Foggy twirly mess.

That was an accurate description of everything that was going on in her crystal ball. In fact, it wasn’t just an accurate description of her ball, it was everyone else’s too. And those that were seeing things were probably just experiencing a magic trick that the professor had cleverly projected into the orbs. Cos fortune telling was NOT a thing. Not a REAL thing anyway.

Glancing around at her fellow students, Layla did realise that she was not the only person stuck in a rut though she was probably the only person who wasn’t actually trying as hard as she probably could do. Her lack of interested in the activity was evident in the way she was slouched over the desk, head in her hands staring into the cloud formation that had evolved inside the crystal ball.

But that was all she saw and she was actually relaxed now. To an extent anyway. As relaxed as she could probably get in a room full of kids and frilliness and snapping and that glittery pink snap cup that was so distracting in the front of the room that the blonde kept staring at it. She would only ever be relaxed if she was fully alone listening to her favourite tune on her music player staring up at the stars. That was much more her idea of relaxing rather than cushions and desks and people she described as ‘acquaintances’ rather than ‘friends’.

Merlin, get her out of here.

When the Professor announced that there was only five minutes left of the activity, the Blonde breathed a sigh of relief. They were asked to think about why perhaps they couldn’t see the future in those orbs or what it was that the saw.

But Layla decided to stare for just a few more minutes. It was kind of mesmerising after a while.

Sufficiently grumpy now, Soph resisted the urge to curse under her breath at the crystal ball - she was courteous enough to keep quiet for the sake of those who were still trying or were having any success. She still kept her gaze upon it, willing it to do the swirly thing again as she siiiighed, still relaxed even though her patience was being tested with this failure. She couldn't stop thinking about how irritating this task was, but otherwise her mind was fairly clear, and she squinted at the crystal ball, the fog inside slowly swirling, taunting her...

...She could always make-up that she saw something, didn't she?

Suddenly squinting like the sun was shining brightly in her eyes, Soph tried really, really hard to make something out - whether it was there or not - and tried to clear her mind enough to let her imagination see something there in the clouds. An animal. An object. Something. Anything. Then, whether it was purely her imagination or because she was so eager to make something out in the ball, Sophie would swear to anyone who ever asked that she saw the outline of something forming, but-

POP. The arrival of a house elf stole her attention entirely, her eyes darting to the little creature's sudden entrance. And she sighed again, resigning entirely from today's task. Done. She was done. No more.

And she wanted some of those cookies right now as consolation.

What was THAT?!

Layla stared at the odd (but weirdly cute) creature that suddenly appeared at the front of the classroom. It spoke referring to its name rather than in first person and it seemed to be following orders from the Professor. Like a maid. This, she assumed was the house elf that were kept cooped up in the kitchens and did all the cooking for the school. They also appeared to be personal assistants.

Layla’s attention was drawn away from the crystal ball which she had seemingly given up on and was instead following the little elf around the classroom with her eyes as it placed a plate of cookies down. Her stomach growled but she ignored it. Cookies were not something she ate willingly, at least that was what she told herself.

Once the elf had disappeared, Layla went back to her globe but had stopped looking in it. Instead she got out a piece of ‘parchment paper’ as it was called and that weird quill that made her look like a seventeenth century playwright and started jotting down ideas as to why the activity didn’t work for her.

Crystal Ball Reading – ‘Finding the Inner Eye’

Reasons for not working as expected:
- Classroom environment is not relaxing.
- I do not possess the ‘inner eye’.
- This is a load of rubbish?

The last statement had that important question mark after it in case the Professor came over and read her notes. She was instructed to ‘leave an open mind’ after all. Perhaps the next lesson could sway it the other way but the fifteen year old highly doubted that.

Was something wrong? Lux wasn't totally sure, but she wasn't seeing anything properly and Professor Cassie could tell her if there was a problem.

"Well, I tried to empty my mind as much as possible and keep all the positive energy, and all I see is fog and an object that I can't see what it is. Am I not doing this right? Or missing something?" Confused, she wondered if she was forgetting to do something or if she just didn't have the ability to do scrying.

Adi was still staring at the Crystal Ball now. His mind was clear and his eyes were drawn to one spot on the Ball. So why was he seeing nothing? More gazing...

And more...

More...

Nothing.

The Puffer totally gave up for now. Professor Cassie said something about five minutes left anyway. There was no way he was going to be seeing anything within that time. He craned his neck at the pop. Oh! It was Pips the House Elf. Heeeey, Pips! And cookies...Adi hadn't realised he was hungry.

Okay so Zahra looked upset and what was this points thing? Ruby had no clue. Why did that matter to lose them? Were they worth money? Did you win something if you had more? Did she have any herself? Could she get someone to give them hers? Ruby made a mental note to ask Z about it later.

She hadn't got past mist, possibly because Ruby didn't want to see anything she wasn't in control of. Much better to make something up in her opinion, so she put on an expression of rapt attention focusing on her ball as if she was seeing something completely awesome.

And she was in her imagination. Pretty boys were awesome.

Oooooerrr! someone had a nasty scowl. Ruby liked it though, it was interesting. Different from all the other expressions she'd seen on him. She gave him a little nudge and a smile, then leaned over and whispered in his ear again, so that nobody else would hear.

"Make something up. Nobody will ever know."

People would never know if she lied right? Except the fact that she was practically crying…home sick she was homesick that would fit perfectly! She just had to write down her reactions...and reasons...and all those LIEs.

Quote:

Crystal Ball Reading
Or should I say the great big nothing?
I saw a lion...but a housemate (Zahra?) had drawn that on her crystal ball.
I saw....nothing? Really, Mist but I realized that was me breathing on the orb.
I think this FAILED in huge part due to the fact that I was missing my family and missing my old school...and my old friends and missing the ability to connect with my friends by something other than owl post?

What? She didn't think that any of the lie showed on her face...except maybe the fact that she still looked pale and shaky and maybe didn't look all together happy...or even sassy at all. She looked like half of her normal self. But you know she didn't exactly care at the moment this was all, all too much. "I didn't see anything" she said in a hushed almost defeated tone, it didn't show her utter broken side. Nope. That wasn't ever going to show.

Caleb actually HATED the quiet. It made it harder for him to concentrate, honestly, because then his mind was free to wander and be loud and really annoying. The thought of getting a new puppy was now turning into Sophie and Grayson, because of course it was, and now he was getting angry and not really seeing ANYTHING in his crystal ball and overall getting FRUSTRATED.

And then he heard Ruby whispering something to Grayson nearby...great, everyone in his house just LOVED Grayson didn't they? And everyone hated him, even his sister. Grumpy now and not at all in the mood for cookies as the House Elf showed up and announced his arrival, he crossed his arm and stared at the orb again.

He saw...clouds. Probably just the swirly stuff in the ball, but it could also be a rain cloud, because that was what his MOOD was like right now.

So looking into the crystal ball again she focused move near the bottom than the middle this time. The nornal misty swirls appeared. Rolling and swirling around inside the globe. This time she felt completely in the zone. Cue rocky theme or a school fight song or something upbeat music.

Misty faces were becoming clearer. She could make out things so much better this time. It was a kitchen. Her kitchen at home. Just like it was the morning she left to go to school. There were people in the kitchen Rae and her dad. And Nana was there too? Up and walking around. What even? She hadn't been able to walk all summer and she had even been at home over the summer. She was confused. The globe misty darken. It still swirled around. And Bam. BIG BLACK DOG popped up.

Cinna jumped in her seat. Losing whatever came after that. What in the world? Was that dog what she thought it was? A grim? No no no no. She was worried now. What did it mean? It didn't mean what she thought it meant. Right?

Sophie was EYEING those house elf cookies - she'd heard ancient tales from her parents who were at the school when there'd been something wrong with those kinds of cookies, but she wanted them anyway. She was hungry and grumpy and since the house elf had RUINED her concentration and made the shape forming go away, she DESERVED those cookies. So she kept an eye on the little guy until he was gone and side-eyed the professor.

Well? Could she have some?

Until they were given the okay to go for it, Sophie pulled her parchment in front of her, looking at Tobes and communicating her disappointment to him for the first time since she started getting into the activity, and tapped the end of her quill lightly against her knee as she thought about what to note.

Text Cut: Parchment

- Scrying is hard
- Completely clearing one's mind is impossible
- The room smells funny
- I fell asleep for the first time in a class today
- A house elf ruined my chance at finally seeing something in the crystal ball
- This class bites

That seemed to sum it up pretty well.

Caleb was still Mister Grumpy Gills, but smelling those cookies was KIND of helping. Kind of. He still didn't want to admit that he wanted any...but it was hard when they smelled so yummy.

And now all he could see was cookies in the fog. Which was good, he figured, better than seeing wolves or something scary like that that could mean he was going to die or whatever.

So now he was full-on starring at the crystal ball in front of him, the spot where he had thought he had seen something his new focus. Ben just HAD to know if there had been an image or if he was just imagining things. He supposed only time would tell and he just barely registered something about 5 minutes being mentioned by someone somewhere.

There...there it was again.

Not a swirl in the globe like a storm but a flicker. A golden flicker. Like a...snitch?!

Benny was no seeker but he had seen the tiny bugger once or twice up close. And what he was seeing, or at least thought he was seeing if it turned out to be false...was a snitch. A golden snitch, quickly flittering around much like real life. "Um....professor?" he questioned, still a bit in shock at the discovery. His eyes slightly widened as he continued to stare.

The class HAD to be ending soon, right? Caleb didn't think he could take much more of this. Other than a dog and a cookie, he hadn't seen anything else in this orb and he was getting ready to take a nap. All he wanted to do was sleeeeeep. And eat a cookie.

He gave it another try...but he didn't think he was going to see anything. BUT...wait...was that a cloud again? Yeah, it was definitely a cloud. He'd thought he saw one earlier, but now he was CERTAIN he did. Right. Cloud. He took a note.

Cassie was keeping an eye on Zahra, she just felt awful. Maybe this was just too much for the children, too advance. Maybe she hadn't taught it right? Did she do it wrong? Not one to be seconding guessing herself, Cassie found herself in a very awkward place. She wished she knew what to do to make Zahra feel better, she hated to see sad especially when she knew she caused it.

Turning her attention back to Lux as she asked a question Cassie gave her a weak smile. "It's fine, not everyone is going to get it this time around. It takes loads of practice. You are doing everything very right. If you have seen the misty fog you are already doing wonderfully." If an object had come then she was certainly doing great. "Just keep trying and it will come." She just knew the ones that wanted to really try could do it, but she was afraid she had set them up for failure if it was too hard.

"Alright everyone listen please." Flicking her wrist she fully turned off the music and made the room fill with light. "I know this was a harder lesson today. Scrying is a super hard thing to do. You all totes did fantastic though." She snapped for them in the most enthusiastic way she could do at this point in her feeling failure state. "For the ones that have seen something please write it down so you don't forget. If you didn't, don't give up. Opening the mind is one of the hardest things to do. It takes practice to open the mind, more practice to stay in that connection state, and even more practice not to let your conscious state through."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benny

Not a swirl in the globe like a storm but a flicker. A golden flicker. Like a...snitch?!

Benny was no seeker but he had seen the tiny bugger once or twice up close. And what he was seeing, or at least thought he was seeing if it turned out to be false...was a snitch. A golden snitch, quickly flittering around much like real life. "Um....professor?" he questioned, still a bit in shock at the discovery. His eyes slightly widened as he continued to stare.

Looking up as she heard a boy's voice. "Benny are you alright? If you are seeing something, let it happen, try not to get out of the connection state. You can write it down as soon as she feel yourself back in your conscious state." She eagerly watching for moment. There was a few rays of hope that made the lesson not a total flop.

Moving towards the front of the room she pointed near the cookies. "Now after a scrying you should always have a snack to fully ground yourself back into the conscious state. So please drink some more tea and Pips has been sweet enough to bring us freshly bakes Chocolate Chip Cookies. I do hope you have a wonderful rest of the day. I'll post homework soon."

Taking her own still warm cookie she took a bite and sat down in her chair. She felt like she might need a hug.

OOC: Awesome job guys. I won't close the thread until tomorrow morning around 6 EST, so go ahead and finish up if you need too and then you can have your charrie grabbing a cookie and heading out if you want! Thank you so much for joining!

As she rubbed her temples, continually, Paloma kept staring at the swirling cloud inside the crystal ball. It was making her dizzy, not sleepy anymore. She sighed, trying to think what could make the question, or her little mind more...clear.

Breathe, Paloma.

Just breathe.

Julliard. You're in, why worry about that?
Family. Everything is fine, you just got news from mom and dad.

That's when she started to think about her pet, her cat, Vader. That little mischievious feline, bringing in cats from other students into my bed to have as his lair.

And that made her giggle. And maybe feel a little bit more relaxed.

.....

And class was ending. Cookies had arrived, brought by an elf, Sweet Pips. So cute! But no more scrying, which meant that she was sort of saved from having a migraine in future hours, but yet had to keep trying in case she really wanted to know a little...thing. Or maybe not. She took a deep breath, looked around and then got up, holding the table firmly just in case dizzy head came back. She walked to get a soft and very chewy cookie, then went back to get her school bag. "Thanks, Professor Morgan. Hope..." You feel better? She didn't look so good, but the urge to hug her had to go away, just to avoid tummy accidents. "Hope you have...a good rest of the day." She really meant it. With all her heart, and hoping that Professor Morgan would feel the *intended hug* Paloma wanted to give her.

There were cookies. And Professor Morgan was talking, but Thornton was still staring just over the top of his crystal ball. Grandfather Baines... and candy? That's what he'd seen.

He was aware enough to know that many people had seen nothing, and so he wondered if maybe he hadn't actually seen anything and that his mind was playing tricks on him. But he hadn't actively thought of his Grandfather in a long time, and so he was confused as to why now. Why the scowl?

Brow furrowed and a frown firmly on his face, Thornton picked up his quill and scratched down a few words. Grandfather. Scowl. Jelly Beans. Chocolate Frogs. Imagined it?

And then he sat some more, aware that they had been released, but not yet ready to move.

Let it happen...let it happen.

Those words floated through his mind out of nowhere as Benny continued to watch the pseudo-snitch. Back and forth...back and forth it flittered and the fourth year did his best to follow it with his gaze. It certainly seemed easier now then during a real match with a real snitch but then he'd be watching out for bludgers mostly instead.

He felt his thoughts drift and the picture became a little hazier. Ben blinked in hopes of clearing it up but it only proceeded to move further away from his grasp. With a few final flitters, the snitch flew off and disappeared and the lion began to notice more of what was around him. Sounds...sights...smells.

When had that house-elf arrived? Were those cookies?

Benny shook his head as his head finally cleared. Right...he soooo had to write it down. Picking up a quill, he jotted down what he had seen. He had to have proof it was true lest his memories make up tales.

Quote:

Scrying
Golden Snitch...hovering and flying and heading away in direction away from my right arm.

Were those freshly baked chocolate chip cookies? AJ watched as the elf popped into the room holding heaven in a plate. She was officially done. AJ had just been pretending to concentrate the last couple of times anyways. There was no sense in writing down that nothing happened. That much was obvious.

Was Benny having success? He looked to be in the zone. Not wanting to disturb him, AJ walked up and retrieved a cookie for herself, and one for Adi. When she was back at her desk, she handed the cookie over. "Here you go," she whispered just in case people were still trying to work. She could totally be considerate.

Penelope stared at her crystal ball, trying to focus. She could see mist in her ball. Each time she thought she might be close to seeing images in the ball, her concentration was broken by other people talking, and she had to start again. After trying many times, images were starting to appear in the ball. Not all of the images were easy to see, and if she couldn't focus on any one image.

...Her concentration was broken when Professor Cassie said that they should finish up their scrying. The images in the crystal ball disappeared and the ball became clear. Penelope was feeling dizzy and her vision was a little fuzzy and dark. Opening her inner eye seemed to be affecting her external eye. She couldn't write anything while she was still feeling like this. Penelope tried to have some more tea, but she ended up spilling the tea everywhere. Putting her head down on the table (which probably wasn't the best choice after spilling her tea), Penelope closed her eyes and hoped that she would come back to a conscious state before class ended.

.....gasp. Zahra had had an ACTUAL PREMONITION and hadn't even known. She raised her head up quickly, and okay don't tell but maybe she'd got a little teared up while her head was down..for reasons..., but now... she'd SO CALLED THE HOUSE ELF THING.

Aww. Too bad about Pips leaving though... Zahra could have used some GOOD house elf company. He was probably busy making something UHMAZING for dinner though.

...

Zahra was probably the first one up and out of the room when they were dismissed. She bypassed the cookies and was GONE before anyone could say anything to her about the points.

Sitting here and staring was not going to make Thornton feel any better, and with folks leaving, that meant that there would be no conversation about how to interpret what they'd seen.

Thornton hastily threw his parchment and quill in his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He took a glance at the cookies and tea but, despite instructions, bypassed them both completely. He was not feeling well, and no amount of cookie was going to help with that.

One his feet, even if it wasn't entirely steadily, Thornton exited the room, not stopping to talk or even make eye contact with anyone else.

Eden was still sour about missing her little image--just PARCHMENT and RODDY and she had nothing else to GO on. Maybe she'd visit Professor Morgan later? Yeah? The woman was certainly nice--and she was soooo interested to know the rest of it and whatnot.

Side-glance at Layla. Who was being a grumpy gills----AS USUAL. But Eden was getting quite used to it. She siiiighed. "Layla--it isn't rubbish--" she whispered, not wanting the professor to hear and get her feelings all hurt. "It's just--it's like pixie dust! You have to believe! Right?" She assumed that Layla was familiar with Peter Pan, being raised a muggle and all--right? "Don't put it down juuuust yet--" she pleaded, biting her lip and siiiiighing more. "It's okay, Layla..don't feel bad." Eden was just trying to keep Layla CALM, okay?



Eden nodded and continued to rub her head. It had kind of subsided and whatnot--but maybe it had nothing to do with the crystalballing and everything to with her STRESS?

She nodded. "Yes, Professor---Oh, Professor Morgan?" she asked quickly, getting all red and shy and stuff--"Can I perhaps come see you at some point this week? To talk about this--crystal ball stuff?" she asked softly, smiling as she did so. She wanted to find out MORE! And she kind of felt like..she was okay at this subject? Like..she might want to continue taking it, yeah? Maybe she'd actually get a good grade in this class--for once--and she could show her grandparents that she wasn't a waste of space.

Her blue eyes drifted back over to Layla...hmm. She shut her notebook and waited for the professor to answer her...she was eyeing that elf and those cookies quiiiiite a bit. How CUTE was the elf? She gave the little one a wave and smiled.

"What's your name?" she asked, the house elf. Oh she HAD to go see them down in the kitchens! They were just SOOOO cute!

Now Jasmine was confused. She had definitely seen the misty fog. That she was sure of. The rest though.......she thought she had been dreaming, but when Professor Cassie talked about going in and out of a conscious state........could it have been real? Maybe she could talk about it with the Professor later, definitely not in class.

In the meantime, Jasmine wrote down what she saw/dreamed in her notebook. She would definitely have to try this crystal ball thing again. For now though, she got herself another cup of tea and a chocolate chip cookie. Once she had finished, Jasmine packed her things and stood up to leave. "Goodbye Professor Cassie", she said. Then she headed for the door, with more on her mind than ever.

Was something wrong with her? Because this whole 'inner eye' thing was not something Ophelia apparently possessed. No matter what the professor said. Because this scrying thing just wasn't working for her. The kid tried all class, getting frustrated and even feeling tears pop out at the corner of her deep brown eyes from frustration, and still nothing. Her head hurt. That was literally it. She had a slight headache now, but besides that, all scrying did was make her frustrated and annoyed.

At least they got cookies out of this. It reminded the kid a little bit of home, where her mom made the youngest child a treat every time classes for the day were too hard for her. It was kind of like a consolation price, if that wasn't on the same line as a participation trophy in terms of non-meaning. These meant things. The warm dough as she bit into the treat, the smell that always made her stop crying or get less frustrated. Which made her feel less frustrated now. Slightly at least. One of those conditioned responses. Like the dogs and the bell that her sister told her about

And with that, another pang of sadness hit her stomach. Great. She was homesick. Eleven and homesick. Was anyone else adjusting weirdly, or was this just a random thing that homeschooled kids got? Was she sick? Oh word, she was sick. Ophelia really needed a cookie now. Just to make sure she wasn't sick. And the fact that this class was HARD! Annoyingly hard. The kid got frustrated quickly, okay? It was one of her faults.

Another one of her faults? Reading. Why did that come in handy? Because the girl was debating whether or not she should start trying to make sense of the Divination textbook. But it took soooooo long for her to read textbook material. Because it was HAAARRRD. Which made it more frustrating. See this crazy cycle? It was crazy.

Also, why didn't it work for her? Weren't Ravenclaw's supposed to be smart? What if the sorting hat was wrong? What if Ophelia was the ONE Clarke who wasn't a Ravenclaw? Maybe she was just awful at school. Oh, Merlin! What if she was awful at school? Biting her lip, her deep brown eyes quickly reached the teacher. Maybe she just needed extra help. Okay, that was it. Just needed extra help. Maybe that book thing was a good idea. Because going through class grumpy a billion days until the poor girl graduated was not going to be fun. Or interesting at all. Nope, this was NOT something Ophelia was looking forward too. Yes, reading. No grumpy. It was simple as that.

Nibbling on her cookie and thinking to herself, the kid scratched her blonde hair quickly and then looked at the teacher. She looked... forlorn. Maybe she needed more cookie? Cookie made everything better. At least for Ophelia. But how did you do that without making it seem like you were a teacher's pet? Breaking her cookie in half and wiping the crumbs off of her uniform, the girl set half on her now clean lap and continued eating the other. More on the cookie thing later. When a better plan came about that wouldn't make it seem weird.

The Gryffindor quickly took notice of others exiting the classroom and decided he was about done with things too. He didn't see anything at all. This divination thing wasn't actually his thing. But either way... The Professor had said to take notes if they were done, but did he really HAVE to?

SIGH.

SPOILER!!: Parchment

• Scrying is not the same as crying
• Nor does it involve thinking about dead turtles
• If you have a lot of thoughts you can't cry scry
• I cannot cry scry
• Because I have a lot of thoughts

There. He was all done. Well... This was a rather useless lesson. He didn't get a single thing done. Merlin. So instead of sitting around in front of the crystal ball any longer, the Gryffindor packed up his things and left. But of course he grabbed a cookie on his way out because he'd never pass up the opportunity.