Preparing for the new year((Harmony))

[Zeak Nitesh G2]

"Mom! Mom! Mom!" Zeak repeated this line over and over again, trying to get through to his mother as she paced from room to room muttering to herself over what she needed to do. Zeak was surprised at how well she and his whole family was taking to this him being a wizard thing and how well they were adjusting to it. The Nitesh family had already connected their fireplace to the wizard world's floo network and even had a couple of bags of floo powder on hand. They had also already converted a small fortune into Wizard money and opened an account at Gringrotts for Zeak for his school supplies and needs. Zeak had been surprised at all the arrangements his family had already procured by the time he had come back from his first magical year at Hogwarts and even had to check himself to make sure that he was a muggleborn and not a pureblood wizard! His letter from school had arrived, once again with two copies, one in brail and one in normal text. It outlined like always his new books and equipments that he would be needing.

This offcourse had sent Mrs. Nitesh into a frenzy as she ranted through the house about all the errands she would have to run. Zeak trying fainly to get through to her, finally he managed to get through. "What?" Demanded Mrs. Nitesh as she spun on her son, Zeak having barely noticed that his mothers footsteps had stopped and stopped just barely before running into her. "Um...Mom? Do you think that maybe.......I could do this one on my own?" He asked, his toe trying to dig a hole in the floor with his face downcasted, though he could not see the floor anyway. "Alone?" Bawked Mrs. Nitesh, her face scrunching up in confusion. "You know Diagon Alley is a big place, and your only 12 dear." She searched carefully for the right words, always being careful when the subject shifted to her son's Condition. "What happens if you get lost?"

"Well." Responded Zeak, knowing that this line of reasoning would get him in trouble here in a sec. "Like you said, its a big place. It will be full of people, I'm sure somebody would help me out. Besides......" His toe began its burrowing again. "I've kind of been sneaking out and exploring Diagon Alley at night." The explosion came just like he had expected. "You what!" Mrs. Nitesh shriekd, Zeak knew he had to interject soon or else her rant would be unstoppable. "Well! I have to learn sometime dont I? I wont always have you around to help me." Mrs. Nitesh lost all bluster for her arguement in the face of her son's words. She struggled for a moment, opening her mouth many times as if to speak, but unable to find the words and shutting it once again. She gave up. "Oh fine." She thrust the list into Zeak's hands. "But if your not back in 2 hours I'm comming to look for you." Her words fell on deaf years as Zeak was already running from the room, grinning year to year.

It took him mere minutes to put on some clothes and get Gizmo, his owl, from his cage and perched comfortably on his shoulder. He than ran to their fireplace, grabbed a handful of floo powder and tossed it in. "Diagon Alley!" He shouted and stepped through into the alley. Zeak had stepped into this room many times and immediatly knew where the shops door was. Zeak stepped out into the busy street, the sounds and smells immediatly assaulting him and confusing his senses. He gripped on stubbornly though as he brought up his mental map of Diagon alley. Books would be his first destination and he set off.

He immediatly knew that walking in the middle of the street was out of the question. To many people were gathered there and he was bumped into and jostled so much that he nearly lost his way. Moving to the edge and using the buildings and side alleys as a guide he made his way easily through the crowd and soon came upon the book shop and climbed up the stairs. With a tinkling of the bell Zeak stepped into the shop.

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony’s hands skimmed across the sturdy spines of the Chans’ vast book collection, her petite figure staring up at the tall bookcase in wonder as she observed every single novel individually. It was amazing, how many books were stored up here in the converted loft. Harmony had literally a library at her disposal, one which Aurora was more than happy to grant her access to. “Harmony,” Aurora’s exasperated, though humoured voice rang through her mind, “You’re family. You’ve always been family. Even if you weren’t living with us, of course you can go pilfer through our books!” Harmony smiled to herself at the memory as she pulled out another book and turned it over curiously to read the short blurb on the back. It sounded rather interesting, but upon realising that it was the seventh book in a series, Harmony looked up to find the first one, deciding that today she’d read this particular novel. It was a muggle one, and Harmony hadn’t touched a muggle book for a while, besides from the manga Aurora had often lent her whilst at Hogwarts. Since it was the summer holidays, one of the things Harmony planned to do was to catch up on her reading, and Aurora had the perfect bookcase filled with more books than Harmony could even possibly finish in a summer.

“I can’t believe you’ve read all these books. Both you and Leo.” Harmony commented in awe as she finally found the first novel in the series and extracted it with care.
Aurora laughed from her seat on the sofa, her hand scribbling across a pad of paper with a muggle pen. “Well, I’ve had sixteen years to do it, and Leo twelve. Being the bookworms we are, it wasn’t hard. In fact, we always ran out of books to read, hence why my parents bought us to many to keep us entertained.” Aurora smiled wistfully, before looking at the book Harmony was flipping through, having deposited the seventh in the series back into the shelf neatly. “Oh, yes, I do recommend that one. It’s very good, lots of imagination. A very long series though… But then again, you’ve plenty of time to finish it.” Harmony nodded with a smile before settling down onto the sofa beside Aurora, who returned to finish the final touches to her song lyrics. It was actually a draft copy of some of Harmony’s writing, and Aurora was planning on converting it a little, then make it into a song. “You should give me a hand with this tune as well,” Aurora stated after a while, gesturing at the pad of paper with a smile, forcing Harmony to look up from her book. “It adds a special touch, when you’ve made a song literally all by yourself. You’ve only done one so far… And we do have so much time over the summer. We should complete this one soon so we can perform it some time.” Aurora suggested with an enthusiastic grin. “You do have the skills, Harmony. You aren’t just good at the writing lyrics part.”
Harmony looked a little doubtful, but also excited as she replied. “Well… I suppose I can try…”
“Exactly.” Aurora beamed before Harmony could protest. “It can’t help to try again. Practice makes perfect, hm?” She giggled happily, before jotting something down in the margin of the pad.

Harmony was about to thank her older cousin, when Leo entered the loft to approach Aurora. “Hey, Rora, can you come to Diagon Alley with me? I want to meet up with a friend, and mum said I can go, but someone needs to send me, and she’s busy.” The twelve-year-old Gryffindor asked his sister nicely, trying to glance over her shoulder to stare at what she was working on.
“Hey, nosy!” Aurora exclaimed, jerking her pad away from Leo’s sight and turning it over with a fake affronted expression. “You’ll get to hear the finished product when Harmony and I complete it, right, Harmony?” She turned to the Hufflepuff, but before Harmony could agree, Aurora ploughed onwards. “The band will perform it some time, so of course you’ll see it, Leo.” Aurora stated firmly, before returning to current matters. “I don’t mind going with you, I suppose… I just have to go with you via Floo, drop you off with your friend, then come home, right? But then again, I was planning on taking Ari somewhere…” Aurora trailed off doubtfully, calculating how long it would take to send Leo to Diagon Alley whilst her brother grumbled something about hating to be a child rather than a teenager.
“Why don’t I take him?” Harmony suggested suddenly, closing her book with a smile. “I’m not doing anything, and I am old enough in your mum’s eyes, right?”
Aurora turned to Harmony with a grateful smile. “Oh, yeah, that’d be great if you could, Harmony. Thanks.” Leo echoed her appreciation, before saying they’d have to leave now. “Oh, and Harmony? Could you get this book for me please, if you have the time?” Aurora asked as she ripped a shred of scribbled paper and handed it over. With a nod, Harmony pocketed the piece, and swiftly left her book on the table next to the sofa, before following Leo down stairs and saying goodbye to Aurora, leaving her to refine the song. Harmony wouldn’t need anything to send Leo on his way, but pocketed a bit of money nevertheless, just in case.

Harmony and Leo bade goodbye to Mrs Chan and Ari too, before stepping into the fireplace in the living room and shouting “Diagon Alley”. Moments later, the two cousins spiralled out of green flames, and found themselves in a familiar shop, climbing out of the ashes. Leo led Harmony away and out onto the bustling streets, where after five minutes of wandering around, Leo met his friend at the front of Gringotts Bank. Waving goodbye to her youngest cousin, Harmony smiled at his fading back, before strolling slowly back to the shop they’d come from. She’d spied a bookshop along the way where she could buy Aurora’s requested book, and headed towards it at a leisurely pace. The day was quite fine, the blue sky speckled with puffs of white clouds that marred the sunlight now and again. Harmony finally discovered the bookshop, and entering it, searched around for Aurora’s book. Her cousins were always improving, adding and increasing their collection, and her uncle would surely have to make the shelf bigger sometime soon. Frowning to herself in worry, Harmony wondered where the book she was looking for was, because even after ten minutes of searching she couldn’t locate it, and thought that perhaps she’d better ask somebody, until she accidentally bumped into somebody. Stammering her apologies, Harmony gazed at the person she had hit, and taking in the short brown hair of a younger boy, recognised him to be a student from Hogwarts. If she wasn’t mistaken, this was the blind first year going into second year student that resided in Gryffindor, a boy whom Leo knew. Harmony had never spoken to this boy before, who she was sure was called Zeak, but had heard a little about him, from both rumours that she didn’t listen to, and Leo himself. Harmony sympathised with Zeak’s situation, and wondered how many horrible people gave him grief, but she admired the younger boy’s bravery too. “Hey, Zeak, isn’t it?” Harmony found herself saying shyly with a smile. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going. Aren’t you going into your second year at Hogwarts? I think my cousin Leo is in your house and year. My name’s Harmony Chan, Hufflepuff, going into my fourth year. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Harmony smiled friendlily.

[Zeak Nitesh G2]

Zeak moved away from the door so that he would not be in the way. Placing his back against the wall Zeak rested for a second to catch his breath. Gizmo hooted lightly on his shoulder, Zeak could feel him turning and glancing around the store. A small smile found its way onto Zeak's face. He had been glad to get an owl as close to him in spirit. Gizmo was curious, ever exploring, as was Zeak and the two seemed to have an unspoken bond between them. Zeak reached up and patted Gizmo on the head and pushed off the wall. He paused again, straining with his ears. Being in a large public area was always hard on him. So many sounds and smells assaulted him from every direction it was hard to pick each sound out and discern it individually. Which made it hard for him to decide what area was less congested.

Giving another sigh Zeak began to move. No sooner had he moved that he felt the presence of another body close to him and he knew what was about to come. He prepared himself, but still was knocked back a few steps as someone bumped into him. Gizmo gave an angry hoot and took off of Zeak's shoulder and zoomed around the shop. Hooting at the heads below and causing shoppers to duck for cover. Zeak stumbled, but caught his balance easily and turned in the direction where he was hearing the stream of apologies coming from. Zeak grinned and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh no, don't worry about it. It's much your fault as it is mine. I wasn't looking where I was going either." He added with a humorus smile. "Gizmo get back here!" He yelled as he heard the screech of an owl, the scream of a girl, and than a heavy crash off in the distance. He sighed as he turned his attention back to the girl who had already guessed his name. It appeared that Zeak's reputation was preceeding him. "Huh? Oh yes! Yes I am." He answered her as he ran a quick background check in his mind. "Leo? Hmmm. Oh!" He said as he recognized the name. "Yea, never have met him personally, but I've......." He searched for the right word. "noticed him around the school."

Just than Gizmo returned to his shoulder. Zeak sighed as he patted the unnerved owl, smoothing down some of his newly ruffled feathers. "Its nice to meet you to Harmony." He grinned once again. "Sometimes I think that I should wear a bell around my neck to warn people that I am comming." He chuckled. "Perhaps my accident ratio will decrease than."

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony stared at the owl hooting around the shop with a surprised smile, and watched as Zeak attempted to recalled him. She gave a small wince as crashes could be heard in the distance, and giggled despite herself. Although the owl – Gizmo, from the sound of things – seemed to be a troublemaker, it was funny to behold, a fluttering owl in a shop crammed with books. Harmony turned back to Zeak as he answered her question, then smiled humorously. “I’m sure you will. Gradually you get to know everyone in your year, even the Slytherins. I can guarantee you that, I’m in my fourth year now… I’m horribly shy as well, so if I know everybody, then you sure will too.” Harmony stated enthusiastically, trying to reassure her younger companion. “Leo’s a good kid. I actually came here to send him off somewhere… It’s a shame, you should meet him. He can be sarcastic, but generally he’s a popular boy.” Harmony smiled fondly as she thought of her younger cousin. In a way, she supposed she felt a little over protective of him, but he had once said he felt the same way towards her. Harmony was well aware that all three of her closest people in her life (Ari, Aurora and Leo) felt rather possessive of her. Perhaps due to her personality, her appearance. Harmony had to admit; she did look fragile and innocent.

Harmony giggled again when Zeak’s playful owl returned to his shoulder, eyes drawn to the creature. He was different from both Aurora’s Snowy Owl Helix, with her pure white feathers, and Ariane’s Screech Owl Atalanta, black as the night, but he was cute nonetheless. Harmony liked animals, feeling less inclination to be shy around them, and so extended a hand towards Gizmo with a friendly smile. “Hello Gizmo. Nice to meet you. I’m Harmony.” Harmony turned back to Zeak, listening to him intently, before laughing. “That would be a sight to behold.” Harmony admitted with a grin. “Do you get into accidents a lot?” From the sound of it, Zeak certainly did, but Harmony couldn’t blame him. It must be difficult. “But about before, that was totally my fault, not yours.” Harmony apologised again with embarrassment. “I should be the one watching where I’m going. I shouldn’t take my… um… sight for granted.” Harmony didn’t know if the topic was a sensitive area for Zeak, so skimmed over it nervously. “Somehow, I still do though. It’s hard not to.”

After a moment’s silence, Harmony tried to clear the air with an uncomfortable laugh, attempting to dismiss her spoken words casually. “You shouldn’t blame yourself anyway. The problem probably doesn’t lie with you. Maybe we should all wear bells…” Harmony suggested good naturedly, before looking curiously at Zeak, trying to forget how silly her previous words had been. “Hey, are you looking for a specific book? Or books? Maybe I can help you. I’ve been searching for a book too, but I can’t find it. Perhaps we can help one another.” Harmony proposed with a friendly grin.

[Zeak Nitesh G2]

Zeak grinned. "Oh yes. I usually don't get out of the Gryffindor Common room much. but I've been able to meet a lot of people. Some of them I'd like to forget." He added in an undertone as he thought of some of his Slytherin encounters. He shook them out of his head as he noticed the uneasiness in her tone as she brought up the subject of her sight. He smiled, knowing she wasn't unsure if this topic would hurt his feelings, which it wouldn't. Zeak had long ago accepted his disability and knew full well the complications that came with it. He was easily able to speak about it, considering the injury happened when he was young, and was even able to crack jokes about it from time to time. "Sight is a very easy thing to take for granted. I don't really know though, I lost my vision before I could even remember having it. So it hasn't affected me that bad." A mischievous grin came onto his face. "Besides, the added benefits are worth it." He said indicating his ears and nose.

It was true, his hearing, sense of smell, and even his sense of touch had become ten times as attuned and sensitive to make up for his lack of vision. He couldn't help but laugh at her words. "Oh no no no. If everyone wore bells. Do you know how difficult it would be for me to get my bearings?" He chuckled as his laughter died down. "Its hard enough for me to traverse Diagon Alley with all the noise of talking and footsteps. I couldn't imagine a hundred bells added into the mix."

Zeak reached up and patted Gizmo once again, the owl having far enjoyed the attention the girl had shown him and was getting slightly annoyed at having to stay on a boy's shoulder. "I usually don't have many accidents in the muggle world, but at Hogwarts." He chuckled once again. "It's rather hard to detect a chair or table that has no legs and is hovering in mid air with this." He said as he lightly swept his walking stick around. "Not to mention Peeves isn't making my life any easier." He sighed. Zeak plunged a hand into his pocket, pulling out two pieces of parchment, one with text on it, the other with braille. Zeak pulled the braille copy out and ran a finger over it. "Actually yea. I'm looking for the standard books for 2nd years. Standard book of Spells grade 2, Potion making for beginners, grade 2." He named off a few more standard books for second years.

"After that I still need to pick up Potion's ingredients at the apothecary." Zeak shuddered as he remembered Snape, who had probably been the biggest bully to Zeak than even the student's. "Oi......I don't remember having to get this much stuff last year."

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony frowned a little as Zeak mentioned that there were people he’d rather forget, and wondered if he was talking about Slytherins. It was true that Harmony herself tended to stay away from them. In all honesty, they scared the living daylights out of her, especially since they liked to think it funny to pick on the small, timid Hufflepuff. Harmony was ever so thankful Ari was usually there to protect her. She could never stand up to the older Slytherins, her body so frozen with fear. Harmony breathed an inward sigh of relief as Zeak began to talk about sight as though it was a casual conversation topic. It seemed he didn’t have much problem with it, and she was glad she hadn’t offended and hurt his feelings. “That’s good.” Harmony nodded with a smile. “Yes, I’ve heard that people who don’t have one of their senses at their disposal have very attune other senses… It makes sense.” Harmony laughed at the repetition of the word “sense”, finding it fascinating that one could live the way Zeak did. She knew she’d struggle a lot if she lost her sight, that was for sure.

Harmony laughed along with Zeak as he shook his head about the bells idea, knowing how silly the notion was. “That’s true. It would be awfully confusing.” Harmony listened as Zeak described his general life, and admired Zeak at how positive he was despite his lack of sight. Harmony knew she’d never be strong enough without other people’s support. Even with sight and all, her body physically healthy, she could never stand up for herself, always using others to help her along the way. Harmony was a fourteen-year-old girl, not an old woman in her nineties. She’d better start acting it, and grow up. “I can imagine.” Harmony chuckled good naturedly, understanding Zeak’s situation. “You poor thing. Peeves is such a nuisance.” Harmony agreed wistfully, remembering several incidents that had transpired because of the playful ghost. She was glad she had never been caught up in anything, because she had always been smart enough to avoid him. However, Peeves had another four years to catch her if he wanted to, which made Harmony grimace at the awful thought.

Harmony watched as Zeak extracted some paper with dots on it, and realised he would be reading in Braille. It was a fascinating language – if it could be called that, anyway. Harmony looked on in interest as Zeak read the words on the paper aloud, amazed he could read it so easily by skimming fingers over the lettering. “Um, oh yeah, I remember having those books. Shouldn’t be a problem, they’re easy to find…” Harmony murmured as she looked around at the stacked bookshelves swiftly. “Second year was an interesting year.” Harmony spoke as her eyes flitted across the room. “By that time you’ve settled down properly, but the work load increases and the teachers aren’t as soft on you as before.” Harmony sighed at the memories, thinking back on how much more homework she had received in the last year than she had for the first two. “They work you like slaves… Especially Professor Snape.” She added wryly, before alighting upon the Potions book Zeak needed. “Aha! Here we go, the textbook needed for Potions. Usually very easy to find, because most people need it.” Harmony smiled as she extracted the book from the shelf and handed it to Zeak, then tried to look for his other book for him. “Hm… Oh yes. I don’t like Potions myself. But I think that’s mainly because I’m so scared of Professor Snape.” Harmony admitted with a flinch, then grinned at Zeak’s complaint. “Like I said. They work you much harder. You could always ask me for help if you need it though… I’m not good at Potions, but everything else isn’t too hard.”