"Hey! Potter! Lestrange!" Pansy Parkinson barked at us as we walked through the Great Hall the next morning. "Potter! The dementors are coming! Lestrange! Ooooooo!"
I kept my eyes forward and ignored her, but I saw Harry have a difficult time doing the same. His green eyes kept batting over to Draco, who was telling a story then imitating fainting to all of his friends, then down to the floor.
"Just ignore them, guys. They're not worth it." Hermione sighed from behind Harry.
I knew that. How could I not? I knew for a fact that my cousin wasn't worth a moment of my thoughts, so neither was his sad little girlfriend. One other thing I knew was that Harry would have a hard time realizing that as well.
We dropped into the empty seats on the bench next to George Weasley at the Gryffindor table.
"New third-year course schedules." He said, passing down papers. "What's up with you, Harry?"
"Malfoy." Ron said as he sat on the other side of his brother. George looked up in time to see Draco pretending to faint again.
"That little git." He said calmly. "He wasn't so cocky last night when the dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"
I also knew that that made Harry feel ten times better.
"Nearly wet himself." Fred agreed with a glance at my cousin.
"I wasn't too happy myself." George shuddered. "They're horrible things, those dementors."
"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" Fred sighed.
"You didn't pass out, though, did you?" Harry mumbled snarkily. I elbowed him in the side.
"Forget it, Harry." George said as he patted him on the shoulder. "Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been, he came back all weak and shaking... they suck the happiness out of a place, dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there."
"Anyway, we'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch match." Fred said. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin, first game of the season, remember?"
A small smile spread across Harry's sullen face.
I wanted to squish the butterflies in my stomach.
"Speaking of which, are you trying out for the team this year, Jove?" George asked, batting his eyelashes at me.
"Absolutely not." I said, using my hand to put his face away from mine. "You know I'm terrified of heights."
"Which will definitely help you in Astronomy." Fred smiled, passing me my schedule.
"You've got to be kidding me." I groaned as I laid my head on the table. Don't get me wrong, I love Astronomy, it would be my favorite lesson if it weren't on the tallest tower in Hogwarts.
Heights have never been my thing. Every quidditch match, I make Harry pay me just to come watch. Not because I don't want to watch him (because trust me I want to watch him...), but I nearly have a panic attack everytime I get on those stands.
"Hermione." Ron frowned as he looked over her shoulder. "They've messed up your schedule. Look, they've got you down for about ten subjects a day. There isn't enough time."
"I'll manage. I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall."
"But look," Ron laughed. "See this morning? Nine o'clock, Divination. And underneath, nine o'clock, Muggle Studies. And..."
I picked my head up. That didn't make any sense. There's only one way Hermione would be able to make it to both of those classes. But there's no way... how would she get one?
"Look, under that, Arithmancy, nine o'clock. I mean, I know you're good, Hermione, but no one's that good. How're you supposed to be in three classes at once?" Ron asked, his eyes narrowly staring at Hermione.
"Don't be silly." Hermione laughed shortly. "Of course I won't be in three classes at once."
"Well then-"
"Pass the marmalade."
"But-"
"Oh, Ron, what's it to you if my schedule's a bit full?" Hermione snapped as Harry passed her the pitcher of marmalade. "I told you, I've fixed it all with-"
"McGonagall!" I blurred out, my mind finally connecting the dots. Everyone stared at me. "Sorry." I murmured.
It all made sense now. McGonagall got Hermione a Time Turner so that she could take as many classes as she wanted. Not to mention, it would look really good for Gryffindor if Hermione got all O's in every class available.
Just then, Hagrid entered the Great Hall. He was wearing his long moleskin overcoat and was absent mindedly, swinging a dead polecat from one enormous hand.
"All righ'?" He asked eagerly, pausing on the way to the staff table. "Yer in my firs' ever lesson! Right after lunch! Bin up since five gettin' everythin' ready... hope it's okay... me, a teacher... hones'ly..."
He grinned at us and headed off to the staff table, the polecat swinging in his hand.
"Wonder what he's been getting ready?" Ron asked anxiously.
"I can't wait. I bet it'll be exciting." I said, every thought of the terrifying astronomy tower leaving my brain at the image of whatever Hagrid had planned for us.
"You terrify me." Ron shuddered as he scooted farther away from me.
"Cry about it." I said, shooting him an innocent smile.
"What's Divination?" Harry asked, staring at his schedule intently.
"Tea leaves, omens, crystal balls, prophecies. That kind of stuff." I said, earning an eye roll from him.
"That sounds super boring." He grumbled, putting his head in his hands.
"It is. None of it is real, it's all just a waste of time." Hermione scoffed.
"If Hermione's calling a school subject a waste of time then I don't think we should go." Ron said.
"Funny, Ronald. Coincidentally enough, it's right now. Let's go, I'm not being late to my first class of the semester." I said, throwing my book bag over my shoulder as I stood up from the table.
"Yeah, we know you've got a reputation to uphold." Harry joked as he crumpled up his schedule and threw it in his bag.
"What reputation? That went down the drain as soon as she went down the girls' bathroom's." Ron snickered, and the two boys burst into small laughs.
"Hey! That is not funny!" I gasped, hitting them both on the shoulders as we started to walk down the Great Hall.
"It's kinda funny, Jo." Harry smiled at me. I felt my face get hot and immediately turned to Hermione so he wouldn't notice.
"Can you bel-"
Hermione wasn't there.
"Where's Hermione?" Ron asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he stopped walking to scan the Great Hall.
"She probably already went to class." I shrugged as I continued to walk. Ron quickly scurried to catch up with Harry and I.
"Which class?" Harry joked, and the two boys started to snicker again.
-
After climbing seven miserably long staircases and climbing a silver ladder, we finally emerged into the strangest looking classroom I had ever seen. In fact, it didn't seem like a class room at all. There were at least twenty small, circular tables, inside it, all surrounded by arm chairs and fat little poufs.
"Where is she?" Ron asked as we stood in silence with the rest of the confused Gryffindor's inside of the tea shop-looking room.
"Welcome." A mystical voice said. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last."
"Oh, Merlin's beard." Hermione's annoyed voice came from behind me. Harry, Ron and I all jumped.
"Where'd you come from?" Ron whispered harshly.
"I've been here the whole time." She muttered.
Before any of us could argue, Professor Trelawney stepped into the glow of the fire, revealing her slender frame; her oversized spectacles amplified her eyes, making them appear much larger than they were naturally, while she was wrapped in a sheer, shimmering shawl. Countless chains and beads adorned her thin neck, and her arms and hands were adorned with an array of bangles and rings.
We all scurried into the chintz armchairs.
"In this room, you shall explore the noble art of Divination. In this room, you shall discover if you possess the Sight." She bumped into a table of odd-looking crystals. Lavender Brown giggled from behind me. "Hello. I am Professor Trelawney. Together, we shall cast ourselves into the future! This term, we shall be focusing on tasseomancy which is the art of reading tea leaves, so please take a cup of the person sitting opposite of you."
I grabbed Hermione's cup and she skeptically grabbed mine as Trelawney continued to ramble.
"The truth lies buried like a sentence deep within a book waiting to be read. But first, you must broaden your minds." Trelawney grabbed Seamus Finnegan'a head with both hands and shook him. "First, you must look beyond."
"What a load of rubbish." Hermione muttered from our table.
"You, boy. Is your grandmother quite well?" Trelawney asked, her bony finger pointing at Neville.
"Uh, I-I think so." Neville answered, his pale skin turning a shade of sickly green as she came closer to him.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. Give me the cup." She said, and Dean Thomas handed her Neville's cup. "Oh... pity." She sighed, placing back on their table.
"Broaden your minds." She said as she scanned the room, seemingly for her next victim to make a prophecy about. "Oh!" She gasped as she made eye-contact with Ron.
"Your aura is pulsing, dear. Are you in the beyond?" She asked.
"Um... I think so." He shrugged, his eyes wide as he slightly inched back from her.
"Look at the cup. Tell me what you see." She urged as he grabbed Harry's cup and his large book.
"Uh, yeah... Harry's got sort of a... wonky cross. That's trials and suffering. And, uh... that there could be sun and that's happiness. So you're gonna suffer, but you're gonna be happy about it." Ron said, looking up at Harry.
I tried not to laugh as I caught Hermione's eye.
"Give me the cup." Trelawney said kindly, but the second she laid eyes on it, she immediately dropped it in fear and screamed. "Oh, my dear boy. You have... the grim."
"The grin? What's the grin?" Seamus asked as the whole class began to murmur and gasp.
"Not the grin, Finnegan, the Grim. It takes the shape of a dog, and it's supposedly one of the darkest omens. They say it's an omen of death." I said, unimpressed. "But, I mean, it's Harry Potter, so it's not that shocking."
"Thanks, Jo." Harry scoffed, giving me a glare from his table.
"Just trying to ease the tension." I shrugged. I caught Hermione's eye again, but this time I could tell she wasn't worried about how stupid she found Divination to be. We were both so busy watching Harry stare at his tea leaves that neither of us bothered to look at ours. I guess I'll never know what Hermione would've seen in my cup that day, but I doubt I want to know.
-
A/N
sorry for the semi-short chapter, it's either this or 4000 words 😬