In this chapter, Professor Trelawney will make her debut. She was bound to appear in this fanfic sooner or later. I'm not the type of person to exclude characters from my fanfic. She possesses the Inner Eye. And no, she doesn't have three eyes. And don't call her four eyes. That's disrespectful.
This arc is more than just about Sirius Black. Though Sirius Black is kind of the focus. He makes people wonder if Mary will survive her third year.
Just as there was more to Chamber of Secrets than just a basilisk. It also had Gilderoy Lockhart, the biggest fraud there was. Though he got off easier since he helped Ginny in this version. I figured I would give her a weapon that she could use against the beast.
There will be foreshadowing in this chapter. I might as well include that since Trelawney is a seer. Did you know that she's a Ravenclaw? She might bear a resemblance to Harry but they don't share the same house.
Chapter 33: The Unusual Professor
Not long after classes had started, Mary found herself in Trelawney's class. Her field was divination. Oddly enough, there weren't any books required for it.
It looked like their wallets were getting a break.
Some of her friends were there as well. They seemed to attend a lot of classes together. She had considered taking the class since Ron had decided to do so.
Though she sometimes wondered why she kept ending up in classes with such familiar faces, having Hermione around had its perks. She was pretty smart.
They did find their new professor to be a bit weird. Dumbledore made good choices when he chose teachers, however…most of the time. He had his reasons for choosing Lockhart to be teacher despite his incompetence after all. Though he hadn't expected a first-year of all people to expose him.
"Greetings, class. Mary, I sense a dog in your near future." said Trelawney.
"I have been seeing a dog lately. A big one." remarked the third year girl who slew a basilisk. Would this dog go to heaven? He would probably take up a lot of space. He seemed like a good boy though.
"For some reason, I can't help but shake the feeling that we share a connection." noted Mary.
"Is it the glasses?" asked Trelawney. They both wore them. Though only one of them had a lightning-shaped scar on their forehead. Ot made it easier to tell them apart.
"Could be. But there could also be something else." remarked the Gryffindor student.
"Any prophecies for me?" questioned Ginny. She hoped nothing bad was going to happen to her. Something bad could have happened to her because of Lucius Malfoy. But his plan had ended up failing…because Neville crashed into her.
"I sense a big change coming in your future." explained Trelawney.
"Well, I did become a hero last year." noted the now teenage girl. Perhaps something awesome would happen this year as well. It was troubling that there was a serial killer after Mary though.
Was he as bad as Voldemort himself? His diary had tried to send several basilisks to schools all around the wizarding world. She could only imagine the chaos that would ensue.
"Ah yes…I remember now…something about you destroying a book?" questioned the professor.
"Not just any book." answered Ginny.
It used to belong to Tom Riddle…though everyone knew him as Voldemort these days. He was a bad guy even before he decided to start calling himself that, however.
"I predict that one of us shall be leaving this class." said Trelawney.
They wondered who it would be.
Lavender found the class intriguing, so it probably wasn't her.
"That class sure was weird, was it not?" asked Ron.
Scabbers was alarmed upon the mention of a large dog for some reason. It was understandable since he already had a cat on his bad side. His owner would keep him safe in case a dog tried to at him though.
"It's true." nodded Hermione.
She wasn't sure this class was for her. Given how smart she was, she probably didn't need supernatural powers to predict the future. Though perhaps they would help.
Despite Granger herself not being really interested in Trelawney's class, becoming a seer was something that many of the students found to be interesting.
"Still, I think she's a better teacher than Lockhart was. Letting those pixies loose was a terrible idea." remarked Ron.
"I'm with you there." nodded Hermione. Luckily, Ginny of all people had saved the day. Surprising what a heroine she turned out to be.
"She said I was going to break a teacup." remarked Neville.
"That's no big deal. There's a repairing spell for that." pointed out Hermione.
"Great!" exclaimed the teenage boy.
In addition to Trelawney's class, there was also Hagrid's.
Since Ginny had survived a basilisk, it seemed like his class would be a good fit for her.
So here she was.
Besides, one of her brothers worked with dragons. She might as well consider learning about magical creatures herself, even ones that she considered scary.
She felt she already knew enough about dementors though. Ginny saw them at Hogwarts sometimes. And she had met one when she was heading to Hogwarts for the second time.
It was a warm, sunny day, so now seemed like a good time for an outdoor lesson.
Hagrid was pleased with her for destroying Tom Riddle's diary.
Namely because Riddle had almost ruined his life. The things he would do to save his own skin. It was sickening.
But luckily, everyone knew now that he was not the Heir of Slytherin. He would never breed a basilisk, let alone use one to kill people. Though life would have been easier for him if Myrtle knew who had killed her.
From the looks of it, they would be studying hippogriffs.
Buckbeak (one of said hippogriffs) admired himself in Ginny's mirror.
To be honest, the Weasley girl didn't blame him.
That mirror had been a boon against the basilisk. Who would have thought it would reflect her killing gaze? That was something that should be added to the book Hermione found.
It didn't do a thing about the poison though. If you wanted protection, you needed a phoenix. Luckily, Dumbledore owned one. And he chose to stick around after Albus had left. Perhaps he figured he could be of help…and he most definitely was.
"For my first session we shall be studying hippogriffs. Hippogriffs are not generally dangerous, but do keep in mind they're a proud race. Treat them with respect and you won't get hurt." explained Hagrid.
And yes, this was a bit of a deviation from canon. Hippogriffs typically targeted small animals however, so this wasn't such a big deviation in the opinion of the author.
"You sure you don't want to start with something smaller, like gnomes?" asked Hermione.
"Well, Chip is currently sleeping at the moment." answered the man. He had decided to come to Hogwarts, since he liked it there.
Indeed, Chip was taking a snooze. Chances are he was dreaming about cookies. He was probably also dreaming about Ginny though.
"You're not going to brag all the time, are you? I know somebody who let his ego get to his head and it didn't go too well for him." noted Mary.
"Skree?" asked Buckbeak. He wondered who that was. Was it one of his friends? It seemed possible.
"He was a teacher at Hogwarts, kind of like Hagrid is now. But he stole achievements from other wizards, and he ended up getting in trouble. His name was Gilderoy Lockhart" explained the girl that had met the man. He was exposed as a fraud, and now he was extremely unpopular.
The hippogriff wondered if he should tone down his ego a peg. It sounded like a decent cautionary tale to him.
No point in sharing the same fate as Lockhart. Ginny had completely unintentionally made a fool out of him…since he had tricked everyone, Veritaserum turned out to be his personal nightmare.
Buckbeak nodded his head. Perhaps he could try that.
"Ye seem ter be connecting well ter Buckbeak." noted Hagrid. Though it wasn't too surprising considering the friendship that he had with Mary and her knack of communicating with animals.
"He might be a bit egocentric, but I'm glad he listens to others." answered Mary. Vector had listened to Hagrid and it was a very smart thing to do. Though he had made the mistake of listening to Neville while Riddle had control over him.
"I'm inclined ter agree." nodded the man.
"Look at how ugly this bird is!" exclaimed Malfoy.
It seemed he didn't listen to his teachers…that is why he got docked house points. He needed to be more careful.
Buckbeak glared at him.
"I don't think you should do that." warned Mary.
"Why not?" asked the blonde boy.
"Well, you remember what Hagrid said, did you not?" asked the girl with glasses.
She always thought Hagrid was worth listening to…even if Draco thought otherwise. He wasn't wrong to warn Lucius that things would get worse with Dumbledore gone last year. He may have noticed that Neville was acting strange and had talked to him.
"Oh please! Hagrid's a fat idiot!" exclaimed Malfoy.
Buckbeak slapped Malfoy in the face with his wing.
It seemed he and Hagrid were close.
To Buckbeak, Hagrid was the greatest man in the world. Besides, Mary was encouraging him not to look down on others, though the hippogriff wouldn't be wrong to look down on people like the Malfoys.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Draco, who now had his hand on his left cheek.
"I guess you should have listened to Hagrid." spoke Mary. His advice to Vector regarding chicken eggs was pretty good, after all.
Though it wasn't insulting the hippogriff himself that had set Buckbeak off in the end.
"How dare you!" bellowed Draco.
Nobody did that to the son of Lucius Malfoy. Nobody.
"You have nobody to blame but yourself…like you did when you lost the Quidditch match." noted the girl. The Golden Snitch wasn't even hiding too well.
"I'm telling Dad!" exclaimed Draco.
"Are you sure you want to get your dad involved in this? His actions could have caused Hogwarts to shut down." warned Mary. He let his prejudiced views towards Muggle-borns get the better of him and the whole school suffered for it.
And besides, he wasn't a Hogwarts governor anymore. So Hagrid had an advantage.
"Yes!" bellowed the Slytherin bully. Perhaps he could not be swayed.
"Oh no…" spoke Hagrid. Was Buckbeak going to meet Macnair the animal executioner?
Perhaps he wasn't cut out to be a teacher.
"Man, it's bad enough I have to worry about Sirius Black…but now I have to worry about Lucius Malfoy suing Hagrid too." noted Mary.
She could only hope Hagrid won the case.
But considering that Lucius was able to intimidate the governors into getting rid of Dumbledore, Rubeus might be in trouble.
He might not get sent to Azkaban again, but Mary was still worried about her bearded friend.
Mary witnessed the black dog again. Perhaps it had to do with Trelawney's mission.
Was it following her? It seemed possible that he had memorized her scent.
It was a bit weird though, because he had not stepped foot on the train.
However, she could tell that the dog meant her no harm.
Though it did seem to want to keep a close eye on her for some reason.
Was it trying to protect her from Sirius Black?
She wasn't sure if biting him on the leg was going to work.
But it was the thought that counted.
Maybe this dog would go to heaven after all.
She decided to pet the dog, since he wasn't aggressive.
It would cheer her up after what happened at Hagrid's class.
He wasn't going to get fired, was he?
She would like to think Dumbledore would at least allow him to stay at Hogwarts.
That was what happened many years ago, after all. And the charges weren't nearly as severe this time.
Suddenly, Crookshanks showed up.
"I know you! You're Hermione's pet cat!" exclaimed Mary.
Hermione didn't lose him by any chance, did she? She could tell her where to find him if she was looking for her new pet.
She always made sure Hedwig was nearby.
Crookshanks nodded. Indeed he was.
Just as he recognized Mary as Hermione's friend.
"I guess Hermione's parents don't mind that you have magical creature ancestry." noted the girl.
"Meow!" exclaimed Crookshanks.
"You know that her parents are Muggles? You catch onto things quickly." remarked Mary.
He noticed the great big dog.
"Don't worry, he doesn't bite." said the girl. She had met him before, after all.
Crookshanks waved his paw at him.
It seemed he was tame, because he didn't so much as bark. In fact, he waved back.
"I'm glad you understand." spoke Mary. Though she hadn't yet met an animal that couldn't understand her.
Perhaps he would understand that the boa constrictor roaming Hogwarts was safe as well.
She couldn't keep him in her house, since Dudley was afraid of it.
But he didn't mind it here on the castle grounds.
She wondered if the Dementors would be able to catch Sirius Black.
They would be searching Hogsmeade, not just Hogwarts.
They only searched the former at night, however.
People wanted to enjoy the town, and they couldn't do that if the Dementors were draining their happiness.
Hopefully, Sirius would be caught soon.
That way, the dementors would leave.
It was something everyone was looking forward to.
No doubt they would feel like the happiest people in the world.
Though they would be happy to begin with since a dangerous criminal would be recaptured.
But would Sirius be able to elude them?
Time would only tell.
It might not seem obvious, but Professor Trelawney is a very important Harry Potter character. Harry Potter's life would have turned out differently if she wasn't there.
She is kind of like Luna Lovegood though. I assure you, Dumbledore has a good reason to keep her around. Even if Dolores Umbridge thinks otherwise.
And yes, Umbridge isn't in this fanfic. Not yet anyway. I think I'll probably feature her sooner or later. Even if fans hate her. Though I will admit that sometimes my fanfics do end up stagnating sometimes.
I decided to feature Buckbeak, though things won't happen exactly the same way as they did in the books. Or the movies.