Author's note: This is not my favorite chapter. It's messed up in my words.... Well, I know that many of you will not agree David and I on this, and that's alright. It's actually for a future story that one of my other friends is writing. We have a foursome kind of. One of us is writing 5th year story... David and I are writing 6th –7th and the other is writing a future one. Weird, right? Okay.... I am writing too much. Sorry! Thank you to all whom has reviewed this story so far.
CHAPTER SIX
THE PREMONITION
Ron hurried to put something under the covers of his bed. He held a book shut and looked up at Harry asking, "Why aren't you at dinner?"
Harry entered the dorm. "Why aren't you?" he asked back.
Ron sighed. "I was full...."
"Somehow," Harry said, "I don't think that is right...."
Ron stayed silent, still looking at Harry.
"I was just coming to see if you were alright."
"I'm fine," Ron said.
"Then why are you ignoring Hermione and me?"
"I'm not ignoring you!" Ron argued. "I've been...busy."
Ron paused. Harry glanced at his hand, which was hiding something under the bed covers. "What's that?" he asked.
"N-nothing."
"Come on, Ron! Now you're lying to us?"
"I'm not lying! I... oh, fine! Promise you won't tell a soul?"
"Tell what?" Harry asked warily.
"Promise!" Ron said.
"Okay. I promise not to tell whatever it is."
Ron, with his face a little red, pulled the item from within its secrecy and showed Harry.
"It's a..." Ron said, "...a picture of..."
Harry gaped at Ron. "Parvati?" he nearly yelled.
"Harry!"
"Okay! It's just a... a shock," Harry ended.
Ron's ears turned extremely red. "I dunno what's come over me..." Ron said sourly. "I just...." he stopped.
"Where did you get a picture of her?" Harry asked.
"I-I.... Colin...."
Harry didn't know what to say. Ron started to laugh.
"Really! I did! You know Colin right? Colin Creevy?"
Harry nodded.
"Well... he takes pictures of everything...."
"I know," Harry said.
"...And he just happened to take one of her...."
"Really."
"Well... after I kind of... asked him to?" Ron croaked.
Now Harry laughed.
Ron turned even redder than he already was. "What?" he asked.
"Nothing!"
Ron put his book on the bed and covered his face with his hands, but Harry could see him smiling.
"You really asked Colin to take a picture of her?"
"Yeah," Ron chuckled.
The two boys went into a fit of embarrassed laughs. Finally, after they stopped laughing, and Ron was back to his normal color, Harry said, "So, you don't want me to tell?"
Ron shook his head vigorously. "No!" he said, turning a bit red again. "Definitely not! Don't even tell Hermione!"
"Okay! I won't!"
Ron sighed. "I'm so happy that is out of my system," he said. "I've kept it secret for awhile now. It's good I told you."
"Yeah," Harry said. "Is that all?" he added.
"Yes.... Why?"
"You seem," Harry said, "a little... preoccupied."
Ron shrugged.
Harry decided to fill Ron in on what he and Hermione had found out about the gem.
"...And it's supposingly still in the Chamber of Secrets."
Ron looked at Harry uncertainly. He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Do you think that it is there?" he asked.
"No. Not really. You know the stone that Vetil summoned?"
Ron nodded.
"I think that it was the gem...."
"Oh," Ron said.
Harry sighed. "You don't believe me," he said.
"Well... it's weird, you know? A gem that Salazar Slytherin put in the Chamber of Secrets- I dunno how long ago- is appearing in your dreams? Why would it?"
Harry said, "I don't know either."
"Does it have anything to do with You-Know-Who?" Ron asked.
Harry shook his head, but stopped. "I don't know. I am clueless when it comes to this," he said.
Ron shrugged. "I don't know why... but I don't think that the gem would still be in the Chamber of Secrets anymore... if there is even a gem...."
Harry sighed.
My best friend doesn't believe me while my other best friend is too enthusiastic about it....
Ron shook his head. "I have never heard Dad or anyone in my family talking about a gem. Perhaps it does exist.... You'll have to find out."
"So... you don't know anything about it?" Harry asked.
"No," Ron said. He looked at his watch. "Gosh. We'd better get to bed! We have class tomorrow!"
Harry nodded. He quickly changed and said goodnight to Ron.
Then he lay in bed, not able to fall asleep. Ron was right. Why would a gem appear to him in his dreams? He couldn't think of any connections that it had to his life or anyone he knew.
Maybe it is just a dream...
But as Harry tossed and turned in bed, finally managing to sleep, questions plagued his mind.
* * *
Their first class on Friday was Defense Against Dark Arts with the Ravenclaws. The three friends dragged themselves to the class, groaning about how their day was about to be ruined on the case of the Potions master.
Professor Snape paced around, giving evil glares at the working students. He gave harry the look of utter detest, and Harry knew that the look was reserved just for him. Occasionally, the professor would say, "Five points off of Ravenclaw!" because some unfortunate boy had stopped writing for a few seconds to stretch his hand.
They were continuing to study giants.
"Their weakness is their foreheads," Snape said. "What do you do to defend yourselves against an attacking giant? POTTER!"
Harry nearly jumped. He looked up and said, "Er, I wasn't here last time...."
"Yes," Professor Snape sneered. "Skipping class again I suppose?"
"No-"
But Snape had turned to his next victim. "Longbottom!" he shouted. "Answer the question!"
Neville shrunk in his chair giving a small whimper. He stammered, "Um... I forgot," in a small voice.
Professor Snape looked ready to kill. "THIRTY points off Gryffindor! Because Longbottom and Potter do not care enough about their education to listen!"
Neville shrunk in his seat even farther, trying to hide himself, but Harry almost yelled out in anger. He caught himself seconds before losing any more points for him house. Gritting his teeth, Harry stared down at his notes.
Hermione looked warily at him, but turned quickly back in fear that Snape would deduct more points from Gryffindor.
"As I was saying... the weakness on a giant is their foreheads. There is a charm in which you can disorient an attacking giant. What is it?"
Only Hermione raised her hand, slower than usual. No one else moved.
"Silton!"
A Ravenclaw girl stuttered as she tried to remember the answer. She quickly flipped through her notes, but Snape had already said, "Ten points off of Ravenclaw!"
Hermione's hand stayed in the air but Snape ignored it. Instead, he stared around the room and sneered, "Weasley. Do you know?"
Ron said very calmly, "Estentellape...." He looked dully at the shocked look on Snape's face. The rest of the class gasped.
Snape narrowed his eyes suspiciously but apparently, he couldn't find a reason to take points off, so he turned away from Ron in disgust, continuing the lesson. "Yes," he scowled. "That is the charm. The attacking giant will not be able to attack anymore. Now... that's to defend you... but how do you kill one?"
Snape loomed over the students. But instead of calling on someone, he answered it himself.
"Only aurors used to be able to kill giants, but under the circumstances," he paused, "we are going to learn how ourselves... for your own good.'
The rest of class time was spent in copying notes while the professor took off more points.
After Defense Against Dark Arts, they had Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid seemed very happy about something.
"This year, we'll be able ter raise Hippogriffs!"
Harry heard Draco snicker. In their third year, a hippogriff had torn up Malfoy's arm. There had been a trial, and the hippogriff had almost been executed.
Hagrid hastily showed the class some hippogriff eggs that he had gotten over the summer. He explained about how to care for them and what to do before the newborns hatched.
"Today, we're gonna make nests for 'em. Here's how yeh do it."
After a complicated lesson, the class got into a group of four and made nests large enough to contain three eggs.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville were in a group together. The four of them gathered up the needed materials while hearing Draco complain loudly about getting dirty.
Ron muttered, "He's already dirty! What's he talking about?"
Luckily, Malfoy did not hear the snide comment and havoc was not aroused.
Harry grabbed a few strands of grass. "Er... what do we do with these?" he asked.
"Here!" Hermione said. "Look. We do this...."
She took the mud and explained rapidly what to do. The three boys nodded their heads as if they understood, but after her long explanation, they were still clueless.
At the end of the class, all the students were covered in mud and they went to change before lunch.
"Urg!" Ron groaned. "I think that I have mud in my hair!"
Harry was cleaning his glasses and Hermione wiped her hands. Ron dug his fingers in his hair and tried to get the mud off his head. After vigorously scratching, all he managed to do was made it stick up all over the place.
Hermione giggled as they walked to the Great hall. Ron muttered, "I'm going to take a shower tonight...." while flattening his hair as best he could.
It was already full as they entered and took their seats among the other Gryffindors.
Vetil hurried to them. "Hello," he said excitedly.
"Hi," they grumbled in unison.
"Guess what?" he asked happily.
"What?" they groaned, not particularly interested in what Vetil was so interested about.
"We get to learn how to fly on brooms today!"
"Good for you," Ron said sarcastically.
Vetil didn't notice, or he chose to ignore the comment.
"Oh! Is it hard?"
"Not really," Harry said, glancing around the Great Hall.
Vetil sparked up. "Well, that's because you're a really great flier! You're the youngest seeker since about a century ago!"
"Well, it's not that hard... really. Ask Ron."
Ron glared at Harry as if to say, "You're turning the nuisance my way?"
Harry smiled to himself.
But before Vetil could go on and aggravate Ron, a Slytherin boy walked over. He stopped by the four of them and sneered, "Hey mudblood! Bet you can't fly!"
Vetil shrugged. "I don't particularly care, Testle." Vetil was still very happy.
The Slytherin first year smirked and walked away, leaving Vetil even happier than he was before. Harry looked at the leaving brown haired boy as Hermione asked, "Why do you let them insult you?"
"Oh... I don't mind. Really."
Hermione then asked, "What's his name?"
"Lamar Testle."
"Oh."
The Slytherin first years all turned and stared towards Vetil and the other three. They sneered and glared. Then they turned back with their noses in the air as if they were proud.
"Why do they hate you so much?" Harry asked.
Vetil smiled. "Oh, I don't think that they really hate me. They just have to because I'm a Gryffindor."
* * *
Divination was after lunch and Hermione shouted, "See you later!" before running off.
Ron and Harry made their way slowly to North Tower. They walked up the steps reluctantly and entered the classroom. The familiar heat from the fire greeted them.
Ron moaned, "We'll be scorched in here!"
They took their seats near the back as Parvati and Lavender entered. As usual, the girls sat near the front of the class.
Professor Trelawney appeared after all the students had streamed in. She stared around the class mysteriously through her large glasses, her eyes resting on Harry longer than the other students.
In the past years the professor had always predicted Harry's death, and it was getting annoying to see her stare solemnly at him every time they came to class.
She turned away from him and began speaking in her soft voice. "This year, we will be learning to see when we close our eyes. This is very difficult, but not for the true seer. They will find it rather natural...."
Lavender and Parvati fidgeted excitedly.
The professor continued. "Today, we will practice clearing our minds before taking the next steps into enlarging our knowledge of the future...."
Ron rolled his eyes.
The professor explained what they must do and the class was instructed to follow.
Harry reluctantly closed his eyes, feeling like a fool while he tried to "clear" his mind. All he saw was the darkness behind his eyelids.
He moved a bit. The class was very quiet. Not a sound seemed to be made from within the Tower walls.
Occasionally, Harry would sneak a peek, no longer able to keep his eyes shut. Once, he had caught Ron who was also taking a break from the boring lesson. Ron had winked before shutting his eyes again.
Harry tried not to laugh, and closed his own eyes. He sat in silence for awhile, telling himself not to open his eyes. He had finally managed to clear most of his mind when suddenly, another thought entered it.
What if the gem is there? What should I do if it does happen to be in the statue's mouth?
The book had said that the gem possessed people and if Harry touched it... wouldn't it take over him?
He drew in his breath. He was going back to the Chamber of Secrets the next day, but was he ready? He still had a lot of questions and silently noted himself to ask Hermione what to do if the gem was there.
He moved uncomfortably as another thought joined the others.
What if there's another Basilisk?
Harry shook his head. There couldn't be another one.
He sighed, just as another sound filled the room.
A hiss escaped Professor Trelawney's mouth. She was speaking softly and Harry couldn't make out the words.
He opened his eyes warily and saw the rest of the class doing the same.
The professor continued to whisper. Her voice grew a fraction louder and Harry made out the words, "Something terrible is going to occur. So terrible...."
The students all looked at the professor. Her mouth was moving slowly and her eyes were rolled up into her head. She was very still.
Something like this had happened before. It had fallen upon Harry in his third year. He remembered it clearly. The professor was making a real prediction....
In one swift movement she grasped the table and stood up. The students gasped as her voice rang out into the silent classroom.
"Something will happen very soon! If it is not prevented, then the Hogwart's walls will fall!"
The students watched and listened, wide-eyed.
"The school will be destroyed! Darkness has fallen upon us without our noticing!"
Her voice echoed strangely, chilling their bones. Harry felt a shiver run up his spine.
Silence once again fell upon the classroom. Then, very softly, she said, "When the terrible tragedy occurs... evil will prevail...." Her voice was no more than a whisper, a hiss. It sounded more like the lightest breeze htan the professor speaking.
The class stared at her, frightened as she said something too soft to make out. They held their breath even after her lips had stopped moving. Finally after a minute or two (it seemed like forever to the students), the professor sank back in her chair. Her eyes rolled down and she blinked, staring at the class. "Why are your eyes open? Go on! Close them! Clear your mind!"
They watched her silently.
"But professor-" Parvati spoke up quietly.
"Yes, dear?"
"You were saying something about a terrible occurance.... You said that evil would conquer...."
The professor replied, "Nonsense child."
"But-" Lavender started.
"I said no such thing." That was stated in a final sort of way and the class did not press for more answers.
No one talked for the rest of the period. Everyone fiddled with their hands or moved their feet nervously, but nothing else happened. When they resumed "clearing" their minds, Harry couldn't concentrate, and he knew that the others couldn't either.
As they quietly left the room when the bell rang, harry remembered the last time Professor Trelawney had made a real prediction. It had come true. He thought silently to himself:
What about this time?