Vivienne walked in and greeted Sutton. It was a terrible day. Windy. The fire was warm surrounded by the hay bales at the front of the class. What was that white sheet on those poles?? Then there was a table... with logs... with papers on top... with a stone weighing it down? Then she waited for Sutton to begin...

Maxie had decided he didn't mind divination in the slightest. it was fun, and interesting and never what he expected (partly because he never did the reading) but not in the way DADA was or Transfiguration, there was safety here.

for the most part.

mostly.

except for that one time-

but Sutton had handled it.

Maxie had assumed they would be sitting on the hay-bales and peering into the fire for their futures, but the professor wasn't sitting anywhere near the bonfire. Maxie shuffled his feet, his hands outstretched to catch the blazing warmth before he dashed off toward the sheets and the logs, and the papers, and the stone. Maxie scrunched his nose because this seemed very badly put together. Professor Sutton more likely than not had a reason behind it but that didn't stop Maxie's face. "G-Good e-e-evening, Professor." he said, cracking his fingers as he carried on looking over everything with that sour, confused face.

A perfectly clear night and a warm fire? Tonight was going to be a good night, even if divination wasn’t his favourite subject. Taking a deep breath, he took a seat on one of the bales of hay, the wind blowing his curls lightly. Briefly, his eyes touched on the Professor, who he gave a friendly smile to and some of the other students who were there too (Vivienne and Maxie) before finally settling on the dancing shadows that the fire was making in the night.

Whilst he wasn't a fan of lessons in general that occurred when it was dark (seriously? were lessons in the daytime not enough?!) Jó was a fan of bonfires, and so the sight of that did a little to lift the sour look on his face as he made his way to where the Professor was standing.

He had absolutely no idea how the bonfire was supposed to help tell the future, or why they weren't stood right next to it, nor did he have any clue as to what all of this other... stuff was for. And he wasn't exactly excited to find out. He did give the Professor a small smile as he reached her, before scowling over at Max.

Ugh. That kid was the worst.

A NEWT in Divination would do the seventh year positively no good - if he even properly sat them at all seeing how motivation as of late had only been driven by the scheduling prowess of a certain Head Girl. But whatever stress the Derf may have been feeling was somewhat put to ease by the overall ambiance of the set up, particularly the heat and light from the fire in contrast with the cool darkness of the night being the primary Zeitgeber. A bit ironic considering the entire set up reminded him very much of the sort of aesthetic Professor Wayland always went for - and he and that fallen hero were, well, Derf's heart was still heavy thinking about it all.

Smiling and offering the professor a polite wave, he felt no need to speak or else spoil the peaceful mood that had come over him, Derf took a seat beside one Anderson-Belfort and set his things out. "Evening," he whispered to him with a bit of an impish grin.

Tina had to stifle a yawn as she made her way to the grounds. She'd had a long day and needed sleep, but she would never miss a divination lesson. Her favorite subject was well worth losing a couple hours’ sleep! She smiled a little at the sight of the fire. Cozy bonfire, clear skies, gentle breeze… Whatever they were doing, they had a great night for it!

“Hello, Professor,” Tina greeted politely as she took a seat on one of the hay bales and set her bag on the ground beside her. Her eyes darted from the fire to the sheet to the table full of papers. She had to admit she was intrigued by the setup. It reminded her a bit of the shadow puppet shows she used to put on when she was a little kid. Was that what they were doing? Maybe there was a way to tell the future from shadows.. probably not, that idea seemed a little too far-fetched. Maybe they would be burning the paper instead? But that didn't explain the sheet. Tina kept trying to riddle out the lesson as she waited for class to begin.

She was standing just close enough to still feel a bit of warmth coming from the bonfire. The soothing sounds of each crackle and pop of energy escaping from the wood and into the air made her heart beat slow and her muscles relax. She felt most at home with nature and hoped the students would enjoy being out on the grounds instead of up in the tower.

Before long, the students began arriving. First, Ms. Awning quickly followed by Mr. Anderson-Belfort. “Good evening to both of you. Take a seat and make yourselves comfortable.” The next were two young men, Mr. Jones and Mr. Kowalski, that both smiled politely, to which she returned with a smile of her own. To bring up the end, the Head Boy and Ms. Dantes both made their greetings before taking their seats. “Good evening.”

Kassie stood where she was as the rest of the students made their way down from the castle. When it was 10, she slowly raised her hand to get the attention of the students. “Welcome. Welcome. Thank you all so much for your willingness to come to class outside of normal lesson hours. I know it’s the weekend and you may have had other activities in mind, but I think what I have planned tonight will be worth the sacrifice.” At least she hoped it would. “Let’s get down to business. Tonight's lesson will be about Sciomancy. Now, before you get too concerned, we will be focusing only on early sciomancy, not drifting towards necromancy or communicating with the dead.” She paused and glanced around to make sure that last bit had a chance to sink in. “Can anyone tell me one thing they know about sciomancy? It can be about the origins or what you look for while doing a reading.”



OOC: Class has begun!! The first question is to name one thing about sciomancy. Anything about sciomancy. Catchup posts are always allowed and welcomed, just remember to post as if your charrie has been there the entire time or IC consequences may happen. If you have any questions, please feel free to PM/VM/Skype me. Class will continue in about 24 hours.

The night was susurrous, and Maxie was well aware of just how very not far away the forbidden forest and everything that lived within was to their lesson. Thing is, he was much bothered- he was conscious, and alert but also- dare he think it? Enjoying himself.

Maxie smiled, his cheeks bunching up sincerely as Derfael sat beside him. Teammate and friend, Maxie has grown to truly admire the older boy. “E-evening.” He said, quietly trying to impersonate the Head Boy’s casual greeting.

.... he was just- gonna- ignore- jòsef- ignore- and- hope- he- would- be- ignored- in- turn.

It was the best case scenario.

Necromancy. He was familiar, not as uncomfortably as you might have imagined. They were only talking about it after all- and he’d talked about zombies (and read, and watched) plenty of times. Emboldened by the small number of students gathered, Maxie raised his pale hand. ”P-professor? Scia- ee- s-sciomancy is a-about shadows, I-isn’t it? Y-you can t-tell things depending on the s-shape and l-length.” If he remembered correctly.

All those creatures!! Enjoying themselves in the dark forest. Was Maxie blushing? On Derfael? And ignore Josef?? Necromancy was one of the darkest magic types out there; second only to Occlumency. She needed knowledge in the topic if she was gonna be an Auror. But zombies?? They're called inferi for the blazes!!

Ewan had to work extra hard not to stifle a yawn as the professor mentioned the fact that they had indeed turned up outside of regular hours and on the weekend. Inwardly sighing, he rubbed his eyes and focused again on the Professor.

Appreciating the straight down to business attitude that, Ewan pondered the Professors question and some of the answers that followed his class mates before finally raising his hand “uh Professor, isn’t I know you we’re not supposed to drift towards communication with the dead but isn’t sciomancy some form of talking to the dead?” his question was not meant to be disrespectful, that was just simply what he thought. Right or wrong. Truth be told, this was far from his strongest subject and he simply had no first hand knowledge of this.

If Valencia were being honest, the fire was quite memorizing. She enjoyed watching the flames dance and hearing the crackle of the wood. It was quite comforting.

In fact, she was having a hard time focusing on what the professor was saying. But she did understand the gist of the question.

She raised her hand. "It's an ancient Greek from of divination." she said. "It's named after the Greek word for shadows."

Leave it to the baby Ravenclaw to know the root words.

Smiling over at the first year as he set his things out (and why yes, Derf would consider them friends thank you very much!), the seventh year's attention was brought back to the front when the topic of tonight's lesson was revealed - sciomancy.

Hmm...that...didn't give TOO much away from the set up really and Derf honestly knew very little about it other than, well, they had actual GHOSTS here at Hogwarts and stuff. The most recent addition being one Professor Dopple. And he really REALLY did not want to think about necromancy, thanks. He was still not okay with dreams and the Black Lake from the whole inferi invasion...even when one of your best friends was Jessa Cambridge and you supported her...a bloke had his limits.

"Isn't it...um...divination by shape of shadows? Also how like...uh...dark the shade of a shadow is and that sort of thing?" Not really...the dead DEAD. "Sorta like how you can do the same kind of thing with tea leaves and clouds and stuff."

After the last student had answered, she moved a little closer to the hay bales. “As a few of you have said, sciomancy is a form of divination using shadows, their size, shape, and changing appearance. Is the shadow long and light, or is it short and dark? Bent, straight, or maybe even missing a body part? Those are just a few of the things we will be looking for.” The bonfire crackled and popped, sending a beautiful burst of sparks into the air.

“Now that we have an idea of what we are looking for to do a reading, we need to focus on the why. Unlike pendulum divination, which is answering yes/no questions to more immediate situations, sciomancy will give you a better idea of what the future holds. Can anyone tell me why this sort of divination is beneficial? Or, on the other hand, why you would need to use caution with the results of your reading?”



OOC: Question 2 is up. A reason why sciomancy is beneficial and/or why you would need to use caution with the results of a reading. Please feel free to jump in if you are just joining us! All are welcome. We will move on to the mini activity in about 24 hours.

More then the benefits...Derf could only think about how problematic this type of reading could be. That list continued to grow and grow inside his head as well. He knew that some ancient cultures believed shadows to represent the soul, that much he had come across time and time again in his readings and stuff...which sorta brought on a whole new light to Peter Pan being super attached to his and how it also seemed to have a mind of its own...

Wait...what was the question?

Oh. Right. Pros and or cons to this method...to which Derf really could only find cons in it...and was also reminded of the few times, before he had dropped Astronomy, that Stephanie had tutored him in the Earth's rotation around the sun and sundials and all that.

Honestly...he much preferred nephelomancy.

"Having, you know, a reliable light source and then how close you are standing to that light source will change your reading dramatically...but also, you know, if you're using the Sun as your source and then tracking it that way...the orbit. No wait, sorry. Not orbit. Rotation. But the rotation influences shadows and all that because of the Sun's position so like...there are just a lot of factors that come into play and doesn't seem like you can really get an pure reading? Or like...you know...you could manipulate results by picking a certain time of day to do it that best suits the results you want? Or like...where you stand in association with the light? So like...even if we all were to circle up around the bonfire...all of us are at different angles to the light source, the fire, so like...of course shape and stuff will be different, you know?"

Maybe? He had rambled again.

“Sorry professor, when you say ‘once believed’, do you mean that it’s not believed now? So really, if it’s not believed to be true now, if we were to try, we wouldn’t get any results?” Was that confusing? He hoped not. He just…well… it just seemed illogical for them to try and tell the future this way when it doesn’t work. Still, who was he to turn down work when it was readily available?

Will the smallest of shakes of his head, he continued to listen to the Professors instructions, the head of the fire creating dancing shapes around the circle now. Holding his hand up in the air now, he answered the question “Uhhh… I guess if you could see the future of someone or yourself, you could make informed decisions maybe? Or help someone? But I guess you have to be careful just in case you read it wrong or if it does inform your decision and you try to change the outcome, you could just be making it worse or just enabling what you saw” but he wasn’t exactly sure you could see anything but your shadow anyway so what did it really matter?

"Before we jump in and do our readings, I would like for us to practice in a more controlled environment. Would everyone please follow me over to the white sheet and we will continue our lesson from there." Kassie waved everyone over and moved closer to the white sheet. "Please be careful to not kick the line of sticks about 4 meters in front of the sheet. The logs to the left of the screen have a stack of papers with some shadow guidelines and what they can mean. I would like for everyone to take a paper and stand behind the line of sticks."




With a flick of her wand, she lit a lamp, illuminating the back side of the sheet. Then she walked behind and stood between the light and the sheet. "I'm going to demonstrate how body movements can change shadows." First, she moved close to the sheet, making her shadow darker and smaller. Then, she moved away from the sheet and closer to the light, making her shadow lighter and larger. Finally, she moved around at different angles, making parts of her body appear elongated and others bent in odd ways. "Now, it's your turn. I would like for each of you to have a chance to get behind the sheet, creating the shadows, while the rest of the class calls out what they think they see and what that type of shadow can predict."



OOC: Mini activity time. Have your charrie go behind the sheet and move around to let the class practice reading a shadow and read a shadow of another. This can be done in as many or as few posts as you like. Please be as descriptive as possible so others are able to guess what the shadow looks like. I always welcome catching up posts, so please feel free to jump in at any time. We will continue in about 72 hours. If you have any questions, skype/PM/VM me.

Trinetta sat quietly, trying to keep track of everything the professor was saying. Divination in the classical sense - tea leaves, tarot cards, etc. - was easy for her. When it got to these goofy forms of divination that seemed to involve just about any sort of thing, she had trouble keeping up sometimes. Still, when no one else seemed to be willing to give it a shot, she stood up. "I'll do the shadow thing, Professor," she said, setting down her stuff and heading to the sheet that she had set up.

She consulted the guidelines that she had set up by the sheet and then walked behind it and stood. Was it working? She could see her shadow staring back at her, so she could only assume the students on the other side saw it too. So she tried to replicate what the professor had done, walking closer to the light so her shadow got larger. It was the only way she was going to get taller any time soon sooooo...

Ewan really did appreciate the fact that the Professor that his questions didn’t come across as uh…cheeky? Giving small nods as the Professor answered his questions, he pulled out his note pad and jotted some notes down. He may not be any good at this subject but it wouldn’t be for lack of effort.

Ewan couldn’t help but let out a small yawn as the day’s events finally caught up with him as he followed the Professor to towards the white sheet. Watching carefully, he watched as the Professor moved around behind the sheet, first making her shadow twisted and turned with every minute movement. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn’t exactly confident but the shadow looked…well like a massive lump of dark mass.

Taking a deep breath, he paused for a second before finally trying to focus again, this time on Nettie’s shadow. Either she was moving too fast or he was useless at this. Most likely the second option. Giving a small shake of his head, he waiting until she’d finished and smiled at her as she left the curtain. “Sorry Nettie, I literally could not read a single thing. Maybe you’ll have more luck with mine”. Stepping behind the white sheet, he stood there for a second before finally deciding to do move…like a robot! Stretching his arms out wide first, he then slowly moved towards the curtain and slowly bent them in opposite directions making his arms look larger and smaller before finally making it appear as though his head has disappeared altogether. Say what you will about the robot but it certainly made your limbs appear at strange angles behind the white sheet.

At least Professor Sutton wasn't put off by being verbose. He had really been trying since Professor Fletcher things...but it was really hard to undo, you know, practically 18 years of a habit. His friends tended to encourage him anyway, so there was that. It did put the Hufflepuff at ease that they were going to perform things more finitely, took some of the concerning factors away and all.

Watching as Nettie went behind the sheet, Derf glanced down at the note for how to read shadows when...literally everything seemed to fit? Moving closer made the shadow smaller and darker and then when she moved back her shadow got longer and lighter..and then as she moved some limbs went away and others more pronounced. "....is...all of the above applicable, professor?"

Because then the same happened when Ewan went behind the sheet as well. Only the Ravenclaw had settled more on the bending bit...but there was too much movement to sort through things properly.

Once the last student had finished practicing, Kassie flicked off the light and moved back towards the bonfire. "You all did a great job. This was just so you could see what the different shadows might look like. No wrong answers, just practice."

"Now that everyone has had some practice reading shadows, we are going to move back to the bonfire to do some real readings." Kassie flicked her wand and turned on some party music. "Everyone up and around the fire. You can dance, you can sing, you can simply walk around. Your job is to grab a sheet of parchment and a pen or pencil and write down shadows you see and what they mean. It can be your own shadow, or you can do some readings on your classmates. Either way, have fun with it."

"I would like for all of you to complete four to five readings in the next thirty minutes. That gives you plenty of time to have some fun and complete the activity." She hoped they felt like they could enjoy themselves while doing the activity. The music was going and the fire was blazing.

OOC: Be sure to state how close your character is to the fire and be as descriptive as possible about their body positions so others can read their shadow. Knowing how close they are will let others know what size of shadow they would be casting. All they need to do is 4 or 5 readings on themselves or a classmate. They can be about a specific event in the future or about life in general. If you are just joining us or if you missed a part, please jump in and feel free to catch up. You have 72 hours for the main activity.

Tina had just enough time to pull a quill and parchment out of her bag before the class started. So they were learning Sciomancy? Well, what do you know… the guess Tina had thought too far-fetched turned out to be correct! She was a little surprised to hear they were covering that topic, given its connections to necromancy, but her concerns went away when Professor Sutton said they wouldn’t be going into that. She considered the professor’s question carefully. What did she know about sciomancy? She knew it was a branch of divination that used shadows to tell the future, and it originated with the ancient Greeks and Chaldeans… but all of those things had been said, and Tina didn’t like repeating answers.

She remained lost in thought for a few moments until suddenly something came to her. She remembered reading something about people in ancient times using shadows to hide their valuables. Her hand went up, and she said, “Sciomancy is said to originate from ancient Greeks and Chaldeans using shadows to hide treasure in times of hardship. They would mark the point of a shadow on a given day and time, and hide their valuables in that location.” As soon as she’d spoken, she began to doubt that was the sort of answer the professor was looking for. Yeah, she was just gonna… keep quiet now.

Tina gave the second question careful thought. Why was sciomancy beneficial? Based on the information she had so far, it sounded as if it would provide a greater measure of certainty about the future than other divination methods with shorter-term results, even if it was a negative reading… and a sense of security was important to Tina! But that answer sounded a lot like what Ewan had said. As for the cons of sciomancy, she couldn’t think of a single thing that wasn’t already covered by the Head Boy’s answer. Come on, Tina! Think of something! She berated herself. This had never happened to her before; she always had the answers!

Before Tina could think of anything to add, they were moving on to the mini activity. She watched from her seat as Nettie took her place behind the sheet, studying the shadow that appeared intently. It appeared to be getting longer as her classmate moved. She consulted her shadow sheet. “That looks like a long shadow,” she mused out loud, “and that means… a positive outcome or a yes., and a lengthening shadow… that’s growth and positivity.” Merlin, she hoped she was doing this right!

Tina wasn’t feeling particularly confident about her reading for Nettie’s shadow, but she had even more trouble with Ewan’s. She scrutinized the shadow carefully. It looked as if it was moving closer to the curtain, therefore… shortening? She thought… She looked at her guide again. So a shortening shadow meant… failure, sadness, negative outcome, or loss. Hmm, Tina wasn’t sure she wanted to say that prediction out loud. She looked at the shadow again to be sure, and - wait, where was its head?! What did that mean? Her eyes scanned her shadow sheet, but she saw no mention of a headless shadow. Her hand went up, and she asked, “Professor, what does it mean if a shadow is missing its head?”

When her turn came, Tina took her place behind the sheet, thinking hard about the kind of shadow she wanted to make. The thought crossed her mind to try to make a butterfly shape, but she thought that might be a little hard for others to read. She’d start out with something a bit simpler. She started out about halfway between the sheet and the light, drawing herself up tall to create the longest shadow possible. Then she slowly moved further back toward the light to make her shadow even longer. When she was almost i front of the light, she made a sort of ballerina-esque pose with her arms raised in a circle above her head and leaned to her left. She held that pose for a few moments, then returned to her seat, just in time to hear the instructions for the main activity.

She knew someone would end up asking about a headless shadow, she had just hoped they wouldn't. Not that the majority of the students wouldn't be able to handle the answers but she didn't want to upset the younger or more sensitive students so late at night.

"Well, Ms. Dantes, a headless shadow or no shadow is considered a very bad omen and predicts that a person will lose their life within the course of the current year." Kassie looked out across the class. "Now, I don't want any of you to worry about this if you happen to think you see a headless shadow." She spoke loud enough for the entire class to hear. "If you think you see this happening, just let me know and we can evaluate it together."

Well, this was just brilliant. Not only was the omen considered a bad omen but now apparently, because his shadow’s head was missing, he was going to die. Great. Lovely. Cheer Professor. “Ugh, great. Typical. Why is it always me that stuff like this happens to?” he muttered under his breath. Truth be told, he wasn’t annoyed just more… scared? Maybe. Especially with the summer nearing and his plans still not set in stone.

Closing his eyes briefly, he tried to clear his mind before refocusing on the task at hand and the sheet that was now scrunched up in his clenched fist. Despite the music and the hissing fire, any excitement and fun had left the fire and had fled along with the smoke, into the night sky and away with the breeze.

Sitting down, he watched as his fellow students danced to the music and tried to dissect each other’s shadows, his mind lost to the night.

Gunnar certainly wasn't going to be dancing or singing around the fire, but he could walk around it. He wasn't completely averse to class activities, just the ones that seemed to border on public humiliation.

He took his parchment and quill with him as he walked. The fifteen year old was unsure if he was meant to be casting shadows and then reading them, or doing both at the same time. And as the latter thought seemed to be a time-saver, he opted for that one.

His eyes sweeping the ground in front of him, Gunnar tried to discern the shadows of his classmates, most of them walking in front of him, some dancing past him. That shadow was... lengthening? No... bending towards the right. He didn't remember what it meant, but he'd look up the meanings later. For now he'd just note the shadows on his parchment.