Ever since Leonard began to suspect that his future self had used a Time-Turner to return to the present, he had been using the Marauder's Map again and again to search for that extra instance of his own name.
But that other Leonard William had vanished without a trace, like a drop of water lost in the sea.
That made Leonard start wondering whether his guess had been wrong.
Even with a head full of questions, daily study still had to go on. After several straight days of required classes, Leonard finally reached his electives.
One Divination class and one Ancient Runes class, both scheduled at the same time.
It was time to use the Time-Turner.
Leonard went to Divination first, the class taught by the ever-eccentric Professor Trelawney.
But a small incident happened before class began.
"Leonard, you need to be careful." Hermione looked at him worriedly. "When I was in Ancient Runes, I saw your arms wrapped in bandages."
"Bandages?" Leonard looked at her blankly.
"Yes. It looked serious." Hermione nodded, then glanced around at the students waiting for class and lowered her voice. "You're not hurt at all right now, so it must happen after you use the Time-Turner. You really need to be careful."
Hermione had chosen to attend Ancient Runes first and Divination afterward, which meant the Hermione standing here now was technically the future Hermione. She had already seen her future self.
But what exactly had happened? He was actually going to get hurt badly enough to end up with both arms wrapped in bandages?
Leonard immediately thought back to what had happened at the very start of term. That bizarre note full of riddles, and that suddenly vanishing "self."
Could those things be connected?
Divination began while Leonard was still caught up in those doubts.
As the easiest elective to score well in, Divination had drawn plenty of students. All four Houses had crammed the classroom full.
The first lesson was tasseomancy, reading tea leaves to predict the future from the shapes left behind in the cup after drinking.
It sounded like a game.
And in practice, it really was one.
As Professor Trelawney stared into tea leaves and tried to frighten the other students, Leonard curled his lip and looked down at the leaves in his own cup.
With no outside force affecting them, the leaves had settled into a chaotic, unfathomable shape.
That was the mysterious way of putting it.
In plain terms, they were just a shapeless mess. Nothing could be made of them.
Beside him, Hermione had already put on the expression of someone suffering through an ordeal, glaring at her cup as though she wanted to bore a hole through it.
The cup in Leonard's hands was Hermione's. According to Professor Trelawney, one could not divine one's own future, so everyone had to exchange cups and read for one another.
A shadow fell over him, blocking the light above. Leonard looked up and found Professor Trelawney gazing at him with obvious expectation.
"Oh, Mr. William, I've heard all about you." Professor Trelawney exclaimed dramatically. "The other professors say you're a genius. But Divination is different from other talents. Come now, look into your cup and tell me what you see."
Leonard inwardly rolled his eyes, then looked down at the teacup in his hand under Professor Trelawney's eager stare.
At first he tried to interpret it seriously, but after coming up with a series of predictions that had absolutely nothing to do with each other, he gave up and simply started forcing ominous interpretations onto Hermione.
He had already read the book, after all. He knew perfectly well which images supposedly corresponded to which signs.
Trelawney loved exactly that sort of thing. Watching Leonard point at the teacup with an air of grand authority, she smiled in satisfaction.
Hermione's face had already darkened. She could not help asking, "Am I really that unlucky?"
"Oh, my dear, that is Divination. The truth is often unpleasant, but we must accept it," Trelawney said gravely.
"But I understand your unhappiness. After all, you have little talent in this area... don't be sad, dear. Most of you are the same."
Hermione's face darkened even further. As an excellent student who had always excelled academically, this was the first time she had ever heard someone say such a thing about her.
Someone had actually said she had no talent.
Furious, Hermione shoved over the decorative crystal ball on the table and stormed out of the classroom.
Professor Trelawney spread her hands innocently, as if to say she had only told the truth.
Leonard paid no attention to Hermione's very in-character dramatic exit. Instead, he glanced at his own cup and looked at Professor Trelawney.
"Professor, why don't you read my fortune too?" Leonard said.
Prophecy. Divination. Maybe something like this could help him figure out what that cryptic note from his riddle-speaking self actually meant.
"Oh, of course, dear." Professor Trelawney agreed at once.
She picked up Leonard's cup, took one look into it, and immediately gave a startled cry. The cup slipped from her hand and landed on the table.
"Good heavens. This is dreadful." Trelawney's eyes widened as she stared at Leonard as though he were already dead. "I have never seen such an ill-omened sign."
Leonard raised a brow and looked at her steadily. "Sorry, Professor, I don't quite understand..."
"The entangled clown, the ominous black dog, the curse of despair..." Trelawney said in her usual mystic tone, her eyes full of regret.
Leonard was speechless. She had gone on for ages without saying a single good thing.
Had she gotten the wrong person? Harry Potter, the actual protagonist, was sitting right over there. She ought to be frightening him instead.
That ominous black dog. Did she mean Sirius Black?
Leonard stared at Trelawney as she kept up her mystic act, quietly wondering whether he ought to lose his temper the way Hermione had.
That elegant tea set on the table looked like a fine target. Much more fragile than the sturdy crystal ball. If he smashed it, Professor Trelawney would definitely feel it for quite a while.
Fortunately, Trelawney did not linger on Leonard for too long. After all, she was mainly trying to ride the "buzz." Making a dire prophecy about a genius student would have a much better effect than doing the same to an ordinary one.
Watching Trelawney move on to torment the next student with a satisfied look on her face, Leonard rolled his eyes and casually flipped through his Divination textbook, intending to muddle through the rest of class.
Then suddenly, his hand stopped.
His eyes narrowed.
He recalled Trelawney's prophecy.
"The entangled clown... the ominous black dog... the curse of despair."
And then he recalled the note written in his own hand.
"The long-awaited circus performance is about to begin. The clowns are taking the stage. Please look forward to this side-splitting farce."
Could this clown be the clown mentioned in the note?