Harry and Ron arrived at their Divination course at the last minute, and flung themselves to the grassy turf. The entire classroom had been enchanted by Dumbledore to resemble the Forbidden Forest, at the behest of their teacher, Firenze. All of the Gryffindors were seated Indian-style in a semi-circle, some plucking idly at the grass, others leaning back gazing happily at the trees. Harry heard Lavender Brown chattering about the Weird Sisters' break-up to Parvati Patil behind him.

"Welcome back," came a strong, quiet voice, as a chiseled palomino centaur stepped out from between two gnarled trees – Harry could only assume that this was the entrance to his "office," if you could call it that.

"Ooooo...."

Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at Parvati and Lavender, who were sitting behind them. They had seen Firenze last year, after all. And as impressive as he was, Harry couldn't help but feeling it was a bit awkward to "Oooh" and "ahhh" over him as though he were a dressage pony. Harry reflected idly that they were probably fawning over his naked torso, and found he was even more disturbed by [I]that[/I] particular notion.

Firenze apparently felt the same way, because he scanned the class with a dubiously arched eyebrow, and charged silence fell instantly...More impressive than the simple fact that Firenze was a centaur was the way his slightest movement spoke of dignity and expectation.

"Hopefully," Firenze stated calmly, "you have continued to hone your minds' eye during the summer, in hopes of discovering a talent for Seeing. While no amount of practice can 'create' the gift of Sight where it does not already exist, it is only through practice that our talents are ever truly realized. This, however, will probably make very little difference in a span of time so short as the time allotted to us...in fact, it will probably make very little difference in your time at Hogwarts at all," he said, "It is only my hope that you remain open to this journey, and to make you aware that whether or not we See does not prove what may, or may not Be."

"Right. So long as we're clear on that." Ron muttered, as he elbowed Harry in the ribs. Harry stifled a chuckle, and tried to shush Ron at the same time – he didn't want to get Firenze's undivided attention – Last year, Dean Thomas had asked Firenze if the centaurs had been bred by Hagrid, and Harry did not want to be on the receiving end of a disdainful stare from those piercing blue eyes. The centaurs were a very proud race – in fact, Firenze had been permanently ejected from his herd for consenting to "serve" humans by teaching at Hogwarts. Harry often wondered just what had made Firenze agree...

Firenze lowered one knobbly knee to the grass, and like an unsteady coffee table, slowly lowered himself to the ground with his students. Parvati and Lavender were quietly giggling to themselves again, and this time Harry was sure it had everything to do with the tautening of Firenze's biceps as he prepared to burn some sage.

The smoke furled up to the top of the stone ceiling, and Firenze snapped his fingers. The dappled daylight that seemed to be shining from nowhere instantly faded from dusk, to twilight, to a deep midnight, and the ceiling above them was transported to a sparkling, star-strewn sky.

"Ohhh!" exclaimed several of the Gryffindors, and Parvati actually couldn't restrain herself and clapped her hands together. Harry caught Firenze sneaking a small, exasperated sigh, before he collected himself and addressed the class again.

"The veil between what is Seen and what Is is like the smoke you see," Firenze said, his hands weaving indiscernible patterns in the fragrant fumes, "It is unclear, fluid, and impermanent. We seldom can be sure whether what we see is the Past, the Present, or in fact the Future. The art we speak of is Divination," he said a bit more sternly, "Not Dictation. It is equally important that a seer [I]interpret[/I] what he Sees, not merely report what is Seen."

When Trelawney was teaching Divination, Harry had considered these sort of misty, unclear contradictions as a sort of blanket disclaimer – "Pay no mind, this might or might not mean anything." But with Firenze, he sensed there was something sincere and important hidden in all the confusion...

"Look to the stars."

Harry looked up, and located Mars, and Venus, both shining brightly.

Firenze paused quietly, gazing up at the sky. The class watched his face intently, wondering what secrets he was reading.

"What do you see?" he asked the class at large, his eyes fixed on Mars.

Parvati's hand shot up.

"Yes, Miss Patil."

"Well, you see, Mars is currently aligned with Venus which means..." but she stopped herself abruptly at Firenze's arched eyebrow. Harry recalled that when Parvati had tried to answer one of Firenze's questions last year, he'd dismissed her, Trelawney, and everything they'd learned up until that point as "human nonsense." It seemed Parvati wanted to start the year off right.

"Well," she said, trying to adopt a mysterious air, "I am not sure, but I think it portends...unluckiness in love?..."

Firenze seemed to be wrestling with his conscience for a moment, but managed to diplomatically reply, "I'm not so concerned about that...Anyone else?"

The class was silent for a while. But Firenze turned his gaze directly to Harry. Harry had a feeling he knew what to say.

"Mars is bright, tonight," he said with a grin. And Firenze smiled.

"Yes," he said, "And Venus as well."

"That's pretty much what [I]you[/I] said," huffed Lavender under her breath.

"Who can tell me why that was a particularly good observation?" Firenze asked.

To everyone's surprise, Neville raised his hand.

"Yes? Mr. Longbottom."

"Because...well, I think because he didn't try to interpret it yet?" Neville asked, more than answered, "He said what he Saw. And now it's up to us to interpret it...I guess?"

Firenze smiled, "Very good. Five points each to Gryffindor."

They spent the rest of the time first making observations about the night sky, and the smoke from the sage fire, then venturing possible interpretations. It seemed Parvati and Lavender both missed Professor Trelawney quite a bit, but Harry and Ron had never had so much fun in Divination – it was as though their minds were freed to wander, and wonder at the universe, rather than follow any strict set of logical rules. Partway through the lesson, Ron raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Err – well, it's just something I never got really," he said blushing a bit, "Mars and Venus – are they really aligned?"

Lavender scoffed from behind them, and Harry turned his head slightly, as though shushing someone at the cinema.

"But err...aligned from what point of view? I mean, we're all sitting here on Earth right now, aren't we? I mean...if we were sitting on Jupiter, would they still be aligned? Or, if we were above them? Or under them? I mean," Ron continued, his excitement building as Firenze nodded, "Space is three- dimensional, right? Alignment means that it's a straight line...two dimensional."

Firenze gave a broad smile, a rare occurrence, "Ten points to Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley."

"I think we will end there," he said, rising suddenly and dramatically to all four of his feet, "To remind us all that what we See, and moreover, what we Divine, is always dependent on our perspective."

"[I]Wicked![/I]" said Ron, as they walked to Defense.

"Awesome," nodded Dean.

Harry grinned as well, but Mars was nagging at the back of his mind...

"We've got Defense next!" Neville piped up happily, "We'll see Lupin!"

"Oh wait," Ron said mopily, "Not yet anyway...isn't he going to miss the first day of classes?"

"If it's Snape, I'm skivving off," Harry said determinedly, "If I have to have him for four class periods today, I'll go stark raving mad. Poke your head in, Ron."

"No way!" Ron said, "Why should I be the one to poke my head in! What if it is him?"

"I'll go, I guess," Neville said mopily, "I can't skive off anyway, I need to practice."

Harry was reminded of Neville's devoted study during their D.A. meetings last year, and reminding himself that Voldemort and his Death Eaters were at large, gave Ron a half-hearted shrug.

"Maybe we should go."

Ron heaved a sigh, "Yeeeeeeh, alright. But I'm sitting in the back."

But when they entered the classroom, there was no sign of Snape or Lupin...