Raised By Wolfstar: Slytherin Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

Chapter Twenty-One: Lord Voldemort's Request

The follow day was thankfully uneventful, just the regular stresses of class and homework.

They were walking back from Charms when a voice behind them called, 'Harry!' giving him an excuse to turn his back on her.

'Oh, hi, Luna.'

'I went to the Charms classroom as I was told you all had a class there,' said Luna, rummaging in her bag. 'But they said you'd left...'

She thrust what appeared to be a green onion, a large spotted toadstool, and a considerable amount of what looked like cat litter into Theodore's hands, finally pulling out a rather grubby scroll of parchment that she handed to Harry.

'...I've been told to give you this.'

It was a small roll of parchment, which Harry recognized at once as another invitation to a lesson with Dumbledore.

'Tonight,' he told his friends, once he had unrolled it. He then turned to Luna. 'I really liked your commentary during the last match.'

Luna smiled vaguely as she took back the green onion, the toadstool, and the cat litter.

'You're making fun of me, aren't you?' she said. 'Everyone says I was dreadful.'

'No, I'm not making fun of you, I really enjoyed it Luna,' said Harry honestly.

'Well, I wasn't planning on doing Gryffindor verses Hufflepuff this weekend, but maybe now I will, Smith can't do it anyway as it is his own House competing.'

'I'll watch if I can,' called out Harry as she walked away.

They all did their different homeworks together that night, and when Harry had to head to his lesson with Dumbledore, Theodore offered to finish up Harry's part. He was grateful for this as Harry was not looking forward to finishing a Herbology essay past midnight.

Harry hurried out through the portrait hole and off to the headmaster's office. The gargoyle leapt aside at the mention of toffee éclairs, and Harry took the spiral staircase two steps at a time, knocking on the door just as a clock within chimed eight.

'Enter,' called Dumbledore, but as Harry put out a hand to push the door, it was wrenched open from inside. There stood Professor Trelawney.

'Aha!' she cried, pointing dramatically at Harry as she blinked at him through her magnifying spectacles. 'So this is the reason I am to be thrown unceremoniously from your office, Dumbledore!'

'My dear Sybill,' said Dumbledore in a slightly exasperated voice, 'there is no question of throwing you unceremoniously from anywhere, but Harry does have an appointment, and I really don't think there is any more to be said—'

'Very well,' said Professor Trelawney, in a deeply wounded voice. 'If you will not banish the usurping nag, so be it...Perhaps I shall find a school where my talents are better appreciated...'

She pushed past Harry and disappeared down the spiral staircase; they heard her stumble halfway down, and Harry guessed that she had tripped over one of her trailing shawls.

'Please close the door and sit down, Harry,' said Dumbledore, sounding rather tired.

Harry obeyed, noticing as he took his usual seat in front of Dumbledore's desk that the Pensieve lay between them once more, as did two more tiny crystal bottles full of swirling memory.

'Professor Trelawney still isn't happy Firenze is teaching, then?' Harry asked.

'No,' said Dumbledore, 'Divination is turning out to be much more trouble than I could have foreseen, never having studied the subject myself. I cannot ask Firenze to return to the forest, where he is now an outcast, nor can I ask Sybill Trelawney to leave. Between ourselves, she has no idea of the danger she would be in outside the castle. She does not know—and I think it would be unwise to enlighten her—that she made the prophecy about you and Voldemort, you see.'