Chapter Number: 10
Chapter Name: The Gift
" That's pretty easy." Harry said in his cheery voice. " I want to give it to Hermione. She is smart, and sensible. I would have given it to Ron," Ali quirked his eyebrows for odd reason, " but since he's not a girl I'll -"
Ali interrupted him. " You don't have to justify your choice, Harry. It is yours, and yours alone. I'll guide you through it, and that is as much as I should ."
" What do we have to do?"
" First we have to go into her room, and then we would-"
" Wait" he said putting up his hand to show that he wasn't prepared to do it. " I can't do that. I said I'll ask her permission first before I enter her room. We'll tell her tomorrow morning. She'll say yes and we'll go in."
" You can't do that." said Mr. Pasha.
" Why not?" asked Harry, deeply unsettled that he can't do what he wants.
" It won't work if she knows it's a test."
" So I have to break a promise?... No I won't do it."
" You don't see it. Do you? I broke a promise that united your father and mother. Had I kept the promise I had made on my last day at Hogwarts, you would not have had been born. The world would be a hell under the that DarkLord's command…" He paused a moment. " Sometimes the promises that we make have to be broken. Do you think she doesn't want the gift or is it that you don't think she's going to die for you?
" No!" Harry said loudly. " Both Ron and Hermione have always been there for me, when I needed them. They were willing to die for me and I don't need a test to see how much they care for me... The have done it in the past and would do it in the future whether or not I give the gift or not." Harry's voice tinged of anger and frustration.
" That's exactly why you have to give the gift. The gift is given to strengthen friendships. Not as a reward. If you two are great friends she'll see that you didn't break the promise, since it was there to stop you from peeping on her. Which is not what we are doing... are we Harry?" Asked Mr. Pasha in a soft tone.
" No. You're right."
" Okay then. Lets make a start shall we?... "
Hermione was sleeping in the bed with her whole body covered in a thin blanket and she was sweating profusely. That is the image he saw when he entered. " Harry! Don't do it! Don't go after him! Harry!" she said softly out, throwing half of the covers off herself, and tossing.
" She really cares for you doesn't she? Both her and this Ron person I keep hearing from you two. If he is half the friend Hermione is, he would have had made an excellent initiate. You're truly lucky to have such good friends…" Ali paused. " Too much mushy stuff. Lets get on with it shall we?."
Harry gave a nod. Still unwilling to close the rest of the distance.
" Put your right hand…" trailed off Ali noticing that Harry wasn't next to him. He turned and said, " if we don't get started now, we'll be here till morning. We do have a reason for doing this Harry."
Harry gave a small nod, and took his place. "" Put your right hand on her forehead and think about her. Think of the first time you met, the time she helped you, the first time you helped her. Think about the way she - That's it." Cheered Mr. Pasha as he saw the first signs of white glow coming from Harry's hand on Hermione's forehead.
"... Pace yourself, Harry! It'll happen by itself, you are only a bystander in this play. If she's successful, then it will be done and she'll come out of her body. If she's not you both wake up in your own body, and she won't remember a thing.
Harry was waiting for something to happen when he felt his stomach drop and in an instant the scene changed from Hermione's face to a white room. From where he was, he could see the room being slowly populated by plants, trees, people, insects, and birds, both magic and muggle. Once all the elements for the scenario had arrived, including two real life statutes of Harry and Voldemort. But they looked like they had been drawn there - no life.
Then there was a burst of yellow, and Hermione was in the middle of the room. The scene suddenly burst into life, and had Harry not already seen everything still, he would have had concluded they were always as lively.
It was heart wrenching for him to see Hermione desperately try and warn the Harry-look-alike, but when she could not seem to get his attention she did a desperate thing. She raced to head off the curse before it hit dream Harry on the back, when she was close enough, she pushed his look alike out of the way, getting herself hit by the curse in the process. She fell to the floor with a sickening thud.
It was a terrible scene. One that made him almost physically sick. Hermione was the one person he hadn't seen die in front of him all summer long. And the scene was a making him sick. He felt unable to really do anything, as first Hermione and then the rest of the scene's "props" disappeared. Until only he was left there, alone and in that white room, the world seemed like hell.
Then with a spectacular white flash Harry was back to sitting on her bed and Harry's body glowing in a light shade of green. It turned liquid in the air around him and started to gather mass on top of Hermione's sleeping body in the shape of a small tennis ball. As it gathered Harry could see the sphere bob up and down slightly in the imaginary currents in an imaginary river. Seeing Hermione's face, still with colour made him relax.
As minutes passed, the ball started to diminish in size but at the same time the brightness started to increase at the same rate. When it reached the size of a small coin the sphere could hardly be seen without squinting. Then without warning the small green sphere sped toward Hermione like a bullet and impacted on her chest. The greenness then started to pass right through her body. Once the greenness had enveloped her forehead, Harry could see an imaginary scar shaped leak appear on her forehead for a second before it disappeared. Hermione coughed and sat up on her bed desperately trying to gasp for air.
It was weird seeing Hermione both sleeping and sitting up awake from waist up. Hermione came forward and hugged Harry who was still a little shocked. " Oh!"
" Harry you're alright! I had a nightm- "
Then she noticed the slight green halo on Harry and mistook him for an angel.
" Wait a minute... It wasn't a dream was it? I must be dead! Wow this is so… so… freaky. So you must be my angel. I died in my dream, so I must have died in real life. Where's the white light? How come you don't have wings and why don't you have white robes on?" said Hermione trying to analyze what had happened.
' Leave it to Hermione to ask death how everything worked. Good thing I'm not death otherwise she might actually get thrown into hell for asking too many questions' thought Harry. " You're not dead, Hermione."
" Then what's this-" snapped Hermione at Harry before breaking down and crying from the confusion "-I saw you-know-who fire a curse at me-".
Harry gently pulled her closer and using his right hand slowly lifted up her chin and said, " That was a test. A test to see if you were worthy. I knew you were. But it had to be taken. "
Harry made Hermione even more confused, " What test? What are you talking about? Did I pass? I didn't did I? I mean, I'm dead."
Harry shook her a little with his hands on her shoulder. " You're. Not. Dead. Hermione. It was a test, and you passed. With more than flying colour." He left out how he felt seeing her die. "I gave you the ability to Astral Project, just like me. I chose you... Well… That's not exactly true. You're the only one that I would seriously consider giving the powers to and ... you were the only one that fit the requirements."
Hermione was speechless and Harry mistook it for more confusion. So he tried to say it more simply, " I gave you the ability to read books in you sleep."
Before he even finished saying it he saw Hermione's face had lit up as if she had jut received 20 years worth of Christmas presents in one day. It was almost the same as the time he had received the Firebolt, her expression was that of pure delight.
" You mean I can do the same things as you. Wow."
" Not exactly. I gave you the ability to Astral Project and that's it. I couldn't give you anything other than that. There are some things you have to know." Harry didn't know where it was all coming from, but he was saying things as they came to his mind. " First: You can't tell anyone what you know. Not Ron, NOT Victor, NOT your parents, NOT even Professor McGonagall. Not Ever. Is that understood?" He waited for her to nod or say something to that effect.
" Yes." Hermione looked like she was going to bust with excitement.
" Second: You have to go easy on going through things. I have a good tolerance for pain now. But at the beginning I have to bear all the pain for you phasing through things. After about four or five moths apparently you slowly start to feel the pain from what I have deduced from the stories that Mr. Pasha told me."
" Okay." Replied Hermione who was now walking around in circles around Harry, taking in every detail of his Astral self.
Bit surprised at Hermione was doing he asked, " Okay... What the hell are you doing!?"
" I was just checking out one of my theories..." said Hermione as Harry could have sworn he saw her blush slightly.
" You already have theories.... Anyway there is one more thing.... Well it's kind of an apology -" said Harry in a voice that was very sincere.
" For what?"
" Ah I broke the promise I made to you... I wasn't supposed to come to your room and I did." Said Harry grinning broadly while he scratched his Astral Head.
" Did you see me naked? Tell me you didn't see me change my clothes?" asked Hermione whose face was turning deeper shade of red.
Harry vehemently denied that he did any such thing. " No!"
" Well... That's OK then." She said. " I trust you, and it's not a promise that's that important in the great scheme of things. And that was joke promise anyway. I knew you wouldn't sneak a peek at me. You're not a pervert Harry Potter, at least... I hope not." They were close before but then Hermione put her arms around Harry and kissed him on the cheek several times. " That was for giving me the best gift I could have had asked for in my whole life." She pulled herself away from him, before continuing, "You know I've tried to imagine what it was like but it's not really that what I thought it would be like."
Harry was bemused and asked her what she thought it was like. "Well for one thing I imagined you...er... Nothing" she stopped and now she was blushing very red indeed.
Harry couldn't contain himself and from Hermione's level of embarrassment he deduced she probably wouldn't tell him why she was so embarrassed. So he did the next best thing, to asking her politely.
He blackmailed her with the promise that he would take the gift away. He didn't know if it was even possible but the bluff worked immediately, as Hermione yielded very quickly.
She answered the question in one breath." Ithoughtyouwalkedaroundnaked! A-andd just didn't tell me so I wouldn't feel uncomfortable around you!" Hermione blushed even more if that was possible.
" You really thought -" Harry started to say it, but broke up in mid sentence laughing, much to Hermione's relief.
At this point Mr. Pasha put his head part way through the door and asked if it was ok to come in. He told them, that they were going to the Septanic games tomorrow. Since they weren't voting they have to sneak in using Astral Projection. So Harry and Hermione had better get used to going through wall and magical elements and then he took his head back out again.
" Well we'd better practice. It's gonna be hell" said Harry.
" Ok. So want do I do. Just stand here and look pretty."
" NO! You're going to go through the walls, metals and magic. We're gonna head to my room. If anything bad happens or I can't stand the pain anymore, I'll wake up. If that happens, you'll wake up too. OK."
" So what do -"
" Patience. If it's one thing I've learnt, it's that you have to go very slow.
First-" with that the slow crawl to Harry relearning pain tolerance started again.
At the beginning the slightest touch by Hermione on anything sent vicious pain right through his body, but by the time Mr. Pasha came to the room in the morning Harry had gone through and almost managed to go through magical object with severe pain. Neither Harry nor Hermione knew that the level of pain that he suffered through to get to that point in his training was something that would take others months to do.
Mr. Pasha knew, it might be possible to accelerate Harry's pain tolerance if he didn't know that it takes about two to three months to become completely immune to the other person's pain. But even he was surprised to see how far they had gone in only about six hours. He didn't say anything but decided to owl Professor Dumbledore.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
You were right! Partial truths seem to make his abilities better than they really should be. Today he went through six hours of training with Miss Granger and achieved something that the best of us take one or two months to do.
I think he has figured out the part about why Snape hates his father and him very much. It was a mistake on my part to leak that information, but I think he has greater respect for him now. Though I had to pretend I didn't remember Snape's name.
I would be honored to take up the job you had offered me before and as such I have decided that I will give both him and Miss Granger advanced training during their stay. I would like to know one thing. Is it just me or is history repeating itself? Miss Granger could almost be a twin of Lily and Harry is very much like James. Is this part of the prophecy or is this simply fate playing a cruel trick on us?
There is still the matter of me bringing the flying carpet with me to resolve with the Ministry of Magic in Britain. There is no need for worry at this end, but if it is possible, please exert influence on your side. I would need this equipment often, as I'm unable to ride a broomstick because of an old war injury.
Sincerely Yours
Mr. A. Pasha
Minister for International Affairs
Morocco
(Signet Locus of 1st order, Maker of the Finest Carpets for
twelve years, Champion for Freeman Rights, Govan Arichect)
After Mr. Pasha left, Harry re-entered his body and instantly he found himself on the bed. No sooner had he gained his bearings, and recovering from a slight case of a headache, Hermione burst into the room, jumping right on top of him on the bed. Hugging and kissing him like there was no tomorrow. Had it been any other time, he would have had been confused to find out what exactly was the reason for her sudden shower of affection and concern, but he knew the reason this time. He had to literally push her off him, to talk to her.
Hermione was still full of spirit when Harry had kicked her off him and to the floor. And that's not the only thing she was full of. Questions were shot at him faster than his mind was capable of even understanding them, much less attempt answers to them. " How are you feeling? Does it hurt? Do you need a massage? You want me to go and get breakfast -" She was full of concern for Harry.
" It's Ok. The pain isn't there in the morning and besides after a while you grow to like it. What's with the thousand questions?"
" Like...Pain " asked Hermione incredulously, looking at Harry as if he was mad.
" Yes. I know it's a bit strange" replied Harry trying to defend himself, but Hermione cut him off.
" A bit?" retorted Hermione.
" Well, maybe a lot!" Harry said feeling his cheeks flame slightly. " But the thing is, after a while you become used to it. I just thought of something, and I'm not sure if you'll like it."
" What is it?"
" Well you know Vold- sorry... You-know -" said Harry.
Hermione interrupted, " Harry, you can call him Voldemort." even as she said it she shivered. " But try to use it sparingly..."
He knew Ron would never in a million years agree to say that, no matter how strong Harry got. It was in his blood to call the dark lord, "you-know-who".
" Ok! Voldemort gave me that scar. I haven't had a dream all summer and it looks like he hasn't turned his attention to me yet. When I gave you the power I saw a scar shape appear in your forehead. I'm kind of afraid that you'll get dragged into the nightmare-It is painful, very painful. Specially the first time. If you want I can stop-"
" Don't you dare Harry Potter." said Hermione indignantly, as if Harry had proposed to do something really indecent.
" I always wanted to read all the books in the library and now that I have a chance of memorizing all the books, you want to take it away from me. If you do that I'll personally kill you." She said with mock anger, before smiling broadly as she got off the bed. Then she pointed at the bed and told him to stay in it.
" Stay! I'll be right back. Don't move an inch, if you know what's good for you."
" OK"
Five minutes later, Hermione entered the room, with a tray full of food. She had brought enough for five people. She suddenly took on the personality of her mother who like Mrs. Weasley felt that he didn't eat enough. She basically spoon-fed all the food, taking only a little for herself.
Mr. Pasha had come into the room at that point and told them that they both had an appointment with the optometrists at 10 am. Both of them quickly finished their food and rushed to get ready. Harry was glad he had changed some of this wizarding money into muggle money since he was going to a muggle doctor. The trip was abnormally normal. It only took five minutes to get through the crowded streets.
When they reached the office, they were moderately surprised. Though there was quite a few people there, their number came up fairly soon. Though Hermione originally wanted contacts, she found a set of glasses that she liked better, and in her opinion were better than contacts.
She modeled them for Harry, who had to agree with her. It actually made her seem smarter than she already was. Harry did wonder if that was even possible. She was slightly long sighted; exact opposite of Harry who was short sighted.
As it turned out Harry needed a pair of new glasses anyway. The powers that they had before needed to be replaced with, not something that was more powerful, but something that was of lesser power. But not by much. (After they had finished their shopping, Mr. Pasha explained that it was most likely Harry's self recovery powers kicking in. He told them it was rare, but it was known to happen.) Hermione's barely qualified to be called glasses, since they were of so little in power. She was told not to read the books with fine print or to not hold the books too close to her eyes, and it would eventually remove the need to wear anything like that.
Harry chose a set of glasses with square shaped lenses, actually Hermione chose the frames that she thought brought out the most of Harry's emerald eyes. Harry found it hard to believe that he needed to have that specific pair of glasses, to bring out his eyes. He did not see the need to change from his old faithful round frames to the new rectangular ones that Hermione had chosen for him. He did try to refuse to take them, but Hermione always had a way of making him listen.
Hermione's were similar but hers were made of glittering silver, instead of the plain black of Harry's. Though she did manage to get Harry to take the fames that she liked, he absolutely refused to take the dark red ones that she had chosen. Even her smile wasn't powerful enough to make him change his mind the second time about the frames. He settled on getting the plain black one. It was a minor victory. But it was a victory none the less.
<<~~~>>
END OF CHAPTER
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