I Will Remember You

At the Ministry of Magic

Harry stumbled as he and the merchant tumbled out of the fireplace of the Aurors' headquarters in the Ministry of Magic'. Harry pulled the man out of the fireplace roughly. Harry dragged the man along as they crossed the building to Fudge's office.

Cornelius Fudge was, once again, the Minister of Magic. Rufus Scrimgeour had died that May, killed by Bellatrix Lestrange. During the Last Battle, Fudge took himself to the only place where he thought he would be safe: he took refuge in his office in the Ministry of Magic. It was five months before he came out of his shelter. By then, only dozen or so people still worked there, and the Ministry wasn't very important anymore.

Harry was furious, and it made him walk through the halls faster. He turned down a small corridor, and a door opened on his left. A short, young wizard with mousy brown hair appeared behind it. He looked at Harry with great surprise.

"Harry?" he said in a high voice. "Harry, what are you doing here -who is he?" he asked, noticing at last the tied-up man standing in front of Harry.

"I need to see Fudge, Dennis. Is he in his office?"

Dennis Creevey nodded, running behind Harry and the merchant as Harry brushed past him into the room.

"Who is he?" he asked again.

"Someone that an Auror like you should have brought in ages ago," Harry answered sharply.

Dennis was hurt. "I'm here alone, I have to do everything by myself. You know how many Aurors there are left in England? Two. You and I. And you're always away and I-"

"Three."

"Three what?" asked Dennis, puzzled.

"There are three Aurors in England," said Harry calmly, without stopping or slowing down.

"Yeah?" Dennis said skeptically. "And who's the third? Fudge?"

Harry ignored his sarcasm. "No. Hermione."

Dennis sighed heavily. "I knew this was coming sooner or later. You know, Harry, sometimes I think that Colin is still alive too. But you have to face the truth: Hermione's dead. She fought bravely against You-Know-Who. You cannot-"

"She is not dead. This man," he said, stopping and giving Dennis a better look at the merchant's face. "This man is a slave trader. And Hermione was his slave. She is isn't herself, but she's not dead."

"And where is she?" Dennis asked, suddenly excited.

"At the Leaky Cauldron. You can Apparate there if you don't believe me," said Harry, starting to walk again, pulling the merchant along.

"I believe you," said Dennis quickly, following them. "But how did she escape from whatever it was that destroyed everything?"

Harry looked down at him. He really didn't know. "I don't know. Maybe Fudge with all his wise will be able to help me," he said sarcastically.

"No, Harry," said Dennis agitatedly, as if just remembering. "Fudge doesn't want to see anybody."

"I don't care," said Harry. "He never wants to see anybody, ever since the Last Battle. Is he in his office?"

Dennis nodded. They walked in silence after that, until they came to Fudge's office.

"I don't think I'll come in," said Dennis when they stood in front of the closed door that read 'Minister of Magic' in golden letters. Harry nodded, sighing, then opened the door without knocking on it.

Fudge jerked upright behind his desk when Harry burst in. His office was dusty, empty of all the papers that filled it when he controlled the magical community of England.

"H-Harry," he stammered when Harry walked in his office. "What are you doing here?"

"I've something for you," Harry replied, throwing the merchant to the floor next to him.

"Who is he?" asked Fudge, shivering in the face of Harry's obvious anger.

"A slave trader," answered Harry, sitting down in a chair in front of Fudge's desk.

"Well, Harry, there are no laws against slavery," said Fudge nervously.

The merchant nodded hopeful agreement.

Harry still thought it was horrifying that slavery was legal, but he was expecting Fudge to say that. He was ready to take another tack. "He is a rapist," he said.

"Ah, that's horrible," said Fudge without really believing it. "But you should have brought him to the Muggle - how do they call it? Polish?"

"Police," Harry corrected him. Fudge nodded, smiling foolishly. Harry would have loved to punch him in the nose, hard. Sending a demonstrably criminal wizard into a Police Station full of Muggles? Fudge was really going crazy.

"He used an Unforgivable Curse on a woman," he said, still keeping his voice calm.

"Oh, but you should have told me earlier," Fudge said immediately. He took out his wand, pointed it at his throat, and muttered 'Sonorus'.

"Dennis Creevey," he called with his magically amplified voice, "come into my office right now."

Dennis ran into Fudge's office, breathing quickly.

Fudge said 'Quietus', still pointing the wand at his throat. His voice was back to normal when he spoke to Dennis. "Dennis, take this rubbish to the tenth floor and tie him tight, do you understand?"

Dennis nodded and levitated the merchant out of the room.

"The tenth floor?" asked Harry when they were left alone. "But you'll take him to Azkaban later, right?"

Fudge sighed heavily. "Harry, how long have you been staying at the Leaky Cauldron? How long has it been since you heard any news?"

Harry shrugged. Strange questions from someone that hadn't placed a foot out of his office for five months, he thought. At least he went into Diagon Alley once in a while.

"Azkaban was swept off the face of the Earth after the Battle."

Harry's eyes opened wide. Azkaban destroyed? "How?" he asked. 'Stupid question,' he thought a second later.

"It was destroyed by the wave of power that came from your wands as you and You-Know-Who fought. But don't worry, we have built solid cells in the tenth floor," said Fudge, smiling reassuringly.

Harry realized that Fudge couldn't possibly understand. It wasn't that he liked Azkaban, and he was happy that the Dementors were gone forever, but he really wanted to see the merchant shut away there.

"Where did you find him?" asked Fudge, snapping Harry out of his thoughts.

"At the Leaky Cauldron," Harry replied. "He sold me the woman he used the Unforgivable Curse on."

"Really? D-did he kill her?" stammered Fudge.

Harry shook his head. "He used the Imperius Curse."

Fudge sighed in relief. "Maybe she should go to St. Mungo's. She must be in shock."

"She's fine. What she needs is rest and someone to take care of her. He also did a Memory Charm on her."

"If he did a Memory Charm on her, maybe she doesn't remember who she is-"

"Maybe? Of course she doesn't remember her identity," Harry said bitterly.

"Yes, yes of course. But I was going to tell you that if you bring her here, maybe we can find her in our records and see if she-"

"I know who she is," Harry interrupted.

"Really?" asked Fudge.

Harry nodded. "It's my friend Hermione."

"Hermione? Hermione Granger?" asked Fudge, stunned. "The Auror?"

Harry nodded again.

"But how did she - ? I mean, how could she have survived - ?"

"I don't know, but I want to find out. What if she wasn't the only one that survived? We don't even know who might be still alive," said Harry seriously. "I thought that you might be able to help me."

"Really? Why me?" asked Fudge nervously.

"Because you are a bigwig here," said Harry, smiling.

"Oh Harry, don't try to fool an old man like me. I know that you're still angry with me for not going to help in the Battle-"

"-and for having closed the doors of the Ministry of Magic in the faces of all the wizards and witches that came seeking refuge."

Fudge sighed. "I've told you so many times that I'm sorry. How could I have known that the wave of power would destroy everything?"

Harry just nodded coolly. He couldn't forgive Fudge, not yet.

"What does she think?"

"What should she think? She doesn't remember a thing before five months ago."

Fudge nodded nervously, fidgeting. Several minutes passed in silence. After what seemed ages Harry sighed heavily and stood up.

"Good bye, Fudge," he said, turning to open the door.

"Harry," Fudge called after him, "why don't you come back and work here? You and Hermione? I'm sure she wants to come back to work. She loved working here," he finished eagerly.

"She doesn't even know who she is, how could she knows what she wants to do - and how can you know that?" said Harry bitterly.

"But you do want to come back to work," said Fudge matter-of-factly.

"How do you know? Anyway, I need some more time to myself, and I don't think that you really need me." He turned back to the door and was ready to leave when he had an idea.

"I'll come back to work," he said, facing Fudge again, "if you tell me how to treat a Memory Charm."

Fudge's expression darkened. "Harry, you are an Auror. You know better than I do that there is no treatment for Memory Charms."

"But there must be something that I can do for her," protested Harry.

"Only time, or maybe a while spent in St. Mungo's can help her."

Harry sighed. That was exactly the answer he had expected, but he didn't want to give up his hopes.

"Or maybe you can torture her mind until you'll drive her crazy," said Fudge gloomily.

Harry found Fudge more annoying than ever.

"Thank you very much for your inestimable help," he said sarcastically. Without another word, he exited Fudge's office and headed back to the Auror's Headquarters.

He knocked on the door that read 'Dennis Creevey' in glittering letters. Without waiting for an answer, he walked in. Dennis was reading a book, his feet propped up on the desk. When he saw Harry he jumped to his feet.

"I'm leaving," Harry said.

"Leaving? For where?" asked Dennis.

"The Leaky Cauldron," said Harry.

Dennis sighed. "There's no hope that you're going to come back to work, is there?"

Harry shook his head. "No. I told Fudge that I need some more time to myself. I also told him that I would come back to work if he told me how to treat Memory Charms. But he wasn't able to do that, so I'm leaving." Harry laughed. "Anyway, I wasn't very fair to him. There is no cure for Memory Charms."

Dennis looked at him. "Well, there must be a treatment."

Harry glanced up sharply. "What? Are you kidding me?" he asked.

"Well, I don't know how it works, but do you remember that Hufflepuff girl? What was her name? - Laura Madley, I think?" asked Dennis.

Harry nodded. He remembered her pretty well. She had been an Auror, but she died in the Last Battle.

"Well, she was cured of a Memory Charm just last year," said Dennis matter-of-factly.

"How?" asked Harry.

"I can't remember how they did it, but when she came back to work, she was normal. She remembered everything and her mind was completely unhurt."

"Dennis, you have to try and remember how that cure works," said Harry seriously.

"And if I tell you, you'll come back to work?" asked Dennis hopefully.

Harry glared at him. "Do you think that this is the time for things like that?"

Dennis sighed. "You're right. Wait here a moment I'll go and search for her file. Dennis Disapparated, and Harry took a look at the book he was reading. It was Gilderoy Lockhart's 'Magical Me'. He must have had loads of spare time.

When Dennis Apparated back into the room next to Harry, he was holding a yellow folder in his hand.

"Let me see," he said, opening the folder. "Here it says 'Laura Madley, Auror, long brown hair,' etc., 'She received a Medal of Bravery,' etc. etc., oh, here we are." Dennis read out loud, "'Auror Madly has been under a Memory Charm for the three months. She is the only documented case of a person being cured of this spell. St. Mungo's have no explanation for the cure. Her father, an eccentric wizard formerly of the Obliviators, thought that traveling to all of the places she used to frequent would help her. It is not known for certain if that was the cause of her recovery, but when she returned from her trip, she remembered everything. Checks by Healers in St. Mungo's found her mind to be back to normality and her brain undamaged.'"

Dennis raised his eyes from the file and met Harry's gaze. Harry was smiling dreamily.

"Harry?" asked Dennis uncertainly. "I don't know if this story is reliable. I mean if it was so easy, why hasn't anyone except Laura Madley ever recovered from a Memory Charm? I mean, the Healers aren't stupid and-"

"Dennis." Harry cut him off. "I won't send her to St. Mungo's. The Healers aren't stupid, but I don't think that Hermione needs their cures. I think that I'm going to take her with me on a journey."

"A journey?" asked Dennis. "Where are you going?"

Harry shrugged. "Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, the ground where we fought the Last Battle, the Burrow."

"Three places out of the four you've mentioned don't exist anymore," Dennis pointed out.

"I don't care," said Harry.

"Why don't you bring her here?"

Harry thought about that option for a second. "As a last resort," he said finally. "I don't want Fudge to tell her to come back to work. She doesn't need that."

Dennis nodded. "Have a nice trip, then."

"Thank you," said Harry "And, Dennis?"

"Yeah?"

"You shouldn't read that rubbish," Harry said, nodding towards the copy of 'Magical Me' and smiling.

Dennis blushed, but Harry didn't see it, because he had already Disapparated.