Chapter 3: Of course my host would be a Wizard
What are you doing? Albus asked me one morning, when I strayed from my usual path to the store where I worked, several days after discovering he was a wizard. Isn't your crappy job the other way?
He flashed an image of the street behind me then, as if he thought I was genuinely lost.
Yes, I said shortly, but I'm not going to work today.
You haven't called in or anything… Won't they be angry?
I shoved my hands into my pockets then, wishing he'd quit interrogating me. But, knowing him, he wasn't likely to stop once he started. Sighing audibly, I replied, More than likely not, especially when I am going to tell them I was ill.
Albus was confused, and he quickly shot me a mental image of himself – minus the reflective rings around his pupils, which indicated my presence – raising one of his brows into a high arch as he stated, I thought you said that your kind don't lie to each other. And you seem to feel fine, minus the sinking feeling. I thought that I was the one that was allowed to be depressed, seeing as your kind have wiped out over half of my family and 99.9% of the race I happen to belong to.
Are you ever going to drop that? It gets old after a while, you know.
Normally I would say "I'm sorry," but really, it is YOU who should be sorry. Now, really, where in the hell are we going?
Shrugging my shoulders as I stepped past the other people on the sidewalk, I said, I really have no idea. I just want to be alone with my thoughts today.
For a long moment, Albus was silent. Then, finally, he asked apprehensively, you mean you're going to bother me all day, don't you?
I blocked my thoughts from him then, but his anxiety grew until I finally answered him with a nod of my head. Seeing as he could see, hear, smell, and feel everything as I did, he was more than aware of the movement. A feeling of dread spread through him as the motion stopped.
You know, asking me for information is better than trying to beat it out of me, he said before I could do or say anything else.
You mean you're actually going to cooperate? Shocking!
Oh shut up – I just mean you can ask and I can decide if I want to tell you or not, like the other night. I'm surprised you only asked me two questions, by the way.
Crossing a street then, I explained, it took you all night to answer them, as I recall. However, my first question for today is about Hogwarts.
Albus was surprised to hear me mention the school and, carefully, he asked, what about Hogwarts?
Well, in the memories you did show me I only ever saw the inside and only glimpses of the outside, but not enough to know what the school really looks like.
Amused, Albus said, really – you want to know what Hogwarts looks like?
As I stepped back up onto the sidewalk and continued on my way, heading north, I said, yes, otherwise I wouldn't be asking.
Without warning then, Albus put together an image of Hogwarts for me from the outside. In fact, as I truly saw the school for the first time I realized it was his memory of seeing it the first time. He didn't necessarily state it, but somehow I knew that it was as the image moved and changed in my mind's eye. To my immense surprise, I learned that Hogwarts was a castle, and that it was huge. I was no longer curious about how the school housed so many students as I stared up at its large, stone surface. And, slowly, the memory revealed to me that this was the view of the castle from the boats as they crossed the Black Lake.
The mere mention of the Black Lake seemed to pull up another memory, then, and suddenly the visual of the castle faded and I found myself looking at another scene in Albus' memory. This time, he was approaching the lake as the Giant Squid surfaced nearby, although his eyes were set on a girl with a lot of dark hair who was sitting merely meters from the water.
The girl seemed to realize he was approaching, though, and as he stopped behind her she turned around and looked right at him – and at me at the same time – with her big, brown eyes.
"Lena," I breathed silently so that no one would hear in passing. She's the girl from the memory of the sorting, I stated, were you friends with her?
Albus seemed to be speechless, but I could sense something was wrong as his anxiety made my shoulders tense and my pulse pick up its pace.
Albus? What's going on?
Again, he was silent. He seemed to be under the impression that if he was quiet I would leave him alone. Maybe he thought I would think he was gone for good, but that would be impossible for me to think while he was causing my body to have such an intense reaction to his stress.
She's alive, isn't she? I realized, stopping in my tracks to the surprise of a person walking behind me. They quickly apologized for running into me, but I ignored them as I continued to question him. You know where she is, don't you? She's the person you were hiding with… It was you and Lena and your cousin, Rose, wasn't it? And Lily, too?
Suddenly, Albus shouted, SHUT UP, BLAZE! so loudly I was surprised that nobody on the street heard it.
But it was enough to confirm that I was correct: Lena was one of the surviving humans, as was Rose.
I switched course then, heading east instead of north with determined strides, although I did not move so quickly as to gain unwanted attention from the other people I passed on the streets. After a few minutes I gave into the urge to run and found myself practically flying down the streets as I moved.
Blaze, Albus suddenly said, quietly, what are you doing?
This time I blocked him out, knowing that he would be upset the instant he discovered where I was headed. I continued to run, keeping a steady pace as I went, focusing all of my thoughts on my breathing in an attempt to ignore him.
But he was still there. Where are we going, Blaze? And why are you running? You haven't run since you've been here, and it's been a month, so why are you now?
Then as I continued to push forward, ignoring the burning in my legs and my lungs, he figured it out.
Stop! Blaze, stop! Please, Blaze, I'm begging you – where are you going? Stop! Stop running! He had begun to shout at me, so it was hard to ignore, I will kill you, Blaze! STOP RUNNING OR I'LL-
Do what – trip me? You can't stop me, so stop protesting already. This was going to happen sooner or later and we have both known it all along. I said over him as I approached a bridge running over a river.
Blaze, stop – Albus protested loudly, having grown so angry with me that I felt the raw emotion coursing through my veins. And then, just as I was about to reach the bridge, my body seemed to take up a mind of its own and veered sharply to the right, toward the open air over the water. Before I could comprehend what was happening, I was in the air, my limbs searching wildly for something to grab onto. Then, not a second later, I was submerged under the cold water and was sinking fast.
What did you just do? It was my turn to be surprised and pissed off as I thrashed in the freezing water, are you trying to kill us?
If that's what it takes, he said stubbornly as my limbs flailed wildly, you were going to see that Seeker, weren't you?
So what if I was – they need to know that there are more humans out there, I said as I continued to fight the current pulling me farther down, my lungs burning so badly now that I knew it was only a matter of minutes before I would lose consciousness. As I thought this a biting fear flooded through me.
Albus was afraid as well, but he was determined. I'm not going to let you hurt Lena or Rose, or anyone else in my family for that matter. We've lost too many as it is.
Well they are about to lose you, too, if you don't help me! I exclaimed desperately, still fighting the torrent of water swirling around me, I don't even know which way is up anymore!
Stop freaking out and just accept it, Blaze. We are going to die, and there's nothing you can do about it, so there's no point in trying to swim.
But I continued to thrash, and almost involuntarily gasped for air as my lungs screamed at me in protest. However, as I inhaled nothing but cold water and felt my insides seem to grow numb I felt something strange seem to pull me. For some reason I didn't fight it, and within a matter of moments I broke the surface and drug myself up onto land as I coughed to clear my lungs of the water.
What? Albus shouted between my gasps, Are you SERIOUS? This is the absolute WORST time for this! You have got to be bloody JOKING!
He continued to scream angrily in my head as I gratefully inhaled the air around me, putting a hand to my head and realizing with a shock that my hair wasn't wet. Looking myself over, I realized my clothes weren't wet either. "What just happened?" I asked out loud, grateful that the current had pulled me far enough from where I fell in that none of the spectators were close enough to hear.
It's called Accidental Magic, Albus groaned loudly in my head, and it has the worst timing in the world right about now.
"Magic?" I exclaimed, dumbfounded, as though hearing of it for the first time.
Yes, he answered, annoyed. And, quite frankly, it can go to hell for all I care right about now.
Well, I finally said after I found my way back up onto the streets above and found a bench to catch my breath on, I've decided that I'm not going to go to the Seeker now, after all, so you don't have to worry about that for now.
Oh, gee, thanks.
Before I could reply to his remark that was absolutely dripping with sarcasm, I heard a questioning voice off to my left, "Albus?"
It seemed to shut him up, too, as I turned my head and spotted a girl slightly younger than Albus standing there, red hair flowing down over her shoulders, a splash of freckles across her nose and cheeks, and brown eyes looking down at me with the familiar reflective rings.
At the same time, Albus and I breathed, "Lily?" so I was not entirely certain which one of us had spoken, seeing as he had somehow regained enough control to try and drown me only a few minutes prior.
Looking up and down the street, she nodded after a moment and extended a hand for me to shake as she said, "Call me Heat of the Morning Sun. Lily Luna Potter is my host, and I can see that yours is her older brother, Albus… But what is your name?"
Lily, Albus seemed to whisper sadly, not you, too, Lils.
As I took her hand and shook it I replied, "Blaze."
Releasing my hand, Heat of the Morning Sun looked over her shoulder again before asking quietly, "Do you want to go back to my place so we can talk?"
Considering the feeling of longing that had spread through my body and out through my limbs, I couldn't help nodding, "Lead the way."