The next morning I felt like a bedraggled puppy following everybody down to the hall the next morning, stopping every couple of minutes to admire a portrait or ask a million stupid questions that nobody minded answering for me.

The first thing I saw as I entered the hall was Draco Malfoy. He was entertaining a girl with a small round face that looked a bit like a pug. As we passed he pretended to faint and a bunch of kids around him burst into laughter.

It was easy to see who he was making fun of.

"Ignore them." Gennie said through gritted teeth. "Dragon dung is worth more than those morons."

"Hey! Hey, new girl!" the girl with the pug face shouted. "Look! A dementor is behind you! WOOOO!"

"Well I hope one strangles you in your sleep!" I shouted back, sticking a certain finger in the air, my cheeks bright red. Sitting next to Harry, I clenched and unclenched my fists several times. I needed to work on my temper.

"Here, it's a new schedule for you." Harry said, passing me a sheet of parchment. "Who got you so angry?"

"That foul cockroach called Draco Malfoy," I shook my head in disgust. "And his little pug dog of a girlfriend, they're so pathetic!"

"You mean Pansy Parkinson. She's a lovely girl." Hermione said sarcastically. "She's a right cow to Gennie and me; you'd best stay clear of her. She's not the enemy you want to make."

Alia inspected Pansy Parkinson from a distance. "She looks like a puppy that got run over."

"He's a little git," George said through a mouthful of toast. He nodded at Malfoy. "He wasn't so cocky on the train yesterday. He came running into our compartment last night, right Fred?"

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

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

"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" said Fred. I put down my slice of toast, not feeling very hungry at the thought of dementors.

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

"Forget it, Harry," said George bracingly. "They suck the happiness out of a place, Dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there."

"All of them, most likely," I muttered, picking at a hangnail, my thoughts once more on the haunted eyes of Sirius Black.

"We're going to destroy Slytheirn in the first match of the season, hold onto that." Gennie said dreamily. "He fell off his broom last match as well."

Hermione, who hadn't been paying attention, squealed. "We have new subjects today!"

"They've messed up your schedule," Ron said, peering over her shoulder. "You're down for having three lessons this morning-at the same time!"

"I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall." Hermione said irritably.

"What are you going to do, clone yourself?" Alia snorted. She glanced over her shoulder. "Crap, they're leaving without me! Bye!" she flung herself off the bench with a pile of toast, chasing after a small crowd of first years.

Shaking my head at how crazy Alia was, I turned back to Hermione, a more neutral form of craziness. "Time travel, that's how you're doing it!" I said dramatically, pointing my fork at her. "Oh my god, you are secretly a Time-Lady! Do you have a TARDIS I could borrow?"

"Don't be silly," Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm not in three classes at once."

"Well then -"

"Pass the marmalade," said Hermione.

"But -"

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

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

We finished breakfast hastily, and with excited butterflies in my gut I practically skipped out of the hall with Gennie and Hermione. This was a new, fresh start. Nothing could ruin my day-not even Malfoy, who kept trying to do fainting impressions, as if girls actually paid attention to him.

The journey through the castle to North Tower was a long one.

"Does it usually take this long to get to lessons?" I asked curiously.

"Why not experience it and find out for yourself," Harry said with a sarcastic smile, clearly irritated we couldn't find the entrance to the stupid classroom.

Things went weird when a talking portrait of a knight decided to help us find our way to our lesson.

"A quest!" he cried, "Come follow me, dear friends, and we shall find our goal, or else shall perish bravely in the charge!"

"The only perish he'll have is when I push his portrait on the floor." Gennie grumbled, irritated by the whole situation.

The knight attempted to climb onto his pony but failed, and shouted, "On foot then, goodsirs and gentle ladies! On! On!"

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

"I swear this is a vivid hallucination at this point." I muttered, but followed the painting in any case.

He seemed really excited in having a quest, sprinting through painting after painting, leaving us panting as we ran up dangerously steep spiralling steps. I hadn't ran like this since my running competition last April, and it was safe to say I was highly unfit.

"Farewell!" the knight cried, and as I heard mumbles above us, I figured we were at the classroom now. "If you need assistance on a quest call upon my portrait!"

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

We climbed the last few steps and emerged onto a tiny landing, but this was confusing as there were no doors. I happened to glance up at the ceiling, only to see a small trap door above up, with a small plaque on it.

"Sibyll Trelawney, Divination teacher,'" Gennie read. "How are we supposed to get up there?"

As though in answer to her question, the trapdoor suddenly opened, and a silvery ladder descended right at Gennie's feet. Everyone went quiet.

"After you," said Ron, grinning, so Gennie climbed the ladder first, and I followed her.

I emerged into the strangest-looking classroom I had ever seen. It looked more like an attic and a tea room, with twenty small tables and old-fashioned armchairs. There was a red haze over the room, all curtains shut and red lamps giving an odd dark light.

I felt ready to suffocate after only being in there for a few seconds, a huge roaring fire giving off a sickly perfume. "I already immensely regret taking this class," I sighed, my head spinning.

"Welcome children," a voice whispered from the shadow, and I felt as if I was in a horror movie. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last,"

"And there was me thinking I've been in an imaginary world for thirteen years." I muttered.

The woman who darted out of the shadows looked like a giant glittery bug. She was stick thin, large round glasses making her eyes very big and watery, her small body covered in glittering shawls and beads wound around her neck.

"Sit, children, sit." Trelawney said in a dreamy voice.

Ron, Harry and Hermione had a table to themselves, so Gennie and I had to cram onto a half-broken table nobody wanted to sit at.

"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."

"Is she on something?" Gennie whispered, and I supressed a giggle.

"Many witches and wizards, 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, girl," she turned to be, and I felt very nervous. "Is your father well?"

I assumed she was on about Mark. "Uh, I think so?"

"I wouldn't be so sure," Trelawney said, and I glared at her as she looked away. Who thought she had the right to make wild accusations about Mark?

Professor Trelawney continued placidly. "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. By the way, my dear," she shot suddenly at Parvati, "beware a red-haired man."

Parvati edged away from Ron, as he was directly behind her.

" Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our numbers will leave us for ever."

"The hell sort of class is this?" Gennie said, looking appalled.

A very tense silence followed but Trelawney didn't notice. "I wonder, dear," she said to Lavender who shrank back in her chair, "if you could pass me the largest silver teapot?"

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, her eyes wide.

We were set to drink tea and read whatever omens we found in the bottom of each other's cups. It was both the easiest and weirdest lesson I'd ever had-but I'm sure things would get weirder. I choked back the vile tea, suspecting it'd been out of date for the last fifty years.

Swilling the dregs of it like Trelawney said, we swapped the cups, both looking equally as enthusiastic. "Right," Gennie said, looking through her third hand copy of the text book. "What can you seen in mine?"

"I see a load of disgusting remains of those tea leaves," I said sarcastically, the heavy perfume making me feel very stupid. "It means that this stupid class will be in your future horizons."

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

"Right, you've got a crooked sort of cross..." I consulted the text book. "That means you're going to have 'trials and suffering' - sorry - but there's a thing that could be the sun. Hang on...that means 'great happiness'...so you're going to suffer but be very happy... God, it sounds like being part of a fandom...."

"If only you saw a mysterious dark haired stranger in my future," Gennie said dreamily. "Or your brother, of course."

"Ew, Gennie, that's disgusting!" I said, and paused. "He couldn't fit into a cup!"

The two of us began giggling, and as Trelawney looked over I tried and failed to pass it off as a coughing fit.

"Can I have a mysterious stranger in my cup instead?" I said, pushing my cup forward. "That would make my year."

Gennie looked into the cup and back up at me, speechless her eyes wide. The humour of moments before vanished. "What is it, Gennie? What can you see?"

The room suddenly went quiet. Everybody was looking at Harry and Ron, as Trelawney talked to them. "The falcon, you have a deadly enemy," she spoke to Harry.

"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."

Trelawney chose not to reply. She lowered her huge eyes to Harry's cup again and continued to turn it. "The club...an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup..."

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

"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. Everybody jumped as another cup smashed to the floor, courtesy of Neville Longbottom. Trelawney sunk into a chair, holding her heart.

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

"What is it, Professor?" said Gennie at once, going out of her haze at once. She, like everybody else went over to Harry and Ron's table to look at the cup.

Before I followed her over, I glanced into my cup, where the tea blurred outline of a dog was. Shrugging, I followed her over to Harry's table.

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

"The what?" said Harry.

I screwed my face up in confusion, what the hell was that? Lavender and a boy called Dean Thomas looked confused as well, but almost everybody else looked horrified.

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

Feeling sick at remembering both the dog on the book in the bookstore, and the same familiar shape in my cup, I looked over. Harry and I both had the grim.

Hermione got up, and peered into the cup, not looking bothered. "I don't think it looks like a Grim," she said flatly.

Professor Trelawney surveyed Hermione with dislike. "

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.

"When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!" said Harry, and everybody looked away from him.

Feeling anxious as Trelawney told us to pack up for today, I glanced over at Gennie, who was avoiding my eye. "I know you saw the grim in the teacup," I said to her quietly.

"It means nothing, most likely, don't worry." Gennie said, though she didn't look confident in her own words.

Silently I followed everybody down the ladder, heading towards our transfiguration class. This, I was looking forward to. Anything was better than being told first thing on a Monday morning that you were going to die.

Sitting in-between Hermione and Gennie I was seemingly the only one interested in the lesson as McGonagall taught us about Animagi (people like Gennie who could turn into animals at will) and revealed she was one as well by turning into a cat.

Amazed, I gave the teacher a clap, but it quickly became awkward as I was the only one to clap. Lowering my head, I pretended nothing happened.

"Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got a full applause from a class. Only Miss Oswin clapped." McGonagall said, sounding surprised.

Gennie raised her hand as everybody glanced at Harry again. "Professor, we had our first divination lesson, and-"

"Ah, of course," said Professor McGonagall, suddenly frowning. "There is no need to say any more, Miss Lupin. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"

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 Sibyl Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class.... You look in perfect health Potter, so I'm not letting you off homework. If you do die, please don't hand it in."

I laughed and my worries from earlier melted away. I wasn't a superstious person, so why was I so worried about this? I didn't avoid black cats, I wouldn't shy away from stepladders or cracks in the pavement, and I sure as hell hadn't died from doing Bloody Mary in my bathroom mirror with Kayley.

Not everybody was convinced, and this was seen at lunch when Ron and Gennie were both still quieter than usual. Ron didn't eat any of his food, and Gennie was stirring her food around, looking at Harry as if he was on his death bed.

"He's not going to keel over, don't worry." I said to them. "The only danger Harry has is if he trips over his feet and hits his head on wall."

Gennie and Ron didn't look amused.

"Harry," Ron said in a 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."

"Weirdly enough, I saw a stray dog in the park on my birthday." I said thoughtfully. "What a weird coincidence."

"Probably a stray," said Hermione calmly. Ron looked at Hermione as though she had gone mad. Gennie looked close to tears.

"Hermione, if Harry and Rory's both seen Grims, that's - that's bad," he said. "My - my uncle Bilius saw one and - and he died twenty-four hours later!"

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

"You don't know what you're talking about!" said Gennie, starting to get angry. "Grim's are one of the scariest things in the Wizarding world!"

"There you are, then," said Hermione in a superior tone. "They see the Grim and die of fright. Harry' and Rory are both still with us because they aren't stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I'd better kick the bucket then!"

"Oh my god, can we stop arguing about this?" I groaned, throwing down my fork. "Harry and I are both alive, and to be honest I don't think a dog can cause your death unless it has a machete!"

"Sorry," Gennie muttered and that was the end of that argument.

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

"I think Divination seems very woolly," she said, searching for her page. "It has 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.

"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. I squealed and ducked as one nearly hit me in the eye.

"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 with 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."

"The time-travel theory is still there." I muttered to Gennie.