Benji was one of the first to arrive at the Divination tower and was amazed. The teacher, somewhat resembling a dragonfly noticed her right away. "Oh, poor dear. The voiceless will find his voice and you will get your long awaited reunion," she said in a slightly crazed way.
Benji stared at her oddly, "Yeah – Right," The old bat couldn't be right.
Harry soon entered the classroom; the two were the only ones from their group in this class it seemed. Harry had professed that he had wanted to quit, but something had made him stay.
Benji smiled and told Harry what Professor Trelawney had said. Harry was only half listening – Benji had a really pretty smile. He'd noticed earlier how glossy her hair was. And yesterday, when she was mad . . .
"Harry! I asked you what you thought about it!"
He snapped to attention, "Oh, don't worry about it Benji, she predicts my death at least once a week."
He wasn't listening to me, thought Benji, I wonder why not. Why do I even care what he thinks? I guess it's because he's the boy-who-lived. /Oh please, said the voice in her head/ it's because he's hotter than a Hungarian horntail that's in a bad mood. /
That little voice was starting to say embarrassing things like that more and more often. It was almost so bad that she blushed shyly whenever she looked at him. At night she almost constantly found herself dreaming about that messy black hair and those electric green eyes.
/And his hands, said the voice, don't forget his hands. / Oh yes, how could she have possibly forgotten his strong hands? The same ones that had grasped hers and helped her climb quickly onto a moving set of stairs on their way to Defense this morning. Strong hands were what had gotten Benji in so much trouble with her latest ex-boyfriend Trevor.
Trevor's hands had loved to blow things up with his wand. His constant wish to destroy things had been a little annoying, but Benji had been more than willing to look over that.
/Yeah, because he had other features more interesting to look at such as . . ./
Stop it! Shut up!
"Uh, Benji," Harry said, elbowing her out of her day dreams, "Class is starting."
"Oh, okay – thanks," she responded quietly and made herself look to Professor Trelawney.
Class was relatively uneventful for the rest of the time, and soon all five of them met up for Care of Magical Creatures. When they got down to Hagrid's, they saw only a few other students coming from class.
About ten minutes later, Hagrid came out of the forest. He was leading two huge winged horse-like creatures. One was a Thestral, the other a chestnut-brown Aethonan.
"Now," said Hagrid, "I thought we'd continue last year's lesson on Thestrals and winged horses. Since we were so rudely interrupted last year."
A black Hufflepuff boy raised his hand, "There's only one sir!"
Hagrid shook his head, "Anyone who can see the Thestral, work with it. You other get the Aethonan."
Hagrid handed them grooming brushes and Harry wearily walked over to the Thestral. He had seen more than one person die and so the sight of the black reptilian horse was none too uplifting. As Harry was brushing he saw a hand wearing a familiar ring brushing by his own.
"Benji? Can you see them too?"
Benji nodded, "I saw my parents die, didn't I?" She then slapped a mortified hand over her mouth and Harry cocked an eyebrow.
"Um, according to your story, no, you didn't. You were asleep!"
Benji blushed, "I was SUPPOSED to be asleep, did I forget to mention that?"
Harry felt the temper he had always had trouble containing rising angrily up into his throat. She stood up straighter and squared her shoulders. She must have seen the anger in her face because she glared daggers and him and said, "Well – EXCUSE ME! Just because you're Harry Flippin' Potter doesn't mean I'm dad-gum obligated to tell you all of MY secrets OK!"
She then turned on her heel and stalked over to Hagrid. She told him something hurriedly before going up to the castle, to the Gryffindor common room, Harry assumed.
"This isn't the way the child should have to live," thought Sirius to himself. He was curled up in his bed watching Miss Black's every move through a simple spell.