𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 36

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH DIVINATION PASSES

. . .

Aviana picked through her shepherd's pie at lunch, fork digging into the mash and pushing it down into the gravy, taking a bite every so often. Her focused slipped in and out of the conversation, not saying anything unless they noticed she wasn't speaking.

She was dreading Defense Against the Dark Arts later that day, but first she had to get through Divination. Which wasn't much better than History of Magic, and the sickly-scented smoke from the fire caused her mind to fog over. The entire room made her feel tired and dizzy, so all in all that didn't exactly bode well for her.

None of her friends took the class, which didn't leave her with a lot of options and so she sat with a Ravenclaw ( Luka Flores ) and the only other Slytherin in the class ( Alice Wilson ) on the table near the back. They had sat together since third year, and hadn't spoken to each other except when was necessary. It was a perfect class to sleep in, and an easy pass once you had the basics down and the ability to lie.

And so, saying goodbye to her friends in the Entrance Hall, the Rosier girl had trekked up to the top floor of the North tower climbing through the trapdoor, nodding to the two already at the table and sitting down.

"Good day." Professor Trelawney greeted in her usual misty,dreamy voice. "And welcome back to Divination. I have, of course, been following your fortunes most carefully over the holidays, and am delighted to see that you have all returned to Hogwarts safely - as, of course, I knew you would."

"You will find on the tables before you copies of The Dream Oracle, by Inigo Imago." She continued, gesturing to her own copy. "Dream interpretation is a most important means of divining the future and one that may very probably be tested in your O.W.L. Not, of course, that I believe examination passes or failures are of the remotest importance when it comes to the sacred art of divination. If you have the Seeing Eye, certificates and grades matter very little. However, the headmaster likes you to sit the examination, so..." Her voice trailed away delicately, leaving them all in no doubt that Professor Trelawney considered her subject above such sordid matters as examinations.

"Turn, please, to the introduction and read what Imago has to say on the matter of dream interpretation. Then divide into pairs. Use The Dream Oracle to interpret each other's most recent dreams. Carry on." Trelawney finished.

And just like all of the Divination lessons, Alice, Luka and Aviana completely ignored the instruction to work in pairs and instead worked by themselves. They only ever pretended to be working together when Trelawney appeared by their side with her bug eyes, before splitting off once more.

But it seemed they wouldn't even need to pretend to work together; the introduction was so long that they barely had ten minutes left until the end of the lesson - no time at all for time interpretations.

At the end of the lesson, Trelawney assigned them a month-long homework task of keeping a dream diary, all of which Aviana knew she would make up. Her dreams either didn't occur at all, or were rather strange appearances of what she believed to be Azkaban - she had nightmares about the prison her father was kept in. 

The dream diary joined the foot-and-a-half-long essay set by Professor Binns on giant wars, and the foot-long essay on the properties of moonstones set by Professor Snape. And with that being set, Aviana trudged down the steps to the the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Her heart pounded in her ears as she slipped through the door, eyes drifting to the floor as she saw Umbridge already sat at the desk, wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of thenight before and the black velvet bow on top of her head.

"Avi!" Pansy hissed, tugging the Rosier girl into the seat beside her. The class was incredibly quiet, and nobody talked louder than a mumble as they settled in their chairs, not knowing what to expect from her.

Aviana felt sick, twisting her hands in her lap as they waited, eyes settled on the wooden desk. The way Umbridge had treated her at her father's trial was just awful, and no matter whether William Rosier was guilty - the way that it had been gone about was just scarring and had Aviana feeling horrible about having Umbridge as her teacher.

"Well, good afternoon!" She said when finally the whole class had sat down. A few people mumbled 'good afternoon' in reply. 

"Tut, tut" Professor Umbridge said. "That won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon,Professor Umbridge.' One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!" 

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," they chanted back ather, Aviana not even bothering to mumble it.

"There, now," Umbridge continued sweetly. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please."

Aviana had a feeling that with that instruction, Umbridge's lessons weren't destined to be a success. What she didn't know, was that eventually, they could barely even be called that.

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