Trelawney
By Tracev & WittchWay
sssHPsss
And so with the same trepidation that he came each year professor Severus Snape shoved his way up the ladder and passed her with no acknowledgement, and sat in the chintz covered chair facing the window. He did not look at the Divinations professor, he didn't look around the room that was rarely seen by the staff of Hogwarts. He sat silently and stared out the window into the blue sky, watching the afternoon light come into it's own glory.
Trelawney smiled as she always did to her colleagues and patrons, she would not be intimidated by this man. She had two goals for today's meeting, it would be the quickest of her career and the most outlandish. She knew things about him, things the other professor didn't. She knew he stalked these halls late at night, she knew that he went to the gates of Hogwarts and disappeared for hours at a time. She knew he came back looking worse for wear, once with a busted lip. She had seen it with her own eyes as he swayed up the steps of the school, She could only imagine what else he was up to.
She had spent most of last night planning what she was going to say to him. What she was about to tell him weren't lies…they had come to her in a moment of pure inner sight and awakening… they were true that she would bet her life on.
"Ah…professor Snape so good of you to join me…" she smiled brilliantly giving him her best misty voice but he took no notice. His eyes glazed over in boredom, bordering on contempt.
She touched the crystal balls with the tips of her fingers and watched slowly as the clouds swirled and hissed their way across the large crystal orb, shadows ebbing at the outer realm.
"I'll begin my dear as soon as you touch the crystal ball, giving it a feel for you aura." She sat straighter, she had never asked him to touch the crystal ball, had never asked him in any way to participate; no tea leave reading or palm readings, she had never touched the man in anyway.
But he would participate today that she would make sure of.
She eyed him brilliantly, her small eyes enlarged by the spectacles upon her face. He glared at her, his arms crossed over his chest, she thought she heard a low growl in the hollow of the mans chest and was quite sure a protest was to come forth but there was none.
His dark eyes sent daggers through her, but she didn't care, she would not be scared off or detoured by this man, she locked her own superior glare on him and sat up a little straighter still and looked down her round nose at him.
Slowly a hand snaked out from under his robes and hesitated in mid air over the crystal ball. It was a battle of wills as the two glared at each other, Snape defiantly and Trelawney with all the courage she could muster. She held firm in her seat, watching his hand hover in mid air, his long spinally fingers stained yellow with potion ingredients and nicotine.
She leaned back suddenly, fearful that he would strike her.
Snape smirked as a single finger touched the clouded glass… leaving a smeared greasy fingerprint behind.
Professor Sybill Trelawney suppressed a shiver and ignoring the smear on her precious crystal ball and began her predictions of the potions professor upcoming year.
"I see brilliant things for you this year my dear man… " She began like she had every other year, she took a deep breath preparing to burst forth with what she had written out last night but it didn't come… instead she realized how much her throat hurt and had been hurting. She didn't quite feel like herself that she was sure of. She could feel the air in the room shift. The same air that been bothering her, teasing her with its pending tale. She shifted in her seat, her eyes felt as if she could not see out of them properly. She hiccupped, "…a soul mate."
Trelawney sucked in a deep gust of air, that had not been on her list of predictions… it hadn't been what she meant to say at all.
She didn't know why she said it but something about it seemed right. It seemed to be what needed said. Shoving her hands in her robes, chewing on her bottom lips she knew she had to go on and quickly or he would disappear down those steps not to be seen till next year.
"A beautiful boy…oh" she trailed off, Sybill tried to calm herself and begin again, her mouth moved of its own accord, this had happened before. Words had dribbled from her lips that she had not meant to say. Words she had never even thought of before nor would she have associated with that individual. She shut her watery eyes for a long moment… and when she reopened them they were clear and wide.
Her voice lost its mistiness, it had become throaty and deep… her back straight, her trembling hand had stilled as she again touched the crystal ball, dragging her chipped nail across the glass. The swirl of clouds shifted and darkened, red and green smoke edged forward, figures of cloaks, of wands, darker figures lay in the shadows, long silver beards and wolves crept forward.
"He's the one you've been looking for. He's the…one…. The first one you see on the day of tomorrow."
Trelawney whimpered, her throat, her voice box echoed its own thought, "The first one is last one. In debt no more you be. For he is the seed of your soul…betrayed and right is wronged." she could feel more struggling to get out. More trying to pry her lips apart but she was not going to let it.
She wasn't going to let them think her crazy no more. She knew what they said…Bowing her head, she tried to catch her breath, to calm the chill that went up and down her spine. She had to finish this with what she had originally intended … she just wished he would go.
She stuttered, trying to say what she truly meant but it wasn't forth coming. Looking up, her face twisted in fear that she would spill something even more ludicrous, she pressed her lips together firmly. She would nod for him to go… to leave her classroom, to forget her predictions, she would admit defeat now and forever if he would just leave.
Shaking, gasping, she opened her eyes to see him watching her. Actually looking at her…Trelawney shrunk back, he had never… in all his years looked at her.
But he was now, intently.
His body sat rigidly in its squashy chair. His arms dropped to his side. He stood suddenly turning to look at her.
His black eyes narrowed, he moved swiftly hovering over her, he looked down his long nose at her. She thought perhaps he would yell at her, sear her with his fiery Snape temper… but he didn't, he held her glaze for a moment to long and then suddenly brushed by nearly knocking her out of her seat.
She heard him kick the trap door open, his heavy boots on the rungs of the ladder. He was a quarter of the way down the ladder with only his head still above the floor when he uttered the first and only words he ever would to Professor Trelawney "I won't be back next year."
And then he was gone.
Tears leaked their way down professor Trelawney's face, scared tears, tired tears…She took a deep breath breathing in the scent of the room the peppermint, sage, spices of tea and lemons, sweet sugars… Wishing she hadn't left her sherry bottle up in her private rooms she shut her eyes in despair.
She took another shaking deep breath and settle back in the chair, her favorite chair. Her eyes fluttering one last time before sleep found her.
TBC…
