Little seer

Chapter 24

Three seconds.

So little time was needed for the whole world to make such a turnabout face. One minute he had been chatting peacefully with Theo, and the next thing he knew was chaos and he was searching desperately for his bookish friend.

The dust had settled down somewhat, which Harry was thankful for, it was one less thing to hinder his breathing. But meanwhile the smoke had grown thick, black and heavy, making it impossible to breathe somewhat normally unless he kept his head close to the ground, which suited Harry just fine. Right now, he wasn't sure if he would be able to stand unless he had something to support him.

But even when he nearly had his chin scrapping over the floorboards, it was impossible to see more than an arm length forward.

And the chiming in his ears was no help at all, the sounds around him seemed to come back at full strength, only to disappear again. There was no pattern and the whole thing just disorientated him more than he already was.

With two of his senses mostly out of game, Harry was making a slow progress in moving around.

It didn't help that the shelves seemed to have been unable to stand through the blast, having fallen to the floor. Seriously was magic not supposed to ensure that those things stayed in place, and thus not force Harry to crawl around or over them? Each time he had to move upwards, Harry held his breath, not wanting to breathe in more smoke than he already had gotten into his lungs.

Harry knew that he was supposed to get the hell out of there and back to Hogwarts. Whatever had caused the explosion had probably not left this shop alone. And because of his lack of magic, he would be a burden if he hung around.

Besides, all this smoke had to originate from somewhere, and it might be a part of his panicked mind but the room seemed to grow gradually warmer. It was happening slowly, but the change was big enough to be noticeable.

No matter how safe he would be, he would not forgive himself for simply leaving Theodore behind. Having been standing right next to him when the explosion happened, Theo had to be somewhere nearby.

Astoria, he also had to find her. It was primary his fault that she had been involved in this mess. If not because she had insisted on being with her fiancé, him, eh whatever he was supposed to call it. She would have gone straight to Madam Puddifoot's teashop if Harry hadn't tried to put it off until he and Draco would be able to swap places.

And he didn't think that Draco would forgive him if he happened to forget the blond's fiancé to save Theo and himself.

No matter how much he didn't like the witch, it didn't mean that he intended to leave her behind if he had other opportunities.

Speaking of blond annoyances, Harry hoped that Draco was safe. Seeing as Draco was parading around as him the Lestranges had probably already whisked him away to safety, something Draco would not be happy about. He was a Malfoy and would not allow himself to be hidden away like a fair maiden while his friends were in danger.

Once the trio knew that he was still here, assistance would come quickly, he would just have to keep them alive until then. A feat Harry was not sure about how he should manage.

If this was an attack, rather than a magical accident as he was hoping for, this was bad. It was near to impossible to judge what was going on out on the street with the ringing in his ears, drowning out most of the sounds around him.

It felt like a troll had been allowed to go into rampage inside his skull. It did not help that blood was still running down the side of his face. Head wounds tended to bleed much, so for now, Harry decided to put it on the list of things that were less important to worry about.