"They say you lost all your memories."
Are you two still here? What a surprise, Draco thought. There they were, standing in front of him. He wished them all gone. But regardless of his wants and wishes Draco kept silently observing Patchface, and try as he might he could not discern how old the fool was, the creature was very short, but so fat in a way few children were capable of. But then again his voice was not of a grown up man. If Malfoy knew that the two of them were of age, he would probably think their friendship was annoying, but sweet. However, for reasons inexplicable the image of them standing together so close made his skin crawl.
"I don't see how it may concern you," he replied.
"It does not," the girl admitted.
"Great, then, be so kind, your grace, leave." Draco gave her his well-practiced smile of a Malfoy-heir.
"Were you looking for dragon eggs?"
"How would I know?"
"So you truly do not remember anything?"
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. But here's a deal," the Slyhtherin in him took the action. "I'll answer any of your questions, but first you will clarify me this season thing, but no nonsense this time around."
"Alright. What would you like to know?"
"Well, let's begin with the coordinates. Where exactly am I?"
"Coordinates?" It was obvious the girl was too young to know such things, he hoped she was also too young to know how to deceive. "I do not know what that means, but I can tell you that we are in Dragonstone, the island north of King's Landing."
"And where is this King's Landing?"
"You truly do not remember," she stated, sad eyes full of sympathy or pity.
"That is not the answer to my question," he said a tad bit too sharply, he was getting more annoyed with every passing minute.
"Here, let me show you," the princess turned around and run merrily to a bookshelf. She hovered over huge tomes, half her size, tracing her finger over fading letters and murmuring something under her nose. "This one, the Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling by Grand Maester Munkun, my favourite."
The girl carried the ponderous book back to him, pressed it to his left hand and smiled happily.
"Do you know your letters?" she asked shyly. "If not, I can read for you."
Draco was speechless for a moment; he opened his mouth and closed it seconds later. It was too strange how happy and eager she was around him. It dawned on him then how much starved for a company she was, how so very clingy, the way first year Hufflepuffs got the day they got off the train. Even so, Malfoy felt it was not his place to blame her, not when all she had was her lack-wit fool.
The little princess did not wait for his assent, she sat herself on his bed and put the book left of his pillow. When she opened it, its cover brushed his cheek, he had to turn to his side, fluff up his pillow and pull his blanket up to his chin. He was not sure if he had a piece of clothing underneath and he did not want to start guessing either. He slithered back a few inches to create the distance.
"Here, you see," she tapped with her pointy finger at an island in a map. "This is Dragonstone, the ancient seat of house Targarien, they are gone now, just like their dragons, although I see them in my dreams, the dragons. They hurt me, sometimes I wake up before they notice me, but more frequently I burn."
Draco watched her face and wondered if her story was real and not just dreams. Cracked and flaking skin across her cheek did look partially burned and stiff. There should be a potion for this, maybe I will brew one for you. Or more, in case the dragons will try to burn you again. He knew how painful it was… to burn. The girl felt him staring at her face, she ducked her head and curtain of black hair hid the dead flesh.
"This is King's Landing, the capital of the Seven Kindoms, that's where King Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters Rhaenys and Visenya Targaryen landed and began their conquest, that is why it was named King's Landing. "
King's landing? King Aegon? This is not England. Where the fk am I? Europe? Well, she's speaking English. Might be I'm in Africa for all I know? It was at that minute Malfoy understood how big of an idiot he was to dismiss Muggle Studies. Draco, ever the soul of superiority, had never imagined he would end up in such situation when his survival would very much depend on his knowledge of Muggle history and geography.
"Wait, we're in an island, where's the nearest continent?" he rasped. At least he remembered the names of continents, he knew.
"Well, we are between two continents, Westeros to the west and Essos to the east," the girl replied swimmingly, her fingers circling two huge entities, one long and narrow, the other short and wide. Draco studied the map, it did not matter how much he stretched his neck or turned it to many awkward angles, he could not find a single familiar location. Several minutes later he finally gave up. Do they call the seas, mountains and continents differently? Possible, but unlikely. And last time I checked there were 7 continents and they looked somewhat different, didn't they? "There's Sothoryos in the south, but it's too far away. Westeros is the closest. My uncle ruled these lands, until he died recently. Now it's my father's turn, although there are Joffrey and Tommen, my cousins, but my mother says they are abomination born of incest. I am not sure what that means."
"Whoa, that escalated too quickly, we are talking about seasons, aren't we?" Suspicion coiled within him like a snake, but he forced himself to be open-minded. "Can you tell what year it is?"
"It is year 299 After the Conquest," the princess smiled obligingly, but a little bit concerned.
"299?" the wizard parroted.
"Yes, summer has finished this year, and Maester Cressen says winter is almost here. I have never seen the snow, I was born in summer. I hope it snows soon, they say it's beautiful, but cold. Many fear how long this winter will last, they say a long summer means an even longer winter, and this summer was the longest."
"I warned you I don't like lying girls," Malfoy whispered, unwanted dread spread across his limbs, he shivered.
"I'm not lying!" the ugly girl shouted, tears welled in her eyes, so naïve and guileless, but hurt. "I'm not. It's not my fault you remember nothing. I wanted to help, I wanted to be… to be, it doesn't matter, you are so mean! I don't like you, too!"
The princess shut the book brusquely, hopped off his bed and run for the door. She stopped abruptly before stumbling on the fool's hat, she picked it up and turned to her fool.
"Come, Patchface, Mother is right, the boy is an idiot and not worth of our time," she said and exited the door.
The fool lingered for a second, watching him, eerily quiet, his eyes not blinking. Then a smile broke across his face, a lazy smile, but cryptic. He left soon enough, following the distant echo of his jingling bells.
Left alone the wizard closed his eyes, tired and hungry he wished to fell asleep. But even in the darkness of his mind he saw them, two sets of eyes. The first is sad and lonely, the other is difficult to read. Nonetheless, later Draco would swear he saw the slight calculation in the second pair of eyes.