And just as quickly as it had come on, the deep voice left Bernie and the fourth year was left standing there, blinking rapidly and rubbing one eye with her sleeve.

"Huh?" She looked from the professor to Emmerson and back to the professor. "I think there's a Divination class going on, Professor K."

There was never a wrong time to be cheeky, heh.

Ashley shook her head at Irithel. "No. Or... I don't think I've been acting suspicious." Was she? She looked at the professor. She wasn't sure, but she thought it was quite probable that the professor wouldn't believe her about the ghost. She sighed, preparing for much incompetence and avoidance on the school's part. "THE ghost. The new one. That has been causing issues. Or haven't you seen him? He flew straight through me at one point. I should get it checked out." She sighed again, preparing to be ignored. And then, the oddest words came out of her mouth. "HONESTLY, I just want my treasure BACK. JUST GIVE IT BACK. It's NOT. THAT. HARD. I AM BEING SO OBVIOUS. YOU WILL ALL PAY." Ahem. "Anyway," she continued in a normal tone, rubbing at her temples, "He wants his treasure back, but the headmaster won't give it to him." Hmmm. Everything around here seemed to be the headmaster's fault. She wished he would just get fired or something. "Because he already spent it. So that's fun. But the point is, the students sound like the ghost. No idea why. But we aren't faking anything." She gave the professor a look that said clearly, So are you going to believe me or are you going to regret not believing me?

At this point in life, Claudine was both troubled and annoyed by the outbursts from the others. Firstly, she no doubt knew that something was up, something ominous as usual because this was Hogwarts, after all. Secondly, she hated loud noises. Plus, it disturbed Slythers too. The snake had finally raised his head and looked off in the general direction of Bernadette. Claudine though? She tried to see if this lazy or tired snake would do anything other than chill on her shoulders.

Apparently not.

The Snakette was quite glad when Kitridge told them to wander the grounds with their snakes. It meant getting away from certain noisemakers. “Meet you back here in twenty,’’ she told Heath and shuffled off, Slythers still around her shoulders like a scaly stole.

"It's okay, Tom, it's just a little snake," Violet said, pulling up short at the expression on her partner's face. Boy, he must have a serious snake phobia; good thing she'd partnered with him, he was going to need some help. "Look, I'll stand a little further off. Hey, the teacher said to take the snake out into the grounds to finish the lesson--let's try the courtyard first!" And without waiting for an answer, Violet carefully held the snake in both hands and turned around to start over there.


OOC: I've started a thread in the Courtyard, here:
https://www.snitchseeker.com/grounds...l#post12474740

"That's not the whole truth." Emmerson offered after Ashley gave her account. Did she mind staying back to talk with the professor? Of course not! It meant she didn't have to follow a scaly serpent around and that worked GREAT for her.

Plus her partner was here, so she had to stay.

"It's our treasure, Professor. Me and Kale opened it fair and square. Finders keepers. It's not FAIR the Headmaster got to keep it and decide what we do with it. The ghost shot through me and Kale, not him and we were the only ones brave enough to open it in the first place. Now they're both fighting over who gets to keep it and no one's asked us about it."

No one asked before jumping into them and possessing them either, JUST SAYING. There seemed to be a lot of not asking going around these days.

"Say, d'you think you can convince him to share it with us, Professor? I'm not asking for much, just what's fair. If we're all doomed, we should at least be able to enjoy it, too."

"It's not," Phoebe spotted that look on her sister's face, and she suddenly took some notice of the fact that Kizzy was UNHAPPY. Like, normally, she was the sunniest of sunny sisters, but she looked miserable and poorly. Phoebe rested her snake on her shoulder and leaned in to boop Kizzy on the nose. "Let me go talk to the Professor, and then we can find a spot to play with the snakes, ok? But are you ill? You look unwell."

In the meantime, she had to deal with the professor, who seemed a bit HIGH STRUNG, if y'know what it means. That, plus Bernie was yelling, and some other kid was threatening people, and Phoebe felt like maaaaaaaaybe the class had gotten a bit over control. "Hey, Prof... Emm says we're doomed, so maybe it's time to end class? I don't feel particularly doomed, although did you know your box has a hole in it and all your snakes got out? Seems dangerous."

It was getting really weird in here, really quick - and Serena was definitely not here for any of it. She picked Sven, their snake, off the ground and held him at arm's length. Like how one would hold a sacrificial offering to the gods; then turned to Avalon.

"I was thinking the Whomping Willow?" She asked "We can see how Sven reacts to the tree!" Would the snake like the murderous tree? Would the murderous tree like the snake? Who knows?

GRYFFINDORS. They were always trying to be the center of attention, but this was getting out of hand. Irithel rolled her eyes as another older student spoke in a deep loud voice, making her jump. Fortunately, she did not upend a box of snakes or anything. Now it looked like her partner was going to have a conversation with Professor Kitridge, and she would be left alone with the snake. She hoped they would be able to figure out what is going on with the treasure business - the professor seemed more reasonable and empathetic than the Headmaster. "I'll take our snake around then," she told Ashley, trying not to sound dejected that she was alone again.

Allowing the little snake to slither onto her arm, she walked away from the lake to find a different spot.

As Claudine made her way back to the Lake where she had originally started out from, she couldn't help but mull over why the snake had acted differently. Of course, Divination was still hocus-pocus in her book so said interpretations may mean nothing. But if they did, did it mean that dangers was definitely going to be in the direction of the pathways as opposed to the duck pond? And if so, what kind of danger?

Claudine was trying to put all that she knew had happened so far this school term by the time she returned to the Lake. As for Slythers? He was being carried by his human friend for the day. "Professor, should I return him to the crate now?''

Walking back to the lake gathering where the divination class was held, Cole still pondered on why Zorro had hissed at his girlfriend in the pathways like that. It made no sense. If it was supposed to hiss at anyone it'd be at Cole that had made it clear from the start that he had a small aversion against reptiles, not at Naya that was a big creature lover. He certainly hadn't expected either that Zorro freely would want to slither towards him by the great lake shore. Hopefully Professor Kitridge could shed some light on their findings. He was glad that Naya had taken over carrying Zorro. Cole took up position in the circle and waited to hear if they were returning their snakes or what?

Heath continued to observe the drama unfolding among his classmates, paying especially close attention to Phoebe and Emmerson. Did they really not remember what just happened? And now Bernie and Ashley were speaking in that strange deep voice too. Now he was 100% convinced they were being possessed! Leaving the area to observe snakes was the last thing he wanted to do now! He wanted to stay and hear what the four girls had to say. If he could figure out what was going on, maybe he could help stop it.

Claudine’s voice jerked him out of his thoughts. “Oh? Right,” he replied, nodding absentmindedly. “See you in a bit.” He watched her go with growing apprehension. What if the ghost possessed her too? If it did, he would make it his life’s mission to destroy that ghost! Part of him wanted to follow her, just in case something went wrong, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t like that and willed himself to turn in the other direction. “Come on, Baby Yoda,” he whispered to the little snake still hiding behind his hair. The sooner he got this done, the sooner he could get back!



Heath returned later, after having completed his observations in the butterfly garden and courtyard, to find Claudine already back. “Hi again,” he said, standing beside her. Did she see anything weird while she was gone? Did that evil treasure-obsessed ghost everyone was talking about possess her? His mind was buzzing with questions; it was all he could do not to go into overprotective boyfriend mode and launch into an interrogation! Instead, he tried to keep the mood light. “Did Slythers enjoy his time on the grounds?” he asked with a slight smile.

It was only as he looked at the other snake that he remembered he still hadn’t written down his findings from the courtyard. Better do that now! His eyes flicked from his parchment to the list of interpretations, remembering how eager Baby Yoda seemed to leave that area. “Serpent fully slithers away from an area”... that meant “be cautious of your surroundings”. Okay, got it! He hurriedly jotted his findings down, then looked to the professor for further instructions.

End class? Pheebs wanted to end class just when the drama started getting GOOD? Bernie could confirm that ol' ghost face had flown through her, and showed this by nodding as Ashley spoke, but she didn't know squat about the treasure. For example, she hadn't known that REALLY it was Emmerson's treasure.

"Well it makes sense that Kale's dad tried to keep it, because that's a total dad thing to do," she chimed in with a big eyeroll on behalf of the Headmaster. Especially this year. He'd been THE WORST this year, even more ornery than usual.

Besides all that, "I think really it's Emmerson's treasure, and you know how finders keepers works, so shouldn't SHE get to keep it? Isn't that what people do, go around 'discovering' things and then keeping them because they think they got to them first?" AND Bernie had a secondary reason for wanting Emmerson to have the treasure: "If we get the gold back for ya, mate, could you let me have some? I'm poor." True story.

Though... how WERE they going to get the treasure back when Bernie was pretty sure it had been used on a swimming pool and stuff like that?

Naya was still a bit bothered by the fact that Zorro had hissed at her. She walked with Z and Cole back to the class gathering. Suspicious? She had been called many things in life, but never suspicious. Things had been fine at the lake, but it all went downhill at the pathways. Trying to put that behind her she addressed the snake. “Ok Zorro. I’ll still be you friend anyway, even if you think I’m suspicious.”

Turning to Cole, she said, “Do you think we have to put him back now?’ Naya wondered if they were going to go over what they had found with the professor next. For now, she just waited and checked out the other students and their snakes. She wondered how their readings had gone.

Kiz shrugged again. "Okay," she didn't want to make it a whole thing(TM), but it sure felt like a whole thing(TM). She shook her head adamantly. "Not ill." Just sad. Only made it worse that Professor Kitridge pulled Emm and Phoebe off to talk. Kiz felt big time left out. This was awful.

As she waited, Kiz made an effort to wiggle her snake around (which it likely did not appreciate) and again it did absolutely nothing cool. It didn't like her (or in all likelihood, it was tired of being mishandled). Snakes are dumb. This was the worst lesson ever.

Well this was all just, she didn't even know what it was all really, but whatever was going on Cassie was starting to get very concerned. She had known about the treasure, Merlin, she had helped decorate some of the areas with the money they had used from this treasure, but a ghost? She had heard a few whispers, but this was just not okay.

"We are all going to calm down and no one is ending class." She eyed Phoebe before turning to face all of them. "If a ghost is really.." She stopped as Ashley started with the voice, "ENOUGH, be gone from the children." She had never yelled at a ghost before and it probably wouldn't work, but it was worth a shot. Cassie checked for the other students as she tried to figure out what was really going on.

"Have any of you checked the library to see if there is a ghost mentioned or a hidden treasure, so we could see who we are dealing with?" She wasn't sure if that was a start, but if they could figure out who maybe they could figure out how to get rid of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

As Claudine made her way back to the Lake where she had originally started out from, she couldn't help but mull over why the snake had acted differently. Of course, Divination was still hocus-pocus in her book so said interpretations may mean nothing. But if they did, did it mean that dangers was definitely going to be in the direction of the pathways as opposed to the duck pond? And if so, what kind of danger?

Claudine was trying to put all that she knew had happened so far this school term by the time she returned to the Lake. As for Slythers? He was being carried by his human friend for the day. "Professor, should I return him to the crate now?''

"Yes, if you are finished you can place them back in the crate." She glanced at her watch, "Oh goodness the time." Hurrying back towards the crates she gave a loud whistle to get all the students attention.

"I hope your snakes were helpful and showed you if there was any danger lurking around." Glancing at the girls she wondered if the snakes could sense the ghost at all, maybe she would ask them later. "Alright everyone I think for safety reasons and time we will end the lesson here. It might be best if you head straight to your next class or your common rooms if you have a break." She might need to go find the headmaster to see what was really going on.


**sorry for the delay, class has ended. I will leave it open for 24 hours for anyone that needs to catch up!

....Professor Kitridge, THE expert on Divination in this castle, really thought that SHOUTING at a ghost would scare it out of, what, the whole group of them? And then if that didn't work, they should visit the LIBRARY???????????????!

"You've gotta be kidding me," Bernie mumbled, marching back to her bag to pick up her things and go. This was not good. Emmerson should have just kept the treasure for herself.

Ashley rolled her eyes. The ghost could smash stuff and possess lots of people. Shouting was not gonna get it out. "I haven't checked the library, because I don't read ancient books for fun, buuut... I guess you could. Like a 50% chance of finding something. But this is Hogwarts, so likely as not it will be a book on how to possess people, not un-possess them." She turned and headed in the other direction. She was going to her common room to take a quick nap. Which was not something she normally did. "See you, professor."

“Hi, you,’’ Claudine said with a smile as Heath returned. She vaguely wondered if he was tired of her greeting him that way but it had sort of become her… their thing. She trust that he’d tell her if he got bored of any of her habits. “He did. Look.’’ The Snakette held Slythers up to show Heath the faint outline of the duckling in Slythers’ stomach. “He ate a duckling,’’ she continued, her eyes widening slightly. At least the interpretation had been a good one. Curious about Heath and Baby Yoda’s adventures, she peered at the Ravenclaw’s notes. Interesting interpretations were what she found written.

Right. Class was ending now. The Slytherin gave Kitridge a nod then shuffled off to deposit Slythers in the crate. “Thank you for being my partner today,’’ she whispered once the snake was settled in. “I um, hope you enjoyed your meal.’’ With that, Claudine went off to collect her belongings and to find Heath again.

Violet walked back to the Divination Class area holding their snake and deep in thought. She couldn't believe that the snake had curled up in a tight little coil, both times.





According to the teacher's notes, if the snake curled up in a defensive ball, that meant danger was near. With all the strange goings-on in the castle this term, Violet was not surprised. Normally she didn't put much stock in divination, but this time she was inclined to believe it was true. Besides, if you couldn't trust a snake, who could you believe.

She looked back over her shoulder to see if her partner Tom was still with her--that boy was so afraid of snakes, he seemed to be lagging further and further behind with each step. Well, she hoped he was back there some where, but she couldn't wait for him any longer because class was ending. She kind of hated to give up her snake, but she supposed not doing so was probably a good way to lose points, so she carefully put him back in the box. Maybe he would uncurl once he was back among his friends. "Goodbye, Bernard," she said softly, "it's been nice working with you."

Then she gathered up her things and joined the other students who were walking back to the castle.

Heath smiled warmly at the familiar greeting from Claudine, two words that he would never grow tired of hearing. His smile immediately faded upon seeing the duck-shaped outline on Slythers’s stomach. “Oh? So he did,” he said, blinking in shock and sadness. He couldn’t blame Slythers - the snake had only done what came naturally - but all he could think was, Poor baby duck! Dead animals just had that effect on him for some reason; he didn’t know why. He had to quickly look away from Slythers before he could dwell on the dead duck long enough to get emotional. At that moment, Baby Yoda nudged him, providing a timely distraction. “Baby Yoda seemed more interested in following me everywhere than eating,” he said, giving the snake a little pat on the head.

At the professor’s instructions, he gently lifted Baby Yoda from his perch atop his shoulders and returned him to the crate. “Bye, Baby Yoda,” he whispered. The little snake poked its head out of the crate and slithered to the other side, as if to follow him. “I know. I wish I could take you with me, but you have to stay.” With that, he turned away to rejoin Claudine. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he followed her to… wherever she was going next.