Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 42: Quidditch adaptations

Harry paused for a moment. He had a million questions he wanted to ask Mei: How did you turn into a fish (or a part fish)? Does that make you a mermaid? How are you out of water? Don't mermaid's tails transform into legs when they are on land?

But then he remembered what it was like to have Tony and other people hounding him with questions about what happened to him and how exhausting it was to be an oddity.

And lonely.

He took in a deep breath.

"So you were good at Quidditch? What position did you play? Were you on a house team?" he asked.

Mei let out a big breath, as if she'd been bracing for the onslaught of questions.

It must be so much worse for her, Harry thought. No wonder she's such a crab.

He was relieved he didn't say that aloud.

It sounded like the dining hall had gone back to normal conversation. Harry was grateful they were no longer the center of attention.

Mei answered in a voice that he almost didn't recognize... he was so used to her angry pitch. "I was okay," she started slowly. "I played keeper a lot for Bing and his friends growing up, but I like being a chaser and seeker isn't so bad."

Harry's throat was closing. This was a hard conversation.

"You were more than okay, Mei," her brother encouraged. "You would have been chosen for the team this year had you been able to try out... "

"Why didn't you try out?" Harry asked without thinking. "Can't you still sit on a broom?"

"Ha! See, I told you, Mei!" Bing said.

Harry was confused again.

"Yes, I can sit on a broom still, especially if I can use a modified broom—one with a seat." Mei's voice was defiant now. "Hogwarts thought it would give me an unfair advantage over the other players... "

"What? That's ridiculous. It would just give you the same advantage the other players have." Harry said flailing his arms in exasperation. "Did you protest?"

"No, I was also not wanting to draw attention to myself. I was getting too much as it was. Also, I need to have breaks to rehydrate. I can't last a whole Quidditch game without hydrating. If they weren't willing to permit a seat, then there's no way they'd allow 20-minute breaks to allow me to rehydrate. It was too much to ask. Also, my Jiāorén magic messes with my wixen magic."

"It's not fair," Bing said, explaining: "That was Gemma. She agrees that it is not fair."

"Ta, Bing." Harry knew that Bing did that for his benefit. "So you were at Hogwarts last year? How did I miss seeing you?"

"Well, I was there for the first couple of months, then this happened... " Harry guessed she was motioning to her fishtail. "And I was out for a bit, then I tried to go back after the holidays, but I wasn't in a good place... "

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

There was a heavy silence.

"Mei, she was... " Bing trailed off.

"I was hurting myself," she stated.

"Oh."

"Yeah, well. I'm done with that. So, you really didn't hear about me?" Mei asked.

"Yeah, well, no. Sorry."

How could I miss that a student had come back to school after the hols with a tail? Hermione had to know, Harry thought.

"What house are you in?" he asked.

"I'm in Ravenclaw, I'll be a fourth year in the fall." Mei said. "My mom helped me keep up with the coursework, and so did Bing. He came home every weekend to help me with my work."

Harry could hear the affection in her voice, it must be nice to have a sibling you like—who looks out for you.

"Gemma? Will you start as a second year next year?" Harry asked and then sat still as he listened to the pencil scratching on the paper while she wrote out her response.

"She says 'yes' as long as she passes the exams for first years over the summer. That's part of her training here—to prepare for the exams," Bing related Gemma's notes to Harry.

"Did you have to take the third year exams at the end of term, Mei?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but they were easy," she said as a true Ravenclaw.

"Oh, I'm starting to dry out. I have to go hydrate," Mei said. He could hear her running her hands over her fishtail.

"How close is it to 1 o'clock?" Mei asked.

Harry put his hand in his pocket and said, "Tempus. It is half past noon."

Bing got up and turned to Harry, "I'm leaving after we go back to the dormitories and Mei starts hydrating. So, I'll see you and Gemma later, maybe on the weekend? And definitely on the visiting weekends. It was nice to meet you both. I'm glad that Mei has you as roommates."

There was a pause in which Harry could hear the faint sounds of Gemma signing and then Bing was responding to Gemma, "You, too, Gemma. Take care. Thank you for everything."

Bing clapped Harry on the shoulder as he was leaving the table, startling Harry.

Gemma came over to Harry and laid her hand on his arm.

"What do you want to do now, Gemma?" Harry asked.

She lifted his hand and wrote, "M-Y" space "M-U-M-?" into his palm.

Harry listened carefully, he couldn't hear her mom anywhere, so he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't hear her. You can't see her anywhere?"

She tapped once which he understood as "No."

"We could look for her."

He could feel Gemma making a sign and he caught her hands lightly in his to try to make out what it was she was doing. She repeated the sign as he lightly held onto each of her hands. She was holding her fingers cupped toward her and crossing her hands in front of her mouth.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"V-E-R-Y" space "F-U-N-N-Y" she spelled into his hand.

"Oh, ha. I get it," he said smiling."Where should we start?"

He turned back to the table to find the plate with the biscuits and tucked the remaining biscuits into his trouser pocket.

She grabbed his hand, still crumbly with biscuits and wrote "W-H-A-T" space "D-O-I-N-G?"

He felt his face flush. "Er, I'm getting some snacks for Hedwig... Oh, did you want some?"

She spelled out "W-H-O" space "H-E-D-W-I-G-?" in his hand.

"Oh, she's my snowy white owl," Harry said. "Do you want to meet her? She's in the owlery."

She tapped his hand twice, "Yes."

"Maybe that's where your mom is," he said chuckling and he felt her also laughing silently next to him.