Out of the Shadow – Year 2

Slowly my eye lids fluttered open. I seemed to be in a white room, with some very bright lights. Was I dead? Was this Heaven? I tired to remember what happened to me. I remember being with Harry somewhere cold and damp. My head was starting to hurt again, which made me realize I was completely alive. I was pretty sure you couldn't feel pain once you were dead.

I waited for my eyes to finish adjusting to the brightness of the room. Sunlight shone in the small window next to my bed and I turned my face to soak in its warmth. That was when I noticed my father, asleep in the chair beside me. A smile creeped on to my face as I looked at him. He was facing me in the chair, with his feet propped up on the end of the bed. He had fallen asleep reading the newspaper. I felt myself relax a little, letting myself be comforted just by his presence alone.

The clock on the wall over the door read eight in the morning. I wondered how long I had been here, and where exactly here was. I thought about waking my dad, but he looked so peaceful I didn't want to cut it short for him. He looked like he needed the sleep. Just then I heard the door open and I turned to see my mother walking into the room, to cups of tea in her hand.

"Oh! My darling girl. You're awake!"

Tears sprung to her eyes as she put the cups of tea down and rushed over to hug me. "James." She snapped pushing my father's feet off the bed in attempt to wake him up. The moment they hit the floor my father woke in a panic. "What?" He sat up quickly, adjusting his glasses. "Holibobs! You're awake!" He said cheerfully. I gave them each a weak smile.

"Where am I?"

"St. Mungo's Hospital."

"But – why?"

My parents shared an uneasy look before turning back to me. "You don't remember anything sweetheart?" My mother asked. I closed my eyes for a second and tried to remember what I was doing last. "I remember being with Harry, in the chamber." My eyes flew open. "Ginny, oh no. What happened?" Panic flooded my entire body. "Tom was….and Harry. Oh God." I looked at my parents for answers.

"It's alright. Everyone is okay, and safe. Harry and Ginny both. Tom threw you when you tried to help Harry, and you had a nasty knock on your head. They had to send you here to get the bleeding under control."

I sighed and relaxed grateful that Harry and Ginny were safe, and okay. "So, does this mean I can't go back to school?" I asked. My father laughed. "Of course, you would ask that." My mother gave him a little shove but smiled warmly at me. "I'm sorry sweetheart, the school term is nearly over. We've got to pick Harry up at the station at the end of the week." My eyes grew wide.

"How long have I been out?"

"A week. It was very hit or miss."

My mum held my hand in hers as she cried silent, but grateful tears. I wanted to hug her and tell her that everything was okay now, and I was okay now, but I could hardly lift my head off the pillow without being in pain. "Why does my head hurt so much?" I asked rubbing the back of it. "When you hit your head, they needed to go inside and stop the bleeding. They said that you might suffer from headaches for a little while. I'll go grab a healer."

Dad explained before getting up and stepping outside my room. Mum smiled at me again as she continued to run her thumb in circles around my hand. "Mum." I said quietly. "Yes, sweetheart?" I looked down at my hands. "When, when Harry was getting attacked, something strange happened. I produced a shield, from my hands to protect him. I never tired to do it, it just happened."

I didn't tell her I had been working with a few professors to learn nonverbal and wandless magic, assuming she already know. Dumbledore would have told her, I assumed. I just remembered how the shield presented itself the minute Harry or I were threatened by Professor Lockhart. My mother gave me a small but warm smile. "It's amazing, the things magic can do for the people we love." I blinked at her a couple of times. "So, that doesn't make me I don't know, weird?" She laughed quietly. "No sweetie. I think it means you love your brother, and you wanted to protect him, even before you knew you wanted too."

"Harry hasn't had it easy, and with the uncertainty of you know who, it might only get worse, but I am glad he has you with him to protect him. Especially if your father and I can't be there."

A few moments later my father rejoined us with a nurse. She had a small vial of a potion that would help ease the pain in my head. As the potion settled in, I decided to ask my parents about Sirius. The last I knew they were working on his case, trying to get him out of prison. "What happened with Sirius?" I asked them. They looked at each other like a silent conversation before turning back to me.

"Don't worry about that now. You just rest. We promise to talk to you and Harry about it later."

I felt my eyelids start to shut, but I didn't want to go back to sleep. I wanted to be with my parents, especially after being away from them for so long. "Will you be here when I wake up?" I asked them half asleep. I know my mum answered me, but I was slipping into sleep and didn't catch what she said.

I was released from the hospital the day before we were due to pick Harry up at Kings Cross Station. Mum and Dad took me back to our house in Godric's Hollow. It wasn't completely safe to be back, considering Death Eaters were looking for them, and Voldemort was looking for Harry, but my mum had wanted Harry and I to have at least one normal summer, especially after everything that had happened the pervious years.

I climbed the stairs to my bedroom and sighed happily as I tossed myself on the bed. It was not my smartest idea, as my head was still a bit sore, but I ignored it and focused on the normality of my own bedroom, in my own house. My bedroom walls were painted light purple, except for one that was black, and I wrote on it since I was a child. I smiled at my bed covered in stuffed toys, and my large bookshelf that didn't even hold all the books I had. Fairy lights were strung across my ceiling covering everything in a light-yellow glow. The desk under my window was covered in all sorts of items from Zonkos, to muggle trinkets.

I walked across the hall and leaned against the doorframe to Harry's room. It was so weird to think that we were going to be spending a summer just across the hall from each other. It had felt like ages since we had been that close together. The walls in Harry's room were blue, and everything was covered in Quidditch things. Harry never supported a single team, as much as he just enjoyed the game.

I walked downstairs thinking that everything was the same as it had been before we went to school. Except there wasn't a large black dog chasing Harry through the yard, and Remus wasn't sitting in his usual chair by the fireplace. As I stood there in the doorway to the sitting room, I could imagine him sitting in the chair, a book in hand, dressed in his cardigans. I smiled at the memory.

Sirius and Remus had been such a fixture in our lives that it seemed like they lived here, and for a while Sirius did live here with us. I curled up in Remus' chair and tried to imagine if Harry and I would be lucky enough to have our friends around, even after we were married and had our own kids. I propped my head on my hand as I gazed into the fireplace. "Hey Kiddo." My dad's voice carried over to me, sounding sad. "You miss him too, huh?" I nodded.

"Why can't we see him?"

I could understand why we couldn't see Sirius, but Remus? He wasn't wanted by the law as far as I was concerned. My dad patted my arm. "I promise we will explain everything once we pick up Harry. It'll be easier to do it if you are both here, saves me the breath." I gave my dad a smile, to which he returned. "Come on. Your mother has dinner ready."

The following morning, I was beyond excited to go to King Cross Station. I wanted to see Harry, and the Weasley's and Rhea and Ashley. I had missed them so much since I was removed from Hogwarts Hospital Wing. Since they had to go into the back of my head, I kept my hair down for this trip, so no one could see the shaved head, or scar. We took a portkey to get Harry. When we arrived at the platform, Mrs. Weasley was there. "Oh Holly!" She said excitedly throwing her arms around me. "We were so worried about you dear. I am so happy to see you well."

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley! I'm glad to be back."

Mum chatted with Mrs. Weasley as dad and I scanned the crowds for Harry. I was useless being shorter than anyone in my family. "Holly!" I turned my head slightly to see Rhea and Ashley running towards me. I met them halfway and they hugged me. "You're okay!" Rhea said sounding relieved. "Of course, I am!" I said pretending to sound shocked that she didn't believe I'd survive. They explained what I missed, and we promised to write to each other all summer, if we couldn't see each other.

I had a feeling I wouldn't be allowed to leave the house much, with everyone being on high alert for death eaters trying to murder my parents. I didn't mind though, getting to spend a summer with them is more then I could have asked for. Once Rhea and Ashley left to meet up with their own parents I was nearly run down. "Hey!" I said trying to regain my balance.

Harry had me in a tight embrace. "You're okay." He said quietly in my ear. "I am and so are you." We pulled back and looked at each other. "You did it, Harry. You saved Ginny. That was amazing." Harry shrugged. "You helped. You blocked the basilisk enough that Fawkes got in and blinded it." I smiled thinking of the beautiful bird we had seen in Dumbledore's office. "Harry!" Dad shouted as he approached us. The moment Harry let go of me, I was lifted off the ground by two long arms coming from behind me.

"AHH!" I screamed until I noticed it was George. Fred was standing beside him smiling. "Hey! We knew you'd make it out alright!" He said cheerfully but I could see the relief on his face. Ginny came up beside them and thanked me for saving her. I laughed. "Some help I was." Ginny just gave me a half shrug before walking back to her mum. I turned back to the twins. "What did I miss?" The both looked at each other and smiled.

"Ginny's told us Percy has a girlfriend."

"No way!"

"Yep. That Ravenclaw prefect…oh what's her name."

"PENELOPE?"

The twins shushed me but were forcing back laughter. The nodded and I laughed too. "Oh, man. That is so funny. I literally can't imagine." I said shaking my head. Together the two families walked out of the train station, before going their own ways. I had promised Rhea, Ashley and the twins that I would write when I could, knowing that the twins would hardly write back. I didn't mind though, now that I could write, I wasn't going to miss telling them anything. Even if I was hoping for a completely normal and rather boing summer holiday.

** Thank you for reading! Please continue to follow Harry and Holly's journey in Shadows Year 3! I have exciting plans for this short story series. **