Chapter 3: A Strange Sight
"I wonder where she is." Harry said sounding slightly concerned.
"I don't know. We did arrange to meet her here didn't we?" Ron replied. "Maybe she's running late or something. We might see her later on." Harry and Hermione agreed and sat down to eat. The Hall was filling fast, and the loud chatter of students began to echo throughout the room. They ate quickly and Hermione headed, as usual, quickly to the library and Ron and Harry, rather disappointed at there being no sign of Cho made their way towards Gryffindor common room, where they had half an hour to sit and chat before lessons started again. They were sitting and talking casually when Ginny walked in their direction. She muttered hi to Harry, smiled at Ron and walked over to the other side of the room to join her friends. Ron gave Harry a 'what is she like!' kind of look and together they carried on talking, right up until 5 minutes before the bell was due to go. Harry was not looking forward to his first Divinations lesson since they'd been back, and the look on Ron's face told Harry that he felt exactly the same way.
"So! How do you think you'll be dying this year?!" Ron asked sarcastically.
"Goodness knows, just hope it's interesting. I could do with a laugh!" Harry replied in an equally sarcastic tone.
*
Before they knew it they'd been sitting up in the hot and highly perfumed room for half a lesson. The heat was making Harry feel extremely dozy. He felt like a cat curled up next to a fire ready to go to sleep, but Professor Trelawney's misty voice managed to keep him from nodding off. The lesson had evolved to be a theory lesson rather than a practical which made Harry feel quite relieved that his death wasn't going to predicted like so many times before. But of course, Harry was wrong. Less than 5 minutes later Professor Trelawney decided to use Harry as an example of another side to crystal gazing. He was dragged to the front of the class like a child screaming, pleading not to be taken. He could feel everyone's eyes on him and knew immediately what was coming. He screwed up his face, hoping, praying that he was wrong in thinking what she was going to predict.
"Oh my poor dear. I had no idea." She exclaimed at once.
"No idea of what exactly?" Harry asked slightly bewildered as to how this could be related to him dying.
"You will be shocked in the near future when you learn about an enemies deceit."
"What?" Harry replied, now even more confused than before. It must be the heat, the perfume he thought quickly. He glanced at Ron and was glad to see and equally confused expression filling his face, although he noticed he looked quite concerned also.
*
Harry was finally allowed to return to his seat, still as confused as ever, but at least it gave him the chance to talk to Ron.
"What did she mean, an enemies deceit? The only enemy I can think of his Malfoy." Harry said
"OrYou – Know - Who." Ron replied. "Harry you don't think You – Know – Who's going to try and, you know." Ron gulped, Harry didn't like to think.
"I-I don't know." Harry stammered. Now he thought of it, Voldemort did seem the obvious person.
"Harry, I think you've got to be really careful. Maybe we should tell someone." Ron looked even more concerned now, which Harry felt was really touching to know he had such a good friend.
"No, not yet anyway. We have to remember that while I'm at Hogwarts, I'm safe. While Dumbledore's around he can't touch me. And anyway, since when did you start believing Trelawney's predictions?!"
"Yeah I suppose." Ron replied.
And from that moment on, all thoughts of Voldemort trying to attack Harry were vanished from their minds.
*
8.00 arrived and Ron reluctantly left Harry and Hermione and went down to complete his detention with Malfoy. The castle had turned dramatically cold since that afternoon and rain was lashing down on the windows, being pushed by he howling wind. Ron shivered and made his way towards the door of Snape's office. Malfoy was already there, talking in a menacing way with his favourite teacher.
"You're late Weasley." Snape hissed. Ron glanced at his watch. He was 3 minutes late.
"Sorry, I…." Ron tried to defend himself.
"I don't want to hear you're pathetic excuses. Time is valuable and I wish not to waste it standing here listening to you make up random excuses. Now Malfoy knows what you are to do, right Master Malfoy?"
"Yes professor." Malfoy replied, and Ron noticed how much he was trying to stop himself from smirking.
"Right, I'll be back around 10.00 for inspection. If I feel the job has been done correctly, you may go. If not you will be here for another 2 hours." Snape spat, then turned on his heel and swiftly left the room, cloak flapping behind him.
"Come on then Weasley, I don't want to be here any more than you do, but the quicker we get started, the less time I have to spend stuck in a room with a poor beggar who's friends with a filthy Mudblood."
"Trust me, the feeling is mutual. What do we have to do anyway?" Ron asked dreading the answer. The room was packed with jar after jar. Ron didn't even want to think what was in most of them. There were a mixture of sizes, but everyone of them looked as though it had something slimy in there, if not living now, then maybe it had been in the past.
"Just put all these jars in alphabetical order. Shouldn't take long if you ask me." Malfoy said in a dignified voice. Ron looked up at the huge wall covered with jars. There must be thousands of jars up there, he thought, and clearly his face demonstrated Ron's look of horror.
"What's the matter Weasley, not learned the alphabet yet?" Malfoy smirked.
"Oh shut up Malfoy, lets just get on with it so we can get out of here." Ron replied. But Malfoy had to have the last word.
"Missing old Potter are we? Not to worry, I'm sure he's missing you just as much."
*
Two incredibly long and agonising hours later, Snape returned. Malfoy and Ron had spent pretty much the whole night bickering, and it was clear that both just wanted to get up and leave. Ron wondered whether Snape scented how distressed Malfoy was at having to stay in Ron's company for a whole 2 hours, as 5 minutes later Ron was walking along the chilly corridor back to his common room. But on the way, he caught sight of Cho, and so decided to go and question her whereabouts this lunchtime and check she was ok. Just as he was about to say something, however, he noticed Cho had the Quidditch trunk with her and was muttering something, wand poised. He stayed out of sight and watched her.
"Controlus Completeus, Controlus Completeus." Cho was chanting. But what was she pointing her wand at? She suddenly turned towards the trunk and Ron could see something shining in the faint moonlight. His heart skipped a beat as he saw that it was in fact the ting Golden Snitch, which she was now replacing. He recited her words, "Controlus Completeus" what did that mean? Suddenly Cho had put back the trunk to its original position and was exiting the room. Ron decided to duck out of view and so his behind the corner. He watched her disappear up the marble staircase. Completely dazed he walked after her. What had she been doing to the Snitch? Was she tampering with it? He abruptly remembered Professor Trelawney's prediction. But Cho was a friend not an enemy. And the next match was Gryffindor Vs Ravenclaw and both Harry and herself are the seekers. She wouldn't want to hurt Harry though. She's his friend. He wondered whether he should actually tell Harry what he had just seen. He reminded himself again "Controlus Completeus. I've got to write it down." He muttered to himself.
*
Ron lay tossing and turning that night, and after much thought on the subject he'd come to the conclusion that he'd find out what it meant first and then tell Harry judging on how serious he thought it was. But how could he find out what it meant? If he went to the library, Harry was sure to get suspicious if he told him he wanted to go alone. Then, out of the blue, one person immediately came into his mind, and he hit himself for not having thought of her before. Hermione.
"I wonder where she is." Harry said sounding slightly concerned.
"I don't know. We did arrange to meet her here didn't we?" Ron replied. "Maybe she's running late or something. We might see her later on." Harry and Hermione agreed and sat down to eat. The Hall was filling fast, and the loud chatter of students began to echo throughout the room. They ate quickly and Hermione headed, as usual, quickly to the library and Ron and Harry, rather disappointed at there being no sign of Cho made their way towards Gryffindor common room, where they had half an hour to sit and chat before lessons started again. They were sitting and talking casually when Ginny walked in their direction. She muttered hi to Harry, smiled at Ron and walked over to the other side of the room to join her friends. Ron gave Harry a 'what is she like!' kind of look and together they carried on talking, right up until 5 minutes before the bell was due to go. Harry was not looking forward to his first Divinations lesson since they'd been back, and the look on Ron's face told Harry that he felt exactly the same way.
"So! How do you think you'll be dying this year?!" Ron asked sarcastically.
"Goodness knows, just hope it's interesting. I could do with a laugh!" Harry replied in an equally sarcastic tone.
*
Before they knew it they'd been sitting up in the hot and highly perfumed room for half a lesson. The heat was making Harry feel extremely dozy. He felt like a cat curled up next to a fire ready to go to sleep, but Professor Trelawney's misty voice managed to keep him from nodding off. The lesson had evolved to be a theory lesson rather than a practical which made Harry feel quite relieved that his death wasn't going to predicted like so many times before. But of course, Harry was wrong. Less than 5 minutes later Professor Trelawney decided to use Harry as an example of another side to crystal gazing. He was dragged to the front of the class like a child screaming, pleading not to be taken. He could feel everyone's eyes on him and knew immediately what was coming. He screwed up his face, hoping, praying that he was wrong in thinking what she was going to predict.
"Oh my poor dear. I had no idea." She exclaimed at once.
"No idea of what exactly?" Harry asked slightly bewildered as to how this could be related to him dying.
"You will be shocked in the near future when you learn about an enemies deceit."
"What?" Harry replied, now even more confused than before. It must be the heat, the perfume he thought quickly. He glanced at Ron and was glad to see and equally confused expression filling his face, although he noticed he looked quite concerned also.
*
Harry was finally allowed to return to his seat, still as confused as ever, but at least it gave him the chance to talk to Ron.
"What did she mean, an enemies deceit? The only enemy I can think of his Malfoy." Harry said
"OrYou – Know - Who." Ron replied. "Harry you don't think You – Know – Who's going to try and, you know." Ron gulped, Harry didn't like to think.
"I-I don't know." Harry stammered. Now he thought of it, Voldemort did seem the obvious person.
"Harry, I think you've got to be really careful. Maybe we should tell someone." Ron looked even more concerned now, which Harry felt was really touching to know he had such a good friend.
"No, not yet anyway. We have to remember that while I'm at Hogwarts, I'm safe. While Dumbledore's around he can't touch me. And anyway, since when did you start believing Trelawney's predictions?!"
"Yeah I suppose." Ron replied.
And from that moment on, all thoughts of Voldemort trying to attack Harry were vanished from their minds.
*
8.00 arrived and Ron reluctantly left Harry and Hermione and went down to complete his detention with Malfoy. The castle had turned dramatically cold since that afternoon and rain was lashing down on the windows, being pushed by he howling wind. Ron shivered and made his way towards the door of Snape's office. Malfoy was already there, talking in a menacing way with his favourite teacher.
"You're late Weasley." Snape hissed. Ron glanced at his watch. He was 3 minutes late.
"Sorry, I…." Ron tried to defend himself.
"I don't want to hear you're pathetic excuses. Time is valuable and I wish not to waste it standing here listening to you make up random excuses. Now Malfoy knows what you are to do, right Master Malfoy?"
"Yes professor." Malfoy replied, and Ron noticed how much he was trying to stop himself from smirking.
"Right, I'll be back around 10.00 for inspection. If I feel the job has been done correctly, you may go. If not you will be here for another 2 hours." Snape spat, then turned on his heel and swiftly left the room, cloak flapping behind him.
"Come on then Weasley, I don't want to be here any more than you do, but the quicker we get started, the less time I have to spend stuck in a room with a poor beggar who's friends with a filthy Mudblood."
"Trust me, the feeling is mutual. What do we have to do anyway?" Ron asked dreading the answer. The room was packed with jar after jar. Ron didn't even want to think what was in most of them. There were a mixture of sizes, but everyone of them looked as though it had something slimy in there, if not living now, then maybe it had been in the past.
"Just put all these jars in alphabetical order. Shouldn't take long if you ask me." Malfoy said in a dignified voice. Ron looked up at the huge wall covered with jars. There must be thousands of jars up there, he thought, and clearly his face demonstrated Ron's look of horror.
"What's the matter Weasley, not learned the alphabet yet?" Malfoy smirked.
"Oh shut up Malfoy, lets just get on with it so we can get out of here." Ron replied. But Malfoy had to have the last word.
"Missing old Potter are we? Not to worry, I'm sure he's missing you just as much."
*
Two incredibly long and agonising hours later, Snape returned. Malfoy and Ron had spent pretty much the whole night bickering, and it was clear that both just wanted to get up and leave. Ron wondered whether Snape scented how distressed Malfoy was at having to stay in Ron's company for a whole 2 hours, as 5 minutes later Ron was walking along the chilly corridor back to his common room. But on the way, he caught sight of Cho, and so decided to go and question her whereabouts this lunchtime and check she was ok. Just as he was about to say something, however, he noticed Cho had the Quidditch trunk with her and was muttering something, wand poised. He stayed out of sight and watched her.
"Controlus Completeus, Controlus Completeus." Cho was chanting. But what was she pointing her wand at? She suddenly turned towards the trunk and Ron could see something shining in the faint moonlight. His heart skipped a beat as he saw that it was in fact the ting Golden Snitch, which she was now replacing. He recited her words, "Controlus Completeus" what did that mean? Suddenly Cho had put back the trunk to its original position and was exiting the room. Ron decided to duck out of view and so his behind the corner. He watched her disappear up the marble staircase. Completely dazed he walked after her. What had she been doing to the Snitch? Was she tampering with it? He abruptly remembered Professor Trelawney's prediction. But Cho was a friend not an enemy. And the next match was Gryffindor Vs Ravenclaw and both Harry and herself are the seekers. She wouldn't want to hurt Harry though. She's his friend. He wondered whether he should actually tell Harry what he had just seen. He reminded himself again "Controlus Completeus. I've got to write it down." He muttered to himself.
*
Ron lay tossing and turning that night, and after much thought on the subject he'd come to the conclusion that he'd find out what it meant first and then tell Harry judging on how serious he thought it was. But how could he find out what it meant? If he went to the library, Harry was sure to get suspicious if he told him he wanted to go alone. Then, out of the blue, one person immediately came into his mind, and he hit himself for not having thought of her before. Hermione.