Today was a year. One whole year he had been away from home. He was starting to think he was never, ever going to get back. The Hogwarts library - his last chance at an answer - had burned up in the evacuation. He had tried everything in the last few months, traveling all around the country for other sources that might have a clue on how to travel between dimensions. He had even been to the Department of Mysteries, although that was in enough of a mess at the moment that he wasn't really surprised that no one was very helpful.
He had his parents here, and Sirius, and Fred, and Remus. And that was great, although he hadn't seen much of them lately. He had only met his new stepbrother once, and that not for very long - his mother seemed uncomfortable at having replaced him, and while he tried to tell her that of course she couldn't think of it that way, he didn't want to upset her more by staying. But he missed home. He missed his life, he missed his job, he missed his friends, he missed Teddy. And he especially missed Ginny.
He went back to the school on Halloween. He had been there a few times already, helping with the renovations, though his abilities at Charms were nothing like his mother's or Hermione's, he could at least help with anti-dark magic spells and wards. Now it seemed to be almost finished, barring more floors for the flood of students who would inevitably descend on the place to live in.
He found his parents in one of the lower floor rooms reserved for teachers. Sam, their son, was sleeping, and they invited him in, but he insisted he was just saying hello. His father put an understanding hand on his shoulder. "Maybe its time you found something here," he said gently, as though he knew it was the last thing Harry wanted to hear.
A whole year, he thought grimly as he kicked a pebble around the grounds like he might have done as a moody fifth-year. He couldn't get that thought out of his mind. He stopped for a moment and stared at the lake, remembering the second task, remembering swimming through and breathing the dark, icy water and fighting off Grindylows. But of course that had never happened in this lake. That was another lake, somewhere far away. None of his life was real. He was a temporal and spacial anomaly, that was probably how Hermione would put it. He thought about Hermione and felt his heart sink even deeper.
He didn't know much about what was going on back home. He still hadn't dreamed about home. He never did. But other people did, and he'd found Hermione, now at the school, and asked her. She seemed to understand why he was asking, and didn't think he was crazy when he made attempts to explain. Her counterpart, she told him, knew where he was and was doing everything she could to try and get him back. For a while, this had cheered him up. At least they didn't all think he was dead, after all. That was something. But then he felt himself sink into despair again at this realisation: if Hermione had been trying, Hermione, for a year, and come up with nothing... then surely there was no real hope, at all. He wished he could talk to her, help her, but even though he had actually found a couple of spells in old, dodgy-looking Divination books for communicating with the other side, so far, none of them had worked.
Probably cos I'm on the wrong bloody side, he thought darkly as he walked along the lake. Poor Hermione. And poor Ginny, and Ron, and everyone. It might have been better if they thought I was dead, that might be better than constantly waiting, and hoping, when nothing's ever going to bloody work. Maybe I should go back to Godric's Hollow again....
But he had. Several times. If that was the gateway, he hadn't found it, and wasn't going to. He doubted even the anniversary of his arrival would make any much difference.
He heard a girlish laugh from somewhere up ahead. A good sound. Happy sounds seemed very out of place with his current view of the world, even the Voldemort-less version. He looked over to the tree by the lake, the one where he had sat with Ron and Hermione after the end of exams nearly every year. There were two figures lying under it, and one of them had a mane of red hair, which meant the other one was probably Neville. Harry thought about turning back. He knew he probably wasn't one of Neville's favourite people, and he didn't blame him, really. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach, the way he always did when he thought about that incident. He just really hoped his own Ginny had dreamed about that.
Ginny had been enjoying her time at the New School. Even moreso now that Neville was there with her and they didn't have eyes on them every minute of the day. It turned out she much preferred having a relationship that they didn't need to hide from everyone else in order to stay alive, or have her family breathing down their necks in the small confines of the safe house. It was like a dream and part of her feared that she was going to wake up at any point and find herself right back in Slytherin Academy down in the dungeons half-starved with a sorry excuse for a blanket, fearing for her life.
Aside from the wonderful time she was having enjoying actually being with Neville, she was really enjoying school. It turned out that she was a natural with charms and defense spells, though she was struggling a little with transfiguration and potions. Learning magic just felt so right and having a wand and an outlet for it made her feel better physically too. Life certainly was different these days and she wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
Still, she did have a nagging feeling that something wasn't quite as it should be. Something was still off and it wasn't until she looked up and saw him wandering the grounds that she realized just what it was. Harry was still here. How could that even be? How could no one have figured out a way to send him back to his own world...his own life yet? The laugh that bubbled from her lips faded and she frowned a little. This wasn't right. Everyone else was happy and healing and he was still here and probably miserable missing his family and friends. She looked over at Neville with a bit of hesitation.
"We have to help him find his way back home." Ginny said. She wasn't even sure Neville had seen Harry or knew what she was talking about, but as she sat there, the determination was growing inside of her and it was going to be incredibly difficult to try and talk her down from this endeavor.
Neville frowned and got up on his elbows. "Who?" he asked, confused by this odd turn in the conversation, until he followed her line of sight to the dark-haired figure approaching them. "Oh, him," he growled, returning to his previous, more comfortable position. He tried not to think about HIM too much, as doing so tended to spark emotions that weren't good for him. And he was getting good at magic. He didn't want another accident. "How are we meant to do that?"
"I don't know yet." The redhead admitted with a frown. "But I know we have to try." She tore her eyes away from Harry and looked at Neville, frowning when she saw his scowl. "I know you don't like him, but the sooner he gets home the sooner you won't have to deal with him again." She pointed out.
"Yeah but I still don't see what I can do about it," Neville replied.
Harry made up his mind and kept walking toward the pair. Turning back would look cowardly now. "Hey," he said, attempting a friendly smile. "How's it going?"
"That isn't a reason not to try." Ginny wasn't prepared to give up on this. Harry didn't deserve to be missing out on his life. Not after he'd been a huge part of making hers so much better. She hadn't the foggiest idea of how they were going to help, but she knew that they had to do something.
She turned back when she heard Harry's voice and gave him a small smile. "All right." She said, though it was the understatement of the century. "I didn't expect to see you around here. How've you been?"
Harry shrugged. "Okay I guess. Not really sure what I'm meant to be doing, but I guess that's a popular feeling. Some people want me to help the new Aurors, but I dunno." He kicked at a stone, wishing he was better at small talk. Neville had sat up and was giving him an icy look. Part of Harry, the dangerous part, wanted to ask him if they should have it out right now, but he had an idea this wouldn't go down well with Ginny there.
Ginny let out a small sigh and gave him a sympathetic look. "There has to be a way to get you back where you're meant to be, right? I mean...you got here, didn't you?" She pursed her lips, wishing she knew the key to the solution. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the look Neville was giving him and thought about scolding him to be nicer. But really, she could understand why Neville disliked Harry, even if she wished he wouldn't. "Do you remember what you were doing before you got pulled here?" She asked, trying to ignore the growing tension between the two blokes.
Harry shrugged again. "Took G... My girlfriend to see our house in Godric's Hollow, next thing, I'm here. She's probably... moved in by now." He felt a little stab of grief and turned away. "I'm stuck here forever."
"You can't be stuck here forever." Ginny said, refusing to believe that. "Every spell has a counter-spell. This one...whatever it is...has to have one too." She furrowed her brow in thought. "Have you tried going back to Godric's Hollow? To see if you could find anything?"
"Loads of times," Harry told her stiffly. "But I don't even know what I'm looking for, I've tried standing in the same place, every spell I can think of for opening, even Parseltongue, and nothing works." He looked at her for a moment as an idea pricked at the back of his mind. "Ginny was there the first time," he added. "Maybe if you came with me..."
Neville stood up, fists balled. "She's not going anywhere with you," he said through gritted teeth.
Ginny stood up just after Neville did and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Neville." She said softly, hoping to calm him down a little bit. "There has to be something you're missing. Something you're not seeing..." She worried her bottom lip for a moment. His theory on bringing her wasn't all that bad of one actually, but Neville looked ready to burst and she really didn't want to make him upset.
"It's been a year!" Harry replied, perhaps a bit louder than he'd meant to. "If there was an answer then someone would have found it by now! It's all right for you lot, I come here, help you defeat Voldemort, you all get great new lives, what do I get?"
"Don't yell at her!" Neville shouted back, shaking off Ginny's hand. Yeah he was angry, so what? Didn't he have a right to be?
"I'm not!" Harry really wanted to blast something in frustration. "Look, you're pissed, I get it, but what do you want from me?"
"You could start by leaving us alone," Neville growled.
She shouldn't have been surprised. Really. She should've known it was going to come to this, but that didn't mean she had to like it. Putting herself between the two of them she shot them both a stern look.
"OI!" She snapped. "Shouting about it isn't going to solve anything either." She didn't know how well she was going to be able to defuse the situation, but she couldn't have the pair of them at each others' throats. "Look, Harry I know you're frustrated and Neville I know you don't like him, but if there is a chance that me going to Godric's Hollow is going to fix it..." She hated to even suggest it because she knew it was only going to fuel Neville's fire, but she didn't see any other solution.
"No!" Neville told her shortly. "Absolutely bloody not." He rounded on Harry again. "You selfish prick," he said, taking a step forward. "What happens if she goes with you and your stupid plan works and she ends up on the other side with you? Or is that your plan all along?"
Harry stared at him incredulously. "I wouldn't -" he protested. "What kind of person do you think I am?"
"You're a dick," Neville said shortly. He could feel his fingers tingling, the blood in his arms heating. No fire, he thought to himself sternly, retaining at least that much self control. He just wanted Potter gone. Out of their lives. He was the one blot in the goodness that was his new world.
Harry reached for his wand. He didn't want to hurt Neville, but he recognised the danger in the other man's eyes.
"Neville!" Ginny said again, this time sounding eerily like her mother. "He has his own people to get back to, he's hardly trying to take me away." She snapped. She gave Harry a brief apologetic look, but frowned when she saw him reach for his wand. "Can we all just take a breath?" She gave each boy a pleading glance. She made sure she was still firmly between the two, hoping that they'd be less inclined to fire if it meant her getting hurt too.
"He's still a selfish git," Neville snapped. The ground seemed to be trembling under his feet - probably his imagination, after all his anger seemed to be running through him like a bloody earthquake. "Why can't you just leave us alone?" he said, glaring at Harry.
"I would if I had anywhere else to go!" Harry yelled back. "You don't know what its like to lose everything - everyone you care about -"
"Don't tell me what I know and don't know!" Was it an earthquake? His hands were shaking too, but that was surely just the effort of not lighting Potter up like a roman candle... "Just.... go back... where you came from," he said slowly, gritting his teeth with the effort.
"That's what I'm TRYING to-" Harry stopped. The earth was shaking. He could feel a tightness in his chest, like... "wait..." He looked at Neville, really looked at him; he looked like he was trying to lift a mountain. "No!" he said to Ginny as she reached out, "leave him!"
Ginny couldn't help her eyeroll at Neville's maturity level. She knew Harry was a sensitive subject and she knew that Neville had zero reason to like or trust him, but he was acting like a child. And if what Harry had suggested could get him home then why was it such a bad idea? It meant that Neville wouldn't have to deal with him anymore and it meant that Ginny could stop worrying about him. But most of all it meant that Harry would be back where he belonged and that his Ginny could stop worrying about him.
The ground gave a tremble and Ginny's annoyance slowly turned to concern. And when the trembling didn't stop, that concern began to shift to fear. "Neville?" She asked, turning to look at him. Something was happening, she just wasn't sure what. She reached out her hand, ignoring Harry's protest at it. She felt something in her chest, though she couldn't describe it. She grabbed Neville's hand and squeezed it tightly, letting out a scream when she felt herself been pulled towards something.
By the time Neville realised that something was wrong, it was too late. Afterwards, he knew he had done exactly what he and his father had spent hours teaching him not to do, and started draining his own life force. Again. He heard Ginny screaming and knew he was hurting her again, and he tried to stop.... whatever he was doing, but the magic was already streaming away from him, carrying the spell, whatever it was, through against his control.
Ginny was holding his hand but now there was a new hand, on his shoulder, and someone whispering. "Keep going mate, you can do it, just a bit more..." and suddenly everything was very loud and at the same time muffled as though he had been plunged underwater. He opened his eyes and saw, in the distance, the New School, but at the same time, the Academy, dark and ominous against the sky. "No..." he muttered, trying to stop whatever the hell was happening.
"Yes!" said the voice beside him. "Keep going!"
Something was crushing him, crushing his lungs, crushing his head, and it bloody hurt, and Ginny was screaming and maybe he was screaming too, and then suddenly, terribly, it all stopped. He felt his knees impact with the grass, and that was the last thing he felt.
Harry caught Neville as he toppled forward, lowering him with shaking hands. He looked around for Ginny. "You okay?" he asked breathlessly.
There was a lot of pressure and a bit of pain and before she knew what was happening or which way was up, Ginny hit the ground. Hard. She had the wind knocked out of her and she felt dizzy and disoriented for a long moment. When she finally caught her breath, she gave a panicked look around. "What in the bloody hell just happened?" She asked, lifting a hand to her still fuzzy head. She recognized the place, but it didn't look at all the way it was supposed to and something in her gut told her that this was all wrong. "Neville. Neville are you alright?" She leaned over to where he was on the ground and tried to assess him quickly.
Harry was hardly paying attention. He knew he probably should be, but he couldn't keep his eyes off the landscape. There was the lake, clear and blue. There were the Greenhouses, whole and neat and not overgrown. That was the castle in the distance. Hogwarts. He was home.
There was also a small clump of what appeared to be first years, not too far off. They were staring, and one of the girls looked like she might go into hysterics. Awkward. He was about to call out to them when they ran away, as one.
He blinked and turned back to his companions. Carefully he put his hand on Neville's pulse. He was pale, but there was a heartbeat. "He'll be okay," he told Ginny. He wasn't an expert, but he didn't want to start a panic. Anyway he probably would be okay.
Ginny's eyes were wide with fear as she looked at Neville, who wasn't moving. She felt a tightness in her chest as a sharp lump rose in her throat. He looked as bad as he had after the battle...after the fire. She brushed his cheek gently and took a steadying breath. "Wh--Where are we?" She asked hesitantly, but then...she knew the answer to that already. She just didn't want to believe that that was true. She forced her gaze away from Neville to look at Harry, her brown eyes wide and glassy. Had they really done what she was afraid they'd done? Had they all crossed over?
"Hogwarts," Harry told her, feeling his heart sink a little at the look on her face. "Don't worry, I'll... figure out how to get you back. Promise."
Ginny closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You couldn't figure out a way to get yourself back." She said with a sigh. She opened her eyes and gave him a wary look. "Forgive me if my confidence in you is shaky at best." She turned back to Neville, biting her lower lip. "We need to get him to a healer. Whatever it was that he did to get us here...well it wasn't good and it looks like it's drained some of his life force."
"I gave him some of my magic," Harry told her. "At least, I tried to, it was hard when I couldn't tell what he was doing -"
"HARRY!"
He looked up, startled. A young man in a Professor's robe was running across the grounds from the Greenhouses. The errant first years were walking behind him at a distance. "HARRY!"
"Er..." he said to Ginny, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This could be about to get... complicated."
He stood up, and the newcomer slammed into him, hugging all the breath out of him. "You're back!" Neville exclaimed, thumping him on the back. "Everyone's been frantic - bloody hell," he added, his enthusiasm instantly put on hold as he noticed the prone figure on the ground, and Ginny hovering over him. "What happened?"
"I think I pissed him off," Harry sighed. "Help us to the hospital wing?"
Ginny gave Harry a confused look when she heard the familiar voice and turned to find the owner of it. Neville was hurrying towards them. Ginny looked back at Neville on the ground. She glanced at Harry and shook her head. "Complicated doesn't even begin to cover it." She muttered just before Neville all but tackled Harry. At least these two got along...
"Be careful with him." She said to the two blokes about to go moving her boyfriend. "He's going to be weak from that and seeing as this is the second time in less than a year he's done that to himself..." She looked at the Neville who was standing there looking all teachery and confused. "It's a long story." She said simply.
"Bloody hell," Neville said again. It had already been a long day. He raised his wand and conjured a stretcher. "I'll be careful," he promised Ginny before levitating the prone figure onto it.
"You're good at that," Harry said, surprised.
"You wouldn't believe how many students manage to breathe in Geracitica pollen," Neville said, absent-mindedly, staring at the face of the man on the stretcher. He'd seen him in dreams, of course, but it wasn't the same. He looked a lot better than he had in most of the dreams, physically anyway. More like the way he'd looked in the dream he'd had a few weeks ago, about him and... he looked at Ginny and blushed furiously. He offered her his hand. "Come on," he said. "Let's go owl Hermione and get this sorted out, eh?"
"Thank you." She said taking his hand and letting him help her up. She turned back to her Neville and squeezed his hand. "You had better be alright, you great git." She said softly. "You had just better." They hadn't come this far for him to go and bloody well kill himself trying to get rid of Harry. He didn't get to do that. Not without incurring Ginny's wrath. And then, she was sure that not even death would save him.
She walked with them towards the castle, not letting go of her Neville's hand. She was a little afraid of him slipping away if she did and it helped to keep her calm enough to not be freaking out in that moment. She didn't think that either of the men walking with her would appreciate that. "I'm Ginny, by the way." She said after a few minutes of walking. "I know you already know that. Just like I know your name is Neville, but...I mean...I don't know you so...it's nice to meet you." Oh this was beyond complicated.
"Pleasure," Neville said. "This is er... a bit weird." He made a face as Harry laughed darkly. "All right, a lot weird," he corrected himself. "Trust you to turn up on Halloween, mate. We've been looking for you for... well, since last Halloween."
"I know," said Harry, gazing up at the castle.
"We've been dreaming about you."
"Yeah, I know."
"Hermione figured out the whole alternate dimension thing. She's done more research on it in the last year than anyone ever has, ever, probably. How did you get back?"
Harry exchanged glances with Ginny. "Not sure," he said finally. "We can talk about it later."
"We're not..." Ginny looked between the two of them. "We're not going to be stuck here a whole year, right?" She sounded as anxious as she was feeling. She couldn't be missing for a whole year. Even with Neville there with her. She'd spent enough time torn apart from her family. She couldn't do that to them again. She couldn't disappear on them again. "They'll find a way to send us back." She was trying to speak in the affirmative, but it wasn't so easy. Not when her Neville was lying there unconscious and the two people walking with her had no idea how any of this worked and one of them had been through it twice already.
"Yeah we will," Harry told her, hoping he sounded surer than he felt. "Hermione's brilliant, you'll see, and we can tell her anything she hasn't figured out yet, right?"
"The problem had something to do with mapping, I think," Neville said, frowning in concentration. "Not that I've been much help, but we're supposed to tell Hermione about all our dreams, to help with mapping." He looked at Ginny and flushed red again. He had conveniently forgotten to report that particular dream.
"Or I could make him angry again, if you like," Harry suggested, in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Mapping? What does that mean?" It wasn't the first time, even in this conversation, that Ginny felt herself wishing her background in magic and magical things was better. Considering she was from a magical family, it really ought to have been. But that was just another reminder of what Voldemort and Umbridge had stolen from her. She saw the other Neville blushing and gave him a confused look. Why did he keep doing that?
"That isn't funny." Ginny said giving Harry a pointed look. "Can we save those types of jokes for after he's all awake and whole and healed again?"
They were almost at the castle, thankfully, and if it was laid out the same as Slytherin Academy was, then at least she knew how to get to the infirmary from where they were. It was, of course, a hike, but it helped knowing just how far it was to go.
"Sorry," Harry said. " Don't worry, I swear we'll do everything possible to get you back." And we better do it quick, in case It really can only be done on Halloween, he added silently to himself as he helped Neville levitate the stretcher up the stairs to the huge oak front door, thankfully open on the warm October afternoon. There were more students around here, peering over to see who was on the stretcher. Neville shooed them away with one hand and they continued through the door unmolested. "Look at you, Professor Longbottom," Harry said, impressed. Neville grinned at him. "You gave up Auroring altogether, then? Ginny said she thought you would."
Neville shrugged. "They need me more here," he said. He risked another glance down at the stretcher. "Did you say he's done this before?" he asked Ginny incredulously.
Ginny gave a silent nod and gave her Neville's hand another squeeze. She gave a look around when she heard whispers and was startled to see the number of students gathering around. They all looked so young. None of them looked like they'd been through a war. She was, of course, grateful for that, but it was still a little weird for her to see. It was also weird for her to hear her name and know that it wasn't her that Harry was talking about. Oh she really needed to get home.
"Not, y'know, jumping through dimensions." Ginny clarified. "Just...using more magic at once than he could really handle without having a wand and..." She looked back down at the pale body on the stretcher. "Well...he ended up like this the last time too."
"Mad," Neville muttered, rubbing his chin. "Not him," he added quickly. "The situation. Maybe if he used a wand he could do it easier?"
"If he even knows what he did," Harry pointed out. "I don't think it was on purpose." They ascended the marble staircase, earning stares and whispers from students in the corridors beyond.
"It's...It's more complicated than that." Ginny said, shaking her head. "His dad...Your...Mr. Longbottom knows more about it than I ever could even..." She stopped to take a deep breath to try and collect her thoughts. "We didn't have wands. For a really long time. I just got one three months ago, actually. And you know when kids are little and can't control their magic?" She hoped she was explaining it alright. It really was more than she understood, but she hoped that they'd at least know half of what Mr. Longbottom knew. "It's like that. Only on a much larger scale. We tried learning wandless magic...when we were..." She hesitated on the word because she hated it so much, "Servants." She took another breath. "He was loads better at it than me. He could control it really well. Until..."
Neville felt a lump in his throat at the mention of his father, and a little surge of jealousy towards both Harry and the boy in the stretcher. Sometimes dreams just weren't enough. He tried not to let it show. Harry was clearly not in the right headspace to support Ginny right now. He was walking along, looking around happily as if he'd never seen Hogwarts before.
"I know a bit," he told her quietly. "I had dreams... well, you know. There was one with you in it where you levitated a candle. Um. Some of those dreams weren't... nice. Is that what you mean? He lost control?"
Ginny gave a small nod, trying not to think it so weird that this Neville had dreamed about her too. "There was...It was when they came to get us. The Outsiders showed up and they were getting everyone out and we were so close to having it all be over, but then Rosi---" She stopped, unsure of how much this Neville really knew from the dreams. It didn't feel right to tell him everything. "This professor who had a sore spot for him, he got a hold of Neville and then when I tried to help..." She bit her lower lip as the memory came flooding back. She tried not to talk about that day too often. It was the most scared she'd ever been in her entire life. "He saved us both. I would've...He saved us, but nearly killed himself in the process."
Harry was suddenly paying attention again at this. "Neville started that fire?" he demanded, torn between being impressed and annoyance that the person who most wanted him gone turned out to be the one who had destroyed his most valuable resource. "All anyone said was that he was injured."
"Well I wouldn't want it getting around," said Neville, feeling his head reel slightly with all this information. Bits and pieces from the dreams were certainly starting to fit together, but he wasn't sure he much liked the result.
"It wasn't intentional." Ginny said, still feeling a little guilty about all of that. After all, it had been partially her fault that it had happened. But aside from Neville getting seriously injured in the process, she was still proud of him for it. Rosier had gotten what he'd deserved and both of them were alive. That was what mattered in the end. Ginny couldn't really care less about that pox-ridden castle.
They had arrived at the hospital wing. Harry helped Neville shift his analog onto a bed, then he stayed with Ginny while Neville went to find Madam Pomfrey.
"I am sorry about this," Harry said after a brief moment of awkward silence. "I mean, I'm glad... but I'm sorry too. I didn't want anyone getting hurt to get me home."
Ginny sat down on the side of Neville's bed and brushed a few pieces of hair off his forehead. He was still so pale and she was getting worried. What if something happened to him and then they couldn't get back again? What if they were really stuck here?
"I know." She said quietly, still watching Neville's face. "I know you didn't." She let out a small sigh and looked up at Harry with a bit of a defeated look. "You realize he's going to blame you for this, yeah? And I'd really appreciate it if you didn't...y'know kill each other."
"Me?" Harry protested, "I didn't ask him to -"
He was cut off by the arrival of Madam Pomfrey, who looked at him for a moment as though she'd seen a ghost, then, with her usual air of professionalism, began examining her patient. "I Floo'd Hermione," said Neville from behind her. "She'll bring the others, it shouldn't take long."
"Others?" Ginny asked, suddenly worried about who else she was going to meet while she was here. "Will...I mean...Your Ginny. Is she going to be here too?" The redhead was more than a little apprehensive about meeting an alternative version of herself.
Harry gave her a sympathetic look. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to," he said.
"I...I don't know." Ginny looked over at Neville. "It's weird, isn't it? I mean, it's weird for me to see you and know that you're not him and..." She looked back over at Harry. "I don't know."
Neville looked down at his other self. He didn't think they looked very much alike, to be honest. Of course, other-Neville was unconscious, and that was never anyone's best angle.
"Harry?"
Three people had entered the hospital wing. Neville sat beside Ginny and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Too late," he said. "Don't worry, they won't bite you."
Harry was suddenly being smothered by three people trying to hug him at once. Ron in particular seemed to have gained even more sharp angles to him than before. Hermione's hair got up his nose. "All right, all right," he said, laughing, then gently nudging them both aside so that he could kiss his girlfriend. Finally.
Ginny watched as the other redhead in the room practically jumped into Harry's arms. She kissed him fiercely and without abandon, despite the other people in the room. Ginny felt her own cheeks flush in embarrassment, though she knew it was silly. The woman there wasn't her. No matter how much they looked alike. This Ginny was tired looking. Like she hadn't slept in ages. She was crying a little and clinging tightly to Harry.
"You sodding git. I swear to Merlin if you ever do something like that again..." She broke off and gave him another fierce kiss. "I've missed you so much."
Harry thought his heart might burst. "Missed you... you have no idea..." he said, between intense kisses.
"Oi, can we get you two a room?"
"Shut up," Harry shot at Ron. His delicate sensibilties could find somewhere else to annoy people. He stopped anyway, long enough to wipe Ginny's cheeks with the back of his finger. "I need you to meet someone," he told her. "Be gentle, please?"
Ginny didn't take her arms from around Harry. As though if she moved them he might disappear from her again. He might slip away and be lost forever. "When have I ever been anything less than gentle?" She asked with a small grin, looking up at him. She hadn't really noticed anyone else in the room, she was so wrapped up in Harry being back. After a moment she did give a look around and noticed a doppelganger there, staring a little wide-eyed at her.
"Er...Hi." The other Ginny said with an awkward sort of wave. "I'm...Ginny. That's...Neville." They were going to have to come up with a system. This was going to get entirely too confusing.
"This is fucking mental," said Ron, staring with wide eyes.
"It's complicated," Harry agreed.
Madam Pomfrey had stalwartly continued her examination through the reunion. "Perhaps you could discuss this elsewhere?" she said, not really sounding cross. She had always had a bit of a soft spot for Harry. "This young man will need plenty of rest before he is recovered."
Harry exchanged glances with Ginny and then Hermione. "We might not have that much time, Madam Pomfrey," he said democratically. "We have to get them home, and this might be our only chance. Today. Can't you do something?"
Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips, disapprovingly.
"But he's going to be okay, right?" Ginny said, glancing between the matron and Harry; momentarily distracted from the fact that Harry's Ginny was giving her an odd look. "He's...He's got to be okay." She said seriously, giving Neville's hand a squeeze. "Please, just tell me that much." She gave a pleading look at the nurse.
"Perhaps she's right. It might be better if we all clear out." The other redhead suggested.
"I'm not leaving him." Ginny said firmly. "You all can go and do whatever it is you need to do, but I'm not leaving."
Harry sighed. "We'll be quiet, Madam Pomfrey," he promised. "I don't want to split up in case something else happens."
Madam Pomfrey did not seem appeased, but she turned to Ginny and spoke gently to her all the same. "He's not injured," she assured her. "As far as I can tell its an exacerbated case of magical exhaustion. Rare for someone so young, but not fatal." She gave Harry an appraising look. "I might be able to give him a potion that would rouse him for an few hours," she said. "If it is absolutely necessary, and someone will have to monitor him carefully after he crashes again, which he will."
Ginny relaxed visibly at that and let out a breath of relief. "Thank you." She said quietly. "I can make sure that someone takes care of him when we get back. My parents are around and his are at most only an owl away." Now all they needed was a plan to get the pair of them home again.
Madam Pomfrey left to get the potion while everyone else calmed their nerves. Neville and Ron pulled some chairs over to allow them to have a quiet conference. Harry sat next to Ginny - his Ginny - linking his fingers with hers. He was as reluctant to let go of her as she was of him. "How've you been?" he asked quietly while Hermione questioned Neville about what he'd seen of their arrival.
"Worried bloody sick." Ginny said honestly. "At first I thought...I don't know. Nothing like what actually happened." She gave his hand a squeeze as if to reaffirm that it was real. "I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't ever find your way back."
She glanced over at the other Ginny who was sitting with Neville, watching his face and brushing her fingers through his hair lightly. Her heart sank for the girl, knowing bits and pieces of what she'd been through and knowing that this couldn't be easy on her.
"What happened? How did you all end up back here?" She asked Harry, curious on how he managed to drag the two stowaways with him.
"It was Neville," Harry explained for everyone's ears. "He must have shattered the barrier with pure will. I tried to help, with that technique we learned in training, for sharing magic, but I might have been too late to be any use. But it can't be a coincidence that it happened today, right?" he addressed this to Hermione, who was looking fascinated.
"It's possible that the date might have significance," she admitted. "There isnt a lot of magic that depends on circumstance."
"So we have to do everything we can to get them back before tomorrow," Harry said firmly as Madam Pomfrey came back carrying a vial of dark liquid.
Ginny moved out of the matron's way, but didn't let go of Neville's hand. Whatever it was that he was meant to drink in order to wake him, the redhead was sure he'd need reassurance that he'd be alright. Her experiences with potions were never particularly pleasant and she didn't imagine this one would be any different.
"Otherwise they're stuck here?" The other Ginny asked, trying not to sound as though that idea wasn't the worst one in the entire world, despite how she was feeling. She had no reason to dislike either of the new-comers. But that didn't mean she wanted them stuck here. That didn't mean she was keen on the idea of another Ginny hanging around her Harry. "Not necessarily," Hermione said quickly. "After all, we don't know that the barrier can only be breached on Halloween. Though I suppose it makes sense... did you figure out what the split was?" she asked Harry suddenly.
It took Harry a moment to figure out what she was talking about. It was a good thing he'd done his own research, after all.
"Between universes? Well, everything seems to be the same up to the point where Pettigrew was supposed to tell Voldemort where I - the other Harry -was. He kidnapped me, instead."
"On Halloween?"
"I guess so. Mum - my parents didn't really like to talk about it."
Madam Pomfrey lifted Neville's head and poured some of the ashy-looking potion down his throat. "He'll wake in a few minutes, and then you'll have a few hours - six at the most," she told them.
Six hours. Ginny took a deep breath and looked around at the still bizarrely familiar faces in the room. "We can do this." She said after a moment. "We'll come up with a plan and Nev and I will get back to where we belong before anyone even notices we're gone." She wasn't entirely sure she believed herself, but positive thinking is what kept her alive this far. It was going to keep her sane now.
There was a bit of colour coming back to her Neville's face and she felt some relief at that. "Neville? Are you alright? Can you hear me?"
Neville felt himself waking from nothingness. It had been a while since he had been too tired to dream. He stirred on hearing someone calling his name and flexed his fingers. He was a bit sore, but everything seemed to work okay.... not for the first time he wondered why he always went through this self-examination on waking. He opened his eyes, and took in, in a flash of terrible understanding, what room he was in.
He gasped and struggled to get up onto his elbows - he could tell there were people around him but the overriding factor was that he was in the old Hospital Wing, which should have been destroyed, and if that was still here then surely he would be here as well...
Ginny saw the panic spreading over Neville's face and quickly put herself in his sight line to try and calm him down. "Neville! Hey! It's me. Are you alright?" She gave his hand a squeeze and tried to get him to focus on her. Neville managed to pull himself together at the sight of Ginny's face. "Where...?" he croaked. He felt very vulnerable, lying here with everyone staring at him, and it felt... yes, not a shred of magic left. "What happened?"
"Well..." Ginny started, unsure of how to put this in such a way that he wouldn't overreact. "We're not entirely sure how but Harry got sent back to his own place and time...and we erm..." She gave a look around the room and let out a small sigh, "We got dragged along for the ride. Apparently."
Neville closed his eyes for a moment, trying to take this in. Then he opened them again slowly, peering around at the others. Potter, Hermione, Ron, and... another Ginny. And another... him. Staring at him.
"Oh hell," he groaned, pinching his forehead. Suddenly he had a splitting headache. "Dad's going to kill me."
Ginny couldn't help but give a small laugh at that. "I think that's the least of our troubles at the moment, love." She gently brushed her hand over his cheek. "Are you feeling alright? The nurse gave you a potion to wake you up for a bit."
"Sorry." The other Ginny interrupted, "I don't mean to be rude, but we've only got a few hours to come up with a plan before that potion wears off and so I think maybe we'd better start talking about ideas." She felt a little selfish about her reasons for wanting them back where they came from, but really, they wanted to go back too, so was it entirely wrong of her?
Neville looked between the two Ginnys, trying to get his head on straight. "Other-you is kind of bossy," he told his-Ginny, not too quietly either. His head was starting to pound dully.
"Neville!" Ginny laughed, her cheeks flushing with color. She turned to look at the other Ginny and gave her a sort of apologetic smile.
"You don't have to like me." The other Ginny said, holding her ground. "But that doesn't change the fact that unless we figure something out before that potion runs out you lot could get stuck here. And then you'll have to put up with me a whole lot longer than just these few hours." She looked over at Harry and let out a small sigh. "Wasn't our life supposed to be normal after the war?" She asked with a sort of dark laugh.
Neville frowned as he sat up, stiffly. "I never said I didn't like you," he said, a bit offended. He rubbed at his temple.
"Be nice," Harry muttered to his girlfriend - he wondered if the term fiancee was still applicable, but that discussion could wait until later.
"I need to get a few books," Hermione said, and ran off. Ron sat there looking uncomfortable between his two sisters.