private message to Sally-Anne

[alt_megan]

Please, if you have a little time, I have a question about a Divination thing. And Ernie said you are good at it.

Comments

[alt_sally_anne]

He said I was good at Divination? I'm not sure why, I don't even have an OWL in it. Have you tried Lavender Brown?

[alt_megan]

Well, it's maybe not exactly a Divination thing. It might be a Healer thing and I misunderstood what he meant.

Oh, I will have to explain the whole thing. (And before you ask, I already asked Lavender but she didn't answer so I don't know what is going on with that but I thought I would try asking you.)

I have been having bad dreams. Like very bad dreams. About horrible things. And Umbridge. And Umbridge making me do horrible things. And the Healer-of-the-week said it was just NEWT anxiety but I don't think it is.

So is that a Divination thing or a Healer thing? Because it is getting very troublesome and causing me to not pay full attention in class. Which is not helping anything or anybody and I am tired of losing points for it.

[alt_sally_anne]

Oh, okay, I see why Macmillan said you should talk to me.

Most of the time, what you're seeing in dreams isn't really telling you anything about the future. It's telling you something about yourself. Your mind will tend to visit and revisit certain things: traumas. Things that you avoid thinking about when you're awake. Things that worry you on some very basic level. When you are very anxious about one thing, your dreams will sometimes visit an entirely different thing that makes you anxious, that's why the Healer thought it was related to NEWTs.

From what I understand, Divination students have to learn to sort out all those sorts of things from the dreams they do have. Or all their predictions would be completely useless, since even when people have The Inner Eye (which Professor Carpenter thinks anyone can develop, but I've read that's not what most scholars believe) most of their dreams aren't prophetic. Or have a tiny prophetic ingredient mixed in with everything else.

So, if you're dreaming about Umbridge, and Umbridge making you do horrible things, I don't think this is exam anxiety. You followed the news and read the newspapers and all the rest, so you've had plenty of cause lately to think about people having to do things that are not something they would choose to do or would, normally, ever do. I expect that's part of what's bothering you, and why you're revisiting Umbridge every night.

It would probably help if you face it full on, the things you don't want to think about, and talk them through, with Macmillan or another friend (or me, if you'd like). Also, I can give you a potion that will help you to relax at night; that might help. (It's not Dreamless Sleep, it's just something you add a little of to tea.) If you're sleeping better, you'll have an easier time paying attention in class, I'm sure.

[alt_megan]

That makes sense. I just wish they would stop. The nightmares I mean. Though I also wish people would stop doing awful things would stop happening.

I would like a bit of that potion, please. Thank you. And I will think about who to talk to.

[alt_sally_anne]

Anyway, Daphne would be a better person to ask about untangling prophetic information from your dreams and nightmares. From what I understand -- and bear in mind I don't take Divination, so this is all stuff I've picked up from learning about treating sleep disorders as a Healer -- things that are prophetic might be short, sharp, and extraordinarily clear. Like a single face in a large crowd that you still remember on waking. Other times, it's a symbol, but it's a symbol that's peculiar to you. This is why it's so hard to untangle, because of course ordinary dreams also have symbols in them.

[alt_sally_anne]

Oh, and you know who else is good at it -- Daphne Greengrass. If Brown won't help you out, Daphne probably would.

[alt_megan]

That is true. Maybe I should ask her.

But if you have ideas I would very much like them. Because maybe they will help. And you have more sense than most of the Healers-of-the-Week, in any case!