Final Destination

We were too early when we got to Divination--the ladder wasn't even down yet. Still, as I viewed it, at least we didn't have to struggle to find seats when it eventually did come down.

Alice leaned against the wall; she looked like she should be in a guide for why coming to Hogwarts would be benificial. I wondered if there could possibly be any way for me to obtain that level of beauty.

I doubted it.

"Heads up," Alice said suddenly.

I glanced up--the trapdoor thingy to the room was opening. As I moved aside, the ladder swung down. Professor Trelawney stuck her head through. "I hope I didn't hit you," she said, sounding dazed, when she saw me.

"No," I said. "Alice warned me."

Her eyes flicked over to where Alice was still leaning against the wall, humming cheerfully to herself. "Oh--a new student," the professor said. She didn't sound very enthusuastic.

Class started sooner than I expected--the only people in the room were Alice, myself, and a few Hufflepuffs whispering between themselves.

Trelawney sat at her desk and looked at us for a few minutes through her huge glasses. I had an urge --as I had had many times before-- to ask her if she knew what a bug-eyed effect those glasses gave her.

"So...class..." she said finally. "Today we're going to read knucklebones...."

"No welcoming us back, Professor Trelawney?" Parvati Patel asked, pouting.

Trelawney looked balefully at Parvati. "Those who come back several times to my class I
greet as if the summer had never passed."

Cause she can't believe we actually decided to take this class again, I thought grimly. I put my head in my arms, waiting until she got to the lesson. I should have brought my notes to get a little further on them.

Soon the bones were rattling over the little desks we sat at. Professor Trelawney dropped five on the table I was sharing with Alice. She turned to head back to the front of the room, but then she stopped mid-step and started to stare at Alice.

"Do I--?"

"Oh, hello!" Alice cried, jumping up. "No, you don't know me. And I've never taken Divination class before. And I've never been to this school before yesterday. And I don't have this class on a schedule. I'm here with Baylee!"

Professor looked a little taken aback. "Um...okay, then...?"

Alice grabbed her hand. "My name's Alice. I'm here because McGonagall invited Carlisle to come teach defensey stuff."

"Carlisle...?" Poor Trelawney. She looked like she was about to have a stroke. Or she already had one.

"Oh, um, Professor Cullen!" Alice said. "He's, like, my father! As well as Edward and Emmett and Rosie and Jasper and almost not-quite-yet Bella!"

Professor Trelawney kind of stared at her for a moment, then started nodding. Though she obviously still had no idea what Alice was ranting about. "Okay, dear... Um... just...play with the bones, dear...." She somehow managed to unlatch her hand from Alice's and get back to her seat without falling.

The lesson commenced without much more craziness. It was at the end when chaos broke out--well, not really chaos, per say, but ... interruption.

Alice spoke up as Professor Trelawney was putting the knucklebones away. "Oh, Professor?" she said.

"Yes...dear?" Trelawney said warily.

"I thought I might warn you, the---"

Trelawney looked offended. "Warn? Me? I'm, sorry, my dear, but how could you possibly warn me of something I don't already know about?"

"Well," Alice said, with the expression of an angel, "I just thought I might warn you about that casserole you're planning on eating tonight...."

Trelawney stared at her blankly for a moment. "How..." she murmured.

"Well, this is Divination class, isn't it?" Alice said cheerfully.

Trelawney didn't say anything for a while. "Class is dismissed." Her voice was faint when
she finally spoke. "Alison, could you just--who did you say your father was?"

I gathered my books and waited by the trapdoor for Alice.

"Professor Cullen!" Alice said cheerfully. "He's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts!"

"Oh...okay...you may go..."

As we were heading to the common room--I had a free period, and Alice claimed that she didn't feel like finding her siblings or dropping in on Carlisle's class yet--Alice commented on Trelawney's class. "Well, that was fun, wasn't it, Baylee??"

I went to Potions alone--Alice said she wanted to talk to Jasper. I was surprised when Ginny greeted me from the first seat.

"I thought you said you didn't have any classes with me today?" I said.

"What? Oh, no, I don't think I said that. I just wasn't paying enough attention to comment that I had this class with you." She smiled.

"Oh." I sat down next to her. "Too distracted by the Cullens?"

Ginny made a snorting sound but didn't answer. I smiled.

"You not being loyal to Harry?"

"I can look without being disloyal," she said.

"Of course you can."

Professor Tonks came in just then, juggling a pile of books. "Ginny," she moaned, her voice
muffled from behind the stack. "A little help?"

"Sure," Ginny jumped up.

The whole class was kind of chaotic and barely-pulled-together. I was surprised at how she
told us to just call her "Tonks"--(unless Professor McGonagall was around), and how she seemed to tell as that we could do whatever we wanted during class as long as we paid attention when she wanted to teach us something.

She really seemed to like Alice.

Potions and Arithmancy were the same old describing the study and starting out with what we were going to be doing for the rest of the year.

At dinner we were amused by Trelawney (who was surprisingly eating in the Great Hall tonight) jump up, covered in red spots. A large commotion started up, and it took all of the teachers to quiet down the hysterical students. Next to me, Alice murmured, "I warned her...."

I looked at Alice. "Do you have something with food, or something?" I asked, because I was really beginning to wonder.

She smiled.

When we finally went back to the tower, I was exhausted. Mondays this year would be torture.
I fell asleep quickly.