Lucien set his teacup down and gave the answer he'd already been thinking through.
"I don't know much about the professors' teaching styles yet. But if we're just talking about the actual course content, I've got some thoughts."
All three of them leaned in.
"I think Ancient Runes is the one most worth taking," Lucien said. "Hermione already covered it—mainly studying old runic magic and its translations. It gets deeper in the upper years and covers even more magical scripts. It's tough, but it's the foundation for a lot of advanced magic. Alchemy, for example."
He glanced at Ron.
The message was clear: If you want to keep going with alchemy, you're going to need this.
Ron's face immediately twisted in pain.
He'd been planning to pick the two easiest classes possible—Divination and Care of Magical Creatures—so he could coast. But now that the professor for Care of Magical Creatures was retiring, his original plan was falling apart.
He really just wanted to take the path of least resistance.
Now it looked like he was stuck with Divination and Ancient Runes?
Ron scratched his head, conflicted. He actually loved alchemy—especially the golem and mechanism side of it. But according to Lucien, if he wanted to go deeper, Ancient Runes was non-negotiable.
Seeing the serious look on Ron's face, Lucien added one more thing.
"Course selection isn't just about what sounds fun. It ties directly into your future and what kind of career you want after graduation. Some jobs flat-out require you to have taken certain subjects for your O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s—and to have scored well on them."
The mood around the table shifted. All three looked more serious now.
Especially Harry. He'd never really thought about "careers" before. He was only in second year—he didn't even know what he wanted to do yet.
But Lucien had a point. If he picked the wrong classes and accidentally closed doors on something he might actually want later, that would suck.
Even so, Harry still had no idea what he wanted to be. The thing he was best at and loved was Quidditch. The thing he was good at but didn't really love was Potions.
He wondered if he should just ask Lucien for advice. The guy knew everything and was ridiculously smart—he'd probably have good ideas.
Lucien kept going. "Let's talk about Arithmancy and Divination together. They both sound like divination, but they're completely different. Arithmancy uses strict mathematical reasoning to predict the future. You need solid math skills for that. Divination, on the other hand… it's way more about raw talent. Either you have it or you don't. It's not about working harder. Some people are just born with it."
Ron nodded hard. Fred and George had already told him Divination was basically making stuff up while Professor Trelawney rambled on about vague nonsense.
That class was perfect for coasting.
"I can give you guys a quick math test first," Lucien offered, "just to see if Arithmancy would actually suit you."
Hermione's eyes lit up. She leaned forward, clearly excited at the idea of any kind of test.
Harry and Ron, on the other hand, had already mentally sentenced Arithmancy to death. Harry wanted to protect his Quidditch practice time. Ron was just lazy and didn't see the point.
"Muggle Studies," Lucien said, turning to Harry and Hermione with a slightly strange look. "This one probably won't be very useful for either of you. Some of the material about Muggles might even contradict what you already know."
Harry and Hermione exchanged glances.
How different could it be?
Hermione had grown up in the Muggle world—her parents were dentists. She knew exactly how Muggles lived. Harry had been raised by the Dursleys. In every way that mattered, he was Muggle-born.
Wouldn't the class just be teaching stuff they already knew?
Lucien's comment actually made them more curious. They both wanted to see exactly what wizards thought the Muggle world looked like.
"Care of Magical Creatures," Lucien said last. "If you ever want to work with magical creatures professionally, this class is basically required. As for whether the new professor will be strict… you don't need to worry about that."
He paused.
"Next term, Hagrid is teaching it."