» Two days later
'We're fucked.' Said Harry, staring ahead into the bathroom's mirror; a numb disbelief etched across his young features. 'We're actually fucked.' He repeated, shaking his head in a sentiment akin to despair.
I looked back at him from within the mirror grimly, my focus wholly aimed toward my brother's muddy, orange-coloured eyes.
Harry's irises were getting redder by the day, his pupils slowly growing outwards into a vampire's trademark slits.
A vampire's transformation apparently wasn't instant; contrary to how the both of us thought that it would be.
I really couldn't see a way out of telling someone about this - Other than wearing a blindfold for twenty-four hours a day, which would obviously be less than ideal.
My brother had barely gotten any rest after our recent vampire encounter, and when he finally drifted off to sleep, he had awoken not even an hour later due to a horrible sensation burning throughout the surface of his eyes.
The familiar searing pain had made Harry leap out of his bed in shock and sprint to the nearest bathroom - Somehow able to see perfectly well through the pitch-blackness of the dark, unlit orphanage.
He'd stared on in confusion at his lime green irises and diamond-shaped pupils; which were a far cry from the deep emerald green they had been before going to bed.
In a spectacularly unhelpful fashion, as Harry could only avoid people's eye contact for so long, Ashley had been the first person to notice Harry's change.
I had no doubt that if Andrew hadn't reigned her in; every single person staying in St George's orphanage would have known about my brother's eyes by midday.
Thank god for small mercies.
Harry had done the only thing he could - He played dumb, going on about his day seemingly unbothered.
On the inside though, the boy was starting to get anxious.
That feeling had worsened now, and the constant prickling discomfort crawling we were suffering from wasn't helping lessen it either.
It was honestly a wonder our eyes weren't permanently watering under the constant irritation.
「 I don't see a way out which involves keeping this a secret. 」I said, shaking my head ruefully.「 Pen a letter to McGonagall. I think that might be our only option at this point. 」
'And tell her what exactly?' Harry hissed back; the boy's anxious gaze boring into me. 'That I'm turning into a fucking vampire? Are you serious? What if she stakes me or something? We don't even know if they aren't killed on sight.'
I frowned, taking a moment to ponder my brother's very valid-sounding concerns.
「 I don't think that would be the case. 」I replied, shaking my head again and beginning to pace up and down the mirror-dimension's bathroom.「 That bar might've been hidden, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was because they were vampires. 」
'Oh fucking hell Art,' Harry cried, turning away from the mirror sharply and ripping me out of it. 'That's exactly why Gerard or whatever his name was panicked and you know it. Turning me was probably an insurance policy of theirs - Mutual fucking destruction if I went for help.'
I paused.
That actually sounded like a viable deduction - And a horribly realistic one at that.
Even if it were true however, it didn't explain how the female had known Harry's name.
His full, exact name. Like she had been expecting his arrival.
「 It's either my suggestion or we run away and give up learning magic forever. 」I said bluntly, my tone losing its usually soft edge.「 Considering McGonagall knew our parents well enough to know about the Red Ward, I think she's our best option right now. 」
Our vision began to blur. My brother wasn't used to my derision. His mind was a mess.
Then, just as suddenly as it began, his misery stopped.
'I don't have any magic now regardless. Not without your help anyway.' Harry replied, blinking away his unshed tears. He gritted his teeth together in frustration. 'But fine - I'll go write it now.'
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» A few hours later
'Where the fuck is Gawain?' Harry cursed, stalking out of his dormitory and into the hallway, newly written letter in hand. His mood had not improved in the slightest. 'He's got to be ignoring our summons - I'm sure of it. He up and vanished been ever since we asked him about that stupid bracelet of his.'
Harry's words rang true.
The day after our very eventful trip to St Mungo's and Diagon Alley, my brother had spent some time interrogating Gawain - Or, more accurately, attempting to interrogate him.
Given our lack of an effective method of communication, my brother could only ask the owl yes and no questions; requesting one hoot for yes, and two for no.
It took ten long frustrating minutes for Harry to realise Gawain was deliberately messing with him, and had been doing so throughout the entire convoluted session.
Suffice it to say, my brother wasn't too happy about being played for a fool.
The scarred owl had disappeared into the night sky after Harry had taken a swing at him out of pure frustration and hadn't returned thus far.
It wasn't exactly my brother's most mature decision, but in his defence, even I couldn't deny how smug Gawain had looked throughout the entire interview.
On my end though, I was honestly beginning to think that the barn owl was an animagus in disguise.
Gawain's personality felt too human to be true - Though that might just be the norm for magically altered pets. I didn't really have any sort of reference point to fact-check most of my suspicions concerning him.
A soft but painful mass of feathers slammed into the back of Harry's head, jerking me back to the present.
『 Ah. 』I thought, watching as Harry took an irritable, half-hearted swipe at the massive barn owl.『 What impeccable timing. 』
"There you are you bastard, where have you- Ow!" Harry yelped in pain as Gawain turned midair and made another calculated dive for his head.
The owl's sharp talons ripped the boy's glasses straight off of his face, leaving behind a smattering of cuts across his right cheek.
The wounds stung hotly.
The letter to McGonagall fell to the ground, forgotten.
I winced in pain before sighing loudly.「 Congratulations Harry - You're less mature than a literal animal. 」
"Wha- He clawed me!" Protested a furious Harry, keeping his voice quiet; eyes darting up and down the very open hallway.
I could feel the cuts that Gawain inflicted slowly begin to close.
「 Only after you tried to punch him - Again. After two whole weeks. 」
'He slammed into me! On purpose!' The boy argued, outraged.
"Hey! Give me back my glasses you little fuck!" Harry growled, this time aloud, making yet another grab for the still airborne owl.
The bird made a deft barrel roll midair to avoid my brother before he took off down the dark, shadowed corridor.
Harry sprinted after the owl, taking great care not to alert the sleeping orphanage to his breaking of curfew.
Just as they reached the end of the corridor, the owl suddenly flipped over, soaring right past the irately moving Harry and dropping his stolen glasses onto the floor in front of him.
My brother snatched them up quickly, shooting Gawain a venomous look over his shoulder.
Then the boy paused.
Harry glanced back at the accessory now held within his grip.
These glasses… They weren't his.
These weren't the thin wireframe spectacles that Harry had been unable to be rid of since youth - Too poor and too negligent to afford a replacement.
These looked far too different.
"Oi, Gawain, these aren't my glasses," Harry whisper-shouted to Gawain; squinting down at the clearly foreign item. He began to stalk towards the owl. "What the hell are you playing at?"
「 Wait, stop. 」I said, interrupting my brother's furiously whispered string of threats. 「 Gawain might be cheeky, but he isn't stupid. There'll be a reason he swapped them. 」
Harry frowned, halting not only mid-curse but also mid-stride.
Then the scarred owl landed right in front of the bathroom's entrance.
Gawain hooted loudly, causing my brother to jump in fright and stare around him wildly.
The matron and Kevin might have been confounded, but the rest of the children living in the orphanage certainly were not.
If they woke up right now and saw a live barn owl strutting around…
The owl extended a wing and batted it against the bathroom door, looking somewhat impatient.
"Fine." Harry bit out, his anger quickly evaporating. "I'm coming."
This whole situation was too ridiculous for him to stay angry at.
The boy had far more important things to worry about right now.
Harry walked up to the door and pushed it open, watching on as Gawain hopped through immediately.
The boy followed the owl into the bathroom before shutting the door behind him quietly. Then, mostly out of habit rather than actual need, Harry flipped on the light, his still-mutating eyes seamlessly adjusting to the sudden glare.
"So - Out with it," Harry asked, crouching down in front of Gawain and pointing the new pair of glasses toward the animal's unscarred eye threateningly. "What's up with these?"
Gawain let out a quiet hoot in reply.
Harry groaned, putting his head in his hands and kneading his forehead in despair.
"Why the hell am I even talking to you." The boy mumbled, exasperated, striding over to the large bathroom mirror. "These glasses better be the right bloody focus."
Harry looked back down at the foreign rectangular frames evenly.
Then the boy sighed. 'Stupid owl.'
"Wow," The boy said sarcastically, reaching across to push his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "So much for being special. They're the wrong bloody focus too. Brilliant."
Harry's gaze flickered toward me.
My eyes widened in shock.「 Your irises. 」I muttered, astonished. I stared ahead at the boy's eyes incredulously.「 They're green again. 」
My brother blinked in confusion; gaze flickering back toward his reflection.
"What the fuck?!" Harry muttered, stunned. The boy pulled the glasses off his face; watching as his eyes returned to an angular, murky orange.
Then he slid them back on, cueing the return of his normal emerald green.
Harry abruptly whipped around; practically sliding across the bathroom tiles and coming to land in a kneeling position before the satisfied Gawain.
The boy tickled the top of the barn owl's head animatedly. "Have I ever told you what a clever and handsome owl you are?" He said, his previous anger now completely forgotten. "I have right? Surely?"
Gawain let out what must've been the owl version of a derisive snort - Not suspicious of Harry's sudden one-eighty in the slightest.
Harry stared down at the owl guardedly; hidden behind a painstakingly faked guise of gratefulness.
'Art…' The boy started, words momentarily failing him. He stared down at Gawain in apprehension. 'This… This can't just be coincidental. Can it?'
No. No, it definitely could not be.
「 Not a chance. 」I affirmed, giving the scarred owl much the same look as Harry was.「 Gawain last left us weeks before our mishap with the floo. He could not have known to get these. Not without prior knowledge. 」
'Yeah...' Harry trailed off, nodding slowly. 'Prior knowledge…'
"Where's you get these?" Harry voiced his unsaid queries aloud, posing them to the owl. The boy retracted his caressing hands expectantly, prompting for an answer. "Did you steal them?"
Gawain hooted twice, not bothering for quiet this time.
Harry swore quietly, casting an eye toward the closed bathroom door.
"Okay, whatever. We'll talk about this later." He said, pulling the door open and ushering Gawain back into the dark hallway. "Go. Come back when we're alone - And when it isn't in the middle of the bloody night."
The owl took off and soared away down the shadowed corridor, doing exactly as ordered - Albeit grudgingly.
'So.' Harry started, slowly moving back inside to turn off the bathroom light. 'What the hell are we going to do about that?'
「 For now, nothing. 」I remarked, still mulling over what had just transpired.
'Nothing- The fuck do you mean, nothing?' Harry asked, his tone ramping up. He reached up; removing his new glasses to stare down at them warily. 'Are you serious? Even after what just happened?"
「 Yes. 」I replied, a sense of finality entering my tone.「 It's best not to do anything about this right now. Not until we have more information. Let's just reap this much-needed reward and revisit this fiasco when it actually becomes relevant, okay? 」
Harry scowled before placing the glasses back onto his face. 'I suppose this has helped,' He acquiesced, sounding irritable. 'But to me, it looks like Gawain is an acting double agent for a secret society of Victorian-era vampires. This isn't something we can just pass over.'
I vowed to devote some more thought to this topic later.
For now, though, we had more important priorities to focus on.
「 Put a pin in it for now. You dropped McGonagall's letter back in the corridor. 」I said, reminding Harry of his earlier blunder.「 Go and retrieve it. 」
'Oh, right.' Said Harry; quietly retracing his footsteps back along the shadowed corridor. 'Damn," He swore. "If someone ends up reading it because of that fucking owl hooting so damn loudly…"
I gave Harry's worry a little thought before waving away his concern.
「 In the middle of the night? Why would anyone even open it anyway? 」I paused, selecting my next words carefully.「 Besides, in case you've forgotten, this hallway is pitch black for everyone else. Or did you forget already? That they lack our rather charming ability to see in the dark. 」
'Charming?' Harry muttered, shaking his head irritably. 'This ability isn't charming - It's fucking useless. My magic wasn't worth this trash.'
「 The super regeneration isn't too bad - At least in my opinion. 」I argued.「 Think of the Heros from the comic books Andrew likes to read. You know, the ones you keep blowing off because they're 'Too basic' for you? 」
Harry frowned. 'Are you seriously comparing me to Wolverine?' He said, not waiting for an answer. 'Are you mad?'
「 Not exactly. 」I replied, answering both questions at once.
I was thinking more of Blade than anyone else. He was certainly a bit more vampire-themed.
Idly, I began to wonder how far this vampire-power rabbit hole actually went. Was it just enhanced regeneration? Or did it end with something more?
「 But yeah, 」I continued, filing the thought away for later.「 That is the general idea. 」
'You're ridiculous.' Said Harry. 'I will not be wasting our time on heroism at any point in this life.'
『 And that's not a red flag or anything. 』I thought, dryly amused.
Harry turned the corridor's final corner and stopped dead in his tracks.
'You've got to be kidding me.' Harry thought, gaping in utter disbelief. 'Art, you fucking jinxed it - Out of literally everyone who could have found that bloody letter.'
A lone figure stood framed in the shadowed corridor ahead of us; pouring over Harry's unfurled letter.
Ashley Graves stared down at the words written upon the aged, yellowed parchment with a visible, growing doubt.
Harry stifled a quiet laugh, startling the black-haired girl out of her wide-eyed trance.
Ashley whipped the torch around, pointing it straight down the corridor and flashing its beam of light directly into my brother's eyes.
My brother groaned inwardly.
The boy couldn't resist the overwhelming urge to facepalm. 'I can't even blame Gawain.' Said Harry, kneading his forehead irritably. 'This is just too fucking absurd to be real. Out of literally everyone who could've found it, it just had to be her."
"Ah- I-" Ashley said, stuttering; gaze flickering down to the letter held in her hand. The girl flinched backwards as my brother began to stalk toward her. "Hey Red…"
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