Trivial Tasseography⋆。°✩

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"-las! Hey, Atlas!"

Atlas fluttered his eyes open. He looked around and realized he wasn't in bed. He must've fallen asleep in the common room.

"What gave you the brilliant idea to sleep down here?" Draco asked, pulling him up.

Atlas shrugged, still half asleep. He walked upstairs to his dorm to get ready for class. He gathered his clothes from his trunk and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

"Hey, Atlas!" Pansy called. He stopped in the middle of the corridor. "Since you missed breakfast, I snatched you a biscuit."

"Thanks," He smiled. He took the bread from her and quickly ate, not realizing how hungry he was.

"Are you excited about Divination?" She asked.

"A bit, yeah," He said, mouth full of food. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but he wished he could take Muggle Studies instead.

"I don't want to go to Ancient Runes."

"Then why'd you pick it?"

She looked down, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. "Well, this is my class. See you later!"

Atlas continued walking to the North Tower, thinking who was in Pansy's Ancient Runes class that would get her so flustered. He remembered Hermione mentioning she wanted to take the class. He didn't know of anyone else. After what felt like an eternity, he arrived at a trap door. He looked at it questionably, wondering how to get it to come down. The trap door suddenly opened, and a silver ladder descended. "This is a strange place for a classroom," He muttered.

He climbed up and entered the classroom, if that's what you could call it. There were 10 small tables with two pillows at each. The room was dim; the curtains were drawn, lamps being the only source of light.

"Welcome." Atlas jumped at the sudden voice. Professor Trelawney walked toward him. She had thin frizzled hair with large glasses that magnified her eyes, making them look owlish. Chains and beads adorned her neck and her arms were decorated with bangles. "Sit my child, sit."

Atlas looked at the tables, seeing half of them occupied. He sat by himself, disappointed there were no other Slytherins. Harry and Ron rushed in and Trelawney told them to sit down. The two boys looked around at the tables and Atlas immediately looked down. He didn't want to make eye contact like they always tended to do. The boys took the table in front of him, much to Atlas' disdain.

"You have to be kidding me," He mumbled, annoyed. His eyes lingered on the raven-haired boy. He had a perfect view from where he was sitting.

"Welcome to Divination," Professor Trelawney said. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye. So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can only take you so far in this field."

Atlas glanced around and realized he was the only one without a partner.

"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearing, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future," Trelawney continued. "It is a Gift granted to a few. You, boy," She called to a Gryffindor boy. Atas recognized him at Neville Longbottom. "Is your grandmother well?"

"I- I think so," He stuttered.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear," She said, causing Neville to gulp. "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. Now I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, and drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around in the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside down on its saucer. Wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future." She looked over at Atlas. "Oh, dear, you don't have a partner. Make a group of three with the table in front of you."

Atlas regretted ever taking this class. Of course, he had to be paired up with bloody Potter and Weasel. He only sighed and nodded. He went to the back of the classroom and picked up a cup, filling it. He shuffled over to his newly assigned table and sat down on the only vacant pillow, next to Harry.

The three boys chugged the tea and swilled the dregs around. Then they drained their cups and swapped. Atlas got Ron's cup, Harry had his, and Ron had Harry's.

"Right," Ron said, opening his book. "What can you see in mine?" He asked Atlas.

"A crooked cross." He glanced at the book. "That means you'll have 'trials and suffering'. There's also a...sun. I think...and that means 'great happiness'. So you're going to suffer, but be very happy?"

"I think you need your Inner Eye tested if you ask me," Ron said, he and Harry stifled their laughs and gained a stare from Trelawney.

"Well, I didn't ask you, Weasel." Atlas put the cup down on the table.

"Anyways," Harry started, looking at the cup in his hand. "This looks like a gun?"

Atlas wondered what a gun was. Luckily, Ron asked.

"It's a muggle weapon." He looked at the book. "Yeah, right here. A gun means serious injuries to oneself. And this over here looks like a broom...which means there'll be changes in your life," Harry finished, putting Atlas' cup down. "So you'll get injured, then your life will change."

"Alright, my turn!" Ron picked up Harry's cup. "There's a blob a bit like a bowler hat. Maybe you're going to work for the Ministry of Magic..." He turned the cup. "But this way it looks more like an acorn...what's that?" He scanned the book. "'A windfall, unexpected gold'. Excellent, you can lend me some."

"Maybe he could buy you some new robes. Salazar knows you need some," Atlas snickered.

Ron glared at him and clenched his jaw. "And there's a thing here," He continued. Ron turned the cup again. "That looks like an animal...yeah if that was its head...it looks like a hippo...no, a sheep."

"Let me see that, dear," Professor Trelawney said, taking the cup. She rotated it. "The falcon...my dear, you have a deadly enemy."

"Everyone knows that," Hermione said and Trelawney looked at her. "Well, they do. Everybody knows about Harry and You-Know-Who." Atlas looked at her, surprised. She's never talked to a teacher like that before.

Trelawney didn't respond and turned the cup again. "The club...an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup..."

"I thought it was a bowler hat," Ron piped up.

"The skull," Trelawney continued. "Danger in your path, my dear." She turned the cup once more, gasped, then screamed. "My dear boy...my poor, dear boy...no...it is kinder to say...no...don't ask me..."

"What is it?" A Gryffindor boy that Atlas didn't recognize asked.

"My dear, you have the grim."

"That what?" Harry asked.

"The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen - the worst omen - of death!"

The room went silent and Atlas watched as Harry's face twisted. "Well, I don't think it looks like a grim," Hermione said flatly.

"You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you," Trelawney said. Atlas snickered at Hermione's upset expression. Another Gryffindor boy took his turn looking at the cup and called it a donkey.

"When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!" Harry said. On that note, Trelawney ended class, ushering everyone out. 

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