As Harry neared the dining hall, he wondered if the big doors would be open or closed. It had seemed like Healer Jordan had used magic to open them earlier, but he hadn't heard her say a spell. Was there a panel like in the O&M room that was charmed to open and close the doors—kind of like a muggle elevator?
He imagined he could ask his staff to locate things like that if he knew what to ask it.
He reached the doors and his staff informed him that he'd reached his destination. He felt the area with his staff and discovered that the doors were open.
That's a relief. I'll have to ask Healer Jordan about them later.
It gave him an idea and he said, "Navigant Healer Jordan."
His staff was silent.
"Navigant group of people," worked though, and soon he was at the edge of the group of family and residents waiting for Healer Jordan. He was glad he had a chance to nibble on a sandwich with Hedwig because the food aromas in the dining hall were making him salivate.
He heard someone approaching him and again felt a small hand on his arm. He turned his face toward them.
"Hi, Gemma," he said.
He was pretty sure it was Gemma.
She lifted up his arm, and gently coaxed him to turn it palm up, then her finger was tracing something on his palm. He furrowed his brow in concentration, trying to figure out what she was doing. Then it hit him, she's spelling, "Hi." Gemma had spelled H—I into his palm.
He smiled and she squeezed his hand warmly. Then his smile faltered. Could she understand him when he spoke? He cast around for something to ask her. Well, he had a million things he wanted to ask, but they were too complicated, he needed something simple.
She was spelling into his hand again and he had to focus to understand what she was writing.
"W-H-A-T ?," she waited a few seconds between each letter. It took him a bit to get the last one, the question mark. He mouthed each letter as she wrote it and a gentle squeeze from her left hand supporting his let him know that she understood when he got the letter.
So he tried just saying, "I don't know if you can understand me when I speak." He could hear the people around him getting quiet and wondered how much of an audience they had. He felt his ears getting hot. He was tempted to drop it and walk away, but he didn't want to hurt her feelings. She was being really brave approaching him when she didn't know if she'd be able to communicate with him.
She didn't squeeze his hand, so he guessed she didn't understand. He wondered if he should take her hand and try spelling into it, but then she was writing on his hand again.
She wrote, "S-L-O-W-E-R."
So he tried again, he figured he didn't really need to voice what he was saying as long as his lips were making the motions, so he tried slower, but barely breathing the words so they were very quiet. This time he phrased it as a shorter question, "Can you understand me?"
She squeezed his hand. He breathed and the corners of his lips lifted in a small smile.
That's a relief.
She wrote two dots and a curved line that, for a second he didn't get, and then he smiled in response. A smiley face.
More people were gathering around them. And then Gemma's mom was there and with her the flapping paper noise again.
He puzzled at that, Why did it always sound like she was waving a piece of paper around?
"Gemma, dear. There you are. Always running off. Oh, trying to talk with… what's your name, dear?" After a moment Harry realized that she had directed the last question to him.
"Harry. Harry Potter, Ma'am," he replied.
"Oh, Is that right? Well, they said you were here. Hmmm." She was quiet and Harry had the distinct impression she was staring at him. He resisted the temptation to flatten his bangs over his scar.
"Gemma, Healer Jordan's here and you can ask her your questions now. Come on, let's get closer, okay?" Mrs. Boot had turned her attention back to her daughter and Harry felt Gemma's hand being pulled away from his.
But then she pulled on his hand as if wanting him to follow. He pulled his hand out of hers, then traced it lightly to above her elbow and waited for her to go. She held still for a second, then started following her mother's footsteps. Harry held his staff in his left hand out a little, not sure if Gemma would understand how to guide him around obstacles. At first, his staff ran into some things (people's shoes, by the sounds of surprise as he passed), but then she adjusted to allow more room for him.
Harry figured that they were closer to the doors leading to the classroom spaces now. Gemma stopped and grasped his hand and started pulling down on his arm. He resisted, not knowing that's what she was doing.
"What?" he asked, angling his face with the hope that his lips were visible to her.
She stopped pulling and turned his palm face up again and wrote, "C-H-A-I-R."
Oh!
Harry reached out and found the back of the chair directly in front of him, and sat down it while Gemma settled into the one next to his. She took his hand palm up again on her knee and wrote, "W-H-E-R-E," space, "S-I-S-T-E-R," space, "D-A-D?" He was confused. How was he supposed to know where her sister and dad were? He shrugged his shoulders. She wrote, "Y-O-U-R," space, "S-I-S-T-E-R," space, "D-A-D" and then she tapped a finger on his chest for emphasis.
Oh! She means Hermione and Dr. Granger.
He started to explain, "They aren't my… " but then Healer Jordan started addressing the group in her amplified voice, asking if there were questions and Harry stopped.
Gemma shook his hand impatiently, so Harry pointed in the direction of Healer Jordan's voice. On her other side, Mrs. Boot said, "Hush dear, Healer Jordan's speaking." The paper sound fluttered around her again.
Harry wasn't sure if it was directed at him or Gemma, though it struck him as odd that she'd hush Gemma, who hadn't uttered a sound as far as he could tell.
He wondered how Gemma was understanding what Healer Jordan was saying.
A lot of the questions were about things that Healer Jordan had already addressed on the tour, but she patiently explained them again. One of the parents asked why they had male and female residents sharing rooms and Healer Jordan explained the importance of community and also went over the guidelines again about proper conduct and the Center's expectations for how residents would behave and respect each other. She also stated that there would be consequences if the guidelines were not followed.
Harry could hear a quill scratching on paper on Gemma's other side and thought that Mrs. Boot must be taking notes, but then he realized that she was writing messages to Gemma. Was she translating for her? He decided it was too sporadic for that.
Harry hoped that someone would ask how to open the big doors to the dining hall. He also wanted to ask about a muggle phone, but thought he'd better ask that one in private. Finally he raised his hand.
"Yes, Harry?" Healer Jordan said. He was glad she used his name, as he had heard her responding to other people without their names, and wondered how he'd know she was calling on him.
"I was wondering how do you open the doors to the dining hall and the library?" As he said it, he realized it sounded silly. Someone a few seats behind him snorted loudly.
Healer Jordan answered with no judgment in her voice, "Great question, Harry. The dining hall doors will be open at meal times and if you need to enter the space outside of that time, there is a panel located either side of the door, at the right as you're facing the door, with braille markers indicating what the buttons do. I'm happy to show you when we're done here."
There were a few more questions. Harry wondered if Gemma was going to ask hers, but if she had, he couldn't tell.
Healer Jordan invited them to enjoy the lunch and told them that they would have free time until one o'clock to rest and get settled and say goodbye to their families, and then the residents would meet their instructors in the first classroom, called 'Mont Blanc,' that they had visited.
Healer Jordan came over to Harry after she was done, "Hi Harry, it's Healer Jordan. Is this a good time to check out the panels for opening the doors to the dining room?"
"Oh, yes. Thank you."
"Yes, Gemma, I'll bring him back here. We'll just be a moment," Healer Jordan said.
He could hear some paper fluttering near Healer Jordan now. He was beginning to wonder if it had something to do with communicating with Gemma. Healer Jordan had tapped the back of his hand with hers, and he grasped her arm above the elbow and noticed that she seemed to be making movements with her hands.
Sign language!
"I noticed that you and Gemma have figured out a way to overcome your language barriers."
"Er, yes," Harry said, though he felt as though their attempts were pretty cumbersome and awkward. "Um, what is that paper noise that I heard when you and her mom were talking to her?" They walked through the dining hall, toward the entrance.
"Oh, that's a handy little charm that writes out what you're saying on a slip of paper. Gemma's using it now because she's still learning BSL," Healer Jordan explained.
"What's BSL?"
"Oh, right. British Sign Language. We're here at the entrance. I'm going to take us through so that we're approaching the door as you would if you were coming from the reception area, okay?"
Harry nodded.
"So, if you're using your staff to help you find your way, you can ask it to 'Navigant door panel.' And that should work on any entrance that has a magical panel for controlling the door as well as muggle elevators or other similar devices. This one is set in the alcove of the entrance on the right-hand side, about one meter from the ground and about two meters from the door."
"Oh, why is it so low?" Harry wondered, imagining little children wreaking havoc with it.
"So anyone can reach it, even if they are using a wheelchair."
"Oh, right."
Healer Jordan took Harry's hand off her arm and guided it toward the panel. "Here is the panel, and here is the open button, there are two arrows embossed on the surface that are pointing away from each other, can you feel that?"
"Oh, yes." He moved his hand over the button, and then found another button that had the two arrows facing each other.
"And this one is the close button?"
"Yes, that's right. Similar panels are on all the entrances with heavy doors throughout the Center."
She had tapped his hand to indicate that she was ready to guide him back into the dining hall.
"Could you teach me the charm for writing my words so that I can speak to Gemma more easily?" Harry asked.
"Oh, yes. It is 'Scribunt loqui.' Why don't you try it?" she said, guiding Harry to the side of the walkway through the dining hall.
He held his staff and said the words, but muddled them the first few times. Healer Jordan helped him get the pronunciation and finally, he heard a little piece of paper fluttering near his lips. He reached for it, and felt it flit across his fingers for a second before it disappeared.
"Where did it go?" he asked. Then he heard it again, and this time it lingered longer before it vanished.
"It doesn't stay long," Healer Jordan explained. "So you need to know that the person you're talking to has seen it, which will be a bit of a challenge for you."
"When you're done, you say 'Finite scribunt loqui'. There are other methods for communicating between people who are deaf and blind that you'll be learning about in the coming weeks. I'm sure you and Gemma will find a system that works well for you." Healer Jordan started walking back to the table.
"Okay, here's your chair, Harry. Enjoy your lunch," she said as she walked away, already being addressed by someone else who had approached her with a question.
He sat down in the chair once he figured out that it was now facing the table and he felt Gemma's small hand on his arm again.
"Hi, Gemma," he said and she squeezed his arm when the paper fluttered by his lips.