Chapter Seven
After lunch Harry wondered along with Pansy and Daphne, following a badly drawn map to the Divination classroom; they'd been walking for five minutes and thought it might be worth leaving even earlier before the next lesson.
They finally reached the north tower and began the long climb up the narrow circular staircase. The steps were so small they could only walk in single file. Harry found himself wondering what they would do if someone was coming down the other way as it wouldn't be easy to tuck in enough to let them past without risking them falling.
"How far up is this class room?" Daphne asked between deep breaths.
The staircase ended on a small landing with a sliver ladder leading up through a trap door.
"Ladies first." Harry smirked.
Daphne and Pansy glared at him.
"Wow it is tight up here isn't it?" Hermione said squeezing herself onto the landing, "How silly to have a classroom up a trap door. We must be right in the roof of the tower."
"Where did you come from?" Pansy asked, as Hermione climbed up the silver ladder and disappeared into the room above.
Harry, Daphne and Pansy followed her up. Immediately their noses were hit with an over-powering smell of incense and flowers.
"I think I might be sick." Daphne said blinking a few times, the smoke burning her eyes.
The room was crowded and hot. A fire raged in the fireplace, even though it was summer, and the room was filled with armchairs and pouffes covered in vividly patterned fabric, everyone of which seemed to clash. Shelves lining the walls where covered in dusty books, crystal balls and several jars of old feathers.
The walls which weren't covered in shelves were covered in floaty scarves which just added to the busyness of the room. Harry, Daphne, Pansy and Hermione took a seat at a nearby table and took out their copies of 'Unfogging the Future'.
"Harry!"
Harry turned to see Ron climbing, with some difficulty, through the trap door. His left arm and shoulder were heavily bandaged.
"Shouldn't you still be in the hospital wing?" Harry gasped.
Hermione had gotten up and half pulled Ron into the room as there was no way he would have been able to make it up through the small trap door alone.
"I wanted to come." Ron beamed, "I have to go straight back though."
Ron looked very pale still and a little unsteady on his feet, Harry thought that Ron's eagerness to come to class almost certainly had more to do with him than Ron's love of divination.
"Well as you're here you should sit with us." Pansy said, shuffling along the low sofa to make room.
"Only four to a table please." A tinkly voice drifted through the room, "It interferes with the vibrations; clogs the inner eye."
Harry let out a loud sigh.
"We'll go." Daphne said, pulling on Pansy's arm, "From the sound of things you'll only get an annoyed rant from me anyway."
The two girls stood up and moved over a couple of tables to the next free one. They'd just sat down when a strange looking woman entered the room, she'd been standing in the shadows.
"I am...Professor Trelawney, I am here to help you see what cannot be seen." She said.
Harry looked her over. She had large glasses on that made her eyes look huge; far to big for her head. Her voice grated on the inside of his head, it sounded like every word was not worth the effort it took to say it.
"Many of you will not be able to master the art that is divination, true seeing cannot be taught but is a natural gift." Professor Trelawney continued, she looked over their heads, over to the cluttered wall and zoned out for a few moments.
"You!" she snapped to attention, pointing a long bony finger at Harry, "I sense that you have been in danger before, in fact you may be in danger now!"
Hermione stifled a laugh, earning her a glare from Ron.
Harry looked at her confused, "Of course I've been in danger before, everyone knows that."
Professor Trelawney looked at him with a dazed puzzled look, "This is different."
Harry took a deep breath, the last thing he needed was for his mother to find out it had been predicted that he was in danger.
"Today we will start small." Trelawney said, taking a large kettle off the fire, "The reading of tea leaves is the most basic of divination arts. In pairs or threes you will take it in turns to look at what you can see."
She made her way around the classroom pouring a pungent tea into a variety of old tea cups. Harry took a pale blue cup and saucer and swirled it three times clockwise as his text book instructed. They sipped at the bitter tea, it was overly strong and tasted like it had been sitting in its container for far to long.
"This is horrible." Hermione said, forcing down another sip, "Needs milk and sugar and to not be five hundred years old."
"Tea used for seeing can be difficult to get. Makes sense they'd stock up when they can." Ron shrugged, draining his cup and leaving the small amount in the bottom as they were instructed, he tipped the cup upside down and left it to settle on the saucer.
"You can use normal tea." Hermione hissed at him, pointing to the first page in the book, where it said just that. She also gulped down the rest of her tea.
Harry looked into his nearly full cup and sighed, he was going to have to drink it eventually so also glugged it down. The hot, foul tasting liquid and the smell of the incense and the fire mixed were making his stomach churn.
"Once your little group has all finished your tea, open your books to the tea leaf charts and see what you can see." Professor Trelawney said, wrapping her shawl tightly around her and leaning back in the large armchair by the fire.
"I'll go first." Hermione gave a small smile and picked up Ron's cup, she frowned and looked over it repeatedly, checking over her book.
"Well what can you see?" Ron asked after a few minutes of Hermione mumbling to herself.
"Well, I'm… I'm not sure… possibly a club which means an attack but it's very wonky so maybe a failed attack? Or you're going to attack someone...and fail? This makes no sense." Hermione huffed. She quickly gave Ron back his cup and buried her head into her book, with a frown on her face.
"Well OK then." Ron said, "Don't really want to be attacked but there you go." He took Harry's cup and started looking over his book, "So I kinda see a cross which means… trials and suffering but then that could be a sun which means… must mean something good… oh happiness." Ron beamed at Harry.
Harry looked back sceptically, "So I'm going to have trials and suffering but be happy about it? That can't be right."
Professor Trelawney had wondered over, "Having trouble dears?"
Ron nodded, "I can't work out what Harry's cup says." he passed it over to her out stretched hand.
Professor Trelawney had barely looked at it when she dropped the cup. It shattered on the floor, startling the class, "My poor poor child." She clutched at her chest, "You have… the Grim!"
Ron gasped as even more colour drained from his cheeks, "The Grim? It can't be."
"What's the Grim then?" Hermione asked sceptically.
"The Grim is the worst sign you can get," A Gryffindor girl pipped up, "It takes the form of a large black dog and means only one thing. Death."
"I very much doubt Harry is going to die." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I agree, Harry seems fine to me." Daphne pointed out, "And surely a dog can mean a lot of things."
"Yes, but not a black dog." The Gryffindor snapped back, "A black dog means death."
"The tea leaves are black, all dogs would be black with them." Daphne pointed out, her temper rising.
"Enough!" Trelawney said, still managing to stay annoyingly calm, "Mr Potter dear, have you seen a big black dog around? Perhaps following you?"
"Well yes but-" Harry was about to explain about Sirius but she cut across him.
"Well there you go." Trelawney sighed, "You will be missed, I suggest writing out a Will as soon as possible my boy."
The bell rang and Harry shoved his book into his bag and made his way out the classroom with the other students to Transfiguration, feeling rather miserable. He was sceptical he was about to drop dead but either way this was going to be a difficult class to take.
Professor McGonagall was waiting with a large pile of buttons and several feathers. Harry took a seat at the back of the class and tried to ignore the sobbing from the two Gryffindor girls that had been in Divination and the sad looks that Ron kept shooting his way.
"Don't worry Harry." Daphne said, sitting next to him, "Divination is very rarely fixed and I don't believe for a second that there was a Grim in your cup anyway."
"I was just going to explain about Sirius but she's sure I'm just going to die." Harry moaned.
Daphne shook her honey blonde hair and took out her wand and quill, "Honestly, don't worry about it."
"Who is talking in my class?" Professor McGonagall snapped, she marched down the classroom to their desk and loomed over them, "I should have known. What could possibly be so important Mr Potter?"
"It's nothing." Harry mumbled.
One of the Gryffindor girls sobs got even louder.
"What is wrong Miss Brown?" Professor McGonagall asked, her voice crisp with irritation.
"Harry is going to...to DIE Professor!" she sobbed, "Isn't it terrible?"
Professor McGonagall took a deep breath, "You've just come from Divination?"
Those who had, nodded, including Harry. Professor McGonagall smiled at him, it was the closest thing to kindness he'd really seen from her.
"It is not for me to speak ill of another teacher, but Professor Trelawney has predicted the death of a student from every single year she has taught. I can assure you, not one of them has died." she paused for a moment, "Divination is a very difficult subject and it is easy to… to over estimate one's abilities. Now shall we get back to my class? Many of you are very rusty from last year, just because you are taking more subjects now does not mean you are allowed to slack."
Harry felt rather reassured and put his death predictions to the back of his head to concentrate on the Transfiguration class, which he had indeed gotten rather rusty at over the holidays.
Classes went by without much change from the year before until Friday when Harry had his first Defence Against the Dark Arts class with Remus.
He was so excited he was waiting outside the classroom door before the bell had even rung. Draco, Pansy and Daphne had gone with him; although a little less enthusiastically than Harry at having to give up some of their break. The bell rand and Remus welcomed them, and the rest of the class, into the classroom.
Once everyone had taken a seat, Remus wrote his name on the black board.
"So as you know I am Professor R. J. Lupin and I am going to be your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, looking over the notes from the last two years you all should be well versed with a book but seem to have missed out on a lot of practical lessons, is this true?"
"Well unless you count Pixies." Tracy Davis snorted from the back.
"Excellent," Remus beamed, "You should all enjoy the lesson I have for you today. Now stand up and step away from your desks for now please."
They did as they were told, Lupin flicked his wand and the desks jumped to the side of the room leaving a large space in the centre of the room. He then pulled out a large trunk from behind his desk.
"Anyone want to guess what's in here?" Remus asked, the trunk was shaking slightly.
Harry had a good idea but wasn't feeling like sticking his hand in the air while he was getting evil looks from Tracy and Millicent.
Pansy raised her hand, "A boggart?
"What makes you think that Miss Parkinson?" Remus asked.
"Umm, well it's in a small space, but doesn't seem to want to get out suggesting it likes it in there. The trunk will also be dark and from the slight musty smell it's likely also damp." She said.
"Well done Miss Parkinson, absolutely correct." Remus smiled, "One point. And can anyone tell me the characteristics of a boggart? Mr Crabbe?"
Crabbe looked stunned at him, his mouth hanging open slightly, "Ummm...ummm they're… they are… umm...they have spines?"
Remus stifled a smile, "Well possibly. Anyone else?"
Harry put his hand up, "No one knows what they look like, they change shape into whatever they think will frighten the person most."
"Well done Harry, another point." Remus smiled, "Now coming across a boggart is, unfortunately, not all that uncommon and it can be a very nasty experience but there is a simple spell to repel a boggart. Without your wands first we're going to practice the spell, repeat after me, Riddikulus."
The class mimicked him, copying his hand movements.
"Brilliant, now remember to speak clearly. This spell does come in two parts, what really finishes off a boggart is laughter, so when you face a boggart, when saying the spell you need to picture a way to make it funny, hilarious even, it's far easier when you're facing them in a group." Remus looked around the students watching him animatedly and smiled, "And not to cause any inter house rivalry but the Gryffindors did brilliantly at this yesterday."
There were several shocked huffed and gasps from several class members; Tracy Davis looked like her head was going to explode. Harry grinned and turned to face the trunk.
"Ok so everyone think of the thing the fear most and make it funny. If you can't do it don't worry, just step back and someone else can come forward. It can be difficult to start with but I'm sure you'll all get the hang of it sooner rather than later." Remus said, he bent down and undid the box, "Crabbe, you're up first."
Crabbe stepped forward and held his wand up in his meaty fist. Remus pulled open the trunk and slowly a huge dripping monster that seemed to be made of rotting food and mud moved forward towards Crabbe.
"Umm..." Crabbe said, the colour draining from his face.
"Remember, Riddikulus." Remus told him.
"Riddikulus!" Crabbe shouted, pointing his wand at the monster.
It stumbled back and instantly was hung with bubbles and tinsel like a Christmas tree. The class burst out laughing.
"Brilliant," Remus clapped, "Draco!"
Draco stepped forward and the boggart faded and blurred before reforming as a very stern looking man.
Harry noticed Draco's breathing become more rapid. The man looked like Lucius but cold and distant, with a slightly squarer jaw and narrower shoulders. He was dressed in rich, jet black robes that shimmered slightly in the light.
"RIDDIKULUS!" Draco yelled. The man was suddenly standing before them in a cheap yellow satin ball gown with more ruffles than they could count.
Remus let out a laugh, "Well done, Millicent!"
Millicent stepped forward and the boggart changed again, this time taking the form of a large bat with fangs the size of kitchen knives.
She shrieked and shakily raised her wand. It continued round the class, several times the boggart took several tries to find a shape that frightened the person looking at it.
"Well done everyone, you're doing brilliantly, just a few more I think and we'll have sorted it!" Remus told them.
Daphne had just turned a large clown, with blood dripping from it's mouth into a puppy playing with a red ball. Harry was the only one left and took a step forward, the boggart turned to face him but Remus stepped in the way.
The boggart changed into a bright orb hovering before him.
"Riddikulus!" Remus said, confidently. The boggart changed and blurred in the air for a moment before bursting into a puff of smoke.
Remus clapped, "Well done everyone that's brilliant work. Top marks to all of you. For homework I want you to read through your text books chapter 12 on boggarts, pitfalls and defences."
Harry grabbed his books and told his friends he'd meet them in a moment. He lingered in the classroom until he was left alone with Remus.
"What's up Harry?" Remus asked, waving his wand and putting the desks back into place.
"I was… why didn't you let me face the boggart?" Harry said, folding his arms across his chest, "I understand at home but it's different when we're at school."
"It's not a case that I didn't think you could handle it Harry." Remus told him, leaning against his desk.
"Then what is it? Is it because mum told you to look after me?" Harry asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.
"No." Remus said shaking his head, "No of course not. Harry, Lily would never want me to interfere in your studies. The reason I didn't want you to face the boggart was because I was worried it would take the form of Voldermort."
"Oh." Harry said, that hadn't occurred to him.
"I thought that the sight of him in the middle of the class would be too much for some students and I stand by that view." Remus said.
"I wasn't thinking about Voldermort." Harry said, "I was thinking about that thing on the train, the Dementor."
Remus smiled and nodded, "Yes, I should have known. You're very smart Harry, and possibly the smartest thing you can do is be afraid not of a thing, but of fear itself. Although having a Dementor appear in the classroom wouldn't be good either. Boggarts may not have powers as strong as the things they mimic but that doesn't mean they aren't strong. Going against even a boggart Dementor would be incredibly draining."
Harry was suddenly very grateful that Remus hadn't let him fight the boggart, he didn't feel like fainting in front of the class.
"You should get going Harry, you're going to be late for your next lesson." Remus gave him a quick squeeze on the shoulder and pointed towards the door with a smile.
Harry smiled back and nodded, walking quickly down the hall to meet up with his friends.