Chapter 1: Emergence

Sybill Trelawney woke with a start. It was the first day of the rest of her life. The war had ended the night before. She gazed around her room as the sun made everything sparkle. It seemed like a normal day. Frowning to herself, she recalled the night before. Images of death and destruction ran through her head. She pictured herself throwing crystal balls at the Death Eaters and casting spells to fell them when she had run out. She sighed heavily. It was all over finally.

The sadness that filled her slowly dissipated and turned into excitement. She could finally leave her 'stupid' self behind and once again be the woman she had been eighteen years previously… before her 'prophecy' had changed the world and herself.

Sybill sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her hands wandered to her fuzzy hair. What a relief it will be to be rid of this rat's nest! Excitement and a bit of trepidation filled her soul. She vacillated over what she was about to do.

Maybe I should stay this way? It's comfortable. She frowned suddenly. Comfortable? Yes, if being thought of as a crazed lunatic could ever be a comfortable situation. She pushed her fears of the future away and let the excitement take over. In a short time, the old Sybill Trelawney… the comfortable one… would be no more.

The truth was, Sybill Trelawney had been in hiding. Once the prophecy about Harry Potter had left her lips and she had come back to herself, Albus Dumbledore had explained to her what she had said. The only bad thing about true prophecies was that the prophetess never remembered what was uttered.

So, Albus had explained everything. He also had explained that he was worried about her safety. He had known that Snape had heard part of the prophecy and would no doubt report it to his Master. Voldemort, in turn, would seek her out. He would want to interrogate her to find out everything she knew about the prophecy. Unfortunately for Sybill, she had known nothing but what Albus had told her.

Albus had feared that she would be killed by the nasty despot. He had offered her another option.

"Sybill, you must go into hiding."

Sybill snorted at him. "Headmaster Dumbledore, I can't just disappear. I have a family who will worry about me. I have plans for my future. I have wanted to teach at Hogwarts for as long as I can remember!"

Dumbledore rubbed his chin and thought. "You can still have your 'dream job', Sybill, just with a few changes."

Sybill eyed him curiously.

"We'll change your appearance. We'll make you look entirely different. Oh, and you must act the part as well. The more you seem to be witless, the less interest you'll attract."

Sybill was now turning pale.

"I'm sorry, Miss Trelawney. In order to save your life, you'll have to change it entirely. You must not appear to be competent. You must pretend to know nothing of the real world. It would be best if you acted quite harebrained."

Sybill frowned intensely. She was stuck. She had no other option except to turn into Miss Stupid or she'd be killed.

"I have no choice, do I, Headmaster?"

"I'm afraid not, my dear."

They had set to work transforming her into what she was today, a witless wonder. Her hair had been changed to be long and wild, not even its original color. Her eyesight had been tampered with, so she'd had to wear the ridiculous glasses that made her eyes look like saucers. She had acquired clothing that made her look eccentric. Worst of all, she'd had to hide her true ability and appear to be a charlatan.

Oh, her great-great grandmother had probably turned in her grave at the thought of a Trelawney having to appear to be a foolish babbler, inept at any true insight. Unfortunately, Sybill had had no choice. She had been trapped and it was because of her gift.

Acting foolish hadn't been too bad at first. It had been rather easy to babble on like a crazed canary, spouting out nothing, proclaiming a student's upcoming death, crying doom at every corner. It had been easy. The hard part had been to hide her true self. It was her nature to share her abilities to help others. She could tell the true future, but she had been kept from using her gift.

Sybill bent forward and placed a hand on the crying girl's shoulder. "Now, dear, whatever is the matter?"

The second-year student looked up, her eyes filled with tears that streamed down her face quickly. "My… my father was splinched! He's at St. Mungo's. They don't know if he'll live! He was trying to escape a Death Eater raid!"

In a flash, Sybill had seen her father, pale and lying on a hospital bed. The scene dissolved into him sitting on the sofa, laughing and playing with this girl's baby sister. The man would be fine. Sybill debated within herself what to do. She knew she had to stay hidden and remain the 'witless wonder' that she was. Frowning, she patted the girl on the shoulder. Her decision had been made long before this encounter.

"I'm sorry, dear. You should get to the infirmary. All that crying will give you a stomach ache."

The girl gave her a curious look and then dejectedly moved down the hallway to the hospital wing.

The boy was the first in the classroom. He threw his books down on the table and sunk into his seat. Drumming his fingers on the table, he glowered down at his hand. Sybill regarded him. An awkward scene appeared in her head. The boy had tried to speak with a girl he liked, but it had gone horridly. Sybill was surprised to see another sight in her head, of these two marrying several years from now. Her heart ached to be able to tell this young man that all would work out as he'd hoped… but she couldn't.

Sybill had received a true vision almost daily, but she'd had to keep her mouth shut tight and make up stupid nonsense so everyone would think she was crazy.

Her predicament had driven her to drink. She had known that she had been seen by numerous students and faculty wandering the halls with a half empty bottle, muttering to herself. At least she had known that the students and faculty wouldn't take anything she said while inebriated as fact. They would just think it was the inane ramblings of a crazy woman. But her words had been the truth. She had bemoaned her fate and how everyone thought she was a dolt. She had truly hated this persona she had created and couldn't wait for the day that she could rid herself of the batty woman and become the woman she had been years before.

Now that time was upon her, finally. She went to the mirror and looked at her reflection. Sighing she eyed the huge glasses that sat on the dresser in front of the mirror. She smiled to herself. She would never need those again. She took her wand and waved it over the glasses.

"Evanesco," she chanted and the glasses disappeared.

Step one of her retransformation was done. She waved the wand over her eyes and said the incantation to restore her eyesight to normal. There! She could see clearly. She was no more a big blur in the mirror. She felt giddy, she was so excited.

Now for her hair. She hated long hair. Hers reached down to the middle of her back and had been a pain to care for. It was constantly in knots. Taking her wand, she waved it around her head. Her hair began to shorten. She continued waving as her hair got shorter and shorter. She stopped when it reached shoulder length. With another wave, the frizzy waves disappeared, and her true hair texture, straight as an arrow, came into sight. Only one thing left with the hair. It needed to go back to its original color. Mousy blonde was overrated. With another swish, her hair turned jet black. Sybill smiled at her reflection. She hadn't seen herself like this in years, and it was good to be herself once again.

Of course, she really had no idea who she was. She had been pretending for so long, she was afraid she would not be able to leave the battiness behind her. She would try her hardest, nonetheless. She despised her persona. She wanted to be respected for the woman she truly was. She understood it would take some time. No one but her parents had known her well before she had accepted her position at Hogwarts. The few others who did know her: other family members, instructors, and a couple of friends, had been sworn to secrecy.

Her parents had cultivated her talents when she was a youth. They had trained her at home. There had not been a school on the planet that could efficiently train a woman with the Sight. She had been trained well, but had led a lonely existence. When she was old enough, her parents had encouraged her to use her skill and find a job that would help her to excel. She had been excited to be able to branch out into the world and was hoping to receive the teaching position at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, the job had come with severe limitations. Her true self had been hidden, along with her talents.

Her parents had been crushed. They had supported her, of course. They certainly had not wanted to see her dead, but the thought of a Trelawney being seen as a kook was hard on them. Unfortunately, both of her parents had passed away several years before the end of the war. They would never see the reemergence of their beloved daughter.

Oh well, what was done, was done. She turned to her wardrobe. Opening the closet, she made everything in it vanish away. Everything but one set of robes. They were blue, her favorite color. They were normal looking, not like the eccentric clothes she usually wore. She would go to Hogsmeade and buy a new wardrobe later today. She wanted to feel beautiful again, not frumpy. She quickly got dressed. Glancing in the mirror, she was pleased with her appearance. She was unrecognizable! That was good. She went to her door and exited her room. She needed to speak with Minerva.

oooOOOooo

Soon she was tapping on Minerva's door. She figured that McGonagall would be taking over as Headmistress, but with all of the confusion from the war, she was certain that Minerva was still residing in her normal quarters. The door opened a minute later.

Minerva stared at the woman in front of her. "May I help you?" she asked.

Sybill smiled widely at her friend. "Minerva, it's me!" she cried in her given voice. She had been happy to leave her low wispy voice behind also.

"Me who?"

"It's Sybill!" She put her voice back to what Minerva would be used to. "Don't you recognize me?"

Minerva's eyes grew wide and she grabbed Sybill and dragged her into her room.

"What on earth is going on?" Minerva cried. "Why do you look so different?"

Sybill explained everything to Minerva. Minerva could only gape as the story was retold, not believing that the woman she had been friends with for almost 20 years was not who she'd believed her to be.

"So you see, I have been a charlatan. This is what I truly look like. The glamours I have used have finally been removed. I can truly be myself." Sybill smiled happily at Minerva.

"I . . . I don't know what to say!" Minerva responded.

"Say you're happy?" Sybill replied in a questioning voice.

Minerva threw her arms around Sybill. "I'm ecstatic. What can I do to help you back?"

"I would like to continue my job, this time actually performing it well."

"Of course."

Sybill smiled, but then immediately frowned. "Where's Severus?" she asked.

"He's dead," Minerva told her.

"Where is his body?"

Minerva furrowed her brow. "I don't know. I think it was forgotten with all that happened. It must still be in the Shrieking Shack."

Sybill looked to Minerva with worry. "We must hurry. He's still alive!"

Minerva's eyes grew wide as she watched Sybill jump up and race out of her door. She quickly got up and followed her. The two women made their way to the Whomping Willow and made the tree still with a poke at the low lying knot. They quickly crawled through the tunnel and emerged into the Shack. The sight that greeted them was gruesome. Severus lay in an immense pool of blood. Sybill rushed to his side and felt the side of his neck that wasn't mutilated.

"He has a slight pulse," she told Minerva.

"How on earth could anyone survive such an attack?"

"I don't know, but we must get him help quickly or he will die."

Sybill levitated the still man. Half of his face and body was covered in blood. She hoped they would get him to Poppy in time. The two women worked their way slowly back to Hogwarts. Hurrying to the hospital wing, they entered and called Poppy. She emerged from the back of the hospital and gasped.

"Oh my word! Can he still be alive?" she uttered.

"He's got a slight pulse," Minerva explained.

"Get him to that bed!" Poppy ordered, while motioning to the only empty bed in the hospital.

Waving her wand over the man, she clucked her tongue. "It looks like Phoenix tears have been administered to his wound. Could it have been Fawkes?"

Minerva shook her head. "I don't know. No one has seen the phoenix since Dumbledore died. Why would he treat Albus' murderer?"

"I'm sure he knew the truth. I did," Sybill stated simply.

Minerva and Poppy snapped their heads toward her.

"I had a vision on the night of Albus' death. It was of a conversation between Severus and Albus. They planned the death together. I have known all along. I'm sure the bird knew too."

"And you are?" Poppy asked incredulously.

"I'm Sybill Trelawney," she said hurriedly, looking over at Severus again.

"I'll explain later," Minerva assured Poppy, who had been staring at Sybill. She turned back to her patient.

Poppy rushed over to her supply closet and grabbed several potions. She poured one over the wound in Severus' neck, which had closed somewhat, but was still an ugly red thing that showed his flesh. The wound slowly mended itself back together. Poppy poured more on and the wound disappeared completely.

Picking up Severus' head, she helped him swallow the other two vials. She stepped back a bit and waved her wand over him, cleaning off the horrid blood stains and doing some more diagnostics.

"That's better. His vitals are stable again. He should wake in a day or so, once the potions and Phoenix tears have completely cured him."

She looked back up to Minerva. "So what's up with her?" she pointed at Sybill.

"I will call a meeting and explain everything to everyone at the same time."

Poppy nodded to her and then to Sybill. "I must admit, you look quite a bit better now than before," she told her.

"Thank you," Sybill said with a chuckle.

She turned and glanced at Minerva and they left the hospital wing.

A/N: Thanks to my beta, Lilith Kayden. She's great.

This was written for the Potter Place Anything Goes Challenge and received an honorable mention.

Here's the prompt I used:

105. Now that the war is over, Sybil can abandon her ridiculous act, and show herself as she really is. Who is the woman who emerges from the under the shawls? Does she remain at Hogwarts? And how did those years of pretense affect her? Does she have trouble acting 'normal'?

I hope you all don't mind that Sybill saved Severus. (Well, Sybill and Fawkes, actually.) I can't have a post war story where he's dead. That would be the ultimate tragedy, and this ain't no tragedy.