Ahh! I forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter; well here it is. I don't own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only own any additional characters that are made up! You can figure them out I'm sure.
Thanks to my reviewers!! I wasn't going to write this chapter so soon, but once I read my reviews I just had to! Muchos Gracias! lol I think I spelled that right...
3/15/04 Update- Hey guys! I was reading my reviews and realized that it was a bit confusing and I needed to edit and go through this chapter again. So this is the repost of chapter 2. I will be working on chapter 3 today, so keep looking back for an update soon! Probably tomorrow evening at the latest. I hope...
~*~*~*~*~*~
~*Chapter 2*~
Ron put his feet on his desk and fingered through some papers in his hand. It was almost time for his lunch break, so of course his mind was already on his food. But his mind was also on something else. Someone else.
Everyday Ron thought about Hermione and how she was doing. He hadn't talked to her since that day when Harry and Lord Voldemort had battled, which was six years ago. She had been injured with a permanent memory loss that night, and her parents were too protective to have her take part in the magical world anymore.
"This wizardry and magic is just too dangerous for our little girl," Ron remembered her dad saying to the healer.
'But she wasn't a little girl,' Ron thought angrily. 'If Hermione knew what her parents were doing to her, she would be infuriated. We knew what we were getting into when we went to that night. It was unavoidable.'
It was the night that the three were supposed to be packing to go back to the muggle world. They had just graduated from Hogwarts that year and were ready to start their new life out of the school. But then Ron's sister, Ginny, had been taken by Voldemort for bait. Voldemort had many wizards and witches that worked for him, allowing him be inside of everything and know all that he needed. He knew how much Ginny meant to Harry, so it was the perfect plan. Except Harry had grown up a lot over his years at Hogwarts and had developed exceptional powers. It seemed impossible for Harry to go against Voldemort so soon, but his abilities had grown stronger than anyone could have thought in such a short period of time. That night, Harry and Voldemort battled viciously to the death, and all the while Ron and Hermione had been trying to get to Harry to help him. In the end, Harry had cast a most powerful banishing spell, causing Lord Voldemort and all the Death Eaters vanished without a trace. Voldemort must have known that Harry was about to win the duel, so he cast one last spell that destroyed the entire building, hoping to kill Harry in the process. Lucky for Harry, he had cast a powerful shield spell, which he had been working on for quite some time and knew it would come in handy, that protected him from the falling debris. Ron had somehow managed to escape from the event with just a broken arm and leg. Hermione though...
Ron sighed as he reflected back on that night six years ago. He missed Hermione more than anything and wanted to at least talk to her once.
Suddenly the door opened and Ron's best friend, Harry Potter, walked into the room. The two recently had gone through a series of training and tests for five and a half years and were now the newest aurors for the Ministry. They had both worked extremely hard to become aurors so fast, which was a miracle since neither of them was as hard of a worker as Hermione ever was.
"Hey mate, you ready for lunch?" Harry said casually.
"Yeah sure," Ron replied. He set down the stack of papers he was holding onto his desk and grabbed his coat. "Where do you want to eat today?"
"Let's eat in muggle London. We haven't done that in a while." Harry shrugged.
The two left their office and stepped into the elevator. A few paper airplanes came whizzing out of the elevator as they stepped on, along with a few coming in after them. They reached the main floor and then apparated onto the streets above; this was always a little risky in case a muggle was in the alleyway when they apparated, but they had gotten lucky so far.
"Where to now?" Ron asked.
"Let's go to that coffee shop on the corner with the bridal store."
"Sure, but I forgot my wallet in the office so I'll have to pay you back some muggle money later Harry."
Ron and Harry walked into the shop and looked around. They sometimes liked to roam around London with the muggles during their breaks from work, and this was their favorite place to go. The place was never too busy and had a comfortable sort of atmosphere.
"Two medium sized number ones," Harry said to the cashier lady as he pulled out his wallet. Ron cleared his throat loudly. Harry sighed, "Oh wait, sorry, make that three. One for me and two for the guy next to me with a black hole for a stomach."
Ron decided to ignore Harry's usual cracks on his appetite and went to go get a table for them to eat at, leaving Harry to carry back all the food.
They talked about the usual during their break; how Ron's family was doing, when Ginny would be expecting her and Harry's first baby (they are married, if you couldn't tell), and their latest assignments where some crazy wizard or witch would make things ten times harder than it could have been for them.
Ron was on his second meal when the door to the shop opened and a woman came in with what looked like to be her little sister.
"I just need to get a quick coffee before we head back home Marianne," said the short, bushy-haired woman.
Ron choked on his food when he realized who the voice belonged to. He whipped his head around towards the woman and his jaw fell wide open. It was Hermione.
"Harry! It's Hermione!" Ron whispered excitedly, but Harry had already noticed and was excited as well.
She was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved button up shirt, with her still bushy hair tied nicely half-up. 'Wow,' Ron thought, 'she's more beautiful than I remember.' He realized that he had been staring at her for a long time, with Harry waving his hand in front of his face, and snapped himself back to reality.
The little girl called Marianne giggled and was pointing Ron out to Hermione. 'Crap, she must have noticed me staring at Hermione,' Ron thought. 'Stupid girl.'
Hermione looked over at Ron and they locked eyes for the first time in six years. She blushed and then turned around to order. Abruptly Harry grabbed Ron's arm and dragged him out of the coffee shop.
"Arh! What are you doing??" Ron shouted in furry.
"Don't you remember that her parents filed a restriction order against the magical world; against us?!" Harry argued while restraining Ron from going back inside. "If you say even one word to her and her parents get wind of it then the Magical Law Enforcement will come swooping down on you and put you away in Azkaban. Do you want that to happen?"
Ron stopped struggling but muttered under his breath, "It'd be worth it to talk to her for just one minute."
"What?" Harry asked, only catching a word here and there.
Ron bit his lip. "Don't you want to talk to her badly too? I mean, she was out best friend and we haven't seen or heard from her for years. She probably doesn't even know we exist! Don't tell me that you can live with that hanging over you."
Harry sighed dejectedly, still holding on to Ron's arm in case he wanted to run back into the shop. "Of course I want to talk to her Ron, and you know that. But we can't go against the law and break the restriction her parents put on us. As much as I want to, we just can't."
Harry finally let go of Ron's arm and said, "C'mon, we've got to get back to work."
Ron looked one last time through the coffee shop window and followed Harry back to the Ministry.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione turned the lock to her house and opened the door. She set her purse down on the kitchen counter and went to go lay down on the couch. Her little sister of five years, Marianne, zoomed around the house.
'Apparently our little outing today didn't tire her out as much as I had hoped,' Hermione laughed to herself. She plopped down onto the living room couch and yawned loudly. She was glad for the weekend to rest up from her rigorous school schedule, in which she spend a lot of her time doing since her major was one that required of about 8 years of schooling, at the least. She attended the best college in London and was at the top of her class; but she was just happy that she could still live at home with her family while attending school.
Her little sister came running up to her and shook her hard, "'Mione! Wake up! Can you take me to Brianna's house right now? Her mom just bought her this really really cool puppy that I wanna see! Please can you take me, please??"
"Alright, alright. Get your coat." Hermione replied as she slowly got off the couch.
"But it's not that cold!" Marianne disputed.
"Well I'm not going to be responsible for you getting sick, so get your coat or I'm not taking you." Hermione was good at using her wits to get her way.
"Fine." Her little sister stomped away and then came back with her pink coat on.
The two left the house for the second time that day and headed down the street. Hermione's mind wandered as she walked her sister to her friend's house. She suddenly thought of the red-haired man whom she had seen at the coffee shop during lunch. He had been staring at her like he was amazed to see her.
'But I don't know him,' Hermione thought. 'Do I? I can't remember knowing anyone with red hair; with the exception Rick.'
Rick was Hermione's best friend. They met in Hermione's first year of college and they've been inseparable since. For some reason her parents didn't seem comfortable around Rick, which was really strange because he hadn't done anything to make them uncomfortable. She remembered having an argument with her parents that involved Rick. All they said was that she was imagining their tightness around him, but she knew better. Later that day of the argument, Hermione was walking around the house when she over-heard her parents talking. She didn't really understand what they had said meant, but it all stuck in her mind.
~*flashback*~ (a/n: I don't know Hermione's parents names, so I'm making them up okay? Correct me if you know them please! Thanks!)
"We need to act better than we have Margaret. She's going to start suspecting something is up."
"What will she suspect? How could she possibly guess what her past life was about? She probably won't even think it has *anything* to do with the past. She just thinks that we don't like Rick."
"Hermione is a smart girl. I know the healer at St. Mungo's said that her condition was permanent, but you never know what little thing could spark her memory. Rick's red hair could remind her of her old friend Ron. There aren't many red heads here in London you know. There is just no telling what could happen."
"You're right Bill; we've got to be careful. I don't want her ever to be part of that dangerous world again."
~*end of flashback*~
Hermione had no idea what anything meant, but hadn't done much to figure it out. What past life? All she knew was that she had gone horse-back riding when she was 17 with her aunt and she had fallen off the horse and hit her head, causing her to get amnesia. She had no other life before that right? Just living with her family and going to school right? And who was Ron? An old friend; that much was all she knew. But Hermione didn't pressure her parents to tell her and didn't let them know that she had over-heard them. Whatever they weren't telling her was for her own benefit and she had faith in her parents that they wouldn't lead her astray.
Hermione's thoughts were interrupted as she realized that she and Marianne had reached Brianna's house. Hermione said a quick hello and then left her little sister with them. She turned around, ready for the walk back home. Starting to get lost in her own thoughts again, Hermione didn't realize that three shadowed figures were following her. The figures followed her until she went down the last alley before her house. They swiftly came up behind her and tackled her to the ground.
Hermione screamed out, but the noise was muffled when one of the figures shoved a wad of cloth into her mouth. She kicked as hard as she could but couldn't get free. A voice spoke that she swore she knew, though didn't knew where from.
"You might as well stop struggling Hermione because you're not going to get out of this one," a foul voice sneered. Hermione looked up and saw a man with blonde hair slicked back and a pointed nose. "My name is Draco Malfoy and I'm here to tell you where you really belong."
The two other figures picked Hermione up roughly from the ground and shoved her over to Malfoy. Blue and red sparks started flying by, almost hitting Malfoy in the head. He quickly grabbed Hermione's arm and apparated from the spot, just in time to dodge a certain red-headed man.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ron couldn't concentrate on his paperwork he was supposed to be filling out about the last case he had taken in Germany. He couldn't get his mind off of Hermione from the moment her saw her in the coffee shop. To see her there and not be able to talk to her really pissed him off. Ron slammed his quill onto his desk and stood up.
"I can't do this right now. Can you finish this for me Harry? I need to take work off early today."
Harry knew what Ron was thinking about and just decided to help out his friend, even though the paperwork was a lengthy and boring process that he would rather not do. "Sure Ron. Hand it over."
Ron tossed the folder containing the papers to Harry and then picked up his bag. "Thanks mate. I'll see you tomorrow."
Ron closed the office door behind him and made his way to the main floor of the Ministry. He quickly left and started walking back to the apartment that he and Harry shared in a magical community. He walked down alley after alley, wanting to get home as fast as he could so that he could just lie down in bed. Ron turned another corner and saw two guys holding down a woman and another man with blonde hair.
'Wait a minute,' Ron thought. He then recognized the blonde man and the two other guys.
"Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe. *Just* the people I wanted to see today. I had hoped I wouldn't have to look at their ugly faces ever again after leaving Hogwarts." Ron muttered under his breath. Just then he saw Goyle and Crabbe pick up the woman and push her towards Malfoy. The woman was Hermione! Ron started running at top speed and pulled out his wand as fast as he could, shouting incantations and pointing his wand straight at Malfoy's face. Malfoy looked straight at him, smirked, and then suddenly apparated; taking Hermione with him. Crabbe and Goyle were gone too, leaving Ron alone in the alleyway. He slowed down and collapsed to his knees, out of breath. How could he let something terrible happen to Hermione for a second time??
~*~*~*~*~*~
End of this chapter! Review please! And if you know the names of Hermione's parents then please tell me! Thanks! ^_^
Thanks to my reviewers!! I wasn't going to write this chapter so soon, but once I read my reviews I just had to! Muchos Gracias! lol I think I spelled that right...
3/15/04 Update- Hey guys! I was reading my reviews and realized that it was a bit confusing and I needed to edit and go through this chapter again. So this is the repost of chapter 2. I will be working on chapter 3 today, so keep looking back for an update soon! Probably tomorrow evening at the latest. I hope...
~*~*~*~*~*~
~*Chapter 2*~
Ron put his feet on his desk and fingered through some papers in his hand. It was almost time for his lunch break, so of course his mind was already on his food. But his mind was also on something else. Someone else.
Everyday Ron thought about Hermione and how she was doing. He hadn't talked to her since that day when Harry and Lord Voldemort had battled, which was six years ago. She had been injured with a permanent memory loss that night, and her parents were too protective to have her take part in the magical world anymore.
"This wizardry and magic is just too dangerous for our little girl," Ron remembered her dad saying to the healer.
'But she wasn't a little girl,' Ron thought angrily. 'If Hermione knew what her parents were doing to her, she would be infuriated. We knew what we were getting into when we went to that night. It was unavoidable.'
It was the night that the three were supposed to be packing to go back to the muggle world. They had just graduated from Hogwarts that year and were ready to start their new life out of the school. But then Ron's sister, Ginny, had been taken by Voldemort for bait. Voldemort had many wizards and witches that worked for him, allowing him be inside of everything and know all that he needed. He knew how much Ginny meant to Harry, so it was the perfect plan. Except Harry had grown up a lot over his years at Hogwarts and had developed exceptional powers. It seemed impossible for Harry to go against Voldemort so soon, but his abilities had grown stronger than anyone could have thought in such a short period of time. That night, Harry and Voldemort battled viciously to the death, and all the while Ron and Hermione had been trying to get to Harry to help him. In the end, Harry had cast a most powerful banishing spell, causing Lord Voldemort and all the Death Eaters vanished without a trace. Voldemort must have known that Harry was about to win the duel, so he cast one last spell that destroyed the entire building, hoping to kill Harry in the process. Lucky for Harry, he had cast a powerful shield spell, which he had been working on for quite some time and knew it would come in handy, that protected him from the falling debris. Ron had somehow managed to escape from the event with just a broken arm and leg. Hermione though...
Ron sighed as he reflected back on that night six years ago. He missed Hermione more than anything and wanted to at least talk to her once.
Suddenly the door opened and Ron's best friend, Harry Potter, walked into the room. The two recently had gone through a series of training and tests for five and a half years and were now the newest aurors for the Ministry. They had both worked extremely hard to become aurors so fast, which was a miracle since neither of them was as hard of a worker as Hermione ever was.
"Hey mate, you ready for lunch?" Harry said casually.
"Yeah sure," Ron replied. He set down the stack of papers he was holding onto his desk and grabbed his coat. "Where do you want to eat today?"
"Let's eat in muggle London. We haven't done that in a while." Harry shrugged.
The two left their office and stepped into the elevator. A few paper airplanes came whizzing out of the elevator as they stepped on, along with a few coming in after them. They reached the main floor and then apparated onto the streets above; this was always a little risky in case a muggle was in the alleyway when they apparated, but they had gotten lucky so far.
"Where to now?" Ron asked.
"Let's go to that coffee shop on the corner with the bridal store."
"Sure, but I forgot my wallet in the office so I'll have to pay you back some muggle money later Harry."
Ron and Harry walked into the shop and looked around. They sometimes liked to roam around London with the muggles during their breaks from work, and this was their favorite place to go. The place was never too busy and had a comfortable sort of atmosphere.
"Two medium sized number ones," Harry said to the cashier lady as he pulled out his wallet. Ron cleared his throat loudly. Harry sighed, "Oh wait, sorry, make that three. One for me and two for the guy next to me with a black hole for a stomach."
Ron decided to ignore Harry's usual cracks on his appetite and went to go get a table for them to eat at, leaving Harry to carry back all the food.
They talked about the usual during their break; how Ron's family was doing, when Ginny would be expecting her and Harry's first baby (they are married, if you couldn't tell), and their latest assignments where some crazy wizard or witch would make things ten times harder than it could have been for them.
Ron was on his second meal when the door to the shop opened and a woman came in with what looked like to be her little sister.
"I just need to get a quick coffee before we head back home Marianne," said the short, bushy-haired woman.
Ron choked on his food when he realized who the voice belonged to. He whipped his head around towards the woman and his jaw fell wide open. It was Hermione.
"Harry! It's Hermione!" Ron whispered excitedly, but Harry had already noticed and was excited as well.
She was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved button up shirt, with her still bushy hair tied nicely half-up. 'Wow,' Ron thought, 'she's more beautiful than I remember.' He realized that he had been staring at her for a long time, with Harry waving his hand in front of his face, and snapped himself back to reality.
The little girl called Marianne giggled and was pointing Ron out to Hermione. 'Crap, she must have noticed me staring at Hermione,' Ron thought. 'Stupid girl.'
Hermione looked over at Ron and they locked eyes for the first time in six years. She blushed and then turned around to order. Abruptly Harry grabbed Ron's arm and dragged him out of the coffee shop.
"Arh! What are you doing??" Ron shouted in furry.
"Don't you remember that her parents filed a restriction order against the magical world; against us?!" Harry argued while restraining Ron from going back inside. "If you say even one word to her and her parents get wind of it then the Magical Law Enforcement will come swooping down on you and put you away in Azkaban. Do you want that to happen?"
Ron stopped struggling but muttered under his breath, "It'd be worth it to talk to her for just one minute."
"What?" Harry asked, only catching a word here and there.
Ron bit his lip. "Don't you want to talk to her badly too? I mean, she was out best friend and we haven't seen or heard from her for years. She probably doesn't even know we exist! Don't tell me that you can live with that hanging over you."
Harry sighed dejectedly, still holding on to Ron's arm in case he wanted to run back into the shop. "Of course I want to talk to her Ron, and you know that. But we can't go against the law and break the restriction her parents put on us. As much as I want to, we just can't."
Harry finally let go of Ron's arm and said, "C'mon, we've got to get back to work."
Ron looked one last time through the coffee shop window and followed Harry back to the Ministry.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione turned the lock to her house and opened the door. She set her purse down on the kitchen counter and went to go lay down on the couch. Her little sister of five years, Marianne, zoomed around the house.
'Apparently our little outing today didn't tire her out as much as I had hoped,' Hermione laughed to herself. She plopped down onto the living room couch and yawned loudly. She was glad for the weekend to rest up from her rigorous school schedule, in which she spend a lot of her time doing since her major was one that required of about 8 years of schooling, at the least. She attended the best college in London and was at the top of her class; but she was just happy that she could still live at home with her family while attending school.
Her little sister came running up to her and shook her hard, "'Mione! Wake up! Can you take me to Brianna's house right now? Her mom just bought her this really really cool puppy that I wanna see! Please can you take me, please??"
"Alright, alright. Get your coat." Hermione replied as she slowly got off the couch.
"But it's not that cold!" Marianne disputed.
"Well I'm not going to be responsible for you getting sick, so get your coat or I'm not taking you." Hermione was good at using her wits to get her way.
"Fine." Her little sister stomped away and then came back with her pink coat on.
The two left the house for the second time that day and headed down the street. Hermione's mind wandered as she walked her sister to her friend's house. She suddenly thought of the red-haired man whom she had seen at the coffee shop during lunch. He had been staring at her like he was amazed to see her.
'But I don't know him,' Hermione thought. 'Do I? I can't remember knowing anyone with red hair; with the exception Rick.'
Rick was Hermione's best friend. They met in Hermione's first year of college and they've been inseparable since. For some reason her parents didn't seem comfortable around Rick, which was really strange because he hadn't done anything to make them uncomfortable. She remembered having an argument with her parents that involved Rick. All they said was that she was imagining their tightness around him, but she knew better. Later that day of the argument, Hermione was walking around the house when she over-heard her parents talking. She didn't really understand what they had said meant, but it all stuck in her mind.
~*flashback*~ (a/n: I don't know Hermione's parents names, so I'm making them up okay? Correct me if you know them please! Thanks!)
"We need to act better than we have Margaret. She's going to start suspecting something is up."
"What will she suspect? How could she possibly guess what her past life was about? She probably won't even think it has *anything* to do with the past. She just thinks that we don't like Rick."
"Hermione is a smart girl. I know the healer at St. Mungo's said that her condition was permanent, but you never know what little thing could spark her memory. Rick's red hair could remind her of her old friend Ron. There aren't many red heads here in London you know. There is just no telling what could happen."
"You're right Bill; we've got to be careful. I don't want her ever to be part of that dangerous world again."
~*end of flashback*~
Hermione had no idea what anything meant, but hadn't done much to figure it out. What past life? All she knew was that she had gone horse-back riding when she was 17 with her aunt and she had fallen off the horse and hit her head, causing her to get amnesia. She had no other life before that right? Just living with her family and going to school right? And who was Ron? An old friend; that much was all she knew. But Hermione didn't pressure her parents to tell her and didn't let them know that she had over-heard them. Whatever they weren't telling her was for her own benefit and she had faith in her parents that they wouldn't lead her astray.
Hermione's thoughts were interrupted as she realized that she and Marianne had reached Brianna's house. Hermione said a quick hello and then left her little sister with them. She turned around, ready for the walk back home. Starting to get lost in her own thoughts again, Hermione didn't realize that three shadowed figures were following her. The figures followed her until she went down the last alley before her house. They swiftly came up behind her and tackled her to the ground.
Hermione screamed out, but the noise was muffled when one of the figures shoved a wad of cloth into her mouth. She kicked as hard as she could but couldn't get free. A voice spoke that she swore she knew, though didn't knew where from.
"You might as well stop struggling Hermione because you're not going to get out of this one," a foul voice sneered. Hermione looked up and saw a man with blonde hair slicked back and a pointed nose. "My name is Draco Malfoy and I'm here to tell you where you really belong."
The two other figures picked Hermione up roughly from the ground and shoved her over to Malfoy. Blue and red sparks started flying by, almost hitting Malfoy in the head. He quickly grabbed Hermione's arm and apparated from the spot, just in time to dodge a certain red-headed man.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ron couldn't concentrate on his paperwork he was supposed to be filling out about the last case he had taken in Germany. He couldn't get his mind off of Hermione from the moment her saw her in the coffee shop. To see her there and not be able to talk to her really pissed him off. Ron slammed his quill onto his desk and stood up.
"I can't do this right now. Can you finish this for me Harry? I need to take work off early today."
Harry knew what Ron was thinking about and just decided to help out his friend, even though the paperwork was a lengthy and boring process that he would rather not do. "Sure Ron. Hand it over."
Ron tossed the folder containing the papers to Harry and then picked up his bag. "Thanks mate. I'll see you tomorrow."
Ron closed the office door behind him and made his way to the main floor of the Ministry. He quickly left and started walking back to the apartment that he and Harry shared in a magical community. He walked down alley after alley, wanting to get home as fast as he could so that he could just lie down in bed. Ron turned another corner and saw two guys holding down a woman and another man with blonde hair.
'Wait a minute,' Ron thought. He then recognized the blonde man and the two other guys.
"Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe. *Just* the people I wanted to see today. I had hoped I wouldn't have to look at their ugly faces ever again after leaving Hogwarts." Ron muttered under his breath. Just then he saw Goyle and Crabbe pick up the woman and push her towards Malfoy. The woman was Hermione! Ron started running at top speed and pulled out his wand as fast as he could, shouting incantations and pointing his wand straight at Malfoy's face. Malfoy looked straight at him, smirked, and then suddenly apparated; taking Hermione with him. Crabbe and Goyle were gone too, leaving Ron alone in the alleyway. He slowed down and collapsed to his knees, out of breath. How could he let something terrible happen to Hermione for a second time??
~*~*~*~*~*~
End of this chapter! Review please! And if you know the names of Hermione's parents then please tell me! Thanks! ^_^