PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

35 || The Grim

"I-I think so..." Neville said in a quivering voice. His face had grown awfully pale.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear."

Katie didn't think it was possible for Neville to appear any more sickly than he already seemed, but she was proven wrong when his face faded to the shade of snow.

Professor Trelawney went on to explain how they would be covering the basic methods of Divination, and there first topic would be reading tea leaves. The class was instructed to pick a teacup from the shelf, fill it with tea, and drink. They would then switch their cup with their partner and read their leaves. This seemed simple enough to Katie, though it proved to be a difficult task when she realised that she didn't have a partner.

She slid her cup over to Hermione, who only pushed it back aggressively and crossed her arms with huff.

"Do you really think I am going to take part in something as silly as reading tea leaves?" she snapped moodily.

Katie held her hands up in surrender. "Suit yourself. Hey, Harry—"

But Harry and Ron were already occupied in reading each others tea leaves, and getting a great laugh out of it too.

"You've got sort of a wonky cross..." Ron was saying as he flicked through Unfogging the Future for help. "That means 'trials and suffering' — sorry about that — but there's a thing that could be the sun and that means happiness. So, uhh... you're gonna suffer... but you're gonna be happy about it..."

Hermione let out a high-pitched laugh of mockery, and Katie would be lying to herself if she couldn't admit that she, like Harry, snorted in amusement.

"Give me the cup." Professor Trelawney instructed Ron and she outstretched her hand for Harry's teacup. As soon as she gazed down at the tea leaves, the Professor gasped, then screamed, and stumbled back into her armchair.

There was a bustling roar of noise as everyone sprung up from their seats to catch a glimpse of Harry's cup.

Trelawney's eyes were bulging from her head (more than they already did) and her mouth was hanging open in shock.

"What?" Harry pressed, clearly agitated. "What is it?"

"My dear boy," Professor Trelawney's voice trembled with fear. "You have the Grim."

The vast majority of the class clapped their hands over their mouths in horror, but Katie was among the few who tilted her head and stared on at the Professor in bemusement.

"The what?" Harry asked. He was clearly growing more and more impatient with every passing second.

"The Grim, my dear, the Grim!" Professor Trelawney shrieked. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen — the worst omen — of death!"

Katie's first impression of Divination was that it was extremely odd, and seeing as Harry and Ron had been laughing about the tea leaves predicting their future, she assumed that they believed the same thing as her. So to say that she was shocked when the blood drained from Harry's cheeks and his pupils dilated would be an understatement.

"Harry?" Katie asked softly. She placed a ginger hand on his shoulder and he shivered at the contact. Hermione also took notice of Harry's sudden change of behaviour, so she decided to take charge and make him feel better. She got up, marched around the table and peered over Professor Trelawney's shoulder at Harry's cup.

"I don't think it looks like a Grim." she said flatly.

Trelawney eyed Hermione with an expression of unmistakable loathing. "You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."

Hermione scoffed in disgust. With a flip of her hair, she turned on her heel and marched towards the trapdoor, descending the silver ladder without merely a glance back at the classroom. Professor Trelawney took no notice of this because she became distracted by Seamus Finnigan's voice suddenly bouncing around the walls.

"It looks like a Grim if you do this," he announced, tilting his head and squinting his eyes so that they were almost shut. "But it looks more like a donkey from here."

Harry ran out pf patience and finally snapped.

"When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!"

The class went silent as they sucked in sharp breaths and held them. All of their eyes slowly averted from Harry and they dared not to look at him again. Without a single word, Harry rose from his seat and followed Hermione down the trapdoor.

Katie gulped and glanced helplessly between Ron, who merely shrugged, Professor Trelawney, who was staring ahead, flabbergasted, and the trapdoor, which was left open and vacant.

"Excuse me, Professor." she said and finally stood up. Like her two friends before her, she climbed down the sparkling ladder, and ran to the railings of the landing. Peering over the edge, she caught a glimpse of Harry's cape as he dashed down the spiral staircase.

The Slytherin rushed after the Gryffindor, skipping two steps at a time, and almost tripping at least thrice.

"Harry!" she called. He ignored her.

When Katie finally caught up to Harry, she grabbed a hold of his sleeve. He swung his whole body around, his eyes burning with rage, and snapped at his friend.

"What?" he raised his voice, which made Katie's breath hitch. She fell silent for a second as she was stunned. Harry realised what he had done and sighed.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "It's just... when she started talking about the Grim — the dog, I—"

"Harry..." Katie said gently. She grabbed his sleeve again and led him to a windowsill where they sat together. Harry ran a hand through his disheveled hair to ease his stress.

"You know reading tea leaves is a load of tosh, right?" Katie said, trying to reassure her friend. Harry sighed yet again. He finally lifted his head, only he stared at the wall with his eyebrows furrowed and thought hard for many moments before he turned to Katie. For a second, he hesitated to speak.

"The night over summer when I left, or, ran away from my Aunt and Uncle's, I sat down on the side of the road and I—" Harry paused and drew in a shaky breath before continuing his story, to which Katie was listening intently. "I heard a noise in the bushes, and I looked over, and I saw a dog. And I know this may seem stupid, but it wasn't just a dog. It was almost like a wolf, it was huge, and it had fangs and—"

"Hey, Harry, it's OK." Katie told him softly. She draped an arm around Harry's shoulder and he placed his hand on said arm as a form of thanking her.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Katie questioned.

"It didn't really bother me," Harry replied as he started to play with Katie's fingers. "Not until today, that is. I guess I just thought that it couldn't be a coincidence. I don't know. It's stupid."

"No, Harry, look at me," Katie put a hand under Harry's chin and gently turned his head so that he was looking at her. "If something upsets you, then it isn't stupid. Don't forget that."

Harry smiled at Katie, and his muscles seemed to relax, and he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

There was a thunder of footsteps as the Divination students piled out of the classroom and started walking down the spiral staircase. Ron and Seamus, who were walking together, stopped abruptly when they spotted Katie and Harry. Ron eyed the pair suspiciously, much to their confusion, until, at the exact same time they realised that Katie's arm was still wrapped around Harry's shoulder and he was still holding her hand.

They coughed awkwardly as they quickly separated themselves from the other.

"Right..." Ron said slowly. "Lunch?"