Chapter 17

Before Harry had time to react he could feel his bed jolt out from underneath him. Knowing Ron was beneath him, Harry almost cried out but just as he was about to hit Ron he was flying out of the room, out of the tent, and in seconds he was flying over the forest.

"I find the sensation of flying to be much more enjoyable than when one's feet are on the ground. Don't you?" Dumbledore's knack for talking about the strangest things at the oddest times still shone through.

"Sir," Harry had a hard time believing that Dumbledore would have chosen to stay behind as a ghost, "Didn't you, I mean, weren't you…"

"Dead? Harry I would have hoped that even though I have passed you would have been able to articulate fully about death. It is not something one should be afraid of but something to be embraced." He stopped abruptly because a tree branch had hit him in the face, but the entire bough flew right through him.

"Sir, are you a ghost?"

"Harry, I would have thought that my little speech would have given you the answer but sadly I have failed again. No, I am not a ghost, but before you ask me what I am I will tell you, I know how much you love to have your questions answered despite the knowledge gained is not what you need but only what you want. I am simply a wandering spirit. I must finish my earthly deeds before I am permitted to enter into that great kingdom above."

Harry looked at his hero, mentor, and friend with complete and utter confusion.

"I cannot give you any more information than that, though I am afraid you will be dwelling on this for the rest of our conversation. Despite your inattentiveness we must press on for the good of the subject I spent the last parts of my life fighting."

Harry still dumbfounded Dumbledore couldn't be a ghost tried to listen but in his mind he was still trying to make out what a "wandering spirit" was.

"Harry I want you to think back when you spent the summer at the Order. Do you remember?" Their flying speed had lessened Harry knowing Dumbledore must have been trying to tell him something huge thought back to when he spent all of his days cleaning and wishing he could know more information. When he nodded Dumbledore went on.

"Do you remember cleaning?"

"Yes but Sir, what does…"

"Listen Harry for I don't have very much time, do you remember all of the objects, especially the ones you had trouble with?"

"Yeah, I mean there were the drapes, and the biting books, and….."

"As long as you remember then you don't have to say. I want you to know the moments with you have been golden and I would hope that you keep them in your heart always, and it would just crush me if anyting happened to you. Now, I have one thing before I go, I must look for some socks. I was never given enough socks when I was alive."

He looked at Harry and smiled, the smile Harry had come to know over the years, and for the second time just as the sun rose Dumbledore vanished.

The second he was gone Harry started to fall. Harry reached for his wand but realized he had left it under his pillow and hadn't had the chance to reach for it when he started flying. Now he was falling, he fell through the trees; the branches scraping him as he went further and further down, the trees swallowing him up until any from the sky level could no longer see him.

Harry closed his eyes in dread, Hermione and Ron would be searching for him when they woke up, but when he landed he hit something soft, not hard, rocky ground. When Harry had the courage to open his eyes, he realized that he was no longer outside but in his bed as if the entire experience with Dumbledore was just a dream. Harry let his head fall back onto his pillow and instantly dreams overtook him.

"Harry!" An angry voice met him after he finished his statement, "Why didn't you wake us when you got back?!" Hermione looked expectantly, as if Harry had a perfectly good excuse for not telling them what had happened in the middle of the night.

He shrugged, "I guess I just fell asleep when I landed back on my bed."

Hermione rolled her eyes, as if sleep was the least important thing at that moment. "Then why didn't you tell us when we woke up?" This time Harry had a perfectly good reason.

"I wanted to wait until it was just the three of us." This comment received yet another look, this time from both Hermione and Ron. "Listen, it's about Dumbledore, how are we going to explain that he's just some wandering spirit, and that I get visions of dead people?" Ron accepted this instantly, but Hermione was still anxious.

"Harry, we can trust them, they have seen a ton of stuff, and maybe they would understand…" Her voice trailed off, and she looked around as if Kagome and Inuyasha were listening in behind them. But they had informed the group that they would be up above in the trees trying to get their bearings.

"There's another thing too," Harry said looking down "We have to get to the Order, and how are we going to do that with Kagome, and Inuyasha?" The other two were silent, they walked some way down the path, a hesitant quiet surrounding them.

"I've got it!" Ron exclaimed, making Hermione and Harry jump. "Why don't we apparate there and then back?" He looked back and forth from the two faces around him, "We could get there and back before nightfall when Inuyasha and Kagome get back!"

Harry could start to see the light in this; after all he had passed his apparition test and he knew the others had passed as well (A.N. Yes, I know I didn't put it in my story, but Harry and Ron both passed, Hermione passed in their 6th year). A slow grin started to move across Harry's face, he was beginning to like Ron's idea, no, he was beginning to love it.

After much coercing Hermione finally agreed to come with them, on the only condition that they return before sunset, no matter how far along they were. The boys approved and they prepared to leave.

As Inuyasha and Kagome were traveling above the branches, she on his back and he jumping between the trees, they felt something odd. Inuyasha for one second could smell the humans somewhere below him, but then nothing. Well, not exactly nothing, he could smell that red-haired boy's scent, but only faintly.

Kagome could not locate any of their auras, but the one she was most worried about was Harry's. His aura, which was usually strong and pure, was now so weak that she couldn't feel it like normal. It weakened and then it was no longer there.

Hundreds of miles south, three teenagers appeared out of nowhere, surprising three things. One: a trash can threw its lid off in shock, two: a tree ruffled its leaves from the alarm of the sight, and finally a cat raised its head and felt scorn for not being recognized by these three strangers.

The three teenagers grabbed the wall for support, Harry hated apparating, and he preferred brooms for travel. When he glanced at the others, Hermione seemed like she was going to be sick, and Ron was feeling his forehead.

"Dammit!" He cursed loudly, "Every time."

Back in the forest Inuyasha and Kagome had reached the ground, and where he had smelled the red head's scent. When he bent low to the ground Kagome tried not to giggle when she saw what he picked up.

I was half an eyebrow.