InsaneJournal

WHO: LOUIS AND ADIAN AND SPECIAL GUEST
WHAT: LOUIS WANTS A READING, STUFF HAPPENS
WHERE: DELPHINA'S HOUSE
WHEN: EARLIER TODAY!


Adian didn’t know too much about Divination, and he certainly wasn’t familiar with Seers. But, if all these strange and eye-catching objects stuffed to the ceiling in Delphina Mopsus’ cramped house weren’t interesting enough to pique his curiosity, then---

Were those freshly baked cookies? Adian turned his head, following the warm spell wafting down what he presumed was the kitchen corridor. This was the witch that had been giving Louis heed and second thought for the past few weeks? A short, kooky old lady with a big mouth and delicious-smelling cookie-making hands? Adian would admit, she was a little off-putting; he did not appreciate being grabbed in the side by her like she had upon introduction, but… he supposed he wasn’t one to make a face at unusual personal interactions. He was the one who was only allowed day trips from the hospital, wasn’t he?

Adian returned his attention forward, taking a few longer steps to catch back up to Louis. They were here because Louis wanted (needed) a reading, something strange was going on with their friends, and Louis’ life was much more tangled in mysteries (literally) than Adian was aware. Or, currently aware. At one point he had been, but… because of the Department of Mysteries… he… didn’t now. It was a little confusing, but Adian understood what was most important: Louis was looking for answers about something serious and he would help him the best he could.

“Sit, sit!” Delphina let out, interrupting Adian’s thoughts with a bark and a hand wave. He looked about the small room, seeing only one chair set opposite a large table in the center. Thinking it best he not get in the way, Adian backed up to the wall. Upon spotting a heap of unused cushions in the corner, he summoned them to stack one on top of the other until it made a good enough seat. He sat down with a huff, inhaling just a little too much of the stuffy, thick air.

“A drink?” Delphina offered, and suddenly a tall glass was hovering before him. Adian shot Louis a quick look before placing his wand into his lap and taking the glass.

Louis pulled his short glance from Adian and the glass and turned back to Delphina, getting comfortable in the chair in front of her reading table. He pressed a smile toward her as she settled into the chair that was unnecessarily large and fluffy.

He’d been jolted from his sleep this morning, and left drenched in sweat with heaving breaths. Lassie had barked up a storm after he’d startled her off the bed, and it had taken Louis a few minutes to even realize that he was indeed awake and not still in the nightmare. Louis had never experienced a dream as vivid as the one from this morning; it almost, if he dared to acknowledge it, reminded him of the flashes of memory the dark magic cuff had caused him to see last year. He’d felt the cold air, he’d felt his muscles ache, and he’d heard voices that still continued to ring in his ears…

...a maze, he had been stuck in a maze for what felt like hours, days. Doors seemingly led nowhere and everywhere at once, Louis could not comprehend what was forward or backward, just that he had to keep moving. A voice was shouting out to him, reaching out, and all he could remember was that they’d also been calling for…

“Delphina, thank you for taking the reading on such short notice,” Louis said, his hands under the table as his fingers fiddled with his watch. Kera was still out of reach, Joaquin was still on the search for Dagworth, and if he was putting pieces of the puzzle together correctly, Delphina was surely going to become involved sooner rather than later.

“It is of no consequence, my dear! To be bothered by such handsome young men, not a problem at all!” she gloated, her eyes dancing between Louis and Adian. Louis felt a twist in his stomach; he had not wished for Adian to be bothered with all the ridiculous nonsense he’d been thrust into because of the Department of Mysteries. But the dream this morning had caused Louis to jump into action and knew he would accomplish more with Adian by his side.

...and it was always good to have your friend with you when you were nervous...

“Let us start the reading…”

Louis put his hand out to stop Delphina’s shuffling of a very familiar deck of cards, “Please, no tarot cards.”

The seer held his gaze for a few seconds before nodding and summoning over a large crystal ball, the smoke inside a mix of purple and blue.

“Here, my dear,” she said, “if you touch the base, it will be more prone to make clear what you seek.”

With a slight tilt of his head, a recognizable tick of uncertainty on Louis’ part, he pressed his fingertips to the golden base. Instantly, the smoke unfurled into a dark red, and as he peered closer into the ball, it seemed like…

“That’s Mungo’s,” Louis mused, and his watch twisted loosely around his wrist as he reached backward to beckon Adian closer. The corridors were forming and there were figures forming in the smoke, but he couldn’t tell...

He didn’t know Louis could do divination. Adian’s jaw dropped, surprise filling him as he watched Louis look into the crystal ball. And he was seeing something? Didn’t readings usually go the other way… around? Adian stood up, following Louis’ bid and approaching the table. He put his glass down and bent to stare where Louis was looking.

He saw nothing but twirling smoke in a big glass ball. Adian frowned, and glanced over the crystal ball towards Delphina. There was a strange look on her face that he couldn’t immediately explain, but perhaps that’s how seers looked while practicing their craft.

“What else do you see?” Delphina asked, and with a wave of her hand, the room went significantly darker. Adian moved his hand to rest it on the back of Louis’ chair.

“Focus, now.” Her voice was so smooth it caused Adian’s hackles to rise.

The darkening of the room heightened his vision. Louis didn’t dare move his gaze from the crystal ball as the smoke thickened and condensed, but he did press more of his fingers to the base, eventually palming as much of it as he could.

Louis had read about the different strengths of crystal balls, but he had not been able to fully imagine what could be seen. He would have to inquire where Delphina had retrieved it and how she managed to summon its powers without even touching it, but he couldn’t even attempt to think past what was currently evolving in front of him.

It was definitely St. Mungo’s, he could even tell what floor. Who was on that floor that was of any importance to him? Louis’ eyes narrowed as he thought, going room number to room number. Those were the long-term patients, he hadn’t had one---

His free hand moved from its hovering position to touch his cheek, the phantom feeling of frantic nails scratching against his skin hurtling back at him. Louis dropped his hand to lap and he blinked, looking up to Delphina and back down to the crystal ball. They were in a room now, it was Mercer’s room and---

Louis let out a gasp and kicked back in his seat, causing its legs to skid on the floor. The swirls of red immediately dissolved back to the purple and the vision was gone.

“What did you see!” Delphina exclaimed.

“It’s the woman!” Louis said, blinking quickly. He looked up to Adian, gesturing to the crystal ball, “The one who came into Mungo’s, mad as a hatter---?!” Mercer was the first piece of the puzzle that Louis had relayed to his friend, the starting point of all this connected chaos. “She’s going to attack the auror, Proudfoot---”

“Well!” the seer let out, almost gleefully. Louis’ head shot back toward her; why did she look so proud? He was only---Delphina pressed her hands against the table, lifting up from her chair. “What happens next?”

He hesitated for a moment before thrusting both hands forward to grab onto the base. The red smoke was back, red, like their robes---, but now it was a different scene. It was Mungo’s, he could see, but it was---

“That’s Healer Podmore,” he said out loud, his voice picking up speed as the scene in front of him became clearer. She was on the floor that had been blocked off, in the room no one was allowed in, the one that swirled rumors throughout the hospital about who they were keeping hidden because no one had been told who was being kept there---

“It’s Jake---” Louis breathed, his head moving back and forth as if speeding through a rambling scroll of parchment. He jumped to his feet, knocking the chair to the ground. “It’s Jake! it’s Jake---she’s after Jake, we have---we have to go!”

“Er, Louis?” Adian let out in the dark.

Delphina clapped and light flooded the reading room once again. She waved back the wizard that had appeared behind Adian, and on command, he tugged him to the other side of the table. Adian emitted a curt ‘Alright!’ as he was excessively jockeyed.

“Marvelous, my boy!” Delphina crowed, waging one finger at Louis. She took Adian’s wand from her accomplice and stuck it into her robes. “I knew you had the eye. Now, now!”

She put up a hand to wave forward two more people dressed in redrobes from the doorway. She stared Louis down, her brow raised.

“Before you do anything, consider the choice you have before you. Hm, yes? We’ve discussed this before.”

Adian frowned, his mouth curling to convey a heap of disgruntled distaste. His tongue pushed against the back of his teeth as he withheld speaking out; he knew from training that it wasn’t wise for him to cause a scene. Adian did puff up his chest to let out a great exhale, however, which earned a quick wand jab in the neck.

Delphina chided Adian with a soft ‘tsk’ before turning back to Louis.

“You can run off to Mungo’s to see if what you saw was true…” Delphina began, her hand raising, palm to the ceiling. She raised her other like balancing an invisible scale. “Or, you can stay and find out what happens here.”

Adian felt something rise in his chest, and he locked eyes with Louis. He slowly shook his head and jerked his chin toward the door. He couldn’t stay. If Jake was in trouble, then…

“It is your choice,” Delphina said. While she seemed to nod in a solemn manner, a smile pervaded as she indicated the witch and wizard standing behind Louis.

“They will not stop you, I promise.”

There was a popping sound that he thought might be in his head, but at the sound of glass littering the ground behind him, Louis knew that it wasn’t the case. His fingers curled into his palms and more of the tiny trinkets lining Delphina’s walls began to shatter, and crack, and burst.

She was with them. Louis held her gaze tightly, his lips curling in disgust as his thoughts raced. Delphina had dared come up to him a few weeks ago and put into his head that----

“You vile old wench!” Louis snapped, his hands flinging up in anger. With the motion, the candles around the room burst into larger flames and the cracking of decorative plates sent shivers up his arms. Delphina’s eyes slowly left his to gaze about the room at all the very sharp objects that were now floating about them.

Her smile didn’t fade, in fact, it grew wider. “You’ve gotten very good, my dear. Now, shall we go?”

She thought she had him. Louis shot a look at Adian and his angered expression faltered; he should never have involved his friend. The last thing he’d wanted was to put more nonsense into Adian’s life, and for it to be of this particular brand of chaos---

But Delphina was not going to get away with this. Though his face showed a great sadness, though he shook his head at Adian’s insistence that he leave, Louis’ mind was continuing to move forward in defiance of this dead end. He knew he would never be quick enough to use the magic he’d been building in himself to get them out of this mess, but that was fine.

Sometimes, you need to be more than fast.

His shoulders slumped and he dropped his hands, and with them, all the objects fell to the ground with a loud thud, included in the mess the watch he’d loosened from his wrist. Kera would be able to track it, he knew, but he could not summon her now; he did not need to pull her here, to a lost cause, when Jake was in need of help.

“I am not leaving without Adian,” Louis said determinedly, opening his palms in a show of concession. Delphina’s eyes twinkled. “I will do what you want.”

“Excellent.” Her hand swiped the table in front of her away, unknowingly knocking the watch under a nearby dresser. Delphina stepped forward and put her hand to his chin. “I am going to hold you to that. Shall we go?”

Louis pushed a breath through his nose and nodded.