CHAPTER SIXTEEN: PREDICTIONS
Tuesday, 9th February 1999
Buffy had managed to successfully avoid a confrontation with Blaise and Draco for the remainder of the day. She sat with them at dinner, but they had wisely not brought up the topic of her argument with Ethan. They'd discussed normal everyday topics, and Buffy was grateful for it. She wouldn't admit it, but she was slightly worried about the type of payback that Ethan had in mind for her.
She knew that he wouldn't reveal her reason for being at Hogwarts, she knew that Dumbledore didn't want the students knowing about her. They would be too uneasy around her, and whilst Dumbledore felt that Buffy wasn't to be trusted, he didn't want pandemonium in his school.
Buffy just knew she'd have to be prepared for Ethan to pay her back for using Eyghon against him.
The rest of the day had progressed without incident. Snape had tried humiliating her again, but she'd luckily done the readings assigned for the lesson and had answered his questions perfectly. He'd given up on trying to disgrace her, and had moved on with the lesson.
The next day was when things took a turn for the worse.
The Slytherins sat in the Divinations tower, Professor Trelawny teaching them about the art of palmistry. Every single student was looking at their partners palm intently, trying to read what their futures held for them. Trelawney hovered behind them, correcting readings that were usually fairly gloomy. She stepped behind Blaise who was reading Buffy's palm.
Trelawney gasped dramatically and Buffy rolled her eyes. After one lesson with this woman, she was already sick of her predictions of death. Buffy felt her hand get snatched violently out of Blaise's grip and into Trelawney's. The Professor studied her palm intently, a stricken look on her face.
The Slytherin's looked on in fascination. They'd heard stories from the Gryffindors about how dramatic she was towards Harry, but they'd never seen Trelawney in action until now.
"You, Miss Summers, do not have long to live," Trelawney announced.
Buffy rolled her eyes. She already knew that.
"Your future is surrounded by death and darkness, with-"
"Vultures circling ever nearer," Buffy finished. "Yeah, I got the point last week."
The Slytherins snickered, feeling slightly less worried than they had been. Draco felt worried though. This was the second time that Trelawney had predicted Buffy's death.
"You should not be so flippant about your death my dear," Trelawney scolded the girl.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "No offence Professor, but I'm not too worried about dying young. When you gotta go, you gotta go."
She tried to yank her hand away from the Professor, but without her normal strength, and a bit of her normal human strength gone as well, she had no chance against Trelawney's tight grip on her hand.
"Your life is surrounded by violence, fighting, pain."
Buffy was suddenly wondering whether this woman was the real deal or not. There was no way that Trelawney knew about Buffy being the Slayer. But to hear about her death being predicted, surrounded by violence and fighting was a little too coincidental. The predictions didn't scare her, but she could tell from one glance around the room that the other students seemed to be worried for her. That was all she needed.
"I'm sure it won't be that horrible," Buffy said, trying to be confident.
She managed to wrestle her hand away from Trelawney and sat on it so that the Professor wouldn't have any other ideas about reading her palm.
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Unfortunately for the weakened Slayer, she was unable to escape from Trelawney so easily. She was asked to stay behind, and Buffy was not in the mood to be reprimanded by the large insect-like woman. She complied and stayed seated at her desk. She told Blaise and Draco to wait for her in the Great Hall rather than outside the classroom.
Trelawney prepared a cup of tea with tealeaves for the Slayer who obediently drank the tea when she was asked to. Trelawney reached for the cup with the tealeaves at the bottom, studying it closely.
"Is there a point to this?" Buffy asked impatiently.
Trelawney looked at her and Buffy wisely stopped talking. Trelawney turned her attention back to the tealeaves.
"Hmmm…"
"Hmmm?" Buffy repeated.
"The falcon…the club…the skull," Trelawney said, looking into the leaves.
Trelawney hadn't had a student this interesting since Harry Potter's third year at Hogwarts and the first year of Divination. It was strange, Buffy's tea leaves read in exactly the same manner's as Harry's had the first Divinations lesson.
"Meaning?"
"You have many enemies," Trelawney replied.
Buffy nodded. That was nothing new.
"An attack is coming," the Professor continued. "And you walk a dangerous path."
"I could have told you that," Buffy muttered. The Professor thankfully hadn't heard, too intent on studying the leaves.
Before Buffy knew what was going on, Professor Trelawney turned to look at her sharply, her voice severely different, and her power changed in away that Buffy could feel it in the air.
"She is coming," Trelawney said, her voice loud and harsh, her eyes unfocussed.
Buffy looked at the Professor, wondering what she was talking about. "What? Who?"
"An old enemy will return to exact vengeance. You must be prepared. You have 33 days."
The Professor's head fell forwards onto her chest. Buffy went to move towards her, her heart pounding frantically in her chest. Before she could reach the woman, Professor Trelawney's head snapped up again.
"I'm so sorry, dear girl," she said tiredly. "I drifted off for a moment."
Buffy swallowed hard and tried not to panic. She was now thoroughly convinced that the Professor had just had a real vision. She stood and let herself out of the room, wondering what the vision had meant.
An old enemy…that could have been just about anyone. At least it was narrowed down to a she. And whatever was to happen would happen in thirty-three days. She made a mental note to keep her eye on the calendar.
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