Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I never have, never will. This story is in no way for profit or anything like that, it's just for fun.

Full Summary: A young woman wakes up in the middle of an unfamiliar room, surrounded by Order members, with no memory of how she got there or anything that has happened to her. The Order is automatically suspicious of her. She's not a witch (or so she thinks), she doesn't remember what's happened to her, but she seems to know things. As she struggles to remember what happened and what's going on, she's also finding out more about herself, things that she would have never imagined possible. And why are Death Eaters trying to kill her?

A/N: OK, this is just a story I kinda got into my head and started writing, or typing actually. It might seem a little confusing at first, but it should make sense later. FYI, the stuff in italics is a dream. Anyway, hope you like this first chapter!


Some Memories Are Best Forgotten

"I don't know."

I groggily came to, but all I could think about was my pounding headache so I kept my eyes closed. I heard voices, and listened closer, trying to figure out where I was.

"Do we know who she is?" I heard a man ask. All the voices were whispering so I had to strain to hear.

"I'm afraid not," I heard another man answer, he sounded older, gentler.

"She could be a Death Eater," I heard a gruff male voice say.

"I don't think so. She was unconscious and it looked like she'd been hit in the back with a stunning spell," another male voice told the gruff one. This one sounded younger than the others, but also more tired.

"Well, look at her," I heard a woman almost shriek. Her voice sounded like it could possibly be very sweet if she wanted to, I bet she's a mom. "She looks like a delinquent! All those piercings and tattoos, honestly, she's probably a criminal." Someone, a man, let out a bark-like laugh at her statement.

"That's all it takes to be a criminal?" he scoffed.

"Yeah, Mum, it's not that big of a deal," a young male voice told the woman. I figured he was her son and probably had some tattoos or piercings himself.

"She could still be working for Voldemort," the gruff voice said.

"OK, who the bloody hell is Voldemort?" I finally asked grouchily as I opened my eyes and sat up. I was tired, my head hurt, and these people obviously thought I was someone bad.

The group of people looked over at me quickly, obviously not knowing I'd been awake for the last five minutes. I was easily able to match the voices I'd heard with the faces I was seeing, though I also saw a couple more faces than I'd heard voices.

"How are you feeling?" the man with the tired sounding voice asked me. He had light brown hair, with flecks of gray in it. He did look fairly young, but the shabby state he was in made him seem a lot older.

"Like a freight train hit my head," I groaned. OK, I sound crabby. The man who had scoffed at the woman before let out another bark-like laugh. He had long, matted black hair, gray eyes, and had a rather gaunt appearance. I glared at him. "You have this headache and see if you're still laughing then," I quipped. He stopped laughing, and looked at me curiously.

"Touché," he replied, giving a nod of approval. I just rolled my eyes, which was probably a bad idea with this headache.

"What's your name?" a red haired man questioned. I recognized him as the first voice I'd heard.

"Vallerie," I told them. "But most people call me Val."

"You have a last name Vallerie?" the gruff older man asked. His appearance matched his voice, and he had a rather creepy eye that kept looking everywhere.

"It's..." Uh oh. This isn't good. "Uh..." Crap. "I don't know," I finally answered honestly. The group shared apprehensive glances.

"Vallerie..." the older man with the half-moon spectacles and the long beard started. He seemed as gentle as his voice, but that doesn't always mean much. "Do you remember what happened to you?" he asked me. His voice was kind and patient, but I still felt nervous.

I strained to think. I honestly couldn't bring up a memory of anything that had ever happened to me. I finally shook my head, resigning to the fact that I wouldn't be able to tell them anything.

"I don't know," I admitted. There were those apprehensive looks again. "I don't remember anything."

---

This was a new one. No one in the Order had ever found someone who couldn't remember anything. Moody was convinced she was a Death Eater, Molly was convinced she was some kind of criminal, and Remus thought she was telling the truth. Everyone else was trying to figure out what to make of this girl.

She was certainly a sight. She looked like a muggle with the way she dressed. She had a shabby, disheveled appearance that made them all wonder where she'd been and what had happened to her. She was wearing raggedy jeans with several holes in them that rested about five inches below her naval and a plain dark t-shirt that had a lot of dirt on it and only came down to her naval. Not only did she have three earrings in each ear they could also see she had a nose ring and a naval ring. They'd also seen at least three tattoos. Her long black hair, which looked like it would be beautiful if it was clean and she ran a brush through it, had highlights of blue and purple in it. Though even with her appearance she didn't look like she was out of her teens yet.

"So...where am I?" Vallerie inquired.

"Doesn't matter," Moody barked. Vallerie glared at him.

"Doesn't matter my arse!" she argued. "I can't even remember my own damn last name, the least you could do is tell me where I am and who the bloody hell you are!"

Everyone was taken aback by her outburst, though a few agreed she had a point.

"You're still in London. Where exactly...well, we can't tell you that yet," Remus told her, sounding slightly apologetic. Vallerie looked at him curiously.

"Why not?"

"Because you're probably a Death Eater!" Moody stated like it was obvious. Vallerie gave him a bewildered, yet angry, expression.

"First, what the bloody hell is a Death Eater? Second, I'm guessing it's bad so if you call me one again I'm giving you fair warning I might just slug you," she told him sharply. Moody looked like he was about to retort when Dumbledore held up a hand to stop him and moved closer to Vallerie.

"A Death Eater is a follower and servant of Voldemort," he explained politely. Vallerie nodded slowly.

"So who's Voldemort?" she questioned.

"He's a dark wizard, one who is trying to take over," Remus informed her. Vallerie started laughing. "What's so funny?"

"A wizard?" she scoffed. "You've gotta be kidding me. Do I look like I'm four?"

The Order members looked at each other curiously. They weren't sure how to handle this.

"I assure you Vallerie, wizards and witches are real, and so is magic," Dumbledore told her. She just stared at him skeptically until he pulled out his wand and turned the candle on the coffee table into a teacup. Vallerie raised her eyebrows.

"Oh," she muttered, then looked back up at the group. "So you think I'm a Death Eater...why?"

"Well, the area where Mr. Lupin found you," Dumbledore started, motioning to Remus. "has been the sight of some recent Death Eater activity."

"But when I found you, you were unconscious and it looked like you had been hit by a stunning spell," Remus added.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything?" Dumbledore asked her gently. Vallerie sighed and shook her head.

"Sorry. All I know is I probably hit my head since I've got a killer headache."

"Bollocks!" Moody exclaimed. "You're lying!" he accused.

"I am not!" Vallerie denied forcefully.

Moody was getting ready to argue back when Sirius held up his hand this time.

"Where'd you get the tattoo on your wrist?" Sirius asked her casually. Vallerie shook her head in confusion.

"I don't remember, it was a year and a half ago," she answered nonchalantly. Suddenly her face lit up. "Hey, I remembered! Well, sort of."

Dumbledore smiled at her enthusiasm, it was genuine enough to convince most everyone in the room, other than Moody, that she wasn't faking not remembering. He gave Sirius a slight nod for thinking of that before turning to Vallerie.

"Do you remember anything else, perhaps when you got your other tattoos?" he tried. Vallerie bit her lip in though for a minute.

"Well, this one," she started, pointing to the chinese symbol on her left upper arm. "I got when I was...fifteen I think. This one..." She pointed to the flower on her lower back. "I think I got it when I was...maybe sixteen. This one was the first one though..." She pointed to the four leaf clover that was around where the top of her pants fell on her abdomen. "I think I got it when I was thirteen or fourteen. And this one wasn't too long after," she continued, raising the sleeve of her t-shirt up to show the fairy on her shoulder. "Um...I think I got my nose pierced a few years ago. My belly button when I was...thirteen maybe. And my tongue...was a maybe a year before my nose."

Molly sighed and shook her head disapprovingly, but didn't say anything.

"How old are you Vallerie?" Remus asked her.

"Eighteen."

"Eighteen?!" Molly repeated incredulously. "Where are your parents?" Vallerie looked at her oddly.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I don't even remember where I was," she retorted.

"OK, Vallerie, if you'll excuse us we need to discuss a couple matters," Dumbledore told her politely as he walked back over to the group.

"This could be a trick Dumbledore," Moody warned earnestly, in a quiet whisper so Vallerie wouldn't hear.

"I think she's telling the truth," Remus put in, whispering as well.

"I agree with Moony," Sirius told them. "I don't think she's faking it."

"I think it's too dangerous to keep her here," Molly chimed in. "Especially with the children in the house too."

"But Molly, if she stays here then when we can keep an eye on her," Tonks argued gently.

"I hate to say this, but I think she's right," Moody admitted. "If we keep her here, we can keep an eye on her until we figure out who she is and what she was doing there."

"You guys do realize I can hear you, right?" Vallerie questioned, sounding slightly amused. They all looked at her, from the looks on their faces Vallerie knew they hadn't realized that. "Look, you can't keep me here against my will, so just take me back to wherever you found me, and let me figure out my life, OK?" she proposed. Moody huffed.

"You're not going anywhere," he told her firmly. Vallerie glared at him.

"Wanna bet?" she challenged, standing and getting ready to start toward him when Dumbledore held up a hand.

"What Alastor Moody was trying to say," he started calmly. "was that since you don't seem to remember anything, you should stay here until you do." Moody rolled his good eye, Vallerie noted that was not what he had meant.

"Why should I?" she questioned. "Apparently, you all think I'm some sort of...what was it, Death Eater? How do I know you're not the bad guys in this?"

"You don't," Sirius shrugged. Remus smacked him on the arm. "Hey! I was just being honest," he complained, rubbing the spot where Remus had hit him.

"I assure you Vallerie, we are not the bad guys," Dumbledore told her sincerely. Vallerie looked stoic.

"Why should I believe you?" she asked calmly. The look on her face told the group that she wasn't sure of much right now.

"What choice do you really have?" Tonks countered gently.

Vallerie sighed in defeat. She knew she really didn't have a choice in the matter. She knew she'd just have to be extra cautious until she figured some things out.

---

"Alright, here we are," Remus said as he and Vallerie reached the room she'd be staying in. "I know it's not too clean, but then again neither is the rest of the house, we're still making it habitable I guess."

Vallerie didn't respond to his attempt to lighten the mood. She was pissed she couldn't remember anything, that she was stuck in this house, and with people who could very well be the bad guys in the situation. She took a deep breath as she looked around the room, it wasn't much and it was actually rather small, but it wasn't like she planned on staying very long anyway.

"Why did that other guy call you Moony?" she asked suddenly. Remus looked confused for a second, and then realized what she was talking about.

"Oh, Sirius, well, it was my nickname in school." Vallerie nodded.

"How did you get it?" she questioned. Remus grinned slightly.

"That would be a very long story," he sighed. Vallerie smirked.

"Well, I'm guessing you either mooned someone, or a group of someones, or, since magical stuff really is real, then you might be a werewolf." She looked at him thoughtfully for a second, noting the stunned expression he was wearing. "I'm guessing it's the later." Remus sighed.

"You're very perceptive," he noted. She smirked.

"Nah, just curious." He chuckled hollowly. "I don't care, if that's what you're worried about."

"Thank you," he replied sincerely, smiling. Vallerie just shrugged. "Well, I guess I'll go and let you get some sleep, you're probably tired. If you need anything, there's people on...pretty much every floor." He started to leave, but turned back. "For what it's worth, I don't think you're a Death Eater."

"Thanks." He nodded and left, shutting the door behind him.

Vallerie looked around the room before she cautiously sat down on the bed. She sighed, hugging herself tightly, and closed her eyes. She wasn't sure why, but had a feeling she didn't really want to remember everything in her past. She slowly laid down, and curled up into a ball. It wasn't long before she fell asleep.

Vallerie was getting dressed in a small, very unsanitary bathroom. She was throwing her hair up into a ponytail when someone banged on the door.

"Hey! Come on! What's taking so long? I gotta go!" an older sounding woman called grumpily through the door. Vallerie rolled her eyes.

"Give me a minute!" she called back to the woman. She heard the woman cursing quietly.

Vallerie took one last look in the mirror, threw an apron in the top of her raggedy backpack, and slung it over her shoulder before heading out the door. Making her way through the gas station she tried to ignore the suspicious stares she was receiving, though she did notice one odd man staring at her more intently than the others. He was dressed in weird looking robes, and his eyes hadn't left her since she exited the bathroom. Vallerie caught his glance and held it for a second, hoping that if he knew she'd seen him watching her he'd quit. He didn't. The man continued staring as she walked out the door and down the street.

She stopped at a hot dog stand to get some food. She ate as she continued down the street, but noticed something in an alley out of the corner of her eyes. She paused in her walk to look. There were a couple more odd men in weird robes, like the man in the gas station, except these also wore strange masks. They looked over at her, and Vallerie could see the coldness in their eyes.


A/N: Well, I hope you liked this first chapter! I'm not sure how often I'll update, right now this story isn't on my priority list, but I do work on it some. I'll try to have an update up as soon as I can. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated!