James Potter and the Half Blood Hallway

Eight

The next day everyone woke to find that Hermione was already awake. She was, of coarse, surrounded by books.

"Morning," muttered Ron.
"Morning," said Hermione. "Look at this." The others came over and read the article she had been hunched over.
"It says here," Hermione continued before either of them could finish. "That one can connect someone's life to an object. Similar to making Horcruxes only no one has to die."
"So?" said Harry. She sighed.
"So!" she said. " That stick, the one you got from the mail man dressed like a muggle. The note said there was another, one that was attached to a life. That one was just a decoy, but whoever sent it wanted you to keep it safe anyway, so I've already put a protective charm on it. I've also found this." She pointed to a picture in another large book. It was a storm.

"According to this, American wizards and wizards are more dangerous and powerful than the rest of us, more advanced I suppose. Some are even believed to have powers of natural things such as the weather or water or fire."
"You think Jackson can do any of that?" asked Astoria.
"Most likely," said Hermione. "But then there's the letter." She brought it out of a stack of parchment.
"It mentions a dove, forge, oaths, lightning... Then there's the fact that the sender is usually signed Poseidon."
"Right," said Ginny. "But you and Harry both said that they were just myths." Thunder boomed.
"And then there's the thunder," added Hermione. "Every time we try to pass it off as a myth."

"Are you saying you think this is..." started Harry.
"Look at the pictures carefully." Everyone leaned in closer.
"Where did you get these?" asked Draco, realising the pictures weren't moving, finding it very strange.
"Muggle library," Hermione told him.
"Oh." That explained it. He'd almost forgot that she was a muggle born.
"Anyway," she went on. " In Greek mythology they have oracles, which are like their version of the seers. And who was Trelawney's great - great grandmother?"
"Cassandra Trelawney," said Harry. "But what's that got to do with anything?"  Hermione scooted a book toward him. The page was labeled Cassandra.

Harry skimmed through it. The main idea of the plot was that there was a girl named Cassandra who the god Apollo gave the ability to see prophecies. Because she still refused to - er - "love" him the god cursed her so that nobody would ever believe her prophecies.

Harry stared at Hermione.
"Sound familiar?"
"Well, no one ever believed Sybill's prophecies," said Harry.
"Exactly," said Hermione.
"What're you two playing at?" asked Ron. Something seemed to click in Harry's head.
"Oh," he said. "Oh!" Hermione nodded.
"What?" asked Draco.
"You really think -"
"I don't know. Makes sense doesn't it?"
"What're you talking about?" Ginny asked. The two exchanged looks.
"Trelawney's great - great grandmother is the Cassandra," they said in unison.

There was a shocked silence.

"But they're m - " Astoria started to say.
"But what if they're not?" said Hermione. "Think about it. All of it fits."
"Alright," said Ron. "Then, if they are real, then what about the mail man or whatever? And Jackson? I still don't understand the lightning thing either."  Hermione pursed her lips.
"Zeus is the god of the skies, so that's probably got something to do with this. I'm not sure how Percy fits into this...there was a son of Zeus named Perseus.... As for the mail man....maybe he has something to do with Hermes, god of Thieves, travelers, and messaging. "
"So, they're a bit obsessed," said Draco, not thinking much of it.

"Maybe," said Hermione. "But I think it's a bit of something more. Something we won't fully be able to understand, something even more dangerous than..." She paused for a moment. No one had even thought of that name in nineteen years....
"More dangerous than Voldemort," she said finally. There was another pause before Harry said,
"Did you see the look on his face when he was talking about prophecies and his seer friend?" He didn't need to elaborate. They all knew who he was talking about.
"It was like the way you look sometimes when we talk about the war," Ginny noted. "But almost worse..."
"And the same age too," said Astoria.