The Lost Black (The Predestined Trilogy - Bk 1) (A HP FanFic)

Chapter 22: Centaurs, Sneaks, Fireworks, Oh My!

 "Did you see the look on that toad's face though?" I doubled over in laughter while Zendaya pushed around her food on her plate with a frown and Cora sipped on her pumpkin juice.

"Why a centaur, though?" Zendaya murmured. "Of anyone that Dumbledore could hire, he chose a centaur. Why?"

"Centaurs do have a natural affinity for Divination," Cora pointed out. "Maybe that's why?"

"Or it was for Umbridge's reaction," I snorted.

Around dinnertime a few days ago, Trelawney was sacked by Umbridge, but before she could be removed from the grounds, Dumbledore swooped in and told her that she could stay and found a replacement. That replacement being Firenze, a centaur. I was still in fits about Umbridge's furious face while Zendaya and Cora were still analyzing the reason of the whole ordeal.

Zendaya pursed her lips. "You're going to have to tell me how the class goes. I've heard centaurs study divination very differently than humans."

"Sure thing," I glanced at my watch and cursed underneath my breath. "Speaking of, I'm going to be late for it."

I narrowly made it to the classroom which was transformed into a forest. There were trees and boulders with only the center of the room open where Firenze stood. I spotted Harry and Ron and ran over to sit with them.

"This is gonna be so cool," I grinned.

"What makes you so sure?" Ron asked.

"Um, hello, are you not paying attention? Centaurs are completely different in ways of culture and beliefs and for the longest time I thought they didn't exist! So yes, Ronald, I know this is gonna be cool."

The class was interesting to say the least. The ceiling was bewitched to look like a starry night sky and Firenze warned about how a fight has to happen because Mars is bright. We had to try to decipher how soon that fight will come by burning herbs. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Harry and Ron being more-or-less being weirded out by Firenze's practices as they just stared at the fumes.

"Do not be discourage if you cannot see anything," Firenze said, his voice quiet and soft. "It takes years to learn and understand for centaurs to have competency." He walked past me and stopped. His blue eyes seemed to pierce through me.

I quickly averted my gaze and focused on the smoke. I was supposed to see shapes within it, but like everyone else, I wasn't seeing anything.

"Amelia."

I looked around to see who called for me. But no one was looking over at me. Must have been my imagination.

"Amelia."

I looked around again, but everyone was still fixated on their burning herbs.

Amelia.

Was that coming from the smoke? No. No way.

Amelia.

Yeah, it's coming from the smoke.

I studied the fumes warily. I really hope I don't get another seizure-vision. Don't want to explain that to everyone here.

Amelia!

I can hear indistinguishable shouts and screams coming from it and dull flashes of light blinked within the fumes. It sounded like some fight was going on. But overtop of it all was someone weeping.

This wasn't suppose to happen.

I feel like I've heard the woman's voice before. There was something eerily familiar about the voice that I couldn't place. Within the fumes, I can see a vague silhouette of a person curled into a ball, weeping.