The next morning, a little less than four weeks before OWLs, Ron got up like normal. He was about to go down to breakfast when he realised Harry was still in bed. Remembering his friend had not felt well the night before, Ron decided to give his friend a few extra minutes of rest hoping that would help him, and went ahead.

However, when he and Hermione got to Charms that morning, Harry was still nowhere to be found. "Where is he?" Hermione asked.

"Still in bed I guess," Ron commented.

"We'll have to go find him after class," she whispered as Professor Flitwick started class.

The second the class was over, the two of them hurried back to the boy's dorms to find Harry just laying there. Ron gently shook Harry's shoulder. "Hey mate, you gotta get up. You've already missed Charms and you need to be in Transfiguration in less than ten minutes."

"Whatever," Harry muttered.

"Are you sick, Harry? Do we need to help you to go see Madam Pomfrey?" Hermione asked him. Harry slowly blinked at her then let his eyes close. "Really Harry, you have to get up or let us take you to see the nurse." Harry ignored her. Pulling out her wand, she sighed a bit before she told him, "Well, you asked for this then," and she cast the spell that spewed water all over him.

Harry flinched slightly as the cool water hit him, but other giving her a sad puppy dog look, he had no other reaction and he refused to get up and join them.

With some exasperation, Hermione turned to Ron, "Come on, we have to go to Transfiguration." She did dry Harry off before she left, and shot him a worried look when he remained motionless on his bed.

When Transfiguration class started, Professor McGonagall noticed his absence as well. "Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, do you know where Mr. Potter is?"

Hermione looked at Ron, who nodded to her. Chicken, she thought. "He's not feeling well, Professor. We can tell you more after class if you'd like." McGonagall raised an eyebrow at that answer, but started class anyway.

When class was over, the two Gryffindor prefects stayed in their seats. It was not until the room was empty, except for the three of them, that McGonagall finally spoke. "Well Miss Granger, where is Potter?"

"He's in his dorm room, Professor. We couldn't get him to get out of bed, or rather he refused to get up. He appears to be sick, but he won't go visit Madam Pomfrey. We really tried to get him to go."

"I see. Do you believe he's still there now?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Very well, let's go see what the problem is then, shall we?" The Professor led them to the House tower. It was the beginning of lunch time, so there were few people in the corridors.

When they walked into the fifth year boy's dorm room, Harry was still there. In fact, Hermione thought he had not moved at all. "Mr. Potter," his Head of House addressed him, "do you have a problem?"

Harry slowly opened his eyes and looked at them. He slowly shook his head no.

"Then why weren't you in class, Potter?"

Harry closed his eyes as he mumbled, "It doesn't matter."

"What doesn't matter, Potter?" McGonagall still wore her usual stern expression, but she was starting to worry about the boy, especially when he said nothing else. She looked at his two friends, who looked back at her helplessly. Professor McGonagall sighed and flicked her wand at his robe at the foot of the bed and it disappeared then reappeared on sick boy. With a Mobilicorpus, she steered the errant boy to the Hospital Wing. If Harry cared, he never showed it as he appeared to be unconscious.

Pomfrey sent the two prefects on to lunch while she checked out her new patient. After a few minutes, she turned to Minerva, who had stayed to get an answer. "I believe I heard his stomach rumble, but other than that, I can find nothing wrong with him. He appears to be in a light sleep at this time, perhaps it would be best for him to stay here for awhile and see what happens." Minerva McGonagall nodded and left feeling very puzzled.

The school nurse checked on him from time to time throughout the afternoon. She sent for some food and put it by his bed with a warming spell on it, but it stayed there untouched. When she came back from dinner, she brought more food with her and made him eat something, but it had not been more than two bites before he stopped and she could not get him to continue. He was so despondent, she thought. He did not even acknowledge his two friends when they came to visit him, and she was concerned by their worried looks.

That night, Pomfrey tried to keep an eye on him to see if there was any sudden change. The only activity she saw from him was a bit of thrashing for a few minutes, then he was calm again. Perhaps a nightmare, but she was not sure.

Again the dream of the long corridor and room of many doors came to Harry, but his new condition caused Harry to feel something was not right though he did not know what it was -- maybe it was the repetition of the dream. Harry felt sure he was not a seer and so his dreams must be about the past or else nonsense fantasy. So he started ignoring it as "dreamland", and no longer cared if he ever reached the end of the corridor.

***

A week later, Pomfrey could not make Harry take any food and was having to force nutrient potions down him so he did not waste away. She was starting to do major research on possible causes, and was bothered that every test she did turned out negative. The nurse had even noticed the daily visits from Ron and Hermione just before dinner did not cheer him up; he just lay there like a dead man, assuming he was even conscious enough to notice them.

When Professor McGonagall came to see how he was doing, Pomfrey explained his status and what she had been trying; she was getting very concerned. McGonagall did not like what she was hearing, but did not know what to do. She desperately wished Dumbledore was there to discuss this with.

The OWL and NEWT exams were starting, which kept everyone busy. Ron and Hermione kept up their daily visits even though Harry had slipped into unconsciousness, which resembled a coma to Hermione's eye. That caused her to start reading medical texts in the library whenever she was not revising for her OWLs.

The report when McGonagall next came in disturbed her even more. Poppy had told her that Harry was no longer keeping the nutrient potions down, he was starting to throw those back up, so he was losing weight even faster. And still, Poppy could not find anything medically wrong with him that would cause this. If she did not know any better, she would have said he had lost the will to live.

Minerva took that information back to her office to think about and decide what to do. There was no helping it, she was going to have to contact Albus. As she was about to send a Patronus message to him, she saw out of her window what could only be fighting in front of Hagrid's hut. Forgetting what she had been thinking about, she rushed outside to help Hagrid. When she took four stunners to her chest, all thoughts of Harry left her.

***

[Wed Jun 26]

As the OWL exams ended, High Inquisitor Umbridge's thoughts returned to one Harry Potter, whose interrogation had been interrupted by fireworks some weeks earlier. She had seen his name on the sick list, and the more she thought about it, it had been there for some time. A delight filled her as she considered that either he was faking it, and she would expel him for that, or he had to be so weak he would answer her questions. With glee, she went to the Hospital Wing as she had a little extra time just before dinner.

Umbridge walked into the Hospital Wing and saw Harry lying in his bed, no one else was in the room. She walked up to him and looked closer, he seemed to be asleep, so she shook his shoulder. There was no response, so she shook him harder and still got no response. He just lay there. Getting desperate, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at him and cast Crucio! That got a response. Harry started screaming though it was weak.

Dolores Umbridge did not stop to consider the reactions of others. Madam Pomfrey came flying out of her office and could not believe what she saw; but more importantly, Ron and Hermione had just walked in for their daily visit. The High Inquisitor took two stunners to the back, the teens were not ashamed of their actions in the slightest, not even Hermione.

Ron took Umbridge's wand and cast Incarcerous at her before he moved her out of the way. Hermione and Pomfrey had both rushed to Harry's side. Other than some trembling, he appeared to be all right, though he still was unresponsive to the two women. The nurse knew something else had to be done, there was little time left and what Umbridge had done was literally criminal. Pulling out her wand, she cast "Communio Patronus" and a faint unicorn came out of her wand and galloped off through the wall. Hermione stared at her back as the nurse went to her office for another potion for Harry.

Harry had not kept that potion down either. When the nurse had vaguely said that help would be coming soon, Ron had volunteered to keep watch on the prisoner. Pomfrey had let him, as she had not stopped Hermione from wiping a cool cloth on Harry's face. Pomfrey was at her wits' end with this case. All of her research, as well as some very discrete discussions with fellow healers at St. Mungo's, had turned up no answer for her patient that was wasting away.

Nearly half an hour after Pomfrey's strange spell, the students received the shock of their life, Albus Dumbledore strode into the room. He immediately walked over to Harry's bed and was shocked at the now gaunt boy. "What's his condition?"

The nurse looked at the two students, but the Headmaster's gaze was such that she knew he did not care if they knew. "I'm extremely concerned for him, Headmaster. He's unresponsive and I can't keep anything down him, not even potions. He hasn't been conscious for any length of time in over a week. I've run out of ideas on how to help him, but something needs to change very soon." At that, Dumbledore looked deeply into the nurse's eyes and saw her current thoughts on that last statement.

"I see," the old man said. He considered the boy carefully. This was very very bad. The Prophecy said he was the one, but as it now stood, he would never have the chance to even attempt the task, and that meant all hope would be lost. This called for drastic measures, if he could only figure out what they were.

As the old man stood there searching his mind for any options at all, Harry started thrashing weakly on his bed. "He hasn't done that in some time," the nurse commented.

Harry surprised them further when he called out in a hoarse whisper, "No, Sirius, run to the corridor, run ..." They all stared at him.

"Is that the dream he keeps having about the long dark corridor?" Ron asked.

Dumbledore came to a conclusion. "Yes, I believe it is. I must go deal with something else first. I'll be back in a few hours."

"Headmaster," the nurse called as he was about to walk out the door. "She tortured the boy. What do we do with her?" and she pointed to a tied up Umbridge who was still stunned.

"You mean she performed a Cruciatus Curse on Harry?"

"Yes."

"Professor?"< /p>

"Yes Miss Granger."

"She also used a Blood Quill on Harry multiple times, as well as on Lee Jordan and possibly others," the girl told him.

Dumbledore's eyebrows went up. "That would have been nice to have known sooner." Hermione felt vindicated though a bit sad at hearing that. "Since I see you have her wand, why don't you put her in the cupboard over there and put a locking spell on the door to hold her until I can bring someone back to take care of her. I'll talk with all of you later. Fawkes?" The bird flashed in directly in front of the old man, who grabbed the bird's tail feathers, and they both flashed out.

Dumbledore flashed into the kitchen at the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, where he found Remus Lupin. "Remus, who is here at the moment?"

"Sirius is upstairs and I think Alastor is in the library searching for something."

"Please call them in here, we have an emergency." Dumbledore then cast four Communio Patronus spells. As the three other men came into kitchen, the Floo started belching out people.

When it appeared everyone was there, Dumbledore finally spoke. "While I'm not completely certain, I feel there is a very good possibility that Voldemort is making an attempt on the Prophecy tonight. Please make your way to the Ministry and be very careful. I believe a Disillusionment charm will help you travel through the corridors safely. Sirius, a moment before you go please?"

The man walked over to the mentor and looked expectantly. "We have a very real problem with Harry. After we've made sure the Prophecy is safe, we need to go to Hogwarts." Sirius nodded. "One more thing," and he pulled out his wand and pointed it at Sirius. "I think that will do," and he pointed at a glass pane, where Sirius could see he now had golden hair.

When Albus arrived at the Ministry building, his fears were found to be true, there were Death Eaters there. After he had stunned and contained several Death Eaters, he wrote two quick messages and sent them to Ministers Fudge and Bones via Fawkes. Then he went further down into the Department of Mysteries proper.

There was more fighting and just as he took out Lucius Malfoy, he saw Bellatrix LeStrange hit Sirius with a spell so that he went flying backward directly towards the Veil of Death. He silently said good-bye to his young friend, only to be surprised to see Remus reach out and grab one hand as it went by him. Yanking hard, he twirled Sirius around in a circle which stopped his flight. When Sirius finally came to a stop on the floor, his feet were touching the veil and he was breathing hard at his close call.

Bellatrix got the drop on Kingsley as he was looking the other way, then she ran up the stairs. No one else was nearby so Albus followed her. When they reached the atrium, Albus sent a tripping jinx and hit her in the right leg. She managed to crawl behind a desk and a fight was on.

Dumbledore had no fear about his fight, until it changed because a new person showed up: Voldemort himself. This fight was intense, and though he maintained irritatingly polite conversation with Tom Riddle just to annoy his former student, he was worried, especially after Fawkes took a killing curse for him.

Fortunately, that was also the time the Floos started lighting up and many Aurors started coming into the atrium area. Seeing he was vastly outnumbered, Voldemort grabbed Bellatrix's arm and Disapparated. When Dumbledore turned around, he saw both Fudge and Bones standing there in shock at seeing Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic building.

Amelia Bones recovered first, and as head of the MLE, she started giving orders for cleanup of the captured Death Eaters. Albus was not looking forward to his conversation with Fudge, but he was going to have to have a brief one tonight.

It was nearly an hour later before Dumbledore had finished speaking to everyone he had to speak with that night, as well as putting a special ward over a specific prophecy in the Department of Mysteries so that glass ball could not be picked up for the next ten years. He probably should have done that earlier, but then that target had also kept Voldemort occupied and not launching attacks either.

Back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was pleased to find that aside from a few minor injuries, no one in the Order had died. Tonks and Kingsley both were hurt with fighting Bellatrix, but they seemed to be doing fine now. Lupin appeared to still be having his dislocated shoulder tended to, and Mad-Eye was resting on a bed with dried blood on his cloak.

Sirius saw Dumbledore return and went over to him. "Albus, what do I need to know about Harry? And can I see him? I haven't heard from him lately." Concern filled Sirius' eyes.

Not knowing what to do at first, the Headmaster grasped the younger man's arm and led him over to Harry's bed. "Who's th... Oh my god, Harry!" and he rushed the last two steps over to Harry's side. "Albus, what happened? What's wrong with him?"

"One moment if you please, Sirius. Kingsley?" The Auror turned to look at him. "In that cupboard you should find Dolores J. Umbridge." The Auror looked shocked as he looked over to the door Dumbledore pointed to. "She has performed a Cruciatus on Mr. Potter, which was witnessed by three people, and she has used a Blood Quill multiple times on multiple students. I would like all charges possible filed against her."

"Absolutely!" Tonks told him as she unlocked the door and pulled the now former High Inquisitor out to be taken away.

As Umbridge was being taken to a Ministry security cell, Hermione and Ron come back in. "Sirius?" Hermione questioned. The man grinned at her.

Dumbledore smiled at the pair. "Just the people I was about to go look for. If the three of you would follow me, please?" He guided them to his office. "Sirius, I'll answer all of your questions in a moment if you'll be patient." The old man unsealed his office and then said, "Apple pie and ice cream". The gargoyle started moving and the four of them went up.

"Now, where to begin," Dumbledore mused. "I guess I should start with Harry's present condition." He repeated what Madam Pomfrey had told him.

To say that Sirius was shocked was an understatement. The only thing he could get out was, "How?"

The Headmaster turned to the teens. "Do either of you know how this came to be?"

Ron spoke first. "He's been sorta angry and down all year, but he's really changed this last term. Then about a month ago he said he wasn't feeling well and went to bed early; and the next day, he just refused to get up and he's been in the Hospital Wing ever since."

They all now looked to Hermione, who sat there thinking hard. Various emotions playing across her face, it was obvious she was struggling with something.

Dumbledore prompted her. "Harry needs your help Miss Granger, or he will die in less than a week."

She did not know what to say. "I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone."

"I'm sorry for the difficult position you are in, Miss Granger," the Headmaster did truly sympathize with her, "but I assure you that if you know anything that will help Harry, I need to know so we can give him that help, or he will die no matter what you promised him."

After yet more thought, she finally answered, "I have a good idea as to what he's been thinking about lately."

Sirius pleaded with her. "Please, Hermione, I don't want to lose my godson. What has he been thinking about? Maybe that would be a clue ..."

"Ginny," she softly confessed.

"What does my sister have to do with this?" Ron blurted out.

"Ah," and Dumbledore steepled his fingers and sat back in his chair, "that makes perfect sense."

"Albus? Will you stop speaking in riddles? You've done this for years," Sirius admonished him.

The Professor went into teaching mode. "They say that a person's greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. Sirius, what would you say Harry's greatest strength is?"

Sirius thought for a few seconds. "I haven't been around him enough to be completely sure, but I'd say it's his caring for others, even people he doesn't even really know."

"Yes, in word -- love. So if that's his strength, what would his weakness look like?" the old man asked.

No one answered immediately. As the silence continued, the Headmaster looked at Hermione. "The lack of love," she softly answered. "But Professor," she went on in a more normal voice, "Harry never experienced any form of love while he was growing up, why is it now an issue?"

"When did you first notice Harry caring about Ginny?"

Hermione thought about that for a moment. "Late September, but I suspect it started at least a week or two before and I just didn't notice as I was busy with my classes. He's been watching her a lot. I also noticed that his class work declined dramatically right after Ginny dumped Michael Corner and Dean Thomas started dating her less than a week later. I think Harry wanted to ask her himself but Dean just asked her too quickly and he never had much of a chance because of all of his detentions."

The Headmaster thought for a moment and a memory from the end of last year came to mind. A memory of a boy in a hospital bed looking at a girl before he fell asleep came to mind, as did the memory of a look of adoration. "None of you were there, but I suspect it started late last June."

"What? How?" Hermione asked.

At the same time, Sirius asked, "What do we do?"

Dumbledore chose to answer Sirius' question. "I believe the proper course of action is for me to talk to Miss Weasley about a few private matters." He looked directly at the two students, "If you would please go find Miss Weasley and give her the message that I would like to talk to her as soon as possible, I would appreciate it. You may want to pack or something after you have given her the message and my office password." Seeing a small look of fear on Ron's face, Dumbledore also added, "If you must, Mr. Weasley, you may tell her that I wish to talk to her about her summer, but not a word about anything we have discussed. They understood the dismissal and that they would not be hearing the rest of a conversation they dearly wanted to hear.

As they walked down the hall, Ron asked, "Do you suppose we'll be able to get Ginny to tell us what they talked about later?" He watched Hermione think while they walked.

Hermione was very quickly trying to process everything she had heard this evening and make sense of it, but there were just too many unknowns to wrap the whole problem up in a nice, neat package. As they neared the portrait door, Hermione finally answered Ron. "I doubt we'll get many details, but I'm sure we'll find out some things. Come on, let's hope she's in here and we don't have to search all around the castle."

They got lucky and found her and Dean sitting on a couch in the common room. "Hey, Ginny," her brother called, "Professor Dumbledore wants to talk to you in his office."

"He's back?!" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah, come on and I'll whisper the password to you."

"What this about?" she asked a little warily.

"He said he wants to talk to you about your summer," Hermione told her.

"That's strange, I wonder why," she commented as she got up.

Ron scowled a little as he saw Dean squeeze her hand as she stood. Hermione smiled slightly as she saw they did not kiss, not even on the cheek. Her brother whispered the pass phrase in her ear. "Well, you know Dumbledore, he never explains the good stuff." Ginny gave him a questioning look but went to her meeting anyway.

---

As the teens left, Sirius gave Dumbledore a hard look. "Harry can't go back to his relatives this summer. I want him with me." He tone indicated he was willing to fight for this. "Those people are as bad my parents were." Dumbledore steepled his fingers and again leaned back in his chair and did not say anything for a minute. "Albus, I mean it, I don't care what kind of wards you have there. They won't do him any good if he's dead because you and I both know those stupid Muggles won't take care of him, especially if he's sick in any way. They hate him."

The Headmaster winced at having the argument he had given to Hermione thrown back at him. "You have an all too valid point Sirius. Of course, I also know that Harry is not fond of Grimmauld Place and only goes there because of you. There is another alternative."

"Where?"

"Here at Hogwarts," the old man calmly told him. "It's not common, but other students have stayed here over the summer."

"Hmm, I'd forgotten; Remus did that his last couple of summers didn't he?"

"Yes, I let him. It's not quite as safe as during the school year because there aren't as many eyes around to see people who shouldn't be here, but if I seal off all but the front door and have a few house elves help out, it should be as good as headquarters because people won't expect to find him here."

Sirius took a few minutes to think it through. "That might work. I could stay here too as an extra measure of safety?"

Dumbledore thought about that, it had both pluses and minuses. "With the proper glamours like this one to hide your true appearance, that would probably be acceptable. Why don't we leave it up to Harry to decide?"

"Sure, but we have to get him well first."

A knock came through the door. "And here's our lovely assistant, whom we can hopefully persuade to help us." Then in a loud voice he spoke, "Enter!"

Ginny came in. "You asked to see me sir?"

"Yes, please have a seat Miss Weasley."

She looked at the man with the golden hair, who looked strangely familiar. "Sirius?" and when he smiled at her she came over and gave him a hug.

"It's good to see you too, Ginny," he told her as she let go and sat down.

"Ron said you wanted to talk to me about my summer?" she addressed the Headmaster. She looked and sounded confused.

"Among a few other things, yes. I should tell you up front that the things we will be discussing are private, and if it's not obvious, I will not be acting as Headmaster during most of our discussion, as I would have to violate several of my normal policies."

That got her curiosity up. "Such as?"

"Please think of me more as a mentor for this discussion, or as a guardian like Sirius, if you prefer." That did not answer her question, but she let it slide for now and nodded. "Good," Dumbledore continued, "our first topic should probably be Harry, which is why Sirius is here." Actually Harry was the only topic, but Dumbledore thought there would be many points and thought it sounded like a non-threatening opening for the young witch.

"How is he?"

"He's not doing very well, I'm sorry to say."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I assume he'll get better soon?"

"I'd like to hope so Ginny, that's part of what we need to discuss."

That confused her. "I'm afraid I don't understand what that has to do with me."

"How would you describe your relationship with Harry?"

Ginny became even more confused. "We're friends, he's a friend of the family, my brother's best mate." She was not sure what else to say.

The old man nodded. "Are you still dating Mr. Thomas?"

Ginny was floored and coolly responded, "I don't see how that has any connection to our discussion."

"I'm sorry Ginny, but we need to know, and I promise to explain before you leave. But if I'm to explain this to you in a way that makes sense, I need to know a few facts first."

She was a bit wary of her Headmaster now, but she finally said, "Yes, we're still dating for now."

Without a change on his neutral face, he asked, "May I infer from that that your relationship with Mr. Thomas is not going well?"

"No, it's not going well. Now what do I and my dating life have to do with Harry?"

"It simple, Ginny," Sirius told her. "We desperately need your help with a project involving Harry and if you're not dating, then you'll have more time to help us."

She thought about that for a moment and looked at both of their expressions. "What else aren't you telling me? You wouldn't have gone through all that for something so simple."

"While we do need a significant amount of your time, no, it's not entirely that simple," Dumbledore finally confessed. "I was really hoping things would work themselves out in their own way and in their own time, but alas, I'm afraid we're about to run out of time and so we must meddle where we shouldn't."

"And this affects me how?" Ginny was on her guard, closely scrutinizing the two men.

"Ginny, what would you say is Harry's greatest strength?" Sirius asked her. He hoped Dumbledore's idea would work.

"He's very good at defense and thinking on his feet ..."

"I agree, but how about personality-wise?"

She thought for a moment. "His desire to help others."

"Would you agree with his love for people?"

"Yes," she told Harry's godfather.

Sirius did not continue so Dumbledore took up the explanation. "You see Ginny, the thing about Harry is that he can be that way and give out love because he has love given to him. In his early life, it was probably more the hope for love, but now as he's gotten older, he's discovering love for himself. Your family has been very loving to him, for example."

"Sure, I understand. I think my parents see him as an unofficial son."

"Exactly. And his closest friends also give him love through friendship," he went on.

"OK, so where is this going, sir?"

"The next step for Harry is personal love, or to put it more commonly, female companionship, which for his age generally means a girlfriend," Dumbledore tried to delicately explain, though he braced himself for a female Weasley reaction. He had dealt with her mother multiple times and had a good idea as to what was coming.

It took a few seconds, then suddenly her face started going red and Dumbledore was not disappointed. "Wait just a minute!" Her voice just shy of a shout. "Are you trying to tell me you want me to be his girlfriend?! It doesn't work that way! I'm the one who gets to choose, we are not in the middle ages where I'm traded like sheep!"

Sirius looked on and did his best to hold in the grin from her choice of words, a grin that was trying its best to burst out. He was quite glad Albus had taken the explanation from him.

"No, Ginny," and the Headmaster did his best to keep his voice calm. "You're misunderstanding me. I personally, and I think I can speak for Sirius as well, have no expectations like that at all." Sirius was nodding his agreement, all the while wondering how Albus was going to get the next part out, as she had been basically correct. "I was just trying to explain the next stage of Harry's understanding of love."

"So ..." her tone indicated she was not totally mollified.

"Harry's present state, which I'm afraid to say is actually near death," he said as Ginny gasped, "is because he thinks he's found love, but it's not being returned to him. Therefore, he seems to be giving up on life." No one said anything for a moment so he had to go on. "What we would like you to do is to spend time with him and convince him to go on living, sort of be a surrogate or pretend girlfriend until he can find one for real." Dumbledore knew he was on thin ice here and hoped for the best. Sirius looked to be holding his breath.

"You're serious, aren't you?" She was dismayed.

"No, I'm Sirius," the man next her said. The glare he got made him instantly drop the joke. "Yes, Ginny, I'm afraid we are. We both know it's asking a lot of you, and to be completely honest, we aren't totally sure even this will save him, but we just don't know what else to try."

She thought about it for a moment. "You're trying to guilt me into this aren't you?"

Sirius sighed, "Perhaps a little, but we really don't know what else to do, and if it doesn't work, Madam Pomfrey says he'll probably be dead in less than a week. He stopped eating some time back,and now he's not even managing to keep her nutrient potions down. He's literally starving himself to death, though I'm not sure if he's conscious enough to know that. Please Ginny, you must help us."

"Why me?" she asked in a resigned voice.

Sirius looked to Dumbledore because he did not want to answer that. Dumbledore shot him a look of disgust for being a coward and finally said, "We hope Harry will respond to you because we think Harry already wants you to be his girlfriend."

"You think what?!" she exclaimed. "What on earth would lead you to that conclusion?"

"Actually we have Hermione's observations to thank for that," the Professor explained. "She said she's noticed Harry paying you extra attention all year. She also pointed out that Harry's decline seem to accelerate significantly around the time you became available then immediately started dating Mr. Thomas. It is her theory that he wanted to ask you then but didn't get the chance, and he is not the type of person to try to break you two up."

"No, I don't believe he would do that either," she agreed.

"Ginny, I know that we're grasping at straws here, but the evidence points in this direction and we have so little time to do anything. Please help us. Please help Harry," Sirius passionately pleaded with her.

He was her friend. The thought of a twelve-year old boy fighting for her also came to mind. Then there was Sirius' plea, and she was not sure what to say about that, except for, "OK, I'll give it a go and we can see what happens. What's the plan?"

Dumbledore's smile and twinkle came back. "Thank you Ginny. I'd like you to start by being Poppy's assistant. By being around him as much as possible, we're hoping that your presence will get his attention. Then if you would just spend time talking to him. It doesn't really matter about what, just help him to know that life is still worth living for. I'll talk to your parents and get their permission for you to stay here."

"You mean I'll stay at Hogwarts after the train leaves?"

"Yes," Sirius told her. "Then after Harry's better," he did not want to consider the alternative, "it will either be here or at Headquarters. We'll arrange Floo connections to the Burrow for a very small group of us. I'll be the chaperone, as will Madam Pomfrey while we're all here."

"I assume you'll need to hide that all this is happening. How do you plan to get around the fact that I'll be missed on the train?" she wondered.

Dumbledore's twinkle was very pronounced now. "There are several ways, please leave that up to me. If you would, please go ahead and pack like you normally would. I'll arrange a substitute to take your place on the train with a trunk that looks just like yours. If you would, please tell Miss Granger and your brother that you will not be there and they are to help the substitute maintain cover. This whole project is to remain as secret as possible to protect Harry and yourself. The only other people who are to know are Poppy, Professor McGonagall, your parents, and of course, your two friends."

"Very well, Professor. Is there anything else before I go?"

"Yes, if you would, I have a couple of notes for you." Dumbledore scratched out a short one and handed it to her. "This one is for Poppy." She looked at it while he scratched out another. This first one said: Ginny will help you with Harry. "And this one is for you if you need it over the next couple of days." She took that one and saw that it said: Ginny Weasley is excused from curfew. Albus Dumbledore.

"Please hand the first one to Poppy and tell Harry you'll see him in the morning. He may not even hear you at first, but then again maybe he will and it will help a little tonight."

"Yes sir." Ginny left the room.

"Excellent, Albus," Sirius told the Headmaster. "I better go pack a bag so I can come back day after tomorrow when everyone leaves."

"Not so fast Sirius, we still have one more major task ahead of us tonight." Sirius raised an eyebrow while the Headmaster got up and went over to his fireplace. Throwing some Floo powder in, he said "The Burrow" and stuck his head in the flames. "Arthur, Molly? Oh Molly, I know it's getting late and Arthur just got home, but may I come for a visit? Thank you. I'll be there in a moment." He pulled his head out and slowly stood. Turning to Sirius, he waved his hand towards the fireplace and said, "After you."

Sirius was not looking forward to facing Molly over this, but he knew it had to be done. Two pinches of Floo powder later and the two men went to make arrangements for their charges for the summer.

---

Ginny slowly walked to the Hospital Wing. Her mind was overloaded from information and it was hard to get a grip on it; it all seemed to want to slip through her mind. Basically, it boiled down to Harry was sick because he wanted to be her boyfriend and was not, so she had to pretend to like him like a girlfriend to make him better, then he could get a real girlfriend. This was so bizarre, like one of silly romance stories her roommates liked.

In some ways, it really was not so bad. She and Dean were not getting along as well as they had been and she did not care for his obsession with football. He was basically a nice guy, but they were really better off as friends. She started to wonder if maybe this was the time to end that relationship. She knew she really did not have to as Dean would be at home and she could write him, while at the same time she had be here with Harry; so the two would not really know, but that just seemed wrong.

She had come to the Infirmary doors and walked through. What she found was not what she was expecting. Instead of only one occupied bed, she found about half the beds had someone in them, and they were all adults. Upon closer inspection, she noticed she recognized most of them as Order members and wondered what had happened that evening.

Madam Pomfrey was attending Remus Lupin, so Ginny walked over there and handed her the proper note. "Oh, thank you, Miss Weasley. Right, I'll see you tomorrow morning after breakfast. Feel free to bring any books or something else to pass the time when there's not much to do." The nurse turned around and left her to go check on Alastor Moody as Remus moved his arm around to test it.

Ginny looked around a bit and in the bed nearest the nurse's office door, she saw a body covered in a sheet with a head of black hair. She walked over and took a good look at her friend, whom she had not seen in a month. Her heart nearly broke when she saw Harry's gaunt, expressionless face. She sat down on the edge of the bed and very gently stroked his face to pull his fringe back. "Oh Harry, what's happened to you?" she asked very softly. His head seemed to turn to her hand just slightly, but it was the only indication he knew she was there. This reminded her a younger Harry who had just been rescued from his relative's house after his first year at Hogwarts. "I'll be back to spend tomorrow with you," she told him. He was totally unresponsive, so she got up and quickly walked back to the tower. She knew what she had to do.

"Slytherins drool," she told the Fat Lady, who opened up for her. Entering the common room, she easily found the two people she was looking for and saw a few others who were still up. First she went over to Hermione, who was quietly talking to Ron about the train ride day after tomorrow. Leaning down, she whispered in the girl's ear, "I need to talk to you alone, so can you go up and then come back down in about thirty minutes?" Her friend nodded, so Ginny told them, "Good-night Hermione, good-night Ron."

"Hey, I wasn't ready to go to bed yet," her brother complained. "And besides, I thought we wanted to talk to her."

"Ron, come on, I'm going up to my room too. I'm sure we'll see Ginny at breakfast." Hermione got up to go and made sure Ron came too.

Meanwhile, Ginny was walking over to another group of students. She paused by a dark-haired boy. "Dean, we need to talk."

"Can't it wait until tomorrow? We're trying to figure out how to get everyone to a football game this summer."

"Dean, if you'll come quickly, I only need about one minute of your time before I go to bed, then you can come back and talk all you want."

"OK," he said. "Hey guys, I'll be right back; I got a short bit of girlfriend business to take care of. Don't decide anything without me." He finally turned to her and saw she was walking over to a corner that was not occupied. He joined her and sat in the chair next her. "What's up that couldn't wait?"

Ginny took a deep breath before she began. "Dean, I think you're really a nice guy, but I also think we need to be just friends. I've really enjoyed being your girlfriend, but I don't think it's really working for us. Is that OK with you?" She wanted this conversation to be over quickly, but she also did not want to hurt his feelings.

He looked at her with amazement. "This is awfully sudden, isn't it?"

"My decision may be, but I've been feeling like we haven't been a couple for the last few weeks. How do you feel about us? Are we working together?" She fixed him with a look that demanded an honest answer, a look that most boys could not stand for long. In fact, she only knew of one who could, but he was not conscious to see it.

After a few seconds, Dean looked down. "You're right, it's nowhere near like it was in the beginning." He moved his right foot around on the floor as if trying to uncover something. "Do you think we can still be friends?"

She softened her stare into a gentle smile, the look of someone searching for a friend. "Yes, I think we can, if you want to be. I'd still like to be friends with you if you'll let me."

"Yeah, I would. You really are a great person. So, who's the lucky guy?" Part of Dean wanted to know, and part of him did not.

"No one, Dean. At least not in the foreseeable future. I think we need to end this while we can still be friends afterward," she pointed out softly, wanting to hurt him as little as possible.

Dean felt relief at not being dumped for someone else. "OK, thanks for that."

"No problem. Go plan a game with your friends and have fun," she told him. As they both stood up, she went up on her tip-toes and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. "Thanks for everything, Dean. I'll see you around." She left for her room and did not see him staring after her, wishing it could have been like it was in the beginning.

---

Her roommates were in their room too, but no one was trying to sleep so Ginny spent about twenty minutes rearranging her trunk in preparation for packing. She also pulled a few things off the walls around her bed and packed them away. When enough time had passed, she went back downstairs. Fortunately, Dean and his friends had already gone up. Only a small group of seventh years were over by the fireplace, reminiscing about fun memories over their time at Hogwarts. As she looked around, she spotted Hermione in the same corner she had used to break up with Dean earlier that evening.

"Hey, Ginny."

"Hey, Hermione. Ron didn't give you too hard a time, did he?"

"No," the fifth year told her. "He's slowly getting better manners. Maybe next year he'll figure things out."

"Yeah," Ginny agreed. "Maybe next year he'll even ask you out." They both giggled at that.

"So what's up? Though I can guess."

"Yeah I bet you can," Ginny told her, "as your name came up several times. So tell me what you know."

Now Hermione did not seem quite so confident. "You remember that talk we had when you started going out with Dean?"

"The one where you mentioned it happened so fast other boys didn't have a chance?"

Hermione nodded. "I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but Harry wanted to ask you. In fact, he had been waiting all year to ask you. But when you broke up with Michael, I don't think he found out about it for a few days, then he had detention for a few evenings. And you know how shy he is around girls," Ginny nodded, "so I think he had trouble asking you because he could never find you alone, you were always with a group of people."

"But Dean managed to overcome all that," Ginny retorted.

"True, but Harry is not Dean," Hermione explained. "Harry's never had the social skills. In my opinion, his Muggle relatives practically made him anti-social. He probably would have asked you if he had only a few more days, as a Quidditch practice would have come up and he'd have used that time to find you alone. But Dean moved too fast, and well, I think it broke his heart, crushed his spirit, whatever you want to call it. His class work took such a turn that I think he still has outstanding detentions to make up the work; plus he didn't take his OWLs. So I don't know what's going to happen to him. Have you seen him lately?"

Ginny face fell. "Yes," she breathed. "I stopped by on the way back. I can't believe the condition he's in. It almost broke my heart to see someone like that, Hermione. I touched his face and it moved a little, but otherwise he didn't even know I was there."

"I know, his not eating is really catching up with him." The brunette paused for a moment. "You know, now that you make me think about it, he seemed to respond to me more when I held his hand than when I talked to him. You should keep that in mind."

"Thanks, Hermione, I will. So here's the plan, and you can tell Ron, but otherwise this is all secret." Her friend nodded and moved her head a little closer, so Ginny spoke more softly. "I'm supposed to stay here and help Madam Pomfrey with Harry for awhile, so Dumbledore is going to have someone else take my place on the train ride home. I'm thinking Polyjuice Potion." Hermione looked surprised. "You and Ron are supposed to help cover for whoever it is so no one will be any wiser where I am."

"What about for Harry? Everyone knows he's been sick and is still here."

Ginny shrugged. "Don't know, that's Dumbledore's problem. I'll make the occasional trip to the Burrow, so if you're there, we can talk. Sirius will be here, and my parents will know, so tell Ron to keep his big mouth shut and not tell anyone else. If he spills the beans, I'll personally fill it with slugs -- multiple times." Her prefect friend giggled. "Oh, and will you bring your Spells book to breakfast with you? I'd like to read ahead a bit. I'll give it back to you later this summer."

"Sure, Ginny. See you in the morning?" The redhead nodded. "OK then, and thanks for helping Harry, I really don't want to lose him." Tears built a little in the brunette's eyes.

"I'll do my best," Ginny told her as she hugged her friend tightly. "He may not be a best friend, but I don't want to lose him either."