Chapter 28: Mourning

Sybill Trelawney's body was found in the Hall of Prophecies within the Department of Mysteries deep within the Ministry for Magic building, The Daily Prophet reported a week after her abduction. How she got there, nobody knew, however the causes of her death were both well-known and the subject of much speculation.

The former Divinations professor had been tortured, at length. The signs of damage from the cruciatus curse were all over her body, the DMLE's chief medi-witch examiner had explained. There were other signs of torture—stab wounds, magical burn marks, and several missing digits. Yet in the end, it was not the torture that had killed the seer, but rather the interaction of multiple curses which finally took Professor Trelawney's life. She had taken a prophecy from one of the shelves within the Hall of Prophecy, a prophecy which she had not made and of which she was not the subject.

What was unclear was whether the sometimes batty witch had taken the wrong prophecy by accident, a theory loudly repeated by many of the Slytherin students, or if she had simply been ordered to take that prophecy or face more torture. Ron, however, had a different theory: she was under the imperius curse but managed to break it rather than take the prophecy Voldemort had ordered her to take. Unfortunately, unlike the torture curse, the imperius left no marks and was virtually undetectable.

The funeral was held in Magical Cornwall, where the Trelawney family's ancestral home was located and where the family had traditionally been laid to rest. It was the first time in memory that the small magical community was protected by a large force of aurors, who had been dispatched to provide protection for the many Hogwarts students who were in attendance, along with many members of the school faculty. It was a somber ceremony, as befit such an occasion, with several members of the staff sharing in the responsibility of eulogizing the professor. While surviving members of her family were present, Professor Trelawney had not lived with them since she had begun her tenure at Hogwarts, and so it was Albus Dumbledore who had been asked to conduct the funeral.

"Before I give the final remarks, Mr. Ronald Weasley would like to share a few words about the departed. Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said by way of introduction.

Ron, face long and expression grim, stepped to the podium, formal mourning robes making his pinkish-white skin and reddish hair all the more striking. "Uh, I'd like to thank everyone who already spoke. It was all really good stuff, so um, thanks."

Harry, sitting in the front row with Hermione, noted how quiet and timid his friend's voice sounded in the large outdoor gathering. He nodded to his friend when Ron briefly looked to him for moral support, and then Harry surreptitiously pointed two fingers at his friend and made a circular motion with them, silently casting the sonorous charm on him.

When Ron started again, his voice filled the whole area. "Professor Trelawney was my mentor. She taught me more than any other teacher at Hogwarts, and that's really saying a lot. No knock against you Professor McGonagall, or Hagrid," Ron said as he pointedly looked over at where the staff had gathered. "I've learned loads about magic from all of you. And you wouldn't believe how much I've learned from my best mates. Hermione is bloody brilliant, and Harry…well, you all know he's Harry Potter, so I guess you probably all understand.

"But that just shows you how much Professor Trelawney taught me, ya know, because as much as I learned from all of you lot, Sybill Trelawney taught me the most," Ron continued. "She was a brilliant seer, you guys just don't know. You can't understand what it's like." The red headed Weasley paused a second, trying to think of some way to explain to the crowd her influence on him. "There's just so much to Divinations that only someone with the Sight can really get, and Professor Trelawney helped me so much with that.

"But that's not all she did." Ron shook his head, tears starting to moisten his eyes, threatening to unman him in front of the gathered crowd. "Professor Trelawney taught me so much not just about being a seer, but being a good wizard and a good man. To be responsible. To be careful. And most of all to be humble with the gift I have. Now, now she's taught all of us something about sacrifice—" Now the tears really started pouring down his face, unable to continue Ron covered his face and stepped down from the podium and rejoined his friends, who quickly wrapped him in a hug and patted his shoulders.

With that, Dumbledore once again stood up, this time to give his own remarks. "Thank you Mr. Weasley. I cannot think of a better tribute from a student, and truer words could not be spoken. She indeed taught all of us here about sacrifice." Professor Dumbledore held up a silver prophecy ball, leading many of those present to gasp. "It is well known that Professor Trelawney died over a prophecy, that she gave her very life in the Hall of Prophecies to keep one of these from those who tortured and killed her, that she resisted them until the very end. But what you may not know is that Sybill Trelawney knew the Death Eaters were going to come for her. She did not know where or when, but thanks to a prophecy heard by many, which Mr. Weasley graciously retrieved for Department of Mysteries for all of our benefit, Professor Trelawney was prepared to face the coming danger with a stout heart. Full knowing she was the target of the Death Eaters, she sacrificed her own chance to escape to ensure that those students under her care would make it to safety."

Ron looked up at the prophecy ball in Dumbedore's hands and went even whiter than he had been before. "It's all my fault," he whispered, much to Harry and Hermione's alarm.

The rest of the gathered mourners, however, had a very different reaction. A solemn silence fell over them, and the gathered crowd looked up to where the seer's body was laid out, light from the casket illuminating her features into a beautiful repose.

"Sybill Trelawney had a rare gift and a rare heart," Professor Dumbledore said after solemn moment. "She lent her Sight to the world through her prophecies and predictions. She shared her insights with students through her classes and mentorship." At that, Dumbledore glanced meaningfully over towards Ron Weasley. "And she gave her life in defense of life and light. May we all follow her example, so that when we all eventually join her in the next great adventure in the Beyond, she will be proud of us all."

With that, one by one, the present witches and wizards each raised their wands into the air cast a lumos charm, and said goodbye to the Divinations Professor.

Weasley Seer

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Go away, Hermione!" Ron yelled in response to the insistent knocking on the Divination classroom door.

The red-headed wizard had taken to locking himself in the classroom to get away from his two best friends. Hermione had been relentless in trying to cheer him up after the funeral for Professor Trelawney, constantly putting comforting hands on his shoulders and saying how she was "there" for him. Harry was not much better, with his sympathetic looks and reassurances.

Didn't they understand he deserved to be depressed? Of course they didn't. They were both too good and nice to understand his feelings.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Harry? Go away if that's you. I don't want to be cheered up."

There was a soft click and the door he had locked swung open.

"Harry! I said—" the words died on his lips.

"I hope that I am welcome in this classroom, Mr. Weasley," Albus Dumbledore's kindly voice chided as the white bearded wizard strode calmly into the room.

"H-H-Headmaster," Ron stuttered in surprise. "I didn't know it was you."

"Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger expressed some concern about your state of mind," Dumbledore explained as he walked around the round tables and made his way over to where Ron was seated, a scattering of upturned teacups and crystal balls set in front of him along with several old and dusty reference books open to particular pages. Dumbledore noted with a glance each focused on portents of doom and punishment as he took a seat beside the young wizard.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I didn't mean for you to have to bother with me. I'll go back to the dorms."

"That will not be necessary," Dumbledore said, raising a hand to forestall the young man from immediately packing up his stuff. "This is, after all, your classroom now. You have every right to occupy this space, so long as you continue to perform the duties of Divinations instructor. I'm sure that Professor Trelawney had great faith in your ability to take up her duties." The Headmaster noted the way Ron Weasley flinched upon hearing that name. "However, I would be remiss in my duties if I did not see to the needs of a student and member of my staff."

"Look, Professor," Ron wouldn't meet Dumbledore's gaze. "I don't think I can do this… I… I'm just not cut out to be a teacher."

"Few of us are," Dumbledore said with a bit of a twinkle in his eyes. "Magic is a very personal thing, and much of what we do as 'professors' of magic is to show each other the possibility of what we can do with our gifts and it is up to the student to find the internal how of it from our inexact descriptions and theories. This is undoubtedly particularly the case with Divinations." Albus Dumbledore thought back to his many years as a teacher with a rueful shake of his head. "Alas, we are all that young witches and wizards have to look to as examples."

Ron frowned. "But I'm not even an adult yet," Ron complained. "It was really all Professor Trelawney who did the teaching. Me…I just…"

Dumbledore put a hand on Ron's shoulder reassuringly. "We will all miss Sybill, but I can assure you that she had the greatest confidence in you. Professor Trelawney's reports on you as an assistant instructor were glowing, some quite literally, although that may have been due to a rather amusing prank from your brothers. Regardless, she was quite clear that you are fully qualified both as a seer and as an instructor—she made sure she taught you as much as she could."

Ron pulled away from the Headmaster's kindly touch, looking away from the kindly man. "But that's just it. I didn't deserve her trust. I'm responsible for her death!"

Dumbledore paused at that outburst, his eyebrow twitched upwards inquiringly. "Oh? How is that, Mr. Weasley?"

Albus Dumbledore had just given him the perfect invitation to express all his doubt and self-recrimination over Trelawney's death. So, Ron obliged him.

"It was my prophecy!" Ron moaned, finally meeting Dumbledore's eyes. "I said she was going to be attacked by Death Eaters, and that they'd set the Dark Mark. She was tortured!"

"And what makes you think that was your fault?" the Headmaster asked mildly.

"Because I knew!" Ron said. "Merlin help me, I knew!" Ron began to breakdown, the tears he had held back at the funeral coming out now. "When I almost got Harry killed I really didn't know better; I thought it was just luck. But after the Department of Mysteries there was no excuse, but I did it anyway. I made a prophecy, knowing it could really happen, and Professor Trelawney died. Because of me!"

"I see," Dumbledore said, fixing his piercing blue eyes on Ron.

After a minute of sobbing, Ron looked up. "Aren't you going to try to tell me it wasn't my fault, cheer me up, or some rubbish like that?"

The Headmaster shook his head. "No, Mr. Weasley, I will not." The Headmaster pulled his wand from this sleeve, then flicked his wrist. "Manicis vulcanum" he said simply.

The grief-stricken look on Ron's face was replaced by puzzlement. A pair of manacles had appeared around his wrists, locking his arms together. Dumbledore had risen from his seat beside the young Weasley and stood over him.

"Please, Mr. Weasley, come with me."

Shocked, Ron rose to his feet. "Where are we going? What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm taking you to Azkaban," Dumbledore replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "You are an admitted murderer and I am the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. It is my duty to make sure you are punished for your crime. Now, come along."

"What?" Ron asked stupidly, mouth agape.

"You are responsible for the death of Sybil Trelawney," Dumbledore said. "You admitted as much."

"But, wait," Ron protested. "I didn't want her to die! I wasn't trying to get her killed or anything! It's not like I murdered her!"

"Isn't it?" Professor Dumbledore asked coolly. "You did make a prophetic pronouncement fully knowing the nature of prophecy, did you not?"

"Well, yeah."

"And you did so in front of a large crowd of people, in Madame Pudifoot's tea shop, isn't that right?"

"Right, but Professor Trelawney asked me to do it! It was part of my training!"

The manacles around Ron's wrists vanished as did all of Dumbledore's pretense of taking Ron to Azkaban.

"Exactly, my boy," Dumbledore said, the warmth and kindness returning, now coupled with a directness and an earnestness that had not been there before. "This was not your doing. You did not put the wands in the hands of the Death Eaters and send them to attack Hogsmeade. This was not a plot of your making, nor was it even your idea to take what little part you did in Professor Trelawney's death. This is not on you."

The sudden reversal had Ron reeling, unprepared for the truth to hit home.

"But…why then?" Ron demanded. "Why did it have to happen at all? Why did she have me give that prophecy publicly?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I suppose you deserve this answer, Mr. Weasley, but this is a dark and dangerous secret, one now known only to myself, and now Harry and you." Dumbledore waited for Ron to give a nod of understanding before continuing. "It was inevitable that Tom Riddle, the wizard you know as Voldemort, would go after Sybill. Once we began spreading rumors designed to pique his interest in her prior prediction, it was only a matter of time before he would send his Death Eaters for her to attempt to pry it from her mind."

"Then why did she need to make a prophecy to cause this to happen if it were already going to happen?"

"For one, there was a chance that Voldemort would target Harry—attempt to force him to retrieve the prophecy from the Department of Mysteries. We could not let this succeed, for several reasons. Yet, it is critical that Voldemort covet the prophecy. Your prediction not only helped control the target of Tom Riddle's attack, it worked to reinforce his desire for it. It very brilliantly advanced our cause against our enemy."

Ron worked through the plan, his mind quickly catching onto the strategy elements. "Right, Forten's principles," Ron nodded. "But…why did she have to die?"

Dumbledore looked sadly at Ron. "She did not, and thanks to your careful word choice in your

prediction, whether you knew it or not at the time, you gave Sybill a fair chance at survival. In fact, had she done as the Death Eaters had demanded of her and retrieved the prophecy for them rather than fighting the curse, she most likely would have lived."

Ron's eyes opened wider. "She wanted to increase the effect of her prophecy—so she died to stop the Death Eaters from getting it, so that when they do get it, the effect will be maximized."

Dumbledore nodded. "As you can see, it was neither your words nor your plan which led to the death of Professor Trelawney. It may be difficult to let go of your guilt, but I can assure you, that is what Sybill would have wanted."

For a second time tears began to stream down Ron Weasley's face. "I think I get it now, what it takes to be a seer."

"If all seers were like Professor Trelawney I think we could use many more of them in the world. She was no less than a hero." Dumbledore suddenly looked up. "Now, you have a couple of friends waiting outside the door, anxiously hoping you will let them come in and comfort you."

Ron wiped his tears and nodded as the Headmaster got up to leave the room. Harry and Hermione were in the room before Dumbledore had even left. Released from his guilt, the young Weasley could finally look at them and see how very lucky he was to have them. As he hugged them close, he looked over at a newspaper clipping about professor Trelawney up on the Wall of Weasley.

He vowed there and then to be like his teacher, to use his gift to protect his friends.