On Monday morning, they had Divination class in a dim, stifling tower room. Each table held a glowing crystal ball filled with a pearly, mist-like substance.
"Aren’t we supposed to start crystal balls next term?" Anne asked as she dropped into her usual seat.
"It ans we’ve finished palmistry. Isn’t that a good thing?" Fanny replied, placing her book on the desk and sitting down.
"When you put it like that... I guess it makes sense," Anne muttered as she flipped to the chapter on crystal balls.
"Good morning!" ca the familiar misty voice. Professor Trelawney swept into the room from the shadows, just as usual. Anne noticed that Parvati and Lavender, the third-year Gryffindors, were trembling with excitent in the front row, their faces aglow with the soft light of the crystal balls.
"I’ve decided to introduce crystal balls a little earlier than planned," said Professor Trelawney, settling down in her usual seat with her back to the fireplace. She glanced around the room.
"Fate has inford that your May exams will include material related to the crystal ball, so I thought it best to give you more practice."
Hermione scoffed openly.
"Oh, please... 'Fate has inford her', she’s the one making the exam, isn’t she? That’s so prophecy!" she said loudly, making no effort to lower her voice.
Fanny glanced at Anne, who rely shook her head. It wasn’t the first ti Hermione had challenged Professor Trelawney.
It was hard to tell whether the professor had heard her, her face remained hidden in the shadows, but she continued as if nothing had been said.
"Crystal gazing is a particularly delicate art," she murmured dreamily. "This is your first attempt to peer into the unfathomable depths of the orb. I do not expect any of you to See anything just yet. We must begin by relaxing the conscious mind and the outer eye. Only then can we clear the day and reach the subconscious. If we are lucky, one of you may See sothing before class ends."
"You may begin now..."
So they began. Anne propped her head in one hand and stared into the crystal ball, zoning out. Fanny flipped through her textbook, occasionally glancing at her orb.
From the direction of Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s table ca faint whispering, Anne caught the words "waste of ti."
Professor Trelawney stood with a rustle of robes.
"Would anyone like to help interpret the shapes forming in their crystal ball?" she asked, her bracelets jingling as she moved between tables.
"I don’t need help," Ron muttered. "It’s obvious. Looks like heavy fog tonight."
Harry and Hermione burst into laughter.
"Really now!" Professor Trelawney said sharply as the entire class turned to their table. "You are disrupting those with true inner eye sensitivity!" She leaned over their crystal ball.
"There is sothing here," she whispered, her face now so close to the orb that both lenses of her large glasses reflected its light. "Sothing is moving... What could it be?"
Fanny silently mouthed to Anne: Definitely bad news.
Sure enough.
"My dear..." Professor Trelawney gasped, turning to Harry. "It’s clearer than ever... I see sothing approaching you, closer and closer, it is ominous..."
"Oh, for heaven’s sake!" Hermione said loudly. "Not that ridiculous on again!"
Professor Trelawney looked up, her magnified eyes narrowing in clear annoyance.
"I regret to say, Miss Granger, that from the mont you entered this class, it has been evident that you do not possess the necessary temperant for the noble art of Divination. Truly, I cannot recall encountering a mind so hopelessly mundane."
Silence fell for a mont.
Fanny glanced at Anne in surprise, then what happened next stunned her even more.
"Fine!" Hermione snapped. She stood abruptly and shoved her Unfogging the Future textbook into her bag. "Fine!" she repeated, slinging her bag over her shoulder so forcefully she nearly knocked Ron out of his seat.
"I’m done! I’m leaving!" To the entire class’s shock, she marched straight to the trapdoor, kicked it open, and disappeared down the ladder.
Anne stared at the space Hermione had vanished through. Clearly, no one had predicted that.
Go after her. The thought surfaced unbidden, and Anne’s body instinctively turned toward the trapdoor. Just a few steps, and she could reach it.
Frowning, she turned back to face her book instead.
Fanny nudged her arm and tilted her chin toward the trapdoor, whispering, “Anne, aren’t you going after her?”
“Why would I?” Anne muttered. “She has two best friends still sitting right there…”
Fanny looked at Ron and Harry, then at the trapdoor, and fell silent as she returned to her textbook.
It took several minutes for the class to settle again. Professor Trelawney seed to have forgotten all about the ominous vision. She abruptly left Harry and Ron’s table, pulled her gauzy shawl tighter around her, and sighed heavily.
“Oh! Oh!” Lavender cried suddenly, startling everyone. “Professor Trelawney, I just rembered, you did predict this! Didn’t you say soone would leave us forever around Easter?”
Professor Trelawney offered her a serene smile.
“Yes, my dear. I did foresee Miss Granger’s departure. Though one always hopes to be wrong about such signs… the Sight can be a heavy burden, you know…”
Lavender and Parvati practically scrambled forward, their seats now just steps from the professor’s.
At lunchti in the Great Hall, Hermione ate as if nothing had happened.
“Anne, should we?”
Anne took a long sip of milk before replying to Fanny’s question. “Honestly, it’s probably for the best. Dropping Divination might actually ease so of Hermione’s stress.”
That afternoon in Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid was clearly in low spirits. He handed out two crates of slimy bug larvae for the class to feed and said nothing, simply staring out over his pumpkin patch.
Malfoy, of course, loudly mocked him again, and a scuffle nearly broke out between the trio and Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe.
“Hagrid, we can talk about Buckbeak later. But if Malfoy really gets into a fight, I don’t think even Dumbledore can save this class from being shut down,” Anne said.
That brought Hagrid back to reality. He realized Dumbledore had enough to worry about without him adding to the pile, and quickly broke up the brewing fight.
He separated the Gryffindor and Slytherin students, assigning each house one side of the field and their own crate of larvae.
When class ended, Malfoy shot a glare toward the Gryffindors before stalking off with Goyle, Crabbe, and Pansy.
Anne and Fanny stayed behind, after all, they’d just promised over the weekend to keep helping.
As soon as they stepped into his hut, Hagrid broke down. The sight of Buckbeak tossing a dead ferret around sent him into low sobs.
“It’s no use,” he said miserably. “It’s all over… That committee’s in Lucius Malfoy’s pocket...”
Anne, who had been considering slacking off, changed her mind imdiately.
“Don’t give up, Hagrid! We can still appeal!” Hermione urged.
Hagrid collapsed into a chair, face in his hands.
“But I froze up in court,” he sobbed. “Forgot every defense you lot gave … The mont I opened my mouth, they all started talking over … I never even had a chance…”
Silence fell. Everyone looked at Anne, but she just shook her head.
“Maybe we should go to Professor Dumbledore?” Harry suggested. “He might have an idea.” Updates are released by novèlfire
The mont Hagrid heard Dumbledore, he jumped up, shaking his head furiously.
“No, no, no! He’s got enough on his plate keeping those Dentors outside. He helped keep my job, can’t ask him to do even more…”
And with that, he began herding them out the door.
“All I can do now is make sure Buckbeak lives out his last days in peace... I owe him that much... Thank you for trying, but don’t waste your ti anymore. You lot have enough on your plates.”
Once they were outside, he bellowed, “Back to school with you!” and slamd the door.
The mont it shut, Anne turned and headed back toward the castle. Fanny glanced at the closed door, then followed. The trio looked at one another, then also caught up.
“Wait, you’re seriously not going to do anything?” Ron called after Anne.
She waved a hand vaguely.
Hermione frowned and quickened her pace to catch up.
“Anne, you said you’d co up with a plan!”
“I did. Right now, the only option is to appeal. But Hagrid doesn’t want help anymore. If soone doesn’t want to be helped, I say don’t waste the effort.”
Hermione pressed her lips together, clearly upset and doubtful. Anne instinctively looked away to avoid eye contact, only to find Hermione stepping in front of her.
Feeling strangely guilty under Hermione’s gaze, Anne muttered, “You could try filing an appeal with the Ministry first… then slowly talk Hagrid around…”
Hermione’s eyes lit up, but then she hesitated.
“But… we’d be doing it without his permission…”
You ask for a plan, I give you a plan, and now you’re complaining?!
Irritated, Anne snapped, “Sorry, this is the best a Slytherin can co up with. If you want sothing morally perfect, ask your fellow Gryffindors.”
With that, she brushed past Hermione and stomped off. Fanny, having watched the exchange, leaned in and whispered to Hermione,
“She’s not mad…”
“I know,” Hermione whispered back, and the two of them smiled at each other. Then Fanny jogged to catch up to Anne.
“What were you three talking about?” Ron and Harry caught up as well.
“Anne gave us a new idea,” Hermione said with a grin.
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