Professor Trelawney adjusted her shawl with a very elegant posture and continued, "Divination is the deepest of all magical arts. Before we begin, I must tell you that if you do not possess innate insight, then I won't be able to help you in any way. There is very little that books can teach you in this class..."
Many eyes turned towards Hermione, who appeared quite distressed, not only because the professor herself had said that books wouldn't help with Divination but also because Tom had said something very similar before: if you don't have the talent, you don't need to take the class at all.
"... It is a gift possessed only by a few," Professor Trelawney said, unperturbed by the reactions of the students beneath her. In fact, over the years, she had learned to ignore them. And of course, she noticed that the boy next to the brown-haired girl seemed to agree with her, which put her in a good mood.
Tom had only one response to what Professor Trelawney had said, and it was: too true, too true!
Everything she said resonated with Tom's heart, and that made a big difference in his attitude towards Professor Trelawney because she spoke the truth.
Of course, the rest of her charade was something Tom didn't want to emulate. It seemed to him that Professor Trelawney should try to navigate through the chaos of her life and see as much of the actual future as possible, instead of choosing to lie to consolidate her position. Sure, a little deception could be a great way to fool people for a while, but it wasn't a long-term solution, and it was a way to further cloud her own vision.
Next, Tom watched Professor Trelawney's performance coldly. He saw her greeting Neville's grandmother and giving a warning to Parvati Patil to be wary of the redhead. The former was poor information, and the latter seemed to Tom like another trick to exploit Ron's traits.
Amidst the intermittent prophecies, or what Tom preferred to call nonsense, Professor Trelawney went over her teaching schedule for the academic year. In the first term, they would learn to read tea leaves, in the second to read palms, and in the summer term, if the young wizards had finished learning fire omens, they would delve into crystal ball divination.
Tom was pleased. While divination was all about participation for others, for him, it was a practical skill.
Professor Trelawney asked the students to pair up and begin learning to read tea leaves.
Tom picked up a plain white teacup from the shelf that seemed suitable and approached Professor Trelawney to pour his tea. He moved closer to her, but instead of serving Tom his tea first, she stared at him for a moment.
"Let me see your palm." She didn't wait for Tom's permission before grabbing his right hand with her claw-like hand and examining it closely.
After studying it for a while, she clicked her tongue. "Miserable, very miserable. It's the worst palm I've ever seen. Let me see your left hand..."
Also, there is a difference in the hand used for palm reading, with the right hand being more influential and the left hand less influential according to the diviner's opinion. That's why, when reading the palm, the right hand is looked at first, and then the left hand is used to add or subtract points of good or bad fortune.
But as soon as Professor Trelawney saw Tom's left hand, her expression became uncontrollable.
Professor Trelawney: (O_O)?
"That left hand is a complete contradiction to the right!" She was very surprised.
The other young wizards in the class were drawn to the commotion and whispered to each other.
"What's wrong with Yodel?"
"It's like a palm reading, and it's very bad."
"It's the opposite, one hand is bad, the other is good..."
The comments from the other students didn't matter to Professor Trelawney. She muttered in confusion, "It's so strange, the mount of Venus on your right hand (note) looks so bad that you probably won't live to adulthood, but the lifeline on your left hand is extremely strong, it's immortal. According to the mount of the Sun on your right hand, you'll probably be a vagabond in your life, but you have a strong fate line on your left hand, and a marriage line, which is also very different."
Professor Trelawney stopped to think and murmured, "It's rare, it can't be that one person is embodied in another."
Tom: ...
Seeing that the other young wizards had taken their own teacups and lined up behind Tom, the fire of gossip burned in every eye. He hastily took the teapot and quickly filled each wizard's cup with tea. He also said that Tom's situation was very complicated and very bad.
Tom: scratching his head.jpg
Professor Trelawney coughed twice, gesturing for the students to sit down and drink the tea down to the dregs.
"Stir the tea leaves in your cup three times with your left hand, then place the cup upside down on the saucer, and once the last drop of tea has come out, you can have your partner interpret your tea." She paused and slid a blue teacup into Neville's hand, who had just accidentally broken his own. "The contents of pages five and six of 'Unraveling the Mists of the Future' will help you decipher the shapes of the tea leaves. And, of course, I will go around among you, offering the help and guidance you need..."
Tom sat at the table, blew on the tea in his hand, and took a small sip. Hermione sat opposite him, with a mocking look. "What do you think of your own destiny, Mr. Yodel? Are you about to have a bad day?"
He glanced at Professor Trelawney, who moved among the students like a giant, shiny insect, and rolled his eyes. "In one thing, she's right. She can't teach us anything."
In Hermione's eyes, Professor Trelawney had just spouted nonsense, but to her surprise, this time Tom wasn't on her side. He actually seemed to agree with the old woman!
"Tom, you're not taking her seriously, are you?" Hermione kicked Tom under the table.
"No, she's full of nonsense five or six out of ten times," Tom shook his head and drained the last of his tea. "It tastes good, come on, we have a study session later."
"I don't think a word of truth comes out of her mouth."
Hermione's initial impressions of Professor Trelawney were very contradictory, but she wasn't the type of student to stop studying just because she didn't like her teacher. She grabbed her own teacup. The first sip burned Hermione.
She frowned and stuck out her little tongue. "This tea tastes like washing water!"