The Great Divide (Golden trio era)

A Discovery in Divination

There weren't many subjects that I would consider myself to excel at, but divination was one of my worst. I had picked it because we got to drink cups of tea every lesson and I'd heard a rumour Professor Trelawney grew her own leaves. Apparently I just lacked 'the sight'.

She was rambling on again about tea leaves and symbols when I began to nod off. Trelawney's classroom was by far the most comfortable. The soft velvet cushions and the comforting temperature provided the perfect conditions to fall asleep. The floral aroma of a sticky date infused rooibus filled my senses right before I got a sharp jab in the side.

"She's staring at you," the girl beside me whispered. I grumbled and opened my eyes, unfortunately locking eye contact with the professor. Shit. How the hell can I play this off.

"Well Ms Laurie, what have you found?"

I inhaled sharply and chugged my entire cup of earl grey down. The leaves formed a very unsymbolic clump in the bottom of the cup. Double Shit.

"My, is that a star?" The girl beside me mused. I blinked at her in confusion. Her eyelid flickered in annoyance. It took me a second to gather what she was doing. She took the cup out of my hand and swished it around. I watched as the tea leaves took shape. She quickly shoved the cup back into my hands.

Trelawney glided up the stairs over to our table. She gasped in astonishment. "You have something!"

I shrugged sheepishly and placed the cup back into its saucer. Trelawney beamed down at me, "there may be hope for you after all, my dear!"

I smiled at her comment and pulled a face to myself as she turned away to pester Alex Ledgerton for turning his tea into coffee.

"Thank you," I whispered to the girl beside me. She smiled and continued taking notes. "What's your name?"

"Elianne-Chloe Bearheart."

~~~

Paige hadn't gotten over herself yet. Someone told me they saw her punching trees the week before and quite frankly I was slightly concerned.

The courtyard was abuzz with activity. Everyone was besotted with the upcoming Yule Ball. The week after the first challenge had been spent with awkward conversations between people asking each other to the festivities. Apparently Viktor Krum had been cozying up to Hermione and I would rather ask her myself then watch that bastard go.

I rounded the corner and came face to face with Jocelyn and Helayna hiding behind a column ogling Cedric Diggory. They both looked very intrigued. I moved to stand next to them. "What are we staring at?"

They both jumped and then shushed me. They turned back to the courtyard.

"Is it just me or is he ...sparkly," Helayna whispered, squinting at him through the glare. Cedric was sat on one of the sandstone stools surrounded by a flurry of girls trying to ask him to the ball.

"His eyes looked a bit yellow at breakfast. It was rather odd..." Jocelyn commented. Cedric snapped his head into our direction. We ducked below the wall. "Do you think he saw us?"

"Well no shit Sherlock," Helayna whispered back. I snorted at the situation. Silently the three of us began to commando crawl towards the corridor, attempting to avoid Cedric.

The second we were out of sight we took off running, bursting out laughing. We ran to the great hall just as the doors opened for lunch. It was quite common for houses to cross mingle during breakfast and lunch. Our group often clambered into the Hufflepuff table as it had the widest variety of food.

Jojo and I sat down whilst Helayna got beckoned over to the Slitherin table. Not long after the others joined us. "So," Tia began as I started filling up my plate with food. "Has anyone been asked to the Yule Ball yet?"

There was a collective murmur of disagreement. "I'm starting to think we should just go as a group of friends." Alicia stated as she reached for the potato salad.

"Or maybe I just don't go at all," Ellen grumbled.

"No but you have to come!" Tia gasped, astonished at the revelation.

"I really don't."

"Nope it's decided you're coming." Tia stabbed her bread roll with force. "I haven't had the chance to think about what i'm going to-"

Helayna had rushed over to the table, a bouquet of white roses dangling from her grasp and quickly interjected. "You'll never believe who just asked me to the Yule Ball!"

"The O'Finigan boy?" Mady asked.

"No. I have standards." Her dazed look broke for a moment. She lifted the bouquet to her face and inhaled dreamily, "Draco gave me these and asked if i'd go with him. Apparently he also bought me a corsage."

A cry was heard from across the great hall followed by Pansy running out the door.

"Oh well her loss," Tia smiled at her dazed friend.

~~~

When night fell, I couldn't sleep. The room was quiet aside from the odd sound from one of my roommates, but I was just restless. I slid out of bed and shuffled into my slippers, pulling a thick hoodie over my head to fend off the cold.

I slipped out of the dorm and into the common room. The fire flickered gently, illuminating the room slightly. I left the common room and stepped into the drafty stairwell. It couldn't have been later than 2am, and the stairs were difficult to navigate in the dark. I knew the pattern of them at this time of night well though.

I wandered down the hallways undetected. My friends were always so loud when we snuck out, I never understood how they made so much noise.

I turned the corner and made two lefts then a right. The statue was slightly crumbled and wasn't enchanted. I pulled out my wand and placed it onto the temple of the statue. "Aberto" I whispered. The floor began to move and the statue spun around. A draft of chilling air flew into my face.

I began down the passage in the dark. It wasn't worth using lumos. I knew every crack in the floor.

After what felt like forever I reached the wall at the end and pushed, it spun around like the statue. I was outside the castle.

The ground crunched beneath my feet. Dead leaves and grass. Another gust of wind.

The moon was at a waxing gibbous providing enough light for me to make my way through the trees. The forest was alive at this time. Chirrups and whistles of nocturnal animals filled my senses.

A warm light drew me through the dark. A small house with smoke puffing out of its chimney stood in the middle of the forest. I approached the house and knocked on the brittle wooden door. It swung open.

"Hello Regulus."