The Truth She Hides

Chapter I

Fierce winds ripped at the cloak, tossing and snapping it about in a fierce game of war with its bearer. Blond hair joined the struggle with a particularly fierce gust of wind, unruly bangs lashing into their owner’s eyes. The boy, however, paid no heed to the berating gusts as he stared at the unfamiliar territory, as if lost in thought. Metal fingers clinked against each other beneath white gloves, and the boy’s weight slid almost subconsciously to his left leg.

“W-where am I…?” he muttered, staring confusedly at the buildings around him. His light voice scratched against his throat, making the boy realize its soreness. Struggling to think back, he blinked in surprise as he realized he couldn’t recall the last time he’d drunk something. The boy rubbed his temples, growing more confused as he found his memories were little more than wisps of thought.

There’s… someone important… Al… who? I… that’s so weird… the boy shook his head and gave up trying to think about it. As he dropped his hands to his side, he looked around him curiously, completely unsure of what to do. Then he sighed, shrugged his shoulders in a resigned manner, and began wandering aimlessly, struggling to place anything familiar in his surroundings.

~Three Weeks Later~

“I… hate. Eenglishz.” The boy muttered in irritation, glaring at the German-English dictionary. From what he’d seen, German was merely the closest language to his own, which made learning English only so much more difficult, but the tutor-lady who taught him said that he still made remarkably fast progress learning the language. At the moment, she merely rolled her eyes.

“Really! I don’t get why you’d travel to a country without bothering to learn the language, but you’ll have to suffer through it now! Come on, back to learning!” she snapped, but the boy caught her quick grin.

“But… iz deefeecult. Vant break.” The boy grumbled, burying his head in his left arm as he tried to rummage through what she said. The only part he’d really gotten was ‘suffer through it’.

“Oh all right…” the girl said, smiling as she gathered up the books they’d been going over. “I’ll check these out for you.” She said slower, so that he’d understand. The boy nodded, then stood up, waiting outside the building for her to come out. She handed him the books, and waved, before turning away and wandering off.

The boy sighed, then followed her, calling out one word. “Name!”

She stopped and looked back. She’d been helping for nearly a week and a half, but once she found out he couldn’t understand her, she’d completely forgotten introducing herself.

“Oh!” She replied, turning back and walking up to him. “Hermione.” She said, holding out her hand. The boy extend his left hand to her, causing her to hastily switch hands.

“Hermeeonee.” He confirmed, shaking her hand. She smiled.

“Her-mI-oh-nee.” She emphasized.

“Herrmiohnee.” He countered.

“No! Not ‘herr’! HER-mi-oh-nee!”

“Yes. Herrmionee.”

“No! Don’t emphasize them!” the girl said, laughing as she shook her head in exasperation. “Anyway…” she slowed down so that he’d hear everything right, “what is your name?”

The boy froze, unsure. “My… name…” he rubbed his head with his left hand, trying to think.

“Uh… something wrong?”

The boy looked up, then sighed. “Don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?” Hermione asked, staring curiously at him.