First Day of December Ⅱ

The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall is filled with heavy-laden clouds promising another snowfall by early afternoon. The Great Hall already has a few early risers eating in the Great Hall. Among them is a 5th year with straight blond hair that reached his shoulders, David Goldstein, the Ravenclaw prefect. His light brown eyes warmly greet her as briefly nods his head at Rowan, before returning his attention to his friends.

Ever since, the preparations for the Halloween Feast, Rowan had quickly become friends with the intelligent Ravenclaw. To both their surprise, they shared several similar interests and enjoyed greatly discussing them during Professor Vector's arithmancy class. It was a shame, they had not become friends earlier, but at least they were now. That and it was impossible to become friends with everyone in their year, because like in young Potter's time, their school year was several times larger.

Famished Rowan promptly dug into the food before her and piled her plate to the brim with a stack of fluffy, hot pancakes with drizzles of syrup, whipped cream, and strawberries. There were sausages, breakfast potatoes with veggies, lightly scrambled eggs with ketchup on them, and a large steaming mug of Dulce de Leche hot chocolate with just a tad of whipped cream on top. The food was simply scrumptious! The Hogwarts house elves were true culinary artists!

By the time Rowan was ¾'s of the way through her plate, the rest of her friends had arrived except for Severus. Terry was rather depressed as he stared at the gray enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall. "I doubt any of the owls made it through the storm," he loudly sighed, before unhappily poking at his own breakfast.

Bethanie and Tiffany wordlessly stared at Sylvia with pity, while Sylvia promptly ignored Terry's antics. Sylvia was mostly already used to them which was a wonderful trait to have since he was her courting partner and would likely become much more than that someday. Sylvia flushes a bit at her train of thought and buries herself into eating her food ignoring the curious gazes of Bethanie and Tiffany.

Rowan was eating the last bite off her plate when Severus arrived later than usual. There were dark circles under his eyes as he fiercely glared at his twin, before sitting down next to her. "Rowan, I thought you would be in the infirmary with what Professor Mortimer told us last night," Severus huffed irritably.

"I must have eaten something spoiled," Rowan lied as she wiped her mouth clean with a serviette.

Severus lets out a loud irked snort at the reply, before filling his plate with food. Mostly full, Rowan sips slowly at her still warm Dulce de Leche hot chocolate to wash the food down. The sound of eating is the only sound heard for a while until student's heads been to turn one by one towards the staff table at the end of the hall.

Curious Rowan does the same and almost chokes. Coughing loudly with eyes watering, she blinks back the painful tears as she stares at the staff table. She wasn't the only one in shock as several others spit out the food and drinks, they were mid-eating to the disgust of those around them. While a burst of whispers filled the entire Great Hall.

Plenty of females in the Great Hall let out gasps and flush bright pink, but still peek up at the bare-chested muscular centaur before them (including some boys, who subtly do so). There stood a red-haired centaur with a neat beard, a glistening muscular chest, and with his lower half being that of a gleaming chestnut body with a long, reddish tail. If Hagrid had been popular before, well, he was about to get a rival in the form of Ronan. The prefects were going to have another male professor to their list of male professors to keep an eye on. Not out of fear for the female population, but rather to ensure that Ronan is not overly harassed by the female students or rare daring male students.

It was not Ronan's appearance in the Great Hall that shocked Rowan for she had requested a centaur from the Shaman of the centaur tribe to serve as a Divination professor. She also had been aware that another Divination Professor had been hired as well. She even knew that against all odds, the other Divination professor to be the younger, Sybill Trelawney. What was so shocking was the appearance of Sybill Trelawney that bore little resemblance to the Sybill Trelawney from Potter's time.

Unlike in the young Potter's time, Sybill Patricia Trelawney looked less worn and uncertain, and far more confident. The dark-haired witch was still very thin and possessed large glasses that magnified her eyes several times their natural size. There was still a slight feeling of an insect about her, but she was very dressed very differently from what Rowan knew. This Sybill wore a dark skirt with neat black boots with a lighter top and a violet shawl. There was no gauzy, spangled shawl nor the numerable chains and beads that used to hang around her spindly neck or the countless bangles and rings that encrusted her arms and hangs. Rather Sybill Trelawney wore a simple amber pendant, a silver ring with a large round amethyst embed therein, and a moonstone bracelet on one of her wrists.

It was a far cry from the Sybill Trelawney from Potter's time. Then again, Sybill Trelawney was an embittered witch with a lack of self-esteem at that point in time. Perchance, Sybill Trelawney was not yet so embittered at this time, and her lack of self-esteem largely came from feeling inferior to the rest of the professors. Hence the lack of overcompensation in her dress-wear that was always so gaudy, and yet was most noticeably missing. More so with the assistant Divination Professor starting at the same time as her, Sybill's nerves and concerns were largely addressed as she would not be the only new professor at Hogwarts.

Seeing the countless gazes directed at the staff table, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore rises to his feet causing the chattering of whispers to fall away. His long silvery hair and beard are neatly tucked into his belt as usual. He wears a long robe with moon and stars embroidery that sweeps to the floor revealing the tip of a buckled high-heeled boot. His childlike blue eyes twinkle behind his half-moon spectacles that hang on his long, crooked nose.

"Good morning to you all," Professor Dumbledore said with a pleased smile. "It is with great joy that I introduce Professor Sybill Trelawney and Ronan as the new Divination Professors. Professor Sybill Trelawney and Ronan will teach both third years and up teaching a variety of skills. I am certain that we will be all the better for it."

A loud round of applause follows Professor Dumbledore's words especially from the girls, who were eying the attractive, bare-chested centaur. No doubt, there would be a slew of owls leaving that afternoon sharing the juicy news with their female friends and relatives. Even more, so requesting romantic novellas that expressly included the forbidden love affair between a centaur and a witch. Harlequin-like novels also sold aplenty in the wizarding world…

Professor Dumbledore motions for the applause to die down and says, "I am certain that they are a tremendous addition to our staff. Now, please return to your meal-. Ah, before I forget if the Prefect's will gather after dinner this evening in the Great Hall. Professor Flitwick will delegate decoration assignments at that time."

Professor Dumbledore sits back down as a burst of whispers filled the Great Hall especially those of the female students peeking at the new Divination Professor, Ronan. Rowan lets out a loud resigned sigh, before gloomily stuffing her face with food. While Severus darkly clenches his fork and knife and viciously cuts into the food on his plate as if he had a bone to pick with the innocent food on his plate.

Terry the unlucky thing that he is positively brightened at Rowan and Severus's faces. Terry like a Dementor seemed to feed off misery at times…... "I'm certain it will be a most invigorating experience," he merrily said before digging into his plate of food with relish.

All his friends stare at Terry including Sylvia with the same expression on their faces. "You're secretly related to a Dementor, aren't you?!" It was the only explanation! Then again, Veela's did tend to play with their food…

A shiver runs down all their spines as they all turn away and return their attention back to their plates especially Rowan and Severus. They really were going to need the energy to survive until the end of the day. Really…