The Tower
I’ve always been extremely fascinated by divination. Prophecies, tarot cards, crystal balls, the lot of it. So starting my morning off with something I felt drawn to was a welcome change.
As I walked in and took in my surroundings, I was instantly flooded with the cozy environment created by tables draped in purple and blue and the cushions that littered around each one.
I took my seat at a table off to the side with 4 cushions, setting my bag beside me and pulling my hair back. Not many Slytherins “wasted their time” on a class as “foolish” as divination so I didn’t have any of my friends in this class. Unfortunately Diana had also opted out of it this year claiming she needed to cut back on the stress.
As the classroom filled in, mostly Ravenclaws with the occasional Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, my table remained empty. Class began and I was excited by the solitude granted by my solo seating, ready to listen to Trelawney. But my peace lasted merely a few seconds when the door burst open, filling the room with loud obnoxious laughter.
Trelawney paused her introduction to turn to our untimely guests. There in the door stood the two Weasley twins and their faithful sidekick Lee Jordan.
“Welcome gentlemen, please take your seats and conserve your energy for todays lesson” Trelawney said.
The boys stifled their laugh, before gracing me with their presence and destroying my peaceful solitude by plopping down ever so elegantly on the remaining three cushions of my table.
Luckily for me, Lee Jordan was a tolerable person, and my divider between me and the twins.
“Nott” he greeted sitting down next to me. “Jordan” I replied, turning my attention to the professor. As she spoke on about what we’d be doing today I found myself slipping further and further into the essence of the lesson and less worried about my seating partners.
When she finished her lecture, a deck of tarot cards appeared in front of everyone at each table. For todays lesson, she had wanted us to “Get to know our seat mates” by reading their cards.
Once Trelawney had finished her lesson chaos broke lose throughout the class and Lee, probably desperate to ease the awkward silence, spoke up, “Looking forward to watching you all go head to head on the pitch again this year” he said cheekily.
This got the conversation going, as grins and chatter broke out, quidditch being the Uniting factor for us.
“Slytherin is totally going to kick your arse this year” I said grinning at the the twins across from me.
“You wish” said one twin “Yea you’re not half the beater me and Georgie are” said the other.
“Oh please I’m better than both of you combined, and considering you have like some weird twin telepathy shite, that’s quite sad” I teased. “Anyways as much as I love taunting my inferiors, I want to start the assignment.”
The twins wrinkled their noses, “You actually like this rubbish”
“Well of course, it’s fascinating” I said looking at their blank faces across from me. Even Lee seemed to be on the same side as the twins for this one.
“Come on just give it a shot, here give me your cards”
Fred looked skeptical but George shrugged and handed me his deck.
I shuffled the deck knocking on it for a refresh before muttering under my breath, about a read for George while shuffling.
Soon a few cards had flew out of the deck, and I do mean flew. The enchanted cards left the deck in a graceful array heading towards where George was seated, each landing in a perfect line.
In front of George were the Ace of Wands, Temperance, The Lovers, and Six of Wands.
“So what does any of this mean anyway?” George asked eying the card spread suspiciously.
I grabbed the corresponding book to the deck and began to sift through the pages, “Ok so for a spread of four cards it should represent your past, present, future, and then give you advice” I paused looking at George’s cards.
“So the Ace of Wands, your past, is like a passion or a spark being ignited, and you harnessing creativity“ another pause, “Temperance, your present, is all about bringing in balance. The lovers, your future,” I say quickly taking a peak at the book, “Is pretty self explanatory. And finally your advice is the Six of Wands which basically is telling you to celebrate your accomplishments and let your ego inflate, something I personally don’t think any Gryffindor needs to do more of but hey listen to the cards I guess.” I say smirking.
“Rubbish” said Fred looking at his brothers cards, but handing me his deck. “If it’s rubbish you can do your own then” I said pushing the cards back towards Fred, “Well I figured since you enjoy this bullshite you’d be excited to do mine” he said a gleam of challenge in his eyes.
And he was right, I 100% wanted to find out if Fred had some secret messages in his cards so I sighed taking his deck and repeating the process.
The cards that aligned themselves in front of Fred were The Fool, the Knight of Wands, the Two of Swords, and the Page of Cups.
“Well,” Fred said expectantly, “Merlin do I have to do everything?” I sighed flipping through the guide.
“Well you are the expert” George said from next to his twin.
“Ok ok. So the fool, your past, is you leaving behind normality and letting your passion lead you to take a leap of faith, and to continue on a grand adventure with a positive attitude. The knight of wands, the present, is about pursuing goals recklessly and without stopping to think, it’s about impulsivity which may lead to unforeseen consequences.” I pause, “Very Lion like of you.”
“Ok snake” Fred mumbled earning a glare from me across the table. “The two of swords, your future, will include waves of emotions and surprising new friends. And your advice, the two of swords. It’s about not budging or thinking logically. You’ve blindfolded yourself, this is your reminder to stay clear headed and take off your blindfold to confront the issues.”
“Jordan, you want me to read yours?” I asked sticking out my hand for his cards.
“Knock yourself out Nott”
Lee’s cards were the Four of Cups, the Seven of Swords, The Lovers, and The Wheel of Fortune.
“Ok so for your past, it’s about changing your perspective when you feel negative, the past may have been filled with imperfections and failures but dwelling on them won’t do anything, change in perspective will show there’s still support and beautiful things waiting.”
“Your Present, your going through shit and sometimes you can’t be completely honest, just make sure your omission isn’t hurting anyone especially yourself, make sure this is the best way to deal with your situation. Your future, is the lovers, which again is pretty self explanatory, and your Advice is life is always changing, shit happens, good things are followed by bad things and vice versa just ride the wave. Nothing last forever, the good or the bad so just appreciate life”
Fred laughs from across me, “Hey Georgie you and Lee both got the lovers for your future, maybe it’s about each other”
Our whole table breaks out into giggles at Fred’s little comment, but as I look to a laughing Lee I can’t help but notice a glint of something in his eye.
“Ok ok ok, I wanna read mine before class ends, Jordan will you do the honor”
Lee looked at me in questioning, “sure” he said taking my cards, “Just knock on the deck three times to clear their aura and shuffle them then ask for a reading for me and the cards will do the rest” I said encouragingly.
Lee did as instructed, and in front of me landed the Ten of Swords, the Two of Cups, The Tower, and The Star.
I opened the book, flipping through the pages silently. A frown creasing my forehead as I read about my theorized life.
“Well women what do they say” George spoke up from his spot at our table.
I swallowed putting on a smirk, before looking him in the face, “A snake never reveals her secrets” I stated as the bell rang and I grabbed my bag standing up. I hurried off, throwing a “See you on the pitch, boys,” Over my shoulder. And although I normally wouldn’t take it to heart too much I couldn’t help frowning over the tower looming in my future.