"That seems to be something of a trend for fortune-tellers, I think," Ophelia said with a sage nod as she arranged her cards. "They seem to be generally as reliable as those silly quizzes in Witch Weekly." Which was to say, that they were about as likely to be correct as she might be by random guess to 'divine' someone's past Hogwarts house. There were only so many possibilities, when one was speaking broadly, and so many things sounded plausible when you removed all of the context and specifics from it.
Not to say that she wasn't a bit disappointed to hear that his fortune hadn't born out. Ophelia had always had a casual interest in divination, as she assumed all young girls did, and coming to terms with the fact that it might not be all that reliable was akin to learning that ordinary girls could not become princesses and that dragons were not typically slain by standalone knights. Since what she recalled of Mr. Echelon-Arnost's fortune had been rather grim, however, she decided not to make any comments regarding her disappointment that none of it had been true. She would not want him to think she was wishing him ill just for the sake of keeping intact her girlish fantasies.
Playing two cards in succession (which she was almost certain was allowed by the rules and was equally certain made her seem very clever, particularly this early in the game), Ophelia then moved to conversation along. "I haven't heard a whisper of Miss Vablatsky in quite some time. I suppose perhaps she married and retired from... well, could you call that sort of thing a career, I wonder? She just went about to parties and gave out readings from a crystal ball, didn't she? I can't imagine it paid well," she said with a shrug. "Though Mr. Pettigrew would know more about that, I assume. Do you think fortune tellers earn more or less per event than the head chef?" she asked, with a giggle.
(Not that she disdained all fortune-tellers outright, necessarily, but she remembered Miss Vablatsky being a bit too pretty for casual entertainment so it seemed fitting to take any opportunity possible to put her back in her proper place).
Not to say that she wasn't a bit disappointed to hear that his fortune hadn't born out. Ophelia had always had a casual interest in divination, as she assumed all young girls did, and coming to terms with the fact that it might not be all that reliable was akin to learning that ordinary girls could not become princesses and that dragons were not typically slain by standalone knights. Since what she recalled of Mr. Echelon-Arnost's fortune had been rather grim, however, she decided not to make any comments regarding her disappointment that none of it had been true. She would not want him to think she was wishing him ill just for the sake of keeping intact her girlish fantasies.
Playing two cards in succession (which she was almost certain was allowed by the rules and was equally certain made her seem very clever, particularly this early in the game), Ophelia then moved to conversation along. "I haven't heard a whisper of Miss Vablatsky in quite some time. I suppose perhaps she married and retired from... well, could you call that sort of thing a career, I wonder? She just went about to parties and gave out readings from a crystal ball, didn't she? I can't imagine it paid well," she said with a shrug. "Though Mr. Pettigrew would know more about that, I assume. Do you think fortune tellers earn more or less per event than the head chef?" she asked, with a giggle.
(Not that she disdained all fortune-tellers outright, necessarily, but she remembered Miss Vablatsky being a bit too pretty for casual entertainment so it seemed fitting to take any opportunity possible to put her back in her proper place).