"Guys, I swear, I heard her voice," Harry tried again, feeling like a helpless child around his skeptical friends.
"In your head? Are you sure you're alright mate?" Ron asked, being half joking but also a little concerned.
"The telepathy isn't new, we've been doing that since we met," Harry let drop, but quickly reinforced his point, "But we have to be relatively close for it to work. So she had to have been on Hogwarts grounds!"
"What do you mean it's happened before? You two can talk to each other telepathically? Why? How?" Hermione questioned, firing each moments from each other.
"I-I don't know. That's why I was always up late our first year, Ron, I would try and fill her in on what's happening. She said she was going to talk to Dumbledore about it, but I don't think she ever got the chance," Harry trailed off, thinking back on old thoughts.
"Why didn't you ask him?" Hermione asked.
Ron butted in right after, "And why not mention this before?"
Harry shrugged again, "I guess I just haven't thought about it much. She's been so far away that I haven't used it in forever, well until today."
"Why don't you ask Dumbledore about it? Ron and I could do more research in the library for Buckbeak's trial while you do." Hermione suggested, checking her watch to see that it was ten in the morning.
"I guess that works. Do you think he'll be in his office?" Harry was suddenly very nervous about approaching the headmaster alone- sure he'd been in his office before, but never uninvited.
"If not, just see Professor McGonagall or Professor Lupin. They could be able to help, or at least could get you a meeting with Dumbledore. Come on, Ron, Library's this way," Hermione led the ginger down the opposite way, feeling frustrated as she felt she had forgotten something important. And with no way of knowing what she had forgotten, she was going to bury her nose into a book and hope it came back on its own.
He was halfway to the headmaster's office before he smacked himself in the head- The headmaster's office is password-protected, idiot. Harry decided quickly to see Professor Lupin about it instead, and maybe get another patronus charm lesson in.
He steadied himself, trying to mentally prepare himself for what he would say, before knocking on the DADA classroom door. He heard a quiet voice saying come in, and he creaked open the wooden door.
"Ah, Harry, Happy Christmas," Remus greeted him, straightening out the papers in his hands.
"Happy Christmas, Professor. Sorry to disturb you, I just had a few questions," Harry put awkwardly, cringing as he saw Professor Lupin's eyebrows raise.
"Some questions? School-related or personal?" He put a weird emphasis on personal, and Harry was suddenly regretting everything.
"Is telepathy real?" Harry started off as his first question. He knew some form of it had to be real—speaking nonverbally, that is— but was unsure if there was a more official name.
"Well telepathy is actually a muggle term for Legilimency, which is the art of being able to effectively 'read' another's mind." Remus explained, pausing to let Harry ask a follow-up question.
"Is it something that must be learned?" Harry was even more confused after that explanation- he expected some sort of 'well it might be' speech.
"As far as I know, though there are some magical creatures that use it to communicate." Remus was getting even more curious as the questions wore on.
"Are there any cases of humans using it to communicate?" Harry took a seat from a desk and pulled it up the the side of Prof. Lupin's desk.
Remus paused a moment, putting down the papers he was looking at and turning towards Harry, "I haven't heard of it. Why do you ask?"
Harry squirmed a little in his seat as he tried to figure out a way to explain it, "Have you heard of the girl Sirius Black escaped with? Olivia Gaunt?"
Remus turned his chair, now extremely curious, "I've seen her face on the posters. She's your age, right?"
Harry nodded, "She was a good friend back in first year, before the... yeah." He felt himself getting emotional, and cursed mood swings before continuing, "Anyway, when she and I first met we discovered we could talk using our thoughts. She was going to ask the headmaster about it before, but I don't think she ever got an answer. I was just wondering if there was any explanation for it."
Remus hummed an odd note, "I haven't heard of anything like that. Is there any connection between you two besides friends?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"I'm not sure, but there has to be some other connection between you to prompt such a thing." Remus adjusted the papers on his desk, obviously pondering the thought.
"I don't know of anything, but thanks for your help," A thought about Olivia's powers popped into his head, but he couldn't see what that had to do with it.
"Anytime, Harry. If you don't mind, I can talk to some of the other professors and try and find an answer." Remus offered, standing himself. His grading could wait- he needed to talk to Dumbledore about this.
"That's fine with me. Nice talking to you, professor," Harry said genuinely, waving a shallow goodbye as he left the classroom.
He started to make his way to the library when he passed the owlery and an idea struck him- if there was any news about Olivia, he had to tell Draco.
Harry and Draco still despised each other, blaming one another for what happened to Olivia and generally not getting along. But they had both come to realise that the other cared for Olivia, and so any news on her whereabouts was hesitantly shared between the foes. Even though Draco was at his home for the holiday, Harry decided a letter would repay the one sent to him over the summer.
Draco,
Olivia's close to Hogwarts. Don't ask me how I know, but j can tell you that we're trying to find her now. I'll report any further findings if anything comes of this.
Tell no one about this,
Harry Potter
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EDIT: 4/14/17 I'm going to apologise to all my Hermione fans for making her so forgetful. I know it's a little out of character for her, but I'm going to blame it on how hectic everything would've been for her at the time. That and I am not that consistent when it comes to writing and don't always plan ahead 😬.
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I'm rereading this story and I'm not 100% happy with everything, but I'm going to try and incorporate some concepts that I kinda forgot about, so be on the lookout for that.
Anyway, please leave feedback and I hope you enjoyed!