Chapter 79: Harbinger of Death

The happy and cozy times were short-lived, and the panic and despair caused by the dementors quickly spread through the castle, one thing after another happening.

The first incident was in Divination class and Ivan witnessed it all.

Because there was no class in the morning for second years, he followed Harry and the others to the third year Divination class.

To be honest, Ivan had always been interested in Divination and Professor Trelawney.

In the past, when he had read the Harry Potter books, he had found that almost all of Trelawney's prophecies had come true in the end, especially the two prophecies about Voldemort, which had determined Harry's future fate from the beginning.

But Professor Trelawney's actual performance was disappointing to Ivan.

If most people were afraid of the unknown, Professor Trelawney used that fear of the future to her advantage, and the first Divination lesson was spent bullying the students.

She made bad predictions about all the young wizards in the classroom, and the first to suffer was Neville, whose grandmother was mentioned by Professor Trelawney for no apparent reason, leaving Neville paranoid that something might happen to his grandmother.

She was followed by Parvati Patil, warned to watch out for the redhead, and Parvati didn't dare go near Ron for the next week.

Immediately after, she told the class that in February, a bad flu would force the class to close and that, around Easter, one of them would be gone for good.

After she said her words, there was a tense silence in the classroom.

Ivan wasn't surprised when Hermione stormed out, Professor Trelawney's divinations had been less of a prophecy and more of a curse.

If it wasn't for being polite, he would have left by now.

If Professor Trelawney didn't go into a certain state, she was nothing more than a deranged liar. As she had said, if you don't have the gift, little progress will be made in divination.

Perhaps Professor Trelawney had seen something, but Ivan would bet it was some nonsense.

In the tea divination that followed, he and Hermione were paired up.

They mixed the tea, followed Professor Trelawney's instructions, dried the tea leaves and exchanged cups.

"You know something Ivan," Hermione said as she looked at the tea leaves, "It makes me feel stupid to predict fate with tea leaves."

"So do I," Ivan nodded approvingly, and then he saw Professor Trelawney approaching, so he hastened to say, "But we'd better do what the book says and see what's in my cup of tea, hadn't we?"

"Well...," Hermione frowned, "It looks like an insect, but I'm not sure or maybe it doesn't look like one..."

"Let me see, my child!", Professor Trelawney picked up the teacup, a look of horror then crossed her face, "It's a spider!"

"It means your plans will be foiled." Professor Trelawney whispered to Ivan, "And you'd better watch out for this creature, I see bad luck in your teacup."

"Really?" said Hermione in a disapproving tone as she stood behind Professor Trelawney, "From this angle, it looks like a sun, and according to the book Looking Ahead, that means happiness, and it looks like Ivan will be lucky."

Ivan looked nervously at the two who were talking about his cup, as if it would determine his fate.

Whether bad luck or good fortune, he couldn't bring himself to say.

But he couldn't see why he had to fear a spider, the only spiders they had to fear at Hogwarts were probably the giant ones in the forest and he didn't have a reason to go there this year.

If anything, Ivan frowned at the prospect of a setback to his plans.

Before he could think of anything else, Ron and Harry, sitting next to him, suddenly let out a loud laugh, drawing Professor Trelawney's attention.

Professor Trelawney turned quickly and, with a disgruntled expression, snatched the teacup from Ron's hand.

Everyone fell silent, eyes focused on Professor Trelawney as she stared at the teacup, turning it counterclockwise.

"It's a Falcon, dear, you have a mortal enemy," Trelawney whispered.

"But everyone knows," Hermione murmured, "Everyone knows Harry and you know who...".

Professor Trelawney ignored Hermione, her big eyes went back to staring at Harry's teacup as she continued to swirl it around.

"Big stick, one hit, that's not a lucky teacup!" she swirled the teacup once more, "Skull, there's danger ahead!"

They all gaped at Trelawney, who swirled the teacup again, who suddenly gasped and cried out. Then she sat down in an empty chair, her hands were over her heart and her eyes were closed, "My dear child, my poor, dear child! No, I shouldn't say it, don't ask me anything..."

"What's going on, Professor?" they all stood up, and all slowly gathered slowly around Harry and Ron's table, closer to Professor Trelawney's chair to get a better view of Harry's teacup.

"Well, he looks like a donkey," Hermione said hesitantly.

"That's a pity," Professor Trelawney's eyes snapped open and she looked at Harry shouting, "Poor thing, he's a Grim."

Her words seemed to have a magical effect, all the children from magical families drew in a cold breath and their eyes widened, while the others looked confused.

"I'm sorry, teacher, what have I got?" asked Harry.

"Grim, that's a Grim!" shouted Professor Trelawney surprised at Harry's lack of comprehension, "The giant, spectral dog that haunts graveyards! My dear boy, it is an omen, the worst omen, the omen of death!"

Harry's expression changed to an unnatural one, as he remembered the big dog on the cover of 'The Harbinger of Death', and the dog he had seen in the shadows of the street before he took the Knight Bus.

He turned sharply and looked at Ivan, who had also seen the dog.

Ivan shrugged and said, "I don't think it was a Grim, it was just a stray dog. I've seen it, and if bad luck is contagious...''.

Hearing Ivan's words made everyone involuntarily recoil, not daring to look at Ivan and Harry. Ivan tried not to laugh, he suddenly found it very funny to scare people like that, it was no wonder Professor Trelawney liked to do it.

Hermione gave Ivan a stern look, she walked over to Professor Trelawney's chair and said, "Professor, I don't think it's an omen."

Professor Trelawney looked at Hermione and said, "Forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I sense very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."

Professor Trelawney looked at Hermione and Ivan in disgust, annoyed that they had ruined the atmosphere of panic she had managed to create.

Trelawney said in a vague voice, "I think we'll leave the lesson here for today, please pack your things..."

The class quietly returned their cups of tea to Professor Trelawney, closed their books and packed their bags with stony faces, even Ron was afraid to look at Harry.

They were all thinking about what Professor Trelawney had said and the unknown contents of Harry's teacup.

Hermione seemed to want to continue the debate, but Ivan hurried her out of the classroom.

In the hallway, Harry and Ron were the only ones left.

Ivan's comment about bad luck being contagious made everyone very nervous.

They all put their heads down and ran down the stairs at full speed, as if they had the plague. Ivan, Harry, Ron and Hermione were left alone, watching everyone run away from them, not knowing what to say.

A second later, Ivan looked back and saw that Hermione was gone.