Disclaimer: I forgot this last time, so here it is. I do not own anything in the Harry Potter universe; I just enjoy playing with it.
Angelina Weasley hurriedly searched through the racks in a store at the muggle shopping mall in London. She had put off shopping for clothes for herself and her daughters until the last minute. Her second cousin (a muggle) was getting married, and they didn't have anything suitable to wear. She glanced around nervously, wondering where her daughters had run off to.
"Honestly," she thought to herself. "As if shopping the muggle way wasn't hard enough, doing it with twin daughters makes it nearly impossible!" She abandoned the rack she had been looking through and went to find her daughters, silently praying they hadn't destroyed anything.
"I can't believe they lost my suitcase!" Anna whined to James as she looked for new clothes.
"I'm sure it will turn up soon," James reassured her. "For now, just focus on finding something you like. I'm going to wander around for a bit. I'll be back." James walked away from his frustrated friend and began to roam around the mall. He had been walking around for a few minutes when he got the distinct impression that someone was following him. He then felt someone tug at his pant leg. He turned around to see two very curious little girls looking up at him. He knelt down so he was at their eye level. "May I help you?" he asked kindly.
"I told you it's not him," one of the little girls whispered to the other.
"It looks like him," the other responded. It was then that James noticed the dark red hair on the young children. He felt his heart skip a beat in anticipation.
"Yeah, but in the pictures of Uncle Harry he's got black hair. And he wears glasses." James continued to listen to their conversation amused. "Plus, Uncle Harry's got a big scar, right on his forehead. See, no scar here!" The little girl said as she smacked her hand across James's forehead.
"Amy! Andrea!"
"Oh, that's our Mum calling," one of the girls told James, acknowledging his presence for the first time.
"There you are girls! I'm so sorry sir, if they were bothering you," Angelina said as she walked over to where they were standing.
"Not at all, I just came into town, and they were quite the welcoming committee. Apparently they had mistaken me for one of their uncles," James explained.
"Well, they've got enough of them, and with your red hair it would be easy enough to do," Angelina replied, never taking the time to really look James in the face. She scooped up her daughters and apologized again before hurrying back into the store, scolding the children the entire way.
James let out a chuckle and went back to find Anna to tell him of his first London encounter.
Later that night, Amy and Andrea Weasley sat on the couch in their grandparent's living room holding a very hushed conversation while staring at a picture. They were supposed to have gone to the wedding with their mother, but after their escapade in the mall, they were sent to stay with their grandmother instead. Their father was supposed to pick them up when he finished at work that evening.
"Now girls, what are you doing?" Molly Weasley asked. She knew from experience that when twins were sitting close holding a secret conversation it often meant they were up to something.
"Grandma, can we tell you a secret?" Amy asked in total seriousness.
"Well if I keep your secret will anyone be hurt?" The girls shook their heads. "Then yes you can tell me a secret." Molly looked down and saw what picture they were holding. It was a picture of Harry and Ginny, taken the afternoon they had both arrived at the Burrow for Easter; the day Ginny had been kidnapped. She was grateful that at the moment the picture version of Harry and Ginny were only smiling and waving; they were often known to start snogging in front of viewers. "Girls, what are you doing with that picture? That is a very important picture. Aunt Ginny would be very upset if something happened to it."
"Grandma, we think we saw him today," Andrea said quietly.
"Who?" Molly asked nervously.
"Uncle Harry," Andrea whispered.
"He didn't look exactly the same," Amy added quickly. "His hair was short and red. And he wasn't wearing glasses."
"And the scar was gone," Andrea said.
"But his eyes, they were definitely the same," Amy piped up.
"And his smile. It looked just like this picture," Andrea added.
Molly Weasley sat down on the couch, trying to digest all of the information. Surely her granddaughters were mistaken. They were so young, they had never even seen Harry in person; only old photographs. Besides, Harry was dead. A witness had seen him die.
"Grandma?" Amy asked quietly. "Did we do something wrong?" Molly shook her head no. She was trying to decide how to break it to the girls that there was no way they could have seen Uncle Harry when a little voice inside her head told her not to. They were just so sure it had been him.
"Girls, don't mention this to anyone else for now. Let me talk to your grandfather about this, and we'll see what we can do," Molly said. She stood up from the couch and walked back into the kitchen trying to digest all of the thoughts running through her mind. "Could it really be, after all these years, Harry's alive?" She tried to fight back her feelings of hope. If Harry was alive, maybe, just maybe she would finally get her daughter back.
"But what I'm the most intrigued by is the fact that the little girls had red hair," James told Anna, retelling the story for the hundredth time. "Maybe I really am related to them. I mean can you imagine the odds? I just wish that their mother had taken the time to really talk to me, or at least look at me."
"I know James, I know," Anna replied rolling her eyes. "I promise tomorrow when we go to the missing person's office that we'll tell them about this and ask them to pay special attention to anyone with the name Harry."
"Oh I just don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight now," James said as he fell backwards onto his bed.
"Well we've got a busy day ahead of us, so you really should try," Anna said as she got in her own bed and turned out the light. "Good night James."
"Or is it Harry," James thought excitedly.
The next day, a very disappointed James left the missing persons office with no new ideas of who he was.
"Well, it was a long shot anyway," James said to Anna.
"We're not going to give up yet," Anna assured him. "We're here for two whole weeks and it's only been a day. If we had found out who you were by the second day it would have been miraculous."
"I know, I just got my hopes up yesterday after those little girls seemed to recognize me," James said. "And we're trying to find out who I am, not who I was."
"Well, we've got a whole day in front of us," Anna said, changing the subject. "We could go exploring around London, see if anything rings any bells."
"That would be fine," James answered. "We should hail a cab."
A few minutes later they were dropped off at Charing Cross Road.
"Well this is an interesting place," Anna mused.
"Well we did ask the cab driver to drop us off at the most interesting place he could think of," James responded. "I must admit I had been silently begging him to take us somewhere that would lead to my past."
"Yes, but I meant interesting like sight seeing, not scary," Anna said laughing.
"Well we might as well take a look around," James said and they started to walk down the street. He noticed several strange looking people giving him strange looks. "You know what? Maybe we shouldn't be roaming around the streets like this, why don't we sit down and have a drink?"
"Where?" Anna asked confused.
"Right there, that place called the Leaky Cauldron," James responded pointing between a book and a record store.
"Wow, I didn't even notice it there," she replied as she followed James into the dingy looking pub. "James, I have a feeling we shouldn't be here," she whispered in his ear after they had walked through the door. They felt the eyes of every strange looking person in the room on them. "James I'm starting to get scared."
"They're not looking at you," James replied calmly. "They're looking at me." A bright smile lit James's face. "Maybe they know me," he thought to himself. "Could I really just have gotten lucky?" James turned his back to all of the peering eyes and spoke quietly to Anna. "Why don't you go back outside and wait for me. I'm just going to go talk to the bartender." Anna nodded and slowly backed out the door. James looked around again, and ignoring the weird looks he took a seat at the bar. "Can I ask you a question?" he asked the bartender. "Why is everyone here staring at me?" The bartender did not respond, but instead handed him a sheet of paper. "What the hell!" James exclaimed as he saw the picture and the text on the paper move. He watched in awe as he saw a young man fly around the page on a broomstick. The boy then disappeared and words appeared in his place. "Come join the Harry Potter Day Celebration in Diagon Alley." James read aloud. The words faded into the background and James let out a startled gasp. A young man's face was staring back at him from the piece of paper. A young boy of about sixteen with messy raven colored hair and green eyes hidden behind glasses. His green eyes. He looked at the smiling boy and saw a lightening bolt scar peaking out from underneath his bangs. He saw the boy smile and laugh before disappearing again. That was his smile. The paper had returned to the picture of the boy flying on a broomstick. "Please, you have to tell me, who is this boy, this Harry Potter?' James asked excitedly.
"He's our savior," the bartender replied, staring into the James's eyes. "He died four years ago this week. We celebrate the day he died to save the rest of our lives." Suddenly it was all too much for James to handle. Could it be that he was this Harry Potter? His head felt heavy and the room began to spin. Everything went black and James's limp body fell to the floor.
Hermione Weasley was very irritated. Not only was she short two healers, but the healers on duty were causing a commotion. Apparently, the first three witches who had entered the room of their newest patient had passed out leaving all of the other attendants afraid to enter the room.
"Honestly, you'd think it was all of your first days," she scolded as she made her way to the room. "Now what is it that's so bad? A little blood? An open wound? I don't have time for this kind of behavior." Hermione entered the room and gasped at what she saw. There was a very frightened looking blond woman sitting nervously in a chair next to the bed, and then there was an unconscious man on the bed. Hermione pulled her hand to her heart and felt tears spring up in her eyes. "Harry?" she whispered.
"This is James, and I don't know why you've all brought him to this strange place," the blond woman said crying. "I just want to go home!"
Hermione tried to regain her composure, knowing that the woman was the only person who could give her answers. "Where is home?" she asked gently. The woman didn't respond. "I can help you and your friend, but first you have to give me answers."
"Canada."
"What are you doing in London?" Hermione prompted, not able to take her eyes on the man in the bed.
"Where are we?" the blonde woman stubbornly replied.
"St. Mungo's Hospital," Hermione replied impatiently.
"No, I'm a doctor, this isn't a normal hospital."
"Okay, this is a wizarding hospital," Hermione informed her.
The woman's sobs grew louder. "I knew coming here was a mistake, but James just insisted that we come. And now we're here in this nut house and James is unconscious!"
"I assure you this is not a nut house," Hermione said, beginning to get annoyed. "Did you not know that your friend, James did you say, is a wizard?"
"He is not!"
"I assure you he is. We've had a magical reading done on him and he's more magical than most wizards could ever dream of being," Hermione said, looking at his chart. "Now, what did you say your name was?"
"Anna Jones."
"And your friends name?"
"James Jones."
"Ms. Jones I know you're anxious to leave, so if you could just step outside and fill out some paper work, we'll have you and James out of here in no time," Hermione said sweetly while lying through her teeth. Anna nodded and followed her out of the room. Hermione grabbed the closest mediwitch and pulled her aside. "This is the most important thing I will ever ask you to do. You must stall this woman for as long as possible. Slip her a potion if you have to, but we cannot under any circumstances let this man leave the hospital," she whispered urgently. The nurse nodded and led Anna away. Hermione walked back into the room and walked over to the bed. She carefully examined the man's face and then collapsed on the bed crying. "Oh Harry, is it really you? After all of these years, are you really alive?"
"I'm sorry, do I know you," James spoke softly, waking up from his slumber.
Hermione pulled her head up from the bed and looked cautiously into his emerald eyes. "It is you," she whispered hoarsely.
"Well then maybe you're just the person I need to talk to," James said with a smile. "You see, I don't even know who I am so if you could tell me it would be wonderful."
Hermione gasped. Everyone in the wizarding world knew who Harry Potter was; except apparently Harry Potter. "You don't know that your real name is Harry Potter, and you are the most powerful wizard of your time?"
"A wizard?" James asked excitedly. "Oh now that does make sense! All those things that kept happening and I only wrote it off as short term memory loss! It's a shame I didn't know wizards were real beings. Tell me; are you a wizard as well?"
Hermione couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Actually female wizards are called witches, but yes I am one."
"Now, did I know you, or did you just know of me?" James asked curiously.
Hermione wasn't sure if telling Harry about his life would be good or damaging, so she decided to keep her answers to his questions very simple. "Yes, we went to school together and were good friends."
"Oh then you would know about my family!" James said excitedly.
Hermione's face turned sullen. "I'm sorry, I don't know if I should be the one to tell you this."
James's face dropped. "Please, I'd like to know. You can't imagine what it's like to not know anything about yourself."
"Well both sets of your grandparents died before you were born, and your parents died when you were a baby," Hermione said quietly. "You lived with your awful aunt and her family until you found out you were a wizard and left for school."
James fought back the tears in his eyes. "I'm not married or anything am I?"
Hermione smiled. "No. You were only sixteen when you disappeared."
"So that would make me twenty now then?"
"Yes, yes it would. But I think I've answered enough of your questions for now. I need to go talk to some people who can best decide how to handle your situation," Hermione said. She got up and walked to the door, but James stopped her before she could leave.
"One more question?" Hermione nodded in response. "When's my birthday?"
"July 31st." James smiled and stretched out on his bed, not fully comprehending everything he had just learned.
"So Arthur what is it you wanted to speak to me about? It's always a great honor to have your presence requested by the Minister of Magic," Albus Dumbledore asked his old friend.
"You know I don't put much weight in titles," Arthur replied with a smile. "I'm afraid this is more of a personal matter though. Apparently, two of my granddaughters believe they saw Harry yesterday. They said his appearance wasn't exactly the same, but they were sure it was him. Now normally I wouldn't put much weight on the words of three year olds..."
"Don't underestimate your granddaughters, they're all very bright. I'm looking forward to the day when we have more Weasleys at Hogwarts. They're a special breed, especially the female variety."
Arthur smiled. "Well, like I said, normally I wouldn't have put much weight into their sighting, but we had numerous reportings yesterday about Harry sightings."
"Isn't that usual for this time of year?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, but these are coming from respected members of the wizarding community; even some from people who knew Harry. The most convincing thing, however, is that they all are reporting the same change in his appearance: short red hair, no glasses, and no scar."
"Well then it seems that we either have a very talented Harry Potter look alike, or Harry may actually be alive," Dumbledore replied, his eyes gleaming.
"Professor Dumbledore? Are you there?"
"Excuse me for a moment, it seems that my fireplace is calling me," Dumbledore said, walking into the next room. "Oh Arthur come here, it's one of your daughter-in-laws."
"Hello, Hermione. How are you doing?" Arthur asked his youngest daughter-in-law.
"I'm okay, actually no I'm not. I don't really know what I am. I have some interesting news."
"Well, do let us in on your secret," Dumbledore asked, mildly amused at her flustered state.
"It's Harry, he's here."
"Are you sure?" Arthur asked urgently.
"I've never been more certain of anything. He doesn't look exactly the same, but it's him. The problem is, he doesn't know it's him, I mean, he doesn't know who he is or anything about his life."
"So you think that he's had a memory charm used on him?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes and no. I think that one was used, but at seems that he is suffering from something else as well. I know that wizards aren't normally able to contract normal muggle diseases, but I think that he has amnesia."
"I'm assuming by here you meant St. Mungo's?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes," Hermione replied.
"Well, then what are we waiting for, let's go to St. Mungo's," Dumbledore said smiling before apparating to St. Mungo's.
"Well, here's hoping," Arthur said before following his old friend's example.
Hermione cautiously walked back into Harry's room after making sure Anna was safely contained in another room. She knew that her father-in-law and former headmaster were on their way, but she couldn't resist the urge to see Harry again. It was as if she thought if she wasn't constantly watching him he would disappear from her life again. She poked her head to through the door, trying not to disturb him if he was asleep, but that wasn't the case.
"Good to see you've come back for me," James called out to her. "I was getting lonely."
"I'm afraid that won't be the case for much longer once word spreads that you're here," Hermione replied smiling.
"I expect that will be a bit overwhelming," James said with a smile. "So tell me, doc, what's the prognosis?"
"Well technically there's nothing wrong with you," Hermione began. "I believe you collapsed from stress."
"That would make sense since I had just seen a picture on a piece of paper moving that looked like me," James said with a grin. "Although that does make more sense now too. However I do believe you said technically there's nothing wrong with me."
"Well, obviously you don't know who you are. I'm assuming the doctors told you that your condition was called amnesia, and that's partly true. However, what they didn't know is that you have also suffered from several memory charms." She paused noticing the confused look on Harry's face. "Let me explain, a memory charm is used to erase certain parts of your memory. Now, the person who is using the charm chooses what they do and do not want you to remember. It's possible to reverse the charm, but with the amount of them that were used, trying to retrieve your memories could end up turning your brain to mush."
"I think it's safe to say that I'd prefer for that not to happen."
Hermione laughed despite the seriousness of the situation. "Now, things would be much easier if we knew what memories were erased, but we don't."
"Is there anyway that the spell will wear out over time?"
"I can't say for sure. Honestly, I've never seen a case like yours before. It doesn't look like the person who cast the spell knew exactly what they were doing. That could mean that it'd be easier to remove the spell, or it could mean that it'd make it harder. We just can't be sure."
"What about the amnesia itself?" James asked.
"Now that could be healed at any time. Anything could trigger your memories to come back, at least the ones that weren't erased. It's like your memories were locked away in the back of your mind, and you've yet to find the key to unleash them."
"Theoretically, the person who erased my memories could only erase the memories they knew of, right?"
Hermione looked slightly confused, unsure of where he was going with his line of questioning. "Yes, I guess so. Why do you ask?"
"Well, they couldn't possibly erase my entire memory, unless of course it was me who performed the spell. The odds are probably in my favor for keeping my most personal memories, because I doubt someone who would erase my memory would know about them. I was just trying to look for the silver lining," James explained.
Hermione's heart was torn between admiration and sympathy. She looked at her friend who had no idea who she was. Her thoughts turned to Ginny and the effect that this would have on her. She was trying to find something comforting to say to Harry when she noticed he had fallen asleep. She walked over to him and placed a small kiss on his forehead. "Get some sleep Harry; I'm afraid things will get worse before they get better." She turned and walked out of his room, almost walking right into the two older wizards she was expecting. She let out a sigh and spoke. "Arthur, Professor Dumbledore, he just fell asleep. Why don't you let me fill you in on everything, and then you can see him."
A/N I'm trying not to make all of the James and Harrys confusing. For now, I will continue to refer to Harry as James, I think through the third chapter. When Harry starts to recognize himself as Harry, so will I. As for all of the little Weasleys running around, well I think that was pretty much the most we'll see of them. They were really there to show the difference between Ginny's life and her brothers, and of course the event that occurred at the beginning of the chapter. Thanks for your continued support! Let me know what you think of this chapter.