I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN DEVYN AND HER PARENTS.

AN: Just so you know, I'm embellishing a little with Trelawney's class. Nothing much, just trying to flesh things out. Thought you ought to know.

Chapter 7

Soon after Hermione and Devyn finished their conversation, they started getting ready for the day and Devyn couldn't help but smile when she caught sight of herself in the school uniform once again. She was just so excited to be back at Hogwarts.

She and Hermione made their way down to the Great Hall where breakfast was already on the tables. Not many students were down there just yet, but in a few minutes, they would be.

In fact, about ten minutes after Devyn and Hermione sat down and starting eating, Neville, Harry, and Ron trudged their way into the Great Hall. They weren't really awake just yet, but Ron perked up immediately when he smelled the delicious foods that were laid out in front of them.

"Morning," Devyn said to the boys. Ron nodded at her before diving into the plate of sausages before him and Harry smiled in greeting.

Neville, however, looked at her with the brightest smile and said, "Morning, Devyn!"

Ron looked up at Neville like he was insane and said, "How are you so…awake?"

Neville shrugged and smiled again. "Just happy and excited, I guess."

Ron shook his head and said, through a mouthful of sausage, "Never took you for a morning person, Neville."

"I'm not…I mean, not usually," Neville said. Devyn knew that she wasn't supposed to see it, but Neville cast a meaningful look her way. The fact that he did this made her heart jump and she had to fight the impulse to squirm happily in her seat.

Luckily, the fight to control herself became easier when Seamus sat down next to Neville and tossed a grin her way. Devyn didn't want to be mean to Seamus, but he clearly didn't understand that she wasn't interested in him.

Of course, in his defense, she never actually told him that she wasn't interested, and as far as she knew, Seamus wasn't a mind reader. If he were, he wouldn't still be grinning at her like that.

Devyn cleared her throat and said, "Morning, Seamus."

Seamus blinked and said, "Hi, Devyn. So…I never got to finish asking you, last night, about Hogsmeade…when the first trip comes around, would you want to go with me?"

Harry and Ron looked around at Seamus like they had never seen him before, but luckily they didn't say anything. Hermione was alternating between looking at her plate and at Devyn.

Neville was once again glowering at Seamus, but it wasn't as intense as last night, because, Devyn suspected, he already knew what her answer was going to be.

Devyn cleared her throat again and said, "Look, Seamus…you're a nice guy…really…"

Seamus smiled again and said, "Thanks."

Devyn nodded and continued, "But I'm going to have to say no."

"What?" Seamus asked. He sounded a little confused and disappointed.

"No, Seamus. I'm sorry, but I just don't…see you…in that way."

"Oh. Oh, okay," Seamus said. "Um…are you already going with someone else?"

"Why?" Devyn asked.

"Just asking," Seamus replied, sounding defensive. "I just wanna know why you're turning me down."

"Look, Seamus," Neville said, his tone slightly dangerous, "she already said no. What more information do you need?"

"Shove off, Neville. No one's talking to you," Seamus snapped.

And there went Devyn's patience. Any desire to be polite to Seamus flew out of the window. Nobody spoke to Neville like that and got away with it. Not while she was still breathing.

"Alright, you know what, Seamus?" Devyn said, her anger rising quickly. "I tried to be nice. I really did, but apparently me being nice doesn't get it through your thick skull. No, I'm not going to Hogsmeade with someone else – not yet, anyway – but that doesn't mean that I want to go with you. As a matter of fact, I don't want to go with you, because I'm not interested. And you listen to me, Finnigan, if you ever speak to Neville like that ever again, you will find yourself on the floor begging for mercy before you can even draw another breath. Are we clear?"

Seamus progressively sank lower and lower into his chair, to the point where, when she was finished, he was nearly on the floor. He nodded meekly and Devyn relaxed.

The entire rest of breakfast, Seamus didn't say another word to her or Neville. Neville smiled at her shyly and Devyn knew that was his way of saying thank you without having to actually say it. Devyn winked at him as way of reply.

Soon enough, McGonagall came around with the schedules for the students and Devyn and the others were delighted to find out that they had all their classes together. Although, considering that the Gryffindors generally had all their classes together, they really shouldn't be surprised anymore.

It was interesting to note that Hermione's schedule was slightly weird. Devyn was the only one who noticed it at first and she leaned over and said, "Hermione, they've got you down for four classes all at the same time. What's up?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow and said, "Don't worry, I've got it all worked out with McGonagall."

Devyn had no idea what that meant, and frankly, she didn't want to know. Hermione was an over-achiever, and this was taking it a bit far, but if she thought she could handle it, then she wouldn't interfere.

Sooner than later, they had to report to their first class of the year, which happened to be Divination. As they made their way to the North Tower (and got lost a couple times on the way, which led to their asking directions from both Sir Nicholas and a painting of a very strange knight named Sir Cadogan), Hermione and Devyn were discussing what Divination might be like.

"Well, Professor McGonagall doesn't think very highly of it," Hermione said. Devyn shrugged. She held nothing but the utmost respect for McGonagall – which increased with every year – but she'd rather experience something for herself before saying that it was useless or unreliable.

They started the climb up the winding staircase to the North Tower and about halfway through, Hermione dropped her backpack and her possessions came spilling out. Luckily, nothing shattered or was ruined, but Hermione sighed nonetheless and stooped down to pick up her belongings.

Devyn and Neville did the same but Hermione smiled and said, "Oh, it's all right. I've got it. You go on."

Devyn raised an eyebrow and said, "You sure?"

Hermione nodded and said, "Yeah, I've got it. You don't have to wait for me."

Neville frowned in confusion and Devyn started wondering if something was up. "Hermione, really, we don't mind waiting," Neville told her. However, Hermione shook her head and motioned for them to keep walking up the stairs.

Neville and Devyn looked at each other and shrugged in unison. "All right, Hermione. See you in class."

"See you!" Hermione called back cheerfully as Devyn and Neville continued their climb up the stairs quickly, in order to catch up with Harry and Ron.

Ron looked around when they were caught up and asked, "Where'd Hermione go?"

"Oh, she dropped her stuff. We offered to help her pick it up, but she sort of shooed us away," Neville replied. Ron frowned and said, "Huh…"

However, the confusion that had momentarily seized Ron disappeared and shrugged. The four of them continued walking up the seemingly never-ending stairs to the North Tower.

"Is there a particular reason why Professor Trelawney is all the way up here, does anyone know?" Devyn asked. Although her stamina and speed was slightly more advanced than her friends', she still hated stairs.

Harry, Ron, and Neville all shrugged. "I've got no clue, but I hope she has a good reason. Who knows, maybe Dumbledore stuck her up here to keep her out of the way. I mean, has anyone ever heard of her before this year?" Neville asked.

"Nope," Devyn replied, and Harry and Ron nodded their agreement. They hadn't ever heard of her either.

"Well, she isn't new, because if she was, Dumbledore would have introduced her at the Welcoming Feast," Ron said.

"And she wasn't new last year either," Devyn said. She'd almost forgotten that Harry and Ron hadn't been present for that Welcoming Feast. "And she wasn't new the year before that. So she's been here at least four years. But I've never even seen the woman around the castle. I mean, it's a big place, but most of the time, you see a majority of the teachers wandering around somewhere in the castle. But I've never seen her."

"Maybe she just doesn't like to socialize," Harry said.

"Yeah, maybe," Devyn said.

That conversation, thankfully, had carried them to the top of the stairs at long last. They looked around at their fellow classmates who were standing on the landing as well. She looked up and nudged Neville when she figured out why they were all standing there. Neville looked her way and she pointed to the ceiling, in which a circular wooden door was set. There was a gold plate on the door that read "Professor Trelawney".

"Ah," Neville said, turning to Ron and Harry to point out the door to them.

While he was doing that, Devyn caught sight of Seamus craning his neck and standing on his toes, obviously trying to look for someone, and Devyn had only too clear an idea who he was searching for.

She quickly tried to make herself inconspicuous by standing a little closer to Neville. He was taller than her by a fair bit, so he hid her pretty well. He looked down at her with an odd expression on his face.

Devyn looked up at him and said, "Don't move."

Neville blinked a couple times in bewilderment before looking down at her again, with the same expression on his face. Devyn blinked up at him in return before giving in and saying, "What?"

"What are you doing?" Neville asked, his voice full of confusion and curiosity.

Devyn sighed and said quietly, "Seamus is looking for me. I'm trying to stay hidden so he won't bother me."

Neville frowned deeply and looked around at Seamus, who was still determinedly searching for someone. "How do you know he isn't just looking for Dean?"

"Because Dean is right there, talking to Parvati and Lavender," Devyn said, gesturing toward the boy in question. Neville didn't even bother to ask how she noticed that; he had long since learned that Devyn happened to be extremely observant.

"All right. Look, Dev, why don't you just tell Seamus to shove off?"

"I don't want to be mean to him, Neville. He's got a crush on me, that's all. It'll wear off – I hope."

"You had no problem being blunt at breakfast, though," Neville told her. She nodded and said, "Yeah, well, he was being mean to you. No one speaks to you like that; not while I'm around."

Neville grinned and blushed a little and then said, "He's still on about Hogsmeade? Blimey, how many times does he have to be turned down before he understands?" Devyn nodded and said, "Yeah, I know. He clearly hasn't gotten the message yet."

"Well, if he asks you again, just say you're going with someone else."

Devyn's spine straightened of its own accord and she looked up at Neville. "And who should I say I'm going with, if he asks me?"

"Erm…well, see, I wanted to talk to you about that, but Seamus beat me to the punch…er…I was thinking that maybe we could go together. You know, just you and me. I don't know…I mean, I think it'd be fun – if you want to that is! If you don't…well, that…that'd be okay, too," Neville stammered out. Once he got that out, he adopted a blank expression and waited for her answer.

Devyn had to stop and process what Neville had just asked her. Did Neville just ask me out?

Yes, he did! Now answer before he backs out! Snow shouted at her.

All right, all right! Take it easy!

"Yeah, I'd love to. That sounds great."

Neville released a giant sigh of relief. He smiled widely and said, "Great! That's…that's great. That's settled then. So whenever the first Hogsmeade trip is…"

"We'll go together. Definitely, for sure."

Neville nodded and couldn't seem to keep the smile off his face. About thirty seconds later, the circular door in the ceiling opened and a silver ladder descended onto the ground. One of the feet of the ladder narrowly missed Dean's foot; it was only because Lavender pulled him out of the way that it actually missed.

Eventually a line started forming and one by one, the students started climbing up the ladder into the loft space above them.

"This is weird," Devyn commented and Neville nodded in agreement. Regardless of the weirdness of the means of entry, Devyn started ascending up the ladder after Neville and looked back down at Ron and Harry.

"If either of you looks up my skirt while I'm climbing, I'll kick you in the face. Clear?"

Harry and Ron nodded quickly and each of them quickly fixed their gazes on the metal bars in front of them. Once she reached the top, Neville grabbed her hand and pulled her up so she wouldn't have to get on her hands and knees and then push herself off the ground.

"Thanks, Nev."

"No problem. Come on, let's find a seat."

Once the four of them were separated by two's and seated at tables covered with red cloth, Devyn took the liberty of looking around the room.

The first thing she noticed was that the air was cloudy because of incense, no doubt, which was driving her sinuses insane. She desperately willed her sense of smell to be toned down just a tad, so that she wouldn't be burning the inside of her nostrils with every breath.

Then she noticed that any windows in the classroom were covered with red cloth similar to that on the table and candles were lit everywhere, casting an odd glow about the room. At the tables, there were two teacups and a teapot in front of them.

"What do you suppose these are for?" Neville asked her. She shrugged – she was as clueless as the next person when it came to Divination. Devyn cast a look around the room and noticed that almost everybody was looking about curiously except for Draco Malfoy and his cronies.

Malfoy was just sitting there, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. As for Crabbe and Goyle, they were staring around the room stupidly, with their mouths gaping a little.

Devyn rolled her eyes and took to looking around the room again. When she had finished that, she noticed a small note on the table in curvy handwriting.

"Look at this," she said to Neville, picking up the note and showing it to him. Neville squinted at it and said, "'The tea is brewed and very hot. Please be careful and pour yourselves a cup. Please then proceed to drink the tea until just the dregs are left.' Well, all right then."

Neville picked up the tea pot and poured them each a cup. As Devyn took a sip of the piping hot tea, she noticed that the others had started to pour their tea as well. Slowly but surely, everyone was drinking tea until each student had finished and placed their cup back on the table.

"Welcome my children!" a voice said, causing almost every student to jump. Neville nearly fell out of his seat, he had been so startled. Everyone looked around and noticed that the voice belonged to a thin woman with extremely large, round glasses and very curly hair. This could only be Professor Trelawney.

"In this room, you shall explore the noble art of Divination. In this room, you shall discover if you possess the Sight!" Professor Trelawney said. Unfortunately, her mystical tone was spoiled a little because she bumped into the table in front of her and had to steady it with one hand, causing the class to chuckle a little.

She carefully maneuvered around the table and said, "Hello. I am Professor Trelawney. Together, we shall cast ourselves into the future! This term we will be focusing on Tasseomancy, which is the art of reading tea leaves. So please, take the cup of the person sitting opposite you."

Trelawney crossed her arms out in front of her for effect and nodded enthusiastically when the students started handing each other their cups. Devyn relinquished her cup to Neville and received his in return. She looked into the tea cup and stared at the soggy remains of the tea leaves.

She and Neville shrugged at each other and started flipping through their textbooks for the symbol translation. Devyn saw something that looked like a wasp, which meant "danger of small harm". She frowned and thought, I hope not. I don't want Neville getting hurt.

But then, she also saw something that looked like a daisy…which meant "new love"…Devyn tried desperately not to blush when she saw that. She knew that it could have meant anything…but she wondered if that had anything to do with her.

"What do you see?" Professor Trelawney asked them. "The truth lies buried, like sentence deep within a book, waiting to be read. But first, you must broaden your minds!" She placed her hands firmly on Seamus' head, causing him to look up at her like she was insane. "First, you must look BEYOND!"

"What a load of rubbish!"

Devyn heard Hermione's voice and looked up to see her sitting at Ron and Harry's table. How had she gotten there? She hadn't been there the entire time – Devyn knew she hadn't!

"Where did you come from?" Ron asked her.

"Me? I've been here all this time!" Hermione replied impatiently. Devyn frowned in thought because she knew that Hermione hadn't been there the entire time. She knew it for a fact.

However, she was unable to think about Hermione's sudden appearance because Trelawney suddenly pointed to Neville and said, "You boy! Is your grandmother quite well?"

Neville, who had been taken aback, stammered, "I-I-I think so."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. Give me the cup," Trelawney said. Devyn handed her the cup and she barely looked at it for five seconds before she placed it back on the table and said, "Oh, hmm, pity…"

She walked on and Neville grabbed the cup and stared at it with wide eyes. He looked up at Devyn and asked, "What did you see? Did you see anything?"

Devyn hesitated, because she didn't want to cause him any unnecessary worry, but he looked like he wanted to know.

"Well, I saw something that looked a little like a wasp…that means "danger of small harm". Don't worry Neville, I'm sure it's nothing. I wouldn't put much stock into it, honestly."

Neville looked into his cup and said, "I suppose I sort of see a wasp. But what's this other thing? You've got one similar to it. D'you know what it is?"

"Oh, um…I think it's a daisy."

Neville nodded and consulted his book. He blushed deeply when he realized what the daisy stood for. Devyn smiled and Neville cleared his throat nervously.

"O-Oh, look, then there's this thing. Here, look. It's on the side – what does that look like to you? I've not got the foggiest idea what it could be…"

Devyn squinted at it and said, "Looks like one of those old oil lamps. You know, like Filch has got."

"Oh yeah, it does! Let's see what that means…lamp…on the side…oh, it says it symbolizes secrets being revealed."

Devyn's eyebrows shot up and she wondered, if there was any truth to this Tasseomancy stuff, what that meant. Did it have something to do with her and Neville? Or did it have to do with Sirius Black? Or maybe something entirely different?

"Ah!" Trelawney exclaimed, when she reached Ron, scaring the wits out of him. "Your aura is pulsing, dear! Are you in the beyond? I think you are!"

Ron nodded, looking utterly terrified, and said, "Sure."

"Look at the cup! Tell me what you see!" Trelawney told him.

Ron looked down at the cup and flipped a couple pages in his book. "Oh, yeah, um, well…Harry's got sort of a wonky cross, and that's 'trials and suffering'."

Hermione was looking highly amused while she watched Trelawney looking back and forth between Harry and Ron, making the odd thoughtful humming noise.

"And that there," Ron said, "could be the sun and that's 'happiness'." He looked up at Harry and said, "So, you're gonna suffer…but you're gonna be happy...about it."

Devyn had to stifle a laugh and it looked as though Hermione was trying to do the same. Trelawney, however, was not amused. "Give me the cup," she said, holding out her hand.

Ron obliged and Trelawney took one look at it before exclaiming loudly in fear and backing away quickly. The entire class was on edge as Trelawney moved slowly back towards Harry and said, "Oh, my dear boy…my dear…you have the Grim."

Gasps and whispers stole through the classroom and Seamus said loudly, "The Grin? What's the Grin?"

A boy named Bem turned to Seamus and said, "Not the Grin, you idiot, the Grim. 'Taking the form of a giant spectral dog, it's among the darkest omens in our world. It's an omen of death'."

Harry stared; pale-faced, down at the cup in his hands, at what apparently was the figure of the Grim. Devyn didn't want to believe Trelawney – Harry wasn't going to die – but with Black's escape at hand, and what Harry said Mr. Weasley told him…it was, admittedly, all a bit creepy.

Now, at the moment, all Devyn wanted to do was get out of that classroom and down to Transfiguration. She wasn't so sure she was going to like Divination.

Hey, everyone! So, I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth. I've been really busy and I've also had writer's block for a bit. But now I'm back. Thanks for being patient with me. I hope you liked this chapter. Please review, tell me what you liked/disliked. It really does help and I really do appreciate it.

Keep an eye out for the next chapter. As always, I don't know when it'll be up, but I promise it'll be soon.