Prophecy and Foretelling

Ivan followed the silver ladder all the way to the Divination Room.

The interior was very enclosed, with at least twenty small round tables. The red curtains were tightly drawn, blocking out the sunlight. Only some light shone through the curtains, illuminating the entire classroom.

The circular wall at the back was lined with shelves containing dirty quills, candle heads, battered playing cards, and an array of teacups.

It looked like the site of some arcane ritual…

The young wizards found their seats, and Ivan and the others sat together.

"Where's the professor?" Ron asked in surprise.

"No, Trelawney's here…" Ivan shook his head, gesturing for Ron to look behind the curtain on the right.

A thin witch with thick, round glasses stood looking at them through a diaphanous veil.

Ron jumped as Sybill Trelawney's disembodied, slurred voice filled the classroom.

"Welcome!"

"It's so good to finally see you in the physical world…" Trelawney said, coming out from behind the curtains.

She was not very tall, and wore a dark green silk robe with countless chains around her long, thin neck. Her light blonde hair was unkempt, and she looked very mysterious.

As soon as she appeared, she stunned all of the young witches and wizards, and her words were far more intimidating than her appearance.

Within a few minutes, Trelawney had terrorised Neville's grandmother, warned Lavender of her worst fears on 16 October, and threatened that one of them would be gone forever around Easter this year.

The wizards present were shocked and frightened, and when they heard this, they all turned to look at Harry.

They suspected that Trelawney's prophecy was about Harry, as many people had read about Sirius in the papers.

Neville, on the other hand, was trembling with fear, wondering if his grandmother was okay…

Some lesser wizards were dubious, believing Trelawney to be raving.

This was because many senior students had whispered to them that Professor Trelawney's favourite curse was to kill one student every year, but that everyone ended up alive and kicking.

Yvonne looked at Trelawney with interest, knowing that many of Trelawney's prophecies had been validated in the original time and space, even those spoken in normal circumstances.

This time, for example, Trelawney's intimidating prediction was confirmed in the original timeline, except for the fact that Neville's grandmother was in trouble.

Lavender's worst fear was to hear that her rabbit had died, as confirmed on 16 October.

Around Easter, someone will be leaving, presumably Hermione.

Because she was fed up with Trelawney's nonsense, and because she had so many classes to attend, she gave up on Divination and never came back.

Ivan wondered if these prophecies would ever come true.

Because if he wanted to, he could have killed Lavender's rabbit before 16 October and let her hear the worst news in advance.

Or cancel a Divination lesson with Hermione around Easter, in which case two people will leave…

Ivan then shook his head in amusement. He was not going to kill a young witch's pet just to test the truth of a prophecy.

As for whether or not he would be able to hold on to the Time-Turner for the next year, that would depend on whether or not he cancelled his Divination class.

It soon occurred to Ivan that there was another way to interpret Trelawney's prophecy, which also suggested that Peter Pettigrew would leave the group.

Yvonne glanced into the pocket of Ron's wizarding robe, where the rat was staying. Trelawney's prediction had been unusually accurate!

With this in mind, Ivan's interest in Divination was piqued. He immediately opened the Divination textbook, Unfogging the Future, and casually read through it.

The various signs and omens written in the book were so mysterious that Ivan felt a headache coming on.

From the movement of the clouds in the sky to the sight of a raven, black dog, and even strangely shaped rock, there are various omens.

If she were to interpret it this way, Ivan felt that she would find all kinds of things she could interpret around her every day.

Professor Trelawney soon had everyone take a cup of tea from the shelf and group them into pairs to interpret the contents of the cup as she had taught them.

Ivan experimented with it, hoping against hope. He brewed a cup of tea, drank it all in one gulp, and shook the cup three times.

Yvonne examined the dregs of her tea, but Hermione took the cup before she could see it.

"Professor Trelawney made us look at each other!" Hermione exclaimed, rolling her eyes at Ivan as she handed him her cup.

She shrugged, not caring, and Ivan, who did not expect to see much of anything, began to study Hermione's teacup.

There didn't seem to be anything special about the tea leaves in the bottom of the cup. Ivan then turned to page five of Unfogging the Future and checked it. It indicated bad omens, but nothing more specific.

"My God! This is bad news!"

Behind him, a voice called out.

Ivan, absorbed in his book, jumped and turned to find Sybill Trelawney standing behind him, her hand over her mouth in an expression of terror as she screamed, "You… killed… in… blood… hell!"

All the young wizards looked at Ivan with expressions of bewilderment.

Trelawney couldn't help but take a few steps back and accidentally hit the table behind her. Neville's hand shook and his teacup fell to the floor, shattering…

Ivan was surprised and unsure whether Trelawney was making a truthful prediction.

'And what does that mean?'

You will create a massacre? Blood will cover the ground… like hell?

Yvonne thought of how many Dark Wizards she had killed during the summer holidays, and how many more she might have killed after that… It was possible to interpret it that way.

"Ivan, I think Professor Trelawney is just full of nonsense. It's so strange that she thinks she can see the future just by shaking her teacup," Hermione tried to reassure her as Professor Trelawney moved away from her.

"Who knows about prophecies?" Yvonne said half-jokingly, shaking her head.

"But you were holding my teacup!" Hermione complained, rolling her eyes.