The first Divination lesson was anything but friendly to the four youngsters.
Professor Trelawney dismissed Hermione's talent for prophecy. She said bluntly that Hermione would achieve nothing in this subject.
Harry rarely saw Hermione look so upset.
Compared with the others, though, Hermione had actually got off lightly.
When they interpreted the tea leaves in their cups, Ron was judged to be facing a run of bad luck in the near future, perhaps even injury and bloodshed.
Professor Trelawney had singled out Neville's grandmother right at the start, leaving him rather dazed throughout the lesson.
Harry had it worst of all. The tea leaves in his cup were interpreted as "a sinister great dog that haunts graveyards."
Even Harry knew of this prophetic image. It was the Grim, a symbol of ill omen that meant calamity, misfortune, and death.
Harry was unconcerned at first. The ability the Black Man had bestowed on his left hand was called the Left Hand of Chaos and Calamity. With an ability like that, being dogged by disaster seemed only natural.
And since his first year, Harry had indeed frequently encountered terrible things.
But then he remembered something else. Before leaving Privet Drive for the Burrow, he seemed to have heard that a huge black dog had appeared in the neighborhood.
Then he had heard that Sirius Black had escaped and might be coming after him.
If those things were connected...
What the hell!
Harry began to panic just a little.
His worries did not last long, however.
The lesson after Divination was Transfiguration.
To Harry's surprise, Professor McGonagall's subject for this lesson was Animagi. This made Harry a little nervous, because he had just finished learning to become an Animagus over the summer holiday that had just ended.
As far as Harry knew, Animagi