𝐏𝐒𝐘𝐂𝐇𝐎, golden trio era

01. Screw Loose

CHAPTER ONE
( SCREW LOOSE! )

PROFESSOR TRELAWNEY WAS A FUCKING MANIAC. Jessica was always quite lenient with her professors. Yeah, Lockhart might have been a pretentious twat. Sure, Snape always looked like he had something shoved up his ass. And yes, maybe Professor Kettleburn was an absolute madman (with all due respect, as Jessica quite missed the old sod). But, nothing would have prepared the young third year for the overwhelming scent of incense and the bug-eyed witch that seemed a few screws loose.

Albert, on the other hand, seemed to be having the time of his life. The strange attic-like classroom was stiflingly warm, and there were fat, little poufs and armchairs scattered around. In his eye, Divination seemed like the optimum place to take a nap. Not to mention, an excuse to drink tea and see his younger twin burst a blood vessel at the same time? Peak entertainment.

"Welcome to Divination," said a mystical voice, the woman theatrically flinging her arms open. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye."

Jessica felt her eye twitch. Or you are socially inept.

"So, you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you..." Many of the green-robed students shifted in discomfort. If you can't teach us, what is the point of this class? "Books can only take you so far in this field."

Albert leaned his head back onto the top of his armchair, staring at the ceiling. One could have mistaken the dark-haired boy to be praying.

"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearing, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future," the professor went on, her enormous eyes moving from face to nervous face. "It is a Gift granted to a few. You two!"

Professor Trelawney turned suddenly to the twins who looked like they might book it to the door at any given moment. "How is your mum? A tragic thing that happened to your father. Such a brave man."

The classroom grew silent. Jessica and Albert's hearts dropped, they both glanced at one another with both shock and growing agitation.

"What are you playing at?" questioned Albert, lifting his heavy head off the back of his chair. "Our mum is dead."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, my dear," Professor Trelawney's eyes seemed to almost glaze over. "Seek wisdom's hand, though they tremble."

You could almost here a pin drop. But, to the twins that paled at the words spoken, nothing was louder than their hearts beating out of their chest and the blood rushing in their ears. Professor Trelawney continued on without any hesitation, "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term, we shall progress to palmistry."

Jessica could feel the world around her blur. The words of the insect-looking seer becoming a distant murmur. Seek Wisdom's hand? How is your mum? I wouldn't be so sure about that, my dear. The words swirled around in her mind, it's tendrils felt almost as if it was searching for a hint of recognition.

Albert glanced up at his twin that sat across from him. The bags under her eyes seemed to get darker, and the wrinkle between her eyebrows became more prominent as she began to scour her mind for something, anything. He, himself, didn't know what to make of what the seer had said. Their mother was dead. Their parents had both died in the First Wizarding War; their father was praised as a hero, and their mother was said to have a faith worse than death. But, that technically doesn't mean she was dead... did it? Maybe it was naive of them to just hope she was. It would save them from anymore heartbreak.

Anyone who paid attention could see that the twins were spiraling. Their actions were robotic, and although their faces were emotionless and stoic, their minds were swirling with thoughts and possibilities.

Gathering teacups for herself and her sibling, Jessica made her way back to the round table. They drank their tea in silence until only the dregs remained, and proceeded to swirl their cups three times with their left hand, as prescribed by the text.

Their trance was interrupted, "My dear Parks! Mind if we joined you?" There was no room for contention, as Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini sat in the fat poufs that surrounded the table. The latter a bit more apologetic than the lanky boy that never failed to embarrass his friend.

Theodore wrapped an arm around Jessica's shoulders. "Never mind the loon, Jess. There are better things to worry about rather than some sod speaking out of her ass," he sent her a look. "Like when you'll finally accept that you're in lo—"

"Alright, alright. Get your hands off her, Nott. Albert quickly shoved the boy's arm off his sister with a huff.

"You don't have to be jealous Alby-kins, I am just as attracted to you as I am to her," Theodore cocked his head to the side with a sly grin, before sighing pointedly, "I just didn't know you swung that way. Always keeping me on my toes, you two."

The twins cracked a smile a that. "Now if you lot are done flirting with each other, let's look at some wet leaves, shall we?" Zabini queried, looking up from his Unfogging the Future textbook. The boy was toying with Jessica's hand, almost as an afterthought. He reached for her twin's cup. "You seem to have the Grim, which means you're going to die," he winced towards Albert.

"Fun," the Korean boy deadpanned. They turned to Jessica's cup, squinting at the unclear image.

"And you..." Blaise flipped through the large book. "Have the skull... and the cross? Which means you'll be suffering and in danger."

"Fantastic," the Korean girl beamed.

The four Slytherins that sat around the table were an odd match. The two twins were half-bloods, half-breeds as they were so commonly reminded by their peers. The children of Karina Park, a muggle-born Ravenclaw, and Xander Park, a pure-blood Slytherin. The flirtatious, stringy boy that sat to the left of Jessica was a pure-blood, the son of a death eater and product of prejudice thinking. His outwardly boisterous mask sharply contrasted his more solitary personality. And the tall, Black boy that sat to the right of Jessica was another pure-blood that seemed to scoff at anything and anyone (with an exception of the three people that sat in front of him). His mother notably leaving behind a trail of husbands that all seemed to have died under mysterious circumstances. Despite their underlying situations, everyone at the table seemed to understand each other.

"And you—"

"Never mind that! Don't tell me you're jealous too, Blaise!" interrupted Theodore. "I can't have you all fighting over me, it'll ruin our friendship."

"Sod off, you prick!" they all chorused.