Neville Longbottom and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter 4: Teasing and Tealeaves

At breakfast the next morning Malfoy walked past where Neville was eating. He put the back of his hand on his forehead and started swaying back and forth.

"Oh, Longbottom," he trilled, "there must be Dementors nearby, I'm feeling faint."

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle cackled with laughter, and several others joined in.

Fred and George stood up and blocked their way forward. "I can think of something funnier than that, Fred."

"Oh yeah, George, you mean that kid who came into our compartment crying like a baby?" Malfoy stopped laughing rather abruptly.

"Exactly, but I can't remember who that was, do you remember, Fred?"

"You're a couple of liars!" Malfoy growled, and he pushed his way past the Weasley Twins just to run into Lee Jordan.

"Hey, Malfoy," Lee said, "sorry I didn't have a hankie for you yesterday, but I've got one now if you need it."

Malfoy stepped around Lee and stormed off yelling, "I WASN'T CRYING!"

Crabbe and Goyle tried to follow, but were too intimidated to get past the Twins. They pushed and bullied around the other way and hurried to catch up with Malfoy. Neville felt bad for Malfoy, but was glad someone had stood up for him.

Neville's first class was Divination in the North Tower. He knew that Ron and Harry were in that class, so he followed them while thinking about sorting his Chocolate Frog cards. It was a long trip and Neville thought there must be a quicker route. They finally got to the top of an unusually large spiral staircase, and ended up in a room that had a ladder up to a trap door. There were other Third-years gathered there that seemed uncertain, and Harry finally just climbed the ladder and pushed the door open.

Only his legs were visible, then he crouched down and said, "This looks like the place."

They all filed up the ladder and into a large round room with two rows of short legged coffee tables in semicircles. There were also seat cushions behind the tables. Red curtains were drawn over the windows which caused the smoky air to glow. A strong smell of incense made Neville feel more relaxed by the minute, and he sat on the back row where he could lean against one of many cabinets filled with teacups.

Once everyone was seated, the teacher introduced herself, and Neville recognized her from the Christmas Feast last year. She wore at least two cardigans, multiple scarves, and she had bracelets on both wrists which were stacked almost to her elbows. Her hair was wild and frizzy, and she wore a pair of round bejeweled glasses that made her eyes look enormous.

"I am Professor Trelawney," she said, sounding like she was doing an exaggerated impression of Luna, "and welcome to Divination, the most difficult of all Magical arts." Neville thought maybe this class was a bad idea, and if he wasn't already completely relaxed he would have been panicking.

"If you don't recognize me it is because I rarely leave this Tower. I find the chaos of the Castle clouds my Inner-Eye and interferes with messages from the Beyond." As she spoke, she wandered around the room and waved her hands about as though trying to mix the air together. "I must warn you, no matter how talented you may be with the loud, theatrical Magic of my colleagues, very few have the Gift of penetrating the veiled mysteries of the future."

She suddenly turned to Neville and asked, "Is your grandmother well?"

"Um, I think so," he said with a shaky voice, despite feeling overly relaxed.

"I wouldn't be so sure, my dear," and then she continued wandering, completely unconcerned. "The first term will be devoted to reading tea leaves, and next term we shall progress to Palmistry . . ."