Chapter 15 – It's All in the Cards
It had been nearly a week since the attack on Gryffindor Tower, and the whispers around Hogwarts had only just begun to die down. People still spoke of Sirius Black in hushed voices, as though he might slip through the very walls if they said his name too loudly. The tension that had once blanketed the castle was thinning, but Ava felt it still like fog at the edge of her thoughts.
Her father had left Hogwarts early Wednesday morning without so much as a proper goodbye. She'd found a note left at her bedside in the hospital wing:
Ava,
I've arranged for you to come home for the holidays.
Be ready. We'll talk more when I see you.
–A. Johnson
Just that. No, I hope you're alright. No, I love you. And yet… she still read it twice.
She hadn't been home for Christmas in years. It had always been easier to stay at school, to avoid the quiet disappointment that hung in the corners of her father's house. Something about this felt different and pointed. Like it wasn't her idea.
She had tried to speak to Professor Lupin before Defense class that morning, but he was nowhere to be found. Instead, she'd been greeted by the sharp face and sharper tongue of Professor Snape, who was "filling in." No explanation. No details. Just absence.
That, more than anything, unsettled her.
By the time Divination rolled around, Ava felt raw, stretched too thin from thoughts she couldn't voice and feelings she hadn't untangled. The Divination tower, warm and dim and perfumed with incense, offered a strange kind of comfort.
"Today," Professor Trelawney said as she wafted through the cushions and poufs, "we explore the mysterious depths of cartomancy–the ancient art of tarot."
Ava retrieved the deck from beneath the velvet-covered table and began to shuffle slowly, her fingers brushing the gilded edges of the cards.
She tried to focus. She needed something, anything, to give her clarity.
Trelawney instructed them to perform a full ten-card Celtic Cross spread. Ava inhaled slowly, cut the deck, and laid the cards in place.
Card 1 – The Present: The Tower (Upright)
Her breath caught. It was a card of destruction, upheaval, and sudden revelations. It meant the foundations she thought were solid would be ripped away. The image on the card showed a lightning-struck tower crumbling into chaos.
Change is coming. Violent, irreversible change.
Card 2 – The Challenge: The Hierophant (Reversed)
Tradition turned on its head. Secrets. False authorities. Lies beneath respected names.
She thought of her father. Of Professor Lupin. Of things not said.
Truth withheld. Distrust cloaked in duty.
Card 3 – The Past: The Empress (Upright)
Vanessa. Her mother. The love she remembered, warm and nurturing, even if Ava could barely remember her face now.
The Empress was beauty. Fertility. Comfort.
What was lost.
Card 4 – The Recent Past: The Moon (Upright)
Deception. Doubt. Confusion. A call to listen to intuition in the face of shadows.
She glanced sideways at her journal, where her thoughts had been spiraling for days.
Nothing is as it seems.
Card 5 – The Best That Can Be Achieved: The Two of Cups (Upright)
Her heart stuttered. Love. Partnership. Union.
A card of emotional connection and shared feelings. Of something real… something new.
She thought of Fred. And the way he'd looked at her that night in the Great Hall.
Card 6 – The Near Future: The Lovers (Reversed)
A rift. A difficult choice. A test of loyalty.
Her stomach sank. Love, but not without consequences.
Card 7 – The Internal Influence: The Fool (Upright)
Innocence. New beginnings. Risk without knowing the outcome.
She smiled slightly. That felt like her trying to step forward even when she didn't know where the ground was.
Card 8 – External Influence: The Knight of Wands (Reversed)
Recklessness. Someone burning bright but lacking direction. Someone who would act for their own gain.
Her brows furrowed.
Card 9 – Hopes and Fears: The Ten of Swords (Upright)
Betrayal. A painful ending. The fear of being broken beyond repair.
The card was stark. A figure pierced by ten gleaming swords.
She shivered.
Card 10 – The Final Outcome: The Star (Upright)
A moment of hope after destruction. Guidance. Healing. Rebuilding what's been lost. Ava let out a slow breath. That seemed… peaceful. Maybe even comforting.
But the feeling didn't last.
Something tugged at her. Without meaning to, she drew one more card. Then another.
Clarifiers, she thought. The way Professor Trelawney sometimes did when the future refused to be pinned down.
The Tower. Destruction.
The Ten of Wands. Burden. Exhaustion. A heavy weight.
The Ace of Cups. Love. Renewal. New beginnings.
Ava stared down at the spread. Together, the cards whispered something bigger and more complicated. She didn't know what it meant exactly. Only that it felt… inevitable. Something was coming. All together, the message was tangled. She would find something real, something beautiful but not without sacrifice. And even then… there was weight. There was a loss. Ava stared at the cards, hands trembling slightly.
"Interesting spread, dear," Professor Trelawney murmured as she drifted past, her eyes vaguely glazed. "So much love… so much pain." Her voice dropped into something almost melodic. "Beware the lightning before the dawn.".
Ava left Divination with her thoughts tangled tighter than the half-finished braid she hadn't managed to complete that morning. Professor Trelawney's voice still echoed in her ears, and the tarot cards, those damned cards, kept replaying in her mind with every step. The Tower. The Knight reversed. The Fool. They didn't feel like metaphors anymore. They felt like warnings.
She was so deep in thought she didn't register the footsteps behind her until a hand caught her arm gently and pulled her aside.
Startled, she looked up and found herself face-to-face with a familiar pair of warm brown eyes.
"Fred," she breathed, a little too quickly.
His hair was damp, curling slightly at the edges, a few strands plastered to his temple. He smelled faintly of soap and the sharp tang of cold air.
"Fresh from Quidditch practice?" she asked, trying to steady herself.
He grinned. "Straight off the pitch. Brutal out there. Not for me, mind you but Wood got his arse handed to him by Angelina. She chucked a quaffle at him so hard it knocked him clean off his broom."
Ava's eyebrows shot up. "Wait…he's alright, isn't he?"
Fred leaned casually against the stone railing, his grin darkening. "Hospital wing. Nothing broken. Just a bruised ego."
She couldn't help but smile. "That's my Angie."
Fred chuckled softly, though the sound didn't quite reach his eyes. He glanced sideways at her, then looked away again, fingers tugging slightly at the hem of his sleeve. A pause followed just long enough for the space between them to shift, to fill with something heavier.
Ava raised an eyebrow. "So… did you need something? Or did you just drag me into the shadows to gloat about Oliver's latest public humiliation?"
He exhaled a breath that was half laugh, half something else. "Tempting," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "But… no. That's not why I–"
He trailed off, shifting his weight. For once, the infamous Fred Weasley looked uncertain.
"I, uh…" he cleared his throat and tried again. "I was hoping we could talk. Or… something like that."
Ava's heart gave a small, traitorous lurch. There was no teasing in his voice now.
She hesitated, but only for a moment. Then she nodded. "Okay."
They climbed one of the quieter staircases until they reached a rooftop overlooking the rear courtyards of Hogwarts. The stars stretched wide and endless above them, scattered like spilled glitter across the velvet sky. The wind tugged at their cloaks, and smoke curled lazily from distant chimneys.
They sat side by side on the stone ledge, close, but not touching. Silence fell between them, not awkward but weighty. Heavy with the things they hadn't said.
Finally, Fred broke it.
"How do you feel about me, Ava?"
She blinked. "What?"
He didn't laugh. Didn't smirk. Just turned slightly toward her, elbows on his knees, hands clasped tightly between them. His gaze hovered somewhere beyond the railing, like looking directly at her would make the words too real.
"I like you," he said. "I think that's obvious at this point. But I don't know what I am to you. Some days, it feels like there's something there. Then you go off with Wood, and I think maybe I imagined it. But then you fall asleep next to me in the Great Hall, curled up like you belong there, and I think maybe I didn't."
He ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I just… I don't know where I stand. And it's driving me a bit mental."
Ava tried for levity. "Fred Weasley, overthinking something? That's a first."
Usually, he would grin. Fire back a joke. This time, he only gave her a small, almost self-conscious smile and looked away again.
It twisted something in her chest.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "You're right. I've been giving you mixed signals. And it's not because I'm trying to mess with your head, I promise. I just…" She sighed, eyes dropping to her hands. "I don't know what I want."
He didn't interrupt. He just listened.
"I feel like I'm finally becoming someone," she said. "Someone real. And that's amazing, but it's terrifying, too. Everything feels fragile. But you…" She turned toward him, catching his gaze. "You make me feel safe, Fred. Like I can breathe when I'm with you."
"But you're also my friend," she added. "One of the best I've ever had. And if I screw this up–"
"You won't," he said gently, and with more certainty than she felt she deserved.
"You don't know that."
"I know you." His voice was quiet but steady. "And I'd rather take the chance than never know what this could be."
He reached out then, tentatively, and brushed his fingers over hers. Not demanding. Just offering. When she didn't pull away, he laced their fingers together slowly, like he was testing whether the moment was real.
Then, wordlessly, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. Just once. Soft. Reverent.
Ava's breath caught in her throat.
She stared at him for a long moment. The wind tugged at her cloak. Above them, stars spun slowly on their ancient path.
"Let's take it one step at a time," she whispered.
His smile returned, small, but genuine. He leaned in, wrapping his arms around her with quiet relief. She leaned into him instinctively, resting her head in the crook of his neck.
"Thank you," he murmured, his hand brushing softly along her back.
And for a little while the world melted away. The cards, the confusion, the looming shadow of Sirius Black… All of it vanished beneath the stars.
