I slept right through to lunch the next day. I woke up still troubled by the news. My twin sister was engaged. At eighteen. I had gone to a school dance, and she had become engaged. Everyone always compared us, everyone including us, and I felt more behind than ever. Was I jealous? Not exactly, I didn't want to be engaged, but did she have to go and do this? She was just too young. I mean, settling down at eighteen was just so foolish. We still had so much growing up to do, didn't we? Or was it just me?

"Well, you do like Anthony right?" Fay asked me as she scribbled arithmancy equations onto a piece of parchment.

"Yeah."

"So, what's bothering you then?"

"Nothing, it's just that we're so young, aren't we? I mean when do you want to get married Fay?"

"Gosh, I don't know, whenever I meet the perfect guy I guess."

"But would you get married now, wouldn't you wait a while?"

Fay brushed her quill across her cheek as she thought about it. "I can see wanting to wait, but if you're in love and you know it's the right person, why wait? I mean witches and wizards get married right out of school all the time. What do you think Dean?" she asked Dean who had sat quietly through our discussion.

I was more than a bit curious to find out what he thought. "Well, I guess I don't really see the point in dating for a long time. You either know or you don't."

"Yeah but how long is too long?" Fay asked abandoning her Arithmancy equation. We had been dating for only two months. Surely his answer would be far longer than that.

"I don't know, I guess long enough to know the person and know how well you get along. No more than a year surely, maybe six months."

"Six months?" I gasped out.

"Well, what's the point in getting so entangled if you know you don't want to marry the person?" he asked matter of factly. So in four months or less, Dean would want to get married or not. It felt like a ticking bomb.

"No need to look so frightened," Dean laughed. "Why, what did you think?"

What the hell did I think. I don't think I had considered the subject at all. "I think you know, you date, and have fun, and get married when you're older, I guess." I responded lamely.

"Oh," Dean said and even though only inches separated the two of us seated right next to each other, he was suddenly miles away. I glanced at Fay who pulled a "this is awkward" face and then looked back down at her parchment, clearly having lost her place in her equations. "So when exactly were you thinking of getting married then? Two years? Five years? Ten years?"

"I don't know, I wasn't really thinking about it at all. You're a muggleborn Dean, don't Muggles usually get married later?"

"I may be a Muggleborn, but I've been living in wizarding culture for the last seven and a half years," he said a bit defensively.

"Dean, you know I didn't mean anything by it," I said apologetically.

"Well, congratulate Padma and Anthony for me, actually nevermind, I'll just send him an owl myself, I feel like your congratulations might be a bit underwhelming," Dean said before getting up and leaving to work on a Herbology project with Neville.

Quidditch practice this afternoon had been cancelled, thank goodness, because Slytherin had booked the pitch despite Ginny's standing weekly reservation. Malfoy had insisted that Gryffindor had erased their name from the parchment pinned outside the locker room, and Ginny had accused him of erasing it himself. He had stormed away in a huff, but I rather think he was right. I remembered a slightly knackered McLaggen suggesting that someone do that last night. Ginny was still livid almost a whole hour after finding out, but I was thankful that my body, sore from dancing for so many hours last night, could take the day off. Anyhow, I had my own appointment to keep with Firenze, so I got up and beat a hasty retreat from the awkwardness Dean and I had left at the table.

"I've had a visit from Professor Tonks," Professor Firenze informed me once I had arrived at his frozen clearing near the edge of the woods. I cast a quick warming spell on myself and finally unfolded my arms that were wrapped tightly around my body. "She informed me of your little forecasting session in her office." I waited solemnly for him to continue. "I think you are progressing faster than I thought."

"What does that mean Professor?"

"I think that you actually briefly slowed time in order to better see your vision. Remarkable really. Miss Patil, we all come into this world with our fates, but most of us cannot see anything but the present, where we are right now. But some rare people, like yourself can glimpse fate, with growing strength and frequency."

"But Professor, surely we all make choices that can change our fate," I wanted him to admit the future wasn't a done deal.

"So? Any choice we make will still allow us to live only one path, only one fate."

"But after I glimpse a fate, I can change it. A dark haired Slytherin is going to get attacked in the woods, what if all the boys shaved their heads, or dyed it blond."

Professor Firenze sighed. "None of that will make the least bit of difference, and in any case you'd never be able to convince them to try."

"Maybe not, but I could convince Professor Tonks to force them to."

"Conduct your little experiment if you need, Miss Patil, but it won't make a difference. People cling to their fates. Believe me. It's all so entangled, that attempting to untangle them will never work."

I was so frustrated. He was such a frustrating stubborn stupid man-horse.

"I know what your thinking," he stepped around me in a circle. "It is not my doing, it is just the way of things."

"I can't accept that. I have to try. I obviously could change fate. I saw my boyfriend happy with another girl, someone with red hair. But if we got married tomorrow, that wouldn't happen," I thought I had made a logical argument.

"You think not?"

"No."

"He could leave you for someone else."

"He wouldn't, you don't know him, he's a very loyal person, almost to a fault."

"You could die then, and he finds a new lover." He had me there. And he said 'lover', ew.

"Or I could kill him and then he finds no one."

Firenze laughed, "But you wouldn't."

"I could burn down the house I saw them near."

"Intriguing, that seems more feasible," Firenze humored me.

I sighed, "But I never would."

"Why's that?"

"The house, it's very important to him. It gives him hope for a happy future," I said defeated.

"Too bad."

"But I will think of a practical way to avoid my Slytherin vision, I just know I can."

"All right, Miss Patil, I see that you will need to learn this lesson for yourself, the hard way." Damn right I did. "Very well, now as for your ability, are you taking any precautions."

"Precautions sir?"

He huffed again, as if I couldn't stop disappointing him. "Yes precautions, against discovery? You are the only known Seer presently at the school, and maybe the only Vorix who has ever attended. I'm afraid that now that knowledge of your ability is spreading amongst the staff, it will eventually spread amongst the students who might not deal with it maturely."

"I'm aware of that professor, believe me, everyone that knows right now has promised not to tell."

"My dear, don't be so foolish as to think that a dozen people can know any secret without the whole world eventually finding out. It is just a matter of time," he said before walking in a tight circle to stretch his legs. "Now have you been doing your meditation exercises?" Whoops, completely forgot about those.

I left my meeting with Firenze upset and terrified, but couldn't go back to the castle yet as I wanted to avoid certain people for a few hours longer, and so began walking the school grounds. I found myself out close to the Black Lake and curiousity propelled me forward until I was standing near it's shore. I gazed out at the water and knew there were many Mer-people concealed in its depths. They were odd looking creatures, pale with pointy features. Is that what my grandmother had looked like as well, before she was transfigured? In the old photographs, she had looked beautiful. How had they fallen in love anyhow?

I was lost in thought and failed to notice the first splash or even the second. When I finally looked out about a dozen Mer people had surfaced, glittering in the cold sunlight. Their long blue-green hair, even the men wore it long, glided straight down their bodies. They wore no clothing, but most of their torsos were concealed by their long hair. One sank down so only her eyes were above water and started to sing. It was a melancholy tune, and I couldn't make out the words from above the water. More and more voices joined her melody until it started echoing around me, growing in strength.

I stood listening, entranced, and after a few minutes one of the mermen surfaced and gestured for me to come into the water. I knew it was a risky, but my curiousity was so great that it bolstered my courage. Besides my grandmother had been one of these creatures, and she'd been the sweetest kindest person I'd ever known. I carefully took off my cloak and shoes, then my robes until I was standing in just my underwear. I was far from the castle and not too concerned with being discovered by another student out at the lake on this cold day. I dipped a foot into the water and found it surprisingly warm, from the magic of the Mer-people surely. I kept walking down the sloped bank until my head submerged, with my long hair floating loose around me. The mer people moved to make an uncomfortably close circle around me, I could hear a snippet of their song.

Where darkness flows bring us light

Wash away fear so we don't lose the fight

Show us the tunes we were meant to sing

Fear not the end of all things

I was running out of air. Their lyrics induced a panic that pummeled me like a giant wave. My way to the shore was blocked by horrible singing merpeople. I kept turning around and around until I was disoriented. I kicked to the surface and gasped in a freezing breath before being gently tugged back down into the warm water. I didn't want to look at their faces. I pushed and shoved my way through to the shore and thankfully the merpeople put up little resistance but kept singing their song. As I emerged from the water I was more cold than I'd ever been. Above water the merpeople popped, their voices shrill, continuing their song in indiscernable deafening screeches. I collapsed on shore shivering.

Within moments or minutes, I'm not sure, I saw two sets of boots in front of my eyes. Quidditch boots. I looked up and saw the horrifying sight of Malfoy and Flint in their Quidditch gear looking down at me. Flint had covered his ears and Malfoy had drawn his wand. He screamed threats at the merpeople until they submerged back into the lake. After that was done he drew his attention back to me.

I was too disturbed by what had happened with the merpeople to properly experience the epic levels of humiliation I should have been feeling. I was soaking wet, in my underwear, which wet left pretty much zero to the imagination, in front of two Slytherins, collapsed helplessly on the ground. And it was freezing. Yup zero to the imagination. And my hair was a tangled frozen mess sticking to every part of my body. And I just had to wear such god damn practical white cotton underwear today. If it hadn't been white, it wouldn't have turned see through would it? From now onwards only black should be considered practical. Obviously people had not factored in the possibility of ending up undressed and soaked in front of your enemies. Well Malfoy was an enemy anyway. So far Flint had seemed all right.

The aforementioned all right person hastily removed his cloak and tossed it wide over my body. With it came his warmth and I couldn't have been more grateful. I pulled it tight around me and sat up gingerly to keep it from falling off as I did so. "Thanks," I managed to say through chattering teeth.

"What the hell is going on?" Malfoy exploded.

"I...I was in...the water...," I managed to get out. Michael had gone a delicate shade of pink. I would have been blushing too if any warmth could reach my face.

"No kidding," Malfoy said, but somehow the sarcasm didn't quite make it into his voice. I'd stunned Malfoy. Victory? No I'd lost way too much dignity. "We heard the infernal screeching mer-weirdos on our way to the pitch. What were you doing in the water?"

"I can't...say," I responded.

"Do you need to go to the infirmary?" Michael asked.

I barely shook my head when Malfoy blurted out, "What the hell were you doing? You weren't trying to off yourself or something were you?"

"No!" I answered as loudly as my weak voice allowed. I tried to stand up while drawing Michael's cloak around me, but it unfortunately slipped and I flashed the two boys once more. Michael went a darker shade of red and I hurriedly bent over to pick the cloak up again. Even Malfoy turned pink this time, but continued to glare at me. "It was just an accident," I tried.

"You accidentally took off all your clothes in the freezing cold, and fell into the lake?" Malfoy asked and even Flint smiled a little.

"No, I-", I looked about searching for an explanation, but nothing came to me.

"Oh I see," Draco started laughing. "Is Thomas hiding somewhere around here with no clothes on? You can come out now lover boy!"

I did blush this time. "Dean is not here!"

"Someone else then? Naughty, naughty."

"No!"

"What, did you two get caught skinny dipping by the mermaids?" Malfoy looked out at the lake. "That is so tacky, Patil, even for you." I could see this mistake would cost me. I would be the school laughingstock before dinner.

"Let it go Draco. She helped me out once, maybe this time we let this slide," Michael said. Oh yes, good karma finally rewarding me.

"Fine, maybe just this once, for old softy Flint's sake here. IF... you tell me the truth about what you were doing in the lake," Malfoy looked at me with an intensity I couldn't quite place.

"I wanted to hear what the merpeople have to say," I said.

"Say? About what?"

"About the thing you already know about?" I looked at Flint who was completely bewildered.

"And what might they know about it?" Malfoy asked.

"They might know why I can do the thing I do," I said.

"Flint, you can go to practice, I'll be there in a minute."

"Your cloak!" I remembered. He'd need it to practice in this cold. "Turn around, please," I asked them after I'd located my own clothing down the shore a little ways.

"Why, we've already seen everything," Malfoy joked and continued to stare at me even as Michael turned around.

I was determined not to be cowed, even considering my absurd situation. "Be a gentleman, please." He did look away with a touch of embarassment. I took off my freezing underthings and threw on my remaining clothes in seconds.

I gave Michael back his cloak with thanks, and he nodded briefly before flying away. I pulled back my long wet hair into a wet messy bun while Malfoy waitied impatiently. "Get on with it Patil, I have a Quidditch practice to run."

"Please don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

He actually sighed, "More secrets?"

"I'm a special kind of Seer, the kind mermaids have."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, I'm something called a Vorix, a Seer that arises amongst merfolk." He still looked confused. "I'm part Mermish, we think."

Malfoy's eyes grew big with shock. "You're a half-breed?"

"Well, not exactly, a quarter-breed, and my grandmother was transfigured to be human, so I'm not sure that I retain much Mermish at all." He was looking at me like I was a freak. But I was, so was I really expecting differently? It did hurt though.

"Oh," he was totally silent. Somehow it was better when he was mocking me. "Well I'd better get to practice, you'll get back all right?" I nodded, and he flew off as quick as he could. I ran back to the castle, telling myself the tears running down my cheeks were because of the cold wind and the ache in my chest was from my struggle in the lake.

News of my sister's engagement had spread like wildfire, luckily news of my little escapade in the lake had not. Lots of people had passed on their congratulations, including the Headmistress herself and I was trying to be magnanimous, but every conversation just reminded me what a freak show my life was, even if all these people didn't know it yet.

Later that night while getting ready for bed I confessed to Fay about what had happened at the lake, and she looked properly mortified for me and tried to joke. "At least you were found by two cute Slytherins!"

"Flint is a child, and Malfoy's a monster!"

"Flint's like only a year younger than us! Okay maybe two years," she protested. "But I'll concede the point about Malfoy. Honestly I can't believe you're still here. If it was me I'd have caught the train home by now and never shown my face here again!"

"Believe me, I considered it! But if I went home now I'd seem even more pathetic lurking about the house with nothing to do while my mom plans Padma's wedding," I flopped backwards onto my bed dressed in my warmest flannel pajamas, hoping to quell the phantom chills that still rocked my body.

"Does it really bother you that much?" Fay sat down next to me and asked. "You should tell your sister."

"No, I don't want to be that self-centered spiteful relative that ruins other people's happy day. I mean I do think we're too young, but she's smart, and knows what makes her happy, so obviously I should be happy for her. I'll get over it in a few days."

"I know what it's like, to be close to someone that seems to have everything fitting into place, while your life, well sucks in comparison," Fay consoled me.

"Ah great, we can be losers together," I squeezed her hand.

"Hardly, we should just look on the bright side, we both have really good best friends," she said and I laughed.

"We're both alive and in one piece," I added unconsciously gazing at Lavender's empty corner.

"True! And we're magical and not Squibs or Muggles!"

"And neither of us is exactly a hideous troll!"

"And we're both on the Quidditch team."

"And I have Dean," I said.

"That's right, see things aren't so bad after all."

Dean lay awake that night, trying to suppress his disappointment. On his way back from the greenhouses, Neville and him had spotted Parvati running by, a wet mess with Malfoy trailing her to the castle up high on his broom. She didn't seem to realize he was there, but the sight had been disturbing none the less. He had decided to wait out the day, give Parvati a chance to tell him what had happened out on the grounds, but she hadn't said a thing.

He'd been half in love with this girl ever since he'd seen her for the first time as an eleven year-old. She had bounced into the common room, pretty, vivacious, and feisty, especially when defending her friends. He'd always watched her whenever they were in a room together and wondered what life would be like if he were hers and she were his. As they'd grown older, she's become almost painfully beautiful and he knew he wasn't the only one looking anymore. They were good friends and every time she'd give him a hug or sit next to him on the common room couch while the whole group chatted late into the night, he'd feel butterflies in his stomach.

Fourth year, he'd considered asking her to the Yule Ball, but the fantasy seemed too perfect to ever come true. He'd probably just ruin their friendship. I mean, she was gorgeous, and popular, and lots of guys talked about how she was the prettiest girl in school. So pretty in fact that no one asked her until Harry Potter, which seemed fitting. Most popular guy takes most popular girl. It had been a dumb fantasy anyway.

But they'd had a miserable go of it. That night Harry had told him he had absolutely no intentions with Parvati of any kind after Dean had been admittedly grumpy with his good friend. His heart had soared anew and was determined not to let someone else swoop in without even trying to win her over. Until he'd seen her three days later kissing some random Beauxbatons boy. They were going out now apparently. The sight had crushed him.

He was furious with himself for not having taken his shot with her earlier, but he was also mad at her. The sight of her tangled with that other boy had somehow diminished her in his eyes. She didn't seem so perfect anymore. She seemed superficial, acting on an attraction to someone she had known for what, ten minutes? He'd vowed to stop putting her up on some unrealistic and unattainable pedestal and see her for what she really was, just another girl.

He'd tried to scrub her from his brain, to the point where he wasn't being a very good friend. He started dating other girls, some of whom he really liked. But the problem with Hogwarts was you never escaped people you didn't want to see, and Parvati was always there. He'd try to do his homework, and she'd be giggling away with Lavender in the corner of the room, her laughter so full of life that he felt deprived being away from it. He'd joined the DA and so had she, full of seriousness and bravery. He'd learn to cast an advanced spell, and there she was, learning how to cast it non-verbally so she could use it on the magically challenged Inquisitorial Squad. Even when kissing Ginny once, Parvati had walked by and smiled knowingly while giving him a wink. His subsequent anger had bewildered Ginny, but truth was he was bitterly disappointed Parvati hadn't been the least bit jealous.

During sixth year, he saw her get yelled at by Snape filling in for an inebriated Slughorn for having a short loose tendril of hair falling out of her otherwise neat plait. "Control that foolishly long mass you vainly cultivate on your head before it catches fire or worse contaminates a potion. Ten points from Gryffindor for slovenly behavior." And Parvati, eyes blazing, looking straight back at him, in a calm voice had said, "Twenty points from Slytherin Professor Snape for having hair hanging loose every single day these past six years and never having bought a bottle of shampoo!" Despite losing fifty house points, getting a month of detention, and a letter of reprimand sent home to her parents, she had never looked more attractive, not a girl at all but a force to be reckoned with. He'd broken up with Ginny after that. He wasn't fair to her he knew, they'd always be fighting over some dumb thing or another, but he knew it really stemmed from his obsession with one particular person.

When he'd been on the run, he knew she was back at school dealing with God knows what. He'd dream about her most nights, and worry about her most days. When he'd returned for the Final Battle and saw her at first hiding in the Room of Requirement, she'd looked haunted. Her arms and face sported fresh bruises from some punishment or fight and she was clinging to Lavender as if she were never going to let go. But she did so they could greet all the new arrivals here to help save the school. She'd wrapped her arms around Dean's torso and cried, "I knew you'd come back". He'd held her quaking body and felt his own sense of relief. She felt like Parvati, she smelled like Parvati, she even sounded like Parvati, and it was all too real after months of dreaming of her. After the Battle finding her alive had been like being deprived of air and drawing breath again. She was sitting beside Lavender's body, holding her hand, her face raw with crying, but laughing occasionally too. They'd all had too much to mourn that day, childhood was long gone.

And when they'd met again a few months ago, they suddenly just fit, like two pieces of a puzzle that had been left apart for too long. She was still gorgeous, and now the Gryffindor Seeker, but her enthusiasm for life seemed to having waned, understandably so. He sometimes felt she needed him for comfort more than she needed him for him. Was their relationship really a dream come true or was it just a boyhood fantasy that he was pretending was real? And then she'd kept this enormous secret from him, only telling him when it was apparent something was wrong. She didn't confide in him of all people, her trusted friend for years, and now her boyfriend. And she was still keeping secrets. And while he saw a future for them, she saw what, hanging out? Battling the loneliness until something else came along? He wasn't sure, but none of it was how he pictured it. All he'd ever wanted with a partner to face life with, to build something with together. All the fascination in the world he might harbor for her wouldn't save them if she didn't see things the same way.

The longer he thought about it, the more he realized that they were both in it for the wrong reasons. She did really only like the comfort their relationship brought them, and he was indulging a boyhood fantasy, but had slowly realized that she wasn't that idea he'd built up in his head while on the run, she was just a girl, a good friend, with plenty of her own issues. They were trapped here in this school, where a relationship could comfortably consist of conversation, Hogsmeade dates, and school dances, but out in the real world, where they'd have to build a life together, they weren't on the same page at all.

It would be closing an a youthful chapter of his life, but he knew he'd have to break it off, because just as he'd said earlier that day, the longer this went on, the more tangled they'd become and the worse it would hurt. Once he'd made the decision, he was surprised to feel not sad, but relieved.

Dear Padma,

Congratulations! I'm so happy for you and Anthony. So is the whole school, even McGonagall sends her congratulations. I can't believe I'm going to have a brother. Do you have a date yet? I can't wait to see you next month, we have so much to plan and talk about.

Love,

Parvati