Vidalia's eyes fluttered open and she was greeted by nothing but darkness. Her head was pounding and she groaned as she sat up.

"Miss Strange," a voice said, quickly grabbing her attention. Vidalia turned to see a teacher she didn't recognize. She was dressed in weird clothes, almost as though she herself were a second-hand store. She wore several necklaces, some of them beaded, others with seashells. Her eyes were a marvelous shade of purple, almost like she had put a spell on her irises.

"What happened? Who are you?" Vidalia asked. The last thing she remembered was sitting at lunch with her friends. Had she fainted? She'd felt fine all morning.

"Be calm, child," the Professor said. "I'm Irene Finkley. I teach Divination to third years and up."

"Divination?" Vidalia muttered. Why would the Divination Professor be sitting with her instead of McGonagall or even Dumbledore?

"I see you have a gift, Vidalia."

Vidalia frowned. "Yeah I'm a seer, I guess."

"Vidalia, you have been repressing your gift, haven't you? You haven't been letting your talents shine."

"Why would I do that? I'll only be ridiculed for being weird," Vidalia said. Her eyebrows were furrowed and she had to swipe her thick curls away from her face.

"People don't ridicule you because you're weird. They do so because they don't understand. See, you and I, we are unique women with powers no one else can imagine. People don't take us seriously because predicting the future is a very tricky thing. It's easy for situations to go in any direction, depending on who is involved, who intervenes, who doesn't do a thing."

"But I've never made a prediction greater than the weather. And I've only ever made predictions while I've been studying the moon."

"Astrological Seers are rare, even considering that Seers of any kind are rare. I think you have a great lunar connection, much like centaurs use constellations.

"You did make a prediction today. And that prediction is now a prophecy, sitting in its home at the Ministry of Magic."

"But I don't remember—" Vidalia thought back to her last memory before she passed out. Everything was fine. Now, nothing would be fine. "Everyone knows."

"We can not control these things, Vidalia. They happen when they happen." Professor Finkley went quiet for a moment, letting Vidalia wrap her wee brain around everything. This child was far more powerful than she had ever imagined. Vidalia did not give herself enough credit when it came to this gift of hers. "Vidalia, I have spoken with Professor Dumbledore. The rule at Hogwarts is that you are not to take Divination before your third year, as it is an elective class. But, given the circumstances, we have decided that it would be beneficial to enroll you in a Divination class next fall so you can learn and understand your gift."

Finkley kept calling this curse a gift. Why was it a gift? Vidalia didn't feel special. She felt out of place, like she didn't belong. Now that all of Hogwarts knew, she'd be the laughing stock. She'd stick out like a sore thumb. At least she had Sirius. But the other boys? And Marlene? What would they think? They wouldn't possibly want to be friends with a freak like her.

Vidalia wished she could go back to when she was a kid, when she didn't care what anyone thought. But she'd never had friends then. I wished she could give her power to someone else, someone who would be grateful to have it.

"In the meantime," Professor Finkley said, grabbing the young girl's attention once more, "I have arranged for you to take personal lessons with me to try and tame your Eye. While we can't repress it, we can make it so that your prophecy-telling won't make you faint again."

"But I don't want to make any more prophecies," Vidalia cried. "I want to be normal."

"Child," Irene Finkley whispered. She pressed a hand to the side of Vidalia's face. Instantly, Vidalia felt relaxed, and like she could fall asleep. "Sleep, child."

Vidalia fell gently back onto the hospital bed, her long eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks. Vidalia's dark skin glowed with a silvery sort of halo and she was soon fast asleep.

Professor Finkley left her new student's side and exited the hospital wing.

As the door creeped shut, she heard a crash, followed quickly by utter silence.

"I know you're here," Professor Finkley said. "Peeves, if you're tossing rubbish bins around again—"

"Not me, Professor, but thanks for the idea!" A voice cackled and Peeves the Poltergeist came barreling through the ceiling and flew down the hall toward an empty classroom.

Professor Finkley frowned. "Who's really here?"

She heard a faint whispering.

Finkley pointed her wand into the darkest corner of the corridor. "Revelio," she said. There was a whoosh and a silvery bit of fabric went flying through the air, exposing four young Gryffindor boys huddled together. How they'd all managed to hide under that Invisibility Cloak, Finkley had no idea.

"Care to explain why you're wandering about the castle after hours?" Finkley crossed her arms over her chest, which was covered by a dark green knitted shawl.

"I told you you were being too loud," Sirius hissed to James.

"Me? It wasn't my fault! Peter was the one I kept tripping over!" James argued.

"I don't care who was making noise. You four had better explain yourselves before I waltz you all into Professor Dumbledore's office."

Remus shoved James and Sirius our of his way. "Professor, we only wanted to come see Vidalia. Madam Pomphrey wouldn't let us see her earlier. I know it was wrong of us to sneak out, but we were worried. She's our friend."

Professor Finkley couldn't help but smile. After all the worrying Vidalia had done about losing her friends, this would have meant a lot to her. Nonetheless, Finkley had to turn them away.

"For your information, Miss Strange is okay. You may visit her tomorrow." The boys' faces fell. "On the bright side, if you hurry back to your dorms right away, I will not tell a soul I caught you out of bed."

"Yes, Professor, thank you," said Remus before the other two could protest.

"Mr. Potter," Finkley said.

"Yes?" James grumbled, turning back to the old Professor.

"Keep that cloak safe. You may really need it."

James smiled a little before picking up his cloak and tucking it safely under his jumper. The four boys turned back toward Gryffindor tower, careful not to crash into any more suits of armor.

*

The next morning, Vidalia woke up to bright sunshine filling the hospital wing. She was feeling much better, albeit a little stiff from the hospital bed.

"Good morning, Strange," said Madam Pomphrey, who was tending to a fifth year boy who was wearing a boot on his foot. He was grumbling lowly about something. "Quit your whining. You'll be able to play Quidditch again next semester."

Once Madam Pomphrey was done with the Quidditch player, she turned to Vidalia. "I think you're ready to be discharged. You look healthy as a plum. You didn't suffer any injuries when you fell."

"I feel better," Vidalia said. While she felt physically fine, she was worried about returning back to class, back to the common room.

"You've been excused from your morning classes, but you're to return to your regular schedule after lunch. And, you're to report to Professor Finkley after dinner tonight," said Pomphrey, who was now flicking her wand at several beds to make them up.

Vidalia clambered off her bed and smoothed out the sheets. She flattened her robes, then slipped her shoes on.

"Thank you, Madam Pomphrey," Vidalia said. Pomphrey sent a smile to Vidalia before turning back to the other student, who was still griping about his injury.

"Morris, you're not to play Quidditch until your foot is healed and that's final. If I hear you complain again I'll make you clean bed pans."

Vidalia quickly left the hospital wing and made her way slowly toward Gryffindor Tower. She climbed up all the fights of stairs until she was met by the Fat Lady.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked, sounding as though she were bored.

"Er," Vidalia said. She hoped they hadn't changed the password yet. "Toadstool."

She sighed as the Fat Lady swung open, allowing Vidalia access to the common room. Vidalia steppes theough the portrait hole and, to her relief, found the entire room to be empty.

"Thank Merlin," she mumbled. She made her way up to the girls' dorm to gather some clean clothes and her toiletries for a shower. Her luck seemed to diminish, however, as she walked into the dorm, which wasn't empty.

Lily Evans sat on her four-poster bed, glaring out the window. Vidalia had never thought of Lily skipping class. When Lily looked up, she looked relieved.

"Hi," she said, her face looking less angry.

"Hello," Vidalia replied.

"How are you?"

"I'm okay."

The awkwardness between the two of them was so thick, Vidalia was starting to feel anxious. Vidalia wasn't sure what to say to Lily. Lily was nice enough, but they weren't friends. Now that the whole school knew, she figured she'd get bullied a lot more. But Lily didn't seem to be that type.

"Um, I've been feeding Spur for you," Lily piped, as Vidalia began going through her things. Vidalia's heart dropped. She'd been so focused on herself she'd completely forgotten about him.

As if on cue, Spur poked his out out from behind Lily's bright red hair.

"Oh my gosh," Vidalia said, walking toward Spur. Upon seeing Vidalia, he frowned and folded his arms. "Oh, Spur, don't look at me like that. It wasn't my fault, I was in the hospital wing."

Lily gently removes the Bowtruckle from her shoulder and passed him over to Vidalia. Spur stuck out his tongue.

"Please, buddy? I'm really sorry. I'll have Mum make you a whole buffet of bugs for Christmas dinner. We leave in just a few days."

This seemed to satisfy him a little, because he climbed up Vidalia's arm and settled on top of the massive pile of curls.

"Great, now how am I going to shower?" Vidalia grumbled.

"He's very picky about people," Lily said. "Quite a funny little guy."

"He seems to like you. Thanks for taking care of him for me," Vidalia smiled genuinely at Lily. "I've never been away from him for this long."

"It was no problem. He let me vent to him so it was only fair I feed him and let him sit in my robe pocket."

"Yeah, he does love pockets." Vidalia gently removed Spur from her hair and set him down on her pillow. "I'll be right back, I promise."

"Hey, Vidalia?" Lily called as Vidalia began to leave. 'Dalia turned back to her classmate. "Just so you know, I'll always be here if you need an extra friend." Lily didn't say anything about Vidali being a Seer, but assumed that's what she was referring to. Either way, she appreciated Lily's kind gesture.

That's all Lily was: kind.

"Thank you," Vidalia said. "I'd love more girl friends."

Lily smiled. "Well, I should get to my next class. I think I've skipped enough today." Lily gathered up her school bag and left the dorm and Vidalia was on her own with Spur.

With no one else to distract her, Vidalia picked up her clean things and went off to the showers.

*
After spending the whole lunch period in solitude, Vidalia was really dreading returning to class. She had Professor Binns this hour. She took her time getting to class, but still managed to be early. She was grateful that not a lot of people were there yet, and those that were, were seemingly half asleep and paid her no attention.

Vidalia found an empty seat at the back of the room and sat down. Bits of her hair fell into her face, but she didn't bother pushing them out of her way. As long as she didn't have to make eye contact with anyone, she thought she'd be okay.

She busied herself with doodling in her notes while the History room slowly filled with other students. Her heart sank as she felt two seats either side of her be taken. She didn't want to look up for fear that someone would start harassing her. She kept her head low.

"You can't avoid us forever," James' voice said, sounding accusatory. She peaked up through her hair. James and Peter were sat on her left side. She assumed Sirius and Remus were on the right.

"I told you none of us would judge you," came Sirius' voice, confirming her suspicions. Marlene and Lily took a seat in front of Vidalia and both of them turned.

"We're your friends," said Marlene, looking happy to see Vidalia.

Vidalia couldn't help but smile. Then she frowned. "I was just worried you guys wouldn't want to be a friend with..."

"A weirdo?" said James giddily. "Why wouldn't we? We're all pretty weird aren't we?"

Vidalia smiled. "Yeah. I guess you are pretty weird, James," she teased. Lily giggled before turning around.

"It's nice to have you back," said Sirius. "We missed your snide comments."

She smirked. For the first time in days, she felt happy. Genuinely happy.