Open Future in Flowers

[Iris van Houten]

((Open after Nicole Fisk))

Iris had always been eager to learn Divination at Hogwarts, but she knew that they wouldn't learn anything about it until the third year. After talking to Selene, she had learned that they wouldn't even have it until the second semester of the third year, so Iris had decided to do a bit of research of her own. With Valentine's day and all the flower craze around it, Iris had decided to pick up a book in the library on Floromancy, a way of using flowers in divination. The book had many interesting methods, but most of them had to do with flowers that were still growing outside, or having to find the first flower you saw in spring. Iris had taken her book and one of the roses she had gotten with her to breakfast, hoping to find some technique she could do with the slightly wilted yellow rose. The only one that she had found so far had to do with romance, which Iris wasn't too bothered about yet. According to this book, a common way to use flowers in divination was to pluck a petal from it, saying a statement about the object affection with each. According to the belief, the statement uttered when the last petal is pulled is supposed to be true. Iris wanted to try it, but had no pressing romance questions to ask. She read the passage in the book again, a slight frown on her face. Could she use this form of divination for some other question? Or would she have to find something else?

 

[Nicole Fisk]

Valentine's day was just around the corner, and all the rose deliveries had had Nicole in a wonderful mood. She knew it was silly to get all excited about romance and flowers and stuff, especially when she wasn't planning on dating anyone any time soon, but she just couldn't help it. Heading into the hall, Nicole smiled when she spotted Iris sitting at the Ravenclaw table already, deciding they could sit there for the day and dropping down next to her. "Iris, hi hi, is that one of your roses?" She asked, giving it a little pitying look when the rose looked a touch worse for wear. "One of the older girls in my house was giving me some tips on making them last longer if you like, I think she mentioned a charm we could do, I could ask her again if you wanted to save it," She said, perusing some of the food on the table and starting to make herself a plate. "Are you excited about the dance coming up?" Nicole asked lightly. She wasn't sure if dances and things were something Iris was excited about like she was, but she did rather want to talk about it.

 

[Iris van Houten]

Iris looked up as Nicole approached her, and gave her friend a slightly distracted smile. She kept her finger on the page so she wouldn't lose her place in the book. "It is. I'm looking into floromancy and hoped to find something I could do with that rose. But a lot of it is too complex so far." She said with a sigh. "Oh, floromancy is a form of divination, by the way. I just found it in the library." She shook her head at Nicole's suggestion. "If I can't use it for this ,I'll probably dry it. I'm doing that with the other ones I got." She said gently. "Did you get any roses?" Iris contemplated Nicole's comment about the dance for a moment. "I suppose, the last dance was pretty nice." She said vaguely. "Are you?" She looked back at the book, then at Nicole again. "Do you happen to have any questions that have to do with romance and that could be answered with true or false, or yes or no?" She asked, gesturing to the book. "We could try a very simple thing out of the book, but I don't really have a fitting question."

 

[Nicole Fisk]

Nicole paused her eating so she wouldn't get crumbs anywhere as she peered at the book Iris was looking at, relieved to hear floromancy wasn't something she was supposed to know about. Iris and Kara were both Ravenclaws through and through she guessed, with all their extra research and stuff it was no wonder they were so smart. "Ohh dried roses are so pretty, though they always make me kinda sad for some reason," Dried roses made Nicole think of some sort of tragic romance, honestly, but she wondered if Iris would mind if she stole her idea for her own roses.
"Yeah, I got a few roses," Nicole answered Iris excitedly, not wanting to brag, but still feeling pretty accomplished to have gotten four as a first year. "I loved the Yule Ball, so I'm excited to see the hall all decked out for Valentine's, I bet it'll be so pretty. I got to figure out something to do with my hair though," She said, running a hand through her ponytail. Nicole was distracted from her daydreaming about ball gowns and flower petals at the ball by Iris' next question though, trying not to blush at the thought. "Um, what about something simple like, oh oh, will I get a date to the dance." She asked in a rush, turning to Iris to get a good look at what ever magic she was going to do to answer it.

 

[Iris van Houten]

Iris considered Nicole's words for a moment. "Maybe... it makes you sad because they're dead? Even if they're pretty." She said, thinking it over. "But that's true for all the roses that were sent for Valentine's day, which is kind of sad if you think about it..." She pondered it for a moment, then focused on Nicole's next words. "I like your hair this way." She said honestly. "Or any way, really." Iris didn't do much with her own hair, besides brush it and wear a headband occasionally. "I bet you'll look nice." She said with a smile. The girl's question for the rose would do, but now Iris was aware of how... simple this would be. She decided to make it a little bit showier, as she figured that couldn't hurt the magic. Iris took the rose and turned it over in her hands a few times. Then she closed her eyes and leaned in to delicately sniff at the petals. She whispered to the rose. "Show us the answer." She said, then opened her eyes again. "Nicole you'll ask the question to the rose and then pluck a petal one at a time. When you pluck one you say: 'I will', or 'I will not'." She said, nodding sagely. "The answer you have at the final petal will be the truth."

 

[Nicole Fisk]

"You're probably right, but that's such a morbid way to think of it now, oh no," Nicole said with a frown, looking at Iris' rose. "They're still pretty while they last at least," She added slowly. Nicole swatted a hand at Iris when she complimented Nicole's hair, running her other hand through it distractedly. "No it's not, it's such a horrid brown colour, but thank you for saying that," She said. Nicole always wished she had pretty red hair like Iris or Emma, or maybe even blonde hair would be fun. She'd have to see if anyone could teach her how to charm it different colours some day. "Next time we go to a dance let's all get ready together," Nicole said excitedly, twisting again to sit on the bench crossed legged to face Iris. "You, me, Emma, and Jenna," She said, smiling at the idea of it. "Maybe we can see if someone would let us do a sleepover in the student lounge or something,"

Shaking her head to stop getting distracted with ball plans, Nicole resettled to focus on Iris and the rose, listening to Iris' instructions. Nicole wanted to believe in divination, she knew Iris really liked it, but she felt like a lot of fortune type magic seemed a bit too open to interpretation to really be useful. Her mum would call it 'flighty' and she had to agree. But it was fun watching Iris start up the floromancy, and Nicole cleared her throat before directing her question to the rose. "Will I get a date to the Valentine's Dance?" She asked the rose solemnly, cracking a grin and Iris before plucking the petals off one by one. "I will. I won't. I will.." After a few moments Nicole started feeling a touch silly, even more so when they got down to the last few petals and Nicole could already count ahead to the inventible answer. "Ah. I won't," She said flatly, pulling the last petal off and looking at Iris glumly. "Bummer." She said, looking at the flower petals now littered across both their laps.

 

[Iris van Houten]

Iris nodded when Nicole said they were still pretty. "And I don't think death is always a bad thing... for flowers, at least." She said vaguely. "I'm sure the Wild Patch Club took the very best care of them." She added. She frowned when Nicole complained about her hair color. "I like the brown... it's nice." She said softly. "But maybe you can change your hair color? I'm sure there's spells for that..." She said hesitantly, though she wasn't sure if she should be encouraging that. The idea of a sleepover in the student lounge was amazing, and she nodded happily. Though she did somewhat doubt that it would be allowed. "We can try." She said hopefully. Iris watched as Nicole asked her question to the rose, pleased that her friend was going along with it so much. Iris sighed when the result was a negative, and gave her friend a sympathetic smile. She put a hand on her arm. "You won't this year, but who knows about the future?" She said gently. "There's always hope in the future." She smiled. "And until then, you can have a great time with us. I won't have a date either."

 

[Nicole Fisk]

Nicole waved off Iris' comment about her hair, though it was very sweet. "There's got to be a charm or maybe a potion I bet. My mum wouldn't let me get any potions for it yet, and my big sister in Heta says her hair is naturally blonde which is so unfair," Nicole said in a huff, even though she was still smiling. She'd have to figure it out when she was a bit older, as long as her mum didn't mind. Though while she was at school it wasn't like her parents would know exactly. "Next year let's try, second years probably get more permission to do things, I bet," She said sagely. She would be 13 by their second year, which was grown up enough hopefully for a little leeway.
The outcome of the floromancy was disappointing, but Nicole pasted on a smile, picking up some of the petals with a sigh. "It's fine, I wasn't expecting one anyway, it's alright," She insisted. "You're much better company any way." She added, giving Iris a fond grin and flicking some of the petals at her.

 

[Iris van Houten]

Iris smiled when Nicole suggested trying it next year, she wasn't sure if they would learn something like that in their second year, but didn't want to dash her friend's hopes either. Iris considered it for a moment. "Maybe we can ask Fleur, if we don't learn it. She will be a seventh year next year, I'm sure she will know how to do it." Iris said confidently. She didn't look up to Fleur as much as Emma did, but did trust her to be able to do any Hogwarts magic next year. Nicole's words were sweet, and Iris nodded happily. "We'll have a great time. And you can help me keep Emma out of trouble..." Iris said with a slight shake of her head. She had only heard about what her twin got up to at the yule ball after it already happened, and intended to keep an eye on her at this event.