Disclaimer: I foresee JK Rowling saying something that will annoy the fans. But she still owns Harry Potter.

A/N: A big thanks to MooNOrchiD for creating new cover art for this story. You can see more of their work on DeviantArt under the name Candidpop.

Credit to HowlnMadHowie for pointing out the risk to Voldemort of the Seers discovering his plans.

By the way, in this story, Nagini is a ritually enhanced regular snake, not a Maledictus.

I'm sorry this took so long. I haven't been feeling well the past few weeks, which slowed me down, and I realised as I was writing that I really didn't have a plan for this chapter, and it was a real struggle to finish. It wound up not being much more than a survey of classes in the spring term. It brought up a lot of stuff that might become significant sub-plots…if I wanted the story to be about twice as long as it is. Fifth Year is just too big to do right, something JK Rowling herself found out. The next chapter should be better.

Chapter 13: Divination

The spring term began on a bitterly cold January morning. Frost covered the windows, bathing the interior of Hogwarts in a harsh, white light, and the Great Hall's enchanted ceiling mirrored it with a sky filled with featureless white clouds. The students were subdued when they came down to breakfast. The attacks on Boxing Day, despite the lack of deaths, had shaken many people's sense of safety, not just Harry's.

Neville had looked tired last night, Harry thought, and he still looked tired as they sat down to eat. Hermione sat close to him to try to support him. Luna managed to look a bit more cheerful, though. Harry sought her out and hugged her before sitting with his housemates.

"How are you doing, Neville?" he asked.

"Okay, I guess," he said. "We're still kinda nervous at home because the Death Eaters would attack us head-on like that, but Gran upped the security, so she and my parents are probably okay for now."

"That's better than how Susan's doing," Lavender spoke up. "I heard a rumour her aunt's living at the Ministry now, since she lives alone while Susan's here."

"I'm not sure how much I believe that, Lavender," Harry said.

She shrugged. "How are you two doing?" she asked. "You lost your home, didn't you? I can't imagine what that was like."

"We got out fine," he told her. "Dumbledore made plans for it, and we didn't lose anything irreplaceable."

"It was scary, though," Hermione said. "Kinani Ngeze was there to break through our wards."

Lavender squeaked in horror. Most people knew who Ngeze was from the reports of the East African War, and he was pretty scary in his own right. For the most part, people around the Great Hall spoke in hushed tones about the attacks, until the mail arrived, and then the conversation grew louder amid shouts of dismay.

"Bloody hell!" Seamus Finnegan exclaimed. "Oh, this is bad. This is really bad."

"What?" Harry said.

"Look at the paper, mate!" he said, and sure enough, the Daily Prophet's headline blared:

EBOLA CONFIRMED IN BRITISH ISLES!

"Oh, Merlin's pants," Harry muttered.

"Oh dear," Hermione said. "Now, don't panic."

"Don't panic?" Seamus said. "Do you know how many wizards have died in Zaire of Ebola?"

"Not wizards specifically, no," she admitted. The latest muggle papers from the last few days reported the number of deaths from the Ebola epidemic in Zaire at upwards of ten thousand. It was finally slowing down there, but people were growing more and more nervous about the number of cases that had been cropping up on the continent. Honestly, this had probably been just a matter of time. "But they've got a pretty good handle on how to stop its spread now, I think."

"Yeah, it won't be like it was in Zaire here," Harry agreed. "Just read the article."

The article, thankfully was not one of their sensationalised offerings. Even the Daily Prophet had more sense than that:

St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries has reported the first case of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the British magical community. Seth Kay, a muggle doctor (a type of Healer) returned from a humanitarian mission in Zaire just before Christmas and was diagnosed with Ebola hemorrhagic fever after his return. Unbeknownst to him, his romantic partner in England was also a witch, Theia Crockford of London. After her lover was hospitalised, Crockford was admitted to St. Mungo's two nights ago and was eventually diagnosed with Ebola. Healers insist that no other members of the magical community are at risk.

Ebola has ravaged the magical communities of Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda in the eighteen months since the end of the East African War in addition to causing thousands of muggle deaths. It has become feared as a devastating magical disease with over half of those infected dying in some regions. The epidemic has been slowing in recent months. However, because Ebola is one of the few serious diseases that can infect muggles and wizards equally, the Ministry has been working with the muggle Department of Health and Social Care to monitor for and contain any cases in the British Isles.

The two governments are working together and have reportedly been retracing Kay's and Crockford's steps to ensure that no one else was exposed. Minister Fudge has stated, "There is no evidence that any other wizards came in contact with the muggle patient after he returned from Zaire. But the risk remains from other returning travellers and Healers, and I ask all the witches and wizards of Britain to be watchful of any potential exposure."

While dangerous, Healers insist that the risk from Ebola is much less than the public have been led to believe. In response to the recent case, St. Mungo's released an official statement:"We wish to reassure the public that Ebola hemorrhagic fever is not transmitted through casual contact or exposed surfaces. It is transmitted only through direct contact with bodily fluids. With proper hygiene, only caregivers and family members are at significant risk of transmission, which can be mitigated with further decontamination measures. Nonetheless, Ebola symptoms can appear as late as three weeks after infection, so we urge people who are at risk to remain vigilant for that long after any possible exposure."

"That won't help if it gets into the school," Seamus insisted.

"It's not likely to get into the school," Harry said. "They're going to be especially careful about that."

"We just came back from holidays, though. And there's Hogsmeade visits."

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey will have everything in hand," Hermione insisted. "Dumbledore was in East Africa, after all. He knows how to deal with this."

"We've been following how things are going in the muggle world," Harry added. "They're a lot better about stopping infection here, and more people are surviving where there are better healing resources."

The rest of the student body weren't so confident. Despite Dumbledore's reassurances, many of them kept to themselves over the next few days, avoiding any close contact. That only really lasted about a week, though. As the days went by with no more news, and with Theia Crockford reportedly recovering, people calmed down. Even so, on top of everything else, it made everyone that much more anxious as the term started.

The attacks over the holidays did have the effect of kicking everyone into high gear when it came to self-defence. From Grayson's Defence classes to Remus's Duelling Club, and even those classes that weren't so directly connected to the war like Auror- and Healer-prep, people were studying harder than ever. The last war had lasted eleven years, and while everyone prayed this one would end swiftly, even the first-years were painfully aware that they might already be graduated and fighting themselves before it was over. Thus, as much as the war had been looming over the school in autumn, it was seeping into all parts of life now.

"I think we all need a pick-me-up after the way things were during the holidays," Remus said during the first Duelling Club meeting of the year, "so I thought we'd do something different. Tonight, I think you should all try to learn the Patronus Charm."

There was excited chatter among the Duelling Club. Many of the older students knew it already, but many others were excited by the opportunity to learn. Some, especially the younger students, were dismayed that it was one of the hardest spells to learn and said so. (No one, by this point, didn't know what a Patronus was.)

"Yes, yes, the Patronus Charm is a very difficult spell," Remus continued. "It's entirely possible that many of you won't be able to pull it off. That's why you aren't doing it in class. I don't want to frustrate any of you with this. That isn't the point of the exercise. I want to give you all practice with it, even if you can't cast it yet, because any practice will help you along later…On the other hand, I know many of you fifth-year and up have already been trying it in class, so this will be good extra practice.

"The Patronus Charm is as technically demanding as most N.E.W.T. charms, but even young children can often learn technically demanding magic with talent and practice." He smiled at Harry as he said that. "The truly difficult part is that the Patronus Charm also requires great magical strength, focus, and force of will in the face of one of the most horrific creatures on Earth, and this is why so few wizards ever go to the lengths to master it. Yet I firmly believe most people can learn it if they try."

Remus explained how the Patronus Charm worked much as Professor Grayson had done for Harry's and Hermione's class, and people started casting. Cho Chang managed it pretty quickly, producing a majestic swan that soared around the Great Hall. Seamus Finnegan managed to produce a vague, hairy-looking shape after a while. Most of the people who couldn't already cast a Patronus produced wisps of silvery mist, which was better than nothing, but still barely a start.

Remus went around the club, giving people pointers, and after a little while, he asked Harry to help out too. Harry wasn't so sure he was the best person for that precisely because it had come so naturally to him, but he tried anyway. Hermione did too, but she was mostly trying to help her roommates.

Harry particularly watched Luna as she worked on the charm. She struggled with it, like most of the club, but she successfully produced a non-corporeal Patronus and slowly focused it into shape.

Harry went over and stood beside her. "That's a really good start, Luna," he encouraged her. "I'm sure you'll have it down in no time."

"Thank you, Harry," she said. She tried it again, and it looked like she almost had it. Harry was strongly considering snogging her in front of the club to try to help her with the positive emotions bit, but he held back, as it would be rather embarrassing if it didn't work.

He needn't have worried, though. Just a couple more tries, and Luna's Patronus snapped into a clear animal shape, which began frolicking around Hall.

"Look, Harry! It's a cat just like yours," Luna said happily.

"Ooh!" squealed Lavender Brown. "I heard that's how you know it's true love."

Seamus wolf-whistled, and everyone laughed. Remus halfheartedly tried to quiet them down, but even he winked at Harry.

Harry, however, took one look at Luna's Patronus and laughed when he recognised it. "I don't if that's it's just because we're dating," he said. "That's not just any cat, Luna. That's a Ragdoll. I don't know if you know it. I don't think they have many in the magical world." Even pureblood wizards had the sense not to inbreed their cats as badly as they were, he thought. "They're bred to be extra friendly and affectionate, and they tend to go limp when you pick them up."

Luna giggled and leaned against Harry as her Patronus continued to run around them. That was the perfect Patronus for Luna—well, he'd half expected something offbeat like a platypus, but Ragdoll just seemed to fit. He wondered idly if Lavender might be on to something, but mostly, he was happy that his girlfriend would be able to defend herself from another attack. That was the most important thing right now.

Remus's first History class of the term was rather more serious: "After last term, we're largely done with discussing the recent history of the magical world, although I understand Professor Grayson will be revisiting some of it. This term, we will be studying other aspects of magical civics: government, politics, international relations, and finance."

Most of which didn't sound very interesting to most of the class, especially after the units they'd done on Grindelwald's War and the first war against Voldemort in the previous term. However, many of them twigged on the word "politics." In fact, Draco Malfoy spoke up immediately: "Do you really think we can have productive discussions about politics in this class, Professor?"

"Do I expect you to debate the major political issues of our day, Mr. Malfoy? No, I don't. That isn't what this unit is about. Politics, of course, is a highly contentious subject. Muggle-raised students will know that it's contentious enough in the muggle world that it is advised to avoid discussing it entirely in polite company. It's even more so in the magical world, where many of your classmates know some of the major players personally—"

"Like Harry!" someone called.

Once the chatter subsided, Remus added, "Yes, the perils of having a hereditary Wizengamot. While underage heads of houses normally act through a proxy, Mr. Potter has indeed taken an active role in several major political debates over the past four years. But that is not what we are here to discuss. The study of politics, as it relates to this class, is not about the issues, but about understanding how politics works. An informed witch or wizard ought to know how to navigate the political environment we find ourselves in and how to interpret the latest proceedings of the Ministry that appear in the papers.

"That all may sound terribly dull now, but consider: magical Britain is small enough that anyone can take an active hand in some aspect of the Ministry or the Wizengamot that is important to them. And while some wizards at the top may feel differently, this is a central principle to our society, and a well-rounded education will teach you enough to understand how it works."

Malfoy scowled, albeit faintly. It was an easy bet that he didn't feel the same way about how the Ministry ought to operate.

"It's not as simple as a summary of the Ministry's operations would have you believe," he went on. "In fact, can someone who does not have family on the Wizengamot explain how laws are passed there?"

To some surprise, Lavender Brown took that one up. "It's—well, everyone says it's pretty simply, don't they, Professor?" she said. "Any member of the Wizengamot can submit a bill. There has to be a second to take it up. Oh, and I guess there has to be a public reading at some point. But the Wizengamot debates the bill until they're satisfied, and then they vote on it. Majority rules, unless it's something special like amending the charter."

Remus nodded: "Five points to Gryffindor, Miss Brown. That was a good explanation—and just what I was trying to illustrate." Lavender made a face, not sure whether to take that as a compliment or not. "All of that is technically correct—and, with a few highly-publicised exceptions, it is not at all how laws are actually made." Suddenly, everyone was alert, the Slytherins doubly so. Remus smiled. "One of the most important rules of politics is, 'Never call a vote unless you know what the outcome will be.' True, the debate in the Wizengamot Chamber is often a major component of legislating, but the writing of the language of bills, the vote trading to ensure they'll pass, and so forth? That is done outside.

"And keep in mind that this need not be corruption. This is also the way to reach a compromise that all sides can support on behalf of one's constituents. Except for a small number of issues that are so contentious it's not clear how the vote will go, that is how most things get done in the Wizengamot.

"But that's all for later. Let us begin by studying the structure of the Ministry to understand Miss Brown's theoretical framework of governance, so that we can later see how actual practice fits into that framework…"

Interesting, Malfoy thought. Not what he was expecting from a unit on politics. The class had been a little biased, but not like he thought it would be. Lupin seemed to make a genuine effort to be fair. Father certainly wouldn't like him teaching everyone how to navigate the political waters, but for Draco himself, it would be very interesting and potentially productive to get an outside perspective on it.

Edward Grayson's Defence class was probably the most anticipated of the new term after the Christmas Holidays. "We've been practising duelling in various conditions over recent months," he began, "but I believe there is more to Defence Against the Dark Arts than staying alive in a fight. Of course, there is detecting traps and curses. That is more of a N.E.W.T. topic, but I'll be giving you an overview as we go. There's also evading pursuit and wilderness survival. Those sound like things that would more benefit a criminal, but remember, in war, you can't always trust who is on your side.

"I want to focus on that in particular. We are in a war now, and my job is to make sure you have the tools you need to survive it. To do that, I'm going to take a different approach. I assigned Esterhazy's Memoirs of the Late War Against Grindelwald this year because he gives an unvarnished, day-by-day account of Grindelwald's War and what ordinary witches and wizards had to go through in those times.

"I know this is your O.W.L. year, and I have to teach you the magic and skills that are on the exam standard. I assure you I will do that, but we can focus on that in the review period in May. For the first four months of this term, I want to take a holistic approach. We will be reading through Esterhazy's Memoirs and studying the skills and tactics he used during his time in the war, supplemented by the curriculum as well as my own experiences and some from my comrades in arms. So, take out your books; turn to Chapter One."

Everyone got out their copies of Esterhazy. An air of excitement pervaded the room. This wasn't exactly what they'd expected, but it could be very interesting—learning how to fight a real war from someone who had done it before. It just might keep them alive in the coming years.

Grindelwald's War was considered to have started much earlier than the muggle World War II, and Esterhazy began with an account of Grindelwald's infamous Paris Rally in 1927, where what should have been a simple political rally went very wrong. (It was also a break from his later practice, as he had recruited almost exclusively purebloods at the beginning, but that was secondary.) Grindelwald had been a notorious terrorist for years before that event, but this was the moment he put forth his manifesto and commissioned his followers to active operations. And the rest was history.

There were few survivors on the Allies' side from the Paris Rally, and Esterhazy wasn't a witness, but he had managed to procure a rare interview with both of the Scamander Brothers about the incident. It was a harrowing and tragic tale, and one that most scholars argued could have been avoided, something Professor Grayson wanted to explore. He quickly went over the events of the Paris Rally, asking a few questions to ensure the class had done their reading, and then he began the discussion: "What did the Aurors do wrong at the Rally?"

"Uh…the bloody killed someone?" said Pansy Parkinson.

He gave her a stern look: "You can do better than that, Miss Parkinson."

Pansy took a deep breath and thought for a moment. "They killed someone who wasn't attacking them, Professor."

"Closer," he said. "The eyewitness accounts weren't clear exactly what happened. That is a plausible interpretation, but not what I was looking for. What else?"

"Uh, they showed up?"

Everyone turned. That was a rare comment from Crabbe. Some people laughed, but Grayson cut them off: "Now, hold on. It sounds simplistic, but is Mr. Crabbe wrong…? Hold that thought. What specific things did the Aurors do wrong at the Rally?"

Neville answered next: "They disobeyed orders, Professor?"

Grayson smiled. "Did they?"

He let the question hang, and everyone quickly went back and reread the interview. Malfoy parsed it the fastest. "They didn't, Professor," he said. "Not technically. Theseus Scamander was the senior Auror on site, and he said not to attack, but his boss said to arrest them all."

"You're on the right track, Mr. Malfoy. Conflicting orders are one of the most dangerous things both in war and in Auror work. Which one is right? Is the always just the one from higher up?"

"Of course not!" Hermione exclaimed, not waiting to be called on. "Professor," she added hastily. "I mean to say, not always. If an order is illegal or immoral, it's not to be followed."

Malfoy narrowed his eyes at her. He probably didn't share her philosophy, but in this particular case, he could see her argument. "I get it, Professor," he said. "It wasn't illegal to give a speech, was it? The Aurors didn't have any grounds to arrest anyone there. Oh, besides Grindelwald, I suppose."

"Correct, Mr. Malfoy," Grayson said. "The only legal basis for the Aurors to act at the Rally was to arrest Grindelwald himself, which they were sadly far outclassed to do. They ignored Scamander's legally correct order not to use force on the attendees and followed Travers's incorrect order to arrest everyone. That was one mistake. But there was a second, even more fundamental mistake that the Aurors made that night."

Harry saw where he was going and raised his hand.

"Mr. Potter?" he said knowingly.

"They cast to kill, Professor."

Grayson nodded: "They cast to kill. From what I understand, it wasn't until the very end of the last war that Aurors were authorised to use the Killing Curse, but at Paris, it was their opening move, and that proved to be their downfall. It wasn't just that one, either. The eyewitness accounts make it clear that the Aurors went in there itching for a fight. It seems likely that Grindelwald was too, and when both sides want a fight, it's very hard to stop them, no matter how disastrous it will be.

"We haven't talked about this principle in this class because it ought to be obvious, and anyway, this is Defence Against the Dark Arts, not Conflict Resolution, but perhaps Rule Zero of any manual of fighting ought to be, 'Don't go looking for a fight if you don't need to. You might just find yourself in one you can't win.'" He looked around at the class. Both Gryffindors and Slytherins alike looked chastised by that, at least some of them. Gryffindors were the most likely to go looking for the trouble, and it was an open secret that a lot of Slytherins had political agitators in their families, to put it diplomatically. There had always been a lot of tension under the surface.

"If you want to learn more on this subject," Grayson continued, "There's a recent book by Wilbert Slinkhard called Defensive Magical Theory. I didn't assign it because it's dangerously short-sighted to try to use it as a course text, but it's an interesting read if you understand where he's coming from. Mr. Slinkhard is a strict pacifist, you see, and his tome is all about non-violent resolution to magical conflict. And while I wouldn't assign it to students, I would assign that kind of book to Auror trainees. Aurors need to know when not to curse at least as much as when to curse because exactly this kind of mistake can happen, if not in so spectacular a fashion.

"Now, to continue, after the Paris rally, Grindelwald's followers went into open revolt against the British and French Ministries. Let's talk about the Ministry response to this change in strategy…"

Old Coyote and Edward Grayson had been giving seminars all year, but Fan Tong didn't get around to it until the spring term. Her Divination seminar wasn't as well attended, but Harry and Hermione quietly slipped into the back to watch. While they had never put much stock in Professor Trelawney's class, it had become much more important this year. Xihe, her phoenix, perched by her side, and Trelawney sat by her on the stage. Hermione's roommates, Lavender and Parvati naturally sat in the front row.

"I regret that I was not able to hold a seminar sooner," Madam Fan said in her creaky voice. "But my private tutelage of Professor Trelawney must needs come first. I would be neglecting my duties as a diviner if I did not give adequate instruction to one of our own.

"This seminar won't be exactly like the others. There's not much I could teach most of you that your Divination teacher couldn't. Only those few who have the aptitude could go beyond the basic classes. What I want to do is to instead give you a better understanding of what diviners can do—how they can be a help, and the rudiments of how too protect yourselves from them, for we believe there are diviners on the other side."

There were nervous whispers around the audience, but she ignored them and continued, "Seers are most famous for their prophecies—which is only natural. Prophecies are at once the most visible and the least controlled aspect of divination. They are usually the most portentous as well, which is why Ministries of Magic the world over make a special effort to record them.

"What you may not know is how it benefits us Seers for the people to think this way. It is not a secret, but it is less known that there are better ways of making true predictions of the future than reading star signs and tea leaves. These things do work, but they are vague—simplistic—often times nearly useless. Those with an aptitude for divination need not limit themselves to these things, nor do we need to wait for a prophecy to come to us. With proper training, a skilled Seer can reach out and pull in wisps of knowledge from the void—flashes of information, far less than a true prophecy, but enough to discern meaning from it. This is how a Naming Seer will find the perfect name for a young child in families that adhere to that practice. Your Professors Sybill Trelawney and Remus Lupin both have the mark of a Naming Seer's choice about them."

Cho considered that thoughtfully. She'd wondered a bit about Professor Lupin—first and last names both associated with wolves, and he becomes a werewolf at a young age. She could only guess the fact that wolves were also associated with strength and power led his parents to accept that name when he was born.

Cho Chang sat in the audience at the public seminar, playing the part of an eager student. As Dumbledore had requested, she had keep the secret that she was a Seer herself. She had told only her best friend, Marietta, with a stern warning of how serious it was, for the purpose of being able to cover for her to their other roommates.

Madam Fan didn't speak much about what Cho and Trelawney had been learning privately. They had started with dream interpretation, since that was where professional divining overlapped most with the class, but they were getting deep into lucid dreaming. It was a difficult skill, but she was making gradual progress. From there they had jumped to meditative visions and (slightly different) light trances such as a Naming Seer would use. They had also progressed from more abstract forms of divining like crystal gazing to proper scrying.

The big event of that afternoon was not part of the lesson. It happened while Madam Fan was discussing the dangers of diviners. "Divination can be a deadly tool in the wrong hands," she was saying. "It is not just the knowing—not the burden of foresight, however heavy. Nor is the ability to find out what is secret from the enemy, for this can be guarded against just as with Legilimency. It is what you do with the knowledge you learn. Gellert Grindelwald was a powerful diviner, and he used it to recruit an army. He was not a Seer. No true prophecies came to him. He used a dark branch of alchemy, and a form of scrying, to call up visions of the future. In doing so, he used an art that even I have not been able to replicate, else I would know the ending of the present war already. He foresaw the muggles' second Great War and—" Suddenly, she went rigid and gave a start that Cho could almost hear rattling her bones. Her breath crackled unhealthily, and she rasped out, "The three brothers of death have arrived! Their shadow falls over Hogwarts!"

As her talisman repeated the message, the Great Hall fell into chaos. Half the audience was shocked to here a true prophecy uttered in their hearing. The other half had the sense to be properly worried by the content of that message. More than a few people noticed Dumbledore look so startled on hearing the words that he nearly fell out of his seat at the side of the Hall, before he jumped up and hurried over to Madam Fan to try to defuse the situation. However, everyone did seem to miss the three Slytherin seventh-years who looked on with pale faces and whispered hurriedly to each other, then looked for a discreet way to slip out of the Hall.

There was one other person who had an unusual reaction to the prophecy. Luna Lovegood leapt from her seat and yelped, "Merlin's pants!" Then, she grabbed Harry and pulled him from the Hall. Hermione got up to follow them.

"Luna, what's wrong?" Harry said once they were alone.

"Harry, that prophecy could be very bad," Luna said worriedly. "How much do you know about the Deathly Hallows?"

Harry and Hermione were on high alert after that, but nothing seemed to come of the prophecy, and Dumbledore didn't say anything to them about it. Then, three weeks into the term, something else happened that had them more preoccupied.

Dumbledore rose at dinner and addressed the school: "May I have your attention, please? The teachers and I feel that in these troubled times, it is important not to lose sight of what we're fighting for. Therefore, we had planned for a little something to raise morale this winter. We had intended to announce this at the start of the term, but Hogwarts has been under a soft quarantine since then, and we did not want to announce it until we were certain it would go on. That is now finished, so I am pleased that I can tell you on Saturday, the seventeenth of February, Hogwarts will be hosting a Valentine's Ball."

And that got everyone excited—girls especially, but the older boys weren't immune. A school dance was just the thing to break the right now. Harry and Hermione, of course, had sure dates waiting, which made it rather less stressful than the Yule Ball had been. It sounded like it would be a fun time.

Cho Chang floated above the Quidditch pitch that weekend, searching carefully for the Snitch. It was their match against Slytherin, so it was especially important for her to show up Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Seeker.

Things were going well at first. The Slytherins played dirty, but that was normal for them. The Ravenclaw Chasers were holding their own. Suddenly, she saw it. A glint of gold in the sun. Cho started after it, but almost immediately, she pulled back so hard that she wobbled and nearly toppled off her broom. The glint of gold wasn't the Snitch. It was a towering column of flames.

The Quidditch pitch was on fire. Flames swirled all around her in a firestorm, engulfing it from one end to the other. There was no one in the air, but she saw dozens of people running across the grounds to the edge of the wards in the firelight. She barely even noticed that it was suddenly nighttime. She had to get away fast—

"CHO! What are you doing?!" Roger yelled. She blinked and he was in her face, screaming at her to get a move on. "Malfoy almost got the Snitch!"

"Wha—I—Sorry, I don't know what came over me," she said. She zipped away more so she wouldn't have to talk to him anymore than to go after Malfoy. She stared around in a daze. Everything was fine—the Quidditch game, the stands, the daylight, the crowd. It hadn't felt like a vision—not the kind she'd been practising with Madam Fan, anyway. She'd really felt like she was there.

She didn't know what it meant. She hoped it wasn't literal. She'd have to ask Madam Fan about it right away, though. She had a bad feeling about it. And she should tell Professor Dumbledore, too. He said he wanted to know everything she Saw regarding the safety of the school.

After she kicked Malfoy's arse, of course. She got back in gear and zoomed off again.