Nolan smiled at the young Hufflepuff as she came into the office...she was a first year, by the looks of her, and when she asked about the crystal ball, he frowned just slightly out of pity. Awww, she'd missed the crystal ball lesson last term! No matter, he was sure he'd get to them again later in the girl's academic career.

"Well, as an answer to your first question, I like to keep my lessons a surprise," he told her with a grin. "Although I will say that I have some interesting lessons planned...I hope. I asked the students last term what interested them most about Divination and got some helpful responses, so hopefully everyone finds them enjoyable!" he explained.

"And as for the crystal balls," he said, moving the large quartz ball on his desk over towards the middle so the girl could get a closer look at it. "It actually IS pure crystal. This one is quartz, to be exact. Lots of people think there is gas floating around inside, but it's a trick of the imagination. The light bounces off the patterns in the crystal and makes it seem like it's actually moving, giving it the allusion of being filled with swirly gas," he explained. "Some wizards put spells on their orbs to further that effect, but I personally find it distracting," he added.