"What are you doing for the Holidays, Rose?" her roommate Penny asked. The weather was cold now and Hogwarts and all its inhabitants were ready to celebrate Christmas.

"Colin and I are going to visit Sam," Rose said as she jammed another pair of shoes in her trunk.

"The muggle that came to visit us a couple of months ago?" Penny asked. "Why?"

"We made her a promise. Even though we can't tell her about anything and her memory of us is totally gone, we thought we'd find her and visit. It would be cool to have a muggle friend, and she's nice," Rose said.

"What are you going to do? Just knock on her door and ask her to come outside and play?" Penny asked. "You need a backstory."

"We've been working on it," Rose said. "We're going to say that we are collecting for a children's charity and once she sees how fun we are, I'm sure she'll want to hang out with us. We can go to a little coffee shop we found close by her house and there is even a shop in the neighborhood that is connected to the Floo network. Super convenient!"

"Well, let me know how it goes. My family and I are going skiing in Switzerland," Penny said, holding up a rainbow-colored stocking hat and admiring it before she put it in her trunk.

On the other side of the castle, Pansy was also packing, but she wasn't sure where she was going. She didn't have a home outside of Hogwarts, or friends to stay with and her savings could only provide for a modest vacation. She needed to go somewhere and stop missing Jack. She had been thinking of him since he left. It was tough to think about letting her guard down and going after him. Of course she had his address. Who wouldn't go through a lover's wallet while they slept. He'd told her about where he lived and asked her repeatedly to come visit him and stay for as long as she wished. There was no doubt in her mind that Jack loved her, and she loved him, but it was scary to think about starting over. She had these feelings and experiences with him that he no longer had. What if she showed up and he didn't feel the same? It would be crushing.

On the way down to the last dinner of the term, Pansy overheard Rose and Colin.

"So, we have Sam's address in Bournemouth and the name of the shop with a Floo, The Maudlin Doll. There are shops and restaurants in the high street so there is plenty to do. We can meet at my house before we go. This is going to be so exciting," Rose said. She was unaware that Pansy was behind her and carefully taking in every word.

Pansy hadn't been South of London in a long time, and if these kids were willing to go see their friend, maybe it could be as casual as that. A visit. Neville was right, just seeing Jack wouldn't be any real problem. She hoped the things she planted in Jack's memory as she erased it would insure that he wouldn't completely reject her. "Maybe the fresh sea air would do me good," she said to herself as she resolved to go to Bournemouth.

While the friends that she couldn't remember were planning a trip to see her, Sam was struggling. The dreams and visions hadn't stopped and no matter what professionals her father took her to, nothing they suggested or prescribed made her feel better. There was this thing, this place, that haunted her. Something inside her had changed since the crash and no one she knew could help her. Speaking of haunting, Sam was currently besieged by Mrs Chuffney, a ghostly resident of her house back in the 40's. The best Sam could figure out, Mrs. Chuffney died during World War II and never wished to leave. She spent all her time cleaning, and recently, now that she knew Sam could see and hear her, she instructed Sam on all forms of tidying. And since her father couldn't see or hear Mrs Chuffney, Sam suffered alone.

"I declare," Mrs. Chuffney would start, staring at Sam, minding her own business on her bed, "This room is enough to give a civil person fits."

Sam had learned to ignore her and the other ghosts that she came across in the most unexpected places. Like the odd restaurant or a frustrated policeman that couldn't get traffic to move along. It had taken a little while to convince her father that she was just talking to herself and that he could add that to the long list of things that concerned him.

Since the crash, her grades and attendance at school had plummeted. She didn't want to learn about normal things, she wanted to learn what was happening to her and what these memories meant. She searched the internet relentlessly and went to libraries and bookstores looking for clues about real magic, a castle and broomsticks. There was something that she needed to find. It was just on the edge of her memory, and she thought it held the key to everything

"Sam, you've got to give this up," Jack said as they ate at their favorite Indian restaurant. "You aren't getting enough sleep, you are not taking care of yourself and you stay in that room all day. You need to get out. Enjoy the holidays. Look at me, did you ever think I'd be going out for a nice dinner with a woman again?"

There was a reason that Sam stayed in her room. It wasn't good, she knew it, but she couldn't help herself. There was no way she could explain it to him now. He was seeing a woman he'd met at the market, Ms. Tipping. They'd gone on a few dates and Sam thought it was weird how her father seemed to be forcing it. Sandy, Ms. Tipple, was recently single and totally into Jack. There was no doubt that she saw him as a prize, but Jack seemed to be going through the motions, as far as Sam thought. It made her feel even more alone. No one could understand what she was going through, and her current struggle, the reason everything in her life was so painful, was something she was ashamed to say, even to her father. She knew he couldn't see the ghosts, and this was something that even Mrs. Chuffney was afraid of. It was that rock.