A/N: Thank you for the reviews!

Chapter Fifteen

"How...extensive, is the damage to her memory likely to be?"

Sirius, James, Lily, Wormtail and Remus were all gathered around Helena's bedside, all of them looking equally anxious. Sirius was pretty convinced that the universe was enjoying toying with him—it seemed every time he'd decided once and for all how he felt about Helena, she either tried to kill herself (just friends) or got hit with a spell that had, as far as they knew, completely wiped out her identity (which meant it was impossible to hate her so much after all).

The healer shook her head. "No way to tell I'm afraid. We can't risk an awakening spell when stunners and memory charms collide. You say they hit her at the same time?"

"Yeah—the force knocked her off her feet and into a wall."

"Well, then we definitely have to wait until she wakes on her own. The spell could have had any degree of success: there's a chance she has no amnesia or there's an equal chance her entire life is a blank to her. Have you spoken to the department of magical law enforcement yet?"

"Not yet," Lily said. "Didn't want to leave her."

"Well, I would suggest you do it in shifts. That way Miss Malfoy won't be left alone and you've done your civic duty."

"You lot should go first," Sirius said. "I'll stay with Helena."

James clasped his shoulder briefly before taking Lily's hand, and the two of them left. The junior healer smiled kindly at Sirius. "Are you her boyfriend?"

"No, we…I dunno, once, maybe. Not anymore. Now I'm her friend. Always her friend."

There was a fuzzy pain, right between her eyes. It was like having a wet sponge stuffed into the space where her brain should be. She didn't want to open her eyes, for fear that would increase her headache. Under her fingers was a rough blanket, woven and fleecy. Unfamiliar. And the sounds around her were unfamiliar too—more noise than there should be, talking and buzzing and…sniffing? Was that someone crying? Who was crying?

She opened her eyes. "Helena!"

"Where- Where am I?"

The three people around her bed exchanged very somber looks, and then the young man with hazel eyes spoke. "You're in St Mungo's hospital. I'm James Potter, a friend-"

Helena interrupted, eyebrows raised in question. "Prongs, why are you telling me your name, you prat?"

"You- You know me?"

"Of course I do, we've known each other for years! What's going on? Why are we in St Mungo's instead of the hospital wing?"

"Well…we left Hogwarts, don't you remember?" Lily asked with a sniff. She had been crying; it was evident in the tear-tracks down her cheeks.

She frowned. "But we've had the Christmas holidays, why aren't we back at school?"

"Hellfire…" Sirius began, "what month is it?"

"January."

"Oh my God," Lily muttered. "Hel, it's not January. It's June."

"What do you mean 'it's June'?"

"Look," Sirius said, taking his watch from his wrist and handing it to her.

It had been a present from her for his seventeenth; the date scrolled around the outside of the face while the hands ticked the wrong way around the clock. Sure enough, 20th June 1979 was roving around. And magical watches couldn't be manually altered, since they did it themselves. She looked up. "But…"

"You've been hit by a memory charm," he said. "We thought it was going to wipe everything out, but I guess it's just the last six months."

"Just six months?" Helena repeated, aghast. "And who hit me with a memory charm?"

"Don't look at me!" he responded harshly.

She blinked, shaking her head. "No, I wasn't suggesting-"

"Well good."

"What's the matter with you?" she asked, genuinely concerned about his hostile manner.

He sighed, shoulders slumping, and shook his head. "Nothing. Doesn't matter. How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Bit of a headache but other than that… Who did hit me with a memory charm?"

"Bellatrix. We were coming off the train and she just attacked you, out of the blue. Well, she and Avery," James explained. "I think we've officially had our first battle of the war. The platform had a few chunks missing out of it when we left."

"So I take it- I take it she is a Death Eater now?"

"Oh yeah. Her, and several other Slytherins."

"Bloody hell. But what-"

She was interrupted as a healer strode over, waving wide green sleeves in a sweeping fashion. "Out of the way, out of the way!" They cleared the bed a little bit, and she lit her wand and shone it into Helena's eyes. "Good pupil dilation. Any pain?"

"No."

"Dizziness?

"No."

"Nausea?"

"No."

"Now," she said, folding her hands and fixing her with a sympathetic gaze. "How's your memory, my dear? Do you remember what your name is?"

"Yes; from what my friends have told me only about six months is actually missing from my memories."

"Excellent news. So your name?"

"Helena Morgana Malfoy."

"Address?"

"Well, I…" She looked in askance at her friends. She remembered leaving the manor, but now that they'd left Hogwarts she had no idea where she was going.

Thankfully, Sirius stepped forward. "17 Kensington Gardens. You bought it in early Feb."

"I bought it? Where did I get the money to buy a house?"

"Tell you later."

"Oh, okay. Any other questions?"

"I simply need to know your occupation."

"Well it should be student, but if we've left then I guess Junior Healer here. We start in July don't we, Lily?"

The redhead suddenly looked nervous. "Um, I do. Helena, you- you gave up your place for a job here."

Shock flooded her. "Why would I do that?"

"God alone knows," Sirius muttered, looking sour again.

"Being a healer is everything to me, it's all I've wanted to do since I was little, how could I just give something like that up?" When no one had an answer, she felt heat prick at her eyes. "What do I do now? Where am I supposed to-?"

The healer put a hand on Helena's shoulder. "Calm down, Miss Malfoy, don't distress yourself."

"But I need to speak to someone about this—I can't let this go, there's got to have been some kind of mistake, because there's no way I would have just let an opportunity like this go-"

"Miss Malfoy, I really must insist you calm down. Otherwise I will have have to fetch a Draught of Peace for you to take."

"But-"

Lily patted her hand. "We'll fix it, Helena, don't worry."

Feeling not at all reassured by Lily's smile, Helena forced herself to take several deep breaths. "Alright, you're right. We'll fix it. We have to." She sighed. "Um, how long do I have to stay here?"

"Not much longer at all. I'll go and get you a prescription for a dreamless sleep potion and then you can go, once you've signed your discharge papers."

"That won't be necessary, thank you. I know how to brew it."

The healer gave her an approving look. "Do you now? Very few new graduates would know how to do that. What did you say your name was?"

"Helena Malfoy. Why do I need one?"

"Just in case. Sometimes memory charms can have the opposite to intended effect. You may find latent memories reawakening in your dreams. Usually it's the bad ones."

"Oh."

The healer smiled again and bustled off to get the discharge papers. Helena looked at her friends. "You said Bellatrix did this to me? Why? Why would they attack me specifically?"

"Well we've been talking, and the only thing we can think of is that she hoped once you'd lost all knowledge of who you are, they might be able to…get you to join them."

"What, be a Death Eater you mean? That stupid bitch! Even if I thought we lived on Mars I'd never join Voldemort!"

"Apparently Bellatrix thought you would."

"Then she's wrong. I don't even- Why would she even try? Are they that short on pure-bloods?"

"Probably," James nodded. "Not exactly a lot of us left, are there?"

Thank fuck for that. The healer who'd seen her before came back over with a clipboard and a quill for Helena to sign the discharge papers. "I'm releasing you now, but I want you observed overnight, by a family member or a friend."

"We'll do it."

"Alright, that should be fine. If any symptoms of further memory loss or disorientation appear, apparate back here immediately. Understood?"

They nodded, and Helena got out of bed. She was thankfully still dressed, and brushed off her skirt and top, then reached for her boots, which stood at the foot of the bed. "So I take it I have enough space for all of you to stay? I mean, I need at least three bedrooms, don't I?"

Lily frowned. "Three?"

"Well yeah—one for you, one for Prongs, and then I guess Padfoot and I can- Actually where is Padfoot?"

They all looked around, but Sirius was nowhere to be found. Helena frowned, trying not to feel upset. Was that it? He'd just decided she was in no danger of losing her mind completely and then vanished? She frowned, trying—of course futilely—to remember anything from before she woke in the hospital. Maybe they'd had a fight? It would hardly be unusual for them after all. They had fights all the time. About everything.

James frowned and she thought he muttered something that sounded a lot like 'For fuck's sake', but when he looked at her again, his face was clear. "Right, well the weather's brilliant—how about a barbie back at your place?"

"A what?"

"A barbie. Y'know, a barbeque?"

"Which is…?"

"It's dinner, Helena," Lily told her. "Like a campfire."

Helena nodded in understanding. That explained why she'd never heard of it. Eating outdoors was reserved strictly for barbarians and muggles in the Malfoy household. "Alright, now will you explain to me how it is that I have a house?"

They did so, but the answer to one question led to several more, one of which they were unable to give her a solution to—why Abraxus Malfoy had given her so much money. When she saw the house, though, Helena stopped worrying about that. Instead she just let her jaw drop and her eyes widen, taking everything in that she could. There was light everywhere. Lily and James went into the kitchen with the food they'd brought on the way back from St Mungo's while Helena wandered up to the second floor of her seemingly endless home. hearing noises coming from one of the rooms at the back of the house, she peeked around the door—and saw Sirius. His back to her, he was busy conjuring an ornate, huge fireplace, decorated around the edge with griffons, phoenixes, dragons, all of them beautiful.

When he'd finished, he swept his hair out of his face and said over his shoulder, "You shouldn't sneak up on people, Hellfire."

She stepped into the room properly. "Is this for me?"

"Yup. Housewarming present."

She hugged him. "It's gorgeous. Thank you."

He stiffened at first, but slowly his arms came up around her waist and he hugged her back. "I haven't unpacked your stuff," he said, "but you needed a fireplace for floo and stuff, so I did one for the kitchen and another one in here. The one in the kitchen's more functional than this one is but-"

She put her hand to his mouth. "Padfoot, shut up."

He grinned. "I wanted to get it finished before you go home. That's why I left the hospital."

"Right. I thought we'd had a fight or something that I couldn't remember."

He cleared his throat. "Where are the others?"

"In the kitchen. We're having a…barbie?"

"Oh cool. Garden's more than big enough."

"So I see."

They owled the other two Marauders, so within an hour of Helena's return from hospital all six of them were relaxing on Helena's lawn. Both Lupin and Wormtail had given her hugs when they saw her, something which surprised her until Remus explained that she'd actually been unconscious for more than twenty four hours, something which the others had neglected to mention.

Remus nodded to the bottle of cold cider in her hand. "Should you be drinking that?"

She handed him one. "Don't see why not. Peter, you want one?"

"Please!"

The afternoon had the feeling of…a reunion about it, which she didn't understand. Yes, it was weird that six months had suddenly just vanished out of her mind, and she was planning on getting a full account of those weeks from them later, but whatever had happened, she couldn't imagine they'd spent a prolonged period of time apart. Yet her friends were acting as though they hadn't spoken to her for ages.

"Padfoot, we need more alcohol."

He squinted at Helena. "Is that a hint for me to go and get it?"

"Only if you feel like being your usual generous, kind-hearted, wonderful, amazing self," she beamed.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Anyone else for a refill?"

"Yes please!" came at him from five different directions, so James got up to help him as well.

Once they got to the kitchen, James put the empty cider bottles down on the work top and faced him, arms folded. "So."

"So?"

"How you doing?"

The words 'I'm fine' were on the tip of his tongue, but looking through the window at where Helena and Lily were laughing together, he couldn't make them come out. "Confused. I mean- What's happened to her is terrible, but at the same time…she's back. She's literally the person she was. It's a bit 'be careful what you wish for' to be honest, Prongs."

"Yeah, but it is what you wished for, isn't it?"

"You want me to say I've missed her, don't you?"

"Dunno. Have you?"

"So have you."

"Yeah…but I'm not you."

"We need to find out why Bellatrix did it. Trying to kill her, trying to imperurise her, that's understandable. But wiping her memory? What could she hope to gain from that? What could anyone?" Sirius asked, ignoring James' point completely.

"Voldemort's orders?" he suggested. "Bellatrix is a Death Eater, that's obvious. But then why would You-Know-Who want Helena to lose her mind?"

"Well, if that was the plan, it failed. Which means they could try again. We have to be ready to protect Helena, whatever happens, whenever it happens." Determination filled his chest, looking at her. God, she still looked so strong, so confident, but she obviously had to be kept safe, kept protected. He'd failed at that once. He wasn't about to again.

Lily stayed the night with Helena to 'observe' her, but by the time Sirius and James left, both girls were on the wrong side of being three sheets to the wind. Helena had hit her head on the bannister staggering up the stairs, and while she didn't feel it then, he had a feeling she was going to be feeling it tomorrow. That along with a crippling hangover that would probably last all day. Sirius went back to James' and his tent feeling…full, but what he was full of, he couldn't say. She was back. Over the past six months, she'd looked like Helena, and she'd sounded like Helena…but it was like some other person had moved into her skin while he hadn't been looking. And now that person had moved out again. Hearing her laughter all afternoon long had been simultaneously alien and warming, strange and brilliant. It was like nothing had changed, like the last half a year hadn't happened for any of them, not just Helena.

But he'd meant what he said to James. Whatever had happened to her in February had happened because he hadn't been vigilant enough, because none of them had stopped to consider that maybe Helena was as vulnerable as anyone else. Now he wasn't letting her out of his sight for any longer than was strictly necessary. And this attack of Bellatrix's was troubling—without logic, without apparent point. Prongs' suggestion that they were simply after any pure-blood they could get made sense, but in that case why not try and take him, or Sirius himself? No, there was something special about Helena. Though he'd known that for some years, if he was deeply honest with himself.

Breakfast that morning was spent with the property pages of the Prophet open in front of him. James' parents had always been more than kind and welcoming to him during the holidays for the last two summers and Christmases, but Hogwarts was gone now, and he couldn't expect to live off their hospitality forever. Which meant finding his own place as soon as possible. The problem was, he had very little money. Expecting a random mysterious payout from his parents was laughable, and without no savings, it was dependent on a salary. Which wouldn't be coming in for another couple of months yet, once he'd started auror training. Maybe there was a bedsit somewhere he could live in for a few weeks before he had enough for rent.

"Sirius, dear?"

He looked up. "Yes, Mrs Potter?"

"You're being hailed," she smiled, pointing at the fireplace.

He looked, and in the fireplace was Helena's head. "Have you gone deaf, Padfoot?"

"I think he was concentrating," Mrs Potter said.

"Ah, that explains it. Hurts the first time doesn't it?"

He ignored that. "Was there something you wanted?"

"Your help with something," she said. "I was thinking-"

"Dangerous."

"-and I want to get some transport. But you know how rubbish I am on a broom and carpets are outlawed, so…I want to get a bike."

He put the paper down. "A bike? You?"

"Yes, is that a problem?"

"Just to make sure, we are talking a motorbike here, not some push bike without an engine."

"Yes, Sirius, I am aware of the difference," she said tartly.

"What's wrong with floo or apparition?" he asked, still unable to picture Helena on a bike, or at least riding one with any proficiency. She certainly couldn't a broom.

"Nothing, but I was thinking it might be nice just to go somewhere for the going of it. And for that I need wheels, and I don't really want a… a… the thing with four wheels."

"Car?"

"Car, thank you—I want a bike. So will you help me buy one?"

He looked out of the window at where his own bike sat under a tarpaulin, unused since the Christmas holidays. McGonagall would've hit the roof several times if he'd tried to take it to Hogwarts. The Potters' wasn't far from London; it would only take an hour to ride to Kensington and take Helena bike shopping. And he had missed it.

He looked back at the fire. "Okay. I'll be there in about an hour."

She smiled. "Thanks, Padfoot. Just touch the door to get in; I've enchanted it to recognise you and the others."

"Will do. See you in a bit."

Helena's head nodded at James' mother. "Nice to see you, Mrs Potter."

"And you, dear."

Helena had worked the spell well; he touched the door knob once and the red-painted door swung open silently, and then just as quietly shut behind him. "Helena?"

Nothing, and in the huge house it was difficult to judge where she might be. He gave downstairs a cursory check, but she didn't seem to be in any of the rooms, so he went upstairs. In the room at the top of the stairs he heard humming, and knocked on the door. "Hellfire?"

"Come in."

He did so, only to find her in the roll-top bath, relaxing in the hot water. It was side on, and with the sides of the tub being quite high he couldn't actually see anything, but it didn't stop him from turning around anyway. It somehow wasn't familiar anymore. No less alluring, but it wasn't…comfortable. She still looked like the evil bitch clone after all.

"I thought you wanted to go out."

"I do."

"Then why are you naked?"

"I thought you might want to join me," she said coquettishly.

"Well I don't."

There was a splash, and when she spoke again, she sounded utterly shocked. "Really?"

"Really."

"Why not?"

Because you've spent the last six months doing your best to piss me off at every opportunity, he thought savagely. "Doesn't matter."

"But you're turning down sex. You never turn down sex."

He heard her get out of the bath, and handed her a thick fluffy towel from the rack on his right, still without looking at her. She put a slender hand on his shoulder and turned him to face her. "Are you alright, Padfoot?"

"I'm fine."

She raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, you're actually going to lie to me?"

Her eyes were open, frank and expectant. She wasn't going to continue pushing him if he wanted to lie, but she was going to be supremely disappointed if he did. She also knew, he realised, that even if she didn't get the truth, he'd volunteer it later. Unless he managed to convince her that nothing was wrong.

"I'm not lying to you," he said, "but when we got back last night I had…an urge."

"An- Oh!" She laughed gently. "Oh I see."

He nodded, trying his best to blush and not sure he was succeeding. "Yeah. Not sure I'd be up to it yet."

Still laughing, she opened the bathroom door and went into her bedroom. "Give me five minutes."

"So what time did Lily leave this morning?" he asked through the door.

"Just after breakfast. Though that didn't consist of more than Dr Falmouth's Hangover Vanisher."

"Ah, I thought you were looking chirpier than you had a right to be."

"Wasn't this morning, believe me. Had to scrougify the place more than once." She opened the door, fully dressed this time. "Did you bring your bike?"

"Yeah, it's parked outside."

Helena kicked up a bit of a fuss about having to ride in the sidecar, but after some gentle cajoling from Sirius (which culminated with 'Just do it, woman!') she did get in, and they arrived at a bike showroom about twenty minutes later. Where Helena proceeded to behave like a typical woman, drawn to all the prettiest bikes—though he had to admit some of them were very pretty—but not necessarily the best ones. He tried to steer her more toward the ones most either most powerful or the most reliable, but inevitably these were not sleek enough for her tastes. It was complicated by the fact that the salesman was edging her toward the most expensive ones. Finally she set her sights on a Harley-Davidson FXS 1200 Low Rider.

"I want that one."

"Hold your hippogriffs, Hellfire, I haven't even looked at it yet. No point in me coming if you're not going to let me give some advice is there?"

He looked it over, and the only thing he could find wrong with it was that he wanted one immediately. Maybe she'd let him borrow it occasionally. Finally he nodded. "You'll need leathers and a crash helmet as well."

While she was in the fitting rooms, it occurred to him that while he'd dodged a bullet this morning, eventually she was going to invite him to bed again. And he'd be hard-pressed to say no, even harder-pressed to come up with a reason that she'd accept. He wasn't even sure why he wanted to bother. There had been other girls in the last six months, but if he was honest, they hadn't been as good for the most part, and the one who'd been slightly better had turned out to be more than a bit scary the morning after. And while whatever had happened to Helena in February had been wiped from her mind, there was no reason it couldn't happen again, and then they'd be right back to square one.

No. Best they kept their relationship platonic. Strictly out of the bedroom.

"How do I look?"

She looked…like sex on legs. On shapely, endless legs. The black suit looked like she'd been poured into it; it clung in all the right places, and was trimmed in sky blue down the sleeves and along the zip, then down the legs. When she turned slowly on the spot, the blue ran down the seam at the back and framed her behind too. His mouth went completely dry.

Helena grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Good, then?"

Oh, wonderful. Hellfire in tight-fitting leather. He groaned, and then again when his leathers became uncomfortably tight. The biker next to him looked over with a sympathetic nod. "Yeah. I don't think women that good-looking should be allowed to ride bikes, to be honest."

A/N: Review please!