[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.We shall start by practicing relaxing the conscious mind andexternal eyes" -- Ron began to snigger uncontrollably and had to stuffhis fist in his mouth to stifle the noise -- "so as to clear the InnerEye and the superconscious.Perhaps, if we are lucky, some of you willsee before the end of the class."And so they began.Harry, at least, felt extremely foolish, staringblankly at the crystal ball, trying to keep his mind empty when thoughtssuch as "this is stupid" kept drifting across it.It didn't help thatRon kept breaking into silent giggles and Hermione kept tutting."Seen anything yet?" Harry asked them after a quarter of an hour's quietcrystal gazing."Yeah, there's a burn on this table," said Ron, pointing."Someone'sspilled their candle.""This is such a waste of time," Hermione hissed."I could be practicingsomething useful.I could be catching up on Cheering Charms --"Professor Trelawney rustled past."Would anyone like me to help them interpret the shadowy portents withintheir Orb?" she murmured over the clinking of her bangles.I don't need help," Ron whispered."It's obvious what this means.There's going to be loads of fog tonight."Both Harry and Hermione burst out laughing."Now, really!" said Professor Trelawney as everyone's heads turned intheir direction.Parvati and Lavender were looking scandalized."You aredisturbing the clairvoyant vibrations!" She approached their table andpeered into their crystal ball.Harry felt his heart sinking.He wassure he knew what was coming --"There is something here!" Professor Trelawney whispered, lowerng herface to the ball, so that it was reflected twice in her huge glasses."Something moving.but what is it?"Harry was prepared to bet everything he owned, Including his Firebolt,that it wasn't good news, whatever it was.And sure enough --"My dear Professor Trelawney breathed, gazing up at Harry."It is here,plainer than ever before.my dear, stalking toward you, growing evercloser.the Gr --""Oh, for goodness' sake!" said Hermione loudly."Not that ridiculousGrim again!"Professor Trelawney raised her enormous eyes to Hermione's face.Parvatiwhispered something to Lavender, and they both glared at Hermione too.Professor Trelawney stood up, surveying Hermione with unmistakableanger."I am sorry to say that from the moment you have arrived in this classmy dear, it has been apparent that you do not have what the noble art ofDivination requires.Indeed, I don't remember ever meeting a studentwhose mind was so hopelessly mundane."There was a moment's silence.Then --"Fine!" said Hermione suddenly, getting up and cramming Unfogging theFuture back into her bag."Fine!" she repeated, swinging the bag overher shoulder and almost knocking Ron off his chair."I give up! I'mleaving!"And to the whole class's amazement, Hermione strode over to thetrapdoor, kicked it open, and climbed down the ladder out of sight.It took a few minutes for the class to settle down again.ProfessorTrelawney seemed to have forgotten all about the Grim.She turnedabruptly from Harry and Ron's table, breathing rather heavily as shetugged her gauzy shawl more closely to her."Ooooo!" said Lavender suddenly, making everyone start."Ooooo,Professor Trelawney, I've just remembered! You saw her leaving, didn'tyou? Didn't you, Professor? 'Around Easter, one of our number will leaveus forever!' You said it ages ago, Professor!"Professor Trelawney gave her a dewy smile."Yes, my dear, I did indeed know that Miss Granger would be leaving us.One hopes, however, that one might have mistaken the Signs.The InnerEye can be a burden, you know."Lavender and Parvati looked deeply impressed, and moved over so thatProfessor Trelawney could join their table instead."Some day Hermione's having, eh?" Ron muttered to Harry, looking awed."Yeah."Harry glanced into the crystal ball but saw nothing but swirling whitemist.Had Professor Trelawney really seen the Grim again? Would he? Thelast thing he needed was another near-fatal accident, with the Quidditchfinal drawing ever nearer.The Easter holidays were not exactly relaxing.The third years had neverhad so much homework.Neville Longbottom seemed close to a nervouscollapse, and he wasn't the only one."Call this a holiday!" Seamus Finnigan roared at the common room oneafternoon."The exams are ages away, what're they playing at?"But nobody had as much to do as Hermione.Even without Divination, shewas taking more subjects than anybody else.She was usually last toleave the common room at night, first to arrive at the library the nextmorning; she had shadows like Lupin's under her eyes, and seemedconstantly close to tears.Ron had taken over responsibility for Buckbeak's appeal.When he wasn'tdoing his own work, he was poring over enormously thick volumes withnames like The Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology and Fowl or Foul? AStudy of Hippogriff Brutality.He was so absorbed, he even forgot to behorrible to Crookshanks.Harry, meanwhile, had to fit in his homework around Quidditch practiceevery day, not to mention endless discussions of tactics with Wood.TheGryffindor-Slytherin match would take place on the first Saturday afterthe Easter holidays.Slytherin was leading the tournament by exactly twohundred points.This meant (as Wood constantly reminded his team) thatthey needed to win the match by more than that amount to win the Cup.Italso meant that the burden of winning fell largely on Harry, becausecapturing the Snitch was worth one hundred and fifty points."So you must catch it only if we're more than fifty points up," Woodtold Harry constantly."Only if we're more than fifty points up, Harry,or we win the match but lose the Cup.You've got that, Haven't you? Youmust catch the Snitch only if we're --""I KNOW, OLIVER!" Harry yelled.The whole of Gryffindor House was obsessed with the coming match.Gryffindor hadn't won the Quidditch Cup since the legendary CharlieWeasley (Ron's second oldest brother) had been seeker.But Harry doubtedwhether any of them, even Wood, wanted to win as much as he did.Theenmity between Harry and Malfoy was at its highest point ever.Malfoywas still smarting ,bout the mud-throwing incident in Hogsmeade and waseven more furious that Harry had somehow wormed his way out ofpunishment.Harry hadn't forgotten Malfoy's attempt to sabotage him inthe match against Ravenclaw, but it was the matter of Buckbeak that madehim most determined to beat Malfoy in front of the entire school.Never, in anyone's memory, had a match approached in such a highlycharged atmosphere.By the time the holidays were over, tension betweenthe two teams and their Houses was at the breaking point.A number ofsmall scuffles broke out in the corridors, culminating in a nastyincident in which a Gryffindor fourth year and a Slytherin sixth yearended up in the hospital wing with leeks sprouting out of their ears.Harry was having a particularly bad time of it
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]