As Raye sat at the Ravenclaw house table in the Great Hall the next morning, she couldn't help but feel uneasy. She had awoken quite early that day and could not return to sleep, and she had finally decided to get up and look around. Her journey had lead her to the Great Hall which was still empty. With nothing better to do, she had pulled out her wand and had begun trying spells from her textbook.

She felt inclined to try out a few of the fire spells and managed to get a small blue blaze glowing on the plate in front of her. She was particularly drawn to the spells which detected dark forces. She had been reading intensely for a while when she looked up and saw a girl with bushy brown hair brush by her, clutching an armful of books to her chest.

Raye watched the girl for a few moments, she being the only other human in the Great Hall at the moment. Soon enough she dismissed her as unimportant and returned to figuring out a particularly useful Fireball Spell. Within half an hour the Great Hall began to fill with more students and food magically materialized in front of their empty plates. Raye attempted to eat. But the foreign food combined with the uneasiness she felt made it impossible to do so.

As Raye sat there waiting for her food to digest she conjured another small fire. Its flickering flames brought her comfort. She looked up for a moment as the busy haired girl was passing and caught her eye. The girl must have taken it for an invitation because she approached Raye with an excited look on her face.

"You must be one of the new students I've heard so much about," she said. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Hermione Granger. I couldn't help notice your fire spell. I'm quite proficient in them myself. If you like, I could show you how to increase it's size."

Hermione placed her wand in the pit of Raye's small fire and her plate was momentarily engulfed in flame before turning to ash.

Raye felt slightly angry; she had been getting the hang of the spell just fine before this new girl showed up! But she still gritted her teeth and thanked Hermione for her help. Hermione beamed and said something about Prefects being there to help before going on her way. Raye turned back to her now demolished plate, still feeling annoyed and wishing Serena were there so she could yell at her and work off some steam.

Turning back to her spell book, Raye glanced over a few more pages, mulling over a few hexes before placing it to the side and taking another book from her stack. The title Unfogging the Future piqued Raye's interest, and just as she was beginning to glip through it a voice broke her out of her reverie.

"Getting a head start on class are we?"

Raye looked up and saw Henry Potts. At her questioning look the boy laughed and pulled a piece of parchment from his book bag, giving it to Raye as he said,

"It's your class schedule. We have Divination first thing. If you ask me Trelawney is a kooky old bat, but..." He shrugged.

"She's still a professor, and it's a darn sight better than Arithmancy."

Henry grabbed a frosted pastry as the two of them left the Great Hall for Divination. Raye still felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and tried to brush it off as indigestion. After climbing through a trap door in the ceiling, which Raye found rather odd, they reached Proffessor Trelawney's classroom. Raye was overtaken by the smell of cheap perfume and sherry.

Henry gestured for Raye to come sit at his table, and as she did so she noticed a few girls throw her black looks, which made her bad mood even worse. As if she wanted to sit next to Henry out of a stupid crush! Didn't these girls have some studying to do instead of mooning over boys? They were all as bad as Serena!

Henry seemed to be enjoying the attention because as Raye sat down he brushed her arm while pulling his book out of his bag. Raye shot him a death glare as the girls began to hiss whispers behind her. Henry chuckled. Raye thought she saw the crystal on the table in front of her let off a soft glow as she heard a woman's voice come from behind followed by the sound of small jingling bells.

"Welcome, my dears."

From what Raye could see, Professor Trelawney was either in a deep mystic trance or had partaken too much of the sherry bottle she quickly hid beneath her veils as she sat at her own table. The woman's eyes seemed slightly unfocused.

"Today we shall continue to gaze into the depths of the crystal ball in order to find the meanings behind the movements of the stars. Take out your star charts, everyone, and swap them with your partner. Now..." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Let your third eye become receptive to the energies around us... and gaze..."

Raye did felt ridiculous. What could this woman possibly know about the art of prophecy? Crystal balls were not something Raye was familiar with, she found that this form of prediction was more in line with fortune tellers and cheap magic tricks. And she required no charts to read the stars.

Professor Trelawney took a deep breath and rose from her chair. "What is it you all see?"

Henry, who was leaning back in his chair with an air of disinterest, looked at Raye expectantly.

"You don't have a star chart, and she told us to swap and gaze." He grinned. "You should probably get started."

Raye glared at him, and he laughed and then motioned the professor over.

"Professor Trelawney, this is Raye Hino from Japan. I don't believe she is used to crystal ball gazing. Perhaps she could start with reading tea leaves?"

Professor Trelawney looked down at Raye dispassionately. "Of course, of course my dear... the art of crystal gazing is difficult for even the most proficient of Divinationers. I am not surprised you fail at it."

Raye's insides were burning. She cound't believe the audacity of this woman. Raye did not consider herself the best by far, but what she had learned as a priestess in her temple she did not take lightly. Professor Trelawney flitted over her desk and returned with an empty tea cup with leaves sprinkled in the bottom.

"This is a very simple exercise, you shouldn't have any trouble," she said brushing a few stray hairs away from her glasses. "Gaze, long at the tea leaves. Allow your mind to soak in the essence of the shape and tell me what you see."

Raye looked down at the cup. There were leaves. She saw leaves. She did not see the future. How could anyone see the future from some soggy leaves at the bottom of a cup?!

"Professor..." She growled, still trying to be polite. "May I use my own method?"

Professor Trelawney looked at her for a moment, then said, "Your anger clouds your inner-eye, my child."

Raye felt her "inner-eye" boiling over. She took her wand and pointed it at the tea leaves, they burst into flame and Professor Trelawney let out a gasp and took a step back. Raye started into the flames. She shut her eyes and whispered words in Japanese to herself. Henry stared at her and the entire class broke out in hushed conversation.

In her mind, something was beginning to take form. The feeling in the pit of her stomach was beginning to return as she saw the figure of a bespeckled boy with dark messy hair shouting in anger.

Near the black-haired boy was a dark, shadowy figure who laughed with deep rippling evil. His laugh sent chills up Raye's spine. Somehow she knew he wanted to harm the black-haired boy, and that allowing him to do so would mean the end. She felt anger rise up in her throat. She would never let that shadowy figure near the boy so long as she lived! She was about to call out and transform when she suddenly came to, aware that the whole class was watching her in deathly silence.

Professor Trelawney was staring at her through her oversized lenses as though she had seen a ghost.

"My, dear. You have a very dark eye," she clasped the beads around her neck, "and unfortunately it is possible you posses the rare gift of false prophecy. I can sense you want to see badly, but whatever you think you may have seen in those leaves I can tell you what you may see comes to nothing."

Raye stood up, intent on leaving this insane aslyum before she did something she would perhaps someday regret. She turned to Henry to tell him not to bother following her when she noticed his face. The boy's handsome face was deathly pale, but not from disbelief. He seemed afraid of Raye and what she had seen as if she had stumbled upon his darkest secret in her vision, but surely that wasn't the case! Henry looked nothing like the shadowy figure in her vision, and whatever feelings of foreboding she had towards him were because of the foreign food she had had at breakfast! Henry was harmless.

She brushed aside her senses for the moment.

"Are you all right?" she asked with genuine concern.

Henry swallowed and sat up straight in his chair. He brushed his hair back and a grin broke out on his face.

"Class dismissed," Professor Trelawney said, "Miss Hino perhaps you'll be furthur along in your studies when next we meet?"

Raye ignored the professor and gathered up her things.

As they descended down to the castle, Henry returned to his usual self.

"Well! I daresay Divination will certainly be a darn sight more interesting now that you're in the class."

Raye did not choose to talk more about her vision, and so remained silent. Henry, seeing she was preoccupied, continued to silently guide them to their next class, sometimes waving or exchanging pleasantries with Raye did not choose to talk more about her vision, and so remained silent. Henry, seeing she was preoccupied, continued to silently guide them to their next class, sometimes waving or exchanging pleasantries with other students in the hallways. As they walked Raye could not help but wonder if his charming veneer was truly real.

She wanted to trust him, but wasn't entirely sure if she could. He had to have proven himself worthy at some point to be have chosen as her escort. As they made their way down the corridor to their next class Raye decided that she would not let her guard down to his disarming charms.