Potions Class was followed by Ancient Runes, which only Harry and Hermione took.
Ron had Divination instead.
After agreeing to have lunch together, the three went to their respective classrooms.
Runes was as dull and difficult as ever. Yet since last year, Harry had made extraordinarily smooth progress in the subject, and he had now become the top Runes student in his year.
Yes, he had surpassed Hermione, Padma, and those other Ravenclaw high achievers to earn the best marks in his year.
Harry was excited beyond words, especially when Babbling said he might be the third student she had taught with a chance of earning an Outstanding in Runes on the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test.
The implication was that she hoped he would choose Ancient Runes as an elective in his sixth year. Harry was naturally more than willing, but right now, he was more curious about how things were progressing between Professor Babbling and his godfather, Sirius.
Judging by the current situation, however, things did not seem too promising.
First of all, as far as he could tell, Professor Babbling had not joined the Order of the Phoenix. Although Harry thought she probably would not side with Voldemort, her past actions suggested she probably would not step forward to oppose him either.
Before Voldemort's last downfall, she had chosen to go abroad. Or, to put it more bluntly, she had fled overseas to stay well clear.
According to the conclusions Qiu had reached in her earlier analysis-or gossip-with Harry, this was also why Sirius and Professor Babbling had such an odd relationship.
The two had probably already had something going on back then, and Babbling had wanted to take Sirius out of the United Kingdom with her to escape the trouble. Sirius, however, had chosen to join the