Miranda watched the girl sit down and she smiled a bit confused. Apparently Livvy didn't know either, which made Miranda grin. "Well, it'll be interesitng to find out!"

A bit startled at the girl's exclamation, she saw her own hands being pulled infront of her and examined by the girl. "Oooooooh...Okay." Yes this made total sense. Then what are the logs for? But then Livvy changed her mind...and Miranda had to laugh too. This girl was funny.

But then the moment of truth. And the only thing Miranda could do was to sit and stare at her, her thumb nail close to her teeth. Ohhh, could she change her mind about this? This was way scary and the Huffie wasn't sure she wanted to know this stuff. Que sera sera, right? Like the song? You know...

Oh well, those things Livvy was saying wasn't too bad...Hopefully, in the days to come, Miranda would be determined and work hard. Uh oh. Wearyness? ("Oh no!")

PERSONAL LIFE! SPit it out woman! Miranda leaned in closer to her, not wanting to miss a single word. It looked like her eyeballs were going to pop out. THE DAYS TO COME?? Don't do anything and everything will be fine. OR not. Gah!

"Oh happiness, that's good..." Miranda squeaked. Her breath caught in her throat as the words loneiness and loneliness...errr...sadness. Oh dear MERLIN! This girl was actually truly and accurately predicting her future. How...Maybe Lizzy knew she was friends with Kaika and Dominic and that they were leaving...her. A look of uneasyness came over her as she almost didn't hear the girl finishing.

"That...t-that was...great." Miranda nodded, trying to encourage her. "I didn't know you could see so much in a log." Her eyes found the log and an urge to stamp the poor beast came over her.

But taking a deep breath, she turned to Lizzy with a renewed smile. "So...Want to ask your question now?"

Josh sighed. Even he himself did not find his interpretation a successfull one ''Sorry'' he said ''Looks like i lack inspiration today. But i'm sure you will see your uncle. I believe you will.'' he nodded seriously than smiled. Alrgiht now it was his turn. There were many thnigs he really wondered like if Gryffindor was going to win in the final match, if he would make a good Auror...wait. What kind of a question was that? Stupid. Of course he was going to make a good one. And more like these which were not among the kind that make this enjoyable. He needed something fun and it'd be more fun if it was about the surroundings . On the other hand all question regarding that seemed girlish to him. But it was going to be fun! Or he thought it would be and sounding a little bit girlish did worth it if he could enjoy it. ''Okay'' he said grinning widely ''I wonder if...''*pause*''...someone, anyone in this class is interested in me.'' he completed ''That'd be pretty interesting to know. Don't you think so?''

"I sure hope so." she mumbled, not really intending for anyone to hear. Sighing, she looked back up to Josh, listening to his question. Evelyn could suddenly feel her cheeks start to warm up, and she knew by now they were probably a rosy red. Turning her head, making her hair fall into her face so he couldn't see her blush, she suddenly became 'distracted' by playing with a little stick she found a couple inches away from her.

"Hmm, interesting question. So...do you want to pick a log or something?" Evelyn gestured to the fire, still facing slightly away from him until she knew she was back to her pale self again.

He raised his eyebrows when she looked away being busy with other things. Would he take that as an answer concerning body language? He was not sure plus his turn for interpretations had passed. It was the time to listen to the answer for his interesting question. But...''Ah yes a log. You'r right i forgot.'' he said smiling and pulled out a log which had little embers on it and put it before her ''Here, hun. This is my log''

Staring down at the burning log, she had noooo clue as to how she would interpret it. Poking the side, a frown on her face, she took a deep breathe before really staring at the log, picking out the most prominent pictures. "Well there are two line things...here and here." she pointed to the ends of the log. "And then there is a line...thing...that almost connects the two." She ran her hand across the log, not touching it of course, to show the obvious glowing orange line. There were also a bunch of little spots around it that were quite clear as well, but she guessed she didn't have to really point those out since Josh himself could see everything clearly.

"So, i guess one line could mean you?" Evelyn asked more than said. "And the other line, someone else here so I guess that could mean someone is interested. And...you two are close, seeing as the lines are almost connected with that long line there. But... it breaks off before connecting. Maybe that means it isn't quite clear as to where you two stand with each other." After she spoke, she looked up and stared at him, trying to see his reaction. Of course, she was talking about herself, maybe he would pick up on that? And then she hastily continued just in case he really DID pick up on it. "And of course there are a bunch of other people who like you as well seeing as there are all these spots on the log, but they aren't as close as you are with whoever this person is." It was all guessing on her part, but Evelyn really hoped it was somewhat the truth.

"Hah I don't really want to be first either," Winnie replied, giggling. "I really just offered for you to go first because it's polite, innit?"

Please don't ask me anything that has to do with boys, because I know NOTHING about them and their confunded ways. Try fashion, I'm getting better at that.

Oh good Quidditch! I know that. Sorta. Winnie's eyes lit up at the easy question. "Sure, I play! I've played as Seeker before, for Gryffindor, of course. Seeker is a tall order if there ever was one, sheesh." She shook her head, her blond curls wiggling. "I'm sure I'd've lost bowel control if I'd had anything to eat that day. What position did you play?"

Winnie drew herself up into what she reckoned might be a good Seer position; straight-backed and superior-looking. "Well, your mood certainly picked up, and you don't look uncomfortable anymore, and you seem to enjoy talking about it...I say do it. If you really didn't want to, well then you wouldn't be excited about it, would you? Unless you're very good at faking."

"Hmm...mmkay," LouAnn said, thinking that it was a pretty good idea for Fred to ask such a non-personal question. She might even consider inquiring about OWL results herself. It'd be better than asking about possibly murdering two Hufflepuff students. She shifted her weight until she positioned towards the burning wood. She stared deep into the fire, trying to find some sort of meaning within it.

She thought carefully about what Fred had asked, and she posed the question to the fire. On one of the pieces of wood closest to her, she noticed two stray markings coming together at a midpoint. She tilted her head and examined them a little closer. Well, not too close...she didn't want to singe her eyebrows or anything like that. The formation the markings made was a plus sign, so LouAnn took that to mean that Fred's OWL results would be positive.

Keeping that in mind, she examined a separate piece of wood. A few markings of the wood formed what looked to be the letter T. There was a little minus sign next to the letter T, which LouAnn took to be a negative outlook. She glanced back up at Fred. "Well, I see a plus sign here...see the two markings?" she asked, pointing them out. "I think this means that overall, you'll do quite well on your OWLs. You'll have a positive score." She leaned over and pointed towards the second piece of wood she'd examined. "See that piece there? There's a marking that looks sort of like the letter T. Well, there's a little minus sign next to the T, so...I think you may need to really put some focus on Transfiguration. You know, study a lot and all."

Okay.

So the girl looked nervous. Livvy couldn't really tell if that was what they were going for or if that was a good thing. Honestly, she couldn't care less, but the girl really did look a tad bit uncomfortable after Livvy had ended. Did she say something right? With all that blabbering and a few failing interprets of the things she saw? Mhm. Maybe. Something she had said triggered the expression on Miranda's face.

And then Livvy spoke up. For a second she had wondered if her words at caused Miranda's brain to stop completely, but it hadn't which was good. The games would go on. "Amazing right? Didn't know either," she said, giving out a short whistle of amazement.

OH. HER turn now? Smiling, Livvy thought for a moment and wondered out of all the questions which one did she want to use. The birthday one sounded self-centered. The father one was too personal for her to share. And she didn't think that she could deal with a few "fibs". Livvy wanted the real deal. Not something that the log just told her.

But for some reason, her lips wouldn't do what her mind said. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Will I ever be able to find my father?" GAH. Livvy! She had no self control what-so-ever.

She wanted some chocolate real bad, like now. BUT they were in class and the professor had somewhat told her off for eating that by asking if she had more for everyone in the lesson.

Taking a deep breath, she rubbed her eyes. They were going all wonky from looking into the flames of a neighbour fire. But, now it was Miranda's turn to forsee and forsay...uh, say what she saw. Make sense? Hope so.

Miranda had been picking up her notebook and quill and was ready to take some notes when suddenly Livvy sort of exploded with her question. The Hufflepuff only looked at her with round eyes, but quickly she changed expression into a smile an a nod.

"Allright...let me see..." Pursing her lips, she squinted into a different log that looked like a dog had chewed on it first before being on fire. Miranda nodded, though she wasn't doing that because she saw something - truth was she simply stared at the log for a second, thinking of Roma and her cuteness. "Yes...I see now..." Miranda said, putting a finger to her lips. "Well, it will be a difficult path..." she started off, seeing the barkyness of the log and how they seemed to look like crooked rivers. "You might find yourself a little lost, but the path is still there." There were some little indents to the wood, which made her think of..."Those little holey things could mean bumps in the road, or sadness, like tears. But it could also mean that your sorrows will be washed away..." There was a gush of wind that made her hair cover her face, but when she brushed it away, she saw that the log was glowing a little... "Would you look at that..." she mumbled. Turning to Livvy, she smiled big. "Oh, there is definitely light ahead." Totally. Now she looked directly at the girl without having consulted the log. "You just got to keep your head high, because with your determination, anything is possible." Livvy, Miranda thought, seemed like a smart girl and sure of who she was. She really did hope the Ravenclaw would some day find her father.

With a sigh and a thin smile, Miranda was finished.

"Want a frog?" Miranda asked, descretly passing her a chocolate if she wanted it. They so needed a break.

Cela stood up, hoping someone who hadn't partnered off yet would see her and volunteer to work with her. Her mind was elsewhere though and she kept glancing at the still-burning log.

Noooo she wasn't asking that question.

'Let's see how she is going to work this out'. Seriously it was quite a confusion since they merely did not know what to do. But divination was all about interpreting things about the person before you, was not it? So it was not really important from what you make up that interpretation. Among those variotional ways of reading though, Xylomancy turned out not to be one of Josh's favourites right after Rose's interpretation about his question as if his failing at it had not been enough.

''Really?'' he asked examining the log ''Yes, i can see, the lines and your interpretation on them seems compatible but...'' '...but what? Something like ...but it cannot be true because i did not like it?' The lines were there. Stupid lines. Who cared about them? His life was not bound to some lines of ember on a plain log anyway. Life could not be that simple. In a sudden realising he was nearly philosophizing about life over a log he blinked at Rose and laughed ''That was a great interpretation. Thanks''

Mina looked up from the fire again. Silly fire, you distract me. Shaking her head clear of the randomness that occupied it in her state of spacing out, she noticed Cela standing up. "Cela, do you want to work together?" she asked.

'Oh no, he's upset. And he didn't catch on to it...' Evelyn frowned and became worried when Josh seemed...Well she didn't know. But it wasn't happy. 'I couldn't make up anything better? C'mon Ev! You lie and make stuff up all the time. How is this any different?' Because this one had part truth in it...so she couldn't make it up as much as she would have liked.

If Evelyn was feeling brave, she would have just said right then and there that she herself really like him, but she wasn't. And she was in too much trouble with her parents as it was, she reeaally didn't want them to be anymore angry with her at the moment. "Yea, sorry." she laughed, prodding the log slightly. "There is probably a way better interpretation than that...but I'm just brain dead at the moment."

''No, no it was good really'' Josh insisted on ''It's only a burnt log anyway and i cannot think of what can be figured out more on it. Flowers were better than this.'' After that first class of Divination he thought that might be one of his favourites and surely it was till that log reading. He thought he could do this divination thing well, he thought he was good at interpretations. He had been successful at... he halted when he realised something. What he was interpretating well was the character and attidute of a person not his or her future so this must be where he mistook everything. Interpretating on character could not be the same as reading about the future but definitely could support it. He should have tried a different way to reveal the future or just to make up things that'd happen in future : try to sense it. Sounded stupid but fun. His msirk appeared on his face again. ''So what do we do know? Would you like to have another try?''

OHMERLIN OHMERLIN OHMERLIN.

Why had she said that out loud?! Livvy glanced around herself to make sure that no one had looked their way after her little outburst. Though no one looked in their direction. They were probably too wrapped up in their own readings.

STUPID. Why did she even ask that? Did she have no self control? Livvy wanted to slap herself for doing so. She could've asked any question in the world! How many children will she have? Will she ever find love? Will she and Reid ever be friends? Will she ever become someone of importance? Will she become a Healer? So many questions! But nooooo, she just HAD to ask that. The most personal question Livvy ever had and the only thing that she bottled up inside herself. Actually there were many things that she bottled up, just people didn't know about it. Ooh whee.

But there was no going back. For Miranda was already preparing herself to do the reading. Sighing, Livvy shifted around on the grass to be seated in a more comfortable position as she braced herself for more disappointment and raised false hopes. Great. Best birthday ever.

How 'bout we don't let you see? Livvy asked anxiously to herself in her mind. She didn't want to do this anymore. This was a horrible idea. And Professor Kapoor was to blame. If he never had come up with this lesson she would never have to come up with that question. Actually no. The person that INVENTED Divination was the one to blame. And... who was that? ... Whoever it was... it was their fault. THEIRS.

Difficult. CH-yahhh.. Her father had been missing for over sixteen years. Livvy didn't think that he was just suddenly going to drop by Hogwarts and say, 'Hey Livvy darling! I'm your daddy! Just came to drop by and say hi.' Yeah. She wishes.

Lost? Why would she EVER want to set out on that path? Even though Livvy wanted to find her father and all, she found it a futile attempt. If her father had wanted to see her, he would've found her already. It wouldn't have taken him sixteen years to find her. He didn't want her.

"Tears?" she reconfirmed with hesitation. She could do without crying. Livvy didn't want anymore sadness or disappointment in her life. She should've forgotten about her father a long time ago. Life with Mari was good now. What was the point?

Just when Livvy felt that it was about time she had given up, Miranda's next words made her perk up and lean in closer. Her face grew brighter and her lips turned up into a small smile. "Really?! So... so... that means... maybe..." Livvy trailed off as she thought, her eyes wide and her lips slightly open. What had she been saying earlier about raising false hopes? Mhm. But Livvy refused to acknowledge that. Just for now. Just for today. She wanted to believe that there was a chance to find her father. She didn't want to demand him of anything. She just wanted to know... why. Why did he marry her mother? Why did he leave them? Why didn't he come back to find her? So many 'whys' and no one to ask them to.

Oh? Smiling weakly, Livvy nodded her head and accepted it. "Frog would be nice. Thanks." She unwrapped the wrapper and popped it into her mouth, feeling loads calmer than before.

"Sure thing Mina!" Celandine put on a mask of enthusiasm, apparently her usual bouncy self. She did like the idea of working with Mina though, the younger 'claw was smart and a fast learner.

Mina smiled and clapped in excitement. She was quite excited to be working with the older 'claw. [b]"I'm not really sure how to do this cold reading." she shrugged. "It shouldn't be hard, right?"

It was all a matter of interpretation, right? Well, at least she was somewhat good at that. Looking back at the fire, she wondered what she was going to ask again. Spacing off before had somehow made her forget what she wanted to ask.

"Of course not." Cela answered breezily. All divination was easy, it was just some of the answers that were hard to hear.


Okie dokie. Get Mina talking and stuff nao.

"So tell me about yourself and stuff. Do you like Hogwarts? Did you expect to be sorted into Ravenclaw? Oh and if you think of a question that you want answered, for the reading itself, go ahead and ask it." Celandine sat down comfortably and waited expectantly.

"Well, I'm the middle daughter in my family. I have two older sisters and two younger twin sisters," she replied as she looked up up from the fire. It was quite distracting. "Um, I was so happy to be in Ravenclaw, my father was actually in Slytherin back when he was here and I have a feeling he knew I was going to be a 'claw thought. I'm not sneaky enough to be a snake." she giggled thinking about her being sorted to the house of snakes.

A question I want answered? So many possible questions, she could ask, but still a her head was blank. Don't be silly. I know what I want to ask, but I'm too scared to ask. Shaking her head to silent that annoying inner voice, she nodded and asked. "Well, I kind of want to know if there is someone out there for me?" she blushed.

She had this strange feeling someone had been watching her for sometime and maybe she was just reading into it and stuff, but she wanted to know. Was she being paranoid or was there someone watching her?

Evelyn smiled at him, not really sure if he was saying that just because? Or that he actually meant it. "I really liked that flower lesson. Too bad we can't still study those for the rest of the year." Suddenly frowning, she turned back to her parchment. 'What...so now I'm obsessed with flowers? And the Flitterbloom... almost sounds like I actually enjoy Herbology or something.' Laughing at her own thought, she started to fold her pointless and drawing filled drawing into a random shape before just crinkling it up and throwing into what fire there was left.

"Try again? You mean you asking me a question or me asking you a question?" Either way it sounded tempting, for one she could ask another question just to waste time, and two, she could try and make up something better for Josh. But than again, Xylomancy wasn't really holding her attention that much and she found her mind wandering often... mostly to Josh if she were to admit it.

"You've always been intelligent." Celandine answered cheerfully, "Even as the middle child you've stood out as being intelligent. But you know you have a lot of abilities that you do not use to your full advantage? Sometimes its hard to feel like the important one when you have lots of siblings, but you're pretty good at getting by on your own, you're pretty self sufficient."

Celandine smiled at Mina and added. "When you find someone, it will be on your terms and because you are smart, you won't have the wool pulled over your eyes, you'll know if its real or not."

Mina nodded as she listened to what Cela was saying. I was amazing how much of an open book she was at times. Apparently, it was all out there. Perhaps, she would have to try to be less open in the future. It wasn't really a bad thing, she was an open book. But she was maybe a little to open for her own good.

[b]"Wow, Cela. You're really good at this."[b] she smiled brightly. [b]"On my terms, I like that."[b] Well that answered it for her, she was just being paranoid after all. Extremely happy to settle that, she turned her full attention back to Cela. [b]"Okay, so my turn. Tell me about yourself a little. How do you like being a Ravenclaw? What's you favorite place at Hogwarts? Do you think it's a prerequisite for all us 'claw to look good in blue?"[b] she laughed at her own lame joke at the end.

Celandine tilted her head to one side. Barnum statements totally worked then? Yay. Of course, she could easily provide something more insightful... but she wasn't doing that. Cela wasn't doing that, it was too scary.

"Well obviously? I'm super smart and pretty, I love being a Ravenclaw and my favourite places to be areeeeeee ummmmmm classes, the Whomping Willow, The Sanctuary, Professor Kazimeriz's office, The Ravenclaw common and anywhere that Copernicus is." Celandine answered, quite cheerfully and then, with utmost seriousness. "Oh yes, its very important to look good in your house colours."

Ughhhhhhmmmmm a question?

Ummmmm.

".... I can't think of any questions so, just a general reading okay?"

It was only a cold reading after all.

"Never tried faking anything," Kiri said seriously. "And if I did, I don't think it'd be about Quidditch. Doesn't seem very smart to me to pretend enthusiasm to be able to fly through the air on a broomstick while other people on other broomsticks are trying to unseat me." She shook her head. That would be really stupid. And she didn't think she was stupid.

She considered what Winnie had said. It definitely made sense. All the same, Kiri had a sneaking suspicion that this wasn't how they were supposed to do it. More and more, cold reading seemed like a completely made-up affair to her. Sort of like a trick to help people decide something. "Hmm? Oh, I played Chaser," she told the other girl absent-mindedly, wondering what the verdict would have been in different circumstances. Such as... if Kiri had played brilliantly but broken her arm, would it be a good idea to continue? She pulled on her lower lip distractedly.

And she didn't have a Divination textbook or anything nearby! No way she'd be able to figure out how cold reading really was supposed to work.
Kiri gave a little shrug and smiled at Winnie. "I'll give it some thought," she said. "Anyway, want to ask me a question now?"

''Yes and with my mastery in flower reading we were going to get all the flowers right if it had not been for the Hufflepuff leader'' Josh said proudly. There were many flowers with different meanings so it was easy to put a track on the interpretation but this was only a log. Hopefully with his new tactic it might happen to work this time. ''Do you think i would force you to find answers for my stupid questions?'' he smirked ''Of course i mean you asking a question. But...'' he took his bag and opened it looking for something inside ''...i'm starving so have to eat this before i can make the interpretation'' taking out a cauldron cake from the bag he threw it aside and wrapped out the box starting to munch the cake.