Chapter 13

McGonagall hadn't told them what had happened, but from the sounds of it Peeves was in trouble. Harry walked towards the Great Hall alone. He was hoping that his plan would work. Unfortunately it hinged around two key things: One, that Natalie DeWinter remembered who she was and two, that she was still at Hogwarts, both of which were unlikely, but he wasn't going to stop. He'd run out of ideas to convince Ron to come back. The plan was crazy but it might work. If he could make some sort of contact with her, then maybe she could find Ron and send him back.

Taking an abrupt left, he bypassed the Great Hall and decided to start his quest in one of the side halls. He had no idea he was being followed by the very person he was looking for. She and her cohort in crime were walking on the ceiling above him. They'd been doing so since he'd left Gryffindor. Ron wanted to keep an eye on him and Miss Nothing - Natalie - wanted to see if he would say anything else about her.

"POTTER!" Malfoy's angry voice echoed down the corridor. Harry froze while Ron and Natalie somersaulted down to the floor.

"It was you, I know it was! I know you're the ones who did this to Slytherin!" He yelled; eyes narrowed to silver slits.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Harry replied confused, but Malfoy apparently didn't believe him.

"It had to be those Weasley twins. The fireworks practically had their names on them. Letting them loose in our dorm was sheer insanity. You put them up to this." He spat furiously hands clenched in fists at his sides. Behind him Crabbe and Goyle made menacing motions.

"Fireworks...that's what the noise was last night?" Harry inquired not really certain what the other boy was going off about.

"Yes, but that's not the point!" Malfoy screeched.

"We made sure they wouldn't harm anyone, it was just to scare them." Natalie folded her arms across her chest and glared. "And it wasn't Harry's fault."

"He can't hear us." Ron growled. Looking past Malfoy he could see Crabbe and Goyle pounding their fists getting ready for a fight. "Harry can't take them on alone!"

"We can grab them from behind. It'll take a lot of concentration, but we could hold them for a short time." Natalie suggested quickly. "It might give Harry a chance to escape." Ron nodded and the two bolted for the large boys. Unfortunately, they quickly realized that they'd used too much mental energy last night moving fireworks. They couldn't be felt by the two fifth years at all.

"I didn't do anything Malfoy and neither did Fred or George. They came racing out of bed same as the rest of us when they heard the noise." Harry protested taking a step back. Malfoy was on the verge of hitting him and he knew it. He could see the danger in the blond boy's eyes.

"They could have Apparated." Malfoy snarled fists clenched to his sides.

"You can't do that IN Hogwarts!" Harry yelled back, quickly scanning the corridor for an exit.

Behind Malfoy, Ron and Natalie continued desperately try to hold back the two thugs, but their hands kept passing right through them. They had to think of something else.

"If we were Something we could take them on." Ron snarled giving up in futility. Taking a few steps into the shadows, he reassessed the explosive situation.

"I know. Harry's going to be hurt and it's our fault." She whimpered plaintively moving towards him.

"I want to be Something," he stated reaching for her hand. She gripped it firmly and nodded. "Then let's be Something together." She stated taking another step towards him. "If we want it bad enough, we can make it happen. I know we can."

Ron squeezed her hand and smiled. She returned his smile before closing her eyes and concentrating. He did the same, praying to whatever higher force there was to let him be Something again. He needed to be. Suddenly a strange sensation surged through him. It forced him to the floor under its weight. Gasping for air, he opened his eyes. Beside him on the ground Natalie coughed, tearing up as she did.

"That hurt." She hissed just before another cough stole her breath away.

"Well, what have we here?" Goyle asked. Natalie's head shot up. "Looks like we've got a pair of lovers who's sticking their noses where they don't belong." Her eyes went wide, dropping Ron's hand she climbed to her feet.

"You can see me?" She asked wondering if it was true.

"Of course I can see you," Goyle growled. Suddenly her arms were around him.

"Oh thank you!" She said planting a kiss on his forehead right before she kneed him in the groin. "And you deserve that for the bunny comment in your first year."

Crabbe's jaw dropped.

"Bunny comment?" Ron inquired stepping into the light not believing what he'd just seen.

"I'll explain later. Let's just say it had to do with bunnies being dragon's favorite food and leave it at that." She grinned. Crabbe looked from Natalie to Ron and then Goyle on the floor. He suddenly didn't like the odds anymore. He moved to warn Malfoy, but Ron jumped him, pulling him to the ground. Natalie stormed off towards Malfoy and Harry who were too busy arguing to notice anything.

"Do I look like I'd put the twins up to a stunt like that?" Harry shouted.

"Why else would it have been in the FIFTH year dorm if it wasn't you!" Malfoy countered. Abruptly he felt a tapping on his shoulder. "WHAT?" He snapped turning angrily. Natalie's fist connected with his face and he stumbled backwards.

"Oh get off your high horse!" She snapped as he stared at her. "Now I suggest you turn your little snake butt around and get the HELL out of here before I decide to do something more to your face."

Malfoy gawked at her holding his cheek. The girl looked extremely menacing, her hair disheveled, her eyes narrowed and her lips curled back from her teeth. Looking over at his bodyguards, he found one on the ground whimpering and the other engaged in combat with a student he couldn't see. Taking everything into consideration, he decided this was a good time to retreat. Fleeing as quickly as he could, Draco Malfoy disappeared down the hallway.

Harry couldn't take his eyes off the girl who'd come to his rescue. She looked like someone, someone he'd seen in a picture recently...

"Um, who are you?" He asked as Crabbe finally escaped Ron. Goyle had slunk off after Malfoy already. Natalie thought for a minute then smiling her warmest, she held out her hand to him.

"I'm Natalie." She introduced herself. "Natalie DeWinter, fifth year from Hufflepuff. Merlin, that's been a long time though." She said that last bit more to herself than to Harry.

"Natalie DeWinter." He parroted. Then his eyes lit up. "You're the Nothing I was looking for! I need your help." Harry exclaimed happily. Now he wouldn't have to call for her. Wait, he could see her. That meant she wasn't Nothing anymore.

"You mean in finding Ron?" She inquired a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. He nodded surprised that she knew. "Oh you don't have to worry about that." Just as she spoke Harry was tackled by a relieved red head.

"Harry! Thank Merlin we stopped them before you got hurt." Ron exclaimed hugging his best friend.

"Ron?" Harry managed to work himself free of the over zealous Weasley. Ron was there, freckles and all. "You're really here!" Now it was Harry's turn to initiate the hug.

"I'm sorry I made everyone worry. It took me a while to figure out how to get back." Ron apologized.

"I'm just glad to see you again! We've had the entire school looking for you!"

"Really?" Ron seemed surprised.

"What? You didn't hear us calling for you?" Harry demanded. Natalie coughed.

"Well, I was in Paris." Ron admitted feeling guilty.

"Paris?"

"And Egypt, Greece, China, the United States, Brazil, Peru, Australia, Japan, Madagascar, um am I missing a place Ron?" Natalie inquired as she tried to think.

"India and Hawaii."

"Hawaii is part of the United States." She pointed out.

"Well that's every place then." Ron concluded, nodding. Harry stared at them both.

"How did you manage to go to all those places?" He asked. That was eleven countries in nine days.

"Well, when you're Nothing you can go anywhere," Natalie said winking. "But we decided that we wanted to be here most of all. So we came back."

"That's when we realized that we needed to be Something." Ron told him. Harry looked confused, but after a moment he thought he understood.

"So you have to want to become Something in order to stop being Nothing?" He hoped that was right. Both Ron and Natalie nodded. "So I get why Ron came back, but why did you Miss DeWinter?"

She bit her lip as she thought how to answer.

"I got tired of being alone. Ron's the first friend I'd had in three decades and when he crossed back over, I did too." That would suffice for now. It was mostly the truth. Ron's face was already turning red. Harry noticed and chuckled.

"I think we better go to breakfast. There are a lot of people who've been waiting for you to come home." Harry said ruffling his friend's hair. Ron gave him a smile while Natalie shook her head.

"Dumbledore first. We should tell him we're back. I bet he'll be really surprised to see me. He had just become Headmaster when I became Nothing. He was the only one who really came looking for me, but I was too caught up in self-pity to hear him. I think thirty years is long enough for me to put off my studies." She strode off down the hall causing the two boys to scramble after her.

"Where are you going?" Harry called as she rounded a corner.

"There's a secret passage around here that should take us directly to Dumbledore's office. AH! Here it is!"

"Something tells me you used to watch Filch a lot too." Ron teased catching up to her. She threw him a wide smile and pushed the wall in. The three scrambled in and pushed the wall back. Lighting a blue fire, Harry lit one torch and handed it to Natalie. She knew where she was going, he didn't. If he missed breakfast, so what? Ron was back and he'd brought a new friend. Harry couldn't wait to get to know more about Natalie. She'd obviously won over Ron from the way his friend had been blushing, Harry had a feeling Ron would be spending a lot of time hanging around Hufflepuff.