HP: Magic of the End

"Not bad for two months of continuous grind." Danil muttered, looking at the results of his exams.

Now, Danil had a little problem with passing the exams. Because no one could be sure at what level of knowledge he was exactly, they had to improvise. For each subject he was given a three-meter scroll of parchment with a bunch of questions. There were the most basic questions from the first year to the O.W.L.s level questions.

And now, looking at the results of his exams, it was easy to understand which subject he showed more interest in. 

[Midterm exam results. 

Assessment format:

The name of the subject – level of knowledge – assessment.

Astronomy – second year – E

Charms – fourth year – O

Potions – second year – A

Defense Against the Dark Arts - third year – A

Herbology – second year – A

History of Magic – second year – P

Potions – third year – P

Transfiguration – second year – A

Pass Grades:

Outstanding (O)

Exceeds Expectations (E)

Acceptable (A)

Fail Grades:

Poor (P)

Dreadful (D)

Troll (T)

Given your learning progress, you are given permission to continue choosing Electives. Speak to Professor McGonagall about electives you want to study. 

– Head of the House of Ravenclaw, Professor Charms, Filius Flitwick.]

Satisfied with his results, Dan nodded and put the parchment in the inside pocket of his robe. Maybe at first, he protested against buying one, but after he realized the convenience of huge pockets that he could sew onto one robe, his opinion changed dramatically.

His exam results were expected. The fact that he was able to understand as much information as he could in just two months was due to his lack of need to sleep. Also, his previous education helped him a lot too.

Believe it or not, but many things that books on magic taught freshmen were very similar to the shit that Danil was taught by the "brilliant" Russian education system. Especially all the mathematical formulas used in transfiguration. Unfortunately, Dan was very familiar with them.

The conversation with McGonagall was surprisingly short. The woman seemed to expect that he would choose Arithmancy and the Study of Ancient Runes. But when she heard about his desire to try Divination, her lips pursed into a thin line and the woman shook her head in disappointment, but didn't try to change his mind.

So, he went to Professor Trelawney's officers to talk with the woman. During his time at Hogwarts, he became more and more attracted to the discipline of Divination. Something vaguely familiar about this branch of magic drew him like a moth to a flame.

Maybe it was tales about Baba Yaga and her strange magic, stories about the Wise Sorcerers who knew the past, present and future, or just tarologists that were always present in Dan's life made Divination so interesting for him. For a long time, he doubted whether Trelawney would be able to teach him something useful, for the woman's reputation left much to be desired.

From what Dan was able to learn from Minerva and Filius, Trelawney was… a unique individual, to put it mildly.

Both professors had great doubts about the subject she was teaching and the woman herself didn't help clear the reputation of the Divinations. According to the books, not everyone can look to the future, as Trelawney allegedly does.

The very office where Trelawny taught was on the northernmost tower of the Castle, reached by a wooden hatch in the ceiling of the cramped area in front of the office. It was strange to know that a woman almost never leaves her tower, preferring to act like an imprisoned princess.

Danil could not be sure of the professionalism of the woman, but chose not to judge her even before he could meet her. But he strongly hoped that the woman wouldn't turn out to be a fraud, as other professors had hinted at.

Opening the hatch in the ceiling, Dan watched as a silver rope ladder fell in front of him, along which he could climb up.

'Haven't there been at least one handicapped student in the history of Hogwarts?'

Leaving that thought for later, he teleported upstairs and looked around. Trelawney was nowhere to be seen. What he could see, however, didn't fill him with confidence.

The Divination classroom, looked more like a strange mixture of massandra and an old-fashioned tea room instead of a regular classroom. The curtains on the windows were drawn, lowering the room into a mystical darkness, which at least a little, but created an atmosphere of something magical going on.

Small round tables and comfortable-looking chairs stood all over the room, but only on one of the tables was a kettle, from the sock of which steam was moving in a thin stream.

Slowly, the door on the side of the study opened smoothly and Trelawney stepped inside, stumbling over her own feet. The smell of alcohol immediately filled the office, as if there was a moonshine still in her private room.

The woman took a couple of seconds to notice his presence, but as soon as her eyes caught his form, Trelawney immediately straightened up, trying to appear more presentable.

"Ah, young Khromov, I have been waiting for your arrival." She said, nodding to herself. "Yes, the cards foretold your coming."

The Divination Professor swallowed a hiccup, her misty eyes watering behind a thick pair of glasses. The woman herself smelled of alcohol.

"You came here hoping to learn the secrets of Divinations, to get a glimpse into the changing future. But do you have the will to look into the timestream?"

Danil just continued to look at the woman with an uncertain look. Something seemed wrong to him. Everything she said was just the information McGonagall had given her, but something kept him alert.

"... I thought Divinations would be more focused on seeing the present rather than the future? Seeing the future takes a special talent, doesn't it?"

Trelawney blinked a couple of times, digesting his words, but finally nodded. "That's true, but so far we haven't seen the depth of your talent, which is what brought us here." She said, pointing to Danil to sit on a chair.

The woman sat down across from him, making herself comfortable. "Give me your hand, boy." She said, swaying in place.

Dan extended his hand to her, palm up, letting the woman look at his lines. Trelawney hmmed and hummed, examining every crease in his skin. The woman seemed to be lost in her own world for a couple of minutes.

"I see…" She finally muttered. "So, what can you tell us about yourself?" Trelawney suddenly asked.

Frowning, Danil took his hand back and leaned across the table, dropping face to face with the Professor, causing her to squeal in fear and jump back in her chair.

"I've been drunk many times before. I know exactly what drunk people look like. How they talk, how they move, and even how they smell. I can tell you that much."

"What are you implying?! O-Of course I didn't drink! It wouldn't be professional!" She protested, shaking her head from side to side.

"Yes, I agree." He said, shocking her. "You, Professor Trelawney, have not drunk a drop of alcohol today. So why pretend?"

Nothing in the cabinet dared to move. Even the dust in the air seemed to stop moving, but the tension was broken with the whistle of the kettle. Dan reached out and, without even looking, removed the kettle from the heat.

The frightened look on Trelawney's face slowly melted into a smug smile as the woman removed her glasses from her face. Her brown curly hair fell far past her shoulders, neatly framing her face. Without her glasses and her alcoholic bravado, the woman didn't look as deranged as rumors had described her.

"Maybe all is not lost for you, boy! In Divination, being observant is important. In this castle, you are the sixth person who could see through the veil of deceit, although I confess it was not my best game in recent times."

Trelawney pursed her lips in displeasure, but shook her head. "I would congratulate you, but this is not the last test you'll have to take before I accept you as a student."

Sitting back in his chair, Dan finally stopped frowning, but didn't relax. "You still haven't answered my question, Professor Trelawney." He reminded.

The woman raised an eyebrow with extraordinary elegance and took a deck of cards out of her sleeve, immediately placing them on the table.

"And why would I do that?" She asked back as she started shuffling the cards with skillful fingers.

Dan watched as she twirled the cards in her hands, shuffling them together, letting them slide into each other's smallest openings. Her question was double-edged.

"Same reason I use invisibility inside the castle." Trelawny handed him the deck and he moved it in the half point, he was intimately familiar with card readings, he even did card readings when his hands were still human, purely out of curiosity. "If alcoholism and incompetence is a lie to seem like a fraud, it means that you have enough skills that a lot of people in the world would want to get them. To get you."

Trelawney's smile widened and the woman laid out seven cards in a circle. It was impressive how she was able to do it with just one move.

"You hide away your talent to protect yourself from dark wizards." Daniel concluded. It was the simplest and most logical explanation.

But the Professor just chuckled. "Oh, trust me, there are scarier things in this world than dark wizards. Now, pay attention to the cards that have chosen you. They will tell your past, your present and your future as well."

Her slender fingers flipped over the first tarot card, revealing a moving picture of a grim reaper with Roman numerals thirteen on top.

"Death, in an upright position. Means the end of familiar things and the beginning of everything new, but given your circumstances, such an outcome was to be expected. Your old life ended anyway when you learned about the existence of the magical world."

Danil agreed, he was not surprised that Death showed up, especially considering that he died to be reborn in this world.

The second card followed the first and the old man in white robes showed himself. In his hand was a long staff, on which hung a lighted lamp. The Roman nine looked at Danil, mocking him in the face.

"Hermit, upside down. Escape from reality, refusal to live life to the fullest and empty stubbornness." Thoughtfully tapping her fingers on the wooden table, the woman raised an eyebrow at the boy, but the boy just shook his head. How can you live life to the fullest if you look like a creature from Lovecraft's nightmares?

Realizing that the boy was well aware of his problems, the woman only smiled, turning over the last card.

A tall stone tower appeared on the map, lightning flying around the stone structure, destroying everything it touched. It was hard not to understand what kind of card it was.

"Tower, upright. A harbinger of a test where you have the choice to either rise or fall." Trelawney blinked slowly, lifting her gaze to Danil. "Hmm. Have you felt like you're being followed lately?"

Blinking in confusion, Dan nodded. Trelawney leaned back in her chair and just stared up at the ceiling for a couple of minutes. But in the end, the woman just got up and went to the door from which she had left before.

"Wait, what does that even mean?" Danil asked, also getting up and following the woman.

"That I'll teach you, of course. Merlin knows you'll need it."

Together, they entered the office and the door slammed shut behind them. The first lesson has just begun.