Dark Come Soon

For the first time since Alexandra arrived at Hogwarts, the weather was absolutely perfect. The sun shone brightly in the heavens, its rays warming anyone fortunate enough to be in their presence, and there was a slight breeze that blew cool wind that caressed the flushed cheeks of the students and staff that found themselves wandering the Hogwarts grounds. The weather was perfect, very reminiscent of Southern California, but although Alexandra wished that she could’ve been hidden behind some trees, painting the day away, she couldn’t make that a reality. She was stuck indoors, in the tower that her mother called home. The middle aged witch had sent her an owl the night before, asking her to go over for breakfast in the tower so that they could spend their morning working on developing her abilities. Alexandra was tempted to tell her that she wasn’t in the mood for it. As soon as she’d woken up that morning, humoring her mother’s absurd curriculum was the last thing she wanted to do, but she’d promised to be there and she’d trudged up the stairs, to fulfill that promise.

Though now, after four and a half hours of hearing her go on and on about Tessomancy, Alexandra was contemplating whether using a stunning spell would be too harsh on her mother. She imagined herself whipping out her wand, delivering the spell and then running off to the lake where she’d be able to let her creative energies run free. She thought about how delicious the cool breeze would feel on her face, instead of the stuffy air of the tower and the smell of burnt tea. It would’ve been grand, but it was just a thought that Alexandra would humor and never carry out. So she sat there, watching in silence as her mother pretended to read a teacup.

Sybil had spent the last hour trying to decipher Alexandra’s future. She kept staring into the cup, pursing her lips, sighing every so often, but nothing – nothing at all – was being said. Alexandra grew restless. She knew her mother’s abilities weren’t as strong as hers were. That her mother had only ever made a handful of prophecies, so she wasn’t much of an expert, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell Sybil to drop the act. It would break her heart. So Alexandra sat there, humoring the witch that was certain that she’d be able to tell her daughter what the future had in store.

“Alexandra. It seems your future refuses to make itself known.” Sybil let out a frustrated sigh. “There are no clear symbols. Everything’s all jumbled together. There’s no telling where one begins and the other ends. Sorry, dear.”

“That’s okay.” Alexandra reassured. “I didn’t really want to know my future anyways. I’d rather keep it a surprise. You know? Enjoy it as it happens.”

“Yes, yes of course.” Her eyes flickered to the pot of tea that hung over the fire. “There’s still some tea left, enough for a cup. Would you . . . would you care to read my future?”

“I’ve never done this before.”

“It won’t be difficult. Not for you,” she added, quietly. “All that you have to do is look into the cup, don’t look for figures –”

“But that’s what you did.”

“Ah. Yes, because I was desperate to find something.” Sybil let out a mirthless laugh. “But it’ll be easier if you just gaze into it. Simply observe and see if any forms are taken on.”

“How will I know what they mean?” asked Alexandra.

“Don’t worry about that. Simply say what you see, I’ll jot them down on a bit of parchment and then, once you’ve finished, we’ll go back and make sense of them.”

“Oh, well, alright then. Yeah. I’ll do it.”

Sybil smiled excitedly and grabbed a clean tea cup off the table, she rushed towards the kettle. The kettle was far too hot for her to touch so she used magic to pour the tea into her porcelain cup. She then waited for it to cool, the excitement within her growing stronger with each passing moment. Something told her that Alexandra would, unlike herself, be skilled at reading tea leaves. Her daughter seemed more in tune with the inner eyes. And although she’d never say it aloud, Sybil truly was anxious to have her fortune told. She wanted to know that if in the future, her family would become a more permanent one.

As soon as the tea had somewhat cooled, Sybil raised the glass to her lips and proceeded to blow on it for a few seconds. After deeming it ready, she parted her lips and began to drain the precious content from the porcelain receptacle. She drank and drank, until the only thing that left was the remnants of the tea, and after shooting the inside a look, she slowly handed it off to Alexandra, making sure that the cup was securely in her daughter’s hands before relinquishing her hold on it.

“There you are.” Sybil stated.

Alexandra held the cup at chest level and tilted her head downwards. “What do I do again?”

“Look, simply look.”

“Right then, look, just look,” she muttered to herself. “I can do that. No problem. Looking, I'm looking . . .”

Alexandra didn’t think she’d see anything. She prepared herself for just staring at a bunch of tea leaves settled on the bottom of the cup, but that wasn’t so. Instead the tea leaves were bunched up in various shapes. The first she noticed was a circle, a small circle off to the right side of the cup.

“There’s a circle . . .” she said aloud for her mother to hear. “And . . . a web?” she scrunched her nose. “It’s a web, I can see it clearly, looks like a spider made it. And . . .”

“And what?” asked Sybil “Is there anything else?”

“Yeah, the sun,” replied Alexandra. “It’s the biggest symbol there. It makes the circle and web, seem like nothing more than smudges.”

“Anything else?” asked Sybil.

“No, nothing else,” she replied, setting down the cup. “There was just the sun, the circle and the web. What do those things stand for?”

“Here.” Sybil placed a copy of Unfogging the Future in front of Alexandra. “All the symbols are in the index.”

Alexandra opened up the copy, going straight to the index towards the end of the book. She searched for the circle, and found out that it represented love. Her mind immediately jumped to her father. She’d noticed the looks he’d been giving Sybil. Even before Alexandra had started helping her mother with her image, her father had been eyeing his former wife. And now that Sybil was wearing fewer layers and that her hair had been trimmed and styled, he was glancing, her way even more often. The second symbol that she looked up was the sun, which represented great happiness. Alexandra was now even more certain that her father and mother were going to rekindle their romance. That in the future they would be the family that they couldn’t have been early on. The third, and final symbol, was the web, which represented intrigues and complications. Her brow furrowed. What complications could there be? Did it relate to her parents’ relationship or would it have to do with the war raging throughout the countryside? She hoped it’d be the former. Complications in the relationship between her parents, was much more desirable than Voldemort or his Death Eaters becoming involved in the life of her mother.

“Seems like there’s gonna be a lot of good in your future.” Alexandra declared, looking up from the book. “The circle means love. But I think you already knew that was coming,” she added with a soft chuckle. “And the sun, its great happiness,” she added. “But then there’s the web, and . . . and I don’t really know what complications are gonna happen.”

“No one ever does dear.” Sybil said. “But with the sun and circle there, I am quite sure that the webs won’t be too much trouble.”

“Hopefully not,” she closed the book. “So . . . what now?” asked Alexandra.

“Oh well, this was all I had planned,” Sybil smiled sheepishly. “And we’ve been at it for hours, so, if you like, you can go find your friends.”

“You mean, Ramona?”

“No, I meant friends.” Sybil smiled knowingly. “I’ve heard from a little bird that you’ve been spending quite a bit of time with Ron Weasley.”

“Did dad tell you that? I told him that we’re just friends. Why’s he being all ridiculous?” she muttered to herself.

“That’s just how parents are, but, I think it’s good that you’re making more friends. It’s good for you, it’s healthy.”

“I guess.”

“So does he know about your abilities?” she asked softly, as if someone would overhear them. “Ron was never very keen on the material when I taught him.”

“Haven’t told him, haven’t told anyone, really. Ramona’s the only one that knows.”

“Ah, well, I suppose that’s fine for now. While you get more comfortable with your abilities, but know that those closest to you will have to be informed. It wouldn’t be fair to find out a long period in or completely by accident.”

“Like what happened with you and dad?” Alexandra asked softly.

“Yes, exactly like that.” A forlorn look cast over her face. “Had I told him sooner then perhaps my hurting you wouldn’t have happened,” she said. “But my visions, well, I can’t very well say my visions if I’d only had one before that incident, but I never thought it’d strike me in front of him, and I was afraid . . .”

“Afraid of what?” she stared at Sybil.

“Afraid that he’d leave and take you with him,” confessed Sybil. “Though, that is exactly what happened.”

“He wouldn’t have left if you’d told him about it before.” Alexandra stated. “Dad loves you. I can see it when he looks at you. He’s never looked at anyone else like that. He’s never been with anyone other than you.”

“I find that very hard to believe. Your father is a very handsome man.”

“And you’re the very beautiful woman that he loves. Maybe . . . maybe you should, I don’t know, bring out the girl he fell in love with. She’s in there. Isn’t she?”

“Well . . . yes, of course, but . . .”

“Then maybe you should bring her out.” Alexandra stood up. “I'm gonna get going now. It’s almost lunch time and I'm pretty hungry. Bye mom.”

Alexandra smiled awkwardly before power walking out of the tower. She didn’t know where she’d gotten the courage to say something so bold to her, but she hoped that that would get things rolling between her parents even quicker. Her dad deserved to be happy, so did Sybil. They were meant for each other. And after so many years of being apart, it didn’t seem right that they should exchange looks and smiles, and not be anything concrete.

As she made her way down to the Great Hall, she began to wonder if her parents would get married again, if they’d have more kids. They weren’t that old, so it wouldn’t be unheard of for them to have more children. The more she thought about it. The more she wanted it to happen. She’d always wanted to have a little brother or sister, someone to take to the park and to teach curse words in Spanish to. Oh, she hoped that they’d get married again. Even if they were barely in the flirting stage, she really hoped that marriage and more kids would be where they ended up.

She was taken from her musings when she spotted Ramona few feet ahead of her. “Ramona!” she called to her friend.

“Huh? Oh! Alex, mate, didn’t see ya there!” she smiled, but there was something in her eyes that told Alexandra that things weren’t going well for her.

“Are you alright?” inquired Alexandra softly.

“Me? Yeah, fine, perfect.”

Alexandra shot her a look.

“Don’t trouble yourself. It’s nothing serious.” Ramona lied.

“I want to help though. Maybe there’s something I can.”

“Unless you can see the –” her eyes went wide. “You can! You can! Bloody hell! I’d forgotten that you can, well you know.”

“But I can’t just force myself to do that,” whispered Alexandra.

“Oh right. Forgotten that bit,” Ramona let out a sigh. “Never mind then.”

It was then that Alexandra remembered what she’d done less than an hour ago. “Wait. I think . . . I think I can help.”

“How?” asked Ramona, tilting her head to the side.

“Tea leaves.” Alexandra declared. “I can read tea leaves, really well.”

Ramona shot her a skeptical look.

“It’s not like when my mom does it. I mean. I can actually read the leaves. The symbols just pop at me, I don’t exactly know what they mean, but that’s what books are for. And I can go get the book from my mom.”

“What book do you need?”

“Unfogging the Future,” she answered.

“Oh. I’ve got a copy of that in my room. We can go get it.”

“In the dungeons?” she didn’t want to go in the Slytherin dungeons.

Ramona shook her head. “In my private room,” she clarified. “We can go get the tea and do it there. That way no one overhears. But are you sure you can do it?”

“I can do it, but the real question is if you really want to know what’s coming.”

Ramona grew silent, mulling over in her mind, whether or not she wanted to know what life had in store for her. She was terrified of knowing what was to come, but at the same time, she wanted to have some sort of heads up so that she could prepare for it.

“I do.” Ramona said after the silence. “I really do.”

“Then let’s go down to the kitchens to get a kettle and tea.”

“Is it a special sort of tea?” asked Ramona.

“No, it can be any kind; all I have to do is tear open the pouch so that the bits can stick to the cup afterwards.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then let’s just go to my room, I’ve got all that there.”

The girls walked off to the room, where Ramona prepared the tea, while Alexandra hoped that the future would be kind to her friend. Ramona had been through a lot, she’d lost both her parents and had nearly been killed by Voldemort. She deserved to be happy, to start the muggle rock band that she’d always dreamt of starting. It was during her thoughts that the tea began to boil, that it was eventually made and that Ramona drank it from the porcelain cup.

“I drank it.” Ramona said quietly. “Is there anything else I have to do?”

“No. You can just give it to me. Thanks,” Alexandra took possession of the cup. “Jot down whatever I say, yeah? That way I can just go back and look it up.”

Ramona nodded in understanding.

“Okay,” Alexandra whispered to herself. “I can do this.”

She lowered her gaze and stared into the cup. And, like in her mother’s cup, she saw a circle off to the right.

“I see a circle,” she whispered. “And . . . there’s a keyhole to its left. Ah. A web,” there would be complications in her future. “And there’s also a hand at the bottom of the cup. Clouds . . . there’s a bunch of clouds and . . . oh . . .”

“Oh, what?” asked Ramona, growing nervous.

“There’s a skull.” Alexandra replied. “But I don’t know what a skull means so maybe it’s a good thing! Yeah, you know, it could be a good thing. Okay. Well, there aren’t any more symbols in there, so I’ll just have a look. Can I have that parchment and quill? Thanks.”

Alexandra threw open the book, going straight to the index and began reading off the things. “The circle represents love, so . . . I think you’re either in it or very close to falling into it. The clouds represent doubt and the hand is friendship. That’s not so bad. Uh, the keyhole is . . . its unwanted news. And the webs are complications.”

“What about the skull?” she asked.

“The skull?” her voice went a bit higher than normal. “You know I don’t think I actually saw a skull, might have been something else, let me have another look.”

“Alexandra Yaotl Ávila, what does the skull represent? And don’t you dare lie to me, because I will look it for myself and then I’ll make you wish you’d told me.”

“Well, the skull it . . . it means there’s danger in your path.”