Fred was dreaming. He had to be. This wasn't real, couldn't be real. Auden was lying here, unconscious, and when she woke up, she wasn't going to recognize him or anyone else. Madame Pomfrey had said they were going to be strangers to her and he couldn't do that. He and Auden had never been strangers. They had been friends all their lives and for the past two and a half years, they had been so much more. Auden meant the world to him and he couldn't bear knowing that she had forgotten that.
Auden's parents had taken a position on the other side of Auden's bed. Tears were silently cascading down Mrs. Parker's cheeks as she ran her hand through her daughter's hair. Mr. Parker looked like he wanted to go to sleep and wake up where this was all a dream. Fred had to agree with him. This was such a mess. Merlin, he couldn't live in a world without Auden. He couldn't live in a world where she would be physically fine, but mentally, unable to recognize him. It would be torture. He glanced at Neville. Suddenly, he felt a whole new level of sadness and sympathy for the younger boy. He had to live like this all the time. The sixteen years had been like this, and with his own parents.
"Well, you know what we have to do," Mrs. Weasley said shakily. Fred looked up at her, fully tearing his eyes away from Auden for the first time since Neville had brought her in.
"What's that?" George asked quietly. He was standing behind Fred, looking pale and terrified.
"We're going to have to help her remember. No matter how long it takes," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Yes, I think we can all agree to help?" Mr. Weasley asked, looking around.
There was no question. Everyone was nodding in agreement as the doors to the hospital room opened again. Fred looked up to see Luna slipping into the room. "How's Auden?" she asked.
"She's going to have amnesia," Sirius said softly.
"Oh no, too bad we don't have any powdered Snorckack horn," Luna said. "My dad says it helps to cure amnesia."
"Well, since we don't have any of that, we're going to help her remember," Ron said.
"Ooh, sounds fun. Can I help?" Luna asked.
"Of course," Auden's mom said, smiling faintly.
There was a pause before Luna spoke again. "I was just outside, you know…where Dumbledore's body was found." Everyone turned to stare at her, anxiously waiting to hear whatever information it was she had.
"He's really dead?" Lupin asked.
"Yes. The funeral is going to be held in two days out by the lake. Professor McGonagall told me."
Everyone nodded silently. Fred ran a hand through his hair. Was nothing going to go right?
Suddenly, Auden shifted slightly in her bed and let out a low whimpering noise as her eyelids fluttered.
"Is she waking up?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"She is," Fred whispered, holding Auden's hand tighter. Fleur walked back over from Bill's bed. She had been moving back and forth between the beds, keeping an eye on Bill in case he woke up.
"Maybe you should let go of her hand, Fred," Mrs. Weasley said bracingly. "If she doesn't know you, you don't want to frighten her."
Fred looked up at his parents. Mr. Weasley nodded. "Your mother's right, Fred."
Fred dropped Auden's hand and moved back into his chair as his chest tightened even more. Auden was probably going to be terrified when she opened her eyes. She needed comfort and nobody who was here could do that in case they should frighten her.
Finally, Auden's eyes opened completely and she stared up at all of them in bleary confusion. Ginny had run to Madame Pomfrey's office and the two of them returned a moment later.
"Hello dear," Madame Pomfrey said gently, moving to the front of the group.
"Hi," Auden said quietly, pushing herself into a sitting position. Her eyes were huge in confusion and fear. Fred's instincts were to immediately calm her down, but he had to contain himself, which might have been one of the hardest things he'd ever done. When Auden spoke again, her voice shook a bit and Fred's heart nearly broke a bit more. "Where am I?" Auden asked. "Who are all these people?"
"You're in the Hogwarts hospital wing and I am Madam Pomfrey, the nurse. These are your friends and family," the nurse explained gently.
"Hogwarts?" Auden asked, scrunching her face up in confusion.
"Hogwarts is a school, dear," Madam Pomfrey said. "You took a bad hit to the head and that's why you're here. You are a student here at Hogwarts."
"Am I really?" Auden asked, looking at the nurse in surprise.
The doors burst open again and Ben raced over to Auden's bed, skidding to a stop beside Lupin. "I got your letter, Mum, and Apparated over as soon as I could. How is she? Does she really not remember anything?"
"Who's he?" Auden asked, pointing. "He has lots of burns. Maybe you should fix them." She looked at Madam Pomfrey. "You said you were the nurse, right?"
Ben's jaw dropped in shock and horror.
"I guess that answers your question, dear," Mrs. Parker said softly.
"Oh, Merlin," Ben whispered, sinking to the floor right where he was. Something told Fred that even the most frightening dragon couldn't compare to this.
"Who is he?" Auden asked again.
"That's your brother," Mr. Parker said, clearing his throat. "His name is Ben and he's been working with dragons in Romania for the past three years. All the red heads are the Weasleys. You've known them since you were born. Neville, Harry and Hermione are other very good friends of yours. That's Sirius, and that's Lupin and Tonks."
"Who are you?" Auden asked, looking at her parents. Fred practically felt his heart break all over again at the looks on their faces.
"We're your parents, dear," Mrs. Parker whispered.
"Why don't I remember anyone?" Auden asked. She looked so frightened and Fred wanted nothing more than to climb into the bed with her and comfort her, but he couldn't.
"Honey," Mrs. Parker said, "You hit your head and you can't remember anything or anyone."
"Really? So I'm really supposed to know all of you?" Auden squeaked, looking around.
Fred buried his head in his hands. Auden's eyes had passed over him as she looked around, and they had been completely blank. Not one sliver of recognition. This was real; she really didn't know who he was. Her own boyfriend, her own parents, her own brother.
"Honey, do you even remember your name?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
Auden thought for a moment. "No," she said finally, looking alarmed. "Can you tell me what it is and what happened to me exactly?"
"Yeah, I'd like to know the same thing," Ben added.
"Your name is Auden Parker," Neville said, from the chair he was sitting in. This was the first time he had spoken in a while. "I'm Neville and we're in the same year at school. There was a battle and Death Eaters were in the school, attacking everyone-,"
"Death Eaters?" Auden asked.
Fred sighed. This was going to be a long process.
"I suppose you don't know about You-Know-Who?" Ron asked.
Auden shook her head, so everyone took turns briefly telling Auden the story about Voldemort.
"And his followers, the Death Eaters, were in the castle tonight?" Auden asked.
"Yes," Neville said. "One of them, Bellatrix Lestrange, shot a killing curse at you from behind while you were running to the hospital wing. I pushed you out of the way and you hit your head."
"I'm going to kill Bellatrix Lestrange the next time I see her," Ben said, clenching his hands into fists.
"I'm with you on that one," Fred said, raising his head to look at Ben.
"Maybe we should force feed her about a million Puking Pastils before we kill her," George added.
"Why was I running to the hospital wing?" Auden asked, interrupting their discussion.
"I told you about one of the Weasleys being hurt. It turned out to be Bill," Neville pointed and Auden glanced at Bill's bed, "but you thought—you thought it was Fred."
"Who's Fred?" Auden asked.
At that moment, Fred felt as if she had dropped a boulder on his stomach. He felt like he couldn't breathe. She had no idea who he was. He meant absolutely nothing to her now. Something he actually hadn't thought was possible.
"This is Fred," George said. Fred felt his twins hand on his shoulder. He knew that George understood how hard this was for him.
"Hey, you two are twins! That's really cool!" Auden said.
"Yeah, it is," Fred said quietly. He looked into Auden's light brown eyes, trying to find a spark of recognition, but there was nothing.
"So I guess I must have been really close to you and your family," Auden said, looking at Fred with a small smile.
"Oh, yeah," Fred nodded. He actually had to smile a little. "You have no idea."
"Auden, honey," Mrs. Parker said. "I know you don't remember, but you and Fred were…dating. He's your boyfriend."
"He is?" Auden's gaze turned to Fred again. "You're my boyfriend?"
Fred nodded. He still felt out of breath. The pranks they had pulled, the Yule Ball, the cooking, their first date, she remembered none of it. It was all wasted. She couldn't even understand how much he loved her; she didn't remember him ever telling her.
"I guess you don't want to date me anymore," Auden said, looking down at her blankets. "I don't remember you. I'm really sorry. I just can't remember anything."
Fred nodded, tears threatening to fall down his cheeks. "I know," he said shakily, "but I do still want to date you. I don't want to break up. I don't want to leave you just because you don't remember. I still-I love you."
Auden looked at him and bit her lip. An expression of shock crossed her features at Fred's words, but she didn't say anything for a moment. Finally, she squeezed her eyes shut. "It's odd hearing that come from someone who I feel like I've never seen before," she whispered, finally opening her eyes.
Fred sighed and looked away. He didn't know if he could do this for much longer. It was pure agony.
"We're all going to help you get better, Aud," Harry whispered. "We really will."
Auden nodded and Fred saw tears falling from her own eyes. "I feel so terrible. I want to remember you so badly, but I just can't."
"Don't cry," Fred whispered. He hesitantly reached forward to wipe her tears away and when she didn't move, he wiped them away with his thumb.
Auden looked up at him, her eyes still watery. She tilted her head and half smiled. "You are pretty cute. I guess I have good taste in guys."
Sirius let out a barking laugh, the first laugh they had heard all night, and everyone else smiled at Auden's comment.
"She needs sleep," Madam Pomfrey announced. "Here, take this," she said, handing Auden a spoon filled with some kind of medicine.
"Ugh, that's gross," Auden said after she swallowed it.
"Well, it's not pumpkin juice, that's for sure," Madame Pomfrey said. "Now, I think you should rest. You need your sleep. After the funeral, you should be able to go home."
There was a knock on the door, and Madame Pomfrey threw up her hands, but her expression changed when she saw it was Professor McGonagall.
"I heard about Miss Parker," she said quietly, looking down at Auden.
"This is Professor McGonagall, Auden," Hermione said. "Our Transfiguration Professor."
"Oh, hello," Auden smiled.
"Hello," Professor McGonagall said with a small smile. "I heard you took a nasty hit to the head."
Auden nodded. "I can't remember who anyone is."
"Well, I'd say it's certainly better than you being killed. Heavens knows, we need someone around to keep the Weasley boy in line. At least somewhat," McGonagall said as Fred half-smiled. "Anyway, I came to tell you all that beds have been arranged in the Gryffindor dorms for you all so that you will be comfortable until the funeral. I take it that you all will be staying here until then."
"Of course," Mrs. Parker said. She looked back at her daughter. "Auden, dear, we'll all come to visit you tomorrow. Do you think you'll feel up to going to the funeral?"
"Sure, I'll go. Dumbledore seems like a fantastic man, from what you've told me."
"He was," Harry said quietly.
"I'm not leaving," Fred said, as everyone began to file out of the room.
"Fred, you need sleep, too," Mrs. Weasley said.
"There are plenty of beds here, but I don't want to leave Auden." He turned to face her. "Is it okay with you if I stay?" he asked.
Auden hesitated before answering. "Yeah, sure."
"Okay, then, we'll see you both tomorrow," Mrs. Weasley said slowly.
Fred felt George pat him on the back before following everyone out of the room. It was just him, Auden, and an unconscious Bill in the room now.
"I'm sorry if this is weird," Fred whispered, moving to sit on the end of Auden's bed.
"It is a little bit strange," Auden said, shrugging. "And I'm scared. But not of you. I get the feeling that I can trust you."
"You can," Fred said. He looked into her eyes again, and this time he couldn't stop the tears from falling. He really was a mess. He couldn't even look at her without feeling like he was going to cry.
"Hey, don't cry," Auden said, looking alarmed.
Fred didn't answer. He didn't know if he could. He just buried his head in his hands as his shoulders shook slightly. After a moment, he felt Auden's hand tentatively squeeze his arm and he looked up to see her staring at him, her expression a mix of guilt, fear and confusion.
"I know you're scared," he whispered, "and I'm scared too. I need you to remember. I can't lose you."
"Tell me something about us," Auden demanded, leaning back against her pillows. "I want to remember. I will be able to remember eventually, won't I?"
"Madam Pomfrey thinks so, but she doesn't know how long it will take," Fred said, wiping his nose on the back of his hand.
"Okay, well, start talking," Auden said.
"What do you want to know?"
"Tell me about how you asked me out," Auden said. She smiled as she looked at him eagerly.
Fred smiled back for a brief second. "What is this, girl talk?"
"Yes, now tell me," Auden said. "Is it a romantic story?"
"I think so," he said. "We started dating on Christmas Eve two years ago. It'll be three this Christmas. Anyway, you were fourteen, I was sixteen."
"What month is it now?" Auden asked.
"June," Fred answered.
"Wow, two and a half years," Auden sighed.
"And counting," Fred responded automatically.
"Right," Auden said after a pause. "Anyway, continue."
"Okay, well I guess I should say that I started liking you the summer before your third year, but I didn't realize it. George knew before I did, actually. George is my twin," he added after seeing Auden's blank face. His heart dropped at her lack of knowledge of things she once knew. "Anyway, after that, I was able to admit it to myself, and that wasn't until the summer before your fourth year, but then you started dating Cedric Diggory in September. He was popular and a Quidditch player. Do you know what Quidditch is? It's a game played on brooms. You used to play, and so did I when I was at school here."
"Sounds fun. Was Cedric cute?"
Fred froze. Auden didn't like to talk about Cedric anymore, but now she didn't remember what had happened to him. It was weird hearing her bring him up. "Um, well yeah. Lots of girls liked him."
"Were you friends with him?"
"Not exactly. I guess he was okay, but-,"
"But you didn't like him because he was good at Quidditch and dating me?" Auden asked. "Just a guess," she added.
"Yeah, that's basically it."
"Then what happened?" Auden asked.
"We got into a fight," he said, turning red. "There was a tournament going on that year with three tasks. Cedric and Harry were both in it and you were cheering for him and I accused you of cheering for the enemy because he was in Hufflepuff. It's not one of my proudest moments."
"So how long were we in a fight for?"
"A month. Cedric broke up with you at the Yule Ball, a dance we had here on Christmas Eve. It was a mutual break up and I didn't know about it, so I found you and told you he was flirting with Cho Chang. You told me you didn't care because-,"
"Because why?" Auden whispered, leaning towards him.
"Because you liked me," Fred said. He was grinning at the memory and he looked up at Auden.
"And?" she prompted in a whisper.
"And then I kissed you," he whispered back. "It was the most amazing feeling. I had wanted to do it for the longest time and it was everything I had imagined and more." He paused. "Did any of that ring a bell? Bring back a flood of memories?"
"No," Auden shook her head. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Fred sighed. "We'll keep trying. You should sleep now."
"Will you be here in the morning?" Auden asked.
"If you want me to be," Fred answered.
"I do," she whispered, snuggling under the covers.
Fred climbed into the next bed and turned on his side, facing Auden. He watched her as her face relaxed and she fell asleep, her breathing light and airy. Moonlight was coming through the window and illuminating her face in a pale glow. She was still gorgeous, even while she was sleeping and had amnesia.
Fred drifted off to sleep, praying that Auden would remember everything soon.
A/N: This is the first chapter to the third story in the Auden/Fred series. It's going to take place during the Deathly Hallows and then a little bit beyond the end of the book.
I used the song Journey to the Past for the lyrics in the chapter title. I'm not sure who sings it, but it's from the movie "Anastasia."
Reviews would be amazing. I love hearing what people think and they encourage me to write more :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.