Harry felt like they were really high up in the air now. His legs were starting to tremble from the exertion and he had broken out in a prickling sweat that smelled pretty rank. He had stashed his staff in his pocket and was holding onto Tony's waist now with both hands—steadying him as much as he was being guided by him. He could feel Tony trembling beneath his hands as well and knew it was as unnerving for him as it was for Harry.
Maybe worse. He can see how far up we are. I've got the advantage of not being able to look down, he thought.
Harry kept his knees slightly bent to accommodate the slight swaying and swelling of the boat and the gangplank. Each raised step beneath his foot felt reassuring as he made his way, one foot in front of the other, up the gangplank.
Surely, someone would have put protective charms on this gangplank to keep us from falling into the lake. Healer Jordan wouldn't put us in a hazardous situation that we can't handle. Right?
He tried to calm the doubts that were crowding his mind.
I should have refused to go up the gangplank. I could have insisted that they find another way.
Then he dismissed this idea. He didn't want to stand out; he didn't want people noticing him.
He thought about how easy it was to cross the threshold into the Mont Blanc room and be transported to another place; the owlery had been the same way.
Why can't we do that here? Why does it have to be an ordeal like this? Are they testing us? We had a hard enough time just sitting on the benches before. Seems kind of risky to make us hike down a mountain and then walk up a gangplank. It's almost cruel.
The voices from the deck were encouraging and definitely getting closer. Harry was pretty sure it was the two men from the path who were waiting for them at the top. They were almost there.
Tony paused at the top of the gangplank, and Harry bumped into him, almost unbalancing Tony. Luckily, the two men had grasped Tony's shoulders and stopped him from falling and then steadied him as he stepped onto the deck of the HMS Eden. They grasped Harry by his arms and helped him step down, too. The distance to the deck was deeper than he imagined and he stumbled forward before he found his footing.
"There you go!" The second man held firmly onto Harry's arm as he regained his balance. There was a tremor in his arm that made Harry wonder if it had been as scary to watch them climb the gangplank as it had been to do it. He let go and thumped Harry heartily on the back, reminding him of Hagrid.
"Er, thanks," Harry offered up. He felt really relieved and a little elated to have arrived safely on board.
I'm so glad I didn't pitch over the side of the gangplank into the lake. My shoes would never dry.
He was still clinging to Tony's shirt, and he imagined that he had nearly pulled it off Tony just then, but Tony didn't seem to mind. He didn't let go.
"Welcome aboard the HMS Eden!" A man greeted them from a level up. Harry imagined that the man was on the Quarterdeck of the ship. He remembered a favorite book at his Primary's library that detailed all the parts of a galleon; how he had poured over that book—dreaming about sailing far away from the Dursleys.
The boat creaked and groaned as it moved slightly in the water.
The second man was talking to Tony—he was the man who had grabbed Harry by his left arm. "Hey, why didn't Healer Jordan help you with your cuts and bruises?"
"Whoa, are you wearing an invisibility cloak?" Tony asked.
"Um, no. I had vanishing sickness," the man explained a bit wearily as if he were tired of explaining it.
"Wicked. Harry said there were two people on the path trying to help me get up, but I didn't believe him."
"No worries. It happens all the time."
"You must be Harry, then," the man turned to Harry.
"Yes, I'm Harry," he said sticking out his hand and deliberately leaving off his last name.
"I'm Adam Ceesay," he said as his trembling hand grasped Harry's.
Harry winced; his fingertips were tender. Now that he was this close to Adam, he noticed how tall he must be—maybe as tall as Dumbledore, even. Harry had a visual image of a very tall, dark-skinned black man. He had a very slight accent that made Harry think he wasn't born in the United Kingdom, but that he had immigrated when he was pretty young.
"Oh, sorry, I'm probably bleeding on you. I cut my fingers on some thorns," Harry explained.
"Oh, let me take a look," Adam said.
"It's really nothing… " Harry protested mildly as Adam turned his hand palm up to look closely at his fingertips. Harry was beginning to think that the quivering in Adam's hand wasn't from nerves. His voice was calm and reassuring.
"Sure, but it has to be at least annoying to have cuts on your fingertips… when you use them as much as you do… I think the ship's captain's quarters would have some essence of dittany," Adam went on as he turned Harry's hand gently.
"Tony, you should come, too," Adam had turned to talk to Tony who was standing nearby talking to the first man.
"Okay, sure," Tony agreed.
"Fitz, I'm going to take these young men to the captain's quarters to see if we can get their injuries attended to. Do you want to join us?" Adam addressed the first man and Harry was glad to have a name for him.
"No, I'll stay here," Fitz replied.
Adam had guided Harry's hand to his elbow as he spoke and then turned slowly to lead Harry to the Captain's quarters. He was really tall. Adam's whole body kind of pulsed—now that Harry was holding onto his arm he realized it wasn't really trembling at all. It was an intense energy. Adam was mindful about guiding Harry around the obstacles on the ship—piles of ropes and rigging. Harry was fascinated by the noises of the wooden ship creaking—it was such an eerie sound. The other people who were aboard the ship also seemed to be mesmerized by it because they were talking in hushed tones.
They entered through a door into a narrow corridor that meant that Adam had lengthened his arm behind him and Harry was holding onto his forearm and following in single file. Harry felt like the ceiling was really low, too, he was tempted to reach up and see if he could touch it with his hand. Adam hunched over as he led Harry through to the captain's quarters.
Out of the sunlight for a bit, Harry had opened his eyes, but when they walked into the Captain's quarters he closed them again. It was surrounded on all sides by big windows that were facing the afternoon sun and the room was ablaze with light.
Adam led Harry over to a chair and placed his hand on the back of it, "Would you like to sit here?"
"Oh, wow, I didn't think it would be so bright inside the ship," Harry remarked as he sat down and then regretted it. He'd have to explain again that he could see light. He kind of understood it. Before this happened to him he thought that blindness meant the total absence of light. He probably would have asked the same questions.
Adam didn't say anything, but Tony, of course, asked the same questions he'd already been asked over and over again and it had only been a month.
Harry answered them wearily.
He wondered where the captain was as there didn't seem to be anyone in the captain's quarters. Adam had opened a cupboard and was moving around little glass jars and then came back over to where Harry was. Tony had settled in a nearby chair.
Adam pulled up a chair between them and set some items on a table. He uncorked a bottle. Harry cocked his head trying to hear exactly what Adam was doing.
"Here, Harry, will you put your hand on the table? I'll dab some dittany on your fingertips," Adam explained, as he gently pressed a wet handkerchief to Harry's fingertips.
A tingling sensation accompanied the pressure and Harry could smell a bitter, pungent odor. His fingertips stopped throbbing and when Adam released his hand he felt them with his other hand and couldn't detect even traces of the cuts.
"Wow! That's great. Where do you get that stuff? I wonder if I could buy some to keep with me?" Harry asked.
"Planning on having more run-ins with thorny bushes, are you?" chuckled Adam.
"Well… " Harry paused. "Just seems that lately, I've been running into things… "
"Yeah. I understand," Adam commiserated.
"Okay, Tony, let's take a look at you," Adam said, turning away from Harry.
"Where are you?" Tony asked; he seemed unnerved.
"I'm right here next to you," Adam said.
"You're wearing clothes, right?" Tony kind of half-laughed, but Harry could tell that he was really worried about it.
"Yes, if you look at me from the corner of your eye, you can kind of see me, I'm told. The vanishing sickness is kind of a misnomer. I'm here, I'm just moving too quickly for you to see—it creates an illusion of invisibility. And it isn't really an illness, it is more of a condition." Adam explained patiently.
"Oh, yeah. Just barely, though. Is that why I can still see the chair you're sitting in, but not the handkerchief in your hand? And why when you were leading Harry, I couldn't really see his hand on your arm—it was blurring, but I could see the rest of his arm?" Tony asked.
"Yes, it affects things that are being moved by my momentum," Adam explained.
"That sounds exhausting," Harry commented.
"It does sap a lot of my magical energy," Adam agreed, his rich voice expressed a fortitude that Harry couldn't help but admire. "I'm here to learn about how to manage that drain of energy."
"Okay, Tony. Can I attend to your cuts now? That one on your forehead is pretty bloody, but I think it is actually just a graze, but with a nice goose egg under it."
"Yeah, okay."
"I'm going to daub some dittany on it, okay?" Adam explained as gently to Tony as he had to Harry.
Harry realized that Adam probably had to explain to everyone what he was about to do. Harry never really realized before how much forewarning he'd received of people's actions and intentions when he could see them coming; even if it was just a millisecond, it made a difference.
The chair that Harry was sitting was really comfortable. He leaned back in it and rested his arms on the armrests, thinking he could stay there for a while and be content.
"Okay, Tony—I think you're set," Adam said, satisfied.
"Harry, your trainers look soaked and muddy. Did you step in the lake?" Adam asked.
"No, it's a long story."
"Can I dry them for you?" Adam asked.
"That would be great," Harry responded, sitting up.
He used the same spell that Mr. Montague had used earlier, "Calidum siccum" and Harry's feet felt warm and dry almost instantly.
"Oh, I have to remember that one… especially if I'm living right next to the ocean… " Harry sighed. "That feels so good." He repeated it silently to himself a few times.
"You live near the ocean?" Adam asked.
"Kind of," but Harry didn't elaborate.
Harry could hear some people talking in the corridor and then the door opened. Harry wondered if Gemma, Mei, and Aminah had made it to the ship.
"Perfect, I'm so glad you're in here," Healer Jordan declared as she entered the Captain's quarters. "Okay, everyone gather around. I know it is a bit cramped, but we should all fit once I vanish the chairs and table."
Harry didn't think that the corridor was wide enough for Mei's wheelchair and wondered if she was here, too.
"Adam, you're in here, right?" Healer Jordan asked.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm sitting between Harry and Tony."
"Can you help Harry find a spot away from the table so that I can vanish it?" Healer Jordan asked courteously.
"Sure," he responded as he stood up and grabbed the glass bottles that he had put on the table. It sounded like Tony stood up and moved toward the group of people. Harry stood up, too, and Adam tapped the back of his right hand with his. Harry found the tall man's upper arm and followed him to a spot on the perimeter of the room. He wasn't sure who he was standing near. He heard Healer Jordan mutter a spell and the pop of the furniture disappearing. Other people came into the room from the corridor.
"Okay, we're going to travel through this painting to meet our special guest," Healer Jordan explained. Harry wondered what the painting depicted.
"When it is your turn, step up to the painting and reach forward to grasp the hand of the person in front of you. Once you're through, turn and offer your hand to the person behind you."
Harry thought immediately of Tony, but apparently so did Healer Jordan as she turned and said quietly, "Tony, I'll assist you."