Having the power to glimpse into the future may be considered a gift by many. But only those who possess this ability truly understand that it is far from being a blessing.

Rather, it often feels like an irrevocable curse.

My ability to see into the future takes the form of highly realistic visions. It drains me out physically and mentally as mostly the things I envision are unfortunate events having a heavy impact on my life.

I don't recall always being able to have these visions. I remember it got too much ever since I joined Hogwarts and got introduced to the wizarding world.

Since then these visions have been frequent, and if I could, I would do anything not to have that power as all it has brought me is sorrow, guilt, and the sense of being helpless.

The last vision I had was in my seventh year in which I saw Sirius Black's death.

It was the worst one to date as it took me months to recover from the distress it put me in. The sorrow of his death and the guilt of seeing it beforehand but not being able to stop it harrowed me much worse than anything I've experienced before.

Sirius... Well, I'd rather not talk about it anymore.

I heard a knock on my bedroom door so I left the journal I was writing in, hiding it under my pillow.

"Come in," I called, expecting to see the twins.

But then Fred and George never knock before entering, they barge right in. Apart from them, there was only one person who would come up to the attic to find me considering Perce is still living at his apartment.

The door opened revealing Ginny with her red hair tied up in a bun and her hands clasped tightly together.

"I didn't disturb you, right?" She asked nervously and that made me think there must be something she wanted to talk about but was hesitant to do so.

"Of course not. Come inside and close the door behind you."

I noticed she was cautiously observing me as it had become her habit to always judge how I was feeling before speaking up. Back in the days when I wasn't talking at all, she wouldn't hesitate to speak up and fill in the silence. But now that I was recovering, she was starting to get more cautious as if worried that anything she might say would push me to that state again.

Ginny cares about me. I know that very well now. It's just that we've never really talked about it openly.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, initiating the conversation that once.

"Yeah, um, I was going to ask you that but..." Her voice trailed off and she was fidgeting with her hands again, "actually I... I wanted to apologize."

Apologize?

"What for?"

The surprise must have been very evident on my face.

"I never really got to say this earlier because you were... You were going through a lot yourself and I didn't want to add to the burden," her eyes shifted hesitantly as she resumed, "but I'm sorry for the way I treated you earlier... I mean when I was rude to you and told you to stay away from us. I... I'm really sorry about that."

Oh I see.

"You always tried to be nice to me and I couldn't see it. And by the time I realized that I felt so awful because you had stopped talking to everyone and it made me think it was my fault... I just..."

It all felt too relatable at the moment and I instantly felt the urge to hug her and reassure her not to hear that guilt.

"Ginny, it was never your fault," I gathered her in a tight hug because seeing her eyes fill up with tears hurt me, "I was struck with so much all of a sudden, I just didn't know how to react to it so I just shut everything and everyone out. But you've been so supportive and helpful to me in that dreadful time. It made me forget any hard feelings that were between us earlier."

"Really? You forgive me then?"

"Of course. You're my sister, why would I not?"

She held onto me and after a long time, I felt somewhat relieved. I had always wanted to have a better relationship with Ginny even though we had gotten off to a rough start with each other.

Seeing that wish come true felt incredibly relieving.

"Thank you so much, Kat," she smiled as we pulled apart, "you're the best."

I patted her head gently before letting go, "it's alright. Don't worry about everything so much, okay? You can talk to me about anything without any hesitation."

She agreed to that and stayed for a while in my room. The new term at Hogwarts was starting soon so she had a lot to talk about her subjects, the pressure of the OWL exams, and the anticipation of whether she would get chosen as a house prefect too or not.

I appreciated her company because all that chatter helped keep me distracted from things that were troubling me earlier.

Then of course there was all the gloominess about the Dark Lord's return as after what happened in the department of mysteries, the Ministry had to accept the truth too. We talked through that as well.

By the time she left, Mum was calling us down for dinner. So I told Ginny I'd be downstairs in a minute and decided to freshen up first.

However just as I was about to step out, my head started to hurt and darkness clouded my vision.

Those were the very clear signs of an oncoming vision.

I tried to make it stop by focusing on other things because I truly wasn't ready to face another potentially horrible glimpse of my future.

But it didn't work. It never did.

The darkness didn't fade and a short while later, it seemed as if I had been transported to a long dark corridor with a very distant light at the far end of the tunnel.

It was eerily dark and foggy in the tunnel and I didn't know where it was or where it led to. It seemed never-ending.

I was just hoping for that vision to end when a very familiar voice shook me in alarm.

"Kat, it's been so long... But what are you doing here?"

Dark shoulder-length hair, stormy grey eyes, and very familiar features materialized in front of me, making my breath hitch in my throat from either shock or disbelief.

"Sirius?"

But as soon as I said his name, he vanished.

The tunnel, the darkness, the fog... It was all gone.

The vision had ended and I was back in my room, shocked at what I had just seen and confused about what could be the meaning behind it.

***