Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

Eye of the Beholder (Harry Potter)

But then again, what if this was the way I found her? By saying no to this then there was a chance that I was saying goodbye to the entire –

"If you don't want to try it then I guess I'll take it back." George's voice made my eyes snap up towards him. He shrugged, reaching down to pick up the potion. "I can always find someone else to try it out."

"No," I said instantly, making him pause. He made no attempt to hide his smile. "I'll try it out."

"You're sure?" Nodding wordlessly, I held out my hand for the potion. George wasted no time in handing it off to me, "Make sure to drop by the shop tomorrow to tell me what you think."

"Will do." Curling my hand around the vial, I hurriedly put it into my pocket.

George promptly left the pub, needing to head home and I took my time to finish my drink before doing the same. A huge part of me wanted to drink the potion and just hurry off to bed to see if it would work but it was still too early to go to bed. I forced myself to sit look through some unsolved case files for a few hours after dinner and once it was time to sleep, my motions unconsciously became faster. I hurriedly dressed in my pyjamas and brushed my teeth.

Stepping out of my bathroom and walking into the bedroom, my eyes narrowed on the potion vial lying on the bedside table where I had placed it hours before. Perching on the edge of the bed, I removed the topper. I hesitated for a moment only, before tipping its entire contents down my throat. Setting the empty vial aside, I got into bed and waited for sleep to come over me. I could already feel the anticipation settle in as I wondered how long it would take for me to fall asleep.

It didn't take long.

**********

The potion worked in an odd way – it was as if I had been transported into the scene and I frowned, wondering what I was supposed to do. I glanced down at the watch on my wrist and looked to the building in front of me. Putting the two clues together, I decided that I was meant to head into work. I was so tempted to duck into one of the toilets inside of the ministry building to see whether my face had changed with age – as if that would give me some sort of estimate of when I'm supposed to meet this woman.

But I didn't. Instead I continued to walk through the building as some of my co-workers walked past me. A man was walking towards me, reading a newspaper and I tried to snag a glimpse of the date but it was blurred out, the numbers illegible. Merlin forbid this whole meeting my match business went smoothly, I thought with a roll of my eyes.

As I continued my passage through the hallways, I found myself searching the faces of the women walking in the same corridor. It was a pointless exercise. How was I supposed to recognise her if I had no idea who I was looking for? Was there going to be some kind of sign? Or was I supposed to –

I bumped into someone, grunting on impact. The woman that I had bumped into gasped softly, crouching down quickly to retrieve her fallen papers. Kneeling down beside her, I hurriedly started to pick them up. What if I missed her because I had bumped into some woman during my search of her?

"I'm so sorry," the woman said, her head still bowed towards the ground as she picked up the last of the papers.

"Don't be sorry," I insisted as I rose to my feet and held out the stack of papers that I had gathered for her to take. "It's completely my fault – I should have been watching where I was going."

"Well I guess that makes two of us," she said with a smile, glancing up at my face as she reached out to take the papers back. When her eyes settled on my face, her mouth parted a little and she grinned warmly, recognising me at the same moment that I had recognised her. "Harry! How have you been?"