A Stolen Past

Harry's Dream Girl

"Do?" Harry shook himself and tore his eyes away from Ginny to look back at Hermione. "What do you mean, what am I going to do? There's nothing to do."

Hermione smirked at him. "Don't give me that; I saw the way you were looking at her just now. You're smitten, Harry."

"Shhh! Keep your voice down."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Take it from somebody who knows, Harry," she whispered. "It'll only get worse if you put it off. Just ask her out now and get the hard part over with."

"What?" Harry asked, mortified. "It's not that easy. I don't even know her."

"It is that easy, and you do too know her," Hermione countered. "You just don't remember knowing her. I'm going inside now." Loud enough for everyone to hear, she suggested, "Why don't you help Ginny with her trunk, Harry?" before shooting him a wink and following Mr. and Mrs. Weasley into the house.

Harry just stood there, unable to move or even think. He seemed incapable of looking away from Ginny's face, even though he had memorized every last feature months ago.

"Welcome back, Harry," she said with a small smile. She was looking at him curiously, as though she wasn't quite sure what to make of him. "Nobody told me you'd been found until we were in the taxi, on our way home." She laughed softly, causing a small shiver to run down Harry's spine. "I was ready to murder Hermione for holding out on me."

"Mhmm," Harry mumbled.

Ginny gave another soft laugh. "Harry, are you okay? You haven't blinked for the past five minutes."

Harry blinked rapidly and shook his head in an effort to dispel his stupor. "I'm fine," he said. "Can I, er, help you with your trunk?"

Ginny nodded, and he lifted her trunk with his right hand. As she turned to lead him toward the Burrow, he impulsively reached out with his other hand and grasped hers. Ginny froze. Slowly, she turned her head just enough so that she could look at him out of the corner of her eye.

Suddenly self-conscious, Harry muttered, "Sorry," and pulled his hand back. To his surprise, Ginny didn't let go; instead, she gave his hand a small squeeze and turned to face him with a shy smile that instantly lifted his spirits.

"Can we talk later?" she asked. "Just the two of us?"

"Sure," Harry replied as she led him toward the front door. She dropped his hand to push the door open, and didn't reach for it again as she entered the living room and instructed Harry to leave her trunk at the bottom of the stairs.

"Now sit down," Hermione commanded, gesturing to a worn armchair. Harry did as she instructed, and Ginny took a seat on the sofa next to Hermione and Ron.

"So?" Ron asked impatiently. "Are you going to tell us what happened or not?"

For the next two hours, Harry recounted his story to his friends, beginning with the previous summer holiday for Ginny's benefit. Once again, he had to be careful to avoid any references to his doing magic without a wand, which changed the story considerably. Nevertheless, the basic idea was conveyed, and Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all seemed to gasp and widen their eyes in disbelief at all the right places.

When Harry got to the part about Umbridge having been the one to erase his memory, Ron leaped to his feet with a shout of, "The old hag!"

Hermione just pulled him back down onto the sofa and asked, "What happened next, Harry?"

"Dumbledore brought me back here," Harry replied. "He said that he can't reverse the Memory Charm without the wand that was used to cast it, but Fudge is stonewalling. So who knows how long I'll be like this? I mean, look at me. I know that I know all of you, and we're really good friends and everything, but I can't remember anything about any of you."