Countess

10. I Bond With Some Teachers

"You must forgive me for staring, my dears," she said after a while. When she waved her hand, the many bracelets she was wearing around her wrists jinggled loudly. I tried not to think too hard about how easy it would be to slip one off her. "This...it's such a rarity! Two blessed with the gift of the Sight! Twins nonetheless! I can't remember the last time such a phenomenon had occured...in my class room of all places...of course, I knew this day would come eventually, having seen it in my crystal gazing many months ago... but still... one can never truly prepare for the emotions of the physical world..."

"I'm still not entirely on board with this whole 'Seer' thing," I admitted, watching her bracelets.

I didn't need them, and they weren't exactly Tilly's style either. I mean, there was this pretty sparkly one she might have liked. But other than that... It was just how easy it would be...plus, I needed a distraction. Sitting still was difficult on a good day; the heat of Trelawney's classroom and the divination talk was not helping anything. I'd been trying my best to burry the weird stuff divination had apparently been 'gifting' to me all year. I was already a wizard, I didn't need any more weirdness; so I thought if I could focus real hard it might just go away.

But talking about it made it hard to focus on making it go away. So. Bracelet. Theft. Screw the future.
I just needed to get close enough...

"Does the Sight take gift returns?"

My sister glared at me, and I thought she might have hit me if we weren't in the presence of a teacher.

"My dear boy!" Trelawney cried, looking affronted. I felt bad. I didn't mean to offend her. I just didn't like to take scary things seriously. "You should not shun your abilities but embrace them! To be given foresight...and with an aura as strong as yours..."

Tilly grinned, apparently forgetting she was supposed to be offended by my comment too. She was leaning forward on the cloth covered table as if Trelawney had said something really great. I wasn't sure I agreed. "I knew it!" she said. "I knew you'd see an aura for him! Just like you did for me in class. He's been making predictions all year so far."

I wished she hadn't told her that, and I didn't really want an aura, whatever that was. It sounded pretentious. Like what people say when they want to sound like a hippie communing with nature.

"Indeed." Trelawney didn't look surprised to find out I had apparently been predicting the future left and right. I suppose she must have seen that in her crystal balls or whatever, too.

The professor's hair was really frizzy (probably from the heat in the room). Her eyes looked like they' pop out of her head at any second with the way her glasses magnified them; and with her shawl and flamboyant accessories, she was exactly how I pictured someone who'd attended Woodstock in their youth. She wasn't exactly someone I'd normally steal from, but, you know, I needed the distraction.

"As I have just expressed, I have foreseen two very powerful Seers coming to my classroom, potential protégés...Having met you both now... yes, it seems very clear to me...it must be the two of you...yes, yes, it really couldn't be anyone else...I suspect it came from your mother's bloodline..."

She stared up at the ceiling for a long moment, as if daydreaming about  adopting two orphan wards and teaching them everything she knew. I thought that would have been the perfect time to knick one of the bracelets, but then she turned and looked right at me.

"By the way, dear, if you plan on stealing one of my bracelets, I'd suggest this one here." She tugged at the one she was talking about. "As I am the least fond of it."

I stared at her dumbly. 'Suppose, if she could see the future, she would have seen the theft coming...

Tilly was smirking like something really impressive had just happened. Or maybe she was just having fun watching me look like an idiot. That seemed like her. She was mean that way.