walking toward the back of the library. After a while they came to a door, silvery light was filtering out through the cracks. Harry waved his wand, muttered several choiced words and opened the door. Inside were shelves of hundreds of vials containing silvery thick substances.

No one said a word for quite a while. The silence was finally broken by Hermione who literarily choked out her question, "Are those memories?"



"Yes. Those are Harry's memories. By removing all of his memories, he is by common sense erased from the mind of this body, allowing me to come forth and live in his stead for Sylvain." Harry explained listlessly.

Severus gasped softly and said unbelievingly, "All? Every single memory? It is to my knowledge that when you take out a memory it only dampens the clarity of the memory not remove it."

"Normally that would be the case but using an obscure piece of magic Harry had devised a way to actually remove the memory entirely from the conscious mind. Subconsciously, however, I suspect there is still some of him in there. That would explain the weird nightmares and my fear of them which isn't explainable as I have no reason to be afraid." Harry said nonchalantly.

"I- Thank you Silas for telling us." Albus said dejectedly. He turned around and spoke to his companions, "I think we should leave now. Silas has been most gracious in answering our questions and demands. It would be most impolite for us to intrude upon his hospitality much longer."

"Of course, Albus." Looking at Silas Hermione continued, "Thank you Silas."

"Thank you." Severus and Ron said simultaneously.

After all of them leave, Harry replace the box containing the letters in its rightful place, stepped out of the room and proceeded to lock the door.

A/N

Anyway its ending soon I think, I have some more stuff I need to explain And just in case I missed out something I would appreciate if you readers could drop a review and tell me what you want to know. Thanks! R&R!