It had been two years since Gilderoy Lockhart had been put in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He was recovering better each day, though the healers hadn't found any way to completely restore his memories yet.
Today was a nice warm day, and Lockhart decided to get out of his bed. He was wondering if there was someone he could talk to, as he was feeling lonelier and lonelier with each passing day. He went to the nearest healer desk, expecting to see his favorite nurse; Isabelle, who loved to tell him fascinating tales as if he was a kid asking for bedtime stories. Lockhart wondered if he had a crush on her. When was the last time he had a crush on someone anyway? Thinking about those lost memories made him feel down every time.
He turned the corner and found the place completely empty. Not a single nurse was around. Maybe there had been an emergency that called for everyone's help, since he now remembered there was quite a commotion outside his room a few minutes ago. Disappointed, he turned to walk back to his room. Perhaps he'd just spend more time reading those books Isabelle had brought him; books that were written by him but he could hardly remember at all. It was always good to read about the things he did. Apparently he was a great and famous wizard.
On his way back Lockhart came upon an open door and saw an old man behind it, sitting on his bed and reading a book. He seemed to be another patient. All of a sudden Lockhart had this urge to say hello. He needed someone to talk to that bad.
He peeked inside shyly. "Hello," he said to the old man. The man looked up from his book and smiled.
"Hello. I'm Arnold. Who are you?"
"I'm Gilderoy. Are you busy? Do you mind if I… stay and have a little chat? I'm feeling quite lonely around here."
"No, not at all! I'm quite lonely too, I must admit. There's not much to do around here for an old man with no memory like me. I'd love to talk to someone."
"So you lost your memory too, huh? Me too," Lockhart sat down on a chair beside the bed. "Do you know how it happened? I mean… if you want to talk about it."
"I'm not sure. I can't remember a thing. The last thing I remember is that I was going out to the woods to hunt some werewolves that had been terrorizing my village for a while," Arnold looked down sadly.
"Wow. You're so brave. I think I used to be a dark creatures fighter as well; I have books I wrote about it. But I don't remember either."
"Really? Maybe that's why you look familiar," Arnold stared at Lockhart for a moment. "I really do think I've known you from somewhere."
"Well, I suppose I was quite famous. Do you want to see my books?" Lockhart beamed at the opportunity to show off his books.
"Of course! I'd love to," Arnold smiled.
Lockhart jumped off the chair, told Arnold he'd be right back and rushed to his room to pick up his books. When he returned, two more people had entered Arnold's room. One was a woman in her thirties with dark curly hair, and the other was another old man around Arnold's age, with a crooked nose.
"Gilderoy, meet Laura and Bill. Laura, Bill, this is my new friend Gilderoy. He used to fight off dark creatures too, can you believe it? We're all victims of memory loss because we tried to save the world," Arnold chuckled.
Laura extended her hand to Lockhart. "Hello. Nice to meet you, and welcome to our little group of the failed superheroes league," she joked. The others laughed.
"Gilderoy, show us the books you wrote!" Arnold prodded.
"You wrote a book about your journeys?" Bill looked amazed. Happy because he'd found a group of fans in the hospital, Lockhart proudly showed his books to his new friends. They all ooh-ed and aah-ed over it.
"I could've sworn I know this vampire," Bill stared intently at the drawing in Vacation With Vampires. He seemed to be trying hard to regain his memories. "Maybe I've met him before. Good to know you took care of him though."
"I could've sworn I know him," Laura pointed at Lockhart. "And I've never even remembered seeing his books before. How is that possible?"
"Yeah, me too," Bill looked even more confused. "But surely there are a lot of photos of Gilderoy everywhere, seeing as he's quite famous."
From further conversations, Lockhart knew that Laura had two kids at home, waiting for her to fully recover. Apparently she used to work in the Ministry of Magic, and with her current state it was impossible to get back to it. The children's father had passed away and the family had to rely on Laura's income, so she needed to recover as soon as possible, that was why she chose to stay in St. Mungo's for more effective treatments. Her children were at their aunt's house temporarily. Laura's sister's family wasn't rich either, so she hated to add the burden, but unfortunately she was the only relative in England. Laura experienced the worst memory loss among the small group. She lost almost ninety percent of her memories about her whole life. Laura explained that the healers in St. Mungo's managed to find out the cause of the memory loss and it was definitely not from a physical accident, but from a spell. The memory spell. Someone had cast it on her, and it was almost too powerful for her mind to take.
Bill was also diagnosed with the same thing. He even forgot about his wife and kids after he lost his memory and needed to get used to be near them all over again. It felt too weird to live with people he knew as strangers, so he decided to check himself into St. Mungo's to see if they could find a way to restore his memories. His family was sad but they understood where he was coming from, and they still visited him regularly to help him with the familiarization process. He could only hope one day he could once again give them the same love as the one he had for them before he forgot about their existence.
Their stories were heartbreaking, and Lockhart wondered who was the person who'd done all this to them. They were all good people; brave people who tried to fight off dark creatures to protect their loved ones. But someone had zapped all their memories into oblivion.
"Who could've done this?" he pondered out loud, sitting between Laura and Bill on the other end of Arnold's bed, Laura sniffling slightly after retelling her story to him. "Separating people from their families, making someone lose their whole life's memories…" He thought about his own fate. He knew someone had also modified his memory. Probably the same man as the one who did it to all of his new friends. He sighed deeply. "If it wasn't for people like that heartless man, none of us would be here for sure."
His new friends nodded in sad agreement. The sun slowly set behind the mountains, and in silence each of them watched it from the window, wondering what they would do if they ever found the man responsible for their lost memories. Would karma make sure he got what he deserved?
Only time could tell.