Harry tapped his pen irritably on his clean parchment, watching Professor Trelawney wave her arms around her head in a �trance�. Harry sighed softly, waiting for their eccentric divination professor to finish her rampage and get on with the lesson.
�I see�a dark, dark shadow has come over�this very school!� Parvati and Lavender gasped in horror, and Ron rolled his eyes.
�Honestly,� he muttered under his breath. �Nothing has changed since third year.� Harry snorted in agreement, still not wanting to talk to his friend.
�A spirit hath arrived, cloaked as one of us!� Trelawney moaned, waving her arm and whacked Harry�s crystal ball off of his table. It clunked down hard on the floor and shattered. Apparently, this was the trick to wake Trelawney up, because she flinched at the sound and turned around to study the mess.
�Harry, could you go to Professor Dumbledore�s office and tell him we need to order some more crystal balls?� she asked suddenly.
�Sure, professor,� Harry said, getting up immediately before she could change her mind.
Harry walked slowly down the halls, so to waste as much time as he could. Upon reaching Dumbledore�s office, he was a little confused to see that it was wide open. Curious, he walked in, stopping short seeing Veronica inside. Hiding behind the door, Harry listened to them, watching from the shadows.
�-and how�s Sirius?� Veronica asked animatedly, and Harry flinched from his hiding spot. �How�d the Old Dog doing?� Harry heard a pause, and saw Dumbledore biting his lower lip, looking very old.
�There�s no easy way to say this, dear,� Dumbledore told her slowly, and she interrupted him anxiously.
�Is Sirius okay?� she wrung her hands. �Does he need to be rescued, or something, because I can take a few days off to go get him � �
�Sirius is dead, Veronica,� Dumbledore said quietly. Veronica gasped; her hands went limp at her sides.
�H � h � h�
�One of Voldemort�s,� Dumbledore told her gently. Veronica sat down hard on the floor, as if her legs had collapsed. A wave of sadness enveloped Harry, but he remained silent to prevent getting caught. �It was � a heroic death, trying to work against Voldemort, but��
Veronica�s face was hidden from Harry�s view, and he jumped violently when an earth-quaking war cry shrieked from her lips. Harry�s eyes went wide as she sprouted long, blue wings and jumped out the window, screaming.
Dumbledore, untouched by this, sat down in his arm chair with a sigh.
�You can come out now, Harry,� he said, and Harry sighed but stepped out. He should have known Dumbledore would have known he was there.
�Professor?� he asked quietly. �How does she � know Sirius?� And my dad?, he thought. Dumbledore sighed wearily.
�Why did you come, Harry?� he asked, ignoring Harry�s question. Suddenly, Harry remembered why he had been sent down to Dumbledore�s office in the first place.
�Professor Trelawney needs to place another order of crystal balls,� Harry reported, hoping Dumbledore would answer his question. All he got was,
�Very well. You can go back to class now, Harry.�
Harry, disappointed and frustrated, had half a mind to demand the answer to his question, knowing the Headmaster knew it. But he stopped himself, also knowing that there was no pushing Dumbledore. Fuming, Harry walked over to the door.
�Harry.�
The sound of his name stopped him in his tracks.
�You�ll have to ask Veronica,� Dumbledore told him. �I have no right to give you that information.�
Harry continued walking, remembering vaguely that he still had to finish divination. Who was Veronica, really? Who was she, and why was she in his life?
At dinner that night, Hermione was telling Ron and Harry about her Transfiguration project. Both of her friends sat eating their own dark thoughts.
�What do you think Trelawney meant?� Ron interrupted. �About the spirit arriving?� Hermione rolled her eyes.
�What do you mean, Ron?� Harry asked slowly, looking up from his plate.
�Well, it sounded like she was, you know, actually telling the future,� Ron explained. �Well, what if a dark spirit really has come to Hogwarts? After the past couple of years�� he shrugged, and the others understood; none of them wanted to talk about it, � Who could it be?�
Harry�s thoughts immediately shifted to Veronica.
�Veronica,� Harry breathed. �It must be her � she�s new this year. And besides � � in a few short sentences, he told them what had happened in Dumbledore�s office. Ron sat silently, but Hermione scoffed at the idea.
�Oh, come on!� she told them. �Look, this is Trelawney we�re talking about! A trance? Please! Are you going to call of the first years dark spirits? They�re new too.�
Ron sighed, as if giving in, but Harry wasn�t so sure. True, Trelawney wasn�t the most reliable source for the future, but there was something about Veronica, something that brought a cloud of dark, gloomy doubt into his mind.