Chapter 24: Sight Unseen - September 1993

The first Defense class of the year started similarly to the one in the trio's memories: Professor Lupin led the class to the staffroom to tackle a boggart.

Instead of taking a dig at Neville, Professor Snape cleared out with a glare at Hermione. She didn't react at all.

Like last time, Hermione told the class what a boggart was: a creature that could take the form of a person's greatest fear.

Also like last time, Professor Lupin called on Harry by name to ask about why the class had an advantage against boggarts.

Caught off-guard, Harry stammered slightly in his response, "Everyone of us might have different fears."

Because the new professor's attention wasn't drawn particularly to Neville, he asked the class for volunteers to attempt the boggart first.

Professor Lupin chose Parvati Patil and talked her through her fear of mummies and the boggart-repelling spell.

The class excitedly formed a line. Harry knew that Lupin wouldn't let him face the boggart, so he went to the end so his classmates would get their turns.

Hermione smiled and nudged Harry with her elbow as if to say, I know what you're doing, as she and Ron got in line behind him.

Even though Harry still didn't get to face the creature, he left the class in a good mood. There was something about seeing his classmates succeed at facing their fears that put a spring in his step.

That one class had positive ripple effects on the overall start of the trio's third year. Neville hadn't embarrassed Snape with his boggart, so the potions master was only his normal brand of acidic in their first Potions class of the year.

Despite that, Snape still picked Harry to answer the hardest questions in class. He also didn't do anything when a stray potions ingredient flung from the Slytherin side of the room to the Gryffindor.

The summer had let Harry forget about the potion's professor's prickly demeanor, but his memory came back in the Fall. With a sigh, Harry threw out his contaminated ingredients and braced himself for another tedious year of Potions with the Slytherins.

"Wait, you're taking Divination?" Ron asked Hermione incredulously.

"Plus Runes and Arithmancy. I know Divination seems a little, well, made-up. But I think there's some truth to it." She gave Ron a significant look.

Lavender grabbed Hermione's hand and dragged her off to class saying, "I bet you'll be really good at it. Let's go sit in the front!"

Hermione was embarrassed about her closed-mindedness in the previous timeline, especially considering that Fate itself implied to the trio that divination sometimes works.

She hadn't forgotten that Fate said that none of the trio would be able to make true predictions, but she rationalized that it could still be worth knowing about.

But she had forgotten something important until she was in the first class: Fate said she also wouldn't make a very good Object.

"You have no aura, dear." Professor Trelawney proclaimed. "I believe our time together will be short, but such is life! Now…"

Hermione failed to conceal her disappointment.

Lavender said, "Well, I think you have 'divinatory potential'."

"And you're always so busy. Maybe you'll have to drop this class for some other reason," Parvati said.

"Thanks." Her roommates encouraged her every time Trelawney said something negative about her skills, which was every. single. class.

Still, Hermione read tea leaves, listened in class, read the book, and asked questions.

Her favorite part of class were others' predictions. Lavender and Parvati might actually have a little of the Sight.

"Oh poo, I got more signs of family instability, Parvati."

"It's not your fault. My sister is just a jerk." Parvati explained her most recent argument with her twin in Ravenclaw.

Professor Trelawney came over to their table.

To hide that they were a bit off-topic, Hermione asked, "Professor, do you have any experience with divination of the present?"

"That's an extraordinarily good question!" She waved her arms dramatically. "That is not in the nature of my Sight, nor is it the sort of thing that I typically discuss in my classes. But of course, it's of uncommonly high value to understand what's happening in the HERE and NOW."

"Are you aware of anyone I can talk to about it? Or any books?" Hermione only had found one herself.

"I will give it some thought…." She vanished, and the class didn't see her for the rest of the lesson. Hermione wasn't quite sure where she went, given that the classroom was at the top of a tower.

The next class period, she slammed down a heavy stack of tomes in front of her. "You may read these in my classroom during your free periods."

"Great, thanks!" Hermione opened the cover of the top one eagerly.

The bedazzled professor said, "I permit you to choose to write an essay on this topic instead of any of the assignments that rely on the Sight. Since you have none," she clarified unnecessarily.

Hermione blinked. "I'll do that."

Harry got a letter from Sirius by owl at breakfast one morning.

Harry,

I'm proud of you for taking harder classes! Even if they don't work out or you're not happy with your marks, it still speaks well of you that you tried.

I met with your aunt. After talking your living arrangements over with her and some others, I think it's best for you if she keeps custody. I also think this is likely.

Please tell me more about your Care of Magical Creatures lessons with Hagrid as an assistant. He has a big heart, even when your dad and I caused trouble.

Please be careful!

Your Godfather,

-Sirius

Harry had a bunch of questions for Sirius about what exactly he was thinking. However, the uncharacteristic 'be careful!' implied that he couldn't say much in writing.

At least Sirius gave Harry some confidence that next summer could look a lot like this one: with Harry splitting his time between Petunia and Sirius. That was Harry's best-case scenario, all things considered.

Ron read the letter over Harry's shoulder, then raised his eyebrows.

Harry's eyes shifted between Ron and Luna. "Er. My aunt and uncle might be," and then moved his hands apart. "I don't want to talk about it here."

Ron's nose flared in annoyance, but he let Luna change the subject.

Harry knew that it was going to come up in their next secret meeting if not before. Harry could admit that it might be relevant to their scheming, even though it was hard for him to see how.

Harry knew from Sirius that Dumbledore filtered his correspondence with Harry. If Sirius advised discretion in their mail, that was the most obvious source of potential interference. And, Sirius probably assumed that Dumbledore would read his missive to Harry. So Sirius probably believes that Dumbledore still wanted Harry to live with Petunia.

This kind of strategy made his head spin, so he put it from his mind. The summer had been even less restful than usual, and Harry was dragging with fatigue only a few weeks into the school year.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione snuck into the Room of Requirement for their first super-secret meeting of the year. They engaged all of their regular security measures.

Additionally, Ron distributed a parchment with new codewords and phrases that they were to memorize and burn before leaving the room.

Hermione glanced at the list, then narrowed her eyes. "I don't know why we let you pick. These are preposterous."

Ron argued, "We can't use phrases that obviously connect to the real words, and they should blend into a school context. And we need to change them periodically, hence the new list."

Harry defended, "I like inkwells. Who would guess it?" That was their substitute word for horcruxes. They would have to work it into natural-sounding phrases.

Harry cleared his throat. "Over the summer, I wrote so many letters that I used up all of my ink. Thankfully, I was able to use an inkwell from Sirius." Ron mentally translated that as Harry found and destroyed the locket horcrux that was at Grimmauld Place. With the locket destroyed, that left the cup, ring, snake, Harry, and the wraith as the only pieces of Voldemort's soul remaining.

Ron warmed with pride when Harry explained, "I thought of you, Ron, when I found some old notes based on a jewelry-cleaning charm you told me about." Harry destroyed the locket using some of Ron's suggestions.

Harry also explained about his aunt and uncle possibly getting a divorce, but that Sirius implied that nothing would change for him. From a strategy standpoint, Ron was content once he heard that.

From a "tell your friends about your life" standpoint, the redhead was disappointed that Harry hadn't told himself or Hermione about such an important change to his home life. I'll bring that up with him later.

When Harry signaled that his update was done, Ron said, "I, too, wrote a lot of letters." He then went on to explain how he sent a letter to Bertha Jorkins.

He had told her the truth that they learned in their past timeline: Barty Crouch Senior obliviated her memory of seeing that he had freed his son from Azkaban.

Hermione had a lot of follow-up questions that she veiled somewhat ineffectively. "How did you know that was going to work? Wouldn't she be suspicious?"

Ron basically said, "I relied on her wanting the truth, and then revenge. Even if she doubted the letter-writers intentions, she was probably at least curious. And, he permanently damaged her memories and shifted her to another department."

Harry asked, "Do you think your letter was… ethical?"

Ron pointed out that everything he said was true, and that he would want to know the same things as an almost-victim of memory loss. "It worked out for us that our goals were aligned with hers. I consider this a win for the power of truth."

Harry nodded slowly with a look of deep concentration.

Ron then summarized the relevant impacts of his letter: Barty Crouch Senior was imprisoned for the rest of his life, and Crouch Junior was given the Dementor's Kiss.

He didn't bring it up, but Ron thought that the punishment for Junior was harsh given that he may not have been a willing participant in his escape from Azkaban.

Hermione asked, "Do you think your new pen pal will be able to find you at Hogwarts?" Will Bertha Jorkins or anyone else figure out that you wrote the letter?

"I'll be able to help, if not." I have backup plans. He had used a dictation quill and a ministry paper airplane charm to deliver it. That would point towards a ministry employee rather than a thirteen-year-old student.

Hermione seemed to accept that and switched to another topic. "Harry, do you ever wonder why he didn't die after failing to kill you as a baby?"

"I do." Harry played along uncertainly.

"I wonder if there's anyone you can ask. Honestly, I think it's almost weirder if you don't ask." It would be suspicious if you don't ask Snape why the magical bargain didn't kill Voldemort after your conversation last Spring.

Ron nodded. "Yeah, I bet someone knows. It'd be worth the ink, so to speak." It might get him to reveal if he knows about horcruxes, too.

"That's an excellent point." Harry looked stunned. "Er, snakes don't have lips."

Ron and Hermione both looked at each other, puzzled.

"A snake's lips can't be sealed, I'm saying."

He knew that the code-talk was hard for Harry, so Ron just gave a smile and a thumbs-up. Then the redhead moved the meeting on.

"One final thing, at least from me. I think we should try to become animagi this year."

Hermione squeaked in excitement.

"We can at least look into it," the redhead added at Harry's skeptical expression.

Harry's voice was flat. "I honestly have so much schoolwork." Ron was confused until he realized that statement was intended to be taken at face value.

"Will you show up to talk about it, if I bring the research? I think it could help with our other endeavors." We need a secret to hide our other secrets behind. Will you at least pretend to try this?

Harry tipped his head, resistance wavering. "Sirius told me that my dad completed the transformation. I guess I'm in."