Seraphina as Anastasia paced around the incense and perfume-filled room of Professor Trelawney who sat cross-legged in front of me on the floor, a crystal ball sitting between us, both of our eyes closed.

"Concentrate harder, my dear. You need to focus on what you most want to know," she told me. I could've sworn she sounded impatient, and yet somehow her voice was still as tranquil as ever.

I scrunched my face up in concentration, "I'm trying.. I just don't understand why it's so much easier for it to suddenly appear when I least want it, and hard to get when I do want it."

"Because it is already as natural to you as breathing. You need not try so hard, it will come to you. Open your heart and your mind. Only then can you concentrate on what you wish to see."

My eyes snapped open, "But I can't do that. Do you know how many people are so nosy that they'd take advantage of my mind being open to read?"

Professor Trelawney's eyes remained closed, "I am not saying you must keep it open when you leave this room. If you want to find what you seek, then you must free your mind of all barriers enclosing it. You have not seen many visions lately because you've been blocking yourself off from them."

"It didn't work when I had over ten emotional barriers up," I mumbled, closing my eyes once more and taking down all the security I had built to keep such strong legilimens as my father out.

"If they were emotional, then that was why. Emotion reading and mind reading are two separate capabilities. One is for the mind and the other is for the heart — not to be confused for one another."

"That's true, I suppose." As the last security wall I'd built got packed up and placed to the side, that's when what felt like a slap to the brain surprised me and I opened my eyes to look around only to find I wasn't in the Divination classroom anymore.

It was Crabbe Chateau, and dad consistently paced the large room back and forth, back and forth. This time I wasn't inside his head, but I could still feel his irritation at time of all things. Why time, specifically?

Lucius walked briskly into the room and knelt before him, "My Lord, you wished to speak with me?"

"How much longer is it going to take to find one prophecy?" dad seethed. "I can be patient, however being restricted to this place causes the time to move slowly."

"I apologize, my Lord. Your loyal Death Eaters and I… and the Mistress's Nightmares… are searching as much as they can in the time they have to sneak in. We will not rest until we find it for you."

He tsked with a sigh before taking a seat in his chair. "I have so much going on in my mind, Lucius, it makes waiting unbearable. All I am left with are my thoughts, so I may as well ask you.… As a father, how do you deal with any thoughts that plague you about your son?"

Lucius stared at him, merely blinking in surprise. "M-My Lord?"

"It's not a hard question, Lucius, keep up. What do you do when you think about him?"

"U-Under what circumstances, my Lord? When I disapprove of his actions? When I worry whether or not he's safe? When I am proud of how well he's doing?"

The Dark Lord growled, "So it is supposed to be that complicated…. I don't know what to do with Melody anymore. I feel the urge to be proud of her for what she has accomplished for me, but yet she takes so much longer than I did. I had all of Slytherin House under my iron grip my first year there… she is much too soft. Are there any actions I can take to push her to move faster?"

"With all due respect my Lord, the only one who knows how to raise your daughter is you. We all parent our children in different ways. Orele raised her one way, and now that she's gone you have the opportunity to raise her the way you wish."

Dad grinned, "How very insightful, Lucius. That gives me something I can put my focus on."

Lucius seemed to hesitate a moment before standing, "If I may give you another opinion, my Lord?"

Dad rubbed his forehead with one hand as he replied, "Go on."

"I believe your daughter is a brilliant young witch. From knowledge about your past, she chose a different personality to bring followers to her. Everyone knows because of Orele's death now that she is your daughter, so she continues her charade of being a normal witch. The personality she created is what drew all of Slytherin House to her without any mention of threats. Draco writes about her all the time."

A small smirk played on his lips, "Glad you think so highly of her, but you bring me to the next topic. Though she hasn't specifically talked to me about it, she obviously chooses your son over Marcus, and I can't fully understand why. I can only hope for her sake that it isn't for love, but rather than argue with her over it I decided to let her keep her choice. I don't wish to regret it."

Lucius swallowed, visibly nervous.

"Just a warning, Lucius, before you return to your work… if you disappoint me again, I will have to pull Draco and Melody apart by force. You don't want to make the children upset, do you?"

"No… of course not, my Lord," he replied breathlessly.

"I'd hate to do it to her, but I believe I need to be less… lenient. All that time Orele had her without my knowledge, and I've been spoiling her since I met her. As you said, with Orele gone now, it's time I take responsibility for teaching her that she can't do as she pleases anymore. She needs a strict father to tell her right from wrong. Yes….

"You may leave, Lucius."

Lucius bowed his head and quickly made his way out of the room.

I opened my eyes with a gasp followed by a long line of curses, "Damn him!" I slapped my hand at the crystal ball, catapulting it off the table to roll around the room. "That is not his role to take — I will not let that happen — damn it all, he is not in control of my life — who does he think he's talking about? — Gaah!"

Professor Trelawney stared at me with her mouth agape.

"Did you see any of that crap?" I asked, still too angry to worry about what to do if she did see what I saw.

"N-No my dear, it was all in your mind. It never even showed up on the crystal ball…. what did you see?"

Anastasia spoke a long line of words in Italian as she grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.

"Have I said something?" Trelawney asked curiously.

"Uh.. um.. alas, Anastasia and I have somewhere we need to be right now, Professor Trelawney. But thank you for your help!" I said quickly as I was promptly dragged out of the room and down the ladder.

Only when we were halfway down the long flight of stairs, did Seraphina speak through Anastasia's voice. "You seem very vexed. What did you see?"

"Now he decides to be some difficult type of father figure and gain control over my love life by making a bet with Lucius. If Lucius makes any mistake — any at all — my dad is going to separate me from Draco, and push me together with Marcus." My fists tightened more and more as I spoke, causing her to snatch her hand from my grasp.

"Remind me to stay on your good side, that was a grip," she noted.

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "And it's not only that. He's thinking about all of this because he's got so much time on his hands cooped up inside Crabbe Chateau. He believes that now that mom is gone, it's time he took more action on punishing me.

"All because he's waiting for a prophecy — wait, is that what he's so impatient to find in the Department of Mysteries?"

She nodded.

"I can't believe I never thought to ask what he was searching for…" I stopped walking as I thought it over. "Severus always avoided the subject, and I fell for it. What is it with this prophecy that's got dad all worked up?"

"Promise you won't spill that I told you anything?"

"I promise."

"It's the prophecy that was told about his future battle with the precious Harry Potter. A prophecy that Trelawney there," she pointed upwards, "had fourteen years ago."

"A real one?"

"A real one. One that you cannot speak of around him, because it has him on edge just waiting for our followers to find it."

"Speaking of followers…" I said, happy to find the right change in subject. "Nightmares?"

She snorted, "Lucius must've mentioned them. Voldy won't even call them by the name I gave them."

We reached the bottom of the staircase, and Seraphina looked around a few times before telling me, "Go warn young Malfoy about what you saw. Perhaps you two can find a solution together. I will go to your father to see what I can do."

I stared at her, "You'd do that for me?"

Seraphina's eyes widened and she forced a laugh, "Child, a distraught student is not something I need to deal with. If he continues with his plan, then it will distract you from your studies. Now run along." She gently pushed me one way, and began briskly walking in the other direction.

I chuckled softly to myself. As strong as she was, she had a softer side than dad.

I began walking to my common room, a spring to my step as I attempted to erase my worries about dad going through with what he said, before I stopped. I think I should give her my thanks before she leaves. She'll probably give me something more to work on while she's gone, but it'd be worth it.

I spun around and ran to catch up to her. After the last time she took me to see dad, Professor Dumbledore had made it a rule that Seraphina had to tell him when she was leaving so he could escort her outside. Both to keep anyone from seeing and from her sneaking me off school premises without permission. She had to be on her way to see him first.

I slowed down after a minute, confused as I had to realize that a distance away I still couldn't see her. She doesn't move that fast, does she? Unless she's leaving the grounds without Professor Dumbledore's permission, and turned down one of the hallways I passed?

Before I could think of what route to take to find her, I hesitated at the sound of sobbing. I looked around to see if I could pinpoint where it was coming from, and walked over to an old classroom no longer in use. The door was slightly ajar, so I pushed it open to see Seraphina — not the form of Anastasia — but Seraphina kneeling on the floor covering her eyes.

"No.. No!" she sobbed.

The air in the room felt heavy, so I immediately grabbed my wand out of my sleeve and walked in. "Seraphina?.. What's going on?"

"Leave!" she snapped, still covering her face with her hands. "Leave! You shouldn't be here!… You can't see me like this…."

"Like what?" I asked, slowly edging closer to her.

The closer I got, the more I saw what was hidden behind a row of desk from my vantage point at the door… the more I heard the whisper of voices.

"No one wants you around," "what a sad, lonely child," "we will never love you the way we love your brothers and sisters."

In the center of the room was another Seraphina, copying the same position as the real one, only whispering along with the voices. "Nobody loves me… I will be alone forever… I have no friends… I will never make any friends… My parents will never notice me again."

A boggart… I realized as I knelt next to the real Seraphina. "It's okay, Seraphina, it's not real. You know the incantation Riddikulus, right?"

"I can't… I can't…" she sobbed.

I took a deep breath, and let it out before standing in front of her to face the boggart myself. Only after I did so did I realize that it was the wrong choice. I had forgotten to put up all my barriers after leaving Proffesor Trelawney's classroom.

The boggart changed from Seraphina… to a copy of me. Only the version wasn't in tears. It stared back at me with eyes as red and bloodthirsty as dad's… it raised its wand at me with an evil grin.

"I am the real you," it said.