chapter three / prophetic proclamations

CASSIE'S LUNGS BURNED IN AGONY as she crawled up the last few stairs to the Divination hallway. She groaned. "So many bloody stairs."

The seven other Gryffindors she'd been hiking with nodded and wheezed in agreement. A girl Hermione had introduced Cassie to as Lavender Brown tilted her head and glanced up and down the hall. "Um.. where is the class?"

"Right there," a tall boy called Dean Thomas answered, and the rest of them followed his gaze to the trapdoor on the ceiling.

"Well, how the bloody hell do we get up there?" Ron gasped, glaring at the door. Even though this was their first divination class and they hadn't even met their professor yet, Ron despised the subject.

"Maybe the ladder, Ron?" Harry suggested, gesturing to the ladder that was leaning against the wall opposite the trap door. Ron mumbled something that Cassie didn't catch before he and Dean walked over to grab the ladder.

Ron and Dean set the ladder against the wall leading up to the trapdoor and the Gryffindors took turns climbing. When Cassie reached the Divination classroom, she coughed and waved her hand in front of her face. The entire room was filled with smoking incense and sage. Not a single window was open, resulting in absolutely no air flow. Cassie coughed again and moved to sit at a table with Hermione.

She didn't pay attention to what the teacher was saying. She couldn't even take her seriously; not with those bug-eye glasses that made her real eyes seem unnaturally large and her humorously puffy hair. Her bangles jingled around as she moved from table to table, occasionally letting out a gasp of astonishment. When she reached Hermione and Cassie's table, Hermione leaned in.

"Just go with it," she told Cassie, who nodded and returned to peering into Hermione's cup. Professor Trelawney reached their table and Hermione cleared her throat, staring intently into Cassie's teacup.

"Ah, I see.. love," Hermione mused, twisting the cup around to look at it in different angles. "Hm.. yes, love is in your near future—oh! What's this? I believe you're going to get injured somehow, Cassie!"

Hermione shrieked and shook her head, hiding her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook, but Cassie couldn't tell if it was with fake tears of laughter. Probably the latter. Cassie feigned a look of fear and stared into Hermione's cup.

"Oh, Hermione!" she cried, a hand clutching her heart. "I simply can't believe this!"

"What is it?" urged Trelawney, and Cassie had to physically fight to keep from laughing. "What is in her future?"

Cassie's eyes flickered to the open book in her lap for help. "Oh, oh! I see pain and suffering in your future, Hermione!"

Hermione couldn't hold back and burst into a fit of giggles, but Trelawney seemed to think this was tears and patted her back comfortingly. "Don't worry, dear, at least neither of you have the Grim," she said in a soothing voice. When she had moved on to Harry and Ron, Hermione looked up from her hands and the two broke into silent laughter. It was only when Trelawney let out a dramatic gasp and shriek that their laughter receded.

They turned to see the Professor thrusting Harry's teacup back into his hands frantically, stumbling over floor pillows to get away. Harry and Ron shared a confused look.

"My– my dear boy," she told Harry, fear evident in her overly large eyes, "you have... the Grim!"

After a beat of complete silence, Harry spoke up again. "What... what's the Grim?"

"The Grim is an omen of the very worst kind," a boy supplied, reading off from the book in his lap. "It's an omen.... of death."

"OH, COME OFF IT. You can't actually believe her!" Hermione scolded later that day at lunch. "She just saw a bunch of tea leaves that resembled the shape of a wolf and saw the opportunity."

"I don't believe her." Harry shrugged, picking up an apple. He didn't take a bite. "It's just.. strange."

Cassie scoffed. "What's strange is the entire subject of divination. Nobody can see the future! It's all just—"

"Cassie!" Remus cut her off as he strode over to the Gryffindor lunch table, a wide smile on his lips. "How have your classes been?"

"I've only been to Divination and History of Magic so far." Cassie frowned. "Professor Binns is ridiculously boring, and Trelawney is just flat-out mental."

Remus sighed. "Yes, yes, I assumed so. The good news is you've got me at some point today! I'm sure all of you are going to enjoy our lesson – even you, Harry." Remus smiled at the boy, who lifted his head from the plate in front of him and gave the professor a half-hearted smile.

"Well. I best be off – got to finish preparing for you lot to come in. See you in a bit, Cassie."

"In a bit," she agreed, smiling. Remus walked off and she turned back to her friends. "What class do we have next?"

"Care of Magical Creatures, then Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione informed her, though she didn't pay Cassie her full attention. Her eyes were glued to a book that was being propped up on a jug of milk, and Cassie could only wonder how she retained any of the information when her eyes were moving so bloody fast.

"Er– Hermione?" Ron began hesitantly, glancing between Harry and Cassie. "It's just.. you haven't looked up from that book in hours."

"Is there a problem with that, Ronald?"

"None at all!" Ron stumbled out quickly, shaking his head. "Just.. aren't your eyes tired?"

"No," Hermione said flatly, her eyes still scanning the page like a bullet.

"Right," Ron said slowly, watching Hermione with wary eyes. "Anyways, we've got to be off to Hagrid's, class is starting soon."

Hermione nodded once and picked up her book and bags, her eyes still on the pages. Ron sighed lightly and the two walked off first. Harry and Cassie stood.

"Are you alright?" Cassie asked upon noticing the look on his face.

"Er– yeah, just thinking about what Trelawney said," he admitted, scratching the back of his neck. Cassie frowned lightly.

"C'mon, Harry, you can't actually believe what she's said. It's a load of rubbish."

"Well, that's not all, Cassie." He cleared his throat and stared at the ground as they walked, whilst Cassie glanced his way occasionally. "I've.. I've been seeing the Grim."

"Well, yeah, you saw it in the teacup—"

"No, I mean.. physically seeing it. Like– um, last night I woke up for some water, and I looked out my window and there was a black dog watching me. It was creepy."

"I'm sure it's nothing to be worried about, Harry. Besides, Trelawney also said I'm going to get my period today, but still no sign," she said, shoving his elbow slightly to lighten the mood. He managed a smile and small laugh.

AS IT TURNED OUT, Hagrid's lesson was an absolute nightmare. Harry—much in a way Cassie had come to learn was very in-character for him—had flown off on one of Hagrid's Hippogriffs after impressively earning its favour and didn't return for a few minutes, so class was on pause until he flew back down.

Cassie wasn't a fan of Hippogriffs, she'd decided in the time he was gone. Maybe it was because the Hippogriff she was assigned was ugly, or maybe it was because she didn't want to touch the raw meat to feed the Hippogriff—either way, she just didn't like them. But maybe—maybe—she'd taken a bit of a liking for them after watching Buckbeak throw Draco Malfoy to the ground. From what Cassie knew of him... he got what was coming to him.

As Cassie made her way down the halls to Defense Against the Dark Arts with Ron and Harry, the ginger boy nudged her shoulder, a curious expression on his face.

"Any idea what your dad's teaching us?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "He seemed really excited about it."

"No clue. He's been preparing for days, though." A small frown made its way onto her lips. "I feel like he's nervous that we won't like him. But I'm sure it'll be great. Hey, where's Hermi—?"

Suddenly, Cassie's name echoed down the hall, two specific boys screaming to her at the top of their lungs. For some reason, Cassie was not surprised.

"Oh, here we go."

Atticus and Cedric ran down the hall at a great speed to reach her and her friends. Cassie slowed to a stop, turning to face the elder boys, unimpressed.

"Do you need something?" she asked them, only to get a reply of pants and wheezes.

"We've been... looking..... everywhere," Cedric explained, slapping Atticus on the back as he began coughing. "We just... needed to tell you....."

"Y– y–" Atticus began, only to succumb to another coughing fit. He drew in a couple deep breaths. "Your dad.. is bloody... BRILLIANT!"

Cassie blinked at them, raising her eyebrows. "Sorry?"

"Just... go see for yourself," Cedric promised, nodding seriously. "His class is beyond my favourite."

By the time she arrived in her father's classroom, Cassie was beginning to question their sanity, because how could such a bland classroom be so brilliant? It was completely empty, save for the one wardrobe in the center of the room. Remus stood behind his desk in his office, only raising his head when the door shut behind Ron, Harry and Cassie.

"Ah! Hello, hello," he welcomed, a smile stretching across his scarred face. "I was beginning to wonder where everyone is.."

"Why's this wardrobe dancing?" Cassie asked curiously, circling the cabinet as she watched as it bounce around in its spot.

Remus laugh, his hands deep in his pockets as he made his way out of his office. "That, you'll have to find out when everybody else arrives."

After a few minutes, most of the class had made their way in. Cassie stood next to Harry and Ron on the side of the everything, all three of them watching the class carefully. Almost judging, even.

"What are we looking for?" Hermione asked, craning her neck to see over the heads of the other students.

Cassie gasped. "Hermione?"

"When'd you get there?" asked Ron incredulously, staring at Hermione as though she had horns and a tail.

"Nevermind that. What is that?" Hermione raised her eyebrows at the wardrobe, but Lupin hushed the class before anyone could reply.

"In this wardrobe," he began, tapping the side with his wand, "is a boggart. Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces. Wardrobes, the gap underneath beds, the cupboards above sinks—I once met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday, and I asked if I could keep it to give my students some practice. So! The first question we must ask ourselves.. what is a boggart? Yes!"

Hermione had raised her hand in the air apprehensively. "It's a shape-shifter. It can take the shape or whatever it thinks will frighten us most."

"Very good, Miss Granger," he complimented. "The boggart sitting within here has not yet taken a form. He doesn't know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will become whatever each of us most fears.

"This means," Remus continued, ignoring Neville's sputter of fear, "that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin."

At Cassie's side, Harry's hand hesitantly rose into the air. Remus looked to him, raising his eyebrows.

"Have you spotted it, Harry?"

"Um.. because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?"

"Precisely. It is always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused, tries to scare two people at once. I once saw a boggart make that very mistake—tried to become two things at once; ended up half a slug. Listen, the charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart off his laughter. We will practice this charm without wands first. Now... repeat after me; Riddikulus!"

"Riddikulus," the class repeated, in monotonous voices.

"Good, very good. However, that was the easy part, I'm afraid. The word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville!"

The wardrobe shook again, though not nearly as much as Neville as he took a fearful step forward.

"Alright, Neville, first things first. What would you say frightens you most in the world?"

Neville mumbled something, unintelligible to the rest of the class.

A smile danced on Remus's lips. "Sorry, Neville, didn't quite catch that."

Neville swallowed, glancing around. "Professor Snape." The class burst into giggles, and even Neville smiled apologetically.

Remus laughed, nodding his head graciously. "Professor Snape, I see.. yes. Neville, you live with your grandmother, correct?"

"Yes – but I don't want it to turn into her, either!" Neville said quickly.

"No, no, it won't. I wonder, could you picture what sort of clothes your grandmother wears? Can you picture these, very clearly? When the boggart bursts from this wardrobe, Neville, I want you to raise your wand, thus cry 'Riddikulus', and concentrate very hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes correctly, the boggart will be forced into the very outfit in your mind."

This must have been a humorous thought, as Neville grinned.

"After Neville has finished—form a line—I want each of you to think about what most frightens you, and how you can manage to make it look ridiculous."

As Cassie fell into line behind Ron, she tried to think of what her worst fear was. Easy; the dark. It wasn't the scariest, but not much frightened Cassie, when she really thought about it. And all she did was think, really. So whenever a slight phobia would start to form in the back of her mind, she would just think about it as rationally as she could until the entire thing just seemed silly. But the dark was harder to humiliate.

In her thinking, she missed her chance of seeing boggart Snape in Neville's grandma's clothes. She frowned, but watched in interest as Ron stepped forward. Instantly, Snape turned into a large, hairy spider. Ron let out a whimper before casting the spell, and the spider suddenly began skating around on all eight legs. The class laughed, and the boggart seemed to be getting weaker.

"Next!"

Cassie stepped forward. The boggart stared at her as though thinking, before it shape-shifted into.. well, Cassie wasn't quite sure. At first, it was just a small puff of black cigarette smoke. But then the cloud grew bigger, becoming an entire billow of night, before it completely encased Cassie in darkness. She fumbled around, but everywhere she turned was completely black. She heard her dad shout something, but couldn't make it out.

"Ri– Riddikulus," she murmured, no power behind her words, but the smoke still blinked into a swarm of black butterflies that fluttered away delicately.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked as he moved in front of her, but she didn't have time to reply as the boggart shifted to a dementor.

Remus didn't even let Harry react before jumping in front of him; the boggart turned to a full moon, which quickly shifted to a white balloon that exploded into the air. The boggart was shoved back into the wardrobe and class was immediately dismissed.

"Well," Ron said as the Gryffindors collapsed into couches in their common room. "Seems like it's gonna be quite the year. Again."