The war is over, and Harry wakes up to find all of his friends are gone.... Except Hermione, but she's lost her memory and it's his job to help her to get it back. Can he return this now carefree and reckless Hermione to her original self? Can he learn to love her the way she is now?
From the Unofficial Portkey Archive: https://portkey-archive.org/story/6615/
Chapter One
Without Reason
Author’s Note:
This story takes place after ‘the war,’ as you will read, and Hermione’s character is very OOC but not for the whole story and there is a reason for it so I won’t go into explaining it here. I know it seems like I continually kill off all of the characters except Harry and Hermione, but it’s usually necessary for the storyline so I hope it doesn’t bother anyone too much. Hope you like it! Enjoy, Read, Review!
Harry woke up cold. Cold and in pain. It’s wasn’t an ordinary pain, it was a pain that reverberated from his insides out. He was shivering and wishing the algid air would numb his aching form. But it didn’t. His memory was extremely muddled, fragments of a nightmare clashed and collided in his mind.
Scenes of war and battlefields, spells shooting every which way, people screaming, Death Eaters marching, attacking. He remembered receiving a letter from Lord Voldemort himself stating that he had Hermione in his clutches within the Dark Forest and if he didn’t hurry up she would be dead before morning. Harry and Ron ran through the forest, dodging trees, breaking twigs, practically falling over rocks and roots in a desperate attempt to find them.
Everything else was a blackhole of information.
He opened his eyes and looked around him. He was in St. Mungo’s, laying in a hospital bed and aching all over. Harry’s first thought was, where are Ron and Hermione?
He was in a room by himself, there were no other beds, there were no other people.
Where’s Ginny? Neville? The rest of the Weasleys? Where is everyone?
A sickening fear began to lick at his insides, making him feel light-headed and queasy. They’re not all dead, no, it’s not possible.... I can’t be the only one left. Is the war over? Is Voldemort gone?
So many questions were bubbling in his mind and he wanted them answered before he ripped his own hair out.
He noticed someone walk past the open doorway and he tried to call out to them but his voice was hollow and his throat was dry so it came out as a harsh rasp. In a desperate need to get someone’s attention he began slamming his palm against the wooden side of the bed. Finally, an old healer took notice and came in.
“You’re awake!” he said delightedly, running out of the room and coming in with, what seemed like the entire staff of healers.
“Do you need anything? Water? Food? A potion?”
“I want-” he swallowed. “I want answers.”
The healers looked at each other anxiously.
“What happened?” he demanded, looking at them without his glasses and finding their faces blurry and distorted.
A young woman spoke up, “The war, you don’t remember any of it?”
He cleared his throat, “Not much, no.... How long have I been out?”
“Nearly two weeks.”
He paused, “Is he gone?”
“Is who gone?”
“Voldemort, is he gone?”
The group of people shivered at the name but nodded, “Yes, you defeated him brilliantly.”
Harry still wasn’t finished, “Where are my friends? Ron Weasley? H-Hermione Granger?”
The healers looked at each other uneasily, “We’re sorry,” a tall man said. “You’ll find out all about your friends once you’ve recovered-”
“What happened to my friends?!” he screamed, growing increasingly violent. “Tell me!” Harry made a move to get out of bed and lunge for the healers, demanding to know what happened to his friends, but the tall man muttered something under his breath and Harry immediately fell asleep.
When Harry woke up next his room was dark. The door was closed and the room was black with night. There was one window in the room, covered up and offering no light at all.
Harry swung his legs over the side of the bed, finding them tingly and weak. He made a move to stand up but his feet were asleep, and numb, causing him to fall on his foot the wrong way.
“Argh!”
He lifted himself up and sat on the edge of the bed, hitting his legs and feet, furious to wake them up so he could walk around. After several minutes the tingling went away and he could almost walk again. He limped into the hall, pains shooting up and down his legs, and he walked onward.
The floor seemed dead but Harry was grateful for that, someone would have yelled at him to get back in bed. He came to a long piece of parchment nailed to the wall, it read: List of the Deceased
Harry felt his knees buckle and he stopped himself from falling by leaning against the wall. He skimmed the list, finding classmates and familiar names left and right. Draco Malfoy. Harry’s stomach lurched, deciding whether he should be relieved or upset. He looked over the list, only acknowledging the names he recognized.
Neville Longbottom.
Dean Thomas.
Ginny Weasley.
Ron Weasley.
Colin Creevey.
Vincent Crabbe.
Percy Weasley.
Remus Lupin.
It took him more than a minute to reach the bottom of the list, finding he had lost most of the people he had known and loved. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were still alive, and Tonks.
Reality hit him like a tidal wave. Ron was dead. Ginny was gone. He would never see Lupin again. And Neville, good, old, reliable Neville.
He felt alone, sick and confused. And then, he realized, he hadn’t seen one particular name on that list.
Hermione Granger.
Author’s Note: Just the first chapter, something to start it off.... Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading.