Envy (Sequel to Deceit)

A Spark to Ignite a Flame

The cold iron gates of Malfoy Manor loomed above me, their dull uniform structure held a vague familiarity but I knew inside that it was not my home; nor would it ever be.

"For Merlin's sake, Mia, stop dawdling!" Alice hissed, pushing me towards the edge of the gates, carefully she inserted the key that she had just stolen into the brass locks and turned it. Once. Twice. Click, the gates swung inwards; their gigantic frames creaking under the strain of movements, rarely were the gates ever opened.

Smiling, Alice turned to me and said in an excited whisper "It worked! It worked! Do you know what this means?"

'Uh, you found your house key?' I thought stupidly.

Blankly I stared back at her, feeling completely isolated from the real world. The few strings of information that I had been overjoyed to find I could remember fell into nothingness in comparison to that which I had forgotten. The key was evidently meant to mean something to me and the fact that it unlocked the gate too... But I just couldn't remember. I remembered Alice and a boy, a boy with dark tousled hair and a muscular physique. I remembered a beach and a forest; a cry of happiness and a sob of mourning... but the stubborn pieces refused to fall into place in my mind.

A deep frown set itself across Alice's forehead as she studied my clueless expression.

"Damn," she muttered "I thought you were faking,"

"Faking?" I replied incredulously "why would I be faking?"

"To get the key, idiot," she scoffed, rolling her eyes dramatically.

"So this key is important then?" I said tentatively.

"Kill me now," Alice murmured, banging her head on the iron gates in frustration "please do"

"A-Alice... I'm sorry-" I began.

"No!" She shrieked, the shrill sound echoing through the deserted night air "Sorry doesn't fix anything! Don't you see? You can't have forgotten... You can't... " she trailed off, burying her head in her hands.

Sad and confused, I moved towards her in an attempt to console her "can't you just fill me in?" I suggested in a low whisper.

She shrugged, looking up at the sky momentarily as though wishing that the answers were written in the diamond sheet of stars that sparkled in the inky darkness.

"Come on, lets go inside and figure this out," I smiled weakly, beginning to walk towards the looming building.

"No" Alice gasped, roughly grabbing me by the arm and pulling me back "not there; that's the worst place. Lets go home, okay?"

"Home sounds good," I yawned "I'm so tired..."

Alice rolled her eyes, slowly turning from the gate and heading back down the path before we had reached the end, however, a figure emerged from the bushes blocking our path.

"Ah, girls , back already?" He questioned. His voice had a deep, rough tone to it and though his face was cast in shadow I could make out a few subtle characteristics by his rigid stance and poor quality clothes. The informality of his speech told me that I certainly knew him but as I wasn't exactly sure who he was I decided to keep silent; not wanting to give myself away. Alice sensed my uncertainty and confidently covered it up.

" It would seem so, Uncle," she sighed "though there is something that Amelia and I need to fetch first. You see we had carelessly forgotten one tiny detail-"

The man's deep echoing laugh drowned out the remainder of Alice's reply and her words were lost in the darkness; his however resonated so clearly that it was impossible to mistake even a syllable "What have you done wrong now? Forgotten to lock the door? And why is Amelia being so quiet, huh? Normally she is the gobby one,"