Chapter Text
PROLOGUE - September, 1998
12 Grimmauld Place
The flickering light coming from the fireplace sent shadows across the room. Sitting sideways in the leather arm chair, Harry stared numbly into the flames. It had been hours since his world had been turned upside down and he couldn't begin to make sense of what had happened.
"It could have been worse, Harry," said Ron, from the sofa where he and Hermione sat holding hands.
Harry turned and stared at Ron in disbelief. "How, how could it have been worse? In front of the entire Wizengamot, while watching along with everyone else on a three meter high projection screen, I found out that I'm not a virgin."
"Erm, good point," Ron muttered. "At least Kingsley cleared the gallery before allowing the memories to be played…"
"And it was just bits and pieces of images, Harry," Hermione said softly. "It was hard to tell exactly how they fit together. There has to be an explanation."
Harry turned back towards the fire, wishing he could erase the images of those "bits and pieces" from his mind. Again, he thought with a bitter laugh. He gave a start as the fire flared up and Ginny's shimmering head appeared in the flames. "Harry, please, I just want to find out if you are okay." Harry groaned but didn't respond. Ginny's head turned as she tried to see into the dark of the room through the flames. "Are you there, Harry? Ron?"
Hermione looked at Harry and whispered, "Do you want Ron to go and talk to her?" Harry sighed and nodded. At least she hadn't been in the courtroom today and had been spared seeing what they had.
Ron threw back the rest of his firewhiskey and gave Hermione a quick kiss before going to the fireplace. "Get out of the way, Gin. I'm coming through." Ginny gave a squawk of protest but disappeared with a huff as they heard Molly Weasley chastising her through the floo.
Looking at Harry, Ron asked, "What do you want me to tell her?"
"Just tell her that...I'm okay. Tell her not to come to the trial tomorrow. I'll talk to her later," Harry finished tiredly. Ron nodded and gave a quick smile at Hermione as he threw a handful of floo powder into the flames and vanished. Hermione and Harry watched as the fire returned to normal and they were alone..
"Harry, you had no recollection of those memories, at all?"
Harry thought back at what they'd seen projected on the screen. "Parts of them were familiar... like I'd seen them in dreams. But I never thought they were real...but now I guess..." He was still in shock from what had happened in the courtroom, but he remembered the wary expression on Hermione's face, how she'd insisted that Ginny not be in the room when the memories were played. She must've suspected something. Afterwards, she and Ron had rushed him out of the courtroom, away from the stunned faces of the Wizengamot.
"You knew something though, didn't you? That's why you told me that Ginny should leave when they cleared the gallery."
"I didn't know, Harry, nothing for certain." Hermione closed her eyes as if looking back. "During fourth year, God, that seems like a lifetime ago now, I think I suspected something was going on..."
"What." His voice had sharpened but nothing showed on his face. "You mean you suspected—"
"No! I had no idea about any of that! I just remember something changed that year, you were happy. You were really happy despite everything with the Triwizard Tournament and even into the next year with Umbridge. You would have a smile on your face and you would be humming some old Muggle song. And with Malfoy, even though you were still fighting each other, the fights were different. Almost orchestrated, like you knew exactly what the other was going to do."
Hermione sighed and shook her head. "And then all of the sudden it was over and everything was back to the way it was, even worse and..." she shrugged, "I thought I must have imagined it."
Harry looked at her curiously. "What do you mean Muggle songs?"
"Oh, I don't know, really old stuff from the Stones, Beatles, Hendrix..."
"No, it can't be..." Harry looked at her in disbelief. "The albums…" He jumped up and ran out of the room. His heart was pounding as he raced up the stairs. He could hear Hermione calling out for him but he didn't stop until he stood in the doorway to Sirius's old room. His school trunk was shoved in the corner where he'd left it a year ago. It was full of his school robes and textbooks. Nothing he'd needed but now...Harry approached it cautiously, suddenly afraid to confirm what he barely remembered would be there.
Hermione caught up to him as he was pulling everything out, discarding the scrolls and school ties until he got to the very bottom. His hand shook as he pulled out the stack of old Muggle record albums. A bright yellow submarine shown on the cover of the top one. Hermione gave a gasp as he held it up for her to see.
"I found these when I was clearing out my trunk last year as we were getting ready to go find the Horcruxes. I couldn't figure out how they had gotten there. I had no idea how they got in my trunk. I knew they weren't mine." He stared blindly down at the albums spread out on the ground. "Hermione. What did he do to me?"