"You aren't taking divination?" Ron asked Steven.
Steven took a bite of toast and shook his head. "I'm taking music class instead."
He ignored Draco, who was trying to taunt Harry about his fainting the night before. It wasn't as if Draco had been particularly brave about the whole thing after all.
"You already know how to play," Ron said.
"Garnet has future vision," Steven said. "From what I hear it's a lot better than the wizard version."
"Oh?"
"Hagrid says you have to have the sight for divination to work anyway, and Seers are almost as rare as Metamorphmaguses."
"Well, maybe you have the sight," Ron said. "You never know until you try."
"It's not like there's just one future anyway," Steven said. At the looks from the others he hastened to explain. "Garnet shared her future vision with me a few times, and what I learned was that there are a whole lot of futures. Some are just more likely than others."
"How do you explain prophecies then?" Hermione asked.
"I predict that Ron is going to eat the last piece of bacon," Harry said, finally ignoring Draco's jibes in the background.
Ron grinned and grabbed the last piece of bacon.
"Did that happen because it was going to happen, or because I said it was going to happen?"
"Ron was always going to grab for that piece," Hermione said. She rolled her eyes. "You didn't have to be a seer to see that."
"But he grabbed that piece right then because of what he heard me say," Harry said.
"If you spend too much time worrying about the future, it'll drive you crazy," Steven said. He looked down at his plate. He knew from experience. "You start thinking about all the ways things can go wrong and kill you, and then you just..."
He gestured into the air.
"Freeze up?" Hermione asked.
Steven nodded. "So I'm going to music class. It sounds like a lot more fun anyway than trying to figure out what's going to happen."
"She said Harry's going to die!" Hermione told Steven. "Professor McGonagall said the divination professor always predicts somebody is going to die, but still."
"Well, he's the most likely candidate," Amethyst's voice came from under the table.
"Amethyst!" Hermione said, scandalized. "Harry's right here."
"What?" she said. She was in cat form and she leaped up onto an empty spot on the bench in between Steven and Ron. "He's already had professors try to kill him multiple times, fought a cool basilisk and had potions class with Longbottom."
Ignoring her, Ron said, "You didn't actually see a great black dog anywhere, did you Harry?"
Harry nodded. "At the Dursley's, the night I left."
Ron dropped his fork. "That's bad. Real bad. My uncle saw a grim once and he was dead the next day."
"It was probably a stray," Hermione said.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Ron said. "Grims scare the pants off most wizards."
"Hey Ron," Amethyst said.
He looked over his shoulder at her. She'd taken the form of a giant purple dog with huge teeth. He shrieked and fell off the bench.
"Still got your pants on," she said.
"Where's Peridot?" Steven said, hoping to distract everyone from being so gloomy. He'd had a great time in Music class.
"She's pestering Snape about the nature of magic," Amethyst said. She grinned. "I told her he was the best authority."
"This doesn't even make sense!" Peridot said.
Snape forced himself to keep his expression neutral as he stirred the potion the three required times. He'd learned from experience with Amethyst that showing his irritation only prodded her to further outrages.
She'd have been in Gryffindor if she'd been allowed in the school at all as a student. Gryffindors were all about fame and recognition. They wanted to be admired more than anything else. A Gryffindor would rather lose and look noble than win ignominiously.
"None of these ingredients make sense at all!" Peridot complained. "Are you just throwing random things in the pot?"
"This isn't muggle chemistry," Snape reminded her for the fifth time. "This is magic."
"And what is that, exactly?" Peridot asked. "I keep asking everybody, but nobody has been able to give me a clear answer."
"You've seen wizards perform magic," Snape said, carefully turning the heat down on the potion. "And the results are all around you in this castle. The paintings on the walls, the staircases..."
"Even normal humans have technology that could do those things," Peridot said dismissively. "Much less old style gem tech. Modern gem tech can do a lot more."
"I presume that would require resources you don't have," Snape said.
"I could build a giant robot and smash this entire castle!" Peridot said. "Out of old muggle parts. I've done it before."
"Assuming it would work within Hogwarts magical field, why would you want to?" Snape asked.
The smaller gem slumped. "I wouldn't. Peace and love on the planet earth...I know."
"Why are you bothering me about this?"
"If I can just figure out what magic is, then maybe I can get technology to work here."
"Why would you want that?" Snape asked.
"Wouldn't you like central heating down here in the dungeons? Maybe some electric lights so you can actually see what you're doing?"
Snape frowned. The purebloods would scream bloody murder, but there had been winters when he'd been forced to wear double pairs of socks. Also, cold hands were more likely to make mistakes, and temperature variations sometimes made a difference in potion preparations.
"You should talk to Professor Flitwick," he said. "I'm busy. If he can't help you, then you should take it up with the headmaster."
It would serve the Headmaster right for letting the annoying creatures infest the school in the first place, and if her research bore fruit, his students might actually be able to see their ingredients well enough to avoid any explosions.
Either way, the infuriating gnome of a woman would be out of his hair.
"Sometimes I think you lot don't actually know what magic is at all!" Peridot scowled. "You're all a bunch of monkeys playing with napalm."
As she left he allowed himself to scowl. She had to be right all the time; the woman would have been a Ravenclaw absolutely.
They didn't care if they won as long as they were right.
He wondered if there would be a hufflepuff among the Universe boy's other 'aunts,' or if he was the only one.
Hufflepuffs didn't care if they won as long as they had friends.
Nobody had their priorities straight. Winning meant life, losing was death. Fame, being right, even friendship didn't mean a thing if the people you cared about died.
Someone had to keep their eye on the prize.
"What are you doing here, Steven?" Hermione asked. "I thought we were having Care of Magical creatures with the Slytherins?"
"I've got a free period and Hagrid said I could be his assistant," Steven said. He grinned. "I already know what he's got to show you today, and it sounds like fun!."
"How do you like your music class?" she asked as they walked down the slope toward Hagrid's hut.
"It's great!" Steven said. "It's all about wizard music, which is a lot different than muggle music. Since I can already play, the professor has me helping some of the others. If they get good enough, we might start up a band."
Hermione smiled slightly. It might be interesting to see what a mixed group of pure bloods and muggleborns might come up with for music.
Harry jogged up behind them, slightly out of breath. "It hasn't started yet, has it?"
"Why are you out of breath?"
"That little green woman kept asking me about my scar and about the nature of magic, like I'd know!"
"Peridot?" Steven asked.
"She was on her way to see the Headmaster. Apparently her session with Flitwick didn't go that well."
Steven sighed. "She's determined to find a way to make technology work around magic."
Hermione brightened. "It'd be helpful to be able to use computers at school."
Ron looked confused. Disturbingly, so did Harry.
"They're machines that save you a lot of work when you write papers," Hermione said. "And you can play games on them."
She'd had a computer at home since she was eight. Of course, as dentists her parents were well off. Harry hadn't had that kind of background.
Before Ron could respond, Hagrid's hut came into view.
Draco was already there with Crabbe and Goyle. As soon as they saw Harry, Draco said something to the other two that made them laugh.
Beside her Harry stiffened.
"Follow me," Hagrid said as they came into view. Apparently they were the last to arrive, although they were on time.
Five minutes later they were standing around a corral.
"Everybody gather round the fence there," Hagrid said. "First thing ye'll want to do is open your books."
"How?" Draco called out loudly.
"How what?" Hagrid asked.
"How do we open our books?" Draco sneered, then faltered as Harry stood with his book open. Hermione and Steven and Ron had done the same.
"You've got to stroke them," Harry said, grinning. "On the spine. I'm sure that being nice to anything isn't something you're familiar with, but it works great."
"It's good practice for working with the magical creatures," Steven said. "I think most creatures treat you the way you treat them, and having a book that will bite you if you don't treat it right helps remind you of that every time you open it."
Draco scowled and looked like he was going to say something, but then he quieted and simply opened his books.
Hagrid looked at Steven with a look of gratitude.
Hermione found herself looking at him as well. He really was thoughtful.
"All right, ye've got yer books. Now I've got to go get em."
Hagrid wandered off and shortly afterwards he returned. Hermione gasped and stared.
Hippogriffs; their first lesson was hippogriffs.