Hogwarts: Proficiency Panel

Chapter 526 527: The Prophecy Fulfilled

Just then, Rubeus Hagrid strode into the Great Hall.

He was wearing his long moleskin overcoat and absent-mindedly swinging a dead ferret-like creature by one enormous hand.

"Well?" he called cheerfully, stopping on his way toward the staff table.

"You'll be coming to my very first lesson! Right after your first class of the day!

"I was up at five this morning getting everything ready..."

His face split into a broad grin.

"Hope it all goes well... Me, a professor at last... It's just..."

Unable to finish the sentence, he beamed at them and continued toward the staff table, still swinging the unfortunate carcass.

"What do you think Hagrid's prepared?" Harry asked, sounding distinctly worried.

"Honestly, I'd rather he hadn't prepared anything at all," Ron muttered gloomily, watching Hagrid leave.

"What exactly are you planning?" Hermione asked quietly, frowning at the dead creature before turning to Sean.

"Hagrid thinks we ought to get a bit closer to magical creatures," Sean replied carefully.

"A bit closer?" Justin asked curiously.

"You mean... putting our hands on some strange beast?" Ron whispered, leaning closer.

"Something like that."

Sean neither confirmed nor denied it.

Ron forced a laugh.

"We're not going to end up riding dragons or something, are we?"

That remark immediately plunged everyone into thoughtful silence.

Because if it was Hagrid...

"Not dragons," Sean finally said. "There aren't any dragons in the Forbidden Forest at the moment."

That was all he offered before standing up from the table. It was time for Divination, the first class of the afternoon, shared with Gryffindor.

Since Sean had joined the teaching assistant team—which, in truth, consisted solely of himself—Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall had adjusted several professors' schedules. Officially, it was to make the timetable run more smoothly. Unofficially, it was almost entirely because of Sean.

"Wait for me, Sean."

Hermione immediately hurried after him.

Since yesterday, the two of them had been spending quite a bit of time together.

The excitement—and anxiety—she felt about using the Time-Turner still hadn't faded.

"What did you mean?" she pressed as they walked. "Not dragons... then what? And what do you mean at the moment? Hagrid wouldn't actually dare..."

Their conversation gradually faded into the distance.

Back in the Great Hall, Ron scratched his head.

"I've got a feeling those two are being awfully mysterious lately..."

Around them, students hurried off to their first lessons, and before long the Great Hall began to empty.

Sean and Hermione made their way toward the North Tower.

After climbing the final flight of stairs, they arrived at a small landing where several classmates had already gathered.

There was no visible door.

Hermione glanced around before looking up at the ceiling.

There, set into a circular trapdoor, was a brass plaque.

Sybill Trelawney, Divination Mistress

"How are we supposed to get up there?" Hermione asked, reading the inscription aloud.

As though answering her question, the trapdoor suddenly swung open.

A silver ladder unfolded and dropped neatly to the floor at her feet.

The students immediately fell silent.

Blending into the crowd, Sean and Hermione climbed upward.

Floating beside Sean was a copy of Unfogging the Future, the required textbook for Divination.

Professor Snape maintained that books were practically useless for learning Divination, but Sean had brought it anyway. After all, what else was he supposed to bring?

According to Snape, the only thing truly required to study Divination was a rare gift that almost nobody possessed.

Unfogging the Future was a large, weighty volume bound in black leather, its cover decorated with a full moon shrouded in mist.

Its pages discussed palmistry, tea-leaf reading, crystal-gazing, and countless other methods of prediction.

By the end of the twentieth century, it had become one of Hogwarts' standard Divination textbooks.

"I honestly can't make sense of half of what's written in here," Hermione whispered as they entered the classroom.

Then she stopped.

The room looked nothing like a classroom.

In fact, it resembled a cross between a dusty attic and an old-fashioned tea shop.

At least twenty small circular tables had been crammed into the space, each surrounded by chintz-covered armchairs and plump cushions.

Everything was bathed in a hazy crimson glow. Heavy curtains covered the windows, while large scarlet scarves were draped over lamps throughout the room.

The heat was nearly suffocating.

A roaring fire blazed beneath an overcrowded mantelpiece, atop which sat an enormous brass kettle emitting a strong, sickly sweet aroma.

Shelves lined the circular walls, overflowing with grimy quills, melted candle stubs, battered packs of cards, countless glittering crystal balls, and stacks of teacups.

"The book says those are all teaching aids," Hermione said skeptically.

Sean nodded.

Around them, other students were whispering similar observations.

"Where is she?" Hermione asked, finally looking up from her book.

A voice suddenly emerged from the shadows.

Soft.

Dreamy.

Vaguely muffled.

"Welcome."

The voice drifted through the room.

"How wonderful it is to meet you at last in the physical world."

Sean's first impression was that a giant glittering insect had emerged from the darkness.

Then Professor Trelawney stepped into the firelight.

She was extremely thin, and her enormous spectacles magnified her eyes several times over.

A sheer shawl covered in shimmering metallic sequins hung from her shoulders.

Beads, chains, bracelets, and rings adorned nearly every visible part of her body.

"Sit down, my dears, sit down."

The students awkwardly lowered themselves into armchairs or collapsed onto cushions.

Sean found himself sharing a table with Neville and Hermione.

"Welcome to Divination," Professor Trelawney said, settling into an armchair beside the fire.

"I am Professor Trelawney. Most of you have probably never seen me before.

"I find that descending too frequently into the bustle and noise of ordinary school life tends to cloud my Inner Eye."

No one seemed quite sure how to respond to that.

Gracefully adjusting her shawl, she continued.

"So. You have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult and profound of all magical arts.

"I must warn you in advance: if you do not possess the Sight, there is very little I can do for you.

"In this field, books can teach only the smallest fraction of what must truly be learned..."

Hermione looked genuinely shocked to hear that books were of so little value.

As for Sean, he already knew that not only books, but ordinary study itself, was of limited use in Divination.

Quietly, he set Unfogging the Future aside.

He had been looking forward to this lesson for a very long time.

Because, strictly speaking—or perhaps not so strictly speaking—every prophecy Professor Trelawney would make during this class eventually came true.

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