บท 263: A Fairy's True Nature
Oleandra fanned herself while stifling a yawn, and allowed her thoughts to drift. If there was one class more pointless than History of Magic, then it definitely was Professor Trelawney's Divination class. Oleandra already had three elective classes, so she was seriously considering dropping Divination, no matter what Trelawney or Dumbledore said.
She could already fairly accurately determine the probabilities of certain events occurring within a given time period by casting her runestones, so she found it pointless to learn other forms of Divination. She might as well switch to Arithmancy, but that class sounded like a chore; and since she had never taken the class before, she'd have to take remedial classes during summer to catch up to two years' worth of material.
Suddenly, the lamps went out and the class went dark, startling Oleandra. She took a look around the class to get her bearings; the fireplace was still quietly crackling, casting jumping shadows around the room. To her right, a lone beam of light originating from a small window bathed Harry's face in a warm glow.
"What did I miss?" she whispered to Tracey. "I zoned out for a moment."
"Nothing much," Tracey whispered back. "We're still doing planet stuff."
Professor Trelawney produced a glowing snow globe containing a miniature model of the solar system from under her chair. It was a very pretty little thing, and Oleandra was suddenly possessed by a burning desire to obtain it for herself. It would look very nice on her nightstand next to her bed, and nobody would ever know she had been the one to take it…
A series of low moans suddenly shook Oleandra out of her daydream. She looked towards the source of the noises, and found that they originated from Harry, one table over. Next to him, Ron was looking unsure of what to do— should he wake him to let him know he was making embarrassing sounds, or let him catch up on lost sleep?
His moans were growing louder; Oleandra watched out of the corner of her eye as Harry began clawing at his forehead, at his scar— and now he was screaming— he had fallen from his pouf and was now writhing on the floor in what seemed like agony…
This was some nightmare he was having, but Ron seemed to have things in hand.
"Harry! Harry!"
Ron was now kneeling at Harry's side, desperately trying to shake him awake. Professor Trelawney had carefully stored the snow globe back in its place, and was now gliding towards the two boys like a raptor who had caught sight of its prey…
"You all right?" Ron worriedly asked Harry.
"Of course he isn't!" said Professor Trelawney, looking thoroughly excited. "What was it, Potter? A premonition? An apparition? What did you see?"
"Nothing," Harry replied.
Liar, Oleandra's eyes told her.
"He's definitely seen something, but what?" Oleandra whispered to Viviane, taking care to cover her mouth with her hand. "Could he really have seen the future?"
"It's not impossible," Viviane replied. "Any person with a connection to magic can experience such things— it's not limited to True Seers. But such visions are exceedingly rare. More likely than not, he simply had a nightmare."
Harry then excused himself from class, claiming to have a headache. Oleandra had no idea what Harry had dreamt, but whatever it was that it foretold, it was likely nothing good.
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"I believe we're long overdue for a lesson on Fairy magic," Viviane announced when Divination class ended. "So far, I've taught you a great many things; healing magic to keep you alive, purification magic to keep you whole; and I've also taught you a bit about the powers unique to the Lady of the Lake."
"You mean not all Greater Fairies can do the lake stuff?" Oleandra asked in surprise. "I thought it was a title that humans— I mean, a title that people gave you once they saw what you were capable of."
"Not all Greater Fairies possess Authorities, Oleandra," Viviane explained. "It's a very rare gift; which is why the Fairy Queen chose Anna and me for the task of saving Avalon, among all the other Fairies."
"Which Authority did Morgan le Fay possess, then?" Oleandra asked curiously.
"The Authority of Variance," Viviane replied. Seeing question marks popping up above Oleandra's head, she added, "she is innately able to amplify or minimize any dissonances, discrepancies, or differences."
Oleandra cocked her head in confusion. How was that of any help?
"Because of this Authority, my sister and her previous incarnations have always been the most— how to put this— humanlike, of all the Fae folk— in general, our kind is extremely capricious; our moods change as easily as the weather; but Anna always knew exactly what she wanted," Viviane said wistfully. "You see, the very essence of a Fairy is contradictory; we cannot speak falsehoods, but our nature pushes us to trick and to mislead. And the woman known as Morgan le Fay was very good at this— using her Authority, she could minimize the gap between perception and reality, causing her Illusions to literally come to life, almost like Conjuration. She could also exaggerate perceived slights; creating conflicts among humans was as easy as breathing for her."
"She's not going to come looking for us for revenge, is she?" Oleandra asked worriedly.
"She hasn't come after our incarnations since the last time she killed one of us, if that's what you mean," Viviane reassured her. "But remember, each Fairy's subsequent incarnation is a completely different person; the person she is now likely has no grudge against you personally, so there is no reason for her to come after you."
"Have you considered that the reason why our incarnations were never attacked is because our powers were sealed by Merlin?" Oleandra pointed out. "There are billions of humans; maybe she could never figure out which one among them was us."
"Oh," said Viviane glumly. "I hadn't thought about that. Now, where was I?"
"Fairy magic," Oleandra said. "You were about to teach it to me."
"You ask too many questions," Viviane sighed. "At this rate, this will take the entire night…"
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