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Chapter Ten
The Sunrise

Hermione shifted against the tree. The hard bark helped her mind focus. Once over her initial reaction of utter panic, she thought over what she had heard at the Leaky Cauldron. The story told by Johnny was a near perfect fit to her dream memory. It sounded terribly heroic. Hermione couldn't imagine having the nerve to do something like that. Still…

It made sense. It fit with the only clear memory she had of her past life. Plus those two guys who kept popping up could easily have been the two teens in the Dream. Hermione tried to think about what she should do next, but the stress and lack of sleep were getting to her. She didn't really fall asleep, but she wasn't quite conscious either.

The sound of crunching gravel shook her from her reverie. She scanned the area without moving her head or eyes (a useful trick learned on stakeouts). Two men were walking across the street. And not just any two men either.

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Ron and Harry walked across the street careful not to alarm the figure sitting in the lee of a tree. They stood a couple of yards away uncertain about what to do. Hermione (there was no mistaking her) gave no sign of noticing their approach. Harry looked at Ron. Ron shrugged.

"Who are you?" Hermione demanded without turning, startling them both.

"Hermione!" Ron choked.

"I asked your name." She replied dryly.

"Ron."

"Harry."

"Hmm." Hermione raised her head and gave them an appraising look, reminiscent of Professor McGonagall.

"You know what my very first memory is?"

"Uh…" Harry and Ron went slack jawed at this strange question.

"Waking up in St. Anne's Hospital with a nurse hovering over my bed, asking me what my name is so they can stop calling me Jane Doe." The sentence released the floodwaters and Hermione founded herself telling two men she had just met what she had resolved to keep secret her whole life.

"They found me bleeding and half-dead in an alley. They started calling me Anne, you know St. Anne's. Do you know what it is like to forget, not just a few events, but your entire life? I spent whole afternoons leafing through the London phone books hoping to find a name or address that was familiar. After I reached 'Zyzniewksi, Amy' for the third time, I gave up and decided if I couldn't remember what I had forgotten, I might as well forget I had forgotten. Then imagine my surprise when years later, two men run up to me on the street, yelling a name that only exists in a dream."

Hermione paused for breath. Ron opened his mouth, but was unable to think of anything to say.

"And just because I don't have enough complications in my life. One of these men ambushes me in a train station and nearly blows my cover. I walk into a pub, just looking for a quiet drink, when what do I hear at the next table, but some inebriated gentlemen talking about the heroic death of Hermione Granger. So naturally some more people I can't remember intercept me on the way out. I can't get a moment's peace." She addressed the final sentence to the pre-dawn sky.

"And imagine our surprise, when a friend we thought long dead is sitting on bench waiting for a bus." Ron replied hotly. "Imagine wondering whether or not you've finally gone crazy until your brother shows up and tells you that he saw your dead friend walking out of a pub. Then once you finally track down this woman she can't give you a straightforward answer to a question as simple as 'Who are you?'"

Harry half-expected Hermione to snap back, but she only smiled.

"Hermione…" Harry began. She raised her head to look him in the eyes. "Do you remember anything?"

She frowned at the ground before answering. The Dream came to mind, but she wasn't ready to tell them about that yet. "Bits and pieces, here and there. Nothing terribly coherent."

"What if we could help you remember?"

There was a long silence. Hermione had never wanted something so much, yet been so afraid of what she would find. The sun began to turn the eastern sky into burnished gold. The fog became a glowing silver mist and started to melt back into the pavement.

"What do I have to do?"
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Questions, comments, critisicms, complaints? Review, my friend, review.

.•´¨`•»¦«•Kerowyn•»¦«•´¨`•.