Chapter Text
Thanks for reading and reviewing.
Well, here’s a new one. Let’s hope this one is shorter than the last one. We’ll see how my muse plays with it.
It’s a short opening chapter.
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Harry Potter awoke feeling disoriented and bewildered. Instead of the cozy Gryffindor Tower, he found himself lying alone in a chilly corridor. It felt wrong. He should have been in his bed surrounded by his dorm mates. Ron ought to be snoring nearby, Neville murmuring in his sleep, while Dean and Seamus quietly occupied their beds. Yet, Harry was isolated in the hallway, dressed only in his pajamas, without his wand or trunk. He had nothing. What was happening?
He got up off the floor and made his way back to the tower and gave the password to the Fat Lady’s painting, but she reacted like she didn’t see him at all. “Hey, I gave you the password, let me in,” he told her.
She continued to ignore him and read her painted book, acting like she hadn’t even heard him at all.
Harry slammed his hands on to her frame, but she still paid no attention to him. Suddenly the portrait swung open and Percy Weasley came out, half awake and groggy. He stumbled past Harry, not seeing him there, and went down the hall.
Taking advantage of the open portrait, Harry slipped quietly into the Gryffindor common room and hurried up to his dormitory. When he reached his room, his heart sank, his bed and his trunk had vanished. The only thing left was his Invisibility Cloak, lying alone on the floor. He snatched it up and rushed over to Ron's bed, shaking his friend urgently. "Ron, wake up! All my things are gone," he said, giving the redhead another shake, anxiety rising in his voice.
“Who are you? Why are you waking me?” Ron asked, looking at him with bleary eyes. “Are you lost, mate?” he asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“What do you mean? It’s me, Harry,” Harry said, getting hysterical. This was his best friend; he had to know who he was.
“I don’t know anyone named Harry,” Ron said, pushing Harry away, gently. “You’d better get back to your House, mate. McGonagall don’t like people in her tower. She’s pretty strict about stuff like that.” He picked up his rat and put it to the side and swung his feet off the bed.
“This is my House,” Harry said, looking around the room for anything to prove that this was where he belonged, but everything was gone. “All my stuff is gone, but I do belong here,” he said desperately.
“Look, mate, I don’t know who you are, but you’d better bugger out of here before McGonagall catches you,” Ron said, getting out of bed and grabbing his kit to get ready for the day. He left the room, shaking his head, muttering under his breath about weirdos and strange people waking him up.
“This can’t be happening,” Harry said, going over to Neville only to have the entire conversation repeat itself, the same with Dean and Seamus. He wandered back to the common room with the vain hope that someone would remember him. “Hermione,” he cried out, seeing the girl, “please tell me you remember me?” he begged, grabbing her hands and staring into her eyes.
“I’m sorry, do I know you?” the bushy-haired girl asked, looking at him with shock that he would be talking to her wearing nothing but pajamas. She took her hands back and stepped away from the strange boy. “I don’t know you,” she said, moving away from him and heading to breakfast.
Harry looked around the common room, but everyone was looking straight through him as if he wasn’t even there. He was standing there, in his pajamas, his hair was a mess, and his eyes were brimming with tears, but they weren’t even looking in his general direction. Not even the Quidditch team saw him as they walked by. He took his glasses off and rubbed the tears out of his eyes and put them back on. He rubbed his nose on his sleeve and tried hard not to cry.
Just then, the Weasley twins came down the stairs. Harry approached them, hoping they would recognize him. Instead, they looked him over with curiosity and said, "What do we have here?"
"Looks like we've got a lost firstie," Fred said, eyeing Harry with amusement. "Where are your robes, little firstie?"
"I'm a second-year," Harry replied, frustration evident in his voice. "You know who I am," he insisted, giving them a pointed look.
"I think I'd remember you," George said, tousling Harry's messy hair with a skeptical grin.
“Yeah, can’t forget a face like that,” Fred said with a laugh.
“Do you want to buy a Nosebleed Nougat? It’ll get you out of class,” George offered, holding out the candy.
“Absolutely not,” Harry replied, brushing the offered hand aside. With his shoulders sagging, he turned his back and exited the common room. He wandered aimlessly through the castle corridors, searching for anyone who might recall him. Most students ignored him completely, acting as if he were invisible. Eventually, he drifted into the Great Hall, where at last someone approached him, their eyes sparkling with recognition.
“You are out of sync with the castle,” a little blond girl said, poking him in the ribs. “You’re Harry Potter.”
“You remember me?” Harry said, excitedly. He grabbed her hands as if she would disappear.
“Even though I probably shouldn’t, I do remember you,” she replied, her gaze sweeping the room with alarm. “It seems like the wrackspurts have affected everyone.”
“What is a wrackspurt?” Harry asked, desperate to understand what was happening.
“They are creatures that are invisible. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy,” the girl explained, looking at the area near Harry’s ear. “You seemed to be immune.”
“I don’t think that’s what’s going on,” Harry said, shaking his head. “I think it’s something else. If it were wrackspurts, it would have been gradual. This happened all at once. Everything was fine last night. Then I woke up this morning and bam, I’m suddenly invisible to everyone.”
“Perhaps you are correct,” the girl said, tapping her chin. “Then it must be the wards, though why they erased you, I do not know. We will have to investigate this,” she stated, taking his hand and guiding him to the Ravenclaw Table.
Harry sat and grabbed a plate and started to eat. He was suddenly starving.
“Hey, kid, you can’t eat at this table. You’re not a Ravenclaw. Looney, how dare you bring some unknown kid to the table,” a sixth-year prefect stated, pointing his fork at the girl and Harry.
“I’m Harry Potter,” Harry said, like that should give him leeway.
“I don’t care if you’re the Minister of Magic. I’ve never heard of you, get to your own table and get your robes on, idiot,” the prefect stated, getting up and making his way to Harry and the girl.
They stood up and left the Ravenclaw Table, exiting the Great Hall together. The girl gently took Harry’s hand and guided him toward the kitchens. “I end up eating here most days anyway,” she admitted with a small smile. “The Ravenclaws don’t care for me much. It’s the nargles, they make them mean.” As she spoke, she tickled the pear in the painting to reveal the hidden kitchen entrance.
“What is your name? I know it isn’t Looney,” Harry asked, going into the kitchen and looking around. It was as huge as the Great Hall and full of house elves and everything you could imagine a kitchen would need.
“Oh, I am Luna Lovegood,” Luna said, curtsying. “I am a bit on the strange side. But you need not worry, I don’t bite.” She giggled, like that was an inside joke.
“Neither do I,” Harry said, giving her a smile.
“Harry Potter, Missy Lovegood, what can Dilly bes doing for yous today?” the head house elf asked, bowing to them as they came all the way into the room. There were elves everywhere and they were all busy making food and cleaning from breakfast. They were literally bouncing off the walls trying to keep out of each other’s way.
“My classmates chased me away again,” Luna said with a sigh, speaking plainly. “I need some breakfast. Harry here has been ignored by everyone, and he needs a place to stay. All his belongings are gone, so he’ll need new ones,” she explained softly.
Harry looked at her strangely. He hadn’t told her any of that. Only that no one remembered him. How did she know his things were gone? Or that he needed a place to sleep? Why do the house elves know who he is? He was going to have to ask them.
“Dilly wills bes getting yous something to eat, and then he wills bes taking yous to the Come and Go Room,” Dilly said, leading them to a table in the back. There he got them a full English breakfast and some pumpkin juice. He bowed away and went back to supervising the rest of the house elves.
They thanked him and ate with gusto. Luna ate quickly, but she had to rush to class. She smiled at Harry and made arrangements to meet him in the library after classes today. They would look in the Restricted Section for what was going on with the wards.
Harry couldn’t go to class, he didn’t have a wand, books or robes to wear. He needed to follow Dilly to this Come and Go Room for replacements. When they got there, Dilly paced back and forth in front of a blank wall, explaining what he was doing and why. A door appeared and he opened it.
Harry stepped through the newly appeared doorway and was met with the sight of a towering pile of forgotten odds and ends. But, amidst the clutter, his eyes landed on something familiar… his trunk. "My trunk!" he gasped, sprinting over to it. He flipped open the lid, relief washed over him as he found all his belongings safe and sound inside. Even his beloved broom was propped up right beside it, making him grin with gratitude. He wasted no time changing into his robes and, following Dilly's advice, tugged his trunk out of the room.
Next, Dilly encouraged Harry to pace in front of the wall and concentrate on a bedroom. Obeying, Harry walked back and forth, picturing a room to call his own. Suddenly, another door materialized before him. He opened it to reveal an opulent bedroom, complete with a grand bed, a spacious wardrobe, and a gilded mirror.
“Yous can be staying here until theys bes remembering yous again,” Dilly said, patting his hand. “Anytime yous needs it, just pace and it wills appear,” he instructed.
“Can you tell me what is going on?” Harry asked, looking at the little elf with hope in his eyes.
“Dilly does not know, but it is being the castle’s wish that Harry Potter is not being known. Dilly does not know why,” Dilly said, shaking his head sadly. “If yous needs to eat, yous comes to the kitchen or yous calls Dilly,” the elf ordered gently.
“All right, Dilly. I’ll call you if I need anything,” Harry replied, gathering his books before heading off to his next class, Transfiguration. Arriving early, he waited in the hallway, using the extra time to review his notes and make sure he understood the day’s lesson. When the bell rang, he paused as the fifth years exited the classroom. Being the first of the second years to enter the classroom, Harry stepped inside and offered a polite, “Good morning, Professor,” as he approached.
“Who are you?” McGonagall asked, peering over her glasses at him. At first, she had not seen him until he spoke to her. He shocked her by appearing suddenly.
“I’m Harry Potter,” Harry said, taking his seat. He sighed. He had hoped that whatever had affected the students hadn’t taken control of the professors. That hope was dashed by her question.
“You are not a student at Hogwarts,” she insisted, looking down her nose at him. “I know every student here, and you don’t belong. Now, who are you?” she asked again, tapping her foot in agitation.
“I told you already, I’m Harry Potter. I’m a second-year Gryffindor and the Seeker on the Quidditch team,” he repeated, hoping that mentioning his position would help her remember, knowing how important the team was to her.
“Do not lie to me, young man,” she snapped, slamming her wand on the table next to him. “Cormac McLaggen is our Seeker,” she stated with a twist of her mouth.
“McLaggen? He’s not a Seeker. He can barely fly,” Harry stated, his mouth open in shock. Cormac was a Keeper at best. Why was he playing Seeker? He was too big and had a crappy broom.
“Regardless, Cormac is the Seeker, and you are not. Now, explain who you are and why you are in my classroom,” she insisted, fixing him with a stern glare and pursing her lips as if he were a troublemaker. In her mind, he was not a student and should not be here.
“I am telling you the truth. I woke up this morning, and everyone had forgotten me. Yet yesterday I was a Gryffindor student and the Seeker on your team,” he persisted. He wasn’t going to back down from this. He knew he was right and had not dreamed the last couple of years.
“Very well, you may stay, but after class we will be going to see the Headmaster,” she stated, seeing the rest of her class coming into the classroom. Albus would set this boy straight. It wouldn’t harm anything to let him stay for one class.
“Yes, ma’am,” Harry said, relieved that maybe Dumbledore might be able to tell him what is going on. He was the greatest wizard in the world after all.