September 2nd, 1968
Andromeda always said that there was more incense in a Divination classroom than there was oxygen. She would explain that this was why students were so inclined to believe the nonsense fed to their minds. Now standing in the stuffy attic looking at a tense class of Ravenclaws and Slytherins, Narcissa finally understood her sister’s words. The room was nothing like any of the other Hogwarts classrooms that she’d been in. It was as if everything square had turned circular. The room, the tables, the crystal spheres that acted as a centerpiece to every surface - all round. She wouldn’t be surprised if there was a reason. She could see it so clearly in her mind’s eye - the professor, who was currently polishing one of many tinted orbs, explaining that time was not linear, but a circle with no beginning nor end.
Narcissa hated Divination. The idea that an academic subject taught to a lot of thirteen-year-olds possessed the ability to predict futures was nothing short of poppycock in her eyes. Combined with her family’s premature matchmaking, the very notion of knowing life before it happened was suffocating. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in foresight, it was that she didn’t believe that she needed any, nor did she believe that a witch or wizard who had been educated to be a professor would have a remarkable enough talent to predict anything worthwhile. It was for this same reason that she avoided Arithmancy (though predicting the future through numerical patterns seemed much more logical than holistic readings). All in all, it was a waste of her time to enroll in such classes when she could be studying anything else. Unfortunately for her, she’d proven to be too picky in her elective selection last June. By ruling out both Divination and Arithmancy, she’d been limited to Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, and Muggle Studies. Considering that Care of Magical Creatures didn’t seem promising and Muggle Studies was out of the question, she had written down Ancient Runes twice on her timetable request form. She had hoped that Professor McGonagall would let her off the hook or sign her up for two classes of Ancient Runes, but she was given no such luck. Thus, when she had received her schedule on the night of September 1st with the word “Divination” written for her first class, she could hardly believe it. Really, she shouldn’t have been surprised. Professor McGonagall didn’t cut anyone slack, but especially not Slytherins.
Narcissa should have known better than to show up this late. Though the class wasn’t supposed to start for another ten minutes, the room was already buzzing with chatter. Considering that the class was composed of the two most academically ambitious houses in the school and it was the first day of classes, this should not have come as a shock. Scanning the room, she noticed that luckily most people seemed to be talking amongst themselves, paying no attention to the latecomer. Nevertheless, as she resurveyed the room, she realized that her tardiness was not without consequence. In the center of the classroom, a stout woven stool sat vacantly next to a girl with long, ashy blonde hair, and it just so happened that the stool was the only available seat left in the room.
As she entered the sphere, Narcissa realized that her heels were still clicking on the hardwood floor, notifying the room of her presence. The sound earned a few glances but no one really looked at her save the blonde girl that she was to sit next to. It was at this moment that Narcissa realized what a grave mistake showing up late was. Yes, pale skin, elfish cheekbones, and ghastly eyes round with curiosity, this was a familiar face. She really should have known from the platinum mane that cascaded down her back - her partner was no other than Pandora Lestrange.
Had it been any other member of the Lestrange family, she could have been partial to the idea. Perhaps she would have even gotten along well with her partner, but there was no such possibility with someone like Pandora. Narcissa figured the name suited her - Pandora. Just like Pandora’s box, she seemed to let out trouble. It wasn’t that Narcissa loved being told what her future would be or which of the Sacred 28 families she would inevitably settle down with, but there was something revolting about a defying pure-blood. It made her feel as though everything that she did, everything that generations of her family had worked for, was being thrown away. Sure, Narcissa Black may have only lived thirteen years thus far, but she felt the weight of generations of her family’s image. Thoughts of children that wished they be sorted into Slytherin; teenagers that hoped to end up with a suitable pure-blood; and parents that prayed to bear a gifted, worthy, and pure child all filled her mind with partiality to the pure-blood lifestyle.
It felt like spit in her face to see Pandora’s sorting, seeing a Lestrange be sorted into Ravenclaw. Granted, Pandora was not the first nor the last to disobey the ways of pure-blood tradition. The Weasleys and Longbottoms, for instance, were nothing short of embarrassments, but they were old news. New news? Her sister. Ever since Andy had met that muggleborn she’d been acting differently. She was lucky that Bella hadn’t noticed yet - too busy with Rodolphus and the excitement of being in her final year to give a damn about anyone else. Then again, regardless of circumstance, Bella wasn’t known for her intuition, Narcissa was. The changes were subtle but Narcissa was no fool. Andy had become softer. She smiled more, her forehead wrinkles had faded, and her cheeks had more color. She was glowing and it irritated Narcissa to no end. It wasn’t that she despised seeing her sister happy, but rather that she disapproved of the means in which she’d found that happiness. She could only pray that Andy would grow out of it. If not, her sister could very well be the next Pandora Lestrange, and what a scandal that would be.
The stool creaked as Narcissa sat down. She could tell from her peripheral that Pandora was still looking at her, not quite staring but if she kept it up-
“Well well,” said a familiar voice close by, “Narcissa Black.”
Her head whipped around to find Evan Rosier at the table just behind her, grinning from ear to ear. The room was so cramped that she could smell egg on his breath from breakfast.
“Evan,” she replied curtly, pressing her lips together into a tight smile.
“Hey so I was thinking,” he lowered his voice just above a whisper, “seeing that we’re both stuck with ‘Claws, why don’t we swap places so that we can work together?”
Narcissa opened her mouth. “I…” she trailed off, discreetly checking to see if Pandora was eavesdropping. Yet, it seemed her partner had instead found interest in a tarot deck that Narcissa hadn’t noticed, but before she could consider Evan’s offer, the professor cleared her throat loudly.
“Good morning, I assume that everyone has found their way alright. I understand that class is to begin at 8:00, but seeing that everyone is here I don’t see the harm in starting a little bit early,” the professor paused, looking up from the iridescent ball that she’d been polishing, “After all, the future waits for no one.”
A few ill-intended chuckles echoed throughout the room, but if the professor had heard, she didn’t let on. Instead, she placed the ball on a crooked shelf with the rest of her collection and circled to the front of her table.
“For those of you who do not know, I am Professor Collymore and I will be teaching you all about the art of divination this term,” she paused again, tossing the polishing rag over her shoulder, then continued, “Curious thing, divination, it takes a gift to master it. One could have the most accurate telling in history and not know because they lack proper interpretation skills. True tellings of foresight are few and far between, but for educational purposes, we can pretend. Some of you will only ever pretend, and some of you may excel further. My job is to provide you with tools to help you understand; your open-mindedness or lack thereof is up to you.”
Narcissa felt her eyes roll on their own accord, though most of the Ravenclaws seemed to be listening intently. She should have jumped on Evan’s offer…
Meanwhile, the professor continued. “The unfortunate truth of fortune magic is that there’s no way to see the full picture, no way to interpret the entirety of a reading’s context or what it means. You will never know a foretelling’s meaning or validity until the moment has passed you by and you are given the gift of hindsight. Some say it’s tragic, but I believe it’s what makes our lives worth living. You can’t spoil the magic before it happens, and sometimes I believe the magic is whatever your free will may choose it to be…”
The professor trailed off, eyes dilating upon the back wall as if she was seeing a prophecy right then and there. That would be tacky , Narcissa mused, but then the professor turned her gaze toward the room again.
“Right then,” She clapped.“You may have noticed that each table has a tarot deck and a guidebook to accompany it. Today we are going to be doing tarot readings. Seeing that the majority of you have likely never handled a deck before, these readings will be purely for academic purposes. You will be interpreting the cards simply as you read them and without bias to the recipient.”
Narcissa raised her eyebrows, both of which were suddenly invisible behind her thick bangs. Oh for Merlin’s sake, Narcissa thought, eying Pandora, Of all things, surely a professor claiming to know everything about the mind would know that personal biases could not be helped. She didn’t know when Hogwarts had become such a substandard institution. It was moments like these that she wished that she could have attended the Hogwarts that her parents attended, before Dumbledore had become headmaster. Realistically, she wished her father had taught her more French as a child so that she could have the option to move back to France with the rest of the Black family and attend Beauxbatons instead. Alas, neither was an option. Women like her didn’t get options. Her enrollment in this class was proof of that.
“I would not attempt to cheat your way through this,” Collymore placed her hand over the deck on her own table and moved her fingers as if she was petting the air. “A tarot deck has 78 cards. Since our readings today will consist of three cards each, there are 456,456 different combinations that can be created.”
Just as her middle finger was curling its way back into her palm, the top layer of cards jolted up. Then, all at once, the deck briskly riffled into her palm.
“If you attempt to give more than one person the same reading and think that I won’t notice, I will. There is already enough doubt among the minds of wizards when it comes to the study of metaphysics, and I do not fancy the weakening of my students’ minds due to false readings. Is that understood?”
A few snickers murmured around the room, and then- “What’ll you do? Send us to detention?”
The professor clicked her tongue, “That is exactly what I intend to do. Might I ask what your name is?”
“Crouch,” the boy stated, Narcissa snuck a glance behind her to see him raise an eyebrow defiantly. “Barty Crouch.”
The professor pursed her lips. “I will see you after class,” she paused, “If anyone else would like to question my teaching or my expectations you may speak now, but I cannot promise that you will not end up in detention with your classmate, Mr. Crouch.”
The room went silent. “If that is all, you may each begin. The student with the deck placed in front of them will be reading first, and the student without will be read. For best results, you will find it easiest if you are honest with your classmate.”
Sounds of soft conversation making and deck shuffling ensued shortly thereafter. Many people resumed conversations that they’d been having before Professor Collymore had spoken, while others were taking their first readings very seriously. Unfortunately for Narcissa, Pandora fit in with the latter group, thumbing through the deck and whispering to herself as she went.
After a beat, Narcissa spoke up, “If you do not mind I would like to get my daily horoscope out of the way,” but Pandora was still fanning through the deck, fixated on the face of every card.
“Excuse me,” Narcissa tried again, “I’d like to-”
“Seventy-eight,” Pandora interrupted, finally looking up.
“Yes,” Narcissa wanted to bang her skull against the crystal centerpiece, “Were you even paying attention? She told us how many there were, you didn’t have to waste time.”
“I was only checking to make sure. I would not fancy leaving out a possibility, would you?”
“Merlin, I honestly just want to get it over with if that’s alright?”
“Yes of course that’s alright.”
Pandora smiled, the brunette’s sarcasm flying over her head, and flipped the deck face down. She then proceeded to pull three cards from the top, laying them out in front of herself.
“Oh,” Pandora said, her eyes flicking from card to card, “This is an interesting one.”
“How so,” Narcissa said, raising her eyebrows while she waited for the rubbish that was sure to spill from the blonde’s lips.
Pandora opened her mouth and then closed it again. She leafed through a few more pages, hesitantly pausing between flippings, as if deep in thought.
“Oh just spit it out,” Narcissa hissed, standing up out of her stool to see the tops of the cards better, but Pandora continued to read, ignoring Narcissa’s impatience.
“Give me that.” Narcissa reached over the centerpiece and grabbed the spine of the book but Pandora pulled back.
“No,” she stated, her eyes boring into Narcissa’s while her mouth formed a thin line. She held the stare for a moment more than she felt comfortable, then went back to reading. Narcissa could feel her body becoming irritable. She wanted more than anything to yank the book out of her hands. If the spine ripped then so be it, but instead she sat back down and placed her hands on her lap. Pettiness is power too , she thought to herself, though she was hardly convinced since her opponent could clearly care less. Honestly, she should have just put down Arithmancy. Then she’d at least be in something less horrible than a class of tarot, tea leaves, and-
“In your past, I see a structure built around you,” Pandora started out of nowhere. “This structure seems menacing as if it bears teeth to the souls trapped within, but you…” she trailed off and looked up, “Seemed to have been very comfortable inside the structure. You seem to think that you are in a bubble that has protected you from predators outside.”
Narcissa was about to make a remark about how her past is quite frankly none of her business, but Pandora continued before she got the chance.
“In the present, it seems as though you are desperately clinging to the mindset of your past. You want to believe that you are protected and the structure is a shelter, but, in time, your grip on this ideology will loosen and you will find yourself on the outside of the structure. Here, you will realize that the structure was not a shelter, but the mouth of a predator.”
“So I’m like a bird in the mouth of a crocodile,” Narcissa laughed emptily, “Charming.”
“Worse.”
“Worse than being in a crocodile’s mouth? Oh, I’d love to hear more of this.”
Sarcasm was dripping from Narcissa’s tongue, but if Pandora noticed it this time, she didn’t let on. Instead, the corners of her lips turned up smugly.
“Well,” she said as a matter-of-factly, “birds and crocodiles form a mutually beneficial relationship. The crocodile benefits from the bird cleaning its teeth, and the bird benefits from eating stuck pieces of food. You, on the other hand, do not have such luck. The mouth that you dwell in will feast on your carcass if you do not come to this realization.”
“My…carcass…”
For the second time that day, Narcissa resisted slapping her right across the face. She was better than that. The Noble House of Black was better than that. She wasn’t about to waste her time with someone like Pandora, so instead, she retracted her lips into something that could be called a smile if not for the menacing look in her eyes. “My turn.”
Hovering over the table, she plucked all three cards and snatched the deck, hands shaking from the hot temperament flowing through her veins. After knocking the deck against the table and placing it face down, she pulled three cards from the top of the pile and sequentially placed them on the surface in front of her.
“Doing alright ladies?”
Narcissa had been so caught up in her own emotions that she hadn’t even noticed that the professor had gotten up from her table.
“Yes,” Narcissa said curtly, “I was just about to give Pandora her…reading.”
“I see,” the professor replied, “Do you mind if I watch?”
Narcissa forced a smile, “Not at all.”
She then proceeded to flip each of the cards over.
Shit
“Not quite,” the professor said, hinting at the mistake that she’d warned against at the beginning of class.
“I forgot to shuffle them,” Narcissa supplied, hoping that it would be enough of an explanation.
The professor looked disappointed but nodded. “I did say that I would give you a detention for that, however, since it's the first day I will give you another chance.”
Narcissa picked up her wand and pointed it at the deck, attempting to shuffle the deck in the same fashion they shuffled playing cards as children, but was again interrupted by the professor.
“Ah, we do not use wands to shuffle tarot decks,” she said simply, “Just the hands.”
“Right,” Narcissa said tightly. She hated when teachers gave her special attention. She could feel Evan’s warm egg breath over her shoulder, watching her perform for the professor. She took a deep breath and began to rearrange the deck by hand. Then, when she’d figured it was random enough, she placed down three cards.
The professor sighed.
“What?” Narcissa asked sharply, sharper than she had meant to.
“Watch your tone, young lady,” the stout woman reprimanded.
“Answer her question,” a boy from a high riser said coolly. Narcissa looked up to see that it was Lucius Malfoy. Odd, Lucius didn’t speak up often. When he did, he typically had good reason.
“Detention!” The professor’s voice boomed in the small sphere.
“For what? You didn’t even tell her what she did,” Lucius said, still maintaining perfect composure.
“Mr…”
“Malfoy.”
“Malfoy,” she repeated, “Your classmate here failed to cleanse the deck before pulling her cards. You, on the other hand, failed to cleanse your mouth before speaking to your teacher.”
“I don’t talk sweetly to mudbloods,” he shrugged. A collective gasp swept the room. Disrespecting a teacher was one thing, calling them a slur on the other hand…
“Class dismissed,” the professor announced. She had turned so pale in the face that Narcissa almost felt bad for her. Almost. “Except for you and Mr. Crouch.”
Narcissa picked up her books with fervent haste, rushing to get out of that suffocating attic. The atmosphere was too much to handle, but as she made her way towards the back, she felt someone grab her arm. Her head whipped around to see Lucius, a smile playing on his lips.
“Why did you do that?” she sniped at him, she felt her forehead wrinkling in stress. Merlin’s beard, she was turning into Andy, well, besides the traitor part.
“It just felt right,” Lucius said nonchalantly, “I’d do it again.”
She scoffed, “Don’t bother.”
She yanked her hand back but soon realized that she’d overestimated his grip. Before she knew what was happening, she was falling onto one of the round tables, knocking a deck of tarot cards and a crystal ball onto the ground. Her eyes widened and she looked back at Lucius. He just winked. At that Narcissa turned on her heel and strutted out of the classroom, but not before hearing, “Are you not going to pick that up? You just earned yourself a detention, young lady!”
Narcissa just kept walking, only thinking that suddenly Lucius Malfoy was the most infuriating person that she’d ever met.