This was originally one long chapter, but I split it into two. However, I made a small change. Since the first-time readers might not want the chapter to be spoiled, you can go to the bottom of the page to see what change I made if you don't want to read this all over again. Thanks!
Amour Aveugle
Chapter 2: Old Faces
Great. I was on my own. How do you say, 'I would like a sandwhich' again? I needed Sirius here. I didn't want to go out to the Muggle Paris, but Sirius insisted that I stay in the Muggle Paris, where it was safer for my own good, as much I could. 'Blend in with the Muggles.' He had said. So I stepped on the same podium that got me here and I was instantly transported to the small quaint courtyard.
Maybe Remus was still there. Maybe I could eat with him. I walked hopefully into the now crowded café. Nope, Remus wasn't there. I didn't recognize anyone there, so I left, looking for a nice little restaurant. I spotted a cute one, with pink and white sign and I went it. It was cute enough, lacy tablecloths, pink and white carnations. I took a seat and a waiter came to me.
"Bon jour. Qu'est-ce que tu aimes manger?"
I knew this one, it was in the first chapter of my Beginner's French book. I remember clearly, the fourth page. He had said, 'How are you?' . "Fantastique. Merci" I said 'Great. Thank you.'
The waiter looked confused at me and repeated what he said.
I looked funnily at him and repeated with more clarity.
He stomped his feet lightly and repeated exactly what he said.
I decided maybe he wanted a different response. "Comment allez-vous?" I said 'how about you?'
His eyes grew big with frustration and he stomped back into the kitchen. What the bloody hell. Two seconds later, he returned with the chef, a big, porky man. He was still carrying a big meat knife. I couldn't help but chuckle at how dainty and lacey the surrounding was when this big, fuming, red faced man with an unshaven face and a dirty white shirt.
"Qu'est-ce qui se passé!" He said.
That was all I got. Then he started blabbing more in rapid French. I couldn't take it anymore. His bad breathe was making it hard for me to breathe, he was showering me with spit and his left hand, holding the big knife was flailing around, almost hitting a table nearby. Some customers were throwing us funny looks and leaving.
He yelled something terribly loud. I had a feeling that he had said 'NOW YOU'RE MAKING THE CUSTOMERS LEAVE!!!' That was when I snapped. I rose up and even though I was about a foot shorter than him, I yelled at him with all my might. My red haired temper was coming back..
"HOW HARD IS IT TO GET A BLOODY DAMN SANDWHICH!!! I JUST WANTED A SANDWHICH! DOESN'T ANYONE SPEAK FUCKING ENGLISH AROUND HERE! YOU DON'T…" I couldn't believe I was yelling a thick, large man, who looked like he weighed five times as me- with a knife in his hand. He yelled at me back some more, showering me some more with the spit.
I took a big breath to scream back, when I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I turned around to meet stormy gray eyes.
"J-James? James Potter?" I said, incredulously. I couldn't believe it. Thank you lord!
He looked at me strangely and I just remembered I was Holly Bartock. But luckily, he ignored, for now, and muttered apologies to the chef and the rest of the restaurant and led me out. His grip on my wrist was a warm, friendly, but firm one.
"You don't want to upset Chef Mortez. I heard he accidentally whacked off one of his worker's finger." He said.
I laughed. I didn't really know James during Hogwarts. He was head boy, I was head girl, and that was that. Nor further relations. He hadn't changed so much. He had gotten a little taller, maybe a little under six feet, a little tanner and his face had become more serious and adult-like. "Thanks." I said.
"No problem. How do you know me?" He asked.
I was stuck right there. I didn't know what to say. I knew he played Quidditch, but he wasn't supposed to know I was a witch. Come on, I was good at making up lies. Why not now?!
"Uh, I, uh, know your third cousin, um, Marie Potter, and, um, she showed me a picture of you." I said. That one was believable enough.
"Really? I never knew I had a third cousin named Marie. Well, how do you know her?" He said.
Stop asking questions!
"We went to high school together." I said.
"But all my family go to ma—" He stopped himself before he could say magic schools. Whew. I don't think he'll press the matter further. But I was wrong. "What high school?"
"Um, McGonagall High School." I said it before I stopped myself. How dumb could I get! Oh no. I'm going to blow my cover.
"Really? McGonagall?" James said, surprised at hearing the familiar name.
I nodded enthusiastically. I tried to change the subject. "Are all French chefs so temperamental?"
James laughed. "No. Mortez is just a little… off. So anyways, what's your name?"
"Holly Bartock." Damn, I hated that name.
"Holly. Pretty name" He said. I scoffed softly. "How about I treat you to lunch? Looks like you're not going to get anywhere."
"Sure! Thank you so much." I said. He was kind. He led me to another restaurant. This one was smaller and cozier. The bell jingled as we went in and James talked in French to a waitress. We sat down on a table by the window. "I don't see what I did wrong though. Did I say some swear word or something?"
"No." He laughed. I liked the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed. It reminded me of the days back at Hogwarts. "He asked 'What would you like?' and you kept saying 'Great. Thank you.' And 'How about you?'"
"Oh." I'm not very linguistic, I'm sure you've realized that by now.
The waitress came to take our order.
"What do you want?" James asked.
"Sandwich would be great." I said.
He said the orders to the waitress and she left.
"So, what brings you to the City of Lights?" He asked.
Bloody hell. Stop asking so many questions! I can't keep track with all the lies.
"My grandmother…" My grandmother?! Where did I come up with that?!
"Your grandmother…" He said, motioning his hand to go on.
"She's been really sick lately and I just wanted to be with her during her last days. She lives just out of Paris" I said, trying to keep a sad face.
"Oh, I'm sorry. She'll be all right. I can contact some really good doctors if you like."
"Oh, that's very kind of you. But it's all right. She'll manage." I said. Why did he have to be so damn nice.
"Here, I'll write down some doctors I know." He said, getting out a piece of notebook.
I stayed quiet. This was really frustrating.
He wrote down about four names. "Here." He handed them to me.
"Thank you." I said, putting the piece of parchment in my purse.
We talked some more, getting to know each other a little more. I learned that James had played professional 'soccer' and decided that he didn't want to do that for the rest of his life, and was looking for a real job. At least, he bent the truth. I knew he used to play for the Chudley Cannons; I watched one of their games once.
The food arrived soon and we continued to talk while eating. When we were done, James offered to pay.
"No, no. It's really okay. You've been too kind." I said politely as I could. Just because I wasn't filthy rich like him, didn't mean he had to feed me.
"No. It'll be my pleasure." He insisted.
Now I was known throughout the school for my stubbornness and my temper. I wasn't giving up this fight.
I ignored what he said started to take out my money. He grabbed my wrist.
"Seriously. I can't bear to have a lady pay for me." James said.
I laughed. "I wasn't going to pay for you. I was paying for myself. I can handle myself thank you."
"No. I'll pay for you. Consider it an apology from Paris about that incident in the other café." He said, taking a different approach.
"Look. I can take care of myself. It's not like I'm broke. I already have a decent job. I can pay for myself." I said.
"I can't. Just let me pay and this will be over." He said.
"Give up? Give up my arse!" I said flustered. James looked at me strangely briefly. I remembered that that was one of my most used expressions back in Hogwarts.
"Why don't you just let me pay for you?" He asked.
"Because you're treating me like broke damsel in distress. Just because I can't speak French, doesn't mean I can't handle myself here. Just because I just moved here, doesn't mean I'm broke! Why do want to pay for me? Just pay for yourself and I'll pay for myself." I said. This was getting tiring but I wasn't giving up any time soon.
"I was just trying to a gentlemen!" He hissed loudly. We got a warning look from one of the waiters.
"Okay. Well you can help me more by giving me some French lessons." I said. Maybe I could get some good out of this.
"Fine. I'll give you French lessons. I would be glad to help you." He said, calming down.
"Okay. Now, I'll pay for myself. You're going to give me lessons. Deal?" Please let this be over. Please, please.
"All right." He said.
I got my money out and placed it by his. The waitress came and collected the money and we left the restaurant.
"Isn't it funny? We get in an argument and we don't even know each other more than three hours." He said.
"That's what it may seem like." I said mysteriously.
"You know, I feel like I know you really well."
"Really?" This should be interesting.
"Well, you remind me of someone."
"Who?" I might just know her.
"You don't know her. I knew her from school."
"What was her name?"
"Lily Evans."
Hmm… I think I know her. "What was she like?"
"I think if I lose all my memory about her, one thing will still stick in my mind. Her eyes. She had the greenest eyes. They reminded me of grass."
Grass. How pleasant. "Really?"
He nodded quickly and continued. "When you look into them, it feels like you're drowning in a pool. They made me feel… dizzy. They always fascinated me."
Drowning in a pool… I'm flattered.
"And she had like strawberry blondish, goldish, reddish, orangish hair. I don't know how to describe the color. It was really pretty."
Ah, that's better. "Why are you using all past tense? Did she die or something?" Oops. That sounded really rude. What if she did die? Woah. I'm freaking myself out here.
"Well. I haven't heard from her for, let's see, four years. I thought she would contact me or something since we were both Head boy and girl."
"Why didn't you contact her?"
"I didn't know where she lived." He said.
Ha ha ha. That would work for as a Muggle excuse but he could've owled me. I stopped myself before I blurted it out.
"Plus, I don't even know what happened to her. I heard she's been working as, um, a police officer, law officer type thing, but I heard that she decided to quit to move to Australia."
Oh. Is that what they said? "Ha. Move to Australia?" I scoffed. Oops. I can't keep my fat mouth shut.
"Yeah. I'm not sure if all these things are true though. They're just rumors." Whew. He didn't notice my outburst. "The truth is, I don't know if she's alive. I've heard rumors that this, um, murderer was out there to kill her since like two years ago. But maybe that's why she's moving to Australia, to hide from him."
He got it half-right.
"I'm sure she's safe and breathing."
"What makes you say that?" He said, looking at me.
Because she's talking to you right now, you big dolt. "I don't know. I have a feeling."
He stayed quiet. "So when should we begin our lessons?"
"I haven't started work yet. I'm starting on about Thursday in two weeks. I'm going to be busy settling in my new apartment for about two days. So I'm free the whole time next week. Just drop by anytime." I told him. I wrote down my address and phone number and gave it to him.
"All right. Here's my address and my phone number." He gave me a piece of paper too. "I'll see you later then."
"Bye." I said, before turning around.
I was proud of myself for finding my way back. It was a bright May day. The sunlight filled the whole apartment with radiance and the sunlit dust particles lazily hung in the air. I looked at the cabinets in the kitchen, waiting to be filled, my unopened trunks in my room. Heck with it. I'm getting some sleep first. Waking up before six, not the usual eight, was not a fun thing. I fell straight to bed, not bothering to take off my skirt and my blouse.
~*~
When I woke up, I found myself looking straight up at Dumbledore.
"Ms. Bartock. Thought you would wake up soon." He said kindly.
What the hell was he doing in my house! "Professor Dumbledore!" I shouted a little sleepily, yawning.
"Call me Albus. I came to place protective spells around your apartment. I've already put a spell so no one can apparate here. And also, I need you to so I can have the door recognize you and allow only you and the people you let in." He said.
"All right." I said lazily, stifling another yawn. Too much precautions.
"Do you want it to recognize you by your face? Or something where you touch the door?" He asked.
I really didn't see the difference. If someone kidnapped me, they could force me to bring my face up to the door or make me touch it. Oh well. What the heck. "I want it to recognize my face."
"Okay. Just stand here." He said. He muttered some words in the air that I couldn't hear and a gold light erupted from the end of his wand and wrapped around the door and me. "When you want to come in, you would, of course, first need the key to unlock the door and then look up there," He said, pointing to an intricate design shaped into an eye. Kind of freaky looking if you ask me. "and it will recognize you by your eyes."
"Okay. Simple enough." I said.
"Now when you want to bring someone in, be sure to be touching the person when you look up in the eye." He said.
"Okay." I didn't want to know what would happen if I didn't touch them.
"To make it more easier, you can register certain individuals you trust so they can walk in through the charm. I already registered all the aurors in case of an emergency. But don't be too trusting Ms. Bartock. But some people that you know for sure isn't a Death Eater, let's say, Mr. Potter, can be trusted." His eyes twinkled.
How in the blimey did he know about me and James already! I stood there, gaping like a blowfish. I closed it when I realized how foolish I looked.
"Well thank you Professor Dumbledore." I said.
"You're welcome Ms. Bartock. Please, call me Albus. I'm truly getting tired of being called Professor. It's hard after at least 40 years." He said. Then he walked out the door and disapparated after waving.
I closed the door and sighed as I looked around the apartment. The sky was painted pink and purple and there were long shadows stretched across the floor. I had so much shopping to do! I opened the cabinet door and luckily found plates, pots, pans, cups, and bowls. A small burden off my shoulder. I opened the food closet. Argh. It was empty without some apples, bananas, oranges, and some bread. I would have to go grocery shopping. Splendid.
I moved onto the bedrooms and looked over them in more detail. My room had a simple oak wardrobe and a cabinet by it. There was a queen sized bed, all to myself, and a lamp on a small desk with a chair. A rather large fancy bookcase seemed to be out of proportion with all these simple, normal sized furniture. I studied the cherry oak frame. They had intricate carvings. I noticed on the top it had the familiar 'H' logo on it. On the bottom shelf, it was filled with books. Then I noticed a note folded neatly on it. It read—
'Ms. Bartock-
This is one of the bookcases out of the school library. Something out of memory lane. I personally chose these books, as I've seen you reading these most frequently. Enjoy!
P.S. This took a thirty minute convincing Madame Pince. I hope it's worthwhile.
Albus Dumbledore'
That was touching. I read the book titles. I remembered the book that I have lived with for the first three years, Hogwarts, A History. About half of the books were on Charms.
I continued my survey throughout my new home. Across from the bed was the door leading into the bathroom, which was, as I suspected, empty besides a shower curtain. I opened the cabinets, hoping to find towels, soaps, and other necessities. Nope, completely empty.
I moved onto the other bedroom. It was about three quarters the size of mine. It had two small windows facing the center courtyard with a fountain. It was same as mine without the book case. There was another bathroom right next to which was exactly same as the one in my room.
I decided to unpack my books first. So I changed into a regular white t-shirt and jeans. Then I began to unpack my precious, but sometimes annoying, books. That took me about an hour of heaving and panting. When I was done, I was sweating and mighty hungry. I opened the kitchen pantry and ate a few slices of plain bread and an apple. I decided to spend the rest of the evening writing a letter to Bella but I just realized I didn't have an owl. Dumbledore told me that he would be sending my owl later because it might attract too much attention when I carry an owl around.
Sure enough, my owl, Hermia, flew in threw the open window and she was carrying a brown envelope. Before she could even drop it however, she flew straight under my bed. That only meant one thing: cats. Hermia despised cats. I looked out into the now dark sky and saw three owls carrying a rectangular cage. They swerved in, almost knocking me the face and dropped the cage on my bed. Yup, it was a cat. The three owls flew out as fast as they could, hooting, discontent. I gave Hermia a piece of bread and ripped open the brown envelope.
'Holly-
Hello! This is your great-aunt Elizabeth (Great-aunt Elizabeth! Now she's changing herself! This fake identity thing was getting out of hand). How are you? I'm fine, except a sprained ankle, tripping over, guess who? ('Bartlett…' I muttered out loud) The sweetie Bartlett! He is so cuddly! Right when you left, he plopped down on your bed. Aww, cute, eh? Anyways, back to my ankle. I got it fixed by a medi-wizard so it's good as new. How is Paris? Find any guys yet? How is your new apartment? I have so many questions, I'll have to visit you sometime, how about sometime next weekend? I'm completely booked this weekend. I have to take all the cats to the pet store in Diagon Alley, to get their monthly checks. That will take awhile. Then on Sunday, I have to go to a W.L.O.C (We. Love. Our. Cats.) club. Not that I think about it, I might have some free time on Sunday. If I do, I'll be sure to visit you. Headmaster (meaning Dumbledore) told me about the wards around your apartment so I'll be sure not to apparate there, just out your door. Well, hope you had a good day. This should get to you around evening tonight because I sent it around noon.
P.S. I sent you Manchester, your favorite kitty, I remembered. I was going to send you Fluffy, but I thought she would get too homesick. (Thank goodness. Fluffy was a hairless cat. I have no clue why she's named 'Fluffy.' When I first saw her, I thought she was inside out.) Manchester was the only one who was close to you.
Love,
Your Great Aunt Eliza'
I opened the cage and Manchester pounced out on me. For some reason, no matter how bad I treated him, he loved me to death. He began to purr and rub all over my white shirt, leaving a trail of black fur, clung tightly to my shirt. I saw that there were about five or six cat toys in the cage. I dumped them out and Chester, I like to call him, pounced on them and began pawing them.
By this time, Hermia sneakily hopped from under the bed and perched safely on top of the bookshelf. She glared at Chester and turned around, facing the wall. I walked over and petted Hermia. Then I realized I didn't bring my cage. The rectangular cage wouldn't work. I guess I would have to make a trip to Manifeste Alley. Oh well. I had a lot of stuff that I needed to get there. I'll need Sirius though. I'll owl him tomorrow. I needed to owl Bella first, or she'll freak. I sat down on my new desk, biting the end of my quill.
'Great Aunt Bella—
Thank you so much for Manchester. He's great. (I've learned that with Bella and her cats, it's better to lie than be crudely honest). He reminds me of home. Guess who I met today! Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and James Potter! It was good to see them again. I really miss Hogwarts right now. It was all so easy there. I hope you're doing all right. France is not too much different from England, just different language I guess. Okay. That's a big difference. I couldn't order a sandwich today without the chef blowing up at me and swinging around with a big meat knife. (I could almost picture her 'awwing' as she read this letter. I have that effect on Bella). Well, I have to get some sleep now. I'll see you sometime later.
Love,
L.E.'
I bet she'll start freaking out about how I shouldn't be using my real name here… It's only initials and who would intercept a regular old letter? I looked at Hermia while I sealed the letter. She looked very tired so I decided not to owl Bella until tomorrow. I took a quick refreshing shower, got changed into my pajamas and crawled under the fresh, crisp, linen covers. I love that smell, fresh out of the laundry.
Second chapter accomplished! Well actually, this was originally one loooong chapter but I decided to split it into two! I made a small change in the part where Dumbledore explains to Lily about the spell around the door. Instead of touching somebody every time they come in, you can register people so the door recognizes them too. Thanks for reading! I'm almost done with You're My Flower, Lily so I'll have more time to work on this later.
-Chryss