It's been three days since eleven-year-old Jemma Simmons had met Harry Potter, but since then she had seen neither tail nor hide of him anywhere. Maybe it was better this way. She didn't have to be on constant lookout for a person only she could see or hear, even if that person was actually quite nice.

Still, his absence begged the question in her mind whether what she witnessed and experienced was real or not. Even now she wasn't sure if that man actually existed seemingly out of phase with the reality, except for her of course. Or he could be a ghost, as he had suggested.

He could be, but very unlikely, Jemma thought. She was adamant about the fact that ghosts weren't real, and even if it were they wouldn't be able to interact with the physical world.

This is not some children's fairy tale where the ghost becomes friends with the child and goes on adventures, Jemma thought. One would think that an eleven-year-old would be more susceptible to a story like that, but Jemma wasn't like those children.

After all, she was all set to graduate from high school early and then pursue her Ph.D. Her reality was grounded on rational thoughts and scientific facts. That was one of the reasons she had for questioning her own state of mind, cooking up a story in her head and actually believing it was real. The longer Harry stayed out of sight, the stronger Jemma's suspicions became.

Thinking too hard on this would only muck up my head more, she thought.

It was a Sunday afternoon, and both her parents were home. This could well be the last few months she could spend with them on a regular basis. But instead of enjoying the time with her family, here she was cooped up in the study, contemplating her state of mind.

Her thoughts were so distracting that she didn't realize that the subject of her thoughts was standing right next to her. It took her a moment before she realized that she was not alone. She turned back around and the sight that welcomed her made her scream out of her lungs as she tried to jump out of her seat and fell to the floor.

There was Harry, standing on one of the tables. Well standing in would be a more appropriate expression as that's exactly what she was seeing. The top half of his body was floating over the table while the rest remained hidden underneath.

Hearing the commotion, her dad came rushing into the study and took the sight of Jemma sprawled on the floor. He helped her up to her feet and then asked, "What happened? I heard you scream."

Jemma quickly gained her composure back and replied, "It was nothing. A bee just flew in here and I got scared."

She was never a very good liar and the expression on her dad's face confirmed that he didn't believe her.

"A bee Jem, in here. Really?" her dad asked.

"Well, would you believe me if I said that I got startled by a ghost?" Jemma asked her dad.

Her dad just kept staring at her, the worry lines clear on his face as he tried to contemplate what was happening with his daughter.

"Jemma, you could talk to us. You know that, right," he said.

"I know dad, but nothing is happening to me. It's just that what happened really freaked me out, and I guess it made me a little jumpier" she said trying to placate her dad's worries.

"We love you little pumpkin," her dad told her as he held her in a loving embrace.

"I know you are really smart for your age, and growing up too fast for my liking. But you are still our little girl" her dad continued.

"If you got any problems, anything at all, you come to us."

"I know dad," Jemma said as she tried not to lose her composure.

"I love you too."

As all this was going on, Harry was watching the interaction between the father and daughter with a strange longing in his eyes.

In his heart, Harry knew that he was dead, that there was no coming back. But he was still trapped. Trapped in this shell of his former self, unable to reunite with the ones he had lost.

Finally, Jemma's dad let go of her and then spoke, "Still got some messing around to do."

He gave her a watery smile and then went back to what he was doing before leaving Jemma alone in the study with Harry.

After ensuring that her dad was well out of earshot Jemma turned to Harry.

"What was that? I told you not to startle me before you left."

"Sorry" Harry replied.

"It's OK," Jemma said. "Just don't do that again," she told him.

Harry just gave a silent nod to her.

"Why are you looking so moody?" Jemma asked him with a bit of concern. For a moment she had forgotten her own theory that this might not be a real person.

Harry stared at her for a long time before answering.

"I never had that while growing up, you know. I never had a proper family."

Jemma could sense that her incorporeal friend was feeling very sad. But she didn't know what to do about it.

"I'm sorry," she said patting him on his arm.

"No it's fine" he assured her. "I thought I had got over it, but apparently being dead doesn't take those feelings away."

Jemma didn't say anything. They sat in silence for some time before she asked, "Where were you for the last three days?"

"Ah, the crux of the matter" suddenly Harry was looking all chirpy, a complete turnaround from what he was like a moment ago.

"I went out looking for the remnants of my past life," he said.

"Imagine my surprise, when I found out that none of the people or places I know and love apparently doesn't even exist."

"What are you saying?" Jemma asked him, thoroughly confused by his statement.

"I was not what you would call a normal person when I lived. I was a wizard. There is an entire society of the magical world hidden from the normal one. That's where I am from."

"You're joking," Jemma said with a bit of skepticism.

"No, I'm serious," he told her. "They are not that hard to find if you have magic. And that's what is confusing me. I didn't find it."

"But as a magical ghost, I should have been able to find it."

Jemma felt like her head was spinning with all these tales. Magic, Wizards, Ghosts, sounded pretty farfetched to her.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Harry asked her.

"Well, it all sounds, just out there you know. I don't know what to believe. I still don't even know if you are real or that I have gone mad" Jemma said in exasperation.

"There is nothing wrong with you little Jem," he told her in an assuring tone.

"I'm very real, and I'm standing in front of you, or at least my ghost is," he said.

"Again with the ghost thing. Why are you so sure that you are dead? You said you were a wizard. There must be some way to make you incorporeal without dying."

Harry just laughed at that statement from Jemma.

"You are speaking of astral projection," he asked her.

"Yes, exactly" Jemma replied.

"Wizards are not capable of that Jemma. The only way we can do that is if we die and become a ghost. There is no other way."

"Well then, what is your theory?" Jemma asked him.

"Why can't you find your home?"

"I do have a theory, and the manner in which I died gives some credence to it," Harry said.

"I believe that I am not in my home world" he continued.

"I strongly suspect that I am in an alternate universe where magic had never existed on earth."

"And why do you believe that?" Jemma asked him.

"I didn't just die" Harry answered her. "I jumped into the Veil of Death."

"What is that? And why did you jump into it?" she asked. Veil of Death sounded very ominous.

"I had a very bad life Jemma. There was a war in my world and I was in the center of it. In the end, many of my close friends died and I just sort of lost it."

"I craved vengeance for my friends more than anything" he continued as his tone got graver.

"And I got it. But after that I just felt empty, I just wanted it to end. So I tried to kill myself."

Jemma gasped at this.

"You said it before, but I thought you were making a joke," Jemma said, horrified.

"Nah, not a joke at all."

"I couldn't see an end, so I tried to end myself. I tried so many different ways too, but none of it worked on me for some reason. The Veil was my final option."

"And why is that?" Jemma asked him.

"Because the veil is absolute. There is no coming back from it. I should know, my godfather died falling through it. So I tried the same thing hoping to end my life."

"So, you are saying that this veil not only killed you but also transported you to an alternate universe. That doesn't make any sense at all" she said.

"That's the only thing that makes sense to me" Harry replied.

"No, you don't understand. What is the point of sending you to another world, if you are already dead? Both can't happen at the same time. Either you are dead, and your community ceased to exist or you are not dead and you are in a different universe. I think it's the latter" Jemma said trying to make sense of it all.

"You sure you are eleven?" Harry asked her with a bit of amusement.

"I'm told I am a bit advanced for my age" she replied.

"A bit, really?"

"That's not the point here. The point I am trying to make here is that you are not dead at all. That veil you mentioned transported you to an alternate universe. That is why you feel like a ghost. You are out of phase with our reality. It's almost like you are in a different dimension, bleeding into ours."

"Slow down and catch your breath young lady," Harry said, a bit amused at Jemma's enthusiasm.

"You get my point right," she asked him.

"Yeah, I do get it," he said. "But there is a slight wrinkle in your theories."

"If I'm out of phase with your world, why are you the only person who is able to interact with me? What sets you apart?"

"I don't know the answer to that question," she said.

"All I can say is that it is a blessing that you at least got one person who knows you are here and would be able to help you."

"So, you are dropping the theory that I'm your imaginary friend," Harry asked her.

"I'm getting there," Jemma said with a smile.

"So, how should we proceed Doc," Harry asked her.

Jemma smiled at him.

Did he seriously just call me Doc.

"Well my dear ghost friend, we will find a solution. Until then you can be my guardian angel" she said. She had always wanted a guardian angel.

"Aye, I can do that."