Unintentional Study Avoidance [Tag: Alfie, and anyone else]

Abigail stood in front of a tall shelf stuffed full of dusty moldy books, she had been sitting there for a good hour just trying figure out which book would be the best for her to use to brush up on her charm casting. She had never really been good at making decisions, she wouldnt be surprised if she ended up being there for quite a while longer. She sighed and finally decided that she would pick 3 and choose from there. Her first choice was one with a green binding, just barely above her head. She reached with both her hands and attempted to pull it out from between the two larger books it was wedged into.

Alfie watched her from behind a shelf. He knew she was in his year, but he did not know her name. He smirked to himself, considering letting her struggle for just a few moments longer. He thought better of it. Moving up so that he was standing directly behind her, he watched for a few more seconds. Then Alfie said, "Need some help?"

Abigail jumped when she heard the voice from behind her, she had not been expecting it. "Oh!" she exclaimed and she turned around to see who had offered her help. She recognized the guy, though couldn't remember his name. "Uhh, yeah I would like help... thank you," she said after a moment, taking her hands down and moving to the side "I need this green one here but I think this shelf is too full." She told him pointing to the book she had just been working on.

"You can say that again," Alfie smirked. "Let me give it a try." The book was eye-level with Alfie. He wrapped his wiry fingers around the spine and gave it a tug. It did not move. He pulled again, harder this time. The book simply would not give.
"Is there a permanent sticking charm on this book?" Alfie asked. He tried several more times, the book refused to even shift for him. "I think we may have to call this one a bust," he said, looking around at the girl.

Abigail sighed and nodded "That's alright then. I needed a study break anyways." she stretched her arms out a little bit before bending down and picking up the backpack she set on the floor. "Thank you for trying at least, I appreciate it." she said with a smile. She made sure her backpack straps were secured and stuck out her hand saying "My name is Abigail, I think we started the same year."

"Alfie, hi," He said, extending his hand. "Fifth year, then? Good to know. And what, if I may ask, are we taking a break from studying?"

"Charms, I'm trying to make sure that I learn as much as possible about them," Abigail said with a smile, "I want to get an O when I take my O.W.L.S."

"Charms, eh?" Alfie returned her smile, "Not my area of expertise. Are you any good?" He led them to a small table with two chairs.

Abigail set her backpack down on the table and sat down in a chair. "I suppose I can hold my own." she chuckled. "What subject do you like?" she asked Alfie.

Alfie sat as well. He took a moment, observing Abigail. Finally, he said, "Divination."

"Oh! That's awesome. I'm not very good at it myself though." Abigail said. She took a look at her fingernails and started cleaning them a bit, there was a bit of dust under them from handling the books. "I wonder who's idea it was to shove all those books together on one shelf." she said, still looking at her nails.

"Librarian, house elf, who knows?" said Alfie. He produced a pack of tarot cards from his pocket and began shuffling without looking at them. He asked her, "What do you think of Hufflepuff?"

She sat for a moment and thought about the question before answering. "Well I guess I like how open and kind everyone is there, and I know that the friends that I have made will always be there for me, they're just so great. I'm really happy with my placement." she said smiling. "What about you? how do you like your house, its slytherin, right?" she asked him in return.

Alfie also took a moment before answering. "I'm not sure 'like' is the right word. I survive. That's what matters." He shuffled his tarot cards absent-mindedly for a few moments. A card fell out of the deck, he glanced at it, nodded, and placed it aside, face down. "Slytherins are rarely easy to get along with, as I'm sure you've noticed. But they have their uses," he chuckled.

"Yeah, they aren't always good company," she nodded looking at the cards "those are tarot cards right?" she asked sitting up a bit. "do you actually use them to see the future?"

He began placing the cards cards on the table. "The future? Yes and no. I prefer to use other mediums when I want to do that. I like to think of this as a conversation I'm having with myself. The cards mostly act as a mediator."

He glanced down at the ten cards sitting in an anchor shape on the table. "You lay down the cards with a question in mind and then work through that problem with the cards. This one," he said flipping over a card in the middle, "represents the situation at hand. It's the inverted Ten of Pentacles. I guess that represents difficult times and loneliness or discomfort. This one," he pointed to a card directly above the previous, "represents my current path in life. It's the Three of Swords, which typically means sadness or tears..."

Alfie trailed off for a moment, staring into the shelves. He wasn't sure why he was telling this girl all of these things. In fact, he wasn't sure why he had spoken to her at all. However, he had gone this far and she hadn't stopped him. He decided to see it through.

He cleared his throat and pointed to another card in the spread. "This represents the thing that is blocking my way and it's an inverted Ace of Wands. That means, I think in this case, that there has been a great loss and that I'm in a time of damage assessment.

"The fourth card tells me the opportunities that lie before me." Alfie smiled as he flipped the card. "The Magician! He represents originality and creativity. He can also represent someone who is capable of accomplishing more than others.

"My home and family comes next. This is inverted an Nine of Wands, it means that a difficult conflict approaches." Alfie's heart sunk into his gut, he tried to push the feeling aside. Maybe that didn't mean Uncle Archie...

"Job and vocation comes after family," Alfie said, regretting this decision more and more by the card. "The Six of Swords. I guess that means I need to observe the situation carefully and empathize with others.

"My relationship is this card here. An inverted Six of Cups means nostalgia. I'm living in the past and that's keeping me from moving into the future.

"The eighth card tells me the thing or things that I need to be aware of. According to the inverted Queen of Swords, I need to be aware of single-mindedness. A person or people who are driven by one overwhelming emotion, probably hate. Not hard to guess that one.

"The bottom card here tells me the roots of this situation in the past." Alfie touched the ninth card with a sense of foreboding. He did not want to share with Abigail the contents of this card. He flipped it almost mindlessly. The grim reaper stared up, grinning horribly. "Death." Alfie suddenly found himself unable to look Abigail in the eye. He stared down at his spread, trying to control his breathing.

After a few moments of silence, Alfie flipped the top card over. "The last card is the path that should be taken in order to move onward. This is the World. I have to come full circle or perform an act of finality and completion."

He was finished. Alfie found himself still unable to look the girl staring at him from across the table in the face. This had been too personal, too real for a stranger, he was sure of it. He dared to glance up at her, his own face burning red.

Abby sat for a moment and thought about the things Alfie had said, about how he went into such detail  even though they had only just met. Damage assessment? family conflict? the death card? Clearly something was going on in Alfie's home life, she wondered if she should ask more about it. She looked at him hoping to see a hint of what to do next. She could tell that he might not have wanted to share that much since he was no longer looking her in the eye.

"Tell me more about the magician card, you said it meant creativity?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

She had decided on just coming up with a distraction, even if it was little at first. She hoped that if she didn't bring to much attention to the other cards that he would continue to talk, just in case he became defensive about the other information he gave. Then if they became closer later on she could ask about the other cards.

((Please tell me Alfie isn't treating the Death card as literal cease of a person's life.))

((No, Death represents change. It just so happens that all of the major change in Alfie's life came out of a death. It's doubly meaningful to him.))

Alfie didn't initially understand what Abigail had said. Surely she should have scoffed and walked off by now, they always did. He dared to glance at her... she seemed serious enough. Finally he said, "The Magician? He, um, stands for originality and creativity. He's here in the read, that means that the opportunities that lie before me most likely involve impossibly creative thinking and problem solving."

"Well that doesn't sound too bad" she said smiling "Magicians are way cool, just become a magician and all your problems can be solved. It just takes a few hat tricks."

Abigail held the smile on her face, hoping it would show Alfie that she wasnt freaked out by his sudden outburst of information

Alfie was stunned. He wasn't sure what he had expected from this girl, but that was not it. 
"Hat tricks?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah, like pulling a rabbit out of your hat, or other slight of hand stuff." Abigail explained. She hoped that Alfie wasn't worried anymore about the things he said. "Although I'm sure the card doesn't mean for you to actually become a magician, no matter how cool that would be." she laughed.

"Are you... are you talking about Muggle magic tricks?" Alfie asked, giggling at this intriguing idea. "How would I even go about doing that?"

Abigail thought for a moment before speaking "Well there is a magic shop in my hometown, I could get my dad to send some stuff with my letters!" she said excitedly. "I could totally help you, I've seen some pretty good magicians in my lifetime." She was pumped, not only about having this new friend but also because she genuinely enjoyed magicians and it would be a fun experience. She was also very grateful that Aflie wasn't as upset as he first seemed after the reading. "Muggle magic is super easy too! You'd probably get the hang of it quick." she added.

This was absurd. Alfie already had to avoid his fellow Slytherins in the common room and hallways. Adding Muggle magic tricks to his to his repertoire was not going to help.
And yet... there was something about this idea that had caught his attention. He wasn't sure why, but it had. 
"All right, then. Let's give it a go!" Aflie said with a smile.