A/N: Hey guys!!! I am SO SORRY for not posting for, like, the longest time. I was going through writer's block, and I'm really busy with, like, school stuff. My parents killed me 'cause I forgot to tell them that I needed to pay for my graduation dress. I'm breaking down due to stress…. Argh!

Anyway, I promise to make this chapter a bit long because I haven't updated in ages.

I AM REALLY SO SORRY, PLEASE DO NOT KILL ME FOR THIS!!!!

Kything is property of Madeleine L'Engle. You can find it in her books, the sequels to A Wrinkle in Time.

Harry Potter is obviously property of J.K. Rowling, I have no idea who invented bloody disclaimers. If it is a FANfiction website, I have NO idea why we have to put disclaimers.

Please read my HG fic, it's entitled Actions Speak Louder than Words.

Ashantelle, if you're there, help with our J/L fic, please!!! WE NEED A PLOT!

Anyway, thanks for your undying(?) support.

Love lots,

Kristie

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Chapter 10 – Kything

"Why did you tell him, Sophie?"

"Alexander!" exclaimed Sophie. "I-I, well, I, er – "

"I don't want pity, and you know that Sophie! Why do you feel sorry for me all the time?! I don't want that kind of attention! You've treated me like this ever since we were kids!"

"Listen to me, Alex! Please listen! I'm begging you, please listen!"

"Listen? You want me to listen? Since when have you listened to me, Sophie? Since when?"

"You're a kid, you need to listen to me!" Sophie was exasperated.

"I'm not little anymore, Sophia! Stop insisting that I am!"

"Mum and Dad told me to take care of you if anything happened to them! Why won't you let me?"

"Leave Mum and Dad out of this!"

"Why should I? They are, after all OUR PARENTS, you know!"

"I PERFECTLY KNOW WHO MY PARENTS ARE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! JUST BECAUSE I'M YOUNGER THAN YOU, IT DOESN'T MEAN I'M A BLOODY RETARD!"

"You language is unnecessary," Sophie stated calmly. "Swearing is the product of a limited mind. If you are as strong as you think you are, Alexander, your mind would not be limited enough for you to be swearing."

Harry had absolutely no idea on what to do. He looked at Sophie's eyes. He noticed now what he had not noticed before. Her eyes naturally gleamed with intensity. The gleam seemed to intensify as she looked at her younger brother. Harry then looked at Alexander's eyes and knew that his eyes were very much like Sophie's in appearance, but very different in essence. Alexander's eyes were not intense. His eyes gave off a cold aura. If Sophie's presence at first was very indistinguishable, Alexander's was direct; Harry felt shivers up and down his spine as he looked at Alexander. As if on cue, Harry felt the aura around the other boy change. It was as if a wave of warmth was trying to mask the cold; the warmth was there, but the cold was just as present. It was different, yes, but it was not at all comforting. Harry knew that the warmth that Alexander was projecting was completely false. He had no idea whatsoever on why he could sense this. All he knew, however, was that what was going on between Sophie and Alexander was something unpleasant.

"Yes… my language was unnecessary, that is true. Forgive me the offense committed. However, there is still one issue I would like to discuss with you, big sister." Alexander was getting creepy, and Harry could sense the artificial warmth leaving.

"An issue, Alexander? What issue is this?"

"The fact that you refuse to kythe with me. You've shut me out, Sophie. Why." The word why came out cold, and it seemed that it was more of a statement rather than a question.

The words meant nothing to Harry, but the seemed to make such a big impact on Sophie. She glared at her younger brother, yet Harry couldn't sense a bit of anger at all. He could sense, however, guilt. It was strong, and Harry could also sense self-hate for feeling these emotions. Sophie looked at Harry for a split-second, and then all of a sudden he felt nothing. He could no longer sense anything that Sophie was feeling. It was as if she had shut him out.

"Sophia, I asked why you haven't allowed me to kythe with you for the past few days."

"You claim that you are intelligent, but you know not why I have shut you out." Sophie's tone was in a way, conceited, but Harry could hear it quaver. Harry sensed not an emotion, but the fluctuation in her voice was enough to tell him that she was hiding something, a feeling, a feeling that she wanted no one to know she felt.

"I warned Dumbledore about too much time with a certain person would give you too much feelings to deal with."

"Listen to you he did not, for he knew of my capabilities, and wise enough is he to have not listened to you. I am glad to have been given this mission, and my feelings for a certain person will not affect how I perform, thank you very much."

"So it is true? Fear. I have sensed so much of it. The very little I can get from going through the chinks. You fear my discovery of these feelings, don't you?"

"I fear not your discoveries. I fear your reaction towards what you may discover without understanding fully what you have encountered."

"How will I understand what I have discovered if you continue to shut me out? You have done this for as long as I remember, Sophie! I, your own flesh and blood, know practically nothing about you, because when you feel that I get too close for comfort, you take the easy way out and block all my attempts to kythe with you! However, you meet him and tell him everything about you. This is just unfair, Sophie! Why? He knows more about you than I do, yet you have known each other for such a short period of time! You allow him to get so close, and you care not about what will happen to all of Wizardkind if you allow this closeness to escalate. You can't control your feelings, Sophie, and it doesn't help that you insist on terminating the ones you refuse to feel. They may be different, but they are as real, Sophie. It's just like how he and I are different. How we feel for you is different, true, but it's as real."

Harry knew not what the point of the younger boy was. He understood not what his words were trying to deliver. All he knew was that Alexander's aura was becoming colder and colder. Alexander glared at Harry and Sophie, then stalked away. Sophie was still fuming, and Harry decided to speak not while she was trying to cool herself down. After what seemed like an eternity, she cooled down.

"I need a drink. Let's go to a Muggle London pub. I just can't bear going to the Leaky Cauldron right now."

It seemed that Harry had no choice but to comply. He did not react violently. Perhaps leaving the Wizarding world would clear his mind of things. In the Wizarding world, he was not surrounded by computers and all the technology that Uncle Vernon sometimes complained was too complicated, but things seemed more convoluted than all the high-tech gizmos. Sophie took his hand, and it was not unlike the way she would take Alexander's – completely innocent of intention, and completely free of malice.

They left Diagon Alley and went to the Muggle world. They entered a small bar. Sophie ordered Coke and rum. "It's a little something I learned to love during my stay in the Muggle world," she told Harry. "Do you want anything?"

"I'd like a Coke as well, but no rum on mine." He would've loved Butterbeer, but seeing as the Dursleys never allowed him to take Coke (or any other soda, for that matter), he would love the opportunity to try some.

"Harry, I'm really sorry that you had to see that fight we had."

"It's no problem, really."

"I mean, I just hate it when he insists on finding out more about me."

"Well, he is your brother, isn't he? I mean, he's got a right to know even just a little bit about you, doesn't he?"

"He doesn't need to know who I am, as long as he knows that I love him."

"Maybe allowing him to know more about you will be quite an efficient way to show it." Both Alexander and Sophie had a very pretentious manner of speaking, and he took a leaf out of their book by using a vaster vocabulary.

"Why? If you loved me, Harry, would you care about me showing you that the feelings are reciprocated? Wouldn't my word be good enough for you?"

Harry didn't know how to react. Sophie's eyes were filled with the familiar intensity. She seemed more passionate than ever about what she was talking about. If he did love Sophie, would he care about how she presented the mutualism of their feelings? Would her word be good enough? He didn't know what to say, because he did not love Sophie.

Or did he? True, he had known her for such a short time, but somehow, he felt something different towards Sophie. He was, in truth, mortified by the idea of being in love with someone. Something then consoled him. He realized that, though his feelings toward Sophie were not more or less than what he felt towards Cho, they were different. Very different, as a matter of fact. The feelings were as different as the two persons themselves were; one was very attractive at all, and he thought he loved, and the other, not attractive at all, but very beautiful, and he knew he loved, but perhaps just as a friend at the moment.

"Relax, Harry. It was just a question." Sophie said this softly and averted her eyes.

"A question that I intend to answer. Sophie, if I did love you, your words of love would be enough, but only just. I would still need the openness from you. It wouldn't be impossible to love you with such hostility there, but still, it would be quite difficult."

"You've changed your manner of speaking in such a short span of time."

"I guess that's because of you."

"How did I change your manner of speaking?"

"I dunno. I guess you've helped me realize many things, Sophie. I've never thought so much about stuff that seemed irrelevant, and I guess thinking about these things that only now I realized were important made me more articulate."

Sophie said nothing, but smiled. She sipped her Coke and rum while Harry sipped his Coke. Just then, Dudley and his gang entered the bar.

"Hey, Big D, isn't that your lousy cousin?"

When Dudley saw Harry, he made a beeline for him. When he saw Sophie, however, he paled. He settled by provoking Harry to use his wand, which Dudley knew, was going to get Harry expelled. One had to admit, though, that Dudley was actually beginning to develop a working brain.

"So, my cousin has a little girlfriend."

Dudley's gang, which was composed of boys who were nearly as vast as Dudley himself, began to corner Sophie. Harry wasn't scared for her like he would have been before knowing of the Wizarding world, but he was rather scared for them, seeing as she was a very good witch.

"And so what if I'm your cousin's girlfriend?"

This statement shocked Harry. When he looked at Sophie, however, he saw her winking, as if telling him to ride on with what she was saying.

"So I suppose you go to that freak school as well."

"If you mean Hogwarts, why don't you call it by it's proper name?"

Dudley paled. He wasn't arrogant or cocky anymore, and Harry could see that he was trying to become small and was failing at it. Sophie pulled out her wand and pointed it at Dudley's throat.

"D-don't h-h-hurt me!"

"Leave. Now."

She performed a Memory Charm on the rest of the gang and the other Muggles, and Dudley and his gang left. Just when they left, Dumbledore entered the bar.

"Sophie, Harry, It's time to leave. The others have been looking for you."

"Yes, Professor."

"You did modify the memories of these people, didn't you?"

"Of course I did."

"You know, Miss Volkova, if the ministry wasn't busy with Voldemort's return, you'd be in big trouble right now."

"Times like these when his return actually has a silver lining."

"We ought to be leaving now, everyone might get worried."

They all left the bar and entered the magical car. The trip back home was full of laughter from everyone except Harry, Sophie and Alexander. Sirius' portrait was cracking jokes and telling stories that eve Dumbledore was laughing at. Sophie and Alexander were both pensive. Harry's mind was filled with thoughts about Sophie. He did not understand why, but all his thoughts were of her. He thought of her during the entire trip, and even in Grimmauld Place.

When they got home, Alexander went to his room and made not a sound. Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny were in the living room. Ron and Ginny were playing chess, Hermione was reading a book she bought from Flourish and Blotts, and Harry was still in the same pensive mood. Sophie was nowhere to be found. Harry decided to go up to Buckbeak's room. He needed company in place of Sophie, and he knew that Ron, Hermione and Ginny provided him not with the same security.

When he went upstairs, however, it was to his surprise that someone was already seated in front of the large Hippogriff. A black-haired, dark-eyed someone.

Sophie.

"Hi Harry."

"How'd you know that I was coming up?" Harry asked, awed.

"Nothing."

"Okay… does it have anything to do with that kything thing that you and Alexander were talking about?"

"Yes, Harry, it does." Sophie sounded incredibly weary.

"What is kything?"

"Are there times that the people you love that are still on this planet are so out of reach?"

"Er – "

Sophie sighed. "Kything is being able to be with someone, no matter how far you are from that person."

"What?"

"You become part of the person, know what the person is going through."

"But isn't that like Legilimency?"

"No, Harry. When you kythe, you are there before the moments become memories. You can be there with the person when you need him or her. When you kythe, you also speak a language deeper than words. You can communicate with the person without speaking. Languages have no meaning when you kythe."

It took a while before he could understand what Sophie said. It was so complicated, yet so clear. All he wanted to do was to be there for Sophie before she got hurt. He didn't want to only hear of the memories of when she felt scared. He was willing to learn from her, even if it took long.

"Can it be learned?"

"Yes."

"Will you show me how?"

"Yes."

"When will you show me?"

"Not now, definitely."

"Why?"

"We lack an element, Harry."

"What is it?"

"Love."

Harry didn't know what to say. He tried to sense for Sophie's feelings, but all he got was an intensified feeling of his emotions. He was confused, and he didn't know what to do, or how to react. Perhaps Sophie was also confused, for he felt only one emotion in the room.

"I – er – well, I think I love you – as a friend, you know."

"Well, I think that thinking is not enough. There has to be certainty, you know."

"Er, Sophie?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Do you love me?"

She didn't answer.

"I mean, as a friend," he added hastily.

"Yes, Harry, I do. You wanna take a walk?"

"Er, okay."

They stood and went out of the house and walked along Grimmauld Place. The other houses were silent. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky was tinted with orange and pink. The horizon was so beautiful; it reminded Harry of Sophie. Gorgeous was not enough to describe both the sunset and Sophie. Sophie took his hand in the same innocent way and they walked.

"Do you really want to learn to kythe?"

"Yes, I really do."

"Why?"

"I dunno. I guess it's 'cause I'd like to be there, you know, when you need help. You've done a lot for me, and I'd like to do a lot for you to, you know, show my gratitude."

"Thanks Harry. You're a gem."

"So, when can I learn to kythe?"

"When there is an appropriate circumstance."

The sky was already dark, and there were stars scattered all over the sky. It was also beautiful – different, but just as beautiful, just as real. He knew Cho Chang was gorgeous, but she was never real to him. She was the most perfect dream he had, and when he had her, he realized that he didn't need that dream to survive. He knew that what made Sophie beautiful the most was the fact that she was real. She was no dream that he desired, and though she was not true to herself, she was true to him. He appreciated how she could show him who she was, because he knew that she couldn't even reveal herself to her own brother.

They headed back to number twelve. They went upstairs and Sophie led Harry to his and Ron's room. They were outside the door when the silence was finally broken.

"I guess I'll see you at dinner tonight."

"Yeah, I guess."

Sophie hugged Harry. He felt a rush of emotions he couldn't distinguish. He did not know if they were good or bad. He knew only one thing about these emotions he felt at the moment.

They were so real.

He watched Sophie go to her room and didn't enter his and Ron's bedroom until he heard her bedroom door shut. He entered the room, more confused than ever.

What were those emotions that he felt? Why was he feeling them?