Copyright and Intellectual Property Issues: This is an original work of fanfiction, however the characters and many concepts and ideas in this work are based on characters owned by other authors. Harry Potter and all characters in this story as well as the settings used in this story are based on the works of J.K. Rowlings in her Harry Potter books and are her intellectual property.

Harry Potter and the Weasley Seer

It began as a prank.

Ron was looking at his crystal ball with great solemnity and intoned, just loud enough for the rest of the class to hear, "I see grave danger ahead," his voice changed inflection, becoming deeper and more ominous. "Upon the next day of rain, the powers of the heavens will be loosed and in a flash one sitting among us here shall be struck down from above…" Ron let his voice trail off.

"Ron?" Parvati asked the Gryffindor in a hushed tone. "Ron?" she repeated?

"Uh? Wh-what?" Ron replied, looking about as if he were just waking up.

"Did you mean what you just said? About, you know, one of us being struck down?"

"Who said anything about someone being struck down?" Ron asked back as if he had no clue what she were talking about.

Parvati's face paled, as did several students around them. Neville Longbottom rushed over to Professor Trelawney and began speaking to her in an alarmed tone. The professor looked over at the red headed wizard and a look of true concern was plastered on her face, but she said nothing. Soon, the entire class was whispering about the prediction.

Ron looked at Harry and saw him grin. Ron grinned back.

"How gullible can someone be?" Ron asked his best friend. "Scared of that little bit of acting? You'd have to be daft to think that I'm some kind of seer or something."

"Good one, Ron," Harry grinned back, enjoying the prank. If Hermione had been taking Divinations as a subject she would have been appalled at Ron's trick, and mortified at how many people actually fell for it.

Still, there wouldn't have been any serious problem if Ron's prediction hadn't have actually come true.

Four days later, a light rain poured down on the Hogwarts grounds as the students were heading towards the north tower for another class with Professor Trelawney. Students were wearing thick robes for the weather and carrying umbrellas. Ron and Harry were walking along chatting together idly.

Padma Patil saw the pair chatting and rushed over to them, glancing up at the sky in concern. "What are you two doing?" she hissed. "Don't you two know this is the first time it has rained since our last class?"

"So?" Ron and Harry responded in unison.

"Ron's prophecy, of course!" she answered with a bit of heat. "Ron, you may not remember what you said, but there's no excuse for you, Harry! You should be practicing the charm to ward against electrocution!"

"Well," Ron began with a little laugh, "I don't think—"

His words were interrupted by a massive crack of thunder so loud and close that they were deafened for several seconds. The three of them were stunned for a bit, sights and sounds coming to them in slow motion, but then their senses began to settle. And then they heard several screams coming from nearby.

The three of them staggered towards the sounds of the screams, several students were gathered around one spot a few yards ahead of them. When they reached the area, they were met with a frightening scene. Lying prone on the ground was the blackened body of one of the students. Steam rose up off the area and they just could make out the form of Neville Long bottom.

"Bloody hell!" Ron looked on aghast.

All the students gathered around took their eyes off of the form on the ground to look at Ron. Their eyes held a mixture of apprehension and awe.

.

"I can't believe it," Ron muttered again for the hundredth time. "I made it all up. It shouldn't have happened."

Harry had to agree with his best mate. He and Ron had both gone along with their professor's odd assignments, making up phony interpretations of stains from tea leaves and patterns of swirls in crystal balls. They had both made ridiculous predictions to their teacher, who had simply accepted their work with a nod of her head. There was no "inner eye" they were using. Yet Trelawney had given both of them high marks on all their work, and had even praised Ron several times in front of the class as having the "sight" when he gave particularly vague warnings and musings. That had certainly contributed to the effectiveness of Ron's performance. But now the room was awkwardly silent.

There was a sudden stirring and many loud gasps several minutes later that got the pair's attention. Harry and Ron both looked and were even more dumbfounded then they had been. Entering into the Gryffindor Common Room was none other than Neville Longbottom.

The boy crossed the room, his eyes intent on Ron. The red-headed Weasley boy gulped, worried about the intent of the boy who had just been struck by lightning. Thoughts of Neville out for revenge over the prediction flashed through Ron's mind. He was surprised then, when the boy flung himself on Ron in a hug.

"Thank you so much, Ron, I owe you my life!" the boy said solemnly.

"Wh-what?" Ron stammered.

"If it weren't for you, I would be dead now. I told Gran about your prediction and she sent me a cloak charmed to prevent electrocution. It was still a nasty shock that, but Madame Pomfrey just gave me a Pepper-up potion and I'm good as new!"

A round of applause went around the room and suddenly, Ron Weasley was being congratulated on being a seer. Even his twin brothers were getting in on the act, loudly proclaiming their brother the best thing since Nostradamus.

The rumor of Ron's skill in divination spread around the school like wildfire. To the annoyance of Ron, Hermione, and Harry, people began to hang on Ron's every word and began to interpret his sayings as being prophetic. The trio couldn't even go to relieve themselves without a crowd following them and listening for something Ron might say. The problem was, more and more, what he said was turning out to be true.

If Ron mentioned in Professor Snape's class that he worried that a certain person's potion was going to end up disastrously, the entire cauldron would blow up. Ron mentioned that Colin Creevey looked like he was getting sick and two days later he was in Madame Promfrey's care with a severe magical malady that had struck out of the blue. Of course, there were rumors flying around the school about predictions Ron had made when he had said nothing of the kind, and even some of these were coming true.

"All right, Ron," Harry teased. "How about you predict that the Gryffindor Quidditch team is going to massacre Hufflepuff?"

"Oi! Not you, too! You know what a bunch of codswollop this is!"

Ron had enjoyed the fame for a bit, but quickly changed his mind about it as the scrutiny on the things he said increased. He was gaining a new appreciation for Harry's plight. People trying to read things into everything he said had gotten quite a bit annoying. He couldn't have a meal in the Great Hall without a flock of students badgering him to tell them what would be on the next test or what the weather would be like the next day.

"How do you put up with it all, mate? Everyone flocking around you all the time. It's not like I'm getting possessed by the Inner Eye and talking out of my head anymore, you know?"

"You have to admit, Ronald," Hermione teased, "that things you are saying are happening unusually often. Even if people just believe what you said is true, it tends to happen, even if that's not what you actually said."

And suddenly, Harry was enlightened. Ron's prophecies weren't coming true because he knew the future. They were coming true because people believed they would come true.

He didn't share his observation with Ron or Hermione yet. Despite how clear the truth was to him, he wanted to be sure before he said something. Otherwise they would think he was mental.

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