𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘦𝘯: 𝘐 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴

« 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚗𝚞𝚜 » 

Full disclosure: I have no idea how my sister got me into Professor Trelawney's classroom. She said "There will be mince pies" and the rest is a blur.

We went after the Quidditch Match. Neither of us went (because sports are terrible to watch even without the pouring rain), but I couldn't relax until it was over. That same cold feeling had kept me up most of the night, and it hadn't gotten any better throughout the day. I hated knowing what it meant; part of me wished I could go back to the blissful ignorance that I'd had before figuring it out. Let me think I was catching the flu or something. I'd rather have the flu.

At the very least I could have misinterpreted it. But no. That was wishful thinking.

Because when the game ended, Headmaster Dumbledore ran inside the school (quite fast for an old man I might add), followed by a floating stretcher behind him. He was hurrying off in the direction of the Hospital Wing, and as the stretcher passed I caught a glimpse of an unconscious Harry Potter (because of course it just had to be him who was injured).

The second the stretcher disappeared around the corner, that cold feeling ceased. It was gone so fast, I almost got whip lash.

"What happened this time?" Tilly sighed as the Gryffindor team shuffled in. I could have imagined it, but I thought my sister sounded a bit more annoyed than she normally would have. I suppose she was just used to her team's Seeker being knocked silly during games, but I couldn't help being a little queasy (mostly because of what had happened the night before).

Don't say it... I thought. But I knew it was coming, anyway.

"Dementors," one of the Weasley Twins explained.

I was internally screaming.

"A whole bunch of them," added the other one. "Just came out of no where."

Tilly frowned, looking more like her overly concerned, noisy self again. "What? You mean they were on the school grounds? Why would Dumbledore have let them in?"

"That's the thing. He didn't. They entered without permission. You should have seen," one of the girl's on their team said. Alyssa or something. "I've never seen the headmaster so mad before." She shook her head.

I was just hoping someone would change the subject. I wouldn't have even minded if they realised I was standing there, called me an evil pratt, and ran away. Because at least we wouldn't be talking about the dementors. And I wouldn't be thinking about how I'd known, weeks in advance, that they'd show up.

"Anyway, Dumbledore did this weird spirit animal spell or something, and it chased off the Dementors. But Harry passed out," another girl was saying. Her name was Anggie or something like that. I don't know. She was frowning worriedly, looking after the stretcher.

"Oh. Well, I'm sure he'll be fine," Tilly said. "And at least the dementors are gone." The Gryffindor team left to check on their Seeker after that, and my sister gave me a look like 'This is exactly why we don't attend sporting events.'

Meanwhile, the whole way to the divination classroom, I was trying not to think too much about how I'd known the dementors would be there. Should I have told someone about it after all?

I suppose it was too late now...

The North Tower was kind of stuffy. It smelled like tea leaves and smoke, and Professor Trelawney was staring at Tilly and me like she'd struck gold. Which was weird. (She'd also been waiting for us at a table, set up with a bunch of junk food and tea, like she knew we were coming, which was creepy. ) But she gave me mince pies so I didn't want to complain too much.

"You must forgive me for staring, my dears," she said after a while. When she waved her hand, the many bracelets she was wearing around her wrists jinggled loudly. I tried not to think too hard about how easy it would be to slip one off her. "This...it's such a rarity! Two blessed with the gift of the Sight! Twins nonetheless! I can't remember the last time such a phenomenon had occured...in my class room of all places...of course, I knew this day would come eventually, having seen it in my crystal gazing many months ago... but still... one can never truly prepare for the emotions of the physical world..."

"I'm still not entirely on board with this whole 'Seer' thing," I admitted, watching her bracelets.

I didn't need them, and they weren't exactly Tilly's style either. I mean, there was this pretty sparkly one she might have liked. But other than that... It was just how easy it would be...plus, I needed a distraction. Sitting still was difficult on a good day; the heat of Trelawney's classroom and the divination talk was not helping anything. I'd been trying my best to burry the weird stuff divination had apparently been 'gifting' to me all year. I was already a wizard, I didn't need any more weirdness; so I thought if I could focus real hard it might just go away.

But talking about it made it hard to focus on making it go away. So. Bracelet. Theft. Screw the future.
I just needed to get close enough...

"Does the Sight take gift returns?"

My sister glared at me, and I thought she might have hit me if we weren't in the presence of a teacher.

"My dear boy!" Trelawney cried, looking affronted. I felt bad. I didn't mean to offend her. I just didn't like to take scary things seriously. "You should not shun your abilities but embrace them! To be given foresight...and with an aura as strong as yours..."

Tilly grinned, apparently forgetting she was supposed to be offended by my comment too. She was leaning forward on the cloth covered table as if Trelawney had said something really great. I wasn't sure I agreed. "I knew it!" she said. "I knew you'd see an aura for him! Just like you did for me in class. He's been making predictions all year so far."

I wished she hadn't told her that, and I didn't really want an aura, whatever that was. It sounded pretentious. Like what people say when they want to sound like a hippie communing with nature.

"Indeed." Trelawney didn't look surprised to find out I had apparently been predicting the future left and right. I suppose she must have seen that in her crystal balls or whatever, too.

The professor's hair was really frizzy (probably from the heat in the room). Her eyes looked like they' pop out of her head at any second with the way her glasses magnified them; and with her shawl and flamboyant accessories, she was exactly how I pictured someone who'd attended Woodstock in their youth. She wasn't exactly someone I'd normally steal from, but, you know, I needed the distraction.

"As I have just expressed, I have foreseen two very powerful Seers coming to my classroom, potential protégés...Having met you both now... yes, it seems very clear to me...it must be the two of you...yes, yes, it really couldn't be anyone else...I suspect it came from your mother's bloodline..."

She stared up at the ceiling for a long moment, as if daydreaming about  adopting two orphan wards and teaching them everything she knew. I thought that would have been the perfect time to knick one of the bracelets, but then she turned and looked right at me.

"By the way, dear, if you plan on stealing one of my bracelets, I'd suggest this one here." She tugged at the one she was talking about. "As I am the least fond of it."

I stared at her dumbly. 'Suppose, if she could see the future, she would have seen the theft coming...

Tilly was smirking like something really impressive had just happened. Or maybe she was just having fun watching me look like an idiot. That seemed like her. She was mean that way.

[ She hit me! See? Mean.]

"I ── Sorry," I muttered to the professor. She didn't say anything else about it, though, so I suppose she didn't care.

"So, Professor, you were saying about mentoring Magnus and me...?" Tilly pressed. She didn't say it, but I could tell she was excited about the whole idea. I worried she'd get a big head over the whole 'super powerful aura' (seriously what is an aura?) bit.

Me? I was growing more and more apprehensive by the second. I mean, if I'd had wanted to learn about divination, I would have signed up to take Professor Trelawney's class. The only thing I wanted for her to teach me about the subject, was how to make the 'aura' go away. As for the powerful part... Well, I made it a point not to strive for power. When your house's stereotype is 'they seek power for naughty reasons' it sort of puts a dampener on the whole thing. As if the only reason people would ever have any sense of ambition would be because they wanted to do something bad.

It was just easier not to want anything like that. Anyway, imagine me being 'super powerful.' I wasn't sure what I'd do with it (more theft probably). I'd probably end up ruining a lot of people's lives just because I had no idea what I was doing.

For that matter, I didn't think I wanted Tilly to have any sort of power either. Three seconds of her in charge of anything and there's a paper mache volcano exploding with glittery lava all over the place.

But, I suppose Professor Trelawney and my sister thought differently, because they went on like it was the greatest idea in the world.

"Yes...Yes," the professor was saying, as if she were already day dreaming about the stuff she would teach us. "I sense it will be imperative for... some things...changing the tides of fate, so to speak...but," she turned to me again, "I also sense a great apprehensiveness coming from you, dear boy." 

It could have been the fact that I asked for a refund earlier or I could have just been that transparent, but I wasn't sure that one had anything to do with her divination abilities. More like observational skills. But my sister seemed amazed by the statement all the same, so I didn't point that out. Instead, I just shrugged. What was I suppose to say anyway? I could not make it clearer that I did not want anything to do with the future.

Despite that, Professor Trelawney seemed dead set on getting me to appreciate her subject as much as she did. She kept going on and on about it as if it were the best thing ever introduced into the magical world. "It is a gift granted to few, a gift which many wish to possess themselves ── "

"Well, then, those people can have it." Trelawney got real quiet after that. Tilly stomped on my foot, and I glared at her. I hadn't meant to be insulting, but, you know, I was really tired of being ignored.

"No offense, Professor," I said, trying my best not to sound rude. "But I don't want anything to do with divination. It's just sort of bollocks. What's the point of seeing the future anyway?" Alright, so maybe that wasn't the nicest way I could have put it.

She eyed me for several moments, and I got the impression she was trying to decide if she should be mad or not. But the words had already left my mouth, so I couldn't take back what I said even if I wanted to.

"You'll have to pardon him, Professor. He's just in denial, because he saw the Lame Lord coming back from the dead." Tilly had an annoying habit of speaking for me whenever I said anything too stupid, which was especially irritating in this case because that was something I had shared with her in confidence and not something I wanted to be brought up.

But now Professor Trelawney was staring at me curiously, so I pretty much had to tell her about it too. When I finished, she looked paler than before, which pretty much solidified my lack of enthusiasm for her subject.

"Well... that is..." Trelawney shifted her shawl over herself. She fiddled with her glasses too, maybe just to be doing something. I suppose she was having trouble finding the right words to respond to that.

I couldn't fault her for that. To put it into perspective for any muggles reading this: imagine that you found out someone like Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin would come back from the dead. Ignoring the fact that it should be impossible, it was a pretty terrifying thought, especially to someone who had lived through the Wizarding War.

Luckily for us, my sister came to the rescue with a change of topic. "The future isn't just bleak, Magnus." She said it with a chipper voice, but I knew she didn't want to think about what the rise of someone who called himself "The Dark Lord" would mean for the world either. My sister wasn't always as good at hiding her emotions as she might think.

Anyway, she told us all about the things she'd been seeing. I'll admit, I was pretty mad about it. Why did she get to predict who married who and what sort of weather we'd be having tomorrow? Meanwhile, I watched people die in my dreams.

Trelawney slowly seemed to recover as Tilly talked, though she still looked pale and distracted. "Yes... I thought this might be the case...as it so often is..." When she realised neither of us knew what she was on about, she continued,

"Divination is quite prominent among twins, indeed. The Sight, a gift though it may be, can be a bit much for some people, for most people, in fact, thus apprehension is born, which can cloud the mind and hinder the aura...the aura has always favoured twins for this reason, I believe. Two souls to share the gift so that neither can be burdened too much ── one bonded with positive energy fields, and one with negative."

She paused for a long moment, and I wondered if she was still thinking about Vison-mort. To her credit she kept on pressing forward, even though she still seemed terribly distraught. I felt bad about causing her discomfort. It wasn't like I'd meant to.

"One of many reasons being a true Seer is such a rarity. The odds of having twins are quite slim. One in two-fifty pregnancies result in twins, you know. And even then, not every set of twins is blessed with the Sight..." Professor Trelawney nodded at Matilda first, "It seems, my dear, you have been gifted with the positive energy, while you," she nodded at me next, "have been granted the negative energy fields."

"Great," I said. "So, I get all the bad stuff." Everything I was hearing was making me hate divination more and more, whether it was a rubbish subject or not.

I must have sounded a little too bitter, because my sister didn't bother to look annoyed with my attitude and Trelawney hesitated before responding. "Well," she said slowly. "Admittedly, the negative aura can become a bit burdensome from time to time ─"

"Oh, brilliant. I love being burdened with things I don't want."

"─ but... but it is still a gift! Negative does not always mean bad!"

"Pretty sure the two words are synonyms..."

"To have foresight, is to have an advantage others do not! Those who know how to use it well will do well to prepare for the events they have been warned of!"

"Hold on," Tilly said, once again ignoring my discomfort like the terrible sister she was.

[She hit me again. Can you believe that?]

"Are you saying we can change the future even if we have premonitions?"

"Certainly. As I have expressed in a previous class, free will is just as prominent as fate. If one chooses a path to fulfil the events that have been prophesied than that is indeed what will happen, but one can always pick a different path. The future, you see, is always in flux. Prophecies, premonitions of any kind, merely provide insight to one possible future."

There was another pause. I knew we were all thinking about Vision-mort. But how was I, a thirteen year old boy, supposed to change events so something like that never happens? I didn't even know what events lead up to my waking up that morning, never mind the events that lead to a full on war. It seemed stupid that what could potentially be one of the most useful subjects turned out to be the most useless, simply because it was so unclear.

"What about the past?" Tilly asked out of no where. Or maybe not. Her mind was strange, in that she'll have fifty thoughts in one minute and bounce between them every three seconds.

The Professor blink, only seeming a little surprised. I guess Tilly must have asked questions like this a lot when she came up here with here friends. "The past?"

"Yeah, if a person can get visions and stuff of the future does that mean they can get them for the past too?"

For a second, I thought she was talking about that dream I had when Sirius Black attacked her (it was a bit worrying that she seemed totally fine now, but I suppose growing up on the streets helped speed up her recovery process). Then, I remembered I hadn't told her about it, so she would have no way of knowing I'd been dreaming about our father's murder. I suppose that meant she must have seen something in the past too?

"Yes...yes, it is possible," Trelawney said, "the past and the future ...very complex. they exist side by side, intertwining, mixing, tangling together. It is quite easy to get the two confused when studying the clairvoyant frequencies..." As she spoke, there was a dreamy gleam returning in her eyes, the kind people got whenever they talk about things they truly enjoy. Or maybe she was just glad to be off the topic of Vision-mort. "But we will discuss it further when you begin studying for your O.W.L.s., Matilda, dear. It is quite complex, and I'm afraid it is rather a lot to get into at the moment. Yes, yes we had best save it for later..."

"Alright," Tilly nodded, seeming a little disappointed. But, after a second, she grinned brightly. "Professor, you said that clairvoyancy is most common among twins. And since you are a Seer yourself ─" She muttered something under her breath. I thought it sounded something like, 'Despite what Hermione Granger thinks...' "─ does that mean you have a twin as well?"

"Ah yes. A brother named Lyre."

"Wait." I couldn't help myself. "Your parents named your brother Liar?"

"That's L-Y-R-E," she said, apparently having had to correct people on this before. "Not L-I-A-R." 

That didn't do much to dispell my amusement though. "Your parents named your brother after a harp?"

Tilly kicked me underneath the table, but Trelawney just waved the my laughter away dismissively. "Something about it being the symbol for a god of prophecy."

"Oh, makes sense."

"Lyre was the one who received the positive energy, while I the negative," the professor said, answering my sisters unspoken question. She spoke of her brother in the same tone of voice all people talked about their siblings with: complete and utter annoyance. "Though, he only uses his abilities to cheat media and see muggle movies before the arrive on the big screen ─"

I sat up in my chair. "You can do that?"

"Well, yes, but ─"

"Whoa, cool!" Suddenly, divination didn't seem so bad. I thought I actually might give it a chance, if not just to see all the Spider-Man movies ever made. "Do you know how to do it?"

"Of course, but I don't really ─"

"Can you show me?"

"Dear boy, Divination isn't meant to be used for ─"

"Can we use this thing?" I pulled the crystal ball on the table closer to Tilly and me. She was leaning in closer, too, wanting to see the future of television as well. We stared at the divination teacher.

She stared back, blinking for a moment, before letting out a frustrated sigh. "Oh, fine. Whatever works..." Then, she moved closer to show us how to work the crystal ball.

◎━━━━━━◎━━━━━━◎

The Rich Twit had finally dropped his act. Nina was starting to hang around more often. She was possibly the strangest person I'd ever met. Sometimes, she'd sit around for hours at a time, talking your ear off about serial killers, but other times she'd disappear for days without warning. I couldn't help thinking she was a little like a cat, coming out for a bit of attention and then hiding away when she'd had enough. Maybe that was why she got on so well with all the felines at Hogwarts. 

"So like are we ── are we a ─ a ─ a twio…" I knew what Foggie was trying to say, but I'd learned to let him finish anyway. "Are some kind of trio now? You know, officially? Since you two are a thing..?" 

I shrugged, because that didn't really seem very Nina-ish. She wouldn't start lingering more often just because we were dating or whatever. How does that make sense? I think Foggie just wanted an official Slytherin trio, since the Gryffindors had one. He was kind of obsessed with the number three (I'm not sure why).

The change was kind of sudden, though. I thought maybe Nina might have been up to something, but then again I was a cynic. So, I didn't press the matter too much. She was cool. She could hang around as much as she wanted. And when she was ready to spill the beans she would.

The day before holiday break, Tilly and I got a letter from Tammi. She told us she was taking Kip home for the holidays and that she wanted us to come too, but the Ministry wouldn’t let her or something, so instead she asked us to look after Kip until break. We all knew he wouldn’t pack his bags himself. Helping him pack was Tilly’s job (mostly because she had kicked me out because I wasn’t colour coordinating Kip’s socks or something. Apparently, that’s a crime punishable by death). 

When it was time for departure, I walked Kip to the front entrance. He kept looking out the window nervously, where the dementors were floating around, waiting to feast on young, teen angst. “Do I really have to walk past those guys by myself?” 

“No,” I told him. “Foggie’s going with you. He’ll make sure you get on the train alright. Plus, you’ll have your friends. Don’t worry about the dementors. They only go after people with souls, and seeing as how you don’t have one…” Kip stomped on my foot and headed out the door. “Demon child!” I called after him. 

Foggie was smirking when I turned back to him. “He seems fun.” 

“You’ll think when he starts stealing everything from your pockets,” I said. 

“Hm. Wonder where he could have learned that from?” Foggie rubbed his chin, pretending to think about it like it was such a big mystery. 

I grinned. “No idea.” After he left, I turned to go back to the common room and almost ran right into Nina. “Whoa! Hey, you know, I’m gonna put a bell on you so I can hear you coming.” 

She didn’t laugh, but I thought I saw her lip twitch upward. Could have been a trick of the light, though. I’d never heard her laugh before. Well, not a whole lot anyway. I’d also never seen her do anything with her hair before, but that day she had it pinned back with a thin rubber band. It didn’t look very neat, not like when Tilly did her hair, all knotted and bunched up, like she wasn’t really trying to look pretty or anything, just getting it out of her way. Somehow, it was very, very Nina. "So, what's up?" 

“I’ve been doing some thinking,” she said. 

“Well, don’t be shy. Share with the class.” 

“Mm. Not sure you’re ready yet. I need to talk to your sister first.” 

I stared at her, but it didn’t look like she was going to elaborate. “Okay… um…” I looked around the big, empty hall, and it occurred to me that we were alone now. Except for the Golden Trio and my sister, we were the only two students who’d remained at school for the holidays. But the Gryffindors were still lazing around up in their tower so for the moment, it was just the two of us. I don’t know why it was so weird all of a sudden, it wasn’t like it was the first time we’d been alone together. 

 “Did you know, you can walk past at least thirty-six serial killers in your lifetime?” Her eyes lit up, like she thought that was a really cool fact. I was trying to figure out the right way to respond to that, but she kept going, “You could just walk right by them and not even know it. We could have one in school right now, and no one would probably notice. Isn’t that neat?” 

“More like: horrifying…” I admitted. 

She shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t stress about it too much. Seventy percent of known muggle serial killers come from America, not the UK.” That didn’t make me feel any better, but she seemed to be into that sort of thing. I let her go on and tried to listen, but some of her ‘fun facts’ were a little too gory, even for me. It was just, with there being  a mass murderer on the loose, who had already gotten into the school and tried to attack my sister once serial killer facts weren’t exactly fun for me. 

We started wandering the corridors, Nina happily continuing her homicidal rave. I didn’t really have the heart to ask her to change the subject. She’d never been so animated before; I wondered if the lack of other people had anything to do with it. It was kind of fun to watch, even if the subject was a bit gruesome, like watching a work of art come to life. The longer she talked, the less awkward it got.

“...Dennis Rader was also called BTK, which stands for Bind, Torture, Kill…”  

With her hair pulled back it was easier to see how bright her eyes got when she talked. They’d changed colour again: this cool, blue-green that seemed to gleam in the light from the torch’s hanging off the walls. I didn’t notice a lot because she spent so much of her time hiding in the shadows, but she was seriously pretty. 

“Hey, not to change the subject or anything, but how come you don’t look like your dad?” It might have been an invasive question to anyone else, but Nina didn’t seem to mind. At least, I figured, if it was an annoying question, she'd let me know somehow. Like stabbing me with a fork or setting my head on fire.

“Hm? Oh, I’m adopted,” she told me. “My birth parents were muggles.” 

“Oh, wait, really? So, you're, like, biologically muggle-born?" 

"Nah, mate. I'm pure-blood." She rolled her eyes, and I realised how dumb my question was. 

"Oh, right. Sorry." She was smirking though, so I don't think she was that offended. "My sister and I were almost adopted once." I'm not sure why I was telling her that. I don't think I'd even told Foggie; I'd actually forgotten about it until just then. 'Suppose Nina was just easy to talk to. She listened, actually listened, without cutting you off, or belittling you, or trying to fix what she thinks is a problem. 

"Why did they send you back? Figure out you were the devil's spawn?" She sniggered. The banter was cool too. You didn't have to take anything too seriously. 

I laughed with her. "Something like that, yeah." It took me a minute to remember the whole story. "We were, like, four, and they were throwing us a party for our birthday. Tilly and I were fighting over which of the presents to open first, and our magic started acting up. Then…" I moved my hands outwards, mimicking an explosion. Nina was laughing; I grinned. "In my defense… four year old me really wanted that pony wrapping paper." 

Nina smirked. "Seems accurate." She leaned against the wall, twisting her foot around. For a second, she opened and closed her mouth, like she was debating whether or not to say what was on her mind, then, she asked, "Do you ever… you know, wish you'd grown up with your parents?" 

"Oh, um…" I jumped over the banister and sat on the rail, staring at the floors below. "I dunno. I've never really thought about it, to be honest."  

"No?" 

"Nah. I mean, it's always been just Tilly and me. I've never, like, envisioned anyone… parent-like in the picture." I swung my feet a little, more to have something to do than anything else. "Not unless you count Tammi and maybe this old guy we know, Bleus, but… I dunno. It's never been something that'd be real for us so…" 

"Even if you get adopted by the foster parents next summer?" 

I looked back at her. "How'd you know about that?" 

She shrugged. "I hear people talk." 

I laughed at that. Of course she had overheard someone talking about it.  "I'll be honest, I don't think we'll stay there long." 

Nina tilted her head to the side. "What makes you say that?" 

"Well, I'm not just leaving my sister stuck with some stuffy losers. I should have an escape plan before summer."

Nina stayed quiet; when I turned to look at her she had pushed herself off the wall and was wearing an odd expression. "What?" 

"Have you talked to your sister about that escape plan?" she asked. 

"Um, no? Why?" 

"I think you should talk to her about it."

"Uh, okay?" I was more confused than anything. So, I changed turned the tables. "What about you, then? Do you ever wish you were raised by your muggle parents?"

For a second, she didn't say anything, and I worried I'd crossed a line, but then she said, "Well... sometimes, I suppose..."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I mean..." She was fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket now and avoiding eye contact. I looked back at the floors below to make her more comfortable. "My dad's alright to me, but... Sometimes I think, if I'd been raised by people more, uh, emotionally stable, maybe I'd be..." She hesitated, but I kept my gaze fixed on three floors below, where Peeves was chasing Mrs. Norris around one of the statues, in case I put her off. "...less..."

"Less what?"

"...weird."

I thought it was safe to look at her now. She was leaning on the wall again with one shoulder, fiddling with the zipper of her jacket. I didn't know what she was on about. I thought she looked completely, utterly cool. "I dunno." I swung my legs over the banister again so I could face her better. "I think you're alright."

She tried to hide it, but I could tell she was smiling. I grinned back at her.

"─ Professor Lupin, Professor Lupin, I really think it quite prudent that you let examine your kismet! I fear, with the sickness that ails you, you won't be long for this world!"

Even though I had only met her once, I recognised Professor Trelawney's voice right away. It was impossible to forget the way she drew out her words to make the sound more mystical.

Sure enough, the divination teacher rounded the corner a second later, trailing behind a sick looking Professor Lupin. He didn't exactly seem like he was on his death bed yet, though.

"Well, Sybill, that sounds...intriguing, but I...erm..." Professor Lupin looked around the corridor, searching for an escape route in a not so subtle manner. When his eyes landed on Nina and me, pleading silently for help.

I glanced at Nina, and she gave a curt nod in response. Time for operation Save Professor Lupin from the Tackless Divination Teacher!

"Oh, Professor Lupin, there you are!" Nina pushed herself off the wall and made her way over to the two teachers.

I jumped off the railing and followed her lead. "We've been looking all over for you."

"Are we still having the extra credit lessons today?" Nina asked. As if she wasn't one of the smartest people in the entire school. It was believable that I'd need extra credit, though. I wasn't exactly stupid; I mean, I could pass classes. But that's it. I could only do enough to pass classes, nothing beyond that.

"Yeah," I said. "You didn't forget about it did you?"

Professor Lupin looked confused for a moment before our rescue attempt dawned on him. "Oh! No, no, of course not. We should head back to my office and begin." He gave a forced apologetic look at Trelawney. "Er...sorry, Sybill, I really must be going now..."

"Yes, well, perhaps, another time then?" Trelawney called after him as he lead us down the nearest staircase. Professor Lupin didn't respond. Instead, he kept walking with us until the divination teacher was well enough behind us.

"You know, this isn't the way to your office," I pointed out.

"Yes, I'm aware...well, I think that should be far enough," Lupin muttered, more to himself than to either Nina or me. "Thank you, Magnus, Nina."

"Oh, well, you know..." I wasn't used to people thanking me for stuff. Usually, I was being scolded for something. Thankfully, I was saved from trying to respond to that when a loud screech sounded from over head. I looked up just in time to see a little fur ball soaring through the air. With a hideous howl, Mrs. Norris landed in front of us, hair raised and hissing like mad.

"Holy ─" I cut myself off a second before our Defense teacher could hear me curse. "It's raining cats and dogs!"

"N-o-o-o!" Peeves sang from where he floated just above the banister of the next stair case. "Just cats."

"Shame on you," Nina scolded. "Throwing cats." This only served to make the poltergeist cackling with laughter and fly through the wall, screaming a mantra of, "Chicks with dicks!" and "Pigfarts, Pigfarts! Yum, yum, yum!" Nina grumbled some very un-lady like words under her breath, not caring whether Professor Lupin heard or not. Then, without a hint of fear, she approached the still hissing Mrs. Norris.

"C'mere, kitty."

I covered my eyes, sure this scene could only end with Nina getting a bed right next to Harry in the Hospital Wing with deep cat scratches. But, to my surprise, Mrs. Norris let her scoop her into her arms. Not only that, but when Nina started stroking her, the cat actually purred.

Next to me, Professor Lupin was staring, mouth open like he too was at a loss for words.

Nina looked back at us like we were the mad ones. "What?"

"Never seen anyone pet that cat before," I said.

"Mrs. Norris? I pet her all the time."

"All the ─ how?"

"Like this?" She brushed her hand over the evil cat's fur again, and Mrs. Norris did that weird thing cats do where they jam their face into your knuckles.

"Impossible."

Nina shrugged. She didn't seem to understand my amazement. "Well, I'm going to bring her back to Filch. Bye." She was already heading down the rest of the stairs before I could so much as wave back.

Lupin was watching her as she went with an odd expression. Not in a creeper sort of way but, you know, odd. Like he had some something he needed to apologize for. But I had a hard time believing our mild mannered Defense teacher could be guilty of doing anything wrong ever. At least, not on purpose.

"She's really weird, right?"

Professor Lupin turned to me, looking a little amused by the comment. "I was under the impression you and Miss Snape were smitten with one another?"

"That makes you sound old," I told him. He wasn't offended, because he was laughing. "We mostly started dating to trip people up, but she's cool I guess. Normal people are stupid. They're all like ─" I put on my best 'normal person' voice, which was eccentrically just putting on a lot of false cheeriness. "─ 'Hi, I'm Norm! The enemy of platypus is man!'"

"Enemy of platypus?" Professor Lupin questioned. We stepped off the stair case. The corridors seemed much bigger now that the castle was empty. Hogwarts felt a lot lonelier that way, as if the school itself was alive and needed the students' company to survive. A mad thought, I know.

I shrugged when I remembered Professor Lupin had asked a question. The reference was to a children's cartoon Trelawney had shown Tilly and I in the crystal ball. I'd accidently gotten obsessed. But he looked very tired and not at all interested in divination (who could blame him?) so I thought better of mentioning that.

"But yeah, I like weird-os better. Normal people are boring. Where's the fun in being normal? Plus, it's very impractical. You just grow up, get a job, get married, have kids, and that's supposed to make you happy. In this economy? I don't think so. You can't afford it unless your rich."

"No wedding bells for you and Nina in the future, then?" Professor Lupin teased. Somehow he managed a small smile, even though it looked like he desperately needed a nap. It got me thinking about our teachers' work loads. How did they manage to grade a thousand students' work every week and still manage to have free time? As far as I'd seen in the three years I'd been going to Hogwarts, there was only one teacher per subject. They all must have had serious burn out all the time.

Little did I know at the time, that was not the reason for Professor Lupin's fatigue (but that's just me foreshadowing, we'll get to it later on).

"No. Well...maybe." I grinned. "I bet Professor Snape would love to have me as a son-in-law."

"I'm sure," Lupin nodded.

"Well more so than Harry anyway."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, something about his dad." Professor Lupin was very quiet when I said that. Of course, the dumb ass that I am, I didn't pick up on the cue to change the subject. "Hey, wait. He would have gone to school with you, too, right?"

"Hm? Oh. Yes, he did..." I wondered why he was suddenly acting like he'd been caught breaking the law. He was tense and kept glancing around with a guilty look in his eyes. But before I could point it out, he was making an excuse to get away from me. "Well, I have some last minute essays to look over. I think I'd better not leave them sitting until the end of break...not to be overly normal or anything." He added the last part with a small smirk.

I gave him a two fingered-salute as he left, wondering about the change of attitude at the mention of his school days. It was suspicious, but I didn't think about it too hard because a second later I got distracted by a butterfly (I mean, where did it come from? It was the middle of winter!) floating through the halls and forgot all about it.