Escape

Chapter 2: Storybook Life

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I tell no one's story except for their own.

(The Narnia Chronicles, C.S. Lewis)

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Draco shut his eyes and felt the world spin, followed by the sensation of being lifted off the ground. He could sense Potter and Weasley being torn away from their grip on his sleeves as they were caught in what seemed to be the inner walls of a hurricane. The spinning got faster and faster, then suddenly, they came to a halt. All was silent. We've reached the eye of the storm, said Draco to himself. A split second later, the falling started.

So this is what free fall feels like. Probably what people who commit suicide feel as they take their final leaps off buildings. I wonder if we'll go splat like them when we land. I always thought it was a stupid way to die, leaving a mess behind for everyone else to clean up.

Draco was jolted from his thoughts as he landed hard on his feet. Pain coursed up from his ankles to his knees, making them buckle. His eyes glazed over from the tears that had surged out from his tear glands from the impact. He quickly raised his hands and swiped away the tears. Mentally, he cursed himself for unable to withstand such little pain. Rule 409 in the Malfoy Book of Family Conduct, he reminded himself, Malfoy's who cry from pain induced by anything less than the Cruciatus will be force fed to the Romanian Longhorns in the family's dragon reserve in Romania. Draco had no wish to be gored and roasted to be food for some great big lizard.

He gazed around his surroundings. What he saw depressed him. He was still surrounded by shelves and shelves of great thick volumes. The spell had failed. We're still in the library, he thought glumly to himself. He stared up despairingly at the shelves. Then he remembered that he had not traveled alone.

"Potter, Weasley, you two still alive?"

Silence greeted him. He spun around and when he saw no one, he realized that he was alone. Had he left them behind in Hogwarts? Or were they concealed by that Invisible Cloak of Potter's? No, they couldn't be under the cloak, as he vaguely remembered flinging the cloak aside before socking Weasley in the face. And he couldn't possibly have left them behind as he knew from his readings that if a wizard used the book of Escapism, any living thing in contact with him, regardless of it being the size of an ant or an elephant would be brought along as well. Draco sighed. What could have happened to them?

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Harry flailed his arms as he felt himself falling. Yelling at the top of his lungs, he shouted,

"Malfoy, what the hell are you doing?!"

But no sound came. All he could hear was the whooshing sound of strong wind, similar to that of the storm on the night when Hagrid had brought his letter to him, but without the patter of raindrops. Harry felt his glasses slide off the bridge of his nose. A flash of white light and a moment later, he landed in a heap on the ground - on top of his glasses. He groaned as he heard the sound of cracking glass from under him. After he had recovered from the fall, he got onto his knees and started to search the ground that was under him for his broken glasses. When he had found them, he placed the tip of his wand on the frame and muttered.

"Reparo."

Harry then slipped on the glasses and as his vision cleared, he saw where he was. Still in the library, he thought grimly. Looks like we'll be in trouble after all. I wonder how's Ron. Hang on, where's Ron? Harry looked around the room. Ron was not with him.

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Ron walked up to the shelf directly in front of him. He knew he had been separated from Harry and Malfoy in the course of their little spinning trip. He had kept his eyes open and watched what had happened, unlike Malfoy who kept his eyes tightly shut or Harry who had been too busy screaming voicelessly to notice anything around him. Ron had seen the three of them being thrown to the three corners of an invisible equilateral triangle, before the calm had taken over, and they had fallen. There had been a blinding flash of light that caused him to be unable to see anything for a moment before he had landed.

There were books all around him, but somehow, he felt like he was not in he Hogwarts' library. On closer examination of one of the selves, he knew why. Unlike the books in the school's library which differed from one another, whether it was in size, color or binding, all the books in this particular library were identical. They were blue volumes with a pair of reddish gold strips about an inch from the top of the book on the spine. The red was exactly the same shade as Ron's hair. As he was about to reach up for the first volume from the left of the shelf in front of him, he heard the soft 'pop' of Apparation behind him. He dropped his hand quickly and turned around and looked straight into the face of...

Albus Dumbledore.

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"Pro...professor. What are you doing here?" Ron stuttered.

"Professor? I'm afraid you must be mistaken. My name is Aberforth. Aberforth Dumbledore. You must have mistaken me for my brother. We're twins you know."

Ron gaped at the bearded wizard. Then it struck him. It was known to the wizarding world that Aberforth Dumbledore had been convicted for performing "inappropriate" charms on a goat, but as to what charms they were, it was unknown. Also, he had not known that Albus and Aberforth were twins, thus his shock. Aberforth chuckled at the clueless expression on Ron's face.

"Perhaps I have some explaining to do," he said. "why not tell me what you know of me so I can fill in the gaps?"

"Erm... I've heard that you've been caught for some... crimes, and that you are illiterate. Yeah, that's bout all I know of you."

"Yes, that's what majority of the public know of me. I'm illiterate as I suffer from the wizard version of the muggle disease called dyslexia, which hinders my ability to read. And about the crimes. Maybe I'll let you know of them when you know me better."

"Yes sir. But, where am I?"

"You are in the Library of Life, and you've reached here through the book Escapism. I am the book keeper, the librarian of this library."

"But sir, where are my friends?" Ron interrupted. Then, realizing that he had called Malfoy his 'friend', he quickly added under his breath, "Oh, Harry's a friend anyway."

"Do not worry, young man. You are here to learn about yourself, not them." Seeing Ron's puzzled look, he spoke again. "Pull a book off the shelf and look at the title."

Ron did as he was told, on the cover, etched in royal blue, were the words. "Ronald Weasley (Hogwarts Year 1, Vol. 1)" He nearly dropped the book in shock. A book on him?