The Burden of Memory

Chapter 4 Patients

It had been a couple weeks since he first met Lara, and Harry couldn’t be happier. She was brilliant, funny and kind. They made a point to spend as much time together as possible to make up for lost time during their childhood. Harry had finally told her more about the war and his own part in it. She was a good listener and had advised him that he couldn’t keep running from his past and that eventually he would have to step back into the wizarding world and face everyone.

Harry thought she sounded a little too much like Hermione, but he told her he was content for the time being, but that when it was right, he promised to go back.

He was supposed to meet her for lunch at the hospital and was almost excited to meet the amnesia patient she had been talking about incessantly for the last several weeks. He waved to the receptionist and made his way up to the third floor.

The elevator opened with a ding and Harry skipped over to the nurse behind the counter. “Good afternoon, Harry,” she cooed. She was usually the head nurse on staff when he came to visit his cousin. She was a pleasant woman with chocolate brown eyes and dark blonde hair.

“I don’t suppose you would tell me where I can find Lara?” he asked with a grin.

She laughed at Harry’s enthusiasm. She had thought Harry and Lara were dating until his cousin set her straight. Now the woman seemed to be after him for herself. “Now Harry, why would I tell you that? You’ll just go chasing after her and then I’ll be all alone here.”

Harry smiled and refrained from rolling his eyes. He didn’t feel like the type of guy women should flirt with. “Beth, you know it’s not like that. I can always come back and visit after lunch,” he offered. He always did because she always politely declined. It was a routine by now.

“She’s down in Mr. Gray’s room of course,” she told him. “She spends most of her time with him these days, when she’s not with you of course. She gets the attention of all the handsome men,” Beth added wistfully.

Harry chuckled and said good-bye, leaving the flirty woman at her post, and headed toward room 309. He had the room number memorized, because Lara was, as Beth had said, almost always there when he came to visit.

Unlike normal however, he actually made it to the room. Usually she met him in the corridor before he reached it, having anticipated his arrival. He made a quick scan of the room housing the patient he had heard so much about.

Supposedly this guy was supermodel gorgeous, and very sweet. Both Lara and her father gushed about how good-natured Mr. Gray was, especially considering his condition. Henry talked about the man like he was a long lost son, and Lara’s eyes went a little hazy whenever she mentioned his name.

The first bed was empty, and there was a curtain pulled around the second bed. “Lara,” he called, not wanted to intrude if, as he suspected, something other than a doctor patient relationship was blooming between his cousin and Mr. Gray.

She peeked out from behind the curtain and smiled when she saw him standing in the doorway. “Harry come here, I have someone I want you to meet,” she said, gesturing for him to come behind the curtain.

Harry’s jaw nearly dropped open as he took in the man on the bed. He was thin and pale and looking up at Harry with disdain dripping from every feature. He couldn’t believe that the man lying there, looking like he wanted to kill Harry was the man that Lara and Henry were so fond of. The man Lara acted as though she would one day marry, and he certainly looked like no son that Henry could have.

Frankly this man was too old.

“Er, nice to meet you at last Mr. Gray,” Harry stammered.

Lara chuckled beside him. “Harry, this isn’t Dorian. This is Mortimer, he’s been a regular of mine since my internship began,” she laughed.

“Are you really dating this idiot, Lara? You know you could just leave him for me,” the old man rasped.

“Mortimer, this is my cousin, Harry. We’re not dating, so you don’t have to worry,” she told him with a wink.

The old man gave her a cheeky grin and his face softened a bit toward Harry. “So you’re the new long lost relative my Lara tells me about, hmm?”

Harry nodded. “Yes, sir. We only accidentally ran into one another a couple weeks ago, now were practically inseparable,” he joked.

She hooked her arm though Harry’s and nodded in agreement. “Mortimer, Harry’s taking me out for lunch, can I sneak you anything when I get back?” she asked conspiratorially.

“Nah, I don’t want to get you in trouble with your pops. I’ll let one of the other nurses take the heat,” he chuckled.

Lara winked at him again and led Harry away from the room and back to the elevator. “Did you really think that Mortimer was Mr. Gray?” she asked, not bothering to hide her amusement.

Harry shrugged. “How was I supposed to know? It was his room and Beth said you were with him. You’ve never really told me what he looks like except the fact that he’s dreamy,” he said the last in a perfectly wistful impression of Lara. “Whose to say you don’t find wrinkles and liver spots sexy,” he finished, laughing when Lara slapped his arm roughly.

“You’re incorrigible,” she grumbled as they got onto the elevator and rode it down to the main floor.

“So where is your lover boy today? Don’t tell me he’s already been released?” he asked. Hoping for Lara’s sake that she was still able to see him everyday.

She shook her head and blushed slightly. “No, they took him in for a CT scan. They only just wheeled him out before you came in, you might have even walked right past him,” she mused.

“Did something happen, is he okay?” Harry concern for the man he had never even met surprised him, but he justified that it was only because Lara liked him so much.

Lara laughed again. “It’s routine when a patient exhibits mental blocks like amnesia. Other than having no real memories of his whole life, he seems to be in tip top shape,” she replied, seemingly disgusted that they hadn’t been able to help him recover any memories yet.

“Still no luck then?” he asked.

She shook her head and looked dejected. “No. The most we’ve been able to do is cause him nightmares,” she said, looking pained.

“Nightmares?”

“He’s told me that he has these dreams of a man with a reptile-like face, and a menacing group of people in long black robes. But that doesn’t seem so weird, because I’ve had those same nightmares ever since my mother died. It must be a common side effect of trauma. He probably lost someone very close to him and that’s why he’s subconsciously blocking his memories,” she added nonchalantly.

Harry paled and looked at her critically. “It sounds like your having dreams about Death Eaters, Lara.”

She laughed heartily. “Harry, that’s ridiculous. I’m no witch, and I’ve never even seen a Death Eater. Why would I be having nightmares about them?”

He didn’t have an answer for her, but something still felt off. They finished their lunch with more uplifting stories, like how Harry wrote to Hermione and how he was planning to visit her soon. Lara told Harry that Beth had asked about him several times that morning, which only served to make Harry squirm.

Lara however thought it was brilliant and said she was going to set the two of them up on a double date with her and Mr. Gray as soon as he was released. Harry’s response was something about making sure he kept Mr. Gray quite sick in order to avoid such a date.

--

“You missed Harry again,” Lara said as she made her way to his bedside.

Mr. Gray grimaced. The name seemed so familiar to him, Harry Potter she had said, but nothing came to him. He also didn’t like the way she talked about him with such admiration. He knew they were related, but there was something about this girl that made him want her all to himself.

“It’s the eyes,” he would constantly tell himself, the same captivating green eyes that haunted his dreams. She and her father had been so good to him, and she was obviously smitten, so why not indulge her. Her father had even made mention of putting Dorian up at his own place once he was released, if no family or friends ever came to claim him before then.

He often wondered just where his family and friends were. Surely they would be looking for him. Did he already have a girlfriend or a wife? Judging by the way people in the hospital treated him he was sure to have lots of friends.

Was he so far from home that no one thought to look for him in this particular hospital? Did something happen to his family to make them unable to locate him? All these questions were a terrible stress on his already pounding headache.

Then Lara came in with her shining green eyes and he began feeling a little better.

“Marry me,” He blurted it before he could even think of anything else to say or even an explanation for what he did say.

She just chuckled and looked at him with an amused expression. He could read a hint of sadness in her eyes though, and it was that, which made him press forward. “I’m serious,” he said.

Lara patted him on the head like a child. “Dorian, I would be taking advantage if I said yes. You have no idea what’s in store for you when you leave here. You may already be engaged for all you know,” she added.

“I don’t care,” he replied. “You’ve taken such good care of me, you really care about me. Your father feels like my own… you must at least consider it,” he finished at last.

She laughed and nodded. “Fine, I’ll think it over,” she said with an amused grin.

He didn’t like that she didn’t take him seriously, but he respected that she wasn’t the type to leap into such a huge decision. He liked to think that if he knew what his type was, that she would be it.

--

Author's note: The title was to indicate the obvious, in that it was about hospital patients, bt also that you all need to have "patience" in waiting for the reveal. I am the mistress of suspense. lol