Animi Revocare
Author: Marie (J) Granger
Title: Animi Revocare
Summary (for fics): Harry and Hermione are in the middle of the Horcrux hunt when their memories of the summer after 5th year are returned to them. How will this change things?
Warning (if applicable): This is a sequel to "Just Called to Say…" and you should really read it first. I promise this one will have a happier ending.
Other ships (if applicable): None.
Rating: PG-13 to be on the safe side.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any money from this endeavor.
Part: 1 of 1
Notes: I'd like to dedicate this story to five people (they know why): Athena, "Luney," my husband, Amanda, and Pen/Gal.
They had just returned from the graveyard (having decided to visit Bathilda Bagshot another day) and the Polyjuice had worn off, when Hermione warily noticed an owl winging its way toward their tent. That was until she recognized it as Errol, the Weasley's practically octogenarian letter-carrier. Her heart leapt as she expected that it was from Ron, an apology for his being such an immense prat. However, as he landed, she noticed that her name was written in a feminine hand - one that didn't look like Molly's or Ginny's.
On her guard again, she approached the owl. She cast detection charms before she touched it, finally determining that it didn't have homing or other harmful charms attached. Still cautious, she removed the letter and gave the owl a treat from their meager rations. She opened the letter and read, first curiously, then quickly:
Dear Hermione,
I hope this letter finds you and Harry in relatively good health. This letter isn't the bearer of bad news; we're all as well as could be expected. I have just been to Shell Cottage (as you can probably tell since I borrowed the Weasley's owl to send this) and found Ron there. That, of course, means that you and Harry are by yourselves. I'm sorry your friend is being such a prat, but the fact that you two are alone together makes what I have to say all the more important.
I have a confession to make. Wait, this is Tonks writing to you, Tonks Lupin. I should have said earlier. How clumsy of me. Oh well, that's par for the course. I should quit putting off telling you why I'm writing.
All right, I'm not proud of this, but I cast memory charms on you and Harry over a year ago. You two agreed to it at the time, but even now I'm not sure it was the right choice. We wanted to keep you safe, but I can't imagine you being in much more danger than you're in right now, so that's a moot point as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure Moody would disagree, but I listened to him once; I'm not going to do so again in this matter. I know this is not making sense to you, but it will in a minute, trust me.
You can reverse the memory charm. For the reversal spell to work, you need to have Harry with you. I assume that won't be a problem. Once you're together, you both need to hold on to the necklace you have - the one you wear in memory of your sister. Then move your wand counter-clockwise around the charm while incanting Animi Revocare. By then everything I've written will make sense, but you may need some time to process what you re-remember. Good luck, and forgive me for what I did.
Yours ever, the ever-expanding,
N. Tonks Lupin
Hermione blinked. Memory charmed? That put a few things into perspective. She could hardly be angry with Tonks without being a colossal hypocrite, so she decided not to be. Besides, she and Harry had agreed to this charm being placed upon them and, somehow, it had kept them safe. Harry… she had to find him.
Entering the tent, she found him kipped out on his bunk, reading Beedle the Bard for the seven millionth time. "Harry? I have something here you should read," she told him quietly.
"Yeah?" he asked, looking up, "What is it? It's gotta be more interesting than this rot."
"Harry!" Hermione scolded automatically defending the book, although she privately almost agreed with him. "It's a letter from Tonks."
"Aha," he replied, taking the letter from her. She watched him carefully as he scanned the note, hoping he wouldn't be angry with Tonks. As far as she knew, he'd never memory charmed anyone, but then, supposedly he had agreed to it at the time. He hated any form of manipulation, though, so she couldn't be sure he'd see it like she did.
"Well?" she asked softly when he was done.
"Well… I'm not sure what to think," he confessed, ruffling his hair in what she knew was an involuntary motion. "I suppose we ought to cast the spell and decide then, huh?"
"That does sound like the most logical course of action," Hermione teased with a grin. She pulled out her wand and snaked her other hand down to pull out the mustard seed pendant that never left her. She stepped closer to Harry and offered him a chance to hold onto it too. "Shall we?"
"Yeah, I guess now's as good a time as any," Harry agreed, taking hold of the small chain. "Do you want to do the spell? You're more likely to get it right on the first go."
Hermione wanted to dispute his lack of confidence in his own spell casting ability, but he was probably right, statistically speaking. "Okay then. Here goes… Animi Revocare." A gold light shone from the mustard seed and then whirled around the pair as they stood together, watching and suddenly remembering the events of the summer after fifth year as they truly happened.
Hermione now remembered telling Harry about her sister, Viola's death. Harry remembered actually grieving for Sirius. They both remembered falling in love.
They stared at each other silently for a few moments. Finally, Harry spoke. "I… I think I need some time to think about this."
Hermione nodded, though inside she wished they didn't need processing time. "Me too. We should talk about it before we go to bed though, okay?"
"Sure," Harry said. "I'm going to go for a walk."
"All right, but be careful," she replied. Once he left the tent, she headed to her bunk for a good brood. The fact that she'd fallen in love with Harry made a lot of sense in retrospect. Removing that love explained why she'd sort of fallen for Ron during their sixth year and why she and Harry had been distant with each other and argued so much over the Half Blood Prince book.
The real question was what to do about the love now. Now that she remembered, did she still love him? That would probably take time to know for sure. Sure, she loved him as a friend and always had, but romance… did she want to pursue that? Then again, what did they have to lose? They only had each other now anyway. She resolved to tell him that she'd like to explore a relationship if he wanted to. She hoped he'd be willing to take a chance on her.
Once she'd made her decision, the time until Harry returned seemed endless. She started to worry that something had happened to him, but she needn't have. Eventually he came back through the door of the tent, somehow managing to look both sheepish and a little excited. "Hey."
"Hey, yourself," she replied, smiling at him. "You ready to talk about it?"
"Yeah. Well, I think so, anyway." He shuffled his feet, then took a seat near her bed. "It was a shock, you know?" She nodded emphatically. "But it puts things into perspective and explains a lot. I mean… I feel like… I don't know how to say it."
"Like you got a piece of yourself back that you didn't know you were missing?" she suggested.
"Exactly," he confirmed.
"I feel the same way."
"So what do we do now?"
"What do you want to do?" she asked, hoping against hope that his answer would be the same as hers.
"I… I think we should pick up where we left off a year and a half ago. If you want to, that is," he answered, sounding just as nervous as she was.
"I'd like that," she smiled at him.
"Me too."
"Where do we start?"
He blushed, and when he spoke she could barely make out his words. "We could try kissing again."
She smiled even more brightly. "Good idea." She stood from her bed and walked over to his chair, where she leaned down and gave him a brief peck on the lips.
"Nice, but I think we can do better," he grinned with a slightly teasing tone.
"Oh really? Why don't you show me what you mean?"
And he did.
~fin~
Author's notes: I don't feel up to writing a full Horcrux hunt story, so here's an outline for how the rest of it would go:
Harry and Hermione go to see Bathilda Bagshot a few days later. It goes as in canon except that Harry's wand doesn't break.
Ron never comes back to the Horcrux hunt (or does, unbeknownst to H/H, sees them together romantically, and leaves again). Hermione saves Harry from drowning in the pool after the Patronus doe appears to him.
Dobby still saves them from the Malfoys, but Bill and Fleur manage to save his life. He and Winky get married and have lots of little elflings.
Ron does return for the final battle, as do all the DA members. Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass, and Theodore Nott stay to fight with the defenders of Hogwarts as well.
It's Harry who remembers the House Elves and gets a big kiss for it.
Remus and Tonks don't die in the final battle, but Harry and Hermione are good godparents to Teddy anyway. Fred also survives.
Molly dies fighting Bellatrix. (To make up for the fact that Arthur didn't die in book 5, because I saved Remus and Tonks, because I've never liked her much, and because it's ridiculous to think that a house wife who never really saw battle before as far as we know took out a hardened death eater.) Bella was then killed by the combined efforts of Neville and Hermione.
Harry and Hermione eventually get married and have three kids: Rose Lillian, Andrew James, and Jane Sirius. And they live happily ever after.
If there's anything else you're curious about, let me know and I'll think up an answer for how it was the same or different. (Hey, Jo does it all the time!)