Heroes Assemble!

That's Just Not Right

Feeling the super-sensory charm go off, Harry turned from the hallway to face the far bench in the kitchen apartment. From here, utilising the mirror charm that he'd placed on the tiles (that was only keyed to himself), Harry could watch what happened without appearing to do so.

He still couldn't believe what he'd seen last night. Doreen, a fifteen-year-old girl, jumping three stories from a standing start to reach her bedroom window. As Peter had said, 'that was just freaky – awesome, but freaky'. In usual circumstances, Harry didn't like that word – brought back too many bad memories – but in this instance, it was accurate.

The fact that Doreen had been hiding that ability leant one to assume that she was also hiding others. Not that he was one to talk. But still, it was his home and he wanted to know just who he'd invited to live with him.

At first, he'd considered simply confronting her, but he was sure that that would simply scare her away. And the fact that she'd been living on the streets when he first found her told him that she was more than prepared to do so again. No, scaring her away was not an option, not if he wanted to continue helping her. And he did, more than ever now; Harry knew intimately what it was like to be different.

The other possible outcome of confronting her was that she'd attack and, while Harry was fairly certain that he could contain her with his magic, without knowing exactly what she was capable of, there were bound to be injuries.

Thus, he'd devised a number of small tests to gain a measure of her abilities and hopefully give him a better idea of how to handle things.

The smallest of shuffling noises alerted him to Doreen coming down the hallway and Harry focussed on the mirror.

As Doreen stepped into the main room, her feet slipped out and her arms pinwheeled, her legs danced for a moment, trying to gain traction. And then, all of a sudden, she stopped, just as though she'd not only found traction but had superglued her feet to the floor. He saw her look down and frown. On her shoulder, Monkey Joe chittered at her and for an instant, Harry could have sworn that Doreen answered the squirrel. In squirrel language, if squirrels had a language, that is. But then, snakes did, so why not?

A quick wave of his wand cancelled the charm on the floor before he secreted his wand back away and turned around.

"Morning, Doreen," he said.

"Um, hi, Harry," she replied, but he could see that she was still preoccupied with the floor.

Tentatively, she moved first one foot, then the other, testing the floor cautiously with each step before giving another frown and walking towards the centre bench.

Again, Harry was ready.

"Here's your coffee," he said, placing it on the counter.

A small wandless banishing charm ensured that it slid at speed towards the edge.

In an instant, Doreen had crossed the remaining distance, plucking the mug out of the air just as it began to careen towards the floor.

Speed and reflexes? Harry wondered. They definitely seemed enhanced compared to a 'regular' person's.

"Sorry about that," Harry apologised. "Must not know my own strength."

"Know what that's like," Doreen chuckled.

"Speaking of, feel free to move that box out of your way," Harry said, indicating the large cardboard box in the middle of the bench. "It's for the Den, I'll take it down later. Just put it over there."

With a nod, Doreen picked it up before striding across the room to place it beside the door.

It took everything Harry had not to react. He'd charmed that box to be nearly ten times the weight that it was supposed to be and she'd moved it as though it was nothing.