Idiosyncrasy |Harry Potter

Chapter Thirty

To show his gratitude for Duncan's assistance with the chaos in the corridor during Valentine's Day, Harry decided to spend some time with Zakari and Duncan. Zakari seemed more than happy with the boy's company, but Harry had to admit it was slightly awkward due to the fact that Zakari had a whole entourage of people that traveled with him. There was Jeanie , Eve and Franklin, who stuck close to the boy in case he needed anything. While Zakari didn't seem bother by it, Harry just put on a face to make everything appear okay. 

In all honesty, Harry just needed a distraction from everything that was happening around him. Since uncovering the diary, Ron and Hermione seemed set on him getting rid of it, mainly Hermione but Harry believed there was something to the diary that he needed to figure out. All he wanted was answers but it seemed the more he went searching for answers, the more questions came up. Rather than giving himself another headache, he focused on what Zakari was doing. 

He looked up to see Zakari with a bright smile on his face as he was signing something to Duncan. Duncan began rummaging through the boy's bag to find something. 

"Does the dog actually understand sign language?" He turned to Franklin, who was seated nearby reading a book.

The man peered up from his book and glanced over in their direction.

"Oh yes, that's what he was trained to do." Franklin answered. "Of course, he knowledge of sign is not as extensive as a person's, but he does know plenty of hand signs to assist Zakari."

"So what exactly does Zakari need help with that requires Duncan's assistance all the time?"

"Alerting him is a big one." Franklin told him. "Obviously, Zakari cannot hear, so if people were to call him or if he needed to hear something such as an alarm and no one is around to tell him, Duncan is there to assist him. He can hear it, so if he's alert to the noise, more than likely Zakari will pay attention to him to see what he's looking at. He's trained to make physical contact with Zakari and lead him towards the noise."

"And Duncan just automatically knows what Zakari wants by the sign?"

"Well, Duncan was trained to know a variety of signs with Zakari, since he is mostly non-verbal it's important for Duncan to have obedience down with certain signs. Such as sit, stay...you know, the whole works. It's a very enduring process, and plenty of dogs fail within the first few months of training. It takes a long time, but it's very rewarding to both the dog and owner. As you can see."

Harry looked back over to Zakari who was giggling with Duncan in his lap, licking the boy's face. He smiled before thanking Franklin and allowing the man to return to his book.

My mum works at St. Mungo's as a Healer. Zakari wrote down to Harry as the two boys went back and forth exchanging facts about one another.

And your father? Harry scribbled down.

Zakari stared down at the parchment paper for a few minutes unsure of how to go about that conversation. However, before he could write anything down, Harry wrote something else down.

He's the Crow, right?

The boy gave a solemn nod of his head, hoping that Harry didn't see it as a bad thing as his father wasn't a bad man at all. But as he waited for Harry's negative reaction, nothing of the sort occurred. Instead, Harry continued to write other things down.

What does he do now?

Zakari smiled as he lifted up his quill again.

He makes wands with my grandfather. He's learning right now, but Grandpa says he's learning quickly and we'll start making them soon. 

Zakari still felt the need to defend his father's name, knowing the prejudices that came between the Gryffindor and Slytherin house.

My parents are good people. My father just happened to make a lot of mistakes when he was younger, but he paid for his crimes. He knew what he did was wrong at the time and turned himself in and I hold the highest respect for him doing that.

He waited as Harry wrote something else down.

Did he ever kill anyone?

The boys stared at each other for a moment.

"I think they're adorable sitting together all the time talking about...whatever it is they talk about...or rather write about." Jeanie smiled to Eve.

Eve looked up at her from her homework and glanced over in their direction.

"Judging by the looks on their faces, I don't think the conversation is adorable. They look like someone just told them their grandmothers died tragically."

"Eve!"

"Ooops." She responded flatly. "I mean...oh goodness, they're so cute. Just look at them."

Jeanie gave Eve a look.

"You have a lot of problems, Eve."

"I do, I have plenty of them. Still doesn't take away that those two look completely disturbed over there, but the fact that you find it adorable makes me question plenty about you, Jeanie."