Gryffindor Common Room

Ricardo had his hands over his ears, tears spilling silently from his eyes like his brother's blood on the floor.

Ricardo pressed his head into Vincent's shoulder, shaking and sobbing in complete silence.

"Is it gone?" Ricardo didn't dare look up, instead trying to concentrate on the comforting, warm scent of Vincent.

"Let's never do that again," he croaked. "Please."

Ricardo stood, sighing, a vague presence in his mind wishing that he could sit with Vincent some more. "Yeah."

Raegan sat cross legged in front of the round table beside the fire, her eyes closed and brow furrowed in concentration as a recently shuffled deck of tarot cards lay before her. Whilst there were many different methods of divining the future, card reading was by far her most favourite and successful. She had always been drawn to the intricate images depicted on their faces and in hindsight, it was likely that this fascination was the sole reason her potential had been drawn out at such a young age. She also thanked her uncle for that, after all, as a self proclaimed 'seer' himself, he was the one who first introduced her to the mystic art of divination. There was a sense of bitterness that Raegan had always sensed from him but that was understandable, she - of course - had outshone him in what he had once prided himself in. That had to be a low blow.

She pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind with a small smile gracing her features before focusing wholly on her current task. Raegan opened her eyes and dealt out the top three cards, opting to go for a more simple spread as she had discovered, much to her dismay, that reading the future drained her energy surprisingly quickly.

Perhaps, she mused to herself, placing a hand delicate on top of the central card, I should start demanding for more than a piece of chocolate or something, I'm more than a mere street performer, after all.

Much more. It was also worth noting that she had a rather large stash of sweets and chocolate at the bottom of her trunk that she had already accumulated since the start of the year, but hey, everyone was happy (herself especially) and that was all that really mattered.

Vincent glanced at his companion out of the corner of his eye. He returned his gaze to the floor in front of him, shuddering at the thought of the boggart-dog. Hugging Ricardo had been nice... It had taken him away from the fear, if only temporarily.

Vincent bit his lip. "She... She was my old dog, when I was little. Her name was Nina and she was the best dog you could hope for, but..."

"My parents gave her away when I was eight. They'd said it was too hard keep her anymore and I had no idea why. They said they'd taken her to the shelter where she'd be able to find a loving home," he muttered, bitterness hardening his voice. "A week later, I found her. Dead on the side of the street. Dead, Ricardo! She'd been run over by a car and she was dead!" Vincent said, his body shaking with anger now.