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Wyrd
By RaistlinofMetallica
Sigel is the sun, the rune of life and health. It can signify that there is a situation that needs to be taken control of. It is also seen as 'a guiding light', a beacon through dark times. It may also mean that the subject is in need of a spiritual guide to arise and show them the way forward...
James yawned, trudging into Divination class sleepily. It was his second class of the day, immediately following mind-numbing boredom of History of Magic. He couldn't remember what he'd been thinking when he signed up for the class three years previous, but it was an easy class and Sirius had also come along, a welcome source of humour in the dull class. Both Remus and Peter had opted to take Arithmancy instead. Moony had no patience for prophecy and vague imagery, while Wormtail merely had a natural gift with mathematics.
He sunk into one of the cushioned chairs, next to Sirius. "What's it going to be today, Padfoot? Rocks? Paper?" he asked, grinning cheekily.
"Old bat hasn't said yet," his mischievous friend whispered back. "Somehow I doubt it will be the cards or the runes, though."
Professor Calypso Merryweather was ancient, gnarled fingers curling around the arms of her chair like long spider's legs. She was blind in one eye, but the other was as sharp as ever and her voice was like metal grating on stone. "You, sixth years, will be learning to interpret dreams. In years past, I told you of the crystals, of the Tarot, and of the Rune stones. I have taught you the art of awareness mediation and we shall now put it to good use."
"Naptime," whispered Padfoot, grinning.
The ancient Professor chuckled slightly, her eyes narrowing with a sly spark. Ancient she may be, but her hearing was deceptively sharp. "No, we shall not being sleeping here, young Black. We shall meditate and reach into our subconscious for the fleeting knowledge our dreams provide. Let your conscious mind sink away. Focus on your dreams and let us begin the class."
James grinned at Padfoot, silently mocking his friend for forgetting about the old professor's acute hearing.
Sirius stuck out his tongue at his messy haired friend and leaned back into his chair, closing his eyes. Undoubtedly, Padfoot would be snoring in a few minutes. Meditation was never his forte.
He closed his own eyes, sinking deeper into the soft cushions. James, for his own part, had only occasionally managed to enter a state of meditation. Letting go of thoughts, he tried to clear his mind. It seemed like an eternity before his mind finally slipped into the trance-state.
James found himself standing in an echoing darkness. A single drop of water fell from above, hitting the ground. Ripples spread across the ground and under his feet as he watched, curiously. His reflection was that of an old man with a thin beard and hawk-like eyes. The ripples spread though the reflection and he looked up.
A white stag stood before him and he recognized it; this was his animagus form. The pale fur almost seemed to glow in the darkness and the great animal turned, walking away. James followed his other self without fear. The stag, Prongs, would know where to find his dream. After all, Prongs was a part of him. Well, the wilder part of him, admittedly, but a part of him all the same.
The stag led him to an old man, the same old man in his reflection. The old man gently petted the nose of the great animal and sighed - it seemed with great sadness. The stag shimmered, turning into a ball of light, and came soaring back to James. He reached up, taking hold of the light. It melted into his hands, becoming a part of him again. He looked up at the old man and asked, "Are you my dream?"
The old man shook his head sadly.
James blinked in confusion and scratched his head. "Well, then, what are you?"
At this, the old man smiled. "Your past."
Suddenly, three chimes sounded and James found himself back in the classroom with a headache. Next to him, Sirius gave a snort as he returned to the land of the waking. The ancient professor rose from her seat slowly, her shrewd eyes narrowing as she scanned the class. Sirius quickly wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.
Professor Merryweather leaned on her walking stick and spoke in her grating voice, "Those of you who actually achieved a meditative state will write a scroll on what you have seen. Be very careful to record exactly what you have seen. The details are very important to understanding what your dreams have to tell you. You are all dismissed - except you, Mister Black."
"Yes, professor," Sirius said, sulking.
James shook his head, smirking, and left the classroom. He waited outside for his friend as he always did; Padfoot had a tendency to nap through Divination and had never ceased to be caught by the ancient professor. Fortunately, Professor Merryweather seemed to have a soft spot for the Grim animagus, as she never gave him detention - only more homework.
Padfoot emerged from the classroom a few minutes later, rubbing his ear. "Ow," he whimpered miserably. "She pinched my ear with her nails..."
"Serves you right for snoring out loud," James pointed out. "At least some of us have the good sense to remember a silencing charm, Padfoot."
At this, Sirius groaned and rolled his eyes. "Now he reminds me!" Then, a large grin worked its way onto the boy's face. "Oh, well! Come on, Prongs! There's a pretty girl just waiting for a good-lookin' bloke like me!"
"Who is it this month, Padfoot? Gloria? Vivian? Or, perhaps, the enticing Miss Addams?" James asked, as they started walking down the hallway.
Sirius shuddered involuntarily. "Not Addams... She's the type of girl my mother would love to see me bring home. Slytherin, as cold as she is pretty, and from an old pureblood line. In short, not my type."
"So, if it's not her, then who is it?" the messy haired boy asked, rolling his eyes.
Padfoot beamed again as they turned the corner and started down the stairs. "I'll give you a hint, Prongs. She's cute -"
"That's not much of a hint," James commented dryly. "Half of the girls in our year are cute."
His friend got a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Even 'Fireball' Evans?"
"Lily Evans is not cute! She is in no way attractive and you'd have to be insane to think otherwise!" the messy haired boy protested. "She's an arrogant, bossy know-it-all with no sense of humour and she lives to annoy me to death!"
Sirius grinned broadly. "So that's why you've been writing her those love sonnets?"
"I have not!" James shouted, aghast.
His friend's grin grew wider. "Your eyes are as green as fresh pickled toad..."
"Padfoot!" the messy haired boy hissed in alarm. "Shut up!"
But this plea went unheard by his friend, who continued reciting some of the more embarrassing lines of the numerous drafts of poetry James had composed. "Flame-haired Venus, beautiful goddess garlanded in flowers..."
"Shut up, you prat!" James growled, clamping his hand over his friend's mouth. "I don't make fun of your pick-up lines!"
Sirius gave a muffled laugh and slipped away from his friend. "All right, all right!" he chuckled, grinning. "We're going to the library! A certain pretty Ravenclaw spends her study period there and I intend to trap the evasive minx!"
"Oh, boy," Prongs sighed, slapping his forehead. "You're going to try to pry a Ravenclaw from her library? That's like trying to get Snivellus to wash his hair: next to impossible! My friend, you are mad."
Padfoot laughed at this and countered, "Mad I may be, but is she ever worth it!"
"Who is this mystery girl, anyway, Padfoot?" James asked, following him down to the library. "I mean, there are quite a few cute Ravenclaws - not counting your cousin, of course."
His friend nodded simply. "Of course."
"Well, come on! Don't keep me in the dark. I want to know," the messy haired boy demanded.
Sirius winked and chuckled, "You'll see, Prongs, you'll see..."
And with that, the two boys proceeded into the library. Padfoot pointed to a worktable by the windows, where a girl was hunched over a large tome. Her back was to them, but he could see that her hair was in a stiff brown plait down her back and she wore the Ravenclaw robes. Unfortunately, Snivellus was sitting at the far end of the worktable - buried up to his arms in books.
Boldly, Sirius strode up to the table and sat down next to the girl. "Hey, Luna!" he grinned.
James sat down at the free end of the table, content to watch as his friend humiliated himself. His friend was trying to get the attention of a girl who would have been very pretty - if she ever managed to get her head out of those books, that is. And for the Ravenclaw sixth-year known as Luna Rouge, that would not be happening any time in the near future.
"What do you want, Black?" she asked, not looking up from the book. He must have tried to appeal to her earlier, for she did not seem too pleased to see him. She jotted something down on the scroll next to her - apparently, homework for Ancient Runes.
Padfoot beamed. "I was wondering if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me this Saturday."
"Black, I am trying to do my homework," Luna stated acidly, more as a hint that the Gryffindor should shut his big mouth and leave her alone. Now James knew that Sirius had definitely approached her before.
James toyed absently with the small cloth pouch sitting next to one of the girl's reference books. There were rune stones inside, he could tell.
"Stop that," she snapped, slapping his hand away from the pouch.
Of course, Sirius completely missed the hint she'd given him. "So, are you free to go?"
"I don't think you heard me, Black. I am busy right now," the Ravenclaw said, sharply crossing the T's in the word 'letter'. Her annoyance was so great that she looked like she was going to snap the quill in two any moment now. "I am trying to do my work, something that you should seriously be considering doing yourself if you ever want to do more than just scrape by on your testing. Now, would you please piss off?"
Both James or Padfoot had been none too keen on the OWLs or the NEWTs and, while Peter agreed with them for the most part on that, he was always the one helping Moony to get them to study. Moony was the closest they had to a scholar amongst them and they had gotten used to his Ravenclaw-like nagging about studying. Besides, he made some great pranks possible with his knowledge of the books in the library. James had just never understood the Ravenclaws and their insistence upon constantly studying. It was boring, studying absolutely all the time. There was no fun to be had in doing that.
Padfoot, however, was undaunted by the girl's annoyance. He had managed to goad a girl or two to go out with him in an effort just to get him to shut up. "But you won't be busy on Saturday, will you?"
"I'm busy getting handfasted to Severus on Saturday," she snapped angrily, stabbing her quill at the far end of the table where the Slytherin was studying.
Snape fell off his chair from sheer shock.
Thoroughly unfazed, Sirius commented dryly, "Right, I'm sure. How about Sunday?"
Luna held her quill so tightly that she snapped it in two.
Padfoot didn't seem to notice and James was willing to bet his friend was about to get slapped silly.
"I would rather perform the Rites of Beltane with Voldemort than accompany you to Hogsmeade, Sirius Black," she growled, trembling with rage. "You are an arrogant, thick-headed prat who can't take the hint that I'm not interested! I don't know where you got the idea that I was, but you can forget all about it because I do not like you. Now, leave me alone!"
Well, it was a verbal slapping, but a slapping nonetheless. And very unladylike, too, considering what the Rites of Beltane were. Even Snape was looking quite scandalized.
Sirius, now a bright shade of red, muttered, "I'm going to kill Wormtail when I see him."
"That's nice," James said, getting up from his seat. "Let's go, I'm sure we've got some homework to do." As he stood, his hand grazed the small cloth pouch and knocked it off the table. Deftly, he caught it and placed it back on the table, mumbling, "Sorry."
She opened the bag as he turned away, examining the stones.
A hand caught his arm.
"Wait," Luna said, pulling him back. She held up a single rune stone. "Peorth, reversed. What you are to inherit will be a dark secret, something that will come whether or not you want it to or not."
The old man he'd seen in Divination came to mind, suddenly. James tried to pull away, but the Ravenclaw's grip tightened.
"Othel, reversed," she continued, drawing another rune and putting the first away. Strangely, her amber eyes seemed to be unfocused. "You will need more than courage to survive what is coming and you must face it alone."
"What are you talking about?" James asked, alarmed. He tried to pry his arm away again, but the girl's grip was unusually strong. "Padfoot!"
His friend turned around, surprised, and started back towards them.
"This is Wyrd, the immutable fate," Luna hissed, her unfocused eyes glowing with a strange fire. She held up a blank rune stone. "Everything that is coming is fated. You cannot escape from it and it will not be stopped. You must face your destiny."
"Let go of me!" he hissed, trying to pry her fingers off. Her skin felt like fire to the touch.
Sirius tugged at her arm, but she still did not budge. "Luna, I know you're upset, but this isn't funny!"
"Nied," she said, as though she could not hear them. "The path will be hard, but you will find your inner peace."
"I don't think she can hear you!" James snapped, more than a little panicked.
"Geofu, you seek love, the gift of the heart," the girl continued. "Lagu, the water flows and brings forth your awareness. Daeg, you have the power to change your ways, through accepting what you were."
Padfoot glared at Snape as he reached for Luna's hand. "What are you waiting for? Go get help!" He yelped, jumping back, "Merlin! She's burning up!"
The Slytherin took off, shouting for the librarian.
"Sigel," she muttered, beginning to look very pale. "A guiding light will tell you the path you must take. Yr, the things you seek will be yours."
James tugged at his arm, while Sirius attempted to pull the girl away from him, but she seemed unmovable.
"Ansur," the ashen girl said finally as the librarian arrived. "Enlightenment."
Then, Luna's eyes rolled up into her skull and she collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
The blank rune still rested in the palm of her hand.
