I hope that everyone who is reading this is enjoying the story! I'd love to know what you think of it and I'm sorry that these chapters have been taking longer and longer to get out. I am still without Internet and I hope you all forgive me. Enjoy.
Lova heard the sound of voices coming from around her. They were getting louder and louder and they sounded much too close for Lova's liking. Groaning, she tried to turn into her pillow only to find that she wasn't in her bed at all. Eyes still closed, when she turned to find her pillow, she managed to roll right off the couch and into the floor.
With a shout, she hit the ground hard, causing everyone in the room to look over at her. Hermione's eyes went wide; Jayce just shook his head while Leila laughed at her friend.
Popping her head up from behind the couch, Lova sheepishly smiled. "Well, I'm awake."
"We see that, Lov." Jayce said with a look.
"Did the rest help?" Leila asked as Lova made her way over to the bar.
Lova grabbed a cup and poured herself some coffee, expecting that she was going to need it. "A little. My head isn't pounding as much but I'm sure that will change soon."
"I'm sorry that I overwhelmed you." Hermione spoke up. "I didn't mean to."
"It's quite alright." Lova smiled a little before taking a sip of her coffee. "So how did you get this one to let you come back here?"
Jayce scowled at Lova when she said this. "I'm not that bad."
Leila laughed out loud causing Lova to chuckle a little bit. "Not that bad? Please, Jayce. You're so protective of us it's ridiculous but never a bad thing."
"Hey! My protectiveness has helped us out in some situations!" Jayce countered.
Hermione watched as the three friends bickered and laughed. She remembered doing that with Ron and Harry and Lova. They used to have these kinds of talks all the time, when they weren't worried about Voldemort. Hermione wondered if this would be their life if Lova never went missing. Harry and Lova living together maybe, Ron and Hermione coming over, all of them talking and laughing.
"Okay, enough." Lova said after a few minutes of Leila and Jayce pointing out times when Jayce's protectiveness was helpful and hurtful. "Honestly, how did you get Jayce to let you back here?"
"He told me about your…accident…and I told him that I wanted to help you get your memory back. That I'm here to help. We were best friends after all." Hermione explained keeping her eyes on the bar covered in photos.
"Tell her what else." Jayce urged.
Hermione's eyes shot up to Jayce's. She shook her head forcefully. "I don't want it to be too much at once for her."
"She needs to know." Leila added.
Lova set her coffee mug down on the counter a little louder than necessary. "Excuse me, what do I need to know?"
Jayce, Leila and Hermione exchanged a look before Hermione spoke. "Lova, sit down. Let me know at any point if your head starts to hurt too much."
Lova nodded as she took a seat in one of the barstools. Staring at Hermione, she took a deep breath to steady herself.
"Lova, the world that you entered the other day is called Diagon Alley. It's hidden from the outside world, the non-magical world." Hermione was trying to choose her words carefully. "You're a witch, Lova. That's how you subconsciously know how to get into Diagon Alley. The school that you went to, the one in all these photos, it's called Hogwarts. We went there together, with Ron and Harry." Hermione pointed to them in the photo.
Lova stared in shock at Hermione. She knew her face had to be paler than normal and that she must be looking at Hermione as if she were insane but it all felt familiar to Lova. Lova nodded, signaling for Hermione to continue as everyone stared at her.
"We did try to look for you, Lova. We really did. We just never thought to look in muggle London. It was right after this huge war so we thought that someone from there took you or something. I used every magical resource I had, but I only looked in places that I thought you would be. I didn't even think to check in muggle areas. I'm so sorry, Lova." Hermione had tears in her eyes and was holding Lova's hands at this point.
Lova stared at Hermione in shock. She didn't know this girl but they were best friends and she did try to look for her. Even though she just met her, Lova felt her heart ache in pain from seeing her upset. Without thinking, Lova pulled on Hermione's hands and embraced her in one motion. Hermione was taken back at first but immediately held her friend close. She had missed having Lova around so much.
Jayce and Leila let out a sigh of relief, glad that all this information hadn't caused Lova's head to ache so much she passes out again. Jayce had been getting more and more worried about Lova. When she first started staying with them, she kept trying to force herself to remember, causing her head to pound and then she would lose consciousness. He had been so scared when he came home one day and saw her unconscious on the ground.
Jayce and Leila had gone to talk to their band manager about the idea of Lova being in the band. They both had rehearsed the songs with her and worked with her on her voice a little so she'd be ready. Leila had said she had to go shopping or something. Jayce tended to tune her out once she said the word shopping, whether it was for clothes or for stuff they needed. He was lucky that he had her to take care of stuff like that.
Sighing, he hoped that Lova was going to be okay with having to audition to be in the band. He had been worried about her ever since she came into their lives almost two months ago. They had hoped that someone would come looking for her to give her some kind of clue about her life, but no one ever did.
Opening the door to their apartment, Jayce looked around for Lova.
"Lova?" Jayce called out, trying to see where she was. "Lova?"
When he got no response, he thought that maybe she could be in the shower or taking a nap so he went to the kitchen to grab something to drink. On his way, something caught his eye. There was a hand that was sticking out of Lova's doorway, Lova's hand to be exact. Forgetting what he was doing, Jayce darted over to her room only to find her form on the ground in a heap.
"Lova!" Jayce shouted as he threw himself on the ground next to her. "Lova, please don't be dead."
Reaching out to her, he felt her pulse on her wrist and breathed a sigh of relief. Carefully, he turned her over and pulled her into his arms. The circles under her eyes were darker than he had seen and her breathing was shallow. He didn't know how long she had been out but it didn't matter. Seeing like this sent a jolt of fear in him that he had never felt before. Still holding her, he heard Leila come in the door.
"Jayce, Lova, I'm back! They didn't have what I needed. Bloody incompetent people. Honestly, you would think that if a store advertises they have something, they'd actually have it! Jayce?" Leila gasped when she saw Jayce holding Lova.
"I found her like this." Jayce whispered, still clutching on to Lova's body.
"She must've pushed herself too hard while we were gone. She really needs to stop. She's going to hurt herself." Leila said as she reached out for Lova's hand.
"What do we do?" Jayce asked, looking up from Lova's body to Leila's eyes.
"We wait until she wakes up, Jayce. That's all we can do." Leila said standing up.
Jayce nodded and stayed where he was still holding on to Lova's body. He was afraid if he let go, she wouldn't wake up. He couldn't explain it but in the short amount of time, almost three months now, but Lova had brought up all these emotions in him. He usually wasn't this open with his emotions, he had been really good about keeping them in check but with her it was different.
"Jayce, get off the floor and bring her in here." Leila called from the living room.
Jayce snapped out of his trance and stood up with Lova still in his arms. Carefully, he walked into the living room and laid Lova on the couch only to sit on the ground near her head.
"Jayce, you need to tell her." Leila said after a few silent minutes passed.
"Tell her what, Lei?" Jayce asked without looking at her.
"Jay, come on. We've known each other for years. I've only seen you look at one other person the way you look at Lova. Serena, remember her?" Jayce's eyes snapped to Leila's and his jaw tightened. 'I'm not bringing her up to make you mad but you have to tell Lova. She cares about you, too."
"I can't." Jayce shook his head and looked at Lova again. "She's too lost, Lei. She doesn't know who she is and until then, she can't love anyone. I'm not just going to add to all the confusion in her life. I just want to be there for her, to make sure she's okay."
Leila sighed and shook her head. "Fine, but you need to get better at hiding how you feel or else she'll figure it out."
Jayce was about to say something when Lova started to stir on the couch. With a groan, she opened her eyes a little, trying to sit up. Jayce quickly shot up and helped her up.
"You're okay." Jayce whispered as he hugged Lova once she was sitting up. He knew that he had it bad but he couldn't help it. Something about this girl made him feel things he hadn't felt in a while. He loved her and he couldn't stop.
"So what do I do now?" Lova asked after her and Hermione had let go of each other.
"I'm going to need you to come with me. All of you." Hermione stated.
"Where?" Leila asked.
"The Ministry of Magic. It's our form of government." Hermione explained.
"Why?" Jayce spoke up from his spot.
"Well, for one, a missing person has just returned but she has no memory of anything and two, I told you two about magic." Hermione was worried about what Kingsley was going to do once she told him about this.
Lova squeezed her eyes shut and scowled. "Can we hurry? I don't know how much more my head can take."
Hermione nodded and grabbed Lova's hand. "Let's go. Hold on to me, this may be a little shocking at first but it'll be okay."
Jayce and Leila carefully grabbed Hermione's arm and stared at her a little scared. Taking a deep breath, Hermione apparated to the Ministry of Magic, hoping that she was doing the right thing.