Chapter 2
Harry continued to circle the space between us in frustrated silence as I watched from my seat. He stared into nothing as he moved, no longer focusing on me as a target for his troubles.
The hand with his wand was held down to his side, aiming loosely at the carpet, the other lifted to his face as he bit his nails down to a stump.
His eyes dimmed in intensity as he lost himself in his thoughts. This had likely been quite the issue for him, with the way he exploded as soon as the flame was ignited.
I didn't know why he would be getting these visions, other than how he was there when I escaped the before. He knew me, however, and not in a good way.
He didn't seem to care that much about me now, though, I thought, as he dismissed my existence.
I tugged at my jumper sleeves awkwardly, not willing to regain his ire by saying anything; his eyes were really quite unnerving.
From downstairs, there was a loud bang with an eruption of noise. The commotion brought the other to a stall, and I saw him take a hopeful step towards the door. It sounded like a crowd, with cheerful chatter and loud bickering. They were creating quite the ruckus, but a welcome one after the hours spent in a tense silence with Harry.
A caterwauling shriek was soon heard from downstairs, on top of the newcomers, shouting illegible slurs and threats in the voice of what I instinctively placed as the matron of the house, though it could be easily mistaken for a screaming fox. The newcomers seemed to begin arguing with the lady, despite utterly failing to placate her.
It wasn't long, however, that she was silenced very abruptly, unable to even finish her diatribe.
With that, came the pounding of feet as people came running upstairs, towards us.
I wasn't enthused.
My back hit the very edge of the couch, and I leaned into the sofa arm as far away from the door as I could get without fully standing up. I put my feet on the ground, sitting up stiffly in place.
A quick glance to Harry showed a new giddiness that seemed foreign from how he had been acting before this. His face held a steadily growing smile, and he looked ready to bounce in place with his excitement.
The door burst open and a gaggle of teenagers came in, calling out to Harry. They formed a loose circle around the boy, and two gingers attacked him gently, grabbing him in a playful hold. Harry laughed loudly, looking completely at peace in the heart of the group, acting as their only focus.
They didn't even notice me. That is, until I caught one of the girls staring at me.
She snatched a nearby arm with a vice grip, and stared in silence as the recipient questioned her, until the entire group turned to my direction.
After a beat, she shifted protectively in front of the group, and whipped out a wand from a sleeve, pointing it straight at me.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, tone sharp, spitting out the syllables as if they could cut.
I froze in place, hands clenched against my knees. She, too, had eery eyes, glowing an icy blue.
As my silence stretched on, she drew herself up in a righteous fury, and began inching towards me with predator-like steps, until Harry finally stopped her. The boy slid in front of them, one hand up in a placating motion.
"This isn't what you think." That wasn't very helpful, Harry.
"Oh? And what is it supposed to be, Harry?" she spat out, venomous. "Tom Riddle isn't sitting in your living room, huh?"
"Well- Yes, but, Ginny, you don't understand-"
"I'm just mistaking a baby dark lord on Sirius' sofa, right. It's all just my imagination." She shifted in place to give Harry an indomitable look, careful to continue aiming at me as she did. "Thanks, Harry, I'm so glad you've enlightened me."
Baby dark lord?
I had my wand again, my real wand. A pure white wood - nothing like the birch one I held in my other hand. A wave of glee rushed through me as I stood up, heady with euphoria.
A small wheezing sound came from below, but I ignored it, grinding my foot into the body under it.
There was no reason to hide any longer; this was my world now. I belonged here.
I carved my place into this world, and there was no going back.
No one could take it from me.
Harry was holding a hand to his head, grabbing at his temple in pain, two of his friends rushing to his aid as the others wavered between joining or guarding him from me.
Ginny had lost her acerbic nature, instead glancing at him worriedly, still standing sentry over me.
I could still feel the lingering sensation of gripping onto my wand, and felt a small shiver wrack my frame. The muscles in my hand spasmed and I clenched it into a fist.
Harry leaned back, standing up straight as he recovered from his bout of vertigo, stepping back from the others' fussing, and turning to me. He stared - not angry this time, just resigned and lost. Despite the volume of his speech, the words were clear in the quiet of the room.
"You don't know what the visions are, do you?" he spoke, defeated. I slowly shook my head in response. Ginny made a noise of distress, and faltered in her stance.
"Visions?" she repeated, sounding wounded. "Harry..."
The boy avoided eye contact with her, instead moving so that he could sit down again. When the others lagged behind, he gestured at the seat next to him, patting the cushion a couple times.
The two oldest gingers sat down first and with enthusiasm, one of them managing to squeeze in between Harry and the sofa arm, and the other squashing him from the other side. Following this, a frizzy haired girl pulled another ginger with her onto the couch, cautiously glancing between the girl next to me and Harry.
There was a glint in her eyes that gave me the impression she was inspecting me, like a teacher would do to a student they know is cheating.
Ginny reluctantly followed suit, prying her wand away from my direction, and shoving herself roughly into the middle of the pack.
I was almost impressed that they managed to fit everyone, but the way they shifted and elbowed each other belied their subpar job. It certainly dulled the discomfort of being held at court by a gaggle of youths.
Not completely, though. I could see the majority of them strained to keep silent, giving me a wolfish look as if they wanted to rip me apart to figure out what made me tick.
When Harry spoke, he did so with authority, acting as the de-facto leader of the group. "Let's talk." He gestured to his side of the room. "We'll ask you a question, one at a time, and you can ask one back. That's only fair, right?"
Despite asking for confirmation, it was clear that he would brook no argument. I nodded, if only as a formality, and he continued.
"Cool, first off, me." He leaned forwards, elbowing a ginger as a hand wandered to his side in a friendly sneak attack. "Do you recognise anyone in this room?"
I scanned over the faces once more, and it revealed nothing. Once again, I shook my head. Realising it was my turn to ask, I hesitantly verbalised a question. "What are your names?"
Ginny made a face at my voice, and turned her head, physically cringing. She crossed her arms, and shouldered herself further into the couch. I could see her face pale slightly, and subtly leaned further away from her.
Harry hesitated before forcing himself to speak, forcibly overcoming his scruples with the idea. "I'm Harry Potter, this is Fred and George Weasley." He gestured to his sides. "Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger."
I nodded along, glad to realise I didn't mishear Ginny's name.
The next to speak was Hermione, who intoned her question with a determined thirst for answers. "What are the visions that Harry has been talking about? Do you experience them as well?"
I looked down into my lap, avoiding what would have been surprisingly normal brown eyes, except for the way they now quite literally lit up in the excitement. "They feel like memories."
The girl seemed to buzz in interest as she restrained further comment, unsatisfied with my short answer. Alternatively, Ginny retracted even further, before releasing the tension onto me.
"I hate the way you talk." she seethed, arms stiff against each other. I could only stare in confusion, unsure what I had done wrong. "You always hiss, like you're an actual snake. I swear you do it on purpose."
Ah, the lisp. I guessed that I could see how it would be intimidating, but it felt like I was missing something. I was somewhat offended that she was snapping at me over something I couldn't control, but I guessed that this could apply to any part of the situation.
More aware of my speech now, I asked another question. "What do you see in the visions?" I still couldn't help the slight sibilance that sounded in my voice, and deliberately kept my eyes away from Ginny's.
"Just now... I saw a wand in both of my hands, and smoke? I think? It was hard to notice anything else before it ended." Harry replied, losing any apprehension he had towards me as he got lost in thought. He didn't mention anything about the giddy euphoria I had felt, leading me to the assumption that he possibly only received the visuals but I wasn't sure.
In all honesty, I was more concerned with the thoughts that had run through my head, with the strength of a bull. In comparison to now, the visions felt incredibly vibrant; emotive in a way I couldn't even hold a candle to at the moment. It made everything feel quite... Dull.
"So you're ickle Tommy Riddle, huh?" one of the twins spoke up, cavalier in manner but with a face that couldn't quite conceal his anger. It made me stiffen further, fingers gripping each other with an unbidden strength. "What did you see in the vision?"
I swallowed my nerves, and decided to reply honestly - Severus had done some sort of magic to see if I was lying, and I didn't want to see what this pack of dogs would do to me if I tried. "The same as Harry, but I felt oddly happy in it." After I finished replying, I glanced up at the group again, to see a thoughtful expression flit across the ginger's face.
Ginny hadn't stopped glaring at me.
"I don't think I've felt anything in them, actually," Harry pondered, leaning against the other twin as he thought. "Or hear anything. It's only been visuals for me."
The bushy haired girl levelled a thoughtful glance at me, before posing an idea. "So what you're saying is that Harry doesn't experience the entirety of the visions?" She folded her hands onto her lap primly. "This also doesn't match up with the visions you've had before, Harry. In those, you have always had You-Know-Who's entire perspective."
Harry nodded in agreement, brows furrowing as he contemplated it more. Beside him, the twin who hadn't spoken was trying to coax his hair into spikes. Next to him, Ginny had lost some of her ire as she rolled her eyes at, what I assumed was, her brother's antics.
"Do you think this could be because he's not, uh, fully You-Know-Who?" the final redhead added. "Like how your visions were weirder before he got his body back? I mean, did you actually see how he showed up here, Harry?"
Said boy's eyes snapped to Ron's, and an excited gleam of revelation entered his bright green eyes. "Oh! Oh of course, Ron! How could I have missed it?" he blurted out, shooting to his feet as he began to pace again, shaking his head slightly in an attempt to dislodge the phantom feelings of Fred or George's fingers. "That locket must've held some of Voldemort's memories, just like the diary!"
At his words, the group winced, Ginny trying to hide the reaction by freezing up momentarily, before forcing herself to relax.
Voldemort? It sounded French, though I didn't exactly remember what French was. I could tentatively assume it must've been the same person as You-Know-Who, and I could also tentatively assume that these people had something to do with me, again.
From the way they spoke about it, I would have assumed it would trigger another vision, and yet it decided to remain stringently unfamiliar to me.