Percy the old hand

Hogwarts offered Divination classes, but only as an elective from the third year onward.

Harry had looked into it a little, though not in any depth. From what little he knew, being a Seer was a profession that demanded considerable natural talent. The vast majority of Seers displayed that talent at a very young age.

Harry felt he had that talent too.

It all began half an hour earlier.

Professor Flitwick had just finished explaining all the precautions for the Levitation Charm when Seamus produced an explosion-something Gryffindor, and indeed all the first-year students, had already grown accustomed to.

Then Professor Flitwick gave him a Flame Tree leaf-these leaves were fairly resistant to fire.

After that, the other young witches and wizards began practicing.

Harry had an excellent grasp of the Levitation Charm, so he paid little attention to it. Instead, he quietly activated Magic Perception, wanting to take a look at Professor Flitwick.

He had wanted to sneak a peek at the professors' magic for a long time, but had never dared, afraid they would notice. Today, he decided to give it a try. Of all the professors, Professor Flitwick had always been the most approachable, so even if Harry was caught, it would be easier to brush it off.

As it turned out, when Harry quietly activated Magic Perception and the surrounding magic took visible form, he nearly toppled off his chair.

The reason was simple: Professor Flitwick's magic was far too dazzling!

Rather than a thin, white mist of light, Professor Flitwick was surrounded by white-gold flames that surged and flickered, radiating nearly ten meters outward and filling almost the entire classroom.

And the golden figure at his brow was not resting there, but floating behind him. It was the size of a full-grown adult, towering over the diminutive Professor Flitwick.

It stood behind Professor Flitwick like a statue cast from gold.

Both the white-gold flames of magic and the pure-gold manifestation of his mental power gave off a dazzling yellow light. The instant Harry saw them, his vision went white, the glare so intense he could barely keep his eyes open.

At the same time, a powerful wave of dizziness swept over him, making him instinctively end Magic Perception.

Beside him, Susan asked worriedly what had happened. Harry waved his hands repeatedly to assure her he was fine, while stealing a glance at Professor Flitwick.

Fortunately, Professor Flitwick seemed not to have noticed anything unusual at all. He was helping Hannah Abbott correct a few minor problems with her wand movements.

Just then, somewhere Harry was not paying much attention to, a small clash broke out between Ron and Hermione.

Ron's magic worked only sporadically, and there were problems with both his wand movements and his incantation. Naturally, his spell failed.

Watching her desk partner make one mistake after another, Hermione Granger could hardly have been herself if she had managed to hold back her criticism.

And then the relationship between the two, already strained lately, fell apart.

At the start of class, Harry had felt certain something would go wrong with Hermione and Ron's pair, and sure enough, it had.

"I just can't stand it. What exactly is Hermione trying to do? Hasn't she noticed that she hasn't made a single friend since school started, all because of the way she acts?"

Once they were out of the classroom, Ron vented angrily to Harry.

As he spoke, he could not help waving his arms. "Look at her! She's like that in the library, she's like that in the common room, and she's still like that in class. It's just-just completely unreasonable."

Harry did not particularly like Hermione's frequently overbearing manner either, but his grades were reasonably good, so she rarely had much ammunition against him. He therefore did not feel nearly as strongly as Ron. He was just about to say something when someone suddenly bumped his arm, and a figure hurried past them.

There was no doubt about it. It was Hermione...

As she passed, Harry caught a glimpse of her reddened eyes, with tears seemingly welling up in them.

"I think she... heard that?" They had been talking behind someone's back, only for that very person to overhear them. Harry felt painfully awkward, even though he had not been the one speaking.

"So... so... what..." Ron clearly felt that something was wrong too. There was a measure of hesitation and unease in his voice, but he stubbornly insisted:

"She must have noticed it herself by now. I wasn't wrong."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but for a moment, he did not know where to begin.

It should have been a minor incident, or at least Harry had thought so at first. Back in primary school, arguments with classmates had been common, and it was hardly unusual for a disagreement to turn into a fight.

That afternoon, however, something happened that unsettled Harry.

Hermione did not show up for one of the afternoon classes.

Most professors did not pay much attention to attendance. If a student occasionally missed a class, neither the professor nor the other students usually thought much of it.

In fact, plenty of students had skipped classes. They would never dare skip a class taught by their own Head of House, but if they truly felt unwell or had something else to do, missing another class was no great matter. In just two months, Harry had already missed two History of Magic classes and one Herbology class.

And that was still considered relatively few.

But it was an entirely different matter when Hermione was involved. Since the start of term, she had never missed a single class. Even when she had come down with a minor illness, she had attended every lesson despite her fever.

And that was not all.

Not only had Hermione missed the afternoon class, but Harry had not seen her again all afternoon. Even when he went to the library to borrow books and do his homework, he did not find her there-and Hermione was usually there even on weekends.