Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 101: Bugged

"Can you transfigure me into Haripreet Batra again?" Harry asked.

"Yes, good idea. I think we also need to change your clothing as well—just to be safe," Healer Jordan said as she began to mutter the incantations that transformed his appearance.

"Hey, Harry—that's amazing. You look totally different. I'd never recognize you now," Neville said.

Harry ran his hands over his clothes that had flashed warm during the transfiguration, just as his skin and hair had—he was wearing a button-up light cotton shirt with a collar now made of light cotton and had an undershirt on as well. His shoes weren't trainers—they pinched his toes a bit and when he stepped in them, the soles were slick on the tile floor.

Harry was thinking that this was a lot of fuss for a quick trip over to invite Mrs. Longbottom over for lunch at the Center, but he was really curious about this reporter even though she creeped him out with her sugary voice and poisonous perfume.

Like Aunt Petunia when she wants something.

He wondered what Healer Jordan would do if she ran into her. He suspected that Healer Jordan would be a fierce opponent in any tussle—verbal, physical, or magical. He wouldn't want to get on her wrong side and he felt safe near her.

"I'll just finish up this bit of scrollwork that I was doing before we head over there. I'll meet you in the reception area in about 10 minutes, okay?" Healer Jordan asked as scrolls rustled on her desk and a quill started scratching across parchment.

"Sure, no problem. Thank you," Harry said as he and Neville headed toward the door.

"You can go through the south door, if you like—it leads directly into the reception area," Healer Jordan said absentmindedly.

Harry paused, "Um, could I show Neville the herb garden while we wait? He likes plants."

"Great idea, you know where it is, right?"

"Yep," Harry said. "Navigant herb garden. This way Neville."

Harry led Neville through the little room with the camp beds and out another door that opened to the courtyard herb garden—it was a mirror in many ways to the courtyard on the other side of the Center, except it was more open to the sky because there wasn't a tree.

Neville drew in a long breath, "Oh, this is so... " He seemed to be at a loss for words.

As soon as Harry went through the door, the heady aroma of the fragrant plants enveloped him—it was warm and humid and smelled of dirt and green growing things that reminded him of his time with Nio hus cherio kisa. Maybe if he could live in this garden, the little snake would be willing to stay with him. Maybe the whole family of snakes would be willing to relocate to this garden. He sighed.

"What is it, Harry," Neville asked.

"Oh, I was just thinking of a little snake friend I made at Privet Drive. I wish I could bring him here to live in this garden," Harry said before he really thought about it.

"I bet a snake would love this place," Neville seemed to be captivated. "I would love to live here."

Harry realized that he didn't really know what it looked like. He hadn't used his staff to describe it when he'd worked in here before with Besel.

Though as he thought about it, he knew that the door was oddly shaped because he had to duck to go through without hitting his head and that it was made of old wood held together by rusting metal slabs bolted on with thick nuts and iron hinges that had creaked as he pushed through. He knew that the path to the central raised bed was made up of firmly set flat stones with squishy mossy plants that grew between the slabs, sometimes overtaking them completely. He knew that the courtyard was small and contained by walls all around it that opened to the sky by the way his voice echoed in the space and the sun seared his eyes. He knew that in addition to the central bed of herbs, there were pots of plants that lined the walls because his staff had tinged against them in the crowded walkway and that some of the plants snaked their way up the walls, capturing some of the echoes and sending down heady fragrances of blooming flowers from above him.