Chief Healer Amadeus Hopkirk flipped through Harry Potter's file as he marched along a corridor of St Mungo's Hospital. The best mind healers that the hospital had to offer had assessed Harry Potter's mind and spent most of the previous few hours removing the false memories that had been placed in the boy's mind.
Now they had to work on getting around the obliviated memories. The theory was that with the false memories removed from Mr Potter's mind, they would be able to show him his missing memories but from the point of view of others. It was doubtful that this would restore his own memories, but it would at least enable him to fill in some of the blanks.
The problem was, the obliviated memories stretched back for at least a month or more, which could potentially make finding all the people who shared his memories a long and arduous task, depending on how many different people he interacted with on an individual basis.
There were also the memories from times when he was alone – his own private thoughts and feelings. There was little that they could do about those moments, other than hope that his mind would fill in the gaps on its own over time.
For now they had to focus on the big picture. As such their primary goal was to fill Harry in on the major themes of his life in recent weeks. Thankfully Amadeus had it on good authority that one of the biggest players in Mr Potter's life in recent history also happened to be one of the patients at the hospital, which was why he was hurrying to room 4C on the fourth floor of the hospital. With any luck Sarah Abbott would be up to sharing her memories and they could get Mr Potter on the fast track to becoming his old self once again.
Well, that was what they hoped, at least. Memory immersion had never actually been done before, but they had to try.
The Granger family lived in a modestly sized house in the suburbs of Winchester, a city located within Hampshire in the south of England. For most of the year, the house was only occupied by Daniel Granger and his wife Emma.
However, just a couple of hours ago their number had increased to three when a Magical Law Enforcement Officer from the Ministry of Magic had apparated their daughter home from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Now Hermione Granger was sitting on the edge of her bed and working herself up into a right state. Not for the first time since she had come home she wretched loudly and expelled some of the contents of her stomach into plastic bucket that sat on her lap. Her mother, who was next to her, rubbed gentle circles on her back.
"Hermione, you need to breathe dear. The Healers told you to rest."
"But –" Hermione tried to protest, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks "But –"
"I know," said Emma Granger, softly. "I know."
And she did know. An hour and a half before Hermione had been brought home, Emma and her husband had been visited at their dental practice by two Law Enforcement Officers, Muggleborns, who very carefully explained to the shocked dentists all that they knew of the recent events within Hogwarts Castle.
The very thought that such a thing could happen sickened both parents and Emma had left the practice immediately in order to wait for her daughter's arrival back at home.
While she did not yet know all the gritty details, Emma knew that her daughter had really looked up to the Headmaster of her school, and now the pedestal that she had placed the man upon in her mind had come crashing down in a most horrendous way.
That Harry Potter was somehow involved in all of this only served to make things worse. Again Emma did not have all the details, but she had deciphered enough to know that Hermione and Harry Potter were no longer friends, and it was Hermione's fault. And perhaps Dumbledore's too, at least to some extent.
Emma was becoming seriously worried for her daughter. The last time she had gotten so upset that she made herself sick was following her grandfather's death when she was just seven years old.
Hermione wretched again, but nothing came of it, indicating that her stomach was empty.
Emma placed the bucket to one side and wrapped her sobbing daughter into a protective, comforting hug.
It took a few minutes but finally Hermione's sobs began to subside until, in a strained voice, she asked "How could he do that?"
"Did you hear what that Law Enforcement Officer said before he left?"
Hermione nodded and repeated "Dumbledore fooled a lot of people."
"Exactly. You were one of many, Hermione. That man has let a lot of people down, his school, his students, their parents… But is he worth your tears?"
After a few moments, Hermione shook her head. Emma left her go and she sat up, no longer crying.
"It smells in here…" Hermione noted, as if realising it for the first time.
Emma smiled wryly, stood up, walked over to the window and opened it.
"There," she said "That should help. Now, I'm going to empty this thing and then I'll bring you a glass of water.
She picked up the bucket and made for the door, calling back as she passed through "Why don't you read a book to take your mind off things?"
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