Wrong, All Wrong

Part title

An eyebrow was raised at Saphyr and then Uncle Severus turned to Uncle Sirius and Mother. "It seems we have a little spy."

'Harry, what do we do?'

Somewhere in the back of my mind I felt Harry's grip on my arm tighten slightly. 'Don't worry for now, Saphyr can take care of herself.'

Uncle Sirius' face was now right in front of Saphyr. It was quite an uncomfortable experience to see his face up close like that. I could see wrinkles just beginning to form on his face along with various spots of slight discoloration. His eyes were widened by curiosity but I could see tiredness in them. The gaze was also slightly darkened by something I couldn't yet identify. Was it fear? Grief? Something worse? His voice brought me back out of my thoughts.

"I remember this little guy! I thought he was a necklace or something. He's very pretty."

Saphyr flicked her tongue at Uncle Sirius choosing to dismiss the man's incorrect guess of her gender, 'Of course I am 'pretty', ignorant human. What Jeweled Aqua wouldn't be?' It was amusing how much Saphyr seemed to dislike humans yet cherished Harry to the point of ardent devotion.

Mother's curious gaze came into view as Uncle Sirius stepped back. "What is it?"

'What do you think I am, fiery one? A cat?' Saphyr's tail flicked around in the air, no longer swaying peacefully. Her hiss seemed to intensify, 'The ignorance of your species is despicable.'

Then Uncle Severus spoke up. "She is a Jeweled Aqua, not a rare species, but uncommon to be seen as pets."

Saphyr looked up at Uncle Severus, 'I see I spoke too soon. The silent one, at least, deserves to be treated in a slightly higher regard than a speck of sand.'

"I think he's Harry's snake," Uncle Sirius said, somewhere above Uncle Severus sighed likely due to Uncle Sirius mistaking Saphyr for a male again, "We should give him back."

Uncle Severus looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself. He stared at Saphyr with slightly narrowed eyes, questioning the serpent with his gaze. My pulse started to race as I thought he might be able to tell that Harry and I were there in Saphyr's mind, watching through her eyes. Harry's presence calmed me a little, but I could still feel a slight fear that Uncle Severus was staring through Saphyr and right at me. Uncle Severus soon looked away from Saphyr and started walking towards the hallway door.

My vision swam and a throbbing pain sliced through my consciousness as I slowly realized Harry had suddenly cut off the connection with Saphyr.

Harry's voice soon entered my mind, 'I'm sorry, Aster, I forgot you weren't used to the switch.'

My hands gripped my head as pain pulsed from behind my eyes and between my ears. I felt my knees hit the floor as I lost control over myself. 'It hurts, Harry...' All of my other thoughts jumbled together into a chaotic mess and confused me further. It was so hard to think, to concentrate or focus on anything. I clenched my eyes shut, not trusting that opening them wouldn't cause me even more pain. With each moment that passed by the pain seemed to lessen, though only just gradually.

From somewhere outside of the chaos within my mind I felt Harry wrap his arms around me. 'I know, Aster, I know. Just listen to my voice; focus on me. Don't pay attention to anything else. Focus all of your thoughts on me, just me.'

As I listened to Harry I noticed the pain was becoming tolerable. When I had focused back on the pain, however, it spiked back up again. Obediently I tuned out the pain and concentrated on only thinking about Harry. I thought about that Halloween night, Harry's red eye, seeing his painful memories, his scars, and everything else I knew about my other half, my twin brother. Outside of myself I thought I heard voices speaking but I averted my attention back onto Harry. In what seemed like forever and a moment, at the same time the pain dissipated and I was left relieved and sort of tired. My breathing came out in long deep breaths and I felt a lingering fatigue throughout my body even though I had only been sitting on the floor.