(2) Dracarys (D. Malfoy)

Chapter Three

Neville holds out a piece of bacon to Drogon who cocks his head, eyes fluttering slightly before he takes it from him. Drogon, it turns out, loves food. And he loves people that give him food. Neville pulls back and looks at Dani as she chews on her own piece of bacon. They fall back into routine easy enough. It's easy for them. Being at Hogwarts. It feels like coming home. He turns to his own food but is worried about Dani. She looks tired and he has noticed she struggles to sleep. A lot. But he has also learnt not to ask about it. She gets upset and then he gets upset for upsetting her. So he doesn't ask now. She knows that if she needs or wants to talk about it, he is there for her.

............

Dani lets out a breath as she taps her fingers on the book on the table in front of her. Divination class. She is both looking forward to and dreading this class. This is her being essentially. She is a Shadow-Kissed individual. A seer. This is her future. But doing this, with others around. It worries her. She's spent two years, gaining a reputation, that she is smart and sweet and not at all the weird witch she is supposed to be. But with visions...come looks. And whispers. She is a good person. A nice person. With friends. She finally has friends. She doesn't want to lose them. She looks at Neville at her side, he smiles at her, she attempts to smile back, but she's too nervous. And he knows this. Harry notices too. Sat close by with Ron and Hermione.

"Does Dani look pale?" Harry asks, Ron gives him a look.

"Does Dani, the Shadow-Kissed, look pale?" Ron counters, Harry sighs a little, he knows what he meant. Yes, Dani is pale, to begin with, it comes with her territory, but to Harry, she just looks paler than usual.

"Welcome, my children. In this room, you shall explore the mysterious art of Divination. In this room, you shall discover if you possess..." Sybil Trelawney, Divination Professor, glides dramatically into view of her students, eyes huge and bug-like behind enormous glasses. "... the Sight. Hello. I am Professor Trelawney. Together, we shall cast ourselves into the future. But know this. One either has the Gift or not. It cannot be divined from the pages of a book. Books only cloud one's Inner Eye."

"What rubbish," Hermione mumbles under her breath. Ron spins around, frowns at her.

"Where'd you come from?"

"Me? I've been here all along," Hermione argues, Ron narrows his eyes in thought at her. Trelawney turns and looks at Neville.

"You, boy! Is your grandmother well?" She asks,

"I... I think so." Neville stutters out.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." She counters, Neville turns to Dani, eyes wide, panicked. "The first term will be devoted to the reading of tea leaves. If all goes well, we will proceed to palmistry, fire omens, and finally... the crystal ball" Trelawney then eyes Parvati. "By the way, dear, beware a red-haired man." Parvati eyes Ron dubiously and then edges her pouffe away from him. "Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And in late spring, one of our number will... leave us forever." As the class exchanges uneasy glances, Trelawney smiles brightly and then drops it, seemingly realising something. She turns and looks straight at Dani. "We have a seer in our midst"

Dani shrinks a little. "Tell us...Shadow-Kissed. What have you see?"

"I don't" Dani is quick to point out but stops with the look Trelawney is giving her. Her dreams are indecipherable to her. Just images. Sometimes...twisted so she can't understand them until after something happens. Like the snake choking a weasel dream, she had last year. Which now she knows meant Ginny and the Chamber of Secrets and the giant poisonous snake. It's part of why she is taking this class. To get a better grasp of her abilities. But she has to start talking about them. She lets out a breath and looks at the woman who gives her an encouraging nod. "Witherwings" Dani whispers. "It's something I've been hearing for weeks, it echoes through my dreams...." She glances around the room, aware that everyone is watching her. "And there is this dog..." She adds. "And...a huge wolf and a blue glowing stag...and they are gathered around this rat" She looks at Harry and Ron who both give her a look, she looks back at Trelawney. "And there is this tree...huge tree....it...hangs over them like a shadow..."

"Most seers use riddles and poems" She offers Dani. "You see images..." Dani nods in agreement. "That can be harder to decipher" Trelawney then smiles brightly again. "Well then. Shall we?" She asks the class. Dani keeps her eyes on her book and lets out a breath.

.............

Dani watches as the cloud of tea leaves in her cup mutates oddly into a symbol. She lets out a breath and touches the textbook in front of her, searching through the symbols. Trelawney walks amongst them, robes flowing.

"Broaden your minds, my dears. And allow your eyes to see... beyond" Trelawney takes Lavender Brown's cup, peers inside. "A five-leaf clover... You can expect to wake with a horrible rash tomorrow morning, dear." She then casually adds. "Mr Longbottom, after you've broken your first cup..." Neville fumbles the cup in his hands and the brittle crash of china is heard. Dani looks at him. "... would you be so kind as to select one of the blue ones? I'm rather partial to the pink." Trelawney pauses by Ron. "What do you see in Mr Potter's cup, Mr Weasley?"

"Well. He's got a wonky sort of cross -- that's trials and suffering. But this lot here could be the sun -- that's great happiness. So... he's going to suffer but be very happy about it." Ron answers, uncertain. Professor Trelawney takes the cup, peers inside, and gasps.

"Ahhh!"

"What is it, Professor?" Parvati asks her from her seat. Trelawney regards Harry with a mixture of pity and fear.

"My dear boy... You have the Grim."

"The Grin? What's the Grin?" Seamus asks, Dani smiles a little at the mistake made.

"Not the grin, you idiot. The Grim." Parvati corrects Seamus.

"But what does it mean, Professor?" Dean inquires.

"'The Grim...'" Dani starts, her eyes on Harry and not on her book as she recites the information she knows. They all look at her. "'Taking the form of a giant spectral dog, it is among the darkest omens in our world. It is an omen...of death.'" Harry peers into his cup.