I don't own Hellsing or Harry Potter, and I'm not making any money from this.

Everything was going smashingly well considering how badly things had begun. All of Connie's new classes were incredibly interesting and lively. Arithmancy was proving to be challenging, with it being all about the magical properties of numbers. But Professor Vector did an excellent job of explaining things, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The only thing Connie didn't like were all the damn charts. Everything was so complex and interconnected that homework assignments could only be done by consulting long, intricate looking charts full of numbers and formulas. Vector made it clear on the first day of class that they would have a much easier time of things if they just memorized them. But there were so damn many it would take forever and the girl had enough homework on her plate as it was. Maybe once things calmed down and weren't as hectic, she'd make an attempt. So far, Ancient Runes was focused on teaching them the characters and meanings of the Runic alphabets. They wouldn't be working on translations for another month or so, but once they did, Connie imagined that it would become much more involved. Just learning the basics of a new language was fun on it's own. The possibilities for its use were endless.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was the other class she'd been concerned about. She wasn't quite sure if it was the subject matter or the teachers she'd had in the past, but DADA had never really felt like her 'thing'. Though she never pointed it out in class, half of the information covered was either incomplete, or entirely wrong. The other half was the stuff she already knew. That particular combination made for boring lessons and class time spent staring at the clock on the wall waiting for the bell to ring. Remus Lupin changed all of that. He was the sort of person who could make his lessons fly by, leaving her wondering how she had spent so much time in his room without noticing. The man was direct and open enough to make one feel completely at ease in his presence, yet serious enough to keep his students under control. He also had the ability to pack the maximum amount of information into the smallest amount of words while still keeping it easy for everyone to understand. Lectures, when they were given, were relatively brief. They spent much more time on practical application of the things they learned. Lupin would bring in specimens of the various dark creatures they discussed and would let them have a go at defending themselves against them.

But not everyone was having as good of a time in classes as she was, and Connie grew more and more thankful with each passing day that she'd chosen the schedule she did. The boys made it sound like Care of Magical Creatures was a fun class with Hagrid at the helm. However, his choice of creatures to cover in his lessons were causing a few problems. Their first class had been dedicated to hippogriffs. Harry actually got to go for a ride on one named Buckbeak – who was apparently one of Hagrid's many 'pets'. But once the ride was over and they were back on the ground, Draco declared that everything they'd been taught must have been a bold faced lie if Harry was able to handle one. He marched right up to the beast, ignoring all the rules for how to approach a hippogriff correctly and got himself hurt. It served the boy right, Constance thought. Acting like a damn fool and probably scaring Buckbeak half to death. He'd wound up with only a few scratches, but Malfoy went on and on about it like he'd almost died. He'd immediately reported the incident to his father who went on to get the ministry involved. It sounded like there was going to be some sort of hearing to determine how dangerous Buckbeak was and if he should be put down. During study hall, they all could hear Pansy Parkinson asking Draco about his injury.

"Does it hurt badly?" she questioned in a worried sounding voice.

"It comes and goes." the Slytherin boy reported. He showed off his arm like it was a war wound. "If it hadn't been for Madam Pomfrey, I would have lost my arm in another minute or two."

Good lord, he'd only gotten a few scratches! Madam Pomfrey had even forced him to leave the hospital wing after only being in there for 30 minutes. Ron huffed and jerked a thumb toward their table.

"Really laying on thick, isn't he?" he asked. "It might have done everyone a favor if he had lost a bleeding arm."

It looked like Harry was doing his best to ignore Draco. He pulled Ron back around and pointed down at his book. "Just ignore him. We've got to have this done by tomorrow." he said, then frowned. "Three palm readings each... how is she supposed to know we did it right if we only turn in the readings?"

Next to him, Hermione sniffed. "She'll probably 'divine' whether we did it correctly or not." she said with disdain. "Honestly, the woman is a complete nightmare."

Connie was working on a Potions assignment with Fred and George close by, and all of them immediately stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Hermione Granger never talked that way about a teacher. Even if she didn't like them, she still showed respect for their position. One of Constance's brows went up.

"Who's a nightmare?" she asked.

"Professor Trelawney." Hermione replied. "I knew that Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic, but I thought with a good enough teacher it might be interesting. But... good lord, the woman is awful. By the end of our first class, she had Neville believing his grandmother was dying of some horrible illness and was seeing death omens in Harry's tea leaves." she paused to turn her attention onto Ron. "And just what had her thinking you were 'in the great beyond' anyway?"

Her tone sounded accusing and the ginger headed boy gave a start. "Bloody hell, Hermione, I don't know! You think I wanted her to come over?"

Trelawney thought Ron was where? Connie wondered. This was too confusing for words. "What the devil are you on about?"

"Trelawney came over to our table because she said she sensed Ron was in the 'Great Beyond', or some other such rubbish." Hermione reported. "Isn't that what she said Harry?"

The boy nodded. "That, and something about his aura pulsing..."

Next to Connie, the twins exchanged a look, then burst out laughing. "Trelawney has your 'aura' pulsing, does she little brother?" George teased.

Fred grinned mischievously. "Maybe she thought you wanted to get into her 'great beyond'!"

All the blood drained out of Ron's face in horror and Hermione's mouth fell open. Harry's lips twitched like he found it funny, but didn't want to show it while Ron was close enough to see it. Constance really wanted to give them both a lecture about saying such a perverted thing, but found she couldn't. She was too busy attempting not to laugh herself.

"Thank you, Fred and George." Ron said, the color in his face shifting from a ghostly white to pale green. "I think I'm going to have nightmares now."

"You're welcome!" they replied with exuberance.

Ron gave them another glare before turning back to Harry. "You don't think that 'grim' thing could be about Sirius Black, do you?" he asked.

Connie's brows furrowed. "Grim?"

"It's the omen Trelawney saw in Harry's teacup." Hermione said with a frown. "It's some kind of spectral dog that foretells death. With the way that woman is about gloom and doom, I honestly don't think it means anything at all..."

"He's been sighted!"

Everyone at the table looked up to find Seamus running in waving a newspaper around like a madman. He skidded to a halt near where they all were sitting.

"Sirius Black's been sighted!" he said again in excited, nervous tones. "And it's not far from here!"

Neville, Dean, Ginny, and several other Griffindors got up from their seats to get a better look at the newspaper. Hermione grabbed the edge of it to pull it closer to read.

"Dovetown?" she questioned. "That's only a few miles away!"

"You don't think he's trying to get to Hogwarts, do you?" Dean asked.

If everything Connie knew was correct, then the man was indeed trying to get to Hogwarts. If he was only a few miles away, then it wouldn't take long for him to get there either. Maybe a week or two if he weren't forced to lay low for a while to avoid being spotted again. Neville looked around at everyone anxiously.

"But... there's no way he could get in." he said, as if trying to convince himself. "Not with dementors at every entrance..."

Seamus tossed the paper down on the table and pointed at it. "He's already gotten past them once, hasn't he? Who's to say he won't do it again?"

Excellent point. Constance thought to herself. But if Black attempted to get into the castle, he'd have to fight his way past numerous protective charms on top of the dementors. Surely that would set off an alarm somewhere and he'd be caught before he got inside... She looked over and saw that Harry looked disturbed. It was only natural for him to feel that way after what they'd just learned.

"Even if he gets past the dementors, we still have Dumbledore and all the teachers here." she said, looking at him specifically.

Harry shook his head like he were trying to clear away a mass of thoughts and worries rushing through it. "Yeah." he said. "I suppose."

He didn't sound terribly reassured by that, but it was all they had at the moment.

With the way everyone was going on about the sighting, homework was pretty much dropped and forgotten. It wasn't until they got back up to the common room for the night that Harry and Ron realized they still had palm readings to get done. Their teacher had forbidden them to read their own palms – apparently because it was impossible to do correctly – so they wound up doing each others. But of course, with each of them needing three palm readings, Connie wound up providing the third hand. Technically, Hermione asked to see her hand first, but the boys crowded around to get their readings done as well.

"Wow, Connie." Ron commented as he looked up from the book Harry had open in front of them. "Those lines under your little finger mean you're going to get married twice."

Constance gaped at him. "Excuse me?" she exclaimed. Married twice? There's no way in hell that was right. She fully intended that if she ever got married, it would be once and that was it.

Hermione shot a look at him, then turned back to her. "I wouldn't put much stock in that if I were you." she said. "They're just lines, after all. My palm reading said I wouldn't get married, but I'd still have children. How silly is that?"

While the girl had her head down looking at the lines in her palm more closely, Connie noticed Ron glance at Harry. It seemed that he wasn't too sure about that not coming to pass in the future. She pointedly cleared her throat to draw the boys' attention and gave them a warning look. If either of them said a word out loud about it, Granger would throw a fit and she'd wind up having to beat one of them senseless for insulting her. Hermione herself noticed the sound and looked up.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Constance shook her head. "Oh, nothing." she said quickly, then glanced down. "So, is there anything else?"

"Well, let's see... Your heart line goes through a circle here." she reported, pointing to the area she was talking about. "That means temporary separation from someone you love. Your head and life lines are connected here at the ends. That means close ties to family. And..." she paused thoughtfully. "That's interesting..."

Connie immediately sat forward. If Hermione thought something was interesting, then it was probably unusual. "What is it?"

"You have a line of fate and destiny." she replied.

"Is... that a bad thing?" the girl questioned carefully.

Hermione shook her head. "Of course not. It's just that not many people have one." she looked almost sheepish for a moment. "I actually haven't read this far in the book yet..."

Ron gaped at her like she'd just admitted to killing someone. "You haven't read that far yet?" he repeated in shock. "You devour books like your life depends on it! How could you not have read that far?"

Hermione brushed her hair back over her shoulders and shrugged, though she looked a bit upset at him pointing it out. "I have a lot of textbooks this year, Ronald." she stated, giving him a look. "Between Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies..."

"You're in Muggle Studies too?" Harry asked, his eyes widening. "How many classes are you taking, Hermione?"

"A few." she replied, not offering anything more than that.

Ron just kept staring at her. "What do you need Muggle Studies for anyway? You live with muggles, so you already know everything about them!"

"I wanted to learn about them from the wizarding point of view." she told him, then gestured back to Connie's hand in her lap. "Now, if you don't mind, can we please get back to this?" she waited until both of the boys had shut their mouths to clear her throat. "As I was saying before you interrupted me, I haven't read this far in the book yet so I'm not sure what the presence of a destiny line means. Harry, you have your book open."

Harry blinked, then looked down at his Divination textbook and began flipping through the pages.

"Destiny lines, destiny lines... here it is!" he said. The boy leaned over to get a good look at Constance's hand, then studied the page he'd turned to. "Okay, it starts at the Mound of Venus, so that means... family is important in career. I guess that means you'll be taking up the family business or something. And... wait a minute..." he frowned. The boy took hold of her hand and laid it on top of his book so he could look back and forth between them more easily. "This fork in the line here means that there's going to be some sort of... catastrophic event. The chain in the line after that means a large secret is revealed."

"Huh." Ron said, looking at her hand, then up to her face. "Have you got some sort of big secret you need to tell us about then Connie?"

It sounded like he was making a joke, but Constance was rattled. The things they were saying they saw in the lines of her palm... they were hitting much too close to home for her comfort. She shook her head to clear it.

"Well, if what Harry is saying is right, then if I do have a big secret, I can't say anything about it until after this 'catastrophic event' happens, can I?" she replied, trying to make a joke of it as well.

Ron smiled and elbowed Harry in the ribs. "I guess not. I mean, you can't go against a prediction, can you?"

Harry brightened up a bit himself. "At least I'm not the only one getting dark omens."

"Oh, Neville too!" the ginger headed boy reminded him. "You can't forget about Neville."

Hermione's lips pressed together to form a thin line. "I'm telling you, it's all just a bunch of rubbish." she declared. "Secrets revealed and catastrophes happening... Honestly, if that's all Divination can come up with, then it's no wonder foolish people believe in it. If you predict something bad is going to happen without saying when, you'll always be right. Every person on this earth has something they would consider bad or catastrophic happen to them eventually."

Maybe so, Constance thought, but that didn't brush off the weird feeling she had. If Divination was all a game of probability, then it was possible such a reading could have come up by chance. But the idea of that particular prediction being made from lines in her palm was... unsettling. She decided right then and there that she probably shouldn't help them with Divination homework any more. She didn't want to think about any other predictions or readings they might come up with for her.

A.N: One of the things I never understood about the Harry Potter books was Hermione's huge dislike of Divination. Technically speaking, anything ending in the suffix 'mancy' is a form of divination - which means that Arithmancy should be divination using numbers. And Hermione just loves Arithmancy.

However, I will admit that the suffixes 'mancy' and 'ology' seem to get interchanged a lot in the realm of magical subjects, so they've come to carry a similar meaning. (Numerology, for example, should mean the study of numbers, but it's actually a form of divination, and Necromancy orginally meant raising the dead to learn the future, but is now (generally) used to refer to raising the dead for any purpose.) Besides, Arithmancy sounds so much cooler than Numerology.

So... I guess with that in mind, Arithmancy would be the magical equivalent of math (ick), and Geomancy would be the magical equivalent of Geology.

I have no idea why I wrote all of that. I guess I wanted something to complain about. O_o

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