Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 99: Knox

At breakfast the next morning, Harry was sitting next to Aminah as he worked on eating his tomatoes and toast—he was finally getting the hang of managing the slippery beasts! He had a niggling question.

"Aminah, how did you know that it was your father who tried to get into the school?" Harry asked.

"Healer Jordan told me—we have an agreement. They've warded the Center against him specifically as well as his magic—so anyone who is Imperius'd by him wouldn't be able to get in either. He made an attempt and it activated the wards. I'm sorry you were shut out of the Center. That must have been scary," she said.

"I guess—Gemma was more scared than I was. I hope she's doing okay," Harry said, a bit distracted as he kept an ear out for her arrival at breakfast.

"So, she slept in the hospital wing last night? After you took her back to Healer Jordan?" Aminah asked.

"Yeah, she was pretty shook up. I didn't really realize how badly until we were all talking about it last night at Mei's tank and she got so trembly. It kind of scared me. Sorry that I just took off," Harry said.

"It's okay. It's good you were looking out for her. She's been so kind to me—even though she's so much younger—a first year—and not even, she didn't even get her first year. When I was her age I was terrified of the older students. And then throw in there that she can't even talk to us very easily... I would have not even tried... " she paused and took in a deep breath. "Your anagnóstis thing is so cool. I got a reader this weekend when I went to Diagon Alley with my mum and it's really handy and all, but it doesn't do half the things your anagnóstis does. Weren't you going to take it to ... er what's her name in the workshop?"

"Oh, yeah, Figora. I did, actually. Hey, that's funny. I never thought about how I got it back. It just showed up in my staff again. Wow. I was really out of it," Harry muttered.

"There's been a lot going on... " Aminah said.

"Yeah, that's for sure," Harry agreed. "I'll ask Figora what she thought about making copies."

"Cool. I know Fitz was also interested. Even Godric, for that matter," Aminah said.

Harry wanted to ask Aminah more about why her father was trying to get to her, but didn't know how to bring it up. He figured he'd just have to wait for her to want to tell the story.

Harry rolled the scroll he'd received that morning from Neville between his fingers in his pocket. He needed to visit the owlery and send his response. Neville had a lot of questions, which he had tried his best to answer. He was going to come to visit him tomorrow and Harry was glad to have something to look forward to for the weekend. It made him think about how, in some ways, he was lucky to have been blinded by the Basilisk. If he hadn't, he'd be stuck at Privet Drive all summer, cut off from his friends at Hogwarts and having to sneak meals and do the chores well enough that no one noticed he was there. As hard as it was to not be able to see, it was at least better than that.

He shook his head in disbelief at himself.

If Ron could hear me, "Lucky to have been blinded..."

"Mei, any sign of Gemma?" Harry asked.

"Nope, she's still not here, Potter," Mei responded.

"You know. Everyone else calls me Harry. You could, too," Harry said. "We're roommates after all."

"Yeah, you're right, Harry," Mei conceded.

"Okay, well, I'm going to check in on her before class starts," Harry said as he pushed his chair back and stood up, shaking out his staff.