As promised, after they had both finished their respective dinners, Arson took Vera to find the "fun", which happened to be in the Slytherin common rooms. At first, Vera was confused as to why they had come back to the common room, which was full of mild commotion but nothing that looked like what she would have defined as fun in her mind.
"This is what you do for fun?" Vera asked dryly. Arson rolled their eyes.
"They're setting up for the party they have every year at the beginning of the year," they explained. "Everyone thinks Gryffindor's are the partiers but Slytherins are very particular about their parties, and they usually turn out for the better for it. Pretty selective about the guest list though."
"So you do parties for fun?" Vera asked conversationally, trying and failing to make it seem as though she had more than a slight inkling of what a teenaged party could really be like. She had been to dinner parties and cocktail parties before she had come to Hogwarts, but no one there had come to have fun.
"Not all the time," Arson said, pausing to glare at a second-year who had been staring at Vera. "We usually only have parties at the beginning of the year, after exams, and if- merlin forbid it- we ever win a Quidditch match. The ones after the quidditch matches- when we actually win- are pretty wild. Most of the time, people play wizard chess or gobstones for fun. I never really understood the appeal of it, personally."
"What do you like to do for fun?" Vera asked. "Sorry, I know my questions are trivial."
"Don't apologize," Arson said, waving it off. "Most people around here don't like me much if you didn't notice. Probably because I fight with Malfoy all the time and a lot of people act like he's a god or something."
"Ugh," Vera said, remembering her previous exasperation with the boy.
"Ugh is right," Arson agreed. "I guess I mostly fought with him when there wasn't something going on in the common room."
"Understandable," Vera muttered under her breath. Arson chuckled.
"Oooh, wait, I read tarot cards," Arson said all of a sudden. Vera stared at them blankly, not knowing what that meant. "It's a type of divination, I guess, though most people think they're a scam. The cards can tell the future if you know how to read them right, which I'd like to say I can. You wanna reading?"
"Sure," Vera said.
Fifteen minutes later, she was sat on Arson's bed while they rummaged in their trunk, finally pulling out a navy blue cardboard box with intricate gold detailing on it. The front opened to reveal a set of cards that, despite being old and worn, still matched the box in detail. A strange sort of power came from the cards as Arson pulled them out of the box, and Vera felt as though she had to respect them.
"Alright," Arson said, holding the cards out to Vera. "Say your full name, your date of birth, your place of birth, and then shuffle the cards three times."
Vera took the cards, slightly hesitant. "Erm, Vera Smirnova, October 30th, 1981, Yekaterinburg, Russia."
"You were born in Russia?" Arson asked. Vera smiled slightly, as it seemed like it shouldn't be a surprise considering her accent.
"I don't remember it at all, my parents moved permanently to London when I was only three months old," Vera said. "I've only ever been to Russia once, and never Yekaterinburg."
"Wasn't that where the Romanoffs were executed?" Arson asked, and Vera was surprised by Arson's knowledge of muggle history. Vera started to shuffle the cards, nodding.
"It was," Vera replied, though that was as much as she knew about her birthplace either. "Shuffle three times you said?" Arson nodded and when Vera finished and looked up to them to continue the instructions.
"Alright," Arson said, taking the cards back, careful not to mess up the order that Vera had shuffled them in, spreading the deck out in her hands. "Pick seven cards- whichever ones speak to you. Don't turn them over, put them down on the bed exactly how you pull them out.
Vera obliged, pulling one out and setting it down. She stared at the deck for another moment before choosing her next card, repeating the process until she had all seven cards. "What now?" Vera asked.
Arson turned the first card over. In the picture, there was a woman and seven sticks. One of the sticks was on fire in her hands. "Nine of wands- challenge, competition, perseverance."
"That makes sense," Vera mumbled. Arson smiled slightly as they turned over the next card.
"Ace of cups," they said. "Someone's got love in their future."
Vera blushed and instantly thought about Ginny. "Really?"
"You're the one who blushed," Arson teased, turning over the next card. "Three of cups- that one's all about friendship. High priestess- intuition, divine femininity. The hanged man- a sudden change. Strength, and... wow, the lovers. What a hand."
"What does it mean?" Vera asked, curious.
"You've recently had a sudden change in your life," Arson began, their fingers tracing over certain cards as the story they told began to take shape. "Perhaps it's been very challenging for you, maybe you feel slightly hopeless about it. But you're strong-willed, and if you trust your intuition, you'll come through the other side with new friendships and new love."
"Wow," Vera said, impressed. "You got all of that from the cards?"
Arson nodded. "Reading them is an art, and it's easy to take everything at face value. Sometimes it means more than what you think it does, and you shouldn't let it rule your life. They're not omniscient and at the end of the day, you're in charge of your own fate."
"You were right," Vera said, smiling. "That was fun."
"Glad you had fun," Arson grinned back.
Whether or not Arson's interpretation of the cards was accurate, Vera couldn't help but go to sleep that night feeling a little bit more confident in her ability to overcome her past.
a/n: I think the frog left I'm so happy
also hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope I did not get anything completely off about the tarot cards; I know a little but I am definitely not an expert and if anything is totally wrong, lmk so I can fix it
see you again Saturday :) let me know if there's something specific you want to see in that chapter because I am really just writing whatever I feel like at this point
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SCREAM | ginny w.
Fanfictionat first, she lived every moment of her life like her last was the moment before. she was caught up in her own world, her own life. she was a soldier, not a student. a fighter, not a lover. a weapon, not a person. and then she met ginny weasley. o...
