Harry Potter and the Blind Seer of Durmstrang

Chapter 9

Harry never did get around to writing to the Shop of Requirement. He told Professor O'Carolan about the Hansel-and-Gretel Retriever and the old wizard scoffed.

"Bloody bit of rubbish," he growled. "Use your head, Lad, not trinkets, and you'll not get lost."

"Don't you ever get lost?" Harry asked him.

"I?" said the man gruffly. "Of course I get lost! All the time! I'm blind, after all."

"But..." Harry said, confused.

"The trick," said O'Carolan, "is to keep going. Eventually, you will become un-lost again."

"Really?" asked Harry skeptically.

"It's always worked for me," said O'Carolan. "I just keep going in the general direction I need to go and eventually I always get there."

Harry considered this. "Perhaps you could show me?" he asked.

"Well, I suppose so. Meet me after your classes this afternoon at the front door. I could use some fresh air anyway," said the professor.

Harry's first class that day was Potions. Unlike Potions at Hogwarts, the classroom was up in a tower, not down in the dungeons. Unfortunately, Harry took a wrong turn and found himself back at the Hogwarts common room rather than the Potions classroom. With a sinking feeling, he knew he was going to be late to class.

He was surprised, however, to find Adrian Pucey coming out of the common room.

"Wh-what are you doing here, Potter?" he asked in a wary tone.

"Err, I... forgot my book," lied Harry, not wanting to admit he had gotten lost.

"I'll wait for you," said Adrian.

"You're in Potions?" asked Harry in surprise.

"I-I didn't pass last year," said Adrian in a hurry, and Harry suddenly felt badly for lying to him.

"It's ok," he said. "I didn't forget my book. I-I-I sorta got lost," he said, feeling his face grow hot.

"Oh, that's not a big deal," said Adrian. "I'll go up with you."

"Thanks," said Harry. He realized he'd never spoken with the Slytherin chaser before. Again, he was struck with how little it seemed to matter that he was a Gryffindor and Adrian Pucey was a Slytherin. Here, they were both Hogwarts' students, and they somehow needed one another.

They hurried through the halls, arriving breathlessly at the Potions Tower just before Professor Snape closed the door.

Professor Snape seemed to be his usual grouchy self in Potions. The change in location hadn't appeared to affect him at all. He handed out a parchment with the instructions for a calming potion, a kin to the stress-relieving potion from last year, but this one needed a more subtle touch.

Harry discovered he needed Hermione to read it to him. Pinching his lips together, he touched the parchment with his wand, and hoping his spell would work, he whispered "Subula Scribo," at it. Feeling the paper, he found that the first line had appeared in Braille. When he tried it again, the second line appeared, but the first had disappeared again. Harry frowned. It was better than nothing.

It took him the entire class period to translate the paper, line by line. The other students had finished and bottled their potions, except Adrian, who was still frowning at his paper and fiddling with his cauldron. Harry had no time to ponder this, since he had his own problem in the form of Professor Snape, who stood ominously over his table.

"Potter," he said furiously. "I see you have not even begun brewing your potion."

"N-n-no, Sir," said Harry. "You see, Sir..." he began, but Snape cut him off.