Hi again. Here's the much anticipated chapter five. I've read over the
reviews and looked at all of the pairing suggestions. LarcolTydol, your
idea was really good. At any rate, I've decided which pairs I like best.
Who? you ask. Well, I'm not going to tell you. It'll spoil the surprise.
And just for kicks, I'll probably throw in some unexpected couples. Now
there won't be any actual pairing in this chapter, just hints. Nothing's
set in stone so if you still want to caste a vote you can. Next chapter,
though, will be too late.
You should probably also know that I decided that Alicia, Katie, and Angelina were all in their seventh year in book five and therefore have graduated. I am not entirely sure if that is true. I couldn't find a direct reference to their year. There is probably something in book one of the series, but I loaned my HP #1 to my cousin a little over two years ago and has never seen it again. If anybody knows for sure what year the girls are in, let me know. But anyway, for the purpose of this fic, they have graduated.
Also, I made two other mistakes. First, I missed spelled Slytherin a million and half times. Thanks for telling me about that one guys. It was one of the words I didn't even bother to look up. I just assumed there was an E. Secondly, in chapter two, I got one of the scoring letters for the OWL's wrong. I forgot to mention that little uh-oh in the A/N in chapter four. I said E stood for excellent. It does not. It stands for exceeds expectations. I couldn't remember what the E stood for, and just went with what was most logical to me. Any how. That is all.
Oh, yeah. I don't own Harry Potter. But I'm sure you could've guessed that yourself.
Read on.
~*~*~*~*
Chapter 5 An Eye for Defense
Word of what Ron did in Divinations spread like wildfire through the school. A mere hour after the class was over; all of Gryffindor tower had heard the story. By dinner, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw knew as well. And before dessert had been served, even the Slytherin house had the details. Harry couldn't believe the speed at which rumors flew through Hogwarts. And almost everyone was curious.
Everyone who was in the Divinations class spent a great deal of the evening being question about the events that had occurred. Lavender and Parvati were basking in the glow of the attention. They claimed to have witness the entire thing and told anyone who would listen that Ron had gone into a deep trance. They said his eyes turned a glowing milky-white as he forecast doom upon the school. Unfortunately everyone was listening, and half the student body believed Ron had prophesied a legion of Death Eaters would descend upon Hogwarts sometime between the second of November and the fifth of January by the end of the day.
Ron missed the brunt of the questioning, though. Firenze had ended class early and whisked Ron away to Professor Dumbledore's office. He didn't show up again until near the end of dinner. As Ron walked into the great hall, there was a noticeable murmur among the students. Lavender, who wasn't seated too far from Harry, gasped and poked Parvati in the ribs as if her best friend hadn't already noticed Ron's entrance.
Ron either did a very good job of ignoring the stares he received, or just didn't notice as he made his way to where Harry, Hermione, and Mindy were seated. Harry looked over at Ron as he plopped down between him and Hermione. Ron's face was incredibly pale; his freckles stood out sharply, making him look even more haggard.
Ginny came up and took a seat next to Mindy, across from her brother. "I heard what happened." She said.
Ron rested his head in one open hand and looked over at his sister. "Who hasn't?"
Ginny smiled weakly. "You noticed that word got around, huh?"
"Kinda hard to miss." Ron mumbled.
"Well, it is...exciting." Hermione said. "You being a diviner and all."
Ron grimaced. "Don't make fun, Hermione."
"Make fun? Why would I do that?"
"I know you think all this divination stuff is fake." Ron answered.
"No." Hermione shook her head. "I think Trelawney is all fake. I believe you."
Ron looked at her. "Why?"
"Because you wouldn't make stuff up for attention." Hermione answered simply. "But are you alright? You look..."
"Tired." Harry supplied.
Ron nodded. "I'm fine. I just need to eat something."
"Here." Mindy said, ladling some of the potato soup they had had with dinner into a bowl. "You should probably eat light, then lay down." She said, pushing the bowl towards him.
To Harry's surprise, Ron didn't frown at being treated like child by a girl his own age. He took the bowl and mumbled a "thank you". He dipped his spoon into his bowl, but before he could lift it to his mouth, a small hand tapped him on the shoulder. Harry felt the brush of robes against his arm, and he and Ron looked back to see Lavender and Parvati standing behind them.
Lavender looked down at Ron, a funny look in her eyes. "Hi, Ron." She said rather dreamily. "Is it alright if we sit with you?"
Ron opened his mouth, probably to say "no", but never got the chance. Lavender didn't wait for an answer. She shoved Harry down, and took his seat. "Do you mind?" Parvati asked Hermione before she shoved her out the way.
"Yes, I do mind." Hermione said indignantly, as she stood up.
"Well, that's just rude." Ginny frowned.
"Well, this is important." Lavender answered. She looked over at Ron, grinning. "We spread your message for you."
"Yeah." Parvati said. "We knew you would be too busy explaining your visions to Professor Dumbledore to do so yourself."
Ron frowned at the two of them. "My message? Visions?"
"Yes." Lavender said. "The visions you had during Divinations."
Ron shook his head. "I didn't have any...Wait a second. What are you telling people?"
"What you said about You-Know-Who." Parvati answered. "How he's coming here. Soon."
"You two have got to stop spreading those rumors." Mindy frowned at them.
"It's not rumors." Lavender retorted. "We were there. We saw it happen."
"I was there too." Mindy answered. "You're blowing things way out of proportion."
Lavender rolled her eyes and huffed at her. "You just don't understand." She said.
Parvati wrapped both of her hands around Ron's and, tilting her head to the side, batted her eyes at him. It was an attempt at looking sweet and cute; one that she wasn't pulling off very well. Harry grimaced and Ron looked as if he were going to be sick. "You were so brave today, Ron." She said. "What is it like to be a Diviner as good as Professor Trelawney?" She leaned in, her face only inches from Ron's. "Maybe even better."
"Er." Ron grunted, leaning away from the girl. Unfortunately, he was only leaning closer to Lavender, who took the opportunity to loop her arm through his.
"I've always hoped I'd meet someone like you, Ron." She said, smiling in what she probably thought was a coy manner. "If you ever need an understanding ear to talk to, I'm always here."
"Er." Ron grunted again, a look of both confusion and horror on his face.
"Come on you guys." Harry said, taking Lavender by her other arm and attempting to pull her off Ron. "Don't you think he's had enough for one day?"
"Yeah." Hermione frowned, her face a turning a bright pink. "Leave him alone."
Parvati whirled on Hermione, never releasing Ron's hand. "You're just jealous because you weren't there." She said.
"Besides." Lavender said, jerking Harry off. "We're only talking to him."
"You're suffocating him." Ginny scowled. "Get off my brother."
"You know what." Ron said. "I'm not hungry anymore." It took some prying, but he managed to disentangle himself from the girls and stood. "I'm going to bed."
Parvati and Lavender watched Ron leave, both of them looking extremely disappointed. Lavender turned on Ginny. "You've run him off." She fumed. "He didn't need you going into protective little sister mode."
"I don't think it was me that ran him off." Ginny said, folding her arms across her chest and giving the girls the ugliest look she could muster.
Parvati rolled her eyes at Ginny. "Oh, please." She said. "Come on, Lavender." The two of them stood as one and stormed away.
"Poor, Ron." Ginny said, watching the two girls walk back to their original seats. "He's never going to hear the end of this."
Mindy nodded. "Diviners are very rare, indeed. Do you think the whole school will be talking about this for long?"
Harry shook his head. "The news will get old, and it'll all blow over after a while." He said.
"Are you sure?" Mindy asked. "It doesn't really look like it will."
Harry nodded. "Trust me. I'm speaking from experience. This couldn't be any worse than when everyone found out I was a parsletounge." Harry stopped, realizing that Mindy didn't already know. He looked at her, but she didn't seem terribly surprised by the news.
"You're a parsletounge?" She asked, but there was no real curiosity in her voice. She may as well have been asking how's the weather while standing outside.
"Yes." Harry answered.
"Oh." Mindy said. She grinned. "Who would have guessed, two best friends would also be two of the rarest types of wizard in the world."
"Yeah." Hermione agreed. "Who would have guessed."
"It is some kind of coincidence." Ginny said, standing up. "I think I'm going to go check on Ron. He really didn't look alright."
"I'll come with you." Hermione said, pushing her dessert aside. The two of them left together, leaving Mindy and Harry alone.
"So you really think everyone will get over this?" Mindy asked.
"Definitely." Harry answered. "But I wonder what he said meant."
Mindy nodded, then asked, "Who do you suppose he was talking about when he said the marked one?"
Harry looked at the girl across from him. He saw her eyes drifting towards the scar on his forehead. She looked him in the eyes again quickly and said. "I think you should be careful, Harry."
Harry frowned and said, "What makes you so sure he was talking about me?" Mindy didn't say anything to this, only giving Harry a knowing look. Harry sighed. "Yeah, I figured he was talking about me, too."
Mindy leaned across the table towards him. "You should really be on the look out, I think." She said, speaking lowly so that no one else would overhear. "It's fairly obvious that Ron didn't get to finish what he was saying. So there's something out there..."
Harry frowned. "There's always something out there."
"Yeah, but if your best friend is prophesying about it, it must be serious, Harry."
Harry shook his head. "I won't be afraid of something I'm not sure even exists."
Mindy shook her head. "I'm not asking you to be afraid, just to be careful." She bit her bottom lip, then looked up, sincerity shining in her grey eyes. "If anything comes up, you'll tell me, won't you, Harry? You're...I...I think of you as a...a really good friend. I don't want anything to happen to you."
Harry looked at her. It was so obvious that she really cared about him, and right then he knew he could trust her with anything. Maybe even with what happened to Sirius. He nodded. "Yeah." He answered. "If anything comes up, I'll tell you."
Mindy smiled, then sat back. "Maybe we should head back to Gryffindor tower too. We have Defense against the Dark Arts and Potions tomorrow."
"Ugh," Harry groaned, as he and Mindy stood. "I know. Tomorrow is going to be a disaster."
Mindy grinned. "It won't be that bad. At any rate, it couldn't be anymore exciting than today turned out to be."
"Maybe not." Harry said. "But I have a feeling it's going to be miserable."
Mindy wrapped one arm around Harry's shoulder as they exited the great hall together. "At least we'll be miserable together."
Harry grinned. "Yeah." He said. "Together."
~*~*~*~*
When Harry returned to his room that night, he found Ron already in bed. The drapes were drawn around his four-poster bed, and Harry assumed he was sleeping. Not wanting to bother him, Harry tiptoed past Ron's bed and headed for his own. He pulled a pair of pajamas out of his trunk and started changing out of his school robes. Before he had finished changing, Seamus and Dean came in. The two looked at Ron's bed , and then walked over to Harry.
"So, what really did happen in Divinations?" Dean asked, stopping at the foot of Harry's bed. "I know what Lavender and Parvati are saying can't be true. Ron didn't really say You-Know-Who was coming, did he?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't think Lavender and Parvati even heard what Ron said."
"So, what did he say?" Seamus asked.
Harry shook his head, again. He didn't want to tell them the story. He knew they'd come to the same conclusion that he and Mindy had come to; that once again someone was after him. "It was pretty vague," was he felt like saying.
"Come on Harry." Dean said, sitting on Harry's trunk. "I know you're holding out on us."
"Yeah." Seamus agreed. "If something bad is coming, don't you think we should know about it?"
"Look, guys." Harry said, shaking his head. "I don't know what Ron meant. It didn't make much sense. But I don't think anything is coming." He added, seriously hoping that was true. "If I knew something for sure, I'd tell you."
Dean rubbed his head. "Yeah, I guess that's true." He looked over at Harry. "Are you going to hold D. A. again? I'd feel much better knowing I can really protect myself, if something does come up."
Seamus nodded. "I don't want to put all my faith in Trelawney. She's part of the reason we dropped out of Divinations this year. We were sure she was going to be teaching again."
"I'm not sure if I'm going to start D. A. again yet. Professor Dumbledore wants me to, but I think I'm going to wait until after class tomorrow before I make any final decision." Harry answered. "Trelawney might be good."
"Yeah." Dean said. "And the Slytherins might be decent, upstanding students." He grinned at Harry. "But I suppose it couldn't hurt to wait. Well, goodnight, Harry."
"Yeah, 'night, Harry." Seamus said.
"Good-night." Harry returned as the two boys headed for their own beds to change into their pajamas. Harry turned his attention back to buttoning his pajama top and thinking over what Ron had said. 'A friend of the Dark...' he had said. That certainly sounded like it could be Voldemort. Who was more friendly with dark magic than Voldemort? 'Attack the strongest castle of his enemy...' could that mean Hogwarts? Hogwarts was a castle and Professor Dumbledore was Voldemort's greatest enemy.
Harry picked up his robes, and began emptying out his pockets, throwing quills and loose change on his nightstand. The thing that worried him most about what Ron said, was 'the mark one should be wary of the black...' something. Black what? Harry had no doubt that he was the marked one. Now if only he knew what the black something was. There were a lot of black things in the world. What should he be wary of?
Harry's finger's brushed against a feather in his pocket and he pulled it out, thinking it was another a quill. He held it up in the dim light of the room, and saw that it was the black owl feather he had found the other night. He twirled between his fingers, wondering if it could be related to what Ron had said. He laughed softly to himself, thinking that was utterly ridiculous and placed the feather on his nightstand with the rest of his belongings. There was nothing sinister about an owl feather.
Deciding that staying up all night and worrying about what Ron had said wasn't going to solve anything, Harry laid down. He wondered if Ron remembered his vision, and decided he'd ask him in the morning. Maybe then he could find out what the black something was suppose to be. Closing his eyes, Harry drifted off to sleep.
~*~*~*~*
The next morning, Harry awoke to find Ron's bed empty. He dressed and washed quickly, then headed down to the common room. Ron was seated on the couch between the Creevey brothers looking very miserable. Denis was snapping pictures of him and Collin was asking non-stop questions to which Ron was not responding.
"What's going on?" Harry asked, as he walked up to the three.
"I'm interviewing Ron." Collin answered. "I've decided I'm going to be a reporter and Ron is my first big story."
"I'm getting a few pictures for my brother." Denis said, popping another roll of film into his camera. "They'll go great with his article."
"One more question, Mr. Weasley..." Collin said, turning back to Ron.
But the red head shook his head firmly. "No. No more questions. Harry's here and I have to get breakfast before class."
"Aren't you going to wait on your other friends." Collin asked.
"Yeah." Denis agreed. "Hermione and that new girl."
Ron shook his head. "They'll catch up." He said. He grabbed Harry by the arm and practically dragged him threw the portrait hole. "Man, I thought you'd never get down stairs." He said as they headed down the hall towards the Great Hall. "Those two were starting to drive me nuts."
"Why'd you put up with them?" Harry asked.
"They kept everyone else away." Ron answered. "Everybody is either in awe of me, or is giving me weird looks. And everybody keeps asking when You-Know-Who is going to show up. Or they'd ask me if I could see into the future for them. One girl even asked me if I could tell if some boy she likes likes her back. It's crazy."
"It'll blow over." Harry said. "Believe me. I know."
"I know." Ron sighed. "It's just not blowing over fast enough."
The two of them entered the Great Hall. It was still pretty early and there weren't many students down for breakfast yet. Harry and Ron found seats away from the other Gryffindors and made up their plates. After a bit, Hermione, Mindy and Ginny joined them, though Ginny left when Dean walked in to sit with him. Ron was too distracted to even gripe.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you." Harry said, turning to Ron after Ginny walked away. "Do you remember what you said? In Divinations, I mean."
Ron nodded. "Yeah. I remember." He answered flatly.
Harry nodded. "Do you know what any of it means?"
Ron shrugged. "Firenze says it could mean anything, and not necessarily what it sounds like." Ron looked up at Harry. "But I think someone is coming for you."
"We thought that too." Mindy said, pushing her eggs around on her plate.
Hermione nodded her agreement. Harry and Mindy had told her everything yesterday and she was familiar with the words that had poured out of Ron's mouth.
"What I want to know is," Harry went on "Well, the last thing you said was that 'the marked one should be wary...'"
" 'Of the black...' I know." Ron said. "I was there."
"I know." Harry said. "But black what? Assuming I'm the marked one..." ("And you probably are." Ron said) "...What should I be looking out for?"
Ron shrugged again. "I don't know. What I did, it really wasn't a vision. It was more like reading a code, without really knowing how to decode it. I couldn't finish reading it. I tried, but I started to feel...not so good."
Mindy blinked at Ron. "Reading a code?" She asked. "Where were the words written?"
"On the tree." Ron answered. "In the tree. It was written in the bark and the way the branches were arranged and in how the leaves overlaid. And it moved. Kept changing. It was saying a lot, the pattern in the tree was. I guess I can call it that. I couldn't catch it all. I read what stayed still the longest; what seemed the most important. But my head started hurting and I couldn't read the pattern anymore. It drifted away and got mixed up with the others. Nothing made sense anymore." Ron shook his head. "It's hard to explain. It's hard to understand."
"When Harry and Mindy told me what happened I went to library and found some books on the subject." Hermione said. "I checked them out. I think they might help."
"The answer to everything isn't in a book, Hermione." Ron frowned.
"Just read them." Hermione retorted. "They might be helpful."
"Fine." Ron said, giving Hermione a long-suffering look, which she pointedly ignored. He turned back to Harry and said, "I'm sorry I can't tell you anything more. Maybe I can pick up the pattern again. I'm supposed to start working with Firenze every evening. Tonight is my first session."
"It's alright." Harry said. "And don't push yourself. I'm not looking for trouble this year."
"You never look for trouble, Harry." Hermione said. "It tends to find you."
Harry smiled and opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.
"Mr. Potter."
Harry turned around and saw his new Transfigurations professor standing behind him. "Oh, hi Professor Lupin."
Professor Lupin gave Harry a bright smile that faded almost immediately. "Listen, did you receive an owl this summer about Quidditch?"
"No." Harry answered.
"Oh." Professor Lupin said, rubbing his chin. "Then you probably don't know."
"Don't know what?" Harry asked, panic beginning to rise him. Was Quidditch being canceled this year and someone had forgotten to tell him?
"Well." Professor Lupin said. "As you know, Angelina finished Hogwarts last year." Harry nodded and Professor Lupin went on, smiling weakly. "Congratulations, Harry. You've made captain."
"What?" Harry asked, his eyes widening in shock.
"I suppose Professor McGonagall had to leave before she could send you the owl. I should've let know before now Harry, but I assumed you already did. I'm sorry if this causes some set backs."
Harry only stared at Professor Lupin. He couldn't think of a thing to say. "No. No problems." Ron said, speaking for his temporarily dumb friend. "Congratulations, Harry." He added, giving Harry a slap on the back. "Quidditch captain. Now that's something."
"Er," was all Harry could manage.
"You might want think about holding tryouts." Professor Lupin went on. "You're going to need some new chasers and you might want to think about replacing your beaters."
"Er," again was all Harry could manage. "Yeah, we'll do that." Ron said, speaking for Harry once again.
"Right then." Professor Lupin said, turning to walk away. "Have a good day." He smiled at them and left.
"I'm captain." Harry said unbelievingly, watching Professor Lupin head back to the Professor's table. "How did that happen?"
"Well, I'm not surprised." Hermione said. "You're a great player and you've been on the team longer than anyone left."
"Don't worry, Harry." Mindy smiled at him. "You'll make a great captain. I'm sure of it."
"I suppose." Harry said.
"Yeah, you will." Ron said confidently. "Professor Lupin's right though. We do need to hold tryouts. We lost Angelina, Katie and Alicia. One of the chaser positions is already filled though. Ginny will take a spot and I know she'll make a great chaser. But that still leaves two more. And we do need new beaters. Those guys we got last year...well let's face it. They suck. When will you hold try outs?"
"Um, I don't know." Harry answered.
"What about Saturday?" Hermione suggested. "It's the first weekend of the year. Most of the students shouldn't have too much homework. It'll be the best day."
"I suppose." Harry said.
"Great." Hermione said. "I'll make a flyer and post it on the bulletin board."
"See, Harry." Ron grinned. "You're making great captain already. Let's go. I can't wait to see how much of a joke Defense against the Dark Arts is going to be."
~*~*~*~*
Talking about Quidditch put Ron in a much better spirit and the constant stares in the halls as they made their way to Defense against the Dark Arts didn't seem to bother him at all. Ron chatted happily about possible strategies Harry should try this year. Hermione mentioned seeing a book that might help and promised to find it later. Harry spent his time trying to convince Mindy to try out for the team.
"Come on, Mindy." Harry said. "You look like a chaser. I bet you're great on a broom."
"I don't know." Mindy said, shaking her head. "I don't know if I'll be any good."
"You couldn't do too badly." Harry said.
Mindy shrugged. "It's been a while since I've played Quidditch. What if I'm horrible?"
"We'll still be your friends." Ron said, grinning at her. "Even if we have to shun you in public."
"Thanks, Ron." Mindy smirked. "You really know how to inspire confidence and reassurance."
"I try."
"Come on, Mindy." Harry tried again. "Try out for me."
Mindy sighed. "Alright, Harry. I'll try out for you."
"Oh." Hermione said. She had just walked into the DaDA class. She looked back at the others and said. "Its empty."
Harry followed Ron inside and sure enough the class was empty. He frowned. They weren't that early. They couldn't possibly be the first students to arrive.
"There's a note." Ron said, walking towards the chalkboard where a piece of parchment was spell-o-taped. He groaned. "The class is going to be held in the old Divinations room. Up in the North tower."
"We'll never make it there on time." Hermione frowned.
"Professor Trelawney can't possibly take points off for tardiness." Mindy reasoned. "She has to know that most students would come here first. But still, we had better hurry."
Hermione nodded. "Let's go." She and Mindy hurried out of the room, Harry and Ron right behind them.
"What kind of Defense against the Dark Arts lesson does she have planned?" Ron wondered allowed. "There's not much that room is good for except Divinations."
Harry shook his head, sincerely hoping the class didn't turn out to be a waste. Now that he was Quidditch captain, he wasn't sure he had time to hold D. A. But if Trelawney really did turn out to be a terrible teacher, he just wouldn't feel right not holding the sessions.
The four made it to the ladder leading up to the North Tower well after the class should have started. They were all out of breath from practically running, but as they climbed into the tower room, Harry saw they weren't alone in their lateness. Half the class hadn't arrived yet and it was a good fifteen minutes before all the students were present. The Divinations class looked exactly the same as it had the last time Harry had been in it. The same small round tables were set up for the students. The windows were covered with heavy curtains and strong perfume was wafting from the fire in the back of the room.
Ron and Harry chose a table together near one of the windows and Ron looked around disheartenly. Harry had the same sinking feeling. This class was not going to go well.
"Now that everyone is seated." Professor Trelawney said in what Harry had come to think of as her mystic voice. "Let's begin, shall we." She floated towards the center of the class, her colorful robes billowing out around her. She was back in her full Diviner glory. It was almost as if Umbridge had never stripped her of her position and attempted to throw her out of the school just last year. "Welcome to Defense against the Dark Arts. This year you will learn the most important expect of defending oneself against the evil that lurks out there. This year you will learn to see the danger before it comes." She paused here, possibly for dramatic effect. "I will teach you how to have an Eye for defense."
The students looked at each other, wondering what exactly it was Professor Trelawney was getting at. Ron reached into his backpack and pulled out his book. He flipped through it and looked up frowning. "Harry, this is a Divinations book." He hissed.
Harry, who hadn't cracked the book before today, reached into his bag and yanked it out. Flipping through the chapters he saw that Ron was right. It was a Divinations book. There was a defensive twist to it. Instead of chapter one being about reading crystal balls, it was about reading crystal balls to search for possible enemies. But no matter how you twisted it, it was still Divinations.
Most of the class had started to pick up on this as well. Harry heard Hermione and Mindy at the table behind his and Ron's grumbling about the lesson. "Utterly ridiculous." He heard Mindy whispering furiously. "Completely insane." Hermione agreed.
"For you see." Professor Trelawney was saying. "The best way for you to defend yourself against dark magic is not to be caught near it in the first place. The only way to prevent being caught by dark forces is to know when said forces will appear. You must have the Eye. You must learn to use the Eye. It is the only way to truly be safe. Everyone, take out your books and began chapter one."
The class did so, everyone looking quite disappointed. Of all the possible things Harry had expected, this was not one of them. He wondered if they would even get the chance to use their wands this year, or if they would spend all of their time looking into a crystal ball and pretending to be seeing some darkness coming.
About halfway through the lesson, Professor Trelawney floated over to Harry and Ron's table. "Mr. Weasley." She said, her large eyes seeming even larger behind her thick glasses. "I know what happened to you yesterday." She said this as if no one else knew, and it took some kind of special connection with the universe to even be aware of what occurred. "I have always known there was something special about you. I saw it the moment you stepped into my class. All of your assignments have always been particularly insightful. More so than any other student."
"Er, thanks?" Ron said.
"I am just glad my instructions have done some good for you. I know you will excel in this class under my guidance. If you ever need special help in your divination studies, my door is always open."
"Um, Okay."
Professor Trelawney gave Ron a misty smile before floating away to another table. Ron looked over at Harry and grinned. "Do you think I should tell her, every assignment I ever turned in to her was completely made up."
"What? And make her question whether or not she had anything to do with you being a diviner?"
Ron shook his head. "She'd probably just say, 'I knew, Mr. Weasley. But I also saw your talent and allowed you to get away with it'."
Harry laughed. "You must really be a diviner."
Ron shrugged. "Well, if you've got talent."
They spent the entire class period reading chapters one and two. Harry wasn't sure if this class was any better than last year when they had Umbridge as a teacher. At least then they were forced to read a real Defense against the Dark Arts book. But happily, Professor Trelawney didn't assign any homework and they were allowed to leave in peace.
"What a waste of a lesson." Hermione fumed as they headed away from the north tower classroom.
"It's ridiculous to believe that we will be able to defend ourselves against dark arts by attempting to see danger coming before it comes." Mindy said. "What is that women thinking?"
"Well, I suppose that settles it for you, Harry." Ron said. "You have to hold D. A. now. There's no way anyone is going to learn anything in that class."
Harry sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I suppose I am. I think I'll go see Professor Dumbledore this evening and let him know I've made up my mind."
"Don't you want to wait until next lesson?" Mindy asked, looking over at Harry. "Maybe things will get better."
Harry shook his head. "I doubt that it will." He stopped in front of the corridor that led down to the dungeons, and looked back at Hermione and Ron. "Well, I guess I'll see you later." He said.
Hermione nodded. "And Harry, try to stay...I don't know...positive, okay. The class won't be that bad."
Harry nodded. "Okay."
Ron patted Harry on the shoulder and said. "Good luck."
"Thanks." Harry looked at Mindy. "Are you ready?"
She nodded. "Let's go."
~*~*~*~*
It had been a while since Mindy had been down to dungeons. Whenever she needed to speak with Severus she had always done so at dinner or in Professor Dumbledore's office. Even so, the dudgeons were exactly as she remembered them: cold, dank, and dark. How Severus could thrive in such an environment was beyond her.
When she and Harry arrived in the potions class she saw that Severus hadn't yet made it. There were several other students in the class, setting up their cauldrons. All of them were Slytherin.
"I knew it." Harry whispered to her. "I knew we would be the only Gryffindors."
"Maybe some others will come in." Mindy said.
Harry shook his head. "Not likely. Come on. I see a spot over there."
Mindy followed Harry to a secluded area of the class, as far away from the other students as they could get. Mindy looked around as she found her cauldron and began to set out her supplies. All of the Slytherins were giving them very nasty looks. She had never been on the receiving end of an ugly Slytherin glare, and she didn't like it. It was all she could do to keep herself from pulling out her wand and cursing the glares right off their faces.
One of the Slytherins approached Harry. Pansy Parkinson. Mindy knew her very well. She was mean spirited and was never very bright. It surprised her slightly to see the girl in this class, for it to be as difficult to get in as Severus claimed.
"What are you doing here?" Pansy growled at Harry.
"I was hoping I could learn how to bake brownies." Harry answered sarcastically.
Pansy cheeks flushed red. Her nostrils flared and she hissed. "It's all your fault."
Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm sure it is." He said, starting to turn away from the girl.
But Pansy stepped in front of him. And as she moved closer to Mindy, she could have sworn she saw tears in Pansy eyes. "It's your fault Draco's gone."
Harry said nothing to this. He only stared at Pansy as if she had completely lost her mind.
"Don't you even care?" Pansy more or less screeched.
"Why should I care about Malfoy?" Harry asked, his voice completely devoid of any sort of emotion.
This seemed to inflame Pansy even more. She screamed. "You ruined his life. You made him leave. You put his father in Azakaban. It's all your fault."
"It's not my fault his dear old dad is a Death Eater and evil son of ..."
Pansy screeched again, this time lounging for Harry.
"Hey!" Mindy yelled, pulling out her wand, ready with a leg binding curse, but another Slytherin stepped in before she could do any damage.
"That's enough, Pansy." Malcome Maddock yelled, running up and physically dragging his housemate back.
"Just you wait, Potter." Pansy yelled. "You're going to get yours."
"I said that's enough." Malcome yelled, pulling the girl away from Harry.
"She's coming for you. I've heard them talking and she's coming for you real soon."
"Shut up!" Malcome shouted, trying to drown out the words Pansy Parkinson was yelling. He spun around and tossed the girl back to the other side of the room. She crashed into an ungraceful heap on the floor and didn't move. "SHUT UP!"
Pansy looked up. She glared at Malcome, before turning the look on Harry. Standing slowly, she dusted herself off, and walked as calmly as she could back to her cauldron. The class was dead silent; everyone was staring at either Harry or Pansy. No one made a move, until Professor Snape walked into the room.
Severus stepped into the class and raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic silence. He said nothing about it, however, and moved to the front of the room. "Welcome back." He said, waving his wand, causing a serious of instructions to begin writing itself on the blackboard. He turned around, speaking again as the instructions continued to script across the board. "If you are here, you are the best of the potion students. While I am very surprised certain students are present," (here he glanced at Harry) "you should count yourself lucky. Now, the fun ends and the work begins. I will accept nothing less than perfect potions. Anything else is an automatic failure." Professor Snape turned back to the board where the instructions had completed transcription. "Your first potion will be a salinta potion. Who knows what that potion does?"
There were no immediate calls to answer. Mindy knew what it was, but she felt under the circumstances it would probably be best not to answer. Snape looked around the room. "Anyone?" He asked, his eyes scanning the students and stopping on Harry. "Mr. Potter?"
"Um. I don't know." Harry mumbled.
"Don't know, Potter?" Snape asked smirking at Harry. "I suggest you start to learn. Anyone who cannot cut it my class will be asked to leave. Mr. Maddock, tell Mr. Potter what the salinta potion does."
Malcome threw Harry a nasty look and answered. "Salinta potions silences the drinker for hours, days, or possibly weeks depending on the strength of the potion."
"Very good, Mr. Maddock." Severus turned to Harry and smirked. "You had best take note, Mr. Potter."
Harry's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.
"The instructions are on the board." Professor Snape said, waving at the blackboard. "Get started."
Harry leaned towards Mindy as Severus moved to the other side of the room to make sure his students were starting off correctly. "You see why I hate this class?"
Mindy nodded, but she wasn't thinking about Severus and his covert threats. Her mind was on Pansy Parkinson and what she yelled at Harry before being quieted by Malcome. What did she mean when she said 'she is coming to get you'? The statement wasn't much, certainly nothing she could go to Dumbledore with, but she would keep it in mind.
"I saw you pull your wand out." Harry went on in a whisper. "Thanks for getting ready to jump in there."
"What else would I've done?" Mindy asked looking at Harry. "Let her claw your eyes out."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "You think she could have done that?"
Mindy shrugged, "You have such nice eyes, Harry. Did you really want to chance it?"
Harry grinned. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you liked me."
Mindy smiled and started to answer, but never got the chance to.
"No talking Ms. James."
Mindy looked around, surprised to see Snape so close to her. She hadn't realized he had already worked his way around to their side of the room. "Sorry, Sev...,um Professor Snape."
The corner of Snape's mouth quirked up in the tiniest, briefest smile imaginable. If Mindy had blinked she would have missed it completely. Taking the small smile she had received as a good sign, Mindy turned back to her potion. It had been some years since she had actually brewed a salinto potion and she needed to concentrate anyway.
The class period wore on with out any further disturbances. Snape hovered of Harry a good deal of the time and Mindy realized why Harry hadn't done his best work in the class in the past. It must be impossible for the boy to concentrate when the professor was always staring down his back, looking for something wrong. Mindy made a mental note to talk to Severus about that. No matter what his feelings for Harry was, it just wasn't fair to treat him that way.
Mindy was half way through the list of instructions when she realized she didn't have any tongue of mute lizard. It was a minor ingredient and she could get by without it, but then her potion would be less than perfect, and she wouldn't put it past Snape to toss it away and give her a F. She leaned towards Harry and whispered, "Can I borrow some of your powdered tongue?"
"Ms. James, I said no talking." Professor Snape frowned looking back at Mindy from where he stood near his desk. "Five points from Gryffindor."
"What?" Mindy asked, not believing Snape was actually removing points. "I was only asking Harry if I could borrow some of his mute lizard tongue."
"Oh." Professor Snape said in an understanding manner. "That's a different story. Ten points from Gryffindor for being unprepared for class."
"That's ridiculous." Mindy frowned. "I was prepared. It was only one ingre..."
"Fifteen points for talking back."
"Talking back! I'm just trying to explain..."
"Twenty points now, Ms James. Do you want to go for twenty-five?"
Mindy stared at Snape, not sure if she should believe what she was hearing. "What are you doing?" She asked. He knew who she was, what she was doing. Why in the world was he punishing her?
"That's it, Ms. James. Detention."
Mindy opened her mouth to argue, but decided that would only result more trouble and shut it again. Snape gave her one last look before turning around to head for his desk. But before his face moved from Mindy's sight, she could have sworn she saw a grin threatening to break. She bet he really was enjoying himself. Well, if he didn't have a good excuse for his actions, Professor Dumbledore would hear about this.
Mindy finished her potion in silence. She did not utter a single word for the rest of the class period. She instead focused all her energies on think happy thoughts of dumping the stuff she was brewing down Snape's throat.
When the bell finally rung, Harry packed up his things and looked back at her. "Do you won't me to wait?" He asked.
Mindy shook her head. "No. I'll meet you in the great hall."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked.
Mindy nodded. "Go on."
"Alright." Harry picked up his bag and trailed well behind the last Slytherin, leaving Mindy alone with Snape in the dungeon classroom.
Mindy waited until the door had closed completely before turning on Snape. "What was that all about?" She asked. "I wasn't even doing anything."
"I needed to talk to you." Snape answered. "And I couldn't have you stay after without a reason."
"Oh." Mindy said, the temper she had been building starting evaporate away. That did make sense. "But did you have to take so many point off my house?"
"No." Snape answered smirking. "I just like taking points from Gryffindor."
Mindy folded her arms across her chest and frowned at Snape. "Well, what did you need to talk to me about?"
"How Professor Dumbledore is planning on calling you." Snape answered. "The way he sees it, he can't just call you in to see him every time he needs to talk to you. He doesn't send for students very often and sending for you as little as once a month would draw too much attention. I'll let you know when he needs to talk to you, and then you must do something in class to make me send you to his office."
"Okay." Mindy said. "I suppose I can see that."
"And also." Snape went on. "I will need you to brew your own de- aging potion."
"What? I thought you were suppose to do that."
"With class, and other things, I just don't have the time. It's bad enough I have to concoct a potion every month for Lupin. I certainly can't keep up with yours, as well."
Mindy narrowed her eyes. "You can't or you won't?"
"However you want to look at it, Minerva."
"I don't get understand you, Severus. You aren't asking Remus to make his own potion."
Snape scowled. "I wouldn't allow Remus Lupin in lab if I were dying from a particularly nasty poison that caused my insides to melt and he was the last creature on Earth that could cure me."
Mindy raised her eyebrows at this. "A little harsh, don't you think?"
"Just be expecting a detention every two to three months. And it might be helpful if you did something to warrant a detention."
"Let me make sure I'm understanding you correctly." Mindy said, holding up one hand. "You want me to be a problem student."
Snape thought about this and said. "Yes. It'll make things easier. You think you can handle that, Minerva?"
"Yes." Mindy said. "I believe I can. I need to go. The others we'll probably wonder what's taking me so long. Good-bye." She picked up her bag and headed for the door.
"I'll see you Friday at seven, Ms. James."
Mindy looked back, stopping halfway out the classroom door. "For what?"
"Detention."
"You weren't serious about that, were you?"
"Of course I was. When else are you planning on learning to brew your particularly specialized potion? Friday at seven and don't be late."
Mindy stared at Snape. He really was enjoying his newfound authority over her. Well, two can play at that game. If he needed her to be a troublemaker, then that's exactly what he was going to get.
~*~*~*~*
Yay. Chapter five complete. And ahead of schedule.
I've read the name Malcome Maddock somewhere before, but I don't remember where. I can't remember if I read it in passing in one of the HP books or if I read it in a fan fic. Well, anyway, if this name has come from somebody's fan fic, please allow me to borrow it. If it belongs to you and you don't want me using it, let me know and I'll erase all existence of it in my story.
Also, chapter six is going to be delayed for a while. I have a big test coming up that will be sucking up all of my time. Expect at the very least a two and half week gap. I will try to get it up before four weeks elapse, but no promises.
I think that's all I want to say.
Now it's your turn to have a part in the happenings of this story. REVIEW AND YOUR VOICE WILL BE HEARD!!!!!!
Au Revoir ^__^
You should probably also know that I decided that Alicia, Katie, and Angelina were all in their seventh year in book five and therefore have graduated. I am not entirely sure if that is true. I couldn't find a direct reference to their year. There is probably something in book one of the series, but I loaned my HP #1 to my cousin a little over two years ago and has never seen it again. If anybody knows for sure what year the girls are in, let me know. But anyway, for the purpose of this fic, they have graduated.
Also, I made two other mistakes. First, I missed spelled Slytherin a million and half times. Thanks for telling me about that one guys. It was one of the words I didn't even bother to look up. I just assumed there was an E. Secondly, in chapter two, I got one of the scoring letters for the OWL's wrong. I forgot to mention that little uh-oh in the A/N in chapter four. I said E stood for excellent. It does not. It stands for exceeds expectations. I couldn't remember what the E stood for, and just went with what was most logical to me. Any how. That is all.
Oh, yeah. I don't own Harry Potter. But I'm sure you could've guessed that yourself.
Read on.
~*~*~*~*
Chapter 5 An Eye for Defense
Word of what Ron did in Divinations spread like wildfire through the school. A mere hour after the class was over; all of Gryffindor tower had heard the story. By dinner, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw knew as well. And before dessert had been served, even the Slytherin house had the details. Harry couldn't believe the speed at which rumors flew through Hogwarts. And almost everyone was curious.
Everyone who was in the Divinations class spent a great deal of the evening being question about the events that had occurred. Lavender and Parvati were basking in the glow of the attention. They claimed to have witness the entire thing and told anyone who would listen that Ron had gone into a deep trance. They said his eyes turned a glowing milky-white as he forecast doom upon the school. Unfortunately everyone was listening, and half the student body believed Ron had prophesied a legion of Death Eaters would descend upon Hogwarts sometime between the second of November and the fifth of January by the end of the day.
Ron missed the brunt of the questioning, though. Firenze had ended class early and whisked Ron away to Professor Dumbledore's office. He didn't show up again until near the end of dinner. As Ron walked into the great hall, there was a noticeable murmur among the students. Lavender, who wasn't seated too far from Harry, gasped and poked Parvati in the ribs as if her best friend hadn't already noticed Ron's entrance.
Ron either did a very good job of ignoring the stares he received, or just didn't notice as he made his way to where Harry, Hermione, and Mindy were seated. Harry looked over at Ron as he plopped down between him and Hermione. Ron's face was incredibly pale; his freckles stood out sharply, making him look even more haggard.
Ginny came up and took a seat next to Mindy, across from her brother. "I heard what happened." She said.
Ron rested his head in one open hand and looked over at his sister. "Who hasn't?"
Ginny smiled weakly. "You noticed that word got around, huh?"
"Kinda hard to miss." Ron mumbled.
"Well, it is...exciting." Hermione said. "You being a diviner and all."
Ron grimaced. "Don't make fun, Hermione."
"Make fun? Why would I do that?"
"I know you think all this divination stuff is fake." Ron answered.
"No." Hermione shook her head. "I think Trelawney is all fake. I believe you."
Ron looked at her. "Why?"
"Because you wouldn't make stuff up for attention." Hermione answered simply. "But are you alright? You look..."
"Tired." Harry supplied.
Ron nodded. "I'm fine. I just need to eat something."
"Here." Mindy said, ladling some of the potato soup they had had with dinner into a bowl. "You should probably eat light, then lay down." She said, pushing the bowl towards him.
To Harry's surprise, Ron didn't frown at being treated like child by a girl his own age. He took the bowl and mumbled a "thank you". He dipped his spoon into his bowl, but before he could lift it to his mouth, a small hand tapped him on the shoulder. Harry felt the brush of robes against his arm, and he and Ron looked back to see Lavender and Parvati standing behind them.
Lavender looked down at Ron, a funny look in her eyes. "Hi, Ron." She said rather dreamily. "Is it alright if we sit with you?"
Ron opened his mouth, probably to say "no", but never got the chance. Lavender didn't wait for an answer. She shoved Harry down, and took his seat. "Do you mind?" Parvati asked Hermione before she shoved her out the way.
"Yes, I do mind." Hermione said indignantly, as she stood up.
"Well, that's just rude." Ginny frowned.
"Well, this is important." Lavender answered. She looked over at Ron, grinning. "We spread your message for you."
"Yeah." Parvati said. "We knew you would be too busy explaining your visions to Professor Dumbledore to do so yourself."
Ron frowned at the two of them. "My message? Visions?"
"Yes." Lavender said. "The visions you had during Divinations."
Ron shook his head. "I didn't have any...Wait a second. What are you telling people?"
"What you said about You-Know-Who." Parvati answered. "How he's coming here. Soon."
"You two have got to stop spreading those rumors." Mindy frowned at them.
"It's not rumors." Lavender retorted. "We were there. We saw it happen."
"I was there too." Mindy answered. "You're blowing things way out of proportion."
Lavender rolled her eyes and huffed at her. "You just don't understand." She said.
Parvati wrapped both of her hands around Ron's and, tilting her head to the side, batted her eyes at him. It was an attempt at looking sweet and cute; one that she wasn't pulling off very well. Harry grimaced and Ron looked as if he were going to be sick. "You were so brave today, Ron." She said. "What is it like to be a Diviner as good as Professor Trelawney?" She leaned in, her face only inches from Ron's. "Maybe even better."
"Er." Ron grunted, leaning away from the girl. Unfortunately, he was only leaning closer to Lavender, who took the opportunity to loop her arm through his.
"I've always hoped I'd meet someone like you, Ron." She said, smiling in what she probably thought was a coy manner. "If you ever need an understanding ear to talk to, I'm always here."
"Er." Ron grunted again, a look of both confusion and horror on his face.
"Come on you guys." Harry said, taking Lavender by her other arm and attempting to pull her off Ron. "Don't you think he's had enough for one day?"
"Yeah." Hermione frowned, her face a turning a bright pink. "Leave him alone."
Parvati whirled on Hermione, never releasing Ron's hand. "You're just jealous because you weren't there." She said.
"Besides." Lavender said, jerking Harry off. "We're only talking to him."
"You're suffocating him." Ginny scowled. "Get off my brother."
"You know what." Ron said. "I'm not hungry anymore." It took some prying, but he managed to disentangle himself from the girls and stood. "I'm going to bed."
Parvati and Lavender watched Ron leave, both of them looking extremely disappointed. Lavender turned on Ginny. "You've run him off." She fumed. "He didn't need you going into protective little sister mode."
"I don't think it was me that ran him off." Ginny said, folding her arms across her chest and giving the girls the ugliest look she could muster.
Parvati rolled her eyes at Ginny. "Oh, please." She said. "Come on, Lavender." The two of them stood as one and stormed away.
"Poor, Ron." Ginny said, watching the two girls walk back to their original seats. "He's never going to hear the end of this."
Mindy nodded. "Diviners are very rare, indeed. Do you think the whole school will be talking about this for long?"
Harry shook his head. "The news will get old, and it'll all blow over after a while." He said.
"Are you sure?" Mindy asked. "It doesn't really look like it will."
Harry nodded. "Trust me. I'm speaking from experience. This couldn't be any worse than when everyone found out I was a parsletounge." Harry stopped, realizing that Mindy didn't already know. He looked at her, but she didn't seem terribly surprised by the news.
"You're a parsletounge?" She asked, but there was no real curiosity in her voice. She may as well have been asking how's the weather while standing outside.
"Yes." Harry answered.
"Oh." Mindy said. She grinned. "Who would have guessed, two best friends would also be two of the rarest types of wizard in the world."
"Yeah." Hermione agreed. "Who would have guessed."
"It is some kind of coincidence." Ginny said, standing up. "I think I'm going to go check on Ron. He really didn't look alright."
"I'll come with you." Hermione said, pushing her dessert aside. The two of them left together, leaving Mindy and Harry alone.
"So you really think everyone will get over this?" Mindy asked.
"Definitely." Harry answered. "But I wonder what he said meant."
Mindy nodded, then asked, "Who do you suppose he was talking about when he said the marked one?"
Harry looked at the girl across from him. He saw her eyes drifting towards the scar on his forehead. She looked him in the eyes again quickly and said. "I think you should be careful, Harry."
Harry frowned and said, "What makes you so sure he was talking about me?" Mindy didn't say anything to this, only giving Harry a knowing look. Harry sighed. "Yeah, I figured he was talking about me, too."
Mindy leaned across the table towards him. "You should really be on the look out, I think." She said, speaking lowly so that no one else would overhear. "It's fairly obvious that Ron didn't get to finish what he was saying. So there's something out there..."
Harry frowned. "There's always something out there."
"Yeah, but if your best friend is prophesying about it, it must be serious, Harry."
Harry shook his head. "I won't be afraid of something I'm not sure even exists."
Mindy shook her head. "I'm not asking you to be afraid, just to be careful." She bit her bottom lip, then looked up, sincerity shining in her grey eyes. "If anything comes up, you'll tell me, won't you, Harry? You're...I...I think of you as a...a really good friend. I don't want anything to happen to you."
Harry looked at her. It was so obvious that she really cared about him, and right then he knew he could trust her with anything. Maybe even with what happened to Sirius. He nodded. "Yeah." He answered. "If anything comes up, I'll tell you."
Mindy smiled, then sat back. "Maybe we should head back to Gryffindor tower too. We have Defense against the Dark Arts and Potions tomorrow."
"Ugh," Harry groaned, as he and Mindy stood. "I know. Tomorrow is going to be a disaster."
Mindy grinned. "It won't be that bad. At any rate, it couldn't be anymore exciting than today turned out to be."
"Maybe not." Harry said. "But I have a feeling it's going to be miserable."
Mindy wrapped one arm around Harry's shoulder as they exited the great hall together. "At least we'll be miserable together."
Harry grinned. "Yeah." He said. "Together."
~*~*~*~*
When Harry returned to his room that night, he found Ron already in bed. The drapes were drawn around his four-poster bed, and Harry assumed he was sleeping. Not wanting to bother him, Harry tiptoed past Ron's bed and headed for his own. He pulled a pair of pajamas out of his trunk and started changing out of his school robes. Before he had finished changing, Seamus and Dean came in. The two looked at Ron's bed , and then walked over to Harry.
"So, what really did happen in Divinations?" Dean asked, stopping at the foot of Harry's bed. "I know what Lavender and Parvati are saying can't be true. Ron didn't really say You-Know-Who was coming, did he?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't think Lavender and Parvati even heard what Ron said."
"So, what did he say?" Seamus asked.
Harry shook his head, again. He didn't want to tell them the story. He knew they'd come to the same conclusion that he and Mindy had come to; that once again someone was after him. "It was pretty vague," was he felt like saying.
"Come on Harry." Dean said, sitting on Harry's trunk. "I know you're holding out on us."
"Yeah." Seamus agreed. "If something bad is coming, don't you think we should know about it?"
"Look, guys." Harry said, shaking his head. "I don't know what Ron meant. It didn't make much sense. But I don't think anything is coming." He added, seriously hoping that was true. "If I knew something for sure, I'd tell you."
Dean rubbed his head. "Yeah, I guess that's true." He looked over at Harry. "Are you going to hold D. A. again? I'd feel much better knowing I can really protect myself, if something does come up."
Seamus nodded. "I don't want to put all my faith in Trelawney. She's part of the reason we dropped out of Divinations this year. We were sure she was going to be teaching again."
"I'm not sure if I'm going to start D. A. again yet. Professor Dumbledore wants me to, but I think I'm going to wait until after class tomorrow before I make any final decision." Harry answered. "Trelawney might be good."
"Yeah." Dean said. "And the Slytherins might be decent, upstanding students." He grinned at Harry. "But I suppose it couldn't hurt to wait. Well, goodnight, Harry."
"Yeah, 'night, Harry." Seamus said.
"Good-night." Harry returned as the two boys headed for their own beds to change into their pajamas. Harry turned his attention back to buttoning his pajama top and thinking over what Ron had said. 'A friend of the Dark...' he had said. That certainly sounded like it could be Voldemort. Who was more friendly with dark magic than Voldemort? 'Attack the strongest castle of his enemy...' could that mean Hogwarts? Hogwarts was a castle and Professor Dumbledore was Voldemort's greatest enemy.
Harry picked up his robes, and began emptying out his pockets, throwing quills and loose change on his nightstand. The thing that worried him most about what Ron said, was 'the mark one should be wary of the black...' something. Black what? Harry had no doubt that he was the marked one. Now if only he knew what the black something was. There were a lot of black things in the world. What should he be wary of?
Harry's finger's brushed against a feather in his pocket and he pulled it out, thinking it was another a quill. He held it up in the dim light of the room, and saw that it was the black owl feather he had found the other night. He twirled between his fingers, wondering if it could be related to what Ron had said. He laughed softly to himself, thinking that was utterly ridiculous and placed the feather on his nightstand with the rest of his belongings. There was nothing sinister about an owl feather.
Deciding that staying up all night and worrying about what Ron had said wasn't going to solve anything, Harry laid down. He wondered if Ron remembered his vision, and decided he'd ask him in the morning. Maybe then he could find out what the black something was suppose to be. Closing his eyes, Harry drifted off to sleep.
~*~*~*~*
The next morning, Harry awoke to find Ron's bed empty. He dressed and washed quickly, then headed down to the common room. Ron was seated on the couch between the Creevey brothers looking very miserable. Denis was snapping pictures of him and Collin was asking non-stop questions to which Ron was not responding.
"What's going on?" Harry asked, as he walked up to the three.
"I'm interviewing Ron." Collin answered. "I've decided I'm going to be a reporter and Ron is my first big story."
"I'm getting a few pictures for my brother." Denis said, popping another roll of film into his camera. "They'll go great with his article."
"One more question, Mr. Weasley..." Collin said, turning back to Ron.
But the red head shook his head firmly. "No. No more questions. Harry's here and I have to get breakfast before class."
"Aren't you going to wait on your other friends." Collin asked.
"Yeah." Denis agreed. "Hermione and that new girl."
Ron shook his head. "They'll catch up." He said. He grabbed Harry by the arm and practically dragged him threw the portrait hole. "Man, I thought you'd never get down stairs." He said as they headed down the hall towards the Great Hall. "Those two were starting to drive me nuts."
"Why'd you put up with them?" Harry asked.
"They kept everyone else away." Ron answered. "Everybody is either in awe of me, or is giving me weird looks. And everybody keeps asking when You-Know-Who is going to show up. Or they'd ask me if I could see into the future for them. One girl even asked me if I could tell if some boy she likes likes her back. It's crazy."
"It'll blow over." Harry said. "Believe me. I know."
"I know." Ron sighed. "It's just not blowing over fast enough."
The two of them entered the Great Hall. It was still pretty early and there weren't many students down for breakfast yet. Harry and Ron found seats away from the other Gryffindors and made up their plates. After a bit, Hermione, Mindy and Ginny joined them, though Ginny left when Dean walked in to sit with him. Ron was too distracted to even gripe.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you." Harry said, turning to Ron after Ginny walked away. "Do you remember what you said? In Divinations, I mean."
Ron nodded. "Yeah. I remember." He answered flatly.
Harry nodded. "Do you know what any of it means?"
Ron shrugged. "Firenze says it could mean anything, and not necessarily what it sounds like." Ron looked up at Harry. "But I think someone is coming for you."
"We thought that too." Mindy said, pushing her eggs around on her plate.
Hermione nodded her agreement. Harry and Mindy had told her everything yesterday and she was familiar with the words that had poured out of Ron's mouth.
"What I want to know is," Harry went on "Well, the last thing you said was that 'the marked one should be wary...'"
" 'Of the black...' I know." Ron said. "I was there."
"I know." Harry said. "But black what? Assuming I'm the marked one..." ("And you probably are." Ron said) "...What should I be looking out for?"
Ron shrugged again. "I don't know. What I did, it really wasn't a vision. It was more like reading a code, without really knowing how to decode it. I couldn't finish reading it. I tried, but I started to feel...not so good."
Mindy blinked at Ron. "Reading a code?" She asked. "Where were the words written?"
"On the tree." Ron answered. "In the tree. It was written in the bark and the way the branches were arranged and in how the leaves overlaid. And it moved. Kept changing. It was saying a lot, the pattern in the tree was. I guess I can call it that. I couldn't catch it all. I read what stayed still the longest; what seemed the most important. But my head started hurting and I couldn't read the pattern anymore. It drifted away and got mixed up with the others. Nothing made sense anymore." Ron shook his head. "It's hard to explain. It's hard to understand."
"When Harry and Mindy told me what happened I went to library and found some books on the subject." Hermione said. "I checked them out. I think they might help."
"The answer to everything isn't in a book, Hermione." Ron frowned.
"Just read them." Hermione retorted. "They might be helpful."
"Fine." Ron said, giving Hermione a long-suffering look, which she pointedly ignored. He turned back to Harry and said, "I'm sorry I can't tell you anything more. Maybe I can pick up the pattern again. I'm supposed to start working with Firenze every evening. Tonight is my first session."
"It's alright." Harry said. "And don't push yourself. I'm not looking for trouble this year."
"You never look for trouble, Harry." Hermione said. "It tends to find you."
Harry smiled and opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.
"Mr. Potter."
Harry turned around and saw his new Transfigurations professor standing behind him. "Oh, hi Professor Lupin."
Professor Lupin gave Harry a bright smile that faded almost immediately. "Listen, did you receive an owl this summer about Quidditch?"
"No." Harry answered.
"Oh." Professor Lupin said, rubbing his chin. "Then you probably don't know."
"Don't know what?" Harry asked, panic beginning to rise him. Was Quidditch being canceled this year and someone had forgotten to tell him?
"Well." Professor Lupin said. "As you know, Angelina finished Hogwarts last year." Harry nodded and Professor Lupin went on, smiling weakly. "Congratulations, Harry. You've made captain."
"What?" Harry asked, his eyes widening in shock.
"I suppose Professor McGonagall had to leave before she could send you the owl. I should've let know before now Harry, but I assumed you already did. I'm sorry if this causes some set backs."
Harry only stared at Professor Lupin. He couldn't think of a thing to say. "No. No problems." Ron said, speaking for his temporarily dumb friend. "Congratulations, Harry." He added, giving Harry a slap on the back. "Quidditch captain. Now that's something."
"Er," was all Harry could manage.
"You might want think about holding tryouts." Professor Lupin went on. "You're going to need some new chasers and you might want to think about replacing your beaters."
"Er," again was all Harry could manage. "Yeah, we'll do that." Ron said, speaking for Harry once again.
"Right then." Professor Lupin said, turning to walk away. "Have a good day." He smiled at them and left.
"I'm captain." Harry said unbelievingly, watching Professor Lupin head back to the Professor's table. "How did that happen?"
"Well, I'm not surprised." Hermione said. "You're a great player and you've been on the team longer than anyone left."
"Don't worry, Harry." Mindy smiled at him. "You'll make a great captain. I'm sure of it."
"I suppose." Harry said.
"Yeah, you will." Ron said confidently. "Professor Lupin's right though. We do need to hold tryouts. We lost Angelina, Katie and Alicia. One of the chaser positions is already filled though. Ginny will take a spot and I know she'll make a great chaser. But that still leaves two more. And we do need new beaters. Those guys we got last year...well let's face it. They suck. When will you hold try outs?"
"Um, I don't know." Harry answered.
"What about Saturday?" Hermione suggested. "It's the first weekend of the year. Most of the students shouldn't have too much homework. It'll be the best day."
"I suppose." Harry said.
"Great." Hermione said. "I'll make a flyer and post it on the bulletin board."
"See, Harry." Ron grinned. "You're making great captain already. Let's go. I can't wait to see how much of a joke Defense against the Dark Arts is going to be."
~*~*~*~*
Talking about Quidditch put Ron in a much better spirit and the constant stares in the halls as they made their way to Defense against the Dark Arts didn't seem to bother him at all. Ron chatted happily about possible strategies Harry should try this year. Hermione mentioned seeing a book that might help and promised to find it later. Harry spent his time trying to convince Mindy to try out for the team.
"Come on, Mindy." Harry said. "You look like a chaser. I bet you're great on a broom."
"I don't know." Mindy said, shaking her head. "I don't know if I'll be any good."
"You couldn't do too badly." Harry said.
Mindy shrugged. "It's been a while since I've played Quidditch. What if I'm horrible?"
"We'll still be your friends." Ron said, grinning at her. "Even if we have to shun you in public."
"Thanks, Ron." Mindy smirked. "You really know how to inspire confidence and reassurance."
"I try."
"Come on, Mindy." Harry tried again. "Try out for me."
Mindy sighed. "Alright, Harry. I'll try out for you."
"Oh." Hermione said. She had just walked into the DaDA class. She looked back at the others and said. "Its empty."
Harry followed Ron inside and sure enough the class was empty. He frowned. They weren't that early. They couldn't possibly be the first students to arrive.
"There's a note." Ron said, walking towards the chalkboard where a piece of parchment was spell-o-taped. He groaned. "The class is going to be held in the old Divinations room. Up in the North tower."
"We'll never make it there on time." Hermione frowned.
"Professor Trelawney can't possibly take points off for tardiness." Mindy reasoned. "She has to know that most students would come here first. But still, we had better hurry."
Hermione nodded. "Let's go." She and Mindy hurried out of the room, Harry and Ron right behind them.
"What kind of Defense against the Dark Arts lesson does she have planned?" Ron wondered allowed. "There's not much that room is good for except Divinations."
Harry shook his head, sincerely hoping the class didn't turn out to be a waste. Now that he was Quidditch captain, he wasn't sure he had time to hold D. A. But if Trelawney really did turn out to be a terrible teacher, he just wouldn't feel right not holding the sessions.
The four made it to the ladder leading up to the North Tower well after the class should have started. They were all out of breath from practically running, but as they climbed into the tower room, Harry saw they weren't alone in their lateness. Half the class hadn't arrived yet and it was a good fifteen minutes before all the students were present. The Divinations class looked exactly the same as it had the last time Harry had been in it. The same small round tables were set up for the students. The windows were covered with heavy curtains and strong perfume was wafting from the fire in the back of the room.
Ron and Harry chose a table together near one of the windows and Ron looked around disheartenly. Harry had the same sinking feeling. This class was not going to go well.
"Now that everyone is seated." Professor Trelawney said in what Harry had come to think of as her mystic voice. "Let's begin, shall we." She floated towards the center of the class, her colorful robes billowing out around her. She was back in her full Diviner glory. It was almost as if Umbridge had never stripped her of her position and attempted to throw her out of the school just last year. "Welcome to Defense against the Dark Arts. This year you will learn the most important expect of defending oneself against the evil that lurks out there. This year you will learn to see the danger before it comes." She paused here, possibly for dramatic effect. "I will teach you how to have an Eye for defense."
The students looked at each other, wondering what exactly it was Professor Trelawney was getting at. Ron reached into his backpack and pulled out his book. He flipped through it and looked up frowning. "Harry, this is a Divinations book." He hissed.
Harry, who hadn't cracked the book before today, reached into his bag and yanked it out. Flipping through the chapters he saw that Ron was right. It was a Divinations book. There was a defensive twist to it. Instead of chapter one being about reading crystal balls, it was about reading crystal balls to search for possible enemies. But no matter how you twisted it, it was still Divinations.
Most of the class had started to pick up on this as well. Harry heard Hermione and Mindy at the table behind his and Ron's grumbling about the lesson. "Utterly ridiculous." He heard Mindy whispering furiously. "Completely insane." Hermione agreed.
"For you see." Professor Trelawney was saying. "The best way for you to defend yourself against dark magic is not to be caught near it in the first place. The only way to prevent being caught by dark forces is to know when said forces will appear. You must have the Eye. You must learn to use the Eye. It is the only way to truly be safe. Everyone, take out your books and began chapter one."
The class did so, everyone looking quite disappointed. Of all the possible things Harry had expected, this was not one of them. He wondered if they would even get the chance to use their wands this year, or if they would spend all of their time looking into a crystal ball and pretending to be seeing some darkness coming.
About halfway through the lesson, Professor Trelawney floated over to Harry and Ron's table. "Mr. Weasley." She said, her large eyes seeming even larger behind her thick glasses. "I know what happened to you yesterday." She said this as if no one else knew, and it took some kind of special connection with the universe to even be aware of what occurred. "I have always known there was something special about you. I saw it the moment you stepped into my class. All of your assignments have always been particularly insightful. More so than any other student."
"Er, thanks?" Ron said.
"I am just glad my instructions have done some good for you. I know you will excel in this class under my guidance. If you ever need special help in your divination studies, my door is always open."
"Um, Okay."
Professor Trelawney gave Ron a misty smile before floating away to another table. Ron looked over at Harry and grinned. "Do you think I should tell her, every assignment I ever turned in to her was completely made up."
"What? And make her question whether or not she had anything to do with you being a diviner?"
Ron shook his head. "She'd probably just say, 'I knew, Mr. Weasley. But I also saw your talent and allowed you to get away with it'."
Harry laughed. "You must really be a diviner."
Ron shrugged. "Well, if you've got talent."
They spent the entire class period reading chapters one and two. Harry wasn't sure if this class was any better than last year when they had Umbridge as a teacher. At least then they were forced to read a real Defense against the Dark Arts book. But happily, Professor Trelawney didn't assign any homework and they were allowed to leave in peace.
"What a waste of a lesson." Hermione fumed as they headed away from the north tower classroom.
"It's ridiculous to believe that we will be able to defend ourselves against dark arts by attempting to see danger coming before it comes." Mindy said. "What is that women thinking?"
"Well, I suppose that settles it for you, Harry." Ron said. "You have to hold D. A. now. There's no way anyone is going to learn anything in that class."
Harry sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I suppose I am. I think I'll go see Professor Dumbledore this evening and let him know I've made up my mind."
"Don't you want to wait until next lesson?" Mindy asked, looking over at Harry. "Maybe things will get better."
Harry shook his head. "I doubt that it will." He stopped in front of the corridor that led down to the dungeons, and looked back at Hermione and Ron. "Well, I guess I'll see you later." He said.
Hermione nodded. "And Harry, try to stay...I don't know...positive, okay. The class won't be that bad."
Harry nodded. "Okay."
Ron patted Harry on the shoulder and said. "Good luck."
"Thanks." Harry looked at Mindy. "Are you ready?"
She nodded. "Let's go."
~*~*~*~*
It had been a while since Mindy had been down to dungeons. Whenever she needed to speak with Severus she had always done so at dinner or in Professor Dumbledore's office. Even so, the dudgeons were exactly as she remembered them: cold, dank, and dark. How Severus could thrive in such an environment was beyond her.
When she and Harry arrived in the potions class she saw that Severus hadn't yet made it. There were several other students in the class, setting up their cauldrons. All of them were Slytherin.
"I knew it." Harry whispered to her. "I knew we would be the only Gryffindors."
"Maybe some others will come in." Mindy said.
Harry shook his head. "Not likely. Come on. I see a spot over there."
Mindy followed Harry to a secluded area of the class, as far away from the other students as they could get. Mindy looked around as she found her cauldron and began to set out her supplies. All of the Slytherins were giving them very nasty looks. She had never been on the receiving end of an ugly Slytherin glare, and she didn't like it. It was all she could do to keep herself from pulling out her wand and cursing the glares right off their faces.
One of the Slytherins approached Harry. Pansy Parkinson. Mindy knew her very well. She was mean spirited and was never very bright. It surprised her slightly to see the girl in this class, for it to be as difficult to get in as Severus claimed.
"What are you doing here?" Pansy growled at Harry.
"I was hoping I could learn how to bake brownies." Harry answered sarcastically.
Pansy cheeks flushed red. Her nostrils flared and she hissed. "It's all your fault."
Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm sure it is." He said, starting to turn away from the girl.
But Pansy stepped in front of him. And as she moved closer to Mindy, she could have sworn she saw tears in Pansy eyes. "It's your fault Draco's gone."
Harry said nothing to this. He only stared at Pansy as if she had completely lost her mind.
"Don't you even care?" Pansy more or less screeched.
"Why should I care about Malfoy?" Harry asked, his voice completely devoid of any sort of emotion.
This seemed to inflame Pansy even more. She screamed. "You ruined his life. You made him leave. You put his father in Azakaban. It's all your fault."
"It's not my fault his dear old dad is a Death Eater and evil son of ..."
Pansy screeched again, this time lounging for Harry.
"Hey!" Mindy yelled, pulling out her wand, ready with a leg binding curse, but another Slytherin stepped in before she could do any damage.
"That's enough, Pansy." Malcome Maddock yelled, running up and physically dragging his housemate back.
"Just you wait, Potter." Pansy yelled. "You're going to get yours."
"I said that's enough." Malcome yelled, pulling the girl away from Harry.
"She's coming for you. I've heard them talking and she's coming for you real soon."
"Shut up!" Malcome shouted, trying to drown out the words Pansy Parkinson was yelling. He spun around and tossed the girl back to the other side of the room. She crashed into an ungraceful heap on the floor and didn't move. "SHUT UP!"
Pansy looked up. She glared at Malcome, before turning the look on Harry. Standing slowly, she dusted herself off, and walked as calmly as she could back to her cauldron. The class was dead silent; everyone was staring at either Harry or Pansy. No one made a move, until Professor Snape walked into the room.
Severus stepped into the class and raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic silence. He said nothing about it, however, and moved to the front of the room. "Welcome back." He said, waving his wand, causing a serious of instructions to begin writing itself on the blackboard. He turned around, speaking again as the instructions continued to script across the board. "If you are here, you are the best of the potion students. While I am very surprised certain students are present," (here he glanced at Harry) "you should count yourself lucky. Now, the fun ends and the work begins. I will accept nothing less than perfect potions. Anything else is an automatic failure." Professor Snape turned back to the board where the instructions had completed transcription. "Your first potion will be a salinta potion. Who knows what that potion does?"
There were no immediate calls to answer. Mindy knew what it was, but she felt under the circumstances it would probably be best not to answer. Snape looked around the room. "Anyone?" He asked, his eyes scanning the students and stopping on Harry. "Mr. Potter?"
"Um. I don't know." Harry mumbled.
"Don't know, Potter?" Snape asked smirking at Harry. "I suggest you start to learn. Anyone who cannot cut it my class will be asked to leave. Mr. Maddock, tell Mr. Potter what the salinta potion does."
Malcome threw Harry a nasty look and answered. "Salinta potions silences the drinker for hours, days, or possibly weeks depending on the strength of the potion."
"Very good, Mr. Maddock." Severus turned to Harry and smirked. "You had best take note, Mr. Potter."
Harry's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.
"The instructions are on the board." Professor Snape said, waving at the blackboard. "Get started."
Harry leaned towards Mindy as Severus moved to the other side of the room to make sure his students were starting off correctly. "You see why I hate this class?"
Mindy nodded, but she wasn't thinking about Severus and his covert threats. Her mind was on Pansy Parkinson and what she yelled at Harry before being quieted by Malcome. What did she mean when she said 'she is coming to get you'? The statement wasn't much, certainly nothing she could go to Dumbledore with, but she would keep it in mind.
"I saw you pull your wand out." Harry went on in a whisper. "Thanks for getting ready to jump in there."
"What else would I've done?" Mindy asked looking at Harry. "Let her claw your eyes out."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "You think she could have done that?"
Mindy shrugged, "You have such nice eyes, Harry. Did you really want to chance it?"
Harry grinned. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you liked me."
Mindy smiled and started to answer, but never got the chance to.
"No talking Ms. James."
Mindy looked around, surprised to see Snape so close to her. She hadn't realized he had already worked his way around to their side of the room. "Sorry, Sev...,um Professor Snape."
The corner of Snape's mouth quirked up in the tiniest, briefest smile imaginable. If Mindy had blinked she would have missed it completely. Taking the small smile she had received as a good sign, Mindy turned back to her potion. It had been some years since she had actually brewed a salinto potion and she needed to concentrate anyway.
The class period wore on with out any further disturbances. Snape hovered of Harry a good deal of the time and Mindy realized why Harry hadn't done his best work in the class in the past. It must be impossible for the boy to concentrate when the professor was always staring down his back, looking for something wrong. Mindy made a mental note to talk to Severus about that. No matter what his feelings for Harry was, it just wasn't fair to treat him that way.
Mindy was half way through the list of instructions when she realized she didn't have any tongue of mute lizard. It was a minor ingredient and she could get by without it, but then her potion would be less than perfect, and she wouldn't put it past Snape to toss it away and give her a F. She leaned towards Harry and whispered, "Can I borrow some of your powdered tongue?"
"Ms. James, I said no talking." Professor Snape frowned looking back at Mindy from where he stood near his desk. "Five points from Gryffindor."
"What?" Mindy asked, not believing Snape was actually removing points. "I was only asking Harry if I could borrow some of his mute lizard tongue."
"Oh." Professor Snape said in an understanding manner. "That's a different story. Ten points from Gryffindor for being unprepared for class."
"That's ridiculous." Mindy frowned. "I was prepared. It was only one ingre..."
"Fifteen points for talking back."
"Talking back! I'm just trying to explain..."
"Twenty points now, Ms James. Do you want to go for twenty-five?"
Mindy stared at Snape, not sure if she should believe what she was hearing. "What are you doing?" She asked. He knew who she was, what she was doing. Why in the world was he punishing her?
"That's it, Ms. James. Detention."
Mindy opened her mouth to argue, but decided that would only result more trouble and shut it again. Snape gave her one last look before turning around to head for his desk. But before his face moved from Mindy's sight, she could have sworn she saw a grin threatening to break. She bet he really was enjoying himself. Well, if he didn't have a good excuse for his actions, Professor Dumbledore would hear about this.
Mindy finished her potion in silence. She did not utter a single word for the rest of the class period. She instead focused all her energies on think happy thoughts of dumping the stuff she was brewing down Snape's throat.
When the bell finally rung, Harry packed up his things and looked back at her. "Do you won't me to wait?" He asked.
Mindy shook her head. "No. I'll meet you in the great hall."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked.
Mindy nodded. "Go on."
"Alright." Harry picked up his bag and trailed well behind the last Slytherin, leaving Mindy alone with Snape in the dungeon classroom.
Mindy waited until the door had closed completely before turning on Snape. "What was that all about?" She asked. "I wasn't even doing anything."
"I needed to talk to you." Snape answered. "And I couldn't have you stay after without a reason."
"Oh." Mindy said, the temper she had been building starting evaporate away. That did make sense. "But did you have to take so many point off my house?"
"No." Snape answered smirking. "I just like taking points from Gryffindor."
Mindy folded her arms across her chest and frowned at Snape. "Well, what did you need to talk to me about?"
"How Professor Dumbledore is planning on calling you." Snape answered. "The way he sees it, he can't just call you in to see him every time he needs to talk to you. He doesn't send for students very often and sending for you as little as once a month would draw too much attention. I'll let you know when he needs to talk to you, and then you must do something in class to make me send you to his office."
"Okay." Mindy said. "I suppose I can see that."
"And also." Snape went on. "I will need you to brew your own de- aging potion."
"What? I thought you were suppose to do that."
"With class, and other things, I just don't have the time. It's bad enough I have to concoct a potion every month for Lupin. I certainly can't keep up with yours, as well."
Mindy narrowed her eyes. "You can't or you won't?"
"However you want to look at it, Minerva."
"I don't get understand you, Severus. You aren't asking Remus to make his own potion."
Snape scowled. "I wouldn't allow Remus Lupin in lab if I were dying from a particularly nasty poison that caused my insides to melt and he was the last creature on Earth that could cure me."
Mindy raised her eyebrows at this. "A little harsh, don't you think?"
"Just be expecting a detention every two to three months. And it might be helpful if you did something to warrant a detention."
"Let me make sure I'm understanding you correctly." Mindy said, holding up one hand. "You want me to be a problem student."
Snape thought about this and said. "Yes. It'll make things easier. You think you can handle that, Minerva?"
"Yes." Mindy said. "I believe I can. I need to go. The others we'll probably wonder what's taking me so long. Good-bye." She picked up her bag and headed for the door.
"I'll see you Friday at seven, Ms. James."
Mindy looked back, stopping halfway out the classroom door. "For what?"
"Detention."
"You weren't serious about that, were you?"
"Of course I was. When else are you planning on learning to brew your particularly specialized potion? Friday at seven and don't be late."
Mindy stared at Snape. He really was enjoying his newfound authority over her. Well, two can play at that game. If he needed her to be a troublemaker, then that's exactly what he was going to get.
~*~*~*~*
Yay. Chapter five complete. And ahead of schedule.
I've read the name Malcome Maddock somewhere before, but I don't remember where. I can't remember if I read it in passing in one of the HP books or if I read it in a fan fic. Well, anyway, if this name has come from somebody's fan fic, please allow me to borrow it. If it belongs to you and you don't want me using it, let me know and I'll erase all existence of it in my story.
Also, chapter six is going to be delayed for a while. I have a big test coming up that will be sucking up all of my time. Expect at the very least a two and half week gap. I will try to get it up before four weeks elapse, but no promises.
I think that's all I want to say.
Now it's your turn to have a part in the happenings of this story. REVIEW AND YOUR VOICE WILL BE HEARD!!!!!!
Au Revoir ^__^