Elegy//Harry Potter [3]

6

The next morning, Autumn, Hermione, Ron, and Harry walked into the Great Hall and waited to be greeted with breakfast. But instead, they were greeted with loud mouth Slytherins.

When the tetrad walked past, Malfoy contorted his face and acted as if he was going to pass out of fear.

"Ignore him," said Hermione. "Just ignore him, it's not worth it..."

Autumn shook her head as they walked to the Gryffindor table.

"The dementors are coming! Woooooooooo!" Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl shouted.

They sat down at the table and Autumn immediately rested her head on it. They were next to the Weasley twins.

"New third-year course schedules," said George. "What's up with you two?"

Autumn assumed that he was talking about her and Harry.

"Malfoy," Ron said.

Autumn looked up for a brief moment to see Malfoy -- and he was pretending to see a dementor again. He was the least of Autumn's problems at the moment. He was insignificant compared to how she felt.

"That little git," Fred said calmly. 

"He wasn't so cocky last night when the dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"

"Nearly wet himself," said Fred, with a glance at Malfoy.

"I wasn't too happy myself," said George. "They're horrible things, those dementors. . ."

"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" said Fred.

"But you didn't pass out, did you?" Autumn pointed out. 

"Forget it, Autumn." George said, waving his hand. "Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been, he came back all weak and shaking. . . They suck the happiness out of a place, dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there."

Autumn couldn't help but think of Sirius Black. Had he gone mad? Or was he already insane and the dementors couldn't affect him? Or was Autumn looking at it all wrong?

"Anyway, we'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch match," said Fred. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin, first game of the season, remember?"

Autumn looked up at Malfoy again. He glared at Autumn, then mocked her and Harry by pretending to be scared of a dementor.

When he looked away, Autumn pulled her wand out and turned his breakfast into a rat.

Ron had apparently noticed and started laughing. Hermione also seemed to notice as she scolded Autumn for doing so, which caught Harry, Fred, and George's attention to it.  Eventually, the entire group was in laughter. Autumn chuckled once, but returned to feeling sad.

>>>

"Welcome, my children. In this room, you shall explore the noble art of Divination. In this room, you shall discover if you possess the Sight." The professor ran into the small table in front of her.

Some students laughed. 

"Hello. I am Professor Trelawney. Together we shall cast ourselves into the future. This term, we'll focus on Tasseomancy, the art of reading tea leaves. What do you see? The truth lies buried like a sentence deep within a book, waiting to be read. But first, you must broaden your minds. First, you must look beyond."

"What a load of rubbish." 

Autumn jumped. Hermione just appeared out of nowhere directly beside Autumn.