A FATEFUL PREMONITION
Chapter One: In the Minster's Office
The brunette young woman bustling about in the Minister's office neatly stacked the piles of paper and sighed.
Jessica Feelips was the average single mom. She and her five-year-old daughter Sara lived quite well off her paycheck and the money Sara's dad (George Hart) sent every month. Of course, Jessica missed being home for Sara and regretted having to ship her off to day care every week day.
Jessica busily filed papers in the main office of the Ministry of Magic. Humming to herself an old Beatles song, she was happy because she had the day of tomorrow. She and Sara were planning to go to the zoo in London. Also, to Jessica's great relief, her seer ability hadn't manifested itself in several weeks. Whenever it did, she was left with queasiness similar to the morning sickness she had once experienced and it was not a pleasure she enjoyed having twice. She fingered the small recorder hanging from her belt; there to pick up and foretelling that might happen at any time. Thank heavens that hadn't happened recently! Maybe it was time to take the darn thing off!
Suddenly Jessica's small frame began to shudder and she collapsed limply to the soft carpet. Her voice took the irritable twinge of a Banshee's keening and a sound was ripped forth from her lungs.
"He is strengthening. He will become the greatest of all dark wizards. The strong few will stand fast against him but more will be drawn to him and the innocents will die. Muggles and wizards alike will be killed in mass destruction as he hunts them down with terrifying wantonness. Yet there remains hope! There are two people who, if their fates so entwine, will produce the downfall to this great and evil Lord. An unlikely couple which will never be unless interference grasps their singular path. The tiger lily and the stag must be brought together or we'll all suffer eternal darkness and evil…."
Jessica's voice trailed off. She lay stiff and immobile for a few moments before her eyes fluttered open, a bloodshot red. Cautiously she looked around the room. How had she fallen to the floor? She couldn't recall doing anything that involved such a situation.
Oh dear, Jessica thought suddenly. She couldn't have… could she? Quickly she rose from the floor and rewound her recorder. There was a high-pitched scribble of a definite voice.
Dumbstruck, Jessica listened to the tape. There it was! A chill crawled up her spine as she heard the message left. The voice that wasn't hers… and was… plus the horrifying information. Jessica remained motionless as the recording wound into silence. With abnormal seriousness, she picked her wand out of her robe and pointed it at the fireplace.
"Professor McGonagall? Is Headmaster Dumbledore nearby? I have something very important to tell him."
Albus Dumbledore was seated at his desk in his office at Hogwarts. Even though it was midsummer, the heat didn't touch him. Dumbledore frowned in deep thought; his thin silver eyebrows connected over the shine of his half-moon glasses. Fawkes rested his head on Dumbledore's knee comfortingly.
What Professor Dumbledore had learned only a few hours before from Miss Frinidan had disturbed him. Only a select few knew of the danger the rising Lord Voldemort posed. That Jessica knew now was frightening. Dumbledore folded his hands. Who could the tiger lily and stag be? They could be almost anyone!
Dumbledore found himself in the middle of a brainstorm. Perhaps that red head from Gryffindor that had become a prefect for the upcoming year was it. Her name was Lily. But the stag, Dumbledore paused, that was troublesome. He looked around the untidy room for inspiration and his eyes settled on a yellow slip of parchment from Professor McGonagall. It was from the end of the last school year informing him that James Potter and Sirius Black had gotten an awe-inspiring number of 120 detentions. Potter and his cronies, Dumbledore thought. Brilliant students! Maybe they held a clue, Dumbledore hoped. They were Gryffindors and in Lily's year. And wasn't James always being called "Prongs" by his friends? Could Prongs be a stag? A good possibility, Dumbledore smiled. A very good possibility.
He decided to wonder about James' unusual nickname later.
His genius had deducted who the prediction had been talking about in under five minutes. Perfect- enough time left for a snack! Dumbledore produced a bag of lemon drops. He sucked on one as he thought about his new problem. How to get Lily and James together? The two were as different as day and night!
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