Anything Could Happen

Isobel had the Inner Eye. It wasn't probably as accurate as a real seer. However, she had a real interest in Divination and planned to take the NEWT level class this year. Her Outstanding grade in that class and Defense Against the Dark Arts were probably the only things she had to be proud of. She couldn't imagine how people like Autumn Armstrong managed to get Outstanding socres in all of their OWLs and NEWTs, but that wasn't really any of her business.

Isobel wandered into the shop to pick up some supplies but she was stopped short. She saw the most beautiful crystal ball. She picked it up and looked inside. She saw nothing but white mist at first,but it shifted into a kid. Someone she vaguely recognized, but it was in this shop or would be in a moment.

She looked up when she heard the door chime. It was the kid. "Hi!" she said, waving them over. "I'm supposed to give you a reading today. Sit down with me," she said, sitting down on the hard planks of the store.

Aidan actually didn't like the idea of knowing his future. It was just something he was against as a person. Why would anyone want to know what lies ahead anyway? Wasn't that just taking all the fun away from life? Besides that, however, Aidan needed some Divination catch-up. Lemiux had gotten a bit annoyed at him during the last year, as she said that he was "holding himself back" and that "he had great potential, but he is choosing to ignore it for some reason". It was true. He foresaw two students escaping their dorms at night, and three days later, as he was patrolling the eighth floor, it happened. Eighth floor blessed floor, he guessed. He just didn't want to see what he was going to do, so after Christmas last year he just didn't do any more omens. That, of course, resulted in his Divination grades plummeting. 

He did want to get his OWL in as much things as he could, meaning he'd just pull through one more year of Divination and then he'd reevaluate. To prepare, he made an appointment in the Exposition de l'Avenir, wanting to see how real Seers did fortune-readings. He was quite surprised when he heard Isobel's voice calling. He looked around and saw her, throwing a smile towards her. "Didn't know you were a seer. Nice place you got here, by the way." He sat down in front of her, pen and paper near his side so he'd be able to take notes anytime. "So what now? I don't know how these things go..."

Isobel giggled. "Hardly my 'place,' Aidan, but thank you anyway."

She eyed his pen and paper and pointed at it. "Are you studying me?" she asked. She hadn't so far into the future to know what the outcome of this conversation would be, but she hardly expected to be someone's muse. "You know I could just tutor you in Divination, right?"

"You don't really do anything," she started to explain, "but you stare into the orb and things will materialize."

She looked inside. "Like right now, I see that I will be playing Seeker in the Oullett final game. Go ahead. It might take a moment, but just make sure you're relaxed."

Aidan was caught a little off-guard. He had to do something too? He wasn't really prepared for that... He also never really practiced with crystal balls before... He moved himself a little around, accidentaly bumping his bare foot into Isobel's shoe. Ow... Aidan breathed a little heavier than usual. That was one of the disadvantages of not wearing shoes... Still, he liked the feeling of ground beneath his feet more than he feared anything hurting his foot. That's what magic was for anyways, right? He put his papers a bit more to the side. 

"Well, I didn't really know you were such a fortune-teller, so maybe you could advertise yourself at school? Unless I've been missing that completely as well. Alright, so, I just stare into the orb, right?"

He looked into the deep purple, emptying his mind. The mist parted and reconvened, but didn't show him anything. He looked farther into the center of the orb. What was he expecting to see? Then he saw something... But what? It looked like... sand? Darkened, too. It looked like ordinary sand under water. So he was going to go diving? That wasn't really news... Then the image shifted. It was Isobel and... Was that that guy? Aidan never really remembered his name. They looked like they were talking, and Aidan was so bummed that crystal balls didn't have audio plug-ins. All of a sudden, the guy just left. 

The silence in the shop was quite mystifying, but Aidan decided to speak anyway. "How did it end?"

"No. I'd rather not have people ask me for readings," Isobel said. "Where are your shoes, Aidan? Aren't you worried about your feet being hurt?" Stepping on Isobel's tiny little shoe heel was the least of the boy's worries, in her opinion.

She just nodded.

"I don't know what you saw, to be honest, " she said. It was partially true. She couldn't see what Aidan had seen, but she had a pretty good idea of what it was. It was a feeble lie. "You're actually seeing the past. I guess you're more suited for the Pensieve, than a crystal ball. How good are you at spotting inconsistencies in patterns?" she asked, trying to redirect the conversation.

Aidan looked up to Isobel. "Oh, I don't mind. I just like the feeling of the ground beneath my feet. You know, just like the freeing feeling of raw ground?"

He had never heard of a Pensieve. The name alone sounded complicated, and nothing in the wizarding world was ever simple. "Care to explain what that is? And I spot your inconsistence in really everything you're doing. Your behavior is completely off. Don't worry, I get it. You don't want to talk about it. You don't have to." He looked deeper in the crystal ball as Isobel got the Pensieve. He'd never admit all the things he saw. He saw fire, metal, storm, and he'd never admit to it, not even to himself, but he saw a familiar girl. He did see cases of wizards who looked into the past, but that didn't really happen often. He saw so much in the orb, until he had to shut his eyes to stop watching the things about to happen. "Could you take the crystal ball away? I really can't keep looking. I don't want to know."

Isobel shook her head. "No. But they're your feet. I like shoes. Especially these," she explained, looking at her black Mary Jane-style heels. They were her school shoes (the one's she wore with her uniform), but they were her favorite.

"A pensieve is a metal basin where people can insert their memories so someone can review them. Ugh. It's hard to explain, Isobel replied, rubbing her forehead.

She was trying to ignore his comments about her behavior. She didn't want to get angry. "We broke up. Cameron wanted to go to a different school and that required him leaving me behind," she explained. It felt kind of good to say it to someone. She hadn't told Sophie the reason yet, so it was a fairly new feeling, in general. "I love him. I think it's shitty that you can give someone all of yourself and it doesn't make people want to stay with you. And I had foreseen it and I still went through it."

Isobel took the crystal ball out of Aidan's hands. "That's the problem with the future. It's there. And it's real. And everything will hit you, whether you want it to or not. It can be scary."

Aidan opened his left eye. He didn't really expect her to just tell him. Did he push her too hard? "I'm sorry." He didn't feel like he should say more than that. It was over, and he couldn't really help with her grief, now could he? "I knew someone like that, too. He didn't leave, though. I did. I still feel bad about it. I really hope I'll see him again someday..." He looked at Isobel. He wondered what memories he would "review". Or whose. Or what it had to do with Divination, although he had done enough fortune-telling for the entire year. "It's not that I'm scared of the future, I'm just scared of knowing everything it holds. I once had to read a book for school about a guy who learned his entire fate, and he, well, to put it mildly, didn't like it. The book didn't end very well, and now with the fact that that could be real, well, I'm genuinely afraid of that. So memories, right? I'm quite curious."

"I think you worry too much about stuff. Like, you know, just calm down and take off your shoes, enjoy the moment, feel both pain and joy from the things around you. You should really give it a try sometime."

"I appreciate your apology, but I feel that it's one of obligation rather than true understanding," Isobel said. Aidan maybe had a better idea than most, but he wasn't the one dumped. He had a choice in feeling bad, Isobel didn't. As far as she was concerned, she didn't want to see Cameron again until Kayla got married. And even then, probably not.

"The future isn't for the faint at heart. If you can't change a situation, you should always change the way you feel about it.," Isobel said. "I knew that Montagnard was going to lose to Nuage last term, but I still made sure I played on hell of a game. I have quidditch spot offers lined up for me right now. For Chaser and Seeker positions. I look at that fact rather than the fact that my team was losing. It's about perception," she explained.

"Uh, no," she said, with a small laugh. "I'm okay. Thanks for the suggestion, though. Do you have any other questions?"

Aidan smiled a little, filled with melancholy. "No, I don't understand, but I've been where Cameron is. I left everything in the Provence behind me just to come here. Do you think I was happy about it? Not at all. He's still mad at me and doesn't want to see me. I stayed away from Nice the entire summer, despite wanting to go there so, so much. But I can't change how he feels. So I didn't go. Nor can I change how you feel." He layed down on his back. "Man, life sucks." Aidan actually doubted if Florian would still even know who he was. Nothing really happened between them, anyways. He didn't mind. He wasn't planning on going back.

He started to admire Isobel on a way deeper level. To know the future and just accept it as it comes... Knowing that her efforts wouldn't change a thing, but still trying... He didn't mind that she called him weak, maybe it was true compared to her. "Isn't it incredibly hard to keep up the postivity, then?" He looked up at her. 

"So what did you want to show me with the Pensieve thing?", Aidan asked. He wasn't just going to leave before he knew what exactly the basin was for.

Isobel sighed. "There's more to it than him wanting to just go to another school. If that were the only reason, we wouldn't have broken up. I would have gone to London every chance I could have. He's in love with someone else. I was aware of that when I started dating him. He loves me and has other strong feelings of fondness, etcetera , towards me, but he was never in love with me. I was his second choice. He would have rather had his first choice, obviously, and would rather fight for them than settle for me. I can't say that I blame him," she explained, getting frustrated. Maybe she shouldn't have come back to Beauxbatons. If this was any indication of the whole year.

She took a deep breath to calm herself and send any tears away. "It's definitely not easy. But it's better than wallowing," she pointed out, looking at the boy laying on the floor. She wanted to join in, but she didn't want her dress to get dirty.

"Oh. Not here. I'd have to show you at school. They might think I'm trying to solicit or something. There's a Pensieve in the unused classroom the Southeast Tower at school. We can plan to meet there at some point, if you want."

Aidan looked at Isobel again. He really did have no idea... Somehow they'd gone from him practicing Divination to her relationship issues. He wasn't sure what to do at all, so he just stood up and hugged her. He flinched as she crushed one of his toes, doing his best not to start crying himself. "Damn, so I do something nice and I lose my toe? That's cold, Iz. Can I say Iz? I feel like it suits you.", he said, half-joking. "So what are you going to do now? I mean, you are going back to Beauxbatons, right? Well, you probably already know what you'll do, since you're a seer and all, but, you know. It won't hurt to share ideas, right? You know, I just recently learned about Howlers and I've been wanting to give them a go, so if you're interested..." He hoped he was helping. "Or, you know, if you want to, we could always just swim over to London and pay him a visit. I doubt he'd forget that soon. Unless you don't like water. Either way, you need some way to get over him. Any ideas?"

Aidan wondered why she'd even brought it up if she wasn't going to show him anything... Did she just say she wanted to hang out more?