Noctis Evermore and The Master of Tarot

-Chapter Six- The Tale of the Seven

'Where should we sit?'
'Anywhere far away from my sister,' replied Noctis.
'Well isn't that a bit rude?' said a high pitched voice.
Noctis turned around and saw his other sister, the nice one. Delphine was pouting her cheeks and had her arms crossed, intentionally trying her best to look mean.
'I'm just kidding. I definitely know you meant Celestina and not me. Is this your new friend?'
'Good morning' said Law with visible confusion.
'This is my other sister, different to the one that didn't throw bread at me yesterday night,' explained Noctis. His explanation wasn't very effective but Law got enough of the picture to understand.
'Celestina is still being her usual self as always, I see. The ravenclaw robes look wonderful on you Noct, though I'm quite sad that you couldn't join me in Hufflepuff. Also what on earth happened with the sorting hat last night?' asked Celestina with a raised eyebrow.
Several heads turned around from the mere mention of the sorting hat as if it was an issue worth the front page of the daily prophet. Noctis hated the mention of it and muttered, 'I don't know the answer myself and I honestly don't want to.' There was no need to elaborate on the tragedy that happened last night or more commonly referred to as the 'night of the silence.'

Over her shoulder, Noctis saw that her friends were calling her back so he let her head off back to the Hufflepuff table.
'Well I've gotta go now. Promise to talk to me from time to time ok?' she muttered in a messy string of words. She hopped back towards the direction of her friends and then immediately  began chatting with her classmates.
'I was under the impression that your sister would have black hair and grey eyes just like you,' said Law said as he indulged in egg whites leaving the egg yolk aside.
'I'm a little different. If you remember from yesterday, my other sister also had pale blonde hair and blue eyes. It's really just me who is like this,' said Noctis.
For the eleven years of his life, he had grown to accept his odd appearance and didn't really care to resemble the ideal Evermore. He took his mothers advice very dearly, especially after her passing.
Noctis and Law finished their breakfast rather quickly and decided to make their way to the first class earlier than scheduled, spiritualism. Hogwarts may have looked outstanding from the outside, but was a puzzle itself to navigate. The twists and turns all lead to new places that even a third year may have not discovered yet. As clueless as first years would be, Noctis and Law had accidentally walked into several wrong classrooms and apologised for interrupting classes. They asked an irritated Professor Cecelia for directions and she told them they were on the wrong floor.
'It's on the ground floor and we've been running around on the fifth!' whined Law.
Good thing we left breakfast early. I've memorised a route in my head from the countless loops we've run around here. Quick! Let's go this way,' blurted Noctis as he began to brisk walk.
'Well aren't you conveniently smart,' commented Law as he trailed behind.
They finally reached the spiritualism room after an energy-depriving dash and had somehow made it just in time for the lesson.
'I was mere seconds from taking 30 points from your house, take the unoccupied seats in the middle' whimpered a feeble old man.
He looked as frail as a skeleton and his hand could not stop shivering as he slowly wrote on the chalkboard.
'As you may already know, I will be your mentor for Spiritualism, Professor Fidelis. Does anybody have any inquiries before we begin?'
Nobody responded and some had already fallen asleep upon hearing the boring voice of Professor Fidelis.
'Without a further do, I would like you all to take out your copy of The Tales of The Seven.'
The sounds of rustling bags were soon followed by the unsynchronized slamming of the books on the tables. Everybody took out their copy of the book except for one girl, Edith. Her hand was raised high and wagged ecstatically, desperately begging for the attention of the Professor.
'Marvellous! We finally have a question. Go on, Edith,' said Professor Fidelis who looked glad to have some enthusiasm in the class.
'I was just wondering, Professor. But why are we reading a children's book? Isn't this rather improper?'
It certainly was a good point despite coming from a quite self centered girl. Noctis vividly remembers the countless times his mother had read the story to him before his bedtime. The paintings would spring to life from the pages and dance before his very eyes to create breathtaking jolts of excitement in a younger Noctis. Even his grey and dull eyes would seem to glisten from the magnificence of the book. Sure, It was awe inspiring to a child but what use is it for schooling?
'The tales of the seven is a popular children's book that teaches the importance of devotion and eternity as we all know. But it also teaches a very fundamental understanding of spiritualism. You see, magic works in very curious ways. You can not see it's source but you can feel it and channel it through your wand. What makes a great wizard? Well, one that can channel their magic the best of course. Although not a term that is officially accepted, we spirit masters refer to that source as mana,' explained Professor Fidelis.
Many of the classmates around Noctis did not seem to take anything they had just heard seriously. But Noctis however, was deeply intrigued with this new approach to magic and wrote his notes down neatly but fast.
'Nobody cares much about this subject,' whispered Law to not get heard. 'It's a common belief among the wizarding community that spiritualism is a redundant form of magic. Rumour has it that it will completely be forgotten about in 50 years.'
'Well I guess I'm a little odd then. I find it kind of interesting' said Noctis with half his attention on his notes.
Noctis continued to copy every single word that came through Professor Fidelis' chapped lips until his hand became too sore from the quill.
An awful amount of rambling proceeded until Professor Fidelis had finally realised he was talking about his trip to Romania in 1753.
'Oh my, it seems I have gone far off topic. We will now read through the Tales of The Seven.'
Professor Fidelis finally took notice of how half the class was fast asleep and pulled out his wand to deal with them from his desk. He levitated several feathers towards their cheeks and tickled them back to consciousness.
'I'm a little disappointed. It's just the standard edition. The pictures don't jump even jump out,' said Noctis as he disappointedly flicked through the pages.
Law gave a sarcastic smile and did not hesitate to say, 'you sounded just like Edith for a moment there.'
Ironically in the background, the distant complaints about how average the book looked could be heard from Edith.
Professor Fidelis cleared his throat and in a wise voice, began reading the story.
"Through the lands of eroding rocks, seas of the salty horizons and the skies of the soaring clouds, there was a beginning to it all. No wizards, witches or even creatures roamed the world's boundaries during the times of an ancient era. It was an empty world, void of magic and existence of life.
On a certain day. The stars had aligned so graciously and the Seven Sages of the great era had been born. It was the dawn of a new time, a truly eternal state of peace and virtue.
The Sage of the Stone created sturdy lands for which we walk on.
Emptiness of the world had been filled with the oceans from the Sage of the Seas.
Piercing sunlight and its radiating heat was from the Sage of the Flame.
The Sage of the Storms added the soaring skies and tempest gusts.
Destiny and providence was provided by the Sage of Fortune.
The dreams and life of the night was none other than the Sage of Dreams work.
Mischief and joy, the Sage of Trickery did not fail to bring.
All of the sages together created the magnificent world and for centuries there was eternal bliss. For those who worshipped and devoted the great Sages, received the blessing of their powers, magic.
Until a little boy had once wished upon a sunken tree. It was a place to pour your deepest sorrows and grimace but the boy did not wish to seek riddance of his suffering. He instead desired to embrace it. He yearned for more. Greatness. Power. An end to the world. And so did the tree grant his deepest desire.
The tree had become one with the boy and a reaper of the world.
Terror began to reign on the once adored lands of the world. Happiness had perished. Loved ones died, things that were cherished.
Nobody can escape the reaper, for he will consume all.
In desperate times of need, those who yearn for guidance will receive it. The ancients called upon the sages and they came to our salvation.
The sages had their spirits drained of life to balance the evil force with the soul of the pure. In honourable and noble endings, the reign of the sages had come to end as their petrified bodies forever remained in stone.
The blooming of their magic continued to strive through generations of wizard kind and had forever shaped the world into a mystical place of wonders."
For Noctis it has been so many years since he had last heard the story being told by someone else, only this time it felt more empty. His mother's angelic voice along with the pages that sprung to life gave a more enthralling experience. Only now, his mother's voice could never be heard again.
His nostalgic daydream was soon interrupted by Law, 'Are you alright, Noct?'
'I-I'm fine,' lied Noctis. He had never felt "fine" from the beginning. Sure he may have moments of happiness in his life but it does not mean his grief can merely disappear because of it. At times like these maybe that black void from his dream was really a good place to be, motionless and unwilling to change.
After a very bittersweet first lesson of spiritualism, the next class on the time table was double period potions with the Gryffindors after lunch.
Besides the Ravenclaws who had openly welcomed Noctis into their house, there were rumours that spread from the sorting hat dilemma in other houses. Everybody, including Noctis himself, could not exactly determine why the hat did not respond to him at all and countless outlandish theories circulated through the school faster than ever. One idea suggested that Noctis was cursed and another stated that Noctis must have had so much potential, it's off the charts. Despite absolutely hating the attention from the press, Edith for some odd reason kept shooting menacing scowls at him whenever they crossed through the hallways.
'She's definitely jealous of you. You're taking the spotlight right now and she's being completely ignored,' proposed Agnes.
'That might be true. I noticed in Spiritualism when you answered a question correctly, she made some sort of hmph noise from the back row,' added Law.
'She's honestly getting on my nerves. It's not like I even asked for this to happen or anything. If she really wants the attention why doesn't she just prance around and boast about her own talents,' irritatedly said Noctis.
'I mean just take a look at this!'
Noctis pointed at a board in the hallway and ran his finger down the long list of parchment paper that touched the floor. According to the duelling chart board of the month, Edith despite being a first year has climbed the rank to the 19th position. The purpose of the duelling ranks was a way of determining applications of magic in real life scenarios, especially for those who aspired to join the Celestial Magery Alliance. It is single handedly managed by Professor Clive, as a measure to train witches and wizards at a young age.
'It's changing again,' noted Pedro.
The scroll of parchment absorbed the ink and the writings vanished from sight. It then reappeared to show the rearranged order of the names.
'She climbed up again to 18th rank!'
'Noct, I think you should challenge her and purposely lose. Maybe she'll feel better?' advised Agnes with a comfort ing hand on the shoulder. It was a rather strong and confident grip for horrible advice.
Noctis escaped the brotherly love of Agnes and gave his honest opinion.
'My reputation is already as low as a house elf at this point, why would I want it to go down even more? I think I'll just let the situation settle down itself. I mean, she can't be mad at me forever.'
Agnes sighed, 'You do you I guess. Anyways, I'm are going to be in the library for lunch. Join me if you'd like.'
Noctis had to refuse his offer because his curiosity was set elsewhere, the duelling grounds.
'Hey Law, let's head off to the duelling grounds. I want to check something,'
'Okay, sure. I'm not much of a reader anyways so I'll pass on the library,' replied Law.
With the little time they had for lunch they parted ways with Agnes and Pedro, then hastily made their way to the duelling grounds. As they reached the entrance, they were stopped by a sign that stated: