Chapter 10. Seer Knowledge

"I think I need to amend my statement."

"...What statement?" Harry asked with dread.

"I said the only people who take Divination are slackers or fools with visions of grandeur," she said. "It looks like I forgot to include fools who think they can hide their grandiose visions."

Harry swallowed. "Well, erm, I wouldn't exactly call my visions 'grandiose'," he said with a weak smile.

"Oh good Godric," Augusta breathed, eyes wide as she clutched her hand, "Are you telling me you just had a vision, just now?"

Harry resisted the urge to anxiously tap his fork against his plate as he slowly nodded, "I guess."

"I guess?!" Minnie did not look amused.

"Yeah?" he said and then winced as her eyebrows furrowed impossibly closer. "I mean, yes," he corrected hastily. "Yes, I had a vision."

"Another one?"

Harry jumped in surprise at the sound of Tom's voice before twisting his head around to see the boy smirking down at him. "Merlin's pants Tom," he complained, "Give a guy a warning next time, will you?"

"'Another one?'" Minnie repeated as Tom's lips quirked at Harry's annoyance. "What do you mean 'another one?'"

"Couldn't help yourself, could you Evans?" Tom asked instead of answering her. "Had to turn on the glowy eyes for the girls, hm?"

Harry flushed. "That is not—! You know I—! Oh, sod off, Riddle."

"But we haven't compared our schedules yet," Tom frowned, placing a hand over his heart feigning hurt.

"You can do that later," Minnie said brusquely, "First, Harry here is going to tell us what on earth just happened."

"Is he?" Tom remarked with a thin smile before dismissing her completely to turn to Harry. "Harry, come."

Harry frowned, glancing between Minnie, who was glaring daggers, and Tom, who was smiling blandly back at her. "First of all, Tom, don't be rude, I'm not a dog. Secondly," he turned back to face Minnie, Augusta, and Al, "My visions... They're really not that complicated. When someone touches me I get a vision of their past or future. Simple as that."

"'Simple as that?'" Al repeated, appalled. "I have never heard of a Seer whose visions are triggered by touch, let alone a Seer with the ability to see into both the past and future! How can you say simple?"

"You saw my future?!" Augusta burst out.

"Or did you see her past?" Minnie asked shrewdly.

"I saw her futu—"

"You're joking!"

"Dear Morgaine, that's unheard of!"

"Is it though?" Minnie asked Al. "Surely someone—"

"Oh really, Minnie? Are you actually doubting my extensive Seer knowledge right now?"

"I didn't say that!"

"Guys," Harry tried weakly, "Guys, c'mon." But it was too late. Al had already begun to list off every well-known Seer he could think of, gesturing wildly with a half-eaten sausage as he did so. Unfortunately for Minnie, he was sure to steamroll her with another name anytime she attempted to open her mouth. Augusta just sat there gaping at her hand.

"Wow." Tom's hands landed on Harry's shoulders, his quiet voice laced with amusement as he leaned down to whisper in his ear. "You really couldn't help yourself could you, Harry?"

"Oh shut up," Harry breathed back, ignoring the weird swoop in his stomach and blinking rapidly at the chaos. "She's the one who touched me, I couldn't exactly stop it."

"Sure you couldn't."

"—and Sabine the Soothsayer could only see the future of course, just like Cassandra—"

"Merlin, Al, we get it!"

Minnie's irate exclamation seemed to snap Augusta out of it, who jerked out of her trance and immediately turned to Harry, eyes wide. "What did you see?"

Minnie and Al suddenly went quiet.

The sudden rapturous attention as the three of them stared at him made Harry feel rather uncomfortable. "Oh, er, not much."

"Go on," Augusta said, adding "Please," when he hesitated.

Harry sighed. "Okay. I saw you at this pink cafe holding hands with—" Harry determinedly did not look at Al "—some guy. It looked like a date."

"Really?" she asked, eyes wide. "Do you know who the guy was?"

"Nope!" Harry said a little too quickly, "Not a clue. Didn't recognize him."

Tom's thumb moved against his robes and Harry knew he could tell he was lying.

"Would you, though? Recognize him if you saw him?" Augusta asked eagerly.

"Maybe? I'm not great with faces," Harry said awkwardly. When her excitement didn't wane, he added, "And my visions aren't always clear or understandable, so maybe it wasn't even a date in the first place." That sounds probable, right?

"That's fascinating!" Al breathed. "And the only times you've had these visions are after someone has touched you?" he asked.

"Yes."

"But Tom's touching your shoulders right now," Al pointed out, causing Tom's fingers to twitch minutely as if he'd just fought the urge to snatch his hands away. "Why aren't your eyes all..." Al wiggled his fingers, "...glowy?"

"Oh, well—"

"Look closely," Tom interrupted. "I'm not touching his skin, am I?" he asked the others. "However, if I were to just accidentally brush—"

The world split open again and Harry cursed the bastard as Tom's golden silhouettes bloomed in his mind. Fucking prick, Harry grumbled as he spitefully ignored the future strands in favor of the past, knowing Tom would prefer a vision of the future. He reached out to a past strand and let it dissolve, eager to get it over with. The memory of Tom's Sorting was now as clear as his own.

"See?" Tom was saying as the Great Hall reappeared around him. "It only happens when—Oof!"

Harry's elbow to the stomach effectively shut Tom up.

"That was rude."

Kinda.

"So was touching my neck," Harry shot back.

"That's still so weird," Al said, either oblivious or uncaring of the way Tom and Harry were glaring at each other. "So if I were to shake your hand—"

"Please don't!" Harry burst out.

"I won't, I won't," Al rushed to assure him. "But if I were?"

"Yeah, I'd have a vision."

Minnie whistled, "That's got to be bloody inconvenient."

The smile Harry gave her was very strained. "Mhmm. Tell me about it."

Quiet fell over the table as the Gryffindors gave Harry sympathetic looks, so naturally, Tom took advantage.

"So..." he drawled. "As lovely as this has been... Harry?" Tom gestured for him to join him.

"Fine," he sighed and stood. On second thought he added, "I'll be right back," for the benefit of the other Gryffindors.

While Augusta waved, still looking vaguely awestruck, and Al nodded, Minnie—having reminded herself that she was mad—renewed her glaring at Riddle. Tom winked at her.

Not seeing this, Harry snatched his schedule, frowned wistfully at his still-full plate, and followed Tom.

By the time Harry had finished up with Tom—annoyed, as he had failed to get any information on whatever Tom had found that summer—most of the other fourth-year Gryffindors had come down from the common room. Unsurprisingly, the conversation centered on the Dueling Tournament again, and on their upcoming Defense class. Or, more accurately, how annoying it was that Defense wasn't for two whole days. Harry tuned it out, not too bothered; he was more worried about Divination, which was scheduled for that afternoon.

His worry, it turned out, was warranted.

"I told—you—we—didn't—have to—rush," Harry panted as they climbed up the last of the spiral steps of the North Tower, emerging onto the empty landing under the trapdoor. "See," he said, gesturing wildly at the closed trapdoor on the ceiling. "Closed!"

"I just wanted—to be cautious," Al wheezed, bent over at the waist. "Professor Lyptus—warned me—last term."

"About what?"

Al took the chance to catch his breath before he straightened up. "She told me arriving early for the first class would be 'of interest to me.'"

"That's hardly a warning, mate," Harry pointed out.

"It was the way she said it."

Just then, the trapdoor suddenly opened, allowing a familiar silvery ladder to descend at their feet. With the ladder came the chatter of students; moments later, some of them began to climb down.

"Third-years," Al said, wrinkling his nose as he recognized some of the students.

Al's disgusted tone had Harry smiling as he backed out of the way of the spiral stairs, allowing the unfamiliar students to file by. Unable to talk to Al over the noise, he busied himself by smoothing out the wrinkles in his robes until—

"It's you."

Harry looked up and was startled to see Trelawney standing inches in front of him.

"I don't understand," she murmured, almost to herself, "I know you don't belong here."

As Harry blinked, unnerved, Al frowned. "That's rude," he said crossly. "And besides, you're one to talk. What are you doing taking Divination? Aren't you a first-year?"

Harry vaguely noticed some of the third-years pausing on the stairs.

"The Sight waits for no age," she sniffed, "and my Inner Eye must be trained." She turned back to Harry. "Why are you here?"

He backed away a little, uncomfortable. "I have Divination," Harry said awkwardly in answer.

"You said before that you can See?" Trelawney asked.

Harry nodded.

"Well, I don't believe you. You have an... abnormally weak aura."

Harry felt a sudden surge of irritation. "You know, I don't remember asking for your opinion, Trelawney."

"Besides, you're wrong," Al defended. "I've seen him See."

At his pronouncement, some of the remaining third-years began to whisper. Trelawney, though, frowned deeply. "That's impossible."

"Oh really?" Harry challenged, suddenly recklessly uncaring of onlookers, "Try me."

Trelawney started to look nervous. "But... the Eye cannot see on command."

"Maybe yours can't, but mine can. Al?"

"Yeah?"

Harry reached his hand out, "May I?"

The boy's eyes widened with understanding. "Oh! Yes! Yes, go ahead!"

Harry touched Al's hand and the world split open.

In many ways Harry found, Hogwarts in 1941 wasn't too different from Hogwarts in 1994. For one, rumors spread just as wildly.

Word of Harry and Trelawney's confrontation had spread rapidly; by dinner, he was hearing his name and feeling eyes on his back.

"I heard his eyes glowed!"

"Henry or Harold Evans, I think."

"—and they're both Seers apparently!"

As satisfying as the shock on Trelawney's face had been, the onslaught of student attention was certainly adding to Harry's regret. But the rumors weren't the worst of it.

The worst of it was what Professor Lazuli Lyptus had decided.

"Hogwarts—nay, Britain—hasn't seen this much raw Divine power in decades!" she all but sang, "Two promising Seers..." She looked at the two with pride, "I must nurture your talents," she crooned. "I shall train the two of you in the Art, together."

Harry's horrified stammers had fallen on deaf ears.

Divination lessons with Trelawney...

He was so screwed.