The seer

It was already evening, when I finally arrived home after a long work day. I threw my jacket and shoes off and dragged myself to the kitchen. I was famished after spending the day covering for a sick colleague. Usually I was positioned in the Hall of Prophecy but today I had been moved to the Brain room. And that had been a nightmare.

Even the smell in the room had left me with a headache. And if the smell wasn’t enough, the large green talk in the middle took care of killing my motivation for the day. I had been tasked of doing daily PH -testing for the green slug that surrounded the brains in the tank. Even when I had been wearing full gear to avoid contaminating the tank, I was still feeling chills from the tendrils that had surfaced and grabbed my arm the minute I had tried to get some of the sludge to my testing device.

It had taken me many hours to finally even get the sample and then when I had tested it, it went somehow wrong and I had to do it all again. Dealing with brains, potions and chemistry were not my area of expertise. I was angry at my boss for moving me there because I had no real experience in the room. She had presented the task as an easy one and I had, with a naïve mind, believed her.

Susan had invited me for drinks this evening after hearing what had happened at work today. I contemplated on skipping the event but I knew I had to go. I wouldn’t break my promises.

I stomped to the kitchen and waved my wand. My pan jumped on to the table and the stove went on. I glanced around. What a mess I had left here earlier. Dirty dishes, breadcrumbs and a cold teacup. I’ll take care of it later. I chopped some onion, carrot and tomato. Then I waved the wand again and they walked to the now hot pan with some beans. A kettle washed itself and started boiling water for pasta.

I was so tired that I didn’t hear a ringing coming from the other room. Not until I had been listening to the sound repeatedly for ten minutes. I stopped stirring the frying vegetables and walked to the bedroom where I had left my new Nokia 232 phone. The black cellphone was ringing on my bedside table and I could see a name on the screen. “Mom”

I picked it up grimacing. “Hi”, I said.

“Where have you been? I have called you several times during last weeks!”

I rolled my eyes and started walking away from the bed. “I guess I haven’t gotten used to this phone thing yet. It’s so weird”, I managed to say. I didn’t see the clothes on the floor and almost fell on my face as my foot got tangled in them. “Shit”, I mumbled and pulled my leg away. My poor green dress.

“We got it for you so I could keep in contact with you. The phone cost a fortune, Maria. You should get used to it”, her stern voice said on the other end of the line.

I stepped in to the living room and laid my hand on the back of the sofa. My mom had insisted on buying me the Nokia. I could have just survived with letters but of course I had to be done the muggle way. No owl could fly from London to my home town. When I had fought against it, she had threatened to buy me a fax machine instead and I had accepted the phone with no complaints. But getting used to it took time.

“I know, I know. I’m just not used to having modern muggle devices like this”, I answered.

“It’s 1995, Maria. Get used to it.”

My nostrils flared. Something was off. Quickly I realized that I smelt something burning. I whipped my head and ran to the kitchen where my pasta water was boiling over. I put the phone on the table and took the kettle from the stove. Why do I have to suck so bad at this?

I picked the Nokia up again. “Sorry, my food was boiling over!” I apologized as my mother kept screaming at me.

“I thought something happened to you! You know there are weird disappearances going on right now in there! You need to be careful!”

“Mom, it’s okay. Listen to me”, I said to the phone with no avail. My mother just kept on going. “Mom, mom. You have nothing to be worried about!”

She huffed. “Maybe you should come back. I know it’s not the same, but here you would be safe at least. You could run your own divination shop and have a peaceful life”, I heard her say.

I picked up a spatula and stirred the frying food. At least it was still okay. “You know I like it here.”

“Yes, yes. But think about it”, she said and the added, “Jukka has been asking about you.”

“Jukka? You know what he did”, I warned.

“People change, Maria. He has always been a great lad. One mishap with another girl is nothing. You two were together for many years. He seemed really remorseful when he showed up asking about you. He even brought flowers”, mom said calmly.

“I didn’t move here to get rid of him. I left the home me and Jukka build together because he was suffocating me. Him cheating was only the culmination point when I said enough,” I said. “He is still a good man and he will make someone else very happy someday. Someone who wants the same things in life as he does.”

“I understand what you mean. But I still have hope that you two would work it out.”

I hummed. Jukka had been my first love. Of course, a part of me would always feel grateful for it. But I had always followed him around, I had done the things he thought were good for us. In the midst of building a home for us, thinking about the future, I had forgotten to think about myself. I had forgotten that I had dreams.

“I don’t think about him anymore. I haven’t for a while. It’s been half a year already since I saw him. You should believe when I say that it’s over.”

“I guess so”, my mother sighed. I heard a door slam on the other end of the line. “Your father says hello”, she smiled.

I chuckled. “Tell him that he still owes me a beer after I beat him in UNO.”

My mom laughed. “I’ll do.”

“I love you”, I said.

“I love you too. Take care of yourself”, she smiled.

The line went dead and I laid the phone down. Time for dinner

xxx

I stood in front of a pub. Susan was supposed to meet me here tonight. It was closer to 9 PM and I hoped I wasn’t too late. The doorbell rang when I pushed the wooden door open and entered the pub. My eyes scanned the crowdy place without finding her. I saw a couple playing pool, a few men smoking cigarettes and more people enjoying their time. I even saw a Pac-Man machine in the corner.

“Welcome to Hexenschuss, what can I get you”, a witch said from behind the counter. She was a short woman maybe in her mid-thirties.

“A Blue Angel please”, I smiled at her. She nodded and got to work.

After a moment I gave her four sickles and picked up my cocktail. Where was Susan? I scanned the room again and started walking towards the tables. There, with her back turned to me, I spotted her sitting with a couple of other people. Some of them I recognized.

“Hi”, I said walking up to them.

Susan got up squealing. “You came!” she said and hugged me. I tried not to spill my full drink.

I laughed. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“After the day you had, I wouldn’t have come”, she let go of me still smiling, “This is Maria Koski. Our new colleague. I’m sure some of you have met her before.”

I sat down on a chair next to Susan. “Hi”, I greeted.

With us sat three other people. Two men and one girl. I recognized Adrian from the Department of Mysteries. He usually did evening shift at the Hall of Prophecy when I did morning. He was recognizable from his blonde hair, green eyes and soft smile. He was always well-mannered, though he could also joke.

Susan introduced the two others. Next to her sat Donna and Patrick. Both of them worked at the Department of Mysteries too. They were a couple apparently and had met while interning at the Ministry. Later Donna was assigned over to the Death room when Patrick had continued his studies in the Space chamber. More about it they were not allowed to tell any of us as we could only know each other’s occupation. The only thing we could talk to each other was the brain room. Apparently, it had not been deemed dangerous enough to keep under the secrets from other sections of the department.

“All of us went through that. It’s like a welcome rite everyone has to go through”, Susan said when I shared what had happened to me at the brain room today.

“A welcome rite?” I exclaimed.

Patrick put his beer on to the wooden table and said, “When I went to that damned room, the brains pulled me under! It took two people to pull me out of there and get me to complete the task!” His brown eyes found mine and he smiled a toothy grin. “You did well.”

“I almost quit after that day”, Adrian murmured.

“You did it as well?” I asked.

Adrian pulled his sweaters sleeves up to his elbows and leaned forward. His face was starting to get a little bit red from drinking. “I started two months before you. Of course, I did it.”

“I saw Adrian do it”, Donna pitched in. Her voice was raspy from all the smoking she was currently doing and perhaps had been doing for a while. Her brown hair was messy and she ran a hand through it.

“We know”, Susan and Patrick said in unison.

“What? I’m only sharing this with the newcomer”, Donna defended herself. She brought the cigarette down and flicked it over the ashtray in the middle of the table. She shrugged.

“So, what I was saying, ah, I almost quit that day because of the bloody brains. It was a nightmare. Lucky Donna was there to help me. She is the reason why I’m still working with you guys”, the blonde guy on my right said.

“That’s so cute, Adrian”, Susan smiled. “Sounds like you’re in love.”

Adrian leaned back and shook his head. He was blushing. “No way”, he snorted.

“Don’t get greedy. Donna belongs with me”, Patrick said and put his arm confidently around Donna, who was rolling her eyes.

“Get off mee”, Donna whined.

Susan shared a look with me and smiled. Her eyes were full of happiness and maybe a little bit of haziness from drinking. She started to get up. “I’ll get another drink. You want one too?” she asked from me.

“I would like one”, Patrick lifted his hand.

“Get one yourself, Pat. Its girls time now”, Susan said and pulled me up.

I followed her through the crowd towards the bar. I didn’t understand how I hadn’t noticed her before when I came here. She was very easy to spot in a mass of people. Deep red curls, curvy figure and a a pair of devilishly high heels. I was sure she had a few suitors lined up for her already.

We waited for our turn by the bar and I browsed through the drink menu. Sex on the beach, Cosmopolitan, Espresso Martini, Jell-O shots and many more drinks and shots.

“This bar has many muggle drinks”, I said after turning the pages for a while.

“That’s why I like it”, Susan answered. She eyed the menu in my hands. “Although I like liquid euphoria, Nirvana, Amethyst and that stuff, it’s also nice for me just to get wasted without all those additional effects.”

I lowered the menu down. She leaned closer to my ear. “Although it’s a different story when I go clubbing. Then everything goes.”

I chocked. “Susan!”

“What”, she laughed. She pulled further away from me and was seeking eye contact with the bartender. “You gotta have some fun sometimes, right?”

The bartender finally saw us and leaned in. “Two Cable Cars, please”, Susan said loudly over the noise around us. The bartender lifted two glasses and flashed a quick smile.

Susan turned to me. “So now you’re officially an Unspeakable.”

I tilted my head. “I guess so.”

“Why do I sense that you’re not happy about it?”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Susan. I just had a really long day.”

She leaned into her hand, which was on the bar counter. “I get it. It takes a while to get over it. I had nightmares about those brains for months.”

“Did they strangle you in your sleep?” I smirked

Susan straightened up and started digging through her purse. “Actually no. I dreamt that it was me in the tank and the brains were having fun outside.”

The bartender lowered the ready drinks on the counter. “Ten sickles,” she said.

I went to get my own wallet out but Susan stopped me. “My treat. You can get the next round.”

We walked back to the table with our full drinks and joined the conversation Adrian, Donna and Patrick had going on. They were all starting to get a little drunk and I was happy to notice the effects myself. It had been a while since I was tipsy last time and I enjoyed the relaxing feeling in my body.

I didn’t stay long after that. We had one more drink together and then I ended up zoning out and dosing off while the others talked. I guess my introvert nature took reigns and decided I needed to go home to charge my batteries again.

I thanked everyone for the evening and left the group and started heading home. The day had indeed been long. I dug out a sober-up potion from my pockets and downed it. I had a stash of them because I wasn’t going to apparate drunk. It was a way for me to spend my money, but at least the apothecary I bought them from was doing profit.

With that I apparated away.