Coming Out of the Broom Closet (Chapter Six)

I woke up early the next morning, glad to see that Ginny had retreated to her dorm and gotten some sleep. I walked to my bag and dug through it for my Divination book. "Hmmm…" I thought to myself, "I could ask Parvati or Lavender for help. They practically worship the ground Trelawney refuses to walk on." I laughed to myself while storing the idea away, in case I didn't want to talk to the crazy old bat.

I retrieved the book and placed on my bed before choosing my clothes to wear under my robes. I then walked to the bathroom, all the while, trying to recall the dream in as much detail as possible. Ginny had been right when she had said that I wouldn't remember. I groaned to myself.

I finished in the bathroom and walked to my room. My book was open. I looked around the room and saw that both Parvati and Lavender were both asleep. I looked at the page the book was open to. "Prophetic Dreams" I read. I looked around the room again. Surely this was someone's idea of a joke? I rubbed my eyes, though from tiredness or confusion, I didn't know. I read through the page only to realize that I had almost bought into all this divination crap. I closed the book and put it back into my bag before I strode over to my roommates' beds to look at them both. I crouched down.

"Parvati? Lavender? Are you two awake?" I whispered. I sighed. I knew they were both awake, they were both waiting for me to ask for help. I stood and, in a monotone voice, I continued, "I need help." Their eyes flew open but they stayed in their warm beds, unmoving. I groaned, "With divination." They both shot up.

"Did you hear that?" Parvati asked Lavender.

"She needs help…" Lavender informed her.

"With divination!" they both screeched together. Parvati then rushed to find her books. It seems that, on the last trip to Hogsmeade, they both went shopping. For books on divination.

I sat on Lavender's bed. "So," I began, "think you can help me?"

They both looked at each other and the smiles faded slightly. "Divination is unpredictable, Hermione. If you don't believe in it, we cannot help you at all." Lavender told me, slightly dejected.

I turned my head and rolled my eyes. "Right," I thought to myself, "it can't possibly have anything to do with the act that it is the least dependable and real magic we have ever learned." I sighed.

"First," Parvati began, "you'll need to tell us what you want us to do. What did you want help with?"

"My dream…" I started, more than a little nervous. In fact, I could see my hands begin to shake, just remembering it. "I wanted to know if there was a meaning behind it." I told them.

"Well," Lavender began, "we'll need to know what happened." I shuddered.

"I'd really rather not recount the dream. It was quite frightening." I told them, closing off further attempts of theirs with a mere look.

"We can't help you if we don't have information." Parvati stated huffily, slamming the book shut. "I don't know what you expect us to do." She began grabbing at all her books while glaring at me.

I sighed, getting upset. "Then divination clearly doesn't tell you anything, or else you would already know! It's a very unreliable magic anyway. Bullocks if you ask me!" They both gasped in response and asked me as politely as possible to please keep my opinions to myself. I continued with my rage, though. "And, Professor Trelawney is a mad old bat who doesn't know anything. If she knew anything worth her salts then she'd be able to make good predictions, not bloody ridiculous ones! Harry die? HA!" I strode out of the room, mumbling to myself. They were right, though. I just couldn't imagine telling them, though. "I'll consult Ron and Harry." I told myself grudgingly, realizing that they couldn't help me if I refused to let them in.

I wandered down to the common room and sat by the fire. I sat there five minutes, maybe, before Ron and Harry rushed down the stairs. Harry had apologized to me for letting McGonagall see the parchment by now and I had forgiven him. They both came over to me and sat on the arms of chairs nearby.

"Ready to go to breakfast?" Ron asked me. I nodded in reply and we all rose from our seats and began walking toward the portrait hole. Ginny rushed down from the girl's dormitories screeching at us to stop and wait for her. Ron looked at us, begging with his eyes that we walk faster. Harry didn't care one way or another and so he looked to me. I planted my feet and waited. After the talk the night before, I felt as though waiting as the least I could do. Ron rolled his eyes and also waited, while Harry merely laughed quietly in response as Ginny reached us.

"feeling better, Hermione?" she asked me. I smiled and nodded which only made Harry and Ron widen their eyes in confusion.

"I had a…" I stopped. I didn't know what to call it. Nightmare didn't seem strong enough.

"Girl problem!" Ginny whispered harshly to save me from answering. I nodded in agreement and both the boys widened their eyes more before turning sharply and walking ahead.

"Meet you at breakfast!" They called while hurrying away. Ginny and I laughed and began walking slowly behind them, careful to walk far enough behind to ensure they wouldn't be able to hear.

"Thank you." Ginny nodded in a way that simply stated "No problem."

"Anyway, I see that you are awake and well. What did you say to Lavender and Parvati? I asked them where you were and they got all huffy and told me to please go away."

I laughed. "I said some pretty harsh things about divination, all of them I still believe to be true. I wanted help trying to interpret my dream but I hadn't wanted to tell them anything about it."

Ginny stopped walking and grabbed my arm, turning me toward her, "You can't possibly still think it's going to happen, do you?" I averted her gaze.

Of course I didn't. But… Something in my gut told me to be afraid. Since I refuse to be afraid, I want to block out any possibility with logic that it could happen. "Of course I don't." I smiled to reassure her. "Come on," I began walking again. "the boys will be waiting for us." She looked at me, as if trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not before following me.

"Good. It wouldn't ever happen. Ever." Ginny then smiled and began asking about what I had said about divination to anger Parvati and Lavender.