Title: Remember To Forget
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Towards the end of a very strange seventh year, Hermione is attacked late one night by an unknown assailant. It is this attack that causes her memory to reset, taking her mind back six months… back to when she was dating Ron, not Harry…
Authors Notes: So you get two update in one weekend! Wow! Aren't you all so lucky? But it's the next update you'll be anticipating, as I might have some news for you… just a note for this chapter- Hagrid is a character that I don't write too well, so just ignore if he seems OOC cause I can't write him, but this chapter was kind of needed.
Eleven
Hagrid opened his door after only one knock and his face was almost split in two by the grin he got. He ushered them inside and made them all a cup of tea, served up some biscuits and just sat back in his chair and looked at them.
'I can't believe how grown up you all are,' he said gruffly. 'Seems like only yesterday you started here.'
'Sometimes it seems like I've never lived anywhere else,' Hermione said sadly. 'I'm going to miss Hogwarts when we've left.'
Harry felt his stomach grow heavy. Hermione's words had been so true- he was going to miss Hogwarts dearly.
'So, tell us Hagrid, what have you been doing all year?' Ron asked, helping himself to some biscuits.
'What, you mean you don't already know?' Hagrid said cheekily and they exchanged looks.
'Well, no we don't,' Harry said. 'We've got guesses, but we don't know for sure.'
'I'm shocked,' Hagrid said with a chuckle. 'Never known three for knowing more than they should.'
'Well tell us so we don't break the cycle,' Ron said through a mouthful of biscuit. Hagrid chuckled again.
'Oh, alright then,' he sat up a bit straighter and looked at the three of them. 'Before Dumbledore died, he had been talking to me about a forest in Albania, the one where You-Know-Who was hiding before he came back. Dumbledore needed someone to go on a mission to the forest and find out what sort of creatures dwelled inside- he never said why, but he felt it was important.
'I spent the summer with Grawp and Olympe, at Olympe's school in France. She helped with maps of the area and planning routes and stuff. I came back to Hogwarts only very briefly, as you three well know. I told Minerva my plan and then I left with Grawp.'
'So what happened?' Ron asked excitedly.
'Took us a while to reach the area- could only travel at night with Grawp.'
'Why take Grawp then?'
'I had no idea what was in that forest- for all I know it could be jinxed so you'd never find your way out.'
'And how could Grawp beat a jinx?' Hermione wondered outloud.
'By smashing the forest to smithereens- he's good at that you know,' Hagrid said darkly. 'So, as I was sayin, we left the school and traveled by night and without magic. It was winter when we arrived. We set up a camp just inside the forest and outside of a small village. Through the day we explored the forest, through the night we watched the village. I had a strange feeling about that village.
'We explored the forest for two months. What we found strange was the area in the middle was so…' Hagrid paused. 'Sounds stupid, but evil is the only word to describe it. No creatures dwelled in this area. You could feel the dark magic in the air.'
Harry shivered at Hagrid's description.
'Did you see anything in there?'
'Only one thing,' it was Hagrid's turn to shiver. 'You remember Bertha Jorkins? You-Know-Who didn't do a very good job of disposing of her.'
Hermione went pale as death, Ron looked slightly green and Harry knew he looked no better.
'The weather was starting to warm up by then. I'd done what Dumbledore had wanted, I'd scouted it out. There was no dark activity in there no more. We decided to camp for one more night, have one last look around and then start heading home. It was that night…' Hagrid's voice faltered. 'That village on the edge of the forest. I'd had a strange feeling about it since I arrived there, that something wasn't right…'
Harry, Ron and Hermione moved to the edge of their seats.
'The ruddy Death Eaters had put half the town under the Imperius curse. That last night we were there it was…' Hagrid choked up. 'Muggles killing Muggles, then killing themselves. It was a blood bath.'
Hermione clapped a hand over her throat to stifle a scream.
'I read about that… in the Muggle papers…' she whispered, pale as a ghost.
'It was Death Eaters,' Hagrid said. 'I watched 'em after the Muggles had finished each other off. A few survived, but not many. The Death Eater's finished them off. Once I knew what was happening, I contacted the Order, but by the time they arrived, it was too late. And I would have been no use to the Muggles, would've scared them more than anything.'
Hagrid fell silent and Hermione wiped away a tear. Ron was still green and Harry just wanted to go out and get revenge for those poor Muggles who had no idea why their friends and neighbours had suddenly turned on them.
'We left the next night. Was hard too- Muggle Auror's from the next village swarming everywhere. If they had've seen us, we would have been dead. And then we get back in time to see three black haired people coming out of our forest.'
'Three black haired people?' Hermione asked confused.
'Snape, Malfoy and that Bellatrix.'
'But Malfoy doesn't half black hair,' Ron said quickly.
'He does now,' Hagrid said. 'A lot has happened to Malfoy since last year.'
Harry burned inside. If it wasn't for Malfoy, Dumbledore would still be alive.
'Lucius is still in Azkaban and his mother Narcissa renounced the Dark Lord,' Hagrid told them. 'Narcissa ran away, too scared without Lucius. No one has seen her or heard from her since last June. Which left Draco in a tight spot- his parents were blood traitors. So he changed his hair colour to black to be more like the only family member he still considered 'worthy'. Bellatrix Lestrange.'
Harry looked at Hermione who was looking strange.
'Are you ok?' he asked worriedly.
'I'm fine,' she said, breathing slowly. 'I just think I should perhaps go back to the castle and get some rest.'
'I'll take you,' Ron said at once and drained his tea cup. Harry and Hagrid waved them good bye from the front door.
'So they're still going out?' Hagrid queried Harry as he started to clean up. Harry stood with his back to Hagrid, watching them out the window still.
'No,' Harry said sadly.
'Oh, that's a shame,' Hagrid said airily.
'She's meant to be going out with me,' Harry said, turning and facing Hagrid. Hagrid dropped the teacup he was wiping dry.
'What!'
'Yeah… only problem is, thanks to Snape, Malfoy and Bellatrix, she can't remember that…'
Hagrid looked at Harry sadly.
'It'll all be ok, Harry,' he said warmly. 'She'll remember.'
'I hope so,' Harry said and before he realized what he was doing, he had flung himself at Hagrid in tears. 'Why is everything so damn hard?'