Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 337: Arithmancy and Controversy

Chapter 337: Arithmancy and Controversy

The topic continued until the four of them finished their lunch in the Great Hall.

“What shall we do when we get that item?” Ron looked at the Forbidden Forest and said uncertainly, “Since the power of that thing helped Sirius make the Marauder’s Map, maybe it can help us improve our magic…”

“It’s not a good idea. Strength should be accumulated a little by itself, rather than relying on the promotion of magic items!” Hermione frowned and said, “Besides, we won’t necessarily get that thing. Sirius said it was a very difficult test.”

“With Evan there, no test will be a problem.” Ron said indifferently, “What’s more, all four of us are students of the Gryffindor House, since it’s something he left behind…”

“Alright, the same words…. you’ve said it many times before, we can talk about this topic after the exam is over.” Hermione turned a heavy magic book out of her schoolbag, “No matter what Gryffindor had left behind, all I want now is to revise Arithmancy before the exam.”

Hermione waved to Evan and Harry, turned around and walked in the direction of the library.

“She must be mad, isn’t she?!” Ron said with surprise. “With Gryffindor’s Treasure Key and the adventure of the Centaurs’ colony ahead of us, how could she only think about her exam results?”

“I think Hermione is right.” Harry said with concern. “Now that we’ve done poorly on some exams, Divination is a very important chance, but I don’t know anything about it. I can’t see the future through the mist…”

“Come on, we all know!” Ron tipped his thumb to Professor Trelawney’s tower and said contemptuously, “She’s an outright fraud.”

“Yes!” said Harry, “but I hope she doesn’t score too low.”

“Professor Trelawney likes to hear people predict tragic things.” Evan suggested, “If you can’t see anything in the crystal ball for a while, you can make up something like what she’s been talking about, clubs, falcons, etc.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what we need.” Ron agreed. “Predicting that we’ll suffer misfortune, that death and fear will go hand in hand…”

“We’ll go to the exam and meet in the Common Room later,” said Harry.

Looking at their backs, Evan shook his head.

Not surprisingly, next year, he should be like them, relying on fabricating his own unfortunate future to satisfy Professor Trelawney and pass Divination test.

He should be like them next year, relying on fabricating his own unfortunate future, hoping to make Professor Trelawney satisfied and pass the Divination test.

After separating from Harry and Ron, Evan returned to the Common Room alone. Because all the exams for the first and second years were over, the atmosphere in the Common Room was very relaxed. Everyone gathered to talk and laugh and discuss their achievements.

Evan did not join in. He reviewed several articles to be submitted to the ‘Hogwarts Magic’, and played a few sets of wizard chess with Colin. When the sky gradually darkened, the others started to go to dinner, and he waited for a while, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned to the Common Room.

“How’d it go?” Evan stood up and asked.

“It was a mess!” Harry replied. “Except for the scars on the table, I didn’t see anything in the crystal ball, so I made up some stuff.”

“Me too!” Ron followed, “I said I was going to meet a Centaur tonight. I don’t think she was convinced. She kept asking me if I was going to be killed by the Centaur and such nonsense.”

“I told you long ago that Divination is a waste of time. Next year, you two should study Arithmancy with me!” Hermione commented, “Compared with the vain Divination, Arithmancy is very organized, and everything is analyzed in the evolution of numbers.”

“Give me a break, we can’t cope with it!” Ron shook his head again and again. “Those numbers seem like a headache, like Muggles’ learning content. I know they call it science. Think about it. How can a normal wizard accept these things?”

“Numbers are the charm of Arithmancy.” Hermione was relentless.

“Only those Muggle madmen could learn such things, I can’t…”

“RON!” Hermione said dissatisfiedly, raising the volume.

“Let’s go down to dinner. We can talk about it on the way. It’s a long way to the Centaurs’ colony deep in the Forbidden Forest.” Evan hurriedly interrupted, “Let’s go; we shouldn’t make Sirius wait for us too long.”

Hermione hesitated a bit and seemed very concerned about Ron’s evaluation of Arithmancy, especially when he said only Muggle madmen would learn it.

But in the end, she said nothing.

Harry returned to his bedroom and took the invisibility cloak. They went down with others to have dinner, but did not return to the Gryffindor Tower after that.

Evan asked Colin to cover for them, and the four tread carefully for a while.

Harry hid the invisibility cloak under the front of his robe, and he had to cross his arms all the time to hide the bulging it made in his clothes.

They sneaked into an empty classroom near the dim front hall, leaned on the door and listened for a while until they were sure there was no one nearby.

“I can transform, you three use the invisibility cloak!” After Evan finished, he turned into a black cat.

“This is really cool; I also want to learn Animagus Transfiguration.” Ron said enviously, looking at Evan, who became a black cat.

“Then you need a deep theoretical foundation of Transfiguration, and powerful magic as a support for your first transformation.” Hermione said casually. “This is a very esoteric magic, not to mention the underage wizard, many powerful wizards can’t do this.”

“But, did Evan did it?!”

“He’s strong enough to master sudden powerful magic.” Hermione bluntly said, because of Arithmancy, she was still angry with Ron, “And you are different. Don’t talk about such magic and profound metamorphosis. You don’t even want to understand simple numbers. I think what you need now is to read more books instead of fantasizing about mastering such illusory and profound magic…”

Ron’s ears were obviously red at Hermione’s words.

Evan jumped over Hermione’s shoulder and motioned her to calm down and not to go too far.

Because of Hermione’s outbreak, the atmosphere was slightly awkward. Ron blushed and seemed to want to apologize to Hermione, but opened his mouth and actually said nothing.

After a while, Harry lowered his voice and said, “There’s nobody outside. We’d better hurry up!”

Then, the three of them put on the invisibility cloak, huddled together under it and tiptoed through the Great Hall. Evan followed them and they walked down the stone steps to the gate.

By this time, the sun had fallen behind the Forbidden Forest, and the dark yellow afterglow was shining on the treetops, and a cool evening breeze blew from the north.