"Man, this is so cool." Harry wandered towards the Divination classroom, savoring the excitement and thrill of the feeling of discovery.
The excitement made him feel like he lived, and he could practically feel himself inflate with willpower after the last day's use of True Magik had left him feeling down and wary.
The rush was not as high as it could have been, but Harry didn't want to risk elevating the feeling further with drugs that might accidentally carry him Forward, as it'd get counterproductive to fill and drain the metaphorical bucket at the same time.
Even though Harry had kept up the appearance of being in full control, the 'reality' often differed.
Harry took a comb from his pocket, adjusted his hair a bit, and felt as his hair grew as he combed it until it was so long that he could tie it to a ponytail and let it rest against his back, followed by quickly dusting his robes that straightened out immediately. 'Snape gave me that hint about hair… I'm not exactly sure it was an insult or genuine advice disguised as an insult, but I should play along just in case. That latter part about 'James' was likely just to check if I'd get offended too easily to be healthy, in Hermetic Order's standards of being riled-up anyway.'
"How did- Nevermind." A voice came from the side and Harry glanced at the boy that had flanked him all the way to the Divination classroom.
Harry was fairly sure that the boy was called 'Blaise Zabini', a dark-skinned Slytherin boy with very short hair who had followed Malfoy around earlier, but since Malfoy hadn't taken Divination classes, the silver-haired boy had whispered something to Blaise and the latter had started to follow Harry around.
Or rather, guide Harry as he had lifted his eyebrow at Blaise and asked him to show Harry to the Divination classroom.
Blaise had changed expressions rapidly before finally coming to a determined if calculating nod, bowed slightly, and then led Harry to his destination.
"My lo- ahem, mr. Potter? Could I ask your opinion on something?" Blaise coughed to his fist as Harry and the boy waited in front of the classroom fifteen or so minutes before the Class was supposed to start.
"Go ahead, friend."
"Fr- ahem! I mean, yes!" Blaise coughed to his hand again as Harry's choice of words seemed to have unbalanced him a bit. "That show in the Potions classroom… I cannot help but curse my ignorance and lacking wit, as I did not understand the point of it all. Please help me understand, lor- friend?"
Harry nodded, as he had suspected that something like that would be the case- Namely, that he'd be asked for intentions, and that the tower of cards that he'd accidentally set up would get turned against him as the Slytherin who had called his wit would turn on him.
Naturally, Harry reacted appropriately.
Which is to say, no half measures.
So, Harry decided to crash the house of cards instead of allowing it to be used against him. "I had no idea. It merely happened, and I went with the flow. To be honest I have no idea what I'm doing."
"You had- um." Blaise paused and stared a bit. "I, uh, I see. Yes, um, very well."
Harry nodded, causing Blaise to practically fall to his own world as he was thinking quite hard. "So, how are you doing, Blaise?"
"I- um-!" Blaise suddenly looked very nervous. "I'm… In perfect health, my lord!"
"Drop the 'my lord'. I am not your lord." Harry told the boy,
Blaise seemed to think for a split second, his eyes widened in sudden terror, and he promptly fell to his hands and knees.
"I apologize for any disrespect I have shown! Please, my lord, give me another chance!" The boy practically screamed against the floor while he had paled to the complexity of paper.
Harry huffed in annoyance as it looked like Snape had been correct- The Slytherin proper were practically dancing circles around his little show of wits in the Common Room. 'I've been a bit too arrogant. This isn't good- But I should have guessed that digging myself out of the hole I've dug is not an easy process.'
.
.
.
Blaise Zabini was terrified.
He had overseen how Draco reacted to the newspaper's contents, and had seen Potter speak Parseltongue.
It wasn't hard to put the two together.
Blaise's mother, who was 'working' on her eighth husband by now, had been very clear to explain the 'tricks of the trade' for her son, giving Blaise a certain unique view of things. And those lessons had served him well in the business of the Noble families and their scions, who he called his classmates.
The disappearance of Lord Voldemort, which coincided with the disappearance of Harry Potter, as well as the death of 'Potters'... The fact Potter could speak Parseltongue… And how he was in 'contact' with 'himself', like sons being mirrors of their fathers…
Blaise had already deduced that Harry Potter was Lord Voldemort's son, and that the lord had used Lily Potter as a surrogate womb to get his son to the world- Which also explained why the Light had fought so hard to keep the Potters safe: To keep Lord Voldemort from reuniting with his son, after Lily had brought him to the world.
After all, Lord Voldemort would have been fully aware that a sentimental old sod like Dumbledore could never order Lily or her son to be killed, no matter who the father of the child was- After all, the child would be 'innocent' in the eyes of the Leader of Light, and it was very unlikely Lily had agreed to go along with lord Voldemort's plan- But as Blaise knew from her mother's stories, consent was something to consider but not always necessary.
It had been futile in the end for the Light, though. And Lord Voldemort had departed Magical Britain to raise his son, bringing 'an end' to the war- Or rather, a pause to it.
And Harry was now coming to age, and had been drawn back to Magical Britain due to the foolishness of whoever had put Harry's name to the Goblet of Fire.
Lord Voldemort would be certain to follow- Or more likely, he was already here, just observing from the shadows.
The appearance of Dark Mark in response to the Death Eaters once again donning their robes and attacking the Quidditch World Cup… Blaise was certain: Lord Voldemort had returned. But instead of returning in flames of war, he came covertly.
Quietly. Like a snake moving in tall grass, for the prey to spot it only when it was too late.
With Potter as his Herald.
The last mystery was why Lord Voldemort had chosen Lily Potter as the surrogate womb, and not, say, Bellatrix Black, but Blaise saw through that disguise as well, as his mother's wisdom guided his way of thinking: The war had raged, and if Bellatrix had been drawn from the front lines for nine months, then the chances were that the tide could have turned against the Dark Lord, whereas Lily was of the Light, and her absence from battle would only harm the Light side.
Moreover, even though Blaise had been under the impression that Lily Potter had been a mudblood, he realized that it had in actuality been a clever misdirection- After all, Blaise had heard rumors through his mother that Severus Snape had, at one point, attempted to approach Lily romantically when the two were studying in Hogwarts- A piece of leverage that Blaze would use if he ran into serious trouble and need to force Snape's hand.
Naturally, someone like Severus Snape could not possibly hold such feelings towards a mudblood, which practically screamed that Lily was only claiming to be one of them, and was in reality a long-lost scion of a Pureblooded line that had stayed hidden and wanted to keep it that way.
But it was all semantics.
After all, Blaise had had the gall to question Lord Harry's motives, after he had called Blaise a 'friend'...
So, as was appropriate, Lord Harry merely shrugged his shoulders, and claimed ignorance to Blaise's question.
That was… unfortunate, but Blaise could live with that. It merely indicated that Blaise had overplayed his hand, and needed some time to lick his proverbial wounds before he'd earn enough favor to try to ask something from Lord Harry again.
However…
Lord Harry had then turned towards Blaise, and said 'I am not your lord'.
It was practically equivalent to calling Blaise a traitor to the Heir of Slytherin- Nay, to Lord Voldemort and the whole Dark.
Blaise realized in split second that if he didn't act fast then his foolishness could compromise Blaise, or worse, could potentially spill over to cause Lord Voldemort to look at Zabini family with contempt- Something that they needed to avoid at any cost, as it would certainly cause both him and his mother to lose their heads. After all, according to the principle, Blaise's mother should have taught her son to be better than that.
So Blaise fell to his arms and knees, and begged for mercy.
.
.
.
It was that sort of scene that greeted the group of students who had opted to take Divination, and had rounded the corner to see Blaise Zabini groveling and begging for mercy from Harry Potter, who merely looked annoyed at the boy.
.
.
.
Sufficient to say, the students from houses other than Slytherin, who arrived to the Divination class in various degrees of lateness, found the normally-arrogant Slytherin in a surprising but pleasant (at least from the point of view of other houses) dazed state.
Harry sighed internally as it looked like bad timing had foiled his attempt to foil his own scheme. 'I'll get myself one day, just you wait, me. You can't hide from my plots forever!'
For some reason Harry remembered a tale of a Master in Sahajiya Tradition who had witnessed something truly horrible, and had set out to kill his past self so that he would never see it, only to be intercepted by his future self who convinced him to live, but in the end, the interference had resulted in their past self being exposed to the horror that the present self tried to prevent.
And the Master had woken up to see a message from his past self thanking him for allowing himself to live, but that had been a letter that his future self had told his past self to write lest doom falls upon him.
Sufficient to say, Harry was serious when he swore vengeance against himself for foiling his own plan somehow.
He wasn't sure how exactly, or why exactly Blaise had done what he had, but Harry was fairly sure that Harry had something to do with it, and that Harry would pay for interfering with Harry's plans.
Regardless, Harry shook himself off his brooding and focused on the class as the teacher had arrived.
The woman was shambling a bit and was moving with clumsy footsteps, all the while she had thick bottle-bottom glasses that caused her eyes to appear almost comically oversized.
The classroom was dimly lit, and instead of chairs and desks, it had pillows and tea-tables spread haphazardly over a thick rug that was so fluffy that resembled a rough blanket more than a traditional mat.
"Class… Today we… ahh…!" The teacher pointed at a cupboard that looked to be full of teacups. "Harry Potter!"
"Present, Professor."
"I foresaw your arrival to this classroom… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but I must… Ah…" The professor, who had not introduced herself so Harry had zero idea who she was other than she was probably a teacher, seemed to nearly faint as she paused to wave her hands around in erie waves almost as if she was acting overdramatic on purpose.
"Professor Trelawney does this to every new student, my lord. She'll predict your death next." Blaise leaned nervously towards Harry and whispered. "I apologize for interrupting my lord's concentration."
"It's fine." Harry whispered back while the teacher seemed to be doing some sort of choreographed act.
"Harry Potter- I see… I see a great threat… My Inner Eye tells me… that you are in grave danger, and that you… I'm sorry to say this, Harry… But you will die, lest you take drastic action to change your fate." Trelawney finished with a great sigh and fell to her knees on the sitting pillow opposite to Harry on the tea-table. "I wish I could tell you more, but the Inner Eye can only see so far… And it is only so far that I am willing to see, for deep mysteries and fathomless secrets lie beyond the veil that covers our eyes for our safety…"
"I am thankful for your guidance, Professor, and shall take this warning to heart." Harry bowed deeply- The woman might be insane, but that was not at all an uncommon trait for those who could properly utilize Divination, which was a combination of Mind and Time- And even Harry, despite his affinity with Time, would not risk peering further than a few hours into the future without an appropriate Foci.
And here Trelawney was, Divining without a Foci, merely by acting dramatic.
It was very impressive.
Harry felt grateful for Trelawney using her skills to guide him, even if vaguely, so he figured that he should try to repay her somehow. "Professor, may I attempt to repay you for this… prophecy?"
"Ah, you need not…" Trelawney looked surprised.
"I insist." Harry reached into his pocket, and pulled out a tarot card deck- His Fate Deck.
If he was honest, he had no idea how exactly it worked, outside being a useful tool for sending and receiving messages years into the past and the future. The final gift Harry had received from his Master.
Harry hoped that Trelawney could teach him to use it properly, and lifted his eyebrow at the Professor who glanced at the deck, at Harry, looked a bit hesitant, but finally fidgeted until she sat properly opposite to Harry.
"G-go ahead, but I cannot guarantee that my Inner Eye won't interfere with your telling…" Trelawney sounded a bit nervous and nodded, causing her thick glasses to wobble a bit on her face, alongside shimming and clinking of numerous beads that were in her hair. "Tarot cards are considered 'advanced' level of foretelling, I would suggest starting from tea-leaves…"
"I shall take this into consideration. Thank you. Please forgive me if I do not do this correctly- I am still learning." Harry nodded seriously, causing the professor to freeze up a bit, almost as if she was having performance anxiety instead of Harry.
"Go- go ahead then, I'll… um… yes, I'll… correct your form if necessary." The professor nodded while her forehead was sweating quite a bit.
Harry put the Tarot deck back in his pocket.
"One for the past." Harry spoke before pulling the deck out again, and putting it on the table.
"Um… Normally you shuffle…" Trelawney looked like she wanted to say something but chose to not complete her sentence.
Harry reached for the first card, and turned it face-up on the table. "The Hermit. Reversed."
"Ah." Trelawney nodded. "That would be you in the past?"
"I am making this for you." Harry noted, causing the woman to freeze up while Harry reached for another card, and set it face-up on the table next to the first one. "The Wheel."
Trelawney looked confused for a second, and then her eyes opened quite wide.
Harry put the third card down, face-up. "The Star."
Trelawney was shaking quite a bit while her eyes were as wide as that of a fish out of water, and she looked to have a similar amount of trouble breathing. "That- it- um- W-when you mentioned 'Prophecy', um- ehm…"
Harry put the cards back on the deck, and then put it back in his pocket… Before pulling the deck out again. "One for the present."
"I-!" Trelawney looked like she wanted to stop, but she breathed in and then breathed out as if to calm herself. "It- I'm… I'm overthinking… I'm a Professor for Merlin's sakes… Please, continue, I can practically feel your Inner Eye opening, mr. Potter."
Harry reached for the topmost card, and put it down face-up. "The Sun."
Trelawney nodded a bit nervously.
"The Lovers. Reversed."
Trelawney blushed. It was not a pretty sight.
"The Moon. Reversed."
Trelawney nodded multiple times in quick succession while blushing hard, and then froze still as she realized that the students were watching her, making Harry a bit worried that she'd snap her neck if she wasn't careful as the motions of her head were getting quite erratic, all the while Harry collected the cards back to the deck "Y-yes, I feel as if your Inner Eye sees… S-some things were very incorrect, I assure you, b-but y-you got the general gist, I think…"
"One more, Professor?"
"Yes, I can feel much potential in you!" Trelawney looked quite pumped-up, even if she had an ugly, embarrassed blush on her cheeks.
"Very well. One moment, I need to use this-" Harry reached into his pocket, but instead of pulling out the deck, he pulled a bag of white substance.
The class stared at Harry a bit as he poured a bit on the table, arranged it to a long strip, and then sniffed it through a paper straw in one long sniff.
"Mr. Potter, what exactly-" Trelawney looked quite unsure of what just had happened.
"Who-hoooo!" Harry let out a small 'whoo' of excitement. "Walking Forward, here I go! If I spontaneously explode into giblets, tell Dumbledore that I was being an idiot and that he should bury me in an open casket!"
The class blinked, collectively. As did Trelawney.
No-one seemed to be quite ready to say anything in response so Harry reached into his pocket while he felt as though his head had practically gone on an overdrive from the drug's effects.
His hand shook as he already saw what cards he'd pull, nay, what cards he'd shuffle into the third identical Fate Deck he had already in his pocket- Which were in fact the same deck, but pre-shuffled during three different Times.
Or perhaps during the same Time.
Which might or might not be the Time Harry was, or would be, on.
Harry felt as both his nostrils began to bleed as he looked at his own hands, which shuffled the deck in the future, and reached for the third deck in his pocket…
Harry didn't even see as his hands moved in the past while his mind was watching the coming event that he didn't truly see, feeling as if he had been squeezed halfway into a ever-shrinking straw that threatened to split him in two if he tarried-
Some version of Harry remembered hearing a faint scream as past Harry quickly put the three topmost cards of the deck on the tea-table, recounting what had already happened- Or what could happen.
"Let it go. I'm not that suicidal." Harry looked around to see who had spoken, and saw that he had spoken to himself.
'Man, I clean up real good.' Harry nodded to the future himself, and he nodded back, and felt as if he had been sucked into his own body through the nose and through the metaphorical straw.
Harry blinked as he looked around the Divination classroom, back in his own mind, and back in what he'd most likely call 'the current moment', if pressed.
The students of the class were staring at Harry.
The Slytherin were staring with an expression of dark determination, while the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and a couple of token Gryffindors were staring at Harry in blank shock.
Harry looked in front of himself, as he couldn't remember what had happened after he had tried to Walk Forward to use the Fate Deck.
There were three cards on the table.
The Hanged Man, reversed.
The Death.
The Tower.
And on the other side of the tea-table, Professor Trelawney was lying on her back on the floor, passed out with her eyes sunken to her head like those of a corpse, and she was bleeding from her ears.
'...Oops.' Harry put the cards back in his pocket, and got up.
And then he walked away while whistling innocently.
Three steps into his nonchalant escape to find the nearest medical professional, Harry fell face-first on the floor, utterly unconscious, and bleeding profusely from his ears and mouth while his eyes had gained a few wrinkles around them.
The rest of the class could do nothing but stare for almost half a minute straight before the first one of them had the rational thought to call for Madam Pomfrey and ferry the unconscious people to the Medical Wing.
.
.
.
"...rry!"
"...there will be no shouting…"
"...foy did something, I know it!"
"...I have not-"
"...etention, mr. Weasley. In addition to your previous month…"
"...Come along now."
"...return, my lord…"
"...that, Blaise?"
"...professor Snape, I…"
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.
.
"...Harry. Please wake up."
Harry woke up with a jolt and sat up.
It was dark outside, and Harry found that he was in a large room that resembled a combination of a field hospital in an ancient castle and an infirmary.
He glanced around and saw someone sitting on a simple chair beside Harry's bed.
Dumbledore gave Harry a worried look. "Harry. Are you conscious?"
"Yes, professor."
"You gave us quite a scare there. And to poor Professor Trelawney too, who is over there." Dumbledore glanced at the side and Harry followed the gaze to see the mentioned professor lying in an infirmary bed that was identical to Harry's, completely out cold. "I might add, you also seemed to give quite the scare for a select group of Slytherin students."
Harry raised his eyebrow.
"I would be glad that you made such loyal friends so quickly, if I didn't see terror in their faces when they sat by your bed and waited for you to wake up." Dumbledore continued. "In fact, madam Pomfrey had to ask professor Snape to come and fetch them, as the word of the head nurse didn't seem to be enough to drive them away from your side. Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini had to be stunned in order to drag them away. A most unusual reaction from ones of Slytherin persuasion."
Dumbledore let the words hang in the air for a moment and then continued. "I'm certain professor Snape has certain words he'd like to speak to you over the… influence… you've managed to exert in his House."
"I look forward to that conversation, Headmaster."
"I fear that you should probably not. But that is not here or there- I would like to ask you what exactly happened that rendered you into the state that you were in, when the Slytherin students carried you to the infirmary?" Dumbledore followed up. "Likewise, I would like to know what happened to Professor Trelawney. I have already asked the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor students for their version. Likewise I've asked the Slytherin students, but unfortunately I've run into something of a wall there."
"In short, I may have overdone it a bit. Professor Trelawney spoke a Prophecy to me, and I felt I should attempt to return the favor." Harry explained, causing Dumbledore's eyes to widen a bit. "I fear that I touched my limits, and foolishly put my toe over the line, even if I used a foci that was conducive- and believable- to the sort of thing I was doing."
"The students reported that they saw you inhale a white substance before you… ahem, performed a card reading, after which Professor Trelawney screamed, her ears began to bleed, and she fell on her back. You collapsed soon afterwards." Dumbledore coughed to his hand. "May I point out something that you may have forgotten in your bout of gratitude?"
"I am always interested in correcting my mistakes." Harry offered in turn.
"The white substance."
"Cocaine- oh. Yes. Indeed. A muggle drug- I should have known that even though Hermetic micro-Consensus doesn't hit back as hard as the wider Consensus does, it doesn't mean it's completely blind." Harry sighed. "I suppose that if I had used a potion-bottle or something like that then it'd have been fine?"
"I would have been less… volatile, perhaps. But I would like to nonetheless ask you to be more careful- Or I'll have to ask you to restrict yourself to Hermetic Magic during your stay in Hogwarts." Dumbledore gave Harry a look over his glasses that indicated that he was only half-joking. "I would find it very unfortunate if I found that another of my Professors almost died. I take it that you experienced Backslash or Paradox?"
"I'm not sure. I may have been grazed by a Paradox Spirit, but luckily enough I feel as if most of it was discharged as Backslash." Harry told the headmaster, who then produced a mirror. "Oh."
Harry glanced at the mirror and noted that he had a wide strand of gray in his hair and a few wrinkles around his eyes. "Well then. It could have gone much, much worse than just a few permanent marks. Besides, I've heard girls like the rogue look."
"Oh my. I shall not inquire further. But I feel as if my old professor instincts from my days as Transfiguration professor compel me to remind you that this is a Hermetic Order school for Hermetics, so I would like it if you studied Hermetic Magic during the classes. Free time is of course free time, and I will not tell you what type of magic you practice there." Dumbledore spoke with good-natured hum.
"I see. Thank you. I will do my best to make it so."
"Very good." Dumbledore rose up from his seat. "Oh, and ten points from Slytherin and a detention for you, mr. Potter, for attempted murder of a Professor. It would be a very bad precedent if that sort of thing wasn't punished."
Harry lifted his eyebrow, and then sighed in disappointment as he had halfway expected to be introduced to the hot tongs and flesh-hooks that Snape had practically promised.
It looked like Dumbledore knew, and merely hummed 'Lord of the Rings' opening tune while walking out of the infirmary.
Harry looked as the door closed… and then reached under the blanket.
He pulled the Fate Deck out again.
Harry sighed. "One for myself."
He flipped three cards from the top.
The Devil, reversed.
The Judgement
The Temperance.
"I really should have done this when I woke up." Harry sighed to himself, collected the cards, and put them back where he had grabbed them from, before flopping back to sleep.
AN: Quick (rough) translation of the individual Major Arcana Tarot card meanings. I'm sure you can put the rest together. Do note that specific interpreting Major Arcana is quite personal process so if your exact translation doesn't match, don't worry: This is on purpose.
Hermit, reversed: You are alone, whether physically or metaphorically. Either way, your life is filled with loneliness- Whether you want it or not.
Wheel of Fortune: A positive event that shakes your life, whether a stroke of good luck, karma, life cycles, destiny or a turning point.
Star: Hope, faith or purpose: You take a step forward, renewed.
Sun: Positivity, warmth and success envelop you, whether in what you set out to do, or in what you hold dear. Your life is as you wish it to be.
Lovers, reversed: Self-love, disharmony, imbalance, misalignment of values plague your path and mind, dragging your feet and heart.
Moon, reversed: Release of fear, repressed emotion, inner confusion- You lie to yourself, or to others, casting you away from what you want to be to project your ideal self.
Hanged Man, reversed: Your worth is survival. Sacrifices you make mean nothing. Delays, resistance, stalling hold your hand, making you curl up when you tried to stand.
Death: An ending is coming, change, transformation, transition to something new- But not necessarily for the better.
Tower: All you have worked is crumbling around you. Hubris, arrogance, lack of faith- What you hold dear is cast down before you.
Devil, reversed: Releasing limiting beliefs, exploring dark thoughts, detachment. You seek your limits, and you will find them, and set them on fire- And maybe yourself as well.
Judgement: Judgement, rebirth, inner calling, absolution. You stand before yourself, and set yourself free of your past self.
Temperance Balance, moderation, patience and purpose. You temper your mind towards equilibrium between different faces of your inner self, taking care to not fall over.