Everything in Lennox’s life had revolved around his mother’s illness from a young age - his decisions were no longer his own; they were geared toward what would help the family best. Lennox was nothing without his family; without his mother and father to care for, Flora to look out for, Loren to now raise. In another life, another world, Lennox might’ve done something else with himself: a writer, perhaps; married rich like his grandparents wanted and make a semi-pure bloodline under the name Thornbrook. But in this life, in this world, Lennox was just this: a boy who needed to take care of the people he loved. Hux had ripped that out from beneath his feet, stolen that purpose with a single sentence. And even though Lennox told himself that he didn’t believe Hux, his heart was still in his throat at the possibility. What if, by some twist of fate and the universe, Hux did have a power? What if he’d actually seen the truth? The slightest hint of it scared him, and Lennox reacted in the only way he knew how - violently, grabbing the nearest person and holding them accountable.
And Hux wasn’t backing down, which only scared Lennox more. “You’re a real piece of shit, you know that, Huxley?” Lennox snarled, vision tunnelling until it was almost white, and he could feel it - the itch of violence at the back of his mind that took over like a tidal wave, crashing through his thoughts and knocking them all out like lights. He didn’t think about it, just push Hux back enough before he took a swing, fist connecting with his jaw and stumbling back, the angle off, and Lennox realised he was breathing fast, knuckles singing from where it connected. “You ever fucking come near me or my family again, if the word Fraser so much as comes out of your mouth, I’ll make sure it’s you that ends up dead - ask the cards, see if I’m joking,” Lennox said, finger pointing at Hux, his breath a pant as he grabbed his things before a professor could come.
For once in his life, Hux realized he had said enough and kept his mouth shut. The pain radiating from his jaw showed that Lennox was serious. He understood though. If Huxley were in Lennox’s place he might have punched him too. Though Hux also knew that the future wasn’t something to mess with, and wouldn’t have agreed to have his card’s read if he hadn’t wanted to hear the answer.
Maybe it was all a fluke. Maybe everyone was right and Hux was just some hack that was making it all up. That didn’t explain how Hux knew things that he shouldn’t know. And how eventually, in some way the things he saw came true. But he knew he couldn’t say anything to make Lennox feel better. Hux couldn’t say anything to make himself feel better. And he knew better than to say anything to Lennox. He knew how to escalate fights, and thus knew what to say to not escalate them. The bad taste in his mouth after that reading had taken the gth out of him.
He had predicted bad things and good things before. That was just how life worked. But never had he predicted something this dire before. Something that left a bad taste in his mouth. He hated that he had had to say it to Lennox, and it wasn’t until Lennox referenced his family that he remembered that Flora shared the same mother with Lennox. That he had predicted a future that meant something to one of his friends, not just some random student or some arse that he, for some reason, had been trying to prove himself to. He’d been trying to show off and look how it had turned out.
As Lennox gathered his stuff, Huxley grabbed his wand and weakly summoned the cards that had fallen to the floor. He then gathered the rest of them and counte through them, making sure he had them all. The cards then were slipped back into his bag and Hux stood to leave the Great Hall. He needed a cigarette and didn’t have the heart to continue studying after that. Readings tended to take a lot of the wind out of his sails on a normal day, but after that it was almost enough to put him off readings for a long time. Almost.
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