Memories

Outside the bookstore, Ted was now heading up the dark street. It wasn't quite as crowded as in the morning, but the voices coming out of the occasional pub could be heard all along the street.

As Ted walked by one, he could see a group of men wrapped in red staring nervously at the flickering screen of an old TV. Even from afar, Ted could see the many crimson flags carrying the banner of the liver bird.

Ted, being a Chelsea fan (not a very big one though), stopped for a moment to watch the screen.

It was 3-3 between Manchester United and Liverpool, and it was just nearing the end of the match. Great sighs could be heard coming from the pub as Liverpool just missed another chance to score by a free kick.

Ted, who was standing by the front window, couldn't help but let out a slight smile. For Chelsea, this was actually a pretty good score, leaving them in the race for the championship. Though highly unlikely, who knows, a miracle could still happen.

Ted kept wandering up the street, and an uneasy feeling kept building up in his stomach. Most people would have just shrugged it off as eating something bad, but to Ted, this feeling was all too familiar—it was what he felt when he was being targeted.

Some people would call that paranoia or a child's overdeveloped imagination, but Ted knew it was true, and he trusted it with all his heart. It was this very same feeling that made him eavesdrop on Larry and his dad that day. After that day, this tug in his stomach wasn't only a passing feeling that came and went; it was more like a passive mechanism of defense.

<================= >

The day after Larry's birthday, Ted was currently reading in his room, his eyes still slightly red from all the crying the night before. In his hands, Ted held a large book that he took from his mother's library. It was one of the newest there, being in quite good condition.

This was one of Ted's favorite books, and only for one fact: it was the one Ted's mom read to him to sleep for the few weeks that he recalled of her. She passed away only about three weeks after he was born on the seventh of July 1980, but Ted remembered most of this time and cherished it.

After all, his mother, unlike his father, seemed to have loved him deeply, something that Ted had none of nowadays. The book was a fantasy book and was covered in red with golden letters reading 'Hogwarts, A History' by "something" Bagshot. The author's first name was damaged, seemingly slightly burnt, though Ted had no idea how that happened.

In the past, he had searched several stores and the local library on his vacations to search for other books by the same author, but he never found any writer named 'Bagshot,' no matter how hard he tried.

The book told the story of the founding and development of a magical school in the Scottish Highlands that taught kids of ages 11-18 how to use their magic. The book also summarized the history of teachings and headmasters, naming them all from Helga Hufflepuff, one of Hogwarts's founders, to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, supposedly the current headmaster.

Ted found several mentions of Albus Dumbledore in the books his mother left, but Ted couldn't figure out how they all wrote about the same imaginary man unless they used an existing character from some other book.

unfortunately Ted's research after Albus's origin bore no fruit...

<=============== >

As Ted was reading the pages he had already read hundreds of times, his mind wandered off, recalling the events of the past day and other distant memories from his childhood.

Ted knew he felt that tug in his stomach before, that feeling that drew him to hear the conversation, and that's what he was focusing on. As he focused, he dived back into far memories, recalling different events...

He recalled how when he was five, he played in their back garden, walking near a bush of roses when he felt that tug. Out of nowhere, Jina, Jessie's little sister, tried to jump on his back. The mischievous girl, who was only a year older than him, was nearly evaded by Ted on instinct, only to fall face first into the thorny flower. Ted heard that she spent the next week in the hospital and had to get several stitches...

When he was three, Ted got sick, and a doctor came to see him. The old man promised three-year-old Ted that there would be no needles involved. But when Ted was lying on his stomach, the feeling came, and Ted, unfamiliar with it, simply reacted like any other hurt three-year-old child and started crying.

He turned only to see the doctor holding a large needle in his hand, and he got even louder, causing several houseworkers to rush into the room and yell at the dumbfounded doctor.

'I didn't even do anything yet,' he thought as he looked at a certain maid whose face was red; he was totally clueless...

The last memory was when he was only three weeks old. His mother, who was looking at herself in the mirror in his room, fixed her hair and dress. In her hand was a weird-looking, thin, long and straight wooden stick which was silvery-white in color, much like her long wavy hair. She was wearing a tight-fitting long grey dress that fit her perfectly, and every once in a while, she turned and smiled at Ted who was Lying in his crib.

His memory was always extremely detailed and comprehensive, recalling even the slightest details of the most mundane events, especially so when it came to the time his mom was alive. This detail was the only detail he did his best to ignore, to deny, to that day at least...

"Selwynnnnnn!!!!"

Just as his mom finished preparing and leaned forward to kiss his forehead, a shout was heard from the window, and Ted felt it, that tug, as a baby he started crying loudly.

''I know you are in there!" shouted a crazy female voice, causing Elara, Ted's mom, to twitch, a slight fear could be seen in her eyes.

"Come out, you filthy blood-traitor!" yelled the voice again. "Or I will blow this whole house to shreds! I don't mind, really!"

Elara kissed Ted's forehead. "It's gonna be ok, Theo; it's all gonna be ok." she whispered to the crying Ted; tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes.

"Bombarrrrda!" the crazy voice yelled again, followed by the whole mansion shaking.

Elara, afraid for Ted's life, left the room and ran outside. There stood an elegant-looking woman with a wide smile spread across her face.

"Lil Selwyn, how nice of you to join me." said the woman, her smile widening even more. The wand in her hand, which was curved like a horn, pointed towards Elara, who, on the other hand, pointed her wand at the black-haired woman.

"Bella, it's not too late to go back; we were friends once," said Elara. "You don't have to do this."

"You are only right about one thing; I don't have to do anything, I want to do this!" the woman, Bella, yelled in return. "Crucio!

The wand in her hand moved only slightly forward, causing Elara to scream in pain as the bones all over her body seemed to move under her skin.

Bella kept watching with a smile, her twinkling as it was clear how much she enjoyed it. She kept using the curse for a full 10 minutes; no mage has ever lasted that long without going insane. Only when Elara's voice waned absolutely did Bella lower her wand.

"This is the fate you blood traitors deserve." She turned her back walking towards the open gate.

"Diffindo!"

Suddenly, another yell was heard, making Bella turn in her place only to see the long magical slash that was right in her face. She barely had the time to cast a silent Protego that broke immediately before hitting her right eye, creating a long bloody cut down the right side of her face.

"Avada Kedavra!" she yelled in return; rage and disbelief could be heard mixed in her voice. She had tortured hundreds; never could anyone even move after 5 minutes of Crucio, not to mention cast a spell. The sickly green flash of light blasted out of her wand, hitting the already dying Elara, finishing her off.

Bella, who saw the hit, sighed angrily before leaving the garden and lifting her wand, finally disappearing from the scene.

All this while, Ted who was in his crib listened, his stomach turning as he cried once more. His mother, Elara Blake, was dead.

He didn't understand so at the time; he was just scared of the loud noises, but the Ted delving into his memories knew so very well. The only thing he didn't know was how. It was clear to him that that woman, Bella, was behind it, but when the police investigated, they found nothing, finally determining she died of natural causes.