Author's Note: Inspiration from the Beatles yet again…I hope you guys enjoy this. This is another lead up chapter. The next chapter will be a big, fluffy event followed by her finally taking the potion. I know you guys feel like I'm stalling, but I'm not…I just didn't want to rush it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. The next chapter will be up really soon, I promise!!!!
Chapter 20
All You Need Is Love
"There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy"
"Nothing you can make that can't be made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy"
(The Beatles "All You Need is Love")
She had tried not to think about it. She had been told that she needed to rest and that she needed to keep her mind clear. That was what she had tried to do, but she could think of little else but that potion and the implications of both taking it and not taking it.
She had woken up in the middle of the night and grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill and busily wrote out a pro/con list of taking the potion. She had worked diligently on the list for the past forty-five minutes. Among the things she had written were:
Cons:
(1) It doesn't work---I lose everything.
Pros:
(1) Stop causing pain to those who care about me.
(2) I could remember everything.
(3) Harry and I can move forward completely.
(4) I will regain my family, my friends, and my life.
(5) When people tell me stories about this Hermione person, I will know exactly who they are talking about and I will know without a shadow of a doubt that she is me and I am her.
(6) Things will finally be normal. Or, as normal as they can be, for someone who is a witch and is in love with one of the most famous wizards of our time.
As she read and reread the list, she knew that there was only one possible conclusion. What was it that Harry had said she was when she was at Hogwarts---a Gryffindor? He had given her a book that he had said had been her favorite, Hogwarts: a History. She had read about Gryffindors in that book. What were they supposed to be? Brave, courageous. It would certainly be brave and courageous to take this potion now, wouldn't it? Her decision had been made, then. It was what she was going to do and there would be no turning back once the decision was made. As she sat there, alone in her hospital room, she knew what she was going to do. All that was left to do now was to tell Harry and prepare for this one event that would change her life forever.
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Harry arrived at St. Mungo's the following morning at around 8:00 a.m. He was carrying a bouquet of pink roses and couldn't help feeling nervous about his visit with Hermione. He had no way of knowing whether or not she had made up her mind yet as to what she was going to do. This would explain the reason why he hadn't slept very much at all the night before and why he hadn't even touched his breakfast. If he knew Hermione, she hadn't been able to sleep much either. He reckoned that she had thought about little else but this potion.
He rounded the corridor and walked briskly past the receptionist. He walked the long hallway down to Room 323 and knocked softly on the door. There was no answer. He felt a familiar sense of panic, but quickly put the kibosh on that when he remembered that she was in a secure place. St. Mungo's was heavily guarded and Simon Maxwell was behind bars in Azkaban.
He opened the door slightly and peered inside. Hermione was in the room, fast asleep. She looked absolutely beautiful. The sunlight was peeking through the blinds and illuminated her face. He tiptoed into the room and closed the door behind him. He walked over to her bedside and leaning over, kissed her softly on the lips.
"Tom Cruise?" she said dreamily, a smile playing on her lips. "At last, you've found me!"
"Tom Cruise?" Harry asked, standing back. "Tom Cruise?"
"Only joking," she said, laughing. "I knew it was you the whole time! Honestly! I awoke when I heard you knock."
Harry looked unconvinced.
"Sensitive, aren't we?" Hermione asked, chuckling.
"Just a little," he said.
"What's that behind your back?" she asked.
"Oh," he said. "I brought you some flowers."
"You did?" she asked, her face lighting up.
He pulled the bouquet from behind his back and she clapped her hands excitedly. "They're beautiful, Harry."
"Even if they come from just plain, old Harry Potter and not suave, handsome, charming Tom Cruise," Harry teased.
"I'd take plain, old Harry Potter any day," she said.
"Good answer," he said, leaning in and kissing her on the cheek. He placed the bouquet in an empty vase. He set it on her bedside table.
"How'd you sleep last night?" she asked.
"About as well as could be expected," Harry said. "How are you doing?"
"I slept about as much as you then," she said. "I couldn't stop thinking about that potion. I even woke up in the middle of the night to make out a stupid list of reasons why I should and shouldn't take the stupid thing."
"Sounds like something you'd do," he said.
"Yeah," she said. "And I've made a decision."
"So soon?" he asked, feeling the overwhelming need to sit down. He did in the chair beside the bed. He took her hand in his.
"To be honest, I think the decision was made for me the moment I knew that this potion existed," she said.
Harry took a deep breath. "You're going to take it, then?"
She simply nodded.
"I can't even consider the possibility that it won't work, Harry," she said. "I have to go into this thinking that it will work. I have to believe in that."
"You make it sound so easy," he said softly. She couldn't help noticing that his grip on her hand was tighter.
"I need you to believe that, too," she said, her eyes seemingly boring into him.
"If anything happens to you, I don't know-" he began.
"Shhh," she said. "Don't talk like that."
"We have to consider it, though," he said.
"And I have," she said. "I've thought about this very carefully, Harry."
"You don't have to do this for me," he said. "Or for anyone else, you know that, right? No one will be upset with you if you didn't do it. They'd understand."
"I know they would," she said. "But I wouldn't. I need to do this. I want the life I had back, Harry. And besides, what kind of Gryffindor would I be if I just walked away from a challenge? I happen to know of another person in this room who didn't always take the easy way out of things, either. Do you remember how you told me how you felt when Neville told you I was alive? You didn't believe him, did you, at first? You didn't want to believe him because you worked so hard to get your life back on track. You had everything in the world waiting for you, but you knew that you had to find out for sure because you knew that I never gave up on you and that you would never give up on me, right? Not only do I want to do this, Harry. I need to do this. For me. For you. For us."
Harry felt tears welling up in his eyes.
"You are the bravest person I've ever met in my entire life," he whispered. "And I've never been more proud of you than I am at this very moment."
She smiled.
"Thank you," she said.
He got up from the chair and took his hand and lightly stroked her cheek. He kissed her softly.
"Will you go tell Professor Snape?" she asked.
"Yes," he said, still holding her.
"Have faith, Harry," she whispered. "Have faith."
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Harry sent Hedwig with a letter to Professor Snape letting him know that Hermione had decided to take the potion. Harry was about to go back into Hermione's room when he was Sirius walking down the hall. It was who was with Sirius that surprised him.
Billie was walking beside Sirius looking around the halls of the hospital, her eyes wide with amazement and her mouth agape.
"Harry, darlin'!" she called out when she saw him.
"Billie!" Harry said, walking quickly toward her and Sirius. "What are you doing here?"
She gave him a bear hug.
"My girl needs me," she said. "And I wouldn't let this one get away without taking me to see her."
Sirius smiled knowingly at Billie. "More like she refused to let me go."
"Never underestimate the power of a southern woman," Billie said, proudly.
"You know," Sirius began, "I've seen a number of things in my day. I will have to say that you scare me a little bit, and I kind of like that about you."
Billie winked at him. Harry couldn't help but laugh.
"Where is she now?" Billie asked.
"In her room," he said. "Breaking the news to her parents that she's going to take the potion. Merlin knows how her dad will react to this."
"If past behavior is any indication, he won't be too pleased," Sirius said.
They stopped right in front of her room and sure enough the sound of her father's booming voice could be heard even through the closed door.
"Absolutely not," her father was saying as the three of them walked in the room. Harry gave Hermione a sympathetic smile as she rolled her eyes at him.
"Robert," Karen was saying, but she stopped when she noticed that Harry and Sirius had entered the room.
"Billie!" Hermione said, getting off of the bed and nearly leaping to her friend. She hugged her tightly and smiled broadly.
"I'm so glad you're here," Hermione said.
"There's no other place I'd be," she said, winking at her. "Everyone back home sends their love."
"How's Ray?" Hermione asked conspiratorially. "You haven't killed him yet."
"Not for lack of trying," Billie said, smiling at Hermione. "Sirius came back to tell me how you were doing and I made him take me back here with him so I could see for myself how you were."
"I'm so glad he did," she said, smiling broadly at Sirius. She let go of Billie and gave him a hug.
Hermione's parents watched in detached disbelief as their daughter warmly greeted Billie, Sirius and Harry.
"Hermione," Robert said. "Who is this?"
Hermione looked away from Billie.
"This is Billie Murphy," Hermione said. "She's my boss at the restaurant I told you about. She's been like a mother to me these past few years."
A hurt expression came over Karen's face at this, but she quickly tried to cover it up. This didn't go unnoticed by Harry. His heart went out to Karen. This couldn't have been easy for her.
"It's nice to meet you, Billie," Karen said, gathering her composure together. She extended her hand to Billie. Billie smiled compassionately at Karen. Instead of shaking her hand, Billie gave Karen a hug, which surprised her a little bit.
"You have a great daughter," Billie said. "You should be very proud."
"We are," Karen said, smiling at her. "Thank you for being there for her."
"She was there for me, too," Billie said, smiling at Hermione.
Robert looked impatiently at his daughter. "We were in the middle of a conversation, Hermione."
"For the umpteenth time," Hermione said, her smile fading from her face. "I am not going to change my mind. I've decided to do this and that's final. This isn't your decision to make."
Robert looked taken aback by this. "You're my daughter, Hermione."
"I'm also an adult," Hermione said firmly. "Don't you want me to remember my childhood? Don't you want me to remember family gatherings and holidays and all that stuff that families do?"
"Of course, I do," Robert said. "But not like this. You have no way of knowing that this will work."
"You're right, I don't know," she said. "But I'm taking a chance that it will. I really want to do this."
"And nothing I say is going to change your mind?" Robert said.
"Nope," Hermione said simply.
He looked angry and for a moment, Hermione thought that he was going to walk away.
"Okay," he said.
"What?" Hermione asked him, not sure if she'd heard him right.
"This isn't easy for me," Robert said. "But I support you in the decision you've made. You've never been one to go into something without knowing the precautions and the consequences. If you want to do this, I know it's because you've examined it thoroughly and made a wise decision. You've always had a good head on your shoulders, even if I didn't always tell you that enough."
Hermione gave her father a hug after he'd finished speaking.
"Thank you," she whispered. Karen, too, looked on at her husband in awe.
Harry couldn't help musing to himself that perhaps he was living in a parallel universe. Hermione's father was actually being reasonable. Snape and Sirius were being civil to each other. And Snape, of all people, held the key to Hermione getting her memory back. What in the world could possibly happen next? Malfoy getting nominated for sainthood? Perish the thought, Harry said to himself.
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After everyone had cleared out, Hermione sat back down on her bed. The only person left in the room with her was Harry and he was being uncharacteristically quiet. He had been for the majority of the morning. Of course, with her father and Billie, there really hadn't been any room for him to talk.
She looked up at him and saw that he was grinning at her.
"What?" she asked him.
He didn't answer her, and kept staring at her with a broad, goofy grin on his face.
"What?" she asked.
He came closer to her and took her hand in his.
"You're scaring me a little bit, what is it?" she asked him.
"I'm going to ask you something," he told her. Suddenly, he felt really nervous. He didn't know what she would say to what he wanted to ask her, but he prayed that she'd answer in the affirmative. Have faith, he told himself.
"Okay," she said, warily. "No more bad news, though. I think we've fulfilled our quota of bad news for at least a decade."
"Well, I don't think its bad news," he said. "If you answer the way I hope you answer, it won't be bad news."
She felt her breath catch in her throat as he got down on one knee. He held on to her hand, which was now trembling.
"Harry," she whispered.
"We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow morning," he told her. "I mean, we have to have complete faith that it's going to work and everything will be fine. And I do. I really do, but I don't want to take a chance. I don't want you to go through with this without having you know---without showing you how much I love you and how committed I am to you and to what we have."
He nervously let go of her hand and pulled a simple silver, diamond ring from his pocket. Hermione gasped.
"Hermione Elizabeth Granger?" he asked, taking her hand again. "Will you marry me?"
She couldn't speak. Her hands were shaking and tears were welling up in her eyes. She didn't know how they could be---it seemed like she'd cried enough to fill the Thames River the past few days.
"Now would be a good time to answer me," he said, winking at her. "This floor is murder on my knee."
She laughed. "Yes," she said, smiling at him. "Yes, I will marry you."
He got up from the floor and took her in his arms, kissing her face, her lips, her cheek, her neck.
"When are we going to get married?" she asked him. "And where? This is all really short notice."
"You leave that to me," he said. "Ginny, Billie, Kit."
Hermione looked in amazement as the three women came into the room carrying packages and a dress bag.
"She said yes," Harry said. Billie whooped loudly and Kit started crying.
"Smashing," Ginny said, giving first Harry and then Hermione congratulatory hugs.
"As if there was any doubt," Hermione said.
"So," Harry said, his eyes twinkling. "The girls here are going to help you get ready. And just leave the rest to me."
"You're going to plan a wedding by yourself?" Hermione asked.
"No," Harry said. "I'm going to have a little help."
"Okay," she said, smiling at him.
"So, you get all dressed up and all that girl stuff and you leave the rest to me," Harry said. "And the next time I see you will be at the chapel."
"It's a date," Hermione said, smiling at him.
"I'm going to hold you to that," he said.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," she said.