If anything, Professor Vance’s words did nothing to make Zoryn want to pay attention to their task at hand. In fact, they did quite the opposite. Wasn’t anything good and could possibly BE EVIL? This was SOOOO cool!!! Honestly all this creepy stuff happening at Hogwarts was the best thing to ever happen to Zoryn Spinnet in all her thirteen years of life. “Could I come with you when you go to tell Hawthorne?”

Zoryn wanted to be there. Plus, she was the Headmistress’ favorite student, so Hawthorne would probably love it if she were there. It’d be a win for everyone mhm. Zoryn needed to know these things before she could get to water scrying. This was of utmost importance!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetnsourpixystix

Derf glanced back into his bowl and...yup...ripples in the water and lots of darkness because of the interior of the bowl. Thoughts certainly NOT clear at ALL. He supposed he could make some things up to appease the activity? Blue eyes quickly glanced over at Natalie's parchment to see what she had come up with. "Maybe this technique is just all about doom and gloom," he observed.

So, it seemed that she was not the only one that was scrying dark, gloomy omens in her water. She heard murmur of a couple other students who seemed to get dark colors. Maybe it was just because it was dark...

But then she looked over at Derf and got confirmation of her suspicions. She frowned at Derf, but otherwise kept quiet, waiting for the professor to move on. The Williams twins were going to deliver a letter... that was potentially evil... and everyone was feeling gloomy.

Wonderful.

Annnnd concentrating on scrying was now out the window. Not with the idea of telling Headmistress Hawthorne and possible follow up out there. That meant that Professor Vance thought that the danger didn't lay with Ilvermorny but here. At this school.

Now he was wondering about something else. "Could the letter possibly be connected to some of the weird stuff that's been happening this term?" The rumored Howler that was in the art class, anyway.

Why did this stuff always chose Hogwarts to happen at?

Oh? They were moving on... already? She just felt as if she had closed her eyes to let herself clam down. Vi slowly opened her eyes, remembering that they still had the main activity to accomplish. Water scrying. They were going to give it a try. She set about getting ready to start the process. With water pitcher and bowl in front of her, she took a deep breath as she tried to remain as relaxed as she had been before.

Raising the water pitcher over the bowl, she took a deep breath and tried to visualize wisdom. What did wisdom mean? What was true knowledge? What did it mean to have true knowledge... How can one be wise? How is one wise? Her brain started sorting through those type of questions and then she paused. What did wisdom look like? Was it an elderly looking wizard with a jovial smile and a long, long beard? Or was it a younger person with eyes that looked as if they belonged to an older soul?

She was soon distracted by the name of the William's twins. She raised her head up from staring at the bowl and frowned. The name sounded so familiar. Hadn't the two Professors from Illvermorny both shared the same last name? They did look a lot a like... She had assumed that they were siblings but were they twins? She'd have to ask Lachlan Wheeler or one of the other Illvermornians about that. And a black envelope sounded... foreboding.... "Could you see what was on the envelope?" asked Vi all of a sudden, blurting out her inner thoughts.

No. She needed to focus.

Trying her hardest not to ask more questions about the vision that Professor Vance had witnessed, she bit her lip and turned her attention away. Water scrying. With water pitcher over the bowl, she began pouring the pitcher as she hummed to herself. Once the water was in the bowl, she placed the pitcher beside her and then stared into the bowl in front of her. From where she stood, she could see the moon's reflection in the water below her. In that moment, she let her mind go blank as she stared at the water.

Now what lay in front of her?

The water started out being a pale yellow, pale green, and then pale blue before it started to get murky and cloudy.... She continued staring at the water in front of her. Was that an owl in front of her.... It was some sort of bird. Now she couldn't tell if it were an owl or a crow or something...? She bit her lip and then looked away briefly to write her symbols. "I saw lighter colours originally.... Pale yellow, green, and then blue before it became murky and cloudy... Then I saw a bird... I thought it was an owl and then it turned into a raven... or a crow..." she spoke outloud or perhaps more to herself. As she continued looking, she noticed a horse..... But it was a horse with a horn... A unicorn? She glanced down at her textbook to view what a unicorn meant.

Now what was appearing now....? A square..... A rectangle... An envelope....? The conversation was intruding on her scrying. She took a deep breath and tried to push the thoughts away.

Patience. She needed.

Etta listened to the instructions carefully, a mildly sceptical expression on her face. She liked Divination, honestly. She found the subject rather fascinating and.. interesting at times but what did the professor just say? To visualise guidance and wisdom in the water? How does one do that exactly? She was actually quite confused. She stood staring at the pitcher of water in front of her for a moment or two before giving a light shrug of the shoulders. Oh, well. Might as well give it a try.

She raised the pitcher filled with water over the bowl.. and paused. The Hufflepuff tried to focus and clear her thoughts, trying to visualise wisdom and guidance, even if she had absolutely no idea how. She carefully poured the water into the bowl, wondering once again what the professor meant by ‘moon charging the water’. She really was going to have to talk to the professor once class was over, meh. Once the bowl was filled with water, she proceeded to the next step.

She adjusted her position until she could see the moon’s reflection on the surface of the water.. and simply waited, wondering what the professor’s earlier prediction meant. The Williams twins? Black envelope? A letter? What did all of it mean? Did it actually signify something? But the Williams twins.. That name felt familiar somehow but Etta didn’t want to dwell on it for too long when she needed to complete her activity.

The girl tried to clear her thoughts once again, concentrating on the moon’s reflection. She couldn’t see anything for the longest time.. but she was patient and soon enough, Etta could see something change. Was the water turning white? Were they clouds? BLINK. She stood, unable to take her eyes off the water now. Woooow. And the clouds seemed to be rising? But the water suddenly turned darker? ...... wait, was that a butterfly? She shifted her position lightly and the water was back to normal. Before she could forget, the girl quickly noted down what she’d seen before opening her textbook to look up the symbols she’d seen.

SPOILER!!: symbols

Clouds of white, green & blue = Good signs, joy
Rising clouds = affirmative
Dark colours = Inauspicious
Butterfly = transformation, a major change

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarahlooo

So, it seemed that she was not the only one that was scrying dark, gloomy omens in her water. She heard murmur of a couple other students who seemed to get dark colors. Maybe it was just because it was dark...

But then she looked over at Derf and got confirmation of her suspicions. She frowned at Derf, but otherwise kept quiet, waiting for the professor to move on. The Williams twins were going to deliver a letter... that was potentially evil... and everyone was feeling gloomy.

Wonderful.

Derf caught Natalie's frown and just felt....bad. Maybe they could do tarot again or something to make up for things? Although...that had gotten kinda weird too. Maybe Divination WASN'T his thing after all? Especially not right now with Professor Vance trying to get them to just forget what had just happened and do the assignment. Needless to say...this Hufflepuff was officially OFFICIALLY unable to focus.

Shrugging his shoulders at his friend, Derf poured his water back into his pitcher and started over - don't mind the little bit of spillage here and there, okay? Lifting the pitcher again, Derf pooooooooured the water back into his bowl...and really did not see any wisdom or guidance to be honest. What even did...that LOOK like? He also wasn't sure if the moon was energizing the water or not, but he did shift a little so that the light from it was reflected there. Along with the candles and such in the classroom. Did...those count as things to see? So he had...you know...a lot of little glowing dots in his water? Oh, and his face. His face was definitely reflected there too.

Uuuuuuuuum...

Pulling a piece of parchment to his person, Derf dipped his quill into the ink and decided to just gives things a bit of a scribble...see if anything came out of this.

Quote:

Light circular dots - good omens? Like...lots of little good ones? They GLOW so... a challenge? Challenging good omens?
Face - if looking straight out it indicates a period of introspection
Two eyes - caution; look before you leap

Ruffling his hair for a moment, he glanced back towards Professor Vance and waited for her to answer his classmates questions about her vision and the letter...and just all of it. Because he wasn't really making head or tails out of his overly practical reading.

So they'd be getting into the actual scrying now. Well here went nothing she supposed.

Jessa returned to her seat at her round table and picked up her pitcher of water. While she was skeptical of the 'divine arts' she also believed you couldn't rule something out until it was put under proper testing. She would have to do exactly as the Professor instructed and see where things went from there.

The Ravenclaw lifted the pitcher above her bowl and tried her best to imagine wisdom and guidance. It wasn't as easy as the Professor was making it sound for the fact that Jessa didn't know what wisdom and guidance looked like. Sure, she knew what they were and liked to think she had at least one of the two but to actually visualize it? That was a whole other ball game. The 15 year old tried getting settled, willing herself to at least focus before finally giving up and pouring the water into the bowl.

There was something about seeing the moon's energy charge the water but if she was being honest....all she could see was her reflection in the water--and only barely in this dimly lit Divination classroom.

Was this charged? Was the action meant to be so subtle that she could hardly see it? Because...so far...she could hardly see it.

She would have to move forward in faith. Jessa shifted around in her seat for quite sometime, then around the table until finally the reflection of the moon appeared in her bowl. Now to stare, yeah?

Jessa stared down into her bowl, willing herself to see anything while at the same time not pushing too hard for fear of influencing the study. Had to remain neutral somehow but involved enough to cover the criteria necessary.

It was weird, y'know? Her signs, based on what she'd read, probably didn't go well together but she supposed there wasn't much time to try seeing anything else, so she simply wrote it down and would wait to see how much sense it actually made.

SPOILER!!: Notes

Dark colours = Inauspicious
Clouds of white, green & blue = Good signs, joy
Red, orange, yellow = Unfavorable signs

Feeling one with the moon, wasn’t really happening right now, or possibly never happening. Nevertheless she was all mediated up and ready to move on. Juni moved back to her seat. Now how exactly did one do water scrying? Like just stare into water and see what you could see. Shrugging to herself she stared up at the front of the room.

As professor started to demonstrate how to do the water scrying. Juni wrote down the steps in her notes. Just in case she needed to look back on them later.

SPOILER!!: Juni’s notes

Steps to water scrying:
1. Raise the water pitcher over the bowl and try to visualize wisdom and guidance in the water.
2. Pour water into the bowl see the moons energy charge the water
3. Position yourself so that you see the moon light reflected directly into the water in your bowl.
4. Stare into the water and record/write down all patterns, images, symbols you might see on a piece of parchment and try to interpret what they mean.

Honestly Juni really didn’t know what to think about the prediction that the professor had just had. She kind of found somethings pretty hard to believe. And the Williams twins from Ilvermorny, how did they come up in a vision.

Now it was their turn to do this. Referring back to her notes she took the water pitcher and raised it over the bowl. Trying to visualize some wisdom and guidance from the water. Which was even harder than it sounded. When she was ready she poured the water into the bowl.

Now what was she suppose to do next?

Bowl positioned to reflect the moon, and conversation about Williams twins apparently over, Sam pulled her parchment and quill towards her and watched the surface of the water. Waited, too, for anything other than the reflection of the moon and dark silhouette of herself to give way to something more meaningful. Not that she had any expectation of it doing so, just...it'd be a pleasant surprise if it did. She tapped her fingers on the table lightly as she waited.

Nothing changed.

So, describing her silhouette it was then. Athough what did background, middle and front mean in the context of the bowl? Was it to do with the images being on the edge of the bowl closest to her, or some sort of depth perception the scrying, that she had no hope in understanding because nothing had actually revealed itself to her? She went with the former. Her shadow was definitely on the side closest to her in the bowl.

Although she really hoped this wasn't an actual reading, because it forecast bad things, and soon.

Patrick wasn't sure how well this was going to go over, it was still a bit hard for him to handle all of the divination aspects spot on. The lesson with the birds was easier because they just answered a question. He took a deep breath and looked at his notes for the steps he needed to take for water scrying.

He picked up the water pitcher and held it over the bowl. He thought of wisdom and guidance, but wasn't sure what that was so he sat there for a moment. He thought of the wisdom and guidance needed to lead people and held onto that feeling. He nodded his head at the task.

Next, pour water into bowl. That was an easy task he was fairly certain that he could handle that task. He let the water fall into the bowl and watched as the moon began to charge the water.

Now he just needed to get the moon to reflect into the water directly. He had to move a bit to the left because he was too far over. His big head was in the way of the moon and he didn't want to mess this up at all. That step was super easy. Now to take note of the water and what it meant.


The changes in the water felt like they were coming so quick, he wasn't sure what to do or how fast he could write the changes without looking at them. Just as he thought he finally got it right, the entire bowl went black. "uh-oh"

A quick glance down at her wrist watch told Laurel that answering all those questions in relation to the envelope faux prediction of hers had effectively passed the time they had left of the scrying practical.

Looking around at the students still at work she said addressing everyone with a small smile pursing her lips. "Unfortunately the scrying portion of this lesson is now over. Good work everyone! Please empty your water bowl's in the sinks and then return them to your tables before you leave. I gather that not all of you got to complete your water scryings tonight and therefore it will be your assignment to do another water scrying reading using a basin of your choosing and then write a one foot essay on your interpretation of those water images/symbols/words to be handed in to me by the end of next week."

Professor Vance paused her for a few moments before she added some last sentiments. "I know the faux prediction I had raised lots of questions and want to speculate among you because of worry and curiosity. It is totally understandable, but I urge you all to be sensible about this and not cause unnecessary rumours to spread. Now off you go and get some sleep. Class dismissed!"

OOC: Class dismissed! Thank you all so much for participating in my two classes this term ! I hope you all enjoyed the lessons with me and will come back for new ones next term. I adore you all! I'll leave the lesson thread open for some extra hours in case anyone wants to finish up their scrying practicals or wants to post their student leaving.

They were encouraged to be sensible and not cause any unnecessary rumors. Did she really believe that would NOT happen? This was Hogwarts. A thousand rumors spread every day. That was what she GOT for being a Seer and making predictions in class! Of course it was going to spread. And Natalie, too, wondered if it would be connected to all the weird things going on in the castle.

Gathering up her things, Natalie cast a glance at Derf, wondering if he would offer to walk her back to her common room again.

"Thanks for the lesson, Professor," Natalie said, although it was a bit of a glum thank you. Then she slung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the door with a yawn, ready to forget water scrying and go to SLEEP.

Oh right.

She needed to get into a position where she could see the reflection of the moonlight. Sliding the bowl to get the best reflection of the moon on the water in the bowl. There now she was ready to do some scrying…. Or try at least.

Now she stared into the bowl…. all she could see was the moon. Which she guessed it could make things seem lighter colored. So looking at the textbook light colors meant a good omen.
That was good. She also noted a yellowish color in the water, which was probably coming from the moon, but she noted that down anyway. Wasn’t green suppose to be for envy and jealousy? Green with envy and a greened eyed monster. She shrugged, anyway. Yellow for unfavorable signs though, she thought that made sense because yellow was a unfavorable color.

SPOILER!!: Juni’s notes

Steps to water scrying:
1. Raise the water pitcher over the bowl and try to visualize wisdom and guidance in the water.
2. Pour water into the bowl see the moons energy charge the water
3. Position yourself so that you see the moon light reflected directly into the water in your bowl.
4. Stare into the water and record/write down all patterns, images, symbols you might see on a piece of parchment and try to interpret what they mean.

Light colours = Good omen
Red, orange, yellow = Unfavorable signs
Yellow = Envy, malice, jealousy

She turned back to the bowl and stared some more. Maybe something else would show up or if she was lucky the lesson would be over soon. She would have to make some kind of crazy prediction. So… she decided on something good was going to happen and someone was going to get jealous or become envious because of it.

Yep that was what she was going to go with. She made her own faux prediction just as professor Vance dismissed class. Yes, now she could good to a lesson it which she could actually use her brain cells. As she was packing her things up when the professor was continuing her conversation about her prediction. Sure like a rumor of what happened in the class wasn’t going to happen, this was Hogwarts.

She finished packing her things. Putting her bag over her shoulder. ”Thank you for the lesson professor.” As headed out of the classroom, and onto some real learning.

Patrick looked back down at his cup still not sure what exactly it meant. He only hoped that it meant good things would be coming his way, because bad luck seemed to always follow him. He began cleaning up his area before he would walk out. He felt as if this was always a new adventure you never knew what to expect. He grabbed his bag, "Thanks Professor! This was really interesting. Loved working with the moon." he said as he finally cleaned everything up enough to head out of the classroom.

Okay, so while Skylar wasn't convinced about what she saw in the water, she'd completed the assignment well enough. Even if she was SUPER DUPER distracted. Not as much as some of her peers though who were questioning that prediction made by Vance.

She was busy jotting down key notes of her findings, when the professor called the scrying portion of the lesson over, but also if she didn't finish than she needed to complete the water scrying exercise later and write a one foot essay on her interpretation? Was it odd that even though Skylar technically finished, she also wanted to complete the scrying exercise again. Just for curiosity to see if maybe she could focus better in a different environment, without the pressures of class-time. Without classmates talking and trying to focus as well. A different place, a different time, could produce different results, yes?

SPOILER!!: notes

Red, orange: Hatred, passion, danger, violent emotions, trouble
Swirly clouds?: affirmative

Trouble awaited in June with my upcoming OWL exams, potentially. Dangerous emotions full of satisfaction and rage and confusion.

Also, faux prediction? Did that mean that Professor Vance herself was admitting that she too didn't believe in these Divining predictions? Perhaps it was a poor word choice, but something about it cause MORE confusion and questions for the fifth year, because well, if the blond woman thought these predictions were faux, how was she meant to convey the importance of the subject to her students? Also, who was she kidding about spreading of rumors? Skylar Diggory knew first-hand about how the rumor mill worked at Hogwarts and she knew that this prediction, faux or not, would be no different.

Nonetheless, she emptied her water into the sink, returning the bowl to her table, and packed up her things. "Thanks for the lesson, Professor." You know, that she could make things up her Divination OWL practical? That was a very valuable lesson indeed.

Okay...but...if they were meant to do FULL MOON stuff...didn't that mean they had to do their second reading TONIGHT? Yawning, Derf caught Natalie's glance (and OF COURSE he was going to walk her back to her common room, especially since he was heading in that direction.

Cleaning up as instructed, Derf grabbed his enchanted suitcase and moved swiftly to catch up with her. As he did, he threw Professor Vance a cautionary look. FAUX prediction? Now she was saying that her little trip into the beyond that she was going to speak to the Headmistress about was FAKE? This caused the Hufflepuff to trip somewhat over his own two feet, catching himself on a nearby table. And it seemed he wasn't the only one to find the professor's dismissal of what she had seen.

Sensible. Right. Adults at Hogwarts were becoming increasingly LESS this and it made the Hufflepuff's stomach knot up uncomfortably. "....have a good evening, professor," he mumbled, fingers tightening around the handle of his suitcase before hurrying out of the classroom and catching up with Natalie.

Be sensible. Sensible was the one thing that one Derfael Mitchell Ashburry-Hawthorne was NOT good at being.