" Hey, Min, You don't see them either huh." Justin whispered.

Ira tried to free her mind off the other thoughts and focused on her present task...
So she was to observe birds and their flight pattern.. Okay, Oh wait, there it was, she saw a bird. It was going first straight, then in a circle, then again straight. It was just as she had drawn in her parchment!
She called out to the professor "Sir, I just saw a bird going straight and then into a circle and then again straight. So how does this relate to my future?" Maybe it meant that her life goes straight for sometime and then becomes puzzled and then again straight...meaning good days then bad days then again good days.

"No Justin I'm not, oh wait.." Just then Minerva saw two small birds from her bowl. They flew from the right side of her bowl to the left side. "Professor, I have just seen two small birds. They have flown from the right side of my bowl to the left and they were side by side. Does that mean I will be having company?"

"Greingoth," she said, answering his question.

Hmm. He was a lot nicer now than he'd appeared to be in class. Then again, she wasn't frantically wagging a finger at him while mumbling words that made absolutely no sense at all. Still, he looked like her father, and if anyone else had seen their father's head on a centaur's body, they'd have freaked out, too...

"I wanted to apologize for the way I greeted you at the beginning of class. That's not like me, and...," she trailed off then rummaged through her bag for a photograph. "It's in here somewhere..." She looked up for a split second and eyed the centaur, fully expecting him to get impatient with her. Just then, she found what she was looking for and held it for Thereos to see.

"You look just like him," she said. "This is my father, Alexander Greingoth. It just surprised me at first to see the similarities, and...that's why I reacted the way I did." She paused and looked at Thereos, trying to read his face for any sort of sign at all. She couldn't tell anything, though. "I didn't mean any disrespect, so again, I apologize."

They...were? Kurumi supposed that this was a rather broad term being used to describe a bird, but she wasn't going to question it for now. She'd much rather see sugar gliders in her bowl of water than a bird, might make things feel more exciting.

Her eyes widened when he suddenly drew a lot of attention onto her, but thankfully none of the other students pounced on the opportunity to ee just what it was that she had done. Maybe they were all too into their own readings? Then again, there still was a small but steady trickle of students leaving the area and heading back to the classroom.

Now it was a matter of just WHAT it was she got.

"Guess this means that I should cherish and depends on my friends more..." she said out loud. V shapes implied friendship, but she only had a single bird which perhaps meant that she had been trying to do too many things on her own when she should be seeking her friends? It had possibilities at least.

Noticing a few students focusing hard, Thereos took note of who they were. "You'll get it. You will. And if not, well, just relax." Don't stress over getting it today. Or maybe not ever; Divination wasn't for everyone.

Had the Gryffindor not paid attention when he went over the flight patterns in the classroom? Cantering over toward her, he nodded as she explained her sight. Oh, it was a combination one. "Well... Chances are that means your life might seem like a straight path at first, no obstacles, just chugging along..." He paused, thinking. "But then, you'll backtrack. Retrace your steps. Hesitate. Before picking up and going again."

Two birds? "It doesn't really matter. What matters is what pattern those birds were flying in. Did you happen to catch that?"

Greingoth? Oh. It was her name.

Nodding politely, he waited for the girl to go on. She seemed sincere enough. She really did. "May I?" He asked, taking the photograph from her and examining it closer. "Huh. Peculiar, eh? Suppose that's just one of life's enchanting mysteries." Of course Thereos thought he was better looking with his facial hair, but he didn't say as such. After all, that was the girl's father. "Here." He handed it back to her and turned to head toward the Gryffindor Prefect, when he paused.

"Miss ... Greingoth?" He spoke questioningly. "Thank you. For your most kind and honest words. They've been duly noted." And she would most likely definitely be getting half the points she lost earlier back.

"Yes." Thereos nodded in approval, overhearing the Prefect speak of what her V formation meant for her. "Friends are good."

Kurumi looked up as Thereos came back ground to where she was sitting looking. Kurumi nodded. Well, that was rather obvious, friends being important. This was part of the reason why Divination didn't always appeal to her. Answers were always so vague or seemed like they were stating the obvious. 'Friends are important,' 'never leave home in the winter without a coat,' 'you will have troubles a head'... Weren't most of those already lessons that they should know for life?

Oh well, at least the owl hadn't dropped anything in her bowl that it shouldn't have.

Looking up, Kurumi didn't realize just how much the sun had moved and it was already getting late. She was sure Thereos would like to wrap things up and return to...the Forbidden Forest. At least, she assumed that that is where he came from.

"I'll...keep that in mind," she nodded, in regards to her reading and everything. "Do you need any help bringing all these bowls back to the classroom?" The stones could just go back to the lake, right?

Looking up from her bowl, Nora smiled at Thereos when he tried to make the ones (including her) that couldn't find anything feel better. Well, it worked. Kind of. The good part was that she knew that Divination was not her best subject, even though she liked it, so she didn't get upset.

She looked back down to see the reflected, birdless sky, and tried to focus more on it. There was only an owl passing, but she didn't get to see its flight pattern, or whatever they were supposed to see.

Sigh.

Louisa glanced at the Centaur as he advised relaxing and nodded, mostly to herself. She sat down on her butt and hugged her knees staring down at the bowl. That single crow did pass by fast and still she couldn't read any patterns. Louisa was half sure that it was the crow's fault, the next half was the Centaur... she never blamed herself for anything so that fit. Even if it was not the truth.

On and on she stared until a sigh escaped her mouth and she got up. "I..I guess I'll just head back to class." This staring thing would be more effecient once the girl had a full stomach maybe? "Thank you, sir Thereos." Smiling halfheartedly at the half man.

Maddy peered into her bowl after listening to the class discussion. She saw the reflection of a few trees, some coulds, no birds. Not just yet.

Sierra nodded just once as he reached for the photograph. That's what she'd intended for him to do in the first place. As she waited for a reaction, she looked up at him, but she looked away just as quickly. Seeing a centaur looking so close to her father in appearance still freaked her out a little, but now that he wasn't reprimanding her and docking house points, it was a little easier to handle the situation.

She narrowed her eyes in a mixture of thought and confusion. So they really weren't related. It seemed Thereos had never seen or heard of her father before, which was strange considering their similarities. Then again, it wasn't like her father frequented the forests. "Yes?" she asked, hearing her name. She made herself look up and into his eyes. "You're welcome." She nodded but didn't say anything else.

She moved back to the setup she'd made before and knelt on the ground to observe the flight pattern of the birds in the sky. At first, she saw nothing. Absolutely nothing. Then when a flight of birds finally came by, she leaned in for a closer look. "Professor Thereos," she said, "they're flying straight and in my direction." She pointed downward at what she was seeing. "Is this the pattern that means happier times?" ...cause Merlin only knew she needed that.

"Well they were parallel with each other flying from the east going west in a straight line. Is that close or am I way off?" Minerva wasn't sure if she was understanding the patterns.

Midway back to class, Alyssa decided that she would go back and complete the Ornithomancy reading.

She quickly ran back to the lake hoping that the Professor was still there. Noticing that he was still directing some of the other students who had stayed back, she quickly
picked up one of the shallow bowls that was still lying on a pile where the Professor had left it. Then she went looking for 9 medium sized stones that she had earlier thrown back at the edge of the lake. Finding them lying just where she left them, she filled up her bottle of water again and ran back to where she a bottle out of her bag, she filled it with water.

Alyssa lay the stones around the edge of the bowl and then filled the bowl with water. She then looked into the pool of water and again saw her reflection. But this time the sky behind her was clear. There were no clouds in the sky and the breeze that was blowing earlier had died down. The water floating in the stones was a flat as glass. Her reflection looked like she was looking at herself in the mirror. She suddenly recalled what Professor Thereos said.

She immediately sat up straight on the grass, with her legs crossed flat in front of her. She closed her eyes to clear her mind since looking up at the sky tended to distract her more. When she felt that she was ready, she opened her eyes and gazed down at the water in the bowl, making sure that she was looking down from an angle.

Charlie looked over at the girl sitting nearby. He had his stones all nicely arranged around his bowl and he had poured the water in the circle. He had followed the exact instructions the Professor had told them to do, even sitting straight, clearing his mind and looking down at the water at a forty-five degree angle, but he couldn't see anything except his face reflecting back at him.

He leaned over and whispered to the girl. "Hey there, do you see anything? Do you think the Prof is going to get to us. My legs are falling asleep on me here. My name is Charlie by the way."

"Oh he will just give him a little time. You might want to back up a little to see the birds and not your face. I just saw two fly across my bowl." Minerva turned to the professor. "Professor I just found in my notes the birds I saw were in a straight pattern which would means there are not obstacles in my life. Is that correct?"

Alyssa turned when she heard the boy...Charlie was his name, whisper to her. She turned and shushed him. "Great now I've lost my
concentration."Alyssa thought to herself. "Where did he pop up from anyway?"

"Oh bother, I've got to do this all over again." Alyssa was getting grumpy which she knew wasn't good because she knew that she needed to be at peace and calm, AND try to clear her mind, in order for her to be able to read anything in the water....if there was any!!

She closed her eyes again, and breathed slowly, trying to calm herself and to empty her thoughts. After a couple of minutes of breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, she was ready to try it again. She leaned forward and looked back down at the pool of water. She waited patiently knowing that things like this take time.

As she looked, she saw a slight movement coming from the right corner of the reflection. She peered closer and saw a bird. "A bird? What are birds doing up in the sky at night? I thought birds didn't fly at night except for owls?,"Alyssa thought to herself. She decided to keep on looking in the reflection because she was afraid that if she looked up in the sky, she would lose her point of reference. As she continued looking, more birds appeared flying in a V formation. "Must be geese migrating," she thought to herself....and sure enough she heard the quacking sounds coming from above. "That's what it is, geese migrating late at night."

She followed their reflection in the water as they moved from the right to the left portion of the pool. Then they flew out of sight. "Ah well, so much for looking for a meaning in their flight pattern." Alyssa sighed.

But then, as she was about to look away, she saw another lone bird fly from the right. It seemed like it was trying to catch up with the other birds. "Poor bird must be so tired that he's gotten left behind. I hope that the others will slow down or he'll get lost," Alyssa thought to herself as she saw the bird's reflection slowly fly by, and off to the left of the pool of water below her.

She looked up in the sky. There was nothing there. She looked all around her and discovered that besides the boy and her, everyone had left. "Guess I was too late to return to class. Everybody has left. Might as well pack up."

As she leaned over to start picking up the stones, she looked at her reflection in the pool, and suddenly it dawned on her. There could have been a meaning to what she just saw.

Kimalia definitely should've just packed up and left, but quite a few students were staying, and very few of her own house.. Kimalia looked into the bowl trying to see whatever is reflected.. Clouds.. the sky.. trees.. hmm, no birds...Well, I mustn't give up yet..

She was laying on her stomach her elbows resting on the ground whilst her hands were tucked under her chin in relaxing form whilst the bowl was in front of her.. Oh, sit up straight? Kimalia obliged to see if that did anything yet... Hmm, nope. This was almost as bad as a crystal ball.