Chapter 88
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"As much as I hate Divination," Logan muttered as a large proportion of the school observed Trelawney and Umbridge. "I hate Umbridge even more now for this stunt."
"Yeah."
It was barely twenty minutes into dinner, a couple weeks after Rebekah and Voldemort's little talk, when the yelling began outside the Great Hall. Most of the school rushed out into the Entrance Hall so they could observe what was happening. Professor Trelawney stood in the middle with her wand in one hand and an empty sherry bottle in the other. She looked like a wreck as her hair stood on ends and her glasses were lopsided enough to give the look of one eye being much bigger than the other. She had two trunks on the floor near her, one looking as if it had been thrown after her.
The Crown sat and stood around one side of the large staircase. Logan sat on the step, one leg out on it as the other was bent. The group stood around him beside Rebekah and Tracey. While Rebekah sat on the step with him, an ankle over a knee as she rested her elbow on it, Tracey leaned back on the step and onto the one behind her with her ankles crossed. Though they took up a larger than average portion of space on the staircase compared to everyone else as they watched, no one said a word.
"No!" Trelawney whispered into her hands, half hiding her face in disbelief. "This cannot be happening… It cannot… I refuse to accept it!"
"How did you not realise this was coming?" Umbridge asked, a disgusting amount of amusement at Trelawney's sadness in her voice. "As incapable as you are of predicting tomorrow's weather, you must have surely realized that your pitiful performance during my inspections, and lack of any improvement, would make it inevitable that you would be sacked?"
"Can Pinky get her fired?" Tracey asked, looking at the group for a second before shrugging. "Can we get Pinky fired instead?"
"You think Rebekah hasn't thought of that?" Blaise shook his head.
"Tried," Rebekah stated. "Nope. Nothing we can do would work to get her fired. We'll wait until the end of the year when we get a new teacher. You know how it is with the Defense position, no teacher has kept it for more than a year."
"Died, amnesia," Daphne counted it off on her fingers. "Werewolf, though Lupin couldn't help it, imposter, and now Pinky. I wonder who we'll have next."
"Someone that doesn't hate children would be amazing," Astoria said before they went back to the commotion in front of them.
"— Of Magic countersigned the order for your dismissal. Now kindly remove yourself from this hall. You are embarrassing us." Umbridge had this look of gloating enjoyment that sent a round of disgust through the student body.
Professor Minerva McGonagall looked furious as she marched straight up to Trelawney and handed the crying Witch a handkerchief. "...Blow your nose on this… It's not as bad as you think, now…You are not going to have to leave Hogwarts…"
"Oh really, Professor McGonagall?" Umbridge mused, her lips pursed angrily but with a tone of confidence in her words. "And your authority for that statement is…?"
"That would be mine."
Dumbledore had the students scurrying out of his way by simply walking towards McGonagall and the crying Trelawney. The oak doors of the Entrance hall had swung open and let a slight breeze into the hall, a misty night could be seen outside.
"Yours, Professor Dumbledore?" Umbridge laughed, pulling a scroll of parchment out from her robes. "I'm afraid you do not understand the position. I have here an Order of Dismissal signed by myself and the Minister of Magic. Under the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty-three, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts has the power to inspect, place upon probation, and sack any teacher that she, that is to say, I feel is not performing up to the standard required by the Ministry of Magic. I have decided that Professor Trelawney is not up to scratch. I have dismissed her."
Dumbledore smiled the way he always did when he knew something another didn't. "You are quite right, of course, Professor Umbridge. As High Inquisitor you have every right to dismiss my teachers. You do not, however, have the authority to send them away from the castle. I am afraid that the power to do that still resides with the headmaster, and it is my wish that Professor Trelawney continues to live at Hogwarts."
Trelawney shook her head, hiding a hiccup in a little laugh. "I'll g-go, Dumbledore! I sh-shall l-leave Hogwarts and s-seek my fortune elsewhere —"
"No," Dumbledore stated. "It is my wish that you remain, Sybill."
He turned to McGonagall. "Might I ask you to escort Sybill back upstairs, Professor McGonagall?"
"Of course," She nodded, helping the other Witch up. "Up you get, Sybill. . . ."
They scurried upstairs along with a few other teachers.
"And what," The T sound was sharp in her gritted teeth, "are you going to do with her once I appoint a new Divination teacher who needs her lodgings?"
"Oh, that won't be a problem," Dumbledore shook his head a little, bringing his hand to stroke the end of his beard before he clasped both of them in front of his stomach. "You see, I have already found us a new Divination teacher, and he will prefer lodgings on the ground floor."
Umbridge scoffed. "You've found? Might I remind you, Dumbledore, that under Educational Decree Twenty two —"
"— the Ministry has the right to appoint a suitable candidate if, and only if, the headmaster is unable to find one," He still smiled. "And I am happy to say that on this occasion I have succeeded. May I introduce you?"
Hooves against stone echoed as the new teacher approached, making the students near the door back away. The mist that the night had acquired was the same mist that loitered in the Forbidden Forest, thick and low staying in grey and blue wisps. After a few moments, they caught sight of the newcomer.
"Well," Rebekah mused, a sly smile on her lips. "This will be interesting."
Head and torso of a handsome man with almost white blond hair and the bluest eyes, the Centaur strode forward with grace.
"This is Firenze. I think you'll find him suitable."
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"Divination next," Logan said, his head tucked into the crook of his arm as he laid his head on the breakfast table. "What d'you have?"
"Arithmancy," Theo said.
"Free,"
"Divination and Arithmancy." Rebekah yawned. "I'll head up to Aritmancy before going back for Divination."
"Fair enough," Pansy said. "We're in the Forbidden Forest, Snape mentioned that it was said on the notice board."
"When?"
"When you were complaining about having to wake up, 'Bekah,"
"That's every time she has to wake up," Draco commented.
Rebekah glared. "You're just as bad."
"Am I?"
"YES!"
"You're a gnarly ferret waiting to bite the next one of us that tries to wake you," Blaise said. "Why do you think I've stopped waking you up?"
"Because I cursed you last time?"
Blaise ripped the corner of his sandwich, chucking it towards Draco with precise aim. "BECAUSE YOU CURSED ME LAST TIME!"
Draco swatted the bread back at him.
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It seemed like their first divination class was moved from the morning to midnight when the sky would be full.
They arrived in the clearing with plenty of time to spare. Only four of them took Divination, and Logan was the only male from the group.
Emperor curled around Rebekah's shoulders, his tail wrapped around her left bicep to steady himself as he draped around her. He didn't like to leave her alone when she was in the forest, too many dangers and too many chances.
There were logs in the clearing, most likely for them to just sit on, though the members of the Crown attending the lesson now sat in their Animagus forms. A raven, a horse, a moose and a lioness sat in the corner as they waited for the rest of the class to attend.
"Miss Potter," Firenze said, coming up to them as Rebekah started to morph back into her human form. He gave her a hand to shake. "Good to see you again. Our meeting was, once again, foretold. You may return to your animal form, we will be observing the sky tonight so just listen."
The rest of the class joined them within a couple minutes, taking up the rest of the logs as they eyed the three new Animagus with surprise and envy.
"Let us begin by lying back upon the floor… Or sit and look up," He said at some of the looks of disgust on the students' faces at the thought of laying on the forest floor. "And observe the heavens. Here it is written, for those who can see, the fortune of our races."
"I know that you have learned the names of the planets and their moons in Astronomy." Firenze said. "And that you have mapped the stars' progress through the heavens. Centaurs have unraveled the mysteries of these movements over centuries. Our findings teach us that the future may be glimpsed in the sky above us. . . ."
"Professor Trelawney did Astrology with us!" Parvati said excitedly, waving her hand into the air as she gestured upwards. "Mars causes accidents and burns and things like that, and when it makes an angle to Saturn, like now, that means that people need to be extra careful when handling hot things —"
"All human nonsense," He said. "Trivial hurts, tiny human accidents. These are of no more significance than the scurryings of ants to the wide universe, and are unaffected by planetary movements."
"Professor Trelawney —" Parvati began.
"— is a human," He stated, casually waving a hand around the group of students. "And is therefore blinkered and fettered by the limitations of your kind."
"Sybill Trelawney may have Seen, I do not know, but she wastes her time, in the main, on the self-flattering nonsense humans call fortune-telling. I, however, am here to explain the wisdom of centaurs, which is impersonal and impartial. We watch the skies for the great tides of evil or for changes that are sometimes marked there. It may take ten years to be sure of what we are seeing."
Firenze gestured upwards, a red sphere appearing in the middle of the clearing. It looked like Mars, just like the image Rebekah would see if she looked through a telescope.
"In the past decade, the indications have been that Wizard-kind is living through nothing more than a brief calm between two wars. Mars, bringer of battle, shines brightly above us, suggesting that the fight must break out again soon. How soon, centaurs may attempt to divine by the burning of certain herbs and leaves, by the observation of fumes and flame…"
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It was almost one AM when they finished the lesson. The four members of the Crown stayed behind for a few minutes because the Centaur asked for Rebekah to stay. The group, regardless of how safe he was, remained in their Animagus forms.
"You are a friend of Hagrid's, are you not?" The Centaur asked.
"I am," Rebekah said, her lioness lips not moving but rather the weird link between Magical animals said.
"Give him a warning from me. His attempt is not working. He would do better to abandon it."
"His attempt is not working?"
"And he would do better to abandon it," Firenze nodded. "I would warn Hagrid myself, but I am banished — it would be unwise for me to go too near the forest now — Hagrid has troubles enough, without a centaurs' battle."
"What is he attempting to do?"
"Have you not found out?"
"Not yet, I haven't."
"Hagrid has recently rendered me a great service," Firenze stated, "and he has long since earned my respect for the care he shows all living creatures. I shall not betray his secret. But he must be brought to his senses. The attempt is not working. Tell him, Rebekah Potter. Good night to you all. Check the forest and check it well, the Centaurs will not be lenient with Hagrid and his attempt for much longer."
Firenze walked away, getting further into the forest as they heard the sound of hooves and low voices of other Centaurs.
"Any clue what that was about?" Logan asked.
"Absolutely no clue at all,"
"But we'll find out eventually."
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