A Divination Question, <Luna Celestina>

[Olivia Dawson]

Olivia entered the North Tower a bit apprehensively. Though it was better in many ways now that Trelawney was no longer teaching here, the place still gave her the creeps. She clutched the book under her arm a bit more tightly as she looked around for Professor Celestina. "Hello? Professor, are you there?" she asked.

[Luna Celestina]

"Ah, Olivia." Luna smiled, looking up from the book she had been reading in the corner of her room at the student who entered. "I've been expecting you."

She hadn't. Divination rarely worked like that. It was mostly a running joke between those in the business though.

"How can I help you?" she asked with a smile.

[Olivia Dawson]

"Well, I found this prophecy," Olivia said, setting her book down on the professor's desk and opening it to the appropriate page. "And it kind of worried me." The prophecy on this particular page was one stating that when there was a werewolf in each of the four Hogwarts Houses, a leader would arise to permanently unite the werewolves and bring them into the light. "And before you say it's not possible to have a werewolf in every House... we have them now. I... I can kind of smell the others." Only certain people on the Hogwarts staff knew what Olivia was, and unless Celestina had used Divination to determine it already, she wasn't one of them. But it was necessary to come clean with her in order to get to the bottom of this.

[Luna Celestina]

"I see..." Luna nodded.

She had no idea Olivia was a werewolf, but after seeing Aeolus come back from the dead, she had a considerable tolerance to unexpected news. Of course, being able to see the future from time to time tended to help.

"What worries you, Olivia?" Luna asked, "If the prophet reads easily true, then werewolves as a whole will be allies..."

[Olivia Dawson]

"Well, see on the bottom of the page where it says, 'See also Prophecy of Sakiko, page 331'?" Olivia asked, pointing out the footnote. "I checked it out, and... well, it is pretty closely related to this prophecy, but there are only two werewolves mentioned in it. Does that mean two of us die fulfilling the first prophecy?"

(OOC: The page number holds no significance other than matching Olivia's post count.)

[Luna Celestina]

"Absence from a Prophecy does not need to mean death, Olivia." Luna smiled, "Those previously mentioned may have simply moved along to a point where the current Prophecy does not involve them. It could be sinister... but it could equally be innocent."

[Olivia Dawson]

"Oh," Olivia said, not sure whether she was fully convinced or not. "So the ones who aren't mentioned in the second prophecy might be off raising a family or something harmless like that instead?" Now that she thought about it, it made sense. Abel and Abrianna were as good as married already, and there was definitely something between her and Sebastian... pairing off and settling down did seem to be the likely outcome for at least some of the werewolves, which would explain why Sakiko would only need two.

[Luna Celestina]

"Exactly." Luna smiled, "Not all Prophecy's are gloom and doom, you know." she winked.

[Olivia Dawson]

"Are all of them open-ended like the Sakiko one?" Olivia asked. "Because there's a prophecy that directly contradicts that one... and I'll admit Divination's not my best subject, but I'm pretty sure only one of them can come true." One prophecy said that the Chosen Ones of Sakiko would successfully prevent the apocalypse... the other said the world would most definitely end.

[Luna Celestina]

"Hmm." Luna commented as she read over the prophecy. "This is what we call a forked prophecy." she nodded.

"Think of time as a path. At certain points along this path it will begin to diverge - to fork - only one path can be followed. A lot of time and effort can be spent trying to steer time along a certain path, but the cruel reality is that it only takes the smallest of things to disrupt the direction of time."

She paused, thinking how best to put it.

"Some paths begin to diverge long before you realise it. There are certain things necessary for any given path, think of these as road signs. If you follow a road sign - or fulfil a path's criteria - then that can set time on a path, sometimes centuries before it even forks. If this prophecy is imminent, we need to cross-reference anything that mentions it and see what criteria has been fulfilled. Only then can we see what path we are on - and ensure we set it on the right one."

[Olivia Dawson]

"Well, those four werewolves I mentioned earlier... we've been assigned a mission by McGonagall," Olivia said. "She's sending us to France." It seemed important that Professor Celestina have that detail, in case it affected which fork the prophecy was going to take. She wondered how soon after she, Sebastian, Keith and Abel were done fulfilling their prophecy it would take before the other prophecy -- the one about the Mark of Sakiko -- would come into play. The millenium was referenced in that forked prophecy... did that mean next year?