Oh, it's soooo great to be back in action. It feels like I never write on this story. (Mostly because it's easier to sit down and write on the epic that is Substance of Things Hoped For.) But I know you guys want me to write on this story too…well, some of you do anyways. Most of the reviews for the last chapter had a lot of caps involved in the reviews, which made me excited. I'm glad that the story is actually making people sit up and pay some attention.

NOTE: There was an awful lot of confusion about the end of the last chapter—don't worry, all will be revealed. Observe, nothing up my sleeves…

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Warnings: Mild swearing.

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Ghosts

Chapter Nine

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It was a moment frozen in time. He didn't know what to do. There she was. Looking right back at him. It couldn't be real. It couldn't. But then, why not? People disbelieved in their own situations whenever they were too fantastic or too horrible.

If it was real…then Harry would have something he had always longed for. No matter how many friends he'd make or what he would accomplish with his life, he couldn't ever expect to feel like this. That's why it had to be real: Because it would hurt too much if someone suddenly pulled it away.

"Watch out, Harry." Hermione's voice made him glance towards his friend. Hermione was looking at him as though trying to figure out a very difficult Arithmancy problem.

"Did you see her?" Harry asked her.

"Who?" Hermione looked around.

"Her." Harry looked back but she was gone. There was no one there. How could she have disappeared so fast?

"Do you mean Susan Bones?" Hermione saw a girl in that direction but Harry shook his head in frustration.

"No. It was one of the new students…a transfer…" Harry couldn't pull his eyes away from the place where she'd been standing. "She had red hair and brown eyes…she was…"

"What?" Hermione prompted.

"I think she's my sister." Harry felt the words come tumbling out.

He could feel it. It was his sister. No one had ever said anything about siblings but maybe they just didn't know! Could Lily and James have hidden a child away in desperation?

Was she younger? She couldn't be his older sister because she wouldn't be in school. What if they were the same age? Fraternal twins?

Someone who shares the burden…

Family.

This is what I've always wanted.

But she had disappeared so quickly. She had seen him, he was sure of it. Maybe she hadn't realized it…

"Harry…" Hermione hesitated. "You don't have a sister."

"Did you see her?" Harry questioned her, suddenly in a defensive mood.

"Well, no." Hermione shook her head. "I didn't." Then she saw the look on his face. "I'm not saying I don't believe you! I'm just saying that no one's ever said anything about you having any siblings before! Why would they keep that from you? You should be really careful Harry…just…remember what happened fifth year."

Harry suddenly felt like Hermione had just punched him in the stomach. How dare she? How dare she try to take this away from him? And to bring up that…to say, "I told you so." in so many words…did she have a point? Was he willing to rush into something headlong even if he wasn't sure it was true?

But it has to be…

"I know what I saw." Harry felt stubborn. He didn't have to prove it though. Was he just imagining things?

He dragged behind Hermione, who was helping people find where they needed to go. There weren't many people left.

Harry lifted his eyes and saw Malfoy standing there. He set his mouth in a firm line and marched right past the blonde-haired boy.

I wished the things I did had an effect on you.

But I know they don't and that's why it's so hard for us to know each other.

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She wasn't in his house. Gryffindor had some of the new students but not her. His heart had lifted on the first day when he saw a girl with red hair, but it was only Ginny.

"Hermione says you saw your sister." Ron seemed to know instinctively what was on his mind.

"Is that what she said or did she say that I only thought I did?" Harry snapped, because he still felt disappointed.

"Well…" Ron looked like he was thinking very carefully how to proceed. "I think she believes you saw something—"

"You didn't see her! If you had, you would believe me!" Harry interrupted defensively.

"It's a little weird!" Ron threw his hands up in the air in defeat. "No one ever said you had a sister! Why are you just discovering it now?"

"Why didn't they tell me about the Prophecy? Why didn't they tell me that Voldemort would try to lure me to the Department of Mysteries? Because they think I'm a little kid!" Harry was really starting to get angry. "Tell Hermione she's acting just like one of them."

Then he turned on his heel and stormed out of Gryffindor Tower. Instantly, he regretted yelling at Ron and saying that about Hermione. They were right…they were just being logical. Trying to be his friend. Sometimes he made it difficult for those two things to go hand in hand.

He was hot-headed, like all story book heroes are. Hermione and Ron were always there for him, or they tried to be. But he pushed them away.

Why?

Because…they care about me.

And I push them away because it scares me.

Before them…I had no one.

I promised that if I could have friends, I'd never take them for granted…

Should he turn around? Walk back? Apologize? Could he say he thought he had imagined it? Could everything disappear, all their troubles, all his swirling emotions, for a perfect moment of peace?

By the tree they sat under, by the lake. The sound of the water lapping gently against the shore; the sound of leaves rustling the light summer breeze; the very distant sound of other students laughing. And the three of them, lying on their backs, just looking up into endless blue together.

The warm sun making them sleepy.

Their hearts at peace.

Harry leaned against a windowsill in the long corridor. The windows were open and he looked down at the courtyard.

Students were already running back and forth or gathered in little groups.

And one face was turned upwards, towards his.

Hers.

Staring right back at him. She blinked her brown eyes but didn't break eye contact. A Ravenclaw tie around her neck told him what house she was in.

She didn't smile or nod. She just looked at him.

He had to talk to her. To tell her…to see if such a wonderfully impossible thing had happened to him. Harry turned and bolted down the stairs. It would take him ten minutes to get out there.

What if she left? What if she wandered off? What if she was a mirage—formed in the desert that his heart had become? What if the second he spoke to her, she faded away?

A ghost.

A ghost of all the things I've ever wanted.

Then, a hand grabbed the back of his robes. He had been running so frantically that the person got pulled along but not for more than a few steps before the two got tangled up together.

Harry knocked head on the stone floor.

"I'm never doing that again." Ginny was picking herself up next to him. "What were you running like that for? Classes don't start until nine."

"I know that." Why'd you grab me? Couldn't you just call out my name like a normal person?" Harry brushed off his robes as he stood up.

"I did." Ginny rolled her eyes. "You ignored me."

"I don't have time to talk." Harry suddenly remembered. "I'm sorry, I have to—"

"Don't blow me off because you're mad at him." Ginny crossed her arms angrily.

"What? No," Harry shook his head and tried to go but Ginny blocked his way. "It's nothing to do with Draco, I just really have to go."

"So you aren't mad at him?" Ginny inquired.

"No, now move, Ginny!" Harry yelled at her. Ginny's eyes widened in surprise. Harry realized he had never raised his voice to her before. Then her eyes narrowed horribly.

"Don't talk to me like that!" She pulled something out of her robes. "Here's your stupid message and I hope you have a lousy day, you jerk!" And Ginny threw a piece of parchment that pegged him in the middle of his forehead—he had been too surprised to get out of the way—before she stomped off.

"Wait! Ginny!" Harry called after her but she didn't respond. He sighed. Was he so obsessed with a girl he thought was his sister that he was willing to alienate all the people around him because of her?

He reached down and picked up the piece of parchment.

Meet me in the Armor Corridor at nine p.m.

There was no signature but Harry had a grim feeling he knew who it was from. It dawned on him that he might still catch her if he ran.

When he got to the courtyard, he looked around him but all he saw was a blur of familiar faces. Not her though. She was gone.

Stop haunting me…

Just appear…as though I conjured you.

Harry thought that if she wasn't here, she was probably in the breakfast hall. He ran in there and carefully scanned the Ravenclaw tables but she wasn't there.

"Looking for someone?" A dreamy voice asked him. Harry nearly jumped when he realized that Luna Lovegood was right at his elbow but quickly recovered. Luna! She was in Ravenclaw! She'd know her name.

"Luna, in your house, have you seen a new student who has red hair and brown eyes?" Harry questioned. Luna considered this question for so long that Harry felt sure he was going to strangle her.

"No." Luna finally shook her head. "Why?"

"Are you sure?" Harry decided that anything could escape Luna's attention—she was always in her own little world.

"Yes. Did you see one? Maybe she was a spirit. There's a kind of spirit that leads young men to their deaths." Luna informed him. "Be cautious. I'm going to go nip a scone." And she sort of dawdled off.

Harry supposed he should go sit down at the Gryffindor table. Ron was busy shoveling eggs into his mouth at such a rate that Hermione looked faintly disgusted. He tried to smile apologetically at Ginny, but she gave him a nasty look before going back to her breakfast.

"Oh." Hermione took notice of him. "Are you still mad?"

"No." Harry admitted. He felt defeated but he was no longer mad at his friends.

"Good. Ron thought you'd be mad the rest of the day but I knew you just needed some time." Hermione smiled cheerfully. "Did you find out who she is yet?"

"No." Harry sighed.

"Hmm." Hermione blew carefully on her tea.

"What?" Harry felt himself get suspicious of Hermione's tone.

"Oh, I've asked some of the other prefects but they didn't know either." Hermione looked nonchalant but Harry saw the question in his eyes. "Although, every time I described how you described her to me, they all asked if I meant Ginny."

"What?" Ginny still looked coldly at Harry, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"Never mind, Ginny." Ron waved his fork at her.

"I hate it when you three are like this." Ginny looked peeved. "It's like a little club and you won't let anyone else in. Well, fine, be immature then." She got up, leaving her toast half-eaten.

Harry watched her go, a little bit of understanding about Ginny seeping into him.

Do you feel left behind?

Do you want what we have?

Is that why you went running to Malfoy all summer?

Because you wanted to belong and not be left out?

He felt ashamed of himself. The things that made him feel lonely, he had inflicted on another. Ginny, who seemed so strong and free, it wasn't enough for her to have friends. She needed the understanding that they all provided each other. The three understood Hermione's need for knowledge and rules; Ron's need to find himself and stand out from others; and Harry…they understood that he had a hard time not just taking everything upon himself instead of asking for help.

Ginny. What did he need to understand about her?

Her need for acknowledgement. To be appreciated. For nothing to hold her back.

Harry swore that he'd tell her one day what she meant to all of them. If that's what she needed to hear…if it would make her a little happier.

I wonder if Draco already told her…?

But first he had to find the mysterious girl who was haunting him.

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There's a pile of notebooks on the floor next to me. I'm like, "Where's the update for this?" One notebook is already half gone and it's dedicated to a fanfic that hopefully you guys will be seeing soon. (Of course, it's got a lot to do with how long it takes me to finish Flames and this story.) Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please review!