Harry Potter was not a happy wizard.
Professor Trelawney, his Divination teacher, reminded him of one of those 'psychics' he'd seen on TV whenever he managed a peak – and despite his dislike of studying, Harry was actually afraid that his grades would reflect the skill of his teacher, who was a complete and utter fraud.
He wasn't sure how he knew that she was a fraud, but something inside him just knew she was.
And not only that, but the smoky incense that shrouded the Divination tower burnt his nose, and made him hot, heavy and sleepy all at the same time. He speculated that it was intended to dull their senses, so they never realised that they were all being played by the wannabe 'Seer' sitting before them all.
"You have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you," Trelawney continued, "If you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can only take you so far in this field".
Unable to help himself, Harry glanced over at Hermione to find a look of horror on her face, apparently finding the very idea of a useless book to be worse than death itself.
"Many witches and wizards, talented as they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of-"
"She said 'penetrate'," Seamus' voice interrupted, a ripple of sniggers rolling across the classroom.
"-Of the future," Trelawney finished curtly, turning to squint through her thick glasses at Seamus in annoyance. "It is a Gift, granted to too few. YOU!" she shrieked suddenly, making them all jump as she whirled around to point at Neville, who almost fell off his pouffe in shock. "Is your grandmother well?
"I- I think so?" Neville replied nervously.
Trelawney just grimaced, shaking her head slightly as she looked away. "I wouldn't," she said simply, "Tell her to try washing her hat, the dust in the feathers doesn't sit well with women of her age".
"We will be covering the basic forms of Divination this year," Trelawney continued, turning her back entirely on Neville who was frantically scribbling down her words. "The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we will progress onto palmistry. By the way, my dear," she added quickly glancing over at Parvati Patil and sending her a happy smile, "'Ware the red-headed man".
Glancing over her shoulder at them, Parvati eyed Ron nervously and shuffled a little closer, her movements distracting Harry who flinched back as he realised that Trelawney had moved up to stand beside him and was leaning over to squint at him carefully.
"Oh do stop moving," Trelawney muttered as he bent away from her, "I'm trying to See".
Cringing slightly as Trelawney removed her glasses and sniffed at him, Harry sent the sniggering Ron a hopeful look, turning to Hermione when the boy did nothing but giggle. 'Help me' he mouthed to Hermione, who's lip was twitching in a suspicious manner as Trelawney let out a sudden humming noise and nodded her head dramatically.
"OO!"
Jumping and almost falling off his own pouffe as the Professor let out an excited scream, Harry looked around desperately for help as Trelawney skipped across the room happily, scooping up a crystal ball and practically bouncing back to deposit it into a confused Harry's hands.
"What do you See, my boy?" the Professor asked, practically trembling as she stared at him hopefully, having put her glasses back on so she could see him. "What is the weather going to be like tomorrow evening? Perhaps?"
"Uh…" Harry paused and glanced down at the crystal ball as Hermione let out a quiet snort of disbelief, "Fog? It's going to be foggy?" he tried hesitantly.
Silence answered him, and Harry slowly glanced up at Professor Trelawney, who was giving him the best 'Really?' look he'd even see in his life. Sighing as he looked around and caught sight of all the expectant expressions, Harry shook his head and returned his attention to the crystal ball in front of him.
"What do I even do?" he asked after a moment of staring into it, "Do I need to concentrate on something? Is there an incantation I have to-" cutting off suddenly as everything blurred, Harry stiffened as he tried to pull his eyes away from the only sharp object he could see – the crystal ball – only to find his entire body was frozen in place as the smoke within the ball swirled and twisted.
What was the weather going to be like tomorrow evening?
The smoke inside the crystal ball moved suddenly, thinning out until he couldn't see it anymore, Harry watching as the evening sun shone down on Hogwarts castle, casting faint rainbows around through the faint drizzle that was raining down.
"Harry? Harry?"
Pulling back with a snap, Harry gasped for breath as he shoved the crystal ball away from himself, staring after it in horror as Hermione's hand tightened on his upper arm.
"Harry?" she asked cautiously.
Looking up at her in confusion, Harry blinked at her before his head snapped around to look at a satisfied looking Trelawney, who just raised an eyebrow at him expectantly. "It'll rain," he blurted, "Just a sun shower though, it'll still be light out".
Trelawney just hummed as, with a flick of her wand, she summoned the crystal ball into her hands. "Perhaps it will," she said non-committally, tucking the ball into her robes where it vanished, "Now. If you will all divide into pairs? Please collect a tea-cup from the shelf, come to me and I will fill it".
Brushing off Ron and Hermione's concerned looks, it was a shaken Harry who made to stand, only for Trelawney to quickly add, "Not you. Mister Potter. You can get out your book – Unclogging the Future – of which you should all have a copy?" Trelawney peered around at the nodding students, before nodding herself and turning back to Harry. "Please read the introductory chapter," she instructed, "You can join the rest of the class in reading the tea leaves tomorrow, once your inner eye is rested and at less risk of straining".
"You don't strain your 'inner eye'," Hermione muttered under her breath.
"Really?" Ron questioned, blinking at the girl in confusion, "Mum always said that if I roll my eyes too much I'll end up straining them".
"I said 'inner eye'," Hermione corrected, "I'm not an ophthalmologist".
"Wha?"
"An eye doctor, seriously Ronald," Hermione sniffed as she pushed herself up and stalked towards the front of the room.
"What's up with her?" Ron asked defensively, peering around at Harry.
"I don't think she likes this class," Harry murmured absently, eyes being drawn to the crystal ball that had somehow reappeared on the table at the front of the room. "She'll probably drop out of it soon".
"Hermione? Drop out of a class?" Ron said with a snort.
"Yeah. Pro'ly around Easter, actually," Harry dismissed, shaking his head as he grabbed his book and opened it, setting himself in to read it with a grimace.
Staring out across the castle grounds, Harry ignored the sounds of the common room as he fiddled with his wand, curled up on the windowsill as he watched the shape that was Hagrid moving around his garden.
"She's probably waiting for you, you know".
Jumping as he forced his mind back to the present, Harry turned to face Parvati, who was leaning against the wall opposite him. "She said that her classroom was open to all who wished to discuss the beyond," Parvati continued, "She even invited me back on weekends… but something tells me that she was talking to you," the girl explained.
"Who?" Harry asked dumbly, pretending not to know who the other Gryffindor was talking about.
"Professor Trelawney, of course," Parvati said, confirming his fears. "She thinks there's something special about you, I asked around and she never treats anyone else like she did you yesterday".
"Great. Just what I need," Harry muttered, "Another 'Boy-Who-Lived groupie'".
"I don't think she cares, she may not even know," Parvati corrected, "She doesn't bother herself with the workings of the present after all. I was there first, you know?" she asked suddenly, "My family have always been rather gifted when it comes to the Art of Divination, and I wanted to introduce myself to the Professor before class started. She was very friendly, especially once I introduced myself fully, it was like she knew my name," the Indian girl mused to herself, "Like she'd been waiting to meet me. Anyway, she was just saying about how she went to Hogwarts with my mother, when suddenly she freezes and her head snaps around to stare at the trapdoor".
Parvati sniffed and peered out the window, before glancing at Harry from the corner of her eye. "And then in you come," she continued, "She didn't even know who you were for a moment, but then she said your name and looked really sad about something, before sending me to sit down".
"I think you need to go see her," Parvati finished simply, turning to face Harry fully. "If not for her, then for you".
"Whatdaya mean?" Harry asked hesitantly.
Parvati's eyebrow rose sharply, before the Indian girl leaned forward and stared past him, making him glance out into the raining – yet sunny – sky. "The moment it started raining you closed off," she explained bluntly, "We both know why".
Swallowing nervously, Harry stared up at the trapdoor, part of him wanting to go run back to Gryffindor Tower and hide in his dorm room while the other part of him wanted to man up and just knock.
Midway through thinking about hiding in Gryffindor tower, Harry remembered with a start that he was a Gryffindor, and that Gryffindors were brave. Steeling himself and straightening his back and shoulders, he pushed forward and half-climbed the ladder, raising a hand to knock only to falter again, instead choosing to just open the unlocked door and climb into the classroom.
Taking a deep breath and feeling the incense washing over him, he resisted the urge to sneeze as he shut the trapdoor behind him, looking around the classroom hesitantly. Where would Professor Trelawney be? He knew that a teacher's classroom was connected to their living quarters – Professor McGonagall's office door being around the corner from her classroom – but he didn't know where he'd find Trelawney's door.
Looking around slowly, Harry barely managed to bite back a yelp as he turned and bumped face-first into a broad chest, stumbling back and hitting the ground as he stared up at the huge shirtless man standing before him.
"Oh! Um uh, sorry?" Harry blurted, quickly scrambling to his feet and averting his eyes as the man just stood there unblinkingly. "Do you… do you know where I can find Professor Trelawney?" he asked, not asking what he really wanted to ask as he tried to look the man in the eyes without glancing down at his muscular chest. (Which, come on, why did everyone have to be so much fitter than he was? Even the girls on the Quidditch team had abs, he did just as much training as they did! Why was he always the runt?)
"Harry Potter?"
"Uh yeah? That's me," he confirmed when the man just continued staring. "Do you know where she is?"
The man didn't answer, instead choosing to start circling Harry slowly, padding quietly on bare feet as Harry realised he must have disturbed the man while he'd been sleeping, since he was only wearing a loose pair of what looked like golden pyjamas. Was he Trelawney's husband or something? To be sleeping near her classroom?
"You're younger than I expected".
"Really?" Harry dead-panned, blinking at the man in confusion, "My birthday never changes".
The man once again didn't reply, finally coming to a stop and pulling a crystal ball out of nowhere. As Harry tried to subtly find where it came from, the man glanced down into it, Harry's eyes being drawn up to it as he swore it glowed slightly.
"You are the one, it seems," the man murmured to himself, his warm voice sounding surprised and reluctant.
"The one? What one?" Harry questioned.
"Never matter," the man dismissed, raising a hand to – wait, where did the crystal ball go? - to run it through his short blonde hair. "Your training will begin immediately, well done Sybill".
"I could feel him from the staircase," Trelawney's voice said suddenly, making Harry jump and spin around to where the woman was sitting in her armchair, her hair tied back and her glasses on the side-table beside her as she gently stroked what appeared to be Crookshanks. "I knew immediately he was one of us, but I wasn't sure how powerful he was until he foretold this afternoon's weather".
"One of you? Who are you?" Harry blurted, "What what do you mean 'how powerful he was'? What's going on?"
Trelawney and the man exchanged a silent look, the two seemingly arguing for a moment before Trelawney turned to squint at him, a wave of her hand causing her glasses to appear on her face. "You, my boy, are one of us," she began slowly, "However it had to be seen whether you were like myself, or whether you were like Taye here".
"What do you mean?"
"I, am one supremely Gifted in the Art of Divination," Trelawney explained, not bragging as she merely just stated the facts. "In fact, I have the Gift of Prophecy, having given many prophecies in my time".
"Right. Of course you have," Harry murmured, not budging from his opinion that she was-
"A fraud?" Trelawney interrupted his thoughts. "I dress like this on purpose, Harry Potter. The purpose being the very one you yourself fell for. If everyone sees me as a fraud, then they do not bug me for glimpses into the future".
That was a… okay that actually made sense, Harry could understand how that worked. He still wasn't sure whether he believed her or not, but still, he was open to listening.
"Taye here, however," Trelawney continued, gesturing at the man who still remained half-naked, even as he lounged on one of the Professor's divans. "Is much more powerful than myself. I am merely a witch. Taye, and yourself, however are not".
"What is he then?" Harry demanded.
"What are we then," Taye corrected bluntly, unfolding from the divan and striding over to place his hands on Harry's shoulders.
"You, Harry Potter, are an Oracle".
ORACLE
So this is a cross-over with Charmed. One that came to mind when looking through my drawers of DVDs and spotted the sixth season of the show, and upon remembering when Chris first shows up, I couldn't help but remember the line "Oh, check out that Oracle's… ball" that Phoebe Halliwell in response to a shirtless Oracle walking past her.
And then this happened… I'm not entirely sure how my mind made that leap… but it did.
The Undercover Operative cannot claim to own either Harry Potter or Charmed.