Jason glanced at his schedule, which was identical to Ron, Percy, Harry, and Nico's. "We have Natividion first," he said. Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Did you honestly already forget the anti-dyslexia charm already? C'mon, Divination's at the top of North Tower. It'll take us ten minutes to get there..."

After several minutes of walking around, they found themselves completely lost.

"I think it's this way," Hermione said, peering down an empty passage to the right.

"Can't be," Annabeth said. "That's south. Look, there's the lake."

"Look, there's Marvin!" Percy waved out the window, and Jason watched as the Giant Squid waved back, his giant tentacles splashing water.

"Aha!" A sudden shout came from behind them. Jason turned and saw Harry was watching a painting intently, one that depicted a fat pony with a short, gray knight attempting to climb back on. "What villains are these, that trespass upon my private lands! Come to scorn at my fall, perhaps?" Jason noticed the grass stains on his armor, hinting at his many attempts of climbing back on the pony. "Draw, you knaves, you dogs!"

The knight tugged his sword out of its scabbard and began brandishing it violently, hopping up and down in rage. But the cavalry sword was meant for horseback battle, and the length drove him downwards into the grass.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, moving closer to the picture.

"Get back, you scurvy braggart! Back, you rogue!" The knight seized his sword again and used it to push himself back up, resulting in the blade sinking deeply into the grass and, though he pulled with all his might, he couldn't get it back up again.

"Listen," Nico began impatiently. "We're looking for the North Tower. You don't happen to know the way, do you?"

"A quest!" The knight brightened up immediately.

"Let's not call it a quest," Annabeth said. "Don't jinx it."

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

"Uh, no. Perishing is bad."

The knight ignored Thalia and began to run to the left, his armor clanking noisily. They ran after him, keeping up easily with his quick pace. Then Jason turned to his side and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione puffing noisily behind them. Maybe not so much keeping up.

"Farewell!" The knight shouted as they reached the top of continuously spiralling stairs. "Farewell, my comrades-in-arms! If you ever need of noble heart and steely sinew, call upon Sir Cadogan!"

"Yeah, we'll call you," Ron muttered. "If we ever need someone mental."

"Oh, you've got a mental person right here," Thalia said, nudging Nico. "Completely insane, this one."

Nico scowled and pushed her away. "C'mon, let's see what prophecies we get this class." He glanced upward at a trapdoor, and as soon as they saw it, it opened, a silvery ladder descending right at Harry's feet.

>>>•O•<<<

"Why are all the oracles always in attics?" Thalia asked Jason. "At least this teacher isn't a mummy... I hope..."

"Welcome," a soft, misty voice came from the shadows. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last."

"She's better at hiding in the shadows than you," Jason whispered to Nico, only to receive a sharp, bony elbow to the ribs. "Ow!"

"Welcome to divination," the owl-ish teacher said, resting herself delicately on 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.

"So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts, I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can only take you so far in this field..."

Everyone glanced at Hermione, who had sat up in her armchair in alarm.

"Many witches and wizards, talented as they are in the area of loud bangs, smells, and sudden disappearing, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future," Professor Trelawney went on, her enormous, owl eyes gleaming. "It is a Gift granted to few. You, boy," she said suddenly to Neville, a fellow Gryffindor. "Is your grandmother well?"

"I think so," Neville said nervously.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear," the professor said. Neville gulped. "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next terms we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear," she shot suddenly to Parvati Patil, another female Gryffindor, "Beware a red-haired man."

Parvati shot a startled look at Ron and edged her chair away from him.

"In second term," Professor Trelawney went on, "We shall progress to the crystal ball-- if we have finished with fire omens of course. 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 number will leave us forever."

"I like Rachel better," Annabeth muttered to Percy.

They started with tea leaves, pairing up into partners. Ron went with Harry, Annabeth, naturally, partnered with Percy. Thalia and Nico were a pair, and that left Jason with Hermione.

"Shall I get the teacups?" Hermione asked, flustered. Jason vaguely wondered what that was all about, but shrugged. "Sure."

The tea was scalding hot, and it burned Jason's tongue. "This is almost cold compared to the Phlegethon," he heard Percy mutter to Annabeth. Annabeth shivered. "That's true," she said. Jason looked back down at his tea dregs, happy that the couple could reference to Tartarus normally.

"Right," Hermione said, drawing Jason's attention back to the present. "Here, give me your cup."

Jason peered into the mush that was once tea before handing it to Hermione. "Good luck reading my future," he said. "All I can see is that one day, I'll just end up as brown mush. Not exactly reassuring for a demigod."

Hermione laughed as she opened her textbook. "Right. Let's see..." she frowned at the book for a moment, then looked at the cup, back to the book, again to the cup.

"Well... if you tilt it like this, it looks like... a cloud..."

"Clouds don't have a definite shape, Hermione," Jason said. Hermione flushed pink.

"I know that. Fine, you try it."

Jason peered into Hermione's cup, scanning the textbook.

"Well, that looks like a deformed Australia," he began. Professor Trelawney paused next to him, peering into his cup in Hermione's hands. She looked back at Jason and her owlish eyes grew large with worry as she looked back down at the cup, and back again at Jason.

"My dear, beware of heights. You will be struck down from a great elevation by one who calls you a friend." She shook her head sympathetically. "I'm afraid a warning is all I can give you. Best to be careful, dear."

Without looking at Jason's expression, she moved on to Nico and Thalia.

"Let us see what lies in store for you, dear Thalia." Professor Trelawney peered curiously at the cup before her lips curved up into a small smile. "Oh how lovely. You will find your true love in a matter of a few years time, dear. I congratulate you, though I'm afraid I cannot say who it is you will fall for."

Jason glanced at Thalia's face, which was a mixture of amusement and revolt.

The 'seer' moved on to Percy and Annabeth. Jason leaned forward, excited to hear what she would prophesied for their fates.

"Perseus, I believe it is?" Professor Trelawney studied his dregs and pursed her lips. "Oh, I see, as by the movements of the planets, I'm afraid Neptune is not on your side. If I were you, I would steer clear of the Great Black Lake. Do take care."

She paused by Harry and Ron's table, where they appeared to be having extreme trouble reading each other's fates. "Let me see that, my dear," she said, snatching Harry's cup from Ron's hands.

"The falcon my dear... you have a deadly enemy."

"But everyone knows that," Hermione said in a loud whisper. Professor Trelawney stared at her.

"Well, they do," Hermione went on. "Everybody knows about Harry and You-Know-Who."

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

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

"The skull, danger in your path my dear..." Suddenly Professor Trelawney turned the cup one last time and gave a loud scream before collapsing on a chair, breathing heavily, eyes closed.

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

"What is it professor?" Dean Thomas said at once. Everyone had gotten to their feet and were crowded around Harry and Ron's table, trying to get a good look at Harry's cup. As far as Jason could tell, it looked exactly like every other cup in the room.

"My dear boy," Professor Trelawney said finally, opening her eyes dramatically. "You have the Grim."

"The what?" Harry asked, puzzled. He wasn't the only ones. The demigods and the muggleborns looked just as confused, but the rest of the wizards all gasped loudly. Nico raised an eyebrow while Annabeth just rolled her eyes.

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

Crowded next to Jason, Hermione sniffed. "It doesn't look like a Grim to me," she said. Professor Trelawney looked at her with mounting dislike but said nothing.

"It looks a bit of a donkey like this," Seamus Finnigan said, tilting his head to the left with his eyes squinted almost shut.

Professor Trelawney stood up shakily. "I think it best if we leave the lesson here for today," she said. "Yes... please pack away your things..."

>>>•O•<<<

"What a load of rubbish," Hermione said as soon as they were down the ladder. "I mean really, predicting that Harry had a dangerous foe? It doesn't take magical insight to know that."

"Harry, you haven't seen a large black dog wandering around, have you?" Ron asked nervously.

"Yeah, I have," Harry said. Ron stopped in his tracks, mouth open in horror. "Right before the Knight Bus appeared."

"But Hazel was with you then, and she saw it too," Hermione said. "So it can't have been the Grim."

Ron was staring at Hermione like she was crazy. "Well then, they both might die! I had an uncle Bilius who saw the Grim and died twenty four hours later!"

"I agree with Hermione," Annabeth said. "I mean, did you hear all her other predictions? Jason's going to fall to his death. Thalia's going to find true love. Neptune is secretly plotting to drown Percy."

"And I'm his favorite," Percy agreed.

"And Harry hasn't died yet." Hermione continued.

"Don't jinx it," Thalia warned.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Harry grumbled. "But I guess that makes sense. Besides, if you see the Grim again, just do your fancy sword stuff on it and we'll all be fine."