Power He Knows Not

Fair Foul Fortune

Without pause she then turned to Harry, her brown eyes seeming to pierce through him.

"And you, my dear, your fear will loom close, on All Hallows Eve. Do not fret, however, the path you walk is unheard of, but every discovery must first be discovered."

As she moved her attention to another student in the back, Harry sat very still.

What did she mean by his 'fear'? His conversation with Riddle last night immediately came to mind, and Harry repressed a shudder.

'All Hallows Eve'. Riddle wanted him to find the Diadem before then. Was that his 'fear'?

Trelawney was talking about tea leaves. Harry pulled himself from his thoughts as everyone got up to collect their tea cups. Harry followed Ron and Hermione. Having not heard Professor Trelawney's instructions, he followed his best friends' leads, taking the cup of scalding tea back to his seat, and attempting to drink it. With the first sip, he burnt his tongue, and silently cursed.

There's a spell to make it the prefect temperature. Repeat after me.

Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Harry repeated the incantation in his head, focusing on intent. The books he'd gotten on non-verbal magic (at Riddle's behest) had made it clear that intent mattered more then wand movements, or even the incantation itself. It took a few tries, but but at last, one final curl of steam rose from the cup, and Harry sipped it cautiously. It was, as Riddle had said, perfect.

Harry ended up being the first to finish his tea. Ron and Hermione threw him an odd glance, when he placed his cup upside down on the saucer, but he just shrugged at them.

When the cups were finished draining, Harry and Ron swapped, opening 'Unfogging the Future' as they inspected the wet tea leaves.

"Your future looks dank, mate." Ron said, peering into the china cup. Harry snorted, gazing at the soggy lumps in Ron's own cup.

"You're going to lose your shoes in a marsh." Harry proclaimed quietly, doing his best to imitate Trelawney's breathy, airy tone.

Ron and he both started snickering, pulling themselves together only when Trelawney said, for the whole class to hear,

"Clear your mind, and focus your inner eye to look beyond the mundane!"

Clearing his throat, Harry stared down into Ron's cup again, trying to see shapes in the sodden leaves.

"You've got a sort of... cross. A crooked cross." Harry skimmed down the page, "'trial and suffering'. There's a blob, it might be the sun." Harry checked the book, and sucked in a deep breath, before turning to Ron with all the solemnity he could muster,

"Mate, you're gonna suffer. But you'll be happy about it."

Ron snorted, and both boys hid behind their books as they snickered. Even Hermione's eyeroll was more amused then it would have been in any other class.

Noticing Trelawney approaching their table, Ron hastily picked up Harry's cup, as Harry was still giggling behind 'Unfogging the Future', and began to look over the soggy mess at the bottom.

"Right. That there could be a skull," -he rotated the cup slightly- "or a mushroom. So it's either not good, or... ah, less good, but in a fun way. Hhmmm. That's a... bowler hat. Or an acorn. 'A windfall of gold', great, you can lend me some."

Trelawney was a table or so away, speaking to Lavender and Parvati, so Harry had to cram his fist in his mouth so she wouldn't hear him laughing. Ron continued examining Harry's tea dregs, trying not to laugh as well.

"This here looks like some kind of animal. A sheep, or a goat." -He turned the cup again- "or a hippo. Could also be a baboon."

Trelawney reached their table, and held out her hand for Harry's cup. Ron passed it to her, and she tutted almost mournfully.

"Not a happy cup, not a happy cup at all. Let's see dear. The skull; danger in your path. The club; an attack. This over here, is a flower bud, it means a change of heart. Beside it is a clover, you will realize a truth about yourself, perhaps leading to your change of heart, or because of it. And this-" she suddenly gasped, and sat down on a nearby poof.

"My dear, this is terrible! This is- this is-!"

"What?" Hermione asked impatiently.

"My dear!" Trelawney fixed her enlarged eyes on Harry, "it is... the Grim!"

Gasps rang through the class, and Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, who were sitting close by, got up from their table to look over Trelawney's shoulder.

"The what?" Harry asked, feeling slightly stupid.

Superstitious nonsense. Riddle said with disdain clear in his voice.

"My dear," Trelawney said in a breathless voice, looking stricken, "it is an omen of death!"

Harry felt a chill enter his bones, as he remembered the cover of 'Death Omens' that he'd glimpsed in Flurish and Blotts while getting 'Unfogging the Future', which had had a large black dog, identical to the one Sirius Black had turned in to.

Suddenly, it didn't seem so humorous anymore.

"if you look at it like this," Seamus said, with his eyes practically closed, "it does sorta look a bit like a Grim. But from here, it looks more like a donkey."

"From this side, it looks like a moose." Dean chimed in from Trelawney's other side.

"If you're all done deciding whether I'm about to drop dead or not." Harry said, his cold tone surprising even him. Dean, Seamus and Ron all winced, looking apologetic. No one else seemed to want to look at him anymore.

"My dear! You must beware!" Trelawney said, trying to still sound mystical, even as she clearly trembled, "the Grim rests beside a key! It can only mean that your death is inescapable! You must beware!"

Thankfully, the bell rang just then, giving Harry an excuse for the way he leapt to his feet. He snatched up his bag, stuffing 'Unfogging the Future' into it, as he walked as quickly as he could to the trap door out of the room. He didn't slow until he was halfway down the long, circular staircase that encompassed the towers expanse.

It would be too soon if he never had to set foot in that suffocating room again.

Harry still felt horribly cold.

Alright. So apparently, it was just the transition between Harry's 'talk' with Riddle, and the first class that was holding me up, because Divination class was actually pretty easy to write for me.

Obviously, the shapes in Harry's tea leaves were more numerous then in PoA, and other then the ones mentioned therein, I made that shit up. And that's what we're sticking with.

In case anyone noticed, (maybe no one did, wouldn't blame you) Harry did indeed cast non-verbal magic... without a wand. Harry hasn't realized, obviously. No one else has either, maybe Riddle will, but not til later.

Also, quick question, do you guys think Harry should still have the same Boggart, or a different one?

Rambling. Anyway, I hope yall enjoyed this chapter!

Bakeku67 

I only slightly forgot today was wednesday... but I remembered...