a touch of destiny / waters

[ELIZA MARIE CUNNINGHAM]

Eliza was in her office, going over the school board's latest meeting minutes, when a student was sent to her office for their behaviour. We'll, more like their attitude, which was pretty common amongst seventh tears who were nearly graduated. Especially those whose life wasn't very dependent on getting a lot if high grades. But even those ones developed a bit of seventh year-itis.

Her office wasn't the same as Dumbledore or Flitwick had it. There was no Fawkes. But she did have a Pensieve and some anti-dark magic devices. Some things were just for aesthetics too like a wooden carving of Hogwarts, which was about a metre wide and tall. She also had more paintings of the headmasters, who she would converse with sometimes: Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, and Flitwick. Snape didn't like her much, just like his real life counterpart, but McGonagall had been a great influence on Eliza's teaching style and Eliza had worked with Flitwick the most. They owned occasionally, but he was off on some great adventures around the world.

Eliza waited until Waters was in front of her before she began. "Now Mr. Lee, I know you're excited to graduate and leave the school, but I hear you are having trouble in your classes. Is there anything you'd like to--" Suddenly Waters didn't look too good. "Are you okay?" she asked him. He didn't look exactly illbut there was so etching off about him all of a sudden.

WATERS LEE

[WATERS LEE]

Waters was done. Not that he hadn't been fed up with school for years, but, now, he was absolutely done. In all reality, he should have just dropped out instead of attempting to finish his seventh year. School had always been hard, but nothing had prepared him for how hard it would be once almost his whole support system had graduated and headed out the door. Everything went from being double hard to quadruple overnight, and he honestly didn't see the point in trying anymore.

Over the years, his nonverbal magic had gotten pretty strong...with spells he practiced a lot at least. Plus, there were Potions and Herbology to help carry him through. It was never going to be enough though. Things would definitely come easier if he actually put effort into speech therapy--and actually putting his hearing aid in in the morning--to just be able to say incantations right. He'd dug his heels in over the years a bit too much though, and the consequences were too deep to dig his way out of at this point. Dropping out was by far the easiest option.

He'd practiced this announcement, so he'd be prepared by the time he got to Headmaster Cunningham's office. He'd stayed up all night, standing in front of the mirror mouthing "I'm leaving" over and over until he could say it as clearly as possible. She had to understand. It was for the best. He headed from the dorm the next morning exhausted but ready. Nothing was ever going to go smooth for him though.

The second he sat across from her, the grogginess really hit. He had slept through his fair share of lectures, but this probably wasn't the best time to do it. He tried to fight it, shaking his head to clear the haze that was beginning to block his vision. The weight of it was unbearable. Unnatural. This wasn't right. It hurt to even keep his eyes open. His head suddenly lolled onto his chest.

From his slumber came the words:

The one who will unite the old magics rises.
She will rouse serpents to her cause.
Black flames will consume the world.
The old ways will return.
Only the heir of the most beloved adversary
Stands a chance to stop the serpentine crusade,
Born of Caesar's month in the darkest year.
Callisto will stand powerless to stop either one.
The essence will be inessential to the mission.
The bell will toll nine times.

Waters fell silent after that, still deep in sleep for several seconds before his head popped back up. He breathed in quick shallow breathes as if he'd just come up from under water. "I'm sorry," he gasped, quickly signing the words. "That doesn't usually happen when I'm awake."

ELIZA MARIE CUNNINGHAM