The Marauders and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Remus cleared his throat and said, "Chapter Six. Talons and Tea Leaves."

"Talons and Tea Leaves?" asked Peter. "What kind of name is that?'
"It's the chapter title," said Remus. "Presumably, Harry will encounter talons and tea leaves, being that it's the name of the chapter."

"Come on, read," said Sirius.

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, the first thing they saw was Draco Malfoy, who seemed to be entertaining a large group of Slytherins with a very funny story.

"And what story is that?" asked James. "The story of how you got constipated on the toilet?"

"Prongs, stop being so gross," said Remus.

"Look who's corrupted now! I'm pretty innocent compared to him!" said Sirius, nodding at James.

"Actually, you're both equally corrupted," said Remus.

He paused.

"Okay, Sirius, maybe you're just a little more corrupted."

"What? How?"

"You know…"

"No…"

"Well…"

"Yes…"

"Then…"

"Oh…"

"Mnn…"

"Ah…"

"My brain hurts," said Peter. "I have no idea what they were talking about."

"I think he," said James, nodding his head at Sirius, "is trying to make a new little secret code with Moony because he doesn't have me as his best friend anymore, so he is trying to get Moony as his best friend because it's not me, and he needs to try to make it sound like there's something I don't know and understand so I get jealous about whatever they're talking about and then start talking to him and try and get him back as my best friend."

Miraculously James managed to say this all in one breath. Must've been all the Quidditch training.

"So…now what about the book?" asked Peter. "That's not nearly as confusing. At the moment. Who knows, might get confusing later, but I'm fine with it now."

As they passed, Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter.

"You can't make fun of Harry!" James said angrily. "I forbid you!"

"Ignore him," said Hermione, who was right behind Harry. "Just ignore him, it's not worth it…"

"You can't just ignore this!" outraged James.

"Hey, Potter!" shrieked Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl with a face like a pug.

"She must be pretty ugly looking, then," said Peter.

"You know what?" said Sirius. "If she looks like a pug, and she's a girl, then we would have reason enough to call her a-"

"But, we're not going to!" said Remus, interrupting Sirius. "Or, er, unless she really deserves it."

"Potter! The dementors are coming, Potter! Woooooooo!"

"That's it! She deserves it!" said James angrily. "Pansy's such a-"

Harry dropped into a seat at the Gryffindor table, next to George Weasley.

"New third-year course schedules," said George, passing them over. "What's up with you, Harry?"

"Malfoy," said Ron, sitting down on George's other side and glaring over at the Slytherin table.

George looked up in time to see Malfoy pretending to faint with terror again.

"Stop it! You nasty little Slytherin!" said James.

"That little git," he said calmly. "He wasn't so cocky last night when the dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"

"Nearly wet himself," said Fred, with a contemptuous glance at Malfoy.

James and Sirius both snorted and began laughing.

"Wish he did wet himself!" laughed Sirius.

"A ha ha ha ha ha ha!" said James. "I knew you weren't so brave! I bet you're just a little wussy Malfoy! Ha ha ha! Nearly wet yourself, ha ha!"

Realizing they were agreeing on something, they abruptly stopped their laughter.

"I wasn't too happy myself," said George. "They're horrible things, those dementors…"

"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" said Fred.

"You didn't pass out, though, did you?" said Harry in a low voice.

"Forget it, Harry," said George bracingly. "Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been, he came back all weak and shaking…They suck the happiness out of a place, dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there."

Sirius gave a nervous little shiver.

"Anyway, we'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch match," said Fred. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin, first game of the season, remember?"

The only time Harry and Malfoy had faced each other in a Quidditch match, Malfoy had definitely come off worse.

"Ha, yeah!" cheered James. "Harry's gonna kick your wussy little arse!"

Feeling slightly more cheerful, Harry helped himself to sausages and fried tomatoes.

Hermione was examining her new schedule.

"Ooh, good, we're starting some new subjects today," she said happily.

"Hermione," said Ron, frowning as he looked over her shoulder, "they've messed up your schedule. Look- they've got you down for about ten subjects a day. There isn't enough time."

"Ten subjects?" asked Peter. "That's way too many! As it is, the day's long enough…can't believe anyone would want to take ten classes."

"I'll manage. I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall."

"But look," said Ron, laughing, "see this morning? Nine o' clock, Divination."

"Silly, silly people…" tutted Remus. "Divination is quite annoying and such a waste of time…"

"And underneath, nine o'clock, Muggle Studies."

"Which, again, makes no sense because she's already Muggleborn and knows about Muggles," said Sirius.

"And" –Ron leaned closer to the schedule, disbelieving- "look- underneath that, Arithmancy, nine o'clock. I mean, I know you're good, Hermione, but no one's that good. How're you supposed to be in three classes at once?"

"Yeah, what a little show-off," said Peter.

"Well, then-"

"Pass the marmalade," said Hermione.

"But-"

"Oh, Ron, what's it to you if my schedule's a bit full?" Hermione snapped. "I told you, I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall."

"Okay, then," said James. "Good luck with that."

Just then, Hagrid entered the Great Hall. He was wearing his long moleskin overcoat and was absentmindedly swinging a dead polecat from one enormous hand.

"Don't tell me that's his new hobby," said Peter.

"All righ'?" he said eagerly, pausing on the way to the staff table. "Yer in my firs' ever lesson! Right after lunch! Right after lunch! Bin up since five getting' everythin' ready…Hope it's okay…Me, a teacher…hones'ly…"

"I can't decide which accent I hate hearing you do more," said Peter to Remus. "The Stan Shunpike one or the Hagrid one…"

He grinned broadly at them and headed off to the staff table, still swinging the polecat.

"Wonder what he's been getting ready?" said Ron, a note of anxiety in his voice.

"Maybe polecat swinging games," suggested Sirius.

"And just what does that have to do with teaching the subject Care of Magical Creatures?" asked Remus.

"How not to take care of magical creatures," answered Sirius in a satisfied tone.

The hall was starting to empty as people headed off toward their first lesson. Ron checked his course schedule.

"We'd better go, look, Divination's at the top of North Tower. It'll take us ten minutes to get there…"

They finished their breakfasts hastily, said good-bye to Fred and George, and walked back through the hall. As they passed the Slytherin table, Malfoy did yet another impression of a fainting fit.

"I'll give you a reason to faint, just you wait!" said James angrily.

The shouts of laughter followed Harry into the entrance hall.

"Shut up, you lot!" said James just as angrily to the book.

The journey through the castle to North Tower was a long one. Two years at Hogwarts hadn't taught them everything about the castle, and they had never been inside North Tower before.

"There's- got- to- be- a- shortcut," Ron panted as they climbed their seventh long staircase and emerged on an unfamiliar landing, where there was nothing but a large painting of a bare stretch of grass hanging on the stone wall.

"I think it's this way," said Hermione, peering down the empty passage to the right.

"Can't be," said Ron. "That's south, look, you can see a bit of the lake out the window…"

"Oh great!" said James exasperatedly. "Now my son is lost! If only he had the Marauder's Map!"

"If only it was finished, you mean?" asked Remus. "We've still got a long way to go on it."

"Well, we've got all of Hogwarts that we know so far on it! And a secret passage," said James. "We just have to put all the other stuff into it. Even so, he could still use the map as an ordinary one just to find Divination class!"

Harry was watching the painting. A fat, dapple-gray pony had just ambled onto the grass and was grazing nonchalantly. Harry was used to the subjects of Hogwarts paintings moving around and leaving their frames to visit one another, but he always enjoyed watching it. A moment later, a short, squat knight in a suit of armor clanked into the picture after his pony. By the look of the grass stains on his metal knees, he had just fallen off.

"Oh," said Peter. "I think I know who that is…"

"Aha!" he yelled, seeing Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "What villains are these, that trespass upon my private lands! Come to scorn at my fall, perchance? Draw, you knaves, you dogs!"

"Yes!" said Sirius in an annoyed tone. "It's Sir Cadogan! It has to be, who else would say that? I guess he's still there."

"I wish he wasn't," said James. "He's so annoying. And now he's going to annoy Harry and his friends!"

"Not to mention that he never shuts up," added Remus.

"Yeah," said Sirius to Remus. "There was that one time last year, and us three were under his Invisibility Cloak to go join you at the Shrieking Shack, and we passed a portrait where Sir Cadogan was bothering these people, and he heard us, and he kept going on about it!" he said, shaking his head. "We just ran off, and he kept yelling…"

"What was it he said again?" asked Peter.

"Uh…I think it was something like…" James cleared his throat and began to do an impression of Sir Cadogan. "You rogues! Thieves behind an invisible lining! I know you're there! Go on and fight, ye cowards sneaking around at this time of a knight's resting sleep!"

Toward the end, it became a little too funny for James and his impression sort of faded out into laughter along with Remus, Sirius and Peter.

They watched in astonishment as the little knight tugged his sword out of its scabbard and began brandishing it violently, hopping up in down in rage. But the sword was too long for him; a particularly wild swing made him overbalance, and he landed face down in the grass.

"Ha, and that's what you get, you loony," said Sirius.

"Are you all right?" said Harry, moving closer to the picture.

"Get back, you scurvy braggart! Back, you rogue!"

"Harry's not a scurvy braggart or a rogue!" said James angrily. "You are!"

"I see he's still using the same names," Peter commented on Sir Cadogan's words.

The knight seized his sword again and used it to push himself back up, but the blade sank deeply into the grass and, though he pulled with all his might, he couldn't get it out again.

"And that's what happens when you call my son a scurvy braggart!" said James triumphantly. "You don't get your sword. Nyah nyah."

Finally, he had to flop back down onto the grass and push up his visor to mop his sweating face.

"Listen," said Harry, taking advantage of the knight's exhaustion, "we're looking for the North Tower. You don't know the way, do you?"

"A quest!" The knight's rage seemed to vanish instantly. He clanked to his feat and shouted, "Come, follow me, dear friends, and we shall find out goal, or else perish bravely in the charge!"

"Erm, how about Harry, Ron and Hermione find their goal, and you just perish bravely in the charge?" suggested James.

He gave the sword another fruitless tug, tried and failed to mount the fat pony, gave up, and cried, "On foot then, good sirs and gentle lady! On! On!"

And he ran, clanking loudly, into the left side of the frame and out of sight.

They hurried after him along the corridor, following the sound of his armor. Every now and then they spotted him running through a picture ahead.

"Be of stout heart, the worst is yet to come!" yelled the knight,-

"What's the worst?" asked Peter.

"Probably that they're going to Divination class," answered Remus. "That's one of the worst things anyone could do."

-and they saw him reappear in front of an alarmed group of women in crinolines, whose picture hung on the wall of a narrow spiral staircase.

"I think that ‘the worst' was that Sir Cadogan just disturbed those lovely ladies in their crinolines, and his armor ruined their beautifulness in their crinolines."

Remus rolled his eyes.

Puffing loudly, Harry, Ron, and Hermione climbed the tightly spiraling steps, getting dizzier and dizzier, until at last they heard the murmur of voices about them and knew they had reached the classroom.

"Farewell!" cried the knight, popping his head into a painting of some sinister-looking monks. "Farewell, my comrades-in-arms! If ever you have need of noble heart and steely sinew, call upon Sir Cadogan!"

"Uh, I don't think so," said James.

"Yeah, we'll call you," muttered Ron as the knight disappeared, "if we ever need someone mental."

The boys all started laughing.

"Ron's got a point there," said Sirius. "Ron's cool."

They climbed the last few steps and emerged onto a tiny landing, where most of the class was already assembled. There were no doors off this landing, but Ron nudged Harry and pointed at the ceiling, where there was a circular trapdoor with a brass plaque on it.

" ‘Sibyll Trelawney, Divination teacher,'" Harry read. "How're we supposed to get up there?"

"The ladder," said Peter, actually sounding wise, for he was taking Divination himself.

As though in answer to his question, the trapdoor suddenly opened, and a silvery ladder descended right at Harry's feet.

"Amazing," said Sirius sarcastically. "You actually got something right."

Meanwhile, Remus was frowning at the book. " ‘A silvery ladder'?" he repeated. "Another reason exactly why I don't take Divination."

Everyone got quiet.

"After you," said Ron, grinning, so Harry climbed the ladder first.

He emerged into the strangest-looking classroom he had ever seen. In fact, it didn't look like a classroom at all, more like a cross between someone's attic and an old-fashioned teashop. At least twenty small, circular tables were crammed inside it, all surrounded by chintz armchairs and fat little poufs. Everything was lit with a dim, crimson light; the curtains at the windows were all closed, and the many lamps were draped with dark red scarves. It was stiflingly warm, and the fire that was burning under the crowded mantelpiece was giving off a heavy, sickly sort of perfume as it heated a large copper kettle. The shelves running around the circular walls were crammed with dusty-looking feathers, stubs of candles, many packs of tattered playing cards, countless silvery crystal balls, and a huge array of teacups.

"Wow," said James, who was also taking Divination. "I know that Divination is supposed to have all this stuff, but it sounds like this teacher's gone a little crazy."

Ron appeared at Harry's shoulder as the class assembled around them, all talking in whispers.

"Where is she?" Ron said.

"Maybe the fact that it's totally dark and hot and it smells like perfume made her fall asleep," said Remus. "Though it would be very unprofessional to fall asleep when you're supposed to be teaching…still… not like sleeping during class is uncommon…" he said, looking over at the rest of them.

"Don't look at me like that!" said Sirius. "I don't see how you can stay awake during History of Magic! Me and Pr- ahem, him get a nice nap so we're fully awake so we can pay good attention in Transfiguration. At least that's actually fun…sometimes."

"Besides, in the end, we still get good grades," said James.

"Only because you lot copy off my notes," said Remus.

"But we do all our own work on the tests, so that's what counts," Peter said.

"But still, you're-"

"Oh Moony, just get on with the story," said Sirius.

"Right, sorry, right…"

A voice came suddenly out of the shadows, a soft, misty sort of voice.

"Welcome," it said. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last."

"That's a silly way to greet a class," commented Remus. "What sort of world did she expect to see them in? The mental world?"

"Well in that case, I doubt anyone will be in the mental world a few lessons along," said James. "Wormtail doesn't pay attention in Divination."

"Yes I do!" said Peter. "Most of the time! Besides, you don't pay attention either!"

"Of course I'm paying attention," said James. "I'm attentive through out the whole lesson."

"No, you're just attentive at staring at the back of Lily's head, since she sits in front of you. That's not attentive, isn't it Moony?"

"Not particularly," replied Remus.

"I didn't say what I was attentive in, I just said I was attentive," James smirked.

Harry's immediate impression was of a large, glittering insect. Professor Trelawney moved into the firelight, and they saw that she was very thin; her large glasses magnified her eyes to several times their natural size, and she was draped in a gauzy spangled shawl. Innumerable chains and beads hung around her spindly neck, and her arms and hands were encrusted with bangles and rings.

"Oh yeah. I think this teacher's crazy," said Sirius.

"Sit, my children, sit," she said, and they all climbed awkwardly into armchairs or sank onto poufs. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat themselves around the same round table.

"Welcome to Divination," said Professor Trelawney, who had seated herself in a winged armchair in front of the fire. "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."

"Uh…okay," said Peter.

Nobody said anything to this extraordinary pronouncement. Professor Trelawney delicately rearranged her shawl and continued, "So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts."

"No," said Remus. "Just the most annoying and most full of rubbish."

"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 take you only so far in this field…"

At these words, both Harry and Ron glanced, grinning, at Hermione, who looked startled at the news that books wouldn't be much help in this subject.

"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings-"

"I think you needn't phrase it like that. You could just say ‘the branches of magic that are traditional and make normal, logical sense, aren't wildly out of the ordinary, and aren't wasting your time trying to see things or do things you can't with objects of evil and daftness' would be sufficient," said Remus, interrupting his reading again.

"That was too long, and it had too many words in it," said Sirius, shaking his head. "I think I like the way Professor Trelawney said it better. It was short, and it sounded stupid. Do you have a horrible grudge on Divination or something?"

"I thought I told you this before," said Remus, sighing. "I don't like Divination. It has crystal balls. It has random silver instruments. And at any rate, I'm just no good at it."

"You're not even in Divination, how would you know?" asked Peter.

"Summer before our second year, I visited my cousin for two weeks, at a time that didn't interfere with…anything related to the lunar system," explained Remus. "And all he wanted to talk about was Divination. He's four years older than me, and he had already started taking Divination, and he was apparently very gifted at it. He pretended to be a professor, and then he made me do all of those things you do in Divination with all this Divination equipment that he had gotten from somewhere. And when I couldn't get anything right, he would shove the crystal ball in my face and talk about how idiotic I was and tell me that I should just go learn how to howl at the moon and eat people instead. He, er, wasn't a very nice person sometimes. Horrible. I can't even describe it. But the point is, I'm never taking Divination class, or having anything to do with it."

"Oh," said James. "So that's why. I'm sorry."

"Yeah," said Peter. "I didn't know you hated it that much."

"Yes," said Remus stiffly, still thinking about Divination and that summer with his cousin.

"Well, look at it this way," Sirius said. "You and me have loads of fun in Ancient Runes while Wormtail and him are in that nasty subject!"

"I suppose so, except you ask to copy off my paper a lot."

"Okay. So I promise that for the first week of classes, I won't copy off your paper. See, here's my oath: I, Sirius Black, do hereby solemnly swear that on the first week of classes in our sixth year, I will do all my work myself."

"Oh, really. Well, thanks."

"…Unless you're not putting your paper away in a good spot, then I'll go find it and copy it."

"Padfoot!"

"Just joking…"

Remus shook his head and then continued reading the chapter. "Where were we…" he muttered to himself. "Ah, here we are…"

" –are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future," Professor Trelawney went on, her enormous, gleaming eyes moving from face to nervous face. "It is a Gift granted to few. You, boy," she said suddenly to Neville, who almost toppled off his pouf. "Is your grandmother well?"

"I think so," said Neville tremulously.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear," said Professor Trelawney, the firelight glinting on her long emerald earrings. Neville gulped. Professor Trelawney continued placidly. "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year."

"Well, at least that means Harry won't have to bother with those nasty bird entrails, unless this crazy Professor Trelawney decides to change it," added James.

The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear," she shot suddenly at Parvati Pail, "beware a red-haired man."

Parvati gave a startled look at Ron, who was right behind her, and edged her chair away from him.

"Hey, Ron, what are you gonna do?" asked Sirius.

"In the second term," Professor Trelawney went on, " we shall progress to the crystal ball-"

As Remus read these words, in fact, as he read all the things Professor Trelawney had prepared to class, there was a definite difference in his voice. Remus was an avid reader, so he was very good at reading things, and he never had any trouble reading words or reading at fast paces or slow paces or anything. He was also very good at telling and reading stories, since he gave expression, life and style to the words, another reason why James, Sirius, and Peter were enjoying having the book read to them. But there was a flatness and small note of loathing and annoyance in his voice as he read the Divination section of the chapter. It was clear he didn't like it very much.

"-if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flue. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever."

"Smart, that person is," mumbled Remus.

There was a silence after Remus' comment, and the fact that the other three boys had noticed Remus' change in tone. No one really had anything to say, and so there was just tense silence.

And in coincidence, there happened to be a tense silence in the book as well.

A very tense silence followed this pronouncement, but Professor Trelawney seemed unaware of it.

"I wonder, dear," she said to Lavender Brown, who was nearest and shrank back in her chair, "if you could pass me the largest silver teapot?"

"Just another reason why I don't take Divination," said Remus tartly.

Sirius held his hands out for the book. "You know what, I'll read the rest of this for you."

"No!" said Remus, snapping the book away from Sirius' hands. "I'm perfectly capable of reading this, I don't need your concern."

Sirius put his hands back to himself, and said nothing more, deciding to leave his lycanthropic friend, who was obviously getting a little cranky due to the Divination discussion and the upcoming full moon in the next two days and who knows what else, alone.

James blinked and Peter did nothing, as to not draw attention to himself, and Remus cleared his throat and continued reading.

Lavender, looking relieved, stood up, took an enormous teapot from the shelf, and put it down on the table in front of Professor Trelawney.

"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. Swill 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 caught Neville by the arm as he made to stand up- "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."

Sure enough, Neville had no sooner reached the shelf of teacups when there was a tinkle of breaking china. Professor Trelawney swept over to him holding a dustpan and a brush and said, "One of the blue ones, then, dear, if you wouldn't mind…thank you…"

When Harry and Ron had had their teacups filled, they went back to their table and tried to drink the scalding tea quickly.

"But don't do it too quickly, or you'll accidentally burn yourself," warned Peter. "I speak from experience."

"I remember that," said James. "That was…sad. The expression on your face was hilarious. Kind of like…" He scrunched up his face into a shocked painful look.

"Hey! It was hot!" said Peter.

They swilled the dregs around as Professor Trelawney had instructed, then drained the cups and swapped over.

"Right," said Ron, as they both opened their books at pages five and six. "What can you see in mine?"

"A load of soggy brown stuff," said Harry.

"How coincidental, Harry," said Remus. "That's exactly what I saw in mine."

"Eh, don't worry about that, Moony," said James. "Wormtail and I saw soggy brown stuff too." He looked at Peter. "Except that one time when you said you saw a something that looked like a wand in mine, and I saw something that looked like a finger in yours." He looked back at Remus and Sirius. "'Course, we couldn't find those in the book, so I dunno what that was on about. We're bad at tea leaves." He shrugged.

Sirius looked over at Remus to see if he was going to yell at him, but Remus said nothing and just looked back down at the text on the page.

The heavily perfumed smoke in the room was making him feel sleepy and stupid.

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

Sirius burst out laughing at this ridiculous statement.

Harry tried to pull himself together.

"Good, Harry, go try. Be a good son," said James.

"Right, you've got a crooked sort of cross…" He consulted Unfogging the Future. "That means you're going to have ‘trials and suffering'- sorry about that- but there's this thing that could be the sun…hang on…that means ‘great happiness'…so you're going to suffer but be very happy…"

James laughed. "Heh, good job, Harry."

Remus wondered how could suffer but be very happy.

"You need your Inner Eye tested, if you ask me," said Ron, and they both had to stifle their laughs as Professor Trelawney gazed in their direction.

"My turned…" Ron peered into Harry's teacup, his forehead wrinkled with effort. "There's a blob a bit like a bowler hat," he said. "Maybe you're going to work for the Ministry of Magic…"

"Yeah!" said James enthusiastically. "I bet my son would be great in the Ministry!"

He turned the teacup the other way up.

"But this way it looks more like an acorn…"

"An acorn?" demanded James. "What happened to the nice prospect of my son working in the Ministry? What's an acorn supposed to mean? He'll be a squirrel?"

Peter laughed at James.

"What's that?" He scanned his copy of Unfogging the Future. " ‘A windfall, unexpected gold.'"

"Awesome!" said James. "My son will get unexpected gold too!"

"Excellent, you can lend me some…and there's a thing here," he turned the cup again, "that looks like an animal…yeah, if that was its head…it looks like a hippo…no, a sheep…"

"A hippo?" asked James. "A sheep? And what does that mean?"

Professor Trelawney whirled around as Harry let out a snort of laughter.

"Let me see that, my dear," she said reprovingly to Ron, sweeping over and snatching Harry's cup from him. Everyone went quiet to watch.

"Stop being so nosy!" James yelled at the book. "Go mind your own tea leaves, stop listening to what my son's says!"

Professor Trelawney was staring into the teacup, rotating it counterclockwise.

"The falcon…my dear, you have a deadly enemy."

"Great," said James. "It's that Malfoy, isn't it?"

"But everyone knows that," said Hermione in a loud whisper. Professor Trelawney stared at her.

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

"Of course, that's a very good answer too," added James. "I just don't like to think of the future for my son, not when he's stuck in the present with an evil git named Draco Malfoy."

Harry and Ron stared at her with a mixture of amazement and admiration. They had never heard Hermione speak to a teacher like that before.

"Oooh, Hermione's being bad," Sirius laughed.

Professor Trelawney chose not to reply. She lowered her huge eyes to Harry's cup again and continued to turn it.

"The club…an attack."

"An attack?" asked James. "Oh, my poor son…"

"Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup…"

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

"Aww, so Harry's not going to work in the Ministry of Magic?" asked James sadly. "Well…maybe he still can. It would be cool."

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

Everyone was staring, transfixed, at Professor Trelawney, who gave the cup a final turn, gasped, and then screamed.

"What?" screamed James himself. "What happened to Harry? What?"

"Maybe it wasn't Harry at all. Maybe it was Professor Trelawney getting a heart attack, and then no one will be able to go to Divination at all for a few weeks," Remus suggested, which sounded quite pessimistic but optimistic at the same time. Pessimistic Optimism, perhaps.

There was another tinkle of breaking china; Neville had smashed his second cup. Professor Trelawney sank into a vacant armchair, her glittering hand at her heart and her eyes closed.

"Are you sure you said you're not good at Divination?" asked Peter. "Sounds like a heart attack to me."

"Oh, ha, I wish," said Remus. "I doubt it…I'll end up being wrong, I know. I don't need Divination to tell me that."

"My dear boy…my poor, dear boy…no…it is kinder not to say…no…don't ask me…"

"I'm ASKING!" yelled James. "What's wrong with Harry? What won't you tell him?"

"What is it, Professor?" said Dean Thomas at once. Everyone had got to their feet, and slowly they crowded around Harry and Ron's table, pressing close to Professor Trelawney's chair to get a good look at Harry's cup.

"My dear," Professor Trelawney's huge eyes opened dramatically, "you have the Grim."

James and Peter both gave very loud frightened gasps.

"Son….Harry….no…can't…be….noooooo….not…grim…no…." blubbered out of James' mouth. James seemed to be too caught up on something to speak properly.

"Wormtail, what's wrong?" asked Remus. "What does that Divination rubbish mean?"

Peter went wide-eyed. "The Grim is the omen of Death!" he squeaked. "Harry is going to die!"

"NOOOOOO!" shouted James after Peter. He looked over at Sirius and pointed at him. "It's your fault, you murderer! First we find out you're after Harry to kill him, and now we know he's going to be killed! You're going to kill him, aren't you?! Yes! You are!"

Sirius opened his mouth angrily to say something, but obviously couldn't think of anything to say as a comeback, because he closed his mouth and just continued looking furious.

"Personally," said Remus, "I think Divination is just a waste of time and a bunch of rubbish. Has anything really come true so far in your class or in Harry's class?"

"Neville broke his cup, like she said so!" said James. "And now Harry's going to die! It's not fair! Lily and I are dead, and now he'll have to die at only thirteen years old! That's not right!"

"Oh, Prongs, Harry's not going to die," said Remus impatiently. "You shouldn't bother believing any of that stuff. Anyway…" He continued reading.

"The what?" said Harry.

He could tell that he wasn't the only one who didn't understand; Dean Thomas shrugged at him and Lavender Brown looked puzzled, but nearly everybody else clapped their hands to their mouths in horror.

"The Grim, my dear, the Grim!" cried Professor Trelawney, who looked shocked that Harry hadn't understood. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen- the worst omen- of death!"

Harry's stomach lurched. That dog on the cover of Death Omens in Flourish and Blotts- the dog in the shadows of Magnolia Crescent…Lavender Brown clapped her hands to her mouth too. Everyone was looking at Harry, everyone except Hermione, who had gotten up and moved around to the back of Professor Trelawney's chair.

"You know," said James shrewdly, turning his head slowly to face Sirius. "You can turn into a dog."

"S-so?" asked Sirius nervously.

"So maybe you're the Grim!" James pointed out.

Peter looked thoughtful at Sirius. "Maybe you are…"

Sirius still looked more nervous. "Uh…no…it's like Moony said, Divination is a bunch of rubbish…I mean…you couldn't really think that I…I'm the Grim?"

James nodded. Peter said, "It sort of makes sense."

"Oh, come on!" said Sirius. "All right, let's say I'm the Grim. How can I be the Grim? I can't be Harry's tea leaves, so I can't be in his cup! And obviously the Grim has been a death omen for a while, so it'd have been on the book for a while too."

"So how do you explain that dog in Magnolia Crescent, eh?" asked James. "Or your house name, maybe? Number 12 Grimmauld Place?"

"Shut up!" said Sirius, unable to take it. "I'm not the Grim! Leave me alone! Moony, start reading again so Prongs can hear about his precious little son and worry about him!"

"I don't think it looks like a Grim," she said flatly.

"Yeah, Hermione doesn't think it's a Grim," mumbled Sirius. "And she's smart."

Professor Trelawney surveyed Hermione with mounting dislike.

"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."

"Hey, that's mean," said Peter. "How could anyone just forgive someone for saying that?"

"Oh, believe me, Wormtail," said Sirius flatly, whose arms were crossed. "It's very easy to forgive someone for saying that than something else…"

Seamus Finnigan was tilting his head from side to side.

"It looks like a Grim if you do this," he said, with his eyes almost shut, "but it looks more like a donkey from here," he said, leaning to the left.

Sirius seemed unable to resist making a comment.

"See Prongs, that wasn't a death omen in your son's cup at all, it was just an ass."

James gave no reply.

"When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!" said Harry, taking even himself by surprise. Now nobody seemed to want to look at him.

"I think we will leave the lesson here for today," said Professor Trelawney in her mistiest voice. "Yes…please pack away your things…"

"Good, go on, hurry, get out," said Remus.

"Yeah, poor Harry doesn't need to look at his death omen any longer!" said James.

Silently the class took their teacups back to Professor Trelawney, packed away their books, and closed their bags. Even Ron was avoiding Harry's eyes.

"Until we meet again," said Professor Trelawney faintly, "fair fortune be yours. Oh, and dear"- she pointed at Neville- "you'll be late next time, so mind you work extra-hard to catch up."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione descended Professor Trelawney's ladder and the winding stair in silence, then set off for Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration lesson. It took them so long to find her classroom that, early as they had left Divination, they were only just in time.

All in all, it seemed that Divination had not only been a stressful subject for Harry, but it had been one for his father and his friends as well.

Harry chose a seat right at the back of the room, feeling as though he were sitting in a very bright spotlight; the rest of the class kept shooting furtive glances at him, as though he were about to drop dead any moment. He hardly heart what Professor McGonagall was telling them about Animagi (wizards who could transform at will into animals)-

"Heh, yeah, I think we know about those," said James, laughing a bit.

-and wasn't even watching when she transformed herself in front of their eyes into a tabby cat with spectacle markings around her eyes.

"Bet he'd be more impressed by seeing his father turn into a majestic stag, of course," commented James.

"A majestic, arrogant stag," mumbled Sirius.

"Really, what has got into you all today?" said Professor McGonagall, turning back into herself with a faint pop, and staring around at them all. Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class."

"Has she been keeping track?" asked James. "How arrogant."

"Yes, how arrogant," mocked Sirius.

"I'm not arrogant," said James haughtily.

"You know you are," said Sirius.

"At least my form doesn't look like a death omen."

"That's because I'm not a death omen."

"Oh, yeah, that's right, you're a nutty murderer after my son."

"Please, let's not start this again," said Remus, who seemed to be still a bit aggravated, but in a better mood than he had been a minute ago.

Everybody's heads turned toward Harry again, but nobody spoke. Then 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," said Professor McGonagall, suddenly frowning. "There is no need to say anymore, Miss Granger. Tell me, which if you will be dying this year?"

There was a shocked silence in the room, followed by a bewildered "What?" from all four boys.

Everyone stared at her.

"Me," said Harry, finally.

"I see," said Professor McGonagall, fixing Harry with her beady eyes. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sibyll Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school."

"Oh, well that's nice," said Peter.

"None of them has died yet."

"That's very good to know," said Sirius, a little relieved.

"Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class."

"How original!" said James in a sarcastic tone and looking furious.

"If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues-"

Professor McGonagall broke off, and they saw that her nostrils had gone white. She went on, more calmly, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic."

"Believe me, I agree with you, Professor," Remus said.

"I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney-"

She stopped again, and then said, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "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."

"I should think so," nodded James.

Hermione laughed. Harry felt a bit better. It was harder to feel scared of a lump of tea leaves away from the dim red light and befuddling perfume of Professor Trelawney's classroom. Not everyone was convinced, however. Ron still looked worried, and Lavender whispered, "But what about Neville's cup?"

When the Transfiguration class had finished, they joined the crowd thundering toward the Great Hall for lunch.

"Ron, cheer up," said Hermione, pushing a dish of stew toward him. "You heard what Professor McGonagall said."

Ron spooned stew onto his plate and picked up his fork but didn't start.

"Harry," he said, in a low, serious voice, "you haven't seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?"

"Yeah, I have," said Harry. "I saw one the night I left the Dursleys'."

Ron let his fork fall with a clatter.

"Probably a stray," said Hermione calmly.

Ron looked at Hermione as though she had gone mad.

"Hermione, if Harry's seen a Grim, that's –that's bad," he said.

"You're not kidding," said James.

"My- my uncle Bilius saw one and- and he died twenty-four hours later!"

"Really?" asked Peter.

"Hmm…" said James, looking over at Sirius who had started scratching his head trying not to look as if he was worried.

"Coincidence," said Hermione airily, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" said Ron, starting to get angry. "Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards!"

"There you are, then," said Hermione in a superior tone. "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I'd better kick the bucket then!"

"I'd like to say that Hermione has good reasoning, there," mentioned Remus.

"But she's just talking about seeing the Grim!" pointed out James. "Not having it appear in your tea leaves!"

Ron mouthed wordlessly at Hermione, who opened her bag, took out her new Arithmancy book, and propped it open against the juice jug.

"I think Divination seems very woolly," she said, searching for her page. "A lot of guesswork, if you ask me."

"There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup!" said Ron hotly.

"You didn't seem quite so confident when you were telling Harry it was a sheep," said Hermione coolly.

"Heh, ‘hotly' and ‘coolly'," Peter laughed. "They were opposites!"

"Shut up!" snapped James. "I'm busy hearing about my son!"

"Professor Trelawney said you didn't have the right aura! You just don't like being bad at something for a change!"

He had touched a nerve. Hermione slammed her Arithmancy book down on the table so hard that bits of meat and carrot flew everywhere.

"If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared to my Arithmancy class!"

She snatched up her bag and stalked away.

Ron frowned after her.

"What's she talking about?" he said to Harry. "She hasn't been to an Arithmancy class yet."

"Hmm," said Sirius. "Maybe Hermione's just saying that to say it. Plenty of times people do that."

Harry was pleased to get out of the castle after lunch. Yesterday's rain had cleared; the sky was a clear, pale gray, and the grass was springy and damp underfoot as they set off for their first ever Care of Magical Creatures class.

"Ah, now Care of Magical Creatures is an excellent class," said Remus, seemingly in a better mood. "Quite fun."

"Well, you're good at it, that's why you like it," said Sirius.

"Is it so wrong to appreciate the things we're good at?" asked Remus.

Ron and Hermione weren't speaking to each other. Harry walked beside them in silence as they went down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was only when he spotted three-

"Firebolts?" said James hopefully, and the other three boys gave sighs of annoyance.

-only-too-familiar backs ahead of them that he realized they must be having these lessons with the Slytherins.

"Oh. Great. That sounds fun," Peter said sarcastically.

Malfoy was talking animatedly to Crabbe and Goyle, who were chortling. Harry was quite sure he knew what they were talking about.

Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat, with Fang the boarhound at his heels, looking impatient to start.

"C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"

For one nasty moment, Harry thought that Hagrid was going to lead them into the forest; Harry had had enough unpleasant experiences in there to last him a lifetime.

"Really?" said James, in a tone of anger and concern. "What experiences were those?"

However, Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.

"Wow! Invisible Creatures! How fascinating!" said Sirius in a sarcastic surprised tone. Although sometimes, with Sirius, you could never tell if he was being sarcastic or just being surprised. Both tones sometimes morphed into one.

"It could be Thestrals," said Remus.

"I know it could be Thestrals," said Sirius.

"Maybe it's something really, really tiny," said James. He thought of something and gasped. "Or maybe Harry needs new glasses!"

"Or maybe there's just nothing in there," Peter said.

The three other boys were slightly shocked at this sudden profound moment from Peter, and had no other way to respond to it but by silence of staring at him.

Then Remus quickly spoke a few seconds later.

"Oh, yes, of course, that could be it."

"Everyone gather ‘round the fence here!" he called. "That's it- make sure yeh can see- now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books-"

"How?" said the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.

"Ha, ha, Harry's much smarter than Malfoy! You see Malfoy, you put your hand on the cover, and lift it upward and over," James said slowly as if he was teaching a small child just learning how to tie their shoes.

"Eh?" said Hagrid.

"How do we open our books?" Malfoy repeated. He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters-

"Oh. Those books," said James, losing his joke.

-which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some, like Harry, had belted their books shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.

"Hasn'- hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.

The class all shook their heads.

"Yeh've got ter stroke ‘em," said Hagrid, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Look-"

He took Hermione's copy and ripped off the Spellotape that bound it. The book tried to bite, but Hagrid ran a giant forefinger down its spine, and the book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in his hands.

"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy sneered. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"

"Because you're just an idiot," said Sirius. "And just like your father and mother, who are giant stuck up prats. Now shut up and learn! If you're capable of doing so."

"I- I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.

"Oh, tremendously funny!" said Malfoy. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"

"And believe me, don't we wish they did rip your hands off," said James, looking dreamy.

"Shut up, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. Hagrid was looking downcast and Harry wanted Hagrid's first lesson to be a success.

"Yes Harry! Good son! You tell Malfoy now! I'm so proud to be your dad!" said James.

"Righ' then," said Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his thread, "so- so yeh've got yer books an'- an'- now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get ‘em. Hang on…"

He strode away from them into the forest and out of sight.

"God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly.

"Hey! Use a different word! That's offensive!" said Sirius.

"That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him-"

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry repeated.

"Careful, Potter, there's a dementor behind you-"

"Ooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock.

Apparently that line showed again how much expression Remus put into his reading, because it freaked Peter out.

"What was that?" Peter asked Remus.

"What was what?" said Remus.

"That!" said Peter again. "That ‘ooh'! It sounded so…girlish."

"Well… it was a girl, and it was what she was saying."

"Still. Don't say that again. Ever."

Trotting toward them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Harry had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly orange eyes. The talons of their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.

"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hang at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"

"Well, in their own special way," said Sirius.

Harry could sort of see what Hagrid meant. Once you got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half bird, you started to appreciate the hippogriffs' gleaming coats, changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them a different color: stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.

"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer-"

No one seemed to want to.

"Can we blame them?" asked Peter.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, approached the fence cautiously.

"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid. "Easily offended, hippogriffs. Don't never insult one, ‘cause it might be the last thing yeh do."

"Yes…the lesson on hippogriffs is all coming back to me now," said James. "So! Where can we get one and how can we get Snivellus to insult it?"

Remus gasped. "You're joking, right? That's not very nice."

"No, it's not," James remarked. "But it would be fun."

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't listening; they were talking in an undertone and Harry had a nasty feeling they were plotting how to best disrupt the lesson.

"Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, ‘cause those talons hurt."

"Hmm," said Sirius. He looked at James. "Ahem…you."

James glanced at Sirius and then quickly glanced away. "What?"

"From Hagrid's words, I now see you and Lily's relationship like one with the hippogriff," said Sirius.

James wasn't able to avoid looking at Sirius any longer.

"I'm sorry, what? Like a hippogriff?"

"Well, look at it this way. I, being the one with most relationship experience of the group, from my past hookups with Emmeline and Anna and Saff-"

"Would you like me to count your girlfriends for you?" interrupted Remus, annoyed. He'd only heard Sirius list off his girlfriends about a hundred times before.

"Shut up, Moony." Sirius looked back at James. "As I was saying. See Lily as the hippogriff. You bow to her with your polite charm, and you wait. If she ‘bows' back to you with interest, then you two can get together, and like the hippogriff, uh, touch her. If no interest is shown, then you better get away, because her talons, or in this case, slaps, will hurt."

"Oh great, I've just gotten dating advice in the form of a hippogriff analogy," said James sarcastically. "Can we please get back to the book now?"

"Right- who wants ter go first?"

Most of the class backed farther away in answer. Even Harry, Ron, and Hermione had misgivings. The hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their powerful wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.

"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look.

"I'll do it," said Harry.

"Uh…" said James

There was an intake of breath from behind him, and both Lavender and Parvati whispered, "Oooh, no, Harry, remember your tea leaves!"

Peter was too concerned about Harry's tea leaves to yell at Remus for saying the word ‘Oooh' again.

"I nearly forgot! His tea leaves!" cried Peter. "What if it kills Harry?"

James gasped. "No! Son! Be careful! What did I tell you about strange creatures?"

"Nothing. You're dead," said Peter.

"Shut up!"

Harry ignored them. He climbed over the paddock fence.

"Good man, Harry!" roared Hagrid. "Right then- let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."

"Good, I hope," said James.

He untied one of the chains, pulled the gray hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath. Malfoy's eyes were narrowed maliciously.

"Easy, now, Harry," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink…Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much."

Harry's eyes immediately began to water, but he didn't shut them.

Apparently, James had decided if he could stare down a hippogriff too, because as long as it said Harry wasn't blinking, nor was James as he stared at the wall across the room, and it gave Peter an especially hard time to stop from laughing.

Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Harry with one fierce orange eye.

"Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Harry…now, bow…"

Harry didn't feel much like exposing the back of his neck to Buckbeak, but he did as he was told. He gave a short bow and then looked up.

The hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him. It didn't move.

"Oh no," said James, stunned. "Oh no! Harry!"

The other three boys, though not jumping to concern as fast and big as James always did, still listened with apprehension.

"Ah," said Hagrid, sounding worried. "Right- back away, now, Harry, easy does it-"

"Hurry up, Harry!" cried James, his eyes still focused on the wall. "Back away now! What if the hippogriff attacks you? I don't even want to think about that!"

But then, to Harry's enormous surprise, the hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.

"Oh," James said faintly. "Well, then…good thing we didn't worry."

Sirius smirked at him.

"Well done, Harry!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right- yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"

Feeling that a better reward would have been to back away, Harry moved slowly toward the hippogriff and reached out toward it. He patted the beak several times and the hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it.

The class broke into applause, all except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were looking deeply disappointed.

"Why? Hoping to hear my son was hurt, now were you?" asked James. "Ha!"

"Righ' then, Harry," said Hagrid. "I reckon he might' let yeh ride him!"

James had still been laughing to himself about how Harry hadn't been attacked and successfully patted the hippogriff, froze as he heard what Remus had read. "What?"

"Hagrid just said that Buckbeak might let Harry ride him now," said Remus.

"I know what he said!" said James. "I wasn't saying an I-Didn't-Hear-You-‘What?', I was saying a ‘What?'-What."

"You have some interesting prose there," said Remus, smiling wryly.

"I know I do," James said proudly.

This was more than Harry had bargained for. He was used to a broomstick; but he wasn't sure a hippogriff would be quite the same.

"Of course it's not!" said James, throwing his arms up in the air. "How could flying on a hippogriff have the same exhilaration of flying on your Nimbus Two Thousand, or my Black Hawk Six Fifty?" He trailed off dreamily. "…or a Fireb-mrrgh!"

Sirius had automatically put his hand over James' mouth and muffled it without even having to look over. James looked aggravated from this behavior.

"Thank you, Padfoot," said Remus.

"Yeah, I don't think I'd be able to hear anymore fantasies about the Firebolt," added Peter.

"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that…"

Harry put his foot on the top of Buckbeak's wing and hoisted himself onto its back. Buckbeak stood up. Harry wasn't sure where to hold on; everything in front of him was covered with feathers.

"Whoa, really?" said Sirius sardonically. "I was sure he'd be covered in fur!"

"Are you making fun of Harry?" asked James. "It's not his fault he's never been on a hippogriff before!"

"No, of course I wasn't, Prongs," said Sirius quickly. Sirius didn't want to make James angry again. In fact, he sort of wanted to make up…it was hard not being able to poke fun at the book with his best friend, especially when there were so many parts to do just that…But James was the one who started it, he reminded himself firmly. And therefore, Sirius wouldn't be the one apologizing. James would just have to get his big-headed self to do it.

"Go on, then!" roared Hagrid, slapping the hippogriff's hindquarters.

Peter looked as if he was itching to say something. Remus noticed this and said, "Oh, Wormtail, don't think naughty thoughts. Though it might be hard with those two over there…"

James and Sirius looked offended.

"Sorry, sorry…"

Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of Harry; he jut had time to seize the hippogriff around the neck before he was soaring upward. It was nothing like a broomstick-

"Told you," said James.

-and Harry knew which one he preferred; the hippogriff's wings beat uncomfortably on either side of him, catching him under his legs and making him feel he was about to be thrown off; the glossy feathers slipped under his fingers and he didn't dare get a stronger grip; instead of the smooth action of his Nimbus Two Thousand, he now felt himself rocking backward and forward as the hindquarters of the hippogriff rose and fell with its wings.

Buckbeak flew him once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground; this was the bit Harry had been dreading; he leaned back as the smooth neck lowered, feeling he was going to slip off over the beak, then felt a heavy thud as the four ill-assorted feet hit the ground. He just managed to hold on and push himself straight again.

"Good work, Harry!" roared Hagrid as everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle cheered.

"Yes, yes, good work!" cheered James himself.

"Okay, who else wants a go?"

Emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock.

James sniffed touchingly. "Look, Harry's a little trendsetter."

Peter snorted, then quickly said, "Sorry…it was just your tone."

Hagrid untied the hippogriffs one by one, and soon people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock. Neville ran repeatedly backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its knees. Ron and Hermione practiced on the chestnut, while Harry watched.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed to Malfoy, who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful.

"This is very easy," Malfoy drawled, loud enough for Harry to hear him. "I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it…I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the hippogriff. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

"I wouldn't have said that…" said Remus worriedly.

It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high-pitched scream-

Sirius began laughing.

"Padfoot, this isn't funny! This is, well, serious!"

"I know, I know," said Sirius, trying to regain control of himself. "It's just that I'd love to hear any child of Narcissa and her boyfriend Lucius emit a high-pitched scream and be attacked to a hippogriff."

"Well doesn't that sound murderous…" said James wonderingly.

"I didn't mean it like that!" said Sirius hastily. "You know my family! They don't care, and I don't care about them…they'd deserve it."

Remus began quickly reading again before another fight between the two could break out.

-and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass, blood blossoming over his robes.

"I'm dying!" Malfoy yelled as the class panicked. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh God, if you were dead, you wouldn't be able to announce it."

"Yer not dyin'!" said Hagrid, who had gone very white. "Someone help me- gotta get him outta here-"

Hermione ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy easily. As they passed, Harry saw that there was a long, deep gash on Malfoy's arm; blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope toward the castle.

Very shaken, the Care of Magical Creatures class followed at a walk. The Slytherins were all shouting about Hagrid.

"They should fire him straight away!" said Pansy Parkinson, who was in tears.

"It was Malfoy's fault!" snapped Dean Thomas.

"It was!" said James.

Crabbe and Goyle flexed their muscles threateningly.

They all climbed the stone steps into the deserted entrance hall.

"I'm going to see if he's okay!" said Pansy, and they all watched her run up the marble staircase. The Slytherins, still mumbling about Hagrid, headed away in the direction of their dungeon common room; Harry, Ron, and Hermione proceeded upstairs to Gryffindor Tower.

"D'you think he'll be all right?" said Hermione nervously.

"Would you all call me a murderer too if I say, ‘I hope not'?" asked Peter, as Sirius glared at him.

"Well, we can't blame you," said James. "Nasty Malfoy…"

"He should be fine though," said Remus. "Madam Pomfrey is a really good nurse."

"'Course he will. Madam Pomfrey can mend cuts in about a second," said Harry, who had had far worse injuries mended magically by the nurse.

"And…there you are," said Remus; referring to the proof he had just read.

"That was a really bad thing to happen in Hagrid's first class, though, wasn't it?" said Ron, looking worried. "Trust Malfoy to mess things up for him…"

They were among the first to reach the Great Hall at dinnertime, hoping to see Hagrid, but he wasn't there.

"They wouldn't fire him, would they?" said Hermione anxiously, not touching her steak-and-kidney pudding.

"They'd better not," said Ron, who wasn't eating either.

Harry was watching the Slytherin table. A large group including Crabbe and Goyle was huddled together, deep in conversation. Harry was sure they were cooking up their own version of how Malfoy had been injured.

"Well, you can't say it wasn't an interesting first day back," said Ron gloomily.

"No, I guess you can't," said Sirius.

They went up to the crowded Gryffindor common room after dinner and tried to do the homework Professor McGonagall had given them, but all three of them kept breaking off and glancing out the tower window.

"There's a light on in Hagrid's window," Harry said suddenly.

Ron looked at his watch.

"If we hurried, we could go down and see him. It's still quite early…"

"I don't know," Hermione said slowly, and Harry saw her glance at him.

"I'm allowed to walk across the grounds," he said pointedly. "Sirius Black hasn't got pas the dementors yet, has he?"

It was the first time Sirius' future self had been specifically mentioned in a while, and all four boys froze as they remembered.

"Yeah…I haven't gotten past the dementors," said Sirius, his voice weak but trying to ensure some optimism in everyone.

So they put their things away and headed out of the portrait hole, glad to meet nobody on their way to the front doors, as they weren't entirely sure they were supposed to be out.

The grass was still wet and looked almost black in the twilight. When they reached Hagrid's hut, they knocked, and a voice growled, "C'min."

Hagrid was sitting in his shirtsleeves at his scrubbed wooden table; his boarhound, Fang, had his head in Hagrid's lap. One look told them that Hagrid had been drinking a lot-

"Oh, come now," said Remus. "That's they way you get fired. By drinking. Not by having accidents in class." He paused. "I hope I don't spent a while drinking when I'm teaching…"

"You barely even touch the Firewhisky now, when every other person in our year and above is itching to get their hands on it whenever they can," said Sirius prompted. "Like you'll really get drunk as a teacher. You still sounded like Remus in the chapter before to me."

"That's all very well, but people change," Remus sighed.

"No they don't," said Sirius stiffly.

Remus was about to say something, but thought better of it. He understood what Sirius was talking about. Sirius didn't want to end up becoming a murderer…he didn't want to change that much…

-there was a pewter tankard almost as big as a bucket in front of him, and he seemed to be having difficulty getting them into focus.

"'Spect it's a record," he said thickly, when he recognized them. "Don' reckon they've ever had a teacher who lasted on'y a day before."

"You haven't been fired, Hagrid!" gasped Hermione.

"Not yet," said Hagrid miserably, taking a huge gulp of whatever was in the tankard. "But ‘s only a matter o' time, i'n't it, after Malfoy…"

"How is he?" said Ron as they all sat down. "It wasn't serious, was it?"

Sirius refrained from saying something about the name pun.

"Madam Pomfrey fixed him best she could," said Hagrid dully, "but he's sayin' it's still agony…covered in bandages…moanin'…"

"He's faking it," said Harry at once. "Madam Pomfrey can mend anything. She regrew half my bones last year."

"Really? What happened, Harry?" James asked, though realizing Harry wasn't going to give him an answer.

"Trust Malfoy to milk it for all it's worth."

"School gov'ners have bin told, o' course," said Hagrid miserably. "They reckon I started too big. Shoulda left hippogriffs fer later…done flobberworms or summat…"

"No!" said Peter. "Flobberworms are really boring…I don't see why you'd bother learning how to take care of them…"

"Jus' thought it'd make a good firs' lesson…'S all my fault…"

"It's all Malfoy's fault, Hagrid!" said Hermione earnestly.

"We're witnesses," said Harry. "You said hippogriffs attack if you insult them. It's Malfoy's problem that he wasn't listening. We'll tell Dumbledore what really happened."

"Yeah, don't worry, Hagrid, we'll back you up," said Ron.

Tears leaked out of the crinkled corners of Hagrid's beetle-black eyes. He grabbed both Harry and Ron and pulled them into a bone-breaking hug.

"Watch it there, Harry might break his bones and have to regrow them or something!" James pointed out.

"I think you've had enough to drink, Hagrid," said Hermione firmly. She took the tankard from the table and went outside to empty it.

"Ar, maybe she's right," said Hagrid, letting go of Harry and Ron, who both staggered away, rubbing their ribs. Hagrid heaved himself out of his chair and followed Hermione unsteadily outside. They heard a large splash.

"What's he done?" said Harry nervously as Hermione came back in with the empty tankard.

"Hope he didn't go drown himself," said Sirius.

"Stuck his head in the water barrel," said Hermione, putting the tankard away.

Hagrid came back, his long hair and beard sopping wet, wiping the water out of his eyes.

"Tha's better," he said, shaking his head like a dog and drenching them all.

"Er, I'm sure it is," Remus said.

"Listen, it was good of yeh ter come an' see me, I really-"

Hagrid stopped dead, staring at Harry as though he'd only just realized he was there.

"You mean it took you that long to see him?" asked James loudly. "I think someone needs some glasses!"

"WHAT D'YEH THINK YOU'RE DOIN', EH?" –

"Ow, do you think you're loud enough, Moony?" asked Peter, rubbing his ears.

"Well, it's in capitals, so I'm reading it how it's supposed to be read," said Remus.

-he roared, so suddenly that they jumped a foot in the air. "YEH'RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN' AROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN' YOU TWO! LETTIN' HIM!"

Hagrid strode over to Harry, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the door.

"C'mon!" Hagrid said angrily. "I'm taking yer all back up ter the school, an' don' let me catch yeh walkin' down ter see me after dark again. I'm not worth that!"

Remus looked up as to signify that it was the end of the chapter.

"Well…that was very interesting," said James.

"Yes…very," nodded Sirius.

"As always," said Peter.

"Are you all ready for the next chapter, then?" asked Remus.

"Would we ever not be?" replied Sirius.

"Actually…" said Peter. "I have to go use the bathroom."

Sirius gave a loud sigh of exasperation as Peter hopped up and exited the room.

There was no speaking after this, and Remus looked from Sirius to James and back again. After repeating this behavior for a minute, Sirius finally said, "What are you staring at?"

"The both of you," said Remus. "Even though you're refusing to talk to each other and everything else you've been doing, I know you both really want to make up with each other."

James blinked and gave a snort. "That's…absurd. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"And neither do I," said Sirius.

Remus shook his head. "You two are so…stupid! Don't you see that if this is the future, then we might as well read the book and learn as much as we can, and then try and change it so it's not possible? Don't you think there must have been a reason for this book miraculously dropping through the ceiling onto Wormtail's head for us all to notice? Don't you see that your repudiation of each other could just be ruining what ever we're supposed to do?"

The loud flush from the toilet down the hall damaged the moment and the meaning of Remus' words.

Sirius began speaking after the odd silence. "Well, Prongs…really…I don't want to murder Harry. I don't want to become a murderer. Do you think I would?"

James said nothing, but continued to stare at Sirius with his arms slightly crossed, his hazel eyes unfathomable.

"I know you're concerned about him and everything…I mean, I would if it was my son, but really…you get a little crazy with it sometimes. Not that that's bad or anything…but you forget that I would never think of doing anything like I'm doing in the future. And maybe we'll change it. It's been a really weird day for it starting out so boring…"

James opened his mouth and Peter came back in the room.

"Did I miss anything?" said Peter.

"No," said James, and Sirius furrowed his brow at him.

Remus gazed over and out the window. It was a very peculiar day.