Vera had entirely expected someone to just... fill the bowl for her. Hadn't Professor Euka asked them to have an older student do it? And yet the ability to LEARN to do so was even better, so Vera was actually quite pleased Aria simply told her how to do it. It took a couple of tries and a loooooot of concentration, but eventually she was able to fill her bowl with some water to try to do the candle thing now.

Picking up her candle, she held the wick over the other flame, watching it catch and then eyeing it for a bit as the wax slowly started to roll down the sides. Once it seemed the wax was actually melting, she held it over her bowl like instructed, watching some PLOP into the water and then moving the candle back so she could observe the shape. "Oooooh, mine looks like a clown on a unicycle!"

Actually. It really just looked like a blob to her, but how exciting would THAT be? "Does that mean I'm destined to work in a circus?" New life goals unlocked. She jotted down the notes on her parchment.

The spell was an easy one and Aria hoped that neither Vera nor Maria would have a difficult time with it. At least Vera didn’t so YAY! The Slytherin offered the Gryffindor a ‘excellently done’ sort of smile. But uh… a clown on a unicycle? Okaaay then! Moving on!

Aria focused on her own bowl. There was A LOT of frowning and squinting as she tried to decipher the wax there. It reminded her of admiring drifting clouds and figuring out what they looked like. Yeah, this was sort of like that. In the end, Aria thought she recognised a unicorn, a praying mantis and a guitar.

Huh.

Interesting!

These were written down in her book. Quite the interpretations they may make.

Yes, Maria expected Aria to fill her bowl with water, but Aria didn't do that she just instructed how to say the spell and showed the wandmovement to her and Vera. With her last Aguamenti spell attempt in very fresh memory it was with dread and acute nervousness that Maria reached for her wand. Now she wished that she sat alone, because how would Vera and Dot react if she managed to spray them both with water or worse Prof Euka? Hands now sweaty Maria tried to calm her nerves before she turned to her bowl and casted "Aguamenti!" Since she almost shouted because of her dread the bowl almost filled up with water to the brim.

With relief Maria pocketed her wand and stole a peek at Vera to see the next step that she had forgotten. Getting her candle she held it long enough against the other candle so that the wick got ignited. Her hands were still a bit sweaty so holding the candle while she waited for it to start to drip wax wasn't easy since it felt like it kept slipping out of her hands. Luckily though it didn't take long for the wax to start dripping so Maria held it over her water bowl and watched if she could see any shapes in the clumps. "Oo i see an owl in my clumps, but wait why does it have four wings?" Confused Maria pulled a parchment towards her to write down the shapes.

SPOILER!!: Marias wax clump shapes notes

Owl with four wings
A tea bag
A pear
A winged horsie
Something that looks like a book

"Just a few drops, you don't need many for it to start to form." She gave him a smile before watching the others. She liked seeing the older students talk with the younger and help them out. It was a great way to make a good example and also help the learning process. She was very pleased at all the hard work she was seeing.

"About five more minutes, if you haven't done the wax part yet please get it into the water." She looked down at her own bowl that was forming what looking like maybe a broom? stick? she would look back at it in a second.

"Now as it is starting to form and you are jotting the notes down go ahead and turn to page 193 in your books. This will have different symbols and what they mean." Looking down again she was certain it was a stick because she saw how it branched off a little, where a broom would be fully straight. "Mine is showing a branch and when you look at the meaning it means that there will be a cross path that I will have to make a choice on which way to go." This was interesting since she had come to have many paths to switch and move around in the past few years, she wasn't sure she was ready for another.

"We have about twenty minutes of class left, go ahead and find the symbol in your book and discuss with each other what everyone got at their tables."

"What's wrong with putting the whole candle in?" Edric murmured under his breath, half to his fellow Slytherin and half to the teacher. But.... his hand was getting tired, so he put the candle down and tried to read the symbols, which involved a lot of swishing and flicking of his hair, as well as copious amounts of dramatic sighing and squinting and nose wrinkling.

"Do you think this looks like a dog?" he stated to no one in particular. "I think it's a dog." And now to turn to page 193 for what this symbol means...

Maria got a thumbs up for her success with the Water Charm. See? There was nothing to it because it was such a basic Charm. Had she overdone more than a few drops? Yes. Yes, Aria had. Oops! It shouldn’t upset her observations and interpretations of her shapes, right? If it somehow did… well, that was fine. This was all just practice.

Page 193… Aria flipped through her textbook until she arrived at the appropriate page. OOOH, look at all the symbols! Whatever could her symbols mean? “Sooo, what are you guys seeing in your bowls?’’ she asked happily, running a finger along the page of her book as it was scanned for a unicorn, praying mantis and a guitar.

They were easily found, of course, and Aria found herself wondering who had the time and patience to come up with the meanings for practically everything to ever exist in this world.

SPOILER!!: Ms. McLeod’s symbols and meanings

Guitar - A new creative idea will dawn on you.
Praying Mantis - Threat.
Unicorn - New opportunity on the horizon.

The fifth year leaned back in her seat, her gaze flicking over to Violet. There was a big threat to her right there if she ever did see one.

Caes lazily flipped through the pages of the book until reaching 193, halfway through he could tell his table partner was just as enthused as he was about this activity. "Sure," He gave it a quick glance at (Edric)'s supposed dog, "It could also be a horse," unless it was a Greyhound or Borzoi.

As for his bogie shapes.. Huh. Reading along the symbols, that would leave his shapes as wheels and clouds. "Well, apparently my dreams will come true.. and days will run smoothly," If he could squeeze in a long nap after this lesson, then it would be accurate. There was another shape forming as he stared into the water. Jotting down what looked like a plus symbol. Positive vibes. Pausing for a moment. "I'm guessing this is permission for me to take a nap later." How else was he going to make all this happen?

"The full candle is not needed and would take to long for class." She watched the class as they talked about their answers. So many good ones had come from their readings.

"I love how many of you have so many different shapes. It is an amazing thing to see how well the wax forms for each of you to tell you something different." She looked at her watch before looking back at the class. "It seems our lessons has come to the end so please vanish the water and place your bowls back on my desk, the candles can go into this container as you leave."

She moved to her own bowl to empty it as she ended the class.

Aria tilted her head this way and that, trying to make out the shapes in her table-mates’ bowls. Then she would peek at their notes. You know what was funny? She saw completely different shapes from those that had been noted by them. She supposed it was all due to the angle from which one looked at the wax? Yes. That had to be it.

Oooh, class was over already? Great! Aria was so ready to get out of here. The water and wax that occupied her bowl quickly poofed away. Once her belongings were back in her bag {and the candle she had been using as well SHHH!}, the fifth year started to head out. “See you around, Professor!’’ Euka got a two finger wiggle before Aria departed.

Once again Caes found himself out of it as he stared at the shapes, before they were told class was over. Cool, now I can take a nap. He last thought before waving his wand to clear the bowl of the water and other reminents. Getting up he returned the bowl and dropped the candle into the container.

Peace. He gave another two finger salute to the Professor before he headed out.

Violet sat and stared at the wax in her bowl. All she could see was a lot of vague shapes. Were they...clouds? Violet would like that, because it meant (she double-checked it in her book) that her dreams were coming true. Well, one of them already had over the summer! But then again...Violet looked again and wasn't sure. Really, everything could look like clouds if you wanted to see them. And now, it looked like the 'clouds' (if they were clouds) were stretching out at one end in a shape like a bird's foot. Violet didn't see anything about birds' feet in her book, but there was something about a fork meaning a decision is coming. Well, she guessed that could be a fork...sort of. And it was her seventh year, so certainly she had a lot of decisions coming.

"Oh, bother!" she muttered to herself as she thumped her book shut and cleared away her things. She had no idea what these shapes meant. There was a reason she hadn't gotten an O.W.L. in Divination.

"Goodbye, Professor," she said as she passed by on her way out. Then she added, ""Inconclusive," referring to the Divination results. Shrugging, she continued on her way out of class.