Chapter 19 - Looking to the Future
The Christmas holidays went fast. It felt like no time at all before Barney was heading to Kings Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express back to school.
His mum said goodbye to him on the muggle side of the station (his brother and sister no longer bothered to see him off) and he made his way through the barrier to platform Nine and Three Quarters.
As usual the platform was heaving with excited students catching up with their friends again and telling them all about what they'd got up to over Christmas. Barney couldn't see Thomas anywhere on the platform so boarded the train and started to check the carriages.
He eventually joined a carriage that was occupied by his friends Elio, Daisy, Billy and Hugo but as soon as he sat down he started to feel like a third wheel being stuck there with two couples who were either cuddling or holding hands.
'Did you have a good Christmas?' Elio signed to him.
'It was great thanks. I really missed my family last term,' Barney signed back.
As the train started moving and they all continued to talk about their holidays, Barney was glad when Thomas turned up.
"There you are," Barney declared rather too enthusiastically. "I was wondering where you got to."
"We had car troubles this morning," Thomas replied looking flustered. "I thought I was going to miss the train. I only just made it."
Thomas took the empty seat next to Elio and opposite Barney and joined in their conversations.
"So did anyone have any luck with the Patronus charm over the holidays?" Billy asked.
Both Elio and Thomas shook their heads.
"I practiced loads but still nothing more than a silvery wisp," Daisy said disappointedly.
"Hugo swears he produced a bird," Billy noted.
"I did. Pretty sure it was an eagle or maybe a hawk."
"It didn't look anything like one of those," Billy retorted.
"Did so. You're just jealous cos you haven't been able to do it yet."
"Jealous of you? You wish," Billy said before he got his boyfriend in a playful headlock and then gave him a kiss on the head.
Barney didn't fancy the thought of spending several hours on a train non-stop with two loved up couples who weren't afraid of public displays of affection. He was happy for his friends but it just wasn't what he needed right now. "I'm thirsty. Anyone wanna head to the buffet car to get a drink?" Barney asked.
Thomas jumped at the chance but everyone else was happy where they were.
"So did you manage to produce a Patronus?" Thomas asked as they walked along the corridors of the carriages.
"No. I didn't really have much chance to practice," Barney lied. In fact he had practice most evenings in his room. If anything he had produced less of a wisp than he had in class. But he was glad to hear he wasn't the only one who had been struggling.
"What about Nevermore's journal? Any more luck with that? Or the box?" Thomas asked as they both had to move out the way of a second year who was running down the corridor to the bathroom having eaten a super hot chilli flavoured jelly bean.
"I actually left them both at Hogwarts," Barney replied. "I just needed a break from all that."
"So are you giving up on it?"
"No way. I just needed to clear my mind for a bit to help renew my focus."
Barney was more determined than ever to finish deciphering Nevermore's journal and find out if the Endeavour Stone was in the box. Having time away from Hogwarts had helped him put things in to perspective. Last term he had been unhappy at school what with his work load, not making the Quidditch team and his deteriorating friendship with Tabitha. But he knew if he found the Endeavour Stone it could change his fortunes and bring him all the things he wanted in life.
When they entered the buffet car they ordered two double fudge milkshakes and took them to an empty table. As they sat down Barney retrieved something from his bag and put it on the table in front of Thomas.
"Can you give this to Tabs," Barney said as Thomas looked at the present wrapped in Christmas paper. "I probably won't see her till lessons tomorrow."
"I think you should give it to her yourself. She'd appreciate that."
Barney didn't know if that was true. They were hardly on the best of terms at the minute. Plus the present she had gotten him had hardly been the most thoughtful. Tabitha had bought him a set of quills and inks and though it was practical it didn't feel very personal. Barney had considered not giving her his original present and getting her something else after he had opened his. Even before that he had been worried she might have thought his present was insensitive. But he had decided to give it to her anyway but didn't fancy handing it over himself though he couldn't force Thomas to do it so he put the present back in his bag and would worry about giving it to Tabitha later.
The rest of the train ride to Hogwarts hadn't been as bad as Barney was expecting. After finishing their milkshakes they had braved the loved up compartment again but managed to prise the couples apart to play a fun game of Exploding Snap before a round of Double Jinx.
Once they had arrived back at Hogwarts they took the carriages up to the castle and headed straight to the Great Hall for the welcome back feast. After catching up with his friends in Slytherin in the common room after the meal it was past midnight before Barney headed to bed and he was knackered. He hoped this term wouldn't be as tiring as the last.
Despite seeing Tabitha in their first period on Monday when they had Dark Arts together, he didn't find a suitable opportunity to give her his Christmas present during the lesson. Everyone was very excited to show Professor Night how they had been getting on with their Patronus charm over the holidays. However the excitement quickly disappeared when they realised they had Professor Grim who had them work in silence as she taught them about Spriggans who inhabited the Cornish coast and were known to guard treasures. And though it was a fascinating subject, Grim had an expert way of sucking all the fun out of anything.
During the lesson Barney couldn't help but look over at Tabitha once or twice and she didn't seem her usual self. He didn't know if she looked down just because of Grim's lesson or if she was having post holiday blues or if it was something else.
After the lesson (where everyone had received a detention because one student had dropped their quill while Professor Grim was speaking) Barney pulled Thomas to one side as they exited the classroom.
"Is everything OK with Tabs?" Barney asked.
"It's not really my place to say," Thomas replied looking uncomfortable.
"So something is up? Tell me what's wrong."
"She and Hamish had a fight over the holidays," Thomas said hesitantly, not sure if he was breaking Tabitha's confidence. "He went to visit her up in Scotland for a couple of days. I don't know the full details but I don't think they're talking now. So just try and make amends with her, she could do with her friends around her right now."
Though Barney had been proved right and now that things weren't going great with Hamish, Tabitha needed her friends after having had no time for them before, Barney felt bad. He could easily gloat that he had been right all along or leave Tabitha to deal with it on her own but he wanted to be there for her. No matter what had happened between them recently she was still his friend and had been from the very start of their Hogwarts journey. They had been through a lot together, good times and bad and Barney wasn't going to let a guy come between them.
"Hey Tabs," Barney called out as he approached her in the corridor and she stopped and turned around. "I just wanted to say thank you for the Christmas present. Those quills are coming in super handy especially after the amount of writing Grim just made us do today."
"Oh no worries. Glad you liked them."
"And here," Barney said retrieving his present for her from his bag. "Sorry I didn't get to give this to you last term."
"Thanks," she said taking it and for the first time today Barney was sure he saw a smile on her face. "Do you want to go get some fresh air? I know it's cold out but after Grim's lesson I could do with some," she asked.
"Sure," Barney said and smiled back at her.
They headed off to the courtyard which was practically deserted. Probably, as Tabitha had rightly said, because it was cold out. The courtyard was covered in a layer of snow and they headed over to some benches that were in a sheltered alcove and had avoided being covered in snow too and took a seat as Tabitha started to unwrap the present. As Tabitha held the present in her hands and looked at it she started to cry.
"Are they good tears or bad?" Barney asked. "Because I wasn't sure how you'd react to it."
"They're good tears," she said as she looked at the framed moving picture of her, Barney and Thomas who were wading on the shore of the Black Lake up to their knees and splashing about having fun and laughing. It has been taken on the last day of term in their first year at Hogwarts. Barney had insisted they take a picture so he had something to remember his first year of wizarding school by and the new friends he had made.
"We look so young," Tabitha commented as she wiped tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her robe.
"And so happy," Barney added.
"I'm sorry," Tabitha said. "I know I haven't been a great friend recently. I should have made more time for you. And Thomas. I take it he told you about me and Hamish?" she asked as she finally stopped looking at the picture and looked straight at him.
"He gave me a brief synopsis but didn't go in to details. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
"It's OK. I don't mind talking with you about it. We had a fight when he came to visit," Tabitha said as she wiped the last of her tears away.
Barney didn't ask any questions. He didn't want to make Tabitha feel pressured into saying any more than she was comfortable with. But Tabitha was happy to open up to her friend.
"When we had dinner with my father he was asking him lots of questions. At first I thought he was just being polite you know, trying to show an interest in my dad's work. But then he brought up the fact he would be graduating in the summer and how he wanted to work for the Ministry and asked my dad if he would put in a good word for him. And my dad said of course he would do that for his daughter's boyfriend. And then I started to think about why Hamish was going out with me. After dinner I asked him outright, was he just using me to help him make connections and get a job in the Ministry."
"And what did he say?"
"He denied it of course. Said he genuinely liked me but it didn't hurt to have someone in the Ministry on his side. And then I said what happens if he did get a job there? I'd be up at Hogwarts for another year and he'd be working in London, when would we get to see each other? He said we'll just have to see what happens. That relationships don't always work out. And then I got angry and started having a go at him and told him to leave. He sent me a few owls over the rest of the holiday saying sorry but I just ignored them. And then he tried to speak to me in the common room last night but I just headed straight to my dorm without saying a word to him."
"So are you two over then?"
"Yeah pretty much. I know I'm going to have to face him sometime. I mean we are in the same house. But hopefully we can be amicable about things," Tabitha said as she started to shiver, finally feeling the cold as they sat in the courtyard.
"Here," Barney said taking his cloak off and putting it over her shoulders. "You'll catch your death. You want to go back inside?"
"Not just yet. It's nice out here. It's so peaceful when no one's around," Tabitha said as she rested her head on Barney's shoulder and he instinctively put his arm around her to keep her warm.
"So tell me what's going on with you?" she asked. "Thomas tells me you've been hanging out with Viola a lot recently. Is there something I should know about?" she said with a cheeky smile.
"Oh that. It's nothing. We're just friends," Barney protested. "She's just been helping me with Nevermore's journal that's all."
"How is that going?"
"Slow."
"That well hey? So if you did find this Endeavour Stone, what do you desire most that you'd want it to bring you?"
Barney had thought about this question a lot since he first read of the stone in Nevermore's journal and realised what it was. He had thought of obvious things like becoming immensely rich, lifting the Quidditch Cup or playing for his favourite team The Montrose Magpies. But right now, in this moment right here with Tabitha he felt happier than he had been in a long time. And there was nothing else in the world he needed.
After their heart to heart in the courtyard Barney and Tabitha had headed to lunch together and joined Thomas at the Hufflepuff table and their friend was glad to see that had patched things up. And that evening Tabitha attended Elio's sign language class for the first time in ages. She seemed happy again and was laughing with her friends and appeared to have completely forgotten about Hamish.
The next day Barney saw Tabitha first thing in Potions class and was pleased to see she was sat next to Thomas with a free space on her right saved for him, no longer having to use Thomas as a barrier between them. He took his seat and smiled at her as she said good morning and he was glad things were back to how they use to be.
Professor Slughorn bounded into the classroom, still looking very refreshed from the holidays and seemed very pleased to announce the task for the lesson.
"Today class you will be attempting to brew a Draught of Forefuturum."
"Yes! I've been waiting to brew this one for ages," Tabitha whispered excitedly as she turned to Barney. "It's one of the hardest potions we'll be making this year."
"Great. Can't wait," Barney whispered back sarcastically, being much less proficient at Potions than Tabitha was.
"Now Forefuturum for those of you who haven't read that far in your textbooks is a future telling potion. Someone who drinks a few drops of it can see into their own future. Though it's not the most precise method and what a person sees is open to interpretation but it's just as reliable as say looking into a crystal ball or reading tea leaves or any of those other silly methods Professor Trelawney teaches those of you who take her class. But don't tell her I said that," Professor Slughorn said with a chuckle at the end. "Right now turn to page seventy two in Advanced Potion Making and gather your ingredients."
"And here I was hoping to have an easy first week back," Barney moaned as he read through the list of ingredients and all the different stages of making the potion that spanned over three pages.
"Don't worry I'll help you. And you never know Barney, drinking the potion might show you how you finally crack Nevermore's journal," Tabitha joked.
As Barney had feared, the potion was extremely difficult to make. And even with Tabitha's help both he and Thomas struggled. By the end of the class they had something that resembled the same liquid that was in Tabitha's cauldron though Thomas' was slightly thicker and Barney's was a paler shade of blue.
"Right now who wants to try their potion first?" Professor Slughorn announced as he started to walk around the class inspecting everyone's attempt. "Ah Miss Truhart I think yours would be a very reliable one to start with," he said as he gave Tabitha's cauldron a stir.
Tabitha beamed at the compliment but it was to be expected. She was one of the top students in Potions.
"OK you just need a couple of drops of it in some water," Slughorn said as he waved his wand at his desk and a tray with some classes on and a decanter of water floated over to them and he poured out a glass.
Using a pipette, Tabitha carefully put two drops of her potion in the water and then stirred it with a glass stirrer from the tray. Barney was nervous for her as Tabitha picked up the glass and went to drink. But she didn't look nervous at all and swallowed a big gulp of the water.
"It will take a minute or so to take effect if the potion has been made correctly," Slughorn said as everyone watched Tabitha with anticipation.
Tabitha felt very awkward with everyone staring at her when suddenly her mind started to fog. She felt very light headed and steadied herself against the desk as she thought she might faint.
"Don't worry Miss Truhart it's perfectly OK," Slughorn called out but his words started to fade and Tabitha could no longer hear any sounds from the classroom.
Images started to flood her mind, random images at first but then some of them started to piece together like a puzzle and formed some sort of narrative. Tabitha tried hard to concentrate on what she was seeing but all the images kept going in and out of focus. Eventually she started to hear sounds from the classroom again and could hear Slughorn's voice speaking.
"I think she's coming out of it now. Yes. Miss Truhart are you with us again?"
"Huh?" Tabitha said as she felt a hand on her and turned to see Barney at her side helping to keep her on her feet.
Tabitha felt rather faint and disorientated as Thomas moved a stool over to her and Barney helped her to take a seat.
"Now Miss Truhart what do you remember seeing?"
"What?" Tabitha said still feeling a little confused. "Oh yes right let me think. Erm..." she paused to gather her thoughts. "Well I remember... Hagrid. Yes Hagrid was there and oh... he was hurt. He had a bandage on his arm and a student being carried on a stretcher but I didn't see who it was and I was wearing a dress, a green dress and... oh..."
"Yes Miss Truhart go on. What else did you see?"
"I... er... saw Hamish Meriwether," Tabitha said and turned to Barney and looked rather guilty.
Barney stared back disappointedly but didn't say anything.
"Yes well as I said it's not the most precise method of seeing into the future and without time to see if anything you saw comes true we won't know how effective your potion was. But I think I can safely say that was a very good effort Miss Truhart," Slughorn said and Tabitha felt very pleased with herself if still a little faint and worried by some of the things she had seen. "OK who's next? Mr West?"
Barney hesitantly stepped towards his cauldron and both he and Slughorn looked into it at the liquid.
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Slughorn said with no hint of reassurance.
Barney reluctantly put two drops of his potion in a glass of water, took a deep breath and downed the drink in one. He felt very self-conscious as everyone looked at him but soon he forgot they were all there when the classroom started to disappear.
Images started to pop into his mind, flashing up fast before moving on to something else. Barney struggled to make sense of what was happening and before he knew it the classroom was coming back into focus.
As Tabitha had done, Barney felt very faint and had to be helped to sit down. As he sat there he looked up to Slughorn's face beaming back at him, waiting to hear what Barney had seen as were the rest of the class. Barney thought hard, trying to remember what he had just seen. "Well erm... there was a statue of a man no wait maybe a bird I think and Professor Grim was shouting something but I couldn't understand what she was saying and..."
Barney froze as an image came back to his mind. He felt a wave of nausea come over him and his hearted started to beat faster.
"What is it?" Tabitha asked and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"I saw... the beast. And it was trying to attack me."
"Yes well like I said before this is not the most reliable method so none of this may even come true," Slughorn said hastily and sounding disingenuous. "I'm sure you have nothing to worry about. Now who's next?"
As the class turned their attention to the next student Barney sat there in silence. Tabitha and Thomas watched him, not sure what to say.
"Slughorn is probably right. It's all probably a load of nonsense. Like when do I ever wear a dress?" Tabitha said, trying to ease Barney's fears.
Barney really hoped Slughorn and Tabitha were right and that nothing he saw would come true. Because otherwise he felt like his life was in mortal danger.
The rest of the revelations from the class' attempts to look into the future had been rather tame. Gwen had seen herself getting a detention from Professor Grim (which was almost certainly bound to come true as Grim gave everyone detentions), Theo saw himself casting a Patronus in the form of a bear and Silvanna said she saw Slytherin winning their next Quidditch match though some of the class (mainly those in Hufflepuff) suspected she may have been lying about seeing this. And some of the class had seen nothing at all as they had not brewed their potions correctly.
Barney was still feeling a little shaken as the class came to an end.
"What lesson have you got now?" Tabitha asked as she finished packing away her things.
"Me and Thomas have got Runes. You?"
"Free period but I'll walk with you. I need to go see Professor Featherstone for some help with my Transfiguration essay. Did anyone tell you what happened to Roblin McGregor in the class yesterday?"
"No. What did he do now? Barney asked, knowing full well how accident prone Roblin was.
"We were meant to be transfiguring our noses. You know making them a little bigger or smaller," Tabitha started to explain. "But somehow, and even Professor Featherstone didn't know how he managed it, Roblin managed to turn his nose in to a full sized elephant's trunk."
"What? no way?"
"Yes way," Thomas added. "Featherstone sent him straight to Madame Pomfrey."
"But the funniest thing was as he was leaving he kept tripping over his trunk because it was so long," Tabitha said and all three of them started to laugh.
"I've missed this," Barney said as he finally stopped laughing and they walked out from the Potions classroom and up the steps of the dungeon.
"Missed what?" Thomas said.
"The three of us. Hanging out together."
"Well lets make a pact," Tabitha suggested. "That we never let boyfriends or girlfriends come between our friendship again."
"That's fine we me," Barney declared immediately.
"And me," Thomas added.
"So you're not going to run off with Ottomaya and ditch us then?" Barney teased as they approached the Grand Staircase and started to head up.
"Oh yeah," Tabitha said sounding surprised. "What's going on with you two?"
"Nothing. We're just friends."
"Yeah but you wish it was more," Barney noted and he could see Thomas was feeling embarrassed about this questioning.
Tabitha was about to grill Thomas some more when she looked ahead up the staircase. "Oh no."
"What?" Barney asked and gazed towards where she was looking and saw Hamish heading down the stairs towards them.
"Come on lets take a detour. I don't want to face him right now," Tabitha said as Hamish caught sight of her and she darted off the staircase and down the second floor corridor with Barney and Thomas hastily following behind.
"You can't hide from him forever," Thomas declared. "Hogwarts isn't that big."
"I know. I will have to talk to him eventually. But I want to do it on my terms."
Barney turned around and saw Hamish was following them down the second floor corridor. "I think Hamish has different ideas."
"Oh great. Come on," Tabitha said and started to run down the corridor.
"Where are we going?" Thomas said as he followed along with Barney.
"Quick in here," she said and pushed open the wooden door and they all piled in and she shut the door behind them.
"You couldn't have picked somewhere else?" Barney said but before Tabitha could reply Moaning Myrtle came flying up out of one of the cubicles of the bathroom they were in and soared over to them.
"Oh look who it is!" Myrtle fumed as she hovered above them. "Haven't seen you in ages. How quickly you forgot me after I saved your lives!"
"You hardly saved our lives Myrtle. You just got the teachers for us," Tabitha declared back, not in the mood for Myrtle's whining and thinking back to the time they were all stuck down in the Chamber of Secrets in their first year.
"And that's the gratitude I get!" Myrtle howled right in Tabitha's face. "And I bet you're only here now cos you need something!"
"No that's not true Myrtle. We came to see how you are," Barney lied, trying to diffuse the situation.
"Liar!" Myrtle vented back.
"No honestly it's true," Thomas added.
"But we just didn't have time to come and visit before because school work has been so demanding," Barney said as he looked at Myrtle and could see her thinking and he thought maybe she was actually buying it. "But sixth year has been so tough, you know how it is."
Thomas gave Barney a big nudge in his ribs with his elbow and he realised his mistake.
"Oh sorry yeah right. You never made it to your sixth year."
Myrtle shot up into the air and dived back in to her cubicle and started sobbing uncontrollably. The sound was almost deafening.
"I'm sorry Myrtle," Barney called over the cubicle door but she ignored him and continued crying.
"Come on we should get going," Thomas said, not wanting to stay in the bathroom any longer than he needed to. "We're going to be late for Runes and I'm sure Hamish has gone now."
"Yeah come on Barney lets go," Tabitha added.
"No you two go. Just make up an excuse with Professor Dufour for me. I want to make sure she's OK."
"Myrtle will never be OK," Tabitha joked and Barney really hoped she didn't hear that otherwise she'd be crying for even longer.
Thomas and Tabitha left him to it and Barney placed his school bag on the bathroom floor outside the cubicle and sat on it.
"Myrtle I really am sorry."
Myrtle didn't say anything and continued to cry.
"Come out of there and talk to me."
"No go away!" she said through sobs.
"Come on I'm missing Runes class for this and I'll probably get a detention."
"Runes use to be one of my favourite subjects," she replied and momentarily stopped crying before starting up again.
"Really? You any good at deciphering runes then?" Barney asked, thinking about Nevermore's journal.
"No because I never got to finish the class!" she said and her sobs grew louder again.
Barney sat in silence thinking and waiting for Myrtle's crying to die down. "Myrtle when did you die?"
Myrtle's crying exploded again and Barney wished he'd never asked.
"No sorry. I was just wondering if you knew Professor Nevermore?"
"No she was before my time!"
"She?" Barney said puzzled. "Or right his wife. No I meant her husband. But what do you know about his wife?"
"Not much," Myrtle said and it sounded like she had stopped crying. "Samuel just told me what a great teacher she was, that's all he ever goes on about."
"Samuel?" Barney said confused. "Samuel Eden? You knew him?" he said remembering Nevermore's journal mentioning the death of a Samuel Eden who was a student at Hogwarts.
"Knew him? I still do."
"Wait what? Hang on is Samuel Eden like you? Is he a ghost at Hogwarts?" Barney asked in shock.
Myrtle rose above the cubicle door and looked down at Barney with a smug look on her face and replied, "Yes."