All a Dream

Chapter 13

Platform 9.75 was crowded with witches and wizards, and filled with the steam from the 9:45 Train. Harry looked at the great, black steam engine that stood before him, mismatched passenger cars trailing behind. Drew and Stew found Bobby Cruickshank and decided to sit with him and a few of his friends. Mae had to sit in the Prefect's compartment and tour the aisles of the train. Much as Harry would like to sit with the former, he had volunteered (much to Erin's happiness) that Harry would sit with Erin the entire trip. After slightly tearful goodbyes – and promises to write as often as possible - the brother and sister gave a final wave to their parents and Nigel as they stepped on the train.
Harry and Erin were trying to find a compartment when Ginny came up to them and announced that she would be sitting with them.

"What, don't we get a choice as to whether we sit with you or not?" joked Harry.

"Why would you want one of those?" retorted Ginny with humour.

Eventually they found an empty compartment with leather seats and gratuitous graffiti on the walls, mostly consisting of the classic "So-and-so was here Day/Month/Year" and "Initials + Initials equals heart". There was one entry (or rather, a series of entries) that was like a small journal of "Vanessa's" seven trips to and from Hogwarts, her neatness of writing slowly improving over time. This seemed to intrigue Erin in a mild way, and she sat there in her seat, reading and re-reading the 'journal'. This, however, only took about five minutes, and vague boredom swept across the compartment. For the next half hour, the conversation turned, once again, to Harry's coma. It turned out that, as in a regular dream, this dream drifted further and further away from reality as Harry progressed. No-one had missed any school, there weren't any battles (except there had been a mock duel in the corridors between Severn and Remus), and the Defence Against the Dark Arts course had gone as usual. The closest he'd been to reality (and the time he'd seemed the closest to waking) was when he visited Mr. Weasley in St. Mungo's for Christmas.

"I have to go to the bathroom," interrupted Erin.

"Then you can go, it's just down the hall," replied Ginny.

Erin nodded meekly and exited the booth into the aisle.

Ginny smiled after her. "Nice kid." Harry nodded. This was the first time he'd been alone with Ginny, and he was feeling awkward. Evidently, so was Ginny.

The silence was held for an infinite moment. Finally, "The Healers contacted me two years ago," said Ginny. "They said that I was your girlfriend." She blushed during the last sentence, which didn't seem like a very Ginny-ish thing to do. "That being the case, they let me look at some of your memories with us together. You're a really nice guy. You treated me like nobody else I've dated has. In short, I know you inside out, but I don't think you know all that much about me. So would you like to hang out with me the first free weekend?"

Free weekend was a new concept to Harry. "Free weekend?" he repeated.

"Yeah, you can go to the nearest campsite for camping and stuff, go swimming in the lake or river, and stay at Hogwarts. I think there's a beach somewhere, too, but only seventh years are allowed, you have to apparate. Oh, and the village, Godrick's Hollow is there. There're all kinds of shops there."

"Then in that case," said Harry, "I'd love to hang out with you the first free weekend." A thrill of excitement went through him. Suddenly something clicked. "Wait, Godrick's Hollow? I thought it was Hogsmead."

"Nope, Godrick's Hollow. You used to live there; it's where Voldemort was killed. Your family moved to a bigger house when they had Mae, there weren't enough bedrooms. Hogsmead is the separate wizard community in London, the Diagon Alley area. But I think there's a place with the same name in Canada, northern Manitoba. We aren't allowed out of Britain, though. That rule's been broken a lot. Seeing family is an option, too. That's the one exception to the 'stay in Britain' rule, if there're foreign students."

Harry had to laugh at the thought of who would have broken that regulation. He'd have to ask his dad about it later.
Erin then returned to get her Hogwarts robes with a grimace (the robes were hand-me-downs from Mae); the small group changed, and began gazing out the windows for the first sign of the school, even though they were hours away. Around three-o-clock, Mae had finished her prefect duties and came to sit with the unit of friends.

"There's way too much stuff for the Prefects to do," Mae complained. "I've got to keep all the Gryffindors in line, set a good example to them, not break any rules myself, keep up my marks – which is hard enough to do what with OWLs this year – and not lash out at the Slytherins. Even if it's tradition." She put her head in her hands and sighed. "If this is what it's like being a Prefect, I can't imagine what it's like being Head Girl. I'll never tease Percy about it again.

"Percy was Head Girl?" joked Harry in mock horror. This remark caused him to have two hats thrown in his general direction. Erin was laughing too hard to make it three.

A/N: OOH! Unlucky thirteen!

The quality of this chapter may have wavered, I'm not sure. It's hard for me to concentrate when the movie Blues Brothers 2000 is being watched. "Stop that mound of moss!"

The "Hogsmead" in northern Manitoba is a part of my novel. It's "actually" called Midnowhere, and has a different style of magic from the Harry Potter books. Different world entirely.