Just a reminder disclaimer, as if anyone could forget…I don't own Harry Potter or the movie Just Like Heaven. Just molding them together and playing with the outcome!!
Chapter Five.
The next day, rather than her normal ritual of getting ready and apparating to the hospital, Hermione headed to Diagon Alley. She wanted to understand what was going on. She had seen Harry twice now and both times he had disappeared. Hermione wasn't a stupid girl. If she had seen Harry once, she might have dismissed it, but he had seemed so real.
Finally acting in her bookish fashion, she walked into Flourish and Blott's, her favourite bookstore.
"Hello Hermione," a dreamy voice carried over.
"Hi Luna," Hermione said, seeing the small blonde, "What are you doing here?"
"I've decided to take on a summer job," she said to Hermione, even though her eyes looked as though they were far away.
"That's wonderful," Hermione smiled.
"Hermione, you looked as if you've been eating too many manilleo stouts," Luna commented.
"Excuse me?" Hermione said, suppressing a laugh. Luna always believed such ridiculous things.
"Manilleo stouts were eaten by giantesses. They were used to make themselves skinny but they were outlawed because they made them too thin and they died. It was a ridiculous ritual to make them more fanciable to their mate."
"No, I haven't eaten them," Hermione said, "I've just been going through a rough time with
Harry being in the hospital."
"Oh, right. Ron's told me everything," Luna said, all the dreaminess in her voice gone, "I'm so
sorry Hermione. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Ron?"
"Yes, he came in here about a month ago and we went out for ice cream. He's been having a hard time too. We've been out a few times and I've been helping him deal with a lot."
Hermione stared at her disbelievingly, "Oh?"
"I thought he would have told you," Luna said, frowning.
Hermione's eyes sparkled with tears, "No. I actually haven't had a conversation with Ron in a long time. I feel horrible."
"Don't feel that way," Luna said, throwing an arm around her shoulder, "You've been through a lot. He understands. Now, are you looking for something in particular?"
Hermione almost said `no', but this was Luna she was talking with, "Is there anything else besides ghosts that can haunt a house?" After it came out, she felt silly.
"Ah, the paranormal! That's at the back. Let's go take a look," Luna said, directing her towards the little curtain that led to a back room.
Hermione read the little tags that marked where the books were and she came to a section marked `Spirits' where Luna stopped her.
"So have you been contacted by someone from the other side?" Luna asked, "I often have conversations with those who have passed on. It's a gift I've been given."
"Well, no," Hermione said, blushing slightly. She real felt silly. "Actually, I'm not sure anymore."
Luna closed her eyes and ran a hand along the books, humming, then she stopped and pulled down the book her finger had rested on, "Oh, this is a good one," and she handed it to Hermione.
"Contacting the Spirits by Mattiah Blooms," Hermione read aloud.
"That's a good one to get started on," Luna said, then she pulled down three more books, "And so are these."
"Alright," Hermione said and brought the books to the cash register. She turned from the door before leaving, "Thank you for taking care of Ron, Luna. See you soon."
"It's my pleasure," Luna said, back in her far off voice, "Bye."
Hermione took her books and sat with Harry at the hospital till visiting hours were over. When she got home, she knew exactly what she wanted to do. Contact Harry's spirit again, if that's what it really was.
She decided to do it in the living room. She gathered up all the candles she could find and placed them in front of her on the coffee table. She sat cross-legged in front of them and raised one of the candles with her hand. She read aloud from the book.
"Spirit awake," she said, and moved the candle up and down in front of her, "Spirit partake," and she moved the candle horizontally in front of her, "Spirit without fear." She moved the candle in a circle and finished the spell with "Spirit appear."
She listened intently and didn't hear a sound, "Harry?" Nothing happened.
Disappointed she got up and blew out all the candles, frustrated. Then she eyed the lamp beside her. Well, it had worked before, she thought and picked up the lamp. She threw it as hard as she could at the fireplace and it shattered.
"You know, it's bad enough that you are still in my house, but do you have to break everything?" someone said from behind her.
"Harry!" Hermione said, spinning around.
"I don't know how you know my name, but I really want you to leave," Harry insisted.
"We need to talk," Hermione said, "You see. You're not supposed to be here," Hermione said. She didn't know how to break it to his spirit that he was laying in the hospital in a coma.
"I have every right to be here, I own this place."
"What else do you know?"
Harry looked confused for a minute, "I know that you have been trespassing."
Hermione almost laughed. How could he not remember anything? "I mean about you, Harry. Where are you from? What were you like growing up? Don't you know anything about our world?"
"I…uh…" Harry thought for a minute and then straightened up, "Stop avoiding the subject. I want you out!"
"Do you even know your last name?" Hermione asked.
He made a face and looked around, "Black," he guessed, reading the crest above the mantle.
"Your last name is Potter," Hermione said and she held up a picture of him, herself and Ron.
Harry went to grab for the picture but his hand passed through it.
"How do you know all this?" he asked.
"Come, sit with me. Let me jog your memory," Hermione said, and sat on the couch. He took a seat beside her without hesitation. He was staring at the picture of the three of them watching it move. It was fairly recent taken two months before the final battle. They had just returned from destroying Voldemort's final horcrux. Hermione was the one who wanted the picture taken. She thought Harry looked incredibly handsome with his adrenaline pumping and his out of control hair. Ron and Harry could hardly sit still for the picture. Hermione, in the tiny frame, stood between the two. Ron had an arm around her waist but it was around that time that Hermione was growing tired of her relationship with Ron. It wasn't going well and she always knew that her heart was elsewhere. It was with the boy who stood to her right. The one her tiny self was eyeing with pride and admiration.
"Am I dead?" Harry asked quietly.
"No," Hermione said, "I don't think so." She didn't completely understand what his spirit coming to her like this meant.
"What is going on then?"
"I don't know."
They both paused for a long time.
"Well, tell me about myself," Harry said finally.
"Where to start?" Hermione laughed.
"At the beginning."
"Well, your parents died when you were young," she said, quietly. He did say to start at the beginning.
"Yes, I remember," he said, putting a hand to his mouth, "They were murdered."
"I'm sorry," Hermione said.
"Can you take me to their grave? I'd really like to see it. I might remember something."
"Can you leave this place?"
"I think so."
Hermione hailed a taxi and they went to Godric's Hollow, not saying a word.
They had the driver drop them off at the entrance to a tiny graveyard with a large willow tree near the back.
"They are under the willow tree, aren't they?" Harry asked.
Hermione nodded and they made their way silently towards the stones.
Harry knelt in front of them, "They were murdered by someone named Voldemort. He's an evil wizard."
"Yes, he is," Hermione agreed.
"They tried to take me too, but something happened and I survived. I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle."
"Do you remember everything?"
"No. I remember that it was unpleasant and then a giant rescued me. I went to Hogwarts School, for wizards. I'm a wizard too?"
"Yes, you are. A very powerful wizard."
"Can we go to Hogwarts?"
"Probably not tonight, it's very late."
"Tomorrow?"
"Sure."
**Spirit awake, Spirit partake, Spirit without fear, Spirit appear** is a direct quote and the hand motions were taken from the movie Just Like Heaven.
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