Chapter 337: Arithmancy and Controversy

The topic continued until the four of them finished their lunch in the Great Dining Hall.

"What are we going to do when we get that object?" Ron looked at the Forbidden Forest and said uncertainly, "Since the power of that thing helped Sirius make the Marauder's Map, maybe it can help us improve our magic..."

"That's not a good idea. The power should be built up a bit on its own, rather than relying on promoting magical items" Hermione frowned and said, "Besides, we won't necessarily get that thing. Sirius said it was a very difficult test."

"With Ivan there, no test will be a problem." Ron said casually, "Besides, all four of us are Gryffindor House students, since it's something he left behind..."

"Alright, same words... you've said it many times before, we can talk about this topic after the exam is over." Hermione pulled a heavy magical book out of her backpack, "No matter what Gryffindor left behind, all I want now is to review Arithmancy before the exam."

Hermione waved to Ivan and Harry, turned and walked in the direction of the library.

"She must be mad, right?" Ron said in surprise. "With the Gryffindor Treasure Key and the Centaur colony adventure ahead of her, how could she only think about her exam results?"

"I think Hermione's right." Harry said with concern. "Now that we've done badly in some exams, Divination is a very important opportunity, but I don't know anything about it. I can't see the future through the fog..."

"Come on, we all know that!" Ron tilted his thumb towards Professor Trelawney's tower and said disdainfully, "It's a real con."

"Yes!" said Harry, "but I hope she doesn't score too low."

"Professor Trelawney likes to hear people predict tragic things." Ivan suggested, "If you can't see anything in the crystal ball for a while, you can make up something like what she's been saying, batons, hawks, etc."

"Yes, that's exactly what we need." Ron agreed. "Predict that we will suffer misfortune, that death and fear will go hand in hand..."

"We'll go to the exam and meet in the common room later," Harry said.

Looking at his back, Ivan shook his head.

It wouldn't be surprising if next year was like them, relying on fabricating their own unfortunate future to satisfy Professor Trelawney and pass the Divination test.

After parting from Harry and Ron, Ivan returned alone to the common room. Because all the first and second year exams were over, the atmosphere in the common room was very relaxed. Everyone gathered to talk, laugh, and discuss their accomplishments.

Ivan did not join in. He reviewed several items to be submitted to 'Hogwarts Magic', and played a few games of magic chess with Colin. As the sky gradually darkened, the others started to go to dinner, and he waited for a while, Harry, Ron and Hermione returned to the common room.

"How did it go?" Ivan got up and asked.

"It was a disaster!" Harry replied. "Except for the scars on the table, I didn't see anything in the crystal ball, so I made some stuff up."

"Me too!" Ron continued, "I said I was going to meet a centaur tonight. I don't think I was convinced. I was wondering if I was going to get killed by the centaur and all that nonsense."

"I told you a long time ago that Divination is a waste of time - next year, you should study Arithmancy with me!" Hermione commented, "Compared to vain Divination, Arithmancy is very organized, and everything is analyzed in the evolution of numbers."

"Give me a break, we can't take it!" Ron shook his head again and again. "Those numbers look like a pain in the ass, like Muggle learning content. I know they call it science. Think about it, how can a normal wizard accept these things?"

"Numbers are the charm of Artimancy." Hermione was relentless.

"Only those crazy Muggles can learn that stuff, I can't...," Ron said.

"RON!" Hermione said dissatisfied, turning up the volume.

"Let's go down to dinner. We can talk about it on the way. It's a long way to the Centaur colony, deep in the Forbidden Forest." Ivan hastily interrupted, "Come on, let's not make Sirius wait too long for us."

Hermione hesitated a bit and seemed very worried about Ron's assessment of Arithmancy, especially when he said that only crazy Muggles would learn it.

But in the end, she said nothing.

Harry went back to his room and took the invisibility cloak with him. They went downstairs with the others for dinner, but didn't return to Gryffindor Tower after that.

Ivan asked Colin to cover for them, and the four of them stepped carefully for a while.

Harry hid the invisibility cloak under the front of his robes, and had to cross his arms the whole time to hide the bulge it made in his robes.

They snuck into an empty classroom near the dark front hallway, leaned against the door and listened for a while until they realized no one was around.

"I can transform, you three use the invisibility cloak" When Ivan finished, he turned into a black cat.

"This is great; I want to learn Animagus Transfiguration too." Ron said enviously, looking at Ivan, who turned into a black cat.

"Then you need a thorough theoretical background in Transfiguration, and powerful magic as a support for your first transformation." Hermione said casually. "This is very esoteric magic, not to mention underage wizards, many powerful wizards can't do this."

"But, didn't Ivan do it?" said Ron.

"He's strong enough to master sudden powerful magic." Hermione said bluntly, because of Arithmancy, she was still angry with Ron, "And you're different. Don't talk about such deep magical Transfiguration. You don't even want to understand simple numbers. I think what you need now is to read more books instead of fantasizing about mastering such illusory and deep magic..."

Ron's ears were obviously red from Hermione's words.

Ivan jumped over Hermione's shoulder and gestured for her to calm down and not move too far away.

Because of Hermione's anger, the atmosphere was a little awkward. Ron blushed and seemed to want to apologize to Hermione, but he opened his mouth and said nothing.

After a while, Harry lowered his voice and said, "There's no one outside. We'd better hurry."

Then the three of them put on the invisibility cloak, huddled under it, and tiptoed across the great dining hall. Ivan followed them and they walked down the stone steps to the door.

By then, the sun had fallen behind the Forbidden Forest, and the dark yellow glow shone in the treetops, and a cool night breeze blew from the north.