More Important Than Any Broomstick [Harmione]

24. Adjusting to School

After a good laugh at Ginny's sentiment about Tom not being a Gryffindor, the four of them walked to the Great Hall for lunch, and decided to sit by Ron, who looked severely depressed.

"Hi Ron," said Ginny, trying not to sound too happy.

Ron looked up for a second and muttered, "I'm doomed."

"Your day couldn't have been that hard, Ron. After all, you have been to those classes before."

"What classes did you have?" asked Harry.

"My first period was Divination, and my second class was Potions."

Hermione said, "Who's teaching divination? Professor Dumbledore didn't announce a new teacher for that subject yesterday."

"That's because he just arrived," answered Ron. "His name is Professor Stewart. He got rid of the incense in that room. It's actually possible to stay conscious in there now. He's an ok bloke that doesn't act weird or anything.

"He says he doesn't have the gift of sight, but he has worked with genuine seers. He also said that if you don't have the gift, most methods used to attempt to cause a vision are futile. He also said that the gift would manifest itself without any help from a class, and that if anyone felt they had manifested the gift, he'd be happy to give them private lessons.

"He said we're going to be studying predictions that have been made that came true. He claims that the Ministry has a bunch of them somewhere at their headquarters, but no one but the people referred to in the prophecies can remove them. The ones we're going to study were made by some of the seers he knows. We're going to concentrate on interpreting prophecies. He claims that some people have heard a prophecy and then caused the event to happen by trying to stop it."

Harry and Hermione gave each other a significant look. "That sounds interesting," said Hermione.

"So," said Harry, "How did you like Sirius' class?"

"Well, it's a lot better than Snape's class, but it still seems confusing to me. I partnered up with this weird girl from Ravenclaw. She's nice enough, though. She claims she knows you three. Her name is Luna Lovegood."

"I've known her since my first year, and Harry and Hermione met her at the world cup. She's a very nice girl, so I hope you don't pick on her like the other kids."

"Of course not," said Ron. She's my only friend in my year. I first tried to partner of up with Colin Creevy, but he won't speak to me for some reason."

"He knows you've had fights with his hero," said Ginny. "You know that he's the biggest Harry Potter fan on the planet. He can't seem to think about anything else. He even makes sure he sits at the same desk Harry uses. It's pathetic!"

"Maybe I'm better off without him speaking to me," said Ron.

Before they could reply, Dumbledore made an announcement. "I'd like to introduce you all to our new Divination teacher, who arrived this morning, Professor Stewart." He then motioned toward a middle-aged black man as the students applauded.

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Later that day, when Ginny, Harry and Hermione went to Arithmancy class, Professor Vector seemed very pleased to see them.

"Welcome to your first official arithmancy class, Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley," she said. "If you put forth the same effort this year that you put into the summer, you'll do splendidly."

The trio sat close to each other, and Harry and Hermione took out their laptops to prepare for class.

Professor Vector looked at the strange devices and walked up to the couple. "Er, what are those?"