Kori

When Harry returned to the common room that night, he found it to be very crowded. Ron and Hermione were already there. Ron had a black eye and a long rip in his sleeve, but other than that, he seemed fine. Hermione seemed ok except for and inch-long cut on her cheek. He walked up to where they were sitting. Fred, George, Lee Jordan and Neville were there also. As it turned out, Ron had already explained to them what had happened, but they still wanted to know what happened after Harry left with the girl. Harry could tell they had lots of questions, but he beat them to it.

"Does anyone know who that girl was? I think I've seen her somewhere, but I can't place it," he asked.

"Her name is Kori Richmond. She's from Ravenclaw House and is in her fourth year here," Hermione answered quickly. "And the thing that was attacking her was an erkling. They are very rare and I don't understand how one could have been unaccounted for around here. There haven't been any erkling attacks for years. I recognized it as soon as I saw it. They lure out people, usually children (they're easier) and drag them away to eat. We were very lucky that we heard Kori scream."

"How do you know all this?" asked Harry, puzzled.

"Well, I asked Professor McGonagall about Kori and I read all about erklings in 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. Now, is she ok? Did you get into trouble?"

"I don't know if she is okay or not. I think she'll be fine, though. As for me, Madame Pomfrey ordered me to come back here. Why does everyone have to be stuck in the dorms?" asked Harry. This was the question that had been bugging him.

Ron answered this question. "Well, it was mostly because of the attack, but someone spread rumors that there was a dragon in the dungeon. The teachers sent all students to their dorms so that they could check it out. We haven't heard if there was really anything down there."

"Personally, I think it was Malfoy, "added Neville.

"Yeah, I wouldn't put it past him. On a lighter note, Harry, want to test out our new product?" asked Fred, seizing the opportunity to lighten the mood up a bit.

"That depends," replied Harry. He knew from past experience not to accept any food from the Weasley twins on the off chance that he'll turn into a giant bird. "What exactly is this 'new product'?

"Oh, its brilliant." replied George. He pulled out a Knut form his pocket. He held it out to Harry. Harry eyed it suspiciously. "Come on, Harry. Be a sport. Just take it."

Harry cautiously took the Knut. Nothing happened. For some reason, this didn't reassure Harry very much.

"See Harry, that wasn't so bad now was it?" Fred grinned evilly. Harry saw that people were beginning to snicker.

"What?" he asked innocently. Harry looked down at his hand and was horrified to find that it had turned a brilliant shade of green. The green spread over his arm. Soon he was completely green. The, to Harry's horror, little pink flowers began to grow from his fingertips. Within three minutes, though, all the green had disappeared and the tiny flowers had shriveled up and fallen to the ground. Soon, Harry was laughing with the rest of the common room.

"Flower Knuts! Seven sickles apiece! It' s a bargain!"

The laughter however didn't last very long, as everyone got tired and soon went up to bed. Harry had for the moment forgotten about Kori.

When Kori awoke, she was lying on a soft bed. It looked as if she were in some sort of hospital. She saw a woman rush over to her bed.

"You're awake!" the woman cried. "It's about time. You almost woke up when Harry brought you up here, but you conked out again right away. How are you feeling?"

Kori realized that the woman was Madame Pomfrey and that she was in the hospital wing. She had never actually been in here, but she had seen Madame Pomfrey at the feasts and so on.

"Umm, I'm okay, I think. It's just... wait, who brought me up here?" Kori couldn't remember anyone by the name of Harry. For that matter, she couldn't remember many of the other student's names. How strange...

"Harry Potter," answered Madame Pomfrey. Kori still didn't recognize the name. Maybe she should tell Madame Pomfrey this...

The next morning, Harry woke abruptly. He had been dreaming about the events that had happened the day before. The only difference was that the girl...Kori, he reminded himself...had died from the brutal attack of the erkling. She had died calling his name. He shook his head and wondered if he should go up to hospital wing to see if she was all right, but decided against it. She was probably in her own dorm by now. Harry realized that he was the only one in he dorm. He got up and dressed. When he got to the common room, he saw only Ron and Hermione sitting there. They were talking closely about something, very quietly.

"What's up?" he asked as he approached them. They looked up quickly as he neared and stopped talking immediately. Hermione looked startled.

"Harry! You're up. Well, in that case, we should be going down to breakfast." She got up and started away.

Harry looked between the two of them. "What's going on? What are you hiding?" he asked suspiciously.

He saw them cast glances at each other. "Umm, nothing. Why would you saw that? Why would we hide anything from you?" said Ron cautiously.

Harry just shook his head and dropped. He was sure that if they were hiding something, they had good reason too. He would ask again later, if he remembered.

They headed to breakfast.

Malfoy piled up eggs and bacon onto his plate. He was starving, since he hadn't eaten since lunchtime yesterday. He scanned the room, secretly looking for the girl. He didn't see her anywhere.

It was a Sunday, so there were no classes. He could do whatever he wanted. It was going to be a dull day.

Malfoy ate his breakfast leisurely, then got up. He decided that he would go take his broom out for a while.

He ran up to his dorm, grabbed the broom and went out the doors to the Quidditch field. There was no such luck, though. He saw that the Gryffindor Quidditch team was at practice. 'Well,' he thought. 'I'll just fly around the grounds for a few minutes, then.'

Then Malfoy spotted the girl. She was walking out the doors towards the lake. She was wearing a black skirt and blue shirt. Malfoy noticed a heart amulet that hung around her neck and took notice of it. It seemed that he recognized that necklace from somewhere. Malfoy knew that he should stay as far away as possible from her, in case she recognized him. He did look like his father, after all. He started to turn away, planning to get as far from the girl as possible. This was kind of ironic, considering that fifteen minutes ago he was searching for her. Too late, she saw him. She ran over.

"Hi! You're Draco, right? From Slytherin? I'm Kori. I'm in Ravenclaw."

"Malfoy," he responded.

"What? Oh, your name. Sorry, Malfoy, ok. Umm, what's that you've got there?" she gestured towards his broom.

"It's called a broomstick," answered Malfoy sarcastically.

"Well, yeah, obviously. But why are you carrying it around?"

Is this girl for real? "I was going to go flying for a while, but then you came along. Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go and continue with what I was going to do." Malfoy brushed past her coldly.

A broomstick? For flying? Was he for real? Kori could barely believe it. She knew it was a witch trademark, in the Muggle world anyway. But she couldn't remember anything really supporting that. Funny...

Quidditch practice ended and Harry landed on the soft grass of the Quidditch field. Angelina, the new Gryffindor captain, signaled the team over.

"Great practice guys. Everyone has been doing really well on those new tactics I cooked up. I'm glad. I just know that we are going to crush the Slytherins in our first match!" cried Angelina. She really did look rather proud of her team. At first, she didn't want to be the captain of the team. She didn't think that she was the right person for the job. Angelina had thought that Harry would be better, and so did the Weasley twins, but Harry pointed out that he was no good with responsibility or making up game plans. Since Oliver left to try and play pro, Lee Jordan, a good friend of the Weasley's, was the new keeper. He needed a little practice, but definitely qualified for the job. He had a good eye and a strong structure.

"Au, shucks Angelina, you're making me blush," Fred said mock shyly, looking at the ground and ducking his head.

Angelina really did blush. She quickly gathered herself and then said, "Okay guys, go on. I can't take any more of your teasing for one day." She playfully smacked Fred on the side of his head. He immediately collapsed to the ground and started to fake cry. "Oh, get up you baby." Angelina laughed.

"Hey, that's my baby brother you're talking to there! You mean!" George ran behind Harry and used him as shelter. "Mommy, that lady over there is being mean to bubba!"

"Oh, cut it already!" Angelina laughed again and walked away. Harry pushed George away and started off, his Firebolt slung over his shoulder. The rest of the team dispersed and headed their own ways, the twins and Lee crying all the way to the castle. Harry shook his head, grinning to himself. 'They aren't ever gonna grow up. Can't say I mind though. Everyone loves to laugh. Except maybe Snape,' Harry thought.

Harry looked up and saw Kori standing there, watching him. He assumed that she had been watching the practice. Harry smiled and jogged over to her.

"Hey! How are you feeling?" he asked. He stopped at the expression on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, its just...do I know you?"

"I was the one to bring you to the hospital wing. I saw you get attacked by the erkling," Harry answered.

"Oh! So you must be Harry Potter!" she smiled and stuck out her hand. Harry, puzzled took it and shook it briefly.

"Well, that's a first," he said under his breath.

"Excuse me, but what's a first?" Now she was the puzzled one.

"Oh, it's just that almost everyone knows who I am. The first thing that most people look for when they hear my name is my scar. It's actually a nice change," he added as an afterthought.

"Scar? What are you talking about? No offense meant or anything, but I've never heard of you. I've been having that problem a lot lately."

Harry got suddenly worried. "When exactly did this start happening?"

"Well, I can't remember. Ever since I woke up in the hospital bed, I suppose."

"What did that thing do to you? You've lost half your memory. You can't remember any magic that you've learned or anything? Anything at all." Harry had a very bad feeling. Somehow, he felt as if this were his fault. If he had gotten to the Shrieking shack earlier, maybe this wouldn't have happened. He knew it wasn't his fault at all, but he still felt responsible.

Kori scratched her head, clearly thinking hard. "Well, I can remember almost all of my spells. It's just people I've been having a hard time with. On second thought, I haven't had a problem with the teachers either. Just the students. And actually, I can remember some students as well. Like that boy I just met, Draco. He looks so familiar, like I used to know him a long time ago, but haven't seen him in years. But that's not possible because I only just found out I was a wizard less than four years ago. It's weird."

Harry didn't like the looks of this. Partial amnesia. Well, it could be worse. Kori, I'll try and help you get your memory back. I know a couple of my friends that'll be more than happy to help, too."

"Great!" she smiled. "Sounds great. I hope I can get my memory back. It's really an inconvenience. What were you guys doing flying around on broomsticks? I mean, was there a point to it? Can you teach me how to do it?" She seemed really eager to learn.

And so Harry started to show her everything that she had forgotten.

Meanwhile, Fred and George talked quietly in the corner of the Gryffindor common room.

"Fred, we can't tell her! She'll freak out! What are we gonna do? She'll figure it out, I know it," George whispered frantically.

"George, we can't let anyone know. If she tells Dumbledore or anyone we'll get kicked out! No one can know. Besides, the grounds are huge. No one will ever find where we buried him."