BANALITY : Draco Malfoy

59

The grey turns into a dark room, and I tip forward, only barely catching myself on the walls of the fireplace. A light switch flicks on, and I see a man with a mess of curly hair and thick glasses staring at me. His breath is loud. I duck my head and take a step out of the Floo.

"Don't move," he says, his Irish accent thick. He has a wand in his hand, but he isn't pointing it at me. Actually, his eyes are wide and waiting.

"Sorry," I say.

He lifts his free hand back up and flicks the light off and on. Then, he peers at me.

"How..." he trails off before he looks at me. "So, you're not a ghost. If you are a boggart, you are only scaring me slightly."

"I'm real," I say, though I have no idea what a boggart is. I haven't exactly read through the care of magical creatures book yet. "It's not a trick. I don't think it would be funny."

"Give me your bag," he says.

I look down. It has vomit on it, but so do I, and I still feel like I might puke. He waits expectantly, so I offer it up to him.

He snaps his wand, "accio bag."

It flies into his hands. He looks at the bag, and then at me, "is there anything in here that can't get wet?"

When I nod my head, he looks back down at the bag. He wraps his hands tightly around the wand, and sends a spell carefully, "scourgify."

The vomit vanishes. There are a few soap bubbles on the side pocket, but otherwise the bag is dry. Then, Terry opens the bag. He digs through it, throwing clothes on the floor haphazardly and chucking the broom aside. He scans each book cover. Then, he pulls out the oil pastels, and he stares at me.

"You aren't under the Polyjuice potion," he says. "It's really you."

"Yes," I nod my head.

He looks at me and twists his wand, "scourgify."

My lips feel cleaner now, but they taste soapy. My shirt is also colder, and when I look down I notice the vomit is gone. I'm cleaner now, at least.

"Let's sit, I think," he says.

He nearly trips on the clothes that he has thrown on the ground. He takes a seat in the large plush chair, and I take a seat on the loveseat opposite him. Like the fireplace, the room is quite quaint. My mountain of stuff on the ground doesn't help the tight feeling. Through one door, I can see the kitchen. It doesn't seem like there are stairs here.

"How are you alive?" he looks at me. "Didn't Landry Travers kill you while you were in hiding?"

I shake my head, "no. I had my memory altered."

"What?" his eyes are wide, blinking as he looks at me. "How do you mean?"

"I wish I could tell you," I shake my head at him. He is unassuming, it seems. "My memories were altered."

"But... have you been held captive for the last two and a half years?" he leans in closer. His glasses make his eyes seem large. "I mean, you do look a little sickly. How did you escape? How much of the war was altered?"

My heart is racing in my chest. Truly, I have no idea how he is going to react, "I was living life as a muggle."

I wait to see if there is any recognition on his face. He blinks a few times and furrows his brow. Going here might have been a mistake. Truly, I wasn't sure if Terry had altered my memory at the time. Luna seemed to trust him, but I don't actually know him. It seemed worth the risk to have the opportunity to keep Draco out of Azkaban. All of my actions seem more irrational now that I am in Derry with a stranger, but I suppose none of this actually makes any real sense. I've only known about magic for less than a month, and I've only known that I was a witch for even less time.

"You escaped and lived as a muggle?" he says. "Why not come back?

"No," I correct him. "My memory was altered from age eleven until quite recently. I didn't know I was a witch."

Terry leans backwards, shaking his head. He sits in silence, hands pressed together as he thinks. He mutters a summoning charm, and a book comes out of his room. He flicks through a few pages, but then stops, "I suppose it's not the most powerful case of memory alteration that I've heard of in my life, although that would be quite a feat. So, I take it the memory alteration hasn't been completely undone?"

"No," I shake my head, "I don't remember Hogwarts, or anything else really. In all honesty, I don't know who you are, or who I was."

"How did you find me?" he says, seemingly unbothered by the fact that I do not know him. "It also seems that you are able to use the floo network, although I guess you didn't know I lock mine."

"I was found by some other wizards," I try to shake him off. "It's all quite complicated, but I am in danger until I get my memories back since some old Slytherins are out to get me for reasons that I don't understand. The people who found me had given up and were planning on sending me to Canada using an illegal portkey."

"Fascinating," he peers at me, closing the book and putting it in his lap. "And so, I'm assuming you picked me because of the book?"

"Book?" I ask.

"Still Recruiting: Resistance at Hogwarts During the Second Wizarding War," he says. "I'm a historian."

Realizing that my jaw is open, I close it. Truly, I could not have picked a better person to go and visit, especially since if he was intending to hurt me, I imagine he could have by now. He wasn't expecting that I could still exist.

"I saw your name on the list of members of the DA," I say. "You lived far away from everyone who is trying to get me, so I thought they wouldn't find me here all too quickly."

He nods slowly. He takes off his glasses, and then he pinches the bridge of his nose. He takes a second to think, and then puts back on his glasses.

"You can stay here," he says. "My study has a spare bed that you can use. You can even peruse the files if you'd like, but I just ask that you don't get things out of order."

I nod, "thank you."

Then, he stands, "we can discuss more in the morning."

He helps me pick up my stuff on the floor, and then leads me to the study. The bed is small and firm, and there is barely any room between that, the bookshelf, and the filing cabinet. Yet, it is still a space to be mine, at least for the night.

~~~~~

Eel! What do you think of Terry? Any ideas about him or who he is? I cannot wait to hear from you all in the comments!