Immerensis

The crack of thunder invades their eardrums, and the metallic smell of what one can only assume is blood assaults their senses. A door creaks open, revealing the downpour of rain outside, and a man, stumbling through, hits the ground.

Y/N’s body, who had just turned 7, jolts awake, sitting up frantically in their bed. It was just a dream… a dream…, they tell themselves, an attempt to soothe their racing nerves. Carefully, they slip out from under their covers, tip-toeing to their parents’ room. The silence across the house unnerved the child, the only thing to fill the void was the sound of their own, heavy breaths. Peaking through the cracked doorway, they let out a meek “Mom…?”, small hands wrapping around the door as they entered. Their father was away, he worked for the Ministry of Magic, under the Dragon Research and Restrain Bureau.

Almost immediately, the child spilled every detail of their nightmare to their mother, the more they described, the more they realized the subject of their nightmare was their father, thus worrying the child more. Four days later, their father was labeled as missing in action.

At some point, it was decided that he was dead. After that, at a small family gathering, Y/N learned they were seers after seeking guidance from their great-grandmother, the grandmother of their father, who was also a seer. However, the seers in their family bear a curse.

“We are not able to tell others of our visions,” their great-grandmother began, one finger extended from the rest as she explained the limits of their shared abilities. “They appear to us in our dreams. We are unable to call upon them, nor can we predict when they will happen. Worst of all, we cannot tell others of our visions outright, for something worse will happen.”

Y/N never forgot those words, the last line replaying in their head almost constantly, guilt eating away at their mind, only imagining the horrors their father went through because of their idiocy. But it’s not like I could have known, right…? Is what they tell themselves, to no avail.

Six years later, they sat in an empty compartment, aboard the Hogwarts Express, fumbling with their red and gold-accented robes, newly a third year. They swallowed dryly, biting their lip as they anxiously bounced their leg up and down. They didn’t know why they were so nervous, perhaps it was the fact that they hadn’t had a vision yet, like they usually do not too long before their first day. As a first year, it wasn’t so bad, thankfully. Just a kid falling into the Black Lake late at night, which they were able to stop, having learned how to be discreet with their power since then. Their Second year, though, is when they had the most horrible vision, which contained their own Defense Against the Dark Arts having a second face. Y/N had no idea how to go about telling anyone about this, so they simply kept quiet, hoping all would be well. And it was, thankfully.

They were knocked out of their trance at the sound of tapping on the glass of the compartment, their head quickly shooting up before letting out a breath they didn’t even know they were holding at the sight of a familiar face.

“Yo,” She smiled, leaning against the entrance. Her name was Carmen Ward, possibly one of the only actual friends Y/N had made in their time at Hogwarts. Being a seer, they were worried about creating friendships, after the incident with their father, but Carmen seemed to worm her way into their life whether they liked it or not. Being in the same year and same house, it made it hard to avoid her. And Y/N did truly enjoy her company, so they gave themself a pass. Just this once. “What’s up, how was your summer?” She asked, sitting down across from me.

“It was okay. Uneventful.” They gave a small laugh. “You?”

“Ohhh, my god. It was so insane. First, I had to go to this wedding for some cousin I hadn’t even met! And the craziest thing happened while I was there-” Carmen explained her entire summer, talking faster than Y/N could comprehend. It was always like this whenever Carmen got to talking. A constant stream of thought broken by very small pauses for breath. Y/N tried to listen, truly, but it was too much sometimes.

As Carmen continued talking, to herself at this point, gesturing wildly, Y/N caught a glance of fiery red hair walking past their compartment. The Weasley Twins. The notorious prankster, they were. Y/N didn’t mind them, as they were never the butt of their jokes, thankfully. Part of them wanted to talk to the pair, but their fears of both something horrible happening and just making themself become a potential target practically paralyzed them at the thought.

Finally, the train began to move out of King’s Cross Station, Y/N settling against the window as they continued to listen to Carmen speak, letting out small replies here and there. The vibrations of the train paired with their one-sided conversation lulled them to sleep. They felt guilty for leaving Carmen hanging, but the guilt didn’t last long as it was replaced by their slumber.

It was a dreamless sleep, which Y/N always welcomed with open arms, considering what the only other option was. Hours passed as they slept peacefully. At some point, Carmen left their shared compartment, possibly to go talk to other poor souls in their year.

Y/N had no idea how much time had passed before they were jolted awake, a hand gripped their shoulder. Furrowing their brows, they slowly looked up, following the arm up to the shoulder and finally the head. They were met with a face they knew immediately. At least, sort of. It was one of the aforementioned twins.

“Oh- Uhm.” They stuttered as the twin released his hand.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He laughed, it was a warm, inviting laugh. “We’re at Hogwarts, and I saw you just lying there. I was half tempted to leave you alone, but my guilt would eat me alive.” He began exiting the compartment, leaving them with a wink. Y/N had no idea how to process what just happened, they didn’t even have time to thank him before he was gone. And they didn’t even know which twin it was.

Quickly, they looked outside, and sure enough, they saw Hagrid, rounding up the first years as the rest got on the carriages. They scrambled to gather their luggage, hardly making it out of the train in time for the last carriage, letting out a sigh of relief. They didn’t recognize anyone else sitting with them, so they kept their head down.

Y/N’s thoughts were filled with their fleeting interaction with the mysterious Weasley twin. Well, he wasn’t mysterious, they just didn’t know which one it was. Part of them wanted to say it was Fred, who was known for being the more spontaneous of the two, so Y/N deduced that was the only reason Fred would talk to someone he’d literally never conversed with before.

On the other hand, however, the twin did speak with a small hint of softness, something they’d only heard from the younger twin, George, in the times they’d overheard him talking.

Y/N shook their head internally, deciding this was a matter for later as they all descended upon the castle that was Hogwarts. It was beautiful, as usual, the castle darkened against the dark blue sky, the yellow lights of the candles within the halls of the castle further illuminated by the night.

The carriage dropped the students off, allowing them to enter the castle to the Great Hall. The ceiling mimicked the outside, something Y/N always loved about this place, it gave them a sense of comfort almost.

Y/N made their way through the crowd, searching for the familiar sight of Carmen, partly so they didn’t feel so lost, and to jokingly give her a hard time for leaving them for dead on the train. Finally, after everyone took their seats at their designated house table, did they find Carmen, settling down next to her.

“Almost missed the stop, I’ll have you know,” Y/N said with a small smile on their face, betraying their annoyed facade.

“But you didn’t.” Carmen quipped, giving Y/N a wink. “Saw one of the Weasley twins leave not too long after you. What’s up with that?”

“One of them just woke me up, something someone else seems unable to do.” They laughed, giving Carmen a playful nudge. “Too bad I have no idea which one it was. I’d thank him if I could, but if I thank the wrong twin I’d shrivel up in embarrassment.”

“I reckon it’s George. He’s always been the kinder of the two.”

“I just want to know why either of them would care. I’ve literally never talked to them.”

Carmen simply shrugged, turning her attention to Professor McGonagall as the sorting began, the loud cheering erupting from each table as a new first year was sorted. They participated when one joined Gryffindor, clapping as they made their way to the table. Y/N remembered when they were sorted, the walk felt far too long and embarrassing for someone who dislikes attention.

The sorting ended, the hubbub of everyone dying down as Professor Dumbledore took his place at the podium, preparing for his yearly speech. Y/N didn’t really pay attention, knowing it was all common sense anyway, or at least, hopefully. Their eyes wandered all over the Great Hall, almost as if they were trying to count every brick and candle in the vicinity. Their ears picked up a small ruckus happening a few seats down, hushed whispers as kids leaned over the table to hear each other. Y/N could hardly make out what was being said, but they deduced it was about the missing Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. This brought out a small concern to Y/N, knowing Harry Potter’s importance, their visions telling them so.

Finally, the feast began. Every student in that hall grabbed food after food like they hadn’t eaten in months, the loud, clamorous sounds of everyone discussing their summers and how the upcoming year would look filled the hall. It was wonderful, the rowdy noises bringing an odd comfort that Y/N had missed at their home, as it was almost always unnervingly quiet, with it only being them and their mother.

As they ate, their eyes wandered, as usual, only to land on another, one they’d already seen today. It was one of the twins. Awkward eye contact was held for about 10 seconds before Y/N broke away, but their eyes kept flitting back a couple of times, almost subconsciously. It was strange. Y/N had never interacted with either of the twins, so why was today so weird? Y/N felt unsettled as realization set in. Had they finally been made a target? Were they planning some huge prank? Just to make fun of the shy kid? Oh no… Y/N suddenly felt sick to their stomach at the thought, mumbling to Carmen some dumb excuse as they left the Great Hall, the only thought on their mind was going to their dormitory and easing their nerves.

The Gryffindor common room was another place Y/N greatly enjoyed, the cozy atmosphere only furthered by the fireplace made them want to crawl into a ball and go to bed, which is what they did as they entered their dorm, their luggage already there, changing into something much more comfortable. Lying down, they told themself they were overthinking it all, their eyelids growing heavy as they succumbed to their slumber.