Open a different type of reading

[Eoghan Blyth]

Eoghan wasn't going to be sticking around anywhere where he felt like he was being made a fool of. He could understand some children wanted to play pranks on one another, especially when they thought they'd get away with it and with so many contenders in a castle this big, but that was precisely why he didn't want to be here. Most kids in this school weren't taking things seriously, wasting away their time here on petty plans that were designed to cause the most chaos properly. Apparently, they couldn't even have a simple tour without someone trying to ruin it.

The blond had swiftly left the first year tour in the hopes of getting some fresh air, headed towards the courtyard that the older girl had earlier pointed out. He'd figure out his way around the castle by himself like everyone else who seemed to manage it without having a tour. By the time he stepped outside (and not a moment too soon) the cool air hitting his face was relief, and as his eyes adjusted to the light he peered around the grounds. There were a few students milling around but not enough that he thought they'd get in the way, a pleasant change from most areas in the school.

Taking a seat on one of the stairs in front of the main doors, careful to keep out of the way of any other students retreating to safety, Eoghan slid his hand into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a deck of cards, shuffling them absent-mindedly as he continued to scour the area. Sometimes he wasn't sure if he wished Imogen was here with him or whether he was back with her, but he knew it would be a long time until the first break if he spent his whole time wishing he was somewhere else. Turning his attention to the cards in the hand, he began to flip over a few and lay them neatly at his feet, studying the patterns on each one.​

 

[Cal Greenleaf]

Desperate for some fresh air after that stink bomb went off and possibly to hide from the fact that he got caught talking to himself, Cal had followed some other kids heading in the direction of a courtyard. Some of this was a little overwhelming for Cal, he was used to being on his own and this place had people everywhere. crossing the threshold into clean air he felt instant relief and took in his surroundings. Cal spotted a few other students roaming the place and another on the side of the steps sitting down shuffling and tossing some playing cards. The cards had reminded Cal of his mother, he had heard the story so many times. Cals mother and father always told him about how she would try to impress the actual magic wizard with muggle slight of hand tricks, and his father had fallen hard. Cal was always impressed that a non magical person could still maintain illusion and find their own type of magic. Not sure if it was missing home, or the desperation of not wanting to be a loner but Cal approached the blonde student with the cards, finding some hidden courage and said "Hey, sorry to interrupt, but would you be interested in seeing a magic trick?" Cal reddened. That sounded way less stupid in his head but he was already there now and already said it.

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

A reverse judgment. Eoghan scowled at the tarot card he’d most recently turned over, although the longer he looked at it the more he could resonate. Before he had a chance to combine it, he heard another student's voice beside him and Eoghan glanced up to meet the pink-cheeked student it belonged to. "What?" he asked. It wasn't that he hadn't heard what he'd said, but he was buying time to make sure it was most definitely him this kid was talking to. "A magic trick like.. a spell? Or a fake one?" Eoghan knew tricks were things that a muggle sometimes did, although it was a lot easier to be good at an illusion when you could make the magic happen for real. "Alright," Eoghan said eventually, squinting as the brightness of the white clouds was practically blinding him as he tried to keep his eyes on the boy who stood next to him.​

 

[Cal Greenleaf]

Cal was shocked, he half expected to be ignored or told to bugger off. Almost as if quoting his mother herself "There's a little bit of magic in everything, you've just got to be willing to find it." No idea where this confidence had come from he decided to roll with it. "may i?" Cal reached for the cards and started to shuffle them, "This is something my mom taught me," After he shuffled the cards he fanned them out, "take your pick and don't show me which is yours, after you see it i'll ask you put it back in the deck." Cal hoped desperately that this trick would work, he didn't want his first attempt at an actual wizarding school to be failing at muggle "magic". He had started to sweat a little, ignoring the cold breeze.

 

[Ondine Physwick]

Ondine, too, had broken away from the tour in search of some fresh air. A dungbomb was tame in comparison with some of the smells that drifted out of her mother's laboratory on a regular basis, but the ensuing chaos was unfamiliar, and she'd been at risk of getting trampled. So she went out into the courtyard, where a cool breeze helped settle her nerves. Although they could only be settled so much. The children here were so... noisy. And it wasn't just the children. The professors, the portraits, the ghosts, the house elves - everybody seemed to be in competition to see who could talk the loudest. Ondine had hardly said a word since the feast, but if she had, it would have been swallowed immediately by the din. It was all quite unsettling.

But the courtyard was quiet enough. In a few minutes, when everybody had calmed down, perhaps she'd go back in and see if she could catch up with the tour. Until then, she was happy to stand out here by herself.

And what was this? A magic trick? Ondine had seen a few of those; not the wizard kind, but misdirection, sleight of hand. Her uncle Bertle was very good at making coins disappear, or re-appear in her ear, without any real magic at all. In some ways, it was even more impressive. Curiosity won over her feet, and she found herself drifting towards the boys. Not too close. Just close enough to watch.

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

Eoghan said nothing as the boy told him there was magic to be found in everything. Try telling Imogen that, he thought, glancing over the boys shoulder to see that he'd gained a shadow. Another girl from his own house that he recognised from the common room although he couldn't recall her name. Truth be told the only names he had bothered to remember were Victoria, Susie and William, but even they didn't even seem to have noticed he'd disappeared. The boy scooped up Eoghan's cards, and he watched as he began to shuffle them back in together. His tarot reading would be useless now. This. This was why he didn't have any friends. People would think they could just do as they pleased if it suited them, it didn't matter how it effected others.

Playing along, Eoghan took one of his own cards, checking it before placing it back into the deck. If he really could figure out which card was his without using magic, well maybe it would give Imogen a little hope after all.​

 

[Cal Greenleaf]

Cal composed himself, this was a trick that his mother had taught him and he wanted to get it right, no needed to get it right. He watched as the Ravenclaw boy had chosen the card and were he put it back in the deck, as he shuffled the deck he used his fingernail to make a slight bend in the bottom left corner of the card, unnoticeable unless you were looking for it. It was time for a little showmanship, he shuffled the deck in all sorts of manners and while doing so slipped the slightly marked card into his sleeves, he had hoped nobody noticed and proceeded to the next step, the decoy reveal! Cal's mother had said the best part is when people think they've got you figured out and then flipping the situation to the big reveal! Cal fanned the cards out again in his left hand and then used the right to pick a wrong card and show it to the blonde boy, "This is...." he paused for dramatic effect, "NOT your card!" Cal folded the deck back and handed it back to the Ravenclaw. As he turned to walk away he said, "Oh thats right," and with a flick of his hand the correct card slid into his left hand and he held it up with a sly grin on his face. "THIS is your card!" at least he hoped it was. Cal waited and studied the boys face looking for some sort of approval, still holding the card up and flashing a smile.

 

[Ondine Physwick]

It wasn't enough to wave your hands around and pick out the correct card; muggle magic was about the performance, and this boy would have given Uncle Bertie a run for his money. Even as Ondine inched closer still, craning for a better look, she had no idea where he'd stashed the card. But of course, even all that misdirection wouldn't be very impressive if it was the wrong card.

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

Eoghan was staring at the boy in front of him as though he was watching paint dry. Perhaps it was because he could do real magic that any type of illusion was wasted on him, although he supposed he could him credit for the performance. When he presented him with his card, Eoghan almost laughed. It was a lot of effort when it wasn't even the right card he'd chosen. That was, until the boy turned and out of nowhere showed him the card he had plucked from the collection. Eoghan tilted his head a little as though trying to work out where the card was, before eventually he took it from the boy's hands. "This had no mark on it," he stated, checking over his own card. He knew his cards, he played with them every day. "How did you know?" he looked back up the boy, taking the rest of his deck and recombining the cards.​

 

[Cal Greenleaf]

Cal felt proud of his performance, it had been a while since he had done the trick or practiced this trick. He shrugged and said the familiar line his mother would say to his father when he asked about her tricks, "A magician never reveals their secrets." He remembered fondly how after his mom would say that and turn and wink at him. "I'm Cal by the way, maybe I'll show you how its done one day," Cal glanced and realized that this was one pristine deck of expensive looking tarot cards. He had never been very good at divination, "I showed you a trick, would you mind doing a reading for me? I've always been pretty bad at divination." Cal looked into the boys eyes trying to get a read of his own on him.

 

[Ondine Physwick]

The blonde boy didn't look anywhere near as impressed as he ought to have. Then again, Ondine hadn't appreciated the skill muggle magic required either until she'd tried it herself. Turns out she couldn't even shuffle a deck of cards without spraying them everywhere. She could only hope she wasn't as useless at real magic, which, luckily for her, seemed to require a bit less hand-eye coordination, and substantially less charisma.

She offered a small applause. Somehow, she'd drifted right into the boys' circle. "Excuse me," she said. It was the first thing she'd said all day, and her voice was croaky. "Could I watch?" She'd already been watching, of course, but as her ma told her, it was impolite to lurk.

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

Eoghan wasn't entirely sure what to think about Cal. "Divination isn't a trick," Eoghan started, hoping the boy would be more careful in future with how he worded things. "Illusions are tricks. Divination is using the supernatural," he began shuffling his cards again as Cal introduced himself, shortly followed by the girl behind him giving the boy an applause for his efforts. "Sit," he said to them both with a nod of his head, taking a moment to contemplate whether or not this was a good idea. He did this enough with himself that he was confident in what it would mean, but he'd never done it for someone else before. "I'm Eoghan," he added quietly, finally beginning to get used to the way he kept having to introduce himself to the other first years. "I don't mind," he added to the other Ravenclaw truthfully. He wasn't up for making friends, but he wasn't about to push away anyone either.

When he had his deck together again, he turned once more to Cal. "Think of a question. It can be anything you want answered," he gave the boy a moment to come up with something before he asked, "What do you want to know?"​

 

[Cal Greenleaf]

"Very nice to meet you!" Cal sat excitedly, he wondered if this could be his first friend. He had always been better at observing people than talking to them. Honestly he wondered where this burst of confidence came from and he wanted to know where it would lead. Cal sat on the steps next to Eoghan and pondered what it was he wanted to know. He had thoughts of the far future, would he become an Auror like his father? Would he live up to his expectations? Would he become a great wizard? He was afraid of asking the wrong question. After a moment his mother popped into his head rather than his father. She was always a very go with the flow person, something he always wanted to do, though she wasn't the magic user in the family she had a funny way of just going with the flow. Cal turned to Eoghan and said, "What would the cards like me to know about myself?" He had hoped the question wasn't too vague, but he was trying to reinvent himself in school, and get out of his normal comfort zone he started to realize.

 

[Ondine Physwick]

Ondine climbed up on the step behind the boys and sat down. From here, she had a much better view of the tarot cards, and any further magic tricks Cal might be persuaded to show them afterwards. Neither of them seemed very interested in her presence, which suited her all right; there was nothing she hated more than talking about herself. Although she wouldn't have minded sharing her name, if they asked for it. Perhaps they'd ask for it. Yes - almost definitely, they'd ask her in a minute.

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

As Eoghan's acquaintances took a seat beside him, he began to shuffle the cards once more, thinking about Cal's question. One of the cards seemed to get caught against other but he didn't think about it too much. "Okay. What can we learn about you," he clarified, finally pausing the shuffling to turn over the first card, laying it on the step between them. "The hermit," Eoghan said, thinking about how this would translate to Cal's question. "This suggests that erm, you need to take time for yourself but on the other hand you should be careful not to isolate yourself," he explained, wondering how close Cal would find this to be appropriate. The blond took the next card from the top of the deck, placing it next to the second, "Temperance" Eoghan glanced at Cal as though trying to gauge some information, "Basically this says that you should be pursuing your success, whatever that means to you, through moderation. You shouldn't make any extreme decisions, at least, not too quickly. And, try not to be smug about it." he added, drawing a third card to complete the set. "The world?" he wasn't sure why he was asking Cal, he didn't know what it meant. The picture on the card showed a woman holding up the earth, "It's, the last card. In a Tarot deck, it's the last card of the set, which means you should collect your thoughts, and filter them towards something meaningful to you. You might be scattered right now but if you focus on your actions and use them for something that means something, in time you'll get the results you want." he finished, resting his hand on the remaining cards in his deck. "Does that answer your question?"

After a moment he flickered his eyes to the girl sat behind them. "Do you want to try? What's your question?"​

 

[Cal Greenleaf]

Cal was stunned, it was extremely impressive how the cards seemed to read his mind. "Yes i think it did, thank you." Suddenly aware of the Ravenclaw girl behind him Cal turned and greeted her smiling, "oh hey there, I'm Cal! You should definitely try it out, it was incredibly insightful." Cal moved so the girl could take her spot next to Eoghan and gestured with his hands.