There were rumors about the young Sybill Trelawney that Florence couldn’t quite make heads or tails of. The girl was at least three years younger than her. Though their years at Hogwarts overlapped, the two women hadn’t been in the same houses. Truthfully, that was a fact for which Florence felt immensely grateful. Though Sybill obviously valued intelligence and wit, her head was too far in the clouds – and the rest of her body, as far as Florence could tell, was tethered to the earth likely due to some fondness for psychedelic drugs. After all, she was obsessed with divination, convinced that the fine art of predicting a person’s future from tea leaves or lines on their palms actually was an art and not a scam. Florence knew plenty of Muggles like Sybill Trelawney: young girls and middle-aged women who believed that they had some deeper connection to the earth and that something out in the greater universe actually spoke to them.
For her entire life, Florence found the concept of psychics and diviners absolutely ridiculous. They were people playing parlor tricks and carnival games, taking the money of people who were vulnerable and desperate for any kind of answer. But days of reflection, looking inward, Florence found herself no closer to the answers that she wanted about her situation. More than anything, she wanted to be reassured about her thoughts regarding Aversio. She was already vulnerable. Now she was getting desperate. A few days ago, she had even sent a letter to the young Ms. Trelawney, asking if the two of them could meet. Now Florence stood on Sybill Trelawney’s doorstep, nervous as she had ever been, hoping to all things holy that the girl could provide her with some sense of solace, no matter how slight.