Chapter 17
After the dementor situation on the train, Reece was happy to be in the hall. What he was not happy about however, was the choir.
"Christ they're annoying." Draco muttered to Reece who was sitting to his left. The latter nodded in agreement as the hall began applauding the singers. "Did you hear about Potter?" He asked smugly as the headmaster made his way to his podium. Reece was about to ask what Draco was on about but the speech began before he could do so.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts." Professor Dumbledore announced as the students made their way to their seats. "Now, I'd like to say a few words before we all become too befuddled by our excellent feast. First, I'm pleased to welcome Professor R.J. Lupin who's kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." Many Slytherins looked down their noses at the new teacher in tatted robes. "Good luck, professor." Dumbledore said as the hall gave him a generous applause. Draco nudged Reece as the applause died down, and the two along with Theo turned around. Crabbe and Goyle were also watching from the other side of the table.
"Potter." Draco whispered. Harry and Ron flinched but played it off. "Potter," This time the two turned round to meet the smirking faces of the five Slytherins. "Is it true you fainted?" Nott dramatically sighed and Reece continued to watch over his shoulder. Harry didn't reply and the other two thirds of the trio looked on. "I mean, you actually fainted?" Draco spoke as if he had struck gold and Reece rolled his eyes.
"Shove off Malfoy." Weasley snarled as he and Harry turned back to the Gryffindor table. Draco and Theodore swivelled around but Reece continued to watch the three behind him. His bored glance somehow met Hermione's loathing glare and the two stared at each other for a few seconds. Reece was broken out of the small trance when Dumbledore started speaking and turned away from the Gryffindors quickly.
"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher has decided to retire in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. Fortunately, I'm delighted to announce that his place will be taken by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid." Many students were applauding the half giant, but Draco was enraged.
"Him?" Malfoy spat to the surrounding boys. "Father will hear about this. I can't believe he's teaching the subject after giving us that bloody book." Oh yeah, that. The book that attacked Arrow because Reece had her open it. No serious damage was done but she was in a mood for a few days.
"Finally, on a more disquieting note, at the request of the Ministry of Magic Hogwarts will until further notice, play host to the dementors of Azkaban." Draco looked as if he were about to explode with concealed rage. "The dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds. Now whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disrupt our day-to-day activities a word of caution; dementors are vicious creatures. They'll not distinguish between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way. Therefore, I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving. But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light."
"He's going mental." Malfoy concluded snobbishly as the food appeared on the tables. Reece was tempted to argue with Draco but decided against it. He knew that picking a fight with a Slytherin would only end in a disaster, so he kept his head down and did what Malfoy wanted.
So being the model Slytherin that he was, Reece made sure to trip up Justin in the crowd of students that was exiting the hall. Flinch-Fletchley went soaring into a crowd of Ravenclaw sixth years and Percy Weasley was soon stretching his authority trying to sort everything out.
"I thought you'd be taking Arithmancy, not Divination." Blaise remarked as he peered over Reece's shoulder, trying to get a good look at the new schedule.
"It's the same thing." Reece shrugged as Blaise took a seat beside him. "The only difference is that Arithmancy uses numbers and stuff."
"I thought smart people like yourself loved numbers and challenging academic problems." He replied while greeting Daphne and Tracy with a nod. The two girls sat across from them and began comparing class timetables. "You know, Professor Snape would probably let you change classes."
"Zabini." Reece sighed through his nose as he continued to eat the breakfast on his plate. "Professor Trelawney is supposed to be well weird. Apparently she predicts death and stuff; who'd want to miss that?"
"I'll give you that Lestrange. But I know you. You like facts, not things with multiple answers." Blaise said matter-of-factly as he secretly looked to the girls for help.
"Yeah." Daphne piped up suddenly, agreeing with Blaise for multiple reasons. "You'll drop it by the end of the year." Reece ignored her and continued to eat. "Seriously Reece, you should just take Arithmancy with me, Tracy and Blaise."
"And sit listening to Professor Vector go on and on about numbers and letters?" He snorted, letting his attention roam elsewhere. "I may like facts but my tolerance for boredom only goes so far." Reece said absentmindedly as he admired the short skirt that Lavender Brown was strutting around in. The Gryffindor was on the borderline of slutty and was quite bland, but she seemed to be aging decently. Of course, Brown was nothing compared to Granger. But she came across as quite an easy pull. "Why don't you two walk around with skirts like that?"
"Like what?" Daphne asked as the two turned to look at what Reece seemed to be admiring. Tracy noticed Lavender first and her pretty features scrunched up in disgust, Daphne then spotted her and had a similar reaction. "Because we have class, and by the looks of it, she's ready for anything."
"Anything?" Reece questioned, his interest peaking higher. The two girls had disgusted expressions on their faces but he was too excited to acknowledge them. "She seems like an easy pull, wouldn't you say?" Daphne's eyebrows shot up her forehead in realisation.
"Her?" She asked doubtfully while turning to look at the Gryffindor once again. "You could have picked a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw, but you pick Lavender Brown?"
"Well she does come across as an easy catch. Yes, she's annoying as hell. But I'd rather pull her than bloody Bulstrode." Reece said to Daphne, ignoring the confused expressions on the faces of Blaise and Tracy. "Those two galleons will be mine by the end of this term."
"Why would you want to snog Bulstrode?" Blaise asked as he received his copy of the Prophet from his owl.
"It's a bet between Reece and Pansy." Daphne said as she began to explain what had happened on the train.
Reece entered Divination and sat at a table with Pansy. It seemed that Draco had one of his henchmen sit beside him so Pansy could not.
"Welcome, my children." Oh wow. She looked like a bloody madwoman. Professor Trelawney was certainly eccentric to say the least. "In this room, you shall explore the noble art of Divination." He was bored already, and was seriously considering taking Blaise's advice and moving to Arithmancy. "In this room, you shall discover if you possess the Sight." Mr Yaxley had previously described the Sight as a load of bollocks and Reece couldn't help but feel as if he was in the wrong class. Sybill rose from her chair, knocking the small table in front of her as she did so.
"Christ." Reece muttered under his breath as a few students giggled at the Professor.
"Hello. I am Professor Trelawney. Together we shall cast ourselves into the future. This term we'll focus on Tasseomancy, the art of reading tea leaves." She was excited, Reece was not. He was really regretting his decision right now. "So please, take the cup of the person sitting opposite you." The class began to move and faff around with cups as she spoke. "What do you see?" He looked into Pansy's cup and shook his head at the random pattern. "The truth lies buried like a sentence deep within a book, waiting to be read."
"What are we supposed to be doing?" Reece whispered to Pansy. She ignored him and continued to look into the cup, a fascinated expression on her sharp features.
"First, you must broaden your minds." Trelawney announced as she clamped two bony hands onto Finnegan's head. "First, you must look beyond." Reece put the cup down lazily and leaned back against the railing. Yaxley was right. Absolute bollocks. "You boy," He looked across the room to notice she was addressing Longbottom. "Is your grandmother quite well?"
"I think so." Neville stuttered in reply, unsure how to answer to the strange Professor.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. Give me the cup." She looked inside the cup doubtfully before informing a nervous Neville. "Pity." The Gryffindor immediately grabbed the cup and was trying to see what was up with his grandmother. "Broaden your minds." Trelawney instructed for the second time. She approached the golden trio, and Reece couldn't help but chuckle at Weasley's reaction when her voice rose considerably. Granger looked as if she wanted to call out the teacher for such nonsense, and Reece couldn't blame her. "Your aura is pulsing dear. Are you in the beyond?" Bollocks. "I think you are."
"Sure." Ron agreed with a fearful expression carved onto his face.
"Look at the cup. Tell me what you see."
"Yeah." Weasley replied as he began flicking frantically through the text book. "Harry's got sort of a wonky cross. That's trials and suffering." Was Granger laughing? She looked to be holding it in and Reece couldn't help but smile while trying to supress his laughter. Her amused expression was infectious. "And that there, could be the sun and that's happiness. So you're gonna suffer, but you're gonna be happy about it." Reece was now biting his lip, almost chuckling as he watched the small movements and eye rolls that Granger was doing as he spoke.
"Give me the cup." Ron handed it over willingly. Reece kept watching Granger. He couldn't peel his eyes away from her no matter how hard he tried. She was turning into an obsession. A guilty, risky, rebellious obsession that he couldn't shake off. Reece snickered when the Professor jumped back; the woman was mental. "Oh, my dear boy. My dear, you have the Grim." What the fuck is that?
"The Grin? What's the Grin?" Seamus asked stupidly.
"Not the Grin, you idiot. The Grim." Another student corrected as Reece sat up straight again, eagerly waiting for an answer. "Taking form of a giant spectral dog. It's among the darkest omens in our world. It's an omen of death." Ha jokes on you Potter.