⚡ Chapter 2 ⚡ He stared at her with a frown and tilted his head slightly, analyzing her traits. After a while, Livia's mouth twisted in a grimace and she rolled her eyes.
"What?" she asked rudely to the pretty boy who's expression quickly turned into a mischievous grin.
"Are you sure you're related to Sybill Trelawney?" he wondered with a mean tone. "I can't see the resemblance. Perhaps a pretty face like yours was adopted."
This time, Livia examined him with a disgusted look.
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" she questioned, her eyebrows up but still pulling a face. "Who are you anyway?"
"Draco Malfoy." the blond boy informed. "And yes, it was a compliment."
"Olivia Trelawney." she sighed, shaking her head. "And I think you need to update your compliment book because it was extremely offensive."
Draco lost half his smile and she kept going.
"It's so easy to judge a book by its cover but it takes courage and time to actually open the book and read it."
"Fine." he capitulated. "I shouldn't have."
Livia raised her eyebrows, obviously expecting more. Draco sighed at his turn and rolled his eyes.
"I'm sorry." he apologized.
Many other slytherin students stopped talking and looked at them, surprised. Livia noticed but didn't really understand why. However, she could clearly feel a pair of eyes staring at her with intensity. When she looked to her left, she saw a slim brunette fixing her with anger. She sent her a large patronizing smile and turned back to the boy.
"It's okay." she announced. "But please don't talk about my aunt like that anymore."
After dinner, they started wandering around the castle and the angry brunette walked up to them. Livia knew she already had an enemy in Hogwarts and she was completely okay with it. Half the people she met adored her, and the other despised her to the extreme. She just made this impression on people. She looked as the girl Draco had called Pansy pushed her on purpose to get closer to him.
A silver smoke came out of nowhere and moved in front of Livia's eyes and as it was disappearing, the mean smile of a dark haired boy appeared. She guessed he was around her age although she had never met him before. Different scenes starring him and Pansy happened in front of her eyes in accelerated : their first date, their first kiss, their wedding... They were growing older with every scene and suddenly, everything vanished. Once again, she met the pale eyes of her new friend. This time, though, he looked worried.
"Are you okay?" he asked, getting closer to her. "You just blacked out it seemed."
Livia moved a step back and took a big breath to fill her lungs. Everytime she had these visions, she'd forget to inhale. She moved away quick enough to escape Draco's touch and her heart started to beat at a normal rhythm.
Instead to reply to him, she looked at Pansy and grinned meanly.
"He's not made for you." she simply let out.
"What do you even know?" Pansy replied, putting her hands on her hips.
"Oh I know. You'll find a guy stupid enough to want you but it's not Draco."
Insulted, Pansy's eyes and lips got smaller and she stormed out quickly as Livia raised her eyebrows.
"That's often the reaction I get." she noted. "They can't accept the truth."
Draco followed her inside the dungeon where the Slytherin common room was and sat next to her on the couch. Three more persons were sitting further in the room, talking about their summer.
"What do you mean exactly by 'the truth'?"
Livia moved to look into his eyes and smiled. She never had any problem in revealing her gift. It was an amazing way to know who was worth it and who was a real friend.
"When I touch someone, I can see who their soulmate is. Their face appears right in front of my eyes."
Draco was silent for some seconds before to shake his head.
"No way."
"It's true." she pressed. "Except I can't see my own soulmate."
It seemed to take a second to Draco to assimilate the new information. That meant Sybill Trelawney's family really had powers and the pretty blond sitting next to him could discover who he was meant to unless it was her own self. Draco surprised himself hoping she wouldn't see anything if she ever touched him and he coughed to get this stupid thought out of his head.
"So you saw Pansy's soulmate?"
"Yea, I saw who she's meant to be with, but it doesn't mean she'll find him." Livia explained. "I want to say I hope for him she doesn't."
Both of them laughed and she then grinned at him.
"What if you end up with someone else? What happens?" he dared asking.
"I have no idea." she admitted, raising her shoulders. "You want to know who you're meant to be with?"
He wanted to, he really did, but he was not sure he could actually handle the truth.
"I think I'd rather wait." He fixed his gaze in hers and smiled. "Can you turn it off?"
Her books in hands, Julie tried to move around the mob of students without touching anyone. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to be impatient to reach the great hall to get a good meal and no one hesitated into bumping others to make their way. Julie felt many shoulders and elbows hitting her sometimes lightly but most of the time quite hard. She was surrounded by silver smoke and scenes of different love stories with people falling in love and growing old together. She took a big breath and closer her eyes. Everything else was blinded by these visions and there was nothing she could do about it. She decided to just start running, trying to dissipate the smoke, her hands moving quickly in front of her without much success.
After some minutes she found back the use of her eyes and layed her back against a wall, letting herself slide down to the floor. The memories of all the stories came back to her mind and she could ever swear two of them completed each other. Putting her face in her hands she tried to get back to a normal breathing.
Her godmother could say whatever she wanted : most of the time, being able to see other people's soulmate was a curse.
"Are you okay?"
The blond girl looked up and met the worried face of a pretty girl.
"You've just had a vision, didn't you?" she asked before Julie could say anything.
"How..."
"You're Julie Trelawney." the girl explained, sitting next to her in the now desert hall. "And psychic gifts are genetic."
Julie looked in her eyes but didn't answer. She didn't want to lie but if she admitted everything there was a chance the rumor would spread around and she didn't want to risk it.
"I'm Hermione Granger." she smiled with sympathy. "And don't worry I won't tell anyone."
"Thanks." Julie only replied, sending her half a smile.
"Do you want to eat with us?" Hermione proposed after a minute of silence.
The light haired girl turned to her and half-smiled. She didn't have the chance to make friends yet. In fact, her sister, although meaner, had more abilities for that. The bad side was her also incredible ability to make enemies.
"Sure."
She followed her downstairs to the great hall in silence. It was worth a try, Julie thought. Plus, from Hermione emanated a strong wave of kindness and understanding. That, too, was something Julie could easily sense. She didn't know if it was because of her psychic genes or simply because she was sensitive to others. Either way, her feelings never lied.
"Boys, this is Julie." Hermione made the presentation when they reached the Gryffindor's table. "Julie, this is Harry and Ronald."
At his name, a redhaired boy grimaced and rolled his eyes. The other boy, though, Julie knew. Everyone knew him. Harry Potter, the boy who lived. It was Ronald that seemed to captivate Julie more, though, and she sat in front of him, trying to avoid touching to anyone.
"Hey, call me Ron." the redhead suggested, sending her a smile. "Hermione likes to use my whole name because she knows it annoys me."
Julie glanced at Hermione to see her rolling her eyes.
"Nice to meet you." Harry greeted, extending his hand.
Hermione moved her head slightly and her eyes became larger as she sent a look to the boy with the scar who simply frowned and took his hand back.
"So... are you related to Sybill?" Ron dared asking.
"Yes, she's my godmother."
Ron started laughing but immediately stopped when he noticed all the eyes on him. He expected at least Hermione to join him because of the dislike his friend felt towards their teacher but she only frowned to him in disgust.
"I know she's... special." Julie admitted. "But she's a very good person. And besides my twin sister, she's all I have left."
Losing his smile quickly, Ron looked down at his plate with guilt before to mumble a sorry.
"Don't worry, you're not the first one to laugh at her." the girl affirmed. "Just know it's easier to judge a book by its cover, but it takes courage and time to actually open the book and read it."
Harry and Hermione smiled at her and she could swear she saw Ron's cheeks turn a light shade of pink, making her smile, too. The brunette sitting on the other side of Hermione suddenly dropped her glass and the wavy haired girl had a rough movement of retreat. That's when it happened again. A silver smoke appeared right in front of Julie's eyes but this time, she let the vision invade her, knowing there was nothing she could do about it. Hermione was genuinely laughing with a light haired boy. He was taller than her and had obvious stars in the eyes as he looked at her. The scene changed, he was now wearing a Princeton shirt as he held tightly the hand of Julie's new friend. They grew older and had at least one baby. The last thing Julie saw was both of them, cuddling on a couch, with white hair and wrinkles. They seemed happy and Julie smiled despite herself as the vision vanished slowly.
"I'm sorry!" she heard Hermione apologized, panic in her voice.
"It's okay, don't worry." Julie expressed. "I'm fine."
Hermione took a big breath and let it out in relief but Julie could see the curiosity in her eyes and she knew she would probably end up doing an exception for her. She normally never told anyone about the nature of her visions but she could truly say she had found a friend in Hermione. They would end up being close, Julie knew it.