Confido Memoria, The Beginning
In Hogwarts library there lies a book, on the very last shelf of the very last row: 'Hogwarts, a History'. Forty-two copies lined up side by side, their leather bindings creased by student use. Pages are ripped here, torn there, weathered and faded and old. Some of the bright minds that have passed through this castle may have called these texts "highly biased", "selective" or "incomplete", for even in a thousand pages, the school's entire history and function cannot be fully described. If this statement is true, then there is one copy of 'Hogwarts, a History' that is slightly more informative than the rest. On the outside it looks no different, just as wrinkled, used and torn as its fellow books. But on the inside, on the very last page, there are two words and six symbols. They are unique to this copy, and make it very, very different from the rest.
There are the words Confido Memoria, traced in strong and confident black letters. Beneath them, in a single, neat row, are six shinning images: a lightening bolt, a chess piece and a clear Remembrall, a blue flame, a feather and a yellow full moon. If you look hard enough the pictures seem to come alive, shimmering, glistening, real and solid. And if you look away from the book, around the grounds, you might discover similar symbols etched on trees, benches, tables and walls. If, on the arm of the cushiest chair in the Gryffindor common room, you could trace with a finger the words Confido Memoria, found carved into the wood. If all at once you touched those words, both in the book and on the chair, then you would find the world falling away, to become a very different, yet similar, place…
The common room was quiet; it was twelve o'clock and only three students were not in bed. They sat in armchairs by the fire, books and papers strewn about them, all heavily concentrated on their work. Hermione Granger, the only girl of the trio, rubbed her eyes as she searched for yet another fact in her history textbook. The teacher for that subject, the ghostly Professor Binns, had assigned an essay on the wizarding prison Azkaban, as a welcome back present to the now sixth-year Gryffindors. At least, it was supposed to be a present. According to their professor, the essay was supposed to be "easy, as it relates to the Azkaban breakout a few months ago, which I'm sure you all know plenty about." It was the first history essay they had ever had to complete that did not involve dates and facts from over two hundred years ago, and so maybe Professor Binns was being generous, but still, with two feet of parchment – on top of homework on Potions, Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology – was really a lot of work. Hermione kept reading and writing, and had filled up half her paper when the black-haired boy sitting beside her, Harry Potter, said:
"They'll never remember him."
Hermione looked up from her parchment, as did the other boy of the group, Ron Weasley. They exchanged quick glances, then looked back at Harry, knowing not to pressure him into speaking. Ever since the death of his godfather, Sirius Black, Harry had been acting very moody. Four months had passed since the incidents at the Department of Mysteries, and at times he was still heavily depressed, others almost unbearably cheerful. This was his way of coping with grief, alternately wallowing in sorrow and 'what ifs', and putting up an 'I'm perfectly OK' façade. In their two weeks back at Hogwarts, and during the time spent together at The Burrow during the summer, Ron and Hermione had learnt that the appearance of Harry's true personality, the way he used to be, was very rare. Since returning to school, a place flooded with memories of the Marauders, letters and visits with Sirius, Harry had been in his depressed mode, barely speaking. And so they listened closely as Harry said again:
"They'll never really know him. Sirius.".
By unspoken consent, Harry godfather was not commonly discussed, and so his name hung in the air between them, heavy, oppressing, and all three friends shifted uncomfortably under its weight. And then Harry exploded, his emotions and fears flying loose.
"It's not fair that Sirius died. It's not. Because now, the world will never know him. The only record wizards will have of him is as a mad and deranged murderer, who killed Peter Pettigrew in cold blood. But that isn't true. That isn't Sirius. The Marauders. The way he laughed, or gave advice, or gave me my Firebolt in third year. His intelligence, his dedication to his friends, his…his passion! In fifty years, who's going to know about these things, the ones that represent the real Sirius Black? No one, that's who. And in a hundred years, who will remember us? We'll be just three names in a book; 'The Boy Who Lived', 'Hermione Granger' and 'Ron Weasley'. They're just names, and nothing more. Just bloody names. "
Silence filled the air, and Ron and Hermione gaped, shocked. This was the most Harry had ever said about his godfather, and the anger and disturbing reality of his words unsettled them. Even Harry seemed surprised at himself, as if he had only just come to realize the full meaning of what he had said. He slammed his books shut, picked up his things with shaking hands, and then ran up the stairs to the boy's dormitory.
The next weeks went by in a blur. Teachers piled on the homework, since the sixth year students were now starting their NEWT level classes. The exams themselves were not for another two years, but this didn't stop Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Binns from stretching the memory, concentration and patience of their students to the limit. "Your NEWT exams will determine the path of your future, and your station and employment in the wizarding world," had said Professor McGonagall, in a speech much like the one they had received while working for their OWLs. "You may think that the end of seventh year is a long time away, but trust me, the exams will come sooner than you realize. If you do not start preparing and working diligently now, then I assure you that your NEWT marks will be very disappointing indeed."
On top of all the homework, Quidditch season was starting up, and Harry, more talkative since venting his feelings, was busy with multiple practices as Gryffindor's Seeker. Ron had chosen not to try out for the team this year, and was still recovering from occasional taunts about his Keeping skills and Slytherin renditions of 'Weasley is Our King'. His Prefect duties kept him occupied, and with campaigning for S.P.E.W, Hermione was busy as well. Even so, she still found time to talk to Ginny about Harry, and about his slowly improving condition. Over the summer, the twins, Bill and Charlie had been away, and so at The Burrow Ginny had spent more time with Ron, Hermione and Harry. Their tight, close-knit trio remained, but outside of it, under Ron's mumbling and grumbling, Ginny had become a better friend to all of them. What Harry had said about not being remembered bothered Hermione, in a way that death and violence never could. To have no one look back, to live life and then disappear without a trace, was to her a thoroughly disturbing concept. So she talked things over with Ginny, sparking an idea, which she presented a few days later:
"Confido Memoria."
"Pardon?" said Ron, sprawled out in the grass. On a rare peaceful and homework-free Saturday, he and Harry were lazing by the lake, watching the Giant Squid as the autumn breeze rustled the leaves around them. Ginny was with them too, taking a break from her OWLs Transfiguration homework. Only Hermione seemed to have motivation, and was quickly shifting from side to side as she explained herself.
"Do you remember the conversation we had a few weeks ago, about Sirius and remembering him and us? Well, I've been thinking, and I think I've found a solution."
Harry sat up with a jolt, eyes alight, and Ron quickly picked himself up from the grass. Ginny leaned in, and they all sat together in a circle as Hermione continued.
"It wouldn't help Sirius. He's already gone, and it's too late for something like this. But," she said, seeing Harry's fallen expression, "it might help people to remember us, which is just as important, if not more so. The charm is called Confido Memoria – it was Ginny's idea. She was talking about Tom Riddle's diary, and about how he preserved his memories, which made me think that we could do that too. Of course," Hermione glanced at Ginny, "it wouldn't be the same thing. We would keep a copy of our chosen memories somewhere, but no more, nothing evil or intelligent or with a mind of its own. I found the charm in the Restricted Section, in a book about Patronuses. In the early stages of the development of Expecto Patronum, wizards tried to project a copy of their present selves, instead of a Patronus fuelled by the past. They used the phrase Confido Mox, 'Trust in the present'. I just changed the incantation a bit, so that instead if the present ,we use the past. See…"
She held out a piece of parchment, and with a swish and a jab of her wand, said the Confido Memoria incantation. A small drawing appeared upon it, and when Hermione touched it, a glistening, moving picture emerged, growing until it was life-sized. It showed a young Ron, standing and hugging his mother by the Hogwarts Express in first year. Hermione moved her hand away from the parchment and the image vanished.
"The trick is to really believe in the memory you want to preserve. If not, you can say the incantation a hundred times, and nothing will happen. Just like with a Patronus. I've tried it out a few times, and I think that we could even choose the symbols that appears, so that each one represent our personalities…what do you think?"
"It's brilliant," Ron breathed, "absolutely bloody brilliant. Hermione, how you think these things up is beyond me." Ginny nodded approvingly, a mixture of sadness and happiness on her face. Harry, who during the whole explanation had stayed completely still, broke into a smile. He started spurting ideas on how, when and where to use the charm, and soon everyone had joined in. An hour later, they had each successfully tried the incantation, and through an accident of Ron's, figured out that they could make two corresponding symbols, that had to be touched at the same time in order to activate the charm. This would prevent people from accidentally producing a giant, glowing picture, and at the same time create a kind of scavenger hunt, which might appeal to curious student like themselves. The library book Hermione unearthed from her ever-present schoolbag, 'Hogwarts, a History', was chosen as the highly befitting object on which to cast their charms. As the four of them headed to the Great Hall for dinner, all that remained was for each of them to create their symbols, and then, cast Confido Memoria.
As dinner commenced, Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny were deep in thought, each of them silently wondering about the memory they would choose.