Chapter - 79 : Revival Part - 2

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The corner of Harry's mouth tilted upward. She did have a sense of humour. "I am to remind you they're called 'Records' and he was surprised to find anything from before your time as he didn't think writing would have been invented yet."

The eye roll that was her response looked very out of place on her otherwise dignified frame.

"Kids have no respect for their elders these days," she muttered. All the same Harry didn't get the impression that she really minded.

A comfortable silence fell, only broken by the sound of shifting papers until she found what she was searching for. Her gaze lingered on one of the parchments for a short while before she let out a breath and sagged back in her chair looking like someone had clubbed her over the head with a fish. "By Merlin and Morgana, you were right."

Harry blinked. "I'm glad to hear that. What was I right about, exactly?"

She gestured at the enormous stack of parchment and the four small cubes next to it that held the potential to revert to similar sized mounds. "These are all the Divination exams for the past few hundred years. And right now I am holding a written N.E.W.T. exam for Divination – one of which hasn't been held for more than a century – on the very topics that you hinted at.

"Score one for bureaucracy, I guess," Harry said doubtfully.

She eyed him up and down. "This is your first time teaching, isn't it?" Harry nodded, looking confused and she shot him an evil little smile. "You poor, poor boy."

"What?" Harry asked, taken aback, but she ignored him and instead pointed at the old exam she had filched from the pile.

"You were right; there obviously is potential for a N.E.W.T. level Divination class. However, seeing as it was discontinued at some point I'm going to have to retrace that decision before I can judge whether or not setting such a thing up again is feasible. Possibly ask around internationally to see what other Ministries are doing." She groaned softly. "And all that within a month too."

"Are you going to be able to manage?" Harry asked, concerned.

She pursed her lips and thought for a moment before nodding. "We don't need to decide on examination materials in that time. At the earliest your students would sit their N.E.W.T.s two years from now, correct?"

Harry nodded, before adding, "However, maybe I would want to sit my own N.E.W.T. beforehand. It would be awkward to have to sit it with my students."

She frowned. "You don't have a N.E.W.T. even though you're teaching the course?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm not a Seer and you just said that it was more an award for time spent honing a personal talent anyway. Honestly, a N.E.W.T. grade is more because if I have the knowledge it seems like a shame not to get some official recognition for it. I may be Hogwarts' Divination professor, but with Dumbledore's recent hiring practices that doesn't mean as much as it used to. Plus, how am I to adequately prepare my students if I don't have first-hand knowledge of what they're facing?"

She pursed her lips again, but neither agreed, nor disagreed with him. "In either case, you have just made an awful lot of work for me if I am to have an answer for you within weeks. Was there anything else?"

Harry ran his fingers through his messy hair. It was now or never. "Yes, there was, actually. I wanted to ask about a Divination Permit."

The look of confusion she shot him was not encouraging, until he noticed she wasn't actually looking at him but rather staring in the distance, trying to remember something in the distant past. It took a moment – there was an awful lot of past to sort through, he thought with a giggle – but suddenly her eyes snapped to him. "It has been a long time since anyone has asked for a Divination Permit. Why would you..." she trailed off. "Ah, I see. Without a N.E.W.T. you need something to prove your credibility to your students."

That wasn't it at all, but if that explanation satisfied her who was he to complain. "Indeed."

"Still, I thought a Divination Permit was only granted to Seers and Prophets and the like as proof of their abilities? Are you a Prophet?" Harry shook his head. "Then how are you eligible for one?"

Harry smiled a small knowledgeable smile. "I've done a lot of reading on the subject – obviously – and the Divination Permit didn't always apply only to those with born Divination talents. Originally it signified a good practical grasp of the material, the ability to practise Divining on demand and deliver what was promised. A Divination Permit was a licence to publicly practice. It was to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, not just Seers from pretenders, but those knowledgeable on a broader spectrum. What's interesting is that those laws were never stricken from the books."

Madam Marchbanks blinked, opened her mouth as if to protest and then looked at the pile of ancient parchments that had proven a similar claim only minutes before and shut her mouth again. Instead she slowly heaved her ancient body out of her chair and, with aid of a sturdy cane, hobbled to the bookcase from which she removed a single volume.

The room was silent as she perused it and Harry had to make an effort not to let it show how important this was to him.

Because a Divination Permit was everything he said it was, but more. It had been called a Diviner's Permit long ago, when it was just a way for fortune tellers to distinguish themselves. At some point, however, all the other fields of Divination were folded under the same header and what was once proof of a minor skill now became a flat-out licence to practice Divination.

Every part of it, including the Mind Arts.

Having taken the warning of Auror Thompson to heart, Harry had sought out a way to avoid trouble for his use of borderline Legilimency during the Death Eater attack. Very aware of his rights in this world he couldn't afford to be charged with any kind of crime. Being allowed to do as he did by a Divination Permit seemed the most convenient solution. An actual Legilimency licence required stringent background checks he would undoubtedly fail due to his extra-dimensional background. A Divination Permit, however, was a convenient loophole, helped by the fact that pursuing such a permit was not at all out of place for a young, new, untested Divination professor just starting at a prestigious school.

Madam Marchbanks slowly set down the law book and looked at him unwaveringly for a long moment. "I can find no fault in your words. When I look – and I shall – will I find corroborating evidence in our records?"

Harry nodded solemnly. "You will."

She sighed. "Very well. In order to be issued a Divination Permit the applicant must prove beyond all doubt knowledge and talent in the field. Without a Seer's ability or record of a prophecy as is typical, what would you propose?"

Harry swallowed and met her eyes. "I want to do a Seeker's Soothsaying."

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