Percy Jackson and the Hound of Hogwarts [Book 3]

16) The Grim

"The what?" Harry asked.

I shook my head, whispering in Greek, "What the fuck."

"The Grim, my dear, the Grim!" Trelawney cried, shocked that Harry didn't understand. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen — the worst omen — of death!"

I looked into the cup, and immediately connected the little brown blob with the dog we had seen in the alleyway.

Hermione walked behind Trelawney's chair, "I don't think it looks like a Grim."

Trelawney looked at Hermione with distaste, "You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."

Seamus tilted his head, eyes narrowed as he looked into the cup, "It looks like a Grim if you do this, but it looks more like a donkey from here." He leaned to the left.

"When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!" Harry snapped, surprising everyone.

"I think we will leave the lesson here for today," Trelawney said mistily. "Yes... please pack away your things..."

We were about to leave when Trelawney called, "Mr. Jackson, could you please stay a moment?"

I grimaced, then walked towards her desk.

"Mr. Jackson, you do realize how great your Gift is, yes?"

"Yeah, it's real great," I sighed, sitting on a pouf. "I get to see my friends get hurt and know I can't change anything. I get to see monsters I'll face and wonder what scar I'm going to get then. I get to hear the voice of Kronos drifting out of Tartarus, attempting to drag me and my family in with him. I've seen terrible things, and frankly, I'm tired of it."

Trelawney shook her head, "Mr. Jackson, look past the dreams. You'll be able to see into crystal balls! Read people! You could be great?"

"What about seeing the future is great? So far, it just tells me that the world is getting darker and darker."

"The future of your enemies. It has to get darker for them, too. Just, please, try. Here. Hold this," Trelawney said, handing me a crystal ball suddenly.

The moment I touched it, I heard Draco cry, "Nobody!"

That was it. The crystal ball exploded. Trelawney looked amazed.

"You... didn't even have to look for anything," she whispered, and I groaned.

"I'm a demigod. A son of Poseidon. It's just that. Can I go now, please? And have a late note, too?"

***

I held up the late note as I walked into Transfiguartion, "Sorry, Professor, but Trelawney wanted me to hold her balls."

Giggles erupted in the class, and McGonagall took the note from me.

"Your hands are bleeding," Seamus pointed out.

"Her balls burst."

There were more giggles, and I sat down, pulling bandaids out of my backpack. I silently put them on, listening to Professor McGonagall talk about Animagi. They were wizards that could transform into an animal. She showed us by transforming herself into a bespectacled cat in front of us. I started clapping, but no one else did and I found myself blushing.

"Really, what has gotten into you all today?" McGonagall turned back into a human. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class."

Everybody looked at Harry. Hermione raised her hand.

"Please, Professor, we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves, and—"

"Ah, of course," McGonagall frowned suddenly. "There is no need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"

Everyone stared at her, and I shook my head.

"Me," Harry said.

"I see," McGonagall stared at Harry. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them have died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues—"

McGonagall broke off suddenly, calming herself down, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney—"

She stopped herself again, and said matter-of-factly, "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

Hermione laughed. I grinned. Then I said in Greek, "Professor McGonagall, the pictures can often represent something, yeah? Like the dog things means death or whatever. But maybe the dog just means he's going to see a dog. Like, when he ran away, there was this dog that looked a lot like the thing in his cup, and I think he might just run into it back at the Dursleys."

Everyone who understood stared at me. The others were just used to it by now.

"But you said that Harry's cup would say he was going to die! You have the Sight!" Ron exclaimed.

"I was making a joke, Ron. Just like how your parents made you," I said, frowning.

"Five points from Hufflepuff for insulting one of your peers," McGonagall said in English, narrowing her eyes at me. "But you are right. That could be possible."

I nodded, "Hermione's cup showed that she was pregnant, which I don't think is right. It was an egg. Maybe, just maybe, she likes omelets. I know her dad can make some mean scrambled eggs."

McGonagall tried not to smile, but failed miserably.

I pulled out my wand, "But just in case, Fetus Deletus!"

Hermione snorted, and McGonagall laughed.

I left her class feeling very happy.

Sorry for the memes I put in these chapters. I really fuckin like memes.

Also, I had a really bad day. It was going so good for a while. But then in fifth hour, my art teacher asked me about me going virtual. Apparently I'm going fucking virtual. I didn't want to spend my first year at high school behind a computer screen. And I'm not going to pretend I don't rely on my friends more than I do. If I didn't have them, I wouldn't share my damned feelings with anyone. Because really, you guys are awesome, but you have to understand... they're my friends. I can see them, laugh with them, I've made inside jokes, they've seen my ups and downs and have been there for it. God they make me smile, and my dad traded that away without even talking to me about it. He wasn't even the one who told me I was going virtual. He hadn't even said he was thinking about it. And yeah, I understand why. My sister is diabetic, the virus would do some real damage to her. But I'm willing to make ultimatums. She could stay home. She wants to stay home. But she also is going to get to hang out with her best friend (our cousin) and go to basketball practice. I'd be willing to fucking shower the moment I got home, to wear a mask around her all of the time, just to get to go to fucking school. I don't want to spend my first year as a freshman, the first year I'm taking subjects with teachers and friends and things I enjoy, behind a fucking chromebook screen. A chromebook that lags the fuck out, that I can't do anything on without it getting monitored, a bunch of stupid shit I don't even want to talk about. And then there's the fact that we're fucking moving and I'm going to fail because we won't have WiFi for a while. I won't be able to do my damn work. Do you know how much that sucks? I've only had one B in my life, and now I'm gonna fail. And maybe it'll end up being worse because I won't even be able to get help from my teachers without waiting for an email they won't send after the work was already due. I'm tired of this shit.

I hope you guys have had a good day, and I'll see you on Saturday. I guess this is the one thing that won't change. Love you.