Finally, my first Harry Potter fanfiction with just a tiny little authors note at the beginning. Hope you'll like it (the chapter, not the authors note. xD) . And thanks a lot to my beta Marteczka's Quill! I'm really looking forward working with you on the rest of the story! :)
Well, I don't want to say too much now, enjoy the story and maybe leave a review. I'd be happy. :)
Chapter 1 - Seen and Unforeseen
A bright sun was shining over a deep and cloudless blue sky. The day was still young and the small town of Bransgore, in the south of England, was slowly awakening to a beautiful Sunday morning. Life came back into the previously deserted roads and some of the town's inhabitants made their way to church early.
Meanwhile, in their big, isolated house on Ringwood Road, surrounded only by trees and open land, the Sherwin family stirred as well.
When Elizabeth Sherwin, wife to Jonathan Sherwin and mother of seventeen-year-old Lauren and fourteen-year-old Michael, got up on this sunny day, she was struck by such a bad feeling deep inside her stomach that she would rather have stayed in bed completely than set one foot out of it.
She sat at the edge of her bed for a pretty long time, the white sheets crumpled by her side, staring at a vague point on the light blue wallpaper. Her husband Jonathan lay next to her, still sleeping peacefully although the cozy room was already flooded with warm sunlight.
Mrs. Sherwin suddenly shuddered and shook her head, thinking about how ridiculous it was to stay in bed because of a bad feeling. She finally stood up, got dressed and hurried down into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
It was a relatively quiet Sunday morning. Lauren and Michael were still sleeping, enjoying their free time. Their summer holiday from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry started a few weeks ago. After this vacation, Lauren would begin her seventh and final year at the school, while Michael would start his fourth.
Elizabeth and Jonathan's vacation also began several weeks ago. They were allotted some time to spend with their children, far away from the busy work at the Ministry of Magic.
While Mr. Sherwin worked in the Department of International Magical Cooperation as a member of the International Confederation of Wizards, Mrs. Sherwin had a job in the Department of Magical Transportation at the Apparition Test Center.
But Elizabeth could not really enjoy her well-deserved holiday with her husband and children. The recent news of Lord Voldemort's return upset her greatly, rivaling her anger at the fact that the Daily Prophet still tried to suppress these rumors by calling the headmaster of Hogwarts a tottery old man who had "lost his marbles" and Harry Potter a "lying lunatic who just wants to be standing in the spotlight and in the middle of everyone's attention". These days, she was always a bit grumpy and in a bad mood, due to the dark feeling of foreboding haunting her all the time.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Sherwin did not share the Daily Prophet's opinion. Their respect for Albus Dumbledore was too great to be destroyed by the ratty articles of the last few weeks. They couldn't find it in themselves to believe that everything he said about Voldemort's return was foolish and a complete lie.
It wasn't only the things going on in the wizarding world that concerned Elizabeth. A small voice inside her head told her that all the peaceful times they used to live in were now over. Still, she tried not to be too concerned about these morbid thoughts and lived her life as she had before.
With a smile on her face and a kind word for everyone, she tried to hide her bad mood and the deep concern she felt.
However, those attempts weren't always successful. Even on this beautiful Sunday morning, her strange feeling grew stronger every minute, becoming more intense as it had been doing several days before. She could not concentrate on anything and was consequently uncoordinated.
"Everything alright?" Jonathan asked as he walked down the stairs, his eyes still looking tired and small.
Just before he came down, he heard a loud crash. Elizabeth had sent a full set of dishes to the floor with an uncontrolled flick of her wand. The china shattered in hundred miniscule pieces.
For a second, Mrs. Sherwin stood immobilized in her place in the kitchen. Her hand, in which she still held her wand, was hanging limp at her side.
"Darling?" asked Jonathan, stepping closer to his wife. She gave no answer, seeming not to notice his presence.
"Hey mum! What's all that noise?"
Mrs. Sherwin cringed as Michael came rumbling down the wooden stairs. He was a tall, fourteen-year-old boy, and with his blond hair and piercing blue eyes he looked just like his father. As she finally realized she was not alone, Elizabeth waved her hand as if to shoo away a fly and with another flick of her wand she fixed the broken dishes.
"It's nothing. Just a little accident." she said smiling faintly before conjuring a big steaming tea pot and putting it on the table.
The three of them had barely taken a seat when Lauren, sleepy-eyed and still clad in her pajamas, slowly walked into the kitchen, looking as if she had just fallen out of bed.
"Mornin'." she mumbled and ran a hand through her long brown hair. Though usually slightly wavy, the tresses were now messy from sleep. Lauren lowered herself onto a chair next to her father.
"Look at this. Our princess finally made her way down for breakfast." Michael grinned and loaded scrambled eggs on his plate. Lauren said nothing, but shot a dark look at him and took one of the fresh buns.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sherwin opened the Daily Prophet, his wand in one hand with which he let some sugar and milk disappear in his hot coffee.
For a while none of them spoke, all busy eating, and Mr. Sherwin read the Prophet. After some minutes of scanning over the articles he suddenly threw the paper back on the table with a discontent grunt.
"Any news?" Elizabeth asked, looking up, but her husband shook his head.
"The same garbage as always. They should think of something new. It's getting boring." he said and stretched his arms.
"About Professor Dumbledore and Harry Potter?" Lauren asked, wiping her mouth with a napkin. Her father nodded grimly and the family fell into silence again. They had seen Mr. Sherwin have tantrums over the Daily Prophet every so often and already knew that it was more than frightening. Elizabeth had more than once suggested to read another paper but her husband refused without any reason.
Jonathan's gloomy mood and Elizabeth's dark brooding lay a strange and uncomfortable atmosphere above them; nobody wanted to utter a word. They all just kept eating and all that could be heard was the clatter of the silverware.
It was just then Mrs. Sherwin stood up so suddenly that her chair crashed to the floor with a loud noise. The others looked up in surprise.
"What...?" Jonathan asked, confused. Lauren and Michael looked at each other, both of them worried, but Elizabeth did not show any reaction. Her gaze had become glasslike and out of focus.
"Mum?" Michael, who had sat next to his mother, stood up and laid his hands carefully on Mrs. Sherwin¹s shoulders and shook her slightly. Again she showed no sign of a reaction.
"Oh no..." murmured Jonathan and with just a few steps he was at his wife's side, putting a firm grip on her shoulders. He started to shake her more violently than Michael had done.
"Elizabeth! Do not let it happen! Hold it back!"
Lauren and Michael backed off, frightened, watching the scene with terrified expressions. Elizabeth hung limp in Jonathan's arms, her head wiggling on her shoulders, eyeballs rolled to the inside of her skull and her mouth slightly open. Still she showed no reaction to Jonathan's attempts to free her from her trancelike state. The kids did not dare to say a single word, though Lauren gripped her brother's arm tightly.
Finally Jonathan gave up. His face was twisted, as if he was in pain, when he took Elizabeth into his arms and carried her to the living room, where he lay her down on the sofa. He eventually came back into the kitchen, his face pale.
"Dad, what's wrong with her? Is she... is she alright?" Lauren asked carefully, her face as pale as her fathers, her voice shaking. She sat down next to him, watching him as he nodded slowly.
"Yes. She is alright." he said, but Lauren and her brother exchanged worried glances.
"But... that's not everything. Right?" Michael asked and sat down on another chair, staring firmly at his father although his hands where shaking.
Mr. Sherwin slowly looked up and gazed at his children. For a while he said nothing, just looked at them, thinking. But then, as if he had silently argued with himself and finally came to a conclusion, he nodded.
"Good." he said, seeming to get his thoughts sorted and cleared his throat. "I think you two are old enough to hear the truth."
Jonathan stayed silent for a few more moments, his face now calm and concentrated. Then he started to speak again.
"Your mother is a Seer," he said plainly, without further explanation. His statement had obviously caught his children off guard, as Lauren's face suddenly went even more pale than it was before and she swallowed hard. Michael looked at his father as if he was out of his mind, his ice blue eyes wide open.
"A... Seer? A real Seer?" Lauren asked, her voice not more than a whisper. Jonathan nodded, his face gloomy again.
"Yes. A real Seer. And... she is having a vision, in this moment." as he said that, Mr. Sherwin looked even more concerned but he continued speaking.
"You have to know that there are different kinds of Seers in the wizarding world. Of course there are some people who claim to be Seers, but are little more than a bunch of drivelling idiots." He snorted and suddenly the picture of Lauren's former Divination teacher, Professor Trelawney, popped up in her mind.
"Well... as I said, there are different kinds of Seers who see the future in different ways. Some of them see things while they sleep, they just dream them. Others make prophecies. But there is another one, a third type, which your mother belongs to. They have sudden visions, falling into the state of a trance. That can happen anytime, in bright daylight like in your mother's case, or in the middle of the night, while they are asleep."
"And how long does she stay in that kind of trance?" Michael asked, suddenly looking helpless. Jonathan just shrugged.
"Seconds? Minutes? Hours? It depends on what she's seeing." he said, but neither Lauren nor Michael could completely figure out what he meant.
"Does she often have those visions?" asked Lauren, who had never seen her mother like this before.
"To be honest, no. This is the first one she's had in years." Jonathan answered sullenly. "And she never tells me what she sees," he added, answering Lauren's unspoken question.
"The only one who she talks to when she sees something is Albus Dumbledore," he finally said, running his hand over his face. He suddenly looked very tired.
"You have to know that seeing the future, knowing what is going to happen, is really dangerous. If you treat the things you know too carelessly... the consequences could be tremendous. Sometimes it causes more damage than it actually helps."
Lauren and Michael could tell from his gloomy tone that their parents had already had experiences with such situations, and as much they would like to know what they were, they refrained from asking. They knew Mr. Sherwin would not answer that question.
"We have hoped, that those visions would never come back again," their father said and shook his head again. "But it seems that this wish will not be granted."
Suddenly they heard hurried footsteps on the wooden floor and saw Mrs. Sherwin standing in the kitchen door. She was white as the wall, her whole body shaking with beads of sweat running down her temples.
"Elizabeth!" Jonathan shouted and jumped to his feet. With just a few steps he stood right beside his wife.
"Dumbledore... I have to speak to him, now!" she stuttered, her voice sounding hoarse. Jonathan nodded, took her hand and pulled her to the fireplace. With the help of his wand he ignited a sparkling fire.
"We will be back soon," Mr. Sherwin said before he threw a hand of floo powder into the fire. At once the flames turned emerald green.
Elizabeth squared her shoulders and took a hand of floo powder before stepping into the flames.
"Office of Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," she said, her voice sounding loud, clear, and determined now. There was a sudden movement and her body disappeared from the flames. Jonathan followed her immediately while Lauren and Michael remained behind.
