Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 290 Rice: This prediction was incredibly accurate! (Two chapters combined)

According to Rice's schedule, his first class of the new semester was divination.

This course, along with Protecting Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, and Arithmetic and Divination, constitutes the elective courses for students in Hogwarts below the fifth year.

When choosing courses, Rice enrolled in all electives except for arithmetic and divination. He was quite interested in the content of those courses.

Daphne enrolled in the exact same courses as Rice; she filled in exactly what he had written. Rice had no objection to this, as he believed each course had its own value.

More importantly, this way someone can help him with some meaningless homework.

Daphne had no idea what the future held for her. The thought of soon encountering the mysterious art of divination filled her with excitement.

"Do you think if I learn divination, I'll become a super amazing prophet? I can even divine the content of the next day's exam before the final exams." Daphne's eyes were full of anticipation for divination.

However, her expectations were too unrealistic...

Even a legendary prophet cannot achieve what she foresees—a prophet can at most predict your final exam grade. Moreover, the accuracy of a prophecy is directly proportional to the importance of the event.

The prophets' abilities are only fully realized when faced with momentous events that have the power to influence history.

"Fortune telling has little to do with hard work. A prophet is born that way; it's a true ability passed down through bloodlines. So it's very difficult for you to become a fortune teller through effort," Rice told Daphne, delivering this bad news.

If someone is good at reading people, they can pretend to be a fortune teller, but their true nature is more like a psychology expert, and they have nothing to do with a real prophet.

Upon hearing Rice's words, Daphne's disappointment was palpable.

She muttered, "Then why did we sign up for this course? We might as well use that time to sleep."

Rice nodded seriously. He had no intention of paying attention to the course content at all, and he planned to leave the assignments to Daphne.

His main reason for enrolling in the course was that he was very interested in the professor. Rice learned from the school's documents that the current divination professor was Sybil Trelawney.

Upon seeing this surname, he decided to enroll in the course.

The surname "Trillauni" is quite special; her family has a long tradition of divination, dating back to ancient Greece. Professor Trelawni's ancestor from a thousand years ago left a very deep impression on Rice, and he wanted to see how much of his ancestor's abilities the Trelawni family had inherited.

"So you signed up for this course just to see who the professor is?!" Daphne couldn't understand Rice's behavior.

"Don't underestimate the Trelawney family. Her ancestors were priests who delivered divine pronouncements. It's said they were cursed by the gods for carelessly revealing prophecies, making her prophecies unbelievable. The power of prophecy and the power of the curse have been passed down through her bloodline... Anyway, it's worth going to see her."

Rice gave Daphne a brief introduction to the history of the Trelawney family, which left her stunned: If that's the case, wouldn't the Trelawney family be even more powerful than the Greengrass family?

If Rice could hear Daphne's thoughts, he would tell her: Unfortunately, what you're thinking is true. The most commendable aspect of the Greengrass surname is its pure-blood lineage, but this pure bloodline hasn't passed down any specific magical talent—only silver hair and certain personality traits have been inherited. The Trelawney surname is different; it truly transmits the talent for divination through its bloodline.

During the conversation, we arrived at the North Tower.

Rice climbed a steeply spiraling staircase and came to a small platform. This platform was enclosed, with only a circular trapdoor in the ceiling.

This is different from what Rice remembers; it's possible that later generations modified the place.

As the start of classes drew closer, the platform gradually became crowded. Suddenly, the trapdoor opened, and a silver ladder descended from above, landing right in front of Rice. He climbed up the ladder and entered a strange-looking classroom.

The space above the trapdoor doesn't resemble a classroom; it's more like a teahouse in the attic. The circular room contains over twenty small round tables, each surrounded by bulging cushions.

Upon entering the divination classroom, Rice was greeted by a stale, cloying aroma. Following the scent, he discovered its source was the classroom fireplace. Professor Trelawney seemed to have added some special herbs to the firewood, resulting in the strange smell filling the classroom.

Rice sniffed twice, trying to discern what was added to the firewood: spices with calming and insect-repelling properties. Perhaps one's divination talents are more easily unleashed in a drowsy state?

Besides the unpleasant smell, the classroom was also poorly lit. Logically, the divination classroom at the top of the north tower should have excellent lighting, but Professor Trelawney had drawn all the curtains, and the lights were covered with deep red lampshades. This resulted in everything being shrouded in a dim, scarlet light, creating a depressing atmosphere.

In addition, there were many shelves along the walls of the classroom, piled with divination tools.

After the last student climbed up the ladder, Professor Trelawney emerged from the shadows of the classroom. She was so well hidden that most people didn't notice her at first. Rice didn't find the professor visually either.

After asking the students to sit down, Professor Trelawney began to explain divination in a soft, indistinct voice.

When Rice heard her say, "If you don't have 'vision,' there's very little I can teach you," he nodded from the bottom of his heart—it was exactly the same as his own understanding.

However, what Professor Trelawney said next was very lacking in substance. After a series of rambling remarks and a few simple prophecies, Professor Trelawney began her lecture for the day.

Their first lesson was tea divination. She divided the students into groups of three, had them get tea from her, and after drinking the tea, they would use the remaining tea leaves to divine their future.

Rice was very familiar with this; he drank the scalding hot tea at an astonishing speed and then handed his teacup to Daphne. Daphne hadn't even finished half of her tea yet.

She sipped her scalding hot tea while complaining to Rice that the course made her feel like she was wasting her time.

"Don't think like that. At least we can verify whether we have opened our 'third eye' and whether we have 'vision'. Of course, since none of your ancestors were prophets, you probably don't have this kind of talent either."

Daphne: ...

She was about to curse: How could she not know whether the Greengrass family had prophets or not?

She slammed her teacup down on the table, fuming, "I might as well sleep in tonight!"

Daphne's voice grew a little louder, and Professor Trelawney, who was not far away, seemed to have heard her. So she "floated" to the table between the two of them and took Rice's teacup from Daphne's hand.

"Let me see, my dear." Professor Trelawney stared at the teacup, turning it counterclockwise.

Rice looked up and waited quietly for Trelawney's divination results.

"Hmm... a broken-winged falcon, child, you once had enemies, but you seem to have broken free from their influence?" Trelawney asked, looking into Rice's eyes.

With years of experience, she adjusts her predictions based on the other person's reaction. However, starting with a negative prediction is a habit she has maintained for decades.

Rice nodded. Trelawney was right. He did have enemies, and he did indeed take care of them.

Seeing that Rice gave a positive response, Trelawney smiled. She recognized the young wizard in front of her and knew that he was one of the most talked-about figures in the past two years. Although not as prominent as Daphne Greengrass beside him, he was still a child worth paying attention to.

Through her daily research, Professor Trelawney had long since accepted the unfortunate reality that she had not inherited her ancestors' talents. Although she never admitted it aloud, she had accepted this fact in her heart.

Then her divination gradually went astray, turning into something akin to psychology.

Before the start of each school year, she would collect information on students who had signed up for divination classes according to the list, and then make targeted predictions after analysis.

Trelawney's task today was to persuade Daphne to stay away from her, otherwise Daphne wouldn't be able to continue her classes this semester. In Trelawney's view, Rice, who had a good relationship with Daphne, was a perfect entry point.

Her question seemed specific, but upon closer examination, it became clear that it was actually quite vague—Rice considered the false gods of the Norse mythology his enemies, but was Malfoy, who had repeatedly opposed him during his first year, also considered his enemy?

Rice certainly didn't consider him an enemy; he had never taken this descendant of the Malfoy family seriously. But in Professor Trelawney's eyes, Draco Malfoy was undoubtedly Rice's enemy, and since Malfoy had indeed been less inclined to provoke Rice lately, it must be because Rice had "shaken free from the influence of his enemy."

Rice's affirmation gave Trelawney courage, and she went on to make further predictions.

"Alright, but don't be careless. The falcon has only broken one wing. Your enemies will come back one day." Trelawney didn't believe Draco Malfoy would let it go. She felt that there would inevitably be more conflict between the two, so she made this prediction.

"Let me see again—" she continued swirling the teacup, then gasped sharply, saying in a strange tone, "A big stick pounding on a hat… Oh, dear, this is no lucky teacup! Betrayal from a good friend! Poor child, wretched child!"

She stretched out her two thin, bony hands, as if she wanted to give Rice a hug.

Rice: ...

He narrowed his eyes and carefully examined Professor Trelawney: Was your prediction intentional or accidental?

It has to be said that her prediction was surprisingly accurate.

Rice craned his neck to look into the teacup and found that Trelawney wasn't entirely making things up; the pattern of the tea leaves did indeed resemble her description.

Daphne: ?!

After hearing Professor Trelawney's divination, she suddenly had a feeling of "misfortune strikes out of nowhere": Rice's best friend would betray him? Who else could his best friend be but herself? What did that old woman Trelawney mean? Could it be that she would betray Rice?!

Wait a minute, does her sister fall into the category of Rice's good friends? And what about Hermione Granger? She knew Rice even before she did... Daphne started to have all sorts of wild thoughts.

Rice only needed to glance at Daphne's expression to know that the girl was completely under Trelawney's control.

He couldn't help but rub his forehead and said in a low voice, "It's not really betrayal, just a minor disagreement between friends."

Trelawney's eyebrows twitched: she had only intended to give Daphne a little "eye-poisoning," but she had accidentally guessed right again? She was in a great mood today!

Trelawney was delighted and decided to press her advantage and continue with the prophecies. However, since the previous two prophecies had been negative, Trelawney understood the principle of reversal at the extremes, so she decided to end the reading with a few pleasantries—judging from the expression of the little girl from the Greengrass family, she was already intimidated. With the troublemaker removed, her subsequent lessons would be much easier.

"Just a few nice words and today's task will be perfectly accomplished." Trelawney silently encouraged herself, drafted a speech in her mind, and then started turning Rice's teacup again.

After a series of exaggerated performances that piqued everyone's interest, she finally spoke.

"I saw dazzling starlight in your teacup. As an adult, your potential is limitless. Perhaps the entire magical world will resound with your name. I saw the cauldron for making potions, the emblem of power, the gold coins representing wealth... They are all hidden in that starlight. Child, you must seize this bright future, for if you act carelessly, everything in the starlight may vanish into nothingness..." Trelawney said vaguely.

In her view, wasn't it a sure thing that a young wizard like Rice, with his exceptional talent and close relationship with the heir of the Greengrass family, would have a bright future?

Even if something unexpected happens in the future, you haven't said anything definitively, have you?

Seeing that Rice didn't respond, Professor Trelawney returned the teacup to Rice and then drifted away.

After Professor Trelawney had walked away, Daphne cautiously asked, "Rice, who do you think... would betray you?"

Rice glared at her, annoyed. "How about this, I'll cut ties with all of you first. If I don't have any good friends, then I won't be betrayed by my best friends, right?"

Daphne quickly shrank back and stopped talking.

But after a while, she pushed her teacup toward Rice, wanting Rice to do a tea divination for her.

"Let me see... Hmm... I do see your future." Rice took the teacup, pretended to look at it for a while, and then came to a conclusion.

"What future?" Daphne pricked up her ears, afraid of missing a single word.

"You have to do two divination assignments," Rice replied firmly. "This is the indisputable future, and there will be no change in it."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

A combined 4,000-word chapter!

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(End of this chapter)