(A/N: No this tale is not finished yet by a long way - Let me know what you think in a review.)
That smell!
That smell! So familiar.
So many times before had he awoken to it. It was a smell he associated with safety. With homecoming. With being all right.
It was of freshly starched linen and antiseptic. Harry opened his eyes.
Something gold was glinting just above him. He blinked. It was a pair of glasses. How strange!
He blinked again. The smiling face of Albus Dumbledore swam into view above him.
Good afternoon, Harry," said Dumbledore.
Albus? Is that you?" Harry replied looking very puzzled as his mind fought its way to full consciousness.
Dumbledore was surprised by Harry's use of his first name. But given what the boy had been through he decided not to comment on it for now.
"Yes Harry, it is me." Dumbledore replied.
"I thought you were dead." The boy replied startling Dumbledore, "then again I thought I was dead too. Are we both dead then?"
"No Harry, neither of us are dead" Dumbledore said now concerned about the boys state of mind. Had he been wrong to expose the boy to such an ordeal. "Now you don't need to worry Harry. Quirell does not have the Stone."
"Quirell!" Harry said as his eyes shot wide open.
"Yes Harry, don't you remember" Dumbledore said now even more concerned about the boys disorientation. "You were in the dungeons to stop Quirell from getting the Philosopher's Stone."
Harry couldn't believe his ears. That was decades ago, in his first year at Hogwarts. Was this a dream? He pinched himself. OUCH! As he did so he saw his hand. That was not the hand of a forty year old battle scarred warrior. It was the smooth hand of a young boy.
Dumbledore watched puzzled as the boy in the bed studied his own hand with intense astonishment as if it were the first time he had ever seen it. Perhaps there is some amnesia involved Dumbledore thought to himself.
"Harry can you tell me what you remember?" Dumbledore asked.
"I remember everything Albus, absolutely everything." Harry said looking up at the Professor with that annoying look of knowing more than he was saying. He had learnt that expression from the old wizard leaning over him. Dumbledore too recognized that look. He had no idea how annoying it was from this side.
"Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come round, they have been extremely worried." Dumbledore said.
"Ron! Hermione! Can I see them?" Harry said excitedly.
"Maybe later, if Madam Pomfrey permits it.
"Oh I am sure I can get Poppy to let them in." Harry said. The boy's use of everyone's first name was slightly unsettling.
"Don't you want to ask me any questions about the Stone?" Dumbledore asked.
"Oh you mean about your talk to Nicholas Flamel and he agreeing that you destroy it and everything" Harry said quite casually.
"Oh, you know about Nicholas, you did do this thing properly didn't you. But how did you know about our little talk? Have you had a vision?" Dumbledore asked growing even more puzzled.
"Kind of." Harry replied with that annoying look again.
Dumbledore waited for the boy to be more forthcoming but he remained silent. "Well I will see Madam Pomfrey about allowing your friends in for a short visit." Dumbledore finally ventured as he got up and began to walk away.
Harry lay back in the hospital bed again and thought to himself, //How the hell did I get here?//
Had he somehow time traveled after destroying everything? Was this a dream? Was this Heaven or Hell? Was it real? He had no idea and it was a long time before he accepted that it may really be true. He was a 40 year old warrior in a 11 year old body back in his first year at Hogwarts.
//Assuming I am really here, what do I do now?// he asked himself seriously.
He was still deep in thought when footsteps alerted him to another's presence.
"Ron? RON!" he yelled at the sight of the red headed boy coming into the room.
"Harry, how are you?" Ron said smiling at the welcome Harry had given him.
"Harry, don't get up! You need your rest." Hermione said coming in just behind Ron but it was of no use. Harry had gotten to his feet and swept both of his friends into a hug. He laughed for the first time in many years free of the cares and guilt of his former life.
"You get back into bed this instant or Madam Pomfrey will have us out of here in no time flat." Hermione warned in a very serious tone.
Harry complied grudgingly and was soon comfortable back in bed while his friends got chairs to sit beside him.
"What'ya crying for Harry? Does your head hurt or something?" Ron asked as he saw the tears rolling down from his friend's eyes.
Harry wiped the tears from his face and said, "I'm all right. It's just I am glad to see you look so well."
"I only got bonked on the head a bit. Best chess game I ever played that one. And I won!" Ron bragged happily.
"Luckily he's got a very thick skull." Hermione said
"And nothing inside it" Harry replied.
"Hey!" Ron objected but he knew it was all in fun.
"So Harry tell us what really happened in the dungeons" Hermione asked.
"I am not sure I remember everything." Harry said slowly, and that was true enough. After all it had been a very long time ago from his point of view, if not theirs and quite a few other things had happened since then but he would tell them what he could remember of his first meeting with Voldemort. He did quite a good job considering.
"Wow" Ron said at the end of the tale.
"Harry, do you think he'll be back?" Hermione had asked.
"Yes Hermione, Voldemort will be back." Harry said. "All too often."
Both of his friends jumped at You-Know-Who's name.
"Don't say his name!" Ron said annoyed.
Harry however was now thinking again of what he should do.
"I need you to bring me some parchment and a quill tonight. Use my fathers cloak." He told them after they had patiently waited for him to speak again. They agreed after a bit of convincing it was important.
Ron and Hermione were all too soon shooed out by Madam Pomfrey so Harry could get some rest. True to their word they were back after curfew with the parchment and Harry began to write a number of letters. He wouldn't tell them what was going on but they took the letters when Harry had finished and went to the school owlery to dispatch them.
"What's Harry up to?" Ron asked.
"I don't know but those letters were very odd. I didn't think Harry knew all those people." Hermione replied as they crept along under the invisibility cloak back to Gryffindor and their waiting beds. It had been a long day and tomorrow was the last day of school and in the evening the Leaving Feast. They were soon asleep in their beds.
In the hospital wing there would be no sleep for Harry Potter this night. He had much to think about.