In The Safety Of Magical World

Chapter 19

Over the following days, I almost wished I was Obliviated. I could stuff away things but not my thoughts. Every morning I awoke with Hogwarts in my mind and in the evenings before falling asleep, all kinds of unwelcomed magical memories floated through my brain. For a while, I felt disoriented waking up in my own room and not the dormitory in the Gryffindor tower. 

Slowly I was getting used back to my family's modest meals, the view from the window of my bedroom that was streets and houses instead of treetops and mountains, and the house that seemed so small compared to the vasts of the castle. Returning to the ordinary Muggle life was harder than I expected and the world that was forbidden to me almost never left my head.

Certainly, there were some nice aspects as well. I had missed my parents like crazy and loved spending time with them, catching up with stuff in the house I had missed out on. I was free to roam the Internet once again and get lost in its endless, entertaining content. I was back into my familiar neighborhood where I knew every corner and felt safe, at least for those few days.

I went to high school and managed to come to an agreement with the headmaster I would be able to get my diploma if I passed the final tests in all the subjects. Which meant I had to start studying like crazy and without the help of teachers because technically I was expelled from school for being absent so long. First, it seemed like an impossible task, but then I remembered I have been through worse and accepted the deal.

As I thought about how I was going to organize my individual study process, the words of the Sorting Hat echoed into my head " Good mind, you're smart with creative ideas and a desire to discover ". I personally had never seen it in me but who was I to argue with the observations of an ancient magical being that had considered putting me in Ravenclaw with scholars.

I wasn't purposely seeking reunions with my old friends but one sunny autumn day I ran into Alex. He was a former classmate of mine who graduated this summer while I was hiding in Hogwarts. Back in school, we had an amiable and fun relationship. Alex was a natural jokester and everyone loved him, except for teachers whose classes he sometimes interrupted with his booming laughter and inappropriate comments. He was a little shorter than me with a round face, dimples in his cheeks, and sparkling, hazel eyes.

After giving me a sincere hug, Alex wanted to know where I was the entire year. Of course, he did want to know that. And I knew that alongside all of his good qualities, Alex was also an incorrigible prattler. Whatever you told him was in everyone's ears pretty soon.

" It's complicated, " I answered, " it had to do with my wellbeing. I had to leave town. "

" Why? " Alex asked, strolling next to me, his hands in the pockets of his loose jeans, and laughed. " Were you hunted by a hitman or something? A drug cartel? "

I smiled back. Alex didn't know how close he actually was to the truth. I was hunted indeed. However, by something much more powerful than a hitman or a drug baron.

" Not quite. I had...something like a situational depression. Maybe the stress of last year of school and uncertainty about what I was going to do next fucked me up, I don't know. The doctor believed the change of environment would benefit me the most. "

Alex listened, kicking the fallen leaves as he walked. They dissolved into slippery mush under our sports shoes. The day was hazy, the morning mist didn't go away even though it was afternoon already and the sun was shining right through it, creating an illusion of a cloud landing over the town. On the pavement there were puddles left by the last night's rainfall and the sun reflected in them, shooting the blinding rays right into the eyes. We walked around them, now too grown to march right through like we did in childhood.