Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 34: Puddle wishes

"Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah?" he answered without really realizing that he was answering, he was still hovering over the lake mirroring his reflection.

She shook her arm to get his attention and that landed him back in his body.

"Where were you?" she asked teasingly.

"Oh, sorry. I just was thinking about flying on my broom over that lake."

"Oh," and he was surprised by the amount of emotion she packed into that one syllable.

"I'm going to fly on my broom again, you'll see, Hermione," he said. He was surprised at the flash of anger that flared up in him—that her sadness made him feel—and then he felt bad for feeling rage.

"Oh, Harry," she said and he could hear her tears and he hated that she was crying at the same time that he hated that he'd made her cry.

"I—I'm sor- sorry," she hiccuped. He was still holding on to her arm and she was wiping away her tears.

He stood there stupidly for a little bit and then she turned toward him and leaned her head on his shoulder and he found himself comforting her.

"It's okay, 'Mione," he said. "I'm sorry, but I am. I am going to fly."

She nodded into his shoulder and sniffed loudly. He felt the wetness of her tears soaking through his jumper and T-shirt. He felt Dr. Granger's hand on his other shoulder.

"Are you two okay?" Dr. Granger asked. Hermione lifted her head and Harry felt her nodding.

"Yes, sir," Harry answered.

Hermione blew her nose and Harry surmised that Dr. Granger had handed her a handkerchief. She pulled away and Harry realized that the group had started moving out of the room. Up ahead he could hear the snorting girl (as he now thought of her) whingeing about having to stay at the Center for a month and begging her mom to take her home. Her mom's responses were weary.

"Let's catch up with the group, shall we?" Dr. Granger suggested in a hearty tone—no doubt meant to bolster them up.

"Sure. You ready, Hermione?" Harry asked, squeezing her across her shoulders.

"Yeah, sorry, Harry," she whispered.

"Maybe they have a library here," he said hoping to distract her and she hiccuped a half-hearted laugh.

He held onto her arm again and she led him out of the room. He wished they could have stayed longer and explored down to the lake's edge. He wondered if there would be snakes in the grasses.

Someone followed them tapping a cane that sounded very much like his and Harry wondered who it was. He started to turn to Hermione asking "Who... ?" and then remembered Healer Jordan's request that they not pry into the privacy of the others in the group—though he felt this left him at a disadvantage.

"Who what? Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Never mind," he said, turning back to face the direction they were headed. They had caught up with the group and Harry noticed that Hermione had guided them away from the snorting girl and a little smiled tucked up the corners of his mouth.

Hermione was still occasionally lifting her arm to dab at her eyes and trying to sniff inconspicuously—but he could feel the movement through her body with his hand on her arm. He tried giving a consoling squeeze, but that seemed to make it worse, so he stopped and just listened to Healer Jordan.

Now they were near another small group of people—maybe a family—and there seemed to be some little kids who were getting pretty squirrely. He had noticed them before, but now they were whining about being hungry.