I'm home sick today and I'd actually do something other than lay around like I'm dying.

Chapter Three

"Mister Potter?"

Harry slowly opened his eyes and quickly found that he was somewhere where he wasn't supposed to be. The walls were white and the place smelled clean. The delusions were still there. It was official, he was going mad and nothing was going to stop it apparently.

"Mister Potter? Can you hear me?"

Of course Harry could hear her. She was delusion in his mind after all. Harry looked up at her and thought that he should know her, but her name escaped him at the moment. It didn't matter anyway; this wasn't really her, whatever her name is.

"How is he doing Poppy?" asked a voice Harry could hear, but couldn't see who was talking.

The woman turned away from him and answered the voice. "He's awake now Albus, but he isn't responding to my questions."

"I feared as much. That was the behavior he was exhibiting at Cornelius' trial."

If Harry was in his right mind, he would have been so annoyed at them for talking about him as if he weren't there, but then again they weren't really there, so he guessed that they were even.

"Harry, do you think you can answer some questions for me?" asked Albus Dumbledore as he came into Harry's line of sight. "Why did you go to Azkaban yesterday? I told you that you would be going home."

"Home?" rasped Harry. "Go home?"

"Yes, Harry," the Headmaster said gently, "You are home now."

"No, Azkaban."

Albus Dumbledore sat down in the vacant chair beside Harry's bed wearily and squeezed his eyes shut as he rubbed his hand over his face.

"No, Harry, Azkaban is not your home. Azkaban is a prison and a dark place. Home is a happy place where people who love you are waiting for you."

"No."

"Yes, Harry, home is a good place."

Yep, that concludes it, this is a delusion. There is no way the Dursleys would ever love Harry and both he and the real Dumbledore knew it. Definitely a delusion and the Dementors must be eating this up.

"Dementors," muttered Harry.

"There are no Dementors in the castle Harry. I promise you they aren't here to harm you ever again."

Harry would have snorted if this wasn't a delusion, Dementors are everywhere. They glide through the prison like lice and they are lurking in the darkness both in the corridors and in the dark corners of his own mind. Harry knew that he must not hope, that would only attract more of them.

So Harry turned away from the Headmaster and really concentrated on how he came to be here. Well, that was obvious, he wasn't really here, but since he was stuck in this living dream, he might as well figure it out. If for no other reason than to have something to do.

Begin the wavy lines to indicate a flashback sequence

So Harry stepped into the green flames and called out for the one place he knew to be his home, "Azkaban."

Harry felt the sensation of tumbling past fireplace after fireplace and eventually he landed in a thump and fell out of a fireplace in a dark and closed up room. He had ended up in the office of the Warden of Azkaban, the office was empty, Harry assumed that the people who worked here had simply gone home for the day, and so he made his way through the office area of the prison and started to seek out his cell. It was the only place he knew as his home anymore.

Having never ventured outside his cell in the entire time he was in the prison, Harry had no idea where to begin looking. So looked both ways in the corridor, which looked the same both ways he looked and took in one direction thinking that eventually, he would find his cell, if he looked long enough.

As Harry searched, he didn't realize it but he hadn't encountered any Dementors. I mean this is Azkaban prison after all, should it be crawling with the fowl beasts? However, that was not what was on Harry's mind at that moment. All he wanted was to find his cell. All he wanted was to go home.

After several hours of searching and encountering no other prisoners or Dementors, Harry was becoming very tired. He had not yet eaten today and what little he did have from the day before was used up in his search. So Harry eventually took refuge in an old dirty cell with some old straw in the corner and promptly entered it and fell to the floor. He crawled over and lay down on the straw covered floor and as weariness overtook him, he closed his eyes and fell to sleep.

Maybe when he woke up, this delusion would all just be a fading memory.

Wavy lines again to indicate the end of the flashback sequence

While Harry was pondering his own thoughts, he failed to hear the opening of the doors into the infirmary. Nor did he hear the sounds of several people coming into the ward.

"Albus?" a different woman asked, "How is he?"

"I'm afraid that he isn't well at the moment Molly."

"Do you think it would be alright to take him back to the Burrow with us?"

"Not at present, I would like it if Poppy were able to give him some nutrition potions and perhaps a few muscle regeneration potions first. He's been through quite an ordeal."

They were doing it again, talking about him like he wasn't there. He was there and Harry turned back over to see who was talking about him. Then again, they were all just figments of his imagination, so why was he getting annoyed about it really?

"Harry, dear?"

Harry didn't respond to the red headed woman. She looked worried and then turned back to Dumbledore. He knew her. She was kind. Yes, that's right she was kind to him. She fed him good food. What was her name again? Mum, was her name Mum? That didn't seem right, but it felt right. Oh well, its all part of the delusion so don't worry about it.

Before Harry could think anymore about it two new faces appeared before him. One was a tall man with freckles and red hair and the other was a short woman with bushy brown hair. He knew these two. They were his friends, they were his family. Harry loved them and that brought about a sense of hope in the middle of his chest. However, he quickly remembered that hope and happiness brought the Dementors to him very quickly.

"Harry?" the red headed man said.

"No," Harry muttered. "Go away. Dementors … coming."

"Harry the Dementors aren't coming. You are not in Azkaban anymore; you're here with us at Hogwarts," said the bushy haired woman. But she was wrong, Dementors always come.

Harry didn't respond, instead he closed his eyes tightly and pushed down the happiness he was feeling, so the Dementors wouldn't come and find him and take it all away again.

"Professor?"

"I believe that Harry thinks he is still in Azkaban," Harry heard Dumbledore say. Well of course he was still in Azkaban, where else was there for him to be? The delusion of Dumbledore continued, "I also believe that he thinks this is either a trick or a delusion his own mind has created. I think Harry believes he has gone mad."

"Has he?" the red headed man asked.

"I don't know."

Well of course he went mad, that what people do in Azkaban after all. Does no one read the brochures for the place? It's what it's known for.

"Is there nothing we can do for him?" the bushy haired woman asked again.

Wait, her name, it's Herman. No, that's not it; Herman is a man's name. Maybe the skinny man with red hair is named Herman. No, that wasn't right either. Delusions are so confusing. Guess that's why they're delusions, if they made sense then it wouldn't be a delusion.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this," Dumbledore said wearily. "I was hoping that he would come back on his own."

"Do what?" the older red headed woman asked.

Dumbledore took out his wand and pointed it at Harry and chanted, "Legimens."

To Be Continued … Please Read and Review