Term III: Lesson 1: Divination

[rileybabe]

rakki said:

[octo - eight, ped - foot [leg in this case]. >.>; Octoped = eight legs. :3 Yay for latin!]

((oh shut up miss smarty pants! you're still the loser! so nyaaa! =P))

[Mozess Mirari]

Mozess beamed at the prospect of a private lesson about divining using spiders. She found the idea quite fiscinating, how did you use spiders to divine the future? Could you read their webs like a tapestry? Did they dance to tell a story like a hula? Did they use sign language?

She put her hands, palm down, on the table in front of her, thumbs crossed, trying to see how a spider might indeed try to use sign language to tell her something. She made a face as she contorted her fingers into a few signs she knew... but gave up after a while. It wasn't worth the strain on her thumbs to try and figure out how a spider worked.

For the meantime she leaned back in her chair and waited for the Professor to move onto the next form of Divination. She was, surprisingly, finding this lesson highly intellectual, despite the constant interuptions. Her eyes lilted over to the dark-haired Gravstone girl, she thought about inviting the girl over to her table to give her a chance to pay attention to the lesson instead of worrying about what juvenile prank might be played on her next, but then thoguht that might seem rude to the other girls at the table and refrianed. It was a shame that she chose this moment in time to practice kindness towaards her fellow schoolmates...

[w00t, someone understands how my crazy mind turns "octoped" into "spider" ]

[Amadeus Ragni]

Amadeus raised his eyebrows and grinned to himself. A private lesson dealing with spiders? That sounded most interesting. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Maybe he could pull off a small prank or something on la ragazza piccola reading her future with spiders. Oh yes, that lesson would be most delightful.

[aly]

Aly rolled her eyes at the antics going on around her. Unlike her younger sister's friend, she actually found Divination quite interesting. Which reminded her of a question... "Professor, I've heard that you can determine someone's personality by analyzing their handwriting, and I was wondering if there was any truth to that?"

[Elijah Ellerby]

Elijah's quill was working overtime as it scribbled to keep up with everything that was being said by Professor Vickers and Mozess, so much so that in its confusion it was accidentally letting quotes from the other students in the class slip into the script. Smiling, Elijah plucked it from the paper, amused that it continued to wiggle in his fingers, trying to reach the paper. After a couple of moments it realised it was being given a rest, going limp.

'What about augurs, sir? Will we be looking at them this term?' Augurs were of course those who sought and interpreted omens based on the behaviour of birds, the name derived from the Augury that for foretold the coming of rain. There were many other magical birds that varied in their talents, and Elijah was eager to learn of which.

The Gryffindor's eyes wandered back to the large, thick note he had made on his first piece of parchment earlier, and he was reminded of the question he wanted to ask Professor Vickers. To his surprise, there was another, more personal one he wanted to inquire about now...

[rileybabe]

Andie slipped quietly into the room. Crouching down she crept along the wall and made her way to a seat. After being safely seated she pulled out her quill and parchment and tried to catch up with the class.

[Prof. Allion Vickers]

"Handwriting?" Allion sat on the edge of his desk wonderingly, looking out one of the windows in thought. "Such a thing is an acquired trait, Miss. Gravestone." He said with a kind smile, looking back at her. "You can perfect your own handwriting as you wish. Though, in any case, I'm not here to define your personality for you. You'll one day do that for yourself."

Walking over to her table, he glanced at the crystal ball intently, before raising a brow. "I'm here to tell you about your future." He smirked, sending her a pointed look, before taking the cloth and covering the crystal ball.

As he walked back to his desk, it slowly levitated into the air and placed itself on his shelf. Once it settled, books and teacups also went back to their shelves with a quick wave of Allion's wand. "Though, it seems that'll have to wait until tomorrow." He sent his class a playful grin, before walking toward Elijah's desk.

"We may not go into depth about augurs, Mr. Ellerby, though you had a question earlier. You may stay back if you still wish to ask." Allion's glassy eyes met Elijah's and he raised both eyebrows inquiringly, before nodding over to Mozess.

"And I'll send you an owl to schedule our private lesson, Miss. Mirari." Looking over to Amadeus, he smiled slightly. "I'll also post a notice just outside my classroom for anyone else who might be interested in spiders."

Just as he finished, the large clock at the far side of his room began to buzz, signaling the end of the class. Smiling brightly, Allion waved his wand and the door banged open.

"Have a good evening, and stay out of trouble. I'll be watching, aye?" He said jokingly, turning to his desk and letting the spider out of it's small confinement. It skittered across the floor before neatly placing itself in the front pocket of Alyson's book-bag.[/color]

[Elijah Ellerby]

Elijah frowned for a moment, looking around as he tried to remember what on earth he had been so keen to ask Professor Vickers about. Oh, what was it? I really wanted to know too... I've completely forgot! Merlin, my mind's so busy these days I can barely keep up with it. I just don't have the time... TIME?

The Gryffindor's head snapped up to look at Professor Vickers, and he smiled triumphantly. 'Yes - yes, it was about time tu -' He stopped suddenly, realising many people were still in the room. Although it was a perfectly normal question that would probably have benefited the class to know about, he knew he wanted a decent explanation from Professor Vickers without anyone interrupting. He looked around carefully for a moment before leaning forward, clearing his throat and whispering, 'Time turners, sir.'

Several people had stopped to look at him, and he moved away from Professor Vickers slightly, deciding to wait. The man probably had not heard anyway...

[Prof. Allion Vickers]

Allion waved farewell to the dwindling students as they exited, gently patting Dax on the back as he steered him through the door, dazed eyes taking on an unusually worried look.

Finally shutting the door behind him so that he and Eljiah were the only ones in the room, Allion gestured to the nearest table and sat down. "Timeturners," he said finally, after a long silence where he had leant his elbows on the table and clasped his fingers together in a thoughtful fashion. "Quite fickle, aren't they? Sometimes they'll completely change direction and end up destroying what you set out to fix."

He pushed his chair back as Elijah sat down, moving back to his desk and picking up the student's previous teacup.

"Do tell me, Mr. Ellerby," he said in a quiet voice, raising an eyebrow. "What is it you want to ask?"

Placing the cup in front of the Gryffindor, he gently pulled the boy's textbook from his arms and flipped open to the symbols found in teacup readings. "And also inform me what you think your teacup says, would you?" He said kindly, pulling the chair next to his student and taking his seat once more.[/color]

[Elijah Ellerby]

'Well,' Elijah began, placing one hand on a discarded text book on the other side of the table. 'I was looking through the contents yesterday and I noticed there wasn't anything on time turners. I'm curious about what affect they have on Divination - do they, say, confuse things a little? If someone is (or has) used one, wouldn't their destiny be... altered?' He wondered if he was making any sense.

As Professor Vickers had set down the tea cup, Elijah had reached out to it and picked it up, but being distracted by his thoughts he had almost let his probing fingers reach inside the cup and disturb the soggy dregs. Gingerly putting it back down on the table, Elijah peered down his nose into the cup, his eyes every now and then darting to the open text book for reference.

Elijah sighed heavily, pushing the cup away. 'I don't think I'm any good at this, professor.' He said tiredly. 'Two different cups have said the same thing twice, but it's completely wrong.' He noticed Professor Allion's small smile, one that suggested Elijah try and be less cynical. The Gryffindor gave a critical smile at the cup. 'It says I should be dead. Isn't that stupid?'

[Prof. Allion Vickers]

"Dead?" Allion studied his student with suddenly excited eyes. "It does, doesn't it?" The teacup shuddered in place for a moment, before floating up into the air and away from the pair. "And what a coincidence that you should ask about timeturners, at this exact moment, Mr. Ellerby."

With a raised brow, Allion stood up from his chair and walked over to his bookshelf. He grinned slightly, looking at Elijah's somewhat shocked face over the cover, before letting his eyes scan the neatly printed words. "I do love when Divination is so blatantly obvious."

Noticing the Gryffindor wasn't as pleased as himself, Allion set his book down and regarded him kindly. "Here at Hogwarts we teach forms of Divination that don't require much use of the Inner Eye. Though, I enjoyed the brilliance of my class today-- I can easily see most of them have potential."

He paused, flipping through another book, before his dazed eyes began to gleam. Setting it down on the table, Allion looked at Elijah seriously for a moment, before dragging a slender finger down the spine.

"Timeturners are Divination's greatest enemy... Though, I do find them rather enjoyable myself..." Smiling at Elijah, he suddenly flipped to the middle of the large text. The pages thinned and exposed a grand case with a delicate hourglass set in the middle. "They have the potential to destroy an entire reading. You see, Elijah... You are supposed to be dead--"

Allion closed his palm over the shuddering teacup, gently pushing it back onto the table. Pulling the timeturner from its place in the large book, the Professor grinned.

"But, you're still alive... Look closely Eljiah. In the teacup, it also indicates that you will live a long and prosperous life." Grinning, Allion looped the timeturner around the Gryffindor's neck. "How strange. You can't be dead and alive at the same time, can you?"

Letting his hands fall back to his sides, Allion smirked. "Timeturners confuse Divination. Now, let us see where it is you were supposed to die, Mr. Ellerby."

Of course, all of this was said in a nonchalant voice, as Allion was somewhat used to announcing unexpected revelations.[/color]