After fetching her phoenix feather from its pouch in her trunk, Rose hurried to the Divination Tower. Lorcan was waiting for her, sitting in the window and reminding Rose of a cat.

"You could've gone up, you know," she told him as a ladder unfurled from the ceiling. It was rooted beside a trapdoor, which swung open as Rose spoke.

"And risk missing your first impression?" asked Lorcan innocently. "Or maybe you could have gotten lost. Better to wait."

Professor Trelawney stuck her head out from above the trapdoor. "Come up, my beautiful children!" She cooed. "Lorcan, Rosaline, please."

Lorcan gestured for Rose to go first. She made sure that her bag was centered on her back before climbing up the wooden ladder.

The room was unlike what she had seen before - at the school, at least. It reminded Rose vaguely of Luna's house, but perhaps that was just the feeling of organized clutter that pervaded the space. Instead of traditional desks and chairs, Professor Trelawney had arranged a selection of plush cushions that reminded Rose of Professor Evariste's room. The cushions surrounded low circular tables that bore various engravings. Upon closer inspection, Rose recognized symbols representing the zodiac.

"Ah," said Professor Trelawney, raising her hands and closing her large eyes, "so much positive energy in this space. Rosaline, you have such a pleasant aura, doesn't she Lorcan?"

Lorcan closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "She smells like vanilla," he said seriously, "which is soothing. When I Saw her yesterday, she looked happy."

Professor Trelawney smiled and opened her eyes. "Very good," she said, her voice smooth and soothing. "Do you feel the current need to draw something? Are you feeling a prophecy nudging at your fingertips?"

He did not respond for moment. Finally, he opened his eyes and shook his head.

"Our, well," said Professor Trelawney, "we cannot live in the Beyond, or we would be nothing more than..." She trailed off, leaving her thought dangling.

"I brought the phoenix feather like Lorcan said," offered Rose, setting her bag on one of the low tables. "Let me see... got it."

Professor Trelawney's eyes widened; in their magnified state, they looked almost bug-like. Her fingers shook as she reached out to touch the feather, which Rose held by the base.

"They are rare and powerful magical creatures, phoenixes," said Professor Trelawney, stroking the feather. "Their feathers promote Sight…. This is how you knew of the dragon's attack on your professor, is it not?"

How was she supposed to explain to this bizarre witch that she wasn't a Seer? She couldn't say that she just had some kind of enchanted locket that didn't exactly give her clear signals to work with. She was still hesitant to tell anyone about the locket, not until she had figured out what sort of enchantment was on it.

"Not really," said Rose vaguely. "I... well... I just kind of knew."

"You have some gift of foresight, though, that much is evident. Now we must lure it out of the dark, dank hole it is hiding in..."

Lorcan nodded seriously, and Rose hoped that there was going to be some positive outcome to her spending her evening in this way instead of focusing on her schoolwork. His visions had been very helpful during her first year, so she would just have to keep trusting him now.

"Let us begin a lesson!" Said Professor Trelawney. "Rose, sit with Lorcan. He will guide you through our opening exercises."

Two hours later, Professor Trelawney leaned back against the wall with a sigh.

"Maybe I'm not a Seer," Rose offered hopefully. "I mean, I could have just gotten lucky."

Professor Trelawney exhaled sharply, her nostrils flaring. "You have the Sight," she said insistently, though she sounded a bit unsure. "We just need to bring it out of you."

"We could give her a Seer's pack," suggested Lorcan, patting the black satchel that lay beside him. "That way, she's always prepared. And she will need it."

The last part of his sentence fell flat. Professor Trelawney's face switched from disappointed to exhilarated before Rose could blink.

"You're having a premonition, aren't you, child?"

Lorcan blinked. "No I'm not," he said bluntly. "I don't See anything."

"But you spoke in a prophet's voice!" cried Professor Trelawney. "This is a large step for you, child. Dear, do you remember what you spoke?"

"I suggested giving Rose a Seer's pack," he said wearily.

"But then you said she will need it!"

"Well, she will," said Lorcan, something close to irritation in his voice. "Can we make her one?"

Professor Trelawney smiled at her favorite student. "Of course, dear boy, of course."

Rose ended up with a satchel full of curious objects. She recognized some from her limited readings on Divination - a small crystal ball, smelling salts, tea leaves and a mug - but it was not a subject on which she had read much. On top of everything else went her phoenix feather, which Professor Trelawney insisted upon.

"You'll keep this pack with you whenever you can, it" she told Rose lightly. "For now, continue working on your own. Lorcan will alert you to any lessons."

Rose nearly dropped her bag as she clambered down the ladder leaving Professor Trelawney's room. Lorcan helped her, showing how the straps could be twisted so the bag could be on both shoulders instead of one.

"Thanks," she said.

"Where are you off to now?"

"I said I would go watch the boys fly," she said with a groan. She had regretted the promise as soon as she had made it the day before, but Albus had been overwhelmed with stress about his position on the team. Apparently practices hadn't been going well, and even in their private lessons, Cameron had grown rather snippy with him.

"That should be amusing," said Lorcan, grinning. "Have fun!"

Cameron and his team were already in the middle of a mock game when Rose finally made it down to the pitch. Louis was sitting in the stands, watching the game with visible envy. Once Rose approached him, she could see that his eyes were glazed over in memory.

"Hey," she said softly, not wanting to startle him.

"Hey Rose," he said, eyes still fixed on the players above.

"How're they doing?"

"Not good enough," muttered Louis. "They need to slaughter Ravenclaw to have any chance at the Cup, and they're not there. They're just not."

"Ah," said Rose. She didn't know what else to say. Nothing was going to make this easier on Louis, who had always loved Quidditch. Not being able to be on the team this year was clearly tearing him apart.

She took out her Charms book as the scrimmage continued, splitting her focus between her cousins overhead and the section on Scrambling Charms in the textbook. She had brought the practice tiles with her but was still having difficulty with the spell. It was supposed to randomly rearrange the tiles, but so far all she could do was swap the ones at either end.

"Need help?" asked Louis, finally noticing her frustration.

"I almost have it," she said, gnawing on her lower lip.

"Let me see, then."

"Ammisceno!"

The P and H tiles lifted, gave halfhearted shudders, and then fell back into their original positions. It was as if she was somehow getting worse at this!

"You're gripping your wand too tightly," said Louis, adjusting her hand. "Don't be so jerky about it. Try again."

"Ammisceno!"

The two end tiles flipped places immediately, and the others shook for a moment before settling down.

"Better," he said, adjusting her grip a bit more. "Try making the last swish a bit longer."

"Ammisceno!"

All eight tiles floated into the air, spun around, then clattered back onto the bench. Some of them landed with the wrong side facing up, but they had all switched places!

"Thanks," said Rose gratefully. There was only a small twinge in her chest where her pride lived, but it died down when she reminded herself that Louis was in her fifth year. Anyone three years her elder would be able to help her with second year classwork.

Louis returned to watching the game while Rose continued to practice the spell. After five consecutive successes, she put the tiles and book back in her bag with a small smile.

"Perfect timing," said Louis, "looks like they're wrapping up early."

Cameron had landed, and Rose could see even from a distance that he was not happy. He stalked back towards the castle as the others landed, each of them looking disappointed.

"Thanks for coming," said Albus gloomily when Rose went onto the field to meet him. "Sorry we didn't do better."

"We did fine," said James, but his heart wasn't in it, and the lie fell flat. "C'mon, I want to get changed and grab something to eat."

"You still have time," said Rose. "The match against Ravenclaw isn't until April."

Neither brother responded. They climbed the hill together in silence as darkness fell. As they reached the doors to the castle, Albus paused under the large torches illuminating the entrance.

"Rose, you're scratching yourself raw," Albus said, catching Rose's arm.

She looked down and saw that he was right. She was covered in angry red bumps spanning down her fingers and across the backs of her hands.

"Bloody hell!" exclaimed James. "Rose, what the hell did you do?"

"It's like an allergic reaction," explained Rose, pulling her sleeves down to cover the lumps, "but I wasn't in the forest this time!"

"Did you use anything new with Professor Trelawney?" asked Albus.

Rose thought back to the lesson. "Maybe?" she said. "I don't remember everything we used, she was trying a lot of different things to try and open my Inner Eye."

"It was probably that," said Albus. "C'mon, let's get that lotion from Madam Chang. James, we'll meet you upstairs."

"I can come too," offered James, frowning.

"No," Rose said firmly, "you've had a long day. Go get changed, it'll only take a few minutes."

She and Albus made their way to the second floor, which was eerily quiet at this time of evening. Rose felt the eyes of the various portraits following her and she pulled down her sleeves to try and hide the angry red across her skin.

"I hate disturbing her so late," grumbled Rose as Albus knocked on the door to Madam Chang's office.

Madam Chang opened the door, looking weary. "Good evening," she said, "what can I do for you?"

Rose pulled up her sleeves to expose the affected areas.

"I was with Professor Trelawney earlier," she explained as Madam Chang examined her. "I think I touched whatever I'm allergic to there."

"Isn't there a way to find out what it is?" asked Albus. "Some sort of test?"

"Yes," said Madam Chang, "and that may be a good choice at this point. I can have one ordered if you'd like."

"I'll think about it," said Rose. She didn't want to make a fuss, she just wanted these rashes to stop appearing! "Could I have some of that lotion again, please?"

Madam Chang applied the lotion to both of Rose's hands, even though only her right hand had the rash this time.

"Just in case," said the older witch. "And let me get a small bottle so you can take some of this with you. It will help with any residual itching."

"That's alright," said Rose, but Madam Chang ignored her, conjuring a tiny bottle and filling it with the lavender lotion.

"Let me know if it happens again," said Madam Chang, "and tell me if you would like the allergy test so I can order it."

Rose thanked her, and she and Albus made their way back to their common room.

Days passed, turning into weeks, and people began to forget about Rose being a Seer. Rose received a letter from her mother the morning after her latest rash updating them all on Hagrid's condition.

"He's alright," she said with a relieved sigh as she read the letter. "He's taking a bit of time off before coming back, but he's fine now."

"Lucky bloke," said James with a dramatic sigh. "If I was sliced up by one of the dragons, do you think I could take time off too?"

Rose shot James a withering look. "Not funny," she said icily.

"I was kidding!" insisted James. "Sheesh."

April began, bringing warmer weather and incessant talks of Quidditch. The final match was rapidly approaching, and even Rose was starting to get nervous for her house's team.

"Albus is so behind on his work," she confided to Lysander one morning over breakfast. Neither of the Potters had arrived yet- they were probably still asleep after another practice that had stretched into the night. "I don't want to hound him about it, but I also don't want his grades to suffer."

"Same with James," said Lysander. "After this game, though, they can both focus. They'll have time to catch up."

When the brothers arrived, they were in unusually good spirits.

"Slept like a baby," said James, scooping eggs onto his plate. "I had the best dream, Al."

"Oh?" said his brother.

"Yeah, I decided to take a nap instead of playing, so you had to go in as Seeker."

All of the color drained from Albus' face.

"James," said Rose, exasperated, "lay off."

"What?" said James. "This is me laying off. Would you rather I be pulling my hair out? I can do that too."

He wrenched up his face and tugged at his hair, getting a laugh out of Lysander. Even Albus showed a faint smile.

Rose was starving after Transfiguration that day. They had been working on turning apples into oranges, and the citrus smell was still lingering on her fingertips. She joined Lysander at the Gryffindor table, followed by Albus. He was frowning, and Rose assumed he was still thinking about his red-to-orange ombre apple.

"I almost fell asleep in Binns' class," confessed Lysander. "Usually I'm fine, but for some reason today I just couldn't keep my eyes open. And I didn't even have-"

All three of them jumped as the doors to the Great Hall slammed open. In strode Filch, followed by none other than James.

"I didn't even have James to keep me distracted," finished Lysander grimly, "because he never showed up to class."

Filch approached the head table as the students throughout the Hall watched. James, head hung low, scuffed his way over to the Gryffindor table.

"I'm dead," he said, his face white as he sat. "Dead. After this, my life is over."

"And here I sat thinking that you didn't care about the repercussions of his actions," said Lysander thoughtfully. "I obviously stand corrected."

At the head table, Professor Evariste put hand over his face as Filch continued to talk to him.

"Start with the positive side," suggested Albus, obviously unconcerned with his brother's pain. "There's a good side to everything, right?"

James gulped. "Hagrid's back," he said weakly. "I decided to go down and see him using the map."

"Don't tell me Filch got the map," groaned Rose.

"Worse. I have the map... but he gave me detention. Tomorrow."

Albus froze, a roasted potato halfway to his mouth. Then, as if moving in slow motion, he set his fork back down on his plate.

"James Sirius Potter," he said, enunciating each word dangerously, "this is not a good time to play one of your jokes."

"I'm not," said James miserably, "Al, I'm so sorry."

Without another word, Albus stood, shot James a withering glare, and left the Great Hall. James looked frantically between Lysander and Rose, then ran after his brother.

"That idiot," whispered Rose, "that absolute idiot."

Cameron Thornton appeared on the other side of the table, his face drawn with suspicion.

"What just happened?" he asked. "Why did James come in with Filch?"

"I don't know," squeaked Rose, not meeting his eyes.

"He said he wanted to talk to Albus alone," said Lysander smoothly, "and then they left. I don't know where they went."

Cameron glared at the two younger students, then left to find the Potters.

"He might just murder James," said Rose faintly.

"I wouldn't put it past him," said Lysander.

Rose couldn't find James and Albus after dinner. Tired of roaming the corridors, she returned to the common room, where she found Lysander waiting in a chair by the fire.

"They're not here," he said before she could ask, "I checked both of their rooms."

"Maybe Filch is letting him serve detention tonight," said Rose hopefully. Lysander rolled his eyes; she wasn't even good at lying to herself.

The boys did not appear for the rest of the night. Rose gave up a little past midnight, putting her books away and retiring to her dormitory. She had tried looking out the windows of the tower and searching the sky for signs of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but there was no moon that night, and the grounds were completely black.

Both of them reappeared for breakfast the next morning, looking equally exhausted as they slumped over their oatmeal.

"Where were you two?" asked Rose, sitting across from the pair. "I was getting really worried."

"We had to practice," grunted James. "Been up most of the night."

"Cameron's grabbing us all some Pepperup Potion for the game," added Albus wearily.

Rose bit her tongue, resisting the urge to remind them that they weren't supposed to use magic to enhance their performances in any way before the game. Both boys were pale, except for the dark circles under their eyes. They had both worked so hard for this. She couldn't bring herself to reprimand them.

"I still have to go to detention," said James miserably. "I won't even get to watch the game."

Rose hovered for most of breakfast, insisting that both brothers eat more than they thought they should. Some of the color returned to their faces as they ate. When Lysander arrived, he handed two vials off to Albus, who nodded and pocketed them.

"Cameron won't come down to eat," said Lysander, "I passed him in the common room on my way out. Dominique is trying to help him calm down."

"Good luck with that," said James with a snort. "He won't be calm until after the game is over."

"Until after we win," corrected Albus quietly.

"You just have to be patient," said James, "remember that. Don't go after the Snitch before we have enough points to win. If you see it-"

"I distract the other Seeker, I know," said Albus.

As the clock began to chime, all of the team members rose from the Gryffindor table. Their housemates watched them warily as they left the Hall. Everyone had heard about what had happened with James. Everyone knew that Albus would be flying instead. Hardly any of them had seen him fly before.

As soon as the players disappeared beyond the large doors of the Hall, nervous chatter broke out along the Gryffindor table. Some of the Ravenclaws were shooting them curious looks, and Rose reckoned that their team had been informed of the change to the roster.

Lorcan joined his twin and Rose, and they headed down to the pitch together. As always, most of the school had gathered to watch the game. Rose jittered nervously, glancing frequently at the curtain through which the Gryffindor team would soon appear.

"Breathe," Lysander reminded her.

After what seemed like an hour long wait, the two teams appeared. The crowd broke into loud cheers as both team captains stepped forward and shook hands. They both spoke briefly to the referee, a small, spry wizard with an oversized whistle around his neck. After both teams had mounted their brooms, the referee sounded the whistle, and the balls launched into the air.

Rose kept her fists tight as she watched the game unfold. Albus circled by the Ravenclaw goal posts, which seemed to irritate Ravenclaw's Keeper. The Chasers fought for possession of the Quaffle. Cameron sent a Bludger flying towards the group of Chasers, scattering them. Will Graceland escaped with control of the Quaffle and zoomed towards the goal posts. Albus dropped very quickly to get out of his way. The Ravenclaw Keeper looked down, watching Albus dive, and missed Will's shot entirely.

"Ten points for Gryffindor!"

Rose knew that in order for Gryffindor to win, it would have to be a long game. She had crunched the numbers the night before, and what she had found was disheartening. They had been very close to Hufflepuff when they had lost, but Slytherin had beaten them by almost two hundred points. They needed more than just the Snitch to make up the difference, and then another miracle in the final game of the year, in which they would not even be playing.

Thirty minutes later, she had finally relaxed. Whatever Cameron had done to inspire the team the night before, it certainly seemed to be working. She quickly squashed the part of her that remembered them taking the Pepperup Potion. It really wasn't cheating- it was given out in the Hospital Wing sometimes, after all, and the team had been up most of the night flying. They needed to watch out for their health.

The score was 80-20 with Gryffindor in the lead. The Ravenclaw captain had just called for a time out during which both teams landed. Cameron gathered the Gryffindors in a huddle, then did something involved a variety of wild hand gestures.

"He seems in better spirits," noted Lysander.

"Yes, well, we're winning now," said Rose. "But we still need a bigger lead."

While Cameron spoke, Albus kept his head tilted up. Rose realized that he was trying to spot the Snitch, which would be nearly impossible as he looked up into the sun. Besides, it was still too early for him to catch it. Still, Albus never looked away from the sky.

When the game restarted, Albus shot off like a rocket towards the Gryffindor goal posts. He swerved around the left one, working his way higher into the sky.

"Al, no," groaned Lysander.

The Ravenclaw Seeker was hot on his trail, as were both of their Beaters. Albus continued his ascent, then came level high above the pitch. He shot off towards the center of the pitch, then dropped like a stone. The Ravenclaws were still only feet behind him.

"Ten points for Gryffindor!" came Arianna's clear voice. She sounded a bit annoyed.

Rose tore her eyes away from Albus in time to see Will Graceland catch the Quaffle again and pass it to Zelma Castillo, who looped back around the Ravenclaw posts. She made to throw it towards the righthand goal post, then tossed it back to Will, who easily scored through the left.

It was all a distraction, Rose realized with a wild grin. The Ravenclaw team had been so busy following Albus, they had forgotten to protect their own Keeper. The Keeper was now screaming, though Rose couldn't hear anything he said. The Beaters broke away from Albus trail as Arianna updated the score: 100-20 in favor of Gryffindor.

Albus did a few victory loops around the pitch as the Gryffindors cheered and the Ravenclaws booed.

"After quite the disingenuous play by a temporary member of the Gryffindor team," said Arianna in clipped tones, "the Quaffle is back to Gilligan, heading towards the Gryffindor-"

But Cameron had sent a Bludger straight for the Ravenclaw girl, who dropped the Quaffle.

The game continued in that vein for another thirty or forty minutes. Both teams continued to score, but Gryffindor was increasing its lead over Ravenclaw. At the next time out, the score was 160-40.

"Soon," said Lysander, "right?"

Rose closed her eyes, recalling her math from the night before. "Maybe," she said, "but only if we assume that Ravenclaw will go on to beat Hufflepuff. And we can't assume that- Hufflepuff beat us, remember?"

Lysander groaned and put his head in his hands. He was still covering his face when the game resumed.

Charles Mink scored twice before taking a Bludger to the chest. Cameron, losing his temper, hit the Bludger back towards the Ravenclaw Beater, whom he successfully hit. The referee blew his whistle and waved for the two Beaters to separate.

At that moment, Albus dropped down to hover next to the referee. They had a brief exchange, and then Albus showed him something in his hand. The referee gave three long blasts of the whistle, and even though Rose knew that that meant the game was over, she was still massively confused.

"They stopped paying attention to him," said Lysander, wearing a shocked grin. "No one even noticed!"

The Gryffindor team began to cheer and hastened to land. However, none of them made it to the ground before the Bludger smashed into the back of Albus' skull, splaying him out across the grass.