Hermione, Neville, and Harry stood in stunned silence for a bit on the shore after Tony stormed off. Harry was shaking—he wasn't sure if it was from the damp and chill air or from the anger and fear that had bubbled up inside him when Tony had used that word. He couldn't believe that he had pounded on Tony's chest with his finger—Tony who is a good head and shoulders taller than him and twice as wide.

But all he could hear in his head was Malfoy hurling the word at Hermione like a dagger and Riddle's sick voice taunting him as he and Ginny were dying in the Chamber of Secrets… near the body of the serpent who had been ordered to rid the school of the likes of Hermione and his mum. People who used that word wanted to cast out and kill wixen who happened to be born to muggles… it was really hard for him to wrap his head around it.

How could the wixen world tolerate it? Why wasn't someone doing something?

Harry heard footsteps squelching through the mud on the shore and then Hermione was hugging him again. She was also trembling. She lifted her hand from his shoulder and then Neville put his arms around the two of them. Hermione had beckoned Neville.

"You really stood up to him," Neville said, stepping back.

"Yeah—I'm just sick of it," Harry sighed.

"Come on, we've got to get dry or we're all going to catch our death," Hermione said, starting to walk toward the Egress, her broom dragging behind her, the bell's tinkling lightly.

"Here, let me put the brooms away," Harry said, holding out his hand. Neville pressed the broom handle into Harry's palm, the cowbell ringing once, and Harry ended the bell charm. He did the same with Hermione's and his broom, then shook out his staff and followed the sound of Hermione's steps as she walked toward the Egress.

Harry taught Hermione and Neville the drying charm he'd learned. Harry loved the way it heated up his clothes—it was way better than putting on warm clothes fresh out of the dryer on a cold day.

They were quiet as they walked through the corridor, back to the reception area. Harry half expected Tony to accost them and kept casting the revealing charm nonverbally, but it was really only the three of them roaming the halls that evening.

In the reception area, after letting Healer Huw know that Hermione and Neville were returning home, Hermione turned to Harry.

"I do want to research in the library… but my dad's going to be here soon. Do you think I could spend the day here tomorrow? My parents are going to be in London running errands for the trip and I'll just be in their way… I could use the library while you're in lessons, but we could still eat lunch together or something…"

"That would be good. Today didn't go the way I thought it would," Harry said, both happy that Hermione would be around and relieved that he didn't have to be in the library the whole time.

"The flying was brilliant, Harry… You really are a good teacher. I've never felt comfortable on a broom before today. You made it seem easy. I can actually fly now! Won't Ron be surprised? You can't tell him, though!" Hermione laughed.

Harry thought it was odd that Neville didn't chime in—yesterday he'd been so thrilled about flying. Harry kept cocking his head, listening for cues for why Neville was being so quiet. He thought that Neville would head back to St. Mungo's as soon as they reached the reception area, but he just stood there, shuffling his feet.

The way Hermione would pause in the middle of saying things made him wonder if she had also noticed that something was up with Neville.

Charing Cross Road noises burst into the room, though, and Hermione and her dad were gone with the promise to return the next morning—the sounds and smells cut off by the closing Egress just as quickly as they had invaded the quiet moments before.

Harry turned to Neville—the serenity of the reception area seemed a bit strained.

"Hey, Harry…" Neville began.

"All right, Neville?" Harry said at the same time.

"Yeah. I've just been thinking. Well, you know how you were using your hands to speak with Healer—uh, what was his name?"

"Healer Huw?" Harry turned his ear toward the reception desk, listening and wondering if Healer Huw could tell that they were talking about him.

"Yeah, Healer Huw… I was just wondering if I could learn that… if my mum could learn it. Sometimes I feel like she's there—just below the surface. Maybe I could reach her with sign language?" Neville said quietly.

"Oh, yeah. You could learn it. I mean, I'm learning it and I can't even see it," Harry said.

"How are you doing that, though?" Neville said.

"Gemma shows me with her hands—moving my hands or having me rest my hands on hers while she moves them. Peter, too," Harry explained.

"Huh. I guess I've seen you and Gemma doing that."

"If you're already at St. Mungo's, you can just pop over, right? I'm sure Gemma would teach you, too, and I'll show you what I know. I mean, I'm still learning, but still… And Gemma's books are pretty neat—they have people making the signs and you can just watch them. I use my digitus and it makes the images three-dimensional—well, you remember,"

"Yeah, I'd like that. Maybe it'll work for mum," Neville said.

"You didn't want to talk about your parents in front of Hermione," Harry stated—comprehension suddenly dawning.

"Er. No. I mean. I'm not embarrassed or anything. It's just… hard to talk about. And with you, it is easier. Er. You know what it is like… not having parents," Neville said.

"Yeah," Harry said. "And I think she'd understand, don't you?"

"Yeah. I know. It's just… I guess I'm not ready yet. She already thinks I'm a kicked puppy. I hate it when people look at me that way, you know?"

"Yeah. I know. Except now I don't see the looks… I just hear them," Harry grimaced. "I don't know what's worse."

oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo

As Harry pulled on his T-shirt, smoothing out the wrinkles, he thought about the day ahead. He wasn't sure what time Hermione was going to arrive at the Center that morning—the Grangers had a number of things to do in the morning before they could leave for London. He decided to visit the reception area after breakfast and ask whoever was working at the desk that day to let him know when Hermione arrived.

oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo

"Sure, that's no problem. I'll add a note your schedule—it'll heat up when it changes," Godric said.

"Thank you—that's perfect."

"No problem!"

"All right. Well, see you in class."

oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo

Harry felt something warm against his leg in his pocket while he was stretching in the downward-facing dog pose—he silently cast the time charm to hear that it was just a little after half-past nine in his aftí. He smiled thinking that he'd be able to pop over to the library in a little bit to see Hermione briefly before he went to his mind healing session with Besel in the herb garden.

oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo

"Oh! Harry! You found me! How did you know I was here?" Hermione exclaimed when he tapped the leg of her table in the library with his staff.

"Godric added a note to my schedule to send me a message that you arrived while I was in Exercise and Flexibility," Harry held it out to Hermione.

She snatched it out of his hand, exclaiming as she did, "Oh, how do they do that? Can you read the braille now?"

He could hear her running her fingers over the braille.

"I dunno how they do that. I can read some braille but really slowly and as long as it is the uncontracted version. Madam Flamel says we're going to start working on contracted braille soon."

"But how did you know to look at it?"

"It heats up when the message changes… though I didn't catch onto that for a while because I kept my schedule in my staff! Say, what are you researching?"

"Oh, well, I was trying to find out about why your repairing charm is rainbow-colored. I just got started, though. But did you know that you can search for books by words? I mean, there is actually a system in this library for looking things up? It's not like Hogwarts—just full of books, but no system for finding things. It's amazing!"

"I thought you'd like that! Not all wixen things are totally backward!"

"Yeah, I was beginning to wonder."

"Has Besel left? My next lesson is with her," Harry said, turning his head to listen for the sound of her chair.

"Yeah, she just left."

"Okay, I better head over there. See you in a bit."

"Er… yeah… see you."

"Uh, Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not going to get all weird about using words like see and sight and look with me, are you?"

"Er. No. I mean, yeah? I mean I don't know. It seems insensitive to use them…"

"Well, don't, okay?"

"Okay?"

"I mean, just because I can't see with my eyes, doesn't mean I don't 'see what you mean' or 'want to look' at things. I just do it differently. It'd be weird to say "hear you later" or "smell you later" or "let me feel that" or whatever. I'll see you later… in my own blind kind of way."

"Er, okay. I'll try not to overthink it. I promise."

"Thanks. That'd be good," he said, grinning at her and imagining how hard it had to be for her to not overthink things.

oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo

As Harry was leaving the herb garden and passing through Healer Jordan's office on his way to meet Hermione, he heard a noise that made him stop. It sounded like it was coming from the treehouse. Harry paused, cocked his ear, and tried to decide if someone was crying or laughing.

"Harry, it's okay… I've got him," Healer Jordan said as she walked by him. "You go on to your lesson."

"Oh, right. Sorry," Harry said, feeling his cheeks heat up.

He heard Healer Jordan going up the rungs of the ladder and knock and then utter softly, "All right, Tony?" as he found the handle to the door and walked out into the corridor.

He felt a prickle of guilt. Since last night he had tried to push Tony out of his mind. Maybe he'd been too hard on him. He shook his head. He had been honest about how that word impacted him and he knew that he had been right to defend Hermione.

And my mum.

It might have been hard for Tony to hear—but who else was going to tell him? He still felt anger rising in his gut thinking about the casual way Tony had said it.

He was so wrapped up in these thoughts that he was surprised when Gemma grabbed him. He hadn't even heard her approach. He stopped suddenly and she made a soothing motion on his arm. She flipped his hand over and drew a question mark on his palm.

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about something that happened last night," he paused to listen, wondering if there was anyone else around that he hadn't noticed because he'd been so lost in thought.

She signed, "What happened?"

"Nothing," he said and then amended with an apologetic shrug. "I'll tell you later—just not out here… in public."

Her "okay" was a bit brisk.

"I'll tell you, I promise. And it's really not that big of a deal, except that it is… sorry."

Gemma signed "okay" with more understanding.

"Hey, my friend Neville wants to learn how to sign… could you help me teach him when he comes to visit?" Harry said, in an attempt to change the subject.

"Why?"

"Er, he just wants to… he's curious," Harry felt his cheeks get warm at the lie.

Gemma drew a slow question mark on his hand.

He sighed.

"He has his reasons… but he asked me not to tell anyone… Did I tell you that Hermione is here? She's working in the library today," Harry rushed on. "I was on my way to see her before I have my mobility lesson. Do you want to go with me?"

"Sure," Gemma responded and tapped his hand for sighted guide.

Gemma placed Harry's hand on the back of an empty chair at Hermione's table in the library.

"All right, Hermione?" Harry asked as he sat down.

"Yes—oh, hi Gemma—just a sec, I should cast the scribing charm…" she said.

"Hi, Gemma," she greeted again once she had cast the charm. Harry heard Gemma settle into the chair across from Hermione.

"Hermione, is it okay if I tell Gemma what happened last night with Tony?"

"Sure, I guess so…" Hermione said.

"I'll cast a privacy spell, okay?"

"You know how to do that?"

"It's one we use a lot here…"

"Go on. I want to learn it."

Hermione had Harry do it and then end it a couple of times until she was able to cast it herself.

"That's really handy," she said.

"Yeah, I use it a lot when I'm dictating a letter," Harry explained.

Gemma kicked him under the table.

"Oh, should I tell the story?" Harry said after he got over the shock and had rubbed his shin.

"She says, yes." Hermione provided.

Harry got up and navigated around the table so that he was sitting next to Gemma.

"I'll sit here so that you don't kick me again—that hurt!" he said playfully to her. She made the laughing sign on his arm.

"Yeah, funny to you!"

"She wants you to tell the story," Hermione said.

"Okay, so we were flying over the lake—Neville, Hermione, and me—and Tony came out to join us…"

"I was flying over the lake…" Hermione corrected.

"Right. Me was flying over the lake," Harry continued. "Hermione was there, too."

"Very funny!"

"Anyway—Tony came and joined us… and he called Hermione … well, he used a bad word to ask her if she was muggleborn. And I got really angry with him. You know that my mum was also muggleborn, right? And I was raised by muggles… though really it is okay if people insult them… they are pretty horrid. You remember what Tony was like the first day of training, right?"

Gemma wrote a question mark on his hand.

"Remember? He was sitting across from us and we were talking about … well, you were asking me about Hermione and her dad and Tony was laughing at us? Do you remember that?"

"She says that it was Tony's brother, who was laughing. Tony wasn't there until later. They traded seats so that Tony's dad could help him eat."

"Oh, Blimey. Honestly?"

"Yes," Gemma tapped on his arm.

"Still, he used that word…"

"He did. You really told him, Harry. I get the feeling that it was the first time he's really had to think about it. He seemed shocked," Hermione said.

"Maybe he's never really been around people like us before?" Harry asked.

Gemma tapped yes on his arm at the same time that Hermione said, "I think you're right."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing, then," Harry said.

"Gemma's asking what made you so sad, though, when you were walking through the corridor."

"I heard him crying in Healer Jordan's office. I don't know why he was crying… but I thought it might have been about what happened on the lake."

"Oh," Hermione said. "It's hard to imagine a big, burly Slytherin like him crying."

"Well, there's a lot of crying that goes on here. Lots of feelings."

Gemma tapped "I understand on his arm" and then started rubbing circles on his back. For some reason, Harry felt tears pricking at his eyes. He blinked them away.

Dang. I'll never survive another night at Privet Drive at the rate I'm going…

He willed himself to imagine Malfoy strolling through the library to get his tears under control.

"So, Hermione—have you found any answers to why I keep casting rainbow color shields?"

Gemma signed, "I like them so much," on his arm. "Beautiful."

"She said…"

"I know—when she signs protactily, I can understand it… but thanks for translating when she's not touching me…" Harry interrupted.

"That's really brilliant. It's really amazing how much you can say with just little motions. The slips of paper say so much more… like there's more being said than just words."

"Yeah, right, Gemma? There's a lot that is communicated… it's not just words… but feelings, too."

"Right," Gemma said.

Harry cast the time charm.

"Oh, we've got to go to our next lesson… I guess you'll have to tell me about the repairing charm at lunch—meet you in the dining hall at noon, then?" Harry said as he got up and shook out his staff.

He heard Gemma getting up, too.

"Right—see you then," Hermione said with a bit of bravado that made him smile. "Bye, Gemma!"

"See you," he said, making the sign for sight and then laughing as he found the crook of Gemma's arm.

"Oh, Morgana," Hermione groaned.

Gemma was shaking with laughter at his little joke, too.

oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo

Harry emerged from the O&M room after a long lesson with Godric where they had practiced taking all sorts of muggle and magical transportation feeling nauseated and dizzy—his head hurt and his eyes felt as though someone had emptied an ashtray into them. He had tried to wipe the grime from his face, but suspected that he'd just smeared it.

His classmates trudged along beside him and he could tell from their silence and lethargic footsteps that they felt similarly beaten down.

He did feel, though, that he had a better handle on traveling now and that with some more practice he'd be able to get around without puking every time.

Good thing I had my bucket, though.

He made his way to the Montmorency dorm feeling grateful that Godric had let them go with enough time to squeak in a shower before lunch.

Peter waved a sluggish good-bye across his arm as he crossed the corridor to his dorm and Harry returned the wave and signed "shower" to which Peter replied with an emphatic "yes."

Harry was tempted to take a sniff at his pits, wondering how ripe he smelled, but decided he really didn't need to know. He did give Aminah some extra space, though, as they walked into their room, in case he was more rancid than he realized.

"I'm going to bathe," Aminah said, popping into the toilet on the left.

"Yeah, me, too," Harry said, but the door to the other toilet was locked.

Harry let out a long sigh, then flopped down on his bed.

"Ow!"

Harry rolled over—there was something on the bed poking him between his shoulder blades. He felt it give away when he landed on it.

He sat up and felt around on the covers until he found the thing he'd landed on. It was a crushed box—the thin paper box that the Dursleys would sometimes bring home leftovers in… and he'd sneak food out of because they never ate them, so never noticed that he'd raided them—and he could smell something fragrant wafting up from where the lid had split. He put his nose to it.

It smelled like fresh-baked biscuits. His stomach rumbled. He felt around the lid, trying to figure out how it opened and discovered that there was a small envelope fastened to the box. He pried it off and ran his fingers over it, expecting braille, but not finding any. He summoned his anagnóstis from his staff and ran it over the envelope and found that it was addressed to him—so he opened the envelope. He found that there was another envelope within the card. He read the card first:

"Harry—I'm sorry for what I said. Please give this note to Ms. Granger. Sincerely, Tony Montague."

Harry sighed as he listened to the note. He supposed it was good that Tony was making an effort—it didn't seem like enough, though… he wondered how Hermione would feel… if he was just being too stubborn to accept the apology.

He decided to wait on eating the pastries. He didn't quite trust them. He placed them carefully on his desk along with the note and sat there thinking for a bit before feeling the covers of his bed to make sure nothing was on it this time, toeing off his trainers, and lying down.

A door opened and Harry lifted his head off his pillow in an effort to hear more clearly which door was opening. Footsteps hesitated, then headed toward him. He sat up.

"Er… so you found the box?" Tony said. "You didn't like it?"

He sounded hurt.

"Er, no… I just didn't know it was on my bed and landed on it," Harry said. "Thank you. I'll share the pastries with Hermione."

"Oh, right. I guess I didn't think that through. Sorry," Tony said, his feet making scuffing sounds on the floor.

"No worries."

"So, we're okay?" Tony said.

"Er, yeah. I guess so," Harry said.

"I really am sorry. You know? I didn't know… I didn't know how much that word hurt until I saw your face… and hers… Her.. Hermione's… and well, what you said about the Dark Lord and your mum. I never really thought about it like that. I mean… that's just how everyone I grew up around talks. I'm not saying it is right. I just never knew."

"Thanks… Er. Hermione's going to be at lunch today… so you can tell her in person," Harry said, fingering the envelope on his desk.

"Oh, okay. Sure," Tony said.

"Well, I'm going to take a shower," Harry said, dragging himself to standing.

"Yeah—you're a mess. What were you doing today?"

"We flooed a lot," Harry said walking toward the toilet. Tony stepped out of his way as Harry's staff tapped neared him.

"Gah, I hate flooing," Tony commiserated.

"Yeah," Harry agreed and then let the toilet door close behind him. He knew he had to get moving if he was going to shower and get to lunch before they closed down the buffet, but his limbs just felt so heavy. He really just wanted to sleep.

He managed to sluff off his clothes and get into the shower and as he scrubbed off the soot and grime from an hour or so of winging through England via floo and Knight bus, not to mention the underground, he started to feel more like himself.

oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo

At lunch, Hermione was excitedly relaying what she'd learned about the rainbow nature of his charms… "it's a really rare occurrence and one thought to be an indication of a wix's transcendence!"

"Transcendence?! What does that mean?" Harry asked after he gulped down a mouthful of bubble and squeak cake.

"Elevation to a higher cause, I suppose," Hermione said.

"Ha! Snape thought it meant that I was a pillock…" Harry muttered.

"Well, he was probably jealous…" Hermione responded.

"Oi! That'd be the day!"

"You never know… could be that his disdain is actually covering up for intense envy."

"Right. Who in their right mind would be envious of this?" Harry sighed, motioning to himself and discovering that he had dribbled egg yolk down in front.

"Scourgify," he muttered while touching his wand to his shirt. "Oi! Did you have a chance to read the Daily Prophet? Is there anything in there?"

"Nothing. You really think they'll run the story?"

"Well, I hope not. Healer Jordan was certain that the Daily Prophet wouldn't risk it after the Ministry of Magic visited. But, I don't know. And this reporter is stinky—she reeks, literally. I mean, I trust Healer Jordan. I trust her to hand them their arses in a dust bin if they even compose a haiku about it… but what if they do? It won't matter… gah… can you imagine what Malfoy would do with a story like that? Blimey. I'm never going to hear the end of it… maybe I can just spend the year in my own privacy bubble and not have to see or hear him…" Harry felt his cheeks flush at that and muttered a small apology to Peter, even though he knew that he had no way of knowing that Harry had said that.

Hermione made sympathetic noises, but seemed to be distracted by a conversation on her other side.

"Are you coming this weekend for family visiting?" Aminah asked and Harry realized that she was asking Hermione.

"Er, no. Actually, we're headed to France tomorrow for a family holiday," Hermione explained.

"So, Harry, are your aunt and uncle and cousin coming to visit?" Aminah asked and Harry choked on the pumpkin juice he was drinking.

"Er… no," he sputtered.

"Don't they need to come to learn how to do stuff like sighted guide and how not to leave doors ajar and move furniture and stuff?" Aminah asked.

"Uh, yeah—they can't come," Harry said pressing his serviette to his shirt.

"Hey, Harry—maybe Neville will come?" Hermione said quietly to him.

"Yeah, maybe. I'll ask him," Harry responded. "Thanks."

She squeezed his hand.

oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo

Since Harry's next lesson was in the library, he walked with Hermione to her table. She started slowing down before Harry was expecting to reach the table and he was a little flummoxed.

"Er, Hermione?" Tony asked—he must have been waiting for them. "Did Harry give you the note I wrote?"

"Uh, yes. Thank you, Tony," Hermione said.

"I hope you can forgive me for being so horrid. There's no excuse… I've learned a lot here at the Center and this has been one of the hardest lessons," Tony said.

"Thank you, Tony. I appreciate your apology. I really do," Hermione said a bit tearfully.

"Thank you. I'm going to work hard to be more aware of what I say and how it impacts people. I've actually heard about you at Hogwarts… how you're a brilliant witch… even though you're only a third year… and…"

"... and muggleborn?" Hermione supplied, but without malice. Harry could feel her wiggling with delight at the praise under his hand.

"Yeah, muggleborn."

"We thought we'd eat the pastries after classes but before dinner in the courtyard," Harry said. "Do you want to join us? Hermione says they didn't get too crushed when I jumped on the box."

"All right. That'd be brill. Thanks. Yeah—see you then," Tony said and he slapped Harry on the shoulder a bit forcefully so that he had to catch him. "Sorry, mate. Still figuring out how to use them."