Percy Jackson and the Hound of Hogwarts [Book 3]

15) Tea Leaves

"I wonder, dear," Trelawney said to Lavender Brown, who was closest, "if you could pass me the largest silver teapot?"

A relieved looking Lavender stood and collected the teapot for her, setting it on the table before sitting on her own pouf.

"Thank you, my dear. Incidentally, that thing you are dreading — it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October."

Lavender trembled.

"Now, I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me, and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink, drink until only the dregs remain. Swirl these around 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. I shall move among you, helping and instructing. Oh, and dear" — she grabbed Neville by the arm as he tried to stand — "after you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue-patterned ones? I'm rather attached to the pink."

Neville did break his cup.

"Uh, do I have to do this one? I don't really like tea," I said awkwardly as Trelawney helped him clean up.

"Yes, you do. Oh, and I'm very sorry about that betrayal," Trelawney said, and I frowned.

"Who betrayed me?" I asked suspiciously.

She looked back at me, blinked, then said, "You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend. The blonde boy over there, with the gray eyes, spent a long time with him, yes? Since a young age?"

"Okay, you can stop freaking me out, I'll drink the tea," I said, and shot a look at Draco. Everyone was looking at him and me weirdly.

He calmly stood, and said, "This summer, someone at camp framed Percy for robbery then tried to kill him, among other things." Then he grabbed his own tea.

I quickly drank my tea, forcing it down. Then I did the things with the dregs, and passed my cup to Hermione.

"What do you see?" I asked Hermione as she looked in my cup.

"Brown."

"Ah, my future. I'll turn into a great big giant turd. Be funnier if I turned into a pickle."

"Broaden your minds, my dears, and allow your eyes to see past the mundane!" Trelawney cried.

I rolled my eyes, and said, "Well, there is an egg. And I think that's a clock, though it might be one of those fancy china plates with the queen's face on it. Oh, no the face is definitely a skull. Ummm," I looked at the book, frowning. "Well, the egg says you're going to become a parent soon. Like, you're already pregnant. I think that's not right. Er, the clock means something will happen in time, which seems extremely specific. The skull means there's danger in your path, which I one hundred percent believe in because we never have a calm year at Hogwarts. What about me?"

Hermione sighed, and said, "Well, that's an eye. There's something that looks like a tree. A lightning bolt. You've got a skull and a bird. Um, that thing in the corner could also be a clock. The book says that an eye means... you have the Sight better than most. Congratulations. A tree means you will show great growth. Um, there's nothing about a lightning bolt on these two pages. We know the skull, and the bird means there is a deadly enemy. The clock is stupid, as we know."

Hermione raised her hand, and Trelawney came over, "Excuse me, Miss, but there's nothing in here about a lightning bolt."

Trelawney snatched my cup from Hermione's hands, peering into it.

She didn't mention the bolt, "You have the Sight."

I raised my eyebrows, "Yes. I use my eyes."

"No, no. You have the Sight. Have you had any prophetic dreams?" Trelawney asked, and I knew everyone was looking at me.

"Which ones?" I sighed.

"Describe them."

"Before I came to Hogwarts, I saw Hogwarts. I saw each room on the way to the Mirror. I saw the Mirror. Last year I saw the yellow eyes of the basilisk. This summer I had a bunch," I said.

"You know what the ones from the summer mean? I can help interpret them!"

"No, I know what they mean. Now, go read Harry's or something, I'm sure his is going to tell him he'll die or something. That kind of stuff just happens to him," I grinned at Harry, and he narrowed his eyes at me.

Professor Trelawney snatched the cup from Ron. Everyone watched as she looked into the cup.

"The falcon... my dear, you have a deadly enemy," Trelawney said. I have multiple of those, I thought. I should have had more than one falcon.

"But everyone knows that," Hermione whispered loudly. Trelawney stared at her.

"Well, they do," Hermione said. "Everybody knows about Harry and You-Know-Who."

I grinned at Hermione. She had never ever talked to a teacher like that.

Trelawney ignored her, turning Harry's cup, "The club... an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup..."

"I thought that was a bowler hat," Ron said sheepishly.

"The skull... danger in your path, my dear..."

Everyone stared. She turned the cup, gasped, then screamed.

I heard a cup shatter, and saw Neville's on the floor. Trelawney is sunk into an empty armchair, mumbling.

"What is it, Professor?" Dean Thomas, a Gryffindor boy, asked.

"My dear," Trelawney opened her eyes, "you have the Grim."

Bro school sucks so much butt. Especially when a friend — you know who you are pt.2 — texts you in the middle of class. It was all right though. I even texted her for a while in that class, but I guess we were allowed to, because of special circumstances or whatever. So I'm a freshman class officer, and they had a student council meeting today. Me and my friend weren't sure if that included us, so we asked our president. He said it did. We went to the meeting. It did not include us. It was weird. I finished another art project yesterday. Uh I was supposed to go to GT, but I had stuff to do in class, so I don't know when I'll be able to go. Uh. My friend is sick. She's been absent for a while, and I sit by her, so if she's with corona, then I'll get quarantined. We had a gross lunch today. oH! I wear masks every day, and they have the days on them. Except I just pick a random mask. Today I wore the Wednesday mask. It is not Wednesday. In Mythology, we're doing a project on mythical creatures. I did the banshee and the Phoenix. For extra credit, we can make our own creature. I made the maidmer. Take a wild guess what it is. In health, we had to write a two page summary over three chapters. I've finished that. I don't have anything to do in there anymore. Which is cool. It means I can get my English stuff done in there and go to GT now that I think about it. Uh, yeah, I'm done talking about it.

I hope you guys have had a good Tuesday, and I love you, and I'll see you on Thursday! <3