Harry woke to a gentle bell sounding in the room. For a moment, he wasn't sure where he was. He had been dreaming of riding on a train and the bell he was hearing now had been the bell on the food trolley announcing its progress down the corridor. He stretched and pulled at the covers and feeling their texture under his fingertips remembered that he was at the Center. He woke up a little more. The bell chimed again and he heard someone from across the room groan.
Did we all take a nap after the storm?
He opened his eyes and was surprised to find that the light in the room was flashing—from comfortable light to a blinding bright light. He shut his eyes against it. It was disconcerting and painful.
"It is 1:30 pm; please meet us for Instructor Introductions in the Mont Blanc room at 2 pm," a pleasant voice instructed from an area near where the bells were sounding by the door.
Harry stretched and threw off the blankets. He'd had a good nap. He heard Tony's bed creaking as he moved in it and gathered that he was waking up, too.
A splash from Mei's tank delivered some droplets on his face. He wondered if she slept in the water. It seemed like it would be cold, even though the water was pretty warm when he'd been in it yesterday. Not really warm enough for sleeping, though.
"Someone wake up Gemma so that they turn off that gorgon-infested light!" Mei's gravely voice rang out.
The bell chimed again and the message repeated.
Harry waited a moment, hoping Tony or Aminah would do it, but he didn't hear either of them moving that way.
"I'll do it," he said reluctantly to the room. He shook out his staff and said, " Navigant third bed on the right," when he was standing at the foot of his bed. He hoped it would work.
He went past Tony's bed and then his staff announced that he was at the third bed on the right. He tapped the end of it with his staff and then trailed his hand along the mattress until he got closer to the head of the bed. He shook the bed a little to give Gemma a warning that he was there.
"Gemma, time to wake up," he said.
"She can't hear you," Mei reminded from the far end of the room.
Again the bell chimed and the same clear voice read out the message.
Aminah groaned in response and he heard her toss noisily in her bed. Harry heard Tony shuffle to the bathroom and the door close behind him.
"I know," Harry retorted, shaking the bed a little more. He thought about how surprising it was to have people touch him when he couldn't see it coming. He imagined it would be the same for Gemma, if not more so when her eyes were closed.
She turned in the bed toward him, her breath still heavy.
"Hurry up, Potter, would you? That blasted light is giving me a headache," Mei shouted from her tank.
"Close your eyes," Harry said over his shoulder.
Mei groaned in response.
He shook the bed again, then tentatively reached out a hand, feeling along the blankets until he found her form under them. He grasped her shoulder and shook very gently.
"Gemma, time to wake up," he said more softly this time, hoping that she had opened her eyes and saw the note that he could hear fluttering by his lips.
She started and he was pretty sure that she had opened her eyes.
"Good afternoon, Gemma."
She pulled her arm out from under her pillow and tapped twice on his hand that was resting on the mattress.
"The Center has been ringing a bell and flashing the lights to wake us up—it is 1:30 and we have to be at the Mont Blanc room by 2 pm."
She tapped twice again on his hand, and then made a swirling motion on his hand. He furrowed his brows, not understanding what that meant. She sat up and took his hand, writing, "T-H-A-N-K-S" space "I-M" space "A-W-A-K-E" space "S-E-E" space "N-O-T-E".
"Okay," Harry said and he turned to go back to his area.
"Harry, turn off the alarm," Mei said.
He hunched his shoulders, not liking to be ordered around.
"For Merlin's sake, Mei," Aminah moaned. "Stop shouting."
He walked back to his area, feeling put out.
"Um, Harry, could you please turn off the alarm?" Mei tried a more conciliatory tone as she leaned over the side of her tank near him. Harry relaxed a little, recognizing that she was trying.
"I don't know how to turn it off, Mei," he confessed.
"It looks like there is a button by the door that we can press to turn it off, on the panel that operates the lights and doors and other stuff in the room," she explained.
Harry walked toward the door, then remembered he could use the staff to find the panel. "Navigant panel by the door."
He found it. He tried "Navigant alarm on/off button" next. His staff described a round red button (that's helpful!) in the center of the panel. He felt around and determined that there was only one round button, so tried it and the alarm shut off. He opened his eyes and found that the lights weren't flashing anymore—it was comfortable enough that he could keep his eyes open now.
Tony emerged from the bathroom.
"Oh, thanks for turning that off, mate," Tony said as he walked back to his area. "That was really annoying."
"Yeah, no problem." He wondered how Tony operated the panel.
Harry sat down on his bed to put his shoes and socks on. He heard quiet feet padding toward him and guessed that it was Gemma. He turned his face toward her and smiled. She squeezed his shoulder in response.
"How's it going, Gemma? Did you have a good nap?"
She tapped his shoulder twice.
"Are you ready to go down to the Mont Blanc room?"
She tapped twice again.
They walked in companionable silence to the Mont Blanc room. Harry listened to the other residents traveling through the corridors, but didn't recognize anyone's voices.
The Mont Blanc room was set up as it had been on Monday with rows of wooden benches. Harry and Gemma settled on the end of the same one that they had sat one before.
Surely, Tony and Mei won't upset the bench again.
They didn't. They came in and joined the group with as much grace and courtesy as each could muster. Aminah was the late one this time, but finally she arrived and settled next to Gemma on the bench without any disturbance.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
The introductions went off without a hitch this time. Harry hoped that classes with these instructors wouldn't be a deadly dull as their introductions were. He thought that Ms. Midgeon seemed kind of stern—she'd be teaching self defense and some core exercises for balance, Mr. Burbage would be the Mobility and Orientation instructor (basically teaching the blind students how to use their staves), there was the BSL teacher whose name he couldn't remember, a soft spoken woman (Bea? That wasn't right) was a mind healer and would be teaching practical life lessons, Madam Flamel (the Center's name sake) was teaching braille and a class with a really long and complicated title about fighting for one's rights. Healer Jordan would be teaching some exercise classes that were focused on rehabilitation as well as making your own healing potions. There was an instructor with a really gruff voice that taught what sounded like wood shop or art classes or maybe both. And a few others that Harry couldn't remember at all—mostly because he figured that he wouldn't be in their classes and so didn't even try to remember.
Healer Jordan's footsteps crunched on the gravelly path as she handed out the schedules to the students. She informed them that they could expect some changes daily depending on needs—both of the students and the instructors. The parchment would be magically updated—so they should check them often for changes.
Harry summoned his anagnóstis out of his staff while Healer Jordan was handing out schedules in the row in front of him. He was remembering Professor McGonagall passing out schedules to first years just after the sorting. It seemed like a life-time ago.
Interspersed with the sounds of breeze through trees and the chittering of birds and the occasional squirrel, the noise of people reading their schedules and consulting with their neighbors grew as more and more of the residents received them.
Harry waited with nervous anticipation, rolling the anagnóstis between his fingers. Finally the parchment was placed in Harry's outstretched hand. As he put the parchment on his knees to read the schedule, his fingers brushed over the surface. He was surprised that it was in braille and then when he ran his fingers over it, he could hear Mr. Burbage's voice in his aftí. He frowned at the sound of Mr. Burbage's voice remembering the dressing down he and Tony had received for talking about the grumpy old man during the storm.
He tucked his anagnóstis into his pocket and ran his fingers over the bumps and listened to the schedule:
"Harry Potter's schedule
Tuesday 29 June, 1993
7 am Breakfast
8 am Special Guest in Mont Blanc room
12 pm Lunch
2 pm Instructor introductions in Mont Blanc room
3 pm Meeting with Healer Jordan in her office
4 pm Navigating with your staff with Mr. Burbage in the O&M room
5 pm Braille with Madam Flamel in the Library
6 pm Dinner"
He was trying to figure out a pattern as he ran his fingers over the braille words and listened to them, but was having a really hard time finding the pattern, except in the numbers, because they were preceded by the same combination of dots each time—it felt like a truncated backward letter L.
It was a really packed afternoon—well, all the way to night. He imagined they were trying to make up for the time lost after yesterday's incident with the overturned bench.
Harry turned to Gemma and touched her knee to get her attention.
He held up his schedule and asked, "Do we have any time together today?"
She said, "no."
"I guess that makes sense. Are you taking BSL classes?"
She replied yes.
Harry leaned around Gemma and confirmed that Aminah's schedule was almost identical to his, except that while he was meeting with Healer Jordan, she was going to be attending a self-defense class with Ms. Midgeon.
Harry felt a tap on his shoulder from behind him.
"Greetings, Harry," said Adam.
"Oh hello, Adam," Harry said, twisting around on the bench. "How are you doing?"
"Just fine. And how are you?"
Harry could feel that Gemma had twisted around next to him. He couldn't hear papers fluttering when Adam talked so assumed he hadn't cast the Scribunt loqui charm.
"Hey, Gemma. Have you met Adam yet?" Harry asked.
She tapped "no" on his wrist.
"Adam, this is Gemma. Gemma, Adam is here, in front of me," Harry explained.
How is this going to work? He's more invisible to her than he is to me … she can't see him or hear him.
"Harry, could you please tell Gemma that I'm pleased to meet her and that I'm holding out my hand if she'd like to shake," Adam asked.
Harry repeated his words to Gemma and then helped her find Adam's outstretched hand.
"Thank you, Harry. I'm afraid that the charm you use to write out your words for Gemma doesn't work for me—my vibrations make them impossible to read," Adam explained. Harry told Gemma what Adam had said and she wrote that she understood on Harry's palm.
Harry Tempus'd his staff to see how much time he had before his meeting with Healer Jordan. He stood up and shook out his staff.
"I'll see you later, Adam," Harry said.
"Yes, ha! See you later! Please tell Gemma that it was a pleasure to meet her," Adam said.
Harry heard Tony come back to the spot next to him on the bench. He was talking to Mei about schedules.
Suddenly Mei exclaimed, "Hey! There's a poltergeist in here!"
"Mei, it's just Adam. Chill," Tony said in a tight, even voice.
Harry wondered what Adam had been moving to make Mei think there was a poltergeist.
"Hello, Mei, I don't believe we've met yet," Adam said smoothly, "I'm Adam Ceesay."
"So, what? You're invisible?" Mei said.
"Yes, I had vanishing sickness," Adam explained.
"Hey, Harry. Did I tell you?" Tony said, breaking the silence. "Later today I'm getting my arms!"
"Cheers! That's brilliant, Tony," Harry said. "I bet they'll be bloody handy."
"Hey!" Harry stumbled into the bench when Tony nudged him with his shoulder in response and then they doubled over with laughter.
oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo
Nervous about his meeting with Healer Jordan, Harry excused himself from his roommates and found the bench in the courtyard to try reading through the leaflets again. There was a little bit of information that would have been useful for him to know before he arrived at the Center, but nothing earth-shattering.
Maybe I didn't get everything out of the bin? Or more likely, the information was in with the forms they got in the muggle mail that I didn't know about.
He cringed at the thought of having to ask for copies.
He thought the leaflet titled "Adjusting to your magical malady" was terrible—it made him feel so boxed in and he wasn't able to finish it. Who wrote this? He thought as he tossed it aside in disgust.
He was running his hands over a fragrant plant—Rosemary—he was pretty sure—when he heard steps on the cobblestone and turned his face toward the noise.
"Hi?" he said to the approaching footsteps that were more muffled on the grass by the bench, under the tree.
He heard them snap their fingers, then pick up the leaflet that he'd just tossed aside and the scratch of their clothing on the stone as they sat down on the bench next to him.
"Gemma?" he asked.
She reached over and tapped, "yes" on his arm.
He relaxed. "How did you find me here?"
He heard the scratching of pencil on paper and figured that she'd brought a pad of paper with her. He picked up the anagnóstis in anticipation of reading her note, and when she tapped hand with the pad, he read it.
"I saw you through the windows in the courtyard."
"Oh, where is the courtyard in the Center?" he said, handing the pad back to her. He remembered that the courtyard had a covered walkway that went all the way around it with windows from the staff's description.
"I saw you from the library."
"You can get to the courtyard from the owlery—there are stairs, but not very many," Harry pointed in the direction of the stairs he'd come from and Gemma moved his arm a bit, he guessed to align it more to where the stairs actually were.
"Hey, I wasn't that far off," he said smiling.
She squeezed his arm.
"What do you have this morning?" he asked.
"BSL with Shannon."
"Is she teaching you?"
"No, she's also a student. She just recently lost her hearing, like me."
"Oh, did she also have spattergoit?" Harry asked.
"No, she happened to come across a Jobberknoll as it died, unfortunately, it had lived near a mine and had heard a number of explosions throughout its life and the result was deafening, literally."
"What's a Jobberknoll?"
"It's a little blue bird, but I guess it doesn't make a sound until it dies, but when it dies it screams out all the sounds it heard in its life. I had never heard of it before either. Neither had Shannon until she was out hiking near the old mine and this bird drops right in front of her, dying and screaming. I guess it was pretty awful, but it destroyed her eardrums and there's nothing that they can do right now, so she's deaf like me, except that she can talk—it didn't damage her vocal cords. She said it was okay for me to tell you and our other roommates her story—she gets tired of telling it," Gemma wrote.
"Thanks. Did you know that Mr. Burbage got mad at me and Tony for talking about someone yesterday?"
She tapped his arm once, "no."
"Well, it was embarrassing," Harry admitted, cringing at the memory and the upcoming lessons with Mr. Burbage.
Gemma tugged on his arm and tapped his hand with the leaflet he had cast aside.
"What? Oh, should we get going?" Harry asked as he took the leaflet.
She tapped his arm twice, "yes."
"Okay, I'll go up the stairs to the Owlery because that will put me right across the hall from Healer Jordan's office. Where are your lessons?"
"In the Braidwood room—across the corridor from Mont Blanc," she wrote on her pad.
"Then I guess you better go back through the library."
She tapped his arm twice, "yes."
"I hope it goes well. See you later," he said.
"Yes," she tapped on his arm and then a little swish of her fingertips on his arm felt like a wave, so he waved back as he walked away.