The boy nodded at the professor's response. So he did have an inner eye. That made things more interesting and challenging for him, but this was…annoying. Maybe his attitude was affecting the situation. Probably. Or he didn’t have talent for this subject. Hmm…

He stared at the ball again. It was really interesting. How does this thing work? What was the science behind it? Questions and more questions. After the moment of reflection, he focused his mind on the task. He had to see something, ANYTHING. He deserved it.

He gave another try but with a positive attitude. This time he saw a misty swirl inside the crystal ball. Is that what he supposed to see? IS IT?

Time to do it again. He would concentrate and try not to be scared by his body spasms. He took a sip of his tea to help him calm down. He closed his eyes and cleared his mind out of all thought. He was starting to feel a little off and dizzy. It was working. He decided it was time to open his eyes and he opened them and his eyes were more drawn to the bottom of the crystal ball for some reason. Then as he was staring and concentrating, he saw something was forming. He still kept his concentration and saw yellow swirling and then it was becoming a face. Then it disappeared!

MERLIN! This task was gonna be hard. He was concentrating the best he can. He shook his head and started to not get discouraged. It would all work out eventually. He wondered how Lux, Bay and Emmy were doing with this. Worse than him or doing better?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga

Nothing another child she watched closely, “Oh no Zarha, we don’t want to do that.” Grabbing a purple cloth of her desk she walked over and gave the child a small smile, “We have to keep the ball clean or it will not show us what it wants us to see.” Wiping the smudges away carefully she then gave her an encouraging look. “I know it can be hard at first and believe me I don’t want anyone to get frustrated. Just try to relax and do your best.” Giving the child a pat on the shoulder she moved on to other students.

Zahra was supposed to be CLEANING her ball the whole time!? Hum. Well, since Professor Clean Ball cleaned it for her, Zahra figured she was set to start SEEING things now.

So she put her EYE ON THE BALL, in a literal way, and LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKED. LOOoOOOOOoOOOOOoOOOOooOOOooKING. Looking her BEST like she was instructed to do, mmhmmm.

...

..... maybe Zahra's ball needed a good shake. So she used pulled her hands into her sleeves, so the clean ball wouldn't get smudged or anything, then SHOOK HER BALL REAL HARD. COME ON STUPID THING. WORK. SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE.

hehe. hehehe.

Maybe he needed to take things more seriously. Doing the exercise over again to make him think of nothing he took another look into the crystal ball. "come on… let me see something…" he thought while maybe it was just his eyes playing tricks on him… he thought he might have seen something… it kind of looked like an umbrella??? no wait a cane?? ughhhh.. why was this so hard.

Wanting so badly to bang his head on his desk and maybe the hit to the head will help him see something he decided that wasn't the best path… sticking up his hand he waited for the professor.. maybe she could help him understand why he wasn't seeing anything.

Connor grumbled a little at the idea of Smaug getting himself into trouble, though he remembered last term when Professor Morgan's own cats were in trouble he helped her so maybe now as far as cat rescues they were even?

Anyway, away from the thoughts of Cats he focused on the ball, clearing his mind and attempting to think of nothing. Which was the least easy thing he'd ever had to do in his life, there were so many things to think about. His friends, his book, his Mother, that girl..her smile. NO. He had to STOP THINKING!.

The Sixth year took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, just focusing here and now, on the class, and the Crystal Ball. That's all he needed to focus on, once his eyes opened it seemed to be swirling. So he focused on the swirling.

Thornton ignored the impulse to blink until it was just another thought floating around that he would not be acknowledging.

The colored swirls were slowly coming into focus and Thornton just let them. It was as if his brain had shut off. As they got sharper, it became abundantly clear to Thornton what they were.

Jellybeans. Floating in mist.

The absurdity of the image jolted him back to awareness and he scratched his head. Jellybeans? He looked around the room for the Professor, thinking to get her attention and ask her what it could mean, but noticed her telling others just to watch and not talk.

He took a deep breath and prepared to start again.

Since the haze had disappeared moments ago Hady settled back into her spot. She was beyond excited that she'd seen something. Well not just something but her snake! Gods did she miss him...

Sighing softly she tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear and glanced about at the others. She saw quite a few frustrated people. It was hard clearing ones mind and then trying to see something in a crystal ball so she didn't blame them.

Not sure whether to try again or wait for everyone else in the class and remain silent. Exhaling a breath she slowly lifted a hand into the air. "Professor do we continue to keep trying to see something in the crystal ball even if we've already seen something?" She asked in a small whisper not wanting to disturb anyone else.

He was trying.

Benny was really ... really trying not to jump out of his seat and crawl under the table. It didn't help when Angel mentioned a boy in her crystal ball and he couldn't help but put two and two together to identify said boy as himself with the earlier exclaimation. That got noticed by the professor which threatened to push him over the edge. This class was certainly not turning out to be all that great. At least personal situation-wise.

"Huh..." the fourth year lion mused missing what his Hufflepuff table companion said at first, coming in at the part about getting back to work. "Um...yeah..." he said in vague agreement to Adi's statement. It was just the matter of getting all focused again and not allowing himself be influenced by what had been said or what was going on around him.

Easier said then done.

Taking a deep breath as he noticed Adi tuning him out once more, Benny almost reluctantly followed suit. If only not seeing anyone would let him pretend he was alone...for now. At the very least allow the outward signs of his embarishment to fade.

This was not working!! SIGGGGGGGH!!

He sunk down to lay his head on his arms. The stupid mist wasn't changing! It was just teasing him, floating around in there and stuff. He was so done. SO DONE. Dec groaned into his arm with frustration. His inner eye was broken or something. It was just not working!!!!!!

His eyes scanned the room, to check out how the rest of his classmates, snorting occasionally at people looking like they were going to throw the ball out the window, Zahra drawing on it with her breath, and Ruby tilting it in order to get a reflection on it. Gotta give her credit for trying.

The seventh year glanced back at his ball, not expecting anything, before hiding his head back in his arms.

Wait a second...

He did a double take. There was something forming in the mist!!! THANK MERLIN!! What was it though? Something...blue? The ocean? The sky? Ravenclaw?

Ror?

Marigold was falling asleep. Not literally, because she was focusing very hard on not falling asleep, but she was definitely falling into a stupor. She muted her yawn with a hand, then blinked several times. She was sleepy.

As sleepy as she was, though, she kept at her deep breathing and clearing the mind, letting the noise of the classroom fade away. And eventually, it paid off. She almost broke her focus when a foggy haze slowly started setting on her crystal ball, but instead focused to see if anything was appearing in it.

Dead. Turtle. Dead turtle. DEAD TURTLE.

BLINK BLINK BLINK.

Breathe. Blink. Dead. Blink. Turtle. Blink. Stare.

His eyes were getting watery now? Could they all just pretend that he did actually scry you know, so that he could be done with this? Why did Professor Morgan want them all to scry in the middle of class. They'd all look like such children and he wasn't a kid anymore he was a fourth year now!! That was like SUPER old. Almost like, seventh year old. Woaaaaaah.

Anyways.

Dead turtle. Dead turtle. Dead-- Kettleburn. -_________- Turning towards the older girl, Zander gave her the glarey eyes he learned from Kevin. "That's what we're SUPPOSED to do!!" Crying Scrying. Except he wasn't crying yet because it was hard to cry on demand!! Or uhm. Scry on demand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Eye Touz

Zahra was supposed to be CLEANING her ball the whole time!? Hum. Well, since Professor Clean Ball cleaned it for her, Zahra figured she was set to start SEEING things now.

So she put her EYE ON THE BALL, in a literal way, and LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKED. LOOoOOOOOoOOOOOoOOOOooOOOooKING. Looking her BEST like she was instructed to do, mmhmmm.

...

..... maybe Zahra's ball needed a good shake. So she used pulled her hands into her sleeves, so the clean ball wouldn't get smudged or anything, then SHOOK HER BALL REAL HARD. COME ON STUPID THING. WORK. SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE.

hehe. hehehe.

WHAT!! WHAT!! Was she shaking the ball! Cassie almost had a heart attack, "Holy Hippogriffs! OHMYGOSH!!! ZAHRA NO!" She didn't mean to be so loud, but goodness the girl had to learn. "You can not do that to a crystal ball. I really really hate to do this, but you have left me no choice. There will be five points taken from Gryffindor. I have expressed many times about touching these balls. You have to be careful. No please Zhara. Please do not touch them again and please focus like I know you can." She was frowning and Cassiopeia did not frown.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grrr..Meow

Maybe he needed to take things more seriously. Doing the exercise over again to make him think of nothing he took another look into the crystal ball. "come on… let me see something…" he thought while maybe it was just his eyes playing tricks on him… he thought he might have seen something… it kind of looked like an umbrella??? no wait a cane?? ughhhh.. why was this so hard.

Wanting so badly to bang his head on his desk and maybe the hit to the head will help him see something he decided that wasn't the best path… sticking up his hand he waited for the professor.. maybe she could help him understand why he wasn't seeing anything.

Still frowning over the shaking of one of her crystal balls, Cassie tried to get her composure and bring back the positive. She took a few deep breaths and saw another student with their hand up. Moving closer she tried to calm her voice. "Victor do you need something?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpiritWolfe Malfoy

Since the haze had disappeared moments ago Hady settled back into her spot. She was beyond excited that she'd seen something. Well not just something but her snake! Gods did she miss him...

Sighing softly she tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear and glanced about at the others. She saw quite a few frustrated people. It was hard clearing ones mind and then trying to see something in a crystal ball so she didn't blame them.

Not sure whether to try again or wait for everyone else in the class and remain silent. Exhaling a breath she slowly lifted a hand into the air. "Professor do we continue to keep trying to see something in the crystal ball even if we've already seen something?" She asked in a small whisper not wanting to disturb anyone else.

Seeing another young student she was finally calm and smiling again. A little bounce in her step, Merlin she was exhausted today. Leaning down she tried to be quiet again. "You are suppose to just let the reading state stick with you until it says it's done. If you break it you might miss something. So please if you would like try again." Giving an encouraging smile she turned and went back to her tea, but first she heard..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zander

Anyways.

Dead turtle. Dead turtle. Dead-- Kettleburn. -_________- Turning towards the older girl, Zander gave her the glarey eyes he learned from Kevin. "That's what we're SUPPOSED to do!!" Crying Scrying. Except he wasn't crying yet because it was hard to cry on demand!! Or uhm. Scry on demand.
__________________

"No crying is not what you are to be doing. You are focusing to do a reading. Scrying is crystal-gazing, Zander I know you have been listening through the entire class. Please let's start focusing and trying to see images." These kids had a nice sense of humor, but class was almost over. They needed to try at least once to focus.

Tea.. she needed tea and headache potion. Peppy was not feeling so peppy right now.

Oh phew, he was so glad that Professor Morgan saw his hand and was coming his way. "errr, yes I do.." he was a bit scared now but he knew that she was going to try to help him as much as she could.. "I just don't know what I'm doing wrong.. I can't seem to see anything and when I think I'm looking at anything it disappears. i think my eyes are playing tricks on me" he told her honestly.. he didn't want to fake that he was seeing things when he surely wasn't'.

This.

Was so.

Freaking.

BORING.

It was clear what the crystal ball was trying to tell him: there was going to be a lot of mist today. Or tomorrow. And his future included a lot of swirls or whatever the shape was in the crystal ball he was trying to focus on. Uh huh. Mist and swirls, which was better than the snow they had had last year. As long as the crystal ball wasn't showing THAT, he was cool with this mistiness.

But in all honesty, Grayson was disappointed. He half expected this exercise to show him something epic about his future, like the fact that he was going to bet someone at something or see a dragon face to face or something COOL. But noooOOOOOooooo! He had to get the crystal ball that didn't work. That was exactly what was wrong with this thing: it sinply didn't work. And now he was made to look like an idiot.

The Slytherin sat up and streeeeeeeetched a little in his seat to try and get rid of any tiredness in his body. He then rolled back his shoulders and slumped forward in his seat. His elbows were resting on the table and his chin resting on the palm of his hands, his blue eyes almost glaring at the crystal ball. It WAS going to show something, mkay? Something GOOD and not BORING.

And.............. FOCUS.

This was it. If she tried and failed one more time, Norah was 100% sure she should give up. No use being upset over this lousy assignment. So much for fortune telling- oops, scrying or whatever it was called. Humph.

So, she started up her systematic breathing once more. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale over and over and over again. It was starting to make her dizzy, but at least she was focused. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. And suddenly, the ball began to fill with mist again. Toning down her excitement because, contrary to her mother's beliefs, she DID learn from her mistakes, she continued her slow, steady breaths. The Ball stayed cloudy, and that was it. No visions of her growing tall or becoming prefect or passing her exams. Just clouds. Sigh. Maybe it was just going to be really cloudy tomorrow. What a shame, she had enjoyed Hogwarts in the sunshine.

It was a valiant effort, anyhow.

By this point, if there was talking or shenanigans going on in this classroom, Toby couldn't hear it at all. He may as well have been in a completely different room, and was totally lost to this activity. TOTALLY oblivious, and a little TOO focused, really, but what could you do.

Toby wasn't sure if he was seeing anything significant or not. A lot of time had passed and he'd had to stop and close his eyes to clear his mind after overthinking about two or three times... maybe he'd get there soon?

His brow was furrowed into a frown of concentration, blue eyes staring directly into the crystal ball and his face softly lit with the dim glow from the contraption. Many shapes and patterns morphed in and out of view but Toby didn't know if it was random fog and his imagination.

Pushing THAT thought from his mind too, he kept looking.

No... no there were DEFINITELY shapes in this thing. The same few coming up over and over again right now. All Toby could do right now was to concentrate, and see if anything came from it.

Progress was being made.

Kace almost had it last time. He was certain he was gonna do well this time. He closed his eyes and tried to remain calm. He slowed down his heart rate and took a sip of tea in the process. He started to feel dizzy when he began tuning out the other students. He felt really relaxed and focused. He was pretending he was on the beach with his surfboard. He loved that feeling. As he opened his eyes, he stared at the center of the crystal ball which is what his eyes were drawn to. He then began to see a picture different from last time. He saw through the hazy of the colors from the gazing ball.....

He saw...blue something. It began forming even more and it began to look like water. He was happy it was working but he still remained concentrated. His inner eye was awakening. He saw yellow on top of the blue. As he stared even more it looked like sand! He was picturing a beach possibly...?

The Gryffindor shot a dirty look at Zahra. Of course she had to go ruin points for Gryffindor. Hmph. She would take this scrying business too far. So yup. Doing the Kevin glaring thing again, he eyed her. How dare she go and make Professor Morgan take points away and-- O____________O

..... Oops?

And now he was the one making the Professor mad. Wait a minute... so they weren't crying? "B-but Professor, focusing is just reeeeaaallyyy hard because there's so much to think about," he had given the focusing thing a genuine try, but it didn't work. That's why he went back to the trying to cry thing. But apparently that was wrong too. What was he supposed to do!?

But looking at the crystal ball again, he took another deep breath. He could try the gazing thing... Try it again. Doink, doink, doink, Mr. Crystal ball? Anyone hoooommee?

Right..he had to continue to focus. Merlin this was tough, but he did his best. Emptying his mind of everything on it. There was a good bit to empty too, He was currently ignoring the fact that his cat was just wondering around the school. Mehh.

He focused and continued his deep breathing. That's when he saw it, Green. A green light. the Green light, his mind thinking of the famous quote referring to it, and once he looked back for the green light it was gone.

No! What did it have to show him? What did it mean? He knew what it meant to Gatsby but is that what it meant here? He shut his eyes tightly and tried to just breathe again, needing to let go. Maybe Divination wasn't for him?

Eden's head looked up as she heard her name. Right. Quiet. Sorry. She had been BEING quiet, though, so whatever. The poor woman just wanted people to take the class seriously, probably, which is fine. Eden thought a good MANY people should learn to be RESPECTFUL, okay? Especially people SLEEPING.

Not that Eden was bold enough to say anything. NO. She would just do her own thing and be quiet, yes.

She had been doing well with the concentration stuff, too, MEH. So she would try again...EMPTY THE MIND. She didn't think yelling at herself, though, would really help? She closed her eyes for a few minutes...'emptying her mind' and whatnot. There. She was slowly getting her breathing more...relaxed, and slowly releasing all of her thoughts...she opened her eyes and saw her ball all misty and stuff...and tried not to freak out this time. She would remain CALM. She didn't even really blink--NOPE.

Now to see what the heck showed up in this crystal ball?

Come on, focus! Connor's eyes opened and looked into the ball. Right. More....swirling. The mist was dark inside and just a bland, gray color. Then the gray turned into an orange, two green eyes in the darkness looking back at him. Suddenly Smaug appeared like the Cheshire cat only he didn't seem like he was at Hogwarts, it looked like his room at home.

But that too vanished and Connor was a little impatient with this. He wasn't surprised not many people cared for this form of magic since it seemed very dependent on a quiet mind, and who really had one of those?

But Connor was nothing if nor persistent. He tried again, eyeing the ball. Maybe he'd ask Professor Morgan for some help?

Sure, they had to relax. And yes, they had to focus, sort of at the same time. Paloma just stared around her, really trying to close her eyes and think that actually no one was there, just the music, the lavender scent, the cozy area she was sitting on, the crystal ball and...the professor, in case she needed help.

She actually was trying not to fall asleep because of that external enviroment she had, so...she finally opened her eyes wide and took a deep breath.

What do I really want to know, is there something worth 'looking into my inner eye'? She thought, hoping she would have a quick idea of what to ask the crystall ball.

Was it just him? Or was he getting told off for trying? ......... HE WAS NEW AT THIS AND GETTING HIM TO SIT STILL WAS ACCOMPLISHMENT ENOUGH!.....

Sigh.

Even though he'd been WARNED to stay in his what state did she call it again?... meh, he'd call it the SEEING state, yep, cause it made sense. But yeah, even though he wasn't allowed to break it, he couldn't help it if he did, right? He was LEARNING. Or something. He really wasn't sure what he was learning in doing this except that he was failing. He'd nodded her away, no more words from him. NONE.

But of course that couldn't last long, and if he had a question, did he not have the right to ask it? Seek assistance and all that? Hhmmm? Well he did anyway, and immediately with the SHUUUSHHHINNNGGG!!!!!................ GAH!

And, and, and... how'd she know his name already? He'd only JUST learned hers. 0_______o ... did she SEE it in his orbballthing? Did she know how he was going to die?!

"But, see, that's the thing," he whispered at her, "I don't know if what I'm seeing is actually seeing or if what I'm seeing is just things I see in my head because I'm bored? How can you tell the difference?!" No really. How? He'd very much like to know. Lost boy be lost, yo.

Thornton's concentration snapped. Rubbing the blur out of his eyes, he turned toward the noise and saw an older Gryffindor lose points for mishandling the ball. Oh my word, had she shaken it? Thornton looked away, lest he be accused of staring at another's misfortune, and turned his attention back to his own crystal, silently thankful it hadn't been a Ravenclaw scolded.

Thornton centered himself once more, closing his eyes and steadying his breath. When he felt ready, or at least able to ignore what was happening around him, he opened his eyes and gazed into the crystal ball.

His vision went soft as he stared at the space in the center of the crystal and it began to turn misty. This time, instead of bright jellybeans, the smoke grew darker and thicker. As Thornton continued to stare, the jellybeans returned, but muted against the dark smoke. A chocolate frog hopped through Thorton's field of vision but soon disappeared as the smoke in the center started to part and

"ah!" A quiet exclamation of surprise escaped Thornton's lips as he blinked and lost the images.

It had been his grandfather's face there in the smoke.

Mehh this was frustrating. But again Connor focused, This time it was different. He saw something. it just made very little sense to him. Flowers, a ton of flowers in a tiny room. It didn't seem familiar at all. So...what was this?

But again his thoughts were working too rapidly, his brain not focusing on the moment or the ball in front of him but instead what the flowers could mean, what kind of meaning they could even have.

And again it would be lost... He had to focus yet again.

One more try!