my name is avalon. i don't know who named me, or what good it does to have a name. no one knows i am here, except the dementors, and they never call anyone by name. they don't even talk. the prisoners all forget me once they can't see me. out of sight, out of mind. most of them are.
there was one... a prisoner who knew me. maybe it was he who named me, looked after me. the dementors don't care. they can't care. it's not in their natures.
i love the smell of the sea, the sight of a sunset, the sound of violins, the taste of butterbeer, the touch of satin.
but the dementors take everything out of their surroundings. smell, sight, sound, taste, touch. i've never known these things. all i am left with is the memories of others. good and bad.
i know them all. and i never forget. the dementors don't affect me. perhaps because all my memories contain them. i have no happy memories for them to steal, and no horrible memories to be left alone with. all i have is borrowed property.
someone is dreaming now. she will not remember when she wakes. if she wakes. sometimes they don't. i see what she sees. her happy memory. torture. pain. screams. insanity. she is happy, she is content. she will not remember.
a new prisoner. rare. aware. afraid. the dementors... i feel them purring, like the dream of satisfied cats. they are full, their hunger abated... for now.
a guest, escorting the prisoner. terrified, sickened. he is common, he visits often. weak-spined, soft-bellied. he would not last. he is gone.
temporary prisoners are few. the last... strength. strong heart, strong dreams. dragons, dogs and spiders. love.
someone is screaming now. vengeance, anger, hate, bloodlust. it is all they will remember. frustration, despair. it is all that is left. they see nothing further.
except that one. he held hope, tenuously, tenaciously. he did not despair. he dreamed. and he remembered.
he left. the dementors went wild. hungered, hunted. he wasn't supposed to go but he went. never came back.
cell lies empty, and open. dementors want him back. prepare his bed. eternal. he will not return.
it is mine now. here i sleep, and dream others' dreams. memories. elusive. solid. always. never.
commotion. there is a visitor. pale, sweaty. still standing. he sees me. red hair. white face.
shock. he does not believe. reaching out. hand waiting. he wants to know.
i take his hand. it is shaky, yet solid.
red hair. red face. he is angry. dementors. child. me. i should not be here.
he leads me away. towards the exit. out. into. now.
dementors fall back. they will not fight. not for me.
fortress behind. boat. sways. sun. i am out. i am in.
red hair. glasses glint.
"Who are you?"
incomprehensible. i am no one. borrowed memories. i am nothing.
"Please. I need to know who you are."
waking dreams. red hair. many faces. replicas. odd. brown hair, black hair. care. love. family.
"Can you talk to me? Do you understand what I'm saying?"
away. further. fortress behind. new shore ahead. strange.
sudden. overwhelming. light, smell. sound. sight.
sunshine on skin. salt in air. wind in hair. birds in flight.
"How long have you been in there? Have you ever known anything else?"
this is what he went back to. the prisoner. the one that remembered.
the man sighs. "You poor child. I wonder what your name is."
suddenly, i am real. not just borrowed memories. i have my own.
"My name is Avalon."
