In the Cards

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Card VII: The Chariot

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The Chariot

Domination, Triumph, Discord, Victory, Trouble, Challenge

It certainly wasn’t the first time he had come in and it also certainly wasn’t the last, either. It had been a tradition in his family to drop by from time to time and get a reading from me. So, it was no surprise. His main source of trouble, too, was no surprise. Time after time he asked about Lily Evans and time after time I told him that perhaps he might control his arrogance. And he quite cheekily told me that perhaps I should control my own arrogance. I would be offended and taken aback had I not been speaking with James Potter. After all, I had come to expect that kind of thing from him all the time.

He was just entering his seventh year when he came to visit, asking the same question: “When will Lily Evans go out with me?”. And every time he asked me that I wanted to tell him that, maybe if he finally listened to me and reduced his own ego, she would go out with him. In fact, I told him that every time, as I said before.

But this time, things were different. He seemed different. And when he asked about her, there was a different sort of note in his voice that made me realize that, perhaps, he had finally listened to me. It’s not one of those things that everyone would notice, no – it was very subtle. But this is one of those things that I always notice because it’s my job to notice them. And nothing ever gets by me, at any rate.

So, when he asked this time, I didn’t want to tell him that I thought he’d finally taken my advice because then, he would do one of two things: he would either go out of his way to pretend that he had or scoff and pretend that he hadn’t. And neither situation would help me in the slightest. So, I kept my mouth shut because opening it clearly had no good outcome.

And then, completely by surprise (although not to my surprise, of course, to his surprise), The Chariot came up. His head snapped up when I put the card down – he’d had enough readings to know what the card meant. “So, which is it, then? Challenge or victory?”

And I, of course, knew exactly what it was, but why tell someone something when you can withhold it and have infinitely more fun? “Well, who’s to say you can’t have both?” I replied, and I let my sly smirk slowly form on my face before turning back to the cards. I put down the next card.

“So, you’re saying that it could be some more challenge – which really is no change, because Lily Evans is always a challenge – and then I will be victorious?” he pressed. His palms were flat on the table and he was leaning slightly forward towards me. I suppose he was trying to be menacing, or something of the like, but it really didn’t work on me. After all, I had known him when he was still in diapers and, once you have that image in your mind, you really can’t be frightened of said person.

Plus, it really didn’t hurt to already know that he wasn’t going to do a thing to hurt me. Yes, that really factors into how scared I might become in any given situation.

Anyway, I briefly looked up at him again before glancing back down at my cards. “Mr. Potter, please. Your hand is in the way of the next card. Kindly remove it.” I was quite polite, I think.

He removed his hands with a sigh of frustration and I continued to place the cards down as though nothing had happened. “So, you’re not going to tell me, are you?” he finally asked me, trying to make eye contact with me. But I wasn’t having it.

I didn’t say a word in response and continued his reading, steadily ignoring The Chariot. By the end, James didn’t ask me what the card meant but, rather, he stayed silently seated, waiting for me to say something on my own. What he didn’t know was that I am the master of these mind games and I never give in.

Eventually, enough time passed so that I needed to set up for my next appointment. I told him so and he remained seated for only a minute more before I suppose he lost his will to stay and left, saying only, “Right, well, thanks, I suppose.”

About ten weeks later, he stormed into my office without an appointment (which is unheard of, but again, we are speaking of James Potter) and simply said, “I was right.” He remained stony faced for a moment, holding eye contact with me, before beaming and leaving the room. I smiled to myself and thought that, finally, after all these years of him asking the same question, I might finally have some peace.

That, of course, was not really the case as I soon found out when James came in a few months later asking if Lily Evans would marry him. At least the answer to that question came sooner rather than later.

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A/N: I am so sorry about the wait for this chapter. Let's just say that life can really get in the way of things. Anyway, I have the next chapter written and it will be posted in a few days.

If anyone is still reading, please review and let me know what you think!