The Burden of Memory

Authors Note: Thanks go out to my beta's - the ever present Alexandra and my newest addition Shannon! Thanks so much both of you.

Chapter 3 Affections

His head was still throbbing, but Dorian could feel the difference already from the potions in the large clear sacks by his bed, threading into his arm with a sharp needle. Potions? No, that was crazy person talk again. Medicine, Dr. Evans had called it… painkillers more specifically.

His door opening drew his attention to the new people entering his room. The doctor he knew well, but the pretty young girl at his side was someone he had only seen briefly and never spoken to directly. She looked to be his age, and he could tell from the way she spoke to the older man that he was her father.

“Mr. Gray, I don’t think that you’ve ever been formally introduced to my daughter. This is Lara, Lara this is, of course, Mr. Gray,” he said coolly, though Draco could sense and twinge of nerves beneath his calm exterior.

The girl, Lara smiled at him, but she too seemed to be preoccupied. “Mr. Gray, it’s a pleasure to finally be introduced.”

“I heard that you were the one to name me. I must say the way your father speaks of you I thought you to be much younger,” Dorian said with a cheeky grin.

Lara blushed and walked over to his bedside. “Father would like to think that I’m much younger and unable to handle important information,” she said sending a scathing look toward the doctor, “but I assure you I am perfectly capable.”

“I believe you,” Dorian replied, watching the girl closely. She really was very lovely, long red hair, soft pale face and those eyes. The brilliant green eyes reminded him of something… someone. He struggled to remember a face to go along with those eyes but came up short. It was infuriating. The connection to them felt so important, only it was just out of reach.

“Have I met you before? Before I arrived here, I mean?” Dorian asked her.

She shook her head and he frowned. He hoped that perhaps she took an extra interest in him because they had something in their past together. Perhaps it was still the case only she wasn’t allowed to tell him. Maybe that was why father and daughter seemed so upset when they arrived.

“How are you feeling today, Mr. Gray,” the doctor asked, interrupting Dorian’s puzzle solving.

“I still have a headache, but your po- medicine is working. It’s not as bad as yesterday,” he said honestly. “All my other scrapes and bruises seem to be mostly healed,” he added.

“Good, good. How are the nurses treating you?” he asked, jotting down several notes on his chart, his daughter still shooting him impatient looks.

“The nurses are all too kind,” Dorian replied. “They are quick to answer when I call and fulfill my every whim.”

The doctor chuckled. “Yes, that would be the case. You’re a bit of a celebrity around here.”

“Not to mention handsome,” Lara added and then looked mortified that she had said so out loud. “Sorry,” she muttered.

Dorian laughed. “It’s okay. Flattery will get you everywhere,” he joked.

Lara blushed again and her father cleared his throat. “Well, unless there is anything else, Mr. Gray, I believe my daughter has some things she wishes to review with me before she leaves for the day.”

He reached out his hand for Lara’s and placed a chaste kiss against her palm. “No sir, I think that cover’s everything,” Dorian replied. “Have a good day off,” he added to Lara, who scurried from the room, red faced.

--

Not even two hours after Harry arrived back at the flat there was a sharp knock on his door. He cringed at the sound and procrastinated as long as he could before going to open it. Part of him hoped it was only FedEx and that there would be a white package on his doorstep and not an irate cousin.

It was the latter.

Lara stood in his doorway looking mildly irritated but otherwise amused. “Nice of you to open the door, finally. What were you doing in there?” she asked.

“Er… making tea. Would you like some?” Harry asked tentatively.

“I would love some. May I come in?” she asked, indicating blatantly that Harry was blocking her path and he swiftly moved aside.

“How do you take it?” he called from the kitchen while Lara sat in a burgundy armchair by the window.

“Milk and a dab of honey,” she replied.

Harry grinned to himself. That was precisely the way he preferred his own tea. “Sorry I ran off on you like that,” he began, eager to try out his new excuse. “I remembered that a friend was supposed to call to make sure I got all settled.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. In truth Ron was supposed to call, though not until later that evening… and it would be a floo call, but she didn’t need to know any of that.

“Oh, and did your friend call?” she asked politely.

Harry feigned irritation in his voice. “No, drat it all. I left for nothing. That’s Ron for you I guess.”

She made a noncommittal noise but said nothing else. Harry brought in the two teacups and handed the first to Lara and then took a seat in the armchair across from her. They were still surrounded by towers of boxes. Harry didn’t want to unpack too quickly now that he and Lara were getting close, because he didn’t want it to look too suspicious. A normal muggle bachelor might never unpack completely.

“So this friend,” she asked, “is he a wizard too?”

Harry sputtered and tea dribbled down his chin. “A what?”

Lara grinned from ear to ear. “I know you’re a wizard, Harry,” she said simply. “I overheard a conversation my parents had about it a few years ago. None of it really made sense until I saw the wand.”

A million questions ran through Harry’s mind as he sought to comprehend what she just said. “That’s wasn’t a wand,” was all he was able to come up with.

Her look went from jolly to stern within seconds. “Harry, please don’t treat me like I’m mental. Father told me everything after you left.”

“He did?” Harry asked, eyes wide.

She nodded. “Not that he knows a lot about it, just what he remembered from your mum.”

“Well. I guess that means I don’t have to continue living in boxes,” he said with a resigned smile and flicked his wand toward the offending brown cardboard and sent his things flying through the flat.

When he turned back to look at Lara she was slack jawed and watching the things zip around in a whirr. “Not prepared for a demonstration just yet?” Harry asked, chuckling lightly.

Lara swallowed thickly, not removing her eyes from any of the objects flying past her head. “No this is okay, just unexpected. I thought you would be more stubborn about it,” she laughed.

Harry laughed too. “I usually am… but you’re family. It’s perfectly safe for you to know. Plus if you try to expose our kind I can just obliviate you,” he added with a wicked grin.

She laughed nervously. “So what else can you do with that thing? Can you clean my flat?” she asked excitedly.

“I could…” Harry said, seeming to ponder over the idea. “But I think it would be more fun to do this,” he said, aiming his was at Lara and muttering a few glamour spells. Suddenly her hair was short and blonde and her makeup was outrageously dramatic.

She didn’t seem to notice what he did, which made Harry laugh even harder. “Mirror,” he rasped between fits of chuckles.

She ran from the room and he could hear her scream from the loo. Harry was practically rolling with fits of laughter when she returned, demanding he change her back.

After calming himself enough to get the spells right, he fixed what he had done to Lara’s face and hair. She was a good sport about it all and listened intently as Harry told her all about living with the Dursley’s and the first trip to Diagon Alley, and Hogwarts and his friends. He told her a little about Voldemort, but didn’t talk much about the war. It was hard enough to talk to people who had been there with him. Explaining it from scratch was far too tiresome.

As it was she was Lara was still there several hours later when the fireplace flared green and a red headed boy poked his head through the embers.

“Ron!” Harry exclaimed.

Lara turned around with a fright as she saw the disembodied head in the fireplace. Ron took one look at her and was about to end the fire call but Harry stopped him. “It’s okay Ron, this is the cousin I mentioned yesterday.”

“You told her?” he asked incredulously.

Harry nodded sheepishly. “Technically her father did. I just filled in some of the blanks.”

Ron pulled his head back, effectively ending the floo call, but a moment later he was standing him Harry’s living room, covered in a light dusting of soot.

He extended a grimy hand out to Lara, whose eyes were still on the verge of popping free of her face. “Nice to meet you, I’m Ron Weasley,” he said with a gracious bow.

She flushed slightly and took his hand. “I’m Lara Evans,” she replied. “I had no idea you could travel through fireplaces…” her voice trailed off as she looked back and forth from the fireplace to Ron standing in front of her.

“You didn’t tell Mione how to reach me did you?” Harry asked quickly. He wouldn’t forgive her if she made him repack again so suddenly. It would have been the quickest time yet that she had Ministry officials on his doorstep.

“Course not, mate. I know better than that. I never even told her that I was calling you. I don’t even know if she’s aware you left the last place,” Ron replied.

“So how is that going then? You and Mione?” Harry asked. They had been trying to date each other the last time he paid a visit to Ron, but things had looked grim for any potential relationship according to Ron.

It didn’t go unnoticed to Harry that Ron’s eyes flicked down to Lara before he answered. “I think that’s a conversation for another time. Let’s just say it’s a non-issue,” he replied at last.

Harry took that to mean that his two best friends were no longer seeing each other. Not sure what else to say about it, Harry went and put on another pot of tea. He could hear the faint giggling from the living room and knew Ron had turned on his charm for his cousin.

He guessed that if he couldn’t join the Weasley family by marrying Ginny, then maybe Ron could help make that marriage connection and join the two families together. Harry shook his head. There was no reason to jump to such things. He had only just met Lara and his cousin was very busy with her career. A relationship was probably the last thing she had on her mind.

Authors Note: Please review.