Joanne Murray - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

‘Hermione!’ Ron said again, sounding both stunned and impressed.

‘Harry, you’d better beat him in the Quidditch final!’ Hermione said shrilly. ‘You just better had, because I can’t stand it if Slytherin win!’

‘We’re due in Charms,’ said Ron, still goggling at Hermione. ‘We’d better go.’

They hurried up the marble staircase towards Professor Flitwick’s classroom.

‘You’re late, boys!’ said Professor Flitwick reprovingly, as Harry opened the classroom door. ‘Come along, quickly, wands out, we’re experimenting with Cheering Charms today. We’ve already divided into pairs -’

Harry and Ron hurried to a desk at the back and opened their bags. Ron looked behind him.

‘Where’s Hermione gone?’

Harry looked around, too. Hermione hadn’t entered the classroom, yet Harry knew she had been right next to him when he had opened the door.

‘That’s weird,’ said Harry, staring at Ron. ‘Maybe - maybe she went to the bathroom or something?’

But Hermione didn’t turn up all lesson.

‘She could’ve done with a Cheering Charm on her, too,’ said Ron, as the class left for lunch, all grinning broadly - the Cheering Charms had left them with a feeling of great contentment.

Hermione wasn’t at lunch either. By the time they had finished their apple pie, the after-effects of the Cheering Charms were wearing off, and Harry and Ron had started to get slightly worried.

‘You don’t think Malfoy did something to her?’ Ron said anxiously, as they hurried upstairs towards Gryffindor Tower.

They passed the security trolls, gave the Fat Lady the password (‘Flibbertigibbet’) and scrambled through the portrait hole into the common room.

Hermione was sitting at a table, fast asleep, her head resting on an open Arithmancy book. They went to sit down either side of her. Harry prodded her awake.

‘Wh-what?’ said Hermione, waking with a start, and staring wildly around. ‘Is it time to go? W-which lesson have we got now?’

‘Divination, but it’s not for another twenty minutes,’ said Harry. ‘Hermione, why didn’t you come to Charms?’

‘What? Oh no!’ Hermione squeaked. ‘I forgot to go to Charms!’ ‘But how could you forget?’ said Harry. ‘You were with us till we were right outside the classroom!’

‘I don’t believe it!’ Hermione wailed. ‘Was Professor Flitwick angry? Oh, it was Malfoy, I was thinking about him and I lost track of things!’

‘You know what, Hermione?’ said Ron, looking down at the enormous Arithmancy book Hermione had been using as a pillow. ‘I reckon you’re cracking up. You’re trying to do too much.’

‘No, I’m not!’ said Hermione, brushing her hair out of her eyes and staring hopelessly around for her bag. ‘I just made a mistake, that’s all! I’d better go and see Professor Flitwick and say sorry ... I’ll see you in Divination!’

Hermione joined them at the foot of the ladder to Professor Trelawney’s classroom twenty minutes later, looking extremely harassed.

‘I can’t believe I missed Cheering Charms! And I bet they come up in our exams. Professor Flitwick hinted they might!’

Together they climbed the ladder into the dim, stifling tower room. Glowing on every little table was a crystal ball full of pearly white mist. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down together at the same rickety table.

‘I thought we weren’t starting crystal balls until next term,’ Ron muttered, casting a wary eye around for Professor Trelawney, in case she was lurking nearby.

‘Don’t complain, this means we’ve finished palmistry,’ Harry muttered back. ‘I was getting sick of her flinching every time she looked at my hands.’

‘Good day to you!’ said the familiar, misty voice, and Professor Trelawney made her usual dramatic entrance out of the shadows. Parvati and Lavender quivered with excitement, their faces lit by the milky glow of their crystal ball.

‘I have decided to introduce the crystal ball a little earlier than I had planned,’ said Professor Trelawney, seating herself with her back to the fire and gazing around. ‘The fates have informed me that your examination in June will concern the Orb, and I am anxious to give you sufficient practice.’

Hermione snorted.

‘Well, honestly ... “the fates have informed her” ... who sets the exam? She does! What an amazing prediction!’ she said, not troubling to keep her voice low.

It was hard to tell whether Professor Trelawney had heard them, as her face was hidden in shadow. She continued, however, as though she had not.

‘Crystal-gazing is a particularly refined art,’ she said dreamily. ‘I do not expect any of you to See when first you peer into the Orb’s infinite depths. We shall start by practising relaxing the conscious mind and external eyes’ - Ron began to snigger uncontrollably, and had to stuff his fist in his mouth to stifle the noise - ‘so as to clear the Inner Eye and the superconscious. Perhaps, if we are lucky, some of you will See before the end of the class.’

And so they began. Harry, at least, felt extremely foolish, staring blankly at the crystal ball, trying to keep his mind empty when thoughts such as ‘this is stupid’ kept drifting across it. It didn’t help that Ron kept breaking into silent giggles and Hermione kept tutting.

‘Seen anything yet?’ Harry asked them, after a quarter of an hour’s quiet crystal-gazing.

‘Yeah, there’s a burn on this table,’ said Ron, pointing. ‘Someone’s spilled their candle.’

‘This is such a waste of time,’ Hermione hissed. ‘I could be practising something useful. I could be catching up on Cheering Charms -’

Professor Trelawney rustled past.

‘Would anyone like me to help them interpret the shadowy portents within their Orb?’ she murmured over the clinking of her bangles.

‘I don’t need help,’ Ron whispered. ‘It’s obvious what this means. There’s going to be loads of fog tonight.’

Both Harry and Hermione burst out laughing.

‘Now, really!’ said Professor Trelawney, as everyone’s heads turned in their direction. Parvati and Lavender were looking scandalised. ‘You are disturbing the clairvoyant vibrations!’ She approached their table and peered into their crystal ball. Harry felt his heart sinking. He was sure he knew what was coming ...

‘There is something here!’ Professor Trelawney whispered, lowering her face to the ball, so that it was reflected twice in her huge glasses. ‘Something moving ... but what is it?’

Harry was prepared to bet everything he owned, including his Firebolt, that it wasn’t good news, whatever it was. And sure enough ...

‘My dear ...’ Professor Trelawney breathed, gazing up at Harry. ‘It is here, plainer than ever before ... my dear, stalking towards you, growing ever closer ... the Gr-’

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake!’ said Hermione, loudly. ‘Not that ridiculous Grim again!’

Professor Trelawney raised her enormous eyes to Hermione’s face. Parvati whispered something to Lavender, and they both glared at Hermione, too. Professor Trelawney stood up, surveying Hermione with unmistakeable anger.

‘I am sorry to say that from the moment you have arrived in this class, my dear, it has been apparent that you do not have what the noble art of Divination requires. Indeed, I don’t remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly Mundane.’ There was a moment’s silence. Then -

‘Fine!’ said Hermione suddenly, getting up and cramming Unfogging the Future back into her bag. ‘Fine!’ she repeated, swinging the bag over her shoulder and almost knocking Ron off his chair. ‘I give up! I’m leaving!’