Fragmented

Theadora the LOST

On my way back to the common room, I stopped here and there to admire this beautiful place that I would get to call home for the next couple of months. 

As one of the Sacred 28 families, we had a more than big enough inheritance. That also included the family castle in the Cornish countryside. At our family's peak, sometime during the 18th century, all 47 bedrooms had been occupied by various family members. In the study, the original blue prints from the 1500s were framed.

Over time though, weather and age had worn down several wings of the building, leading to them needing to be demolished because they were uninhabitable. Now, we only had the core centre of the original castle. There were the kitchens where the 3 house elves worked, 2 living rooms, the study, the dining room and the ballroom all on the ground floor, with the remaining 21 bedrooms spread across the two higher floors. 

Another thing we had noticed when we were children were the various passages, hiding spaces and tunnels around the property. Over the years, my brothers and I had memorised each and every one of them, always using them to our advantage in games of hide and seek.

In that castle, I always knew where to go. Turning round a corner, I realised that in this castle, I was completely and utterly lost. 

Halting for a moment, I tried to listen for the moving staircases. Nothing. The castle was dead silent. Looking out of a window, I tried to figure out which floor I was on. Counting how many were below me, it looked like I was on the 5th. 

Being decisive, I turned left. After it had been a few minutes of walking, seeing nothing and no one, I was about to give up when I heard a door slam up ahead.

Walking quickly, I peeked around the corner to see who I was going to ask for directions from. Quickly, I realised I was never going to ask this person for directions. The person walking my way was none other than Draco Malfoy.

Turning back the way I came, I walked slowly, trying to behave as though I knew where I was going. The footsteps behind me were hurried, but quickly came to a stop when he finally noticed me.

Undeterred, the footsteps quickened again, walking up towards me until...

An arm swung around my shoulder. "What's a pretty girl like you walking around the 5th floor all alone after curfew for?" Turning my head to face him, our eyes met. 

"Ahh!" Draco jumped away from me like I had stung him.

"Who the hell are you? You don't go here!" He pointed an accusatory finger in my face. "Wait... Are you a Rowle?" I continued to stare at him blankly. 

He smirked when I said nothing. "My father told me all about you and your family, Theadora." Oh really? And how much does your dear daddy really know? Does he know there is a target slap bang on the middle of your forehead?

"Sooo you must be walking around the 5th floor alone because you're lost! Oh, this is great! How the high and mighty fall so quickly!" He thought I was high and mighty? 

Having enough of his annoying antics, I finally spoke up. "I'm not lost." I grumbled to the floor, defending myself. 

"Well I should call you Dory then, because you must just suffer from short-term memory loss!" I shot him a quizzical look.

"Finding Nemo?" He asked tentatively. "It's a muggle animation." He explained as I grimaced, why was Draco Malfoy spending his time watching muggle television?

He burst out laughing, "Oh you should see the look on your face! Immersing myself in muggle culture shouldn't warrant such an unpleasant look!" He pouted like a baby whose feelings had been hurt. 

"Well Dory, if you know your way so well, I'll let you get back to it." He began to walk away. 

"Wait..." I sighed. Either I walk with him, or he just gives me the directions and we can go separately. I know which way I'd definitely prefer. 

He turned to face me with a huge grin on his face again. "I don't actually know where I'm going." I brought my hand down my face, this was so embarrassing, and he had set it up perfectly. "Can you please just tell me how to get to the common room?" I resigned myself to the shame.

Bringing his hand up, he began to count off the different steps. "First, you get to the staircases." He folded his thumb down.

I tried to butt in, explain how I didn't know where the staircases were, but he didn't give me the chance, already saying, "Second, you take them all the way down to the ground floor." Index finger down.

"Then find your way to the dungeons." He folded his ring finger down. "Aaaand finally, you make your way to the common room!" He finished with a big grin, while folding down his pinky finger.

He lifted his hand, holding his middle finger up to me. Before I had a chance to react, he raced off down the corridors. Though I tried to keep up, I lost him after a couple of turns. 

Giving up, I stood there with my hands on my hips. "Draco Malfoy, when I see you, I'm going to kill you!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, hoping he could hear me somewhere. Unfortunately, I meant what I said quite literally.  

Standing there in the middle of the corridor I thought about just how hard this 'mission' was going to be. I certainly had enough reason to cause harm now, he used the least helpful way of still being helpful. Merlin its annoying, I've already had enough of his dickish ways. How does he have friends?

I was still stood there half an hour later, thinking about him, when a prefect found me. 

"I'm Hermione." She offered out her hand, I shook it.

"I'm Theadora, though I suppose you already know that." I smiled sheepishly.

Hermione spoke again, "Not to be blunt, but are you okay Theadora? You seemed lost in your head when I found you..." 

"More literally lost than mentally. Would it be annoying of me to ask you to show me where the Slytherin common room is?" I ask with a small smile. 

"Sure, it was where I was heading next on my rounds anyway!" I doubt it was, given that we were currently on the opposite side of the castle to the common room. But I appreciated her kindness, so I said nothing and allowed her to lead me to the dungeons.

--•--•--•--•--

please just imagine that Finding Nemo was released 7 years earlier than it actually was :)