Chapter 12 Divination and Third Year

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Seraphina POV

Back at Hogwarts at last. My pet rat got confiscated the minute I walked into the carriage. I spent the summer almost obsessively with my violin. Trying my best to play as loudly as I can every night I can. There were a few times where I heard screams. I know that they are killing a muggleborns or another completely normal and innocent child, and I…I had to hear them die…not able to do anything without getting potentially killed too. Except play my sorrows out on my violin. I kept a count…starting from that boy last summer, so far, five children have been killed. I watched them carry the tiny coffins out through the music room window, yet they have no remorse… Innocent children. I made a promise to myself, I will change the way we are treated. No more hiding. No more being…ostracised. I protested with nothing but my violin so far. But I am pretty sure that they will try to sell it as soon as I get back to Hogwarts, judging by how much I disrupted the nuns' sleep, but they simply could not bother to get up and send me to bed.

So I hid it with a compulsion. How did I do this? Wandless magic. It was very draining. It was pretty annoying how they refused to let me bring my violin to Hogwarts. The nuns are horrid, I know they are debating whether to get rid of me or not, since I do make a good income. Fear not, horrible ladies! I will be leaving you forever when I finally reach fourteen this Christmas, where I will be arranging to rent a place, where none of you will ever find: Diagon Alley! Okay, maybe not, or only for the holidays and because rent in Diagon is expensive. But I am also going to try to find out what happened to my mother in this world, since my search in the restricted section ended up with books on dimensions like time and space, a guide on how expansion charms function and the like, absolutely nothing on interdimensional travel. I have a feeling that I am probably an exception to every rule, even in this universe…

"...So if you need any help, go talk to Seraphina Astrum, the jammiest of jam in third year with the green tie."

Woah woah woah, hold up. I stopped, turned around and found the Hufflepuff muggleborn I helped in first year, talking to…an entire group of muggleborn first years.

"Oh, there she is! Oi Seraphina! Seraphina!" He yelled. Running over to me.

Internally I groaned. I did not sign up for this! If I had known that simply helping this guy once will make him this annoying, I probably would have hexed him to death myself. I just wanted a better image for Slytherin and a way for me to begin my climb to power, is that too much to ask?

"Yes, Greene?" I bit out in a borderline aggressive tone. Deep breath, murder is not the best solution, besides, he is getting you minions! Don't kill him. Do not kill him. You do NOT want to traumatise the entire school with his bloody, mutilated corpse, you are better than the nuns…

"Seraphina! So good to see you! How have you been, how were your holidays?" He asked, while draping his arm over my shoulder way too enthusiastically.

"They have been fine." I replied, picking his arm up and removing it from my shoulder, trying my best to hide my disgust. I hate it when people touch me! I have since I first got the vision of my murder. And so far, no one is an exception to that rule. Much less him.

"Everyone, this is my very special friend Seraphina! If you need any help, you can go straight to her. In fact, should any slimy snake try to bully you, she will make them back right off!"

Oh hell no. I am not dealing with this.

"Or, you can go to your prefects first if you run into any trouble, which you won't. Because Slytherin are nice people. Who will definitely help you if you really really need it." I interrupted, glaring at Greene as I said the last part.

"Yeah, yeah. See? She's friendly!" He tried again to put his arm around me.

That's it! I am learning martial arts! I dodged out of the way of his arm.

"If you don't mind, we all have classes right now, so I suggest you get there." I dropped as I walked away, straightening my clothes. Heading to Divination.

"Sure! Love you too!" He yelled. Oh no. He will not be spreading this, right? I would hex him to hell and back if he does! But that would ruin all the progress I have made with the Slytherin image. Not to mention the loss of power within the Slytherin hierarchy, now that I have successfully shamed bullying.

Yes, I used bullying to fight bullying and it bloody worked. To my current regret.

I ran up the steps of the Divination tower. I have no idea why they used a tower, but it is a serious workout, and I hate whoever designed this. I burst into the classroom, it was filled with drapes, cushions and crystal balls. I took a seat next to Athena, mere seconds before the professor came in.

"Welcome, students. Welcome to Divination." The old woman began in a sagely voice. "I am Professor Yexanna. Here, we shall learn to decipher the mysteries of the future, through tarot cards, tea dregs and palm reading." Wait, aren't those fake?

At this point, a Ravenclaw raised his hand. "Professor?"

"Yes?"

"What about crystal balls?"

"Oh, yes. Crystal balls are of no use to those like us, without a fully developed inner eye. They are here, because they naturally increase the connection to one's inner eye. They allow us to take a slightly guided path in the blind road of seeing the future. Unless there among us, sits a full seer?"

Wait a second, she is not a seer? How is she going to help me with my visions? That's it. I am dropping this class. There is no way I am revealing my seer abilities so early.

"No one? Ah, the usual then. Please take a deck of tarot cards and turn to page 5 of Divination for the ungifted."

"I'm dropping this class." I whispered to Athena as soon as we were out of the classroom.

"Why?" She asked, surprised.

"If I had known we were playing with cards, I would have never chosen this subject."

"There is other stuff too, like palm reading or tea dreg reading…"

"Not worth anything of use."

She paused, before scrutinising my face, "You weren't expecting us to be taught by an actual seer, were you?"

"And if I was?"

She shrugged, "It should not make much of a difference anyway. Unless you are a seer yourself." She joked.

When I didn't laugh, she froze.

"You are one, aren't you." she stated, before slowly closing her eyes and sighed.

"Of course you are. Of course you would be the only seer in the entire school." She sighed.

"I didn't know it was that unusual." I defended myself. Besides, wasn't the future love of Albus, Grinnu, Grindell or something a seer?

"It's a blood trait. Trust me, families would kill to have you betrothed to their children."

Seeing my stony expression she sighed again. "You don't intend to get betrothed, do you."

"I intend to live my life, ruled by myself. If I fall in love, I will get married, if I end up hating the person, I will get a divorce."

She looked at me, a tired expression on her face, but also one of…longing.

"I'll see if I can help with your seer problem." She finally replied, after staring at me for a few minutes.

We met up with Hesper and Lestia, who were chatting excitedly about their divination results all the way to the Great Hall for lunch.

"How was Divination?" Alvis asked.

"It was very fun!"

"I'm dropping it."

Lestia and I replied at the same time.

"What, why?" Arcturus asked. "I thought girls liked that stuff?"

"I tried it because I was curious, but now that I know it is not what I was expecting, I am not keeping it." I replied, my sharp glare stopping them from asking further questions.

Just then, Albus walked by, casually dropping into the seat next to me.

"Are you up for a duel later?" He asked.

"Sure." I replied, to the shock of my friends.

"Wait, hold up! Aren't you afraid to get into trouble?" Hesper asked.

I rolled my eyes, as Albus widened his.

"Wait, they didn't know?" He asked.

"Know what?" Lestia asked.

"Albus here, and I have been duelling a few times on our own since last year." I replied, then smirked, "And I can't wait to test out my fire whip."

"F-Fire whip?" Arcturus choked, spitting out his pumpkin juice, Alvis patting him on the back.

"Yeah, you should see her calculations! She combined elemental fire magic with simultaneous combustion, making a tame version of Fiendfyre!" Albus gushed.

At that point, the entire Slytherin table, who had been listening in on our conversation, choked or spat out their food and drinks. Seeing this, I quickly cast a non-verbal shield charm around my group, who had been wise enough to not eat while Albus was talking to me.

"I guess you were not joking." Alvis commented, staring appreciatively at the shield I made.

"So…Tomorrow in the abandoned classroom on the fifth floor?" Albus asked.

"See you then." I replied.

"I really hope you two have healing spells under your belt." Arcturus muttered.