Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 96: Inside Harry's Mind
Lady Rose grabbed the other ring and placed it on Harry's forehead, since his hands were covered by the magical bandages.
The two rings began to emit a soft blue glow.
"Now close your eyes and focus on Mister Potter. Try to find that connection. The rings will do the rest," Lady Rose explained.
Ginny did as told, got comfortable on the chair, and closed her eyes. She didn't know how to find that connection, so she began to think about Harry and all the time they spent together.
After a minute or two of doing this, Ginny finally noticed a change. She felt a pulling sensation and, for an instant, her mind went completely blank.
Ginny gasped and opened her eyes, jumping from her seat as if she had received an electric shock. "Bloody hell! What was t—"
She froze. This was not Lady Rose's shop. Ginny was now outside, and it was daytime all of a sudden.
"Where am I?" She examined her surroundings, feeling extremely confused. The landscape felt very familiar to her, and she was sure she had seen it before.
She then noticed something else. "A train track?" There was a long train track that continued further, getting lost in the distant mountains. "Wait… I do know this place!" These were the train tracks that led to Hogwarts.
She had been going through them every year when going to school.
"Urgg!"
Ginny was startled by the sound of someone making strange noises behind her. When she turned around, she found Harry, spitting something onto the ground.
"That's gross!" he said while staring at the sandwich in his hand.
"Harry!" Ginny was so happy to see him that she ran to him without thinking.
But the moment she tried to hug him, her body went through him like he was nothing but air. Ginny ended up taking a tumble over the train tracks but didn't feel any pain.
"There is something wrong with this soda as well… it's completely flat, and it tastes… wrong," Harry said while examining the can in his hand.
"Harry?" Ginny approached more slowly now and noticed that Harry was wearing the Gryffindor uniform. He looked dirty, tired, and stressed out.
Ginny moved her hand to reach for his shoulder and, just like before, it went through. She didn't feel anything. "You are not here…" She realized this was not real.
And this Harry that she was seeing had to be a memory. "I'm inside Harry's mind."
She took another look at the landscape and finally at the sky. There was something wrong with it. There was light but no sun. It was kind of dark, but there were no clouds. Everything had a muted grey tone.
"This has to be… the Frozen World," Ginny muttered. The description fit what she had heard from him.
A depressingly dead world with no days or nights, where the food and drinks had no taste.
And seeing how Harry was reacting, she concluded that this could have been his first day in here.
"Sigh… how long is it going to take me to get to Hogwarts?" Harry asked no one in particular. "I need to find the professor… he must know what happened. Where did everyone go?" He looked into the sky. "And why is it still daytime? It should be dark by now."
Ginny frowned while watching this. It was just the beginning of his torment. This poor version of Harry still had no idea of how long he was going to have to spend here.
All of a sudden, the scenery changed. The landscape turned into smoke and vanished, soon replaced by the inside of a dark chamber.
Ginny adjusted faster this time around and found the image of Harry. He was sitting at a desk, scribbling something on a piece of paper.
It took her a long moment to notice that this was Dumbledore's office. Harry had filled the room with books, ingredients, tools, and other items that were now spread all over the place messily.
"This is it! This has to be correct." Harry sounded excited.
She got closer and peeked over his shoulder to check what he was writing. It looked like blueprints. A complex design for a magical artifact.
Harry had made a drawing of the object. There were writings and calculations all over the paper, as well as a long list of what sounded like ingredients.
Ginny knew what this was. "You figured out how to make the Time-Turner," she said with a hint of pride.
This was Harry's first great accomplishment while trapped inside the Frozen World. He thought that by creating his own Time-Turner, he would be able to use it to escape.
This took him decades of hard work, as he had to master several magical disciplines to even make the attempt at creating it. A Time-Turner was one of the most complex magical artifacts ever created. It had taken some of the most talented individuals in the Department of Mysteries centuries to research and build them.
And Harry had to do it alone.
Ginny grimaced. She knew how that first attempt was going to go.
The scene changed again. She was now at the Great Hall of Hogwarts. It looked very different from how she was used to seeing it.
The tables had all been moved and were covered in different utensils, stacks of papers, books, and clothes. It was even worse than the Headmaster's office. It was clear that Harry had turned this entire hall into his personal studio and workshop.
Only one table remained unchanged. This was the Gryffindor table, where Ginny was surprised to find people sitting at it.
"Wait… are those… statues?" She quickly realized that they were not alive.
There were many of them, and they were all wearing the school uniform and had wigs placed on their heads. Ginny even thought she recognized some of them.
"Good morning, everyone!" Harry walked into the hall with a smile on his face and a bowl of cereal in his hand. "Good morning, Ron. Good morning, Hermione." He greeted his friends, sat down next to the two statues, and began to eat his breakfast.
"Harry…" Ginny noticed how changed Harry looked at this point. Many years must have passed since the previous scene, and despite his smile and cheerful demeanor, she could already see a hint of madness in his eyes.
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