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Gilderoy stepped out of his car with an apprehensive demeanor to him. The building itself was small and bolted onto the end of the high street. It had swirls of blue and pink painted onto the brickwork and the sign ,hanging perfectly above his head, read ‘DARK LADY~open on every fourth sunday 12am-3am’ his eyes scanning over every lilac letter as he read it.
He’d really been meaning to do this for a while, but Peter had been getting distant recently and there honestly could be no reasonable explanation as to why since nobody would dare fall out of love with Gilderoy Lockhart. Not only that, it had always been something that he wanted to try, to know his future. He didn’t like all of the uncertainty. He saw a flyer on the kitchen island as he glanced at it one grey morning and booked over the phone. The conversation was brief but he knew all he needed to, yet he still felt overwhelmingly unprepared.
He opened the door with one smooth pull and he started through the small doorway which had various scarlett crystals hanging from the top that draped down to create a barrier. He walked up to the tall desk and rang the bell which sat proudly in the centre of it. The bell didn't make a noise but the music that was playing softly began to rise in volume.
There were crates of stained glass, orbs, and crystals scattered around on the floor in various spaces. These combined with the carpets and drapes made the floor cluttered and extremely hard to navigate without tripping. He thought about all of the people that had walked through this foyer throughout the time this place had been open. It wasn’t a new place at all. In fact, he couldn’t remember a time where he had walked out of this town and not seen it sitting almost abandoned.
“Mr Lockhart?” A soft and dreamy voice floated through from the back. His eyes shot up sharply as he heard his name, almost forgetting that he was waiting for someone.
“Right this way.”
A slim figure leaned against the doorway, its silhouette inviting him inside. She had blond curls that puffed out to the side like a majestic goddess and it had various gems and threads weaved through it. Her outfit was a deep purple with various crystals and accessories hanging off of it that draped in all directions. She had golden hoop earrings that when you looked at them sideways, almost looked like unpopped bubbles that glistened and made soft rainbows in the corners.
The first thing she did was take his money and said that she'd be with him soon before she whipped her head around to face the direction she would be walking as he got a face full of gems and jewels.
The room was sparsely decorated with only two chairs, a table, a pack of cards perched on top of the table, and a crimson and gold rug underneath. The wallpaper was a plum shade with various black motifs scaling from top to the bottom. The music was even louder now and dark lady laughed and danced to it as he finally, after much hesitation, stepped through the threshold. She lit every candle lining the room one by one before starting the kettle in the corner of the room. She danced, and danced until her brew was done and then she placed the obsidian mug next to the pack of cards.
Her perfume shocked him as he breathed in. It was rosy and musky and he knew that Peter would’ve gone mad for it if he were here. It was familiar in an uneasy way. He always trusted people that smelled good. He liked the feeling of walking into a room, breathing in, and realising his favourite person was there.
Before the clock struck on the twelve, she played black magic, refusing to look at him standing sheepishly at the door. He had to admit that he was early for his appointment but someone had told him it was better to be early than late. Clearly the dark lady wouldn’t care and made him wait which only enlarged the anxiety coursing through him.
He sat at the round table after a smooth gesture from the lady., staring oppositely into the lady’s midnight blue eyes in silence. He wasn't sure what to say as he straightened his tie. He didn't want to seem nervous.
“You’re nervous?”
“Well, um, yes I suppose?” He stuttered before contemplating whether he should run yet. She gave nothing but a disapproving hum in response before turning to the cards and looking up at Gilderoy waiting for him to tell her to start. He didn’t, he had no clue what to do so he just looked at her until she rolled her eyes and picked them up. She dealt two cards, a queen and a three and mumbled some words that were so strange to him. Then, she turned up a two eyed jack.
His eyes saw red but the cards still stayed black.
He shifted slightly, worried for his prophecy before her lips parted slightly to say.
“The man you love is secretly true to someone else who is very close to you.”
The voice was dreamy, almost like a dream. So much so that he closed his eyes, not remembering the reality. A millisecond passed and his mouth fell open, but he regained his composure with a few breaths. Not his Peter. Who could he possibly be cheating with? It was all so cryptic that he struggled to wrap his head around the complexity of the message.
His thoughts were cut abruptly by more sounds and vibrations. “My advice is that you leave this place, never come back, and forget you ever saw my face.” Her face and tone had a blunt seriousness to it despite the ethereal music in the back that may have just been his imagination before her captivating eyes slowly rolled towards the door that they had come through just minutes before.
He got up and walked briskly out of the building, kicking one of the boxes of orbs on the way and he shoved his car keys into the ignition as fast as he could before going home with the same need to be swift that he left the building with.
If he was being honest with himself, tonight had hurt. Peter was out of town visiting old school friends for the weekend but as soon as he came back, this was over. He wasn’t ready to break up with him but the dark lady gave him no choice. She had told him to forget her but he just couldn’t. Her face was etched into his memory like an engraving that could never be scrubbed off.
He was grieving a relationship that hadn’t even ended yet.
So many happy years had passed, why now? How long had this even been going on for? He wished he didn’t have to think about this, he wanted to just be able to carry on as normal.
The driveway must’ve sprouted out of the ground in front of him like a children’s storybook, he didn't remember driving all the way home. He ran his fingers through his thin curls as he looked in the mirror of his car and for the first time in his life, he didn't enjoy what he saw. Was it him? He walked slowly and sloppily, not even feeling the January cold, before unlocking the door with caution as if someone was inside.
He didn’t bother texting Peter goodnight and he crawled into bed as soon as he reached the bedroom, not even taking the time to get changed.
Some part of him didn’t want to believe the dark lady but he was compelled to. How could she lie? That was his fate wasn’t it? He had a cheating boyfriend and he had been oblivious to it for goodness knows how long.
He tossed and turned but he just couldn’t sleep no matter what he did, so he sat up and breathed deeply, hanging his head back in surrender against the cushioned headboard.
Upon reflection, he was even unsure that he knew her name after all she did for him that day. He mulled over the visit to the lady and all of the things she said when, all of a sudden, all thoughts got washed away by a rosy-musky wave.
The perfume.
It was indeed a strange scent.
He’d smelled it once in this very room. His room.
That damned Peter Pettigrew.
When she told him that the person he was in love with was close to him, he certainly didn’t assume that she was referring to proxemics rather than relationship. Admittedly, she was close to him. He didn’t know who he thought Peter would’ve been with actually but this was on a whole new level of thoughts in his head unlocked.
Peter.
The Dark Lady.
God, he felt sick.
Engulfed in a swirl of hatred, anger, and surprise, he slipped back into his shoes and ran out to his car and drove there in the same manner that he left only a short hour ago in a haze of annoyance. This drive was longer than the drive home, much longer. The road stretched on for miles even though he could see the shop by now.
The lights were off inside but he didn't care. He’d smash the windows if he had to. He slammed the car door shut loudly in the hopes to announce his presence but no lights flickered.
His shoes tapped against the concrete steps up to the door that was still unlocked. Not bothering to ring the bell, he walked into the back room where the light was still in.
This bitch.
“Oh hello Pettigrew.” He said bluntly over the sound of the dark lady making out. They were laughing and kissing and they hadn’t seemed to notice him until then. “Out visiting friends were we?”
“Gilderoy I-” Peter stuttered as he clearly separated himself from the lady, whom he still didn't know the name of, and held his arms out to him.
The lady looked shocked and disgusted, her eyes flickering from him to Peter. You should’ve thought of this beforehand. He thought bitterly with a merciless attitude as her face fell and looked shocked
“No Peter, none of that.” He said calmly with a rather nonchalant tone, running his fingers over the handle of the gun in his pocket. He would admit, this was extreme but his head was in a frenzy of questions and betrayal and hurt and betrayal, betrayal, betrayal.
What Gilderoy would do next made him question everything. If only his heart surmounted his obscenely and unnecessarily large ego.
Next thing he knew, they were dead on the floor.
Dark Lady would never turn a card up anymore.
The gunshots rang through his ears like a loud and unforgiving alarm. Four of them. He aimed for Peter’s heart especially, if he ever even had one there.
It all happened so fast and he knew he had very little time so he smashed some glass and sprinkled it around them before sticking a shard in each of their lifeless eyes. He pulled them out, half hoping to take the eyeballs with him, but all it left was a gaping hole which had some substance oozing out which filled their sockets until he was positive that the eyes of his dead ex and his-his whatever she was would never see each other again. It may have been overkill but he just didn’t give a shit anymore. He was ravenous for revenge. Lastly, he draped many of the cloths and rugs over them before getting into the car for the last time.
He rode off into the sunrise, burning to get out of Vegas, his car radio blasting out as he drove further to the East Coast. This is what life feels like. Gilderoy had never done anything wrong in his life, his entire life. He always sucked up to his teachers and never once talked back to his parents, he was patient with Peter when he disappeared to cheat on him. The only crime he ever committed was loving himself too much.
Looking back, he wondered if he almost felt some regret.
Not a chance.
But the Dark lady was cunning and clever.
After all, She told him more about him than he knew himself.