Bab 127: True Seer

"There was three people in that dark room, including Voldemort. They got an owl and after reading it, the tallest man among them was happy. He said everything is fine. Vodemort said he's greatful to find a friend like him... and said.... he'll soon feed his snake... he'd be feeding me to it... then Voldemort laughed a high pitch laugh and my scar hurt... It woke me up, it hurt so badly." Harry sighed.

Hermione gasped.

Ron looked uncomfortable and worried.

Colin looked a little bit scared.

Ginny looked very surprised.

"And Dumbledore said...?" Chris asked patiently.

They all were sitting in the Gryffindor tower, and Harry just returned from Dumbledore's office, after a scar hurting session in Divination class.

"Dumbledore believes that my scar hurts both when Lord Voldemort is near me, and when he is feeling a particularly strong surge of emotion." Harry replied.

"But.. why?" Hermione asked.

"Because we're connected by this scar.. by that failed killing curse..."

"Oh."

"How's your training going on, Harry? The third task." Chris asked.

"Er..." Harry looked very surprised. "I think it's going well."

"Good." Chris nodded. "Be careful in the third task."

"Why?"

"Because it's going to be dangerous, I think." Chris sighed. "You should prepare for everything. Don't think Hagrid will go easy on the champions."

"True." Harry tried to smile.

"I can help you with some advance spells if you want."

"Really?" Harry asked looking shocked.

"If you want." Chris said rolling her eyes.

"Ok. Ok. Thank you." Harry grinned.

"Good." Chris smiled a little.

So as everyone started to study for their exams, Chris taught Harry some good defensive spells. Harry asked Ron and Hermione to go and study for their exams and Chris asked Ginny, Colin and Luna to do the same. To utilize her time, Chris usually gave Harry a spell to work on, while she studied Astronomy or Herbology for her exams. This way she thought she'll do fine in exams, which would finish on the day of the third task, one week before the end of term.

The mood in the castle as they entered June became excited and tense again. Professor McGonagall had given them permission to use the empty Transfiguration classroom at lunchtimes. Harry was practicing his shield charm but it wasn't strong enough.

"C'mon Harry, concentrate. Shielding charm can save your life." Chris said seriously. "You've seen that at the first task. If the shielding charm is strong enough, it can stop Dragon flames too."

"Right." Harry said looking a little bit embarrassed.

"Look, Harry. I'm not saying this because I can produce it." Chris calmed her voice. "I'm saying it because I know you can do this. You've already produced the perfect Patronus. Didn't you?"

"Yeah but I've not used it on Dementors and it'll be difficult in their presence." Harry sighed.

"Relax. Let's take a break." Chris said sitting near the window.

"Good idea." Harry said sitting beside her. "I'm tired."

"I know."

"What's Malfoy doing?" Harry said suddenly looking out of the window.

Chris turned and looked outside the window. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing in the shadow of a tree below. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be keeping a lookout; both were smirking. Malfoy was holding his hand up to his mouth and speaking into it.

"He looks like he's using a walkie-talkie," said Harry curiously.

"You can't use those things inside Hogwarts and also I don't think Malfoy even knows what a walkie-talkie is." Chris replied.

"So what's he doing?"

"No idea. But you know now when I think about it, few days ago I saw Pansy Parkinson doing the same thing near the lake." Chris said. "This is weird."

Exam week began and an unnatural hush fell over the castle. First day they had Transfiguration and Charms. Chris, Ginny and Colin did a great job in both exams. Chris was confident that they'll get highest marks in the class. In Transfiguration they had to transform a flower vase to a bird and in Charms they had to do the cheering charm. After dinner, the students hurried back to their common rooms, not to relax, but to start studying for Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, and Astronomy. Chris was mostly preparing for Astronomy that night.

Hagrid gave them a Niffler and Fire Crab and asked few questions about the creatures. It was the easiest exam. Then most difficult one: Potions. As expected Snape gave them the most difficult potion in their year, daydreaming potion. But Chris was prepared, so as Ginny and Colin. By the look of Snape's unpleasant face, Chris was sure the three of them are getting good marks. Then came Astronomy at midnight, up on the tallest tower. History of Magic on Wednesday morning, in which Chris scribbled every answer perfectly. Ginny also did good but Colin wasn't sure he wrote the right answers. Then at afternoon they had Herbology. Thanks to Neville, Chris's exams were not that bad. Next morning they had Defence Against the Dark Arts exams and Chris had Ancient Runes. Moody almost made them duel each other and in Ancient Runes, Professor Babbling gave them few new charts to write the meanings of those Runes. Last day Chris and Colin had Divination and Ginny had Muggle studies; which was also the day of the third task, twenty-fourth june.

Breakfast was a very noisy affair at the Gryffindor table on the morning of the third task. A screech owl arrived for Chris and another one arrived for Hermione, carrying thier morning copy of the Daily Prophet as usual. They were sitting together that day. Everyone was wishing Harry all the best but Chris was feeling weird. She had a feeling like something bad is going to happen. To hide her this discomfort, she unfolded the paper and tried to disappeared behind it but...

"Here we go again." Chris groaned.

There was a big picture of Harry, and beneath the banner headline:

HARRY POTTER

"DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS"

Hermione spat out a mouthful of pumpkin juice, looking at the front page.

"What is it?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing," said Hermione quickly, giving a meaningful look towards Chris.

"What is it, Chris?" Harry repeated.

Chris sighed.

"He'll be alright, Hermione." Chris said unfolding the paper on the table.

HARRY POTTER

"DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS"

The boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is unstable and possibly dangerous, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Harry Potter's strange behavior, which casts doubts upon his suitability to compete in a demanding competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend Hogwarts School.

Potter, the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal, regularly collapses at school, and is often heard to complain of pain in the scar on his forehead (relic of the curse with which You-Know-Who attempted to kill him). On Monday last, midway through a Divination lesson, your Daily Prophet reporter witnessed Potter storming from the class, claiming that his scar was hurting too badly to continue studying.

It is possible, say top experts at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, that Potter's brain was affected by the attack inflicted upon him by You-Know-Who, and that his insistence that the scar is still hurting is an expression of his deep-seated confusion.

"He might even be pretending," said one specialist. "This could be a plea for attention."

The Daily Prophet, however, has unearthed worrying facts about Harry Potter that Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, has carefully concealed from the Wizarding public.

"Potter can speak Parseltongue," reveals Draco Malfoy, a Hogwarts fourth year. "There were a lot of attacks on students a couple of years ago, and most people thought Potter was behind them after they saw him lose his temper at a dueling club and set a snake on another boy. It was all hushed up, though. But he's made friends with werewolves and giants too. We think he'd do anything for a bit of power."

Parseltongue, the ability to converse with snakes, has long been considered a Dark Art. Indeed, the most famous Parselmouth of our times is none other than You-Know-Who himself. A member of the Dark Force Defense League, who wished to remain unnamed, stated that he would regard any wizard who could speak Parseltongue "as worthy of investigation. Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anybody who could converse with snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark Magic, and are historically associated with evildoers." Similarly, "anyone who seeks out the company of such vicious creatures as werewolves and giants would appear to have a fondness for violence."

Albus Dumbledore should surely consider whether a boy such as this should be allowed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. Some fear that Potter might resort to the Dark Arts in his desperation to win the tournament, the third task of which takes place this evening.

"Gone off me a bit, hasn't she?" said Harry lightly.

"Join the club." Chris said smiling. "Now you're also a dark wizard. You've to give credit to her imagination."

"Really... she need check her theories a little bit... there are lots of healing potions, which need snake venoms and she thinks..." Luna bent over the paper again. " 'serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark Magic,' like she practices dark magic, everyday."

Over at the Slytherin table, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were laughing at him, tapping their heads with their fingers, pulling grotesquely mad faces, and waggling their tongues like snakes.

"And they're supposed to be Slytherins." Chris said looking at them. "Sometimes I feel they're great disgrace to Salazar Slytherin, specially people like Carbbe and Goyle."

"But I'm thinking how did she know Harry's scar hurt in Divination?" Ron said. "There's no way she was there, there's no way she could've heard ..."

"The window was open," said Harry. "I opened it to breathe."

"You were at the top of North Tower!" Hermione said. "Your voice couldn't have carried all the way down to the grounds!"

"Guys leave it. We can think about Rita Skeeter later." Chris said, shrugging. "I know it's weird but we've exams now, we can't waste our time in that stupid woman. C'mon."

"Right." Hermione said seriously. "Let's go. Bye Harry."

"Yeah... bye." Harry said as they all got up, and walked out, leaving Harry at the Great Hall.

Ron and Hermione had their History of Magic exam and Luna had Charms. So all of them went in different directions. Chris and Colin were walking towards the North Tower when she saw Dumbledore, Karkaroff and Madame Maxime talking to few people outside the Entrance Hall. One of them was Minister of Magic Fudge and Chris didn't recognize the other two men.

"What's going on?" Colin asked, looking towards them. "Do you think they're the new judges?"

"New judges?" Chris repeated.

"Yeah they need someone in the place of Bagman and Crouch, don't they?"

"Right. Maybe they're just new judges." Chris said. "Let's go."

They walked up the marble staircase together and proceeded all the way up to the seventh, where many of their class were sitting on the spiral staircase to Professor Trelawney's classroom, trying to cram in a bit of last-minute studying.

"She's seeing us all separately," Alex informed them as they went to sit down next to him. He had his copy of Unfogging the Future open on his lap at the pages devoted to crystal gazing. "Have either of you ever seen anything in a crystal ball?" he asked them unhappily.

"Not me but Chris did." Colin replied.

Chris nudged him in the ribes.

"Oh that's right. You saw something last month, didn't you?" Alex said looking more nervous. "Trelawney is really impressed with you."

"Just made up things if you don't see anything." Chris suggested. "She'll not see the same thing as you, it's the biggest advantage here."

"I can do that." Colin said happily. "I'll tell her about a accident in Hogwarts and she'll be happy."

Chris chuckled and Alex looked happy by this idea.

The line of people outside the classroom shortened very slowly. As each person climbed back down the silver ladder, the rest of the class hissed, "What did she ask? Was it okay?"

But they all refused to say.

"She says the crystal ball's told her that if I tell you, I'll have a horrible accident!"

"Colin Creevey." said the familiar, misty voice from over their heads.

Chris showed a thumbs up to Colin, as he climbed the ladder. Chris was now the only person left to be tested. She settled herself on the floor with her back against the wall, thinking about the third task.

What can happen inside the maze? No one will know. They all will think Harry died in a accident. If anyone else wins and something happens to them? Cedric? Fleur? Victor? They also didn't sign up for this. This is getting nasty. Can I help them? But how? Ughhh....

"Chris!"

Chris looked up, Colin was standing in front of her.

"You're done?" Chris asked surprised.

"Yes. She's calling you, go." Colin said. "I'll wait for you."

"No go to the Great Hall. I'll meet you there." Chris said climbing the ladder.

The tower room was hotter than ever before; the curtains were closed, the fire was alight, and the usual sickly scent made Chris uncomfortable as she stumbled through the clutter of chairs and tables to where Professor Trelawney sat waiting for her before a large crystal ball.

"Good day, my dear," she said softly. "If you would kindly gaze into the Orb. . . . Take your time, now . . . then tell me what you see within it. . . ."

Chris bent closer but only saw some fogs nothing else.

"Er...."

"Well?" Professor Trelawney prompted delicately. "What do you see?"

'Urghhhh... why did I was thinking about the third task that badly. I could've been done some meditation. Maybe then I could've seen something in real.' A voice said in Chris's mind.

But there was no point. Professor Trelawney was staring at her expectantly. She gave up and tried to make something up.

"I see.... a.... umm...." Chris was thinking about the Dragons then the merepeoples them suddenly.... "The Triwizard Cup!"

"Really?" Professor Trelawney looked a little disappointed and unconvinced.

But Chris wasn't lying she was clearly watching the Triwizard Cup inside the crystal ball.

"Who won?" Professor Trelawney asked.

"I don't know. It's lying on the ground and Harry..." Chris stopped, there was Harry and Cedric lying on the ground beside it and there was another figure beside them. It was Chris. She was lying on the ground clutching her bloody robes.

"Harry? Harry Potter won? Then why it's lying on the ground?" Professor Trelawney said, suddenly looking excited. "What happened dear?"

"Er... umm... I..." Chris's mind was blank. How is this possible?

And then there was a snake lurking towards them.

A snake? Harry saw a snake in her dream. Voldemort is going to feed them to the snake.

"What's it dear?" Professor Trelawney repeated.

"He died." Chris burst out.

Chris wasn't able to process what she was watching inside the orb and then Professor Trelawney's curiosity made Chris mad, so she said what Professor Trelawney will like to here. A death story.

"What?" Professor Trelawney looked startled. Then looked sympathetic. "Oh dear I knew this was coming... that boy is... but how did he died, dear?"

"By an enormous creature in the maze. He was very near the Cup." Chris replied without thinking.

"Oh! Poor boy! Poor boy! I hope that's not true... but we can't prevent the future, can we?" She said softly.

"I guess not." Chris replied.

'But I'll... as much as possible.' A voice said in her mind.

"Well, dear, I think we'll leave it there. . . ." Professor Trelawney said, scribbling keenly on the parchment perched upon her knees. "I can feel it, dear. You're going to be a true seer..."

"Thank you." Chris got up, picked up her bag and climbed out of the room and ran towards Dumbledore's office.