SuperPotterLock - The Order of the Phoenix

The Centaur and the Sneak

The vision wasn't much more than flashes as John was too weak to catch hold of it. He saw Trelawney having one of the few visions she had of her own; he saw Dumbledore and Snape, but only heard snatches of their conversation. He couldn't make out what they were saying at all, past the flashes of light in different colours that felt like spikes in his head. He saw the mysterious orb again, then, he saw Voldemort killing Harry's parents. He watched Voldemort raise his wand at baby Harry, and John shot awake just as Voldemort cast the Killing Curse, green light searing his eyes.

He gasped for breath and found Sherlock sitting next to him, and they were still in the middle of the Entrance Hall, though the crowd had now dispersed.

'It's all right,' Sherlock murmured and John groaned, holding his head in his hands.

'How much trouble am I in?' John asked, voice muffled by his hands.

Sherlock shrugged. 'Umbridge seems to be under the impression that you were having some sort of psychotic episode. I didn't correct her.'

John snorted. 'Fantastic.'

'What did you see?'

'Not much,' John shrugged, getting shakily to his feet. 'That weird orb again. Snape. Harry's parents...'

'Snape?' Sherlock said. 'What's he got to do with any of this?'

'Might be from when he was a Death Eater.'

Sherlock nodded thoughtfully, then caught hold of John's sleeve as he made to walk away. 'Where are you going?'

'Food,' John grunted, and wandered off to the kitchens.

Two days later, they were due to have their first Divination lesson with Firenze. Most of their class were eagerly discussing what the lesson might be like at breakfast, but John was dreading it. He always hated having visions in front of people. He tried not to be embarrassed, some situations were unavoidable, but he resented having to put himself in situations that might trigger it more. He'd gotten comfortable with it in Trelawney's classroom. She drew much of the attention away from him anyway, so it was barely noticeable if he drifted off, but he had no idea what it would be like in Firenze's classroom.

'I'll bet you wish you hadn't given up Divination now, don't you, Hermione?' Parvati smirked, checking her reflection in the back of her spoon.

'Not really,' said Hermione, reading that morning's Daily Prophet. 'I've never really liked horses.'

'He's not a horse, he's a centaur!' said Lavender, sounding shocked.

'A gorgeous centaur...' sighed Parvati. 'What do you think, Dean?'

Dean started at being asked. He realised he wasn't quite as used to being out of the closet as he thought he was, nor at being adopted into the girls' circle of friends. 'Uh... He's okay, I guess. Not really my type, though...' He glanced at Cas, who was sitting next to him sipping on some pumpkin juice. 'I prefer the tall, dark and handsome.'

The girls giggled and Cas turned pink.

'Either way, he's still got four legs,' Hermione said coolly. 'Anyway, I thought you were all upset that Trelawney's gone.'

'We are!' Lavender assured her. 'We went up to her office to see her; we took up some daffodils - not the honking ones Sprout's got, nice ones.'

'How is she?' John asked.

'Not very good, poor thing,' said Lavender sympathetically. 'She was crying saying she'd rather leave the castle forever than stay here where Umbridge is, and I don't blame her. Umbridge was horrible to her, wasn't she?'