The Bet

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Interlude II - The True Meaning

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After sleeping on his troubling thoughts about Mikhail and Draco, Harry woke up feeling disconcerted and not at all sure what to do about it. His skin was prickling and he felt an uncomfortable weight around his neck.

Reaching up, his fingers brushed the sharp edges of the obsidian that made up the chain, following it down until they touched the cool jade; etched with a carving he still did not understand.

Going through his morning routine, he resolved to find the meaning behind the symbol. It was not something that he would have normally cared about, but something was compelling him to find the answer; perhaps the same thing that made the amulet glow around certain people and not others.

He knew he wasn't going to find it in the school library - he had looked for weeks now, and still hadn't found what he was looking for. So, he'd go into London, back to that bookstore, and see if he couldn't find something there. Or, directions to the nearest public library.

He stepped outside, yelling "I'll be back!" over his shoulder, squinting at the bright but overcast sky. Walking to the centre of the courtyard, he Apparated, arriving in the Apparition point for Diagon Alley.

Getting a few odd looks for his complete lack of anything wizard on his person, and perhaps a few more for the recognition of the scar on his forehead, Harry walked down the twisty cobblestone street, admiring the broom in the front window of Quality Quidditch Supplies from afar, and delighting in the smells coming from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. He ducked through The Leaky Cauldron and out onto Charing Cross Road, taking a left and walking the few blocks to the little bookstore he and Raven had gone to several weeks prior.

Once inside, he browsed the sections for what he was looking for. He stopped in the "Historical" section, finding a few titles on ancient Chinese history, but nothing on symbolism. Going over to the "Art" section, he found a few books that were a little closer, but nothing that contained the symbol he was looking for. He looked briefly in the "Language" section, but there were so many books on learning Chinese and how to read it, that he was rather confused, still not finding something that triggered what he was looking for. There were several books on learning to read and write Chinese that had a few pieces of the Chinese alphabet that looked somewhat similar to his symbol, but not close enough...

Deciding he needed to eat something, supposing it was a lack of food that was throwing off his concentration, Harry left the little shop, thinking he should find a library. Walking down the street, he saw a young woman dressed in not much more than a tee-shirt and a vest, with bright pink hair. He almost thought it was Tonks for a moment, before he spotted the tattoo on her upper arm.

"Excuse me! Excuse me, miss?" Harry called as he approached her and her friends.

She turned to him, and Harry noticed that she had a lip piercing and bright green eyes. "Yeah?" she asked, looking him up and down.

Glancing down to make sure there was nothing wrong with his denim jacket, jeans, and trainers, he said as he looked back up, "Oh, um...I couldn't help but notice your tattoo..."

"What about it?"

"Um, well, what does that symbol mean?"

"Symbol?"

"Er...yeah. Er, see, I've got this necklace someone gave me, and I've been trying to find out what it means." He pulled out the amulet from under his shirt and showed her. "The person who gave it to me doesn't know."

"Oh," the girl said, glancing back at her friends, who looked just as puzzled by this stranger as she did. "Well, it means 'love'."

"Love?" Harry said, feeling his throat tighten.

"Yeah. It's the Kanji for 'love' in Japanese."

"Japanese? It's not Chinese?"

"Well, it's the same in Chinese, now isn't it?" She smiled. "Japan and China share some of the same written characters."

"Oh. I...didn't know that," Harry said, looking down at his amulet.

"Yeah. But that one means the same in both languages."

"Oh. I see. Well, thank you so much."

She nodded. "Glad I could help." She started to walk away.

"Wait, what's your name?"

She turned back and raised an eyebrow. "Gardenia."

"Well, thank you, Gardenia. Really."

She cocked her head at him. "No problem, stranger."

"Harry."

"Well, no problem Harry. Have a good day."

"You too."

After watching Gardenia and her friends walk away, Harry dashed back over to the bookshop, sliding to a stop in front of the "language" section again. He grabbed the first Chinese-English dictionary he found, and flipped to the "love" entry.

Gardenia was right. It was the same symbol...or character, or whatever it was called.

Ai. Love.

Harry set that dictionary down and looked in a Japanese-English one, finding the same information.

Ai. Love.

Wow.

Luna had been right. All he had to do was look in a dictionary.

Leaving the bookstore, Harry walked back to Diagon Alley, his hands deep in his pockets and his gaze on the pavement in front of his feet.

So what did it mean...? That the character in the amulet meant "love", and it glowed around certain people and not others.... Did it mean that he loved them but not the other people...?

As soon as he arrived back at the dorm, he ran upstairs, grabbing a piece of parchment and scribbling a list of names on it.

Seamus

Ginny

Ron

Hermione

Draco

Raven

Mikhail

Kevin

Owen

Dennis

Luna

Neville

Okay...so now he just needed to find out who the amulet glowed around, and who it didn't. He already knew a few, so he marked their names.

Draco - N

Raven - Y

Harry decided that he was going to go to everyone on his list to see if it glowed. Maybe it was gender-specific like Draco said, or maybe it had something to do with this "love" thing.

Walking down stairs, he ran into Ron, who was coming up to look for him.

"Hey Harry, I was just coming to get you. Would you like some lunch?"

"Not right now, Ron. Actually, I was wondering if you could help me with something."

"Sure, mate."

Feeling really nervous, Harry reached up and unclasped the necklace, holding it in shaking hands. "Could you..." he cleared his throat, "could you put your hand near this so I can see what happens?"

Ron looked perplexed. "Er...why? Is it supposed to do something?"

"I dunno. I...I'm experimenting."

"Is it going to do something bad? To me?"

"No. No, I don't think so. But just put your hand near it. Don't touch it."

"Okay..." Ron reached out, and as he got nearer, the amulet started to glow, growing brighter the closer Ron's hand got. He snatched it back, and the glow subsided. "Was it supposed to do that?"

Harry shrugged. "It's done it around Raven, as far as I know. But not around Draco. So it's not gender-specific, then."

"Do you think there's something weird with what Ginny gave you?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm not sure," he said, quickly re-clasping it. "I'm going through a list of people... I found out what the symbol, I mean, Kanji, means, though."

"What does it mean?" Ron asked as they moved into the dining area, where most of everyone was seated, munching on sandwiches and crisps.

"Love, not luck, like Ginny thought."

"Oh. So what do you think about that, then?"

"What does he think about what?" Hermione asked, looking up from her newspaper.

"The necklace Ginny gave him. It glows around random people, and the symbol or whatever on it means 'love', apparently," Ron said, already picking up his own monstrous sandwich and biting into it.

"What, Harry?" Hermione said, looking stunned.

"Is there something wrong with the necklace I gave you, Harry?" Ginny asked, looking worried.

Harry shrugged, reaching around the table to put his own sandwich together, deciding he was hungry after all. "About a month ago, Draco and Raven wanted to look at it, but I didn't want to take it off, so they had to get close to look at it. When Raven did, she said she saw it glow and flash at her, but nothing happened when Draco got near it. I just tried it near Ron, and it glowed again, so I know it's not just a gender thing, like Draco had suggested."

"Harry...why didn't you tell me about his sooner?" Hermione sighed, putting a hand on her forehead.

"I didn't really care, until now. I just sorta woke up this morning, knowing that I had to find out what the symbol meant."

"And what does it mean again?"

"Love."

Hermione frowned. "Do you think it maybe glows around people you love?"

"Well, I dunno. It glowed around Ron, didn't it? And I love him. You know, as a friend," he said, with a look at Ron.

Ron nodded and smiled, his cheeks stuffed with food like a hamster. "Right back at'cha, mate."

"But I don't love Raven, I don't think. I mean, I care about her a lot, as a friend. But I don't know if I love her, love her. But I made a list. A list of people to try it on," he said, finished making his sandwich and taking a bite.

"Who's on the list, Harry?" asked Seamus.

"Everybody here, and Owen, Mikhail, Draco, Raven, Luna and Neville."

"So you want to try it on all of us?" Seamus asked, and Harry nodded. "Well, might as well get it over with, then," the Irishman said, standing from his place and walking over to Harry. Harry jerked back when Seamus got too close. "So what do you want me to do then?" Seamus asked, frowning.

Harry set down his food and stood. "Er...just put your hand near it, but don't touch it," he said quickly, feeling nervous and defensive again. Merlin, maybe Draco was right. It was odd to be so possessive... "Tell me if the amulet glows or flashes or anything."

Everyone around the table stopped eating, watching with baited breath as Seamus' hand came up, and watched as the amulet did absolutely nothing. When Seamus dropped his hand, they all seemed to sag in relief, as if they thought it was going to put a curse on the tow-headed young man or something.

"Here, let me try," Ginny said, standing.

"Nothing, Seamus?" Harry asked.

Seamus shook his head. "Nope. Nothin', mate. I guess you don't love me, then," he pouted, grinning at Harry's roll of eyes.

"I'm not sure that's why it's not doing anything, Seamus," Harry explained. "Besides, I do love you. All of you. As friends."

Ginny stepped up as Seamus sat down, but when her hand got close, nothing happened. She frowned a little, but sat down with a shake of her head.

Dennis and Kevin leaped up next, almost tripping over each other to get to Harry, both hoping to garner a reaction. Again, nothing. Looking sullen, they both told Harry 'no', and sat down again.

Hermione was the last one at the table, and she stood slowly, frowning the whole time. "I don't like this, Harry," she said.

"I knew you wouldn't," he answered.

She reached up her hand, and a noise of some kind stuck in her throat when the amulet started glowing, and she pulled her hand back to her chest, holding it to her with her other hand.

"It glowed, didn't it?" Harry asked, picking it up so he could see it.

Hermione nodded. "Harry, I think you should take it off."

Harry dropped the amulet. "I don't want to."

"But Harry, it could be dangerous...it could be controlling you!"

"Hermione, I feel perfectly normal. I just don't want to take it off. I haven't noticed anything different about the way I feel, or the way I think."

"But if you don't want to take it off... Harry, it could be compelling you to keep it on, and you wouldn't even know it!"

"Look, Hermione, I've already had this conversation with Draco. Just leave it alone, okay? Besides, I took it off when Ron was trying it. I just want to know why it glows around some people and not others, alright? Could you help me with that?"

Hermione's mouth became a thin line. "Yes. Yes, fine. I can do that. But Harry...if I think that that thing is causing a serious threat to your health - mental or physical, I will Stupefy you and take it off, do you understand?"

Harry glared. "Fine. But I can't be responsible if you actually touching it does something to you, okay?"

"I'll take my chances."

"Alright." Harry sat back down and pulled out his list, adding the appropriate marks next to each name.

Seamus - N

Ginny - N

Ron - Y

Hermione - Y

Draco - N

Raven - Y

Mikhail

Kevin - N

Owen

Dennis - N

Luna

Neville

"Harry, I'm so sorry," Ginny said, looking sullen.

"Sorry about what, Gin? Don't worry about it, I'm fine."

"But I got it for you..."

"Ginny, seriously, don't feel bad about it. How would you have known?"

Ginny still seemed upset, but dropped it, going back to her lunch, and picked at her crisps.

Hermione leaned over Harry's shoulder, looking down at his list. "I think you should make a comparison list once you've had everyone try it, Harry. To see what the people who it does glow around have in common."

Harry nodded. "Alright. I guess I'll figure this all out later. Owen's not home and neither are Neville and Luna. Where are they, by the way?"

"Oh, they went to Neville's grandmother's for the day," Hermione said as she sat back down.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Took him long enough," he muttered.

"What do you mean, Harry?"

"Oh, I'm just assuming they're over there to tell Neville's grandmother that he asked Luna to marry him," he said nonchalantly, eating his food, waiting for the reaction.

"What?" Hermione said, dropping her sandwich.

"Really?" Ginny squealed.

Harry grinned, nodding. "Yep. Luna told me about a month ago. She said they hadn't told anyone because Neville wanted to tell his grandmum. Took him long enough, in my opinion."

Ron frowned. "I don't know...you know Neville's grandmum...I don't know if I'd want to tell her I was getting married, either." Everyone laughed.

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By the end of the day, Harry's list was almost finished, but he was no closer to understanding what the reactions meant.

Seamus - N

Ginny - N

Ron - Y

Hermione - Y

Draco - N

Raven - Y

Mikhail

Kevin - N

Owen - N

Dennis - N

Luna - N

Neville - N

The only person left was Mikhail, who he'd see tomorrow, so he'd ask him then. He wondered if he should make his list bigger...include people he knew, and liked, and people he didn't really care about either way. So he jotted down a few more names.

Celestine

Zabini

Nott

Danny

Stuart

Jesse

Meghan

Luna and Neville had broken the news, and everyone pretended to act surprised for their sake, then proceeded to ask them questions about how it went with Neville's grandmother.

"Well, it went pretty well, I think," Neville said, darting his eyes around.

"Aw, you can be honest with us, Nev," Seamus said. "She ripped you a new one, didn't she?"

Neville shook his head. "No...nothing like that. She mainly snapped at me because I wouldn't spit it out." There were chuckles at that. "She was stunned when I finally told her, then looked at Luna for a while, and asked us about all the arrangements. I told her we hadn't gotten that far yet, and that's when things started to go downhill. She started making plans right there!"

"Tough luck getting her to back off, mate," Ron had said. "It's near impossible to stop your mum from wanting to control your entire life, even when you're twenty-three. Or, your grandmum, in your case."

"Don't I know it," Neville said.

"Don't worry," said Luna. "I'll take care of your grandmother, Neville. I've actually already started making plans."

"Really?" Neville sighed, looking relieved. "See? This is why I'm marrying you."

"No, you're marrying me because I know more about exotic plants and wood faeries from the Camdanien area of Gloucester than you."

Everyone shot each other confused looks, including Neville. Then he smiled and kissed her on her cheek. "Yes. That's exactly why."

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