Renny: Fourth chapter of Historically, Not Awesome!
Green: . . .
Renny: Oh come on, are you still pissed at me?
Green: . . .
Renny: Hellooo?
Green: . . .
Renny: . . . At least do the disclaimer for me.
Green: . . .
Renny: Oh for . . . Red!
Red: Yeah?
Renny: Can you do the disclaimer for me? Green's not talking to me.
Red: Um, sure. Renny doesn't own pokemon.
Renny: On with the show!
OOOOOO
"Alright," Crystal said. "Let's make a list. Subjects you can do without having to use magic- anyone got any ideas?"
"You're the Ravenclaw." Pearl pointed out.
"I'm giving you bunch of numbnuts's a chance." Crystal snapped back.
"Uh . . ." Green said, and everyone looked at him. He shrank away. "I can still do Care of Magical Creatures." he squeaked.
"Hey, there's one!" Gold exclaimed. "Is Potions another one, cus sometimes Koga makes us use the cleaning charm on our cauldrons."
"Someone can just do it for him, so that's another one." Crystal said, making a note of that subject as well.
Yeah, somehow this had become a thing.
Making the list of lessons he could actually do without his magic (and every time he thought about that, Green felt like he was gonna burst out crying again) had been Crystal's idea, if only to keep track of what he could and couldn't do for the next two months, at least in regards to his lessons.
And for some reason, Red, Gold and Black invited themselves along. Green wasn't sure why or how, but it somehow seemed like they'd become part of their weird group of Hufflepuffs and a Ravenclaw, a Slytherin and a Gryffindor.
Well, now it was a group of Hufflepuffs, a Ravenclaw, a Slytherin and four Gryffindors.
And occasionally Lorelei, since they usually met up in the library despite the fact that Gold moaned about spending so much time in a giant room filled with books.
To be honest, Green usually tried to avoid being near Red. It was slightly impossible since Red appeared to think they had some weird connection ever since he sort . . . hugged Green when he was crying his eyes out after Oak took his wand, but even though there was a connection, Green didn't want to enforce it.
He did, really, but he couldn't. Because it was Red.
Green was actually kind of scared of Red, if he was honest with himself. Not because he'd done something terrifying or anything, but because he was Red. He was so amazing, and strong, and kind, and . . . and fucking hot as hell, and Green was scared because he was none of that, and still Red wanted to be around him.
He was also scared of him because he didn't want Red to find out about his . . . his love.
The others had stopped teasing him once Red became a kind of regular fixture in their group, thank Mew, but it didn't stop them from making kissy faces behind Red's back.
Anyway, back to the list thing.
"Charms and Transfiguration are out." Yellow said. "Unless Karen decides it's a theory lesson, in which case . . . I guess Transfiguration is half-half?"
"Defence Against the Dark Arts, too." Emerald said. "Surge can decide it's a practical or theory at any moment."
"Okay, so we've got two in the 'maybe' section." Crystal said, jotting those down.
"Did you just literally add that bit?" Green asked, leaning over.
Crystal yanked the paper away from him. "No." she snapped. "I most certainly did not just add an extra section because we never considered theory."
" . . . That's suspiciously specific denial." X said, in the silence that followed.
"Oh shut up, I'm the one writing this!" Crystal spat. "Now, what else?"
"Astronomy, both practical and theory, in the 'can do' section." Black said. "We don't need magic to write down the position of Mars or something."
"No one likes that subject anyway, you have to get up at midnight." Emerald muttered.
"Excuse me." X hissed.
"You're excused."
"Guys, stop." Y whined dramatically. "I guess History of Magic is also another 'can do' subject."
"Yep." Crystal agreed, and wrote down those three as well- both versions of Astronomy, theory and practical.
"What about Divination?" Dia wondered. "It's technically not magic, but they use crystal balls sometimes, which is a form of magic . . ."
" . . . Should I put that in the 'maybe' section?" Crystal asked, glancing at Green. "Unless it's a loophole, like Quidditch is."
"And thank fuck he didn't get banned from that!" Pearl yelled. "He's the best Seeker we've ever had- and there's also no replacement for him, either."
"I'm not the best, surely." Green protested, but he went silent when Pearl fixed an intense gaze on him.
"You bloody well are, kid." he said firmly. "When we're not playing Gryffindor, we're basically guaranteed a win. Unless Ravenclaw or Slytherin catch the Snitch first."
"Which happens almost never." Dia agreed.
"You're the best Seeker ever!" Yellow exclaimed happily. "And don't try to deny it, Green, we'll just keep saying it until you believe it."
"Why're you only guaranteed a win if you're not playing Gryffindor?" Red frowned.
Pearl opened his mouth, and Green hurled himself at the older boy.
"Again with the in-fighting." Dia sighed, not even bothering to get up this time. "Guys. Stop. You're gonna kill me."
"Then tell him to stop trying to tell everyone about that!" Green snapped back.
"You mean about your cru-" Emerald began, but Green yanked him down and basically just sat on him. "OH MY ARCEUS GET OFF YOUR BONY ASS IS DIGGING INTO MY FUCKING STOMACH."
"Haha, no, shut up." Green said flatly.
"I like how you don't deny that you've got a bony ass." Gold smirked.
Green yelped and fell off Emerald, who jumped up with a dramatic gasp of air.
"Are you done yet." Crystal said.
"Yes." Green, Pearl and Emerald replied.
"Good. Now, he can also do Herbology." Crystal put that down on the 'can do' list, and made a surprised sound. "Green . . . you don't actually need to use magic for a lot of your lessons."
"Really?" he asked, getting back onto his seat.
"Mm. The only one you full-on can't do is Charms, because it's never a theory lesson." she explained. "The ones you can do are Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, History of Magic, Herbology and Potions. The 'maybe' ones are Divination, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"That's actually not as bad as we thought it'd be." Red said, after everyone had thought that over.
"Are you kidding?" Crystal snapped. "He can't use magic, that means he's not even allowed to- . . ."
"Not allowed to what?" Yellow asked.
Not allowed to use his pokemagi magic. That what was what she wanted to say, but out of everyone here, only she and Emerald knew about him being a pokemagus. Crystal was one too, but the point still stood.
"He's basically not allowed to use magic period." Emerald said lazily. Leave it to him to save Crystal's ass again. "Which means, while the rest of us can wave our wands around and get shit done easily, he has to do it the hard way."
"Well, here's another loophole for you!" Y said. "Someone else can do the magic for him."
"Nice!" Pearl congratulated her.
"Why does everyone wanna do stuff for me?" Green wondered. "I've got you lot offering to protect me from basically everyone because of the fight, those three-" He pointed to the three Gryffindor boys. "-saved my ass from said fight, and then I've got Red offering to walk me back to the Hufflepuff dorms. Which, by the way, was a nice attempt but not even Crystal knows where the dorms are."
"We'll figure it out eventually." Gold promised him. "You guys are well-fed, kinda, and Dia's always on about what kind of food he's gonna ask for from the Mr. Mimes, so I'll assume that your dorms are somewhere near the kitchens."
"We will neither deny or confirm that statement." Yellow replied.
"So I'm right?"
"What Yellow said." X said.
"Fuckdammit." Gold snapped. "Just tell me where your dorms are!"
"No." the Hufflepuffs chorused.
"Arceus-dammed Hufflefluffs!" Gold yelled.
"Can you guys shut up." a Gryffindor seventh year snapped, coming around the corner of a bookcase. "Seriously, if you want to have a conversation, get the fuck out of the library and go to the courtyard- or, I dunno, how about your fucking common rooms."
"But I'm bored of the Gryffindor common room!" Gold whined.
"And the Ravenclaws just tell us to GTFO all the time." Y agreed.
"Fuck Slytherin." Emerald said, to which everyone agreed.
"Then go to the courtyard!" the seventh year hissed, and stormed off.
"Yeah, we probably should leave." Crystal sighed, when he was out of sight. "Lorelei only has so much patience, and with a group as big as ours . . ."
"Dude, we're practically a gang!" Gold grinned.
"Don't." Black groaned.
They did eventually leave, only after a few more seventh years came and told them to piss off.
They were about to split up- because it was after dinner and most normal people went to their common rooms or dorms instead of going to the library- when Red suddenly stopped and turned to Green. He seemed kind of embarrassed for some reason.
"Hey, uh . . ." he began. "Um . . . here."
Red shoved a piece of paper into Green's hands.
"I asked the Fat Lady to tell me all the passwords for this year." Red explained rapidly, as Green stared at him, stunned. "You know. In case you wanted to come in and, well, just hang out with me. And Gold and Black. And Y. So uh . . . there you go. Bye!"
Red rushed off to catch up with the other three Gryffindors, and Green was left feeling incredibly confused.
And then Pearl started making kissy noises.
Green glared at him and then, because he couldn't use his magic, decked Pearl in the stomach.
"Wow." Yellow said, as Pearl gasped about how unfair that was. "Emerald was right."
"Damn straight I am." Emerald agreed.
"You gotta admit though, Red did seem kind of flustered." Crystal hummed, appearing at Green's side. She glanced at him casually. "And he said you could hang out with him as well."
"And the others." Green mumbled, looking away.
"Yeah but he kinda added them as an afterthought." X replied, wandering past them. "He's got the hots for you."
"He does not!" Green yelled after him.
X just waved a hand carelessly as he disappeared around the corner.
" . . . Besides, he'd never like me." Green muttered.
"Don't." Crystal told him firmly, and he winced. "Stop putting yourself down like that. From now on, if I hear you saying stuff like that, I'm gonna spray you with a water bottle. Or some spell that'll soak you."
"But-"
Crystal folded her arms and glared at him. Green held her gaze for a few seconds, and then dropped it. He never was good at staring contests.
"Fine." he grumbled.
"Good boy. Now c'mon, we'd better get back to our dorms- and Gold's right, you know."
Green looked at her.
"We'll find out where your dorms are." Crystal said. "It might not be soon, but it'll happen at some point."
"Hah!" Pearl laughed. "No one but Hufflepuffs have been in our dorms for a thousand years, and we don't plan on breaking tradition. Good luck with figuring it out, Ravenbore."
"We'll do it eventually, Hufflefluffs!" Crystal fired back with a grin.
Great, they were gonna tease him forever about this now.
But the good news was he didn't need to wait for Y to appear if he wanted to go into the Gryffindor common room . . . not that he ever did, of course.
No, he hadn't thought about it. Shut up.
Seriously.
oooo
"So . . . you can't use magic anymore."
Green nodded, not daring to look up at Koga.
He didn't correct the Potions teacher- he wasn't allowed to use magic for the next two months- but he didn't want to piss him off. You know, in case Koga couldn't be bothered to repeat everything Green had just said.
"That won't necessarily have much of an impact on Potions lessons." Koga said, sitting down. He had some paper in his hands but he didn't give it to Green just yet. "You won't be able to do the cleaning spell yourself, of course, so I'll have to do it for you. Or one of your friends could."
Green nodded again.
"What I am worried about is Charms. Phoebe has never been known to do a theory lesson." Koga mused.
"Um-" Green broke off, and swallowed. "W-we thought that too. Me and my friends."
"Go on." Koga said, nodding at him slightly.
"C-Charms is the only lesson I'm gonna have the r-real problem in, sir." Green explained quietly. "The other a-are fine, because most of them are just- we don't actually use magic, not really, and sometimes there are theory lessons."
"Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration." Koga said.
"A-and Divination, sir."
Koga looked mildly surprised. "You take Divination?"
"Yeah." Green mumbled, well aware that most people- even some of the teachers- didn't really consider Divination a real subject. "Sir."
"Hm. Is it any good? Many students often treat Divination as a sort of . . . free lesson."
"I don't, sir." Green said, twitching a little bit. He was trying to avert his eyes, to look anywhere but Koga, and surely he must have noticed his nervousness by now. "I-I think . . . it's a good lesson. Morty's a good t-teacher."
"Some would call him a fraud." Koga softly said.
"He's not!" Green snapped, and then remembered who he was talking to. "S-sorry, sir, I didn't mean to-"
"No, it's alright." For some reason, Koga actually looked faintly amused. "At least I know there's more to you than the timid thing who comes into these extra sessions. I wonder, is your confidence born from being around your friends? Does it melt away if you have to face someone alone?"
Green kept quiet. He didn't really know how to answer that, and he had a feeling that anything he could have said was probably the wrong answer.
"I suppose you can't really answer, most likely you haven't even noticed." Koga hummed lightly. "Now . . . onto the lesson."
Finally. Green didn't want to discuss his private life with Hogwarts' most terrifying teacher.
"Today, we're starting on the alphabet." Koga told him. "And how it can help with your spelling, if you know it correctly."
"B-but I already know the alphabet, sir." Green replied, and wilted when Koga looked at him.
"If you say so. Go on then- recite the alphabet for me." Koga said, gesturing for him to begin.
"Can . . . can I have some paper, sir?" Green squeaked.
"No."
Oh. Shit. Um.
"If you take more than five seconds to say a letter, I will stop you." Koga informed him. "Go on. Say the alphabet, if you know it so well."
Great, now he was being patronised.
But he'd better start reciting, otherwise he might get actual detention. Not like this was detention, but it was kind of like it only . . . well, he learned words and stuff.
"A, B, C, E- no, D, E, F . . . G, H . . ." Green began. He was already faltering. "I, J, K, L . . . M? N, O, Q- wait hold on, P, Q, R . . . S . . . T . . . um . . . U, V-V . . . V . . . W! X, Y . . . Z."
And the only reason he knew X and Y was, of course, because of X and Y. You know, the people, not the actual letters themselves.
Seriously, who the fuck named them? Anyone with a normal name was apparently a complete dick, and anyone with a weird name was probably the nicest person on the planet (like Red?).
He waited for a few moments, shifting uncomfortably under Koga's carefully blank look. The man didn't react beyond blinking a couple of times.
" . . . I believe my point has been made." he eventually said.
"Huh? But, sir, I-"
Koga held up a hand and Green went silent.
"Yes, you managed to recite the entire alphabet." Koga said. "But you made quite a few mistakes, and you often had to think about which letter came next."
"Most people don't know the alphabet off the top of their head. Sir." Green mumbled, fully aware that was complete Tauros-shit.
"Perhaps not." Koga agreed, though his doubtful expression told Green all he needed to know about his opinion of that. "However, I think learning the alphabet- maybe not from memory, but close enough- learning the alphabet will help with your spelling. There are words that are spelt how they sound- for example, 'got'. How is that spelt?"
"G-O-T." Green promptly replied.
"Good. But there are other words which are spelled differently to how we actually say them, which is where the alphabet comes in. The three words you learned about the first time you were here- they're, there, their- are an example of this. But first, the words which are spelt how they sound. Do you know what this is called?"
"No, sir." Green said. He could honestly say that wasn't a hard thing to admit.
"Onomatopoeia." Koga told him. He gave Green a sheet of paper and took one for himself. "Do you know how to spell that?"
Green opened his mouth to say yes, but then paused.
It wouldn't actually do much good to lie here, would it?
"No, sir." he replied.
"I thought not. Think of the word itself like this- on a mat up 'ere." Koga explained. "It isn't literally spelt like that, of course, but thinking of the word like that will help you remember how to actually say it. Now, onomatopoeia isn't actually an example of a word being spelt how it sounds, so we'll leave that for a bit and come back once you feel comfortable with this."
As it turned out, Green's understanding of the alphabet was actually kind of limited- especially when he had to use it to try and spell different words.
But as the lesson went on, he found that it was becoming slightly easier to recall the letters. Well, the first half of the alphabet anyway. The second half would come later, and then Koga would give him a small test to see if he could combine both halves and spell different words without having to think too much about the alphabet.
So maybe there was more stuff to this spelling thing than he'd thought.
Crystal was waiting for him at the end of the dungeons, as usual when he was coming back from an extra session with Koga.
She was quiet while he explained what he'd learned, concentrating on walking up the stairs.
Once he'd finished, Crystal spoke.
"He's certainly a good teacher." she said. "Makes me wonder- if he didn't have magic, if he was a muggle . . . maybe he'd be an English teacher instead of a Potions one."
"English teacher?" Green asked.
"Basically someone who teaches what he's doing for you. Only kinda different." Crystal explained. "Wow, I really need to give you an education on muggle stuff, don't I?"
"Yeah, you do."
"Anyway . . . you want me to test you?"
She always asked that, and sometimes Green said no (because some things he'd learned he couldn't really say, he had to write them down, so Crystal tested him the next day instead), but this time he was gonna say yes.
Mostly because this was something he thought he knew, but actually didn't, so he wanted to get it right.
"First half of the alphabet- go." Crystal ordered.
"A, B, C, D, E, F, G . . . H, I, J, K . . . L, M." Green said. "That's thirteen letters, right?"
"Right!" Crystal grinned. "We'll make a Ravenclaw out of you yet."
"But I don't wanna solve a riddle every time I wanna go into the common room . . ."
"Oh come on, some of them are fun."
Green moaned. "No they're not- the last one was about Gastly. I don't like Gastly."
"Just because you're scared of Ghosts-"
"I am not scared of Ghosts!"
"Yes you are."
"No I'm not!"
"You're just as scared of Ghosts as much as you like Red. Which is a lot." Crystal informed him smugly.
"Fucking hell, I'm not in love with Red!" he snapped loudly.
"I never said love."
Green paused and stared at her, stunned.
"You . . . didn't?" he asked faintly.
Crystal looked at him, and suddenly all signs of laughter were gone from her expression- she looked incredibly serious, and Green was kind of wishing he was anywhere but here right now.
"You're in love with Red." she said, like she was just stating a simple fact. "Right? Green?"
He didn't answer her for a few seconds, and then he cracked.
"Yes!" Green barked. "Yes, okay? I'm in love with him, happy!? You and the others can tease me all you want to now that I've admitted it, alright?"
Crystal didn't say anything, and he turned away from her, arms folded.
For fuck's sake . . . he'd just given away what was meant to be a secret. Pearl and everyone else (mostly Pearl) constantly teased Green about his crush on Red, but now that Crystal knew he was actually in love with him . . .
Why in the hell could he never keep a secret to save his life? Hell, even the one about his 'relationship' with Oak probably wasn't even one, not with the way Oak treated him even when they were surrounded by people.
And now this.
"Green . . . we can't tease you for this." Crystal said softly.
Wait, what?
He turned around, slowly, as Crystal continued speaking. She was smiling at him much like how a sister- or mother- would, when they were being kind and comforting. She was also slightly amused.
"I'm just worried about you, that's all. It's what a best friend's for, right?" Crystal laughed, holding out her arms. "I'm just glad you finally got the balls to admit it- to me and yourself. C'mere."
"The second I get my magic back, I'm kicking your ass in our mock battles." Green muttered, but he walked into the hug anyway.
Just before they parted, he heard Crystal say something in his ear.
"I won't tell anyone else." she whispered.
" . . . Thank you." he murmured back, smiling.
oooo
The next couple of months actually weren't too bad.
Yeah, he had to deal with the constant reminder that he wasn't allowed to use magic in a school that was based on teaching its' students about magic, but other than that . . . it was fine. Ish.
Normally he and Crystal would have mock battles in their pokemagi forms at least once or twice a week, but obviously they couldn't right now. So Green settled for using Crystal's Growlithe form as a way to train his three pokemon; Charmander, Pidgeotto and Scyther.
She was happy with that as a substitute, until he started beating her all the time. Then she started complaining.
Haha. Like she was gonna stop battling him just because she kept losing suddenly.
The only downside was that she had extra training, and he would have to catch up- and fast- the minute he could.
But the night before he was meant to get his wand back- and he was looking forward to it, but also dreading it because he'd be alone with his grandpa- Green dreamed.
It wasn't like his usual ones, he didn't See small bits of future scenes coupled with voices and words and sounds.
He Saw flashes of things to come, some of them dark and hard to make out, but others were so detailed Green wished he'd never Seen them.
And the screams.
It was like a thousand people screaming in not-quite unison, like they were being tortured over and over again. He Saw flashes of people in chains, bloody faces and bodies, twisted beyond recognition.
He Saw his own friends, several times. Torn, bloody, broken and screaming.
Green thought maybe he screamed once or twice, but he couldn't be sure because his voice was drowned out, lost in the other voices crying out and screeching.
Some images he Saw showed him pokemon as well, some of them being tortured and torn apart, others doing the torturing.
"Green!"
His eyes snapped open and he realised he was shivering.
And he was cold.
Ritchie was kneeling on his bed, half crouching over him and shaking him. X was hovering nearby, looking torn between being his usual aloof self and rushing forward to copy Ritchie.
" . . . You alright?" Ritchie asked softly, once he was sure that Green was actually awake.
"I . . ." Green trailed off and swallowed. "I don't know . . ."
Ritchie's tortured body came into his mind and he flinched away. Then X's popped up as well, just to make sure he knew the dream was still there.
"Normally I'd say go and get Crystal, but . . ." X sighed. "Dammit. We'll need to take him to her."
"Why?" Ritchie frowned. "What can she do?"
"No idea, but she knows him better than we do."
So that's what they did.
Technically, no students- nevermind three fourth years and a Pikachu- were allowed out of their dorm rooms at this hour. From what Green could see, it was basically sometime past midnight.
He hardly paid attention as X and Ritchie led him through the hallways, only being able to see because of Sparky's Flash.
Some of the paintings, woken by the sudden light, glanced their way, about to complain- but when they saw Green they kept quiet.
He had no idea what he looked like, probably pale and shaky, but he didn't care.
The dream kept flashing through his mind, and he kept freezing up whenever he saw one of his friends- and then suddenly he realise that he was Seeing new images and hearing new screams.
That had never happened before.
He only ever Saw things when he was asleep, he'd never Seen anything when he was awake- was he losing control of his Seer abilities?
Maybe taking him to Crystal wasn't a good idea. Maybe it'd be better if X and Ritchie took him to Morty instead.
But he couldn't tell them what was going on, he couldn't tell them that he was a Seer, so Green kept quiet and let them believe that he was just re-living the dream instead of Seeing new futures.
And he knew there was more than one possibility mixed in, because sometimes he Saw the same people or pokemon (his friends, his pokemon) with different wounds and breaks and missing parts of their bodies.
By the time they got to the Ravenclaw tower, he was barely keeping back from screaming himself.
And the damn door wasn't helping at all.
"We don't have time for a riddle, just let us in!" Ritchie snapped.
"Answer the riddle, you go in. Those are the rules." it replied calmly.
"Look, we just need to find a single person, alright?" X hissed. "One person. I've heard you can call someone down to open the door if someone can't answer the riddle, right? Well, call down Crystal Kotone. Now. Or I'll get Kanga to Mega Punch you open!"
It was the loudest he'd ever spoken, and Green was momentarily distracted from his terror and the new level of whatever the hell this was meant to be.
" . . . Very well." the door eventually said.
Waiting was pure agony, because he kept on Seeing more images and hearing more tortures . . . and Green ended up curled against the wall, hands over his ears.
Not that covering his ears did much help. It was all literally in his head, and he could sense- sense, sense, how was he sensing this?- Ritchie and X's worry.
They thought he was going insane. Maybe he was.
The door opened and Crystal looked at them, tired and cranky as ever- if anyone woke her up when she didn't want to be woken up, she'd probably kill them.
But then she saw Green, huddled on the floor and on the verge of a total meltdown, and immediately rushed over to his side.
"What is it?" she whispered, wrapping her arms around him. "Green? What did you See?"
"Seeing." Green corrected her, just barely getting the word out. "Seeing. Still . . . still Seeing. Can't . . . can't s-stop . . ."
Crystal was horrified, and he could- could sense it. Was he an empath now? Was that what had happened? Had he suddenly developed more supernatural abilities other than his magic and Seer abilities?
But . . . no. He could sense the horror from Crystal, yeah, but not in the way that Morty said an empath would. This felt more like he was Seeing her horror, but he wasn't looking at her.
So maybe his Seer abilities were going crazy or something.
"I'm taking you to Morty." Crystal muttered. "Alright? Is that okay? Do you want me to-"
He nodded frantically, and she squeezed him gently before standing up to face Ritchie and X, who were looking on, both confused and worried at the same time.
"You two can go back to bed, I'll take it from here." she said.
"What? No way, we're staying with him." Ritchie immediately protested. "Whatever he dreamed about, it's bad, we can't just leave him like this!"
But X only looked at Crystal. It didn't seem like he knew more than he should, but he knew something was going on.
"Ritchie, come on." X said.
"But-"
"Ritchie."
They both looked at each other for a few moments, and then Ritchie reluctantly nodded.
Once they were gone, though it took a long time because Ritchie kept looking back, Crystal kneeled down with her wand lit up, glowing softly.
"Come on, Green." she gently said. "We're not too far from Morty's office- or, well, his classroom. Doesn't he basically sleep in there?"
"Yeah . . ." Green murmured.
"Alright then. We'll go slow, alright? Come on, get up . . . there we go-" Crystal broke off when he flinched. "What is it?"
"You." he whispered, staggering against the wall. "I-I keep . . . S-Seeing you. You're- you're hurt and screaming a-and . . ."
" . . . Dear Mew." Crystal gasped softly. "That's it, forget going slow, we're getting there as fast as possible, just try and ignore the- I wanna say dreams, but you're not asleep . . . visions. Ignore the visions, alright?"
"I'll t-try . . ." he whimpered.
He did try, really he did, but the visions kept coming and he couldn't stop them. He'd never bothered to learn how to stop any of his dreams before because, well, they were dreams- there was no way you could really stop a dream unless you woke up.
Luckily Crystal had the uncanny ability to grit her teeth and pretend like she didn't see him like this, which Green was thankful for because it meant she didn't stop or slow down to try and help him every time he flinched or cried out.
By the time they got to the Divination tower, Green was Seeing more than he was actually seeing, and he was almost blind to the real world.
Dammit, what was going on with him? He hadn't even been thinking about this kind of stuff, why was he Seeing this?
Morty eventually opened the classroom door, took one look at Green, and pulled them both into the classroom/office/whatever.
"Sit him down there." Morty ordered, going over to come cupboards filled with . . . whatever. Green didn't know, he never asked and he didn't really want to find out.
Crystal helped Green onto a massive pillow (or massive to them, they were just students after all) and sat down next to him. Her grip on his hand briefly tightened whenever he flinched, which kind of helped anchor him to the real world and not the ones he was Seeing.
Morty came over with a warm mug of- well, Green didn't actually know, but it looked like hot chocolate.
The Divination teacher handed the mug to him, and sat down on a pillow opposite.
"Drink." Morty said, somehow calm. It was a contrast to what Green was feeling. "It's hot chocolate- mixed with some herbs. It'll help calm you."
Green could just barely stop shaking enough to actually not spill the mug's contents all over his lap.
"What happened?" Morty asked Crystal.
For half a second Green wondered why he wasn't being asked that, but then he realised he wasn't in much condition to answer any kind of question.
"I don't know." Crystal said, with a concerned glance at Green. "Ritchie and X brought him to the Ravenclaw door. I . . . he said he was Seeing things. Like he usually does when he's asleep. But- well, this is obvious, sir, he's not asleep. So how is he still Seeing things?"
This time, an image of Morty's broken body flashed by, and Green yelped. He almost dropped the mug but Morty caught it, and waved his wand to clean up the spill.
"What were you doing before you fell asleep?" Morty asked Green, placing the mug between them.
"I . . . I-I was . . ." Green really wished he hadn't dropped the mug, he was getting worked up again.
Morty reached over and touched his wrist, and suddenly Green felt calmness flooding into him like a gentle stream.
He looked up.
"You forget, I'm also an empath." Morty explained softly. "Now, tell me. What were you doing? What were you thinking about?"
Morty obviously didn't need to ask what he was Seeing, he'd probably seen that for himself by now.
"I- I'm getting my wand back. Tomorrow- uh, today." Green stammered. "I w-was . . I was thinking about that, I think, w-when I fell asleep."
Morty blinked and tilted his head, much like a Noctowl when it was studying something interesting.
"Hm." was all he said.
"Is that why?" Crystal asked. "Did- did this all kind of spark some sort of reaction with his Seer abilities?"
Morty was silent for a few moments.
" . . . Normally, when a Seer reaches a new level of power- for example, what appears to be happening right now- it is the result of severe mental and emotional stress, one often contradicting the other." Morty told them. "You have been without magic for the past two months. Getting your wand back would be the result of severe mental stress, because you are looking forward to it."
"Y-yeah." Green mumbled. "But why- why would that be stressful?"
"You've had magic your entire life. It was never a question, but a fact, unlike with Miss Kotone and her brother." Morty said. "So to suddenly not have it- even for such a short time- was surely a shocking period for you. And now you will be getting it back, and you're so excited about it that you can hardly wait for it, yes?"
"Uh-huh." Green nodded slightly. Another vision flickered in his mind, but Morty kept it away for him.
Thank Mew he was a powerful Seer and empath, otherwise Green'd have to deal with this on his own.
"Stress sometimes doesn't have to necessarily be from negative things." Morty explained. "It can also be from things like this- something that makes a person so excited and joyful that they can hardly contain it, and it puts a strain on their mind. You're so excited about getting your wand, and your magic, back that your causing severe mental stress to yourself."
"Oh, Green . . ." Crystal sighed, exasperated. "I keep telling you to not bottle things up."
"You k-keep saying not to bottle the bad s-stuff up." Green reminded her. "You said n-nothing about this stuff."
Morty watched them, amused. Then he dropped the bombshell.
"Your emotional stress is quite the opposite, however." he said, and Green and Crystal snapped their heads up to look at him in shock. "Yes . . . you are afraid, I believe. Not of getting your wand back, but of facing your grandfather alone. Any encounter with him has never ended well for you emotionally. This puts strain on your emotional state, and causes negative emotional stress- which contradicts the mental stress, and created a massive rise in your Seer abilities that you would have experienced naturally within a few years."
"Green . . ." This time she sounded more worried instead of exasperated.
"I . . . I know I'm scared of him." Green whispered, wanting to curl up in a corner somewhere and never comde out. "But . . . but I have to go, cus I need my wand back . . . I need my magic back."
"Yes, I am aware." Morty murmured. "I have never agreed with how he treats you- like some sort of doll that he can just dress up or do whatever he wishes with- and the emotional damage that man has done to you has gotten worse through each encounter with him. I am not certain if any other teacher has noticed this, so I cannot call Professor Oak out on this. If I could help you, I would."
"I know. Thank you." Green mumbled, looking at his shaking hands. Morty tightened his grip on Green's wrist gently, and he felt somewhat better.
Emapths were fucking amazing, seriously.
"However . . . because of your contradicting states, you have indeed created a strain on yourself which your abilities answered to." Morty said.
"By giving him a whole new level of power." Crystal concluded, and Morty nodded.
"There is no quick fix to this, I'm afraid. Most Seers who come into this level of power do it naturally, so they learn to live with it gradually- but this is not the case, obviously." Morty sighed.
He stood up, taking his hand off Green (oh Mew why why why would he do that the fear), and went back over to the cupboard.
Green watched him rifle through it for a few moments, and then he pulled something out.
Morty sat back down on the pillow and placed a strange amber pendant between them.
"I Saw into a possible future where you came into your new abilities far too early." Morty explained, when Green and Crystal looked blank. "However, that one didn't come to pass- thankfully, because you were only in second year. I kept this pendant though, just in case anything like this did happen. Most people outside of psychic circles don't know of these pedants' existance, and those that do have little knowledge about their abilities. I won't go into detail because it is a theory even I cannot grasp fully, but the basic idea is this- it helps you to control your Seer abilities.
"Not to the extent that you can stop Seeing visions when you are wide awake- and that said, nothing can stop you from Seeing during your sleep, not even this pendant- but it will give you the option of Seeing something." Morty picked up the pendant and held it out to Green, who took it carefully. "Think of it like a dreamcatcher, but for visions instead of dreams. If you are about to See something, this pendant will take the vision and 'store' it for you. It will glow when it has a vision inside of it, and when you hold it, the pendant will allow you to See the vision. If you do not wish to See it, you can simply brush a finger against the pendant, and the vision will disappear."
"So it's like some sort of TV for Seers?" Crystal asked.
Even Morty was confused.
"What is a TV?" he asked.
"It's . . . you can view stuff. Like . . . programmes and movies." Crystal tried to explain. "Green, I told you about this, remember?"
"You did? O-oh, right!" he exclaimed. "It's the magic box with the moving pictures, right? Only they have sound?"
" . . . Yeah, sure."
"Muggles are strange people." Morty commented, and Green agreed with him.
Well, at least he knew what was going on. And he had a way to control his new abilities- which basically appeared to consist of randomly having visions when he was awake, not just dreaming and Seeing something then.
The only bad news was that the pendant couldn't stop him from dreaming, so he'd still have to go through with Seeing whatever when he was asleep.
OOOOOO
Renny: Woah, okay, where the fuck did that last bit come from?
Green: Seriously? You're the one writing this.
Renny: Yeah but I just write whatever comes to mind, originally I was planning on having the Gryffindor V Slytherin Quidditch match at the end of this chapter, not this sudden increase in weirdness.
Green: Right, sure.
Renny: Oh, so you are actually talking to me then?
Green: Ugh. Why do I put up with you, seriously?
Renny: Because you love me.
Green: No, you just drag me in here and the damn door disappears when I try to leave.
Renny: I'll repeat what the Hufflepuffs said earlier- I can neither confirm nor deny that statement. Read and review!