A Fragile Memory by secret_lover
Chapter Notes: Since my shameless ploy to get people to review didnt work i was hoping updating would!!! This is the last, what I like to call, 'Deidre' chapter... if you are interested I might just mention her later. As ever anything you recognize belongs to Jo. This chapter is dedicated to Mind_over_Matter for the longest review yet out of two fics!!! :D Thank you to Bianca King for beta-ing Lather, Rinse and Review...Please!!!
Hermione felt all of her breath leave her in one big “WHOOSH!”, she had the faint sensation that her knees were buckling somewhere beneath her. There was something SO familiar about this man, yet not. The image of a ginger haired, blue eyed boy with dirt on his nose flashed in her mind, followed by another with the same boy vomiting up slugs, then a little older now and in a hospital bed with a broken leg, next he was in what looked to be a rather old dress, next in red robes being carried on the shoulders of a happy crowd, then crouched on the floor of a green house, and the last was of the same boy nearly all grown up standing next to another boy with untidy black hair and glasses, both with a determined look in their eyes. Just before she hit the ground Hermione felt two pairs of arms reach out to catch her. One pair was familiar and intimate; the other pair belonged to her sister.
Ron felt like an enormous bolder was lifted off his chest as soon as Hermione was in his embrace. He released a breath he had known he had been holding. Hermione he thought with a mental sigh. He had been waiting for this day for three long years. Deidre was looking at Ron with a horrified and melancholy expression. Ron couldn’t look her in the eye, he felt like such a prat.
“You knew I was coming, Dee,” he said as he carried Hermione through the house to the sofa.
“Yes, but I hoped it wouldn’t be today. I haven’t even had a chance to tell her. She isn’t prepared! RON!” She was becoming frantic now. “She fainted when she saw you! What do you think submerging her in that world will do to her,” Deidre shrieked.
“Fix her!” Ron stated firmly brushing a stray hair out of Hermione face. He pulled his wand out of his robes, pointed it at Hermione and muttered, “Rennervate!”
Hermione’s eyes opened slowly. She had a dazed look left over from her earlier faint. She looked from Ron to Deidre and back again, then raised her hand to her head and winced. “Who are you?” her voice was weak and a little worried.
Ron and Deidre exchanged a worried look. Did my sudden appearance shatter her fragile memory? Ron thought. Deidre seem to be thinking along the same lines.
“Well, Hermione… I am your sister-”
“Deidre, I know who you are, and have since I was two! I was talking about him,” muttered Hermione pointing in Ron’s general direction. “ I know you, but where… and how… when…?” she sat up still mulling over it in her mind.
Ron smiled to himself, same old Hermione, a brain that works faster than her mouth. “My name is Ron Weasley, and you did know me… once.” Deidre shot him a warning look. “We went to school together.”
Hermione gave him a skeptical look. “ I don’t remember you from primary or secondary school.” Her eyebrows had almost disappeared into her bangs.
Deidre swallowed audibly; Ron knew this was going to be hard on her, to lose her sister to a world that had almost killed her once. He decided to stay out of this one and allow Deidre to explain. She started, “Hermione… I know this going to be hard to understand but… you don’t actually remember secondary school.”
Hermione looked incredulous, “What?!?! I’m not mental you know. I remember going to J-”
“I know you have memories of going there but they are false. They were implanted there when your actual memories were erased.”
Hermione’s eyes bulged, “Implanted? What do you mean I had memories implanted in my mind?”
“You lost your memories in a battle against Lord Voldemort. Ron was one of your best mates at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” Deidre informed her.
“You mean I am a… a… a WIZARD?”
The man her sister called Ron snorted as he walked along the mantle looking at the family pictures accumulated there. “No. I am a wizard. You are a witch,” Ron corrected. He muttered something under his breath that sounded faintly like “ And you’d do well to remember it this time. 'But there’s no wood'. Honestly.”
“But if I am a witch… or was a witch… then why don’t I remember or know how to do any magic?”
“Well, when we fought the war again Vol-demort,” His voice broke on that strange name, “you were hit by a stray spell and all or your magic related memories were erased. And while you were still in St. Mungo’s your parents decided that they wanted you to live out the rest of your life as a Muggle,” Ron explained.
St. Mungo’s? Muggle? Hermione thought. Such strange words and at the same time, I understand them. “So then why are you here now? What has changed in the last three years?”
“ There is another dark wizard who is terrorizing wizard kind. And he has a standing grudge against Muggle-borns, especially you Hermione.”
“Me?” Hermione squeaked. “Why me.”
“Well he hated you while we were at school. And I guess that hatred has followed him ever since. But it doesn’t matter why right now. All that matters is that he may have found you and if we don’t get you out of here soon then you and your family are going to be in trouble,” Ron told her.
“WHAT? Where am I supposed to go? And where is Deidre going to go?”
“I already called Mom and asked if I could stay there for a while. I took two weeks off work. It should be a nice vacation. Even if you’re not there,” Deidre smiled.
“Wait. If I’m not with you… where am I going to be? Surely you don’t expect me to go with this perfect stranger?” Hermione looked scandalized. “Are you both nutters?”
“No we aren’t nutters, and I am not a stranger. We have known each other since we were 11. Plus I know you are going to come with me. Because otherwise they will find you and your family.”
Hermione looked at this man standing in front of her, all red hair and determination. But how did she know he was even who he said he was. She couldn’t remember anything about this past she was supposed to have lived. “Ok, even if I was once a witch, how do I know you were one of the good guys?”
Ron gave her a withering look. “If I was one of the bad guys I would have killed you already.”
“Fine!” Hermione sighed. She had obviously lost this battle. Plus her sister trusted him, and she didn’t want to see her family hurt. “Can I at least pack a bag? Or do I have to go with only the clothes on my back?”
“Fine, pack a bag I don’t care. Whatever makes you more comfortable.”
“I’ll go with you, Hermione,” Deidre decided jumping up and following her out of the room.
Ron watched the girls leave the room. They needed this time together. Plus, Deidre would make sure that Hermione didn’t jump ship, so to speak. It was going to take a while for her to trust him again, but he had three things at home that would help. He smiled as he thought of them. That at the very least would be interesting, he thought.
A short while later Hermione appeared in the door way with a trunk. Ron hurried forward to help her with it. It was amazingly heavy when he tried to pick it up. “What do you have in here, A ton of bricks?” He questioned.
“No, just clothes and some books.” She answered.
“Right. Just some books! Where is your sister anyways?” Ron asked as he walked towards the fireplace.
“She stayed upstairs, it’s a lot easier this way. Where are we going?”
“England. Can you light this?” He asked pointing to the fireplace between them.
“Erm… ok I guess.” She bent down, turned on the gas, and lit a fire. When she stood up the fire was blazing. “How are we getting there? Plane?”
“No,” Ron said as he reached into this pocket and pulled out a handful of green powder. He threw it in the fireplace and when the flames shot up he stuck his head in and shouted “the Burrow” then proceeded to shove Hermione’s trunk and his broomstick through.
“ My Books! Why did you BURN my books?”
Ron smiled. “I didn’t burn them. I sent them to my house.”
“Um…” Hermione looked skeptically at the fireplace. “We aren’t going to your house that way are we?”
“No,” Ron shook his head. “Too much of a chance of you getting out in the wrong gate.”
“So… how are we getting to your house?” Hermione still looked a bit skeptical.
“We are going to Apparate. Follow me.” Ron walked out the front door and at the bottom of the steps he stopped. “Come here,” he said. Hermione walked to his side. He pulled her into a kind of one-armed, side-hug. “Hold on.” He looked down into her eyes and turned on the spot taking her with him. He felt the familiar pressure pushing in all around him. When he opened his eyes he was back in his room in good old England. Hermione was looking around with slightly shocked look on her face. Ron couldn’t really blame her. It almost looked like they had stepped into an oven. The walls and bed were a violent shade of orange. Even the cat at the end of his bed was ginger. “Oh, Hermione, I have something for you.” Ron lifted the bow-legged, squashed faced cat off of his bed and handed it to her. “Meet Crookshanks.”
“Aww. He’s so cute,” Hermione cooed.
“I was hoping you would think that. He has been driving me crazy for the last three years.”
“You mean… he’s … he’s...mine? From before?”
“Yes, and so is this,” Ron turned and rummaged through his drawers, Where had he put that? “Found it!” He handed Hermione her wand. She just looked at it. Ron had the urge to smack himself in the forehead. It’s just a stick to her, he though. “It’s your wand,” he clarified.
“Oh… thanks.” She smiled awkwardly.
“One more thing.” He pulled a book out from under his bed. Well at least she will like this one. He handed her the dusty book.
She took it into her hands and read the title, “Hogwarts, A History”.
A/N: Yay! On more chapter complete...And just a bit closer to the end... how sad!!! Anyways the next chapter is called Meeting the Family.. Hope you like it!