Chapter 20 - Prophecy

Alder felt the creeping darkness surrounding him.

"Lumos"

The tip of his wand lighted up and he finally saw what was in the room. A giant mirror was standing in the middle of the room. It was angled almost 45 degrees to make sure only darkness would fall on it, a reflection would just interrupt the process. Opposite of the mirror was a comfortable chair for the seer. Alder took his seat and muttered "Nox".

The only light source in the room disappeared completely. Alder also closed his eyes and started to think about what he wanted to see. Although his prejudice against the other ways of prophecy almost gone completely, he still felt such ancient and mystical ways were more reliable in a spiritual profession like this.

He was not under any threat or not expecting anything, so finding a perfect reason for the prophecy was posed a problem for Alder. Although he could search for the way of power, he had an almost well planned path before him. So he decided to check if he could see anyone's death. Like Trelawney did for a student every year.

'Death…Death…Death…' he focused in his mind. Even before he could say the trigger, he started to feel a heavy feeling in his mind. His head started to ache and he took it as a sign of success. Thus with confidence he opened his eyes at the same time saying "Show me.".

As soon as he opened his eyes, his headache immediately started getting worse. But he tried to ignore it as he started to look at the mirror.

The previous darkness in the mirror was gone and what took its place was a fogged alley.

'I can't even make out anything like this, is it because of the skill level?' Alder questioned holding his head. He opened the talents and found the skill under divination.

--Catoptromancy: Level 0 (Experience: 0/100)—

'I guess it's worth the hundred Experience.' and raised the skill to Level 1 while gritting his teeth in pain.

The effects were as clear as the day. The fog started to open a little bit and the first thing he saw was the bright full moon hanging in the sky. The defogged alley had spattered blood on one of its walls. Alder followed the blood with his eyes and where they reached was a cat covered in blood lying on the ground. The cat looked rather familiar and giving a deeper look, Alder thought it looked like the cat of Lana. But there was one more detail which was difficult to miss in the scene, a young boy was lying motionless behind the cat. The boy also had a little bit blood on him but there was a possibility of him being alive. Before he could take a deeper look into it, his headache almost reached the point of bursting his head. Even his vision started to get blurred, not only the sight on the mirror, but around him too.

'If I go any further, I will lose consciousness.' thought Alder quickly and closed his eyes, while whispering out a "Stop" in pain.

He felt the pain started to subside but what remained was the sluggishness. He found even thinking straight was a hard task. He slumped on the chair to relax all his body and tried to think what he saw.

'Although the death is not mine, if I look sideways, that would make me one of accomplices…'

He would be glad if he could warn someone about his/her death and get on with the prophecy. But this scene was trickier, he had no idea who was the boy and his connection with the cat of Lana.

He could tell Lana to cage the cat, but if he interfered with the prophecy that way, not only would he be unable to save the boy, he would also lose all his chances of finding him.

'But blindly letting everything happen is also not right, I don't want to sacrifice the cat…'

He always loved the animals, be it in this life or before. They were pure and would be your lifelong friends without expecting anything in return.

'Let's first exit this room. I'm even more tired than pulling an all-nighter.'

…

When he reached to the common room, it was almost time for the curfew.

The common room was almost deserted as most of the students went to their bed early. But a couple of familiar faces were sitting in the room. And their eyes turned towards him as soon as he entered.

"Where were you?" said Stephen.

"Searching for something." said Alder calmly.

"Don't get angry, we were worried about you since it's rare for you to be outside after closing hour of the library. If you were to be absent a little more, we were thinking about calling help." said Casper.

Alder smiled a little bit and said "Thank you, don't worry, I also search about the things I have told you the other night in my free time.".

"Well, I won. I said Alder would not be just wondering around for fun." said Thomas.

"Yeah…" said Stephen, questioning if Alder had any free time at all.

"Now, now. I also try to do some stuff for fun, you know." said Alder looking hurt.

"Like what?" said Casper folding his arms.

"I'm trying out divination lately." said Alder proudly.

"And that's what you're calling having fun?" said Casper in horror.

Alder laughed and dropped all the pretence "I know, I'm just a little bit too excited about magic, it will pass. And I will need you when the time comes to find something fun to do.".

This time it was Casper's turn to act proudly "You can count on me." and he also laughed a second later.

Alder also saw Tonks sitting with Lana and her cat, Nina. She also smiled at him when their gazes locked, looking relieved.

"Excuse me, I will be right back." said Alder to his group and went to Tonks.

After giving a hello to Lana, he leaned on Tonks and whispered "Can I talk with you for a second?" in her ears.

Tonks looked confused but nodded anyways. "Sorry, one second." she said to Lana and followed Alder to a corner.

"Dora, do you trust me?" said Alder in low voice.

"Well, yeah." said Tonks, casting a suspicious look at him.

"Something bad will happen to Lana's cat. Can you keep an eye on her and let me know if she disappears at night?"

"But she's going out every night, Lana says Nina is wondering around the castle out of boredom at nights." Although she couldn't really be sure about what Alder said, he didn't seem like a person who would casually lie to make fun of her.

"Well then not every night, only when it's full moon. But don't follow it, just let me know when she disappears. Can you turn into something small or me?"

Tonks nodded slowly.

"Then you can disguise as me if you got lost while searching for my room. I will leave your transformation decision to you, my room is in the first corridor branching from the way that leads to boys' dormitory. It's the fifth room from the right. I will leave a mark on the door."

Tonks nodded again but this time she asked a question "But when is the full moon?".

"I'll learn it in the astronomy class tomorrow." said Alder and continued "Thank you for your help. Also a quick note if I forget about it that day; if you see anything wrong, just escape."

The future was bound to change with his intervention, thus he also feared causing harm to Tonks due to his recklessness.

"Is it dangerous? Then we should tell a teacher about this." said Tonks worriedly.

"While I don't think they would believe me, I will try to find Professor Sprout." he glanced out of the window and continued "And it seems we still have time. The moon should be in first quarter right now.".

Tonks also looked outside the window and nodded. "Be careful, Alder, I don't know how you know such a thing but it doesn't sound like a game."

Alder nodded and said "I know; I also don't want to put you into danger but I can only trust you now.". While the boys from his dormitory also looked like good guys, you can never know a person in just two days. But he knew Tonks was really someone who would act like how she is inside. While she may also be different due to the changes from the original storyline, she was worth his trust.

Normally he wouldn't think these kinds of things too deeply but since he didn't know the culprit who would harm the boy and the cat, the situation was tricky. Maybe the prophecy also included him seeing it and he was the one brought the culprit to the scene.

Tonks nodded resolutely and "Leave it to me. Good night, Alder.".

"Good night, Dora." said Alder with a smile.