Aftermath

The Vision

The rapid clicking of stilettos against marble filled the halls of Blackwell Manor. They were from a girl pacing back and forth with a busy mind. Duck watched curiously and could taste the anxiety in the air. Still the girls heels beat against the marble floors.

Draco approached the hall and halted at the sight. Hestia had a bright white dress on as her black hair swayed with each step. As she turned at the end of the hall and found his furrowed eyebrows and lost eyes she stopped at last.

"The air is still," Hestia explained in a monotone voice, "The air is usually softly buzzing with life and people and magic. You can always feel it. Lingering. Today, however, the air is still. Waiting for chaos so active the world freezes. It stilled the night of the Battle, the night an old wise man fell from the tower, and the day two boys entered a maze and one came back dead."

Draco didn't understand what buzz she was talking about but he did notice an uneasy presence in the world. He leaned against the wall and stared at Hestia, "we know something will happen today. Your spell is minutes away from working. Perhaps it's our souls getting restless."

Hestia knew that wasn't it but decided to brush it to the side. Together they walked to the potion room and looked over the set station across a big dark wooden table. Laid across the table was a map of London's streets, a bottle of golden luck, and a book opened to a location spell. Hestia poured the liquid luck and a dark goopy potion across the map, instantly drowning it beneath the thick brown product. Raising her wand Hestia looked at the spell and moved her hand in a precise twirl, "Locamatum Clapeous."

The entire table light ablaze with a bright purple flame that pushed the two back by its force. It quickly died out and the map of London was pitch black with a tiny white dot representing their masked man. The dot paced in a circle.

"Not only did you find him, but you created a whole new spell," Draco said with glee as he picked up Hestia and spun her around. She left out the fact that it was just a spin-off of a spell made once a long time ago by four boys with a taste for rebellion since she knew he wouldn't understand.

Together they disapperated and appeared on a busy street in London, instantly hidden with the flow of busy Muggles running about. Draco instantly thought of the fact that any one of these men could be Romero, staring at the map hopelessly. Hestia studied the surrounding shops and spotted a small engraving of a Honey badger on the sign of a candle store.

She pointed it out and together they pushed through the crowed and pulled themselves into the shop. The doors closed out the busy sounds of the outside world and they became wrapped in a thousand scents. Harsh cinnamon and sweet lilies invaded their nostrils while cucumber numbed their mind to a peaceful ease and firewood reminded them of home. Draco became dizzy in the overwhelming sensation while Hestia drowned it out with only the mission in mind.

Behind a pale pink desk stood a woman with curly blonde hair and pink cheeks. Her kind eyes glinted at the two as she bounced a little baby girl on her hip. Hestia noticed the child's disfigured face and wide eyes behind her mountain of crazy hair.

She caught Draco staring at the child and elbowed him roughly in the ribs. "Your baby is beautiful," Hestia said genuinely to the woman as she walked to the desk, "What's her name?"

The woman flushed a deep red and smiled widely, "Lola. She's my prized possession. You look familiar, how come?"

Hestia looked behind her at Draco sniffing a candle labeled "Sweet Silence" before he found himself unable to speak. Giggling she looked back to the woman, "I'm Hestia Blackwell and he's Draco Malfoy."

The woman went ridged at the announcement and angled herself to where Lola was furthest away from Hestia as possible. Hestia ignored this and kept speaking, "There is no need to fear us, Beatrice. I am not my parents and Draco couldn't hurt a fly. We mean you no harm."