Disclaimer: Parvati Patil belongs to JK Rowling.
Chapter 16: Dumbledore
Professor Trelawney's Prediction
Reaching the end of the lineup (there were still other staff members, but they had stuck with teachers reading out of habit), Professor Dumbledore took the book back from Professor Bragnam. The half-destroyed chapter had saved them some time, but they still weren't done for the day.
"Headmistress, if you are intent on continuing our plan, I believe we have one chapter remaining for today?" he asked. He looked at McGonagall, who nodded. "Very well. Chapter Sixteen: Professor Trelawney's Prediction."
The real Trelawney started. "My prediction, Albus?" she asked.
"Yes, Sybill, I think you will find this chapter very enlightening."
Harry's euphoria from winning the Quidditch Cup lasted all the way until they had to start revising for exams. But they ran into another puzzle when they saw Hermione's exam schedule, and that she was double-booked for Transfiguration and Arithmancy, and again for Charms and Ancient Runes.
"Okay, I know I wasn't paying attention that year," Dean said, "but there is definitely something wrong with that. Charms is a core class. How did anyone take Ancient Runes that year if it conflicted with Charms?"
"Should I be worried about that when I pick out my electives?" Natalie asked.
Whispers broke out around the Great Hall. Other people were wondering the same thing. Harry didn't know if anyone else had figured out the time travel bit yet, even among the muggle-borns, but people could see it didn't add up. (Actually, if should have been obvious at the time.)
Luckily, Dumbledore didn't let things run away from him. He cleared his throat for silence and said, "For the younger students who may be considering next year's classes, you should know that we do not normally have scheduling conflicts that would prevent someone from taking all of the classes if they wish. We will caution you about taking so many classes, but you can do so. We had to change the usual schedule that year for Professor Lupin. Even though he was not in the school during full moons, he asked us not to schedule any of his classes so they could possibly overlap with those nights, and as you know, in December, sunrise at Hogwarts can be as late as nine o'clock in the morning, and sunset as early as three-thirty in the afternoon. This forced us to schedule all of the Defence classes in the middle of the day, and the electives were pushed together toward the morning and evening, causing the conflicts."
However, the trio in the story were soon distracted by another note from Hagrid informing them of the day of Buckbeak's appeal—and that the executioner would be coming with the committee.
That elicited some more whispers, though mainly from muggle-borns, and Hermione made a note. She'd been horrified at the time, but now, she was much more interested in the procedural side of things: Executioner brought to the appeal. Improper procedure?
In the book, Harry suspected that it was all Lucius Malfoy's fault, especially with how Draco was swaggering around.
"And the worst thing of all was that they had no time or opportunity to go and see Hagrid, because the strict new security measures had not been lifted, and Harry didn't dare retrieve his Invisibility Cloak from below the one-eyed witch."
"Wait, it was still down there?" Tonks cut in.
"Evidently," Dumbledore said, frowning slightly. Harry recalled that part of the explanation for why he had left the cloak in there had been in the pages Snape had burnt.
"Harry!" Ginny hissed. "Did you really leave your invisibility cloak down there for—what, months? Why didn't you get it?"
"The book just said. I couldn't," Harry protested. "I was sure Snape was watching the place, and I didn't have the Map anymore."
"Why didn't you ask someone else to get it. We could've."
"Hermione did when we needed it, Ginny. But it's not like anyone but she and Ron knew about the passage. The teachers never blocked it off or anything. And I wasn't about to go sneaking about again. I could've just got it at the end of the year."
"We probably should've believed that Sirius might know about that passage," Hermione grumbled, mainly to herself.
Exams soon started, and "Hermione had irritated the rest by fussing about how her tortoise had looked more like a turtle—"
"Seriously, I don't think there's a difference, Hermione," Ron told her at the table. She just glared at him.
Later, Harry sent Ron into hysterical laughter with a Cheering Charm. Hagrid was so distraught that he gave everyone a pass by going back to the flobberworms for his exam. And Snape gave Harry a zero for his Confusing Concoction.
"And you still passed the year?" asked Natalie.
"He gave me good enough marks the rest of the year—barely," Harry explained.
Some of the exams were better. Harry still looked back fondly on Lupin's Defence Against the Dark Arts final. The obstacle course had been very clever, even if it had tripped Hermione up.
"'Hermione!' said Lupin, startled. 'What's the matter?'
"'P—P—Professor McGonagall!' Hermione gasped, pointing into the trunk. 'Sh—she said I'd failed everything.'"
That got a lot of laughs, but Hermione wasn't amused. "It's not funny!" she protested. "I still have nightmares about failing all my classes."
"Hermione, you're the smartest witch in school!" Ron insisted. "If you're that worried about failing everything, you need help."
"I'm just making sure I'm prepared, Ronald…And you might've cut that part out, Harry," she whispered at her other friend.
Harry turned red. "Sorry, Hermione," he mumbled. "I didn't read every word. And I guess I wasn't looking that close at the regular school stuff."
After that, the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures arrived at Hogwarts, with Cornelius Fudge himself as witness for the execution, since he was (or so he claimed) there on other business to check on "the Black situation." The executioner, Macnair, who was far too eager to use that axe of his, was of course now known to Harry and his friends to be a Death Eater.
"Why was Fudge there?" Professor Bragnam interrupted. "Shacklebolt, do you know? I can understand the Hogsmeade weekend, but did he come up to the school any other time that year? Like after Black had broken in twice?"
"I wasn't in on that particular operation," Kingsley said. "Dumbledore?"
"Cornelius was there for precisely the reason he said, Professor Bragnam," Dumbledore assured. "With the end of exams, he was concerned that we might grow complacent, and that Sirius might be growing desperate. And he also wanted to make provisions for the summer under the expectation that the dementors would stay for the following year."
That was surprisingly mundane and even sensible, Harry thought. Of course, Fudge had taken Sirius…seriously as a threat, which he generally failed to do most of the time. It still seemed pretty weird that he was there as a witness, but not impossible.
Their final exam of the year was in Divination, and it was a joke, much like all of Trelawney's assignments. And Professor Trelawney herself was up to her usual tricks.
"'She said the crystal balls told her that if I tell you, I'll have a horrible accident!'"
"That's convenient," Hermione complained.
"'That's convenient,'" said Ron in the book. Their friends all giggled, and even the two of them had to laugh at it.
Parvati claimed to see "loads of stuff" in her crystal ball, so that Trelawney said she might be a Seer herself, which caused Hermione to stare at her suspiciously. Ron couldn't see anything and just made things up. Harry also couldn't see anything, so he claimed to see Buckbeak flying away from Hagrid's hut—which was exactly what happened, he realised with a start. He didn't think that would indicate Seer abilities—at least he hoped not. He had enough trouble as it was. Trelawney seemed far too eager to know if Buckbeak still had his head, and she was disappointed when Harry gave the "wrong" answer. But just as he was leaving—
"'It will happen tonight.'"
Harry jumped, as did a fair number of students. The sound was so uncanny that his eyes strayed over to the real Professor Trelawney to see if she had spoken, but she looked just as surprised as everyone else.
"Excuse me," Dumbledore said. "This is not my first experience with true prophecy. It is better to get the full effect, and I can hope that I've picked up the appropriate cadence." He kept reading, and a paragraph later, he started back up, reading Trelawney's words in that harsh, unnatural tone so much like when Harry had first heard it that it sent shivers down his spine.
"'The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight…the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight…before midnight…the servant…will set out…to rejoin…his master…'"
Dumbledore then coughed once and cleared his throat loudly. "But it is rather hard on the voice, I admit." The real Trelawney looked too surprised to speak.
"You see?" whispered Parvati. "A prophecy. That proves she's a real Seer."
"And it proves that the rest of what she's doing is nonsense," Hermione countered. Parvati and Lavender both glared at her.
However, the Trelawney in the book was skeptical of her own words: "'The Dark Lord? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? My dear boy, that's hardly something joke about…Rise again, indeed—'"
Dumbledore trailed off as he noticed people starting—not at him, but instead, several of the teachers sat stock-still and then slowly turned to face Professor Trelawney herself.
"What is it?" she said.
McGonagall shook her head. "All the doom and gloom you've preached over the past fifteen years, Sybill, and that is where you draw the line?"
"But…well, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returning? That isn't something to joke about. Yes, he did come back, but…Are you saying I really said that, Albus?" she asked nervously.
"You did, Sybill," he told her gently. "You have always said that you have the Gift. How that manifests may be challenging, but it is real."
Trelawney looked close to tears, but she didn't continue the conversation. After giving her a minute to compose herself, Dumbledore kept reading. In the story, Harry didn't get a chance to tell Ron and Hermione what had happened because Buckbeak lost his appeal, and they needed to comfort Hagrid. Hermione went out to get Harry's invisibility cloak unprompted so they could pull it off.
"'Hermione, I don't know what's gotten into you lately!' said Ron, astounded. 'First you hit Malfoy, then you walk out on Professor Trelawney — '
"Hermione looked rather flattered."
"Hardly anything to be proud of," Snape interrupted, but the other professors glared at him.
Even with the cloak, it took a bit of doing to get down to Hagrid's.
"They skulked in an empty chamber off the entrance hall, listening, until they were sure it was deserted. They heard a last pair of people hurrying across the hall and a door slamming."
Hermione's eyes grew wide, and she gasped softly.
"What?" said Harry.
"Harry, I think that was us!"
"You?" Dean said suspiciously.
Hermione and Harry looked at each other. "Long story. You'll find out tomorrow," Harry said.
And while Hagrid might have needed comforting, he wasn't much in the mindset for visitors—so distraught that he could barely serve them tea. Up at the High Table, Hagrid looked to be trembling just at the memory. But that train of thought was derailed completely, and the audience could hardly have been more surprised when Hermione found Scabbers alive, hiding out in Hagrid's hut.
"What?!" said several people at once.
"We've been trying to tell you," Harry said.
"He was alive the whole time?" Parvati said. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"Because of what happened next," Ron said darkly. "Just wait."
"But where did the blood come from?" asked Lavender.
"Do I look like I care?" Ron demanded.
"We think he bit himself," Harry said. "Don't worry; it'll all come out tomorrow."
Scabbers, however, was not behaving like his usual self. Indeed, he was fighting with Ron the whole way back to the castle after Hagrid shooed them out, even trying to bite him.
"Oi, you sure it was really Scabbers?" Seamus asked Ron. "There must be lots of rats around."
"Yes, he's more distinctive than you'd think," Harry answered for him.
Unfortunately, Scabbers's antics slowed the trio down so that they couldn't get away before…
"—the unmistakable swish and thud of an axe.
"Hermione swayed on the spot.
"'They did it!' she whispered to Harry. 'I d — don't believe it — they did it!'"
The Great Hall was silent. Some of the younger students were crying. And Dumbledore closed the and said, "I am afraid that is where we must end things for today." Many of the students groaned, but he held up his hand. "I know things appear dark now, but if we continued reading, it would only be harder to stop at the next chapter. But remember that hope, however unexpected, yet comes with the morning. We will reconvene here tomorrow for the final reading of the book."