Chapter Text
Of all the things he could be doing, climbing a bajillion stairs to get to a classroom for a class he doesn’t even take was not at the top of the list.
He’d already gotten lost twice trying to find the blasted place. He was late for Transfiguration now that Herbology had let out. Still, Professor Sprout had insisted that the crystal ball that she borrowed from Professor Whatsherface just had to be returned right away.
“I know Trelawny said that it would make its way back in its own time, but the Crystal Daisies bloomed so I really don’t need it anymore.” Slytherins were all for politeness and punctuality, but goddamn Hufflepuffs would bend over backwards to avoid any mild inconvenience.
Of course, that didn’t help Draco haul the damn thing across school. It was heavy, not to mention the thing buzzed in his fingers like it was sparking. The last thing he needed was to drop it down all the stairs he’d just climbed.
He finally found the ladder and climbed up to the right room. By the time he made it, class was in session. He gagged at the heavy incense floating in the air – he swore he could taste it.
Great, it’s the Gryffindors, he mourned. Small mercies, none of them were paying much attention to him, too focused on their own crystal balls with either expressions of concentration or bewilderment.
He took a moment to survey the room. There was Potter and Weasley, scratching their heads at the orb in front of them. One of the Patil twins (who even knew which one, they were identical for Merlin’s sake) and another girl were giggling madly.
He quickly spotted Trelawny, not that it was difficult. The woman’s bracelets jangled loudly every time she made a sweeping motion. She was doing it now, speaking to—ugh—Potter and Weasley. Unless he wanted to get lung disease from the incense, he’d have to approach her in front of them.
With a slow breath to keep from chocking, Draco made his way toward Trelawny with long strides. He hadn’t made it to her when she spun on him and pointed one long finger at him. “You, boy! What is your name?”
Every head in the classroom turned at the outburst. Potter and Weasley looked especially shocked, angry even, like he was going to start a fight with them in front of a teacher, even one as insane as Trelawny clearly was. He heard his name whispered around the room as the group started whispering.
Draco only sighed and ignored the question. “Sprout asked me to return this to you.” He held out the orb.
Trelawny, sadly, did not tone down her excitement over his mere presence. She walked right up to him. Even though he was taller than her, Draco had to stop himself from retreating. She stared at him with bug eyes. “You have the gift.”
“Umm…” was Draco’s less than eloquent response. Trelawny took one of his hands in hers so she could look at his palm. He dropped the precious orb in the process. Glass broke. Whelp, that makes this entire trip useless.
Potter and Weasley looked like they were trying to keep from laughing as Trelawny hmm’ed and oh, I see’ed at his hand. “Yes, of course. A great journey. I saw it right away, of course. I don’t need your palm to see what’s written on your face.”
Had…had she just insulted him? He opened his mouth to object, then snapped it shut.
Potter and Weasley looked like they were in physical harm trying to keep their laughter quiet. Even Granger looked amused beside them. When did she get there?
“Yes!” Trelawny declared to the class. “Now, young man, tell me what you see.” She held up his own palm to his face, twisting his arm.
Even Draco knew better than to insult a teacher directly to her face. (Rest assured, Blaise and Pansy would be hearing about this in great detail later.) He’d have to play along and endure whatever humiliation was to come. So, he squinted at his palm and saw…
…absolutely nothing remarkable.
“Well, what do you see?” Trelawny was still staring at him, bug-eyed through her glasses.
Draco looked down at his palm, and then back at her, then down at his palm, then back at her.
He looked her dead in the eye and said, “Yes, truly remarkable.”
A switch went off in his brain, the one that made him a dramatic little shit.
He held his palm up to his face. “It’s remarkable. The lines! The curves and the crinkles, with the length of the fingers. How have I never seen it before?!” He really knew fuck-all about palmistry.
Trelawny nodded along like all good enablers do. The class gaped at him. Only Patil and her friend looked truly upset. Even Potter and his gang looked like they were enjoying the show.
“What? What do you see?” Trelawny gasped.
Draco faked a gasp and clutched his chest. “Professor! I can’t tell you the intricate details of my future. That’s private.”
To his shock, she nodded sagely. “Yes, one’s future is an intensely personal experience.”
He had no idea how to reply to that, which was unfortunate, because his silence gave her the time to take his arm again and drag him over to where Potter sat. “Try reading someone else’s future. I believe you are familiar with the crystal ball?” Potter nearly choked as Trelawny forced Draco to sit on the cushion opposite him. Potter’s eyes were wide and his eyebrows had retreated to somewhere behind his fringe.
“Now,” Trelawny announced for the class, “Let’s see what young Darko can see in Mr. Potter’s crystal ball. We all must remember to concentrate and use our inner eyes to see past what is simply before us in the physical world, so we can see into the possibilities!”
Draco gapped at Trelawny. Potter? Darko? Inner eyes? He felt like groaning.
Resigning himself to continuing this little charade, he decided he could have some fun with it. Maybe he could make something up to scare Potter and then taunt him with it later, like he had with the dementors. With that barebones plan in mind and no other way out, he started deciding the most dramatic way to declare Potter’s demise.
Yes, Potter, I see your love life finally coming to fruition. I see a kiss…of death!!
With that happy thought, he turned to the crystal ball and tried to look pensive as he gazed into the cloudy surface. Except, it wasn’t just cloudy. There was a flash of something there. There was…
There was…
He swore he saw something.
Forgetting the plan, Draco stared at the whirling clouds. It was like staring at a running stream, or into a hearth. The changing shapes were mesmerizing. He felt his breathing slow down without his notice. The clouds had colour, he saw now, not just grey. The longer he looked, the more colour there was as his eyes adjusted to the tiny, greyscale world within.
Huh.
“What do you see?” The voice pulled him out of the clouds a bit. Some part of him knew it was Trelawny, and he blinked a few times to try and remember where he was. Right. The divination classroom. He looked around at Trelawny’s bug eyes and spared only a glance for Potter’s increasing discomfort. But the shapes in front of him called his attention back to it. He tried to describe what he was seeing.
“I see…” Draco blinked and stared at the crystal as the clouds took shape. “I see a black dog.”
“No!” Potter yelled, jerking Draco’s attention away. The class exploded in gasps and chattering.
“It’s the grim! He saw the grim!”
“He’s not even in this class and he saw it, too!”
Potter looked furious. Weasley looked shocked and angry too. Granger had her head in her hands in what looked like a silent plea for patience.
Draco had to ask. “Sorry, what’s the grim?”
Trelawny looked absolutely delighted. “The grim, my dear Darko, is one of the darkest omens in divination. It is a sign of death.”
Oh. That explained the class’s reaction, not Trelawny’s though. He didn’t think that she was a dark lord supporter, despite her glee at Potter’s imminent demise. All because he’d seen a black dog in Potter’s crystal ball.
Except, Draco looked back at the crystal ball, that didn’t feel right.
“No,” Draco said, slightly confused as he gazed, “I think it’s just a dog.”
Just a dog felt right, and the longer he stared at the crystal, the longer he was sure that he was right.
Trelawny frown at him, no longer enamoured now that he was predicting something so ordinary. “Just a dog?”
Draco nodded, still looking at the crystal. “Yes, a dog. And…oh! There’s two of them.” Another dog-like form appeared beside the first, this one grey and bigger than the black dog. They rubbed together as they passed each other. It was night and they were outside, but wherever they were was bright.
“Two?” Potter gapped in utter confusion, though no longer angry, presumably because Draco didn’t think his death was imminent.
“Yes. Two dogs. Actually, the second one is bigger and grey. Maybe a wolf?”
Draco saw Granger sit up at that. Trelawny started to say something about the symbolism of wolves. He ignored her and continued to watch the scene in the glass unfold.
“They’re friends,” Draco told them. “The dogs are looking for something. They’re sniffing the ground. They lost something? Or, no, they’re hunting. They’ve lost a scent.”
“What are they after?” Granger said, suddenly interested. “Are they trying to hurt Harry?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. They’re not after Harry.” Draco admitted.
He wasn’t sure where that instinct came from, but he knew they didn’t mean Harry any harm. He felt something warm between them and that extended to Harry. He still had no clue what they were after, though, but he was sure if he looked long enough, he’d find out.
He was startled out of his trance when Trelawny clapped her hands. “What an interesting first attempt at a reading! Let’s give him a round of applause.”
The applause was lackluster. Hearing Potter wouldn’t die must have really disappointed them.
Draco stood up to leave. Before he made it to the trap door, Trelawny hunted him down and shoved another box with a crystal ball into his hands. “Darko, though you are not one of my students, the sages have whispered in my ears that this is supposed to be yours. Treat it well, and let it guide you down your path to enlightenment.”
Draco quirked an eyebrow and quietly took the box. He was too tired to think of something clever to say. “Thanks,” he said before pulling the trap door. Box under his arm, he navigated his way down the ladder.
*
He thought nothing more of his time in the divination classroom. He didn’t even tell Blaise and Pansy that Trelawny had given him a crystal ball as a gift. Pansy surely would have insisted on a reading every day when there was a perfectly good horoscope in The Prophet for her. He didn’t need to make a fool of himself for her to have her fun. He’d shoved the box under his bed and largely forgot about the whole thing, until…
“It was a rat,” Potter declared to him. He’d been leaving the dining hall one morning after exams had finished when Potter cornered him on the steps.
“What?” Draco asked, totally perplexed. “Potter, I know those muggles taught you manners, but statements like that need context.”
Potter did not cower under Draco’s glare. “The dog and the wolf, they were looking for a rat.”
Draco gapped at him. He vaguely remembered giving Potter his reading in the Divination room, but that was months ago. Why tell him now?
Draco fixed him a glare. “How does that explanation make even less sense?”
Potter only shrugged. He turned and walked the other way, while Draco very specifically did not watch him go. He turned instead and headed down to the dungeons, muttering all the way about Gryffindor lunacy.
He only found out about Black’s capture and escape when he returned to the common room, and he only heard about Professor Lupin’s lycanthropy and resignation from Pansy at lunch.