Precise Prophecy

Regulus, following Wickham's advice, relaxed his attention and continued looking at the Crystal Ball in front of him.

After looking for a long time, all I could see were the table and the Crystal Ball.

Following the steps in the textbook, Alex focused his gaze on the depths of the sphere, closing his eyes to rest every now and then, then opening them again, repeating this several times.

Avery rubbed his eyes, looked at his own ball, and then leaned over to look at the one in front of Alex.

Hermes propped his face up, his eyelids drooping, his chin sinking into his chest; he was almost falling asleep.

Regulus paid attention to his mental changes, suppressing his senses and leaving only normal vision. He even relaxed his Legilimency as much as possible, waiting for the Crystal Ball to give him a reaction.

After waiting for a while, nothing happened.

Wickham walked past the table, stood behind a student for a moment, and then continued on his way.

Suddenly, Lina low gasp came from the side. "Alex."

She turned her head, her eyes widening. "Was there something inside just now?"

Alex immediately followed her gaze and saw that Lina had turned back to the Crystal Ball, leaning forward and looking around.

After staring at it for a while, she pointed to the inside of the sphere, her tone hesitant. "Red, a piece of sealing wax? It fell on a stone and broke in two."

The image was very short, and it was impossible to even see who was holding it. She was looking at the lights inside the ball when a red light flashed by, but after looking closer, she couldn't find it anymore.

Lina looked at the table, then at the ball, her brow furrowing. She wasn't sure if she was seeing things, or if there was a reflection of light in the ball.

Alex glanced at the lamp and curtains, then turned the base, and the light on the spherical surface moved accordingly.

He asked Lina, "Was the reflection inside or outside just now?"

"It should be inside?" Lina's tone was uncertain. "Maybe."

Hearing the noise, Avery poked his head over. "You really saw it?"

Lina nodded, then shook her head, and said to Avery, her tone becoming more restrained, "Just now, I'm not sure what I actually saw."

Avery tried to move closer, but Wickham had already reached the table.

After listening to Lina's words, she first looked at the Crystal Ball: "Remember what you saw. Don't rush to explain. Tell me again if it happens again."

Lina nodded.

Wickham continued walking forward, then immediately looked back into the Crystal Ball, her face showing a mixture of excitement and anxiety. The more she tried to see clearly, the less she could find anything.

Regulus's gaze shifted from Lina's face to the ball in front of her; he had been so engrossed in his own attempt that he had missed the moment she saw it.

Now, when you look at it, it's just ordinary Crystal, with textures and cracks, nothing more.

Lina noticed Regulus looking at her, opened her mouth as if to explain, but then swallowed her words and simply shook her head at Regulus.

Regulus nodded at her and looked away.

The other side of the classroom had become lively. Wickham was standing next to a Gryffindor boy, Pruitt, a third-year student.

He held the ball with both hands, his eyes shining brightly, and several students around him turned to look at him.

He spoke with great enthusiasm, as if afraid the people nearby wouldn't hear him. "I really saw a white horse, running incredibly fast, and behind it was a Castle. Someone came out of the Castle, carrying something that might have been a sword."

Gareth Diggory, listening intently, asked, "And then?"

Pruitt stopped; he hadn't gotten to "what happened next" yet.

He lowered his head and searched again. "Then the horse ran past, and I think I was the one riding it."

Someone nearby burst out laughing.

Wickham listened without showing any expression, only saying, "Keep watching, and we'll talk when we figure it out."

Pruitt paused for a moment, wanting to continue, but the professor had already moved on to the next table.

He awkwardly shut his mouth and gave Colin Macmillan a knowing smile—a smile that's only so-so for a professor.

Regulus looked away.

The fabrication was poorly done, obviously fake. On the contrary, Lina's story—the wax seal was broken in two, her tone was hesitant, and the details were incomplete—made it seem more authentic.

For Prophecy to be spoken, someone must hear it; this brings us back to the question about the audience.

Regulus thought of something that hadn't happened yet.

According to predetermined fate, one day in the future, Sybill Trelawney will utter a Prophecy about Voldemort and a child.

Snape stood outside the door, overheard part of it, and then relayed the message to Voldemort.

Voldemort believed that the Prophecy mentioned someone who could threaten him, so he began looking for children who met the criteria. In the end, he chose one and went to kill him himself.

It was this choice that truly turned that child into his enemy, and also led Voldemort to a near-destructive defeat.

But the most interesting person in this whole affair has to be Snape.

The Prophecy speaks of Voldemort and a child, without mentioning Snape. However, from Trelawney's opening remarks to Voldemort actually searching for the child, the whole story is connected by Snape.

He heard it, relayed it, Voldemort thus knew, and took further action, and several things were thus connected.

If Snape hadn't been outside the door, or if he had overheard but hadn't told Voldemort, Voldemort would never have known that someone had made a Prophecy about him.

It's hard to say whether things will continue in the same direction.

Maybe someone else will hear it, maybe Voldemort will find out from somewhere else, or maybe nothing will happen.

It's impossible to verify now, but at least in the version Regulus knew, Snape's position was crucial, yet his name was never mentioned in the Prophecy.

The Prophecy doesn't mention the audience, but they may have already been part of the whole affair.

When the Divination teller spoke, did he only speak of the child's future, or did he also foreshadow who was eavesdropping outside the door and where they would relay the information?

Thinking along these lines, the Prophecy may have foreseen even the audience's reactions, and what happened later was exactly what it had predicted.

But from another perspective, could the Prophecy itself also be influencing events?

Trelawney spoke just when Snape could hear her, and he was able to relay the message to Voldemort.

Did the Prophecy happen to find the right audience, or did the Prophecy only come to pass when the right audience arrived?

Trelawney herself probably had no idea of the difference.

Thinking deeper, spoken Prophecy might allow a previously only possible outcome to gradually gain the upper hand.

The people who were meant to meet met, and the words that were meant to be spread were spread. Everyone had their own reasons, but the choices they made all led them closer to the same result.

If this continues, the Divination's words might contain some kind of Magic that Regulus himself cannot comprehend.

When Divination utters a metaphor, they may also encounter forces that drive things to happen. The Divination may not have the ability to manipulate everyone; what truly matters may be the Prophecy itself.

But based on what he knew about the matter, both explanations made sense.

Snape was willing to relay the message, Voldemort was willing to believe that their own choices were sufficient to get things done.

Adding another layer of Magic intervention, yet no evidence has been found to support it.

There's an even more complicated issue: what if the key person changes their mind?

Snape, halfway there, decided the Prophecy was nonsense and there was no need to tell Voldemort, so he turned back. Did that break the Prophecy?

Or will someone else fill this position?

What would happen if Voldemort, knowing about the Prophecy, didn't believe it and simply tossed the message aside?

How much change can a Prophecy withstand?

Regulus reached out and straightened the crooked textbook. The Crystal Ball was still the Crystal Ball, but the more he looked, the more questions he encountered.

Avery had given up on trying to figure out the Crystal Ball. After all that effort, his eyes and brain were sore, and he couldn't see anything. It wasn't as interesting as tea.

Looking up again, I saw Regulus still sitting there, his gray eyes fixed intently on the ball, occasionally glancing at his textbook.

Avery suddenly felt a little amused. Regulus could do anything, but he was terrible at Divination. From tea drinking to Crystal Ball, he couldn't even utter a single good or bad omen.

He's an amateur; he has absolutely no potential to be a Divination teller.

He chuckled more and more as he thought about it, then leaned closer, grinning, and asked, "Regulus, what exactly did you figure out?"

Regulus glanced at him. "Not yet."

Avery was delighted to look through Alex as well. "I've been writing this all the way up to after graduation, why haven't you made a move yet?"

He then looked at the ball in front of Regulus, and said with great interest, "You say one too, just say one."

Alex gave him a helpless look.

He finally admitted it: his time as director, his wealth, and his encounter with enemies were all made up on the spot.

This guy was probably too excited today; he was probably overjoyed to be able to whisper to each other freely during class.

Lina looked up from in front of her ball, and Samuel stopped flipping through his book. Everyone waited for Regulus to speak.

Hermes propped his face up with his hand, his gaze drifting over as well.

Of all the people, he was the one who knew best how powerful Regulus was; having been beaten so many times, his experience was naturally quite extensive.

If Regulus had actually told Hermes that it would rain the next day, Hermes' first reaction would probably have been to look for an umbrella.

Regulus looked at Avery's expectant expression and wondered, "If something I say just happens to come true, what does that prove?"

Divination know in advance what will happen in the future and can predict it accurately.

If you are familiar with a person's temperament, you can guess how they will handle things, and you can usually be right.

There's an even easier way: the person who speaks should do the work anyway. Just give them a heads-up beforehand, and they can do whatever they want.

Others only saw what he said, and what happened later, but they might not be able to see the difference.

If he fabricates a lie and then uses his own abilities to make it seem true, would that be considered Prophecy?

It shouldn't be called that; that's called an arrangement or a plan. To take it a step further, it could be called a threat.

He was still unsure whether the true Prophecy would also bring about the outcome in some unseen way.

Pre-knowledge and pre-planning may both lead to the same result; simply stating the fact that something happened does not prove what actually occurred.

Wickham returned to the lectern. "That's all for today. Put the ball down and pack your things."

The curtains were parted to the sides, and the pale morning light returned to the classroom, causing the spherical lamps to dim.

Raindrops still clung to the glass, but the rain outside had stopped, and the distant hillsides looked fresh and bright after being washed.

The sound of things being packed up quickly filled the classroom.

Avery was still waiting. Regulus glanced at him, then at the faces around him.

It would be fine to tell them one; there's a guaranteed result right now.

His grey eyes swept over the five men one by one, and he said casually, "You're all going to get a beating tonight."

Avery's smile was still on his face, but his mouth was already open. "You call this..."

He was halfway through his sentence when his gaze met Regulus's eyes, and he swallowed the rest of his words, his smugness turning into embarrassment.

Alex was putting away his textbooks when he finished listening. He glanced at Avery and smiled helplessly.

Lina, who had been joining in the fun, now kept her mouth shut and turned her eyes to Avery.

Samuel twitched the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

Across from him, Hermes ' eyelids twitched, his drowsiness vanished, and he opened his eyes, his brows furrowing.

He looked first at Regulus, then at Avery, his face etched with the gloom of being implicated.

The way others get beaten up is completely different from the way he gets beaten up.

Why are you reminding him?

Avery saw his sour face and wanted to laugh, but then he remembered he might be in trouble that night, so he held back his laughter.

Hermes turned his head and stared at Regulus's back, his eyelids twitching again.