Chapter Four

Treasure gathered her things for double Divination and headed down to breakfast. The year had begun a few days ago, though, rather differently. There was a memorial feast for the students that had died in the train accident (Treasure only knew a few of them by reputation) that took the place of the start of term feast. The first year sorting ceremony took place in Headmistress McGonagall's office. Every first year was sorted individually. The first morning of classes, there was a start of term feast and classes began half an hour late. Finally, Treasure still had to deal with one of the new professors: Professor Lauren Wall. She was the professor that was taking over her father's classes while he was in St. Mungo's. She is fresh out of the Durmstrang Institute of Magic and received special recognition for her work in the Potions department while a student there. Treasure didn't like her at all, but Headmistress McGonagall insisted that the replacement was only temporary until Severus was on his feet again. Nonetheless, Treasure still didn't like her, and didn't fail to show it. Finally, she still had to deal with not seeing her father everyday. The headmistress gave Hermione, Remus and her leave on Sundays to visit Severus at St. Mungo's, but it was still not the same.

Treasure walked into the Great Hall to eat before her third day of classes. She walked up to the Slytherin table, threw her Divination book on top of Chris' and sat down beside her.

"You look like hell," Chris stated.

Treasure raised her eyebrows and frowned, "Yeah, and you are just a fucking ray of sunshine yourself."

Chris smiled, "Thanks. I heard you tossing all night. I know you didn't get any sleep at all. You know, you should have slept in and skipped Divination. Your mother would have supported your decision."

Treasure grinned weakly. It was no secret that Hermione didn't support the study of Divination – in fact, she didn't even categorize it as real magic. Treasure thought for a moment, grabbed a biscuit and stood.

"You know what, Chris," Treasure asked as she picked up her Divination book, "I have suddenly come down with something and cannot make it to Divination. Tell professor Trelawney how terrible I feel about missing double Divination, but I will get all of the notes from you and I will catch up in no time."

With a wink, Treasure turned and practically skipped out of the Great Hall. She burst into her room, threw her book on her bed and grabbed her guitar. She walked out into the back courtyard of the castle. It was beautiful. Concrete walkways circled around flowering bushes and were shaded by large, leafy trees. Treasure walked down the paths watching butterflies flutter around and chase each other. There were birds nested in several of the trees and bees buzzed in the flowers, looking for nectar to make honey. It was life. A wonderful thing. A delicate thing. Treasure smiled as she came upon a tall tree in the middle of the courtyard. It was a weeping willow and was easily the largest in the courtyard. Under it lay a tombstone that read:

Albus Dumbledore

1840 – 2014

"He was more than a man. To tell one what he was would take longer than 174 years. He will live with us forever."

Treasure sat on a bench, facing his grave and pulled out her guitar. This was her haven – her safe zone. This was all she needed.

"Everything's gonna be alright, rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye. Everything's gonna be alright, rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye…rock-a-bye."

Suddenly, she stopped singing and stopped playing. Treasure had no idea where she had gotten that song. It was a rock lullaby, and it was sad, but in a way, it assured her that everything was going to be all right. It was telling her that everything would work out, but she didn't believe it at all. Sighing, she played a few more chords and started up again:

Keep moving way up high,

You see the light,

It shines forever.

Sail through the crimson skies,

The purest light

The light that sets you free

If time will set you free.

Sail through the wind and rain tonight.

You're free to fly tonight

And you can still be free

If time will set you free

And going higher than mountaintops

And go high the wind don't stop

And go high

Free to fly tonight

The last notes rang in the emptiness of the courtyard and Treasure put the guitar in her case. She walked over to Albus' grave and sat beside it. Treasure put her pick near the tombstone and placed a rose beside it.

"I remember that song grandfather," Treasure announced softly, "Isn't it beautiful. You taught me that song and it always stays with me."

She sat by the grave, in the shade of the willow, for the remainder of the Divination period. Once the bell rang, Treasure said a small prayer, picked up her guitar case and walked back up to the school. Once inside, Anistasia Riddle walked toward her.

"Treasure," she said, "your mum is looking for you and she seems really mad."

Treasure's face went pale, "Where is she?"

"In her office in the dungeons," Treasure began to leave when Ani called after her, "and, there is another thing."

Treasure turned around abruptly, "What?"

Ani blinked then shook her head; "Look for Chris and me at lunch in the middle courtyard."

Treasure nodded and walked down to the dungeons to find Hermione. She approached the office and knocked so lightly, that the knock was almost unable to be heard. Nonetheless, quick footsteps were heard coming closer to the door and, finally, they stopped. Before she knew it, the door was thrown open. Hermione stood on the other side. The look that engulfed her entire being was deeper than anger. It was one the shunned dishonor onto Treasure. She knew that she didn't want to step into that room and she didn't want the door to shut behind her. However much she knew this, the next thing she realized was that she had walked into the room, the door was shut behind her, she was sitting in a chair in front of Hermione's desk and her guitar was sitting on the floor beside her. Hermione was walking around the chair as Treasure listened to the silence around her.

"So," Hermione began, stopping behind Treasure's chair, crossing her arms and looking down on her only daughter, "you decided to skip Divination, lure Chris into helping you with your scheme and went to the back courtyard to play your guitar for the past two hours. I don't know what you were thinking! Do you know what the professors are saying to me right now? Do you know what it is like to have to set an example for the other students to be good and go to class? You are a seventh year! You should know bloody well better than this! They look up to you! If you start skipping, the underclassmen will start skipping and this place will go to bloody hell!"

"Mum, its not that bad ---"

"NOT THAT BAD," Professor Snape asked, "Not that bad, eh? How about two weeks of detention with Professor Trelawney and no guitar for a month? How bad is that now," Treasure looked at her hands and sighed, "You can't go skipping classes whenever you want! What was going through your mind at breakfast today?"

Treasure blinked and replied, "I didn't get any sleep last night and I didn't think you would mind if I just rested for a while, so I decided not to go to Divination. I am sorry, mum."

Hermione walked in front of the chair and sat against the desk, "I know and I forgive you, but the detention and the restriction from the guitar still stands. I am sure you could have waited until tonight, after all of your classes were over, to do what you needed to do. Don't ever do anything like this again, understand," Treasure nodded, "You may go."

Treasure stood, left the guitar where it sat on the floor and walked to the Slytherin dungeons. Once she walked into the Common Room, all of her housemates' attention was on her. She was being stared at, and she didn't like it.

"Okay, yeah," she announced, "I skipped Divination. So what?"

Everyone turned back to what they were doing and Treasure walked out of the dungeons, not liking the tension that was in that room. She walked to the middle courtyard as hard, unwavering stares followed her. Finally, she came upon Anistasia and Chris. They parted, leaving a space in the middle of the bench for their friend to sit.

"What's going on," Treasure asked when she saw the scared looks on their faces.

"We were reading tea leaves in Divination today," Ani began.

"Didn't we do that in our fourth year?"

"Yes," Chris said, answering Treasure, "but Trelawney didn't have anything better for us to do."

Treasure nodded, "Go on."

Anistasia took a deep breath, "Well, we were reading Chris' tea leaves ---"

"They were your leaves," Chris argued.

"No they weren't, you bloody idiot!"

"You are the bloody idiot! They were your leaves, so go bugger a glow stick!"

Treasure's attention wavered from one sister to the other, "Stop, you two! Please! I don't care whose leaves they were, I just want to know what is going on!"

"Like, I was saying, we were reading Chris' tea leaves," Ani began and Chris mumbled something obscene under her breath, "When we found a sign – the grim. There were other signs and with Professor Trelawney's help, we received the message that someone close to one of our friends was going to croak ---"

"--- kick the bucket ---"

"---bite the bullet---"

"---expire---"

"---parish---"

"---decease---"

"---wither---"

"---fade---"

"---vanish---"

"---recede---"

"---subside---"

"--- die."

Treasure's heart sunk to her knees, "You mean to say that this friend is me and the person who is going to die…" she said, shakily, and her two friends nodded, "NO! No, no, no! I wont believe it!"

She stood up and left before her friends could say anything. Once she entered the entrance hall, she was met by Remus.

"Treasure, mother sent for me to get you," he explained, "She just received an urgent letter. We need to go to St. Mungo's…now." ~+~