I drew another loop along my paper waiting for Bri to read my tea leaves. Professor Trelawney had gone over the way to "read" them twice, yet no one had seen anything solid in the bottom of our cups.
"Cassidy!" Bri hissed, jolting me back from my trance. All I had been doing since dinner yesterday was attempting to remember even a glimpse of the hour after potions. Harry, Ron and Hermione had come to find me at breakfast this morning to apologize and see how I was feeling. Hermione felt so guilty for making me take it in her place, but I reminded her that I offered, and that it hadn't been bad at all that I was aware of. I had no recollection of any of it.
At least until they had offhandedly mentioned the twins taking me back to my common room, since they were the only ones who could seem to remember where it was. I had felt my face burn red at once, but tried to seem like I didn't care. 'How nice of them.' 'They shouldn't have.' I must have been a disaster. How embarrassing.
Which left me here, ignoring the first Divination lesson of the year, trying to recall any piece of information from my walk with the Weasley boys yesterday. Any indication that I might have embarrassed myself. I could have showed them how to get into the Hufflepuff dorms, if they didn't already know. Just think of all the damage the Weasley twins could do with that.
"Quit obsessing, you were fine when you got inside, I hardly even noticed." Maddie nudged my arm and I hissed in pain. The slices in my skin were almost completely gone now, but I had grudgingly accepted by now that they would leave scars. The girls in our dormitory had asked the first night of course, when we all got into our pajamas for bed. I had planned a story the minute I saw Fred's eyes linger on the cuts which I used then. The official story of how my cat at home had lashed out at me. The cuts were deeper than that, I knew, but who was going to assume I was lying? No one here knew that my father would have never allowed us a cat. Too much work, too messy. Not that I would have ever asked for a pet. I would never have put any animal through what Tommy and I had gone through every day.
"Time is almost up! Has anyone found anything in their leaves? Miss Abbot?" She inquired, picking Hannah from our side of the room.
"Er... well this sort of looks like a rabbit here." Hannah grasped at straws and I clapped a fist over my mouth to stop from laughing.
"It's not like looking at clouds dear, do you see a rabbit or not?" Professor Trelawney grabbed for Maddie's teacup from Hannah's outstretched hands and turned it upside down before nodding a bit.
"Well Miss Abbot, I will say you might have the gift here. A rabbit it is. I'm sorry to say Miss..."
"Lockwood." Maddie whispered nervously when she realized Trelawney was looking at her.
"Miss Lockwood. A rabbit in your leaves symbolizes that you have a long way to go until you are successful in life. Nevertheless, don't let that get you down dear girl. Work extra hard, you'll get there. Divination can help you, if you have the Sight..." She trailed off, wandering to Bri and reaching for my cup. "Your cup, Miss Olsen?"
"Yes, Professor." I tapped my fingers nervously on my thigh waiting to hear of my certain death tomorrow.
"Well, dear girl. You're in luck, see." She leaned the cup down so both Bri and I could see into the leaves. "You've got the sun."
"The sun?" I looked to her confused and watched Bri flip ferociously through her book.
"The sun, great happiness." She smiled, and I bit the side of my cheek as I offered her a smile back. Perhaps the Tommy news had yet to travel all the way to her tower, but there was no great happiness in my life yet.
"In your future." She added, and I felt my eyebrows furrow for a second. "Just wait."
The girls and I scampered down the ladder back to the swirling steps underneath the divination classroom minutes later, after rinsing our teacups and setting them upside down to dry.
"What do we think? She might be a bit crazy, I'm not sure." Hannah said as we walked two and two back down to the second floor for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"Definitely not," Bri smirked, "She was right about Cassidy's."
"How so?" I looked at her confused, but she simply nodded across the swirling staircases to the matching ginger twins bustling down the stairs after Peeves, everyones least favorite school ghost, except for the Weasley's.
"Great Happiness." She raised her voice in a scratchy tone imitating Trelawney and the girls burst into laughter, attracting the attention of Fred and George, who pulled on the railing and let Peeves get away.
"How are you feeling Cassy?" Fred called over to us, a wide grin visible even from here as we waited for our staircase to close back up with it's landing.
"I'm fine, don't bring it up!" I called back, joking and earning a laugh from the pair.
"Oh, no. We're bringing that up for a long time!" George called, his hands surrounding his mouth to magnify his voice.
"You owe us one for not leading you to Myrtle's bathroom or something!" Fred teased and I waved them off, finally stepping onto the landing and leaving the twins above us as the four of us found our class room.
"Why they didn't just take you back to their own dormitories, I wonder..." Maddie whispered and I slapped her hard as Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the room.
"Is it you the twins are yelling after?" Hermione asked, sliding into a desk behind me and the boys following suit.
"If they're still yelling, it's to themselves." I joked, earning a chuckle from Harry and Ron.
"Have you guys heard anything about Lupin?" Hannah turned to ask the group.
"Not really, but I suspect he's finally going to be a good professor for once. He got rid of the dementor from the train and knew how to remedy it's effects with chocolate. He knows some stuff, at least." Hermione said, the four of us shifted uncomfortably in our seats thinking back to the dementors.
"Good afternoon, class." Lupin came bustling through the doors and set a briefcase on the desk at the front of the class. "My name is Professor Lupin for those of you who don't know. I assure you I will learn all of your names as quickly as I can. But for today, I have something exciting for us to practice, if you'll all follow me?" He started back towards the same door he just entered and led the class down the hall. Hermione was right on his heels, practically racing him to see what they were to do, Ron and Harry right behind her.
When Lupin stopped, we were outside of the Professor's Staff Room. We all paused until Lupin opened the door and let us in one by one. Harry held the door for me and I stood behind him in the dimly lit room.
"Ah, Professor Snape! Care to stay for the lesson?" Lupin asked, friendly enough, although most likely already knowing the answer as Snape stood from his spot and headed past the groups of students.
"Best of luck, Lupin. You have Longbottom in this class, and I've yet to find a spell that he can perform."
I watched Harry tense up and his hands ball into fists.
"Neville, I'm sorry about that. Trust me, you will be fine today. I have the upmost faith in you. Alright class, gather around. Little closer while I explain. Today, we will be working on a Boggart. Does anyone know-"
Hermione's squeak cut the Professor off as her hand shot into the air.
"Yes, Miss Granger, is it?" Lupin asked, obviously biting back a smile.
"Yes sir, A boggart is a particularly tricky creature which takes the form of whatever a person fears most. Because of this, no one can ever truly know what the boggart actually looks like."
"Very good, Miss Granger, I can tell you've started your reading. Five points for Gryffindor." Lupin started to an oversized wooden wardrobe in the corner of the staff room, which I now noticed was slightly shaking back and forth. "As luck would have it, a boggart moved itself into this wardrobe earlier this week, and I have asked Dumbledore to let us have some practice with it."
Professor Lupin explained that one by one we would approach the Boggart once it was released from it's cabinet and it would become what the student feared the most. The way to get rid of the creature was through laughter paired with a new spell. Lupin told each of us to picture what we feared the most and then think of a way to make that fear a comical one.
Hermione whipped around to look at her friends and I could hear her whispering to them contemplating what he biggest fear was.
"Come off it Hermione, we all know it's going to be a giant F on an exam or something." Ron grumbled.
"And yours will just be a tiny spider." She bit back.
I looked Harry up and down before they turned to me, Ron and Hermione out of comebacks. I wondered, out of the horrors Harry had already seen in his life, which the Boggart would appear to him as.
"What do you figure yours will be?" Harry asked, softly, obviously wondering the same thing about me, although I had seen no horrors as great as his.
"Uh... I've no clue." I answered, not daring to ask for his. Many of the other students in line were sneaking looks back to Harry, obviously all wondering if we were all about to see You Know Who appear in this small room.
As Professor Lupin announced the start, Neville standing at the front of the line, his legs shaking so badly I was sure Justin would have to catch him before he fell to the ground any second. Lupin pointed his wand at the wardrobe and it shot open with a bang. The long black pant leg of Snape stepped out, shooting Neville a spot on glare and heading straight towards him.
"R... Ridikulus!" Neville sputtered out and with another bang, Professor Snape now wore an old patchy dress with a white crochet shawl and held a giant handbag. The class all roared in laughter, including Neville, and Professor Lupin gave him a short applause before sending him to the side and calling Justin forward.
The room was filled for the next fifteen minutes with bang after bang as we went down the line, watching mummy's and bugs and monsters straight out of horror films become humorous figures before it was finally our groups turn. Harry and Hermione took a large step back and I followed suit before Ron could realize he was now in front.
"Come on up, Ron. No need to worry, you've got this." Lupin encouraged from the side of the room as Ron grimaced and stepped forward.
With a bang, the Boggart turned into a large hairy spider, it's shiny black eyes all peering down at Ron as it advanced. I heard the whimper from Ron's lips before he raised his wand and screamed out the spell.
The spider began slipping around the room and I looked down to realize Ron had put him into rollarblades. The room erupted into laughter as Ron took a few steps to the side of the room and I realized it was my turn. My stomach was churning as I stepped in front of the spider now and with a bang it shifted into what I should have known it would be.
The dark gray clothes matched his black and gray hair and his eyes met mine with a murderous glance that I had seen too many times before to not know what was coming next. It felt like someone had set a weight on my chest. I could hardly get any breath in, much less think of the words to the spell. And even if I could, there was no way I could turn him into anything funny. I was frozen to my spot as my father took another step towards me and began to raise his hand towards my face.
Before I knew what was happening, I had sunk to the floor, crouched down and Professor Lupin was in front of me. My father was gone almost instantly and I heard Lupin yell Ridikulus at something that I couldn't see.
There was a long pause where no one spoke once Lupin had sent the boggart back into the cabinet and I clambered up from my spot on the floor. A few students were looking at me, but most eyes were trained on Lupin. I didn't have time to wonder what his boggart had turned into that had taken their minds off of my freak out.
"Alright, class, that's enough for today. Thank you all for your participation, I will see you next week. Have a great rest of your evening."
I shot for the exit but felt a hand on my arm and I gasped and yanked it away, looking back into Harry's shocked face.
"Cassidy, are you alright?"
I nodded, but I felt like I hadn't gotten a full breath since the boggart was Ron's spider.
"Miss Olsen, a moment if you will?"
I cringed and avoided the eyes of the trio as they filtered with the rest of the class out into the hall and I was left alone with Professor Lupin.
"Don't feel bad, it's a tricky spell, and the boggart's a tricky creature. You would have had it any minute, I have no doubt." Lupin lied, giving me a small smile.
"T-Thank you." I stuttered, my voice coming out quite small.
"I just wanted to make sure everything is okay with you? I don't want to intrude at all..." He trailed off.
"Yes professor. Thank you." I snuck a look behind me and he got the hint.
"You're free to go Miss Olsen. Good work, and please don't hesitate to come to me. If you ever need anything. All of the professors are always more than happy to talk to or help any students."
I plastered a smile on my face and nodded, trying to act like I had no idea what he was talking about, or why I would need help. That was all I needed. For anyone at school to find out about my father. For wizards to show up at his door and ask him if he was hurting me. The trouble I would be in if anyone from this world entered his, I could only imagine.