Chapter Seventy-Seven: Dream Interpretation for Fun and Profit

The article appeared on Monday morning, just like Percy's letter had said. In it, Umbridge was named High Inquisitor, a post that sounded so sinister Daphne could hardly believe anyone, anywhere, thought it was benign.

And, indeed, two members of the Wizengamot had resigned in protest of the Educational Decree that had been passed, and were now having aspersions leveled at them by the Ministry as well for their integrity. Mum and Dad had chosen to stay on, knowing Dumbledore would need all the support he could get at the Ministry.

Daphne wondered what Umbridge's inspections would turn out to be like, but while her first classes were Umbridge-free, she was dismayed to see Umbridge arriving at Divination through the trapdoor just after the class had entered.

She supposed she was lucky Umbridge had arrived so early, because she hadn't had a chance yet to ask Trelawney about her own Divination studies, and with Umbridge present it wouldn't be smart to risk it, either. Daphne noticed that Trelawney seemed rather put-out by Umbridge's presence, and she could certainly understand why.

Despite knowing that Trelawney had made at least two real prophecies, the rest of her predictions were decidedly less impressive. And considering the class was still on the subject of dream interpretation, it was hardly a lesson that could be called 'structured' as everyone attempted to interpret dreams they could barely remember in the first place.

Umbridge followed Trelawney around the classroom, occasionally asking questions either to her or the students, and scribbling the responses onto a clipboard.

"Well then, Professor, could you perhaps make a prediction for me?" Umbridge asked Trelawney.

"I don't understand you," Trelawney replied shiftily.

"I'd like you to make a prediction for me," Umbridge said very clearly.

"The Inner Eye does not See upon command!" Trelawney said in a scandalized tone, and Daphne sighed deeply in exasperation.

Too deeply, it turned out, because Umbridge turned toward her and smiled widely. "Ah, Miss Greengrass. You seem to have something to say?"

Daphne glanced at Trelawney, who looked horrified, but pleading. Daphne's disdain for Umbridge far exceeded her impatience with Trelawney, so she knew she'd have to choose her words carefully.

"What Professor Trelawney said is perhaps a bit…unnuanced. I'm sure she meant to say that, for the Inner Eye to See, the circumstances must be correct. While that can certainly be done at a moment's notice, it is very difficult to enter the required detached state of mind necessary for it when in emotional turmoil, such as when one is fearing for their job.

"Predictions made in such a state will likely be inaccurate because the conscious mind interferes with the reading, thus influencing the result in a negative way. Had you informed Professor Trelawney of your intention beforehand, she could likely have made the necessary preparations to calm her mind. If you'd like me to read some tea leaves for you, however, I'd be glad to do so. I'm sure Professor Trelawney will have some tea for us," she said.

The entire class stared at her, including Trelawney. Even though Daphne had made the reply up on the spot, most of it was based on the theories and observations she'd already made about her own predictions, so it wasn't like she'd been spouting random gibberish. And she knew that she could read tea leaves, because she'd managed to read Hermione's correctly in her first class.

She half-hoped Umbridge would take her up on it, too, because she was very curious to see what Umbridge's future would hold for her, and as long as she couldn't shift her focus in emptiness, tea leaves and palmistry were her only options, and she'd never really given palmistry much of a shot…though perhaps, if she could do the same there as she'd done with the book, and just passively watch…Divination seemed to be far more about state of mind than any real, physical signs, anyway; it wasn't like the stars truly changed year-to-year, either, and they had given Daphne a cryptic message about Harry's future as well.

"Well, Miss Greengrass, that was…enlightening," Umbridge said with her fake smile, "but it won't be necessary to read any tea leaves for me, thank you."

She scribbled something on her clipboard, and Daphne got the unnerving feeling that she was now being judged along with Trelawney. Well, it didn't matter. Umbridge already didn't like her, anyway.

Trelawney, however, looked immensely grateful, and it was perhaps for that reason that, when interpreting Daphne's dream diary, she took each of them to mean that Daphne would have a long, healthy, and happy life.

When they descended the ladder after class — Umbridge had left earlier to be on time for her lesson with the Gryffindors — Ron said, "I didn't expect you to stand up for Trelawney like that."

Daphne shrugged. "She might be a bit of a fraud, but she did make at least two real prophecies. I wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore wants her here for that alone. Besides, I'll take any way I can to work against Umbridge…"

Knowing that Umbridge was occupied with the Gryffindors in her own class, Daphne felt reasonably safe that her History of Magic class would remain undisturbed — unless, of course, Umbridge employed a Time Turner.

It didn't seem like she did, though, and Binns was the only nominal Professor in the room when she entered. Daphne and Tracey sat in the back of the class, as they usually did, and Daphne took out her massive Divination book.

"You're actually going to do something useful, then?" Tracey asked with a smirk when she noticed the book.

Daphne grinned. "Yes, though it's not what it looks like…"

She looked around the classroom and was satisfied that there were people sitting between her and Malfoy, so he wouldn't have a direct line of sight of her while she worked. At the very least, he wouldn't be able to see what she was reading from where he sat, if his eyes wandered over in her direction during the lesson. Tracey, however, would.

"This isn't actually a Potions book," Daphne said, deciding that Tracey probably wasn't going to pry too deeply. "It's a book on Divination and mind magic, but you can only really read it if you're not trying to pay attention and you're sensitive to Divination to begin with."

"And since everyone will be in a stupor here anyway, you figured this would be a good place," Tracey said.

Daphne nodded. "But no one is supposed to know it's anything other than Potions," she said. "I'm taking a risk here, so don't tell anyone else, okay?"

"Of course not," Tracey said, sounding offended that Daphne even suggested she might.

Daphne smiled at her and waited for Binns to begin his lecture before tapping her book and muttering, "Revelio!"

She saw Tracey giving the book a sideways glance before returning to pretending to listening to Binns, and Daphne opened the book on its second page, staring at the page while listening to Binns's droning monotone.

She felt her attention slipping away, and even the structure of the book's pages was more interesting than what Binns was saying…

Ideas are better felt than read, or even seen.

And her mind was filled with thoughts, thoughts that didn't belong to her, but were hers anyway, but she didn't really understand some of them. She turned a page without thinking, absorbed in her own foreign thoughts, and then another, and another.

To make sense of what you See and Feel requires practice. Follow the thread of connections and do not proceed until you can.

And Daphne knew she had to turn back again, to that second page, and feel the same feelings and thoughts once more, only they were subtly different now, and new thoughts arose from them, fully her own now…

The class went by in a blur, as it usually did, but while Daphne wasn't sure how much she'd really learned, she did know she'd learned something, which was a vast improvement over a normal History of Magic class.

Her head felt full of ideas, but they were all jumbled up and connected in ways that didn't even begin to make sense to her. She wasn't sure where to start, and the things she thought she'd realized while 'reading' were now maddeningly beyond her conscious grasp, like dreams fading from memory. She was sure that if she'd had a Remembrall at that moment, it would've turned so deeply red it glowed.

She felt the same way she usually felt after an entire day of studying for final exams, and she hadn't even begun doing her homework for the day yet. If this was how every session with the book would go, she'd be in for a rough year…

With an exhausted sigh, Daphne dropped down onto her bed. She'd finally finished all her homework, and Harry had actually managed to keep his temper with Umbridge and avoided another round of detentions by not opening his mouth when he disagreed with Umbridge taking points from Hermione, though it had clearly cost him a lot of willpower to do so.

Combined with her useful History of Magic class earlier, it had been a fairly good day, all things considered, in spite of Umbridge's new title as High Inquisitor. She'd intended to do some more reading for Divination, but she was so tired that she decided to forgo it, and would instead try to get some rest. She closed her eyes, listening to the sound of her own breathing. She couldn't even summon up the energy to think about anything at all anymore…

The empty beach looked endless. The white sand was divided from the sea by rolling waves with foamy white heads, and the sea and the sand stretched away from each other infinitely, with the waterline extending beyond the horizon in either direction.

Daphne began to walk along the water, the beach on her left, the sea on her right. Her right foot was just within the reach of the waves, which all curiously stopped at the exact same distance from the water, leaving a line between dry and wet sand that was so straight you could put a ruler alongside it. The sky above was a cloudless, pale blue, and the sun was directly overhead.

"Why aren't you going anywhere?" Mum asked. She, like Daphne, stood exactly on the line between the sand and the sea.

"I am, though. I'm walking," Daphne said.

"But to where?" Mum asked.

"I…" Daphne hesitated. Where was she going? "I'm going to see my friends," she said eventually.

"So where are they?" Mum asked.

"There, obviously," Daphne said, gesturing at the distance behind Mum.

"Are they? Why not over there?" Mum asked, pointing behind Daphne.

"I came from there," Daphne said.

"You didn't. You haven't moved much," Mum said.

Daphne looked behind her and saw that, indeed, her footprints in the sand only went back a few steps. But she'd been walking longer than that, hadn't she? She turned back, the coastline extending empty and endless in front of her, and began to walk again, on and on.

"You need to take control of your own path," Dad said.

"I chose this direction, didn't I?" Daphne asked.

"You didn't choose anything. You just happened to be facing this way," Dad said.

"Well, what does it matter? I could've turned around," Daphne said.

"Yet you didn't. So many ways to go, and you stick to the most obvious one," Dad said.

Daphne hesitantly looked behind her again. Her footsteps, untouched by the waves rolling over them, barely seemed to have moved from before, but she'd been walking for so long…

She shook her head and kept going. Surely, she was heading in the right direction. Surely, she'd find her friends if she kept walking.

"You ask questions, but don't wait for the answers," Ginny said.

"Ginny! Are the others over there too?" Daphne asked.

"It's not our position that matters much. It's yours," Ginny said.

"What does that even mean?" Daphne asked in frustration.

"Symmetry and balance should be broken sometimes," Ginny said. "You are afraid to. As long as you're afraid, you won't find what you seek."

She pointed across the vast beach, then across the endless ocean. "Pick a side, any side. Make a choice."

"But…how will I find my bearings if everything around me looks the same? This way I at least know I'm going somewhere…"

"Don't lie to yourself," Ginny said sternly.

"But it's not even really a choice, is it? I can't very well walk into the ocean…"

"Of course you can. You'll be doing that either way. An ocean of water or an ocean of sand."

"So…which one should I–"

"It's your choice. Don't let your fear stop you."

Daphne looked at the beach, then at the ocean. Choice, huh? Well, she didn't like either of those choices much. But it was clear to her that the direction she'd been going in wasn't right, either.

She looked up at the cloudless sky. The sun was bright, and yet not painful at all to look at. It looked pretty inviting, actually. And it was clearly visible. Choice…

Daphne leaned back and raised her leg, putting it onto the air with determination. It was a solid as a regular floor. She put her other leg on it as well, and now the sky was ahead of her, and the beach with its shoreline extended like a wall behind her.

She walked toward the inviting sun, and soon found that it wasn't a sun at all, but the end of a hallway, which opened up into the Great Hall, where both the Gryffindor and Slytherin common rooms were present.

Her friends, grinning, were waiting for her at the large table in the middle of the room. Mum and Dad were there as well, now dressed in their punk attire. Harry and Ginny were smiling widest of all, and Daphne sat between them at the table…

Daphne sat up in her bed, the details of her dream still vivid in her mind. She quickly grabbed a quill and parchment to write it all down. It felt significant in the same way her dream in the lake had done. Even the dream itself had been pretty similar, although the message had been focused a bit more on choice, and a bit less on fear.

And again, it had been Ginny who'd given her the push. What was it with her appearing in Daphne's dreams in that way?

But more importantly, what was the real message of the dream? Like before, it felt like Daphne knew what it meant, only she couldn't formulate the idea in her mind, and so it remained just out of reach. Why couldn't Divination and things related to it ever be clear?! It was all so pointless if every significant realization would only come after whatever event she'd predicted had already happened.

Surely, there was more to it than that. She couldn't believe that any kind of magic would be entirely pointless. Then again, turning mice into teacups was pretty pointless as well, wasn't it?

No, she thought, it actually isn't. Even if the act of turning a mouse into a teacup is useless, the principles of Transfiguration behind it are not. But what are the principles behind Divination?

The question was still in her mind when she made her way up to breakfast, and she sat down at the table lost in thought.

"Is there…something on my face or something?" Ginny asked nervously, and it was only then that Daphne realized she'd been staring at her.

"Oh, no, er, just staring into the void."

Ginny rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Gee, thanks. You fail one test and your head's immediately empty space, is it?"

"No, no, that's not–"

Ginny laughed. "Relax, I know. I've had mornings like that, you know. Ron once confessed to stealing my Quidditch Quarterly because I was staring at him at breakfast without realizing it. I never did get that back, by the way, you prat," she added with a glare at Ron, who hastily looked in another direction.

Daphne giggled at his reaction, but then she began to think again. Had her staring at Ginny without realizing it really been accidental, or was it some lingering effect of the dream? She'd have to start keeping a closer eye on her own behavior. Maybe that way, she'd learn some useful things. What those things might be, she didn't know, but surely it couldn't hurt…

The only real thing that I have to say about this one, apropos of nothing, is that while I was writing the Divination class scene, there was a line in my chillstep playlist that said 'Look into the crystal ball', and I thought that was funny.