For Hogwarts Class A Study of Magical Objects: Remembrall
Task #1: Write about a character who has a terrible long-term memory (note: You cannot write about Neville Longbottom).
The Ultimate Patronus Challenge:10. Hippogriff: Write about someone escaping death
Writing Club Day - Write a fic where a radio features (as more than a quick mention).
Word count:1036
Betaed by Sam, thank you!
Hermione was eight when it happened.
It was an usual Sunday afternoon for the Grangers. They had their lunch and now they were enjoying some time together. The radio was on and they were listening to old love songs in the garden. It was tradition.
Everyone on their street could hear the music from the old family radio. It had been theirs ever since Hermione's grandfather had received it as a wedding gift from his father. And it still worked.
Hermione was laughing and dancing, one with the music. Besides her love for books and knowledge, she loved to dance. She knew as many dance moves as books she had read and even if she was just eight, their number had stopped being countable a long time ago.
For the first time, her parents weren't watching her but reading a medical book; they had a conference to prepare for. And Hermione, in the middle of her dancing, had exited the garden without realising it, dancing into the street.
She never saw the car coming towards her; she only felt the pain as her head made contact with the asphalt. She didn't hear her parents' desperate cries either. There was only pain.
…
"It's a miracle that she survived, Madam," the doctor said to a tearful Jane Granger as she clung to her husband, "She lost a lot of blood and she hit her head hard. First by the car, and then when it made contact with the road."
"But will she be alright? My daughter, is she going to be alright?" Jason asked, tears in his eyes. If only they had been more careful, if only they had been watching her.
The doctor looked with pity and sorrow in his eyes at the two parents. He had been told how brilliant the girl was, a good dancer and a good student. And now…
"I am so sorry Mr. Granger, but your daughter hurt her head very badly; it affect her brain."
"So what are you saying, Doctor?" her mother asked, letting go of her husband.
"Her long term memory has been affected, Mrs. Granger. Your daughter cannot form new memories longer than a short period of time. And she will forget them, too. The only memories that will remain constant are the ones she has now. She will never be able to produce new memories, I'm afraid. I'm so sorry," he repeated.
The two parents looked crushed upon hearing this. Their sweet daughter, the one with perfect memory….Both of them collapsed on the floor, crying.
Hermione's reaction had surprised everyone. When she had been told that she would no longer remember her life, that she would forget, after a day or two or three, everything up to the accident; the girl had come up with a plan. She hadn't cried; she hadn't felt sorry for herself. She found a way to fix her future.
She had everything planned out to the last detail so much that even the doctors and the assistants were impressed with her. They all could see how brilliant she was and they felt like the accident had robbed her of something important. Part of that could never be returned.
Still, Hermione was grateful. She had escaped death; she could only be grateful. She was sure her plan would work. There was no reason for it to not. And if for some reason, it didn't work, she would be eight forever. Perhaps she could join Peter Pan in Neverland as she had wanted when she was four and her parents had told her his story.
Two weeks later
"So, you write everything in there and we just have to tell you to read it?" her mother asked for the umpteeth time.
Hermione nodded. "Yes. I can remember the accident and as we have seen, I forget a little less than a week. I already wrote everything in the diary, including the accident and what you've told me about last week. Mum, dad, you can do it. We can do it .So please trust me, it's going to be alright."
Jane smiled tearfully at her daughter. She was the strong one. The strong one for all of them.
"Goodnight sweetie. We love you. Always"
"I mum. Goodnight dad. I love you too."
The next day, when she woke up, Hermione was disoriented, the last thing she remembered was that car hitting her and the pain…
She had been in an accident, but how had gotten home? Why couldn't she remember?
Then she spotted something on her bedside, a diary with the sign "Read me/" Like Alice in Wonderland, she thought and started to read it.
Hello me!
As you know, you have been in an accident. Well, I have been in an accident. And as a result, your brain has been affected. After one week, you lose all of the new memories you have made. The last memory that you will remember will be the accident. You need to write everything you do here, every single thing. And when you finish this diary, start another and another…
Also, use video diaries as well, take pictures everyday of every moment. I know you can do it. Now, I am going to write what I have been told the last week, I hadn't started a diary before i knew how long it would be until I forget everything; the doctor said that it was a miracle that it was week. But I guess our brain can fight more.
Hermione skimmed through the rest of the diary; she would read everything later. And she would write as well.
I put the up sign 'read me' after mum and dad left. I thought that it would be better if I told myself. They are quite emotional and they're still blaming themselves.
Hermione felt her break for her parents and for herself. It wasn't their fault that she had been careless, but her life was not ruined; she could do it.
But despite her plan actually working, the old radio never played again in the Granger household, at least not until children's laugh could be once again heard in the house.
Hermione wasn't a child anymore.