Glimpses of the "Future"

Seeing this, Nick Fury said helplessly:

"Miss Potts, we don't want to do this either, but if you want to find Stark, I suggest you listen to us."

You wouldn't want Stark to be... Hermione silently added.

With a light flick of her wand, she lifted the Full Body-Bind Curse. Pepper could move again, but she stumbled and nearly fell.

She paid no attention to that minor detail. Instead, she hurried over to Hermione, crouched down, and gripped her arms, hope shining in her eyes.

"Child... no, Miss Wizard, you have a way to find Tony, don't you?"

Pepper had accepted it remarkably quickly.

Hermione nodded slowly. "Pretty lady, just stand here and don't move."

Pepper nodded over and over like a chick pecking at grain.

The others looked at Hermione, only to discover that she had already closed her eyes. Her wand pointed toward the sky, tracing gentle circles as she muttered some incomprehensible incantation.

"Bala bala, Makka Pakka, bakka bakka, Makka Pakka, Gunala, God of Darkness..."

Multicolored light filled the room, and a starry cosmos appeared across the ceiling.

The mysterious atmosphere and sense of ceremony made them nervous too. They watched intently, afraid of missing any change.

A minute later, Hermione opened her eyes and looked at Pepper.

"Done."

"Huh? That's it?" All four of them were bewildered.

They had expected some strange images to appear, but it was already over, and nothing had happened.

"But... there's nothing in it." Pepper pointed at the crystal ball, unable to keep herself from asking.

Wasn't she supposed to perform some elaborate ritual, followed by images slowly appearing in the crystal ball, just as they had imagined?

Hermione saw through their thoughts at once and rolled her eyes dramatically.

"I'm the one casting the Prophecy Spell, not the crystal ball. I'm the one seeing the future, so of course it's in my head. How could it possibly have any images?"

They all fell silent.

What now? That made so much sense they couldn't even argue.

"Then this thing..."

Hermione looked exasperated. "How are you going to see the images inside my head? Obviously, I need a way to let you see them too!"

"So you need a crystal ball because only it can withstand your magic and display what you saw!"

Natasha was even jumping in with answers now.

"...No, a television would work too, actually. I just thought a crystal ball looked cooler."

Hermione lowered her head and pressed her index fingers together, scuffing her toe back and forth across the floor, looking rather embarrassed.

Black Egghead: "..."

Natasha: "..."

Coulson: "..."

Pepper: "..."

"So the crystal ball had to be perfectly clear and flawless because..."

"Um... because it looks nice."

As though afraid Fury might change his mind, Hermione immediately hugged the crystal ball. "I don't care. It's mine now."

So I was conned into funding this? Fury's expression froze.

In all his years as director of S.H.I.E.L.D., he had always been the one conning funding out of others. This was the first time someone had conned money out of him.

Stay calm, stay calm... Nick Fury took a deep breath, forcing down the anguish of having wasted money on an outrageously expensive ornament and silently reminding himself that she was only a child.

"Hehehe..." Hermione stroked the crystal ball, apparently quite fond of it.

Black Egghead's expression grew darker and darker.

"Hang on. Let me pull what I saw out of my head first."

Hermione knew when to quit. She pointed her wand at her temple and slowly drew out several glowing strands, then guided them toward the crystal ball.

Like willow fluff drifting through the air, the strands of light settled on the crystal ball's surface and melted straight into it.

A moment later, the crystal ball lit up like a phone powering on.

Images appeared one after another.

Seeing that all the images were about her, Pepper couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed, even though there was no sound. It felt as if her private life were being exposed in front of everyone.

Most importantly, she was certain she had never experienced any of this.

The Prophecy Spell... was this what would happen in the future?

The others watched the scene that defied their understanding, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Tony! I see Tony!"

Suddenly, Pepper cried out.

Everyone immediately focused.

In one of the images, Pepper stood at an airport in a white women's suit, looking anxious, as though waiting for someone.

Then the view shifted, and a figure stepped off the plane opposite her. One arm was in a sling, suggesting he had been injured, but he seemed to be in fairly good spirits.

It was Tony Stark.

Though the images were only scattered fragments, they were enough for the group to piece together the situation.

"Does this mean..."

Pepper looked questioningly at Hermione, seemingly seeking her confirmation.

Hermione nodded, no longer fooling around. "Don't worry. He's fine. Or even if he's in trouble right now, he'll make it through in the end and be rescued."

"Because this is the future!"

Hermione spread her arms as though embracing the sun.

It was painfully melodramatic.

But no one paid attention to her antics now. Once relief washed over them, it was followed by overwhelming shock and alarm.

Until then, Miss Wizard's other spells had still barely fallen within the bounds of what Nick Fury and the others could comprehend. But this "Prophecy Spell" left him utterly restless.

Seeing the future!

It didn't sound destructive, but in some ways, this was the most terrifying ability of all.

With such an ability, what intelligence would be beyond S.H.I.E.L.D.'s reach?

Unfortunately, only wizards possessed such an ability. However powerful Hermione was, she wasn't part of S.H.I.E.L.D.

If S.H.I.E.L.D. could have a wizard of its own... At that thought, Nick Fury jolted, and an idea began to take root.

His gaze grew heated as he looked at Hermione, like a creepy older man who had set his sights on a little girl. It made her skin crawl.

Naturally, there was no Prophecy Spell.

Even if there were, it wasn't something Hermione could master at present.

She had merely extracted some scenes from Iron Man from her memories of her previous life and played them back.

It sounded impressive, but it was actually just the most basic application of Legilimency.

There was no helping it. Legilimency was an extremely advanced spell, and one of the few composite forms of magic. It encompassed a range of applications, including memory extraction, Projection, intrusion (Legilimency), mind reading, disguise, and Occlumency. The library only had books explaining memory extraction and Projection.

[Legilimency (incomplete): Projection]

[Extracts some of the user's own remembered images and displays them on a reflective object.]

It didn't even have a level.

Still, even such a simple application was enough to fool these people from S.H.I.E.L.D.

After all, this was the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a sense, scenes from the movies really were their future.

Pepper, who had just been feeling relieved, seemed to think of something and grew worried again. "That may be true, but what should we do now?"

They only knew that Tony would eventually be rescued. They didn't know what they needed to do to save him.

"Do whatever you should be doing, and act as if today never happened," Hermione suddenly said. "Above all, don't use your knowledge of the future as an excuse to do something you shouldn't, or neglect something you should do just because you think the future is already set."

"Never let a prophecy influence reality." Her expression was serious, a stark departure from her usual flightiness.

"You must understand: the future... isn't set in stone!"