Disclaimer: All characters in this story as well as references to places and things in Harry Potter are owned by J.K. Rowling. Healer Greene is my character. This disclaimer applies to all installments of The Missing Piece.
Author's Note: Here is chapter two! Hope you all enjoy! And yes, Draco finally makes his entrance in this chapter, for those of you wondering.
The Missing Piece Chapter Two
Day: 03
If anyone passed by the door to Hermione's flat, they would hear her cries of agony, and her broken voice, wailing the same word over and over: why? Why her? Why now? Why? The mind was the organ most valued by her. Memories and knowledge were absolutely priceless. The fact that she had let go of two years' worth of them was as absolutely heart breaking as the cries Hermione emitted from her mouth.
Day: 05
"Oh. Hello." Hermione said, attempting to sound normal as she opened the door. Harry stood in the hallway, and behind him, a St. Mungo's Healer. She felt a stab of frustration upon seeing the Healer. She was not sick, nor was she in critical danger. She just… didn't remember. But Hermione looked at the female Healer and forced out a smile, and stepped aside so that both people could come in. The healer looked around her empty flat with a knowing look, and Hermione wondered how many people knew about her state.
"Hermione, this is Healer Greene. She has to check up on you every so often." Harry said in a business-like tone, which made Hermione feel like she was some patient with behavioral problems. She didn't like the woman already. Just because she was here, when Hermione felt she did not have to be. But a part of her told her that Healer Greene was just here to help, and that it was simply St. Mungo's procedure to check up on their patients. Hermione forced out another smile, and directed it at the woman. Healer Greene looked to be about 30 years old, with frizzy blond hair, and sparkling blue eyes. She was a round, stocky, and well-proportioned woman, who looked eager to do her job. The woman smiled kindly, and sympathetically, as if Hermione was a lost case, and she was just here to make Hermione's life easier. Hermione looked around nervously at Harry, conveying with her eyes to him that she did not like this situation at all.
"Hello Hermione, how are you?" the Healer asked, in a tone that made Hermione feel like she was being treated like a three year old instead of an eightee—twenty year old.
"I am perfectly fine, thank you." Hermione replied curtly, straining to remain polite. The woman merely nodded, and pulled out a clip board.
"Do you mind if I ask any questions, dear?"
"Not at all, please, sit down." Hermione said as politely as she could, given her situation. She gestured to the floor with her hand, catching Harry's amused look, and the Healer's uncomfortable expression. The healer pulled out her wand, and conjured three chairs from thin air, and set them down in the middle of the room. Vaguely, Hermione wondered where her wand was, and made a note to ask Harry before he left. She sat down on one of the wooden chairs, and the healer took the chair in front of her. Harry sat down last, taking the chair that was left over.
"Okay. Hermione, can you tell me the last thing you remember?" Healer Greene asked, her quill poised over the clipboard she held. Hermione began telling her about her eighteenth birthday celebration two years ago. The Healer merely nodded after each pause in Hermione's story, writing furiously upon the clipboard.
"Would you mind describing how you felt upon waking up three days ago?" The woman asked without looking up, after Hermione had finished. Hermione sighed, thinking back to when she woke up.
"I remember… I felt a bit confused, dazed, and off focus. I felt like I hadn't missed anything, until Harry told me. But I knew something was off, I just didn't know what." Hermione replied honestly, feeling a knot form inside her throat once more. This cannot be happening. This is all a dream. She told herself, as the Healer continued to write down Hermione's words. She took a sigh to steady herself.
"Okay, that is perfectly fine to feel that way on the first day you know. When large parts of the memory are removed from the mind, it leaves the person in a state of disorientation for a while. It goes away after—"
"After about twenty-four hours, yes." Hermione cut in. "I read about memory charms in Memory Charms and the Mind during my youth." Harry grinned, highly amused by the conversation. Healer Greene's mouth was frozen in the shape of the word she was going to say next.
"Very good." The Healer replied, after a short pause. "Now, how are you getting along with your lack of memory? "
"Fine. I feel normal, except of course, I have no recollection of the past two years." Hermione cleared her throat, trying to loosen the knot in her throat, because the last thing she wanted to do was show weakness in front of this woman.
"Okay. Thank you Miss Granger, that will be all the questions I will ask for today. I will return in two days, and check up on you. Please don't attempt to remember anything you may have forgotten, because we do not know if it will be either harmful or helpful to you." The woman stood then, and faced Harry. "Thank you Mr. Potter. If I could see you outside for a moment?" Harry nodded, with a flickering look at Hermione, and then proceeded to the door. Hermione felt a stab of frustration at the fact that whatever they had to discuss, which was her, obviously, couldn't be said in front of her. When they had closed the door behind them, Hermione moved closer and pressed her ear to the door to listen.
"Mr. Potter, I have seen many cases identical to this one. I have her reports from her stay at St. Mungo's, and from what I just gathered, I do not see anything different from the other patients suffering from this same problem." There was a pause, and Harry's nervous voice spoke next.
"What are you saying?"
"I am saying, Mr. Potter, that it's best if Miss Granger moves on. She will not recuperate her memories. What was casted upon her was an irreversible charm. There is not much left to do but allow her to move on as if nothing happened."
There was a tense silence on the other side of the door, and Hermione raised one hand to her mouth to keep from making any noise. Silent tears were spilling down her cheeks. Two years' worth of memories… never to be found again? She would have to live with the emptiness forever, while everyone around her remembered.
"It's best if Miss Granger does not know this." The Healer added carefully. Hermione heard Harry sigh, and the floor boards creak beneath his feet.
"She had a life, you know. She has people who care about her. And we will not lie to her. She's stronger than you know, Healer Greene." Harry said, urgency in his voice. Hermione felt a surge of admiration and thankfulness for Harry. Harry Potter, her best friend, who stood up for her when she could not.
"Mr. Potter, as admiring as I find your sentiments, you must understand that I know what I am talking about. I specialize in the field of memory modification. There are just too many memories Miss Granger has lost to gain them again. According to Mr. Malfoy, when she was hit with the charm, she fell backward from impact. The fall caused her to severely injure her head."
Hermione subconsciously raised a hand to feel the back of her head, and felt a small, tender spot there, proving Healer Greene's story true. She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. How would Draco Malfoy know how she had hit her head?
"So?" Hermione heard Harry say, clearly misunderstanding the Healer's point.
"Mr. Potter, memory charms and head injuries are not a very good mix." The Healer replied, in the same manner one would throw hints to a clueless person.
Hermione heard Harry heave a sigh and saw the doorknob twitch. She scrambled back to the center of her living room, and sat on a chair, waiting for their return. After a few seconds, the door opened, but only Harry stepped into the living room.
"You heard, didn't you?" Harry muttered, spotting Hermione's tears, and reading her pained eyes. She merely nodded. Harry walked up to her with a quickness that would have surprised Hermione had she not been so disturbed. He took both of her hands in his, and looked deeply into her eyes with a serious and determined look.
"You will remember. You will get better. I promise."
Hermione looked away. She wanted to believe him, but the logical side of her squashed out all her hope. The Healer was correct—logic and knowledge supported this—she would not get better. There was another knock on her door, and Hermione rolled her eyes, thinking that the Healer had returned. She could tell Harry had the same thought as he opened the door, just a crack.
"What are you doing here?" Harry demanded his voice becoming strained ad nervous. Hermione saw him tense up, and she became worried.
"I have to see her, Potter." Replied another male voice. The voice sounded calm, yet bordered on desperate. Hermione registered that the voice sounded distantly familiar, but she could not place it.
"I didn't explain to her yet. She doesn't know." Harry replied, clearly on edge about the person behind the door. Hermione wondered what this was about, and once again felt the familiar feeling of emptiness.
"I don't care. She'll know now."
Harry opened the door all the way, revealing the owner of the distantly familiar voice: Draco Malfoy. Hermione stared at him, both in shock and in disbelief, that he was here. That he wanted to see her. Malfoy regarded her with tender grey eyes, as if she were a beautiful treasure no one could touch. This made Hermione feel awkward, and a foreboding feeling washed through her as she looked to Harry, who looked unsure about what to do.
"Hermione." Malfoy said, close to a whisper. She just stared, a look of revulsion forming on her face. What did I miss? She thought viciously. Her heart began to pump loudly due to nerves, and Hermione felt her palms getting sweaty. Malfoy's face because painfully unsure as seconds progressed.
"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Hermione said, continuing to regard him in the same manner. A pained look flashed across his pale and pointed features, before they were gone.
"You and I… have been dating for a year."
Hermione froze, looking at Malfoy's hopeful face, and Harry's guilty one, her mouth gaping open. Draco Malfoy; pureblooded supremacist, spoiled, rotten, prejudiced git, dating Hermione Granger; muggle-born, bright, unjudgemental, moral witch? Given Hermione's lack of memory, she couldn't help vehemently denying this.
"Noooooo" she said, in a sarcastically amused tone. "I'm sorry that's…no." Hermione felt a bit guilty about saying this once she caught Malfoy's sad look. He looked as if he were saying goodbye to his most treasured companion, which made Hermione feel almost pitiful. The man was absolutely torn, and heart-broken.
"It's-It's true." Harry said, sporting his best 'I'm-sorry-you-ever-dated-the-git-but-I'm-going-to-have-to-back-him-up-on-this-one' look.
"I know you don't remember yet, Hermione," Malfoy explained, "But we do date. We'll work through this."
Hermione suddenly felt as if she were being forced into something she had no intention of doing.
"Malfoy, I won't remember. It's permanent," Hermione spoke almost painfully, the all too familiar knot in her throat threatening to form again. "Whatever we had… "She trailed off, shaking her head at him, telling him it was clearly over. Malfoy looked quickly at Harry for confirmation, and then back at Hermione, wearing the most heart-broken expression she had ever seen, but it lasted only a few seconds before Malfoy's face molded into something unreadable.
"You'll have your furniture in two days." He said quietly, the crack in his voice betraying his true emotions. He refused to look at Hermione, which made her feel very guilty, but she did not dare take her words back because of how she was making him feel.
And with that, Draco Malfoy turned around and left, slamming the door on his way out.
Day: 06
Hermione looked around her empty flat, feeling completely overwhelmed by recent events. Her life had gone by, and she had no knowledge of it passing. It was a dreadful and terrible feeling to witness, and as Hermione sat down upon the bare hard wood floor of her living room, she caught sight of the strange hand print on the wall, and completely broke down. She cried for all that she lost, but most of all, she cried for not having remembered losing her memories at all.
A/N: Okay that was the chapter! I'm thinking of updating every other day, unless you guys want me to update sooner. Please review and let me know how it's going so far! I appreciate your input!