Pierced (Completed)

Chapter 2: Hunger

"MY HEART IS EVER AT YOUR SERVICE."-WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

*****

"Harry?" A short pause. "Harry?"

"Mmm?" said Harry distractedly, exercising his mind-reading powers on Professor Flitwick by trying to see what he was going to say before he said it.

"Harry Potter, look at me right now," whispered Hermione sternly without stopping her note-taking.

Harry shook his head and blinked a few times to clear his head before giving Hermione his full attention, his eyebrow quirking at the expression of concentration on her face. He had to have seen that expression on her face countless times, but never before had it been so eye-catching to him. There was just something about it that drew him to it and made him want to never look away.

"Harry, look at me and focus," she snapped, obviously a tiny bit insulted.

"Sorry," Harry apologized with another shake of his head to clear it. "Focusing now."

"First off, you need to breathe," she said. "Almost every girl in your classes stares at you the whole time, and I'm sure at least one of them has to be smart enough to notice that you aren't breathing." Harry nodded and took an exaggerated breath, the air feeling foreign and stale in his lungs. "And second, you need to pay attention to the sun. It's been getting closer and closer to your desk this whole time. If that one girl is smart enough to notice the breathing thing, you can be sure she'll put two and two together when you start screaming in agony and clutching the piece of you that was burnt."

Harry almost jumped back in fright as he noticed that the sunlight streaming through the nearest window was touching the edge of his desk. He didn't want an experience like the one he had had this morning to ever happen again. Other than that Harry was sure Hermione was overestimating the female population of Hogwarts, but she seemed too snappy at the moment to tell her that and plus, better safe than sorry, right?

"Breathe," Hermione hissed.

Harry quickly took in a breath, feeling like an idiot as he did so. There was no way in hell that that could've looked natural in any way. But he felt more than saw Hermione relax next to him, and he really noticed as her pulse slowed down just a bit to a normal rate.

It was surreal to Harry, the powers he had gained. There was the mind-reading, of course, but there was also his heightened senses and strength. He could see even the darkest corner of the room clearly and could taste everything on the air including peoples' breakfasts just from their exhalations. And those were the two senses affected the least (besides touch; that didn't seem to have been affected at all). He could smell moods, that's how he really knew Hermione was feeling a bit irritated, he could smell that Professor Flitwick's wand had a unicorn hair core, could smell the overwhelming blood nestled nice and safe just under the skin of the 15 students and one professor in the classroom. He could hear Malfoy, who was on the other side of the room, breathing as he stared listlessly out of the window, could hear a fly buzzing just outside said window, could hear Hermione's pulse throbbing at her throat, carrying her warm blood up to her brain to oxygenate it.

And he could feel.

He could feel the magic thick in the air, thrumming as it manifested and dispersed around the various magic-users in the room. He could feel the overwhelming power laying at ease in his own body, waiting to be released and wreak havoc on all near him. He could feel the muscles and tendons tensing and relaxing in Hermione's wrist as her quill flew across her parchment. He could feel Lavender Brown staring at the back of his head, feel her intent should she ever have the chance to have her way with him. The implications and revelations this new-found power brought…it was amazing.