I'm the King of Curry at Hogwarts

Chapter 184 The Multitalented Trelawney

Professor Trelawney stared intently at Neville until he felt uneasy and his breathing became uneven.

Fortunately, she looked away after staring for a while, which made Neville secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

"This year we'll be learning various basic divination methods. The first semester will focus on interpreting tea leaves, and next semester we should learn palmistry. And just a reminder, my dear," she said, looking at Ron, "be wary of those around you."

Ron glanced at Harry, then at Louise, then at Hermione, before finally fixing his gaze on Draco.

Draco frowned and said with obvious disdain, "I'm not one of those people around you, you red squirrel."

Before Ron could refute, Professor Trelawney spoke again.

This time it was addressed to Draco.

"As for you, my child," she mumbled, making it hard to believe the accuracy of her words, "beware of men who play with fire."

Louis knew that Trelawney was referring to Crabbe, that chubby kid, who almost burned Draco to death when he set fire to the Room of Requirement in seventh grade.

Of course, he also burned himself to death.

An old saying goes, "Playing with fire makes you wet the bed," and Crabbe played with fire and got burned.

“In the summer,” Professor Trelawney continued, “we will learn how to read the crystal ball—if we have already learned about the signs of fire… Unfortunately, in February, a severe flu outbreak will force the class to close, and I myself will lose my voice… Around Easter, one of us will leave us forever.”

After she finished speaking, the classroom fell into a tense silence, but Professor Trelawney seemed oblivious to it, even enjoying it somewhat.

Louise, upon comparing the text with the original, discovered that Professor Trelawney was completely talking nonsense... perhaps she was just trying to scare the children?

"I think, darling," she said to Lavender Brown, who was closest to Professor Trelawney and was startled when the professor suddenly turned around, causing her to shrink back in her chair.

"Could you hand me that biggest teapot?" Professor Trelawney didn't realize she had startled the new, good student.

Lavender looked relieved. She stood up, took a huge teapot from the shelf, and placed it on the table in front of Professor Trelawney.

"Thank you, darling. By the way, the thing you're afraid of—will happen on Friday, October 16th."

Lavender trembled.

That's utter bullshit. Louis looked at Lavender's terrified face and thought to himself, "Ignorance is truly terrifying..."

He looked at his somewhat solemn companions, patted Hermione on the shoulder who was still in a daze, and gestured for everyone to form a circle.

"October 16th is a Saturday. Professor Trelawney is just trying to scare people," Louis said in a low voice.

The group of friends then realized what was going on and no longer found it so scary.

The other students didn't hear it, but that didn't mean Professor Trelawney couldn't hear Louis's little actions. She turned her head and chuckled at Louis.

"Mountbatten, would you mind if I showed you the future using the methods we're about to learn?"

Louis politely smiled and declined, saying, "I'm sorry, Professor, I don't believe in that."

"So what do you believe in?" Professor Trelawney challenged Louis with great interest. "Crystal balls? Tarot cards? Or astrology? What's your zodiac sign?"

Saying he didn't believe in anything would be too antisocial, so Louis had to come up with a half-baked way to try and shut Professor Trelawney down: "Sorry, Professor, I only believe in the I Ching from my mother's school."

I thought this question would completely extinguish Professor Trelawney's eagerness to try divination, but to my surprise, her eyes lit up, and she slapped her thigh: "What a coincidence! Mountbatten, I happen to have a little knowledge of this. Would you like to use the traditional yarrow stalk method, or divination by divination, or the money class?"

"Is there anything you can't do?" Louis was astonished, never expecting Professor Trelawney to be such a jack-of-all-trades in divination class...

"I don't know how to read faces like those in South Korea..." Professor Trelawney said frankly.

After all, she couldn't tell whether Jeon Ji-hyun was suitable to be president (not really).

Louis thought to himself that since things had come to this point, it wouldn't be very polite to refuse Professor Trelawney, so he said, "Then please burn me a tortoise shell."

Professor Trelawney nodded, took a tortoise shell from the shelf behind her, fiddled with it mysteriously for a while, then used an iron rod to pry it open and placed it over the fireplace to heat it. After a while, the shell crackled. Professor Trelawney picked it up, not caring about the heat, and held it so close to her face that it was almost touching the shell.

"The hexagram 'Guan' transforms into 'Bu', this is... this is..." Professor Trelawney's eyes were now completely filled with the whites of her eyes, and her voice was no longer as gentle as before, but rather like many people speaking in hoarse voices, as if in a cave, with a slight echo: "Guan's glory, utilizing the guest of the king... Sybil Trelawney pays respects to my king..."

As he spoke, he knelt down with a thud.

Thankfully, these words were spoken in Chinese, otherwise Louis would have been completely unable to explain himself.

But the professor's unusual behavior still caused an uproar among the students. Everyone was curious about what language she had just spoken that they couldn't understand, as if she were exchanging secret codes with Louis.

Louis stopped the students from making a ruckus, turned around and quickly helped Professor Trelawney up, took the tortoise shell from her hands and put it in his pocket.

At this moment, Professor Trelawney seemed to have recovered from her nervousness, her pupils reappeared in her eyes, and she looked at Louis, who was supporting her, with some confusion.

"Did I just say something?" she asked, looking bewildered.

"You didn't say anything, Professor. It's time to continue teaching the class." Louis quickly changed the subject; he didn't want this sensitive topic to continue.

Are you out of your mind?! Do you think I, Louis, am the kind of person who would rebel?

Professor Trelawney shook her head like a cat that had fallen into water, calmed herself for a moment, and said loudly, "Now, I want you all to split into two groups, take a teacup from the shelf, and come to me. I will pour tea into your cups."

The students did as instructed, lined up in two rows to get their teacups from the shelf, and returned to their seats to wait for Professor Trelawney to pour tea into their cups.

You're really bold. Aren't you afraid that Professor Trelawney might add some strange, unidentified substance to your tea?

You are an astrologer.

After the students were seated, Professor Trelawney, meeting their expectant gazes, explained in detail: "When I say it's time for tea, you will begin drinking. When only tea leaves remain in your cups, shake the tea leaves three times with your left hand, then turn the cup upside down onto the saucer. When the last drop of tea has drained, exchange your tea with your partner for interpretation—you can use pages five and six of the book 'Seeing the Future Through the Fog' to interpret the shape of the tea leaves. I will walk among you, helping and guiding you. Oh, and, dear students—"

She grabbed Neville's arm and pulled him up. "Could you please pick out a teacup for me? If you don't mind, please get me a blue one, thank you."

It was a strange pairing: Harry and Draco were in one group, Hermione and Ron were in another, and Louise didn't know who to choose. Dean Thomas, who was standing nearby, volunteered to sneak over and team up with Louise.

Louis elegantly swirled his teacup—it resembled a teacup from the city, complete with a lid—and his DNA kicked in. He sat up straight and solemnly gave his students a lesson on how to properly drink tea.

Hey, guess what? This is what happens every morning in old London, hey, it's so authentic…

It's a pity this tea isn't scented with jasmine flowers. What a shame.

As Professor Trelawney had instructed, he shook the tea leaves to mix them, then dried the teacup and exchanged it with Dean.

"What did you see in my cup?" Dean asked curiously.

"Tea leaves," Louis answered honestly.

This answer left Dean speechless, and he almost fainted from choking.

"Open your minds, my dears, let your eyes look beyond worldly things!" Trelawney called out at just the right moment in the darkness, her voice high-pitched.

"Okay, I saw a TV. It sounds ridiculous, but it really looks like a TV set," Dean said hesitantly, flipping through the book as he spoke, but he still couldn't find out what the TV represented until he reached the last page.

"Well, I'm quite a drinker." Louis chuckled and looked down at Dean's teacup.

There's a mouse on top.

"It's a mouse. I don't care, Sister Li, what does a mouse have to do with you?" Louis said hesitantly. "Generally speaking, mice represent..."

Before he could finish speaking, Dean let out a howl. It turned out that Ron's Scabbers had run out and passed in front of him.

He was terrified of these furry little animals. Louis said with a hint of schadenfreude, "I have to take back my previous contempt. It seems the divination was quite accurate, at least it's come true now."

"Ron! Can't you control your rats?" Dean sounded a little unhappy.

Ron quickly apologized, and Dean wasn't one to hold a grudge. Once the shock wore off, he let Ron off the hook.

Harry burst into laughter; he hadn't expected the divination to be so surprisingly accurate.

"So you're just going to sit here grinning like an idiot, huh?" Draco's tone was unpleasant. He held Harry's teacup, stared at it strangely for a long time, and then, referring to the book, said, "Falcon, oh ho ho ho, Harry, you have a mortal enemy..."

"You're talking nonsense, Draco," Harry said, frowning. "Who doesn't know the deep-seated hatred between me and Voldemort?"

As he spoke, he looked down at Draco's teacup, and after a long pause, he said uncertainly, "Look at you, Draco, what are you drinking... um, this is... ha... this is a dinosaur, isn't it? It must be a Tyrannosaurus Rex, right?"

It's a good thing Harry has such a rich imagination, but unfortunately there are no records of dinosaurs in the wizarding world.

Hermione said to Harry, "Harry, I suggest you take another look. There are no stories about dinosaurs in the wizarding world."

"Alright." Harry reluctantly turned the teacup around, hesitated for a moment, and said, "This time, hmm, it looks like a flowerpot."

"Found it." He flipped to the record about the flowerpot: "Looks like you should be careful about your circle of friends, Malfoy."

"I think I should be careful not to pass out," Draco said sarcastically.

Before Harry could object, Trelawney walked over and snatched the cup from Draco's hand.

She frowned and stared at it for a long time, turning it around as she looked: "Hmm, big stick, an attack, darling, this is no lucky teacup... skull, danger, your future, darling."

At this point, the students in the class stopped fiddling with their teacups and focused intently on Harry, wondering what Trelawney was up to.

At the same time, Neville's cup shattered. Professor Trelawney, whether startled by the object in her hand or by the sound of Neville's breaking teacup, took a few steps back and plopped down in an empty armchair. She clutched her heart, her eyes closed, and gasped for breath.

Professor Trelawney's words made the students hold their breath, focusing intently on her.

"Oh no—my dear child, my poor child…no, no, no, this is too terrible, I'd better not say it…"

This completely baffled Harry. He stared blankly at the teacup in his hand, lost in thought. The other students all stood up and surrounded their table, craning their necks to peer into Harry's cup.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Dean asked casually.

"My dear..." At that moment, Professor Trelawney opened her eyes, stood up, and the students quickly made way for her. She moved closer to Harry and said in a trembling voice, "You...you have bad luck..."

"What do I have?" Harry was clearly confused. How could he be told that something ominous was about to happen just because he was having a nice cup of tea?

The students looked at each other, especially Hermione and Ron. Hermione gave Professor Trelawney a disdainful look, her eyes practically screaming, "You're a charlatan!"

"Ominous! Ominous!" Professor Trelawney waved her withered arms wildly, then jumped up, pointing at Harry and shouting, "That monstrous dog wandering the graveyard! My dear child, it's a bad omen! A terrible omen! The worst omen ever!"

Louis almost burst out laughing, but thankfully he reacted quickly and held it back.

Professor Trelawney wasn't wrong, but what she said was a bit misleading...

(End of this chapter)