enormous eyes had been roving around the table, and she suddenly uttered a kind of soft scream. 

"I dare not, Headmaster! If I join the table, we shall be thirteen! Nothing could be more unlucky! Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die!" 

"We'll risk it, Sibyll," said Professor McGonagall inpatiendy. "Do sit down, the turkey's getting stone cold." 

Professor Trelawney hesitated, then lowered herself into the empty chair, eyes shut and mouth clenched tight, as though expecting a thunderbolt to hit the table. Professor McGonagall poked a large spoon into the nearest tureen. 

"Tripe, Sibyll?" 

Professor Trelawney ignored her. Eyes open again, she looked around once more and said, "But where is dear Professor Lupin?"

"I'm afraid the poor fellow is ill again," said Dumbledore, indicating that everybody should start serving themselves. "Most unfortunate that it should happen on Christmas Day." 

"But surely you already knew that, Sibyll?" said Professor McGonagall, her eyebrows raised.

 Professor Trelawney gave Professor McGonagall a very cold look. 

"Certainly I knew, Minerva, " she said quietly. "But one does not parade the fact that one is All- Knowing. I frequently act as though I am not possessed of the Inner Eye, so as not to make others nervous."

"That explains a great deal," said Professor McGonagall tartly. 

Professor Trelawney's voice suddenly became a good deal less misty. 

"If you must know, Minerva, I have seen that poor Professor Lupin will not be with us for very long. He seems aware, himself, that his time is short. He positively fled when I offered to crystal gaze for him --"