" Fenny.....oh, Fenny!!!" Griselda called.
" What?" Fenella sleepily answered.
" Guess what's arrived today?"
" What?"
" Our witches higher certificates!!!!"
" Great, let me get a look. Congratulations, you have been awarded blah, blah,blah. Here's to being legal now,"Fenny said smiling giving Gris a high-five.
" Morning, what's going on?" Harry asked.
" Tell him,Fenny."
" Morning, Harry. We just got our witching licenses. Here, have a look," Fenny said to him.
" That's great, but what can you do with them?"
"Well, they're good enough, but having them is not quite the same as earning actual advanced degrees in magical studies,but they do come in handy if you want to specialize in trades or fields of self employment like, say.....tea leaf reading and or divination or something like that, but if you want to be a healer or something more advanced, then you need to go to college," Gris explained.
Gris looked up to see Harry laughing and asked him what was so funny.
" It's not you guys. It's just that I'm thinking about my daft divination teacher, Professor Trelawney. She's so weird . Do you know that every year she predicts that someone will die, and it never happens? After hearing you guys admit that seers don't require degrees to work at Divination, I feel inclined to take her far less seriously than I did before."
" We know what you mean , Harry. We had a teacher like yours named Miss Bat. One time, the entire fourth year class came down with the flu, and she made us all a batch of five-alarm potion to help us out. She bragged that it was rich in fermented pond slime (her dear old Granny Bat's most powerful and secret ingredient for all her most potent curatives)."
" Well, did it work?" Harry asked looking interestedly at them.
"Are you serious? It did everything but work. You see she made a visit to the potion lab and decided to shop for a few supplies( if you know what I mean), failing to realize that our Potions Mistress, Miss Hardbroom planned to give her second years an exam the next day requiring them to recognize ingredients and that she took the labels off the jars. As a result, half of us grew scales and the other half sprouted feathers. I mean it was so gross. It took three whole days for Miss Hardbroom to set us right."
"Scales? My God how incompetent, and you say that she still has a job?" Harry asked in disbelief as he recalled Professor Lockhart's attempt at mending his arm.
"Well , yeah, our old headmistress Miss Cackle looked kindly upon goof-ups."
" Yeah, my headmaster Professor Dumbledore does too."
"Well, that's enough chit-chat. We'd better get off to the store and finish cleaning it to get it ready for reopening."
" Right, Gris. come on, Harry. Let's get ready."
The three ate breakfast and headed off to Diagon Alley shop. It took them half a day to get everything in order. The work was grueling but fun. In fact the three made so much noise in the process that two neighboring shop owners came over to the store to see whether they were being attacked or not.
They stopped and decided to journey over to a nearby pub to eat when they heard a newspaper boy yelling about a missing seer . Gris asked him to come over so she could get a paper. When she saw the headline , she handed to Harry and asked, "isn't this that teacher that you told us about this morning?"
"Yes. That's Professor Trelawney, but why would anybody want to kidnap her?" he asked furrowing his eyebrows in confusion."I'd better try and alert Mr. Weasley. Can we go back to Privet Drive so that I can get Hedwig, please?" he asked.
" Okay, Harry. You can apparate with me. We'll be right back, Gris," Fenny said.
In a flash they were back at Privet Drive in Mrs. Figg's back yard. Harry fetched Hedwig sat down for a bit to write Mr. Weasley a letter, sent Hedwig off ,and went back to the pub to sit with Gris. Apparition made Harry feel tickly inside his stomach the second time around, but his appetite returned when he saw the foot long sandwich Gris ordered.
" Here we are. Thanks, Gris. It looks good."
" Listen guys, while you two were gone I thought it over a bit, and I think that we should keep a stronger watch over you Harry. The kidnapper may have something to do with the guy that's trying to kill you.
" Thanks, but I don't want to take advantage of your kindness any further. I'd hate to think that I endangered your lives in any way. I've already lost someone very close to me. Plus, I already have an advanced guard who watches over me."
In a seedy section of underground London called Aberdeen Grove, a woman shivered alone in a dank apartment room in fear of her very life. She shuddered at the cold touch of a bowl that someone pressed to her swollen lip to give her water.
" We'll try this one more time," a cold , raspy voice said. "What did you see when you gazed at the prism?"
" I.......I c-c-can't remember. My vision comes and goes. I can't remember what happens when I lose myself to the astral plane," the poor woman cried shrilly, her desperate tone implor-ing her assailant for mercy.
"Crucio!!!!!!!!" the voice yelled.
The woman felt the pain and fainted. Her frail form succumbed to partial cessation.
After a few moments, her body's yielding yet peaceful slumber was disrupted when her assailant splashed her dangling form with cold water.
" Any progress, Bella?"
" No, master. I'll try harder."
" Yes, I suggest that you do that. If you succeed, I'll honor you by presenting you with your daughter."
" You know where she is?" Bella asked desperately.
" Patience, Bella. First things first. I need the seer to give me the rest of the prophecy. I realized that she knew of it the day after the battle at the Department of Mysteries. You see, a residual part of me remained with Potter; it allowed me to see part of his little 'consolation' session with that muggle-loving old coot. I conserved and sparingly used what was left of the psychic vector in Potter's mind to learn what I could from the meeting. I knew that Dumbledore would begin to break down soon and reveal all to his precious little protege. The woman is the key. Do what you must. Just make her talk."
" But master, my daughter."
" Get on with it , Bella . You try my patience."
The trio finished their meal and headed back to the shop. Upon their arrival, they heard cracking noises. It was the Weasleys and a few others. The group made their respective introductions.
" Harry, we know about the kidnapping. I didn't want to apparate to you in the middle of the alley. We want you to know that we're doing everything that we can to find Sybil. After finding out about her,we became afraid for your safety, so we've come to bring you to headquarters."
" Okay,but I need to get back to Privet Drive to get a few things from Mrs. Figg's house."
" I'll bring you this time , Harry," Gris said.
When they returned, the group hurried away with Harry while saying rushed thank you's and good-byes.
Fenella and Griselda guessed that whatever was going on, it was very serious. They looked at each other doubtfully and agreed to hope the best for Harry.