The Elixir, part IV
The Prophecy
A young Severus Snape pulled back beaded curtains as he silently stepped into the seer's lair. It was dark; the blankets she had hung around the cave's mouth prevented any light from penetrating the darkness. There was a strong smell of incense as Severus entered, and he stifled a cough. She sat, head wrapped in a colorful scarf, gazing into a crystal ball, her back to Severus. "I've come," Severus said quietly. "Now what do you want?"
"I've a prophecy for you, young Snape," the seer said in a harsh whisper. Severus rolled his eyes; he had never had, and never would have, any tolerance for seers' nonsense. "I saw that," the seer said. "You know, Severus," she intoned. "You really should have more respect for your elders." Her head turned around at this, and heavily lidded eyes regarded him disdainfully.
She stood up, drawing herself up to her full height. Even standing on her pile of furs, she was a full head shorter than Severus. Imperially, she handed him a crystal ball. He rubbed his calloused hands over it, and the seer's emaciated figure rose in a misty recording of the prophecy.
"On the first day, of the ninth month, in his thirty-ninth year," the seer's reproduction intoned as Severus and the seer watched it revolve slowly. "there will come a Boy who shall ruin Severus Tobias Snape. His blood will be as pure as his heart is noble, and his intentions will be good. If he does not find himself by the last day of the fifth month of his forty-seventh year, Severus Snape will be destroyed, and his one love taken from him. On the first day, of the ninth month, in his thirty-ninth year..."
The seer began again, and Severus stared at the prophetess, still revolving slowly, the mist flickering slightly as the sun began to break through the blankets. He had ten years to find this boy, he thought to himself, before the prophecy began. He grabbed the prophecy and strode out of the cave, blinking in the harsh sunlight before he Disapparated.