Pansy and Jade had stayed up late talking about possibly decorating their new room and they didn't wake up until they heard a knock at their door the next morning. Jade ignored it at first until there was another knock,
"You get it." She heard Pansy groan towards her and Jade sighed before slowly crawling out of the warmth from under her blankets. There was another knock and Jade walked over to the door and ripped it open to find Draco and Blaise.
"What?" She asked through a yawn and Draco grinned.
"Good morning."
"Thought we'd walk with you to breakfast," Blaise told Jade as he looked her over. "Might want to run a brush through your hair." Jade's hands reflexively went to pat down her hair.
"Yeah, alright, come in." Jade told them but as she turned and they stepped in, she turned around again, "Wait, how are you two down here?"
"We watched Pucey come down here earlier and nothing happened to him so we figured we'd give it a go."
"Adrien?" Pansy asked as she stood from her own bed. "Haven't talked to him in a while." She spoke to herself as she went to her trunk and looked for her school uniform.
"Is your dormitory like this?" Jade asked and Blaise nodded, "I like it, more privacy."
"Luckily Draco got paired up with me, Crabbe and Goyle were sour about it." Jade turned the boys around and began pushing them out,
"We'll be out in a minute." She told them,
"Why do we have to leave?" Draco asked,
"So we can change," Jade told him.
"And?" Jade rolled her eyes and shut the door before changing into her uniform. They only had to wait a few minutes for them to change and fix their hair but when they reappeared ready for the day, the boys were acting like they'd been waiting for hours.
"Do I look alright?" Pansy asked Jade as messed with her tie,
"You look fine, let's go eat!" Blaise told her and Pansy stuck her tongue out at him but closed the door behind her. Jade didn't think they'd slept in that late but by the time they got to the Great Hall it was almost entirely full. Draco separated from them to go talk with Crabbe and Goyle. Blaise found Theo and Gretta sitting together alone, he seemed to be laughing at something she said and as they sat down he pointed his fork at Gretta and said,
"Go on, tell them."
"Tell us what?" Blaise asked as he grabbed for his food,
"My mother was trying to speak French in Paris," Gretta told him.
"Doesn't her sister live in France?"
"Yes, but she didn't think she'd need to speak it much with my aunt being with us and she didn't really until my aunt couldn't join us one day."
"Qu'est-il arrivé?" Jade asked and they all looked at her funny.
"You speak french?" Theo asked, but before Jade could answer, a group of Slytherins burst out into laughter as they watched Draco get up from the floor.
"Yes," Jade turned back to their conversation, "I can."
"Why?" Blaise asked,
"What do you mean why?" Jade laughed.
"Why French?"
"My mother wanted me to learn how to play an instrument but I wasn't interested so she settled for learning another language." Draco quietly sat down next to Pansy and they looked at him expectantly.
"What?" He asked as he picked an apple from the table.
"What was that about?" She asked him,
"Just showing some people what I thought Potter might've looked like when he passed out last night. What are you guys talking about?"
"Jade parle français." Gretta smiled up at her and Draco raised his eyebrows.
"Tu fais?" Draco spoke towards Jade and she nodded.
"English please." Blaise looked irritated, maybe it was because for once someone could do something he couldn't. They hadn't noticed Snape until he was placing their new schedules down in front of them.
"Thank you," Jade spoke quietly and she didn't know if he hadn't heard her or if he was just ignoring her but she quickly grabbed her schedule and looked over it. "Divination at nine and then Care for Magical Creatures after lunch." Jade read off as she looked at the new entries to her schedule.
"I wish I could take Care for Magical Creatures." Gretta huffed as she spun her spoon in her oatmeal.
"Trust me, your schedule will be filled with enough work," Theo told her as he skimmed over his own schedule. "We better get going soon. Divination is in the North Tower." There was a collective groan of protest. The walk to the North castle through the castle was a long one.
"I just sat down," Draco complained,
"Maybe you should've come sooner." Theo shrugged and Draco glared at Jade,
"Yes, maybe we should have come sooner." They left the Great Hall and made their way up the first marble staircase and Jade paused to look at the other six flights of stairs they had to go up.
"At least we'll get our cardio," Pansy told her and Jade sighed as she nodded and then began climbing. "Theo, are you sure we're going the right way?" Pansy panted as they reached the top of the stairs.
"Yeah… this way." He mumbled as he turned a corner and led them down a thin corridor.
"We're going to be late," Jade noted, she hadn't seen any other students on their way up.
"No, we're not," Theo smirked as he held out his hand in front of a thin stone spiral staircase. "It should be up here."
"More stairs?" Pansy groaned, "Is it too late to switch classes?"
"Yes." Jade tugged at Pansy's elbow and led her up the stairs, or she tried to. The staircase was very thin and could barely squeeze two people side by side. But, once they reached the top of the stairs, there was no classroom.
"Is this some kind of trick?" Draco sighed but Theo took a few steps forward and looked up at something.
"Up here." They all slowly came to where he was standing and looked up,
"Well, how are we supposed to get up there?" Draco asked and just as he finished, the trap door opened and a silver ladder extended quickly at their feet. As they hesitantly climbed the ladder, Jade took in the strange look of Professor Trelawney's classroom. It didn't look like a classroom at all, more like an older lady's attic and maybe a vintage tea shop. There were no desks but instead about twenty small tables and in place of chairs, there was an array of bean bag chairs. The lighting was dim and had a slight crimson tint to it. There were only a few people in class so Jade was wrong and they weren't late. The bookcases lining the walls were covered in thick books and countless crystal balls. Jade moved stiffly to a blue bean bag and Draco plopped down in the one next to her. Pansy gave him a dark look,
"What? You got to sit with her at breakfast."
"You two, don't fight over me." Jade batted her eyelashes, she found the banter between Draco and Pansy humorous.
"You sat with her last year in Defense Against the Dark Arts." Pansy hissed, trying to keep her voice down in the silent room.
"That was last year." Draco waved off her comment and she huffed as she joined Theo at the table next to them. Jade found a large clock hanging on the wall and noticed that class would start in three minutes and there was barely anyone in the room. Professor Trelawney was nowhere to be seen, maybe she was running late too. The trap door opened again and Harry poked his head out and looked around before climbing up and allowing Hermione and Ron to join him.
"Oh, bloody brilliant." Draco smiled as he watched Harry and the others pick seats but the smile was dark and Jade knew that class this year would be a long one. She actually noticed a few classes that they would be sharing with the Gryffindors and she couldn't be happier because that meant she might be able to spend more time with her friends outside of her house but then she realized that Draco would be there too and just try and bully them whenever he got the chance.
"Why don't you just go sit next to Harry since you're so interested in him? I'm sure he'd be delighted." Jade leaned next to Draco but instead of being disgusted like she thought he would, he just turned his head and gave her a good-looking grin.
"Why would I do that when I could sit next to you instead?" He chuckled as she leaned away.
"You're not funny, Draco, you're being creepy," Jade told him.
"I thought I was being charming." Jade gave him a look, "What?"
"You? Charming? Impossible."
"You wound me." Draco grabbed at his heart but Jade just rolled her eyes and he chuckled at her.
"Seriously, where is she?" Jade asked, more students had arrived while they were talking and now the classroom was nearly full.
"Welcome," A gentle voice called and Jade looked towards the chalkboard but their teacher wasn't there. . "How nice to see you in the physical world at last." The voice spoke a little louder and Jade noticed a glittering figure moving away from the empty fireplace. Jade was a bit frightened when she first saw Professor Trelawney, she was a tall and very thin woman. She wore large glasses that magnified her eyes and made them look too large for her face. But the shawl she was wearing was what caught Jade's attention as it shimmered again while Professor Trelawney walked closer. She was like a walking maraca, many chains and beads hung around her neck and her wrists while numerous rings sat on each finger. "Sit, my children, sit," Jade looked around to find that everyone was already sitting. "Welcome to Divination," said Professor Trelawney, who had seated herself in a winged armchair in front of the fire. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye." Jade couldn't stop her face from reacting to this peculiar announcement. Professor Trelawney carefully rearranged her shawl and continued, "So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you… Books can take you only so far in this field…"
"Blaise wouldn't like to hear that," Draco whispered towards Jade and she smiled,
"Maybe it is good he didn't choose this class." She could imagine Blaise flipping through pages, trying to sit comfortably but properly in a bean bag, crunching his eyebrows trying to find the right answer. But this class wasn't that type of class.
"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future," Professor Trelawney went on, her large eyes moved from face to face. "It is a Gift granted to few. You, boy," she said suddenly and Jade rotated in her chair to find Neville Longbottom. "Is your grandmother well?"
"I think so," Neville said shakily.
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear," Professor Trelawney told him and Neville gulped.. "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year." She continued again normally and Jade looked from her to Neville who was now no longer paying attention and worrying about his grandmother. "The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear," She paused and shot a look at one of the Patil twins, "beware a red-haired man." She gave a startled look at Ron, who was right behind her and tried to scoot away from him, Jade couldn't help but laugh with Draco, Ron's reaction was too funny. "In the second term," Professor Trelawney went on, "we shall progress to the crystal ball — if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever." Jade's smile fell from her face and a tense silence followed but Professor Trelawney seemed unaware of it. "I wonder, dear," she now looked to Lavender Brown and the girl shrank back in her chair, "if you could pass me the largest silver teapot?" Lavender relaxed, stood up, took the large teapot from the shelf behind her, and put it down on the table in front of Professor Trelawney. "Thank you, my dear. Incidentally, that thing you are dreading, it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October." Lavender trembled and most of the class grimaced at the announcement of more bad news. "Now, I want you all to divide into pairs." Draco and Jade shared a look, "Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me, and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink, drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside down on its saucer, wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing. Oh, and dear," Trelawney had caught Neville by the arm as he made to stand up, "after you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue patterned ones? I'm rather attached to the pink." It was really odd to listen to Professor Trelawney talk, she seemed to already know everything that was going to happen. Draco and Jade grabbed their teacups. Neville immediately knocked one off of the shelf and it shattered on the floor, Professor Trelawney stood behind him with a broom and dustpan outstretched, waiting. Jade and Draco filled their tea at the front and then went back to their seats. Jade burned the tip of her tongue at first and then tried to drink it as quickly as possible. She looked into the bottom of her cup and then swirled it around before handing it to Draco and taking his cup in her hands. They flipped through the pages in their books and Jade paused once she found the symbol that looked most like Draco's dregs. She looked up and waited for him and when he looked at her she smiled,
"What?" He asked,
"You've got a good one." She told him and a small grin tugged at the corner of his mouth before falling again,
"You don't." Jade's smile fell a little and she tried to look inside of her own cup but Draco pulled it away. "What does mine say?" Jade looked back down at her book,
"An angel."
"An angel?" Draco groaned and Jade shushed him,
"Bearer of good news, especially in love. Sure happiness." She read and Draco lip curled in disgust, "Stop it, it's nice." She told him and then she wiggled her eyebrows, "So, who've you got a crush on?"
"No one." He told her, "Divination is highly unreliable, most people debate if it's even a true form of magic because it's so inaccurate."
"Well, then why'd you take it?"
"Because you all were taking it, I didn't want to be stuck in Arithmancy with Blaise."
"What does mine say?" Jade asked and Draco glanced at the book again,
"Divination was almost ruled out of the curriculum because it's so inaccurate," Draco repeated and Jade waved her hand to hurry him along.
"What does it say?"
"It's a cross."
"Okay?" Jade asked,
"It stands for trial and suffering."
"You're right, it's not a good one." Draco opened his mouth to speak but she beat him to it, "If you say Divination is inaccurate again I'm going to throw my book at you." His mouth shut and Professor Trelawney made a loud short noise and they turned to watch her. She had walked over to Harry and Ron and was looking into one of their cups.
"The falcon… my dear, you have a deadly enemy." Professor Trelawney was telling them,
"But everyone knows that," Hermione whispered but in the silent room everyone could hear her fine. "Everybody knows about Harry and You-Know-Who." Harry and Ron were staring at Hermione and she blushed as everyone started to look at them.
"The club… an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup…" Trelawney went on, "The skull… danger in your path, my dear…" Trelawney kept turning the teacup until she gasped and then screamed before dropping the cup and Ron fumbled to catch it before it hit the floor. who gave the cup a final turn, gasped, and then screamed. Professor Trelawney sank into a vacant seat, her glittering hand at her heart and her eyes closed. They all watched her for a second before she spoke again. "My dear boy. My poor dear boy, no, it is kinder not to say. No, don't ask me…"
"Being rather dramatic, isn't she?" Draco whispered quietly towards Jade and she lightly hit him on the arm as a signal to be quiet.
"What is it, Professor?" Dean Thomas spoke from a corner of the room. Students were starting to rise and make their way over to Harry and Ron and they tried to peer inside of the cup.
"My dear," Professor Trelawney's huge eyes snapped open, "you have the Grim."
"The what?" Harry asked. Jade flipped through her book, trying to find the one called 'Grim' but some students clapped their hands to their mouths in horror.
"The Grim, my dear, the Grim!" cried Professor Trelawney, who looked shocked that Harry hadn't understood. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen, the worst omen… of death!" Jade's stomach dropped as she found the faint outline of a dog in her book. Jade looked up from her book at Harry who was glancing around at the many pairs of staring eyes.
"I don't think it looks like a Grim," Hermione said flatly as she came picked up the cup and Jade rose from her seat to come at her side and glance in herself. From looking at the picture in her book to the blob in the cup, Jade could maybe see the point of an ear? Everything else she couldn't make out.
"All I see is a pointed tip." Jade agreed with Hermione and Professor Trelawney was looking at Hermione with a growing dislike.
"You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future." Hermione rolled her eyes and Jade smirked at her, she'd never seen Hermione so openly against the directions of a teacher before. Seamus Finnigan was tilting his head from side to side as he looked at the cup over Jade's shoulder.
"It looks like a Grim if you do this," he said, with his eyes almost shut, "but it looks more like a donkey from here," he said, leaning to the left.
"When will you all finish deciding whether I'm going to die or not?" Harry blurted out.
"I think we will leave the lesson here for today," Trelawney told them in an airy voice. "Yes… please pack away your things…" Silently the class took their teacups back to Professor Trelawney, packed away their books, and closed their bags. Jade eyed Harry as she made to leave but she decided last minute to go towards him, even Ron looked uncomfortable.
"Are you alright?" Jade asked him quietly and Harry was watching a pair of girls whispering as they looked over at him.
"Fine."
"Don't worry about it." She let out a forced laugh, "Divination is highly inaccurate."
"She's right, Harry." Hermione tried to help cheer him up but he seemed to be in his own head, he nodded and looked at Jade.
"Thanks." Jade gave him a weak smile before leaving the three of them to catch up with her other friends.
