The first week back at Hogwarts had been especially pressing for Hermione Granger. Aside from the excitement of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the thrill of getting started with a new curriculum, Hermione was riddled with a sickly fog in her mind. She constantly felt like she was forgetting things, and strangely enough both Ron and Harry felt the same way. While her two friends were more accepting to forgetting what must have been forgotten, the feeling had completely corrupted Hermione's mind and so decided in the midst of her studies that it'd be best to visit Madam Pomfery.
The young witch entered the hospital wing to find the esteemed nurse tending to who must have been a Ravenclaw first year. Upon seeing Hermione, she stood up and rushed about.
"Dear, whats happened now?!" she asked hurriedly.
"Nothing urgent, I was hoping you could help me. I think I may have gotten memory charmed, but I'm not sure," Hermione said, receiving a suspicious look from the nurse. "I looked it up before coming and it seems I've got all the symptoms."
"Theres lots of different memory charms and potions out there, and you seem well enough to be treated for anything serious. If your head feels clouded I'll give you a drink to clear it and depending on whats happened- if anythings happened at all, you might regain some memories, if thats whats happened to you." Pomfrey said. "But it could just be new year nerves. Really I doubt it'd be anything at all, but I know you aren't much of a hypochondriac so I'll trust you. Besides blowfly juice is quite good for the mind, regardless."
Hermione took a small cup of the thick dark juice and drank it quickly, trying not to gag. Thanking the teacher, she went on her way to return to the library, hoping that she would soon be relieved of the feeling she had. She would have rather headed to the common room, but wanted to avoid the celebrations of Fred and Georges birthday. Since they were now wizards-of-age, the partying was consistent through the day- with people joining in their free periods before leaving for their classes. Hermione was happy for her friends brothers, but would rather of stayed studying.
Eventually the time came for her next class and Hermione was off. Arithmetics was one of the few classes she didn't have Harry or Ron in, but she did have Dean and he was possibly the best company as he could be just as quiet as she was when he wasn't around Seamus and the others.
"Hey Hermione!" Dean yelled, jogging to catch up. "You should really try go to the common room when you can- even when the twins have their own classes to go to the celebrations been wild."
"You know me, though. I'll say happy birthday when I see them, but I'm not too bothered about celebrations," Hermione replied, feeling the cloudiness return largely.
"Suit yourself. Hey, I know its stupid to ask but you haven't told anyone yet, right?" he asked out of the blue. Hermione looked at him, completely unsure of what he was saying, and asked him to elaborate. "Stop pulling my leg, Granger. Seamus and I are kind of thinking of telling Harry and Ron and stuff since we're getting pretty comfortable now, but just wanna make sure they don't already know."
Hermione now stopped in her tracks, completely ill, and Dean came to her side to hold her as she began to heave. Hermione fell to the ground and grabbed her head a rush of though travelled through her mind. Flashes of the Griffindoor fireplace, siting in the train, kissing Fred, and a shout all rushed through her mind quickly before settling. She rose to her feet at the aid of her friend and leaned on the wall.
"Are you okay? Let's go to the hospital wing," Dean started, looking around for a nearby teacher with no luck.
"I'm fine, actually. I had a bad headache earlier but I got it treated, just must have come back for a bit," she replied, now straightening up and wiping the apparent balls of sweat from her head. Hermione was not actually fine- she was very far from it. She tried to collect these thoughts but they seemed to make no sense whatsoever and it made her sick. She had no idea why she had forgotten memories, or why they were with the Weasely twins, or what they were doing in the first place. Her and Dean walked slowly to class as she tried to gather her mind, him adamant on taking her to the hospital and her politely declining. They eventually made it to class and tried to return to normal so as to take in the lesson. The two didn't speak again until the end of the class, when Hermione had finally managed to make sense of the situation for herself.
"Feeling okay now?" Dean asked as they walked towards the other end of the castle.
"I'm feeling just fine," Hermione replied, smiling at her friend. "And to answer your previous question, I haven't told anybody at all. I think it'd be just fine when you eventually tell everyone. Though they might be surprised, probably even jealous." The two laughed and talked about the class and Seamus before eventually parting ways.
Hermione continued her day in a silent contemplation. She was unsure of what had happened, but knew for sure that she was sitting in the Griffindoor common room with Fred, and that they had kissed. The idea of this was absurd on its own- while she knew she had dreams about the boy over summer and she did like him somewhat, there was absolutely no reason for the two to kiss. Hermiones face was red at the forgotten memory as she tried to recall more- like what was the shout she heard and who had she heard it from? And who removed her memories in the first place? There was lots for Hermione to uncover, but for the meantime she dedicated herself to class.