The forgotten Potter ~ D.M.

9. The leaves say more than a thousand words

"You'll find romance in the nearby future." I read from Hermione's tea leaves and the book. "But it will come from someone unexpected."

Hermione looked unimpressed. We were in the first ten minutes of our first divination class and she already hates everything about it. She sighed as she picked up my teacup. She looked at it with boredom and then at the pages in the book.

"This is stupid, " she let out, not caring if professor Trelawney heard her.

"Stop whining, " I hissed at her. She's just mad that she can't blink out in this class. "Just tell me what you see."

"I see ants, " she looked in the book again. "They are bad omens. You will face great difficulty in the future. And there is a wheel, which means that there will be an inevitable change somewhere in your life."

"Why is mine so depressing and yours a love story?" I asked, Ron snorted by my comment. Professor Trelawney whirled around as Harry let out a snort of laughter.

"Let me see that, my dear," she said reprovingly to Ron, sweeping over and snatching Harry's cup from him. Everyone went quiet to watch.

Professor Trelawney was staring into the teacup, rotating it counterclockwise.
"The falcon... my dear, you have a deadly enemy."

"But everyone knows that," said Hermione in a annoyed loud whisper. Professor Trelawney stared at her. "Well, they do," said Hermione. "Everybody knows about Harry and You-Know-Who."

"Someone can have more than one deadly enemy." I pointed out.

Professor Trelawney chose not to reply to Hermione but did nod her head at me, as if telling me that I had a point. She lowered her huge eyes to Harry's cup again and continued to turn it.
"The club... an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup..."

"I thought that was a bowler hat," said Ron sheepishly.

"The skull... danger in your path, my boy..."
Everyone was staring, transfixed, at Professor Trelawney, who gave the cup a final turn, gasped, and then screamed.

There was another tinkle of breaking china; Neville had smashed his second cup, just as she had predicted. Professor Trelawney sank into a vacant armchair, her glittering hand at her heart, and her eyes closed.

"My dear boy ...my poor dear boy ..no ..it is kinder not to say ....no ...don't ask me..."

"What is it, Professor?" said a Gryffindor at once. We all had got to our feet and slowly crowded around Harry and Ron's table, pressing close to Professor Trelawney's chair to get a good look at Harry's cup.

"My dear," Professor Trelawney's huge glassy eyes opened dramatically, "you have the Grim."

"The what?" I said. I could tell that some pupils knew what that meant by their horrified expressions.

"The Grim, my dear, the Grim!" cried Professor Trelawney, who looked shocked that neither Harry nor I didn't understand. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen — the worst omen — of death!"

"I don't think it looks like a Grim," Hermione said flatly as she peeked in the cup.

Professor Trelawney surveyed Hermione with mounting dislike, which I completely understood.

"You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."

A Gryffindor boy was tilting his head from side to side.
"It looks like a Grim if you do this," he said in an Irish accent, with his eyes almost shut, "but it looks more like a donkey from here," he said, leaning to the left.

"When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!" said, Harry.

Everyone kept quiet, avoiding Harry's eyes. I glanced in Harry's cup to see for myself. "It looks like a horse of you ask me."

"I think we will leave the lesson here for today," said Professor Trelawney in her mistiest voice. "Yes... please pack away your things..."

we silently took the teacups back to Professor Trelawney, packed away our books, and closed our bags.

"Until we meet again," said Professor Trelawney faintly. "Oh and Karma, my dear. Keep your head."