"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Parselmouth"

"YELLING"

Reading/Writing

It was slowly becoming official; Harry Potter hated Divination.

In some ways it was simply a waste of time, since Harry technically wasn't a Seer, but the one thing that Harry disliked about the class in particular was the teacher: Professor Sybill Trelawney. The only reason Harry chose the class was because he would be in the same class with Ron, but he was starting to regret taking the class; especially since Trelawney had taken a liking to predicting Harry's death. There was however, one thing, or rather someone, who made being in the classroom more bearable: Lavender Brown.

The girl that was the center of Harry's secret crush.

Harry has had a crush on Lavender almost from the beginning of his Hogwarts career; the earliest that his crush on her started, that he could possibly recall, was when she complimented Hedwig as a beautiful owl, when she brought Harry's Nimbus 2000. After that, he would often chance a glance at the pretty blonde Gryffindor, finding that one of the reasons why he liked her was that unlike most of the other girls at Hogwarts, was that she showed no interest in the stories of the Boy-Who-Lived; she just respected Harry for who he was.

Harry wasn't really a shallow person; far from it, his life growing up with his Dursley relatives taught him to value the traits of who someone was on the inside. Although he was sorted into Gryffindor, Harry was relatively intelligent in his own way, especially to the point that he could be able to recognize certain traits in a person. For example there were his two best friends: Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Ron is, to a great extent, a true and loyal friend, he was always there for Harry if he needed to vent his anger, and didn't intrude, simply giving Harry his space, until he calmed down enough to give him advice that he thought would be helpful; but his one big character flaw was that he possessed a inferiority complex and a massive jealous streak. Ron had always been in the shadow of his six older brothers, and ever since they started their Hogwarts tutelage, he had even been pushed into Harry's shadow. Ron did his best to hide it, but Harry could easily see that his best friend was jealous of the attention that he was getting, despite the fact that he had repeatedly made it clear that he hated his fame and popularity; especially when the people hailed Harry for something that he barely remembered, and seemed all too satisfied to forget that it costed him his parents.

Hermione too, is a loyal friend who was capable of helping Harry through difficult times and getting his homework done, but her biggest flaw was that she tended to view life being dictated by what she learned or read from her books. If it wasn't specified in a book, then it simply wasn't important, or worth the time. Hermione was notorious for being a bookworm, and many often accused her of being a know-it-all, and if someone else was able of giving a correct answer that she couldn't, or wasn't mentioned in a book that she didn't know about, Hermione often took it personal. Harry even remembered how he had, at one point, told Hermione that not every answer to a problem in life could be found in a book, and she had taken it as an insult; she gave him the silent treatment for nearly a week and a half after that. She also had a misguided belief that anyone who held a position of authority, such as the professors of Hogwarts, to be infallible and would never make mistakes, which Harry knew wasn't true; anyone was capable of making a mistake, or do something wrong, but trying to tell that to Hermione was difficult and impossible.

Harry's ability to figure out a person's character was very helpful, and he used it to understand others better than they knew themselves. Neville Longbottom for example, was a boy who was raised by a strict and demanding grandmother, and his ability to use magic was minimal to the point that a lot of people called him a squib; but Harry could sense that he possessed a power that was waiting to be let out, and was simply being held back by his wand, which previously belonged to his father. Draco Malfoy on the other hand, portrayed himself as a big deal, and often disrespected Harry and his friends, and anyone who he felt was beneath him, but Harry saw the act for what it was; Draco was simply looking for his father's approval, an approval that he had probably been lacking since he was a child. Harry also saw the looks of pain and longing in Draco's eyes for Hermione, making Harry wonder if Draco Malfoy secretly had a crush on his muggle-born friend; which would've gone against anything that Malfoy's father taught him against.

There were of course some people who were hard, even difficult, for Harry to read and figure out; like Professor Severus Snape for example. There was something about Snape that Harry just couldn't figure out; he could see the hatred for Harry's father in Snape's eyes, but there was something else that he could barely detect. At one point he thought he saw a flicker of regret, but it was gone just as fast as he saw it. Even the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was practically impossible for Harry to figure out, which really stumped Harry.

That's why he liked Lavender, because while she portrayed herself as an aloof type of person who liked to discuss the latest gossip, deep down she was a caring person who was willing to stand by those who held a special place in her heart. The fact that she also portrayed herself as a gossip monger to hide her natural intellect, and kept herself physically in shape which enhanced her natural beauty, also endeared herself in Harry's eyes, and heart. Not to mention that anytime she looked at him, she only looked at Harry Potter, and not the ridiculous Boy-Who-Lived persona that everyone seemed all too willing to focus on, rather Harry for who he was.

Regardless, Harry didn't think he would ever have a chance with Lavender. She was easily being regarded as the most beautiful girl in Gryffindor House, something that started to be a known fact since her body began to develop. Harry even remembered overhearing Tom Worthwood, a Ravenclaw Fourth Year talking about what he'd do if he had a chance to date Lavender, which only made Harry disgusted by what Worthwood said; though thankfully his fellow Third Year Gryffindor Seamus Finnegan, who was a good friend of Lavender's, decked Worthwood. Harry hated it when someone talked about how they would use someone else just for anything other than as a friend or as a person.

Sadly, as much as Harry wanted to deck Worthwood himself for saying such things about Lavender, he knew that he couldn't. Mainly because the two of them weren't together, and Harry didn't want to risk anyone to find out about his crush; and besides, Seamus had already taken cared of it, even though the urge to do it himself was very strong. As it was, Harry was in his dorm room with Ron, Seamus, and Neville Longbottom and Dean Thomas, two other boys in his year, with a book in his hands. The book in question was one of his textbooks for Divination; just because he didn't like the class, didn't mean that he wanted to fail it, especially if it was an easy class or Lavender's favorite.

"Hey Harry, why are you wasting your time reading that Divination book?" Ron's voice called out to him, breaking his concentration. "Put it away, and come play Wizard's Chess with me."

Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes at his best friend, thinking of how typical it was for Ron to want to play chess instead of doing his homework. Knowing Ron, he would wait till the last minute, and ask Hermione to "help" him with it. Harry couldn't help but remember all the times that Hermione argued with Ron about doing his homework, but Ron would rather not have to do his homework, and just have fun instead. Harry, while enjoying having a little bit of fun himself, was a bit more willing to work on his homework on his own, and be able to at least get a passing grade.

"Sorry Ron," Harry replied, closing the book, and getting ready to go out of the room. "But I want to try and get some of my Divination homework done first, if I want to enjoy some free time later."

As Harry packed the things he needed, Ron looked at him with wide incredulous eyes.

"Blimey Harry you sounded like Hermione for a minute there!" The red-head said. "Come on mate, Divination is easy. Just make something up, and Trelawney will give you an A. Don't bother doing the homework for real."

"Sorry Ron, but I'd rather try to understand Divination," Harry answered back, his bag with his homework hanging over his shoulder. "And at least be able to put in a little bit of effort into the homework, rather than just, "make something up just to get an easy A". Besides, it's not like I'm actually going to be a Seer, or continue the class."

Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville all looked at Harry with confused expressions. They didn't quite understand what Harry was talking about.

"What do you mean Harry?" Dean asked, curious about what his fellow Gryffindor was talking about.

"I talked with McGonagall a couple of days ago," He answered, walking towards the door of the dormitory. "She told me that if I'm interested, I can go ahead and drop Divination , and change my elective. She also pointed out that I didn't pick a third elective, and encouraged me to do so. The thing is, I need to do so before the winter break, because afterwards I'll have to finish the rest of the class. So after talking to Hermione, I decided that I'm going to continue Care of Magical Creatures, but switch Divination with Ancient Runes, and take Arithmancy as my third elective."

"Cool!" Neville exclaimed, liking the idea of transferring out of Divination.

"Wicked!" Seamus said, agreeing with the idea of getting a better class than Divination.

With the exception of Ron, the majority of Harry's fellow Third Year Gryffindors were interested in Harry's plan. Ron on the other hand, did not seem keen on his best friend transferring out of a class that they both shared.

"Bloody hell Harry, you can't do that!" He said, drawing shocked looks from his dorm mates.

Harry, who by that time had reached the door. He had grabbed the doorknob, when Ron said that he couldn't do what he was planning on doing. The Raven haired boy turned to his friend, and looked at him.

"Why not?" He asked, his right eyebrow cocked up. "After all, it's my decision on what classes I am going to do, not yours Ron."

Ron's ears turn red in embarrassment, as each of his dorm mates looked at him. He knew that they were all expecting him to give a good reason as to why Harry shouldn't drop Divination, and choose a different class. The problem was, how could he do that, without sounding selfish in regards to wanting to keep Harry around him in class?

"Because... we chose it together, and we've always done things together." He reasoned, hoping that Harry would see sense.

Harry shook his head out of exasperation, and looked at Ron.

"Technically Ron, you chose Divination, and convinced me to take it too." He answered, before he walked out the door. "I can't do everything with you Ron. I have to do my own thing sometimes too."

After Harry left the room, Ron looked at the door incredulously. He was willing to admit, he did value his friendship with Harry, but his friendship with him was his only means to standout among his siblings. Ron needed Harry to stand out, not just among his brothers and sister, but in Hogwarts too. Without Harry, Ron was just Ron, instead of Ron Weasley, Best Friend of Harry Potter; though admittedly he didn't always like being in the shadow of his friend. Now, if Harry wasn't going to be in Divination, then he wouldn't have his card to fame.

Common Room

Harry walked down to the common room, and sat down in his favorite armchair by the fireplace. taking out his Divination textbook, he started looking through it, trying to make heads or tails from it. He so wanted to drop the class, but Professor McGonagall had explained that it took a couple of days, up to at least a week, for a class change to be made. So until then, he would have to put up with kooky Trelawney and having absolutely no idea what anything he was reading right now meant, until then.

'Oh well,' He thought to himself, as he flipped the page. 'At least I'll have another week of at least sharing a class with Lavender.'

As it was, the subject of Harry's thoughts came down the stairs, her own Divination textbook resting in the crook of her arm. Lavender looked around the common room, looking for a suitable place to sit, when she set her sights on the sofa by the fireplace, right across from Harry. Deciding to take a seat there, she started walking towards that spot.

"Hey Harry." She said, leaning over to see Harry's face, as his chair was facing the stairway to the Girl's Dorms with it's back.

"YIPE!" Shouted Harry, spooked out of his wits by the surprise of having Lavender's face come out of almost nowhere, from right behind him, before proceeding to pat his chest to slow his fast beating heart and try to settle his breathing. "Don't do that Lavender! You nearly scared me half to death."

"Whoops, sorry Harry." She said, giggling at the way that she managed to scare Harry by accident. "I didn't mean to scare you, honest. I was kind of hoping to ask if you'd mind me sitting across from you on the couch. But if you don't want me to, given that I "nearly scared you to death", then I'll understand and find another spot to do my Divinations work."

As Lavender starts to walk away, Harry reaches out, and grabs her free hand. In that moment, the two felt a spark between their hands, causing them to nearly let go of each other's hand.

"Uhh, n-n-no Lavender, that's completely fine," Harry nearly stuttered, his hand still clasped onto Lavender's. "I don't mind you sitting across from me. In fact, maybe you could help me with my own Divination work. I'm completely hopeless when it comes to this stuff."

"Hehehe, no one's ever really hopeless Harry," She said, giggling as she takes her seat on the sofa, the sound of her giggling sounding like music to Harry. "When it comes to Divination, it's how you translate the meaning of the words."

Harry couldn't help but look at her inquisitively, clearly showing that he wasn't making any sense from her explanation.

"Let me try to explain." Lavender said, scooting forward until she was sitting on the edge of the sofa. "When it comes to trying to understand Divination, I like to try to focus on the wording of the prophecy, like if the words of the ending rhymes with the next word or not, or more specifically on the structure of the phrasing."

(A/N: I know absolutely nothing about divination or prophecy speaking, so I'm simply doing the best I can at flying off the seat of my pants in how to understand it.)

Harry nodded his head, indicating that he was starting to understand a little bit of what Lavender was talking about. Lavender's face then scrunched up, almost similar to Hermione whenever she was thinking hard about something. In an odd way, Harry thought it looked cute, the way Lavender's nose slightly crinkled when she was thinking about something.

"The best examples I can think of," She said, looking back up into Harry's eyes. "Are the predictions that she made in our first class of Divination."

Harry looked at Lavender with a look that practically said "Are you crazy?" Lavender merely chuckled meekly, as she understood that Harry had no idea what she was talking about.

"Let me see if I can explain as best I can." She said, trying not to look foolish in her explanation. "Okay, let's see, ah ha, I got it. Okay,so the first prediction that Professor Trelawney made about Neville's grandmother not being so well."

"Yeah but Neville wrote to his gran shortly after the class, asking if she was well." Harry replied, finding himself enjoying the conversation with Lavender, even if they were talking about his least favorite subject, second to potions on account of Snape anyways. "And she replied a day later saying that she was well."

"True, but Trelawney said that at some point in the future, she might not look so well." Lavender countered, also enjoying the conversation, and looking into the sparkling emerald green eyes that were Harry's. "Which could mean anything will happen to Neville's grandmother."

Harry though on what Lavender had just said, and found her reasoning logical. In retrospect, Trelawney had said that Neville's gran may not look well at some point in the future, so maybe Lavender could be right.

"Okay, but what about the warning she gave to Parvati?" Harry asked. "About how she needed to beware a redheaded man?"

"Hmm, okay now that one could be a bit of a difficult one," She admitted, but she looked back into his eyes. "But I don't think that the warning was necessarily about her."

"Wha... huh?" Harry said dumbfounded. "What do you mean Lavender? Trelawney specifically said that warning to Parvati, which caused her to scoot away from Ron, who has red hair."

"True, but don't forget Harry," She replied, a grin on her face. "Parvati isn't the only Patil in Hogwarts."

Harry started to understand what Lavender was insinuating.

"You're right Lavender," He said, understanding Lavender. "Parvati has an identical twin sister in Ravenclaw House named Padma, so you're saying that maybe Trelawney was talking about Padma, but thought she was seeing Parvati."

"Right Harry." Lavender replied, a large smile forming on her face. "It's likely that whatever encounter that Trelawney thought that Parvati was gonna have with a redheaded man, which may or may not be Ron, might be experienced by Padma, but the Professor thought it was Parvati, because she couldn't tell them apart."

"Kind of like the Weasley Twins," Harry said, making a comparison. "They're both twin brothers, who look exactly alike to the point that you can't tell which one is which."

"Exactly." Lavender confirmed, her smile potentially bigger than before.

Harry's thoughts then turned to the three other predictions that Trelawney made, and figured that Lavender probably didn't want to speak of them, but Harry figured that it wasn't avoidable. He figured that he'd approach it carefully.

"And, the last three predictions that she made?" He said tentatively, not wanting to upset her.

Lavender's face became solemn, as she figured that Harry would bring them around to this particular topic. Truthfully, she had a very good idea as to what Trelawney was predicting in regards to what she was most afraid of, but she had no idea what the Grimm for Harry was about.

"Well, I have a pretty good idea about what I fear most, that Trelawney predicts will take place on October sixteenth," She said, her voice dropping to an almost whisper. "You see Harry, with all of these Dementors around the castle, I'm afraid that Sirius Black will somehow find a way inside, and hurt one of the students."

Harry couldn't help but understand why Lavender feared that. After all, it was believed by Minister Fudge, Mr. Weasley, Dumbledore, and potentially every one of the professors in Hogwarts that Black was plotting to kill him, for what he did to Voldemort when he was just a year old. Deciding to comfort her as best he could, Harry got up, and sat down next to Lavender, wrapping his arm around her, rubbing his hand up and down her arm to comfort her. He wondered if he should share that little tidbit with her, but thought better. He was finally getting a chance to talk to her, and feared that if he told her that Sirius Black was after him, she might not want to have anything else to do with him.

"And, the Grimm?" He asked, deciding to talk with her about something else.

"Well..." She started, but faltered, pulling her Divination text book to her, and opened it. "It is considered to be one of the most feared death omens among those who spend their life trying to decipher the future. But as to how it connects to you, I honestly don't know what to tell you Harry."

Harry slumped back into the back of the sofa, slightly exasperated at at the fact that he was not going to get any answer about that Grimm. Oh well, it wasn't as if he actually believed Trelawney about that tidbit, since McGonagall assured him that Trelawney was nothing more than a fraud. He was honestly inclined to believe it himself.

"As for what she said about someone leaving around Easter forever," She then said, drawing his attention back to her. "I think it could be a bit of a phrasing problem. Rather than someone dying, like she was trying to hint at, it could actually mean that someone will simply be dropping the class. Honestly, I think that she could somehow be referring to Hermione."

Now that really got Harry's attention. As long as he knew her, Hermione always put a lot of value in learning something, and would potentially never think to drop a class. In fact, she would often view anyone who considered dropping a class as someone who wasn't taking their education seriously.

"Really? Given how much she values education?"

Lavender grinned meekly, knowing that Harry found her reasoning to be hard to believe. In full truth, if she knew Hermione as well as Harry did, she probably wouldn't believe it either.

"Well, we've only been in Trelawney's class for a few weeks, and she's already shown that she doesn't find Trelawney's lessons to be realistic or useful." Lavender said, her reasoning pretty much accurate.

Harry leaned back into the sofa cushion, and couldn't help but find Lavender's words making sense. Hermione had said that she found Trelawney's class to be ridiculous, and that she couldn't see any true application of it in the open Wizard World; even though Harry had to admit that there could be actual Seers, even though Trelawney couldn't be one.

At that point, their Head of House Professor McGonagall entered the Gryffindor Common Room. The stern looking witch notices the two young magic users, and starts walking towards them. As McGonagall walked towards them, she couldn't help but feel amused at the sight of Harry Potter and Lavender Brown sitting together, since they rarely, if ever, interacted together before.

"Mister Potter, whenever you are able, could you please come with me to the Headmaster's office?" She asked, peering at Harry through her spectacles.

Harry looked back up into his Head of House, and nodded. He appreciated Professor McGonagall because she genuinely cared for her Lions, and tried to be there for them as best she could. From what he learned from Hermione, Ron's sister Ginny was still haunted by memories of the Chamber of Secrets, and was getting help to deal with them from both McGonagall and Dumbledore.

"Alright then Professor, I can go along with you now." He answered, eliciting a nod from McGonagall, before getting up.

Harry quickly turned, and looked at Lavender.

"Sorry Lavender, but I gotta go." He said to her, earning an understanding nod and smile from her. "Maybe we could continue our little talk later?"

Lavender smiled back at Harry, and nodded her head in understanding. She watched at the boy left the Common Room with their Head of House. Once Harry was gone, she returned to her textbook, a small smile on her face, as she thought of how nice it was to talk to Harry. She hoped that she could get a chance to talk to him again, and get to know him better.