On the first day of classes, Professor Dumbledore had returned and continued our classes. I immediately thanked him for giving me the photo album, but then asked if he'd found anything else in my home.

"I'm afraid your house has already been sold and purchased by a new family. I managed to track down the photo album from another location before it was destroyed. It had been overlooked when your home was cleared of anything valuable."

"Have you found out anything new about what Voldemort wants with me?" Dumbledore shook his head. I sighed, wishing he could find something out, but I realized my impatience wasn't helping him. He was doing everything he could for me, including protecting me by hiding me in his school.

"Professor McGonagall informed me of the dream you had over the holiday. I assume nothing has happened since then?" I assured him nothing had happened, with Malfoy home for the break. He nodded, and then switched topics completely on me. "I was wondering if you might indulge me. I have been giving your abilities a great deal of thought, and wondered if I might run a sort of experiment on you. It will not hurt you physically, though it may strain your mind a bit. Are you willing to try?"

"I guess."

"You've never been able to call on your abilities, but rather they manifest rather randomly. When you studied crystal balls with Professor Trelawney, though, you saw something. I wondered if we might try again, and see if you could begin to develop these abilities more."

I followed him to a table at the other end of the room, and sat down across from him. Between us was a crystal ball like the ones used in Professor Trelawney's class. I wondered if I'd be able to focus myself and train myself to see in to the future. Obviously I'd had more dreams since being around the wizarding world, so maybe it was possible. I had the fleeting idea that maybe somewhere back in my ancestry there was a witch or wizard with some seeing abilities, and somehow they'd skipped all the previous generations before me. But that was probably impossible, so I focused my attention back on the crystal ball.

I tried to remember what I'd been thinking about when I saw something the first time in the ball, but I couldn't remember thinking about anything, except doing what I was told. So I tried to clear my mind and focus on the future. I could see Professor Dumbledore looking at me from the other side of the table, and wondered what he was thinking. Did he think I had the ability to look into the future at will if I practiced? Is that why he was having me do this? Did he want to use me to help fight against Voldemort? Would I even be useable in that way? These questions and more filled my head, keeping me from focusing on the crystal ball. After several minutes of nothing, I gave up and looked at Professor Dumbledore.

"I guess I can't do it. I'm sorry."

"You've done nothing wrong; you need not apologize. Perhaps you just need more time to practice. After all, very few witches or wizards get their first spells right on the first try. That's why they come to school, to practice." I nodded, not sure if he was being polite or truly believed I just needed to practice. "Why don't you continue to practice on your own time? You don't need a crystal ball, just close your eyes and try to see something in your mind's eye. If it helps, focus on a person and see if that helps you."

After that, he sent me off to my next class. During Divination class that day, I ignored what Professor Trelawney was talking about, something to do with tea leaves, closed my eyes, and tried to see into the future. With Harry sitting across from me, I decided to try focusing on him. Several minutes passed and nothing happened. I kept trying though, deciding I had nothing else to really do in that class. After several more minutes, Harry's face appeared in my mind's eye. He was very clear, but he looked different. He had a cut above his right eye that was bleeding badly, and his glasses were cracked and sitting crooked on his face.

"Amanda?" Harry's voice pulled me out of my trance, causing me to lose the picture before I could see anything else. "Are you okay? You've been sitting there, not moving, for ten minutes now. Class is over."

"Sorry, I was trying something Professor Dumbledore suggested." I followed him out of the classroom and spoke as we walked towards the dining hall. "He suggested I try and develop my abilities more, so I was focusing on seeing into the future during class."

"Did you see anything?"

"Not at first. So I tried concentrating on you, and then I did see something. I saw you, but you were bleeding and your glasses were broken. You looked like you'd been in a fight. But then I lost the picture when you spoke."

"Sorry."

"It's okay, you didn't know what I was doing. And besides, I'm starving."

For the rest of the week, I tried hard to channel my abilities and see into the future when I wanted to, rather than just waiting for it to happen. But aside from the time in Divination, I was unable to see anything. I became frustrated, but Dumbledore encouraged me to keep trying. He said I just needed more practice. He fully believed I had the ability to see the future at will, I just had to discipline my mind.