𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬 [𝖍.𝖌]

five | the grim and the hippogriff

While Dahlia muttered to herself under the table, Harry's table was chaos.

"When did you come in?" insisted Ron, sweeping his arms about wildly and nearly knocking the teacups clean off the table. "How come none of us saw you come in—"

"That's quite enough, Ronald," muttered Hermione, who slipped her bursting bag to the floor.

Harry and Ron stared at her. Hermione sighed, fixed her hair, adjusted her robes, and then realised that they were staring.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," said Harry, shrugging. "Just that you missed everyone going mental about Trelawney." Hermione sighed, obviously grateful that Harry was changing the subject.

Hermione scoffed. "Well, I don't know about mental. Divination, there's a lot of guesswork, isn't it?" she said disdainfully. "And besides, it's telling the future. Time is a very fickle thing," she added.

"I dunno," mused Ron. "You should've seen her in action. She even knew that Neville was going to break his cup!"

"She also said that Parvati should beware a red-haired man," pointed out Harry, snickering.

Hermione looked absentmindedly in Parvati's direction, then her eyes widened and she turned paler than a ghost. "Lord help me."

"Hermione?" asked Harry, snapping his fingers in front of her face when her face drained of colour. "Are you alright?" She snapped back to attention, sitting very prim with her back straight and her chin up. She smiled, but Harry could tell from the absence of crinkles pulling at her eyes that it was painfully fake.

"Smashing," she agreed, then took a tea-filled cup that had appeared in her hands and chugged it, gagging at the horrible taste. She then opened her Divination book and flipped through it at lightning speed, occasionally asking Seamus Finnigan, who was seated behind her, for instructions. Harry and Ron watched this with an air of incredulity.

Ron leaned over. "She's finally gone mental," he whispered. "D'you see her timetable? She came over to us after you and Dahlia left and her timetable was spread open in front of me. She's taking two classes at once! And she says that it's in perfect order!"

Harry shrugged. "Did you see it wrong? She can't be in two places at once, you might need a pair of spectacles." Ron shook his head scoffing at the bushy-haired girl who was now attempting to read Ron's cup out loud.

"Probably," he sighed, taking a look at Harry's cup. "Right, so you've got a sort of wonky cross. So I guess that's trials and suffering? And a clover? So peace. You're gonna go through trials and suffering, but... you're gonna be happy about it."

Harry put his head on the table.

Dahlia sighed, rubbing her brow. She couldn't stop staring at Hermione, who had appeared out of nowhere, and she was currently trying to act like she hadn't seen the bushy-haired girl, even though the trio's table was below one level and one table to the right. Lavender was watching her face with increasing concern.

"Dahlia?" Dahlia grunted. "Are you mental?" She grunted again. Lavender snapped her fingers in Dahlia's face. "Are you even paying attention?" She grunted. "Lily!"

"Don't call me that," she said immediately. Then she stopped, noting a silence. Parvati had left their table and gone to chat with Hannah Abbott, and Lavender was raising an eyebrow.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," she said bracingly, slow clapping. Dahlia rolled her eyes and huffed, putting her head on her elbow.

"Hilarious," she muttered. "Really funny. Worthy of the London Stage."

"Brilliant. Now that you're sentient, I have to ask." Lavender's nosy expression irritated the red haired witch.

"What now?" she asked testily.

"Did something happen between you and the trio over there?"

"No." Yes. Dahlia put her head on the table. The incense was really getting to her.

"Are you sure?" pressed Lavender.

"Yes," she seethed. Just as she was about to snap, a loud gasp silenced the class. Argument forgotten, Lavender and Dahlia turned towards the noise, where—unsurprisingly—Professor Trelawney stood over Harry's cup with a horrified expression.

"M-my dear," she stuttered, holding the cup with shaking hands, "you have the Grim." Cue the shocked gasps. Dahlia groaned and slouched into her beanbag.

"What's the Grim?" asked Harry curiously. He wouldn't show it, but Dahlia could tell that he was on edge.

"You have a mortal enemy," whispered Trelawney, pointing a trembling finger right between his eyes. Harry's eyes grew wide.

"Well, everyone knows that," said a loud voice. The class turned to the girl behind him. Hermione.

"Pardon me, my dear?" said Professor Trelawney, who suddenly sounded a lot less mystical.

"Everyone knows Harry has a mortal enemy," she pointed out. "Him and You-Know-Who have been enemies for ages."

Cue more shocked gasps. Neville fainted. Hermione continued. "And besides, who says the Grim is a bad omen?"

Ron squeaked, "My uncle Bilius saw a Grim, then died twenty-four hours later."

"Coincidence," said Hermione sharply. "He probably just saw a black dog and freaked himself out so much that he died of fear."

Dahlia raised her eyebrows in incredulity. Not only was that extremely insensitive, but slightly accusatory and a horrible way to go.

"No, I know Uncle Bilius. He wouldn't have died unless something happened to him," said Ron shakily.

The next class, McGonagall asked them who had been put to die this year.

Harry raised his hand defeatedly. "Me."

McGonagall looked at him sharply. "Sybill predicts at least one death every year, and as you grow, you'll find that it won't come to pass. That is one of her favorite ways to greet a new class."

Dahlia, who was sitting with Seamus Finnigan, shared a look and a raised eyebrow. "Funny greeting, eh?" he said amusedly.

"Mental," she mused. Professor Trelawney was nothing if not mental. "But open your book, we're using Silencio today. Try not to set me on fire, yeah?"

"Fuck you, Evans."

holy crap i havent updated in a month

enjoy this short chapter its all i could do because i've been studying for finals ;-; winter break is coming though so ill post a longer chapter then. its been three chapters of the same scene and the plot is picking up soon.

also i just realized that dahlia takes ancient runes and divination so she cant take care of magical creatures 😬 bad planning on my part but ill make it work

somehow