Rowena Ravenclaw had been restless lately. She was pacing back and forth in front of the open windows in her room. It was night out, but the full moon and stars were letting in more than enough light to see by. She had been feeling like something was going to happen for weeks now and she couldn't shake that feeling no matter what she did or what happened. This wasn't usual for her to feel like this, she was usually so assured of what was going to happen. She had been since she was just a little girl, always sure about her future and what would happen, it was never something she really felt nervous about, so this feeling was very abnormal. Her gaze fell upon her crystal ball, 'Aha! That's just what I need!' she thought as she settled down in her arm chair in front of it. This would help her feel better, she was sure of it.
She gazed into the ball clearing her mind as she tried to see within its smoky depths. As hard as she tried though nothing appeared and she sighed before pouring herself some tea. Perhaps reading some tea leaves would provide some comfort. She put in some milk and sugar before sipping on the tea. She almost choked though. It was disgusting! What was in there? She poured out the tea cup, well that wasn't going to work either.
She did not like having a clouded inner eye. Her eyes landed on her well worn cards and she picked them up shuffling them not expecting them to be any help either. She put down five cards face down. "Let's see now," she said to herself. "Let's start with the present," she decided turning it over. "The Rose…" she nodded a little. "Contemplation of love and letting others make choices for themselves…" her daughter was a woman now and making her own decisions. She wasn't sure it was easy to accept that though and she wasn't sure her thoughts and feelings were because of her daughter though. "Perhaps the past…" she turned it over finding the card of invocation. "My past is still relevant for my present and future. I need to use those gifts for the future, something is coming, something is preparing me to be ready to receive it." The above card, what was overlying everything. "Sanctuary…" she breathed out. "I must retreat from my worldly cares…" she had to put her daughter out of her mind for now. She couldn't keep her a child forever. And right now something more was important, something was trying to come through, but it couldn't if she was focused on Helena.
"Below…" she nodded. "What is underlying everything…Compassion." She nodded. "Through my compassion for others and for the future I can find what I need to know. Something, something more…" she murmured as her eyes landed on the last card. The Future Card.
With a tentative hand she reached out to turn this one over as she had done all the other. She felt fear enter her being. The card of War…War was coming to the wizarding world. She didn't know when and she didn't know how, but she knew that War was coming. The Wizarding World would face its darkest hour. Darker and more terrible than what they had ever known before.
The crystal ball lit up suddenly and she turned to it placing her hands on the cool glass. "What do you wish to show me? What must I know?" A boy appeared in the swirling fog of the ball: A boy with dark hair and spectacles on his face, a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. "He is our only hope…" she whispered to the darkness. "Our only light in a sea of darkness…"
She knew it would be many, many years and several generations would pass away before then, but she knew that it would come to pass. And only this boy could save them all.
