Harry groaned as he felt the sunlight pouring through the windows of the Hospital Wing. Wincing slightly, Harry made sure not to roll over on his injured arm. The curse that had struck his shoulder was not easily mended and required an overnight stay for the rather beleaguered boy. Harry became still, however, at the sound of mingled voices in the room.
"Dumbledore, he used wandless magic to propel me across the room and he wasn't even trying! For Merlin's sake, he used an Unforgivable against a student!" Harry could discern the voice of Professor Sheppard even from his bed.
"Jack, Mr. Longbottom was not himself at that moment. I've reviewed not only his memories but others as well. All indications point to the fact that Mr. Longbottom had no recollection of ever casting an Unforgivable," Dumbledore explained in a calm voice.
"Well what am I supposed to do?!? Whether or not he remembers, Longbottom cast an Unforgivable on another student! What am I supposed to tell the Ministry?" Sheppard was practically yelling at this point.
"You must stay quiet in this Hospital Wing and in the future, Professor," Dumbledore commanded.
"How can I stay quiet when there's a potential time bomb within these walls?" Sheppard hissed.
"I assure you, many steps are being taken to make sure this does not happen any time soon with Mr. Longbottom," Dumbledore's tone indicated that this conversation was finished.
"You mark my words, Dumbledore. Longbottom can't contain the beast. It will rear it's ugly head again and we won't be fortunate enough in the future to have the boy collapse on the spot. You-Know-Who is getting stronger every day," Sheppard pleaded.
"Voldemort," Dumbledore gave special emphasis to the name, "will not have Mr. Longbottom."
There was a huff and a swish of robes before heavy stomps exited the ward. Harry assumed that the agitated Professor had left the matter to rest for now. Harry carefully lifted one of the drapes surrounding the bed to see who else was outside.
"The Professor makes a point. According to the students, Longbottom not only used several dark curses to take down Mr. Potter but also brushed off Sheppard like he was a fly," McGonagall's usually even keeled voice cracked with anxiety.
"What caused it?" she asked.
"Before Mr. Longbottom collapsed, he apparently told Mr. Potter 'He was very happy," Dumbledore sighed.
"Voldemort was happy?" McGonagall asked in a scared whisper.
"I'm afraid so," Harry could see Dumbledore rub his forehead very slowly.
"I think the combination of the arena resembling the Riddle graveyard and the sudden surge of Tom's happiness allowed him brief access to Mr. Longbottom's mind," Dumbledore reasoned.
"But how was he able to be stopped?" the Transfiguration Professor asked.
"I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps Tom could only hold on to the tenuous connection for but a moment. Perhaps Neville was strong enough to fight him off," the older Professor mused, twirling the hair on his grey beard.
"Still? What can we do Albus? The children will talk. Mr. Longbottom still performed an Unforgivable in a classroom full of students," McGonagall was more genuinely worried than Harry had ever seen her.
"I shall have to make some inquires within the Ministry. It is important that Neville not be removed from Hogwarts. To do so would allow Tom even more access to his mind. That is unacceptable," he responded gravely.
"For now, we must insure that Neville is able to block out Tom. That is of the utmost importance."
Harry laid his head back down and closed the drapes as he tried to process the rush of information he received from Dumbledore. Apparently, You-Know-Who had access to Neville's mind.
You-Know-Who has access to Neville's mind.
Wait.
YOU-KNOW-WHO HAS ACCESS TO NEVILLE'S MIND?
Harry sat up suddenly without thinking and immediately the effects of such a foolish decision. Dizziness overtook him and the searing pain of his shoulder reminded him of the pain he was suffering. With a loud groan, he collapsed back onto the bed, no doubt gaining the Headmaster's attention.
"I think that Mr. Potter is awake," came the bemused voice of the aforementioned professor.
Don't mind me, I'm just making sure conduits for psychotic murderers aren't around me.
"Mr. Potter, how are you feeling?" McGonagall asked, her voice laced with concern.
"I'll manage," Harry grunted gruffly.
"If you don't mind, Mr. Potter, there's some questions I'd like to ask you about your practice duel," Dumbledore intoned softly.
"Uh, sure."
"Do you remember telling me that Neville said a sentence right before he faded?"
"Yeah," Harry recited what Neville had said word for word.
"Was there anything else?" Dumbledore pressed.
"No, that's all he said."
"Can you give me your exact recount of the events leading to Neville regaining…control," Dumbledore paused at the end of the sentence, seemingly struggling to find the right words.
"We were just dueling as usual. I - I didn't mean to - but I knocked Hermione out cold," Harry started guiltily, "After that, Neville sort of lost control. He started performing these hexes that I didn't even know of. I put up a shield, but I couldn't keep it up for forever. They were very advanced, sir."
Dumbledore nodded for Harry to continue.
"Whatever curse he used broke through my shield charm and hit me in the shoulder. He came up to me. His eyes were so red. He cast Imperio on me," Harry droned on, his eyes glazing over as he recounted the events in a dull monotone.
"He told me to kill her, but I didn't want to. Then it was gone."
"You didn't want to?"
"The voice in my head said to kill Hermione. I couldn't do it," Harry said softly, his head twisting about to see if Hermione was also in one of the hospital beds. Unfortunately, all the drapes around the beds were closed.
"That was a great feat of yours Harry. Not everyone can fight off an Imperius curse. Is there anything else?" Dumbledore prodded.
Tell him.
"I saw him."
"Saw who?"
"You-Know-Who."
"Pardon?"
"You-Know," Harry stopped, "V-v-v - him."
"Voldemort?"
"Yes."
"You saw Voldemort in your head?"
"I saw two red eyes. I saw pale claws as grey as the wall. I saw into his head. I saw a tower," Harry whispered fearfully.
"A tower?" Dumbledore looked genuinely shocked.
"A tower stretching high into the sky, blotting out the sun. What does it mean Professor?"
"Nothing you should concern yourself with right now Mr. Potter. Get some rest," Dumbledore stood abruptly, his face stony.
"But Professor -" Harry started.
"I must go," Dumbledore cut him off, "There are matters I must attend to. Have a speedy recovery, Mr. Potter."
Dumbledore practically ran out of the Hospital Wing, his usually calm demeanor shattered by what ever that tower meant. Lying his head back down, Harry was afraid to close his eyes. Every time his eyes were shut, all he saw were those two red slits. Shivering slightly, Harry wrapped the blanket tight around his uninjured shoulder, rolling over and facing another bed.
"Neville? Hermione?"
There was no response. Not for the first time, Harry felt utterly alone, unable to talk about the craziness he just experienced. Willing his eyes to stay open, he thought back to Dumbledore's reaction. What was the tower? Whatever the tower was, it was incredibly large. Although the glimpse into You-Know-Who's mind was short, Harry retained the sharp image of a lone, dark tower. Why was Dumbledore so incensed by this tower? He had to know what the tower was or at least what the tower represented. Harry had known Dumbledore for a while; he often visited his mother when Harry was younger. Harry had never seen Dumbledore so genuinely - scared.
"Harry!"
Ginny rushed to his bedside, the bags clearly evident underneath her eyes. She stopped at his side for a moment to take a deep breath, clearly looking as if she had run all the way from Gryffindor tower.
"You look like a turtle," were the first words she said to him.
"What?"
"You're stuck on your side. You look like a turtle," she said breathlessly.
"I've been hit by an Unforgivable. My shoulder is burned. All you can say is that I look like a turtle?" Harry said dead-panned.
"I call it like I see it."
"You're an idiot."
Ginny nodded, not really agreeing with his accusation but rather nodding because she realized that Harry was still okay.
"How are you feeling really?"
"Shit. You?"
"Scared to death, you imbecile!" Ginny yelled.
"I didn't do anything!" Harry was taken aback by the sudden change of voice.
"What exactly happened? The rumors are flying around, Ron's too shell shocked to talk, and the three of you are stuck up here without visitors until now. Hell, I just saw Dumbledore sprint to his office! What have you done?" Ginny finally released her tirade.
"I didn't do anything!" Harry was mildly offended.
"Mr. Potter! Ms. Weasley! Keep it down before I ask you to leave," Madam Pomfrey hushed.
"I didn't do anything," Harry whispered fervently, "Something happened to Neville and he sort of lost it."
"Is he okay? Where is he?" she whirled around trying to find him.
"Somewhere," Harry started cautiously.
"What do you mean he lost it?" Ginny asked.
"Ginny - don't freak - but he sort of cast Imperio on me."
"Excuse me?" Ginny said as if Harry had offended her personally. Harry nodded back, assuring her that he wasn't misspeaking.
"Neville? Why would he do that?"
Harry lowered his eyes to the floor before replying, "I don't know."
Harry knew full well, now, why Neville had cast that particular curse. It was not his place to reveal this information to all of his closest friends though. He thought he would leave that up to the cursed boy himself.
"Are you okay?" she finally asked.
"Well, I'm fine now thank you," Harry rolled his eyes.
"Harry? Ginny?" came a female voice from the other side of the room.
"Hermione!" Ginny gasped. Harry watched as she ran to the other side of the bed to which Harry could not turn.
Oh come on.
The flurry of voices behind him did indeed indicate that Hermione was to his back. Harry turned ever so slightly onto his back, wincing as his shoulder came in contact with the softness of the bed. He settled with rotating his head sideways to see Hermione sitting up in her bed, talking to Ginny animatedly.
"Why is Neville here? Why is Harry here? Ginny, what happened?" Hermione posed a flurry of questions. Ginny shrugged and pointed to Harry.
Thanks.
"Harry? Are you okay? What happened to your shoulder?"
Apparently, Hermione did not like being left out of the loop.
"What was the last thing you remembered?" Harry asked.
"You trapped us. Pretty clever actually," Hermione frowned, "A blasting curse exploded right in front of me and kind of propelled me into the air. I don't remember anything after that."
Sighing, Harry ran his free hand through his hair, cursing the fates for burdening him with the task of telling Hermione, "Something happened to Neville. He hit me with a couple of really strong spells."
Ginny raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his obvious omissions. Harry kept his face straight, hoping that Hermione would gloss over the details and hopefully ask Neville later what had happened. Then, Harry remembered who Hermione was.
"What sort of spells?"
Shit.
"I don't exactly remember. Most of them were wordless," Harry dodged.
"Wordless? Neville can't do wordless spells yet," Hermione mused confusedly.
Resigning himself to his fates Harry spoke, "Hermione, something happened to Neville. Something got into his head."
Harry hoped that Hermione would catch on to what he was saying. Ginny looked confused as she stared back and forth between the pair. Hermione was looking off into the distance, her mind no doubt pushing into high gear as she tried to decipher Harry's not so cryptic message. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it, apparently not liking what she was about to say. Then, her head snapped towards Harry, her face a picture of realization. Jumping up from her bed, much to Ginny's admonitions, she padded her way over to Harry.
"Voldemort?" she whispered, leaning close to insure Ginny did not overhear. Harry nodded grimly.
"Where is he?" she asked.
"Neville or You-Know-Who?"
Hermione did not find it the least bit amusing.
"I don't know, he hasn't woken yet I think."
"Hermione?" came a groggy voice from Harry's left.
Hermione immediately rushed over to Neville's side, much to Harry's slight displeasure. Must that boy always come first in everything in her life? Harry watched as she sat on his bedside and took his hand.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, concern laced in her voice.
"I think I'm okay. How did I end up here?" Neville asked, obviously unaware of his surroundings. Hermione shook her head and patted his hand.
Great. I happen to follow her out of slightly obsessive concern through the Whomping Willow and get a third-degree burn from her. He casts an Unforgivable on me and gets a pat on the hand. That's fair.
"Harry? What are you doing here?" Neville asked, his eyes squinting in concern.
"Ran into a door. Hurt my shoulder a bit."
"Harry," Ginny scolded.
"What?" Harry said in fake irritability.
Ginny and Hermione looked sourly upon him, but Harry did not care at the moment. Did neither of them recognize the danger of someone with a potentially unstable mind? Neville could burst out into the Death Eater anthem right for all they knew.
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Neville asked. For the third time that day, Harry had to repeat the story that apparently could not be told by anyone else in the entire world. While he retold the duel yet again, Harry could not quite meet Neville's eyes. Images of Neville cursing him kept flashing in Harry's head as he went slowly through the story.
"Harry, I'm so sorry. You have to know - I would - I can't - I don't even know how to do that," Neville stuttered.
"It's okay, I know it wasn't you," Harry did not meet his eyes regardless. Neville seemed to catch on to what Harry was doing and started to shift nervously.
"Maybe I should go," he stole a glance over at Harry to see the boy had his eyes rooted on the floor.
"Madam Pomfrey? Am I okay to go?" Neville asked.
"Since you don't have any actual injures, you're free to go. You as well, Ms. Granger. Your arm is fully healed. Mr. Potter, on the other hand, must stay a little longer for your shoulder. I don't know what Professors allow in their classrooms these days," the witch clucked. Neville and Hermione stood and gathered their belongs, all the while Harry ignoring them. As Neville turned to leave, he seemed to gather himself together and addressed the elephant in the room.
"Harry. You have to know, I would never do that to you," he pleaded.
"I know it wasn't you, Neville. I already said it's okay."
"Then why won't you look me in the eye?"
"I don't fancy You-Know-Who having a go at my head again," Harry gulped. Ginny and Hermione gasped while Neville looked pale, his hands balling into fists.
"It wasn't me!" Neville yelled.
"I don't care if it wasn't you! I just don't want another bloody Unforgivable to be thrown at me!" Harry protested.
"It wasn't me, it was Voldemort."
"Well then keep You-Know-Who out of your head then," Harry was starting to lose his cool.
"Call him Voldemort!" Neville suddenly demanded as he took a step forward despite Hermione's restraint.
"I'LL CALL HIM WHATEVER THE BLOODY HELL I WANT TO," Harry bellowed.
The glasses of water placed upon the bedsides suddenly exploded in a brilliant shower. The girls shrieked as they attempted to avoid the tiny fragments but they need not worry for the glass stood suspended in mid-air like a low gravity simulation before plummeting to the ground.
"What is going on here?!?" Madam Promfrey asked, her hands on her hips as she took in the scene.
"Nothing!" Hermione yelped, "We were just leaving."
Hermione was pulling Neville by his arm as he stared down Harry. Harry, for his part, kept his head down while he tried to regain his calm. Ginny just stood there with her mouth open at the display while Hermione gave one more pleading glance to Harry as she tugged on Neville's arm.
"It won't happen again, it won't happen again," Neville muttered as the pair disappeared out of sight.
"What the hell was that?" Ginny demanded once Pomfrey was out of earshot.
"What do you think?" Harry shot back nastily.
"I think both of you have gone bonkers!"
"Only one of us," Harry said darkly.
"What?"
"Ginny, do you remember second year? Your first year?" Harry probed.
Ginny instantly stiffened, her lips tightening and her jaw clenching. She instinctively knew what Harry was going to say at the moment and shook her head, indicating she did not need a further example. Harry sighed and looked at the pieces of broken glass surrounding his bed.
"It's something like that I think," he said sadly. Ginny shuddered and closed her eyes. Harry could make out her lips counting to ten silently.
"Can we talk about something else?" she asked.
"Ginny, this is important. You don't know what I saw in that guy's mind," Harry pointed out.
"I don't care!" she yelled, her eyes full of desperation, "Can we please talk about something else?"
After a moment, Harry told her softly, "Okay, what do you want talk about?"
"Cho," she said.
"Cho? After all this you want to talk about Cho?" he asked skeptically.
"I don't want to talk about him," she gritted her teeth.
"Fair enough."
"Hermione," she started shakily, 'came to me after Hogsmeade. She told me what happened."
"Yeah, so?"
"Harry, I know I was trying to help you but I think Cho's playing you," she said.
"Why would she do that?" Harry asked, feeling a bit threatened by the line of this conversation.
"I think she wants to know Neville better," she gently prodded.
"Neville, Neville, Neville. Everything's always about him. What is that you said? Why wouldn't she like me?" Harry said, his voice full of scorn.
"Well you don't need to be a prick about it," Ginny put a hand to her chest, "I'm just saying I know Cho and she's just using you."
"And what if she just likes me and she was nervous?" Harry challenged.
"Harry, you stupid boy," Ginny leaned forward and placed her hand on his, "I just don't want to see you getting hurt by some manipulative bitch."
Harry stared at her hand on his confusedly. It was unlike Ginny to show so much affection even in private. Nervously, he moved his hand out from underneath hers under the guise of rubbing his sore arm before replying.
"I'm not being manipulated. I can handle Cho on my own," he said grumpily. Ginny stared at him for a moment with sad eyes before shaking her head.
"Whatever Harry. I'll be back in a bit with some food for you. Stay put," she commanded as she left the Wing.
Girls.
Sometime after Ginny had brought him a late lunch, Pomfrey finally cleared him to leave. It was already late by the time he started to head back to the Gryffindor common room. He was in a particularly foul mood and kept his head down as he navigated his way through the labyrinth of Hogwarts. With his head down, he was unable to foresee the collision around the corner of one corridor.
"Watch it!" Harry snapped.
"Sorry!" the other person exclaimed at the same moment.
"Cho?"
"Harry?"
Great.
"Sorry," Harry grumbled, "wasn't watching where I was going."
"Oh, it's okay!" Cho replied hastily, "I've been meaning to talk to you anyways."
"Really? What are you doing here anyways; the Ravenclaw room isn't anywhere near here," Harry pondered.
"Yeah - well - how are you? I heard about what happened. It must have been awful," Cho cut him off but looked genuinely concerned.
"I'm alright now," Harry was glad that at least someone was paying attention to his injuries.
"That's good. That's good," she repeatedly mostly to herself, "Harry, I just wanted to apologize for - well - kind of ignoring you at Hogsmeade. I know it was terribly rude of me."
Harry shrugged indifferently, "Happens all the time."
"No," she said forcefully, "It's just that…Neville avoids me all the time and I think it's because of Cedric and I just wanted to know - or just - talk to him about that. You were great before they came to the table."
Harry nodded, unsure of how he should reply.
"I just wanted to make it up to you. Are you going home for the holidays?" she asked.
"Yeah, I usually do."
"Oh," she said disappointedly, staring at the ground.
"I'll be back soon enough though. Hogsmeade again afterwards?" Harry offered.
"Yes," she said brightly.
Harry snorted softly and gave her a half-smile, "Alright then. It's a date."
"Yes it is," she smiled her beautiful smile at him. She paused for a moment as if she were fighting some internal battle before quickly tip toeing forward and giving him a soft peck on the lips.
"I'll see you after the break," she rushed out before turning around and sprinting towards
Harry held a hand to his lips as she disappeared around the corner, too shell shocked to move from the spot. It was not until much, much later when he retired for the night did he realize that he had officially received his first kiss.
-------------------------------------
Harry woke up in the morning before his departure from Hogwarts in a much brighter mood. He had woken up much earlier than the rest of his dorm mates, however, in order to escape seeing Neville. Dressing as quickly as he could, Harry made his way down the stairs for an early shot at breakfast. He did not expect Hermione to be sitting in one of the armchairs this early in the morning.
"Harry," she called out as he tried to rush to the portrait.
Dammit. No.
"Hermione," he said warily.
What's my life come to? I'm avoiding Hermione now for Merlin's sake.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"I'm alright," he replied, still on guard. She scrunched her face at the slightly cool tone of his voice but pressed forwards. Harry did feel slightly guilty for being so off putting but only for a moment as he remembered her treatment of him in the past few weeks or so.
"Look, I know it's hard to understand what Neville's going through right now. He's as scared as you are about this whole thing," she started, "But believe me, he's incredibly sorry about what happened."
"Hermione," Harry felt as if he were explaining things that no one was understanding, "I already forgave him. Just please understand that it's difficult for me to try to cope with You-Know-Who bouncing around in someone's head."
"I know. I know," she bit her lip uncertainly, "But can you please give him a little break, for me?"
She laid a hand gently on his forearm and pleaded forgiveness with her eyes. No matter how angry he was at her, Harry could not help but waver in his stance. The sight of her asking for his help was refreshing for once.
"I'm not making any promises," he gruffly replied, "Even I don't respond well to being cursed."
"I won't go yelling at him if that's what you want."
"Well, it's a start," Hermione said with a small smile on her face.
"And know that I'm only doing this for you," Harry stated, not knowing where this boldness was hiding all his life.
"I know," she smiled coyly. Harry looked questioningly at her, but she simply turned around to gather some of her books before he could say anything.
"Are you going down to breakfast? If you are, I'll come with you."
"Yeah, sure," Harry said distractedly.
They made slight small talk as they made their way down to the Great Hall. There were a couple of other early birds as Harry dug in to his breakfast eggs, but they were mostly alone. Ginny tiredly came down a little after them, complaining that Harry had not told her he came back from the Hospital Wing already.
"I'll make sure I keep you informed of all my movements," Harry said sarcastically.
"Prat," she swatted him on the arm but had a smile on her face.
Harry helped himself to some juice as more students piled into the Great Hall. Ginny and Hermione were idly chit chatting over him as he zoned out for a moment. Harry felt Hermione suddenly tense beside him and Harry looked up to see what had caused her to stiffen. Neville eyed the three of them before slowly making his way to the group. He sat across from the three of them and eyed Harry warily. Harry looked up from his breakfast for a moment and gave him a slight head nod, the universal indication that everything was okay between them. Neville responded in kind and dug into his breakfast as well.
"Oh good, looks like we can all get along then!" Ginny chirped brightly, the boys' interaction not lost upon her. Hermione said nothing but smiled as she read the Daily Prophet.
Harry was finally settling into a good morning before a loud screech interrupted the proceedings. Looking up, Harry's heart plummeted as he saw a large, horned owl once again carrying a blue, periwinkle letter. It made a lap around the Great Hall as the students waited in anticipation. The owl continued to look over its targets, seemingly mocking the group as if it were all a game. The bird swayed to and fro as it made another circle around the Great Hall, it's elevation lowering the whole time.
The owl suddenly adjusted direction for the Slytherin table and Harry watched with rapt fascination as all the Slytherins suddenly stirred in their seats. Harry hoped that the prat, Malfoy, would be the recipient of this particular letter. At the last moment though, the owl changed course and abruptly made a sharp turn for the Gryffindor table. Harry dropped his spoon as he watched the bird slowly make its way towards him. Harry locked eyes with the bird and swore that the damn thing was determined to drop the letter right in his meal. Harry closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.
But it never came.
Peeking out with one eye, Harry was surprised to see that the letter was not for him. He turned his head to see the large, horned owl leaving the Great Hall without a letter between it's talons. The bird had indeed given the letter to someone, but who? Turning to his right to ask Ginny, Harry froze as he spotted the tell tale blue in Ginny's hands. He blinked in disbelief as Ginny slowly turned to him.
"It's for me."