The Truth

In a small, yet luxurious apartment somewhere in the Northern part of New York, Danny sat on the sofa located in the living room, flipping through the channels with the remote in his hand. Nothing good seemed to be on, as usual, but it was better than just sitting on the couch daydreaming about something more enjoyable he could be doing. He often did that out of excruciating boredom, and right now felt like one of those times. Luckily though, the TV gave him enough brainpower to even think about what he might watch, not even caring about the guide feature the current cable option had set up. American TV was dumb, yes, but it at least showed itself to be a little more interesting than British TV. Mostly because of the plethora of documentaries that were...well, just entertaining.

It was the first of many days that lied ahead where he could relax from a day at work, his mind still especially rattled about that strange woman that had shown up the other day. He still didn't feel right about her, Danny hoping that he was not going to have any backlash because of that. So today was his day to relax, and the best thing he could think of was inviting over his new girlfriend, leaving her a portkey to the entrance of his building near her door. He considered their last encounter to be a date, having been more interested in that day than most other woman he had been with, so he decided to just invite her over to his new apartment and just relax for the time being, until he had to go to work sometime the next day.

After what felt like an eternity of flipping channels, he finally caught his eye on what appeared to be a sci-fi channel. A movie was playing about vampires, showing how they had superhuman speed and strength. Boy, he certainly know how going against a vampire felt, a shudder running through his body. It had been his best friend too. Not wanting to really pay attention anymore, he pushed himself up from his comfortable spot on the sofa and walked towards the kitchen area, opening up the refrigerator and browsing inside. As the TV played in the background, Danny grabbed a small Dr. Pepper and uncapped the 2 liter, drinking directly from the tube. Hey, it was his house, he could do whatever he wanted.

Wiping his mouth off of excess soda, he put the cap back on the large bottle, when he heard something curious. Apparently, it wasn't just some documentary, it was almost like a news report. The program said that somewhere up in Russia, there were a horde of vampires that resided there, often showing themselves under false pretenses and causing more deaths than most of the bears there. If he were a muggle, he would just pass that information off as nothing more than superstition, but since he was a wizard, he knew that could be a dangerous situation. Perhaps they would help his friend out...or die trying.

The sunlight streaming through Julia's windows woke her up early that morning, earlier than she would have liked. With a yawn, she stretched herself and went to her kitchen for a cup of coffee. Once she was done with her too sugary drink, she went to get her mail, but something tripped her on her way to the mailbox. "What the bloody hell," She mumbled to herself at the trinket on the ground. It had a note attached to it, and it was signed by Danny. A smile spread across Julia's face as she stood stupidly over the apparent portkey, but she didn't want to touch it yet, because it would bring her to wherever Danny was, and she certainly couldn't see him in her pajamas, messy hair, and morning coffee breath.

Julia showered and groomed herself quickly, and made herself presentable faster than she ever had before. Her clothes, though, would always take a little while no matter how much you tried to hurry. Eventually, she went with white shorts, a navy blue lace tank top, and her favorite black heels- you couldn't go wrong with heels. Quickly spraying a bit of perfume on herself, Julia went downstairs to find the portkey right where Danny left it. . Usually, Julia got nervous using portkey's, though she used them so often, but she was so excited to see Danny that she didn't even pay attention. She took the portkey in her hand and held on for dear life.

A few seconds later, Julia found herself in a strange place, a place she wasn't used to being around. There were buildings everywhere, very large buildings at that. She must have been near a city. She looked up at one particular building- an apartment building. It must have been Danny's house. She opened the front door and found another door in front of her, but this one was locked. Looking around, Julia found a bunch of silver, rectangular boxes with names on them and a bunch of silver buttons with more names and numbers next to them; she had no idea what to do. Julia made sure that no one was around to see, and discreetly unlocked the door, stepping through into the air-conditioned lobby. There was a man at the front desk, who thankfully had his nose stuck in paperwork at the moment. "Erm, could you tell me where Danny Thompson is?" She asked the teenage boy. After a few moments of awkward silences as the boy looked through the computer files, he gave Julia the information she needed.

Eventually, Julia made it to the door that supposedly lead to Danny's house. She was still unsure if this was the right door, but Julia took a shot in the dark and knocked on it, she regretted not looking at that list in the front entryway, it would have been easier with that. She waited patiently, hoping it would be Danny to answer the door.

A few minutes after watching more about the program, he heard a knocking coming from the door. That must've been here. Danny quickly placed the 2 liter back into the refrigerator and shut the door with a suction of air audible as he closed it. He quickly walked over the door, practically side stepping through the living room due to it's small space, and unlocked the two locks on the door, one that was a deadbolt and another that was a chain guard, in almost surgical precision. HE then opened the door, revealing Julia waiting for him there, a large smile appearing on his face. "Hey Julia," he said, quickly giving her a hug, rubbing her lightly on the back "good to see you again."

He walked back inside, and gestured with his hand for her to continue first, closing the door behind her once she entered. "Well...he it is," he said, his arms in the air to offer a bigger magnitude of the area. "Just got it a couple of days ago, already furnished and everything. I figured it'd fit me and anyone special that may come over." He pointed his arm towards the kitchenette area and said "Kitchen's there...living room's right where your standing, bathroom is on your left, and that about covers it." He kept his warm smile on his face, walking over towards his new date. "Hope it's not too much or anything, I just thought it'd suit for a while until I found a bigger place...not that I'm looking for a bigger place at the moment."

Julia breathed a silent sigh of relief as she saw Danny open the door. The teenager was actually right, she was surprised. "Hey you, it's great to see you, too" She smiled, hugging him back, even with her heels, Julia's head barely reached his shoulders; she was slightly jealous of Danny's height. When she pulled away, she got a view of his apartment; it was nice, nicer than she would have thought, but the lobby was quite fancy anyways, so it fit in. It was very open, which Julia really liked, and there were a lot of windows, which you could see the buildings through, but it was a nice view.

"It's nice," She noted, stepping inside and looking around, "you're a good designer, I'm surprised." Julia teased, though she was a bit surprised at how nicely it was decorated. It was very tidy, another surprise, as most men who live alone would have trashed the place, even if they were living in it for only a few days. Men will be men, after all. But at least Julia didn't have to clean up after him, a habit she had when at a friend's house. But he was more than a friend, Julia had to keep reminding herself. He was practically her boyfriend already, even more of a reason to pick up his mess. "I like it, I think it's nice for you." It was something that she wanted rather than her giant house.

"It's not too much, it suits you. And it's only you living here, it's not like you need something extravagant." Julia chuckled; if only her mother took that advice. "So, what's on the itinerary for today?"

He smiled at all of Julia's compliments, glad she wasn't one of those people who happened to find a negative to every little detail. Danny walked towards the counter, picking up a couple pieces of paper, setting them down into a manilla envelope next to him. "Thanks, I just really didn't want to spend another night at the Cauldron...I had been staying there for a while as I tried to find a place. I don't know if I mentioned that or not." He slid the manilla envelope down next to the sink. "Just glad I was able to get this place before it got taken again...although, with the prices these days, it's a little ridiculous."

He turned back towards Julia and said "I wasn't sure, I just wanted for you to know where I lived just so, y'know , you could apparate here and everything." He walked back towards Julia and kept a smile on his face "well we're in a city that never sleeps, full of movies, diners, and criminals alike. Spend a couple hours out there and I guarantee you'll find something you like." He wasn't really planning on just walking around the entire city, he just wanted to figure something out before she got bored to death. "I was thinking we could maybe go out for a movie or something like that. You know, the basic things."

Julia watched Danny intently as he walked into the kitchen, the folder keeping her interest; she'd have to ask later, now wasn't the time to be nosy. "I think you did, I don't remember" She admitted, it certainly wasn't the small talk that Julia remembered from their last encounter. "I know, everything is so expensive, especially houses. Even though houses should be cheaper, since they're an essential" She shrugged. She still wasn't exactly sure where they were, but the 'city that never sleeps' rang a bell, but not a name. "Where are we?" She asked suddenly. It sounded like a dumb question, but Julia had never really traveled much outside of Europe, and she was sure they weren't in Europe.

Well that was a good enough reason, now she could go to his house whenever she got lonely, she didn't want him at her house every time they saw each other, as it would only make her abode more lonely each time he left. Julia grinned as Danny spoke of the city, she didn't have to leave his apartment to find something she liked. "The basic Muggle things" She corrected with a wink, of course in a joking manner. "But a movie sounds nice, I haven't been to one of those in- well, a long time." Julia was just beginning to realize how old she was getting. A whopping nineteen years, even though she felt like the was thirty. "You'll have to lead me around, though of course. I could barely make it to your apartment without help. The Muggle world isn't exactly a strength of mine"

Danny smiled. "Well, this is the perfect place to catch a movie," he said in a cheery voice "New York has a lot to offer...and yeah, this is New York, New York by the way. Gotta love America." He walked over to the window nearby, showing a view of another skyscraped directly across from them, but below showed a great deal of cars and other shops, everything appearing like ants. He gestured for Julia to come over near him, opening up the window a little to look down below. As soon as he did, a barrage of noise and car honks and other chatter flowed into the small apartment. "Well, this is what you mostly see every time you show up here."

He looked around on the ground still, trying to spot something close near them. They had a shop on every street, but for some reason, movie theaters were hard to come by. He moved away from the window, walking over to his phone on the countertop. He unlocked the screen and proceeded to click on a couple of applications, the process seeming slow. "One of the best things about this place," he said with a smirk "you never have to look far in order to find a good time..." he looked back towards Julia, eyeing her "...apparently that still rings true."

Julia followed Danny to the window and cautiously looked through. It was a nice view, but when you looked down, everything was tiny, they must have been a lot higher up than she thought. It was also very noisy, and she was so used to everything being dead silent, even during the day. This would definitely be something that she had to get used to. She held on to the window panes firmly, with one hand on Danny's shoulder. She had always been afraid of heights, and apparently in New York, you had to get over that fear. From the window, Julia could faintly see a large green statue that she had known to be the Statue of Liberty. "It's certainly a nice view" She said, leaning back into the house and stepping back from the window.

She walked over to the couch and gently leaned against the back of it, balancing her weight on her left leg. "You're very lucky to have all of these things near your house, and a nice view to boot." She nodded and looked over at Danny as he watched his phone. Julia blushed wildly at his innuendo, and her thoughts began to race. God, was he trying to make her lose control? It took every bit of her willpower not to pounce on him last time, and she was sure it would be just as hard to resist this time, and he certainly wasn't helping. "Um, yeah I-I'm sure there's lots of fun stuff to do around here" Was all she managed to get out.

Danny went unnoticeably wide eyed for a second. Just from a little innuendo caused that? Huh, seemed like she was ready to blow at any second now...he figured it was be the best time to find a place now, and just see what would happen. He began to slide his finger across his phone again, searching for a certain movie they could watch together, when something interesting came up. One of the movies had been titled 'The Great Scare' and it was about some Cold War scheme about some great conspiracy. Apparently it got good ratings, yet one of the descriptions said '...as he tries to find the truth about the actions the Soviets actions.. Even though it was nowhere relevant to Danny, the word 'truth' caused him to pause in thought for a moment. He knew he would have to tell Julia the truth at some point, it wouldn't be wise to keep his past buried within him forever. He sighed.

He pocketed his phone, having already gained the necessary information and turned towards Julia, his eyes averting. "Julia," he said calmly, almost monotonic "you know how I had mentioned to you a while ago about my...past? I figure I should tell you the truth now, just so you know who you're dealing with here." He walked casually back to his couch, landing with a slight thump on the cushion. "Well...to tell you the truth, I am not exactly a law abiding man...or rather, I used to be. I've had a lot of scraps with the law, and I'm thoroughly surprised I even got a position as Auror anyway. I guess you can say I'm not exactly a model citizen by any means...I'm uh...I'm a killer. I've done a lot of killing in my time." Wasn't something he actually regretted, he had killed for the right reasons.

Uh oh Julia thought to herself, nervous about what Danny had to say. She turned around and took a seat next to Danny on the couch, listening to what he had to say. She had wanted to know more about him, of course, but now that it was actually resurfacing, she was anxious. Anything could come out of his mouth, and she was prepared for the worst. He could be a pedophile, a rapist, a drug addict, who knows? Or maybe Julia was completely overreacting and he had a secret career of ballet dancing. She tried not to think too much and had an open ear to whatever he had to say.

When Danny finished what he was saying, Julia wasn't as scared as she probably should have been. A killer? Why didn't she think of that? She couldn't think of anything to say, there wasn't anything to say. It certainly wasn't okay, but she didn't want to scold him. There was a story behind everything, and if he stopped doing it, he probably wasn't killing people just for the hell of it. There had to be a reason. "...Why?" She asked him, and instinctively put a hand on his knee. Honestly, she didn't really mind it, it may have bothered her a little, to know that she was sitting next to, touching, and kissing a killer, but that killer was also Danny. And she adored Danny, so it didn't matter.