“Dickens again?”

Severus looked up from his book as Harry entered his rooms.

“Dickens, indeed.  And should you not be in your dormitory sleeping sweet dreams?”

Harry held up the invisibility cloak and Severus nodded.

“Ah.  Potter’s cloak.  Your mother stole it once so we could sneak about the school, you know.”

“Really?” said Harry as he sat down in a chair, draping the cloak across his lap.

“Yes,” replied Severus, marking his page and setting the book aside.  “We planted garden snakes in the first year Slytherin’s beds.”

“How amusssing,” hissed Hedwig from Harry’s wrist in a sleepy tone.

“So,” said Severus.  “What did Miss O’Feir do to incur Minerva’s wrath?  I heard her yelling all the way down here.”

“Hexed Ron.”

“I see.  What, may I ask, did he do to deserve a hexing from the dear Lady?”

Harry frowned and Severus smirked.

“Yes, I know the nicknames they have given the two of you.”

“Eh.  ‘E’s being a prat again.”

“What in Merlin’s name happened this time?  Last year it was his sister.”

“This year i’s me,” said Harry solemnly.

Severus frowned then stated simply, “You told them.”

Harry nodded in reply.

“I see.  I suspect Mr. Davids gave you a good look over.”

Harry nodded again and said, “Yeh.  Like I was the next Voldemort.”

“His father’s fault, I assure you,” said Severus.  “The man is an old, paranoid Auror who’s probably told his son I am the next Voldemort.”

Harry grinned and asked, “Then what does tha’ make me?”

Severus smiled and reached out to ruffle his son’s hair as he replied, “Why, the Dark Prince, of course.  Who else would succeed the Dark Lord?”

Harry laughed then suddenly asked, “Wha’ are the dementors doing ‘ere?”

“Ah,” said Severus, turning serious.  “I was wondering if you would ask about that.”  He paused for a moment then asked, “Have you ever heard of Sirius Black?”

Harry couldn’t help but note the anger in his father’s voice as he spoke the name.

“Na.”

“Well you’re about to get an education on him.  Black went to school with your mother and I, along with Potter and Lupin.  They and their little sidekick Pettigrew – a pitiful excuse for a Gryffindor – gloried in badgering me.  Your mother tried to warn me beforehand of things they were planning but not even she could help me out of what Black had planned.”

“I had tailed them for several nights when they crept out of the castle but always lost them by the Whomping Willow.  Black told me how to get past it and, like a fool, I went.  I nearly died that night.”

“Died?”

“Mmm,” said Severus with a nod.  Anger laved his voice as he spoke next.  “It turns out that Lupin was – is – a werewolf.  Black apparently thought it would be….amusing to make an attempt on my life.  Potter saved me, amazingly.  It turns out that Lily hexed Black until he told her what he had done then sent Potter after me.  Amazing woman, your mother was.  Lupin tried to apologize to me afterwards and wouldn’t speak to Black for weeks after.  I didn’t accept his apology.”

Harry blinked a few times then said, “Professor Dumbledore hired a werewolf?”

Severus smiled a tight-lipped smile and said, “He hired a Death Eater, didn’t he?”

“Yer na a Death Eater, Da.”

“You, I, and Albus know that.  I doubt anyone else would believe me.”

Harry frowned.

“None o’ the other professors, either?”

“No.  Minerva – as I told you – had never liked me, Filius tends to avoid me, Emily is still nursing a crush on me from school, Poppy doesn’t really care either way, Florence hasn’t spoken to me since I accidentally set her robes on fire first year, and I really don’t care what that old bat Trelawney thinks of me.”

“Ye still ‘aven’ answered my question, Da.  Why are the dementors ‘ere?”

Severus sighed and said, “I shouldn’t be telling you this.”

“Tell me anyway!”

“Black escaped from Azkaban.”

Harry blinked.  “The wizard prison?”

Severus nodded.

“‘Ow?”

“That is what is bothering everyone.  It is also why the dementors are here, guarding the school.  They say he was muttering your name over and over in his sleep the night before he escaped.”

“Me name?”

“Yes.”  Severus placed a hand on his son’s shoulder and said, “I want you to stay inside the castle at all times, unless it’s a Quidditch match or you are outside with your friends.”

Harry ducked his head and muttered, “I guess tha’ means no ‘Ogsmeade then.”

“Generally so.”

Harry sighed heavily.  And he had been looking forward to going down to the all wizarding town.  His father hadn’t let him go over the summer.  He yawned suddenly, blinking his eyes blearily.

“Maybe you should get to bed.  Classes tomorrow remember.”

“Yeh.  Wha’ about Professor Lupin?”

Severus looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Be careful around him, that’s all I warn you of.”

Harry nodded and picked up the invisibility cloak, throwing it about his shoulders.  He moved towards the door, stopping to mumble, “G’nigh’, Da.”

“Good night, Harry.”

Harry then pulled the hood over his head and left.  He fell into bed a few moments later, only staying awake long enough to uncurl Hedwig from his wrist and stuff the invisibility cloak under his pillow.  Burrowing under the green blankets on the bed, he closed his eyes, falling asleep in moments.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Wake up!  Wake up!  Wake!  Up!  WAKE!  UP!”

Harry groaned as the bed bounced like a ship at sea.  He reached for a his wand without opening his eyes and pointed it at whoever was keeping him from another hour of sleep, snarling half-heartedly, “Go ‘way unless ye want yer ears fixed to yer wrists.”

The bed stopped bouncing and a voice hissed in his ear, “And if you don’t get up, we’re going to be late for our first class.”

Harry grumbled something about toads in Elven and growled, “Ten more minutes, Ni.”

“We don’t have ten more minutes, Harry.  C’mon!”

“Perhapsss you ssshould try tickling him.”

“Hedwig, you…” began Harry angrily then stopped at Niamh attacked his sides, her fingers digging into him.  He began to laugh uncontrollably, not able to catch his breath.

“Oh….Ni….stop….please….stop…hurts…”

“I’ll stop if you get up,” said Niamh in a singsong voice.

“All….righ’…”

Niamh stopped and patted his cheek before hoping off the bed.  Harry opened his eyes and glared at her.

“Ye are a sadistic braggart.”

“Yes, I know.  Now GET UP!”

Harry cursed but got up, crawling out of bed and staggering to his trunk.  He dressed quickly and pulled his hair back into a ponytail as he walked out of the third year boy’s dorm.  Niamh snagged Hedwig off the dresser, making the snake hiss in complaint.  She handed her to Harry as soon as his hands were free and he let her curl about his wrist.  Hedwig grumbled something about rude humans and broomsticks.  Harry wasn’t awake enough to tell her what she had just described was anatomically impossible.  Especially when a frog was involved.

They entered the Great Hall and Niamh grabbed their schedules from McGonagall as Harry had continued to plod towards the Slytherin table.  Breakfast was short and rushed, then they were off to their first class.

“Okay, Divination.  North tower.  Where in Slytherin’s name is the North Tower?”

“To the north,” replied Harry, earning a glare from Niamh.  He rolled his eyes then rubbed at them sleepily before muttering, “Follow me.”

They got to the North Tower in record time, beating everyone else there, as Harry knew two different ways to get there – the long way and the short way.  Very few people knew the short way, which was behind a tapestry of a dragon fighting a griffin.  Once you stepped behind the tapestry, you came out from behind a portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw in the North Tower.

“Good morning, Harry,” said Rowena good naturedly as the two of them came out from behind her portrait and it swung shut behind them.  Harry mumbled something unintelligible and Rowena blanched.

“Now, that’s not very gentlemanly, Harry.  What would the young lady think of your language?”

“She’d ‘ave ter understand it first,” said Harry to the portrait before turning and walking down the hallway.  Rowena gave a ‘humpf’ and crossed her arms, glaring after him.

“Young scamp.”

Niamh looked at the portrait for a moment then dashed off after Harry.

“Harry, mate!  What was that about?”

“Nothin’, nothin’,” replied Harry with a wave of his hand.  He then said, “We’re ‘ere,” as a silver ladder unrolled from the ceiling above them and fell at their feet.  The two of them looked up to see a trapdoor above them.

“Guess that’s the Divination classroom.”

“Yeh.”

“Shall we go then?”

“Yeh,” replied Harry dully, climbing up the ladder.  He pushed open the trapdoor into the classroom and scrambled up, turning to pull Niamh up after him.  The black-haired girl wrinkled her nose at the smell in the room.

“Ick.”

Harry didn’t say anything in response; he simply walked over to one of the over-stuffed chairs in the rooms and sat down in it.  Niamh followed, sneering at the brightly colored poufs scattered about.  They sat quietly for a few moments until the rest of the third year Slytherins slithered (pardon the pun) into the musty tower.  Mika sneezed several times as he walked over to the table Harry and Niamh had sat down at.

“Damn allergies,” muttered the boy as he sat down, rubbing his nose on his sleeve.

A voice from the other side of them room suddenly drawled, “Hey, Potter, going to entertain us with another faint today?”  There were bits of scattered laughter and Niamh growled, her hand going to her wand.  Harry grabbed her wrist before it got there, meeting her eyes hard before shaking his head.  He looked towards Draco and said casually, “Perhaps ye should entertain us with yer act.  Wha’ was it again?  Screamin’ like a girl?”

Draco’s face tinged pink and he drew his wand, rising from his chair.  In that moment the professor entered and he hurriedly sat down.  Niamh smirked and cackled quietly.

“Welcome.  How nice to see all of you in the physical world.”

Every Slytherin head turned towards the misty voice and Niamh jumped.  Professor Trelawney was tall and thin with a spangled shawl about her shoulders.  Her glasses were huge and magnified her eyes to several times the natural size.  Chains and beads hung about her thin neck and as many bangles and ring adorned her arms and hands.  Mika eyed the professor with unveiled distaste.

“Welcome to Divination,” said Trelawney in her misty voice.  “My name is Professor Trelawney.  You may not have seen me about the castle.  I find descending too often into the hustle and bustle clouds my Inner Eye.”

“Inner Eye my…” muttered Mika under his breath.  A few other Slytherins snickered at Trelawney’s statement.

“You have all chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts.  I warn you, if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you.  Books can only take you so far in this field…”

Niamh laughed softly and grinned at Harry, who winked at her.  Hermione was going to go nuts when she heard that!

“Many witches and wizards, though talented in the area of loud bangs and sudden disappearances, are unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future.  It is a Gift granted to few.  You, boy, how fares your father?”

Trelawney turned her gaze on Mika, who gave her a cold look before responding in a dark tone, “Oh, the old wolf is fine.  And you?”

“I am well, Mr. Davids.  Thank you for asking.”

“Pleasure’s all mine,” replied Mika sarcastically, glaring.

Trelawney turned away and began to speak again while Niamh leaned across the table and poked Mika hard in the arm.  She hissed, “What’s up with you, Mika?  You act like she’s got the plague.”

“She’s a fraud, Ni.  A fraud.  My Dad’s told me all about her and her misty predictions.  I’ll give her two days then I’m out of here.”

“You’ll fail!”

“Fail what?  Reading palms and tea leaves?”

Harry rolled his eyes at the two of them then blinked as Trelawney said, “Unfortunately one of our number will leave us soon.”  He frowned and looked at Mika before snorting and turning back to Trelawney.  Good ears, he mused.

“Now, I want you all to divide into pairs.  Collect a teacup from the shelf, then come to me and I shall fill it.  Then, sit down and drink until only the dregs remain.  Swill these around your cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside down on its saucer, wait for the last of the tea to drain, then give it to your partner to read.  You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future.  I shall move among you, helping and instructing.”

Mika growled something under his breath as they walked over and retrieved a cup.  As Harry and Niamh had paired up, he walked over to the table where one of Niamh’s dormmates sat.

“Hey, Veronica…”

Niamh shook her head then quickly knocked back the tea, grimacing as she placed it upside down on the saucer.

“Arrrgh.  That stuff seriously needs sugar.”

Harry nodded as he sat his cup upside down.  The two of them then swilled the dregs around and swapped over.

“Anything interesting?” asked Niamh as Harry peered into her cup, one finger poised over a symbol on page five in Unfogging the Future.

“Na really,” replied Harry.  “I thin’ I see…..er – an umbrella?”

“What’s that mean?”

Harry looked to the book.

“Annoyances.”

“Ron,” hissed Niamh.

“Er…yeh.”  Harry turned the cup and peered at it.  “Erm – a sword.  Tha’s an argument with a close friend.”

“Yeah, at the Burrow.  Sheesh, doesn’t it say anything about my future?  I’d love to know if I’m going to be Petrified by a basilisk again.”

Harry glared at her over the cup.  She knew how much it had hurt him to see that happen to her.

“Och, sorry, Harry.”

Harry grumbled something then turned back to the cup.

“There’s a pig ‘ere too.”

“More on the past!  Is that it?”

“Jus’ more past stuff,” replied Harry after consulting Unfogging the Future once more.

“I think your Inner Eye needs to be tested,” said Niamh.

“More like yer cup.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Anyway, you’ve got – I think that’s a noose, which means there’s danger ahead.  That doesn’t sound too good…and there’s a lizard….apparently you have a hidden enemy, mate.”

“Yeh.  Voldemort.”

“Eh.  Moving on, we have a…giraffe?  That means a misunderstanding.  Ron’s idiotic self could be counted for that.  And then there’s…hmm….I haven’t the foggiest what that it.”

“Sod off on the metaphors.”

“What metaphors?  I really don’t have the foggiest what it is.”

Harry growled then blinked at Trelawney came towards their table and took Harry’s cup from Niamh.  She turned it then said, “There is danger ahead of you, my dear.  A hidden enemy.  My this isn’t a happy cup.  A misunderstanding is in your future…”  She turned the cup once more then gasped.

The piece of china shattered upon impact as it hit the floor and Harry calmly arched an eyebrow at Trelawney, who had clapped her hand over her heart.

“My dear…you have the Grim.”

Harry frowned.

“The wha’?”

“The Grim, dear boy, the Grim!  The spectral dog that haunts churchyards.  It is the worst omen one can have – the omen of death!”

Harry simply looked at her quizzically.  He had faced death too many times to count on the streets to be afraid of it now.  Especially an omen, which he really did not believe in.

And neither did Mika as the white-haired boy snorted, muttering something about frauds and false omens.  Veronica Tabolt gave him a scathing look and he sneered at her.

Trelawney waved a hand and said, “That is enough for today, my dears…pack away your things…”

And so they did.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Did you hear, Granger?” drawled Draco.  “Potter’s going to die.”

“Bugger off, Malfoy!” snapped Niamh.

“Leave’ im, Ni.  ‘E’s na worth it.”  Harry plucked at her sleeve and walked on towards the Potions classroom, which they had second.  Hermione, Niamh, and Mika followed, Ron trailing on behind them.  When they arrived at the classroom, Hedwig hissed at Ron from under Harry’s sleeve, causing several of the other Gryffindors to back away from him hurriedly.  Ron simply stared, turning his eyes away when they met Harry’s cold one’s.

“Inside all of you!”

Snape threw open the door and they entered, settling into their seats for yet another class of snickering Slytherins and angry Gryffindors.