Written in the Stars

Chapter Four

Le Morte

It was dark by the time the train reached Hogwarts and starting to rain. They lugged their trunks and animals off the train and out onto the grounds. Hagrid, with his wild hair and beard was holding a lantern.

"Firs' years this way!" He called out and Parvati had a familiar feeling of deja vu. She watched as the first years struggled past the crowd to the boats in the lake. She turned away and climbed into one of the carriages that would take them up to the school.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione climbed in after her and Ginny looked aggravated as she went to the next carriage. Parvati felt bad, Ginny had just been complaining about being left out and now she was excluding her too.

"Ginny!" She called out. "There's room in here for you."

Ginny appeared at the carriage. "But there's only supposed to be four in each one." She pointed out.

"Oh well." Parvati shrugged, pulling her in. "You're so tiny it doesn't matter. Anyway, I think that rule is mainly for people like Crabbe and Goyle."

"Or Millicent Bulstrode." Hermione mumbled. She seemed to have something against her, Parvati thought.

It was a short ride up to the castle, which was good because they were a bit cramped with an extra person. Hogwarts loomed in front of her and she felt as if she were going to her real home. When they stopped, she left her trunk in the carriage and went in the huge doors to the Great Hall.

She followed Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny to the Gryffindor table and took a seat between Harry and Ginny. The sorting was about to begin. Lavender came in the hall, holding Seamus's hand, Dean trailing behind them with a surly look on his face. The second and third years came in followed by the sixth and seventh. There were only a few fourth years besides Ginny.

Parvati saw a group of frightened looking first years standing in a huddle. Tiny Professor Flitwick carried the battered sorting hat and sat it on a stool. A rip in the hat opened up and it began to sing.

"Oh so many years ago

The founders made me

To tell Hogwarts students where they ought to be

If you are brave and noble, just and honest too

In Gryffindor you may do

If your qualities include hard work and loyalty

In Hufflepuff you should be ought

If you're skilled with your mind and an intellect

In Ravenclaw you will be best

If you are cunning and have ambition to no end

In Slytherin you will truly win

Put me on, I will take a peek

Inside your head and tell you where you should be"

"When I call your name, step up to be sorted!" Professor Flitwick called in his squeaky voice. "Anderson, Rupert!"

"Hufflepuff!"

Parvati turned away from the sorting and looked to Lavender who had taken a seat across from her. "I didn't see you on the train."

"Oh." Lavender said, blushing furiously. "Sorry Parvati. I was with Seamus and I forgot that I was supposed to meet you on the train."

"It's okay." Parvati said.

She absentmindedly watched the rest of the sorting as Bell, Erica; Brown, Daisy; Curtis, Brandy; Finnegan, Scott; and Westinbrough Randy became the new Gryffindors. Daisy was Lavender's little sister and looked just like her. Scott wasn't Seamus's brother, but his cousin. The rest, Parvati didn't really know.

Hermione, as a prefect introduced herself as did the other prefect Dean. Dumbledore stood up as the last person was sorted and raised his hands for silence.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts everyone. I am happy to see all the familiar faces. And new ones. I look forward to spending the next year with you all. I have a few beginning of term announcements. But as I can see, you are all hungry, let's wait until after the feast. Shall we then?"
The first years oohed and ahhed as the food appeared on the table. Parvati put a bit of everything on her plate. Harry, Ron, Dean, Neville, and Seamus filled their plates to overflowing. "Well, honestly." Hermione said.

"We're growing men." Seamus told her.

"Pshaw." Hermione replied. "You aren't even sixteen yet."

Parvati smiled to herself as they squabbled. "How soon do lessons start?" Erica Bell piped up. She was a tiny girl with light blond hair but she had an assertive voice.

"Right away." Hermione told her.

Parvati expected a disappointed reaction but Erica beamed. "Good. I can't wait. I hope I've read up enough though."

"Oh!" Ron said, his mouth full. "It's another Hermione. It's scary."

"Chew with your mouth shut." Hermione replied scathingly. The little girl did seem a lot like Hermione had been though.

Nearly Headless Nick came down to their end of the table to chat with them. "Perhaps you would like to come to my deathday party this year?" He asked Harry mournfully.

"Erm, I'll have to think about it." Harry replied looking uncomfortable.

"Okay." Nick said sighing. "I won't feel left out if you don't. If I were living I would want to associate with the living too. That horrible Sir Patrick will be there again."

"Oh." Harry said. "Well, why don't you just skip your party and come to the Halloween feast instead?"

"I could but I probably wouldn't be wanted." Nick said drifting away.

"Oy, he is gloomy." Seamus said once Nick was out of earshot.

"He can't help it." Ron replied. "How would you feel if you were dead?"

"I don't think I would feel anything at all." Seamus answered and Lavender giggled.

"You're so funny." Lavender told Seamus.

"I can be very fun too." He replied wiggling his eyebrows.

Hermione seemed thoroughly disgusted and turned to the others. "I suppose everyone will be dating this year."

"You had a boyfriend last year." Ron said grudgingly. "Krum, or did you call him Vikky?"

"He was just a friend." Hermione replied. "Honestly Ron, you liked him more than I did."

Parvati and Ginny laughed but Ron looked mad. "I did not." He insisted. "I just thought he was a good quidditch player."

"Speaking of quidditch," Dean said. "Who is going to be the captain this year?"

"Probably Fred or George." Harry answered.

"No, Angelina said she doesn't think they want to be and she doesn't either so it will probably be between Alicia, Katie, and you." Parvati said.

"When did you talk to Angelina?" Harry asked.

"She's my cousin. She told me that at my birthday party."

"Oh, well, probably one of them. They are older." Harry said.

"I know I'm going to try out." Ron spoke up. "For keeper."

"I'm going to too!" Lavender said excitedly. This statement caused everyone to stare at her.

"Um, I didn't know you liked quidditch Lavender." Dean said.

"Oh, yes." Lavender said smiling. "I think it will be so fun to chase those quabbles."

"Quaffles." Ron corrected her.

"Those too." Lavender said.

Ron exchanged a look with Harry. "That's nice." Parvati finally said.

"You should try too." Lavender told her. "You are so good at horseback riding, you would be great at flying."

"I'm not." Parvati promised. "I hate to fly. It scares me to death. Flying and me equals spaz."

"Well, you'll have to come cheer me on then." Lavender said.

"Lavender, you know you have to try out." Hermione intoned gently. "There's a chance you might not make it."

"Oh, I know." Lavender said carelessly. "But don't worry. I'll make it."

They finished eating and the plates magically disappeared. Dumbledore stood again. "Now that we have all eaten, I have just a few announcements before bedtime. As per usual, the Forbidden Forest is forbidden. Mr. Filch, the caretaker has posted a list of rules in each main corridor. There is no magic allowed in between classes. And, the quidditch teams will begin meeting this week, for tryouts and practice. Please remember that only second years and up are allowed to tryout. Team captains need to contact Madame Hooch. I am sure we will have a wonderful year. Now, let's sing the school song, then off to bed with you! Parvati joined Hermione and Ginny in an upbeat tune. Perhaps it would lift her spirits.

Hogwarts, Hogwarts Hoggy Warty Hogwarts

Teach us something please

Whether we be old and bald

Or young with scabby knees

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff

For now they're bare and full of air

Dead flies and bits of fluff

So teach us things worth knowing

Bring back what we've forgot

Just do your best, we'll do the rest

And learn until our brains all rot.

They left the great hall then and walked through the familiar corridors until they came up to the portrait of the fat lady. "What's the password?" Ginny asked around. Parvati shrugged.

"Pixie Dust!" A voice called and Angelina strode up, a head girl badge on her robes.

"I didn't know you were made head girl." Parvati said in surprise.

"I was a bit embarrassed about it." Angelina replied grinning. "Fred and George will never let me live it down."

Parvati smiled. "I'm sure they won't."

Parvati climbed through the portrait hole, giving Daisy Brown a leg up on her way. She told Ginny and Angelina goodnight and went up to the fifth year girls' dormitory. Everything was as they'd left it. Parvati's trunk was sitting in front of her four poster along with Ebony's cage. Lavender and Hermione were still in the common room. Parvati kissed Isis goodnight and changed into her nightgown. She had the middle bed and she climbed into it and pointed her wand at herself.

"Sloemorde Estava." She said. She had decided she would try to help people with her visions, but she didn't want one her first night back at school.

Pretty soon, she heard Lavender and Hermione come in and get in bed. Hermione shut the lights out and Parvati closed her eyes. She fell into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

Classes started the very next day. At the breakfast table, Angelina passed out schedules. She had Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, and Double Potions the first day. Parvati groaned, two classes with the Slytherins.

She always enjoyed Charms; tiny Professor Flitwick was so nice. They spent the first day reviewing some of the work they had covered the previous years. He warned them that a lot of the year would be reviewing for the O.W.L.s Parvati paired up with Hermione and they practiced summoning and banishing charms, cheering charms, lifting charms, and hover charms.

After Charms, she walked with Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Neville down to Hagrid's hut where they had Care of Magical Creatures. Lavender and Seamus followed them; seeming to be joined at the hip, making Dean look very annoyed.

The Slytherins were all late, as usual showing Hagrid no respect. He greeted everyone happily though.

"Wait 'til you see what I got fer ya!" He said excitedly.

Everyone grimaced a bit. They knew if it was something Hagrid liked, it was bound to be vicious and dangerous. "Alrigh come over to the paddocks." Hagrid said.

They followed him and Parvati groaned when she saw what was standing in the paddocks.

"These are called occamy." Hagrid said gesturing to the creatures. "Does anyone know bout these creatures?"

Parvati raised her hand. Hagrid pointed to her. "They come from India. My grandmother breeds them."

"Oh! He does?" Hagrid asked. "How excitin' you must love goin' there!"

"Not really." Parvati replied. "They are vicious."

"No, not really." Hagrid said looking hurt. "They're just misunderstood."

"Yeah." Draco Malfoy said, looking at the creatures with distaste. "We should be ridding the population of them. It's no wonder Patil's family raises them. After all they were stupid enough to raise her."

Ron turned around furiously. "Maybe your father was one Malfoy!"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well there's no doubt about the inbreeding in your family Weasley."

Ron leapt towards him and Parvati and Hermione grabbed his robes, pulling him backwards.

"Stop!" Hagrid yelled. Everyone was silent, Hagrid never yelled at them. He looked a bit shocked too. "You're scarin' the animals!" He reached out to cradle one and it hissed warningly at him.

"Now." Hagrid said, straightening up. "I'm gonna divide you into three groups. Then over the next couple a weeks you'll take care of your Occamy. Ya even get to give it a name." He told them this last part as if he were giving them presents.

No one felt much like smiling but the Gryffindors made an effort. "I've got ya divided into groups." Hagrid said, pulling a wrinkled slip of parchment out of his pocket. "Decided to mix a bit. Group one will be Hermione, Parvati, Draco, Pansy, and Ron. Group two will be Harry, Blaise, Vincent, Dean, and Lavender. Group three will be Seamus, Patrick, Gregory, Neville, and Millicent."

Nobody looked too happy with this arrangement. "Hagrid!" Ron said. "I can't work with Malfoy."

"And I won't work with Weasley, Granger, or Patil." Malfoy snapped.

"Ye'll do what yer told." Hagrid said gruffly.

"Great." Ron muttered. "The perfect time for Hagrid to take the initiative."

They looked in the paddock at their occamy. It was an interesting looking creature with two birdlike legs and wings and a deep purple serpent body and head. Hagrid said it was a female but they weren't sure.

"Well, go on!" Hagrid said. "Get in there with em. Get to know em and at the end of the lesson ya can tell me the name you choose."

Parvati carefully climbed over the fence, the rest of her group following. She looked towards the corner and saw pure silver colored eggs. "Erm, Hagrid!" She called. "Our occamy has eggs!"

Hagrid was there in an instant. He headed straight for the eggs. "Wait!" Parvati called. "They are very mean about their eggs. My uncle that lives in India got killed by one."

Hagrid still looked as though he very much wanted to see the eggs but stood back. "Your group is real lucky." He told them. "Ya got eggs and babies'll be hatchin soon!"

"Yeah great." Ron muttered. "We have the meanest one too."

They spent the next hour being chased around the paddock by the occamy, running into each other and the other occamy. Malfoy attempted to leave the paddock but Hagrid refused to let him. "Well, we're sure getting our exercise for the day." Hermione huffed, running up to Parvati. Parvati nodded but had to jump out of the way when another groups occamy struck at her leg.

Finally Hagrid let them come out and gave them a few minutes to settle on a name. "I think we should name it Parvati or Hermione." Malfoy said coldly. "It acts just like them. Plus it's ugly."

Pansy laughed and Ron leapt at them again to be pulled back again but this time by Hagrid. "Settle down now." He said. "Have ya decided on a name yet?"

"Pansy." Ron said quickly.

"Hermione or Parvati." Pansy replied.

Hagrid looked upset. "This isn't anything to joke about ya know! These occamy need names. Now, what's it gonna be?"

"We can name it Leona." Hermione said quickly.

"Okay." Hagrid said cheerily. "Leona it is." He jotted it down and left whistling.

"Great job." Hermione hissed. "You almost got us in trouble with Hagrid.

"Well I was trying to be helpful." Ron insisted.

Care of Magical Creatures was finally over, but it was no good news, they had potions next. They trekked unhappily up to the castle, the Slytherins in a group and the Gryffindors in another. Parvati was dreading potions, Professor Snape hated all of the Gryffindors and loved Malfoy, hence the awfulness of the situation.

He wasn't in the room when they got there. "Should we just sit with last years partners?" Dean asked.

"Of course stupid." Blaise snapped adjusting her peach headband. Dean rolled his eyes and sat down. Seamus and Lavender reluctantly parted and he joined Dean. Parvati and Lavender were partners, along with Harry and Ron and Hermione and Neville.

"Isn't he perfect?" Lavender said in a mix between a whisper and a squeal. Parvati assumed she meant Seamus and started to answer, when Snape stormed into the room, looking very ticked off.

He swept to the front of the room, looking at the class in annoyance. "This year, you people have O.W.L.s They are a determining factor in the rest of your pathetic lives. And, those of you who can not make a simple shrinking potion," he looked pointedly at Seamus, Neville, Crabbe, and Goyle. "Don't even expect an O.W.L in potions."

Neville looked terrified as Snape banged a heavy book down on the desk. "Now." He snapped, opening his ledger. "The headmaster has asked that I mix you students up." His lip curled as if he thought this was a stupid idea. "So, new partners for you all. Get up!" Everyone leapt from their seats.

"When I call your names, come sit." Parvati looked around anxiously hoping she wouldn't end up with one of the Slytherins.

"Brown and Bulstrode." Snape read off icily.

"Oh, no!" Lavender moaned.

"Come on, I haven't all day!" Snape glared as Lavender and Millicent Bulstrode slowly gathered up their books.

"Crabbe and Finnegan."

"I think he's doing it alphabetically." Hermione whispered.

"Not too creative is he?" Ron said smirking.

"Don't smirk Ron." Hermione said. "You look too much like Malfoy."

Ron immediately frowned. "Granger and Goyle." Hermione looked quite dismayed, going over to sit by Goyle. "Longbottom and Malfoy, Nott and Parkinson, Patil and Potter, and Thomas, Weasley, and Zabini will work together."

No one looked very happy with these arrangements, but knew better than to argue with Snape, especially when he was in a foul mood.

Parvati picked up her satchel and cauldron and sat next to Harry in the back row. 'It could be worse.' She thought as she watched poor Neville stumble into a seat next to Malfoy and Hermione look disgusted as Goyle scratched at a scab on his arm.

"Now." Snape said glaring. "We are going to review. Starting with a simple sleeping potion. Think you can handle that?" Without waiting for an answer, he stormed into his office, slamming the door.

"What's his problem?" Ron demanded.

"Your face Weasley." Malfoy spoke up, sneering.

"Shh!" Hermione hissed. "You don't want him to hear you guys."

"I don't think I need to take advice from a mudblood like you." Malfoy snapped.

Goyle scratched his head stupidly. "Do you want me to hit her?"

"Don't you dare!" Lavender said loudly. "Boys aren't ever supposed to hit girls."

Hermione stared at Goyle unwaveringly. "Listen up, I know how you do in Potions, and I'm sure you know the kind of marks I get. I will not have you screw up my grades in here and if you can act like you should then you just might end up passing this year. Just let me do everything."

Parvati turned away from the squabbles breaking out everywhere and opened her Potions book and moved her cauldron over the fire. Harry looked back at her. "Oh, I'll help."

He pulled out his potions ingredients and looked over at Parvati's open book. "Fluxweed, dried snake fangs, beetle eyes, knotgrass, dill, marjoram, and thyme." He read off. "Let's just divide it in half."

"Okay." Parvati took the last four to do. She chopped the knotgrass evenly and diced the dill. She tossed these ingredients into the potion and it simmered. The marjoram was harder, it was very slippery and you had to be careful when cutting it that you didn't take your own finger. She finally got it all cut up and then pulled out the thyme. It didn't need to be cut, only sprinkled into the potion. Harry added the last of the beetle eyes.

"Now we just wait for it to boil, when it starts boiling, wait five minutes and then remove from heat, the potion will turn a dark blue. Bottle and stopper carefully." She read aloud.

Harry glanced at his watch. "Five minutes then."

Parvati glanced around to see how everyone else was doing. Seamus and Crabbe looked very lost, looking around for some misplaced fluxweed. Hermione was stirring the potion, Goyle nursing a cut thumb. Lavender was chattering happily to Millicent who was still chopping dill. Parvati smiled to herself, Lavender was never much help but she was a friendly person to listen to while you did your work.

There was a sudden scream from the back of the room and Parvati looked over. Blaise was dancing around, slapping at her robes. "Get it off, get it off!" She cried out. Ron and Dean were doubled over laughing. Pansy leapt up and ran over to her best friend.

"What is it?" She kept yelling.

A door banged open and everyone froze as Snape strode into the room. "What is going on?" He demanded.

"They dropped beetle eyes down my back!" Blaise cried out, pointing at Ron and Dean.

"We didn't mean to." Dean tried to say in defense.

"Well well, starting trouble the first day are you? Twenty points from Gryffindor and a detention for each of you Weasley and Thomas. Miss Zabini, are you able to continue working?"

Blaise nodded sniffily and sat down, Pansy going back to her seat after shooting Ron and Dean a death glare. "Your potions should be done by now." Snape said.

Parvati looked over at their cauldron alarmed, she had forgotten all about the potion. Luckily she found Harry dipping a dark blue potion into a vial. She gave him a grateful smile. "Sorry." She said. "I forgot all about the potion."

"That's okay." Harry replied, putting a stopper on it.

Snape swept around the room, looking at each potion. Millicent and Lavender had managed to get theirs done but Seamus and Crabbe hadn't even started to boil theirs. Snape took ten points from Gryffindor for this, being unfair as usual and taking no points from Slytherin. Hermione and Goyle had done theirs right too and Malfoy and Neville had also. Snape gave ten points to Slytherin for Nott and Pansy getting theirs done but he didn't give any points to Gryffindor for Parvati and Harry's being done. Everyone else had gotten done except for Crabbe and Seamus, who were a hopeless team.

Snape went back to the front of the class. "I had hoped that all of you would be able to do a simple potion like that, with no problems. Apparently I was wrong. Tomorrow will not be so easy, we are learning an age reducing potion and if you make a mistake on that, you will be quite sorry with the results. All of you bring your pets to class tomorrow."

Hermione gaped. "But Professor, if something went wrong with the potion, it could hurt our pets, maybe even kill them..."
"Well, then you had better not let anything go wrong. And Miss Granger, I would appreciate it if you would slow your attempts to run my class this year, as you fail miserably. Dismissed."

Hermione's cheeks turned red and she quickly gathered up her books, looking down. Parvati turned away and started putting her supplies away. She left the classroom alone and headed up to Gryffindor common room.

She went in the portrait hole, "Pixie Dust" and up to the girl's dorm. She hurriedly went to Isis's stable and took her out. The tiny horse was glad to see her and excitedly rushed about the bed.

After playing with her for a few minutes, Parvati put her back in the miniature stable and gave her food and water. Then she went over to Ebony's cage. As soon as it was opened, Ebony soared out and headed right for Crookshanks, Hermione's cat who was sleeping on her bed.

Parvati leapt up and narrowly managed to grab Ebony out of the air before she could attack. She sternly gave Ebony a talking to and let her rest sullenly on the bookshelf. She made sure Ebony had everything in her cage settled and expanded it a bit so the raven would have more room.

"Good news Ebony." She said, trying to make the proposition sound good. "You get to come with me tomorrow to Potions class." Hopefully Ebony would compile to come, she didn't need trouble with Snape.

Ebony glared down at her. Parvati decided to take that as a yes, and went down to the common room with her bag. She was working on homework when the other students started to drift in.

Lavender dashed over to her. "Parvati! Where were you?"

"I just came to start working on some homework." Parvati said quietly. Truthfully, she had a strange feeling and wished only to be left alone. But, it didn't seem to be happening as Hermione and her friends plopped into seats near her.

"It's the first day of term." Ron said disbelievingly. "Even Hermione hasn't started doing homework!"

Hermione gave Ron an evil look. "I..just wanted to get a head start." Parvati muttered, knowing it sounded like a lame excuse. She looked down and out of the corner of her eye saw Hermione, Ron, and Harry exchange a look.

"I'm going to go work on it in the dorm." Parvati stood up and walked away from everyone. She was sure they were all talking about her now, but she didn't feel good at all and wasn't too concerned at the moment.

When she entered the dorm there was a folded paper lying on her bed. Parvati curiously picked it up. It was a copy of Witch Weekly. Parvati opened it up and on the front page someone had circled an article in red ink.

Parvati scanned it, wondering if it had been something her mother wanted her to see.

Death Eater Attack

On August 30^th, two days before the new Hogwarts School term was to begin, there was a death eater attack on the home of Arthur G. Weasley, a Ministry official. Rumors state that there were fifteen death eaters and several dementors also. No one was seriously harmed, as this reporter has official word that they were forewarned by Parvati Anneal Patil, a fifth year student at Hogwarts who had a violent seizure and saw what would happen in a vision. She naturally rushed to the Weasley's home and warned them and Ministry officials were warned, managing to capture several death eaters. The entire wizarding world should thank Miss Patil for her heroic efforts and this reporter for one is going to write her and ask if there are any more attacks coming. She attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft Wizardry along with her twin sister Padma Sita Patil, and they are the daughters of the late Charles O Conner and Lalita Patil, head of the Ministry Portkey Office. This reporter has to wonder, are there any more attacks coming on the wizarding world, and will we ever be safe?

Special Correspondent: Rita Skeeter

Parvati violently threw the paper down and covered her face with her hands. How had the press found out anything about her? She had told the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione not to say a word. The only others who had known were her family. It didn't matter now, her life was ruined. Now everyone knew. Parvati couldn't stop the hot tears that rolled down her cheeks.

She must have dozed off, because she was shaken awake sometime later by Ginny Weasley. Parvati sat up groggily. It was dark out. "What time is it?" She asked Ginny.

Ginny glanced at her watch. "It's 6:00. I woke you to come to dinner."

The day came flooding back to Parvati in a wave. "I can't go down there." She said quietly. "Everyone knows now."

Ginny sat down next to her and smiled sympathetically. "Of course you can. Everyone knows that Rita Skeeter writes all lies. And in the other papers it barely mentions you."

"The other papers? There are more?" Parvati moaned and lay back down, burying her face in her pillow.

"Parvati, don't worry about it. Last year Hermione and Harry had all those articles written about them and no one believed it. This will all blow over, trust me."

"Just go down without me." Parvati said, her voice muffled.

"No I'm not." Ginny said stoutly. She grabbed Parvati's arm firmly and yanked her up. "Come on, you have to face everyone sometime anyway."

Parvati sighed. "Fine, but if anyone says anything to me, I'm leaving."

She followed Ginny down the stairs and out of the common room. Through the corridors, then they reached the Great Hall. Parvati's face burned as everyone looked at them when they went by. She sank into a seat near the end of the Gryffindor table. Ginny sat down next to her.

"Parvati!" Lavender squealed, moving down near her. "You're famous! You were in all the papers."

This caused everyone to look over at her more. Parvati put her head down and started eating mechanically while Lavender went on and on about the article in Teen Witch. She didn't see Ron, Hermione, or Harry all through dinner, and when she asked Ginny about it, she just shrugged.

After dinner Parvati was ready to make a quick getaway but she was stopped by Padma. "I need to talk to you for a minute." She said, looking quite upset.

"Padma, if this is about those papers..."

"Yes, it is!" Padma snapped. "If it isn't bad enough that you're a freak and related to me, you have to make it public knowledge. I have had ten people ask me if I can read their palms today! Ten! And I do not even take Divination and Professor Trelawney tried to drag me off to do a tarot reading with her."

"Padma, I'm sorry, but I don't know how it happened. I didn't tell anyone."

"Yeah, well, sorry isn't enough." Padma hissed, lowering her voice. "And some people are not going to be pleased with you Parvati, and you know what I mean."

"Padma-"

"I'm not going to listen to it, I don't know why you had to be so stupid and rush off to save those people, they aren't even your friends. And Da' particularly told you not to let anyone know about it!"

"But they would have gotten killed."

"Better them than you or me."

"I can't believe you could say that."

"Yes, well I can. And now Terry is mad at me and I have to go explain things to him. So, goodbye. Just wait till mummy and DA find out what you've done."

Padma spun on her heel and walked away. Ginny looked at Parvati with questioning eyes. "I'm sorry." Parvati murmured and walked away from her. Parvati went up to the dorm and changed into her pajamas. It was early to go to bed, but she didn't care. After everything that had happened, she was not having anymore visions, she did the dreamless sleep charm on herself and climbed under the covers, pulling the curtains shut on her bed.

She had trouble sleeping and she lay there for hours, listening to the people in the common room finally fall silent. She heard Hermione and Lavender come upstairs and get into bed, then Lavender's light snoring.

Parvati's eyes finally started to close. She felt herself drifting off to that comforting familiar nothingness of dreamless sleep. Suddenly, she felt her bones grow cold, and she was jerked away from that hazy nice place. Parvati sat bolt upright and realized she had goosebumps covering her.

She threw back the covers and stood up. Something wasn't right. She looked over at her roommates' beds. They seemed fine. She carefully walked out of the bedroom, the floor freezing her bare feet. She wrapped her arms around herself, and tried to get warm, but there was a supernatural chill seeming to surround her.

She made her way down to the dark empty common room. It wasn't there. She needed to be somewhere, something wasn't right. She went through the portrait hole and looked down the empty corridors. Then she turned around, this was crazy! What was she doing? She would be caught by Filch. She would get in trouble for wondering the halls at night, and when caught what would she say? She was following a strange call only she could hear?

Parvati stood at the portrait hole, at a decision impasse. Then, a chilling scream rang out through the halls of the school. Her decision was made, Parvati ran in the direction of the screams.

She heard voices swelling up from behind the portrait and the other pictures were dashing about frantically. She kept going and ran smack into a person she really did not want to see, Professor Snape.

"Well, well," He said softly. "No students are supposed to be out of their rooms, the portraits are sealed. What are you doing out of bed Miss Patil?"

"I-I-I heard screams." Parvati said, looking past him where the noises were still coming from.

"Yes, and that is all under control. But how did you get out of the common room? The portraits know that if there is ever an emergency or problem, not to let students out."

"I left before the screams." Parvati said, and instantly regretted it.

"Oh, you did?" His eyes shone. "Well, why did you have the need to leave your common room at four am?"

"I..." But Parvati couldn't think up an answer that wouldn't make her sound crazy.

"I think you had best come to my office, Miss Patil, and we will see what the headmaster has to say about this."

"But...the person screaming."

"They are no longer screaming." Snape snapped. "Now come on."

Parvati silently followed him down the hallways to his dim office in the dungeon. "Wait here." He said irritably. "If you even move a step out of this office, I will personally see that you are expelled."

Parvati nodded and sat down in a chair against the wall. Professor Snape left, slamming the door behind him. She shivered in her thin nightgown and hugged her arms around her body. She could still hear the screaming.... Was it just in her head?

After some time, the office door opened again and Snape came back in, followed by Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonnagall, all looking very serious. They took a seat and looked at her.

Parvati didn't know what to say. "Who was screaming?" She finally asked.

Professor Dumbledore gave her a grave look. "Parvati, somehow, something got into the school. One of your classmates has departed. Now, what do you know about this, why were you out of bed before the screaming even started?"

They all stared at her and Parvati knew she was in trouble.