Talons and Tea Leaves
When Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, the first thing they saw was Draco Malfoy, who seemed to be entertaining a large group of Slytherins with a very funny story. As they passed, Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter.
"Half of them were probably laughing at Malfoy," Charlie muttered.
"He did look stupid," Ron agreed. Draco glared.
Hermione told him to ignore them while Parkinson called out that the dementors were coming.
Several people rolled their eyes.
Harry dropped into a seat at the Gryffindor table, next to George Weasley. George passed out their schedules before asking what was wrong with Harry. Ron answered for him, saying Malfoy as he sat down on George's other side. George looked up in time to see Malfoy pretending to faint with terror again.
The twins looked over at Draco and grinned evilly at him. Draco swallowed hard, knowing those expressions likely meant he was in for some trouble.
George called him a git, claiming he wasn't so cocky last night when the dementors were at their end of the train. Fred agreed Malfoy nearly wet himself.
Draco blushed as several people snorted.
George said that he wasn't too happy himself considering they were horrible. Fred agreed they freeze your insides. Harry pointed out neither of them passed out. George told him to forget it, telling him about their father's visit to Azkaban when he came back all weak and shaking. Fred added that they would see how happy Malfoy looked after the Quidditch game.
"Well, when he finally 'recovered' enough to play," Ron snorted.
"Not that the extra time did him any good," George smirked happily.
"Almost a whole season extra practise and a ridiculous amount of cheating still couldn't help the Slytherins," Fred agreed proudly. Draco scowled.
"Yeah, if only he hadn't faked his injury. Dem…what happened in the first game is the only way Malfoy could beat Harry to the snitch," stated Ron smugly.
"So really, his pathetic faking only made it worse for his team in the long run," smirked George. Draco's scowl deepened.
The only time Harry and Malfoy had faced each other in a Quidditch match, Malfoy had definitely come off worse.
Harry grinned.
Feeling slightly more cheerful, Harry helped himself to sausages and fried tomatoes.
"Thanks guys," he smiled at the twins gratefully. He knew he could always rely on the pair to cheer him up when he needed it.
"Always glad to be of service," Fred winked at him.
Hermione was examining her new schedule. She commented that they started new subjects. Ron took a look and stated they'd messed up her schedule as she was down for about ten subjects a day for which there wasn't enough time.
"Ten a day?" Bill asked incredulously. "Even with two more subjects than anybody is actually allowed to take normally, she shouldn't have that many in a single day."
"It wasn't every day. It just happened that Monday was a particularly busy day," Hermione told him.
"That's still not right," Percy said. "You cannot physically take every subject. And for self-study you don't have the class times on your schedule because you are expected to make your own."
She said she would manage as she'd fixed it all with Professor McGonagall. Ron pointed out that, that morning, she had Divination, Muggle Studies and Arithmancy all at the same time.
"What?" Percy blinked in surprise.
Hermione just shrugged. All of the Ministry workers exchanged looks. Something wasn't right here. Why was Hermione scheduled to attend all lessons, some at the same time, instead of the normal self-study programme for those wishing to take all exams? Given how the other books had turned out, especially the last one, they assumed this would also have a large effect on the events of the year. Because, obviously, the one time it was decided to try a new method of allowing a student to study all subjects, it would be a friend of Harry Potter and end up saving his life most likely. At this point, Amelia thought basically anything was possible.
Ron asked how she would be in three classes at once, but she told him not to be ridiculous.
"Your timetable says otherwise. It's not a ridiculous question," Neville pointed out. Hermione said nothing.
Ron tried to press but she changed the topic, asking for the marmalade.
"Smooth," George chuckled. Hermione blushed.
Ron continued and she snapped at him.
"Three subjects at once is more than a bit full," Emmeline pointed out.
"Well, I wasn't supposed to tell them anything about it." Amelia glanced at Kingsley. It wasn't promising that Hermione wasn't allowed to tell her friends exactly how she was completing such a schedule.
"I hope you got really good at deflection then, because something tells me Ron isn't going to drop it easily," Sirius chuckled. Hermione sighed.
Just then, Hagrid entered the Great Hall. He was wearing his long moleskin overcoat and was absentmindedly swinging a dead polecat from one enormous hand. He stopped to tell them they were in his first ever lesson and he'd been up since five getting everything ready.
"Er…everything?" Emmeline asked nervously.
"It was nothing bad," Harry assured her.
"Speak for yourself," Draco muttered.
"You were the most dangerous thing in that class," Ron snorted. "You and your big mouth." Draco glared at him.
He grinned broadly at them and headed off to the staff table, still swinging the polecat. Ron anxiously wondered what he'd been getting ready. The hall was starting to empty as people headed off toward their first lesson. Ron checked his course schedule and suggested they leave as they had to get to Divination at the top of North Tower for their first lesson.
"It's a long way, especially if you don't know any shortcuts," Remus agreed.
"We learnt the shortcuts pretty quickly. We were highly motivated," Harry told him.
They finished their breakfasts hastily, said good-bye to Fred and George, and walked back through the hall. As they passed the Slytherin table, Malfoy did yet another impression of a fainting fit. The shouts of laughter followed Harry into the entrance hall. The journey through the castle to North Tower was a long one. Two years at Hogwarts hadn't taught them everything about the castle, and they had never been inside North Tower before.
Sirius shook his head sadly.
Ron panted that there had to be a shortcut as they climbed yet another long staircase. The landing was bare except for a painting of a bare stretch of grass. Hermione and Ron discussed which way they should go while Harry stared at the painting. A fat, dapple-grey pony had just ambled onto the grass and was grazing nonchalantly. Harry was used to the subjects of Hogwarts paintings moving around and leaving their frames to visit one another, but he always enjoyed watching it.
"The portraits can tell you all sorts of interesting things if you talk to them," Remus told him.
"I don't normally talk to them, but maybe I will in future," Harry smiled.
A moment later, a short, squat knight in a suit of armour clanked into the picture after his pony. By the look of the grass stains on his metal knees, he had just fallen off.
All of the Gryffindors who had been at Hogwarts that year groaned.
"Sir Cadogan," Neville moaned.
"Now we know why his painting is in some empty hallway far away from the main area of the school," Ron said.
"Cadogan? Isn't he that crazy knight we saw a few times?" Sirius frowned, trying to remember.
"Crazy knight? Definitely sounds like him," Harry said wryly.
The knight saw the trio and yelled at them, asking if they'd come to scorn at his fall before telling them to draw. They watched in astonishment as the little knight tugged his sword out of its scabbard and began brandishing it violently, hopping up and down in rage. But the sword was too long for him; a particularly wild swing made him overbalance, and he landed facedown in the grass.
Several people laughed.
"He's certainly something," Charlie chuckled.
"He's a pain," Neville grumbled.
Harry asked if he was alright.
A few people smiled at the boy's thoughtfulness, even to portraits.
The knight told him to get back, calling him a scurvy braggart. The knight seized his sword again and used it to push himself back up, but the blade sank deeply into the grass and, though he pulled with all his might, he couldn't get it out again. Finally, he had to flop back down onto the grass and push up his visor to mop his sweating face.
There was another round of laughter.
"He's certainly a character," grinned Tonks. "Seems much livelier than most of the other portraits I know."
Harry asked if he knew the way to North Tower. His demeanour changed immediately at the prospect of a quest. He clanked to his feet and shouted for them to follow him, calling them dear friends and saying they would find their goal or perish bravely in the charge.
"Dear friends? Bit of a change from scurvy braggart," noted Ted with a chuckle.
"He's mental," Ron told him.
"Seems like fun though," Tonks grinned.
"Yeah. Fun," Neville muttered sarcastically.
He gave the sword another fruitless tug, tried and failed to mount the fat pony, gave up, and cried, they would go on foot. And he ran, clanking loudly, into the left side of the frame and out of sight. They hurried after him along the corridor, following the sound of his armour. Every now and then they spotted him running through a picture ahead.
"Well, that's one way to get there quicker, trying to keep up with a portrait," Charlie laughed.
The knight yelled for them to be of stout heart as the worst was yet to come. They saw him reappear in front of an alarmed group of women in crinolines.
A few people chuckled.
Puffing loudly, Harry, Ron, and Hermione climbed the tightly spiralling steps, getting dizzier and dizzier, until at last they heard the murmur of voices above them and knew they had reached the classroom. The knight bade them farewell, calling them comrades-in-arms and telling them to call upon Sir Cadogan should they need of noble heart and steely sinew in the future. Ron comments they'll call him if they ever need anyone mental.
There was a round of laughter.
"At least it sounds like you got there in time. Although, why didn't you just follow everyone else from breakfast, save yourselves the trouble?" Percy wondered.
"We were a bit distracted with Malfoy and Hermione's schedule," Ron shrugged.
They climbed the last few steps and emerged onto a tiny landing, where most of the class was already assembled. There were no doors off this landing, but Ron nudged Harry and pointed at the ceiling, where there was a circular trapdoor with a brass plaque on it. Harry read the teacher's name and asked how they were supposed to get up there. As though in answer to his question, the trapdoor suddenly opened, and a silvery ladder descended right at Harry's feet. Everyone got quiet.
"She does love her dramatics," Minerva rolled her eyes.
"She's not the only one," Pomona pointed out easily.
Ron said after him, grinning, so Harry climbed the ladder first. He emerged into the strangest-looking classroom he had ever seen. In fact, it didn't look like a classroom at all, more like a cross between someone's attic and an old-fashioned tea shop.
Minerva and Hermione both wrinkled their noses.
"Sounds…interesting," Kingsley said slowly.
"It's not," Harry assured him. "It's horrible and difficult to focus."
At least twenty small, circular tables were crammed inside it, all surrounded by chintz armchairs and fat little poufs. Everything was lit with a dim, crimson light; the curtains at the windows were all closed, and the many lamps were draped with dark red scarves. It was stiflingly warm, and the fire that was burning under the crowded mantelpiece was giving off a heavy, sickly sort of perfume as it heated a large copper kettle.
"It smells awful," said Neville.
"Probably to hide the smell of her cherry," Minerva muttered.
"Minerva," Dumbledore said reproachfully.
"She's not wrong," Severus put in.
The shelves running around the circular walls were crammed with dusty-looking feathers, stubs of candles, many packs of tattered playing cards, countless silvery crystal balls, and a huge array of teacups. Ron appeared at Harry's shoulder as the class assembled around them, all talking in whispers. Ron asked where she was. A voice came suddenly out of the shadows, a soft, misty sort of voice. It greeted them, saying it was nice to see them in the physical world at last.
Minerva rolled her eyes while Sirius snorted.
Harry's immediate impression was of a large, glittering insect. Professor Trelawney moved into the firelight, and they saw that she was very thin; her large glasses magnified her eyes to several times their natural size, and she was draped in a gauzy spangled shawl.
"She sounds…interesting," Sirius muttered.
"Irritating, kinda creepy, weird, but interesting is not the word I'd use," Ron stated.
"Ron, don't be rude about your professor," Molly scolded.
Innumerable chains and beads hung around her spindly neck, and her arms and hands were encrusted with bangles and rings. She told them to sit, and they all climbed awkwardly into armchairs or sank onto poufs. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat themselves around the same round table. She welcomed them to Divination, sitting herself down and introducing herself. She stated they may not have seen her before as she finds that descends too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds her inner eye.
"Or at all," Minerva stated.
"She comes to feasts occasionally," said Pomona.
"I'd never seen her before," Harry shrugged.
"I think I've only seen her once in five years," Percy told him.
"She came to a few events when I was there, but not many," Bill agreed.
Nobody said anything to this extraordinary pronouncement. Professor Trelawney delicately rearranged her shawl and continued, saying they had chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of magical arts.
A few people snorted at that.
"It's difficult because to be a true seer you are either born with the ability or not. Other divination methods are not necessarily difficult to learn, the difficulty lies in interpreting them," Luna told the room.
She warned them that if they do not have the Sight, there is very little she will be able to teach them. Books can only take them so far in the field.
"Hardly from the outset. It's a bit late to tell them that once they've already chosen the subject," Ted pointed out.
"That's also not true, and very off-putting to new students, telling them that if they don't have the Sight, they won't be able to learn much," Emmeline frowned.
"Yes, hardly an encouraging start," Kingsley agreed.
At these words, both Harry and Ron glanced, grinning, at Hermione, who looked startled at the news that books wouldn't be much help in this subject.
Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Hermione noticed and glared at them both.
She continued that many witches and wizards, talented though they were in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, were yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future.
There were a few chuckles.
"I know a few talented in those particular areas," Minerva said, lips twitching in amusement as she stared at the twins. They both beamed.
Professor Trelawney went on, her enormous, gleaming eyes moving from face to nervous face. She turned to Neville, who almost fell off his pouf, and asked if his grandmother was well. He said he thought so and she told him not to be so sure.
"Was your grandmother, ok?" Emmeline asked.
"Yes. She just had a touch of flu, but she was fine," Neville assured her.
Neville gulped. Professor Trelawney continued placidly that they would be covering the basic methods of Divination that year, including reading tea leaves and palmistry.
"So, your gran was fine. There was no need for her to scare you like that," Charlie frowned at Neville who shrugged.
"She made a bunch of so-called prophecies like that," Hermione said derisively. "Some she got lucky with; some were completely wrong."
"Make enough and you'll be right eventually," Ron shrugged.
She turned to Parvati and told her to beware a red-haired man. Parvati gave a startled look at Ron, who was right behind her, and edged her chair away from him.
"Did you do anything to Parvati?" Bill asked his brother, curiously.
"No. Not that I can think of," Ron shrugged again.
"Might have been us. I think we caught her in one of our pranks by accident," George said.
"To be fair, we caught almost everyone in that prank," Fred pointed out.
Trelawney continued that they would progress to crystal balls, if they had finished with fire omens. However, classes would be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu.
"Which happens every year," Minerva rolled her eyes.
Then she predicted that around Easter they would lose one of their number forever.
"Also, around the time at least one student has had enough and quits the subject," Severus stated. Filius chuckled; it was usually one of his Ravenclaws that quit. Often a muggle-born who didn't know what they were getting into by signing up for the subject. Most of the Purebloods only signed up if they knew they had the Sight, or if they already had an interest in Divination.
A very tense silence followed this pronouncement, but Professor Trelawney seemed unaware of it. She turned to Lavender Brown, who shrank back in her chair, and asked if she could pass a teapot. Lavender was momentarily relieved, but when she handed over a teapot, Trelawney told her the thing she'd been dreading would happen on the 16th of October.
"Honestly, that woman," Minerva scowled.
"Was Lavender ok?" Ted wondered.
"Lavender was fine," Hermione told him.
Lavender trembled. Trelawney gave them instructs for reading tea leaves. As they went to collect the teacups, she told Neville to take a blue cup after he broke the first one as she's attached to the pink.
"Now that's just a self-fulfilling prophecy. Knowing she thinks he will break a cup will make him more nervous. And it's probably pretty common knowledge around the school that Neville gets a bit clumsy when he's nervous," Remus said with an apologetic look at Neville who just waved it away. It was true after all.
Sure enough, Neville had no sooner reached the shelf of teacups when there was a tinkle of breaking china. Professor Trelawney swept over to him holding a dustpan and brush and said he should take one of the blue ones. When Harry and Ron had had their teacups filled, they went back to their table and tried to drink the scalding tea quickly. They swilled the dregs around as Professor Trelawney had instructed, then drained the cups and swapped over. Ron asked Harry what he could see. Harry replied that he saw a load of soggy brown stuff.
Everyone laughed at that.
"I mean, technically, he's not wrong," Tonks chuckled.
The heavily perfumed smoke in the room was making him feel sleepy and stupid.
"It sounds like a terrible learning environment," noted Ted.
Trelawney told them to broaden their minds and see past the mundane. Harry tried to focus, noting that Ron's cup held a crooked cross, that signified trials and suffering, as well as a sun which meant great happiness. He concluded Ron was going to suffer but be very happy. Ron told him he needed his inner eye testing.
A few people chuckled.
"They do not necessarily have to happen at the same time. It likely means that Ronald may face some trials but eventually he will be very happy," Luna told them. "Not a bad attempt for you first try at reading tea leaves, Harry," she added with a smile.
"Er, good to know, I guess," Ron said slowly.
"Thanks, Luna," Harry smiled back at the younger girl.
Professor Trelawney gazed in their direction as they laughed. Ron took his turn, spotting a blob that looked like a bowler hat, and he guessed Harry would work for the Ministry of Magic.
"You'd make a good Auror, Potter," Moody nodded approvingly. Harry smiled slightly, but privately thought that was unlikely. Making a difference in the world was something he'd always wanted to do, but he didn't think he wanted to spend the rest of his life hunting down Dark Wizards. Being a curse-breaker sounded much cooler. Or maybe he'd find something else that sounded interesting. He'd liked the healing lessons with Andromeda.
He turned the teacup the other way up and suggested it could be an acorn, which would mean unexpected gold.
Harry mentally asked the room for some parchment so he could write down Ron's predictions.
"What are you doing?" Ron looked at him like he was mental.
"Writing down what you predicted. After the troll and Myrtle, it couldn't hurt to see."
"You don't really think…?" Ron trailed off. Harry shrugged.
"Dunno, but it might be worth finding out."
Then he moved on, looking at something that seemed to be an animal, though he wasn't sure which, guessing both a hippo and a sheep.
There was another round of laughter.
Professor Trelawney whirled around as Harry let out a snort of laughter. She took over and snatched Harry's cup from Ron. Everyone went quiet to watch.
"Of course they did," Harry rolled his eyes.
Professor Trelawney was staring into the teacup, rotating it counterclockwise. She spotted a falcon which signified a deadly enemy.
"Wow. What a guess," Fred muttered dryly.
"Nobody could have seen that coming," George agreed.
"Harry Potter? With a deadly enemy? Never," Charlie declared sarcastically. Harry grinned at the three of them.
Hermione pointed out that everyone knew that. Professor Trelawney stared at her. Hermione continued that everyone knew about Harry and Voldemort.
"She's got a point," George smiled.
"And, as always, cannot stop herself from giving her unwanted opinion in a disrespectful manner," Severus drawled.
"Sounds more like you," Sirius put in. Severus opened his mouth to retort but Dumbledore began reading once more.
Harry and Ron stared at her with a mixture of amazement and admiration. They had never heard Hermione speak to a teacher like that before. Professor Trelawney chose not to reply. She lowered her huge eyes to Harry's cup again and continued to turn it. She saw a club, meaning an attack, which Ron had thought was the bowler hat.
"Club, bowler hat. Good going, Ron," Fred teased.
"Well, I was definitely attacked that year," Harry muttered.
"Yes, well, you had a supposed mass murderer supposedly trying to kill you and dementors, which you react to worse than most people, surrounding the school. Not to mention the Potter luck. Predicting an attack on you was hardly a feat of skill," Bill grinned.
"Besides, she literally just said she saw you had a deadly enemy; an attack is kind of obvious after that," Charlie agreed.
Next was a skull, meaning danger in Harry's path.
"Really?" Sirius rolled his eyes. "With a deadly enemy and an attack imminent, I'd be much more amazed if she predicted no danger in his path. Grateful too."
Everyone was staring, transfixed, at Professor Trelawney, who gave the cup a final turn, gasped, and then screamed.
Several people rolled their eyes.
"There it is. A death prediction," Minerva sighed.
There was another tinkle of breaking china; Neville had smashed his second cup.
Neville blushed.
Professor Trelawney sank into a vacant armchair, her glittering hand at her heart and her eyes closed, muttering about 'her poor dear boy' and that it would be kinder not to say what she had seen.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake," Minerva rolled her eyes again.
Dean asked what she'd seen. Everyone had got to their feet, and slowly they crowded around Harry and Ron's table, pressing close to Professor Trelawney's chair to get a good look at Harry's cup. She dramatically declared that Harry had the Grim.
"Well, she was right. Kind of," Fred grinned, looking at Sirius.
"I'm not a Grim. Just a regular dog."
"That looks almost exactly like a Grim," George countered.
Harry was confused and asked what it was. He could tell that he wasn't the only one who didn't understand; Dean Thomas shrugged at him and Lavender Brown looked puzzled, but nearly everybody else clapped their hands to their mouths in horror. Trelawney repeated herself, looking shocked Harry hadn't understood.
"She was just disappointed he didn't react how she wanted him to," Minerva stated.
She told him it was a giant, spectral dog that haunted churchyards and was an omen of death. Harry's stomach lurched. He recalled the dog on the cover of Death Omens in Flourish and Blotts and the dog in the shadows of Magnolia Crescent.
Sirius winced.
"I know it wasn't you, Siri. I was fine."
"You almost died!"
"I'd have been in more trouble if the Knight Bus hadn't arrived," Harry pointed out.
Lavender Brown clapped her hands to her mouth too. Everyone was looking at Harry, everyone except Hermione, who had gotten up and moved around to the back of Professor Trelawney's chair. She stated she didn't think it looked like a Grim.
"You really said that?" George asked. "To her face?" He added in admiration. Hermione flushed slightly.
"Yes. Everyone was getting so scared, and it was ridiculous," she said.
Professor Trelawney surveyed Hermione with mounting dislike. She stated that she perceived very little aura around Hermione and very little receptivity to the resonances of the future.
Luna nodded at that.
Seamus Finnigan was tilting his head from side to side. He said it looked like a Grim if you looked at in a certain way, but more like a donkey from a different angle.
Most people chuckled at that.
"There, I don't think you particularly look like a donkey from any direction," Harry told Sirius.
"He definitely looks like an ass," Remus smirked.
"Remus!" Molly and Minerva scolded at the same time, though Minerva looked like she was trying to stop herself from laughing. Sirius shot his best friend a look of betrayal that made several people laugh.
Harry commented on them all deciding whether he was going to die or not.
Several people snorted.
Now nobody seemed to want to look at him. Trelawney said they would leave the lesson there and asked them to pack their things away.
"And that's pretty much been every Divination lesson since," Harry sighed. "I've lost count of the number of times I'm supposed to have died."
"Different predictions of death do not necessarily mean you will die multiple times, rather that your death will be a significant part of your life," Luna stated. Bill glanced at Dumbledore who was blank faced at this.
"Isn't death kind of significant in anyone's life?" Neville asked Luna kindly.
"Not always."
Silently the class took their teacups back to Professor Trelawney, packed away their books, and closed their bags. Even Ron was avoiding Harry's eyes. She bade them farewell, and told Neville he would be late next time so would need to work harder to catch up.
"Nice. Now you have an excuse to be late," Fred grinned.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione descended Professor Trelawney's ladder and the winding stair in silence, then set off for Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration lesson. It took them so long to find her classroom that, early as they had left Divination, they were only just in time. Harry chose a seat right at the back of the room, feeling as though he were sitting in a very bright spotlight; the rest of the class kept shooting furtive glances at him, as though he were about to drop dead at any moment.
"Honestly, you should do something about her, Albus," Minerva told him.
"Sybil is a perfectly good teacher."
"She deliberately scares her class by predicting one of them will die. Every. Single. Year," she pointed out in return.
"And you never scare any of your students, Minerva?" Pomona asked, amused.
"Not into thinking they will die."
"Well, that's alright then. As long as you don't scare them to death, it's perfectly fine," Filius chuckled.
He hardly heard what Professor McGonagall was telling them about Animagi, and wasn't even watching when she transformed herself in front of their eyes into a tabby cat with spectacle markings around her eyes.
Minerva pursed her lips at the pronouncement he hadn't even see her transformation.
McGonagall turned back into herself and asked what had gotten into them all. She added that, while it didn't matter, that was the first time her transformation hadn't gotten applause from her class.
"Not that it matters?" Sirius chuckled. "You sound a bit too put out for that to be the case, Minnie."
"Don't call me 'Minnie', Mr. Black," she told him with narrowed eyes. Sirius just grinned at her.
Everybody's heads turned toward Harry again, but nobody spoke. Then Hermione raised her hand. She explained they had just had divination and McGonagall said there was no need to explain further. Then she asked who was dying that year.
Most of the room burst out laughing.
"Just a tad blunt there, Minerva," Ted chuckled.
"It was a common occurrence," she shrugged. "After fourteen years it gets tiresome reassuring the students because of that woman."
Everyone stared at her. Harry finally spoke up that it was him. McGonagall told him that Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at Hogwarts and none of them had died yet. It was her favourite way of greeting a new class, she cut herself off as she stated that she did not speak ill of her colleagues.
The other teachers all coughed at that. Minerva turned to stare at all of them, eyes narrowed.
"You don't speak ill of your colleagues to the students," corrected Pomona. "You complain about them plenty in the staff room." Minerva huffed but didn't argue.
Professor McGonagall broke off, and they saw that her nostrils had gone white.
Several of the adults hid their smiles.
"Subtle as ever, Minerva," Severus drawled. She shot him a glare.
She went on, more calmly, saying that divination was one of the more imprecise branches of magic and she had little patience with it. True Seers were rare and Professor Trelawney, then she cut herself off once more. She added that he looked in excellent health so won't be excused from homework, though, if he dies, he needn't hand it in.
There was another round of laughter at that.
"Very decent of you, professor," Harry grinned.
Hermione laughed. Harry felt a bit better. It was harder to feel scared of a lump of tea leaves away from the dim red light and befuddling perfume of Professor Trelawney's classroom.
Minerva smiled.
Not everyone was convinced, however. Ron still looked worried, and Lavender whispered about Neville's cup. When the Transfiguration class had finished, they joined the crowd thundering toward the Great Hall for lunch. Hermione told Ron to cheer up. Ron spooned stew onto his plate and picked up his fork but didn't start.
"Oh Ron," Arthur sighed, guessing what his son would be dwelling on. "Bilius was an alcoholic, and very ill." Ron had only been eight when Bilius had died. He'd come round one day, loudly declaring he'd seen a Grim before passing out in the living room. Molly had called him home from work to take his brother to St Mungo's where he'd died from advanced liver failure. Ron was the only one of the children who'd seen and heard the whole thing, as the others had either been with friends or at Hogwarts. He'd had nightmares for weeks afterwards.
Ron grimaced and stared at the floor, trying not to remember that day.
He asked Harry if he'd seen a big, black dog anywhere. Harry admitted he had. Ron dropped his fork and Hermione said it was likely a stray. Ron looked at Hermione as though she had gone mad. He said that if Harry had seen a Grim it was bad. His Uncle Bilius had seen one and died twenty-four hours later. Hermione airily stated it must be coincidence.
"Hermione, that's not… your friend just told you his relative died. Maybe that's not the best reaction you could have had," Tonks told her.
Ron angrily told her she didn't know what she was talking about. Grims scared most wizards. Hermione said, in a superior tone, they see the Grim and die of fright, it wasn't an omen but the cause of death. She added that Harry was still with them because he wasn't stupid enough the see one and think he should drop dead.
"Hermione!" Several people groaned at once.
"That was uncalled for. Ron just told you his uncle died after seeing one and you just turned around and said the same uncle must have been stupid for dying after possibly seeing one," Emmeline pointed out.
"But…" Hermione tried but Andromeda cut her off.
"No. Your need to prove a point should not come above your friend."
"Hermione, my brother was a seer, one who was plagued by fragmented visions his entire life and they were often so horrible, particularly during the war, it drove him to become an alcoholic as he found he was less likely to have one if he was drunk. Eventually his drinking killed him. It's entirely possible he saw his own death coming in the form of a Grim, that does not mean he chose to 'kick the bucket' because of it," Arthur told her. Hermione flushed and looked away from his stern gaze.
"You are perfectly entitled to you opinion on the subject, of course," Andromeda added, "but not to the point of making such comments on the death of a friend's relative." Hermione nodded.
"Sorry, Ron," she muttered.
Ron mouthed wordlessly at Hermione, who opened her bag, took out her new Arithmancy book, and propped it open against the juice jug. Hermione stated the divination seemed very woolly and a lot of guesswork.
"That is true, but that doesn't make it any less real," Luna told her.
Ron stated there was nothing woolly about the Grim in Harry's cup. Hermione coolly responded that he didn't seem so confident when he was telling Harry it was a sheep. Ron retorted that Trelawney had said she didn't have the right aura and she just didn't like being rubbish at something for a change.
Several people privately agreed with Ron on that one.
He had touched a nerve. Hermione slammed her Arithmancy book down on the table so hard that bits of meat and carrot flew everywhere. She stated that if being good at divination meant having to pretend to see death omens in lumps of tea leaves then she probably wouldn't be studying it much longer.
"There would be no point studying it much longer. You have too narrow a mind for the art," Luna said matter-of-factly. "That's alright, not many people are good at divination." Hermione huffed.
"Besides, you don't have to pretend to see anything. You just have to be open to the possibility that you might see something, not necessarily death omens either," Emmeline said. "I personally, have no aptitude for the subject either, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate those who do."
She continued that it was absolute rubbish compared with her Arithmancy class. Then she snatched up her bag and stalked away. Ron frowned after her. He asked Harry what she was talking about as she hadn't been to Arithmancy yet.
"Wasn't Divination the first lesson on the first day? Followed by Transfiguration? How could she possibly have been to an Arithmancy lesson. She'd have had to be in two places at the same time," Amelia frowned. Then she gasped and stared at Dumbledore. "You didn't?"
Severus had also jolted at the words, remembering Albus' words in the hospital wing at the end of the year and turned to glower at his employer. He'd made it sound ridiculous, the idea of Harry and Hermione being in two places at once and yet…it seemed that that was exactly what had happened.
"No way," Kingsley breathed. "All year? That must have wreaked havoc on her body."
"What? What do you know?" Tonks asked eagerly. Nobody answered her. Dumbledore kept on reading quickly.
Harry was pleased to get out of the castle after lunch. Yesterday's rain had cleared; the sky was a clear, pale grey, and the grass was springy and damp underfoot as they set off for their first ever Care of Magical Creatures class. Ron and Hermione weren't speaking to each other.
"Nothing unusual there," Harry muttered.
Harry walked beside them in silence as they went down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was only when he spotted three only-too-familiar backs ahead of them that he realized they must be having these lessons with the Slytherins. Malfoy was talking animatedly to Crabbe and Goyle, who were chortling. Harry was quite sure he knew what they were talking about.
Several people rolled their eyes.
Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat, with Fang the boarhound at his heels, looking impatient to start. He greeted them, saying he had a real treat waiting and for them to follow him. For one nasty moment, Harry thought that Hagrid was going to lead them into the forest; Harry had had enough unpleasant experiences in there to last him a lifetime.
Sirius nodded vigorously.
"Definitely," Ron agreed with a little shudder.
However, Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there. He told them to gather around and to open their books. Malfoy asked how.
"Unfortunately, that's a fair question," Bill grimaced.
Hagrid was confused so Malfoy repeated the question, taking out his book which was bound with rope. Several others took their out, all bound by various methods. Hagrid looked crestfallen as he asked if nobody had been able to open their book. Everyone shook their head.
"Not even Hermione had worked out how?" Charlie asked in surprise.
"We only got them the day before going to Hogwarts and I hadn't had the chance to try yet. And I was a bit put off seeing them in the shop," Hermione admitted.
"That's fair. The store person didn't seem particularly well equipped to deal with them either," Tonks nodded.
Hagrid explained they had to stroke them. He took Hermione's, stroked the spine and it fell open. Malfoy sarcastically sneered, asking why they hadn't guessed that. Hagrid said he thought they were funny.
"A monster book about creatures, it's funny in a way," Charlie said.
"Yeah, but it's less funny when it's trying to bite you," Tonks pointed out.
"Not to Charlie," Bill grinned.
Malfoy declared it really witty to give them books that tried to rip their hands off. Harry told him to shut up. Hagrid was looking downcast, and Harry wanted Hagrid's first lesson to be a success. Hagrid momentarily lost his thread before declaring they needed magical creatures and left to fetch them. Once he was out of sight, Malfoy declared the place was going to the dogs and mentioned telling his father.
"Of course. Who could have guessed that was coming," Fred rolled his eyes.
"It may be borne out of prejudice, but Mr. Malfoy does have a valid concern," Amelia said unhappily. "Hagrid isn't a qualified teacher, and I highly doubt Professor Trelawney is either. Hogwarts standards are going down as we've already discussed."
Harry told him to shut up again. Malfoy replied there was a dementor behind him.
"Same old material." It was George's turn to roll his eyes.
Lavender Brown interrupted, squealing, and pointed to the opposite side of the paddock. Trotting toward them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Harry had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-coloured beaks and large, brilliantly orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.
"I think a dozen of them is a little excessive. Just one or two would be enough for a demonstration and a study from distance," Kingsley stated.
He urged the creatures toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence. He stated they were hippogriffs and that they were beautiful.
"They are," Charlie agreed.
"They aren't bad. Not a fan of me though," Tonks said.
"Only because you fell over when trying to bow to one," Charlie grinned. Tonks just grinned back and shrugged.
Harry could sort of see what Hagrid meant. Once you got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half bird, you started to appreciate the hippogriffs' gleaming coats, changing
smoothly from feather to hair, each of them a different colour: stormy grey, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black. He said they could come a bit closer. No one seemed to want to. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, approached the fence cautiously.
"Of course you did," Remus smiled.
Hagrid told them that the first thing they should know is that hippogriffs were proud creatures, easily offended and to never insult one as it might be the last thing they did.
"If only some people had been listening," Harry said.
"Well, at least he did give a clear warning before letting any student near them," Amelia noted.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't listening; they were talking in an undertone and Harry had a nasty feeling they were plotting how best to disrupt the lesson.
Narcissa glared at her son. He could have gotten far more seriously hurt than he had been by ignoring that warning.
"So, I'm going to guess that all the fuss about an out-of-control hippogriff that attacked Malfoy was, indeed, absolute rubbish," Amelia sighed. Honestly, after hearing how the first two books at gone, she'd assumed Hagrid had been at fault. Lucius Malfoy had likely exaggerated, but it was obvious that Hagrid wasn't the most careful. But it turned out he had given appropriate warning that had likely been completely ignored.
"Yes," Harry nodded.
Hagrid continued that they should wait for the hippogriff to make the first move. He gave clear instructions for how to approach and the procedure involved.
"Well, that's a much better introduction than I had anticipated. Appropriate warning, clear instructions," Minerva nodded approvingly.
Then he asked who wanted to go first. Most of the class backed farther away in answer. Even Harry, Ron, and Hermione had misgivings. The hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their powerful wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this. Hagrid asked again and Harry offered.
"Of course you did," Sirius sighed.
"I was fine. This is how I met Buckbeak," Harry told him.
"Ah, I should have guessed."
There was an intake of breath from behind him, and both Lavender and Parvati whispered for Harry to remember his tea leaves. Harry ignored them. He climbed over the paddock fence. Hagrid was pleased and said they would see how he got on with Buckbeak. He untied one of the chains, pulled the grey hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar.
Sirius smiled slightly.
The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath. Malfoy's eyes were narrowed maliciously. Hagrid instructed Harry as he approached. Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Harry with one fierce orange eye. Harry bowed. The hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him. It didn't move. Hagrid told him to back away slowly but then Buckbeak bowed in return.
"Well done," Remus praised.
"Hagrid really is taking this seriously," Ted noted, only slightly surprised.
"Of course he is. It's what he's always dreamed of, teaching Care. Now he's finally got the job and his favourite student was in his very first lesson. It's no wonder he put so much effort into it," Charlie pointed out.
Hagrid said Harry could touch Buckbeak. Feeling that a better reward would have been to back away, Harry moved slowly toward the hippogriff and reached out toward it. He patted the beak several times and the hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it. The class broke into applause, all except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were looking deeply disappointed.
"Of course you were," Fred scowled.
"Wanted Harry to be attacked, yet when you were stupid enough to provoke one, you were pathetic," Ron sneered. Draco glared at him.
Hagrid suggested Buckbeak might let Harry ride him.
"Possibly a bit advanced for a first lesson," Kingsley mused.
"Maybe, but not too bad," Amelia said fairly.
This was more than Harry had bargained for. He was used to a broomstick; but he wasn't sure a hippogriff would be quite the same.
"Definitely not," Charlie laughed.
Hagrid directed him as Harry climbed up. Buckbeak stood up. Harry wasn't sure where to hold on; everything in front of him was covered with feathers. Hagrid slapped the hippogriff's hindquarters. Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of Harry; he just had time to seize the hippogriff around the neck before he was soaring upward. It was nothing like a broomstick, and Harry knew which one he preferred.
"Which one?" Luna asked. Once again, Harry couldn't quite tell if it was a genuine question or not.
"Broomstick," he told her. "Definitely broomstick."
The hippogriff's wings beat uncomfortably on either side of Harry, catching him under his legs and making him feel he was about to be thrown off; the glossy feathers slipped under his fingers and he didn't dare get a stronger grip; instead of the smooth action of his Nimbus Two Thousand, he now felt himself rocking backward and forward as the hindquarters of the hippogriff rose and fell with its wings. Buckbeak flew him once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground.
"At least it was only a quick trip, and they didn't leave Hagrid's sight," Emmeline nodded approvingly.
"Not that he'd have been able to do much if Harry fell," pointed out Percy.
"Well even the teachers that can do something don't have a great record of stopping students from falling," Emmeline reminded him, glancing at Neville.
This was the bit Harry had been dreading; he leaned back as the smooth neck lowered, feeling he was going to slip off over the beak, then felt a heavy thud as the four ill-assorted feet hit the ground. He just managed to hold on and push himself straight again. Hagrid roared that it was great work while everyone, except the Slytherin trio, clapped once more. Hagrid asked who else wanted a go and, emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class climbed into the paddock.
"Hmm, he probably should have kept it to one student at a time. Having them all go increases the risk of something going wrong and Hagrid not being able to intervene," Bill frowned.
"True, but they have all at least seen a proper demonstration, and had the proper warnings," Charlie reminded him. "They aren't going in blind."
"Not blind, just deaf," Ron muttered.
Hagrid untied the hippogriffs one by one, and soon people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock. Neville ran repeatedly backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its knees. Ron and Hermione practiced on the chestnut, while Harry watched. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed to Malfoy, who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful.
"Ugh, and I thought Buckbeak had more taste than that," Sirius groaned.
"How do you know Buckbeak?" Percy asked, curiously.
"Er, I don't. But he liked Harry, so he must have some taste," he said quickly. A few people eyed him suspiciously, but let Dumbledore keep reading.
Malfoy drawled that it was very easy. He knew it must have been if Potter could do it. He bet Buckbeak wasn't dangerous at all, calling him an ugly, great brute.
"Wow. You are an idiot," Charlie said flatly.
"You deserve everything that happened to you," Tonks agreed.
"My son did not deserve to be attacked by that animal," Narcissa hissed.
"Yes, he did, Cissy," Andromeda told her. "He blatantly ignored a warning from a teacher and likely paid the price for it."
"You're lucky it's Hagrid and not Kettleburn," Charlie added. "Unless you actually lost a limb, which you clearly didn't, he'd have just told you to be more careful in future and deducted points for ignoring his instructions."
It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high-pitched scream and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass, blood blossoming over his robes.
"You should have used that, Harry," Fred suggested. "Any time he pretended to faint from a dementor, just squeal like a little girl and dramatically clutch your arm." Harry and Ron both laughed.
Malfoy yelled that he was dying, and it had killed him.
Several people snorted.
Hagrid told him he wasn't dying and asked someone to help him get Malfoy out of there. Hermione ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy easily. As they passed, Harry saw that there was a long, deep gash on Malfoy's arm; blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope toward the castle.
"A slash on the arm? And you claimed to be dying?" Fred snorted. They frequently got worse than that while creating their products.
"To be fair, it's probably the worst injury the precious little prince has ever sustained," George said mockingly.
Very shaken, the Care of Magical Creatures class followed at a walk. The Slytherins were all shouting about Hagrid. Pansy was shouting they should fire Hagrid straight away.
"Because Malfoy was a prat?" Charlie rolled his eyes.
Dean snapped that it was Malfoy's fault.
Almost everyone nodded at that.
Crabbe and Goyle flexed their muscles threateningly. They all climbed the stone steps into the deserted entrance hall. Pansy said she was going to see if he was ok. The rest of the Slytherins, still muttering about Hagrid, headed away in the direction of their dungeon common room; Harry, Ron, and Hermione proceeded upstairs to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione asked if he would be alright. Harry said he'd be fine, thinking he'd had much worse injuries healed by Madam Pomfrey.
Several people winced at the thought of what those injuries were.
Ron commented that it was a bad thing to happen in Hagrid's first class.
"Do you reckon Malfoy actually planned for Buckbeak to attack him, or did he just miss the warning because he wasn't listening?" Kingsley wondered.
"Well, he did comment that he didn't think Buckbeak was dangerous at all, so clearly, he heard at least some of what Hagrid said. He was lucky it wasn't worse, but I do think it was deliberate," Amelia said.
They were among the first to reach the Great Hall at dinnertime, hoping to see Hagrid, but he wasn't there. Hermione asked if they would fire him, and Ron said they had better not. Harry was watching the Slytherin table. A large group including Crabbe and Goyle was huddled together, deep in conversation. Harry was sure they were cooking up their own version of how Malfoy had been injured.
"There were enough Gryffindors who witnessed Malfoy's stupidity," Tonks pointed out.
"Yeah, but this is Lucius Malfoy," Bill reminded her. "The only testimony that will matter is his, and therefore little Malfoy's."
Ron gloomily noted that they couldn't say it hadn't been an interesting first day back. They went up to the crowded Gryffindor common room after dinner and tried to do the homework Professor McGonagall had given them, but all three of them kept breaking off and glancing out of the tower window. Harry noted a light in Hagrid's window. Ron looked at his watch and said it was still quite early. Hermione was uncertain, glancing at Harry who said he was allowed to walk across the grounds as Sirius hadn't gotten past the dementors yet.
"Well, technically he has, or he wouldn't have escaped in the first place," Percy pointed out.
So, they put their things away and headed out of the portrait hole, glad to meet nobody on their way to the front doors, as they weren't entirely sure they were supposed to be out.
"Well, as long as it was before curfew it should be fine. And, as far as the school know, nobody has told Harry about Sirius and so he has no reason to be cautious or think he shouldn't be out," Fred stated.
The grass was still wet and looked almost black in the twilight. When they reached Hagrid's hut, they knocked, and a voice growled for them to come in. Hagrid was sitting in his shirtsleeves at his scrubbed wooden table; his boarhound, Fang, had his head in Hagrid's lap. One look told them that Hagrid had been drinking a lot; there was a pewter tankard almost as big as a bucket in front of him, and he seemed to be having difficulty getting them into focus.
"Oh dear," Tonks sighed sadly.
"Poor Hagrid," Charlie frowned. "He wasn't sacked, was he?"
"No," Harry assured him.
He eventually recognised them and said it was a record having a teacher only lasting a day. Hermione asked if he'd been fired, and he miserably told her not yet. But he suspected it was only a matter of time. Ron asked how Malfoy was and Hagrid replied, Madam Pomfrey fixed him as best she could but he was still saying it was agony, covered in bandages and moaning.
"What rubbish. Madam Pomfrey in a wonderful healer," Emmeline scoffed.
"Obviously, but Malfoy wants Hagrid to be sacked so, of course he's faking it," Charlie scowled angrily.
"And we all know what he's best at is being a drama queen," Fred put in.
"IT did hurt," Draco defended himself.
"I'm sure it did, at first. But there is no way it was that bad after Madam Pomfrey fixed you up. It was a scratch. A deep one maybe, but nothing that wouldn't be fixed with a bit of dittany and a Wiggenweld potion," Andromeda pointed out.
Harry immediately claimed he was faking it. He pointed out Madam Pomfrey had regrown half his bones last year.
"Now who is being dramatic. It was hardly half of all of your bones," Fred teased. Harry stuck his tongue out.
Hagrid stated that the school governors had been told.
"Really? Of all the things that have gone on at that school in the last two years, that's what they were informed about? If they got told about every single student who ended up in the hospital wing they wouldn't be doing anything else," Bill pointed out.
"Yeah, but Malfoy Senior would obviously have told them in a bid to get Hagrid fired," Percy reminded him.
The governors thought h had started too big, gone with flobberworms or something but he'd thought it would make a good first lesson.
"And in this case, he was right. It would have been a good first lesson and he did actually approach it properly. There was absolutely nothing he could have done to prevent Malfoy's idiocy," Charlie stated.
"We know, Charlie," Bill soothed his brother.
He thought it was all his fault, but Hermione claimed it was Malfoy's.
Almost everyone nodded at that.
Harry said they were witnesses; they had seen Hagrid give the warning and they would tell Dumbledore what really happened.
"It's not Dumbledore you need to convince. Besides, Malfoy would have told his father you were friends with Hagrid, so he'd claim you were lying to cover for your friend. You would need the rest of the Gryffindors to vouch for him, rather than you three," Kingsley told him.
"It wouldn't matter. The Ministry would care far more about placating Lucius Malfoy than about the fate of one Hippogriff," Sirius said bitterly. The Ministry workers all grimaced.
Ron agreed, promising they'd back Hagrid up. Tears leaked out of the crinkled corners of Hagrid's beetle-black eyes. He grabbed both Harry and Ron and pulled them into a bone breaking hug. Hermione told him he'd had enough to drink and emptied his tankard outside.
"Probably for the best," Minerva agreed.
Hagrid let go of Ron and Harry who staggered away, holding their ribs.
"Were you ok?" Sirius asked quickly.
"Fine. Just sore for a few seconds," Harry assured him.
"Are you sure? Who knows, you might have broken a few ribs. All of them even. You could have died!" Fred declared dramatically. Then he paused. "Oh, wait. You're not Malfoy." Several people laughed while Draco scowled indignantly.
Then he heaved himself out of his chair and followed Hermione unsteadily outside. They heard a loud splash. Harry asked what he'd done as Hermione returned. She said he'd stuck his head in a water barrel.
"Well, that's one way to sober up," Bill laughed.
Hagrid came back, his long hair and beard sopping wet, wiping the water out of his eyes. He said that was better. Then he thanked them for coming before stopping as he saw Harry. Then he started yelling, asking what he thought he was doing, that Harry wasn't supposed to go wandering around after dark. He yelled at the other two for letting him.
"Well, now it's definitely a good job Harry was warned beforehand, or he'd be really confused right then," Fred muttered.
"I was still confused," Harry assured him dryly. "Or at least I wasn't expecting him to start yelling like that."
"That's fair. It really did come out of the blue," George said. "
Hagrid strode over to Harry, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the door. He said he was taking them back to school and warned them not to let him catch them walking down to see him after dark as he wasn't worth that.
"Confusion for Harry aside, Hagrid really is being much more responsible in this book," Bill noted.
"Yeah, he doesn't want them to wander after dark because a supposed murderer is after Harry, but sending them into the forest to speak with acromantula is perfectly fine," George scoffed.
"At least he's trying," Charlie shrugged.
"That is the end of the chapter. That concludes this evening's reading," Dumbledore announced. Molly got up to start dinner and everyone else slowly dispersed.