Harry awoke with a start and sat up. He groggily looked around but feeling extremely disoriented, he couldn’t register where he was or even what he was doing.

While his mind cleared up, he sat there. He remembered how he had been taking a walk with Lily, and Fawkes appeared in front of them in a flash of light. He recalled how Fawkes suddenly burst into flames and went into him, causing Harry to pass out. How he had then met Voldemort, fought him and defeated him with a lot of effort only to experience all of his memories.

A few moments after he had gotten his bearings and was just about to think about the memories he had watched, he suddenly felt a sharp, splitting headache.

“Argh.” Harry groaned and immediately collapsed on the bed, holding onto his head in pain.

Harry felt the memories and skills, everything Voldemort had experienced and learnt, entering his head and integrating with his mind.

Even as he writhed in pain, Harry quickly realised that the memories seemed to replace his own. Instinctively, Harry put walls up in his mind to keep the invading memories into a corner of their own.

He struggled between the pain he was feeling and the effort he was putting into isolating the new memories and finally, after what felt like several hours, he could keep the invading memories in a corner of his mind, away from all his actual memories.

Groaning a little, Harry slowly sat up. Feeling the headache subsided considerably, he massaged his temple as he thought about what had just happened.

‘That was… horrible,’ thought Harry.

‘At least, I didn’t let those damn memories take over my head or I would have been a goner,’ he thought with a shudder.

Harry laboriously pushed himself up and sat with his back to the headboard. Heaving a heavy sigh, Harry started thinking about the memories.

Harry closed his eyes and tried to access the memories and found that he could extract all memories he desired and they no longer seemed intent on invading his mind.

He tentatively lowered one wall in his mind and felt the foreign memories slowly inch towards his own memories and the moment they touched, they merged.

In a short while, the memories had all gotten merged and he could recall all his own memories properly, but Voldemort’s memories seemed like bits of information instead. Nothing in it had any feelings attached to it.

‘Was my memory always this good?’ wondered Harry. He could even recall details from his memories that he had never recalled earlier.

Harry spent some time recalling distinct memories and spent some time segregating his memories from those of Voldemort’s and during this process, he couldn’t help but feel a little sick.

‘Just how many people has Voldemort tortured and murdered? That sick bastard!’ cursed Harry.

Recalling the finer memories that he hadn’t witnessed in that dark space, living through the memories of Voldemort and his death eater’s atrocities, Harry felt his resolve harden.

He felt a ray of light on his face. Turning his head, he looked out the window and noticed that the sun had risen.

‘But who was that cloaked figure?’ wondered Harry. No matter how much he sifted through Voldemort’s memories, he couldn’t find any mention of that cloaked figure. He even wondered if he had imagined the entire scene; however, that situation had been so memorable that Harry couldn’t discount it as a mere figment of his imagination.

“No matter how much I think about it, I doubt it would help me figure it out,” groaned Harry.

He reached to the side table and picked up his glasses. As he wore them, he realised that his vision seemed very blurry with the glasses on.

‘I didn’t realise I could see so well now!’ Thought Harry happily, ‘I won’t need these glasses anymore.’

A creaking sound brought Harry out of his reverie. Looking over, he saw the door open slightly and a worried face pop into view. The moment Lily saw Harry sitting up in bed, she darted into the room and grabbed Harry’s hand.

“Harry!” she exclaimed. “How are you feeling? Any pain? Discomfort?”

She questioned him rapidly, hardly giving him a chance to get a word in edge-wise.

“Calm down, Lily,” said Harry with a wry smile.

“I’m fine, really. How did I get here?” he asked. “Where is ‘here’ anyway?”

“You’re at my house right now.”

“What even happened? I only remember touching the phoenix?” asked Harry.

“When you touched that phoenix, it spun into a ball of fire and shot into you,” she said, as she took a seat on the bed.

“I couldn’t even react when all that happened and the next thing I know, you collapsed.” Lily squeezed his hand harder, a look of fear crossing her face.

“I didn’t know what to do. Thankfully, you were still breathing and luckily we were near my house. So, I dragged you to my house and got my uncle to help me put you into the guest bedroom,” she narrated. “That was in the afternoon yesterday. You’ve been asleep since. We wanted to get you to the hospital immediately but my uncle said that you just seemed to be asleep, so we waited till today.”

She breathed a slight sigh. “My aunt said we’d get you to the hospital if you didn’t wake up today either, but thankfully you’re up.”

Lily flashed him a relieved smile as she finished.

“I’m really sorry for all the trouble, Lily.”

“Oh pshh, there’s no way I wouldn’t have helped in that situation,” she said with her usual demeanour returning slightly, though she was showing obvious signs of fatigue. “Besides, if something similar happened to me, you’d help too, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course, no doubt about that,” replied Harry, causing Lily to break out into another grin.

“So, what exactly happened there?” asked Lily.

“I’m honestly not sure myself,” replied Harry, “I remember touching Fawkes, then I remember him turning into a ball of fire and shooting into me, but, after that, everything else was just so surreal that I’m still trying to figure out what exactly happened.”

Harry could see in her expression that she knew there was more to his story.

“I see, sounds rough,” said Lily. “I’m here if you ever need to talk about anything, though.”

“Thanks! That means a lot to me,” said Harry with a cheery grin.

“Come on. My aunt and uncle want to meet you!”

Lily pulled Harry’s hand and dragged him out of bed, pulling him along out of the room. Harry tried his best to fix his messy hair when he passed by the mirror on the wall, but to no avail.

With a bounce in her step, Lily dragged Harry down the stairs and into the living room.

“Uncle! Aunty! Harry’s up!” squealed Lily. Her excitement seemed much higher than earlier.

In the brightly lit living room, a tall, thin, middle-aged man was sitting on a couch, reading a newspaper. With his balding head with grey hair and a smile on his face, he seemed like a jovial and easy to approach man.

At the sound of Lily’s voice, Harry heard the sounds of footsteps and from the archway opposite him, which presumably led to the kitchen, a petite woman walked out.

She couldn’t have been over five feet tall and was rather slender as well. Though, despite those body proportions, she exuded a gentle air. Her smile immediately caused Harry to relax, and he somehow felt that he could be himself around this couple.

“It’s good to see you’re alright, Harry,” said Lily’s aunt.

“You were in a right state there, boy,” said Lily’s uncle with a chuckle. “Glad to see you up and about.”

“I’m really sorry for all the trouble and thanks for the help, Mr and Mrs Moon,” said Harry, smiling gratefully.

“Oh please, call me Ava,” said Lily’s aunt with a soft smile.

“Right, you can call me Jacob,” said Lily’s uncle with a grin.

With Lily prompting him from the back, Harry took a seat on an empty sofa. Lily’s aunt, Ava, headed back into the kitchen to finish breakfast and Lily followed behind her to help.

Jacob turned to Harry, “You are alright, though, right?”

“Thankfully, yes, I am. I’m not sure what happened, but it might have been quite bad if Lily or you guys weren’t there to help, so thanks again,” said Harry with a grateful smile.

“Think nothing of it, Harry. I’ve almost never seen Lily that hysterical, so there is no way I wouldn’t have helped.”

Jacob paused for a moment before he continued, as if he just recalled something.

“I’m so sorry! I never even thought to inform your aunt and uncle!” said Jacob.

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” said Harry. “You might have ruined their celebration if you had informed them.”

“Celebration? Wouldn’t the safety of their nephew be more important than some party?” Jacob asked, bemused.

“The celebration would have been because I didn’t go back home,” replied Harry with a wry smile. “They probably thought they wouldn’t have to take care of me any longer.”

Jacob’s expression morphed from confusion to anger. An expression Harry didn’t think the jovial man from before could make.