virtues

Junjie fidgeted a bit in his spot, something felt odd.

It had been quite the task to sneak out of the Slytherin common room so late in the night without waking Elio up, every step of Junjie’s matching Elio’s light snore for that purpose. Lately the pink-haired boy had been far too attentive to Junjie’s every move.

Nevertheless he made it out and from the dungeons it was a nothing but a quick sprint towards the divination classroom in the North Tower, Junjie had done that same route far too many times in his early years to know which portraits to avoid to remain as stealthy as possible.

He’d held the small, black velvet pouch tightly against his chest, only letting go of it once he made sure to close the trap door that gave access to the old, dusty classroom - seriously would it kill someone to clean that place once in a while? it did none to help with the popularity of Divination among students.

The space was being lit by the full moon, the sheer curtains thankfully doing nothing to cover it, and it was the source Junjie needed to be able to see his cards and map.

He carefully pulled the deck of worn out cards from the pouch as well as a folded paper and a pendulum - a thin silver string that had a ring on one end and a downwards pointing pyramid made out of heliotrope on the other. 

The pendulum had been a more recent “toy” of sorts, given to him by an old lady back in Diagon Alley who’d warned him about his sixth sense and talent with premonitions and whatnot. She hadn’t told him more beyond that though, leaving Junjie to fend for himself. 

He’d badgered the divination’s professor who mumbled she’d never been too good with that due to a complete dissociation from the magical artefacts built from and for the muggle world - a comment that had made Junjie finally feel happy for his half-blood status.

In the end, he found everything he needed in the restricted section of the library, the home of everything divination that would go beyond tasseomancy.

Junjie had learned about pendulums and how they’d work with wizards and witches - they could do so much more than just answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ - and how what they were made of could influence it even more. 

Turned out that just like the wands, the pendulums picked their guardians, and the old witch at Diagon Alley had done a better job than the guy at Ollivander’s.

The stone his pendulum held at the end was a dark shade of green with a few dots and streaks of vivid crimson, which had earned it a cool muggle name of ‘Bloodstone’ (well, at least he found it cool). It supposedly helped with energy blockage (he was still to see about that) and it went with a lot of stuff he vaguely remembered hearing Jihyuck ramble about once but had tuned off.

Junjie slipped the ring of the pendulum on his middle finger and held the stone between his thumb with his arm stretched over the small map. “Will this fog ever clear out of our heads?” he mumbled. It was a question he’d tried to get from the cards which had obviously failed since his deck was incomplete. 

He released the pendulum and watched the dark stone wiggle around a little bit before starting to move in a clockwise motion - a yes. That was reassuring at least.

Junjie picked up the stone once again, it seemed silly to flat out ask who killed the professor - he knew better after having failed with the ball and the complete deck - he had however suspicions that needed to be cleared out.

It was easy to see why divination was a widely detested subject by most, sometimes you could get clear answers from obvious questions, other times you’d have to beat around all the bushes to get a hint of an answer. You just needed to broaden your senses and learn to interpret the vibe from your tools, just like a wand, the cards, for example, would occasionally refuse to cooperate.

He looked at the map as he tried to figure out the best way to ask the next question.

The piece of paper had a wide circle with all sorts of markings, lines and symbols, however twelve of them caught his eye more than the others. Promptly the question left his lips: “Who should i look out for?”

The pendulum once again wiggled shortly upon release and after a few uncertain sways in no particular direction it came to an abrupt halt over one of the symbols - the one circle with a semi-circle on top.

Junjie stopped, nevertheless still keeping him arm outstretched over the map. “This is taurus, right?” he asked out loud since talking to himself was an old habit. “Who the fuck in our group is a taurus?”

Perhaps paying more attention to birthdays would be a thing he would benefit from.

However, before he could reach for his phone in search of the birthdays on the calendar, the pendulum started moving once again, this time to trace several ellipses over the symbol of the circle with a squiggly line to its right - Leo.

“Ok i know who that is... maybe, Elio is a leo, right? And Vincent?” he mumbled with a small frown. “But why ellipses, what do those mean?” 

It was like the stone was mocking him for his ignorance.

“You know, an ouija board can at least spell stuff out,” he sighs in frustration, finally putting down the pendulum.

It was time to bring out the big guns.

Junjie quickly shuffled his cards before displaying them face down in a cross figure, the two in the centre overlapping one another on a cross of their own. He placed down the remaining deck before deftly picking up the first card with his left hand - the one in the centre below the other.

The hanged man.

He could feel his soul scoff, some exquisite level of transcendence in the light of current circumstances. He didn’t even need to read too much into the “interpretational” meaning of that card, it would be silly to do so, this card simply meant none other than Vincent. 

Vincent who had found said card. Vincent who had retrieved it to Junjie. Vincent who sought enlightenment more than anyone and could potentially stumble into messy situations for it.

He turned the card that was on top of it - The Knight of Swords. It was as if the cards were making sure he’d understand this reading was about Vincent, as if he was very daft.

His hand then moved to the card on the top of the cross, the one that would determine what could be achieved in the current circumstances - The Seven of Pentacles. Basically the card that predicted a long wait and patience for his actions to bear fruits, a result that got Junjie intrigued.

Moving onto the card at the bottom of the cross the turned over he found The Two of Wands, a card that told Junjie the reason for his reading was related to assessing one’s life direction.

The card that would expose Vincent’s past was the one on the left and Junjie had done readings for Vincent enough times to just know the card he’d turn over was The Moon, a card that reflected the obscure veil that took over his past but also how shining a light on it could bring more to Vincent’s life than he could foresee.

Finally, Junjie moved his hand over to the last card, letting it hover it for a bit as his sixth sense suddenly kicked in, warning him that perhaps whatever the cards had to tell him about Vincent’s future might not please him.

Junjie trapped his lip between his teeth, he could even hear his own heartbeat suddenly speed up.

It had to be like ripping up a band-aid, like his mother used to tell him when he was a kid.

In a swift movement he turned the card over.

The Two of Cups.

...

A full minute must’ve gone by before Junjie finally found it in himself to react, promptly packing his cards, map and pendulum back into the satchel before numbly making his way down to the dungeons and into his bed.

It was with half a mind he told Elio to go back to sleep with the reassurance he had only gone to take a piss when the other Slytherin woke up with him slipping under covers.