[i] reaching out | s. trelawney

ii. the trouble

The trouble came around her fourth year at the school. Her Sight caused her many great problems, forcing her to spend many days and nights in the infirmary. She passed the time by watching the people pass in the days and the stars shine in the night. She thought she could see patterns in the starry sky-patterns astrologers could not.

She catalogued these patterns in her mind, remembering them for years to come. She could often be known to avoid trouble and claimed the answers were in the sky, but only she could read them.

She became consumed with the idea of expanding her Sight into more than reading patterns in the stars, and whenever she wasn't in the infirmary, she spent her time reading in the Ravenclaw common room. Books bound of ancient leather were stacked in a mountain-like pile beside her chair, and she would read through them all quickly, making frequent library trips.

She devoted her soul to the Sight, doing everything in her power to strengthen it. The books told her to drink herbal teas and sleep only when absolutely necessary. She stayed up all night and gazed out at the stars, comparing her findings to those of ancient Seers. She would scour the night sky for foreign patterns and symbols, and whenever she found them, she catalogued them in her journal.

In the mornings after drinking her tea, she would examine the bottom of the cup for long periods of time, and she took up the new hobby of reading tea leaves. The students thought she was strange, and the professors noticed a tremendous grade slip. The feline professor was the first one to speak with her.

"Sybill, you've got to concentrate on your studies," the woman said.

"And I am!" the girl exclaimed. "Look at all my research! I've been charting stars, keeping logs. What more could I possibly be doing?"

"You've been receiving poor marks lately. Trolls. If you keep these marks up, you'll-"

"I don't intend on going to school after Hogwarts. I'm a Seer; my work isn't in a textbook."

And the professor let her go, but she was now happy about it. Sybill continued learning more about her craft, but at a price.

The price of her sanity.