Reviews:
Kyred: Pleased to hear that the concept is holding your rapt attention so far. More answers and revelations are bound to unfold this chapter and the next. Hopefully, the story will continue to be enjoyable.
Greyjedi449t: Well, glad to hear it. Here it is!
GreenTea4062: Indeed, some more answers and questions will arise surrounding the conditions of Harry's search for Paradis Island.
SupergodzillaSailorCosmos: There will defiantly be a point where characters from Attack on Titan will appear (and not just in the form of a memory dream) that will heavily influence the events of the story. Hopefully, this chapter will satisfy.
Disclaimer- Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan is owned by Hajime Isayama. I own nothing.
Chapter 9: Search
By the time morning came around, Madam Pomfrey cleared Harry from the Hospital Wing.
"I do hope that you won't go making a habit of this," she expressed her concern as she showed him out. "If you show to be half as unlucky as your father, Melin only knows how many more times you'll be coming through these doors."
"Er, right, thanks," Harry ushered up a quick thanks as he took his leave. His mind felt to be in two places at once right now. His little mental experiment with Ymir last night seemed to be taking its toll on the both of them.
Following his little excursion, Ymir confessed that the energy it took to show him a look in her perspective had been quite taxing on her as well, giving her a colossal headache from the strain. Harry figured that he would probably be by himself for a good portion of the day. Well, by himself in the mental sense only because he certainly wasn't alone when he made his way down to the Great Hall for morning breakfast.
And, much to his chagrin, he was right.
All eyes were drawn to him the instant they saw who it was who entered. And, much the same as usual, the whispering started whenever he walked by.
"There he is." "You heard what happened with him last night?" "Had a fight in one of the bathrooms. Completely wrecked it." "He fought a troll?" "He killed a troll." "First You Know Who and now this? Just how powerful is he?"
It hadn't even been a few hours and Harry was already feeling himself missing the sound of her voice. He could try tuning out the speculative mumbling well enough, but it had seemed so much easier before when he knew he had someone right there to confide and vent to when need be.
But there was some shouting amongst that uncomfortable sea that easily grabbed his attention. "Harry! Hey, Harry!"
"Over here, mate!"
He spotted the other first-year Gryffindor boys by Neville's round face and Ron's flaming orange hair seated more to the center of the front eagerly waving him over. Wanting to find some solace from the meandering chatter, Harry accepted the invitation.
"You alright, Harry?" Neville asked once he had seated himself.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, fine," Harry helped himself to some eggs and some slices of freshly buttered toast. He noticed that the four other boys were leaning forward intently before he could even take a bite of food. "Something on your minds?"
"That's all you're going to say?!" Seamus sounded impressively indignant. "We heard that you went and took on a troll and all you say is that you're "fine?"
"Well… yeah." Honestly, what else could he say? "I mean, I had to spend the night in the Hospital Wing, but Madam Pomfrey got me all fixed up. I'm just… fine."
"Um… what about the others?" Neville shyly inquired. "I - we just heard that you were there with two girls from Slytherin." He didn't say where he heard that bit, but Harry noticed Pavarti and Lavender did quiet themselves from their gossiping when they heard that.
"You were with two Slytherin girls in the bathroom?" Seamus asked. "That sounds more like a story you'd hear from a seventh-year when you put it in that context."
"They're both fine, too," Harry answered, ignoring Seamus' joke. "I mean, as far as I know."
"Why were those slimy snakes with you?" Ron asked. "Did they try leading you there on purpose?"
"What?" Oh, right. The house rivalry. "No. No, nothing like that. She couldn't find her friend so she asked if I would go with her to look, that's it. No trick, no backstabbing, none of that." He upheld his end of the bargain he made previously. "In fact, they even helped me kill it."
"How'd you do it?" Ron then asked, for the moment forgetting his bias toward the silver and green coated house. "Erm, kill it, I mean. How'd you do it?"
"I just… kept on using the same spell on the nape of its neck," Harry answered in truthful plainness. "I wouldn't have known about it if Hermione hadn't asked to have it demonstrated earlier than planned. I guess that means she's far from a total nightmare."
While Ron did seem eagerly concerned, that particular comment seemed to fly right over his head. "Well that was still bloody brilliant, wasn't it?!"
Neville at least seemed to pick up on what Harry had been implying. "You were a bit harsh in what you said about her. Don't you think, Ron?"
"What?" Ron asked. "I just said it was brilliant, didn't I? He wouldn't have known it if it wasn't for her." Parvati and Lavender who were quietly gossiping next to their group took the time to stop and shake their heads at him shamefully.
"Aw. Is our Ickly-Ronnykins being a tad insensitive?" they both did their best to sport the straightest, yet goofiest grins imaginable.
"Oh, how our mother's fragile heart would just break if she were to hear about that."
Two more familiar red-heads mockingly walked along the Gryffindor table. Fred (at least Harry thought it was Fred) gave a playful ruffled of Ron's hair, an act the younger Weasley sibling didn't seem too fond of in front of his peers.
"Gereoff!" Ron swatted his older brother's hand away from his head. "You two don't even know what we're talking about. Don't you have something else to do like blow up a toilet or something?"
"Sorry, but we promised mum that we'd do nothing of the sort," George sported a wicked grin that was shared by Fred.
"But that doesn't mean we won't be sending a seat of one home for the holidays. And besides, you should know us well enough by now, Ronnykins that we always know more than we should."
"Including our adventurous first-year here going toe-to-toe with a troll last night," George continued on their shared conversation. "And might we just say-,"
"Very impressive," the both of them said at the same time.
"And from what we've heard from our dear friend Angelina,"
"You even saved another Gryffindor girl."
"And unless we're mistaken,"
"She was someone who was upset about something our darling Ronnykins said."
The twins folded their arms in what must have been an impression of something their mother would do. "But,"
"As cruel as some of our jokes can be,"
"We try not to hurt the feelings of someone who doesn't deserve it." Their stares turned more disappointing with every passing phrase.
Not liking the negative attention he was receiving, Ron tossed his fork down on his plate and stood up from the table, a grumbling expression mooding its way onto his reddening face and ears. He stormed away from the table with embarrassed indignation.
George leaned over to Fred. "Do you think it was something we said?" They both snickered at that.
"Do you think he's gone to go and apologize?" Lavender asked, breaking away from her daily gossip with Pavarti. "We've only seen Hermione once this morning and she still seemed a little upset."
The Weasley twins exchanged a look with one another. "Knowing Ron, probably not," they both came to the same conclusion.
"Don't get us wrong, it's not to say we don't have any faith in our little brother," George continued on
"He can be a real good friend when need be," Fred picked it up. "But he can also be a spoiled prat at times, maybe even more than Percy."
"Now there's a thought, Ron as a prefect," George gave a fake shudder. "Honestly, if Percy has a big head Lil' Ronny might show him up on that one."
On that note, the twins left to go back and sit with their friend Lee Jordan as well as some older students on the Gryffindor Quidditch team to discuss the coming plays for the season. Harry stood up not that long after.
"Finished already?" Dean asked, eyeing Harry's plate which still held traces of eggs and fruit.
"Blimey. I'd have thought that killing a troll would have taken more of a toll on ya, but there you go surprising us." Seamus joined in.
"I just need to go and grab my supplies and stuff from the dorm," Harry informed his housemates. "McGonagall might excuse me not being prepared, but I wouldn't count on it from Snape."
"You sure you don't want to finish first?" Neville asked, concerned. "It couldn't hurt."
Harry brushed it off. "I'll just be sure to eat a bigger lunch then. See you guys in class." He pointedly ignored the next surge of whispering and staring as he walked by, much to his growing annoyance.
He was quite thankful that the halls were nearly deserted at this time in the morning, the bulk of the school being back at the Great Hall enjoying their morning meal. The only real attention he garnered was from the school poltergeist, Peeves, who was dropping balloons filled with left-over soup along the stairway for Filch to fuss over and clean up later on.
Speaking the password to the Fat Lady, Harry entered the now familiar common room, went upstairs to the dorm to grab his things before coming back down again. If he had been walking faster he would have missed the quiet, "Excuse me," that came from over by one of the several overstuffed armchairs around the fireplace.
Harry stopped to look at who had called out to him just now. "Oh. Uh, hey."
Her mane of bushy brown hair did seem to have a more disheveled quality about it today, perhaps she had not been maintaining it as she should have been. If he didn't know better, Harry might have thought she had been in that spot since she was escorted back last night.
"Uh… how've you been?" Harry decided to ask, noticing her hesitation.
"I've been… handling it alright," she answered back. "I wasn't hurt or anything of the sort. But walking out of a stall and finding myself faced with a brutish magical creature isn't what I expected to find. What about you? How's your ankle doing?"
"Loads better now," Harry lightly assured. "Although, I get the feeling that you didn't stop me just to ask about my ankle." She had eyes, she could see he was walking fine.
She looked like she was about to retort with a bossy comment, but her expression quickly changed to a more composed demeanor. "Well… I suppose you would be right?"
Harry tilted his head, curious to see where she was taking this. "Look, if this is about what Ron said the other day, you shouldn't feel bad about that. And since he's probably too stubborn to do it, I can apologize for not speaking up about it earlier. Although you missed breakfast where his brothers ripped into him about what he said so I wouldn't worry about him saying something like that again any time soon."
Now it was Hermione's turn to seem bewildered. "So, you disagree with what he said? You don't think I'm bossy, or a know-it-all, or that I don't have any friends?"
"I don't agree with him hurting someone who didn't deserve it," Harry truthfully told her. He continued. "But, that doesn't mean that you don't come off as being bossy sometimes. You do raise your hand for every question in every class and you always know the answer to all of them. And I can't say that I've ever seen you hanging around a lot of other students either."
As far as comforting words went, his failed spectacularly.
She pursed her lips in a manner that would have made McGonagall proud and managed to stifle a sniffle. "So you agree with everything that he said! You think all of that is true!"
"No." It was a simple word, but it was enough to stun her before she could let loose any more emotions.
"No?" she confusedly repeated.
"So what if you're bossy?" Harry asked her. She didn't reply. "There's probably a reason for that and I don't know about it. And what's wrong with being smart? Last time I checked, half the points we earned this year came from you; we'll probably end up winning the House Cup because of it. And not having any friends? Just because I haven't seen you with anyone doesn't mean you don't have friends outside of school. And besides, why even care what someone who isn't your friend thinks of you? If they've already made their mind without knowing you, I don't really think that's someone worth having around. Why not talk to some of those Ravenclaws? They're the smart house, aren't they?"
For someone who always had an answer to every question, Hermione seemed lost. She blinked, shaking her head and letting her bushy hair sway. "That must be so easy for you to say those words. With who you are, everyone wants to be your friend."
He felt the tiniest bit of cold apprehension along the base of his spine. "Just because everyone wants to be doesn't mean that everyone is."
"You still have friends from other houses," she pointed out. "Those two girls from Slytherin, you knew them. Hannah and Susan from Hufflepuff think you're nice, you get on well with all the boys, even the older students like you."
He subconsciously moved some of his hair so that it better covered his scar. "If I'm being completely honest with you, I only have one person who I truly consider to be a friend."
Hermione didn't look like she believed him one bit. "But you-,"
"Sure, I get along well with some other people," Harry abruptly cut her off. "There are some people whom I am closer to than others, but aside from that one person, none of them really know who I am aside from what they've been told. A lot of people here look at me and see what they want to see from me. Most of that isn't close to the truth. Until someone can see past all of the walls at who I am, then I can call them a friend."
It looked like she gave a very slow nod of her head. "And what about Neville?" she asked. "Is he your one friend? You two seem pretty close."
"Well, we are close," Harry didn't outright deny that. "He's probably the person I'm closest to here, but he is too meek at times to try and understand me fully. Don't get me wrong, I care about him and all, but I don't think I consider him to be a friend the same way he does for me."
Hermione considered this. "Well, that just seems to be unrealistic."
Was it though?
With Ymir, the two of them shared a bond that was far deeper than anything physical. She could see through his perspective, and he could see through hers, albeit at a great strain on her end. The two of them, they could fully understand the other, relate to the other, share a dream with the other. While it may seem unrealistic to someone on the outside, to him, it made perfect sense.
"Maybe," Harry partially agreed with her critique. "But I disagree. AndI'm sure my friend would disagree, too. I'm hoping to spend the summer holiday with her where she lives."
Hermione just nodded but still seemed a little unconvinced. "So by your standards, we aren't exactly friends, are we?"
"We're housemates with no bad blood between us whatsoever." It was the truth in his eyes.
"Alright. Then why did you tell McGonagall back there that I was lying?"
"I think the better question is why did you even lie in the first place?" Harry countered with a question of his own.
"I'm the one asking you," Hermione pushed.
"And I'm answering with a question," Harry pushed back. "You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It wasn't your fault the troll got locked in with you. Why would you want to get punished for something you didn't even do? Besides, just telling the truth worked out for everyone in the end."
"I did it because I thought the three of you were going to get in trouble," Hermione confessed. "Even if I didn't know there was a troll in the school, I still wasn't with everyone else when they found out. I wasn't about to tell Professor McGonagall I was being stupid and let some dumb words get to me."
"So in order for her to not think you were stupid, you wanted to lie and say you went off to go do a stupid thing instead of - oh." Harry felt the piece fit in with the rest. Hermione had taken Ron's words to heart, she believed them to be true. In her clouded, brilliant mind, she sought to amend that by taking the fall on her own. She was willing to risk her reputation in order to be recognized by others.
Harry almost shuddered as he felt an imaginary breeze whip past his back. For all he knew, it could have been winter where he was standing.
"You want to be liked, is that it?" he heard the voice. One from a memory. "So what about you? You're going to kill yourself, the ultimate act of submission. Is that how much you want to please the people who treated you like a nuisance?!"
He felt he was actually looking down at a pair of doe blue eyes that seemed primally familiar to him.
"I think that was really stupid for someone as smart as you."
"Maybe it was," she didn't argue that too strongly. "If it meant that I could show others that I'll stand by them, it would be worth it."
"You'd be doing it for all the wrong reasons then," he spoke with hints of irritation. "By doing that, wanting to be liked for someone you're not instead of who you are, you're just playing a part. You'd be a phony. And I think people would dislike that more than a useful know-it-all. Why not just focus on living your life? Who knows. Maybe that way you'll see for yourself who is worth keeping around you."
"That sounds awfully selfish."
"My friend was the one who told me that being selfish is more human than being selfless," Harry relayed what he had been told. "And honestly, I can't exactly argue with her on that."
Hermione's mouth opened, trying to find something, anything she could say in response to that. Eventually, she settled with, "You're not at all what I expected from reading about you, Harry Potter."
"Good," he said. "I wouldn't trust those "biographies" about me." He looked at the clock above the fireplace. "Now, if you want to stay true to the smart girl we all know you to be, we should probably get to class."
She took a glance back and her eyes widened in alarm at the prospect of being late. "Oh! You're right!" She was about to exit before him.
"Hey," he called to her.
"Yes?" she stopped at the open threshold.
"There's a question I have that maybe only the smartest in your year can answer if you're up for it." The anxiousness vanished as a determination flashed across her eyes at the prospect of a question. "Do you know anything about Paradis Island?" If she knew, he could at least get a headstart on how to figure out how to get there.
"Paradis Island?" she repeated the name of the foreign land. "No, I'm sorry. I've never heard of that. Are you sure that's a real island?" she asked the last in her usual bossy manner.
"Yes. I'm positive."
Her large front teeth showed as she resisted the urge to bite at her lip. "I'd recommend checking the library in their World Atlas section. I've already learned more about the magical British Isles there than I expected. Now hurry up if you don't want to be late! I'm not going to miss a minute of this lesson."
They left the common room not as enemies or friends, but just two people.
The man seemed less of a man and more along the lines of a flying butcher shop. He watched as the human who seemed so short to him now hook and grappled his way through the air. The beings he saw now known as Titans crowded around the small man in the forest, their gaping maws ready to eat and swallow him whole.
But the man was too swift and agile. The gear he had strapped to his body allowed him to almost fly through the air with ease. The twin swords he held cut with deadly precision through the napes of their necks, letting fresh, hot steam hiss out in escape. Yet even with the clear evaporation, hot blood still clung to the man's fit figure as he made a beeline straight toward where he was. He could see the pure hatred boiling in those cold steel-blue eyes.
The scene changed.
He was lying in the back of a cart now, bound and broken as the rain began its assault from above. There even seemed to be a pole of sorts protruding from his stomach area. The man was standing over him, sword in hand and eyes sharper than the steel.
"Looks like your leg is growing back," he spoke with cold monotone.
The voice of the man he was watching from gave a shout of terrified pride as the sword approached. "I hope you're watching, Mister Xavier!" There was the sound of a pin popping out of place on the protruding pole. A cry of anguished relief rang out in the rain.
"Aaarrghh!"
Kkkrrrrooomm!
A sound of a different kind of thunder. And everything went black.
The blackness began to fade, but not by much.
It seemed that he was now on the stairs in a dingy and dimly lit basement of some kind. Looking over his shoulder he saw a tall blonde man with the beginning of a small goatee standing above dressed in what appeared to be an army uniform with an armband.
"This way!" the voice of the one he was seeing this through spoke to the young man who looked older than he was. He noticed that this voice was lighter, softer - a child's.
The blonde man followed him down to the door at the end of the stairs. Opening the door, they entered a stone room with a single lantern and occupant wearing the same type of uniform, but missing his left leg sitting on a chair. His dark hair was long and obscured most of his face, but through his locks, it was easy to see the bandage covering his left eye as well as the start of a mustache and beard he had growing. He was probably only a year or two younger than the large blonde man.
The wounded man raised his head.
"It's been four years, Reiner."
The blonde man's face was shifting into shocked horror at seeing the man before him. "...Eren…"
"It's good to see you made it back home." His voice was empty sorrow.
The scene changed again.
Clouds above him.
Clouds below him.
There was sound. There was so much sound that there was almost none. If he were on the ground he wouldn't be standing from the sheer force of all of it.
Up here he was… almost one of the birds.
He opened his eyes.
Vivid. It was all so vivid this time around.
He had noticed that ever since he had first begun talking with Ymir, his nightly images had been gaining more focus than before. This night had perhaps been the clearest that they had ever been before.
Not bothering to get out of his bed just yet, Harry reached out. Hey.
'Good morning,' her reply sounded exclusively for him. 'It feels an eternity since we've gotten to do this.' It had only been a little less than a day, but her words held personal truth to them.
I'll say, he agreed. Did you have any unusual dreams last night?
'No more than usual,' she answered with casual honesty. 'Why? Did you see something out of the ordinary?'
Well, no, I wouldn't exactly say that. Really, it hadn't been. I was still seeing those memories you talked about, but for some reason, I was able to see them much clearer, even for longer than usual. I thought that you might have seen the same.
'I can't say that I have,' her voice conveyed the tone of a head shaking. 'Mine hasn't changed in the slightest. Maybe this is just the result of me showing you a peek over at where I am.' It was a guess, but it very well could have been a pure fact, all things considered. 'What was your dream about? What happened?' He was glad she asked.
Well, for the first half there was this short man with black hair with some gear with an air tank and swords cutting through those Titans.
'Short man? You must be talking about Captain Levi Ackerman. He was the leader of that special operations unit I told you about before.'
Oh yeah, the one who you tried convincing me was like Snape?
'I admitted my mistake, didn't I?' she pointed out. 'But, yes. The very same.'
What even was that gear he had on?
'The Omni-Directional Maneuver Gear. ODM or just 3D Maneuver gear. Really, they're both the same thing.' She pointily explained. 'Since the Titans were so big, people needed a way to get to their only weak spot.'
The nape, Harry could still clearly picture the steam coming from the fresh cuts.
'Yes.'
He was with another man after that, Harry further recalled. It looked like he had him captured. Then there was an explosion of some kind.
'That's how he got the injuries I told you about.'
There was more, Harry continued. The other man you told me about, Eren Yeager, I - I think I saw him.
'Really?' she tried to sound neutral, but there was a trace of exuberance that escaped through the cracks. 'How did he look to you?'
He… he didn't look good.
'Eh? How do you mean?'
I mean he looked injured, Harry specified. It looked really bad, He was missing a leg and an eye. The uniform he had on was dirty and loose. And his voice-, his voice. It just sounded so… far away. But if he had the power to see his own future memories, to know how things would play out, could anyone be expected to sound like they were aware of the present?
'He is a Titan Shifter. The ability to regrow limbs and have any physical injury healed would ensure that he wouldn't always look that way,' she clarified.
Well, that's certainly nifty. If his connection to the Paths was true, and he did have some sort of secret hidden Titan power like healing, it certainly would have come in handy during most of his childhood. Harry got back on track. Anyway, there was another man he was talking with. Someone named Reiner. Do you know who that is?
'You must mean Reiner Braun,' she cordially answered. 'His is another infamous name I'm familiar with.'
He seemed almost… more than just being scared at seeing Eren there. He's a Titan Shifter, too, isn't he?
'The Armored Titan, yes. A Titan with a protective coating around its body. And I would suspect that Reiner would have been worried at seeing Eren. Reiner was one of those brainwashed child soldiers used to attack the island.'
They must have known one another if they were both on the island and could turn into Titans then.
'They did,' she didn't disagree there. 'But it goes a bit deeper than that. It was because of Reiner and his allies that Eren ended up losing his mom in the first attack.'
They killed his mother?! No wonder Reiner looked so freightenly guilt-ridden when he saw Eren in that basement.
'Well… not directly, they didn't, but it was because of them that she ended up dying. Eren… he had to witness it.' She was silent for a pause in respect. 'Eren hated them for sure, but at the moment you're talking about, I think Eren and Reiner could better relate and understand the other better than their friends ever could.'
That makes no sense at all, Harry didn't hide his disbelief at her outlook. They sound like mortal enemies.
'Without a doubt,' she didn't deny his outlook. 'Would it change anything if you knew that the night you saw in your dream was the night the Paradis Military launched a strike on Reiner's hometown the same as he had done to Eren's?'
That would… what? He knew. He might not know it, but he knew what she was talking about.
'They were in a war, that's what happens.'
Eren attacked first, didn't he. He was starting to put the pieces together. The images he had of a stage, man talking on it before it exploded from underneath and a monstrous roar echoed out over the assembled crowd. That was how it started.
'He did. He wanted to meet with Reiner before it happened to… I guess make peace with him would sound like a lie, but that is what he tried to do in a sense. He hated Reiner for years because of what happened to his mother and town, but when Eren found himself in the same situation, as Reiner had been in he was finally able to see where Reiner had been coming from. Even if they were on different sides, they were just the same.'
You make it sound like they were frienemies or something. He really didn't know what he could say to that. The relationship between the two of them seemed anything but just friends turned enemies turned friends again.
'Well - ahem!' she stopped herself from laughing at his word choice. 'It certainly was complicated. Either way, it doesn't really matter now. That's all the past.'
The past… right. This conversation did bring about a newfound question he thought of. So what happened to Reiner?
She pondered. 'Oh, him? If you knew, would you feel better or worse if you did?'
That's… hard to say. I didn't know him, but I feel bad that he was basically brainwashed as a kid. I don't like that someone lost their mom because of him. I guess I… I don't really know. Somehow, he hoped that was good enough.
'Hm. Well, when you make up your mind, I'll be sure to let you know.'
Going on with his usual bout of classes and activities, instead of using his free periods back at the Gryffindor Common Room or having tea over at Hagrid's, Harry opted to spend that time over at Hogwarts' Library.
Having only briefly stopped by a few times before on occasion, Harry realized he never really took in just how vast this portion of the school actually was. The seemingly ceiling-high shelves were filed into perfect order, arranged by author, practice, subject, and many other categories.
Taking Hermione's advice, Harry sought out the global section first to see if he could find something there about magical hidden islands located around the world. If he could, that was one step closer to getting him to Paradis when the time came.
After a few minutes of searching, Harry came across a magical Atlas of the world and sat down at one of the tables to read it over. Glossing over the index, Harry found the chapter and map on hidden locations around the world to be on page 313 and rapidly rolled through until he landed on it.
Alright, let's see what this says, Harry's eyes flickered over the map that was dotted with different marks all around the globe. There were a large number of hidden islands all around Iceland, Ireland, and the North Sea by Denmark and Scandinavia. Newfoundland in North America also had a decent portion of hidden locations, both inland and otherwise.
Haiti in the Caribbean Sea was a hot spot for hidden magical activity, as was the case for a lot of places near South America and Western Africa, not to mention Central and Eastern Asia. There was so much. So much that he had no idea would have ever existed before.
Alright, Ymir. If you're serious about wanting me to see your home in person, now's a good a time as any to tell me where exactly this place is. Now, to see what she says.
'My, that certainly is a detailed map, isn't it?' she observed the contents. 'But I'm not exactly seeing anything I know Paradis to be close to.'
You don't even know where your own island is? Harry didn't mean for it to sound harsh, but it was difficult for him not to properly hide a bout of frustration at her lack of knowledge.
'Well, of course, I know where my own home is!' she replied with equal amounts of indignation. 'I'm just saying that I don't see any landmarks I know are around it. Without that, I can't exactly tell you where to start looking, can I? Maybe that book is just outdated.'
Harry flipped through a few more pages before turning back to the map. Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me.
After seeing Hogwarts and snippets of the outside Wizarding World, Harry had picked up on the lack of modern appliances. It made sense when so much could be done by magic, but if stopped anything new from being discovered or improved on, they would basically be living in the dark ages. It was almost as if this society was trying to carve its own slot in the timeline and remain secluded there to their own devices.
Can you at least tell me what it looks like, how big is it? Stuff like that. Anything was better than nothing right now.
'Hmm…' he kept his eyes focused on the map so she could properly see. It actually kind of looks like that one island next to what says Africa - Madagascar. It looks like that, only smaller.'
Well, that was something to go off of now. He grabbed a spare piece of parchment from his bag and began tracing the outline of Madagascar on it and labeled it as Paradis. Any new information he gathered he would write down on that.
Putting the book back, Harry instead headed over to the magical bestiary section of the library, finding a book titled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander.
'What's this book for?' she asked, seeing the title as well.
I want to see if it has anything in here about Titans.
'Titans aren't exactly a problem anymore,' she reiterated. 'What would you even hope to find on them?'
I don't know, Harry said in reluctant truth. Maybe they'll be something in here about how humans could transform into giant beings - something like that. Who knows?
'Oh well, if that's what suits your fancy. Good luck with that then.'
Leaving him to his devices, Harry got to reading. Flipping through the pages Harry glimpsed studies on trolls, Giants who were described as being barbaric and cannibalistic creatures that could usually be found in the more mountainous regions of Europe. But according to this the Giants living in the more Nordic lands were long extinct and said to have been quite intelligent. He continued scrolling through until he caught a page that held his interest. It was about Titans.
"Titans and Giants, what's the difference? Newt had written. In basic terms, just the name, really. Both names are derogatory based on the size of the beings in question. Both are synonymous with enormity, but in wizard culture, Giant is the preferred terminology of choice. A Titan is more akin to the beings in ancient Greek Mythology such as Prometheus, the Titan of Forethought who made humans from clay and gave them the gift of fire. Then there was Atlas, the Titan of Endurance, cursed to hold the sky from the earth. And, of course, the Titan King Kronos, the Titan of Time. In fear that his children, the Gods, would one day overthrow him, Kronos devoured them whole where they grew in his stomach before his youngest son, Zeus, would trick him into barfing them up.
Not exactly the brightest of tales, but it is even one that our muggle counterparts are aware of. But circling back to the topic question, Titans are considered myth even to us. If there is a chance that an undiscovered species of Giants are out there, I'd love to get the chance to study them in full."
A myth? He had seen them in his memory dreams, he had heard about them from Ymir; they were far from being just a myth. He flipped back to the publication information. 1927 was the year of publication, that was from over 60 years ago.
According to Ymir, the conflict with Paradis and the Titans had been resolved just shy of a decade ago. As informative as this book had been, it was pretty outdated with what he was looking for.
Putting the book back on the shelf, Harry eyed additional rows of shelves beyond a countered area. Some of the books over there looked relatively new and he figured that he might have better luck if he checked there. He would check there, as well as any section pertaining to wizard genealogy. He hoped to maybe find a Potter family tree of some kind to maybe look for any indication of where he would have inherited any Eldian blood in him.
He never even made it beyond the counter before he was being intercepted by a strict-looking woman glaring down at him from behind her glasses. It was Madam Pince, the librarian.
"What do you think you're doing?!" she shouted without raising her voice above the necessary levels.
Harry failed to not make a face at her tone. "I was just going to look for a book."
"Not in the Restricted Section, you're not!" she denied his explanation. "No entry into the Restricted Section except by permission from a professor, and a first-year has no business whatsoever for permission like that! Children have no right to some of that information!"
"Well, I'm not looking for anything horrible," Harry argued. "I'm just looking for something to help me find a certain island."
"You won't be finding that in the Restricted Section," she further denied. "It'd make no sense."
"Yeah, well it also doesn't really make much sense to have a section full of material that might be dangerous in a school library." He couldn't help it, he didn't like arguing with this woman. Evidently, she was done with him, too.
"Out!" she pointed to the door. "Out now! Scat! Shoo! I'll have your head of house here if you don't leave now!"
Not wanting to explain this to McGonagall, Harry had no choice but to take this loss and leave the Restricted Section to quietly call to him as he left the library.
"Any reason why we're meeting out here?" Harry asked Tracey as she led him along the edge of the lake to a secluded area by a beach tree. "I thought some of you still weren't comfortable with being seen in public with a Gryffindor."
Tracey arched a brow as she glanced over her shoulder. "That's why we're going to a secluded spot. And besides, it's November now, in Scotland. We won't be getting nice weather for that much longer."
Looking up at the sky, Harry saw some dark clouds getting ready to move in from the south. Chances were that snow would be upon Hogwarts very soon. "I can't argue that."
Waiting by the beach tree was Malfoy, Parkinson, and Daphne. It seemed that their little group was smaller this time for whatever reason.
"Ah, there you are," Malfoy said once he saw the two of them approaching. "If you had shown up any later, I doubt that we would've been here." Nothing had really changed in his better-than-you manner of speaking.
"Speak for yourself, Malfoy," Daphne evidently disagreed. "With the weather as nice as it is, a little fresh air is going to be a rarity pretty soon."
Pansy stuck up her pug nose at the other girls' tone toward Malfoy. "Well, I for one am actually surprised that Potter here managed to show up." She cast a look in his direction. "We're not interrupting you from your adoring public, are we?"
Harry stared back at her. "I don't have to be here. I can always leave."
"Take it easy, Parkinson," Tracey stood by him. "Unless you're willing to call Daphne and I liars, you'd know that Harry was only in there that night because of us. Surely a pureblood such as yourself is smart enough to realize that."
Pansy's nose crinkled into a sight of disgust. "You want to run that by me again, you-!"
"Enough of that, Pansy!" Malfoy's voice seemed the only thing that really kept her in check. "Remember what Professor Snape told us at the start of term? A united front in appearance."
She gave him what resembled puppy dog eyes and stuck out her bottom lip. "I'm sorry, Draco."
Gross. 'Gross.' They both evidently thought.
Malfoy even rolled his eyes at her display. "Anyway, you do appear to be the talk of the school, Potter. Even more than usual." The hint of jealousy in his tone was quite evident.
"So I've noticed," Harry couldn't deny. "And if it's the same with all of you, can we not talk about that?"
"Oh, I suppose so," Tracey was the first to agree. "The tale of how the gallant Gryffindor risked his life to protect a couple of vulnerable girls will have to wait another day." She smiled teasingly.
"How is that other girl by the way?" Daphne then asked. "It was the smart one, wasn't it? Granger?"
"You mean that mud-?" Pansy stopped when she saw Malfoy shaking his head and gesturing over to Harry. "That girl?"
"She's doing alright now," Harry answered, trying not to glare over at Pansy. "I think we even came to a kind of understanding. Although, I did ask her a question that even she didn't know afterwards."
That honestly seemed to throw them for a loop.
"You mean that walking encyclopedia actually got a question wrong?" Tracey asked in mock aghast. "Merlin only knows what would have happened if that were in a classroom."
"I was actually hoping to run it by you lot since I couldn't even find any information about it in the library, and there's no way a teacher would give me permission to go to the Restricted Section," Harry explained. "But I was hoping some people from long lines of magical families might know."
"Enough beating around the Quidditch Pitch, Potter," Daphne crossed her arms. "What's your question that Hogwarts' Brightest can't help you with?"
"Yeah," Tracey agreed. "Flattery will only get you so far."
"Fine," Harry relented. "Have any of you ever heard of Paradis Island and where it might be located?"
Not a trace of recognition crossed any of their features.
"Paradis?" Tracey repeated. "You mean like Paradise? A summer getaway?"
"That is kind of the idea I'm going for," Harry said. "I take it you haven't heard of it?"
"Of course we haven't!" Pansy denied. "That sounds completely made up."
"That's what Hermione said too. But it's real, I know it is."
"Can't say I've ever heard of it and Malfoy Manor boasts one of the most impressive collections of studies outside of Hogwarts and the Ministry," Malfoy proclaimed. "Unless it's not a deserted island, I don't really see the point in knowing about such things."
"Humble as always," Daphne remarked much to Pansy's dismay. "But I can't help you either, Potter. My family and I usually go on summer holiday to different remote locations, but I've never heard of this island of yours."
Well, that had been expected. That didn't mean he was happy about it.
"Thanks anyways," Harry said. "But any ideas on how to get into the Restricted Section without getting caught and I'm all ears."
They offered no explanation there either. His research seemed to be put on halt.
That is until Christmas holiday came along.
He was vaguely aware of the tufts of white flakes falling from the sky, but his brain didn't fully register what day it was until he heard Ron's voice shouting from down in the common room.
"Harry! C'mon! It's Christmas! We've got presents!"
Presents? Him? He knew the tradition well enough, but had never actually experienced it himself. Before, no one had ever cared enough to gift him with anything. He hastily put his glasses on and made his way down to the common room.
The tree which had been placed near the hearth held a small cornucopia for those students who had stayed behind for the holiday. He spotted a few with his name on it. Grabbing one, Harry tore into it to reveal a note from Hagrid as well as a hand-carved flute. The next was a letter from… the Dursleys?
Feeling it must have been a mistake, Harry checked the contents to be sure and sure enough, it was a letter asking him if there was a way for him to stay at school over the summer holiday. Don't worry, Walrus. Once I find a way, I won't even be in the same landmass as you.
The next one was a sweater with an emerald H stitched onto the chest. "Uh… what is this?"
"Oh!" Ron looked over from stuffing his face with a sweet he had gotten. "Mum musta made that for you. We get them every year." Ron opens one in similar wrappings. "See. I got maroon. Always maroon."
Seeing he had another present tuckered away near the back of the tree. There was a note attached to it.
"Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well."
'Hm. That sounds suspicious to me.'
Aside from the fact that this has no name written on it? Yeah, that is pretty suspicious.
'Well, yes, but just the idea that your father would leave something of his to a stranger and not to you. Shouldn't a father want you to have it right away?'
She did have a point. But… Well, I guess that depends on what it is.
Wasting no time, Harry undid the neat wrappings to pull out a smooth, silvery fabric from within. He felt that he was touching water in clothing form with how silky and fresh it felt. It was a cloak of some kind.
Looks like something from my dad's wardrobe.
'A cloak. Yeah, mine would wear something like that, too. Why don't you try that on and- whoa! Your arm!'
My arm is-!
No sooner had Harry slipped his arm in one of the sleeves, he saw it just disappear from sight. Vanish completely.
But, he could still feel it. He could still move it. He was just… I'm invisible. I can't be seen. An idea just occurred to him. I can't be seen.
'Yeah, you've thought that.'
No, what I mean is if I can't be seen, I can go just about everywhere. Even the Restricted Section.
A/N: Thank you for reading. Next chapter, Following his hunch, Harry uncovered more than what he could have possibly imagined. Chapter 10: Discovery.