Dear Ginny,
I’m fine. I’m at the Leaky Cauldron. Please don’t worry about me. Tell Ron and Hermione not to worry either.
Ginny felt a cold, stinging tear run down her face as her desperate eyes scanned over the scrap of paper that an owl had brought to her only moments before. She touched her hand to her heart, feeling it thump quickly and lightly against her chest. It was incredible to her how Harry could be missing for so long and now suddenly sent her a letter out of the blue.
She almost didn’t care that it was incredibly short, and that it didn’t say anything important, other than his location and the fact that he was perfectly fine. She wanted to cry with happiness, but her tears made a lump catch in her throat. She sat up, and looked around the makeshift tent that Hermione had conjured up for the girls to sleep in for the night. Ron was in a much smaller tent next to them, and Ginny could hear him snoring loudly, even though he was several yards away.
She looked down at Harry’s letter again. It struck her as odd that Harry would choose to send such a vital letter so late at night. Maybe it was just her imagination. Maybe she’d wanted a letter from Harry so bad that she was dreaming about actually getting one.
Ginny attempted to shake Hermione awake, a feat that proved hard because Hermione was such a deep sleeper.
“Psst! Hermione!” Ginny whispered.
Hermione rolled over and opened her eyes slowly. “What?”
“Harry sent me a letter!”
At the sound of the word ‘Harry’, Hermione sat up quickly. “Harry sent you a letter? Ginny, that’s fantastic! What did it say?”
“Dear Ginny,” Ginny read tentatively, as though reading the letter out loud would somehow make her believe that she’d just made it up, “I’m fine. I’m at the Leaky Cauldron. Please don’t worry about me. Tell Ron and Hermione not to worry either. From, Harry.”
Hermione beamed, “That’s great, Ginny! That means he’s okay!”
“Yeah,” said Ginny, “I wonder why he hasn’t written back to us before now. It’s kind of strange that he’d write to us so late at night.”
“Maybe…” Hermione said slowly, “Maybe it’s not from Harry.”
Ginny looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean? Of course it’s from Harry!”
“Not necessarily. Anyone could have sent that letter!” Hermione said reasonably, “A Death Eater in disguise could be trying to lure a team of Aurors to the Leaky Cauldron. Or they could be trying to lure us there.”
“Lure us there? Hermione, what would a Death Eater want with us?” Ginny asked incredulously.
“Well, Malfoy knows about you and Harry. You and Harry being together, I mean. And it’s no secret that Ron and I are Harry’s best friends. He could have told Voldemort.” Hermione glanced at Ginny apologetically before continuing, “He’s not stupid, and he knows Harry well enough to know that if he held us hostage, Harry would do anything to save us.”
Ginny took a deep breath. “But if it is Harry who sent this letter, he’s not going to like it if we bring a troop of Aurors with us. He sent us this letter because he wants us to know he’s okay, that he’s fine doing whatever it is he needs to do. Like you said before, Harry probably disappeared from us because he has to do something to win the fight against Voldemort. After all we are at war, Hermione.”
“Well then what do you think we should do?” Hermione breathed.
“I don’t know. You should think of something, Hermione. You’re the smart one.” Ginny pointed out.
Hermione rolled her eyes, but Ginny could tell she was pleased. “Maybe we should go by ourselves, just to make sure it actually is Harry. We can always Apparate away if we see any sign of danger.”
“But I don’t have my Apparating license!” said Ginny, “I’d have to rely on being able to hold onto you for Side-Along.”
“If push comes to shove, would you be able to Apparate alone?” asked Hermione cautiously, “Could you try?”
“I don’t know!” said Ginny nervously, “I haven’t even been able to get more than halfway across the room in Apparation lessons!”
“Well it is worth a try,” muttered Hermione, “I only hope that if it is a trap, that Harry will know not to come after us.”
“I hope he will too,” mumbled Ginny, although she was secretly hoping inside her that he’d come to her aid if she was ever captured. She brushed this thought away as soon as she thought it, and silently reprimanded herself for being so selfish.
“The Leaky Cauldron isn’t far from here,” said Hermione, “so we shouldn’t have any problem Apparating.”
Ginny nodded, “We should leave right away. If we wait to long, he might not be there anymore!”
“Ginny, relax,” said Hermione, “I doubt Harry is going to leave before we get there. Besides, it’s almost four o’clock in the morning. You should get some sleep. Don’t worry about Harry, if he even really did send that letter. He’ll be fine.”
Ginny paused, trying to think up a good argument. When she couldn’t think up a suitable reason as to why they shouldn’t wait until morning, she plopped herself back into her blanket. Before she went to sleep, she carefully laid the note from Harry onto the ground beside her. The soft sounds of owls hooting outside mixed with the obnoxious snores of her brother, and slowly lulled her to sleep.
Just before her eyes closed, she heard Hermione yawn, “We should tell Ron in the morning.”
Several hours later, when the sun had finally risen, Ginny opened her eyes again. She could hear Hermione’s gentle breathing and Ron’s loud snores, so she concluded that she was the first one awake.
Stepping out into the bright sunlight, Ginny smiled as the sun warmed her face. Everything suddenly seemed happy and bright as Ginny realized that she had a very real chance of seeing Harry again, for the first time in several months.
“You’re up already?”
Ginny turned around, and saw Hermione stumble sleepily out of the tent.
“I couldn’t sleep very well,” Ginny answered, “I was up almost all night, thinking.”
“After we eat breakfast, we should pack up and leave,” said Hermione, as her stomach growled.
Ginny smiled wider, and Hermione beamed. Just then, a very disgruntled looking Ron emerged from out of his tent. His hair was sticking out wildly in every direction, and he was only wearing one sock. Hermione beamed at the sight of him, and Ginny dissolved into a fit of giggles.
“What?” he asked, looking at Ginny with distaste.
“Oh, nothing,” she replied, refraining from laughing.
“Why do you two look so happy all of a sudden?” demanded Ron grumpily.
Hermione and Ginny exchanged looks, and Ginny reached into her pocket for the crumpled letter from Harry. She pulled it out slowly and gave it to Ron. It took him a moment to realize what he was holding, but when he did his eyes opened wide.
“It-It’s from Harry!” he said, trying to suppress his surprise and happiness, “He’s okay!”
Ginny beamed happily, “We’re going to the Leaky Cauldron to meet him.”
“Excellent,” said Ron, no longer irritable. “When are we leaving?’
“After we eat,” answered Hermione, gesturing at the plates full of food that she’d just conjured up.
Ron and Ginny hastened to gobble down their food as fast as they could without spilling it. When they were both finished, they looked at Hermione expectantly.
“Oh, all right,” she muttered, drawing out her wand, “Evanesco.”
The tent and all of their belongings disappeared flawlessly into thin air. Hermione gave a satisfied smirk.
“Can we go now?” asked Ron cautiously, a hint of anxiousness in his voice. “I mean, what if he’s not there when we get to the…where was it again, Ginny?”
“The Leaky Cauldron,” said Ginny promptly, “and don’t worry, Ron, I’m sure Harry will still be there when we arrive.”
Hermione smirked, and then nodded her head, “Ginny’s right, Ron. We could be there soon, as soon as you’re ready.”
“We’ll be Apparating then?” asked Ron.
“Yes of course, what did you think we’d be doing in this weather, flying?” said Ginny sarcastically, “Really Ron, why don’t you ever stop to use your brain once in a while?”
Ron frowned at Ginny and Hermione earnestly. “All right, let’s go.”
Ginny grabbed Hermione’s arm, and the three of them disappeared with a small pop. A second later, Ginny and Hermione found themselves just outside the Leaky Cauldron. Taking several deep breaths, they both looked around for Ron, who was nowhere in sight.
“I wonder where Ron went?” Hermione asked anxiously, looking around, “I hope he didn’t splinch himself.”
Ginny privately thought that there would be nothing better, but she decided to keep this to herself, due to the fact that she knew about how Hermione fancied Ron. Meanwhile, Hermione was getting panicky, and she began to look around at people walking down the street as though she hoped one of them would be Ron.
“Maybe we should go inside,” said Hermione, “He could have apparated directly inside, or maybe he’s at the Diagon Alley entrance.”
“Yeah,” mumbled Ginny, “but I’m sure he’ll be here soon. Maybe we should go find Harry.”
“Okay,” said Hermione, “But remember, Ginny, we need to make sure it actually is Harry before we say anything.”
“And just how do you plan on doing this?” demanded Ginny.
“We should ask him a question that only Harry would know,” said Hermione.
“Like what?”
“Like what form his Patronus takes, or what his birthday is, or what spell he used in the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament,”
Ginny nodded, “Where exactly do you think he’ll be?”
“I don’t know,” said Hermione, “Perhaps he’s renting a room. We could try asking for him at the front desk.”
“I don’t think that would work,” pointed out Ginny, “I mean, what would you say if two girls arrived and started asking for a famous missing wizard?”
“I see what you mean,” Hermione muttered.
“Well there’s no use just standing here. We might as well go inside,” said Ginny reasonably.
As soon as they set foot inside the grimy looking inn, Ginny’s attention was drawn to a tall, gangly boy with red hair. “I told you he didn’t get far,” she said to Hermione.
Hermione waved her hand at Ron, and he smiled and walked over. Then the three of them looked around together, trying to find Harry. Just then, Hermione realized that Ginny was staring at the corner intently, and remained so for almost five minutes before Hermione turned her gaze to see what on earth she was staring at. Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat, and for a moment, all was wiped from her mind.
“Harry!” shrieked Ginny, her voice echoing throughout the inn.
A tall, skinny boy with rounded glasses and messy hair looked up from the table in the corner. He looked tired and meek, and Ginny hardly recognized him. He looked up at the sound of his name, and he looked around for the source of the shriek. Ginny lost all thought of everything else, and she ran towards him as fast as she could, followed closely by Hermione and Ron.
Harry looked up at the girl that had called out his name. She was very pretty, with bright brown eyes and flaming red hair. A girl with bushy brown hair and a boy with flaming red hair to match the first girl’s hair followed behind her.
“Hello?” he asked politely, having no idea who these people were and wondering why they were bothering him.
“I-I just can’t believe we’ve found you! Where have you been all of this time? I mean, I got your letter and everything, but I wasn’t expecting you to actually be here!” the first girl squealed.
Harry looked at her in confusion for a moment, before comprehension dawned on him. “Ginny?” he asked quietly.
She nodded quickly, and he turned to stare at the other two. “Ron? Hermione?”
They both nodded, and Harry felt happiness and sadness surge through him at the same time. With a sudden jolt, Harry realized that they didn’t know that he didn’t really remember them at all.
“I-I have something I need to tell you,” he said slowly, and waited for all three of them to realize he was trying to speak. “I don’t remember any of you. I know I should, but I don’t. Something strange happened to me at the beginning of the summer, and I can’t remember anything up until now since the time I was about ten years old,” he paused to take a breath, “And that’s not it. Strange stuff has been happening to me. Like the fact that I can do magic. I know that sounds weird but it’s true. I bought a wand in the town and now I can do things that would normally be impossible.”
Silence followed Harry’s speech, and the three of them looked at him like he was mad.
“Hang on,” said Ron slowly, “How do we know you’re really Harry? You could be a Death Eater in disguise. After all, it would be a good cover-up. You could be waiting for us to lead you inside Hogwarts!”
“Harry,” said Hermione sharply, “When is your birthday?”
“July 31,” said Harry quickly, wondering what a Death Eater was. “I was born in 1980.”
Hermione gave Ron a satisfied look, “That’s the best we can do until we get him to McGonagall.”
Ron looked at Harry suspiciously. “Are you being serious?” he asked.
Harry nodded, “I know it sounds like a far fetch, but it’s the truth. I’m not even really sure how I got here, but I took a bus after I ran away from school.”
“School?”
“Kinselton. It was terrible there.”
After a moment, Harry realized that Ginny hadn’t said a word yet. “Ginny?”
“So you don’t remember me?” she asked weakly, “You don’t remember…us?”
Harry shook his head, “I’m sorry, Ginny. Really, I am.”
“No,” she said quietly, sounding as though she was on the verge of tears, “It’s okay. I understand.”
Harry tried to think of something comforting to say, but found he didn’t really know exactly how to comfort Ginny. Instead, he turned to Ron and Hermione.
“Does anyone care to tell me exactly what’s going on?” he asked.
“It’s kind of a long story,” Hermione nodded.
Harry felt his spirits rise at the thought of finally discovering exactly who he was.