The third year Divination class was sitting on the steps outside Trelawny's classroom, each waiting their turn to take their final examination. The door opened, and Tracey Davis emerged. Her mouth was screwed over to one side, and Harry could see the muscles clenching in her jaw. She was obviously upset. Daphne patted her shoulder, then walked past Tracey into the classroom.
"What happened?" Harry asked. Tracey took a seat next to Harry, but one step higher. She was still shorter than Harry, who was not a tall boy, himself.
"I read tea leaves, and Trelawney didn't like my reading," Tracey said. "I did seven sets. SEVEN! I can't help it if they kept coming back different." Tracey raised her fingers to her temples and began to rub her head. "Well, mostly different. The first six sets were an even split. They were either Snake and Snake, or Snake and Lion. I did a seventh set for a tiebreaker before I started interpreting, but the seventh set came back as rat and dog."
"What did it mean?" asked Harry.
"I don't know," said Tracey. "But neither did Trelawney! And instead of giving me points for doing my best with a difficult reading, she docked me for having a difficult reading in the first place! Told me that I wasn't focusing with my inner eye." Tracey scowled.
"Maybe your inner eye needs glasses."
"Har har."
"You should have just told her that somebody was going to die," suggested Theo Nott. "She would have loved that."
"Maybe it means that Slytherins and Gryffindors are going to fight," said Draco, "and that Slytherins will win and they'll be the only ones left."
"Maybe it means that you're in love with two boys, and are choosing between a Gryffindor and a Slytherin," said Pansy.
Tracey rolled her eyes. "Please."
"Maybe it means that this whole class is a load of dragon dung," said Harry. "Seems most likely to me."
The students continued to chat until the door opened again, and Daphne emerged.
"Harry, she wants you next."
"Wish me luck," Harry said as he pushed himself to his feet.
Trelawney's classroom was a complete disaster, which was in no way out of the ordinary. A small hutch containing blue and pink teacups stood against one wall. Next to it was a small wood-burning stove, atop which sat a whistling teapot. Crystal balls in varying sizes were scattered haphazardly on shelves around the room. The ceiling was painted with the signs of the zodiac and ancient charts for the movements of various planets and stars. In a dark corner of the room behind Trelawney's desk sat a small stone bowl and an obsidian knife with a wickedly sharp edge. Earlier in the year, Harry had asked about the bowl and knife; Trelawney casually told him that they were used for reading entrails in the N.E.W.T.-level courses. Harry had been horrified, until Tracey mentioned that nobody had taken a Divination N.E.W.T. in over thirty years.
"Have a seat," Trelawney said, absently gesturing at a small table in the middle of the room. She was at the stove, pouring herself a small cup of tea. "You'll be doing tea leaves, I assume? Would you like me to pour, or would you prefer to pour your own?"
"Actually, I think I'll do the crystal ball," Harry said.
Trelawney raised her eyebrows. "The crystal ball is a delicate method of divination, Mr. Potter, unless you have considerable natural talent. If you cannot peer into its murky depths, your grade will be in gravest danger." Trelawney's voice quavered as she said the word 'gravest,' and Harry struggled to keep from rolling his eyes. "I would recommend tea leaves," Trelawney said.
Harry shook his head. Tea leaves were easier, in the sense that they were clearly on display, but Harry didn't want to risk Trelawney disagreeing with his interpretation. The images in a crystal ball, however, would be seen only by Harry, so Trelawney couldn't second-guess his viewing. And if he didn't see anything in the crystal ball's "murky depths," he wouldn't hesitate to fabricate a vision for the benefit of his marks. Throwing in a death portent couldn't hurt.
"I'll stick with the crystal ball."
"Let us see if fortune favors the bold. Select your crystal." Trelawney sat at the table and sipped her tea. "We will begin when you are ready."
Harry looked around the room. He hadn't had a lot of success with crystal balls earlier in the term, but he did have a favorite. He found it next to the window sill, half-covered by one of Trelawney's scarves. The ball was large, almost the size of a quaffle. The ball was thin and delicate, though, and had a slight green tint when you looked at the edges.
Harry sat at the table. He placed the crystal ball on the small stand that Trelawney had provided. He took a deep breath and began to focus his thoughts, fixing his attention on the center of the crystal ball. He imagined his mind as a small room with only one window. The door to the room was locked, preventing the distractions of the present from entering his mind. The window—the crystal ball—was clear, allowing him to see out and into the future. Harry leaned forward, peering into the crystal ball.
There was nothing.
"I… er… I see a rat," Harry said, picking the first thing that came to mind.
"Mmmm." Trelawney's teacup was raised to her mouth. She made a distracted noise while sipping. With her free hand, she made a mark on a piece of parchment. Even upside-down, Harry was able to see that it was a small frowny-face.
Harry cursed inwardly, suddenly remembering that Trelawney had marked Tracey down for seeing a rat in her teacup. Harry leaned closer to the crystal ball. For some reason, the center of the ball appeared to be black as night… and…
There really was a rat.
The rat had reddish-tan fur and was standing in the blackness. The rat was reared up on its hind legs, as if it were a person. Its lips were drawn back, exposing its teeth in a snarl.
"And… er… a snake?" Viewings were often personal, so a snake symbol seemed like a safe bet. Also, snakes ate rats… probably.
"Of course," said Trelawney airily. "Your viewing is remarkably similar to Ms. Davis's. Perhaps your inner eye is focused on the same event?" Trelawney's eyes narrowed as she spoke. Harry drew back, slightly. Was she subtly accusing him of cheating?
Trelawney suddenly jerked erect—she had spilled tea on herself.
Harry looked again into the crystal ball, reassured that Trelawney wasn't clever enough to know the meaning of the word insinuation, let alone actually make them. Inside the crystal ball, the rat was still standing on a field of blackness, but now a snake had appeared, facing the rat. The snake had glimmering green and silver scales, and its mouth was open, fangs bared.
As Harry watched, the rat and the snake seemed to shrink… but they weren't shrinking, not really, they were just moving farther away. From a greater distance, Harry could finally see that the blackness of the background was an enormous shaggy black dog.
"And behind them, standing over them… it's the Grim," Harry said. He looked up at Trelawney, who raised her eyebrows.
"Is this the extent of your viewing?"
Harry glanced down at the crystal ball, but the vision was gone. There was nothing but clear glass on the table.
"I guess so," Harry said.
"And what does all this mean?"
Harry sat back and took a deep breath. "If I were feeling bold, I would say that the snake represents a member of Slytherin house, and the rat represents a future betrayal. The betrayal will result in death for both the betrayer and the betrayed."
"Possible." Trelawney began scrawling notes on her parchment.
"More realistically… I'm going to see a snake in the near future. Maybe a new pet. He's going to eat a rat, which will obviously die. I'll have to be on the lookout to make sure the snake doesn't choke and die as well."
"That seems rather… literal, Mr. Potter."
Harry shrugged. "I can only work with what I am given."
"Quite true. And it seems that you have not been given the gift of second sight, Mr. Potter. While you may continue to study Divination from a theoretical standpoint, the practical applications will likely escape you. I would recommend something more… concrete for your schedule next year. Perhaps Ancient Runes or Arithmancy."
"But Professor, I'm just telling you what I saw!"
"Mr. Potter, the difficulty of Divination does not lie in seeing the future, it lies in understanding what you see. There may not be any right answers in my class, but there are certainly wrong ones. You are excused. Please send in Mr. Zabini."
Harry stood, furious with his teacher. Telawney's class had been a complete joke for the entire year. What she had done could hardly be called teaching. And now she was giving a ridiculously hard examination with a completely arbitrary set of expectations! Harry couldn't understand why Dumbledore kept Trelawney around as a teacher, especially compared to the likes of Flitwick or McGonagall or Snape. And on top of it all, for once Harry really had seen those things in the crystal ball! How was he supposed to know what it all meant?
As Harry reached for the door, Trelawney's voice called out, deep and hoarse. Her voice made goosebumps run up and down Harry's arms.
"It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight... the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..."
Harry shivered as Trelawney's voice went silent.
"Professor… what was that?" Harry asked.
Trelawney coughed and sipped her tea. "I said, 'Please send in Mr. Zabini,'" Trelawney repeated.
"No, I meant… that other stuff."
"What 'other stuff' would that be?"
"Er… about the Dark Lord and his servant?"
"You have already given your interpretation, Mr. Potter. There are no second chances when it comes to second sight. And, I might add, a more fantastic interpretation would not improve your mark."
Thoroughly confused, Harry stepped out of the classroom. "Blaise," he said, "You're up."
"How'd you do?" asked Tracey as Harry sat down on the stairs.
"Same as you," Harry said. "Rats and dogs and snakes. Then Trelawney's voice got all weird and she started to talk about the Dark Lord."
Draco leaned forward. "Still trying to scare you, I think. You weren't suitably impressed with her prediction on the first day of class, so she's still giving out fake prophecies."
"Must be," Harry said, but he didn't believe it for a second. He sat silently for the rest of the exam period, brooding over Trelawney's strange words.
A/N: Had to get that out of the way. And now, we move toward our stunning conclusion, beginning Friday! (And continuing for the next month or two.)