Disclaimer: never did and never will own it. J.K. Rowling does.
Spoilers: Order of the Phoenix

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~ At The Core Of Things ~

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You couldn’t believe your eyes! Granted, technically speaking, you didn’t have eyes, but it didn’t prevent you to ‘see’. You could feel the emotions around you, identify them as coming from different persons and from there, guess what was happening around you. Of course, the one you knew best was her. You could feel the smoothness of her inner arm and its warmth even through your clothes and the tightness of the leather straps holding you close to her. You knew her feelings as well as you knew yours when you were still part of a living creature.

You could also identify the people around you thanks to those similar to you. Though you quite liked those close to her, they never called to you the same way another one did. You didn’t know much about this one, just that there was something drawing you to him, something familiar that made you yearn for his presence. Except that he didn’t belong to her circle of inner friends. Each time they met, you could feel their conflicted emotions, reluctant admiration and repressed anger, hidden attraction and blatant spite.

Then it happened: you felt his presence around her more and more. You didn’t know the reason for it, but you could feel the pride threatening to burst inside of her. You knew this feeling: she had it each time she had succeeded to do something that she had dreaded. You couldn’t understand how someone like her could lack confidence like she did. Nobody but you and she knew the wreck she was each time she attempted those things. But still, you were always happy to be there, by her side, ready to help her in any way she needed. You had sworn to yourself that you would never fail her. So far, you hadn’t.

And there you were, with her dark brooding companion, back into this place you liked so much. You would have recognised it anywhere; after all, you were born here. And you also remembered a cold sensation, quite disagreeable, a long time ago. You had never been able to explain this sensation, but maybe she could have, if you knew how to ask her. In the meantime, you revelled in being back where you truly belonged. She could never come back here too often to your taste and it was almost as if she knew it and indulged you without saying so. After all, since you knew everything of her feelings, was it too much to hope she knew of yours?


~*~


You felt it before any of them did. You were watched upon and even the gentle hold of her fingers couldn't shake it away from you. The new presence wasn’t friendly and his emotions – you were sure it was a ‘he’ – were even more conflicted than theirs. Impatience, contempt, grudging interest, reprobation and, at the bottom of it all, a little fear. You knew his kind, you had met them before. You knew of their pride and independence, their supreme disdain for all that was material consideration. That he was spying on you seemed ludicrous.

Then she felt his presence also and became increasingly nervous. She knew he was here but she didn’t who he was nor why he was here and she didn’t like not knowing. Her dark shadow didn’t show any nervousness but you knew that he was aware of the vigilant watcher. She never knew of his concern for her; he wanted to be strong so she could rely on him should her courage fail her and in truth, she relied on him more than she thought.

The presence finally revealed himself, to her at least, with a little trepidation and her anxiety disappeared, to be replaced by recognition and some apprehension. He never guessed how close he had come to be badly hexed and still now, she was on the edge, wondering exactly how to treat him. Her fingers were clutched painfully even though you were by her side, ready to strike, all the while trying to comfort her by flickering a soft light. He made no threat and she offered a veiled excuse for their trespassing, fragile truce that was gravely accepted.

Her dark companion noticed her relief but made no comment. He continued his usual bickering as if nothing had changed, even though you knew he was being even more watchful. Trust was not something that came easily to him, even though he implicitly trusted her. She didn’t realise the extent of his trust in her, but then, she didn’t need to know it to cast longing glances in his direction. You couldn’t understand how she could miss the fact that he was behaving exactly the same way.


~*~


Then you realised it, the thing that made you think of how you arrived here, the thing that made you doubt your own ‘eyes’: you finally grasped what had escaped you until now. The reason why you were so drawn to this man – bless her for feeling the same! The core clothed in ebony resting in his hand was humming your song. Tentatively, you reached toward it and it only confirmed your suspicions: you both were from the same kind. Maybe it was a heartstring while you were a bone marrow, but still you came from the same living creature.

Somehow, you were sure that she didn’t even know what exactly you were. The man who had kept you before handing you to her – some years ago – never told her; you doubted she would like it. After all, you were supposed to be an omen of bad luck. Curiously, the dark man knew perfectly whose heartstring was encased in ebony, but then he had seen enough deaths to be indifferent to mere superstitions.

Now, the important thing was that they were compatible. No matter what the third presence would come up with, these two would be able to stand against it, and you could feel that he had strange designs. Though maybe not so strange, since he had the same feeling as you did: these two were made for each other, they were yearning for it, yet not realising the truth of it. How blind they could be! Truthfully, eyes were overrated. For them, what they couldn’t see couldn’t exist. Didn’t she deny your existence until she was proven otherwise? Well, not exactly your existence, but the existence of the body you once belonged to.

Your brother and yourself decided to play along with the puppet master, though you sometimes had to quell a furious desire to hex him. His eagerness to drive them out of what he considered his place irritated you; after all, you belonged here also. So, in-between visits to your home, you would be enthusiastic to answer the simplest of her whims, while you would tone it down in your familiar surroundings, just casting the light that seemed to reassure her.


~*~


Then something happened that the puppet master hadn’t planned. This time, her dark shadow even refused her the right to cast some light. You would have thought her fingers would have left their marks on your clothes of wood hadn’t you known better. She was scared out of her wits, not knowing what to expect and hating and dreading the unknown. But for him, because she would have walked into Hell for him, she stood her ground without a protest.

It all happened very quickly. For a brief moment, she lost her poise and clung to him, at the very moment he would have needed both arms. Determined to save her even at the cost of his own life, he pushed her away, desperately, hoping against hopes it would be enough, that he would distract whatever was coming – the feelings emanating from there were fuzzy and difficult to decipher – long enough for her to escape, to run to safety. Naturally, you knew she would do no such thing. You had been her companion, her lifesaver for more than seven years, you knew her inside out. You knew even better than her the spells she had cast – after all, you had lent her your strength to cast them – but still she managed to surprise you.

Driven mad with fury and worry, she threw herself at her companion and commanded you to flare to life. You obliged with a gleeful joy and opened your mouth – alright, so you technically didn’t have a mouth either – to release whatever power she had sent through you. The song bursting out of you almost made you giggle in nervousness. Was it how she hoped to fight whatever had attacked them? Because you had finally deciphered its feelings: hunger, aggressiveness, nothing sounded good to your ears.

But then, suddenly, there was nothing of this. Instead, there was… peaceful sleep? What, what? Wait, what had happened? Gently, you prodded her mind, all the while listening to her nearly breaking down. Then you stopped altogether, feeling a powerful concern come from the dark shadow. It washed over her and soothed her, forcing her also to acknowledge what you had felt a long time ago. You didn’t even protest when she slipped you in the sheath tied to her inner arm, but you snuggled peacefully in her warmth, humming along with your brother, basking in the satisfaction that finally they had opened their eyes. And to think you had almost refused to believe yours!

Feeling their love flare in the open didn’t even bother you. After all, you had known about it. You would have told her – if you had known how to tell her – but she wouldn’t have believed you. Humans are complex beings, but so fascinating as the third presence – a centaur, if you remembered well how she called them – was beginning to realise. Naturally, this particular adventure hadn’t brought you as much glory as usually, but you had no doubt that she was not done surprising you. Especially with your brother being in the company of her life companion. It should prove to be interesting. You would never have imagined such a thing though. Thinking of it, if you had had eyes, you wouldn’t have believed them.