Chapter 3
Hermione was extra cheerful the following day. She felt as if she were ready to conquer anything. Her best friend was finally home. Her fiancé was great. Nothing in the world would stand in way of her happiness. She could get married now that Harry was home. That was the agreement she'd made with Ron. She didn't want to get married until Harry got back home. Now why does she feel as if she were trapped? It didn't help that she also had the weirdest dream last night. She woke up drenched in perspiration. She only remembered bits and pieces. But what she remembered frightened her to her core.
She remembered the dark room and the whispering voices. They were talking in low hushed tones that she could not hear enough to comprehend, but their tones were revealing. They were arguing. They argued about her. The other voice seemed familiar somehow, but she couldn't place it. Then she was running through the woods. The people were after her. She was hit with some kind of hex, but after that it was blank. She woke up. She wasn't sure if she screamed in her sleep, but her throat felt raw. Good thing she put a silencing charm around her room before she went to bed. Subconsciously she must have known something was going to happen during her sleep.
Thank goodness it was only a dream, she thought. She hurried in the shower and dressed for breakfast. She looked forward to seeing her best friend and her fiancé. She was glad they decided to stay over last night. The reminiscing over the good ol' days brought back happy memories. And sad ones too, but she didn't want to dwell on those. Somehow she felt like a changed woman when she woke up. She couldn't explain the dream, but it was only a dream after all.
"Good morning," she said. It almost sounded like a sing song voice. Her parents, Ron and Harry looked at her questioningly. They'd all been discussing her mental state while she was upstairs. When she saw their collective eyebrows crunched together in a worried look, she became concerned.
"Good morning, honey," Mrs. Granger was first to greet her. "Sleep well?"
"Better than usual," she lied. "What's going on here?" She saw the hesitation in the people in front of her. She knew that out of all of them, Harry would be the one who would be truthful. She knew her parents would be too overprotective of her. She knew Ron would not like to see her upset. That left Harry. In her heart she knew that Harry had always told her the truth. So she looked straight at him and waited for an answer.
"Er… do you remember anything that happened last night?"
"Of course," she answered with a snort. She prided herself with great memory. All of them should know that. "Why? Did I miss something?"
"More like a lot of something. Do you remember anything beyond last night?" asked Harry.
"Yes, I remember just owling you the other day and Ron and I were planning on a holiday together." As she looked at each of their faces, she knew. She must have lost her mind. She thought she almost saw pity in Ron's eyes. She saw sadness in her parents', but in Harry he saw concern and something she hadn't noticed before. "That's not what happened, is it? Don't bother lying. I can already tell by the look on your faces that something is very wrong." she asked.
"Well, not exactly," Ron said. "Those things did happen, but Hermione, those things happened almost a year ago."
"What?" She staggered back, but Harry was instantly next to her for support.
"I'd just arrived yesterday, but it wasn't because Mad Eye gave me a break Hermione. It was because I'd finished my training and the ministry gave me a few weeks to spend with family and friends before my duties start." He looked around the room to see if her parents or Ron were going to explain. Since no one else seemed to be talking Harry continued to explain.
"Hermione, you'd been abducted about a few days ago. People had been looking for you, but no luck. Then the other night, an old muggle couple found you running on a country road where you passed out when they stopped the car to try and help you out. The old man thought he'd hit you, but when he looked at how far you were from their car, he knew he didn't. But they brought you to a muggle hospital. Luckily your picture had been posted in the telly and someone recognized you and called your parents. When your parents arrived, they moved you to St. Mungo's to have you checked by a healer. The ministry had to do a few memory charm at the hospital, but you were safe. The healer couldn't do much until you regained your consciousness. But you did, you acted fine except for the fact that you'd gone back in time in your mind."
"But, Oh… Merlin! "She remembered the dream, or what she thought was a dream. "That means I wasn't dreaming last night, then?"
"I don't know Hermione. None of us haven't a clue what you went through during the last few days you went missing. I tried performing the legilimens last night during dinner, but if you don't remember what happened, then it will be difficult for me to try to extract anything from your mind."
For some reason the thought of having Harry perform legilimens on her frightened her. It shouldn't, she thought. She'd told Harry a lot of things. Come to think of it, she was almost sure Harry knew more about her than Ron. So why would she be worried about a little legilimens.
Harry saw the brief panic in her eyes when he'd told her about the legilimens. But it disappeared almost as soon as it appeared. He wondered what that was all about. It confused him as well since they'd always had a very open friendship. Hermione had always been and probably always will be his rock. She'd always been there for him when he needed her and even when he thought he didn't need her. She'd stuck with him through thick and thin even when she didn't agree with him. He wouldn't abandon her now, especially in her time of need.
"So, what am I supposed to do?" Hermione said. She'd directed her eyes elsewhere just in case Harry tried legilimens again.
"Well, the healers told us to bring you back to St. Mungos for another check up if you don't get your memory back," Mrs. Granger said. She put her hand on Hermione's and squeezed to let her know that she was there for her.
They all decided to head out to St. Mungo's after breakfast. There were times when breakfast became uncomfortable, but only when they talked about the recent past. When they spoke of the things further in the past that Hermione remembered, the conversation became light hearted and smooth. Less tense and more laughter.
They'd decided to drive hoping that seeing the familiar surroundings would jog Hermione's memories a bit. The plan didn't work very well. She remembered nothing. Neither the familiar sceneries nor the familiar music they played as they drove triggered anything in Hermione's mind.
Mr. and Mrs. Granger were disappointed and worried. It didn't really matter that she didn't remember anything from the past year, but they knew their daughter. They knew that it would affect her well being not knowing what she'd gone through the past year. They also knew that she would work herself hard in order to remember and to find out why she was abducted in the first place. They just hoped that Harry and Ron would be able to help her out because when it came to the world of Magic, they were at a lost. They knew that whatever the reason for Hermione's condition, it was tied to the magical world she lived in.
Hermione they knew worked on very special projects for the minister of magic himself, but they just didn't know the nature of those projects. She had "classified" clearance so to speak and possibly no one but her assistant and those connected with the minister knew what she worked on. They could only hope that there was an explanation and that it would be solved soon.
Their hope turned bleak after the healer examined Hermione once again. "I don't understand what caused her partial amnesia at this point. It seemed as if there is a combination of some kind between her mind and the jinx she sustained. I tried curing the jinx which is why she only has partial amnesia, but something in her mind is blocking out the rest of the cure so to speak," said the healer.
"What should we do?" asked Mr. Granger.
"The only thing you can do is try to let her do normal things. Get her back into her routine. The daily routine may help ease her mind up and remember the rest."
"Would that be the routine in the current time that she's in now or her present current routine?" Ron asked. He knew he was being a bit selfish at that point, but he didn't want to have to pretend to be engaged with Hermione. His girlfriend, Luna, might understand, but he would feel uncomfortable.
"Oh, well I think she should continue on her current daily routine or as close to it as possible. No one else should know that she's missing a chunk of her memory otherwise the people would treat her differently and that would slow down the healing process at this point."
"So, how do we do that? Someone will have to be with her day and night, right?" asked Mrs. Granger.
"Yes," the healer said. They all looked at each other as if to search out a volunteer.
"Harry, I think you're the only person who would be able to do the job at this point," Mrs. Granger said.
"But, I don't really know what her normal routine is. I've been away for too long." He didn't know why he was so frightened of being with her. He just knew that it would not be a good idea if Hermione and he were left alone for too long.
"Mrs. Granger is right Harry," Ron said and earned a glare. "Mr. and Mrs. Granger wouldn't be able to move around as they pleased in the wizarding world. I could do it, but then I don't have certain skills that you have. I would be lost trying to figure out what Hermione should be doing."
Harry knew Ron was right, but bloody hell, the first thought that popped into his head when he saw her again the night before couldn't be erased. He looked at her in a different light. If he was going to be honest with himself, he had to admit that he was attracted to her. He also knew that he blocked it off out of respect for Ron and Hermione. But since he found out that Ron and Hermione were no longer engaged, he couldn't seem to stop thinking about other possibilities. Not while Hermione needed him as a friend, he told himself.
"What do you say, Harry?" asked Mr. Granger. He was hoping he'd agree. No offense to Ron, but he thought Harry was more capable of protecting his little girl than Ron was. It wasn't that he didn't like Ron. But he still felt a little animosity over their break up. He was Hermione's father after all and he did break his little girl's heart. He had some right to feel a little bitter about that didn't he? Besides, Harry trained to fight against the dark arts and he did beat the most vicious dark Wizard of the century, he could handle his Hermione.
Harry didn't want to disappoint the Grangers, but most of all he didn't want to let Hermione down. He knew that her ears were probably burning in the other room. The healer wanted to run a few more tests, but really just wanted to speak to them without her. She explained that she would talk with Hermione once they understood the challenges that they had to face as a part of her family.
"All right, I'll do it. I'll have to let Mad-eye know so that he won't give me any assignments any time soon." He didn't want to tell them that he was supposed to have two weeks of relaxation, but he didn't want them to feel guilty or anything.
The healer hesitated. "Can this Mad-eye be trusted to keep the secret?"
"Yes, he's the head of the Auror division and a good friend of ours."
"Okay."
"What about my family? Will they have to be kept in the dark about Hermione's situation? She's very close with them."
"I'm sorry Mr. Weasley, but the less people know, the better it is for Hermione and for them."
"I understand."
"Well, if you don't have any questions for me, I'm going to go have a talk with Hermione."
When the healer left the room, Harry felt inclined to ask the Grangers, "Will we be staying with you until this is solved?"
"Oh, no Harry, you know how independent Hermione is. We won't be able to convince her to stay at the house while this is being resolved. As soon as the healer tells her to stick to her routine, she'll want to go back to her flat in London. But you will bring her for frequent visits won't you? And please let us know if there is anything we can do to help."
"Well, I guess if the healer said, stick to the routine, then we'll stick to the routine. Ron, I'll need to know what's been happening as far as the family is concerned so that I know how to keep Hermione out of trouble there."
"Well, I'll try mate. But you know they have this girl's night out every other Friday and they never tell me what goes on during those times. Sort of like that saying, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I saw that a lot on the telly while I was at Hermione's. Well, they must keep a pact like that because not even my dad knows what goes on during those girls's night out."
"I think I can help you out a bit on that part. I did go on some of those "adventures" so to speak," Mrs. Granger said.
When Hermione walked in, they all turned to face her. They all smiled at her as if they had a secret she didn't know about. She narrowed her eyes at them. "Healer Sarah just told me what we need to do? So, who's the lucky person playing my shadow?"
All eyes turned on Harry. Hermione couldn't understand it, but her heart leapt in her chest. She felt relieved that it was going to be Harry and not Ron by her side. Why would she feel that? Ron was her fiancé after all right? She knew in her logical mind that her parents wouldn't be able maneuver freely within the wizarding world. That left either Ron or Harry.
She looked at Harry and smiled. It was almost an apologetic smile. The excitement turned to guilt when she looked at him. She'd be tying down that handsome man for Merlin knows how long. She knew that until her problem is resolved, Harry's life would revolve around hers. Why did she feel thrilled of that fact? The brief appearance of guilt quickly dissipated.
He walked towards her, placed his hand on her shoulder. The electricity was ignored by the both of them, even though both felt it at the moment of contact.
"There are some things you need to know, but I think it would be better if we all have the talk at Grimauld Place."
A/N: Sorry this took so long. I hope you like this chapter. Thank you for your kind reviews.
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