Countess

10. I Bond With Some Teachers

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘦𝘯: 𝘐 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴

« 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚗𝚞𝚜 » 

Full disclosure: I have no idea how my sister got me into Professor Trelawney's classroom. She said "There will be mince pies" and the rest is a blur.

We went after the Quidditch Match. Neither of us went (because sports are terrible to watch even without the pouring rain), but I couldn't relax until it was over. That same cold feeling had kept me up most of the night, and it hadn't gotten any better throughout the day. I hated knowing what it meant; part of me wished I could go back to the blissful ignorance that I'd had before figuring it out. Let me think I was catching the flu or something. I'd rather have the flu.

At the very least I could have misinterpreted it. But no. That was wishful thinking.

Because when the game ended, Headmaster Dumbledore ran inside the school (quite fast for an old man I might add), followed by a floating stretcher behind him. He was hurrying off in the direction of the Hospital Wing, and as the stretcher passed I caught a glimpse of an unconscious Harry Potter (because of course it just had to be him who was injured).

The second the stretcher disappeared around the corner, that cold feeling ceased. It was gone so fast, I almost got whip lash.

"What happened this time?" Tilly sighed as the Gryffindor team shuffled in. I could have imagined it, but I thought my sister sounded a bit more annoyed than she normally would have. I suppose she was just used to her team's Seeker being knocked silly during games, but I couldn't help being a little queasy (mostly because of what had happened the night before).

Don't say it... I thought. But I knew it was coming, anyway.

"Dementors," one of the Weasley Twins explained.

I was internally screaming.

"A whole bunch of them," added the other one. "Just came out of no where."

Tilly frowned, looking more like her overly concerned, noisy self again. "What? You mean they were on the school grounds? Why would Dumbledore have let them in?"

"That's the thing. He didn't. They entered without permission. You should have seen," one of the girl's on their team said. Alyssa or something. "I've never seen the headmaster so mad before." She shook her head.

I was just hoping someone would change the subject. I wouldn't have even minded if they realised I was standing there, called me an evil pratt, and ran away. Because at least we wouldn't be talking about the dementors. And I wouldn't be thinking about how I'd known, weeks in advance, that they'd show up.

"Anyway, Dumbledore did this weird spirit animal spell or something, and it chased off the Dementors. But Harry passed out," another girl was saying. Her name was Anggie or something like that. I don't know. She was frowning worriedly, looking after the stretcher.

"Oh. Well, I'm sure he'll be fine," Tilly said. "And at least the dementors are gone." The Gryffindor team left to check on their Seeker after that, and my sister gave me a look like 'This is exactly why we don't attend sporting events.'

Meanwhile, the whole way to the divination classroom, I was trying not to think too much about how I'd known the dementors would be there. Should I have told someone about it after all?

I suppose it was too late now...

The North Tower was kind of stuffy. It smelled like tea leaves and smoke, and Professor Trelawney was staring at Tilly and me like she'd struck gold. Which was weird. (She'd also been waiting for us at a table, set up with a bunch of junk food and tea, like she knew we were coming, which was creepy. ) But she gave me mince pies so I didn't want to complain too much.