Chapter 11
Everything was foggy.
Well, it really didn't surprise me at the time. Everything always was foggy. I sighed, looking around where I stood.
I had no memory of the place where I was. It looked cold, but in a cozy way. There was a glass wall featuring murky water. However, nothing seemed to be swimming in it. It was honestly quite depressing.
Speaking of depressing, there was no other human in sight, it reminded me of the strange experience with the old man inside of the Honeydukes shop. It was completely empty, then all of a sudden he showed up.
"Hello-"
"MERLIN'S FUCKING BEARD-" I screeched far louder than intended. I whipped around and reached into my pocket for my wand. My hand went straight through the pocket.
Did I really put my wand in the broken pocket? I was a fucking idiot.
"I'm not Malfoy, you git." The voice laughed quietly.
I paused for a moment. My mind was so close to remembering something. I focused on it. Please have me remember. I'd do anything to remember. Everything is so confusing-
"Er-" the voice snapped me out of the trance I was in, "do you want to sit on the couch?"
I turned to look at the person talking to me. My eyes fell upon a boy that was about the same height as I was. His hair fell to about his ears in beautiful black curly-wavy hair. I narrowed my eyes.
"...Sure." I eventually said. I inched over to a two seater couch, sitting down on the left side. I looked over at the person as he came over.
He sat on the other side of the couch for a moment, but then stood back up, "Wait I'm fucking- it's cold isn't it?" he didn't even wait for an answer on my behalf before he rushed out of sight.
"Well, okay." I whispered, looking around. An exit would've been amazing, right about then. I bounced my leg while waiting for the person to come back.
Usually in that sort of situation I would've felt untrust towards the other person. But, for whatever reason, this time was different. The feeling I felt towards them was the same towards the person in the strange dream after I had fallen off of the slide. A feeling of familiarity.
I heard the clanking of dishes behind me as the person came back.
He appeared to be holding two glasses of liquid, one with a straw in it.
He put both of them down and grabbed the blanket he had been carrying under his arm.
I raised an eyebrow and leaned forward to grab the blanket from him.
He paused for a moment, staring at my hands. Then he continued to unravel the blanket. The design was horrendous. He draped the blanket over me and went back to fetch the cups.
I touched the blanket. From afar, it looked as if it had the same texture as fucking straw. But now that it was on me, it was the most comfiest blanket I had ever felt. It warmed up the cold I didn't even know I had.
The person sat next to me on the couch. I scooted away as far as I could. The blanket was now wrapped around me like a burrito. If the guy had any intentions of getting the blanket back, I had to make it known that it was not going to happen.
We made eye contact for a few seconds.
"I got this for you," he offered the glass with the straw in it, "if you want it."
I recognized the type of straw immediately. It was the pink bendy straw that the employee at the Three Broomsticks had offered me earlier.
I knew better than to accept a drink from a complete stranger, but I had an urge to do so this time. I was so close to trusting him, and the straw just added to that.
"Cheers." I remarked.
I removed my hands from underneath the soft blanket and grabbed the drink by the handle, accidentally touching the other guy's hand.
His hand was unexpectedly soft.
We both froze, looking at each other's hand on top of the other. I coughed and took the glass from him. I sipped the drink from the straw and was pleasantly surprised with the taste of Butterbeer.
I narrowed my eyes at him. Yes, he was suspicious. But he was also being the nicest person ever. He almost had my complete trust, and I didn't like it.
We both sat there, drinking the butterbeer and listening to the crackling of the fire in awkward silence.
This went on for another 5 minutes. I glanced at him every so often to see if we were going to talk any time soon.
The silence was still there. He kept on glancing at me every so often, glancing back at his glass.
Eventually, he put down his drink on the table beside the couch.
The boy with the dark curls muttered, "You're going to come back, right?"
I froze at that moment, nearly choking on my butterbeer, "What?" I wiped my mouth from the drink.
"Nothing. Never mind." he replied hastily. He started to play with his hands, avoiding eye contact with me.
I nearly scoffed. I put a hand on his shoulder, "Hey could you tell me what the hell is happening right now?!"
He turned slowly towards me, his eyes glistening, "You don't remember, do you?"
"No! I don't remember anything in this- this endless hell!" I snapped.
He glanced away, looking into the distance, "You don't remember any of this? Anything?"
I tried to remember. I really did. In that moment I did everything in my power to remember.
I sighed, "No."
I looked away, my eyes settling on the rug in front of me. It was green and silver.
Wait, green?
I looked upwards at the banners hanging around the room, they were also green.
Green with snakes on them.
I was in the Slytherin common room.
I dropped my Butterbeer onto the floor.
What the fuck?!
***
"Mr. Olivander?"
I slowly opened my eyes, only to be blinded with the light of the hospital room.
I sat up, my back in extreme pain. Oh of course I'm still in this damn bed!
"Mmmm... what?" I yawned, still hunched over. I rubbed my eyes, which were still pretty crusty from the nap I had taken.
Madam Pomfrey gently touched my arm, looking at me, "Did Professor Lupin's advice help at all?"
I snapped my head towards her. Advice? Whatever the talk between me and him was, it surely wasn't advice.
"With the nightmares?" Madam Pomfrey added on.
"Oh," I said, "uhm. I'd say a little bit." I would honestly love to completely get rid of the nightmares, but that didn't seem like an option.
Madam Pomfrey nodded slowly, stirring up a potion of some sorts in the corner, "You seemed pretty startled a few moments ago."
Which means I probably screamed, I thought, cringing in my bed. I wonder what I said...
The healer came over to me with a cup filled with a frothing orange liquid and handed it to me.
"This should help with the bruises-" she began, only to be interrupted by violent knocking on the door. "Boys, not now!" she shouted.
The double doors slammed open, 3 lanky teenagers running through with a massive pile of food in their arms.
It was hard to see who it was without my glasses on, so I hurried to grab them from the table beside the bed.
As my vision became clear, I was surprised with 3 full plates of food at the foot of my bed.
"Just because you're an asshole doesn't mean that you should go hungry." A voice I recognized as Fred's spoke.
I jumped upwards, bringing Fred, Lee, and George into a massive hug.
It only lasted for a good two seconds when Lee pulled away. The twins followed suite.
"Mate, what happened?" George eventually asked.
I plopped down onto my bed and looked at my three friends waiting for my explanation. I looked down.
"I..." I started, looking at all three of them, "I was overwhelmed." I cracked a half smile in an effort to have them move on.
"You were overwhelmed, so you ran away." Fred said with his arms crossed.
"I-"
"Well you would do that too, wouldn't you Fred?" George piped up, glaring in the direction of his twin.
"Eh, I wouldn't if I was with my friends." Fred retorted back.
George looked from me to his brother, opening his mouth.
"Hey hey hey!" Lee half shouted, "Liam's been through a lot, and let's understand that."
A weight suddenly came off of my shoulders, "Thanks-"
Lee snapped towards me, "That doesn't mean what you did wasn't fucking pathetic." Lee gestured towards the friend group as a whole, "Now we all apologize and everything is better, eh?"
George turned towards Lee, "You're acting a bit too much like a professor for my liking."
Lee gasped, slamming his hand onto his chest, "I'm wounded! Almost as wounded as Fred was when Liam ran away without tasting his jelly beans."
George snorted.
Even Fred cracked a smile, "The pain you caused me when you dropped the beans was too much for me to handle. I- I don't think I can ever recover-"
I punched Fred on his side, "Drama queen, much?"
George placed one of the plates of food onto my lap, "We brought you some of the feast. Eh, but I reckon it's rubbish compared to Pomfrey's food."
"Ah, yes. Rubbish." I answered sarcastically. I looked down at the mashed potatoes that looked absolutely heavenly, "Thank you."
Fred grabbed another plate and held it right in front of me, "The appetizers are quite delicious." He shook what seemed to be 20 jelly beans around.
"Are those the beans from the floor?" Lee laughed.
Fred wiggled his eyebrows, "Perhaps." he said as he plopped a few into his mouth.
Madam Pomfrey appeared in the corner of my eye holding another cup. She shook her head and loudly said, "Liam needs his rest! Yes you may be his friends, but shoo!"
All three of them nodded.
"Alright then!"
"Bye Liam!"
I watched as the three of them skipped out of the hospital room.
"Bye..." I whispered to myself.
I eyed the mouth watering food that was laid out before me. In a matter of seconds, I was downing it as if I hadn't ate in a week.
For the next ten minutes, Madam Pomfrey began having me take multiple medications so I would be "fully healed". I grudgingly did it, as it would get me out of the rancid hospital room sooner.
She handed me a green potion with a strange texture.
I slowly swallowed it, trying to think of anything but the chunks floating in my mouth.
"Are you okay, dear?" Madam Pomfrey asked, a face full of concern.
I mustered up all of my willpower and swallowed the potion. I gulped and looked up at her, "Mighty fine." I made my best efforts to smile up at her.
She nodded and took the cup from my hand. She placed it next to all the other miscellaneous used medications.
“You are free to leave, Mr. Olivander.” she said with a grand smile on her face, “Be more careful where you adventure.”
I raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t think much of it as I leaped out of bed.
“Thanks!” I hollered as I rushed to close the door behind me.
I heaved a sigh. My surroundings were eerily silent. Hogwarts usually felt cosy. But right then I felt on edge. I rubbed my forearm and started to slowly walk forward, looking at the paintings that were hung.
I arrived at the dining hall. I could hear the bustling laughter and chatter as it echoed through the door. I breathed out and slowly raised my hand to open it.
However, I stopped when I felt something brush against my legs.
Panic.
I jerked my head downward and saw Mr. Black.
"Merlin!" I whispered, "Why are you in here?"
Mr. Black continued to look upwards at me and I sighed. I noticed the wetness of his fur. It must've been freezing outside. I kneeled down and proceeded to pet Mr. Black.
"Hey, I've got a few extra blankets in my dorm room if you want to come with me." I smiled; a weight lifted off of my chest. Being alone for a few minutes sounded just like what I needed after all the stress that happened that day.
Mr. Black wagged his tail, spinning around and heading down the hall without me.
"Hey! Wait up!" I laughed, half walking half running to catch up with the dog.
Mr. Black full stopped when we walked past Professor Lupin's classroom. I raised an eyebrow. Nobody appeared to be inside of it, "That's Lupin's office. He's easily my favourite teacher."
Mr. Black turned his head to the left, almost as if he was surprised.
"Anyways let's go, I still want to see my friends at the feast." I said, continuing to move forward. We both walked without any interruption up until the Fat Lady portrait.
I breathed in as I walked up to the portrait. Mr. Black sat down right next to me.
"Password?" She asked, glaring down at Mr. Black.
I paused and tried to remember it.
Shit.
Paintings always made me a tad bit nervous. But surely not nervous enough to make me forget the password altogether.
Right?
A painful throb went through my head. The headache I didn't even know I had got almost unbearable.
"Er-"
"No password no entry!" The Fat Lady crossed her arms and looked me up and down.
"You paintings have got additude!" I snapped, still trying to remember the password to the common room. I think I might've got a concussion.
"Excuse me?!"
I looked down to Mr. Black, "Uh. I'm going to go back to the dining hall."
Mr. Black stayed completely still as I walked back to the hall.
As I arrived, everyone was preparing to leave.
"Liam!" All three of my friends shouted from halfway across the hall.
A smile crept onto my face and I went over to them.
"She let me go, finally." I laughed as the whole Gryffindor house walked back to the common room.
"I was actually kinda scared for you." Lee responded, "those medicines look rancid."
"They were!" I shouted, "I nearly puked!"
All of a sudden, the rest of our house began to run. I began to run too.
That's when I heard the shrieking voice of the Fat Lady portrait.
"THAT SIRIUS BLACK!"