WHO: crowd scene
WHERE: Great Hall - Hogwarts
DATE:
SUMMARY: beginning part of end-of-year final grand scene
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"Well, it's a
long story that I think is better for her," guesture
to Becky, "is better at answering." Eowyn sighs, nabbing a small slice of Quiche Lorraine and a
few spoonfuls of tabouleh onto her plate. Taking a
few bites, she steeples her fingers before taking a large sip of juice.
"If you hold it seprately, Padma,
count me in. I'll do whatever it takes to get out of the house." No,
really! Take her away!
"I /just/ said
my irritation was /not/ Ron's fault," Rebecca says very, very slowly as she
eyes Padma, one of her eyebrows twitching upwards
ever so slightly. She, on the other hand, is making an astonishing effort not
to rant at the poor, innocent Ravenclaw, taking a deep, soothing breath and
looking down to her still-empty plate. "And it doesn't need retelling,
because the entire student body doesn't need to know, /so/. Pass the
rolls." A pause. Grumble. "Please."
Padma sights, passing Rebecca the
rolls with only a modestly disappointed pout,"Alright. I will try and think of a
better time for a dueling study. But I'm glad that you agree that it is
important. I mean, if even -half- of what I've heard is true, we'd all do well
not to let our skills go to rot over the summer.
So everyone's out
for dinner/lunch/snack? Well, joining the party is Melony,
who saunters into the Hall. She looks thoroughly pleased about /something/ -
likely, from how she's been carrying on for the past two days, she's indulged
in a sleep-fest. Nevertheless, the blonde looks content as she ends her stroll
at the Slytherin table, where she plops down with a happy sigh.
It's a very oddly
dressed Slytherin that steps into the Hall, chin raised proudly, green-eyed
gaze taking in everything and nothing at once. Sabine seems to have lost not
only her robes, but her school uniform, and what she's come up with instead is
most certainly ... well-fitted, but not the sort of thing normally worn within Hogwarts' walls. Maybe she's celebrating the end of exams
by trying to get detention? At any rate, she walks in rather slowly, holding a
deck of cards clasped tightly in both hands.
Moving into the
Great Hall past the great double doors is the Gryffindor firstie,
Zahn Edwards. Nothing special really, get back to
your food. Making his way over towards the Gryffindor table, he raises a hand
in a wave towards the others present at said table. "Hullo all. Busy
night?"
A smile took over
Hagrid strolls into
the hall, pausing by the parchments to skim the OWL results with a look of
satisfaction on his face. Finishing that, he makes his way through the hall
towards the teachers' tables, stomach rumbling all the way. He's got a dogeared copy of some paperback book poking out of a
pocket, and as he settles into his chair, the book comes out, is opened, and is
focused on while Hagrid begins eating his supper. Whatever it is, it must be
fascinating.
"'Ello, Zahn!" Eowyn chirps, seeming more comfortable at the fact that
someone else was coming. Looking up and down at the quickly filling tables, the
fourth year grins at her Housemate, guesturing him to
an empty seat. "Yeah, I think it's 'cause everyone's finally getting
hungry, /sweetheart/." Wink right there, as Wyn
hasn't quite forgotten that joke yet. Looking up, she grins at the sight of
Hagrid appearing at the front, and she guestures to a
few more professors that have appeared. "Even the teachers are starting to
get hungry."
Susan waves
enthusiastically at Hagrid, and raises an eyebrow at Rebecca. She looks about,
noticing that the Hall's filled out while she's been spacing out.
Rebecca grumbles a
thanks as she takes the rolls from Padma, dropping a
pair onto her plate before setting the bowl aside and looking around the table
for something a little more sustaining. She pauses to give Zahn
a vague wave, casting a short look towards the double doors at Sabine's entry,
pausing and slowly arching an eyebrow at the Slytherin girl's attire. The quirk
she earns from Susan has, apparently, gone unnoticed.
Keita enters,
somewhat after Sabine, and she looks, well.. her normal self. But her normal
self from about a month ago. Immaculate school uniform, hair done up and held
in place by her wand and a hair needle crossed through at the back of ther head, face an expressionless mask with an air of
subtle superiority, as if the rest of the world isn't worthy of knowing what
she's thinking or feeling and even if it was, she wouldn't stoop to telling it
herself, but have some appropriately-selected servant to do so for her. She
turns once inside, angling herself towards the Slytherin Table, and a light
dinner.
Padma lifts her wand to give a
demonstration of her new quick draw technique when she, too, is quite
distracted by Sabine's attire. "Er, how long do
you suppose it will take before one of the teachers tells her to cover
up?" She wrinkles her nose at the girl - in fact, at the majority of Slytherins. She turns back to her group at the Gryffindor
table, "Getting a bit crowded now, think I should head back to the
Ravenclaw table?"
Melony glances toward the doors
between helping herself to the food there. A blonde brow slowly rises along her
forehead as she eyes her housemate, smirking faintly. "And no necklaces,
Ruthven? But it works. I like the bells, too." There's a pause, in which
she inclines her head to the cards. "Tarot? Oh, I'd like a reading,
Ruthven. If those /are/ your tarot cards, anyway?"
Zahn coughs lightly as the joke
is brought up again, his cheeks turning a hint of red before he gives his head
a light shake, dismissing it. "Er..yea. I was
getting hungry too, so I came down here..where the er..food is." He gives another slight wave to Rebecca
before taking a seat at the Gryffindor table. "So, what's for dinner
tonight? I'm starved." He rubs his hands together, his eyes scanning the
contents of the plates along the table.
Susan winces.
"Well, if you do, then I'm going back to the Hufflepuff table. Bleah. Actually, Padma, you could
join me there, if you'd like. It's not like most of my Housemates are at
dinner, it seems." She acquires a fake injured look, then grins, back to
being proud of herself.
Kal grins for a bit, and
answers
Anna enters the
room, slightly astonished by how many people are there. She sees Kal and Padma, and then promptly
heads to the Ravenclaw table. "Hi!" she greets, with her usual grin.
Sabine walks past Melony without any sign of immediate acknowledgement, pace
steady and calmly graceful. Instead of saying anything to the other Slytherins, she approaches
Guesturing to the food on the table,
as she's starting to get a bit distracted with the fact that there's a lot of
people about, Eowyn points to dishes of chickens,
roasts, potato salads, and everything in between. "Lots! Just dig
in!" is what she manages to say between bites of her quiche. For a few
minutes, she pauses to mutter "Accio!" to
her beloved projects so that no one gets icky stains on them before commencing
with eating and peoplegazing. Sabine's motion to give
Melony turns in her place, her
fork and knife being set down gently as she swivels to watch after Sabine.
"Ruthven!" She calls out, though eventually she just shrugs and
settles on continuing to fix her plate s'more - of
course, many glances are thrown Ruthven-wards.
Hagrid glances up
from his book for a moment, skims the room, then drops his attention to the
book again, flipping to the next page. Food. Book. Yes, these two things
encompass most of the teacher's attention at the moment, although as another
teacher slides in next to him, he glances over and makes a gruff sound of
acknowledgement.
"Food,"
Rebecca replies to Zahn, peering after Sabine a
moment longer before shrugging and eyeing her plate again. She scoops up a
roll, shrugging to Padma as she has a bite.
"Don't have to go, if you don't want to. S'a
free table, plenty of room."
Padma shrugs at Rebecca and Eowyn, "Just to be on the safe side, you know, better
eat at my...erm... okay." Blankly, she starts to
follow Susan but her attention is nabbed by Anna's wave, quickly followed by
Ruthven handing over the tarot card to Riverhill. She
grabs onto the Hufflepuff girl's hand and pulls her to the Ravenclaw table,
settling down, "Evening Anna. You know Susan, right?" She gestures to
the Hufflepuff girl, "She's going to eat with us tonight." She eyes
Sabine and then looks at
Sabine nods, once,
and turns away from
Anna nods and
smiles to Susan. "We've never met before," she admits, "but I'm
sure you're nice." She takes a piece of bread from the center of the table
and begins to munch. "Eowyn, could you pass the
potatoes, please?"
Susan yelps a bit
as she gets dragged off course, then giggles and goes with it.She
waves at the table in general, and realizes she left a half-full plate on the
Gryffindor table. That's ok, she wanted something different, anyway. She puts a
small portion of roast chicken, various forms of potatoes and vegetables, and
some other things on her plate. She looks curious, as she takes the card.
"The King of Cups?" she says. "Thanks, Ruthven. What does it
mean?"
"Well! This is
odd," Melony mutters under her breath as she
begins to cut up a piece of meat, shrugging her shoulders again. She looks a
little thoughtful, eyeing her housemate as she hands out tarot cards.
"What the bloody hell is she on about, though?"
Nodding at the
mention of the types of food, Zahn begins to pile
various examples of the cuisine onto his plate. Reaching forth and dragging a
goblet towards him, he finds a pitcher and promptly fills it with some juice.
"Ah. Nothing like food when you're starving." Beginning to take a few
bites of his food, he chews as he glances up to where a few fellow housemates
are looking. Seeing Sabine, his chewing slows for a moment, raising his
eyebrows in curiosity before leaning towards Eowyn,
"What's she doing?"
Again, theren't no answer forthcoming from the oddly dressed
Slytherin girl, just a tilt of her chin and a green-eyed glance around. Then
she's off again, stalking towards Anna, regarding the first year Ravenclaw with
a curiously flat gaze, thrusting another pasteboard out. "The Queen of
Cups, reversed," she remarks, calmly. "Yours, I believe." Her
crinolines rustle slightly, and she waits for the firstie's
response.
"A card,"
Kal watchs
the activities for a moment, blinking as he's asked by
Quirking an
eyebrow, Eowyn leans over to Rebecca, raising an
eyebrow. "This doesn't smell right. I mean, Mum's a Tarot addict, so I
know some stuff, and it isn't usually in someone's best interest to hand out
their entire deck, because it won't work right otherwise..." Sighing, she
takes another bite, chewing slowly and answering Zahn's
question. "I don't know, but I think she might be trying to give people
hints about their own personality." Shrugging, she goes back to eating
calmly, waving to some of her housemates as they start to come in. My, aren't
we busy?
Keita makes her way
to the Slytherin table, but doesn't sit, remaining standing near Melony, and watching sabine
quietly. "Interesting," is her only comment on the matter.
"They're just
/cards/, Wyn," Rebecca scoffs, giving her
roommate a rather skeptical look as she swallows down a bite of her roll,
jerking a thumb towards Sabine. "Divination is /rubbish/. It's all vague
and leading so people see things where there's nothing to see. Bollocks, the
lot of it." She shakes her head, snorting as she finishes off her first
roll, and reaches for a second one. "Not my cup of tea. Gypsy
nonsense."
Anna glances at her
other seatmates, if that's the correct term. "Any of you take Divination?"
she inquires. "I've heard mixed things about it. While I don't need to
decide for less than a year, I s'ppose that it would
be a good idea to learn more about these extra classes when I'm not under the
pressure of classes and such."
Padma frowns as Sabine continues
handing cards to her tablemates. "A bit. Just from listening to my sister
drivel on." She eyes Rom's card, "Six of
Swords. I think that one has something to do with planning your goals. Swords
are supposed to be about social interaction and intellectual communication. But
really, it's all very inacurate. It could be
referring to -anything-, which is what I keep trying to tell Parvati." She bats the card away from her, "Why
are you handing these out, Ruthven?"
Hagrid glances up
again from his book as the hall gets even busier, and the noise of eating,
drinking, and constant talking distracts him. With a bit of a sigh, he shoves a
slip of paper into the book as a bookmark and thumps it closed, shoving it into
one of his many pockets before turning his attention to the room at large.
Susan says,
"Actually, while I think that the Divination class is silly, I've found
that Ruthven's usually amazingly good at her readings. If she says something,
there's a reason." She sounds rather annoyed, and stuffs a large bite of
chicken into her mouth before she can say something regrettable.
When no reaction
seems immediately forthcoming from Anna, Sabine moves on, this time to Kal, simply dropping the card in front of the other
Ravenclaw firstie. "The Knight of Swords,
reversed. It is yours - its fate is your fate." Padma
receives no answer, nor even glance of acknowledgement, and the fourth year
Slytherin girl in her outlandish costume moves back towards her own House's
table - unerringly homing in on Adam.
Ron enters the
Hall, looking happy to be book and bag free - no classes left, there is only
down time! He hums quietly to himself as he enters the Hall, though the off
tune melody ceases once he gets within hearing range of anyone; so as not to
deafen anyone, of course. He slows a bit as he spots Sabine and her tarot
cards, his head tipping slightly to the side as he bites down on his bottom lip
and changes direction - from his original destination to a course more suited
to taking him toward Sabine.
Kal blinks as he recieves a Tarot card of his own... "Reversed Knight
of swords?" Kal is not exactly sure how to take
this.... He holes the card up, and looks at it carefully, and looks to
With Adam suddenly
fleeing, Sabine comes to a halt for a moment, casting her glance about emptily.
She changes direction again, this time homing in on Eowyn.
"Didn't say I
took stock in it, lovey," Eowyn
grumbles, her best friend's mood starting to rub off on her as she takes a
large bite out of her tabouleh, "I'm just saying
that she's trying to make a statement, and... I don't know why." I mean,
if you're going to say something, you might as well just say it, right? Perking
up at Sabine, she meets her gaze, and then gives her a smile. Might as well
take her doomed fate with a smile, right?
Susan examines her
card, turning it over, looking at the back, then studying the picture again.
"Anyone know what the King of Cups means?" she says. Then she looks
back up at Sabine, and realizes that the girl's acting very strangely.
"Ruthven? Sabine? You alright, then?" she says, dropping her fork and
peering at the girl.
Harry enters the
hall just on Ron's heels, the steady stream of people likely having blocked his
view of his friend, which is probably why they didn't arrive together. Still,
out in the great hall itself, Ron's thatch of red hair is rather difficult to
miss, and Harry moves towards it, despite Ron's movement towards Sabine rather
than the Gryffindor table. In an attempt to catch the Gryffindor Keeper's
attention before he strays too far through the crowd, Harry calls out, "Oi! Ron! Over here!".
Melony blinks up at Sabine, eyeing
her. "Ruthven, what /are/ you on about? Why are you handing out those
cards?" The blonde looks a little pouty about
not even recieving an answer yet, but sleep has
allowed the virtue of patience for the Slytherin blondie.
Not to say it'll last long, of course.
With the creepy
scene of a somewhat zombified Sabine handing out
cards, the nudge in his ribs causes Zahn to jump
slightly. "What?! Oh, er.." He coughs
lightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sure,
Hermione has a
Gryffindor scarf loosely wound round her neck, not quite fastened, hurrying
into the Hall and towards the Gryffindor table. "Sorry, I've been running
late," she apologizes, darting around someone in the crowd to put one hand
on the table. "...I overslept. That Sleeping Draught knocked me out!
Hello, Harry, where's Ron? - Oh!"
Hagrid catches the
movement of Sabine around the tables, frowning a little as he spears a large
forkful of something green and vaguely beanish in
appearance. He absently tucks the food into his mouth while watching her
curiously, chewing automatically on whatever it was.
Padma rolls her eyes as the oddly
dressed divination queen ignores her and moves along. "Slytherins,"
she mutters, looking over the other cards that have been given out.
"Sabine Ruthven. Yar. Cups are about love and
emotions and things like that. Upright means 'sensitive' and reversed means you're
detached from something - or should be." She shrugs, "Sorry I'm not
very helpful. I can't imagine why she gave you guys those particular cards. And
as she seemed to have no interest in acting like any of us really
asked..." She flops down next to Susan and starts to spoon potatoes onto
her plate, "King of Cups, that one I know. It's one I get a lot in Parvati's 'test sessions'." She repeats as from a
book, "'Go easy on yourself and accept what the day brings. Control your
temper and don't take things personally.' As if -I- take things personally. I
don't!" Riiight, Padma.
Rebecca starts to
open her mouth to reply to Eowyn, when three things
distract her in one fell swoop. First is Sabine's approach, and the second is Hermione's entrance. The third is Harry's call, which nets
her attention rather quickly, the fourth year blinking once and craning her
neck a bit to try getting a look at Ron.
Sabine smiles, very
faintly, handing Eowyn another card. "The Knight
of Wands, reversed," she tells the Gryffindor. "The shadow of the
rider is cast across you, for good or for ill. The dividing line has been
drawn." She turns for a moment to regard Susan blankly, one eyebrow
lifting in a cool arch, and looks -through- Melony
rather than at her : the cut direct. She then neatly steps to the side, turning
back to the Ravenclaws, and moving to Padma, in front of whom she lays another card. "The
Four of Swords," she tells the older girl. "Its lessons now are your
lessons."
Kaid enters from the side
passage rather through the grand double doors, looking generally well...
content more than anything else. Curiousity sparks as
he notices the knot of people that seem to consist of a represantative
of each house... which is of course, rather rare save in offical
occasions. And curiousity having sparked, he moves
through the crowd towards it, mildly surprised that he knows nearly everyone
there, "'Lo all? What's going on?". He ends up behind and to the left
of Melony.
Keita glances down
towards Melony. "Relax. It's obvious she isn't herself,
at the moment. Just wait it out and see what happens. She'll probably come to
soon enough, and until then... allow it to play out." she just trails off.
Clearly, there's somethign she knows or suspects, or
something, but that's about all.
"Ah,"
Padma blinks at Sabine and takes
her card. She looks at it, examines the drawings and looks up at Ruthven again,
"May I ask what it means or is that for me to discover?"
Ron waves Harry in
his direction impatiently, dodging through a couple of people in an attempt to
push his way all the way to Sabine. "Come here, I've got to take care of
something!" He calls ... though what he's taking care of, he's not sure.
He doesn't notice much of anything beyond a narrow tunnel in front of him as he
tries to move toward the Slytherin girl.
The doors open, and
the silver-haired prince of Slytherin arrives...though he may be a prince in
disfavor, of late. Crabbe and Goyle
are nowhere in evidence, and his once-habitual sneer has faded. No one will say
he's warm and friendly, but after certain revelations of the past month, he
certainly seems more human. He moves to the Slytherin table as if planning to
grab himself a snack.
Romulus takes Kal's card and quickly takes his own back out and compares
them...."Wonder why she just didn't give you one while you were over here
before, y'know," he said not taking his head up
from the card. "They don't really look similar at all." He gave it
back to Kal a moment or two after his last words.
"Here ya go...""I suppose it really
doesn't matter so I'm not going to think any harder on it." He glanced
around a bit noticing the sudden teeming of people in the hall. "Well, Kal, then it'll be a bit later in the summer..because
I have to finish the Potions I didn't get to do..""But
be ready for an Owl a week or two in advance."
Giving Sabine a
confused gaze as she leaves, Eowyn palms the card,
holding it up for her to gaze at better. "Shadow..." Shaking her
head, she places it in her bookbag, watching in
amazement at the flood of people. Lately, she's been able to miss the crowd,
but apparently not now. Still, the card weighs on her mind as she goes back to
dinner.
Harry flashes Hermine a quick grin as he turns towards the sound of her
voice, "Good, then I won't have to save you from drowining
in your soup. You're feeling better I hope?". A slight pause as he looks
out over the crowd again, having lost sight of Ron once he'd turned towards
Hermione, though the other gryffindor is easily
enough reacquired, "He's... right over there. By Ruthven I think.". A
finger points even as he pushes his way towards Ron, checking back every so
often to make sure that Hermione is following. Upon close proximity to Ron he
asks, with a quizzical look, "What are you taking care of?".
As before, no
answer, and Sabine simply moves away again - back towards the Gryffindor table,
in Rebecca's direction. She pauses, however, as there's the simple fact that
whether one finds Weasleys irresistable
or disgusting, they do have a way of being oddly immovable at times. Blankly,
she lifts her green-eyed gaze, looking at Ron, then through him. She doesn't
acknowledge his existence with a single word, however, gathering her crinoline
and silk skirts with one hand, and stepping around to advance onto Rebecca.
Such seems to be her intention, anyway.
Hermione laughs,
shaking her head to Harry, and tells him, "Much better. And you? I hope
you slept well. We -are- still all going, right?" She gives the Seeker an
oddly searching sort of glance, then twists round in her seat, waving to Ron -
and then, spotting Draco, to him as well, smile widening. "I'm going to
have to learn a proper taxicab whistle someday," she murmurs.
"Not a good
time, then," Rebecca mumbles to herself, peering after Ron before
slouching back down in her seat and taking up her goblet, glancing briefly to Eowyn before she has a sip. "Oh, go on, don't worry
about it, Wyn. It's just a little piece of paper with
some squigglies on, and a few hundred years of
superstition and myth. No biggie." And the fact that it's 'no biggie' is
exactly why Rebecca develops a somewhat resigned, nervous expression as she
spies Sabine making her way in her general direction. "Just what I bloody
need," she mutters.
Melony narrows a glare at Keita,
"Oh, well as if it weren't /obvious/ she wasn't herself - look at
her." A hand directs to the interestingly dressed Sabine, before she
shakes her head. "But fine, I'll wait - Oh, hello, Malfoy,"
Melony then offers to Draco, nodding in greeting to
the Prefect.
Zahn's gaze shifts to
Well, the creepy
card distribution service seems not to have stopped, and so Hagrid's
curiosity is piqued. Raising himself from the chair, the teacher nabs another
forkful of something meatlike and chews on it as he
ambles towards the Gryffindor table, so as to get a better look at what's going
on.
Kal nods to
Ron turns a slow
half circle as Sabine moves around him, but the moment of close proximity is
enough to make him frown faintly as he turns. "I'm not sure," he
answers Harry in a mystified tone, folding his arms over his chest as he
watches Sabine. "She's ... in a trance or something. She's not acting
normal." That much is pretty obvious to anyone, but Ron seems to feel the
need to clarify. "And I'm not sure why ... this is the strangest I've ever
seen her. I feel like I've got to take care of her until she snaps out of it or
something, but she can take care of herself just fine." His gaze on Sabine
is broken for a moment as he glances aside to give Hermione a small smile.
"'Lo, Hermione."
Padma sighs, placing her card on
the table and digging, disinterestedly at her food, "Well, alright. She's
behaving oddly, even for Sabine." She puts on a pretty little pout,
"Where's my sister when I need her. I don't remember what this one means.
But again, a sword, so something with a double edge, or two sides." She
eyes the card, "Look," she leans towards Susan, tracing the design on
the card, "Doesn't it kind of look like a person?"
Susan finds herself
turning around on her seat to watch the story that's unfolding before her. She
leans against the table, then gets distracted. "Yeh,
sort of," she responds, examining the card. "But what does that
mean?"
Harry's smile drops
a fraction then, though it is still quite firmly in place, "Of course, I
mean, we don't have anything better to do, do we?".
A slight pause he he look catches sight of the
Slytherin Prefect, mostly because of Hermione's gaze,
"You've told Malfoy about... what happened,
right?". He blinks at Ron, before he looks at the... very oddly acting
Sabine, "oh... right. She does look rather out of it... doesn't
she.". A quizzical expression comes over his face as he looks at Ron
again, "She can't _really_... can she?". It's probably fairly obvious
what he's asking.
Keita chooses to
gloss right over the glare. "The point is is
that trying to talk to her is probably futile until she snaps out of whatever
it is... and that the observant person might get something useful out of
observing-- Hello, Draco," she greets the prefect politely.
Dropping a card in
front of Rebecca, Sabine informs the girl distinctly, "The Seven of
Swords, reversed. You are bound, and will remain so bound, until you act out
your fate." And then, she whirls, moving back all the way across the room
- to Melony. Wasn't she ignoring Melony
before? However, another card is now held out, and she informs the other
Slytherin girl gravely, "Do you take it. The Ten of Cups, reversed. It is
yours, for what you make of it - do not act, and it will be your headstone;
act, and it will be your burden, or your reward."
Draco inclines his
head to Keita. "Arai," he offers... and frowns, as he takes in
Sabine's behavior. "What's eating Ruthven?"
Padma shrugs, turning the card on
it's side, "I don't know. Maybe it means what ever I want it to? If swords
are about things with two sides, and it looks sort of like a person to me,
maybe it's about people having two sides to them? Which would make sense coming
from -" She cuts off quite abruptly at the message the girl delivers to
her own housemate. She blinks, "Yes. Definitely behaving weird, even for
-her-." Her eyes start to follow the girl. Maybe, just this once, she'll
hang on to this card.
Melony snorts at Keita, looking to
Draco then as she says, "Don't know - she's walking around, handing out
tarot cards, not answering anyone." Another glance to Sabine as she frowns
deeply. "I wonder what's up with her.."
Hermione nods to
Harry, then to Ron, looking distinctly puzzled and uncertain. "Well ...
she doesn't seem in any sort of /pain/," she offers after a moment.
"...Do you think we should do anything? Or just collect Draco and
go?"
Keitashakes her head at Draco, and very
queitly adds, "Not my place to explain. But pay
attention. It could be important." When Melony's
card arrives, she gives it a glancing-over. "Interesting," is once
again the choice comment.
Sliding
the plate of turkey over to
Melony blinks as she's given a
card, looking up at Sabine even more worriedly. "Wha?"
Ron nods solemnly
to Harry, chewing at the inside of his bottom lip for a moment before
answering. "Yes. She can. Makes you wish you'd paid more attention in
Divination, doesn't it?" He smiles wryly, then lets his gaze follow Sabine
for a moment before he turns to Hermione and draws in a deep breath before
shaking his head. "We can't really do anything, but just wait a few
minutes more ... if you don't mind. I know she isn't hurting, but ... well,
just a couple of minutes. If we can."
Hagrid pauses as
Sabine takes a sharp turn and heads towards another student, watching her
progress. After a moment or two of this, the curious teacher moves to trail
distantly behind her as she weaves in and out of tables, although he stays far
enough back that he doesn't block her path if she abruptly turns to head in
another random direction. In fact, he appears to be staying near the ends of
tables, more or less.
Kaid, still in a space between
the Ravenclaw and Slytherin table, most of his attention focused on the
strangely moving Gypsy girl. After a moment, he turns to the nearest Slytherin
that he's on.... respectable terms with, Melony and
asks, "Does she do thi-". What he'd been
about to say cuts off though as Sabine hands Melony a
card, at which he narrows his eyes, his expression growing suddenly more
neutral. He addresses Sabine afterwards though, "You alright Ruthven?".
He seems more concerned about Melony's reaction to
the card though, has his gaze keep flicking in that direction.
"Yeah just
closing our plans,"
Pausing a moment, Eowyn stares at her half-empty plate, sighing. "Well,
I hope she's okay, you know. I mean, Sabine's got that glazed look, and... I
mean, what if she's under a hex again?" Placing her fork on the edge of
her plate, she sighs, rubbing her temples. "I mean, it's happened before,
so why wouldn't it happen again, you know? That glaze looked like she was
zombie-possessed, and it... just feels weird." Really, really weird.
"Oh, my lucky
number, hurrah for me," Rebecca drones, scooping up the card and eyeing it
flatly before tucking it into her robes with a grumble. She eyes her plate a
moment before letting out a sigh, shifting to get up with a quiet "'ll eat later," offered as an aside to Eowyn, before turning and - after a quick deep breath and
squaring of her shoulders - making her way in Ron's direction.
Kal nods a little to Rom for a
moment, before deciding to pull the card back out, and taking another hard
glance at it, then looking to Padma Patil, who appears to be the single expert on Tarot, with a
look that says he's confused.
Harry shakes his
head slightly at Hermione, "Nnnoo....",
drawing the word out slightly, "I don't think we should leave yet... this
might be important somehow... if she _does_ have powers...". A quick faint
grin at Ron before he answers, "No... no, not really. I'll bet that the
stuff we learned... well, ignored from Trelawney
wouldn't have anything to do with the _real_ thing. So I'll just look on
ignoring her as less clutter in my head.". He turns his gaze back on the
gypsy witch then.
The Gamekeeper's
timing is impeccable, because suddenly, Sabine whirls on him, thrusting a card
imperiously at Hagrid with one hand as though she's suddenly decided that she's
the fashion police and the professor is improperly dressed. "The Four of
Wands, reversed," she tells him coolly. "Yours - alone." And
then she's moving past, back to the Gryffindor table, in her winding course,
looking for all the world as though she might pounce - on Zahn,
slapping a card down in front of the boy with more force than strictly
necessary. "The Hanged Man. Beware that noose, for it snares you and holds
you fast, inch by inch it tightens, and your immobility may yet become
permanent." And she's away again.
"We can
wait," Hermione agrees, glance flickering back and forth between Ron and
Harry, and then across the room, searching out Draco. "Though I'm
wondering if perhaps we shouldn't send for Professor Weasley."
Not for worlds would she ever suggest sending for Professor Trelawney.
"And since the Headmaster's in
Draco glances over
at the Trio, and nods to Keita. "Right, then." Falling silent, he
makes his way over in the general direction of the Three Gryffketeers,
while still keeping his attention on Sabine.
Hagrid eyes the
card in his hand as though it were a particularly venomous creature. That is to
say, he looks at it warily, but with a strange fascination. After a moment of
eyeing it, the groundskeeper shoves the card into a pocket and continues
trailing after her, looking a bit wary.
Keita considers,
for a moment, before she opts to follow Draco in his walk towards The Trio,
moving quietly, but keeping her eyes on what sabine's
passing out to various people with a thoughtful manner.
Zahn nods solemnly, "That's
true, you haven't been eating in the last few weeks. I'm glad that you still
have an appetite..." His thoughts are caught off as he turns to the card
that Sabine places infront of him. He gulps slightly.
"T..the Hanged Man..?" He says brokenly.
Moving a now shaky hand towards the card, he gradually lifts it from the table
and glances it over. "It means something good...right?" Of course
not. It's a hanged man. A worried glance is cast
Padma gapes as Sabine approaches
a professor. "Look, now she's given one to Hagrid!" She fingers her
own card, again, musing, "People with two sides..." Now her brown
eyes drift back to the Gryffindor table and land on Hermione. She stands,
"Excuse me," she moves away from the Ravenclaws
and approaches the Prefect, "Hey, Hermione. Are you seeing what I'm
seeing?" She gestures to Ruthven, "She gave me a card and won't talk
to me. I didn't think I'd left her on such rotten terms when we last
spoke..."
"Look there, Hagrid's gotten one," Ron muses quietly, glancing
aside to give Draco a bare tip of his chin in acknowledgement. He spares a
brief smile for Harry, then shakes his head slowly. "Maybe someone
/should/ go get Bill, but like you said ... she isn't hurting anything, and she
doesn't look hurt herself, it's just ... I've seen her like this before, but
not like /this/. Does that make sense?"
Melony sneers at her card,
waggling it around. "Damn it, and why'd I totally ignore Divination? What
the sodding hell does 'Ten of Cups - Reversed' mean?
Ugh. Act, don't act..." However, as Keita and Draco alike rise, Melony looksaround, pouting a
little. "Oh, well, sod you both." However, as if just not noticing
him, she looks up at Kaid and waggles the card at
him. "Kaid. Greetings. Hope you won't mind if I
follow after my housemates?" And rising up, she follows after Draco and
Keita. She has to tag-along - Slytherin aren't good whilst alone.
Rebecca comes to a
halt near what seems to becoming the nexus point of the moment, offering Harry,
Hermione, Keita and Draco a brief grin before she looks to Ron, lightly nudging
him in the side. "You're a hard guy to track down, you know," she
points out, offering him a slight grin as she eyes him with a bit of concern.
More than is apparently due, certainly. "Alright?"
So very considerate
of Keita, to save Sabine the walk! Sabine comes to a halt, watching not Draco's approach, but the older Slytherin girl's, and when
she's within reach, holds out a card. "The Two of Swords, reversed,"
she comments. "Blind, or blindfolded, balance, imbalance, with your edges
sharpened and possibly ruined - but who will tell the difference?" With
that question left to hang in mid-air, she turns back to the Gryffindor table,
and drops a card in front of
Draco tenses
slightly, watching Sabine approach Harry.
Kal watchs
Sabine for a while, seeing that she's probably gone to almost everyone in the
Great Hall... Is she running out of cards yet? He watchs
as the Slythrin makes her way to Harry...
"I suppose
your right." Zahn rubs his neck slightly with a
free hand, color returning to him. "It probably means nothing,
really." Nodding as he believes
This is rather what
Hagrid was anticipating, and he moves a little more quickly to gain on Sabine.
He doesn't stop her, no; he just flanks her, the wary expression growing on his
face. In fact, he looks for all the world like a mother bear watching a human
approach her cub. (Of course, he's a he, and not a she, but who's counting?)
Harry nods slowly
at Herione then, "Might be a good idea... but I
don't think anyone's going to be keen to be leaving just now.". He looks
faintly surprised that Hagrid got one... maybe because the half-giant is one
the faculty rather than a student, still, Harry smiles and waves over at the Gameskeeper, who he hasn't seen since the CoMC exams. A nod to Ron, "I think so.. you've seen
her like this before... just not with so many people?". Draco gets a nod,
and even _gasp_ a polite waves. He freezes though as he finds himself meeting
Sabine's penetrating gaze.
Brandon blinks in
surprise as a card is dropped in front of him. He peers st
Sabine, mouth open to ask a question, but one look at her expression and he
decides discretion is the better part of valor.
Blinking, Eowyn is starting to just watch quietly, grabbing her bag
to her chest as she starts to feel a bit chilly. "Why does this feel
creepy?" she asks aloud, mostly to herself. Sighing, she watches the
people some more as Sabine starts to go over to Harry. Huh. Interesting.
Hermione tenses
slightly, answering Padma with a slight shake of her
head. "I don't know either, Padma," she
admits, gaze flickering to Ron. "I don't know awfully much about her, and
you -know- what -I- think of Divination. Someone ought to go fetch Professor Weasley, probably, but at the same time ..." It has a
rather auto crash effect on spectators, doesn't it? She nods to Harry, biting
her lip. "Ron, do you know anything about this?"
Melony glances back at Keita,
"Oh! Arai! You have one too? Isn't that /interesting/?" Her tone is
somewhat mocking as she turns back to Rebecca, eyeing the girl up and down.
"You've got a card, too, Pierce? What did you get?" She holds up her
own, wrinkling her nose a little as she states, "Ten of Cups, reve--" But then Sabine approaches Harry, and of
course, all eyes are on that pair, now.
Kaid just simply moves to keep
Sabine in sight, still obviously intrigued by her behavior. To Melony he simply nods, even as Sabine turns towards Harry.
A faint smile then, "Of course not... but then, it seems we're heading in
the same direction.". True, he's following a different person, but well,
the locus of tonight just seems to be in one place, doesn't it?
Rio jumps a bit and
flashes Zahn an irritated glare at being elbowed in
her ticklish ribs. "Course I'm right," she says around a mouthful of
turkey and gravy. "You saying I'm no--" She pauses as she catches
sight of Harry and Sabine, and goes still, even chewing as softly as possible
to see what happens next.
"Sure, look,
sorry about that," Ron answers Rebecca absently, glancing at her as she
nudges him. "I just don't write letters when I can just see people in the
common room, but I never saw you there." He pauses, then shrugs a
shoulder. "I'm alright, sure. Yo ... " He
doesn't even finish the word, but ends it on a sharp intake of breath as he
notices where Sabine is looking now. "Looks like your turn," he
murmurs to Harry, glancing aside at the Gryffindor Seeker. While he waits for
Sabine's approach, he nods slowly. "Right. Not with so many people around.
And not for this long, either." He hesitates a moment, then nods to
Hermione. "She's actually good at it, Hermione. Not fake like Trelawney. She goes into this trance thing, and her eyes
change colour, and that's when she's actually scary with it. Accurate."
Keita has, of
course, been expecting this, by now, and simply takes the card without comment,
but with much attention paid to the extra commentary. And then she tucks the
card into her robes, and addresses the others. "I do not believe it would
be wise to interfere. I suggest we allow her to finish, and pay careful
attention to what is said. Particularly as I do not believe there is any
immediate danger to her or others. Not from *this*, anyway.. Yes, Melony. i rather expected it
would be the case. Terribly interesting card, as well."
Romulus observes
closely as the card dealer made her way to Harry. "I'll be back in a sec Kal," he said,rising,
prepared to go and get a closer look. "I'm going to go over there for a
second," he added pointing to Sabine.
"Paper with squigglies on it that mean nothing more than you let
it," Rebecca replies to Melony, shrugging and
offering her a quick, almost apologetic grin. "Eh, seven of swords, or
some such rubbish." Blinking, she looks to Ron again, nodding and offering
him a rather relieved-looking grin. "Ah, s'alright.
I feel the same way, usually. Just wanted to make sure to get ahold of you before vaca--" Bwrrp? Quirking, she looks back towards Sabine again,
offering Hagrid a somewhat bewildered shrug.
Padma pauses, just behind Ron and
Hermione and joins the hall in watching Sabine's next draw on Harry. She
mutters to the youngest Weasley boy, "Do you
think this is one of those times, Ron? I didn't notice if her eyes were green
when I met her the other night." She eyes Sabine, "They're green
tonight, though."
A card is separated
from the deck, and held up. Sabine doesn't even appear to look at it, even
though surely she must have, because she announces, "The Ace of Pentacles.
Perfection /is/ so very difficult to hold onto, even when it's in your grasp,
isn't it, Mister Potter?" Her eyes narrow slightly, and the card's tossed
neatly in front of Harry, sliding to a halt in front of him with a croupier's
skill. And she moves on, restlessly, this time to Ron, still without any sort
of friendly recognition. "The Ten of Wands, reversed," she informs
him, holding a card out. "Beware the traitor."
Kal continues to watch Sabine,
and then says aloud to himself, "Maybe that pudding had something in
it..." He sees a (anonymous) Ravenclaw look at him confused, and he shakes
his head, "Never mind..."
Hagrid leans over
and retrieves Harry's card, eyeing it dubiously before extending it towards
him. "Yer'll want this, I'm assumin',"
he says quickly. "An... well, if yer coul' get Professor Weasley..."
As soon as Harry takes the card, Hagrid continues trailing Sabine around the
room.
Zahn raises his eyebrows.
"In a way, it's all rather creepy, dont'cha
think?" He whispers to Rio, before taking a few more bites of the food.
"I wonder what the cards will mean, and if everyone will get one." He
pauses a moment in the eating to take a sip from the juice. Nothing like a
drink to wash away troubles. Yeah..right.
Susan continues to
watch, occasionally eating her food, as she doesn't have much to contribute
right now.
Harry fights off a
rather unreasonable urge to step back when Sabine turns on him, this feeling
though, is rapidly outstripped by bewilderment at the card that he'd been dealt.
Reaching down, he picks up the card ginerly, as if
fearing that it might bite him, or perhaps explode, and holds it up to examine
minutely. Her words strike him oddly, and he asks, confused,
"Perfection?". Eh? He's never made any pretenses to being anything
like perfect. He looks sharply at Ron afterwards, his expression alarmed, it
seems _his_ card has inspired a much larger reaction than his own. Afterwards,
the look is transfered to Hermione, and then back to
Ron.
Draco frowns,
watching Sabine still. "Ruthven, what are you doing?" he asks,
stepping forward a little closer to the girl. "I hope this is some kind of
joke." Likely it's not, but Draco tries to look like he's not unsettled by
all this. Maintaining control and appearance...very important in Slytherin
house, after all.
Melony rolls her eyes as Keita
speaks, though a nod is given to Rebecca, before she returns her full attention
back to Sabine and Harry and the card he's dealt. And then, of course, Ron and
his own card. The word traitor, no doubt with others as well, earns a little
arch of her eyebrow, and as the Prefect approaches her yearmate,
Melony takes just a tiny step forward as well.
"Sabine?"
Romulus ends up all
the way to the Gryffindor table even though he was planning on just going halfway,
eyeing Sabine. He didn't want to sit with Harry and the rest so he spotted out
Rio and Zahn his other firstie
friends. "Did both of you get cards?" he asked.
Rio frowns a bit at
what happens with Harry and Ron, and then looks at Zahn
as she continues eating. "I'm not sure whether everyone getting one is a
good or a bad thing, actually," she offers judiciously. "Best to just
watch and hope you can duck if it turns out bad."
With the same
blank-eyed gaze as others have been treated to, Sabine looks through Draco's middle as though it were clear as glass, and
proceeds to move around the Slytherin Prefect, to Rio, dropping a card on the
girl's plate. "The Empress," she tells the first year Gryffindor.
"Find the bannock and carry it with you. You will find it useful."
With that cryptic statement, she turns to Hermione, measuring the Gryffindor
Prefect impassively with her gaze as she steps towards her. She's running out
of targets, isn't she?
Ron rolls his eyes
at Keita. "Get off it, Arai. You're not saying anything that any of us
doesn't know, and you're acting like it's all a normal part of Sabine's life
when it's /not/." He glances behind him toward Padma,
then makes an absent gesture with a hand. "They're not normally green.
You're right." He looks at Rebecca now, giving her a brief, but odd look,
then turns to give Sabine a wide eyed look as he reaches out to accept the
card. "Sabine?" Not Ruthven, Sabine. He speaks the word cautiously,
almost certain he'll get no answer - but it's worth a try, and he's afraid to
reach out and touch her ... just in case this is like waking up a sleepwalker.
He looks stoically at the Slytherin girl, his features hardening as he hears
the meaning of the card, as vague as it is.
Padma raises her hand just a bit,
looking at Ron's card, "Er, Hagrid, if you'd
like, I could go and find Professor Weasley. Where
might he be just now?" If -Hagrid- is going to suggest finding the Defense
Against the Dark Arts teacher, she'll admit that something definitely -is-
going on here. She tears her eyes from Ron's card, nods at him, then looks
expectantly at the half-giant. "Something is going on with her. Shall I go
find Bill, Hagrid?"
Rebecca glances
between the assembled for a moment before letting out a sigh, nodding to Hagrid
and taking a step back. "I'll go get the Professor," she says firmly
- and /this/ time, she /means/ it. Keita's given a quick look before she turns
to bolt for the side corridor, one hand snaking into her robes to make sure her
card doesn't fall out of its place.
Zahn glances to the card that
Sabine places infront of Rio. "Er..Rio..seems like it's your turn.." He motions to
the card after Sabine heads off. "What does she mean, 'Find the
Bannock'..?" He inquires curiously, placing another spoonful of potatoes
into his mouth.
Kal glances to Zahn and Rio... It appears that they're one of the few firsties to recieve a tarot card,
because there are a lot of first years, and a number of them didn't get
anything from Sabine.
Hermione opens her
mouth to say something, or possibly to volunteer to run to fetch Bill instead
of having Harry do it - but it'd appear it's her turn to receive a creep-card.
"Er..." She gives Harry a helpless sort of
look, then looks over Sabine's head at Draco, turning as well to answer Rio
while blinking a bit at Ron. "A bannock is a flat, usually unleavened
bread, made of barley flour or sometimes oatmeal. Scottish, isn't it? Derived
from Old English, anyway, I know that much."
Rio looks at the
card in the middle of her food as if it were an invading hand. "I dunno," she says with a scowl. "What in Merlin's
name is a bannock--" She glances up at Hermione with wide eyes and pushes
up her glasses. "I... whoa." Things are getting mighty freaky up in
here... She glances up and down the table with a wary eye. "Well, see a
bannock anywhere?" she asks no one in particular. "May as well grab
it while it's hot, right?" She even rises and leans up and over to see
fully up and down the table.
Irritably, Eowyn stands up and tries to finally leave, slightly grumpy
about having her 'doom' predicted (not that she was even sure it was
doom-worthy) and also because her friend sort of ditched her. Frowning, she
tries to leave, but instead meets a big clump of people instead. "Must...
be... patient," she manages, breathing in.
Look, Hagrid has
spawned a cluster of people fleeing the weird Sabine! Woo! "If yer'd like," he manages to call towards Padma and Rebecca, not really identifying which he means
should go find the professor. "Jes' as long as
he's here, it's fine." His eyes, of course, are still focused on the
moving Sabine, who he's now pacing just behind.
Keita narrows her
eyes at Ron. "As you like it, Weasley." the
somewhat rare last-name use she only drags out when annoyed. "If you'll
excuse me, then, you can feel free to continue wasting your time trying to talk
something out of her, but I have something to fetch from my room." She
glances to Melony. "Given the comments supplied
with your card, I'd make sure the gift I gave you earlier is close to hand. It
sounds like you have a choice of action or inaction on the horizon, and I'd
recommend acting, were I you."
Kaid's gaze at least, is no longer
on Sabine any longer, but rather on the people that have just recieved cards... especially on Ron, since he's sort of a
friend... and well, the tidings aren't exactly good are they? Still, he doesn't
move from his relatively isolated position in the crowd and crosses his arms,
not doing anything. Not being stoic, but because he hasn't a clue what there
_is_ to do. He of course, does not much expect a card.
"I'll be back
in two shakes," Rebecca calls back over her shoulder before - zoop! - she's darted out of the Hall, presumably to begin
the Great Bill Weasley Hunt of '96.
Sabine leans
forward to set a card down in front of the Gryffindor Prefect, saying calmly,
"The Queen of Wands. And yet, you are next to ... something quite
different. Your virtues may not be entirely sufficient - or will they be, after
all?" She turns to Draco, next, holding out a different card, chin lifting
so that she can meet his eyes with her own, and she waits until she is sure his
attention is on her before she continues. Well. Whatever she's under the
influence of, she -is- a performer at heart.
Padma follows not far behind
Rebecca, suddenly getting the urge to move in pairs...
Finally a bit fed
up, Eowyn starts to jog in the other way, around the Gryffindor's beloved table and towards one of the other,
less clogged exits. Not only is she abandoned by her other half, but she really
just wants to go /away/. Is that too much to ask?
Hermione holds onto
the card, looking decidedly uncertain, shooting a quick, worried glance at
Draco. She draws closer to Harry and Ron, murmuring, "Well, you two stayed
in Divination longer than /I/ did. What d'you suppose
-this- all means?"
Kal watchs
as Sabine hands cards to more people, and notes that she's gotten to the
Slytherin Prefect... This is definitly going to be
interesting... "What's he going to get?" He wonders out loud...
Silver-grey eyes meet green, as Draco looks back at Sabine
levelly. "Well, Ruthven?" he says quietly. "And what do you see
in my future, then? It's been some time since anyone tried to look at it, after
all."
Harry attempts to
lighten the mood just slightly as he shrugs at Hermione, "I dunno, that saturn's being
ascendant and pissed off again? 's not like we _learned_ anything useful in the
class.". He stops short then however, as he looks concernedly at Ron, the
nearly light tone gone then as if it'd never been, "Ron? What do you
suppose it....". Harry trails off then, as Sabine stops in front of Draco,
and _that_ captures his attention for the time being.
Sabine holds a card
out to Draco, expression as uncompromising and blank as ever. "The future
is in what you choose, Mister Malfoy. Et voyons, suivrez-vous le chemin de votre pere a la fin? L'amour vous liera-t-il au ressentiment, ou vous menera-t-il au ciel - et des plaisirs merveilleux? Pour maintenant, vous etes encore lies par votre chemin. Vous
n'avez pas fait un pas au loin, et c'est le resultat. Le Diable." She is quiet for a moment, then drops the
card at Draco's feet. "The Devil." She
turns, advancing on Lavender.
Rio stuffs a bit of
greens into her mouth and sets the card on a napkin beside her plate as she
reseats herself. "Maybe I can get the house elves to make some," she
ponders aloud with a thoughtful munching. "Course, the question still
remains: why do I need unleavened Scottish bread, and what good will come of
it?" She glances up and eyes Sabine in front of Draco, then blinks at the
string of incomprehensible French that comes from that meeting. "No
clue," she tells Zahn before he can ask.
Ron does little
more than glance at Keita, but shakes his head in mild exasperation before he
turns his attention from her completely. He palms his card and gives it another
glance before looking up again, his features still frozen in a mask of hard
neutrality. "Hermione, I have no idea," he murmurs, shaking his head.
"It doesn't matter how long I was in Divination, what matters is that I
don't /remember/ any of it." He smiles wryly and shakes his head, then
turns a glance on everyone in the room, eyeing those leaving for a moment
before he turns his attention back toward his friends and compatriots. He again
gives Harry a wry smile and shakes his head. "I only know what she told
me, and that's enough for me to be wary." He turns his gaze on Draco now -
or, more correctly, on the Slytherin Prefect's card. "Wish I knew French,"he murmurs, then frowns faintly, the first
crack in his mask since receiving his card. "I got the Devil in my reading
in Diagon Alley. It's ... not always bad, if I
remember right, but I don't remember quite what it means."
Melony's gaze follows the card right
to Draco's feet, frowning faintly as her eyes widen.
"The Devil. Sounds evil and horrible enough," she mutters, shrugging,
though the grip on her card tightens a little. And with a nod and glance to
Ron, it would appear Melony has the same sentiments
about the French language.
Keita nods to Melony. "In that case, I'd suggest you come along and
pick it up. I don't much like this, and a little preparation never hurt
anything more than it helped." And she turns to march for the Foyer,
whether Melony chooses to come along or not.
Sighing, not able
to find any sort of bannock bread that Rio needs, Zahn
slumps in his seat for a moment, finishing up the food that is on his plate.
Taking a brownie from the plate he gave to Rio, he's about to bite into it
before Sabine speaks in french. His mouth opens to
ask, but Rio's answer to his unasked question silents
him, using his open mouth to just take a bite out of the brownie. "At
least the food was good tonight."
"You could
just grab some bread rolls," Hermione suggests to Rio. "I don't know
if the yeast is going to be an issue, or if it just means, well, bread, or
cake." She then nods slowly to Ron, looking deeply disturbed as she
listens to the Slytherin girl's words to Draco, paling slightly. "...And
let us see, will you follow the path of your father in the end? Will love bind
you to resentment, or will it lead you to heaven - and heavenly pleasures? For
now, you are still bound by your path. You have not stepped off, and this is
the result." She presses her hand to her mouth as she speaks, words soft
and horrified.
Draco's face has gone pale. Well,
paler than usual. "So, father," the silver-haired boy says quietly to
himself. "Even now, I'm bound to you, aren't I...?" He closes his
eyes, evidently mulling this over silently. "Too many bindings, too many
oaths, too many years..."
Hagrid frowns at
Sabine's words, his lips moving just a little as though he were trying to
puzzle something out. Of course, his not-quite-whispers end as Hermione handily
translates the French for him. Hanging out with Madame Maxine didn't improve
his French too much, after all. His frown deepens, and as the girl moves
towards Lavender, he continues flanking her steps, looking decidedly unhappy.
He does, however, cast a worried glance back towards Hermione before focusing
entirely on Sabine's motions.
Melony looks sharply at Hermione
as she translates the French, gulping a little as she turns her gaze upon her
house Prefect after the translation is done. The blonde eyes him, folding her
arms over her chest, still clutching her card - and she makes no motion to
leave the scene to fetch anything as of yet.
Susan watches the
scene going on around her, her food forgotten. She looks at the card in her
hand, then back to Sabine, then looks up at Hagrid. She's confused, and a bit
scared.
Rio nods a bit and
pokes at her leftovers, suddenly not hungry the longer she watches what's going
on. She picks up a brownie instead and eats it thoughtfully, squinting a
little. "Suppose I should probably head for the library and find out what
the Empress means, and what bannock might have a meaning for. Besides, you
know... Scottish bread." She glances up at Hermione to nod at her, but
then frowns at the way the Prefect looks as she speaks. Tilting her head, she
tells Zahn in a tiny, uncertain voice, "Grab
some of those rolls, would you? I think I'm going to the kitchens to talk to
the elves and all that, but I want to be prepared." To do... whatever.
Hurl bread rolls at the enemy? NOt that the food
fight with Zahn didn't prepare her, mind, and not
that she's developing a deadly aim with just about everything she tries to
throw, but all the same... "And the brownies," she adds, then follows
a moment later with, "and the cake..."
Keita ducks out the
door, to all appearances making a quicker-than-usual walk for the dungeons.
Sabine says nothing
to Draco - or nothing further, rather, moving forward to hand the remaining
deck to Lavender, then reaching into the folds of her skirt, pulls out
something small enough to be concealed in the palm of her hand, continuing to
drift serenely in the direction of the doors of the Hall.
Harry freezes as Hermione's low voiced translation, the card, which he'd
been about to secret in his robes frozen half way as he turns to face Hermione,
color draining slightly, though not to Hermione's
extent. "Are... you sure that that's what it means?". His voice is
low, and slightly hoarse... and well, it's a stupid question, Hermione isn't
often wrong. Green eyes turn to Draco then, though for the moment little shows
behind them... just a sense of... waiting, as if for the Slytherin to explain
himself... or react more than he has already. His prediction and Ron's card do
not bode very well together... do they?
Melony looks after Sabine, drawn
from her thoughts as she gasps a little and starts after her. "Ruthven,
wait up!" Right. As if /that's/ likely to happen. Nonetheless, Melony starts after her housemate, looking very concerned
indeed.
Hagrid's frown gets even deeper.
"If Professor Weasley shows up, coul' someone tell 'im what
happened, an' tell 'im tha'
I'm keepin' an eye on Miss Ruthven?" he says
loudly, not particularly caring who decides to agree. "I'm sure he'll find
us, i' he needs ter..."
All while saying this, he's staying like an immense shadow behind Sabine, not
letting her out of his sight. After all, it's not every day that a student
starts handing out tarot cards and making dire proclamations.
Ron brings out his
card again and drags his fingertips across the edge, the card snapping back
into his palm with a quick, sharp noise. He frowns and remains silent for a
moment, then shakes his head and finally turns toward the door, tucking the
hand holding his card into his pocket. When he brings it out again, the card is
gone, tucked carefully inside the pocket. "I don't doubt Hermione's right - she got an O.W.L. in French, after all.
Isn't this wonderful?" His voice is dry as he watches Sabine drift toward
the doors. After a moment, his attention snaps back toward his friends.
"So. You lot still in the mood to go?"
Draco looks over at
Harry for a moment. "Potter," he says slowly, tone oddly grave.
"If something father's bound into me comes into play, makes me turn back
to that side... I'll fight it. But if it even starts to, use that chance as I
fight it to take me down."
Zahn glances to Rio, "Maybe
we should follow too? Something else may happen and we might miss it!" He
gradually rises from the table, glancing towards Sabine as she leaves and then
shifting his gaze towards the others, wondering what they're going to do.
Hermione shakes her
head slightly at Harry, a very stubborn look on her face. "No," she
says quietly, then more firmly. "No, we're going. Come on." She
pushes herself up from her seat, rather like a cork coming up out of a bottle. "Let's
go. I am - with or without you fellows."
Susan gets up,
having made a decision. "Wait up, Hermione," she calls out. "I'm
going, too." She follows along, tucking the card into a pocket in her
robes.
Kaid stares after the departing
figure of Sabine, his neck craning forwards as he tries to see what it is that
he carries. He starts, hesitantly then, to follow her, though it's obvious he
would like to see what's going to happen in the hall afterwards. A moment
later, when Melony and Hagrid follows her though, his
mind seems to become made up and he follows afterwards, jogging slightly to
catch up.
Rio rises and
stares at Zahn seriously. "Go ahead, if you want
to chance walking into your noose," she says matter of factly.
"Me? I'm going to go find my unleavened Scottish bread." And probably
walk around with an entire rolling tray of her arsenal while she's at Hogwarts, as well, no matter who laughs at her. "I've
got things to look up and things to have... baked." Does that sound as odd
to him as it does to her? "Though..." She glances towards the door
and then the bread stuff around the table. "Maybe if we took cake and
brownies and rolls...?" She presses her lips together, uncertain and torn
between the two options. Hermione said it might not matter, with yeast... But
what it it does? Ack ack ack, she's stressing over
bloody BREAD!
Susan throws over
her shoulder, 'Try finding something with oats. It might cover it, bannocks are
usually made of oatmeal. Are there any cookies?"
"Don' let yerself off half-baked," Hagrid calls back towards Rio
as the little cluster approaches the door. "An' if all else fails, I've
some oatmeal crisps on t'table in m'cottage..."
Zahn shakes his head. "Lets
just grab a few things and follow. I'll help you." He begins gathering
rolls up in napkins and stuffing a few into the pockets of his robes. Hearing
what Susan calls out, he glances around for some oatmeal cookies, or something
remotely similar. "Er..I see one. Seems to be kinda popular tonight." Grabbing the lone cookie, he
hands it to Rio, "If you find anymore, stuff them in your pockets and come
on, everyone else is going."
Draco watches
Hermione start towards the door, and looks at Harry and Ron once more before he
moves to follow the Gryffindor prefect silently. His expression has turned to
stone, to ice... unreadable and remote. The prediction seems to have hit him
hard, and he's closed in on himself once more.
"Oatmeal
cookies," Rio says at a drawl and then glances at Hagrid. Okay, was that a
pun...? There are some on the table... and she grabs it from Zahn. "Thanks, Hagrid!" she calls to him, looking
at Zahn meaningfully. "Let's go, then."
The young DADA
professor bursts into the hall, clearly looking around for someone. Perhaps a
certain betrothed someone with vivid green eyes.
Sabine reaches the
doorway, reaching up with her palm to do ... something to her sleeve, about at
the elbow. She turns, pacing towards the teachers' dais, now. She's silent,
sitting down on the dais, folding in on herself a bit as she pulls on her sleeve
- it's been cut, it seems, and she pulls the loose material now away, down off
her left forearm, slowly, a passive, introspective look on her face.
Hermione looks
slightly taken aback at the sight of Bill, but waits until he's well and truly
inside - less risk of being bowled over - and with a quick glance over her
shoulder, she makes a dash for the door. "Come on, then, if you're
coming," she tosses over her shoulder - perhaps to Susan, or maybe to the
three boys, who knows?
Ron doesn't need to
be told twice - he's already facing the door, and all he has to do is start
walking ... which he does, rather briskly, with little regard for who he may be
skimming past. Both hands tuck into his pockets, his eyebrows drawn down as he
frowns at no one in particular. He's just looking straight ahead, but he stops
abruptly as Sabine begins to roll her sleeve up. "Oh," he murmurs,
bringing up a hand to the back of his neck. He looks ready to go to Sabine
again, but breathes a sigh and turns to follow Hermione.
Harry is still
looking directly at Draco, and if the Slytherin prefect's surprises him, it
shows only slightly. Then slowly, he shakes his head at Draco, the same sort of
graveness seeming to have overtaken him for the moment as well. Though what he
says is quiet, "... . ..... .... .. that ...... on ... ..... ... of
......... .... ..... .... .... you the ...... to ..... it ...... or help ... if
I can." . His expression grows slightly hard then, ".... .. .... ...
ask .... if ....... .. ..... choice." . He speaks in a more normal voice afther that, his expression slightly grim,as
he looks around "...... let's go." . And he follow after herione.
Hagrid continues to
trail behind Sabine, although at the explosive opening of the door, he jumps a
little. Casting Bill a rather thankful look, he beckons him over, hurrying
along behind the girl.
Melony pauses in her hurrying
after Sabine as the door as not only does her housemate turn around, but the
DADA professor bursts in. She jumps a little, looking at him with wide eyes.
"Professor Weasley, Sabine's over there,"
the blonde imemediately states, tossing her hair and
directing to Sabine for Bill. As if he couldn't find her.
Padma comes in panting behind
Bill, "We found him!" She announces breathily. Her head snaps back
around as Hermione bolts our the door, 'Where's everyone going now?"
"Sabra." Bill strides quickly towards the girl,
reaching out to place a hand onto her arm. Gently, so as not to break the
trance harshly and run the risk of harming Sabine, but enough to assure her
that someone's there.
Susan follows along
after Hermione, offering the Ron and Harry a rueful glance, before looking at
Bill and running out.
Nodding, Zahn grabs a few brownies as well, shoving them into his
pockets and taking one for himself to munch on. Hey, the firstie
is still a little hungry. "I think my pockets are full..so
hopefully we have enough stuff. But what am I to do about -my- card? I hope
there are no nooses where we're going..if we go
anywhere" He shudders lightly and stuffs a few crackers into his robes
too. This will be a mess to clean indeed.
As soon as she gets
back, there's people running. What is going on? Eowyn presses her body to the wall, watching the stream of
people go out. "I'm really starting to regret leaving Rebecca..." At
least when she was running through the crazy passages, she had some sort of
purpose. Still, she stays, watching the small group with interest.
Padma turns her brown eyes onto Eowyn, "Do you think we should follow all of them? Or
stay here?" She looks over her options as Bill approaches Sabine in her
trance, "Er..." Tough call.
Well. That settles
that, doesn't it? Of course, Melony does start
briskly after Bill, still looking mildly concerned. "Is she alright, do
you think?" A glance to Hagrid, another to Bill, before she finally
settles her gaze on Sabine.
Blankly, Sabine
looks up, the scarred flesh of her forearm visible where she's pulled the
material down - at Bill's hand on her arm, though, she stops sliding the material
away, a slight frown on her face, seeming puzzled, a 'do I know you?' sort of
look - the first visible sign of emotion she's given.
"I'm... I'm
not sure, Padma," is the small voice that comes
from the Gryffindor as Eowyn edges closer to the
older girl. "All I know is that I'm scared, and I feel really stupid about
it." At least Wynnie's truthful. "I'm
starting to feel like I should've gone with Becky to the Library or something,
because... I mean." Pausing for an awkward moment, she looks up to Padma, biting her lip. "The last time I left Becky,
she went to the gate, and well... well." It's starting to look like if Wyn speaks any more, she's going to sob.
Bill speaks quietly
to Sabine, in an odd language.
Bill whispers
"Come back to me, beloved. Remember what we've been through... my hand is
here for you, take it and return."
Padma slides over, reaching to
comfort the other girl, and maybe to shuffle her out at the same time,
"Let's go to the library, then, and find Rebecca." Somehow, she
doesn't think that Eowyn sobbing in the middle of the
hall is going to lend much aid to the Sabine situation. She turns back to leave
through the doors.
Eowyn can only helplessly nod as
she follows Padma out again, out of the chaos and to
a place that's quite a bit quieter. Probably for the best anyway, considering
that the poor girl's on the verge of hysterics.