CHAPTER 7

Leaving Albus in his room, she took her camera and left the flat to cool off.

And so she proceeded out of the apartment to the street and she stopped, taking it in.

It was beautiful chaos if that even made any sense.

She clicked a picture and proceeded, a plethora of smells teasing her senses.

When she saw the diverse variety of people around her she was slightly over-whelmed.

The people were so different from the ones in London.

The difference was incredible.

The cars were different, the roads were different, everything was different but when she looked more closely it was all the same.

Except the people here looked more like a part of one big crazy family.

There were no barriers, they might have been from different places but they were all Indians at the end of the day.

Anreya walked a little distance observing groups carefully. She realized there was some sort of method in the madness around her.

People kept moving methodically, getting on buses and getting off buses. Some screaming things out here and there, she even saw some pushing and pulling but the activity was quite interesting.

The sun beat down on the surroundings as if it was nobody's business and Anreya had to squint to bear it.

But here everyone was part of the crowd. For some vague reason she felt all alone back at home, among wizards and muggles alike but here she felt at ease.

Somehow she felt like she could be herself.

Of course the place certainly had scope for improvement but if she hadn't seen the whacky side of it she didn't think she could have fallen in love with it.

Maybe for people like Albus, this was a dire state of economy and that so much was needed to be done, but she rather live in a world where there was slightly more room to be yourself in society than elsewhere.

She was sure society was rigid here as well, but she thought the rigidity was far lesser, at least their reason for rigidity was being unaware or less educated.

As she stood there camera in hand she noticed Navya.

Navya smiled shyly and Anreya smiled back.

Navya came towards her "What are you doing here?"

Anreya held up the camera "Just clicking pictures"

She nodded "Oh and what about your brother?"

Anreya looked down "No he's in the apartment"

Navya asked "If you don't mind do you mind telling me what his name really is?

Anreya asked trying to look normal "Why?"
Navya replied "It's just that you called him Albus but he said his name was Devon, I actually can't wrap my head around it"
Anreya's heart skipped a beat, how could she have been so foolish?

She went instantly into damage control mode "No...see we call him Albus, his friends do but his name's really Devon"

Navya smiled "Ooooh, ok"

Anreya took a breath of relief "What are you doing here?"

Navya said looking a little more social "I'm just going to catch a bus and go to Koramangala to meet my friends, one of them is giving a treat so yeah"

Anreya's eyebrows rose "I see, you have fun then"

Navya smiled to go leave but then she stopped and said "Look if you want to hang out or something or need some help just ask ok, you looked quite sad when I saw you here. If you ever feel bored then just ring my doorbell at four thirty in the evening"

Anreya asked "Why that time?"

Navya answered "On weekdays I get home from school at four"

Anreya nodded smiling "Thanks"

Navya waved and turned.

Anreya began walking, she just kept going straight past junctions numerous shops trying not to jump when she heard cars honking the hard part was avoiding the manholes but then there was the smell of rich Indian food coming from the shops, of course she couldn't identify them but she sure as hell would have loved to taste it until something caught her eye.

She first thought it was a trick of light but a man had just appeared through a wall.

Curiosity taking over she crossed the road and looked at the wall, wasn't magic meant to be hidden? If a muggle saw it, that would be disastrous. The man came out once again and walked off like any passer-by.

The cream colour wall with its paint peeling off was a most unlikely entrance.

When the signal on her side of the road turned red she waited for the line of vehicles to form as her cover.

Then making sure she was inconspicuous she put her hand on it sliding easily like she was going through the wall on Platform nine and three quarters.

What she didn't notice was the little boy with his head pressed on the car's window staring at her flabbergasted.

He told his mother who was waiting for the signal to turn red with wide brown eyes and a little voice filled with shock in rapid Tamil "Am'mā! Avar cuvar vaḻiyāka naṭantu! Avaḷ kāṇāmal! Am'mā!"(Mother! She walked through the wall! She disappeared mother! Mother!)

He looked back through the window, his black hair sat in a silken mess on his head and his mouth was open as he stared through the glass his nose pressed to it.

His mother looked at him her hand on the steering wheel "Nīṅkaḷ eṉṉa colkiṟīrkaḷ?"(What are you saying?)

He said "Avar cuvar, oru peṇ mūlam naṭantu, avar cuvar vaḻiyāka ceṉṟār!"(She walked through the wall, one lady, she went through the wall!)

She looked shocked then she shook her head as the signal turned green "Aiyyo, nīṅkaḷ mikavum ṭivi pārkka inta nīṅkaḷ pēcikkoṇṭēyirupēṉ eṉṉa, ētāvatu colli vaikka. Nīṅkaḷ kēṭṭu nāṉ paittiyam pōvēṉ" (Aiyyo, you keep saying something, if you watch so much TV this is what you'll keep talking. Listening to you I will go mad)

The car surged forward and the little boy continued to stare out of the window.

On the other side of the wall Anreya stared, she was not in a familiar place.

It was dark and cold. She felt as if she was in some underground passage.

She heard the dripping of water and felt almost as if her blood was freezing over.

She walked deeper and deeper one hand to keep her along the wall.

At one point she almost slipped in something definitely thicker than water.

Her heart in her throat and a rotting smell filling her senses she kept an eye open for anything unusual.

She started clicking pictures to take back with her.

Then she came around a bend and saw a faint glow emitting from something.

She walked ahead driven by curiosity and stood her breath slow and her heart pounding.

Up ahead from where she stood, she saw a man tied by a chain to the wall, hunched over an animal carcass feasting to his content.

She didn't know who he was but she clicked a picture of him with shaking hands.

She couldn't watch it anymore.

Accidentally she slipped again letting out a sound of surprise and he heard her.

The chains clanged as he turned around.

Anreya held her breath as his face appeared over his shoulder, offset eyes one red and one yellow his teeth shark like and his beard dirty and unkempt. His pasty face shown and he growled as she shakily clicked another picture. With that as he threw the bloody animal down he moved to face her.

Anreya regaining her balance began to run.

Her heart thudded but she didn't stop.

She didn't want to see his face, she didn't want to know who he was and why he was here.

She kept running until she emerged from the wall in the bustling city once again.

She panted sweat trickling down the side of her fore-head closing her eyes trying to calm herself.

She walked quickly back almost getting hit by a vehicle once and went to the apartment her head throbbing like the devil.

She fumbled for her key and opened the door of the apartment.

Albus stood up from the couch looking distressed and mad along with relieved "Where were you? I was….."
He trailed off as she walked past him and went to the bathroom pulling the door open and retching into the sink.

She turned out all the contents of her stomach and she had never felt so frightened.

She washed her face, splashing it with water three times then looked into the mirror heaving.

She as white as a sheet, her eyes looked frightened and she had never felt so disgusted in her life.

Flashes of the man appeared in her mind and the stench of rotting blood still seemed to linger in her nostrils.

She bent over the sink closing her eyes trying not to retch anymore, but when she had seen the animal and she heard the noises…..she retched once more.

She felt exhausted and finally when she had cleaned everything.

She took her camera and set it on the kitchen counter.

Albus stood in the middle of it all "What happened?"

She let her back face him as she started throwing things together to make something for lunch.

He said "You can be mad at me all you like but I still have to know"

She picked up her camera and handed it to him not saying anything.

He looked at her once before looking at the pictures. When he did he felt his stomach drop a hundred feet "What….how?"

She put the knife in her hand down, her hand was shaking.

She bent over the cutting board.

He asked "Where did you go?"

She massaged her fore-head and tried to get the images out of her head.

She said in a quiet voice "I don't know….it was an entrance in the wall…..I was curious I went inside and that's what I saw…."

He asked gently "Why did you go there?"

She told him "It was a conspicuous entrance, I wanted to know why someone would place a magical entrance on the side of a street where everyone can see"

As she did it didn't make sense to her, if a muggle got curious and saw that man, they'd never recover from it.

She sat down at the dining table feeling weak.

Albus said "We'll ask Athreya, maybe you shouldn't go into the city alone"

Anreya looked up at him the fire back in her eyes "You really know how to get on my nerves, this was my curiosity, and the city is amazing. I'll go wherever I like and you will not be able to do a thing about it"

Albus raked his hands tiredly through his black hair. He said thinking after a second "Okay…..I'm sorry. I was stupid to say that but it doesn't make sense, right in the middle of people like that?"

Anreya took a glass and filled it with water, taking a sip she said "I don't know that's what I went to find out, that's why I took pictures"

Albus looked at her "You look shaken"

She grimaced "I know"

He sighed "you don't have to cook, I ordered pizza"

She said "I'm going to my room I don't feel like eating"

Albus didn't stop her as she brushed past him.

She shut the door and threw herself on her bed. She wondered whys he was so unsettled, she felt uneasy, sick and hot.

Turning on the fan thinking about Albus, the man and everything else she fell into a deep slumber to the sound of the fan's rotating blades.

When Albus entered her room an hour later to announce Athreya's arrival on his request he was surprised to find her asleep.

At his slightest touch she jolted awake and he retracted his hand instantly.

She apologized brushing her hair out of her face "I was just…having a dream"

Seeing her so scattered made Albus nervous.

He said "Athreya is here, I asked him to come"

He expected her to glare at him at least but he got nothing it was like she had suddenly shut him out and he was used to seeing her thoughts scribbled across her face but now it was blank and he didn't know what to do about it.

She nodded "Give me a second"

He went back out, Athreya was sitting looking out through the balcony door Albus noticed he was young and the fact enough made him ask the question "Do you know any places for fun around here"

Athreya reminded him of a slightly more open, Indian version of himself, he could see the man worked hard and could relate to his ambitions the way he did to his own. Well he only did have one ambition after all.

Athreya answered looking up at him "Well…I could get information for you but I'm not much of a part-goer myself"
So he had been right, Albus nodded "Just asking"

They fell into a thick silence once again.

When the heard the door shut and Anreya enter the both looked to see her.

She had tied her hair up in a loose knot and still looked paler but nothing else gave her unusual character away.

She sat down beside Albus smiling politely at Athreya.

Athreya said professionally "So I've got the permission you wanted , the minister was willing, but the head of the files can only give you slots from Wednesday onwards, that's the day after tomorrow. Here's the letter signed by the minister himself, keep it for proof. I'll be with you the whole time and I've got you the secrecy contract you need to sign"

When he waved his wand and scroll of parchment neatly unrolled itself in front of the other two Albus snatched it out of the air reading its contents, satisfied he passed it to Anreya who read it uninterested.

When they signed it and the quill disappeared, Athreya asked "You had asked for something else?"

Albus looked at Anreya anxiously but she stared aimlessly at the table, he narrated the happenings of the day without any comment from Anreya and Athreya listened intently.

Then his eyebrows drew in "It's good you called me, I'd like to see the pictures"

Anreya summoned her camera and handed it to him.

When Athreya saw the pictures he was silent ten setting the device down he said "Since you've sworn to secrecy there's no harm telling you, entrances open up randomly around here. These entrances keep shifting. Tomorrow if you go back it won't be there. Select people are given information regarding the change of position of these entrances"

Anreya asked for the first time surprising the other two "Is it supposed to change?"

Athreya nodded "yes they are designed that way, I'm sorry you had to stumble that way upon one that led into the prison of one of our most ferocious canibals"

Albus saw her eyes widen as he said it.

She asked "Cannibal?"

Athreya nodded "His was actually the first case I worked on as an auror under my superior. It was initially hard to stomach"

Anreya asked some of her old personality coming back "Does he have a story?"

Athreya nodded "A horrible one, unfortunately, still gives me chills"

Anreya asked curious as ever "What's his name?"

The man answered "Dharam Sunderar"

Anreya asked without skipping a beat which gave Al the impression that she might be a great interrogator "What about his family?"

Athreya said this time with a pause and not looking at her quite uncomfortably "Dead, all gone"

Albus's mind quickly made the connection and he asked his voice even "He ate them didn't he?"

Athreya nodded looking quite pale "I'm sorry but I rather not go into the details, please"

Anreya said "That's so sad"

Then Athreya asked "Did he see you?"

Anreya nodded her head and Albus saw his eyes shift uncertainly this missed Anreya's notice but he asked "Why, is that a problem?"

Athreya said "He hasn't seen a human being in three years, except the man who gives him food and even he wears robes that masks his scent and makes him invisible. If he has seen you he might…..no….."

And then a patronus appeared in the room that of a fox and it said in a gruff loud voice "Officer Anvekar, report to the ministry now, Case 4143 has been brought out of silence, It's an emergency"

Albus stared as Athreya cursed "Shit!"

Albus asked "Case 4143?"

Athreya suddenly looked up and then at Anreya "You've reminded him who he used to be"

And when he left in hurry without another word, Anreya stood up and just went to her room.

Albus pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to keep his temper in check.

When had he lost so much control of everything around him?


AN: Well, I got a break after my history exam to complete this. I know I ended on a cliffhanger but I swear I'll make up for lost time after my Accountancy exam first thing. But please review, even if it's only to tell me I'm an idiot.

Thank you for reading and please bear with me. I'm usually not a late updater, really!

So hope you enjoyed it and review!

SPHP20896:)