5
She spent the rest of the day buying clothes and other necessities on the streets of magical and muggle parts of London. It was getting dark as she made her way back to a place that was her shelter during the last three days.
*~*~*~*~*
FLASHBACK *Three days ago*
She was slowly waking up. Her mind was flooded with hundreds of images and emotions. Strange images and emotions. It felt like they did not belong to her, like they were coming from the outside. Her head was heavy and aching. Her muscles… She could feel every single one of them. They were aching too.
She tried to open her eyes. Her vision was blurry. Where was she? What happened? It was hard to think clearly. Then she remembered. She wondered if that was how phoenix felt every time during the process of rebirth. It was horrible.
She could swear that her head was going to blow up any minute now. Her vision was straightening, but it was hard to concentrate on her surroundings because of all those foreign images in her mind. She moved her head a little. From what she could see, she was in some small room, lying on the bed.
Suddenly some of the images and emotions intensified. The leading emotion was worry. A very familiar image flashed through her mind. It was an image of a woman. When it appeared again she realized that she saw herself.
The door to the room she was in opened and an old woman entered. She rushed to the bed and began talking.
"You are awake finally. You scared me child. What happened to you dear girl?"
Images filled her mind. She saw herself, naked, unconscious, lying on the ground in some dark narrow street. Then she saw thin wrinkled hand touching her neck. Someone covered her with a cloak and lifted into the air with a flick of the wand held by the same thin hand. In the next image she was lying on the bed. It took her a moment to realize that the images were the old woman's memories. She tried to speak. At first her vocal chords refused to obey. She was opening and closing her mouth like a fish. Finally she managed to voice her thought.
"Whe…where…am I?"
The sounds were muffled and hoarse.
"You are in my house, child. Well, I couldn't leave you out there on the street stark naked and unconscious. So I brought you here. Of course I could send you to Saint Mungo, but my intuition told me I should take care of you myself. Was I right?"
The old lady's eyes were wise and gentle.
"Yeees. Tha… Thank you."
"You are welcome child. Now rest and then you will tell me what happened to you."
END FLASHBACK
*~*~*~*~*
The soft light of lanterns made the street look exceptionally cozy. It was almost 10 pm when she neared a very narrow and somewhat slanting house that was squeezed in between two bigger ones. The minute the woman's foot touched the porch, the door of the house swung open and revealed a small crooked old witch. The old lady quickly grabbed the woman's hand and pulled her inside the house.
"Oh, dear. You were absent for so long. I was so worried, child. Thought something bad might've happened to you."
The younger witch immediately embraced the older one, who was examining her with wise worried eyes.
"I am just fine, Adella. I am sorry for not coming back earlier. But I had so many things to buy…"
The woman broke the embrace and demonstrated the bags she was holding in both of her hands.
"You know, starting one's life all over again takes a lot of preparing. Adella, I have the money now. I can move to a hotel and you will have your quiet life back. I've caused you so much trouble over the last three days…"
"Move to a hotel? No, child. Please stay. Stay with the old lady. Your presence lightens my days, dear girl. Stay for as long as you need."
The young woman once again embraced the old one.
"What would I do without you, Adella? I will never be able to repay you for your kindness…"