Chap 5

For some reason Ron was not as happy to be going to divination as he had been one short hour ago. Wearily he and Harry trudged to the tower dreading the climb to the classroom.

"Maybe it won't be so bad Ron" said Harry hopefully "Maybe she won't have an obsession with death like Trelawney did, or at least not an obsession about MY death."

"I don't know Harry. If she's that close with Snape I can't imagine she'll want anything other than you dead, or at least in detention." Ron joked back.

"WHOA" said Seamus Harper, a Ravenclaw 6th year. "What happened to this place?"

"I don't believe it" echoed his girlfriend Jamie also from Ravenclaw "I never saw it look like this."

Quickly Ron and Harry scrambled up the stairs to see what Seamus and Jamie were talking about.

"Good morning students, please find your seats" Miss MacLeod said cheerfully. "I hope you can forgive me, I was hoping to get to school earlier to clear this mess out." wrinkling her nose she added "This place smells like a two bit whore house, Harry could you please open some windows and get some fresh air in here. Thank you dear.

"Okay, so maybe she won't be that bad" laughed Ron as he helped Harry with the windows

"And you, the tall one with the blonde hair, would you pull those curtains down... don't worry about ripping them, lets get some light in here. Well at least I got that fool fire out before we all roasted to death." MacLeod continued "Well this is not the way I wanted to start our first day, but I think we will all find it more comfortable if we can see what we're doing and actually manage to breath while we're doing it." The class responded with some nervous laughter. "Now for those of you who do not know, I am Miss MacLeod, I will be instructing divination this year. And just as an advance warning, Madame Trelawney and I have completely different ways of doing things.

"Hallelujah" said Ron.

Miss MacLeod look directly at Ron "So tell me,..... Mr. Weasley isn't it, exactly what is it that you would change in this class?"

"Uhmm, well, I ....I ....I'm not sure" Ron said weakly turning pink.

"Alright, anyone. If you could change something in this class, what would it be? No responses, well I must say I'm surprised, Prof. Dumbledore told me his students were very opinionated and high spirited. Well then, let me tell you what some of the key differences will be this year. Number one, no faking it....if its not working don't make something up, that doesn't do anyone any good.

"Uh oh Harry, we're doomed" whispered Ron.

"Number two, relax, it will never happen if you're trying to force it...all you'll do is give yourself a headache.

"Number three, and probably the most important, go with your instincts. If the book says tea leaves in the shape of butterfly means happiness, but you "feel" it means going on a trip, go with that feeling, you'll find you're right more often than not.

"Number four, my personal favourite, have fun. This is not a life and death course like DADA, some people will have a knack for it, some will never manage it no matter how hard they try. Most of you will end up somewhere in the middle. Okay, any questions before we start?"

"Yes dear, and your name" asked MacLeod "Parvati Patil is it? What's your question?"

"How are we going to be graded. I mean if some people don't fake it, they'll never come up with anything." Parvati asked nervously.

"Fair question. I basically grade on two things, accuracy and effort. If I feel you are making every effort, and still not getting anywhere, I will not fail you. I may counsel you to pick a different course next term though." responded MacLeod.

"What if we're trying to keep up our grades for our N.E.W.T.s, and having trouble in this class" asked Seamus Harper to the sound of his classmates chuckling.

MacLeod started to laugh "I'll try to keep that in mind, Mr. Harper. Anyone else?"

Jamie raised her hand "Uhm, this has nothing to do with the class really, but I was just wondering....what did that note say this morning, the one that came with the flowers?"

Miss MacLeod paused for a good moment or two before responding "That is a personal matter. If however, anyone here would care to hazard a guess I would be willing to give points. Provided of course you get it right the first time." She looked around the room with a very mischievous grin on her face. "No one. Good, that proves you have enough sense to leave well enough alone. So any other questions related to this class?"

"Will we be getting much homework?" asked Ron.

"Not at first, it will mostly be reading assignments. And yes, I promise I will try to keep Quidditch games in mind before assigning homework." she said to the general amusement and loud cheers of the class. "By the way, which team is the favourite this year?"

By the time their first class was over, Ron and Harry both agreed it was well on its way to being their favourite. "She's almost as good as Lupin" gushed Ron.

"I'll say" Harry agreed "and she's into Quidditch. You know Ron I actually enjoyed Divination for the first time in my life today. Even the tea was good, I got raspberry. What did you get?"

"Bubble gum, it was totally brilliant" grinned Ron as they walked towards DADA.

When Harry and Ron entered DADA they immediately ran into Professor Lupin and Hermione.

Lupin looked at Harry expectantly "So Harry, how did you enjoy your first divination class? Are you in for any grizzly deaths this year?" he asked light-heartedly.

"Nope, and that's a first in that class." Harry responded merrily as Hermione rolled her eyes and snorted her contempt for the subject.

"It gets even better," Ron added "do you know she likes Quidditch, and she promised not to give us homework when we have matches."

"Well I am very glad to hear it. Maybe this year won't be so bad after all, eh Harry." said Lupin with a playful twinkle in his eye.

"You know what Ron" Harry started "I'm really beginning to think Lupin not telling us everything he knows about her."