"Hermione," said the boy with black hair who'd helped her drink the water. "Do you remember who I am?"
"No..." said Hermione quietly and sounding scared. "Where am I? Who are you? Who am I? What's going on?" she looked anxiously around the ward and tried to get out of bed only to fall right back down on her pillow in agony.
"Hermione, Hermione..." calmed Ron, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Hermione? Why are you calling me that?" Hermione asked, wincing.
"Because it's your name," the nurse said.
"I... I... don't... under... I don't understand," she stuttered.
"Boys," the nurse said. "Maybe it'd be better if you go for a little while. I'll call you back in later." They were ushered out of the ward.
"But... but," Harry was protesting.
"She's our friend... what's..." Ron was saying as the nurse walked them to the exit before returning to Hermione's side.
"What's happening?" squeaked Hermione. She had no recollection whatsoever of who she was.
"Young lady, my name is Madam Pomfrey," began the nurse, pulling aside a chair and making herself comfortable. "I'm the school nurse here at Hogwarts. Your school. You do remember that don't you?"
Hermione blinked. "Afraid not."
"Well," Madam Pomfrey looked concerned. "Well this is more serious than I first presumed."
"What is? What's more serious?" asked Hermione, cupping her own face with her hands.
"You seem to have lost your memory," explained Madam Pomfrey. "You see, what happened, is you were in a terrible accident when you were on your broomstick flying. You fell and you fell from a great height and have been unconscious here in the hospital wing for thirty eight hours straight. I was getting very worried about you."
"What's this Hogwarts you speak of?" asked Hermione, trying to accept this sudden information overload.
"Your school."
"My school?"
"Yes. The greatest school for witches and wizards to have ever existed. Headed by the infamous Albus Dumbledore. Surely that rings a bell?"
Hermione shook her head. "Not a single bell sorry."
Madam Pomfrey sighed. "This is going to be a long day for you, Hermione."
"Hermione? Is that my name?"
"Yes. Your name is Hermione Granger and you're a 7th Year Student here at Hogwarts. You're in the house of Gryffindor, where the brave dwell at heart," Madam Pomfrey said.
"Gryffindor..." repeated Hermione slowly. "And those two boys. Who were they?"
"Your bestfriends. Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. Also 7th Year Gryffindors. Are you sure none of this is jogging your memory Hermione?" asked Madam Pomfrey.
"I'm positive. I feel like... I feel... I don't know how I feel, Madam. Really I don't. It's so indescribable. Like I've just... woken up and I have no idea of anything that's happened in my life. I know that's impossible because I'm still clever... I mean, I know how to talk and I know I'm a witch and stuff. I could probably still pass all my classes. But I don't know anything about who I am. It's like I have zero memories."
Madam Pomfrey watched her carefully.
"Oh this is so draining," muttered Hermione, trying to come to terms with this. "I don't think I want to hear any more for now. Is that okay?" she asked.
"Yes, of course it is," answered Madam Pomfrey, touching the girl's forehead. "I feel very sorry for you dear. This must be extremely difficult for you. Hopefully everything will start coming back to you within the next few hours. How about you have a bit of a rest then eh? I'll bring in your friends Ron and Harry later and they can talk to you and see if that helps."
"Okay," agreed Hermione closing her eyes. "That sounds fine..." she yawned before falling asleep.
* * * * *
"I can't believe she didn't know who we were!" exclaimed Ron as he and Harry waited outside the Infirmary for news of Hermione.
"I know," agreed Harry. "It was very strange."
"What if she's lost her memory forever?" Ron nearly shouted.
"Well we just have to wait and see and be there for her. Think how hard it must be for Hermione, Ron," Harry replied.
Ron sat down again. "Yes, you're absolutely right. Must be thinking of Hermione. This must be awfully hard for her. To just wake up and not know a thing. It's so... sad," he sighed.
Harry nodded. "But we just have to wait. It might just be a temporary thing. Memory loss is quite common you know. 2 in 5 magical folk suffer from it in one stage of their life you know?"
"No I didn't. How did you know that?"
"Ah Hermione told me once. Read it somewhere," replied Harry.
"Oh really?" asked Ron slyly.
"Yes, really," answered Harry, turning pink.
"What's that supposed to mean eh?" Ron nudged him suggestively in the ribs.
"Yowch!" Harry laughed, nudging him back.
"ALL right boys!" interrupted Madam Hooch, not looking too happy at them. "No play fighting in here. There are sick people in the Infirmary including your friend Hermione and I don't want you two kicking up a great commotion. Now, if you would so kindly settle down, I'd be happy to fill you in on what I've concluded."
Harry and Ron glanced guiltily at each other and immediately calmed down for Madam Pomfrey who nodded appreciatively at them both.
"Now, Hermione has suffered something known as Severe Memory Loss. It pretty much means what it's called. She has no permanent brain damage or anything and she is still quite academically, physically and mentally capable, like a normal human being. The only problem is that she can't remember anything before she woke up. It's like she's been born again and hasn't formed any memories yet. Everything about her is normal. Just a number of bruises and broken bones, but they're not hard to fix. Harry you'd know that."
Harry winced at the thought of the bone grower. He hoped they'd discovered a less painful way of growing back broken bones for Hermione's sake.
Madam Pomfrey continued. "There is no known cure for Severe Memory Loss. She might begin to regain her memory, I honestly don't know. It's too early to tell. There are however, things that can trigger it in his conscious. Things that may seem very silly. Things such as seeing a Quidditch game may make her remember her love for the Chudley Cannons or something."
"Nuh," Harry said. "She hates Quidditch. Doesn't know the slightest thing about it."
"What I want to know," interrupted Ron. "Is why she was flying in the first place? Hermione never flies!"
"I know," said Harry. "But that's not important. What's important is getting her memory back."
"Well there is one thing," thought Madam Pomfrey. "But I think maybe Hermione is a bit young for it. I'm really not too sure."
"Well try it," Ron said.
"What happens is... well, love is a very important part of the human brain. It generates all sorts of feelings... lust, infatuation, and uhh... many sexual feelings and thoughts."
Ron and Harry began to feel hot and uncomfortable discussing this with Madam Pomfrey. So was she.
"Anyway," she cleared her throat. "Because it's so important, triggering this part of your brain can stimulate the rest of it and therefore bring back the memory etc. One way of triggering it that has been most useful in the past, is for a kiss to take place between the person whom Hermione was in love with before the accident, if she was in love with somebody."
Harry frowned. "That's a shame, Hermione didn't love anyone or else that would have been perfect."
"No, you're wrong there Harry. She may not have LOVED someone consciously but deep down inside there is a person for all of us that we look at and go wow. Whether you are IN love with them or whether they are a soulmate or something is completely different. It's hard to explain. You'll understand when you're older."
"So you're saying..." said Ron. "That Hermione loved someone. And we just have to figure out who it was, get them to kiss her and that should bring back her memory?"
"There are no promises," Madam Pomfrey said. "But there is a chance."
"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Harry. "Let's go! Thanks Madam Pomfrey," he added before he and Ron raced out of the Infirmary on a mission to work out who it was who Hermione loved. Or fancied. Or had an infatuation with. Whatever really. They had a special person to find, they just had to figure out who first.
* * * * *
Hermione stared out of the window on the opposite wall. She looked down at her hands and studied her palms. She'd never been one for palmistry but it felt so strange not recognising these hands in front of her.
She sighed and looked back at the window and at the unfamiliar surroundings. From here she could see a big tall tower that had a microscope sticking out of. She assumed this was some form of Astronomy Tower. She saw big Quidditch goal posts in the sky and realised this must have been the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch. Finally, after what seemed like days of waiting, Harry and Ron arrived.
"Hello Hermione, remembering anything yet?" said Ron... or was it Harry?
"No," Hermione sadly shook her head. "Unfortunately not."
"Ah well," said the boy with the black hair. "We'll just keep our fingers crossed."
"Yeah," mumbled Hermione. "Thanks Ron."
Ron cleared his throat. "I'm Ron."
"Oh sorry Ron. Thanks Harry. And Ron," she was beginning to get herself into a muddle.
Harry sighed and stared out of the window too. "Look Hermione... we need to get your memory back right?"
"Right," agreed Hermione. "I'd do anything to be able to place you guys. This feels terrible!"
"It certainly does," Ron nodded.
"Anyway," interrupted Harry. "So to get your memory back we'd do pretty much anything right?"
"Right," said Hermione again.
"Except let You-Know-Who into Hogwarts," said Ron. "Anything but that."
"Who's You-Know-Who?" asked Hermione while Harry rolled his eyes.
"Sorry," Ron muttered and let Harry keep talking.
"The thing is Hermione, Madam Pomfrey has been talking to us about memory retrieval ways. Unfortunately there are not that many. Fortunately, we have found one we think may just do the trick."
"Then what are you waiting for?" exploded Hermione, her attention suddenly on Harry. Her eye brows raised slightly. "Hey, where did you get that scar from?" she asked, her attention shifting.
"Ah never mind," Harry replied, self-consciously covering it up with his dark hair. "The thing about the process is that..."
"Well?" asked Hermione, tapping the side of the bed.
"She sure seems like the same bossy, impatient Hermione," muttered Ron under his breath.
"Well... it's just..." Harry continued, turning red.
"Well just what?"
"It's just..."
"It's just that first we have to work out who you were in love with before so we can make them give you a kiss which will make your memory come back okay?" Ron practically shouted, completely fed up with the suddenly shy Harry and impossibly impatient Hermione.
"Oh..." Hermione's cheeks turned pink. "Who did I love?" she asked.
"We don't know," sighed Harry hopelessly. "We were hoping you knew."
"You call yourselves my bestfriends and you don't even know who I fancied?" cried Hermione, throwing a pillow against the door. "I can't believe this!"
"Neither can I..." Ron said.
They sat there for a few moments, deep in thought. There had to be something. There had to be something that would tell them who Hermione had been in love with.
Suddenly, Harry leapt up.
"What is it?" asked Hermione, quite alarmed.
"You kept a diary didn't you?" he asked.
"I don't know," replied Hermione honestly. "You tell me."
"Yes," said Ron, a smile spreading across his face slowly. "Yes, I'm pretty sure she did."
"Now, where would you have kept it?" Harry asked, thinking out loud.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Hermione exclaimed. "You can't just read my diary you know!"
"What do you mean?" asked Ron.
"Yeah, don't you want your memory back?" asked Harry, confused.
"Yes," hissed Hermione. "But just say it did tell you and just say I did get my memory back, imagine what else could be written in the diary? Life may be terrible when I do get my memory back, you might read things I would have never let you read in any other situations!"
"But isn't it worth the risk to get your memory back?" asked Ron.
"I don't know..." said Hermione. "Could you please find my so-called diary and bring it to me. I'll read it first. It'd be nice to know something about myself."
So off Harry and Ron went, to search for the diary Hermione supposedly wrote religiously in. The only problem was that they had no idea where to start looking because Hermione had had an excellent memory and kept things hidden all over the place in the strangest of corners and objects.
