Crossroads of Two Worlds

39- Well... Shucks

I gave Kaley the Sleeping Draught that night when Rose and I came back from Quidditch practice to find her sitting on our dorm floor, reading about Prophecies. I hadn't told Rose much about what McGonagall had told me and I hadn't seen Kaley since lunch, so I didn't have the chance to tell either of them about our encounter.

"Kaley, I talked to McGonagall today about our... situation."

She looked up at me in shock and even a bit of anger, "I thought we weren't telling anyone, Alana!"

I winced, "I know, I know. But she kind of wormed it out of me and I couldn't refuse to tell her after she hauled me up to her office and all."

She sighed, "Well as you've already gone and done it, and there isn't anything we can do to erase McGonagall's memory, you best tell me what she said."

Wow, this whole deal was obviously taking its toll on my usually sweet and loving friend, if she was saying things like that.

I pulled out the flask of liquid and showed it to her, "Sleeping Draught."

Both of my friends looked at me in nothing but confusion.

"How's that supposed to do anything?" Rose inquired.

"Well, McGonagall said that if it works on Kaley like it works on normal people, then she isn't a Seer, but if she continues to dream through the sleeping draught... well, the only reason anyone could dream through a sleeping draught is if they had Seer abilities. In other words, if the dreams are visions, even Sleeping Draught can't stop them."

I could see the understanding dawn in both of their faces.

I handed the flask to Kaley, "Also, it serves the purpose of just allowing you to get more sleep, because this time, even if you do dream, it won't force you to wake up."

She nodded and took the flask from my hand and swirled it around to mix up the contents. I could see that she was nervous, but this was just about our last resort, and she knew that too. She uncorked the flask and downed the entire potion in one shot, coughing after she'd swallowed it all.

She was already in her pajamas, so when she promptly passed out on the floor of our dorm, Rose and I didn't have to do anything but put her in her bed. I grabbed her arms and Rose grabbed her legs and we hefted her onto her bed.

Rose and I both then sat on my bed and looked at our sleeping friend, Rose spoke to me without meeting my eyes, "What are we going to do if she is a Seer?"

I shrugged, "I don't know, honestly. Help her as much as we can."

Rose nodded and sighed, "Well, one thing's for sure. We can't tell anyone about her if she is a Seer. Ever."

"I know."

...............

She dreamed through the night. She had a dream about a giant ship with a mermaid carved at the bow. She said that she was on the ship and that it was totally silent except for an eerie voice in the captain's room, singing nursery rhymes. She said that when she looked over the edge of the ship into the sea, the water was black for miles around, as if the ship was leaking oil. She woke up when the voice in the captain's room suddenly stopped and the black ocean water began seeping through the boards of the ship's deck.

Kaley Finch, a muggle-born witch, was a full-powered Seer. She was maybe the first full-powered Seer that the wizarding world had seen in centuries. Rose and I had sworn to each other and to her that we would never tell anyone besides McGonagall, who already knew.

I sent the Headmistress a note by owl the next day, with only three words on the paper so that if for any reason my owl was intercepted, no one could make any sense of the message.

She dreamed.

-Alana

I knew that she had gotten the message when she sent my owl back to me with a book on prophecies and Seers, a book that she had in her personal library and not in the school's for a very good reason.

Almost right away, all three of us began reading up on the book every night after classes and Quidditch practice had finished. We learned everything there was to learn about what was happening to Kaley and how we could understand it. The first tip from the book was that the visions from a seer are difficult, if not impossible to understand. Images from her dreams were wrapped in riddles and the vision would most likely only make complete sense after the prophecy had already taken place.

We learned what certain symbols in her visions might mean, but again, nothing was for certain... ever.

The only thing that was uplifting after learning all of this, was the fact that as we understood more about her, Kaley began to sleep more and more hours each night. Maybe it was because after gaining knowledge, she wasn't quite as scared to fall asleep, or maybe she just hadn't had any visions. Whatever it was, I was glad to see the purple circles under her eyes fade.

But as much as I wanted to only figure out how to help my friend all the time, we also had to go to classes and Quidditch practice. For months, all we did was research and soak up information about Kaley's predicament.

It was December fourteenth, and it was our final Quidditch practice before we left for Christmas holidays. I was currently flying in a tight formation between our three chasers, Tristan Shirst, Frank Longbottom, and Belle Reid, as we moved as a unit, working on a new drill that Tristan himself had brought to the team this year as captain. The drill was designed to help us work together and anticipate each other's movements, and so far, it had worked.

I was in the center, with Tristan on my left, Frank on my right, and Belle behind me. I tilted my broom downward to lead the group and they all followed me. It was a totally silent maneuver. It was neat, clean, and nearly effortless.

The next move was not.

I tilted my broom to the right, but Frank didn't anticipate it correctly and started to turn the other direction. Right away, I tried to stop but Tristan's broomstick hit me hard in the back and caused me to lose my balance on my broom. I slid sideways off of the broom and through both Tristan and Frank tried to catch me, I slipped through their hands and fell freely through the air.

I wanted nothing more than to just control the wind and fly, and I would have, if I weren't surrounded my my team that didn't know that I was a demigod. I couldn't let them find out. I couldn't risk any more people knowing my secret. So I let myself fall.

Maybe not the smartest choice, but I knew I probably wouldn't die from the fall, so I just let it happen.

What I didn't see was the large rock that had somehow found its way onto the Quidditch pitch and sat in the grass. I had no time to redirect my fall, and before I knew it, the world went black as my head slammed into the rock.