Harry shifted on the cool stone bench and listened to the breeze as it picked up a little, pushing more warm air into the courtyard, and moving the leaves on the tree. He wondered what kind of tree it was. He brushed his hand over the herbs beside the bench and inhaled their pungent aroma. Gemma was writing in the notebook and gently pushed it against his hand.

"Thanks for telling me, Harry. Terry did tell me some of it, but I really didn't understand how scary it must have been. And when he told me, I thought it was scary! How is Ginny doing? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. She's coming to visit this weekend. Well, all the Weasleys are. It'll be a little wild here. I should probably warn Healer Jordan," he smiled at the thought. "I think you'll like Ginny, she's your age."

He Tempus'd his staff and stood up, shaking it out, "We better head up so that we're not late for class. Are you ready?"

She tapped his hand twice and handed back the notebook and pencil. He put everything back in his staff and took her arm. He could tell that she felt better than she had earlier by the way she was guiding him. She wasn't holding her body so rigidly.

He sighed.

As they walked through the bright library, Harry heard Besel's chair and greeted her as they got close. He stopped Gemma, "Hey, do you know Healer Besel Geller?" he asked her. She tapped "no" on his hand.

"This is Gemma Boot, Besel," Harry said.

"Hi Gemma, it's a pleasure to meet you," Besel said and Harry could hear her signing.

"Oh, do you know how to sign, too?" Harry asked.

"Yes, a little. I'm still learning," Besel said.

"I'd like to learn," Harry said, surprising himself a bit. He did want to learn, but he was also feeling overwhelmed about learning all the things he was supposed to learn, like braille. Really, with the Scribunt loqui charm, he didn't need to. But it could be useful to sign occasionally with Gemma, even if he couldn't see her responses. And it would probably be hard to learn—someone would have to move his hands through the motions to teach him or describe what they were doing really accurately.

Gemma seemed excited, though, to learn that Harry wanted to learn. She signed something into his hand that he didn't understand.

"What was that?" he asked.

"She said she'd teach you," Besel said.

Harry smiled at Gemma, "Okay."

"We'd better get to class so we're not late. Nice to see you, Besel. See you this afternoon," Harry said.

"Yes, I'm looking forward to it, Harry. Nice to meet you, too, Gemma," she replied.

They left the library and went across the hall to the O&M room.

Harry tapped Gemma's hand, "What's the layout of the room today?"

She guided him to the panel outside the door so that he could feel the map and listen to the description. He felt a little self-conscious because he could hear other people in the corridor, but told himself sternly to get over it.

It was Agatha Midgeon's voice in his aftí today that said, "This morning, the O&M room is set up as a gymnasium with an entryway that has corridors to the left and right where you'll find individual changing rooms. Directly across from the entry door, there is a corridor that leads into a seating area with benches and a center walkway that leads to a large room fitted with padded floors and walls for gymnastics. Find your individual changing room labeled with your name. Please use the changing rooms to change into the work out clothes that you'll find in your locker. Please remove your shoes, but keep your socks on. You may bring any assistive tools that you normally use such as a staff, wheelchair, crutches, prosthetic limbs, etc. but don't bring any other gear into the gymnasium. Extra gear can be secured in your locker or changing room. Once you've changed, sit on the benches until everyone is assembled. We'll start there with a discussion of self-defense and then start some exercises that will, over time, lead to increased balance and strength."

Harry ran his fingers over the map to get a sense of the layout of the room and also found that the individual changing rooms were labeled on the map, so he learned that his changing room was the third on the right as they entered the space.

That's handy.

"I guess we better head in so that we can get changed. Do you know where your changing room is?" he asked Gemma.

She tapped "yes," on his hand and led him to the entrance. When they walked over the threshold, Harry felt the pull of the portal that the room had had previously. The room smelled kind of like the Quidditch changing rooms at Hogwarts and the sounds echoed off the walls in a weird way—he supposed it was the padding.

Harry navigated to his changing room on his own and confirmed it was his when he ran his fingers over the sign to the right of the door and it said his name. Inside he squeezed his staff to get a sense of the room and learned that it was pretty small with just a locker and a short bench. In the locker, he found a change of clothes (much newer and nicer than the cast-offs from Dudley that he was currently wearing). It was a t-shirt and joggers that felt very soft. He was curious about what color they were and did the Indica color charm to find out that the T-shirt was white and that the joggers were aquamarine. He imagined that his socks, which he was sure didn't match, were a dull and crusty grey. He was glad that no one was going to see his pants, if he had anything to say about it.

He wondered if he could get some new clothes while he was in London… he did have the muggle money that Hermione had converted for him. And maybe if they did go to Diagon Alley on the weekend, he could get some more money from his vault at Gringotts and convert some of it to pounds to use while he was at the Center. And it would be nice to have more than one pair of shoes in case his trainers got wet again.

He went out to the benches to wait for class to begin. There were some people there. He wondered where Tony, Aminah, and Arig were, but then he heard Tony and Arig as they came through the door behind him. Their voices disappeared down the corridor. Gemma hadn't come out of the changing room yet. So, Harry waited by the benches for her. It sounded like Tony and Arig were already best friends by the way they were laughing and jostling each other.

They are nearly the same age—just a year apart.

He heard very soft stocking-foot footsteps approaching him from behind and turned. Gemma greeted him in her usual way by placing her hand on his arm.

"Hi, Gemma, where do you want to sit?"

She took his hand, hooked it around her arm, and led him to the bench behind the folks who were quietly talking. Harry and Gemma talked quietly about what they thought the class would be like, with Gemma writing into his hand and Harry speaking quietly so that she could read the notes. He heard someone in front of him turn around. He assumed that it must have sounded like he was talking to himself and he felt heat gathering in his chest and neck.

Harry could hear Tony and Arig approaching them, and the tapping of a staff not far behind them.

"Looking good, Harry!" Tony said cuffing him on the shoulder with his new hand, "You're finally wearing clothes that actually fit you."

"Er. Thanks?" Harry replied. He realized that at Hogwarts his school robes usually covered his ratty hand-me-downs from Dudley. Here he'd just been wearing the T-shirts and trousers that he had because it was so hot and no one had said anything about a dress code and wearing school robes.

I really need to buy some new clothes. No wonder Gemma's mom thought I was a waif.

He felt the heat rise in his neck again and wished it would go away. He hoped Agatha Midgeon would arrive soon and start class. He noticed that some people he didn't recognize had come in and settled in the benches on the other side of the center aisle. One of them was using a levitating chair like Besel's, but it wasn't Besel. It was a man from what Harry could tell from the voice. Someone came down their line of benches, "Hi Harry," Shannon greeted as she maneuvered past Harry and sat on the other side of Gemma. Harry heard Gemma signing with Shannon.

As if on cue, he heard someone approaching with a limping gait. He had noticed it earlier in the corridor, but didn't know who it belonged to.

"Okay, it looks like nearly everyone is here," Agatha Midgeon began. Harry took in a deep breath and let it out slowly trying to remain calm even though the last time he'd been listening to her voice he had apparently hyperventilated.

It would be really bad if I fainted every time I heard her speak, he told himself sternly.

"I'm going to go ahead and get started because I want to allow time to have a good discussion as well as time to start continuing our work of strengthening our core. So, yesterday we began by getting to know each other and sharing our stories as well as some basic strengthening exercises. I introduced some ideas that I asked you to think about for today's discussion.

The question was 'why do you think the center believes that self-defense is such an important topic for the wixen enrolled in the residency program.' Anyone have any ideas that they want to share?" Ms. Midgeon invited. "Yes, Fitz?"

"Well, because we're more perceived to be vulnerable, we're more likely to be victims of crimes of opportunity," Fitz said from the bench in front of Harry and Gemma.

"Very well stated. That's exactly right—it's not that we are more vulnerable, it is that we are perceived to be more vulnerable," Ms. Midgeon agreed. "Any other reasons? Yes, Donna?"

"Well, people might take advantage of the fact that we are more likely to ask strangers for help," Harry had heard this woman's voice before. It took him a moment to place it. She was the woman he'd met in the owlery.

"Yes, absolutely," Ms. Midgeon said.

"People might take advantage of us because they think we're not going to tell anyone about an attack or that we might not be believed and so they can more easily get away with the crime," Shannon said.

"True, Shannon, that's a good point," Ms. Midgeon said.

"I think that sometimes people think of us as less than human and so think that it isn't really a crime," Arig said.

"Ah, yes, Arig. That is possible."

"And they might believe that what's happened to us is an act of God and so they are just carrying out God's will by hurting us even more," Aminah said.

"Sure, Aminah. There are some people, fortunately very few, who act on those very archaic and harmful beliefs. Please know that anyone acting on those beliefs would have committed a hate crime and would suffer greater consequences in both wixen and muggle courts in most countries if they were found guilty.

So, it appears to me that you are very much aware of your need to practice self-defense. Of course, not all crimes enacted against us are violent crimes intended to hurt us, but those are the crimes that we're going to learn how to defend ourselves against today and in many of our sessions. We'll have other lessons that focus on protecting our identities and bank accounts, securing our homes, and learning how to vet the people who assist us.

I know that this all seems very bleak. The reason why we are bringing our awareness to these facts is not to scare us or make us feel vulnerable; it is to give us the tools to protect ourselves so that we can prevent it from ever happening. We're going to work on building skills so that if we ever find ourselves in a dangerous situation, we have the confidence and skills to know that we can get through it safely.

Today we'll be working on strengthening our core with some simple exercises that we'll adapt to our individual needs. In the future, we'll work on some magical defenses. Some can be embedded in our assistive tools—such as our staves, canes, crutches, or even other nondescript accessories such as watches, belts, necklaces, rings, etc. So even if we're not able to cast a spell to protect ourselves, we can be protected."

Gemma grabbed Harry's hand and he realized that she wasn't able to cast any spells. He squeezed it in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. He remembered the troll in the bathroom and Ron's Wingardium leviosa.

Maybe she can still do accidental magic—like when I ended up on the roof of the primary, he thought.

"Okay, I'm going to ask you to come out to the center floor and space yourselves about two arm spans from each other. I'm going to levitate a rectangular mat that will give you a firm surface for your exercises and also define your space. I've charmed the floating mats with a little bell that will stop once you grab it. Unroll it so that the long edges run parallel to the west wall. The entrance that you came in is on the south wall, behind me is the north wall. Take off your socks and stand at the top of your mat (facing the south wall). Once we're all at the top of our mats I'll give the next instructions. While you're waiting, just breath. At that point, you can collapse your mobility tools. I'll come around and provide individual support as well. It'll take us a little bit to get set up and that's okay, we'll get faster at it as we become more accustomed to the routine. Okay, you can start now."

Harry felt Tony stand up next to him and stood up, too, shaking out his staff. "Hey, Harry, do you want me to guide you?" Tony asked, and touched his arm against Harry's hand that was holding the staff.

"Sure. Thanks, Tony," Harry said, switching hands and placing his hand above Tony's elbow. The texture of Tony's prosthetic arm was smooth and firm and a bit cool to the touch. He followed Tony out to the mats and Tony helped him find a spot and judge the distance between him and Gemma on his other side. He heard the tinkling of little bells and was able to grab his mat when it came near.

"Maybe we can put this charm on a snitch?" Harry asked, mostly to himself, but Tony overheard.

"Yeah, I bet we could. Maybe we can organize some pickup Quidditch games in the O&M room after classes? But how would you fly?"

"Well, yeah. I want to figure that out. But bells on snitches and other people's brooms could work," Harry said.

"Gemma says she wants to do it, too," Tony said.

"Me, too," said Arig from the other side of Tony.

"I guess we'll have to find some brooms and balls… well, and learn that charm. Hopefully, Mei's figuring out how to manage her magic so that she can join us," Harry said.

He heard Arig asking Aminah if she wanted to play. She sounded hesitant.

Ms. Midgeon was coming around and helping students with specific accommodations—she asked Arig if he wanted to use his crutches for balance or if he wanted to try some supports. He chose to do a bit of both and Harry listened as she showed him how to change the height of the supports for different stretches that they'd be doing.

She moved on to Tony and suggested that when there were stretches that put pressure on the arms, that he made sure to take it really slowly and easily so that he didn't get hurt.

The floating guy from the day before (Gordon) also had some supports that gave him more resistance to work against from what Harry could tell. There was the man in the levitating chair that was going to be working from a seated position and then later transitioning to the floor.

Soon, they got started with some basic stretches. Harry wasn't sure exactly how this was going to help with self-defense, but it did feel good. At first, he was really struggling with not falling over when instructed to bend over or balance on one foot.

Ms. Midgeon said it was common with vision loss to lose some balance and that's why they were working on it. Gemma was also struggling with it, because of the damage to her inner ear. Not being the only one struggling with balance made Harry feel a little better as he picked himself up again. He was thankful for the padded floor and the distance from his peers.

Harry noted that Ms. Midgeon was really pretty skilled at describing the stretches and anticipating everyone's needs—whether it was his, Aminah's, and Fitz's need to have very precise descriptions of body placement or Shannon's and Gemma's needs to have visuals, or Tony's, Donna's, the levitating chair guy's, and Arig's need for adjustments based on their missing limbs. He was really impressed that she was able to keep up with everyone and keep the class moving along. Sometimes she came around and did small adjustments, helping him square his hips or align his arm or leg with the ceiling. It was over before he was really ready—though he really liked the final pose, a resting position where he was just lying on his back and breathing deeply. He was pretty certain he had fallen asleep for a moment.