4 Unknown identity

"$%@@#$ ... you shoul-"

what?.... Stop being so loud I am sleeping here... I can't understand you anyway.....

"Yes bu- #@#$!$!@# "

what are you saying? I don't get it, where am I?

"Soph-@#$ I kn-@#$@#"

I can hear two voices, but I have no idea what they're saying. That's weird isn't it. Almost like I am talking to myself.... oh wait..

What's going on though? I felt my body laying on something soft, but I couldn't move at all. I was tightly bound in what I can only describe as very cold strings. I can't remember what happened at all. My head hurts, and my chest burns. Where am I..... Who am I...

Damn no, I am slipping into that loop again. But then a harsh voice resounded in my ears.

"The Vampire wa- @#$@#%"

The vampire what? What do you mean?.....

wait....

The VAMPIRE oh fuck. What happened after that. This is not good...I remember. Someone used a spell to save me, I heard it, it was -Reducto. So I really am in the Harry Potter world. I was delighted, but soon my pain brought me back to my senses. I was heavily injured. From logical reasoning, I concluded that whoever saved me, had evidently taken me with them.

Considering my injuries were pretty serious. Broken bones, chipped nails, bruised fingers and most of all, bruised chest. I could go on with the list but I probably wouldn't be able to summarize them all. Damn I really messed up. For now there was no other way but to open my eyes and pretend that I was finally awake.

Also because I was undoubtedly curious on who had saved me, not only for the fact that I was grateful and wanted to thank them. But also curiosity emerged from the spell the person had used. It wasn't something unknown to me. In fact, Reducto was fairly used in the movies. It was a spell that would reduce anything to atoms. Not literally, but very much figuratively. It could break anything apart.

However, this was different. The impact, the waves and lastly the control. Dare I say, the execution was perfect. The simple fact that the aftershock of the spell, the energy released had not as much as touched a hair on my head, was a testament to the wizards skill. I was of course no expert wizard or critic, but even to my layman eyes, this was amazing.

After fantasizing about the spell I had seen, I finally snapped out of my day dream and slightly opened my eyes.

I saw a woman, fairly into her 30s? I don't know, but she was bickering with this man. She had blond hair, blue eyes, and was fairly fit. She was wearing a long sleeved, blue high neck dress and looked absolutely stunning. Damn the loner within me was coming out.. uhmm... *cough*..

The man on the other hand was a sight to behold. I don't mean that in any odd way. He was truly someone you would not want to cross. Stern face, broad shoulders, short black hair and black eyes. He was solidly built and around his 40s. Wearing a black 3 piece suit and sporting a few scars on his face, I could have sworn he was either in a gang, or the army. His appearance only added to his presence. I could feel this imposing air around him.

Just as I was darting my eyes around looking for something else to focus on, the man noticed me awake.

"That's enough for now Sophie, the boy is awake, you can ask him what happened in detail." the man spoke, his voice was fairly rough, but I could tell he was really polite to the lady.

The lady immediately stopped bothering him and stepped closer to me, I couldn't really move because I was tightly restricted by what I could now see were some sort of bandages, she stepped closer to the bed I was laying on and then slowly put her hand on my forehead.

I felt calm as a warm light spread from her hand unto my body, after a few minutes of her concentrating, I could see she was somewhat satisfied with my condition and then sat she sat on the foot of the bed.

It was then that I glanced into her eyes, and I could almost read her emotions. This was a weird feeling, it hadn't really happened before.....

But I somehow knew she felt concerned, happy and intrigued at the same time. It wasn't a "guess" or logical conclusion, no not at all.... I wasn't reading the room, I was reading her eyes, and through them her mind I guess.....

Like a book of some sorts. I tried to look into her eyes again but this time she looked away and I couldn't read her anymore.

"Oh, well aren't you a curious one" she chuckled.

It was a soothing voice, but I didn't really understand what she meant. How would she know what I was doing? There were many doubts in my mind, but the main priority was to establish my situation first.

So I looked towards the man, and as my gaze met his, I felt it again, like looking at an unfocused image. I could only tell that he was curious, intrigued and also a bit relieved... Wow, seems like he was a bit of a softie all along. But again, he broke line of sight and this sensation washed away from my mind.

I could only ignore that for now, as I spoke up, I felt my voice a bit scratchy and uneven

-Probably because my throat been slammed into the ground by a literal monster.....

"Where am I".... I am not going to lie to you all, I said this with the most puppy eyes and innocent expression I could manage, and it seemed to be working.

The lady beside me showed a really pitying expression

"Dalton, this is why I said I should give him another potion, listen to the kid, poor baby can barely speak up" she said this in an almost pleading tone to the man sitting across me on a wooden chair.

She started caressing my hair with a pained expression. Baby? well I guess I was young, but that did feel weird. I had no choice but to let it slide for now...

The man let out an exhausted sigh as he pinched his forehead

"Sophie dear, I told you the boy is fine. Besides, I don't think his body can handle another potion either. He's too young for it right now, so we can only wait"... He replied with a soft voice, aiming to console the woman.

I didn't quite get what he meant, but the potion was probably a strong medicine. It only made sense that one had to portion it for a child my age. Nevertheless, I was constantly looking for clues in their words. It was a fairly easy way to gather information, something I desperately needed.

For now, the stoic man was called "Dalton", and the lovely lady beside me was "Sophie". That much was obvious, and to infer from their appearances, Dalton was probably the one who had saved me. Whereas Sophie was the one to bandage me up and also gave me medicine.

The two chattered on... this was tough, I didn't know when to interfere or ask questions. But looking at my condition, I think any of my inquiries would be met with their questions and concerns.

Needless to say, I stayed quiet and instead focused on my surroundings. It seemed like I was in their house, the room was too clean to be a hotel, and littered with personal items, from photos to paintings. The room was fairly big, a bookshelf on the right wall, a door on the left, paintings on the front wall and one bed with its frame facing the back wall. It had two bedside tables, on which I could see a filled flower vase and some books piled on the side.

From that it was probably Sophie's room. No offense to Dalton but that guy really didn't seem one for flowers by his bedside....

Noticing my restless movements, Sophie stopped the conversation once again. This time she put her hand on the silk-like bandages wrapped around my body.

"Sorry you must be feeling all cooped up, don't worry dearie, I will get them untied for you", She smiled and as she had said so, the bandages glittered a bright green hue, and I could slowly feel them loosen up and break apart.

My arms that had been folded upon each other were finally free, I couldn't help but stretch them a bit. Extending them outwards, I flexed almost every muscle in my body and then exhaled a deep breath.

*mmmm* Satisfaction, I was still injured, but with this my body felt much lighter than before. I then felt two gazes and also heard some muffled chuckles after what I had done. Uhm...well I guess being a kid had its benefits, just me stretching out was seen as something cute.

After letting me get comfortable, Dalton wasted no time to get in popping the question

"So would you mind telling us what happened?", it was a firm voice, almost as if he wasn't asking, but demanding that I answer.

This was where the real test began. I couldn't say something stupid here. I had no idea how wizards interacted within their societies. Since this wasn't Britain, I couldn't rely on my movie knowledge either. The main objective right now was to minimize the suspicion, if there was any, about me.

I thought for a few seconds before giving an answer. But I will be honest, the best I could do was pull the innocent child card again, this time maybe without the dramatics. If I unknowingly said too much, he would suspect me, and if I somehow said too little, I would again be suspected.

I wanted him to think that I was just a stranded kid. Someone who had stumbled upon this creature and survived thanks to him. In reality, that was very much the truth, aside from the fact that I had foolishly set myself in a trap and that I had willingly travelled alone to the market place.

"Sorry.. I-I don't know", nicely done if I say so myself, cleanly executed a panicked child voice, now I only waited for his response. I stole a glance at him and as his brows tightly knit together, I could tell that he was barely buying it.

"Do you remember how you got there?"

I had to admit, Dalton was thorough, realizing that I might not remember the incident itself, he immediately asked about my origins. Although it was an indirect question, I knew precisely at what he was hinting towards. How did a child manage to lose himself in a place like that? Specially a child from a "wizard family", surely he would have some sort of escort or entourage to safeguard him.

There were no other bodies near that monster besides me, so I couldn't make the claim that my family was attacked either. I had to pacify the situation, I had to remove the uncertainty that he felt from my presence.

Of course, for some this might be a hard problem. But I was a man who had lived a lifetime watching harry potter. Combining my knowledge of magic and also twisting my words a bit to match the context.

I recited a simple story, "It was dark, but then I heard a pop and I was somehow at this park", I implied that someone disapperated me to the park, "I walked around a bit, and then there was this huge crowd, and I lost my way", that I found the market place by chance, and was simply swept away by the crowd. "I don't know what happened, but then I woke up here", a masterful finish if you ask me, my plan was to simply deny everything after these 3 statements.

Whatever I could add would only serve to increase his suspicion. But my answers right now had definitely performed well.

Both Sophie and Dalton gave an understanding nod, I purposefully had crafted a believable story and as such there were simply no more questions to be asked. Pretty satisfied with my own work if you ask me. But soon a third question came that stopped my thoughts dead in their tracks.

"Could you please tell me your name?" Dalton inquired, his eyes locked towards my face, perhaps judging my expression.

*haaah* I heaved a sigh of relief as I heard this question, I was fully prepared for a difficult one.

Of course this was easy,

"my name is..."

My eyes widened as a truth dawned on me. Because I had just realized that despite having lived a life... I couldn't remember my name...

wait.... what is my name?.... No that's not even the big problem.... what do I look like?

Ever since I had come to this world, I was immediately swept up in my own plans and schemes. I completely forgot about my name, my looks, or even my identity for that matter. Who was I really? I had all this knowledge in my head. But not a single thought of who I am. Had I just popped into existence? Or did I take over someone's body.

This was truly a dilemma. But engaged in my thoughts, I completely forgot to answer Dalton. Prompting his questioning response.

"Are you alright boy?"

He looked at me, his glare demanding answers.

"I-...."

I had nothing to say, my brain had seemingly halted.

Thankfully a voice interceded on my behalf and took me out of this perilous situation

"Dalton, let the poor boy rest now. Dear me, he still looks tired." Sophie was concerned about my health. The fact that I had just froze mid conversation probably seemed to indicate my exhaustion to her.

"Come on dear, you should rest a bit more, I will call you downstairs when I've prepared some food."

She stroked my head one last time, then stood up and walked towards Dalton, easily dragging the unwilling man by the arm towards the door.

I watched them leave and close the door behind them, and finally I felt safe from their questions. It was stressful to be interrogated.....

For now I was in the safe zone. I laid back down as I rested my head on the pillow, still covered in bandages from head to toe. Though they were loose and allowed small movements.

I closed my eyes and wanted to get some more shut eye, my body was still exhausted and I couldn't stop myself from falling asleep..... My thoughts drifted towards my identity, I had to have an answer ready in a few hours.

I dozed off to sleep, still intrigued by my own situation.