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-Chapter Two-
"Students… We have a new arrival joining us today in the glorious journey and ART of Divination! Please Peaaarl make yourself welcome…you may sit with Tahlia and Kyros!" A woman with gigantic rimmed glasses, in which were sitting oddly at the brink of her nose, and fluffy dirty blonde hair announced with a rather misty voice towards the many students sitting randomly around the room upon pink and purple cushions.
McGonagall had led Pearl to her first subject lesson at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry and to her luck, it happened to be Divination. The one subject Pearl's mother had specialized and taught at her old school – The Durmstrang Institute. Once the woman had her little spiel to the class she led Pearl away from the doorway and towards a table to the far right in which two students sat. A girl and a boy. The girl, Tahlia, at the mention of her name and sight of Pearl had begun to wave her arms excitedly towards her. She seemed to be either extremely cheerful or be it psychotic in Pearl's mind. This was much to say for the boy sitting beside her. He had his head drawn low and sat upon his cushion in a "laid-back" position – appearing somewhat "cool" and "lonerish" - an odd pair of students to be seen together.
As the woman lead Pearl towards the odd couple she spoke almost in a whisper; "I'm Professor Trelawney. So far we've covered a fair bit, but I've heard you are quite the one for seeing…far… into… the future." She held her breath for dramatic effect before continuing on, "Young Tahlia and Kyros shall fill you in on today's lesson. See me after class!"
Just as Professor Trelawney had finished speaking with Pearl, they had reached the small cluttered table with Tahlia and Kyros. Kyros' attention didn't seem to wander greatly as they were approached, but bubbly Tahlia had risen from her cushion seat and cheerfully extended her hand out to Pearl, "Hey! I'M Tahlia! I've heard A LOT about you!"
Pearl almost had to stop her eyebrows from rising in alarm at how chirpy this girl was. She had very short caramel brown hair that flicked just below her ears and sparkling light brown eyes. She seems nice…Pearl thought as she returned the gesture smiling brightly towards her. "…Hope it was nothing too bad...heh…"
Tahlia shook her head and motioned towards the spare purple cushion imbedded between Kyros' and Tahlia's seats, "Not at all! Take a seat! Oh! And this is Kyros!"
Pearl eased her way past Tahlia and set herself down comfortably offering a warm smile to the boy beside her. Seeing him up close, she could see the odd colour of his eyes. They were a beautiful shade of blue with peculiar streaks of purple etching towards the iris. Pearl had never seen such a strange combination in eye colour. The fact that his hair was pitch black is probably what caused Pearl's attention to arise in the first place, as it brought out the vibrance of the blue and purple hues. Kyros finally looked up away from the white tea cup held in his hands and met that of Pearl; "…Hey…"
For a moment Pearl hadn't even noticed that he had spoken, she was gazing weirdly into his eyes with fascination. Luckily she caught grounding of her attention, looking away nervously, "Oh! I'm sorry… Hello…"
By this time Tahlia had sat herself comfortably beside Pearl and was swaying happily from side to side – oblivious to the world. Turning to see this, Pearl smirked resisting the urge to twitch. "… You… right there, Tahlia?"
"Oh yes - quite right." She replied still continuing to sway oddly in her seat. Eventually she paused and exclaimed in a rather loud whisper; "Oh! We're practicing on reading each other's fortunes in tea cups. Tasseography or something… It's revision from last year so you're lucky! We don't seem to be having much luck though... Kyros keeps telling me that all he's seeing is a 'chicken'."
"It is!" Kyros suddenly piped up defensively, thrusting the cup over towards Pearl and Tahlia. "Look!"
Instinctively doing as she was told, Pearl leaned forward looking into the cup base. Tahlia peered over wondering what Pearl's reaction to the tea leave formation would be. A moment of silence before Pearl drew back again stating casually; "It could be a duck..."
Tahlia growled throwing her hands up above her head in defeat as Kyros exclaimed victoriously; "SEE!"
"Fine! Fine! It's a feathered fluffy bird... so what? What does it MEAN!" Tahlia began to query Kyros ferociously, biting back as though to win the war.
"Uh... I... don't know..." Kyros drew his attention back down to the cup as though etching for the answers to be written in plain English upon the side. Like "If you see a chicken you will be praised with a bright future; if you see a porcupine you will face grave danger, or; if you see a walnut you will marry a Dutch man". Unfortunately for Kyros, there wasn't such luck.
Tahlia slumped forwards with a look of disappointment; "Well what good are you, you git..."
Hesitantly Pearl inched towards them so that her whispers could become audible; "uh... well… Since the art of reading tea leaves originated from Chinese decent... the chicken could actually resemble the Chinese astrological sign of the rooster. Though, usually when you see birds of any kind in the leaves it is said to mean that you are bound to have good luck in your life…"
By this time, both Kyros' and Tahlia's gaze was fixated upon Pearl in shock. Stuttering to find the words Tahlia eventually spat out; "Where the heck did you learn all that!"
Pearl giggled softly some as Kyros added; "We would have been here all year trying to figure that out! Probably would've settled with just; 'You shall eat chicken for dinner in some random numeral of time'."
"Uhm… my mother taught Divination at my old school… so I sorta picked it up from her… I can also read palms and tarot cards... and I worked on a few star charts back at home."
"WOW!" Tahlia's face magically appeared to light up with delight. She seemed to be in awe at what Pearl had just claimed. Kyros merely nodded his head remarking oh so casually; "…cool."
"Could you give me a reading sometime! I've never had my fortune told accurately. Pleeease… I would be EVER so grateful!" Tahlia pleaded to Pearl, clasping her hands together and biting her lip softly. Innocence 106.
Pearl smirked and nodded; "Sure… that'd be no problem. May I ask … What house team are you in?"
Tahlia exclaimed ever so bubbly; "Hufflepuff!"
"Oh cool! Hogwarts… has such weird names for their teams… what about you Kyros?"
Kyros smirked coolly confirming; "Same as Tahli - Hufflepuff."
"You're in that evil team… with that Draco guy who thinks he's top stuff aren't you?" Tahlia asked, remembering which team Pearl had been put into by the Sorting Hat earlier this morning.
Pearl nodded offering a half smile; "yea… Sly-ther-in … I think it is…"
"But why? You don't seem evil or mean like the rest of those idiots. I swear they're all dead from the neck up…" Kyros asked Pearl remarking to the lack of intelligence found within the Slytherin housing team.
This caused Pearl and Tahlia to laugh. Judging from this morning – he wouldn't be dead wrong. She thought. In response, Pearl simply shrugged. She didn't want to tell them the real reason. She didn't want to tell them that she had been threatened and blackmailed into a team she didn't wish to belong. No. She didn't want that. Fortunately she didn't have to for Tahlia had added cheekily; "Maybe they thought Slytherin could do with a bit of genuine kindness for once."
"Well it'd be a first that's for sure." Kyros remarked smiling. Pearl went to say something but was stopped by Professor Trelawney announcing in her mysterious misty voice yet again; "Thaankyou class… If you would all please pack away your tea cups and books – class is adjourn."
"Finally! Lunch! Hey Pearl… Do you wanna' come sit with us at lunch? We'll be out at the courtyard for break until next lesson." Tahlia asked Pearl sweetly as she stepped up from her cushion and shoved several books into her school bag.
Pearl nodded smiling brightly; "That'd be great! I have to see a few teachers before I do though… Is that alright?"
Kyros answered this time as he headed over to the door with Tahlia and numerous other students; "That'll be fine! See you soon, Pearl!"
Placing her new school bag upon her shoulder Pearl joyfully stepped up from her own cushion and turned to see Professor Trelawney wave and call out to her. As she drew closer, Trelawney stepped forward ogling her large goggle glasses directly in front of Pearl's nose; "My, my… you are a gifted child aren't you dear? Have the sight… definitely have the sight…"
"Huh?" Pearl couldn't help but blink in confusion at what Professor Trelawney had stated. "I'm sorry… what are you-?"
Trelawney drew back shaking her head; "Ah sorry… almost went completely off-track." She began laughing as though she were embarrassed by what she was going on about. For a moment Trelawney left Pearl in confusion whilst chuckling and sighing to herself, before drawing her attention back to Pearl and placing her hand upon her shoulder; "Right… Pearl… I've set up a little test for you to do over the next week. Don't worry it's nothing too difficult. It's just to left me know where you are in the art of Divination. Since I don't know what you've studied of course."
As she said this, Trelawney reached out over to her desk and retrieved a rolled up piece of parchment. Gently she handed it to Pearl. It was rather light to the touch but Pearl knew it meant several hours of study and revision. "Ah… Thank you Professor…"
Oddly enough, Trelawney's grasp didn't leave Pearl. In fact it tightened! Pearl looked up to the Professor wondering what was the meaning of her actions, but came to face a dazed hypnotic Trelawney staring wide-eyed and shaking. For a moment she reminded Pearl of a zombie – ready to feast upon her flesh at any opportune moment. Now would be a good time to run. Though as she tried to escape Trelawney began to speak to her - leering closer. The words through strained whispers echoed eerily as though they were miles away and just the remnants of a once loud booming voice. As the room grew suddenly dark, these words etched into Pearl's mind; "….Bewaare….. Bewaaaare… Trouble approaches… Teeth… Sharp teeth… Crocodile!"
Within an instant, Trelawney had returned to her usual self - fidgeting nervously and looking to Pearl as clueless as a rabbit. Pearl – on the other hand – had a confused and skeptical look upon her face inquiring the thought; what the…
Trelawney just smiled oddly towards her – her big rimmed glasses acting like magnifying glasses through Pearl's vision. "Oh! Before I forget… your uncle told me to remind you that you must see him before the start of next lesson…"
"…Oh… alright… I-I… better go see him now… Thank you again Professor." Pearl offered a light bow to the unusual witch before scrambling out the door with the light parchment in her grasp – leaving Trelawney to jitter on.
As Pearl ventured blindly through the dark moist stoned walls, spiraling down towards her Uncle's haven; it became apparent that the scenery could almost be matched to her mood. The thought of having to converse alone with her infamous uncle inspired her no-less than sixty-year old mold. At this point in time, Pearl would have given anything to be back at home discussing the latest constellation movements with her mother. Though, as a rat scurried heavily past her feet, she knew there was no chance or hope for such happiness. With a hint of disgust, she drew her hand close to the wooden clad door and sighed; "Uncle must have skipped lunch today…"
Two bellowing knocks upon the thick wood and an unenthusiastic yet loud voice traveled through to Pearl's ears; "Intrude."
Pearl reserved the right to twitch as her shoveled through the darkness into the torch lit room. Rows of orderly set desks greeted her as the door swung silently behind her – latching with echoing thud. In shock she felt her skin prickle with fright, before quickly dismissing the thought and drawing her gaze up to the front of the classroom. There she caught sight of a dark-haired man, appearing to be in his early 40s. He had a permanent unpleasant look upon him, which provided him solely with his dreaded nickname: Snivellus Snape. He was her only known relative that was still breathing and magically aware. Her mother's step-brother. Oh, how Pearl loathed him. He was always so fixated upon the Dark Arts and 'He-who-must-not-be-named'. Even in the only two instances she had actually conversed with him, there was no like or trust that she could truthfully admit to this one family member. In Pearl's eyes, there was no goodness to be found in this sniveling excuse for a man. Swiftly she made her way up to his desk, his gaze not flickering since her entrance. Up close she noticed the piles of paper-work and unmarked tests scattered randomly before him. After a few moments, Pearl had to break the silence; "… You wished to speak to me, Uncle?"
An unenthused tone droned from the corner of Snape's lips; "I would appreciate it if you would address me as Professor Snape or Professor."
Pearl's eyes narrowed slightly as he continued on; "What I wished to make very clear to you is that, here, you have a certain degree of dignity that must be upheld. As a Slytherin and more importantly as a Snape, I suggest you stray clear of those who do not abide by the school rules… particularly those in Gryffindor."
Snape snarled as he directed a cruel stare up to his uncomfortable niece. Pearl went to say something in defense though drew back as a cocky voice sounded through.
"Ah Professor!"
A chill ran down Pearl's spine as she recognized who had just strutted into their conversation as though he owned the place. Ugh… Draco…
Sure enough, Snape arose from his seat upon Draco's presence; "Ah, Malfoy. Now if you'll please excuse us…"
Receiving a rather demanding glare from her Snape, Pearl grudgingly bowed her head to her uncle and then towards Malfoy, whose smug grin seemed to widen at her actions. As she turned to escape Snape's evil clutches, her hand upon the door, his lifeless words stung her ears.
"Remember my words, Pearl. Don't disappoint me."
Pausing for a moment, her eyes shifted downwards before she left the two in the dark den. The only word to leave her lips as she clambered up the dark stairwell to the light; "…Hopeless…"
"Ahhh! Look who finally decided to show! We thought you'd miss lunch – where've you been?" Tahlia piped up, seeing a greatly perturbed Pearl head towards the centre of the courtyard. Kyros and Tahlia had already eaten their lunches and had been awaiting the arrival of their new fated guest.
Offering a light smile, Pearl quickly apologized, relieved to be around comforting faces. "I'm terribly sorry to have kept you both waiting… I… had some matters that needed attending to."
"Don't sweat it… Have you eaten yet?" Kyros questioned, arising to his feet.
"Oh… uh… I'm not hungry…"
"Then let us show you around! We've got plenty of time 'til next class! C'mon!" Tahlia giggled as she and Kyros took hold of Pearl's hands and dashed off out of the courtyard, dragging poor Pearl along behind them.