Life Swap

Chapter Two
Memory Loss?
Harry blinked his eyes open, groaned, and closed them again. He had the most monstrous headache. Opening his eyes once more, he found himself in the hospital wing at Hogwarts, which was strange because he had been expecting to wake up in St. Mungo's.

A familiar voice said, "Well, Mr. Potter, you're awake."

"Er . . . " Harry said, moaning. "Barely."

He looked around for Madame Pomfrey, but instead found a middle-aged nurse tut tutting over a clipboard. Maybe he was in St. Mungo's.

"Uh . . . where am I?" he asked, just to make sure.

"Come now," the nurse said, "The bludger didn't hit you that hard! Hard enough to keep you unconscious for a couple of days, albeit."

And who is this? Harry thought. He didn't have much time to dwell though. The nurse continued talking.

"Now, I've decided against my better judgment to let you have visitors," she said. "Don't overdo yourself, Mr. Potter. Remember, you went through quite an ordeal."

Harry sat up, eager to see Ron and Hermione to ask them what the hell happened. He hoped that they had at least gotten Bellatrix Lestrange, and all those other Death Eaters locked up in Azkaban again. It wasn't a great feeling knowing there are escaped Death Eaters on the loose, and this was the second time he had to feel it.

The nurse walked over to the door and said, "You may come in now."

"Thanks, Madame Pomfrey," a small chorus of male voices answered.

"Anytime, gentlemen."

Harry, not registering that they had called the nurse Madame Pomfrey, craned for a look at who had come to visit him, and froze when he saw.

These were people he had only seen once in his life, and then they had only been in a memory. Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black.

"Hey James!" Lupin said. "Remember us? I suppose that bludger must have caused some brain damage when it hit you, so if you don't we'll understand." He was joking, but Harry didn't find it funny.

The three took seats on the right side of his bed. Harry edged slowly away.

"What's wrong, James?" Sirius asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Harry jumped backwards and fell off of the bed.

James opened his eyes, and found his vision was blurry. Looking around, he found a pair of glasses on a table next to him and he put them on, puzzled but too tired to think much about it. Putting his head back down on the pillow, he pondered why his reflexes were so slow (he didn't get hit that hard did he?). His vision improved enough to let him know that he wasn't lying down in his bed in the dormitory, nor was he in the hospital wing. Where was he?

He looked around the dark room and was afraid to move. There was a sort of plump sobbing woman to his right, along with two girls that had tears running down their faces.

To his left, there was a young red headed boy with his head in his hands, and a balding red haired man with his eyes closed and a worried expression on his face. There was a shabby looking man pacing around the foot of James' bed, shaking uncontrollably. In the doorway he could see Professor Dumbledore. At least that was normal . . . except Dumbledore looked extremely haggard; a bunch more wrinkles had appeared and there was no longer any trace of red in his long beard. He, Dumbledore, was talking to someone who looked like a Healer, but unless Madame Pomfrey was a lot hairier than he remembered, it wasn't her.

James sat up slowly. The people in the room were much too preoccupied to notice.

Suddenly, he said, "Could somebody turn on a light? I'm beginning to feel really creeped out."

And quite immediately, James found all eyes on him. Jaws dropped, tears stopped abruptly, and the silence was so complete that you could hear crickets chirping from outside.

Then the mood changed just as suddenly. Everyone rushed upon him; the woman hugged him, as did the two girls. The guys thumped him on the back, the Healer looked shocked, but terribly pleased, and Professor Dumbledore had those twinkles back in his eyes. People poured into the room from the hallway, the plump woman hugged the balding man, the bushy haired girl hugged the red haired boy and when they realized what they were doing they let go quickly, and in the whole, there was just general cheerful chaos.

"Glad that you're all so happy," James said, lost for words. Dumbledore brought the lights out with a flick of his wand. "Could somebody tell me what's going on here?"

Dumbledore held his hand up for silence. The group, which had grown as people from the hallway poured in, quieted slowly.

"Forgive our behavior, my boy," the headmaster said, "But you must realize that Healer Eagleton had just informed us that there was a large possibility that you would never wake up . . . when you woke up."

"Really?" James said. "How ironic. Here's another question: where am I?"

"St. Mungo's," a bushy haired girl said to him.

"You had us all worried, mate," the red haired boy said.

James was confused. He didn't even know these people – apart from Dumbledore, of course. He decided not to say anything. ". . . Right. But why am I here?"

This question received blank looks and worried glances.

"Don't you remember?" the shabby man asked.

James paused. "Well, yeah, sort of. I was hit in the head with a bludger."

Again, blank looks and worried glances.

"No," a scary looking man with what looked like lazy eye growled. "I think you're confused, boy."

"You've never been hit with a bludger," the red haired boy said, thoughtfully. "Besides second year that is. But not in the head."

"Ron! This is hardly the time," the bushy haired girl said.

"Well, I'm sorry, Hermione," Ron said. "But I'm sleep deprived! No, mate, you weren't hit with a bludger," he said. Turning to the girl, Hermione, he said, "Happy now?" Continuing to James, he said, "You nearly got killed. How can you not remember that?"

James blinked. Everyone in the room looked at him expectantly. I'm surrounded by the mentally ill, he thought.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. Eyes shifted from James to the old man. "Maybe we should give him some time to recover," he said. "I'm sure he could use some time to clear his head."

Slowly and silently the people filed out of the room.

Dumbledore spoke to the Healer, "Give me a minute with him."

"But . . . sir," the Healer said, "If the boy is going through memory loss, don't you think - ?"

"Please, Edward," Dumbledore said.

Edward Eagleton swallowed. "All right. But I'll need to run some tests in about half an hour. Is that all right?"

"Perfectly all right," Dumbledore said. "I just want a minute."

The Healer walked out of the room leaving James alone with Dumbledore.

"I suppose you'd like an explanation . . . " Dumbledore began.

Author's Note: This one goes out to and - thanks you guys, for reviewing! Do it again! haha

So, what do you think? Not going as slow as some of my other ones, is it?