Under the Influence of Saturn
Harry entered the Divination classroom together with his friends. It was a circular room, filled with cushions and fabric armchairs of many colors, decorated with ornaments that made it feel oddly special. The curtains were completely drawn, allowing only a faint, dim light to filter through lamps covered with scarves and shawls, as if someone had gone out of their way to make the atmosphere more symbolic and mysterious. A sweet, heavy scent drifted from the nearby fireplace, saturating the air.
Most of the students were already seated, and they seemed to be the last ones to arrive, searching for a random place to sit.
"At last, the final students have arrived," Professor Trelawney said as soon as she saw them, as if she had been waiting for them, or as if she had known in advance they would be late. In truth, however, that was not surprising at all, since every student who arrived late was always greeted with those same words.
The professor was an extremely thin woman, wearing enormous glasses that made her eyes look disproportionately large compared to the rest of her face. She looked mostly at Harry, wearing that strange expression she always had whenever she saw him, one that made him feel uncomfortable. She wore a great deal of jewelry; bracelets, necklaces, and rings that softly clinked together every time she moved.
"You are worried, my dear," she said to Harry in a gloomy tone. "My inner eye can see that behind your brave face hides a rather great fear, and I fear to tell you that you lack no reason for it. I see difficult times ahead of you, very difficult times, and I sense that what you fear will truly come to pass, and sooner than you think."
Having said that, she suddenly turned away and went to sit on a sofa placed at the center of the room, facing the class, directly in front of the fireplace.
For a moment, Harry's expression turned genuinely annoyed at the professor's words. Even so, he quickly sat down between Draco and Daphne.
"My dears, the time has come to gaze upon the stars, the movements of the planets, and the mysterious wonders that only those chosen to understand the steps of their celestial dance may decipher. Human destiny is revealed among the planetary rays as they cross," she said, while several students who seemed to treat her as some sort of goddess sat directly in front of her, absorbing every word without question.
Normally, Harry, though he did not particularly love the class, would have been paying attention. But now he was somewhat distracted. For a moment, perhaps Trelawney's words had sunk deeper than he would have liked, and he found himself wondering what it was he feared the most would happen. If it had been last year, he could have said with certainty that he feared losing control, hurting his friends and his family.
But that, for the most part, had been ruled out. Not only because he now understood what was happening to him, but also because his mother was nearby. On top of that, he had taken it upon himself to create certain countermeasures in case his magic ever spiraled out of control. So, in truth, it did not worry him that much anymore.
"Harry," Daphne said, elbowing him to pull him out of his thoughts.
Harry lifted his gaze and noticed that everyone in the room seemed to be staring at him, especially the girls closest to Trelawney, as if they were looking at some rare jewel. That made Harry return their stares with a serious expression, which caused them to blush and quickly look away.
"I was saying, my dear, that you were born under the grim influence of Saturn," the professor said, with a faint note of irritation in her voice after noticing that Harry had been distracted.
"Sorry, I was born under what?" Harry asked, unable to help himself, with slight confusion.
"Saturn. The planet Saturn," she replied, visibly annoyed that Harry did not seem impressed by the revelation. "I was saying that Saturn held a dominant position at the time of your birth. Your dark hair, the tragic losses you suffered early in life… I believe I am not mistaken in thinking you were born in the middle of winter," she stated, with a faintly proud tone, though without losing that mystical air she tried to maintain while speaking.
Perhaps the professor's words irritated Harry slightly. He adopted a posture that was both mocking and faintly arrogant before replying, while a cold air seemed to emanate from his body.
"No, not at all. I was born in July," he said, staring straight into her eyes.
The professor's eyes trembled for a brief moment under Harry's dominant presence.
Meanwhile, both Draco and Daphne struggled to hold back their laughter, disguising it behind a cough and a hand over their mouths.
Half an hour later, Professor Trelawney, now avoiding looking at Harry, handed a tablet to each student. It was a complicated circular chart in which they had to determine the position of the planets at the exact moment each of them had been born.
It was a truly demanding assignment, requiring numerous angle calculations and detailed time annotations.
When the class ended, the professor assigned a considerable amount of homework, glancing toward Harry from time to time, making it clear that she was doing so out of annoyance at his response, even though she had been the one who was wrong. Many students could not help but feel a faint resentment toward him, but they were obviously not brave enough to say anything.
Then everyone left the classroom, heading straight for the Great Hall for dinner.
"That's going to take us the whole weekend," Daphne complained, clearly annoyed with Harry before punching him in the arm, as a form of revenge for blaming him.
Harry, who did not seem to have felt it at all, did not look bothered. If anything, he seemed amused.
"A lot of homework?" Hermione asked with a playful tone as she looked at them. "Professor Vector did not assign any homework in Runes," she added, sounding a little proud, as if she were looking down on those who had chosen the wrong subject, and she had not.
Daphne, who was still thinking about getting back at Harry, jumped on Hermione and began messing up her hair.
"Stop it!" Hermione protested, trying to push her off while they drew quite a bit of attention.
Draco and Harry, for their part, decided to continue on their way toward their seats.
For a moment, some chaos broke out not too far away, catching everyone's attention briefly. It seemed to be Carrow and his followers arguing with Ron Weasley, which was not particularly interesting to watch, so they simply ignored it. Or at least, that should have been the end of it.
But suddenly, a colorful light illuminated the Great Hall as it shot directly toward Hermione and Daphne, who were fighting, or rather, messing up each other's hair like two children. Both of them froze when they noticed something coming their way, but they did not have time to react or do anything, as it was far too fast.
Draco was the one who reacted the quickest. He immediately stood up and stepped in front of them, placing himself between the spell and the girls, his expression serious, ready to take the hit. However, the spell stopped right in front of his face, barely a millimeter away from touching him, as if time itself had frozen.
That made Draco shift his gaze toward Harry, who had his hand raised toward the spell, his expression even colder than Malfoy's own. Draco let out a quiet sigh, as if thinking, "They really did it now. They angered the one person they never should have angered."
The entire Great Hall fell into complete silence, first staring at Harry and then at the place the spell had come from, directly from the wand in Carrow's hand. Carrow himself seemed frozen for a moment as well. His pride would not allow fear to show on his face, but he stared straight at Harry without lowering his wand.
Ron Weasley, who had almost been hit by the spell, which had missed only because of Carrow's poor aim, took two steps back before he could even get angry, leaving Carrow clearly exposed as the one responsible. He looked uneasy, as if afraid someone might mistake him for the culprit.
Even Seamus shoved him a bit farther back, making sure he put even more distance between himself and Carrow.
The silence did not last long, but everyone felt it stretch far longer than it truly did.
Then they saw how, all of a sudden,
Harry's body turned into a completely red mist, almost as if his blood itself had turned to vapor.
It moved toward Carrow at such speed that it was nothing more than a flash, and in the next instant, Harry had already regained his form, standing right in front of him.
By reflex and fear, Carrow tried to point his wand at Harry's face, but Harry simply flicked his hand, sending it flying as far away as possible. Then he grabbed Carrow by the hem of his robes.
"Let me go, Potter," was the only thing Carrow managed to say before his body was suddenly caught in a red aura. It began to twist his shape, and in just a few seconds, Harry, who had been holding Carrow by his robes, now held a rat with blond and white fur in his hand. It immediately began to squeal, terrified and in pain.
Everyone stared in shock at the transformation.
Even Harry, who had lost control of his power for a brief moment due to his anger. Even so, he was still truly furious, and it did not bother him much.
Fortunately for Carrow, at that very moment Professor McGonagall entered the Great Hall, carrying a stack of books.
"Mr. Potter!" she shouted as she witnessed what had just happened. "Release him at once!" she added immediately. After all, what had just occurred was extremely dangerous and possibly illegal.
Harry did not respond right away. He shifted his gaze from Carrow, now a rat, to Professor McGonagall, the head of Gryffindor House.
"He attacked my friends," Harry said in a serious tone.
"But that is not the way," McGonagall replied, dropping the books as she hurried toward him. "Did I not teach in class that transformation is extremely dangerous?"
Harry looked at Carrow once more and then released him, letting him fall to the floor without any care. He stared down at him as if looking at trash that ought to be crushed, though he did not do so, perhaps out of respect for the professor standing there.
McGonagall rushed forward and tried to restore Carrow's human form, but after two spells, nothing happened. That made her genuinely nervous, and a little frightened.
"We must go to the Headmaster's office immediately," she said urgently. A student remaining stuck as a rat was something that could bring serious trouble to the entire school.
Harry followed her with calm steps, while she moved ahead, clearly worried that the student might remain that way forever.
Meanwhile, Draco, Hermione, and Daphne stayed behind, watching everything.
"I do not think that is really under control, right?" Daphne commented with a small smile, showing no concern at all for her friend.
"Well, he did say it was more or less," Draco replied just as calmly. "I suppose anger can break it."
Hermione was the only one who looked nervous.
"We have to help him if he gets expelled…," she said worriedly.
"But if he is going to the Headmaster's office, that is the best help he could possibly have," Daphne replied, as if doing anything else would be completely pointless.
Hermione seemed to realize that as well. She stopped short and then relaxed slightly.
"That is true," she admitted.