Severus had prided himself on never having actually been in the North Tower before. He had prided himself on spending as little time as humanly possible with the Divination “expert”. Alas, he could be proud no longer. The pungent, overwhelming scent that assailed his senses made Severus immediately feel like he was back in the hippie days. The other Death Eaters had found great sport in attacking muggles under the influence of incense and other such intoxicating odours. It brought bad memories to the forefront of his mind and made him even more full of dread.
At the back corner of the room he attempted to hide behind the curtain but to no avail. As soon as she entered the room Sybil shot him with a piercingly melancholy look.
“I sense terrible things are upon us,” she wailed, bringing a hand up to her head. It took all of Severus’s power not to contemptuously scoff. He noticed, for the first time, that none of the other students in the room appeared to be close friends of Potter. Weasley was not there, for instance, Thomas and Finnegan were also missing. He was alone and the sad realisation that for once he would rather not be gave the icy stare he shot at Trelawney an unremitting strength. She seemed completely unfazed however, and continued to conduct the lesson in the airy fairy fashion he had seen completely disappear after a few firewhiskeys or in a heated argument with Minerva.
Having wandered around the room and given everyone else in the class assignments, whilst Severus’s desire to escape from the room escalated, Trelawney finally stood in front of Severus.
“Harry,” she said, the eyes behind those ridiculous glasses roving over his adopted features. “Something is changed in you, child. My inner eye sees a transformed aura surrounding your body. It is as if you are not what you appear to be,” Severus felt some reservation with these words. Was she speaking gibberish or could she really tell? If she could tell, would that jeapodise everything? “Yes, you are slowly but certainly growing as a person. Your future is unchanged, though, it is as bleak as ever. I am so sorry that the fates have chosen to be cruel towards one so promising.” Gibberish. Severus felt muscles he didn’t even know he was tensing relax.
“I agree, Professor Trelawney,” Severus said, attempting to keep all malice out of his voice but failing miserably, “the fates have been cruel indeed”.
“You are to use your crystal ball to read one of the other student’s futures. Parvati, if you don’t mind, could you work with Harry for the moment?” Trelawney changed topic abruptly and wandered off aimlessly as Patil sat next to Severus.
“Go on then, read my future,” Patil said with no small amount of scorn. She was obviously used to Potter’s lack of skill at Divination. Something within Severus snapped. It wasn’t that he disliked Patil for any particular reason. It wasn’t even that he thought all Divination was hogwash. He just felt an intense desire to have fun.
He almost couldn’t believe he was doing it, but Severus deftly wove in and out of Patil’s emotions. He surreptitiously viewed her fears, her confidences and her hopes.
“People in gowns,” he began slowly, trying not to smirk, “there are odd pieces of paper, some strange letters.”
“Continue,” Patil said, leaning closer.
“I think there are bottles. Yes, lots of bottles. And cauldrons as well.”
“Wow, that sounds sort of sciencey, don’t you think? But I’m terrible at Potions,” Severus couldn’t help but agree.
“Hang on. There are other things here. A basket of fruit. Smiling, a lot of smiling,” he resumed.
“Fruit? Smiling?”
“Yes. And beds. There are rows of beds.”
“That’s amazing. Is it all connected? What do you think these images mean?”
“I’m not sure, but I think this indicates to prospects of your being a Healer,” he said.
“That’s amazing. I’ve never told anyone but that’s exactly what I want. Harry, you’re amazing!” Patil exclaimed in excitement. She was grinning from ear to ear, obviously completely taken in and completely ecstatic.
“Well, thankyou,” Severus replied. He was evil.
************
The rest of the Divination lesson fluttered by in a breeze. Patil was pleased with him and he didn’t feel too bad. Despite not being the best student at Potions there were other ways for the girl to become a Healer and if she believed in herself it may well happen. That’s what he told himself, anyway. After a double lesson of the extremely boring History of Magic, whose only highlight was listening to Weasley go on and on about how annoying Granger’s homework regime was, Severus had lunch. This, also, was not particularly scintillating but at least the food was good.
After lunch Severus found himself in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. He wasn’t entirely sure what he thought of the way Francis Flitwick taught Defence Against the Dark Arts. She was a capable enough teacher to be sure, her father had taught her well, but Severus supposed he was still annoyed he hadn’t been given the job. Weasley and Granger seemed to like her, though. They talked about how useful the last lesson had been and that they hoped she would stay in the position for longer than a year for the sake of the younger students.
“Today we will be doing theory work, class, so bring out of your parchment, books and quills and write me a short essay on Snuzzlebleeps,” she said upon walking into the room. She was small like her father, but far more graceful. He waddled, she glided. Her brown hair seemed incredibly long on someone of her stature and she had to make sure it was out of the way when she sat up on the table. Severus noted that she seemed perfectly at ease addressing the class and that they all paid her due respect. He proceeded to reread the material on the small, fuzzy yet deadly creatures and started writing. It didn’t matter how much time or care he took with his handwriting, it still came out as an untidy scrawl. He couldn’t quite explain it. Certain things had come with him, and other things appeared to be left behind.
Professor Flitwick collected their essays half way through the lesson and continued by demonstrating the best way to defend yourself against the Snuzzlebleep. Apparently there was nothing much you could do but avoid them. Severus actually found himself admiring the way Flitwick presented information. She was exact and forceful, but still not intimidating. He was intimidating in his lessons because he had to be, he realised that the only way for students not to do stupid things was to have them too scared to do them, but other teachers were best to be more friendly with the students.
She was not a weak, stuttering fool like Quirrell had pretended to be, or an egomaniacal know-nothing. She wasn’t an overly sympathetic Werewolf who he hated, or one of Voldemort’s insane and Polyjuiced followers. She wasn’t the power hungry and dangerous Umbridge, or a sneaky, undercover thief. She was young, but she had the knowledge. He conceded that if it were not to be him with the role, then she might as well do. Though he was constantly at odds with Dumbledore for not giving him the opportunity. Just what did Dumbledore think he would do? No, he was stuck with Potions, supposedly because he was brilliant at it, but he was sure that was not the reason. The lesson was over before he knew it and Severus went with Potter’s friends to the Library for some study before dinner.