"Aren't you J.K. Rowling?" Scott asked with wide eyes. She nodded and smiled.
"That's my penname, Harry." She said with a grin. She walked to the end of the bed and as each foot hit the tile floor her features rearranged themselves and changed. By the time she was at the foot of the bed she looked completely different. The most striking feature was her violently pink hair. From the descriptions in the books, Scott suddenly realized who she was.
"Wotcher, Harry!" She said with a grin.
"Tonks? Ny ... err ... Just Tonks if the books were right ..." He stammered.
Tonks let out a hearty laugh. "I'm glad I put that in there. You know how I hate my first name!"
Scott looked at Ron then looked to Hermione. She was looking at her hands where they were folded in her lap. Scott reached out tentatively and caught her chin. He turned her face towards him and smiled apologetically.
"If what you said is true and I've been put under some sort of memory charm ... I'm guessing that I was transfigured or switched into my ... err ... Scott Walker's body?"
Hermione nodded slowly and he could see the hope growing in her eyes.
"I'm assuming there are other complications, otherwise I wouldn't keep passing out?"
Hermione cleared her throat. "Whoever did this to you didn't want you to remember anything. Whenever the memory charm starts to degrade or you remember something, it's killing you." She took his hand in trembling ones of her own. "There is one person who knows memory charms well enough to remove it ..."
"No, Hermione." Ron said adamantly. "We aren't going to take Harry to ... to him!" The redhead began to pace next to the bed. "There has to be another way!"
Scott laughed. "Ok. From your reaction, I'd guess it was Lockhart that you were talking about ..."
Ron looked at him incredulously then softened. "Of course you wouldn't remember the git." Ron said evenly. "You read ... what was it, Tonks, The Chamber of Secrets?"
Tonks smiled and nodded. "I liked writing that one! My fans on the internet think that I based him on this muggle I knew. Little did they know everyone is based on someone who lived or is still alive!" She grinned at her own work then nodded for Ron to continue.
"Honestly, since we had her write these books, she's gone spare, I tell you!" He grinned at Scott then glanced at Tonks who was laughing even more. Scott couldn't help but laugh but he couldn't keep his eyes off of Hermione. "Well, if you read that book, you know what the git's like." Ron finished.
"Why did you write the books in the first place?"
Hermione looked at him and smiled. "I came up with the idea. We couldn't find you in England and, well, I was getting desperate."
"I knew you had written journals of everything you'd done. It was part of your therapy after the war." Tonks continued. "Most of those who were involved went through the same thing. Well, when Hermione told me about her plan, I offered to write the books and assume the guise of one Joanne Kathleen Rowling. It was hard going at first, but we eventually got published."
Hermione looked at the confused look on Scott's face and continued. "I thought that if you were out there somewhere and couldn't talk to us, due to a memory charm or some other reason, that the subtle hints about our relationship would trigger a memory or an urge to come back home."
"So, everyone who pointed out that Harry and Hermione were going to get together were right from the get go ..." Scott smiled at the sneakiness of the plan. "When I read the books I could tell that there was something missing and I needed to find it. I decided to visit here to get away from things ... little did I know that I'd be the center of attention again."
Hermione winced. "I know you don't like to be the center of attention, Harry, but that's the only way we knew how to send word to you without knowing where you were. Even Hedwig couldn't find you ..."
Scott sat for a moment and thought intently on the current situation and everything he was just told. He looked to the three people around his bed then cleared his throat. "What are the risks?"
Ron's jaw dropped to his chest and his ears went deadly red. "You're actually CONSIDERING this load of bollocks?"
"Ron ..." Scott said calmly. "If I am truly Harry Potter, how can I continue to think of myself as Scott Walker? I mean, I have another man's memories swimming in my head. Aside from a few dreams that I've had it seems for all intents and purposes that I am Scott Walker and will never be Harry Potter." He looked from the redhead to Hermione. "What are the risks?" He reiterated.
"Perhaps I could tell you." A man from the side of the room said with a wide, sparkling smile. Scott knew immediately who the purple robed man was and also knew that he didn't like the way the fancy boy was leaning against the wall.
"I assume that you're Lockhart?" He said dryly.
Lockhart's smile went down a grade or two on the brightness meter but he didn't lose it entirely. "Got it in one! It seems that you do remember me, even if the recognition only comes from my portrayal in Miss Tonks' books."
"What are the risks then?" Scott asked evenly. "I'd like to have who I was back in my head where it belongs without having to die to do it."
"The risks are rather minimal." Lockhart said with a serious face. Gone was the dashing man who apparently did win Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award and in his place was a clinical wizard with a specialty in memory charms. "The worst that could happen would be a complete erasure of your mind. No memories at all. That has to be instigated purposely, however, and I value my life more than clearing your mind of any incriminating evidence.
"A minor difficulty could be the sophistication of the charm whoever did this placed on you. In attempting to remove it, the modifications they've made to kill you gradually may kill you instantly. I won't be the only one working on restoring your hidden memories, it will take my talents, many potions, and most likely several counter-curses."
Hermione nodded at each point, watching Gilderoy like a hawk during his entire explanation. When he'd finished, she seemed satisfied and smiled at Scott. "That's about it. Though he left out the legilimency probing to see just how much you've remembered before we start on anything that may be time delayed ..."
The other redheads in the room had slowly made themselves known as they encircled the bed. Each of them smiled and waved to him as he took in their faces.
"This is a bit much to wrap my mind around ..." Scott said with a sigh. "Do we have enough time for me to think about this for a bit?"
"The house is unplottable and as soon as anyone leaves, the information is wiped from their mind." Ron said with a smile. "It's one of your more brilliant ideas during the war. I tell you, it saved a lot of people."
"To answer your question, we'll be safe here for quite some time. The Ministry has only been able to find one of the houses we placed these wards on and that was by sheer luck." Hermione added with a smile. She moved a certain way and looked at him peculiarly and Scott had the strangest feeling that there were literally thousands of safe houses like this one that were still hidden from even the wizarding world. He nodded curtly and looked to his hands.
"Give me a day or two to mull everything over." He said quietly. "I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but this is quite the psychedelic ride I'm being put on and I want to make sure that I'm not hallucinating or dreaming."
He looked around the sea of faces and saw that each of them, save Lockhart who was trying desperately to find a way out of the room, agreed.
"We'll be just outside." Ron said with a smile and he stood to leave. "You heard him, let's give him some space. We can talk to Harry when he's himself again."
Hermione stood to leave as well, but Scott took her hand. "Please don't go, Hermione ..." She looked at him and smiled nervously but nodded and sat back down. After a few minutes everyone was out of the room and the door was closed. Hermione sat in silence for some time while Scott looked around the room, examining himself in the wall mirror, and feeling for his balance in this strangely familiar body he now occupied. He turned to Hermione and sat on the bed in front of her.
"Show me some magic?" He asked excitedly.
"What?" She looked at him startled by the sudden question.
"As far as I know, I've never seen magic." He said with a smile. "I know it sounds like a strange request ..."
Hermione shook her head and smiled. "No, I understand." She pulled her wand from her purse and motioned towards one of the pillows on the bed. "WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA." She said in a clear voice and with a flick and a swish of her wand the pillow rose from the bed, seemingly of its own volition.
Scott stared at it in wonder and awe. "Wow." He whispered as he reached for and caught the pillow. He pulled it from the air and tossed it back to the head of the bed. "That is really something!" He said with a grin.
Hermione shrugged. "We learned it our first year at Hogwarts." She said with a slight smile.
Scott nodded as he slid back into the bed. "So Hogwarts does exist ..." He said with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Remember what I said when we first ... ah ... when we met at the Leaky Cauldron?"
Hermione nodded. "You asked if you knew me then mentioned you may have seen me in a dream ..."
Scott smiled. "That's right. I do remember you from a dream and if this is all really happening, it could very well be a memory."
Hermione perked up and nodded for him to continue. He looked into her excited eyes and recognized that hopeful look she'd displayed earlier.
"Tell me about the night we got back from our honeymoon." He said cautiously. His paranoia was still running on high and he wanted to make sure that this was indeed the woman from his dreams.
"You remembered that we're married?" She asked with a smile but it smile faded when he shook his head.
"I don't remember that specifically. I do know that the woman in my dreams was my wife. Please tell me about that night." He prompted again.
Hermione cleared her throat and wiped a tear from her eye. "We were home for only a few hours ... I surprised you with that black, silk nighty that you've always liked ... We were going to the bedroom when Draco showed up with a lead to a case you were on ... That's the last I saw of you." She looked at him with a hurt and angry look in her eyes. "You said you'd be right back!" She yelled at him as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I didn't think I'd have to use the emergency portkey, but when they showed up I had to ..."
Scott knew, without a doubt, that he was indeed Harry Potter after what Hermione told him. "I'm sorry." He said as he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I didn't know this was going to happen ... I've had a few dreams and you just confirmed them as memories, Hermione.
"I remember that first night back, holding you, kissing you, and most of all, I knew I loved you. Draco rang the doorbell as we were on our way to the bedroom and said something along the lines of 'we have him where we want him' ... There's another dream where he and I are arguing and we went back into this building to look for someone that Draco said was still in there. I told him that there wasn't anyone but I found footprints and handprints on the floor and a bookcase. Someone had scratched out the words 'and Fall' from 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts.' I remembered your warning about being careful and made sure there wasn't a portkey attached to the book, and there wasn't. I moved it and the bookcase opened to a tunnel. I guess there was something there that moved me somewhere else because I ended up in a square room instead of that corridor I'd seen. I found someone who looked like me bound and gagged in a chair and I fell back into another. Someone gagged me and put a bag over my head. I don't remember anything else other than a few punches ... The night back in our flat has been a recurring dream for years ..." He finished quietly.
Hermione had listened intently the entire time he was explaining his dreams. When he'd finished she nodded and her facial expression changed from hurt to analysis mode. Harry watched her think over everything before she looked back to him.
"I'm sorry that I don't remember anything else." He said softly.
"Don't apologize, Harry." Hermione said with a small smile. "We can get you back to normal eventually." She placed a hand on his and he laced his fingers with hers subconsciously. Hermione looked down and smiled a bit wider. "That building you were scanning was a muggle office building." She explained quietly. "There was a bomb and a radical religious cult claimed they had planted and activated it. Draco barely made it out alive. He spent the following two years in the burn ward at St. Mungo's." She smiled sadly. "They never found your body. Everything was frantic for the first two years, but when Draco was released from the hospital everything changed. The Auror squad became a paramilitary branch of the Ministry and they now wear all black robes. You saw them at the Cauldron two weeks ago."
"TWO WEEKS?!" Harry's eyes went wide. "It's been two weeks since I've gotten here?"
Hermione nodded. "It wasn't easy with the memory charm and the counter to that bit of transfiguration they put on you."
Harry buried his face in his hands. "I just lost my job! I worked so damned hard to get there after Annie and I divorced ..."
"What? Who's Annie?" Hermione asked somewhat tersely.
Harry sighed. "Five years ago I married a woman named Annette Storer. Things were fine at first but with the recurring dreams and lack of children, she left me after four and a half years. I was putting myself through college and had finally gotten a job in New York when she handed me the papers ..."
He looked to Hermione whose eyes were closed and saying something under her breath. Her face was very red and he could easily feel the anger pouring from her.
"Hermione, please, don't be mad ... I didn't know ..."
"I'm not angry with you, Harry." She said evenly. "I'm upset, yes, but you didn't know ... I'm going to kill whoever did this to you."
"I think there's a line for that." He said with a slight chuckle. "If it means anything, Annie and I grew apart because of the first dream I described to you. I knew I felt a deeper connection with the unknown woman than I did with my wife and everything sort of fell apart ..."
"That wasn't your life, Harry." Hermione said comfortingly. "Your life is here, with me." She looked like she wanted to hug him and his willpower was weak when it came to the woman of his dreams. He opened his arms and without a moment of contemplation, Hermione had hers around him. He marveled at just how right the embrace felt and he looked down at the woman in his arms.
"I don't want to risk my death by remembering much more." He said in a daze. "I really don't think I can control myself for much longer. Tell Lockhart that we need to start now. I want my memories back, every single one."
She looked into his determined eyes and smiled hopefully. "Do you really want to tell him now? Can't we wait just a few more minutes?" Hermione's eyes pleaded with him to kiss and hold her but he closed his eyes and shook his head.
"If I kiss you now, it could trigger a memory that could be the end of my life. I don't want to die not know everything about you." He winced at the pained expression in her eyes and sighed. "I want to remember, Hermione. I don't need a memory charm removed to know that I love you but I do want to remember our wedding and growing up without having to worry about keeling over ..."
The hurt in her eyes almost disappeared but not fully. Harry knew that it would take time to heal from the years that he'd missed but that healing couldn't start until the threat of death just by remembering the touch of his wife's lips was removed. She nodded and went to the door. After a few moments, Ron, Hermione, and Gilderoy were back in the room.
"This might hurt a bit." Lockhart said warningly. "We're going to give you a sleeping draught so that I can work without you screaming and lashing at me."
Hermione handed him a clay vial and after the briefest of misgivings looking into her eyes told him it would be safe, that he'd be safe and that she and Ron would be there to protect him. Without breaking eye contact, he downed the liquid in one gulp and handed the vial back. He settled into his pillows and looked around expectantly.
"So, when is this sleeping draught ... supposed ... to ... work ..." The potion worked its magic and Harry felt himself slip into a warm, dreamless slumber.