Remember

Chapter 1

It was morning and Harry was preparing breakfast. As he stared at the fry ups and fresh orange juice he realized he’d made too much. He always made too much, and didn’t know why.

But it didn’t matter, because some one always showed up just in time for breakfast. Usually under the pretense that they were just in the neighborhood. Unless it was Draco, as it frequently was, he never used that lie.

He was a bit surprised to find Ron at the door this morning.

“Hey, Harry I was just in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by.” Because everyone just goes for random walks as soon as the sun comes up.

“Breakfast is on the table.”

Silence loomed over the table. “Draco was up pretty late last night, he’ll probably be by later.”

Although Harry had been wondering that he changed the subject with a laugh. “Why do you guys always do that? I wasn’t thinking about Draco, he’s allowed not to visit at 8:30 in the morning. I was just going to ask how long you guys were going to keep pretending that these meetings are casual and not just you checking up on me.”

Ron smiled. “Well, it was going to last until you figured it out… I guess we’re busted.”

“It’s fine, it means you guys really care, which is always good to know… or you really just wanted a taste of my superior breakfast-making-skills.” Harry tried to lighten the mood.

“Ha! If that was the case I’d be at my mom’s. Now that’s a breakfast!”

“Umm… yeah. I should try it some time then, for comparison of course.” Harry really was trying, Ron always made it awkward.

“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you visit her soon. It’s just that with work right now…” Always.

“Hey I wasn’t suggesting anything Ron. You’ve got a family to take care of. Really she can’t be better than IHOP.”

“Gods, Harry! That statement alone is sacrilege.”

“Whatever, I don’t know how the hell you’re supposed to make it to work by 9, you’ve only got 3 minutes.”

Ron glanced at his watch, “Umm… I should get going. Thanks for the breakfast though wouldn’t have made it through the day without it.”

“If something happens I’ll call, Ron, you don’t have to stop by everyday. And I really don’t want you blaming me if you get fired.” Ron was already at the door waving his goodbye as he ran to his taxi… had it been waiting the whole time?

Harry always felt awkward with Ron around. He knew they were best friends, but that’s what made it so bad. They were best friends, as in they used to be best friends. Seven years of friendship. You can’t ignore seven years of friendship but because of Harry Ron had to every time they saw each other. And Harry knew it hurt Ron.

While Harry got ready for work (meaning he stared at his reflection , grabbed his green apron from the dryer, and looked all over the house for his keys) he couldn’t help but think about the last year of his life.

About a year ago he was in some sort of an accident. Well, not so much an accident as a fire.

According to his friends he was supposed to be visiting his relatives. However that never seemed to have happened. He assumed he must’ve spent the whole day brooding in the park, they said he used to do that, and eventually just decided to go to a club.

Fortunately for him there was a new nearby night club that had opened about a week ago. Unfortunately for him it had as a renovation of a 1930s Officers Club. The place looked really cool, except for the fact that the whole thing was a giant fire hazard.

Mostly everyone got out that night, claiming a man with black hair and green eyes had kept them all calm and made sure none of the exits were overpopulated. However that green-eyed black-haired man was Harry Potter. And he was found in the rubble.

Other than some smoke inhalation, minimal burning and a bump on the head from a fallen beam he was astoundingly okay. Unless you wanted to count the fact that he didn’t remember the fire. Or anything before it.

Finally, Harry found his keys; made it out of the house and walked to the bookshop where he worked. As soon as he entered the shop he noticed the books surrounding him. For some reason it was relaxing, even though he didn’t read much.

He knew now that he didn’t need to work, he had enough money to just spend his time recovering. But he didn’t feel like “recovering” for a year. It only took him a month and a half to decide he couldn’t stand not having something to do, and that’s when he found this bookshop.

He moved to the back where he guessed Mark was as nobody was up front. “Do you need any help?”

“Nice of you to show up, Harry. You’d think the whole shop was empty with all the new releases Grays wants moved to the front.”

“Hey, I’m on time. It’s not my fault that it was your day to open shop.” Mark was not a morning person. Harry grabbed the nearest box and went to unload them before the first customers showed up. It would be a miracle if Mark did this stuff on time.

The day went at it’s normal leisurely pace. At lunch time the door at the front chimed, as usual it was Draco.

“Hey, Harry. How are you?”

“Fine, a little bored.”

“Well,” Draco started as he walked closer to the register, “you could try actually reading one of these fine books?”

“Or, not.” was Harry’s reply. Nothing against books, it just didn’t cure boredom.

“Lunch?”

“Yeah.” Harry always felt better with Draco around more so than with any of his other friends. He guessed it was because they had been friends for only about a year before the fire. He didn’t have to feel as bad about not remembering, which was always a problem because it had been a year and Harry hadn’t made any progress.

“Mark! Harry’s taking his break!” Draco shouted into the backroom. Mark emerged with his second cup of coffee.

“You’re lucky no one was in the shop to hear you shout!” Mark was just upset about having to actually be at the register. Likely he had another late paper to write for one of his college courses. “If Mr. Grays was here-”

Harry and Draco were mostly out the door before Mark could finish his rant. He was annoying during finals.

During lunch at their usual sandwich shop Harry asked Draco questions he couldn’t ask his other friends.

“So you think I liked boarding school?!”

“Well, sometimes you stayed during the Christmas breaks. And it was where you made all of your friends. You never did get along with your aunt and uncle. And well… that cousin of yours… really it’s disgusting.” Draco grimaced.

Harry laughed. “Okay, so why was I trying to visit them that day then? If I disliked them so much.”

“Well, that’s why you ended up not going isn’t it. I guess you were trying to reconcile. You always were a fool about those types of things.” Draco smirked. His insults somehow always lost bite when it came to Harry, and Harry was pretty sure it had nothing to do with his amnesia.

Draco checked his watch. “Alright time to go stretch those legs before I sit you back behind the counter.”

“I’m pretty sure you aren’t my boss.”

“Yeah, but I’m the one whose going to make sure you keep your job and that Mark doesn’t flip a lid on you.” Draco joked.

“He’s not the boss either.”

“Maybe, you should tell him that.”

When they entered the shop Mark immediately ran past them, which was weird, usually he had his lunch in there. Unless he had a new girlfriend.

“Did I have a girlfriend?” Harry asked, he was accustomed to just blurt things out with Draco around.

Draco froze. “Umm… no, you didn’t.”

That was the shortest answer he’d ever gotten from him. “In 18 years of my life I never had a girlfriend?”

Draco looked sad, but he sat up on the counter next Harry. “I meant not at the time. It’s been nearly a year since it happened, don’t you thing she would’ve shown up by now?”

Harry blushed, “I was just thinking about Mark perhaps having a new girlfriend and realized I hadn’t ever thought about girls and myself.”

“You had couple of girlfriends… sort of. I mean there was this Cho Chang chick. And… umm… you know Ginny, yeah?” at Harry’s nod he continued, “and her.”

“Ginny? She’s never mentioned it.” Harry could’ve sworn he heard Draco mumble something but couldn’t decipher it.

Suddenly Draco jumped down from the counter, “I should be leaving. We can talk about this later, alright? I… gotta go, see you.” And he was gone. Strange.