Magic? || Years 5-7

Firenze: Year 5

"Aren't we going up to North Tower?" Ron asked as they walked past the marble staircase. Harry and Ron had joined Amisty a few minutes later with Parvati and Lavender in the lead.

Parvati looked over her shoulder, scowling, "How d'you expect Firenze to climb that ladder? We're in classroom eleven now, it was on the notice board yesterday."

The new classroom was in the hallway across the Great Hall, and Amisty was expecting an empty, dusty room and was then greeted by a forest. It was wonderful.

"What the -- ?" Harry exclaimed quietly.

Amisty beamed, kneeling down and touching the floor, which had turned into moss and leaf mold. Trees grew out with large, leaf-covered branches that covered the ceilings and windows, dousing the room in a soft green light. There were a few boulders here and there, partially covered in lichen. Firenze was standing in the middle of the room.

"Harry Potter," Firenze greeted, holding out his hand.

Amisty took her seat beside Ron against one of the trees, giving the centaur a hesitant wave. He nodded kindly.

"Er -- hi," Harry replied, shaking his hand. "Er -- good to see you..."

"And you," Firenze nodded again. "It was foretold that we would meet again."

Harry joined them, sitting beside her and ignoring the awestruck stares following him.

The door closed with a soft click, and Firenze made a sweeping motion with his arm around the room, "Professor Dumbledore has kindly arranged this classroom for us in an 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 -- " Parvati raised her hand hesitantly, "why not? We've been in there with Hagrid, we're not frightened!"

"It is not a question of your bravery," Firenze replied, "but of my position. I can no longer return to the forest. My herd has banished me."

"Herd?" Lavender murmured. "What -- oh! There are more of you?"

"Did Hagrid breed you, like the thestrals?" Dean asked.

Amisty winced, shrinking down.

Dean's eyes went wide and his face fell, "I didn't -- I meant -- sorry."

"Centaurs are not the servants or playthings of humans," Firenze remarked very quietly.

Dean looked down.

Parvati raised her hand again, "Please, sir... why have the other centaurs banished you?"

"Because I have agreed to work for Professor Dumbledore. They see this as a betrayal of our kind," He replied simply.

There was a pause, and then, "Let us begin."

Firenze lifted his hand and lowered it slowly, the surrounding lights dimming sand stars blinking into appearance on the ceiling. It was beautiful, really.

"Lie back upon the floor and observe the heavens. Here is written, for those who can see, the fortune of our races," Firenze's voice was low and calm.

Amisty laid back, her hair splayed around her head in curly tangles. For once, Divination was verging on pleasant.

"I know that you have learned the names of the planets and their moons in Astronomy," he continued, "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 about us..."