Author's Note: Chapter 2 is finally done. I've been uber busy lately, sorry about that guys! Hope you guys like this one as much as the first.
Chapter 2
"Harry! Oh my god! You're alive!" Hermione burst forth, smothering her friend in hugs. Ron jumped at him too, almost tackling them. "Guys!" Harry yelled. "Hey!" His efforts of getting their attention failed. Hermione continued to shower affection. "Are you really here? This really isn't a dream?" Ron started sputtering as well. "Yeah. Yeah? Are you real?" He pinched Harry's arm, making him release a yip. "Hey now!" Harry shouted. Slapping Ron playfully, the three friends rejoiced in their reunion. "I knew you weren't gone!" Hermione exclaimed. "I just knew it!" She jumped up from their huddle. "We've got to tell Dumbledore!" Ron nodded furiously as he stumbled up, taking Harry with him. "Wait, no, guys I have to tell you something!" Harry pleaded. Ignoring him, Hermione and Ron grabbed both of his hands and they ran up to the castle.
Arriving at the headmaster's office entrance, Hermione said, "Acid pops!" and the eagle staircase slowly whirled around. "Guys, come on!" Harry continued to object as they yanked him up through the entrance. "Professor!" Ron said as they approached a quietly working Dumbledore. He looked up from his desk. "Ah, Mister Weasley and Miss Granger! To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" "Look!" Hermione shouted happily. Dumbledore gave a strange look, trying to figure out what he was supposed to be looking at. "What exactly am I supposed to be looking at, Miss Granger?" Hermione and Ron exchanged confused glances. "Right here! Harry's here with us…" His voice trailed off when he saw that Harry was nowhere to be seen. "Harry?" He said, looking around, then to Hermione. Hermione returned the same bewildered stare. She couldn't see Harry anymore either. "But, he was just here!" Hermione said, her voice straining. Ron piped up in the same desperate manner. "It's true! I even pinched him!"
Dumbledore stood up and slowly rounded his desk. He placed a hand on Ron's shoulder. "Son, there's no one here but you, Hermione, and me. Harry is gone." His voice was somber, and Hermione shook her head. "No, professor! He was here! We saw him! We talked to him and hugged him!" Dumbledore lowered his head, looking over his half-moon spectacles. "He passed on to a better place." He conjured two chairs and motioned for the teens to take a seat, but neither did. Dumbledore returned to his seat, and solemnly set his intertwined hands in front of him on his desk. "They say that when someone you love dies, a part of you dies with them. Now, I understand that this is very hard for both of you. Time hasn't been kind to your lives, and you've both suffered a terrible loss. I know it seems like he may still be here with us, like we still walk with him and talk with him, but the truth is, he has passed from our world. I like to think Harry is with us in spirit."
Something Dumbledore had said snapped a reaction in Hermione's mind. "Um, ok, thanks Headmaster. We understand, and we're sorry to have bothered you!" She grabbed Ron's shirt and dragged him down the stairs behind her. Dumbledore watched them leave, opened a drawer in his desk, and retrieved a small rectangular box. Pulling out a pair of round-rimmed glasses, he studied them thoughtfully. "I wonder…" He murmured to himself.
What was that all about!?" Ron scolded when Hermione finally stopped running. "Harry!" She shouted. "Geez! You don't have to yell!" Harry said, popping up behind Ron. "Bloody hell!" Ron yipped. "Don't surprise me like that!" "Who are you talking to?" Ron, Harry, and Hermione turned to face a bemused Ginny Weasley. "Who does it look like?" Ron snipped, gesturing behind him. "Uh, I don't see anyone." "What are you talking about? It's Harry, for god's sake!" Ron swung his arm back, pointing at thin air. Ginny's smile suddenly turned sour. "This isn't funny." She sneered. "What the hell would you say something like that?" Ron turned and once again, he saw nothing. "Where the hell did he go now!?" He demanded. Ginny chucked one of her books at Ron, and it smacked him on the side of his face. "Why are you doing this?!" She screamed at her brother before turning and running away.
Hermione stopped Ron from going after her. "Ronald, she can't see him." Rubbing his face, he kicked her book across the floor. Harry came out of no where, picking it up. "That's right. No one can." He rejoined their little powwow. "These aren't cheap, you know." He said as he waved Ginny's book. Ron angrily snatched the book from Harry's hand. "Well then, why didn't you tell us that before? And how come we can see you?" He paused for a moment, and then leaned over to Hermione. "You can see him too, right?" She answered his question with a scrunch of her nose. "Yes, I can see him!" Harry felt a bit of a row coming on, so he stepped between them. "I don't know why you're the only ones who can see me! I just kind of had a feeling you would…" He trailed off. Hermione sighed. "Come on. Let's go somewhere quiet so we can talk about this."
They reconvened down where they had first been reunited; behind Hagrid's hut down by the lake. Once they all settled on their own little spots, their chat began. "Ok, Harry. Let's start with the first thing you remember." Hermione said. Harry thought hard, trying to remember that night.
"Well, it's all really hazy. I can't make out much. I know I tried to stupefy him, but he countered me. I lost my wand. I remember seeing someone flying through the air. There was lots of shouting. Then there was fire. I was surrounded by fire, and I was in pain. Then…" Harry trailed off. "Then?" Ron urged him. Harry didn't want to go on. There was indeed one thing he remembered clearly, but just to say it out loud made him chill to the bone. "Look, I don't remember much else. One minute I'm with Voldemort and there's lots of screaming. Then I'm somewhere very bright. Then I was back at the school, waking up in my bed." "You woke in your bed?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded. "At first I thought it had all been a terrible nightmare, but as the day went on, I realized it was all real. I tried going to Dumbledore. He couldn't see me. I practically screamed at him. He couldn't hear me. It seemed no one could. Everyone was crying. You two just always seemed to fight, way more than normally." He added, and they shared a brief laugh. "Why us though?" Ron asked. "Why are we the only ones who can see you?" "I don't know. I just felt drawn to you. Almost compelled to be near you. I would sit next to you two down here and talk to you, and some of those times, I swear it was like you heard me. I spent so long being afraid that if I tried to show myself to you that you'd freak out or something, but some how I knew that you guys needed me. I couldn't leave you yet."
Hermione smiled, patting Harry's shoulder. "Well, we're certainly glad to have you here again. It's lonely without you." "Yeah." Ron added as he playfully punched Harry's arm. "I've missed kicking your butt for way too long!"
The next day was definitely an odd one. As the trio headed down the hallways of Hogwarts, Ron couldn't help feeling silly. "I don't see why you're making Harry come to class with us!" He whispered to Hermione. "If he's here, then he might as well take advantage of it and continue his studies!" She shot back. "Yeah, but he's dead! What use does it have for him to sit through Potions and Transfiguration? What's he going to do? Have it out over History of Magic with Nearly Headless Nick? Teach Peeves how to turn a frog into a teacup?" Hermione returned Ron's nagging with a scowl. "You're such a pessimist, Ronald!" She scolded. Harry strolled behind them, amused at their disagreement. "They'll never change!" He thought as a smirk crossed his face. Ron stopped walking and pulled the other two in closer. "Is this even going to work? You being around all those people?" Harry smiled again. "Yeah." "Why didn't it then when we were with Dumbledore and Ginny?" Hermione said, placing her hands on her hips. "Because if I stood there while you were both insisting that I was there, they would have thought you two had gone bonkers. They can't see me, remember? I had to leave so you'd just drop the subject in front of them." Hermione nodded in understanding, but Ron just rolled his eyes. "You know, that information would have been more useful to us if you'd have told us when we first saw you!" "I tried!! You wouldn't give me the chance!" Hermione interrupted them. "Oh hush up, Ronald! We're going to be late for class!" She grabbed Ron's robes and pulled him behind her, Harry following them to their Potions class.
"Today we'll be discussing the effects of the Draught of the Living Dead." Professor Snape went on with his boring lecture as he dimmed the room to project a sort of slide show from his wand. Ron leaned over to Harry, who was sitting next to him. "Bummer, isn't it? Dead, and yet you still have to sit through Snape's rambling?" They laughed, causing Professor Snape to glare in their direction. "Care to share the joke, Mr. Weasley?" Clearing his throat, Ron faced Snape. "No sir." Snape looked at him suspiciously. "Fifty points from Gryffindor for disturbing the class." Scoffing and groans could be heard throughout the room as the professor resumed his lesson.
Hermione shot a glare in Ron's direction. "Stop making trouble!" She hissed. Harry sat there smiling. "Well, at least I can't get in trouble." Ron shook his head. "Just tying to liven up the class." He grumbled. He returned to penning his notes, and Snape cast another glance at Ron and Hermione as he switched another slide.
Sitting in the Gryffindor common room, the trio tried to piece together a reason behind Harry's situation. Hermione was perched over countless books she had taken from the library while Ron was searching through his bag for another chocolate frog. Harry rested his head on his open book, letting out a sigh of exhaustion. "Uggh! What if we never get this straightened out? What if I'm stuck like this forever?" Hermione shuffled the books around her so she could nudge towards Harry. "Look, Harry. We can do this. The three of us can figure it out." Harry sighed again as Ron munched on his new found frog. "Yeah." He said, his teeth coated in chocolate. "What she said." Hermione grabbed a hanky out of her bag, tossing it at Ron. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to eat with your mouth closed?" Ron smudged a bit of his chocolate frog on his finger then dabbed Hermione's cheek. "No." He said and took off up the stairs as an irritated Hermione took off after him. "You mean little skrewt!" She yelled as she ran off to catch him.
Harry smirked as he turned back to one of Hermione's books. "When will they ever learn?" He said to himself, smirking. Just then, footsteps could be heard coming through the portrait entrance, and Harry glanced up. "Ok, we'll see you tomorrow at breakfast!" "Alright. Goodnight!" He heard a feminine voice return. Ginny walked into the common room, throwing her things on a couch and plopping down next to them. She swept her long ginger hair over her shoulder and rested her head back, staring blankly at the ceiling. Harry gazed at her longingly as he stood to join her on the couch. Sitting there, he just stared at her. He wished so much that she could see him, to let her know that he was there. "Oh, Ginny…" He reached out, letting his hand brush hers.
Startled, Ginny jumped up from her seat, looking around. She could have sworn she felt something. Harry stood up quickly too. "Ginny?" He said. She looked around, slowly scanning the room. "Ginny, I'm here!" Harry said as he stepped closer to her. She shook her head, gathering her things from the couch. "I must be going crazy." She reasoned as she headed to the stairs to go to her room. "Ginny!" Harry shouted after her, but she kept going, not hearing him. He let his hands drop down, letting out a huff. "Damn." He thought, and settled back on the floor in the mess of Hermione's books.
The next day hadn't been much different than the last. Students staring at Ron and Hermione, thinking they were nuts as they conversed with thin air. Even Professor McGonagall had pulled Hermione aside to speak to her about it after their transfiguration class. The trio settled down in the great hall for a late dinner. "Um, can you eat?" Ron said, handing Harry a plate with some stuffing and turkey on it. "I haven't tried yet." Harry answered, taking the plate from him. Hermione and Ron watched Harry as he took a bite of his turkey. He looked up as he chewed. "Is this really that amazing to watch?" He said once he swallowed his food. Hermione sipped her pumpkin juice. "Well, it's just interesting that a ghost can eat. It maybe some kind of clue to what's happening." "Oh, give it a rest for at least one meal!" Ron half yelled as he shoveled some tiny cakes in his mouth. "Let's just enjoy the food, right?" He said, turning to Harry.
"Who are you talking to?" Ginny said, popping out of nowhere as she sat down next to Hermione. Ron had a look of slight panic cover his face. "Ugh, I…" Hermione cut him off. "It seems that Ronald here fancies talking to an imaginary friend." "What?" Ginny laughed. Ron shot an evil eye at Hermione as she just smiled, nodding her head. "Is Broomilda back?" Ginny asked. Both Harry and Hermione were wide eyed as a deeply blushing Ron tried to avert the question. "I… I don't know what you're talking about!" "Broomilda?" Harry let out a snort. "You have an imaginary friend named Broomilda?" "Had! Ok, had!" He barked at Harry. Hermione continued to laugh as Ginny gave an odd stare at Ron. "Are you feeling ok?" She reached over the table to feel Ron's head, and he gently slapped her away. "I'm fine!" He yipped. "Oh, ok." She said, her mouth in an 'o' shape. She grabbed a few sweets from the table and a small glass of pumpkin juice as she swung her bag back over her shoulder. "Tell Broomilda I said hi." Ginny said as she walked away.
Hermione waved Ginny goodbye as she turned back to her friends. "Should I be worried about this 'Broomilda'?" She said as she sipped from her goblet. Ron scoffed as he got up, snatching his books from beside him. "That… it was a long time ago!" He snipped and turned heel out of the great hall. Harry and Hermione kept laughing as they followed him out.
Later that night, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape were in the Headmaster's office in a private meeting. Dumbledore sat calmly behind his desk, eyeing Harry's glasses. "I'm worried about the children." McGonagall started. "They're walking around talking to nothing! It's as if they're hallucinating or something! I think they're having some trouble letting go and dealing with their loss." "Yes." Snape cut in. "I've caught both Weasley and Granger speaking in my class, but not to each other. Not to mention seeing them roaming around the halls doing the same thing there as well." Dumbledore leaned back, crossing his aged hands. "I reckon those two may need some counseling or something of that matter." McGonagall added. "They need to understand that Potter has moved on." Dumbledore rose from his chair, rounding the desk and staring into his pensieve. "Maybe… the children aren't just seeing things." Dumbledore said slowly. "Maybe… death isn't necessarily the end…"