Chapter One
"Defluo oblivio"
How could I have known how those two words would affect my life? I had never heard them before, or seen them written on parchment. I still do not entirely understand what they mean. But I do understand what they have done.
They have taken her away from me in the worst way imaginable. He knows how much she means to me. He knew she would be there. He knew that he would not leave there alive if she was by my side.
As Professor Dumbledore explained to me what had happened to her, I could only sit in silence. The truth was devastating.
"'Defluo oblivio' - to be lost and forgotten. The curse has sent her to an unknown location, with no memory of her life, and no idea as to what she should do. She could be waking up anywhere right now, and know nothing better than to remain where she is."
My heart sunk with every word. Hermione…
Silence had flooded through the small group that had gathered in the Headmaster's office; Myself, Ron, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape. I briefly glared at him, unsure of why he was here during this crisis.
"What? She's just out there somewhere?" Ron asked dumbly and I found myself annoyed by his momentary lapse into stupidity.
"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore replied quietly. I looked around the room, still too shocked to speak. Dumbledore looked truly troubled, which immediately made me feel even worse then I had a few seconds before. McGonagall was standing with her arms crossed across her chest, and it was obvious she was struggling to hold back tears. Yet when my eyes traveled to Snape, I was angered to see his face absent of any sort of distress. He quickly noticed me glaring at him, and stared back at me a moment before finally speaking up.
"There is one possible cure for her memory loss," he drawled out slowly, and both Ron and I leaned unconsciously towards him. He seemed hesitant to continue.
"If we are so lucky as to find her as she could be anywhere in the world right now, we have to somehow get her back to Hogwarts, to the exact spot where he cursed her, and somehow make her drink an anti-memory charm potion. This must happen within the next week," he finished quickly. Ron immediately opened his mouth, saying something stupid again no doubt, but I didn't hear it. My eyes were locked on Snape's. He had finished his explanation too quickly…he was leaving something out.
"There's more, isn't there? Something that you don't think can be accomplished?" I said toward him, but loud enough that I gained the attention of the entire group. Snape looked up at the four pairs of eyes trained solely and expectantly on him before continuing slowly.
"Mr. Potter, just locating her will be hard enough and could take weeks. Yet, if you somehow manage to find her, bring her back here, and get her to drink the potion, which will be a major feat in itself, considering its potency, there is one more thing that must be done," he told them, pausing to breathe deeply before continuing.
"After consuming the potion, she must be kissed by the person who was most important to her when she was cursed within 400 seconds."
"Well that'll be easy. If its something so important, I'm sure Hermione would let anyone kiss her," Ron spat out immediately.
"Don't be stupid Ron. She has no idea who she is. That means she doesn't know who we are," I said harshly to him. Ron looked towards me, and the look on his face puzzled me. He seemed unusually calm, and it gave me a sick feeling deep in my stomach.
I had known that Ron had a thing for Hermione since early on in our fourth year. It was so obvious, no one missed it. Even Hermione didn't miss it, although she did an amazing job of acting as though she was oblivious. It was amazing that Ron bought her act, considering she is Hermione, and Hermione never misses anything. I've learned that the hard way over the years.
She has missed one thing, though. Or at least I hope she has. While Ron was out and about complaining about Viktor or any other guy that ever came around Hermione, I quietly sat back while she confided in me how uncomfortable Ron's little infatuation made her feel, and how angered she was that when any guys got close to her, they dropped all communication with her the next day, they're only excuse being they didn't want to suffer the wrath of the Weasley clan. She had been furious about that and eventually snapped, and burst out screaming at Ron in the middle of the common room, making his ears redder than his hair with embarrassment.
I sat quietly and listened to her when she needed someone to talk to. Those were the times I felt the closest to her. I sat by her side while she dated Seamus for 4 months in sixth year and through their ugly breakup. Another girl, she had told me. In the boys room, where she had walked in and seen them kissing. When I saw the tears in her eyes as she descended the stairs into the common room, I had taken her hand and led her away from Gryffindor tower to the Room of Requirement, which only held a small sofa. It was all we needed. She had smiled while crying, apologizing over and over, "I'm sorry, Harry. I know girls usually cry with other girls, but I'm not comfortable with any girls. I'm only comfortable with you. I'm so sorry," she had said, before breaking down into tears while I took her into my arms. My heart broke a little more with every word she spoke, and every tear she shed. How could she ever have thought that I'd be bothered by her coming to me. That I wouldn't want her to come to me.
Through all of this, as I said before, she had skimmed over one minor detail. The detail that sometime during fourth year, (actually, one exact, pin-pointable moment), I fell for her as well. I fell in love with my best friend. I fell in love with Hermione.