Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 74: Bells on their toes

Ms. Midgeon explained that they could keep the training clothes for their next class and simply wait on the benches if they were in the O&M room. As Harry went back to his changing room to put on his trainers, he wondered how it was going to work with both the navigation class and the balance class in the same space. Tony and Arig were in Gemma's balance class. Harry was feeling like he could use more work on his balance, but also wanted to learn more about navigating with his staff.

He went back to the benches and found an empty space on the bench to sit. Gemma came back out and sat next to him.

"Do you have a broom here, Gemma?" Harry asked.

She tapped once on his arm, "no," and then tapped on his chest with her finger. It took him a second to understand, "Uh, yes, in my staff," he answered.

She took his palm in her hand and wrote, "S-H-O-W" space "M-E-?"

He nodded and was summoning it from his staff when he heard Arig approaching them, "Ha! I have mine in my crutches, too! Sometimes I'm really tempted to get it out and just fly. Especially when my arms are killing me. Of course, I can't do that out on Charing Cross Road, but maybe I could do it here in the Center."

Harry laughed as he pulled his broom out of his staff imagining Arig zooming through the corridors on a broom.

"Oh, wow! A Nimbus 2000!" Tony said, sitting on a bench in front of them. "Do you think I could try it? See if I can manage a broom with my new arms?"

"You mean in here?" Harry asked, his fingertips running over the familiar grain of the wood. Gemma was also feeling the broom handle—her fingers brushed against his.

"Yeah, could I just take it for a spin? It's padded, so even if I crash, it's not going to get hurt," Tony pleaded.

"I guess so," Harry said reluctantly. He really wanted to fly, but he wanted to do it in a larger space where he was less likely to run into a wall right away.

Harry held the broom out so that Tony could take it. It was hard for him to grasp and it took a moment for him to take it from Harry, but he managed. "Thanks!"

Harry listened to Tony's footsteps as he walked to the padded area of the gymnasium and listened, trying to hear him take off. He could hear some of the sounds of someone flying on a broom—the sound of wind moving through clothing and the very slight rattling of the bristles of the broom rubbing together whenever Tony went close by them. Mostly what he could hear was Tony's whoops of joy as he flew. He sounded really happy.

"That does sound like fun," Aminah said softly. Harry hadn't noticed that she had sat down on the bench behind them.

"Yeah, it does," Harry agreed.

"Even though I wasn't on a Quidditch team, I did like flying lessons. It is really fun just to zoom around," Aminah said.

Gemma wrote a question mark in his hand.

"Hey Aminah, come over here so that Gemma can read your notes," Harry suggested.

"Oh, sorry, Gemma," Aminah stood up behind them. He felt Gemma helping guide Aminah over the bench between them and then to a seat on her other side. He leaned out of the way.

Harry heard someone approaching using a staff for guidance. He imagined it was Godric. Fitz and Adam were sitting on a bench on the other side of the corridor talking quietly.

"Is Tony flying on a broom?" Godric asked.

"Um, yes," Harry answered.

"Hey, Tony. Come down here," Godric yelled.