Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 72: Telling his story

"Why can't we hear what Gemma's saying today? Like we could last night?" Arig asked as they entered the dining hall.

"That's a spell that Healer Jordan casts when we're in a group, but it stops when she leaves the room," Harry explained, catching the paper fluttering by his mouth, and handing it to Gemma.

"So, Harry, how do you and Gemma communicate if you can't read the notes from her signing?" Arig asked as they settled into the chairs at their favorite table in the dining hall, the aromas of another English breakfast floating around them.

"She writes in my palm or we write on paper and I have an anagnóstis that reads things to me," Harry explained.

"Oh, that's cool," Arig said. Harry heard him tapping his crutches on the floor three times.

"So your crutches shrink down so that you can put them in your pocket, too," Harry stated.

"Yeah, I saw you do the same thing with your staff. Pretty nifty," Arig said.

"Do you have storage in your crutches, too?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, that's the best thing about them. I don't have to carry a book bag or anything," Arig said.

"That would be hard, huh, with crutches, to manage a book bag," Harry agreed.

"Yeah, it's always shifting and hitting my crutches," Arig said. "Yeah, I'll be getting a magical leg at some point."

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I was answering Gemma. She asked," Arig said.

It sounded like there were only a couple in the dining hall, so Harry wasn't surprised when the table started vibrating and the whistle went off.

"Whoa, what's that?" Arig said.

"That's letting us know that our table can go up to the buffet. It's more of an issue when the dining hall is full. It doesn't sound like there's many people here," Harry said.

He felt Gemma getting up next to him and also started rising.

"Yeah, there's just one other guy down here at the table across the way. He's talking to himself, though," said Arig.

"Oh, who is it?" Harry asked.

Gemma took his hand and wrote, "A-D-A-M" space "F-I-T-Z", then tucked it in her arm and started leading him to the buffet.

"Oh, Gemma says that it is Adam and Fitz. Adam has vanishing sickness, so you can't see him. He's invisible. Fitz isn't by himself." Harry explained as Arig started following them.

"Oh, wow," Arig said, "I didn't know that was really a thing."

"The trays float, just so you know," Harry said as they approached the buffet.

"Oh, that's a relief. I was wondering how I was going to manage," Arig said.

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"You spilled some fried tomatoes off your plate, did you know?" Arig asked as Harry was eating.

"Um, no. It's okay. They are super slippery," Harry said, trying to hide his embarrassment. He was just hoping that none had slid down his front.

He had been trying to corner the tomatoes with his toast, but apparently, some had gotten away.

"Oh, here comes Mei, Tony, and Aminah," Arig said.

Gemma, Harry, and Arig greeted them as they settled into the remaining chairs at their table.