"Nicolas, Harry!" Madam Flamel's walking stick sounded in the hallway outside the laboratory. "It's getting late, I need to return Harry to his dormitory. Why do you have Morgana's scrying bowl out?"
"We were just looking at Harry's tears. He has managed to absorb the Phoenix and the Basilisk as well as Voldemort and then there is his mother's protection. He is a swirling vessel of light and dark, he is! So much power in such a fragile container."
"Hey!" Harry protested, crossing his arms over his chest and jutting his chin up in the air. "I'm not fragile!"
"Of course you're not!"
"Nicolas!" Madam Flamel exclaimed and then started shouting at him in a blur of French. Harry could feel the air moving as she came close to them, gesticulating. He couldn't understand her words, but he understood how angry she was and he curled down into a ball over his knees on the unsteady stool trying to make himself as small as possible.
He flinched when she put her hand on his shoulder.
"Oh, Harry. I'm so sorry. This is too much for you. It seems we are just blundering about like manticores in a potions lab around you!
Harry started to uncurl himself from the stool and turned his face toward Madam Flamel. "But what does it mean that I have all these things in my tears… basilisk, phoenix, Voldemort, my mother… what does it mean about me? How? I don't understand. It's not how things work. It just doesn't make any sense."
"What? You expect the world to make sense? I stopped believing in sense centuries ago!" Nicolas fumed from across the room where he was moving small glass containers on a wood surface.
Harry turned his ear toward the sound, surprised that Sir Nicolas was so far across the room. He hadn't heard him retreat over Madam Flamel's indignant shouts.
"Oh, Nicolas. Don't take your anger with me out on the boy. He didn't ask for any of this and he's so young."
Harry started to protest, "I'm almost 13…" but the words faded as they passed through his lips… compared to them he was very, very, very young.
"I'm ready to go home… er… back to the Center," Harry said feeling the day's revelations settle on his shoulders and he was certain that if he learned anything else he might spontaneously combust.
Like a phoenix. How fitting.
What he really wanted to do was hop on a broom and fly away from all of this… from the article in the Daily Prophet, the death-eater-dog pursuing him, the darkness lurking within him…
"Oh! But you can't go home yet! We've got more experiments to do! I was hoping for a bit of your blood!" Sir Nicolas came hurrying over to where Harry was shaking out his staff and preparing to leave with Madam Flamel.
"Nicolas, don't be ridiculous! He's not giving you a drop of blood. Get a hold of yourself. You've already done too much. Voldemort! In his tears!"
"But we need to know what it means! It could be the clue we need to understand how to defeat this menace. It could save thousands of lives."
"Voldemort is gone."
"You know as well as I that he is simply biding his time. Off in the Albanian forest according to Dumbledore."
"Let Harry have some peace. This is too much for this child. We'll discuss it later. Give him some time to process what you've told him."
"Time is the one thing we don't have!"
"Nicolas… we have had all the time in the world. More time than anyone else…"
"But now is when we need it. I think this is why we have lived so long. So that we could help Harry defeat Voldemort. Look at it, Nell! Your work with Louis Braille has led us here… to this very moment. And the one Riddle marked…" Harry jumped when Nicolas's clammy hand was pressed against his forehead, pushing his fringe up to expose his scar. "This is the reason why… fate meant our paths to cross. Harry needs our culminated knowledge so that he can survive… so that Voldemort is defeated! For good."
"Oh, old man! This argument again! Just to assuage your guilt! It just is… there is no such thing as fate."
"Next you'll tell me that prophecies aren't real!"
"Oh, you already know how I feel about them. The only thing that makes them real is people taking them seriously! And then making them happen. That is just what Voldemort did, isn't it? He made it come true!"
"Be that the case or not, it has been put into motion! Harry has to…"
"What does it have to do with me?" Harry asked, his voice catching on the words.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Now, Nicolas, I'm taking Harry back," Madam Flamel said as she tapped the back of Harry's hand with hers.
He traced his fingers up her sleeve to her upper arm and she leaned heavily on her cane as she pivoted away, guiding him toward the door.
"Good-bye, Sir Nicolas," Harry said, not sure why he suddenly felt sad about leaving when the visit had been so fraught with alarming revelations and awkwardness.
"Oh, wait. Could you give this book back to Miss Khan? I was able to remove the dark enchantment from it. Assure her that the book is undamaged and there are not other portals contained in the pages. Nell will tell her more about the magic that was used on it tomorrow."
"Miss Khan?" Harry thought for a moment. "Oh, Aminah. Yes, sure." He held out his hand and brushed the spine of the book that Sir Nicolas was holding out to him. He let go of Madam Flamel's arm for a moment so that he could grab the tome.
Harry was quiet as they walked through the corridor. Madam Flamel's walking stick punctuated his thoughts of Aminah and how he had left her crying in their dormitory. He had been so caught up in what Sir Nicolas was telling him about phoenix tears that he had forgotten all about Aminah. The book was weighty in his arm.
As Madam Flamel led him down the front steps and across the yard, she started talking in a low voice. "Harry," she said, trilling the 'r's in his name. "Nic means well. He does so want to help you. He just doesn't always understand what it is like to be…"
"An oddity?" Harry supplied.
"Well, no, he knows that well enough!" she laughed. "He forgets what it is like to be a child. It was such a long time ago."
"He reminds me of a kid, though," Harry said.
"Ha! True, true. Maybe that's why he forgets."
Harry felt the pull on his navel as they crossed the threshold and the floor changed below his feet from gravel to stone. The air lost the fragrance of leaves and dusty lanes and had the lingering scent of pepper-up potion. He was back in the Center and he let out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding.
"Are you all right, Harry?"
"Yeah, I just thought we might have trouble with the Egress. I'm glad it is still open."
"Certainly. Well, here we are at your dormitory."
"Thank you for the dinner, Madam Flamel. It was delicious."
"You are very gracious, Harry. I'm sorry about Nic…"
"It's okay," Harry said. "I liked meeting him. I had heard about him from Dumbledore and he's on one of my cards… chocolate frog cards."
"I'll see you in class tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you," Harry said as he listened to her footsteps recede down the corridor, back to the Egress.
Harry turned to the door and found the doorknob with his staff. He was struggling to open the door while holding the heavy book and his staff when the door lurched open and he spun back, feeling the door bang into his skull. He dropped Aminah's book and heard it thud heavily on the stone floor.
"Oi!" he said to the person who'd burst through the door. There was a clatter of crutches.
"Oh! Sorry, mate! Didn't see you there!" Arig said.
"Yeah, me neither," Harry said rubbing his forehead.
"You dropped something."
"Yeah, Aminah's book," Harry said stooping down and feeling around on the floor where he thought he heard it drop.
"More to your left," Arig directed.
"Thanks," Harry said as he scooped it up and stood up. "Isn't it kind of late to be heading out?"
"Um, yeah. I was just getting Healer Jordan for Aminah. She's not feeling good."
"Oh, no."
"Yeah. Tony and Gemma are with her. I gotta go. Er, I'm holding the door open for you."
Harry moved forward and found the door that Arig was propping open for him.
"Thanks, Arig," Harry said as he held the door with his elbow and tried to make himself small so that Arig could get around him.
Harry squeezed his staff as he entered the room to learn where Tony, Aminah, and Gemma were. He was surprised to hear their voices coming from the toilet while his staff described an empty room. Harry knocked on the door.
"Arig, I thought you left already. What is it?" Tony asked as his steps clattered to the door and it was hauled open. "Oh, Harry. I guess you better come in, too. Aminah's ill."
"What's wrong?" Harry asked.
"I'm not sure exactly. Maybe Gemma knows? It just happened. Aminah's having trouble breathing."
Harry could hear Aminah gasping ragged breaths in the corner of the loo.
"Was there another trap?" Harry asked as he followed the sound of Tony's footsteps into the room.
"Aminah, Harry's here."
Gemma's hand closed around Harry's outstretched hand and guided him down to the floor so that he was kneeling next to Aminah. She signed under his hand that she was glad he was there and he tried to pull his lips into a smile in her direction.
"Arig's getting Healer Jordan, Aminah. Hey, did anyone call for help on Aminah's staff?"
"What? It does that?" Tony asked, sitting down next to Harry.
Harry gripped his staff, shouting, "Healer Jordan! Aminah needs help right now! She can't breathe!" He felt a magical surge race over the surface of his staff and knew that the message had gone through.
"I think the panel in the room will do that, too," Harry said.
Gemma's fingers moved under his hand again, but he didn't know what she was trying to tell him. He furrowed his brow as he tried to figure it out.
"What are you saying, Gemma?"
"Oh, she's saying that we should turn on the hot water… that maybe steam would help with Aminah's airways."
"Yes, good idea," Harry agreed.
Gemma jumped up and ran over to the shower where Harry heard the taps turning and felt a mist of water as it hit the floor. Pretty soon he could feel the steam filling the small room. Gemma had returned to her spot by Aminah where she was rubbing her back in circles. Harry had his hand on Aminah's shoulder and could feel how much she was struggling to draw in each breath. She was also gripping hard on his hand.
The door clattered open and Healer Jordan's sharp-heeled boots rang out on the tile floor as she rushed toward them and started firing questions at them. A cool breeze came through the open door with Healer Jordan.
"Hello? Are you all in here? Aminah? How long have you been having difficulty breathing? Did you eat anything unusual? Is anyone else also having trouble? Why is the shower going?"
"It hasn't been that long… Arig heard her in the bathroom when he came out of the other one and asked Gemma to check on her. I think it has been ten minutes tops," Tony said.
"We put the shower on so that the steam would help her breath."
"Aminah, can you speak at all?" Healer Jordan asked.
Harry didn't hear a response, so he guessed that she shook her head.
"Okay, will you all stand back from Aminah? I'm going to cast a diagnostic spell."
"Aminah, it seems that you're having a panic attack. Here is a calming draft, can you try to drink it?"
There was the clink of a potions bottle and Aminah's gasping stopped for a moment and then it sounded like she gagged and then drew a more cleared breath.
"That's it, yes. You did it. You kept it down. Okay. I'm going to conjure a stretcher and take you to my office, all right?"
"Thank you, Healer Jordan," Aminah managed to say, though her voice was weak.
"Was there something that happened to bring this on?"
"I got an owl from my mum," Aminah said and then started crying again.
"The one she got before I left for the Flamel's?" Harry asked Gemma, who was standing next to him. She nodded "yes" under his hand.
"What did you learn?"
Aminah tried to answer but was having a hard time. Her sobs were overtaking her words.
Gemma's hands left Harry's hand and he hoped that she was explaining about the Aurors being called off of Aminah's dad's case because of the Sirius Black escape.
"Oh, yes. I can understand how upsetting that would be," Healer Jordan consoled. There was a magical pop and a whoosh of wind as the stretcher materialized in the small space. It made the same whirring noises that Besel's and Mei's chairs made.
"Here, Aminah—I'm going to help you get onto the stretcher." It didn't take too long to get Aminah settled and then Healer Jordan's boots were following the sound of the stretcher moving out into the hallway. "Would you like me to summon your mum?"
"Oh, Healer Jordan! You're already here," Arig said from near the door. "I couldn't find you, but Besel came with me."
"Besel, I'm glad you're here. Aminah's having a panic attack. She received some troubling news about her father's… " Healer Jordan and Besel's voices receded as they moved into the corridor and then the door closed and eclipsed their conversation completely.
"Arig, Harry knew how to call Healer Jordan using his staff," Tony explained. It sounded like Arig hit himself on the forehead with the heel of his hand. His crutch rattled.
"My crutches have the same feature. I forgot. Doh!"
"Do my arms?" Tony wondered.
"No idea."
Harry turned to Gemma, "It wasn't anything else… just the letter?"
"No, just the letter," Gemma responded. She pushed Aminah's book into Harry's hand. He didn't even remember setting it down in the bathroom. He ran his fingers over the cover and realized that it was damp from the steam.
"Oh no! I got her book wet."
Gemma had bounded away from him and then was back, pressing something soft against his knuckles—a towel. Then she took his hands and started signing under them.
"You're going to go with Aminah?" Harry guessed after a bit. She nodded "yes" with her hand and dropped his hands, the door was opening and closing and she was gone.
Harry juggled the book, towel, and staff in his arms while trying to open the door. He managed without dropping anything and then navigated to Aminah's desk where he set the book and went about trying to get the moisture off it. He felt it until he was certain it was dry and hoped that it wasn't damaged.
He summoned his quick quotes quill out of his staff and a bit of parchment and wrote a short note in braille to Aminah explaining that Madam Flamel had given him the book to return to her and that it was safe again.
Yawning, Harry went back into the loo to change into his pajamas and get ready for bed. He could hear Arig's crutches as he also left the loo. As he was getting into bed, he reached over to put his staff on the desk and his hand bumped against something. He felt around and determined that it was a pile of scrolls, but his groping around made them cascade onto the floor, bouncing off his feet.
"Oi! What's all this?" he yelped.
"Oh! I meant to tell you," Arig said as he neared Harry. "You received a lot of mail. Healer Jordan said it was all checked and is safe. I guess it is in response to that article in the Prophet?"
"Oh, well. Drat." Harry turned, crushing a scroll under his bare foot.
"Here, let's see. How about I transfigure this sock into a box and then we can put all the scrolls in there?"
"Sure. That'd be great… thanks!"
"No problem. Hey, never a dull moment here, right?"
"Yeah, that's for sure."
Harry listened as the scrolls fell into the box that Arig created. He reached out to touch it expecting it to be cardboard, but was surprised to find that it was a wooden box.
"Wow, this is fancy."
"It is pretty nice—if I do say so myself. Even has a Gryffindor lion on it," Arig said.
"Oh, where?"
"Feel the side facing me, to the right a bit and down. Yeah, there it is."
Harry traced the incised lines and was able to find the lion's nose, ears, and mane.
"Oi! How'd you do that? This is way better than a sock."
"Yeah. Well, got to keep my transfiguration skills up, don't I? Don't want to get the stink eye from McGonagall, that's for sure. Well, I'm knackered. Night, Harry!"
Harry decided to ignore the box full of messages until the morning and climbed into bed. He noticed, as he was drifting to sleep, that Mei's tank was unusually calm. He was used to being lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves lapping the sides of the tank.
oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo
"Harry, when are you going to read all those scrolls?" Gemma asked after tapping him with a scroll the next morning.
He shrugged in response, his lips pulled down into a frown. He was dreading it, actually, and decided that he'd be fine if they conveniently vanished. Except for the box. He rather liked the box. He wondered if he'd ever be able to do a transfiguration as complicated as that. It had nothing of 'sock' about it… not even a lingering odor.
"How's Aminah doing? Did you spend the whole night in Healer Jordan's office?"
"No. I came back when her mum arrived. I think she's doing better. It was good her mum came."
"That's good. She's having a rough time, isn't she?"
"Yeah."
"How was your visit with the Flamels?" Gemma asked, her sign for the ancient couple was particularly amusing. It was a blending of the signs for old and fire and it made Harry think of a beard on fire.
"Well, it was interesting. The food was really good."
Gemma whacked him on the shoulder making him shout in surprise.
"It was. Even the salad was delicious… just hard to eat." He made the sign for falling and she scratched a laugh across his back as they left the box of scrolls and headed toward breakfast. Harry couldn't believe it was already Tuesday, July 20th, and that he had only twelve more days at the Center before he had to return to the Dursleys. The only bright spot in that thought was Little Friend. He missed the small snake.
"Do you want to go see Aminah before breakfast? I think we have time," Harry asked as he cast the time charm to check. "I can give her the book."
She nodded her enthusiastic "yes" under his hand and then reminded him that he wasn't off the hook for telling her about the visit. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He pretended that he didn't quite understand and she playfully pushed his shoulder until his grin revealed the truth.
"I'll grab the book," Gemma signed and dashed across the room and back to Harry in moments.
With the heavy book in her arms, Gemma wasn't able to talk, so their walk down the corridor was quiet until they reached Healer Jordan's office. There, they followed Healer Jordan back to the room where Aminah and her mom were breakfasting.
"Harry, Gemma! I'm so glad you're here! My mom just told me the best news!" Aminah exclaimed as they entered the room. She had to repeat it so that Gemma could read the slip of paper because she'd been too far away at first.
"What is it?"
"Last night as they were searching for Sirius Black, a couple of the Aurors on my dad's case came across an abandoned building where they found evidence that my dad has been hiding. They are close to finding him. They think he's still alive and not too far away!"
Aminah's relief was palpable and Gemma jumped forward to capture her in a tight hug, pulling Harry along with her. They dissolved into a pile of giggles as they untangled their intertwined arms.
Aminah's mother sniffed loudly from the corner of the room and then joined in their laughter, hers a deep, earthy chortle that belied her small stature.