Author's Note: Don't forget to vote, comment and leave a 5 star review to help the story grow and reach more people.
Read upto +30 Chapters worth of content ahead and receive extra updates daily by going to my Patreon and becoming a fellow Patreon.
Patreon: mrfanfiction140
Be sure to read my other Novels as well:
- Naruto: Multiverse Adventures
----
Lynn welcomed his first Divination Class at Hogwarts.
The timetable indicated that this week's Divination Class would be held together with Slytherin House.
Edgar grumbled while checking the location on the timetable, "Why did Professor Trelawney choose such a... unique location for the classroom? I feel like I've lost half my life just climbing up here."
At that moment, Lynn, Ollie, and Edgar were making their way up the narrow spiral staircase inside the North Tower.
"I bet at least half the people who took this course will regret it after finishing this climb," Edgar said.
After climbing for quite a while, they finally reached the end of the stairs, facing a trapdoor set into the ceiling with a silver ladder hanging beneath it.
"We didn't go the wrong way, did we?" Edgar checked the timetable again and looked at the trapdoor. "Is the classroom up there? It feels more like an attic storage room."
"We'll know once we push it open," Lynn said, reaching up to push the trapdoor.
Creak—
The trapdoor opened upward. A complex wave of warm air mixed with the pungent scent of spices wafted toward them.
The smell was hard to describe, like a mixture of aged tea leaves, cheap perfume, burning herbs, and some kind of cloyingly sweet incense, fermenting in the stuffy air until it made one's head spin.
It reminded them of Professor Quirrell's garlic smell—the two were practically neck and neck.
The three looked at each other and braced themselves to climb up one by one.
Lynn looked around this so-called "classroom."
Rather than a classroom, it was more like an old-fashioned tea house opened in an attic.
The room was circular and somewhat larger than expected, but all the windows were tightly covered by dark red curtains.
The only remaining light sources came from many small lamps on the walls covered with crimson shades, as well as dozens of candles of various lengths.
The furniture mostly consisted of small round tables, low stools, and armchairs piled with cushions, scattered about haphazardly.
The most extreme part was the massive fireplace on one side of the room.
Even though it was only early September and the Scottish Highlands weren't even cold yet, the fire inside was burning exceptionally bright, crackling and popping, continuously pumping heat into this airtight room.
Lynn was speechless.
He could study in a hot place, and he could study in a smelly place, but he really couldn't accept studying in a place that was stuffy, smelly, and poorly lit all at once.
Without hesitation, he walked to the nearest window, pulled back the curtain, and pushed the window open.
The cool breeze from outside the castle immediately poured in, diluting the thick, strange smell in the room and carrying away some of the heat.
"Much better," Lynn nodded with satisfaction.
They found a round table near the window that was clearly larger than the others, sat down around it, and quietly waited for the professor to arrive.
Before the professor arrived, Malfoy did.
As always, Malfoy was followed by his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.
His eyes quickly scanned the strange room, and his brow furrowed instinctively, clearly dissatisfied with the environment as well.
Then, his gaze fell on the table by the window, lingering on Lynn for a moment.
He remembered his father asking him during the holidays how his relationship with Lynn was going. He had been dazed at the time, having spent his second year focused on mocking Potter, so he lied and said they were on very good terms.
As a result, his father saw through him instantly, and his pocket money for the summer was completely cut off.
"Goyle, Crabbe, find your own seats. Don't follow me."
Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other blankly, but they still obediently found a table closest to the fireplace and squeezed in together.
Malfoy adjusted his expression, trying to make himself look as natural as possible, then walked toward the round table where Lynn was and sat down in an empty seat.
"Morning, Lynn," he greeted first.
Lynn was a bit surprised by Malfoy's sudden addition.
He did have business dealings with the Malfoy family, but their personal friendship was truly limited.
Usually at school, Malfoy's social circle remained those pure-blood families and Harry.
"Morning, Malfoy," Lynn nodded, asking casually, "Why aren't you with those two?" He pointed at Goyle and Crabbe, who were already flushed red from the heat nearby.
Malfoy followed his finger with a glance and quickly found a very reasonable-sounding excuse, "There wasn't enough room over there."
He couldn't exactly say, "My father told me to get close to you."
Lynn looked at Goyle and Crabbe's massive bodies, which were enough to occupy an entire table, and then at his own fairly spacious round table.
This reason... was incredibly convincing.
Edgar didn't have any particular reaction to Malfoy's arrival; as long as Malfoy didn't actively provoke them, he was happy to have another person to chat with.
Ollie only gave Malfoy a faint glance and said nothing, but he recalled hearing that Lucius Malfoy had been a Death Eater before You-Know-Who's fall, and his reputation was complicated.
This made him maintain a certain distance and wariness toward Draco Malfoy.
The atmosphere was slightly subtle for a moment.
This subtle silence didn't last long.
As the class time approached, other students who had elective Divination Class also climbed up one after another, squeezing into this already cramped attic classroom.
The room quickly became crowded and noisy.
Ding, ding, ding—
The bell rang on time, and the trapdoor was pushed open again.
Professor Trelawney entered, and before she could even say a word of welcome, she suddenly let out a gasp: "Ah—!!!"
All the students were startled and looked at her.
Trelawney was pointing a trembling hand at the window behind... Lynn.
Behind her spectacles, her magnified eyes were wide and round.
"Who?! Who has disrupted the delicate balance in this sacred room of prophecy, the most suitable for opening the Inner Eye and communicating with the world?! This chilly, wicked wind! This blinding light! They will interfere with the threads of fate! They will scare away the spirits that reveal the future!"
Stunned, Lynn stood up awkwardly, walked to the window, silently closed it, and drew the curtains.
The room instantly returned to its previous state of dim, stuffy, and foul-smelling gloom.
Only then did Trelawney nod with satisfaction.
"Welcome... welcome, children... to this observatory of fate, this hall for peering through the veil of time..."
She spread her arms, her shawl fluttering. "Here... you will first step into the mysterious river of Divination... here... you will begin to explore the patterns of fate hidden beneath the surface of the mundane... you will discover... whether you possess those precious... Inner Eyes... that can see through the mist..."
This mystical opening speech left most students looking at each other, somewhat at a loss, though some couldn't help but want to laugh, Edgar being one of them.
Trelawney didn't seem to care about the students' reactions. "This term... we shall first learn one of the most basic and spirit-testing methods of divination—Tasseomancy."
She gestured for the students to look at the tea sets on the tables before them.
"Now... please brew a cup of tea for yourself with your own hands.
Drink it slowly and with focus, letting the tea leaves settle naturally at the bottom of the cup... then, exchange cups with your neighbor... carefully observe the patterns formed by the tea residue at the bottom... those patterns will be the traces of fate's whispers, the tip of the iceberg that the future reveals to you..."
The students began to operate in a flurry.
Lynn looked at his teacup, put in the tea leaves according to the steps, and poured in the hot water.
How should he put it... well... the color of the tea was what it should be; as the steam rose, a tea fragrance wafted out, smelling exactly like it should.
He waited patiently for a while, then picked up the cup, blew on it, and drank it slowly.
The taste of the tea... was just ordinary tea, not particularly good.
After finishing the last sip, he looked at the bottom of the cup.
The tea leaves inside... seemed not to have unfurled at all, still tightly curled into small clumps, sinking at the bottom.
Lynn blinked, thinking: Is the quality of these tea leaves just not very good?
He was about to hand the cup to Edgar, who was busy trying to blow his tea cool, when he saw Malfoy next to him had already finished his tea and was handing his empty cup toward Lynn.
What did it matter who he gave it to? Lynn shrugged indifferently, handed his cup to Malfoy, and took Malfoy's at the same time.
Malfoy took Lynn's cup and looked down into it, preparing to start "interpreting fate."
The next second, he froze.
He looked at Lynn, then back at the cup, confirming there were indeed wet tea marks and residue inside, and that Lynn wasn't playing a prank.
Then, he began to frantically flip through the copy of Unfogging the Future on the table, trying to find an interpretation for "tea leaves completely failing to unfurl."
Meanwhile, Lynn also took Malfoy's cup and looked down to observe.
Malfoy's tea leaves had actually unfurled, and the residue formed some vague outlines at the bottom.
Lynn narrowed his eyes, trying to distinguish them... it looked a bit like... an eagle? Or some kind of bird with a sharp beak?
He was just wondering what an "eagle" usually represented in Tasseomancy when he heard a trembling gasp from Professor Trelawney in the classroom:
"Oh! My dear! I see... The Grim! A dark shadow looms over you... you shall... leave this classroom forever!"
The Slytherin girl she was prophesying for turned pale with fright.
After making this "prophecy," Professor Trelawney seemed to be in a good mood and began to patrol the classroom, observing the students' progress and cups.
She soon noticed Malfoy, who was buried in his book, frantically flipping pages.
She walked over soundlessly. "Let me see, my dear..."
She reached out and took Lynn's cup from the dazed Malfoy.
Trelawney brought her eyes close to the rim, carefully inspecting the clump of tea leaves at the bottom.
Just as she was thinking about how to fabricate... ahem... "prophesy" this situation, she met Lynn's curious gaze.
Their eyes met in the air.
Crack!
A crisp sound of shattering rang out.
Trelawney's hand jerked violently, and the teacup slipped from her fingers, hitting the floor and shattering into pieces.
But Trelawney seemed not to notice the cup had broken at all.
Her body leaned back slightly, and she looked as if her soul had been instantly sucked away; her eyes became vacant, losing focus, staring straight ahead.
Her lips trembled slightly, and her face looked even paler in the dim light.
The classroom fell silent instantly as all the students looked at this sudden situation in shock.
The next second, a hoarse voice rose from Trelawney's mouth: "I... see... nothing..."
After saying this, she seemed to have exhausted all her strength and collapsed directly onto the floor.
Lynn: "Impressive."