Chapter 2: There's no such thing as Magic

A month passed quickly.

Between finding an apartment and a job and otherwise establishing myself I was too busy to pay much attention to the time. During all of this, Al kept to himself, still keeping himself busy by shielding me from whatever it was that he was hiding. Despite his determination, he was unable to keep some things from slipping through to me. Every now and then I would learn a name or experience a flash of sensation, whether it was a fleeting image or a distinct taste or smell.

But every time I learned something new I found myself with more questions than answers. And I only had a limited number of his memories to go on.

Although Al was keeping to himself, he would comment on something every once in a while. But then almost an entire week passed in silence. I only knew he was still there due to the absence of information. I mean, he had lived for almost twenty-three years, but there were very large gaps in time where I knew something had to have happened. Entire months were gone in some instances, so I knew he still had to be there, his main focus guarding his memories. So, when a week of silence passed I wasn't surprised. If anything, I was relieved he wasn't using his energy to annoy me.

Then, after a week, he abruptly broke the silence.

I was sitting alone in a coffee shop with my head buried in a notebook – I had been keeping a journal and documenting everything that Al had let slip past, not trusting myself to remember everything when he would hide it from me again – and it was while I was sitting there that someone approached me.

"Is it all right if I sit here?"

I looked up to see a woman gesturing at the empty seat at my table. She had a kind gaze and long, blonde hair that was pulled up into a neat bun. Her host was exceptionally pretty, and I felt like I should have known her from somewhere.

She made a small noise of recognition as her light blue eyes scanned my face, inhaling sharply, "Oh! You – your host was Albus, right?"

I nodded, offering her a smile, just as I felt Al stir in my head. He seemed to be happy and sad at the same time as he said, exasperated, Dominique…

Dominique?

He seemed to be reluctant to do so, but he released a small torrent of memories in regards to Dom, as she had liked to be called. It all happened in a few seconds, too quickly for Dom's host to notice, and then I returned to the present moment.

She asked me something, but I was still distracted and didn't hear what she said as she sat down beside me at the table.

"Huh?"

"What's your name?" she repeated patiently.

"Oh, I'm Blaze," I managed to say.

"Blaze," she repeated cheerfully. Then she offered me a hand and said, "I'm Hazel, it's nice to meet you."

Shaking her hand, I said, "It's nice to meet you, too."

Afterward, she proceeded to ask me where I was from, how long I had been here, and what I was doing. As I answered her questions she would nod politely, and she also gave her own answers to the questions she asked. I learned that she was from the Flower Planet, and that she had selected a new name for herself from Dom's memories. Dom had apparently been fond of the name Hazel, and Hazel told me it was what Dom had planned to name a daughter if she were ever to have one.

Then she told me she had been here, on Earth, for five years in Dominique's body. She said that she had missed living as a Flower at first, but that as she became more familiar with her host she had become fond of her new body. I could tell Al was listening intently even as I did, and it was growing increasingly difficult to keep a smile on my face as he grew more and more depressed.

In fact, he was mourning the loss of his cousin as I chatted freely with Hazel.

"So why are you working at a produce store?" Hazel asked after explaining why she had chosen to come to Earth.

I shrugged, a little surprised that she had brought up my Calling again. "I don't know, Albus –"

Tell her that working at the Ministry didn't sound appealing to you, Al loudly interjected.

I blinked, but Hazel didn't seem to be fazed by the fact that I had stopped talking in mid-sentence. She just sat there, waiting patiently for me to continue.

You can't let her know that there are gaps in memory, he explained when I still didn't say anything. It would be suspicious.

Al, I said, condescending, Souls don't get suspicious like you humans do, that's not something to worry about.

It would seem suspicious to her, trust me on this one, please.

Groaning mentally, I said, "Because working at the Ministry didn't sound all that appealing to me."

"But why are you working with Muggles?" She asked, smiling at me in a friendly manner, "You can't tell me you aren't curious about our world."

I stared at her blankly, resisting the urge to ask her what a Muggle was, and what the bloody hell she meant by our world, when Al spoke again.

I'll explain later, he promised, but, for right now, just say what I tell you to say.

And what should I say?

Tell her you've only been here for a month so you're still trying to figure out what you want to do while you're here.

"Well," I started, unsure, "I have only been here for a month, so I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do."

Hazel didn't question it, although I was no convincing liar. But she had no reason to question me; souls never had reason to be suspicious of other souls. She nodded as though she understood and began to tell me about her Calling. Although I didn't understand what she was talking about, Al hung on to every word and provided me with appropriate responses and remarks.

Then, finally, he told me to ask Hazel about the family.

"You haven't run into any of them, have you?" she asked curiously.

I shook my head when Al didn't tell me to say anything.

"They're all okay," she started to say, sipping her cappuccino as she spoke. "At this point it's only Uncle Ron, Aunt Ginny, James, Rose, Hugo, Molly, and Fred that are still missing."

What about Lily?

You're related to Lily? I asked, remembering her name from the first memory of his that I experienced.

Carefully, he flashed a short series of images and feelings at me. Within a few moments I felt rather thick for not realizing it before...

She's your sister!

"So Lily was found, then?" I asked curiously.

"Yes – the Seekers found her a few months ago. Apparently she had been living alone in a cave somewhere."

Al's dreary mood improved instantaneously. He went from feeling depressed over the loss of Dominique to hopeful that Lily was still alive – in the same manner that he was – in a flash. Repeating his question, I asked, "Was she living alone?"

With a nod, Hazel said, "That's what she told me."

Excited, I asked, "Where is she now?" before Al could tell me to.

"Well, Heat of the Morning Sun, whose host is now Lily, is currently living at number 12, Grimmauld Place," Hazel said with a frown. "It's so dark there, though, I don't understand how she can stand it. But I guess it is only temporary."

Later that night, when I finally shut the door to my apartment behind me and was able to start cooking dinner, I started asking Al my unanswered questions. I didn't expect him to answer all of them, of course, but as I put on a pot of water I began to think them through anyway. At first I only asked him one question, but then he said that I may as well ask them all at once and that he would only answer those he deemed appropriate to answer. As I leaned against the counter in the kitchen, I organized my thoughts and selected the two that were the most important to me, hoping that by asking for only a little information that he would be more willing to answer.

First and foremost, I want to know what Muggles are. Secondly, what did Hazel mean when she said our world?

He seemed to sigh mentally after a moment, and said, Don't forget you just put a pot on the fire – this will probably take a while.

Okay, I agreed anxiously.

Then, suddenly, he submerged me into one of his memories from a decade earlier, when he was eleven.

I was waiting in a large room with the other first year students after stepping out of the boats we had crossed the Black Lake in. Rose was standing beside me, a worried expression on her face.
"Al, I'm nervous."
"Me too," I said, looking down from the tall ceiling to her freckle-covered face.
"I think the Sorting Hat will put me in Gryffindor. Or, at least I hope it will," she said quietly. "I'm not sure which house I want to be in – which one do you want to be in?"
I had wanted to be in Gryffindor for at least a year at that point, and I had dreaded being placed in Slytherin. Especially after James had been taunting me about it all summer. But, after my dad had told me it didn't matter to him or my mum which house I was sorted into, I wasn't sure what I wanted.
Shrugging, I said, "I don't know."
Before Rose could reply, the doors to the Great Hall opened as Professor McCarthy – an older witch with dark eyes – stepped back into the room. "They're ready for you now," she announced happily. Quickly, we all arranged ourselves into a small crowd and followed her into the hall.
The first thing I noticed was the multitudes of candles hovering over us, lighting the entire hall. Then I looked up when Rose told me to, and I realized that James wasn't lying when he had said the ceiling was enchanted to reflect the sky outside, seeing as millions of stars could be seen against a blue-black sky. Looking down again, I saw that there were two long tables on either side of me, four in total for each of the houses. Then, I looked ahead of us as we came to a stop and saw the frayed Sorting Hat sitting on a stool in front of the staff table.

I was pulled halfway out of the memory when I heard the water boiling. While the Sorting Hat sung its song in my head, I tried to focus on putting the proper amount of pasta into the water. As I stirred it carefully, I was pulled back into the memory.

After the applause died down, Professor McCarthy began to call out the names of the first years around me. And, one by one, everyone sat down on the stool and had the Sorting Hat placed on their heads. I only took notice to a few of the sortings before mine, one of which was Scorpius Malfoy's sorting.
I could remember my uncle, Ron, telling me about when Scorpius' father was sorted. Apparently the hat had scarcely touched his head before shouting SLYTHERIN for all to hear. I wondered if the same would happen to his son as I watched him sit down on the stool.
Surprisingly, the Sorting Hat took its time with Scorpius. Then, finally, the hat shouted:
"RAVENCLAW!"
A few people clapped, mostly the professors, but otherwise the hall was silent in the moments afterward. Rose's jaw dropped, and she turned to look at me, dumbfounded. Then, when the professor pulled the hat off his head, the students in Ravenclaw broke out into the appropriate amount of applause.
Then, I heard Professor McCarthy call "Marvin, Lena!" to the stool. A girl with an abundance of dark brown hair pushed her way past me and shakily walked forward. When she turned around and sat on the stool, however, I saw her wide eyes for the first time and gasped silently. Then, before I could try to figure out what color they were, the Sorting Hat was placed on her head and hid them from view.
And a few moments later, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
"Bah," Rose complained quietly, "This is taking forever."
I agreed with a slight nod, hoping once again that I would be sorted into Gryffindor. As I stood there, resisting the urge to glance over at the Gryffindor table where Lena was now sitting, I hardly noticed when my own name was called.
"Al," Rose pushed me forward when I had failed to move, "Go!"
Stumbling, I strode forward and crossed over to the stool. Feeling several hundred eyes on me, I sat down on the three-legged thing and saw, fleetingly, Lena Marvin looking at me from where she sat over at the Gryffindor table. Then the hat was placed on my head and slid down over my eyes.
Hmm, I heard a voice sound in my head, which nearly scared me off the stool. Albus Potter, the second son of The Boy Who Lived. Then he started to mutter to himself, but I caught bits and pieces of what he was saying.
After a while, I whispered, "Could you put me in Gryffindor, please?" eagerly, but trying not to be rude about it at the same time.
The Sorting Hat fell silent for a few moments then, before finally saying Gryffindor… Are you sure that's where you want to be?
"Yes! Yes, it is!"
The hat seemed to chuckle at me. So, it seems to me that you would prefer Gryffindor, that you are ambivalent about Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, and that you dislike Slytherin.
"Please," I pleaded, "please put me in Gryffindor."
Are you sure you wouldn't be opposed to Slytherin? The Sorting Hat asked kindly, I feel a pull in that direction for you, and I think you would grow to like it in Slytherin.
"But my entire family has been in Gryffindor," I protested, "and so is Lena."
Why let your family decide for you? And you don't even know Lena…
I groaned, wondering how long I had been sitting on the stool. I wondered if Rose would ask me about this later as I said, "Please."
The Sorting Hat seemed to sigh then, and said, Very well…
"GRYFFINDOR!"

The memory ended then, but I assumed another would come soon. Quickly, I checked the pasta and stirred it again. Then Al pulled me into a variety of memories from his years at Hogwarts. Sometimes there were long pauses between them as he selected the next memory to show me, but at other times the memories melded together. I tried to focus on my cooking, but I still ended up over-cooking the pasta anyway.

The memories contained different emotions – surprise, fear, anger, excitement, joy – but I didn't commit to any of them in particular, seeing as I experienced them in state of utter disbelief. As I watched Al learn how to cast spells, brew potions, and fight or care for magical creatures in his memories I felt a sense of disenchantment. In fact, I felt detached from them, unable to comprehend that any of it was real.

I wanted to believe that he was making it all up – that he was fabricating the memories – but as I experienced them will all five of my senses I knew he couldn't have faked them.

Then, finally, as I finished hand-washing my dishes after dinner, the flow of memories ceased. And Al retreated back behind his wall, although it felt as though the weight behind it had diminished somewhat. I guessed it was because he was hiding less information from me than before.

I found my way to the chair in my tiny living room and said out loud, "I can't believe it."

Al didn't say anything, but I could tell he was paying attention.

What happened to your wand?

He seemed to become disheartened as he said, I lost it a few months ago. I was raiding for food, but I was found by one of your kind inhabiting a wizard. He snuck up on me and disarmed me.

How did you escape?

I wasn't alone, so I had help. Unfortunately, he snapped my wand in half before we could stun him.

Oh, I said quietly, I'm sorry.

Because we were so intimately linked he knew I wasn't lying. However, my response rendered him speechless for at least a minute.

What did you just say?

I'm sorry that you lost your wand, I repeated, wondering why I was bothering to feel sympathy for someone I had spent the last month wishing would disappear.

Al seemed to absorb what I said before disappearing behind his wall again, leaving me mostly alone with my thoughts.

A/N: Well, it's been a little while hasn't it? I'm excited to see where this goes now that I know you guys are interested lol ;) speaking of which… I am currently working on chapter 3 but it may be a little while before I put it up. Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you're thinking – even if you're not liking something – I REALLY appreciate them! (: