This was officially a HARD subject. He couldn't see anything, NOTHING, aside from some misty smokey things on occasion and sometimes his reflection... but otherwise, it was a glass ball of nothingness. LAME. Perhaps Emily was right, this might be a subject he could pass up. After all, he likely wouldn't be needing it for anything he wanted to do later on, it's not as if he wanted to set up camp in DA and tell people they were going to die randomly and not to eat pickles.

....

....

His staring was resulting in nothing but smokey swirls. Was his inner eye smoke? Is that what it was? Or maybe his inner eye was BLIND? Was that possible? He'd have to ask Professor Cassie later.

It was then though, that he considered faking it again. After all, they were looking with their INNER eyes, right? Not their PHYSICAL eyes. So therefore... his imagination was seeing things from his... INNER being... or something? It counted, no?

Like a lightbulb moment, Zeke perked up, a grin lifting the corners of his lips. "I've got it!" Heheeee! Seeing wasn't believing, nope... believing was SEEING!!!!

Ahem, or so he would tell himself.

Those thoughts had come back, she wasn’t calm not anymore. Taking a gulping sip of her now cool tea she felt her nerves begin to squelch somewhat. It wasn’t as much as she needed but it was a start yeah?

She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and bit down in an attempt to stifle the emotions. When she opened her eyes and looked at the crystal ball, she saw it, the mist…and still she knew she wasn’t in the right headspace.

calm down calm down calm down she thought in rapid succession.

Oh wait….that wasn’t mist, she lightly chuckled as she realized she had been exhaling against the crystal ball. She was calm yeah? Calmer than she had been…eyelids heavy…..sooooo heavy.

Angel was still blushing when her sister spoke to her, she could tell her sister had been drooling and she had a feeling she knew why, though she wouldn't say anything because she didn't want to upset her sister and her sister was kind of telling her the truth they could hear her.

Now then where was Ben.

O_____________o

He had turned red as well, this was no good. They both liked turning very red for some reason. She'd apologise to him later for all the trouble.

Angel looked at the crystal Ball again and felt like poking it... it was causing so much trouble that she hated and now Ben probably wouldn't talk to her, she decided that she might have to speak to someone later for advice maybe her favourite Huffindor Lux.

Angel continued to stare into the crystal ball and she tried her hardest to do what she could but once again Ben came back to her and was staring at her through the ball, he was dreamily asking her out, well there was only one thing she could do and that was try and block his image out of her mind, she tried and tried and tried and in the end succeeded. "I did..." Angel started to say then stopped as she realise it was just like when she first started. She just couldn't seem to get the thing working was it broken or something.

He couldn't understand why he kept losing his focus, normally he could focus so well, but he supposed that was because he was doing something that generally could be focussed on, like playing the guitar or something along those lines.

He took a sip of tea, focussing himself again and looking at it until finally he started seeing mists swirl around.

Leo felt really excited, in fact he wanted up jump up and cheer but now he had to try to keep his focus.

But he couldn't and the swirls fell away to leave a clear crystal ball.

He groaned, dropping his head on his desk.

Clearing her mind wasn't so easy right now. Every time she'd fallen into a state of pure calm and her mind was clearing something would happen around her or a thought would slip her up.

Someone had sneezed. Then she'd heard talking. How could she honestly concentrate like this? Blinking her eyes open she shifted her attention from the crystal ball to those around her. It seems she wasn't the only one having a hard time here.

What she needed was more tea. Yeah tea would probably. Hady? Oh Hady dear focus here!

Shifting around and stretching just a bit to wake herself up a little she straightened up in her spot and once more shut her eyes. She was going to do this! She knew she could do this is she kept trying and didn't lose focus.

He didn't want to move his head from it's current position on the desk, but pulling himself together he tried to push away the feeling of annoyance and frustration. Sitting up again, Leonard downed the rest of the lukewarm peppermint tea, trying to clear his mind once again.

Looking back at the crystal ball he worked his hardest to keep his focus. The swirls again appeared in front of him and he just kept staring. He wouldn't allow himself to lose it this time.

He felt the urge to move his gaze further to the side of the crystal ball, and given that their teacher had told them to, he listened to it.

Briefly he glimpsed his mother, one of his sisters in her arms.

But as quickly as it appeared it disappeared.

He grinned.

No matter how fleeting, he managed to get something and that was what counted right?

It seemed this time his "technique" was working, but it didn't last enough. Soon Hugo's mind was thinking again. Nope. He had to do it and now he would. HE WOULD.

He did the same as earlier: closed his eyes, thought about the color white and let all negative energy go out of his body. He took a deep breath and started to feel his mind clearing up. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Could he love Divination now? Could he wake his inner eye? But most importantly, did he have an inner eye?

He couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Hugo opened his eyes, raised his hand and gestured the professor to come closer. He didn't want to interrupt anyone. You’re welcome, people.

Wait a minute. How the heck was he supposed to do this crying scrying thing again? They didn't ever really get a good explanation. The focusing thing was a no go. He was really trying to do the not thinking about things, thing. B-but it was just so hard. Especially when he was sitting next to CB because of certain things during the train and stuff. And then there was the fact that he had found about about the Beautiful Bentley thing a few days ago WHICH, by the way, he was STILL heartbroken over.

Heartbroken. Confused. Still doesn't know what scrying means.

So this was not working. It had only been a solid minute. But it wasn't working, okay? How was he supposed to scry or whatever when there was just so much more to think about. Honestly he didn't really understand why he was still in this class. Or why people like Cinna enjoyed it so much. If you asked Zander it was all kind of guesswork...

But really though, what did scrying even mean?

Delilah just sipped at her tea, her blue eyes focused on the crystal ball. Nothing was happening.. and she was pretty sure nothing was going to happen. Maybe she needed to try the meditating thing. The girl set her mug down and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths.

.... No. This wasn't working. She was a little too distracted by things and was completely unable to concentrate. SIGH. She knew she should have skipped this class.

Time to try again.

Okay so maybe he just had to go with his gut on this scrying stuff. Obviously the not thinking about things and clearing the inner mind thing was NOT working out for the Gryffindor. So back to plan A: The dead turtle. Taking a deep breath, the Gryffindor moved his face as close to the crystal ball as he could get without making it all foggy with his breath. Okay. Here goes nothing.

DEAD TURTLE. Dead turtle. dead turtle. Dead turtles.

THINK dead turtles. Poor dead turtle on it's back. Poor baby turtles. Poor grandpa turtles. Poor turtle with broken leg.

Was it working?

Sorta... Maybe he needed to blink some more. BLINK BLINK BLINK.

Was it working yet? Were his eyes getting teary? Could you see all the scrying taking place just now? Wasn't it beautiful!!

Abby looked about people were in different stages she had yet got anything in her crystal she concentrated in trying to get something in her crystal. She was a bit surprised when the crystal clouded in her front of her eyes now she hoped that she would get some sort of reading out of it

Angel decided to close her eyes and relax again, she didn't want to get a failure for not being able to get it done, She then concentrated on the crystal ball and started to stare into it. Seriously would the crystal ball work now please.

Angel looked at the crystal ball and there was mist and there was him waving at her again, seriously want was going on with her crystal ball she had half a mind to get up and leave the room, but she was fascinated about what was happening with everything that was going on in her crystal ball, there he was offering her food, then he was taking her on a picnic and then well he was showing her his favourite place... this was getting weird fast, but then the connection was broken and she was half sad and half happy.

"Professor!" Angel raised her hand, she wanted to know what was going on with her crystal ball. "Every time I look into the crystal ball there's a boy staring back at me." Angel said truthfully wasn't going to give name this time though. "What does it mean?"

Merlin. Oh, Merlin. This was hilarious and Cutty Mordaunt was finding it hard to drift into that state which Professor Morgan was calling the inner eye waking. Oh, he was a fool to think that he could make any money off of this as he hadn't counted on it being quite so hilarious.

With an exhale, Cutty looked down into the crystal ball and looked into it for a few moments. Only his own reflection peered back at him and he shut his eyes, loosely at first then tightly as the image of everyone trying this shot through his mind. He was holding it together rather nicely, he thought until he felt his body begin to shake overtaken by a silent laughter which was then being covered by his face burrowing into the bend of his arm.

Cutty was going to fail Divination.

Abby thought that she saw a boy's face in the crystal she concentrated hard trying to focus on the image that was coming through on the crystal

In frustration, Sapphire closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "How on earth am I going to do this?" she thought. "I think too much..."

She opened her eyes again and decided to observe the other students before giving scrying another go. There were those who seemed to get the hang of it, but she was relieved to see she wasn't the only first year having a hard time.

Sapphire looked at her crystal ball again and just stared at it for a while. "Okay...I can't clear my head completely just yet. But what if I do it step by step? I'll focus on just one thing, and all my other thoughts might go away. And if I can do that right, then maybe I can clear my head completely afterwards," she wondered to herself, quite pleased at her own experimental theory. "Now...what do I want to see? I want to see...my puppy Teacup."

"Hmm...no," Sapphire thought again. "I can't see a thing, not even a shadow, much less my puppy. Something simple then..." she suddenly remembered the trip she and her family took around Canada last year. "How about a maple leaf? One, single, simple maple leaf."

Sapphire took a deep breath, stared at her crystal ball, and tried to clear her head of everything except an image of a maple leaf.

...
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.......
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....
...

Her crystal ball remained crystal clear. "It was worth a try I guess," Sapphire whispered to herself, then made a mental note to ask the professor about the little experiment she just did.

Abby could see the boy's face clear now she thought he looked familiar but really could not picture where he was from, she now closed her eyes and focused again and tried to see if she could see any other images

Sapphire closed her eyes and tried breathing deeply. She focused on the music Professor Cassie had playing. "Notes..."

Clear the mind...

"I wish I could play an instrument as well as that!" Sapphire heard herself thinking.

"That's great Sapphire, but would you please reserve your thoughts for later?"

"Okay?"

"Okay."

"Now...quiet!"

"It's not easy."

"Just shush!"

"It's lovely how you talk to yourself like some crazy person."

"I'm thinking to myself. That's different!"

"Ugh."

And so it went for some more minutes, this conversation with herself in her head.

"This is not working," Sapphire said quietly, finally opening her eyes. "This is hard. Hard!"

She stared intently at her crystal ball. She stared some more. On and on and on.

BLANK.

"Ugh!!! Nothing's happening!!!"

Sapphire wanted to stand up and scream!

Abby opened her eyes again and there was that same boy waving at her and it was showing her going places in hogsmeade and then it went and said "Professor i am getting something to do with a boy but i have no idea what it means" Abby was a bit confused

He was convinced that his theory was correct. It WAS all in the mind, but not quite in the way that he had first thought. It was its own form of magic yes, and no, not everyone had the ability to possess the skill... but he did.

He did!

Zeke shook his head clear, and focused back on his orb, staring intently and letting his mind DRIFFFFTTT to wherever it wanted to drift to. Of course, he WAS expecting images, and they came to him, though it wasn't quite in the orb. No. His 'INNER EYE' was projecting into the back of his head... his imagination... but he was so certain that this was it. HE HAD IT!!!! HE HAD HAD IT!!! ...

"Ugh," he grumbled, but then gave it another go.

Images, he saw them, but this time, it was hard to tell if he was imagining them, or if they were really there. Who knew? WHO KNEW? His gaze was still transfixed on the orb.

Sapphire wasn't ready to give up yet. She looked back at her notes, read a little, then tried to relax again and clear her head.

"Be patient," she said to herself. She tried to focus and not think too much.

After a few moments of staring, she saw movement in her crystal ball. "Oh!" she exclaimed, excited to have finally got it. But she quickly realized her mistake. "Oh." It was just a trick of the light, as the professor walked somewhere across Sapphire and her crystal ball.

Hady inhaled slowly letting it out even more slowly. She could do this. She knew she could.

Relax.

Relax.

Deep breath in. Out. In. Out.

Let the thoughts drift away like a bit of sand blown through the air by a breeze. Her mind was clearing as she focused on nothingness. A sense of calm and relaxation took over as she sunk deeper into the beanbag seat her breathing completely calm as if asleep.

Had she fallen asleep? No she didn't believe she had she knew she was awake, could feel it.

Don't open your eyes yet Hady just a bit longer. A little longer.

Deep breath in. Now let the breath out...

There would be NO more deep breathing and concentration from her in case her daydream came back... if that even was a daydream. What if she had been predicting the future? At least she didn't go on babbling it in front of the whole class. Angel was red, but not as red as Benny. What didn't make the pair turn into a tomato? Now her sister was asking the professor about seeing "the boy" aka Benny in her ball. Goodness... it meant that she was crazy in love, or just crazy. AJ could answer that for her without having a license to teach.

AJ peeked over at Adi to see how he was taking Angel's declaration of love right in the middle of Divination only to see him shaking with silent laughter. This made break out in silent giggles. She turned herself back in front of the ball and pretended to concentrate. There was nothing in her ball besides her own reflection.

Sapphire rubbed her eyes. All this staring and gazing at the crystal ball was starting to make them hurt.

"What did the professor say again?" Sapphire asked herself, trying to recall Professor Cassie's instructions before she let them begin scrying. "Open up... Let go of distractions... Negative energy out, positive energy in."

Positive energy in.

Suddenly feeling inspired, Sapphire looked around the room once more, but this time, took particular notice of the students who were succeeding at scrying. She observed their faces and reactions, and imagined the pleased and successful feelings they had.

Excited, Sapphire turned towards her crystal ball and focused on it, trying with all her might not to be distracted by anything. Negative energy out. Positive energy in.

Sapphire began to feel a little dizzy, but she ignored it and continued looking into the ball. Her eyes were drawn to somewhere on the upper left side of the crystal ball. She saw a dark blue mist beginning to form right there. It started to swirl as it very slowly grew bigger and clearer.

"Wow," Sapphire said softly. At that, she jumped slightly as if she had just woken up. She rubbed her forehead. She still felt a bit dizzy, but this time, Sapphire had a smile on her face. "I didn't see anything but mist, but it's progress!" she thought, feeling encouraged.

Er. How does scrying work again? Leah had kind of dozed off during the lesson and only 'came back' as the activity began. Focusing, huh? That was easy. She closed her eyes again and cleeeaaaaaared her mind.

Or tried to. It did not work. Apparently others were already seeing things in their crystal balls, and that distracted the Hufflepuff more. She was SO behind. Frustrated, Leah shut her eyes tight and stopped thinking about anything. Now for the dizzy feeling to come and the inner eye to wake. Maybe she was right in thinking that older people had more thinking to do, because it was difficult to get rid of thoughts wandering in her mind.

Was that REALLY a fox he was SEEing? Or was he projecting? Imagining? Thinking about it and really trying to FOCUS on the image at hand, Zeke lost it. He completely lost it.

Fjijsdbsihsofjw!!!!

"But... but..."

This was confusing. He saw it, and was sure he saw it... but then he unsaw it, and wasn't even sure if he SAW it saw it, or JUST saw it. Like... in his head. This was madness. Was it IN the ball? ON the ball? Or was it... everywhere?

He couldn't recall the image to mind, and the ball just stared at him all clear as if nothing had happened. Maybe nothing happened at all.

"Miss... I mean, Professor... I'm confused," he muttered, eyes on the ball but his hand waving in the air.