The Opposite

Chapter 7: A Dangerous Weapon

Aurora and Draco made their way to the room where Ron and the others were. Ron, Neve, and Neville were stumbling up the stairs, positively drunk. Ron smiled up at Draco. He was holding an empty bottle of firewhisky. Neve's hair had changed again into a slimy green color. She looked up at her sister and waved.

"Arrivederci, Aurora!" she slurred loudly. Neville waved at the two also. Neve and Neville were supporting Ron, who was the drunkest.

"I do not believe this! They're all bloody pissed! This is too much!" Draco said. Neve tripped forward as she came up the stairs. That's when Hermione ran inside the room. She pushed Draco aside and saw the trio coming up the stairs. Ron stood up in front of her.

"Mione, you're really pretty..." Ron promptly passed out. Hermione sighed as she tried to support his weight.

"A little help here, Draco." Draco sighed and reluctantly helped her. "Aurora, we'll take care of this arsehole. You go and help the other two to their bedrooms. I'm sure they are capable of walking on their own," Hermione said while holding Ron up by his arms. Draco held his feet and they trudged out of the room with Ron in tow. Aurora nodded and looked at Neville and Neve.

"Neveah, I am surprised at you! Wait until Papà hears about this." She grabbed their hands and pulled them along. Neve just smiled and began singing a song in Italian. Neville laughed the entire way upstairs.

**********

About two hours later, Harry woke up in his bedroom. Everything was blurry, and he realized he didn't have his glasses on. He sat up quickly and looked around for Ginny. He soon realized that he was in his bedroom. Looking over to his left, he saw Professor Dumbledore looking at him. Harry frowned visibly.

"What happened?" he asked. Dumbledore tore his gaze away from Harry.

"It has recently come to our attention, Harry, that you possess another rare talent. You, Ginny, and Aurora all seem to have it," Dumbledore said, clearly avoiding Harry's question. Harry squinted at the old man and picked up his glasses. He put them on and continued to glare at Dumbledore.

"You didn't answer my question. What happened? Where's Ginny?" he demanded to know. Dumbledore intertwined his long fingers and looked at Harry over his half-moon spectacles. He seemed to be examining Harry.

"I don't know why I didn't see this coming. I know the gene usually only goes to women. I've met only three males in my time here on earth. This is quite unusual, yes," Dumbledore said, still skating around Harry's questions. Harry looked at the man like he'd gone mad.

"Are you deaf or just daft? Why aren't you answering my bloody question?" Harry yelled at the man. Dumbledore did not visibly jump, but you could tell that he was a little startled at Harry's outburst. It was then that Harry realized he had a very painful headache, but this time, it was not centered on his scar.

"Quiet down, Harry. In addition to being a Soliopath, you are also a telepath," Dumbledore said quietly. Harry ignored his headache. He was ready to reach over to Dumbledore and choke the old wizard to death.

"Damn it to hell! I don't care! What happened to Ginny! Did I hurt her?" Harry yelled again. This time, Dumbledore's face grew very serious. Harry knew he'd crossed the line a little. He'd been getting away with saying a lot of things in front of the headmaster. Dumbledore looked down, and Harry sat back on his pillow.

"No, not intentionally," Dumbledore said simply and serenely. Harry looked at the man with a weird expression. It was amazing how quickly he could change temperaments.

"What do you mean, 'not intentionally?' What'd I do to her?" he asked, still looking very puzzled.

"See, Harry, the thing about being a telepath is that you must learn to control it. You inadvertently concentrated on Ginny's mind too hard. What you did was apparently too strong for the both of you. Miss Weasley has not yet awakened. She is with Aislin and Fionnula right now. Fionnula is probing her mind. Don't worry. She's in very good shape, and Fionnula is a very well-trained telepath. She knows what she is doing," Dumbledore stated. Harry let out a sigh of relief and looked back over at the man.

"What'd I do?"

"Ginny is a partial telepath or something of that nature. I can't tell you what it is because, honestly, we don't know yet. You accidentally performed an Analisi Psichica. This allows you to search and read a person's mind, so to speak. If an untrained telepath, such as you, does it, the end result could be fatal."

"To whom? Me or the person subject to it?" Harry asked.

"Well, it depends. Normally, it would be the person subject to it. You are both very lucky, Harry. There are other mishaps that could happen. In one instance, you could bring that person to insanity. The other instance is being permanently in a coma," Dumbledore said rather slowly. Harry looked down and squeezed his eyes shut. The headache he had was really starting to get to him.

"Is Ginny..."

"Oh, heaven's no, Harry. But, that is the reason Fionnula is probing her mind. Being a partial telepath, if that's what she is, helped Ginevra out a lot. She accidentally reversed it back to you. That's what caused both of you to lose consciousness. When Ginny wakes up, the only side effect will be a terrible headache, as I am sure you are experiencing right now. I also imagine that she will not be the happy person, either. Especially with you, Harry."

"Yes, I experienced that also. Professor?"

"Hmm?"

"You said something about my ability being passed down, I think. Was my mother a telepath?" Harry asked. Then he realized what he'd asked. He didn't remember Dumbledore actually saying something about it being passed down, and he saw that Dumbledore realized this because of the twinkle in his eye. " Oops..." Harry said.

"It's quite all right, Harry. To your question, yes. Lily was a rather talented one, too. If you'd had a sister, I imagine that she would also have this gift, as it is most common in women. Lily had a real grasp on her talent, too. I've always wondered why she chose to be an Auror instead of a Magas of the Magi. I think the reason might have been because of you. But, I guess I will never know. She could do amazing things with her mind, Harry. She was a very rare talent, indeed, Harry. By now, I'm sure you've realized the power of such a talent."

"Professor, telepathy sounds an awful lot like Legilimency. Is it the same thing, or is it different?"

"Legilimency is the ability to extract feelings and memories from a person. Meaning that you can tell if that person is lying and what they are feeling at that particular moment and what caused this feeling. Telepathy is more like a mind-control thing. In the Muggle world, I believe they call it 'mind-reading.' Well, it is much more complex than that."

"How so?" This was starting to interest Harry. Dumbledore smiled a little at him.

"Well, for one, a telepath, if trained correctly, can do things without the eye contact that is required with Legilimency. Also, a telepath can kill a person if they are powerful enough. They can also make people believe things and act a certain way."

"How does one kill another with telepathy?"

"The mind is extremely fragile, Harry. So, a telepath can tell one to commit suicide with the mind-control factor. Another way is to play on the subject's mind. Only unreasonably powerful telepaths can do this. They merely concentrate hard enough, all the while thinking that they want that particular person to be brain dead. Since the body cannot live without the mind, the subject dies instantly. That's what makes telepaths very dangerous because you can never really tell if that person is that powerful just by looking at them. Most telepaths fight on the good side, Harry. So, you needn't worry."

"Professor, does Voldemort possess any of my talents?" Harry asked, a bit afraid of the answer. He really hoped he might have the upper hand on Voldemort. Dumbledore looked directly into his eyes.

"Aside from being a Parselmouth, yes, he does. He is a very skilled Soliopath. But, unfortunately for him and fortunately for you, Voldemort is not a natural Soliopath like you and Aurora. Soliopathy can be taught, but most just stick to the old-fashioned way: magic with a wand."

"Can telepathy be taught?"

"Only to those who possess the talent. Then it is rather being taught to control. Telepaths are like Metamorphmagi. They are born and not made, Harry. Telepathy does not run in the Slytherin family tree. Witches and wizards who are not telepaths, mostly Dark wizards, take up Legilimency instead. Voldemort, thankfully, is not a telepath. If he were, I'm sure you would've been dead two years ago. But, as Professor Snape probably informed you last year, he is a very talented Legilimens. That's why you really need to practice your Occlumency. I've heard you've become rather good at it." Dumbledore said. Harry nodded. His head was killing him.

"Professor, is there something I could take for the pain?" he asked. Dumbledore smiled, and Harry found himself grinning at the old man, too.

"No. You'll just have to wait until it subsides, I'm afraid. Nothing works on those types of headaches. Now, I think Miss Granger would like to see you." Dumbledore glided to the door and opened it. Hermione was leaning against the wall across from the door. She looked up as Dumbledore opened the door. "You may enter, Miss Granger." Dumbledore moved smoothly off two doors down to Ginny's room. Hermione practically knocked Harry out of the bed.

"Whoa, Hermione! I'm okay, really!" Harry said, laughing jovially. Hermione leaned off of him and slapped him in the face. Harry's head flew to the side. He turned back towards her and saw she had tears in her eyes. "What was that for?" he demanded. Hermione sat in the chair that Dumbledore had once occupied.

"You scared me, Harry. I thought you were going to die!" Hermione cried. Harry smiled a little and put a hand on her back as she sniffled. "You big jerk!" she cried again. Harry couldn't help it. He laughed at her.

"Aw, Hermione, I didn't know you cared. Where's Ron?" Harry asked, a little surprised that he wasn't with Hermione, as they were rarely seen without the other. Hermione turned toward him.

"He's drunk as they come! We discovered a wine cellar on the other side of the castle. It was guarded by a barrier, but I broke through it..." Hermione began.

"You mean to tell me that the great Hermione Granger, Supreme Goddess of Obeying the Rules and All That Is Right in the World, broke a barrier that was obviously there for a reason? I really needed to see this to believe it. There's a wine cellar in the castle? Awesome! I'm going down there tomorrow after practice." Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed, signaling Harry of her displeasure at the thought.

"Neve and Neville got positively drunk, also. I didn't have one drink. Malfoy and Aurora were off somewhere and probably snogging each other to death." Hermione shuddered at this sentence. "What a gruesome picture. I honestly don't know what she sees in him. She's too nice of a person to go out with someone as horrible as him. But while we were downstairs in the cellar, we felt a sort of wave of energy. I thought it might've come from Ginny, so I went to check on you guys..."

"Whoa! Pause it right there! You mean to tell me that you knew about Ginny's little talent all along?" Harry asked, putting a hand out. Hermione smiled.

"Well, we don't spend our nights talking about you, idiot. Gosh, how can you be so conceited? Anyway, that's when I left the three drunks and went upstairs. I found you both passed out. You were sprawled across the floor while the chess pieces were bloody murdering each other. Then Fionnula walked in and asked me if I'd done this. She'd felt the energy also. I said no and she took a look at the both of you. She told me to go tell Sloan to bring Dumbledore to the castle. I did and then I went and found Ron, Neve, and Neville. Draco and Aurora were watching them come up the stairs to the wine cellar. Ron passed out and Aurora tells me that Neville threw up down the hall. Draco helped me carry Ron's heavy arse upstairs." Hermione rolled her eyes. "I suspect they're all asleep now." Then Draco and Aurora entered the room.

"Harry, what happened? What did Dumbledore tell you?" Aurora said, sitting on the end of his bed. Draco leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Harry looked at Aurora.

"Well..." And he told them everything that Dumbledore had told him.

"Is Ginny going to wake up?" Hermione asked, worry in her eyes. Harry shrugged.

"Yes, and there's no telling when she will. Dumbledore assured me that she wasn't going to be insane because she reversed it on me. That's why we both passed out, remember?"

"Telepathy sounds relatively strong. Maybe you could kill the Dark Lord that way, Potter," Draco said, sounding hopeful.

"I don't know if I'm that powerful yet, Malfoy."

"Fionnula should start training you soon in telepathy. Maybe that's what the prophecy meant in saying that you would need Aurora's help. You both are Soliopaths and telepaths. There's no possible way Voldemort could stop you," Hermione said gleefully.

"Unless he kills one of us first," both Harry and Aurora said gloomily. They looked up at each other. All was quiet as thunder rolled outside.