The Chain [Tom Riddle]

Chapter 13

"Is this your card sir?" Nessa seriously asked Abraxas holding a tarot card between her fingers. Joaquin sighed and pulled the card away from her and put it back in the deck.

"That's not what we are doing." Abraxas scolded the girl, they were attending their elective Divination class. 

It was a small class, about twelve students were attending and Nessa, Abraxas, and Joaquin were the only Slytherin students in the class. At the beginning of class Nessa was sitting in the front by herself but she didn't mind although, she did try to convince Euphemia to join her but she backed out claiming that she heard it would be a waste of her time and quite difficult. When Jean-Marie entered the class she first spotted Nessa sitting by herself and wanted to sit next to her but seeing the green in her clothes made her change her mind quick. She hated how Slytherins already warped her mind about them, that all are no good. But when Nessa looked up she gave the Ravenclaw girl a quick but genuine smile before focusing on her notes. That smile was enough to change her mind and she sat down next to Nessa, they exchanged greetings and only talked about how hard they think the class would be.

 More students came in and the lasts ones were Joaquin and Abraxas the only seats that were available where they could both sit together lied right behind Nessa and Jean-Marie. The four of them were now practicing Cartomancy with the tarot cards assigned by the professor. Jean-Marie and Joaquin were partnered up and were more serious in their assignment than Nessa and Abraxas.

"How about this? Is this your card?" Nessa joked again, Abraxas groaned and put his head down against the desk. Nessa laughed and put the card back in the deck, she scooted her seat closer to Abraxas and poked his platinum blonde hair which confused Joaquin but he said nothing. Nessa poked his hair again but she accidently plucked out a hair making Abraxas aggressively sat up, giving Nessa a clear annoyed look.

"Can you at least try to do it correctly?" He begged but Nessa rolled her eyes as she shuffled her cards.

"I am trying. I am just not feeling it, and none of these cards make sense for you." She explained as she showed him the cards that she picked. 

"Maybe this class was a waste." Joaquin quietly said enough for only the three classmates to hear him. Jean-Marie cleared her throat and turned to Nessa.

"Maybe he's hard to read," Jean-Marie moved closer to Nessa ignoring Abraxas' glare towards her, "try me instead." Jean-Marie's grabbed both of Nessa's hands, the Slytherin girl looked down at their hands before looking up again. She stared at Jean-Marie doing her best to understand what she needed to do, or what she needed to feel. Nessa wasn't absolutely sure if what she was feeling was something deeper or obvious but she could feel the girl's uncomfortableness despite her looking calm. Perhaps it was because she was surrounded by three snakes, two that didn't seem to mind her presence but one that wanted to paralyze her wings with his venom so she wouldn't fly away and swallow her whole. In her soft brown eyes she could see and feel the determination, she wasn't sure for what exactly but she had an urge to prove herself. 

Nessa pulled her hands away and grabbed the deck of card to pull one. She concealed from the others first she wanted to understand why she picked out the card. She knew the meaning of it but the only way for it to come true is if Jean-Marie makes that path for herself. Everyone waited for her to show the card, even Abraxas tried looking over Nessa's shoulder to see it. Nessa swatted the Malfoy boy away before showing the card to Jean-Marie.

"Five of clubs. I think it means you could have new friends or alliances if you play your cards right." Nessa explained as she allowed Jean-Marie take the card from her fingers.

"But why five of clubs?" Joaquin asked.

"Maybe five represents the number of friends she could make." Nessa guessed.