Slytherin Army [HP]

18. My Tea Leaves Can Smile

Third year had barely begun, and it was already looking grim.

Harry Potter had also fainted. And privately, Xavier had told her that Malfoy had as well. Drew didn't know what to make of that.

The Dementors floated around Hogwarts, "protecting" the students from Sirius Black, who the Ministry was somehow convinced would come to a school. Drew wondered just how many students were going to be seriously affected by the soul-sucking monsters.

Only a week into the term, Cyndee had fallen unconscious again when she came face-to-face with one in the corridor on her way out of a bathroom. Carolina, their seventh-year prefect, had found her bleeding from the head in the middle of the corridor. That was when Drew decreed that Cyndee was not permitted to walk the castle halls alone.

Anyway, their very first class was Divination, and to describe it in just one non-swear word, it was bizarre.

First and foremost, it was in an attic.

They had to climb up the North Tower and through a circular trapdoor. The classroom itself resembled a cross between a musty attic and an old-fashioned teashop.

Drew sat between Wilby and Cyndee at a small cloth-covered table, flipping through the textbook and noting the abominations.

Professor Trelawney kind of reminded Drew of a hippie. She was thin, dressed in a gauzy and starry shawl. Beads, bangles, and chains decorating her spindly limbs and neck. On every stick-like finger, she wore a glittering ring of every colour of the rainbow and more. But most prominent were her eyes.

She wore spectacles of the thickest glass, which magnified her eyes beyond proper human anatomy.

"Is she blind?" Drew whispered to her friends.

"She could be," Wilby said back. "We could also be blind to whatever she's seeing."

"Oh stop," Drew grumbled. She stopped at a page titled Healing Crystals. "Oh god, not these."

That was when Professor Trelawney introduced herself, then pranced around like a deranged bat, spewing predictions to gain their favour.

"Fifth year," she said, pointing at Wilby.

"Actually, I'm in third," he informed her politely.

"No no," she held her temple dramatically. "Something will happen in your fifth year..."

The class waited for her to continue.

She shook her head, "That's when it will happen."

Drew was utterly unimpressed. The old nutcase might as well have predicted that the earth will sometimes grow things. "Could you be more specific?"

Trelawney closed her eyes and thought for a few seconds. "Him. You'll find him."

And with that, she marched over to Padma Patil and her friends, leaving the three to ponder her words.

"What are the chances that she means the Death Eater?" Wilby asked.

"I don't know," Drew conceded, not sure whether it'd be better to say that it's likely or unlikely. " 'Him' could literally be any guy in the world. Plus, she could've just plucked that prediction out of a hat. But...you never know."

Hearing her interpretation and taking it as a cue to come on over again, Trelawney unwelcomely floated over to them. She stared straight into Drew's soul without any consent. "The thing you dread. It will happen during the most cloudless of days."