**bold italics is tom, italics is celeste**

CHAPTER ONE:
TAROT READING

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CELESTE HAD ALWAYS BELIEVED HER SISTER WAS A SEER.

Their mother was particularly gifted in Sight, and while Luna wasn't as practiced as their mother, she would spout seemingly nonsensical fabrications that held truth to them at a later date.

Her father coveted the gift, begging for any semblance of sanity or connection to the physical world around him. In fanciful creatures and fictitious beliefs, he'd undermine reality in place of honing in on his daughter's gifts.

Celeste simply listened when Luna spoke, as opposed to toying with her words and creating a future where chance provided an opportunity otherwise.

She predicted most of the Quidditch matches at school, and the innocence and death of Sirius Black, and Voldemort's return.

(Though, the latter she'd confessed only to Celeste and sobbed in her arms each night for seven nights about his return, haunted by the nightmares brought on because of it.)

And so it came as little surprise when one cool October morning, as the sisters were studying near the Black Lake, that Luna made an odd comment.

"Don't forget about me," she asked softly, glancing to Celeste's confused expression. "When you go home, please don't forget about me."

Celeste frowned at Luna's words, heart clenching at the pleading tone in her voice. She set her quill down and grabbed Luna's hand — which had been tracing flowers onto her Charms notes — in her own.

"Luna, I never could."

"You might," she pressed. "But you mustn't blame yourself for love, it will only hurt him."

"Hurt who?" Celeste asked, focusing more on her sister, trying to decipher whatever it was she was speaking of.

"There's a riddle in everything," she settled on finally, looking down at her notes again. "And sometimes the right person can bring heaven to a sinner. Sometimes the sin can bring an angel."

Celeste opened her mouth to ask another question, but the words were taken from her when she spotted words in Tom's diary.

She fought the urge to pull the diary into her arms and bury her face in it, eager to read Tom's thoughts. If only for the sake of her sister, she refrained.

"Luna, what are you talking about?"

"Sorry?" Luna asked, meeting Celeste's eyes. "What are you asking?"

Celeste could see the genuine curiosity in her sister's eyes and knew the words had long left her mind. That's how it worked sometimes. Some visions haunted Luna, like Voldemort's return. Others simply escaped her in moments of understanding.

Often, she was with Celeste when such events would occur and it was up to the elder sister to decipher the truth and meaning behind obtuse angles and curiosities.

Today was no different, but the words were better left in the back of her mind. Celeste would return to them eventually, or the words would find her before she deciphered their meaning.

I have a conundrum.

Celeste smiled fondly at the lack of greeting.

How very Tom.

Hello, Tom, my dearest and most wonderful friend. How's your day going? Mine is splendid. I had scones for breakfast and

Stop talking, you only aid my throbbing headache.

You're a book, Tommy.

Keep talking back and I'll ensure you can't read this book, do I make myself clear?

Oh, two insults and a threat in the opening dialogue? Merlin, you are upset. What's happened?

Something's happening to me.

That's oddly specific, care to explain?

No.

Well, how am I supposed to resolve your conundrum if you don't communicate.

I didn't ask for your help.

You don't need to, I'll offer it.

You're impossible.

A few moments passed without another ink blotch on the page, the finality of his words sinking into the parchment. How odd. Most of the conversations with Tom were strange, but this felt exceptionally unusual.

With a sigh, Celeste took the hint and knew he was moping or pouting or aggressively tossing things in...well, she couldn't say what he could do exactly.

If he was simply a book, then how could he abide his own emotions? What was the conundrum?

She tucked the book away and leaned her head on Luna's shoulder.

"Would you prefer to live in the Black Lake or the Forbidden Forest?" Celeste asked her younger sister, who hummed in response and rested her head against Celeste's.

"Either is preferable to me. How fortunate we are to be gifted the beauty of life in front of us. Isn't nature wonderful?"

—

I had a vision.

Celeste glanced down at the journal in which she'd been doodling hearts and stars and flowers — if only to piss Tom off and grab his attention — along the bylines.

Oh, are you a Seer now?

Witty. You should join a circus with all your humor.

You'd know all about the circus with a face like yours.

Terrible insult, I'm deducting house points.

You can't deduct house points, you're not even in school.

What's to say I am not?

I would have seen you.

We could be from different time periods, Celeste.

A pause. She hadn't considered that before. It felt a bit obvious now — but was he a memory? A charmed personification of the man he once was?

When are you from?

I need you to do something for me.

Why won't you answer my question? Are you a thousand years old?

It is of the utmost importance that nothing happens to this book, Celeste.

Of course not, I'd never let anything happen.

Swear it to me. Swear you won't let anyone harm this book.

What's gotten into you? Of course I won't.

I won't ask again. Swear it.

Celeste frowned, an uneasy feeling settling beneath her skin into her bones. Why was he asking her? Why was it so important to him? Had she made any notion she'd let something happen to him? Why wouldn't he answer her questions?

I swear.

As soon as the words faded into the page, a tugging sensation erupted in her stomach, twisting her insides upside down. The sensation traveled through her fingertips and nerves, making her body feel heavy and stiff.

She felt...more hollow, somehow. And yet, entirely drained. Like she'd ran for hours in the seconds passed from the message. Her head ached and her body throbbed, stomach churning.

Had Tom...no...he was a journal, wasn't he? He couldn't have hurt her?

Good. Thank you, Celeste.

What did you do?

Celeste stared at the blank page for a few minutes, awaiting his response, biting the end of her quill pen, anxiety surging through her. She'd never felt anxious with Tom, she'd always trusted him. But something in her gut kept nagging her. Something was...wrong.

I trust you, Celeste. Don't make me regret that.

That was incredibly ominous and increasingly suspicious. Celeste bit back the nerves threatening to deprive her oxygen and wrote back a simple message.

Goodnight, Tom.

There was no response.

—

Owl Post had always been a beguiling experience. With such an enigmatic and eccentric father as Xenopholius Lovegood, Celeste and Luna were always promised strange gifts.

Once, Celeste was sent a pair of spectrespecs, which she had trouble seeing anything through. Luna opted to keep them as her own and was often seen in them.

Another time, she'd been sent a detailed analysis of Cornish Pixie wings, which were, of course, invisible. Her father claimed they were a sub-species of the creature.

One never knew what to expect from her father, and after two mini cauldron explosions and a book that consumed half the breakfast at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall during her third year — wariness followed her.

Tentatively, Celeste peeled open the letter and dumped out the contents of the pouch attached.

Tarot cards.

That was particularly tame in comparison to his other gifts and she was quite pleased with the present. While she wasn't particularly fond of Divination like her sister, she'd always felt a kinship to tarot, compelled by the linking of her magic to the small parchment.

"What've you got?" Theodore's voice sounded behind her, and he peered over her shoulder. "Oooh, Lovegood Letter, this'll be interesting," he noted and sat himself next to her.

"Where're your robes?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. He was donning a loose tie and his button down, which he was hastily buttoning the sleeves on.

Theo looked down at his attire and shrugged. "I'll find them," he replied nonchalantly, grabbing a muffin and looking down at the note. He wiped his fingers on his pants — making her wrinkle her nose in distaste as he brushed the crumbs off — and grabbed the letter.

"'My dearest Star,'" he read the note with a hint of dramatization. "'I hope your venture's are worthwhile and your day's are full of mirth,' Merlin, he's flamboyant," Theo shook his head with a chuckle. "'If you need anything, please write, I am forever indebted to you, my eldest, but keep an eye on our lovely Luna. I dreamt of your mother today...'" he skimmed the rest of the letter, getting bored and tossing it on the table. "He talks far too much, Cel."

Celeste laughed at his antics, showing him the tarot deck and tucking the letter away to read at a later time. "He sent me these though, they're the expensive charmed ones."

"Oh," Theo looked mildly impressed, eyebrows raising. "That's good, is it your birthday? Don't think I've forgotten."

"No, I'm October."

"Halloween, yeah," he nodded, looking over the cards. "Wanna skip History and look these over?" He gave her a sidelong look and she nodded immediately.

Anything to skip Binns.

Theo nodded and stood, tucking the tarot cards away and taking a gulp of orange juice, then pulled a face. "Don't eat chocolate muffin and drink that," he grimaced. "Revolting."

"You're revolting."

"Ah, lovely as ever, my dear." He replied sarcastically.

Celeste gathered her things, glancing at the journal. She and Tom hadn't spoken since the night before but she didn't find herself minding. The heaviness hadn't stopped, only lightened into a tugging at her chest. Like her veins were being stretched thin if the book was out of her reach.

It unsettled her and she was a bit put out by the entire ordeal, giving him the silent treatment as punishment.

Though, with how much he proclaimed his annoyance by her chatter, it might have been counterproductive.

Theo hooked her arm through his and the pair chatted lightly on the way to the Slytherin dorms.

—

"Alright," Theo looked down at the cards, tie tossed to the side from his aggravated shoving when he was attempting to read the instructions. "I thought you knew how to read tarot."

"I do," Celeste nodded, looking over the tarot cards. The strange part was each time she looked at one, it muddied somehow. Blurred out so she couldn't properly read it. They tried to decipher the reason behind this, but there wasn't an explicit reason.

That led to Theo being the one pulling for her — which she knew would probably be a train wreck.

"You've got the...hermit? I think?" He squinted at it and then looked over the instruction. "That's the lonely one, yeah?"

"Merlin, Theo—"

"—No, no, I've got it, hush up," he slapped the hand she was outstretching to view the cards. "Let me do it."

Celeste rolled her eyes in annoyance and let out an impatient sigh at his behavior.

"Okay, I think," he popped a bertie bott's bean in his mouth, "that it's—"

He stopped suddenly, sitting up straighter.

"Theo?" She asked, confused by his strange behavior.

Theo seemed to stare past her when he met her gaze, eyes glazed over. "The chariot beckons," he said blankly, pulling a card from the stack and placing it in front of her.

Her heart sank at his words, watching him worriedly. She waved a hand in front of his face but he didn't react. "Theo, can you—"

"You will lose control, your life is uprooted in desires yet to come," he continued, his voice taking a deeper, heavier tone that chilled her core.

It reminded her of her sister's predictions — but the Notts didn't have a history of divination, right? — and he didn't blink as he kept speaking.

"The Tower; you will lose everything and all of your life is uprooted but do not worry, it is meant to come, Strength reversed; you will find so much pain in your destination and loss will circumvent your moralities — but do not live in doubt," he pulled the Hermit card after Strength. "You will find guidance within yourself and dignity will become your greatest tool." He continued, drawing three cards in quick succession.

"The Wheel of Fortune, have patience, for the world is your oyster and you cannot undo what's been done," he tilted his head as if listening to something. "Justice. You are the balance of good and evil and time has set a course uncorrected. The Hanged Man. You will become a martyr for that which you love," he pulled the Death card, "you will end the corruption and start anew. A transformation will come," he pulled The Lovers, "and it is in such pain that comes pleasure. Souls intertwined through sands of time, your paths are to be walked along by only each other."

He pulled the Star and the Sun. "You are paired divinely, you are the light and the beacon of hope, bringing freedom to all," he pulled the World. "Once he has transformed and your spirits entwined, the circle will be complete."

Theo blinked, looking at her in confusion. "Sorry, I think I dozed off a minute." He must have caught her paled expression and looked at her worriedly. "Cel, you alright?"

"Y-yeah," Celeste nodded, decided to bury the reading inside her. She didn't need to worry him. It was probably a prank. Or the cards were jinxed.

That was likely, right?

"I'm fine."

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AHHHH thank yall soooo much for the love on this story I'm so happy people are liking it!! hopefully this made sense and you enjoyed??? it'll all come back later but divination is a huuuuuge part of this soooo hopefully it made sense hehehe