Obliviate

Obliviate - Chapter Seven

She was waiting for him in the kitchen, sitting at the end of the table. Her back was facing him as he approached but he could see that her head was down and her hands were clasped together in her lap. He didn't want to startle her so he cleared his throat and loudly entered the room. Nora jumped in her seat, surprised by his sudden appearance but she managed to give him a nervous smile before she ripped her gaze away from his eyes.

Harry leaned against the wall, casually folding his arms across his chest. He returned the smile. "Hi."

She took a deep breath and then a wry grin spread across her lips.

"I suppose you're wondering why I've shown up at your house unannounced and uninvited," she remarked. Harry inclined his head ever so slightly and waited for her to continue. "I- you," she paused, closing her eyes momentarily to pull herself together. In a quiet voice she said, "I've missed you."

The lingering effects of the hangover coupled with the adventure he'd gone on last night with Luna in discovering his past had put him on edge. This pushed him over that edge and he felt a foul mood beginning to take charge.

"You?" he said softly, shaking his head incredulously. "You came here to play games with me? Is that what you wanted to do?" He snorted once, not caring if it made him look bad in front of her. He was done with her. "I'll come out and say it," he continued, gesturing as he spoke. "Yeah, I liked you. But that's over now."

She took his blows quite patiently and when she replied, her voice was calm and steady, "I made a mistake."

He closed his mouth and stared at her for a heartbeat. Why was she having this effect on him? They had never even dated once yet here they were, arguing like an old married couple desperately trying to work out their irreconcilable differences. He half expected her to pull the divorce sheets out of her handbag at any moment and ask for his signature.

Her eyes bored into his. Those sweet, hazel eyes, so expressive - so full of warmth and care and compassion. He felt his pulse quicken and his breath caught in his throat. Merlin.

"Can you forgive me?" she asked.

Harry opened his mouth to say yes - yes, he forgave her; yes, he would absolutely love to work things out; yes, he would love to give it another go (had there even been a first one?); and yes, he would love to touch her hand again, hold her in his arms, and be so much more.... However, the only noise that came out of his throat was a strangled sounding gasp.

She stood up and began to slowly walk over to him. He felt sweat starting to drip down his neck as she drew nearer and he tugged at his collar, trying to cool himself off. Nora immediately stiffened in place and gave him an odd look. They were standing about two feet apart and he could see every detail, every exquisite feature of her and he could smell her perfume.

Suddenly she closed the gap between them and reached for him - he closed his eyes and held his breath, but the embrace never came. Cautiously, slowly, he opened one eye and then the other to see she held his necklace in her hand. Her necklace.

Her amber gaze came to rest on him.

"This is mine," she murmured, squeezing the silver cross she held in her hand.

"I know," Harry replied steadily, looking into her eyes. "You gave it to me, remember?"

"Have you-" Nora stopped herself and pressed her lips together, taking a second to glance at the necklace one more time. "Have you been wearing this ever since...?"

"Yes."

Silence. And then, "But why?"

He thought about it. Why had he kept it on all this time? Certainly he should have removed it, or even thrown it away after she'd turned him down so curtly at her church that one day, but he hadn't. Harry shrugged.

"Because it made me feel comfortable, I guess." He tilted his head to look at the necklace she was still holding onto. "Er, do you want it back?"

Nora blinked and then she hastily dropped it, firmly shaking her head. "Oh, no - I was just... I saw it and I was curious...."

He looked at her for a moment longer and then he shook his head as well. It wouldn't be right to go forward with her any longer. While the memories were old and barely half-remembered, the pain was still fresh and a part of him grieved for his friends. Now would be an inappropriate time to start a relationship - to selfishly indulge himself when he should be properly mourning Ginny, Hermione, and Ron.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, suddenly feeling guilty as he remembered his past. "I... I learned something last night. And I can't do this with you."

Harry quickly made as if he was going to take off the chain but she reached out and grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

"Why not?" she breathed.

"Because," he said feeling a tinge of sadness for a lost chance, a lost future with Nora. "I'm not... I'm not who you think I am."

The faintest flicker of a smile appeared on her face.

"I know," she pressed on, "but why should that stop us?"

Her words hung between the two, suspended in the air and in the silence. Harry felt his heart racing and his palms were suddenly sweaty.

"Come on, James," she said with a smile, cutting through the quiet and making his breath catch in his throat.

Harry turned his head away from her. "I..."

He contemplated what his possible future with Nora could be like, but he wasn't able to get very far before his thoughts wandered off to his past life again. It wouldn't be honest to just forget Ginny so soon and move on, would it? What would Ron think? Or Hermione? Or anyone else, for that matter? No, he couldn't do this. It wasn't fair to them, to their memories - and he needed more time to come to terms with the vast emptiness their deaths had left in his life.

However before he could convince himself of a way to gallantly extract himself from his current situation, his doubts were shattered as she quickly leaned in and landed a delicate kiss right on his lips.

It was short, it was chaste - but it was light and sweet and it was full of promise and desire, and that was all he wanted. Nora stared at him silently, her eyes unblinking and not moving away from his. She was standing so close to him and he had a difficult time trying not to get distracted as he felt the warmth coming from her body.

"Let's get out of here," she suggested. Her eyes sparkled and her soft lips smiled at him. "We can talk over lunch."

* * *

"Someone's coming," briskly announced Mercutia Mercury as she entered her frame.

Dumbledore looked up at the portrait of the former headmistress and pushed his spectacles back up the bridge of his nose. She had a habit of lurking around in other portraits along the corridor below and thus she was usually able to give him warning before people arrived at his office.

"Minerva?" he asked.

Mercury merely smiled and said, "She's coming up the stairs now."

A moment later the sound of knocking echoed throughout his office and the door swung open to admit his visitor. The deputy headmistress of Hogwarts strode in, her posture straight and business like, her expression guarded.

"Albus," she said sharply with a curt nod of her head.

"Minerva," he greeted her with his famous grandfatherly smile and charm. However, it was all an act - he knew why she had come and he was nervous as hell beneath the façade of calmness and cleverness he wore for everyone else. He fought back his nerves and kept his breathing even and his stance relaxed. "A pleasure, as always."

She gave him a cold stare. Then with her lips pressed together into a thin line, she reached into her robes and pulled out the latest edition of the Daily Prophet. Minerva didn't even bother to unfold it, she just held it in her hands and let her fingers idly tap against the crisp newspaper.

"I presume you've read the first page." She arched an eyebrow at him. When he didn't reply and instead sighed tiredly, she knew the answer before he even opened his mouth.

"Yes."

"Then you must know that we have to do something," she returned quickly. A minute frown overcame her face and her voice took on an edge of urgency. "Surely you've already thought of this."

Again he replied with only one word. "Yes."

She realized she was still drumming her fingertips on the newspaper and stopped. Minerva regarded him with a full frown and put a hand on her hip. "Is that all you're going to say? Yes? Yes?" The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes dimmed but he remained silent. She decided to try a different tact to get through to the headmaster. Quietly and with a touch of concern she said, "Albus, he might not be safe out there."

Finally, after a few moments of silence and after he'd determined she had nothing further to say, he nodded.

"Please trust me, Minerva," he said. His words came out sounding gentle and sincere, but there was a firmness behind them that discouraged any arguing in return. "I've already taken the matter into consideration. I'm doing everything I can."

Minerva's gaze softened and she pursed her lips and nodded slowly.

"Do you think he'll be all right out there?"

"As long as he remains oblivious," he replied softly, turning away to look out the window across the grounds of Hogwarts. "As long as he stays blissfully unaware of all that has transpired in the past, I see no reason why we should interfere."

She took a hesitant step forward until she was standing closer to him.

"And if he remembers?" she inquired, not really wanting to know what would happen.

His piercing cobalt gaze swept around and came to rest on her and she felt a frigid shiver trickle down her spine.

"If he does," Dumbledore answered, "then I will see to it personally that he is taken care of."

* * *

Even though Nora had succeeded in breaking through the barrier of ice by kissing him, Harry still couldn't help but feel incredibly awkward in her presence. They had finally agreed on a restaurant, been seated moments ago, and Harry was silently cursing his decision to be dragged along on this little adventure. Now they were sitting on opposite sides of the table facing one another and the only thing he could do was stare at her because their server had forgotten to bring them their menus.

Nora rested her chin in the palm of her hand and gave Harry a cheerful smile.

"You should try and relax," she suggested. He frowned at her but then he noticed that she was right. His back and shoulders were feeling tense and stiff and were pressed straight up against the back of the chair. "There you go," she said as he visibly sagged down in his seat.

"Thanks," he mumbled before turning to notice that their waiter had arrived with the menus. "Thanks," he repeated again and he immediately began to pore over the different choices, grateful for an excuse to break eye contact with Nora.

The entire time they'd spent together she'd so far tried to get him to relax, to smile, or to joke around with her. But despite her good intentions and her pleasant demeanor, Harry still felt like he was treading on forbidden ground. Yes, he liked her, and yes, she liked him - that much was obvious. Yet for him, things weren't as simple as he would have liked them to be. He was still mulling over the complexities of relationships with dead people when she reached across the table and held his hand. His eyes darted to her hand and then up to her face, to see she was staring at him. Again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw their waiter walk up to them.

"Are you two ready to order?" He grinned stupidly as he saw they were holding hands. "Need more time?" Harry nodded and waved dismissively at him with his free arm. "Okay, I'll be back!"

Nora chuckled.

"Please, Nora," he begged quietly, not wanting to make a scene.

"Please what?" she asked playfully with an arch of her eyebrow.

"You know full well what I mean."

Nora's eyebrow lifted up even higher and she tilted her head slightly. Her voice took on a lower, husky tone and her lips curved up into a demure smile. "Do I? Do I really?" She leaned in closer across the table and said very softly, "The only thing I know is that I would like to get to know you better... and judging by how you reacted when I kissed you earlier, you seem to be thinking the same thing."

Harry goggled at her. He hadn't been expecting her to be so direct with him.

"I-"

"James," she interrupted, sounding nonchalant and disinterested once again, "we have a problem."

"A problem?" he echoed, feeling lost.

"Yes, a problem."

There was a pregnant pause in their conversation and Harry held his breath, waiting for her to continue. He licked his lips anxiously and timidly asked her, "And just what might that problem be?"

She leaned over the small table again and she was so close to him he could feel her breath on his face.

"We both want each other but neither of us is doing a damned thing about it."

And then in the middle of a reasonably crowded Muggle restaurant full of people, she grabbed onto his collar and kissed him for the second time that day. She came onto him quickly and hungrily, and she moaned softly when she realized he'd opened his lips and was kissing her back with all the same ferocity she was putting forth.

They split apart and fell back into their chairs, staring at each other. Harry had a dazed expression on his face and his mouth was still hanging open slightly as he absentmindedly straightened his collar and noticed that like him, she too was breathing heavily. Somehow in the few moments they had been kissing, Nora's hair had become mussed and a few strands hung freely in front of her face. That, coupled with the immensely satisfied grin she wore gave her an air of otherwordly sensuality.

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat, unsure of what he should say.

"Hello, how are you two today?" Their waiter had returned. "Did you find anything you liked?"

Harry and Nora reluctantly tore their eyes away from each other and looked at the waiter.

For a second, neither of them said anything. Then Nora chose to speak up:

"I'm terribly sorry," she said as she handed her menu back to the waiter, "but I think we'll be on our way out."

It was Harry's turn to raise an eyebrow at her, but he kept quiet and handed his menu back as he stood up with her. Nora understood his unasked question and whispered into his ear, "I found what I wanted this afternoon... but he wasn't on the menu."

His eyes went wide and she pecked him on the cheek. She reached for his hand and gave him a tug.

"Come on, James," she declared boldly. Her eyes sparkled mischievously. "I believe we were on our way out."

* * *

Beep.

BEEP.

BEEP!

"Um."

BEEP BEEP!

With a groan, he forced himself to sit up. He glanced around his surroundings, searching for the offending alarm clock and he extended a clumsy hand over to his side, knocking coins and his car keys off the nightstand. Harry growled when he couldn't find it and he opened a sleepy eye to look at the blurry world before him.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

After what seemed like forever, his hands closed around the pesky digital clock and pressed the snooze button. With a sigh, he fell back onto the bed, his ears still ringing from the painful racket they had just endured, and he tried to remember what had happened last night.

After leaving the restaurant, he had returned to his flat with Nora and... and....

Oh. That was right.

And then... had they gone again after he'd cooked dinner...? Ah, yes, that's right, they had. So that would mean....

A slight frown crossed his lips as he reached over to the other side of the bed. Nora wasn't there. Now fully awake, he jumped out of bed and immediately tripped over his boxers, which were bunched around his ankles for some odd reason. Rubbing his elbow, he wondered to himself, "Merlin, what did we do last night?"

A cursory glance at the bed told him the other half was completely made up as if it had never been slept in. He paused before putting on some clothes, staring at the unused half of his bed. Was it possible? Had he simply dreamed the whole thing...?

His mind whirling, he hurried out of his bedroom and surveyed the kitchen, taking note that there were no dirty dishes lying out or half-burnt candles on the table. The kitchen looked frighteningly clean and he spun around to check the living room when something caught his eye. Hanging on his refrigerator was a small, pink square of paper. He moved closer to inspect it and he saw that Nora had written down her phone number and address.

"Ah," he muttered. A slow grin began to creep across his face. "Today," he said to himself, "is going to be an excellent day."

A/N 9/18/06:

Coming up in Chapter 8: Quidditch, more Luna, firewhisky, awkward situations in tight closet spaces, and more....