They climbed the last few steps, panting and clutching stitches in their sides to find the other Gryffindors and Ravenclaws taking Divination as well, assembled underneath a large circular trap door in the ceiling. Ron pointed out the plaque which read, ‘Sybil Trelawney, Divination.’

“What’s she like, Hari?” asked Ron curiously. Several others nearby glanced in his direction as well.

“She’s a bit weird, I suppose,” said Hari. “To be honest, she’s never really been around very often. She just keeps to herself.”

Before anyone else could ask any questions about their teacher, the trapdoor opened and Hari had to jump out of the way to avoid being crushed by a descending ladder from above. Closest to the ladder, Hari climbed up the rickety ladder.

He stepped into a large circular room at the very top of North Tower, its ceiling raised upwards like a cone. It hardly resembled any classroom Hari had ever set foot it. There were many small, circular tables with colourful drapes and squashy poufs and overstuffed armchairs of all different sizes and colours. There was a strange and bitter floral scent which filled the room, overpowering and almost making him sneeze. Over on the far side of the room, Hari saw a fireplace, which was lit up and warmed the room significantly despite the relative warmth outside. In the corner, Hari saw several large shelves, crammed full of various strange trinkets.

As Ron appeared at his side, a soft, dreamy voice came from somewhere in the shadows, making several people jump. “Welcome,” the voice said, “to Divination. I am glad to see you all in the physical world finally.”

Hari exchanged a bemused grin with Ron. Finally, the owner of the voice stepped into the strange, dim light. Professor Trelawney was a tall and very thin woman with messy blonde hair, massive, thick lensed glasses that made her eyes bulge strangely and dressed head to toe in shawls of all colours and patterns. Both of her wrists were covered in many golden bangles and she wore a large beaded necklace which swung around her neck, a small crystal at the end.

She ushered them all to sit and Hari, Ron and Hermione made their way over to a table near the back, settling into the armchairs, all looking sceptical.

“My name is Professor Trelawney,” said Professor Trelawney in her lilting voice, pacing in front of the incredulous and baffled students. “Very few of you are likely to possess a true Seers eye and will therefore not be successful at the noble art of Divination. Books and studying will not help you in this subject as only those who possess the Gift will be of any use here.”

Hermione looked affronted.

“I can already see that one of you will leave us forever in the coming Spring,” continued Trelawney. There were several murmurs at this statement. Hermione, however, scoffed. Ron and Hari exchanged surprised looks, having never seen Hermione talking so poorly to a teacher before. She moved over towards Neville, getting very close to his face as he stared at her, eyes wide. “Is your Grandmother well?” she asked. At his uncertain affirmation she said, “I wouldn’t be so sure…”

She warned Parvati Patil of avoiding a red haired man(she shuffled away from Ron) and told a Ravenclaw girl she would soon be facing her biggest fear. While explaining the subjects they would be studying during the course that year, she told Lavender Brown, “The thing you are dreading will happen on the sixteenth of October.” By the end of her introduction, she had left the entire class on the edge of their seats, looking around at their friends with a mixture of confusion, fear and amusement.

As everyone was instructed to divide into pairs, Ron and Hari going together and Hermione and Neville moving to the next table over, the room was buzzing with discussions of their strange teacher.

“She’s so creepy,” Ron said as he took a sip of his scalding hot tea.

Hari nodded, coughing at the searing heat that went down his throat as he took a drink of his own tea. “She’s always been like that. She used to freak me out when I was little,” he said, shaking his head at the few memories of the odd witch with her heavy perfume and her vague, unearthly remarks.

Ron and Hari were in the middle of trying to decipher the contents of Hari’s cup a few minutes later when Professor Trelawney swooped over, taking the cup from Ron’s hands. She narrowed her eyes on it.

“A falcon… you have a deadly enemy, my dear.”

Hermione scoffed. “Well, yes. Everyone knows You-Know-Who has been after him for over a decade.”

Professor Trelawney ignored her, rotating the cup. “The club… an attack… The skull, danger in your path…” She tutted sadly, shaking her head and muttering about unlucky cups. She rotated the cup once more and—

She dropped the cup on the floor. Using his quick Seeker instincts, Hari just managed to reach out and catch it before it could shatter on the ground. She jumped back, screaming, covering her mouth, eyes wide behind her enormous glasses. Everyone stared, gaping.

“You have… my dear… you have… the Grim!”

The class went deadly silent, staring at Hari. A few people continued to look confused but many, especially the Ravenclaws, looked horrified.

“I beg your pardon?” Hari asked.

“It is a terrible, terrible omen. It is the figure of the giant dog which prowls graveyards. It is the omen of death!”

Hari’s stomach twisted uncomfortably, the memory of the shaggy black dog in the bushes coming to the forefront of his mind. His classmates were all staring at Hari as though he was on his deathbed. Everyone except Hermione.

“I don’t think it looks like a Grim,” she snapped.

“It looks like a horse if you squint,” added Seamus from another table over, tilting his head to the side.

“When you’ve all decided whether or not I’m going to die, that would be much appreciated!” Hari snapped, looking around the room at his classmates. He swallowed, cheeks flushing.

Nobody would look at him anymore.

Professor Trelawney released them all shortly after that, giving Hari a tragic look and calling vague predictions as they descended the ladder. Everyone was very solemn as they made their way down the many flights of stairs, the Ravenclaws heading off to Herbology while the Gryffindors went towards Transfiguration.

They found Draco waiting outside the classroom, chatting with Fay Dunbar and Rabeel Khan, Hermione’s other roommates that took Arithmancy with him. He said goodbye to the other two girls and made his way over to Hari, Ron and Hermione.

“Why the long faces?” he asked, glancing over their three faces. Hermione looked irritated, while Ron kept peering nervously at Hari.

Without answering, they made their way inside the classroom only a moment later, Hari darting over to a seat near the back to avoid the looks and whispers from the rest of his classmates. He only half listened to Minerva’s introduction to Animagi studies and hardly noticed when she transformed into her familiar form of a small tabby cat with round markings around the eyes which resembled her glasses. He had seen her turn into a cat countless times before now, anyway.

“What has got into all of you today?” she asked when she transformed back into a person. She looked around at them with a frown. “I believe that is the first time I haven’t gotten any reaction from my transformation. Not that it matters…”

Most of the class turned to Hari with worried looks, still staying silent. Hermione raised her hand.

“Professor, most of us have just had our first Divination class and—”

“Of course,” said Minerva knowingly. “And which of you is fated to die this year?”

The students gaped up at her casual, throwaway demeanor. Lavender and Parvati looked scandalised, glancing between Hari and Professor McGonagall with wide eyes. Hermione rolled her eyes at Parvati and Lavender, tapping her foot irritably underneath the table and ignoring Ron’s incredulous stare.

“I am,” said Hari after the silence became unbearable.

Draco’s eyes bulged as he turned to look at Hari, having missed the lesson before.

“I see,” said Minerva thoughtfully, moving towards the back, fixing her eyes onto Hari. “I’ll have you know that every single year since Professor Trelawney began working here, she has predicted one of her students to die. So far, as I am aware, not one of them has died yet. It is merely her way of welcoming a new class by showing off her talents…”

She cleared her throat and shook her head to herself. “Divination is an incredibly imprecise branch of magic, often able to be interpreted in far too many ways to know what is or isn’t true. I have very little patience with it, personally,” she said to the class as a whole. Then, she turned to Hari and said, “You look in perfectly normal condition to me, so forgive me if I don’t let you off on your homework. If you do kick the bucket, I promise I won’t make you turn it in.”

Hermione snorted. Hari felt a bit better, especially as Minerva threw him a knowing look as she made her way back to the front of the room to start the lesson properly.

¤¤¤

Hari wanted nothing more than to get the rest of the day over with, tired of all the stares he got throughout the entire lesson, even after Minerva’s reassurances. The day dragged on, time moving like the clocks were stopped. Even Ron was still acting as if Hari was about to drop dead in the middle of the corridor.

“Ron, cheer up,” said Hermione irritably as Ron continued to throw sympathetic looks in Hari’s direction over lunch. “Remember what Professor McGonagall said? Hari’s not just going to drop dead because some professor predicts he’s going to just because of some lumps of wet leaves in a cup.”

Ron continued to poke at his food, still not convinced. “You haven’t seen a big black dog around recently, have you?” he asked.

“Technically, yeah. I saw one the day I ran away from the Dursleys’,” Hari replied with a shrug, idly stabbing his fork into his food.

Ron dropped his fork onto his plate, splashing stew onto the table. But Hermione, still too stubborn and unconvinced, sniffed dismissively as she vanished the spill.

“It was probably just a stray, Hari. I doubt it was an omen of death.”

“Hermione,” protested Ron angrily, “if Hari’s seen a Grim, that’s really bad. My uncle Bilius saw one and then he died only a day later!”

“Coincidence.”

“Is not! The Grim terrifies most wizards out of their pants!”

“Then they’re probably just the cause of death,” said Hermione stubbornly, reaching over to pour more juice into her goblet. “Wizards see a Grim and they die of fright. It’s either the actual cause of death or a simple example of how causation doesn’t always mean correlation.”

“Hari’s not exactly the easiest to kill either, is he?” Draco chimed in, ignoring Ron’s confused look in Hermione’s direction. “Might be immune to it.” Hermione snorted, but Ron simply glared, mouthing silently at Hermione and Draco’s apathy.

Hermione sighed heavily, ignoring Ron’s glare pointedly. “If you ask me, Divination is probably bullshit. It’s just a load of guesswork, isn’t it?”

“That’ll certainly make it an easy pass, then,” added Draco. “Just predict something and technically until it happens, you can’t disprove it.”

“There was nothing bullshit about the Grim in Hari’s cup!” Ron snapped.

Hermione scoffed again. It seemed to be a new habit of hers. “As if! Weren’t you saying it looked like a sheep?” she remarked scathingly. “‘You’re gonna suffer, but you’re gonna be happy about it!’” she mocked.

Ron’s ears tinted bright red and his cutlery shook alarmingly in his tight fists. “You’re just bitter that for once, you’re bad at something!”

Immediately, Hari knew this was the wrong thing to say. The next second, Hermione slammed her Arithmancy book down on the table, throwing a venomous glare at Ron and knocking over her drink so that it soaked Hari’s plate in pumpkin juice.

“You’re an arse, Ronald Weasley!” she spat, shoving her things inside her school bag and getting to her feet, almost steaming at the ears. “I’m not sure I’ll be studying this stupid subject much longer if I’m going to have to make bullshit predictions while looking at a pile of leaves in a teacup! That was the biggest pile of rubbish I’ve ever had to sit through, especially compared to Arithmancy!”

Throwing another nasty glare at Ron, she stormed out of the Great Hall, her long black robes swishing angrily behind her.

¤¤¤

By the time they made it outside after lunch, the sun was high above the school, drying the rain from the previous day significantly. Hari was relieved to get down towards Hagrid’s hut for Care of Magical Creatures so that he could avoid having to listen to Hermione and Ron’s bickering.

“Do you think they’ll ever stop arguing?” Hari whispered to Draco as they walked a few steps behind Hermione and Ron, both arguing once again.

Draco shook his head and smirked, whispering back, “Definitely not. I’m pretty sure it’s how they show their love.”

“Well, in that case, I wish they’d love each other a bit less,” Hari retorted glumly.

As they neared the familiar hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Hari recognised the green and silver uniforms of the Slytherins standing nearby as well. Hari and Draco exchanged grins before wandering over to Pansy and Blaise to join them.

“Ooh, you guys are taking it as well?” preened Pansy airily as they neared her.

Hermione stepped away from Ron, throwing a glare over her shoulder and going to join Pansy. She linked their arms together brightly and asked, “Where’s Millicent?”

“She didn’t want to have too many outdoor subjects,” explained Blaise, rolling his eyes.

“She’s taking Ancient Runes instead,” added Pansy.

“Idiot,” Blaise muttered, shaking his head. “She’s lucky she’s kinda fit.”

Pansy shoved Blaise in the arm and explained to the Gryffindors lowly, “Blaise is slowly making his rounds through the entirety of our year. He’s already managed to snag Hannah Abbott, Daphne Greengrass and the Ravenclaw Patil twin, whichever one that is.”

“That’s Padma,” said Hari. “The other one is Parvati.” Hari gestured vaguely towards Parvati as she walked across the field with Fay and Rabeel.

“Hmm, well you better be careful he doesn’t go for you next,” Pansy teased. Hari spluttered as Ron burst out laughing and Blaise winked.

Before they could continue trying to decide if Hari was going to be Blaise’s next romantic conquest, Hagrid strolled merrily towards them from the front of his house. He started leading the group across the grounds in the direction of the forest and, for a horrifying, fleeting moment, Hari thought they were headed inside the forest. Then, he continued around a corner towards an empty paddock nearby.

“Everyone gather ‘round the fence here. That’s it,” Hagrid called as they started shuffling around to get a good view. Once everyone was standing still, he added, “Right, first thing’s I want you to do is open your books to page—”

Draco’s pale hand shot into the air. “Excuse me, er, Professor? How exactly do we open our books?” he asked, pulling his copy of Monster Book of Monsters out of his bag, which appeared to be tied up with a rope. Everyone around seemed to be in similar situations with their books clamped shut by belts or ropes.

“Hasn’t anyone been able to open their books?” asked Hagrid, looking nervous. The class shook their heads. “You’ve just got to stroke their spines!” Hagrid took Hermione’s copy from her, which she secured with a glittery belt and stroked his finger along the spine. At once, the book shuddered slightly and flopped open.

“Oh, how silly we’ve all been!” retorted the cruel voice of Theodore Nott, standing near the back with Crabbe and Goyle on either side. They snickered at his comment.

“I thought they were funny,” said Hagrid anxiously to Hermione.

“Oh, hilarious! Almost losing a finger trying to read a bloody book is just so funny!” jeered Nott viciously.

Hari spun around and glared at the thin boy, still laughing haughtily at his own joke. “Piss off, Nott,” he snapped.

“Yeah, or you’ll be losing a finger for a different reason,” Draco added snarkily, turning around as well.

Hagrid continued the lesson with growing unease, stammering over his sentences as he attempted to explain what their lesson would entail. Nott continued to laugh and mutter loudly to Crabbe and Goyle the entire time. A few unbearably awkward minutes later, Hagrid excused himself to go and collect the creatures they would be studying that day, leaving the students to their own devices.

“Oh my God!” squealed Fay Dunbar when Hagrid returned from going to collect whatever creatures he had planned for them.

Hari turned around from glaring at Nott again to see what warranted Lavender’s squeal. Hagrid was wandering across the paddock with a small herd of Hippogriffs on ropes. They were the strangest yet some of the prettiest creatures Hari had ever seen since growing up at Hogwarts. Half bird, half horse, the Hippogriffs had sleek bird-like heads with sharp talons in the front and horse-like legs and hooves in the back. They had massive wings and swishing tails and big, blinking eyes, all moving with a haughty air to them.

As Hagrid neared the fence with the massive Hippogriffs, various people stepped away from the fence nervously. “Hippogriffs!” announced Hagrid excitedly, “Stunning, aren’t they?”

Hari could definitely agree with this sentiment. Their sleek feathers of grey, bronze, chestnut, speckled black and white or jet black, blended easily with the matching fur. Hari had only seen the hippogriffs on one other occasion, back when he was nine, but hadn’t been allowed very close.

“So, if anyone’d like to come closer?” said Hagrid hopefully.

Hari made his way up to the front easily, Hermione, Ron and Draco following just behind.

“First thing about hippogriffs is,” Hagrid explained, gesturing towards the majestic creatures, “they’re very proud creatures. Never want to offend a hippogriff. When you approach, you’ve got to bow first to gain their respect.” He demonstrated in front of the grey one, bending very low to the ground. After a moment, the hippogriff bowed its big head down as well and Hagrid reached up to pat the beak. “If the hippogriff doesn't bow back, you best get away fast or it could get bad.”

Hagrid clapped his hands together. “Now. Who wants to go first?”

Nobody moved at first, all too scared to move. Then, Harry stepped forward, raising his hand tentatively.

“Ooh, Hari, be careful!” said Parvati anxiously, clutching Fay’s arm. “Remember what Trelawney said?”

Hari huffed at the mention and ignored his cousin, turning towards the fence determinedly. He pulled off his outer robes so he was just in his trousers and shirt, handed it to Ron and clambered over the fence deftly. If he was honest, the way the hippogriffs threw their heads and stamped their back hooves, clearly unhappy being tied up, Hari was a bit nervous approaching them. Nevertheless, he rolled his shoulders back and crossed over towards them.

“Good on you, Hari. Good on you! Let’s see how you do with Buckbeak!” said Hagrid brightly as Hari walked tentatively over. He guided Hari over to the grey one again. “ Right well, the first thing you want to make sure is you maintain eye contact, even as you bow. There you go, Hari.”

Hari shuffled over, looking up into the huge amber eyes, trying not to blink as he bent over in front of the hippogriff. Buckbeak didn’t move at first, only staring at Hari without moving a single muscle. And then, just as Hagrid was telling Hari to back off, Buckbeak bent down on his front talons, bowing his head low.

“Well done, Hari!” called Hagrid as the majority of the class cheered for him. “Now I’d say you can pat ‘im.”

Hari reached up and stroked the sleek, smooth grey feathers lightly, reminiscent of Hedwig’s soft feathers. Buckbeaks’ big orange eyes closed happily as Hari patted his beak and stroked his feathers as gently as he could manage, standing slightly on his toes. The whole class clapped once again, Blaise wolf whistling and Ron cheering over the rest.

“Right, I bet you can ride him now as well,” said Hagrid, coming closer.

“Wait, Hagrid, no! I—” Hari sputtered as Hagrid started pulling Hari over to the side of Buckbeak. “Hagrid, are you sure about this?” he muttered even as he begrudgingly climbed up onto the back of the hippogriff with Hagrid’s help. He silently wondered whether he was about to prove Trelawney right.

Buckbeak ran and took off into the air as Hari gripped on tightly to the feathers, leaning forward to keep from falling off. With a rush, heart racing, Hari held on for dear life as Buckbeak soared through the air. The joints of his wings moved against Hari’s legs jarringly, the wind mussing Hari’s hair and clothes as he struggled to stay on. Below him, he could hear various shouts of joy or worry from the rest of his classmates watching above them.

After circling the paddock a few times, Buckbeak finally landed smoothly back on the ground, a few metres away from a grinning Hagrid. As the majority of his classmates cheered once again, Hari slid off the back of the hippogriff with Hagrid’s help and then made his way back over the fence and next to his friends.

The rest of the lesson went surprisingly well. Once Hari, apparently their class’ walking dead, managed to get through riding and petting Buckbeak, everyone else was much less wary of approaching them. Hari wandered over to sit on the fence with his sleeves rolled up, watching his classmates bowing and patting the various hippogriffs dotted around the paddock.

He watched as Hermione, Ron and Draco took over Buckbeak, chatting merrily and laughing as they stroked his grey feathers. Draco was currently patting his beak as Ron and Hermione took a step back to watch, their feud apparently forgotten in the excitement.

“How am I doing for my first lesson?”

Hari startled at Hagrid’s sudden appearance beside him, nearly toppling backwards off the fence.

Once he was sure he wouldn’t fall head over heels onto the dirty ground, Hari turned and grinned broadly. “Brilliant!” he exclaimed honestly. “It was a bit iffy at first because of stupid Theodore Nott, but everyone’s enjoying themselves now, aren’t they?” Hari gestured his head towards the class. Even Nott seemed to be enjoying himself, currently patting a chestnut hippogriff with a haughty expression.

“I’m glad to hear you say that, Hari,” replied Hagrid, his dark eyes shining with happy tears. “How’s your first day back going?”

Hari sighed. “This has been the highlight of my day,” he admitted. At Hagrid’s curious look, he explained the whole story about Trelawney’s prediction of his death and the following stares for the rest of the day from his classmates. “Not to mention the fact that everyone’s been staring and whispering all day because they heard about me fainting on the train yesterday,” he finished.

“Ah, don’t listen to any of that, Hari. Trelawney predicts someone’s death every year and it's a bunch of codswallop if you ask me,” said Hagrid. “As for the dementor thing, they’ll all get over it. Everyone loves to gossip, as you know. And Merlin knows how horrid those blasted things are…” Hagrid shuddered, clearly thinking back to his brief time at Azkaban. He had never spoken to Hari about it, but he could tell it must have been horrible being surrounded by so many of those dementors.

The bell rang from inside the school building and the clock tower chimed, halting their conversation. Everyone began making their way back across the paddock and climbing over the fence, still talking excitedly about the hippogriffs. Hari put his robe back on and grabbed his things from where he left them on the grass, following the rest of his classmates up to the school and waving to Hagrid over his shoulder.

It was certainly one of the strangest first days back in Hari’s memory.