Professor Trelawney made tragic predictions of Neville's misfortunes.
"Beware of green color. It will be nice if you can stay outside most of the time but still avoid green color." She said in her misty voice.
Neville looked pale and his hands trembled.
"You can't stay outside Neville. Everywhere is green."
Finnegan snickered.
Neville became paler.
Everyone laughed at Finnegan's mocking. No one take Professor Trelawney word seriously so it was funny when Neville listened her prediction and believed it.
Hayden saw Neville's pale face and took a sympathy towards him.
Hayden moved his butt forward Neville who sat two table in front of him.
Hayden whispered Neville's name.
"Longbottom."
"Psstt.."
Neville turned his head and saw Hayden. He looked surprised at him.
"Come here." Hayden made gesture with his hand to make Neville move closer to him.
Blaise and Pansy who sat nearby moved a bit to let Neville crawled to Hayden.
"Prince?" Neville wasn't sure how to called him.
"Sit with us."
Hayden gave his seat to Neville and he moved to beside Draco.
Neville sat on their seat and asked about the matter.
"Hello." He said awkwardly.
"Don't be too polite. We are civil." Draco said indifferently.
"Don't mind him. He just bored." Hayden said.
Hayden elbowed Draco. He gestured him with his eyes to be kinder to Neville. Draco replied with a shrug.
"No.. N.. No.. Problem." Neville said timidly.
"Longbottom. Don't be nervous. We aren't biting. We want to be friends with you." Hayden said softly.
In his past, Neville was one of his genuine friend. Neville never took any advantage of him. He genuinely nice to him when no one had done so. So even now Hayden wanted to be friend with Neville. He kinded of fond of Neville. He wanted Neville to be with them. He knew Neville was alone and had no one since his departure.
"Prince? Why?"
"There is no why. I just want to. And they also want to." Hayden explained.
"But.. I'm Gryffindor and you're Slytherin?"
"Do you have any prejudice on us?" Blaise, as always piped in. The Italian boy liked to meddle with someone else's matter.
"No.. No.. Not like that." Neville denied quickly.
"So you agree to be our friend, right?" Pansy asked wittily.
"uhm okay." He had no choice. He felt pressure from Pansy's sharp eyes and Blaise's expectation gaze.
Hayden smiled at him. Draco only looked at him without any word but his gaze was kinder now after he agreed.
"Yo, Longbottom.. Stay away from green color. Don't be corrupted by the snakes."
Weasley shouted at him from his seat on the back.
The Gryffindor snickered.
The Slytherin didn't respond. They looked at Draco and when Draco gave bored expression to Weasley the Slytherin understood the latter didn't worth any attention. The Slytherin turned their eyes away from Weasley and back to their earlier activities.
"Don't worry Neville. Professor Trelawney wasn't serious about the prediction. Don't take it to your heart." Hayden nicely soothed him.
"Okay." He meekly answered Hayden.
Neville indeed afraid of them. Not only because of the prediction but also the strange behaviour Hayden Prince had. Neville never talked to him and never had any interaction with Slytherin yet suddenly they wanted to be his friend. It was indeed weird and shocking but he actually in his deepest heart he felt warm.
Neville never had any friend that worthy to be called friends. He had Harry Potter as his closest friend but not enough to be his best friend as he only an acquaintance to Potter. Harry's best friends were Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. But even if he was just a mere friend he really appreciated their friendship. Harry Potter was nice to him and he really like to be his friend. He genuinely wanted to be Harry Potter friend. He liked the boy as Harry, not Harry Potter who was famous. But unfortunately, Harry Potter was missing this year. No one knew where he was. Even his best friends didn't know his whereabouts.
Neville felt warm from Hayden's kindness. He knew Malfoy tolerated him enough because of Prince but he was grateful at his nice gesture. The Ice Prince of Slytherin at least didn't hate him and kind enough to let him enter his circle.
Neville felt his eyes became moist and tears almost rolled down from his chubby cheeks. He blinked few times tried not to cry.
"Hey Hey.. Why with this face.." Blaise noticed his meek expression and tried to lightened the mood.
"Longbottom or should I called Neville, don't cry." Hayden patted his shoulder.
"Thanks." Neville said softly.
The four understood the meaning of his thank. They looked at him softly.
"Don't mention it. We are friends now."
"Let me introduce you my friends."
"Draco Malfoy." Hayden patted the blond haired boy beside him.
"Blaise Zabini." He pointed at Blaise who gave salute gesture.
"Pansy Parkinson." Pansy gave a brief nod.
"And Hayden Prince." He pointed on himself while grinning widely.
"Nice to meet you. I'm thankful to be your friends." Neville said and nodded to all of them.
After they exchanged pleasantries, the five of them began to talked about trivia thing and had nice discussion until the end of class when all the students walked out leaving only Hadyen and his friends.
When the five of them walked out near the door, Professor Trealewny who was already odd suddenly let out high pitch shrieked and had light seizure. She looked at Hayden without blink and with she sputtered words with hoarse voice. So different than her usual misty voice.
"You will meet Grim soon. There will be battle but the Grim will learn the truth. When Orion appears in the sky, the night will be bright. The moon will also shine."
Hayden whose his arm was gripped tightly by Professor Trelawney could only gulped his saliva down. He was prettified that he couldn't move a single muscle. He looked at her with his dilatated pupil. He became paler. He had sweat on his forehead and his breath hitched.
Hayden looked so scared. His soul almost gone. Draco looked at his ghostly face and tried to release him from Professor Trelawney's grip. Draco finally could release Hayden free and took the terrified boy into his embrace.
"Ssshhh.. It's okay. It's okay. Don't be scared." Draco soothed him. Rubbing his hand on Hayden's back up and down softly.
"I.. I.." Hayden felt weak and he lean on Draco more. He burried his head on Draco's chest and let out silent sob. His tears rolled down like a downpour. Draco felt the wetness on his robes but he paid no attention to it and kept soothing him and embraced him tightly.
Professor Trelawney who woke up from her trance looked at them with confused look.
"Boy, why are you crying?" Although she liked to make tragic predictions for fun, she was soft hearted. She would never bully her students until they broke down.
"He is alright Professor. Do not worry." Draco answered.
"Then let him rest for a bit until he is calm down." She led them to the nearest chair. She then ran to her office and pour a tea with calming draughts. She always kept calming draughts to prevent any hysteria. She then gave it to Draco. Hayden was to weak to lift a cup of tea.
Draco helped Hayden drink his mix drink and took a sip for himself. He also need to calm himself. He was shocked for sure. He never thought Professor Trelawney would make real prediction. He knew she spoke real words when he saw her trance. It was so different than her usual fraud misty appearance.
Hayden took a few deep breath before he could calm down.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked.
"Yes." He replied meekly.
Hayden felt weak. The divination was real fraud but the prophecy she had been talking was something Hayden understood too clearly. Hayden understood what was the meaning of her prophecy. There would be a battle between Sirius and his parents. He was afraid they would kill each other although Professor Trelaewny said there wouldn't be any victim but still he was worried.
"Drake, let's go to mother's room first. I need calming draughts." He said to Draco.
Draco sensed there was more than just a calming draught he needed. He was sure Hayden wanted to tell his mother about the prophecy. The prophecy looked real. Draco could tell Hayden hid something from him but he knew it was something private.
"Sure. Let's go." Draco lifted Hayden and carried him in his arms. He then walked from the tower to dungeon. Climbed down the stairs while carrying Hayden wasn't easy. It wasn't as hard as climbed up but still Draco let out low grunt few times before he finally reached outside Severus's chamber.
"Hade, knock the door."
"Uhm. Okay." Hayden knocked the door few times and after few seconds his mother opened the door. He was confused with Hayden and Draco. When he saw Hayden was being carried, he felt panic but he was rational enough to let the boys in and made them sit on sofa.
Hayden climbed down from Draco's embrace and sat beside him with flustered face.
Draco cuckled at Hayden's shyness.
"Why do your face look so red.. Are you having fever?" Draco put his forehead on Hayden's forehead so their forehead bumped each other and felt the temperature. When he saw Hayden's flustered face he felt happier. He liked to tease him.
"I.. I'm okay. Drake, there's mother. Don't do that again." He was shy.
"I understand." Draco pinched Hayden's cheek softly.
"You are so cute Hade." He teased the younger boy.
"Th.. Than.. Thanks." Hayden soft voice made Draco's heart itchy to tease him more but he restrained it.
"What happened to you Hayden?" Severus walked out from the kitchen that made the boys jumped in surprise.
"Mother, there is something I need to discuss with you. This is urgent."
"What is it?"
"Professor Trelaewny made real prophecy."
"Huh? Did she?"
"Yes."
"Really?" Severus was skeptic. His fellow teacher was fraud. The last time he heard the real prophecy was years ago when he was still green and often made mistakes but his Lord always forgave him but prophecy made him had psychological shadow.
"She said that I will meet a grim and there will be a battle. She also said the moon and the stars shines." Hayden told his mother.
His mother knew in instant about the meaning. He looked at Hayden with complicated gaze. He knew that Hayden told him to let him forgave the past.
"I will tell your father about it. You two should go back to your dorm." Severus said in his usual lazy voice. But his eyes told them different. They could see a hint of panic in that black pupil that made them felt worry.
"Okay. Goodnight Sev." Draco led Hayden went back to Slytherin den. He understood Severus's gaze. He needed to talk to Dark Lord and that prophecy had correlation with Hayden. Draco sensed there were huge mystery behind Hayden's past. Draco would look for the answer but not now. His focus was to calming Hayden down first.
Hayden and Draco walked slowly to Slytherin dungeon. They were silent as both had many thinks in their mind that need to be sorted out.
"Drake."
"Yes?"
"Did she really make prophecy?"
"I think she did. She's a divination teacher and I believe she has talent in divination."
"But she's a fraud."
"I know Hade. But not all her predictions are wrong. Sometimes she makes right and accurate predictions."
"But Drake..."
"I know you're worried. I know you're thinking about the prophecy but what can we do? Prevent the prophecy?"
"If I could but I know it's impossible."
"Hade, the prophecy she made is not bad. The meaning of the stars will shine means winning. Same with moon. Means no longer in the darkness. There will be happy news. Do not need to worry."
"But what about Grim?"
"Grim indeed was bad luck but not all Grim are symbol of death. Sometimes you just being unlucky and meet misfortune and you will be lucky after that. Interpret the prophecy as a whole. Don't Interpret it word by word."
"Maybe you're right." Hayden sighed.
"Now, end your sulking and give me a smile."
"Drake?!" Hayden glared at him but he gave Draco a sweet smile and the blond boy patted his head.
"That's my Hade." The sentence made Hayden blush.
They arrived in their dorm and after cleaning themselves and changed into their pj, they took a nap. Draco decided to skip the class to make sure Hayden was okay. He accompanied Hayden until the latter got better.
Draco wanted to hug Hayden but he restrained his idea as they were just mere normal friend. Draco patted Hayden's head absentmindedly. He had a wild guess but he couldn't sound it because he was afraid of the result. He knew Hayden had secret and somehow related to his past. Draco was in deep thought when he felt his hand was gripped. He looked down at his hand and found that Hayden looked at him with some vulnerable eyes.
"Are you okay Drake? Is there something in your mind?" Hayden's voice was soft.
"Nothing. It's okay." Draco reassured him.
"Stay with me."
"I will. Now close your eyes and sleep." Draco tapped his hand on Hayden's hand in soothing manner.
Draco sat on the bed by Hayden and kept patting Hayden. His soothing gesture was like a lullaby and soon made Hayden fell into slumber.
'Looks like my hunch is right. The prophecy is real and the subject is Hade. The Grim she mentioned isn't a real Grim. Orion.. Orion.. This is so particular. Grim and Orion..'
Draco gasped at his thoughts. It was strange but not impossible. Hayden? Grim? Orion? Moon?
Draco looked at Hayden with horror. Was he really him?? Draco calmed down his fast beating heart. He revealed the biggest mystery yet he struggled to accept it.