It was late, the day before the first Hogsmeade trip of the year. I was restless and couldn't sleep for the life of me. Quietly, I slipped out of bed, forgoing the shoes, since socks were quieter, grabbed my art supplies, and left Gryffindor Tower in search of a place to draw. I supposed I could have done so in the common room, but I felt a bit on the rebellious side.
Wearily, I padded through the halls, not making a sound. My heart nearly stopped when I saw Peeves the Poltergeist floating around, but I managed to avoid him without much incident. I kept walking until I noticed a door that I was quite sure had never been there before. I stared at it for a good minute before deciding it was real, not a trick door like the castle enjoys producing for unwary students. Cautiously, I turned the handle and opened it.
I raised my eyebrows at the room beyond. There was gray, wall-to-wall carpeting, windowless walls, and easels and lamps every few feet. Some cans of paint were piled against one wall, and there was an entire station just for colored pencils and brushes. "No way," I whispered, looking around. How could I have not discovered this room before? This wonderful, beautiful room that had everything one could possibly want? Grinning my head off, I stepped inside.
. . .
"I'm not kidding, Mickey, it was the most incredible thing I've ever seen!" I insisted. "Al, you believe me, right?"
"I think you're batty." she said as we walked through Hogsmeade. "It's obvious you were dreaming."
"Dreaming? Mickey, I wouldn't make this up!" I said, mock-offended. "You just wait, I'll bring you there tomorrow."
"I b-believe you." Al said. "Hogw-warts is weird."
"Right you are, Al. Oh, what's this, then?" I said, pausing to look at a store as we passed. "Lila's Old-Fashioned Magic Shoppe."
"Sounds like rubbish to me." Mickey said.
"It could be fun! And look, she does fortune telling!" I said, grabbing her arm. "That should be a laugh, at the very least."
"T-Trelwaney's sister." Al joked.
"Possibility. Let's look." I said as we walked through the door. A little bell went off as we entered, and we noticed the place was fairly empty, save for the shelves of really old magical items. It looked more like a medieval witch's shop than anything modern. In fact, I was fairly sure I was looking at a book of incantations and chants. The really long spells no one uses anymore because they've all been shortened. Chants were really only ever used for incredibly complicated Dark Arts.
"Look," said Al, already spotting something. "Is that a g-genie lamp?"
"It might be, to the right touch."
We looked up to see a tall, pretty young woman with long, curly brown hair. She had it tied back with a colorful scarf and wore a loose, blue shirt with jeans. The amount of jewelry she wore was equal to that of my own, though she was much taller and didn't have any freckles. "Lila Heatherbee." she said. "What can I do for you?"
"You can read fortunes?" Mickey asked, tilting her head toward the sign out front.
"Several different ways, actually." she said. "There's palm reading, which is the pretty basic, general stuff, Tarot cards, which are really just for fun unless you're a mystic, tea leaves, which are kind of faulty, since omens can actually be interpreted in different ways, and crystal ball, which is pretty specific and probably your best bet if you really have to know."
"Ugh," I grunted. "No thanks. I've had enough of crystal balls."
"That's probably for the best, anyway. Knowing your future is very dangerous." she said solemnly. "Just out of curiosity, did you have a bad experience with crystal balls?"
"In Trelawney's class." Mickey said.
Lila nodded in understanding. "Oh. She is a Seer, but... rarely. She's been known to hit a couple prophecies on the nose, but the rest is just mumbo-jumbo. In her defense, it's rather hard to See until you've got the knack of it."
"Yeah, her crystals are shotty, too." I said. "Mine exploded on me."
This caused her brow to furrow. "Exploded? How?"
"There was this l-long crack," Al said, positioning his hands like he was holding a ball. "And it got b-bigger."
"Then it just exploded." I finished. "Into a million razer-sharp pieces."
"That's not shotty crystal." Lila said, going over to one of her shelves. "At least, I've never heard of a broken ball. It's only talked about jokingly. Did you happen to See anything in the ball before it burst?"
"No." I said, surprised she was taking this seriously. "Well, besides the crack."
"Hm. Thought as much. Too inexperienced." she muttered, pulling a crystal ball down from the shelf. "I would have liked to have gotten a look at it beforehand. Oh, well. Here, see what happens with this." She handed me the ball, but I hesitated.
"Er, yeah, last time I tried that, I was sent to the Hospital Wing." I informed her.
"Don't worry, I can heal you." she said. "And if it breaks, you'll be free of charge."
"I still don't want to." I said.
She pressed her lips together and looked down at the ball. "Well... I think that's for the best. The breaking ball doesn't sound quite right to me, so I'll use mine to look into your future." She paused on her way to a covered table. "With your permission, that is."
I shrugged. "Er... yeah, I suppose it's alright."
"I'm sorry. It's extremely rude to look into someone's future without asking." she said, uncovering her crystal ball.
"Didn't stop you before." said a disembodied voice, making us jump. The figure of a man dressed in old, very classy clothes materialized next to Lila.
"Yes, well, before we had a very suspicious character in our shop." she said.
"They aren't suspicious?" he sniffed, glancing at us.
"Erm... who is that?" Mickey asked, looking weirded out. I was, too. I was used to the Hogwarts ghosts, but I'd never seen ghosts anywhere else.
"This is Harmon." Lila said distractedly. "He's my resident ghost. Lives in the walls. Okay, I think we're ready. Could you sit across from me here? It's better if you're closer."
Cautiously, I sat, though as far as I could from Harmon. His disapproving stare freaked me out a little. Lila stared intensely into the ball and said, "Crystal, crystal, of the ball, show me what I want to know most of all."
"Told you you had to say something." I murmured to Al and Mickey.
Lila's eyebrows came together and she looked worried. "This is bad... Actually, this is really bad. Who are you?"
"Arty Malfoy." I said. "Why? What do you see?"
"Well, I'd rather not say." she said, leaning back in her chair. "But I know someone hates you. Strongly. And they're looking for you."
I snorted. "That's not a surprise." I said. "I already figured that bit out, and planned for it. I'll be fine."
"No, Arty, you misunderstand." she said, leaning closer. "If you already prepared for it, I wouldn't have seen it in the crystal."
I stared at her, my own eyebrows coming together. What exactly had she seen in that crystal? And what did it have to do with mine exploding during class?
"Erm, Lila? Not to be a bother, but I do believe your cat is getting into the bottled newts again." Harmon said in a bored voice as though none of this particularly mattered to him.
"Oh, bugger! Salem, get down!" Lila cried, jumping up and rushing over to rescue a black cat from the shelves. He meowed indignantly as she pulled him down and carried him back to her chair. "Sorry about that. He just thinks he owns the place. You know how cats are."
"I have a c-cat." Al said. "S-sort of."
"Sort of?" Lila asked.
"She's a shapeshifter." Mickey said. "She can only turn into things with fur, though, so she likes to be a cat."
"Oh? That sounds terribly interesting. What's her name?" Lila asked.
"Panacea." Al said.
"Ah, goddess of healing. You like that sort of thing?" she asked. He nodded and she smiled. "I could tell by your caduceus. I have a few very old recipes for remedies if you want."
"That w-would be cool." he said with a smile.
"Hey, aren't we going to hit the Three Broomsticks before we leave Hogsmeade?" Mickey asked.
"Yeah, we should get going." I said, wanting to leave the shop. The whole prophecy thing was making me anxious, and I wanted to get as far as possible from any crystal balls. We stood, said goodbye to Lila Heatherbee, and Mickey and Al had exited when Lila stopped me.
"That wasn't mystical mumbo-jumbo when I said I saw bad stuff in the crystal." she said earnestly. "Be wary. You are going to meet Harbingers, they're not going to like you very much, and it is very possible that you could die."
I looked at her. "What should I do?" I asked.
"Whatever you can to prepare yourself." she advised. "Study hard. It may seem tedious, but you'll need every bit of it."
I nodded. "Okay. And, erm... thanks for warning me." I said. "I know I was skeptical earlier, but you seem like you know what you're doing."
"Don't mention it. Go on, your friends are waiting."
I left the store, feeling inexplicably shaky. If Lila had been right about anything today, it would be that knowing one's future is bad.
. . .
Lila watched the three teens leave, arms folded and worry lines creasing her forehead. Something spectacular was going to happen to them, if only she knew what. But no, then again, she didn't want to know.
"I noticed you sugar-coated that girl's fortune." said Harmon, for once looking concerned. "Didn't you swear off doing that after last time?"
"I got the point across." she said, hugging herself.
"Yes, but how well? You said 'very possible that you will die', not 'almost certain'."
"She understands, Harmon." Lila snapped, turning and heading to the back room. "No need to go scaring her. Making her wary should be enough."
Harmon continued to watch the windows as his master left, seeming almost regretful. "We can only hope."
. . .
I really suck ass at this whole updating game.
