They got inside the old castle and Harry felt at ease to be back, no matter how much crud happened there in the past.
They went straight to the headmaster's office. Professor Dumbledore was still going strong.
"Acid Pops," Harry said. The stone gargoyle spun around and a stair case was revealed.
The woman, who they thought would look amazed, didn't look nonplussed. James, however, stared agape at the gargoyle.
"Right this way," Harry led the lady. The four of them went up the staircase.
Harry went in, then Ron. They figured they'd tell Dumbledore about the two people before they showed themselves.
"Harry, Ron, how are you?" Professor Dumbledore asked once the two were through the door.
"We're fine, Professor. We have a problem…well, a couple of problems. Seems Sirius had a son, and we have a woman who's lost her memory," Ron explained before Harry could say that he found Elizabeth. He hated the fact that it might not be her, and it would be like losing her all over again for Harry.
Ron knew that that was the worst thing in the world for Harry. To lose someone twice over. That was what made him take Sirius' death so badly. He'd thought he could see him again on two different occasions, one each one, he'd been disappointed, again. With Lupin, he had thought he was safe from Avada Kadavra, but even that was one big letdown. Harry had talked with Elizabeth right after she had died, for she was a Falling Star, and she was in his head. Notice the words, 'in his head.' He couldn't keep her there. Overall, Ron would have been surprised if Harry wasn't the cold, emotionless carcass he was.
"Really? Well, bring them in," Dumbledore requested. He knew they were waiting outside his door.
Harry ushered them in. Dumbledore's ominous glance at the woman worried him.
"You don't remember a thing about yourself?" Dumbledore asked the woman.
She shook her head, wondering why people were asking this so many times.
Dumbledore sighed before turning to James. "You are?" he asked, looking at him.
"James Black, sir," he introduced.
"Ah, I'd wondered if you were alive, James. Your father talked many a time about the life he had before that Halloween," Dumbledore explained.
Harry noticed Dumbledore kept the discussion away from the odd woman who looked so much like Elizabeth. She still hadn't taken her sunglasses off. Harry admitted to himself she looked sort of menacing in her attire. Her sunglasses were sleek, her face set with an unknown emotion. Her black trench coat swirled around her as she walked. She had black leather pants and stiletto boots. She stood tall with her dented chin turned slightly upward.
Once James had told Dumbledore everything he'd told Harry and Ron, Dumbledore summoned a house-elf to take him to the guest wing for his bedroom.
"Now, what to do with Miss Pentillo," Dumbledore commented.
Ron's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Sir, this can't possible be…"
"Ron, I'm afraid it is. Now, my dear, your name is Elizabeth Pentillo," Dumbledore added, turning to Elizabeth.
She just shrugged like it meant nothing to her.
Harry stood there, with thoughts of, 'I knew it. I knew it,' resounding in his head. He found his thought becoming more familiar to him, more feeling than anything.
"But why is her hair different colors?" Ron asked. He remembered Elizabeth had very dark brown hair, not this slightly red-medium brown hair with five gray streaks.
"Obviously, she lived…no, wait, lived is not the right word…she went through some very hard things once she passed on…"
"What do you mean? I passed on?" Elizabeth interrupted. She had no idea what they were talking about.
"Sorry, I can not explain anything at the moment. You'll have to figure it out for yourself. This should not have happened! I told them to let you keep your memory! I must go have a talk with them. Elizabeth, I know it might make your head hurt to think about your past, but do try to remember the real important things," Dumbledore instructed, throwing a glance at Harry before standing up and heading out of the room.
"Now, what?" Ron asked, once the headmaster was gone.
"Who was he talking about when he said, 'they'?" Harry questioned.
"You really don't remember anything, do you?" Ron inquired at Elizabeth.
"Would you people stop talking to me like I'm a little lost eleven year old? I'm quite certain I remember nothing…" she paused and the look she gave Ron changed into concentration, "except…something…an old house…a laughing smile…rolling on the grass…pretending…" Elizabeth trailed off. She closed her eyes and a look of pain shot across her face.
Once again, Harry's stomach reeled. 'She's thinking about our first Hogsmeade visit, in our seventh year,' he thought sadly. Though no one was doing anything, Harry's detached, defensive shell was cracking.
Then, an old house-elf appeared in front of them.
"Dobby?" Harry asked.
"Yes, sir. 'Tis Dobby, sir. Harry Potter and other sir, and miss are to follow Dobby to Gryffindor Tower where they are to sleep until headmaster figures out what ails miss," the house-elf replied.
They stayed silent the whole way.
"Elizabeth?" Harry called once they were in Gryffindor tower.
"You're calling me, right?" she answered as she poked her head from around the corner. She still had her sunglasses on.
"Yes, I am, Elizabeth," Harry replied, trying to get her used to hearing her name.
"Okay, then. What d'you need?" she asked.
"May I ask you to try to remember more of that day with the old house, the laughing smile, and all you said before?" Harry requested.
"I'll try, but that old man was right, it makes my head hurt," Elizabeth agreed. She sat down on one of the chairs, closed her eyes, and tried to reminisce.
Images in her head blurred as she tried to recall what he was asking.
"Oh, but I am," said the faceless person with a laughing smile. All she could see was his smile and she could feel the happiness.
She remembered they exchanged a few more words, but she didn't know what they were. Suddenly, she felt giddy. She realized that she and the faceless person were feeling mirth.
Then she felt the seriousness of herself, the intensity of what she said next, though she didn't know what it was, the butterflies floating around her stomach. She then remembered passion, something she couldn't define besides.
Though Harry couldn't see, she had opened her eyes. Her head was pounding, but at least, now, she was remembering facial expressions, if not the entire face.
She felt so exhausted. She'd entered Diagon Alley for answers, as was her way to not just sit and wonder, and now she was in some castle, sitting near someone who made her feel uncomfortable and something else she didn't understand.
"God, did I really die?" she asked him after a moment.
"Yes," Harry answered depressingly.
"How?" Elizabeth asked, a little surprised to hear she did.
"You were killed," Harry explained heavily.
"Then wouldn't I still be dead?" Elizabeth thought out loud.
"Technically, yes. No one knows why you're back, except for Dumbledore," Harry explained.
"Dumbledore…Dumbledore. Who is that?" Elizabeth inquired.
"The old man we talked to earlier," Harry replied, confused that she didn't at least remember Dumbledore.
"Oh, the one with the really long beard and semi-circle, gold-rimmed glasses?"
Harry affirmed it.
"You said your name is Harry, right? Am I supposed to remember you?" Elizabeth asked.
Harry didn't say anything.
They sat in uneasy silence. Nothing happened until Harry asked, "Well, I imagine they'll have dinner prepared. Would you like to go?"
Elizabeth didn't notice, before, but now she realized she was very hungry. "I'd love to," she responded softly with a smile.
They got Ron, and the three of them went downstairs to the Great Hall.
James, who was speechless at the ceiling, wandered into the Great Hall a half hour after dinner had started.
"Why do you wear those glasses?" Ron questioned.
"I don't really remember. I think someone handed them to me right before I entered Diagon Alley. ('How'd I know the name to that place?' she thought as she spoke) They said my eyes would cause havoc. Since it really wasn't a sunny day, I bewitched them to just look like they blocked out light. I don't know where I learned it, but I am very adept at magic," Elizabeth explained.
"You learned it, here," Dumbledore reassured her. There were so little people over, there was one table set up, and everyone was within regular talking distance.
"This place is a school?" Elizabeth asked, shocked.
"Of course, it is. This is Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Dumbledore explained gently, as if coaxing her to recollect the two years she'd been there.
"Hogwarts…" Elizabeth repeated. She tried to remember it, but all she could remember was red and gold hangings.
"We won't judge you by your eyes. Could you please take the glasses off?" James requested curiously.
"But…oh, well," Elizabeth conceded. She took them off and Harry felt like all the wind was knocked out of him.
They were no longer the dark, mysterious brown that made him feel like he was spinning, now they looked like an astronaut's view of the world.
Each one of her eyes held the green and brown of the earth's above sea level land from space, the blue of the surrounding water that covered the seventy percent of the earth's surface, and the navy of space behind earth. It even had the clouds in the atmosphere. In the dark, dark blue outline, there were very little white dots, as though stars. In the center of what looked like the third planet from the sun, was her pupil, a black dot.
"Of course," Dumbledore muttered.
"What happened?" Ron asked.
"I should have known. Why I didn't realize it, before…" Dumbledore continued to murmur.
"What's wrong, Professor?" Harry questioned Dumbledore.
"They just made another blunder," Dumbledore replied. Harry could tell he was getting annoyed with 'them', whoever 'they' were.
'This is one odd bunch of people,' Elizabeth thought, 'I wonder if they'll ever send me home, wherever home is, with my memory intact.'
Dinner came and went and Elizabeth found herself so tired, she didn't even feel her legs moving as she walked to Gryffindor Tower to sleep.
"Harry, are all right? You seem so stressed," Ron commented.
"Yes, well, wouldn't you be, too, if your old girlfriend comes back, and she doesn't even remember you?" Harry replied shortly.
"Yeah…if you need to talk to someone, I'm always here for you, Harry," Ron reminded as he went to sleep.
A/N: Well, who can honestly say that they're surprised by this flood of updates? -oo me!- I'm not talking to you, Alternate Ego. Sorry. -sweatdrop- Anyway. Hope you like this. I understand that it's not as good as anything else I've written, but that's only because I need to rewrite three times like I did Secrets Untold in order for it to be that good. I'll do review replies now. Please, feel free to say anything you like, and don't ever feel obligated to cut off your reviews!!!
Tekvah Ariel: Ostrich? Cuz that's not odd…-sarcastically- jk. I know you don't like the James thing but I needed something to soothe my denial, so I made a compremise. If I have James, then I won't drag Sirius from his grave and do a Pettigrew to bring him to life. :-p. Thanks for reviewing, and enjoy this mysterious chapter! :-D
Harryandginnyforever: That's alright. The great thing is that you're reviewing. Thanks for that, and I hope you like this chapter!
While this isn't the greatest story in the world, it all has a purpose, I promise you. So…bear with me through this one, and you might get something better at the end. ;-) REVIEW!!! I'd appreciate it…A WHOLE BUNCH! :-)