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

AN: I will be quoting the book here, because I want to include the Transfiguration class where McGonagall is teaching them about Animagi.

Chapter 8

Once Devyn got out of Trelawney's classroom and back down into the rest of the castle, it was far easier to think clearly. She found herself calming down about the whole Grim thing. Once she thought about it, she had to admit, Divination did seem a little unreliable.

Granted, she was sure that there were certain aspects to it that were reliable, but she didn't think that tea leaves were one of them. Still, it was a tad weird that the Grim showed up in Harry's cup when Black was on the loose and apparently out to kill Harry.

And then there was the daisy symbol in both her and Neville's cups, which represented new love. That was slightly odd…but then there was the wasp in Neville's cup – Devyn highly doubted that anything was going to happen to Mrs. Longbottom. Even though she was only human, she was cautious and exceedingly resilient.

But on the other hand, there was the lamp in her cup, which symbolized secrets being revealed. Now that was weird. Devyn knew there was something that everyone was keeping from Harry (and by extension, Devyn and the rest of her friends) regarding the whole Black situation. So, maybe something was going to happen that would shine some light on the subject?

Devyn shook her head and tried to push those thoughts from her mind as she sat down in her seat in McGonagall's classroom. She looked around at Harry, who was sitting behind her – he looked just as pensive as she was.

In fact, the entire class was. They were all looking grave and thoughtful. Parvati and Lavender kept stealing glances at Harry, as though they expected him to drop dead at any given moment. Luckily, they stopped doing this when they realized that Harry knew what they were doing (he was glaring at them), but still, barely anyone was paying attention when McGonagall transformed from her cat Animagus back into her human form.

"Really, what has got into you all today?" McGonagall asked, looking a little disgruntled. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class."

Almost as though everyone aside from Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Devyn were operating under a hive mind, they turned in unison to look at Harry. Although they stared at him, no one made a sound.

Slowly, Hermione raised her hand and said, "Please, Professor, we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading tea leaves, and –"

McGonagall nodded and put up a hand to stop Hermione. "Ah, of course," she said, frowning. "There is no need to say anymore, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"

Devyn's whirling mind screeched to a halt at McGonagall's words – what did she mean? Had Trelawney predicted students' deaths before?

"Me," Harry said, although it sounded more like a reluctant grunt. McGonagall nodded.

"I see," she said, staring at Harry. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sybil Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues…"

McGonagall trailed off, looking as though she had just had to stop herself from saying something she really shouldn't, at least not to students. She breathed deeply and continued, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney…"

Once again she stopped herself and then said, in a frank tone of voice, "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

Devyn smiled and chuckled at McGonagall's dry humor. She looked at Neville and saw that he was grinning too. However, there were others who were obviously not convinced – Lavender and Parvati were both still looking concerned and even Ron was looking unsure of the notion that Harry's tea leaves had just been tea leaves, and not some death omen.

"Now," McGonagall said, settling back into teaching mode, "which of you can tell me what an Animagus is?"

Devyn felt an urge to grin rising up in her as she raised her hand along with Hermione, who was also suppressing a smile. Sometimes it was awfully hard to keep Snow a secret.

"Miss Murphy?" McGonagall said, nodding to her.

"An Animagus is a witch or wizard who elects to turn into an animal," Devyn replied. McGonagall nodded and said, "Excellent, five points to Gryffindor. And who can tell me what determines what shape someone's Animagus might take?"

Hermione raised her hand and McGonagall called on her. "The Animagus form is determined by the person's inner traits and qualities. For example, someone with a wolf Animagus," Devyn tried desperately not to smile and risk revealing her secret, "would most likely have inner traits such as loyalty, intelligence, and vigilance."

"Precisely, Miss Granger. Another five points to Gryffindor…"

When McGonagall turned away for a moment, Hermione caught Devyn's eye and winked. Devyn returned the wink and then caught out of the corner of her eye Neville trying to stifle a laugh. As discreetly as she could, she looked at Harry and Ron, who were both wearing telltale grins.

By nothing less than a miracle, none of the other students noticed that their five classmates seemed to be sharing an inside joke. In fact, the entire lesson went by without anyone noticing that the five of them kept having to suppress grins.

As the five of them made their way down to Hagrid's Hut for their first Care of Magical Creatures class, Devyn had to admit that McGonagall informing them about Trelawney's "Welcome to Divination" act had done wonders to alleviate her worry.

Maybe she'd go talk to Moony afterwards, if she could. He always knew what to say to ease her mind, and she hadn't seen very much of him since the Welcoming Feast – this was a bit annoying, considering they were now within the same (however large) castle.

"So…" Neville said, walking with her down the wooden log steps that eventually led to Hagrid's Hut. "What d'you think about those tea leaves?"

"I don't know…I mean, it's a bit odd, isn't it? The timing and everything…with Black after Harry -"

"Oh…no, I meant…I meant the ones in our cups. The daisies."

"Oh!" Devyn exclaimed. She wondered if she even had the right to be caught off guard. After all, she'd been thinking about it, too. "Um…I don't know, Neville. It's strange – not in a bad way – and I don't really know what to think about the daisies."

Neville turned red as he said, "It's a bit odd, that our cups both had the daisy, though, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Yeah," Devyn replied. She glanced at Neville and he said, "Yeah, well, McGonagall said that Divination wasn't very reliable, so…it's best to not put much stock into it, I guess."

Devyn only shrugged in reply.

"You don't think that Grim thing's got anything to do with Sirius Black, do you?" Ron asked loudly from slightly ahead of Devyn and Neville. Harry was behind of the two of them and Hermione was taking up the rear.

"Oh, honestly, Ron," Hermione said, sounding impatient with Ron's concern. "If you ask me, Divination's a very wooly discipline. Now, Ancient Runes, that's a fascinating subject."

Devyn's thoughts stopped swirling for just a moment when she processed what Hermione had said. Wasn't Ancient Runes in the same time as Divination? And it was only the first day – Hermione couldn't have had an Ancient Runes class yet.

Just another thing that doesn't add up. What else is new? Devyn thought.

"Ancient Runes?" Ron asked incredulously. "Exactly how many classes are you taking this term?"

"A fair few," Hermione answered vaguely. Neville raised an eyebrow at Devyn and she just shrugged. She trusted Hermione, but she was still curious. Something was up…Hermione was definitely hiding something from them, and it was probably with good reason.

Ron stopped short for a second, causing Devyn and Neville to have to skirt around him narrowly to avoid a collision. "Hang on," Ron said, having realized something. "That's not possible. Ancient Runes is in the same time as Divination. You'd have to be in two classes at once!"

Exactly, Ron, exactly, Devyn thought. Ron was right on the money – Hermione would have to be in two classes at once, but that was impossible…wasn't it?

"Don't be silly, Ronald. How could anyone be in two classes at once?" Hermione replied, sounding a little condescending. In an effort to steer the conversation away from her multiple classes, Hermione chose to mimic Trelawney.

"'Broaden your minds…use your inner eye to see the future!'" Hermione mocked the Divination teacher, laughing while she did it. Devyn couldn't deny that Trelawney had come out with some pretty ridiculous sounding things, but she also couldn't push the coincidental timing of what Trelawney had said.

"Dev…" Neville said softly, drawing her attention. She looked towards him and noticed that his green eyes were sparkling with a gentle and concerned light.

"I'm okay, Neville. Really. Just got a lot on my mind."

"Look, you've got to stop thinking so much." Neville said, placing an arm around her shoulders. Devyn smiled happily; she loved that around most everyone else, Neville was very shy, but with her, he wasn't like that. That one simple motion also showed how far their friendship had progressed. In first year he wouldn't have even thought to try that without hesitating about a million times.

Devyn sighed and wrapped her arm around Neville's waist.

"I mean, I love that you're always thinking but…Dev, you're gonna drive yourself mad thinking about Black all the time. I know you're worried about Harry, but nothing's gonna happen. Just try and relax, okay?" Neville told her, pulling her close before releasing her shoulders.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right, Neville. I know you're right. Sometimes I wish I could just turn off my brain, you know? Just for a while."

Neville nodded in understanding, but they couldn't continue their conversation any further because they had reached Hagrid's hut. Hagrid wasn't outside yet, so the students had sort of congregated in front of his hut, split off into two groups – Gryffindors and Slytherins.

As the five of them approached, Devyn narrowed her eyes when she saw what Malfoy was up to. He seemed to be doing an impersonation of someone fainting, causing Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson to howl with mirth.

Devyn made a motion towards Malfoy, but Harry restrained her. "Don't," he said. "He's not worth it. It's just what he wants, anyway – attention."

Devyn wanted to push Harry's grip off and have a go at Malfoy, but she thought better of it and turned away from Malfoy and joined her fellow Gryffindors.

"Hey, Devyn!"

Devyn groaned when she heard Seamus call out to her. She turned to face him and said, "No, Seamus. My answer is still no."

His face fell and he said, "But why?"

"What do you mean, 'why'? I thought I made that clear at breakfast!"

"Yeah, but I thought maybe you'd change your mind…"

"Well, I haven't," Devyn told him.

"Yeah, I can see that, but why?"

"Bloody hell, Seamus, she's going with someone else, all right?!" Neville interrupted in her defense. "Get it through your head, man."

"What? But you told me this morning you weren't going with anyone!" Seamus protested.

"Well I wasn't – then. Someone asked me just before Divination class."

"Oh, yeah?" Seamus said, sounding angry and defensive. "And who is this person, eh?"

"Neville," Devyn said simply. Seamus' expression went from angry to stunned within seconds.

"What?"

"You heard me; Neville asked me and I said yes."

Seamus glared at the two of them before slinking away and muttering, "Shoulda seen that one coming, Finnigan."

"Maybe now he'll stop asking," Devyn said, with a satisfied and finished air. Neville nodded and said, "Let's hope. Otherwise, I'll have to start questioning the quality of Seamus' memory."

"Right!" Hagrid's voice boomed from above them. Most of the students turned towards him and started paying attention, including the majority of the Gryffindors and few of the less anger-inducing Slytherins. "That's it! C'mon now, come closer. Less talkin', if you don't mind!"

The last of the voices quieted down and Hagrid held everyone's attention. Devyn smiled up at him from the middle of the foremost part of the crowd. She was so happy for him; he was going to be a wonderful teacher, much like Moony. He had the perfect disposition for it.

"I've got a real treat for yeh today. A great lesson," Hagrid told them. "So follow me."

It was only when Devyn realized that Hagrid was taking them into the Forbidden Forest that her heart sank and she prayed to Merlin that Hagrid hadn't planned anything dangerous. That was the last thing that he needed, was someone getting hurt.

"Oh, please, don't let it be anything dangerous…" Devyn whispered to herself. Neville, who was right next to her, nodded in agreement. She looked around at her friends and saw similarly worried expressions on their faces.

She knew that Hagrid would never put any of the students in danger deliberately, but then again, Hagrid didn't have a normal person's view of what was dangerous – his view of Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback as something of a puppy proved that much.

Devyn only hoped that what Hagrid was going to show them wasn't as dangerous as a dragon.