Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything else.

A/N: Okay so for this chapter I wanted to talk about the title of the chapter a bit. "Stationary Cycle" is a song title (like I already said) but it's a song title from the soundtrack of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty - which if you haven't seen, you should watch. And if you should also listen to this song. I love it. Another thing you should check out - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is actually based off a pretty cool poem. So, movie, song, poem. And don't forget to read and review this chapter!

Chapter 7: Stationary Cycle

We made it back to the tent in good time, but Ellen and Jasper weren't back yet. We set about unpacking our purchases. We worked in relative silence broken every once in a while when I didn't know where to put something. Ellen and Jasper burst back into the tent just as we were finishing up unpacking. Ellen was giddy with excitement and Jasper looked about as excited as a dead squirrel. Jasper was holding all of the bags of clothes while Ellen skipped to and fro.

"Oh you all are going to be the best dressed Wizards in Tibet!" She exclaimed. I was glad she was excited about it because none of us were. Draco looked like he might be sick, and Jasper looked like he actually was sick. I just found it hard to get excited about clothes. She took all of the clothes to the couch and started separating them into piles. Jasper claimed a headache and went to lie down in the bedroom. Ellen mumbled to herself contentedly while she unpacked the clothes.

"So what should we eat first?" Draco asked.

"I definitely want to have some butter tea." I said. He nodded.

"Yes, the Tibetans drink several cups a day. It's very good." He pulled his wand out of the waistband of his shorts. "Accio butter tea." He said. The jar came flying out of the pantry and he went about pouring cups for everyone.

I turned to face the kitchen and sighed. It was a very nice kitchen, very compact and tidy, but I didn't' know where anything was. There was a stovetop and an oven, but I didn't know where any of the dishes were. There were cabinets above and below the stovetop and I sighed. I turned away from the kitchen and went to the pantry. I started searching through the pantry to see what I could make for dinner. Or breakfast. It was almost one in the morning. I was ravished, and for some reason I really wanted meat. I pulled a slab of mutton out of the pantry and brought it back out to the kitchen.

"Draco, where are your pans?" I asked.

"Oh sorry, they're under the stovetop, on the right of the oven."

"Ah." I grunted while I reached under the stovetop. I found a pan large enough for the mutton and dropped it into it. I washed my hands then and went back into the pantry to look for seasoning. I pulled out some magically preserved chives and some rosemary. While I was searching around the herbs I found a vile of sparkling flakes. I brought it back out of the pantry and saw that it was labeled 'fairy dust'.

"Draco?" I asked.

"Uh." He was fully engaged in drinking his butter tea.

"What's this?" He looked up.

"The fairy dust?"

"Yes."

"I bought it last year at the Autumn Festival. The vendor told me it could make any meal delicious." I decided to save it for another time and put it back in the pantry. My mutton would taste delicious anyway. I also got a pot out so I could make rice. I placed the mutton in the oven with the rosemary seasoning and started boiling some water. Draco brought my tea over and we sat down at the informal dining room. Ellen came over to us, her cheeks flushed from excitement.

"Who wants to see their new clothes first?" She asked. Neither of us breathed a word. "Okay, Draco!" She said. Draco tried to look pleased. He made a valiant effort, but no one in the room was convinced. Ellen pretended not to notice. She brought over a stack of clothing and placed them on the table in front of us. Draco eyed it warily.

"I can't believe you've been here who knows how many times, and you've never bought yourself any new clothing!" Ellen said. "Okay," She said holding up the first outfit. "This is a linen suit I got for only sixty pounds! That is a great deal." It wasn't awful. In fact it was really nice. The linen was a light blue color and there were faint stripes on the pants. The shirt that went under the jacket was a faded, vanilla color. She put it to the side and held up the next outfit. In all she had bought him six new outfits, muggle and wizard alike. They were actually very nice, and they really were his style. She knew what she was doing.

"Okay, Jasper you're next." He groaned from the other room. "Oh come on!" She cried. "I know you'll like them." Jasper came out of the room, his hair all mussed up. I was surprised and so was Jasper. Jasper even looked slightly pleased by the clothes she had picked out. They were casual and comfortable-looking. Exactly Jasper's style. I was actually kind of excited for my turn.

"Alright, are you ready Sirrah?" I nodded. The first dress she held up nearly took my breath away. It was beautiful. It was a deep red color with dragons embroidered on it. The dress was somehow casual, and yet stunning. I could never wear it, but I simply nodded and smiled. She had picked out a linen suit for me as well, that I very much liked. It looked moveable and breathable. It was a muted gray color with an orange shirt. She had bought me a couple pair of pants and shirts that were casual as well. They were all linen, which surprised and delighted me. How did she know that I loved linen? At the end of our clothing session I knew Ellen had to be some kind of mind reader. She knew all of our styles perfectly. We all went to change into the new clothes immediately. Jasper pretended it was because he didn't want to hurt Ellen's feelings, but we all knew better.

I put on a pair of beige linen shorts and an embroidered, green tunic. It had little songbirds stitched all over it. How did she know I loved animals? I shook my head in amazement. As if the mutton knew that we were ready, the delicious smell of mutton and rosemary started wafting from the kitchen. I went over to the oven and pulled the pan out. I closed my eyes and sighed. Draco came out of the bedroom with a smile on his face. He was wearing a gray turtleneck, and faded, cut-off jeans.

"I could eat that whole mutton chop right now." He said, looking at the chop hungrily. I smiled.

"Not if I devour it first." He raised an eyebrow.

"You, devour? Somehow it seems like those two words don't really go together. I haven't seen you eat anything since you got back from Azkaban." My mood soured a little.

"I didn't want to make myself sick. They weren't exactly keeping us on a strict two-thousand-calories-a-day meal plan in Azkaban." The words were sharper than I intended. "I'm sorry, that sounded rude."

"No, not at all." Draco assured me. Ellen came down from the upstairs in a light, blue halter dress. It looked like a cloud and a fairy had, had a child. Her hair flowed down her back in waves.

"That smells delicious!" She exclaimed. "Do we have any pumpkin juice? I'm positively parched."

"It's in the pantry." Draco replied. Ellen whisked off into the pantry, and I took the rice off the stove.

"Where are the plates?" I asked Draco.

"Oh don't worry, I'll set the table. You made dinner after all." I shrugged. He went to set the table and I sat on the couch, not really knowing what else to do. Jasper came and sat next to me. He was wearing an oversized red sweatshirt that was woven from yak hair, and capris. His caramel colored eyes watched me. I looked back at him.

"What?" I asked quietly.

"You look bothered."

"Just a feeling."

"What kind of feeling?" He asked settling back into the couch.

"The kind where you are upset about something, and you can't remember what. The kind you get when you are the only one awake in the house and you know that tomorrow is going to be horrid no matter what you do."

"I've never had that feeling before," he said honestly. I didn't reply. "Do you like it?"

"The feeling?" I asked incredulous.

"Oh, no sorry. Sometimes I change the subject too quickly. I meant Tibet. Do you like Tibet?"

"Oh." I said softly. "Yes."

"Hard not to, isn't it?" He asked, smiling.

"Very." I looked around the tent. "I wouldn't mind living here indefinitely."

"Malfoy Manor isn't so bad." Jasper said. "If you can get used to Mrs. Avery sniping at you and Lucius Malfoy creeping around like a ghost. And don't forget the actual ghost that lives in the basement. Oh and Narcissa Malfoy consistenly tugging at your hair, and your clothing, telling you that something is just not right." He said mimicking Narcissa's proper accent.

"That's sounds horrible." I said blatantly.

"I make it sound worse than it is."

"Is there actually a ghost?" I asked curious.

"Yes, there is an actual, literal ghost living in their basement. It's Draco's great-great-great-uncle twice removed, from his mother's side of the family, or something."

"Why is he stuck here?"

"Apparently someone buried his body, when he specifically asked to be burned. He just can't get over it."

"The gall." I said quietly.

"Dinnertime!" Draco called from the other room. I picked myself up, feeling very tired and very hungry, and dragged myself over to the table. Dinner passed in relative silence as everyone ate. We were all famished. The mutton disappeared in all but ten minutes. When we had all finished and there was positively no food left I closed my eyes.

"I think I'll turn in." I said. A chorus of 'me too's echoed me.

"I'll do the dishes tomorrow." Draco said, more to himself than to anyone else. Jasper took up residence on the couch and Draco went into the bedroom on the ground level. Ellen and I went upstairs. There was only one queen sized bed and Ellen had already claimed half of it. I climbed into the other side good naturedly. Ellen dragged me back out.

"You can not sleep in your new clothes." She stated. I obliged and changed into a nightgown. Then I got into bed and fell asleep.

The voice in my head was screaming. I woke up abruptly, to find myself soaked in sweat and on the verge of a panic attack. I stumbled out of bed and nearly screamed. I needed light. I had to see it. I stumbled out of the tent into the light. People were moving around outside. It was too loud. It was too much. I fell to my knees and grasped my left arm with my right. The mark was still there. It was writhing. I knew it was.

"Excuse me miss?" A little girl was standing next to me. She looked like she was about to ask me if I was okay, but then she saw my arm. She nearly screamed. I saw her breathe in and I saw her open her mouth, but then she closed it. She was looking at someone behind me. I looked behind me as well and there was Ellen standing behind me, looking like an angel. She was wearing a silken robe and she knelt down to talk with the girl.

"Hello," She said softly. "What's your name?" The girl smiled. She must have been about seven years old. How had she even known what the mark was?

"My name is Andrea." She had a slight Russian accent, and I wondered how it was that she had even known who Voldemort was or what the sign was.

"Are you alright Andrea?" The girl nodded smiling.

"Oh yes, I was just about to call Mama because Miss here has a wound on her arm. I think it was paining her." My breath left my lungs. She had thought I was hurt. She had been calling to her mother. My eyes dropped to the ground. So this is what guilt felt like.

"Oh that is very sweet of you," Ellen said smiling. "But I don't think your Mama can heal her wound." Andrea's eyes scrunched up adorably.

"She is a healer. I think she might be able to help her. It looked very bad. I don't want Miss to be in pain." My throat closed up. If only she knew that the mark wasn't a wound, but a sign on evil. Ellen placed a placid hand on Andrea's shoulder.

"That is too kind of you, but she will be alright. I promise." It sounded more like she was promising me. "Why don't you go find your Mama now, I'm sure she is worried about you." Andrea smiled brightly.

"Alright. It was nice meeting you Miss." She said to me.

"Nice meeting you too, Andrea." I choked out. When Andrea had run off Ellen took my hand and led me into the tent. She set me on the couch, and went about making some green tea for me. I stared forward, unable to look at her. It was impossible to think of anything when all I could see was Andrea's bright green eyes looking into mine. I felt guilty I felt so guilty. She had wanted to help me, she had wanted to heal me. Would she have still wanted to help me if she had known what I had done? Who I was? I doubted it.

"It's not your fault." Ellen said as she brought my tea over. I sipped it thoughtfully.

"Which part?" I asked, my voice still choked with emotion.

"It's not your fault that she didn't know what it was." I didn't know how to reply. Was that really what I was feeling guilty about? It felt like more than that. The amount of guilt I was feeling wasn't just for Andrea not knowing about the mark. I was feeling guilt just for existing.

A/N: Yay! I'm so excited for the next chapter, so please, come back!