Disclaimer: the only things in this fanfiction that belong to me are some new characters (the teacher, for example) and the plot. Everything else belongs to the genius making oodles of cash over in Britain. What's her name again? Oh yeah: JK Rowling.

Chapter One: The Art of Divination

Cursing the insane knight that had led her to North Tower, Lily climbed up the ladder that led to her Divination class with Professor Ramla. Walking into class late, Lily promised herself that she was never again going to ask a painting for directions; Sir Cadogan had nearly gotten her even more lost than she had been before asking him where the tower was. Lily breathed a sigh of relief—and mentally apologized for cursing the poor painted knight—when she noticed that the Divination professor had yet to make her appearance on the first day.

Lily looked for a place to sit. She was the only one of her friends who had opted to take Divination as one of her third-year electives, so neither Amissa nor Winola was here to sit with Lily. The class consisted mostly of Syltherins; the only other Gryffindors Lily could see were Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. It looked like Sirius had been dumped out of his seat across from James; the guy was looking up at James from his sprawled position on the floor, a sore expression on his face. Black got up and, picking up his school bag, went to go sit at Peter's table. This left Lily with only one available seat: the one right across from James Potter, meaning that they would have to be Divination partners.

That arrogant prat! Lily thought angrily as she made her way towards the table. He planned this… he knew I would take Divination and put it on his schedule too, and then when I came in he uprooted Sirius so I would be stuck with him! That JERK!

"Can I sit with you?" she asked James unhappily.

James smiled at Lily with a triumphant expression on his face, confirming Lily's thoughts. He gestured to the heavily padded armchair across from him, looking as if he had just won the lottery. He opened his mouth to say jauntily, "Of course you can sit with me, Evans! You are always welcome to sit with me. How about you sit with me at the Three Broomsticks tomorrow during the trip to Hogsmeade?"

"Shut it, Potter!" Lily hissed, seeing Professor Ramla coming up the ladder to enter the classroom.

The teacher was dressed in dark violet robes, silver swirls glinting on the sleeves and matching witch's hat. The witch's hair was dark brown and pulled back into a ponytail. Her dark brown eyes swept over the students assembled in the tower classroom as if assessing their auras. Professor Ramla had a slightly innocent-looking face, the kind of face that would keep even James Potter from getting detentions for his worst offenses.

"Raise your hand," the teacher said softly, still looking over the students, "if you chose to take this class on your own, without any parental or social persuasion." Nearly three quarters of the room showed raised hands, including those of Lily and James. Suddenly the teacher's face twisted and she shouted in a frustrated voice, "You idiots! Why would you ever choose to take Divination? Don't you realize that you are risking your grade on your ability to see into the future, something that is only accomplished by one out of every thousand witches and wizards?" Professor Ramla stopped talking, closed her eyes, and took a deep, calming breath. When she had calmed down, she asked in her soft voice, "How many of you are taking this class because your friends convinced you to come?" Two hands shot up: Sirius Black's and Peter Pettigrew's. "Dimwits!" the teacher accused, shocking the two boys into lowering their hands. "How could you let your friend convince you to join such a stupid class? You could be taking Arithmancy, or Ancient Runes, or Care of Magical Creatures! But no, you're in Divination, and why? Because a friend convinced you to take Divination!" The teacher calmed herself down again and said, once again in a soft voice, "Please raise your hand if you were forced into taking this class by your parents." The remaining quarter of the class raised their hands fearfully, waiting for Professor Ramla's angry reproach. Instead, Professor Ramla looked at those students with pity in her eyes, and said empathetically, "I am so sorry…" The whole class looked stunned.

I think Professor Ramla's right… Lily thought to herself. I should have taken Arithmancy…this teacher's insane!

"Now," Professor Ramla asked the class in her quiet voice, taking a seat in a winged armchair at the front of the classroom. "Who can tell me the exact definition of divination, as given on page two hundred and eighty-four of Unfogging the Future?"

Lily raised her hand, having read the book through. She had been very eager to take Divination and learn how to predict her future… until she realized just how crazy the teacher was.

"'The art of Divination is the ability to use the inner eye to foresee future events,'" Lily quoted when Professor Ramla pointed to her waving hand. James hadn't taken his eyes off Lily since she had sat down across from him.

"Ten points to Gryffindor," Professor Ramla granted. "Now today we shall be using crystal balls. The reason we are starting with something the Ministry of Magic advises should wait until the end of the year to learn is because crystal balls are something everyone is familiar with, and it's easy to make stuff up when you look into them." This oration shocked all of the students in the class, but Professor Ramla looked at all of the students as if they were the insane ones. "I told you that only one in every thousand witches and wizards are actually able to perform Divination," the teacher reminded. "I don't want you to be disappointed, so we're going to start out with something that's easy to make things up with and then move on to more difficult methods. Eventually you will become so good at making up predictions that you should be able to get an E on your O.W.L. in fifth year."

Lily noticed James and Sirius exchanging smug glances; this was the type of teacher they could thrive under. Lily, however, thought the teacher's methods a bit tactless. She was, after all, supposed to be teaching the class how to look into the future, not how to tell tall tales.

Professor Ramla waved her wand, and a crystal ball appeared on each table. "I want you to predict the future for your partner," the teacher instructed. "Take turns! I will blow a whistle every ten minutes, at which point you will switch with your partner. Remember: make your 'predictions' believable."

Lily scoffed and turned to look at James. "This is the worst teacher I have ever had!" she exclaimed, leaning back into her armchair and rubbing her temples.

James smiled. "I like her teaching methods," he commented, rubbing his hands together. "Now, for my first prediction…" James looked deeply into the crystal ball, his hazel eyes wide with mock seriousness. In the background Lily heard Sirius tell Peter that he was going to turn into a rat at the next full moon, and scoffed at the silliness of the so-called "Marauders". "For my first prediction…" James repeated, still pretending to concentrate on the crystal ball, "I see you… and me… having lunch together at the Three Broomsticks… on a date!" James looked jubilantly at Lily. "You see? It's in the stars: we're meant to be together, Evans!"

"Can't you ever be serious?" Lily hissed angrily.

"No, sorry," James responded sadly. "The Polyjuice Potion needs another month to stew, and Sirius just absolutely refuses to cut his hair…"

"Very funny," Lily commented, her anger almost boiling over. "Be seri—do this for real, okay?" Lily complimented herself on her quick save; she knew James would just make another joke if she had continued saying "Be serious."

"Fine." James looked into the crystal ball, this time a sincerely studious expression on his face. He looked into the magical orb for a few moments before saying, shocked, "I see you, with me! I think… I think we're married. You're holding a baby… I think we're going to get married and have a child, Evans!"

"Ha ha," Lily scoffed. "Potter, if you can't complete this assignment—."

"No, really Lily, that's what I see!" James looked frustrated that Lily didn't believe him, and for a moment Lily almost did fall for his trick. When James saw her doubtful expression James grabbed her head and brought it closer to the crystal ball, yelling "See? You… me… a baby with my messy black hair and your lovely green eyes?"

Lily gasped; it was like there was a movie playing out in the fog inside the crystal ball, and she was watching an older version of herself rocking a black-haired, green-eyed baby to sleep while an older James looked on over her shoulder…