It was Monday, and Liam was stuck suffering through another Divination class, wondering why Eleanor had pressured him into taking the class with her. It sounded interesting at first and quite easy, but even though he only had eight more weeks until summer break, Liam couldn't wait to end this year just because of Divination. He couldn't believe he'd have to endure another two years of this torture.

Even Eleanor wasn't paying attention as Professor Olim rambled on about the stars. Instead, she was staring outside the window, tapping her fingers against the textbook she hardly used. There was no point in opening the textbook if you couldn't find the answers inside.

There was a crystal ball in front of them and Liam stared blankly into it, watching the swirling mist. At first, he had been excited about the crystal balls, since it was one of those things kids dreamed about – telling fortunes and seeing things about the future. But he couldn't see a use for the prop, just annoying white mist.

“Search inside the crystal ball, see your future...” Liam could hear the Professor exclaiming over the chatter in the room. As much as he disliked the class, this activity was still his favorite.

Eleanor opened her textbook and scanned through the text with a complete lack of interest. “What do you see?” she deadpanned, gesturing over to Liam.

It was always like this: they would do the work, write down the correct answers (even if that wasn't what they experienced) and then wait for everyone else to finish as they talked about how there was no logic behind this class. Neither of them could understand a class where there was no substance.

Leaning forward, he intently stared into the crystal ball with a sigh. “Fog.” Peering over at Eleanor, he then grinned and proclaimed, “I guess that means I'll be battling some deadly fog tonight to save my life from mortal peril.”

Eleanor rolled her eyes at him, but there was a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “That's not something to joke about.”

“Here, I'll show you.” Pulling her textbook over to his side of the table, he found the section about foreseeing the future. “To dream that you are going through a thick fog, symbolizes confusion, troubles, scandal, uncertainty and worries. You may not be seeing clearly; mortal peril is on its way.”

Eleanor grabbed the book, skimming the page quickly. “I can't believe-” she trailed off, her eyes wide. “The whole crystal ball is full of fog...”

Liam took in Eleanor's surprised expression and couldn't help but laugh. “Oh, come on, it's not serious. Look, the crystal ball is white and there's probably something in there about how white means there's a void or something and I'm going to die.”

Eleanor looked at him and then quickly started flipping through the pages. “The color white means there's a void and you're most likely to die.”

He blinked at her. “No way.” Even though she was trying to hide her face behind the textbook, he could still see her smile. “You're lying!” And then she leaned back, taking the book with her to cover her face to stifle her laughter.

A grin broke out on Liam's face once he realized she was joking. It was rare for her, but after being stuck in this room for an hour, Liam wondered why they didn't break sooner. He just couldn't take a class like this seriously.

Through her laughter, Eleanor managed to add, “The round shape of the crystal ball symbolizes a future planet, pulled in by the Earth's gravitational pull and causing your ultimately death...”

Soon, they were both laughing, staring into the swirling mist of their crystal balls, going through the book and adding ridiculous predictions to their fortunes. Liam quickly adopted a deep, monotone voice to sound like Professor Olim, and they couldn't control their laughter.

“This speck of dust is your untimely death,” Liam exclaimed in a hushed, excited voice. Eleanor watched him with a smile, a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing. Widening his eyes, Liam leaned forward dramatically and whispered, “It will attack your allergies one night-”

“What do you see here? ”

Liam jumped when Professor Olim's voice came from beside him, and turned with a hesitant smile. “Oh, um...” He stole a glance at Eleanor, who was looking at him with wide eyes, most likely afraid at getting caught not doing their work correctly. “I was just...there's something that looks like, the...Earth, and I think it means that...in the future, Eleanor will have a transcultural career.”

 Suddenly, the Professor was kneeling, face to face with the crystal face on the table. Liam awkwardly moved to the side, watching him nervously for an reaction.

“No, no, no.” He slowly began shaking his head. “You have missed the vision of the lady in black. Great suffering is to come.” He turned to look at Liam and Liam blinked at the sight of his face so close. “You have a strong aura; a different partner will surely benefit you since Miss Bennett seems to be withholding your potential.”

Liam quickly shook his head, too afraid to even glance at Eleanor and see her reaction. “No, it's great working with her-”

But Professor Olim was already ushering him over to the table in the other corner. “Yes, a talented partner will be much better for your gift.” Liam took a glance behind him at Eleanor who was still watching the whole display with wide eyes. He knew what she was thinking: how could she let this happen?

Suzanne, who was sitting with a Hufflepuff boy, was quickly moved out of her chair by the eager Professor. At least Eleanor would have a partner she knew, but Liam couldn't get rid of the sinking feeling in his chest. It was his fault, really. He shouldn't have made the joking comments in the first place.

With a slow sigh, Liam took Suzanne's previous seat and tried to smile at the boy across from him. The boy was short with curly, dark brown hair and glasses and Liam was sure he had never seen him before.

“Hi, I'm Liam Pritchard,” he introduced himself. From this angle, he only had a slightly obstructed view of Eleanor and could see that she didn't look that mad or depressed at the change of partners.

“Jared Miller.” The Hufflepuff held out his hand to shake. “Probably the most common name here at Hogwarts.”

Liam shrugged halfheartedly. “There's always John White.”

An awkward silence fell on the pair, and Liam opened his textbook for something to do. He wished he had something to say, but it was Divination and he was already counting down the minutes until he could leave and talk to Eleanor again.

“I'm sorry I split you up from Eleanor,” Jared suddenly exclaimed, causing Liam's attention to turn back to him.

“Oh, that's fine.” But it wasn't.

“Is it strange not working with her?”

Liam barely heard Jared's question. He was trying to pay attention to Eleanor and Suzanne and find out what Eleanor was talking about. “No, it's okay.”

“I mean, you're always together and all.” Nodding slightly, Liam never took his eyes off of the far table. “She's your girlfriend, right?”

Liam quickly turned in his chair, catching Jared's curious gaze. “Wait – what?” Surely, he had heard wrong – girlfriend?

Jared's eyebrows rose at Liam's immediate reaction. “I'm sorry if I'm prying into-”

“We're friends,” Liam interrupted hastily, forgetting all about watching Eleanor. “We're not anything more.”

“Oh.” Jared looked almost ashamed, and Liam felt a rush of guilt for him. “I just thought – you're always together and it looks like it and you two are so close-”

Liam slowly shook his head. “Just friends.”

“Oh...” Jared repeated slowly and then immediately looked away, probably trying to hide his embarrassment.

“It's okay,” Liam fumbled over his words, hoping that he would say something to relieve the awkward situation. “I'm not offended or anything. Just a misunderstanding.”

He never knew what to say to other people; he had gotten used to talking to Eleanor and recently, Suzanne. In primary school before Hogwarts, he had always strayed away from people since he was labeled as strange. It wasn't his fault he was magical; he had no clue about it then.

Jared was quietly staring into the crystal ball, avoiding Liam's gaze. Liam sighed, leaning forward to also stare into the pointless object.

“What do you see?” Jared muttered after an awkward pause.

Liam blinked a couple times, trying to see an object in the crystal ball. “Um...something kind of looks like...the goal posts in Quidditch.”

He heard a loud shuffle and looked up to see Jared moving his chair to Liam's side excitedly. “Really? Where?”

“Uh...” Liam pointed to a spot in the middle of the swirling mist. “It sort of looks like three hoops...”

Jared nodded frantically, making Liam worry for his sanity. “I see it! That's so awesome.”

“You...like Quidditch?” Liam asked, although he knew the answer.

The Hufflepuff was grinning widely. “Like it? I love it! I find it so exciting! I tried out last year for the Hufflepuff team, but I'm not good at actually playing. I love the sport though. My dad was on the Hufflepuff team too when he was here and my whole family is really into it!”

“I love watching too,” Liam exclaimed, leaning forward excitedly. “I'm muggle-born, so my family doesn't even believe it exists and I always try to explain it to them and no one gets it.”

After the long, awkward silence, the two boys couldn't help but get excited about having something to talk about. Besides, Liam never got to talk about Quidditch with Eleanor; she didn't enjoy it as much as he did. Jared shared his enthusiasm for the subject and they continued to talk about the sport all through the lesson, forgetting about the crystal ball in front of them.

“And the next game isn't until May!”
 Liam nodded. “It seems like it's been forever. The last game was-”

“We will continue to broaden our minds!” Professor Olim suddenly interrupted them. Startled, Liam closed his mouth and quickly glanced up to see the professor waving his arms around. “Continue interpreting your dreams!”

Liam stood up, grabbing his bag and looked around to see Eleanor standing by the doorframe, staring over in his direction. He knew she was waiting for him.

Jared stopped beside him and suddenly exclaimed, “So, I guess I'll see you next class?”

“Yeah,” Liam answered with a grin before walking over to Eleanor.

She quickly turned and Liam followed her down the stairs, feeling quite guilty. He wasn't sure why, but it was best to agree with her and not even try to argue. “You should feel horrible about what the professor said to me.”

He nodded slowly. “I know, I know.”



“I was working very hard in that class.”

“Sorry.”

“And I think you should keep your new partner.”

He stopped in his tracks. “What?” Was she that upset with him? It was a stupid mistake; now, she didn't even want to work with him anymore?

Eleanor shrugged, turning to face him. “You need to find friends of your own gender, Liam. You're becoming way too feminine-”

He gaped at her. “But – I have two brothers and I'm not feminine-”

“Trust me,” Eleanor proclaimed. “It's for the best. You need a best mate anyways, and since I'm obviously not a male and don't share some your interests, I think it would be best for you to befriend that Hufflepuff.”

“Are you serious?” She couldn't be – and he definitely wasn't feminine.

Eleanor nodded, taking a few steps down the corridor. “It would certainly be beneficial.”

Shaking his head, Liam followed her. “Seriously?”

She only tilted her head slightly toward him and kept her gaze straight forward. “Why would I joke about this?”

“You called me feminine!”

She shrugged again and said, “Then we'd better make sure it doesn't get worse.”

Liam scowled, but she was walking in front of him now, not even looking back. He knew there was no point arguing when Eleanor had her mind set on something.

Thanks Nathpollen for editing again!

So, here's the introduction of another character. I've heard he's a particularly good finder...

If you haven't been watching Glee, you should! I take a lot from that show and incorporate in this story. For awhile, I wanted to name the chapters after the songs, but not all of the song titles are two words. I'm still using a couple though. Not Push It though. Or...am I?

Haha, anyway, thanks for reading! (And watch Glee!)