Chapter 2
Lights... flashes. They all filled my head. The dream was foggy, as if I was almost grasping it, but failing to do so. I was hidden in a closet. I didn't know what to do. The sounds became louder, closer to my hiding space. The door slammed open...
And I awoke, heart racing, drenched in sweat.
"Shh," a voice soothed, "calm down. It's going to be okay." The person grabbed my hand, and I felt a wave of peace fall over me. I hoped the peace wouldn't leave. I hoped it would stay like that forever.
It stayed like this for a couple of moments. I could just calm down. Be calm. And attempt to remember what made me panic.
Doors... sticks? Flashes. Blindness.
And my mind flashed back to my current situation. Who had their hand on mine?
I jerked my hand upwards and practically jumped off of the couch.
"Good morning, dear," a short lady with red hair whispered. Her focus on me drifted as two boys ran around the kitchen, "FRED, GEORGE, GET OUT THIS INSTANT! YOU DON'T WANT THE CARS TO LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!"
Fred and George hollered with laughter as they were teasing an older boy with glasses. I dunno Stan, I thought to myself, but one of the Weasleys clearly has glasses. Pfft, memory loss, am I right?
I was stuck in my tracks by the thought. Were these the Weasleys? Stan said something about red hair. I looked at the 3 boys as they left the house, all of them had red hair. I shifted my focus to the lady who continued to scold Fred and George, she had red hair too.
"Oh I'm so sorry about that, my children can be quite a handful." the lady said. She bent over and picked up a polished piece of wood. The stick was fashioned with great detail. Something inside of me pulled me towards it. The woman put the stick out, "You dropped your wand when you fell. It seemed it needed a little washing, it's as good as new, dear."
I took the 'wand' from her, and examined it with great detail. There was something special about it. Something inside me felt complete. Yet, I still had no idea what this thing was.
"What is this?" I asked. Wait, no. She might think I'm stupid, "I mean, what's a wand?" Wow, Liam, you just made it 10 times worse.
She paused for a moment, "Is everything alright? You look awfully sick." she looked deep into my eyes.
I tensed. My mind flashed back to the note. 'Don't let them find you.' What if being with the Weasleys was a trap? What if they've been following me this entire time? Are they going to cause me harm? I don't want to die.
Yet, the kindness in her eyes made me have a sense of trust. A knowing, deep down, that she wasn't going to hurt me. Yes, my intuition may be off, but there was the slight chance that she would be able to help.
I took a deep breath, "Okay, I know I might sound insane. And that's okay. I don't even know who I am. I only know my name. That's only because somebody wrote it down for me. Before last night, I don't have any memories. With the paper and all, it seems as if this was intended to happen. The note said to go to platform 9¾ inside of the London train station. I don't even know what London is and-"
"Hush, you're rambling," she said, "I understand. Me and my family will try and help you. We're the Weasleys, it's nice to meet you."
I smiled slightly, "I'm Liam..." I racked my brain for any sort of surname. Nothing. I rubbed the back of my neck, "I'm just Liam, I suppose."
Mrs. Weasley chuckled, "I wouldn't be shocked if you were one of us. You would fit right in." She gestured to my hair.
I laughed, and fumbled with my wand. After a few moments of struggling, I fit it in my pocket.
I heard a honk from the outside of the house. And Mrs. Weasley started to walk towards the door.
"We better hurry up," she spoke, "we're nearly late for the train!"
Mrs. Weasley ushered me out the house and took me towards a fancy dark green car. She opened the door and addressed one of her sons, "Percy, let's have Liam be with the three. He needs to meet people his age."
I heard a sigh of relief come from the inside of the vehicle as Percy climbed out. Percy and I made eye contact for a short second. He puffed his chest out to show a shiny little badge that, if I was to be honest, was quite ugly. With a quick sneer in my direction, Percy headed off. Cackling could be heard from the other car.
The anxiety from before came back, just as strong. I slowly put a leg inside of the vehicle and slid right in.
I could feel the eyes on me in that moment. I wasn't completely sure if they were judging or not. It was uncomfortable.
The 3 friends, in which 2 of them were not from the Weasley family, talked in hushed whispers.
"Are you sure he isn't one of your cousins?" the one with the odd scar whispered.
"Yeah, he isn't. Even my mum didn't know who he was. He just passed out in the yard, randomly." the Weasley said.
"Randomly?" the one with frizzy hair replied, "Ron, he's right there! Just ask him for Merlin's sake!"
My eyes were still focused on the structures we passed, but my ears shifted to their conversation.
"Uh- Liam." Ron spoke.
I turned to face him. He gulped.
"If you're here to hurt Harry, then you're going to have to get through-"
Hermione hit Ron in the arm.
"What was that for?!"
Hermione sighed, "Ron, if he was going to kill Harry, would he wait so long?"
"Well... maybe."
"No! No he wouldn't!"
I stayed silent for a moment, "Well, she's got a point," the trio's attention snapped towards me, "You really think a villain would fake being unconscious just so one of you could die? Pfft, no. I ain't that desperate. And who would kill a 13 year old?"
Harry reached up to his face and felt the scar on his forehead. Almost as if he was checking if it was still there.
"Er- so why are you here?" Harry asked.
In that moment, I honestly wish I knew. These kids seemed to be trustworthy enough. Might as well tell them.
I told all of them about the Knight Bus, about the note, and about the memory loss. One of them admitted to having erased someone's memory before.
On the way there, I actually became pretty good friends with them. They told me all their adventures of the past 2 years, and I was hooked.
When we had arrived, we got out of the cars and made our way to our platform.
The train station was magnificent, it was packed with all sorts of people. As I glanced around, I could just imagine what was going through their heads.
And I was at peace, even if it was for a moment.
And, of course, it had to be completely wrecked by a husky voice that rung in my ears.
"Hurry up."