Forever A Marauder

Thirty-Four: Calysta

CALYSTA

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The summer of 1980 had brought with it the normal heat waves, and for that particular night, August 3rd, a strong downpour of rain and minuscule balls of hail. Wind drafted through cracks in the Hog's Head pub in Hogsmeade. The thick smell of whiskey and burnt food clogged the noses of three wizards at a circular table in a corner.

Calysta's deep red cloak clung to her sides as she entered the pub. She peered around, scowling at the spill of water off the top of her hood. A curtain of hair fell flat against her skull as her cloak was helpfully whisked off her shoulders by an older gentlemen she new well.

"Thank you for coming, Ms. Daelynn." Dumbledore's lips formed a smile, though a hint of concern flickered behind his pale eyes.

"Of course, sir." Calysta impatiently placed her damp cloak over the back of the metal stool at the table after taking it back from Albus, staring across the surface at a strange woman with very puffy hair and large lenses enlarging her eyes. "How can I be of service?" She eyed the woman with suspicious interest. Dumbledore seemed not to notice.

"Calysta, this is a new professor I've hired at Hogwarts, Ms. Sybill Trelawney." His hands motioned over to her. The woman bowed her head low towards Calysta.

"Lovely making your acquaintance, dear girl." The woman's voice was smooth, her words drawn out. Trelawney reached across the table and took Calysta's hand from the surface, resting it in one hand and covering it with her other. Calysta raised an eyebrow at her but made her face return to its previous state before the woman could see.

"As to you." Calysta nodded to her, retracting her hand after Trelawney was finished shaking it.

"Sybill has applied for the position of Divination professor. She has the power of Sight." Dumbledore added further.

"A Seer." Calysta stated. Both wizards across from her confirmed by nodding.

"A worrisome issue surfaced as we were discussing the possibility of hire. A ominous Prophecy has been spoken right before my eyes. It is the reason why I immediately chose Sybill to work at the school." Dumbledore began. Calysta held up a finger, as nicely as she could as not to be seen as rude, stopping him.

"Isn't this a matter to discuss at the castle? Or somewhere else besides-" Calysta fell silent, turning her head to fully scan the gloomy pub. "-this place? You never know who could be listening." She quieted her voice to a soft hiss. The statement expressed her discomfort given to her by the few figures bent over their drinks, looking closed off to the world around them. Dumbledore straightened, only to lean forward onto the table once more.

"Sybill has chosen this spot for its secluded location," Dumbledore explained. Calysta crossed her arms over her chest and reclined against a nearby wall, copying the stance her boyfriend often took in his classes nearly three years before.

"Fair enough. Explain to me this prophecy." Calysta tilted her head slightly when her eyes met the enlarged ones of the new professor. Trelawney twiddled her hands and sniffed loudly.

"It speaks of a child born at the end of the seventh month...with the power to destroy the Dark Lord," She spoke nervously.

"Can you repeat it?" The legs of the stool Calysta was perched on squeaked on the splintered wood of the building as she came closer to the new professor. Intrigued, Calysta watched the woman closely. Sybill stole a peek about the room, then cleared her throat.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches..." Her voice became deeper. "Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives." The woman finished with an intense expression; Calysta was frozen in place.