"S-sorry?" Harry asked in confusion.
Malfoy looked terrified. A whole host of wizarding horror stories involving vampires, Inferi, and the like had already sprung into his mind.
He looked around, located Zhang Xiao, and quietly inched toward him.
But Professor Trelawney showed no reaction whatsoever to what was happening around her.
With her glasses off, her slightly red and swollen eyes were clearly visible.
Harry and Malfoy grew even more frightened and ducked behind Zhang Xiao in unison. They would have bet the Weasley family's entire fortune on it.
Trelawney must have been having some kind of episode, because no normal person's eyes could possibly move that fast.
"Zhang... Zhang, should we... should we run first? Tell a professor or something?"
Malfoy swallowed, then continued with utter conviction:
"She looks like she's about to transform. I read a book once where an old hag did exactly this. Her neck suddenly snapped, and then a giant python crawled out!"
Huh? Zhang Xiao frowned. For some reason, that story sounded strangely familiar.
"Zhang, are we really just going to leave her like this?" Harry hesitated, wondering whether he should run to the Hospital Wing...
Just then, Professor Trelawney spoke again in that same eerie, rasping voice. It sounded nothing like her own, but rather like a demon whispering.
"This is an irreversible fate... darkness is gathering, desire is twisting... the box... the box is about to be opened...
"No one can escape... everyone will be drawn into it... destruction... destruction... the lonely, valiant one can barely hold on any longer.
"He is the bravest of them all... how tragic... the hero's lament has already begun to play... no one knows what he has accomplished...
"The Dark Lord covets this twisted power... yet never understands that he is courting his own destruction..."
This