Losing Hermione

by Polydicta

Hermione, now married to Harry Potter, is lost somewhere in Oxfordshire after being attacked by Lucius Malfoy.

Losing Hermione

by Polydicta

Hermione, now married to Harry Potter, is lost somewhere in Oxfordshire after being attacked by Lucius Malfoy.

Disclaimer:

All fiction is derivative and fan fiction doubly so. I make no claim to own any part of any of the following, all I have done is an attempt to put together the elements in a novel fashion, using words and ideas like Lego ™ bricks.

There is no money involved – all I do is to share what I do for my own amusement.

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Losing Hermione

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Prologue

The war had been over for six years and things had settled down nicely. The Death Eaters were either dead or in Azkaban. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy had finally not only patched up their differences, but were now teamed together in the Aurors' Department. Harry was beginning to feel that he was becoming stale, little better than a muggle bobby on the beat.

He sat at his untidy desk and reflected on the ironies of the past. Draco had turned coat, and had approached him, seeking sanctuary from Voldemort. His intelligence had been invaluable, not only confirming what they already knew, but filling in details that they were missing.

At the end both he and Hermione owed their lives to Ferret. Draco had managed to save Hermione, by hitting her with an insensibilis hex when she was injured. He had done the same for Ginny and Ron. The Death Eaters had passed the three by, thinking them dead.

.

Draco had battled the Deaters to a stalemate after leading them away from his allies, and had held them until help had arrived. Ron and Ginny had lived only to fall in the final battle, Ginny the victim of an impacto curse, Ron fell foul of a demento curse, and lived his days a vegetable in St Mungo's Permanent Spell-Damage ward. Harry, Hermione and Draco visited him regularly, but he lay unmoving. Unseeing, unhearing and unthinking he was a hollow shell from which the thing that made him Ron had been cast out.

Draco had fought beside Harry and Hermione, guarding their backs until Voldemort fell. Draco was merciless in his prosecution of the deaters, taking none alive.

After the war the three of them became aurors, working as a team of three. Hermione had been injured during the taking of Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy. Although she recovered physically, her confidence was destroyed.

While she was in St Mungo's, Harry had asked her to be his wife. She had consented, shedding a final tear of farewell for her lost love, Ron.

.

Lucius Malfoy had been convicted on his own son's evidence long before the whole of his exploits had been told before the Wizengamot. He had been sentenced to death by self-cruciation pending his appeal, a death of his own invention.

.

Barely a week after Harry returned to work following the young couple's honeymoon, an ashen-faced Draco walked past the sign saying Scar, Ferret and Bush, Aurors to the Gentry, and into their office.

"Draco, what is it? Ferret, mate, speak to me!"

That snapped him out of whatever personal hell he was currently visiting.

"It's Lucius Malfoy. He's escaped. They were about to spell the imperius potion into him and he apparated. From inside the anti-apparation wards."

"What else, Draco?"

"He's hijacked a wand. He overpowered the guard at the ferry crossing and killed him with it."

Harry said several bad words.

"Do we know which way he's heading?"

"Yes, he's coming this way. We've tracked him by the trail of death and destruction he's left. Moody thinks he's after us."

The blood drained from Harry's face. Pale as Malfoy, he simply said, "Hermione!"

Draco nodded. "We've been assigned to your place. We have Tonks and Moody with us. They'll meet us there."

Grabbing their field packs they apparated with two loud cracks.

.

Arriving at Harry and Hermione's house in Oxfordshire, they found the house empty and Hermione's broom gone.

"She's gone shopping. I'll go look for her."

"Not on your own, you won't. This is a security detail, Remember."

The two stepped outside and immediately had to duck a hex from a broom-mounted wizard.

There was a fire-fight, Harry and Draco being pinned down until Tonks and Alectoris Moody arrived. Once in the air, the four of them on military brooms corralled the rogue wizard. A stunner caught the rogue and he fell from his broom.

.

Arriving on the ground, they found the very dead body of Lucius Malfoy. Tonks arrived last, pale and trembling with the rogue wizard's broom.

"H-H- Harry, I-It's …"

"Oh Merlin! Hermione's broom."

Her wand was located in an area of woodland between the house and Wantage, but despite quartering the ground for miles around and casting endless tracking charms Hermione was never found.

Prior Incantato simply revealed that Lucius Malfoy had used a wide range of charms, hexes and curses, but what had been used on whom was impossible to determine; Hermione rarely used magic, so her wand gave no clue.

Harry was devastated. He and Draco left the Auror service within days, the heart being taken out of them.

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11 Years On

"Excuse me Headmaster?"

"Yes Draco?"

"I have the list of muggleborns who we need to visit for this years' intake."

"Thank you Draco, who do you recommend I take with me? I thought Professor Bones, she's fairly unthreatening."

Draco laughed, "There's always Hagrid if you want intimidating."

"Thank you for that. I remember very well the expression on my uncle's face when Hagrid came through the door of the fishing hut."

Draco regarded his friend. The years had been kind to Harry, even through the hair-tearing losses he'd sustained. There was still the shock of untidy black hair, now showing a few threads of grey. There were still the arresting, emerald eyes behind the trademark round glasses and the scar.

The scar that had marked his friend as anything but ordinary. No longer a fiery red thunderbolt, it had faded to a jagged silver line, the memory of a long-past hurt.

"Shall I ask Professor Bones to come up, Harry?"

"Yes please, Draco. And thanks for everything. How's the new DADA syllabus coming?"

"It's good. We even have a boggart to practice on."

Harry smiled and turned to the list of names and addresses. Running his eye down the list, one caught his attention. Lily Minerva Smith, daughter of a single mother. His eyes grew misty at the memories those first names evoked.

Well, he thought, let's get started.

.

Harry and Susan visited each muggle household in turn. Between them they were extremely persuasive, and many parents were understanding of their children's accidental magical outbursts and subsequent needs.

For some reason, Harry had kept Lily Smith until last.

He knocked at the door and was greeted by a dark-haired beauty with large front teeth and arresting green eyes.

"Hello, you must be Lily Smith. My name is Professor Potter. I think you probably received a letter from me this week."

The girl called back into the house, "mu-u-um, it's that man from the school."

Lily's mother came through to the hallway, leaning heavily on a crutch and the hand rails that lined the walls. Harry and Susan were struck momentarily speechless.

.

Recovering himself, he said, "Good afternoon Ms Smith, my name is Professor Potter, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is Professor Bones, one of my teachers. You should have received a letter from me earlier this week."

The woman lisped at her visitors, "yeth, there wath. Forgive me, but ath you can thee, I'm not terribly well. pleath come in."

Harry felt his insides tying themselves into a knot and his heart breaking over again.

Sat in the woman's front room, Harry noticed that she never quite made eye contact with her guests or her daughter. Lily made a pot of tea and came and sat beside her mother, eyes wide but remaining silent.

"Before we begin," Harry said, "I can see that young Lily here is bursting with questions."

He looked at the girl. Lily shook her head. "My questions can wait. Mum needs to ask hers first."

"Very well. Ms Smith?"

"Profethor Potter, ath you can thee, I am quite dithabled and I have come to rely heavily on my daughterth help. I am, ath you can imagine, fearful of being left alone if I allow her to attend a boarding thcool. I am altho, ath you can thee, not able to work. I can't thee how I could pay her thcool feeth."

Harry had to fight the urge to lisp right back at the girl's mother. "Ms Smith, neither of those problems is necessarily an insurmountable problem. The second, well, for talented youngsters I have a discretionary budget to expend on scholarships and fee relief. As to the first, unless you are particularly bound to this area, we do have guest quarters within the school grounds. I am sure we would be able to make you comfortable, and from experience at the school, it is quite difficult to feel isolated there unless you really try."

Susan gave him a sharp look, and he answered by a slight frown. Lily giggled.

"That ith very kind of you thir. For thome reathon I don't underthtand, I find the idea of magic not entirely unbelievable. Maybe I wich that there wath magic to make life more interethting."

"Now, I am required to ask of your family?"

The woman looked slightly sad.

"I wath injured in a road acthident twelve yearth ago when I wath carrying Lily. I have no memory of anytime before I woke from my injurieth. Thorry. I theem to have an education, but I remember nothing of my life. Ath you can thee, I am at betht partially thited, I have thith thtinking lithp from a broken jaw, my pelvith wath chattered and my thpine fractured. I thuppoth I chould conthider mythelf lucky I'm not in a wheelchair.

"Ath far ath I know, I have no family. Thertainly no one ever came to look for me at the hothpital."

She gave Harry a slightly twisted smile, raising her face to him for the first time. Harry could see the scars of her facial injuries.

.

She gave a slight start as her failing vision passed over him. Then she smiled again.

"You have the thame colouring ath Lily. What colour are your eyeth?"

"Green, Ms Smith, but by mid-term, just red and sore."

She gave a laugh that Harry and Susan recognised.

"Tho, how come my daughter ith a witch? I have no magic, and prechumably nor did Lily's father, whoever he wath."

"Can you be sure of that, Ms Smith? There is a simple test that I can make for you. Right now, if you wish?"

She peered in his direction. "There ith? I would be interethted to find out."

Harry rolled back his sleeve, revealing an auror's wand holster housing three wands – His holly wand, the Elder Wand and his wife's.

"This is a wand, Ms Smith. I'm going to put it into your hand and you tell me what you feel."

Gently he placed Hermione's wand in the woman's palm. Her twisted hand immediately wrapped the wand in a creditable imitation of Hermione's wand-grip.

"I feel warmth running up my arm and through my body. It feelth … right, Comfortable thomehow. It feelth like … I don't know … like coming home."

"Then you have the magic."

"Profethor Potter, I feel ath though I chould know you. Do you know who I am?"

There were tears in her eyes.

"I believe I do, Ms Smith, and if I am right and that wand has never lied, then you were sought for months after you disappeared twelve years ago."

.

She went to hand the wand back to Harry.

"No, you hold that wand a bit longer. Get used to the feel of it."

"Now, Lily. What have you been doing in school for the past few years?"

The girl smiled, "I'll just go and get my school reports shall I?"

"That might be an idea. In the mean time …"

.

He turned to Susan. "Do you want to get on? It's getting late, and if you'd care to tell Draco how it's gone today that would be a great help. I'll apparate back later, or maybe stop at the Leaky Cauldron. If I stay in London, I'll floo him later. Maybe you'd have a word with Poppy Pomfrey too?"

She nodded. "Of course, Harry," She said and then whispering, "and Congratulations."

She saw herself out and Harry heard the faint pop as she apparated.

.

Lily arrived carrying an envelope full of papers.

"These are my reports. I had to read them all for mum."

"Very well," harry answered, giving the child the opportunity to cover an overgenerous reading of her reports he added, "is there anything about them that you want to tell me?"

She shook her head. "No, I think everything is in there. Including school photos."

Harry took a quick look through the papers. "You have glowing reports, I see. You favour mathematics and science, I see. How is your written work? Hogwarts sets lots and lots of homework."

The girl giggled. "I like writing. Would you like to see?"

She offered a couple of well worn exercise books. Harry dipped in and read some extremely mature essay work.

"Excellent. Now, do you have any questions about the school, or about magic in general?"

"Well, how do I get one of those, Wands, was it?"

Harry laughed. "There's a very old man in a strange street in London who makes them. You will have to go there with your mother, and he will give you one that is just right for you."

"What sort of classes are taught?"

Harry described the school, showing Lily wizarding pictures of the school and school life. Her excitement grew by the second.

.

"Now, Ms Smith, you have had a chance to think about sending Lily here to school with us, and about the opportunity to join her in Scotland. Do you have any questions or thoughts at the moment?"

"I have jutht two. When can we go and could your withardth do anything to bring my memory back?"

Harry beamed.

"We could get you there this evening if you really want. And as for your memory, well …"

He paused.

"It could be extremely harrowing for both yourself and Lily here, and that assumes that our healers are able to help at all. Since you have your own magic, it is likely that our medical magic may be able to improve your physical condition.

"Tell me, have you ever really seen your daughter?"

The woman started to cry, "No, I have never theen her. All I thee are vague blurth and thadowth."

"Would you like to see her just for a moment through my eyes?"

The woman's sightless eyes lit up. "You could do that?"

"I think so … hold that wand to my head and imagine yourself able to access my mind…"

He arranged her wand, and continued, "then say legilimens."

She did so, and at first try, Harry directed his thoughts so that she saw her daughter through his senses, being careful to reveal nothing else.

She lost concentration and the link collapsed. Tears of joy sprang from her eyes.

"Th – thank you tho much. Why do I feel that I know you well? Do you know who I am?"

"Yes," he said, "we were close for a long time. I never really stopped looking for you when you disappeared."

She considered. "Methhy black hair and green eyeth. I have dreamed about them thinth I can remember. And a thcar."

Lily, excited, said, "Yes, Professor Potter has a scar. Like a zig-zag."

Harry laughed, "most people describe it as a lightning bolt."

Ms Smith said, "yeth, and round, wireframed glathheth."

Lily answered. "Yes…"

"Profethhor, what wath my name?"

"Are you certain you want to go this way?"

"I've been Jane Thmith for twelve yearth becauthe I don't have a real name. I dream about thomeone I can't remember. Have you ever felt that you have lotht everything, Profethhor?"

"Yes, I lost everything. The only reason I'm still here is because of my friends and because I have spent my life surviving. I have no idea how to go about giving up hope.

"Your name was Hermione Jean Granger, and we went to school together. We fought in a wizarding war together, and we worked together afterward. That in your hand is your own wand."

"And what of Lily'th father? Ith he thtill alive? Doeth he thtill want me?"

"Well, Lily's father is very much alive, and doing well. I know him quite well, actually. He was almost completely destroyed when you disappeared twelve years ago near your home. The wizarding, well, police were scouring the area for miles around where your wand was recovered, but no sign of yourself."

"I was taken to a thpethialitht head injurieth unit up in London. Thertainly that'th where I woke up."

"For what it's worth, Ms Smith …"

She interrupted. "Pleathe, call me by my real name."

"Of course, Hermione, for what it's worth, you were knocked off of your flying broom by a dark wizard. If I knew which spell he'd used, I might be able to risk repairing your memory here and now."

"But, Lily'th father, doeth he thtill want me. Doeth he want uth?"

"I think it's fair to say that he will be the happiest man alive to get you back, and to discover that he has a beautiful, intelligent daughter as well."

Lily was trying to say something, but Harry put his finger to his lips and shook his head.

"Did he ,,, remarry? … ith there thomeone elthe?"

"No, he never really lost hope."

.

Just then there was a knock at the door, and Lily went to answer. Harry heard Draco's voice.

Then Draco entered. "Headmaster, Professor Bones said that you had …"

His face registered the shock of seeing his best friend's wife returned from the dead.

"Draco, may I present Hermione, and your god daughter, Lily."

Hermione's head snapped up. "God daughter?"

"Yes, you had already asked Draco just after you were first married."

"And my husband? Will he be coming here too … oh."

The look of shock on her face was painful to see.

"Black hair and green eyeth…you? You're Lily'th father?"

"Well, Hermione, I don't think I know too many people with emerald green eyes like Harry's"

"And my parentth? Do I thtill have parentth?"

"That's what I meant about remembering being painful. Your parents died in the war. I know you can only feel a vague regret at the moment, but …" he trailed off.

"But I want to remember…"

-::::::::-

Epilogue

The bushy-haired witch walked down the corridor, leaning heavily on her gnarly walking staff. Her teeth and jaws ached from the latest treatment. She had some remaining gaps in her memory but she generally remembered when she asked Harry to remind her. It was what she could expect – it was only a few weeks since she had been a cipher.

She still missed being able to read the books in the library without her glasses, and her leg pained her when she walked, but generally life was good and she was, after all, still on the mend.

She went up to the Headmaster's office to find her husband giving a tutorial on summoning charms to a group of third year Hufflepuffs. They were just finishing off, so she waited until they were gone.

" 'Mione, what brings you to Chez Insanity, Love?"

"Well, first off, I wanted to remind you that Draco and Susan are coming over for dinner on Saturday, and the other thing …"

She took her husband's hand and put it to her belly.

Harry gazed into her brown eyes with boundless love. "Number two already?"

She laughed and kissed him. Then she said, "they'll be saying we have Weasley blood in us next."

He took her in his arms and held her close. He had twelve years of family life and love to make up for, after all.