Chapter One: After Umbridge

It had been two days since Sybill had been fired. That horrid woman from the Ministry had tried to force her to leave Hogwarts, and although Dumbledore had stopped her, had let Sybill stay, it had taken a toll on her. The same toll, it had taken when she was put on probation by the same woman. The logical part of her, though she generally ignored it, told her she knew she shouldn't be drinking so much, but it was simply too much for her to bear.

Her Inner Eye reached throughout the castle, and she saw gloom everywhere. She didn't want to See. She wanted to sleep. Most people thought her crazy, a fraud, and someone who loved to harass people with predictions of their deaths. She didn't. In fact, it weighed so heavily, she felt she had to tell them. When she was younger, she refrained from telling people, but when she was nineteen, she had an experience that taught her better. She became convinced, after that, that if she warned people of their deaths, perhaps they could be more prepared for it.

Of course, the feelings and thoughts of those also inhabiting the castle were not her only problem. She was no longer a teacher, and had almost been forced to leave Hogwarts. She would have had nowhere to go had that frog succeeded. She had money, of course, from working there so long, and could've gone – well, to an inn, she supposed. She had no children or living family, except a distant cousin, and hadn't had a lover in ages. The idea of staying somewhere as cold as an inn over the place she had spent more than half her life, terrified her.

There was a short rapping on the door, and then Minerva McGonagall entered Sybill's office. Minerva, though Sybill knew how she felt about Divination, was trying to help her. Her shoes clacked on the floor like gems being thrown loudly by Death across the road of a future accident. She sat down sternly in the poufy seat across from the Divination professor. She was staring out the window, a somber, pensive look on her face

"How are you today, Sybill?"

"I do not wish to talk about the toils of all that I See today, Minerva."

Minerva cleared her throat in order to stop from saying anything she might regret. She didn't want to have an arguement with Sybill today – especially considering how difficult she imagined everything must be for her.

"Why don't we go for a walk about the grounds?"

"No," Sybill said hoarsely.

Sybill always said no, but Minerva always asked her. Then, she forced her or tricked her into going.

"You haven't been to the lake since – well, for awhile. You should come down, Sybill. The fresh air will do you good."

"No, no, I cannot stand to be in the throes of mankind, going about happily, completely unaware of their ghastly futures."

Minerva moaned inwardly. "Sybill listen to me. The 'throes of mankind', as you put it, are happy for the most part, yes. Why is it you can't leave them that way?"

Sybill looked in her stone blue eyes suddenly, but did not answer her.

"Come on Sybill, up you get. You need sun light, you're as white as Dumbledore's beard."

She finally got the woman down to the grounds, but she refused to go too near the lake. Probably thinks the giant squid will 'claw its way out of the depths and rise up' to take her 'swiftly down to its dark home' and 'torment' her for an 'infinite amount of time' before eating her.

"See now, this isn't too bad, Sybill. Not many people around us at all, in fact."

"But my Inner Eye reaches throughout the whole castle, and I can still feel their –"

"Well, if your 'inner eye' reaches that far, it wouldn't really matter what part of the castle you were in, now would it?"

Sybill looked at her, but did not reply. She had to admit, though she would never tell Minerva, it did not matter much. The darkness was just the same here as it was in her office. She watched Minerva remove a book from the pocket of her robes. "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

She stared into the distance as she replied ethereally. "Coming to visit me, taking a walk with me every few days… You - you do not like me. You do not possess countenance for Seeing, let alone more than that."

Minerva flipped open the book on the marker and answered, as though it were common knowledge, "If I didn't make you leave, you would stay in your office until Dumbledore was forced to take you to St Mungo's." Sybill looked at her abruptly.

"I never said I didn't like you," she added casually, not looking up from her book.

"One who possesses the abilities I do can tell without words, Minerva." At this, she did look up from her reading.

"Ah, yes, well – I do like you, actually –" Minerva practically choked on the words as she spoke them. It was true, she didn't hate her colleague; she just couldn't stand for her silliness. She continued as though it hadn't been difficult for her at all, "– so perhaps your eye is not seeing so well?"

Sybill just stared at her.

The two sat in silence for the next hour, Minerva reading and Sybill doing – well, now, Minerva wasn't really sure what the woman was doing – 'basking in the overwhelming darkness,' no doubt. Finally, the two returned to Minerva's quarters. She couldn't breathe if she spent too long in Sybill's office, and, quite frankly, wasn't sure how Sybill could.

"Tea, Sybill?"

She didn't reply.

As Minerva poured tea she contemplated what Sybill had said to her earlier. Why was she helping her? She wasn't really sure, other than the fact that she hated how Dolores Umbridge had treated her colleague. She did not like seeing someone prey upon someone weaker than themselves. After all, people were not the same as animals. She handed Sybill her cup, took one for herself, and the two sat in silence, other than the sound of sipping tea and cups on saucers.