Chapter Ten- It's hard to be a Potter

Anne opened her eyes and the first she saw was Hermione's anxious face staring at her. "Oh, Anne, you scared us to death," Hermione gasped as Anne blinked.

"Am I in the hospital wing?" Anne asked weakly.

"You're not first Potter I have the opportunity to cure," Madam Pomfrey said as she walked over to Anne, holding a vase.

Madam Pomfrey soaked a cloth in the potion that was in the face and started cleaning Anne's bruises. Anne gritted her teeth as pain ran through her body.

"Cursed wounds," Hermione explained. "Whoever did this to you is a very powerful wizard."

"Where's Dad?" Anne asked.

"He went to talk to Hagrid," Hermione said. "He'll be back any minute. Who did this to you, Anne?"

"I need my father," Anne muttered. "Mum, how long have I been sleeping?"

"Two days," Hermione said. "Anne, you need to tell us who did this to you."

Anne remained silent and she heard a door opening. She sat up, ignoring Madam Pomfrey's complaints and she saw her father walking over to her.

"Anne, you're awake!" Harry said in relief.

"Dad, a ghost attacked me," Anne said quickly.

Hermione stared at Anne and shook her head. "A ghost? A ghost can't attack a human being unless it's a poltergeist!"

"See, this is why I didn't want to tell you," Anne said. "Dad has gone through weird things, he'll understand."

"I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or as an insult," Harry mused. "Anyway, are you sure it was a ghost?"

"It was transparent and gray," Anne started, but stopped at the sight of a knowing grin on his father's face.

"What?" Anne asked crossly.

"I had the fleeting image of a Defense Against the Dark Arts class when I was in sixth grade," Harry said dreamingly. Anne crossed her arms and looked away. Harry cleared his throat and looked at his daughter.

"Got carried away," Harry apologized. "Continue."

"Anyway," Anne went on. "When he touched my wrists… He was extremely solid. I could almost say that he was human! But no, he was surrounded by mist and vapor… Am I going crazy?"

"No," Harry said. "Hermione, I have to go to the Auror Headquarters."

"I'll go with you," Hermione said breathlessly. "I need to use the Ministry's library."

"You'll leave me alone?" Anne snorted. "Oh no, I'm sooo lonely here."

Madam Pomfrey opened the door and Chris, Marcela and Andrew walked into the room. "You're not going to be lonely," Madam Pomfrey said. "But they cannot be here more than twenty minutes!"

"She's nicer now with the time subject," Harry muttered as Hermione kissed Anne's forehead.

Hermione and Harry said goodbye to Anne's friends and they left the hospital. "June sends you these," Andrew said, handing Anne a box of Chocolate Frogs. "She said she couldn't skip Potions."

"But we did the enormous sacrifice of skipping Snape's class to come and see you," Chris mocked. "You owe us."

"I'll try to convince Snape to give you a three-hour lesson," Anne grinned. "Just let me tell James-"

"Okay, forget what Chris said," Marcela interrupted. "I was scared to death! When we found you-"

"You found me?" Anne blurted.

"Yes, I was trying to tell Chris something important," Marcela said, a bit of disappointment in her voice. "When he started getting worried about you. So we went to look for you and we saw when the ghost attacked you."

"We yelled, and we couldn't open the door," Chris shrugged. "It was horrible because we couldn't do a thing."

Anne sighed and closed her eyes. "And the man? The man that was at Honeydukes?"

"What man?" Chris frowned. "You mean the ghost?"

"No, there was a man behind the counter," Anne said. "He was bleeding, but he was still alive and… Why are you looking at me like that?"

The three friends stared at Anne and said nothing. Chris stared intently at the ceiling, Andrew looked away and Marcela was suddenly very interested in her nails.

"What's going on?" Anne said, feeling upset.

"Well... there was no one else in there," Chris said finally.

"Of course there was!" Anne protested. "He was very weak and I was going to get some help."

"Maybe you bumped your head or something," Marcela mused.

"I didn't bump my head!" Anne retorted. "There was another man in there, I swear!"

"Maybe there was," Chris said. "But maybe the ghost took him or something."

"Maybe the ghost had taken him there for something," Anne muttered. "The man must have been a witness..."

"There's the possibility that the other man might have known too much about the ghost," Chris said. "That ghost had something weird about its appearance... a bit too solid, if you ask me..."

"Or maybe Anne is delusional," Marcela blurted. Anne stared at her, and Andrew frowned.

"What are you talking about?" Anne frowned.

"Nothing! I'm glad you're fine and all, but stop playing the mystery lady," Marcela said coldly. "You're not your father, so stop making far-fetched theories about a dying man and please, please stop being the center of everyone's attention!"

Marcela stormed off and Anne heard the door slam shut. "What on Earth...?" Chris said at the sound of the door closing.

"Maybe if my father wasn't Harry Potter, things would be a bit different," Anne said, feeling sad.

"It has nothing to do with your family," Andrew said encouragingly. "She's just upset that you're suddenly the center of attention."

"But I'm not," Anne said. "I'm one of the most unpopular people in this school. I mean, people know about my father, but I'm a social outcast."

"I didn't mean that everyone had their eyes on you," Andrew muttered, glancing at Chris.

Anne snorted loudly and Chris seemed to return to Earth. "Marcela is stupid if she thinks that there's something more between me and Chris," Anne said angrily. "I mean, Chris would be the last person in the planet I would fall for."

Chris stared at Anne curiously and looked away. "That was nice," Chris mocked. "I really hope that I don't have to repopulate Earth with you someday."

The friends burst out laughing, but Anne couldn't help feeling upset at the thought of Marcela. They were best friends, after all, and she didn't want their friendship to be damaged for a boy, but it was going to be a bit complicated.

"Well, let's change the subject," Andrew said. "Guess who came to see you while you were sleeping?"

"I don't know... Snape, perhaps?" Anne mocked.

Chris snorted and shook his head. "You wish," he chuckled. "Nah, it was you number one fan, Wayne Garr."

"Just so you know, he broke up with Wanda yesterday," Andrew added, smiling widely.

"Yeah, it was a great show with tears, yells and it ended with Wanda slapping Wayne hard across the face," Chris said, closing his eyes and smiling. "Ah, a perfect ending."

"They broke up?" Anne blurted. "But they seemed so..."

"Happy?" Andrew snorted. "Annie, one of the things Wanda yelled at him was: 'Oh yeah? Well I hope she gets used to your weirdness!'"

"She?" Anne frowned.

Chris and Andrew stared at Anne knowingly. "What?" Anne snorted. "You're not thinking that they broke up because of me, are you? Wayne has been an idiot to me these last days!"

"Wayne has come to see you these past couple of days," Chris said, a resentful tone in his voice. "He has been worried sick about you."

"I don't believe you," Anne said, looking away.

"Believe it." Anne looked around and saw Wayne leaning his back on a wall. Chris and Andrew glanced at each other and they walked away. Anne heard the door close and Wayne walked over to her.

"Hi," Wayne said awkwardly.

"Look, if Wanda thinks that you and I-" Anne started.

"I told her that I'm love with someone else," Wayne said, and Anne's heart started beating fast. "But this is not the place or the time to talk about it."

Anne nodded as Wayne sat down on a chair next to her. "I'm just glad that you're okay," Wayne said, sounding happy. "Everyone in Hogwarts was worried about you."

"It's nice to know that my social status has improved," Anne mocked.

Wayne laughed and shook his head. "Just don't make something like that again," Wayne said. "Or you will be known as Anne Potter, the popular girl that became popular when she lost an arm battling a ghost."

"One-armed Potter," Anne grinned. "Sounds okay."

Wayne grinned back and Anne found herself wishing that the day would never end.