THE VABLATSKY TWINS WERE GIFTED. That was what most people said when they heard of the two girls who, just like their Aunt Cassandra, one of the most famous Seers in all of the Wizarding World, could see the future. Predict it, warn against it, whatever one would like to refer to the natural born ability as. Two young girls displaying the Sight at such a young age, they were as much unheard of as most true Seers themselves.

It was because of this lack of any real substance of true Seers that the girls, along with being called gifted, were also called a variety of other names along the lines of "fake" and "liars," which didn't bother them much when they were young, as they were sheltered away from the gossip by their dutiful mother, who wanted their daughters to grow up with their heads held high, though cared not for her sister-in-law's talk of them following the route of Divination, their father, who loved his family dearly and believed his sister's natural gifts and, as an extent, his daughters', and their ever loving Aunt Cassandra, from whom they learned to harness their Sight and the history behind it.

It started when, at the ripe age of seven, the two girls simultaneously looked up from their just about finished tea cups, turned to their parents, and said, in unison, "The bunny rabbits will die tomorrow."

While deeply unnerved, the two chalked it up to the girls playing a little trick, possibly trying to scare away their governess who was also in the room—they had, in fact, been successful, though that was not the point.

The point was, in fact, when Mrs. Vablatsky went to draw the curtains early the next morning, she was greeted by the sight of her entire garden covered in the dead carcasses of pure white rabbits, with no apparent cause of death.

Thus began a series of events seemingly predicted almost perfectly by the two girls—almost, as there were certain omens much too abstract for a mere child to decipher, much less one not yet learned in the craft. They knew not of how they came to understand the predictions, nor how they came to them, but only that it made a natural sense.

But the natural sense could only go that far and, despite the hopes of their mother and her friends that the girls would grow out of the strangeness into much more normal witch behavior, it was decided that the girls' Aunt Cassandra be brought in to teach them to control their Sight and use them, learn the various forms of Divination.

It was unclear as to why the girls were expected to learn Divination, as their parents both held rather high positions within the Ministry of Magic and expected them to follow in their footsteps, but they learned nonetheless and found that they both had a rather strong inclination towards certain methods.

Dodona, the more respected twin, if you were to ask anyone who truly noticed, excelled in palm reading, as it mostly required an adept understanding of the various meanings of the palm lines, and she was more than rather smart enough to understand.

Pythia, the other twin, for lack of a better term, excelled most in the reading of tea leaves, though it was a talent that most would call a curse.

Now, it wasn't to say that the two girls weren't both extremely adept at all the forms they had been taught, at least much more advanced for their age, but the reason for the specialization was no reason else than an incident that occurred when they were just about to be shipped off to school.

By this time, the girls had already practiced their craft on others, but had not yet been forced to operate under spontaneous circumstances, save for certain omens beyond their control.

So their mother, trying to be a support for her daughters, invited all her friends for the afternoon and suggested her daughters put on a show, with their aunt there to supervise, of course.

While Cassandra did not quite approve of using Divination as a means for parlor tricks, she nevertheless accompanied her nieces, as she figured it would be a perfect gauge of their skill.

They learned a lot that afternoon.

Pythia, at the young age of ten, discovered that not everyone was equal in the eyes of all.

Dodona had gone up first to do palm readings, as it was the most convenient and the women were still sipping their tea, and when asking for volunteers, nearly all the hands were raised, accompanied by soft cooing and comments on how mature the girl was, and when she had announced one of the woman was to have a baby boy, though she herself had not yet known, there had been many cheers and praises.

Yet when it was Pythia's turn and she merely asked for a single tea cup, none of the women so much as spared her a glance, though it wasn't as if they were preoccupied. No, they merely sat there, ignoring her.

It was then she learned her place in the world.

It was also there that she first encountered her rather grim tendency when it came to reading tea leaves.

After finally procuring a cup from one of her mother's newer friends—a young woman by the name of Virginia Cadwaller, a pretty thing with strawberry hair and rosy cheeks that worked as the newest Obliviator in the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad—the young girl was shocked to find the most foreboding of all omens within the cup, unable to do anything but stutter that, soon, the woman would die.

Needless to say, no one was happy, and no one believed her.

Though at her young age, she had already learned the nuances of certain predictions, some being more suggestions or warnings and seldom few being truly set in stone, but the young girl had had the strongest feeling that she was right.

The next day, the woman had died from a blow to the head in Knockturn Alley.

It was from then on that things never quite seemed the same.

Starting their first year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, the girls clung tightly to each other, despite Dodona being sorted into Ravenclaw and Pythia into Hufflepuff, answering all the questions posed to them about Divination and proving many of the disbelievers wrong, but things were different.

It became abundantly clear to Pythia when she began to notice that Dodona had much more to write home about, much more people rushing to her for questions and inviting her to spend their time with them, whether they be in her house or another.

It wasn't only students, but adults as well. Everywhere they went, even during the summer holiday, Dodona had an energy that Pythia did not and, by the summer before their third year, she was tired of it.

But that didn't stop her from loving her sister and what they could do, oh no. Loyal almost to a fault, so characteristic of her house, she never let her jealousy get in the way of what she loved. But she was tired.

But what came as a true shock to her, however, was that Dodona was too.

The summer before their fourth year was when Dodona announced that she was renouncing Divination, as it was nothing but a load of hogwash and a complete waste of time, and she'd be much better off focusing on studies that will help her be successful and a productive member of society.

To say it was a shock was an understatement.

Their father, ever loyal to his sister and had defended her and his two daughters from the cruelty of others, had been more than upset to hear his daughter speak so ill of something he had defended so tirelessly, but did nothing to force her mind. Their mother, while never being a full supporter of their choices, had also been shocked, as she had loved seeing her daughters so passionate and emboldened by something they were good at.

Pythia, though few remembered to count her, had been devastated.

She had seen it coming, but never expected her sister to truly act. She thought it was merely a jolt of insecurity at being the odd one out.

By fourth year, her sister had shut her out almost completely. It had started in their third year, but was passable. But it soon became unbearable.

Dodona, charming energy that she was, always captivated a room, but now that she completely abhorred the idea of Divination, Pythia was forced to endure her own sister ridiculing the practice, all that it stood for, and, even worse, those who believed in it. It was heartbreaking.

Throw in her new friends, a newly acquired boyfriend, and sudden interest in work actually assigned in classes—and other knowledge that would only ever be practical to being successful—and Dodona was hardly recognizable.

But that didn't stop Pythia from continuing to practice, continuing to love her sister. She continued because no one ever noticed her anyways, so why change at all.

Throughout her fourth and fifth years she did all she could to learn, she consulted her aunt through owl and Professor Trelawny, as batty as everyone else believed her to be, and she tried to make the most of it. She focused primarily on reading cards and looking at crystal balls, but she never did touch tea leaves.

Not after what happened the last time.

Omens were few and far between as well. Of course, she could read weather patterns and signs of celestial occurrences, but that could be found in any book, as Dodona always repeated, but prophetic dreams and visions never came to her and, if they did, she never quite knew what to make of them. They were truly tricky things and it was hard to teach, so it was hard to learn.

But Pythia also had the Sight. Many witches and wizards could learn Divination, but not all had the Sight.

It was because of the Sight that Pythia had seen a flash of Harry Potter falling off his broom mere minutes before he truly did, and had been able to scream for Professor Dumbledore who was already keeping an eye out for the to begin with. The Sight that had saved her from nearly getting petrified in her third year, as she later found out when she heard of where Penelope Clearwater had been when she was attacked.

    Many chalked it up to coincidence, and perhaps they were right, but there was just a likely possibility that they were wrong. As far as Pythia was concerned, they were.

    But that isn't to say, as would be seen as she entered into her fifth year, that she wished they weren't.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: AUGUST 18, 2016/REWRITTEN: APRIL 7, 2018

Welcome back to the story. As you can see, it's completely changed, and this chapter had no dialogue or real present scene, but I liked the expositionary first chapter since it covered basically everything with more depth than before, though I hope it wasn't off putting. Next chapter will have actual scenes.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!