Olivia grinned. Oh? So her guess was good! Sweet. So maybe they would be dropping these stones into the water and reading the ripples. Though how would they interpret them? She continued to listen to her fellow student’s responses before focusing back on Professor Vance who had moved on with the lecture. Hydromancy. Alright. She wrote that down in her notebook along with the definition of it. She loved hearing when topics connected to history, especially when they had something to do with ancient cultures! She had always enjoyed learning about the Vikings, the Celts, the Ancient Egyptians, the Mesopotamians, and more when she visited her local library.



What could affect the accuracy of water reading? Yes, she nodded at Brent’s comment. That seemed like it would have an affect on the reading. Any disturbance would affect it really. Though she wondered…. Hmm… Olivia raised her hand and offered another guess. “Could the visibility…. Wait, no... Could the clarity have an effect on this? For instance, if the water was clouded, would it be more difficult to interpret a message?”

Things that affect the accuracy of a water reading...oh! Jonas felt like he was pulling this one out from somewhere but he had to atleast try.

"Maybe if you're reading water from a pond or something professor it might be difficult cos' the water is murkey?" he tried as he raised his hand.

Carlton squirmed uncomfortably. He didn't know any of this, desperately he tried to scribble down what the other students were saying but it usually just meant he didn't catch what the next one said.

He clenched his quill harder. He recognized some of the students as first years and felt even more out of place. How did people know so much? At least the professor seemed nice. He might even have the courage to speak at this class.

Some day.

"Is the type of water a factor?" He was surprised to hear his own voice. Had he just raised his hand and asked a question on his first lesson. He felt heat creep up on his cheeks and he swallowed, continuing hastily. "If you're looking in a lake or..." By now his voice drained into almost a whisper. "The ... Sea?" He didn't know what he was talking about and it was probably painfully obvious. He should have just continued to take notes. Yup. "The sea is salty." Great conclusion.

Zoryn had a lot of trouble trying to keep up with EVERYTHING that people said. And taking notes was really hard when you didn’t have a hard surface to support your parchment. She did, however, try her very best to scout out someone who WAS taking notes. ‘Cause she could go ask them for a copy later. If she asked extra cute, then they’d probably be willing to share. And sharing is caring, y’know? For the most part, everyone at Hogwarts had been pretty nice so far.

Zoryn was learning so many new things already!!

Like, you can READ water?? And to think, she had only been reading magazines and some books all her life! This was SO COOL. Bet water had loads of fun stories!!!

The first year knew nothing about water readings and she still didn’t quite understand what divination meant… But she really wanted to answer because it was her first lesson of all time and she was feeling extra excited. Maybe water reading was like normal reading! ”If you don’t read all the words right, that can affect the accuracy!” It was an obvious answer, she thought. But no one else had said it yet!!

So Zoryn said it.

She was such a good student.

Kimi had no idea about any of the answers so he just took notes and hopefully the next question he would know an answer

"Professor the temperature of the water must make a difference right?" she lowered her hand and pondered at the question. Ohh a wink from Dora, she sent one right back.

Hmm. Hattie wasn't so sure about the next question. She didn't know everything after all. That was why she was at school. She needed to learn. But she was sure that she could come up with an answer. She bit her lip as she made a few notes, trying to come up with an answer. Eventually she third year smiled, and popped her hand up into air. "Could noise affect it? I mean if you're in a crowded area then you could get distracted by the people around you, and miss something important"

Sam had been too busy scowling at the professor to answer the first question. She never went by Samantha. NEVER.

She softened a little at Dora's smile, and finally started to consider the subject at hand. Water divination. She couldn't say she knew much about it, nor that she had gleaned much useful information from other people's answers. Although that might be more down to her not paying much attention in her annoyance, rather than anything about the quality of the lesson.

Yeah, probably that.

And now she was listening, most of what she could have come up with as an answer had already been said: creatures, murkiness of the water, outside distractions, weather... Oh, hang on. The weather person had only mentioned rain! She could totally tag on to that...

"A wind or breeze would mess with ripples too, Professor."

What Sky really wanted to know then was if a small bowl could give the same effect, why did they need to come out here for a lesson? Except the fact that then the Professor elaborated that a large body of water would give better results. That and it was nice to not have to be in the castle on a gorgeous Fall Saturday afternoon. She did also want to know why the lesson couldn't wait till Monday, but hearing someone mention about a full moon, well maybe it was related to that?

Hydromancy. Okay. Cool. What factors could influence the reading? Lots of things that her peers already mentioned, but surely there was more. Like the thing that she mentioned before the small bowl versus body of water.

"Well like I said earlier use of a small bowl. Versus body of water. So basically the amount of water could affect the accuracy." For reasons that could be altered by things her peers mentioned. Win for Skylar for using her classmate's ideas ... teamwork!

She snored when the professor opened her mouth again and started talking about the lesson of today. Hydromancy… Yeah right! The second year rolled with her eyes and suppressed a loud sigh. Did she really needed to listen to this? Why did the headmaster allow such a lesson? Even muggles were smart enough to NOT believe in things like this! Shaking her eyed she stared at the students around her, some of them really seemed to be listening interested and were actually believing this but, some others were like herself doubting the professor and that was a good thing, so not everybody was that stupid at last!

Turning her attention back toward the professor she faked again a frowning and thoughtfully look and kept once again silent while the next question was asked. She already had decided at the start of this lesson to be present because she needed to but, she wasn’t going to do her best either! If this professor is really able to see the future then she must have seen that I’m not doing my work or paying attention at all… But, because she doesn’t know, she must be a fraud, decided she with a nod to herself.

What could affect the accuracy? "Maybe if there is something in the water? Foreign particles such as dirt, Professor? I suppose that could give you a correct reading if you're a dirtball." Some people were and Rooney was well aware of their existence. It was listed right in his notebook..the names of a few people here right now. Too many names, if you asked him. But that was a lot of whatever. He continued to note down answers provided by others, replacing question marks with actual names that the Professor had provided or that he had overheard being used.

Getting to know people was hard.

Janelle listened as her classmates gave their answers about Water Divination. When the Professor began speaking again, she grabbed her quill and began taking notes. Quickly she wrote, trying to keep up with all that was being said. Her mind wandering for a moment, Janelle was still hoping that there would be some wading involved in their divination task.

Soon, it was time for another question. This one, Janelle had to think about though. After a few moments, she raised her hand. Her first thought had to be put aside because that answer had already been given. Going with plan B, Janelle began to speak. "Is it possible that the depth of the water could affect the outcome? I mean shallow water vs. deep water. Maybe that could make a difference." Janelle wasn't really sure, but she was going with that.

Sitting outside in the fresh air with the warm sun beating down and listening to the water softly lapping against the bank, it was enough to send a person off to sleep. Trixie managed to keep herself awake by writing down what the Professor was saying and only stopped to raise her hand to answer the next question. "I think to get an accurate reading you have to focus your mind. Once you learn to do that then you open yourself up to the messages in the water and what they mean."

Charlie was basically right, and she hardly knew anything about the subject! That was a nice feeling, as she could hold onto her pride just a little bit longer.

So, it had a name... Hydromancy. It was derived from the Greek words "hydro" and "manteia," and it was a rather old practice. It was a catchall term for the methods of divination aided by water. She made sure to write all this down on a sheet of parchment, scribbling away almost furiously. Unfortunately, her notes were not very legible, as she had yet to get quill usage down. Calling it chicken scratch would be a reach, because even a chicken would probably do better than her. She'd just have to rewrite her notes back in the dorm.

Hmm, factors that might affect readings.... This question was a bit easier to answer. If she was right, it had a more broad selection of answers, as it could really be anything that could cause a typical disturbance in the water. Charlie couldn't take all day to answer the question, though, and decided to just offer up one possible answer. She raised her hand, and replied with "How about the amount of water available? If you don't have a lot of water at hand, it would make sense if the reading would be a bit weaker."

Slate was uninterested in everything, but when someone called over to him. He shrugged before moving mats to near them. Might as well not sit alone.

He was about to introduce himself when the Professor decided to speak. Which, was good. Slate was half expecting her to continue drawing in the sand instead of teach.


Slate fought the urge to roll his eyes. This school didn't really feel like school. It felt like guessing. Was there a reading assignment he'd missed? Or were these things he was expected to know?

Why wasn't there a syllabus or something?

He mumbled under his breath when the next question was asked. "Actually know what this stuff was would probably help."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

Brent's guess left Laurel momentarily silent before she realized what the boy was trying to get at. When she understood she flashed a smile over at the young snake. "Oh, you mean like fishing with a fishing rod? Well that's how the muggles catch their fish by dropping fishing lines with a hook and bait into water to entice fish. We can't use fishing rods to interpret the future."

Fishing? Nooooooooo...Derf was PRETTY sure that the older boy was not talking about fishing. He actually SORT of knew about this because dad had talked about some fundamentals of earth magic with him once or twice. Although he had mostly tuned it out though.

"I fink he means dowsing and divining rods, professor!" Derf said while flailing his arm. "Finding fings like...like...gemstones and missing people and fings!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

Derfael kept on with his merpeople fascination and it showed in his reply. Smiling kindly at the young badger Laurel shook her head doubtfully. "If its true Derfael which I honestly don't know if it is then it's something unique for the merpeople. I do though think they use their gift for music more to interpret the future then to stir the currents and ripples." But she was out on thin ice too.

................she didn't KNOW?

He was trying HARD not to look to crestfallen, but this had just completely shredded the vision turned certainty he had had for what would happen this lesson. WHICH APPARENTLY WAS ALL A LIE NOW.

Which was why all he could offer up in reply was a one word response - which was really more of a sound than anything else.

".......oh......"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

[indent]When the last student had offered up her guess and it seemed that nobody else wanted to speak Professor Vance deemed that it was high time to continue. "You've all offered up good guesses and most of you have even touched on the method of Divination called Hydromancy that we are going to learn about and practice with the aid of our beautiful lake for the remainder of our lesson." Here she paused to let her glance run over Timila and Isa.

"Hydromancy is a very ancient practice that has been around for thousands upon thousands of years and from it our popular modern tea leaf reading as some of you brought up has been derived. Hydromancy comes from the greek words hydro and manteia and is the art and practice of divining the past, present and future with the aid of water."

"There are numerous ways in which you can perform a hydromatic reading, but before we get in to those and what the ancient germanic wise women preferred to use for their water interpretations I wonder can anyone guess what factors can affect the accuracy of a water reading?"

Therefore...Derf was only half paying attention when the true intention of the lesson was revealed. No merpeople. No giant squid. Literally just rocks in the water and not even rocks to be SKIPPED.

SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHING and slouching where he sat, the first year instead focused on pushing his toes into the sand and wiggling them there. Maybe he would get lucky and catch some more worms between his toes or something...because the only answer he was coming up with in response to the professor's question was the pathetically dramatic 'actually wanting to perform the water reading' was coming to mind.

Because...you know...if one didn't actually want to it would hurt the accuracy...and yeah...

Yeah that sign said no touchy so Kat wasn't planning to go and do that at all. Nope no nada


If Katerina was being really honest, she tell you that she thought that divination was the biggest waste of class time that had ever been invented. That would be honest Kat from a few terms ago. When she was a nonbeliever it wasn't that she was completely converted but yes things seen possible. Plus it was pretty fun to see what would come true and what didn't.

The blonde Hufflepuff sit still in her seat and waited for class to begin. After it started she thought about what all she knew about Water divination. Which wasn't exactly a lot. She had heard of one thing were they used divination to find water under ground. But she couldn't remember the name. Raising her hand high in the air. She was a shorty okay? "There's one that is a method to finding underground water or other things hidden or things that are suppose to be underground. Using a y shaped stick or something." Yeah she still didn't remember the name for it.

What would effect an accurate reading? She listened and continued to take notes. "Well if you were outside using a big body of water the weather or even the tides could effect a reading?" Was that her answer or did she just answer her answer with a question? And yes even the black lake in front of her right here had tides... or at least she thought so.

Jacob thought for a moment, listening to his peers' responses to the question at hand. What factors could influence the accuracy of a reading? His classmates had good ideas. Disturbances in the water, distractions around the diviner, lack of concentration...

He wasn't positive about his answer, but he decided to take a chance. He was sort of answering the question and asking one of his own at the same time, anyway. "Professor," he said, raising his hand, "would natural ability hinder the accuracy of a reading? For example... I'm not sure if you're familiar with them or not, but No-Majs -- Muggles, I mean," he corrected himself, "sometimes entertain themselves with what they call Magic Eye pictures. They have busy patterns on them. They're usually a bit ugly, actually. Anyway, the gist is that the person looking at the picture unfocuses or crosses his or her eyes, and a sort of 3D picture emerges in the pattern. Some people can easily see what the shape is, no problem. Others, like me, can see that there is a shape, but can't tell what it is. Other people can't get it to work at all." He frowned slightly, not sure if he was explaining himself well.

"What I'm trying to ask, I suppose, is whether water divination could be anything like that. Some people may not see any patterns or images at all -- or not be able to interpret them even if they do see that they exist. That would affect the accuracy, surely." He hoped that answer made some sense. He felt like he'd just rambled all over the place.

Oh. Isa would have to save her question for later. She was still curious about how the moon influenced hydromancy, but it seemed like she wouldn't find that out until later. Given that the professor had told Isa to save her question about the moon for later, Isa was guessing that the moon was not what the professor had in mind as an answer for the next question about what might influence the accuracy of the reading. The second year Hufflepuff thought about what else might affect the accuracy of water readings. "Can the conditions of the water affect the accuracy of the reading, like how clear or clean or what color the water is?" Would murky greenish water filled with dirt and algae produce less accurate readings than clear blue water? She wouldn't want to do readings in muddy water. Having stuff in the water probably affected the way that ripples formed in the water and how the water moved.

Tim took down some notes while listening to others' answers. She found it a little obvious as to why it's be hard to get accurate reading from water. But she didn't want anyone to feel bad for their answer. "Weather can affect the accuracy. It can bee too windy, cold, sudden natural disasters," Tim didn't really know what else to add to her answer. So she'll just keep it short.

Hadley glanced around at the others as they answered. How did they know all this already? She'd never even heard of water divination before today. Did everyone read their textbooks before school started?

Seriously, who reads their textbooks before school even started?

"Uh..." Hadley let out a puffy breath of air as she thought about it. "Would salt water versus fresh water affect anything?" Could water divination even be done in the ocean?

Quietly, Zara nodded in understanding as she listened to everything being said. Taking as much information she would get, she quickly jotted it all down in her notebook. There seemed to be a lot of information to get and she was a little lost at the moment. Everyone around her seemed to know what they were talking about and she was practically clueless at the moment.

"Type of water plays a part, right?" she voiced with her hand raised. "Lake water vs rain water for example and maybe where you do the reading?" That could play a role, at least to her it made sense. There had to be a reason why they were but the lake after all and not in a classroom.

Oooh right that was it.

Nat nodded as the professor said what the form was she was thinking about. Yes, now she remembered. Her eyes moving around the room as others spoke their answers as well. Then it was time to move on to what they were actually doing today. The term didn't sound familiar at all so Nat pulled out her parchment and started taking a few notes.


This could be on NEWTs and all.


Man was she starting to really think Cal's words were correct. Anyway, she listened to what Professor Vance was saying and then put her hand up. "Could a drought have a way of changing the reading. I mean with little to no water fall the lake would dry up a bit so there wouldn't be as much water to work with, plus the water would be warm with only the sun and no rain. " Which would even go with someone else's answer on the temperature of the water.

And that quickly... Dora lost all interest in Divination class. Not that she had been paying ATTENTION to other people's answers to begin with, ya know. Casting a glance at ECHO again, she resolved to talk to her later. About things. Heh.

But for now she dug her fingers into the sand and watched Sam. Was she as bored as Dora was? The Gryffindor had no idea what hydromancy was... she was only interested in pyromancy and THAT was the reason she showed up to Divi class to begin with. Hoping that there was fire involved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Blackboard

Factors that affect the accuracy of a water reading:
 turbulence
 creature disturbances
 unfocused
 weather
 scepticism
 clarity & colour
 type of water; salty and unsalty water
 water temperature
 noise level
 wind/breeze
 amount of water
 dirt particles in the water
 water depth
 focus of mind
 tides
 water location
 drought
 natural ability to see

As the students spoke Laurel conjured up a big black board on a stand in the sand where all the students factor suggestions magically appeared as they were brought up. When the last student went silent, she moved to stand next to the black board as she spoke in summarization a smile pursing her lips as she looked out over her class. "All the factors you've brought up can affect the accuracy of a water reading to different extents. The weather, tides, temperature, amount of water available and whether the water is murky or clear will have the most visible affect on the reading."

"Creature disturbances can have a big affect on the water reading, but hopefully not while you do your readings today. A persons focus or natural ability to see can of course to play a part but I should think that you are all focused in class and when you are practicing together you can get help from your peers to interpret the shapes that the water will make."

"The germanic wise women i mentioned earlier were practitioners of hydromancy and they specialized in river water interpretation where they studied the colour, course and whirls for their readings. Another popular technique was to fill a bowl with water and suspend a ring or key on a chain over the bowl and then swing the chain so that it struck the bowl and caused ripples to form on the water that was then interpreted."

"The hydromancy technique we will practice in some minutes will involve the stones you are all sitting around. Now can each of you pick 3 stones from the piles in front of you. You need one circular, one triangular and one square stone for the reading. Inspect the stones carefully for dirt particles. Wash them in the lake water or use the scouring charm to clean them, depending on what you are most comfortable with. The older students can help the younger ones by demonstrating how to use the scouring charm.

Also make sure that your hands are clean of any dirt. Both the stones and your hands need to be super clean and bone dry for the reading or it might alter the results of your readings. And least i forget roll up the sleeves of your trousers and take off your shoes and socks since you will need to wade out into the lake water in just a bit." Laurel said, trailing wondering if she had forgotten something.

OOC: No individual replies this time. I'm so sorry. I know you all love them and I like writing them for each and everyone of you, but after a long day of work i was too mentally drained and thought it better to focus on moving on and giving you all a mini practical task to perform. I will move on tomorrow (tuesday) at approximatley 8pm GMT+1 and will start the main practical activity.

Do what Laurel said: Pick 3 stones (one circular, one triangular, one square) and clean them and your hands from any dirt with lake water or the scouring charm and also make sure they are dry. Roll up trouser legs and kick off shoes and socks.