The Great Hall emptied out slowly as their first lesson approached. Ron glanced down at his course schedule.
"We'd better go, look, Divination's at the top of North Tower. It'll take us ten minutes to get there..." He showed them the schedule, tapping the first subject.
So Amisty shoved the rest of her toast into her mouth, waved goodbye to the twins, and walked down the hall.
Passing the Slytherin table, as was expected, Malfoy pretended to faint once again, this time even more dramatic than before.
The laughter that followed was booming, echoing after them as they left the hall.
"There's -- got -- to -- be -- a -- shortcut," Ron fought out through his panting as they climbed up the seventh staircase. The North Tower was at the very top of the castle, a place they had never been to before. When they finally reached the top of the staircase, they were met with a boring painting of a plain of grass hanging on the wall.
"I think it's this way," Hermione started down the empty right passageway.
"Can't be. That's south, look, you can see a bit of the lake out of the window..." Ron argued, pointing down it.
Harry tapped Amisty's shoulder, pointing over to the painting.
A grey pony had just walked into frame, grazing on the grass calmly.
A few seconds later, with Hermione and Ron still arguing behind them, a short knight with a heavy suit of armor stomped on.
"Aha! What villains are these, that trespass upon private lands! Come to scorn at my fall, perchance? Draw, you knaves, you dogs!" His speech was a jumble of words and he started swinging his sword wildly.
One particularly wild swing sent him flying to the ground, facedown.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked, inching closer to the painting.
"Get back, you scurvy braggart! Back, you rogue!" He shouted, wielding his sword once more and tried to get up by pushing it against the ground.
But all it did was sink into the ground and he couldn't get the sword out. He groaned, sitting back down on the grass and pushing up the visor of his helmet.
"Listen, we're looking for the North Tower. You don't know the way, do you?" Harry asked before the knight went back to his gibberish.
"A quest! Come follow me, dear friends, and we shall find our goal, or else shall perish bravely in the charge!" He leaped to his feet, tried to drag his sword up from the ground and failed, tried to mount the fat pony and failed. Not swayed, in the same triumphant voice, he shouted. "On foot then, good sirs and gentle ladies! On! On!"
And he disappeared to the left of the frame.
They raced after him, not really needing to keep him in sight as his armor was thunderous.
"Be of stout heart, the worse is yet to come!" He shouted from a few paintings in front of them, startling a group of women hanging on a narrow spiral staircase.
They raced up the stairs, occasionally tripping on their own feet and their heads spinning until they heard the faint murmur of chatting students.
"Farewell! Farewell, my comrades-in-arms! If ever you have need of noble heart and steely sinew, call upon Sir Cadogan!" He cheered before disappearing down the rows of paintings he had stormed through before.
"Yeah, we'll call you if we ever need someone mental," Ron muttered, wiping his forehead as they climbed the last few steps. The rest of the class was standing there waiting.
It seemed as if there weren't any doors, and the ceiling only had one circular trapdoor with a brass plaque.
"'Sybil Trelawney, Divination teacher,' How're we supposed to get up there?" Harry asked, peering up to read the plaque.
Almost as soon as he asked the question the trapdoor opened and a ladder fell from it, ending at Harry's feet.
"After you," Ron grinned, shoving him gently toward it.
He rolled his eyes and climbed the ladder. Ron followed, and then Amisty with Hermione behind her.
The classroom was strange looking, with the air of an old store and an attic. Small circle tables were lined everywhere in the room with armchairs and pillows on the floor around them. The lighting was almost blood red from the curtains shielding the inside from the sunlight and all the lamps were covered in scarlet scarves. It was very warm, the fireplace crackling with a kettle overhead it. Shelves lined the walls, covered in feathers, candles, playing cards, silver crystal balls, and a very large collection of teacups.
"Where is she?" Ron whispered, seeming to be irked by the strange appearance of the classroom.
"Welcome. How nice to see you in the physical world at last," Came a soft, reserved voice from the corner of the room.
Professor Trelawney moved into the light of the fire. She was very skinny, with thick circular glasses perched on the bridge of her nose that made her eyes seem huge. A shawl was draped over her shoulders, covered in colorful beads and designs. Necklaces and chains hung from her neck and her arms and hands were jingling with bracelets and rings.
"Sit, my children, sit," She gestured gently to the tables.
The four of them took a seat around a round table, trading confused glances.
"Welcome to Divination. My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye. So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can take you only so far in this field..."
Hermione gave a sort of start at her words, sitting up straighter in her seat and leaning forward.
Harry and Ron were grinning at her, teasing shining in their eyes.
Amisty could barely fight down her own smile, the corner of her lip twitching.
"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearances, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future. It is a Gift granted to few," She turned to Neville suddenly. "You, boy. Is your grandmother well?"
"I think so," Neville replied shakily, startled by the sudden attention Professor Trelawney had put on him.
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear. We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear," Her gaze shifted to Parvati Patil, "beware a red-haired man."
"In the second term we shall profess to the crystal ball -- if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever," She continued ominously. A heavy silence had fallen over the Gryffindors and she looked over at Lavender Brown. "I wonder, dear, if you could pass me the largest silver teapot?"
A wave of relief washed over Lavender's face and she got to her feet, picked up the teapot, and placed it in front of Professor Trelawney.
"Thank you, my dear. Incidentally, that thing you are dreading -- it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October. Now, I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me, and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink, drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside down on its saucer, wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using the pages five and six of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing. Oh, and dear," She took Neville's arm gently, "after you've broken your first up, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue-patterned ones? I'm rather attached to the pink."
He nodded, and he had just reached the shelf when there was the sound of breaking china.
Professor Trelawney wandered over calmly, a dustpan and brush in hand.
"One of the blue ones, then, dear, if you wouldn't mind... thank you... " She smiled kindly at him, and cleaned up the broken shards.
Hermione and Amisty got up as well, filled their tea cups, and sat back down. Both of them drank their tea as quickly as they could manage, swilled the dregs around, and then traded cups after they drained the rest of the tea.
Amisty flipped open her textbook to the pages, hunching over Hermione's cup.
"Uh... I mean... it really just looks like a bunch of tea," Amisty murmured, trying her hardest to see what they were supposed to.
"Broaden your minds my dears, and allow your eyes to see past the mundane!" Professor Trelawney exclaimed.
"Okay... let's see," Amisty leaned closer, squinting to try and see anything in the clumps of leaves. "Well, that kind of looks likes an apple."
"Predictable, it means good knowledge," Hermione laughed, rolling her eyes and looking into Amisty's cup without too much effort in her movements.
"But if I turn it this way it looks more like a cat," Amisty twisted her cup around and looked over at her textbook. "And that's a deceitful friend so... I guess you're going to learn a lesson from someone breaking your trust or something?"
"That sounds absolutely wonderful, Amisty. If it makes you feel any better you have what looks like a kite, which means a wish of yours will come true... and... that looks like a crescent so... something to do with the moon," Hermione rested her chin against her hand, running her fingers lazily along the textbook pages.
"Let me see that, my dear," Professor Trelawney's attention went straight to Harry and Ron, who were snickering.
She grabbed Harry's cup and peered into it, almost instantly the room went silent.
"The falcon... my dear, you have a deadly enemy," She whispered dramatically, rotating the cup counterclockwise.
"But everyone knows that," Hermione was almost talking her whisper was so loud. Amisty stared over at her, shocked. "Well, they do. Everybody knows about Harry and You-Know-Who."
Professor Trelawney continued on, turning the cup and peering into it once more, "The club... an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup..."
"I thought that was a bowler hat," Ron admitted, the faintest tinge of red on the tips of his ears.
"The skull... danger in your path, my dear..." Her voice trailed off as she gave the cup one last turn and then... she gasped, and screamed.
The sound of china shattering came once more, Neville had broken his second cup in shock. Professor Trelawney fell into an armchair, one hand over her heart and her eyes closed.
"My dear boy... my poor, dear boy... no... it's kinder not to say... no... don't ask me..." She rambled.
"What is it, Professor?" Dean asked eagerly as everyone leaped to their feet and crowded around the table to get a better look at Harry's cup.
"My dear, you have the Grim," She replied mysteriously, her eyes wide and staring to only emphasize the drama.
"The what?" Harry asked, bewildered.
Amisty blinked, confused as well when almost everyone else in the room looked as if they were frozen with horror.
"The Grim, my dear, the Grim! The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen -- the worst omen -- of death!" The Professor replied, throwing up her hands so her bracelets jingled.
Hermione got to her feet, slipping through the throng around the table and looking over at Harry's cup with a bored expression.
"I don't think it looks like a Grim," She announced, crossing her arms and staring out at everyone blankly.
"You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear," Professor Trelawney looked over at the brunette, her dislike clear on her face, "but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."
Hermione didn't even look upset.
"It looks like a Grim if you do this..." He squinted his eyes and then leaned to the left, "but it looks more like a donkey from here."
"When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!" Harry shouted, lying back in his chair with a surprised look on his face. He hadn't been expecting the outburst either.
"I think we will leave the lesson here for today. Yes... please pack away your things..." Professor Trelawney decided, her voice back to it's calm and misty like demeanor.
They all shuffled around, handing back their teacups to her, putting their books away, and swinging their bags over their shoulders.
"Until we meet again fair fortune be yours," She bid them goodbye airily and turned to Neville. "Oh, and dear, you'll be late next time, so mind you work extra-hard to catch up."
They dropped down the silver ladder and the spiral staircase with a heavy silence.
No one spoke the entire way to Transfiguration. Amisty took it upon herself to walk at Harry's side, resting her hand on his shoulder briefly before just staying close by.
He looked overwhelmed, the least she could do was be there.