The Unseen Eye of Hogwarts

CHAPTER FOUR

An Out of Body Experience

~*~

It was needless to say that the Gryffindors were in particularly high spirits the rest of the week. But it wasn't the Quidditch game that was on Mia's mind. It was something very strange that had happened while she was sitting in the library, bored out of her mind. She didn't know what to make of it. She didn't know how to officially explain it to herself. It just kind of...happened.

Mia had been in the library. Hermione was reading in a corner quietly, which was nothing out of the ordinary, and a few first years occupied a table for trading Bertie Bott's cards. Mia was milling through books to find something to read when she heard whispering. Naturally, she looked around to find the source of the noise. There were three boys behind the last bookshelf, standing next to the stone wall, and they had just started to walk away.

She noticed their eyes darting curiously. They were definitely up to something, but what? She casually grabbed a random book and sat at a chair near the group, partially concealed by the closest bookshelf. Luckily there was an opening in the shelves and she could see one of them animatedly talking to his friends. So she began to try to read lips, decipher facial expressions, and strain her ears for all their worth to try to figure out what they were talking about.

So this is how desperate I've become when there's nothing else to do.

She chuckled to herself and resumed staring down one of the boys. Now when you're trying to determine what someone is thinking, you don't just look at them. You really try to look past their eyes - into their mind. And when Mia did that, that's when it happened. The thing that she couldn't really explain. She just...switched.

...

"Parkinson isn't an easy slut like the rest, though," Mia felt herself whispering. Her voice was low and brusque. She was standing in the semi-circle of boys, of who were staring back at her. Desperately, Mia tried to back away but her feet seemed glued to the floor. She panicked. Again she tried to move by experimentally flexing her fingers, but felt nothing. And it struck her - she was in the boy's body. But if she was here, then how come she could see herself sitting in the chair she was moments earlier? Maybe that explained the glossy look in her body's eyes.

"Parkinson will sleep with any guy she can," a boy with red hair said. They snickered.

"Okay, so ten galleons says you can't bed her by next week." The red haired boy stuck his hand out to Mia.

"Fine. I'll accept that bet." And she stuck out her hand, or was it his hand? Either way, a hand stuck out and shook with the red head. As soon as she felt the boy's hand sliding away from hers, a new feeling struck her. A thousand tiny daggers seemed to be pushing through from inside of her as if desperate to break through her skin. And they were incredibly cold, and they were everywhere! And just when she felt like crying out, she was back in her own body, breathing heavily and feeling quite fatigued.

...

Simultaneously, the boys made way for the exit, passing in front of her in doing so. Did they know that she was in one of their bodies? She shuddered at the thought.

Mia looked up to see one of them looking back at her strangely. Mia's heart dropped. He had known! They had to, or why else would he stare at her like that? Her mouth struggled for words of explanation and apology, but her voice seemed to have already deserted her. He finally looked away from the speech impaired girl in front of him and followed his friends out of the library.

Dammit! This is not good...This isn't good at all...

Mia closed the book in her lap aggressively and stared down at the cover: "Intercourse in Wizards and Muggles: Why Sex with Magic is Better."

Mia laughed out loud. Okay, so they had just stared at her weirdly because she was basically reading a pornography. A slight bit of relief floated off her chest, but it was nothing compared to the insane thoughts running through her head. She got up to leave, only to be stopped by a pimply boy with thick, brown glasses.

"Hey, are you done readin' that?" he asked, with a smug smile, revealing a set of hideous teeth.

Mia shoved the book into his arms and nearly ran out of the library.

~~~~~~~~~

So now here she was; alone in her dormitory, curled up in her bed with a book held to her nose. Mia's only source of light was that of her wand. The rest of the room was dark; probably crawling with shadow creatures, infesting corners, or wherever light was hardest to reach. Silence fell onto her like a disease as she sat in that bed, fear writhing in her stomach unknowingly. Cobwebs clung to the hard to reach places on the ceilings; stringy nets of death that enveloped you completely when you were scared enough. She was enamored by the unknown.

Mia forced her eyes to remain on the page. Her fingers gripped the book tightly, as if she was afraid it'd be snatched away from her by whatever creature might roam in the dark.

"Despite the rarity of Parseltongue speakers, Lord Voldemort himself is one, along with a few namely witches and wizards of the twentieth century..."

She could find absolutely nothing that sounded similar to what had happened to her in the library. She was already on her third book, and the closest thing she could find on what had happened to her was in a few entries about Occlumency and Legillimency. Her eyes scanned through Natural Invisibility, Unnatural Floating Abilities, and finally on something that caught her eye.

"Transference of the Mind - or as some like to call it, Mind Shifting - is an extremely rare feat, usually pertaining only to the few beings who have had accomplished Seers in the bloodline. Mind Transferring rarely outlasts a few minutes, but has sometimes been known to carry on for hours. It can be done by concentrating on another human's thoughts, or 'staring past the eyes, into the mind,' in which the person experiences a change in mind to their victim. Some wizards who bear the ability say it is helpful to look at the person while doing this.

When you are in another's mind, you will experience the same sights, smells, noises and physical contacts as they do, but you are unable to read the person's thoughts, much like you'd be able to in the practice of Legillimency. You are also unable to move, but in rare occasions, you can pick up strong emotions.

Some with the ability have reported it as a painful process while 'shifting' minds, (not while actually in the body, mind you). In detail, one might feel as if there are knives cleaving the skin, or if hot metal is being pressed to your forehead. But these certain experiences seem to be rare.

Transference of the Mind will always leave you more fatigued than you were before the transfer. That is why it is dangerous to do when you are already tired, as you are very susceptible to passing out afterwards."

Mia set down the book, feeling slightly light-headed. So she could 'shift minds,' could she? But she had never known her family to have any Seers in it, let alone accomplished ones. Then again, she didn't know much about her family's history. But either way, Mia found this to be a very interesting concept. If she really could shift minds, who knows how many ways this could be advantageous to her! Couldn't she go into a teacher's mind to know the answers to all her projects? She frowned slightly upon remembering that the entry had said it was impossible to read minds with the ability.

She couldn't help but to think that people-watching would become much more interesting now. Hell, she'd be able to see what they see, feel what they feel, and maybe even sense emotions. She smiled sadistically, but it vanished when a weight of shame dropped in her stomach. Just because she could shift minds didn't mean she was going to go out and start spying.

It's not spying...

...You damn well know it is, and you're a disgrace to even be thinking of using this ability to spy.

Mia pulled at her hair until her scalp began to prickle painfully. At least the voices were gone. Without warning, a couple voices down the hall interrupted her thoughts, but also notified her to act like she was asleep. With a hasty shove, Mia hid the books away and she flung the blanket over her body before the two girls set foot in the dark room. Her brain lingered on the book's information, and a small smile crept upon her lips before she drifted off into actual sleep.

~~***~~

No matter how much she wanted the weekend to stay, Monday reared its ugly head to her when the alarm clock on her bedside table buzzed on that morning. As usual, she was the first up, and the first to sneak away to the Great Hall before the others were even close to being ready for school.

Being part of the first batch of students down to breakfast, Mia got first dibs on the food, which was one of the perks of being a morning bird. When the large grandfather clock in the Great Hall started dinging at 9:00, Mia made her way to Arithmancy, and after that, History of Magic. And finally it was lunch. After lunch, she continued with the daily grind by heading down to Herbology with Professor Sprout. It was there that the day started picking up.

Mia made it the greenhouses right as class was starting.

"Hope you're having a good Monday, class," greeted Professor Sprout, who was holding a rather perturbed looking creature in her hand. "We're going to be de-fertilizing these Repungi today."

Blank stares.

"Repungi are actually half-animal, half-plant, which reproduce by laying eggs. Now imagine that, eh? A plant that lays eggs!"

Continuance of blank stares.

Professor Sprout waved her hands around eagerly before setting down the now squirming Repungi in her hand. "Now what you're going to want to do is-,"

But the class didn't find out what they wanted to do right away because Cho Chang and a friend with wavy brown hair had just come in.

"Miss Chang! Only just joining us? Why you're," Professor Sprout glanced at her watch, "ten minutes late!"

"S-sorry, Professor Sprout," said the girl accompanying Cho, who had her arm around her. "Won't happen again."

Professor Sprout frowned. "As I was saying, you're going to carefully squeeze their middle and the eggs will drop into the buckets I've placed in front of you. Why are we doing this? There has been an overpopulation of these critters lately so we're merely cutting down the numbers a bit." She did another dance of excitement before letting the class start the project.

Mia obeyed her instructions and got right on to squeezing the little Repungi's eggs out into the buckets. It was rather disgusting seeing the hundreds of little white ball-shaped eggs ooze out unpleasantly. At least they didn't smell.

"This is disgusting!" Cho yelling rather loudly, who was holding up a Repungi, squeezing it. Mia didn't bother to tell her that she was holding it upside down. Instead, she kept to herself and continued defertilizing.

Again, Cho made a scene when she developed a hysteric fit of giggles, causing much of the class to look her way.

"Miss Chang, could you please quiet down and tell me why we're doing this again?" Professor Sprout said sweetly. She never was the one to be strict with her students.

"Sorry Professor!" Cho apologized loudly, considering Professor Sprout was only a few feet away.

"That's quite alright," replied a flustered Professor Sprout, who seemed to be cleaning out her ear. "Now can you answer my question?"

"Um...to keep their numbers down or something? Yah, that's it. Don't know why you'd want these gross creatures around anyway. Hey Mandy, look at this!"

Professor Sprout eyed her with an arched eyebrow before helping some other students. Mia on the other hand kept a closer watch on Cho, who was now dancing unstably on the spot. Her friend Mandy seemed to be debating on whether to worry more about Cho flinging Repungi eggs all over her, or if the teacher caught sight of the overly giddy Cho. She decided with smacking Cho on the head.

"If you don't shut up, we're going to get into trouble!" Mandy hissed, trying her best to keep her voice down.

"Well it was your idea to stop by the -,"

"Shh!" Mandy said, putting a finger over Cho's mouth. "You are impossible when you get like this! I hate putting up with you! And it's always me who gets stuck playing the babysitter!"

Cho gave a triumphant "HA!" to Mandy and rolled her eyes as she turned away. "That's a laugh!" She continued to wobble slightly as she bent forward to see how many eggs she had collected.

"As if you're even interested in on how many eggs you've gotten in there," Mandy said repulsively.

"Jus' shut up for a second Mandy! Gosh damn! You think you know everything all the time. Jus' shut up!"

"You're like a fucking two year old," insulted Mandy, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Fuck you, Mandy! No one asked you to play mommy!" Cho screamed, putting a hand on the table to stabilize herself.

"God Cho, you're such a stupid bitch when you're drunk," Mandy hissed back, desperately trying to avoid the stares they were getting now.

Mia, as well as the students around Cho, was all trying their hardest to sustain their laughter. Mandy was quite aware of the looks they were getting, but Cho seemed rather oblivious. Mia attempted to concentrate on the Repungi eggs, and doing as the professor had said, squeezed the remaining eggs out before planting it back in the soil bed located along the center of the table.

"Cho!"

Mia, almost glad that Cho was causing more commotion, quickly looked up. Mandy had Repungi eggs spilled down her front, wet and oozing. The girl looked absolutely disgusted.

"If you call me a two year old, then I'll act like one!"

"Girls! I'm going to have to ask you to leave my class if you don't keep it down!" Professor Sprout shouted angrily from across the greenhouse.

"Mandy, you honestly need to go fuck yourself or something, because you never act like this when we drink. You're usually the fun one," Cho slurred, attempting to look intimidating to Mandy, but only ended up with tripping over her feet slightly.

Mandy looked horrified. "I can't believe you! You are such a bitch."

"Whore!"

"Slut!"

"Ladies!"

An angry and red-faced Professor Sprout had just stridden over. "That's it. I want the two of you out! Out!"

"But Professor, I honestly didn't mean any harm!" Mandy argued with a disgustingly apologetic and innocent voice. "It's just Cho here! She's - well - I shouldn't say, but she got really drunk earlier, and if it wasn't for me seeing her trying to cut class, Cho wouldn't even be here."

"You liar!" Cho shouted, with a half-attempt to tackle her. Mandy took a quick step backwards and glanced at her drunken friend pitifully and sighed.

Professor Sprout grabbed Cho's arm and started dragging her towards the door.

"But professor, she's totally making that up! You can't believe that story, can you?" Cho cried out, incredulously.

"Actually Miss Chang, I can," Professor Sprout said indignantly. She got to the door and spun around. "Justin, I want you to watch the class while I escort Miss Chang here to the headmaster."

Justin hastily nodded as he watched Cho get pulled away with disbelief and amusement. Cho groaned before leaving with the professor. Mia shook her head to herself, trying to act disinterested, but couldn't help stealing a few glances at Mandy who was reddening in the face from a whispering class of students.

After a moment or so had gone by, Professor Sprout could be heard somewhere out on the grounds.

"Disgusting!"

Several students ran to the door to see the reason for the professor's disgust.

"Holy hell, Cho just hurled on a teacher!" Justin announced. The class burst out laughing.

Finally, after another awkward hour for Mandy, class was over, but the topic of Cho wasn't. Kids were discussing and laughing about the whole event as if she'd gone to the headmaster's only a second ago. Mia listened quietly as her class traveled across the school grounds. Eventually the crowd of students broke apart and it was now only her heading back to her dorm to finish up schoolwork. On the way, she saw Harry feeling Hermione up in a corner, but willed herself not to stare like an idiot. When she got to her common room, she basically worked her ass off on homework until eight that night.

Her eyelids heavy, Mia felt herself start to loll off until she suddenly realized that she still had one more essay to complete for Herbology.

Shit!

She had left her Herbology book down in the greenhouse! How could she be so goddamned stupid? Perhaps in the excitement of the whole Cho thing, she left it sitting there. This meant she would have to go get it. At least it wasn't completely dark yet. Mia hit herself in the head for her forgetfulness and unwillingly got up to leave her warm, cozy dorm to go brave the cold October night.

Trying to leave unnoticed, (then again, she didn't need to try at all as no one looked her way twice anyway), Mia stepped out onto the grounds and stared at the greenhouses, which seemed to be so far away. Much farther than Mia would like to walk, especially now that the sky was beginning to darken.

She straightened up her cloak and pulled her hood over her head to conceal her identity. The walk to the greenhouse seemed endless. The only noise she could hear was her own two feet, yet her ears seemed to be inventing more noises just to scare her. Were there feet following her? Did a growl just come from those bushes? Mia wrung her hands unconsciously as she quickened her pace to a good stride.

To her slight horror, the sky was becoming darker rapidly. Outlines of buildings were beginning to blend in with the early stage of night. No longer were bushes and trees distinguishable from one another. Cold sweat had formed on Mia's forehead, but she felt too stiff to wipe it away.

Mia whimpered. There were voices coming from behind the greenhouse. She panicked and jumped behind a tree as the sound grew nearer.