I Will Remember You

Second Stage: Hogsmeade

"Harry, are you sure that this thing is absolutely safe?" asked Hermione for the tenth time. She was holding onto everything she could get a grip on.

"Hermione, you don't have to worry," said Harry as he looked out of the window.

They were almost over Ottery St. Catchpole. Harry smiled happily, and then he suddenly remembered something. He looked quickly at the dashboard and pushed a button. The car wavered a little and then coughed.

"What did you do?" asked Hermione in a high pitched voice, gripping the bottom of the seat even tighter.

"I'd just forgotten to push the button for the invisibility device," said Harry, laughing a bit hysterically.

"And it was so bad?" asked Hermione, worriedly.

"Oh, well, let's just say that all the Muggles down there would have seen a flying car over their heads," said Harry, looking down at the small village under them.

Harry pulled his back pack towards him and took out his wand. "You did say that you were hungry, didn't you?" he said, driving with only his right hand.

"It doesn't matter," said Hermione. "But please, please keep both your hands on that thing," she shrieked as the car began to drop.

"Hermione, calm down," said Harry, amused. He waved his wand in the air and a sandwich appeared out of nowhere in Hermione's lap.

"Thank you," she said, slowly letting go of the handhold, and picking up the sandwich.

"You're welcome," he said, smiling and waving the wand once more so that another sandwich appeared in his hand.

Hermione ate the sandwich so silently that Harry had to keep glancing at her to make sure she was still there.

"Come on Hermione," he said when he had finished his meal. "Don't you like the way we're travelling?"

"I would have preferred to go there on foot," she said nervously.

" It would have taken us much too long," said Harry calmly. "We'll be there this evening at least with the flying Anglia."

Harry couldn't help laughing when the car jumped and Hermione shrieked, screwing up her eyes so she wouldn't see anything.

"You know, Hermione, the view from here is wonderful; you should open your eyes and look down," said Harry jokingly.

"I don't think so," said Hermione determinedly without opening her eyes.

"You won't know if you don't try," said Harry, grinning. He had been permeated with a strange euphoria since they got into the car. That was weird, since their first attempt to recover Hermione's memory had been a complete fiasco. Harry should have felt at least a little bit dejected. On the contrary; he felt like the happiest man on Earth and couldn't wait to get to Hogsmeade.

"Harry?" called Hermione.

"Yes?"

"I was just thinking; how do you know that we're going in the right direction?" asked Hermione, her eyes still closed.

"We have to go north, Hermione," said Harry peacefully. "And I know which way north is."

"Okay, okay, if you're sure, then I won't say anything else," said Hermione.

Harry laughed again.

"Why are you so happy?" she asked, finally looking over at him.

"Didn't you say that you weren't going to say anything else?" asked Harry, chuckling.

"Oh, well, never mind then," said Hermione, waving a hand.

"Hermione, I know that you're nervous because we're flying, but I was just joking," said Harry calmly.

"I'm not nervous," whispered Hermione, looking at her hands. "But I don't know why somebody should be all that happy to be in a thing like this."

"I'm cheerful because I love to fly. It doesn't matter which way I do it, I always love it as long as I don't have my feet on the ground!" said Harry, smiling softly as he remembered the rush of wind in his hair and his Firebolt under him.

"Did I like to fly?" asked Hermione slowly.

Harry was torn; if he told her the truth, she'd say that he was evil to make her fly, but did he want to lie to Hermione about her past? He decided he did.

"Of course you liked flying," said Harry, trying to sound convincing and looking straight in front of him.

Hermione opened an eye. "Really?"

"Hermione, I would never lie to you," said Harry, placing a hand over his heart.

Hermione decided that Harry was right. She opened her other eye and slowly let go of the handhold. Then she inched towards the window and looked down.

"Wow," she said breathlessly, her eyes widening.

"Do you like the view?" Harry asked softly, smiling.

"I do," she said, not looking away from the landscape below her.

Harry wondered why he didn't tell her that she loved to fly earlier. It would have made things so much easier.

"Look, Harry." Hermione's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"What?" he asked, glancing over at her.

"Down there, there's something. It's like a street but it's somehow different," said Hermione, pointing under them.

Harry looked down and when he saw it, he became even happier than before.

"Hermione, it's the railway!" he almost cried.

"It's - what?" she asked puzzled.

"The railway! It means that we're on the right way to Hogsmeade," said Harry, slapping the steering wheel.

"Oh, but you said that you already knew that we were on the right way to Hogsmeade," said Hermione.

"I know, but now I'm sure," he said, steering the car towards the ground.

"That was funny," said Hermione slowly as the car wavered. She felt quite reassured since Harry has just told her that she liked to fly.

Harry laughed and steered a little bit more the car towards the ground a little bit more.

"What is a railway, anyway?" asked Hermione curiously.

"It's a kind of road used by trains, this railway in particular," said Harry. "It's for the Hogwarts Express. It will take us straight to Hogsmeade."

"The Hogwarts Express?" asked Hermione, puzzled.

"Yep, it's the train that every student uses to get to Hogwarts. Or that every student used to use to get to Hogwarts," said Harry, sighing deeply.

"Well, what about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione.

"What do you want to know?" Harry asked back, looking at her for a moment.

"I don't know, why are we going there?"

"Well, when we were at Hogwarts, we used to go to Hogsmeade about once a month and we had a great time there. So, I thought that maybe it could have helped you with your memory," said Harry pensively.

"Okay, you're probably right," said Hermione. "But can you tell me something about the place?"

"Yes, of course. I'll tell you all I can remember. It's been a long time since I've gone there. And I can assure you that everything will be different from how it was," said Harry.

Then, for a couple of hours, he told her about how happy they were during their trips to Hogsmeade and answering her many questions.

It was almost sunset when Harry spotted a castle high on a hill.

"Look, Hermione," he said, interrupting her hundredth question.

"What?" she asked, looking around.

"Over there," said Harry, pointing right in front of them.

Hermione let out a breath. "What is that?" she asked with wondering eyes.

"It's Hogwarts," said Harry, and he couldn't help smiling.

"Hogwarts," repeated Hermione dreamily. Then she came out of her thoughts. "Hogwarts? But shouldn't we go to Hogsmeade first?"

"Yeah, Hogsmeade is over there," said Harry, indicating a small valley next to the hill.

"I can't see anything," said Hermione, craning her neck to see into the valley.

"Well, me neither, but I'm sure that it is over there," said Harry self-confident.

Hermione pressed her face against the window. They passed over a little forest and she spotted a big lake, then something captured her attention.

"Harry, look!" she cried.

Harry looked down as well. It was like one of those temples he'd often seen on TV, covered with vegetation and forgotten by everyone. Actually, it was Hogsmeade.

"It's Hogsmeade," said Harry with a grin, steering the car down to land.

When they reached the ground, the car jumped a couple of times before stopping. Harry was the first one to exit. He opened the door and jumped out, looking around as he did. They'd landed next to what was once the Hogsmeade Train Station.

What was once Hogsmeade was now part of the forest. There were no shops or buildings, just a mass of ruins. It was even worse than the Burrow; this was an entire village ruined.

Hermione opened her door too. "Oh my goodness," she breathed.

"Yeah," answered Harry, glancing around. "You know, I'd expected it to be worse. We're getting nearer to the place where we fought the Last Battle."

"Really?" Hermione picked her way around the car and closer to Harry.

"Yeah." Harry turned towards the Ford Anglia, picked up their backpacks and gave one to Hermione. "Let's go and have a look around," he said, closing the back door.

"That way," said Harry, taking a small street covered with roots and leaves.

Hermione followed him closely. In a couple of minutes, they reached the first ruin. It was the Three Broomsticks. Harry stopped in front of it. "Look, Hermione. We used to have Butterbeers here. It was a great place to stay when it was cold and snowy outside."

Hermione nodded. Harry started to walk again, and passed by several buildings but stopped in front of a small one. "That was Honeyduke's. It sold all kind of sweets and chocolates; it was my favourite place."

"Which one was my favourite?" asked Hermione as she stood next to him.

Harry turned and indicated a big grey wall. "The Post Office, I think. The first time you saw it, you said that it was amazing, full of different owls."

"Sounds a little boring, though," said Hermione thoughtfully.

"Well, that was you," said Harry, smiling fondly.

"Boring?" asked Hermione, taken aback.

"No, no," Harry said quickly. "You were just - well, I mean you - oh, well, you liked that kind of stuff."

"Owls?" asked Hermione, looking at Harry closely with an amused smile.

"No, no, actually you owned a cat. But you were interested in how everything worked," said Harry, trying to sound casual.

But Hermione hadn't been listening to him since the word 'cat'. "A cat?" she asked, smiling.

"Yeah, a ginger cat. Ron thought that it looked more like a pig with hair, but it was a smart pet," said Harry, enjoying this subject.

"Not very nice, that Ron was," said Hermione, chuckling.

"He was just joking," said Harry, more rudely than he meant to.

Hermione looked at him and swallowed. "Where is it now?" she came back to the cat subject as soon as she could.

"Who? Crookshanks?" asked Harry, distractedly.

"Who?"

"Your cat's name was Crookshanks." Harry smiled softly in remembrance. "Well, he died a couple of years ago. He was pretty old," he said gently.

"Oh," was all Hermione could manage to say.

"Yeah." Harry started to walk quickly towards Zonko's Joke Shop.

"Harry slow down, I can't walk as fast as that," said Hermione breathlessly.

"Oh, sorry," said Harry, slowing down a little.

"Why do you sometimes speed up like that?" she asked him as she caught up, breathing heavily.

Harry shrugged and looked around. "I don't notice it." He chuckled. "Maybe it's because I'm excited about being here."

"And what will you do when we're at Hogwarts?" asked Hermione, laughing.

"See anything you recognize?" he asked hastily.

Hermione's laughter faded away as she looked around. "No, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay," said Harry soothingly. "Let's keep on walking, there are still loads of things to see."

He showed her Gladrags Wizardwear, Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, Madam Puddifoot's, Dervish and Banges and last, but certainly not least, The Hog's Head.

"You know, Harry," said Hermione quietly as they finished, "I don't think that this place is going to help me a lot with my memory problem."

"Well," said Harry, sitting on the remains of a wall. "If the Burrow didn't help you, I don't think this will, either," he said bitterly, holding his head in his hands.

"Then why are we here?" she asked, carefully sitting next to him. "I mean, why didn't we go directly to Hogwarts?"

"I didn't want to leave anything untried," he said, looking at her intently.

Casually, Hermione took his left hand between hers. Harry couldn't help blushing a little. "Well, I trust you plenty, Harry," she said, playing with his fingers. "So, if you want me to enter each and every building, I'll do that."

"I don't want you to do that," he said absently. He was completely concentrated on Hermione's touch on his hand. Her hands were so soft and warm. They were still a bit bony, but it was a wonderful sensation.

"Harry?" Hermione's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

Without even thinking about what he was doing, he placed an arm around Hermione's shoulders. Hermione laid her head on Harry's chest and closed her eyes. It was so nice, so -

"Look, Ron!"

Hermione jumped. "What was that?" she asked, looking around.

Harry got to his feet and looked around too. "What?" he asked, on the alert.

"I heard a voice," she said nervously, swallowing.

"You heard a voice? I didn't." He looked at her worryingly.

"I swear I heard a voice," she said, now panicking a little.

"Hermione, calm down and look at me; we're all alone here. What did the voice say?" Harry was looking at her, concerned.

"It said 'Look, Ron!'" she said, frantically glancing around. "Come on Harry, you must have heard it."

"Look, Ron?" Harry was puzzled. "Are you sure?" He was really afraid now that Hermione was hearing things.

"I'm sure," she said firmly. "It was a girlish voice, and she was screaming."

"Screaming because she was afraid?" asked Harry carefully.

"No, it sounded more like a joyful scream," said Hermione, biting her lip in thought.

"Hermione, I think you're just hungry and-"

"You don't believe me, do you?" she said, looking at him, crestfallen.

"Of course I do, it's just that once you told me that even in the Wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign. I don't think-"

"Did you hear a voice?" Hermione asked him suddenly, looking into his eyes.

Harry was startled. "Well, yeah, but that...well, that was different."

"Why?" she asked hastily.

"Because it was a big, nasty snake, and you are not a Parselmouth," said Harry seriously.

"Oh," said Hermione, not understanding a thing. "Maybe I was dreaming, then."

"Maybe," said Harry placing a hand over her shoulder. "Maybe, maybe we're just talking too much about Ron and everything."

Hermione nodded slowly.

"Well, we should find a place for the night," said Harry, looking around in the darkness of the night.

"Yeah," agreed Hermione. "What about that house that I saw at the beginning of the village?"

"Which house, Hermione? They're all in ruins," said Harry tiredly.

"No, I saw a small house near the Station," she insisted, turning back to look.

Harry seemed to think deeply, then he became aware of something. "No, it can't be," he said, but it sounded like he was talking to himself.

"What?" asked Hermione, now interested.

"It can't be the Shrieking Shack," said Harry, shaking his head and walking quickly back to the Station.

"The - what?" asked Hermione, trying to keep up with him.

"The Shrieking Shack. It can't be, that cabin was a mess even before the Last Battle, and-"

But Harry didn't finish his sentence because he had already spotted the Shrieking Shack. It was exactly like Harry remembered, with an overgrown garden and its windows all boarded up.

"That's not possible," he said slowly, taking in the sight of one intact building where so many others lay in ruins.

"What? It seems like it went through loads of damage, just like the rest of the village," said Hermione, looking at it in bewilderment as she stood next to Harry.

"What? No, no, it was exactly like that even before the Last Battle."

"Oh," Hermione said. "I see."

"Let's go." Harry headed for the Shack. Hermione followed him closely. The place gave her the chills.

"How are we supposed to get inside?" asked Hermione as they found themselves in front of the sealed entrance. She looked around as if she could find a key or a gatekeeper.

Harry pulled his wand from his backpack and pointed it at the entrance.

"Alohomora," he said confidently.

The door burst open with a screech. Hermione looked at him admired.

Harry entered first and looked around. It didn't seem any more solid than it had been in the past, but it wasn't less firm either.

Hermione reached him and slipped her hand into his. "Harry, I don't think we should stay here." She glanced around nervously maybe.

"Don't worry, Hermione. If the Wave of Power that tore down everything during the Last Battle hasn't torn it down, I don't anything is going to make it come down," said Harry, climbing the stairs with Hermione close behind him.

When they reached the second floor, they found themselves in the room where Sirius had dragged Ron in their third year.

Harry looked around. "I think we can take a nap here before we climb the hill to Hogwarts," said Harry, sitting on the bed.

A cloud of dust rose from the sheets and Hermione coughed and waved it away. "Are you sure?"

"Well, it's not the cleanest place on Earth, but I prefer to have a roof over my head, rather than sleeping on the hard ground," said Harry. He patted the bed, causing some more dust to fly in every direction.

Hermione sat down next to him. "Well, if that's really what you want to do," she said, pulling down a big spider from the bed canopy with a grimace of distaste.

Harry lay down with his arms under his head and closed his eyes. The bed was almost comfortable after all.

Then he felt a weight next to him. Hermione had just laid down beside him.

"Are you cold?" asked Harry, without opening his eyes.

"Yeah," said Hermione, getting closer to him.

Harry placed an arm around her shoulders. "Is it better?" he whispered.

Hermione nodded and smiled with her eyes closed.

"You know, I can't wait to go to Hogwarts," she said, snuggling into his side.

"Really? I can't wait either," he said, and concentrated on Hermione's breath. Her hair gently tickled his hand and Harry smiled. She was so small and defenceless. Harry would have lain there forever with Hermione at his side.

'Why am I thinking of her this way?' he thought in bewilderment when Hermione moved a bit heavily against him.

"Harry?" Hermione snapped him out of his thoughts.

"What?" he asked quickly, to cover his thoughts.

"How will we get to Hogwarts?" she asked him.

"On foot, I think. It's better because it's near and we can just climb the hill like we used to do when we were at school," said Harry lazily, yawning.

Hermione sighed. "I can't wait to be there," she repeated in a sleepy voice.

"Yeah," said Harry. Then he felt her breath fall into a steady rhythm and he knew that she was asleep.

'Next stage: Hogwarts,' was Harry's last waking thought.