Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Forty-Nine

Early the next morning, I resolved to go up to the North Tower and have a chat with Professor Trelawney. After that I would go to the owlery to send a letter to Sirius, warning him not to send any letters with demigod content, explaining how Dumbledore had Obliviated Harry, Ron, and Hermione and had taken away their memories containing anything relevant to demigods and all that.

While my roommates slept on, I got dressed, fed Jab, and wrote my letter to Sirius:

Dear Sirius,

We got your letter. Harry's going to try to convince you not to come because he's worried about you, and I would be doing the same if I knew you'd listen.

We were a bit pressed for time last time we saw each other, so I'll tell you now what I couldn't tell you then. You can't talk about demigod stuff anymore around Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Dumbledore took away their memories of anything related to that. I don't know when he's planning to give them their memories back, but I can't talk about it until then. I also have to call you "Dad." Not that I think you'll mind, but I thought it'd be good to let you know.

I'll write about the visions later, and I will definitely go to Professor Trelawney.

Please be careful and don't do anything stupid,

Ash

Satisfied with the letter, I stuffed it into my bag and headed down to the common room. Harry was the only one down there. He was scribbling off his own letter to Sirius. I didn't want to attract his attention and risk questions I wasn't ready to answer, so I went on stealth mode as I slipped across the common room and out of the portrait hole.

Trelawney was meditating when I came in. Nobody else was there. Probably nobody was as crazy as I was to make the long trek all the way up to the Divination classroom this early in the morning.

"Good morning, my dear," Trelawney said when I came in. "I'd been expecting you."

"Really?" I said skeptically.

"I could sense your Inner Eye opening since the first day of term," she replied. "You deny it, but I can tell that you have Seen many things since June."

"You're right," I admitted. "I've been having lots of visions. In my dreams. Well, most of them in my dreams. Last night I had one right in the middle of a sentence."

"And you have come to me for guidance."

"Yes, Professor," I said. "I need to know how to stop them from happening."

"Now, why in Merlin's name would you want to do that?" Trelawney asked.

"Because nobody is supposed to know," I said. "My father... um..."

"The god of prophecy," Trelawney said. "Apollo."

I blinked. "You know?"

"Of course, my dear. The gods have always had much to do with the affairs of the Wizarding World. The first of our kind were children of Hecate, after all, and we are all descendants of the goddess. In fact, I believe the four founders of this magnificent school were her children."

"I didn't know that."

"It's true," Trelawney said. "And Apollo has fathered many of the Wizarding World's greatest Seers. My grandmother, Cassandra Trelawney, was one of his children."

I tried not to think about how weird that was. If Trelawney's grandma was a child of Apollo, that would make me Trelawney's great-aunt.

"Wait," I said, "So if the demigod world and the Wizarding World constantly mingle, why are Dumbledore and Chiron telling me not to tell anyone?"