The bubblehead charm? Good Merlin, did the professor even realize how ridiculous people looked with that on? Shaking her head somewhat, the Slytherin gathered up her things, and moved over towards the window, trying to dodge the other tables and flowers. It'd be cold, but whatever.

Like she had thought, the lesson was going to be on floromancy, or floriomancy as she herself called it. Though she was a bit fuzzy on what it was. "It can be a type of communication, couldn't it?" she said after raising her hand. EH? "A popular way in the older days to give people a message if they couldn't really...tell them out loud." Usually loved ones, right?

Roses, daisies...bellflowers...all that jazz.

It wasn't surprising that they would be working with flowers. The room was filling with them, after all. Still, Eino was a little uneasy now because the subject of love had been making him uncomfortable lately. Eino raised his hand. "Professor, I think floromancy is commonly affiliated with love!" Although, it probably wasn't limited to that. "For example, when we take a flower and pluck its petals saying 'she loves me, she loves me not' until the last one reveals whether or not the person plucking the petals is loved, isn't that floromancy?" Eino had never done this, but he heard it was always very accurate.

Chloe raised her hand and responded, "I am certain it has something to do with flowers. Perhaps the energy within the living flower means something in divination in divining ones future", Chloe really was not sure but that was her best guess.

Nika grinned as Professor Bishop asked the first question of the day. Nika had read some of her textbooks over the holiday, but normally she only remembered certain things very well. Most topics she either knew most things about it or she didn't know anything about it at all. Thinking about floromancy brought a smile to her face because this was one of the topics that she was able to remember very well. "I think Floriography was used to send messages to other people. A method would be that the different flowers mean different things. Like a red rose would mean true love." She said with a giggle. Love made her giggle for some odd reason. "I think Daisy mean cheer and innocence and stuff." That was one of her favorites so it stuck with her.

William raised his hand. " Floriography has religoius meannings and can be used as medicne" William told the professor.

Floriography. Like the language of flowers? Presley had learned a little bit about that from a cousin when she was small. "Is Floriography the language of flowers?" Presley asked, raising her hand. If so, she was all geared up for this lesson.

Jai looked at the flowers closest to him and said,"Has to do with flowers and the meaning attached to them in divination."He vaguely remembered this topic as he had touched on it before in previous years of wizardry.

William smiled at Presley. She knowa one part of the answer.

Flowers?

That was the first thing that popped into Savannah's mind. Could be fortune-telling by flower pedals? Though she doesn't exactly know how the reading was done, but she's pretty positive that it's flower stuff.

FLOWER POWER!!

"Fortune-telling by flowers...or flower pedals." Savannah answered confidently. "I remember reading about something like that in a book once, bunch of flower stuff."

The Malfoy sat in her seat and listen to the conversation. The blonde had absolutely no clue about this flower power. Yet whatever it was it sounded pretty awesome. Emma got her quill ready to take notes. Florigraphy? Sounded complicated. "Professor, could people use flowers to tell the future or say predict one?" she asked, deciding to speak up.

Floromancy? Strangely, Brielle had never encountered the word before. Maybe because you forgot to study, stupid. She thought, scolding herself. Classes were starting to become a bit haggard and Brielle had failed to read in advance. "Well professor, based on its name, 'Floro'mancy, wouldn't it have to do something about flowers?" she asked, worried.

"Hey, Penny. No, not at all."
Janice removed her things and made space for Penny to sit.

Still looking around, she replied the professor.
"No, it's okay, Professor. I'll only get rashes if I touch them or within 6 inches with them..."

Janice thought for a while. When she actually came into a conclusion, she raised her hand and answered.
"Floromancy or Floriography is maybe driven by the word 'flora' and 'graphic', and the 'mancy' part usually indicates that the something-mancy is a method of divining.
"So, maybe, the word literaly means 'Divination by the pictures found in the flower, err, petals?"

Selina puzzled the question over in her head for a few seconds. After reading numerous books on Divination, for obvious reasons, she was sure that she had heard that term before. But now with the question staring her in the face she could not remember where she had read it and what it was used for. She tried her hardest to try and remember and then it occurred to her that she had read about it in The Obscurities of Divination.

Her hand shot up in the air and she answered, "Excuse me, ma'am? Floromancy is the art of Divination that uses flowers to draw omens from. For example, the widely held belief is that the flower gives off a kind of aura or vibration and that a reader can interpret these vibrations. If I'm not mistaken it was mostly used for love and such. People would put their initials on two premature flowers and the reader would interpret if love was in their future or not once the plants reached adulthood."

Floromancy? Eeeep!

Even the name was pretty!

"It involves flowers," Helena said with her hand raised. Well, that was intelligent. Of course it involves flowers. D'oh. "Does the pollen have something to do with the... future?" Or the predicting or whatever it is called.

Samira raised her hand. "Floriography is like a...language of plants? Like interpreting messages off flower pedals. I believe the roots started in Turkey or Persia."

Well, pretty much everyone had already said exactly what she was about to say, but ehh... Sierra raised her hand anyway. "It's divination using flowers," she said. "I've heard about studying the lines on petals to tell things about your future." Now exactly what could be told was beyond her, but Divination was fake anyway, so did it really matter in the end? Nahh...

Danielle thought the question over- she thought back to reading a Divination book over summer from her time at Beauxbatons and wondered... wasn't it a bit like tea leaf reading? But with flowers? "Isn't it a bit like... well, using flowers to predict things..." she asked after having raised her hand. "Like... using them to give us signs" she finished as she watched the Professor curiously for the answer.

Renée had to quickly hide a smile as Simon seemed to want to be the first to answer her question. The Hufflepuff at least showed a certain willingness to try, which seemed appropriate for his House, but his answers always seemed a bit left of center. She’d managed to rein in her amusement by the time she turned to him, however. “Not quite, Simon. Although it does involve flowers,” she replied with a smile. It was a good guess, even if it had been slightly amusing, and she wasn’t about to let him think otherwise. He did still seem like he either was trying to sound unintelligent or trying to be amusing, though. It was hard to really pin down.

Things seemed to get more on track as Janice had spoken again, even though she’d initially only responded regarding her worry about bush daisies, but it gained another smile from Renée, as well as a nod. “Alright. I’d still recommend remaining careful, though,” she said gently. Even a rash could need a visit to Healer Moretti, and she didn’t want to feel responsible for sending someone Lily’s way with the others who had been snarling up the hospital wing with all the drama. Of course, she also still wasn’t certain there even were any bush daisies amongst her current collection.



Luckily, enough people seemed to have either done the reading or just had some thread of knowledge about the subject she had introduced to help Renée not feel like she was going to need to lead them all in the direction she wanted. Even if that was sort of the point of teaching, it was nice to know the students at least had some sort of basic knowledge going in. “One point to everyone who offered an answer. As you all have mentioned, floromancy does in fact involve flowers, and there are a multitude of ways where they can be involved with Divination. Most of which, as Louisa mentioned, stem from the Victorian Era, when young flowers were used to try and divine if a couple was destined to be married, which in a way might have developed into the game you mentioned, Eino.” Even if she didn’t particularly put any real validity into the idea that defacing a flower could indicate someone’s love for a person. “ And William is correct as well, as flowers in fact have sometimes been believed to have the ability to cure disease, although that would more accurately qualify under Herbology,” she replied.

Continuing to move around the classroom, she selected a daisy out of one of the myriad containers and held it up for the students to see. “However, for this lesson I think we’ll focus more on the other form that was mentioned. The idea that flowers each hold meanings, and we can transmit messages through those meanings. As Nika mentioned regarding the daisy, it generally stands for innocence, cheer, purity, faith and simplicity. It also can symbolize loyalty when it comes to love. and even hidden beauty.” The last more specifically involving red daisies. She replaced the daisy in a container again, however, before returning her attention to the class. “Does anyone want to suggest a possible meaning or two for some other relatively well-known flowers?” She hoped they didn’t get too creative when it came to suggesting meanings, but the looseness of the question did in fact lead her to wonder. It was too late now, though, and part of her looked forward to the possibilities.

ooc: Please do try to stick to what seems like more common flowers, and don't go overboard. Let others have a chance to earn points as well. And all rules still stand.

Dani thought that question over- it was then that the thought of her favourite flowers came to mind. The Lilly. Lillies were beautiful flowers- especially the white ones. "Lillies can be associated with power and wealth. They're quite... majestic looking flowers" she said after raising her hand as she thought about the vase full she always kept in her bedroom at home- "However, varying with colour- I suppose the meaning could change a little" she said softly before she put down her hand and watched for everyone else's answers.

Oh, this seemed like a really interesting lesson. Raising her hand, Samira said, "Professor, Tulips represent the perfect lover, or fame." She thought it over a little bit more. "And a Primrose means early youth, or something you can't live without."

Nika beamed at her professor when Bishop mentioned her name. She thought about the next question as she looked around the room to see what some popular flowers might be. She spotted a daffodil and then her hand shot up in the air. "Daffodils could be like happiness and cheer because they are just so bright and cheery!" Now that she thought about it both daisies and Daffodils were her favorite.

Lucas raised his hand tentatively. "My mum told me once that I should never give a girl I like lavenders because they symbolize distrust." He smiled. "Is that true?" He thought this whole flowers-symbolizing-things could be kind of cool, but it was mostly silly. Did anyone even know what flowers symbolized what anymore? Would a girl REALLY get mad at him for giving her lavenders? Wouldn't it just be a nice gesture to give her flowers at all? Oh, well. The romantic in him still sort of liked the idea of giving a girl a red tulip. Yeah, his mum had told him about that one, too.

Eino didn't know much about flowers and their meanings. He knew mostly about them in regards to potions, so he would have to relate some of their properties as ingredients to the art of divination. He raised his hand. "I do believe sunflowers could be a symbol of adoration, since they always follow the sun. They also resemble the sun so other meanings like warmth and happiness could be easily attributed to them. Although, I would also think of them as symbolic for endings and beginnings in relation to sunset and sunrise." That seemed fairly reasonable. Hopefully, he wasn't too wrong.

Janice put quite a lot of thought into this. She raised her hand, and answered.
"Well, people usually give a rose or roses to, err, express their feelings. And I heard that there is a disease called Seventy Roses. It's real name isn't 70 Roses, but people like to mis-pronounced it."

Spike wasn't exactly sure why he was in this lesson. Surrounded by girly flowers and trying to work out meanings on what the future might hold. But here he was, so he might as well try, and maybe get some points or something.

"Buttercups can tell you whether someone eats butter or not," Spike said with a nod. It was one of those flowers girls always looked for in the field. "If you hold it up underneath your chin, if it glows then they eat butter." He wasn't sure if he believed it, or quite how that helped see into the future....but still, it was the best answer he had. Worth a try, right?