Sorry if the chapter's kind of boring. But PLEASE don't skip it! There's
important information here!
The Unicorn and the Stag
Chapter 24
Harry was getting that bad feeling again. This time it was worse. He noticed that the others seemed to be enjoying the TV less. He decided to ask them.
"Any of you have the feeling something's wrong?"
Everyone jumped. They all began mumbling "sort of" and "a little bit." Suddenly, Harry's scar started aching. He reached up and rubbed it. Padma noticed.
"Your scar hurts?" He nodded.
"Yeah. My knee hurts."
"Huh?"
"When Parvati and I were six, we both broke a kneecap. We had to have magical surgery. But they hurt when something's wrong. The last time was at the Quidditch Cup right before the Death Eaters came."
The others nodded. "I guess we all have little alarm bells."
Suddenly, they heard a scream. Everyone rushed upstairs, X-Files forgotten.
They ran into the room Ron and Hermione had been in. Rose and Bill were standing in the middle of a pool of blood, where Ron and Hermione lay.
"Are they dead?" Parvati whispered.
"No. I can hear their heartbeats."
"But look at all that blood! What happened?"
"I don't know. We came in and saw them lying there." She buried her head in Bill's chest.
"Rose," Bill said gently. "Can you talk to them? Do that dream-control thing." She lifted her head and nodded. "Please do."
*~*~*
Rose took a deep, shaky breath and climbed onto the huge canopy bed. She lay back onto the pillows and relaxed. Almost immediately, she heard Ron and Hermione. They were having a sort of dream. She listened to their conversation.
*Where are we?* Hermione said.
*I don't know. What happened?*
*I think we're dead.*
Rose brought herself fully into their dream. *You're not dead. You're passed out on Hermione's bedroom floor.* They looked relieved. *Don't be too relieved. You're lying in a huge pool of blood.*
*How did it get there?*
*I was hoping you could tell me that.*
Hermione frowned. *Ron came in to get me. He said we were going to have an X-Files fest. Then I felt something in my back and I was here.*
Rose began to realize what had happened. *Hermione, turn around.*
*What?*
*Turn around. I want to see your back.*
She dutifully turned. Rose gasped at what she saw.
A long gash extended from the top of her left shoulder blade to her spine. Ron looked like he would hurl again.
*Christ Almighty, Mione, how could that not be insanely painful?* Ron said.
She craned her neck and turned white. *I think Ron probably has one too,* Rose said.
He slowly turned. He did have a cut, but this started at the base of his neck and went to his shoulder. He turned his head and went green.
*Please, Ron. Not now.*
He nodded and looked away. Rose looked at Hermione. Time to tell her.
*Hermione, I think you can heal both of you.*
She looked startled. *How?*
*Every Gold witch or wizard has a power, a sort of specialty. I believe yours is healing.*
*Why do you think that?*
*You healed my shark bite two hours more quickly than a hospital could have.*
*So?*
*Your father's broken elbow.*
*How do you know about that?*
*Your mother's sprained wrist.*
*What about when I cause the injuries?*
*You heal them anyway.*
She sat down on a little bench. *So I'm a 'healer?' What do I need to do?*
*The same thing you did with me.*
*But then I'll just have the gashes.*
*Only for a few minutes. After about five minutes, your body automatically heals itself.*
*Then why hasn't it done so?*
*Because you're unconscious and can't will it to happen.*
*Oh. So all I do is touch Ron's neck and I get the cut? And then both my cut and his cut juts heal?*
*Exactly.*
*Okay. Come here, Ron.*
He sat down next to her on the bench and turned his back to her. She ran her long finger up and down the cut. Rose watched, amazed, as the cut slowly scabbed over, and the scab fell off, leaving only a thin white scar. He disappeared.
*Whoa! What happened to him?*
*I think he's conscious again. You won't be until your cuts go away.*
She nodded. *So what are these 'powers,' anyway? How many are there?*
*There are nine. They're healing, time manipulation, telekinesis, clairvoyance, language, empathy-*
*What's that?*
*Basically, you can tell what's going on around you. What's wrong with people, how they feel. Stuff like that. Anyways, the last four are weather manipulation, teleportation without Apparating, mind control, and, well, see-through vision.*
*You mean X-ray vision? Cool!*
*It's kind of weird, I know.*
*Which power do you have?*
*I don't know. Really, I only know yours.*
Suddenly, Hermione started to look fuzzy, like a TV set was breaking. She flickered a few times, and then disappeared. Rose brought herself out of the dream.
Rose jumped out of the bed. The Bernards, the Patils, and Harry were waiting in the room. Hermione's eyes were flickering open, and Bill and the Weasly twins were carrying Ron downstairs. The Bernards picked up Hermione and put her in the bed.
"What happened?" Ally asked.
"Hermione's the healer."
"Well, that explains a lot."
"Like what?"
"Like how that shoulder cut is completely gone."
"Let me see!" And it had. There was only a thin white scar where it had been. The others gaped.
"Alex, you explain. I've already explained once." She walked out of the room and slid down the banister to go watch the X-Files.
*~*~*
"So which am I?" Harry asked.
Alex and Ally had finished explaining the nine powers.
"I don't know. Ask your sister."
"Ask whoever's empathic."
"Who's that?"
"Ask your sister."
Harry rolled his eyes and followed his sister down the stairs. He snuck up behind her and switched off the TV. She jumped and whirled.
"Harry! What did you do that for?"
"Who's the empath?"
"I don't know. I only know Hermione."
"Guess."
"I think it's Ginny."
"So do I," said Ginny. "And I can't tell what you are." She had followed Harry down the stairs. "I can't tell what your sister is, either. I think I know for a second, but then I notice something else. It's very confusing."
"Ginny," Rose said. "How long have you known?"
"Since I was thirteen."
"Wow."
"Harry."
"What, Rose?"
"Come here."
She dragged him into the kitchen.
"I know what everyone's powers are."
"Then what are we?"
"I think everything. We've got a bit of everything, but that makes each power less strong."
"So we're the weak ones?"
"No. We're the powerful ones."
"Huh?"
"Go unpack. I want to check out the hot tub."
He grabbed his trunk from the foyer and dragged it to the room closest to the kitchen. He was shocked at the size of the room. He had thought it would be the size of a hotel room, but this was the size of the entire Gryffindor boys' dorm. It was decorated in the same colors, too.
He opened his trunk and hung all his clothes in the walk-in closet. He put the music box Rose had given him on the dresser. He noticed there was another TV in the room and a computer with internet access and games. He looked into some of the other rooms. They were identical.
He heard a shout from the backyard. "HOT TUB PARTY!"
He grinned. It was Rose and the Bernard twins. When he got to the backyard, everyone else was already there. Even Hermione and Ron.
"Finally! We were afraid we wouldn't make my goal!" the Bernards said. They were sitting on the Weasly twins' laps.
"What was your goal, anyway?" Rose asked.
"Everybody!"
"How long do we get to stay here?" Bill asked Rose, who was sitting on his lap.
"A week. We get ten weeks for the trip."
"Only a week?"
"We can always use the time manipulator." Harry noticed her eyes glanced ever so slightly at Alexa Bernard.
"Oh no. Talk to weather girl. Make her make a hurricane so we're stuck here," she said, looking at her sister.
Everyone stared.
"You said you didn't know the powers!"
"We lied."
"Not fair!"
"Alex is time, Ally is weather, Ginny is empathy, Hermione is healing, Fred is telekinesis, George is clairvoyance, Parvati is language, Padma is mind control, and Ron is the vision."
"That must be why I can see into the twins' room."
"Shut up, Ronnykins."
"Make me."
Fred pulled out his wand and did a silencing spell on Ron. He turned red and started mouthing desperately. Everyone but he and Hermione laughed. Hermione pulled out her own wand and said the counter spell. He kissed her.
The boys groaned. Their girlfriends jumped off their laps.
"Come on! Let's try out the diving board!" Rose ran for the high dive, did a triple jackknife and landed with only a tiny splash. She surfaced.
"Diving contest!" She yelled. The Bernards ran for the board and tried quadruple jackknifes but ended up belly flopping and making a huge splash. Rose laughed at them.
Within minutes, the only two divers left were Rose and Bill. Everyone else was sitting on a chair with red stomachs.
Rose went first. She landed a perfect quadruple jackknife and made no splash at all. Bill wasn't so good. He tried to copy her but ended up belly flopping like the rest. Rose laughed and declared herself champion.
"And as such, I get to make out with Bill without all of you groaning!" The boys ran. The girls watched from windows.
*~*~*
When Rose had blacked out all the windows with her wand, she sat down with Bill by the pool.
"You and Harry are the ones, aren't you?" he asked.
"Yes. I didn't know. Really I didn't."
"I believe you."
"Good. I was worried."
"Sweetie, I always believe you. I learned you are always right years ago."
She laughed. "Good." And she leaned in for a kiss.
*~*~*
Unknown to them, Hermione had undone the Blackout Charm on one of the windows. She and the other girls crowded around it and watched Rose and Bill make out. But it got rather boring after a while, so they went into the living room for an Elijah Wood movie fest.
"Oh he is so hot!"
"How old is he?"
"Fourteen."
"Aw."
"That's only a year younger! Well, six for you."
"Still, he's younger."
"Alex, your boyfriend is three years younger."
She grumbled. "I hate losing arguments. I'm going to my room and playing on the computer." She got up off the couch and sauntered over to the room closest to the bathroom.
"What's a computer?" Parvati asked. Hermione and Ginny rolled their eyes.
"Pureblood fools."
Everyone looked around, expecting to see Lucius Malfoy and his son pop up out of thin air.
"See? No Malfoys. No Dark Lord. No Death Eaters. Not even a Slytherin."
Everyone relaxed and went back to squealing over Elijah Wood. They had to change movies to James Bond when the boys came in.
"See, Ally? Now this is a good movie. Not a family or a drama. Action."
"Shut up, Fred. Never dis Elijah Wood."
"Whatever. Now let's finish the movie."
Rose and Bill came in halfway through.
"Oh, is this The Spy Who Loved Me?" Rose asked. "I love this movie!" She plunked down on the nearest couch.
*~*~*
The rest of their stay in the Bahamas was whirlwind of beach parties and pool parties, hot tub parties, diving contests, and movie fests. It was all too soon that they had to leave.
"Rose, do we have to go?" Ally whined.
Rose scowled. "Bernard, the next time you ask I am putting a silencing spell on you! Yes, we have to leave!" Ally and Alex had been begging to stay for the past two hours. "Get your trunks. Here's the Portkey."
She held out a Mickey Mouse hat. Everyone looked at her.
"What? We are going to Disney World."
"We're going to Disney World?"
"Yes."
"What's Disney World?"
"Shut up, Dean!"
"All right, all right!"
Everyone put a finger to an ear and they appeared in a forest just outside of Disney World.
"I thought we were going to Disney World," Hermione said, looking around.
"We are. This is a campground. See, those are tents."
"Oh. Right."
"Come on, our spot is right over here." Rose dragged the trunk holding the tents and camping supplies to a spot right outside the forest.
"Bill! Make yourself useful and help me out here!"
Rose was trying to put up the tents. She saw Bill's grin and glared at him.
"Just what is so funny?"
"You have it upside down."
Everyone quickly hid grins.
The tents took half an hour to put up. By the time they were right side up with the stakes in the right places, it was dark.
"Okay, Ally said, straightening her back. "Girls' tent on the right, boys' is on the left. Go unpack. You're sharing a room."
"But there's and odd number of boys and girls!"
"Bill gets his own room and so does Rose."
"Why them?"
"Because they're the only ones whose friends don't already have a roomie," Alex said, grinning at Rose. Rose threw a pillow at her.
"Shut up, Bernard."
"Oh, she's mad," Fred said, pretending to be horrified.
"She never calls anyone Bernard when she's happy. If you're Bernard, she's mad," George told her. They suddenly found themselves in their tent.
"Dirty cheat!" George yelled. Everyone laughed. Rose smirked.
"Okay, into the tents! We need too unpack; it's ten at night!" She dragged her trunk into the room in the middle of everyone. It was fairly nice, a redwood bunk bed with comforters and a sheet. There were two dressers, a closet, and a connected bathroom with a claw footed tub. She changed into her pajamas and collapsed onto her bed. She had to get some sleep. Tomorrow they went into Disney World!
The Unicorn and the Stag
Chapter 24
Harry was getting that bad feeling again. This time it was worse. He noticed that the others seemed to be enjoying the TV less. He decided to ask them.
"Any of you have the feeling something's wrong?"
Everyone jumped. They all began mumbling "sort of" and "a little bit." Suddenly, Harry's scar started aching. He reached up and rubbed it. Padma noticed.
"Your scar hurts?" He nodded.
"Yeah. My knee hurts."
"Huh?"
"When Parvati and I were six, we both broke a kneecap. We had to have magical surgery. But they hurt when something's wrong. The last time was at the Quidditch Cup right before the Death Eaters came."
The others nodded. "I guess we all have little alarm bells."
Suddenly, they heard a scream. Everyone rushed upstairs, X-Files forgotten.
They ran into the room Ron and Hermione had been in. Rose and Bill were standing in the middle of a pool of blood, where Ron and Hermione lay.
"Are they dead?" Parvati whispered.
"No. I can hear their heartbeats."
"But look at all that blood! What happened?"
"I don't know. We came in and saw them lying there." She buried her head in Bill's chest.
"Rose," Bill said gently. "Can you talk to them? Do that dream-control thing." She lifted her head and nodded. "Please do."
*~*~*
Rose took a deep, shaky breath and climbed onto the huge canopy bed. She lay back onto the pillows and relaxed. Almost immediately, she heard Ron and Hermione. They were having a sort of dream. She listened to their conversation.
*Where are we?* Hermione said.
*I don't know. What happened?*
*I think we're dead.*
Rose brought herself fully into their dream. *You're not dead. You're passed out on Hermione's bedroom floor.* They looked relieved. *Don't be too relieved. You're lying in a huge pool of blood.*
*How did it get there?*
*I was hoping you could tell me that.*
Hermione frowned. *Ron came in to get me. He said we were going to have an X-Files fest. Then I felt something in my back and I was here.*
Rose began to realize what had happened. *Hermione, turn around.*
*What?*
*Turn around. I want to see your back.*
She dutifully turned. Rose gasped at what she saw.
A long gash extended from the top of her left shoulder blade to her spine. Ron looked like he would hurl again.
*Christ Almighty, Mione, how could that not be insanely painful?* Ron said.
She craned her neck and turned white. *I think Ron probably has one too,* Rose said.
He slowly turned. He did have a cut, but this started at the base of his neck and went to his shoulder. He turned his head and went green.
*Please, Ron. Not now.*
He nodded and looked away. Rose looked at Hermione. Time to tell her.
*Hermione, I think you can heal both of you.*
She looked startled. *How?*
*Every Gold witch or wizard has a power, a sort of specialty. I believe yours is healing.*
*Why do you think that?*
*You healed my shark bite two hours more quickly than a hospital could have.*
*So?*
*Your father's broken elbow.*
*How do you know about that?*
*Your mother's sprained wrist.*
*What about when I cause the injuries?*
*You heal them anyway.*
She sat down on a little bench. *So I'm a 'healer?' What do I need to do?*
*The same thing you did with me.*
*But then I'll just have the gashes.*
*Only for a few minutes. After about five minutes, your body automatically heals itself.*
*Then why hasn't it done so?*
*Because you're unconscious and can't will it to happen.*
*Oh. So all I do is touch Ron's neck and I get the cut? And then both my cut and his cut juts heal?*
*Exactly.*
*Okay. Come here, Ron.*
He sat down next to her on the bench and turned his back to her. She ran her long finger up and down the cut. Rose watched, amazed, as the cut slowly scabbed over, and the scab fell off, leaving only a thin white scar. He disappeared.
*Whoa! What happened to him?*
*I think he's conscious again. You won't be until your cuts go away.*
She nodded. *So what are these 'powers,' anyway? How many are there?*
*There are nine. They're healing, time manipulation, telekinesis, clairvoyance, language, empathy-*
*What's that?*
*Basically, you can tell what's going on around you. What's wrong with people, how they feel. Stuff like that. Anyways, the last four are weather manipulation, teleportation without Apparating, mind control, and, well, see-through vision.*
*You mean X-ray vision? Cool!*
*It's kind of weird, I know.*
*Which power do you have?*
*I don't know. Really, I only know yours.*
Suddenly, Hermione started to look fuzzy, like a TV set was breaking. She flickered a few times, and then disappeared. Rose brought herself out of the dream.
Rose jumped out of the bed. The Bernards, the Patils, and Harry were waiting in the room. Hermione's eyes were flickering open, and Bill and the Weasly twins were carrying Ron downstairs. The Bernards picked up Hermione and put her in the bed.
"What happened?" Ally asked.
"Hermione's the healer."
"Well, that explains a lot."
"Like what?"
"Like how that shoulder cut is completely gone."
"Let me see!" And it had. There was only a thin white scar where it had been. The others gaped.
"Alex, you explain. I've already explained once." She walked out of the room and slid down the banister to go watch the X-Files.
*~*~*
"So which am I?" Harry asked.
Alex and Ally had finished explaining the nine powers.
"I don't know. Ask your sister."
"Ask whoever's empathic."
"Who's that?"
"Ask your sister."
Harry rolled his eyes and followed his sister down the stairs. He snuck up behind her and switched off the TV. She jumped and whirled.
"Harry! What did you do that for?"
"Who's the empath?"
"I don't know. I only know Hermione."
"Guess."
"I think it's Ginny."
"So do I," said Ginny. "And I can't tell what you are." She had followed Harry down the stairs. "I can't tell what your sister is, either. I think I know for a second, but then I notice something else. It's very confusing."
"Ginny," Rose said. "How long have you known?"
"Since I was thirteen."
"Wow."
"Harry."
"What, Rose?"
"Come here."
She dragged him into the kitchen.
"I know what everyone's powers are."
"Then what are we?"
"I think everything. We've got a bit of everything, but that makes each power less strong."
"So we're the weak ones?"
"No. We're the powerful ones."
"Huh?"
"Go unpack. I want to check out the hot tub."
He grabbed his trunk from the foyer and dragged it to the room closest to the kitchen. He was shocked at the size of the room. He had thought it would be the size of a hotel room, but this was the size of the entire Gryffindor boys' dorm. It was decorated in the same colors, too.
He opened his trunk and hung all his clothes in the walk-in closet. He put the music box Rose had given him on the dresser. He noticed there was another TV in the room and a computer with internet access and games. He looked into some of the other rooms. They were identical.
He heard a shout from the backyard. "HOT TUB PARTY!"
He grinned. It was Rose and the Bernard twins. When he got to the backyard, everyone else was already there. Even Hermione and Ron.
"Finally! We were afraid we wouldn't make my goal!" the Bernards said. They were sitting on the Weasly twins' laps.
"What was your goal, anyway?" Rose asked.
"Everybody!"
"How long do we get to stay here?" Bill asked Rose, who was sitting on his lap.
"A week. We get ten weeks for the trip."
"Only a week?"
"We can always use the time manipulator." Harry noticed her eyes glanced ever so slightly at Alexa Bernard.
"Oh no. Talk to weather girl. Make her make a hurricane so we're stuck here," she said, looking at her sister.
Everyone stared.
"You said you didn't know the powers!"
"We lied."
"Not fair!"
"Alex is time, Ally is weather, Ginny is empathy, Hermione is healing, Fred is telekinesis, George is clairvoyance, Parvati is language, Padma is mind control, and Ron is the vision."
"That must be why I can see into the twins' room."
"Shut up, Ronnykins."
"Make me."
Fred pulled out his wand and did a silencing spell on Ron. He turned red and started mouthing desperately. Everyone but he and Hermione laughed. Hermione pulled out her own wand and said the counter spell. He kissed her.
The boys groaned. Their girlfriends jumped off their laps.
"Come on! Let's try out the diving board!" Rose ran for the high dive, did a triple jackknife and landed with only a tiny splash. She surfaced.
"Diving contest!" She yelled. The Bernards ran for the board and tried quadruple jackknifes but ended up belly flopping and making a huge splash. Rose laughed at them.
Within minutes, the only two divers left were Rose and Bill. Everyone else was sitting on a chair with red stomachs.
Rose went first. She landed a perfect quadruple jackknife and made no splash at all. Bill wasn't so good. He tried to copy her but ended up belly flopping like the rest. Rose laughed and declared herself champion.
"And as such, I get to make out with Bill without all of you groaning!" The boys ran. The girls watched from windows.
*~*~*
When Rose had blacked out all the windows with her wand, she sat down with Bill by the pool.
"You and Harry are the ones, aren't you?" he asked.
"Yes. I didn't know. Really I didn't."
"I believe you."
"Good. I was worried."
"Sweetie, I always believe you. I learned you are always right years ago."
She laughed. "Good." And she leaned in for a kiss.
*~*~*
Unknown to them, Hermione had undone the Blackout Charm on one of the windows. She and the other girls crowded around it and watched Rose and Bill make out. But it got rather boring after a while, so they went into the living room for an Elijah Wood movie fest.
"Oh he is so hot!"
"How old is he?"
"Fourteen."
"Aw."
"That's only a year younger! Well, six for you."
"Still, he's younger."
"Alex, your boyfriend is three years younger."
She grumbled. "I hate losing arguments. I'm going to my room and playing on the computer." She got up off the couch and sauntered over to the room closest to the bathroom.
"What's a computer?" Parvati asked. Hermione and Ginny rolled their eyes.
"Pureblood fools."
Everyone looked around, expecting to see Lucius Malfoy and his son pop up out of thin air.
"See? No Malfoys. No Dark Lord. No Death Eaters. Not even a Slytherin."
Everyone relaxed and went back to squealing over Elijah Wood. They had to change movies to James Bond when the boys came in.
"See, Ally? Now this is a good movie. Not a family or a drama. Action."
"Shut up, Fred. Never dis Elijah Wood."
"Whatever. Now let's finish the movie."
Rose and Bill came in halfway through.
"Oh, is this The Spy Who Loved Me?" Rose asked. "I love this movie!" She plunked down on the nearest couch.
*~*~*
The rest of their stay in the Bahamas was whirlwind of beach parties and pool parties, hot tub parties, diving contests, and movie fests. It was all too soon that they had to leave.
"Rose, do we have to go?" Ally whined.
Rose scowled. "Bernard, the next time you ask I am putting a silencing spell on you! Yes, we have to leave!" Ally and Alex had been begging to stay for the past two hours. "Get your trunks. Here's the Portkey."
She held out a Mickey Mouse hat. Everyone looked at her.
"What? We are going to Disney World."
"We're going to Disney World?"
"Yes."
"What's Disney World?"
"Shut up, Dean!"
"All right, all right!"
Everyone put a finger to an ear and they appeared in a forest just outside of Disney World.
"I thought we were going to Disney World," Hermione said, looking around.
"We are. This is a campground. See, those are tents."
"Oh. Right."
"Come on, our spot is right over here." Rose dragged the trunk holding the tents and camping supplies to a spot right outside the forest.
"Bill! Make yourself useful and help me out here!"
Rose was trying to put up the tents. She saw Bill's grin and glared at him.
"Just what is so funny?"
"You have it upside down."
Everyone quickly hid grins.
The tents took half an hour to put up. By the time they were right side up with the stakes in the right places, it was dark.
"Okay, Ally said, straightening her back. "Girls' tent on the right, boys' is on the left. Go unpack. You're sharing a room."
"But there's and odd number of boys and girls!"
"Bill gets his own room and so does Rose."
"Why them?"
"Because they're the only ones whose friends don't already have a roomie," Alex said, grinning at Rose. Rose threw a pillow at her.
"Shut up, Bernard."
"Oh, she's mad," Fred said, pretending to be horrified.
"She never calls anyone Bernard when she's happy. If you're Bernard, she's mad," George told her. They suddenly found themselves in their tent.
"Dirty cheat!" George yelled. Everyone laughed. Rose smirked.
"Okay, into the tents! We need too unpack; it's ten at night!" She dragged her trunk into the room in the middle of everyone. It was fairly nice, a redwood bunk bed with comforters and a sheet. There were two dressers, a closet, and a connected bathroom with a claw footed tub. She changed into her pajamas and collapsed onto her bed. She had to get some sleep. Tomorrow they went into Disney World!