The Tarot Reading
By Firenzie
A/N: I know Harry and Ron hate Divination. But maybe they only hate their teacher. I mean, who wouldn't? This fic is about when Trelawny catches an unfortunate illness (which she had predicted weeks ago, of course *wink wink*), and a substitute teacher has to come in and teach them. To make up for that R/H I wrote, if it bothered any H/H fans, this one has hints of H/H. Lately, I've been writing stories where romance is more of an undertone, rather than the main focus, but I'll write some full-fledged romance fics soon, I promise.
Some more details about this particular fic... The professor's name is Verdadera Vidente: in Spanish, verdadero (note the O, not A) means "true;" I changed the last letter to make it sound more feminine...and vidente means "seer, sighted." The fic itself is [obviously] about tarot cards, something I have absolutely no knowledge of. I just got some basic information from a website, so I doubt I'll be even close to recreating what getting a tarot reading would be like. Please forgive my ignorance. Also, it was meant to end more romantically, but an idea came to me on a whim, and so it's like -- well, you'll see.
Disclaimer: Oh, please. Should I even bother with this anymore? It doesn't take a genius to know I don't own Harry Potter, all right? As for the information about tarot cards (the long, boring paragraphs I warn you about), I got that from a website, Tarot and Astrology [http://www.iol.ie/~aubrey/]. I didn't write those, okay, and by admitting it, it's not plagiarism.
* * *
Ron and Hermione looked up as Harry entered the Great Hall unusually late, dragging his feet along and constantly yawning, as he slowly made his way down to the Gryffindor table. He plopped into an empty seat next to them, and upon close examination, his emerald eyes were bloodshot, he had purplish dark circles and bags underneath them, and his hair, though normally unmanageable, looked even worse.
"What happened to you?" Ron asked, his mouth full with bacon and scrambled eggs. "You look like you haven't slept in years."
"No, just last nigh -- last night," he said blearily, yawning in the middle of his sentence. He laid his head on the tabletop, while Hermione forked over some food onto his plate for him. "I didn't get a wink of sleep studying for all our exams."
Hermione's mouth opened instantly, no doubt to lecture Harry on the evils of procrastination, but she decided to keep quiet about anything that would only make him more tired. "So are you ready for them?"
He lifted his chin off the surface of the table, only high enough to manage a small bob of his head that constituted as a nod. Then he dropped his head back down.
"We've got Charms first," Ron told him, which was about as productive as speaking to the soccer players on Dean's West Ham poster, "and then Trelawny after lunch. Isn't that great?" he asked, his voice dripping heavily with sarcasm.
"Well, at least I'll be able to get my rest," Harry said, taking a sip from his goblet.
"I don't know why you two still bother with Divination," Hermione said stiffly. "It's ridiculously imprecise and pointless. Ron, you could do with taking something sensible like Muggle Studies--" Ron made a face, but she failed to notice -- "and Harry, you'd probably be interested in Arithmancy, it's really quite--" She finally realized that neither of her friends were listening to her. "I just think that Divination is a big waste of your time. Just a giant guessing game."
Ron and Harry couldn't argue with her there; nor did they even care to.
"Never mind," she said exasperatedly, seeing Ron had become as dazed out as Harry. "You two better wake up now. We've got Charms in five minutes, and Professor Flitwick said it would be much, much more difficult than it ever has been..." she droned on and on.
Harry finished his breakfast, and they all got up, being some of the last to leave the Great Hall. As they walked to the Charms corridor, Hermione bored them out of their minds by reminding them of nearly every spell they had learned since they came to Hogwarts. For once, Ron and Harry were glad to get into a classroom, just to stop her from talking.
The test wasn't quite as difficult as Professor Flitwick had been warning them. Harry cursed about all the time he had wasted, learning advanced charms they wouldn't even be attempting until the end of sixth year. But he had done much better than he had expected himself to do, despite making Neville cross-eyed for nearly ten minutes from his excessive Dizzying Spell. Ron pulled off just fine and even a little more, earning extra marks for a Flame-Freezing Charm so powerful that he couldn't even feel a single thing (not even a pleasant, tickling sensation) when he shoved his hand into the burning, blue-flamed fireplace. Hermione, unsurprisingly, got top marks in everything, exceeding her former highest test score.
They trudged back to the Great Hall for a quick lunch, and then wandered down to the grounds to get a breath of fresh air, before being sentenced back into the stuffy classrooms, with, in Ron and Harry's case, intoxicating fumes and the aroma of incense and other herbs.
They sat down at the edge of the lake, dangling their fingers in the crystal clear, refreshing water. Harry was leaning against the trunk of a weeping willow tree (not the Whomping Willow!), closing his eyes and enjoying the outdoors as much as he possibly could before it had to end. Ron was lying on his stomach, puffing on a dandelion and watching as the seeds scattered and flew in every direction. Hermione was sitting cross-legged, with her hands behind her, palms flat on the ground, and staring up at the powdery blue sky and clouds and a pale yellow bird that was flying across it. It was a relaxing moment; they didn't talk, they didn't do anything that would cause distraction, it was like a form of meditation.
That was until Harry's watch started beeping, signaling that they had ten minutes until they had to be in class for their second exam. So they reluctantly got to their feet and tramped half-heartedly back to the castle. Hermione said a quick, "good luck!" and then walked in another direction to her Ancient Runes classroom. Ron and Harry continued slowly up to the North Tower, dreading the lies they would have to make up for their final exam for Divination.
When they got there, everyone was waiting outside in the corridor, below the trapdoor that led up to the classroom. "Has the testing started already, then?" Harry asked Seamus and Dean, who were sitting against the wall, noses buried in their 'Unfogging the Future, Volume 3' textbooks.
Seamus shook his sandy-blonde-haired head. "I don't even think the old bat is here yet," he replied.
" 'Maybe a tragic incident has befallen her,' " Ron said, in the misty, mysterious voice Trelawny was infamous for using. " 'Or perhaps the Fates have informed her that something terrible would occur, should she give the students their examinations...' "
There was the sound of delighted laughter behind them. But it wasn't that of a student, but an adult. Standing before them was a tall woman dressed in a black, satin dress underneath a jeweled violet cloak. She had long, silky, midnight-black tresses that came down to her back. Her face had a golden tan, with dark crimson lips and bright ruby-violet eyes. Large, silver hoop earrings and bangle bracelets and chains adorned her ears, wrists, and neck. She had a strong aura of mystery about her.
"Hello," she said to all of them. The class had expected a faint voice like Trelawny's, but instead, she used a normal tone. "My name is Professor Verdadera Vidente, and I will be substituting for Professor Trelawny." Suddenly, she let out a laugh. "I'm sorry. It's just ridiculous that Sibyll ever became a professor..." She still giggled while she was talking. "Pardon me for that, I used to know Sibyll when we attended Hogwarts..."
Everyone looked interested. "You knew Professor Trelawny as a child?" Ron asked, sniggering at the thought of a younger Trelawny, eyes hidden behind outsized spectacles, dressed in her flashy outfits that made her look like an insect.
Professor Vidente smiled at Ron. "Indeed, I did. But maybe we'll talk about that later. I don't mean to criticize your beloved teacher in front of you--" That comment received even more laughs, but Lavender and Parvati looked highly affronted. "So, let's get inside the classroom, shall we?" she asked, and at those words, the trapdoor opened, and the great ladder came down. She let everyone climb up first, and she followed last.
"Well, hello, everyone," she said pleasantly, looking at all of them carefully. "I'm sure you're all eager to get started with your lesson--" There were lots of sarcastic comments at that. "However...Sibyll, though she claims she had foreseen her unfortunate illness since three weeks ago, has forgotten to leave a lesson plan behind," Professor Vidente said, a satisfied twinkle in her ruby-violet eyes. "Though I had surmised as much, so I came prepared --" She was about to reach into her bag, but Parvati and Lavender's hands shot up into the air.
"Excuse me, Professor!" Lavender burst out, without waiting to be called on, "but we were supposed to have our final exam today--"
"Oh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, placing her bag back down at her feet. "So I presume everyone here would like to be tested today, instead of a more interesting lesson...?"
"No exams!" someone yelled from the back of the classroom.
"New lesson!" a different person called out.
Everyone began to shout out for postponing the exam (or giving up on it altogether, and making it considerably easier by giving everyone full marks) and cheering on the interesting lesson, since that's what Trelawny's sessions were not. Professor Vidente managed to get everyone to calm down, simply by raising one hand. She had taken something out of her bag and was hiding it under her hands. Everyone craned their necks to try and get a closer look. When she held the object up in the air, it looked like a deck of cards.
Seamus only got a quick peek at what it was, before Parvati's head moved into the way, as she was more eager to see it. "Exploding Snap? Awesome!" he said, grinning.
Professor Vidente's red lips curved into a smile. "No, Mr. Finnigan, it is not Exploding Snap, which I'm very sorry about, but perhaps we can play that the next time I substitute for this class. I assure you," she added, looking at the sea of anxious faces, "there will be a next time." And to that, there was scattered applause.
"But for now," she continued, clearing her throat, "this class will be more of an educational one. Demonstrative, actually. I'll be giving tarot card readings to whoever is interested."
"Tarot cards?" a student groaned. "Those ridiculous cards that have like skulls on them and mean you're going to die?"
"Divination is not all about death omens," she informed them. Harry and Ron sniggered. Trelawny had done a good job of convincing them otherwise. "There are good things to come in life, not only miserable, piteous, traumatic catastrophes. With that said, who would like to see their future foretold first?"
Lavender and Parvati's hands shot into the air faster than Hermione's did when she was ardent on answering a question. A few other students tentatively raised their hands, but it was obvious that Professor Vidente wanted full participation.
"How about our first participant is..." Her eyes briefly scanned over the entire class, coming to a stop meeting Harry's emerald eyes. "Yes, this should be interesting... Why not? Would you like to see your future, Mr. Potter?"
He shrugged. It beat taking an exam. And he was interested to see how his future would play out from someone other than Trelawny. Vidente beckoned him to the front of the classroom, where he sat across from her in a small, square, wooden table. She opened the pack of cards, gave them to Neville, who shuffled them uncertainly, and then she began laying out the cards facedown in a certain pattern.
"This is called a Celtic Cross," she explained. "The Celtic Cross is probably the oldest and most popular pattern for reading the tarot. It has survived so for long because the layout of the cards is simple, but powerful. It's divided into two sections: the Circle/Cross and the Staff.
(A/N: Feel free to skip over this two paragraph explanation, it is pretty boring, I admit it... It's from the site I mentioned in my disclaimer, found in 'The Celtic Cross' section. Sounds like something Trelawny *would* say)
The Circle/Cross, they say, as she laid them out, was made up of two crosses -- a central one of two cards, nested within a larger cross of six. She told them, "The horizontal line shows time moving from your past on the left into your future on the right. The vertical line is your consciousness moving from your unconscious on the bottom to your conscious mind on the top. Together these six cards give you a snapshot of your inner and outer environment at the time of a reading.
"The cards of the Staff section comment on your life and lie outside of the immediate situation. Here, your Inner Guide helps you understand what is shown in the Circle/Cross section. You receive guidance about yourself and others, your life lessons and your future direction.
"I know, I know, this all sounds excruciatingly boring, and you'd like to see it get started," she commented, reading their minds perfectly. "Here we go, then."
Harry watched with interest. When she finished placing them in the certain formation, she looked at him with an expression that seemed to be asking, 'Are you ready to see your *real* future?' He gave an abrupt nod.
"So, my dear, what is your question?"
He looked puzzled. "My -- er -- my question about what?"
"The question that plagues you; the one you are absolutely dying to know," she told him. "The heart of the Matter."
"I -- I --" Harry racked his brain for a question he desperately wanted to know the answer to. There had always been so many -- about his parents, about his life, about strange things that happened for no reason, about things he wished to come... "Why -- why did Voldemort want to come for me that night fifteen years ago?" he burst out suddenly. Several people gasped, either at the name 'Voldemort' or his direct question.
"Oh, my..." Professor Vidente said softly. "I don't know about that one... But we shall see." Her hand moved slowly to one card, which she flipped over so swiftly that he didn't see it move. The card, intricately detailed, had a design of a large, evil-looking figure with horns sitting down. On its sides were a human man and woman with tails. "Ahhh," their professor murmured, "this makes sense..."
Everyone tried to get a good look at the card, which looked extremely creepy. "What is it?" everyone whispered.
Professor Vidente answered their question in a hushed voice. "It is the Devil." They all gasped, and Harry felt himself starting to tense up. "The Devil is our symbol for what is bad and undesirable. From our human perspective, we see the world as a struggle between light and dark. We want to vanquish the bad so the good can prevail. In fact, good and bad cannot be separated, just as you cannot separate a shadow from its source. Darkness is simply the absence of light, and it is caused by errors that hide the truth.
(A/N: Yep, it's another long explanation... Not mine, again...from the site; the part about the Major Arcana... Sorry again)
"First is ignorance - not knowing the truth and not realizing that we do not know. Second is materialism - the belief that there is nothing but the physical. As spiritual beings, we long for the Divine, but we lose contact with this source of truth if we trust only our senses. There is also hopelessness, which robs us of our joy and movement toward the light.
"Traditionally the Devil stands for evil, but it does not have this rather frightening meaning in a reading. This card lets you know that you are caught in an unhealthy, unproductive situation. You may be in the dark about something - ignorant of the truth and its implications. You may be obsessed by a person, idea, substance or pattern that you know is bad for you (or maybe you don't!). Sometimes this card reflects back the negativity that has made you doubt yourself and your future. We are prone to many errors in life. Card 15 lets us know when they are serious enough to require attention. When you see the Devil, examine your assumptions carefully. Make sure you are not working from a false picture of yourself and the situation. Hold fast to the highest vision of who you are."
Harry was disappointed that his question was not truly answered, but he knew it was unlikely that the answer to the question he desired the most would come from a deck of fortune-telling cards. No, the only person who could give him his answer would be Dumbledore...or Voldemort himself. He turned his attention back to Professor Vidente and the tarot reading.
She had turned over another card and was explaining it. Harry saw that there was an order to the way that Professor Vidente chose the cards, and each one had a specific meaning. One card was what would cross him, either good or bad; the next was the basis of the situation; one was behind him in the process of leaving; what crowned him and could not come into being; and so on.
Harry began to lose interest, but his curiosity was regained quickly, when Professor Vidente held up a card with a picture of an angel blessing the bond between a man and a woman, labeled, 'Lovers.' "This is what lies before you, Harry. Before any danger, before any sadness, first comes love." She smiled at him. "And though I'm not deducting this from the card, my Inner Eye tells me that you have a crush on someone, but you don't think you can get her, am I correct?"
Harry's cheeks started filling with color, but he managed to nod.
"However," she said loudly, stressing the word, "that crush isn't serious. It is indeed that, just a crush. And all crushes fade away eventually. But love...that's something a lot more powerful." She looked into Harry's emerald eyes, which looked nervous and kept darting around the classroom, avoiding Professor Vidente's and the rest of the class. "You will find true love, Harry, and soon. But it will be rather difficult for you to express it, since this is someone very close to you. You don't wish to ruin your friendship, even though you want it to become more... You're nervous and shy."
That was obvious, everyone in the class was thinking. Just one look at Harry confirmed that he was thinking of the quickest route of escape. They couldn't help themselves by cheering and whistling and whooping.
"I will give you some advice though, and this has nothing to do with me being a Seer, or anything of Divination." She leaned forward and whispered, so the rest of the students couldn't hear, "Actions speak louder than words. Remember that, Harry." And then she went on with the tarot reading like nothing unusual had happened.
It began to wind down to a close. There was a card to represent his negative feelings; next, the feelings of the others around him; then, his own positive feelings, and finally...
"--the outcome is..." She turned over the final card and announced, "the Wheel of Fortune."
"You mean that Muggle game show on the television?" someone asked loudly, and everyone in the class sniggered.
Professor Vidente, though, was not perturbed by this comment, this mockery of Divination, as Trelawny would have been. Instead, she chuckled and smiled. "No, Mr. Boot, it is not the television show. The Wheel of Fortune's center is above the realm of man in the higher levels (clouds), where the destinies of all are woven together in the tapestry of life. If you've been struggling with a problem or tough situation, this card can signal that you will find the answer if you stand back and view everything from a larger perspective. But it also represents unexpected encounters and twists of fate."
Harry had a surprised expression on his face, and Professor Vidente noticed it immediately. When she asked him why, he said, "Not death?"
"Of course not," she said matter-of-factly. "As I told you all earlier, Divination is not all a bunch of tragedy and death omens. If we look at life in that perspective, then it only ruins life in the present time." That brought a smile to everyone's face. "Well, I had planned to give multiple readings, but I think that one got its point across rather well. If you'd like to get a reading, however, feel free to come to me at lunch." Lavender and Parvati looked pleased. "And so, you are all free to leave."
The class walked out the doorway, chattering about the tarot cards and Harry's future, and how they all couldn't wait until they had Professor Vidente again. When he reached the trapdoor, Ron was in the process of teasing Harry about his love life situation. Harry, blushing madly, shoved Ron through the hole, and he landed on the ground below with a painful thud. Then he climbed down the ladder, being the last, and the trapdoor closed automatically, signaling the end of undoubtedly the best Divination class ever.
* * *
Ron and Harry walked to the Gryffindor common room, talking about the Divination lesson with Professor Vidente.
"I wish she could be our real teacher," Ron said wistfully. "Trelawny seems ridiculous compared to her. Vidente really knew what she was talking about, you know? Plus, it was priceless the way she kept making fun of Trelawny."
"Trelawny's had what, two correct predictions though?" Harry thought. "I mean, there was that weird one in third year, about the servant who had been chained for thirteen years, going to rejoin his master, the Dark Lord... Isn't it weird how Vidente didn't say I was going to die?" he asked, suddenly changing the subject.
"Yeah, so what's wrong with that?" Ron asked. "I mean, you know Trelawny only does it because she has to make everything so melodramatic."
"True," he said quietly, "but she seemed to be acting kind of weird when she was talking about the Wheel of Fortune. Like -- like she didn't believe it herself."
"Come on, Harry, you're just being paranoid."
"I guess you're right," he agreed. "But it just doesn't seem like Divination without me getting an omen of death." They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, and he said, "Quintaped." The portrait swung forward and they walked into the common room.
Hermione came up to them instantly; obviously she had been waiting for them. "So, how was the exam? Did you make everything up? Was Trelawny convinced?"
Ron gave her a smug grin. "We didn't have an exam."
"Oh, really?" she asked, trying to sound mildly interested, but it was obvious that she was dying to hear all about it.
"Yeah," he continued gloating. "We had the coolest teacher, Professor Vidente. She's a true Seer, I tell you, not some crackpot phony like Trelawny. Trelawny, by the way, had some sort of sickness or something and couldn't show up. It was hilarious, our substitute kept insulting Trelawny; they knew each other when they went to school here together. And we had this demonstration of tarot cards, and it was for Harry -- and hey, Harry, tell her all about everything, like the Devil and the Magician and the Page of Swords and--" Ron's brown eyes glittered maliciously-- "--and the Lovers card."
Harry's face went crimson. "Uh -- er -- oh, maybe some other time. I -- um -- better go -- ah -- study for our exams tomorrow," he said hurriedly and was ready to run off, except Ron was ready, grabbing onto the back of his collar before he could get away.
"But surely Hermione would like to hear all the details about your love life now?" he said suggestively, casting a glance at Hermione, who looked bewildered.
"Ron, what--?" she began, but he cut her off.
"Well, I really must be going now, but Harry, I take it you'll tell Hermione all about your enlightening experience." And then he left.
Hermione and Harry stared blankly at each other. "What was that about?" Hermione asked.
"I have no idea. I think I'll go now--"
"Wait, don't you leave too. What happened that has Ron so giddy and you so embarrassed?" She stopped to think. "The Lovers card, perhaps?"
Again, Harry's cheeks went pink. "I -- I --" he stammered and struggled to change the subject. "Well, for one thing, she didn't say I was going to die."
"That's good," she remarked.
"Yeah, and -- uhhh...I dunno, that's about it, I guess."
"What's the matter, Harry? Don't you trust me?" Hermione looked hurt.
He blurted out, "Of course I trust you, according to Vidente, I love y--" He stopped himself as he realized what he was going to say, but already it was too late.
Hermione's brown eyes were large. "You -- you love--?"
"I love y--y--yogurt," he lied instantly. "And I'm starving, so I think I'll just be off to the kitchens to get some!" he called squeakily, running out of the common room.
Hermione thought briefly of Ron, who had left for no apparent reason but to make things more awkward, and Harry, who dashed away because he -- he *loved* her? She shook her head and sighed. "Boys."
* * *
That night in the common room, Ron, Hermione, and Harry sat around a table piled with textbooks of all sorts, their notes from all their classes, and anything else that would be of use for their studying.
"Care of Magical Creatures and Potions," Ron kept muttering to himself, flipping through pages in their Potions book. "Double day with the Slytherins. Oh, yippee. You've got it worst, Harry," he said, raising his head to look at him. "They probably all heard about Divination by now, they'll tease you non-stop."
Harry ignored him, pressing his nose further into his book, trying to hide his red face.
"Cut it out, Ron, you're so immature," Hermione said exasperatedly.
"Well then," Ron said, shutting his book loudly, "I think I'm done studying. I'll just leave you two alone, shall I?" He went up to the boys' dormitories, his textbooks in his arms, and left the common room empty except for Harry and Hermione.
"I'll never understand that Ronald Weasley," Hermione said, placing her book down. "But he's right, it is getting pretty late, and we need our rest. That way you won't have to haul yourself into the Great Hall ten minutes before breakfast is over again," she pointed out. "So, goodnight then." She gathered her books under her arm and was about to go to the girls' dorms, when Harry cried out suddenly,
"Wait!"
She turned around. "What is it?"
"I -- I -- Hermione," Harry said desperately, "I don't know how I'm supposed to say this..."
"Then don't," she said with a shrug, but looking disappointed. She turned away again.
Harry, however, took her words as a hint. "All right then." He walked over to her, tilted his head, and gave her a kiss on the lips. When they drew apart, he whispered softly, "Goodnight, Hermione," and then went off to bed, with a sense of triumph. Truly, as Professor Vidente had advised him, actions spoke louder than words.
* * *
Professor Vidente consulted the time from the clock on wall, with planets orbiting around each other. It was late, but she didn't think she would be able to sleep that night. So she crossed the classroom, lit a few candles and sticks of incense, then settled down into the largest, most comfortable armchair she could find, forcing herself to relax. Spread out before her was the tarot reading of Harry Potter's.
"Divination is not all about death omens," she said faintly to herself, inspecting the cards closely. "After I told them that, I couldn't let them know... I couldn't show them the truth... And since Trelawny has gone around foolishly, using this omen to seem impressive and dramatic, the effect is ruined anyhow..." Her ruby-violet eyes finally came to a stop at the final one, the Wheel of Fortune card. She remembered the startled, but happy expressions on each student's face when they saw it.
"I did the right thing..." Verdadera said to herself, one hand tightly clutching the charm of a silver orb that was on a thin chain around her neck. "I had to do it..."
The Wheel of Fortune card was never meant to be the outcome in Harry's future, and Verdadera had known it since he walked into the classroom; even before, since she had heard the news fifteen years ago, of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. Obviously, Sibyll Trelawny had seen it too. Professor Vidente had done the best she had known to do at the time -- swapped the original and replaced it with the Wheel of Fortune card.
She sighed very tiredly, got up from her seat, waved her wand, and all the incense and candles flickered out. While walking to the trapdoor and opening it, an object -- some bit of paper slipped out her right sleeve. She was unaware of it, as she descended the ladder slowly, with a heavy heart.
Then the trapdoor closed once again, sending up a whiff of air that made the paper flutter away. When it landed, partway underneath a pouf, it became visible that it was a tarot card. Face side up; with a frightening, chilling picture of a skeletal figure in black armor that was sitting on a white steed with red eyes, holding a black flag with some odd design upon it. The horse was trampling over the ground strewn with bodies. It was obvious what it meant. Death.
By Firenzie
A/N: I know Harry and Ron hate Divination. But maybe they only hate their teacher. I mean, who wouldn't? This fic is about when Trelawny catches an unfortunate illness (which she had predicted weeks ago, of course *wink wink*), and a substitute teacher has to come in and teach them. To make up for that R/H I wrote, if it bothered any H/H fans, this one has hints of H/H. Lately, I've been writing stories where romance is more of an undertone, rather than the main focus, but I'll write some full-fledged romance fics soon, I promise.
Some more details about this particular fic... The professor's name is Verdadera Vidente: in Spanish, verdadero (note the O, not A) means "true;" I changed the last letter to make it sound more feminine...and vidente means "seer, sighted." The fic itself is [obviously] about tarot cards, something I have absolutely no knowledge of. I just got some basic information from a website, so I doubt I'll be even close to recreating what getting a tarot reading would be like. Please forgive my ignorance. Also, it was meant to end more romantically, but an idea came to me on a whim, and so it's like -- well, you'll see.
Disclaimer: Oh, please. Should I even bother with this anymore? It doesn't take a genius to know I don't own Harry Potter, all right? As for the information about tarot cards (the long, boring paragraphs I warn you about), I got that from a website, Tarot and Astrology [http://www.iol.ie/~aubrey/]. I didn't write those, okay, and by admitting it, it's not plagiarism.
* * *
Ron and Hermione looked up as Harry entered the Great Hall unusually late, dragging his feet along and constantly yawning, as he slowly made his way down to the Gryffindor table. He plopped into an empty seat next to them, and upon close examination, his emerald eyes were bloodshot, he had purplish dark circles and bags underneath them, and his hair, though normally unmanageable, looked even worse.
"What happened to you?" Ron asked, his mouth full with bacon and scrambled eggs. "You look like you haven't slept in years."
"No, just last nigh -- last night," he said blearily, yawning in the middle of his sentence. He laid his head on the tabletop, while Hermione forked over some food onto his plate for him. "I didn't get a wink of sleep studying for all our exams."
Hermione's mouth opened instantly, no doubt to lecture Harry on the evils of procrastination, but she decided to keep quiet about anything that would only make him more tired. "So are you ready for them?"
He lifted his chin off the surface of the table, only high enough to manage a small bob of his head that constituted as a nod. Then he dropped his head back down.
"We've got Charms first," Ron told him, which was about as productive as speaking to the soccer players on Dean's West Ham poster, "and then Trelawny after lunch. Isn't that great?" he asked, his voice dripping heavily with sarcasm.
"Well, at least I'll be able to get my rest," Harry said, taking a sip from his goblet.
"I don't know why you two still bother with Divination," Hermione said stiffly. "It's ridiculously imprecise and pointless. Ron, you could do with taking something sensible like Muggle Studies--" Ron made a face, but she failed to notice -- "and Harry, you'd probably be interested in Arithmancy, it's really quite--" She finally realized that neither of her friends were listening to her. "I just think that Divination is a big waste of your time. Just a giant guessing game."
Ron and Harry couldn't argue with her there; nor did they even care to.
"Never mind," she said exasperatedly, seeing Ron had become as dazed out as Harry. "You two better wake up now. We've got Charms in five minutes, and Professor Flitwick said it would be much, much more difficult than it ever has been..." she droned on and on.
Harry finished his breakfast, and they all got up, being some of the last to leave the Great Hall. As they walked to the Charms corridor, Hermione bored them out of their minds by reminding them of nearly every spell they had learned since they came to Hogwarts. For once, Ron and Harry were glad to get into a classroom, just to stop her from talking.
The test wasn't quite as difficult as Professor Flitwick had been warning them. Harry cursed about all the time he had wasted, learning advanced charms they wouldn't even be attempting until the end of sixth year. But he had done much better than he had expected himself to do, despite making Neville cross-eyed for nearly ten minutes from his excessive Dizzying Spell. Ron pulled off just fine and even a little more, earning extra marks for a Flame-Freezing Charm so powerful that he couldn't even feel a single thing (not even a pleasant, tickling sensation) when he shoved his hand into the burning, blue-flamed fireplace. Hermione, unsurprisingly, got top marks in everything, exceeding her former highest test score.
They trudged back to the Great Hall for a quick lunch, and then wandered down to the grounds to get a breath of fresh air, before being sentenced back into the stuffy classrooms, with, in Ron and Harry's case, intoxicating fumes and the aroma of incense and other herbs.
They sat down at the edge of the lake, dangling their fingers in the crystal clear, refreshing water. Harry was leaning against the trunk of a weeping willow tree (not the Whomping Willow!), closing his eyes and enjoying the outdoors as much as he possibly could before it had to end. Ron was lying on his stomach, puffing on a dandelion and watching as the seeds scattered and flew in every direction. Hermione was sitting cross-legged, with her hands behind her, palms flat on the ground, and staring up at the powdery blue sky and clouds and a pale yellow bird that was flying across it. It was a relaxing moment; they didn't talk, they didn't do anything that would cause distraction, it was like a form of meditation.
That was until Harry's watch started beeping, signaling that they had ten minutes until they had to be in class for their second exam. So they reluctantly got to their feet and tramped half-heartedly back to the castle. Hermione said a quick, "good luck!" and then walked in another direction to her Ancient Runes classroom. Ron and Harry continued slowly up to the North Tower, dreading the lies they would have to make up for their final exam for Divination.
When they got there, everyone was waiting outside in the corridor, below the trapdoor that led up to the classroom. "Has the testing started already, then?" Harry asked Seamus and Dean, who were sitting against the wall, noses buried in their 'Unfogging the Future, Volume 3' textbooks.
Seamus shook his sandy-blonde-haired head. "I don't even think the old bat is here yet," he replied.
" 'Maybe a tragic incident has befallen her,' " Ron said, in the misty, mysterious voice Trelawny was infamous for using. " 'Or perhaps the Fates have informed her that something terrible would occur, should she give the students their examinations...' "
There was the sound of delighted laughter behind them. But it wasn't that of a student, but an adult. Standing before them was a tall woman dressed in a black, satin dress underneath a jeweled violet cloak. She had long, silky, midnight-black tresses that came down to her back. Her face had a golden tan, with dark crimson lips and bright ruby-violet eyes. Large, silver hoop earrings and bangle bracelets and chains adorned her ears, wrists, and neck. She had a strong aura of mystery about her.
"Hello," she said to all of them. The class had expected a faint voice like Trelawny's, but instead, she used a normal tone. "My name is Professor Verdadera Vidente, and I will be substituting for Professor Trelawny." Suddenly, she let out a laugh. "I'm sorry. It's just ridiculous that Sibyll ever became a professor..." She still giggled while she was talking. "Pardon me for that, I used to know Sibyll when we attended Hogwarts..."
Everyone looked interested. "You knew Professor Trelawny as a child?" Ron asked, sniggering at the thought of a younger Trelawny, eyes hidden behind outsized spectacles, dressed in her flashy outfits that made her look like an insect.
Professor Vidente smiled at Ron. "Indeed, I did. But maybe we'll talk about that later. I don't mean to criticize your beloved teacher in front of you--" That comment received even more laughs, but Lavender and Parvati looked highly affronted. "So, let's get inside the classroom, shall we?" she asked, and at those words, the trapdoor opened, and the great ladder came down. She let everyone climb up first, and she followed last.
"Well, hello, everyone," she said pleasantly, looking at all of them carefully. "I'm sure you're all eager to get started with your lesson--" There were lots of sarcastic comments at that. "However...Sibyll, though she claims she had foreseen her unfortunate illness since three weeks ago, has forgotten to leave a lesson plan behind," Professor Vidente said, a satisfied twinkle in her ruby-violet eyes. "Though I had surmised as much, so I came prepared --" She was about to reach into her bag, but Parvati and Lavender's hands shot up into the air.
"Excuse me, Professor!" Lavender burst out, without waiting to be called on, "but we were supposed to have our final exam today--"
"Oh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, placing her bag back down at her feet. "So I presume everyone here would like to be tested today, instead of a more interesting lesson...?"
"No exams!" someone yelled from the back of the classroom.
"New lesson!" a different person called out.
Everyone began to shout out for postponing the exam (or giving up on it altogether, and making it considerably easier by giving everyone full marks) and cheering on the interesting lesson, since that's what Trelawny's sessions were not. Professor Vidente managed to get everyone to calm down, simply by raising one hand. She had taken something out of her bag and was hiding it under her hands. Everyone craned their necks to try and get a closer look. When she held the object up in the air, it looked like a deck of cards.
Seamus only got a quick peek at what it was, before Parvati's head moved into the way, as she was more eager to see it. "Exploding Snap? Awesome!" he said, grinning.
Professor Vidente's red lips curved into a smile. "No, Mr. Finnigan, it is not Exploding Snap, which I'm very sorry about, but perhaps we can play that the next time I substitute for this class. I assure you," she added, looking at the sea of anxious faces, "there will be a next time." And to that, there was scattered applause.
"But for now," she continued, clearing her throat, "this class will be more of an educational one. Demonstrative, actually. I'll be giving tarot card readings to whoever is interested."
"Tarot cards?" a student groaned. "Those ridiculous cards that have like skulls on them and mean you're going to die?"
"Divination is not all about death omens," she informed them. Harry and Ron sniggered. Trelawny had done a good job of convincing them otherwise. "There are good things to come in life, not only miserable, piteous, traumatic catastrophes. With that said, who would like to see their future foretold first?"
Lavender and Parvati's hands shot into the air faster than Hermione's did when she was ardent on answering a question. A few other students tentatively raised their hands, but it was obvious that Professor Vidente wanted full participation.
"How about our first participant is..." Her eyes briefly scanned over the entire class, coming to a stop meeting Harry's emerald eyes. "Yes, this should be interesting... Why not? Would you like to see your future, Mr. Potter?"
He shrugged. It beat taking an exam. And he was interested to see how his future would play out from someone other than Trelawny. Vidente beckoned him to the front of the classroom, where he sat across from her in a small, square, wooden table. She opened the pack of cards, gave them to Neville, who shuffled them uncertainly, and then she began laying out the cards facedown in a certain pattern.
"This is called a Celtic Cross," she explained. "The Celtic Cross is probably the oldest and most popular pattern for reading the tarot. It has survived so for long because the layout of the cards is simple, but powerful. It's divided into two sections: the Circle/Cross and the Staff.
(A/N: Feel free to skip over this two paragraph explanation, it is pretty boring, I admit it... It's from the site I mentioned in my disclaimer, found in 'The Celtic Cross' section. Sounds like something Trelawny *would* say)
The Circle/Cross, they say, as she laid them out, was made up of two crosses -- a central one of two cards, nested within a larger cross of six. She told them, "The horizontal line shows time moving from your past on the left into your future on the right. The vertical line is your consciousness moving from your unconscious on the bottom to your conscious mind on the top. Together these six cards give you a snapshot of your inner and outer environment at the time of a reading.
"The cards of the Staff section comment on your life and lie outside of the immediate situation. Here, your Inner Guide helps you understand what is shown in the Circle/Cross section. You receive guidance about yourself and others, your life lessons and your future direction.
"I know, I know, this all sounds excruciatingly boring, and you'd like to see it get started," she commented, reading their minds perfectly. "Here we go, then."
Harry watched with interest. When she finished placing them in the certain formation, she looked at him with an expression that seemed to be asking, 'Are you ready to see your *real* future?' He gave an abrupt nod.
"So, my dear, what is your question?"
He looked puzzled. "My -- er -- my question about what?"
"The question that plagues you; the one you are absolutely dying to know," she told him. "The heart of the Matter."
"I -- I --" Harry racked his brain for a question he desperately wanted to know the answer to. There had always been so many -- about his parents, about his life, about strange things that happened for no reason, about things he wished to come... "Why -- why did Voldemort want to come for me that night fifteen years ago?" he burst out suddenly. Several people gasped, either at the name 'Voldemort' or his direct question.
"Oh, my..." Professor Vidente said softly. "I don't know about that one... But we shall see." Her hand moved slowly to one card, which she flipped over so swiftly that he didn't see it move. The card, intricately detailed, had a design of a large, evil-looking figure with horns sitting down. On its sides were a human man and woman with tails. "Ahhh," their professor murmured, "this makes sense..."
Everyone tried to get a good look at the card, which looked extremely creepy. "What is it?" everyone whispered.
Professor Vidente answered their question in a hushed voice. "It is the Devil." They all gasped, and Harry felt himself starting to tense up. "The Devil is our symbol for what is bad and undesirable. From our human perspective, we see the world as a struggle between light and dark. We want to vanquish the bad so the good can prevail. In fact, good and bad cannot be separated, just as you cannot separate a shadow from its source. Darkness is simply the absence of light, and it is caused by errors that hide the truth.
(A/N: Yep, it's another long explanation... Not mine, again...from the site; the part about the Major Arcana... Sorry again)
"First is ignorance - not knowing the truth and not realizing that we do not know. Second is materialism - the belief that there is nothing but the physical. As spiritual beings, we long for the Divine, but we lose contact with this source of truth if we trust only our senses. There is also hopelessness, which robs us of our joy and movement toward the light.
"Traditionally the Devil stands for evil, but it does not have this rather frightening meaning in a reading. This card lets you know that you are caught in an unhealthy, unproductive situation. You may be in the dark about something - ignorant of the truth and its implications. You may be obsessed by a person, idea, substance or pattern that you know is bad for you (or maybe you don't!). Sometimes this card reflects back the negativity that has made you doubt yourself and your future. We are prone to many errors in life. Card 15 lets us know when they are serious enough to require attention. When you see the Devil, examine your assumptions carefully. Make sure you are not working from a false picture of yourself and the situation. Hold fast to the highest vision of who you are."
Harry was disappointed that his question was not truly answered, but he knew it was unlikely that the answer to the question he desired the most would come from a deck of fortune-telling cards. No, the only person who could give him his answer would be Dumbledore...or Voldemort himself. He turned his attention back to Professor Vidente and the tarot reading.
She had turned over another card and was explaining it. Harry saw that there was an order to the way that Professor Vidente chose the cards, and each one had a specific meaning. One card was what would cross him, either good or bad; the next was the basis of the situation; one was behind him in the process of leaving; what crowned him and could not come into being; and so on.
Harry began to lose interest, but his curiosity was regained quickly, when Professor Vidente held up a card with a picture of an angel blessing the bond between a man and a woman, labeled, 'Lovers.' "This is what lies before you, Harry. Before any danger, before any sadness, first comes love." She smiled at him. "And though I'm not deducting this from the card, my Inner Eye tells me that you have a crush on someone, but you don't think you can get her, am I correct?"
Harry's cheeks started filling with color, but he managed to nod.
"However," she said loudly, stressing the word, "that crush isn't serious. It is indeed that, just a crush. And all crushes fade away eventually. But love...that's something a lot more powerful." She looked into Harry's emerald eyes, which looked nervous and kept darting around the classroom, avoiding Professor Vidente's and the rest of the class. "You will find true love, Harry, and soon. But it will be rather difficult for you to express it, since this is someone very close to you. You don't wish to ruin your friendship, even though you want it to become more... You're nervous and shy."
That was obvious, everyone in the class was thinking. Just one look at Harry confirmed that he was thinking of the quickest route of escape. They couldn't help themselves by cheering and whistling and whooping.
"I will give you some advice though, and this has nothing to do with me being a Seer, or anything of Divination." She leaned forward and whispered, so the rest of the students couldn't hear, "Actions speak louder than words. Remember that, Harry." And then she went on with the tarot reading like nothing unusual had happened.
It began to wind down to a close. There was a card to represent his negative feelings; next, the feelings of the others around him; then, his own positive feelings, and finally...
"--the outcome is..." She turned over the final card and announced, "the Wheel of Fortune."
"You mean that Muggle game show on the television?" someone asked loudly, and everyone in the class sniggered.
Professor Vidente, though, was not perturbed by this comment, this mockery of Divination, as Trelawny would have been. Instead, she chuckled and smiled. "No, Mr. Boot, it is not the television show. The Wheel of Fortune's center is above the realm of man in the higher levels (clouds), where the destinies of all are woven together in the tapestry of life. If you've been struggling with a problem or tough situation, this card can signal that you will find the answer if you stand back and view everything from a larger perspective. But it also represents unexpected encounters and twists of fate."
Harry had a surprised expression on his face, and Professor Vidente noticed it immediately. When she asked him why, he said, "Not death?"
"Of course not," she said matter-of-factly. "As I told you all earlier, Divination is not all a bunch of tragedy and death omens. If we look at life in that perspective, then it only ruins life in the present time." That brought a smile to everyone's face. "Well, I had planned to give multiple readings, but I think that one got its point across rather well. If you'd like to get a reading, however, feel free to come to me at lunch." Lavender and Parvati looked pleased. "And so, you are all free to leave."
The class walked out the doorway, chattering about the tarot cards and Harry's future, and how they all couldn't wait until they had Professor Vidente again. When he reached the trapdoor, Ron was in the process of teasing Harry about his love life situation. Harry, blushing madly, shoved Ron through the hole, and he landed on the ground below with a painful thud. Then he climbed down the ladder, being the last, and the trapdoor closed automatically, signaling the end of undoubtedly the best Divination class ever.
* * *
Ron and Harry walked to the Gryffindor common room, talking about the Divination lesson with Professor Vidente.
"I wish she could be our real teacher," Ron said wistfully. "Trelawny seems ridiculous compared to her. Vidente really knew what she was talking about, you know? Plus, it was priceless the way she kept making fun of Trelawny."
"Trelawny's had what, two correct predictions though?" Harry thought. "I mean, there was that weird one in third year, about the servant who had been chained for thirteen years, going to rejoin his master, the Dark Lord... Isn't it weird how Vidente didn't say I was going to die?" he asked, suddenly changing the subject.
"Yeah, so what's wrong with that?" Ron asked. "I mean, you know Trelawny only does it because she has to make everything so melodramatic."
"True," he said quietly, "but she seemed to be acting kind of weird when she was talking about the Wheel of Fortune. Like -- like she didn't believe it herself."
"Come on, Harry, you're just being paranoid."
"I guess you're right," he agreed. "But it just doesn't seem like Divination without me getting an omen of death." They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, and he said, "Quintaped." The portrait swung forward and they walked into the common room.
Hermione came up to them instantly; obviously she had been waiting for them. "So, how was the exam? Did you make everything up? Was Trelawny convinced?"
Ron gave her a smug grin. "We didn't have an exam."
"Oh, really?" she asked, trying to sound mildly interested, but it was obvious that she was dying to hear all about it.
"Yeah," he continued gloating. "We had the coolest teacher, Professor Vidente. She's a true Seer, I tell you, not some crackpot phony like Trelawny. Trelawny, by the way, had some sort of sickness or something and couldn't show up. It was hilarious, our substitute kept insulting Trelawny; they knew each other when they went to school here together. And we had this demonstration of tarot cards, and it was for Harry -- and hey, Harry, tell her all about everything, like the Devil and the Magician and the Page of Swords and--" Ron's brown eyes glittered maliciously-- "--and the Lovers card."
Harry's face went crimson. "Uh -- er -- oh, maybe some other time. I -- um -- better go -- ah -- study for our exams tomorrow," he said hurriedly and was ready to run off, except Ron was ready, grabbing onto the back of his collar before he could get away.
"But surely Hermione would like to hear all the details about your love life now?" he said suggestively, casting a glance at Hermione, who looked bewildered.
"Ron, what--?" she began, but he cut her off.
"Well, I really must be going now, but Harry, I take it you'll tell Hermione all about your enlightening experience." And then he left.
Hermione and Harry stared blankly at each other. "What was that about?" Hermione asked.
"I have no idea. I think I'll go now--"
"Wait, don't you leave too. What happened that has Ron so giddy and you so embarrassed?" She stopped to think. "The Lovers card, perhaps?"
Again, Harry's cheeks went pink. "I -- I --" he stammered and struggled to change the subject. "Well, for one thing, she didn't say I was going to die."
"That's good," she remarked.
"Yeah, and -- uhhh...I dunno, that's about it, I guess."
"What's the matter, Harry? Don't you trust me?" Hermione looked hurt.
He blurted out, "Of course I trust you, according to Vidente, I love y--" He stopped himself as he realized what he was going to say, but already it was too late.
Hermione's brown eyes were large. "You -- you love--?"
"I love y--y--yogurt," he lied instantly. "And I'm starving, so I think I'll just be off to the kitchens to get some!" he called squeakily, running out of the common room.
Hermione thought briefly of Ron, who had left for no apparent reason but to make things more awkward, and Harry, who dashed away because he -- he *loved* her? She shook her head and sighed. "Boys."
* * *
That night in the common room, Ron, Hermione, and Harry sat around a table piled with textbooks of all sorts, their notes from all their classes, and anything else that would be of use for their studying.
"Care of Magical Creatures and Potions," Ron kept muttering to himself, flipping through pages in their Potions book. "Double day with the Slytherins. Oh, yippee. You've got it worst, Harry," he said, raising his head to look at him. "They probably all heard about Divination by now, they'll tease you non-stop."
Harry ignored him, pressing his nose further into his book, trying to hide his red face.
"Cut it out, Ron, you're so immature," Hermione said exasperatedly.
"Well then," Ron said, shutting his book loudly, "I think I'm done studying. I'll just leave you two alone, shall I?" He went up to the boys' dormitories, his textbooks in his arms, and left the common room empty except for Harry and Hermione.
"I'll never understand that Ronald Weasley," Hermione said, placing her book down. "But he's right, it is getting pretty late, and we need our rest. That way you won't have to haul yourself into the Great Hall ten minutes before breakfast is over again," she pointed out. "So, goodnight then." She gathered her books under her arm and was about to go to the girls' dorms, when Harry cried out suddenly,
"Wait!"
She turned around. "What is it?"
"I -- I -- Hermione," Harry said desperately, "I don't know how I'm supposed to say this..."
"Then don't," she said with a shrug, but looking disappointed. She turned away again.
Harry, however, took her words as a hint. "All right then." He walked over to her, tilted his head, and gave her a kiss on the lips. When they drew apart, he whispered softly, "Goodnight, Hermione," and then went off to bed, with a sense of triumph. Truly, as Professor Vidente had advised him, actions spoke louder than words.
* * *
Professor Vidente consulted the time from the clock on wall, with planets orbiting around each other. It was late, but she didn't think she would be able to sleep that night. So she crossed the classroom, lit a few candles and sticks of incense, then settled down into the largest, most comfortable armchair she could find, forcing herself to relax. Spread out before her was the tarot reading of Harry Potter's.
"Divination is not all about death omens," she said faintly to herself, inspecting the cards closely. "After I told them that, I couldn't let them know... I couldn't show them the truth... And since Trelawny has gone around foolishly, using this omen to seem impressive and dramatic, the effect is ruined anyhow..." Her ruby-violet eyes finally came to a stop at the final one, the Wheel of Fortune card. She remembered the startled, but happy expressions on each student's face when they saw it.
"I did the right thing..." Verdadera said to herself, one hand tightly clutching the charm of a silver orb that was on a thin chain around her neck. "I had to do it..."
The Wheel of Fortune card was never meant to be the outcome in Harry's future, and Verdadera had known it since he walked into the classroom; even before, since she had heard the news fifteen years ago, of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. Obviously, Sibyll Trelawny had seen it too. Professor Vidente had done the best she had known to do at the time -- swapped the original and replaced it with the Wheel of Fortune card.
She sighed very tiredly, got up from her seat, waved her wand, and all the incense and candles flickered out. While walking to the trapdoor and opening it, an object -- some bit of paper slipped out her right sleeve. She was unaware of it, as she descended the ladder slowly, with a heavy heart.
Then the trapdoor closed once again, sending up a whiff of air that made the paper flutter away. When it landed, partway underneath a pouf, it became visible that it was a tarot card. Face side up; with a frightening, chilling picture of a skeletal figure in black armor that was sitting on a white steed with red eyes, holding a black flag with some odd design upon it. The horse was trampling over the ground strewn with bodies. It was obvious what it meant. Death.