(Eng) Weasleys, Pranks and other Curses

07

No matter how much I hated climbing up the shaky ladder to the fortune-telling tower, this was the only place I could still hide after this action. The gossip had spread faster than a forest fire and made it impossible for me to spend my Saturday quietly.

Hardly anyone liked fortune telling and even fewer people would voluntarily spend their free time with Professor Trelawney.

The strange woman, who apparently didn't own a hairbrush and always smelled a bit like sherry, was actually not a bad person. You just had to be open with her and respect her and her subject, and you'd get along fine.

"Miss Renard," she said in that typical singsong voice that always made her seem somehow aloof. "I've been expecting you."
I smiled mildly and nodded. "Please, do call me Camille."
The teacher smiled back and nodded. "Of course. Of course."

It was not the first afternoon I had spent here. By now Sybill Trelawney wasn't asking me what I wanted to do or what I was hoping for, because I had just gotten into the habit of polishing the crystal balls or sorting the tea cups. Sometimes I would read one of the many books carelessly scattered among the pillows. The meaning of tarot cards or tea-setting symbols.

I was just checking the various teas and brewing a mild tea, just to tell my own fortune for fun - and maybe find a little distraction. When behind me, the teacher became uncharacteristically gruff.

"Mister Weasley. You are not welcome here!"
Immediately, I turned on my heel. I almost dropped the cup in my hand. Why did George Weasley look so different when he was wearing his Quidditch clothes?

I cleared my throat and quickly intervened before Professor Trelawney would actually throw him out.
"He's here for me, Professor. I must have left something in the common room. Don't worry. I'll make sure he doesn't touch anything."

With a grim sideways glance at the twin, the teacher finally nodded at me and disappeared again behind one of the curtains that separated her private area from the classroom.

"Wow, she's creepier than I remembered," George whispered to me, getting way too close. I smelled a strange mixture of broom care and something earthy. Was that his smell? Immediately I took a step back and in the same moment regretted revealing myself so quickly.

Only the whistling of my tea kettle saved me from the strange situation.
Cursing to myself, I fled to my little table. Why had I challenged George? Why had I been foolish enough to think I could make a profit out of the situation? Arrogant. That was what I was. Nothing else. With gusto, I poured tea into my cup and clasped both hands around it. The warmth brought me back to the here and now, and I gathered new courage.

"Would you like one?", I offered George a cup as well and he came over to me with his hands in his pockets.

"Only if you don't mix anything in it again."

I gave him a accusatory look before grabbing a cup for him as well. "How did you find me?", I asked, still with my back to him.

"I figured you wouldn't want to be pestered by a hundred people after what you did. So a lot of the rooms in the castle are off the table." He accepted the cup and I poured for him. "And since Ginny found out about it, even Gryffindor Tower isn't safe anymore." He chuckled as he took the first sip and promptly burned his tongue. "I've heard that Divination is your thing," he brought out rather inarticulately as he fanned cold air onto his tongue.

"You don't believe it really works?", I concluded from the way he had pronounced divination.

"I find it rather frightening to think that my fate is fixed and there's nothing I can do about it."

I didn't know such seriousness from the Weasleys. I dropped down onto one of the thick cushions and gestured for George to sit down as well. "It doesn't work that way, either. It's more - a guideline." Hesitantly, I watched his reaction. Divination was important to me. I didn't believe in seeing every detail and every little thing. But I did believe that you could tell your fortune. "I can tell you if something good or bad is going to happen to you today, and then you can adjust your day accordingly. You know?"

George shook his head. "No."

At least he was being honest. "Let's say I read a lucky coincidence in your tea set for tomorrow. Then it's up to you to decide which of the coincidences that happen to you might be meant by that. Did you happen to grab two of the same socks in the morning without looking? Are you having your favorite meal for lunch? Or do you find a Sickle on the floor on your way to practice? Anything could be meant. The other way around, you can avoid important things on a day of bad luck." I nodded to his tea. "We can try if you want."

George looked awkwardly into his cup. It was a funny sight, the way he squatted there, much too tall for the small seats of the packed classroom. His knees almost up to his ears and in his hands the tiny porcelain cup. With a sigh, he took the last sip of tea.
"Now dump it on the saucer?"

He was about to dump out the tea set when I stopped him. "Wait a minute!", I shouted, putting both hands around his. The flash that shot through us made us both turn fiery red.

At least, I thought with relief, I can blame it on the potion.
We both cleared our throats and uncomfortably adjusted our positions.

For a moment, I closed my eyes and let my magic flow through his hands and into the tea set. It was a trick I had learned from a teacher in Switzerland that would help create a greater connection between seer, receiver and sign. That is, between me, George, and the tea leaves.

When I let go of his hands, we were both still bright red in the face and George had averted his eyes in shame.

With a swing, he tipped the cup onto her plate and the clink immediately alerted the teacher. I was about to soothe her again when I saw the pattern left in the cup.

"Professor," I gasped breathlessly, struggling to get to my feet. "Professor, please take a look. I must have made a mistake - so - this can't be," I stammered, trying to ignore George as best I could.
He had to be just as uncomfortable with the situation, especially considering that under normal circumstances he considered fortune telling to be bullshit hocus pocus. While I was still handing Trelawney the cup, the Weasley twin stood up.

"Okay, thanks for the tea, but I have to go to practice now!" And before we could say another word, he disappeared.

Although the love potion caused a bitter feeling of loneliness in me, in truth I was grateful that he had gone. There was absolutely no way to explain to him matter-of-factly that I had seen something in the dirt at the bottom of a cup that would change his life forever.

*

That night I found it hard to sleep. First, I had been out in the castle as long as possible so that most people would be asleep as soon as I sneaked in, and then I had been put through the wringer by Ginny and Madeline.

Ginny was all excited and also a little gleeful that someone had finally set a trap for her brother, she just felt sorry for me that George had dragged me into it.

I was just wondering if I was really such a good actress that it hadn't occurred to anyone before that I might like George, when I realized something else.

"You knew your brothers were capable of brewing love potions?"

Caught off guard, the youngest Weasley shrugged. "Even though those two only ever get average grades, they're not actually stupid. They just have no motivation for academic achievement. I'm pretty sure they could do better than Percy if they only wanted to."

"And it didn't occur to you to tell me that sometime?"

"Could I have guessed you were about to verbally duel them?!"