Chapter 2

"Wake up sleepy head, wake up".

Narrelle rolled onto her side and reached for the alarm clock on her bedside table. A little statue of a girl holding a clock face in her hands was jumping about and yelling.

"Alright," said Narrelle, patting her gently on the head, "I'm awake". The small girl in blue robes calmly sat on the edge of the table and became still. Narrelle had to be careful with her alarm clock. It had been given to her as a Christmas present a few years ago and she loved it. The only thing was that you couldn't knock it or throw it like most alarm clocks. You had to pat it gently or it would scream a high pitched wale like a banshee for one whole hour. This meant it was also very effective, you had to be quite awake to stop her shouting or you might knock her to the floor and set her off instead.

Narrelle clambered from her bed and scrambled into her black robes with the Slytherin crest, a green snake coiled in a sliver shield, sewn to the left topside. Her roommates were following suite, None of the others had alarm clocks. There was no need when they could all hear Narrelle's loudly and clearly enough.

Shuffling her books into her bag ready for lessons she headed down to the great hall for breakfast.

Tom was sitting at the far end, opposite Algernon. They were bent over the table and whispering to each other. Narrelle knew better than to interrupt them. She chose a seat next to Heather, nodding to her as she sat and ate her cereal.

Her first lesson of the day was The Dark Arts. She scrambled down the cold stone stairs to the dungeons just as the bell rang. Glancing at her watch she realized she was going to be late. Cursing she tore down the corridor and burst through one of the heavy oak doors on the left.

"Sorry I…." She stopped in mid sentence. There was no one there. She started to panic. I can't have gone to the wrong room, she thought, throwing her bag to the dusty stone floor and searching through it for her timetable. Yanking out an already tatty set of parchments she leafed through to the right page. No this was the right classroom. Nervously Narrelle peered through the gloom. Most of the torches were out. A slight breeze fluttered her hair and she span on the spot, her eyes darting. The quiet and stillness was starting to make her jumpy.

"There's no one there," she told herself out loud.

"That's where you're wrong I'm afraid".

Narrelle gasped looking wildly around. Suddenly she saw movement from behind the front desk.

"You're late," This time the female voice was softer. "Class started fifteen minutes ago".

"I…I'm sorry Professor," Narrelle mumbled praying her guess was correct.

"That's alright. Narrelle Taylor isn't it?" Narrelle nodded dumbly, "I'm Professor Crabstone," A tall witch with copper hair streaked with grey and tied back in a pony tail beneath her tall black hat moved out of the shadows into the light of one of the torches. "Now I've sent the rest of the class to the library to research defencive spells for mountainous creatures such as Graphorns, I suggest you join them." The smile now left her face and she looked sternly at Narrelle "But I'm afraid five points will be taken from your house. I hope that that, and the little scare I gave you," her smile had returned and Narrelle smiled back feeling a little embarrassed, "has taught you not to be late again. Off you go." Professor Crabstone went back to her desk and started putting a few things in a brown leather bag. Narrelle watched her for a moment amazed at this new teacher. There had never been a female Dark Arts teacher before.

Without looking up Professor Crabstone spoke again. "Go on, I will join you all soon. Quickly Narrelle shoved her timetable back in her bag and hurried out the door.

The hour lesson went quickly despite it being a research session. Books were only good if you were reading them out of choice, Narrelle decided. Being told to read them just took the interest away. Still, she thought, Professor Crabstone seemed like an excellent teacher.

Her second lesson was Divination. This was the lesson she was looking forward to the most. Instead of taking her fifteen-minute break she used the time to climb the many spiral staircases to the top of the tallest tower in Hogwarts. There was no way she was going to be late for this lesson. Over the last two years Narrelle had excelled in this class, this year was going to be no different she hoped but with the arrival of Professor Opal uncertainty nagged at her. Out of breath and very dizzy, she climbed the silver ladder up through the trap door into the circular room. Surprisingly it was quite big. Around the edge were roughly eight to ten small round tables with purple cloths draped over them, each seating two people. The stools that stood at these had green cushions. The great fireplace was unlit but the room was filled with light provided from the four arched windows surrounding the walls.

Narrelle chose a table near one of the windows and sat waiting for the rest of her class and her teacher to join her. Checking her watch impatiently she realized she had a whole five minutes to spare.

Professor Lynch, head of Slytherin house, had told her when she chose her subjects that Divination was an unusual choice for a Slytherin. In fact it was unusual for most students to choose this subject. Even the Ravenclaws did not see the point in it. Due to this she was the only person from Slytherin in her year group who had chosen the subject. Normally classes contained students from two houses but, seeing as she was the only one from Slytherin and no one in Ravenclaw had signed up, she had to share the room with Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs.

Quiet humming could be heard from the stairwell as a pretty young witch with loose, waist long blonde hair and pale blue robes and hat appeared through the trap door.

"Oh! Hello dear," She said chuckling at her surprise, "I wasn't expecting any one to be early."

This struck Narrelle as rather odd. Surely Professor Eva Opal would have 'seen' that she would be early?

The young woman giggled childishly at the puzzled look on Narrelle's face. "Don't look at me like that me dear, all will be explained when the lesson starts." She walked into the centre of the room where a large desk stood with a high-backed chair. The floorboards creaked as she moved.

At this remark Narrelle was more confused than ever. If she was possibly a fake, how did she know what she was thinking? Perhaps it's just guesswork she thought or possibly she is a seer.

Narrelle did not have long to think this over as students started piling up the ladder one after the other like a column of ants. Most of them were girls and already seemed to have decided who they were going to sit with. Soon almost all the tables were full. The last one through the door was Myrtle Smith. Now the only seat left was the one at Narrelle's table. Sighing Myrtle trudged over and, dumping her books on the table slumped onto the stool. Narrelle ignored her completely. Just my luck, she thought.

Once every one had settled down Professor Opal spoke.

"This subject is not for every one" She started "I don't expect all of you to stay. The art of true future telling is not something you can learn; it is something you are born with. I for example do not possess the inner eye. However I can teach you about the subject and take you as far as I can by teaching you skills such as palmistry, crystal gazing and tarot cards as well as many other techniques. These methods are not always accurate and are sometimes down to guesswork and interpretation as I'm sure you're previous teacher must have stressed. Still these skills will be very useful and important in your futures and I hope these lessons will be enjoyable. Now could you all please turn to chapter one of your text books 'The Inner Eye Grade Five' and we will begin".

Several girls had to nudge the boys out of their daze. Most of them were staring at Professor Opal, open-mouthed.

"Sorry" whispered a Gryffindor boy Narrelle couldn't remember the name of from the next table to the girl sat opposite him as she tutted. Narrelle guessed they were dating and wasn't surprised by Bertha's reaction of obvious annoyance to the boy's interest in their pretty teacher. Without thinking she checked Opal's ring finger and felt comforted to see a gold wedding band. If she caught Tom looking at Professor Opal like that she'd want to hit him to snap him out of it too and they weren't even dating!

To her surprise Narrelle was a little disappointed with this lesson, it wasn't what she thought it would be at all. If Opal wasn't a seer herself, should she really be teaching? Professor Clarence had been so much better. She had, however, enjoyed it even with Myrtle sitting opposite her. Narrelle couldn't help but notice how enthusiastic Myrtle was with her work. She almost became a different person if you over looked the fact that this made her a swot and a teachers pet. She smirked; it was probably because she had nothing else to do with her time, she thought, after all she doesn't have any friends.

The rest of the day flew by. She thoroughly enjoyed Herbology, Astronomy and double Muggle Studies, which was fascinating. She couldn't wait until they learnt more about the war they were in and the machines used to defend themselves.

The next few weeks passed as fast as the first day had. Before long Narrelle was swamped with homework. Her full timetable meant that she had no prep lessons devoted to homework and she even had double Ancient Runes on Saturday. Night after night she could be found sat by herself in the common room until late trying to work her way through it. She was seeing less and less of Tom, which was getting her down. She missed his sense of humor and the talks they had. Not being in any of his classes was a shame but totally unavoidable. Different year groups couldn't share classes for obvious reasons.

Divination was improving. So far they had covered tarot cards and Narrelle had been surprised to find she was good at it. Interpreting symbols was easy as far as she was concerned and a few of the things she had seen had come true for her partner. Myrtle was supposed to have had a bad fall and receive a bad mark in one of her subjects. Both had come true although Narrelle wasn't sure that Ellouise didn't cause the bad fall after she had told her about it and she had tripped Myrtle on purpose. The bad mark however could not have been a fluke. Myrtle had come limping and sniffling into Divination the following day complaining that her leg hurt despite the fact that Madame Hern the school nurse had fixed the break easily, and that Professor Sinistra from the astronomy department had only given her eight out of ten. That had to be pure prediction because Myrtle always got full marks. Professor Opal was so impressed by her prediction that she awarded Slytherin house ten points.

The practical side of lessons had definitely improved her perspective of the subject and she found it did live up to her expectations.

It wasn't until Halloween that she got to speak to Tom properly and this time she wasn't going to let the presence of Algernon Rookwood stop her.

The feast was about to start and as usual they had all found their places in the great hall. Narrelle had positioned herself perfectly so she could sit next to Tom and Valetta.

Professor Dippit clapped his hands together after giving a small speech and the tasty treats of toffee apples and sweets along with a large selection of puddings and a few savory dishes appeared.

Helping himself to some apple and custard pie Tom was only too willing to start a conversation with Narrelle.

"So how are your lessons going?" He asked

"Oh everything's going fantastic. I really love all my lessons, especially Divination." She began telling him about her predictions.

"That's excellent. I don't think I know anyone else in the whole school whose predictions came true. Well done Narrelle," He said enthusiastically. Narrelle couldn't help noticing he sounded a little sarcastic. Maybe he didn't believe her. She changed the subject quickly.

"You'll be pleased to know I'm dropping Muggle Studies though".

"Really?" He tried to sound casual but Narrelle could hear the underlying relief in his voice.

"Yeah it's not all it's cracked up to be. My work load's through the roof and I mean, why do I need to learn about them anyway?" She smiled at him.

"Exactly" He said beaming at her "Finally you see my point of view". He shoved a large piece of pie in his mouth and began chewing contently, not noticing the wince that crossed Narrelle's face. She didn't share his point of view at all and she hated to lie but she knew it would make him happy to hear her say it. He loved to be right. It was true however that her workload was too much. Working at weekends was tiring and left little time for her mounting homework. Muggle studies was interesting and although she loved it she knew she had to give up something.

"The only thing I don't get is why you hang around with those mudbloods, Evelyn and Heather aren't they?" He said glancing up the table to where the red head girl was in conversation with the ever-excitable Evelyn. Narrelle had stopped eating completely staring wide-eyed at Tom.

"How could you say that? They're my friends, it doesn't matter whether they're muggle born or not they're still just like us".

"No Narrelle, they are not," Tom threw down his fork flicking a bit of mashed potato across the table, ignoring the remark of "watch out" from the girl opposite. "They are not like us at all, they don't belong here in our world. They have no right."

"They have every right Tom," Narrelle's cold eyes matched his as each tried to out stare the other's stubbornness.

"If I had my way there wouldn't be any mudbloods here. I'm disgusted that the restrictions were taken down before I came here," he picked up his fork and played with the mash, his head down and his anger shown only by the slight pink tinge to his cheeks.

Narrelle lost her patients, "Stop calling them that, just because they have no wizard inheritance doesn't mean they're dirty."

Tom looked up abruptly "Oh no?" He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Look at my father, you can't seriously think that he was a nice caring civilized person after what he did! At least my mother was a pure blood."

She had taken it too far. He always brought up his father when they argued about muggles and muggle borns and it went too far for him to deal with. It was a successful argument too. Narrelle always felt immense sorrow for him when the topic came up. She couldn't imagine what it would be like growing up with no parents at all. Hers were not very affectionate but at least they were there. Further more he was ashamed of them. As far as she new he had only told her about his father and no one else, not even Algernon and Valetta. The teachers knew, of course but that's as far as it went. Still he had risen her curiosity.

"What restrictions?" she asked calmly placing her hand on his resting on the table. He glanced at her and some of his anger seemed to subside.

"Until About ten years ago there were restrictions to keep the mud…I mean muggle borns separate from the pure bloods." She smiled her appreciation at his effort to respect her preferences. "There were separate sections to each of the tables in here," he waved his free hand around the great hall "And in the common rooms and dormitories. Even the classrooms had two sections, one bit for the muggles borns and the rest for the pure bloods.

"I think things were better then…. But I don't know of course, having never been here at the time," he continued hurriedly, catching the look of shock on Narrelle's face. Gently he stroked her hand. Narrelle looked away feeling her cheeks blush embarrassment. She was shocked and disgusted by what she had heard and could hardly believe that Tom wanted these restrictions to be reapplied. Still, everyone had their own opinions she thought to herself. No one could agree on everything. Don't make excuses for him, the voice in her mind said. What he said was wrong and you know it. She gripped her chair with her free hand and squeezed his in gentle reassurance. Lifting her head she smiled at him. This time she was not going to listen to that voice, not if it meant jeopardising their friendship.

"What about you?" She asked changing the subject again.

"Well I'm going to fail Transfiguration," He said after swallowing his mouthful.

"Don't be ridiculous, you've never failed anything," she exclaimed "You're a prefect for heaven's sake and you got the best grades in your O.W.Ls ever." Narrelle couldn't believe she was hearing this. The reasonable voice was talking in her head again. He just wants you to praise him and it's exactly what you're doing. You fool. Oh do be quiet she answered herself in her head, it's not like that at all.

"Maybe," he continued sounding dejected. "But I couldn't turn my cauldron into a black cat last lesson. It still had a handle, it looked most peculiar." The thought of this snapped him out of his mood and he laughed. Narrelle giggled at the image that he had put in her mind.

"Well you have nothing to worry about. If you couldn't do it, I'd hate to see how the rest of them turned out," she burst into a fresh set of giggles.

"Dumbledore wasn't impressed, that's for sure," he commented.

"Yes well, he has high expectations," She said, "don't think about it any more, you'll do better next time."

He smiled affectionately at her "Have you read much of 'Hogwarts, A History'? He asked lowering his voice. She frowned.

"No should I have?"

"Well it's just, I found this chapter about a hidden chamber."

"Ok," Narrelle said slowly, wondering what the hell he was talking about, "So what?"

"Well," he paused as though trying to decide whether or not to let her in on a secret "I think I've found it."

Suddenly something clicked in Narrelle's mind "Hang on, you don't mean 'The chamber of secrets' do you?" She asked. "That's just a myth isn't it?" Her eyes, wide with interest, were fixed on Tom's.

He looked back at her with a stern almost afraid face, before splitting into a wide grin and laughing loudly.

"Got you," He said at last, while she fumed. "I knew you'd heard of it, you read too much Narrelle. I can't believe you thought I was serious." That served her right, he thought. How could she argue with me the way she did after everything I've been through? Still smiling to himself he continued to eat and alternately talk to those around him.

Narrelle looked away from him colour, flooding to her cheeks for the second time. She was hurt and furious that he would play tricks on her.

Valetta looked her way and nudged her side, "Cheer up, he didn't mean it to upset you, he was just joking around. All boys are like that, even my Folgrum."

Narrelle smiled at her weakly and ate in silence. As always it wasn't long before she had forgiven Tom and they were chatting away as if nothing had happened but had he forgiven her? Tom hated anyone to disagree with him. He always had to be right.

Before long it was time for bed and just as she had been on her first night she was full and exhausted. She fell asleep the instant her head touched her pillow and she began to dream.

In her mind she was in her history of Magic classroom but the layout was different. Glancing around she noticed that the tables had all been separated and one student was sat at each. A test, she thought, but I haven't revised. She looked at Donald Brown, a Ravenclaw to her right. He looked as nervous as she felt. Maybe no one had revised. Narrelle rolled over in her bed restlessly. Professor Binns was shuffling along handing out the papers. Binns was extremely old and gave the impression he'd been alive forever but somehow Narrelle got the feeling he wouldn't live much longer.

"Ok you can begin," He said in a croaky voice.

Narrelle turned the first page of parchment over and began. She found it rather easy and was finished well with in the hour provided. She frowned in her sleep as she went over the three questions she couldn't answer. Suddenly she saw a small girl jumping on her page.

"Wake up Wake up" Her alarm clock said. Stirring out of sleep she patted her clock on the head and swung her legs out of bed. Pushing her curtains aside she tried to remember what she had been dreaming about. She vaguely remembered something about the Goblin Rebellion but it was all too hazy. Shaking her head she dressed and began the day.

At her first opportunity she checked the library for information on the rebellion just out of curiosity. They had just finished covering it in history but for some reason she felt as though she needed an answer to something. After half an hour she gave up. I have no idea what I'm looking for anyway, she thought. By the time her history lesson began she had forgotten all about it until Professor Binns announced to the class of Slytherins and Ravenclaws that they would have a test. Groans filled the small classroom as they all sat at their individual desks. An odd feeling was welling up in Narrelle's mind. This had happened before I'm sure she thought. She looked to her right and sure enough here was the Ravenclaw boy from her dream.

It's got to be déjà vu or something she thought as Binns told them to start. She turned the first page and felt a knot in her stomach, she had done this before. The questions were the same as the ones from her dream it was all coming back to her. After getting over the initial shock she began filling in the answers with confidence. Just as she had in her dream she came across the questions she couldn't answer but, instead of waking up, she realized she had been looking at this stuff in the library earlier. Strange as it was, she had managed to prepare for a test she didn't know she was having.

Quickly she filled in the answers and waited for the others to finish. She was positively buzzing with amazement and she couldn't wait to tell Alianora and Heather.

A thought crossed her mind, what if they didn't believe her? What if they thought she had cheated? Biting her lip she looked to where Heather was sat chewing her quill in thought and then over to Alianora scribbling away on her parchment, pausing to flick her short brown hair behind her ears. Maybe she shouldn't tell anyone until she got her results.

"That was so hard!" Alianora said to Narrelle and Heather as they left the room.

"I know," Agreed Heather," I'm sure we didn't learn any of that in class. How did you find it Narrelle?"

"Really hard." She said automatically, looking away, "so are you both going into Hogsmead this weekend?" she continued, quickly changing the subject. It had been announced the day before Halloween that the trips to the only all wizzarding village in the country would begin on the 7th of November and the school had been talking of nothing else ever since.

"Of course," they both said in unison.

"I can't wait," said Heather positively bouncing, "I'm going in every shop as always and I can't wait to taste butter beer again."

"Me too," said Alianora, "Zonko's and Honedukes are where I'm going first."

Narrelle let them continue, "nightshade," she said and the door to the Slytherin common room opened to let them enter. "I'm going to have a rest," She said to the others and walked up to her room. She lay on her bed to think. How was it possible? Should she talk to anyone? Perhaps Professor Opal could help her. No she thought, I have to keep this to myself. Slytherins don't have the best reputation for telling the truth and it would look most convenient if she got full marks. She knew she couldn't tell anyone, not even Tom. He was a prefect after all.

A bell rang for dinner and she shot off the bed and upthe stairs. Evelyn was just coming down to look for her when Narrelle came zooming up the stairwell and almost knocked her over. Together they left the common room in fits of laughter. It occurred to Narrelle half way through the meal, as Evelyn was telling her about her latest heartthrob from her Transfiguration class, that Evelyn might believe her.

"Narrelle are you listening to me?" Evelyn said crossly.

"What? Oh yes, of course. If you like this boy so much just talk to him. Look I have something important to tell you but not here." She glanced around to check that no one was paying attention to her. "Meet me in the common room at half one, ok?"

Evelyn looked at her curiously. "Sure," she said. Then she smiled and changed the subject, "If I have to talk to Norman you have to talk to Tom."

"What? I already talk to Tom what are you talking about?" Narrelle stared at her plate trying not to blush.

"You know what I'm talking about. If I ask Norman to go on a date with me, you have to ask Tom!"

"No. Fine, don't ask him then see if I care. I just wanted you to be happy." Narrelle knew she had Evelyn right where she wanted her and did her best not to smile.

"Oh alright Nell, I was just playing. Maybe I will ask him, I don't know yet," Evelyn said feeling a little guilty at making Narrelle cross.

"You do what you want when you feel ready to do it," Narrelle said, "just as long as you do ask him." She smiled and Evelyn smiled back. It felt good to know that she could share her secret with someone. She ate quietly letting Evelyn go on and on about Norman until the meal was over.

At half ten she changed and got into bed as usual. She waited for everyone to fall asleep; she didn't dare close her eyes in case she fell asleep too. She hadn't set her alarm clock to wake her because it would wake every one else as well. The hours ticked by and eventually it was time to meet Evelyn. Quietly Narrelle slipped from her bed, picking up her wand as she did so.

"Lumos," she muttered making a light appear at its tip and tiptoed out of the room and up to the common room. She sat in one of the green leather armchairs and waited for Evelyn to arrive from the upper floor dormitories.

"Lacarnum Inflamre," she said pointing her wand at one of the bracket torches on the wall beside her. Blue flames erupted from it, filling the room with a pale ghostly glow.

Narrelle waited and waited. She was about to go up and look for Evelyn when she heard shuffling foot steps on the stairs.

"Sorry I'm late," She whispered sitting in a chair opposite Narrelle, "I fell asleep."

Narrelle wasted no time she simply nodded forgiveness at Evelyn and began to fill her in on what had happened.

"Are you sure it wasn't déjà vu?" Evelyn asked when Narrelle had finished.

"Positive. You never get that much detail in déjà vu".

"What mark do you reckon you got?"

"Don't know, but I don't think I got much wrong. Every one else found it really hard but if you ask me it was easy."

Evelyn bit her lip. She sat pondering. Narrelle didn't think she'd ever seen Evelyn sit so still. "I think you should talk to Professor Opal. Maybe you're a true seer or what ever it is they call them," she said at last with a hint of jealousy in her tone.

Narrelle laughed quietly, "I doubt it," she giggled. "No one in my family has been able to see the future and Opal said you had to be born with it. Besides no one will believe me".

"I believed you," She said. She stood up suddenly and paced the room. "Narrelle this is excellent," she said finally forgetting to keep her voice low.

"Shhhh," Narrelle hissed desperately.

Evelyn sat back down, trying to control her excitement, "If you really are a seer, think what you could do! You could get top marks in everything; you could know everything about everyone. You would know if someone was going to kill you and get rid of them before they did. You could change history. You could be so powerful."

"I don't want to be," Narrelle said. "I don't want to know, life's not supposed to be like that. Power would be great but it's something we dream of, it's not something we find."

"Don't be ridiculous Nell. Where's your ambition? Look at those on the Ministry of Magic, they have power." Evelyn was looking wide-eyed at Narrelle trying to think of other examples. She gestured frantically, "Think of the Goblin Rebellion you told me about, Dust Blood the Great was powerful, he went down in history!" She sat back satisfied she had proved her point.

"Nelly you have to find out if you have this 'third eye' thing!" Then she finished more softly, "You just have to",

Narrelle stood up. "It's an inner eye not a third eye and I'm going to bed. I'll think about it ok?" She trudged past Evelyn and back to her room without waiting for Evelyn's reply. She lay awake for a long time thinking. Eventually, around five in the morning, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep. At seven her alarm went off. Narrelle felt as though she had been asleep for five minutes instead of two hours and was very groggy. It was this that made her knock her alarm clock to the floor and set it off screaming.

The rest of the roommates rose quickly muttering "Narrelle" angrily under their breaths and groaning. Narrelle put her hands over her ears as she slid out of bed, only taking one hand away to grab her clothes before she left the room. There was no way she was going to stay in there with that racket going on.

Downstairs she heard more movement and angry comments as the whole of the Slytherin house awoke.

Ignoring them Narrelle dressed quickly. She had reached a decision. She would only talk to Professor Opal if it happened again.