Chapter 475: The Interrupted Prophecy (Edited)

Although Professor Trelawney tried to console Tom, he felt that she secretly enjoyed his misfortune.

"But don't worry too much about it. In life, there are always people who can't accompany us to the end; it's normal to have differences. And misfortune can be a true blessing; some people would only cloud your vision..." Professor Trelawney hinted and fanned the flames, but then she seemed to remember that she was still in the middle of an exam.

So she cleared her throat and indicated for Tom to continue.

After Professor Trelawney interrupted him, when Tom looked back at the crystal ball, he could no longer see the strange creatures that had been there before.

"Uh... it seems there has been some change," Tom said with a headache that made his eyes feel swollen. "I think I saw a lot of burning flames..."

Professor Trelawney was taken aback. "Flames? A sign of war? I will observe the movement of Mars tonight. Scattered flames, that means a spreading of fire, a sign of chaos and the coming of turbulent times... Very well, Yodel, very well."

Her quill danced on the parchment in her lap.

"Yodel, you possess all the qualities of a true seer. Very well, your exam ends here."

Tom felt somewhat disappointed. He picked up his backpack and headed for the sliding door, but suddenly, there was a loud, shrill noise behind him.

"... fallen leaves-"

"What?!" Tom quickly turned around and saw Professor Trelawney sitting upright in her chair, with a distant look in her eyes.

In an instant, Tom understood that Professor Trelawney had entered that mysterious state of prophecy. Immediately, he focused all his attention and tried to imprint every word of Professor Trelawney's prophecy into his mind...

Boom!

A sudden lightning bolt appeared in the clear sky just outside the Divination classroom, startling Tom. But the effect of the lightning was not just to startle Tom. Under the intense interference, Professor Trelawney's eyes shook, and she snapped out of her previous "seer" state.

She lowered her head and made a strange sound. Then she suddenly raised her head, looking dazed. "I apologize, child, it seems I dozed off. It's very hot today..."

At that moment, the sound of rain hitting the windowpanes could be heard. After the earlier thunder, the rain began to fall straight from the sky.

"Before you leave, could you open the window for me? Incense can help us remove impurities from our vision, but excess of anything is harmful..."

Tom nodded and went to open the window for Professor Trelawney. A fresh breeze with the scent of rain entered the Divination classroom, completely replacing the incense in the air.

The next Divination student would be lucky. Tom sighed and then descended the spiral staircase, leaving the classroom.

"Yodel, how did your exam go?" Once on the ground, Tom was surrounded by several Gryffindor witches. He recognized one of them: Parvati, Padma's sister and Hermione's friend. Undoubtedly, all these people were fervent followers of Professor Trelawney.

"Professor Trelawney praised me and said she saw many things," Tom replied without hesitation. "As for the content of the exam, do you really want to know?"

The young witches shook their heads vigorously.

"It's good to keep some mystery," said Tom, who was not in the habit of being indiscreet. So he avoided the witches and headed to a corner. He still wanted to observe, maybe Harry and Professor Trelawney would show something different after meeting.

Although the probability was small...

"I don't care about the mystery," Ron approached with a smile and placed his hand on Tom's shoulder. "Can you reveal the scope of the exam?"

"The crystal ball," Tom replied promptly. "The professor just opened the window to freshen the air. Now is a good time for you to go up and take the exam."

After hearing this good news, Ron was overjoyed and gave Tom a thumbs-up. Then he excitedly rushed into the Divination classroom.

In reality, everyone was queuing up to enter, but the recent series of events had caused some confusion in the line, and Ron managed to slip in amid the chaos.

After a while, Ron came down with a grimace on his face.

"What happened?" Harry was a bit curious.

"It's not about crystal ball divination at all!" Ron was furious, and his voice sounded hoarse. "The old witch served me a cup of hot tea! Now I have a sore throat!"

But Ron seemed to cheer up again when the results came, "I made up some things... I don't think she believed me, but she seemed in a good mood and let me off the hook..."

Harry: ...

If he had known, he would have rushed up!

But it was no longer possible; the line had reformed.

"I'll wait for you outside!" Ron waved and moved away from the students in line, then stood in the corner of the hallway waiting for Harry.

To Ron's surprise, Tom hadn't left either.

"I'll wait for Harry; I'm curious about what question they asked him," Tom said.

Ron found it hard to understand Tom's way of thinking, but he was fine with having someone to chat with.

So the two of them started talking in the hallway, not paying much attention to the students passing by after taking the Divination exam.

For Ron, he was just waiting for his friend Harry, and for Tom, he only cared if Harry had triggered Professor Trelawney's "gift of prophecy" to make her make more predictions.

"... Are you planning to go see the Quidditch World Cup final?" The conversation between the two shifted to summer vacation plans.

"I have that idea," Tom nodded, "I plan to work in Diagon Alley over the summer, see if I can earn enough money to buy the ticket... by the way, can Muggles go see the matches? I mean, the Muggle parents of wizards."

Ron immediately understood what Tom meant. He frowned and thought for a moment before shaking his head. "I'm not sure; theoretically, the whole place should be protected with the Muggle Repelling Charm, but it can be understood if wizards with Muggle parents want to take them to see the match."

They weren't regular Muggles; they already knew about the existence of the magical world.

"I'll go back and ask my dad; he'll know more than I do."

Tom nodded.

At that moment, Harry finally finished his exam.

Tom looked at Harry with great anticipation and asked, "How did you do on the exam?"

Harry: ...

"It went okay," he stammered, "To be honest, I couldn't associate the tea leaves with anything else... I had to find some symbols of disaster and pull them out of the bag... but Professor Trelawney seems to be taking it quite well..."

"Was there any strange behavior from her?" Tom asked, posing the question that worried him the most.

"Strange behavior? No, there wasn't," Harry shook his head, "Although, of course, if you consider her usual behavior as strange, then yes, she always acts strangely, all the time."