Power of the Inner Eye

The North Tower of Hogwarts Castle.

Above a small staircase in the Divination Classroom.

This is the office of the Divination Class professor at Hogwarts — Skylar is certain that this is absolutely the most shabby office in Hogwarts; there's nothing inside except a desk and a bed.

Professor Trelawney opened her wide eyes and said in her signature soft, indistinct voice, "Welcome to my office. You are—"

"Professor, hello, I am Skylar from the House of Malfoy, and I greet you here."

"Oh, Malfoy's second son? I've heard of you, uh... it seems you're not my student..." Professor Trelawney said with some doubt.

"Professor, it's like this. I'm currently facing some worldly difficulties, so I've come to seek your help. I hope you can help me find the answers through your Inner Eye and your vision," Skylar politely stated his request.

"Interesting," Professor Trelawney said calmly. "Why did you think of asking me for help?"

She continued, "Do you know that in my ten years of teaching, you are the first student to come to me seeking guidance!"

"I have heard of your great-great-grandmother's name; Cassandra Trelawney was undoubtedly a true Prophecy," Skylar said.

"But after her, no prophet has ever appeared in my family," Professor Trelawney said softly. "I know many people at the school think I'm a fraud. Do you still believe I can Prophecy?"

"Professor, why bother with the opinions of those fools in the secular world? Most wizards don't believe in Prophecy, especially those about bad news. Therefore, no one will believe in Prophecy until a real disaster strikes. That's human nature!"

Skylar continued, "As for me, Professor, I believe you understand Prophecy, but you cannot control your Prophecy abilities, nor can you use them at will..." Skylar's tone was full of confidence.

"Oh, interesting. And why do you think that?" Professor Trelawney's eyes gleamed with shrewdness. She had met countless people with her half-baked Divination without being exposed, and reading people's expressions was almost instinctive for her. She sensed in Skylar a depth and wisdom no less than Dumbledore's. Dealing with this kind of person, no tricks or deceptions would work; it was better to be direct and blunt.

"Professor Dumbledore may be old, but he's not senile. His decision to hire you as the Divination Class professor at Hogwarts clearly shows he believes you are qualified."

"Yes..." Professor Trelawney said to herself, "I admit that Dumbledore didn't like Divination at first either. He told me that Hogwarts was planning to open Divination Class and wanted to invite me to be the professor, but before that, Dumbledore wanted me to make a Prophecy for him."

"Although I don't remember the contents of that Prophecy anymore, shortly after that, probably after the fall of the Mysterious Man, I came to Hogwarts to become a Divination professor. At that time, the school didn't have Divination Class."

"It seems the Prophecy has come true," Skylar said softly.

"Getting back to the point, since you know I don't possess the ability to Prophecy, then why did you come to me...?"

Skylar pulled a vial of Potions from his robes. "This is Potions I specially concocted. It can permanently increase a person's Psyche, or to put it more simply, Sentience. The main ingredient is the extremely rare Tear of an Adult Thunderbird; even I only have one vial. For you Divination, it is even more precious, as it can enhance your vision."

Skylar wasn't exaggerating; the Thunderbird is indeed as rare as the Phoenix, and it's a protected species in North America. The Newt rescued in the Fantastic Beasts movies was one that had been smuggled to Egypt.

Trelawney's eyes flickered with various emotions. She was no fool; for Skylar to send such a precious Potions to her doorstep, he clearly had something more to do.

Although she was very tempted, she was used to a comfortable life. Although she was often looked down upon at school, she had no worries about food and clothing and no risks in her life. If she had any emotional problems because of this, it would be solved with a bottle of pear wine. If that didn't work, then two bottles would do.

She decided to get straight to the point. "What do you need me to do for you?"

Skylar smiled and said, "Professor, you are a smart man. Skylar won't ask for too much. Two things: First, I hope that you can perform ten Divination for me without violating your personal principles." Skylar's eyes suddenly sharpened, and his gaze was fixed on Trelawney's eyes.

"Secondly, I hope that you, Professor, can form an alliance with the House of Malfoy. You can continue to be a professor at Hogwarts, but as far as you can, you should lend a helping hand to the forces I represent. Of course, you won't be at a disadvantage. For each time you help, you can ask me for a Potions in exchange. How about it?"

Trelawney hesitated only briefly before agreeing.

Skylar offered very generous terms, and being on good terms with the powerful House of Malfoy was entirely beneficial to her at this moment. Although she was a professor, having more options meant having more choices!

Dumbledore isn't immortal. If one day she gets expelled by some clueless headmaster, at least she'll have somewhere to go.

["Ally" Sybill Trelawney wins!]

Skylar used his first Divination opportunity on Velda Griffith, a good test to let her see Trelawney's true strength!

Trelawney gulped down the entire bottle of Potions.

She closed her eyes, immersing herself in the surge of Psyche. A strange mark shimmering with blue light appeared on her forehead; it was the shape of an eye, but around the eye, numerous tendrils resembling plant roots densely covered her forehead.

"Is this the legendary Inner Eye?" Skylar thought to himself. It seemed he had made the right bet; Trelawney's bloodline power had indeed not disappointed him.

Divination talent is also graded, and the Inner Eye undoubtedly belongs to the top tier.

Suddenly, the crystal ball on Trelawney's desk burst into a dazzling light, projecting a remarkably realistic illusion, much like Muggle projector.

The vision showed a small room that looked like a warehouse, with no windows except for a door. Skylar could see Griffith sitting in a chair, her eyes covered by a black cloth, her hands bound behind her back with a strangely shaped rope, and her feet fixed to the chair legs.

There were two other men in the room. One was sitting in a chair, leisurely smoking a famous wizard cigar, while the other paced back and forth in the room with a very tense expression. The only thing they had in common was that they were both gripping their wands tightly in their hands.

In the image, Griffith's head is tilted to the side, as if he has fallen into a coma. If he shows even the slightest sign of waking up, he will be hit with a Stunning Spell again.

"That's amazing," Skylar exclaimed. "Professor, could you please project your Inner Eye a little further away so I can see what the outside of this room looks like...?"

The image began to ripple, as if the illusion was unstable. Just as the image started to blur, Trelawney's Inner Eye lit up again, and the entire image slowly rose. The people and objects in the image gradually became smaller, Skylar saw the shape of the building where the room was located.

The building looked like any ordinary small warehouse in the Muggle world, but that didn't fool Skylar. It was definitely the work of a wizard; the entire warehouse emanated an invisible magical aura, likely due to Muggle-Repelling Charm.

Based on the angle of sunlight and shadow, the building is located in northern England. Combined with clues from other nearby buildings and scenery, the search area has been narrowed down to about a dozen locations.

That's enough. Give these clues to Scrimgeour, and the rest is up to the Auror.

He had done enough, gaining favors from Devril and Slughorn, allowing Scrimgeour to claim the credit, and testing Trelawney's strength—a four-birds-with-one-stone achievement!

Skylar was very satisfied with Trelawney's demonstrated Divination skills.

He then made a second request for Divination, not for Meredith, but for Madam Zabini!

Divination is not omnipotent. If Meredith's current location is protected by the Fidelius Charm, then even knowing the location would be useless; he would simply be unable to enter, just like he was at Shafiq home last time.

The reason Schelling chose Madam Zabini as the subject of his Divination was because Skylar suspected she was the female member who appeared that day Shadow of the Magic Dragon!

Professor Trelawney rested for a while, as she had not yet fully adapted to her complete bloodline talent, so the Divination she had just performed had taken a toll on her mental energy.

She entered a meditative state again, and with the experience from last time, her Inner Eye was activated more quickly, and the lines on her forehead were much clearer than before.

The vision showed two long wooden boxes resembling coffins, carved with many Ancient Runic Magic Symbols. Skylar deduced that these were used to isolate the contents of the coffins from external influences, thus better preserving their contents.

Then, the scene flashed and shifted to an altar—the same two coffins were placed on the altar, but this time the coffins faintly emitted magical fluctuations that Skylar was very familiar with.

This is soul magic! A very bad premonition arose in Skylar's heart. What exactly did they want to do?

Soon, two figures walked onto the altar. One was Madam Zabini, and the other, though a complete stranger to Skylar, he recognized her immediately—it was Lady Selwyn!

Mrs. Madam Zabini and Lady Selwyn were whispering something there, but because the image was somewhat blurry and Trelawney's illusion magic wasn't enough to project sound, Skylar couldn't guess what they were saying.

Wait a minute? This character relationship diagram seems a bit messy... The House of Selwyn is clearly a Pure-blood families faction, and Mr. Selwyn is even a Death Eaters! Although there have been some conflicts between the House of Selwyn and House of Malfoy, they are ultimately a matter of the distribution of benefits, and there is no conflict between the two sides in terms of ideology.

What's with Lady Selwyn and the Shadow of the Magic Dragon getting together now?

Is this the biggest secret of the House of Selwyn? Or is it actually Lady Selwyn's personal secret, unknown to the family?

Just then, Professor Trelawney let out a soft cry, and the entire screen shuddered, spiderweb-like cracks appeared, and finally shattered into pieces, turning into specks of starlight and dissipating.

Professor Trelawney appeared to have overexerted himself with his spells and had fallen into a deep sleep.

Skylar pondered for a long time, left a note, and turned to leave.