The Cracks In The Crystal Ball

[Larissa Sedgwick]

It was now early December, and Larissa was still getting used to the walls, surrounding her. She hadn't really gotten the chance to meet a lot of people, yet, but the ones she had met, fell into one of two categories; those who thought they could lead, and those who were happy to follow. Larissa found herself getting on better with those who would simply bow down to her will. They were easier to deal with, and much more valuable. After all- an army of sheep led by a lion, is more powerful than an army of lions led by a sheep.

Larissa was in her Divination class. She was sat before a crystal ball, gazing into it, a bored look, pasted upon her face. She began to wonder if she had made the right choice in taking up so many subjects.. But, she could drop them in the next year, if she so wished. The Professor was mumbling something about dark creatures on the horizon. Larissa had hoped that, with a school like Durmstrang, all the lessons would be the dark arts. Well, obviously she had been kidding herself, but she was ever-hopeful.

The lesson droned on. The class were supposed to be taking notes. Larissa was doodling. She hadn't really concentrated on the image she was drawing. It was a shock to her, when she looked down and saw a picture of a girl, laying at the edge of a cliff, someone standing beside her. Larissa leant in to focus. She thought she almost recognized one if them..

THUD! Two, surprisingly large, fists, had hammered down on table. Larissa sat up straight, instantly meeting the hawk-eyes, blazing at her. "Miss Sedgwick," the voice hissed, seemingly angry, "I hope you are noting down what you have seen .. That is, if you can see anything in that ball, other than your own face?" Larissa froze for a moment. Her eyes dropped to her paper. A smile formed on her perfect, pale face, as she looked back up at the Professor, speaking in German as most of the other students did. "Well, Professor," She started, her tone a cross between innocence and insolence, "I could not find the words to describe the vivid scene, which was pitched before my eyes.. So, I drew a picture, in the hopes that, once I had a moment to think, I could make some decent notes." She finished with a false smile. The Professor seemed to pause for thought. And then, Larissa found herself being praised. "I like you, Larissa," the Professor commented, "you're very quick-thinking.. See, class? This is what you should be doing." Larissa watched as the Professor showed of the drawing. She smiled to herself- she was quick-thinking in more ways than one.

The lesson moved on, and Larissa sat on her stool, content in writing an essay on what made a good seer. Her thoughts were only disturbed as she flicked her pretty blue eyes, up to her crystal ball: She saw bushes, a girl standing at a cliff edge.. And then, she was moving from the bush, looking at everyone present. But, everything was so blurred. Larissa had no idea who these people were, or what was going on. And then.. A face was looking at her through the crystal ball. It was a lot like her own, yet, so very different. And, suddenly, it moved. Larissa sat back, realizing that the face was not her own, but belonged to another student. "Oh.. Hello." Larissa spoke in German, her tone almost managing nonchalant.

 

[Veronica White]

Time had slowed down once again for Veronica as Joshua had entered her life.She spent most of her afternoons with him in the common room chatting and doing her homework.They had kept public love show to a minimal and Veronica was glad about that. Durmstrang was a place for major gossip and rumors and who knew what would start if all the students discovered about her relationship with Josh. The next thing they might see was all the walls painted with Graffiti about a gay dating a pretty girl. Only a few of their friends knew about it and Veronica was thankful that none of them had made any fuss about that.

After all Veronica could not understand what someone could possibly think was wrong in dating a guy who had dated guys before? Couldn't anyone remember something called bisexual? All these thoughts run through her head as she pretended to be gazing at the crystal ball placed infront of her.

Divination was her second worst subject, first being Astronomy and no matter how many times she tried to try learning Divination she had never succeeded. After having fetched an Acceptable in her last year exams she could only hope for this year to come to an end and with that came her OWLs after which she would drop Divination.

She was brought back to the present when she heard a THUD somewhere in the classroom.Veronica could not see who the girl being nailed by the Professor was but she was amused by how the girl used her drawing in her favor and the Professor got impressed. Veronica was seated at the rear of the class not wanting to be called on at any time and she normally did not take interest in knowing the seers of the class however someone around her whispered that the girl in question was a transfer student and this made Veronica curious.

Veronica always liked getting to know the transfer students because she enjoyed sharing different backgrounds and such.Therefore when the class came to an end and she collected her essay she walked forward and raised an eyebrow when she saw the girl gazing into the crystal. Veronica had never seen anything in the crystal but her own face so she bent down and gazed at the crystal.

She was surprised to see herself staring back however the other Veronica was not dressed like herself and had little facial differences from her as well. It was after a second when she heard a 'hello' she looked up to discover that she was looking at a face that looked very much like her. "um...Hi" she greeted the girl with a smile.

 

[Larissa Sedgwick]

Larissa had known that the world was a very strange place, that somewhere in the world, everyone has a lookalike. What she hadn't expected, however, was to meet her here. Alright, the two of them didn't look exactly alike, but it was still quite shocking. The biggest part that Larissa noticed, in their differences, was that the other girl dressed in a more feminine manner. Larissa looked down at her own feet; she was wearing her great leather boots, again, and a ring with a single metal spike, rested upon her wedding finger. She looked back up at the girl and forced a smile onto her own face, trying not to look too surprised.

"You can.. You can sit, if you want to." She said to the other Larissa, sounding friendly, even though she felt like she was an animal cornered, and her only way out was to rip everyone's faces off. Deciding that she wasn't going to have this girl stick in her mind as 'the other Larissa', she extended her left hand- the one with the ring on- in a welcoming gesture. "I'm Larissa Sedgwick." She said, smiling, still keeping up her appearance of a model student as she had done back at Hogwarts.

Larissa made a quick mental note of what she should say, how she should act. "I've just transferred from Hogwarts- the one in New Zealand." She closed her mouth, smiling in a sugar-sweet way. Deception was something she was now well practiced at. With any luck, Larissa could convince the whole school that she was a right little ray of sunshine, even though she had no intention of being good.

 

[Veronica White]

Veronica blinked a couple of times as she scanned the girl who was seated in front of her. Despite their close resemblance in appearance the clothing they wore were different. The transfer girl looked like she could be a punk person. A few people who were on their way out of the class stared at them and Veronica gave them a sharp look which shooed them away. Veronica knew quite a many people in here and being good at Qudditch, average at her grades and a pretty face she was well known and respected in these walls. The only people who usually got argumentative with her were her only enemies the Watanuki children whom she had the pleasure of not meeting for the past two weeks.

Turning to face the new girl once more she smiled and accepted the offer to taking a seat. Veronica had read many muggle magazines despite of hating muggle items but she always loved any sort of documents, books and muggle poetry. Science, according to the muggles had proved that seven people had the same facial appearance in the world and it looked like Veronica had just found one of them. Larissa, she said the name in her head. It was good to start noticing the differences between them and her name was something that would differentiate them here at Durmstrang. She shook the girl's hand her sight not missing the ring on her wedding finger.

"I am Veronica White" she said introducing herself to Larissa. She smiled at her as the thought that similar thoughts of curiosity and surprise would be running through Larissa's head crossed her mind. "I've seen the castle from far" she said remembering seeing the castle through the forest on one of her trips to NewZealand. "What house had the hat sorted you in?"She asked Larissa with curiosity. The fact that a hat would sort students of Hogwarts from all over the world had sounded crazy to her, the first time she had heard it but now she was quite used to that knowledge of the all knowing hat.

 

[Larissa Sedgwick]

Larissa did not hesitate to answer Veronica's question. "I was a Slytherin," she announced proudly, appearing quite dark at the same time as snooty. "I was even a prefect- on the Quidditch team as a chaser, and everything." Larissa gave a shallow sigh. "Of course I miss some aspects of Hogwarts.. But then, I would much rather be here with people who believe in the dark arts value, than stuck with those little s.." Larissa forced herself to stop, mid-sentence. She gathered her thoughts, again, and sat up, smiling. She gave a light cough, before continuing.

"Are you much of a Quidditch fan?" Larissa asked, calmly and politely. She planned to make this conversation work, even if it still seemed very strange that she had met a girl with looks identical to her own. Larissa hoped that this girl didn't have veela blood too, or that would have been even more weird. And, what would Mark think? Would he find it weird, too? What if she never told him, and he and the girl met? Images of scenes, flashed before Larissa's mind. She clenched her fists, slightly, before snapping back to reality, giving Veronica an almost apologetic smile, blushing slightly.

 

[Veronica White]

Veronica smiled as she heard Larissa's reply. The girl seemed like she had been into many things whilst at her old school, an all rounder of sorts and prefect-that sounded impressive because personally Veronica would never be disciplined and serious enough to be a prefect. "Prefect, that's cool" she told her appreciating As for Larissa being a Slytherin, Veronica had heard that some very powerful wizards came from that house and she was glad that Durmstrang was accepting some good students. Many people loved having the knowledge of dark arts and Veronica saw no bad in that. It was something that all students were taught here for their own good and using it if they ever felt the need.

"Very much of a fan" she said with a grin glad to have found something that they shared as an interest. "This year luckily I got into the school team, I play seeker but my skills are still developing" she explained Larissa happily. Veronica still remembered the game where she had for the first time caught the snitch in a match but that had just been in one of the matches out of the two played so far. "Is there any position you like to play?"she asked Larissa.

 

[Larissa Sedgwick]

"I've played, pretty much, every position," Larissa smiled, answering Veronica's question. "My strength is as chaser, but I'm not a bad beater." She smirked, watching as most of the students disappeared from the classroom, the Professor looking over at Larissa and Veronica with one eyebrow raised. "Come on." Larissa breathed, standing up and indicating to Veronica that they should leave. She packed her possessions away and began to walk towards the door, expecting Veronica to follow. The Professor's eyes were glued to Larissa, and she turned, briefly, smiling. The Professor nodded to her before she turned back, leaving the classroom.

She began walking down a flight of twisting stairs, barely noticing whether or not Veronica was there, though she had a feeling that she was. It could be useful having a lookalike to send out as a decoy. Of course, Larissa would have to convince the girl of such things, first. She spoke over her shoulder to the Veronica, only turning her head slightly. "Quite the model student, me." She smiled, knowing that this was true to a certain extent, "scored Outstanding in every subject I took.. Of course, that's just me, I'm just lucky." She paused for a moment. "Well, the only subject I ever got Exceeds Expectations in, was Astronomy.. I never really found it that interesting- and I suppose falling asleep in a class as late as it was, though reasonable, could not have helped boost my grades." She gave a light laugh, passing by some Durmstrang couple. She looked at the boy, catching his eye and winking at him; he stumbled, his girlfriend turning round to see what had happened. She gave a "hmph!" stuck her nose in the air, and walked on. Larissa grinned, still walking on.

 

[Veronica White]

Veronica got up from her seat and followed Larissa.She stayed behind her because the staircase was narrow and with both of them walking side by side there would be mcuh possibility of falling over the banister."Hmm....I had considered becoming a chaser once but since the quaffle would be the bull's eye,I didn't want to be very close to it."she told her as she let out a peal of laughter at the thought of her being chased around by the huge boys from the opposing team."And I can't beat a fly so I definitely cant beat the bludger,if I try,I am afraid it would beat me up more badly."

"I have never been a very excellent student,mostly because things bore and bug me very easily.But I have always loved Herbology,Potions and The Dark Arts.I think they are my strongest subjects but I don't need to study them much even for exams,I am a natural."she continued climbing down the stairs which were starting to make her dizzy and tired.The transfiguration tower was the second highet in the whole castle and Veronica had counted that it took 50 stairs to get up there from the lobby of The Great Bulgarian Seers and 100 steps to get there from the third corridor on the Western Wing. "

"Astronomy also bores me to the point of death,but I am a bit interested zodiac signs and horoscopes."As Veronica walked she twirled a strand of her hair in her hand.It had grown to a still paler color over the summer and spring,but now that the sun was no longer a problem it was regaining it's blonde tone.She admired the black undertones that she had gotten."But I don't understand why we bother with such lessons.We cannot change anything nor make anything.We can't even be sure about anything if it is so far,so why bother?Anyway,I don't stress my mind because of such subjects."

As they passed Veronica recognized Izaak and his girlfriend passing by.Veronica wondered how long it had been since he had started dating her.A few days?Izaak was one of the guys that could never be faithful,and despite his good looks that some girls admired,Veronica had never really seen even him worthy of her friendship. As he stumbled,Veronica realized that Larissa must have been what he was concentrating on.Veronica fell into step next to her and laughed silently."That is Izaak,he is so cheap it makes me feel sick.He's got no brains,you can know just by hearing him talk."As they were walking away they coul hear him telling his girlfriend,"I was only wondering why Veronica didn't mention that her sister was joining.I wonder if she would introduce us..."his voice faded away as they took a turn towards the dorm.