Who: Mandy & Nate When: 16 March Where: the Summer Bee What: a reading Rating: PG-13 at most Status: started in gdocs, continuing in thread
Nate took the cards back from Mandy when she was done shuffling them and laid them all out on the table before he sat back to take a good look at them. He took mental note of cards he’d seen come up in recent readings for other people, intrigued by their appearance here, in particular that two cards from the same reading also showed up in hers, just not quite the same. It made him wonder about the potential for linkages.
“Okay, your current situation is the nine of pentacles, reversed, which is almost painfully obvious.” He cast a worried glance at Mandy. “It means a loss of home or friendship, and a project that is abruptly cancelled. It also advises going forward cautiously, but that’s just common sense when the rug’s been ripped out from under you. Crossing that is the six of wands, which is about as opposite as it gets. You’ve got people around you, friends helping out, some small bits of pleasure in amongst the strife, and a chance at victory. It’s as if your life’s in direct opposition to what’s happening right now.”
He looked to the next card, touching the five of swords lightly. “You’ve got failure hanging over your head. Cruelty maybe, or slander. Sounds like this bit is talking about Terry in prison to me, but I could be wrong. But it sounds like you’re heading towards this quickly, with how the Ministry’s treating him, yeah? Beneath you is the ace of wands, which is all about new beginnings. Again, an opposite. If it were reversed it might make more sense, that a failed start leads to the slander. But in this case, it seems like you’re setting out on a new journey, and that failure is a part of where you’re going. Then again,” he added with a rueful smile, “not all journeys have only good stops along the way.”
A huff of a sigh. “Another painfully obvious card in your recent past. Reversed, judgement means separation, possibly divorce, and a fear of death. I think it’s talking very recent past. But your near future’s brighter, with the Empress.” He glanced at her sideways. “Are you pregnant, Mandy? This card is the mother, the one mother above all. She’s marriage and fertility, home and happiness. And she makes a lot more possible sense in your reading than the last time I saw her.”
Mandy was a mess of emotions, her whole world had collapsed and yet it was all eerily the same. She had awaken to silence, forgetting for a moment that the twins had stayed the night with Nana and Papa. She had dressed slowly, spending time making small changes to their room before leaving the town house to meet Nate for lunch and a reading. She had two things on her mind, Terry’s future and Draco. She had studiously avoided him upon her return and had left early enough the next morning that she didn’t have to talk to him or see the sympathy in his light eyes.
Apparating to Nate’s, she now sat in a comfortable chair, looking at the cards laid out before her with a frown. She had no idea how to interpret them and it only added to the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. “There is a very good chance I might be pregnant.” She said finally in a slightly strangled voice. “We tried on Valentines Day to conceive another baby.” She swallowed back the lump that appeared in her throat at the reminder of that day. “Why does she make more sense now than the last time you saw her?” She asked slowly, sipping the tea he had provided.
“Because the last time she was what crossed the situation in a bloke’s reading.” Nate wasn’t sure what to think about that. “You’ve actually got two of the cards from his reading, although the other’s not reversed as his was. His past has become your foundation, his conflict is your future. Which isn’t to say they’re linked, just that I see the familiarity of the cards coming up. His reading didn’t make a lot of sense,” Nate admitted. “I don’t fail often, but I might well have failed on that one.”
He reached out, hand on her shoulder, rubbing lightly. “I hope that whether you’re pregnant or not, it’s whichever you want it to be. And if you need help with anything, you know you’ve got Luag and me.” He didn’t want to continue with the reading, until he knew she was ready, since what he’d said so far brought out an emotional reaction.
“It would be breaking some type of confidence to ask who the other reading was for, wouldn’t it?” She asked as she stared at the cards and then at him. She frowned at his words, not really making sense of them at all. His past has become your foundation, his conflict is your future. She had no idea why that was sticking in her head and creating a sense of dread in her stomach.
“Thank you,” she replied, her words heartfelt. She appreciated every offer of help and expression of friendship that was offered. “You both are so good to me.” She leaned toward him for a moment before taking a deep breath and returning her focus to the cards. She wanted to know what they said for her.
“You’re welcome.” Nate smiled at her, then as she turned her attention back, so did he. He slid his hand along the table, next to the line of cards up the side. “Your own attitude is the nine of sword, reversed. You’re being patient, and you see that time brings healing, and tomorrow is another day. You have to keep on keeping on in order to get somewhere. Those around you, however, are a bit worried. They see you as the hanged man.” He touched the card that was right-side up, despite the upside down look of the man hanging from his foot. “Your life has paused, and you’re in a place where decisions have been suspended. They’re worried that you’ll surrender yourself and come out the other side different than you started out.”
The next card was the four of swords, a dire looking card with a man in repose upon a dais, four swords sticking out of him. “This one isn’t as bad as it looks. It actually means a release from suffering, or a rest after a fight. It’s a card of change for the better, but it can mean something dire to get there. It might be both a hope and fear, as you’re looking for the silver lining, but afraid it’s stuck in a rain cloud.”
The last card of the reading was the three of cups, and Nate thought the meaning was almost obvious just from the look of it: a man and a woman entwined as if dancing, pleased smiles and three full cups to enjoy. “In the end, everything turns up okay. Whatever it is you’re doing, whatever journey you’re taking, it ends in happiness and gives you pleasure. You find hospitality and you have good luck. It just might be bumpy along the way.”
Mandy listened, her mind racing. “I could take this to mean that in the end everything will be alright, however, I know it isn’t that easy.” She sipped the tea and stared at the cards. “I know one thing is for certain, I am already different than when I started out and I don’t think I can ever go back to that person.” She set the teacup down and hugged herself. “I woke up this morning without my children, without my husband..” She swallowed with some difficulty and closed her eyes for a moment. “I was in a strange bed and I am terrified by what the future is going to bring.” Admitting it was one step on the way to working through it, she had always been Terry’s wife, the twins mom.. She was nearly lost without them. “The nightmares are worse than I thought. I am going to kill those men that took my babies, hurt me.”
She sat up straight in the chair and leaned her elbows on the table as she reached out to touch the last card. The three of cups. “Tell me, Nate, do the cards tell you anything about the path I am on now? Am I making a wrong decision?” She hesitated a moment before deciding that Nate was her friend, if she needed to start somewhere, she would start by telling him. “I made the major decision to stay with a friend for a few weeks since my home was taken, except my friends might not understand why I would chose Draco Malfoy or why I would value his friendship so much.” She looked up at him, her hazel brown eyes clouded with emotion. “I am merely afraid choices I make now will hurt my future. Terrified actually.”
“Draco Malfoy.” Nate’s eyes widened and he pushed his chair back, going to the desk to pull out a well-worn notebook where he kept logs of all the readings he did, with the dates and his notes and interpretations. He remembered bits and pieces, but when he was looking for connections and the larger picture, he needed these notes. Sitting back down, he flipped through the pages to find the reading he had done and opened the book to confirm what he thought before he said anything. He let his breath out in a huff. “Remember I mentioned that two of your cards had shown up in another reading? You’re right, I likely shouldn’t say this, but if he’s part of what’s on your mind, I think I actually should. It was a reading I did for him.”
He smoothed his fingers over the page. “It was under protest, on his part. He doesn’t believe in Divination, but I had a theory I wanted to test out, about some other readings I’d done, and the part I thought he might play in it. But his reading came up as a mass of confusion, which didn’t help his image of what I was doing. In the end, he commented that according to the reading, his love would win the war, using jealousy as a tactic. We talked about how marriage didn’t necessarily mean the romantic sense, it could be that his strength in alliance was going to make a difference.”
The look Nate gave Mandy was sober. “The cards aren’t explicit about your path, except to say it’s bumpy and it’ll come out all right in the end. They don’t say it’s right or it’s wrong, just that you’re starting out now, and you’ll get somewhere in the end that’s a good place to be. That implies it’s right, yeah? Do you think you’re on the right path? Do you think your choices had anything to do with what’s happened to Terry? I’m not so sure... your recent path and near future are both major arcana: that implies that the things going on around you are out of your hands right now, controlled by other factors. You just need to weather them and keep on going, which your own card says you’re already doing.”
She was thoughtful for a long moment about Draco’s reading. In some way their readings were intertwined and she wasn’t sure what that meant. She felt a pull, a draw to the former Slytherin that she couldn’t explain. They definitely clicked on a level she didn’t understand but it was more than an attraction to him or a desire to be his lover, it was genuine friendship. He didn’t seem to judge her for her shortcomings and mistakes like most people did and she respected the fact he had been through a lot but was still far stronger than most men she knew. “His love would win the war?” She nearly laughed at that statement. “His love, I think it takes a great deal for Draco Malfoy to actually love.” Other than his daughter she amended silently as she absently stirred the tea.
“Nothing about my current choices had anything to do with where Terry is now, I trust Draco implicitly.” It felt odd to say that about someone she had known less than three months but the combination of their conversations and meetings had proven to her that he was someone she could trust. She sighed and tried to fight off the frustration she was feeling. “You know it seems a lot like everything I do is out of my control and I really don’t like it.” She looked up at him. “You took the news that the twins and I are staying with Draco Malfoy fairly well, let’s hope that the rest of my friends are as understanding.” She knew Michael and Anthony were going to be fairly resistant to it.
“There’s a lot in this world right now that’s out of our control,” Nate said. “Seems like the Ministry likes it that way. It keeps us off-balance.” He rubbed her shoulder lightly. “As for Malfoy, he’s a customer of mine, and I know Luag talks to him. We were actually wondering if he was involved in the resistance.” He made a face, knowing how ridiculous that sounded. “There were a couple of readings where we thought he might be the Princess of Swords.” Looking over at her, he said, “He’s a prick sometimes, but if you trust him, you trust him.”