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—WHEN RIGEL, DRACO, AND BLAISE ENTERED THE GREAT HALL FOR BREAKFAST THE NEXT DAY, THE FIRST THING THEY SAW WAS RON WEASLEY, WHO SEEMED TO BE ENTERTAINING A LARGE GROUP OF GRYFFINDORS WITH A FUNNY STORY. As they passed, Weasley did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter.
"Ignore him," said Blaise, who was right behind Rigel. "Just ignore him.. it's not worth it."
"Hey, Black!" shrieked McLaggen, "Black! The dementors are coming! Woooo!"
Rigel ignored them and dropped into a seat at the Slytherin table. Unfortunately, near a certain 6th year, who walked over to them and sat infront of Rigel, but he was ignored.
"New third-year schedules." Draco mused, passing the schedules over.
"What's up with you, Rigel?" Tom asked, catching the boy's attention.
"Weasley." Rigel answered monotonously.
"He wasn't so cocky last night when the dementors were down at our end of the train. Nearly wet himself." Flint joined in, who sat next to Tom.
"I wasn't too happy myself," Warrington joined as well, "They're horrible things, those dementors."
"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" Flint asked, earning a nod from Warrington.
"Be grateful you didn't pass out." mumbled Rigel bitterly. His nightmares were taking a huge toll on him, and it was showing.
"Forget it, Black," said Flint bracingly. "My father had to go out to azkaban one time to visit my uncle, who is imprisoned. He said it was the worst place he'd ever been at. I was shocked when he was shaking slightly."
"They suck all the happiness out of a place, dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there." Warrington said.
Thomas frowned in thought, only now thinking about what his followers, whom were the most loyal, were feeling and experiencing.
"Anyways, we'll see how happy McLaggen will look after our first quidditch match." grinned Flint, "Slytherin versus Gryffindor, first game of the season, remember?"
Feeling slightly better, Rigel nodded and started eating some breakfast.
"Oh, great. We're starting the new subjects today." Blaise pointed out.
"We'd better go, look, Divination's at the top of North Tower. It'll take us ten minutes to get there." Draco said, earning a nod from Rigel.
"Goodluck." Blaise said. He had decided to take different classes than the two, because he simply didn't like the idea of reading tea leaves.
••
The two 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 Draco nudged Rigel and pointed to the ceiling, where there was a circular trapdoor with a brass plague on it.
"Sybill Trelawney, Divination teacher," Rigel read. "How're we supposed to get up there?"
As though in answer to his question, the trapdoor suddenly opened, and a silvery ladder descended right at Rigel's feet.
Everyone got quiet.
"After you," Draco said, grinning, so Rigel climbed the ladder first.
He emerged into the strangest-looking classroom he has 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.
Draco appeared at Rigel's shoulder as the class assembled around them, all talking in hushed whispers. "Where is she?" Draco asked.
A voice came suddenly out of the shadows, a soft, misty sort of voice. "Welcome," it said. "How nice of you to see in the physical world at last."
Rigel raised an eyebrow at her appearance, but stayed quiet. "Sit, my children, sit." Professor Trelawney said, and they all climbed awkwardly into armchairs or sank onto poufs.
"Welcome, my children. In this room, you shall explore the noble art of divination. In this room, you shall discover if you possess the sight—" Trelawney tripped over a table, but caught herself in time, "—Hello, I am professor Trelawney. Together we shall cast ourselves in the future. This term, we shall be focusing on the art of reading tealeaves—so please, take the cup of the person sitting next to you."
Draco and Rigel drank their teas and took each other's cup."From what I've heard, she's just a fraud." Draco mumbled, giving Rigel his cup, "What the hell is that?"
Rigel looked up from the cup in his hands and looked at the one in Draco's, eyebrows rising at the image. "Broken heart?"
The cousins looked at each other for a few seconds before starting to snigger. "You? Broken heart? Pft." Draco shook his head.
"You, boy," said Professor Trelawney, pointing to Neville Longbottom, who almost toppled off his pouf. "Is your grandmother well?"
"I think so." replied Neville tremulously.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you, dear." She said, continuing placidly. "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear," She shot suddenly at Parvati Patil, "beware a red-haired man."
Parvati gave a startled look at Ron, who was right behind her, and edged away from him. Draco and Rigel made eye contact, both of them pursing their lips to stop the laughter threatening to come out.
"Now, everybody back to reading the cups." Trelawney announced.
"Right." Rigel mumbled, shaking his head at the teacher's dramatics, "What do you see in mine?"
"Like I said—broken heart." Draco then frowned, "Hold on, you've got a— a heart, as well."
"Not broken?" teased Rigel.
Draco shook his head and looked at the book, searching for answers. "Oh, I got it wrong." Draco announced, "It doesn't mean your heart will be broken. It means you're breaking someone's heart."
"How wonderful." Rigel mocked.
Draco frowned again as the image changed infront of his eyes, "What the hell—"
"Let me see that, my dear." said Trelawney, taking the cup from Draco's hands. "Oh, pity." She tutted, looking at Rigel, "It's a rat."
"A rat?" scoffed Rigel.
Draco looked at his book and answered, "A traitor."
"That's not all, my dear. It means you shall have a near-death experience." Trelawney announced, not aware of the tense silence she had created.
"Right.." Rigel said, nodding with fake agreement
"I think we will leave the lesson here for today." Trelawney said, looking at the students. "Yes.. please pack away your things."
Silently, the class took their teacups back to Professor Trelawney, packed away their books, and closed their bags. Everyone was avoiding Rigel's eyes, even Draco.
