Mind Unsound
Disclaimer: I do not own this. All characters places and abilities belong to their respective owners. Please don't sue me.
Note: Sorry for the delay in putting this chapter out. Conflicts in my personal life kept on interfering...
XxXxX
Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall made their way to the city of Glasgow as quickly as they could when they received the letter from the Integra Hellsing.
Upon arriving in the city near the hospital, they quickly made their way through the front door and began to approach the front desk.
The letter they received failed to mention the room that Harriet was currently residing in, all it said was that Harriet was in the care of the Hellsing Organization at the nearby Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow.
They didn't even make it half way to the desk when they were approached by an older gentlemen in a black suite.
"Professor's Dumbledore and McGonagall?" Walter asked politely.
"Yes" said McGonagall, eyeing the man suspiciously.
"My name is Walter C. Dornez, I am with the Hellsing Organization. If you will follow me please, I will take you to Sir Integra. She has been expecting you."
As they started to walk away Dumbledore asked "What condition is Harriet in?"
"Yes, when can we see the child?" chimed in McGonagall.
"After you speak with Sir Integra. She will answer all your questions. There are some... complications due to where we found her"
"And where was that?"
"As I stated before, ma'am, Sir Integra will answer all your questions."
They continued in silence until they came to a cluster of rooms with armed Hellsing personnel standing guard in the hallway.
Knocking on one of the rooms to the right, Walter opened the door.
"Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall from Hogwarts, ma'am"
"Thank you Walter, that will be all" said Integra looking up from manila envelope as she was sitting in a chair off to the side, the room itself being an unused break room that she had temporarily commandeered for this quick meeting.
Standing up to greet the two professors before sitting back down, the two also sat down in the other chairs across from her in the room.
There was a moment of silence as Integra contemplated what to say.
"The conditions we found were not pleasant, to say the lest..."
"And what were those conditions?" asked a concerned McGonagall.
"When my agent's found her, she was in the hands of a very old, very power, and very dangerous vampire. From what we can gather she had been in her hands ever since she went missing."
A pregnant silence filled the room until Dumbledore broke it, "And Harriet... is she alright? Was she turned?"
Shaking her head with a slight smirk, Integra replied, "She was badly injured when my team found her, but no, the Vampire did not turn the child. She kept her around for... other reasons."
Looking at the two professors, she asked, "What do you two know of psychic gifts?"
"Not much, I am afraid to say" replied Dumbledore with a shake of his head with McGonagall nodding her head in agreement.
"Only that such gifts are rare, occurring in both Muggle and Magical individuals, and that such abilities can easily be confused for, or even duplicated by magic" added McGonagall glancing at Dumbledore.
"Why are you asking us about this? What has happened to Harriet?"
"It would appear that the reason why the Vampire did not feed on the child immediately is because Harriet has been... gifted with some incredibly powerful psychic abilities. And that the vampire was using these powers for her own gains."
"But how is that possible? Neither James nor Lilly had any special abilities like that, they weren't even that accomplished at legilimency..."
"The fact is, we don't know what triggers psychic abilities in a person. All we know is that it is similar to magic in that it draws upon the energy's around and inside a person, but instead of focusing it through rituals like with magic, it is instinctually focused and released by the person's mind."
It looked like McGonagall was about to ask Integra so more questions, but she was cut off when Integra stood up.
"Before you are allowed to see the girl, there is one more key point that I must tell you."
Looking back at the two professors as the both stood up, Integra continued.
"For the foreseeable future, Harriet will be in the care of the Hellsing organization."
"Absolutely not!" said Dumbledore standing tall. "After what the girl has been through she should be with her family, not in the care of your monster hunting group!"
"This is not up for debate. In accordance with international treaties, all psychically powered persons must be isolated or removed from the public so that they pose no danger to those around them until such time it deemed that they can function in normal society."
"Those are Muggle laws" McGonagall pleaded, "Harriet is a child of two wizards, and will be one herself one day, it is our laws that apply to her, not theirs."
"That doesn't matter. In accordance with treaties between the Wizarding world and the Vatican, these laws apply to everyone. On top of that, the girls ability to use magic still has not been determined."
McGonagall looked like she wanted to argue the point some more, while Dumbledore had a resigned look on his face, but before either could speak Integra again cut them off by on the door to the room.
Gesturing to one of the Hellsing guards outside, she said, "This man will show you to Harriet's room, if you would follow him please."
Leaving in silence, the two wizards followed the Hellsing solder down the hall as Walter steeped into the room with Integra
Glancing down at Integra's hands, he saw that she was holding her wand concealed up her sleeve.
"Were you expecting that they would put up a fight?"
"You can never be too sure, Dumbledore knows the law, but I wouldn't put it past either one of them to try something."
"Ah yes, on that note, the magic division reports that the anti-apparition wards are in place, and we have guards posted inside the room while they are visiting."
Integra nodded her head as he headed out of the room.
"Good. The sooner this is over with, the sooner we can move her to the mansion."
XxXxX
It would be three days before Harriet woke up.
By that time she had been transferred from the Hospital to the Hellsing Estate.
Waking up to the sound of a heart beat monitor and the smell of disinfectants, Harriet found herself alone in a white hospital room. There must have been a camera or some device to monitor that she was awake because she had only opened her eyes for a few seconds when a doctor walked in.
"Try to relax" said the man as he began to check over Harriet's vitals. "You're safe here."
Brushing along the man's mind Harriet could see that what he said was true and let herself sink back into the bed and back into unconsciousness.
When next she awoke, it was to a stern looking woman with long blond hair looking at her.
Again, brushing along her mind she saw visions of monsters, political deals, finical reports, and other thoughts before Integra's mental barriers denied her further access.
Integra face seemed to harden at the intrusion into her mind.
"I trust you now know who I am and what we do here"
It wasn't so much a question as a statement and Harriet tried to answer, but her through was dry and still heavily bruised from her brush with death, so all that came out was a raspy "Yes"
"We rescued from the vampire and brought you here. For the time being, you will be under our care. Do you understand?"
Harriet nodded her head.
"Good" said Integra, her face softening a little. "Rest now, when you are better I will show you around the mansion."
Their short dialogue over, Integra left the room and slowly Harriet fell back to sleep, this time her dreams full of nightmares of what horrors the people in the mansion have seen and fought.
XxXxX
Sitting at her desk, the moon rising behind her, Integra contemplated her new ward.
Her silences was broken when Alucard stepped out of the shadows of her office.
"What a powerful child you have brought home with you" he laughed.
"I can feel her mind probing around the mansion even now when she is asleep. Such potential... such danger. How will you control her? A limiter perhaps?"
Instead of responding, Integra pulled out a necklace with a blue and green crystal attached to it. The crystal was shattered and black spots marred it's beautiful coloring.
"We tried that already. She did this to the limiter unconsciously while she was asleep. No, we are going to have to use the shielded rooms to keep her and educate her in the restraint of her powers."
Looking at the cracked stone, Alucard had a serious look on his face. "But for how long will that last? Such power has a price, and the toll will be taken from her sanity and her mind. It is the resilience of a child that keeps her safe now, but what about the future? What then?"
"We have a chance now to prevent that. If we use the right methods we can prevent her from degrading into a danger to those around her and herself."
At this Alucard laughed.
"Well then, we will see if you can tame the beast! But remember, there second option always available."
And with a sadistic grin on his face, Alucard left the room the same way he entered, the shadows swallowing him up.
XxXxX
It would be a few more days before Harriet was ready to leave the hospital room.
But when she was well enough, Integra was true to her word and gave Harriet tour of the mansion.
The mansion was broken up into three parts, the right two thirds was devoted to the Hellsing organization, with armories, training rooms, medical facilities, an extensive vehicle pool, and temporary barracks for the solders. The other third of the mansion had the various IT and administrative offices on the first floor, with offices, conference rooms, and Integra's personal rooms taking up the upper floors. And the last part of the mansion was the basement. Going two stories underground, the basement contained the containment and holding cells, arcane research and development labs, forensic labs, and in a isolated corner on the bottom level, a specially shielded block of rooms designed to house non-threatening psychics.
It was in one of these rooms that Harriet currently found herself in.
It was a simple rooms with a bed, a dresser, and a desk. The walls, ceiling and floor were an off-gray color of some type of material that Harriet had never seen before.
She was free to wander around the shielded area but for the moment until she had been fully examined she could not leave the shielded area without an escort.
Exiting her room, Harriet made her way to a central 'common' area that contained a couch, a tele, and a couple of bookshelves.
As her bare feet silently padded across the floor, Harriet marveled at a sensation she never experienced before.
Silence.
For all her life, the sounds of the world around her, the people, animals, and even emotional residue on objects screamed in her mind.
On good days they were just a background buzz, but on a bad day they were defining and she would forget who she was.
But now, thanks to the strange construction method of these rooms, she could hear anything. Even physical sound was being muffled.
In truth, it was a little disconcerting. So used to the noise, the silence was almost painfully unbearable, and she found herself thinking louder and louder just to try to fill the silence in her head.
Rounding the corner to the break room, Harriet was shocked to see other people in the room, the sound of their minds suddenly in her head filling the void that before was silent.
Glancing up, the two occupants in the room briefly scrutinized their new companion before returning to what they were doing before. The girl in the corner turned back to the book she was reading while the blind man sitting in front of the tele continued to stare at the blank screen.
Not knowing what to do or where she was supposed to go, Harriet sat down in one of the unoccupied chairs before glancing back at her to companions.
Tentatively, she reached out with her mind to the other people in the room. Fist to the girl, who she was able to only see the top layer of her mind before everything became a twisting maze that soon cut her off.
Next she reached out towards the man, but had even less luck with him, encountering what could be described as a mental brick wall composed a silly little nursery rime that repeated over and over. When ever she tried to push past it, the changing rhyme would shut her off and push her away.
Quickly she gave up, and looking up at the man, she is confronted by him looking back at her with a smile on his face.
"Now, Ms. Potter, it is generally considered rude behavior to try to dig into someone's mind like that" he said with a smile.
It the girl in the corner heard him, she didn't register a word he said and continued to read her book.
"Follow me, if you please" said the man as he got up and walked out of the room, his cane taping lightly against the floor.
As the two made their way out of the break room and further down the hall, the man spoke to Harriet.
"Ms. Potter, my name is Charles Douglass, I am a the chief psychologist at the Hellsing organization and the one in charge of the testing and initial training of newly discovered psychically active persons."
Gesturing back towards the room they just left, Charles continued, "The woman back there is Maria, another guest here for the time being, just like yourself. Before we begin, do you have any questions?"
Harriet was about to ask a questing when Charles cut her off.
"As of right now, you two are the only guests here, but there will be new faces from time to time... oh... you didn't ask that out loud, did you? I am terribly sorry about that, I too, as you might have already surmised, posses a certain degree of psychic ability and well, let's just say that you broadcasted your thoughts so loudly I could have sworn that you spoke them to me..."
Placing a hand on Harriet's shoulder, he smiled "Let's make a note of that, shall we? One of our first task will be to help with your control."
Harriet nodded her head keeping her eyes on the ground, not saying a word
"Please step into my office" Charles said, as he opened a door at the end of the hallway.
Quietly Harriet entered the room and was soon followed by Charles.
Unlike the rest of the area that Harriet had seen so far, Charles's office was covered from floor to ceiling in stone, with some plants by the walls, a few book cases, a chair, and a couch. But by far the most striking thing about the office was the massive ant farm dominating the far wall with hundreds, if not thousands of ant living in the colony.
Harriet immediately found it easier to concentrate in this room compared to the hallway outside, but as she stretched out her mind, she felt the same nullifying material as the rest of the area just underneath the stone walls.
"Please, Harriet" said Charles, gesturing to the couch as he sat in the chair across from it "have a seat."
"Now, I believe you are probably wondering what this place is, am I right?"
keeping her eyes pointed at the floor Harriet nodded her head.
"Now, Harriet, I need you to say it out loud."
"...yes.."
"Very good!" he said with a smile.
"As I am sure Ms Integra has already informed you, this is they psychic ward for the Hellsing organization. Here all new psychics are bought and held for evaluation, counseling, and initial training by me."
"The walls, as you might have noticed, are specially made to help absorb psychic energy. This way the outside world is protected from those inside here and in here we are protected from the outside would, allowing people to come to grips with their powers in a controlled setting."
"For as long as you are a guest in these rooms, I will meet with you almost every day and we will work together. Does that sound alright with you?"
"...yes..."
With a sad smile, Charles regarded the girl in front of him before getting up and walking towards the ant farm.
"Harriet, can you tell me how many ant's there are in this tank here?"
Looking at the tank, Harriet scrutinized the contents for a couple of minutes, going over every inch on the tank with her mind.
"One-thousand and thirty-seven ants"
"Very good!" smiled Charles. "You passed the first test. Most people have difficulty with that one at first. You see, the ant's brain is so small that many don't register then at all and if they do, they register them as a collective, with each ant as part of a whole, not individually. But you were able to see each one. This is very good, it shows that you have already have a firm grasp of sensing the world around you with your mind."
Reaching into the tank, Charles pulled out one ant and held it in his hand.
"Now, Harriet, I want you to focus on this one ant with your mind."
It took only a second but when Harriet's mind turned towards the and it quickly spasmed and died in Charles's hand.
Silently returning the body of the ant to the tank, Charles moved towards Harriet.
"There is still work that can be done. As you just saw, for the same reason why the ant's are so hard to detect, is the same reason why that one just died when you focused on it. Their minds are so simple that you overloaded it with just the bare presence of you mind... But we can change that. When the day comes that you can fully look at an individual ant and have it survive completely unharmed, then we will know that you can handle you powers and not accidently harm those around you or yourself"
"Now, let's play a game, do you know how to play chess?"
XxXxX
Latter that same day Charles found himself in Integra's office.
"So tell me, how is our new guest?"
"From what I was able to tell from both meeting her today and from the write up from the report, she is deeply scared due to her physical and emotional abuse and will bare the results of this for the rest of her life... True, she is young and there is a strong possibility that with constant care and work she could bounce back and live an almost normal life, but her past will always haunt her."
"As for the state of her developments, she is far more mature mentally then she should, but that is a result of her psychic powers, a well documented phenomenon amongst kids who's powers have awakened at an early age, combined with her ordeal."
Nodding her head as she looked over the written report, Integra asked, "What about her abilities? In your professional opinion, does she pose a threat of losing control or becoming psychotic?"
"It is still too early for me to make an informed decision about that. She suffers from nightmares because of her abilities which can have an adverse affect on her mental health and of course there is the sleeping monster that is her past, but with training, therapy, and some medication, we can help her. I have already put her on a regiment of sleeping medication to help with her dreams as well as the vitamins the other doctors proscribed to help her body."
"Her powers are very well developed, but there is still the issue of control. The truth is, she needs to be able to interact with someone her own age, to have a true friend for her to be able to truly recovery... but as she is right now, she is too vulnerable to them and in turn is too dangerous to any potential playmates for her to be allowed outside of this mansion at this time."
Taking in everything that Charles said, Integra dismissed the doctor, her mind brooding on what the good doctor said and what was written in his report.
Harriet would never have a normal life, that much was for sure, but the least they could do would be to try to prevent the girl from diving into the madness that claims so many psychics.
But good thoughts and best wishes was not what the Hellsing was here for. She had to be ready for the worst case scenario. While it was still too soon to say, if she shows the beginnings of being able to heal, then Integra would let Charles continue his work. The man had shown great results in the past and there was a string possibility that he could pull off another recovery with the girl. But if not...
If it was already too late for the child... for her to be so young but with so much power...if she couldn't overcome her past now it would be better to neutralize the threat before it becomes even worst for everyone else...
And then, of course, there was the looming question of her magical abilities. Does she even have any and if so how strong are they? Magic and psychic abilities are a potentially disastrous combination. If one doesn't cancel the other out then who knows, a psychotic telepath who can also do magic would be a very dangerous opponent.
Looking out of her window as the moon began to rise over her estate Integra said to herself.
"Only time will tell..."