Chapter 7 Where Have All The Flowers Gone?
“Harry, what are you doing?” Ginny rushed towards them, calling out.
“You must be Ginny Weasley. I’m Professor Aria Hannibal. Your father and I used to work together. He has told me so much about you,” Aria said casually, bending down next to Harry and helping him gather up his books once again. “I was just helping your friend Mr. Potter here with his things. Come on. We are late for class.”
Before Ginny could answer, Harry immediately gathered up his books and hurried over to her. He clutched her hand and sped ahead of Aria, as if he wanted to display to her their handholding techniques. Without exchanging another word, the three of them made their way to the classroom. Visibly shaken, Harry was nervously wondering what Ginny saw and if she saw him and Aria together.
As they entered the room, Harry could sense all the eyes were directed at the three of them because they were the last ones to arrive. Certainly, this was not the kind of grand entrance that he wanted to be a part of. As he glanced around the room, hopelessly searching for empty spaces at the back, he noticed that almost all the classroom walls were mirrors. He could make out multiple haunting reflections of the three of them from the side as the mirrors from both ends of the room were reflecting off each other. Because of the reflections, the room appeared to contain many more students than there really were. Harry could see Aria was closely following behind the two of them. The room, brightly lit, was also decorated with many animal cages containing what appeared to be rabbits, squirrels, birds, and puppies. He was unsure how these animals relate to telepathy. Peering nervously ahead, he could spot Ron and Hermione watching them eagerly, with Ron pointing at the two empty spaces next to Hermione. Harry and Ginny quickly sat down while Aria stopped at their desk.
“Mr. Potter, here are the rest of your quills and parchment,” she said casually, scattering them on the table.
“Thanks,” Harry shakily mumbled, hoping desperately that he would not have to interact with her for the duration of the class.
“What took you so long?” Ron whispered. “What happened to your new books? Why are they all dirty?”
“Harry, weren’t you looking for Ginny?” Hermione mumbled.
“It’s my fault. I went back to the dorm to put it on and I lost track of time,” Ginny whispered sheepishly to Hermione, pointing at the butterfly hairpin on her head.
“Sorry, Harry. I didn’t mean to have you wait so long out there in the halls,” she whispered to him.
“That’s okay,” Harry breathed a sigh of relief because he knew now that it was possible she didn’t see anything and that she wasn’t upset.
“Everyone, my name is Professor Aria Hannibal. I’m the instructor of Telepathic Studies. The topics that I’m covering this term include the power of the mind and thoughts, and spells of telepathy.”
The entire room was silent and she continued, “Since this is our first lesson, let’s do something fun, shall we? I need two volunteers for this exercise.”
Still trying to calm himself down, Harry turned around to look at the back of the class and noticed that no one raised their hands. Judging from everyone’s expressions, it was obvious to him that what Hermione said about people not liking telepaths was right.
“Mr. Potter, why don’t you come up here?”
Harry immediately gasped when he heard his name. He still had not recovered from what happened in the hallway. This was exactly what he was afraid of, that she would treat him differently compared to the other students. Avoiding Aria’s eyes, he reluctantly got up and trudged to the front.
“I need a second person. Let’s see. How about you, Miss Granger?”
Hermione got up and hurried over to Harry.
“Miss Granger, stand over there. That’s right,” Aria gestured to Hermione. She then walked over to Harry and handed him a rose, “That’s perfect. Harry, you take this.”
“Okay, Mr. Potter. I want you to concentrate your thoughts and feelings on Miss Granger. As you maintain your concentration on her, you’ll remove a petal one by one. With each petal you’ll say ‘She loves me,’ and ‘She loves me not…”
The entire class burst out laughing. Hermione clutched her stomach and shrieked so hard she almost choked. Harry couldn’t laugh; he was just staring blankly at the rose, with his cheeks hot in flames. Gradually, as the noise died down, Aria instructed him to start.
Blushing from utter embarrassment, he proceeded to remove the petals, muttering reluctantly, “She loves me…She loves me not…” He could see Hermione’s face contorting as each petal floated to the ground. It was obvious she was trying very hard not to laugh. From the reflections he noticed Ron and Ginny watching him attentively, anxiously waiting for the last petal to fall.
“She loves me…she loves me not…she loves me…she loves me not…” Harry began to speed up, in an almost robotic-like manner because he was tired of this silly exercise. In his mind, he wasn’t thinking about Hermione at all. All he was wondering about was what happened in the hallway with Aria and him, why she gazed at him and touched him the way she did, why he didn’t push her away, and why he should not have agreed to meet her after school.
“She loves me…she loves me not…SHE LOVES ME…” he finally uttered as the last petal fell.
“WHAT?” Hermione shrieked at Harry, who was thinking of digging a hole and burying himself just about now.
The whole class once again burst out laughing, with loud screams of “OH MY GOODNESS, GRANGER LOVES POTTER…HAS THE HOTS FOR POTTER…” echoing violently across the room. Ron and Ginny were staring at Hermione and Harry in disbelief.
“This is obviously a mistake, Professor!” Hermione called out, trying hopelessly to drown out the laughter.
“I guess we know who has the keys to your heart!” Aria smiled and proceeded to give everyone a rose. She then instructed them to do the same exercise.
“Harry, I don’t know who’s the bigger fraud, this blondie or that crazy goggle-eyed Trelawney!” Hermione complained angrily, gasping for breath and shaking her head in disgust as they marched toward their seats.
“What kind of lesson was THAT?? It is totally absurd! I bet a dead slug has more telepathic powers than her!”
Harry knew better. He knew Aria did possess telepathic powers and he wanted to tell Hermione that he wasn’t thinking of her during the exercise. In fact, he was thinking of Aria, and the exercise may have just indicated to him that Aria was in love with him. It made sense to him now as he understood why she touched him the way she did in the hallway. Just when he was about to open his mouth, Ron grunted bitterly, “Hermione, I thought you and me…”
“What is this you and me?” she snapped, her voice in a very annoying tone as she yanked out her chair, still fuming from the embarrassing outcome to the exercise. Giggles and murmurs of her undying love for Harry could still be heard in the background.
“I thought you and me…and not Harry,” he pointed at Harry coldly.
“Oh, you BELIEVE that stupid exercise? You actually think I LOVE HARRY?” she roared back fiercely and pointed at Aria’s direction. “Well, what about YOU AND YOUR RIDICULOUS INFATUATION WITH BLONDIE OVER THERE?”
“Shhh…” Ginny frantically gestured her hands to Hermione to calm her down while Harry’s face contorted as he quickly nudged Hermione’s arm, letting her know that the whole class was now staring at them.
When I See Only You by gossipweaver
Chapter Notes: It was a stupid game, but it gave Harry all the answers...