Percy Jackson and the Department of Mysteries [Book 5]

136) Humans Bad, Centaurs Good

There's something important in the AN at the end of the chapter, please read it (:

"Lie back on the floors," Firenze's calm voice washed over us, and I grinned, because I'd already been lying on the floor, "and observe the heavens. Here is written, for those who can see, the fortune of our races." Zoë twinkled down over me. My race was not very fortunate. "I know that you have learned the names of the planets and their moons in Astronomy, and that you have mapped the stars' progress through the heavens. Centaurs have unraveled the mysteries of these movements over centuries. Our findings teach us that the future may be glimpsed in the sky above us..."

"Professor Trelawney did Astrology with us!" Parvati said eagerly. "Mars causes accidents and burns and things like that, and when it makes an angle to Saturn, like now" — she drew an angle on the sky with her finger — "that means that people need to be extra careful when handling hot things —"

"That," Firenze said calmly, "is human nonsense." Parvati's hand fell limply to her side. "Trivial hurts, tiny human accidents. These are of no more significance than the scurrying of ants to the wide universe, and are unaffected by planetary movements."

Parvati sounded hurt and indignant, "Professor Trelawney —"

"— is a human," Firenze finished for her. "And is therefore blinkered and fettered by the limitations of your kind." Parvati officially looked offended. "Sybill Trelawney may have Seen, I do not know, but she wastes her time, in the main, on the self-flattering nonsense humans call fortune-telling. I, however, am here to explain the wisdom of centaurs, which is impersonal and impartial. We watch the skies for the great tides of evil or change that are sometimes marked there. It may take ten years to be sure of what we are seeing." He pointed to a red star. "In the past decade, the indications have been that Wizard-kind is living through nothing more than a brief calm between two wars. Mars, bringer of battle, shines brightly above us, suggesting that the fight must break out again soon. How soon, centaurs may attempt to divine by the burning of certain herbs and leaves, by the observation of fume and flame..."

Before Firenze could officially start the lesson, I asked if the red star could represent something other than the war of Wizard-kind. Maybe a war of demigods, for example. Firenze stared at me sadly, then looked up at the sky again. He pointed to a blue star very close to the red one, which was quite big, "The blue star and the red star are fighting. The red star is larger, brighter, because there is more than one war. The blue star is the choice that will be made in yours, the opportunity for destruction or protection."

Mars was so bright because we were facing two wars. It made the blue star seem so much smaller.

We burnt sage and plants and watched for shapes in the smoke, but most no one could see anything. I, for a moment, thought I had seen something like a circle. It disappeared, though, and I didn't have a clue what it meant. Firenze said that things would end where they started, but what did that mean? The bolt would be lost again? When did things officially even start? With Liam, maybe? With me? Firenze told us that he didn't expect for us to see anything, as humans almost never did. As soon as he said that, Ron said his fire seemed to flicker and slow. Ron looked uncomfortable, and so did Firenze. The new Professor said it was nothing — Ron pretended to agree.

"He's not very definite on anything, is he?" Ron said lowly once he'd put out his fire. "I mean, I could do with a few more details about this war we're about to have, couldn't you?"

Once the bell rang, Firenze asked that Harry and I stay. When Ron hesitated to leave, he let him stay behind, too, closing the door behind him. He asked us to tell Hagrid to warn Hagrid that his attempt was not working, and he'd do better to abandon it. None of us had any clue what Firenze was talking about, but we agreed, anyway.