I originally wanted to wait for my betas to send me the latest corrections but I feel so bad for always making you guys wait. So, here it is. Finally, finally, finally, you will find out about Draco's fate.
Chapter 6 – Not So Blissful Ignorance
"What do you remember?"
He did not understand how or why, but his whole body hurt like he had been trampled by a troll. He had a splitting headache that made him want to down a gallon of Draught of Living Death and sleep for all eternity. Troll? Draught of Living Death? What in the world would those things be? He brushed the thoughts away.
He had just been woken up-rudely, if he might add-from a deep slumber and did not really understand the question of the unknown person talking to him. He chose to ignore the question and closed his eyes. He willed himself to go back to sleep, but the unfamiliar woman touched his arm and tried to shake him. He refused to open his eyes despite regaining consciousness, but she would not budge.
"Wake up, Draco."
Draco? Who was that? Thinking that she was making a mistake, he chose to face away from the woman and hide his face under a pillow.
"I need you to wake up, Draco."
He was really in pain and he was not in the mood to converse with a stranger. He heard that name again. Draco. Really, who was this Draco? Why was she calling him with that name? Didn't she know that he was-
With a jerk, he opened his eyes and sat up. He saw a reflection on the window of the room. It was strange because he knew it must be his own grey eyes staring back at him. But it was odd. He felt like he was an alien to himself. Who was he? Why does he not remember anything? Or does he? Where was he? Who was this human being?
In that moment, it dawned on him that he did not remember anything. He knew nothing. He pressed his palms against his temples, willing the information to come out, but his actions only augmented the physical pain he was feeling.
"Nothing, I remember nothing." Draco sighed and asked, "Who are you?"
Draco stared at the woman. His eyes trailed from the crown of her head to her neck. He took notice of her curly brown hair and the porcelain skin of her face and neck. He looked at his hand and observed that they shared the same milky color. He wondered and tried to rummage through the seemingly empty corners of his mind. He thought and he thought while he kept his mouth shut. After all, it was not wise to talk to a strange person. He inched away from her, narrowed his eyes and repeated, "Who are you?"
"I am your aunt. I am Andromeda Tonks." Andromeda smiled at him and touched his hand.
There was something familiar about the woman. Her face stirred fear in him but as he stared into her auburn eyes, he felt like they were out of place. Those warm and loving russet eyes do not belong to that face, Draco thought. He let himself be lost in her brown eyes and bask in the peculiar familiarity he was feeling towards the stranger.
"If you are my aunt, where is my mother?" He stared at her hand on his and brushed it away.
"Your mother sent you here."
"Didn't you hear me?" Draco inhaled. "I did not ask what she did. I asked where she is." Draco jeered.
"I am afraid I cannot tell you." Draco could almost feel the sadness in Andromeda's voice. It seemed to him that she wanted to help enlighten him but someone or something was preventing her from doing so.
If there was nothing in his past that he could remember, what did that make him? A nobody, he thought. He would just be an insignificant human being, unremembered and unimportant to all. He couldn't allow that to happen. He needed to find out. "Why can't I remember anything?"
"Your mother Obliviated you." Andromeda explained.
"Obliviate?" Draco murmured, almost to himself. He did not understand what that meant, although it was oddly familiar. He repeated it, this time, louder and with a questioning tone. "Obliviate?"
"She erased your memories. All of them, apparently, because you cannot remember even your name."
Draco's eyes flew open. He tried to repeat in his head what his supposed aunt said. My mother erased my memories. All of them. She did not even give me the dignity of knowing my own name, he thought. His heart was devoid of all emotions. Maybe his mother also took that away from him. He decided to clutch his chest and check if his heart was still beating. Maybe he was dead and this was all a sick joke from the afterlife.
He put his hands to his chest and he felt something inside of his robe. He took the thing out and stared at it. He looked at the portrait for a while. He saw his face, his eyes full of joy although the picture was partly ruined by drops of crimson. Beside him, a woman was embracing him with as much happiness, if not more, on her face. She shared the snowy skin of Draco and his supposed aunt and had eyes like the ocean. He took his gaze off the portrait and glanced at his aunt, searching for an explanation.
Draco did not understand why, but he knew. He knew that woman holding him in the photograph was his mother. Despite his certainty, he decided to ask his aunt. After all, he did not remember anything. "Is this her?"
Andromeda brushed the picture with her fingertips. She smiled and looked at it dotingly. Andromeda gazed at his eyes and whispered, "You were adorable as a boy." She sighed and added, "And yes, that is your mother, Narcissa."
"Is my mother dead?" He could feel the tears threatening to escape him. It was a pity that he wanted to grieve for a mother he did not remember, a mother who took away his memories. But there was something about those cobalt eyes and imagining them losing any trace of life that unsettled him to the core.
"No, Nephew. As of this moment, your mother is still alive." Andromeda shook her head.
"As of this moment?" Draco stood up and stared the woman down.
She looked up at Draco and said, "We are all in danger, my dear." Andromeda's words were foreboding.
Draco could feel a sense of doom but he refused to show any trace of apprehension. It did not matter to him that much anymore. He was nobody. There was nothing death could not take because his life meant nothing. He maintained defiance and hissed, "Why?"
"I am afraid I cannot tell you." Andromeda reached for Draco's hand. For three breaths he let her hold him, then pushed her hand away.
There was so much care embedded in the words Andromeda uttered. Draco was finding it hard to be angry. There was a moment of stillness within him before rage took over. It was not important that not knowing anything absolutely terrified him and that he yearned for some shelter. It did not matter how safe the woman made him feel. The only vital thing was that he felt lost and powerless so he needed to demonstrate fury to hide his weaknesses. He fought, he was not sure who exactly he was waging a war against but his aunt was the only one there. He yelled, "You have no right to do this to me!"
"I suggest you sit down." Draco remained standing. Andromeda threw Draco a piercing look. "Now."
A feeling of terror washed over him when his aunt lost the motherly atmosphere that had calmed him down just moments ago.
"No yelling will be done in my house, Draco. Understand?" Andromeda's voice was stern and it was clear that the rules of her house should not be bent.
Draco nodded his head. He realized that resistance will get him nowhere. He did not want to test his aunt's patience any further. He was a little afraid but he was determined to get what he wanted, to get himself back. If it meant he had to succumb to this woman and play by her rules, he would. Draco decided to play nice.
"Please, Aunt. Please tell me all that I should know." Draco used the most pleading voice he could manage.
The tranquility that momentarily left Andromeda in the face of Draco's defiance was back. In her mind, she gathered all the things that she could tell Draco and explained to him patiently. "All that you have to know is that your mother loves you so much, she is willing to endure the pain of being apart from you in this chaos to ensure your safety."
"Surely, you do not expect me to be amenable to just that? You do not suppose I will prance in this life without a single idea of who I am, right?"
"Your mother and I are both hoping that you will find out who you really are."
"You must understand. I need some… background." Draco was starting to panic. He was losing every strand of hope to find out all about his past. His voice quavered but he continued, "What would I be without my memories? How would I know about my mistakes, my joys and my pains? Where would I learn from? Where do I get my strength? How would I be reminded of my resilience? What am I without my past? " Draco exhaled and declared. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
Andromeda took Draco's hands and held them firmly. She looked into his storm-like eyes. "Without your past, you are still you, my nephew." Andromeda paused without taking her gaze off Draco. "Couldn't you make new mistakes and experience a different kind of joy and pain? You have your life and you are free to live it however you want. Isn't that what's most essential?"
Draco looked down and murmured, "You do not understand."
Andromeda held his chin and said, "I understand how important it is for you to make the most out of what your mother has given. She took your memories so you could have a clearer view of the world. She was afraid that what you learned may have clouded your vision. There is a proper time for you to have them back."
"When would that be?" He was hoping that Andromeda's answer would be "tomorrow."
"When you have already found who you really are." Andromeda smiled.
Disappointment overtook him. He was out of words so he nodded.
"Do not search for your past, Draco. Your mother did what she did to save you from it. Your memories will be given back at the proper time. Do not rush it. Consider this as you being reborn. Now, you are given an opportunity to live as you see fit, not constrained by anything. You are free."
If this was freedom, Draco did not want it. There was nothing but silence after his aunt uttered her words. She slowly sat up from the chair and walked towards the door. Draco was just beginning to settle down on his bed when he heard the door open. It was his aunt. Draco sighed.
Andromeda elegantly entered his room. Why his aunt must retain composure in his distress, he did not really understand. He sighed again and glanced at the door. "Nephew, you cannot leave your room. I need to settle some things first. I will collect you once everything is fixed. I will lock it. You seem too stubborn for your own good, my dear."
Before he was able to say anything, the door was already shut. He walked towards it and tried to turn the knob but it would not move. He yelled, "Aunt Andromeda!" But it seemed that he could not be heard by anything or anyone outside the door. Defeated, he walked towards his bed. He lay there, contemplating on the things he knew and trying to remember the things he should.
Apparently, in this world where he did not remember an ounce of reality about himself, freedom meant not being able to leave the room. Not only that, it meant that the door was going to be locked as well. He did not have the fight in him anymore. He was too exhausted. The pain that was forgotten crept into his consciousness and threatened to make him collapse on the floor. He fought against it. He was already a nobody; he definitely would not allow himself to be a weakling as well. His hands found the wall and he carefully led himself towards the bed.
He let out a sigh of relief upon reaching his destination. He lay down, took the portrait out of his robes and gazed at it. The stained picture was his only possession that linked him to his past. He stared at his mother, unaware of the proper thing to say. He laughed at himself. Losing one's memories made one crazy, he thought. He placed the portrait under his pillow. When he took his hand out, cold metal scratched his skin.
"Bloody hell!" He snarled.
He looked at his hand and saw a ring on his finger. He inspected the silver serpent and the emerald eyes that adorned it. It was the first time that he noticed it. Funny, he thought. Maybe a ring becomes too mundane once you've lost everything else. He wondered what the significance of the ring was. He twisted it so that the serpent was inside his palm. He made a mental note to ask his aunt about it, hoping against hope that she would answer.
I would like to thank my lovely betas, the readers, especially the reviewers. I will try to upload another chapter before the holiday craze! Reviews are loved, always!