Damion: Ladies and Gentlemen Boys and Ghouls! Step right up behind this curtain lies a ghastly concoction or delight, horror, fantasy and terror. Your every wish is our command, your every whimsical desire brought to life, but there is always a price. -Creature Feature
Nanci: Dame! Will you stop singing that song!
Damion: You're the one one who wouldn't stop listening to it.
Mandy: What are you guys talking about?
Nanci: He won't stop singing 'The Greatest Show Unearthed' and it's getting on my nerves.
Mandy: Oh! I love that song!
Nanci: Shh! Hear that? That's the beginning of Chapter Three! How exciting!
P.S. Thanks to all the people who alerted/favorited/reviewed (Lumcer =D) it! Luv Nanci.
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Chapter Three: Memories
'Where is she? I had her a second ago!' Lucius thought as he paced through the thinning crowds in Hogsmeade. He knew he had no reason to go to Hogwarts, so Hogsmeade had been his next choice and he had seen her. She was sitting at the table talking to that Ravenclaw girl and when she gotten up to go to that tiny bookstore he was sure he had lost her. Then he saw her go into Honeydukes and he had waited outside of it until it closed but she never came out. Lucius now sat in his drawing room. "Maybe it's better this way." He said to himself though not very convincingly.
"What's better this way, dear?" Narcissa questioned as she entered the room.
"Nothing. Don't worry."
"You tried to follow her didn't you?" His face told her. "Where did you see her?" Narcissasat down across from her husband with a slightly dreamy look in her eyes.
"I saw her in Hogsmeade. I heard a rumor that Dumbledore hired someone from America, occupation 'unknown'." He leaned back in the high-backed chair trying to gauge his wife's reaction.
She sighed a little wistfully. "What did she look like? Me? You?"
Lucius smiled a little "She looks a lot like you. Except when I first saw her I didn't think that she was... her. She'd dyed her hair brown and then I saw her face and her eyes and I knew." Narcissa smiled back at him.
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Alexia pushed herself out of the One-eyed Witch's hump right as, none other than, Snape walked by. "What luck." She muttered as she tried to silently land on the floor behind him.
"Ah, if it isn't everyone's favorite foreigner." Snaped sneared as he turned to her. Alexia just crossed her arms and looked at him. "I see you been dying your hair. Not too surprising, though, I want to too if I had dishwater blond hair."
"And I want to learn how to shampoo, if I had an oil slick for hair." Alexia turned on her heel and walked down the corridor leaving a angry Snape in her wake. She got to the portrait of The Fat Lady. "Booldchifen!"
"Thank you, dear." The Fat lady said as she swung open to reveal the Gryfinndor common room and was met by Hermione.
"Alexia! Are you quite ready to let me in on your little secret?"
"Nope! Where's Harry? I was thinking he'd be here."
"He's here. He's in his room, he's been there ever since you left."
"That's fantastic," she said as she took a spare piece of parchment out of her jean pocket and began to write on it with pen "Hermione, I need you to go down to the Slytherin common room and get Draco. Here is a pass to be down there and the password is 'Salazar'. Okay?" Alexia smiled her.
"Um, Alexia, I don't think I should go down there. Maybe you should send Ron, or anyone else." Hermione looked scared scared out of her wits.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine. Go!" Alexia pushed her out of the portrait hole.
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Hermione approached the bare stretch of wall that she knew was the portal to the Slytherincommon room from the instructions on the slip of paper. "Salazar." Hermione said in a shaky voice which matched the rest of her body. The wall opened and revealed a long, low room with green lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Hermione took a slow, scared step as if expecting the room to throw her out into the hall behind her. Her heart hammered in her chest as she heard the wall close behind her.
"What are you doing here?" A black haired Slytherin boy said from next to her.
"I-I have a pa-pass from Alexia. I need t-to get Draco Malfoy." She stared at his eyes. Blue.
"Oh, okay. Come on. I'll take you to him." He led her to the back of the of the room where there was a fire crackling next to it was Draco. The pair paused and the boy looked to Hermione and mouthed "Well..." He took a step back.
"Draco, Alexia says she needs you." She waited a second "Draco? Did you hear me?" She went to his chair and looked down on him. He was asleep. "Oh, for Merlin's sake." She grabbed his shoulder and shook it violently, all her scaredness was replaced by annoyedness. "Draco! Wake up! Draco, Alexia needs you."
"Wha-. Oh, gimme a second." Draco sat straight and his back cracked slightly. Then he looked at Hermione and seemed to realize who she was and where she was. "What are you doing here?" He got up and looked at her.
"She has a pass." The blue eyed Slytherin replied and cast a quick smile at Hermione.
"Oh, okay Leo. Come on, you were saying something about Alexia needing me." He led her out of the dungeons.
"Yes, she came up to the Gryfinndor common room and asked me to go get you." She took the lead now and led him to The Fat Lady. "Booldchifen!" She said ignoring the snicker from Draco. They stepped through the hole.
"Took your time! Didn't you?" Alexia grinned and grabbed Draco's shirt sleeve "Thanks for all your help, Hermione!" She pulled him up toward the boy's dormitory. "Okay, here's the plan she said as she dragged Draco into the circular room. I need you to be an anchor for me and Harry. Okay?"
"What does that imply?" Draco asked looking around the room. "Gryfinndors share rooms?" He looked to Harry who was sitting on his bed.
"Yeah," Harry said "don't you?"
"No."
"Okay! Now all you have to do is sit next to me and Harry and talk to us every... five minutes. Can you do that?" Alexia cut in.
"Why?" Harry and Draco said at the time.
"Because I am going to go into Harry's mind and he is going to go into mine. I'll being doing what's called a mind switch and to keep the minds from becoming melded or just, like, blown you need an anchor. That's were you come in Draco, you just need to talk to us so our mind can still stay separate. Our answers may not always be exactly coherent but the only time you need to worry is when we don't answer. Okay?" Alexia smiled at him.
"Okay, I'll do it." Draco said.
She looked at Harry now. "Now, Harry all you need to do is relax then you'll enter my mind and I'll enter yours. I would appreciate it you didn't poke around to much, but I can't stop you if you do. Just don't fall asleep. Okay?"
Harry nodded "Why can't I fall asleep, though?"
"If you do it will send all three of into fatal comas. Now Draco remember every five minutes or less." Alexia sat on the bed across from Harry and pulled up chair between them which Draco sat in.
"Wait, why didn't you ask the-, um, Granger to do this anchor thing?"
"Because," Alexia sighed "she probably all ready knows about this spell and if I asked she wouldn't do it because of the risks and then reported me if she knew I was doing this. Okay, Harry, I want you to relax." Harry nodded and he closed his eyes, he felt his body relax, while Draco's body tensed up. After a second both their backs went straight and all their muscle tightened "Stop. Fighting. Me." Alexia forced out through gritted teeth. Harry's body loosened up a little bit and then they both went slightly slack.
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Harry stood in what looked to be a cavernous library. All the books were large, leather bound and black, they all looked the same. They were all in a specific place, well, except for a piece of lined paper with small, neat words on it. Harry bent down and picked it up and read it.
Harry-
Sorry, I'm a little meticulous with my memories. Try not to get lost. As I said before don't poke around but I suppose I should elaborate a little more; begining - 9 years that's okay, 10 - 15 that's a little more private so I would appreciate it if you stayed out of that one, 16 - 23 (present day) that's a little more pg so that's okay. But here's the thing I can't stop you from going anywhere and I can't find out what memories you've looked at. So I'm doing this all on trust, soooo..... have fun. I guess.
-Alexia
P.S. Yes, I'm 23.
Harry put the letter on his pocket and looked around again. This time he noticed a small plaque at the end of the bookshelf that said '23rd year'. Harry walked down it. He looked around the bookshelf and saw 22 other rows of books. "Well, I supose I'll start at the begining." Harry started walking down the row toward the end.
When he was half way there when a voice sounded around him. "Hey, are you two okay?" It was Draco.
"I'm fine!" Harry shouted, but no sound came out of his voice.
Instead he heard Alexia's voice say it and his own sarcastically say "Oh, I'm just fantastic!." Harry thought for a second 'Well, it makes sense we switched minds, so why not switch voices too?' Harry made it down there without any more interruption from Draco. He stood at the entrance to the shortest shelf he'd seen so far. It held only one book. The plaque said '1st year'. He picked it up without hesitation and was sucked into the book.
Harry had never been inside a memory, at least that's what he thought, and when he leaned forward toward the book and felt his feet leave the floor, he was quite surprised.
The memories were patchy and seen through eyes that hadn't seen and heard through ears that hadn't heard, but the things that it did see were wonderful and sweet. A nice smell and words that were sweet and a happy face here and a nonsense lullaby with words that she could'tunderstand but made her giggle and coo. Which made her carrier happy and everyone was sweet and nice. And nothing made sense, but it was nice. Harry touched back down onto the floor happy and content. He sighed and placed book back and went to the next bookshelf. This one was slightly bigger and held three volumes. He pulled out the first one and was surprised to see it was labeled on the front with 'Mom'. Harry opened it up and left again.
These memories were slightly more coherent than the last, but they were still happy. A woman with brown hair and eyes that shined with love and a mouth that said so too. She was always there when she needed her. She would hug a tiny blond haired girl and give her a cookie or kiss a boo-boo and make it better. These memories were filled images of this woman and happiness. "Mommy?" the girl would ask.
"What is it, love?" she would respond. And there conversation would continue on but Harry couldn't hear it anymore as if the words had been forgotten over time. Harry touched down again and smiled. He was about to pull out the next book when Draco voice filled the air.
"So, what's it like in there?"
"Oh, I wish I never lose my memories! And have the be reduced to this mush! Ergh!" He heard his voice respond to Draco's question.
"Well, your memories are fantastic. They're so nice and happy!" He heard Alexia's voice say. He smiled again and pulled out the second one. This one said 'Nightmares'. He almost didn't open it, but then, without any movement from Harry, it opened and he left again.
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Alexia entered Harry's mind expecting nothing less than she got; a few real memories and the rest lost in the mushy chamber walls. 'Oh, Harry why couldn't you be more organized.... like me.' She smiled as she thought of her organized library of memories with great lighting compared to this dingy mess. She grabbed the first memory that floated by her face and went into it.
Harry stood on a stool in the well known shop 'Madam Malken's Robes for all Occasions' across from him stood Draco, who was talking and talking and talking. "Ergh, can't stand it." She muttered and pulled herself out. She grabbed another and realized that she was slowly sinking into the floor of the chamber. She yanked out her feet and began grabbing random memories not caring what they were or even if they were old or resent. She floated up a little bit and pushed herself over to a wall and began to rip down the mush as she did this a voice broke through the mush.
"Hey, are you two okay?"
"I'm fine!" she heard her own voice reply.
"Oh, I'm just fantastic!" She shouted loudly trying to make herself heard through all the memory junk. She kept scraping away the wall until she came to a wall. It was a mix of colors that reminded Alexia of when she used to smush five different colors of Play-do together. She smiled at the funny colors and kept scraping away until the whole wall was cleared away. Then she smashed the formed memories to the wall and knew they would stay. She went to work on the the other walls occasionally pulling herself out of the gray, mud-like memories on the floor.
"So, what's it like in there?" She heard Draco call a lot more clear now that the junk had been cleared.
"Oh, I wish I never lose my memories! And have them be reduced to this mush! Ergh!" She yelled and heard Harry's voice repeat it.
Then she heard her own voice reply "Well, your memories are fantastic. They're so nice and happy!"
"Boy, am I glad I wore my big boots today!" She muttered as she pulled her leg out again. She reached down and grabbed some of the non-formed memory and entered it.
Harry was sitting in the Gryfinndor Common room and looking around nervously. He looked into the fire and jumped a little. Alexia followed his gaze and saw the head of Sirius Black Poking through the fire! She choked for a second when Harry smiled, scrambled out of his chair and crouched down by the fire. "Sirius - how're you doing?" She leaned down next to Harry and and saw not the Sirius Black, escapee of Azkaban, no she saw Sirius Black, genuinely happy and slightly concerned man.
"Never mind me, how are you?" said Sirius seriously.
"I'm -" Harry paused and then began to talk about all his troubles and talk about Ron and talk about the Tri-wizard Tournament and dragons.
'This must be his fourth year. Yeah, it is.' Alexia thought not caring what Sirius's response was and pulled herself out.
'I'm going to have to talk to Harry about that one.' Alexia thought as she began to sink again and she waded back over to the wall where the other memories where still stamped. She sighed this was going to be a long day, or afternoon.
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Harry kept falling in the never-ending darkness occasionally met by a terrifying apparition, or at least they had been when this nightmare started, and every time he came upon one the girl who was falling next to him would scream and scream. Harry was beginning to get a headache. Harry pushed on the edges of the memory and felt something give, next thing he knew he was falling onto the floor and the heavy volume fell on his head.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Harry yelled while rubbing his sore head. "That was weird." he said putting it back on the shelf. He glanced at the next book. 'Dreams'. Harry sighed the dreams of a two year old not likely to be exciting. He walked into the '3rd year' and sighed five books this time. "Not going to waste my time with that." He kept walking until he stopped at the '10th year'. He frowned and his hand brushed the top of letter that Alexia had left '...So I'm doing this all on trust....'.
"Curiosity killed the cat, Harry... Well it sure is a good thing I'm not a cat!" He grabbed the first book off the shelf and read 'Mom's Funeral' This was getting more interesting by the second!
Mandy: Harry, you bad boy!
Nanci: I know! So evil! Anywhozit! Now that school has been let out and summer has officially smacked me in the face with a frying pan my updates will come later in the day. Like 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m.! Because I'm a night owl in the summer!
Damion: I thought you where a cat!
Nanci: And I thought you were intelligent!
Mandy: Whatever! Review Please!
Nanci: Hey, that's my line!
Damion: *singing* If there's a prize for rotten judgement, I guess I've already won that. No man is worth the aggravation. That's ancient history! Been there, done that!
Mandy and Nanci: *Singing* Who'd ya think kidding he's the earth and heaven to ya! Tried to keep it hidden. Honey, we can see right through ya!
All Three: *burst out laughing* Review! *laugh some more*
Mandy: Is that a rat? o.O