The Room
Harry opened his eyes and sat up. That was a funny dream he had. Why couldn't he remember what he dreamt? He knew there was something important about that dream, and he should remember it…
'Oh well…' Harry shrugged and got out of bed. It was ten before seven, and Harry did not feel like going back to bed.
'I'll get some food and bring them to Julian and Alex,' Harry thought as he headed to the bathroom.
Ten minutes later, Harry was clean and fresh, and heading towards the kitchen. He tickled the pear and when he stepped through the entrance, he came face to face with Dobby.
"Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby cried, leaping onto Harry's neck.
"Do…Dobby…I… can't… breathe…" Harry choked. Dobby quickly released his neck and smiled sheepishly.
"What can I get for you, sir?" Dobby asked, bowing.
"Erm…Some food and a flask of chilled water, please," Harry said. He wasn't really sure what kind of food Alex can eat. "Dobby, do you know what kind of food sick people should eat?"
Dobby nodded fervently. "Plain food… no oil, no salt, no nothing, sir! I learnt that from traveling around, sir!"
"Ok," Harry replied thoughtfully. "Get me some plain food, a few sandwiches and a flask of chilled water for two."
Dobby did not question his order. "One minute, sir!"
Harry nodded and watched around the kitchen. The house-elves zoomed around, some carrying raw food, some carrying cooked food, and some carrying buckets on their head. His eyes caught sight of another familiar house-elf, Winky, stirring a huge pot of stew.
'Good… finally, Winky decided to work,' Harry thought, smiling.
"Your food, sir!" Dobby appeared in front of him, holding two flasks and a bag.
"Thank you, Dobby," Harry said sincerely. "See you later!"
"Bye, sir!"
As Harry walked out of the kitchen, he wondered why the 'plain food' was placed in a flask. He couldn't help resisting a peek at the contents.
'Hm… wet rice,' Harry mused. He wondered how it tastes like.
The corridors in the early morning are usually empty, much to Harry's relief. The last thing he wanted was to explain to someone about the two flasks and bag. With quick, but quiet step, Harry made his way to the wall beside Fat Lady. The portrait was still dozing slightly.
Harry hung the flask on his left arm and knocked on the brick wall four times. Light started shining from within and Harry saw a blue door forming.
'That's weird,' Harry noticed. 'The previous door was white.'
Harry put his thoughts aside and stepped through the door. He saw Julian sitting on the floor, polishing his wand, and Alex sleeping in bed.
"Good morning," Julian greeted with a smile.
"Morning. I brought some food and water for both of you," Harry said, holding his arms up. Julian helped him unpack everything.
"Porridge! Plain porridge," Julian smiled. "How did you know that she needs this?"
"My friend at the kitchen prepared it," Harry said. His glance fell upon the figure on the mattress. "How is she?"
"Better," Julian said, pouring the porridge on a bowl he pulled from a drawer. Then he walked over to the closet and took about a few bottles of different colours. "She should be taking her medicine now, but she hated taking medicine. You were pretty lucky she finished that bottle you fed her without any fuss. Let see…" Julian's voice trailed off as he poured the contents in the bottles into the porridge.
"Now… she should be able to drink this without any more fusses," Julian said, stirring the contents. When the medicine had dissolved completely into the porridge, he placed it aside and took out a sandwich.
"Julian? What happened to Alex?" Harry asked.
Julian swallowed. "She lost control of the force she asked for."
"Huh?"
"When it comes to processes such as Seeing without any crystal balls or tea leaves, we have to borrow some energy from the elements around us to aid the process. Sometimes, those energies are very strong and powerful, thus the one using those energies have to be careful to keep these energies in control. If not, the energies can do more harm than good to the user. Just like what happened yesterday. Xiao Xue asked for the energies of the Eight Trigrams and Yin-Yang, but lost control of them both. The two energies then recoiled onto her body and hurt her internal organs. It was a good thing she stopped the process when she did."
Harry's head was spinning from Julian's words. His heart was beating much too fast for norm from the possibility that Alex might die. He could also feel his insides weighing with the guilt he was feeling at that moment. He bit his lips, trying to think of another topic to converse.
"Xiao… Xue?" Harry repeated. He had never heard that kind of name before.
Julian smiled sheepishly "Sorry. That's her Chinese name. I'm not really used to her English name. We were given our English names when we came here. Usually back in China, I called her Jing Xue or Xiao Xue. Jing Xue's the name she was given at birth. Xiao Xue was just a shorter version."
"Oh," Harry nodded. "What about your Chinese name?"
Julian motioned for him to wait till he swallowed. "Rui Qi."
Harry nodded again. It seemed fascinating that one person can have two different names. Then another question popped out.
"How do you know about this place?" Harry asked. He remembered Julian running even before Harry had told him the exact location.
"Of course I know. I live here!" Julian said, laughing. Harry's jaw hit the ground. "Professor Dumbledore had this secret location made for me when I asked to stay here. Only him, Xiao Xue and myself knew about this. You're the fourth person, and please keep it at that."
Harry nodded. "Cross my heart and…"
Julian stopped him from saying the remainder. "That's enough."
He took out another sandwich. "Want one?"
Harry shook his head. "I'll be having breakfast soon. It's okay."
Julian looked upwards and said. "Speaking of which, shouldn't you be going now?"
"Why?"
"Look at your watch."
Harry looked and jumped up. "Goodness! Ten past eight? I better be going!" he started towards the back door.
"Harry! Not there!" Julian said. He pointed to the wall beside him. "Just walk through here."
"Huh?"
Julian grabbed him by the shoulders and steered him towards the solid wall. "Close your eyes."
Harry closed his eyes and felt a pushing sensation. Then, he felt a sucking sensation and then, nothing.
"Julian?" Harry opened one eye and found himself at the bathroom. "Wow…"
* * *
Harry could not concentrate on his textbook. His eyes would just continue sliding past the pages he was assigned to read to the empty seat two seats away from him.
"Harry? Where's Alex?" Hermione whispered.
Harry jumped. He was so engrossed in his own personal world he forgot about Hermione's existence beside him.
"She's with Julian… She's not feeling well," Harry said casually. Hermione accepted his answer with a slight cock on her eyebrow.
'Harry Potter! Stop thinking about her! You have more important things to think about!' Harry chided himself. He knew that to any sane person's mind, his O.W.Ls would be more important than anything else… but…
He just can't keep Alex out of his mind.
* * *
Julian brushed her fringe aside. "Xiao Xue… Wake up."
With a soft moan in reluctance, Alex opened her eyes. "Cousin…"
"Time for your food," Julian said. He gently placed his arm under her shoulders and lifted her upper body up to lean against his shoulders. Like always, his heart started beating faster as his skin came into contact with hers. His arms wrap around her waist and brought her chilled body closer to hers.
He lifted the bowl of porridge to her lips and fed her with it gently until all of the contents were finished. Then, Alex closed her eyes wearily and leant against Julian's shoulders.
A twisting pain overcame his heart as Alex leant heavily on him. It pained him to see her in such a state. She came to Europe for a reason, and there was nothing much he could to do help her.
"Cousin?"
Julian tightened his hold around Alex and placed his cheek on her soft fragrant hair. "Xiao Xue… I love you." His voice shook a little at the intensity of his feelings.
Alex was quiet. "Cousin… I…"
"I know what you are going to say… Don't," Julian said, his hand clasping over hers. Her soft skin felt so cold on his, and did nothing to ease his heartache, only to worsen it.
Alex looked up at him, her jaded eyes glistening with tears. She could not bear to hurt her cousin anymore, but there was nothing she could do to heal the scar she had carved on his heart. Her heart was bounded by a spell, a curse.
"Just promise me, don't put yourself in danger anymore…" Julian said solemnly, emotions darkening the colour of his eyes. "Take it as a request from me, please?"
Alex looked at him. It hurt her to see him wasting so much emotion on someone like her. There was little she could do to ease his emotional pain, but there was something that could help. She gathered all her strength to her palms and she pushed herself to a sitting position.
"Xiao Xue! What are you doing?" Julian was alarmed. Before he could continue, he felt a soft sensation on his lips. He stiffened as Alex's face came much to close to his. Then he was returning the kiss passionately, achingly, with all the pain of a man who had dreamt about it for so long but never dared think his dream would come true.
Julian pulled away gently, and somewhat reluctantly. A faint blush touched his cheeks as he gazed deeply into Alex's eyes. He knew what she was doing, and also why she was doing it. They knew each other so well that words do not serve much purpose between them.
"Cousin… I'm so sorry," Alex whispered weakly before dropping into his arms again. "I'm so sorry…"
Julian closed his eyes and allowed a stray solitary tear trickled down his cheek. "It's alright… Thank you."
His hold tightened around the woman he had loved with all his heart. "Thank you…"
* * *
Hihi again! This was rather late… got caught up with writing my other story An Elven Story. =P feel free to flame me, curse me or praise me about either this story or my AES. ^^ Hope you guys like the new summary too… =D