Hours later, when the feast had finally concluded, Harry at last collapsed onto his bed in Gryffindor tower, the other third years muttering goodnight to each other as they got into bed themselves. As tired as he was, Harry didn't fall asleep. He lay there on his mattress, listening to the sounds of his dorm mates breathing even out into sleep, waiting for Riddle to tell him whatever it was he didn't want to say in front of others.
Do you remember how I told you I had found a more lasting way then ink to record my memories in the diary?
Harry sent a thought of confirmation, not wanting to make any noise in case it woke one of the other boys.
It was the first of many, that I planned to make. Our run in with the Dementor brought something, a memory, to the surface. There's another one in Hogwarts.
That doesn't make much sense, Harry thought.
It's more complicated than that. Riddle replied in irritation. There is only so much I know about what happened after my memories were secured in the diary, and most of that was second hand from an eleven year old girl. I will explain in more detail later. For now, there's a room on the seventh floor,
Harry suddenly had a mental picture of which corridor Riddle was talking about.
Inside is a room with junk, you have to have a specific request to get the right room. Somewhere in there, is a diadem-
A what? Harry asked, confused.
A crown thing. Harry could hear the sneer in Riddle's voice, the point is you need to find it before October.
Why October?
Midnight on all Hallows eve, is when the veil between worlds is thinnest. As I said, I'll explain in depth later. We don't have that long to find it.
Two months.
Harry suddenly felt a jolt of pain stab through his scar, making his breath catch in his throat.
Two months of lessons, and with you, detentions as well. There's also Quidditch, you'll have practices. And studying. That leaves even less time. And you are underestimating the size of the room you'll be searching.
Why do I have to find it, anyway? Harry hissed, annoyed at Riddle.
Do you remember the Chamber? What happened down there?
Harry couldn't stop a shudder at the memory. Their encounter with the Dementor had brought the memory of the pain to the surface, and he did not need Riddle reminding him as well.
It will be less painful if performed on All Hallows Eve. But otherwise, it is the same process.
You want me to put more of your memories in my head?
Harry was not very keen on that idea. One portion of young Voldemort's memories in his head was too much already. He didn't need, nor want, two.
There was another, more intense stab of pain, and Harry let out a grunt, pressing his knuckles against his mouth, trying to quiet the sound.
We made an agreement, Potter. So unless you would rather personally find out the limit of pain ones mind can take before breaking... you will find the diadem.
Harry felt his throat suddenly close, silencing him, as a pulse of agony made his whole body tense. It was gone as quickly as it had come, but Harry was left trembling.
You're doing this to yourself, you know. You needn't be so stubborn about it.
Harry disagreed, but he closed that thought off from Riddle. He didn't feel like testing his 'companion'.
It took a while, but finally Harry managed to drift off to sleep, though it was restless, and plagued with nightmares.
T-M-R = H-J-P
It felt entirely too soon, when Ron shook him awake the next morning. Reluctantly, Harry rolled out of bed, listening to his dorm mates chatter sleepily as they all got dressed.
Harry and Ron met Hermione down in the common room, and the trio headed to the great hall together, discussing their new classes, Hermione speculating over which they would have first.
At breakfast, Professor Mcgonagall handed out timetables to the Gryffindors, and Harry looked over his while Ron argued with Hermione over hers.
"How can you be in three classes at once? It's not possibly, Hermione."
Before Hermione could snap back, Harry broke in,
"Will you just drop it? We're going to be late for Divination if we don't hurry."
They hurried up to the north tower, finding the classroom with the help of a bumbling, painted knight.
As they climbed up the silver ladder and into the classroom, they were met with an almost suffocating scent that unfortunately filled the whole room. The thick perfume was accompanied by unbearable heat from the fire blazing in the hearth.
As the last of their class took their seats, the teacher stood from her own seat next to the fire.
"Good morning, everyone. I am Professor Trelawney, your Divination teacher. I will be teaching you how to open your inner eye, and look into the beyond."
She looked like a colorful bug, with her huge glasses magnifying her brown eyes, and a multicolored shawl wrapped around her shoulders. An uncountable amount of bangles jangled on her arms as she retrieved an ornate silver tea pot from a cabinet near her wing backed seat by the fire.
"There are many ways to utilize the art of divination. We will be beginning with tea leaves, one of the easiest forms of divination. We'll eventually move on to palmestry, and by years end, we may make it to crystal ball gazing. Alas, our number will fall by one in the month of April, but otherwise, we will make exceptional progress."
After putting a black kettle on the fire to boil, she suddenly turned to Neville of all people,
"Is your Grandmother quite well, boy?"
Neville paled considerably at the sudden question.
"Y-yes." He stammered.
Professor Trelawney made a face.
"I wouldn't be so sure."
Turning to Lavender, she said,
"The thing you fear most will happen in October. On the sixteenth day."
Before the girl could say anything, Trelawney continued, this time turning to Ron,
"You will lose something close to you, but in return, will gain better."
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...