Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 105: Roasted asparagus

As Harry and Ginny headed back to the kitchen, Harry tried out the vibration setting on his staff to see if he could navigate through the house the same way as he had flying around the orchard. The hallway was definitely doable—he could discern the walls, floor, and ceiling and even gathered that there was a fair assortment of pictures on the walls—family photographs from what he remembered.

"Harry, I can kind of feel the vibrations through your body—I can't really make sense of them, but maybe with more practice..." Ginny said.

"Really? That's kind of cool. I want to talk to Peter more about this—I think it is what he uses," Harry said.

"Who's Peter?"

"He's also a resident at the Center—he's in another dormitory room. He was already hard of hearing and then he was in a Potions accident and lost his sight. Erumpent powder, I think," Harry said.

"Oh, wow. Both deaf and blind? How do you talk to him?" Ginny gasped. "That sounds really lonely."

"We use a form of sign language where you touch to talk—it's called Protactile. That's how Gemma and I talk, too," Harry explained and he paused, putting the staff in the crook of his arm where it continued to give him information about his surrounding, including the fact that Ginny had raised her arm to move her hair. He touched the back of Ginny's hand that was on his arm. "This means walking or going, depending on the context."

"Wow, you're really learning a lot, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I guess I am," he said, taking up his staff again.

They were back in the kitchen and it was definitely more challenging to interpret all the haptic messages he was getting from his staff—but he was able to navigate to the kitchen table where he found spots for both of them. He realized that he was using his four remaining senses more fully than he ever had before—it wasn't just interpreting the messages from his staff. He was listening to the sounds of the Weasleys moving around the room and their voices, the sounds of the various magical objects working—the knitting in the sitting room, the pots washing in the sink, the ticking of the ever-present clock, the crackling of the fire—coupled with the smells of food cooking mingled with the gentle smoke from the fireplace. He could even tell where things were piled high on the table and where it was more open—avoiding sending a landslide of scrolls to the ground again—the vibrations were definitely better than the constant stream of words now that he was getting the hang of interpreting them.

Ginny settled next to Luna who had moved on to Erklings with Fred and George. Charlie had joined in on the discussion, too.

"Oh, those are in Romania, too—they have to ward homes and schoolyards against them," Charlie said.

Harry felt Ginny shudder next to him.

"What are Erklings?" Harry asked.

"Nasty elf-like creatures that eat children—though I always thought that parents made up those stories to keep children from wandering off," Ron said with a mouth full of food from Harry's right.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley! We do not start eating before our guests have been served!" Mrs. Weasley hissed from across the room.

Harry heard Ron swallow quickly.

"Sorry, mum," he muttered.

Harry started to get up, but Ginny pulled him back down. "Where are you going?" she whispered.

"I was going to help out," Harry whispered back.

"It's all ready—we just need mum to sit down so that we can start. The only way that'll happen is if everyone is at the table waiting," Ginny explained. "Hey, how do you eat without seeing? Sorry, that's a stupid question."