Harry Potter and the Face of Destiny

By Bronze Eagle

Chapter 9

A/N: I tried to get this chapter out faster, but it still took a while. (Heh, sorry .... ::runs away from angry readers::) Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed!!! I really appreciate it. This chapter's dedicated to kittyluver87, and everyone else who told me to get my butt in gear and keep writing! (If anyone has a better title for this chapter, I'm open to suggestions.)

Disclaimer thingy: For those of you who don't know, "acromantula" is the official name for those nasty giant spiders that Harry and Ron encountered in the Forbidden Forest. I got is straight from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, so I'm not claiming ownership of anything. (What would I do with a ten-foot-tall spider, anyway?)

*****

Harry thought the day would never end. After Transfiguration (in which he felt like his brain was still on vacation), the Gryffindors had Potions with the Slytherins. Snape had taken nearly 15 points from Gryffindor when they finally escaped for lunch. Ron then exploded when he looked at his schedule to see what they were in for next.

"DOUBLE DIVINATION with the SLYTHERINS?!" He moaned, and put his face in his hands. "Kill me now."

Harry forced a grin onto his face. "At least Trelawny won't be 'predicting' that someone will." Ron merely groaned louder, and started muttering furiously under his breath.

Hermione was looking over her schedule with interest. "That's strange."

"What?" Both Harry and Ron looked over at her, Ron momentarily distracted from his misery.

"We have Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins .... you two have Divination with them, too, of course."

Ron looked as though he'd just been informed that his parents were getting him an acromantula for his birthday. When he finally was able to speak, he said, in a strangled voice, "Why do we have so many classed with the Slytherins? Wasn't seeing Malfoy's ugly mug a few times a week bad enough?" He groaned once more, and put his head back down.

Harry grinned. 'Hey, Draco, have you seen our schedules?'

*****

Puck trotted after Draco, Harry, and Ron as they led her through a bewildering maze of staircases, secret doors, and twisting hallways. Utterly lost, she gave up trying to memorize their route. Instead, she fell into thought.

Why was Draco being so distant? Sure, they hadn't exactly bonded as brother and sister, but lately he hadn't even spoken to her, outside of "Ready to go? We have Potions," or "That's Snape, the teacher." Very informative. She'd been appalled at how the Potions Master had treated the Gryffindor members of the class, but they seemed used to it. The Head of Gryffindor House, Professor McGonagall, hadn't seemed to favor her students or discriminate against the rival House's students. If Snape was the only teacher who treated students like that, why hadn't Draco told her about him? She let out a small, frustrated sigh. Ron Weasley apparently heard it, because he dropped back to walk with her.

"Hey, Puck."

"Um, hi."

He grinned. "Oh, I see. Too busy with worldly thoughts to want to talk with poor old me?" He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Harry does that all the time. Carry on; I don't envy you the fate of the planet. You can have it." He waved his hand grandly. Puck giggled.

"Course, you'd know all about being the savior of the world."

"Of course," he agreed.

Puck felt herself warming to the tall redhead walking beside her. "So, how long have you known Harry and Hermione?"

Ron thought for a moment. "Well, the first time I saw Harry was at King's Cross Station when we were getting onto the train platform in our first year. We ended up sitting in the same train compartment, and it went from there. We met Hermione on the same train ride," here he smiled, "but we didn't really get along with her until we knocked out a mountain troll together. Long story. Anyway, I've known them both practically forever."

But Puck was determined to hear about their defeat of the troll, and, when she found out about it, their recovery of the Sorcerer's Stone. As Ron talked himself hoarse (something he was always happy to do, especially if he was talking about himself and there were girls around), Harry and Draco listened with great amusement.

'I heard about you escapades in our first year,' Draco commented, 'but I don't remember the part where Weasley beat me up for trying to get you all in trouble about Hagrid's dragon.'

'After his hand got better, of course,' Harry thought, trying to keep a straight face. 'Or the part where *he* caught that flying key.'

They both had to stifle their snickers as Ron, with much embellishment, described the chess game they'd played on the giant chess board. Harry's spirits dropped, however, when he noticed that they had reached the trapdoor that led up to Professor Trelawny's classroom. There, almost all of the class was waiting, including Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson. Draco's face fell slightly as well. Meanwhile, Ron had moved onto the subject of the Divination professor in his one-way discussion with Puck.

"A little ..... out of it, Trelawny is. A nice old bat, in her own way, at least if you ask Lavender or Pavarti. If you ask me, though, she's been off her rocker for years."

He stopped as the ladder descended in front of them, and grinned at Puck. "Ladies first." She shot him a dirty look, and ascended the ladder.

The room she entered was oppressively warm, and smelled strongly of herbs and other less pleasant things. It was also full of overstuffed chairs, and had an unearthly turquoise fire in the fireplace.

"Welcome," said a voice right behind her. "You are, of course, Robyn Goodfellow."

Puck jumped, and spun around. At first thinking it was a stand of tawdry jewelry and scarves, she then realized that she must be looking at Professor Trelawny. Puck continued to stare as the rest of the class slowly came up the silver ladder behind her.

"C'mon, let's sit down." Draco took her by the back of the robes and pushed her down onto large pouf beside one of the tables. He, Ron, and Harry all seated themselves around the same table. Draco pretended no to notice the rest of the Slytherins glaring at him.

"Welcome back," Professor Trelawny said mistily as she gazed around the room. Her eyes rested on Harry for a moment, who winced almost imperceptibly.

'I know Trelawny's bad, Potter, but she's not *that* bad, is she?'

'Worse.'

Draco didn't have a chance to respond as the Divination professor continued.

"We will be reviewing everything we have learned in the past two years, so I can be sure all of you are prepared to continue your education in the noble art of Divination, and for the tests that await us at the end of this year."

Ron swore under his breath.

"First, we will be reviewing tea leaves. Please come up and choose you tea cups ...."

Harry glanced over at Pavarti and Lavender, who looked ecstatic. He did not share their sentiments.

'I remember when we first did this, back in our third year,' Harry thought to Draco as he reluctantly stood up.

'Really? How hard is it?'

'Why, didn't you have it in your first Divination classes?'

'No, I took Muggle Studies for the first term of third year.'

'*You* took Muggle Studies?'

Draco shifted uncomfortably. 'Yes, *I* took Muggle Studies.'

'Well why'd you stop?'

'My father was less than pleased when he found out,' Draco replied flatly.

'Oh.' Harry sensed that this was a subject he shouldn't push. Instead, he contented himself with explaining the rudimentary of reading tea leaves, aloud for Puck's benefit, with Ron chipping in occasionally (although his comments generally weren't very helpful).

"Then you swill the cup around three times with your left hand -"

"Sneeze into it five -"

Harry put his hand over Ron's mouth and continued. "Turn it over on the saucer and let the last of the tea drain out."

Ron pushed Harry's hand away. "Then eat the tea leaves an tell Trelawny you have to go to the hospital wing to get a treatment for terminal boredom."

Puck chuckled as Harry gave an exasperated sigh. "Don't look so frustrated, Harry, he was only trying to help us understand the lesson," she grinned.

"Yeah, I was only trying to help."

"Shut up and drink your bloody tea, Weasley."

Ron gave Draco an injured look.

"It's scalding hot, Malfoy, don't you care if I burn my poor tender tongue?"

"No."

"You know, Malfoy -"

"Just drink your tea, Ron. You too, Draco."

"Oh, okay." And in one gulp, Ron downed most of the liquid in his cup (which was lukewarm). Letting out a long-suffering sigh, Draco followed suit.

*****

"I'm still not seeing anything," Ron complained.

"You must look past the mundane! Open your inner eye and see what the future reveals to you," Harry said in a passable imitation of Professor Trelawny.

Ron had to stuff his fist in his mouth to muffle his snorts as the professor herself walked up behind him and glanced over his shoulder disapprovingly. She looked ready to reprimand him, until Pavarti and Lavender called her over to their table. (Lavender had reappeared during lunch. It seemed her sister had decided that Hogwarts was the safest place for her to stay for the time being.)

Ron let out a long breath as she walked away, having finally stopped laughing.

"I still don't see anything."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Puck and Draco had traded cups.

"You're sure you have it down?" Harry had asked.

"Yeah," Puck had replied. "I mean, how hard can it be? Especially if Trelawny can do it."

"Good point," Ron agreed.

"Okay then, you and Draco pair off, and I'll trade cups with Ron."

Draco shrugged, Puck nodded, and Ron snorted. Harry had taken these actions as signs of agreement, and slid his cup over to Ron.

Puck got out her copy of Unfogging the Future and turned to page 5.

"Okay, Draco, give me your cup." Draco reluctantly handed over his tea cup. "Uh, right .... Oh! I get it!" Puck turned the cup rapidly. "You have a club, a falcon, a crooked cross, and .... Well, that kind of looks like a wave, but it's not in the book." Draco's jaw was almost touching his knees before he snapped it shut. Puck was busy examining her textbook and didn't notice. Suddenly, she went very white.

"But, that can't be right ... It is, though, they're as plain as day ...."

"What?"

Puck took a deep breath, and then slowly let it out. "I don't know how much you believe in all this Divination stuff, but if you do, you'd better be careful." Draco liked his suddenly dry lips, and nodded for her to continue. "I ... I've predicted you'll be attacked, that you have a deadly enemy, and that you'll suffer a lot. I don't know what the last one means, but it has something to do with change, I think."

Draco sat back in his chair, stunned. Not because of the news Puck had shared with him, though that in itself was worrying, but at the fact that his sister was, apparently, a seer.

*****

Everyone was glad to get out of Divination, Ron declaring that the best thing about the lesson was it was over.

Harry was mildly concerned to note that Draco didn't even sneer at this. He was gathering his things slowly, a vacant look in his eyes.

"Draco, come on, we're leaving."

He seemed to come to himself. "Oh, I'll be a minute. You go on ahead to dinner with Puck."

Harry shrugged, and descended the ladder, Ron and Puck behind him.

Draco sighed deeply as they left his field of vision. Taking as long as he could to pack up, he braced himself for what he knew was coming. And sure enough, as soon as he'd gone down the ladder and turned a corner, the other Slytherins were upon him He was grimly amused to see that Crabbe and Goyle had taken up their once familiar positions not beside him, but on either side of Pansy Parkinson. She seemed to be the leader of the gang.

"So," sneered Pansy, "here's the traitor. Tell me, Malfoy, where're your little Gryffindor friends? Are you finally tired of hiding behind Potter and that sister of yours?"

"Leave her out of this," growled Draco.

"'Leave her out of this'?" she mocked. "Did I hear you right? You're sticking up for someone else? How un-Slytherin of you."

Draco gritted his teeth and considered several replies to this observation. He chose the one that was least rude.

"'Un-Slytherin'? Sticking up for another Slytherin - and pureblood - is un-Slytherin? Strange, I thought you had better reasoning skills than that, Parkinson."

"Oh, you only stick up for her because she's Slytherin and pureblood? Good, for a minute I thought you were getting sentimental on us."

Draco shook his head angrily. "So being sentimental is un-Slytherin now? Have you ever considered that maybe I don't want to fit into your image of the perfect Slyth -" He stopped abruptly as he realized what he'd been saying.

Pansy's eyes glittered dangerously. "I think your father would be very interested to hear what you really think about the greatest of the Hogwarts houses, Malfoy. Are you forgetting your family pride? Or is that less important than sentimentality, too?"

Without giving him a chance to answer, she waved a hand at Crabbe and Goyle. "Teach him a what happens when a Slytherin forgets his place, boys." And she walked off down the corridor, with the other Slytherins following.

Crabbe and Goyle quickly tried to pin Draco against the wall, but he anticipated them and ducked under their arms. He'd watched them work for too many years not to know their moves. He pulled out his wand, and, spinning, stunned them both. He ran then, because he knew (also from experience) that stunning spells didn't affect their thick heads for long, and they'd be even madder at him when they woke up. Draco decided he'd better conveniently "miss" dinner. Muttering an apology to Puck under his breath, he made tracks for the library.

*****

As Harry, Ron, and puck passed Sir Cadogan's portrait, Harry snuck another glance over his shoulder. Where *was* Draco? He'd said he would only take a minute.

"Hey, Puck," exclaimed Ron, "we forgot to show you where the library is. It's right on the way to dinner." He paused. "You coming, Harry?"

"Wha - yeah, sorry."

Ron gave him a funny look, then turned back to Puck. "C'mon, this way."

Harry looked over his shoulder again. There probably wasn't any problem, but he decided to check up on Draco anyway.

'Hey, Malfoy, where are you?'

Draco's irritable reply came back almost immediately. 'What do you mean by that?'

'We're nearly to the library. Why haven't you caught up to us yet?'

'I was ... delayed. Listen, I can't make it to dinner. Tell Puck ... something. Tell her I have to go to the library.'

'Are you really going to be *in* the library?'

'Yes, actually.'

'We'll meet you there, then. Ron wants to show Puck where it is anyway.' Before Draco could reply, Harry continued, "So. You where "delayed"? What exactly do you mean by that?'

'I really don't wan to talk about it, and it's really none of your business.' He paused, and Harry got the sense that he was taking a deep breath. 'So, do you think Ron likes Puck? Bit presumptuous, isn't it?'

'WHAT?!'

'Really, Potter, it's quite obvious. I bet he's talking to her right now, either bragging or showing off how much he knows about the school. Am I right?'

Harry looked. He was.

Draco took Harry's mutinous silence as a yes. 'See? What did I tell you? She's got him hook, line, and sinker.'

Harry was still speechless. Finally, he replied with a weak, 'Maybe he's just trying to be friendly.'

'Right, Potter. Whatever your deluded mind wants to think.'

'Uh, listen. I have to go. We're at the library. You are meeting us, right?'

'Well ... I suppose. I'll be a few minutes, though.'

'That's fine.'

Still in a state of shock, Harry silently followed Ron and Puck into the library. They continued to chatter away.

*****

Puck was delighted by the Hogwarts library. It seemed as though miles of shelves stretched along the walls. Books of every shape, size, and description lined the room. All the sections were labeled in tiny, cramped handwriting that she suspected belonged to the librarian. The woman herself was sitting behind an oversized desk, peering beadily around and jumping at small noises. She fixed Puck and Ron with a glare as soon as they entered the room.

"Quiet," she hissed. "This is a *library*. Please act accordingly."

Puck whispered an embarrassed apology as Ron dragged her behind a bookshelf.

"That's Madame Pince. She's a nightmare; this library is her whole life. She's convinced that students take books out just to 'tear, rip, shred, mangle, and otherwise harm' them."

"Just a little overprotective, huh?"

"Just a little. Hey, Harry, where're you going?"

Harry jumped guiltily and turned back to Ron and Puck. "Uh, just going to, uh, look up something for our homework."

"*What* homework?"

"Er ... Potions."

"In the curses section?" Ron saved Harry the trouble of answering by interrupting himself. "Actually, never mind, we should be going down to dinner."

"I'll be a second, okay? I have to, uh -"

"Whatever." Ron rolled his eyes. "You don't have to tell me. It can wait. See you later."

Harry sighed in relief as Ron and Puck left, and turned back to the curses section. There had to be something on variations of the Imperious Curse here *somewhere*.

*****

Draco slowed to a fast walk as he turned the corner to the library corridor. There were most likely people there, and it certainly wouldn't do for anyone to see him running like a scared child.

He was right. There *were* people in the corridor. Just not exactly who he had been expecting.

"Puck!" he called out.

She turned, surprised. "What is it? You don't have to shout."

"I have to talk to you." He stopped to really catch his breath. "Can you come into the library with me, or something? *Alone?*" he added pointedly as Ron began to follow.

Puck looked indignant. "Anything you can tell me, you can tell him. I *trust* Ron."

"No, it's okay," Ron said suddenly. "I know when I'm not wanted." He departed, directing a look of pure venom at Draco as he left.

"Damn right," Draco muttered as he walked into the library with Puck.

"What was that?"

"Uh, turn right, there's an empty table." He hastily sat down, then turned to face Puck, a serious expression on his face.

"We need to talk," he began.

"I know." Puck rested her chin on her hand. "For starters, what were you going to tell me on the train?"

Here it comes, Draco thought. "That well ... my father's a Death Eater, for one thing. You know what they are? They're like Voldemort's personal servants - the followers that are right in his inner circle. Well, the Dark Lord wanted us to adopt you. Don't ask me why. So we -" Draco's face suddenly contorted briefly, then smoothed. He laughed at the horrified expression on Puck's face. "I really had you going, didn't I? That's not actually what I was going to tell you. I *wanted* to warn you that Potter's little gang was the wrong sort for you to be consorting with, but there's obviously no hope of convincing you now." He stood up. "I've seen the way you look at that Weasley trash. Honestly, that family's hardly better than the Mudbloods. A disgrace to true Pureblooded families everywhere." With that, Draco stalked off.

Puck sat at the table, stunned. Had Draco been telling the truth at first? If he had, then why had he suddenly contradicted himself and, with a totally straight face, laughed at her and insulted all her friends?

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Harry until he gently set down a stack of books on her table.

"Hey, why the long face?"

She started, and looked up. Harry could see her trying to force a smile onto her face, but it was a half-hearted attempt at best. He sat down in the chair Draco had recently vacated.

"Tell me about it."

He listened as Puck explained exactly what Draco had said, his face looking grimmer by the minute. So *that* was why the Malfoys had adopted Puck! And it looked as though Voldemort was back as well. He supposed that was inevitable. Oh well. It had been good while it lasted.

*****

A/N: That's not too much of a cliffhanger, is it? Knowing me, of course it is. Sorry. For everyone who is getting fed up with me taking so long to get the chapters out, there is an answer! ::tries not to sound like a bad infomercial:: E-mail me (or leave extra reviews ^.^) and yell at me! Or ask me nicely to start writing again, and ignore the calls of the kitchen and snack food. Make me feel guilty. ::realizes she is giving the reviewers ideas:: Or make me feel guilty in your first review. ^^;;

Til next time! ~Bronze Eagle