Disclaimer: Do you actually believe I could imagine something as brilliant as Harry Potter? J.K Rowling, however, has the talent.
CHAPTER XXIV: REMEMBER: MEMORIA
"What do you mean they found it?" Hermione questioned, gripping Ron's arm tightly.
"Ms. Granger, did you not hear what I just said? Albus and the other members of the wizard's council have found the spell to make Ron's memory come back," Professor McGonagall replied breathlessly, hurriedly straightening her askew hat and disheveled robes.
"Heaven Merlin! Hermione, did you hear McGonagall? They've found the cure," Ron shrieked happily, pulling Hermione into a warm embrace. There was suddenly a pounding of footsteps and Harry and Ginny, both red in the faces, burst through the door.
"What happened?" Harry asked urgently.
"We saw Professor McGonagall rushing into the school and we thought something really important's happened. What is it?" Ginny inquired.
"Ms. Weasley, Professor Dumbledore has found the cure that will cure your brother," she informed gently.
"Oh my lucky stars," Ginny squealed, hugging Harry quickly. Pretty soon all four friends were hugging each other, with sheer joy, while Professor McGonagall shook her head disapprovingly.
Once they had quieted down, she began, "Now that you four are all calm and relaxed I must tell you to come to the Ministry at once, where Dumbledore and some of his fellow assistants will meet you there. From there, he will tell you what happens next. Do I make myself clear?"
The four of them nodded their heads, as if they were back in Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration classroom and they had just finished hearing her lecture. She smiled at them, her eyes filling with tears. "It's so wonderful to see all four of you again. Brings back such memories." She paused and dabbed at her eyes. Then, she continued, "I suggest you leave immediately before the students start to disperse from their classrooms."
"Of course, Professor McGonagall," Hermione stated, leading the way downstairs. Before Ron left, however, he scanned the room slowly. He knew that just in a few hours all his memories would come flooding back and somehow, the only thing he wanted to know was what was so special about this room that forced him to immediately think of Hermione. He would just have to wait. Sighing to himself, he slowly followed them out.
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"Where's Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione asked the minister's secretary.
"He's inside with the Minister, but Ms., I don't think you can go in," the timid secretary spoke, but she was completely ignored as Hermione hurriedly rushed towards the door and threw it open, quickly followed by the rest of them.
Once they had departed from Hogwarts they had directly apparated to the Ministry. They hadn't stopped to visit the Burrow for Minerva had informed them that Sirius and the rest of the Weasleys would be joining them there. Thus, Ron had thought it would be best if they went to see Dumbledore first. But when they opened the door, however, they were shocked to find a dozen different wizards and witches sitting around a huge table, amongst them including Dumbledore, the current Minister. In the corner were seated Sirius Black and the Weasleys.
"Professor Dumbledore, we came as soon as we had heard," Harry informed the aged wizard. After five years, Harry's certain respect for the wizard hadn't left, and even now he was certain Dumbledore was reading him like an open book.
Dumbledore smiled at them. "I'm glad you did, Harry," he answered hoarsely, as he stood up and brought four chairs into the air. "Please take a seat," he politely stated, gesturing towards them. They uncertainly seated themselves, since in the presence of so many highly experienced wizards made them nervous.
Ron, on the other hand, was too impatient for formalities or discipline. He began impatiently, "Listen, Professor McGonagall told us that you have found the cure to my problem. Now where is it?"
"Ron, be patient," Hermione hissed at him, but Dumbledore waved away her remark.
"It's quite alright, Ms. Granger. Mr. Weasley has every right to be frustrated with our delay."
"You're damn right, I'm frustrated. You told us you have the cure, so why aren't you telling me?" he demanded furiously.
Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "It's not that simple, Ron. There are certain rules that must be carried out in order for the spell to have an affect."
"So what's taking you so long?" Ginny insisted, squeezing her brother's hand firmly.
Dumbledore sighed and sank weakly into his chair. "Ms. Weasley, we have worked day and night looking for the right spell that would bring back the memory of Mr. Weasley. There is a Reverse Charm that would have worked in normal conditions, but since Mr. Weasley's wand did not perform the Obliviate charm, we didn't have a spell to fix it. Then, just now looking through all the books that have ever existed we found the spell, which was created by Rupert the Great, back in the early 100's. Apparently, his wife completely forgot about who she was or where she came from. And after endless work, he finally found the cure, the cure which hasn't been used in the longest time."
"Which would be?" Hermione inquired, leaning towards them eagerly. History always interested her, and she wanted to know what it was.
Dumbledore looked at her, his blue eyes flickering with old age. He began slowly, "The spell is Memoria ."
" Memoria ?" Sirius repeated, scratching his head.
Mrs. Weasley turned to face her husband. "I've never heard that one before."
"That's because it hasn't been used in such a long time," Bill explained to his mother.
"So what are we waiting for?" Ron started, getting up and towering over the old wizened wizards. "Let's perform the spell and make me remember my past."
"Ronald, we can't just do it immediately. First of all, we need to gather a huge crowd, around 500-100 people," Dumbledore began.
"Why?" Charlie inquired.
"Because only with witnesses can the spell be carried out," he answered quickly. "Secondly, we need someone to perform the spell on you. And the way this spell is performed, does not, and I repeat does not, involve a wand."
"Then how does the person perform the spell?" Hermione queried.
"The spell is carried out by placing their hand over the one who needs to be cured and then whispering the charm," he explained thoughtfully.
"So anyone can do it, right?" Harry remarked, getting up too.
Dumbledore shook his head. "It has to be someone very close to the person. Someone so close to him, that he is only safe with that person." He paused and scanned the expectant people, waiting for him to continue. "And I know who that person is," he finished quietly. Apparently everyone, including the person Dumbledore was directing this particular statement to, knew who it was. Everyone except Ron, but that didn't bother him. In fact, he hoped it would be who he thought it was. Sighing, Hermione stood up, brushing her bangs off her head. "I'll do it," she offered, avoiding Ron's scrutinizing gaze.
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A few days later, Ron nervously fidgeted in his chair, while scanning the crowd of people. At least a thousand wizards and witches, young and old, had gathered in the field, directly in front of the Shrieking Shack, in order to witness a scene that hadn't taken place in at least 2000 years.
When Dumbledore had first announced that this was going to take place, he was totally ecstatic. But now, under the watchful eyes of so many people, anticipating a miracle, he felt as though he was making a terrible mistake. He felt even worse when he couldn't find Harry, Ginny, or to make matters even more terrible, Hermione. He wanted Hermione to be by his side, but she was probably talking with Dumbledore.
Ron had just about given up hope and was about to give up on the whole idea, when he spotted Harry fighting his way through the crowd, leading a redhead female, who was clutching onto the hands of two children, one of them looking oddly familiar. He suddenly realized it was Jason, Hermione's son. The girl with him was probably his twin sister, Kelly, whose hair fell in the same curls as Hermione's did. Catching Ron's eye, the avid 5-year-old waved at him. Ron grinned back at him and waved back; glad to know that the youngster didn't know why he was here.
He turned away from him, just in time to see Hermione making her way up the platform. She gave him a small smile and sat next to him. "Ready for this?" she asked nervously, wringing her hands.
Ron grinned at her nervousness. "Glad to know I'm not the only one nervous," he teased gently.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Now's not the time to make jokes, Ron. Don't you realize that if I don't succeed, I've failed you? That means you won't get your memory back," she pointed out.
"Hey," Ron began, tilting her chin up by his hand and forcing her to look into his eyes. "No matter what you do, I'm still going to be proud of what you've done for me."
She gave him a small smile and mouthed, "thank you." Just then, Dumbledore followed by the Minister approached them.
"Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, I assume you both are ready," the Minister inquired, fixing them with a pointed look.
Hermione looked at Ron and nodded her head. "Well then, Albus, I'm going to announce that Ms. Granger is now going to perform the spell," the Minister informed him.
Dumbledore nodded his head and with a last look at the two of them, he mouthed, "good luck," and departed from the platform. The Minister, meanwhile, was announcing that Hermione Granger was about to perform the spell on Ronald Weasley, who with Harry Potter, had returned to the wizarding world after five years. "And now I give to you, Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley," he shouted, as he joined Dumbledore with the rest of the spectators.
Hermione took a deep breath and stood in front of Ron. "Get up, Ron," she said, offering him a hand. He accepted it and looked at her expectantly. She smiled at him. "Relax," she instructed him, and gently massaged his tense shoulders.
"I am relaxed," he replied, hoping his voice sounded calm. She smirked at him and whispered, "Ready?"
"Been ready for a long time," he murmured back. With that, Hermione took another deep breath and gently placed her small hand over his chest and whispered, " Memoria!
She heard the gasps from the audience and the ripple of murmurs taking place, but everything was drowned out, as she was only capable of hearing Ron's muffled gasp. Closing her eyes, she placed her head onto his chest, not removing her hand from his heart, and she saw…saw things that she'd never seen and things she herself was part of. Stifling a gasp, Hermione felt herself lurch into Ron's mind, witnessing things that were part of Ron's life.
She saw him as a small redhead little baby slowly taking his first steps. She saw him as a toddler, struggling with his ABC's and 123's. She watched as he entered school and entertained himself by teasing little girls. She witnessed Ron winning first prize in flying the broomstick with the most skill. All this time, she felt Ron's body growing stronger, stronger than when she had started of, which had been a body without a memory. But she couldn't stop now for she had to continue.
Finally after ages, she finally saw Ron entering Hogwarts. Hermione saw images flying by, ranging from the time she first met Ron and Harry till their first Yule Ball. After that, there were more pictures of she and Ron together, and somewhere she could feel Ron's emotions raging out from his heart. She could distantly hear someone telling her to stop or she would kill herself, but she ignored it. She was doing this for Ron, and there was no turning back. She could feel her own strength leaving her, but heaving in another deep breath, she carried on. Finally, she came to the last day before Ron left school, and she could feel the tears streaming down her cheeks. Closing her eyes, another million pictures swarmed by, as she heard Ron groan in pain, inside his head and outside. The last picture she saw before stumbling away from him was a flash of blue light, and a tall redhead reaching towards a raven-haired boy. Grabbing his hand and enclosing a small object in his fist, everything went black.
Muffling her cries, she pulled herself away from him. Hermione didn't realize that he had been gripping her waist tightly, but after releasing him, he staggered and fell down.
With wide eyes, she looked at the audience, speechless in amazement. Ginny was gripping onto the hands of her kids, who were looking at her in utter disbelief. Harry was looking at her spellbound while her own parents were staring at her as if they didn't know her. Dumbledore, himself, was in a state of shock. He hadn't imagined the spell to be this strong. Hermione tore her gaze off the crowd, as her puffed up eyes traveled towards the figure lying limply on the ground.
"Ron," she gasped, rushing to his side and kneeling down. He seemed unconscious, but she couldn't exactly tell since he was lying facedown. Gingerly turning him, she placed his head in her lap and cradled him.
"Ron," she whispered again, brushing away the mop of hair falling over his head. She was met with no response, as the audience watched and waited, deathly quiet. "Ron, don't leave me," she sobbed, bringing her head down and kissing his closed eyes gently. "I can't live without you," she ended, chocking back a sob.
She was silently crying to herself, when she heard Ron mumble, "Mione." Startled, she lifted her tear-stained face, and gazed at his face imploringly. Slowly his eyelids fluttered open and his sparkling blue eyes met her brown ones. "Ron," she said in a low voice, almost afraid to hurt him. He was silent for a moment, looking at her with wide-open eyes, before replying hoarsely yet clear enough for her to understand "Don't ever leave me again."
Hermione stifled a laugh as she enveloped him in another warm hug, glad to know that after five years he was back in her arms.
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