"You know…it wasn't your fault."
Her smile was warm, as it always was. She was sitting across from him at the table with the best view of the Thames.
"Then, who's fault was it?" Albus asked.
"Hers," she said.
"I think my hubris played a part too. I thought I could beat her," he said.
"A person shouldn't be blamed because they got outsmarted."
"Clearly you've never read Sun Tzu. A person whose arrogance stops them from contemplating what their enemy is capable of is to blame. I couldn't contemplate that Delphi was evil and it cost an innocent boy his life. I couldn't contemplate that Nemesis was two steps ahead of me and it cost you yours," Albus said.
"I'm not dead," Alex reminded.
She was always kind. Always gentle. Always supportive.
"And always fake," she said reading his thoughts. "You need to stop doing this."
"Doing what?"
"Talking to me inside your mind vault. I'm not her, Albus. I'm not real. I'm your memory of her with a few embellishments!"
"Embellishments?"
"Come on, Albus! My tits aren't this big in real life and you know it!" she said purposely poking out her chest at him. She had definitely gained a cup size or three. And all of her gorgeous features were miraculously free of any kind of flaws. Her scars from all her many duelling battles were gone and her skin seemed to almost glow. Like a mirage.
"Well…I…" he mumbled.
"The real Alex wouldn't be helping you nurture your guilt. She'd be telling you to get off you ass and back into the fight!" she stated.
"I'm not –"
"Yes, you are! You're blaming yourself for everything and it's swallowing you whole! You need to wake up!"
"Alex…I don't know what to do…" he admitted.
"Well, you're not going to figure it out daydreaming! Wake up!"
"No, I need to –"
"ALBUS, WAKE UP!"
Alex mouth may have moved but it wasn't her voice. A great tug suddenly ripped him away from the scene and his whole body clenched as a wave of cold hit him. He shivered and quickly became away that his feet were sore and aching.
A Cold breeze blew through the air and somewhere in the distance a dog was barking. Standing in front of him was a very worried looking Draco Malfoy. His white-blond hair was a mess and he had bags under his eyes.
"What? What's wrong?!" Albus immediately asked.
"Are you awake?"
"Of course, I'm awake, you just woke me u…" the words died as he looked around.
Albus was standing in the middle of a country road surrounded by a few village houses on his left and open fields on his right.
He had no idea where he was.
"Where am I?! How did I get here?!" he demanded.
"You slept walked…I think," Draco said.
"What?! No…I don't…I…I can't sleep walk! I don't dream!" he said frantically, grasping for a reasonable explanation for how he came to be there.
"Well, you woke me up by slamming the front door on your way out and I just followed you for a mile, yelling your name and you didn't respond! You were like a zombie," Draco said.
"This…this shouldn't be happening…" he said, now aware of why his feet hurt so much. He wasn't waring any shoes. In fact, he was in wearing nothing but his boxers.
"You're spending too much time inside that damn vault of yours!" Draco growled and grabbed him by the shoulder.
There was a sharp tug inside his stomach, as if he were being pulled by a bungie cord and his ears popped. Suddenly they were both standing in front of Draco's house. It wasn't nearly a big or lavished as Malfoy manor had been (which he had sold years before) but it was still an impressive house. Five bedrooms on three floors, an amazing kitchen and a huge garden.
He lived between London and Milton Keynes were the house prices weren't so ridiculous. The Malfoy family fortune had been greatly diminished after the war but Draco was still considered wealthy. A few sound investments over the years had made sure that he would never have money troubles.
"You're detaching from reality, Albus!" he said walking past the large hedge bushes towards the front door.
"I need the vault. It's the only place I can review all the data and try to make sense of it," he said following.
"And how's that working out? You're no closer to finding her, the ministry doesn't even believe that Alex is possessed and I don't know if you saw the evening Prophet, but they are staying that you should be confined to St. Mungo's for observation because you're suffering from post-traumatic stress!" he barked.
Albus winced as he walked through the front door. He needed to sit down. "And what do you think?"
"I think you need to stop drinking before you go to sleep!"
"It wasn't your whiskey, calm down," he said collapsing into an armchair in the front room.
"Well, that makes a change!"
Draco looked up at the grandfather clock that stood against the wall. It was almost six in the morning. The sun would be coming up soon. No point in trying to go back to sleep.
With a flick of his wand a handful of coffee beans hoped out of and trotted happily across the kitchen counter before merrily suiciding themselves into a grinder which then floated across to a filter and tipped its contents in, all the while the kettle began to boil by itself.
"You can't keep doing this to yourself," Draco sighed. "I don't know if you've looked in the mirror lately, Albus, but you look like death!"
"I'm fine."
"You're about as fine as a Nundu with the hiccups and those things have wiped out entire villages! How much longer are you planning on hiding here?" Draco asked.
"I'm not hiding!" Albus snapped. "I just…there's too many opinions, too judgemental looks at my house, I can't focus there."
"Yeah, well, nobody believes that you've been here for the last three weeks just spending time with you friend," Draco snorted.
"Why not? That's exactly what I've been doing."
"Because he's not even here!"
"Yes, he is. He's upstairs."
"No, he isn't. He hasn't been here in three days which you would know if you weren't spending all of your time inside the damn vault!"
"What? Where is he then?!" Albus asked looking a little scandalized.
"At Anya's."
"Why?"
"Oh, I don't know," Draco said with angry sarcasm, "maybe helping her with the baby, which you said you were going to do!"
"I said I would go over there on Friday!"
"It's Monday!" Draco roared. "You missed Friday, Saturday and Sunday! And now you've slept walked through the early hours of Monday!"
Albus looked a bit confused. Had he really been in the vault for three days? "You can't tell anyone about that! The ministry already thinks I'm losing my mind, you tell them that I'm sleep walking and I'll be in a locked ward before lunchtime!"
"Might be the best thing for you," Draco mumbled and flicked his wand again. Two cups of hot coffee floated over to them.
"Draco, I'm serious."
"I'm not going to tell anyone!"
"Good. Because she's not going to stay quiet forever."
"It's been seven months, Albus. What the hell is she waiting for?"
"The right time to strike. She's already waited fourteen hundred years. Patients is something she has in abundance," Albus warned.
SEYCHELLES – EAST AFRICA
Many men, including married ones, including men whose partners were standing right beside them couldn't help but stare at the young girl by the pool. Even a few women cast longing looks her way. Nemesis may have been in control but she hadn't changed Alex' body in any way and that was what was grabbing so much attention.
People could be forgiven for think that she was a Veela but in truth she was just a fortunate recipient of good genes and had a strong dedication to healthy living. Lounging on a sunbed in nothing but a dark red bikini, everyone already in the pool was hoping she's dive in.
But, it didn't matter how many people around the expensive hotel resort tried to get her attention, she had eyes only for the newspaper in front on her.
A moving picture of Albus Severus Potter yelling at a bunch of ministry officials before being dragged away by Scorpius Malfoy took up most of the front page along with the headline: BROKEN POT?
It's become a growing concern over the last few months that Albus Severus Potter may by suffering ongoing, stress related hardships after the events that transpired in Hogwarts seven months ago. Although his family members refuse to comment, the Prophet has learned of several heated exchanges between the Saviour of the Wizarding world and his second son. Albus is apparently showing high degrees of paranoia and has tried to convince the Ministry to investigate Alexandria Bonde (Duelling champion of the wizarding world and voted most attractive athlete by witch weekly three times). Many are attributing this to post-traumatic stress but others believe it could be because the famed duellist and temporary Professor of Hogwarts rejected Albus Potter unwanted affections. Some are even expressing concerns that the events at Hogwarts and the ministry combined with being spurned by the much-desired witch have left Albus a danger to himself and the public. Should specialist healers at St. Mungo's intervene?
In other news: Hogwarts set to re-open this Monday. Can the Tri-Wizard cup continue the Sorting Hats Legacy?
Nemesis sighed. "So typical," she muttered to herself. "You try to save them and look how they treat you."
She caressed her finger over the moving image of Albus. "Don't worry, Albus. They're in for a rude awakening."
She looked up and saw a middle-aged man with a goatee laughing as he was pulled into the hotel lobby by a sexy young blond whom was easily half his age.
"Right on time," Nemesis smirked and stood up from her sun bed.
Dozens of men ogled her as she walked around the pool towards the outside bar. She dumped the Daily Prophet in the bin at the end of the bar before leaning forward. An abashed young man in a white serving jacket rushed forward to take her order. He was sweating buckets in the heat.
"Yes, madam?" he said in a French accent.
"Mojito, s'il vous plait," she smiled.
The barman got to work mixing spirits and shaking them over ice.
"Hello," a male voice beside her said.
Nemesis looked to her left to see a tall, tanned and very chiselled man in a speedo standing next to her. He was giving her his very best smoulder and flashing a gold, diamond incrusted Rolex on his wrist at her.
She gave him a seductive smile which made him come closer and start speaking in Italian. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the barman turn his back. With a flick on her finger the rich Italian guy that was attempting to hit on her suddenly headbutted the bar with a much force as he could with a horrible thud before collapsing on the floor.
The barman looked around, startled by the sound and saw the Italian on the ground, completely out cold.
Nemesis made a movement with her hand like she was drinking from an invisible cup and then pointed at the comatose rich guy.
The barman shook his head in annoyance and muttered a few swear words in French. He handed her the finished Mojito then picked up the phone, probably to complain about a drunk guy to hotel security.
She smiled kindly then headed off towards the hotel.
The air-conditioned lobby was very refreshing and marble floors cooled her feet as she walked. The two security guards that were standing by the lifts got a call through their ear-pieces and moved away from their posts to go a deal with the drunk Italian that had passed out by the pool bar. Nemesis entered the lifts without any problem.
She got off on the fifth floor and walked down the corridor, sipping her Mojito as she went.
The sounds of male laughter and excited female giggling got louder as she walked until she was standing outside the room that it was coming from. With nothing more than a thought, she unlocked the door and gently pushed it open.
Well, they didn't waste any time.
The man was already in his Boxers and the woman had stripped down to her lacy white underwear. Between the horny chuckled they were kissing and groping each other as much as possible. So much so that they didn't realize that a bikini-clad demi-god was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame and sipping a mojito with an amused expression on her face. She looked over and saw a pair of wands lying on the bedside table next to an opened bottle of champagne.
For a moment she contemplated just staying there and seeing how far the couple got before realizing she was there but that would have been a waste of time. As beautiful as that island was, she hadn't come there as a tourist.
"So…"
The girl screamed in shock and the man leaped backwards looking furious.
"This is where you come to get away from your wife, Mr. Tunney," Nemesis grinned.
"Who the bloody hell –" Before he even finished expressing his outrage, he lunged for his wand but both of them suddenly shot off the table and into Nemesis' hand.
They both looked stunned at what she had just done for a second before comprehension dawned on the man's face.
"Wait…you're…Alexandria Bonde?!"
"No, I'm not. Although, I've been told I look just like her…probably because I'm wearing her."
He looked like he was going to try and snatch his wand out of her hand but before he could, Nemesis' eyes suddenly lit up, as if a firework had just gone off behind them. The mans body instantly slackened and he just stood there staring at her.
"Get your clothes on and meet me in the lobby," Nemesis order, handing him back his wand.
"Yes, of course," Mr. Tunney said before grabbing up his clothes from the floor and putting them on. He was behaving like he was under the Imperius Curse.
"What – What have you done to him?!" the woman shrieked.
Nemesis gaze turned to her and her eyes flashed again. The woman mimicked the man, becoming instantly docile.
"He is useful. You are not," she said simply then nodded towards the rooms balcony.
As if in a trace, the woman drifted towards the sliding glass doors at the back of the room, opened them and then took a swan dive straight off the balcony. Nemesis finished her Mojito and set the empty glass on the side just as a massive crash followed by horrified screams filled the air outside the hotel.
She grinned with anticipation before leaving with the enslaved Mr. Tunney.
It was almost time to get Albus back in the game.