Chapter 6: Kent tries Visualisation!

"Wha–?! Where am I?" asked Hermione looking around, confused and dazed.

"Calm down Hermione. You were having a nightmare," said Kent with a stiff expression. He still hadn't recovered from the previous shock.

The door opened and Mr. and Mrs. Granger walked in.

Seeing that his parents were already here, Kent made way for them.

"Let me check," said Mrs. Granger as she hurried forward.

Putting her on Hermione's forehead she exclaimed, "You are burning, Hermione!"

"Dan, immediately call a doctor. Her temperature's too high," ordered Mrs. Granger.

"Uh, the phone's downstairs. Okay, you stay here. I'll be right back," said Mr. Granger as he hurried downstairs to make the phone call.

"Hermione, how are you feeling?" asked Mrs. Granger with concern.

"I... I feel a bit thirsty," answered Hermione weakly tilting her head sideways, confused.

"Kent–"

"Here Mom," Kent handed over a glass of water he had already prepared, to Mrs. Granger.

Taking the glass, Mrs. Granger let Hermione drink slowly from the glass.

"Okay, you lie down a bit. I'll go get the thermometer," said Mrs. Granger.

"Mom you stay here, I'll go," Kent offered to help. Without waiting for her reply Kent went downstairs.

"It's in the cupboard beside the Kitchen's door," informed Mrs. Granger loudly.

"Yeah, I know," answered Kent who was already halfway through the stairs.

...

It was 2 o'clock at noon when Hermione's fever subsided. The doctor prescribed some antibiotics and advised her to have some rest.

There was nothing serious, at least, the Granger couple were told so.

But Kent had different thoughts. If he remembered it correct, Hermione uttered the name "Harry" before she woke up.

'It can't be a coincidence,' Kent didn't think it was just a coincidence. Kent knew that they didn't have any relatives by the name "Harry" and as far as Kent could recall they also never had classmate named "Harry".

That could only mean that Hermione dreamt something about the future and it wasn't a pleasant dream from what he could infer from her panicked face and scream.

'It seems that I can't overly rely on my foreknowledge. I can at most take it as reference. Nothing more,' closing his eyes he organised his thoughts.

"And I have to hurry up and master the danger sense skill," muttered Kent. After today's incident, he felt more insequre and uncertain about the future. His presence alone might've changed the trajectory of the lives of various people.

'Hope that, history's the same as I know otherwise my exclusive knowledge about many important secrets may become useless,' he prayed silently.

"Okay whatever, it's better to think about the present," throwing away the unnecessary thoughts, he sat upright on his bed and took a deep breath.

"What?!" He tried visualising one corner of the pattern but found that he could not. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't visualise portions of the pattern separately.

After few more tries, he realised that he had to picture the whole pattern in his mind, only then could he practice.

Without any further delay, he concentrated on the pattern.

He didn't notice it before but after a minute of constantly visualising the pattern, he had a feeling that he was going to grasp something, something that felt so close and yet at the same time, very far. It was an illusory feeling.

He couldn't quite understand what was happening but instinctively he kept trying to understand.

Forgetting the passage of time he kept visualising the array of patterns before he was snapped out of the vague state with a sharp headache.

He immediately felt sluggish as if his body had run a marathon.

'What happened?' Kent was scared.

'Was it the array of pattern? How much time did I spend visualisation?' He looked at the clock.

"Sh*t! It's been half an hour already!" Kent shouted out loud before he put his hands on the mouth and looked toward the closed door of his room anticipating a scolding from his parents, especially his mother for the use of inappropriate word.

"Phew! It was close," getting no response from downstairs, he heaved a sigh of relief.

"I have to set an alarm next time, otherwise I would be too tired to do anything other than practicing visualisation," he muttered feeling the fatigue.

...

At the dinner table...

While eating, Kent subtly observed Hermione who looked a lot better than before.

'Frequent glances toward mom, opening mouth for no reason, occasional clenching of fist, tapping on table. Hermione must be anxious to talk about something. Is it about the nightmare?' Kent came to a conclusion.

Recently he had compiled a comprehensive book on human psychology and behaviour using the system.

Kent had watched TV show in his previous life where a former CIA officer was introducing how one can identify if someone was lying and even can tell what a person is thinking just by looking at their body language or facial expressions. It was even possible to manipulate one's action using subtle psychological cues.

So he also wanted to try.

But what he didn't expect that his decision to compile the psychology book would bring him such a surprise. It was like a non-magical version of Legilimency.

"Hermione, how are you feeling now?" asked Kent trying to get her attention.

"Uh, I'm okay," answered Hermione absent mindedly.

Not getting Hermione's attention, Kent decided to test something.

"Harry Potter," said Kent.

"Wha- cough, cough," Hermione choked on her food.

'I was right!' Kent cheered mentally.

"Here, have some water," Mrs. Granger who was sitting beside Hermione handed her the glass of water.

"Kent, don't talk while you're eating," chided Mrs. Granger in a stern voice, glaring at him.

"Sorry mom," apologised Kent meakly lowering his head. But his eyes were still on Hermione, secretly observing her body language and expression.

It didn't take long before their eyes met.

Kent gave a knowing smile to her curious and questioning look.

"We'll talk later, in the morning," said Kent as he passed by Hermione on the way to his room. It was a soft whisper audible enough to be heard by Hermione.

She nodded after a slight hesitation.

The brother-sister interaction remained unnoticed by the Granger couple who were discussing whether to open the clinic tomorrow.