Visionary | h. potter x oc

3.8

"Broaden your minds." Professor Trelawney walked around the divination classroom, gesturing to the students that sat in front of crystal balls. "You must look beyond. The art of crystal gazing is in the clearing of the inner eye." Harry and Ron had their heads on the desk, Ron sleeping as Harry stared into the grey haze. Hermione was focusing deeply, trying to see whatever it was she was supposed to see. Aurora sat beside them, looking at it with a small smile. She knew they didn't like the class very much, but it had quickly turned into one of her favorites. The eccentric professor loved her and it was one of the (very) few classes she excelled at.

"What do we have here?" Trelawney stopped at their table, looking into the crystal ball deeply, "Tell me, what do you see?"

"Clouds." Ron murmured groggily,

"The grim, possibly." Hermione added,

They looked to Aurora, who's eyes turned white again as she stared into it. After a short moment she blinked and they returned to their normal silver-grey color. When she realized they were all staring at her she quickly spoke, "The whomping willow in a full moon." She didn't mention the symbol of the grim in the clouds, knowing it would set the Professor off. Although, neither Ron nor Hermione were wrong in their answers.

The professor grinned at her words, patting her shoulder proudly, "Wonderful. Just wonderful." Her smile disappeared the moment she turned to Hermione, "My dear, from the moment you stepped foot in my class I sensed that you do not possess the proper spirit for the art of Divination. Indeed, I don't remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly... mundane." She looked at Hermione's palm, tracing a line. The girl stood angrily, storming out of the room as students watched in shock. Trelawney just looked back at the remaining three utterly oblivious, "Have I said something?"

Harry glanced at Aurora, who just shrugged. She knew Hermione hated the class and couldn't stand the teacher, but she never figured her friend would just walk out. No one expected that. The professor left their table and moved to the next, Ron scooting into Hermione's spot, "How'd you do that?"

"Crystal gazing is one of the hardest things to learn. You have to clear your mind completely for it to work. I just saw the whomping willow and a moon, I've never been able to clear my mind completely."

"But what you saw, could it go with the vision you had this weekend?" Harry's voice was low so as to not attract attention, "It has to be about Sirius Black."

"Maybe, but I've never had the same vision twice. I'd have to study other things to learn more about it."

"Like what?"

She thought for a moment, racking her brain on how to get more information from her previous vision. Aurora never had the same vision twice. Sometimes they were from years -- even decades in the future when everyone she recognized was old and grey, and sometimes they were from just mere minutes or hours into the future. Trying to get more information from a particular vision would be near impossible, but if she declined it would only harm her reputation with Ron even more. Sure, he seemed to be warming up to her, but he still had his moments of snapping at the littlest things. "I need a deck of cards, tea, and a whole bunch of herbs."

The two boys looked at each other for a moment, Ron speaking first, "I have cards."

"Someone's bound to have tea leaves." Harry added,

"And the herbs?" Aurora didn't know of anyone that might have carried them.

"Dobby maybe?" Ron looked to Harry, who just shook his head,

"I don't think any of us wants to get him involved. Hagrid will have some."

The trio met up with Hermione again after class, who absolutely refused to talk about the Divination class again. "Hermione, I know you don't believe in this stuff, but Aurora thinks she can figure out more from that vision." Harry tried to reason with her when she rejected their idea and refused to help them gather supplies,

The brunette sighed, feeling a tad jealous that Aurora was so much better at the subject than her, "Fine. What do we need?"

His face brightened, "Ron has a deck of cards already and Neville gave me a bunch of tea leaves to brew with, but we need to get herbs from Hagrid."

"Better not." She said sadly, "He got Buckbeak's execution date and is beside himself."

They all frowned, but Aurora quickly spoke, "We'll work with what we have." The quartet went back to the common room. First, Aurora did a tarot reading on Harry using regular playing cards. An odd way of tackling it, but necessary since she deemed hers cursed after all the bad readings. It didn't help at all, only telling her exactly what her cards had been saying the past few months. She was getting more impatient by the minute, angrily making tea for Harry and forcing him to repeat the steps they had taken on the first day of Divination. He followed her instructions carefully, not wanting to upset her any more.

"You're scary when you're determined." Ron said at one point as her spoon scraped the inside of the teacup loudly. She shot him a glare before shoving the cup towards Harry. It wasn't that she was angry at any of her friends, but nothing was telling her anything new. Harry drank the tea as fast as possible (and burning his mouth) before he handed the cup back to her.

Aurora looked at it for only a moment before taking a deep breath, "Damnit!" She suddenly yelled, her breathing exercise not working as she threw the teacup at a wall and sunk back down into the couch. Hermione darted over to clean up the mess and the boys looked at her, "Every sign, every card, even the bloody tea leaves all say the same thing."

"And that is...?" Ron asked, already knowing the answer and dreading to hear the words come out of her mouth,

"Death." Her eyes locked with Harry's, "Death is coming."

Edited 5.25.2023