Chapter 10
Divination
The following weeks were filled with homework, and stolen looks between Draco and me. We were unable to spend any time by ourselves, studying and homework were taking up much of our time. Not to mention Draco still had Prefect duties to perform with Pansy.
Pansy was still not speaking to me, and anytime Draco and I were next to each other she'd glare in our direction. Any attempts I made to speak to her were met by her immediately leaving the room. The last thing I wanted my almost relationship with Draco to do was affect my friendship with Pansy. She had been one of my closest friends since our first year. Even through the whole not speaking to Draco thing she remained by my side.
On a Monday morning the Great Hall was buzzing with conversation. Draco and I were sitting next to each other, enjoying biscuits and jam when the post arrived. Draco received a parcel filled with sweets from his mother, she liked to send them almost every week. I happened to also notice a plethora of owls heading towards the Gryffindor table. A once over of the table led me to the conclusion that the owls were in fact for Harry.
It wasn't until later in the day that I discovered why Harry was receiving a bunch of letters. Turns out The Quibbler had published an interview of him. This was exactly what Draco suspected of him doing when we spotted him at the Three Broomsticks with Luna Lovegood, and Rita Skeeter. Professor Umbridge had decreed a new Educational Decree that banned the magazine from the school.
"It appears your brother has been able to sway students to his side of the story," Draco whispered under his breath. We were in a rather loud Charms class at the moment, so being overheard was not an issue.
"Well," I whispered back, "technically his story is true. He did go to the graveyard and the Dark Lord has returned."
"Yes, but the longer this could have been kept under wraps the better it would be for Him."
"Just because he's managed to convince students here doesn't mean the adults of the wizarding world will believe him," I shrugged. Draco thought for a moment before nodding in agreement.
Another couple of weeks went by, the only difference was now students whispering about the article in The Quibbler while still making snide comments about me. Now the comments included that I must have betrayed Harry because I was no longer hanging around him. However, on a Tuesday evening the school was given something else to gossip about.
Pansy was now speaking to me, but only when she needed to. This was at least some progress, and it gave me hope that we could soon go back to being friends.
Roughly halfway through dinner a commotion from the Entrance Hall could be heard. I, along with a great deal of students, headed out to see what was going on.
A circle had formed, I pushed through a group of Hufflepuffs to get a better view. In the center of the circle stood Professor Trelawney, her wand in one hand and a bottle of sherry in the other. She looked completely mad. Her hair was sticking up on end, her glasses lopsided which made one eye look larger than the other. her innumerable shawls and scarves were trailing haphazardly from her shoulders, giving the impression that she was falling apart at the seams. Two large trunks lay on the floor beside her, one of them up-side down; it looked very much as though it had been thrown down the stairs after her. She was looking towards the bottom of the staircase, a look of terror written across her face. I followed her gaze to see Professor Umbridge standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"No!" she shrieked. "NO! This cannot be happening. . . . It cannot… I refuse to accept it!"
"You didn't realize this was coming?" said Professor Umbridge, sounding callously amused. "Incapable though you are of predicting even tomorrow's weather, you must surely have realized that your pitiful performance during my inspections, and lack of any improvement, would make it inevitable you would be sacked?"
"You c-can't!" howled Professor Trelawney, tears streaming down her face from behind her enormous lenses, "you c-can't sack me! I've b-been here sixteen years! H-Hogwarts is m-my h-home!"
"It was your home," said Professor Umbridge as a look of enjoyment was stretched across her face as Professor Trelawney sunk onto one of her trunks, "until an hour ago, when the Minister of Magic countersigned the order for your dismissal. Now kindly remove yourself from this hall. You are embarrassing us."
I watched Professor Trelawney sob, a feeling of sympathy filling my body. I always enjoyed her classes, even if she were eccentric and somewhat unpredictable. Her silly predictions of Harry's gruesome death were amusing, even if they never came true.
It wasn't long until Professor McGonagall pushed through the crowd and rushed to Professor Trelawney. She patted her on the back and handed her a large handkerchief.
"There, there, Sibyll, calm down. Blow your nose on this. It's not as bad as you think, now. You are not going to have to leave Hogwarts"
"Oh really, Professor McGonagall?" said Umbridge in a deadly voice, taking a few steps forward. "And your authority for that statement is?"
"That would be mine," said a deep voice.
The oak front doors had swung open. Students beside them scuttled out of the way as Dumbledore appeared in the entrance. I wondered what he was doing out on the grounds instead of being in his office. He strode forward through the circle of onlookers toward the place where Professor Trelawney sat, tearstained and trembling, upon her trunk, Professor McGonagall alongside her.
"Yours, Professor Dumbledore?" said Umbridge with a singularly unpleasant little laugh. "I'm afraid you do not understand the position. I have here" - she pulled a parchment scroll from within her robes - "an Order of Dismissal signed by myself and the Minister of Magic. Under the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty-three, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts has the power to inspect, place upon probation, and sack any teacher she - that is to say, I - feel is not performing up to the standard required by the Ministry of Magic. I have decided that Professor Trelawney is not up to scratch. I have dismissed her."
"You are quite right, of course, Professor Umbridge. As High Inquisitor you have every right to dismiss my teachers. You do not, however, have the authority to send them away from the castle. I am afraid," he went on, with a courteous little bow, "that the power to do that still resides with the headmaster, and it is my wish that Professor Trelawney continue to live at Hogwarts."
At this, Professor Trelawney gave a wild little laugh in which a hiccup was barely hidden.
"No - no, I'll g-go, Dumbledore! I sh-shall l-leave Hogwarts and s-seek my fortune elsewhere -"
"No," said Dumbledore sharply. "It is my wish that you remain, Sibyll."
He turned to Professor McGonagall.
"Might I ask you to escort Sibyll back upstairs, Professor McGonagall?"
"Of course," said McGonagall. "Up you get, Sibyll…"
Professor Sprout came hurrying forward out of the crowd and grabbed Professor Trelawney's other arm. Together they guided her past Umbridge and up the marble stairs. Professor Flitwick went scurrying after them, his wand held out before him; he squeaked, "Locomotor trunks!" and Professor Trelawney's luggage rose into the air and proceeded up the staircase after her, Professor Flitwick bringing up the rear.
Professor Umbridge was standing stock-still, staring at Dumbledore, who continued to smile benignly.
"And what," she said in a whisper that nevertheless carried all around the entrance hall, "are you going to do with her once I appoint a new Divination teacher who needs her lodgings?"
"Oh, that won't be a problem," said Dumbledore pleasantly. "You see, I have already found us a new Divination teacher, and he will prefer lodgings on the ground floor."
"You've found - ?" Umbridge said shrilly. "You've found? Might I remind you, Dumbledore, that under Educational Decree Twenty-two —"
"- the Ministry has the right to appoint a suitable candidate if - and only if - the headmaster is unable to find one," said Dumbledore. "And I am happy to say that on this occasion I have succeeded. May I introduce you?"
He turned to face the open front doors, through which night mist was now drifting. I heard hooves on the stone floor. There was a shocked murmur around the hall and those nearest the doors hastily moved even farther backward, some of them tripping over in their haste to clear a path for the newcomer.
Through the mist came a face I had seen once before on a dark, dangerous night in the Forbidden Forest: white-blond hair and astonishingly blue eyes, the head and torso of a man joined to the palomino body of a horse.
"This is Firenze," said Dumbledore happily to a thunderstruck Umbridge. "I think you'll find him suitable."
The look of absolute disgust was etched all over Professor Umbridge's face. Her mouth opened and closed, utterly speechless. With a huff, she turned on her heels and fled the scene. Dumbledore instructed the crowd to disperse and return to dinner. Slowly the crowd dissipated and now the halls were filled with whisperings of what had transpired.
A couple of days later I had my first Divination lesson with Firenze. Instead of being up in the usual classroom, the lesson took place in classroom eleven situated on the ground-floor corridor leading off the entrance hall on the opposite side to the Great Hall.
Zabini and I walked into the new Divination classroom, expecting the usual row of desks and hard chairs. Instead we were met with a forest clearing.
The classroom floor had become springily mossy and trees were growing out of it; their leafy branches fanned across the ceiling and windows, so that the room was full of slanting shafts of soft, dappled, green light. In the middle of the clearing stood Firenze.
We both looked around, mouths slightly agape. The students who arrived before us had taken seats on the soft floor. I spotted Pansy sitting on the left side of the classroom, near the back.
"Shall we join Pansy?" I asked as I tilted my head in her direction. Zabini nodded and we walked over to where she was sitting.
Pansy had been more talkative with me since Professor Trelawney got sacked in front of the whole school. We finally had something new to talk about that involved something we both liked.
As we crossed the room, we passed in front of Firenze. Before I could go any further he spoke.
"Chloe Potter," he reached out a hand. As I shook his hand and awkwardly muttered a greeting, he spoke again, "Harry Potter." He was looking past me. I turned my head and sure enough my twin had entered the room.
"Er - hi," Harry said as he walked up to Firenze. He also shook the centaurs hand. "Er - good to see you."
"And you both as well," Firenze answered as he inclined his white-blone head. "It was foretold we would meet again."
The tension between Harry and I was palpable, but Firenze didn't seem to notice or care. I tried to avoid eye contact with him, but as we turned away from Firenze to join the rest of the class our eyes met. He opened his mouth, but before he could get a word in I stalked away towards my friends. I could feel the eyes of everyone in the classroom follow me, like usual their looks were paired with whispers.
When the door was closed and the last student had sat down upon a tree stump beside the wastepaper basket, Firenze gestured around the room.
"Professor Dumbledore has kindly arranged this classroom for us," said Firenze, when everyone had settled down, "in imitation of my natural habitat. I would have preferred to teach you in the Forbidden Forest, which was - until Monday - my home… but this is not possible."
"Please - er - sir -" said Parvati breathlessly, raising her hand, "why not? We've been in there with Hagrid, we're not frightened!"
"It is not a question of your bravery," said Firenze, "but of my position. I can no longer return to the forest. My herd has banished me."
"Herd?" said Lavender in a confused voice, and I knew she was thinking of cows. I rolled my eyes at her stupidity. "What - oh!" Comprehension dawned on her face. "There are more of you?" she said, stunned.
"Did Hagrid breed you, like the thestrals?" asked Dean eagerly.
Firenze turned his head very slowly to face Dean, who seemed to realize at once that he had said something very offensive.
"I didn't - I meant - sorry," he finished in a hushed voice.
"Centaurs are not the servants or playthings of humans," said Firenze quietly. There was a pause, then Parvati raised her hand again.
"Please, sir… why have the other centaurs banished you?"
"Because I have agreed to work for Professor Dumbledore," said Firenze. "They see this as a betrayal of our kind."
"Let us begin," said Firenze. He swished his long palomino tail, raised his hand toward the leafy canopy overhead then lowered it slowly, and as he did so, the light in the room dimmed, so that we now seemed to be sitting in a forest clearing by twilight, and stars emerged upon the ceiling. There were oohs and gasps, and Ron said audibly, "Blimey!"
"Lie back upon the floor," said Firenze in his calm voice, "and observe the heavens. Here is written, for those who can see, the fortune of our races."
I laid back upon the mossy floor and stared up at the ceiling. The stars twinkled down on me.
"I know that you have learned the names of the planets and their moons in Astronomy," said Firenze's calm voice, "and that you have mapped the stars' progress through the heavens. Centaurs have unraveled the mysteries of these movements over centuries. Our findings teach us that the future may be glimpsed in the sky above us…"
"Professor Trelawney did Astrology with us!" said Parvati excitedly. I glanced over at her and saw she raised her hand in front of her so that it stuck up in the air as she lay on her back. "Mars causes accidents and burns and things like that, and when it makes an angle to Saturn, like now" - she drew a right angle in the air above her -"that means that people need to be extra careful when handling hot things -"
"That," said Firenze calmly, "is human nonsense."
Parvati's hand fell limply to her side.
"Trivial hurts, tiny human accidents," said Firenze, as his hooves thudded over the mossy floor. "These are of no more significance than the scurryings of ants to the wide universe, and are unaffected by planetary movements."
"Professor Trelawney -" began Parvati, in a hurt and indignant voice.
"- is a human," said Firenze simply. "And is therefore blinkered and fettered by the limitations of your kind."
I heard some light scoffing from some of the students around me. I suppose they found what Firenze said offensive.
"Sibyll Trelawney may have Seen, I do not know," continued Firenze, and I heard the swishing of his tail again as he walked up and down before us, "but she wastes her time, in the main, on the self-flattering nonsense humans call fortune-telling. I, however, am here to explain the wisdom of centaurs, which is impersonal and impartial. We watch the skies for the great tides of evil or change that are sometimes marked there. It may take ten years to be sure of what we are seeing."
Firenze pointed to the red star that was on the right side of the classroom.
"In the past decade, the indications have been that Wizard-kind is living through nothing more than a brief calm between two wars. Mars, bringer of battle, shines brightly above us, suggesting that the fight must break out again soon. How soon, centaurs may attempt to divine by the burning of certain herbs and leaves, by the observation of fumes and flame…"
For the rest of the class we sat in small circles and burned sage and mallowsweet. Firenze had us looking for shapes and symbols in the fumes, and seemed unconcerned that none of us could see anything. He told us that humans were often not good at this and it took centaurs years and years of practice to become competent. He finished the lesson by telling us to not put too much faith in such things anyway as even centaurs can read them wrongly.
"That was certainly an interesting lesson," Pansy muttered as we put out our fire. I nodded in agreement.
"Harry, Chloe." Firenze called as the class was filing out of the classroom. Pansy and Zabini gave me curious looks as they continued walking out. I saw Ron lingering awkwardly at the door and Firenze told him he could stay and to shut the door.
"Harry and Chloe Potter, you are a friend of Hagrid's, are you not?" said the centaur.
"Yes," said Harry. I stayed silent, Hagrid and I haven't conversed much since last year. It seemed as though Firenze was unaware of that.
"Then give him a warning from me. His attempt is not working. He would do better to abandon it."
My curiosity peaked at Firenze's words. Before I could ask what he meant, Harry voiced my thoughts.
"His attempt is not working?" Harry repeated blankly.
"And he would do better to abandon it," said Firenze, nodding. "I would warn Hagrid myself, but I am banished - it would be unwise for me to go too near the forest now - Hagrid has troubles enough, without a centaurs' battle."
"But - what's Hagrid attempting to do?" said Harry nervously. He shared a look with Ron.
Firenze looked at us impassively.
"Hagrid has recently rendered me a great service," said Firenze, "and he has long since earned my respect for the care he shows all living creatures. I shall not betray his secret. But he must be brought to his senses. The attempt is not working. Tell him, Harry and Chloe Potter. Good day to you."
I left the room without so much as a glance towards my brother. Zabini and Pansy had waited for me just outside the classroom. When they saw me emerge they quickly came to my side.
"What was that all about?" Pansy asked quietly.
"He just wanted a word with us." I said under my breath. I didn't want to tell Pansy or Zabini about the message Firenze gave Harry and me. I wasn't in the mood for debating what Hagrid could possibly be hiding in the Forbidden Forest. I already knew about the acromantulas, and didn't really care what else he had going on in there. The only person I planned on telling was Draco.
"Why?" She pressed.
"I met him roughly four years ago," I said as we walked, "he just wanted to see how we were." I lied smoothly.
"Four years ago?" Zabini asked.
"Yeah, during my detention in our first year." I reminded them as we walked to the Transfiguration room.
I was unable to talk to Draco privately until late that night after everyone else went to bed. Just a few minutes after Pansy bid the two of us good night I brought up the subject.
"There's something I wanted to talk to you about," I said as Draco finished writing a sentence on his Transfiguration homework. He looked up at me curiously. "At the end of my Divination class today, Firenze asked to speak to Harry and me."
"What did he want?" asked Draco, putting his quill down on the table in front of us.
"He had a message for Hagrid," I answered. "He seemed to be under the impression I was still friends with Hagrid."
"Well, it's not like you aren't friends with Hagrid." Draco said. "You guys just haven't really talked since he came back. Right?"
"Honestly, I kind of feel like Hagrid has been ignoring me." I shrugged. "To be fair, I haven't reached out to him either. He's always liked Harry more than me." The fire crackled as I paused for a moment. "Anyway, he wanted us to tell Hagrid that his attempts are not working. That he should abandon whatever he is doing."
"What's he doing?" Draco's eyes glinted with interest.
"I have no clue," I sighed. "I imagine that he's trying to tame some wild animal."
"Pretty good guess," Draco nodded slowly. "Do we care that Hagrid's up to something?"
"I'm not sure. It could be nothing, or I suppose he could be doing something for Dumbledore." I thought outloud.
"What, like taming some wild beast to fight the Dark Lord?" Draco scoffed. "I doubt he'd be able to tame anything useful."
"He is friends with some acromantulas," I pointed out.
"He's friends with what?" Draco sounded terrified and impressed at the same time.
"Yeah, I met a bunch of them my second year." I shuddered at the memory of being chased through the forest by a bunch of baby acromantulas. Draco gave me an astonished look. "It was not pleasant."
"You've gotten me curious," Draco moved closer to me. I felt my heart quicken slightly as he moved.
"I - uh - well…" I stuttered. God, why was I stuttering? "It's a long story."
"I'd love to hear it," Draco smiled at me.
"Maybe some other time," I said. "It's getting late, and we should go to bed." Draco glanced at his wrist to check the time.
"I suppose you're right, but you owe me." He smirked as he packed up his belongings.
We said good-night and headed off to our respective dormitories.
Between school work, extra studying, Quidditch practice, and Draco's Prefect duties, we were unable to find time for me to tell him about the acromantulas until the middle of March.
It was a misty morning on a Saturday. We had just finished an early morning Quidditch practice, and were walking back to the castle. Crabbe and Goyle were trailing behind us, it felt like we had our own personal security guards. Draco was to my right, his shoulder occasionally brushing up against mine.
"I was thinking," Draco said, breaking the silence. "We could spend some time alone tonight?" I glanced up at him, a warm feeling spreading through my chest.
"Yeah, that'd be nice." I smiled at him.
"We could find a quiet spot in the library," he suggested.
"The library isn't a good spot for conversation," I pointed out, "or for privacy."
"Privacy?" Draco said with a glint in his eyes. I felt a small blush creep up my cheeks.
"That's not - I mean -" I stammered. He let out a small chuckle, clearly amused by my flusteredness.
"We could always find an empty classroom instead," he smiled.
I simply nodded, not trusting my voice at the moment.
Draco ate his dinner that night with such speed I was surprised he didn't make himself sick. I gave him a questioning look as he stood to leave the table. He just gave me a wink and left the Great Hall.
"Where's he off to?" Zabini asked.
"I'm not sure," I answered, turning back to my mashed potatoes.
"He seemed excited," Pansy said, eyeing me closely.
"Yeah," I said slowly, "I suppose he did." I wondered what he was up to.
"Do you guys have plans?" She questioned further.
"Do you really want to know?" I asked suspiciously. I was not in the mood for arguing with Pansy.
"I - I'm tired of dancing around the subject." Pansy said with a sigh. "I've decided I'm no longer interested in Draco. What's the point of pining over a guy who'll never return the feeling? And besides, I miss being able to talk to you about anything." Pansy appeared to be sincere in her words and I felt a wave of relief wash over my body.
"I miss talking to you about everything too," I gave her a smile.
"So," she said with a smile, "do you two have plans?"
"Yeah, we do." I answered. "We just wanted to hang out and talk. It's been ages since we've had the time to."
"The damn O. are keeping all of us busy," Pansy said with a sour look on her face. "I'm tired of studying."
"Hear, hear," Zabini agreed with her.
Draco reappeared near the end of dinner, looking quite excited. He leaned down and whispered in my ear.
"Come on," he grabbed my hand and gently pulled me up. I allowed him to lead me through the Great Hall, our hands still together, and to an empty classroom on the third floor.
The classroom was one that usually remained empty, and dust covered. However, it looked as though it had just gone through a deep clean. Draco had cleared a small spot where he carefully situated a pile of blankets and pillows. There were lit candles spread around the room, making the room feel warm and comfortable.
"You did all this?" I asked Draco, as I stared around the room in wonder.
Draco smiled and led me over to the blankets and pillows and motioned for me to sit down. We sat down and made ourselves comfortable. Draco was sitting to my right, close enough that our shoulders were lightly brushing up against each other.
"You owe me a story," Draco said after adjusting a pillow behind him.
"That I do," I nodded. "Where do I start?" I said to myself. "Oh, I know.
"It started on the day that Hagrid was sent to Azkaban and Dumbledore was forced out of the Headmaster position. I was actually in Hagrid's cabin when it happened."
"Oh?" Draco said.
"Yeah, Harry, Ron, and I were trying to figure out what was in the Chamber of Secrets. Just as Hagrid was escorted out of his cabin he told us if we wanted to find out more information we would follow the spiders." Draco gave me a quizzical look. "We kept our eyes out for spiders, but it seemed as though they were all gone. It took us a week to find spiders to follow.
"When we finally did, we went to Hagrid's cabin, got Fang, then headed into the Forbidden Forest and followed them. At the time we were pretty scared. It was Ron's first time in the Forest, and we were just hoping we didn't run into anything dangerous."
"The Forest is definitely a dangerous place to be."
"The trees were so dense that we could no longer see the stars in the sky. The further we walked the more anxious we all got. After what felt like thirty minutes we began to hear rustling coming from the darkness."
"Remember the car Harry, Ron, and I flew to school that year?" He nodded. "Well, it turns out that it was hanging out in the Forest. We ran into it while following the spiders. As we were talking about the car, Ron became a blubbering mess." I rolled my eyes as Draco snickered. "Seconds later we were snatched up by some of the acromantulas.
"The acromantulas carried us to their web, where we met their father, Aragog. He asked if it was Hagrid, and when they responded no, he told his children to kill us. Harry was quick to yell that we were friends of Hagrids and Aragog decided to hear us out. We asked about the Chamber of Secrets and he wouldn't tell us what the monster inside was, just that all spiders feared it.
"After we had our conversation, we wanted to leave but Aragog decided to let his children eat us."
"Even after you told him you were friends with Hagrid?" Draco asked.
"Yeah, he said that he couldn't deny his sons and daughters fresh meat, especially when it wanders in willingly. If it weren't for the car, we would have been spider food."
"The car?"
"I suppose it followed us and when we were in danger let us ride it out of the Forest. It didn't stick around to see if we were okay, just headed back into the Forest."
"So, let me get this straight." Draco said, "Giant, talking, spiders were trying to eat you, and a car saved your life?"
"Basically." I nodded.
"Tell me more about how scared Ron was," Draco said with a smirk.
The rest of the time spent together was filled with making fun of Ron's cowardice and enjoying each other's company