The Time-Meddlers [Harmione]

21. Preparing for a New War

Harry and Hermione stared at Luna Lovegood in shock. Neither of them had known she was a Seer, but then again, neither had asked her. Hermione glanced toward the hallway, glad to see Neville and Ginny were too far away to hear, while Luna's eyes went to their normal vacant expression.

She blinked and asked, "Why are you staring at me? Did a Wrackspurt enter my mind again?"

"Er, that must be it, Luna," answered Harry. "We'd better get moving or the train will take off with us still aboard."

"Oh, I don't think they'd do that, unless someone was hiding under an Invisibility Cloak or something."

Harry blinked as he instantly recalled Malfoy hiding him under his cloak just before 6th year began. "I'd still like to get there."

"You're right. There will probably be pudding."

They quickly dismounted and caught up with Neville and Ginny. The two younger girls went off with Hagrid when he called, "First years!" while the remaining trio headed toward the thestral-drawn carriages. They hardly paid any attention to the conversation they had with Neville as they longed for privacy to discuss this new prophecy. Harry even considered using the Time-Turner, but he couldn't do that without letting Neville see it. Besides, he and Hermione had agreed that they wanted to stop using it for every little thing. Their discussion could wait. Besides, Harry was hungry.

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About an hour later, the students in the Great Hall were just finishing their desserts. The sorting had occurred with Ginny making Gryffindor and Luna making Ravenclaw. Harry and Hermione had hoped Luna would be a Gryffindor this time around, but obviously hadn't had enough time to influence her enough to request it. They still vowed to try to help Luna in any way they could because they knew the Lovegood girl had a rough time there.

"Look over there." Hermione's command brought Harry out of his thoughts. He moved his gaze to where his girlfriend was pointing and grinned as he saw none other than Cedric Diggory, wearing a brand new prefect badge, leading the first-year Hufflepuffs out of the room.

"It's good to see him alive," he whispered to Hermione. "I hardly got a glimpse of him last year."

After walking with Neville and a few other Gryffindors to their dormitory, the couple agreed to meet later on that night, once everyone was asleep.

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"So, what do you think?" asked Hermione. It was just after midnight and they had snuck into the Come and Go Room.

"It's too bad Luna didn't get sorted into Gryffindor."

"Yes it is," she hissed, annoyed, "but you know what I'm talking about."

He took a deep breath. "Yeah. The prophecy is real. Trelawney was just like that when she made her two."

"We need to break it down to figure out exactly what it means." Using Harry's Pensieve to relive the prophecy, they quickly were able to write down every word of it.

"A Shadow of Pain is rising," read Hermione before sighing. "That doesn't sound very pleasant."

"Nope," agreed Harry. "It must be about the deaths and disappearances that have been happening, though."

"Agreed." She looked thoughtful. "It has all been done with no witnesses, so you could say it was done in shadow."

"But so far the killings have been Avada Kedavra's, which are supposed to be painless."