The tea leaf reading requirements were quite complex.
Professor Trelawney had each student take their teacup to her to be filled with tea, then return to their seats to drink it.
After drinking until only the tea leaves remained, they performed a series of complex preliminary operations before passing the remaining leaves to their partner.
The final step was to interpret the tea leaves according to the designated chapter in Unfogging the Future.
Professor Trelawney herself would patrol and guide them during this process.
Of course, if anyone encountered difficulties, they could ask for her help at any time.
Next, everyone lined up to have their tea poured as instructed.
An interesting incident occurred during this process.
When Neville went to have his tea poured, Professor Trelawney made another prediction, saying Neville would break a teacup.
Sure enough, not long after she said this, Neville actually broke a teacup.
This time, all the students began to take this seemingly eccentric professor seriously.
This was real! This wasn't a dream!
She really could prophesy!
Professor Trelawney smiled with satisfaction at this scene.
Student Sherlock also smiled with satisfaction at this scene.
However, for Harry, the situation was about to become rather unpleasant.
He and Ron filled their teacups, quickly drank the scalding tea, then followed Professor Trelawney's instructions to swirl the dregs three times with their left hands before turning the cups upside down on the saucers.
After the last drops of tea had seeped out, they exchanged cups and began earnestly interpreting each other's tea leaves according to Unfogging the Future.
Harry strongly suspected Professor Trelawney's tea contained some hypnotic ingredient, because as the tea's aroma spread, he felt his mind growing dull and drowsy.
The others weren't much better off—most students' eyes had become glazed.
"Broaden your minds! Look beyond the mundane! Stretch your eyes and unlock your potential!" Professor Trelawney encouraged loudly.
Harry forced himself to focus on Ron's cup. "Your cup has a crooked cross—"
Harry swore by Merlin's beard that he had very seriously compared the contents of Unfogging the Future to interpret the tea leaves.
Unfortunately, the book's contents were rather bizarre.
His reading for Ron was that Ron would face trials and suffering but would feel great joy.
"So, you're going to suffer but be very happy about it?"
"I'm not a masochist! Only masochists would feel happy while suffering!" Ron said somewhat helplessly. "I think you should really test whether you have the Inner Eye, mate."
Harry found it equally baffling. He shook his head and passed over his cup. "Your turn."
Ron was even more serious than Harry in his interpretation, but his conclusion wasn't much better.
Harry would receive an unexpected windfall—literally, unexpected fortune.
Harry nearly laughed out loud but managed to restrain himself.
However, seeing Ron's extremely serious expression, he couldn't hold back and did laugh.
This immediately drew Professor Trelawney's displeasure.
She strode quickly to Harry and Ron's table and snatched Harry's teacup from Ron's hands.
"Let me see!"
Being too focused, Ron didn't dodge in time and had the teacup taken by Professor Trelawney.
Ron thought. 'What happened to fair play, Professor?'
Professor Trelawney's action made Hermione, who had been examining Sherlock's tea leaves, stop what she was doing.
Not just her—the entire class fell quiet and watched this scene.
Professor Trelawney rotated the teacup counterclockwise in the proper manner, then spoke.
"The falcon—dear, you have a deadly enemy."
"Obviously."
The whole class looked in surprise toward the speaker.
They thought it would be Sherlock, but it wasn't.
Hermione deliberately raised her voice so everyone could hear her.
"Isn't it? Everyone in this world knows about Harry and You-Know-Who."
Considering the impact, Hermione ultimately didn't say Voldemort's name.
But this was enough—the entire class looked at Hermione in surprise, especially Harry and Ron.
It was one thing for Hermione to speak in the same tone as Sherlock that wasn't the first or second time but this attitude was key.
She had never spoken to a professor this way before.
Professor Trelawney's eyes widened like copper bells. She glared at Hermione disapprovingly and continued interpreting the tea leaves.
"The club—an attack. This is not a pleasant cup. The skull—danger in your path, my dear child. Oh, no—"
As Professor Trelawney gave the cup a final turn, she suddenly let out a high-pitched scream, then slumped into an empty armchair, covering her chest with one glittering hand and closing her eyes.
"My dear child—my poor, dear child—no—it is kinder not to say—don't ask me—"
The entire class was stunned. They stared at Professor Trelawney, not understanding why she was so distressed.
Everyone stood up and crowded around Harry and Ron's table, peering intently into Harry's teacup.
Of course, they could see nothing.
Sherlock and Hermione exchanged glances, both somewhat displeased with Professor Trelawney's dramatics.
"Professor, what is it?"
"Yes, yes, Professor, what did you see?"
"Tell us quickly!"
Lavender Brown and the Patil twins, apparently won over by Professor Trelawney, asked urgently.
"The Grim, my dear, you have the Grim!"
Seeing that Harry didn't seem to understand, she explained. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen—the worst omen—of death!"
Harry's heart immediately sank.
At that moment, he suddenly remembered the cover of that book in Flourish and Blotts.
The night before school started, he had mentioned this to Sherlock.
Besides that, he had seen a large black dog somewhere else.
But he couldn't remember exactly where.
At this moment, everyone in the class stared at Harry in horror, many girls covering their mouths with their hands.
There was a crisp sound as Neville broke his second cup.
Even Ron, standing beside Harry, became agitated.
Only Sherlock and Hermione remained calm.
Hermione was furious. But just as she was about to stand up, she felt a weight on her shoulder.
Sherlock's hand rested on her left shoulder.
Hermione looked at Sherlock in surprise, and seeing the expression in his gray eyes, immediately calmed down and abandoned her plan to confront the teacher directly.
Sherlock slowly stood up and looked toward Harry and Ron's table.
"Professor, I disagree with your assessment."
Hearing Sherlock's words, the entire class immediately turned their attention to him.
Truly worthy of being the Lion King—once he made a move, it was extraordinary.
Professor Trelawney stared at Sherlock for a long moment before slowly speaking.
"Forgive me for saying so, dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."
Hearing Professor Trelawney's assessment of him, Sherlock couldn't help but chuckle softly.
"With all due respect, Professor, my view of the future differs from yours."
"What view?"
"Time will answer all your questions."
"You do not understand the future."
"Perhaps you're right, but regarding the past, my observational abilities are far stronger than you might imagine. If you claim you can predict the future, then I can deduce the past."
Professor Trelawney examined Sherlock repeatedly. Seeing him standing before her, maintaining that calm and composed demeanor while arguing with her, her dislike for this defiant student gradually increased.
However, seeing that all the students' attention was focused on her and Sherlock, she hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Dear, so what exactly are you trying to tell me?"
"Professor, you may not believe this, but I can indeed know many things through observation right now. For example—"
Hearing Sherlock say this, the entire class's eyes immediately lit up.
Those familiar with Sherlock knew very well that once he used this opening, it meant one thing:
Back off, He's about to show off!
Sure enough, Sherlock began his rapid-fire analysis.
"You once had a marriage in the past, but unfortunately, even when it ended, you still had no children.
You always prefer to stay alone in your stuffy, cramped tower office and rarely come down to dine with everyone in the Great Hall.
Your observational skills are strong, but in recent years you've become overly dependent on alcohol."
"Enough!" Professor Trelawney suddenly began trembling violently. She interrupted Sherlock, looking at him in terror. "What are you babbling about?"
"Not babbling, Professor—everything I just said was deduced from your behavior."
Sherlock fixed his gaze on Professor Trelawney, speaking calmly as he switched to double-speed for another lengthy exposition.
"There's a ring of lighter-colored skin on your right ring finger—the mark of long-term ring wearing.
There are twenty-three tables here, but not one is spaced according to proper social distancing.
The enclosed environment shuts out the outside world, the classroom's arrangement is highly personal, the unique style emphasizes individuality.
The light-blocking fabric imprisons lighting. When creating this theatrical dimness, you're not avoiding natural light—you're avoiding the reflection that should show two people in the mirror.
The high temperature has soaked your wool shawl with sweat, yet you stubbornly maintain this steaming classroom, which proves your usual living environment.
The three dusty forks on the shelf still have pumpkin pie residue stuck in their tines. We've been at school for three years, yet we've never seen you eat in the Great Hall, further proving you rely only on house-elf meal delivery.
When you bent down to get the teacup, your shawl slipped, revealing marks on your collarbone that match perfectly with the empty bottle bottoms hidden behind the card spreads on the shelf's third level, indicating recent self-medication with alcohol that resulted in injury from a dropped bottle.
Those candles are discarded when they burn down to just two inches because you can't precisely control the wick-trimming force when intoxicated.
And furthermore—"
"SILENCE!"
When Sherlock reached this point, Professor Trelawney could bear no more and interrupted him without regard for dignity.
As a seer who possessed the Inner Eye, Professor Trelawney had lost her composure.
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