❝ i've found that there is always some beauty left—in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you. ❞ — Anne Frank, The diary of a young girl

That mid-August day was sultry and the blazing summer sun casted a gleam against the glassy surfaces of the swimming pools around me. The waters shone like liquid mirrors and the place was bathed in the brilliant sunlight.

Gulf World Marine Park. Florida. We loved traveling, my mother and I. We had visited almost the whole continent of North America, but the most exciting thing was that mom was good fun. Instead of going to boring historical places and visiting museums or art galleries, she always came up with interesting ideas of places we could go to and things we could do.

Gulf World thronged with people of all ages. Children were running around, screaming in joy, and the whir of oscillating fans filled the air. As I lifted my head, I saw birds soaring across the cloudless, pale blue sky, chirping merrily.

My lips quirked upwards in a smile, which soon widened into a grin. I squeezed mom's hand tightly, not minding that it was covered in sweat because of the sweltering heat. She looked down at me and gave me a warm smile, her chocolate brown eyes twinkling.

"I wanna see the dolphins, mommy," I pleaded, bouncing up and down with excitement.

Mom let out a soft laugh.

"Okay," she said. "Let's buy a ticket for the dolphin show, shall we?"

The radiant grin on my face became more giggly as I nodded my head. Five minutes later, I was sitting on the second tier of the amphitheater with a big cotton candy in my hand, watching the dolphins perform acrobatic tricks in the water. I watched their every movement with wide eyes. Their performances were followed by loud outbreaks of applause and cheers from the audience. I joined them and clapped in amusement, staining my shirt with cotton candy.

Much to my disappointment, the show came to an end after twenty minutes. I started pouting as people began to get up from their seats. The dolphin trainer said there was a Dolphin Meet and Greet for those interested in getting up close and personal with dolphins, or even swimming with them if they wanted to. My seven year old self didn't know how to swim yet. But I really wanted to see the dolphins more closely and even get to pet them.

I tugged at mom's sleeve and gazed at her with puppy eyes. It was the expression I used each time I wanted something and it seemed to work with everyone, including mom.

She closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh.

"You want to see the dolphins."

"Yes, please," I chirped. I started jumping up and down in my seat.

Mom shook her head, but her lips twitched. I knew she was barely suppressing a smile.

"All right," she finally said.

I grinned giddily as she took my hand and we approached the pool where five dolphins were swimming. One of the trainers was feeding two of them, whereas another one was talking to some parents about the dolphins' life at Gulf World.

Mom walked up to another trainer and started asking him about the facilities of the program. Their conversation was boring and uninteresting to me, so I turned my concentration to a baby dolphin that was swimming next to his mother.

"Hello, cutie," I said. I bent to my knees and lifted my hand to stroke the dolphin's head.

The baby dolphin let out a soft, whistle-like sound. His mother did the same thing, only that hers was louder and more high-pitched. I smiled. They were talking about how sweet they thought children were.

"I can hear them too."

I froze. I turned my head in the direction of the voice, and came face to face with a young boy who was sitting at the edge of the swimming pool a few feet away from me, petting another dolphin's head.

As our gazes locked, the little boy's lips stretched into a warm smile. The dimples on his chubby cheeks crinkled and so did the outer corners of his eyes. His eyes peeked at me between the strands of his raven hair.

He couldn't have been older than seven or eight years old, around the same age as me. However, it were his words that left me completely dumbfounded.

What did he mean? What could he hear?

"The dolphins," came the sudden answer in a calm voice.

I gasped as I stared at the guy with eyes agape. His lips were pursed the whole time and they didn't move the slightest bit when he replied. The words echoed inside my head, but he hadn't spoken to me out loud. It actually sounded like he spoke to me . . . through his mind.

How was that possible?

"I don't know," replied the guy.

The words resounded in my head just like the first two times, and although now I wasn't as caught off guard as in the beginning, my heart was still beating rapidly inside my chest.

Confused, I decided to try and talk to him the same way, without actually speaking but by using my brain instead.

"How do you do this?" I tried to ask, regretting it a few seconds later when I felt a throbbing pain on my head.

It took a little while for him to receive the message since I hadn't ever tried this before, but eventually he replied back nonverbally.

"I don't know. It's natural, I guess. But come over here so that we can talk with words. Using telepathy makes my head hurt a lot."

I had no idea what 'telepathy' meant, but I decided to shrug it off. I got up from the spot I was sitting, my eyes not leaving the little boy's face as I made my way towards him.

"Hello," I said out loud.

I promptly sat down at the edge of the pool next to the boy, my legs dangling off the end. I swung them slightly, feeling the cool water caress my skin.

A dolphin was swimming in circles a couple of inches away from our feet. The boy's gaze was fixed on the animal, following all of its movements attentively. The sun was shining on his face, and a single ray hit his eyes, bringing out the light brown color his irises held.

"His name's Emerald," the boy said. I was glad he hadn't spoken to me through his mind this time. "That lady over there told me." He lifted his head and pointed at one of the trainers who was feeding two bigger dolphins. "Those two dolphins don't seem to like me that much. I heard 'em sayin' earlier that I'm annoying." He shrugged proudly. "They're just jealous I don't like them as much as Emerald."

I didn't respond at first, my eyes darting between the dolphin and him.

"How can you hear them?"

The boy shrugged again. "I guess I am different. But I ain't the only one, 'cause you can hear them too."

"How did you know that?" I asked. "Before you actually talked to me."

"I felt somethin'. I don't know. An energy." The boy paused, narrowing his eyes, absorbed in thoughts. "You're the first person I'm meetin' who is like me. Different."

"Is different weird?"

"Yea, I think so," said the boy after a beat of consideration. "Not everybody can understand dolphin language. My mom and pops can't. Or Meredith and Sophia, my sisters. Maybe people like us recognize each-other without speakin'. That's why I can use telepathy with you. Can't do that with my family." He looked down at the pool, swinging his legs under the wavering water. "I don't know, I don't understand much. I'm only eight."

I paused for a moment, not removing my gaze from the boy's face.

"What is telpethaty. . . whatever you called it? What does it mean?"

His lips stretched into a wide grin. There was a gap between his two front teeth.

"It is called telepathy, silly," he said, sticking out his tongue at me. I frowned and did the same at him. "Means talkin' to someone inside their head."

"Like this," I tried to say with my mind, which resulted in another sharp pain from inside my skull.

"Yeah, like this," the boy's voice echoed in my head once again.

I was silent for a moment.

"So, we're different," I said. "We're not like everybody else. We can hear dolphins and we can talk through our minds and other people can't."

"Pretty much."

"What's your name?"

"Theo," he said. "What's yours?"

"Polly."

Theo stared at me for a few seconds. "Your eyes are emerald."

"I know. Aren't they beautiful? Everybody tells me they're beautiful."

"They are. I wish I had emerald eyes."

"At least you have a friend named Emerald," I said in encouragement, gesturing toward the little dolphin who jumped out of the water before diving back in, splashing us from head to toe.

Theo's eyes lit up. "I guess I have two emerald friends now," he said, letting out a light laugh.

"No, I'm a human, and I'm not green," I said, but I was laughing too.

Theo shook his head. "From now on, you're my second emerald friend, whether you like it or not," he declared, crossing his arms in his chest.

I splashed him with water on the face. His face whitened and his mouth fell open in shock. For a moment, I felt guilty for soaking him, but just as I was about to apologize, an impish grin spread on his face. He lifted a leg from the pool and splashed me with even more water.

"Theo!" I cried, shielding my face with my hands.

We both started laughing and flicking more and more water back and forth, and in less than five minutes, our clothes were damp like we'd been walking in the pouring rain for hours. Our wet hair stuck to our faces. The dolphin trainers started rebuking us for making the floor all slippery, but we were too engrossed in our water fight to care.

"Polly!" came mom's appalled voice. She strode towards me with a disapproving look. Uh-oh. "I leave you alone for ten minutes, thinking that you can behave yourself, and look at you."

I lowered my head, feeling a heat of shame come over my face. Mom turned to one of the trainers who had just rebuked Theo and I and began to apologize for my behavior. I exchanged a look with Theo and noticed that his cheeks had turned rosy as well, but he didn't hide his goofy smile.

Mom grabbed me by the hand, narrowing her eyes at me and giving me a sharp look. I knew that a long lecture awaited me later when we left the park. A woman had appeared by Theo's side. She grabbed his arm rather harshly, making him face her.

"Theodore! What on earth have I told you 'bout playin' near the pool?"

"I-I'm sorry, mommy," he stuttered.

"Time to go now," mom said, looking at Theo's mother with a frown out of the corner of her eye. "Won't you say goodbye to your friend?"

"Bye-bye, Theo," I called out.

He turned to face me with a meek smile and waved.

"Bye, Polly!"

"My emerald friend," he added nonverbally, the words reverberating in my skull.

I turned to look at him one final time, that goofy, gap-toothed grin still plastered on his face. His mother was eyeing me curiously.

I whirled around once again and walked away, clutching mom's hand as we left the park. That was the first and last time I saw the face of my telepathic friend, who understood the dolphin language just like I did.

▼

   My eyes flickered open. I was surrounded by the feeling of soft bed sheets and white hospital walls. I scanned the other beds in front of and around me, all empty.

   Great, in the infirmary again.

   I didn't feel any pain, unlike the first time when I woke up in the Hospital Wing and my head was pounding beneath my skull because of the Bludger that had given me a concussion.

    The only thing I felt was a nagging sense of acute nostalgia caused by the dream I'd just had. Dream . . . It had felt too real to be just that. What I had seen resembled more a forgotten memory.

   It was true that when I was younger, mom and I traveled a lot. It was also true that Florida was one of my favorite travel destinations because of its beautiful beaches, warm weather and amusement parks. It was true as well that I had visited a marine park to see a dolphin show while in Orlando when I was younger.

   But that little boy, Theo, the one I had talked to telepathically and who told me was able to hear the dolphins . . . I didn't remember him. Not until now. I had never prided myself on my memory. Truth be told, I was pretty scatterbrained and forgetful. I couldn't even remember what I had told someone a week ago, let alone a guy I had met once during the summer holidays when I was seven.

   But now, after that flashback, something was almost beginning to float again on the back of my brain. How come I had already met a Dolphinus like myself when I was a child, but that memory had vanished, only to resurface now, eight years later? I was seven back then, the age I had just begun to show signs that I possessed magic powers.

   Just a day ago, I thought that the only reason why the Ministry feared Dolphinuses was because their Patronus took form of a dolphin, which was a bad omen, and because some evil past wizards' Patronuses had been dolphins as well, they'd established a theory as a pretense to shut down any individuals who could pose a threat to society.

   But now I had just discovered another reason, another inexplicable and peculiar one that showed how Dolphinuses differed from ordinary wizards. Not only were we able to understand the dolphin language, we also possessed telepathic powers.

   Dolphinuses were somehow a close resemblance of Parselmouths. They could talk to snakes and we to dolphins. What set us apart was that we could also talk to each-other nonverbally.

   Somehow, this whole situation reminded me of how the kids back in my muggle school avoided or bullied me because I was a 'freak'. Because I could make chairs move or turn my hair green. That's how normal wizards acted toward both Parselmouths and Dolphinuses. Like we were 'freaks', because we had weird magic powers that others didn't posses, and they could not find a particular reason why it was exactly us who were different, so instead they imprisoned or killed us out for fear.

   Because it's better to be safe than sorry, Sibi had told Mike that summer day, when I was eavesdropping on their conversation about me.

   I closed my eyes to give my brain a moment to calculate everything. I reached for my wand on my bedside table and gently traced it with my fingertips in deep contemplation.

   So I was telepathic—how weird was that? Could I talk to Stella nonverbally if I tried to? That also explained why I was able to make objects move or levitate them in mid air. Sibi and Mike had called it nonverbal magic the first time I showed them. That type of magic had come naturally to me for as long as I could remember because I also possessed telekinetic powers. It all made sense now—if I was telepathic, no wonder I was telekinetic too. The two were closely related.

   How odd. I never knew there were so many other questions left unanswered. I thought I had already uncovered all of the hidden secrets about myself. I thought back to the words of Gryffindor Prefect Jackson Macmillan, the first day I met with the people I recruited for my organization. Dolphinuses possess powers the rest of us don't. So this is what he'd meant. This also explained why the Ministry had been so quick to label us as threats to begin with—we had the same bad reputation Parselmouths did.

   I shifted my train of thoughts to that Dolphinus guy from my memory. Theo . . . Where was he now? Possibly in Azkaban, but he could very well be dead now for all I knew. It felt like a sharp blade slid in my heart as I thought of the innocent face of that little boy with glimmering eyes and a gap-toothed grin, being left to rot away in a prison cell. I felt an almost irresistible impulse to see Theo again, to know that he was still alive and safe—if anything, just for the sake of finding assurance there was still hope left for me and the other Dolphinuses.

   I let out a sigh and rolled over to the other side. My eyelids fluttered shut. Trying my best to stay still and not turn from one side of the bed to the other, I attempted to empty my brain of all the thoughts crammed inside my skull.

   As my consciousness slowly ebbed, I could feel my mind finally dragging me into the oblivion of sleep. And I hoped, against hope, that I would dwell in yet another fond childhood memory.

◈

double update bc i'll be gone for the remainder of the week and next week i'll be busy as heck at school. this book is almost nearing its end eek!

also to prevent future confusion: i feel like including the word "flashback" at the beginning of each chapter is lame and a mood-killer, so i'm making the personal stylistic choice of indenting the text to the right for all flashback moments. just wanted to clarify this now bc it's gonna come up again for sure