Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 47: Going for a swim

The group of roommates made their way back to the dorm together, subdued and quiet in their progress. Harry wasn't sure if the group therapy approach to dealing with student infractions was better or worse than detentions. He felt a bit queasy as a result and he had never felt that way leaving detention.

And I didn't even cause the disturbance—I was just in the way, he thought.

He wondered how Tony got through each day—all the little things that add up to big things.

People probably wonder that about me, too. I'm just doing what I have to do. I imagine that Tony's doing the same.

He wondered what Mei's mermaid magic was and how it was different from wixen magic. Maybe he could ask Hermione? Would that be violating the privacy piece they'd all agreed to?

Probably.

He could ask Mei, but he was afraid of setting her off again. Maybe he could go to the library and use his anagnóstis to read up on it.

His anagnóstis! He'd forgotten about it, but he and Gemma could use it to communicate! She could write and he could read what she wrote!

Why didn't I think of it earlier? He kicked himself.

He was so excited that he wanted to stop right there and tell Gemma all about it, but decided to wait until they were in the dorm and he could actually show her.

Gemma touched his hand and he realized that he was squeezing her arm. "Sorry, I was thinking about a way we can talk more easily. I'll show you when we're back in our dorm."

She squeezed his arm to let him know she understood. The way her hand fluttered on his made him understand that she was excited about it, too.

"Aminah, where are you headed?" Mei called out.

"I'm going to our dorm, am I going the wrong way?" Aminah asked from across the corridor.

"Yeah, it's over here. That's the dorm for the older residents." Mei told her.

"Oh, thank you!" Aminah said as her steps approached, "I guess I didn't give my staff the right directions."

"What did you tell it?" asked Harry, curious in case he made the same mistake.

"I said 'Navigant dormitory room,' but I guess I need to tell it which one." Aminah answered.

"What's our dormitory name?" Harry asked.

"It's 'Montmorency'," said Mei, with exasperation in her voice, "Everything is named after places in France, I guess."

As they filed into their dormitory, Harry sniffed the air—it was warm and humid and smelled like the ocean. Gemma led Harry to the end of his bed and waved across his hand.

"Bye," Harry said in response.

Harry could hear Mei's wheelchair in her area, next to his. He couldn't really hear Tony... he must be in the loo, he could hear someone in there.

He followed the contour of his bed to the desk next to his bed. The layout of the room was weird, he was noticing. It wasn't a square as he was expecting, it was circular, but different than Gryffindor tower which was pretty spacious and each bed in Gryffindor tower had a lot of space around it. This was pretty cramped.

Like a powder keg.

He was surprised by the sound of something being splashed in water really close to him and instinctively turned his head to the sound.