White Lies {discontinued}

Forty One ~ January

All of January was lost in memories which did not even belong to Aggie and Draco.

Not all of their time was spent in the Room of Requirement, of course, but the majority of it was. Raymond's memories were plentiful. Though not all of them were of great importance, Aggie found every single one as fascinating as the last.

Draco did not have as much interest then as she did. He quickly grew aggravated when, after the first few days of their journey through Raymond Borgin's past, the Vanishing Cabinets portal destination remained irresolute. However Aggie managed to calm him and convince him that with patience these memories would help mend the portal.

Aggie learned much from these visits into the pensieve, even from memories which did not initially seem of much significance.

Raymond seemed to trust almost no one with the secrete of the cabinet, including Fay — it was likely that he did not want to raise her spirits in case it didn't work. However there was one person whom Raymond confided in. A small little house elf whom went by the name of Willows.

Willows was a young House-Elf, a bit infatuated with Raymond. She looked up to him like a hero. It was easy to assume that the rest of the Borgin family were less than kind to Willows, but Raymond always was.

Willows made sure Raymond was well fed while hard at work on the cabinet. She would bring him trays of food, and warn him is his father or mother were anywhere nearby.

In one memory Willows knelt beside Raymond while he flipped through a book on magical enchantments.

"If you don't mind me asking, sir," said the House-Elf timidly. "Why is is you work so hard on this cabinet?"

Raymond looked up from the pages of his book and smiled at Willows kindly.

"It's for Fay," said Raymond, explaining patiently. "You see, though she is born to those of magic, she herself has no powers."

"She is a squib, I know, Sir," said Willows, very wisely.

"Yes, she is." Raymond's face darkens. "But we did not know that for a few years. Fay never showed signs of magic but we hoped that by the time she was older . . . Fay always wanted to go to Hogwarts — my school — but they don't allow squibs there. Not even to visit. I don't think that's right! Though she might not posses magic, she's as much a part of the magical world as myself. If I can make these cabinets work, she will be able to come and go as she likes." Raymond smiled happily at this idea. But his smile faded as another thought eclipsed the first. "Besides . . . Mother and Father are much less than fond of her now that they know she has no magic. If they were ever to frighten her . . . To hurt her . . . Well . . . She'd have somewhere to hide."

Aggie and Draco did not only see Raymond working at home. He also worked in Hogwarts, hidden away in a classroom used only for storage. But things were much less eventful there than they were at home.

Aggie and Draco were both witnesses to the first time Fay ever went to Hogwarts. It was late at night when the two siblings came clambering out of the cabinet.

Hand and hand they walked down the dark Hogwarts corridor.

Wonder covered every inch of skin upon Fay's pale face as Raymond showed her around, guided by the blue light of his wand. She giggled at the portraits on the walls, and cheered at the funny charms her brother could perform in school.

It made Aggie happy to see the girl so happy. It also made her sad for she knew Fay could never be a student at Hogwarts.

When they heard someone coming, Raymond and Fay ran back to the cabinet, giggling madly.

Back at their home, Fay wrapped her arms around her brother tightly and whispered, "Thank you."

"I don't see how all this is helping," Draco grumbled after they'd exited that particular memory.

"It will with time," said Aggie for what felt like the hundredth time. "Besides, I think it's really interesting."

Draco snorted scathingly at that. "Don't see what's interesting about a lousy squib."

Aggie's silence made Draco look around at her. Disapproval was clear in her gentle features.

"Oh don't look at me like that," said Draco with a hint of disgust in his tone of voice.

"Like what?" asked Aggie.

"Like you think I'm some horrible human being," said Draco.

"Maybe I do." It was one of those frequent times when Aggie spoke her mind without meaning to. Yet somehow she didn't regret her words.

For a second Aggie thought she saw hurt flit across Draco's face, but in a moment it was gone.

"Not like I care what you think anyway," said Draco. He brushed past her. "I'll see you tomorrow. Same time. Same place."

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A:N: TwentyFive—ish chapters left to go. I say ish because I've been slowly compacting the shorter chapters together. Originally chapter count was 70. Current chapter count 65. I feel like the chapters may continue to decrease as I combine them, so possibly even less chapters left over.

Also, this chapter was difficult to write. Sorry it took so long.

Thanks as always for your support!