A/N: I don't own Harry Potter or any related characters
"You are not losing your memories, Miss Granger. They are merely being repressed by the traumatic events you have just experienced, nothing more."
"But, sir, we still don't know what I was drugged with... what if it's a side effect?"
"Until we know for certain, let us assume your brilliant mind is still intact and contains the necessary information to solve these equations," Severus stated, pointing to the sheet of parchment Hermione had been writing last night.
"I don't know, sir. It's all just numbers and random symbols. None of it makes any sense," she argued. Severus wasn't going to let it go that easily. Hermione was brilliant, anything she could remember about what she'd been working on might save a lot of lives, his included. She had to remember.
"Poppycock, let's start with this one here. It's a first year arthimancy equation, what does it mean?" he pointed to one of the most basic equations on the page. Even he was able to solve this one.
Hermione peered at the page, her nose wrinkling in concentration. She traced the numbers with her fingertip as if never having seen them before. Severus frowned. He knew of a few potions that caused memory loss, a few spells that did the same. Was it possible Hermione had been drugged and hexed?
"Seven?" she finally answered, giving Severus a wide eyed look. His heart plummeted at both the lack of knowledge and the fact she was looking at him the way a child would look at an adult. She had never looked at him like that. She'd glare at him, meet his gaze with hers. She'd never looked at him with such complete vulnerablity.
"Yes, that is the number seven, Miss Granger," he answered. She hadn't even solved anything, just merely pointed to a number on the page.
"Good, because at least I recognize it. I'm sorry, but... I don't know what the rest of this means, sir," she whispered, her brown eyes sparkling with tears. Severus tried to ignore the tightness in his chest as his heart started to break for the witch.
"You should rest, Miss Granger, maybe in time your memory will return," he simply said, hoping beyond hope he was right and her mind would fix itself in time.
"Rest sounds good," she agreed, burrowing against the pillows, her eyes closing slightly. He stayed with her until she was asleep again. A slight smile played across her lips and he wondered what she was dreaming about, probably Mister Weasley.
Severus made sure she was completely asleep before standing and walking over to where Madame Pomfrey was currently organizing her supplies. She looked over at the now sleeping Hermione.
"How is she?" she asked. Severus' scowling face told her everything.
"Poppy, she's losing her memories, and no it's not just traumatic amnesia," he stated. "She couldn't solve the most basic of problems and she seems to have lost some of her memories about our usual interactions," he stated, the way Hermione had looked at him still on his mind. He'd never seen her so vulnerable, so innocent.
"I did a full work up when she came in, she seemed mentally fine, but I'll double check. I'll alert Minerva also. Maybe between the three of us we can figure out a way to help Miss Granger recover," she stated. Severus nodded, knowing that if Hermione never regained her memories, if she continued on this downward spiral, the wizarding world might have just lost one of its most brilliant minds.