As one of Hogwarts' most prominent figures, Zhang Xiao enjoyed a great deal of attention at school.
The moment they heard Trelawney say this, the young witches and wizards fixed their eyes firmly on him.
Zhang Xiao narrowed his eyes.
"Professor, could you explain in more detail?"
Trelawney picked up the teacup on the table-a prop for reading tea leaves.
The procedure was very simple: drink a cup of tea until only the leaves remained.
Swirl the tea leaves three times with your left hand, then turn the cup upside down onto its saucer.
Once the last of the tea had drained away, you could examine the leaves and interpret them.
Well-the interpretation methods were on pages five and six of Unfogging the Future.
Compare the shapes of the tea leaves with the illustrations on those two pages, then interpret them according to whichever image they resembled.
Honestly, the tea was mediocre. It brewed up terribly bitter, and the leaves crumbled far too easily.
Professor Trelawney claimed it was tea specially intended for divination.
But Draco had whispered that this Divination professor had spent all the school's funding on alcohol.
The Board of Governors had discovered it while auditing her expenses and had intended to punish her severely, but Dumbledore had stopped them and paid out of his own pocket to cover the shortfall.
Trelawney simply knew nothing about it.
She stared at the teacup, turning it counterclockwise.
In her most ethereal voice, she said:
"Child, my Heavenly Eye has seen immense sorrow upon you. Everything is slipping away. You will be left with nothing-"
The young witches and wizards gasped in horror.
Hermione said loudly, "Professor, everyone ends up with nothing, because when we die, we can't take anything with us except ourselves."
Professor Trelawney studied Hermione and disliked