The radio was turned up as loud as it would go. I know because I made sure of it. I sat cross-legged on my white-sheeted bed and clutched a rubber ball in my hand. The room, in itself, was too sterile for me, and every moment of the past 16 hours that I had been cognizant had been dedicated to getting out of it.
The Kestrals scored once again, and I whooped as loudly as I could. The woman in the bed next to mine still had her eyes trained on me, crossed over her slightly hooked nose. She smiled toothily and repeated the same sentence fragglement that she had been repeating during the course of the entire game so far:
"Dear, mind turning--"; before wiping the smile from her face and promptly beginning again. Crossed eyes. Toothy smile. "Dear, mind turning--". Rinse and Repeat.
I ignored her as I spotted the Healer assigned to my room. Don, a tall man who was, at the most, ten years older than me, was a healer who patrolled the Spell Damage floor. He was never hard to spot, his lime green robes did have one purpose that I could see.
He was across the hall speaking to another Healer. I narrowed my eyes and felt the weight of the rubber ball in my hand before pitching it into the metal cupboard across from me. I didn't remember how I learned to throw the way that I did, but smiled pompously as I hit it with dead accuracy. A loud bang ensued, clearly heard over the quidditch game.
The ball bounced back to me and I hazarded a look toward Don. He had barely looked up, and was now jabbing his finger at a clipboard and having a loud discussion with the other healer. Disappointed, I threw the ball again. And again.
After the fourth loud battering of the ball against the cupboard, I finally noticed Don heading toward me. Not even in the doorway, he pointed his wand at my radio. The volume went down until it was barely a whisper.
"Oi!", I shouted crossly. "I was listening to that!". Feeling the weight of the ball in my hand, and not knowing exactly why I did so, I threw the ball heartily at him. My aim was brilliant, and it would have thumped against him quite satisfyingly if he hadn't have reached out and snatched it out of midair.
"You're disturbing the other patients", He explained calmly as he, much to my dismay, pocketed the ball. He scribbled something down on the clipboard that he held and hooked it on the outside of my door.
I sneered. "Doesn't matter! They won't remember any of it. They're all mental! Out of their bloody minds!" I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.
Don gave me a disapproving look as he leaned out of the doorway and made another mark on the chart hanging on the wall. A chart that I was beginning to believe was mine. We were silent for a moment except for the witch next to me still impersonating a broken record.
Taking a deep breath, I gave Don a hopeful look. "Can I go home Don? Please?". I clasped my hands together in a gesture that I didn't know that I knew.
Don just looked at me a moment before answering, "Katie, can you tell me your middle name?"
I struggled with myself as I looked at him. Anne? Rose? Marie? Jean? I'm sure that it showed on my face, because Don sighed. "You can't go home until you get your entire memory back, Katie. You know that. I know you know that because I've told you a couple of times an hour since you've been conscious."
"I remember." I shot back quickly, lest he think that I had an even worse memory problem. Truth was, I just kept asking because every time I hoped that he would decide that he didn't want me in his ward anymore, and force me to go home. That I drove him that crazy.
Don nodded, and was about to answer when a brilliantly red-haired man appeared in the doorway behind him. Don didn't notice him, and whatever he was going to say, I cut off.
"Who're you?". I asked curiously, fingering the ends of my own pale-blonde hair. I tilted my head a bit to the side. "Do I know you?"
Don turned halfway, looked at the man, and then looked back at me. "You definitely can not go home." He told me this for some reason, I don't know why though.
The red-haired man's eyes widened, and as they returned to normal he grinned. I knew that grin. I've seen it before. "Good morning" He said happily. I blinked at him. Don and the man exchanged a hard look before Don crept around him and headed out of the room.
The man faked a gag at Don's retreating back before throwing himself into a chair. I smiled a little, before the confused bit took over. "You a friend of my brother's?", I asked. I had just been reminded of my brother a couple of hours before. Don had accidentally let it slip. The Healers weren't allowed to tell me anything about my family or friends. I had to remember it for myself, lest I fabricate a past in order to get out of the hospital.
The red-headed man raised an eyebrow before answering simply, "No, Kate. I'm a friend of yours". My eyes widened at the nickname and I tried to pull up any recollections of this man from my memory.
"I'm sorry…I don't…" I closed my eyes and opened them again before leaning forward. "What's your name?" A name would help. Surely I can't have forgotten and name and a face.
"Fred", the man said easily and I wracked my brain. No Fred anywhere to be found. Fred shifted uncomfortably in his seat and lowered his voice. "Shouldn't have told you that. Don will have me kicked out faster than you can say 'Merlins' beard'".
I shrugged. Like I would tell Don, he would wipe my memory. Well, I didn't know what he would do, but he just might go that route. I told Fred in an apologetic murmur that I didn't remember him.
Fred shrugged in reply and grinned that familiar grin. "No worries, you'll remember sooner or later. In the meantime…" He pulled a box out of his pocket. "A game of Exploding Snap House?". I recognized the box, but not the game.
He must have recognized the look on my face as confusion because in one fell swoop, he managed to clear my bedside table with his wand and pull out the cards with his other hand. Quite impressive, I admitted, even though I may have watched him do this many times before with only mild interest.
In a few more mere seconds, he had divvied the cards up into two piles. I had the feeling that Fred was very good at this. "Right. The point is to build the largest card house before the cards explode. On each turn, you can add one card, but for the first two turns you can add two. To start your house, you know." He explained this easily.
Fred demonstrated by making a tee-pee out of two cards. I followed suit, and within minutes I had a passable card house. Not as good as Fred's however, which was an elaborate build. He seemed to know where every single card's place was, and placed it there with nimble fingers and a steady hand.
With a glance down at my pitiful house, I looked back up at Fred, who had ran out of cards, and was waiting patiently for me to finish my last move. I didn't bother, and looked up at him in wonder. "How'd you get it so tall?", I inquired, studying the intricate structure.
Fred grinned and shrugged. "Practice. Years of it." Was what he managed to get out before my pile exploded in a small puff of smoke. I jumped and squealed at the surprise, but Fred just grinned before asking, "Play again?"
Don stuck his head in, probably alerted by the sounds of fun in close proximity, and furrowed his brow. "I shouldn't be letting you play that--" He told us, before looking up to the ceiling, and then back to the singed bedside table. "But I'll allow it because it's you." Don made sure to glance pointedly in Fred's direction before he disappeared behind the doorjamb.
"What did he mean by that?", I questioned Fred as he conjured up another deck of cards. Don had never been so agreeable with me, not in the past few hours that I could remember. "Sure, I'll play again", I added with a smile.
But there was no need for me to have said anything; Fred was already passing out the new cards, one for me, one for him. Rinse and Repeat. "I've seen a lot of Don over the last couple of months", was what he told me, before setting up his pre-requisite tee-pee. He let it at that.
But there was barely a pause as I leaned two of my crisp cards against each other and he added with a cocky grin, "I'm warning you, Kate, I'm unbeatable."
Two weeks and nearly eighteen years worth of memories later, I cautiously opened up the front door of WWW. The bouncing toys, flashing lights, and furry animals had never failed to set my senses on overdrive and I felt a wave of pleasurable dizziness wash over me. Spotting a familiar head of bright-red hair, I almost skipped my way over to the counter.
"Hello, I'm here about a couple of people that I know", I told him as I leaned forward. A wave of recognition passed over his face and he grinned that grin that I couldn't manage to forget. "Katie!", He looked ready to toss his arms around me if it weren't for the counter. But he needn't worry, because someone did it for him.
Angelina nearly threw herself upon me as she lunged from the inner-workings of the shop. "Kate! We've missed you! Are you okay? Look, Fred! It's Kate!". I smiled as I was enveloped in one of her famous bear-hugs.
After a few moments, I managed to tug away. It was Fred behind the counter, like I had thought it had been. I focused back on him, but looked at my hands. "Look Fred, I never got to thank you for showing up at St. Mungo's as often as you did. It really--". I was cut off by the incredulous look that he had been giving me.
"He didn't!", Angelina gasped, gazing at Fred. I immediately felt regret, I had gotten Fred in trouble with Angelina, but it lifted right away as Fred smirked, and replied, "Looks like he did." I looked down at him for a moment, I'm sure my eyes were crossed just like that woman in the bed next to me.
Fred leaned back in his chair, too lazy to even turn around, and shouted, "George! Get over here!". Settling back in a normal position, he propped his feet up on the desk and resumed smirking in my general direction.
A voice shouted back, "Just a mo', Fred! I've just about won--" Lee. I was so pleased at myself for knowing that I could have kissed myself. My joy was short-lived, broken off by a loud blast and an unhappy yell.
Fred's smirk grew into a mocking smile, but before he could say anything, Lee tramped within view of the desk, a dreadlock smoking and a burned finger in his mouth. A happily grinning George followed him, shuffling a deck of cards easily without a desk.
"George, explain to Katie why I was visiting her at St. Mungo's." Fred looked at his twin, before appraising Lee with a sneer. "Need a bandage, Lee?".
George stopped dead in his tracks and finished bridging the deck, before slapping them facedown on the counter. Looking at me in disbelief all the while. "That Healer said that I couldn't use my name. I know you too well. He said you would have invented memories…" He dropped off and shrugged, hands in the pockets of his magenta robes.
"And so he used me as an alias. Me!" Fred complained loudly, as Angelina shushed him. But she didn't manage to quiet him before he added in distaste, "And do you know what my pseudonym was? Joe." I giggled at the fact that I ever called Fred Joe. He certainly did not look like a Joe.
"Sorry I had to lie, Kate", George told me, looking uncomfortable. I smiled at him, and stepped closer to give him a hug. It wasn't quite Angelina caliber, but it was nice and safe anyways.
"Pah", Lee snorted, picking up the cards again and waving them in our direction. "Katie, I may not be able to win over George, but I am sure that I can beat you." George and I exchanged identical looks, and I took the cards from him.
"I don't know, Lee." I told him, leaning in closer to George. "I'm nearly unbeatable."