5.1
The Reading-
Alchemy comes and goes, leading me to the Divination classroom. The room is eclectic and maximalist, to say the least. I know almost no one in the class, so I sit in the back corner, trying to appear invisible. Trelawny, the teacher in charge, is a ball of energy. She tells us what we will be doing and calls each table to the front to pick a Tarot deck that "speaks" to us. As one of the first ones to choose, I quickly grabbed the black and gold box that caught my eye immediately. Back at my desk, I open the box and look at each card. Each card is black, with the only color being the engraved gold that makes up the design on the black backdrop.
Trelawny instructs us to shuffle our decks and only stop once we feel like we should. I skillfully play with the cards until I get bored of doing tricks. I place the deck on the desk and pick up the top card. Death. The card shows a grim reaper character cloaked in gold with a sword in its grasp. I stare at the card momentarily before I hear Trelawny approach me and look over my shoulder. She stands over me before picking up the card to show the class.
"The death card is misleading. It shows the death of something and the beginning anew." She places it back on the table. "Meaning that Mister Ansley will go through a transformation this year. We can only guess what the card is talking about now." She finishes before stalking off to another student to do another explanation.
I sit back and stare at the deck. I do another shuffle before pulling a random card from the middle of the stack. Death. I do it again. Death. I roll my eyes and pull out a book as the teacher is back at the front of the room, speaking more about the different meanings of the cards she has handed out. I read for a while before my attention returned to the deck of cards. Deciding to do one more reading, I pick up the cards oncemore. I listened to the teacher describe different readings for us to do and determined to do a three-card reading. The past, the present, and the future. Reversed Hermit, reversed Lovers, and finally, the death card. Looking at my book, I try to learn what they mean without reaching out for help from the teacher, who is still rambling in front of the rows of desks.
The class ends, and I bolt out of there. The walk to the library is long and full of maneuvering through the crowds of students who are all going their own way. I think of what I will do in the library once I get there, as it's my free hour before lunch. Once I entered the library, I saw that many tables were full of students reading quietly or doing work. I make eye contact with Irma, and she waves me over.
"Would you be a dear and help me put away some of the books that came in late?" Her offer just filled my afternoon. She guided me to the back room and showed me the stack of books on the ground next to the small table in the middle. She left me after telling me to organize them by genre and last name before telling her I was done, and then we would put them on the shelves. She came and got me right before lunch began, as I was too focused on the giant pile of books surrounding me to look at the time.
—
I enter the Slytherin common room to see that most couches and chairs are full of students doing their work, reading, or talking with friends. I decide to freshen up before returning to read in the corner of the dungeon room next to a window that looks out into the Black Lake. I grab anything I need and go back down the stairs.
I sit there for a few hours. The sun disappeared from the sky before I was disturbed by my work. I see two shiny black dress shoes from my peripheral vision. I look up to see the only boy I can say is my friend in the house Slytherin. Regulus is still in his uniform with his hands in his pockets, simply looking back at me until he opens his mouth to say, "Let's go." Immediately, I knew that he was talking about going to my room. We walk together in silence up the stairs to my dorm. I sit on my bed facing him as he sits at my desk. The silence is comfortable, as it's how we usually spend our time together. It's a few moments before I summon a poetry book he recommended before the break. We started to speak about the books we had each other read over the summer months. We also made a few comments on the letters we sent each other. We both know that we are the only friends our parents allow us to send letters to.
"Did you go to any of the parties?" He rolls his eyes before responding to my question. "I did. You, on the other hand, didn't." Ah, now I feel bad for not spending my time suffering with my friend surrounded by greedy pure-bloods and servants.
"How is William?" I tell him about my butler, and he tells me about the house elf that takes care of the house of Black. I say to him about the things I had William sneak to me. Everything that is Muggle-related is banned in Ansley Manor. We talk about our respective friends. Regulus appears more like a purist than I do since he only has pure-blood and mostly Slytherin friends. We talk until the early hours of the night. Regulus decides to leave alone after Arthur finally shows up at the dorm to sleep. As I lay in bed, my mind returned to the reading I had done earlier. I simmer in my thoughts before deciding to get back up and research the three cards I had pulled. It takes me hours of reading and taking notes to conclude, which makes me sure that something will change for me over the school year. I don't know if I am ready for it, however.
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