There are times when neither science nor magic can provide an answer when we need it most. Sometimes there isn't a solution to the greatest challenge you face. It's absolutely infuriating at first. With time, you come to accept that there are events and phenomena that you just cannot explain. I have somewhat come to peace with this. There are still days I wonder what if I had been able to save her but I've learned that it's best not to live in the past. When I write this, I think of my mother and that terrible day.

A car accident can be just as effective as someone pointing a wand at you and uttering the word ‘Obliviate’.

I don’t remember much of the accident only pieces here and there. I do remember the date. It was February 24th and it was about 11 in the morning. We had just gotten out of the car park from visiting the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. It was my favourite place to go on an early Saturday morning. My brother and I were always promised delicious treats, such as their heavenly homemade doughnuts. These doughnuts were the best. They would always come out hot with the raspberry jelly piping hot. The sugar rolled on the outside would melt instantly once it touched your tongue. This morning, Dad and baby Olivia stayed at home whilst Mum took us boys and our Aunt out to the market. I don’t remember why our Aunt was staying with us. Mum had mentioned something about a bad boyfriend or something like that. She doesn’t even remember know it was a long time ago.

I was seven years old. Sitting in the back of a light blue Subaru, my family and I were waiting for the light to turn green. Marcus, my brother, and I were happily munching away on some delicious doughnuts that we had picked up at the market. In the front, Mum discussed matters with your aunt in complicated terms and jargon that you’d have to be an adult to understand. Trust me. I was a smart and nosy little seven year old whose favourite app was the dictionary on Dad’s smartphone.

I remembered the rain. It started out gently and then slowly increased until the water poured from the clouds. The light turned green. Mum took a moment to pause. The wheels of the car started to rotate and we began to move. Bump. The car and the whole world seemed to spin silently. Everything turned to black.

I don’t remember much of what happened during the accident. Perhaps it was shock that blinded me or perhaps I lost some of my memory of that day. I remember opening my eyes. I blinked them several times, trying to understand what had happened. It’s always hard to understand what happened when you can’t remember. I remember feeling a huge burning pain in the middle of my forehead. My entire body ached. My arms were sore as if I had played a long game of cricket with my brother in the yard. I could barely move a muscle- there was so much pain. I was lost. I wasn’t in the car anymore; I was on the road. Where was Marcus? Where was Auntie Jill? Where was Mum? I glanced over my shoulder gingerly as not to overstretch it and find her. She was on the ground. She was barely moving. My whole world stood still. I ran. Is she alive? Is she dead? I panicked. “Mum?”

I don’t remember what happened within the next hours. She survived but at a cost. She doesn’t remember much of what happened after the car accident. She doesn’t even remember my birthday or my youngest sister. This propelled me into finding a cure for her damaged memories.

First, I looked to science as it always held answers for my father. He had always trusted it. However, science was complicated and used terms that were difficult to understand. I devoted several years to this endeavor. Before I knew it, I was thirteen and headed to England for school. My secret mission to find a cure was tucked closest to my heart. I would find something. I would have too. I even tried to ask my older brother, Marcus, to assist me with my endeavor. He looked at me as if I was an idiot. Marcus and I had grown apart over the years. I still really don’t know the reason why to that. One day, he stopped playing with me. “Nothing you do will ever bring her back. Not even your silly little card tricks, you weirdo.”

Marcus had given me another avenue to explore. Magic.

Within my first few days at Hogwarts, I spoke to the Charms Professor about my mother’s condition and asked him if it was even possible for a charm to help her remember. He didn’t know especially since the injury was a physical one and not a magical one. I left that conversation with a heavy heart yet I was still determined to figure out something.

Several years later, her condition got worse. I still hadn’t found a cure or something to help her. I remember speaking to her on the last day of her life. “You’ve always been such a nice, young man. I wonder who raised you so well.”

“You did,” I had said.

She stared back at me like she didn’t believe me at all. Tears were in her eyes as she reached out and grabbed my hand to hold onto. “You look like my son, Simon, but he’s only seven.” She paused. Silence. "I hope my boy grows up to be just like you."

To her, I’ll always be seven.