Damaged (A Marauders Era story)

First Year, Part 14 (The Twenty-Ninth)

Right after breakfast the next morning, I went to the Owlery to send a letter with the necklace for Frank inside. In my letter to Frank, I told him how to use the necklace to contact me. I also told him I had given two other necklaces to my friends, so when he wanted to contact me he would need to press the red jewel, and none of the others. I didn't think Aileen or Sharem would appreciate Frank contacting them.

The Owlery was located in the West Tower. It was the first time since arriving at Hogwarts that I had been to the Owlery, having had no reason to send a letter to anyone before.
The Owlery was a circular stone room, with no windows or glass. It was freezing and drafty and my teeth chattered as I made my way across the room to the school owls who sat nestled on their perches that rose right up to the top of the tower.

Once I had sent Frank the letter, I made my way to the giant statue that led to the secret passageway. As I touched the statues fingertips to reveal the entrance, I remembered the night I had discovered this secret passageway. I had seen the fingers glow red. And then again, once in the secret passageway, I had seen the bricks that led to the secret room glow red. Both no longer glowed red, but I still pondered over what it had meant. Why had my left eye seen the two hidden entrances glow, but not my right?

Not for the first time, I wished I had someone to talk to about my eye. But, it was my secret and would remain that way as long as I had any say in the matter.

The whole way to the secret room where Sharem was, I pondered over my eye.

I knew my left eye was magical, that was nothing new. Ever since I had gotten the damaged eye, I had known there was something different about it. It was red, for one thing. It was cold and saw only in black and white. It could see in the dark like an animal or something, and it saw misty color clouds around new people. Now it could see secret entrances glowing, apparently.

For a long time after my left eye changed, I had not known what it meant when I saw colors out of my left eye upon meeting a new person. It still gave me a slight shock every time I saw a burst of color surrounding someone through that eye, it being accustomed to only seeing only in black and white.

Shortly after moving into Aunt Cora's house, I had discovered a book that mentioned auras in the library. It didn't cover much, but it told me the basics of what each color meant. That was the first time I had realized I could see a person's aura upon our first meeting. That's what the strange color clouds that surrounded a person were. Auras.

But what could seeing the entrances to both secret passageways glowing possibly mean? That had nothing to do with auras. I resolved to go to the library and read every book I could get my hands on about magical eyes as soon as this whole Sharem situation was over. I needed to understand what my eye was and why it did the things it did.

When I reached the secret room, I saw that Sharem and Aileen were both already there playing a game of Wizard's Chess. They were both so concentrated on it that they didn't even hear me enter.

I watched the two play as I snacked on some food I had brought. After the first few moments of watching them play, I became bored and turned my mind to other things. Like what we planned to do on the 29th.

The days leading up to the 29th were spent going over the plan again and again until we all had it memorized. We all knew what we were each supposed to do, and how we were supposed to do it.

Before we knew it, Wednesday night had come, and it was time to go.

Aileen, Sharem, and I had waited until well past curfew before we all snuck out. It wasn't as hard sneaking out of Hogwarts as it had been sneaking in. We made our way out onto Hogwarts snow-covered grounds and down to Hagrid's Hut.