Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 289 Seeing Through the Phenomenon to the Essence, Clearing Away the Fog to See the Future

To Harry, the Divination classroom in front of him didn't seem like a classroom at all; it was more like a mix of an attic and an old-fashioned teahouse.

Instead of desks and benches, there were more than twenty small round tables crammed together, with printed fabric armchairs and jade cushions placed around them.

The curtains in the entire room were drawn tightly, and almost all the lights were covered with large, dark red scarves, which made the whole room bathed in a hazy red light.

Although the weather has cooled down, this classroom is unbearably hot.

A row of shelves along the circular wall was filled with candle stubs, playing cards, crystal balls, and a pile of teacups.

The copper teapot on the mantel emitted a strong aroma.

It smells nice, but it makes me feel very uncomfortable.

"Leaving aside the teaching level, they are quite good at creating an atmosphere."

At this moment, Sherlock also arrived in the classroom, glanced around, and gave his evaluation.

"I think so too."

Hermione practically followed Sherlock to the classroom, and immediately echoed his words after hearing them.

As all the young wizards from the platform arrived at the classroom, everyone couldn't help but gather around Sherlock and Harry and whisper among themselves.

Clearly, they all found everything before them somewhat novel.

"So, where exactly is this professor?"

Ron frowned and looked around.

Sherlock did not answer, but his gaze was fixed on a shadowy spot in the corner of the classroom.

The students who were familiar with Sherlock immediately realized what was happening and all looked in the direction he was looking.

Perhaps sensing that she could no longer hide it, a soft, indistinct voice rang out:

"It's so good to finally see you all in the material world—welcome, my dear classmates."

With the sound, the divination teacher, Sybil Trelawney, finally appeared slowly in everyone's sight.

Harry felt he hadn't been very polite.

But to be honest, his first impression of Professor Trelawney was that he was like a huge, shiny insect.

Because the female professor was very thin, yet she wore a pair of huge glasses.

As a result, her eyes appear to be several times their normal size.

Not only that, she was also wearing a thin, transparent shawl adorned with many shimmering metallic sequins.

She wore many beaded chains around her slender neck, and numerous bracelets and rings on her arms and hands.

All these decorations made her look like an enlarged insect in the firelight.

Harry reaffirmed his first impression and silently apologized to the female professor in his heart.

Sybil Trelawney's entrance naturally drew everyone's attention.

In addition, the unique nature of the divination course made everyone who saw her feel somewhat uneasy.

Of course, this does not include Sherlock.

Based on his observations of the classroom and Professor Trelawney's analysis, Sherlock, after three seconds of deep thought, had seen through the surface to the essence of the matter.

"Sit down, my children, sit down quickly."

Professor Trelawney spoke as he sat in an armchair in front of the fireplace.

The people looked at each other and then sat down one after another.

As soon as Sherlock sat down, Harry and Hermione immediately sat on either side of him.

Ron shrugged and sat down as well, and the four of them ended up sitting around the same table.

After everyone was seated, Professor Trelawney began to speak:
"Welcome to my divination class. I am Sybil Trelawney, and I think you probably haven't seen me before."

That's because I've found that when I'm immersed in the chaos and noise of campus life, my vision becomes blurred.

"Hermione, what is the Heavenly Eye?"

Upon hearing this, Harry couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"Inner Eye" is a term in divination that refers to the mind of a prophet.

Those who possess the 'third eye' can see the future; this is an extremely rare talent, and only a very small number of people have this ability.

Hermione recited the standard answer as if it were a familiar treasure.

However, after explaining, she looked at Professor Trelawney with a somewhat suspicious gaze.

I have a feeling this professor is a bit eccentric. Can someone like him really have a third eye?
"I am very pleased that you have come to the divination class. It is undoubtedly a wise choice—because it is the most profound of all magical arts."

"Professor McGonagall said the same thing about transmutation in the first class."

Ron couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "I really want to see those two argue and see who's telling the truth."

"but!"

Professor Trelawney's sudden words startled Ron, who was lost in his daydreams.

"There are some things I need to say upfront, and if you lack the insight to understand them, there's nothing I can do about it."

Because in this field, even books can only teach you so much!

After she finished speaking, at least half of the students in the class looked at Hermione with smiles on their faces.

Hermione looked surprised.

Aside from flight lessons, this was the first time she'd heard that books weren't very helpful for a subject. Even in flight lessons, after a deeper conversation with Sherlock, she discovered that books were still useful.

It's just that I can't understand the content in the book until I've mastered certain skills.

"Many wizards may be very talented in other areas, but they cannot see through the mystery of the future."

As Professor Trelawney spoke, he picked up the book on Neville's desk, Cassandra Wabras's "Unveiling the Future," which was also the textbook for this semester's Divination class.

"Only a very few people possess such talent, so... child, how is your grandmother?"

As she spoke, she put down her textbook and suddenly looked at Neville with her big, bell-like eyes.

Neville was so startled that he almost fell off his prayer mat when the teacher started by directly insulting his family.

His grandmother was originally in good health, but after hearing what the other person said, he suddenly felt that he was not so sure anymore.

"I think... it should be alright."

Seeing Neville's trembling appearance, Professor Trelawney shook his head. "If I were you, I wouldn't be so sure, my dear."

Navei gasped in shock.

He was frightened.

Professor Trelawney seemed to nod in satisfaction upon seeing this, then turned to the group again and said:

"This year I will teach you the basics of divination. The first semester will be about interpreting tea leaves, and the second semester will be about palmistry... By the way."

As she spoke, she suddenly looked at Padma Petit and Parvati Petit, the two most beautiful twin sisters in the entire grade—although they were in different colleges, they had chosen the same courses.

“Darling, be wary of red-haired men.”

Upon hearing this, the Petit twins immediately looked around in alarm.

Then they discovered that Ron was not far from their location.

Without saying a word, the two sisters immediately moved their chairs a little further away from him.

Because of the classroom layout, this move actually brought the two sisters and Sherlock closer together.

_

Their action caused both Ron and Hermione to frown.

Ron, in particular, who was disliked, felt that he had been greatly hurt.

Professor Trelawney seemed oblivious to this, and continued in a leisurely tone:

"In the final summer semester, we will begin to learn about the crystal ball—if we have finished learning about the signs of fire."

Unfortunately, schools will be closed in February due to a severe flu outbreak, and I will lose my voice because of that.

Around Easter, one of us will leave us forever.

After he finished speaking, the entire classroom fell silent.

Almost everyone was frightened by her.

Only Sherlock raised an eyebrow.

How could such a prediction be made?

Interesting, so much fun!
Professor Trelawney's prediction clearly frightened the entire class.

So when she looked at Lavender Brown again, he was so frightened that he shrank back into his chair.

Her performance was not much better than Neville's earlier.

The main concern was that Professor Trelawney might say something like, "Your life is like a candle flickering in the wind."

Fortunately, this terrible thing did not happen.

"Darling, could you hand me the largest silver teacup?"

These words immediately relieved Lavender.

Without a word, she stood up and, as Professor Trelawney had asked, took the largest teacup from the shelf and placed it on the table.

"Thank you so much, darling. By the way, the thing you fear most will happen on Friday, October 16th."

Lavender: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

Seeing Lavender's deteriorating state, Ron couldn't help but mutter under his breath once again:

"Sherlock, why do I feel like she looks a lot like you? Is divination just deductive reasoning from the magical world?"

“It’s far too different,” Sherlock shook his head. “Deductive reasoning can see through the phenomena to the essence, but it has no way of predicting the flu in February next year or someone’s departure at Easter.”

"Sherlock, you don't actually believe her, do you?"

“Dear Hermione, we will never know if the cat is alive until the box is opened—so we’ll have to wait until then to find out about these two divinations.”

"I think so too, just like you."

While the four were whispering, Professor Trelawney spoke up once again:

"Now, I ask you to split into pairs and each of you take a teacup from the shelf and come to me!"

Divination is not a spell class, so Professor Trelawney would not assign groups like Professor Flitwick did.

So naturally, Hermione ended up in a group with Sherlock.

Harry and Ron formed the Harry-Ron duo.

However, what happened next plunged the entire class into a huge panic.

(End of this chapter)