September 1985
The world had layers. In the dark, at the edges of sleep, Aaron saw the outline of a classroom, a bathroom with a stained mirror, and a dark pond superimposed. His body contracted in a hypnogogic jerk and he sat up in bed, sick. The inside of his mouth was coated in saliva. Aaron got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. He got as far as the stairwell before he threw up.
He retched onto the stone steps and leaned against the wall, drooling. The stairwell doubled in his vision and he closed his eyes.
Why does this keep happening? What is wrong with me?
He needed water.
Aaron held onto the wall and walked down the stairwell. He went to the bathroom, took a glass out of the cupboard, and filled it at one of the sinks. He drank slow and grabbed a towel. He dry-heaved over the sink. Last night he felt too nauseous to eat dinner, or there would have been more actual vomit.
Aaron's hands shook. He turned the water back on and washed his face. He wiped his mouth and nose with the towel and walked back to the stairwell. He bent down and cleaned off the steps. He tossed the towel in a rubbish bin and leaned against the common room wall.
Stop shaking.
It took twenty minutes for the room to stop spinning, but it did stop.
Aaron looked at the clock on the wall. Four in the morning. He wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, not if it was like last time. Now that his stomach was empty and the nausea passed, he was starving. The kitchen staff would have breakfast started. If he helped with the preparation, they would feed him. He left the common room and stepped through the portrait of the fat lady.
Aaron had spent the last few months working in the kitchen early in the mornings, so Filch didn't stop him when he walked past. Aaron took the staircase adjacent to The Great Hall and went down. He smelled baking bread and grilled meat. He grabbed his apron from a peg on the wall and walked through the double doors. Lara, one of the kitchen porters, walked over to him.
"You're not supposed to work today," she said, "you've got classes."
Aaron shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. And I was hungry."
"I suppose we could use the help. We've got fruit salad this morning. If you cut up the fruit, I'll get you some ham and eggs."
"Thanks," Aaron said.
"I want you gone before we start the service, so you can go back and get your books and robes," Lara said.
"I'll leave before the bell," Aaron said.
Lara walked him to a table where apples, oranges, bananas, and melons were stacked in baskets. She took out cutting boards, large metal bowls, and two knives. Aaron washed his hands at the sink and pulled on plastic gloves.
"Your hair, too."
Aaron tied his hair back and Lara left him to work.
Fifteen minutes later, the timer went off on an oven behind him. For a minute, no one came. Aaron was about to drop the fruit and check it himself, when Eni walked into the room.
"Aaron? What are you doing here?"
"I work here. What are you doing here?"
"You work here?"
"Dumbledore said I needed a way to make money," Aaron said.
Eni's hair was cut shorter than his on one side and shaved off on the other. She wore a blue apron that said Iro Pan. She stopped the timer on the oven and opened the door, put on an oven mitt and took out a pan filled with large, fluffy rolls. She set them on a cooling rack and closed the oven. She went to the pantry, took out the honey, and drizzled it over the top of the rolls.
"Do you like milk bread? I bake when I can't sleep," she said.
"Never had it before," Aaron said.
Eni tore off a roll and handed it to Aaron, who took it and had a bite. And another. He finished the roll and licked the honey off his gloves.
"That was excellent," Aaron said. He pointed to her apron. "You learn from your family?"
"My papa," Eni said. She looked down and Aaron was mad at himself for asking. Eni had told him what happened a few days earlier.
Aaron took off the plastic gloves and threw them away. "Forget him."
"I'm trying."
"Your baking is incredible."
She responded by handing him another roll. Aaron took a bite. Eni smiled. She walked to the coat rack and opened her book bag.
"I forgot to tell you," she said, taking her Walkman out, "I got it to run on magic!"
She turned on the Walkman and turned up the volume. Music came from the headphones and she put them over Aaron's ears.
Twenty, twenty, twenty four hours to go, I wanna be sedated. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, oh, I wanna be sedated.
Aaron laughed, happy. He couldn't help it. He hadn't heard muggle music since he left Glasgow.
"Yes! How did you make it work?"
"I had to modify the whole thing. It's working off an animation charm now instead of batteries. I stripped the wiring and added watch gears."
"You're brilliant, you know that?"
Twenty, twenty, twenty four hours to go, I wanna be sedated. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, oh, I wanna be sedated.
"I could modify yours, too, if you want."
"Of course I want," Aaron said. "I'll give it to you in Potions. I've got a bunch of tapes you can borrow, too."
"As soon as I get a wand, I'll get on it."
Aaron reached into his apron pocket and took out his training wand. He ran it under the faucet and wiped it clean. He had used it to stir a soup he made for himself a few weeks ago and hadn't touched it since. He handed it to Eni.
"Are you sure? I can ask McGonagall."
"Take it," Aaron said, "it's not like I'm going to use it."
Twenty, twenty, twenty four hours to go, I wanna be sedated. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, oh, I wanna be sedated.