章 430: Future and Fate

"Very good, Miss Greengrass," said Professor Tofty appreciatively, as he peered into Oleandra's cauldron. "A textbook starter solution for the Universal Antivenom Antidote— but unless you've managed to find a way to shorten the brewing process like your sister, we'll have to wait a few hours until it matures before I can properly grade your work."

After a very brief Care of Magical Creatures exams that had consisted almost entirely of differentiating Kneazles from common house cats, Oleandra, Scrimgeour and Professor Tofty had moved to the Department of Intoxicating Substances in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, on the second underground floor.

There, Professor Tofty had quizzed Oleandra on her Potions knowledge while having her compound a panacea. It had been two years since she had last made one, having learned about them in her fourth year, but thankfully, she had completed the first step quite adequately.

"You've already finished testing my sister?" said Oleandra in surprise.

"Well, yes and no," Professor Tofty admitted. "Technically, I suppose you could say that I'm testing her at this very moment."

"Judging from your expression," said Scrimgeour, eyeing Oleandra closely, "I assume you must already know about Time-Turners?"

In Oleandra's third year, Daphne had obtained the right to share a Time-Turner with Hermione. Long story short, they had both taken all five available elective classes offered at Hogwarts, and the Time-Turner allowed them to rewind the clock to attend all of their classes, despite scheduling conflicts.

Unfortunately, by the end of the year, Daphne had lost Professor Snape's favour, so she had been unable to apply for another since then…

"Daphne kept the secret well," Oleandra quickly said. "I figured it out on my own."

"Naturally," said Scrimgeour, but Oleandra could tell that he didn't believe her.

With Oleandra's Potions exam on pause, she only had four exams left: Study of Ancient Runes, Divination, History of Magic and Astronomy.

"Now, shall we move on to Divination?" Professor Tofty proposed. "I have prepared a crystal ball and a kettle to brew some tea…"

"Is there any real need to test a True Seer on her Divination abilities?" said Scrimgeour impatiently, as he checked his watch for the umpteenth time. "She has already made two prophecies, I'm told."

In all fairness, Professor Tofty was simply trying to do his job, despite the irregularity of Oleandra's situation. After all, wasn't it his job to verify her abilities? And in truth, Oleandra wasn't actually a True Seer— she was a bigger Divination fraud than Trelawney!

"No need for a crystal ball or tea leaves," Oleandra quickly interjected; in class, she had never managed to see anything other than soggy leaves in her cups of tea. "I prefer to cast rune stones to interpret the web of fate— my Wyrd."

Oleandra's use of fancy Divination terminology seemed to impress Professor Tofty.

"Normally, I would ask students to look into a crystal ball and interpret the images within," he said lightly. "But since you feel confident in your abilities, Miss Greengrass, I will ask you questions about the near future— your grade will depend on your accuracy."

The Centaurs could interpret the future written in the stars with a certain degree of reliability— but Oleandra's connection with the stars was much more intimate than theirs, making her prophecies 100% accurate! That is, when the stars deigned to respond…

"Shall we begin?" said Professor Tofty. "Ready? Very well, then— I would like to know tomorrow's weather forecast."

Oleandra didn't need Divination to know that it would rain tomorrow, as it had already rained all week, but she still rummaged around in her pouch and withdrew the twenty-four two-sided pebbles upon which she had inscribed the twenty-four runes.

She gave them a good shake in her hand, but just as she was preparing to toss her pebbles on the floor, she remembered that she was underground— runic magic didn't work here.

"I think I'll take that cup of tea after all," said Oleandra sheepishly, as she drew her wand and pointed it at one of the cups that Professor Tofty had prepared. "Aguamenti!"

This time, Oleandra didn't make a mess of things with her Water-Making Spell— she carefully controlled the output of water trickling out of her wand and quickly filled the small porcelain cup to the brim with pure water.

Through her Authority over lakes and with a little bit of sympathetic magic, Oleandra had the ability to 'convince' any quantity of water to turn into a metaphorical lake that mirrored an actual lake on the surface— and it was through this tenuous connection to the surface world that Oleandra could cheat and use the magic of the stars underground.

And so, once her preparations were complete, Oleandra was finally ready to divine the future…

"Mani! Wotan! Wyrd!" Oleandra thundered, as she cast her rune stones. "Tomorrow's weather!"

The rune stones clattered and bounced as they touched the ground, before finally rolling to a stop a few seconds later. In the end, only three of the twenty-four stones remained face up…

(Oleandra's rune stones were two-sided— only one side was inscribed with a rune, while the reverse side was blank).

"Hagal, Fehu and Dagaz," Oleandra read out loud. "It will rain abundantly all day long."

"I'll make sure to bring an umbrella tomorrow," Professor Tofty joked. Then, seeing that his joke had fallen flat, he coughed, before adding, "very well, then— Next, I would like to know if they'll still have any of those delectable watercress egg salad sandwiches left at the cafeteria, by lunchtime…"

At his advanced age, Professor Tofty's legs weren't what they used to be. Usually, by the time he would make it to the cafeteria, they would tend to have already run out of his favourite sandwich.

"Mani! Wotan! Wyrd!" Oleandra chanted. "The status of egg and cress sandwiches at the Ministry of Magic's cafeteria at lunchtime!"

Oleandra gathered her rune stones, before tossing them on the ground once again. They spun and knocked into each other for a while, but after a few seconds, they settled into position. This time, only one remained face up…

"Fehu, but upside-down; or reversed," Oleandra interpreted. "Which means: there will be none left, by the time you get there for lunch."

"Ah…" said Professor Tofty in dismay.

"Still, the future's not set in stone," said Oleandra wearily, as she knelt to collect her rune stones. "We could take our lunch break now— I highly doubt they'll have run out of sandwiches before noon…"

Maintaining the Aquamirror Spell was quite tiresome, and seeing as the Ancient Runes exam was coming up next, Oleandra was eager to take a break.

"Right you are!" Professor Tofty exclaimed. "Rufus, why don't you go fetch us some sandwiches— it's the least you could do, after cancelling this poor girl's exams and dragging me out here to bend the Wizarding Examinations Authority's rules…"

There was a limit to how much power Scrimgeour could abuse with his emergency wartime powers— which meant that he had to keep Tofty happy, if he wanted him to give Oleandra her O.W.L. accreditations and gain brownie points with her.

And so, a stony-faced Scrimgeour went off to find his assistant Percy Weasley to delegate his quest for sandwiches, while Professor Tofty went off to find the bathroom; leaving Oleandra all alone in the room. But just as she was about to stop her Aquamirror spell, an idea suddenly popped into her head.

"Mani! Wotan! Wyrd!" Oleandra whispered, once both men were out of earshot. "Oleandra Greengrass's fate."

Oleandra threw her rune stones— but the instant they hit the ground, the pebbles immediately froze on the spot, instead of rolling around for a few seconds like they had for the two previous Divinations. It was as if there was a magnet under the floorboards that was rooting them to the ground…

"Yera, Mannaz, upside-down Naudhiz, upside-down Eihwaz," said Oleandra out loud, her face turning pale as she read from the rune stones. "No… that can't be right."

Year, human, crisis, death.

The rune stones' meaning was clear: one year from now, Oleandra would pass away from an unavoidable threat.

Oleandra quickly gathered her rune stones and cast them again, repeating the same question… and obtaining the same response.

"Mani! Wotan! Wyrd!" Oleandra then chanted frantically, collecting her rune stones and throwing them to the floor yet again. "Daphne Greengrass's fate— NO! No, no, no!"

Once again, the same runes remained face up: Yera, Mannaz, the reversed Naudhiz, and the reversed Eihwaz.

"Mani! Wotan! Wyrd!" Oleandra shouted, panic-stricken. "Astoria Greengrass's fate!"

This time, however, the rune stones rolled freely, and after a few seconds, they finally came to a stop. Five rune stones remained face up: Mannaz, Fehu, Wunjo, Elhaz, and Eihwaz… except right side up.

Oleandra blew a sigh of relief.

Human, abundance, joy, protection and long life: Astoria would lead a long and happy life— only, without her older sisters…

"Viviane believed her fate was never set in stone," Oleandra told herself firmly. "Greater Fairies are unmoored from fate, and besides, fate is what we make of it…"

No matter what, Oleandra was unwilling to let things end like this.