AN: I know, I didn't make it by Saturday, did I? It was a rough weekend. Anyway, better late than never...

Lost Souls of Nott Castle

Chapter 27 - Specialist

Hermione woke as the sun lightened the hospital wing. She sat up in her bed slowly. Malfoy was asleep in the chair next to her bed. She took a moment to study him in the early morning light.

Her dreams had been plagued by visions of the two of them together. Dancing under the stars. Kissing in a library. Swimming across a pond. Flying.

She didn't know if they were memories or just fantasies. What she did know was that he had stayed by her side all night. What had he said? He had made her a promise.

She wondered what promise he had made.

She wondered what promises she had made him in return. She sighed to herself and hoped against hope that she would remember soon enough.

She slipped out of bed and went to the restroom. She took the clothes he had brought for her. She looked at the clothes curiously yet again. These were not her clothes.

She dressed in the black pants and pale pink blouse and viewed herself in the mirror. She had to admit that she looked very nice, even though she did not recognize these clothes any more than the ones she had on the previous day. Why would she have an entirely new wardrobe? Clothing had never been a priority for her. She had her favorites and dressed for comfort rather than fashion.

Or at least, she used to.

She released another deep sigh, pushed her hair behind her ears and reminded herself that she was missing a large block of time. Mentally she added the question of where her wardrobe came from to her list of questions that she needed answered.

When she returned to the main room of the hospital wing, she found that Malfoy was awake. Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini were also in the room. Whatever they were talking about came to an abrupt end when she walked in the room.

"Don't stop on my account," she told them as she took a seat on the edge of her bed. There was a plate of food waiting for her there. She looked at it, but found she wasn't hungry. Just the thought of food made her stomach turn.

"Nott. Zabini." She nodded at each of them as she pushed the plate away.

"Actually, I'm going by Theo these days." Nott replied with a bright smile.

"Oh. I didn't realize." She should have. These were probably her new best friends or something equally as crazy.

"The Aurors are here searching the grounds. According to the wards, Potter is still here somewhere." Draco told her.

She nodded that she understood. Then he stepped away and went to clean up himself. She was left with the two Slytherins that she barely knew. The silence was uncomfortable, to say the least.

"So," Blaise said finally to break the silence. "Did Draco tell you that you are supposed to give a speech at the graduation ceremony this morning?"

"What? No!" Her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat.

Theo snorted in laughter. Blaise smirked at her.

"That's not funny," she scolded him. But then she had to laugh as the sudden panicked feeling left her body.

"I thought it was quite humorous," he said with a laugh.

"You would." Theo shook his head and grinned.

The door opened and Madam Pomphrey came in along with an Auror and a healer.

"Miss Granger. This is Healer Whitlock. He is going to examine your memories and see if they have been tampered with. If so, he will attempt to reverse the charm."

Draco joined them just as the introductions were being made.

Healer Whitlock was middle aged with light brown hair and tired eyes. He shook her hand and gave her a small smile.

He had her sit facing him.

"This will be uncomfortable," he told her. "I'm going to use legilimency to view your memories. I will look to see if there is a missing gap, which would indicate they were erased with an obliviate charm."

She took a deep breath.

"As I am looking through your memories, you will see what I am seeing."

She nodded in understanding. Then she rolled her shoulders back.

"Healer Whitlock, perhaps it is you that should prepare yourself." She told him.

The healer looked at her with a look that could only be described as placating.

"Of course, Miss Granger."

"You should really listen to her," Draco told him. "She isn't your typical teenage witch."

He looked at her and winked.

"Stop it, Malfoy." She laughed and shook her head. Then she took a deep breath and looked at the healer. "I'm ready."

Healer Whitlock looked into her eyes. One second she was looking into his brown eyes, the next she was seeing images from her childhood flash past.

Receiving her letter from Hogwarts. Riding on the Hogwarts Express for the first time, so excited to be part of a new world where she just knew she would belong. Crying because the other students made fun of her.

The images jumped in time. The Yule Ball. The Department of Mysteries. Flying, being chased, a green flash that almost hit home, falling. Running through the woods. Being captured. Malfoy Manor.

She shook her head, trying to get the images to stop.

Draco lying to his parents. Bellatrix grabbing her by the hair. Pain. Burning in her arm.

War. Curses flying as she tried to dodge all of them. Her friends dying as she tried to complete her mission. Relief mixed with sorrow that it was finally over.

Testifying for Malfoy at the Ministry. Waking up at Hogwarts.

The contact broke off and she gasped for air. The healer excused himself quickly and disappeared into the restroom.

"I did warn him," Draco said.

She looked up and realized he was sitting next to her and she was holding on to his hand for dear life.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah." She took a deep breath. "Talk about your life flashing before your eyes."

Healer Whitlock returned and sat back down in front of her.

"Miss Granger," he said with much more respect in his voice than he had earlier. "I have some good news and some bad news."

She squeezed Draco's hand a little tighter.

"First, tell me what you know about memory partitions." He sat forward and leaned on his elbows in anticipation.

Her eyes darted around the room.

"I have never heard of a memory partition," she answered. "What is that?"

The healer sighed and rubbed his temple.

"It is a type of defense against a memory charm. It's a way to lock memories away so they cannot be erased or altered by an outside force."

"Are you saying her memories are still there?" Draco asked.

Whitlock sighed and scrubbed his hand over his face.

"There is a partition in place," he said. "I don't know what's hidden behind it. There are also signs of a memory charm being used. If I had to take a guess, I would say you tried to hide certain memories from the obliviation. I have no way of knowing how successful you were until you remove the partition."

"You don't know if I put it in place fast enough to protect anything." Hermione stood and started pacing. "Can you remove it?"

"It's very complex magic, Miss Granger." He answered. "I'm afraid only you can remove it."

She stopped and faced him with her hands on her hips.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" She asked impatiently.

"I'm sorry, I don't know." He pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Memory partitions are practically unheard of. People have trained for years to perform them and still have not been successful. I've only ever heard stories that it could be done, honestly. I've never seen anyone that actually pulled it off before."

"If she put up a partition of some kind, there has to be a way to take it back down again." Draco pointed out.

"I'm sure there is," the healer responded with a sigh. "Look, I'll check with some colleagues, do some reading, see if I can find the counter. That's the best I can do. I'll be in touch when I find something useful."

He took his leave, shaking his head to himself as he walked away.

Hermione wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. She watched the healer leave, then threw her arms in the air.

"Perfect. The memory specialist has no idea what he's talking about." She paced back and forth a few more times. Then she turned on her heel and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Draco called after her.

"Where do you think I'm going?" She called over her shoulder.

"Miss Granger!" The Auror called out as she neared the door. "I'm sorry, but you aren't supposed to go walking around. Minister Shacklebolt's orders."

She ignored him and pushed on the door. It didn't budge.

"Kingsley told you to lock me in here?" She turned and glared at the Auror.

"It's just until our search is complete." He shrugged his shoulders and looked entirely unapologetic. "For your own protection."

She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head as she appraised him.

"You know, you aren't going to find him. You are all wasting your time."

"Miss, we are trained to find dark wizards. We know what we are doing."

She looked at him for a long moment, then shook her head. She crossed the distance between them and met his arrogant gaze.

"How do you know that he isn't in this room right now?" She turned and walked away before he had a chance to answer her. She did, however, hear him scoff behind her back.

She sat in a chair between Draco and Theo, both of whom were now scanning the room, focusing on each nook and cranny.

"The library," Theo said suddenly.

Hermione looked at him, waiting for him to continue his thought.

"That's where you were headed, right? The library?"

Beside her, Draco snorted in laughter.

"Well spotted, Theo." He rolled his eyes.

"Well, she asked where we thought she was going." He shrugged his shoulders.

Her lip twitched up on the corners.

"I never pegged you as a comedian, Theo." She said with a laugh.

They sat there for several more minutes before she released a deep sigh and stood up. She walked to the window and looked out. Clouds had settled in and a cool breeze was blowing through the trees outside. She leaned against the window sill and tried to piece together in her mind what she was missing, and why.

She felt someone behind her and turned quickly to find Malfoy only a few paces away. She let herself relax and turned back to the view.

His hands came to a rest on her waist. She closed her eyes, wishing she could remember the first time he had touched her like that. Wondering if she would ever remember at all. Would this be her first memory of him behind her, with his hands on her waist and his breath against her hair?

Involuntarily, she leaned back against him. His hands slid around to her stomach, holding her back against his chest. Her hands rested on top of his and she sighed. She could only imagine.

"I did this," she said quietly. "I'll figure out how to fix it."

"I have no doubt." He told her.

She took a deep breath. As she stood there in his arms, she could imagine why she had fallen in love with him.

She sighed and pulled away from his hold, turning around to face him and leaning back against the window.

"How could I have put a partition in my memories when I've never even heard of such a thing? The healer said it was complex magic."

"That healer was an idiot." He leaned against the other side of the window facing her.

"Maybe so. Still, what if he's right?"

"Then all you have to do is remove the partition." He said it as though it were obvious. Which, she supposed, it was.

The door opened and two Aurors walked in.

"We'll be escorting you downstairs for the ceremony," the tall blonde woman said.

"Let's get this over with, then we'll go home and start searching the library for anything useful." Draco put his hand on the small of her back and guided her towards the waiting Aurors.

"What do you mean we'll go home?" She asked as a horrible thought passed through her mind. Surely he didn't mean for her to go to Malfoy Manor? She froze, her breath catching in her throat as unbidden memories flashed through her mind for the second time that day.

"Nott Castle," he said quickly. "I meant we'll go to Nott Castle."

She released the breath she had been holding in relief. In the last twelve hours, she had learned several shocking things about the last two months of her life, but the very idea that she had been spending time at Malfoy Manor was a bit too much.

She took a deep breath, willing her heart rate to slow back to normal. Draco stood in front of her, holding her gaze and holding both of her hands, until she had her breathing under control.

After a few moments, she nodded at him to let him know she was okay. He squeezed both her hands and she squeezed back. It was an understanding between them. One final breath, and together they followed the Aurors out of the hospital wing and down to the Great Hall.

AN: Thanks for reading. If you would like to drop me a line and let me know what you think, your reviews make me smile. I love reading your theories. Some of you are close. Some are way off base, but I love the creativity!

Until next week. -mezy