In a word, he was damaged.
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
His entire body was buzzing. He was drowning in some deep, bright ocean of fuzziness, with no sense of what was up or down. Everything felt wrong. His tongue was sandpaper. His fingers were bolts of lightning. His stomach crackled and gurgled as he lurched without direction in the ocean. Then he was falling– falling so fast that the shocks and buzzing could hardly keep up.
He landed with a loud thump that made every part of him pop and snap with pent up energy. But he couldn't move. He saw a light in the distance, and he thought it might've been the source of this unceasing discomfort. He blinked, but then he realised his eyes weren't actually open at all. Everything was so bright that he'd been sure that his eyes had been open the whole time. Suddenly, opening them seemed like an impossible task.
He gritted his teeth, and the friction caused a shock to erupt inside his mouth. He gasped at the startling reminder of his condition, and, as if the shock had given him strength, he opened his eyes.
Everything was fuzzy in this world too. But there was colour here. He could see greens and browns and a curious amount of red. It was just too fuzzy for him to make out where he was. And his body was still buzzing.
Then, the most vibrant source of red moved closer, until it was right over him. He could see a bit more clearly now. This was a person, a woman. She was staring down at him. The redness was in her hair. It framed her face in a fiery blaze, and he thought that he might have been looking at an angel. Was it possible that he had just landed in heaven?
"Harry," the angel said in an almost melodic voice. "Harry!" she exclaimed, like she was overjoyed to be welcoming him into whatever this afterlife was. So then, was he Harry? He couldn't remember if he'd had a name before coming to this place.
In awe of the one who had named him, he asked, curiously and reverently, "Who are you?"
She froze. He couldn't make out an expression on her face, but he wondered now if he should've known who the angel was. Surely she wouldn't kick him out for not knowing her if he couldn't even remember his own name.
Another voice said, from somewhere he couldn't see, "Maybe he needs his glasses."
"Right," the angel responded, a little shakily, before reaching her hands towards his face. And with a single action, she removed all the fuzziness. He could see clearly.
He continued staring up at the woman. He was becoming convinced that she wasn't an angel. But… she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Even if he couldn't ever remember seeing any others. He admired the curve of her lips, even as she bit her bottom one nervously. He wondered how many perfectly shaped freckles she had dotting her fair skin. Her hair was even more spectacular now that he could see it clearly. It truly was like a blazing fire. He even thought her nose and ears were adorable. But he couldn't keep his eyes off of hers. They were tinged with redness and puffy, but it didn't matter. Her brown eyes were so full of life and emotion that he could've stared at them forever.
"Harry?"
He blinked as whatever spell had captivated him broke. "Yeah?" he responded reflexively.
"Do– do you know who I am?"
He narrowed his eyes as he tried to comb through all of his memories. The only problem was that he couldn't remember anything before he saw her for the first time. Like… he couldn't remember anything.
He felt guilty as he shook his head, knowing he was disappointing her. "No. I'm sorry."
She moved back now, staring at him with a stunned expression on her face, and he saw two more people he didn't know put their arms around her.
"We knew this was a possibility," another new voice said. "We've solved the first problem. Now we can move our attention to this. Harry, how are you feeling?"
He saw a middle-aged woman, dressed in bright green, examining him with concern. "Kinda fuzzy. And–" he winced as he realised "– actually, everything hurts. A little. And I don't know where I am. Or why I'm here. And… you're all calling me Harry. That's my name then?"
There was a small gasp from the other side of the room, but he couldn't decide if the girl with red hair or brown hair had made the noise.
The woman in green stepped closer to him, wearing a grave expression on her face. "Yes, your name is Harry Potter. We'll see what we can do about the pain. But… I just want to be clear– you don't remember anything before waking up a moment ago?"
He thought about it some more, but he kept running into a blank wall whenever he tried to remember anything. It was like he'd been told to build a puzzle. Only, he didn't have a picture to work off of. Or any pieces. His mind was just an empty table, waiting for answers.
"I don't remember anything," he confirmed. Even though he couldn't remember anything, it was obvious that everyone else did, and that was an incredibly scary thought.
The woman nodded slowly. "In that case, we'll introduce ourselves. I'm Amelia Hartwell, and I'm your Healer."
The brown haired girl spoke weakly. "Hermione Granger."
The tall, red haired boy stared at him for a second before blinking and saying in a raw voice, "I'm Ron– Ron Weasley."
He looked expectantly at the beautiful red haired girl in the middle, who seemed to be in shock. The brown haired girl– Hermione– nudged her, and she flinched. "G– Ginny. Weasley," she added emotionlessly.
He nodded. "Okay. Amelia, Hermione, Ron, and Jenny."
"It's Ginny," the red haired girl corrected, with a fire in her eyes that almost scared him. But it didn't. Instead of scaring him, it drew him in. There was something awe-inspiring about her fiery demeanour. He only felt bad that it was directed at him, not scared.
"I'm sorry, Ginny," he responded, carefully enunciating it. "I like your name," he added, hoping that would help smooth things over. And it was the truth. Her jaw flexed slightly, but she didn't acknowledge it otherwise.
"Sorry, did you say you're my Healer?" he asked, turning back to Amelia.
"Yes. You were… in a bit of an accident, and you were in a coma for several days. We've been trying to wake you up, and now here you are."
"An accident? What happened?"
Amelia opened her mouth before glancing over at the group on the other side of his bed. He didn't see what she was looking at before she said, "I think we can fill you in more in a moment. If you don't mind, I need to speak to Ginny, Hermione, and Ron outside. Don't leave the bed, and we'll be right back."
"Oh," he managed. "O– okay."
He wasn't scared that he'd be left alone forever, like he had been in the ocean of bright fuzziness. But he couldn't help but feel a nervous pull in his stomach as they all filed out of the room. Ginny gave him a sad look before she exited. He guessed she felt bad for whatever condition it was that he was in. He didn't even know what was wrong with him, other than that he'd been unconscious and was apparently missing a lifetime's worth of memories.
He sat alone, thinking about all he'd already learned. In a whisper to himself, he said, "Harry Potter. My name is Harry Potter."
He would've thought that something as simple as his name would've felt familiar. If he couldn't even remember it now that he knew it, what more important things was he not remembering? And even if he learned about them, would he still not remember?
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
She was in a nightmare. That had to be the only explanation. It wasn't possible for life to be so cruel that it gave her Harry back only to take away all his memories of her. But he still had no idea who she was when she put his glasses on, and she was forced to face the horrifying truth. He didn't know who she was.
He didn't even know his own name. How had everything somehow become even more hopeless when he'd woken up? It had been terrible, seeing him lifeless in bed the last few days, but even him being awake couldn't relieve the suffocating pressure in her chest. She never, ever would have thought that Harry would look at her like that. Like she was a stranger.
It was all she could do to not erupt in a panic. If Harry didn't remember her, remember everything they'd been through… he may never love her again. Her stomach turned at the thought, as inevitable a conclusion as it was. She couldn't possibly believe that yet.
The instant the door closed behind them, Ron had a hopeful gleam in his eye. "Hermione, you can just fix his memory like you fixed your parents, right?"
Ginny's hope dropped as quickly as it had risen when Hermione shook her head. "I don't think so. He didn't lose his memory through an Obliviate, so there's no way for me to reverse it."
Ron's face fell. "Then what are we gonna do?"
"We can't alarm him. It won't help his condition at all if he's scared of everything," Hermione reasoned, even though she sounded very alarmed herself.
Ginny was more interested in what Amelia had to say. "I will admit that it is very concerning. I don't have a solution… yet. But the same was true of his coma until a few minutes ago. Memory loss is something we can research. And since Muggle methods saved him the first time, I'll include Muggle medicine in my studies now."
"And if that doesn't work?" Ginny asked, terrified of the answer she sought.
Amelia's eyes were soft as she gently placed a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "It will."
It wasn't a satisfactory answer, but it was more comforting than what Ginny was expecting, at least. "So are we allowed to talk to him about his past? Or is that going to hurt things?"
"I actually think it's a great idea to tell him about who he was before he lost his memory. There's a chance that hearing about his life will jog the memories, and they may well return altogether without any further medical intervention."
"Okay. We can do that. We'll answer any questions he has, and he'll remember," Ron said, far more confident than Ginny was.
Amelia nodded encouragingly. "Exactly. Don't overwhelm him though. If he asks about anything, tell him, but let him learn on his own time, and be especially delicate with the more… dramatic details of his life. We don't want to risk derailing any progress he makes if things become too emotional. This is going to be a fight, but I'm more optimistic now that we've already made it through the first battle.
With that, Amelia walked back into Harry's room. Ron and Hermione started to follow, but Ginny caught their arms and held them back. One part of the plan for dealing with Harry's memory loss wasn't going to work.
"We– we can't tell him that we were a couple," she said, hoping the flatness of her voice masked how much it pained her. "He may not have his memories, but… he's the same person." He had to be… right? She swallowed that terrible question and continued explaining one of the hardest decisions she'd ever made. "He'll feel awful that he doesn't remember me, and he'll try to force himself to care for me, and I don't want to do that to him. You heard Amelia about not overwhelming him and making things too emotional; he doesn't need that– that weight that it would be on him. It'll all be okay if he gets his memories back, but it– it would be too much right now, I think." She wasn't sure which of them it would be too much for though.
Hermione nodded sadly, but Ron just looked confused. "So we're supposed to tell him… what? You're my little sister who's a little too attached to him? Because you may be able to act like you're not a couple, but you're still gonna want to be around him all the time."
"No. We'll tell him part of the truth– I'm his best friend."
Ron's jaw dropped. "And what am I? Chopped liver?"
Hermione cheekily answered, "Yes," at the same time that Ginny said, "No. We'll tell him that all four of us are best friends. That's the truth. He doesn't need to know more now. Please. I– I know this is going to be for the best."
Ron considered it before sighing. "You're the boss. This time, at least. I– I won't say anything."
Ginny wasn't entirely sure if Ron was the best person to trust with the secret, but she didn't have a choice. Everyone was going to have to keep it. And it was going to be the hardest for her to keep anyways.
Amelia was concluding an examination of Harry, but she wrapped up once they entered. "I'll leave the four of you alone."
"We're allowed to have three visitors?" Hermione asked.
Amelia nodded. "I'll allow it. Especially now that he's awake. And I'll go downstairs and tell everyone else the news."
Ron conjured a chair and sat down once she left. Ginny and Hermione both jerked their heads over to Harry, who seemed unfazed by it. He realised they were staring at him though. "What?"
"Did– did that not surprise you?" Hermione asked in a very curious tone.
Harry furrowed his brow. "Him conjuring a chair? No. Should it have?"
"No," Hermione answered. "It's just… I didn't expect you to remember about magic."
Harry frowned as he thought about it. "I didn't realise that I knew about it. But it seemed natural to me, I guess. Maybe other memories will be like that," he offered hopefully.
"We hope so, mate," Ron agreed.
Hermione jumped right into trying to help him with his memories. "Harry, are there any questions you have for us since you can't remember anything?"
Harry looked like he had a mountain of questions and didn't know where to begin. Finally, he settled on one. "How do I know the three of you? I mean, you're my friends, right? Or maybe siblings?"
And right away was the first test. "Friends," Ginny said. "Best friends." She hoped her voice didn't break too much on that word that couldn't possibly begin to sum up everything they meant to each other.
"We met at Hogwarts," Ron added.
"Hogwarts?" Harry asked, another thing he definitely shouldn't have had to ask about.
"It's our school. For magic," Hermione answered.
"Oh. So do we all still go to school? Or are we done?"
Ron took this one. "You and Ginny are still at school. Hermione and I have jobs."
"How much older are the two of you than us, then? I mean… I don't actually know how old I am, but I'm guessing I'm your age."
"You're eighteen," Ginny said faintly. "Ron and Hermione are nineteen. I'm seventeen."
It pulled at her heart, every time he processed a new piece of information. Every new thing he learned seemed to spawn a dozen more questions in his mind. "So were none of you in my year?"
"You were in our year," Ron answered. "But we skipped our last year, and you decided to go back with Ginny for her last year."
Ron probably didn't think anything of it because he had no real reason to, but, of course, Harry was very quick to ask, "Really? Why?"
And when Ginny recoiled involuntarily, hurt by the confusion in his voice, he added, "Sorry, I– you seem really nice, and we were obviously good friends, but… I just didn't think I'd like school very much."
Now that sounded like her Harry. She was actually able to allow a weak smile as she shook her head. "You don't like homework, but you like pretty much everything else about Hogwarts. And you're a great friend who didn't want me to go to school without any of the three of you."
Harry smiled back at her, apparently liking the explanation that he was just simply a good person. But then his confused frown returned again. "Wait– why did we skip our last year though?"
"That's… kind of a long story," Hermione answered vaguely.
Harry shrugged. "The Healer just told me I'd be in here for a while longer. I've got time. And actually– why am I here in the first place?"
The three of them exchanged nervous glances, unsure how to explain it to him. Harry interrupted the silent conversation. "Do you three do that often? Look at each other without talking to me?"
Hermione cracked a small smile. "Not usually, no."
"Then…" Harry seemed to struggle with what he was saying. "Could you just act like you normally would? I mean, I'm still your friend right? Even if I can't remember anything?"
Ginny nodded, even though she knew she couldn't actually act how she normally would. Because if he had his memories, she'd probably be tucked into the small bed with him. "Sorry, it's just… it's not an easy story to tell," she explained. But she couldn't possibly be the one to explain it to him.
Hermione took up the responsibility. "Last year was supposed to be our final year of school, but we had to… go into hiding. A powerful, evil wizard was trying to kill you, and we needed to find a way to–"
"An evil wizard was trying to kill me? Why?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Because… a long time ago, there was a prophecy that basically named you as the only person who could defeat him. So we had to go on the run to keep you alive and find a way to do it."
Harry shook his head, not understanding how that made any sense. Ginny had to admit that hearing it like that really didn't make a lot of sense to her either. "But Ginny didn't come with us?"
"I was sixteen. The Trace– I wasn't an adult yet, so if I'd gone with you and tried to do magic, they would've been able to track us. So I went to school and… tried to help out there."
"That– damn," Harry muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "So is that why I'm in here then? Did the wizard do this to me?"
"No, you took care of him a year ago," Ron answered. "Some of his nutter followers did this to you."
"That's how you and Ginny were able to go back to school," Hermione added.
Harry blinked. "Oh. That's… huh. So people followed him, and even though he's gone, they haven't stopped?"
"The remaining ones have been progressively captured since everything ended. The last four in Britain attacked you," Hermione explained.
"Guess that explains the injuries then. Four against one… not exactly a fair fight."
For some reason, Ginny was compelled to brag about him. "You still defeated three of them. And badly injured the last before she was caught yesterday. So you still won." She decided not to tell Harry exactly how Alecto was caught.
He smiled once again at her, a little wryly, and gestured at himself. "This doesn't exactly feel like winning. But I guess it's better than being in prison."
Ron snorted. "Yeah, just a bit."
Harry almost grinned, then once again, his expression became introspective. "The Healer said she was going to tell everyone. Are my parents here? They'll probably wanna see me too. Not that I don't want to keep talking to you three," he added quickly. "I like you all. I can see why we were best friends."
Ginny's heart, already very worn out by the emotional whirlwind of the past few days, somehow shattered once again. Of course, she'd never heard Harry ask for his parents before because he'd always known the terrible truth. She'd never imagined that they'd have to tell him about it for the first time.
Hermione started, very gingerly. "Harry… your parents… they– when you were a baby, that evil wizard… he tried to kill you. And they– they died protecting you."
Harry's face fell in devastation. "So then… I don't have a family?"
There was no possible way she could stay in her seat. Without even thinking about it, she was at Harry's side in an instant, holding his hand for the first time in what felt like forever. He looked up at her, a mixture of shock and disappointment on his face.
"We're your family," she said firmly. "You're like a son to mine and Ron's parents. And our brothers all see you as one of their brothers. And– and we're all here for you."
Harry continued staring at her before looking down at their hands. She started to release him, not wanting him to feel uncomfortable or reveal her true importance in his life, but he subtly tightened his hold on her hand. She bit her lip, trying to resist the dizzying rush that sent to her head as she imagined, for a second, that there may be hope for them after all.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
Harry's life wasn't making a lot of sense. Granted, he was starting to see how some pieces connected, but most of the puzzle was still a complete mystery. He had a feeling that there was a lot that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had been leaving out, and he wondered if he'd really have to learn everything again. It would all be so much easier if he could just bloody remember.
At least he knew how they fit into his life. They were his best friends. And he really liked them. They were easy to talk to, even if he was pretty much just asking questions about things he should've already known about. At least talking with them made him forget that he was lying in a hospital bed with no certainty about his future.
He already had about ten more questions ready, but Hermione turned to Ginny and said, "We'll go downstairs and let your mum and dad come up. I know they'll want to see him. And we'll be back up in a bit to keep talking."
"Oh, okay. That'd probably be good. Thanks," Ginny replied, nodding thoughtfully.
"Of course. And we'll make sure they know the rules… about not over exciting you, I mean," Hermione said to him, a little belatedly.
"Right. Better go ahead and tell everyone," Ginny agreed. "See you two later."
"Bye, Harry," Hermione said, smiling at him.
"See you, mate," Ron added, trying to smile as well.
"Bye," Harry responded, raising a hand as they walked out the door.
He watched as the door closed before turning to see Ginny staring at him blankly from her seat. Just looking at her made his fingers tingle slightly, like they had when she'd held his hand moments earlier. He shook his head and cleared his throat.
Ginny blinked and seemed to refocus on him. "Sorry. Guess I'm a bit tired."
"It's been a– how long was I out for?"
Ginny knew the answer immediately. "This was the fourth day. Three nights."
He grimaced. "I guess it's been a long four days for you then. If you wanna go and get some sleep, that's–"
"No, I'm fine," she responded. "Not getting rid of me that easy," she added with a small smile that only made her prettier.
"Who said I was trying to get rid of you? I'm glad you're here," he responded without thought.
Her smile grew slightly. It still wasn't much, but it was there. "Good. Because I'm not going anywhere."
He felt a strange sensation in his stomach at those words, but he chalked it up to having not eaten in several days. "Seems like Ron and Hermione didn't feel the same way," he tried to joke, hoping that was something they would've normally done.
Ginny shrugged. "We're all best friends, but… you and I are the closest."
He didn't know that. "Oh… cool," he replied, not really having another idea of what to say to that. "So how many brothers do you have?"
"Six," Ginny responded as she played with a leather bracelet on her wrist. It looked sort of familiar, and Harry felt like he'd probably seen her playing with that a lot if they were as good of friends as it seemed.
"Older, younger?"
"All older," she answered, making a face that drew a smile out of him.
"So you're the baby of the family?"
Ginny rolled her eyes but the corners of her lips shifted slightly. "Something like that. Actually, there is a real baby in the family now. Teddy… my godson. I'll try to have his grandmother bring him in a day or two. He likes you a lot."
Harry couldn't really picture himself with a baby, but he'd take Ginny's word for it. "His grandmother? So–"
The door swung open, interrupting his question.
"Harry!"
The source of the voice was a middle-aged woman with red hair and a very maternal aura. Right behind her was a taller, balding man, also with red hair, and a kind smile.
"Oh, Harry, these are my parents, Molly and Arthur Weasley."
"Hi Mister and Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, instantly liking them.
"Please, Harry. It was hard enough to get you to call us Molly and Arthur the first time," Ginny's mum said, still smiling at him as she sat down next to her daughter.
"Sorry, Molly," he apologised. She waved her hand like the apology was unnecessary. He couldn't have known, unfortunately, that he'd ever called them anything different.
"How are you feeling?" Arthur asked.
Harry shrugged, thinking that a very difficult question to answer. "Weird. Everything sort of hurts, but it doesn't at the same time. I think the Healer's potion is helping though. I'm just having a hard time with the memory stuff."
"Ron and Hermione told us about it. They said Amelia is optimistic about you regaining your memories though," Arthur said.
"That makes one of us," Harry replied, not really knowing how it would be possible for him to be optimistic about anything in his current state.
"You'll get through this, dear. You've made it through plenty of bad scrapes before."
Harry raised an eyebrow at Molly before glancing at Ginny, who had a resigned expression of recollection on her face. He filed that away in his mostly blank memory for later. "I hope so. I'm glad I've got people here with me who are trying to help me remember though."
"You couldn't have woken up with better people," Arthur said. "You, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione are inseparable most of the time. It's been difficult getting them to take breaks from being by your side these past few days."
Ginny's cheeks were slightly red as she stared at his bed, maybe at his legs, and twirled her bracelet around her wrist. He was curious about what she was looking at, so he moved his leg and shifted his dressing gown, grimacing when he saw a wide scar and a strange discolouration below it.
"From the fight," Ginny supplied quietly, staring at his scar. "Cutting Curse." He hoped it was the only scar he had.
"Lovely," he remarked. "Guess I should be grateful I still have both my legs at least. Even if I'm not allowed out of the bed."
"You do need to continue resting, dear. With everything your body has been through, rest is the only way it'll heal."
Harry smiled at Molly's motherly concern. It felt good to have someone like that looking out and caring for him. "I will, Molly. So… have I known the two of you as long as I've known Ginny, Ron, and Hermione?"
She smiled. "I was actually the first person in our family that you met. Helped you get on the train to Hogwarts on your first day. And you met most of my sons that day, as well. Then you came to our house the following summer and met Arthur and Ginny."
"Did I come to your house often to visit Ginny and Ron then?"
"I believe you stayed with us for every summer but two," Arthur responded.
"One. The summer before my second year was the only one he didn't stay with us," Ginny corrected. "You spent most of that summer staying above a pub in Diagon Alley."
"Diagon Alley?"
"It's like a wizarding shopping district in London," Molly explained.
"Oh, wow. I stayed above a pub by myself when I was that young? I mean, I guess since I– I don't have parents, I… did I live in an orphanage?" Harry asked, wondering why he felt concerned about the prospect.
They exchanged an uneasy look that did nothing to ease Harry's concern. Ginny pressed her lips together and wrinkled her nose slightly. "You lived with your aunt, uncle, and cousin. They're Muggles– non-magic people. But… you've never talked about them much, other than saying you hated being there."
"Oh," Harry replied simply. He wasn't sure if that was worse than thinking he didn't have any family at all.
"We always tried to have you come to our house as early as possible in the summer," Molly assured him, looking miffed or upset at the mention of Harry's family.
"Thank you. I– I really appreciate it," Harry replied earnestly, thankful that he'd at least had one place that he liked to be at for summers. "It must've been a lot of fun, being there for summers with two of my best friends."
Ginny smiled to herself, like she was remembering fond memories, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "It was," she confirmed.
"What are you thinking about?" Harry asked her before thinking yet again. Apparently a side effect of not having his memory was also not having much of a filter between his mind and his mouth.
Ginny looked startled at the directness of his question before meeting his gaze in a warm one of her own. "I was thinking about you giving me chocolate for my birthday a few summers ago. One of them exploded all over your face."
Harry snorted. "That must've been embarrassing. Maybe–" he started before stopping himself. He wasn't going to joke that it might've been a good thing that he didn't remember it. He would've given everything he owned– conveniently, he had no idea what he owned– to remember anything, even if it was humiliating.
She surveyed him before shaking her head. "It was cute. And very sweet," she added, smiling at him before glancing back down at her bracelet. His ears felt like they were on fire, and his tongue suddenly felt like it weighed a ton. Thankfully, Molly and Arthur took it upon themselves to tell Harry some stories about his summers spent at their house, which they called the Burrow for some reason he didn't understand.
They must've talked with him and Ginny, although she didn't say much, for more than an hour before saying they had to trade who was in the room with him. "Ginny's brothers are going to be very upset if we don't go down and let them see you," Arthur said with a smile.
"Who's gonna come up with Bill?" Ginny asked.
"Charlie and George, I suppose," her mum replied.
Harry came to the same conclusion as Ginny. "But–"
"It's only for a little while, Ginny. You need to eat, and it'll do your brothers good to see Harry awake."
"I'll be okay," Harry assured Ginny with a bit of a smile. She didn't seem too convinced, but she nodded, frowning a little at him, like he had taken the wrong side.
"Fine. I'll be back up with Ron and Hermione soon though."
"I'm counting on it," Harry replied, smiling a little more, and this time, Ginny's lips did curve into a small smile of her own.
"They'll be up in a minute, Harry," Arthur said, smiling once more at him before the three of them left the room, although Ginny still seemed very reluctant to do so.
Harry felt an odd sort of pressure in his chest and swooping in his stomach, seeing Ginny walking out of the room. She was his best friend. It made sense that he'd be nervous without her around. He liked her a lot. She was kind and funny, but he suspected she was usually much more funny when he wasn't in a hospital bed. It felt really good knowing that she cared a lot about him being okay. She was a really good… was friend the right word?
Based on how Ron, Hermione, and her parents had acted, he very much felt like part of the family. So he wondered if he usually viewed Hermione and Ginny as sisters instead of just friends. For some reason, that idea didn't feel as good to him as thinking that she was his best friend.
The door opened as someone knocked on the other side, and Harry watched as three men who were obviously Weasleys entered the room. The first one was a very burly man with long, curly red hair and burns running along his hands and arms. The second was also stocky, though not nearly as much as the first one. He had traces of lines around his eyes, like he'd spent a lot of his life laughing, even if he didn't seem to be in a laughing mood now. More notably, he was missing an ear. Harry felt his eyes widening and hoped that he wasn't being too rude. The final man to enter was taller than his brothers, with his red hair pulled back into a ponytail. The most notable feature of his, though, was brutal scarring across his face. Harry winced involuntarily at it.
"You don't look so good yourself," the burly one commented, seeing Harry's reaction, and making Harry wonder what he meant by that.
"It's not his fault he doesn't remember, Charlie," the tall brother said before turning to Harry and gesturing to his face. "Bad run in with a werewolf a few years ago. He's in Azkaban now though, so I got the better end of the deal."
Harry smiled wryly. He'd deduced from his conversations so far that Azkaban was a prison.
The brother that hadn't spoken yet pointed at where his ear should've been. "Took a nasty curse during the war. Still works mostly. I'm glad you're the only one wearing glasses though. Things would be a bit uneven for me otherwise."
Harry chuckled at that. "So you're Charlie," he said, pointing to the burly one, who nodded with a tight expression.
"George," the one with the missing ear added.
"And I'm Bill," the one with the ponytail said.
"Charlie, George, and Bill," Harry repeated. "Got it. So I guess… I've known you all for a while then?"
"Yep. We were at school together in your first year," George said. "Fr– I was two years ahead of you."
"You met Charlie and I for the first time the summer before your fourth year. He'd been in Romania studying dragons, and I'd been in Egypt working as a curse breaker," Bill said.
"Oh, so the burns then…"
Charlie shrugged. "Part of the job."
"You said I didn't look so good. Do I have scars on my face too? I can't really feel anything, but it's kinda… everything's actually pretty numb right now. That potion my Healer gave me helped a lot."
"Do you have scars on your face?" Charlie asked like he misheard the question. When Harry nodded, he glanced at his brothers.
"He was saying that because your face is… pretty bruised from the fight," Bill explained, and Charlie nodded belatedly.
Harry grimaced. "Guess it's a good thing I'm not gonna be in any newspapers or going on any dates anytime soon."
George very obviously stifled laughter with a cough. "To be honest, the bruising makes you look better." He was apparently joking, but Harry didn't know any better– he didn't even know what he looked like– so he was a little worried until George added, "Hey, I'm kidding. Besides, it looks better than it did a few days ago already."
Harry nodded, grateful for the reassurance, even if he still thought seeing himself in a mirror wouldn't be a bad idea. "Wait, there was a war?"
"Huh?"
"You said you lost your ear in the war."
"Oh. Um… yeah, there was a– you could call it a war," George fumbled over his words.
"Ginny said you knew how you got in here," Bill said, and Harry nodded. "There were a lot more than four of his followers at one point. In addition to wanting to kill you, they wanted to torture or kill anyone who had magic without magical parents– Muggle-borns. We were part of the group that fought them. Our whole family was."
He certainly hadn't realised that there'd been a full-scale magical war that he'd apparently played a significant role in. "But the war's over, right? I mean, aside from what just happened to me."
"Yeah," Charlie answered with a firm nod. "Ended almost a year ago."
"You had a lot to do with it," Bill added almost proudly.
Harry rubbed the back of his neck and awkwardly cleared his throat. "So… they told me that you guys are like my brothers?"
Charlie bristled at that. "I don't know if I'd go that far–" he started, but Bill gave him a look that was uncomfortably wolfish, and he rolled his eyes. "Fine. Yeah, I guess," he reluctantly gave in, but Harry almost laughed at it.
"Definitely," Bill corrected.
Harry shot a half smile at Charlie, who still seemed annoyed at his admission. "Ginny told me she had six brothers. So there's the three of you and Ron. Are the other two downstairs?"
Their sombre reactions told him he'd asked a question that he probably shouldn't have, even if there would've been no possible way for him to know.
Bill finally answered. "Percy's younger than Charlie and I. He's downstairs, but– well, he's probably the brother you're least closest to, so he was okay with us coming up. And… George's twin, Fred… he– he died in the final battle of the war."
Harry's heart dropped for these people he'd known for just a few minutes. They'd already had so much physical damage inflicted on them in the war. To have lost a brother… that must've been unspeakable pain for all of them.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly, wishing he hadn't asked. "I knew him too, then?"
"You were like a brother to him," George replied in a thick voice.
Harry just stared at his hands. He would've given anything to remember, even if getting the memories back would mean remembering his pain. Even then, it had to be better than not knowing.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
"You know, Ginny, he's going to figure it out with you acting like you were upstairs," her mum told her just before she returned to Harry's room. "Not that I think there's anything wrong with that."
Her mum had already made her views on Ginny keeping the secret of their relationship abundantly clear, and it had taken a significant amount of convincing to finally get her to agree to not say anything.
"What did I do?" Ginny asked as she pursed her lips.
"Saying that him giving you a birthday gift was cute and sweet. He was blushing very noticeably after that."
"You also held his hand," Hermione chimed in unhelpfully.
"First–" she pointed at Hermione " – you'd just told him his parents were dead. I was comforting him. And honestly, Mum? He's still Harry, which means he's still a little thick when it comes to girls liking him. I guarantee he's got no idea that I love him based on that."
Her mum put her hands up. "Fine. I'm only trying to tell you that I don't think it's as helpful as you think it is to keep it a secret. It could really help him."
Ginny was already very tired of this argument. "Or it could make things way worse. The last thing he needs to worry about is how his girlfriend is feeling about all this."
Thankfully, her brothers chose that moment to return to their private room. "Is he still doing good?" Ginny asked.
"I think so. Pretty obvious he hates being so confused about everything, but we all talked for a while and told him what it was like at the Burrow. At some point, you're going to need to explain more about the war to him though. He asked about my scars and George's ear, and it came up, but we were pretty vague," Bill replied.
Ginny sighed. "Yeah, I guess we will. Hopefully we can avoid that conversation for a bit though, and maybe we'll get lucky and his memories will come back before then."
"Was he ready for us to go back up?" Hermione asked.
Bill nodded. "Yeah, he is. Amelia's giving him some more potion right now, but she should be done by the time you get up there."
"He asked for Ginny," George added, grinning mischievously.
Ginny smiled in spite of herself. "He did?"
Bill smiled now too. "Yeah. He asked if we were going to get you to come back. And then he remembered to ask about Ron and Hermione."
Hermione bumped shoulders with her, sharing in the excitement they all felt. The old Harry definitely would've missed Ginny the most. Maybe this was a sign that he was trying to return.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
Harry had really liked everyone that he'd met so far. It was very obvious that he was incredibly lucky to have people like the Weasleys and Hermione who cared this much about him. They'd all been at the hospital for more than half a week, while he was in a coma, because they were worried for him. And now, they were all being so patient with his memory loss. It meant a lot.
Admittedly though, he was very happy when his best friends came back, even if there was still a disconnect– pieces missing that couldn't even be put into place because he didn't know the questions to ask. How was he supposed to ask about every piece of context in their lives so they could joke and talk with ease? On top of that, how was he supposed to remember it all when he learned about it? It would've been different if he could've remembered living the stories they told. Instead, it felt like he was stuck memorising his own memories, and it was much harder than it sounded.
Despite that disconnect, he felt very comfortable with them. They answered every question– and he had plenty– kindly and in great detail. He learned a lot about Hogwarts and the classes he and Ginny had been taking before he realised that he really needed to use the loo. The only problem was that he wasn't entirely sure if he could walk.
Ginny noticed him facing a conundrum and asked, "Is everything alright, Harry?"
He flushed and tried not to make eye contact with her, feeling embarrassed. "I just– I really need to use the loo. But I don't know if I can walk on my leg."
"Oh, Amelia told us you were going to need to practise," Hermione said.
"Here, I can help–"
Ginny started to stand up before Hermione said, in a pointed voice, "I think Ron should probably help him."
Harry was relieved. He felt a little uncomfortable about the idea of Ron helping him get to the loo, but it was almost mortifying to imagine Ginny helping instead.
"Yeah, I've got you, mate. Not the weirdest thing we've ever done together," Ron agreed with a grin, standing up and walking to Harry's bed.
Harry wasn't sure he even wanted to ask what was weirder. Instead though, he just started trying to shift out of the bed, ignoring the nervous looks he was being given by Ginny and Hermione. He needed Ron's help, but he eventually swung his legs out of the bed and sat up fully, hissing slightly at a pain in his stomach.
"I'm fine," he assured them through gritted teeth before Ron pulled him up onto his feet.
Harry leaned heavily on Ron, able to tell without even putting any weight on his leg that it would be incredibly difficult to walk on it. Ron walked with him to the loo in the corner of the room.
"Do– d'you want me to hold you up while you… you know?" Ron asked in a tight voice after he opened the door.
Harry shook his head. "I should be fine. Just… set me up, and then you can leave. I'll knock on the door when I'm finished."
Ron nodded, looking like he was trying not to appear too relieved. He and Harry walked into the room together until Harry was standing in front of the toilet. Ron slowly shifted Harry's weight off of him, and Harry winced as his leg took on more weight. It didn't really hurt, but it felt like if he moved too much on it, it would collapse.
"You better make it quick. Don't know that your leg's gonna hold up for long. Amelia's gonna kill us," Ron muttered before shutting the door.
It was a bit of a challenge, staying upright, but Harry managed it. Once he was done, he decided that he could move the three feet needed to make it to the sink. He took a breath before gingerly sliding his foot to the side. He inched slowly, only lurching uncontrollably twice before catching himself at the sink. As he was washing his hands, he happened to glance at the wall in front of him, and he almost jumped at what he saw.
There was a mirror above the sink. And he… well, he looked like shit. Horrific shit, in fact. So shitty that he wasn't entirely sure how his friends were able to be in the same room as him without having some sort of noticeable reaction.
His face was a patchwork of scruff, but that was the least of his problems. He was missing all the hair on the front half of his head. His face, particularly around his nose and forehead, and the top of his head was one giant revolting bruise of purple and black. It was a miracle that his eyes weren't swollen shut. Even more confusingly, he could make out a faint, jagged line of a scar on his forehead.
He thought that was bad enough until he caught sight of a similar pattern of bruising around the neckline of his dressing gown. He slowly pulled it open, and his jaw dropped at the reflection in the mirror.
His shoulder and chest bore similar, but smaller, bruises to the one on his face. More disturbingly, there were large, horizontal gashes across his stomach and chest that seemed to be trying to scar, but they were so wide that it was still taking time. Inexplicably, Harry also noticed an oval burn of some sort on his chest, right next to another jagged line of a scar that looked like the one on his forehead.
In a word, he was damaged.
A knock at the door made him jump almost as badly as he did when he saw his reflection. "You alright in there?"
"Er– yeah, you can open the door," Harry answered.
The door swung open, and Ron stepped in, starting to put an arm around his shoulders before noticing the mirror. Then his eyes widened. "Oh… you saw?"
Harry nodded grimly. "Yup."
Ron exhaled loudly. "Alright. Let's get you back to bed."
The trip back to the bed was easier now that Harry had a bit of practice walking. He was very happy to be back in bed though, and it felt like he'd broken a sweat from the minimal exertion of the past few minutes.
"He saw his reflection in the mirror," Ron informed Ginny and Hermione, who both put on almost identical expressions of concern.
"Yeah… so– I look terrible," Harry said, trying to crack a smile, which took far more effort than he would've expected.
Ron nodded, but Hermione tried to reassure him. "You've definitely looked better, Harry. But you've healed a lot already. Ron and I– we were the ones who brought you here. Compared to what you looked like then, you practically look normal."
"You were there?" Harry asked. He'd thought he was alone.
"You asked Ron and I to meet you in Diagon Alley, but then you were ambushed. We found you after."
"I thought Diagon Alley was supposed to be a really busy place. How was I by myself then?"
Hermione chewed on her lip for a second. "We think they probably cleared people out, but you also went late in the day to… not get recognised."
"Not get recognised? What– was I doing something illegal?"
Ron snorted. "No. But you're probably the most famous person in our world, so you tend to attract a crowd."
Harry blinked. "I'm the most famous person in your world?"
"Pretty much."
"Why?" Harry asked, dumbfounded.
"There's… a lot of reasons for it," Hermione said slowly. "You defeating Riddle last year is one of the most significant."
"Riddle– that's the evil wizard?"
"Yes. His name was Tom Riddle. He also went by Voldemort, but we try to avoid calling him that now," Hermione explained.
"Voldemort… that's a stupid name," Harry commented. Ron and Hermione laughed, which made him smile. It felt good hearing them laugh.
"You know, that's definitely something you would've said before you lost your memories," Ginny said, smiling affectionately at him, even if she was paler than usual.
"Good to know there's still some of the old me in here." Harry tapped his head.
"I think there's a lot more there than you realise," Hermione replied, glancing over at Ginny as she did.
Tapping his head made him remember. "There's more scars than just the ones from the attack. At least– they look like scars. I've got this kinda jagged one on my forehead and another like it on my chest. And then there's a weird shaped burn on my chest too."
Ron and Hermione exchanged a nervous look while Ginny bit her lip and looked down at the ground before looking back up at him. He thought she might cry or scream at him, with how fiery her eyes were.
Instead, she answered, in a mostly calm voice, "The scar on your forehead– it's why you were famous before you defeated Riddle. The night he killed your parents, he tried to kill you too. Only, his Killing Curse rebounded, removing him from his physical form. And you became the first person ever to survive the Killing Curse, with no damage other than a lightning shaped scar."
Harry was silent for close to a minute, trying to wrap his mind around that revelation. There were questions– far too many questions. He settled on the most obvious, to him at least. "There's another one on my chest."
Ginny's expression was very sad. "You survived another one, last year."
Was he invincible? "How? And– and how did Riddle– if he lost a physical form, how did he come back to fight again?"
"That's a really long story," Ron replied.
Harry shrugged. "I've still got all the time in the world apparently. I guess it's probably getting pretty late, so if you're leaving soon, we can talk tomorrow I guess."
"I'm staying," Ginny said immediately with considerable force. Harry suppressed a smile at the strength of her conviction.
"We are too," Hermione added quickly, and Ron nodded. "We'll just go tell everyone goodbye before they leave and then we'll try to answer your questions."
Harry nodded. "Okay. And– could you tell them I said thanks for being here?"
Hermione smiled and stood. "Absolutely. Come on, Ginny," she instructed, tapping Ginny, who hadn't risen, on her back. Ginny sighed and stood up next to her.
"We'll be back in five minutes," she promised.
Harry mimed looking at a watch. "Alright, I'm counting."
Ginny's breath hitched, but she smiled at his joke anyways before leaving the room behind Ron and Hermione.
True to their word, they were back shortly afterwards, although Harry couldn't have said whether it had actually been five minutes or not. He was positive that they'd planned what to tell him, and he wasn't sure if he should've been annoyed or appreciative.
"They'll be back tomorrow morning," Ron told him, and Harry shook his head.
"They don't have to–"
"Doesn't matter," Ron interrupted. "They'll be here."
His chest warmed at that, and he glanced over to see that Ginny and Hermione were smiling at him.
But then Hermione cleared her throat. "So… we can tell you about everything. With your scars, with Riddle. But– if it gets to be too much, let us know and we'll stop."
Harry nodded, even though he was positive there wasn't anything they could say that would stop him from wanting to hear the story.
"It all started when Riddle heard about this prophecy…"
Harry listened intently as Hermione relayed the full explanation of how and why he had the scar on his forehead. It wasn't exactly a comforting thought, knowing that his mother had a chance to live, but it did make him feel grateful, at least, that he'd had a chance to live because of her.
Hermione explained about Horcruxes and how terrible they were. Both Ron and Ginny wore dark expressions as she explained that Riddle was kept alive because he'd split his soul.
"In our second year, Riddle tried to use one of his Horcruxes to bring himself back to life."
"He tried the year before that though," Ron pointed out. Seeing Harry's raised eyebrows, Ron added, "Riddle attached himself to the back of a professor's head. Tried to get the Philosopher's Stone to come back to life. We stopped him though."
Harry found it difficult to process even half the information Ron had just given him and considered what he should ask first. "Er– how did nobody see him? If he was attached to a professor's head?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, probably at Ron's explanation and not Harry's question. "The professor wore a turban. The Philosopher's Stone was hidden in the school, and it could be used to make someone immortal. Ron and I helped you stop him, but you did it on your own in the end."
"I'd say we did more than help. I was bloody knocked unconscious!"
Harry winced and couldn't help wondering how they'd still wanted to be friends with him if he'd been responsible for them dealing with pain like that.
"And you're heading that way again if you don't quit interrupting," Hermione joked, making Ron snort and wrap an arm around her that she subtly leaned into, before continuing. "Anyways, in our second year, a Horcrux of his was used to possess… somebody at Hogwarts, to make them open this place called the Chamber of Secrets. Throughout the year, people– Muggle-borns– kept getting petrified, and nobody knew what monster was doing it. I was petrified near the end of the year."
Ron took up the story, apparently confident Hermione wouldn't stun him. "They were gonna shut the school down after… Ginny got taken into the Chamber by the monster."
Harry's eyes widened as he looked over at Ginny, who was grimacing and pulling at her bracelet. Seeing him looking, she raised her eyebrows slightly. "Yep," she confirmed grimly.
"You and I figured out where the entrance was and went down there to get her," Ron went on. "We brought a professor with us, but he tried to– you know, that's a whole other story. Basically, we got separated, and you had to go on by yourself. You got there, and–"
Ginny cut him off by putting a hand on his arm. She seemed to steel herself before speaking. "Riddle's Horcrux was a diary that held the memory of his sixteen year old self in it. That diary was given to me by one of his followers before the school year started. I wrote in it, and the diary wrote back. The whole year, he– he was possessing me to attack people at Hogwarts. And then he took me into the Chamber to use my life to revive him."
Harry's mouth was open. He was stunned at the story and how she was able to tell it. It sounded horrific, but she was showing incredible strength by being able to speak openly about it, even if it was difficult.
"When you got to the Chamber, I was already unconscious. You talked with a reforming Riddle, but none of us knew at the time that he was Voldemort. He wouldn't help you wake me up. Instead, he called the monster of the Chamber– a basilisk. It was a giant snake with eyes that killed someone if they looked directly at them. All year, everyone who was petrified saw the basilisk through a reflection of some kind, so it only partially worked its power on them.
"The basilisk attacked you, but you were saved by the phoenix of Professor Dumbledore– he used to be the Headmaster of Hogwarts. The phoenix clawed out the basilisk's eyes, but it could still smell you. The phoenix had brought something else with it– a sword that only presented itself to the bravest wizards. You managed to kill the basilisk by stabbing it through its brain, but your arm was pierced by one of its fangs. You would've died, but the phoenix saved you by crying. Its tears healed you. Then you stabbed the diary, destroying the Horcrux and that version of Riddle. And I woke up and saw you covered in blood, holding a huge sword and standing in front of a dead basilisk."
The silence in the room was palpable. Ginny was almost breathing heavily as she stared intently into his eyes. He felt like the victim of a basilisk– petrified as he got lost in the blaze of her… pride? Appreciation? Anger? Maybe it was some strange mixture of all of them.
Ron cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing over at his sister. "Then the phoenix carried all of us out of the Chamber and back up to the school. The end," he deadpanned.
"Sounds like I was pretty lucky," Harry said gratefully.
"It wasn't luck," Ginny snapped fiercely.
Harry recoiled slightly. Hermione interjected, "You always say everything you did was lucky, or someone else did more than you. There's something else that hasn't changed."
He frowned, not seeing why that was such a bad thing. "Sorry. I just– I meant that I'm really glad that everything turned out okay."
Ron snorted. "Ditto."
Ginny just nodded, still looking angry about something.
"So… I fought him my first two years at school. Did I ever get a break, or was every year like that?"
"Pretty much the end of every school year. Say what you will about him, but Riddle understood the importance of an education– didn't wanna interrupt during classes," Ron quipped, making Hermione laugh and drawing a small smile out of Ginny.
Hermione took over the talking from there, apparently not trusting either Ron or Ginny with that responsibility after the bluntness of the Chamber story, even though he'd appreciated the honesty. He could tell Hermione was being more delicate with the story and was probably glossing over a lot of the darker details. While she was talking though, Harry found himself continuing to steal glances at Ginny, and it wasn't just because she was attractive, not that he'd never admit that aloud. She was stoic, an almost blank slate, but he thought he could see beyond that. He thought that she seemed to be struggling with everything more than Ron and Hermione. He wished he could just remember for her sake, so things would be easier on her.
Hermione had just finished telling him about Professor Dumbledore dying and there being a battle at Hogwarts– the one Bill was injured in. "We had about a month off before things got really bad."
"They weren't really bad before?" Harry asked incredulously.
"No, they were. But they got much worse," she replied sadly.
"Bloody hell. My life sounds like it was shit," he said glumly, shaking his head. "Maybe it's a good thing I don't have my memories."
It had slipped out before he'd even thought to catch himself again. He'd been mostly joking, trying to make light of the depressing situation, but Ginny was out of her chair and storming out of the room before he even had time to clarify.
Hermione looked helplessly between him and the door. "I– I'll go talk to her," she said weakly before following Ginny.
Harry turned to Ron with a confused look on his face. "It was just a joke," he finally explained.
Ron nodded. "Yeah, I think we all know. It's just– it's really hard. For all of us. But especially Ginny."
"She told me that she and I were the closest out of all of us."
Ron pressed his lips together like he was considering what to say. "Yeah. That's true. The past couple years, especially."
"Why?"
Ron's face became slightly paler as he exhaled slowly. "That– that's a question for her, I think. Just– you mean a lot to all of us, mate. Even if you don't remember it. And we meant a lot to you too."
"You all still do."
Ron raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly. "Oh, yeah?"
"Well, you are the only people I can actually remember knowing, so…"
Ron rolled his eyes and laughed. "Whatever."
Harry grinned before glancing back out the door, wondering why he and Ginny had gotten so close over the past few years and hoping that none of this had ruined that relationship. Based on how she was acting, he wasn't very confident about that.
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A/N: Yep. It's real. It's happening. I'm really sorry to anyone who thought I might've been messing with you all with that last cliffhanger, but, unfortunately, I'm not quite that mean. Granted, you all would probably argue that I'm actually incredibly mean for this, and… yeah, I have no argument there. All I can say in my defence is that there is absolutely a reason for everything that's happening (beyond torturing you all) and thank you for trusting me enough to keep coming back to see what those reasons are!
The big thing I feel like I should touch on in this note is the obvious: Ginny's decision to not tell Harry about their relationship. I've only read a couple fics where memory loss is involved and genuinely don't remember any real details, so I have no idea if it's a really common thing to keep the relationship a secret, but I'm going to pretend like it isn't regardless. I don't have any experience with amnesia that I can remember, and there's not really a widely accepted 'solution' for amnesia because it's so rare, so I basically did what I thought made sense. To me, it makes sense to tell the person about their life without overwhelming them emotionally. Ginny and Ron don't do the best with this when they're talking to Harry about some of the stuff from his life, but they are trying. But with that as the foundation for how they would try and help Harry remember his life, it was a logical next step, to me at least, that avoiding emotional turmoil beyond the stories would also be important. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it would be for Harry if Ginny tried acting like they were still a couple when he always puts a ton of pressure on himself even when he does have his memories. So from Ginny's perspective, she doesn't want to risk it, especially when Amelia warned them that it could make things worse for Harry, so she'll carry the burden of their missing relationship without putting any of it on him. And I think there's also the somewhat obvious fact that she's scared of telling him and it not changing anything because it would mean that things were really gone, and she can't accept that yet.
I don't have any more notes from this chapter, but I did promise that I'd share more of my favourite hints about Owen being the 'spy'. One that I liked a lot because of how subtle it was is that, a couple chapters before they became relevant to the story, it was mentioned offhandedly that they were working on Veritaserum and Polyjuice in Potions class, and we know Harry and Ginny are in that class with Owen specifically. In C.20, it was mentioned that they were learning a delayed release version of the Draught of Living Death and then, Owen offers Harry a drink right before he leaves Astoria's, which Harry thankfully declines because otherwise he definitely would've been unconscious and missed the whole fight.
In Chapter 12, after the Veritaserum incident but before the Polyjuice, Harry and Ginny are talking to Ron and Hermione about what had happened. In one sentence, Ron suggests that Romilda could do something bad to them before saying that there's no way a Hufflepuff would've spiked Harry's drink. Since he's got a reputation for accidentally predicting things correctly, I thought it'd be funny to have him do it once again.
There's also the scene in Chapter 19, where Harry is teaching the Defence leads about the Unforgivables. When he gets to the Imperius Curse, Owen asks several questions about it, like how Harry fought it when it was cast on him and what the caster might be thinking. Then, he looks sick when Harry mentions Rookwood being one of the most talented users of the curse. All that was to put Rookwood, Owen, and the Imperius Curse all together as another hint while also showing that Owen was very aware of the fact that he was under the curse and terrified about not being able to do anything about it.
The last hint I'll mention right now is more of a pointing out all the weird things that happened and who was present for them. The Daily Prophet wrote three articles about Hogwarts so far that all had a 'source'. The first was about Harry and Grimhall's fight, and it implies that their source witnessed the fight, so it had to be a seventh year. The second was about the Slytherin bullies and Emily. Ginny and Astoria are the only two people we know of who were there, but it's a very safe assumption that Astoria would've told Owen, especially considering they were close friends and started dating shortly after. And the article about Harry teaching the Unforgivables had to have come from someone like a Defence lead, so Owen was definitely effective at leaking things to the press, even if it didn't really work like Rookwood wanted it to.
So… yeah! I know you all love me so much right now, so thank you for sticking with me! Things will get better eventually… just not yet!
Coming Tuesday (yes, Tuesday): Puzzling Problems- He barely knew what it was like to feel like Harry.
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Flutterbye123: I'm glad it was a surprise then! It was hard for me to try and balance hints that I felt were too obvious with ones that were impossible to pick up on, but I think I ended up doing okay with it… even if it's still really sad and shocking! But yes, Grimhall absolutely makes a lot of sense, and I was really hoping it would when I knew how frustrating he was to read about earlier in the book!
Finnspa23: Haha I kind of figured that Astoria was the only other person we'd met so far who really could've had much suspicion on her, which kinda makes sense considering her and Owen have basically played similar roles in the story to this point. And if I'm being completely honest, I wrote Cho acting excessively flirty before I'd decided on her being Imperiused and then decided way later that it felt a little too out of character for her, and then the idea of her being under the Imperius Curse helped me feel better about it and made more sense I think… plus it led to that dramatic moment last chapter!
Percabethforever: Me alegro mucho de que hayas captado una de las pistas que aún no he mencionado, porque Owen fue una de las únicas personas que sabíamos que vio cómo el boggart de Ginny se convertía en el diario de Riddle. Además, llegó tarde a desayunar al Gran Comedor cuando Harry y Ginny se encontraron con él el día en que el diario estaba en la taquilla de Ginny, así que había aún más sospechas sobre él por ese motivo. Pero sí, me encanta la personalidad de Owen, pero una de las razones por las que me encantó crear su personaje fue la tensión entre lo que es y lo que la maldición le obligaba a hacer, ¡así que me alegro de que tenga sentido!
(I'm really glad you caught on to one of the hints I haven't mentioned yet because Owen was one of the only people we knew saw Ginny's boggart turn into Riddle's diary. And for that matter, he was late to breakfast in the Great Hall when Harry and Ginny ran into him the day the diary was in Ginny's locker, so there was even more suspicion cast on him because of that. But yes, I do love Owen's personality, but a big reason I loved creating his character was having the tension between who he is and what the curse was making him do, so I'm glad that makes sense!)
Maddog99: Thank you so much! I'm really hoping you figured out Owen being the spy before reading the next chapters because those are some of the huge hints that I was hoping would sort of point people in that direction. Especially impressive recall on him asking Harry about the curse, which I mention in this A/N!
PearlxAdvance: I laughed out loud when I got the email with your comment in it a couple days ago, so thank you for that! I'm glad you're enjoying this story even though things haven't improved a whole lot yet for them.
Etschi89: Hi Etschi! I like the question about cracks in the floor, but you're spot non about them being mostly about exertion of power. It's inspired by the duel between Molly and Bellatrix in DH, where Harry notes that the floor at their feet was becoming hot and cracked as they fought to kill, so it's just meant to show that a lot of power is being used and it's more coincidence than anything that Ginny saw them both times and nobody else said anything.
Like you said, it was sort of hard to write an actual battle between Alecto and Ginny for a variety of reasons. To me though, I think the biggest reason that I didn't do that was that I wasn't very interested in proving something about Ginny's magical ability compared to Alecto's. She wasn't at Alecto's mercy at Hogwarts because Alecto was stronger than her, and I'm confident that Ginny would've been able to defeat her in a duel. I found it much more interesting to compare Ginny's morals to Alecto's and to give her the chance to torture Alecto if she wanted. That inserted more drama into the story that I was interested than any duel could've. And on Sectumsempra, the main thought with that is that Harry didn't hit her directly like he did Malfoy in HBP, which is why he took off her hand and he didn't remove any of Malfoy's limbs. The damage was removed enough from all her vital organs that I think she and Cho could've worked some sort of solution to the problem, even if she definitely would've been weaker.
I don't really have any strong feelings either way about Cho's character. I think she's a relatively normal person that people villainise in fanfic a lot, so I didn't figure that her behaviour earlier would alarm anyone too much. I just try to avoid bashing characters, especially canon characters, so I knew there had to be a resolution to that other than Cho just becoming incredibly jealous of Ginny.
Waking Harry from his coma was absolutely meant to feel anticlimactic, mostly because I knew the trouble was far from over. You have an interesting theory for how the Killing Curse works that does make sense. I've had the electricity theory for a very long time because of the way it allows all three Unforgivables to be tied together while also explaining the lightning scar, but it's far from perfect. But yes, magic is definitely the reason Harry's body is still charged days after his attack. I know enough science to know it couldn't work without magic haha!
Feel free to leave comments of any length you want! I really enjoy reading them and thinking more about what I've written from another perspective!