"Originally, it was three, but now I think I can choose all the courses."
The corners of Sean's mouth lifted.
"Do you think a wizard's energy—"
Snape was about to mock him but stopped inexplicably.
"Arithmancy and Divination—drop them."
He said indisputably.
"Why, Professor?"
Sean asked.
"In the wizarding world, there are some wizards with an innate ability to peer into the future.
They can foresee the future through dreams, the shapes of tea leaves, tarot cards, or crystal balls.
However, true Seers are extremely rare. The only known Seers are Cassandra Trelawney from centuries ago and Grindelwald..."
Snape sneered coldly, the corner of his mouth curling up.
"You mean Divination requires talent?"
Sean speculated.
"No, Divination does not require learning."
Snape scoffed.
Sean fell silent.
Professor Snape might be right.
He had never heard that Gellert Grindelwald had studied Divination, nor that Professor Sybill Trelawney possessed any sound Divination techniques.
In other words, talented wizards could make prophecies without learning, while untalented wizards would find learning useless.
"Seers. Of course, heh...
They can indeed make prophecies, but predicting the future is extremely difficult because the causal relationships of wizarding actions are always complex and changeable.
If you encounter a prophecy, get as far away from it as possible...
Remember, Green, if you loathe the result of a prophecy, forget it.
Fate is just a foolish thing."
Snape said gloomily.
"I understand, Professor."
Sean nodded.
Prophecy, in this wizarding world, was a rare and profound power.
The most prominent prophecy here was the one made by the Hogwarts Divination professor:
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...
"You had best be so..."
Professor Snape was silent for a while.
He seemed to be thinking of something else, other possibilities.
"That is wizarding prophecy. Apart from that, centaurs are also Seers. They have their own system of divination, completely distinct from wizards.
Unless you have a centaur teacher who has been permitted by the entire centaur herd to teach you their never-shared divination, drop it."
Snape didn't sneer; he was merely stating a fact.
Even though the winter snow was beginning to melt, the dungeon was unusually cold and damp. Located beneath Hogwarts, it always had a chilly climate distinct from the castle above.
Hearing this, Sean's eyes lit up.
Snape's vision promptly went black.
"You've been to the centaur herd?!"
Snape was both shocked and furious.
Those were centaurs! Their reasons for killing wizards were laughably simple—they didn't abide by wizarding laws.
"Firenze, a centaur, agreed to be my Divination teacher."
Sean felt that if he stayed in the dungeon a little longer, the unusually behaving Professor Snape might even reveal that Headmaster Dumbledore liked woolen socks.
"Sean Green!"
Snape roared in fury.
...
When Sean walked out of the dungeon, he hadn't yet realized that he had survived another storm.
Professor Snape was acting increasingly uncharacteristic, which puzzled him greatly.
But the good news was that he had a Time-Turner, and one that Professor Snape had "retrieved" from the Ministry of Magic, no less.
Without the strict regulations of a standard Time-Turner, Sean only needed to return it before graduation.
Standard Time-Turners required annual inspections by Ministry officials and had to be returned within two years.
The corridor was still bitingly cold with the draft, and the glass of the classroom windows rattled in the fierce wind.
Sean found Hermione and Justin behind a suit of armor.
They looked dejected upon seeing Sean.
"Did you finish your detention, Sean?"
Justin felt his mood improve slightly and asked with a forced smile.
Sean nodded.
"But our detention has begun—luckily Professor Snape didn't dock points from our Houses."
Hermione was unhappy.
So Sean quickly realized that their theft of potion ingredients had been discovered.
Or rather, Professor Snape was ready to deal with them.
Originally, Sean thought this was a reasonable punishment, but thinking of Professor Snape's lingering anger, he opened his mouth but didn't know what to say in the end.
"Be careful."
Sean said.
"Don't worry, Sean. Getting Lockhart out of Hogwarts—I think that's exactly what Professor Snape wanted to see... Since Professor Snape didn't deduct points this morning, he shouldn't make things too difficult for us now."
Justin said somewhat optimistically.
Hermione nodded in agreement.
Sean paused.
Finally, he sighed.
...
The next morning, Sean unhappily learned that Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had each lost twenty points.
In the Great Hall, Hermione wished she could burrow into the table, leaving only her mouth exposed to eat.
Justin looked dazed, appearing as if he hadn't recovered yet.
"What's wrong with them?"
Harry poked Ron.
"Heard Snape docked twenty points from them. Of course, that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that their detention was tripled...
And it's detention with Filch, just because they used the wrong hand while brewing potions.
I bet next time Snape will deduct points because they entered the Potions classroom with their left foot instead of their right. What do you think?"
Ron explained with deep sympathy.
"When did they get detention?"
Harry was confused.
"While you were at Quidditch practice this morning. Can you imagine?
They actually dared to steal Snape's potion ingredients. How is that different from touching a dragon's butt?"
Ron marveled.
Harry was deeply impressed. At least he wouldn't dare.
He would rather face Voldemort than Snape.
Beside them, Sean held an hourglass-shaped necklace and sighed slightly.
It seemed being careful was useless.
The young wizards chattered on, but it had nothing to do with Sean. Seeing that Hermione and Justin had recovered somewhat, he left the Great Hall and headed for the Hope Hut.
He prepared to test the efficacy of the Time-Turner and see if Legilimens could be stacked.
Aside from that, he looked at an old schedule. He also needed to find Professor Flitwick to learn the Shield Charm.
As a former Dueling Champion, this move was the Ravenclaw Head of House's specialty.