Metanoia

Veronica opened her eyes to a ceiling. It wasn’t like the one in the dorm or even in her own house. She blinked at it curiously, wondering why and for a blissful two seconds that’s all that registered in her brain.

Then came everything else.

She was on her feet immediately. Panic clawed at her throat, threatening to choke. Hazy recollections of what had happened flashed in her mind, the door, the light and-

“Malfoy!”

He was still unconscious but definitely alive judging by his even breathing. Relief burst in her chest. “Malfoy,” she whispered urgently, kneeling by his face. “Please wake up.” 

He stirred at the noise, squinting irritatedly at the sunlight on his eyelids. 

“Oh thank Merlin,” she breathed out. He turned to catch her gaze. She watched as his face morphed from confusion to sudden, jarring realisation.

“Weasley,” he said slowly, “where the fuck are we?”

“I don’t know! All I remember is getting into that room and that awful bright light. And when I woke up this happened.”

He exhaled harshly and looked around to get a grip of their surroundings. They were in a living room by the looks of it. A large bookshelf spanned the length of half the wall. The couch, strewn haphazardly with pillows sat opposite to the fireplace. The far end of the room had a patio door which was opened to let fresh breeze in. Somewhere outside, she heard wind chimes jingling. 

There were no pictures of a family or any sign that anyone had lived here. As empty as the house was, there was this strange sensation of familiarity in it. It unsettled her, urged her into looking around.

Something caught her eye then.

The pillows in the couch, they were exactly like the ones back home. The cartoon deer print, the bright Gryffindor colours. All of it exactly the same. 

Her heart pounded so loudly she could hear it in her ears.

“These are all my books,” said Malfoy from her left. His hand smoothed over the worn green cover in awe.

They looked at each other speechlessly. 

“I don’t..understand,” she said faintly. “What’s going on?” 

Malfoy opened his mouth as if to say something but decided against it, dragging his hand over his face in frustration. 

Something shifted in his glance as he noticed the sky outside. “It was around ten right, when we were at Hogwarts?” She nodded slowly, understanding dawning.

They both rushed outside and were met with the blinding brightness of the mid-afternoon sun. This place was not even remotely close to Hogwarts.

It was also in the middle of the fucking woods.

The grassy ground of the backyard gradually bled into the dense brown soil of the forest. Trees surrounded the house on all fours, as far as the eye could see. The backyard itself had a generous variety of plants and herbs planted in little clay pots. She instinctively knew they were magical. For potions.

“It’s almost like someone wants us to live here,” she said quietly. He nodded, attention focused on the herbs in the garden.

But then his gaze hardened in revulsion as he turned to look at her again. “Of all the people I could’ve been stuck with, it just had to be you huh?”

“It’s not like I asked for this to happen, Malfoy!” she yelled, returning his glare. With all the things that had happened she didn’t have time to focus on just who her company was. But now she couldn’t ignore it anymore.

Malfoy was definitely one of the worst people to be with in this horrible situation. Their hatred of each other made trust impossible. She had no way of knowing he wouldn’t just abandon her there, even if he were to find some way to escape. The thought terrified her, with how plausible it was. 

“It’s just my luck,” he spat bitterly. 

The relief of having another living, breathing human with her slowly disappeared under the crushing realisation that it was just the same as if she were alone. He would leave her here to die, if he could.

Her vision swam around the edges. She grabbed on to the door handle for support and tried to breathe.

Her friends would look for her, but how on earth were they going to find her in this godforsaken woods? Both of their wands had been knocked off their hands in their hurry to get into the room so that ruled out all hopes of a tracking charm.

Would she ever see them all again? Just this morning they had all been laughing and having fun, not a care in the world. 

 How did everything go so wrong, so fast?