Torn Between Three Me's

28 - Plotting and Predictions

'Because they hate us,' I snarled, as we ascended the first of many staircases.

As we made it to the last step of the top of the spiral staircase before Trelawney's stepladder, we flopped onto the top step, gasping for air in the muggy corridor. 'Potter, Adrienne,' Trelawney said, poking her head out of the hole in the ceiling.

'Seriously?' I huffed. 'Gimme a push.' As I hoisted myself up off the step, Fred and George also pushing my back.

'Good luck,' they chorused as I lazily crawled up the ladder, nodding in return to conserve energy.

I trudged into the dark room, gloomier and hotter than usual, as sweat dripped down my forehead. As I came through the risers I could see the fireplace was on and the curtain was drawn. She was definitely trying to set the mood. But I was in no mood for that.

'Come, Ms. Potter, sit,' she hurried, waving me over to her table, where a crystal ball sat. I took a seat wiping my forehead with my sleeve.

'If you would kindly gaze into the orb for me. Take you take, then tell me what you see within it,' Trelawney explained softly.

I laid my arms on the table and my head on my arms as I stuck my nose inches from the crystal ball. My eyelids were heavy as I struggled to keep them open, the heat and darkness not helping. All I could see was fog in the crystal ball. Nothing was happening in it. Absolutely nothing. I let out a yawn.

'Well? What do you see?' Trelawney asked.

All I could think about was how useless this class was. Fred and George telling me the last time Trelawney had predicted death in my future for me or someone around me that it was a rubbish prediction and that this class was just a load of rubbish in general. If I didn't come up with something soon I was either going to fall asleep or fail the exam. I sat up a little straight, still peering into the orb and squinted a bit. My mind wandered to the animagus potion the twins and I were beginning to work on.

'Um...I see a liquid.'

'What kind of liquid?'

'They're in jars. I think it's potions.'

'Are they poisonous?'

'Some are, yes. Some are just inconvenient and others can heal you, make you do cool things.'

'Good, good,' she said, scribbling down notes on her pad of paper. 'What else do you see?'

'Um, I see someone really tall,' I said, thinking about the twins.

'What are they doing?'

'Being mischievous. Maybe being a bit harmful as well. But once other people show, he's already done whatever it was he was supposed to.'

'Is there anything else you see?'

I took a deep breath, really ready to be done with the exam, but I did also want to get a good mark. 'I see three kids, two boys and a girl. They're uh...they're just doing their best to figure something out that they probably shouldn't have been doing in the first place.'

'Well done, dear. I think we'll leave it there. Interesting predictions. A bit vague, but you see what you see,' Trelawney half smiled.

I returned the smile and darted out of the room as fast as I could, wanting my body temperature to return to normal. As my foot caught the last rung of the ladder, I let my body fall gently onto the floor and land like a starfish in pure exhaustion.

'That bad?' The twins asked.

'I feel like I'm gonna melt,' I moaned.

'Weasley, Fred,' Trelawney poked her head out briefly as he started making his way to the ladder.

'Tea leaves? Palms? Crystal balls?' He asked as he ascended.

'Crystal balls,' I sighed. 'Tell her whatever she needs to hear.'

Fred nodded and disappeared through the hole in the ceiling, leaving George and I as the last two in the stairwell. We turned to look at each other. Finally he started to stand. 'In the corner, you, let's go.'

'What? Why. Are you gonna murder me?' I asked.

'No, thicko,' he said, grabbing me by the arms and pulling me up off the ground. He then led me to the corner. 'Brace yourself.' George muttered something and flicked his wand towards the ceiling and a giant pool of water splashed down on us from the ceiling. I quickly sealed my mouth shut as the water collided with my body, and then once it passed, seeping through the sides of the railing and down the stairs, the corners of my mouth instantly shot upwards and I started laughing. I pushed the wet hair out of my face.

'George!' I laughed. 'That feels so much better.'

George started to laugh in response. 'Right?' He gawked. 'Charlie did that to us over the summer last year before he left for Romania. I've been wanting to do it since.'

'Do what since ARGHH!' Fred slipped down the last rung of the ladder as George dove to catch him. 'Thanks, mate.' George nodded.

'Maybe I should clean this up,' I suggested, flicking my wand at the floor, watching the water evaporate before our eyes. The twins stood up just as Trelawney called for George to go in.

After George finished up with his exam we went down to the Great Hall for dinner. We found seats with Ron, Hermione, and Harry. We didn't talk much about our exams, just enough to know that we'd most likely all passed and would not be getting held back. The younger three then kept to themselves for some reason, talking about something seemingly important. I could only hear a couple words here and there, like 'cloak,' 'stone,' 'expelled,' and 'three-headed dog.'

'What are you three on about?' I asked them, as they jumped, turning to me, each looking more startled than the next.

'Nothing,' they chorused.

I furrowed my brow at them, not sure if I should be the encouraging mischievous big sister or the concerned overprotective big sister. I just nodded.