Harry opens his eyes.

A girl is sitting in the chair next to him, her head on the hospital bed he appears to be on. She appears to be sleeping, as does the redheaded boy sitting in a chair a few feet away.

"Excuse me?" Harry asks quietly. "Um, excuse me?"

The girl lifts her head slowly, before jumping up. "Harry! Oh, Harry, thank God!"

The redheaded boy stirs, before he too, jumps to his feet and joins the brunette girl. "Mate, you gave us a bloody scare there! Don't pull that shit ever again!"

"I'm-" Harry winces. His head hurts awfully bad. "I'm sorry, do I know you? Why am I in the Hospital Wing? I apologize, but I'm quite confused."

The girl freezes. The redhead is still grinning.

"Shut up, Harry. You already scared us enough."

"Do I- do I know you?" Harry is growing concerned that he should know these people. He's starting to panic.

The redhead's smile drops. "You're serious?"

"Please, can someone tell me what's going on?" Harry begs. His gaze darts across the room to a scary-looking woman who has just walked out of an office.

"Mr. Potter! Thank goodness, I was getting a tad worried that the potion wasn't working."

"Potion?" Harry asks, feeling like he's woken from a dream.

"Mr. Potter, are you feeling well?" the lady's smile has dropped, and Harry is starting to feel quite dizzy. 

"No, I must say, I'm nnnn-" Harry's words slur off as he collapses back into his bed, the world around him fading.

*******************

Harry opens his eyes.

The girl from before is now across the room, talking quietly to the redhead. They're very blurry. The stern lady from before has her arm across Harry, doing something, but she draws it back when she sees he's awake.

"Mr. Potter."

"What-" Harry coughs. He still feels dizzy. "What happened?"

"You passed out for about an hour. Your vitals have returned to normal. Other than your apparent memory loss, you're in perfect shape."

"Memory loss?" Harry sits up slightly, immediately regretting it when another wave of dizziness rushes over him.

"Well, we don't know for sure yet, but it appears you've had some sort of damage done to you."

Harry rubs his eyes irritably. The girl and boy are still blurry before something clicks in his head.

"Where are my glasses?"

"So you're aware that you wear glasses." The lady takes a note in her book.

"Can I have them?" This feels like too much, and Harry needs to take this one step at a time.

They're handed to him, and he smiles when he puts them one and the pair across the room become crystal clear, staring right back at him.

"Are you aware of your name?"

"Um. Yeah." When Harry realizes she wants him to say it, he elaborates. "Harry James Potter."

"Are you aware of where you are?"

"The Hospital Wing of Hogwarts."

"Are you aware of who I am?"

"Um. No. Sorry."

"Who are your parents?"

"My parents are dead."

"Who are your parents?"

Harry freezes. That's all he knows. They're dead. But who are they? He can't think, he's drawing a blank, and nothing in his life has ever been so frustrating. He thinks. Maybe.

"I don't... I don't know."

"When were you born?"

"July thirty-first, nineteen eighty."

"How did your parents die?"

"They were murdered. " Right after he says this, Harry pauses to absorb that information. He has no idea how he knows that.

"By who?"

"Um. I don't know."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"I don't know."

"Who are your professors?"

"I don't know."

"What are your classes?"

"Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Eighth Year Therapy Session, History of Magic."

"Why do you go to a therapy session?"

"Because all eighth years go."

"Why?"

"Because of the war."

"Who fought in the war?"

"Me."

"And who else?"

"I don't know."

"Who died?"

"I don't know."

"Who were you fighting?"

"I don't know."

"Attitude, please, Mr. Potter. I understand your situation, but I need to understand the extent of your amnesia."

"Sorry, ma'am."

"You're forgiven. What side of the war were you on?"

"The light side."

"Why was there a war?"

"Because someone had terrible ideas and wanted to kill other people."

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"Why did they want to kill other people?"

"Because they were Muggle-born. No, that's not right. Well, it is, but not entirely. Sorry, the closer to people the questions get, the harder it is to focus on the answer. Um. Because they wanted to rule everything. Because-" Harry paused at the new knowledge his brain provided. "Because they wanted me dead."

"Why do you say wanted in the past tense?"

"They're dead."

"How did they die?"

"I-" Harry pauses. "I killed them."

"Who is Albus Dumbledore?"

"I've never heard that name in my life."

"What is your favorite color?"

"Grey."

"Why?"

"Because..." Harry pauses. Something feels secretive about telling the real reason, an image of grey eyes flicking through his fractured memory. So instead, he simply says "I like grey. I dunno."

"Do you have a romantic partner?"

"I do."

The pair across the room look surprised. Harry is surprised too. He doesn't know how he knows that.

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"I didn't know you were dating someone, Harry," the redhead says. He seems a bit odd about what he's saying. The brunette girl is still just staring at him. "Did you and Ginny get back together or something?"

"Who's Ginny?"

The redhead winces slightly. "Right. Sorry."

Harry feels like he should be upset, but honestly, he probably would have made the same mistake. "You're alright."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"Why are you back at Hogwarts?"

"To finish my eighth year."

"Alright." The woman writes some things on her paper. "I don't know what caused this to you, Mr. Potter, but you do, in fact, have amnesia. At least, when it comes to people. As far as I can tell. Please let me know if there's anything else you notice that you don't remember. Do you happen to remember what got you in this predicament?"

"No."

She sighs. "I thought as much. Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger, take good care of him, please. He's free to go."

"I'm not leaving with two strangers!" Harry protests.

The pair stares at him.

"Harry, everyone's a stranger to you," the girl says.

"Besides, we're your best friends!" the boy adds.

Harry frowns. "I'm just gonna go to the dorms, if you don't mind."

"We'll go with you!" the girl volunteers.

"No thanks. I need to think." Harry turns and walks away before the pair can say anything.

He walks for a bit before suddenly, a blonde boy runs up to him.

The first thing Harry notices is that his eyes are grey, and with a jolt in his stomach, he just knows that this is the reason grey is his favorite color.

He's not sure what that means or what to do with that information.

"Harry," the boy says breathlessly. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about-"

"I'm sorry, I'll just stop you here," Harry says, already a little irritated at everything happening. "I don't know you. I lost my memory. I don't remember anyone I apparently used to know. So, um, remind me who you are?"

The boy looks absolutely horrified at that admission, taking a few steps back from Harry with wide eyes. A glittering necklace around his neck catches Harry's eye. It's silver, with a capital letter H on it. Harry vaguely wonders who the boy's girlfriend is, and if he's friends with her too.

"You're not serious," he whispers. "You've... forgotten everyone?"

"Um. Yeah. Sorry. Who are you?"

But the blonde is already backing away, looking far more upset than Harry was planning on him being.

"I'm- um- sorry- um-" he backs a few more steps away, before turning and running.

Harry shakes his head, confused by the boy, but decides not to let it bother him. Instead, he heads up to his dorms, ignoring the questions from a dozen people he doesn't know, and goes right to bed.

He dreams of blonde hair and glittering necklaces and he doesn't know what to think of that.