Hey Peeps, why isn't anyone reviewing? Is it b/c no one is reading it? Oh the horrors!

Disclaimer: You know everything, Don't Steal!


Lost Memories

Chapter 8

Remembrance

Claire finished putting her things away back in her dormitory. She and Hermione told Lavender and Parvati all about their winter break and they were thrilled to hear Claire and Ron were together again.

"You were always so cute together." Lavender said smiling.

"And he is one of the better guys in our year." Parvati told her.

Claire laughed, "I'm just glad that I've remembered something of my past. I hope the rest of it comes back soon."

Minutes later she was walking down a corridor alone, she wanted to say hi to Draco since she hadn't talked to him for a few weeks. As she turned a corner to see if he was near the Great Hall she heard him call her name behind her.

She turned around to come face to face with the tall, blonde boy. "Hello Draco." she said smiling, "I've been looking for you."

"Have you? Interesting." he said with a slight smirk, "How was your break?" He smiled.

"I enjoyed it very much. I've remembered a bit from before the incident."

Malfoy's smile flickered and a bit of fear flashed through his eyes. "Is that so?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes," Claire said, not noticing, "I remembered I had been dating Ron so now we're together again."

Malfoy looked relieved and said, "Well that's good news."

"Yes. I'm much happier now. How was your break?"

"Oh, it was okay. I just stayed around here, since my parents are both gone."

"Oh. I see." Claire said, not thinking to question him about his parents.

"Yeah. Well, I had better get going, I just wanted to stop by and say welcome back Claire." he told her. He gave her a quick wave and walked back in the direction he had come.

But Claire stood there as if glued to the spot on the floor. Malfoy's last words echoed in her mind "Welcome back Claire." She didn't understand, why did those words seem so important?

She was running as quickly as she could, desperate to get away. Fully aware of how fast and hard her heart was beating against her chest. Her breath stung her throat as she gasped for air. But she couldn't stop running, she had to get back, she couldn't let them get her.

She could hear them gaining on her. But she had to get back to warn everyone. If she didn't who knew what would happen?

The trees were getting thicker and she knew she was nearing the heart of the forest. The yells behind her seemed to be getting closer, she ran faster. She couldn't let them catch her after she had worked so hard to get away!

She chanced a glance back to see how close they were and gasped as a huge hand came through the trees and grabbed her pursuers. She stopped to catch her breathe. She knew whose hand it was, it was Grawp, Hagrid's younger brother. She was safe, there was no way they could escape from Grawp now. She made a mental note to thank him later, but now she had to keep going, she had to warn Dumbledore and the others.

The trees began to thin and she could see the glowing lights of the castle windows. She ran out of the forest into the still night air and across the deserted grounds. She climbed up the front stairs and pushed open the huge front doors to find herself standing before a tall dark figure.

The light of the moon illuminated his blonde hair and cold gray eyes perfectly. Claire gasped as Draco Malfoy raised his wand and said menacingly, "Welcome back Claire... Obliviate!"

She fell as the memory charm hit her and everything went black.

Claire stood, staring open mouthed at the retreating form of Draco Malfoy. "You...!" she screamed at him.

He turned around, confused. "Yes?"

"This is your fault!" she said. She forgot about her wand completely as she charged down the corridor and tackled Malfoy.

She held him to the floor as she hit every inch of him she could. She was only vaguely aware that her friends had suddenly come around the corner, that Hermione screamed and Ron and Harry tried to pull her away, that a few of her professors were yelling as they came down the hall. She didn't care, she wanted to hurt Malfoy as much as possible. He was the one that took her whole life at Hogwarts away from her. The reason she couldn't remember anything. The reason she was so miserable.

"Stupefy!" Claire heard Professor McGonagall yell and suddenly found herself unable to move. She stared at her left fist, an inch away from Malfoy's bruised and bleeding face. Surprisingly he was still conscious and whimpered.

Harry and Ron pulled Claire off of Draco and she regained use of her body. She attempted to lunge at Malfoy again but Ron kept a firm grip on her arm.

"What is the meaning of this!" McGonagall demanded as Snape gently lifted Malfoy from the floor.

Claire didn't answer. She just glared at Malfoy, breathing heavily.

"Claire..." Ron whispered to her.

"I said, what is going on here?" McGonagall asked sternly, looking as angry as Claire had ever seen her.

"It's his fault... he did this..." Claire said quietly, almost whispering, between sharp intakes of breathe, "I had to get back... had to tell Dumbledore... he was there... at the door... he stopped me... he took away my memory... it's all his FAULT!" she screamed the last word and again attempted to break free from Ron's hold and attack Malfoy once more, but failed.

"I don't understand." McGonagall said, watching Claire struggle.

"Let... me... GO!" Claire screamed. Tears erupted from her eyes and she let herself fall to the floor. She cried, letting out great sobs.

Ron sat down beside her and pulled her into a hug. "Claire..." he said as she cried into his shoulder.

Harry stared at her trying to understand what was going on. He enjoyed seeing Malfoy as injured as he was but longed to know what had caused it. He looked at Hermione to find her staring horrified at the scene before them and heard footsteps coming closer behind him and turned to see Dumbledore walking briskly toward them.

"What, exactly, has happened here?" he asked McGonagall as he looked from the bruised form of Malfoy to Claire who continued sobbing into Ron's shoulder.

"I don't know professor." McGonagall told him, "I heard a scream and yelling and arrived to find Potter and Weasley attempting to pull Claire off of Malfoy."

"I see..." he said, surveying the people in front of him, "Severus, take Malfoy to the hospital wing. McGonagall, take Mr. Potter and Miss Granger back to Gryffindor tower. And Mr. Weasley, help me bring Claire to my office."

They all nodded and did as they were told.

"Claire," Ron whispered to her again, "Claire, come on, we have to stand up. Please."

Claire's sobbing softened and she stood up. She tried to clear her tearstained face and failed. Ron put his arm around her and followed Dumbledore as she continued to cry.

When they arrived at his office, Dumbledore summoned two chairs and sat down behind his desk. Ron hugged Claire, silently wishing she would stop crying. He wanted her to be happy again. Just a few hours before they had been talking and laughing on the train, now she was crying uncontrollably.

After almost ten minutes Claire finally stopped crying and Ron let go of her. He put his hand on her shoulder, looked at her and said, "Are you okay now?"

Claire nodded. They sat down in the chairs and turned their attention to Dumbledore.

He sat there studying them for a few moments before he spoke to Ron, "I'll ask you first, what did you see?"

Ron cleared his throat. "I was walking with Harry and Hermione, trying to find Claire because she hadn't told us where she was going. We heard a lot of noise and turned a corner to find her sitting on Malfoy, punching him over and over. Hermione screamed and Harry and I tried to pull Claire off him but we couldn't. Then Professor McGonagall stunned her and we were able to pull her up. She tried to get at him again but I wouldn't let her. McGonagall asked what happened and Claire just kept mumbling about something. She tried to attack him again but when I held her back she just started crying so I tried to make her stop and you showed up." Ron told him, taking a deep breath.

"I see, thank you." Dumbledore said. He turned to Claire who was staring out the window with no expression on her face. "Claire." he said.

At first it didn't seem she had heard him. For a few moments she continued to stare out onto the sparkling white grounds, then she sighed and turned to face him. "I went to find Draco because we had become friends a few weeks ago and I wanted to say hi. I found him and we talked a bit. Then he said 'Welcome back Claire' and began to walk away but the words kept repeating in my head. I started to remember the night I came back. I had a dream about it and I told you but this time it was more detailed. I could feel my heart beating, I knew who it was that stopped the Death Eaters as I ran through the forest, I knew exactly what I had to do when I got back to the castle. Then I finally got to the front door, and I opened it. And Malfoy was standing there. In the dream I couldn't tell who it was but in the memory I could see him clearly. He grinned and said 'Welcome back Claire' and then he hit me with the memory charm and everything went dark... he was still walking away from me and I just snapped I guess. I yelled at him and attacked him. I wanted to hurt him as much as possible for what he did to me. It was all his fault. He's the reason I couldn't remember my friends, my family, school, magic, home, Ron, my life, anything. It was his fault and I wanted to make him pay." She fell silent again and looked at Ron. He stared back at her, apparently at a loss for words.

"Is that all you remember?" Dumbledore asked her.

"Yes." Claire replied quietly, "But there's something I had to tell you. I don't know what it was. It was extremely important, as if our lives depended on it. It was why I was so desperate to get away, not for my own life but for everyone's. And I just can't remember. Because of Malfoy..."

"It's okay." Dumbledore told her, "I realize you're having a very difficult time right now. We'll figure this all out. I promise."

Claire nodded.

"Right now I need to have a word with Mr. Malfoy. I shall be back, I'd appreciate it if you'd both wait here."

"Yes, Professor." Ron said as Dumbledore left the room.

Madame Pomfrey healed all of Draco's injuries with a wave of her wand but insisted he stay in bed anyway. She left the room and he was completely alone.

I've failed, he thought to himself. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. It's all gone wrong. She wasn't supposed to remember. Not yet. Especially not now. No...

The door opened and Dumbledore entered. Not him, Draco thought.

"Mr. Malfoy, I have just spoken with Claire."

"So? Are you going to give me the details? I already know. She remembered, and I'm sure you've figured it all out. She remembered that I was the one that used the spell to take away her memory. I was the back up in case the Death Eater's failed, which they did, those idiots. I was to make sure she couldn't tell you in time. They would have rather killed her but it wouldn't work like that so they imprisoned her. But she escaped and I had to complete the plan in the end because those idiots failed. And now I've failed. And I'm going to be punished, first by you, then by the Dark Lord himself. So, when are you sending me to Azkaban?" Malfoy said. No emotion was shown in his eyes. He wasn't afraid, he knew what was coming and he was ready for it.

"What were you trying to prevent?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

Malfoy was confused, "I just told you, I had to stop her from telling you."

"Telling me what?"

"You mean... she didn't remember?"

"All she remembered was escaping through the forest and losing her memory. Nothing more."

Malfoy smiled, perhaps he hadn't failed after all. She hadn't remembered what was most important. He laughed.

"What was she going to tell me?" Dumbledore asked sternly.

Malfoy continued laughing, even as Snape walked in with a small vial of clear potion.

"Your truth serum Professor." Snape said handing it to Dumbledore.

"I didn't want to have to use this but I believe we have no choice," he turned to Draco, "tell me now or I shall force you to drink this."

"You'll never get me to tell you anything." Malfoy said, getting up from the bed, "Not willingly, not by force, and certainly not with that." He quickly slapped the bottle from Dumbledore's hands and watched it fall to the floor. It shattered and the potion lay steaming on the floor.

He grabbed his wand from the table next to the bed and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" Both Dumbledore and Snape's wands flew to Draco's hand and he swiftly opened the window and threw them out.

He turned to them and used a binding hex to tie them both to the spot, he then shattered the window and used a shard of glass to cut open his arm. Soon the blood attracted a thestral from the forest and he jumped on it's back and flew out over the trees and out of sight.

Professor McGonagall happened to enter the room at that exact moment and gasped.

"Minerva," Dumbledore said calmly, "free us so we may retrieve our wands. Then send an owl to the ministry and inform them that Draco Malfoy has escaped."

Word of the events traveled quickly, not the true story but jumbled bits of truth and rumor. Many versions of what had happened were going around the castle. Everything from Claire beating Draco to within inches of death to Draco using an unforgivable curse on Dumbledore then turning into a bat and flying through the window.

As Claire walked through the halls with her friends it seemed that everyone was looking at her, and more than once she was approached by people wanting to here the story directly from her. She tried to avoid them but it was nearly impossible, because by this time Claire had remembered everything about her life, except for the happenings during her disappearance, therefore she was required to return to class.

As she sat in her History of Magic class multiple pieces of parchment landed on her desk, asking many different questions. Did you really come close to killing him? What exactly did he do to make you attack him? Were you there when Malfoy escaped? Did he really turn into a bat? Did he fight back? I heard he actually turned into a flying kangaroo and jumped all the way over the forest, is that true?

Claire was getting very frustrated with all the attention and yelled, "Would you all just STOP IT!"

Professor Binns paused his lecture on Wizard/ Vampire negotiations and looked up at her. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Yes! Something's wrong! EVERYTHING'S wrong! I cant stand this!" she yelled. She picked up her things and exited the room without looking back. She wasn't sure where she was going but she had to get away from her classmates. She rounded a corner and almost knocked Dumbledore on his feet.

"I'm sorry." She said, turning red.

"Quite all right," he replied, brushing off his robes, "I was just coming for you anyway. I think I've finally found the thing to get you last memories back. Follow me."

Claire followed him without question to his office. He closed the door and motioned for her to sit. She did so and waited for him to speak.

"I believe I have found what we've been looking for." he told her, "Of course, it is dangerous, but it's necessary. It's a very complex spell that I saw used once a long time ago. I remembered it last night and searched for it in the spell books in the library. After a few hours I found it and I am sure it will work. Are you ready?"

Claire nodded, "Yes." She was as ready as she ever. Finally, after all these months of waiting she was finally going to remember what had happened in the weeks she was gone. It was time.


Will She regain her memories? Will Draco be caught? Read and Review!