Chapter 5 - A Dark Holiday Predicted
By: Zero Star (zrostar)
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~ A large chess board spread out before him, on one side was Voldemort the black king, Wormtail in the position of the bishop, and his pawns were robed in identical black with masks and the dark mark carved into their chests. On the other side, the white king, Albus Dumbledore. Various members of the staff as his knights and bishops, pawns were the various fools in the ministry. It looked as if a great battle were able to start. Harry himself stood away from the chess board, in blackness that was wet and cold. He felt as if he were chained in mid air. Helpless but aware and struggling. Was he a trophy to be won in this war? At the same time, it seemed all the pieces were talking and laughing merrily with each other.~
"AAAAAAAAHHH!" Harry shouted falling out of bed. He panted a long moment and held his scar in his hands. His head ached terribly.
"Harry! Are you alright?" Ron was at his side, looking for a way to help. "It was another one, wasn't it? One of those horrible nightmares?"
Harry slowly stood and sat on his bed. "No, it wasn't," He rubbed his scar absently. "it had far to much detail."
"Umm. You alright there?" Ron didn't know what to make of Harry, and was growing more worried by the second. "You look bad, mate."
"What time is it?" Looking around for his clock, which hadn't been unpacked yet, Harry felt relief wash over him and pain melt away. "No you see, Ron it's 7:30! Had it been one of those nightmares I would have woken up at 3AM, and not been able to get back until dawn. I actually feel good for a change." He lied.
Ron cocked a disbelieving eyebrow. "Well... good... I think. It's almost breakfast time. So how about you tell me and Hermione all about it, over some tea."
There were sounds of the Gryffindors talking and laughing loudly as the duo walked down into the common room. Deja-vu for Harry, he had just heard these sounds in his dream. Hermione held her stomach laughing, she was telling Dean and Seamus what a complete jack-a-ninny Draco had made of himself on the train.
Harry and Ron smiled at each other.
"I bet Ginny could have made a manlier sound then that!" Neville gauffed.
Somewhere by the window, Ginny nodded in agreement.
----
At the breakfast table, the students were looking over their schedules, chatting and eating.
"No, it didn't feel anything like the others." Harry entrusted to Ron and Hermione. "It was like, a battle ground I think. That was just the feel of the dream. Probably inspired by recent events. I could hear Hermione laughing from downstairs. In my other dreams... it's so overwhelming that would never have happened. Besides, there was to much detail. The others are like this washed out... blackness."
Ron grinned, "Good, maybe you've finally broke them. Hogwarts is protected in and out after all."
"We'll see." Harry murmured, he could still feel a piece of that cold, blackness in his bone.
Hermione leaned in to whisper, "Harry, haven't you always dreamed strange things your first night back in the castle?"
Come to think of it, he had! That may explain his break in the trend. First night back, but not the last staying.
He glanced up at the High table. The Head of Gryffindor was looking her usual self, only speaking worriedly with the Headmaster. There was no trace of the Egyptian guest... or Professor Snape.
Straining as hard as he could, Harry could just make out words McGonagall was forming:
"Albus, I haven't seen him since last night. He looked so ill."
"They're talking about Snape." Harry whispered to his friends.
"Maybe he died - " Ron started.
"SSSSSHHHHHHHH!" Hermione exclaimed. "This might be important."
The three grew silent to listen.
The Headmaster's turn to speak.
"Not to worry, Minerva. He is capable of caring for himself. He'll come forward when he feels it's the best time for it."
This seemed to be the end of it. McGonagall was a bit put out.
"Oy, look at this." Colin Creevey had announced, startling half the table. "Defense Against the Dark Arts has been moved to an evening class. That ever happened before?"
"An evening class? Before or after Potions?" Neville worried.
"That would be after, Neville." Seamus stated, Potions class began sometime after noon on the norm, usually the last class of the day.
"Neither." Ron said after looking over his own schedule. "It's on a Friday, 7 PM. Well, I'll say! Can't be any worse than those 'midnight astronomy classes in the highest tower of the castle' crud. I mean seriously, walking up all those stairs in the bloody middle of the night, then sitting through a two hour class on star gazing. Then you have to go back down - "
"RON!" Hermione shrieked, her face was turning red.
"What?" A sheepish grin.
----
The rest of the day was strangely peaceful. Since it was the first day of most classes, the majority of time had been spent going over the various syllabi, class room policies, safety procedures, teacher methods of instruction, equipment, supplies needed, student responsibilities... etc.
The only problem so far was the Slytherins. Gryffindor still shared most of their classes with them. They were their usual charming selves, save for Draco. He was still embarrassed and shaken from the encounter on the train.
"What's next, Ron?" Harry asked between classes.
"Just lunch." He unwrinkled his schedule from a pocket. "Then it looks like Divinations is our last class for today."
"Excellent!" Harry exclaimed. However, he wasn't thinking about the class. He was thinking about a nap he may be able to take instead of some crystal ball fiasco. "Let's go find Hermione."
----
"I found something out about a few of our new students." Hermione seemed very pleased with herself.
"Spit it out then." Ron wasn't in the mood for female gossip.
"Fine! Do you remember those four blonde girls in the station? Well, one went into each house. The Ravenclaw told me. I meet her in the library. She also claims her sisters are all psychic, but only when they are together, and that something bad is already in the school. Has been for years. No one ever noticed it, until now." She finally stopped to sip from her goblet.
Ron looked at her with disdain. "Breath from time to time when you're talkin' it's good for you." He filled his mouth with a fist sized chunk of bread. "So a luch off gelees ur pettiten ow fat?"
Harry couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Ron, maybe you should chew your food before talking."
Ron coughed a few times then swallowed. "Alright alright... I SAID," his eyes on Hermione. " 'So a bunch of girlies are predicting our fate?' You know that female intuition doesn't impress me much."
"Ron! I didn't say I believed them, just that it was interesting." With that she stuck her nose in her book and ignored the rest of the table until the end of lunch.
Harry had to admit hearing about evil lurking in Hogwarts this early in the year wasn't a good thing, not at all. Even if they were just joking.
"It's been known to happen..." Harry said more to himself than anyone else. But Ron replied anyway.
"You mean the chamber of secrets?" He looked at Harry as if some giant monster were casting it's shadow across the table as they spoke.
"Yes. It's always been here, just no one ever knew about it."
----
Divinations class wasn't hard by any means, the homework was easy enough. Make up visions of your own gruesome death and you'll score an easy 100%. Dealing with the room and the teacher was another story altogether.
The red smokey room, was always hot and filled with incense. It's colored lamps made it a terrible forum for lectures. It was always to dark. Harry got the feeling of being in a cramped gypsy wagon when in this room and since he always had his fortune told, it made a sick kind of sense.
Trelawney sat in her usual spot, like the glittering insect that she was. Class was about to begin.
"This year something very special is happening." She seemed disturbingly excited. "Of course, most of your other teachers won't be speaking of it... there is a very rare allignment of stars about to happen. When these stars align themselves with the eclipsing moon, one of the rarest events in Divinations history will occur..."
Trelawney threw up her hands, twisted her face into a terrible grimace, and whispered. "The Darkest Night shall befall the Earth."
Several girls from the back row gasped, but mostly Lavendar and Pavarti.
Ron raised his hand. "Ma'am... what exactly is the Darkest Night?"
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Sevvie fans, fear not. I love him too. :)
10-30-02