Author's Note: I was going to avoid AN's in this fic, but I want to apologize for this being so late. Unfortunately, I was extremely sick and in the hospital at one point. Plus, I need to dedicate this chapter to a good friend. This chapter is dedicated to my artistic Muse, Listener. Thanks for all you do!
Chapter Seven: Injured List and Penalty Boxes
Olivia was crying. Well she would be if she was attached to her body, but because she was only in her mind, she was slipping. She was pregnant. She was pregnant with Draco's child, and she had lost it. She had lost a child. Olivia couldn't share her feelings about this revelation with anyone. She couldn't talk to anyone. It was making her feel worse. She knew she shouldn't feel that way because it would help her forget who she was and permanently stay in her mind if or when they ever took the curse off, but she still needed to feel that way. Olivia needed to feel as if she had lost something truly meaningful in life.
Hermione had suggested they go to Hogwarts and see if they could find information from McGonagall about the mystery around Olivia. Sitting in the Headmistress's office with her former school enemy, husband, and best friend, she looked to the older woman for answers.
"The only thing I can tell you is that the Headmaster was positive she would help bring peace to the school's houses. And, she did do that. Her best friend at this school was a Gryffindor. They were kindred spirits, Sofia and her. As a matter of a fact, when Olivia had lost her parents to Azkaban, Sofia's father would send lavish gifts to Olivia for Christmas. I guess it was his way of letting her know she still had family," McGonagall explained. She really couldn't give them much more than that.
"However, they could always ask me," a Dumbledore portrait said to the room.
"Well, yes, I suppose they could do that. I didn't know you would be in your portrait today, Headmaster." McGonagall greeted a slightly younger-looking Dumbledore.
"Forgive me Headmaster, I know I wasn't the kindest student, but I need to find out about Olivia. She is in terrible danger and we really don't know what to do," Draco confessed.
"You were forgiven long ago young Mister Malfoy. I knew there was good in you somewhere," he winked before continuing, "As for Olivia, it is funny that Headmistress McGonagall mentions her friend Sofia Griffin because it is Sofia Griffin who is young Olivia's half sister. Aindrias Griffin is the man that Cadence LaMette sought out for an affair a little more than twenty-four years ago. At the same time, he and his wife, Isibéal, were trying to have a child of their own. I don't pretend to know what made a man agree to an affair with a woman like Cadence LaMette, but I know he did, and had two daughters born within months of each other from two separate women."
The Headmistress's office was silent as each digested the new information internally.
"If Aindrias is Olivia's father, then why didn't he ask for Olivia to stay with them when her parents were sent to Azkaban?" Hermione asked.
"Miss Granger, or rather is it Mrs. Weasley now," he began to answer smiling, "Would you want to have to explain to your wife your sudden need to take in some child? I'm sure he just didn't want to have to explain to his wife."
"Oh, of course," mumbled Hermione. She thought about how dumb her question must have seemed.
"If this is true, then could there possibly be a way for something like this to remove her from the mind-locking curse?" Draco asked. He didn't care if he had to bring another man's affair to light to save Olivia.
"The Obfirmo Inmens has been used on Olivia?" The old headmaster asked as he touched his chin, staring out from the frame of the portrait.
"Yes, and she's been in it for over a month now. We don't know if we can do anything to get her out," Hermione explained. She looked at Harry who had sat quiet through the whole meeting. She realized that her friend had slipped away somewhere in the last ten years. The friend who modestly won tasks in the TriWizard Tournament and didn't even believe he was the most famous wizard there was. No, this friend was gone, and he was replaced by a man who had let fame blow up his ego. Hermione shook herself out of her thoughts, when she noticed the portrait of Dumbledore look between her and Harry and raise an eyebrow.
"There is a way to get someone out of a mind-locking curse besides having the person who said it say the counter-curse. The other way is to rebuild her memory starting with an Obliviate charm. It unlocks them from their mind, but this is a tricky procedure because you will need a Pensieve with all of Olivia's memories and a Regius Memoria potion. She'll need two to three days rest after the potion is given to her, but she will return to who she is. Beware that any stress in those few days will harm her. She will be regaining herself, and stress during that and she may permanently lose a chunk of her memory."
"Why is it that no one has heard of this before?" Harry asked.
"Harry, if all the dark wizards knew secrets like that, they'd find ways to destroy them," answered Dumbledore.
"Hermione, can you brew Regius Memoria?" Draco queried.
"I can, but you need family blood for that potion. Two drops of it, to be exact."
"You'll find Aindrias and Sofia in Romania. Isibéal passed away two years ago and the two were devastated. Since the information about Olivia being Aindrias's never came out, they were a happy family," Dumbledore told them.
"Then I'm going to Romania," stated Draco.
"I'm going with you." Harry said with little room for argument. Hermione looked as the two of them glared at each other.
"I'm coming too," she mentioned. If she didn't, then they were going to tear each other apart.
"Well hell, that means I'm going too. Maybe I can owl Charlie and spend time with him," Ron muttered. Hermione gave him an apologetic look. He understood her need to go. She was friends with Olivia and they had to keep their best mate from destroying their former school enemy. It had surprised Ron how easily Hermione had forgiven Malfoy. He had taken much longer to forgive him, but he had done it. Especially after watching change Pansy Parkinson, that was the moment Ron had pardoned Malfoy for his earlier transgressions.
"We'll leave tonight," Draco stated as he thanked McGonagall and the portrait of Dumbledore and left the castle slowly. He was lost in his thoughts. He understood now that Dumbledore put her in Slytherin for change. He remembered her as a small second year. She was small, but quick and smart. He remembered her bouncing into the Common Room with her blood-red hair pulled back, her Potions books always in hands. Draco had been struggling with his task of killing Dumbledore. It was one of the years that Draco wanted to forget, but he remembered the cheery Slytherin with a Gryffindor best friend. If people hadn't been so terrified of her family, then she would have been ridiculed by the older Slytherins. Instead, she promoted friendship with others to the younger years. They followed because there was something contagious about Olivia. It was one of the reasons Draco was going to Romania to fight with some man for two drops of his blood.
While Draco was thinking, Harry followed him out of the castle. There was no way he was letting Malfoy get the glory of saving someone. The only reason the blonde was considered a good guy now was because of him. He testified for Malfoy, why couldn't anyone remember that? It was aggravating how his best mates were rallying around his rival. Didn't they care that he was the one who defeated Voldemort? He had to go find Ginny. She knew how valuable he was. He strolled quickly past Malfoy, knocking into him.
Draco knew the bumping into was intentional and he muttered a "wanker" under his breath. If he could hex Potter he would. Unfortunately, it would be frowned upon.
Two Portkeys later, the four of them plus Ginny and Blaise were arriving in Romania. Charlie greeted his brother, sister, sister-in-law, and Harry enthusiastically. He gave two handshakes to the former Slytherins and offered his apologies to Draco about Olivia. Draco nodded and thanked the older Weasley. The Weasleys had forgiven Draco around the time Ron had. Draco had sent a long apologetic letter to their family and a small peace offering. He had let them keep the owl that he had sent the letter with. He had heard later, from Ron, that Mrs. Weasley sang Draco's praises whenever she read articles about him in the Daily Prophet. It made Draco think about who he once was, and how he would never want to go back to being that person.
"It turns out the Griffins live in the next village. You should be able to fly there and be back by nightfall," Charlie informed them.
Draco nodded and said to the group, "I'm going there now. I'm not waiting any longer to save Olivia."
Pansy sat in Olivia's room and watched as her vitals dropped. She quietly told the younger girl to keep fighting, Draco was going to find her father and get her out of this state. She knew that this drop in health meant that Olivia was slipping away. Pansy couldn't manage without Olivia in her life. She had grown accustom to her in the flat. She'd chat about trivial potion things at dinner. She'd tell jokes to Pansy and Theodore when he'd come over to see Pansy. She used Weasley products to entertain them. Pansy told her of all the fond memories. She hoped it would keep the girl sane long enough for Draco to do whatever he was doing.
It had taken an hour by broomstick to get to the village where the Griffins lived. It would have taken half-an-hour if Hermione hadn't spent thirty minutes in a sheer panic about being on a broom. Draco had grumbled about the set-back, but the newest problem had made him livid.
"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be reminded of that affair. And saving that girl, would do just that," Aindrias explained to them.
"So you're saying you would let her die because you don't want to be reminded of your faults? What a piece of work you are!" Draco yelled before storming out of the house. Blaise followed him. Hermione stayed and tried to reason with the man, but he wouldn't budge. She stalked off muttering something about being worse than a selfish Slytherin. Ron tried to calm her down. They all met outside the house near the three brooms (Hermione had ridden with Ron).
Draco was getting ready to mount his when a girl came out of the house running. He recognized her as the Gryffindor that Olivia ran around the castle corridors with during their Hogwarts years.
"I'm sorry. I would have been faster, but I wanted to make sure I got enough into this vial," she quickly explained. She handed him a small vial with a crimson liquid. He raised his eyebrows in question. "I'm her sister. My blood should work just as well. I now understand why my father wanted me to stop being friends with Olivia when we graduated. He blames my mother's death on his affair with her mother. She's still my best friend, and please send me word about her condition. I miss her."
"Of course and thank you. You don't know how much this means to me," he answered.
"I do. You love her. I can tell. You'll be happy together, but there is someone who wants to see you fail. Be wary of him." She advised before turning on her heel and running back to the house. Her long black hair bouncing on her shoulders as she did.
"What is it?" Ron asked as he came up to Draco.
"It's Sofia Griffin's blood."
"What good will that do?" Ron inquired further. He was having an obtuse moment. They were rarer these days being an Auror, but they still happened.
"Ronald, that means we can make the potion. Sofia shares blood with Olivia." Hermione explained.
"Oh, right," he mumbled. Hermione patted his shoulder. Sometimes he wasn't so brilliant.
Hermione had started to brew the potion as soon as they got back to England. She took her wand to Olivia's temple and created strands upon strands of memories in a Pensieve. Those memories were used in the second day of brewing the potion. They were poured in and the potion had turned a shiny blue color. She was worried about how long Olivia had been in her own head. She realized that the young girl had been locked in her own mind for almost two months. She hoped this was going to work. It seemed like some major damage could be done to Olivia if something went wrong. She did the final step of the potion, releasing two drops of Sofia's blood into the cauldron. The potion turned the correct shade of gold. Hermione smiled, satisfied at her work.
"Good work." Pansy commended as she looked between the picture in the Potions book and the cauldron.
"Yes it is, but now comes the worrisome part," she whispered as she pulled her wand from a narrow pocket in her periwinkle scrubs. She walked to Olivia's bed and prepared her wrist for the maneuver.
"Here goes nothing. Obliviate!" She shouted and light left emitted from her wand towards Olivia. Hermione silently counted thirty seconds before administering the potion to Olivia. Olivia's body convulsed violently as the book said it would, and then she went limp. Her body was no longer coiled. Instead, she would look completely lifeless if it weren't for the groans of pain coming from Olivia.
"Well at least she's making noise," Pansy offered as Hermione looked horrified. What did she just do to her friend? She went quickly back to the book. She read quickly, and found a passage that stated the person who drank it would suffer lots of pain as their memories rebuilt themselves in their head. Hermione sighed. At least it was supposed to happen, but it didn't make her feel any better about causing Olivia anymore pain.
"Yes, but I wish it didn't sound so painful."
"Well as Madam Pomfrey told us growing bones is nasty business, I'm sure re-building memories is just the same."
"I hope you're right."
"I do, too." A distinct sad-sounding drawl came from the behind them. "Is she supposed to sound that much in pain?"
"The book says so. However, I really feel awful that I'm causing her more pain, but I guess it's for the best," answered Hermione.
"I guess you're right. I just want this to work." Draco wished aloud as he approached the side of the hospital bed. Hermione nodded her head, gave a knowing look to Pansy, and the two stepped out of the room to give him time with her.
The next day, Draco couldn't concentrate in the offices. The other three men knew why. Ron and Blaise were sympathetic. Harry just stared daggers at the pale-haired man he was growing to hate all over again.
"Malfoy, if you're not going to concentrate then get the bloody hell out of here!" Harry shouted across the room at him. Draco glared back at him. Harry gave a cocky smirk. Blaise wanted to hex it off of his face. Ron just watched the room as he waited for a battle to begin.
"I'm fine Potter," he responded before going back to the paperwork he had in front of him. He held his emotions back. One of the few perks of being a Malfoy. You could be completely emotionless in ten seconds flat.
Harry knew he had gotten to Malfoy and to prove his point further he decided to leave for the day. Ron raised his eyebrows in question, but Harry just shook his head. No way was he going to tell his traitorous best mate where he was going.
He quietly apparated to St. Mungo's, and approached the area that Olivia's private room was located. Dumbledore's portrait had said that she needed two to three days of uninterrupted rest in order to regain herself. Harry wondered what would happen if he came to visit her. He used his wand to get through the wards Malfoy had around the place.
"What are you doing here Potter?" Pansy asked, venom seeping in her voice.
"Malfoy sent me over to check on her while he did some paperwork." Harry answered with just as much ice in his voice. She glared at him for a few more minutes before going about her work. She didn't want to leave the room, but she needed to go get more Calming Draught. Hermione had told her that the Potions book recommended it be used to ease the pain of memory building.
"Don't touch her or say anything to her. I have to go get more Calming Draught." Pansy commanded before leaving the room. Harry watched her go before approaching the hospital bed. He looked at Olivia as she writhed a bit in what he figured was pain.
"I'm sorry that Ginny is better than you are, but you should not be dating Malfoy. He's scum," Harry whispered just as the door opened and Hermione entered.
"Harry, what did you just do?" She whispered, ashamed of her best friend.
"I was just talking to her. I thought it would help the pain."
"You didn't," she gasped.
He nodded his head. He pretended not to have been warned by the pug before she left about this.
"Harry! You could have just done serious damage to her memory building!" Hermione scolded as she silently put him in a body-binding curse.
"What happened here?" Pansy asked as she re-entered the room with a goblet.
"Harry just said something to Olivia in this state."
"I just told him not to talk to or touch her!" Pansy panicked. She went over to Olivia with the Calming Draught. She forced the goblet to her lips. Olivia instantly calmed down, but only for a few moments. Hermione recognized that to mean her healing process had been tampered.
"Harry James Potter! Go home, right now, and I don't want to see you ever again!" Hermione screeched at him. She released him from the body-bind and he disapparated quickly. He may have just pushed too far.
