Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 106: Remus Lupin

Harry was chasing a bell-charmed snitch through a dense fog when he realized that he wasn't on a broom at all—but in his bed and the morning alarm was ringing.

Another dream.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes, then swung his legs out of bed, fumbling groggily around the desktop by his bed to find his staff. He shook it out and headed over to the panel on the wall to shut off the alarm before Mei emerged from the depths of her tank.

He remembered that she'd cut herself in her attempt to reach him last night—that she jumped out of the tank and onto the floor. He imagined that she hated looking like a fish out of water in front of all their roommates—and yet that hadn't stopped her.

"Merlin, that's cold," he yelped when he stepped in a residual puddle of water that had escaped notice when Healer Jordan was drying the floor.

"Oh, good, you're turning off the bells—thank you, Harry," Mei said.

"Hey, no problem," Harry said as he found the panel and turned them off.

"Thank you, Mei, for helping me last night. I'm sorry I caused so much commotion," Harry said. "Your cut is all healed, right?"

"Yeah—it was just a scratch. I suppose it'll be my turn next to have an ear-splitting nightmare—though none of you will hear it because I'll be out at sea when it happens," Mei said.

"Oh, really? Where do you sleep?" Harry asked, nearing the tank.

"Just kidding. I have hammock here," Mei said and she grabbed his hand (he suppressed a momentary panic remembering when she'd dragged him into her tank) and brought it to a wet net that was finely knotted and stretched over the side of her tank. "My very own water bed."

"I guess my Uncle Vernon had one when he was a kid—that's why his back gives him trouble now."

"Oh, well, even if I weren't Jiāorén I'd think this is the best way to sleep—though I imagine I'd want the water to be a bit warmer. As it is, it is just perfect for me. It's one of the good things about this whole situation."

"Sleeping is good," Harry said. "What'd you do this weekend?"

"My family spent the weekend at our ancestral home on the ocean—on that island that ... I almost took you to—er, you know, when you fell into my tank."

"When you pulled me into your tank?"

"Details. It was nice. They had to apparate to get there—but I was able to just swim through the Egress."

"Will you have a similar set up once you're at Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"Healer Jordan is working with them on it—they are, well, reluctant—but I think they'll come around. I'm pretty sure I'll have to continue my lessons with Hǎi rén anyway—so they'll need to Egress so that I can travel back and forth for those."

"How are those lessons going?"

There was a long silence. Harry's brows drew together as he tried to figure it out.

"Er, sorry. I shrugged. You can't see that. I dunno. I thought I'd be out of that stupid muggle wheelchair by now and getting around magically and you know, being able to try my wand again."

"So, slow going? How is Jiāorén magic different from wixen magic?"

"It's not that so much as I'm kind of an anomaly. Usually, you're either wixen or Jiāorén and I'm both. Hǎi rén says that it has to do with me... that I need to commit to being one or the other—that I can't be both. But I can't seem to decide, I guess."