Edge Of My Seat.

[Leo Williams]

Life was complicated. Leo supposed for most…life was complicated. It never seemed to be easy. But most young witches and wizards didn’t find themselves in the clutches of one of the darkest witches of all time. In that regard, Leo’s life was vastly more complicated than any of his classmates.

But here in the divination classroom, he felt…a little more free. Fingers nimbly dancing over a deck of cards, Leo felt his brow furrow softly in contemplation. Finally, a card seemed to jump out at him and into his hand. He lifted it, observing it before setting it to the side with the other cards he had pulled.

It was…strange.

It read like a warning…but it felt like a blessing.

Someone was coming. The options were hide or captivity…light or dark…the decision to end all decisions. Something big was happening and Leo hadn’t yet figured out what it was.

He couldn’t see the future. He could only work with what was around him. And if he needed…he could leap into someone’s head. Though…he wasn’t too fond of that option.

Leo, when sucked into his studies, wasn’t the most observant lad. And here, gazing at the cards intently…was no different. He was blind to the world around him for now. He needed to figure out what was coming. Who was coming.

Were they coming for him? His family? Olivia?

His breathing eased slightly as that feeling of blessing washed over him again. Perhaps this wasn’t anyone coming after him…but someone coming for him…

Perhaps another card pull would tell.

So his fingers began to dance over the cards again.

[Ophelia Kenny]

Ophelia felt strange today. She felt strange most days as of late but today was stranger than the other strange days. She was glad she wasn’t trying to explain that feeling to anyone else. She felt like it was easier to be in the divination classroom these days. With everything going on inside her head it felt easier to be in a place where she could ask questions under the guise of it being along with the subject material. She didn’t feel so lost here. 

She’d seen Leo in here before in passing, only really learning his name from hearing others speak to him, but she found her interest piqued by the card he was staring so intently at. She wandered over and stared at him as he stared at the card, trying to piece together what could possibly be making him stare so intently. She moved quietly until she was at his side so she could see the card, leaning in close to him, still not speaking. She wasn’t quite sure why, but she felt uneasy standing this close, which wasn’t usual. 

“What are you trying to figure out?” Ophelia asked finally, practically right into his ear. She wasn’t sure if he’d really registered that she was there he was so lost in thought, but she wanted to know what he was doing and why she felt so frazzled being this close. It was strange, normally she could get a good reading off of someone like this but he… was… certainly something that she couldn’t place. She wanted to know more but she didn’t have to like the anxiety budding in her chest.

Tag: Leo Williams

[Leo Williams]

Leo most certainly hadn’t noticed anyone enter the room with him. He wasn’t expecting a class or anything any time soon…but he had been wrong about schedules before. He just really wanted to figure out what the cards were trying to tell him.

So when a small voice spoke directly into his ear, Leo’s eyes snapped up. He almost thought it was him accidentally using his legilimency…but after a beat, he realized that made no sense. So he turned his head a bit to see who was there.

Ophelia.

Leo knew her. He knew most all of his classmates at least by their last names. Ophelia tended to run around with Lydia. He knew that much. He also knew the girl was a “quirky” one. Which may have been hypocritical of him to say since he himself had been pretty bizarrely staring into the proverbial soul of a paper card.

But she had asked what he was trying to figure out. Leo cleared his throat…moving to hide the cards under his text book. He wasn’t sure how good she was at reading them. And he wasn’t too keen on anything getting out.

”Just trying to see if the cards would tell me the answers to Barlowe’s next test,” he effortlessly lied with a casual smile. He had had way too much practice with acting like nothing was wrong. It was…still not something he was used to.

”What brings you to the tower today? Tea leaves? Bones?” He watched her intently…trying to silently gauge how much she had seen before he realized she was there.

[Ophelia Kenny]

Oh she didn’t like this. Leo hid the cards before she could get a good read on them all together. Nonetheless she offered him a smile, blinking at him. They wouldn’t tell him the answers to a test, but they would definitely tell him what he needed to know. At least in her opinion. Without much of a thought she pulled the top card off of the deck, glancing it over quickly before putting it behind her back. 

she’d pulled the tower but she wanted to test something. “Do you know the card I pulled?” She asked that familiar unease settling over her the longer she stood next to him. Testing her theory she took a step back so she could better survey him, the unease lingered but it was less intense now. She felt like she had something to hide from him that wasn’t just the card she was teasing him with. 

“You don’t have to guess… but it would be fun if you did.”

[Leo Williams]

Leo watched as the Hufflepuff leaned in and picked up a card…and then she hid it. She asked him a question about it and Leo just stared at her for a moment.

Was she being serious? She wanted him to guess the card she had? He chewed on the inside of his cheek a moment as he thought. He easily could. He’d gotten good enough with his legilimency that he could slip into her head and find the answer without her really realizing…and what a cool party trick that was.

But…if she was looking for him in there. If for some reason she had suspicions about him being a legilimens…she would probably find him. He wasn’t talented enough yet to go completely undetected. Not that legilimency was inherently bad or anything. Not that it could really link him directly to Vader. But…most students wouldn’t like the idea of knowing their classmate was learning how to dive deep into their thoughts.

Leo stood up and grabbed the deck on cards from the table…flipping it right side up and spreading them out, giving the spread a good once over. There was one card missing and he turned to her.

”Tower,” he said confidently, shooting her a smirk. ”I’m not much of a betting man…I like to know the facts.”

Leo took a step toward her to retrieve the card and when he did…he couldn’t help the way his mind almost wanted to take a look inside hers. She gave off this aura. And…Leo couldn’t resist.

Very cautiously he began to reach out just to the edge of her mind. Just to see what she was thinking of how he had deduced the card she had. Hopefully…just this little bit could go undetected. If she caught him…he’d think of something to tell her. But if she didn’t…it meant he was getting even better at this. Soon he’d be able to manipulate thoughts and dreams. And that was a huge challenge to master.

[Ophelia Kenny]

“I’m not much of a betting man…” 

Ophelia giggled at that, letting him take the card back as she continued to stare at him. Interesting reaction indeed. It still didn’t explain how uneasy she was. That was until she felt an odd pull at her conscious and a bright warning in her mind that said that that was wrong, she wasn’t supposed to be feeling like that. It was the same feeling she got before she usually saw something she couldn’t explain, swallowing harshly her smile faltered in her discomfort. 

“Oh… No thank you.” Ophelia said softly to whatever it was that he was doing, that was causing her such unease. She didn’t know how else to explain herself on that, she didn’t know what he was doing but she knew damn well that the harsher the pull got the more her anxiety built. “Whatever that is I don’t like it.” 

But what had it been? She’d never felt anything like that before that was followed by her body, her mind, her. That had felt foreign and odd. Like he was somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. She shook her head slightly to try and shake herself of the feeling.

[Leo Williams]

Oh...no thank you.

Shit...she had caught him. He raised a brow and quickly determined how he should play it off. He really hadn't been doing anything nefarious. He was just taking a peak into her reaction. But...She voiced that she didn't like it and he set the cards down, eyes still fixed to her.

"No worries...won't happen again," he said simply...hoping she might not piece together what exactly he had been doing. With any luck, she wouldn't pry in the ways he had tried to pry into her own mind. He didn't feel like having to explain what exactly legilimency was or why he was learning it. It wasn't exactly a common subject taught in the school.

He turned to the left and set the stack of cards back in their place on an adjoining table, fingers running over a crystal orb as he hummed in thought.

"So why have you come up here? Most everyone else is down in the Great Hall aren't they?"

He thought it was about lunch time...but he wasn't sure exactly how long he had been up here. Lunch could have come and went for all he knew.

[Ophelia Kenny]

“No worries…”

Oh but there was plenty for her to be worried about when it came to someone potentially peaking into her head. The last thing she needed was for him to see her fears about the visions she’d been having. Then he would probably think she was crazy too, Or worse… he wouldn’t and then she’d have a whole other thing to deal with. 

“Oh… I actually came up to get my own tarot reading.” Ophelia said taking a seat on the table he’d been sitting on now that the cards were all back in his hands. “I wasn’t expecting to find anyone else in here.” Her explanation was quiet as she continued to stare at Leo. That uneasy feeling still wrapped around her, held her tight like something happening wasn’t quite right. She wanted to know what it was.

”why are you up here? Hiding from someone?” She asked, the emphasis on hiding heavier than the other words she’d spoken. She didn’t know what or who or why but she’d strike a guess that Leo didn’t want whatever it was to be found out. Nonetheless she starred at him, eyes unblinking as she let herself get a bit lost in thought.

[Leo Williams]

Leo watched the blonde as she seemed intent on trying to stare right into his soul. His own mind twisted a bit and he wondered if she was already aware of what he had been doing or if she was trying to figure it out.

I actually came up to get my own tarot reading.

The Slytherin paused…cards still at his fingertips. His eyes darted back to her and he shrugged before picking them back up and crossing back to the table, shuffling the cards in his hands as he sat down across from her.

But her follow up question caused him to pause. Just a moment. And then he began shuffling again. There was something to this girl…but he wasn’t sure what yet.

”Sometimes you just need to get away from the noise…really hear the answers you’re looking for.”

After shuffling a bit, he set the deck out and motioned for her to cut it if she wanted. Right now…the air around them was heavy with suspicion. Neither of them seeming to really trust the other. But perhaps in a different world or different circumstance, they could have just been two kids sitting up in the classroom and practicing their crafts.

Once Ophelia had either cut the deck or decided she didn’t want to…Leo pulled the cards to him and spread them out in front of himself. He told her he would pull three…pretty traditional. His hand hovered lightly over the cards as he ran it back and forth…searching for whatever called to him. His brow furrowed and his steely gaze focused on the cards…listening.

And soon he felt it. He lifted the card and raised a brow before placing it before her. The Hermit. His hand returned to the cards to repeat his process until he pulled two more. By the end of it…there was The Hermit, The Chariot in reverse, and The Wheel Of Fortune.

Leo hummed in thought before looking at Ophelia.

”Whatever it is you have going on…relax. You aren’t losing it. You’re going to be fine.”

He let his fingers dance over the remaining cards absentmindedly…not necessarily searching for anything else just yet but not tuning it out. If she wanted him to look for more, he would. But after her reaction to his playing with her head, he didn’t want to push too hard into looking if she didn’t want him to.