Harry Potter and the Elder Race

Chapter 07

Disclaimer: keep forgetting to put this in. harry potter and lord of the rings belong to their respective copyright owners.

As soon as Harry's finger touched the Portkey and the spell activated, he knew something had gone horribly wrong. The Portkey began to heat up and vibrate. It became so hot it nearly burned his fingers. Harry wanted to let go, but could not. The Portkey burned through his flesh, as it took him further and further from Imraudden, until finally it exploded and black oblivion took control of him….

There were few things that disturbed the Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest. It had been, and always would, remain their domain, their fortress. Thus they guarded their home fiercely, especially this night of all nights, when the stars had foretold of a rare alignment: of the Sun with the planets Earth and Venus. That such an alignment should occur at this time of year when the brightest stars of the Milky Way Galaxy marched behind the Summer Triangle – a star pattern, an asterism, that bore another asterism at its heart: the Cross of Calvary. For sometime now the Centaurs had been on edge, for even they did not know what so portentous a heavenly formation signified. So with a great clattering of hooves, a great number of them charged into the clearing where the strange flash of light broke the dark sleep of the night. Upon seeing the human, all immediately drew and pointed their arrows at it. The fierce, red-haired Centaur Bane began circling around the body with much pawing and rearing of hooves. The human was lying prone on the ground, and Bane could only see one side of the human's face.

"It's the Potter boy!" he exclaimed.

Firenze started at the name. The boy had been missing for two months now. He rushed forward to confirm to himself that it was and saw Bane carelessly turning Harry over on his back with a hoof.

"Wait," said Firenze. "Can you not see that he is injured?"

Bane looked at Firenze with contempt. "You and your love for the humans!" he spat.

"This is no simple matter, Bane. You've read the stars. I believe, as many of our kind do, that it is the Potter boy that is foretold in the heavens, the one who would play a pivotal role in the coming war."

"So what if he is? It has nothing to do with us!"

"It hasn't? Or have your mind and vision become so clouded that you do not readily see that which is written so plainly in the stars?! A war is coming, and as sure as the sun wakes up every dawn, our fate is irrevocably bound in its outcome."

Bane's face hardened, but neither could he directly contradict Firenze, for wasn't it the reason why they were all here? They knew something would happen tonight. "Then let us dump the boy by Hagrid's cabin and be done with it!" he said. "Let his own kind take care of him!"

But Firenze ignored him. He was already approaching Harry. He knelt down on one knee as soon as he reached him and watched anxiously the slow rise and fall of Harry's chest. And then he saw it, the necklace Caladhiel had given Harry. He picked up the pendant and brought it closer to his face, studying it. "I know this stone," he murmured to himself. He looked around at his brothers, his voice louder. "This is no ordinary jewel. This bears the symbol of the Eldar!"

His declaration met astonishment and incredulity. The Eldar!

"The lies that come from your mouth, Firenze!" shouted Bane angrily. "The Eldar have not been seen for ages! How dare you utter such profanity! They have long deserted this planet!"

"Have they? Or have you forgotten the last war in the Muggle world – how the Muggles of this small country withstood the assaults from across the sea? Did we not ourselves believe that the Eldar intervened to protect this land?"

"Bah! Their science and their grit saved the Muggles – not long dead beings straight out of old songs and fairy tales!"

"How then would you explain this token of the Elves?" said Firenze. "Look!" he said, lifting the pendant so that Bane and the other Centaurs could see.

Despite himself, Bane's eyes were drawn to the necklace. The white jewel seemed to capture every photon of light shining into the clearing so that the stone brilliantly glowed in the dark. Bane stiffened, and shook his mane of red hair in defiance. "Who knows? Perhaps the boy bought it or had it especially made," said Bane, trying to be dismissive.

"But who now has the knowledge to fashion this jewel?"

"There are many books in the castle," said Bane, though even in his own ears his statement sounded false.

"But not about the Eldar. You know the tales of old, Bane." Firenze's eyes glittered. "I know of only one Elven jewel that fits the description of this necklace, the Evenstar that once belonged to King Elessar, Aragorn, son of Arathorn."

"But that is merely legend, Firenze," interjected Ronan. "Nothing more than a ballad."

Firenze turned to the other Centaurs, trying to appeal to them. "Do you not understand what is happening? This Potter boy has a token not seen in the Mortal world for tens of thousands of years! Not readily do the Eldar part with their treasure!"

Bane reared on his hind legs and came back down with great force. "What if he merely stole it?" he said. "You do not know the whole story behind it, Firenze."

Firenze's clear, blue eyes glinted in the dark. "The day has not yet come when a man, wizard or not, could steal from the Elves. No, this was most certainly a gift, a princely one at that. That the Potter boy was accorded this, the highest of the Eldar's honor, is of no small matter."

The other Centaurs stomped their hooves nervously upon the ground. They are proud beings and recognize no other race higher than their own. But the Elder Race was different. The Centaurs knew that long before the coming of Men, before even they began roaming the lands, the Eldar already had dominion over the planet. The Eldar were the creators of languages and the protectors of the human race, and indeed of all races, including the Centauri. And perhaps they had even given the Centaurs their ability to speak, as they had done with the ents and the early Mortals. The Centaurs had witnessed the Eldar fight in battles not of their own making, nor for the pursuit of their own selfish ends. It was also the Eldar who taught them the skill of archery and the art of divining the heavens, gifts they treasured highly. But more than that, it was the Eldar who saved them. Every Centaur knew the lore well: Their kind was about to perish. Wargs and orcs were ravaging the land, eating what flesh they could find – men, animals… and Centaurs. But the ending of the War of the Rings brought relief to the Centaurian race, allowing them to recover, and so they grew in strength and numbers. The Eldar had given their mantle of protection to them, a debt the Centauri acknowledged even to this day.

"Look up, Bane," said Firenze quietly, and he glanced towards the sky with his blue eyes. "Venus passes before the face of the Sun tonight. A bridge has been formed between the heavens and the planet Earth."

The forest resounded with the silence that soon followed this statement.

"The Headmaster must be told," Ronan, a black-haired Centaur, spoke into the strained silence. "I will fetch him."

The other Centaurs turned to Bane, waiting. Bane's red-haired tail swished back and forth. At length, he turned to Ronan and said: "I will come with you."

"The boy will not be hurt," Firenze's voice rang like the clanging of a drawn sword in the dark forest. Bane merely replied with a piercing glance.

"What about the necklace?" another Centaur said.

"It is not our confidence to reveal to anyone," said Firenze. He turned to Ronan and Bane. "Let no other men know," he said.

"You insult me with your doubts," Bane said and then turned and galloped away, crashing through the trees noisily, Ronan following closely behind him. Several other Centauri peeled off from the group as well, cantering after the two Centaurs while Firenze and the others that remained formed a circle of protection around Harry.

Dumbledore sat on his desk, his hands steepled in thought. It had been a long day, yet still he could not sleep. Charlie Weasley had just sent word that the Romanian Ministry of Magic was about to release an order to all its MLE officers to find and arrest Harry Potter. It was a backdoor, unofficial request from the Death Eaters. The Trace was not turning up results in Britain. Now the search for Harry had gone abroad. Charlie's contacts, however, had been sitting upon the request. But it would not be long before the order became official and executory.

A dull, plinking sound hit the glass window behind him. Dumbledore turned his head and stood up quickly, and rushed to open the windows. He could see nothing, but as he leaned forward partway out the window, he could just glimpse in the meager moonlight a single arrow falling down into the dark grounds below.

Dumbledore looked up, straining his eyes to see towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He could not see clearly this far away but he thought he detected movement. And then out of the dark of the trees, a Centaur emerged into the open, its face turned up towards him.

It was rare for the Centaurs to summon him. Rarer still were the instances when the Centaurs would summon him so. Usually, whenever they wanted to speak with him, they would just send word through Hagrid. Something must have happened.

Dumbledore quickly closed the window shut, and headed towards the door. He left his office Disillusioned and hurried through the hallways and the corridors of the dark castle, unseen by every house-elf, every ghost, every portrait. Then he set out into the night. He avoided the area near Hagrid's hut, as the dog Fang might feel his presence and bay its excitement.

At the mouth of the forest, he removed the Disillusionment Charm he had cast upon himself. With a deep breath, he entered the dark and gloomy forest. He had not taken but a few steps when a voice spoke out from the darkness: "Here, Headmaster."

Dumbledore obeyed the voice, following after the centaur whom he recognized as Bane. Dumbledore suspected there were others, keeping abreast of them, but keeping their distance enough not to be readily seen. Deeper and deeper into the forest the centaur led him, until the trees grew denser and the roots under him so entangled it became a struggle to find his footing. They went so deep that not even moonlight could penetrate the darkness of the trees. Dumbledore had no time to decipher from Bane's expression why they had summoned him, and so he could not ascertain what mood the Centaurs were in. If there was danger of some kind, they would be very tense and lighting his wand would anger them. Dumbledore thus found himself stumbling over his feet, and often had to lean a hand against a tree, to buttress himself against his unstable footing.

"You can make a small light if you want, Headmaster," a Centaur's voice said kindly from the darkness.

Grateful, Dumbledore cast a Lumos charm, but kept the wand pointed down to prevent unfriendly eyes from seeing the light. Soon the trees began to thin and Dumbledore saw a gap in the trees up ahead. Moonlight filtered into this clearing, and there were shadows moving in between the trees – more centaurs, crowded around something he could not see. Bane led Dumbledore into this circle, and the centaurs stood aside to let him through.

A body lay on the forest floor. A man. Dumbledore approached carefully. He could only see a part of the man's face. The man had black hair… black, unruly hair. For one foolish second he thought it was James Potter. But no, it had to be Harry, but the boy looked taller than Dumbledore had last seen him. His heart was in his throat as he stepped nearer the body.

Dumbledore knelt down and checked Harry's vital signs. He was alive but had angry, bleeding wounds. Dumbledore looked up at the Centaurs standing around him. "How did he come to be here?" he asked.

"We do not know, Headmaster, but we found this." Firenze showed him the wheel.

Dumbledore waved his wand over it, and learned it was a one-way Portkey. He took the wheel, disappointed that he could not know where it originated. He wondered how Harry could have gotten hold of it. Did Harry already know how to make one? But how? It was advanced magic, something not taught at Hogwarts. He glanced down at the young boy. There would be time for questions later. "I need to bring him to the castle," he told the group.

Then he Conjured a stretcher out of thin air. With another wave of his wand, he gently lifted Harry into the stretcher. He turned to the Centaurs and said: "Thank you."

Firenze, who stood nearest him, nodded. "Your Ministry is still looking for him?" he asked.

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "Unfortunately."

In the moonlight, Dumbledore could now see the faces of the other Centaurs more clearly. He especially watched for Bane's expression, but detected no anger in the fierce Centaur. Although Dumbledore thought it odd, he had no time to ponder the matter at the moment. He waved his wand a third time, and conducted Harry out of there. To his surprise, the centaurs began to follow, positioning themselves in front and around him and Harry, providing a curtain from spying eyes. Like a procession of guards, Dumbledore thought. The trek back to the castle's main grounds was easier, aided by his light. And, he was sure, this time the centaurs picked an easier trail for him to negotiate.

At length they reached the mouth of the forest. Here Dumbledore encountered a new dilemma. He debated whether to Disillusion Harry as well, but how could he in Harry's injured state? Using the Deluminator would draw the attention of Hagrid and Argus, who were the only Hogwarts staff remaining in the castle. He wished he had kept Harry's Invisibility Cloak, but it was sent back to Sirius, along with Harry's other belongings. He did not imagine he would have need of it, and trusted only that Sirius knew its value. "Cēlāre Inimicum!" he whispered, a hand on Harry's stretcher. The air around Harry shimmered and soon the boy and the stretcher began to disappear under the camouflaging spell. It was the most he could do under the circumstances. He sent a Patronus to Madam Pomfrey to come quickly and quietly to Hogwarts, taking the emergency Floo Network into the Hospital Wing. Then he turned to the Centaurs and thanked them again. He could just glimpse the other centaurs standing deeper in the trees. Then still grabbing hold of Harry, Dumbledore Disillusioned himself again, and walked back to the castle with Harry. And though he felt the Centaurs did not leave when he and Harry disappeared into thin air, he did not look back.

When they arrived at the Hospital Wing, Dumbledore found Pomfrey already waiting. He'd already instructed her some weeks back to be prepared to come to Hogwarts at a moment's notice, that she might be needed when they finally found Harry. She did not disappoint. "Thank you, for coming so soon," said Dumbledore.

"It's nothing, Headmaster. But what happened?"

Only then did Dumbledore remove the Concealment spell around Harry. Then he gently lifted the boy into one of the beds.

"Oh my God! It's Potter!" Madam Pomfrey rushed to Harry's side and began running her wand over him, as well as physically checking his wounds.

"He doesn't seem to have any internal injuries. And here, see this?" she said, showing Dumbledore Harry's burned hands. "It must be from a backfiring Portkey spell. I only see these types of injuries if the wizard who created the Portkey is not particularly skilled."

"Why is he unconscious?"

"That would be from the slight concussion he would have suffered from the temporal and spatial displacement that occur in these cases, Headmaster. It happens often enough." She looked up at the worried face of Dumbledore. "Don't worry, Headmaster. It's not life-threatening. I'll have Potter good and in a trice," she said.

"Thank you," said Dumbledore.

After Madam Pomfrey treated Harry's wounds, she and Dumbledore removed Harry's outer garments, Pomfrey handing over to him a rich emerald cloak from inside Harry's robes. The Headmaster set it aside on the table near Harry's bed. They placed the rest of Harry's belongings with the cloak. Dumbledore then helped Poppy ease Harry into hospital wear and settle him more comfortably on the bed, Pomfrey gently tucking in the bedsheet around Harry more snugly.

"There. You'll be fine now," she told the sleeping Harry. She turned back to Dumbledore. "It'll be hours before he wakes up again, Headmaster," she said. "But I would need to get back home to get a few things. Would it be alright if I leave for a while?" she asked.

"You may go," said Dumbledore. "I will stay here and watch over him."

"Thank you, Headmaster."

Dumbledore nodded but then he fixed the nurse with a stare. "Forgive me, Poppy, but I have to ask. It is as much for your protection as Harry's. But I cannot emphasize the need for secrecy. The Ministry –"

"You need not say it, Professor. I understand."

And so Madam Pomfrey went to her office to take the Floo back to her home. As soon as she was gone, Dumbledore conjured a chair and sat beside Harry. He would stay by the boy's side until the latter woke up. With nothing to do, Dumbledore let his eyes settle on the necklace on Harry's chest, which they hadn't removed. He picked the pendant up, noticing the exquisite craftsmanship. Even with his untrained eye, Dumbledore could see that it was a very expensive jewel. He did not remember Lily or James ever wearing this necklace. He certainly did not see it the night the Potters were murdered. He had gone there looking for Voldemort's wand, which surprisingly had disappeared. And if he were honest with himself, he would admit that he was also keeping an eye out for the third Hallow, the Resurrection Stone. Ostensibly, though, he was watching over the Ministry as they went through the Potters' house looking for evidence, and to see if any of the Potters' possessions could be scavenged, doing it for the boy's sake. Anything of value the Ministry had deposited into the Potters' Gringotts vault, which Dumbledore too had overseen. He hadn't seen this necklace in the vault, either.

So where did Harry get it?

And where could Harry had gotten the emerald cloak? Dumbledore reached out his hand to touch the fabric. He had kept the Invisibility Cloak in his keeping for years and studied it greatly. Yes. It was the same fabric, the same quality as the Peverell cloak. But the two could not be related, could it?

And where did Harry get the wheel Portkey? Somebody must have helped him, Someone so powerful he could hide and override the Trace on Harry. So who?

He looked back at Harry's sleeping form, his mind riddled with questions, yet at the same time, he was afraid of what answer the boy might give him. Yet the question nagged at him: Where have you been, Harry?

The presence woke him. Harry felt it first even before he fully gained awareness. A powerful magical person. It wasn't dark, that he could tell. And he knew of only one wizard who would have such a strong magical signature – Dumbledore. But Harry didn't open his eyes as yet. Like his Elven kin, he had learned to study his surroundings first before making a move. In his nose was the various smell of the hospital wing, which he was annoyed to realize he had grown familiar with. Then he sensed the presence of another person nearby, who could not be any other but Madam Pomfrey.

Then he felt the Hogwarts nurse come out of her office. Next thing he knew, she was lifting one of his eyelids, and pointing the lighted end of her wand into his eye. Harry only had enough time to brace himself against the lucent assault, pretending that he still hadn't woken up yet. But his eyes opened long enough for him to see that there was no visible Dumbledore sitting beside him where there ought to have been.

"Ginny! Ginny! Wake up!"

Someone sure has a death wish, Ginny thought.

"Ginny, sweetheart, wake up!"

"Whaaat?!" Ginny said grumpily. She turned her back to the idiot who was trying to wake her up and pulled a pillow over her head to drown its voice. Without having to look, she could just feel that it was still dark outside. There was no goodly reason for her to be awake long before the sun woke up.

"Ginny, you have to wake up! We need to leave at once!"

Ginny sat bolt upright as if drenched with ice-cold water. The situation had been so uncertain in the last several weeks, the fear that war could break out at any moment, that all sleepiness deserted her body. She removed the pillow from her head and saw her mum's face bent over her. "Mum? What's happened?"

"Get your things ready, sweetheart. We leave in fifteen minutes," her mum merely said in reply. And then Mrs. Weasley turned around and left the room without further explanation.

Ginny jumped to her feet, ran to her closet, and pulled out the few remaining things still left in there – like her favorite houseclothes. Bill had already told her weeks earlier to pack her bags. Thinking the worst, Ginny had packed almost every possession she owned into her backpack that Bill had already enlarged with an Extendable Charm. Unlike her mum, who continued to shield her, Ron, and the twins from the unpleasant events happening outside, Bill, on the other hand, had a different take on things. He wanted Ginny and the rest of the family prepared for whatever was out there. Thus, almost every evening, he would drill her, Ron, and the twins on defensive magic using dummy wands.

Since she already made it a habit of showering every night before going to sleep, she only needed to wash her face, brush her teeth, and change into street clothes and in no time flat she had joined her parents, Bill, and Percy in the kitchen downstairs. Unsurprisingly, Ron was the last to come down, still sporting a caked trail of saliva down his cheek. Nobody thought of making fun of him, however. Ginny and the twins were too busy worrying why they were leaving the Burrow in the dead of night. She glanced at her parents and Bill, watching for clues, but their faces were unreadable.

Then her dad held out a wooden chopping board, the one with the talking chicken head handle that dictated to you the recipes you could cook based on the ingredients you had placed on it. Because you couldn't possibly chop water, the recipe almost always turned out to be grilled vegetables. Ginny hated it and always wished her mum would throw it away.

"Everyone!" Mr. Weasley prompted and they all gathered around him. Then they all placed a finger on the Portkey.

Just as the chopping board started to glow, however, Ginny felt Bill's eyes upon her. She returned his gaze, an eyebrow raised. But he merely gave her the tiniest of winks.

"Three-two-one…" her dad was saying.

Ginny felt the pull behind her navel and seconds later, she and the rest of the Weasleys found themselves in the kitchen of a dark, old, grimy place.

Half an hour after Harry had woken up, Dumbledore quietly left the room. It puzzled Harry that Dumbledore did not show himself to him. On the other hand, he was relieved in a way. He didn't know what he thought now of the Headmaster, whom he used to trust and believed in more than anyone. But now that he knew about the piece of Voldemort that used to be inside of him, Harry wasn't sure how he felt now about the school Headmaster. Caladhiel knew it was there, and it didn't take her long to talk to him about it.

Harry was sitting on the bed. Except for his hands, which were still bandaged up, he actually felt fine, though he could have done without Sirius almost suffocating him with his bear hug, barging into the room that sent Madam Pomfrey clucking in protest. Dumbledore had already brought her into the secret of Padfoot's real identity. She would have to be, the Order expecting the worst when they finally found Harry.

Remus was more composed, but drew his breath deeply as he embraced Harry, his hold quite firm. His father's friends arrived just before dawn. And when Sirius and Remus asked Harry where he had been, he gave them the answer Caladhiel and Haeldor decided upon: He did not remember. Luckily, they readily believed him, simply glad that he was alive and back.

"What about Cedric?" Harry asked after a while.

Remus and Sirius exchanged an uncertain glance.

"You were successful in getting Cedric's body back to Hogwarts... " Remus began tentatively.

"But?" said Harry, because he could just feel one in there.

"You have to understand, Harry, when you went missing, people started speculating as to why. A rumor soon spread that you killed Cedric, that's why you took off. "

"I didn't kill Cedric, " said Harry with quiet vehemence.

"We know, Harry. We believe you," said Sirius. "But some people insist that you did – Malfoy's crowd most likely. And it would seem Amos Diggory chose to believe in those rumors, even though he knows that as a minor, you couldn't have done it. Then somehow word leaked out that you can cast a real Patronus -"

"So?"

"It's unusual magic, Harry," said Remus. "Not someone of your age can easily do. Even grown wizards have difficulty casting one."

"But it was you who taught me how to cast one! "

"A werewolf?" said Remus with a humorless smile. "You must know Harry that my kind is not especially trusted by the public."

"So, are you telling me that everybody thinks I killed Cedric?"

"Frankly, people don't know what to believe anymore. We keep hearing all these stories. They think you've joined Sirius. "

"But of course, we at the Order know that you didn't. Sirius has been just as worried sick about you as any of us. I thought he was going to go bald by all that hair pulling he's been doing."

"The Order? "

Remus told Harry what it was and who were the members.

"...Two Aurors. And the real Mad-Eye Moody —"

"The real Mad-Eye? "

"The one you knew, the one who has been teaching you, was a fake. He's actually a Death Eater named Barty Crouch, Jr. He was the one who turned the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey."

"Bartemius Crouch's son? I thought he died in Azkaban. "

"You and everybody else. "

"Crouch is very intelligent. Intelligent and cruel. For Voldemort to have someone like him in his service ..." said Sirius.

"So now he's joined his Master, which is another worry for Dumbledore. "

"But at least we knew that you're still alive," said Sirius. "Dumbledore was quite certain of that."

"Really?" Harry said, frowning. "But how would he know?"

"That you would have to ask him yourself. He wouldn't explain it fully."

"But people must realize that Voldemort is back?"

"Dumbledore said as much, during the end of year feast. But how are we going to convince people? The only witness that he is back who is not a Death Eater went missing," said Sirius.

"It's hard trying to convince people," said Remus. "Fudge refuses to hear any such suggestion. But he could hardly deny that something's up. The Death Eaters have become so brazen. They don't seem to bother hiding their activities."

"What have they been doing?"

"Making sport of Muggles, mostly. Numerous reports of Muggles disappearing, developing strange highly disfiguring illnesses. And then there were reports of giants returning to Britain — and not just one or two— but what few remaining giants are there in the Karakoram mountain ranges in Tibet."

"And then there are the highly destructive environmental disasters that Muggles think are caused by nature but aren't."

"Dumbledore's been very worried. Voldemort is not acting the way he expected. Voldemort doesn't seem to care whether people know that he's back or not."

"Some members of the Order have also noticed that they are being followed, our houses constantly watched."

"The Weasleys?" Harry said, a bit fearfully, though he already knew about it. But the newspaper the Elven scouts picked up were a few weeks old.

"They're fine," said Sirius. "Nothing has happened to them ...yet. But we think that it will not be long now and Voldemort will start moving against us. "But Dumbledore says that as long as we have you, then we don't have to worry about anything."

"Sirius!" said Remus in a warning tone.

Sirius ignored him. "I don't know what Dumbledore is so worried about. What, does he think Harry's going to Voldemort and turn traitor? "

"Sirius," warned Remus again.

Sirius rolled his eyes and turned to Harry. "Dumbledore warned us against letting you know more than what you need."

Harry did not react, fearing he might already know the reason why.

And then the daylight brought in more of Harry's loved ones. He sat in his hospital bed, mouth twitching. Hermione and the Weasleys were crowded at his feet, but instead of the happy reunion he had expected to happen, they all were looking at him as if he were some kind of dangerous animal. He guessed they were shocked to find him looking so healthy. In a way, he felt sorry for them, imagining the anxiety they had been going through in the last couple of months – though to him it felt that he had been gone for years. But he was just actually happy to see them. He was extremely delighted to be surrounded by his loved ones.

Dumbledore must have spoken to them because none of them directly asked him where he had been or what had happened to him. And he was grateful for that, he didn't really know what to say to them. He would have to lie outright and he didn't want to do so with these people who looked so relieved that he was alive.

The twins were the first to recover.

"Blimey, Harry!" said George? Fred? – he never could tell. "We have been worrying about you! And here you are looking as if you've just come from a vacation or something."

"Wow, the girls are surely going to fall all over themselves running after you now."

"Yeah. You're not as specky as you once looked."

Harry laughing at the two seemed to break the ice. The rest of the Weasleys visibly relaxed, and Hermione sat by his leg at the foot of the bed.

Ginny stood just slightly behind her dad, hoping that her eyes did not betray what she was feeling. There Harry was, lying in his bed. He did look different – healthier, and even sitting down on the bed, looked a bit taller. Certainly taller than when she saw him last. Physically he was not much different. It was something else, a certain aura Harry exuded, for what he had supposedly been through, he certainly looked a lot calmer.

She couldn't put a finger on it. Something happened to him in the last couple of months since his disappearance. There was a certain deliberation in every movement he made, a certain sureness . Somehow it felt to her he was even more unreachable than ever before. And then it suddenly occurred to her, Was this even the real Harry? and before she could even stop herself, her mouth ran off on its own ahead of her brain.

"Hey, Harry, We're glad you're back," she said, a slight treble of fear in her voice she hoped no one would notice. "Sirius told us you don't remember anything?"

Harry nodded, puzzled, wondering why Ginny suddenly was talking to him.

"Don't worry about it. Do you remember at the Chambers when I woke up and the last thing I remember before losing consciousness was – "

Ginny left her sentence hang in mid-air and Harry felt compelled to finish it for her.

"Riddle coming out of the diary?" Harry asked, frowning. Of all the things that Ginny could say, she would choose that. And in front of her family, too. He looked at her, she was smiling, but he could sense she was nervous. And then he noticed that she was gripping her wand tightly. Then he understood. He looked down, and smiled. So. She's testing him. She doesn't believe that it's really me. The other people in the room had readily accepted that he was Harry, and from what he could deduce, Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey, as well. But not Ginny. He smiled at her then, his eyes crinkling,

"Thanks Ginny. I'm not worried. It's not that I've lost all my memories. In fact, I remember your mum's cooking very well. I miss it so much I could put my elbow in the butter dish."

Ginny gave him what was supposed to be a sweet smile, but her eyes promised revenge. The twat! Reminding her of one of the most humiliating events of her life.

Though Ginny was smiling hugely at him, Harry could sense that he had trodden on rather sensitive toes. And the way she stood, she looked as if she was readying for a fight. She didn't seem to be as shy as he remembered her to be.

The others though were all gaping at him, looking as if he had lost his marbles.

Harry then turned to Remus and asked a question. Asking about what was happening outside — if the killings, disappearances had started yet. His diversion worked, the mood shifted, the attention of the others drawn away from him and his bizarre comment.

Ginny never said more after that. She just seemed content to stay in the background. Once or twice Harry made a passing glance her way. His gaze never settled more than a second than he did with the others, but it was enough for him to note Ginny's reaction, there was a tiny flicker of her eyes, and maybe an annoyed set to her jaw – just a fraction. Harry wished she would speak once more, just to see how angry he had made her. Even when an hour later, Madam Pomfrey shooed all his visitors out, Ginny just gave him a small smile in farewell as she and the others left the room, some of them patting his legs.

Hermione was most reluctant to leave. She dallied for a while in the room, needlessly rearranging the sheets covering Harry's legs, ignoring the clucking sound Ron was making at her. Harry thought Hermione would have found another trivial reason to stay but finally, Madam Pomfrey ruthlessly shooed them all away, except for Sirius, who emitted a low growl deep in his throat when Madam Pomfrey tried to make him leave and so allowed him to stay.

~o~

A/N: (at the bottom so you have the option not to read. XD)

Tho thorry for the very late update :( this chapter was finished February of last year. But I felt it was more of the same, rather boring, that's why i held off updating. But if, after 4 rewrites, I can't still come up with a chapter I'm satisfied with, I probably never would. Also, I needed the hospital scene with D and Harry. And if I went along with the other versions, I would just be trading in a false, temporary conflict to one I need: Harry's growing mistrust and disaffection with D.

Thing is, I write by ear. it's when I second-guess what I've written that the words simply don't come. So now I'm planning to let whatever just comes out of my head be, to let the story write itself coz otherwise, it would take me 300 yrs ;) to finish this, rate I'm going.

Also, Merinelle was the presence Harry ignored. I want it to have happened but not in Harry's POV.

had to change the rating of this fanfic. But pls remember that war has costs, and the shit that happens in the real world will always be worse than anything I can possibly think of, placental shield included.