Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Missing Memory

It had come as a shock to Ron when he came home to find his girlfriend and Mum laughing in the kitchen. "What's going on here?"

"Don't be rude Ron," Molly turned to scold her son with a playful glint in her eyes. "You should set the table."

"Alright Mum," Ron said rolling his eyes as he shot a glance at Hermione, who was trying not to show her amusement, but she did smile at him as he got the cutlery. "It would still be nice to know what was going on."

"Well, I think it would have been nice to know that you had visited your mum yesterday," Hermione pointed out and Ron gave her a sheepish smile. "Instead, you told me you went to a pub."

"I did go to a pub afterwards," Ron said. "I didn't expect Mum to come here."

"Are you trying to say I'm not welcome in your home," Molly gasped and Ron blinked at her.

"You're teasing me," Ron said shaking his head as she smiled, he couldn't really remember the last time his mum had been this lighthearted. "Of course, you're always welcome here Mum."

Ron smiled at Hermione again, not sure how she did it, but it seemed that even his mum wasn't immune to his girlfriend's charms any longer. He went to the table so he could set it up and a moment later his dad came in through the Floo. Ron walked over and shook his dad's hand and tried not to laugh as his dad looked excitedly around the flat.

"Is that the television," Arthur asked remembering how Ron had said it the last time he asked about the Muggle appliance.

"Yep, that's it," Ron couldn't stop the chuckle this time as he looked at the table and noticed the others putting food on it. "But it looks like dinner is ready now, so I'll show it to you afterwards."

"That would be wonderful," Arthur said and they walked to the table.

Dinner was a pleasant affair as they talked about plenty of things as they enjoyed the meal. Hermione was a little (very) nervous about the food, but she was pleased to see all the Weasleys truly enjoyed the meal. After a while Arthur couldn't help but ask numerous questions about the many Muggle objects around them. Surprisingly, a lot of his questions were directed to Ron and wondering how he had gotten used to living using these things, and how he had lived without magic before he had told Hermione he was a wizard.

"Actually, I used quite a bit of magic back then, more than you would think at least," Ron admitted rubbing the back of his head.

"You did?" Hermione said, surprised by that.

"Yeah … you noticed when I used the cleaning charm(s) … er … and the flowers I guess," Ron said. "But there were other little things I would do, keeping the wand out of sight. Like using warming charms or summoning something when you were sleeping, and I didn't want to get up. Stuff like that."

"You're right, I didn't notice that," Hermione sighed.

"And it's not hard to use most of the Muggle things, Dad, once you get use to them," Ron said turning back to his dad.

"I don't think your dad needs to spend any more time getting use to Muggle things," Molly said firmly and in a way that ended the Muggle talk. Then she turned to Hermione and said, "So tell me more about the studies you have done this last week. I must confess I wasn't paying much attention to that conversation this Sunday."

"Oh, I haven't really done much," Hermione said blushing at being put on the spot like this.

"Not much, she's already finished the first-year books of Charms and Transfiguration," Ron bragged for his girlfriend, knowing that Hermione would be too modest to do it for herself. "She nearly as far in Defense with Harry's help. I think she would been doing better in Potions, but you know Harry and I can't help her much with that."

"I hope you haven't tried anything difficult; I hate to think what kind of trouble you would get into," Molly said, knowing that poorly made potions could be very dangerous.

"She's only done a few first-year potions, and Kreacher is there if anything dangerous happens," Ron said frowning, "but she does have a point Mione, we really need to get you a proper teacher for Potions."

"I could teach you," Molly offered, and the others looked at her with open mouths.

"I … er …" Hermione didn't really know what to say about that, she knew that Molly was being much more friendly towards her, but she hadn't expected an offer like this.

"I think that's a brilliant idea, Mum is excellent at potions," Ron said after he recovered from his shock.

"Thank you, I'd appreciate that," Hermione said, though she was still nervous she thought this was probably going to be helpful.

"I can also show you a few things in our garden," Molly added. "We don't have anything too magical but I'm sure you haven't seen anything for Herbology as of yet."

"No, I haven't," Hermione said, "Ron said that we should probably talk to Neville, apparently he has a greenhouse with all kinds of magical plants in it, but I haven't seen anything yet."

"Oh, I just remembered that Harry told me that Neville is going to take over as the Herbology Professor next year," Ron said. "He found out when he was at Hagrid's last week."

"That's wonderful news," Molly said beaming, knowing that was the dream job of the young man.

"I couldn't think of a better man for that job," Arthur added.

"Hermione?" Ron said, noticing that her eyes went out of focus for a few seconds and then she looked thoughtful.

"Sorry … I just … I don't know, it's this image, it just popped in my mind when you mentioned Hagrid's and I thought about our visit to Hogwarts," Hermione explained.

"What is the image?" Ron asked concerned.

"I can't tell really, it's sort of vague but it happened when I was at my parents too," Hermione said trying not to think too much about her parents, "I know you noticed the time, it was when I said I wasn't safe whether I knew about magic or not."

"Yeah, I did notice that," Ron frowned, "I wasn't sure what you meant, but it sounded like something happened to you."

Hermione's eyes went out of focus again before she could answer and then she blinked.

Ron's eyes widened and then he looked at his dad who returned his worried look. "Do you think …?"

"It is possible that she was Obliviated," Arthur frowned. "I would imagine that having one memory charm removed might affect any other memory charms put on her. Since it was Minerva that placed and removed the original charm, I would imagine the bleed over effect would be minimal, but it might cause this effect."

"You think I have another missing memory," Hermione bit her lip, the last memory wasn't a very pleasant one and she didn't think this would be any better.

"Yes, the way your eyes went out of focus after what I said, it's very likely another memory was erased," Ron sighed, "you don't have to remember this if you don't want to. From the contents of what you said, you likely witness a Muggle attack and an Obliviator or someone from the Order erased your memory."

Hermione nodded, appreciating Ron explaining it clinically like this, giving her the information and trying to keep his emotions out of his voice (though she could still see his concern in his eyes). "Would it hurt me if I don't remember."

"The broad answer is no, but there are times when Obliviated memories can cause problems," Ron answered honestly. "It's not likely …" he added when he saw how worried she got, "I'm sure you'll be okay if you don't remember."

"Will you be okay?" Hermione asked.

Ron frowned at her until he realized what she was saying. If it was true that she had been in a Muggle attack, then that meant her life had been touched by the wizarding war too. Was he okay not knowing the details of that attack? He wasn't sure. The more he thought about it, the worse he felt but he shook his head. "I don't want you remembering something just for me."

"I know," Hermione sighed, "but I also don't want to repress things anymore."

"Argh, Mione you know this is different, it's a charm, not you, repressing the memory," Ron groaned.

"Why don't you take some time to think about this dear," Molly said kindly noticing the two dancing around the issue, "it would probably be best if we have Bill look at you either way, to make sure there really is a charm and if it is still working properly."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Ron said and Hermione sighed in relief knowing that she didn't have to solve this issue now. She needed to think more about whether or not she wanted to remember this. They decided to wait until Sunday to have Bill look at her (a few hours before brunch so that she could have time to recover from the memory if she chose to get it back). It wasn't long after that that Ron's parents left, after Hermione made plans on getting a potion lesson from Molly on Thursday.

O

By the time Sunday came around Hermione was pretty sure she needed to get her memory back, and though she wouldn't tell him, it was mostly for Ron's benefit. She could tell that he didn't like the thought that she was near any magic attack and because they didn't know the details, he was imagining all sorts of trouble she might have been involved in. She didn't want him to live in limbo over this issue any longer, and a part of her knew that she didn't want that for herself either.

"Now there's nothing to worry about, I'm just going to check on the charm first," Bill said calmly as he sat across from her. "Have you read anything on memory charms?" he added to try to put her at ease.

"I did on Wednesday," Hermione answered. "I had avoided the subject last week because I didn't want to think about what happened when I was a child. But after I found out I had another one done on me I wanted to find out more information."

"I had expected as much," Bill smiled kindly, actually doing the diagnostic spell wordlessly as he chatted with Hermione. "So, you know that the best way to remove a memory charm is by having the person that cast the original spell do it. The second-best way is to have an Obliviator do it. I'm the third best option."

"Don't sell yourself short, you took off memory charms for the Order all the time," Ron said hoping that Hermione wouldn't get nervous by what his brother admitted.

"Which is why I'm the third best option. I have done this charm many times before so I feel confident that I can handling this, however if you …" Bill went on.

"No, I'm comfortable with you helping us," Hermione said.

Bill gave her one more kind smile before he looked over the information that he had gathered while they talked. He frowned as he looked at the particular charm, it was still intact though the edges were a little thin on one side. He figured that was where the memory had leaked from. However, that wasn't why he was frowning, he recognized the charmwork and it was so close to his own that it took him a few seconds to realize why. And to realize who had cast the charm in the first place.

"I don't …" Bill gasped dropping his wand in his shock.

"Bill!" Ron said anxiously, now worried that there was something wrong with Hermione's memories. "What is it … what's wrong?"

"C-charlie …" Bill sputtered. "He cast the charm."

"WHAT!?" Ron gasped loudly, not able to believe what his brother had just said. Hermione too was in disbelief as she tried to wrap her mind around that idea.

"I taught him the spell … it's done exactly how I would have done it, but it's got a little flare to it," Bill said seeming to be talking to himself more than Ron. "It has to be him."

"Can you remove the charm," Hermione asked after a long pause when no one had said anything. She could see both Ron and Bill were lost in thought and their emotions were all over the place as the thought of their brother. Now, more than ever she knew that Ron needed an answer to what happened to her, and how Charlie was involved, and she wanted to give them to him.

"I can," Bill said, his voice was shaky and he took several moments to regain control over his emotions. Thinking of Charlie had been very painful for him since the end of the war, because he couldn't help but think of his younger brother pushing him out of the way of the curse that would kill him. However, Bill had never let himself forget to think of the good times he had with Charlie, even though those memories were painful too, he never wanted to forget the good man his brother was. He felt his emotions become even as he thought that whatever this memory was, it had to show more of the good and brave things that Charlie had done. "Do you mind if I broadcast your memory so Ron and I can see what happened too?"

Hermione looked at Ron, who had tensed at Bill's question, and she couldn't tell if he wanted to see that or not, so she just asked him. "Do you want to see that?"

Ron nodded his head and squeezed her closer to him as he whispered, "I think I need to. But if you …."

"I want to," Hermione said softly knowing what he was going to say and then turned back to Bill. "Yes, you can broadcast it."

"Thank you," Bill said and then cast several charms to make sure no one else would be able to get in the room or see the memory. It was too late for either Ron or him to not see this memory (as long as Hermione was willing to share it with them), since they knew it existed, but the rest of his family was better off not seeing it now as they couldn't be sure if this was a good memory or a bad one. "Are you ready?"

Hermione nodded and then Bill cast the spells he needed to, and just like the other time the process of regaining her memory caused her to pass into a lucid dream.

O

It was a bright day … unusually bright for mid-September and she was alone. Well not alone as there were plenty of students around her, but she was by herself all the same. As she walked towards the library, she had thought it was a shame to be inside on such a nice day, so she decided to sit against a tree as she opened her textbook so she could study.

She was so engrossed in her studies that it was well into the afternoon, most of the day had passed, and she had yet to have lunch. Deciding that she was at a good stopping place, she stood up and stretched. However, before she could even grab her bag, she noticed something peculiar. There were several shadowy figures … that was the best she could come up with to describe them as they were all wearing wispy black cloaks and seemed to be gliding up the stairs on their way to the library.

Just looking at the shadows filled her with dread, and for some reason her mind started replaying her worse memories … kids making fun of her as she tried to control herself … the strict woman of her nightmares pointing at her and then everything goes blank … her dad, his expression of terror … she didn't know where this image came from but somehow it was the one that really filled her with petrifying fear.

She probably would have stayed there, frozen in her own fear, if it wasn't for the sudden appearance of the red-haired man. Though she didn't think 'sudden appearance' was a strong enough description … for the man had just popped into existence out of thin air.

"What …?" Hermione gasped, sure that if she wasn't so petrified right now, she would have screamed at his appearance.

"It's okay," the red-head man said, holding up his hands defensively, though she noticed that he was holding a stick of sorts in his hand. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"How did you appear here?" Hermione asked trying to calm herself … it wasn't easy.

"Magic," he answered simply, giving her a lop-sided grin. "I know it sounds incredible, but that's the truth."

She nodded her head; with everything she had seen in the last few minutes she was inclined to believe him.

"It not safe for you here," he said glad that she seemed to trust him, "I can tell that the Dementors already arrived … I'm not sure where they are though …" he frowned looking around the campus.

"Do you mean the shadowy figures? They went into the library," Hermione asked and then pointed at the building that she saw the things entered.

"They went inside! That's not good!" He gasped, turning pale before he looked back at her with narrowed eyes. "You saw the Dementors!"

"If Dementors are scary looking cloak figures … and they make you think terrible things … then yes, I saw them," Hermione said not liking the suspicious look he was now giving her.

"You're a witch," the man stated and his frown deepened when she looked confused (and a little hurt) by his comment. "Muggles can't see Dementors."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hermione answered truthfully.

"You're coming with me," the man decided grabbing her hand. "I've got to go into the library, who knows what kind of damage the Dementors will do in there … but I came here because we learned that the Death Eaters were going to attack."

"I still don't know what you're talking about," Hermione repeated.

He sighed, "It's dangerous inside the library and it's going to be dangerous out there too. I don't want to leave you alone."

She just stared at him in fear, but she didn't protest as he started making his way towards the library, pulling her along by the hand he was holding.

"I'm Charlie, by the way," he said as they walked, "Charlie Weasley."

"Hermione Granger," she answered back, though she was starting to feel more fearful with every step she took.

"It seems like you're right about the Dementors," Charlie sighed, "try to think of happy thoughts … I don't know how that will work for you but it's the only defense there is against these monsters.

"Expecto Patronum!" Charlie then shouted, raising his other hand and a silvery dragon erupted out of the stick that he was holding. "This should help too."

Hermione's eyes widened as she stared at the silver dragon as it soared in front of them and for the time being all of the terrible thoughts that were invading her mind vanished. Just the sight of the thing filled her mind with curiosity and wonder. However, as they continued to walk she could fee the fear started to steep back in and that wasn't helped any by seeing the people that they had passed, who were balled up on the floor, clearly terrified.

"They're just afraid," Charlie muttered looking relieved by that statement, but he quickened his pace.

"Is that a good thing?" Hermione asked, he had told her to focus her mind on happy memories and she was always happiest when she was learning something.

"The Dementors have two … er … weapons I guess I'll call it … that they can use against people," Charlie explained as he looked all around, trying to find the horrible creatures. "They feed off people's emotions and they leave you with nothing but your worse memories … paralyzing you in your own despair. That's what these people are experiencing right now, but they will be fine once the Dementors are gone.

"However, there is the Dementors Kiss, where they will suck out your soul," Charlie went on to say as he shivered at the mere idea of that, and the dragon flickered slightly. "I'll have to try to think of something happier it seems."

"The dragon is your happiness?" Hermione asked, she was sickened by what Charlie just said, but she didn't want to dwell on that thought and she could tell he didn't either.

"I supposed," Charlie said amused by the question and was glad the girl had lifted his spirit slightly by asking it.

"Charlie," Hermione whispered urgently as she stopped (causing him to stop as well as he was still holding her hand) as she was pointing across the room.

Charlie looked to where she was pointing, and he just barely caught sight of the cloak as it disappeared behind a door. "Do you know where that leads?"

"That's where most of the tables for studying are," Hermione informed him.

"So, the most likely place for a crowd of people," Charlie questioned, and she nodded her head. He let out a breath before he quickened his pace towards the door, "open it for me," he suddenly asked pulling her so she could be in front of him and then letting go of her hand. "Don't go through the door until after I do and then stay close behind me."

"Okay," Hermione nodded and then quickly ran past Charlie and the silver dragon as she reached the door, glad that she had to pull, and not push, it open.

The dragon soared past her and into the room followed closely by Charlie and then she ran after him. By the time she got into the room the dragon was already near the shadowy figures and they seemed to be fleeing from it. She realized that was why Charlie wanted her to open the door, it was so the dragon wouldn't lose any of its pace being held up by the closed door. She was also able to see that one of the shadowy figures was holding onto a person, its hood seemed to be coming down as it lowered its head, but the dragon rammed into it before it could touch the person's head. She felt sickened again as she realized that the creature was trying to perform the kiss.

"Do you think that was all of them?" Charlie was asking her as he conducted the dragon around so it made all of the shadowy figures leave the vicinity.

"I'm not sure … give me a moment," Hermione said stopping as she closed her eyes, visualizing the Dementors as they entered the building and then the Dementors that were in this room. "Yes … I think so. At least all the ones that I saw come in."

"Good," Charlie said lowering his wand and the dragon disappeared having chased the Dementors out of the building.

"Are you sure they won't come back?" Hermione asked wearily, though she noticed that she no longer felt the terrifying effect they had.

"Yeah, the Patronus drain them … they'll be effected for a while now," Charlie said.

"It doesn't seem like the Dementors are the only one that get drained by the Patronus," Hermione said, noticing that Charlie was slightly out of breath.

"I'm okay," Charlie shrugged. "You should be safe enough here now, I should – ugh!"

The red flash hit Charlie on the upper chest before he could finish talking and he was knocked backwards as he fell to the ground. Hermione rushed over to him grabbing his arm and dragging him a few feet, so they were behind one the bookcases.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked but she got no response and she feared that he might have been killed at first, but she could tell he was still breathing.

"There's no use running, little girl," a voice called to her, and it was clear that the man who had hurt Charlie was walking towards them now.

Hermione didn't know what she could do now. Clearly this was one of the people that Charlie had called a Death Eater before, and there were going to try to hurt him further … and her too, she was sure. She knew that she couldn't drag Charlie any further, she was only able to move him as far as she had before because she had used her momentum from her run. She also couldn't just leave him behind, though if she ran for it now, she might be able to get out of this aisle. So instead, she reached for the stick that was in Charlie's hand and thought about the only thing she had seen him do with it and waited for the person to come into view.

"Expecto Patronum!" Hermione said firmly, moving her hand the same way that Charlie had, her mind filled with the knowledge that she could produce the silvery dragon (not knowing that the Patronus were different for each person, or that what she was trying to do was extremely advance magic).

"What the …!" a masked man gasped as the silver smoky substance came at him, catching him by surprise causing him to back up quickly to avoid the mist and he tripped over the desk that was behind him.

"Charlie, you've got to wake up!" Hermione groaned, knowing that whatever just happened wasn't going to be enough to stop the man attacking them as soon as he got up. She grasped his hand, placing the stick back into his grip and closing her hand around it as she concentrated everything she had on trying to wake Charlie up. She had always known that there was something that made her different than normal people, she had a power within her that she had learned to control (or more like she learned how to stop) when she was a child. He had called her a witch when they were outside, and she had just produced some kind of 'magic' she guessed, but she had no idea how to use that power to protect herself … but if she could get Charlie to wake up ….

"What …?" Charlie gasped as he opened his eyes feeling as if he was just shocked by something. He was confused about what was going on as he noticed that he was being held by Hermione, who was looking down the aisle and that's when he saw a black cloaked figure standing up … "Stupefy!"

Hermione gasped and then looked down at Charlie in amazement, "you're awake."

"Yeah," Charlie said sitting up and taking a moment to see if he was okay and then he stood and held out a hand to her. "I thought I had been stunned … but I shouldn't have been able to recover so quickly …."

"I think I might have woke you," Hermione said telling him what happened in the few moments that he had been out.

"Merlin Hermione, you're incredible," Charlie smiled at her in awe, thinking about how this girl had been able to save him knowing that she had no idea that she could do magic before today. "You really saved me."

"You saved me too," Hermione said blushing at his compliment.

"Maybe," Charlie shrugged, sure that she would have been safer if she hadn't met him, but he didn't have time to discuss this. He then went over to the Death Eater and took his wand and handed it to Hermione. "You saw me do the stunning charm right, try practicing it now as I secure this Death Eater."

"Okay," Hermione said, and she did try to replicate what she had seen him do, but even after a few minutes nothing happen.

"That's okay, it was just a thought," Charlie said as he came back to her, "you better stay close to me now, we have to get outside."

"Okay," Hermione said, a little disappointed that she wasn't able to do anything, but she wondered if that had something to do with the stick she was now holding. It didn't feel comfortable in her hand at all and nothing like Charlie's had when she used his.

When they got outside, they both gasped. It was clear that some kind of fighting had gone on out there, and it looked like several explosions had gone off.

"Where have you been?!" a very scarred man yelled at Charlie, and he was clearly angry. "And who's the girl?"

"Dementors were in the building," Charlie explained, "and she's just a Muggle."

'Dementors … yeah, I thought they might have been here … makes the Muggles easy pickings," the man frowned.

"Did any of the Muggles die?" Charlie asked gravely.

"Nah, we got here in time … you know those slippery cowards ran as soon as they were face with a real fight," the man growled.

"Well, the Death Eater I face didn't get the chance to run," Charlie said with a smirk as the older man looked at him in shock.

"You mean you actually got one of those bastards," the man cheered. "And you fought off the Dementors … good job lad."

"Wow, I've never heard a praise like that from you before," Charlie chuckled, "but you really should be thanking her, things would have been a lot worse without her help."

"Then I thank you lass," the man smiled at her before turning his attention back to Charlie, "I'll go get the Death Eaters, you … take care of this."

"Yeah, sure," Charlie sighed and then grabbed Hermione's hand again and walked with her to the tree she had been reading at just an hour ago. She knew that this was the same tree because her bag was still on the ground, but other than that it looked nothing like it had before. It was clear that the tree had been on fire not too long ago.

"What does 'take care of this' mean?" Hermione asked in trepidation as she stared at the tree that so clearly had been attacked and wondered what might have happened to her if she had been frozen in her fear. When she looked at Charlie waiting for an answer, she noticed that he was tense and thoughtful.

"I'm supposed to erase any signs that a wizarding fight had taken place here," Charlie answered raising his wand and muttering a spell that transformed the tree back to the way it was an hour ago. He then turned away from her and cast the same (or other) spell on the other signs of attack and they too mended themselves. With his back still turned to her he added, "that includes erasing the memories of the Muggles that witnessed this attack."

"Muggles," Hermione repeated the word frowning. "Do you mean me … you told that man I was a Muggle? But you said I was a witch ….?"

"You are a witch," Charlie said gravely as he turned to look at her. "But in a lot of ways you are a Muggle too. Hermione, I don't know how it's possible that you've never heard about wizards and witches before today. It's clear you have magic, and lots of it. But you don't know how to use it … do you?"

"No, I don't," Hermione answered truthfully, that was what she had thought in the library after all, when she had put all of her energy in waking Charlie, because she didn't know how to protect them from the Death Eater.

"Right now, the wizarding world is a dangerous place for you to be," Charlie went on. "We're at war with the Death Eaters, and they hate Muggle-born witches and wizards … they hunt them down and kill them."

"And that's what I am," Hermione said her voice quivering with fear.

"I believe so," Charlie sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder and then decided it was better to just pull her into a hug. She had certainly been through a lot in this last hour, and it was clear she needed to be comforted.

"Are you saying it's too dangerous for me to remember what happened today," Hermione asked awhile later when she was able to talk again. "That you want to erase my memory like you would a normal Muggle."

Charlie didn't answer right away, he wasn't sure what was best all he knew was … "it's safer for you to forget. The Death Eaters hardly ever attack the same place twice, so if you go about your Muggle life, you'll probably never see them again … at least as long as we win the war."

"It's safer … but is that the best option?" Hermione asked, because though today was terrifying she didn't want to forget everything she had discovered.

"Can you promise me that you won't try to find out more about the wizarding world, or even magic in general?" Charlie asked as he pulled away from her so he could look into her eyes. "That you can live your life like you have been before today."

"I …" Hermione started, wanting to tell him that she wouldn't try to learn everything she could about the wizarding world, but she couldn't. She would have to know the truth about everything. She knew that she might be able to stop herself for a while, but she didn't think that would last long. "I don't think I can do that."

"Then it's too dangerous for you to remember," Charlie sighed, he really hated that he was going to have to do this.

"Do I have to forget about you, too?" Hermione asked, she didn't want to lose any of her memories today, but she especially didn't want to lose the memory of meeting him.

"I'm sorry," Charlie sighed, "your memories of me are too entwined with everything that happened today."

"But you're my friend," Hermione said gravely, sad that she would so quickly forget the first friend she had ever truly made.

"And I will always be your friend, Hermione," Charlie smiled at her kindly, "and when I come back for you … after the war has ended, I'm going to help you learn everything you can about the wizarding world."

"I'd like that," Hermione smiled at him and then they hugged again.

"This won't hurt a bit,' Charlie said and pointed his wand (saying a spell) and everything when blank.

O

There was silence in the living room of the Burrow where Ron and Bill had just watched Hermione's memory. Both of them were lost in their thoughts after seeing how involved Charlie was in the missing memory.

"I never expected that," Bill was the one to break the silence, he wasn't sure how he felt watching his brother carrying out a mission like that. It reminded him that Charlie was willing to risk his life to help Muggles and to stop the Death Eaters. For the longest time all he could think about was the last moment of Charlie's life and not the bigger picture. Nothing would make the moment better, but he could feel this memory easing a bit of his bitterness.

"Me neither," Ron said, completely stunned by what he had just seen. He had known from the moment they discovered she had another missing memory that she would have been near a Muggle attack by Death Eaters (or some dark creature) but he had not expected her to be this involved in the attack. Obviously, he hadn't expected Charlie to be involved either until a few moments before Bill started the memory. He looked down at Hermione, she was still unconscious and would probably stay that way for a while. He was worried how she would react to this memory once she woke up. He was sure she could deal with the attack itself, but when she woke up, she'd known that she had lost her friend (who just happened to be his brother).

"Ron," Bill said seeing that his little brother was in turmoil over what they had just witnessed, and he seemed to be getting more anxious the longer they sat there. "Tell me what you're thinking."

Ron looked shocked at the tone Bill was using, he was commanding Ron to tell him his thoughts and that wasn't something that usually happened. Everyone knew he didn't like to be confronted about his feelings.

"We both know she's going to need you when she wakes up, so I need to get you out of your own head before that happens," Bill explained, and Ron pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It's all unbelievable," Ron said. "It's so weird … it took me five months to tell Mione I was a wizard … another month for me to learn she's a witch … and Charlie did it in an hour. Less than that … he figured it out in the first few minutes."

"Ron, that was a completely different situation," Bill pointed out the obvious. "At first he knew …"

"No, I get it," Ron said, knowing full well why those things happened so quickly and that it was reasonable, but still being irked that it was so much easier. With thinking about that and comparing it to his relationship with Hermione he had a horrible thought and asked the question before he could stop himself (or think too much about it), "What do you think would have happened with Hermione if Charlie lived?"

"I think you would have met Hermione three years ago, you'd probably be married and maybe even have a kid," Bill answered honestly, frowning at that possibility and feeling sad that it couldn't have happened. However, he found it odd that he didn't feel the guilt he usually did when he thought of what Charlie's life would have been like now.

"You don't think … er … that they might …" Ron wasn't sure how to ask this. All he knew was that if his brother brought a girl to the Burrow, he wasn't likely to see her as someone he was allowed to date.

"Nah, Charlie was married to his dragons," Bill reminded Ron who actually smiled at that. "He would have probably gone and found Hermione and then brought her home so Mum could look after her and then he would have gone back to Romania. Mum on the other hand … she probably would have tried to force a relationship …."

"Argh! Don't say that!" Ron actually chuckled knowing that was true, their mum definitely would have tried to force a relationship to get Charlie to stay in the country. Knowing this, and hearing nothing but the truth in Bill's voice, Ron closed his eyes and pictured the way Hermione looked while she was interacting with Charlie and realized that it was closer to the way she was with Harry … at least there didn't seemed to be any lingering looks or anything like that.

"What should we tell everyone?" Bill asked after Ron gathered himself.

"The truth, that Charlie was the one that did the charm, and that they had saved each other," Ron shrugged, "I'm sure that will be enough for now."

"Sure," Bill shook his head, he was sure their mum would have a million questions after that, but he supposed Ron had a point. As soon as he realized that Charlie did the charm, he was worried about what he was going to see, but the actual memory was sort of a good one. "Maybe I'll show them the memory."

Ron nodded and then didn't know what to do, other than wait for Hermione to wake up. Bill clapped him on the shoulder before he got up and left the room, and Ron hoped that he would talk to their parents because he wasn't sure if he could explain what happened. He didn't have time to worry about that much longer because he felt Hermione shift, and he knew she was waking up. He pulled her closer to him, especially when he felt her shuttering and she knew that she was crying.

"Are you okay?" Ron said softly after a while, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"You have told me so many things about him, and I didn't even realize that I knew him … that he was my friend," Hermione said sadly, and I can't believe he's dead, she thought but couldn't say out loud.

"Only a friend, right … you didn't fall for his Weasley charms, right?" Ron asked.

"Ron!" Hermione gasped as she pulled back to look at him but realized that he wasn't being serious.

"Honestly though, do you think meeting him … well do you think that had anything to do with why you felt comfortable with me in the beginning?" Ron asked softly.

"Hm … I don't know," Hermione admitted, it's true they might have had some effect but … "I think I would have felt comfortable with you no matter what, but that might be true."

"Thank you," Ron said kissing the top of Hermione's head and when she looked at him confused, he added, "for saving Charlie …."

"He saved me," Hermione pointed out, "I didn't do anything …."

"You did, and I'm glad you were there for each other," Ron said squeezing her to him.

The rest of the brunch at the Burrow was a mixture of melancholy and excited chatter. After a quick discussion with Arthur and Remus, Bill had informed Ron and Hermione (who were still in the living room recovering from her memory) that the Death Eater that she helped capture had provided the Order with three more Muggle attack that were able to be prevented, hoping that would be good news to the girl. And it was, since it was that talk that got them out of the room to join the others for the meal.

A/N: In my original fic I had mentioned this chapter for a long time and I had thought of this meeting near the time that I thought of the story in the first place, but I never got around to writing this chapter until a few years ago. Like I said in that author's note, this chapter isn't what I had originally thought but it's what came out when I wrote it and it seemed to work for this story too. I did change the way Hermione realized that she had a missing memory, having it be a surprise to her (instead of the memory coming back to her after McGonagall gave back her other memory).