Before dealing with any of the answers she’d gotten in response to the last question she’d asked, Renée wanted to deal with Simon and his apparent confusion. Since obviously he didn’t remember fainting, it was going to take some careful explanation, or avoidance. “You slipped, Simon,” she said gently. It wasn’t entirely untrue, since he had slipped from his chair. She just didn’t particularly want to point out his fainting to the entire class, if they hadn’t already noticed it. “Do you feel okay with staying in class, or would you rather go visit Healer Moretti?” She could always send Lily a note, explaining that he’d fainted.

But back to the lesson, and she decided to start with those who hadn’t exactly answered her question. Their suggestions weren’t bad, just more directed toward ideas of books that could be used as opposed to known instances of them being used. For the most part. “Almanacs is more a book, or series of books, detailing the prophecies made by Nostradamus. I’d imagine it would be possible to attempt bibliomancy with them, but not necessary since the text already is predicting events and the like,” she replied to Louisa with a smile, before turning it to William, Isabelle and Savannah, as well as Simon yet again. “At least in theory, any book could be used when attempting bibliomancy. Historically, Homer actually has been a common author, in fact. Classical bibliomancy, as in ancient Greece and Rome, tended to go in one of two directions. They either used the Aeneid, by Virgil, or the Iliad and the Odyssey.” Indirectly, Savannah actually had hit on an answer she’d been trying to get. As well as several of the other students, who she then went on to address.

Renée nodded at Sierra as she mentioned the story about Robert Browning. Probably one of the most commonly known examples of a historic use of bibliomancy. “Yes, there is a story that Robert Browning used bibliomancy to determine if he should pursue Elizabeth Barrett. That example also goes to show how literally any book can be used for bibliomantic purposes. One wouldn’t generally think a grammar text would accurately give you direction in your romantic life,” she responded. In fact, even Robert Browning hadn’t originally thought it would be useful. Anyone who studied the lives of poets knew it had been, however. At least in this case.



Renée nodded again as Kurumi, Helena and Penny also offered ideas that worked in relation to the question that was asked. “Yes, bibliomancy often features in works of fiction,” she said with a smile. Of course, it sounded like Kurumi had been led to believe the story she’d heard wasn’t just fiction, but hopefully knowing it was would just help the girl feel better about it. “And these instances also continue to show that just about any book can be used in a Divinatory capacity, although in some cases it is taken to a bit of an extreme.” She wouldn’t recommend anyone using bibliomancy, or any form of Divination, to cover for nefarious dealings. Even if sometimes fate was cruel, there was always still free will to factor into the mix.

But now she figured was as good a time as any to continue the class discussion. As they needed to move on from Jules Verne, serial killers and Homer, at least somewhat. Moving toward the bookshelves again, she turned to regard the class once more with another smile. “Now that, I think, you’ve seen how any book can be used, I’m curious if any of you have an idea what book we could possibly use in class to see if we could use bibliomancy ourselves,” she said with a bit of amusement in her voice. “I’m not necessarily saying I’ll expect everyone to try, but just in case… If you could use any book for bibliomancy, what would it be?” Of course, there wasn’t any way she had every possible book in the classroom at one time. However, it could tell her a bit about the students, not to mention be fun if they in fact mentioned anything she had at the moment.

Hmmm what books?

...

"I've heard that the Bible has been used," Helena spoke hesitantly, with her hand in the air. "Is that right?" Or maybe it sounded silly? Maybe not?

They might as well use a dictionary, since they needed something that is believed to hold truth. Well... the dictionary would not lie to them, would it?

Better not say that out loud.

"What about our Arithmancy textbook?" Sierra asked, her hand in the air. "There's lots of things about our past, present, and future in it." She lowered her hand before adding, "Or would that even work considering we're supposed to use numbers to get a reading from it?" As she quietened down, she couldn't believe she was actually suggesting using the Arithmancy textbook when she didn't even have to use it. Sierra and Arithmancy didn't go well together, after all. Then again, though, neither did Sierra and Divination...

Doing it in class? That should be fun! Louisa listened to two of her classmate's suggestions. They were good. Particularly the Bible. It was a sacred book, right? Believe to be written by higher Power, right? It made sense to her more than the Arithmancy textbook O__O Who understood what was inside of it? She gave the girl who suggested it a long admiration look- she must be S.M.A.R.T.

Moving on to her own suggestion, she raised her hand, "Or what about The Tales of Beedle the Bard!" Mmm? It wasn't as childish as it used to be thought of, right? Didn't the Wizarding world survived because of one of its tales? That was what she thought!

Now...why was Destiny looking at him like that? Josh thought she found him to be something to be vary of, disgusting to touch and traumatizing to look at. What was that now? Raising an eyebrow, he stared back at her then raised both his eyebrows when she reacted to what Evelyn had said about being contagious.

Had she happened to think that Evelyn was talking about her mentioning someone contagious? Or maybe she had really been talking about Destiny and he just had misunderstood it. Yeah, it should have been that way. It did indeed make sense to him.

''Are you sure about that?'' the boy then replied and of course snorted at her answer to Professor Bishop. Well...actually it sounded reasonable and the Divination Professor liked it yet...she was Destiny so she needed to be snorted at. ''Why don't you balance the book on your own spine instead? Bishop has just told me that it works better that way''

Of course at first Josh had not felt like he would like this class about...bibliomancy?...for it involved books yet when it came to his knowledge that it was about reading random parts of a book...not the whole of it, the Gryffindor boy had started to be...interested in it. When Bishop asked them a book to use for bibliomancy, many ideas appeared in Josh's mind. He chose one and was about to mention it yet....

...when he heard the Poisonous Vipery and Evil Princess' answer he decided against it. Turning to look at the Slytherin girl, he smirked at her. ''Eh, eh, eh. Of course. Ask a Slytherin to find the easiest way of doing something. That book...'' he took a short breath ''...already has stuff about one's future. I think the professor would be more satisfied with an answer that one can adapt a random to text to divination. Like...''

His smirk getting wider he looked around the classroom, at the books then his gaze stopped on the professor. ''What about our Care of Magical Creatures textbook''

Bwahahahahahaha...

Then glancing back at Sierra, he kept smirking and ran a hand through his hair randomly while still staring at her ''I think you can make good use of that book''

Hehehehehe...

Kurumi thought for a moment. What book would she use? There were so many books that she had enjoyed and it seemed like a near impossible task to select just one. As she picked her brain, Kurumi's mind kept coming back to one author. It was someone that her brother, Takashi, really admired and would often read his works to Kurumi during the springtime when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. "I think I would select something from Matsuo Basho. He wrote haiku that are very deep in meaning and can speak to you on so many levels. My favorite would probably be Oku no Hosomichi."

If she was completely honest, listening to the few responses she'd gotten to her question would have made Renée think people weren't really listening. Since she was fairly certain nobody thought she had copies of the Bible in the classroom, but it was still a good answer. As was the others, and she gave Helena, Sierra, Josh, Louisa and Kurumi smiles. Even if at least the Gryffindor boy's had seemed vaguely dangerous, as most of his answers did. Plus, she most decidedly had not said anything about balancing books on anyone's spines.

She might as well get things moving, anyhow, as she had a feeling the lesson could get a bit crazy if they were allowed to go off on their own longer. "Those are all good answers, and I'd imagine most of you have both the Arithmancy textbook and the Care of Magical Creatures textbooks with you. But I don't think we'll use either of those today. Or the Bible, although you are definitely correct, Helena. That is a common book that is used," she said, going back to moving around the room as she spoke. "The works of Basho are good as well, although that might be more along the lines of rhapsodomancy. Which is a bit more specific than I think we'll go in class today." Perhaps another time. Of course, she hadn't quite addressed the last of the suggestions.

"Why don't we explore the possibility that Louisa brought up. The idea that we can use The Tales of Beedle the Bard to learn more than what the stories tell us in themselves," she continued, with another little grin as she glanced at her bookshelves once again. That was certainly an easy enough book to locate, or duplicate, for the lesson. "Of course, you'd need to think of a question, but I'd imagine we could try and see if it could be used as a bibliomantic resource..." Moving back to her table at the front of the room, she sat down again. "I think you have the basic idea, and I'd prefer it if nobody threw any books across the room. But either way, feel free to take one of the copies off my shelves and try bibliomancy out," she continued. "I don't necessarily expect everyone to be successful, but there's always the possibility." And she could think about a few things while they tried it out. well, if nobody had any more questions.

ooc: Okay, I'm leaving the lesson open for another couple of days. For you guys to RP trying to use Beedle the Bard as a resource for bibliomancy. Obviously, you don't have to actually try it, but I'd be interested if at least your characters did. Pretty sure it wouldn't be hard to locate lines from the stories... I'll keep checking in, and answer questions if need be, and the lesson will probably wrap up after I get back from work on Thursday night. ^.^

Penny removed her Tales of Beedle The Bard from her bag.... Then closed her eyes, thinking of a question to ask it... Deciding on whether or not she would be healthy and wealthy in her life...

Placing the book on its spine, she let it fall open, her eyes still closed, and let her finger rest on one of the open pages...
Opening her eyes again, she read the sentence and almost fell from her chair...

"Oh Professor, this is so weird, my finger landed on the sentence '"For instance... falling in love would adversely affect his comfort and security"'......It's weird because, my arithmany readings told me almost the same thing"

Penny felt a shiver run down her spine... the fact her finger picked that sentence was actually quite creepy...

Jumping off her chair, too excitedly, she headed to one of the shelves to get a copy of the book. She was going to try it out! It was so endearing to know something out of a book.. especially one that you've read over and over again before. No codes, no numbers, no difficult long paragraphs. Not that she had problems with those but still...

"I'm going to try it out! For real!" She announced proudly, the whole class should know that she was not the coward and wimp girl she was known to be. Louisa was about to reveal her future in public, wasn't she? *nodnod*

Grabbing the book from a low shelf, she quickly went back to her chair, dragged it from behind the desk to the front to have enough room for a dramaticAct good throwing act. She stepped on it, sending an apologetic smile to the Professor, and held the book from its two covers, open, high above her head. And closed her eyes, I want to know if my exam results would be great this semester, she ordered the psychic powers of this book before releasing it to faaaaaaall to the ground with a thud. She hadn't spun it or whatever, throwing it open would do, right? 'Coz she couldn't see a difference.

Hmmm. She opened her eyes and glared down at it. She hadn't expected it to be.. so ordinary. The fall should've been a bit unusual. Meh. Jumping down to the ground, she knelt before the book lying facedown on the ground and caaarefully put her thumb between the open pages as she turned it around eye closed. Then pointed randomly at the page with one finger and opened her eyes.

Simon looked at Professor Bishop and smiled. "Professor I feel a bit light headed." Simon didn't know if he could the work when he felt so funny he had a bit of an headache.

OOC: Book line is from "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," by J.K. Rowling.



Sierra had been content to just fall silent and wait for the next part of the lesson; but no, Lion Boy had other plans apparently. Sierra glared at him out of the corner of her, and then her gaze turned to Professor Bishop. What?! Was he going to be allowed to just get away with that?! Putting down her answer in the middle of class?!

...and did he actually think Sierra cared about her suggestion being the easy way out?! Of course she wanted the easy way out! What Slytherin didn't?! ...Gryffindors. She shook her head, rolled her eyes, and then looked away. She wasn't idiotic enough to respond to his comments here in class, where she could so easily get into trouble and get thrown out of this Saturday's championship match. She'd get him, though...



She passed Josh one last cold look then stood from her seat and went to retrieve a copy of Beedle the Bard. Once back at her seat, she balanced the book on its spine and then let it fall open. Hmm...page 30. Then she randomly looked at the page and came upon a sentence about halfway down:

Taking her wand, she drew from her mind all the happy times she had spent with her vanished lover, and dropped them into the rushing water.

Umm...what? Vanished lover?

Who vanished? ...and who had she been in love with?! This was rubbish! Well, it was Divination, so what did she expect?

On her parchment, under the sentence, she added:

This makes no sense. I've never been in love...only in like; and the person hasn't vanished...

...or did this mean he would vanish? Hmm. That wouldn't be so bad--Treyen disappearing for a day or two during the championship game. It'd increase Slytherin's chances of winning drastically.

Keeping an eye on the students as they went ahead to follow her directions, Renée couldn't help but smile a little as she saw the various ways they did. Just the fact that some of them seemed to carry the Tales around with them was interesting, but she stood up again as Penny spoke. Walking over to the Hufflepuff girl's table, she gave her the slightest of nods. "It's not necessarily creepy. Perhaps that just means that the message is important enough to warrant repeating, or that something thinks you didn't quite understand what it was telling you in Arithmancy," she said gently. Actually, the fact the message was similar made her think that it was true, or at least extraordinarily coincidental.

Any real consideration of the implications of what Penny saw as creepy didn't seem likely to happen, though, as Simon spoke up again not long after she'd spoken to his housemate. Turning her attention to him, her expression turned concerned at his words. He'd not responded to her earlier question if he thought he needed to go visit the Hospital Wing, but right now that seemed like the best idea. "Would you like to be excused from the remainder of the lesson, go have Healer Moretti look you over?," she asked gently. She could always ask another student to accompany him .

Ooooh this sounded like fun!

Helena stood up and went to take a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, since she wasn't sure whether professor Bishop would be alright with books flying around her classroom or not. She walked back to her seat and balanced the book on the spine, and then let if fall open. She didn't really notice the page, but she definitely recognized the tale. Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump.



Blink, blink.

... and some more blinks.

What was that supposed to mean?!

"Professor?" She could barely find her voice. "Is it allowed to try again?" Because that part... wasn't exactly telling her anything.

OOC: Yup. Lines in the quote are from 'The Tale of Three Brothers' of 'The Tales of Beedle The Bard' by JK. Rowling


Josh could feel the radiating evilness of Poisonous Princess even from where he was sitting in this classroom. He knew probably, right now, she was thinking about some good means of hurting him yet...when she did not speak, the Gryffindor had to admit that it was a bit weird. Sierra not talking back?

Oh wait...

Of course she had stared his way and the look was not a nice one. Eh? What kind of a look one could expect from the Poisonous Princess? Of course a poisonous one! It was like a death glare. Neverless before she turned away to be busy with her book, Josh grinned at her. Hehehe. Of course, just to remind her that he was scared of no poison spitted on him or any other evil means.

Leaving his seat for a moment or so, Josh walked to the shelves and picket up a copy of The Tales of Beedle The Bard for himself. To be honest, he had no idea what was in that book. He had not read it yet since it said 'tales' in the title so it had to be a story book. Hehehe. Nice reasoning.

Once he got back to his seat, he balanced the book on its spine, on the desk, then let it fall open. And without losing a split second, he stared at the page to read whatever sentence would be first caught in his gaze.

First he froze, which maybe lasted a minute or so, yet then the lion boy's eyes narrowed. This was not fair. Not fair at all. Looking up at Bishop, he blinked a few times before speaking up. ''Professor! Professor! I think Sierra messed with my book. Maybe she has put some of her will in it and...it happened. I mean...this happened.''

Penny looked over at Simon, annoyance turning to concern - he didn't look too great right now...

"Hey bud, you ok?", she whispered over to him...

Simon looked at the Professor. "Professor Bishop, I think i'll feel fine after some fresh air." He didn't want to disturb the nurse, Simon had no idea why he felt so funny but maybe it had to due with him slipping in the class though normally he wouldn't feel like this, he was sure the Professor was hiding something.

Simon looked at Penny he was confused that she was asking him if he was okay, he was sure that Penny hated him so why was she so concern now. "I'll be fine after some fresh air."

Returning to her seat with a copy of the book, she turned to Maleficent. 'Ok.. now while I'm doing this, do not disturb me!' She frowned at the cat, who frowned right back lashing her tails backwards and forwards.

Sighing, Thea closed her eyes. Balancing the book on its spine, she let it fall open randomly. Breathing out, looking straight ahead Thea jabbed a finger on a random line. While she did this the same query was racing round and round in her head. Will Dad be home this summer? And if so, will he be.. normal again? Thea had no idea why this particular question was chosen. She didn't normally waste time worrying about her father..

She read and reread the small paragraph that hse had 'chosen'. Um.. did this eman she needs to bathe more?..

Text Cut: Thea's lines from The Fountain of Fair Fortune

The Fountain shimmered before them, set amidst herbs and flowers rarer and more beautiful than they had yet seen. The sky burned ruby, and it was time to decide which of them would bathe.

Granted Penny hadn't always seen eye to eye with Simon, but he was a fellow badger after all.... and our house is like our family here, she thought and if one of her family looked unwell - she would ask after them too...

So Penny had asked him if he was ok... but the look he'd just sent her, made Penny wish she hadn't asked at all...

.....Really, boys could be so asinine sometimes....

Kurumi retrieved a copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard and returned to her seat. Truth be told, she had yet to actually read any of these stories. She did enjoy fairy tales, she had read those by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, but wizarding ones always seemed to just missed her must read list for each term. Perhaps she should look into borrowing a copy of the book and reading it over the summer. She did have a long flight from Japan to New York.

Right, she needed to ask a question....Turning the book on its binding, Kurumi closed her eyes and thought for a few moments. So much had happened this term and her mind was swimming with so many different concerns that it was had to flesh out just ONE thing she wanted to ask. Still, everything came back to the summer and the grand adventure she would be taking part in. Will my study abroad experience this summer go well?

She dropped the book and let her finger run over the page for a moment before her eyes snapped back open. "The three witches and the knight set off down the hill together, arm in arm, and all four led long and happy lives, and none of them ever knew or suspected that the Fountain's waters carried no enchantment at all," she read aloud. She then cocked her head to the side like a baby owl and frowned. She really should have read the stories because she didn't have a clue how to relate the passage to her question. Words like happy seemed to trigger a positive response though...and there were four people, so she assumed that meant she would make friends while abroad.

Selina looked around the room as all of the students started to grab their books and copies of the Tales of the Beedle the Bard. Once they were all settled people seemed to be asking questions silently and partaking in the assignment. Part of Selina did not want to get up and try. The trying part of Divination never ended well for Selina, but she sucked it up and got out of her seat. She grabbed the book and returned to her seat.

Upon sitting she closed her eyes and thought hard on a question. So many were milling around in her head and she had no idea which one to ask. But in the cloud of questions one was clear in her head- Will I ever be free of the burden of Danielle's death?

She flipped open the book and landed on one line that startled her, "Having transferred his greatest treasure to the deepest dungeon, he gave himself over to a life of ease and plenty, his comfort the only aim of his many servants."

WHAT. DID. THAT. MEAN?

From the Tale of the Three Brothers -

William raised his hand. " My quote has to with the future" Wiliam told the professor. " This also has to do with a prediction that the son could use " the Cloak of Invisibily" William said to the professor. " This is like a book of Astorlogy like I mentioned" Willaim explained to the professor.

Listening to the questions that kept coming, from just about every student, Renée had to decide whether it was worth it to answer each one individually, or just call the practical portion of the lesson, well, not as successful as some. Another glance at the time decided that for her, though. It may have been nearing the end of term, but that didn't mean it would be alright to keep them for longer than a class period. Returning to the front of the classroom, she gave Simon a slight nod to indicate she'd heard his statement that he only needed fresh air, then turned to the whole group.

"It seems a lot of you aren't exactly discovering anything particularly enlightening," she said gently. There could be any number of reasons for that; not asking the correct questions, not concentrating... not believing they'd learn anything. making a long story short, however, most of them didn't seem to be having as much fun as they could with bibliomancy. or, in the case of certain students, they might be having too much fun. "Keep in mind that the answer might not be obvious," she continued, before glancing at William as he'd spoken. That response was the oddest she'd ever gotten. "William, I'm not certain you understand the intent of bibliomancy. You don't interpret the quote in itself, just take what the quote says and apply it to a question of your own." Unless he'd simply been curious about the meaning behind the Tale of the Three Brothers.

"In any case, it's time to let you all go. There won't be a homework assignment this time, to let you all focus on studying for your other exams, but I'd like you to consider how Divination could apply to your life. Just out of curiosity, and you don't have to focus on bibliomancy," she continued, sitting down again as she waited for the reaction to that announcement. "And I hope you all have an amazing summer," she added, a bit of a rueful smile on her face before it vanished and her usual friendly expression was back. She'd see them all at the end-of-term feast after all.

... and another class was over.

Helena felt kind of sad about it, even though Divination was surely one of her worst subjects. But she liked it anyway. At least the good part was that they had no homework. Hehe.

The girl packed her stuff and stood up, then walked towards the door. "Have a great summer, professor," she said with a smile, then spun around on her tiptoes and walked out of the classroom.

Louisa glared down at her paragraph as the Professor explained their flaws in bibliomancy. And she probably was right. The girl closed the book gently and returned it to the shelf, slung her bag over her shoulder and walked to the door stopping at the Professor's table, "Thank you, Professor. See ya at the feast!" She flashed a grin and walked out.

Yay! Class over! And best of all...no homework!

But they have to study for their exams. *Frowny face*

Savannah gathered her things and sighed. Another year have come and gone. Years go by so fast! Too fast. Before you know it, Savvy will be taking her O.W.L. exams. "Good bye professor, have a great summer!" said Savannah before walking out the Divination classroom.