Winifred's winter break had been... Strange. She enjoyed spending time at the Trishna's, that was for sure. But ever since that weird day in the library when Librarian Morgan had told her that she'd had a vision things had been weird. She'd noticed herself saying things she didn't understand and having dreams that happened. She had always been very good at divination, and with the possibility that maybe something more was going on, she thought that maybe she ought to do what Mr. Morgan had told her and go see the counselor.

She probably should have done it before leaving for Winter break, but she'd been busy. And she hadn't been totally sold on the idea that the librarian had known what he was talking about.

So Winifred had made an appointment to visit with the counselor after dinner on the fifth. Classes had been long and stressful. Though she'd been studying and practicing, she still wasn't on par with the rest of her classmates yet. Winnie just hoped all of her had work wasn't for naught.

She knocked on the door- which was already half open, then entered the office. Winifred tugged a bit at the hem of her skirt and loosened the tie on her uniform. "Good evening, Miss Biladeau-Yukawa," she greeted. Her tone was far less enthusiastic than it usually was. The Hufflepuff girl wasn't quite sure why, but for some reason she felt awkward. Probably because she knew this was going to be a Serious Conversation, and Winifred was never very good at Serious Conversations. "I'm Winnie Oliver. Do you still have the time to meet with me?"

The door creaked open a bit more when Winnie knocked, and it was that sound that prompted Maiko to look up from her desk and greet Winnie with a giant, beaming smile. “Come in, come in!” She exclaimed, standing up and closing the door behind Winifred. Winnie had made an appointment—which struck Maiko as odd as hardly anybody made appointments! They just sorta showed up and Mai had to go with the flow. So, she was more prepare d than usual (which was saying a lot, since Maiko always made an effort to be prepared!).

“I know you just finished dinner, but I have some cookies?” She motioned towards a plate that sat on a little table between two rather cushy chairs. She sat down in one of them, a nonverbal encouragement for Winnie to sit in the other.

She had a gut feeling that it was something big—at least, bigger than what the usual issue would be for Winifred. That girl got worked up over everything! That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, in fact, Mai suspected that the student brought a lot of colour into the lives of everyone around her.

“How are things going for you?” She asked, leaning back in the chair casually.

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_{Date was changed with Thea's permission!}

Winifred cautiously made her way into Maiko's office. She perked a little at the mention of cookies- Winifred like cookies, a lot. "Cookies would be great!" she said with a small smile. Winifred sat down in one of the cushy chairs and settled into it. Then Maiko asked how things were going for her.

The Hufflepuff girl shrugged a little. "Okay, I guess," she answered. "My grades are getting a little better, I've been studying and trying a lot harder. And that's all good! but Mr. Morgan said I should probably come meet with you," Winnie told her. "I kind of put it off for a little while, probably more than I should have," she admitted.

"Well, I guess I should just get right down to it, yeah? Mr. Morgan seems to think that I had a vision or something when I was at the library in December. I was getting some books to help me keep up with studies over the break. I thought he was just being silly, but I don't know, things have been getting weirder and weirder so I figured I probably should take his advice and stop by." She reached for a cookie and stuffed it in her mouth. She hoped Maiko wouldn't laugh at her! She already felt terrible enough about things as it was!

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_{If you need to bump the date forward again, let me know and we can! Sorry for taking so long to respond, school kicked my butt after it started back!}

Maiko smiled encouragingly and nodded her head as Winnie discussed her grades, but then her expression turned grim when Winifred mentioned Landis. Well, if he wanted to send Winnie to her, it must have been serious. Granted, Landis had wanted to send his relatives to her office simply because they were annoying to him…  So maybe that was the case?
And then, Winnie let it out. She was having visions. And things were getting weirder.

There was no way Mai was going to laugh. This was serious. She remembered how scared she had been when she realized her visions were coming true. She remembered how alienating it was to be writing a paper and suddenly have start all over because most of the page was a vision. Discovering you were a seer was no laughing matter.

“Thank you for coming to me about this. It doesn’t matter that you held it off, you’re here now.” Mai leaned forward inquisitively, “Can you tell me what it was that Monsieur Morgan thought was a vision? And what do you mean, by things getting weirder and weirder?” 

"I don't really know what he thought was a vision," Winnie told her. "He was helping me get books is all I remember. I dropped one on my foot and then he started asking me about a reunion. Godric's garters if I have any idea what he was talking about." Winifred picked out another cookie, obviously not grasping the severity of the situation. "He says I tried to issue a prophecy, but I don't know if he's actually right or not," she said. "Then he called me a seizer, like I was trying to steal his library books!"

"I don't like Mr. Morgan," she said simply, emphatically. "He's creepy and stodgy and mean and I still think this is all one super big joke. And a mean one. I wouldn't put it past him to do something like that."

Winifred finished the second cookie, licking the crumbs from her fingers. "I guess by weirder I just mean like... the dreams. And my divination. Over winter break I would have these really boring, mundane dreams about friends or my family and stuff and then they would happen. And I started saying stuff would happen- and it would. You know, like, one night my mum was cooking dinner and I told her she was going to get called in to work before the biscuits got done and she did. Lots of really little stuff like that. And I told some lady at the ministry congratulations- and I don't know why I told her, I just felt like I should, and then it turned out she was pregnant."

"I'm not some great prophecizer though," Winnie told Maiko. "It's all really silly stuff. And I haven't had a vision or tried to have one- not a real one- since that day in the library. At least, I don't think I have. I don't remember trying to have one at the library. I keep trying to make myself have one, and I can't. That's about it, really."

She listened carefully, nodding when appropriate. However, she didn’t say a single word until Winnie was done with her explanations.  Maiko herself had never had a prophecy that was verbal—hers tended to be written or dreams or… More internal than external. She could usually remember them afterward, but sometimes it was difficult. Everything that Winifred was describing though, were big signs. Ones that could not be ignored. And it seemed she, like many of the wizarding population, was under the impression that seers could force visions. Some could, but they were definitely not the majority.

“Dreams are a common outlet for visions.” Mai finally said, “But… Most seers I know can’t force visions. Some can? And some can control when one comes on or not—but that’s never certain. It’s never concrete.” She opened one of her desk drawers and pulled out some papers. “If you look—I’m trying to write letters or notes to myself—and then they go off into a scene. A vision. I don’t remember writing these when it happens. Different seers have different triggers. Stress is a common one.”

Mai cleared her throat.

“Just because you can’t force a vision, doesn’t mean you’re not a seer.” She explained, “But those other circumstances you described—dreams coming true, saying congratulations to a woman who didn’t know she was pregnant yet—are common in seers. They’re some of the biggest signs. I trust that you had a prophecy in front of Mr. Morgan. He wouldn’t send you for no good reason.” Unless that reason was that she was annoying him. Maybe he would have sent her then? But Mai doubted it in this instance. She was going with her intuition.

“Do you… Have any questions for me?” 

Winifred grunted. "I don't want to keep having crazy prophet dreams!" she said. "I mean, it's cool sometimes, I guess. But I don't want to constantly be worried that every nightmare I have is really a vision and that terrible things are going to happen that I can't do anything about." Winnie scrunched up her nose. What an absolutely terrible way to live your life! Having dreams all the time that you can never tell if they are just dreams or something... more.

She looked at the papers that Maiko showed her. Winnie skimmed them. Even the hand writing looked a little different when the visions came into it. "What if I start doing that?" Winifred asked, motioning at the paper. "What if my homework does stuff like that, or my diary? Are you supposed to report visions to the ministry or do you just kind of keep it to yourself? If it's a bad vision, do you try to change what's going to happen? Are there rules against that?" Winnie couldn't imagine having bad visions and not trying to do something to keep them from happening.

Even with all of her apprehension, Winifred was a little excited about the prospect of being a real live seer. "I guess he wouldn't send me for no reason," Winnie agreed. "But I just can't imagine me being a seer or trying to give a prophecy."

Maiko asked if she had questions. Winifred had tons of them. "Being a seer is a big deal, isn't it?" Winifred asked. "Don't you have rules and stuff? Do I have to register with the ministry like werewolves do? Is there anything I can do to try and like... harness it or reign it in? Does this mean that since I'm a seer that I get like, an automatic O in divination- since I'm a real, live diviner?"

“Honestly?” Mai leaned forward, “ You’ll get used to the dreams. They’ll become… Normal to you.” Then it was onto the papers. “You may or may not start doing that. It really depends on the person—every seer has a different trigger, and mine just happened to be writing. When that happens... I just have to start over. It’s frustrating and ridiculous.”  Merlin, this girl had eight million questions and then some. It was difficult for Mai to keep up with it!

“It is completely up to you whether or not you report the vision to the ministry.” Maiko said, “I don’t report a lot of the little things—but if it’s something big, I do. There’s no rules about trying to change the future, but it’s difficult to tell if any actions you take will actually change things. The future is… Annoying that way. Also, just because you have a vision about something doesn’t mean it absolutely will happen—it just means that the current choices you, or the person involved are making, will lead them down that path. The future is as fickle and changing as us people are.”

The counselor smiled, “You’ll get used to the idea of being a seer, it’ll be strange and new at first, but it’ll become just another part of you. You do not have to register with the ministry. As far as harnessing it, it simply takes practice and time. Limit your stress. There’s not much you can do until you yourself have gotten more practice. You do not get an automatic O in divination, you still have to do your homework and go to class.”

She twisted a strand of her hair around her finger, “If any visions bother you, or you want to talk to them—I’m always available.”