A/N: This is the Seeker from Pride of Portree writing for QLFC Round 2.
Subject allotted to my team: Divination
Seeker's Prompt: Write about someone showing skill or interest in the subject before starting their magical education.

Word Count: 1085 (+5 for the title)

Thanks to my team for looking through it.

Disclaimer: I have no intentions of making money from this story, so all the recognizable stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Not so Divine After All?

When baby Lena was born, her mother Rowena—who was still grieving her husband Alfred Ravenclaw's death—couldn't have been happier than her three best friends.

Little Helena was never put down in a crib during the day, as her Uncle Ric, Uncle Zar and Aunt Helga were always fighting among themselves for taking turns to pick her up.

The tiny toddler was the apple of all the four pairs of eyes. She was the first baby born to someone from the four. She was the one who had laid the foundation stone for the new school the four friends had started.

Hogwarts was her castle, she the princess of it.

Five year old Lena was sitting in her Uncle Zar's lap as the four friends were having breakfast in the 'Great Hall' of the newly constructed school building.

"Congratulations, Ric." Helga was all smiles, as she and Rowena had just come to know that Cecelia Gryffindor was pregnant.

Placing his cup of tea down on the table, Salazar smirked at the sight of the two women chatting excitedly. Ladies!

"Uncle Zar!" the little girl sitting in his lap said, pulling his cuff and looking intently at the teacup he had just emptied.

He hoisted the girl on the arm of his chair and flicked her nose. "Yes, princess?"

Pointing a tiny finger at him, she scolded him, "You're hiding—" he sat up abruptly and casted a 'Silentium bulla' spell wordlessly. "—something from Uncle Ric, Aunt 'Elga and Mummy."

"Wha—n—ho— How do you know?" he asked, quickly masking his fear and anxiety with an innocent look.

"This told me," she said, pointing towards the teacup.

"The cup?"

She nodded, her dark curls bouncing up and down.

"How?"

"I see things in the black leaves," she answered obediently. "They tell me things."

A seer? Salazar wondered. If it were actually so, he would have to keep this knowledge from others as long as he could.

"Who is Uncle Zar's favourite princess?" he asked, steering her away from the conversation before anyone else could notice.

"Meeeeee!" the girl squealed happily.

"So now, Uncle Zar will share a secret with his favorite niece. Will you keep it?" he whispered in her ear.

Helena vigorously nodded her head, and he couldn't help but smile at the way her brown locks bounced as she did so.

"Come, then."

Muttering a quick goodbye to his 'friends', he held her hand and led her to the second floor bathroom. Her grey eyes widened in amazement at the sight of gleaming sinks and shining taps. The childlike innocence she held in her gaze never failed to bring a smile to his lips.

"This room has a hidden door. The door leads to a special room for Uncle Zar's princess when she grows up," he told her, his tone suggesting that he was revealing the biggest truth of his life, which he probably was. "Now, we wouldn't ruin the surprise, right?"

He couldn't help but smile as the girl furiously shook her head. Her kind of children deserved to learn magic, he thought. Not those who were born amongst filth. Their blood wasn't pure. Their blood was dirtier than mud.

Mudbloods, he thought wrathfully, not knowing that one day this very term he had just coined would be used to differentiate the 'dirty blooded animals' from the 'pure-blood rulers'.

Eight year old Helena was reading about the latest invention of the Wizarding World, 'Flying Broomsticks', wondering how a piece of wood could be enchanted to fly just like that.

"What are you doing, Lena?" someone asked. It was a voice she knew all too well.

Without turning around, she replied, "Just reading about 'flying broomsticks', Uncle Zar."

"The same paper Rowena brought the other day?" he questioned, his eyebrows raised.

"Yes," she said, turning to him and nodding her head. Salazar smiled, noticing how her locks were now tied in the neat plaits, and no longer bounced up and down as they used to, a few years back. "Mum said she didn't need it now," she explained.

Before he could say something, the girl went stiff. Her now-taut jaw opened, and the deep, throaty voice that came out next startled him. This wasn't his Lena speaking.

"Inseparable friends will part, a deep rift will develop,

Three days hence, one of the four shall leave.

His Secret Chamber housing a monster inside will remain,

And a path for the darkest sorcerer it shall weave!"

Helena slumped back in her chair. "I think I'm tired now. I've been reading all day. Good night, Uncle Zar," she whispered, getting onto her feet and moving towards the door.

Salazar did not reply. He was lost in his own thoughts. She was a true Seer, there was no doubt about it. He knew very well that it was him she had talked about at first. And yes, he was going to leave. But would his Secret Chamber really fall into the hands of a Dark Wizard someday?

No, he certainly did not want that. He couldn't take the baby basilisk away with him. But there must be some other way to prevent it falling into the wrong hands.

The Chamber is sealed, only a parselmouth will be able to open it. Only an heir of mine will be able to open it. He repeated this over and over in his mind, but a nagging fear still remained, lingering at the back of his head. Would sealing it with parseltongue cause even more damage? he wondered.

"No, I shouldn't think of this," he muttered to himself, as he packed his things away.

Helena couldn't stop crying as she remembered the days she had spent with that man. The man who had gone away, and had left them—had left her behind.

The tea-leaves, the cards—everything she had studied in those few weeks before he left—had been indicating that this will happen, but she had been so sure that Uncle Zar—Salazar Slytherin wouldn't leave.

All those manuscripts on Divination she owned held no interest for her now. Divination wasn't so divine after all—when it couldn't get the one person who had told her about it, back.

She would never look at another cup of tea, another silver orb, another palm, ever again, she promised herself.

But she would keep that one secret of her favorite uncle safe.

One day, she would get her mother's Diadem, and find the path to that 'Chamber of Secrets' she had been waiting for, for years now. One day...