Harry sat near the bottom of the trapdoor that led to the North Tower. He had his Charms for the Ages textbook out and was keeping his head carefully down as he waited as the first years climbed down the ladder after their classroom was done. The first several students stopped abruptly as they climbed down the ladder.
"It's him!"
"What is he doing here!"
"Do you think he'd sign my copy of the Prophet?"
Harry stared in concentration at the chart in his book, wondering how long it was going to be until he could walk down a corridor or a street and not have people point and say "There he is!" The war had ended just a few months ago and he was back at Hogwarts finishing his schooling along with other students who hadn't been able to go to school because of the war. The novelty of having Harry Potter in school with them still hadn't worn off for the first and second years.
At last the ladder and corridor was empty. Harry tucked his book back into his bag and climbed the ladder. He hadn't been in the Divination classroom since Fifth year, but it was much the same. The sickly over-perfumed air, the upholstered poufs, and diffused light from the lamps reminded Harry of the many uncomfortable class hours he'd spent in the tower.
Glancing around the room he spotted Trelawney, the slight figure of the professor wasn't easy to spot amidst the brocaded clutter. She sat at a student's desk holding a crystal ball in her hand, slowly rubbing it with her sleeve, muttering to herself as she stared unfocused into the ball.
Harry approached her cautiously, what had seemed like the right thing to do this morning he wasn't so certain. He gave a small cough to alert her to his presence, but she continued to stare into the orb.
"Professor Trelawney?"
She hadn't heard him, Harry repeated her name louder. Startled she looked up and let the ball slip from her grasp. Harry leapt forward, catching it just as it rolled off the edge of the desk.
Trelawney's vague expression became focused on him, reaching out she put her claw-like hand on his arm. "Harry Potter, I saw that you would come to me, the planets aligned last night. I knew at last you would seek the one with the Inner Eye to guide you through this tumultuous time." Her face was close to his and Harry could smell the stench of alcohol on her breath. He quickly pulled back and set the crystal ball back on the desk.
"Professor Trelawney, Headmistress McGonagall asked me to come and get you, she wanted to ..."
A brilliant smile spread across the professor's face, her eyes grew bright and she patted Harry on the arm. "At last, I knew this day would come would I would be sought out to lead the way...I'"
Harry glanced towards the door, eager to leave the over-heated room, "Would you allow to me to escort you?"
"Of course, let me just take one last sip of my tea to calm me so that I might summon the spirits that are within me and guide us..." Trelawney quickly walked to her desk and picked up a tea cup. Harry raised his eyebrows; her spirits were certainly summoned easily as he watched her drain the cup.
They slowly made their way through the castle. Trelawney's faltering, unsteady steps had made the trip down the many staircases a long one. Harry ignored the curious stares and whispers from his classmates that had followed them.
At last they were at McGonagall's office. He saw with relief McGonagall and the others were already seated in a circle in the center of the room. Trelawney stopped short when she saw Flitwick, Sprout, Pomfrey, and Sinistra.
"What...?" Trelawney's voice faded into silence. McGonagall hastened over to her.
"Come and sit here, Sybill," and she took her by the arm and led to her a chair. She stood next to Trelawney and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. The other professors gave her encouraging smiles but didn't speak. McGonagall gave him a nod, "Thank you, Harry. Wait in my sitting room, we will let you know when we are ready for you." With a sigh of relief, Harry left the room and closed the door behind him.
iTwo Days Earlier/i
Harry wandered down the dark familiar corridors of Hogwarts. The bells had struck two o'clock a few minutes ago but it scarcely made a difference to him. Since returning for the summer session, his nightly wanderings had become longer and longer, filling the night hours.
It was far better to roam the castle than stare up at the canopy on his bed in Gryffindor tower just waiting for the dawn. There was no need for concealment under his Invisibility Cloak or even the Marauder's Map. Filch had, after overseeing the repairs to the castle, had taken an extended leave to recover from the trauma of seeing his beloved castle in ruins. The rest of the staff had shown little interest in enforcing the curfew and were taking a very relaxed attitude towards with the older students who had returned to complete their N.E.W.T.s.
There was a shuffling sound farther down the passageway, curious who else could be out wandering at this late hour, Harry turned and followed the sound. The footsteps turned the corner and started down the stairs. Harry hurried to reach the stairs, peering over the railing just in time to see the trailing scarves that could belong to only one person. What was Sybill Trelawney doing out in the main castle, he wondered. She was hardly seen leaving her tower.
Harry slowly made his way around the castle, catching flitting glimpses of the ghosts, but Trelawney was nowhere in sight. He had never liked her- her obsession with him and her gleeful delight at pronouncing his eminent doom still made him shudder, but seeing her tonight had flooded him with memories of everything that had happened to him and his family had started with the overheard prophecy that she had told Dumbledore over seventeen years earlier.
And then the night Malfoy had let the Death Eaters in, the night that Dumbledore died, it was Trelawney hurrying to the Room of Requirement, to hide the sherry bottles that had alerted to the danger. Malfoy had ejected her from the Room to make way for the Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts.
He hadn't given much thought to her that night, and the memory of her drunken confusion had been forgotten with Dumbledore's death that night, but seeing her tonight wandering lost in the corridors like one of the ghosts, she seemed to be fading into the fabric of Hogwarts.
iMorning/i
"Harry."
Harry turned to see Ginny coming up behind in the courtyard. She always announced her presence as she approached him, knowing how easily startled he was. A dropped book in the classroom, or a clattering of cauldrons could make him jump to his feet; hearing someone coming up from behind had him automatically drawing his wand, even in the security of the Gryffindor common room.
"Good morning." Harry kissed her as she slid her arms around him. "I didn't see you at breakfast."
"I heard you fell asleep at breakfast," she said with a half-smile. "How could you fall asleep on those hard tables?"
Harry shrugged and started to walk along the lake, his arm casually around her shoulders. "Didn't mean to, just tired I guess..."
"You should get some Dreamless Sleep from Madam Pomfrey," Harry shrugged off the suggestion, and Ginny stopped walking and looked him straight in the eye. "You aren't getting any sleep at night, and then you fall asleep in class and in the common room, everywhere but in your bed."
"It is getting better," Harry protested, "Besides, I like it at night, no one is watching me. It's quiet. I can think." Looking to change the topic he remembered the brief glimpse he'd seen of last night "You are taking Divination with Trelawney, aren't you? How is she in class now?"
"It is a utterly worthless class, she doesn't even teach us. She just mutters to herself and leaves us to stare into the crystal balls. All she does is sit at her desk and sips tea." Ginny emphasized the word tea with air-quotes, "I doubt her tea comes from a teapot."
Harry nodded vaguely, staring out at the lake. Ginny turned and wrapped her arms around him. "We both have a free period next hour, why don't we go back to your room and you can tell me my fortune."
Later That Night
Harry was sitting up in his bed, watching the Marauder's Map. He saw Trelawney leave the North Tower again and make her way through the castle, a wandering path that lead nowhere that Harry could see. Harry rubbed his forehead tiredly; he knew there was no use trying to go to sleep so he continued to watch.
He couldn't help but feel sorry for her: she had become a figure of ridicule to the students and staff alike. As he watched her on the map, meandering back towards the North Tower, he decided that maybe Voldemort shouldn't have the right to claim one more victim.
Harry pulled out his Charms text, and thumbed through the book until he found the section he needed. Studying the text carefully, he practiced the needed charm until he was confident he could do it: he placed the wand to his head and said the charm and as he pulled the wand away, a silvery thread hung from the wand. He carefully placed the fragment of memory into a vial and stoppered it.
Glancing at the Head Table, Harry saw that McGonagall was just finishing her breakfast. He hurried over and caught her as she was leaving the Great Hall.
"Professor McGonagall, I have a favor to ask."
iPresent/i
"Harry, we are ready for you," McGonagall stood at the doorway. Harry stood up and re-entered her office. Madam Pomfrey had her arms around the weeping Divination professor.
"Mr. Potter, Professor Trelawney has decided to take a leave of absence to go to St. Mungo's," McGonagall said carefully, as she walked towards her desk. "I explained to her that you had something that you wanted to share with her."
"Minverva, I still don't know if this is the best time..." Madam Pomfrey protested as she watched McGonagall summon the Pensieve to the desk. Harry stood in the middle of the room, his eyes on Trelawney. She had taken her glasses off and was staring blearily around the room.
"I think it is only fair to allow Sybill to know all that she is capable of... it may help her find her way to see a new future," McGonagall said.
Harry gave a quick glance at Dumbledore's portrait that hung behind McGonagall's desk.
Dumbledore gave him a soft smile and an encouraging nod. He took a deep breath and waited for McGonagall to finish talking to Trelawney.
McGonagall spoke slowly and carefully, "Sybill, Harry came to me this morning and asked that he could bring you here, he was worried about you. That... that you had lost your way. He wants to help you, we all want to help you. When you are ready, Harry."
"Professor, I wanted to show you something. Would you come with this way?" Harry carefully led Trelawney over to Dumbledore's Pensieve that stood ready on the desk. "I wanted to share something with you." Gently pushing her forwards, until he felt the pull of the Pensieve and together they fell into the memory he had collected.
Harry watched himself walk into the empty Divination classroom for his Third Year Divination Final. It was a strange feeling watching himself in the Pensieve, all the times he had used it, he had been watching other people's memories, to see his own was disconcerting.
He motioned to Trelawney to sit down at one of the desks, she gave him a wide eyed stare and then turned back to watch herself. Harry wondered how much she was actually understanding as she saw herself five years earlier.
Harry winced as he heard himself fumbling through the Final Exam, and then it happened, as his younger self turned to go, Trelawney spoke in a deep, harsh tone, stopping him. She sat locked in her armchair, her body stiff and the voice emanating from her...
"It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight... the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..."
The memory went dark as Harry and Trelawney were flung back into the Headmistress's office.
Trelawney collapsed on to the floor, her limbs unable to hold her up. Harry quickly knelt by her side, taking her hand.
"I don't understand..."
"Sybill, come sit down here." McGonagall gently guided her to a comfortable chair and Harry sat down next to her. She sagged back in the chair, her eyes were closed and she was strangely quiet.
McGonagall hastened to rub her hand to try and bring her around, she slowly opened her eyes. The stern headmistress' face was soft with compassion as she spoke softly to Trelawney.
"I wanted to let you know, Professor Trelawney, you do have the sight, you told me that prophecy and it came true. You foresaw Voldemort coming back. You knew that Peter Pettigrew would be the one that would rejoin him..." He stopped talking; Trelawney was sobbing.
"You have made two prophecies that we know of about Harry. The one that Harry has shared with you tonight and the one you made to Dumbledore so many years ago," McGonagall said gently.
Harry looked at Trelawney. "Dumbledore knew that you needed protection, the kind of protection that only Hogwarts could provide. If Voldemort had discovered that you were the one that had made the original prophecy, he would have tried to harm you."
Harry glanced at the portrait of Dumbledore, he flushed slightly as he saw that Dumbledore had stood up in his portrait and was watching the scene with keen interest. "I think that Dumbledore discouraged you from leaving Hogwarts, for your protection. He perhaps, did not -"
"Sybill" Dumbledore's soft voice came from the portrait.
Trelawney turned and stared confused at his portrait.
"Sybill, I owe you an apology. Harry is absolutely right. I did you a great disservice. I feared that your life would be endangered if you left our castle walls so I discouraged you in very subtle ways from ever leaving the castle. Such a long time in one place, I fear has affected you greatly. I only had the best of intentions, to keep you safe..."
Trelawney sat in her chair looking dazed, Harry wasn't sure she was hearing anything they were telling her. She glanced repeatedly from the Pensieve to Dumbledore's portrait to Harry, a slow smile filled her face.
"That was me...that was me. I foretold of the future and it came true...all of these years, staring into crystal balls and seeing nothing...the spirit of Cassandra lives within me...I always knew, I always felt her inside me... but I'd never known she was speaking to me..." Trelawney rose from her chair... I must return to my tower and summon my great great grandmother's spirit to me once again-"
McGonagall came around her desk and sat next to Trelawney, gently taking her hand. "You will return to your tower soon, Sybill, but first Poppy is going with you to St. Mungo's. Your position at Hogwarts is safe, but you need to get well first."
Trelawney looked around the room at her colleagues looking at her worriedly, "Yes, yes. I see it now. Yes. I have much work to be done. But perhaps a rest will help me see my visions more clearly..." She continued to mutter to herself as Madam Pomfrey guided her to the fireplace and with a whoosh of floo powder they both disappeared in puff of smoke.
Harry looked into the empty fireplace with relief. He looked over at McGonagall. "Do you think she will be okay?"
"It is up to her now, you have done all you can for her. Thank you, Harry, for making me realize that something should be done."
Harry nodded embarrassed and quickly left. Slowly making his way to the common room he was glad to see Ginny studying by the window. "Where have you been?" she asked as he leaned over to kiss her.
"Nowhere. Just wandering around."