Chapter 7: Formulating Plans

Several weeks had passed, and Sybill’s worries had calmed considerably. At first she had been quite skittish, but now she was back to herself. She had finally established a calm aura around her. She was now in the Room of Requirement, stripping the walls. The faculty and those helping to restore Hogwarts had decided to restore the room in shifts. Most shifts consisted of five people, but today she was only scheduled to work with one other person. Each shift worked for two hours, and everyone rotated throughout the week. Today Sybill was supposed to be paired with Professor Flitwick, but he had left the castle to bring Calliope to meet his family, so she was alone.

She didn’t mind being alone at all. She had spent a great deal of her life alone and was comfortable with silence. It gave her time to think. She crumbled the shell that was over the wall and let her mind wander. What would she do with the rest of her life?

She knew she wanted to keep teaching. She also knew that now that she had shed her loony-bin persona, she would like to find a gentleman to marry. Unfortunately, it was quite hard to find gentlemen to date when one was cooped up in a castle full of pre-pubescent students all day. She would need to visit Hogsmeade more often. She hadn’t been there at all before her retransformation, and she had only gone the one time to get her wardrobe since. She hadn’t even browsed much in the town. Yes, she’d need to visit more often. Maybe she could hang out in the Three Broomsticks and find someone nice to date.

Sybill huffed at herself. She had gone from loony to floozy in a few short weeks. Why would she even contemplate trying to find a man in a bar? She must be more desperate than she thought!

Maybe she should just live in Hogsmeade. She could Apparate to the Hogwarts gates every day for her job. Living outside the castle would give her some social life. Maybe that was the answer. She would go to the little town tomorrow and look around. That would help her to know if she should live there or not.

“Professor Trelawney?” a voice rang out behind her.

She turned to see Harry Potter standing in the doorway.

“Harry! How nice to see you!” She went over to him and shook his hand.

“I wasn’t sure if that was you, Professor. The Headmistress just said you had straight black hair.”

“Well, I’m not Professor Snape, so you chose wisely.”

Harry chuckled. “Oh, I just came from speaking with him.”

“My we are getting brave in our adulthood, aren’t we, Harry?”

Harry laughed. “Professor, I wanted to…”

“Harry, I want to thank you. If you hadn’t killed Voldemort, I would still be the batty teacher that you knew all of those years. You have given me freedom, Harry, and I’m very grateful.”

Harry turned red. “I’m embarrassed to say I never had a high regard for you when in school. Professor McGonagall has told me that you’re quite remarkable with your sight.”

“You really are quite brave to divulge such a well-kept secret about your feelings for me, Harry.” Sybill laughed at her joke. “I know everyone thought I was nuts. That was my intent. I will admit, it was hard having everyone think that about me, but Professor Dumbledore was insistent that I would be safer that way.”

“I wish I could see you teach now. I might learn something.”

“You took classes with Firenze, didn’t you?”

Harry nodded.

“Then you certainly learned something.”

“I thought you hated him?”

“I acted like it. I find centaur Divination extremely fascinating, and when he returns I intend to have a good sit down with him and discuss it.”

Harry shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re so different.”

Sybill smiled at him. She suddenly looked at him seriously. “Harry, you shouldn’t wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“You shouldn’t wait to start your Auror training.”

“How did you know…” He looked at her in puzzlement. “Oh, right, you really are a Seer.”

Sybill put her hand on Harry’s shoulder. “You will accomplish great things as an Auror. You need to start now. The people you will work with will not be available to you even in a few months. They will give you skills you will not be able to acquire from anyone else.”

“I just wonder if it’s the right thing to do, you know?” Harry looked down at his shoes. “After the battle, I find I’d like to not be so entrenched in fighting the bad guys.”

Sybill nodded her head at Harry. “That’s understandable, Harry. If I were you, I would probably feel the same way. But you are destined to be an Auror. You must begin your path as soon as possible.”

Harry wasn’t sure whether to believe Professor Trelawney or not.

“I understand your hesitation, Harry, but I’m speaking the truth. Ultimately, it is your choice.”

“Thanks, Professor. I’ll give it some thought.”

Sybill smiled at him. “That’s all I can ask. I wish I could have told you some things a long time ago. I have had several visions about you over the years, but have not been able to speak of them.”

“You never seemed afraid to tell me of your visions, Professor,” Harry remarked.

“I’m speaking of real visions, Harry, not the you are in grave danger kind of visions,” she answered shrewdly.

“What did you see in these visions?” Harry asked with curiosity.

“Well, for one thing, I knew you would enter the Chamber of Secrets and live to tell about it. The thing, though, that I wanted to tell you the most, is that your parents loved you very much. I always felt that you were lonely growing up. They would have wanted you to be loved, Harry. I saw a vision of them right after they were killed. They were mourning their separation from you. They truly felt terrible because they knew you wouldn’t receive the proper upbringing from the Dursleys.”

Harry only stared at Sybill. He didn’t know what to say. He had seen his parents through the Resurrection Stone and had felt their love, but to hear it from her made it all the more real. He felt himself tear up and fought to control himself.

“Thank you, Professor. That really means a lot to me.”

“Anytime, Harry.”

She watched Harry leave the large room and went back to her scraping.

oooOOOooo

Later that day, Sybill was eating her dinner and chatting with Madam Hooch. Rolanda and she had formed a tight bond during the weeks since the war. Since it was summer, and all of the stragglers from the battle had finally left the castle, there was a subtle easiness surrounding the entire place. Rolanda and Sybill would oftentimes spend over an hour chatting at breakfast. It was the one meal of the day they gave themselves the luxury of lounging about in.

Sybill had been ecstatic at Rolanda’s friendship. Of the entire faculty, Rolanda had been the one who had avoided her the most. Well, except for the times Severus had literally run the other way when he had seen her. Rolanda’s personality was certainly the polar opposite of Sybill’s when she was ‘Crazy Trelawney,’ but now they seemed to agree on most everything. It was refreshing to have new friends after so much solitude for so long. Before the only faculty member who had even given her more than a glance had been Minerva. Minerva and she, of course, were still good friends, but it was nice for Sybill to be able to talk to more than one person at the dinner table.

“You really shouldn’t move to Hogsmeade, Sybill!” Rolanda cried. “We’ve just become friends, and I’d miss our talks.”

“Rolanda, it’s not like we would never speak to one another, you know.”

“You can’t move to Hogsmeade,” Severus said with a scowl. He had just entered the Hall and situated himself next to Sybill moments before the conversation had turned to living in Hogsmeade.

Sybill turned to him. “And why is that?”

“It’s too dangerous right now. You must stay in the castle.”

“Why would it be dangerous?” Rolanda queried.

Sybill sighed. “I had a premonition that the Death Eaters are out for my blood because of the prophecy I gave about Harry Potter.”

Rolanda gasped. “Well, that’s all the more reason to stay here, Sybill!”

Sybill pushed down her annoyance at the two friends who had just appointed themselves her baby sitters.

“I am going to Hogsmeade tomorrow, and I’m looking around,” she said tersely. “If I like it, I will find a flat and move there.”

Severus looked at her and said slowly, “But, Sybill, you are in grave danger!”

Sybill’s anger abated, and she laughed heartily. After a minute she composed herself.

“You two need to understand,” she explained in a calmer voice. “I have been hiding and running for 18 years. I’m tired of letting others determine my future. I won’t let those men manipulate me into being scared and hiding anymore. I can fight just as well as anyone else. I won’t be intimidated.”

Although Severus admired her bravery, he still thought her moving to Hogsmeade was a terrible idea and said so.

“I haven’t decided to move definitely,” Sybill retorted with a wave of her hand. “That’s why I want to go tomorrow. The last time I was there I barely looked at anything.”

“I’ll go with you then,” Severus said in a tone that was not to be argued with, “to assure your safety.”

Sybill must not have recognized his tone. “You can’t shadow me wherever I go, Severus. I’m perfectly fine going alone.”

“You’ll be perfectly fine going with me, or you will not go at all!” Severus snapped.

Rolanda leaned over and whispered loudly in Sybill’s ear. “There’s no arguing with him when he’s like that. You don’t want him to poison you, do you?”

Sybill looked to Rolanda curiously. “If he never poisoned me when I was an idiot, why would he poison me now? I was much more annoying to him then!”

“Yes, you were, and I’m sitting right here,” Severus uttered caustically. “You don’t have to speak like I’m not even in the room!”

The two women looked over at Severus and burst out laughing. He looked incredibly put out, and they found that to be hilarious. Severus rolled his eyes and went back to his meal.

“What time are we leaving tomorrow?” he asked sulkily.

“Oh, Sybill, you’ve hurt his feelings!” Rolanda exclaimed.

Severus scowled, and Sybill understood they had gone too far.

“That’s enough, Rolanda. There’s no need to be rude.” She turned her attention to Severus and pretended as if nothing had happened. “How about ten in the morning?”

Severus nodded, but did not look up. Sybill shrugged it off and went back to her own meal. She waited a little before she tried to get Severus to speak again.

“Do you need anything while we’re there?” she asked him.

He shook his head no. Sybill was finished with her meal, so she excused herself.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Severus. Both of you have a nice evening.”

With that she turned and left the Great Hall.

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A/N: Next up: Examining Hogsmeade

I hope you enjoyed today’s chapter. Thanks to my beta, Lilith Kayden. She comes up with the most wonderful ideas! Thanks also to you.