Sweet Merlin, there was gonna be MORE scrying involved?!

He was doomed. He was freaking doomed.

Grayson had it in his head that after the previous activity, they would be done with this lesson and he could go and get himself a snack. Something unhealthy, obviously. But noooOOOoooo! There had to be MORE to this scrying thing and they had to try AGAIN using ANOTHER piece equipment. He was gonna fail this.

Letting out a small groan, the fifth year got up and headed over to the front to grab himself a crystal to work with. Asking the crystal a yes/no question seemed to be MUCH easier than trying to get a crystal ball, a bowl of water and a mirror to show him something interesting that wasn't his own reflection. THAT had definitely been hard, what with his numerous failed attempts, so he was kinda hoping that this wouldn't be.

With the crystal in hand, Grayson headed back to his seat and sat down. So....... a yes/no question, then? What could he ask? About his OWLs? Could he test it out first to see if it actually worked and wouldn't decide to do something funky like move in a triangular shape? Or a semi-circle? Because that was a mix of both and he kinda wanted a PROPER answer to this.

First, he needed a question. Or to see if the scrying thing had worked for anyone else.

Whatever it was that Angel saw in the crystal ball, it had to be bad based off her reactions. She had still yet to hear what it was, but AJ could always find out after class. Apparently it had to do with them fighting, but sisters were going to fight from time to time. That was nothing to cry about. "It's okay, Angel. It was just a vision, it doesn't mean anything." So, she could stop crying any time now.

AJ was paying so much attention to her sister that she completely missed the question the professor asked. It looked like they were going to be working with crystals. That sounded like fun. Hopefully AJ would be able to get the crystal to move.

Once the professor gave the okay, AJ walked up and grabbed her a crystal. The second year made her way back to her seat and thought about what question she should ask.

Zhenya really wasn't entirely sure of the events that happened by the lake those years ago. "Well it was one winter when I was in Russia, and my evil cousin put a spell on a frozen lake, and followed me. I fell through the lake, and the water underneath the ice was charmed to put the body into frozen animation." Yep. Evil cousin indeed. "Yes, I'm okay. I was in hospital for a few years defrosting, and I think they tried to save my hand but they couldn't…" she was a bit confused about everything that had happened whilst she had been frozen, all she had to go off was her parents and the healer's stories.

Zhenya had lost her inner eye and could no longer keep it open. Disheartened, but still glad she knew how to work her inner eye now, she emptied the water from her bowl and put it back where it belonged. Just in time too...



Zhenya had a bit of a think, her eyes slightly narrowed as she did so. She wasn't entirely sure how it worked, but she imagined how it would work, so she raised her hand. "I've seen it done before, Professor, where someone has gone missing or wants to see where something is, and they use a crystal on a string to hang over a map, and the string will move the crystal in a circle when it has located what it's looking for." She wasn't sure if the inner eye worked the same to work the crystal on the string, could she pry it open and it would work like that?


Zhenya listened and watched as Professor Cassie spoke about how to use the crystal, and asked them all to collect a crystal. She stood up and wandered over, getting a crystal for herself. They were supposed to be locating kittens? Aww. Maybe if she found one she would be able to give it a cuddle. She waited her turn and held the crystal over the map, moving it around the map, and asked "Is a mischievous little kitten here?"

So they were going to be practicing crystal scrying? This is what he was waiting for! He got up from his seat and got himself a crystal and was holding it. He couldn't believe this little thing was used for Divination. I mean it was just a rock once you think about it. He shrugged and went back to his seat to determine his fate. As he sat down he was wondering what Yes or No questions he could ask it. He could ask vague ones or really personal ones. He thought about it and decided to do one of both. One personal and then he thought about it and decided instead of doing a vague one why not do one involving his future? He grinned and decided to do his future one.

He heard the professor explain that now for a yes or no you must think clearly of what you want to know. If you see it move in a straight line back and forth the answer is no, if you see it start moving in a small circle the answer is yes. He got that and now to ask his question when it popped into his head.

"Will I have a career involving sports?" he asked. It was not too vague but he was curious about it. He concentrated and waited for his answer.

There was probably only one question on her mind right now, even with the sudden sluggish feeling. Figuring this would need a lot of concentration, she focused solely on the question and not on what she finally recognized as the tail end of the potion. That was it then? It was leaving? Class wasn't even done yet! Happy thoughts, think happy thoughts--or well thoughts on her question.

Lex watched the crystal even as she repeated the question over and over in her mind. At first the string was perfectly still. Not even an inch of movement but then the more she concentrated was the more she felt the tug until finally the string was giving a lazy swing in a circular motion.

It was a little hard to tell at first because of the lack of oomph but there was no mistaken it as the movement became more pronounced.

Circle. That meant yes...which meant a happy Gryffindor despite the effects of the potion now fast wearing off. Shame too, Lex hadn't been proper happy in months.

Straight line back and forth for no, circle for yes, right... right... okay... Toby underlined THAT little nugget of information no less than three times, because that was the most important part and also the part he was most likely to forget. But there wasn't much time to try and re-read his notes, because it was time to give this crystal scrying a go.

Toby headed up to grab a crystal on his own, dangling it in front of his face to inspect it closely before he went ahead and tried scrying. So prettyyyyyyyy. Pretty enough that Toby was momentarily distracted from the task at hand.

Only momentarily though, because he very quickly remembered he was meant to be thinking up a question to asked this thing. Hm. HMMM. What did he want to know?

Maybe... something about his OWLs? Uhhh... or maybe not; that was sort of a big question. He'd be better off just starting off with asking about the weather or what was for dinner or something. HmmmmMMMMMMM.

Zander will still pretty weary of this whole scrying thing, so when Professor Morgan said that they were going to do some practice with the crystals... Zander was more than just a little disappointed. With another glance to Kevin, the Gryffindor walked up to the crystals and grabbed one for himself and one for his friend. Okay. Now what?

Circle for yes? The other thing for no. Or a location? Okay.

Zander didn't really have anything he wanted to find at the moment, so maybe a question would be the better bet. However, what would he even ask it?! There were so many question. And just what.

This was all assuming it would work actually. But still. What did he want to ask exactly? Hold up. This may take a moment. Or two. Or seven.

They moved on in the class, casting aside the mirrors and bowls of water and further onto a new method of scrying, that of using crystals--on cording--and trying to get answers or find something by using said crystals. Benny wasn't so sure about it but he was doing his best to keep an open mind at least. Not shutting out the professor and what she was trying to teach them.

First things first...he needed a crystal to work with. Couldn't try anything without it of course. So getting up from his chair, the Gryffindor followed the actions of his classmates, coming up to the table and retrieving one from the collection there and returning to his seat. Step one done...now what to do with it?

So with crystal dangling from the string, Zander sat watching. Carefully trying to piece his question together. The Gryffindor was still unsure about this whole process in general. What would he even want to ask it anyways? There was one question that kept popping up over and over again. And the Gryffindor was just sure that it was the one he was meant to ask. Except, he wasn't sure if he wanted to ask it.

Could he bare to here the answer, if there even was one?

Maybe.

Looking up from the parchment he still had resting on the table, he thought for a moment longer. Okay, you know what? He was gonna ask. Concentrating really hard, the Gryffindor asked his question... But not out loud because it wasn't really something he wanted the others to hear. Especially not Kevin. The third year wouldn't let him live it down.

And then he waited.

At first, there wasn't any moment coming from the crystal, but right as he was about to give up, it started to budge. Was that a back and forth-- No. Wait, a CIRCLE?! YESSS!!! Zander could literally feel his spirit lifting, or was that just the corners of his mouth? Heh. If only this thing could answer non-yes-or-no questions too. Zander needed more background. Otherwise, this was actually kind of useless information, but not going to dwell on that now because things were gonna be okay after all. If divination really worked.

Angel was still trying to stop the sobbing. "Maybe your right sis." Angel wiped her eyes and then she heard what the Professor said... she decided that she would get some tea since it had worked last term when she was homesick and Professor Bentley had given her some.

Angel went and got a cup of tea and sipped it... she was still shaking a little bit but the tears were stopping. "I'm feeling much better Professor." Angel give her sister and the Professor a weak smile as she listened to what she had to do next.

Angel went and got a crystal and she whispered to it. "No bad news right... okay." Angel couldn't do with any more bad news it would be totally crazy and she would actually just stay in her seat crying.

Everyone else seemed to be right on into this activity, but frankly, while he LIKED having answers, he wasn't sure what he could ask that he'd want to know. Like, what if it was bad? Or not what he wanted to hear/see? What then?

..

SIGH.

Zeke held his crystal up by the string, his mind working to think of a question that wouldn't scar him for life. Figuring he couldn't go wrong with asking a subject specific question, Zeke focused his attention on the crystal, and then after a couple of deep breaths asked his question.

"Will I pass Divination?" he asked it.

It didn't move.
....

.....

That wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no either. It as a not-working-right-now crystal.

Zeke took some more time to clear his thoughts, and focused on his crystal and his question.

"Will I pass Divination?" he repeated.

This time, there was movement. The crystal started moving, slowly at first and he couldn't safely make out the direction, but soon it moved around in circles. IN CIRCLES! That meant yes, right?

Jasmine watched as Professor Cassie used the crystal to answer a question and to find her kittens. Cool. Now they got to try asking a yes-no question using the crystal. Jasmine sat still for a moment. Would she finally get the answers that she wanted so desperately? Could they only ask one question? How about two, five, ten? She had a million questions, how could she narrow it down to one? If she could only ask one question, she would have to choose it wisely.

Trying to come up with the question she wanted answered most of all, Jasmine walked up to get her crystal. Returning to her seat, she made a decision. She would ask one question and try to quickly ask another one before they moved on to the next activity. Yes if she could get two answers, that would help a lot.

Every other day, Tobias was constantly brimming with questions about everything. But today, could he think of a single thing he wanted to ask this crystal? Apparently not. Every possible question was immediately vetoed as one he didn't really want to know the answer to, until eventually Toby had come to the conclusion that being a Seer with enforced visions didn't really sound all that fun.

But yeah, task at hand and all. The Hufflepuff sat there, brow slightly furrowed in concentration as he stared around at the class in hopes of finding some inspiration.

"Uhh..." Toby looked back at the crystal, which was now hanging quite still. There was another moment of thought, and then... "Will I have fun this summer?"

Mmmmnothing yet. No movement at all. Toby squinted at the thing, but then... it started to move. Likely, it was something to do with his subconscious spurring the thing on and causing his hand to move and infinitesimal amount, but all Toby knew was that it was MOVING. He watched and waited and...

Circles, little circles. Niiiiiiiiiiiiice. Tobias grinned and was about to lower the crystal again when... it changed to just moving back and forth in a straight line? He stared. Stared for so long that soon enough it was back to swinging in circles again.

His crystal was trolling him.

Jasmine desperately wanted answers to her questions, but she was terribly afraid of what the answers would be. Nevertheless, she was determined to ask them because that was the only way she would ever find peace. Closing her eyes, Jasmine concentrated on her first question. That wasn't very hard to do because it was something she had been consumed with for a long time.

Jasmine held the crystal up by the string and let it dangle. Keeping her focus, she whispered her question. "Did Cris leave Hogwarts of his own free will?" Watching the crystal like a hawk, Jasmine waited for it to do something. Finally, when she could barely stand it anymore, it began to move. The crystal started to swing back and forth in a straight line. Jasmine exhaled, not realizing that she had been holding her breath the whole time. "I knew it", she thought to herself. At least that was what she had hoped.

Since Professor Cassie had yet to call time on the activity, Jasmine decided to go for one more question. This one was even more important than the previous one. She steadied the crystal so that it was still again. Then Jasmine began to concentrate once more, thinking about her next question. This one really made her afraid because yes or no, there was really nothing that she could do about the situation. She asked anyway. "Does Cris still love me?" This time it took a little longer for the crystal to move as if it was really pondering her question. Once it started to move, there was no question what it was telling her. The crystal began to move in a circle and it kept going round and round for a while before it slowed down. Well that answer gave Jasmine some satisfaction, but it was bittersweet. This activity raised more questions than it answered, but at least Jasmine knew something. Maybe she needed to revisit the crystal ball.

After Kace asked his question he waited patiently for his answer and he saw the crystal swinging back and forth and that meant a no. He shrugged and he still had time to change his future if he really wanted to or maybe he was gonna have a career involving Astronomy who knows? He wanted to ask a question and thought about Emmy. He grinned and said quietly so he only heard it, "Does Emmy love me?" Then he waited for what the crystal said and it was swinging in a circle and that meant a yes. He grinned widely, he didn't need a crystal to know that answer but it felt reassuring to know the answer.

After he did his two questions he wanted to know the answer to, he waited to know what the next activity was gonna be.

Crystal in hand as he sat down at his seat once more, Benny tried to think what he could use the divination form to decipher. A question to ask to see if he could get the crystal to work and maybe find an answer to something in the long run. At first he was coming up with more questions that weren't so clear as to be answered in a yes or no format so he had to scrap them for other thoughts as he let his mind wander for a bit to try and thinking or others. Finally, the Gryffindor settled on one question in particular and Benny worked on gathering up his focus once more to set the crystal in motion, letting it dangle for a few moments in preparation.

"Will potions always be a struggle for me?" he asked aloud albeit quietly as if needing the energy in the room to hear it rather then simply thinking it in his mind. Not that he wasn't doing that as well to allow himself to focus on it rather than anything else that might remain there in his mind at the moment. Benny eyes were on the dangling crystal as it continued to move but nothing that seemed like either answer that Professor Glendower had mentioned as a clear sign.

Was he doing something wrong? Not focused enough?

Wait, what? Caleb was totally lost, because he'd been so focused on this stupid mirror, trying to see if Sophie's kneazle needed him or not. He missed the whole question bit, and now he was totally lost. Crystals? Kittens? HUH?

He looked at all of his classmates and deduced what he had to do for now, at least. Grab a crystal and ask it questions. Ok, he could do this. He put aside the mirror - a bit embarrassed that it had taken him this long to tune back into the lesson, but whatever - and then went to grab a crystal. He returned to his desk, and decided to go ahead and start asking questions.

"Is Sophie's kneazle alive?"

It didn't move. Was it supposed to do that? Or not? He really should have been paying attention....

Angel looked at the crystal and smiled. "Okay now it's time to get things going." Angel had no idea what was going to happen with her question but she had a personal one... well she had two but she would just ask one. "Oh Great and powerful Crystal.... does Benny love me?" Angel watched as the crystal started swinging in a circle movement.

"Awesome." Angel smiled as she knew that meant yes... she was totally happy about that and she couldn't wait until she got Benny to herself again so she could tell him exactly what was going on and what the crystal had just told her.

BEAM. Professor Morgan got a beam from big-mouthed McGee(a nickname she had for herself since she thought her mouth was just too big and bleghy). She bounced up to grab a crystal--BECAUSE SHE WAS SO READY TO GET HER CRYSTAL-SCRY ON. She was confident. Maybe a bit TOO confident--but Divination was somewhat easy for her. Well, not easy, but she definitely enjoyed and was having a little luck with it.

Unlike.....POTIONS.

Sigh.

She didn't want to think about Culloden's little pep talk to her the other day--it for some reason had made her more nervous for his class-but anyways. Ahem.

Grabbing a crystal, she sat back down and stared at it for a minute. Hmm. What could she ask it...hmmmm HMMM. OH. She smiled and held the crystal hanging in front of her. "Okay--so--Will my grandparents be satisfied with me this term?" She asked slooowly. Maybe it was too...specific? Or was she not specific enough? "You know--with my grades and stuff--" she added, since the crystal wasn't really doing anything.

And still...nothing.

Eden sighed and rubbed her face. "No seriously--I need to know if my hard work is in VAIN okay, Crystal? Will my grandparents be satisfied with my performance this term?" She asked, clearly, loud enough for the crystal to hear(did they have ears?!) and slowly.

Zhenya had been holding her crystal over the map of Hogwarts, moving it up and down, all around, asking it the same thing over and over again, "Are there any mischievous little kittens here?" Waiting and waiting for a circle. There was lots of moving up and down, but not much circling happening… that was odd. She wondered how many kittens there were prowling through Hogwarts.

And then CIRCLE!

Zhenya beamed, she had figured out where a kitten was!! She just couldn't.. you know, work out exactly where it was. "Professor I think there's a kitten just down the stairs…" she looked harder at the map, "Yes it looks like there's a kitten somewhere on the seventh floor, near the class room."

So many questions. Which one did she want to ask for this? Cinns had lots of questions, most of them were not yes or no anwsers. Hey she had a good question to ask the crystal.

She held out the crystal on a string in front of her and thought about the question. "Am I going to have fun this summer?" There the gryffindor kept her eye in the crystal. Waiting to see what the answer was going to be.

O_O WHAT???

No, that can't be right. It was moving in a straight line back and fourth. Was this thing broken? It was broke she just knew it. She had to have fun this summer. It was Cinna, she always had fun. Oh, she knew she needed to ask it a question that she knew the question to. "Am I almost fifteen years old?" Now she already knew the answer she would be fifteen a few days.

She watched the crystal move in a circle.What? WHAT??? Come on. This thing wasn't broken, was it? Head desk. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Having absolutely zero success with this whole crystal thing, Caleb decided to ask a different question. Maybe the kneazle was too far out of the crystal's reading zone, or something like that. He didn't know. Or maybe he just wasn't focusing enough. That was always a possibility...

"Am I going to pass my OWLS next term?" he asked the crystal. THAT was an easy one, and something he was pretty sure he knew the answer to. After a few seconds, he noticed the crystal began to move slowly in a teeny tiny circle. So that was good, right? He looked at his notes to double check...yes, that was good. YAY!

So........... he needed to ask the crystal a question. Just a test one to see if it would actually work or if it was gonna be as difficult as the other methods of scrying. Maybe that was something he should have done with the others, even if it would have been a little hard to do so.

"Am I awesome?" See? Easy question. One that wouldn't be hard to answer at all.

The crystal, though? Talk about taking its freaking time. Grayson was all set on seeing the thing moving around in a circle to answer his question -- maybe even moving around too quickly as if to say that it was a definite yes -- but the crystal was simply hanging there, not doing anything. What in the name of? THAT wasn't meant to happen. Other people had managed to get their crystals to move around so why couldn't he--

OH LOOK IT WAS MOVING!

And he was RIGHT! It was a circle. SMIRK. Of COURSE, he was awesome. Even the crystal knew--

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

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

What was with that LINE?! What he thought was turning out to be a circle ended up being a semi-circle when the crystal made an arc and then suddenly jerked over to the other side again. DEADPAN. Great. What was that answer? A maybe?????????? He wasn't okay with a MAYBE.

Scrying was stupid.

Had anyone noticed what Professor Cassie was doing during their practice? No, well hehe, she was being quiet and getting ready for the main activity she had been planning. That and her little end of term treat. There was now cookies and brownies on a small table near the professors desk.

When someone caught her attention she turned to Zhenya. Her smile grew "Very good, yes it's Aries. I think he's headed for a little nap." She sensed him getting closer. Did the girl have her talents of sensing animals or had she been able to work the crystal? Either way it was impressive and shew as getting snaps.

"Alright everyone, are we ready for some fun?" She snapped excitedly then pointed to the now empty basket. "While you were practicing I sent your personal items away to find a new place on the grounds. It is now your job to go out and find your item." Wasn't that fun and exciting!! "You are welcome to use any form of the scrying you feel more comfortable with. The crystal ball, the bowl of water, these hand held mirrors, or the crystal with the maps." Pointing to the little pile of maps so that they knew there were one for each of them. Looking at her watch she smiled. "You have one hour to go and find your item and come back here. Once back you can celebrate the end of your little scavenger hunt and term with some cookies and brownies, punch, and a little gift. The gift is that the crystals you hold in your hand right now are yours to keep." She grinned at the all excited to be giving her students something.

"Alright you can begin." She turned to get a brownie, "Oh and if in an hour you haven't found your item, don't worry I will get it back to you. It's not lost forever and it is safe, I promise!"

OOC: Alright guys, this is going to be the last big activity. There will be no homework so this is kind of a final/replace of homework. In five posts have your charrie leave the classroom, go in search of their item, find or not find their item, and then come back to the room. Anywhere in the castle or on the grounds can be in your search. It is up to you whether they find it or not. Once you are finished post back in here as your charrie coming back with their item. Link all your posts that you have done to get full credit! You have until Friday, November, 28 at 11 p.m. Est. Have fun!

Toby had been sitting there, just deadpanning at his crystal, when the question 'are we ready for some fun?' got his attention, and got it good. He looked up, still dangling the crystal in front of him, and saw- WERE THOSE BAKED GOODS? Toby loved baked goods.

He sort of sat there staring at them for a moment until he realised exactly what Professor Morgan was saying.

She... she'd sent away the items. His wings.

She.

What.

Wings.

Gone.

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

And they had to FIND them, using scrying. WELL, at least it was good that Professor Morgan would get them back for them if they weren't successful; for a brief second Toby had had thoughts of his wings being lost forever. But no, of course the professor would pull through. And hey, they got to keep their crystals too!

SO THEN... what method would he use? Not the bowl of water, that method hadn't yielded any results for him at all. Toby also wasn't entirely sure if the crystal ball would help him here; last time he'd tried he'd seen only a lot of smoky figures and then darkness. The mirror was a good option, hadn't he been pretty successful with that already? But perhaps the crystal was the way to go, as you had to ask it a direct question, AND it used a MAP and could literally point him exactly where he needed to go. He ran the risk of Seeing something totally unrelated with the other methods, or perhaps a location that was difficult to pinpoint, if he Saw anything at all.

Toby just... had to hope that the crystal wasn't going to keep trolling him.

Seeing that the map was free, the Hufflepuff headed over it and held his crystal up above it. He waited a moment for the crystal to settle before he asked anything.

"Where are my fairy wings?"

As before, there was no movement at first. Or for a few moments. Or... a few minutes. Toby squinted between the crystal and the map.

"Where are my fairy wings? ... Please?"

........... Still nothing. Toby wondered if perhaps that meant the crystal was already pointed at their location, and was about to check to see exactly where that was when... MOVEMENT. Only... a very SLIGHT movement, maybe just a fraction of an inch, pointing towards the lower levels of the school. Entrance Hall? It was worth a shot.

Stepping back from the map, Toby wasted no time in heading out the door and hurrying down the steps, fully intending to stop and ask his crystal if he was on the right track throughout his quest.