Juno grabbed all the supplies she would need in order to attach the answers to the arrows, and went back to her seat. She then handled each arrow. Checking the feathers at the end, as well as the arrow head at the tip, and the shaft making sure it was completely solid. They were basic archery arrows. Nothing too special but for this activity they would do the trick. She put each arrow back in the quiver and then got to work.

Juno cut out 4 thin pieces of paper that would easily go with the flow of the arrow. Though, they wouldn't be shooting them, if they were allowed to shoot them, she wanted to make sure that no paper was going to interfere with the aerodynamics of the arrow. She wrote out each word, 'yes,' 'no,' 'maybe, 'try again,' on all for thin slips of paper. She made sure the professor wasn't looking when she did this because she told them to tie the papers onto the tail of the arrow and she didn't want to do that. So she used a sticking charm instead. Not a permanent one, just one that would hold the papers in place if they did get to shoot the arrows.

She quickly used the sticking charm on each arrow, making sure the Professor wasn't looking when she did. Once each one got their words on them she gently placed them back in the quiver.

Now it was time to ask questions, but what would she ask? Juno thought for a moment. She could ask questions about Leon and weather or not he was going to ask her out. Or she could ask questions about her family...or even her future. She thought for a moment then came up with a question. She closed her eyes and as she moved the quiver around she thought, 'Will Leon ask me out on a date?' Without looking, she plucked an arrow out of the quiver. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes to see the 'Maybe' arrow. Well, that wasn't the answer she was hoping for but it still gave her hope that he would ask.

She shrugged, putting the arrow back in the quiver. Thinking of another question, she closed her eyes and moved the quiver, asking in her mind 'Will my family always stay as close as we are now?' It was a serious question. Many families fell apart and she didn't want that. She looked down at the arrow in her hand, it read 'Yes.' She grinned happily. But that didn't mean they wouldn't have any problems.

Alright last question.....She closed her eyes tight shook the quiver up, and asked 'Will I be an Auror like my father?' She pulled out an arrow and opened her eyes. 'Maybe,' it read. She smiled a little. Her father was an amazing Auror, and even a maybe would make her happy.

She put the arrow back in the quiver and waited for further instructions, pondering the answers she received.

Okay. Arrows. Jacob felt alright about this. Seemed simple enough. Yes or no questions. Right.

He followed the instructions Professor Vance had given to the class, collecting the quiver of arrows and bringing it back to his seat. He quickly finished up the last part -- he ripped a piece of parchment into four pieces and labeled them "yes," "no," "maybe," and "try again." He wasn't sure of the proper way to attach them, so he did what was most logical to him -- he poked a hole in the corner of each piece of parchment, threaded the string through it, and tied it around the arrows.

Satisfied with his handiwork, he placed the arrows facedown in the quiver so that they wouldn't stab him, and he couldn't cheat and see the parchments he'd attached. He wasn't sure that he believed in this -- seemed to him more like a No-Maj toy called a Magic 8-Ball -- but he still didn't want to sway it. Just in case.

He sighed, trying to think of the right yes or no question. He closed his eyes and poised his hand over the arrows so that he would be ready when it came to him. Will I get a lot of OWLs this year? was the first question. But no. Too boring. He already knew, truly without being conceited, that he would. What was something more unknown?

Is divination even real? Too meta to ask in a divination class. Should I find a hobby? Boooooring.

Am I going to get a girlfriend before this year is over? Whoa. Where had that one come from? He hadn't even been thinking about that topic outside of class. Like, it hadn't even occurred to him to wonder about that. He wasn't even interested in any of the girls he knew at the moment. But still... An interesting question. So he decided to go for it.

Concentrating on the question, he plunged his hand into the quiver and pulled out an arrow. He opened his eyes, more keen than he would care to admit to see the arrow's answer to his inquiry. "Maybe," it read. Okay. Not very definitive, but... Still. There was... Hope? Was he hoping for that? He shook his head, clearing his mind. Anyway.

Next question... Should I work for the Ministry after I graduate? Something he really had been wondering about, so the question came to him quickly. Following in his father's footsteps? He reached for an arrow and produced one with a "Yes" label. Hmm. Okay, then. It didn't specify which department...

Last one, then. He thought for a moment. He didn't really have any pressing questions... But hey! They didn't really need to be about him, necessarily, did they? Is Jared going to marry the girl he works with and has a crush on? Ha! He would find out his brother's future instead of his. That wasn't against the rules, was it? Professor Vance hadn't mentioned it that he'd heard... He reached for the final arrow, which read, "Try again."

Drat. Okay, then, he would try again. Maybe he hadn't been concentrating enough. He furrowed his brow in concentration on the question once more before pulling out another arrow, this one reading, "Maybe." Another super definitive answer...

He still wasn't convinced that this was real... But at least there was no way to disprove the verdicts given by the arrows, anyway.

Carlton liked yes or no questions, they were easy and straght to the point which helped him a lot in Divination, a class he wasn't really excelling at. Although he had hoped they would actually get to shoot the arrows like Centaurs did he was still excited to do something practical. He jumped out of his seat and hurried to the front to grab a quiver full of arrows. He felt very much like a hero when he brought them back to his desk, except the fact that he dropped it on the floor once. "Oopsie." Carlton picked it up and returned to his seat where he started writing 'yes', 'no', 'maybe' and 'try again' on pieces of parchment. He hoped he wouldn't get the 'maybe' or 'try again' answer to his question. That would be infuriatning.

He struggled to attach the parchment to the first arrow but after a few minutes of concentration, he'd succeeded. He continued with the rest of the arrows and let out a sigh of relief when he was done. His fingers ached because of that stupid string. Carlton gave it a quick glare before his mood brightened and he closed his eyes, ready to start the activity. Only...

He had no idea what questions to ask. Carlton frowned but kept his eyes closed. What questions do you ask arrows? What questions did he want to know the answer to? He stood in silence with his eyes closed as he debated.

This was serious matters. Very serious.

On the parchment pieces you write 'yes', 'no', 'maybe', 'try again' and then you attach the parchment pieces with string that you should find on your desks to the arrows in your quivers. When you've done that i want you to close your eyes, jumble the arrows around in the quiver, think of a yes or no question and then draw an arrow from your quiver that will be the answer to your question."

Could you write things other than 'yes', 'no', 'maybe', 'try again'? Char was curious about that too but still willing enough to go ahead with the task. She tied all the bits of parchment on, then restored all the arrows to their quiver, the parchment tags all hidden.

Now she had to come up with a question. The hard part was deciding if she should ask a REAL and IMPORTANT question or just something that would get the task done.

She shook the quiver somewhat as she thought. Hmmm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

Derf had been reading in his textbook it seemed but he sorta confused her when he pulled in a muggle 8 ball referance. Professor Vance focused on the the belomancy aspect in her kind response. "Yes you're right Derf, in one version of the method you can attach yes, no, maybe and try again papers to the arrows and think of a question as you shoot your arrows. The arrow that lands the farthest away holds the answer to your asked question. "You can close your eyes, think of a question and draw an arrow blindly and the one you choose will have the answer to your question.

NOPE! No real textbook reading over here really - he hadn't needed to previously and everything had worked out fine for him so why start now?! Nodding along as Professor Vance spoke, Derf came to the conclusion that this was JUST like a magic 8 ball...without the ball...and the shaking...BUT IN THEORY STILL!

Now he just wanted to start shooting arrows. Could they?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

"Before we get to our main activity i think it's wise that you all got to familiarize yourself with the arrows. Everyone please come forth and grab a quiver full of arrows to take with you back to your desks. When you've gotten your quivers i want you take a few parchments and teer them up into pieces.

On the parchment pieces you write 'yes', 'no', 'maybe', 'try again' and then you attach the parchment pieces with string that you should find on your desks to the arrows in your quivers. When you've done that i want you to close your eyes, jumble the arrows around in the quiver, think of a yes or no question and then draw an arrow from your quiver that will be the answer to your question."

AHA! See? No need for him to read when his imagination did just fine - and wooooow he had even predicted the class activity with his imagination! He was starting to think, seriously, that he WAS a seer for REAL!

Hopping to his feet, Derf eagerly rushed forward to collect his quiver and then bounded back to his desk. Flourishing a piece of parchment from his enchanted suitcase, the first year set to writing down the appropriate phrases - which was made easy in that all the words were easily spelled - and then tried to caaaaaaarefully tear the parchment into pieces. Yeah, he was working backwards...which resulted in his 'maybe' and 'try again' pieces into, well, four pieces rather than two...but it was OKAY since he had enough string to still tie everything to the arrows. Just two arrows had two pieces of parchment tied to them - 'mayb' and 'e' on one and 'tr' 'y again' on another respectively.

Returning the arrows to the quiver, the first year tried to think of a good yes or no question to ask...but could honestly think of nothing at the moment. Well, no, that was sort of a lie since he could think of a bunch of things....but none of them really seemed all that interesting. Should he have a cheese sandwich after class, for example. Or if he should wear his phoenix boxers tomorrow.

And then he thought of IT! A lingering absurd and completely unreasonable fear that he had been harboring ever since the start of term. Considering that he clearly had the Inner Eye, this was definitely the best way to get his answers. He assumed the Headmistress was already under Imperio if his hunch was true so asking her would be of no help at all.

Shaking the quiver of arrows, Derf closed his eyes and nervously selected one while focusing on his question. "Is Professor Myers a Dark wizard?" he squeakily whispered as he drew an arrow from the collection and eyes widened wider than a mooncalf's when he saw the parchment.

GASP! HE KNEW IT!

Ohh so pretty Professor confirms one of his mom's stories as legit. Couldnt wait to tell her later he would mmhm.

And then the Professors revealed the quivers. As she was speaking, the Curly Top gaze went looking up and down the area for bows. Yes he was thinking they were actually going to shoot those things, and he was excited for that. But then upon further explanation they were apparently going to do the magic 8-ball equivalent but with arrows. Well ok not quite as exciting as shooting arrows but he's so game for this.

So there he goes, 4 parchment, 4 strings, 4 arrows, 1 quiver. Put them all together and voila! Magic 8-Ball-omancy. He should copyright that.

So first question, what to ask what to ask...... gosh this is hard. He suddenly remembered this saying-- 'Finding Answers isnt difficult, its knowing how to ask the right Questions'. Didnt some Wizard say that? Yeah an old Wizard with a weird wand and a blue telephone box for a carriage or something.

Speaking of old wizards, now he's got his first question. "Will I live long enough to be an old wizard?" he murmured into the quiver, as if sharing a secret down the deep hole. He shook his quiver and pulled out an arrow-- YES!

Whoah! Anybody seen that? Proof that he's not a Red Shirt! Beam beam beamy beam he be in a good mooooood.

He returned the arrow and gamely shook the quiver again as he thought of his next question. Well now having discovered about his longevity, his thoughts drifted to that weird hole in the wall on the 6th floor and its strange(r) Hogwarts. And well there was that question thats been nagging the back of his mind ever since they made it out alive by the skin of their teeth "Will that scary growly monster thing find us again?" Shake shake shake pick-- MAYBE

ASFDSADFSADFSADFSADF!!!!

RED ALERT! BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES! CALL THE MARINES!

He dropped the arrow back into the quiver and looked at it in trepidation. Is this thing accurate? Maybe it was wrong. Its gotta be wrong! Then again.... if the second answer was wrong then maybe the first answer is too?

And once again his longevity in relation to his Gryffindorness is called back into question.

"You're joking arent you???" he grumbled. Oh no.... he asked out loud. Did the quiver think that was a legit question? Well deep down he was also looking for proof that maybe this is just a big joke......-- TRY AGAIN

Okay just one cotton pickin minute. Is this thing sentient? Tenacius held the quiver at arms length and looked at it weird. At this point the Curly Top was pretty much sold that this thing is totally LEGIT. This bit of class instrument was gonna determine his entire existence gah!

But indeed the quiver allowed him to ask one more question, allowed him to actually make this moment of determining universal truths to count this time. So shake shake shake "Can we defeat that scary growly monster if it does find us?" Aaaaaand-- MAYBE



Maybe... maybe they can defeat it... maybe he will live after that... maybe Hogwartians would be all find and dandy by the next train ride.... maybe... maybe... did he say how much he hated the ambivalence of MAYBE? Well he didnt like ambivalence to start off with but yeah Maybe is for Loooooserrrssss....

'Maybe'. *Scoff*.

..........stargazinomancy had been an actual thing? He had tried to be funny and now the Ravenclaw was biting his lower lip to not laugh cause that was just absurd. Anyways, Mason wrote down notes in his trusted notebook and when it was time for the activity, he stood up and grabbed a quiver full with arrows and moved back to his desk.

Tearing a piece of parchment, Mason dipped a quill in the ink bottle and wrote the Yes, No, Maybe and Try again on it before attaching them with the strings he had found on his desk.

Once he was ready, the sixth year put the arrows back in the quiver and gave it a shake. This was the type of Divination he could do. Okay, questions....questions....what did he even want to ask? Mason stared blankly at the arrows before one popped in his mind.

'Will i become better at Defensive spells?' he thought after closing his eyes and picked out an arrow ----YES

He stared at the word. Yes. Yeah like that was going to happen. He even laughed at the answer. Alright, another question.

'Will i be able to study that strange portal i saw and this monster everyone claims is inside it?' ----- NO "Why not?!" He shook the arrow and actually looked dissapointed.

'Will i get hurt if i try?' ----YES "Oh, ok you win..." THAT DID NOT MEAN HE WASN'T GOING TO TRY THOUGH.

River took the cue from Laurel, and discreetly made a beeline for the tea and biscuits. The discussion being held piqued the man's interest, considering that he once sat in Divination class doing exactly what the students were doing. As the Healer brought the cup to his lips, he could not help but be...amused at what he was seeing and hearing.

Those kids are aware that they are verbally reacting to an inanimate object, right? Not that he was against it, but it was a bit...bizarre to witness. So, did he believe in Belomancy? River drew a blank, and decided to be neutral about it. To him, Divination was a form of consultation. He need not believe everything it tells him, considering that knowing one's fate is a case of extreme hit or a disappointing miss. He would rather stay in the middle, and just let destiny happen and act accordingly.

But really, those kids were oh so fun to watch!

Sip.

Once the Professor revealed the quivers, well it pretty much confirmed the Healer's presence, as if it wasn't already confirmed. Though Skylar had to be a put out that the Professor lacked trust in them that they could safely handle some archery. Though she guessed she was just being responsible and safe more than anything.

Stepping foward to grab a quiver full of arrows, Skylar took it back to her desk and set it down gently as she could so they couldn't dump out. Taking a piece of parchment, she tore it in pieces and wrote the designated words on them: yes, no, maybe, try again.

Carefully tying each piece of paper to one arrow, she stuck it back into the quiver and shook them all around, as she began thinking of her questions. Three yes or no questions. Ugh. Closing her eyes she tried to think of some close to heart; some deep desires or wishes that she wished to know answers to, but stuff that COULD be answered.... because some things were just very hypothetical... weren't they?

Carlton clutched the quiver close to him and held his hand out over it. He didn't know if he was supposed to ask his questions out loud or not. So he did, just in case.

His first question was something that had been on his mind a while now. He was almost too scared to ask it but he needed to know.

"Will the Headmistress throw me in the dungeons for being dumb?" Really though, he wouldn't have gone through the portal if he risked the headmistress' wrath. Carlton reached out for an arrow and opened his eyes to look at the parchment attached to it. "Maybe..." Carlton's eyes widened. What did it mean 'maybe'?! He swallowed and put the arrow on the desk before closing his eyes again.

"Will Liv and Roo come visit me if I'm ever stuck down there?" He opened one eye to peek at the arrow he'd selected. "Yes!" He let out a sigh of relief. At least that was something.

Carlton thought long and hard about his third question. He needed to word it just right. "Is the creature in that weird, dark, sticky place in fact very nice and just want some love and appreciation because life is tough and it's all alone and scared?" What did the parchment say? "Try again." Carlton pouted. "Why didn't that work? I was being so clear." He sat down, looking around him he decided to continue to ask the quiver of arrows questions until the rest of the class was finished with their three questions and they could move on.

Ok. It was activity time. Janelle listened carefully to the instructions and was up from her seat, as soon as the professor finished talking. As she walked up to get her quiver of arrows, she tried to think of some questions to ask. That was going to be the hardest part of the activity.

Once she had gotten a quiver, Janelle returned to her seat. She sat down and grabbed the nearest piece of parchment. Then she began to tear the sheet into smaller pieces. She only needed four pieces, so she put the extras aside. Reaching for her quill, Janelle proceeded to write the answers as instructed. Yes, No, Maybe and Try Again were written neatly on separate pieces of parchment.

Having her desk full of parchment, the quiver, her textbook and quill, required Janelle to hunt for the needed string. Finally she found it and used her magical skills to cut off four pieces. That done, the seventh year removed four arrows from her quiver. She attached each answer to an arrow the best she could. Giving an arrow a shake, Janelle determined that the parchment should be adequately secured.

Now came the hard part. Janelle placed the arrow back into the quiver and resumed thinking. After what seemed like an eternity, she came up with several questions to ask. Closing her eyes, she shook the arrows around. Hopefully they would be sufficiently shuffled. Then Janelle whispered to herself, "Will I do well on my NEWTs?" Eyes still closed, she reached into the quiver and pulled out an arrow. She was almost afraid to open her eyes, but she did anyway. Looking down, Janelle saw her answer. Maybe. Well that wasn't the answer she'd been looking for. She put the arrow back into the quiver. Then she decided to amend her original question, in hopes of a better answer.

Closing her eyes again, Janelle shook the quiver and said, "Will I do well on my NEWT's if I study very hard?". She reached for an arrow once more and hoped this answer would be more to her liking. Yes. Janelle let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Whew. Ok, moving on.......next question. Arrow back in the quiver. Eyes closed. Shake, shake shake. "Should I be a magizoologist?". Janelle was torn between two possible career goals and it was time to make some hard decisions. Arrows, a little help here. Out came the arrow and.......Maybe. Seriously? How was this helpful?

With a sigh, Janelle abandoned that line of questioning. Maybe some a little more light was in order. The arrow was placed back in the quiver again and everything was shaken. Janelle closed her eyes and said, "Is pink my favorite color?" And out came the arrow. Janelle opened her eyes and looked at the parchment. No. Well, at least they got that one right. If the answer had been yes, she would have serious questions about this whole Belomancy business. Now, what else could she ask?

More to do about these arrows.... First, it had been that Defense lesson with the flaming arrows... And now they were using these pointy things to answer YES or NO questions. That seemed.... Er, a bit like overkill to her. Couldn't they just use on of those muggle MAGIC 8 balls? And those offered more responses than YES, NO, MAYBE, and TRY AGAIN.... Maybe she'd purchase one for Professor Vance and she could have it to play around with. They were terribly fun, though in no way accurate.

Moving towards the front of the classroom to collect her own quiver of arrows, the blonde toted them back to her desk; carefully removing each and then laying them out neatly across her desktop. This was already bizarre to Olivia, but okay. Use the dangerous weapons to divi the future. Great plan.

Next, she worked on getting the little parchment tags taken care of. It took no time to tear up the sheet into small bits, but it did take a moment to actually get the words scrawled out on each one. Her blasted quill was being difficult, you see. BUT EVENTUALLY, she was able to get each properly inked and such. Adhering her labels to the arrows, Liv took great care in making sure they were all in the same spots in each. Neatly done and with care. Cause she was still trying to figure out what questions she was going to ask. There wasn't really anything the blonde Gryffindor wanted to know right now... She felt comforted in not knowing, to be perfectly honest. It seemed to make all the bad easier to handle... Huh. Mixing them back up, she slipped them back into the quiver; jumbling up their order further.

Flipping to a clean page in her notebook, Liv jotted out three very specific questions, all of which revolved about her upcoming holidays in France. That was short-term and it was her understanding that this worked best for those types of questions. But then again, Divination wasn't her strong point. In fact, Olivia had no idea what she was doing in this class, ever. So, suffice it to say that this was what "winging it" looked like.

Was it took late for a MAGIC 8 ball?

Since her RPer is being purposely vague on behalf of her character, said character is just going to think about each question to herself and then throw the arrows. Mhm.... Starting with the first.... Thinking about it very hard, while also reading it clearly drawn out on the parchment page, Liv picked one of the arrows at random.... surprised to see NO glaring back up at her from the tiny tag attached to it. NO... made zero sense, but okay... She didn't really believe in this practice, anyway. Doing the same with the following question, she dipped back into the quiver... closing her eyes this time before selecting one. Just because she felt better centered when she had her eyes closed. You know....

Making her selection, Olivia cracked an eye open to gather the answer. This one... was YES. To be honest, she didn't know if she felt comforted or not by this "divined" answer. Given that the previous had been NO.... Eh. EH.... Okay. Last one. Jumbling the arrows back up and breathing through the process of thinking about the question, she once again, chose one at random.

..... And it was a startling MAYBE. This one, despite herself, caused the blonde to smile. Maybe. Not a clear no or yes...which was frustrating... but... Heh.

Whoever knew you could use arrows for Divination? Well, several students including the always brilliant Tenacius had known, but it was a big surprise to her. Whether or not it worked, Kitty couldn't deny it sounded fun.

She gathered the quiver of arrows and pieces of parchment like how the professor instructed, then set about writing the answers to the questions. She tied them with the string, then closed her eyes and shook the quiver around. A question formed in her mind:

Will the Statute of Secrecy be repealed anytime soon?

Actually, the question which she originally planned to ask was if Natalia would continue being mad at her, but she decided the Statute question was probably a little more important. Besides, she was certain she knew the answer to whether the Statute would be repealed soon, so this was a good test on whether this kind of Divination worked very well.

She drew an arrow and opened her eyes.

NO

Sighing again she walked over toward the arrows and took one of them to take a closer look but while she did that she really wished that she had been able to convince her mom to drop this lesson… After taking a look at the arrow she grabbed the papers and wrote down on each of them; yes, no, maybe, and try again. When satisfied with her work she took out her want and used a spell to glue the paper against the arrows. Placing them in the quiver without even looking at them to see which one was which she looked down at her notes to see what she needed to do next. She wasn’t exactly curious about the arrows because she already knew that it wasn’t going to work and that it would be nothing more than a gable.

Well, what question would she ask? Leesha didn’t needed to think long about it and formed a though inside of her mind; Is the professor a quack? With a smile on her lips she closed her eyes and grabbed one of the arrows. Unfolding the paper she had stuck against the arrow she grinned louder this time because, well… This was something she liked! She still didn’t believed in it but the answer was funny because she was holding the ‘yes’ paper in her hands! Hah! If the professor would see this and know what she had asked, would the professor tell her that she had made a mistake? Or that she had not concentrated strongly enough? Maybe, and it was true, she didn’t had done this… well… that serious! But still, she liked this! Hah!

Placing the arrow back in the quiver she closed her eyes again and asked another question inside of her mind; do aliens exist? Grinning the moment she had formed the question she really wanted to know the answer to THAT question because… Why taking this serious? Taking the second arrow she opened her eyes and looked down to see the answer and she was having again… The ‘YES’ arrow! Laughing softly out loud she found this really amusing because this was again prove that it was nothing more than a gable! Folding the paper she placed it back against the arrow and placed it back because now it was time for her last question, but which one now? Hmmm… Closing her eyes she tried to think about another fun question and when she found one she grinned again! Do purple unicorns with rainbow colored hair exist? Taking a arrow for the last time out of the quiver she looked down at the paper and she saw… ‘maybe’. Hmm, such a random answer! Maybe! What did that even mean? Was it a yes? Was it a no?! Buuut, anyway! This was again prove that this lesson was nothing more than FAKE! Hah!

Unless... Of course, if the professor could show her the prove that aliens were really existing! That would be fun...

Etta wrote down what the professor said with concentration. Belomancy, got it. Ooooooh, she widened her eyes with excitement. This seemed like a fun activity! She quickly got up and grabbed a quiver before returning back to her seat. Hey, this class didn't seem that dull after all. She tore her parchment into little pieces and wrote 'yes', 'no', 'try again' and 'maybe' on them. Okay, done.

Like instructed, she carefully attached the pieces of parchment to the arrows with the string provided. NOW. Etta jumbled the arrows in her quiver for a moment before she set it down on her desk. To think of the questions ---

She closed her eyes and thought for a few minutes. What questions did she want answered? What did she want to know? Uh. After a lot of thinking, the Hufflepuff finally came up with a few. Alrighty.

1. Will I be an Auror one day? Etta bit her lower lip and picked an arrow in random, hoping it wouldn't disappoint. .. and it was a 'yes'. She literally squealed with happiness before she clamped it shut with a hand. Oops? Sorry? But YAY. She might actually end up liking Divination!

2. Will a boy actually call me pretty one day? Yes, as SAD as that sounded, that was true. And Etta really wanted it to change. She was just curious, gosh. She picked another arrow. "No." .......................... WHAT. Is she never going to have a boyfriend?! WHAT WHAT NO. She frowned, feeling a little upset.

She folded her arms across the desk, sulking a bit, waiting for the professor to move on with the lesson. She was done with this activity, already. Pffft.

Brent headed to the front of the room and grabbed a set of arrows. Once he was back at his desk, he took out a piece of parchment and tore it into a few small pieces. With his quill, he wrote YES, NO, MAYBE, and TRY AGAIN on them. He attached them in all the right places then stood back to check over his work. Alright. Let's get this party started!

Brent jumbled around the arrows so he'd have no idea where any of the answers were. Then, he asked his question.

Will this school ever have quidditch again?

Fair enough question, he thought, and one he'd love a straight answer to. Brent drew an arrow out the set and looked at its message.

No.

He frowned and returned the arrow. What a perfect start to the mini activity. [/sarcasm]. So what would happen if he asked the same question again and got a different answer? He decided not to go there. A different question it would be!

Listening to the professor Natalia wrote a few notes down. So this was a big game of just guess what the arrow will land on. Could it really be that easy to get answers? She was not buying it, but she would give it a shot. Setting her things down she got up and moved to the front with the rest of the students to grab the arrows and the bow. Setting up the sign that said yes and no before moving back to the spot.

At least the healer was here if they needed. Looking to the target Nat thought about a question to ask. What did she even want ask the arrows. It was kind of an awkward feeling, but she took a deep breath thought of the question and put the arrow in the bow. Pulling back the string she let it go.


Walking to the target she looked around. Well the arrow missed the entire target, so what did that mean other than Nat stunk at this.

Brent just didn't like the answer to his first question. He hated that it had told him there would never be Quidditch here, and he hated that he started off this activity by getting a no. If he was going to get a no, it could have at least been something like, 'Is spinach good?'. He could have handled a no to that one.

So now he was in a slightly bad mood.

Brent decided to ask another question, but mainly because the professor had told them to. He turned away from the arrows, so as not to cheat. Hmm...

Will I ever move back to America?

This would be an interesting answer. In a way, he would have mixed feelings if it was a yes OR a no. He kind of liked both places now. He reached into the set of arrows and pulled out a second one.

No.

Again? ... Either the arrows were playing tricks on him, or they were just being sincere, and he'd always be stuck in this Quidditch-less place. He stuck the arrow back where it came from. Now all he could think about is America, or the lack thereof.

When the students got to work on the mini activity with enthusiasm and eagerness Laurel to the sound of chattering voices and paper ripping, and counting on River's observing eye got to work on setting up for the main activity. With the use of her trusted wand she conjured up archery targets around the room, trying to place them with safety in mind so that no student would need Rivers attention because of stray arrow accidents.

Satisfied she also uncloaked the fortune balloons floating in the air and also conjured forth a giant bow stall. Clapping her hands together to get everyone's attention Professor Vance called out. "Everyone, gather around me with your quivers! It's time to move on!" Gesturing to the bow stall she said excitedly. "You're going to get to shoot your arrows at targets with real bows for our main activity! Select a wooden bow from the stall and back up so you're not standing shoulder to shoulder to your peers you'll need some space so you don't hurt each other.

Stand straight and then grip the wooden part of the bow in one hand (preferably your non-wand hand) and take your index and pointed fingers on your free hand and touch them to your bow string." She had demonstrated as she talked, on a bow of her own. She waited a few moments to let everyone get to the same position.

"When you feel ready you pull the string back with the fingers you now have touching the string and pretend to shoot an invisible arrow once or twice."



"Choose a target and line up 10 feet from it with your bow and arrows and start shooting at the targets. No more than 2-3 to a target. Shoot 5 arrows each and try to get as many points as possible. If you're 2-3 you can have a little friendly match between each other to see who can get the most points. The house with the most combined points at the end will score 10 house points!"

OOC: Activity time! It'd be fun if you partnered up for this in pairs or trios. But soloing is fine too. No post count. The arrows are blunt!

As Laurel instructed you're going to be shooting your arrows with BOWS at the targets. Shoot 5 arrows at a target and see how many points you can score in total. (add them up together) To know how many points your arrows hit each time use this randomizer and put in min 5 and max 10 to decide where the arrow hits. The arrows can of course miss the target all together too! Have fun with this! Be creative! Try not to hurt each other. If injury strikes or you have a question then alert Prof Vance/healer Reed in your post titles. You have until friday night around 8pm GMT+1 to finish the main activity and any catch uping you want to do.

Hmmm so a question. With Christmas coming up, Char had some stuff going on. She was mad at certain family members for reasons, and planned to stay at her uncle and aunts place over the holiday. So how about something about that for a question? Or... a few questions. Like...

Will I ever forgive Katy?

Will I ever forgive my parents?

Will I spend Christmas with Uncle Plym and Aunt Ola?


Charlotte focused on the first question and pulled out an arrow.

Oh, a 'Maybe'? She would maybe forgive her cousin? Only a maybe? That was sad, kind of. Char frowned and put the arrow back in, then focused on her second one.

....

Her parents.

She pulled another arrow out.... 'yes'. She had been holding her breath and relieved, let it out. Okay. Well. Okay.

Third question....

Oh. The professor was moving on! Char tugged the tags off the arrows and then got up. Now THIS was what she was interested in.

What it had to do with divination she had no clue but she was ABOUT the archery life. She'd even gone to Archery camp the last three summers.

Forget the divination questions, this was WAY cooler. Char went over, with bow annd arrows, and picked a target. Okay! Lets do this!

WOAAAAAH!

Etta jumped out of her seat excitedly, almost upsetting the books on her desk in the process. But, this activity seemed like so much fun! She went over to the stall, picked up a wooden bow before selecting a target somewhere in the middle.

She needed to practice holding a bow first, yeah? Remembering the professor's instructions, she stood straight, holding the bow up firmly with her left hand.. okay.. and then used the fingers on her other hand to lightly pull at the string. She adjusted her position and leaned her head forward a bit.

The Hufflepuff concentrated on the target for a few moments. Yeah, this didn't seem that difficult. Maybe she could start practicing with arrows now, maybe?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOH!

Having never shot a bow and arrow before, Derf was SUPER eager to give this whole thing a go - which of course meant that he was hanging on the professor's every word as she went on to explain just how to hold a bow and arrow and shoot an arrow and....points? "PROFESSOR!" the first year squeaked with a flailing hand in the air to make sure she wouldn't miss him. "Do we s-s-still ask questions-s-s before we s-s-shoot? What do the points-s-s mean?" Like like like...missing the target completely was a 'no' but maybe...um...maybe a 5 meant there was a 50-50 chance that the answer was yes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of Light

WOAAAAAH!

Etta jumped out of her seat excitedly, almost upsetting the books on her desk in the process. But, this activity seemed like so much fun! She went over to the stall, picked up a wooden bow before selecting a target somewhere in the middle.

She needed to practice holding a bow first, yeah? Remembering the professor's instructions, she stood straight, holding the bow up firmly with her left hand.. okay.. and then used the fingers on her other hand to lightly pull at the string. She adjusted her position and leaned her head forward a bit.

The Hufflepuff concentrated on the target for a few moments. Yeah, this didn't seem that difficult. Maybe she could start practicing with arrows now, maybe?

Quickly grabbing his bow, Derf gave the classroom a glance over and his bright blue eyes fell on Etta and he felt an unusual little wiggle in his stomach...kiiiiiiiind of like the little wiggle he felt whenever he was around Olivia Holden. Should I ask her to do the activity with me? he wondered. Sheepishly unable to decide, he figure he may as well let the arrows figure that out for him. Thus, while focusing on the question really HARD, he pulled an arrow from his quiver: YES.

Well then.

"Hey hey hey!" he waved to the older Hufflepuff as he hopped over to her. "Togefer?" He was even taking a ready stance right beside her with his bow and arrow. "You can us-s-se your arrows-s-s to ans-swer if you want. I did about as-sking you becaus-s-se I was-s nervous-s."

Simon was scared, he had no idea how he was going to do this and truth be told he didn't want to do anything about it. "So what am I supposed to do?" Simon had a feeling at his old school this wouldn't have been allowed.

Laurel had just begun to move over to the side to get a better overview over how the students fared with their bows when she heard 'Professor'. Turning her blond head towards the sound of Derfael's squeaking voice, she soon saw his flailing hand and made her way over to him.

Stopping next to badger Professor Vance responded with a slight shake of her head. "No, you don't need to ask any questions before you shoot for this activity Derfael. I think you all have enough to focus on with handling your bow in the right way and concentrating to get your arrows to hit the target."

Gesturing to the target she continued "The points on the target are just there to give you something to aim your arrows towards and to aspire to achieve like the perfect ten in the middle. In muggle archery tournaments which is was inspired by, they shoot their arrows at targets and then count together the points their arrows have hit to see how many points they can get and earn a prize which in our case is a house prize of 10 house points. If you have a match with a friend you can win some glory. I hope that helps?"

Shooting the arrows was what Mason had been excited about. He had tried it once during a vacation in France when he had been 9 years old. Mind you, it had been kid toy bows but still!

The Ravenclaw put all his arrows back in the quiver and looked up to see the target boards that the Professor had set up while they had been practicing. It was also at that point that he realised that the Healer was present as well and he wondered why.... oh right. Non professionals with bows and arrows! What could go wrong?!

He walked to a place in front of a target board and listened to the instructions. He then held the bow in his left hand and practised shooting first without an arrow to get a feel for it.

When he was confident enough, the sixteen year old grabbed an arrow from his quiver and placed the end on the string. Then he pulled back the arrow until the hand he was holding the arrow wasnear his chin and he aimed at the target.

He let go and...7

NATURAL TALENT RIGHT HERE, BOOYAH!

Mason could not help it. He had been looking around to see if anyone had seen his EPICNESS in actually hitting the board at the first try. Had he finally found his talent?!

He grabbed another arrow with a smug grin on his face. Placed it on the string. Pulled back and....missed

Asdgfhakfhdhskasfsf!