AU: God, I'm so sorry that I've taken so long to update. It's just that I was away all summer, and Luke, my editor was away and then school… anyways I would have had it out a lot sooner, but Luke has had it for like almost two months and still hasn't sent it back so sorry for all of you who hate my spelling, but this chapter has only been edited by me. I just didn't think it was fair to keep you all waiting so long. I've also started a STARGATE fic for those of you who like Stargate so check that out and my Sailor Moon story is going to have a major upload of chapters in a few moments or maybe it already has. Oh well. Just letting you know. I don't know when the next chapter will be out so just hang in there. I'll try to have it out soon. Please remember to Review when you're finished reading. Thanks! Enjoy!
– Chapter Ten –
Visions of the Curse
When Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall the next morning, everyone seemed to quite down and stare at Harry. Harry knew why, but still wished that they wouldn't stare. He had enough to worry about and he never could think straight when people were contently staring at him as though he was a disease.
He did get some satisfaction though. As they passed by the Slytherin table, Harry was quite pleased to see that Malfoy was glaring daggers at him; mostly likely for the detention he received from Dumbledore. 'At least something good had come out of what happened last night,' Harry thought to himself.
"Well, serves him right after what he did. I hope Dumbledore makes him clean the hospital bedpans, without magic!" said Ron, as they took a seat at the Gryffindor table.
Harry noticed, unfortunately, that some of the Gryffindors were scooting away from them as though they though being near him were a great crime. He also noticed that people were still staring at him and whispering behind his back when they were sure that he wasn't listening.
He sighed and started to eat. Having all this attention was the last thing he had wanted. Too bad there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Hermione had also noticed that people were staring at Harry. "Just ignore it, Harry. Everything will be back to normal in a few days. Don't worry about it." She reassured.
Harry looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks, Hermione, though I doubt that it will be that simple." He slowly took another bit of his bacon. He really wasn't all that hunger.
"New fifth year timetables," said George Weasley, and passed them over. He then noticed Harry sulked expression. "What's up, Harry?"
Harry didn't even bother looking up from his food. He was surprised that the Weasley twins hadn't heard yet. "Look around?" Harry said, in a monotone voice.
Both Fred and George looked around to find that people were staring in fear at Harry. "Cheer up, mate," said Fred. "It's not like your not use to this. I'll go away just like it always does."
Harry nodded, though he didn't quite believe what they were saying. Sure he was used to it, but that didn't mean he liked it. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he stared down at his timetable.
Ron frowned, "Great. Divinations first thing." He said, not at all liking the idea.
Hermione just shook her head. "Well, try to think of it this way. At least you don't have Professor Twelawney. She's gone, remember." She took a bit out of her toast.
"But we have no idea what this new professor is like. What if he's worst the Twelawney?" Ron added, trying to kill his eggs with his fork.
Harry sighed. "I don't think he'll be that bad, Ron. Dumbledore assured me that he's a real seer. And as long as he doesn't start predicting my death every two seconds, I'll be happy."
Hermione smiled. "Well, if he is a real Seer, you'll learn a lot but I still say Divinations is a big flock of dragon dung. "
"You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonance's of the future," said Ron, doing a perfect Twelawney impression.
All of them laughed and received weird glances from people all over the Great Hall. Hermione paused for a moment, and then shook her head. "Didn't she say something like that to me in our Third Year?"
Ron laughed. "Where did you think I got that from? That must have been the only time we've ever seen you talk back to a teacher.
Hermione grinned, "Well, she did deserve it. All that 'Inner Eye' nonsense was driving me mad."
"Harry Potter?" said a shy voice from somewhere behind Harry. Harry turned to see the little girl he had saved last night, standing a few feet away from him, looking very nervous, but not nearly as shaky as she had last night.
Harry smiled at him friendly. "Hi Zoe. Feeling better?"
Zoe decided that it was safe to walk a bit closer. "Yes. I just… I just wanted to thank you. I never meant to be that silly."
Harry shook his head at her. "Don't worry about it, it wasn't your fault. It happens sometimes when you're new."
She smiled at him. "My mother owled me this morning. She was told about what happened last night and she always wants to say thank you."
"Tell your mom that she's welcome." Harry smiled.
Zoe nodded and ran off to join her first year friends. "She's a cute kid, isn't she?" said Hermione watching her have fun with her friends.
"Yup, sure is." Harry answered. He then stared down at his watch. "I think we better get going."
Ron and Hermione nodded and they all grabbed their bags. The hall went silent again as they walked out. As soon as they were out of earshot, Harry gave an out a growl of frustration. "Can't they just stop that!"
Hermione just shook her head at him. "You can't really blame them, Harry. If I didn't know you as well as I do, I'd probably be acting the same way."
Ron nodded in agreement, but said nothing. He was afraid of saying something that he might regret. So he decided to try and change the subject. "I can't wait to start Defense Against the Dark Arts. I bet Sirius is just as cool as Professor Lupin."
Harry smiled. "I can't wait either. Sirius is the best. I'm sure that our first lesson with him will be eventful."
Hermione took a quick glance at her timetable. She then smiled. "Well, we won't have long to wait. We have Defense after lunch."
Both Harry and Ron grinned. They walked up a stairwell and once they reached the top, went their separate ways. "I'll see you at Transfiguration." Hermione called as she disappeared down the hall.
Harry and Ron waved to her, then quickly made their way to the North Tower. "You would… have thought… that this new professor…would have been smart enough… to move the class… closer… to our other… classes." Ron remarked halfway up a set of stairs, completely out of breath.
Ron shook his head as they finally came to the huge circler room below the Divination classroom, full of all the other fifth years. "To bad your dad, Sirius, and Remus never found a short cut to this place. It would have been really helpful."
Harry nodded. Why did Twelawney put her class so far away from all the others? Maybe she just like to torture them by making them run all the way here and have to deal with all the moving stairs and doors that didn't like to open.
Suddenly, music filled the air. Students whirled around in circles trying to figure out where it was coming from. The music was growing louder. It was eerie, and spine tingling. It gave Harry a feeling of hope and pleasantness. Then, as the music reached its peak, flames erupted near the top of one of the windows.
"Oh My God," shouted a Ravenclaw girl. "It's a Phoenix!"
A crimson bird the size of a sawn had appeared, piping its beautiful music through the room. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons.
A second later, the bird was flying straight at Harry. It landed heavily on his shoulder. As it folded its great wings, Harry smiled up at it fondly, but in surprise. The bird stopped singing. It sat still and warm next to Harry's cheek, gazing happily down at him as though it knew something he did not.
"That's a phoenix…" said Neville, staring amazed at it.
"Hello Flame." Harry cooed, and he felt Flame's golden claws squeeze his shoulder gently.
"Harry," said Lavender slowly. "Why is that phoenix perched on your shoulder?"
Harry just simply stared at her for a moment, not exactly sure what to say. If he told them that she was his phoenix, there would be even more gossip about him and that was something he wanted to avoid. But how? What could he tell her?
He glanced over at Ron for help, but Ron was just as much at a lost as he was. 'Great,' he thought. 'Thanks so much Flame.' He glared up at her angrily.
He sighed in defeat. "Because she's mine." He heard gasps and people started whispering things. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he knew that he would probably find out sooner or later. Word had a tendency to travel quickly in this place.
"Why would you have a phoenix?" Parvati asked, leaning closer to get a good look at the bird.
"Well," he started, but he was saved from answering as the trapped down opened and the silver ladder fell down and landed at Harry's feet.
Harry quickly scrabbled up the ladder, not wanted to talk about how he had gotten Flame. Flame took flight and soared through the trapdoor just ahead of him. As he and Ron entered the room, they were both surprised to find that the curtains and windows were wide open and the usual strong cent of perfume was gone.
Ron nudged Harry forward and said, "Well, at least he's not trying to make use sick with all that perfume she had up here."
Flame sang out to get his attention. She was perched on the table by the window where he and Ron usually sat. Harry just shook his head and made his way over to her. "Sometimes," he said, "I think you know more then you let on."
She just crocked her head at this then flew up to his shoulder. Ron took a seat beside Harry, trying not to notice the weird looks people were giving Harry. He hoped Harry didn't notice. He decided to try to keep Harry occupied. "Looks like we'll be doing some orb gazing to start," Ron said, gesturing to the misty sliver orb in the center of the table.
Harry sighed as he stared at the orb. Orb gazing was very boring in his opinion. Nothing but a ball of silvery mist.
"Good morning class." Said a voice from across the room. The students looked up towards the fireplace to see a middle-aged man dressed in purple robes with sandy brown hair. He had on round glasses that framed a pair of hazel eyes that seemed to hold a vast amount of knowledge and wisdom. He sorted reminded Harry of Remus, just not as tried looking.
The man smiled. "My name is Professor Toggart. I'll be filling in for Professor Twelawney this year and maybe even longer, depending on how long she is away."
'Well,' thought Harry. 'At least he doesn't sound anything like Twelawney. That's a start.'
"Now," said Professor Toggart. "From the notes Twelawney left me, I know that you've already done orb gazing, but I thought that we'd just do a bit a review before moving onto some new things and also just so I can see if any of you can see something. Most people don't have the right… the right type of magic to perform Divination and if you do, it's very hard to learn without a teacher who can perform it themselves." People began to snicker in the class while Lavender and Patil scowled.
Harry watched Lavender's face turn red with anger. He knew how much she adored Twelawney. He really didn't want to be here when she exploded.
"Can you perform it, then?" Lavender blurred out, crossing her arms defiantly.
Professor Toggart merrily smiled at her and answered calmly, " We'll that depends. What exactly do you want to know?"
Harry could tell Lavender had not been expecting that answer. She started wide-eyed around the class for a moment 'til her eyes landed on Harry. She then smiled smugly. 'Uh-oh,' Harry thought.
"Is something bad going to happen to Harry?" she said.
Harry's mouth dropped open. "Don't get me involved in this?" he said, feeling a certain kind of dread. Did he really want to know the answer to that question? With Voldemort around, anything was possible.
But Professor Toggart seemed unconcerned. He sighed. "Lavender, if there's on thing you should have learn from this course it's this: No one should know anything about their future. Divination does allow people to gaze into the future, but it's never good to know too much. For example, if I told you that someone you knew was going to die tomorrow, you would of course try to prevent it, but by doing so, you may end up doing the thing that cause them to die. It's never good to try and meddle with time. That is one of the reasons why Prophecies are always written in riddles. You never understand them until the exact moment when it is necessary that you understand it."
This stunned the class into silence. Even Flame was quiet. Harry had never heard anything like that before in Divination. Professor Twelawney always tried to get them to for see their deaths or other important events in the future.
"Well," said Professor Toggart, rubbing his hands together excitedly as though nothing had happened. "If you're all satisfied now, Let's get to work. What I want you to do is to try and see an even from the past in the orb. The past is normal much easier to focus on then the future because it has already happened. If any of you have the ability for Divination you should hopefully see something before the end of class. Get to it."
Harry sighed and pushed the orb to Ron. "You try first."
"Alright then." Said Ron, puling the orb so that it was directly in front of him. His face scrunched up as he pretended to be in deep concentration. Harry stifled a laugh.
"Hmm…" Ron mumbled, the slivery mist reflecting in his eyes. "I see… I see Professor Twelawney, leaving Hogwarts at a run. Something's chasing her. It… It looks like…" Ron gasped, "It's the grim."
Harry couldn't help but laugh. Some people looked at them strangely but they ignored them.
"Interesting, Ron," Harry and Ron jumped at the sound of Professor Toggart's voice. He was standing right in front of their table, but he didn't look mad at all. He was smiling. "I heard Professor Twelawney had a problem with grims. Seemed to think they were everywhere."
Ron couldn't help but smile, though Harry noticed the tips of his ears had gone red, like they always did when he was embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it, Ron," said Professor Toggart. "Not everyone can do Divination. At least you tried." He then turned to face Harry. "Why don't you give it a try now?"
"Sure," said Harry and Ron passed him the orb.
"Remember to concentrate hard on the past. Try not to think about anything else."
Harry nodded and gazed into the orb. He was a bit annoyed when he noticed that Toggart was watching him closely but then decided to ignore that and just focus on the orb.
After a few minutes of seeing nothing but silvery mist, Harry rubbed his eyes and looked back up at Toggart. He seemed to be thinking about something. What, Harry didn't know.
"That's odd. It seems that there's something their, but it can't surface." Toggart mumbled. Harry and Ron exchanged glances. What was that suppose to mean?
"Try it this way, Harry, " he said, coming to stand by Harry's side. "You see how the silvery mist is circling that bluish center."
"Yes." Harry answered.
"Try focusing on that center and ignore the shadows you see in the mist."
Harry nodded and sighed. This was going to take awhile. He focused on the center of the orb; try not to look at the shadows and trying to concentrate on seeing that past. He felt like he had been starting into that thing forever and was about to stop, when he saw something in the center. It was an image.
Suddenly, the silvery mist glowed gold and Harry felt like he was being pulled into the orb, drowning in it. In a flash of golden light, Harry found that he was no longer in the Divination classroom, but was standing in the middle of… a living room.
Harry stared around the beautiful room in confusion. "What?"
At that moment, a man walked into the room carrying a small child. Harry couldn't believe his eyes. It was… his father. He didn't seem to see Harry at all as he hunted around the room in search of something.
The child in James' arms started to cry and Harry realized that it was him, as a baby. "Ssh, Harry," said James, soothing down the untied mop of jet black hair on baby Harry's head. "I'll find Rory. I know he's around here somewhere."
Harry didn't understand. Was he acutely seeing the past? But… how? He just couldn't figure it out. He had never seen anything before. Why did he all of a sudden start seeing something. Maybe it was all just a dream, though he highly doubted it. It seem too real.
James sighed after searching the whole room to no avail. "Lily?" He called out into the a-joining hall. "Have you seen Rory? I can't find him."
'What the hell is Rory?' Harry thought, but a voice interrupted his thoughts. "I think I saw him in the kitchen by Harry's high-chair." 'Mom?' Harry thought, looking out into the hall, but he didn't see her.
"Now why didn't I think of that?" said James, shaking his head on his way towards the kitchen. Harry followed. The a-joining hall stretched from the front door all the way back into the kitchen. It was lined with pictures of the Marauders and of Harry and his family. Harry's eyes tear up as he watched the pictures wave to him. They all seem so… happy.
As Harry entered the kitchen, he saw things he had only ever seen at the Weasels. The dishes were cleaning themselves, there was a stove in the corner heating up a bottle of milk, the broom was just finishing the floor. He wonder if this was what his life would have been full of had his parents survived.
His father was bending over at a high-chair by the side of the table retrieving what looked like a stuffed griffin. Baby Harry immediately stopped crying upon seeing his beloved toy.
"Here you go, squirt," said James, handing the toy to his son. Baby Harry giggled as he grabbed hold of the toy then preceded to suck on it's furry ear.
"Find it?" Harry whirled around to get his first true look at his mother. He had often hear people describe his mother as being very beautiful, but had never had anything to base that on except for the pictures he had. But now, he realized how true everyone was. Her red hair fell down to just below her shoulders and her blazing emerald eyes were filled with such knowledge along with wisdom.
James nodded as Lily moved towards them. She smiled fondly at her son as he clung to his father and the toy. Harry couldn't help but feel a painful ache in his chest. It hurt to see his parents with his younger self, knowing that he would never again know what it felt like to be hugged or loved by his parents.
"James?" Lily said, his voice now grave and fearful. "Do you think something's gone wrong? I mean, we haven't hear from Peter or Sirius lately. What if something happened to them?"
"I'm sure their fine," said James though his eyes didn't quite show it. "If something had happened, we would have found out by now."
"I know," said Lily. "But I can't shake off this bad feeling that I have. I feel as though something's gone wrong."
James just merrily nodded. Harry could see the tension in his body, like he felt the same way. Maybe he did.
James sighed. "Well, come on, squirt. Better get you off to-"
A banging noise interrupted him. Barking follow, then… nothing. Dead silence.
"James?" said Lily, a faint note of fear in her voice.
"I'm sure it's nothing," he said, but Harry noticed that James was reaching for his wand. Wand in hand, James crept back into the living room, his other arm tightening securely around baby Harry. Lily and Harry followed close behind.
Harry understood what was happening now. This was the night Voldemort attacked them. The night his life ended and the pain began.
James pulled back the red curtain beside the sofa and peered out into the dark night. He saw nothing at first, but then he saw a cloaked figure moving silently towards the house. James' body tensed up and Lily grabbed his arm, fearing the worst.
"James, what is it?" Her voice was trembling now.
James shut the curtain and turned to face her, his face grave. "Lily, it's him." He handed her baby Harry. "Take Harry and go. I'll hold him off."
Lily hesitated. Baby Harry was reaching out to James. James pushed he towards the hall. "Go!"
Lily nodded sadly, realizing what he was doing and ran back into the kitchen with baby Harry. Harry watched her from the hall as she tried the back door, but found it locked. It was guarded by some sort of spell. "Dame it," she mumbled then head back out into the hall and ran up the stairs.
James moved in front of the stairwell, guarding it. Harry wished that he could do something, but this was in the past. There was no way of changing it. All he could do was stand-by and watch. Watch his parents die at Voldemort's hands and watch his younger self become the 'Boy Who Lived'.
The Front door crashed open and there, standing among the rising mist and rubble, was Lord Voldemort. Voldemort's red eyes landed on James and Harry's scar began to tingle. Harry saw his father visibly tense up, but still held his wand out steady in front of himself.
"Well, James Potter," Voldemort drawled. "We meet again."
'Again?' Harry thought. 'My dad has faced Voldemort before?'
James didn't seem affected by this statement. Voldemort moved closer. "You've cost me a lot of trouble, James. What with you and your Mudblood capturing my Death Eaters." Voldemort grinned. "But I won't hold it against you if you take me up on my offer. This is your last chance, James. Don't squander it."
Harry didn't understand What offer? What was Voldemort going on about? His father couldn't have been making a deal with Voldemort? His father was dead, and from everything he had heard from Sirius and Dumbledore, this just didn't seem to fit.
"You know my answer, Voldemort. I've already told you the answer is no. I wasn't aware that you had a hearing problem as well as an insanity one."
Voldemort flared up with rage. "You're a fool not to join me, James. We could have done great things together."
James smirked. "There's no way in hell I'd join you. All you want is my son, but I'm not going to let you have him."
Harry tried to understand what he was hearing. Voldemort had want his father to join him, but he also wanted Harry. But why did he want Harry? Why did he want to kill him? It was the great mystery of Harry's life. Why did Voldemort want to kill him?
"I can't allow that child to live, James." Hissed Voldemort.
"And I can't allow you to hurt him. Expellumus!"
Voldemort blocked it easily. "You've disappointed me greatly, Potter. I had expected better of you. Cruto!"
"No!" Harry screamed out, but it didn't matter. James fell to the floor screaming and withering in pain. The cries of a child could be hear in the background above James' screams. Harry eyes tear. He didn't want to see this. He wanted it to stop.
Voldemort lifted the curse. "Oh, James. Now, I'm afraid, I'll have to punish you."
James lay still, panting hard at the bottom of the stairs. All he could hear clearly was the sounds of his son's cries from just up the stairs. "Harry," he breathed, knowing that he would never set eyes on him again.
Voldemort stepped closer and knelt down beside James. "You could have helped me James. But you're too pigheaded to see what you've given up."
James stared up at the ugly face that had ruined his life. He had failed. He couldn't protect Harry. Harry knelt down beside his father and tried to put a hand on him, but couldn't. His hand went right through him. 'Oh, Dad.'
Voldemort's eyes narrowed. "I know what you're thinking, James, but you're wrong. I'm not going to kill you, but I'll do something much worst. I'm going to send you somewhere where you will wish for death. I hope you enjoy watching you're son and everyone else that you love die."
James spit at him. "Go to Hell!"
Voldemort sneered. "You first." He then stood and pointed his wand at James. Harry tried to look away, but found that he couldn't. "Good-bye, James Potter. Remerus Destructsive!" There was a flash of blue light then there was silence.
"Harry? Harry!"
Harry's eyes blinked. He was back in the Divination classroom; Students were standing all around him. Ron looked both worried and concerned.
"Harry, are you alright?" Professor Toggart said, peering into Harry's eyes as though he knew what had happened. Maybe he did.
Harry just closed his eyes and tried to will the images he saw away, though it didn't seem to work. He felt like crying right now, but knew that he couldn't. He opened his eyes again and nodded. "I'll be fine."
Ron breathed a sigh of relief. "What on Earth was that, Harry? You were in some kind of trance and kept muttering things under your breath. We only caught something about your father and You-Know Who."
"I did what?" Harry looked around him to find that every single student in the class was standing around their table, staring at him with either fear or amassment. He looked down at the table wanting to avoid their glazes. He wasn't quite sure what had happened. Did he have a real vision? But then, why hadn't he had one before now?
Professor Toggart cleared his throat. "Alright everyone. Settle down and return to your seats. I don't want to hear anyone one talking about this, is that understood?" He said and received a few murmurs of 'yes, sir' from around the class.
Harry smiled up at his gratefully. Professor Toggart squeezed Harry's shoulder reassuringly then head back up to the front of the class.
Harry sighed and sank further down in his seat. What a great first day this had turned out to be? Maybe this was what Dumbledore had been talking about in that meeting a few days ago. He just never thought that this was what he had meant.
Flame flew down into Harry's lap and watched him closely as though she knew what he was thinking. He began to stroke her absently, finding that it help to sooth his worries. She seemed to have that affect most of the time.
"Now," Professor Toggart said. "For Homework. I'd like you to read pages one through twenty and do questions 1-10 on page twenty-one. Dismissed."
Harry slowly gathered his books and put them back into his book bag. Ron seemed to be watching him closely, which just annoyed him to no ends. "I'm okay, Ron. Really?" he said, though it was obvious that Ron still didn't believe him.
"Are you?"
Harry sighed. "I'll be fine."
"I sure hope so, cause at the moment it sure doesn't look that way." Ron said, heading for the ladder.
Once the reached the bottom, they slowly began their way to Transfiguration. People kept glancing back at Harry and whispering things when they didn't think he was looking. 'Will this never end?' he thought.
Ron of course just kept silent. He was jealousy of Harry yet again, but with the way his friend was acting, he tried to bury the feeling as best he could. Harry needed he and Hermione right now.
"Ron! Harry!" They both looked up to see Hermione running towards them, a huge smile on her face. Harry tried to smile back, but failed miserably.
Hermione finally reached them, bursting to tell them all about her class, but her smile faltered when she saw the look on Harry's face. "What happened? Your new teacher couldn't have been that bad, could he?"
"There's nothing wrong with our teacher, Hermione." Harry answered. "Quite the oppose. He really knew he stuff."
"He didn't predict your death, did he?" asked Hermione.
Harry shook his head. " He wouldn't tell us anything about the future, saying that it was dangerous to know too much about your future."
Hermione was starting to get frustrated. "Then what on Earth could the matter be?"
Harry just stared at the floor and didn't answer. Ron sighed. "We were orb gazing again. Trying to see a part of the past, and well, Harry… did."
"You did?" she said, not quite believing what she was hearing. "What did you see?"
Harry slowly looked up from the floor. Both Hermione and Ron were staring at him now. He sighed. "I saw… I saw Voldemort's attack on my parents."
"You sure?" said Hermione. "You didn't just remember it?"
"Hermione, I was one-year-old when Voldemort attacked us. There's no way that I could remember that. Besides, in the vision I watched my father die, but my one-year-old self was with my mother. Even if I had remember something, I couldn't have remembered that cause I wasn't there." Harry ended softly.
After hearing this, Ron and Hermione decided not to push the issue. They reached the Transfiguration classroom and waited patiently for Professor McGonagall to come. People were trying to stay as far away from Harry as possible, which only made him feel worst. 'What a fun year this is turning out to be,' He thought.