By Admiral Albia
Remember how, at the end of Live Free or Die, the Weasley twins gave the Marauders some Canary Creams? Well. You didn't think the Marauders'd just let that go, did you?
Disclaimer; I do not own the Marauders, the Weasley twins, or any friends, family and enemies thereof. I do, however, own Bria, Tkaa, Binary, Milton, Aelops and Otto... oh, and the recipe for invisible chalk ;-) Many thanks to my new beta-reader, Caitlin Black =D
Chapter Three; Divination
"Why do we have to have Divination as our
first lesson of the week?" Ron grumbled as he and Harry walked to the North
Tower next morning.
"Dunno, but it's certainly rotten luck," Harry agreed.
"Come on, let's find out how I'm going to die this week..." and
he led the way up the ladder perhaps a little more slower than if it were
another class. Once inside, he and Ron sat down at the very back of the
room, and waited.
There seemed to be a commotion of some sort going
on in Professor Trelawney's office; there was certainly an argument in
progress, though the voices were so low and Harry and Ron were so far away
that it was impossible to make out what was being said; and in any case,
the room was now filling up incredibly fast.
"Good morning, my dears," Professor Trelawney said
in her misty voice once they were all settled, "we shall begin with your
homework. What did you see when you crystal-gazed over the holidays?"
"Myself," Ron muttered. Harry stifled a snigger.
"Shall I tell you what I saw when I last gazed,
my dears?" Professor Trelawney inquired, though the class knew they didn't
have much of a choice. Lavender and Parvati nodded eagerly and started
to edge forward in their seats.
"Me dying, duh," Harry murmured. There was
a snort from somewhere behind him; he looked round, but nobody was there.
"I saw... I saw..." Professor Trelawney paused dramatically,
then, her voice sinking to a whisper, she said, "I saw an ugly old bat
in glasses, my dears, staring up at me from the mists! And it was at that
second, my dears, that I discovered... I discovered I needed a makeover
badly..." The entire class stared at her.
"Too right," Seamus muttered.
"And I also discovered something else, my dears..."
Harry groaned; here it came... "I discovered that the conjunction of Mars
against Venus means I must admit something to you." She paused again. "I
must admit, my dears, that I am a batty old witch with as much Seeing power
as a frog in a hosepipe..." Parvati gasped; Lavender spoke up.
"But that's not true, Professor! You're a true Seer,
aren't you?"
"Alas, no, my dear, I merely go through the motions.
But now we shall begin advanced palmistry..."
"You are having problems, my dear." Professor Trelawney had arrived. "Give me your palm, dear..." she took Harry's hand, and Harry noticed something; the last time they'd done palmistry, she'd demonstrated on him; and she hadn't had calluses then. In fact, Professor Trelawney's hands seemed to have changed quite a lot; while the fingers were still rather slender, it now looked as though she actually did physical work for a living... he shook it off, she was inspecting his hand closely. "Your hands are filthy, my dear, you must wash them. However..." she grasped his hand more firmly, then gasped. The whole class turned round.
"What?" Harry asked, though he knew what she would say.
"My dear... you have no lifeline, it has dwindled to nothing!"
"So... I'm going to die?" Harry said, taking a guess and pretending to be completely and utterly shocked at this proclamation.
"No, no, my dear, far worse... you are dead, my dear..." A chortle issued from behind Harry, followed by an `ow!`.
The moment the trapdoor had shut, the room erupted with laughter, and in the corner which Harry had had his back to James and Remus suddenly appeared, having dropped the Cloak. Professor Trelawney was bellowing, too; and as they watched, she slipped her `hair` off her head, revealing freshly cut short, black hair; it was Sirius, and he was laughing so hard it didn't look like he'd ever stop.
"Oh, God, that was good," he said finally, when he'd recovered enough to remove his glasses, "your faces when I said I saw an ugly old bat..." he collapsed with laughter again.
"I haven't laughed like that in years," Remus said, still grinning. "We'd better sort this out, though. Ah, the judges! Marks?" Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout had just appeared in the doorway.
"Three perfect tens," Professor Sprout called.
"Woohoo! But we'd better wake up the real Sybill Trelawney... it's OK, you two, you can go..." Harry and Ron left the room, beginning to laugh themselves now.
"Oh my, I never saw such a good actor..." Ron said with a chuckle. "I mean, he said he was an actor, but... wow. Just wow."
"Have a good Divination lesson, did you?" Hermione asked brightly; she was waiting for them outside the room.
"Yeah, actually, really brilliant... oh, my God... `I must admit that I'm a batty old witch...`" Ron and Harry began to laugh again as they followed a bemused Hermione down the stairs.
A/n; Short chapter, I know, I'm sorry =P But this one's been buzzing round my head for days... well, review please! Would you give it a perfect ten? And I repeat, many thanks to my wonderful new beta-reader =)
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