Chapter Twenty: Vision Secrets Revealings
"So what is she like?" came Hermione's question at the first moment Harry stepped through the Portrait Hole.
"So keen to know?" Harry threw from behind his shoulder, heading to his bedroom.
"I am curious, that's all," said Hermione, running on Harry's heels.
"Can't you wait till I take a shower, I've just had a Quiddich practice, you know."
"No!" she burst out.
"Ho, ho," Harry put up his hands in surrender. "Really, there is nothing to tell."
"What!"
"I haven't seen her."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked skeptically.
"During the practice I asked Ron where she was, he pointed with a finger at the stands in the Ravenclaw section, bet they were empty!"
"Are you sure?" she asked in the same skeptical tone.
"Absolutely. I told Ron, that I didn't see her there, he only said, that she was on the forth store from the bottom and flew away."
"I don't understand anything of this!" she exclaimed frustrated.
"Me neither."
"I am sure he isn't imagining her or anything, because I asked some girls. Who saw them together, and they sad, she was pretty and kind and they looked happy together, but nothing concrete," Hermione said, nervously playing with her hair and going towards an armchair and sitting on it.
"You've done a pretty big investigation for just trying to return a friend you miss," Harry said mysteriously, leaning on the back of an opposite armchair.
"I don't know, Harry, what you are hinting on, but I just have a bad feeling about all this."
"And I have a feeling, that you are jealous," Harry stated.
"And I am already tired of telling you, that I am not," she answered with irritation.
"Ok, ok, now if you don't mind, I would like to take a shower and go to sleep."
"No problem, I still need to finish some homework."
Harry turned and started walking to stairs to the boy's dormitories, when:
"Aaaah," he heard from behind him, he sharply turned his head towards the sound and saw Hermione swinging from side to side, holding head in her hands. "Pain, so much pain," she continued to whisper.
"Herm', what is it? What's happening to you?" Harry asked with concern at the same time shaking her with his hands on her forearms. He didn't want any surprises from Voldemort now.
Harry kept shaking her, but all was in vain, she was in some sort of a trance, then suddenly she slowly tilted her head and Harry was taken aback by what he saw: her face was absolutely blank and deathly pale, her eyes were so big that occupied half of her face and pupils weren't moving. Harry was ready to react somehow, say or do something, but then Hermione's mouth opened and said in a voice that makes the blood run cold: "Dragon fang can cut the world comprehensive darkness, but only with sharpening." Hearing this Harry fell on his bum on the floor in front of Hermione and stared at her openmouthed.
Change in Hermione disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.
"What is it with you, Harry? Why are you on the floor?"
Harry gaped for a few seconds then mastered to say the words he didn't believe himself, "You are a Seer, Hermione," he whispered. (I bet, you were thinking that she was possessed by Voldemort.)
"Have you gone crazy, while I wasn't looking? How can I be a Seer? I don't even believe in this stuff!" she exclaimed.
"Well…but…you just predicted…" Harry mumbled still with big eyes.
"What? That you won't pass your N.E.W.Ts? I am sure about that."
"No, it was another thing. Sit still, don't move," Harry asked, at the same standing up.
'I hope this'll work. What do I need to do? Yeah, concentrate.' Harry closed his eyes and concentrated. Hard. Only after a minute he saw a large bright blue spot in front of him. In the center of the sport was a lot of white sparks that moved around forming a small tornado, that wasn't the thing, which grabbed his attention: it was a huge eye, which was looking around and blinking from time to time, as if it's just awakened. Shocked by his discovery, Harry opened his eyes and stared at Hermione once again.
"What was all that about, Harry?" asked Hermione annoyed a bit.
"You are a Seer, I can clarify it. I can't believe it myself, but that's true," Harry said softly.
"Harry, what can I clarify, is that you've gone mental, may be a Bludger hit you in the head or what!"
"You don't believe me, fine! We'll ask the authorities," he grabbed her quill and parchment and scribed there a note to Dumbledore describing the situation, not forgetting to write the exact words of the prediction. "Take this to Dumbledore right now," Harry ordered. 'How thick Hermione can be sometimes. Can bet, that she would've believed me more, if I'd said that she was pregnant, but to be a Seer is absolutely impossible. Brrrr.'
"Ok, ok. I'll go, no need to be so angry. What are you going to do?"
"I'll pay someone a visit," he said with a smirk. They got through the Portrait Hole and Hermione hurried to Dumbledore's office. Harry also rushed into the near hallway quickly pacing, but then abruptly stopped in the middle of the deserted corridor.
Where exactly was he going? No dueling lessons were planned for today, because he had Quiddich practice, where will he find him? Only now Harry understood that he didn't even know where he stays. He decided to check the Dueling Room, as he called it, just in case.
Reaching the Dueling Room, Harry already heard crushing sounds, repeating with a two seconds interval. Harry stood in front of the door for a few seconds then slowly opened the door, wanting to take Draco off guard this time, he peeped in and stopped on his tracks, fascinated.
As Harry understood, Draco was also doing a training of some sort: on the shelves, that now were on the walls, stood different objects like vases, cages, rocks, bottles, garbage in the whole. Of course, Harry wasn't fascinated by some garbage, he admired the way the objects moved to the floor, or how Draco broke them to be exact.
There were twenty objects, as Harry managed to count through the blasts of lightening, fireballs, mud, small stones and something else, what he couldn't quite place, all was happening too fast. At the first time Draco hit eighteen objects then put them again on the shelves, but on different places, and the show began again, this time all his blasts reached their aims. The third round was even more exiting. Draco flipped with his wand and objects began to float around the room in all directions.
'That's a real challenge,' thought Harry with anxiety and curiosity about how Draco will make it.
The answer didn't keep Harry waiting: Draco's tactic was wave attacks, which covered few objects at once. Mostly they blow up, but some were thrown aside by an invisible force. Just for a slight moment Harry saw Draco's face and was shocked again: his eyes were open! And more to that, they were almost white, pupils looked like decoration only.
Harry was so captivated by all this stuff that lost his balance and moved the door he was leaning on. His movement was followed by a loud crack of the door and a fireball from Draco aimed right at Harry's head. Harry was lucky as always, because Draco turned to look at the visitor, because if he hadn't, Harry would've turned from the Boy-Who-Lived to Boy-Who-Was-Burned. Almost at the last moment Draco flipped his fingers and the ball disappeared.
"Scared, Potter?" Draco greeted him with his famous smirk, his eyes back to normal.
"Well, of course," answered Harry breathing heavily.
"Remember, never tell your enemy that you are scared of him, never. Get it?"
"Yeah, sure," Harry was taken aback by his seriousness.
Draco turned his back to him and started walking to the center of the room, talking, "Why do I have the honor of your visiting me in such late hour, especially," he faced Harry now, "you were to have a Quiddich practice," and Harry again saw this longing in Draco's eyes after mentioning Quiddich.
"You knew it," Harry was right to the point.
"What? I know a lot," Draco said indifferently.
"That Hermione is a Seer."
"Could be."
"Don't dodge the question, Marko. You mentioned it, when you were telling ma about vision eyes, especially about the Inner Eye of a Seer. You told me that I'd find out that this Eye was real stuff. Find out very soon," insisted Harry.
"She started predicting then, didn't she? Anything interesting?" Draco asked thoughtfully.
"Well yes, and her prediction concerns you also," Harry pointed at Draco with index finger.
"Hm, must be really interesting then," Draco said cocking one eyebrow in a manner characteristic only to him.
"Self-centered git," Harry muttered. Of course, Draco heard.
"Hey," he exclaimed, "what's the noise about! Even if I knew that Granger was a Seer, so what? I must cry about it to everyone?"
"Oh no, of course, not. I mean…Uuuh," Harry took a deep breath. "Sorry, I just was shocked to see that big eye, looking at me like at an experimental guinea pig," Harry said more calmly.
"So that's what the fuss is about! First encounter with human's magic aura! Congratulations!"
Harry looked at him and realized that Draco was really happy for him. It was unusual, if not more.
"Well, if you are in so good mood, may be you'll tell me, what you promised to?"
"What can this be?" Draco asked with a frown.
"The way your vision eyes opened."
"I don't remember myself promising anything to you, Potter."
"You know, I just don't understand, why to be so secretive about it. It's not a mystery of the world," Harry said with irritation.
"Yes, it isn't, just some personal reasons," Draco said coldly and turned from Harry. "But I'll tell you. I am sure it will be a good lesson for you. Take a sit," he finished in a tone he used being a teacher. After Harry sat down, he continued, "The story begins two years ago at the Malfoy Manor," Draco started to pace around the room, touching the shelves or the objects on them from time to time. "As I continue to repeat this year, there are some good books in the Manor's Library. One of them contained information about ancient wandless combat – Dragon Fang. I got interested. I began to read about the conception that every object in the wizarding world has special magic aura, which features are characteristic only for this object, there aren't two similar auras.
Then an accident happened: I was experimenting with some potion ingredients in my laboratory and there was an explosion. It wasn't very big, nobody even heard it, but," Draco learned on the nearby wall and closed his eyes, not wanting to remember the horrible time, "I was absolutely blind for three days." Harry turned pale, but didn't make a sound. "Somehow I managed to get to my bedroom and told the House Elves that I was sick. Three days I was in complete darkness. But, as you know, when one sense leaves you, others began to work more actively. I could hear pace of a mouse, running under my bed or in the next room, scents were more precise and keen. I bet, you're eager to ask, so what's was the problem then?
Only one problem can be yours in the Malfoy Manor if you do something wrong, Lucius Malfoy is its name," Draco said spitting on the floor. "On the fifth day of my sickness he paid me a visit. I couldn't tell him, I was blind. It would've been…a disgrace to Malfoy family. Luckily for me," he smirked, "I too have luck sometimes. On the forth day after the incident I started to see spots around me and I knew what I was seeing, I've found the book right on time or I got blind at the right time, no one can tell now. They weren't absolutely clean and understandable, but it was enough not to get into Lucius' hands. When he entered my bedroom and looked at me, he got suspicious right away, that's why he moved around the room, while talking to me. I turned my head according to his movements, seeing big moving spot. Lucius suspicions weren't confirmed and I peacefully stayed in bed for two more days, during which my vision got stronger and I could identify almost everything and even move around. After another week ordinary eyesight returned too. That's why I don't need to close my eyes to use vision, because I didn't close them at the first place. See, Potter, nothing interesting," Draco finished calmly.
"Yeah, absolutely nothing," Harry drawled.