The Unsolved Riddle (A Harry Potter FanFic)

Chapter Twelve

A/N So this chapter was written by my dear friend @FairyLiquid. All credit of this chapter goes to her!!

 Chapter Twelve

I was alive.

I didn't know how - but I was. There must have been some mistake up in the Heavens - or where ever the hell we went when we died. Because surely, I shouldn't have survived last night. I was up against Lord Voldemort for merlin's sake! Who actually, excluding Harry Potter, came out alive from a confrontation like that?

I was so absorbed in my personal thoughts that I didn't notice someone walking towards me, until I hit them head on in the chest.

I stumbled backwards and landed on the floor with a soft thud.

"Ah, crap!" I cursed loudly.

A hand appeared in front of my face and I took it, slightly bemused. I looked at the person for the first time, only to discover it was someone who I had been dreading to run into the entire morning.

Harry smiled at me as a crimson blush crossed my cheeks,

"You alright, there?" He asked, while I gaped at him wordlessly.

It took me a few seconds to find my voice again and anytime before that was spent with me staring at him with my mouth wide open like a fish. Brilliant. Nice one Chelsea.

"I - er - um." I gabbled helplessly.

However, Harry seemed to understand - or at least get the gist of what I was going on about. Not that I was managing to say any proper words anyway. Unless 'er' and 'um' had been added to English vocabulary without me knowing it.

"You're finding this pretty awkward aren't you?" Harry said sheepishly, running a hand through his dark hair as he spoke.

I scowled slightly. Well no shit Sherlock.

"I'm fine actually." I countered.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the sudden harshness to my tone,

"Oh, right. Well... I guess now isn't the best time to talk about what happened yesterday, so... how about we meet up at that Astronomy Tower tonight?"

I seriously considered declining his offer - I really did. But then thinking about my Father's warning and then realising how much it would piss him off - I did something incredibly stupid - I accepted.

"Sure." I said breezily, "Nine o'clock tonight. Astronomy Tower."

And without waiting for him to reply, I turned around and sauntered off towards the Great Hall for breakfast. A warm reception was awaiting me as I entered the Great Hall several minutes later. Chloe and Casee both stood up to greet me, abandoning their breakfasts and some of their other friends that they had been speaking to before I arrived.

"Morning!" Chloe said, linking her arm through mine.

"Sleep in much?" Casee followed, as we took our usual spots on the Slytherin table. I shrugged, acting as if I couldn't care less even though inside it was quite the opposite.

"Yeah. I didn't mean to, I forgot to set an alarm to wake me up."

Whoa. That that has to be the quickest thing I've done in a while now.

Chloe grinned, "Understandable."

We chatted for about fifteen minutes before Casee informed us that we had little over three minutes to get to our first class of the day, which happened to be Divination. A sinking feeling swirled in my stomach-because we shared that class with Gryffindor.

"Chelsea are you walking this slow on purpose or can you just not be arsed?"Case quipped sarcastically raising an eyebrow at me as I fumbled along the corridor, a good deal of space behind them.

I blushed furiously, "No-I-um."

Chloe rolled her eyes, "Never mind. I hate Divination anyway."

“Who doesn’t?” Casee said with a frown.

Chloe shrugged, “Well, that’s true.”

* * * *

“God,” Casee muttered, “I didn’t think it was possible to hear so much bullshit come out of one persons mouth all at the same time.”

I cracked a smile and managed to stifle a laugh as Professor Trelawney flourished the sleeves of her extravagant robes wildly, the fabric actually slapping one student in the face at one point.

“Christ,” I mumbled. “She really goes for it doesn’t she?”

Chloe belted out a laugh at this, her eyes going wide when she realised she had been heard. Professor Trelawney turned abruptly in our direction, her owl-like eyes staring at us in a rather curious fashion.

“Is something the matter, ladies?” She asked in her silvery voice, causing Chloe to snort with laughter.

I plastered a false smile on my face, “Nothing’s wrong, Professor.”

Professor Trelawney considered me for a moment before smiling and turning back to the class, resuming her lecture about star charts again. A strange kind of shiver slithered in the air around me. The feeling of someone watching me burned on the back of my neck.

I edged around in my seat to catch a glimpse of dark hair and green eyes before the person shuffled out of sight again. My stomach clenched uneasily. Hold it together, Chelsea. Ignore him.

I turned back and exhaled slowly. Then for the first time in my life, I actually attempted to pay attention in Divination.

* * * *