Ethereal

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The Goblet of Fire

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When the bell rang to signal the start of afternoon lessons, Harry, Ron and Sadie set off for North Tower where, at the top of a tightly spiralling staircase, a silver stepladder led to a circular trapdoor in the ceiling and the room where Professor Trelawney lived.

The familiar sweet perfume spreading from the fire met their nostrils as they emerged at the top of the stepladder. As ever, the curtains were all closed, the circular room was bathed in a dim reddish light cast by the many lamps, which were all draped with scarves and shawls. Bia, Harry and Ron walked through the mass of occupied chintz chairs and pouffes that cluttered the room and sat down at the same small circular table.

"Good day," said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney right behind Sadie, making her jump.

A very thin woman with enormous glasses that made her eyes appear far too large for her face, Professor Trelawney was peering down at Harry with the tragic expression she always wore whenever she saw him. The usual large amount of beads, chains, and bangles glittered upon her person in the firelight.

"You are preoccupied, my dear," she said mournfully to Harry. "My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas, most difficult. I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass, and perhaps sooner than you think. . . ."

Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. Sadie and Ron rolled their eyes at Harry, who looked stonily back. Professor Trelawney swept past them and seated herself in a large winged armchair before the fire, facing the class. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who deeply admired Professor Trelawney, were sitting on poufs very close to her.

"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars," she said. "The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle. . . ."

"What a load of rubbish," Sadie muttered to Ron, the blonde not noticing Professor Trelawney talking to Harry.

"Tell me about it," Ron said as Sadie nodded. The blonde looked out the window, clearly bored.

"Harry!" Ron muttered, making Sadie look at him and then at Harry. Harry looked around and saw the whole class was staring at him. He sat up straight and Sadie bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn," said Professor Trelawney, a faint note of resentment in her voice at the fact that he had obviously not been hanging on her words.

"Born under, what, sorry?" said Harry.

"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!" said Professor Trelawney, sounding definitely irritated that he wasn't riveted by this news. "I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth. Your dark hair, your mean stature, tragic losses so young in life. I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?"

"No," said Harry, "I was born in July."

Sadie and Ron hastily turned their laugh into a hacking cough.

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Half an hour later, each of them had been given a complicated circular chart, and was attempting to fill in the position of the planets at their moment of birth. It was dull work, requiring much consultation of timetables and calculation of angles.