Erased But Not Forgotten

Chapter 8

Truth Exposed and Meeting the Guys

"Liz, Hermione; could I talk to you two for a second?" Harry called up the stairs as he walked inside.

"Sure," they answered unanimously. They all walked into Liz's room and sat down.

"I can't believe Rose just fainted like that!" Hermione exclaimed, as soon as she sat down, totally bewildered.

"I'm more concerned about how she was acting before she blacked out," Liz stated solemnly.

"Yeah, about that…" Harry trailed off. He had a very guilty look on his face and wouldn't meet either of their eyes.

Hermione, familiar with Harry's ways of dancing around an important subject, recognized these signs almost instantly. "Harry, what did you do?" she asked in a mildly accusatively tone.

"Okay, I'll tell you both everything, but promise that you won't judge me until you hear the whole story," he replied calmly. Liz just glared at him.

"I not promising anything," she said stubbornly, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Liz," Hermione interjected, pleading for peace, "just let Harry explain." Liz just scowled.

"So why did Rose faint?" Liz inquired. "And why couldn't she remember you?"

"Because I cast a spell so she wouldn't. Well, not just me, Jul helped, that's why she can't remember him either," Harry said as Hermione and Liz's eyes got wide. "She fainted when she found out that she was engaged because she couldn't remember me, let alone agreeing to marry me. She just had an information overload and fainted." Hermione's mouth was open in shock and Liz looked like she was on the verge of hitting him…hard.

"You did WHAT!" Liz growled through gritted teeth.

"We need to find out where her heart lies, disregarding the past. I don't want her to look back and realize she made the wrong decision," he explained. "This gives us a fresh start, and if she's meant to be with me then nothing will change. But if she's meant to be with Jul and they just screwed it up, then that's how it'll turn out."

"Will she get her memory back?" Hermione inquired sensibly.

Harry nodded. "Eventually, something significant will trigger it or Jul and I can reverse the spell." He knew that the last bit was possibly a lie but he didn't feel like dying at the hands of his fiancés best friends.

"Okay, so what do we have to do?" Liz asked quietly.

"Huh?"

"What do you want us to do?" Hermione repeated. "Do you want us to just keep quiet, ignore her questions, or should we just lie to her?"

"Umm, I'm not sure. Don't tell her about her past with either of us, do what you have to so she won't ask too many questions otherwise we'll trip over our own lies and we'll just mess this up," Harry answered unsurely. He ran a hand through is raven hair.

"How are we going to cover up her memory loss?" Hermione inquired warily.

"We could say that she hit her head," Liz suggested. Harry and Hermione both threw her inquisitive looks, "a lot."

"Somehow, I don't think Rose will believe that," Harry pointed out. Liz shrugged.

"We could say that one of her spells backfired and caused brain damage, kind of like selective amnesia," Hermione offered.

"That works," Harry agreed. "I hope," he muttered under his breath.

Rose awoke late in the afternoon, a cool breeze from the open window flitting across her face, playing with wisps of hair that had gotten loose from her barrette. She smiled and stretched, momentarily forgetting why she was in bed at this hour. As she slid out from under the covers and stood up, she noticed that she had been sleeping in her jeans and the mornings' events flooded back to her. Rose cautiously looked down at her left hand and caught a glimpse of blue on silver. She instantly felt dizzy and had to steady herself against the bed.

At that moment, Harry came in, accompanied by Jul who had just arrived, to see her nearly fall. They both rushed to her side, steadying her stance. As Harry took her hand he slipped her engagement ring off.

"Just breathe, in and out," Harry instructed quietly, slipping the ring into his pocket. Rose took a deep breath before opening her eyes, careful not to even glance towards her left hand. She gazed up at the two people who were keeping her upright.

"Thank you," she said quietly, blushing for some unknown reason. "Umm, if you don't mind my asking, why are you in my bedroom?" she inquired, looking from Harry to Jul and back. "And who are you?"

Jul shot Harry a semi-surprised look, before saying, "Julius Rivers, my friends call me Jul," he answered, holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you," she replied innocently, looking into his sapphire blue eyes and shaking his hand firmly. She smiled before turning to Harry, whereupon her smile flickered from distaste and lack of sincerity before coming back, looking slightly forced.

"Harry Potter," he said as she shook his hand too.

"I know," she replied unenthusiastically. "We met this morning." Harry nodded and smiled. Rose just rolled her eyes.

"So what brings the infamous Harry Potter to Iowa?" she asked bitterly. "And why are you in my room?"

"Oh, err…" Harry mumbled, frantically searching for an excuse.

"We're James' friends. Harry met him about a year ago at a Quidditch match. And then James and I went to a Quidditch training camp a couple years ago. I just met Harry a few of days ago," Jul interjected. "We're just here for James' engagement party. Liz asked us to come and check up on you for her."

"Oh, thanks," Rose said, blushing again. 'Thank you, Liz!' she mentally praised, unable to fail noticing how attractive they both just happened to be. "Could we, umm, get out of my room, please?" she asked tentatively.

"Sure," Jul replied and they all headed downstairs. Rose made sure to shut her door behind them.

"Liz!" she called. She heard a faint answer from the den from her best friend. "Is James with you?" she yelled again as she came down the stairs. Once again, Liz's positive answer came from the den. When she got right outside the door she asked, "Are you busy?" She could hear Liz laugh, signaling granted permission to enter.

"Excuse me, just make yourselves comfortable. I'll be back in a minute," Rose said to the guys as she pushed the den door open and went inside.

"Sleeping Beauty lives!" Liz joked as Rose came through the door. Rose just smiled. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Fine, a little dizzy from time to time, but having my own male-nurses helps," Rose answered grinning broadly.

Liz laughed. "So you like having men at your dispose?"

"Of course! But what's up with Mr. High and Mighty Harry Potter? You should know better than to send me a preppy Backstreet Boy," Rose inquired, laughing back.

"Wow! How judgmental we are today!" Liz retorted. "You should give him a chance. He's not preppy and he's a heck of a lot cuter than any Backstreet Boy. And there's his accent to take into consideration." Rose gave her a wry grin and just glared.

"Okay, so they are cute. Both of them," she admitted finally.

"So I guess that it'd be good news if I told you that they both want to take you out on a date," Liz replied smirking.

"Oh really! Mmm, which to choose?" Rose mused humorously.

"Both!" Liz suggested.

"Whoo hoo! I win!" Rose celebrated comically. Liz and James just laughed.

"But seriously, what's up with the guys that I don't know in my room? Not that I mind, they ain't exactly hard on the eyes!" Rose inquired playfully.

"They wanted to meet you anyway, because you know, James told them so much about you!" Liz said. James looked at her inquisitively but Liz threw him a warning look that plainly said 'Don't ask, just go with it!'

"Oh," Rose replied, smiling secretively to herself.

"So, let's go talk to them and I will convince you that Harry isn't some player, preppy boy who lives for the fame of it all," Liz concluded, pulling Rose by the arm out into the living room.

"Since when have you won?" Rose teased.
"What?" James inquired.

"Our fights. I always win, so since when have you started winning?" Rose asked Liz.

Liz just grinned. "Since guys started fighting over you." Rose just shook her head and smiled.

Harry and Jul sat in the living room, faintly hearing Rose and Liz's conversation. They began discussing Rose when Harry revealed that he'd had to act normal earlier that day and had tried to kiss her. Jul freaked.

"We're lucky that she doesn't remember what you said this morning," Jul pointed out angrily.

"It's not my fault, Liz was there and she didn't know what was going on. I couldn't just lie or she would have suspected and said something to Rose that could have ruined everything," Harry explained in a hushed tone in case Rose overheard.

"So she knows now?"

"Yeah, her and Hermione," Harry reassured him. "So it's only a matter of time before James and Ron know. Oh God, what about her parents!" Harry noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Thorn would mind very much if their daughter's fiancé cast a spell on her.

"Well we can't exactly tell them 'Hey, I hexed your daughter. I can't wait till we're married!'" Jul concluded dramatically sarcastic.

Just then they heard the den doors open and leaped to their feet, trying to remain inconspicuous. Rose came in and eyed them suspiciously before shrugging it off and sitting down.

"So, Harry, you went to Hogwarts, right?" Rose asked as Harry and Jul sat down. Liz and James quietly snuck off to the kitchen where Liz could explain everything to her very confused fiancé.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Harry inquired, trying not to sound as guilty as he felt.

"Oh, I was there as a foreign exchange student for the past year and I don't remember seeing or hearing of you at all while I was there," Rose replied, slightly surprised as she looked at him inquisitively.

"Oh, that's good. I must not have gotten into as much trouble as I usually do," he joked. Harry flashed a dazzling, knee-weakening smile. Rose could feel the blood rush to her face, fighting the urge to smile back at him. 'He's a jock. Just a big-headed preppy boy,' she thought to herself, trying not to fall for the Potter-charm.

"So where'd you go to school, Jul?" she inquired, turning to the blue-eyed wizard.

"Here. At the Northwestern Iowa School of Magic," he answered, suddenly feeling very nervous. Rose just smiled in a very confused way.

"Hmm, I thought I knew everyone in my year and I've gone to school here for the past four years. I wonder how I missed you." Rose inwardly frowned. How could she miss someone as cute as Jul? She couldn't help but get lost in his sapphire eyes, slightly smiling at her.

"I was just curious," Harry began.

"Rose, could I ask you," Jul started at the same time. They both stopped talking to let the other finish.

Rose giggled a clear, bell-like laugh. "Jul, go ahead, then Harry can talk." Harry couldn't help but get a little irked at the way his fiancé, well technically, was treating him. It was like she was annoyed with him because he was famous, something that he hadn't asked for anyway.

Jul grinned as he glanced from Harry to Rose. He could plainly see that Harry was irritated by Rose's apparent lack of enthusiasm towards the infamous Harry Potter.

"I was wondering if I could ask you out to dinner tomorrow night." Jul inquired; his sapphire eyes aglow.

Rose blushed and could feel a smile tugging at her lips. She didn't answer, but instead, she turned to Harry. "So what did you want to ask me?"

Harry just glared at Jul. 'I hate you so much right now!' he couldn't help but think, mentally hexing him to Timbuktu. "Well, I was going to ask you to go out to dinner and then maybe we'd go dancing tomorrow night but someone seems to have beaten me to it." He tried to smile humorously, but the annoyance in his emerald eyes was inevitable.

Rose couldn't help giggling at the obvious frustration behind Harry's eyes. Liz was right, men were fighting over her. She giggled again, harder this time, in a very flirtatious way, lighting up her clear green eyes.

"Well, how about this: I could go to dinner with both of you, and then we could all go dancing." She smiled in a very sweet way that made both men go weak at the knees, bringing foolish grins to their adorable faces. They glanced at each other and nodded in mutual agreement.

"Okay," Harry and Jul compromised. Rose's flirtatious smirk turned into a radiant smile.

"I'll see the two of you tomorrow night, then," she replied definitively, practically glowing. As Rose went to find Liz and begin preparations for her date, Harry and Jul couldn't help but watch her walk away, both mesmerized.

"I hate to see her go…" Harry started, gazing longingly after her.

"…but I love to watch her leave," Jul finished for him. They both nodded wistfully before they realized that they were staring and dispersed.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

i had way to much fun writing this chpt. harry bashing, jul praising, and all that jazz! whatdya think?