Just then Hagrid walked into the Great Hall.
He was wearing his long moleskin coat and absently swinging a dead ferret in one enormous hand.
"How's it going?" he asked, stopping on his way to the staff table. His grin was huge. "You're all coming to my first lesson! Right after lunch!
I've been up since five o'clock getting everything ready…
Hope it goes well… Me, a teacher… Can't believe it…"
He beamed at them, still swinging the dead ferret, and headed on toward the staff table.
"What do you think Hagrid's prepared?" Harry asked, sounding more than a little worried.
"I'm kind of hoping he prepared nothing at all," Ron muttered, watching Hagrid go with the same uneasy look.
"What exactly are you guys planning?" Hermione asked in a low voice, eyes fixed on the dead ferret.
"Hagrid thinks we should get a little closer to the creatures…" Sean answered carefully.
"Closer?" Justin echoed, curious.
"Like… putting our hands on something weird?" Ron leaned in and whispered.
"Mm…" Sean neither confirmed nor denied it.
"It's not going to be riding a dragon or something, right?" Ron gave a nervous laugh.
The words hung in the air. If it was Hagrid…
"Not a dragon. There aren't any in the Forest right now," Sean said, then stood up. He had Divination next—his first class of the afternoon, shared with Gryffindor.
Since Sean had joined the assistant staff—technically he was the only one—Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall had rearranged a few schedules to make things easier. Mostly for him. The Divination class that should have been this morning had been moved to the afternoon.
"Wait for me, Sean," Hermione said, jumping up to follow.
They'd been sticking together a lot since yesterday. The excitement and nerves of using the Time-Turner for the first time still hadn't worn off.
"What did you mean—not a dragon, so something else? And what do you mean 'right now'? Hagrid wouldn't actually…"
Their voices faded as they left. Ron stayed behind, scratching his head.
"I swear those two are up to something weird…"
Everyone headed off to their first classes of the afternoon, and the Great Hall slowly emptied.
Sean and Hermione made their way to the North Tower.
They climbed the last few steps and stepped onto a small landing where some of their classmates were already waiting.
There was no door on the landing.
Hermione glanced up at the ceiling. A round trapdoor sat there with a brass plaque nailed to it.
"Sybil Trelawney, Divination teacher," she read aloud from her book. "How do we even get up there?"
As if answering her, the trapdoor swung open and a silver ladder slid down, landing neatly at their feet.
The students fell quiet.
Sean and Hermione joined the group and climbed up.
A book titled Unfogging the Future floated beside Sean. It was the required text for Divination.
Even though Professor Snape insisted books were useless for learning the subject, Sean had still brought it. What else was he supposed to carry?
According to Snape, the only thing you needed for Divination was a talent almost nobody possessed.
Unfogging the Future was a large, thick volume in black hardcover with a misty full moon on the cover. It covered palmistry, tea-leaf reading, crystal balls, and more. Since the late twentieth century it had been one of the standard textbooks for Divination at Hogwarts.
"I have no idea what this book is even trying to say," Hermione whispered to Sean once they were inside.
They stepped into a classroom that looked nothing like any classroom they'd seen.
It was more like someone had crammed an attic and an old-fashioned tea shop into one room.
At least twenty small round tables were squeezed in, each surrounded by chintz armchairs and overstuffed poufs.
Everything was bathed in dim, reddish light. The curtains were drawn tight, and every lamp was draped with a deep scarlet scarf.
The room was stiflingly hot. A huge fire roared in the hearth under a cluttered mantelpiece, and a large copper kettle on top gave off a thick, sickly-sweet smell.
Shelves lined the circular walls, crammed with dusty quills, candle stubs, tattered decks of cards, countless glittering crystal balls, and stacks of teacups.
"The book says those are all teaching aids," Hermione said, sounding deeply skeptical.
Sean nodded. He could hear the rest of the class whispering around them.
"Where is she?" Hermione looked up from her book.
A soft, misty voice suddenly spoke from the shadows.
"Welcome," it said. "It is so lovely to finally meet you all in the physical world."
Sean's first impression was of a giant, glittering insect.
Professor Trelawney stepped into the firelight.
She was very thin, and her enormous glasses magnified her eyes to several times their normal size. A gauzy shawl covered in sparkling sequins draped over her shoulders. Countless beads and chains hung from her long neck, and her arms and hands were loaded with bangles and rings.
"Sit down, my dears, sit down," she said.
The students awkwardly climbed into armchairs or sank onto poufs.
Sean, Neville, and Hermione ended up at the same table.
"Welcome to Divination," Professor Trelawney said, settling into a large armchair by the fire. "I am Professor Trelawney. You probably haven't seen me before.
I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye."
No one knew quite what to say to that.
Professor Trelawney adjusted her shawl with elegant fingers and went on:
"So you have chosen to study Divination—the most difficult of all magical arts.
I must tell you right now that if you lack the Sight, there is nothing I can do for you.
Books can teach you only so much in this field…"
Hermione looked startled at the idea that books wouldn't help much.
Sean, on the other hand, already knew that not only books but regular study wouldn't do much for Divination either.
He quietly set his book aside. He had been looking forward to this class for a long time.
Loosely speaking, every single prophecy Professor Trelawney made during this lesson would eventually come true.