She looked confused. Alfred bit the inside of his lip out of habit, then gasped as he drew blood. Fucking hell.

Jo didn't know who he was, and it was probably better to keep things that way, at least until he'd gotten to the bottom of what was actually happening to him. If he tried to tell her he was Alfred, she would likely think he was insane. At the same time, he couldn't afford to run her off. At best that would put him back at square one, helpless and wandless in Muggle London. At worst, she might report him to some authorities and get the Ministry to hunt him down as a liability. Which, his general feelings about Ministerial incompetence aside, might not actually be the worst place to end up — someone at the Ministry might be able to get to the bottom of this, or might at least get him into the same room with Zelda. If he was going to the Ministry, though, he'd much rather do it through his own free will and not as an arrest, though.

"Wait. I just need a fireplace. I can't get to one without a wand," he explained with a note of desperation. "If you could just get me beyond one of the barriers..."

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