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Chapter Seven: Quidditch and Tea Leaves

Melissa Sampson

Today I had Divination first and I met up with Fred and George in the Great Hall before we headed over, using our typical shortcuts. I had detention again. This time it was all three of us. But Fred and I had such a fun time in our two-week detention from Snape that I was almost glad. They were really growing on me and we pretty much did everything together. They were my closest friends here. I still didn't get along with the girls in my dorm, and ever since I started hanging around Fred and George, they were even more catty. Angelina Johnson had a crush on Fred and Alicia was checking out George. So seeing me with them every waking minute made them insanely jealous. Honestly, I wasn't really into any of them the way everyone thought. We were just good friends.

I did, however, make friends with Lee Jordan who hung around Fred and George almost as much as I did. He joined us on our way to Divination. Professor Trelawney was the teacher and she was very strange. She kept going on about the Inner Eye and all this palm reading stuff. Of course, I had abilities to see the future, but even I knew better than to trust a silly line on someone's hand. I usually kept my abilities quiet. I didn't want to give anyone another reason to distance theirselves from me. Besides, it's been a while since I've had a true vision. Sometimes I'll get little bursts of things like I saw that Gryffindor was going to win the Quidditch match against Slytherin. But I couldn't see the details. That was another reason why I didn't share my abilities. It would ruin everyone's fun if I told them everything that was going to happen.

We settled into our seats. I was working with Fred today and Professor Trelawney announced we were moving on to study tea leaves. Fred and I smirked at each other, snickering as Professor Trelawney lectured us on the Inner Eye again. Fred opened the book and we tried to figure out what our tea leaves looked like.

"Looks like you've got a wheel?" Fred said, as he gazed at my cup.

At that moment, Trelawney swooped over to our table, taking my teacup from Fred's hands.

"You're going to have a new realization that will change everything," she said, "Something about your family."

I wasn't so sure about that. The last vision that said I would find my biological father lied. I suppose some things I predicted weren't always accurate.

"Now what could be life changing?" Fred whispered.

"Setting a dungbomb off in Snape's office," I said with a grin, "I think that would be life changing."

Trelawney reached for Fred's teacup. She gazed at it for a second and then she gasped, her eyes going wide. "You-you have the Grim!" she said in a hushed whisper. "Meaning death." Everyone fell silent, staring at Fred.

The class ended then, with everyone still in shock. I followed him out into the corridor. "Don't worry about that," I said, "She's crazy. You're not going to die."

Fred grinned. "I'm not worried at all," he said, "She does this every year."

"Last year it was a Hufflepuff," George said. "Cedric Diggory."

Jamie Murray

As November came, the weather outside became colder. Frost covered every inch of the ground and it was nice when we got to visit Hagrid, the gamekeeper, who always kept the fireplace going. I usually went to see him with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Ever since the troll, we did everything together. I enjoyed their company. Harry and Ron were being a bit nicer to Hermione and she began to relax a bit about following the rules. I explained to Klaus, Harry, and Ron about my disorder and was surprised to see they didn't turn away from me like I had originally thought. They kept asking about my past and I filled them in on it as much as I felt comfortable with. Harry seemed to be able to relate to me the most on some things and I was glad to have a new friend who understood what I was going through in a different way than Hermione or Klaus.

Speaking of my condition, I received a frantic letter from Renée asking if I wanted to leave until I recovered, but I was truly beginning to enjoy myself now that I had some good friends and I couldn't imagine leaving magic behind. Besides, I promised Dumbledore that I would fight back and I knew I had to do it alone.

I eventually told Klaus and he was supportive.

"I should have realized sooner," he said, after giving me a hug. "I knew you weren't yourself lately, but I thought that if I gave you time, you would heal on your own."

"I wish I was capable of that," I muttered. "I hate feeling like other people have to do it for me."

"Dumbledore isn't doing it for you," Klaus said, "He's helping you heal on your own. I think it might work and I will do everything I can to make sure you're okay. I want you to heal as much as you do. In fact, I asked Renée to send me some books on PTSD. If we read them, we would be able to better understand it and you could get better."

"But I don't understand why it was just me," I said, "Why didn't you develop the disorder? Or Violet? Or Sunny? We all went through the same thing. Why is it only me?"

"PTSD is rare in young people," Klaus said, "That doesn't mean we won't get it eventually. I've already learned a little about it and sometimes childhood trauma resurfaces most commonly in adulthood. Most Veterans don't develop it until they've retired. See, we're just as susceptible as you are. There's nothing to be ashamed of either. There's nothing wrong with you and I know you'll recover." He kissed my forehead.

"I can't even look at my house's mascot without panicking," I said. "Every time I look at it all I see is the bald man…"

I started meeting Dumbledore once a week. I mostly just talked about how my day went and what I was going to do to get better. He kept inviting me to talk about things that were troubling me from my past.

"Whenever you're ready," he would say.

But I knew, no matter how much better I felt in the future, I would never be ready for that.

Despite my reluctance to open up, I still made efforts to improve. Every morning, I would mark my calendar, and each black X represented one more day closer to being free of these chains that bound me. After, I would go for a jog around the grounds, making sure to bundle up against the cold. I was never really the kind of person who jogged, but ever since my newfound resolve, I had a constant restlessness. Jogging made me feel like I was making process even if I truly wasn't. During classes, I tried harder than ever to be successful and even started reading some of the course books like Hermione had. I told Hermione that I wanted to know as much as I could about magic so I could be as good of a student and she was more than willing to lend me the books I needed as well as help me learn spells I was having trouble with.

"I was given a chance to be free and make choices for once," I said to Hermione as we studied in the library late one evening. "I've been sitting back, waiting for something to reach me, but I know now that I have to grasp it myself. If Count Olaf comes back, I'll need magic to defend myself. It's the one thing he can't take from me."

I started staying up late, hiding under my covers with a spellbook practicing and practicing. I knew I could never have the skill that Hermione has, at least not yet, but the spells did become easier to master and I found myself doing it on my own more often. The first time, I taught myself a spell I was so proud of myself that I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.

Some days were better than others. I would feel as if I really was recovering and Madam Pomfrey's potion helped keep away the nightmares. But I was only allowed to take it a couple of times a week since it disrupted what she called my REM cycle and taking it every day could give me daytime hallucinations. So I still had to endure my nightmares and I still had trouble focusing sometimes during the day. Mostly around noon, I started seeing Count Olaf everywhere or the sight of an eye made me cringe like I was being scolded. On these days, it seemed everything I had achieved was a waste of effort and I was back to where I had started. Dumbledore said that it was normal to feel like this now and that in time my efforts would pay off. He didn't tell me how long that would take and in my mind, it seemed like it would take years.

November was also the start of Quidditch season and Harry Potter was preparing to play in his first match against Slytherin. I could tell he was getting nervous, being the youngest to ever play, especially as the Seeker. Hermione lent him Quidditch Through the Ages to help him and it definitely calmed his nerves a bit. Then, Snape took it away from him because he brought it outside of the school even though I'm pretty sure a number of students were carrying library books outside.

When Harry went to ask for the book back, he saw Snape with a gash on his leg saying that it was the three-headed dog that bit him. He thinks that Snape is trying to get past the three-headed dog and that he was to blame for the troll. I had to agree with Hermione though, that Snape probably wouldn't go against Dumbledore's wishes like that. Dumbledore seemed to have something like a sixth sense where he could practically read your mind. In one of our meetings, he started talking about how I had another nightmare the previous night without me telling him. It didn't seem like much could go unnoticed to Dumbledore.

The Quidditch match arrived after a few days and Harry was so nervous he refused to eat any breakfast. Ron, Hermione, and I said goodbye to Harry and went to go make a poster with Seamus, Neville, and Dean. We made our way over to the stands, which were raised high in the air. I met up with Klaus who no longer had Fiona following him everywhere and Melissa came over too.

The match started and Gryffindor was in the lead, thanks to Angelina Johnson. Hagrid came to join us, wanting to get a better view of the game rather than watch from his hut. After a bit, I saw Harry dive for the snitch but Marcus Flint, the Slytherin team's captain blocked him, nearly knocking him off of his broom. Luckily, Madam Hooch declared it as a foul and Alicia Spinnet scored. The game turned around though, when Flint scored for the Slytherins. That was when my eyes moved to Harry again. He was moving way up high in the air, higher than he needed to and his broom was jerking this way and that.

"Dunno what Harry thinks he's doing," Hagrid mumbled, looking through his binoculars. "If I didn' know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom... but he can't have..."

"Maybe he was cursed," I said.

Harry was now dangling from his broom, holding on with only one hand.

"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" Seamus whispered.

"Can't have," Hagrid said, his voice shaking. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic - no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand."

Hermione grabbed Hagrid's binoculars and surveyed the crowd.

"What are you doing?" Ron moaned looking worried.

"I knew it," Hermione gasped, "Snape - look."

Ron grabbed the binoculars. He looked through and gasped before passing them to me. I looked through and found Snape, who sat in the stands opposite us. He was staring right at Harry and muttering something under his breath. I let out my own gasp. I couldn't believe it. I knew Snape was terrible, but I never imagined he would try to harm a student like that.

"He's doing something - jinxing the broom," said Hermione.

"What should we do?" Ron asked.

"Leave it to me. Come on, Jamie."

I followed Hermione through the crowd and to the row just behind where Snape was sitting. As Hermione dragged me along, I accidentally knocked into Professor Quirrell headfirst into the row in front. We crouched down and Hermione pulled out her wand. She muttered a spell and bright blue flames shot from her wand onto the hem of Snape's robes.

Snape almost immediately saw the flames and yelped. I had the jar ready and scooped the blue flames inside before hurrying back to the others. I saw that Harry had regained control of his broom.

"Neville, you can look!" Ron said. Neville had been crying into Hagrid's jacket.

Harry was racing toward the ground and then, clapped his hand to his mouth, looking like he was about to be sick. He fell forward, hitting the ground on all fours, and coughed. Out came something gold.

"I've got the Snitch!" Harry shouted, as he waved it above his head. Everyone looked on in confusion.

Gryffindor had won the match. 170 points to 60.

"He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it," Flint was crying for twenty minutes after the game ended. Harry, Ron, Hermione and I went over to Hagrid's hut for some nice hot tea to celebrate. I asked Klaus to come along. He hadn't really met Hagrid yet.

"It was Snape," Ron was explaining, "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid, who apparently didn't know about anything that had happened next to him in the stands. "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

We exchanged glances, wondering what to say.

"I found out something about him," Harry told Hagrid. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

Hagrid dropped the teapot. "How do you know about Fluffy?" he said.

"It's name is Fluffy?" I said.

"Yeah - he's mine - bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the—"

"Yes?" said Harry eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," Hagrid said, gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to steal it," Harry said.

"Rubbish," Hagrid said again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" Hermione cried.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I know he hates Harry, but I didn't think he wanted to kill him. But if this is true, then we can't just stand by and let it happen without doing anything to stop him."

"I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid," Hermione said, "I've read all about them!

You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"Yes that's true," Klaus backed her up. "I've also read all about them and that definitely looked like a jinx."

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all five of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel -"

"Aha!" said Harry, "so there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself.

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