great-warnovel Chapter 30 The Divination Professor
Chapter 30 The Divination Professor
"You said you heard a continuous ringing of bells?" Professor McGonagall looked at the little girl in surprise. This was the day after the Halloween attack.
Hermione came to her door after class.
"Although Divination is an elective that only starts in the third year, you might need to get to know Professor Trelawney beforehand." McGonagall pondered for a moment. The series of extraordinary perceptions had basically confirmed Hermione's clairvoyance ability. There was no need to delay the growth of a genius because of the curriculum for ordinary children.
"Does the ability to foresee the future really exist?" Hermione was very curious. She didn't think her ability was to see into the future, but rather to perceive some information that others could not detect.
"Of course, although it's hard to accept." Professor McGonagall nodded, as if she were thinking of someone.
"There are many famous prophets in history, most of whom ended up in tragedy, or even caused great disasters..." she sighed.
"But Sybil is an exception. She... well, she's a pitiful person too." McGonagall shook her head and said to Hermione, "Let's go to the North Tower."
This was Hermione's first time entering the Divination classroom. It was always closed when she went on her nighttime outing with Harry and the others, so she never had a chance to come up.
At that moment, a fourth-grade divination class had just ended, and the students, scattered and distressed, came down the spiral staircase.
"Help! Why did I choose this course? Is Professor Trelawney really in the right mental state to teach?!"
"The fairies' eternal winter curse destroyed the foundation of the world. In the decades following the war, no true prophets were born. Perhaps we don't need to learn this skill..."
"Why should we listen to a blind man teach us how to use our vision! It's absurd..."
The students complained, clearly concerned about the divination professor's teaching ability, but when they saw Professor McGonagall at the bottom of the stairs, they immediately shut their mouths.
The vice principal glared at them a few times, but didn't say anything more, and led Hermione into the classroom.
It was then that Hermione met Professor Trelawney for the first time. She had long, loose hair and her eyes were covered with a dirty strip of cloth. Shocking scorch marks spread from her eye sockets to her cheeks and forehead, with tiny grains of sand falling from them.
She was wearing a heavy woolen coat, layer upon layer, adorned with oddly shaped beads and sequins. In the warm Hogwarts, such attire was undoubtedly too bulky, but she seemed to be very afraid of the cold. Even dressed like this, she still kept two small braziers burning beside her, emitting pale blue smoke that enveloped her.
"Oh, Minerva, you've come. Yes, I see you. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have seen you. It's too cold. Could you please refill my sherry?"
Hermione immediately understood the fourth-year students' pain upon meeting the professor. His language skills were quite chaotic, with a soft emphasis but a strange and exaggerated tone, rambling on about meaningless things.
McGonagall walked over, poured a glass from a sherry bottle on the ground, and handed it to her: "Sybil, I've brought a student."
She struggled to move her body, the beads on her body jingling, until she twisted her body and turned to look at Hermione.
"Ah, yes, a student, a freshman, a little first-year kid, all fluffy, but she's not to be trifled with. She'll knock over my wine bottle! Oh, that's really scary. I'd rather wrap myself in tinfoil to avoid her..."
McGonagall interrupted her, saying, "This is Hermione. Recent experiences suggest she seems to have a third eye. I think you're more qualified to speak on this matter."
Trelawney jolted awake, seemingly becoming more sober, even the smell of alcohol on her body seemed to have faded, but she immediately downed the drink McGonagall offered her in one gulp.
"Isn't this truly strange? For decades after the war, I was the only prophet, and now you've found a second one. Perhaps soon you won't need me anymore..."
She shook her head, and the sand that kept falling through her eyes, which were covered by strips of cloth, left a puddle of sand on her clothes.
"Come, child, give me your hand, let me see if you truly deserve the title."
For some reason, Hermione thought of the witches in the Borderlands who had thrown themselves into the mad fire, their own eyes consumed by the flames as they frantically searched for the so-called delicious "grapes," which were actually the eyeballs of others...
Hermione stepped forward and extended her hand, which Trelawney grasped tremblingly with her hand, adorned with bracelets and rings.
Hermione chimed in at the opportune moment, "I don't really consider myself to have the Eye of Heaven. I can only see what has already happened, but I've never seen the future..."
Trelawney took a deep drag of the smoke around her and interrupted her somewhat nonchalantly, "You're wrong, child. Second vision isn't just about predicting the future..."
She trembled violently as if electrocuted, and Hermione, whom she was holding, felt a jolt in her fingers as well. She instinctively inhaled, drawing in a lot of the pale blue smoke from the surrounding area.
The next second, her vision shifted, and she found herself in darkness, with a large, bright crystal ball emitting a strange, eerie green color.
Professor Trelawney, now much younger than she is now, appeared behind the crystal ball. She was now fully sighted, wearing large, thick-rimmed glasses that made her eyes appear several times larger. She was staring intently and nervously at the crystal ball.
"The future of the world... Eternal Winter and Fiery Blaze... A glimmer of hope... Heavenly Eye, give me enlightenment..."
She muttered to herself, as if trying to encourage herself. Her state became increasingly ethereal, as if she were gradually transcending the mortal world. Her eyes were getting closer and closer to the crystal ball, and she was about to lie on it.
However, the next second, a destructive green light burst forth from the crystal ball.
Hermione closed her eyes, and heard a piercing scream. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Trelawney rolling on the ground, covering her eyes.
A wave of dizziness and weightlessness washed over her, and when her vision returned, she was back in the divination classroom, facing McGonagall's slightly worried gaze.
Trelawney, panting heavily, had returned to normal and even seemed more like a normal person: "You see, little thing, yes, you see, you really are the Eye of Heaven."
Her tone was complex: "I peeked into things I shouldn't have, like sticking my eyes into a burning fire. Apollo punished the priestess, but also made her lifespan as numerous as grains of sand..."
"Tianmu... Ah, right! Tianmu, you are different from us. The prophet and the knower are both Tianmu."
She said to McGonagall, "We are the benefactors of Prometheus, and we look so far ahead that we forget where we are and fall into the abyss."
“And her,” she looked at Hermione, “she is the child of Epimetheus, with hindsight, nothing escapes her eyes, she is the seed of lesson, regret, and wisdom, the kind of person who deserves to survive the Great Flood, oh, a stifling stump who never drinks, the smell of brass is making me want to vomit, if you take Divination, I’ll have to put earplugs in the windows…”
Hermione realized the professor was starting to talk nonsense, struggled to pull her hand away, and then kicked over a sherry bottle: "You forgot to wrap it in foil to hide from me."
"Isn't that too cruel?" Trelawney wasn't angry, she just shook her head calmly and said to McGonagall, "But there's no doubt that she is indeed the Eye of the Sky. Compared to our rare and unstable triggering probability, the Eye of the Sky is easier to focus on. She will frequently enter the second vision, which is a good thing, as it can help you find many undetected dangers."
Professor McGonagall's eyes sharpened as she looked at Hermione: "So the bell you heard..."
"It's inside the school!" Hermione replied confidently.
"I will organize people to patrol," McGonagall nodded calmly.
"Sybil, now that Hermione is confirmed to possess the Third Eye, could you perhaps teach her?"
Trelawney used her fingers, which looked like they had Parkinson's disease, to restore the bottle, then shook her head: "I can't do it. It's like a spindle can't weave brocade, or a goldsmith can't forge an iron plow. My experience isn't suitable for her, and besides, she kicked over my bottle, and this won't be the only time."
Hermione quietly withdrew her foot, which she had been about to extend again. She didn't like this crazy professor, but she was pleased with his tact.
"But Fiendfire... is it one of the culprits that destroyed this world? I wonder how it differs from Madfire?" Hermione wondered to herself.