Predictions and a Hidden Door
After Hagrid's class, they had the thrilling Divination lesson with Professor Trelawney, which, as always, made Draco and Harry wonder why the hell they had chosen that subject in the first place. Both of them really wanted, just like Hermione and Daphne, to stay as far away from that classroom as possible. But their pride didn't seem to allow it, because they felt like they would lose some kind of competition they were secretly playing between themselves.
And after mocking Hermione so much when she had refused to return to those classes, leaving now would only give her the perfect excuse to get revenge.
So all they could do was grit their teeth and endure the predictions of their deaths, which seemed to have increased now that both of them were Hogwarts champions.
Though it was interesting how every time she looked into the crystal ball, the professor put on a look of panic and turned completely pale, as if she had just seen something terrible… or as if she was trying very hard to make everyone think she had. It almost made her look like a very good actress.
"Death is drawing closer and closer," the professor said in that gloomy tone while her gaze slowly moved across the entire classroom. "Hovering over the castle like a darkness that devours everything in its path," she added as she slowly moved her hand around the crystal ball.
Only a few Gryffindor students, like Patil and Lavender, seemed genuinely frightened as they covered their mouths after hearing her words, as if it were truly happening and now the entire world was doomed to die.
Neville, on the other hand, looked somewhat nervous. He swallowed hard, but tried to look brave when he noticed Harry glancing at him slightly, as if death itself didn't bother him in the slightest.
Then there was Ron Weasley, who along with Seamus seemed to be laughing and openly mocking the professor, which quickly caused her nearly furious gaze to settle on them.
Earning the two of them a rapid approach from the professor, obviously preparing to reveal some horrible future that would make them regret not keeping their mouths shut.
But Harry had already stopped paying attention.
He glanced toward Draco, who was reading his golden book hidden beneath the table beside him, looking as if he wasn't paying attention to the class at all.
Meanwhile, the crystal ball rested on the table in front of them, just like in front of every other student in the room, each pair having to share one.
Harry was getting bored, so he simply stared at the crystal sphere, hoping time would pass faster. He remembered that in the past he had seen a few images appear there from time to time. But they were usually rather silly things, like one of his classmates tripping or one of his friends waving at him.
Which really just proved he had some ability to glimpse the future… just not a lot.
Harry studied the sphere for a moment while resting his elbow on the table and leaning his head against his fist. With his other hand, he lightly tapped the sphere, like someone trying to fix a faulty light bulb.
Then, during one of those taps, it flickered faintly.
Images began to flicker before his eyes.
As usual, something rather silly.
Red standing beside what looked like an army of magical animals fighting another group of magical animals over territory, like two armies clashing.
Daphne turning Draco into a girl again.
Hermione, for some reason, holding an insect inside a glass jar while gently shaking it.
Himself standing in a graveyard surrounded by corpses… faces that seemed vaguely familiar before the image vanished.
Red destroying something enormous, wrapped in fire and smoke… as if an entire battle was happening around him.
"Wait… what were those last two?" Harry said, suddenly sitting upright as he looked back at the sphere. That part hadn't been a silly image like the others.
He stared at the crystal ball and began tapping it again with his hand.
But it had already gone dark, like a television with no power.
Draco, who had been reading, lifted his gaze when he noticed Harry tapping the sphere several times.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"I… think I just saw one of those dark futures the professor keeps talking about," Harry said, though no matter how hard he tried he couldn't see what had appeared before again.
"Huh?" Draco said, glancing toward the professor, who at that moment was describing a tragic fate for Weasley and Seamus where neither of them would ever find love and would live poor, lonely lives with no one around them.
Then he looked back at Harry.
"Well… if you keep cheating on women, maybe you'll end up the same way," Draco said before calmly returning to his book without giving it any more attention.
Harry just looked at him for a moment, clearly deciding not to argue about that right now.
Then he turned back to the crystal sphere with a slight frown.
After class ended, with Harry still somewhat thoughtful about the vision, the two of them headed toward the library, where their friends should have been.
Or more accurately, where Hermione would probably be dragging Daphne to wait for them.
But to their surprise, neither of them was there.
The only person they could see was Viktor Krum, who was calmly reading one of the books while leaning against a shelf, completely oblivious to the small group of girls not far away who were debating whether they should approach him to ask for an autograph.
And on the other side, Ron Weasley seemed to be struggling with exactly the same decision.
As they entered, Viktor quickly lifted his gaze toward the door with a serious expression. But when he saw that it was only Draco and Harry, he immediately lost interest and returned to reading his book.
Although every now and then he still glanced toward the entrance.
"Hey, I've been looking for you," Hermione suddenly said as she hurried toward them, as if she had just discovered something important.
She stopped halfway when she noticed the deadly look from the librarian, someone she definitely did not want to have any kind of problem with.
"What's going on?" Harry asked, looking at his friend.
"Follow me. To the kitchen. Now," Hermione said with a completely serious expression, not giving them much chance to say anything else.
So the two of them had no choice but to follow her.
…
Harry and Draco followed Hermione until they stopped in front of what looked like a tapestry where a wizard was trying to teach a troll how to dance in tutus and everything, with results that were clearly not going very well.
Because of that, they couldn't help glancing slightly toward Hermione.
"Well… I think it's a rather… entertaining tapestry?" Harry said softly.
"I wouldn't call it art, but…" Draco didn't get to finish because Hermione interrupted him.
"Not the tapestry, idiots," she said, rolling her eyes. "Look."
Then she began looking back and forth across the wall while muttering something quietly.
"A place to hide something."
Three times.
Then suddenly, in the wall behind the tapestry, a large door appeared, slowly materializing there as if it had always been in that spot and the castle had simply decided to remember it now.
Making both Harry and Draco stare in surprise.
"That's what I was talking about," Hermione said with a hint of pride in her voice as she looked at the surprised faces of her friends.