He heard that snort!giggle Zahra Kettleburn. Looking back towards her, he narrowed his eyes a little. Hmph. It was a serious answer!! She was making him look like a joke in front of the entire Hogwarts population!!! Or, well, the entire Hogwarts population that showed up to divination class anyway. So basically the people who mattered okay!!

... Wait, so what Professor Morgan was saying is that... Scrying and Crying aren't the same thing? Well then they should have made that more clear because how was he supposed to know!

And now the girl was sleeping. That girl needed a hobby. Or to be shipped off to Antartica. Zahra would probably fit in quite well with the penguins knowing her. Actually... She'd probably scare them all off. Did this count as clearing his mind? Because how was he supposed to clear his mind when there was just so much to think about ALL THE TIME!!! He couldn't do it! Impossible!! Not gonna happen!! And who the heck is Connor Smaug?

Ben had been vaguely listening as the professor had begun class, the fourth year choosing to remain quiet as questions were raised of the other students. Instead he merely listened to all that was being said. So they would be dealing with crystal balls and the study of divination through them. He got the concept even if he wasn't entirely aware of any skill he was going to have with it.

Still, he'd at least try. Starting with doing as was instructed...clearing his mind and trying to focus. Not exactly an easy thing to do, he mused as he noticed Adi sitting across from him at their table. Opting to close his eyes at least for a moment, Benny bit his lip and breathed. In and out...in and out...in and out. Slowly and steadily as he tried to focus on one thing at a time and one thing only.

But his mind liked to wander since he didn't have an outside situation to grab his attention. And when he thought of what surrounded him, he came back to his friends. All of them. Which wasn't very clear and focused by any means. Cue sigh.

Majority gave their somewhat 'interested' statement on how to get a start in Crystallomancy. Most of it made sense, really. Maybe.. besides that Gryffindor boy with the sad ideas and dead turtles. Paulie couldn't get the connection, the thought made her shift awkwardly on her cushion. She clicked her tongue lightly to herself as Professor Morgan went on with the lesson.

Now it was time to focus. Focusing inwardly. And, to Nani's delight, that was something she was pretty good at. She zoned out a lot of nonsense as it was. The scents and the music where a little distracting, let alone the background noise of the classroom. But she was satisfied with this class today and she wasn't gonna let any of that bother her. She needed to free her mind of clutter.

Back straightened and loosening the cross of her legs, Paulie got herself comfortable and settled in her spot. She closed her eyes and focused on a color, Indigo being her choice. The first question in her mind was what the color reminded her of. Night sky. Deep waters. Next thought was what the color made her feel. And, well, the color resembled passion and conscious. She was calm, alert and open minded. Literally open minded, by this point Paulie was well in her own bubble, her breathing calmed. Almost unaware of the actions around her. She just needed to hold this meditation.

In her head she imagined the color warped into a dense ball, like the crystal ball on her table. That was what she needed to focus her energy on anyways, right? The color flickered behind her eyelids, but she held it until further instructions.

Angel looked at the Professor, as gave her snaps that was good and then she said she had to clear her mind. This was going to be hard, a lot had gone on in her mind lately because she was totally going through a lot.. didn't the Professor know this 12 year old had gone through way to much in the past few weeks.

Angel closed her eyes and just relaxed, maybe if she was lucky she might even fall asleep though then she might get into trouble so she didn't want to do that.

Angel opened her eyes, she had no idea how but she had closed her mind completely, she was ready and waiting for the Professor to start the lesson.

?!!?!?!?!!!?!??

......Was the pyjama-less girl waving at him???? Even though he knew was alone in a corner, he still turned around to see if there was someone else she was waving at. Nope, it was definitely him. Ummm...did he know her from somewhere?? A crazy night out?? Because he hasn't had those in a bit.

o__o Was she a mind reader??? It doesn't matter though because waving was not asking and he still would not get up. He just uncomfortably sent a small wave her way, quickly turning back to the teacher. Shifty eyes.

Anywho, he stared at his own reflection in the crystal ball in front of him, while the professor talked. Sure, there was just a simple reflection of his beautiful self in there, but Dec conjured something up with that right there. Looking at your own reflection, you're looking at your past, present, and future. That's what makes you,you, right?? DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. But, no. That's not the point apparently. The professor was now having them close their eyes and relax, clearing their brains of stuff.

Dec closed his eyes, shaking his body a bit to relax. Clear the mind, clear the mind, clear the..., clear...the...miii... He felt his head getting heavy and jerked awake when the rest of his body started to follow. HE WAS FALLING ASLEEP. *blink, blink, blink* This was going to be harder than he thought.

Puck wasn’t sure this mandatory naptime was a nice idea. Okay it was a fantastic idea. But what if someone snored? Or or fell asleep and no that would be bad wouldn’t it? Still there was a part of her a large part that didn’t care.

Relax…drink tea? Right like she was going to take a sip of that EVER again. Okay maybe if there was ice in it and she bought it from the local starbucks that DIDN'T EXIST IN THIS DARN AREA!

That was sad.

She liked getting a nice drink in the holidays...and now, she was stuck in the middle of nowhere? The isolation of hagwarts was getting to her for a moment. She frowned and instantly cooled her tea with a tap of her wand....what? It was needed.

Closing her eyes...right she needed to do that. Just to clear her mind right now, and now, now she could open them again and just stare at her crystal ball right?

Sooooooo......... he was kinda failing at the whole 'clearing his mind' business... and was certain that his inner eye would be lost forever, IF he even had one. Siiiigghhhhh.

Adjusting his position on the floor, Zeke relaxed his brows which had somehow furrowed in his attempt to let himself relax. Of course, relaxing never worked for him, his brain was too wired to let him drift off into any form of nothingness. SO MANY QUESTIONS... and IDEAS. Still, he had to make an effort, so concentrating on his breathing, Zeke inhaled in a deep breath, held it for three seconds and exhaled for three seconds. This process was repeated until he thought he was sufficiently losing his mind.

Breathe in... in... in...

Breathe out... out... out...

Breathe in... in... in...

Breathe out... out... out...

Sneaking a peak through one of his eyes, Zeke wondered how many of his peers were having the same problem as him.

Ooooooh they were doing so well!! EEEP!! Look at all her fab students trying to clear their minds. Well almost all of them. Giving glances to a certain head girl. Yes, Cassie was most certain she probably didn't have the talents, but that wasn't going to make her discourage Alexa from trying. She knew she had to be even just a little interested to keep coming back. So she gave an encouraging smile and took some example deep breaths.

Keeping the room still calm she started to speak in a calm, quiet, tone. "Very good everyone, this is one of the most difficult parts of scrying. Training the mind to open up and let go of all distractions." Even after years of doing it sometimes she just had to walk away without success. "At this time all negative energy should be pushed from your body. As you clear your mind only pick up the positive around the room." She kept her room filled with positive, happy vibes, so this should not be hard, but she knew some still continued to doubt, she could tell by posture and eyes watching.

"You could start feeling weak, dizzy, or just off. This is just your mind letting go and moving into your inner eye waking. As we start the readings, do not think of anything, let the balls talk to you. Open your eyes and let them decide the point that you will look into the Crystal Ball. Where do you feel most drawn to the ball? This is where you should look." Still walking around and glancing at the students. "There will be no note taking through this. You do not want to break the connection, so just let things happen as they are suppose to. Your Crystal Ball will start darkening or mist swirling, do not let this bring you back to your conscious state. If it does just start the opening and clearing of the mind process over."

Now for the exciting part! They were going to start readings! YAY! "While youR looking into the crystal ball images will start to appear, try not to focus too much on one, it could break the connection and have you come back to conscious state before seeing everything. Again if you see nothing, do not get discouraged, it can take a few attempts before you can fully wake your inner eye. Just keep going back to this first step and trying again." Even herself, with a family full of seers and Divination experts, had to try many many times before fully getting Scrying.

"Take a few more deep breaths and once you feel like you are ready and your inner eye is awake, please begin your first attempts at Scrying." Giving soft encouraging snaps, she continued to walk around monitoring the class.


OOC: You are all awesome! This part of the activity is to have your charrie try to get into the reading state and looking into the ball for images. If they can not that is totally fine, if they do great too!! Think about it realistically for you own charrie! For this part a minimum of five posts for reading attempts, or actual images found. You will have until Saturday evening EST. If you need her just say in the post. Of course the most important thing have fun!!

He didn't have to peak for long before more things were said. Professor Cassie spoke lots, and he didn't really understand much of any of it... 'cept something about an inner eye.. and concentration and consciousness.. but she was super NICE!

Opening his eyes fully, Zeke peered around and followed Professor Cassie with his gaze. Was it just him? Or did it sound as if failure was to be expected in this class? Ugh ugh ugh. On a positive note, he hadn't been caught out for NOT having a clear mind, and his head DID feel a little funny -- again, probably the lavender -- so that had to be a little promising.

Rolling his head around his neck, Zeke released his last deep breath and fixed his gaze to the crystal ball on the table in front of him. Here went nothing...

INNER EYE! COME AT US!

Sapphire was quiet since the class began. She tried to pay attention, but her thoughts were still filled with the excitement from her first Hogwarts feast and her first awesome Gryffindor party.

"Proud to be a Hogwarts student - and a Gryffindor!" she happily thought, remembering what she had written down for the snap cup.

Trying to focus in class, she shook her head absentmindedly and gave a small, slightly guilty smile when she saw the professor glance her way with her own bright, encouraging one. Sapphire quickly looked down at her notes then, written with her favourite dark blue ink.



Her notes were pretty organized so far. This made her feel better because at the moment, she couldn't quite understand what all this Scrying was about. Or maybe that was just because she was day-dreaming too much.

Sapphire shook her head again. "Okay Sapphire! Focus!" she thought. She took a deep breath and looked intently into her crystal ball. "Clear your mind..."

For some minutes, all she could think about was clearing her mind. Literally. "How can I clear my mind when I keep hearing myself say 'clear your mind'. Clear your mind!" Ugh. First class of the year and she wasn't doing all that well...

Sapphire felt more pressured when she noticed the professor start walking around. She sensed her moving nearer. "Will the professor notice? She might know exactly what I'm thinking right now! If she does...maybe I should think of something nice to say. Uh...hi Professor Morgan! Or do you prefer to be called Professor Cassiopeia? No, you introduced yourself as Professor Cassie so obviously you'd want to be called Professor Cassie.

"Though I think Cassiopeia is such a pretty name. Personally, I'd prefer my students to call me that, if that was my name I mean. But obviously it isn't. My name is Sapphire. And I'm 11. And it's my first class ever in my first year at Hogwarts...so you probably understand why I'm not doing so well. I mean, the music's nice and the scent too, but well, I don't really like tea, unlike the other students..."

At this thought, Sapphire looked around the room and panicked. A lot of the students seemed to be doing much better than she was right now.

"Wow...I must be your worst student, Professor Cassiopeia Morgan. Cassie. I'm sorry. It's just, how can you clear your head? Oh, Sapphire! You silly, silly girl. The professor can't know your thoughts right now or hear you or...she can't. Right? You can't professor, right? Move away if you can't. Go on! Ugh...I can't clear my mind! I can't clear my mind!!!"

Sapphire bit her lip and looked at the crystal as hard as she could. "Come on!" she said aloud in frustration.

Oh no, it was time to begin? Jasmine hadn't cleared her mind, freed her mind or done anything with her mind and it was time to move on. It was time to read the crystal ball and her head was still swimming with thoughts. She had to keep trying though or this would never work.

Trying to tune out the rest of the class, Jasmine continued to take deep breaths. Hoping to get some clarity before she hyperventilated, she tried to repel the thoughts one by one. Was it working? Hard to say. Jasmine guessed that she would just have to give the old crystal ball a try to find out.

Was she supposed to touch it? Would that help the connection between her inner eye and the crystal ball? Jasmine decided to just look for now. Leaning closer, she peered into the orb........and waited.

He stared, and GLARED at the crystal ball, and honestly... his mind WAS becoming a BIT of a blank canvas. It was hard to think about anything when he was looking at/through it so intently. He wasn't sure, because he wasn't really aware, but MAYBE the crystal ball was becoming misty and smokey on the inside. Yep. OR... maybe it was just a trick of the light.

... ugh.

FOCUS ZEKE! Just not too hard, NO CONSCIOUSNESS! NONE!

Breathe!

Reverting back to his 'breathing exercises' again, Zeke attempted to clear his mind, and his gaze stayed fixed to the ball. In... in... in. Out... out... out.

If anyone was watching him they'd likely think he belonged in Mungo's. A dude breathing heavily, visibly... and staring intently at a glass ball. This was all madness.

Adi did NOT feel dizzy or weak or anything of that sort. Did that mean his Inner Eye was broken for now? (If he even had one) He did a few more deep breaths while just listening to the music. No AJ in his head so far. That was good. Maybe he could do this after all. Didn't want to be a total failure in the very first class of the year now, did he?

Did this mean he could open his eyes now? Just before he popped them open, an image of him and AJ at the Lake last year flashed before him. Ugh! Still no good. Never the less, his eyes trailed to the Crystal Ball before him. His gaze settled on the side most visible to him.

Images, you there?

"Breathe in, breathe out...do not fall asleep." Ethan commanded himself to concentrate on his breathing, and not think of anything else but to stay conscious. He can still hear and process what Professor Cassie was saying, so he guessed he was...well, good to go?

He waited...and waited...until his instinct told him to open his eyes and gaze at his Crystal Ball. It was a challenge indeed for the boy to keep his brain from thinking about the what ifs of this activity.

Then someone decided to converse with her ball.

Ethan gave a soft grunt and opened his eyes to look at the person who gave some sort of outburst.

A first year.

Merlin.

Frowning, Ethan returned to his crystal ball, closed his eyes and concentrated on his braeathing. Well, he's going to take a while with this.

Taking one last sip of her tea Hady set her cup down gently beside her so it wouldn't be knocked into (it was empty but just in case she didn't want it to break). They were supposed to clear their minds. She was sure she could do this, she'd learned to focus and clear her head while taking Karate classes back home. Maybe that could help her a bit here?

Letting her eyes slip shut Hady inhaled slowly through her nose only to exhale gently through her mouth. In. Out. In. Out.

It wasn't as easy as it used to be. There was so much on the first years mind. Her parents back home, her snake back home, friends at home, making friends her, classes, not looking stupid. It was a lot for a young girl. Still she'd keep at it.

In. Out. In. Out.

Focus Hady. Focus...

If he's not going to get any results soon, he would have at least learned the art of relaxation. He had a hard time sleeping last term, and if in case he finds himself having trouble sleeping again, then he can resort to this breathing in, breathing out business.

See? He's getting dizzy, but Ethan was more of falling asleep than actually geeting in the zone of scrying.

Convinced that he was dizzy enough, the blond boy opened his eyes and looked at his Crystal ball.

Nothing.

Not even a hint of mist!

Ethan eyed his device closer to see if there are any cracks or what. He was pretty sure that there's nothing wrong with him, so it must be the ball. But seeing that the clear sphere in front of him was flawless, Ethan just had to keep himself from doing a loud headdesk.

Adi continued to gaze at the Crystal Ball. Waiting....waiting...waiting...And still not one image showed up. Not even a teeny bit. Ugh! He tried some more gazing but still nothing. Not to mention he kept seeing AJ again in his mind. Unwilling, his eyes darted towards her. He studied his friend for a few seconds, wondering what was up with her.

Sigh. The Hufflepuff would have to speak to her soon. If it weren't for the fact that he needed to continue with this activity, he might have done it right now. He closed his eyes again, willing himself to relax.

And Breatheeeeeee!

Breatheeeeeee!

Breatheeeee!

In. Out. Slowly take a breath in. Now let it out.

Hady repeated the process over and over until she felt something. Was she dizzy/lightheaded or just sleepy? This she wasn't exactly sure.

Taking a chance she opened her eyes slowly her gaze fixating on the crystal ball before her on table. Nothing. There was nothing there at all. No picture, no haze, not even a wisp of fog did she see.

That's alright though. Glancing around quickly she could see she wasn't the only one having trouble. Knowing this helped her relax and she sat back into the beanbag seat once more.

Let's give this another shot. Eyes drifting shut Hady tried a different attempt. Take in the darkness, inhale the scent of the room. Focus on quiet it was just her and nothing else.

She could do this. She would do this. In. Out. Slow even breaths...

Norah breathed in and out slowly for what felt like years before opening her eyes and squinting at the crystal ball. It didn't look like anything but a ball. Ooh it did kind of look like ice! DARN, now she was thinking about ice cream.
Refocus, Norah. She took a long breath in and let it out slowly. In, out. In, out.

Suddenly she felt a tickle in her nostril and despite her clamping her hands over her mouth, she let out a ginormous, floor shaking sneeze. Looking quickly at the students around her, she hoped she hadn't disrupted their relaxation. She looked at the ball again. Nothing. Not thinking was hard, and she didn't even LIKE thinking in the first place.

Marigold could totally do this. She kept taking DEEEEEEP breathes and hoping for the best, but she couldn't get her mind to clear. She finally opened her eyes and poured herself another cup of tear, which she then sipped and went back to meditating. She deepened her breaths and continued to do so until she was in an almost asleep state. She kept herself awake by concentrating solely on the smell of the classroom. Once she got to this state, she stayed for a little while.

Boys were ridiculous sometimes.Hand resting on one of the cushions she was sitting on, Ruby raised one eyebrow at Grayson and then giggled into his shoulder, you know, so it wouldn't be loud or carry. She was being excellent at not disturbing the class you know. Mostly. Jealousy was actually the point though but not in the direction he thought. Mostly. Or at least probably not. But she could only help him out if he told her what was on his mind.

Not that Ruby expected anything other than what she'd just said to be on his mind, because, to reiterate, boys were ridiculous sometimes. But she wouuuuuld hit him up about it later. Observant she was, and she'd observed interesting things.

Gray was sooo smart. About checking ball situations. Ruby kept her expression innocent. She was FOCUSING on this crystal ball stuff now. And only sometimes shooting curious little looks at the little younger girl over there and already forming several opinions. Friendly smiles for youuuu other girl.

She took a sip of her tea and then moved her hand off the cushion. Aside from all these interesting surface thoughts, Ruby had no particular trouble clearing her mind.

There wasn't really a lot in there in the first place.

Noel just really really wanted to elbow someone. They were all sitting there, concentrating and taking deep breaths. It was ridiculous.

Sipping more of the lavender tea, the boy stared at the crystal ball in front of him. Well then, hello. He greeted his reflection, and grinned. He wasn't all that worried about not being able to see anything in there because he could just pretend that he did and get away it and that was why sucking at divination was okay.

So whenever the professor came near him, Noel did DEEP BREATHING. IN and OUT. AAH. OOOH.

Okay, so the breathing exercise he had done seemed to help a bit. Adi was not seeing any faces of AJ right now and his mind did feel calmer and clearer as well. He was all set to have another go at the Crystal Ball gazing. Slowly he opened his eyes and allowed his gaze to travel to the Ball. It fixated right at the same spot as in his first attempt.

Sooo... Any time now, images. There wasn't even any swirly stuff or darkening of the Ball. Adi just stared blankly. He obviously did not have an Inner Eye.

Under normal circumstances AJ would be pumped for an activity because it was a chance to prove that she was good at something. It was time to be competitive and prove that she could see something in a crystal ball before everybody else. Only problem was that she couldn't clear her mind. If she couldn't do that one little thing then how was she going to be able to even get to the activity part?

She took another sip of her tea for good measure, and tried to push all the negativity out of her body. Umm... her thoughts were still there. They flicked between Adi and what happened between her and her sisters. This was not going to work, and for once in her life she really didn't care. There wasn't any competitive juices flowing inside her right now.

Anged listened to what the Professor said and decided to give it ago... she had no idea if she could clean her mind, so much was going on in her mind at the minute... could she actually manage to do this well this was going to be interesting she would just have to wait and see.

Angel gazed into the Crystal Ball, she was still trying to clear her mind, she was breathing fast, struggling to relax, her sister was in her mind teasing her about Benny and then there was Benny himself in her mind asking all about her and other stuff.

O____________________o

This wasn't going to work she just couldn't get HIM out of her mind. Her mind was singing. "I just can't get you out of my head, boy your all that I can think about

Angel was still trying to get him out of her mind but at the minute it wasn't working she'd have to figure things out soon.