Harry Potter, Sovereign - Chapter 35

Harry had an unusual experience that night. He already experienced dreams, nightmares, and visions from Voldemort. However, it was his first time viewing the life of someone else.

It was in ancient times, in northern lands. Humans were living harsh lives, being under the constant threat of giants. Until she came. She lead them, helped them build villages, broker peace with the giants, and ruled them. But not everything was alright. To maintain the peace with the giants, some sacrifices had to be regulary offered. That was something she couldn’t prevent.

“Aah!”

Harry woke up suddenly, slightly short of breath, and sweating lightly. The vivids images were still perfectly clear, randomly replaying in his mind. They were both mesmerizing, and horrifying. It took him several minutes to calm himself. He grabbed his rod and cast the tempus charm. He didn’t notice he did it silently.

It was 4am. He relaxed, then grimaced. His studying and training routine was supposed to resume that day. He had woken up to early, and doubted he would be able to go back to sleep again. He didn’t look forward to starting the day with a lack of sleep, especially since the first period would be with Scathach.

Thinking about her gave him complicated feelings, not only because of what happened the day before, but also because of what he had seen in his sleep. Those images, they were fragments of her life. He somehow felt guilty about it. He felt like he had violated her privacy by viewing moments of her life without permission, and he g.r.o.a.n.e.d, knowing his time with her would only get more akward.

He was too awake to go back to sleep, and his thoughs kept returning to Scathach and how their relationship was changing. To avoid anymore of these thoughts, he decided to meditate, and try to work on his occlumency.

To help, he also practiced a basic skill he had recently learned: slowly circulating his magic throught his body. A basic magic manipulation skill to increase one’s control over their magic. The amount of focus required allowed him to completly forget about anything else.

Without knowing, he had entered some kind of trance. Anything around him was ignored, even the sensation of the bed and blanket below him. The only thing he was aware of was himself. For the first time, his body, mind and magic completly got in tune with each other. Had Xuanzang been present, she would have been surprised at what he had accomplished.

“Harry Potter sir” said Dobby.

“What?”

Harry was startled out of his trance and fell backward, thankfully on the bed. He flailed for a second before righting himself, and looked at his friend standing on the bed in front of him.

“Dobby? What’s going on?”

“It’s morning sir. Breakfast be ready soon.”

“What?” he replied in numb surprise.

He grabbed his rod and performed the tempus charm again, confirming Dobby’s words.

“How?”

“Is something wrong?” he asked curiously, then got worried. “Did something happen to master Harry Potter?”

“No Dobby, nothing wrong happened… I think? It’s just that, I woke up in the middle of the night, and didn’t manage to go back to sleep. So I tried to meditate, and I didn’t see the time pass. That’s why you surprised me… And I’m not sleepy…” he stated while checking himself. “In fact, I feel refreshed, as if my sleep hadn’t been interrupted” he finished in wonder.

“If Harry Potter is fine, then Dobby is happy. The bathroom is free, so master should go before breakfast.”

“Yeah, thanks Dobby.”

With that said, the elf popped away, and Harry went to the bathroom. 15 minutes later, he joined the other at the dinning table. He managed to keep his usual demeanor when he greeted Scathach, but concentrated on his food. It was only half an act because he realised he was quite hungry. It made him think that there was probably more to his unusual meditation experience. Before separating for the rest of the day, he asked one of the ladies for some time to talk later that day day.

His morning lesson with Scathach didn’t go as bad as he expected. He expected her to be a bit flirtarious, but that wasn’t the case. She remained professional from start to finish. It was just him having slight troubles concentrating on the teachings. Still, at the end of the lesson, he could have sworn that the look she gave him when they separated had a hint of longing.

Leaving the former queen of the cold lands, he went to the room of the former queen of the warm lands.

“Semiramis?” he called at the entrance.

“Come in” came the attractive voice.

Harry entered the room, and looked at the beautiful woman. It was his first time getting into the room of someone from the opposite s.e.x, and he found it exciting and unnerving. It was also the room of someone he had a slight crush on. He couldn’t prevent himself from blushing a little. She was sitting on her bed, with a chair in front of her, and motionned him to take a seat.

“What can I do for you, Harry?”

Harry took a calming breath before answering. “In the previous night, I saw something during my sleep. I saw some of Scathach memories. Do you know what could have caused that?”

“The Dream Cycle” she said with a slight surprise. “In my and my fellow casters previous world, the contract between master and servant would have another effect called Dream Cycle, where the master and the servant would have dreams of each other’s lives. Since our summoning and contract was different from our world, we weren’t sure it would happen. After a week with nothing, we didn’t expect it anymore.”

“Is there something that can be done to block it?” he asked nervously.

Semiramis raised an eyebrow in response, at both the question and his anxiousness.

“It feels like I’m intruding into something intimate. I mean, aren’t there some things that you girls would rather keep private?”

At that question, Semiramis mood changed. There wasn’t much change in her expression and stance, but there was a bit of tension in the air. There was no hostility, but the friendliness was gone.

“You are right. There are some things everyone wants to keep to themselves” she said, looking at him in the eyes with a stony gaze. “It can be about a subject they hate, a subject they are ashamed about, a subject they found embarrassing, or something that is considered criminal” she finished, then looked away.

“Semiramis?” he called, uncertain.

“I do not believe there is anything that can be done about it, aside from mastering occlumency” she answered while lightly shaking her head, and returned her eyes to his. “You should go and resume your morning exercises” she said in a manner indicating that the conversation was over.

“I see” he replied, recognising she wanted to be left alone. “Thanks for the clarification, Semiramis. I’ll see you later” he said as he stood up and started to leave.

“If, or rather when you have further visions” she said as he reached the entrance of the room, “do try to be understanding if you see something you don’t like.”

“… That’s right” he told himself with a complicated expression on his face. “Dual class. Caster, and Assassin…”