Christine woke up in St. Mungo's three days later. She had suffered from shock and the ministry workers thought it best to bring her to St. Mungo's to avoid awkward questions. She was sleeping in a ward with five other occupants. She seemed to be the only one who did not look to be an extreme amount of pain. She could barely remember what happened three days ago. It was all a blur in her mind.
As Christine sat up in her bed she finally noticed that there were two people sitting in chairs at the edge her of her bed. She was surprised to see Hermione and Harry looking up at her with worried expressions. No one spoke a word for what seemed like forever. Christine was still having trouble grasping what was going on. She did not want to believe that Snape had betrayed her but she could not shake the memory from her mind.
That meant Hermione was innocent. She did not have any part in her parents' murder. But Christine had spent her life believing that. One memory… if it was a memory… could change her life forever. She debated back and forth of which view was the truth. Maybe neither was true and this was all one large dream. Maybe she would wake up and still be sixteen years old. If only that were true.
"You…" Christine started, anger suddenly flowing throughout her body. Once again she needed somebody to blame. Hermione had to have done it, she killed her true parents and now she killed her foster parents. That was an unforgivable sin. Christine's eyes glared at her cousin's as the hatred consumed her. "This is all your fault. How could you? Wasn't one murder enough? What do you stand to gain by this? I thought you might have changed, but you are the same Hermione, always thinking of yourself."
Hermione looked completely confused. She stood up as if to get a nurse but then sat back down. The thoughts were beginning to process in her head but she could not make any sense of what Christine had just said to her. Harry looked equally confused but kept his mouth shut as he stared at his shoelaces. The familiar silence rang once again in their ears. Hermione was too afraid to speak and Christine was too angry.
"I… I… I don't understand. What are you talking about?"
By this time Christine regretted saying what she had. Now the plan was ruined. In the back of her mind she knew that Snape would not be happy with her. But then there was another part of her that said Snape was not to be trusted. She rubbed her forehead as the battle of the thoughts continued. Hermione stood up to get a healer, hoping that they could shed light onto the situation.
But by the time Hermione had returned with the healer Christine was shouting and screaming at Harry. She kept saying that Hermione was a backstabbing traitor who deserved to die and that Christine had already been tormented enough by her cousin. She then said that Hermione was not to be trusted for she was a murderer and would stop at nothing until she saw Christine dead. The other patients did not notice or care about Christine's fit. The Healer rushed over and gave a quick flick of her wand and Christine was out cold like a light.
"We need to examine her mind. I fear someone may have tampered with it. But we can never been too sure. If you two will follow me." The healer said as he gave another flick of his wand. Christine was now floating in mid-air and gliding along the corridor as the healer walked towards the door. Hermione and Harry stood up without saying a word as they followed the man. They walked down several flights of stairs before walking behind a large black door.
There they traveled along a dark corridor where the lamps were scarce and dusty. Hermione had an odd feeling about this but nevertheless they continued to follow the healer. They soon reached a second door and then they walked along another corridor but this one was brighter with blue lights floating above them. After walking for a few seconds they turned to a door and the four went inside.
Hermione and Harry stepped slowly into the white room. There was a padded table and two chairs. The healer instructed Harry and Hermione to sit down. He then placed Christine on the padded table and took out his wand. The healer took a deep breath before he looked at the two sitting in the white chairs.
"Now," the healer began, "this is a very complex piece of work. You two will need to be absolutely quiet and keep your thoughts to a minimum. Just relax and let yourself become part of the white room. That will make my job a lot easier. When I am finished I will then work on the boy followed by the girl. Just be patient and relax." He took a deep breath. "Now let us begin the magic."
Hermione and Harry stared at the white walls facing them. They just now realized that everyone was wearing white clothing. Hermione stared into the wall on her left and she felt empty inside. No thoughts came out of her head. It was as if she was one with the wall. The whiteness of the room consumed her. She closed her eyes and drifted off. Harry experienced the same sensation as he plainness of the room overwhelmed him. He too soon drifted off.
Two hours later Christine was finally finished with the operation. A flash of blue light came into the room and Harry and Hermione were jolted back into reality with much force. They had no idea so much time had past. They saw Christine on the table looking, lying there as if she were dead. And suddenly she disappeared into the nothingness. Hermione and Harry were both shocked but the healer looked as calm as ever. Noting their confusion he spoke to them.
"She has gone off to the recovery room. Do not worry. Harry please get up on the platform and lay down." The healer took out his wand and muttered a few words and suddenly Harry was fast asleep. He smiled at Hermione who took that to be her cue to start staring at the walls once more. She again floated into the realm where all thought and mind vanished. She was filled with emptiness as her mind shut down and she drifted away.
Another two hours later a flash of light filled the room but this time it was purple. Hermione was violently jolted back into the real world. She watched Harry as he too disappeared into thin air. Hermione and the healer remained in the room. He motioned to her to get onto the raised platform. He held his wand in his left hand as he muttered a few words and Hermione drifted off into a deep a dreamless sleep.
Christine woke up in a strange room that was covered in blue pin-stripped wall-paper. She was sleeping in a king size bed and her body was buried underneath all the sheets and covers. There was a window and outside she could see the ocean. She heard the sound of the waves rolling against one another and the seagulls crying. She looked around to see that there were black and white photographs of the ocean and the pier. Seashells and other beach-like decorations covered the room.
She pulled back the covers as she headed to look towards the window. The room looked very familiar but she could not place where she had seen it before. Christine was wearing pink pajamas with pictures of different cakes on it. Her hair was tied in pig-tail braids, something she had not done since she was a little girl. Confused and slightly hungry Christine headed for the door but instead of revealing what should have been more of the house she walked into a large hallway.
She walked down the hallway trying to figure out what was going on when she bumped into Hermione. She was wearing a pink bathrobe and her hair was slightly messy. She had white fuzzy slippers as well. The two looked at each other at a loss for what to say. That was when Christine remembered what her room was.
It was the beach house that her parents owned and she would visit during the summer holiday. Every summer Christine and her cousin would spend a month at the beach house before going back to school. But when Hermione got transferred to Hogwarts, they stopped going. Christine her parents still went though because Christine had always loved the place. When she grew up she told herself that she would move into a place just like this. Some of her best memories came from that place.
Just then Harry came out of another door. He was wearing red pajama bottoms with a gray sweatshirt on top. The three looked at each other for a moment before anyone said a word. But before someone could speak the healer that was with them earlier saw the three standing there and he ushered them in through another door that turned out to be an office.
"Take a seat if you will." The three sat down silently. "Well I am sure you realize where you are by now." Christine shook her head but Hermione spoke up quietly.
"The Recovery Room for memory damage."
"Yes. You each woke up in a place that you find your happiest memory at. For Christine it was the beach house on the coast of Maine if I am correct." She nodded. "And for Harry it was the his friend Ronald Wealsey's house." Harry nodded his head. "And for Hermione it was Ronald's house as well." Hermione nodded her head. "Well then let us proceed." He stood up and walked over to the window.
"We have found out that two of you have experience memory damage. Mister Potter has had part of his memory erased. He remembers nothing up to about two years ago. Someone wanted his past wiped away. And funnily Christine's memory has also been tampered with. It seems that a false memory was placed inside hear head exactly two years ago."
Christine looked at the healer confused but then understanding. She now knew why she had two almost identical memories lingering inside her head. But which one was the real truth and which one was false? Was Severus lying to her or was Hermione? She looked forward to finding out which memory was true.
"Unfortunately we cannot decipher between the truth and the lie."
"What?
"Yes we have two identical memories, well almost identical. There is one drastic difference between them but I cannot tell which one is the real memory." Christine looked so confused and angry. She looked at the healer intensely as she waited for him to reveal the two memories to the others in the room. But he said nothing. The longer they sat in the silence the harder Christine's heart started to pound.
"What I can tell is that the two memories are so similar it is hard to tell truth from lie but they are so different that believing in one over the other can drastically alter Christine's personality. It seems that she is under the impression that you killed her parents." He said to Hermione. She looked as if she was about to pass out from the shock. Christine looked at her cousin with a hidden anger in her eyes.
"You believed that I…" She could not finish her sentence. Christine said nothing as the ever increasing anger harbored in her heart and mind. Hermione was shocked and angry as well. Her mind was spinning furiously as she tried to put all the pieces together. The cousins looked into each other's eyes but found no answers in each other. But healer felt it time to interject.
"There is another memory." He said slowly. "One of which someone else killed her parents, Severus Snape." Hermione gasped. "But I cannot tell which one is reality but I can tell you which one Christine has believed for two years. And that would be," He took a deep breath. "The first one." Hermione looked sick and so did Harry. "I'll leave you three to talk." The healer walked out of his office and the three sat in what seemed like a never-ending silence.
"I didn't do it Christine, you have to believe me." Hermione said finally, her eyes becoming misty.
"Why should I? There is no evidence going either way." Christine said her anger rising to the surface.
"Well whoever damaged your memory obviously wanted you to see the false memory and so ensured that would be the one you would recall. Can't you see that?"
"Unless the person doing the spell damage made a mistake and could not cover the true memory as well as they wanted to." Her voice grew louder as she looked at Hermione.
"Why would I want to kill my own aunt and uncle?" Hermione's voice was soon matching the tone of Christine's. Harry looked as if he would rather be anywhere else that in this very room. No one spoke but Christine could feel the blood boiling throughout her body. Her heart was beating fast and her head was pounding as well. But she still glared fiercely at Hermione.
"I never question your ways. If you will excuse me." Christine said harshly as she left the room. She was still in her pajamas. But now that she was out of the room she had no idea where to go next. She checked her watch to see that it was 12:00 in the morning. She knew that she could not go back to Hermione's apartment because he would be looking for her there. She walked down the halls quickly and found herself once again in the lobby of St. Mungo's. She asked the person at the front desk how to get out and looked around to see that Hermione had not followed her.
She then found herself on the dark streets of London. It was cold and the street lamps were all out. Rain started to pour down softly upon Christine's head. All the stars and the moon were hidden by the dark storm clouds. This only added to the darkness that Christine felt deep inside her soul.
She looked up and down, trying to decide which way to go. She felt that someone was ever watching her. Her heart beating quickly and sweat was coming down her forehead. She then started running up the street hoping to run away from everything. From the deal she made with Snape, from the memories that were buried in her mind, and from the horrors she knew would occur.
"They wanted this to happen. Both of them." She whispered to herself. Her breath came out as misty air. "They both lied to me. They don't care about anyone but themselves. Both memories must be a lie. They have destroyed my parents, they have destroyed my memories, and now they want to destroy me." She said as anger grew inside of her. "And so now they must pay." She said breathing heavily. "THEY MUST PAY!" And she continued to run as the rain poured down on her. The sweat, the rain, and her tears were all mixed upon her face.
