Who: Lavender, Susan What: Some crazy divination Where: Library When: 13 January Rating: PG
Lavender had stationed herself in the back of the library hours ago, doing layout after layout of her tarot cards to practice for the practical she had later that week. She had been at it so long her eyes were beginning to gloss over, but she couldn't stop, because she didn't feel ready enough.
Across the library sat Susan, who'd suffered through stares and fits of giggles and casual remarks about "horns" with only an amused grin. She honestly felt wretched, but there was nothing to do but pretend it was hilarious. After most of the students had cleared out, she began clearing up her books and quills; she'd nearly finished before noticing a shock of color through the few empty slots in some bookcase. Curious, she settled her bookbag back to the chair and slipped around the shelf. "Lavender?" A soft sound and she slid down to her knees, hoping she hadn't interrupted too badly.
She had been on the verge of heaving her textbook against the wall when Susan interrupted her, looking up with gratitude in her eyes. "Hi." She said, her voice rough with fatigue and disuse. Glancing at her watch, she realized with horror that she had been sitting in the library for four hours.
With a friendly hand, Susan reached out to squeeze the other's knee, face nothing but concerned. "Are you alright?" Lavender didn't sound well, although it took a bit more than hours in a library to quash the spirits of -that- girl. "Can I help you clean up or anything?"
She cleared her throat, trying to make herself sound normal again. "I'll be fine. I just have a big practical in Divination and Professor Trelawney's been coming down on us so hard lately." She said, shrugging. "Would you like me to do a reading for you? I've completely run out of motivation to divine my own future at this point."
Susan didn't hesitate, although to be honest she found Divination a bit dodgy. "Absolutely." She settled her legs beneath her and peered down at the cards. "What do you need me to do?" This - a bit of a bright spot to her day. She was glad to be talking with Lavender again.
Lav was glad that Susan seemed to be alright with the idea. She felt terrible about the drawings on the Hourglass, but she didn't want to bring it up indelicately. Lord knew Lav was prone to indelicacy. "Just think of a question you'd like the answer to, and shuffle the cards while you think about it over and over." She slid the deck across the table.
Susan scooped up the slippery cards into her palms; her face was ever-so-slightly drawn as thoughts rasped past. Her parents. She shuffled. That wasn't a question. She wanted to know anything. Shuffle. Would they be okay? Yes. Would they be okay? With a pained carefulness, she slid the cards across each other, shuffling, splitting, and shuffling again until motioned to stop.
Lav stopped her by reaching out for the cards, arranging them until they were sitting even in their deck. "I'm going to do a four card spread. The first card represents you, the second the past, the third the present, and the last, the future."
Susan just nodded, not terribly familiar with spreads or the cards at all. But she understood past, present and future, and assumed that Lavender would explain. "Thank you." Polite as ever.
Lavender laid down the first card, representing Susan. "The Hermit, Divinatory. Counsel, knowledge, prudence. Discretion, caution, vigilance, circumspection. A tendency to withdraw, to withhold emotion. Fear of discovery."
Susan blinked a bit. Having never paid much mind to divination, it made her a uneasy how correct that single card was. She smiled a bit awkwardly. "Aha. Suppose so!" and fidgeted a bit with her robes till the next was laid out.
She smiled a bit at the girl's reaction, not commenting. She had known doubt when she had seen it. Laying out the second card, she said. "The past. The Four of Cups, reversed. New possibilities, new relationships, new approaches to old problems, new knowledge."
She nodded, unsure but interested in what was next. Her eyes still flicked back to the Hermit card, wondering about herself for a moment. Fear of discovery. That frightened her.
Lav waited a bit to see if see if she was going to say anything, then flipped the next card and laid it on the table. "Nine of cups..." she said, eyes transfixed on it as her body went limp.
It took her a moment and the jerk of a harshly beating heart to realize what had happened. "Lavender!" She was out of her chair in seconds and rushing around the table to lean into the girl's limp form. Wild ideas scattered through her. Nurses, McGonagall, help. Her fingers slid over Lavender's back nervously to give her the slightest of shakes.
At the shake, she looked up, eyes glittering a brilliant green but somehow unfocused. She was staring off into the middle distance, her body trembling as she began to speak in a strange, husky, otherworldly voice. "Nine of Pentacles standing upright in cupping hands. They are protecting the Nine of Pentacles, shielding it from harm. The Ten of Cups is there, but it is smeared with blood you can't wipe off. The next is obscured, I rub my eyes but I can't make it out, the Seven of Wands hung upside down. I have to focus. The fourth is right before me, encased in glass. It is inches away but it is shining so bright I can't tell what it is. I can't..." She said, then a shock went through her body and she went limp again.
Stricken by two completely polar desires, Susan stumbled a bit in search of a quill. She dragged one out of some inner pocket and hastily scribbled confusing keywords on her arm. Her writing grew messy near the end and she threw the quill aside after assuring herself that some semblance of the message wouldn't be forgotten. "Lavender," she whispered, leaning into her friend, rustling her by the shoulder. A shake. "Lavender!"
Again, at the shake she looked up, her eyes focused this time and seeming to have returned to herself. "Susan!" She said, standing and throwing her arms around the girl. She was still trembling, her entire body shaking like a leaf. "It was like I was there, but shoved aside. I was in my body but I couldn't control it." She said, not really comprehending. Could it really be true? "What just happened?" She asked, needing confirmation
And Susan held her, still blinking, still confused, but squeezing the other girl tight in her arms. "I... I don't know what just happened. You said strange things. I don't... I didn't understand." Leaning back then, she gripped Lavender by the shoulders. "Do you feel alright now? We should go see Madame Pomfrey."
She rested her forehead against Susan's shoulder, feeling incredibly weak of the sudden. "I feel so tired." She said, shaking her head. "It can't be..." She said quietly.
Susan hushed her, rubbed her back, and gave her another squeeze. "I don't think we should do these cards anymore," she husked, lips trembling as half her attention devoted itself to the care of her friend, the other half to remembering again and again... ten of cups. smeared with blood. She hadn't the faintest idea of its meaning, but she was frightened.
She nodded, picking up the deck and shoving it roughly into her rucksack. "We need to tell someone." She said, her brain working as Susan's was... seven of wands, upside down, blurry
Susan blinked. "Wh-who?" She looked around wildly for her own bag, but it was across the library. "Do you need help?" She put out an arm for support.
"No, I just need to know what to do." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "McGonagall?"
Susan nodded, then, firmly. Decisions she could make. "Let me grab my bag." And quickly to tables away and she scooped up her last book, thrusting it into the bag. "Everything is going to be fine." Although it was unclear who between them she was reassuring.
She took the other girl's hand, craving contact. She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't believe it. "Let's go."