Liquid

Chapter 3 - Tabula Rasa

Milan York tried to run, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't move. She cried; there was a sinister feeling to the air. She couldn't see anything; it was like a grey cloud covered her. She saw something green ripping through the clouds and fear swamped her mind; she screamed.

Milan York opened her eyes and gasped, grasping the sheets tightly, but she was no longer inside the grey cloud; she was in the safety of her own bed. Sweat covered her body and her heart raced madly.

She looked at the man sleeping next to her and smiled. Milan knew her partner was always a rock, and seeing him sleeping peacefully made all her anxiety disappear. She slowly got out of her bed, trying hard not to wake him up.

She walked slowly and carefully to the bathroom. She stood over the sink and tried to catch her breath. She turned on the tap, sprayed cold water on her face and looked into the mirror. Brown eyes under a vibrant red hair stared back at her. For her, looking in the mirror was always a peculiar sensation since she didn't know who she really was.

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She wasn't always called "Milan York"; she picked it up looking at clothes in a Muggle shop. Once she was Ginny Weasley, an elite member of the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter's only living friend. But when Harry Potter lost his sanity in a desperate attempt to change the world by killing Salazar Slytherin, and Ginny failed to stop him, the world she once knew ceased to exist. Ginny was saved by the man who brought them to the past, and he was now sleeping in the bed in the next room under the name of Max Washington. Of course, neither of them remembered the old world. Just over a year ago they woke up in a deserted garden in Aberdeen, not knowing anything of their pasts. They soon realized that they needed to work together in order to restore their memories and survive in this world. At first they didn't even know they were a wizard and a witch, and the Muggles tried to do all they could. They went around in different places for a few days after their arrival, trying to find someplace to stay. It didn't take long for them to be arrested by a Muggle police officer. When they explained they did not know who they were, they were taken into dozen of tests; all concluded that nothing was wrong with them. Meetings with a psychologist confirmed they were either talented liars or that they were telling the truth. The police also tried to match their faces with missing people's files but it was no use.

They stayed in a homeless shelter for almost a month before they discovered something about themselves. Milan wanted some privacy from all the homeless people around her, and she got it; she waved her hand madly and they all disappeared. Milan and Max were terrified. Milan broke into tears and Max tried to find a reasonable answer for the mystery. A few minutes later, all of the people returned, as if they were never gone, none of them remembering that something had happened. Milan and Max tried to find an explanation for that event but couldn't reach anything except for the words Max muttered: "It was like Magic".

They decided they couldn't stay at the shelter anymore; they hitch-hiked to London and began searching for answers on the streets.

Three days after they arrived at London they stood in front of a small, shabby-looking inn, sandwiched between a big book shop and a record store. They stood there for ages, looking crazy to the Muggles who walked past them and didn't pay any attention to the inn. Finally, they entered.

The inside was not that different from the outside; the room was barely lit and smoke thickened the air. They could see many strange people sitting around a few tables not far from them, looking suspiciously at the newcomers.

"What can I do for you?" the bald landlord asked them quietly and they both replied with a blank stare.

"Do you need a place to stay?" he asked with sympathy in his voice.

"Yes." Milan spoke softly.

"What name should I write it on?" The landlord grabbed a key and put it on the bar. He then took a heavy, old-looking book from behind the bar. Putting the book on the bar, he opened it immediately; the pages moved swiftly but neither of them could feel a breeze. Then an even more bizarre thing happened; ink began to appear in the book without the landlord doing anything. The date and the room number were written on the blank page.

"York," Milan mumbled and saw that her name was also appearing in the book now.

"How... how did you do this?" she asked incredulously.

"Just an old book charm," he replied and the book closed itself.

"Then you are a wizard!" Max cried.

"Of course I am, aren't you?" The landlord finally realized something was wrong about them.

"We don't know," Milan answered.

The landlord sighed and led them to their room; he promised them he would bring someone to help them. That night a man came to their room, saying Tom sent him. They told him their story and he said that he would try and help them retrieve their memories. And he did try at least; for the first week he tried dozens of charms and potions on the two and achieved nothing. After that week they had decided to give up on all of these experiments; they were sick of it. First the Muggles examined them and now the wizards. They realized they would probably never retrieve their memories and decided to start living their new lives already.

They got jobs helping Tom, the landlord, at the inn, and they lived in the room they got that day when they first found the place.

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Milan returned to the bed and saw that Max was awake.

"You had that dream again?" Max asked even though the answer was obvious; she had had that dream almost every night since they came to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Of course, silly." She tried to sound happy although despair was obvious in her tone. She got back into bed and curled in the arms of her lover. Resting her head on his chest, she sighed.

"Don't worry, baby, I'm with you."

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The next morning Milan and Max were doing chores for the Leaky Cauldron. While Max was taking some money out of the inn's safe in Gringotts, Milan was busy looking at the animals in the Magical Menagerie. Ever since they settled in the Leaky Cauldron she had wanted a pet. An orange cat called Crookshanks always caught her eye; she felt sorry for the little thing. Since nobody wanted to adopt him, she wanted to do it herself but Max wasn't a cat person. Milan always wondered if he was like that before they met too.

Milan sighed and a strange feeling came over her. She felt as if somebody was looking at her, somebody who knew her. She turned around and watched the crowd in Diagon Alley. Nobody seemed to look at her or even acknowledge her existence, but in the crowd she saw two figures coming her way and she froze. A wizard and a witch; the wizard had short black hair and a little scar under his right eye, and the witch had long red hair and a young face. The two's bodies were completely covered in their robes and they seemed to mingle in the crowd well. It was like she was the only one that noticed them coming through; even when the wizard seemed to bodyguard the witch and cleared people off their way, they just ignored them and kept on walking. They seemed to be synchronized in their steps. As they got closer her bad feeling strengthened and Milan was sure that the red-headed women gave her a sneak peek as they got passed her and continued on.

"Milan, what's wrong?" Max came back and found her standing in place breathing heavily and staring to the street.

"Nothing." She tried to move but collapsed backwards and Max grabbed her fast.

"It's just that that witch... I don't know, it was just so weird," she said and stood back on her feet.

"Maybe you should get some rest?" Max looked ahead and saw the witch Milan talked about and her companion entering Ollivander's.

Max made sure that Milan fell asleep before he left the room; luckily it happened very quickly so the chances of finding the mysterious witch were still high.

Max and Milan never entered Ollivander's; since they remembered nothing of what they had learned about doing magic, taking a wand into their hands would have put everybody in danger. But Max knew that it was the place to start looking for the red-headed witch.

Max came into the shop and saw the old wizard giving him an odd gaze from the counter.

"Don't tell me, I know who you are." Ollivander inspected Max from head to toe.

"What do you mean?" Max had a feeling that the answers he had been seeking about his identity were right under his nose the whole time, and that made him forget why he came into the shop in the first place.

"I remember every wand I ever sold; if I sold you your wand I can remember you. Just give me a second," the old wizard was smiling.

"Please tell me who I am, mister." Max was awaiting the reply.

"Oh, you are one of the two working for Tom. You have no memories? How sad."

"Who am I?" Max grabbed the old man's hand.

"Darius Skylark, nine and a half inches, flexible, made of oak with a core of Occamy feather." Max let go of Ollivander and sighed.

"Are you sure that's who I am?" he asked quietly.

"Ninety nine percent sure." Ollivander put his hand on Darius' shoulder. "Mr. Skylark," he added. "Maybe you would like to bring your friend here too?" Ollivander smiled.

"Yes, please, thank you very much. I just have one question for you." Ollivander nodded. "Who was the witch that came into your shop about half an hour ago?" Ollivander's friendly and happy expression quickly changed into a mysterious and sad one.

"I'm sorry, you must be confused. It has been a weak day for me; you were the first to come in." Darius was not convinced, but he didn't care now that he finally knew a little piece of his past.

"I'm going to bring her in now," he said and left the store. He couldn't keep himself from running back to the room, he was so excited. It took about ten minutes for him to tell Milan everything and bring her to the shop, hoping to maybe finally find out something of her past as well.

When they entered the shop, Ollivander wasted no time and inspected Milan. It seemed, though, that his answer came too fast and he was not happy with that answer. Too Milan's horror she saw that he was worried and terrified within seconds.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Maybe you would like to sit down and have some tea." He waved his hand and three cups of tea appeared on the counter. "And give me a second to explain myself." They nodded and took the cups of tea and sat down on the spindly chairs he conjured for them as well.

Ollivander waited and saw that they drank some tea before he started.

"I just have one question for both of you; are you spies for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" he asked them, pointing his wand at them.

"No!" they were not sure of his intentions but they had to answer, and he put down his wand.

"Very well." he turned to Milan. "You have a striking resemblance--more than a striking resemblance actually--to Ginny Weasley." That name lingered in her ears, and she liked it.

"However, the witch that came into my shop forty minutes ago was Ginny Weasley." Ollivander turned from them.

"So you lied?" Darius stood up and stood face to face with Ollivander; he never liked being lied to.

"Sit down, Mr. Skylark, this is something bigger than you." Darius stared at him for a few seconds and sat.

"What does it mean?" Ginny asked.

"I do not have that answer for you, but I know the man that does." He signaled to them to come after him and they did; they went along the shelves full of wands and stopped just before the last row of shelves.

Ollivander grabbed one of the boxes and a hole opened in the ground beside them.

"You need to go down there, then go along the tunnel until you reach its hand, then declare your intentions and say that I sent you for Dumbledore. Stand still and a few wizards will come to take you to the Order of the Phoenix's main base. They will need to put you to sleep before they take you, so don't resist. Got it?" Darius and Ginny nodded.

"What will you say when you reach the end of the tunnel?" Ollivander asked.

"Ollivander sent us to see Dumbledore," Darius said and Ollivander nodded.

"Good luck." Ollivander helped them go down to the tunnel and closed the hole after them.

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Darius and Ginny began walking along the tunnel, which was unexpectedly large and lit by floating candles. Darius led the way in a cautious pace and Ginny behind him used the time to think about what she had just found out.

The walk was long and tiring, Ginny and Darius barely spoke, both too busy worrying to talk; Ginny kept trying to create memories that would prove to her that she is indeed Ginny Weasley and that this was all not just a waste of time, and Darius was worried that if Dumbledore couldn't solve their problem, the Milan he knew would be crushed. It took them almost an hour to reach the end of the tunnel.

"Well, I guess this is the end of the road," said Darius as he found himself facing a wall. He saw that Milan seemed distracted; he could understand why.

"Ollivander sent us to see Dumbledore!" he called to the air and waited for something to happen. Suddenly the walls around them seemed to move and six wizards holding their wands came out of the walls. They were all hidden in dark robes and Darius could barely see their eyes; he started to wonder if they were spying on them in the tunnel.

"You know I must put you to sleep for a little while?" one of them said as he stepped up and they nodded.

"Codail!" he whispered and Darius and Ginny fell into a bewitched sleep. Two wizards caught them before they fell to the floor and carried them on their shoulders. The wizards went back through where they came from and the wall returned to normal. They walked for a while and arrived at a shore for an underground river.

Dumbledore saw it as one of his most exquisite acts; in order to connect the main base of the Order of the Phoenix to other locations over Britain he had built branched tunnels underneath the surface of the island and created a river in them. The river seemed very shallow, but this was only an illusion; if a Death Eater was to step in it, he would most likely not get out of it alive. And even if one was to get on a boat he would most likely not find the right way since every few meters the road was split into three.

The wizards put Darius' and Ginny's sleeping bodies in a boat and two of the wizards went on it and sailed away from the others, taking the road to the main base. Finally after an hour of sailing, Darius and Ginny were finally there, still sleeping. They were taken of the boat and carried in to Dumbledore's chamber where they were left on couches waiting for somebody to wake them up.

Ginny opened her eyes and saw an old man smiling at her. He had long white hair and beard; there was something childish in his smile, but something torn by war in his eyes.

"Welcome," he said and helped her sit up.

"I'm Albus Dumbledore. Give me a second and I will wake you your friend." He smiled and turned to the sleeping body of Darius Skylark.

"Enervate," he said and Darius opened his eyes. Darius stood up and Ginny joined him, then without no delays they began telling Dumbledore their short life story.

Dumbledore listened to them very seriously.

"Here is what I'm going to do," he started after they had finished their story. "I'm going to use a technique called Legilimency to enter your minds and see if I can recover some of your old memories." He didn't want to give them too much hope, but he didn't except them to be as unexcited as they were.

"The man Tom brought already tried this," Ginny said and Dumbledore smiled.

"Well, I believe I am far more powerful and talented than the man who has tried to help you."

"Dumbledore." A man entered the room. Ginny recognized him from Diagon Alley earlier today.

"I have terrible news," he said and took Dumbledore aside.

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About two hours after sending the mysterious couple to see Dumbledore, Ollivander had finished selling his first wand for the day; an eight inch, holly, pliable with a core of a Centaur's hair, to the young Phillip Longbottom, who was to start studying at Hogwarts in two months and be the newest in a long line of Longbottoms to attend the school. He sat down in his chair behind the counter and began to wonder more and more about the two john-does; he was planning to go visit them in the main base after he closed the shop that day, but three hooded wizards Apparated in front of his door and kicked it up, effectively spoiling his plans.

The wizard in the center sent a yellow beam at Ollivander, but the old man was fast enough to duck behind his counter.

A wand from the shelves ripped through the air and hit one of the wizards in the arm, and he released a cry of pain.

"Give up, Ollivander, we won't hurt you. Our master wants to see you," the one in the center said viciously.

"Never!" Ollivander cried and the rest of the wands from the shelves flew in and created a wall between him and the Death Eaters, taking every hit they sent on him.

Ollivander took a deep breath and sighed. As he kept his control on the wands defending him from the strikes of his enemies, he took a red box from under the counter. Dumbledore gave it to him as a last resort; he said it was something Muggle. He took two red cylinders from the box and lit their ends. He knew that he didn't have much time; he took one roll in each hand and stood up.

"You will never take me alive!" he cried and threw the sticks on the Death Eaters. One of them hit the wall behind them, the other was grabbed by one of the Death Eaters and an explosion ripped through the quiet air of Diagon Alley.