Divination Class Should Be for Eating Ice

"My Tarot Cards told me that all I needed to do was wait for the right moment."

The sudden voice caught Adam’s attention. He turned and spotted someone he knew.

"Amon?"

"Adam, long time no see."

The other boy smiled and greeted Adam.

Amon was a Ravenclaw, his full name Amon Fix. He usually liked to wear a monocle, and that name paired with that appearance had given Adam quite a fright when they had first met in Astronomy class.

But on second thought, if it had been the worldview of that other Amon, then with the information Adam knew, his brain would have long since been cooked. Only then did Adam relax.

Though it had been a false alarm, because of that coincidence, Adam’s relationship with this Amon was above the average level of friendship between classmates.

"You’re fiddling with divination again."

"What do you mean, fiddling? I’m a proper seer."

As Amon spoke, he produced a deck of Tarot Cards from nowhere like a magician. In the blink of an eye, he performed several flashy flourishes with them between his hands before spreading them out.

"Want to draw one?"

He looked both professional and unprofessional… like he had somehow specialized in the wrong direction.

Adam shrugged and casually drew a card.

"The Empress, upright."

Amon glanced at it.

"And the interpretation?"

"You didn’t say what you wanted to divine before drawing it."

Amon shook his head and took back The Empress.

"Huh? Are you playing Tarot Cards? Count me in!"

Klon noticed what was happening and came over as well.

"Go on, draw one~"

"First tell us what you want to divine."

Adam reminded him.

"Hmm… then I’ll divine whether I can successfully be chosen as a Beater."

After saying that, Klon casually reached for a card.

"Wait, I haven’t shuffled them yet."

The Tarot Cards in Amon’s hands were instantly shuffled in a dazzling blur.

"All right, draw one… The Chariot, upright."

Seeing the result, Amon sighed with feeling.

"Congratulations in advance. Everything will go smoothly!"

Having received a good result, Klon was clearly in high spirits. He turned and went to find Eugene and the others to share the news.

Adam watched his retreating back and shook his head.

"That skill of yours is pretty good for encouraging people."

"What do you mean? You’re looking down on my divination ability!"

"Hm? You mean the ability that can’t even accurately predict tomorrow’s weather?"

Amon fell silent for a few seconds. Then came a string of incomprehensible remarks about how "predicting the weather is such a trivial matter" and "a seer ought to predict a person’s fate." The top floor of the North Tower was filled with cheerful air.

After laughing for a while, Adam looked at Amon.

"Still, being able to make me draw The Empress seven or eight times out of ten means your grasp of psychology and your sleight of hand are pretty impressive."

"Wouldn’t a normal person conclude from that that my divination is incredibly accurate?"

"Mm, if I hadn’t caught you casting a spell on that Slytherin student last time to make your prophecy that ‘the road ahead will be obstructed’ come true, I might have believed you."

"Just tell me whether it was accurate!"

"It was indeed accurate!"

Amon proudly lifted his chin, then looked at Adam in confusion.

"Don’t you think my divination for Klon was accurate too…?"

Adam raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

"He’s your roommate, and you’re so close… I asked around earlier. He did well in the trials, at least not badly. I believe those Hufflepuffs would be willing to give you this much face."

"Then you’ve probably made Hufflepuff sound too complicated."

"No, no, you’re the one making me sound too complicated. I didn’t mean they’d give Klon special treatment for your sake."

Amon raised a finger and wagged it.

"I meant that none of them had been particularly outstanding or particularly poor to begin with, so choosing any of them would have been acceptable. Once they knew Klon was your roommate and friend, they would naturally lean toward him."

"Fine, fine. That divination really did teach you the essence of it."

"Of course~"

Amon smiled smugly and looked upward. Adam followed his gaze.

A few seconds later, the trapdoor in the ceiling opened, and a silver ladder was lowered through it, coming to hang right beside the student next to the ladder.

As they followed the crowd forward, Adam looked at Amon.

"How did you know when Professor Trelawney would lower the ladder?"

"We aren’t Professor Trelawney’s first batch of students. She lowers it at that same time every lesson."

Amon winked at Adam, then climbed up the ladder first.

Although Adam had chatted with Amon downstairs for a while, he returned to his roommates’ group once class began.

The Divination classroom was extremely cramped, with the curtains drawn tightly shut. Incense burned somewhere in the room, and there was even a fireplace with a blazing fire near the trapdoor… Overall, the classroom was terribly stuffy.

Adam and the others found a small round table surrounded by cushions against the wall. It was slightly cooler there, and the five of them fit around it perfectly, except…

"This table… has it never been wiped?"

Bernard rubbed the tablecloth with a fingertip. It felt greasy and slick.

"Eugh~ What is this stuff?!"

"Probably candle wax."

Adam looked at the several half-burned candles on the table. There were no candleholders beneath them, and melted wax had congealed into lumps where the candles met the tablecloth.

"I suspect this place is never cleaned at all."

Uther looked around. Tea sets of all kinds of patterns sat on tables, steps, the floor, and shelves… He even saw uncleared tea leaves in several open teapots, and the crystal balls scattered everywhere seemed to have a layer of dust on top as well.

"This cushion looks pretty comfortable."

Klon patted the plump cushion and dropped onto it, only to be sent toppling sideways by the rebound. Fortunately, Eugene was quick enough to catch him by the shoulder.

Though they were in a corner, it was only cooler compared to the front rows. It already felt like a greenhouse with heaters running, and combined with the overpowering incense and the hazy, dim red lighting caused by the red cloth around the lamps, the heat became nearly unbearable.

At a time like this, Adam really wanted a bowl of sweet iced dessert.

Professor Trelawney emerged from the shadows. As she gave her opening speech, Adam quietly asked his roommates,

"Want a bowl of Four-Fruit Soup?"

"This… isn’t that a little inappropriate? We’re still in class…"

Klon hesitated, but after Adam conjured up the Four-Fruit Soup, he decisively reached out and took a bowl. One mouthful of the icy coolness and sweet flavor immediately sent Professor Trelawney at the front of the room straight out of his mind.

"Don’t worry. Professor Trelawney can’t see over here. We can’t even see her from here."

"Ahem, give me two bowls too."

Adam suddenly felt someone poke him from behind. When he turned around, he saw Amon crouching behind him.

"Where did you come from?"

Amon pointed. In front of a shelf were two armchairs and a small table piled with miscellaneous clutter. One armchair was empty, while the person in the other one waved at Adam when she saw him looking over.

"It’s impressive that you can put up with it…"

"Ah, it only takes one Scourgify~"

Amon waved a hand, pulled out a handful of Silver Sickles from his pocket, and placed them one by one on the table before Adam.

"Two bowls of Four-Fruit Soup, with extra ice."