The Seer

"She's doing it again."

James looked up from his potions book to see Sirius eyeing Vera, who sat across the table and was staring blankly into space.

James rolled his eyes and dog-eared the page he was reading before slamming his book shut.

"Padfoot, from the day we met her she has been dozing off into delusional daydreams...especially during potions. You know she hates potions."

Sirius pursed his lips and examined Vera; her posture was slouched and her lips slightly agape, however, her dark, brown eyes juxtaposed her laize-faire pose, for she was staring hard and deliberately. His most striking observation though, was that all of her ardent concentration seemed to be focused on nothing but the empty space before her.

"I don't know. She has been acting particularly odd recently," Sirius stated, when he concluded to himself that Vera's behavior was especially abnormal.

James said nothing, but in spite of his apathy Professor Slughorn cleared his throat loudly behind him and proceeded to embark on one of his many reprimands.

The class fell silent.

"Mr Potter, do you have something to say in reply to Mr Black?" Slughorn inquired imploringly in front of the whole class.

A mumble of whispering voices filled the room, and Sirius listened carefully to James, anticipating his turn.

"No, sir. Sirius was just clarifying one of your lecture points, sir." James lied, however, his countenance was smooth.

Professor Slughorn eyed James suspiciously, but said nothing. His gazed moved to Sirius, who had fully prepared his explanation, but was spared when Slughorn noticed Vera paying no attention to anything at all.

"Miss Hanover, do you have anything to say?"

The mumbling stopped as the whole class waited for Vera's answer. Professor Slughorn's jolly disposition turned to a dangerously annoyed one when Vera neither answered nor acknowledged him.

Sirius elbowed James and eyed Vera again, emphasizing his point. James shrugged his shoulder and looked reproachfully around the room–the whole class was staring now.

"Excuse me professor," Lily Evans said as she arose from her seat at the adjacent table.

Lily, being Slughorn's favorite student, was not questioned when she approached Vera, one of her close friends and house mate.

James gave Lily an approving nod, when Lily bent down to Vera's level.

"Pst, Vera," Lily whispered into her ear, "snap out of it. You need to wake up."

Then like magic Vera snapped back to reality.

Lily shook her head disapprovingly, as Vera observed her surroundings with exasperation; her two lone eyes were met curiously with stares from everyone around her.

She looked desperately from Lily to James to Sirius, wide eyed with embarrassment, but no one could save her from herself.

"Excuse me," Vera said hurriedly, as she grabbed her unpacked book bag and exited the potions classroom.

The judgmental eyes of her classmates continued to follow her out the door, and when she finally sought refuge outside of the dungeons she found that she truly did have a problem.

"Shit," she muttered to herself and covered her face with her clammy hands, "Why now?"

"Come in," Vera said to the person knocking aggressively on her dorm room door.

She shook her head in an attempt to clear her wandering mind, as Sirius Black, eagerly entered her room panting like a dog.

A smile spread across Vera's face and before she could greet him he spoke in a blunder:

"I am so sorry," was the first thing he said, as he approached Vera, who was sitting idly on her bed.

A content sigh escaped her lips.

"I am thankful to have a friend that is just as humiliated as I am," she said, patting on the empty space beside her on the bed.

Sirius looked at her strangely.

"I'm not humiliated, Vera," he said as he jumped onto her bed.

"I just hate that it has to happen to you. I mean if this happened to Snape I could care less."

"I appreciate it," she replied, and laid back onto her collection of comfy pillows.

Her eyes threatened to shut again and trap her into an unwanted vision. What it would be no one knew. Worse was the question, what to do with the visions she gained?

Sirius watched Vera. He had known her since they were children and now they were both sixteen. Their family lineage formed a friendship sometime during the late seventeenth century and were notorious for their ardent bond.

"Has it been getting worse lately?" Sirius asked, as he laid down next to her.

"Kind of," Vera replied musingly, "they're just more frequent and they come at extremely unwelcome times."

Sirius turned to his side, so he was facing Vera; she looked tired, and her short blonde hair looked tangled and neglected.

"When was the last time you washed your hair, Hanover? It looks ghastly," Sirius asked jokingly.

Vera laughed, but did not move. She could feel another vision approaching and could not bring herself to keep her eyes open any longer–it took too much strength and concentration.

"Vera?"

Sirius had known Vera since either of them could ride a broom, but even Sirius did not know about Vera's condition. What he thought were chronic headaches, were really visions, and it had been extremely difficult for Vera to keep her secret.

"Vera?" He whispered again, and this time she responded.

"Bloody hell."

Vera sat up and held her head in her hands. Her visions were typically painless, however, the sudden increase in frequency caused her additional stress.

"Was it a bad one?" Sirius asked, worried.

Vera sighed, "No, it was fine. I just think I should go talk to Poppy about this later."

Sirius nodded in agreement, "yeah, I can come with you if you want–"

"No," Vera said quickly, and hopped off of her canopy bed. "I'll be alright on my own. After that bone I broke last Quidditch season, we're two pumpkins in a patch."

"Two pumpkins in a patch?" Sirius asked, having never heard that expression before.

Vera laughed, as she stretched her hands above her head.

"I just made it up."

"Right, well I'll let you be," Sirius said and got off of Vera's bed, "make sure you wash that mop of yours, it look disgusting."

"We all can't be as beautiful as you Sirius," Vera countered.

Sirius ran his hand through his long, silky, dark brown hair, "Trust me, I know," he said with a wink and left Vera's room.

There you have it. Let me know what you think!

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