The Marauders: Year Four

The Evidence of the Seer

"Aren't we a quiet bunch," he murmured. "Here I thought I was teaching a brood of fourth years. I've never heard teenagers be so silent in my life. Are you still there?"

A nervous chuckle rippled through the room.

"Ah... yes... there you are."

"What's he planning on doing with that crystal ball, exactly?" Sirius snickered quietly, "It's not like he can see anything in it." James looked at Sirius with a smirk.

Mopsus smiled. "Mr. Black," he said, and Sirius looked up in surprise, "The inner eye does not rely on physical vision. The crystal does not need to be viewed to be seen."

Sirius blinked in surprise. His voice had certainly not been loud enough for Mopsus to have heard across the room. He glanced at James with wildly questioning eyes. James shrugged.

"Mopsus sees all," the old man said in a low, trembling voice.

Several of the students in the room started murmuring to one another.

Professor Mopsus lifted his hands from where he'd rested them on his lap and laid them upon the crystal ball, his bony old fingers spreading out so that he clasped the ball in his palms, working his fingertips as though giving the orb a massage. He felt and prodded and murmured under his breath, a sort of chanting song that sounded as though it were in another language. It was eerie, to say the least, and many of the students in the room shifted uncomfortably, including Lily Evans, who was very creeped out by the old man. She clutched the table before her, her palms a bit sweaty and looked at Marlene with a frightened expression. Suddenly, the old man stopped his chanting and he whispered, "Ah... yes... Here we are." He paused a very long time and he closed the lids of his eyes, which then fluttered as his hands gripped tight at the orb.

Everyone waited with bated breath.

"We shall be covering crystal reading in this class," he said lowly, "Over the term, you'll learn how to see what the crystal speaks of, and feel the future like you would feel the memory of a touch, as though tangible still... Ah there are great changes in all of your futures, the time of life is upon you as you grow to be men and women - no longer children... In November, we shall lose one among us. Come December, two will join together that are today apart. Come February, a truth shall be known that is currently unknown, and in May, destinies shall be decided by the outcome of a test amongst four souls. Two shall pass and two shall fail, despite equal odds for each. Are there any questions?"

The students looked amongst each other. Were there any questions? Of course there were questions! Loads of questions! So many questions that stacked one upon the other they might reach the moon! Was this old wizard truly asking if there were any questions?

James raised his hand, then realized there was no point of it - the Professor couldn't see him lift it anyway, he reckoned - and so he simply said, aloud, "Who are the four souls?"

"I cannot say," Mopsus replied.

"Then how do we know you're telling us the truth?" Sirius asked.

"Mopsus sees all," the old wizard answered.

Remus cleared his throat, "According to Professor Vablatsky, a true seer is always able to produce evidence of their authenticity, which will enable the listeners of their prophecies to know the seers are true. What evidence do you have, sir?"

Sirius reached over Peter's head to high-five Remus.

Mopsus was quiet a moment, nodding, and then he said, "Mr. Lupin, you ask for evidence that Mopsus sees all?"

"Yes, sir," he answered, "If you please."

Mopsus breathed deeply, then, "That book on your desk before you. The one you share with Mr. Black. It is used. You purchased it at Flourish & Blotts for a discounted price in July. The 14th, to be exact. Please open the front cover."

Everyone was looking at Remus as he reached forward and opened the cover. James, Peter, and Sirius leaned closer to see. Remus stared down at the book. "Alright, then. It's opened."

"Good. Now... please direct your attention to the list of former owners on left there... the very bottom name... that name belongs to a person whom you knew quite well."

The hair on the back of Remus's neck had raised. Whatever were the odds? Of all the textbooks in all of the world... of all the used copies of Gazing Into The Orb that Flourish & Blotts had had on their shelves... Sirius had managed to pick up this one particular book.

The name was indeed scrawled there in a red ink quill, messy hand, with a very distinct hook to the lettering that was easy to recognize...

Derek Bell.

James's eyes widened.

"That person is dead."

"...yes sir..." Remus murmured.

"That person's spirit is strong here at Hogwarts," Mopsus commented. James looked around wildly, as though expecting to see Derek Bell's ghost come floating through the way Nearly Headless Nick would do, his heart a great lump in his throat, both terrified of seeing Derek and excited at the prospect of it. "His memory is well honored," the seer said.

"The Bell Towers," whispered Peter.

Mopsus hummed lowly. "I see, too, that she who has slain this spirit... She will be forever your enemy. It is at this woman's hand that through the veil will fall your love."

"Excuse me?" Remus stared at Mopsus.

"Mopsus sees all."

Murmurs went up - nobody had any idea what the bloody hell the old man was talking about.

"Does the name in the book appease your request for evidence?" Mopsus questioned.

"I - yes, I suppose so, sir, but..."

"The prophecy is but a thing to know, upon which you shall take refuge one day, knowing today I can see it happening, the future already decided there... It is not your fault."

Remus looked at the other boys.

Sirius was staring at Mopsus, as was Peter, who was literally chewing his fingernails off with nervousness.

"Mopsus sees all," the Professor repeated. "Now, each of you, collect a crystal from the box in the back of the room and open your textbooks to page two-hundred-seven and we shall begin to learn the mysteries of the future."

Numbly, Remus got up and followed James, Sirius, and Peter across the room to the box of orbs, each collecting a crystal and a stand and carrying them back to their seats, everyone stealing glimpses at Remus Lupin, just as curious as he was about what the prophecies the old man had spoken meant.

"I don't think I like him anymore now than I did before," whispered Peter as he selected a crystal from the box, looking up at Remus.

"I don't reckon that I do either," Remus replied.