Chapter Seven - Jamilah and Harry
"Hello," the softly spoken word jarred Jamilah so much that The Standard Book of Spells Grade 3 dropped from her hands and to the floor with a loud thump. Harry smiled slightly at this and fixed his gaze on her face, it almost felt like he was staring into her soul. "It's Jamilah isn't it?"
"I.uh.I mean.uh." Jamilah stumbled around for the words, a very new experience for her. She was always the calm collected one who knew exactly what to say. Yet, here she was fumbling for words because of a simple look from Harry. Ok calm down, it's just Harry, take deep breaths. Jamilah leaned down and picked up the book from where it had fallen then met Harry's piercing gaze with her own. "Yes, Harry, I'm Jamilah, your cousin." Immediately she started kicking herself mentally, that was a witty thing to say. Why did Harry make her so nervous?
The door opened causing both Harry and Jamilah to jump. A gangly boy with a head full of slightly messy black hair peeked around the corner. When he saw that Harry was awake he slipped in and shut the door behind him. Jamilah wanted to laugh at how serious Sebastian was attempting to be but she knew it would only hurt his feelings. So she just sat quietly and watched as Sebastian made his way silently to Harry's bedside. Harry's gaze had thankfully moved from her to Sebastian and his eyes tracked Sebastian's movement across the room.
Sebastian reached the bedside and sprawled out in the chair. "Hi Harry, I don't know if you remember me, I'm your cousin Sebastian, your friend Ron was telling me all about you playing Quidditch. Did you really meet Viktor Krum? Can you really do a Wronski Feint? Did you really kill a basilisk? Are you really coming to live with us? It'll be great if you do, then I won't be the only guy in the family anymore." Sebastian finally paused for a breath and Harry chuckled softly. Jamilah was just staring in awe at her brother. How come he could find all the words to say and she couldn't?
"Well Sebastian, those are all good questions. I'd love to answer them but I can't remember them all." Both Sebastian and Jamilah chuckled at this. "I do think that I am coming to live with you and yes I can do a Wronski Feint, though obviously not in my current condition."
Jamilah smiled softly at both of them, "Harry, you'll have to excuse my brother. He rambles when he's excited." Sebastian made a face and stuck his tongue out at her which made Harry laugh.
"So, it looks like both of you know a lot about me, is it my turn to learn a lot about you?"
Sebastian took the seat beside Harry. "What do you want to know?" Jamilah shot him a dirty look. "What?"
"Harry needs to sleep not talk. Otherwise he'll never get his strength back and he'll never be able to come home with us."
Harry laughed again, "Actually I think you two are helping me more than sleeping has. I haven't felt this good in days."
Jamilah let her eyes search Harry's face, "If you're sure." When he nodded she continued, "Well I don't know what you've been told so I'll just start from the beginning. My father was a muggle and my mother is your father's older sister. When they got married they knew that Voldemort (Harry smiled at her use of his proper name) would come after them so they faked their own deaths and fled to America. I don't think a day has gone by in her life that my mom hasn't hated herself for leaving your dad and mom. I think her greatest fear has always been that you would hate her for leaving. I remember when I was little she'd always tell me about my cousin Harry, and how one day, when it was safe, we'd find him and bring him home with us for good. See, she thought you were with Uncle Sirius. She didn't know that he'd been arrested. The first few years we lived in America she stayed away from the wizarding community. The only reason she knew that your parents died was because Mrs. Weasley wrote her. Of course that's what she tells people, but I think she felt it the moment your dad died. She always gets this look in her eyes when she talks about it." Jamilah's voice trailed off as she thought about her mom and the pain she could frequently read in her eyes.
Sebastian saw the look on his sister's face and knew it would be awkward for her if Harry asked questions so he jumped into the story. "I remember mom talking about you too Harry." His words had the desired effect because Harry's gaze left Jamilah and turned to Sebastian.
"You do?"
"Yeah, I do. Mom decided around the time she was pregnant with me and Sera, that's my twin sister Serena, that it was safe for her to venture into the American wizarding community. Of course she used her married name only, even though she actually hyphenated her name and all of ours actually, so know one knew she was related to you. She's an extremely bright person, my mom. Well anyways, mom enrolled Jami at an academy in Virginia, that's where we were, it's in the southern United States. We did live in New York until Dad decided he didn't like the crowds. So he made a deal with his publishing company and they let us move to Virginia as long as he kept working for them from home. Jamilah could have gone to the Salem Witches' Academy, they wanted her, but mom couldn't bear to have her that far from home." He laughed as Jamilah gave him a nasty look. "Of course, she would have loved to have sent her back here so she could go to Hogwarts but Mr. Dumbledore didn't think it was safe. Jami got a letter from him when she turned eleven telling her that when it was safe for her, or if things got too dangerous in America there would always be a place for her to finish her studies at Hogwarts. Sera and I just got acceptance letters to Hogwarts ourselves. Oh, and mom has your letter it came to our house. So it looks like we are all going to go to school together. I hope we get into Gryffindor."
Jamilah broke in when Sebastian paused for a breath. "So anyways, mom wanted us to let her know when you woke up. Bastian, why don't you go find her?" Sebastian nodded and left the room. Jamilah turned back to Harry and took a deep breath. Now was her chance to share the story of her dreams with him, now while they were alone, but just as she opened her mouth Harry spoke.
"I know you." He seemed very thoughtful like he was searching his mind for something. "I.I had a dream.a girl." he broke off and looked into her eyes, "you. You were sitting in a room, in the dark, and you were crying. You..." he fumbled for words again searching for the memory in his mind, "you had lost something."
Softly Jamilah whispered, "My father. I lost my father." Harry could see the tears forming in her eyes and lifted his hand to reach out for her. He didn't know what compelled him to do it, he wasn't one for outward displays of affection, not ever really having experience with them, but something was different about Jamilah, he felt like he'd known her his whole life. She saw his hand and grasped it with hers the tears rolling silently down her cheeks. He was about to speak when once again her soft voice filled the silence around them. "All my life I've had dreams, or visions you could call them. Mom says that most of the Potter women do. We aren't true seers because we can't see the future at will, but we do see the future in our visions, so I'm not really sure what you'd call us. But even beyond that I have another special gift, and it looks like you have it too." At this Harry's face grew puzzled, what gift could she have that they shared? "Ever since I was a child, I've had dreams, dreams about a boy. Usually he was very sad, but the year I turned ten there were happy dreams too. Sometimes there were scared ones. But always they were about the same boy. We could never figure out who he was, but I knew he was real. I could feel what he felt, hear what he thought, and see what he saw. At first a lot of the time he was locked in the dark, in a small place, and there was no one to help him. It was you Harry, all my life I've dreamt about you. Only they aren't dreams, they are visions, not of the future but of what was happening right then."
"But how? How is that possible?"
"It's something called Expecto Sacrificium or the link of sacrifice. Your parents must have set it up for you in case something happened to them. It forms a link between you and your nearest blood relative so that in times of great emotion and need you can sense each other's feelings and thoughts. Only I guess I had such a happy childhood you never got the same types of visions I got."
Harry just stared at her trying to comprehend everything she had just told him. His parents had done what? When it suddenly hit him, did that mean she knew all about his life with the Dursley's? Harry could feel his face flushing with embarrassment. Finally he spoke the only thing that was running through his mind. "So, you know." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. His voice was flat and emotionless and it shocked Jamilah to hear it from this man-child who had seemed so enthusiastic only mere moments earlier.
"Y.yes Harry, I know." Her voice shook as she replied. He visibly flinched at her words. Suddenly she wished she could go back and erase every word she had spoken about her visions.
Again the emotionless voice tumbled from his lips, "And everyone else?"
"Everyone else knows that I have visions Harry, but they don't know the details. Mom knows some of them, but not all of them. Don't worry Harry, I'll keep your secrets, you can trust me." Her voice was so earnest that it drew Harry's eyes back to her face. The pain he saw written there gave him conflicting feelings. He wanted to continue feeling sorry for himself that she knew all about his past, how the Dursley's had treated him, what a horrible person he was, but at the same time he felt compassion for this girl who had been through so much of late and yet was concerned about keeping his secrets.
Harry's mouth opened, but before he could get any words out they heard a loud thump from outside and muffled voices. They just looked at each other and before either one of them could speak the door opened to admit a very tousled Sebastian and Serena, an amused looking Brianna, and a very frustrated looking Ginny. Jamilah didn't miss the way Harry's face lit up at Ginny's appearance. He seemed to sit up straighter in bed and the worried look that had been on his face instantaneously disappeared.
Ginny instantly moved to his side all frustration melting from her face as she looked at him. "How are you feeling Harry?" Her face was bright and cheerful but Jamilah could read the concern in her eyes.
"I'm fine Ginny." Harry smiled at her. Then his eyes swept the rest of the people gathered. His heart fairly burst inside him. They were his family. He had family! He turned his eyes to his aunt. "Did you ask the doctor when I can go home?" Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Sebastian and Serena sneaking off to the side, presumably as far away from Ginny as they could get.
"Yes I did, Harry. He said that you could go home as early as tomorrow. But you'll have to stay in bed for a while." She shot a look at the twins who had just knocked over a chair and then glanced at Ginny who was glaring at them.
Harry's gaze flicked back and forth between the twins and Ginny. Everytime Ginny would move closer to them they would shrink farther away. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his Aunt Bri struggling to contain her giggles. "Ok so who wants to tell me what's going on?" He asked trying to keep the smile off his face. "Because it's obvious that something happened between the twins and Ginny. So what is it?"
At this Bri burst out laughing, Ginny glowered even more at the twins, and the twins tried to shrink behind the bed. Suddenly Serena popped up beside Harry, looking confident because there was a bed between her and Ginny she said, "I'll tell you Harry."
Before she could start Ginny burst out, "If you so much as utter one word Serena Neufield-Potter I'll.." Harry burst out laughing and everyone in the room turned to look at him.
"Did anyone tell you that you are pretty when you're angry Ginny?" Ginny immediately blushed and everyone else grinned. Ginny stepped closer to Harry's bed and the look that passed between them could have been read by a blind man. Harry held out his hand and Ginny took it.
Bri cleared her throat.."Um children I believe it's time we let Harry and Ginny talk." She smiled at Harry, "we'll be back later." With that she ushered all her children out of the room.
Jamilah turned at the door and smiled softy. "Goodbye Harry thanks for the talk."
As the door closed Harry and Ginny turned to each other. "Now," he said, "what was Serena going to tell me?"
Ginny dropped her eyes and blushed furiously, "She ummmmmmmm saw something that she shouldn't have seen, something that I did I mean, and she, well she was going to tell you." Ginny couldn't meet Harry's eyes she was so embarrassed.
Harry lifted his other hand under her chin and raised it slowly forcing her to meet his eyes. "You mean when you kissed me while you thought I was sleeping?" The look on Ginny's face caused Harry to grin mischievously. "I think it's time you and I had a long overdue talk Ginny." He moved his hand from her chin to the back of her neck pulling her down closer to him.
"About what Harry?" Her voice was barely a whisper.
Their lips where barely a breath apart, "About us Ginny."
"Wha.what about us Harry?" Ginny's heart was beating so fast she thought it was about to burst.
Harry pulled her down and touched his lips to hers. "How I think I'm falling for you Ginny." With that he reached up to pull her down to the bed beside him slanting his lips across hers in a manner he didn't know he possesd. Her hands slid up his back and tangled in his already messy hair. Tenatively she flicked her tounge out across his lips and he sighed softly. Suddenly they heard someone clear their throat. Springing apart like two guilty children they both turned to look at the door.
Sirius and Remus looked like they were trying to contain their glee at catching Harry and Ginny kissing. Mrs. Weasley's face was an odd mixture of surprise, anger, and pleasure. Hermione just looked shocked. But it was Ron's face that drew Harry's attention. Ron's face was the color of a stop sign and quickly getting redder. Mrs. Weasly coughed again and finally said, "I think you two have a lot of explaining to do."
"Hello," the softly spoken word jarred Jamilah so much that The Standard Book of Spells Grade 3 dropped from her hands and to the floor with a loud thump. Harry smiled slightly at this and fixed his gaze on her face, it almost felt like he was staring into her soul. "It's Jamilah isn't it?"
"I.uh.I mean.uh." Jamilah stumbled around for the words, a very new experience for her. She was always the calm collected one who knew exactly what to say. Yet, here she was fumbling for words because of a simple look from Harry. Ok calm down, it's just Harry, take deep breaths. Jamilah leaned down and picked up the book from where it had fallen then met Harry's piercing gaze with her own. "Yes, Harry, I'm Jamilah, your cousin." Immediately she started kicking herself mentally, that was a witty thing to say. Why did Harry make her so nervous?
The door opened causing both Harry and Jamilah to jump. A gangly boy with a head full of slightly messy black hair peeked around the corner. When he saw that Harry was awake he slipped in and shut the door behind him. Jamilah wanted to laugh at how serious Sebastian was attempting to be but she knew it would only hurt his feelings. So she just sat quietly and watched as Sebastian made his way silently to Harry's bedside. Harry's gaze had thankfully moved from her to Sebastian and his eyes tracked Sebastian's movement across the room.
Sebastian reached the bedside and sprawled out in the chair. "Hi Harry, I don't know if you remember me, I'm your cousin Sebastian, your friend Ron was telling me all about you playing Quidditch. Did you really meet Viktor Krum? Can you really do a Wronski Feint? Did you really kill a basilisk? Are you really coming to live with us? It'll be great if you do, then I won't be the only guy in the family anymore." Sebastian finally paused for a breath and Harry chuckled softly. Jamilah was just staring in awe at her brother. How come he could find all the words to say and she couldn't?
"Well Sebastian, those are all good questions. I'd love to answer them but I can't remember them all." Both Sebastian and Jamilah chuckled at this. "I do think that I am coming to live with you and yes I can do a Wronski Feint, though obviously not in my current condition."
Jamilah smiled softly at both of them, "Harry, you'll have to excuse my brother. He rambles when he's excited." Sebastian made a face and stuck his tongue out at her which made Harry laugh.
"So, it looks like both of you know a lot about me, is it my turn to learn a lot about you?"
Sebastian took the seat beside Harry. "What do you want to know?" Jamilah shot him a dirty look. "What?"
"Harry needs to sleep not talk. Otherwise he'll never get his strength back and he'll never be able to come home with us."
Harry laughed again, "Actually I think you two are helping me more than sleeping has. I haven't felt this good in days."
Jamilah let her eyes search Harry's face, "If you're sure." When he nodded she continued, "Well I don't know what you've been told so I'll just start from the beginning. My father was a muggle and my mother is your father's older sister. When they got married they knew that Voldemort (Harry smiled at her use of his proper name) would come after them so they faked their own deaths and fled to America. I don't think a day has gone by in her life that my mom hasn't hated herself for leaving your dad and mom. I think her greatest fear has always been that you would hate her for leaving. I remember when I was little she'd always tell me about my cousin Harry, and how one day, when it was safe, we'd find him and bring him home with us for good. See, she thought you were with Uncle Sirius. She didn't know that he'd been arrested. The first few years we lived in America she stayed away from the wizarding community. The only reason she knew that your parents died was because Mrs. Weasley wrote her. Of course that's what she tells people, but I think she felt it the moment your dad died. She always gets this look in her eyes when she talks about it." Jamilah's voice trailed off as she thought about her mom and the pain she could frequently read in her eyes.
Sebastian saw the look on his sister's face and knew it would be awkward for her if Harry asked questions so he jumped into the story. "I remember mom talking about you too Harry." His words had the desired effect because Harry's gaze left Jamilah and turned to Sebastian.
"You do?"
"Yeah, I do. Mom decided around the time she was pregnant with me and Sera, that's my twin sister Serena, that it was safe for her to venture into the American wizarding community. Of course she used her married name only, even though she actually hyphenated her name and all of ours actually, so know one knew she was related to you. She's an extremely bright person, my mom. Well anyways, mom enrolled Jami at an academy in Virginia, that's where we were, it's in the southern United States. We did live in New York until Dad decided he didn't like the crowds. So he made a deal with his publishing company and they let us move to Virginia as long as he kept working for them from home. Jamilah could have gone to the Salem Witches' Academy, they wanted her, but mom couldn't bear to have her that far from home." He laughed as Jamilah gave him a nasty look. "Of course, she would have loved to have sent her back here so she could go to Hogwarts but Mr. Dumbledore didn't think it was safe. Jami got a letter from him when she turned eleven telling her that when it was safe for her, or if things got too dangerous in America there would always be a place for her to finish her studies at Hogwarts. Sera and I just got acceptance letters to Hogwarts ourselves. Oh, and mom has your letter it came to our house. So it looks like we are all going to go to school together. I hope we get into Gryffindor."
Jamilah broke in when Sebastian paused for a breath. "So anyways, mom wanted us to let her know when you woke up. Bastian, why don't you go find her?" Sebastian nodded and left the room. Jamilah turned back to Harry and took a deep breath. Now was her chance to share the story of her dreams with him, now while they were alone, but just as she opened her mouth Harry spoke.
"I know you." He seemed very thoughtful like he was searching his mind for something. "I.I had a dream.a girl." he broke off and looked into her eyes, "you. You were sitting in a room, in the dark, and you were crying. You..." he fumbled for words again searching for the memory in his mind, "you had lost something."
Softly Jamilah whispered, "My father. I lost my father." Harry could see the tears forming in her eyes and lifted his hand to reach out for her. He didn't know what compelled him to do it, he wasn't one for outward displays of affection, not ever really having experience with them, but something was different about Jamilah, he felt like he'd known her his whole life. She saw his hand and grasped it with hers the tears rolling silently down her cheeks. He was about to speak when once again her soft voice filled the silence around them. "All my life I've had dreams, or visions you could call them. Mom says that most of the Potter women do. We aren't true seers because we can't see the future at will, but we do see the future in our visions, so I'm not really sure what you'd call us. But even beyond that I have another special gift, and it looks like you have it too." At this Harry's face grew puzzled, what gift could she have that they shared? "Ever since I was a child, I've had dreams, dreams about a boy. Usually he was very sad, but the year I turned ten there were happy dreams too. Sometimes there were scared ones. But always they were about the same boy. We could never figure out who he was, but I knew he was real. I could feel what he felt, hear what he thought, and see what he saw. At first a lot of the time he was locked in the dark, in a small place, and there was no one to help him. It was you Harry, all my life I've dreamt about you. Only they aren't dreams, they are visions, not of the future but of what was happening right then."
"But how? How is that possible?"
"It's something called Expecto Sacrificium or the link of sacrifice. Your parents must have set it up for you in case something happened to them. It forms a link between you and your nearest blood relative so that in times of great emotion and need you can sense each other's feelings and thoughts. Only I guess I had such a happy childhood you never got the same types of visions I got."
Harry just stared at her trying to comprehend everything she had just told him. His parents had done what? When it suddenly hit him, did that mean she knew all about his life with the Dursley's? Harry could feel his face flushing with embarrassment. Finally he spoke the only thing that was running through his mind. "So, you know." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. His voice was flat and emotionless and it shocked Jamilah to hear it from this man-child who had seemed so enthusiastic only mere moments earlier.
"Y.yes Harry, I know." Her voice shook as she replied. He visibly flinched at her words. Suddenly she wished she could go back and erase every word she had spoken about her visions.
Again the emotionless voice tumbled from his lips, "And everyone else?"
"Everyone else knows that I have visions Harry, but they don't know the details. Mom knows some of them, but not all of them. Don't worry Harry, I'll keep your secrets, you can trust me." Her voice was so earnest that it drew Harry's eyes back to her face. The pain he saw written there gave him conflicting feelings. He wanted to continue feeling sorry for himself that she knew all about his past, how the Dursley's had treated him, what a horrible person he was, but at the same time he felt compassion for this girl who had been through so much of late and yet was concerned about keeping his secrets.
Harry's mouth opened, but before he could get any words out they heard a loud thump from outside and muffled voices. They just looked at each other and before either one of them could speak the door opened to admit a very tousled Sebastian and Serena, an amused looking Brianna, and a very frustrated looking Ginny. Jamilah didn't miss the way Harry's face lit up at Ginny's appearance. He seemed to sit up straighter in bed and the worried look that had been on his face instantaneously disappeared.
Ginny instantly moved to his side all frustration melting from her face as she looked at him. "How are you feeling Harry?" Her face was bright and cheerful but Jamilah could read the concern in her eyes.
"I'm fine Ginny." Harry smiled at her. Then his eyes swept the rest of the people gathered. His heart fairly burst inside him. They were his family. He had family! He turned his eyes to his aunt. "Did you ask the doctor when I can go home?" Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Sebastian and Serena sneaking off to the side, presumably as far away from Ginny as they could get.
"Yes I did, Harry. He said that you could go home as early as tomorrow. But you'll have to stay in bed for a while." She shot a look at the twins who had just knocked over a chair and then glanced at Ginny who was glaring at them.
Harry's gaze flicked back and forth between the twins and Ginny. Everytime Ginny would move closer to them they would shrink farther away. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his Aunt Bri struggling to contain her giggles. "Ok so who wants to tell me what's going on?" He asked trying to keep the smile off his face. "Because it's obvious that something happened between the twins and Ginny. So what is it?"
At this Bri burst out laughing, Ginny glowered even more at the twins, and the twins tried to shrink behind the bed. Suddenly Serena popped up beside Harry, looking confident because there was a bed between her and Ginny she said, "I'll tell you Harry."
Before she could start Ginny burst out, "If you so much as utter one word Serena Neufield-Potter I'll.." Harry burst out laughing and everyone in the room turned to look at him.
"Did anyone tell you that you are pretty when you're angry Ginny?" Ginny immediately blushed and everyone else grinned. Ginny stepped closer to Harry's bed and the look that passed between them could have been read by a blind man. Harry held out his hand and Ginny took it.
Bri cleared her throat.."Um children I believe it's time we let Harry and Ginny talk." She smiled at Harry, "we'll be back later." With that she ushered all her children out of the room.
Jamilah turned at the door and smiled softy. "Goodbye Harry thanks for the talk."
As the door closed Harry and Ginny turned to each other. "Now," he said, "what was Serena going to tell me?"
Ginny dropped her eyes and blushed furiously, "She ummmmmmmm saw something that she shouldn't have seen, something that I did I mean, and she, well she was going to tell you." Ginny couldn't meet Harry's eyes she was so embarrassed.
Harry lifted his other hand under her chin and raised it slowly forcing her to meet his eyes. "You mean when you kissed me while you thought I was sleeping?" The look on Ginny's face caused Harry to grin mischievously. "I think it's time you and I had a long overdue talk Ginny." He moved his hand from her chin to the back of her neck pulling her down closer to him.
"About what Harry?" Her voice was barely a whisper.
Their lips where barely a breath apart, "About us Ginny."
"Wha.what about us Harry?" Ginny's heart was beating so fast she thought it was about to burst.
Harry pulled her down and touched his lips to hers. "How I think I'm falling for you Ginny." With that he reached up to pull her down to the bed beside him slanting his lips across hers in a manner he didn't know he possesd. Her hands slid up his back and tangled in his already messy hair. Tenatively she flicked her tounge out across his lips and he sighed softly. Suddenly they heard someone clear their throat. Springing apart like two guilty children they both turned to look at the door.
Sirius and Remus looked like they were trying to contain their glee at catching Harry and Ginny kissing. Mrs. Weasley's face was an odd mixture of surprise, anger, and pleasure. Hermione just looked shocked. But it was Ron's face that drew Harry's attention. Ron's face was the color of a stop sign and quickly getting redder. Mrs. Weasly coughed again and finally said, "I think you two have a lot of explaining to do."