Disclaimer: Seriously, I'm not Jo. And the ONLY thing I own...is this plot and the characters I've created. Yes. I've stolen surnames. Shite happens. :)
Another loud knock sounded on the door and this time, the person behind the door sounded impatient.
"Ava, seriously, come on," the voice called through the door again. "Our school supplies list came just now and I want to get our shopping done today."
Who was Ava? I wondered, my eyes darting around the unfamiliar, vast room that was covered from floor to ceiling in green silk wallpaper. I barely had time to register that I was in a very large, comfortable bed covered in a lighter green than was on the walls when the door opened and in walked a very tall, attractive blonde. She had a heart shaped face and bangs the covered most of her forehead and fell into her wide, storm grey eyes. She had a small mouth and nose with high cheeks bones. Her neck was long and graceful, as was the way she walked. But right now, she looked annoyed and she was staring right at me.
"Ava, let's go," she said once more.
How was I supposed to tell this girl that I'm not Ava? How do I tell her I have no idea who she is (though she clearly thinks she knows me)? How do I tell her I don't even know where I am or who I am?
She began tapping her foot on the floor so I clambered out of the bed and cleared my throat.
"Erm, okay, this is going to sound…mad, but…who are you?" I asked her.
Her mouth dropped open.
"Seriously, Ava?" she demanded when she gathered herself. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. "I don't have time for your nonsense. Get dressed, we're meeting Anthony and Gabe in Diagon Alley in an hour and you better be up for Apparating because I am not Flooing there or taking Muggle transport, and I sure as hell am not stepping foot on the Knight Bus."
I stared at her, completely confused.
"Okay, I honestly have no idea who you are," I said, my eyes wide.
"What the hell are you…." She trailed off, understanding dawning on her face. Then she clapped a hand to her mouth and cursed loudly. "Oh, Merlin's beard. We need Anthony. Now."
"What? Who's Anthony?" I asked as she raced from the room.
I stared at the spot she stood and then crossed the room to close the door. Might as well have a bit of privacy in this odd room.
Looking around, I saw that, in front of the black marble fireplace, sat an armchair and a small, round table with a candle on it. A rug with many different shades of green covered most of the wooden floor and a closet sat on the right of the bed. Right about the bed hung a silver and green banner that read Slytherin. A mirror sat over the fireplace and, curious, I moved to stand in front of it.
I was greeted by a girl with shoulder length, wavy brown hair that was mussed from sleep. Her face was oval and she was pale with slightly pink cheeks. Her mouth was too wide, but her nose balanced it out and her eyes were a sea foam green framed by thick lashes. Her eyebrows were thin and curved and, at the moment, furrowed in confusion.
"This must be what I look like," I said aloud to myself. "And I must be Ava. But who is she?"
There another knock on the door and the girl walked in followed by a tall, blonde, handsome man who was eyeing me apprehensively.
"So what exactly was it that you did to her again?" he asked the girl.
"She wanted me to erase her memories of her mum, but it went wrong," the girl said sheepishly.
"Does she even know her name?" he asked, sounding slightly amused.
"I don't know," the girl snapped back. "It didn't seem like she did."
The man smirked and walked towards me slowly, his hands raised in front of him.
"Okay, let me introduce myself," he said, still smirking. "I'm Anthony Brandon. This idiot behind me" – she scoffed – "is Gwen Melling. How do you do?"
He was holding out his hand, but I didn't take it.
"Well, that's very rude," he said, the smirk still in place. He rocked back on his heels and dropped his hand to his side. "Usually, when one offers their hand, the other takes it."
"Perhaps, but I don't know who you are," I retorted.
He rubbed a hand over his face and muttered, "Bloody hell."
Turning to Gwen, Anthony said, "We have to get her to Saint Mungo's."
"But they'll ask questions!" Gwen said, sounding terrified now.
"They can't really do anything about it because you're both of age and both legal to act like complete idiots," Anthony shot back angrily. "If you get thrown into Azkaban, than it's your own bloody fault. Be thankful they've gotten rid of the Dementors or else you wouldn't last two minutes in there."
Gwen, who looked even more terrified at his words, nodded tersely and said, "Okay, come on. I know how to get there."
"We may as well take the Knight Bus," Anthony said in resignation.
Gwen pulled a face but said nothing as she moved to the closet and threw clothes at me.
"Hurry up," she said. "We haven't got time to dawdle."
I frowned at the clothes. They weren't very modest.
"Er, is there something less…revealing in there?" I asked as I held up a tiny skirt and a shirt that cut down so low, I didn't know how anyone would be able to hold themselves in.
Gwen rolled her eyes and snatched the clothes from my grasp, tossed them back into the closet and then threw a black shirt at me followed by a pair of jeans.
"At least you'll look completely Muggle," she said as she crouched down and began digging in the bottom of the closet.
I stared at the clothes and then at Anthony, who burst out laughing, causing Gwen she turn.
"What?" she asked.
"New Ava is extremely modest," he laughed. "Boys must leave the room."
I blushed but he left and I quickly pulled on the clothes. As soon I as pulled on the shirt, Gwen handed me a pair of black flats.
"Just put your hair up," she said, sounding harassed now. "And I'm going to assume you know how to do that."
Feeling irritated now, I nodded and pulled my hair up into a sloppy yet, somehow, still stylish ponytail. A ghost of a smile crossed Gwen's face.
"There's still a bit of the Ava that I know still in there, then," she said quietly.
"What do you mean?" I asked as we left the room and walked down a very long flight of stairs.
"The Ava I know was able to pull of any hairstyle, even if was the shittiest looking thing ever," she laughed. "I think Ava is still in there, we'll just have to seriously try to pull her back out of the blackness."
I frowned but said nothing else as we finally reached the entrance hall. Anthony opened the front door and walked down concrete steps to the street where he flung out his right arm.
Gwen grimaced as a purple, triple-decker bus slammed to a stop right in front of us.
A stout little man stood at the back with a small note card in his hand and said, without looking up, "Hello. Welcome to the Knight Bus. My name is Chris Clearwater and I will be your conductor this morning."
He pocketed the card and then looked at us impatiently.
"Well, come on then," he said roughly.
Gwen and Anthony exchanged dark glances, but boarded the bus, sheparding me to the very top.
Inside, I found, not bus seats like I sort of expected, but mismatched armchairs that several little men were picking back up, grumbling as they did so.
We took a seat at the very back and as soon as we sat down, Anthony turned to me said, "Hold on tight."
"Why?" I asked just before the bus shot off with a bang and my chair toppled over.
Climbing to my feet, I picked my chair back up and saw, with quiet satisfaction, that Gwen's chair had fallen over as well.
"Can't say I didn't warn you," Anthony said gleefully.
"Shove it, Anthony," Gwen snapped as Chris the conductor made his way back to us.
"Alright, how's this working?" he asked, looking between the three of us. "Are you's together or are you's separate?"
"Together," Anthony said. He dug in his pockets and shoved a handful of coins into Chris's hand.
Chris's eyes widened and said, "Right. Where to, sir?"
"Saint Mungo's."
Without another word, Chris nodded and turned around, going back the way he came. Not two minutes, the bus slammed to a stop and every chair flew forward. This time, Anthony flew out of his own chair as well. We were just righting the chairs when Chris came back up and said, "Saint Mungo's."
We all trooped off the bus, Gwen in the lead, me in the middle, and Anthony pulling up the rear.
Gwen moved to the window which housed several faded, dusty dummies and said, "We're here for her." She poked her finger at me and I thought it odd that she was talking to a dummy, so my mouth fell open in shock when the dummy gave a tiny nod and Gwen stepped through the glass and vanished.
Anthony came up behind me and said, "Ah, magic."
"What?" I asked, still in shock at what I just saw.
"Oh, you'll see," he said with a knowing smile. Taking my hand, he led me towards the glass and I clenched my eyes shut.
One second, we were out on a hot, busy London street, the next, we were inside a cool hospital waiting room. Gwen was already at the desk talking to the receptionist. The receptionist jabbed her finger at the sign and Gwen nodded.
"Alright, we need to go to floor four," she said. "Let's go."
We found a lift that was fairly empty and got in. we were followed by two tiny little women who stood oddly in front of us. It was only when they shifted a little to the right that I saw that their hands were somehow joined together.
"Magic," Anthony whispered in my ear when he saw where I was looking. "And it's rude to stare."
I immediately averted my gaze until the lift let out a light ding and the doors opened to the fourth floor. The women in front of us hurried out of the lift and took an immediate left. We followed them but at a much slower pace. All around us were what I assumed were doctors looked hassled. Voices floating all around us and once, I swore I saw a painting of an elderly lady wink at me.
We reached what appeared to be a smaller waiting room and Gwen flagged down a passing doctor.
"Excuse me, sir, but where do we go for memory loss?" she asked.
"I'm heading that way now," he said, pointing down a long hall to our right. He took the lead and we followed closely behind. He led us through a double door archway and into a room with only three other people inside who were being examined by doctors.
"Healer Brown, you're needed," the doctor who led us here called out across the ward.
A woman with honey colored curls that were pinned tightly to her head crossed the ward, a warm smile on her face. I could see, on her neck, was an ugly scar.
"How may I help you?" she asked kindly, looking between the three of us.
Gwen pushed me forward and said, "Um, a Memory Charm went kind of wrong."
Healer Brown's face grew serious and she led me to a chair. I sat down and she crouched down before me.
"Can you tell me what exactly happened?" she asked as she stared into my eyes.
"Er, well, she wanted me to do a Memory Charm, modified I suppose, so she could forget something," Gwen explained quickly. "She was fine last night after I did it, but this morning, when she woke up, she didn't remember anything at all. She doesn't even know who she is."
"Hmm," was all Healer Brown said, frowning. "Well, I'll need to keep her. I'll need to do some tests."
Gwen and Anthony nodded.
"May I ask who you are?" Healer Brown asked curiously.
"Um, I'm Anthony Brandon," Anthony said quickly.
"And I'm Gwen Melling," Gwen said.
"And this is…?" Healer Brown inquired, motioning to me.
"Ava Travers," Gwen said in a small voice.
Healer Brown's face lost a bit of color, but she shook herself and said, "Right, well, is there any family I might notify?"
Gwen shook her head. "Her dad was killed in the battle just before she was born and her mum passed away a month ago. That's why she wanted me to do the Charm."
"Thank you, Miss Collins," Healer Brown said. "I'll notify you when you can come see her again, alright?"
Gwen nodded and left the ward, but Anthony stayed behind.
"Yes?" Healer Brown asked.
"You'll let me know first, please," Anthony said. "She's…um, well, I promised I would always look after her."
Healer Brown smiled softly and nodded. "You'll be the first to come see her. I promise. Now off you go."
Anthony nodded and then turned to me. "I'll be back, okay?"
I nodded and, for some reason that was unbeknownst to me, I believed him. There was something about him that I trusted and I didn't know why. Obviously, the Ava he knew was gone and I was in her place, but he still wanted his Ava back. I hoped I could do that for him. I felt like I owed him and I would repay him by giving him back his Ava.
Did you like the surprise I threw in there? I like to think the movie got it wrong and that Lavender is, indeed, still alive. And, as of right now, I'm going to say she's engaged to Seamus because I see that happening. Hope you liked my new chapter. :)
~TheTragedyIs~