Any plot holes that you guys can tell me about, I'd appreciate it. But don't expect immediate results. I'm planning on fixing this up once I've gotten through it all.

Chapter 5

When Harry's vision finally came back into focus, he realized that he was no longer in the woods, but in the middle of a field with the strange tree in front of him. As soon as it dawned on him that he wasn't where he should be, he sat up and glanced around him. It was all fields minus the broken debris that covered a large portion of the area behind him. With a gasp, Harry realized that this must have been his house. Harry felt his heart thumping in his throat when he saw what awaited him on the threshold of what was once a fairly large house.

Upon seeing him, Hermione and Ron hurried down the steps. Hermione threw her arms around Harry in a big hug. "I thought something had happened to you, you took so long!" Upon realizing that Harry wasn't breathing she let go of him and stepped back towards Ron.

Harry barely registered what she had said. Rather, his eyes were glued on the rubble they had just come from. It had to have been his house, the house that had been destroyed the same night his life had been destroyed, and by the same man as well. Now a shadow of that man had returned; he would keep returning as long as remnants of his broken soul remained in this world. And Harry was the one Voldemort had cursed to kill him.

He tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Before he could voice the question he already knew the answer to, Hermione piped up, "yes, it is your house, Harry." Harry slowly rose to his feet, visibly trying to swallow a lump that really was not there. He couldn't help but remember the last time he had been there, a swish of red hair, a scream, and the maniacal laughter that caused the house to shake with dread.

Hermione must have known what that look on his face meant. She called out to deaf ears; the real world was swimming before Harry, slowly being replaced by a vivid past. And just when he couldn't stand the laughter anymore a piercing pain punctuated his face. The vision faded into reality and he was standing once again amongst friends. He barely registered Hermione's hand, as tense as she must have felt for doing something like that to her best friend.

Realizing that she had saved him from succumbing to the horrors of the past, a past he could not change, he softened his accusatory look. He also tried to smile at her, but felt like he was grimacing again. Stealing a glance towards Ron, Harry felt the need to say something, anything, to stop Ron from blowing a major blood vessel! Ron had reached new shades of red fury Harry had never seen before. "T-thanks," Harry shakily muttered.

Completely contrary to what Harry expected, Ron just stared at Harry. The redness was starting to fade from his face and Ron barely managed a "you-don't-have-to-do-this" attitude that Harry had barely been able to appease with the help of Hermione.

Ron glanced away, "We should get to looking again." He started to move towards the house.

Hermione nodded. "Harry, will you be alright? I mean, you don't have to—"

"I'll be fine," Harry tried to flash a reassuring grin, but realized it probably looked more like a grimace. "Really, I'll be fine…Look, if it's too much I'll leave, ok?"

Hermione nodded again before proceeding towards the house. Following her example, Harry squared his shoulders and walked towards the rubble.

Harry slowly climbed the steps to the house. It felt awkward to walk through what was once his door, and still should be, he silently fumed. If only Voldemort hadn't picked him to be the unfortunate victim. If only that rat hadn't squealed his parents whereabouts. If only that damned prophesy had never been spoken. If only Snape hadn't overheard the prophesy…

If only…Harry sighed. It would do no good to stand in this doorframe thinking about things that could no longer change.

Harry surveyed the crumbled mass that once was called a house. Maybe, if he stood on his head and examined it through a colorful glass of water it would resemble a house, but Harry knew he was only joking himself. Most of it was undistinguishable black soot. But he could make out an overturned desk that looked like it might've been a dark wood…yet that could have been because of the fire. He could also see what little of the walls that were left standing. All in all, it painted a very gruesome death for those that had resided in this house…his parents. Harry felt the tears running down his face and his hands fisted up before he realized he was crying. It just wasn't fair. Life that is.

Harry had no idea how long he had been crying before he headed into the house and into the next room, where Hermione and Ron were currently looking. This room had obviously faired better. The dining table was barely scorched and there was a bit more wall standing.

Hermione looked up, "Ron and I are nearly done with this room. But you could help if you like."

Harry shook his head and headed into the next room; glad Hermione hadn't noticed his tear-stained cheeks or, if she had, had the tact not to mention it.

The next room looked worse for wear than the dining room. It was all a blackened mess. This room even fared worse than the first room Harry had entered. There was very little wall left. In fact, the dining room wall that lined this room was the only wall that measured higher than a foot. The other three walls barely measured that high at their highest point (as the wall was by no means even across). Harry sifted through the mess on the floor with his feet, finding nothing more substantial than pen-sized charred wood.

Harry turned to face the tallest wall. It was, surprisingly, rather clean. He could tell that the walls, in fact, had once been painted a mint green. What was more, there was a table along the wall that hadn't been torched. It was in remarkably good condition, considering the roof had all been obliterated.

"Hermione! Ron! I think I might've found something," Harry called out.

Hearing their approaching footsteps, Harry made his way to the table and opened the door. Belatedly, he realized he should've examined it and made sure it wasn't cursed. However, Harry didn't spend too much time considering the possible outcomes from his foolishness as the contents of the drawer gripped his attention. Within the drawer were two new looking dolls. How had these dolls stayed so fresh in such a house? He picked them up and realized that one was male and the other was female. Then, with a sickening lurch, he realized that they uncannily resembled his two best friends.

"What is it, Harry," Ron asked from the doorway. Harry was in such an angle as to prevent him, or Hermione, from seeing his discovery.

Harry spluttered, "It's…it's you guys. Y-you're dolls."

"What? Harry, that doesn't make any sense. What do you mean we're dolls?" An edge of fear could be heard in Hermione's voice; Harry's tone scared even himself.

Harry started to turn to show them the dolls, but just as they were afforded a glimpse of the red-headed and brunette dolls, they were gone. They vanished along with the young man who had been holding them.

"Harry?"

)CaT(

Harry sighed. "And when I woke up I was somewhere around here. More in that direction," Harry pointed a finger eastward.

Colin did not even hide the surprise in his voice. "And that's all! We flew through the air and Ginny hit her head!"

"Ginny saw what happened to Neville. He was left on the train. The nimbly bobberheads let her," Luna added mistily. Everyone just stared at her before shaking their heads and letting it pass.

"Hey, Gin, are you alright?" Harry shifted in the sand and cast his eyes downward.

"Yeah, it was only a bump and the dream or vision or whatever you want to call it took my mind off it. Plus this dull desert." Ginny smiled. After a nudge from Colin, Ginny related her nimbly dream to Harry.

After hearing Ginny out, Harry stole a glance at Luna, who was currently inspecting the horizon through the griffin feather band. "It's funny she should mention nimbly bobberheads," Harry told the others.

"Why? Did you see one?" Colin looked a bit more eager on this point.

"Er, no. But I think I had a sort of dream about Ron and 'Mione." Harry kept his gaze away from Ginny. He was pretty sure this was hard for her since she was left behind. "I don't really remember exactly what had happened, but I remember them flipping that I had disappeared, so they started looking for clues. Hermione told Ron that walls weren't really mint green, but it was mildew—" sounds of 'eww' erupted from his small audience "—that was on the wall. Then she told Ron that the table I found the dolls in couldn't have been out there long; it wasn't weather-stained and didn't have mildew on it."

"Nimbly bobberheads are nearly impossible to find," Luna interrupted.

"They didn't find a nimbly bobberhead," Harry retorted. "They found…well, they found…they found the Malfoy crest on the drawer. Hermione thinks the dolls were meant for them to pick up, not me. And they decided to continue the mission that we had started."

Colin and Luna looked expectantly at Harry but he divulged no more. Ginny was beginning to feel bad for overhearing the trio talk that summer through some extendable ears the twins had given her. She had just felt so…so…so left out.

After waiting a little longer, Colin remarked that perhaps Malfoy was trying to get rid of Harry's friends. After all, Colin had disappeared because of Neville's new, mysterious plant; Colin had always been good friends with Ginny, not Harry while Neville was on closer terms with the trio than Colin was. Apparently thinking of something, Colin muttered, "oh!" and whipped out the plant, which he had been carrying along with the book Ginny hit her head on. He flipped it upside down and showed Harry the crest on the bottom. "Is this the same crest as on the table?"

After peering it for a little while, Harry replied, "Yeah. Yeah, I think it is."

"Ginny, do you still have that letter?"

"Yeah, I do." Ginny fished through her pocket and produced a crumbled letter. She flattened it as best she could, refolded it, and then compared the crest on the envelope with that on the plant pot. It was a match. "Damn him!" Ginny yelled. She then proceeded to crumble the letter again.

"Can I see that, Gin?" Colin held his hand out for the letter.

After a huff, Ginny literally slammed the letter into Colin's outstretched hand. "Here! Keep it!"

Colin knew better than to respond to Ginny when she was so upset, so instead, he straighten-out the letter and read it out loud. "Watch your back." Following the letter, Colin proceeded to look behind him. Nothing was there. "Uhm, perhaps we should start moving again."

"It's the time of no shadows," Luna replied hazily. "We should wait in the shade until the dark wingsterlies bring night around us. It will be easier to walk then."

Ignoring her speech about wingsterlies (which didn't exist, he muttered to himself) Colin asked, "Where, exactly, do you think we'll find shade?"

Unfazed, Luna pointed in what they considered south and said, "There." Nobody saw anything that could possibly offer shade.

"Might as well check it out," Harry stated. "After all, if Hermione were here, she'd be telling us how much better being in the shade is. Then she'd give us a bunch of facts about desert climate and that sort of rubbish. Perhaps Luna has better eyesight than us." And he shrugged his shoulders before adding, "Lead the way, Luna!"

Ginny had no idea why Harry's little speech irked her as much as it did, so she stood up, mentally berated herself, and followed the now moving Luna and Harry.

Seeing everyone else leaving him, Colin quickly stood up and brushed himself off; then he ran to catch up and walked beside Ginny. "You don't see any shade do you?" Ginny emphatically shook her head no. "Good. Neither do I." After a pause, Colin added, "But I sure hope she does. I'm sweating like a pig on a stick in one of those muggle pig roasts."

Ginny was sure he meant that he was sweating a lot. "Me too."

Soon enough, a tree shaped structure was found in the distance. As they got closer, Ginny realized it was a bunch of tree shapes, and there was a small pool! Oh, she was going to kiss Luna for this!

Colin shattered her dreams with his gloomy voice, "oh, great, a mirage! Just what I need in this state!"

"What's a…a…what did you call it?" Ginny's perplexed expression said more than here words, believe it or not.

"A mirage is a delusion after you've been in the sun for a while. Those trees and that inviting pool have to be a mirage!"

"Oh. I see the mirage too." A sad note had crept into Ginny's voice.

Colin sighed. "Wait! You see it too?" Ginny nodded her head. "Then it can't be a mirage! We both see it!" Colin grabbed Ginny's hands in his own and they started twirling in circles until both were to dizzy to keep walking. Unfortunately, the oasis was still a good distance away.

After half a minute of trying to walk, the dizziness wore off and they ran to catch up with everyone else. The result of which was two very tired and thirsty teenagers.

"Well, we should camp out here." Harry said. Then looking at Luna he added "thanks" and a smile.

Ginny's insides boiled. But she labeled it heat and went to the waterside. She was soon joined and they all drank from the pool. Perhaps this wasn't going to be as bad as she had originally thought. Before long they settled down for a good sleep, after Colin mentioned how tired they would all be if they stayed awake and waited for darkness to come.

Ginny wasn't sure how long she had been asleep but she was the only one awake now. She had a weird dream in which someone was chasing after her and she was trying to get away. She was about to be caught when she woke up. Spying figures in the distance she looked around her. As the sleepiness wore out of her eyes, she saw everyone else in her group asleep. They were all in the same general area. Looking up again, she noticed that there were two figures, one with blindingly light hair and the other darker. She woke up Colin and merely pointed in their direction. "Please tell me that you don't see anything. Please tell me it's all a marige."

Colin shook his head. "Definitely not a mirage."