It's long and a bit rough... insert dirty joke. But really, it's unbeta'd so point out all my slippy sloppy wordy type issues or just life type issues and I'll try to fix em.
Enjoy, my pretties.
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Chapter 9- Lost Friends
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Holly:
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As Holly went through the barrier to platform 9 ¾ she couldn't help but get excited about going back to school. Even though she wasn't fond of having to say goodbye to her parents, the prospect of seeing her friends again made it all worthwhile. She had felt overwhelmingly relieved when they had all written to her over the holidays, and wanted to see them all in person again. She couldn't help but hope that the return to routine would help her 'little problem' as her mother called it and perhaps that was the most enticing prospect of going back.
Her mother had sent a letter to McGonagall explaining the situation not long after she had her second 'episode' and starting her first Thursday back she was going to be starting privet tutoring in divinations with a Professor Bramston.
She hadn't told her friends yet about her 'little problem'. It seemed too difficult to put into a letter, the words seemed to get all jumbled up in her quill and there would probably be too many questions to write anyway. It seemed more appropriate to do it in person either way, so why not on the Hogwarts Express?
Speaking of which, Holly found the compartment Teddy and Sawyer were sitting in quickly enough, and she settled herself across from the pair. Sawyer was talking about his holidays and how dull his muggle relatives were. Apparently all his cousins wanted to do was read some sort of face book and pretend to farm on one of those mysterious computers. Why anyone would want to pretend to farm with some sort of electominical box was beyond Holly.
Soon enough Phoenix and Quinn had also piled into the compartment and were chatting away about their holiday adventures, including them kissing. Now that was even more puzzling than farming muggle boxes.
The warning whistle blew. The train would be leaving in a few minutes.
"Where's Aubrey?" Holly just realized they were short one.
"You know how he is." Sawyer said, casually.
They did know, Aubrey was almost always late for nearly everything. The Professors had even taking to leaving their doors open until after Aubrey had gotten there. None of them could quite figure out how the boy could be late so often, but it was amusing teasing him about it so they didn't try to help the boy out.
The train gave another whistle before beginning to pull out of the station. Everyone waved at their parents before the train left the station. There was still no Aubrey.
"Leave it to Aubrey to miss the train." Quinn rolled her eyes.
"I'm sure his parents will apparate up to Hogsmeade when they realize they've missed the train." Teddy said as he picked at the sweater his Aunt Molly made for him. It was Gryffindor red with a large black "T" stitched onto the front, it looked quite warm.
"So how were your holidays?" Holly knew the question was directed at her and she suddenly felt very unsure of herself.
"They were alright, I guess…" That wasn't totally a lie, it was alright… more or less. The last few days had been more alright than the previous few… for the most part… vaguely.
"What happened?" there was a definite concern in Teddy's voice, he sensed a problem.
"Oh I… Well twice I had… There were these things… and there was this monster and this woman and then I panicked… now I need to go to lessons to learn to stop it…" That barely even made sense to Holly.
"What?" Sawyer was now looking concerned too.
"Twice I got these… visions," she was talking more to her feet, unnecessarily nervous.
"What sort of visions?" Teddy was sitting forward, looking at the girl.
"Well the first time it was a sort of attack."
"You got attacked?" Phoenix said, sounding rather horrified.
"It wasn't me. It was like I was watching, but I couldn't see who was being attacked or even what was really attacking. It was just sort of flashes…" Holly was trying really hard to explain it without thinking about it.
"Then what was the second one? Did you get attacked again?" Quinn asked.
"No, it was different. It was in a room somewhere… there was a woman crying and praying and two men yelling." Holly looked up to see four concerned faces looking back at her.
"Oh, that explains the letters!" Phoenix said as it dawned on him, "You were checking to see if it was us…"
"What letters?" Quinn asked, looking at Sawyer and Teddy to see if they knew what he meant. Teddy was the one to speak up, "We got letters from Holly asking us if we were well and asking if everyone in our family was alright. You wanted to make sure we were still alive."
"Pretty much," Holly flushed, "I didn't know where you were staying, or if I should send an owl to a muggle house, otherwise I would have sent you two letters too."
"Muggle houses can get owls, I send them to my parents sometimes… My mum 's scared of them though." Sawyer said with a slight smirk at the memory of his mother.
"So now you're getting lessons? In what?" Teddy asked.
"Divinations… They say I might be a seer…" Holly said, less then enthused about the extra lessons.
"Why don't you sound excited?" Quinn asked.
"Because it scared me… I saw someone get ripped to pieces and I couldn't make it stop!" she was trying to contain herself as much as possible, balling her hands into fists. There was that wild gleam in her blue eyes though that seemed to melt into sadness.
Teddy leaned forward and laid a comforting hand over one of the fist in her lap, "It'll be okay. We're all fine, see?"
"But what if you get hurt in the future?" she felt stupidly vulnerable. Phoenix looked even more nervous than usual as he let out a little squeak at the prospect of being ripped to shreds.
"Then we get hurt in the future. There's nothing we can really do to stop it." Teddy said with a shrug.
"It was probably nothing anyway." Quinn said casually, she didn't really believe in seers or prophecies.
"…It sure didn't feel like nothing." Holly mumbled.
At least Teddy cared, right? Aubrey would probably care too, wherever he was.
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Phoenix:
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By the time the train pulled into Hosmeade station the mood had lightened considerably, and they got back to the castle laughing and jesting… Well except for Phoenix. Holly had said she had a vision, what if it was about him? Was there a monster out there somewhere waiting for him? The thought made him feel sick… he was too young to die… too young and pathetic! He was a Gryffindor for Merlin's sake! He shouldn't be cowering from something like this, he should be charging into battle the monster. Teddy or Sawyer would charge in, they had that mentality about them, even Quinn if you gave her a good reason would charge in. Holly had seemed afraid on the train, but it almost seemed as though she was more afraid of not being able to save someone than actually getting attacked. All of them were so effortlessly brave, but for Phoenix it seemed awfully hard to be brave.
Once they came through the portrait hole the three boys (Aubrey still hadn't shown up) trudged up to their dormitory to grab their books so that they could finish their holiday homework. Each boy had taken two subjects (except for Aubrey who had only taken potions which had the most homework of any subject) over the break and completed all the work for that subject, now all they really needed to do was copy the work off of each other and they were done. It was really foolproof!
"I can't believe Aubrey isn't here. He's got our potion work and we've got to hand that in first thing in the morning." Sawyer said as they got to the door of their dormitory. He pushed the door to their room open and the boys shuffled in.
"Wait… What the hell?" Teddy said as they walked into the room.
"What happened to the bed?" Sawyer looked at the empty spot where Aubrey's bed had stood just weeks ago.
"What if something happened to Aubrey?" Phoenix felt himself trembling.
"Why else would they take his bed?" Sawyer seemed almost angry.
"McGonagall! We can ask McGonagall." Teddy said, "She'll know what happened."
They ran down the stairs and nearly bowled Holly over. They simply grabbed the girl from the common room floor and told her Aubrey's bed was missing. She led the boys as they practically flew out the portrait hole and ran to find the headmistress.
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Holly:
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Four frantic children beat on the headmistress's door for what felt like hours before a rather irritated looking McGonagall opened the door.
"What can possibly so important that you insist on trying to break my door down?"
"Aubrey got attacked!" Sawyer yelled frantically.
"What?" The woman looked confused.
"The boy in our dorm, Aubrey, we think he's been attacked by some sort of dark creature ma'am." Teddy said, his voice wavering a little.
"Come in." McGonagall said as she led them into her office. She motioned for them to sit as she transfigured extra chairs for them all to sit in. She took a seat across from the four of them. "What makes you think that Mr. Aubrey has been attacked?"
"Well Holly had a vision about someone getting attacked, then he wasn't on the train and now his bed and all his stuff isn't there, like he's not coming back." Teddy, being the calmest of the bunch seemed to be the one to do that talking.
"Well, he won't be coming back here, Mr. Lupin, he-"
"But the man said that he wouldn't let them kill him!" Holly said suddenly.
"Miss. Wiggins, please calm down!" she looked the four of them over, challenging another outburst. "Now, as I was saying, Mr. Aubrey is fine. He is alive and well. His father got transferred to France for work, so Aubrey will now be attending Beauxbatons Academy for the remainder of his schooling. He came in yesterday with his mother to collect his things."
The four of them all let out the breath they didn't realize they were holding. Aubrey was fine. The vision wasn't about him.
"Then why didn't he tell us he was leaving?" Sawyer said, sounding hurt.
"That is something you will need to discuss with him, Mr. Thompson." McGonagall looked at them with an unreadable expression.
"He sent me a letter…" Holly said and everyone looked at her, wondering why she got a letter when none of them did. "All it said was that his holidays were eventful and he would tell me about it soon."
"What? Why did he send you that?" Sawyer said. He was the closest with Aubrey out of all of them, and thus figured he should have gotten the letter..
"I thought he was just being friendly…" she avoided Sawyer's gaze. There was a tense silence broken by a small cough from McGonagall. "If you wish to contact him you may write to him at Beauxbatons Academy." She said with an air of finality. "And Miss. Wiggins, sometimes things are more complicated than they seem. You mustn't take your visions at face value, or someone may get hurt." And with that she stood up and ushered the four of them out.
The walk back to Gryffindor tower was awkward and tense. No one wanted to meet either Sawyer's angry gaze, or Holly's sulking one.
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Potions the next morning lead to detentions for Teddy, Sawyer and Phoenix since none of them had the assignments complete. They all felt left down by Aubrey and not just in regards to the homework.
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Dear Aubrey,
How's Beauxbatons? We all miss you, Sawyer especially. He's been sulking around for the past few days because you haven't been around. I don't know why you wrote to me over the holidays but not him. You don't owe me an explanation, but I think you should give him one. Please talk to him, if not for him than for everyone who needs to be around him. He's getting unbearable.
I wish you all the best,
Holly
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She tied the letter to her owl and sent it off to Aubrey, hoping that he would reply soon.
Holly walked down the stairs of the owlery and onto the frozen grounds. She hoped it got warmer soon.
It was Thursday evening and she was supposed to be headed to her first tutoring session. She was feeling strangely apprehensive about this. She had never met Professor Bramston before and she had no clue what sort of work they would be doing. How did someone go about controlling their 'little problem'? Was it painful?
She walked up the stairs to the divinations classroom where her lessons were to take place. She got to the large oak door and paused before knocking. Maybe this was a mistake? She hadn't had any visions since she had gotten back. Maybe it was just a temporary thing?
The door opened and a strange looking man was standing there smiling, "I saw you coming."
Holly, slightly taken aback, followed the man into the classroom. He was not much taller than her, but much older. His hair was grey and stuck out at random angles making even Holly's hair look tame. His face was riddled with wrinkles and his eyes were a spacy grey colour.
"I'm Professor Bramston, by the way. You must be Miss. Wiggins." He stuck out his hand, which Holly shook, "Nice to meet you."
The professor summoned two chairs and gestured for Holly to sit.
"I just put the kettle on, would you like some tea?" he asked.
"Yes please," Holly said. Maybe tea would calm her nerves.
"One lump or two?"
"Two please" she said, watching the man make the tea. He brought her a cup and took the other seat, looking at her.
"McGonagall told me that you have been having visions." It was said kindly enough, but Holly felt a bit accused, "It's rare in someone so young. You are twelve?"
"Eleven, sir, until June," she fiddled with her tea cup out of a need to do something with her hands.
"So young…" he looked at her intently, making her even more uncomfortable. "We're going to need to assess you before we do anything else." He said, not taking his eyes from her.
"How are we going to do that? I haven't had a vision since I got back." She looked at him nervously, hoping this assessment wasn't going to be too horrific.
The man got up and walked over to a cabinet he had in the corner of the room, he began to rummage through its contents. "We will give you the oracle's potion which induces visions in people with the gift of foresight."
"I don't know if I want to have another vision, sir." Holly didn't, not in the slightest. "Aren't we supposed to be learning how to stop the visions?"
"You can't stop the visions, you can only tame them. You can control them so that they don't run your life, but no, you can't stop them." He said as he withdrew from the cabinet with a small vile of shimmering purple liquid.
"So I'm stuck with this?" she wanted to cry. She was stuck seeing thing for the rest of her life.
He seemed unaware of just ruining her life as he walked back to her and sat down across from her. He handed her the vial, "It's one of the more pleasant potions you will ever take."
Holly held up the vial studying the shiny liquid, it didn't look too bad, if anything it looked rather inviting. But what if she got another vision… another one like the ones she had before. She could tell Professor Bramston was watching her.
Holly sighed before opening the vile and downing the potion in one gulp. She looked at the professor for a moment before the vision hit her like a ton of bricks.
A young blonde man is sitting at a table in a pub. He is smiling privately as he lights a cigarette. He is rather beautiful, he looks so innocent but there is a rather unsettling gleam in his eye. There is a fire there, a willingness to do anything. "You will do well, you know." He took a drag, "I'm sure he will take a liking to you, you're pretty."
She was back in the divinations room, shaking slightly. She took a few deep breaths before suddenly being plunged into another vision.
There is snow and merriment. Phoenix and Sawyer are laughing and running through the snow. The flakes that are falling are large and seem to cling to the jovial pair. They're different though, they are older, they look like they are nearly adults, but unlike adults they don't seem to have a care in the world. Their laughter rang out, free and full. She wanted to stay there with them, to laugh with them and run through the all too tempting snow but she felt herself being dragged back into the present.
She was on the floor of the classroom, her head aching. She had fallen onto the floor and had hit her head. Another vision took hold even before she could fully sit up.
Is that Teddy? Yes, that's Teddy standing on platform 9 ¾, he's not getting onto the train though. He's waving to someone, sending them off. It can't be his child, he looks too young. He's probably twenty at most… Who's he saying goodbye to? He is smiling though, rather affectionately, at whoever it is. Perhaps a girlfriend? Aww, Teddy's got a girlfriend!
Holly's face was pressed into the wood floor. Her whole body felt drained and her head still hurt. Another vision was coming… any second now, it had to be. She braced herself. No visions came. Okay, she was back in reality. She groaned and sat up, rubbing her head.
"Are you alright?" Professor Bramston sat in the same place he had been when she had taken the potion, seemingly unfazed by what had just happened.
"I've been better," she said as she got back onto the chair that she had been sitting on to start.
"You are most defiantly a seer."
"No really?" she couldn't help but be a bit snippy. It was his fault she felt like she had just gotten beaten.
He seemed quite unaffected by that comment, "Really. Now tell me what it is you saw."
"The first one was just this man smiling and telling someone that they were going to do well. He was smoking and it was in some sort of pub. I don't know who the man was…" Her face crinkled as she tried to recall more to it.
"Do you know who it was that he was talking to? Was he talking to you, perhaps?" the man looked at her.
She picked up her tea again and took a sip, thinking. "I don't think it was to me… I don't know who it was to, though. There was something about the man I didn't like."
"Interesting…" the professor seemed to be thinking about that, "what was the next one?"
"It was my friends playing in the snow, only they were older."
"How much older?"
She tried to recall what they looked like in the vision, "I'm not exactly sure, they looked like they were nearly grown up. Sawyer was so tall and his hair was long. Phoenix looked so happy."
"Very interesting…" he nodded at her for her to continue.
"Then there was the last one." She said, trying not to smile.
"What was it?" the Professor noticed the small smile.
"Well it was Teddy, he's a friend of mine, and he was on platform 9 ¾ seeing off someone, I don't know who, but he seemed to really like them. I think it was his girlfriend." She giggled a little bit, which made her head hurt. She winced a little.
"You hit your head quite hard." It was said rather matter-of-factly.
"I can tell…" She rubbed the lump that was forming.
"That's why you're here, to learn how to control these visions so that you don't harm yourself." Said Bramston as he looked at the girl.
"What did all of it mean? Who was the man? Why did I see that Phoenix and Sawyer were playing in the snow? Is snow a symbol? Or Teddy on the platform? Why?" that was the real question- why was this happening?
"Really, I can't give you an answer. The future is unpredictable."
Holly nearly laughed at this, "It's your job to predict the future."
"Weathermen predict the weather, but they are often wrong." The man said. Holly had no idea what a weatherman was, it was probably a muggle thing.
"I need to learn how to figure this out. What if that man was bad, I got a strange feeling from him, what if he hurts someone? I could try to stop it." Holly said.
"It's often the measures we take to prevent the future that cause the things we see. That is nearly always the problem with young seers. You all want to prevent things you know little about." The professor sipped his tea.
"If we can save them, why shouldn't we?" Holly said, defiantly.
"Have you ever heard of a time turner*?" the professor said calmly.
"Yeah, it allows someone to go back in time." She had read about them somewhere.
"Well when someone uses a time turner they must not interfere with the past if they can help it. When the time traveler knows what's going to happen they have to try to keep the continuum by keeping the past the same. This will allow the future to progress as it should. The same applies to when someone has visions of the future, they must not try to prevent what they see, but rather accept that it will happen, and be prepared when it does."
Holly's mind was spinning a little, and she doubted all of that was from the fall.
"Now I think what you really need tonight is some rest, and perhaps a trip to the hospital wing." The professor said, "What I want you to try to do for this week is to will yourself to have a vision. You should lie in bed, meditate and see if you can induce a vision."
"I don't really want any more visions, sir." Holly wanted to stop them, not induce them.
"Once you can will yourself to have a vision, you can stop yourself from having one." The man stood up, and Holly followed suit. "If you have any questions, feel free to come and see me."
"Thank you," Holly nodded, which caused her head to spin a little, before walking out and heading to the hospital wing to get the small mountain on the back of her head examined.