Gwen stood in the doorway and simply looked at the two men in front of her. Two people from the diary were standing in front of her, right from the pages, sure she had met Dudley, but it was different this time. He didn't seem to really know Hermione, but these two had been on the run with her, they knew her in school, and she'd even been dating Ronald...it was almost too much. She wanted to weep with happiness and yet she wanted to scream with joy as well, instead she just stood there like a freaking moron and stared at them. They both stared back, she was sure they were just being polite and wondering if she was as dumb as she looked.
"Yes" She said quickly "Please, come in. I'm sorry, just surprised that you're actually here"
"You look like Hermione" Ron muttered. It was and wasn't true, Gwen's face was pale and heart shaped, her eyes were bigger though and a light green color as opposed to Hermione's light brown. Her hair was long and straight a light chestnut color, they shared the freckles that were dusted across their noses and cheekbones.
"I do?" Gwen asked, she looked at her hands and then back at them "Who is she?" Wiping her hands on her pants she was suddenly more impatient than she'd been before "And where is she, I've got questions"
"Hermione was the smartest witch of her age" Harry said "She was super intelligent, clever, braver than anyone else in the whole world, she was the best friend anyone could ask for and we would have done anything for her...if only she'd asked"
"We don't know where she is" Ron answered "We were hoping maybe you did"
"Witch?" Gwen looked from one to the other and started to move back. Harry's eyes widened in surprise, he took a step toward her, and she moved around a table, making sure it was between them and he was shocked because no one had ever been afraid of him.
"You didn't know" He guessed "You didn't know she was a witch, the diary...she never made mention of being a witch in there?"
"The wizarding world, yes" She answered "But not a...a...witch"
"Can we come in?" Ron asked, he looked at Harry who was already standing just inside the house "We can explain a few things, maybe it'll help you with your investigation into finding her...maybe it'll also help us"
"You're looking for her too?" Gwen asked, for some reason the thought of her best friends looking for her as well, made her a little emotional "For how long?"
"Ten years" Ron answered, he slowly moved into the house, making sure she didn't display any signs of discomfort at his entering, before he closed the door "We did everything, searched everywhere for three years, but we had to stop, our lives have been put on hold for so long"
"Come into the living room" Gwen pointed to the other room "And explain about this whole...wizarding world, thing"
They went into the living room and sat down in an uncomfortable silence. Seeing these two that she'd read about for so long was like meeting your favorite movie character in real life. You promised yourself that if you ever had this chance you'd have a million questions and then the opportunity presents itself and all of a sudden, you don't have any thoughts, no words...nothing, just a blank and vague thoughts that don't make any sense and you don't want to put a voice to. With no words to say, Gwen simply made a few hand gestures that she hoped they'd understand as the go ahead. Harry looked at Ron for a moment and then launched into a whole explanation about this whole world that existed right under her nose. When she shook her head, like she didn't believe Harry waved the stick that he'd pulled out of his jacket pocket and flowers appeared on her coffee table.
"Holy fuck!" Gwen shouted, she jumped up on to her couch "Holy...holy...shit. Can you...can you, do anything else?"
"Yes" Ron said, over the next hour or so they made a bunch of other stuff appear or disappear from the room, each time it would elicit a squeal or shriek from Gwen "We also have potions that can heal and fix things"
"Can you...like...can heal things like Cancer?" Gwen asked, she could feel tears filling her eyes and emotions clogging her throat "Can you stop it?"
"Some cases, yes" Harry answered "But only in the early stages. As it progresses, it gets more and more complicated and it progresses so fast sometimes that even we can't find cures fast enough"
"Are you okay?" Ron asked, Harry raised his eyes to find the girls pretty face crumbling, tears streaming down her face and she was hugging her middle.
"The whole time" She sobbed, picturing her mothers beautiful face in her minds eye "The whole time my mother was dying slowly and there was this whole world with cures for it, not one of you stepped out to offer those who was unmagical any help...there are countless others dying everyday and with a small potion you could cure it" She lifted her anguished eyes to Harry's "Why is your world so selfish?"
"I don't know" Harry whispered, he watched her sob, comforting herself and knew that feeling well. Being the only one to be able to comfort yourself, having no one there to hug you and tell you its okay "I'm sorry"
"That stick" Gwen asked, it had been almost fifteen minutes since her breakdown, the two men waited patiently for her to collect herself, giving her time to come back to the living room on her own "That stick that you're holding, I found one in one of the rooms here"
"Can we see it?" Harry asked gently. She nodded and pulled it out of her pocket, walking across the living room and placing it in his hand "This is Hermione's...why was it here, she's vulnerable out there without it"
"No, she isn't" Ron said, placing his hand on his friends shoulder "She's muggleborn, she knows how to take care of herself"
"What room was this in?" Harry asked "I didn't realize that she came back here after the war"
Gwen brought them to the bedroom and showed them where she found it, Ron stepped on the chair and looked around the attic space. He reached in and pulled down a cardboard box and handed it to Harry, they put it down and opened it, none of the stuff made much sense to Gwen but they told her that it was her school stuff. Robes, books, cauldrons, shoes, candy and candy wrappers, the usual things they claimed one would bring to Hogwarts, the boarding school they all went to.
"She must have put all of this stuff in the box and put it in the attic space before she wiped her parents memories"
"Wiped?" Gwen asked.
"Its a memory charm, have you ever heard that phrase before?" Harry asked.
"Yes" She answered "From your aunt"
"Interesting" Harry muttered "Its a spell that is cast to take memories from people, the thing is there is a modified charm that can take you from peoples memories. It's used in extreme cases, removing oneself from the memories of everyone who ever met you in a certain place. In this case, the muggle world, she took herself from their memories, the magic took her out of photos, took her birth certificate, everything that ever said that she'd been born. She gave her parents memories of wanting to live in a different country, that they never had children but always wanted some and gave them memories that they'd seen a doctor who told them that they wouldn't have kids, it was impossible"
"So where did she go, then?" Ron asked.
"I don't know" Harry sighed "Look, we can help you look but we don't know..."
"The nurse" Gwen said, looking at them in wonder "The crazy lady...they're the same and maybe...maybe they're Hermione"
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, confused.
"The lawyer told me that when my aunt died a nurse came in to work with my uncle" Gwen explained "But she fired her because she was calling him dad and sharing memories with him that he didn't actually share with her. The lawyer thought that she was scam artist and fired her immediately, could that have been her?"
"Possibly" Harry said "What about the crazy woman you were talking about?"
"After my uncle died there was an insane woman that was living in the house" She explained.
"What happened to her?" Ron asked, excitedly.
"I don't remember" Gwen admitted "I didn't make the connection until just now, but I can call her and find out"
"Do that" They both said "Please" Harry added.
A/N: Sorry for the wait, college is insane. Please review!