When the bell rang to signal the start of afternoon lessons, the group set off for North Tower where, at the top of a lightly spiralling staircase, a silver stepladder led to a circular trapdoor in the ceiling, and the room where Professor Trelawney lived.
The familiar sweet perfume emanating from the fire met their nostrils as they emerged at the top of the stepladder.
As ever, the curtains were all closed; the circular room was bathed in a dim reddish light cast by many lamps, which were all draped with scarves and shawls.
Amy, Iris, Mattheo and Theo walked through the mass of occupied chintz chairs and pouffes that cluttered the room, and sat down at the same small circular table.
"Good day" said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney right behind Amy, making her jump.
She always thought that she was not quite right in the head and her presence always freaked the girl out.
"You are preoccupied, my dear" she said mournfully to Amy
"My inner eye sees past your happy face to the troubled heart within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times and choices ahead for you, alas......most difficult......I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass....and perhaps sooner than you think..."
Her voice dropped to almost a whisper.
Iris rolled her eyes at Amy, who looked stonily back and then looked up making eye contact with Theo who looked as though he was fighting the urge to say something.
Trelawney swept past them and seated herself in a large winged armchair before the fire, facing the class.
Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who deeply admired the woman, were sitting on pouffes very close to her.
"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars" she said "the movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle..."
Amy's thoughts had drifted.
The perfumed fire always made her feel sleepy and dull-witted, and Professor Trelawneys rambling talks on fortune telling never had her exactly spellbound - though she couldn't help thinking about what she had said to her.
'I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass....'
"Amy!" Iris muttered
"What?"
The whole class was staring at her.
She sat up straight; she had almost dozed off, lost in the heat and her inner thoughts.
"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn" said Professor Trelawney, a faint note of resentment in her voice at the fact that she had obviously not been hanging onto her words.
"Come again?" Said Amy genuinely lost
"Saturn, dear, the plant Saturn!" Said Professor, sounding definitely irritated that she wasn't riveted by this news.
" I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth....your light hair.....your mean stature....I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born mid-winter?"
"No" said Amy "I was born in August "
Iris hastily turned her laugh into a cough
Half an hour later, each of them has been given a complicated circular chart, and was attempting to fill the position of the planets at the moments of their births.
It was dull work, requiring much consultation of timetables and calculations of angles.
"I've got two Neptunes here" said Mattheo after a while, frowning down at his piece of parchment, "that can't be right can it?"
"Ah" said Iris, imitating Professor Trelawneys mystical whisper. "When two Neptune's appear in the sky, it is a sure sign that a big-headed twat is being born" she said laughing at her own comedy.
Mattheo just rolled his eyes and laughed at the girl
Blaise and Enzo, who where working nearby, sniggered loudly, though not loudly enough to mask the excited squeals from Lavender Brown - "oh Professor, look! I think I've got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which ones that Professor?"
"It is Uranus, my dear" said Trelawney , peering down at the chart.
"Can I have a look at Uranus, too, Lavender?" Said Blaise
Most unfortunately, Professor Trelawney heard him, and it was this, perhaps, which made her give them so much homework at the end of the class.
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"Great, more homework to add to the never ending pile." said Amy bitterly, as they joined the crowds descending the staircases back to the Great Hall.
They reached the Entrance Hall, which was packed with people queuing for dinner.
They had just joined the end of the line, when they heard the annoying voice of Draco Malfoy for the tenth time today.
They all looked back and same him talking to Harry, Ron and Hermione while holding a copy of The Daily Prophet and laughing at the ginger boy.
They were about to carry on walking until they heard Harry speak up
"You know your mother, Malfoy?" He said which cause the group to look at each other knowing that this would not end well as of Malfoys relationship with his mother .
"That expression shes got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"
Iris turned around trying to hide her laughter from the unexpected comment from the famous Gryffindor.
Amy looked to the boys seeing their expressions very clearly.
Enzo just looked disappointed at Harry as Narcissa was basically his mother too and Mattheo just stared at Harry thinking of what's going to come to him after that comment.
And Theo for the first time in a very long time, smiled at the comment, it was gone as quick as it appeared but Amy saw it, and when she did it caused her to smile too.
"Don't you dare insult my mother Potter" said Malfoy looking slightly pink
"Keep your fat mouth shut then" fired Harry right back, then he turned around to walk away
BANG!
Several people screamed - and soon after a second bang was heard and a roar which echoed through the entrance hall.
"OH NO YOU DONT LADDIE!"
Everyone spun around.
Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase.
His wand was out and it was pointing right to where Malfoy was.
Except, Malfoy wasn't there.
They looked down and saw a pure-white ferret shivering on the floor, exactly where Malfoy was standing.
Everyone was watching it run round in circles helplessly and Crabbe had started to bend down and pick it up until another shout broke the silence.
"LEAVE IT" Moody shouted
Crabbe froze on his position.
Moody started to limp towards him, Goyle and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking towards the dungeons.
"I DONT THINK SO!" Roared Moody, pointing his wand at the freer again - it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and bounced up once more.
This act seemed to break the Hall out into laughter.
Everyone was finding the punishment of the Malfoy boy hilarious.
Blaise and Iris were holding onto each other's arms trying to keep their balance from their laughter.
Enzo and Mattheo were pointing and laughing and Theo was laughing out loud.
Amy made eye contact with him and he looked down at her and his laughter stopped.
He studied her face for a moment then broke out into a warm smile which she happily returned.
They both looked up again and continued laughing at the bouncing ferret.
"Professor Moody!" Said a shocked voice.
Professor McGonagall was coming down the staircase with her arm full of books.
"Hello Professor" said Moody calmly as if he wasn't bouncing a ferret into the air.
"What- what are you doing?" She asked
"Teaching." He replied
"Teach- Moody, is that a student?" The woman shrieked, the books spilling out of her arms.
"Yep." Said Moody, causing another roar of laughter from the students
"No!" Cried McGonagall, running down the stairs and pulling out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had re appeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face.
This earned a groan of disappointment from the crowd seeing him in his usual state.
He got to his feet wincing.
He muttered something in which the words "my father" was distinguishable
"Oh yeah?" Said Moody quietly, limping forwards a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoed around the hall. "Well, I know stories about your father that will make your bleached hair stand on end"
And Amy could have sworn that Moodys magical eye laid on her for a split second.
"Come on you" growled Moody as he seized Malfoys upper-arm and marched him off towards the dungeons.
Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few moments, then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms.
"Why was that the best thing I've ever seen?" Blaise asked as they stepped into the Great Hall.
"He's had that coming for a while" Iris replied, smiling at the idea of Malfoy being a ferret.
"Well now we know what to threaten him with if he ever acts like a dick." Theo said