A severe chill ran up Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's spine as he walked the streets of Hogsmeade,. In the bitter cold and freezing winds, he could barely make out the street lights which dotted the small road he was traveling on. As he continued his walk at a steady pace - one steady enough for an old man to say the least - he felt a pang in his chest at every store within the small town which had been closed due to the war. The signs indicating their closure seemed to be multiplying at an alarming rate. Almost every day a new one seemed to appear.

Allowing that sad thought to leave his head, he continued his brisk walk toward his brothers tavern. He had decided against flooing or apparating because it had been forever since he had a nice walk and figured it would be good for his health.

He now realized that while the walk might be good for his health, the freezing winds and snow might not be.

Coming to a stop in front of The Hogshead Inn, he let out a sign of both relief and disappointment. He was happy to finally be out of the cold, but his regret of choosing his brother's inn as a meeting place was still lingering in the back of his mind.

Hogshead was a decrepit place. Ever since it was first opened by his brother, it seemed to be the shadiest shop in the town. While he had tried to get his brother to improve the place several times, his suggestions were ignored. Apparently, his brother loved the fact that no Hogwarts students would come near the place. Whether it be from fear or from disgust, Albus wasn't sure.

Opening the door, he noticed that somehow he had arrived first. His brother grunted as he entered, and mumbled something under his breath. There was only one patron inside the small tavern; an old witch sat at a table in the corner reading over what looked like the Evening Prophet. With nothing to do while waiting for his late guest to arrive, he gave a quick swish of his wand, held out two knuts, and waited but a moment for them to disappear and for his own copy to arrive in his hand.

Sitting down, he opened up to the first page, and began to read.

DEATH EATERS ARRESTED!

Three to Face Wizengamot House of Lords this Week

By Ritchie Bragge

Earlier this week, Auror Extraordinaire Alastor Moody, along with several other members of the Auror Office, succeeded in the apprehension of several Death Eaters.

Responding to an emergency call in the south of Britain earlier last week, Auror Moody arrived on scene and found several cloaked figures torturing and killing muggle families in a small remote village. Jumping into action, witnesses report that before any of his colleagues could respond, Moody had already stunned several of those cloaked fiends. At the sight of the most well known auror of the war, several of the Death Eaters apparated away, while others began to engage other members of the Auror unit dispatched to the scene. Duels broke out between the two groups, resulting in the capture of 3 Death Eaters, as well as the suicide of another. Sadly, the fighting claimed the life of one Auror, whose name has not at this time been disclosed.

In a statement given by John Shacklebolt, head of the Auror Office in Magical Britain, he expressed his condolences to the family of the dead auror and assured Magical Britain that, despite rumors to the contrary, the war was looking up.

The article continued for what seemed to be ages stating nothing that Dumbledore did not know. After all, he would be attending the trial in the coming days. Glancing through the rest of the "news", Albus found nothing to hold his interest for long.

Luckily for him, his interviewee to be, one Sybill Trelawney, floo'd into the room. Her hair was messy to begin with, but now it was covered in what appeared to be ash, and her glasses were so fogged up, she nearly fell over a table.

Clearing her glasses and jumping a little at the sight of the old wizard, Trelawney quickly made her way to the table which the professor was sitting and sat down herself. Dumbledore eyed her for a moment as she attempted to put out a small fire which had found its way onto her head from the floo. A feat he did not even know was possible. With a stroke of his wand, he cast a small aguamenti charm, and put the fire out, without getting anything on her clothes. After a small squeak from the scared seer, she quietly thanked him.

"Well Ms-"

"Sybill Trelawney, Great-Great-Granddaughter of Cassandra Trelawney and esteemed seer!" the disheveled woman interrupted. Dumbledore knew that, but it seemed that Ms. Trelawney wanted to get her heritage out as quickly as possible.

Raising an eyebrow, he spoke again. "Ms. Trelawney, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. As you are aware, I am Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Mugwump of the International Conference of Wizards, and Chief Warlock to the Wizengamot Lords. As you have been informed, I am currently in need of a Divination teacher. I would first like to ask you about your credentials and experience."

The seer, obviously taken aback by the Headmasters credentials, began to speak rapidly with a bit of a nervous stutter, "W-w-well… I graduated from Ho-Hogwarts with 11 O.W.L's and 8 N.E.W.T's…"

She seemed to trail off after that and found herself staring off into the distance for quite a few seconds, before Dumbledore cleared his throat, making her jump. "Ms. Trelawney, I must say that is rather impressive. I do believe I remember you graduating in 1968. Is that correct?"

"Y-Yes!" She yelped, "I've been working - er - freelance as a seer since then!"

"Interesting…" Dumbledore commented pointedly. "I do understand you've had a hard time finding work however, despite your rather high scores."

The eccentric witch, realizing that this interview was not going too well, tried to spin the problem into something that the old man might relate to.

"You see… It's been difficult to find work as not many people appreciate the - uh - true art that is divination these days! Obviously, with the help of yourself, I hope to install a love for the art into the younger generation at Hogwarts!"

Dumbledore, somewhat satisfied with the answer, gave a chuckle. "I must confess that I do not fully understand the art myself. Perhaps a demonstration would help me better appreciate the reasons to hire you to teach divination at my school?"

"Yes! Yes I would love to!" She shouted. Looking around, the seer motioned to the owner of the establishment. "Sir! Sir! Would you please bring two cups of leaf tea!""

The owner, not taking a liking to the seer's outburst, looked to his brother, who only gave a light chuckle and a nod.

A few moments later, two old and dirty cups filled with tea leaves were placed down on the table. Dumbledore, parched, took a sip.

After a few minutes of drinking, Trelawney had Dumbledore stir the cup, and then pour out the remaining liquid. "W-We start from the rim of the cup and circle downwa-" She cut herself off as she stared into the cup, before letting out a great shriek. "Oh my! This… This cup shows great turmoil in your future!"

Dumbledore froze, obviously concerned by her reading. "How so?" He peered over the cup.

"Well… Uh… The w-white of the cup is used to represent good, and the and the d-d-dark spots are u-used to represent evil. As you c-can see, this - um - this dark, jagged line represent a snake! Snakes represent enmity and evil!"

Dumbledore looked into the cup. While he understood what she was saying, it looked much more like a lightning bolt than anything. Not to mention the bolt was formed from the white space where the leaves had not fallen!

"Well… Thank you I suppose…" He looked around to his brother, who just shrugged. "Thank you for your time Ms. Trelawney. I must get going, but I will get back to you on the position…" He trailed off. Trelawney was staring down into the cup. She seemed to be caught in a trance. The Headmaster shook her a moment.

No reaction.

"Ms. Trelawney?" He stood up and walked towards her, and as he got close, she stood up suddenly, and with the crash of the cups hitting the ground, began to speak:

"TWO WHO POSSESS THE MAGIC

TO BRING END THE DARK LORDS REIGN

SHALL HAVE THEIR LIVES MADE TRAGIC

WHEN BOTH OF THEIR PARENTS SLAIN.

LIVES SAVED BY MUGGLE MOTHERS

MURDERED BY THE DARK LORD'S HAND,

MUST USE LOVE OF EACH OTHER

TO PUT A STOP TO HIS PLAN.

BOTH LIVE AS THE OTHER DIES;

ELSE BOTH MUST PASS TO DEATH'S HAND.

SO FATE ITSELF NOW DECRIES"

As she finished, she snapped out of her state, and looked around for a moment. "I'm sorry, were we discussing something? I can't seem to remember what."

Dumbledore, awestruck by what he had just witnessed, looked around for a moment. He had just heard a prophecy of a chosen one. Or… Two for that matter. It mattered deeply who heard it. The old lady who had been in the tavern earlier was not there. It appeared she left when she realized her quiet reading place was being disturbed by a frantic seer. Outside, he could hear voices arguing, and he could not find his brother anywhere.

"Pardon me for a moment Ms. Trelawney." He quickly moved outside to find his brother arguing with a cloaked figure. At the sight of the Headmaster, the man ceased his squabbling with Aberforth and turned quickly towards Albus.

"He was pounding on the door and I didn't want him bothering your interview." Aberforth spoke quickly, as if in apology as the man broke away from the barman.

With two swift strides, the man was before the Headmaster, and then immediately fell to the floor, releasing an anguished moan. As the astonished Professor went to try to see what was wrong, he noticed that the man was crying openly. He also noticed something else.

"Severus Snape? What are you doing here?" He asked, suspicious of the man's motives, knowing that his recently graduate student was very likely a Death Eater.

Well, I haven't posted in ages.

I hope you enjoyed this prologue. I think it could have been longer, but I think it sets up the story nicely.

Leave reviews and express your honest opinion. If you spot any spelling errors, grammatical errors, or anything else please let me know. Finally, if there were any inaccuracies in the cannon leading up to where the story begins, please let me know. I did my best, but the HP universe is rather expansive.

Edited 4/24/2018 with the help of user Majerus, my new Beta!