Positive energy.

Yep.

It was right there in her notes.

Emptying her mind and letting positive energy in didn't sound very easy, but if anyone could be optimistic it was her. Closing her eyes again, Lux let her mind go as blank as possible, relaxing in her seat and doing her deep breathing exercises. Instead of subconsciously worrying about failing to see something as she had the other times, she pushed those thoughts away. This was a time for positive energy, not negative.

The next time she opened her eyes, Lux was sure she saw something, but it was hard to tell what it was because of all the fog.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grrr..Meow

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'.

She listened as she calmed and smiled towards the seventh year prefect. "You aren't doing anything wrong dear. This is a harder thing to do. Opening the mind takes practice, so you might not get it today, maybe not even tomorrow. I've lived with Divination all my life and still it took me a few times before I finally started seeing clear images. Don't get discouraged and just keep trying." That was the last thing she wanted to happen today. Students didn't need to be frustrated she knew it was harder for them. "Your eyes are probably not playing tricks, your conscious state is breaking your connection once you see something because your focus jumps to just that one image. It will come better with time." She patted Victor on the shoulder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

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?

Giving Zander her best and most encouraging smile. "It is hard to focus, I know. Your minds have so much to think about. That's why it takes practice and training and that's what we are doing here. I do not think that all of you will get this today, so don't get frustrated. Just keep practicing and trying. I just know you will get it soon."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera

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.

Cassie let her eyes stay on the little one, he seemed so anxious and interested. She was happy about the interested. Though she wasn't too thrilled to hear bored, she kept the smile on her face. "Your mind is trying to let go and you are fighting it whether you realize or not. You are probably seeing these images, but your conscious state is snapping you back out of the connection. It will come don't worry. You are doing ah-mazing for your first time." She grinned happily at the boy. "What you really need to do is just let your mind go, take all images to what you have seen. We will talk about later how to record and understand them." She hoped he'd try again. They were all doing so well, well most of them.

He almost got it last time. He had the vision of an ocean beach which he was thinking of to getting himself calm. He can't believe it worked. He cleared his mind even more and was getting better at it. He opened his eyes while breathing in and out.....in and out....in and out. He could practically fall asleep now. He had no problem doing that. But he didn't want the teacher to think he was slacking. He opened his eyes and his eyes were drawn to the bottom part of the crystal ball.

As he looked he noticed it was a face forming in the swirls of the ball. He stayed focused he wanted to know who it was. As it was forming slowly, he noticed it was a person with blonde hair and blue eyes....with some type of candy holding in her hands. He smirked and knew who it was. It was Emmy. He was just thinking of his girlfriend.

Forget the positivity thing.

But she was clearing her mind. Or trying to, anyway. Wasn't the easiest thing to do, especially with the distraction of people asking questions and stuff. That and trying to keep herself from falling asleep. Because that was usually the only time that her mind was clear.

And all she was seeing was fog.

This inner eye thing, Beverly wasn't a big believer. Her dad says--well, he says things she shouldn't repeat. It didn't mean she believed in what he thought about Divination, it was just that it wasn't built off of structured logic. She wanted to ace this class no matter what and--

She needed to focus. This was NOT focusing. Shaking her head slightly, Beverly clasped her hands on her lap and closed her eyes. Generally she didn't enjoy doing that around people, but seeing as concentration was one of her biggest challenges, she decided it was a must.

Concentration...come to Beverly.

"Are the crystal balls alive?" Ethan paused and whispered his question to the professor. "I imagined it to have life, so I could connect to it," he said as he looked back at his sphere then back to the professor. "Is...my technique okay? Because I'm not sure if the mist I saw earlier was the real thing, or just my imagination." Maybe he was getting sleepy that's why he was imagining things?

"Oh...and I hope you don't mind me calling her Zelda, professor." he said as he pointed at the innocent looking crystal ball. Getting to a personal level with one's crystal ball should help, yeah?

Merlin's beard. He'd do anything just to get his sphere to work!

...

And then there was Professor Cassie screamingtelling Zahra to lay her hands off of her crystal ball. And...5 points from Gryffindor. Ethan glanced around to look for Beverly.

Now...can she see what he meant about letting Zahra do her thing?

It had been so quiet in the room that when Professor started YELLING AT HER, Zahra actually startled and dropped her ball on the table. But that wasn't really anything to worry about --- the WORRISOME part was when Zahra LOST POINTS FOR NOTHING.

SHE HADN'T TOUCHED THE BALL SINCE THE PROFESSOR TOLD HER NOT TO THE FIRST TIME. She'd used her sleeves! It wasn't her fault her ball was probably a gazillion years old and faulty! Zahra had been trying!

....she was a little devastated.

Zahra knew better than to argue, so she just took it (and all the looks from her classmates, too) but she was pretty upset. She put her head down to wait out the rest of class.

Puck heard the number the Professor had said to Zahra and just shrugged…five points wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things right? It was not bad considering that brainy-logic-house…the witty mc-witsters of Ravenclaw had lost ten points as well before hand…and Gryffindor was not neck and neck with them for the last place…oh right.

Still she didn’t give Zahra any LOOKS.

HER BRAIN WAS BURNING with exhaustion. Her minds eye wasn’t working was it? Maybe if she tapped it? She thought and began to tap on the her forehead as she sat there THINKING at the ball.

I don’t want to see them she told herself, and gulped as she knew the ball had fogged up earlier. She watched it though, the foggy mist building and swaying before her.

Her eyes prickled.

The foggy outline of something had begun to form in her crystal ball and all she could do to stop from turning into a complete and utter mess was to close her eyes. She was closing down, she could feel it. Her heart was hammering, her hands clenched, her face…pale.

She looked like she had seen a ghost.

She had.

The Gryffindor just nodded because it IS hard to focus!!!! But he didn't really understand this whole training and practice thing. Because wouldn't it get harder the more they tried? Because then they would have even MORE thoughts to think about. Couldn't they just go back to making cards for each other because that stuff was easy! Even if the arts and crafts thing wasn't really his thing it was a lot better than hopelessly staring into a crystal ball that didn't give you answers.

"Okay Professor," he hung his head sadly. But he wasn't going to cry because APPARENTLY that's not what scrying is about. HMPH.

Instead, he just stared into the crystal ball, trying to will it to say something, anything. Why wasn't this thing working? And how was he supposed to clear his mind of thoughts? Isn't that what minds were supposed to do? Have thoughts? It's practically a law.

Let's...think this through.

Let's just actually narrow it down?

Paloma stared at the crystal ball and shook her head. This wasn't going to work if she didn't put her mind in order. Priorities. And she wrote them down on a small piece of parchment.

But her head was bringing every crazy and maybe stable thought she could have: Her family, Kai, Julliard, New York, her friends (those who had left, those who would leave this term). All of them, not in particular order, had a big part of her past few days occupied. But she could only think of one.

Ballet, in Julliard.

Maybe that...was...an advancement.

Images of lots of things began to muddle themselves together in the clouds of the crystal ball. Eden didn't try to decipher them, though. She just stared blankly at it, waiting to see anything of interest.

There was the image of a piece of parchment--she didn't try to linger on what the heck that could mean, though, or else she might not see anything else! The parchment drifted away--and she could see the image of a black dog--on closer inspection, RODDY! Her dog! She grinned at the sight--she sure did miss him! She hoped he was all right. Her dog had been perfectly fine when she had left for Hogwarts. By the time, though, that she was paying attention to her crystal ball again, it was clear...no images anymore. She rubbed her forehead and siiiighed. She wanted to see more, gosh darn it! Maybe she would talk to the professor after class?

And now her head was throbbing. "Professor?" she raised her hand and spoke so sooooftly. "Is it normal to get a headache?" she asked, hoping it WAS because if not--well she didn't even KNOW. It's not like she would go all the way to the hospital wing for a mere headache. She would just have to stick it out, yeah?

The letter.

The decisions. The place.

Graduation.

All those thoughts were swirling in Paloma's head, like the white cloud in the crystal ball. Ugh. Her stomach was close to throw up that bagel she had eaten for breakfast, but it didn't...

Gulp.

She put her hand in the table, and began to tap...quietly, her fingers, trying to follow along to the music playing in the background. With a long sigh, she looked at her list again. Maybe she could aim for something easier. Like...maybe her upcoming birthday?

Seventeen. She rubbed her temples. What...was going on?

She closed her notebook once she heard that the lesson was moving on to the good stuff. Yes. They were going to do crystal ball readings today. She could not think of a better first lesson of the term.

No distractions No distractions. The fourth year closed her eyes. Positive thoughts. Happy things. Happy thoughts. Yeah She should still clearing her mind. No thoughts at all. Nothing. The clearest her head had been in months. Which lets face it that girl had a lot on her mind lately. She could totally do this.

She felt ready to go. She felt dizzish. No feelings no nothing. She took a few more breaths. She opened her eyes focused dead center of the globe. Let the ball talk to you. Let the ball do the talking. Make a connection with the ball.

Was that a-... no...

Could that have been-... too late.

WhAT On EARtH wAS-... that was his reflection.

Well. This was suddenly getting a whole lot more difficult. It seemed as though Toby's brain had a real limit on how long it would focus this intently for, and it seemed like they were approaching it. He fought the urge to glance down at his watch the check the time, and instead worked on trying to focus only what was in the crystal ball.

It was just................ it looked like................ people. People walking around? Maybe. Toby didn't want to doubt himself in this class, so he just went with it, watching the cloudy, misty swirls morph into people shapes that walked around for a couple of seconds, then vanish. Over and over again inside the crystal ball.

Ignoring the question of whether he was seeing things, or whether he was Seeing things, Toby just... kept watching. This was actually pretty cool.

OPEN she needed to open her eyes. She needed to face this - to get past it. It had been years, five years? Had it been five years already? She thought for a moment before gulping down another sip of the cooled tea and listening to the melodic hum of the calming music.

This was much better wasn't it? Much better than dealing with the thoughts that had recently pulsed through her head and the image that had broguht them up.

Germy she thought, she wanted to see her hedgehog. Focusing in on the misty ball she saw the image of the little hedgehog sitting in her hand. With a gasp she realized where she had been...it was the day her brother had given him to her. She blinked.

The day.

Tears were going to fall...she didn't want them to but they were going to she could tell - this class was cruel right now. CRUEL. All she wanted was a blanket and a two way mirror so she could talk to her sister-in-law Abby. Abby'd tell her to get over it. She'd be tough. Still, she never peeled her eyes from the ball as the images faded away and new ones filled their places.

The face. Blinking, smiling, happy looking...his face. She still remembered the last time she saw that face other than in her nightmares. The last time, the time she had been shipped off to live with her brother.

Closing her eyes again and she focused her thoughts on happy things...on school, and on friends. It was the happiest thing she could think of - she could almost see the faces of numerous foggy people forming in the ball almost showing her that indeed she had made lasting friends...or was about to she wasn't very sure. All she was sure of was that she had left her past behind her and was now focusing in on what was now and what was yet to come.

There was muttering. She could hear it, you know. Great hearing and all. Especially when she was suppose to focus but there were tons of other things that claimed her attention. Letting out a huff she opened her eyes and glanced around for culprits. That was until she met Ethan's eyes.

Yeah, she heard. Five point from Gryffindor all thanks to that obnoxious girl, but STILL. It didn't mean she had to like the girl. No. In fact, she didn't care if she knew the girl or not. Beverly didn't like her, and even if she lost Gryffindor 100 points it wouldn't sway her.

But she did like Ethan's way of thinking, what he'd told her at the Feast. He got a small smirk from the Slytherin. Keep losing those point, Zahra. You know what would be great? If she drove Gryffindor to...negative hundreds.

Enough of that, though. Back to concentrating. Where had she left off? Ah gillyweed, she was going to have to start over again. Switching her attention back on her Crystal Ball Beverly inhaled and exhaled. Okay. Eyes closed and focus...

She seen her reflection in the crystal ball for a second before it when black. Smoke swirled around inside the globe. Nothing just smoke swirling about. Then she seen her grandma. There was a popping noise. And she lost it. The positive vibes they were gone. It was just very... She didn't like the glance she got.

Cinna started the while process over again. She closed her eyes trying to clear her mind. It was hard. She had focused on the image and now she couldn't get it out of her head. Deep breathing. She seriously wasn't going into panic mod right now, right?

More deep breathing was needed. She even crossed her legs Indian style on the cushion. Mediation, right? Pushing things back out of her head again. Or trying to anyway. Once she found her zen as she would call it. She opened her up. Her brown eyes when to the center. It was pulling her in more than any other spot on the crystal ball. This time it wasn't dark but just misty grey swirls.

"Silence," Sapphire thought, trying to relax once more. She hoped to see an image before the professor continued with the class. "Complete silence."

Sapphire focused on her crystal ball again and with Professor Cassie's answer to her question, she tried to clear her head of any thought.

The crystal ball remained clear. No image. Not even mist.

Sapphire sighed. Divination was far from becoming her best subject.

Bam!

Eyes snapping open, ready to concentrate on the Crystal Ball, Beverly focused on a certain point. Okay...so now she waited for something to appear on the ball, yeah?

The Prefect didn't dare blink. Her eyes might be drying, but she kept her gaze on the ball. Firm and THERE. Beverly wanted a dragon to show up. More specifically, her RIDING a dragon. Sure, dragons were untamed creatures and riding one would be like offering herself as dinner, BUT one could never lose hope. There would come a time when she would befriend a dragon. Yes. She believed in that with ALL her heart. The Crystal Ball should show this.

Oh fireballs.

Her eyes were close to leaking. Ugh. This no blinking business wasn't working. Beverly shut her eyes and rubbed them. That was certainly not the way to go about Scrying. Clearly.

Swirls Cinna stared at the swirls she was so transfixed on them that she could get lost in them. Just watching as the mist twisted and turned, every now and again she could the mist roll into faces but she couldn't make them out. Who did the faces belong to? She leaned in closer to get a better look of it.

Ugh still she was nearly nose to nose with it. Except for crystal balls don't have noses. If anything it looked like she was about the snog the ball. She sit straight up before she lost her thoughts.

She could see things flying around. Squinting her eyes. Quidditch? Quidditch players. She looked closer but not as close as before. What team were they? She didn't know if that was a important detail or not. She wasn't even sure if they were quidditch players flying around on brooms now or not. It could have easy been flies.

She was actually compiling a large list of questions now in her head.

Seeing Kettleburn get docked five points for her art struck him as ironic in a class like this. Nonetheless, Cutty drew his hands up slightly over the crystal so that it merely looked as though he had been hovering over the ball the whole time. He then drew his hands back entirely and considered forcing the feelings. What were they? Dizzy? Off? WEAK? Hail naw to all three, Professor.

But he could fake it.


Cutty sat there. A little dark haired, large eared, vulcan child with an even and focused gaze into the polished sphere of crystal. He saw nothing but the reflections of his classmates, but tuned his large ears to hear the goings on around him.

That didn't answer his question. It really didn't. But he was beginning to get the impression that he wouldn't be receiving one, and that he ought to just suck it up and get on with looking relaxed and stupid, yes? Yes?

"Alrightyyyy..." he replied, still unsure if what he was seeing were visions or just his mind playing tricks. Like, HA! MADE YOU THINK YOU SAW!... or something to that effect.

At any rate, he played along. He rest his chin on his hands again and STARED with a vague expression of nothingness on his face until he was elsewhere and nowhere at the same time.. lost in non-thought. Or was he? He was still having a hard time figuring this out, but he saw things, was entertained by things... or were they more IDEAS? Hhhmmmm.

"Professor, Professor Cassie! I'm feeling a bit nauseous. That's supposed to happen, isn't it? A feeling of sickness." The little charlatan remained seated and looked away from Morgan to whom he had looked as he spoke and refocused on his crystal ball. "Booht, I don't see anything. Joost a bunch of trees. With mad root systems." He paused as he shut his eyes.

"And the alchemical symbol for copper." He concluded exhaustedly before putting his head down onto the surface of the desk. Meanwhile, a silent sigh of relief washed over the land as it was realized that the boy had no puking pastille upon his person that day.

Now Abby was seeing boys too? She was done, done with this crystal ball gazing. AJ wasn't going to make that little part obvious. Nope. Instead she sat there with her arms crossed and stared at the ball. See how good she was at pretending?

Every once in a while she would uncross her eyes and refocus them, but that was the extent of her participation. If she even thought about Angel's outbursts or Abby trying to be just like her sister, AJ would lose it. Professor Cassie most likely wouldn't be happy with her cackling like a maniac while people were "seeing" their future husbands and stuff.

AJ chanced an eye cut to Benny only to see that he was still the same shade of red, but he seemed to be trying to block out Angel's crazy. Good luck with that, dude. Since she was already looking in that direction her eyes of course betrayed her and looked at Adi. She sighed heavily. Things would be changing soon, as she might as well just accept it.

That made sense. Remaining in a state of calm and allowing whatever was to happen just happen. Giving the Professor a warm smile Hady nodded her head and whispered a soft "Thank you."

Her attention went right back to entering a state of calm and nothingness once more. She hoped she would see Seether again or maybe this time she would see something else. Settling into her seat she shut her eyes and began the process of breathing in and out slowly to block out everything around her.

Deep breath in. Breath out. Repeat...