Chapter 24: A Successful Prophecy

In the spacious, sunlit classroom, light streamed through the windows, casting a golden sheen across the floorboards. But even under the bright sunlight, the ground before Mr. Bones looked perfectly flat and normal, with no hint of any illusion.

The other six students stood in their line, craning their necks to watch the floor with keen interest. They had never done anything remotely like this in their three years with Professor Trelawney. Apart from using Jupiter to predict they would fall off their broomsticks or into the lake next week, they had never performed a proper prophecy that could be proven so quickly.

"You may begin," Victor said.

Bones took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and recited the first line of the incantation with a voice full of hope, yet tinged with doubt.

"Aipu, Paipu, Kaike."

He took one careful step forward, the heel of his front boot touching the toe of his back one.

"Xiluo, Huoluo, Haluo."

That was the second step.

"Zexi, Zexi, Zeke!"

The third step.

As the students behind him watched, the tall, thin Bones stood still for a moment, listening intently. He confirmed that the ticking of his pocket watch had not changed in the slightest, then confidently took a step onto the next plank.

Poof!

The floorboard beneath his advancing foot abruptly dissolved into a cloud of mist, revealing nothing but empty air below.

Bones flailed wildly, trying to grab onto the adjacent planks, but he failed spectacularly on the smooth, polished wood. With a clatter of his pocket watch and a desperate cry, he plummeted from sight.

"Ahhhhh—!"

Thump.

His scream was cut short as Victor’s spell cushioned his fall on the floor below.

"You pronounced the spell incorrectly," Victor stated, his face impassive. "The first line requires emphasis on the initial sound, and the final line needs a higher pitch than the previous two."

He raised his wand, gave it another lazy wave, and the empty space in the floor solidified back into a wooden plank, hiding the view of the lower level.

The students looked at where Bones had just vanished in a miserable freefall and collectively swallowed. A wizard almost certainly wouldn't die from a fall like that... but who wanted to experience it firsthand?

"Next."

Swallowing again, the next student—a Ravenclaw—stepped nervously into place. He was a freckled boy who looked rather shrewd. He closed his eyes and carefully reviewed the incantation in his mind before shakily taking the first step.

"Aipu, Paipu, Kaike."

"Xiluo, Huoluo, Haluo..."

His enunciation was very clear. The first six steps went by without incident, but the further he walked, the more beads of sweat appeared on his face. He seemed to be muttering to himself under his breath. By the time he reached the fifth plank, he seemed to have finally gained some confidence.

He took another step forward—

Poof!

"Ah—!"

Thump.

"Too much idle thinking," Victor commented calmly. "As I said, your focus must be on the pocket watch, not on mentally calculating the probability of stepping into thin air." Ravenclaws tended to overthink.

"Next."

It was Tonks's turn.

Although the students behind her were still eager, with two consecutive failures, they were beginning to doubt whether the spell could be pronounced correctly at all. It wasn't that they thought Victor was lying, but some spells were simply more difficult than others.

Tonks took a deep breath, and her hair, which had been a stormy black, shifted back to a bright, cheerful orange. She moved carefully to the starting position, clasped her hands around the pocket watch, and forced herself to clear her mind. After a dazzling series of preparatory prayer-like gestures, she finally closed her eyes and began to softly chant the spell.

"Aipu, Paipu, Kaike..."

She moved forward slowly. The first plank. The second. The third...

"Aipu, Paipu, Kaike." "Xiluo, Huoluo, Haluo." "Zexi, Zexi, Zeke!"

After finishing the chant, she lifted her right foot, clad in a shiny leather shoe, preparing to take the next step. But in the next second, her foot froze in mid-air, as if she had discovered something.

She slowly drew her foot back and held the pocket watch to her ear.

Everyone behind her curiously pricked up their ears, trying to catch the sound. And they heard it—

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick-tock-tick-tock, ticktockticktock...

The speed of the second hand had clearly accelerated!

A ripple of excitement went through the watching students. They listened in disbelief—whether this was real Divination or not, the first two students had certainly not made the watch do that!

Tonks's eyes flew open with excitement. Keeping her weight on her back foot, she stretched her other leg out and tentatively tapped the next plank.

Poof!

The wood vanished into mist right before her eyes!

"I did it?" she gasped. "Professor, I did it!" She spun around excitedly to look at Victor.

Victor didn't dampen her spirits, but simply said, "Yes, Miss Tonks has provided a correct demonstration. As long as your enunciation is clear, the emphasis is correct, and you do not overthink, achieving the effect is not difficult."

"Brilliant!" Tonks cheered, jogging away from the wall.

With her success as a model, the subsequent students had a much better track record. Two of the remaining four also managed to make their watches speed up, predicting the location of the illusionary plank.

Afterwards, the first two students tried again. Bones succeeded on his second attempt, but the Ravenclaw boy, likely still terrified of the falling sensation, couldn't stop himself from overthinking it and plummeted miserably once more.

Time passed in this manner, minute by minute. Finally, as the end of the class approached, all the students had returned to their seats.

"Alright, has everyone who wanted to try had a turn?" Victor asked, having already sat back down at his desk, looking bored. He only bothered to lazily wave his wand to save someone when he saw them fall.

"I know many of you still have doubts in your minds, wondering if this prophetic effect is merely your imagination, or if I have deliberately altered the speed of your watches to create a hoax—"

The students turned to him. Tonks looked as if she was about to leap to his defense, but Victor held up a hand to gently stop her.

"—and I can tell you with certainty," he continued, "that such suspicions are incorrect."

Tonks's eyes lit up.

"This form of Divination utilizes your spirit's innate premonition of danger. Although you yourselves may not be consciously aware of this premonition, it is real, and it works for any kind of danger."

"If you don't believe me, you are more than welcome to test it after you return to your dormitories using your own watches. However, the scope of your test should not be too broad. With such a rudimentary form of Divination, it is difficult to obtain a precise answer, and the results will be inaccurate."

"The simplest way is to—go to the Forbidden Forest, pick a fork in the path, and then perform the divination. You will naturally encounter danger on the path the watch warns you about."

As he said this, Victor's voice caught for a split second. In his mind, he suddenly saw a vivid image of Professor McGonagall storming up to him in a rage because a student had actually tried his suggestion.

"Ahem," he coughed. "But entering the Forbidden Forest is against school rules. Please do not attempt it."

His warning had the opposite of its intended effect. The students' expressions became incredibly excited. Tonks, having succeeded on her first try, looked like she couldn't wait to test it on something else. This was real prophecy! Prophecy that could be proven!

Just then, the Ravenclaw student who had tried to use arithmetic to predict the outcome suddenly raised his hand.

"Speak. But state your name first."

"My name is Ian Jones, Professor," Jones said. "I wanted to ask if everyone can learn this type of Divination. And can we teach it to other students?"

"Good question," Victor said, his tone flat despite the complimentary words. "I do not care if you share this technique."

"But not everyone can learn it. First, the Mandrake leaf is essential. Second, only students whose spiritual essence has a certain sensitivity, whose auras are not dim, can foresee danger."

"In other words," he concluded, "you must have a talent for Divination."

"It just so happens that everyone present in this class possesses that talent. It seems Professor Trelawney did have some foresight when it came to selecting her students, after all."

Victor glanced at the clock, ignoring the forest of hands that shot up, each higher than the last. He simply announced, in a lazy drawl, "Alright, time's up. Class dismissed."