Look at My Future

Fiona had no business to be in the Divination shop.  First years did not do Divination.  She knew that and yet she decided to visit it anyway.  Why not whilst she was still trying to find her way back into Amethyst Alley?  Maybe someone would even find her down here and rescue her.  In the meantime she was going to take in as much of the sights of Whisper Alley as she could.  That included divination and all it had to offer her.  

She walked deeper into the shop and stopped in front of a crystal ball.  Curiously she knelt down for a closer look.  Maybe she could see something of interest.  Disappointingly all she could see was her reflection in the glass and not a very good reflection either.  Fiona frowned and glanced up at the nearest person.  "Hey.  Excuse me.  Can you see my future in here?"

Getting lost happened too often to this first year, so it didn't surprise him when August found himself in a atrange shop. He wasn't sure what this shop had in it, but it looked weird to him. So he had to stay and check it out some more. It was like a mystery to him.

It was like a fortune telling shop, which August found exciting. He found himself admiring a crystal ball. "Whoa." He went closer to it and noticed someone else was admiring it too. Before he could say hi, she spoke up. He looked into the ball to answer her question. "Hmmm...I don't really see anything besides myself. So, I don't think I can see your future." It would be so cool to learn how to and maybe one day he could tell the future. "I'm August by the way."

It disappointed Fiona that the boy could see the same as herself. Just a reflection. "I think I might do divination in third year," she decided. "Maybe these only work when you're old enough." Then she would tell everyone's fortunes. Fiona thought she might have a future as a fortune teller. It would be the best.

She smiled across at August. "I'm Fiona. You are only going to be a first year like me aren't you? I hope so because I want to meet as many of my classmates as possible before I start school. That way we won't be complete strangers."

The girl had a great idea about taking a class for telling the future and what not. He would have to do the same because it was something he couldn't pass up and it looked like so much fun. "Me too. Seems like such a fun thing to do." If they were too young, it would explain why they could only see themselves. "We'll have to learn. Then we can see our futures."

"Pretty name." He had never met a Fiona before, so he had to remember her face with the name. "Yeah, I'm a first year. My cousin goes to school and it turns out I can do magic too." He was excited that he was going to learn the things that Percy had learned. Learning magic was exciting. "I hope I'm in the same house as my cousin, that would be nice."

"Yes." She looked at her reflection in the crystal ball again. "Do you think it'll be very hard? Being able to see something other than yourself?" Fiona made faces and laughed at her reflection. "I've heard that seers are very rare." How wonderful it would be if she had some rare talent. To go from talentless to talented was a dream she'd had for a very long time.

Fiona clapped her hands together. "So do I and I met someone else in our year who has a cousin there. Maybe everyone has cousins at Beauxbatons." She nodded. "Mine's in Montagnard so that's the house I think I want to be in too. Then he can share all his sweets with me."

"It could be hard, but it cpuld get easier with practice." If he were to do this, his would have to stick to it and not quit. It looked like tons of fun and it would be in the back of his head, but he didn't have to worry about that til he was a third year. That gave him plenty of time to think about taking the class. "It would be cool to be a seer. Though they are rare, that doesn't mean you or I couldn't be one." How cool would that be? To look into a crystal ball and see things other than your reflection.

"I met someone looking for their cousin too, maybe its the same person." How weird it would be if they had met the same person but at different times. "I think lots of families go to Beauxbatons, it explains why we all have cousins here. My cousin is in Montagnard too, they could know each other."

She snorted. "That's what mum would say whenever I make a mistake." She rested her chin on her folded hands. "I think in this case though it might be worth all the practice in the world." Fiona looked up at August. "We could practice together and become the most famous seers in the world. More famous than um whats her name. Mum's mentioned some seer a time or two when she read us bedtime stories. Cassandra I think."

Fiona nodded. "Probably. How many first years have older cousins I wonder." She sat up. "You're right. I've one cousin who won't be going but that's only because he doesn't have magic and has to learn how to be a muggle. That'd be sad if it happens to my younger siblings as well. I want to be able to show them all the cool stuff at Beauxbatons."

The thought of praticing together brought a smile to August's face, that would be perfect. "That would be great! That way we can learn the same things at the same time and learn from each other." It was always better to leaen a new thing like this with another person, it made it more fun and August liked fun. Being a famous seer sounded fun and amazing. Being famous in general was pretty cool. "Lets do it! We'll be 'Fiona and August, Famous Seers of the Future.' Has a new ring to it, doesn't it?" Cassandra? Where had he heard that name before? "Oh! That's my cousin's friend's name! Maybe she's a seer too, that would be funny."

"Well, there's my cousin, your cousin, and Fane's cousin. That's three." When Fiona began to talk about some of her family being muggle, August could sense that it made her a bit sad. "I'm sure they'll be wizards. You just have to look on the positive side of things instead of looking at the negatives. One of your cousins is muggle, but that doesn't mean your siblings would be."

earning from each other sounded much more fun than trying to learn on her own. She sat up and smiled at the title August bestowed on the pair of them. "That sounds so wonderfully cool." She laughed and nodded. "With a name like that she has to be destined to seerhood." Fiona wishes her name had been Cassandra. Then she could never be called Fifi again like so many members of her family did.

She nodded. "Okay. I'll only have one squib cousin." Fiona tilted her head to the side. "Which do you think is nicer for some in a magical family who doesn't have magic themselves? Squib or muggle? I think muggle because squib sounds like squid and squid tastes awful." She made a gagging sound as she recalled the seafood platter her father insisted the whole family try one time. It'd been a horrible experience.

He was glad that she liked the idea, it was a great idea after all. He seemed to have those a lot. Or he just thought they were great ideas. They were ideas none the less. "We'll be great seers! A pair of amazing seers!" He wasn't sure if Cassie was a seer or not, but he would have to ask her. It would be so cool if she was. "I'm not sure if she's a seer, but I will ask her. It would be great if she was cause then I'd know someone who was a seer." Well, he didn't know her, know her. He would only heard stories about her.

"I think muggle sounds good. But I'm not sure if he would like being called either. I mean, he already knows he's different from the rest of your family, why remind him? Just call him by his name, don't remind him that he can't do magic." August had never tried squid before, so he had to take her word for it. "I've never had squid."

"The best seers," Fiona chimed in.  Now she'd discovered her future career she wished she could get a move on it now instead of waiting two years.  "Oh yes do.  Then you can introduce me so that both of us will know a seer."  Fiona fervently hoped his cousin really was a seer like the original Cassandra.

She sighed.  "I guess not.  I do call him Patrick so that's cool but I don't know how I can get around the fact that I'm going to a school he isn't at."  Fiona was convinced her cousin would have shone at his schoolwork unlike herself or Caleb.  "Never try it.  Trust me when I say it's horrible.  It tastes like rubber."

August was excited by the idea and had high hopes/ It was going to be so much fun! And he was going to enjoy himself and have a great time. "I'd have to ask if she's okay with it. She's supposed to be shy, but she wasn't really when I met her. Percy said Cassie was shy, but she didn't seem like it when we met."

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure he's okay. Has he ever been upset about not being a wizard?" August knew how it felt a little, before he found out he was a wizard, Percy would always talk about magic. It made August hope he was a wizard and it turned out he was. So, he didn't know how Patrick felt after all. "I will never try it then. Sounds gross."

"Maybe she used to be shy," Fiona suggested, "and now she isn't. How old is she? That might have something to do with it. Or she could be that she wasn't shy with you because she's your cousin." There were bound to be a hundred and one reasons for this mystery and Fiona wasn't the best person to solve the mystery. The number of shy people she knew were about zero.

Her brow wrinkled thoughtfully and after a moment she shrugged. "He might have been initially but by the time I heard he wasn't going to Beauxbatons or anywhere else teaching magic he wasn't crying or anything." She nodded in approval. "That is a very smart decision to make. No matter how much anyone may beg you do not give in."

"Oh no, Cassie isn't my cousin. She's my cousin's friend. Uh, she's fourteen, smae age as my cousin. I thnk she used to be shy cause she wasn't when I talked to her." He shrugged, girls were confusing. At least older girls were. "Mayve now that she's not as shy, she could actually be a seer and show us. But she might not be a seer. But if she was, we'd proabably be the first to know since I'm going to ask her if she is."

"Maybe he wasn't sad about not being a wizard, it does make him different after all. Though, magic is fun. But since he has a magical family, he's as close to magic as he can be. I guess that's what's best, you can't change anything." August made a note to not watch anymore shows with his mom, he was beginning to talk like the guy on the tv. "Squid doesn't then sound good."

"Oops," Fiona replied with a giggle, "I must have lost track of the conversation.  I completely forgot you said she was your cousin's friend."  The eleven year old clapped her hands together eagerly.  "Oh yes.  Do that.  I'll be really interested to know what her reply will be."

Fiona realised she really had no idea how Patrick really felt about having no magic.  She just assumed he was upset about it all.  Especially as she was now going to Beauxbatons.  What about her younger siblings?  Would that upset him if they were also to go?  She stood.  "I wonder what else they have in this shop.  Do you wanna have a look?"

"I will have to remember to ask her." August was terrible at remembering things, that's why he usually got lost. And getting lost meant being late. "I'm bad at remembering things, I'm very forgetful." But he hoped that he could remember to ask her because it was such an important question.

"Sure, sounds like fun." He hadn't really explored the shop yet and it was the perfect time to explore. It was good to explore with a friend so he could comment on things to her instead of talking to himself. "What do you wanna look at first?" She seemed to know more about this magic stuff than him, so he was gonna let her lead the way.

"I remember everything," Fiona replied ominously and after a pause tacked on the end, "but what I'm supposed to remember. It makes my mum mad when I do that. It's not like I do it deliberately but it is fun because she gets this funny look on her face. It almost makes getting into trouble worth it."

She looked around and pointed. "How about those stones over there?" Fiona pointed to a display of stones with runic writing on them. "I thought this was a shop for divination but apparently they also sell rune stones. I wonder." She moved over to the display for a better look. "What cha' think they are used to predict?" That was the only reason she could come up with for rune stones being in a shop for divination. Though how they worked was a complete mystery to her.

"I don't like when I get in trouble with my mom, she's like a demon in a woman body when she's angry. She doesn't stay that way for very long, but its scary when she does get mad. I swear, some smoke comes out of her ears. I've seen it."

"These stones are...weird." August had never seen anything like them before. Which interested him. He wondered what they were for and how they worked. "I'm not even sure what they are to be honest," he stated bluntly. "I've never seen anything like these before. Since I don't know much about the wizarding world, I don't know what most of this stuff is. That's why I'm looking around." So, they were supposed to predict things? "They predict things? Maybe we should ask someone to test them for us, so we know how they work so maybe one day we can use them."

Fiona giggled at August's description of his mother.  "She sounds lots like my mum.  Demon on the lose.  Hide until the demon disappears." She lowered her voice.  "Do you think that when I become a mother that I would turn into a demon too?  And have smoke coming out of my ears?"  It sounded like a scary prospect and Fiona was now a little scared of what she might see in the crystal ball if she did end up taking up Divination in third year.

"Runes are a sort of language.  I think..."  She was a little uncertain what exactly that language entailed.  "It looks very complicated and confusing doesn't it?"  She scratched her head and shrugged.  "Well they are in a divination store so I guess they must be used for predicting the future."  She nodded eagerly.  "Yes.  Let's."  Fiona glanced around the shop before turning back to August.  "Um who looks like they work here?"