The staff of Quartermane, Tinnean and Wren had been meticulous in up-keeping the Muggle repelling wards over the years but they had never been able to access the grounds and the building of Marchmere because of the blood wards.
The blood wards had prevented any witch or wizard from entering and had kept any animals, magical and mundane, from doing so either. The only thing that had passed these wards in over three hundred years had been the elements, and Marchmere had suffered for it.
What once had been an impressive fifteen room two story Tudor mansion was now a ruin.
The entire second floor of the east wing had collapsed, taking the roof with it, and buried the first floor in its rubble, while the north-facing wall of the east wing had fallen over, leaving half the building completely exposed.
The west wing was still standing but the second floor was completely inaccessible because, in addition to it being buried beneath the remains of the roof, the staircase had collapsed.
At some point a fire had obviously raged through the building and gutted what remained of it that time had not decayed.
The only room that remained that was somewhat usable was the cellar. Though it was half-flooded and roots had broken through its foundations it had survived the collapse of the east wing and the fire with very little structural damage.
And it was here, in the one almost-surviving room, that Hadrian discovered the research notes of Innocent Peverell, and the explanation for Feyrnforth.
Feyrnforth was a homunculus.
Its name was gibberish – an utterly meaningless made-up word given to it by its first owner.
It was the tool created by Innocent to help his son Benedict to control his visions.
It required a blood bond to connect the homunculus to the seer, but that a simple matter of pricking a finger and allowing the seers blood to drip upon the gem, and how it worked was this.
As a homunculus is an artificial creation mimicking life it has no emotions, no feeling, no dreams, and no imagination. It sees only the world before it as it is, and when a seer is linked to it then the homunculus provides a solid anchor to the present time which the seer can use to focus and ground themselves in the present or find their way back when their mind goes wandering.
There were times when the bond itself was not enough to keep the visions at bay, and in those times direct skin contact was needed with the homunculus, but just creating that bond to Feyrnforth made a major difference to Hadrian's life. For the first time since becoming a Seer he was able to go a day without having a single vision - in fact, he only had one vision in a week!
It was a shame that Marchmere was uninhabitable, but it could be rebuilt and modernized now that the blood wards had been taken down, and Peverells could live there again.
The death of Professor Trelawney was a bit of a shock.
Hadrian could hardly believe it as he read the article in the Daily Prophet. An unfortunate accident…a fall down the great staircase…a broken neck…this wasn't supposed to happen!
Professor Trelawney was supposed to live well beyond 1993!
An unforeseen change in the timeline – how ironic! Both Sybil Trelawney and Hadrian Peverell were true seers yet neither had foreseen this.
"An opportunity for you, I would suggest."
Hadrian "hmm-ed" thoughtfully, the looked up toward Mr Montague.
The old man was leaning over their table and very carefully, very slowly, with his shaking hands, buttering a piece of toast that was barely an inch away from his face – he desperately needed glasses but at the age of 287, having never worn glasses in his life, he stubbornly refused to do so now.
"You're going to drop that on the floor again."
Hadrian warned, and then took the toast and the knife.
"Here, let me do it."
"If you'd be so kind…"
Mr Montague was a self-reliant man in many respects, despite his advanced age, but he was never above getting someone else to work for him. He was perfectly capable of buttering toast – regardless of the fact that all these children around him seemed to think that he was an invalid – but he was more than happy to have someone with younger and more a more stable grip do it for him.
"It truly is a shame about dear Sybil. There are so few true seers left in the world, it's a tragedy to lose another so young. Poor girl."
As Hadrian went to hand back the buttered slice Montague pushed a plate with three more unbuttered slices towards him, and levitated some strawberry jam alongside it. He smiled gently at Hadrian who rolled his eyes and got to work with a sigh.
"She had such a large shadow hanging over her, you know. Her great-great-grandmother, Cassandra, was an exceptional woman, and a very powerful seer. Why! I don't think even you could compare to Cassandra, and you, I don't say this lightly Young Hadrian, you are the most powerful seer I have seen in a century!"
"Yes, yes. You've told me before."
Hadrian idly replied and passed back the buttered toast with jam.
"Now, I've finished your toast, is there anything else you'd like."
"Oh, well, if you're asking, a cup of tea would be heavenly. Milk, with no sugar. It never sits well with me, sugar, always gives me a headache. Please, and thank you."
"It's fine."
As Hadrian put the kettle on to boil and went to root around for a mug or two, Montague continued.
"Yes, a shame about dear Sybil, but an opportunity for you, nonetheless."
"And what is this opportunity"
"Why, a job at Hogwarts of course!"
Hadrian paused at the cupboard and looked over at the man before shaking his head and placing two cups on the table.
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"Well, why ever not! It's not as if you're prone to uncontrollable vision frenzy anymore, not with that trinket around your neck, and there is no one more qualified to teach Divinations than a true seer, I can guarantee you that! And, as true seers go, you are amongst the very best. You'd be perfect for it!"
"I just, I just don't think I'd be good at it. I mean, teaching in general, not just teaching Divination. Having to deal with all those kids, I just don't think I could handle it."
"Oh, Young Hadrian! I won't pretend it can't be challenging, but it can be so rewarding as well, to find a young one with the passion to learn!"
Hadrian poured the tea into the cups, added milk and stirred them, and passed one to Mr Montague and took the other for himself. He glanced at the paper again before taking a sip of his steaming tea.
"…to be honest"
He began, as he turned the paper over so that the article about Professor Trelawney was visible.
"I'd be a bit worried about being around so many people. I don't, I mean, I'm not, I…I just haven't been around that many people, you know? The most amount people I've been in a room with in the last six years has been five, and it was very difficult then to keep grounded. I don't know if I could handle it with a castle full of hundreds of people."
Montague used a handkerchief to wipe the crumbs of his buttered toast and jam from his lips then folded it and placed it upon the table.
"My dear boy, you cannot allow you fears to control you forever. You've come a long way."
He reached across the table in a slow and deliberate manner and gently placed his hand upon Hadrian's.
"You see! A year ago I could not have touched you without it invoking a vision. Three years ago, if we had spent more than an hour together you would have been overwhelmed. Why! When we first met you couldn't even look at me!"
He patted the younger man's hand and gave him a small smile.
"It's high time you started going out in the world, instead of hiding from it. Now, nobody is suggesting you walk down Diagon Alley in the busy period, but you need to experience controlling your abilities around larger groups of people than myself, Caractacus and whatever clerks he's got available. I'm sure you have something you wish to accomplish in this life that cannot be achieved by spending your days with a doddering old fogey like me."
Hadrian gave a shrug.
"Yes, well, I suppose I did, once."
Montague finished another slice of toast and took a sip of his tea, and grimaced. He looked at Hadrian with a tilt of his head.
"Not enough milk."
He summoned the bottle and poured it into the drink before stirring it together.
"I'm an old man! Strong tea upsets my stomach!"
"You should have made it yourself then."
"Oh, but you so very kindly offered. It would have been disrespectful to turn you down."
Hadrian had a small fond laugh at the fussy old man and drank his own tea and went back to the paper.
For a while they sat in a silence broken only by the gentle crunching of toasted bread and sips of tea. After a few minute Montague cleared his throat.
"Young Hadrian..?"
He called tentatively.
"Would you do something for me?"
"Of course"
Hadrian answered with a sigh.
"Can you…tell me what you see, in your tea leaves?"
Hadrian blinked. The old man was pretending he wasn't really interested. Montague was wiping his face with his handkerchief again, and looking sideways at him. Had he been set up?
"…alright…"
He drank the rest of his tea and looked down into the cup.
[A great serpent with death in its eyes morphed into a man with a crown of fangs and venom, and all around lay the white pearl of thousands of bones which grew into a throne, and on that throne was a lightning bolt. From that lightning bolt ran a river of blood which spiralled into a tower where a phoenix cried, and the tear that fell grew and grew until it became a castle, and that castle shone until it became a man, and that man was Hadrian]
"…but what…but why…but what…but why…"
His eye glazed over as the colour left his face and he was lost from the moment as the vision sped through his senses.
Very slowly a shaking hand reached up to clasp around the necklace which carried Feyrnforth.
When Hadrian's hand touched it the homunculus flickered, and it seemed to glow brighter, and slowly the colour drained from the gem and returned to Hadrian's face.
Mr Montague finished off his own tea and gave Hadrian a few moments to collect himself.
"…I...I saw…"
Hadrian broke the silence.
"I saw…Hogwarts; I think…I'm sure…Hogwarts. It was…there's something…very bad happening there, and I think I know what."
Montague leaned over and tapped the newspaper with his finger
"Then consider this opportunity."
Author's note: This chapter is the only one other than the second to feature an OC - unless you count Feyrnforth, which I dont because I count that more of a tool than a character.
To make it clear, incase it hasn't been so far, chapters 2,3 and 4 happened before chapter 1, just to clarify the timeline a bit here.