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, here we are… the final chapter. I apologise for the cliffhanger, but well, it was a necessary evil :p I had to leave you stewing over something…
Now, I am going to be writing another story, picking up from where this one leaves off. I will be posting that probably next weekend because I'm meant to be doing some other much more important stuff right now. I just thought if I get this update done, then all I have to worry about it finding the time to keep writing the next one. At the moment it will be called 'The Light At The End Of The Fight', but that could change (this story went through six name changes :p).
So without further ado, I give you the final chapter…
Fourteen
'Hermione?' Harry said, his hand inside the light jacket he was wearing clutching his own wand. 'What… how… huh… I…'
He was startled to see her standing there. She had been startled at first, before she remembered that Harry wasn't terribly good at long distance apparition and would have apparated to safe points between Hogwarts and here so that he wouldn't accidentally splinch himself.
She couldn't think of the words to say. She realized just how rash her actions had been.
'What are you doing here?' he asked and she opened her mouth, but no sound came out. He was still staring at her, looking as if he didn't know whether to laugh, cry or shout.
'I just,' she managed to say, before pausing. She just what?
'Hermione…' he said slowly. 'What is going on?'
'I know,' she said simply, hoping that maybe he would realise what she meant.
He didn't. He kept staring at her strangely.
'You know?' he repeated.
'Yes, I know,' she took a step closer to him. 'I know about… I know about New Years Eve. About the way we danced, in the snow. About the way we kissed in the moonlight. About the wonderful days we spent in each others arms.'
He looked as if he didn't want to believe what she was saying. And even as she spoke, more and more memories were flashing through her mind, like a never ending film strip…
~*~
The Three Broomsticks was packed. It was the first time the students had been allowed to come into Hogsmeade for a while. Harry and Hermione had snuck off from Ron early on in the day and holed themselves up here, having learnt in their fifth year that the best way to hide was in a crowd.
Hermione hated pulling herself away from him as they saw Ron enter the pub. Ron still didn't know about them…
…
'You're everything I try to be,' Harry whispered into her ear as she fretted over her homework.
'What do you mean by that?'
'I wish I was more like you, you know, being able to fit so much into one day, being able to do so much and learn so much… I want to be just like you, Hermione Granger.'
…
'My dad says to give you a message,' she said with a laugh as she read a letter from her parents that had arrived in the mornings post.
'And what's that?' Harry asked, looking over the top of her Daily Prophet that he had stolen.
'Keep your hands off me or he'll get you with his dentists drill,' she said with giggle. 'He's very protective of me, especially when it comes to boys.'
'Well, isn't he lucky that I am too,' Harry said, leaning forward and kissing her. Both of them pretended to not see Ron and Ginny look away, furious.
…
'Ugh, I give up,' Hermione said exasperated. 'I don't know what I'm supposed to look for to find out what the hell Voldemort used for a Horcrux.'
'Wow, you must be stressed to swear,' Harry said, looking up over his own book.
'Oh, be quiet,' she snapped, rubbing her eyes. 'It's this locket that's bugging me the most. I just get the feeling I've seen it or something and it's… ugh…'
'Let's take a break… let's go for a walk around the lake and just be together.'
…
'Harry, I'm worried about Hagrid,' Hermione said honestly as they walked in laps around the lake. 'It's been so long…'
'He'll be ok,' he reassured. 'But whilst he's gone, we could take advantage… his hut is empty… perfect for some quiet time alone…'
'What about the astronomy tower? It's quiet and alone up there.'
'If you can get up there before Seamus and Parvati,' Harry said darkly. 'Hagrid's hut tonight, at 7pm?'
'I'll be there,' she said, kissing him on the tip of the nose. 'But now I have to go and do a charms essay with Ron.'
~*~
Harry couldn't speak. Was this all a dream? Was this really Hermione Granger, the woman he loved, standing in front of him?
'Harry… it just hit me like a ton of bricks this morning… I'd known all along that I love you, that I love you like nothing else… everytime I would ask you something and you won't answer, it would confuse me and I didn't know why… it just wouldn't get through, what I couldn't remember… but it got through… and then you were gone and I knew where you were going… I just had to see you… to tell you…' she looked into his eyes, her own swimming with tears. 'I'm sorry.'
'Don't be sorry,' he said hoarsely. His mind was filled with a chant of 'this is real'. 'But this leaves us in a tight spot… you have your NEWT's… and I have my…'
'You said it best in first year. What do exam marks matter? If Voldemort takes over he's not going to care what marks I got,' she said strongly and firmly. 'As much as studies matter to me, there is much important stuff.'
'Like what?' Harry's heart was thudding.
'Like you,' she paused and gently reached out and took his hand in her own. 'Like love.'
They stared at each other.
'I'm coming with you.'
'What! Hermione, no-' Harry started to protest, but she cut over the top of him.
'I'm coming with you. You can't do this alone. You'll need someone with you.'
'Why does that someone have to be you?' he pleaded.
'It just does.'
Harry's heart was torn. He was so incredibly happy that she remembered, that she knew that she loved him, yet he was so full of fear about her joining him. It would be hard, and dangerous and she could get hurt…
But he saw the firmness in her gaze, felt her strong hand in his and he knew, as he always had somewhere deep inside, that she was going to be with him through all this. Hermione had never let him fight alone, she always tried to be there with him. She always encouraged him. And he knew it was pointless to stand in this square and fight with her over this. He knew that she would come, regardless of what he said.
'So where to from here?' he asked, his voice quavering slightly.
'We go into that house, right over there,' she said, using her free hand to point to where number 12 would appear as they got closer. 'And we find that damn necklace. And destroy it.'
'And then what?'
'We'll figure that one out when we come to it,' she said wisely.
Suddenly, Harry couldn't help himself. He grinned widely and threw his arms around her and swung her around. She laughed in spite of herself and just smiled at him when he put her down.
'What was that for?' she asked.
'I just didn't think I'd ever get a chance to do that again,' he said truthfully. She moved one step closer to him and looked straight into his eyes.
'Did you ever think you'd get to do this again?' she whispered as their faces yet again drew together and their lips melted.
Nothing had ever felt so right in Hermione's life, not even their first kiss. They broke apart after only a few seconds and she smiled ruefully at him.
'Told you I remembered.'
He threw his arm over her shoulders and they began walking slowly towards number 12 which was slowly taking shape in front of them.
'You don't have any clothes,' he said as he unlocked the door with his wand.
'I'll write to Minerva, get her to send my trunk. And until then, I'll apparate to my parent's house and pick some stuff up. You should come and meet them properly.'
'And have your father threaten me with a drill?' Harry said with a laugh. 'No thanks.'
The door swung open, revealing the usual dank hallway. They looked at each other apprehensively. They both knew that once they stepped over the threshold that they would enter a world where the rules had been suspended, where anything could happen, where the next move they made could make the difference between life and death…
But they were ready for it. They'd taken a difficult road to get to this moment and the road ahead would be even more difficult.
And they would take it as it came at them.
Holding tightly onto the others hand, they half smiled at each other, before taking that step into the unknown world.
~*~
And there you have it!!! Keep your eyes peeled over the next week to two weeks for the follow on story, titled (at the moment anyway) 'The Light At The End Of The Fight'. I hope you have enjoyed this, thank you for all your wonderful reviews, but there is one major thank you I've forgotten…
Thank you to JK Rowling for creating these characters for me to have fun with, even though you don't seem to want Harry and Hermione together, we do and it should be that way because Harry and Hermione rock :p