Zac Reed was embarrassed as he left the community center like he did every Tuesday. By now the humiliation should have passed of being a twenty-seven year old man taking a computers class at the community center, but it hadn't. After all he was by far the youngest person in the class; all of the other students were at least four decades older. It did not help that every time Zac arrived at class, Rosita, a ninety-eight year old widow, confused him with her grandson Jorge.
Rosita would go on and on about all his accomplishments, kiss his cheeks and ask him about his wife and kids. This was a slight improvement over Clara, an octogenarian who had a fondness for pinching his backside whenever he least expected. In general the class proved to be an embarrassment, but at least he could now use a computer….for the most part. Zac could start a computer, get online and use a few computer applications, but he was still woefully behind for his age group.
As he walked towards his car, Zac could not help blaming his parents. Admittedly neither his father nor mother could be blamed for being wizards, and thus having no knowledge of muggle technology. Still it didn't make Zac's life any easier since he was expected to know about social media and popular videos when he could barely figure out how to set his homepage.
A chill blew through the air and Zac pulled his coat closer around him. Considering that it was November in Michigan, the cold was not unusual, but something felt off. Zac glanced around the dimly light parking lot. There was a woman with bundled up in a giant blue coat heading for a red van. But the woman wasn't what spurred Zac's interest, but rather the dark shape floating in the air behind her.
Black robes billowed around an unseen skeletal figure, and the sky already began to darken. A dementor had found its way to Kalamazoo and it was headed right for the woman. Zac hurried towards the woman, who reeled back a little and dug her hand into her coat pocket.
"You need to get out of here." He ordered, trying to push the woman towards the van, but she pushed away from him. She was around twenty-four, completely alone and it was dark outside, she was clearly terrified.
"Leave me alone." She barked, her brown eyes wide with fear and confusion, and she pulled something out of her pocket that Zac couldn't see. Doing his best to control his fury, he proclaimed,
"You're in danger!" Again Zac tried to push her towards her van, but she remained frozen to the spot. Only this time the fear was not directed towards him, but something she could not see. The dementor hovered only feet away from them.
Zac's skin crawled with the sound of the rattled breathing and he fumbled for his wand hidden inside his coat. Unconsciously the woman leaned against him, her breath coming faster and tears beginning to leak from her eyes.
"No, no, please…" She began shaking and Zac began tugging at his zipper which refused to open. Something fell to the ground, whatever the woman had been holding before.
Memories flashed through Zac's mind, the day he was rejected by Stella Morgenstein and first time he broke his arm. He swallowed and managed to get his fingers around his wand. Regrets and old memories would not get the better of him. He pointed his wand towards the dementor that loomed closer.
"You worthless piece of-" A voice that Zac had hoped never to hear again echoed through his mind and his mouth went dry. His hand shook as he tried to muster a happy memory, anything that would deter the dementor. The woman's sobs interrupted Zac's concentration, but reminded him that he was not the only person at risk.
A good memory managed to worm its way free, Zac's graduation ceremony as he became an official auror.
"Expecto patronum!" He roared and a surge of light erupted, curling together to form a lion. The woman stopped shaking as the patronus pounced towards the dementor.
"It's-it's a lion…made of light." She muttered looking from the end of Zac's wand to the lion as it began to roar at the retreating dementor.
The stars twinkled back into existence and the air felt ten degrees warmer. Zac let out a sigh of relief before he looked over at the shell shocked woman. Her lips were almost blue from the cold and she began shaking again, her eyes never leaving the patronus until it dissolved. She stared over at Zac as he lowered his wand.
"What was that- did you-" Awkwardly, he took her arm and began leading her towards the van.
"You should probably sit down." He interrupted, hoping to distract her, although he knew it was already too late.
They reached the van and with shaking hands she reached into her purse, but she couldn't find her keys. Instead she stuffed her hands into her coat. She looked up at Zac; he noticed that the tears had frozen to her cheeks. It struck him that she would have a beautiful smile with her full pink lips, but he pushed that thought from his head.
"What was that?" She whispered sounding completely lost and as if she had just faced her worst fear. It took Zac a moment to realize he still held his wand in his hand. It was just such a natural extension of his arm that it felt odd not to have his wand. He waved the wand over his right hand and focused.
In his hand formed a chocolate bar and the woman gasped. Given that she had already seen the patronus, Zac knew he might was do something to help. It had been a while since he had transfigured something out of nothing, but he managed. Either way her memory would need to be wiped.
Zac opened the chocolate bar, broke off a piece and handed it to the woman. She stared at the chocolate and then back at him.
"Eat, you'll feel better." For a moment it looked like she would argue with him before she slumped back against the van. After taking a big bite of chocolate, she already looked a bit better. She studied Zac with interest as she ate.
"I'm Zac by the way, and I'll try to explain everything." It's not like she would remember any of the information, but she would remember how she felt. She swallowed and nodded at him,
"Olivia…I-" Pointing to the unfinished chocolate bar, Zac cut her off,
"Eat, I'll explain." Olivia nodded her head, chestnut colored hair bouncing from underneath her knit hat. Once she was eating again, Zac sighed as he tried to gather his thoughts. "I- there was something here. You couldn't see it, but you probably felt it. You felt-"
"Like I would never be happy again." She finished after swallowing her chocolate and Zac nodded in agreement.
"That was a dementor, a creature that feeds off of happiness." It was easy to see the question forming in her mind and Zac immediately explained, "The lion wasn't a lion. It was a patronus, my personal guardian and the only defense against dementors. I made it, I'm a wizard." Telling muggles about magic was never easy, they always took it differently, although it was fair to say no one ever believed at first.
Olivia struggled to find the words, but her face light up with delight. This struck Zac as unusual since magic and unknown magical creatures usually frightened muggles. Finally she whispered,
"Magic is real…magic is real." Tears formed in her eyes and she thoughtlessly wiped them away with the back of her hand. "I've always thought…I always wanted magic to be real…and you're a wizard." She smiled and Zac realized he had been right, she looked beautiful and her eyes were light up with happiness.
"Olivia," He whispered seriously, and that unbridled joy slowly succumbed to reality. Before Zac could tell her, she seemed to realize the truth.
"You can't let me remember; you have to make me forget, don't you?" Now it was his turn to struggle with words, so he simply nodded. She sniffed and put her arms around herself. "There's some big rule saying that people like me, we can't know about you."
"Yes," He croaked, it felt like a physical pain, to see her so happy only to make her sad again. "It's a law…and it's better this way. Dementor attacks are not something you want to remember." She looked up at him and timidly put her freezing hand against his cheek.
"But I won't remember that you saved my life." Her eyes bore into him, but he couldn't hold her gaze.
"I'm sorry." He whispered and he took a step back. Zac raised his wand and Olivia bowed her head.
"Thank you…just do it." Tears threatened Zac's eyes as he performed the memory charm. A part of him wondered why he felt so attached to a woman he barely knew, but he felt a connection to her. He didn't want her to forget.
Before his eyes, Olivia's mind cleared of the events from the last ten minutes. Her eyes were dazed, giving Zac a chance to fish her keys out of her purse. He unlocked her van, put her in the driver's seat and started the vehicle.
Getting into his own car, Zac watched as Olivia regained herself. Without hearing her, he knew what happened next. She wonders if she just zoned out for a minute and why she can't remember how she got into her van. It passes and she backs out of the parking space and drives home, returning to her life. Zac starts to pull out of the parking lot and then stops.
In the parking lot sits something Olivia dropped during the dementor attack. Parking the car, he got of the car and picked up the pepper spray. Zac stuck it in his pocket and got back in his car. Staring up at the stars half hidden by clouds, he muttered,
"I'm sorry Olivia." Zac put the car in drive and returned to his life.