Chapter Nineteen

"Couldn't you get one of your Gryffindor pets to look it up?"

"Granger's in the hospital wing, remember? And I figured that, being from a proper pureblood family, you'd be more knowledgeable, but I guess I was wrong. . ."

"Fine, Potter. I'll owl father and ask, if only to get you to stop bugging me. But honestly, I don't see why you bother. You're dead incase you hadn't notice."

"You, honest? In your dreams, Malfoy. And, incase you hadn't noticed, I still have some influence in the world. The assistance is appreciated, however. See you around, Malfoy."

The blond watched the ghost-boy float off. He couldn't help thinking the "boy-who-lived-only-to-die-in-a-house-fire was a rather remarkable person, that even as a ghost he had more character and presence than many of the living.

"Wicked! You got it!"

Harry raised an eyebrow at George.

"About time," Fred remarked jokingly, "You're only a week ahead in every class."

"Uh huh. At least I'm no longer blowing things up or setting thing on fire."

"You say that like it's a good thing. . ."

Harry rolled his eyes as the twins laughed.

When Harry next sought out the Malfoy heir in order to see what information he'd gotten from his father, he found the blond smirking rather nastily.

"Father says we've no need to tell you anything, or associate with ghosts at all, for that matter. Maybe you could beg a glimpse at a chocolate frog card of one of your Gryffindor pets. It's the achievement Dumbledore's most proud of, and the only source they'd be able to afford."

"Do you have a copy of one?"

"You actually are desperate enough to hope to find interesting dirt on the old fool on his chocolate frog card?"

"Sure. Now go fetch a copy for me to look at. You'll at least get the amusement of watching my efforts fail utterly."

"As you say, Potter." The blond sneered, bowing mockingly before fetching the card.

Harry briefly skimmed the short article present on the card.

"Dumbledore is most famous

for his defeat of the dark

wizard Grindelwald in 1945,

for the discovery of the

twelve uses of dragon's blood,

and his work on alchemy with

his partner, Nicholas Flamel."

"Malfoy, do you know what 'alchemy' means?"

"It's an almost impossible branch of magic."

"And?"

"It's the process meant to make a philosopher's stone. If it succeeds, it supposedly can provide immortality through with a substance called the elixir of life, and turn metals to gold. It is almost impossible to succeed however, as I told you. Really Potter, don't you know anything? Then again, I suppose you wouldn't, being both dead, and raised by muggles."

"Go to hell, Malfoy."

"What in Salazar's name is that supposed to mean?"

"That's for me to know, and you to find out." Then, with his usual infuriating "see you around, Malfoy," the ghost-boy floated off.

"Harry!" the twins, it seemed, from the way they called out his name, waving frantically, had been looking for him.

"The professors asked us to fetch you. Apparently the girl woke up, and has been asking for you."

"What? Well, I guess it's about time she woke up. . . I'd best head up to the hospital wing."

Then twins watched as he hurriedly floated off.

"I dunno, George, he seemed a bit anxious. . . ."

George shrugged. "Mayhaps our poor likkle ghostie is afraid the teachers suspect something."

Fred stared at him for a moment, then blinked. "Or maybe she knows."

To Harry's surprise, he found Albus Dumbledore waiting for him in the hall leading to the hospital wing. His expression was neither grim, nor cheerful, but Harry thought he could see a strange, ever-present twinkle in his bright blue eyes. It was really the eyes that made the difference; his face was old and wrinkled, his hair and beard gone to gray so long they were almost entirely white, but you'd almost never notice how truly old he was, because of the bright eyes and firm gaze that projected from beneath his brows.

"Ah, there you are Harry." He reached into his pocket and brought out a lemon-drop, which he unwrapped slowly, and popped into his mouth. He pulled another out of his pocket, but after looking back over at Harry put it back, as if he'd been going to offer a lemon drop to Harry, but then thought better of it.

"Miss Granger has been asking for you, as I presume you've heard. She's suffered some temporary memory loss, and being one of the last people she saw you're one of the clearer things in her memory."

Harry shrugged noncommittally. "Makes sense."

"It does, doesn't it. She's very lucky you were there, Mr. Potter. She'd most likely have died otherwise."

"Fred and George deserve most of the credit. I just fetched help."

"Of course. None the less, no one would have managed anything in time without your warning. Ah. . . here we are."

They enter the hospital wing, which was as always brightly lit and extremely white. Hermione was sitting up in the bed watching their approach.

"Harry?"

"Present. You feeling alright?"

"I guess. My memory's a bit foggy. . ."

He nodded. "So I heard. It should improve as you get better."

"I certainly hope so . . . it's driving me crazy!"

"One would think so. Unfortunately life has a habit of twisting and turning in odd directions."

Hermione gave a slight smile. "It seems so. And this hospital wing is going to be the doom of me. It certainly isn't helping, at any rate."

Madame Pomphrey, having just entered the hospital wing took this opportunity to interrupt.

"It is necessary, however for you to have treatments to help your recovery. I don't think it's necessary for you to stay here for the entire time you wait for you memory to be completely intact, on the condition that your ghost friend is willing to keep an eye out for you, and that you check in everyday for a checkup and treatment."

"Of course! Thank you Madame Pomphrey! May I leave now? "

The hospital Matron raised an eyebrow. "Now, Miss Granger? Well, I suppose. . ."

"Come on Harry!"

She was on her feet and dashing for the door seconds later, before the healer could change her mind. Harry followed, floating behind her. He couldn't help but think this was probably the least serious he'd seen her. He wondered why it was that such small thing could make such a difference when life gets complicated. Perhaps, as thoughts of his own past led him to believe, it was because when life gets crazy, you need to grasp onto whatever bits of happiness you can.

Hermione collapsed on the lawn after having run the whole way there. She gazed around her for a moment, uncertain, before turning to address the 'ghost' that had followed her there.

"Now what?"

He studied her for a moment. "Fly."

"What? But that's. . ."

"There's no one here to see. It might clear your thoughts a little. That's what you wanted, after all, wasn't it? When you were in the hospital wing, you wanted to get out, to be free."

"Yes. . ."

"Then try it. You can never get anywhere if you never try."

"Alright. . . ."

Hermione fetched one of the school brooms from the broom closet, then returned to the lawn. She hesitated a moment, glancing at Harry, before mounting the broom and kicking off the ground.

REVIEW REPLIES: Go to my LiveJournal. The link is in my profile (it's my homepage) .

And once again, I'm back. I am, of course curious as to all of your opinions on the chapter. Do not panic, this fic will not suddenly be going Harry/Hermione (some people have asked that…) and will probably not have pairings at all, at least for a while longer. Them getting along will be beneficial to the plot in the future. I bet none of you can guess why…

Extra question here: What do you think of the new summary in comparison to the old one?

New Summary: An attack on the Dursleys left Harry to fend for himself. Years later, an overheard conversation results in new challenges which may prove impossible in the long run, such as remaining hidden in plain view, learning to trust again, and staying alive.

Old Summary: Because of a slight shift in events 7-year-old Harry has to learn to deal in a world where he can neither depend upon or trust anyone but himself. "...run as fast as you can, away from here, and don't look back."

I will hopefully be able to get another chapter up within a week. Also, to anyone interested, I've been working on getting this fic up at Fiction Alley. It's in Schnoogle, so the chapters there have not only been edited more, but are doubled up, so that each post is longer. It takes longer for me to get stuff up there, but I thought some people might prefer to read it there anyway.