Blame it on being completely lost in thought. Blame it on the fact that she hated Divination. Blame it on whatever you want...but Delilah had full-on missed Atlas's jab and question to her. Completely oblivious to the fact that she'd caused his sudden disgruntled mood, the first year moved on with her conversation with Hooper.



Since Delilah had already wrapped up the leaf-gathering process, it was time to follow the professor into the tent. She was just about to head that way when Hooper spoke up again. She gave him a puzzled expression followed by a raised eyebrow. "Why? Is it going to kill you or something?" she asked. "Because...I can't give you caffeine if it will." Obviously. She was WAY too young for Azkaban.

She glanced over at the professor. Tasseography? She didn't raise her hand, because her hands were full of leaves. "I don't know...don't you look for pictures or something in the tea?" she asked. She really did know absolutely nothing about Divination.

Wait. She wasn’t going to make him drink decaf? WHAT? Maybe she was cool after all. He’d assumed that because she was old, she’d instantly make him drink the boring stuff. “YES PROFESSOR! I will follow YOUR rules,” but maybe just not his fathers.

Having collected his leaves, Hooper fell in with Delilah again. “No, it won’t ‘kill’ me per say. It’ll just…uhh…I don’t know,” and for a moment, the first year Gryffindor was completely stumped. He’d never really had caffeine before. “Uhh…yeah Professor. What Delilah said. Don’t we like make pictures out of the leaves or something? Use them to paint? He wasn’t really sure. Back home, tea leaves came in the tea bags and the whole thing about picking your own leaves just seemed like too much effort. “Tasseogeography sounds like something I used to do in school honestly. We looked at maps and stuff and drew like…symbols for different places on the map. This one time, it was soooooo cool. We made a volcano and it exploded in class!!!!”

"Yes, very good, very good. Aria, you can use coffee, though I find it harder to read and a little messier in the end." Still it was a good comment and one that could be useful if anyone would like to try it one day. "Delilah, pictures are what we look for in the leaves and then you can find the meaning of them. Your books have an entire section on tea leaves and their meanings. We will be looking at those towards the end of the lesson."

Hooper was going on about something with painting, but before she could answer he did say something interesting. "It could be similar to that I guess, the pictures are symbols and a map of your readings." Nodding liking that answers she moved to her work station.

"Now find your work station and place your leaves on the table. You will get out your wands, I know we don't use wands often in this class, but you will need it for the drying part. You will want to dry the leaves fully, this way the leaves will be ready to be used in the tea. Once you have dried your leaves take the mug that is on the table and fill it with water, then go ahead and use your wands to warm the water to the desired tea temperature you like. Once that is done go ahead and place your leaves in your tea."


She knew that was a few steps but she also knew this group could handle it. She placed the steps on the little board she had at the front just in case they needed a reminder.

BOOM! He was kind of right! Winner, winner. “Exactly! Well…kind of? The leaves would be the map and then your textbook is sort of like…the key?” Did that make sense? It did to him. Muggle geography in divination. Sweeeeet!

Heading to the work station with his mind full of maps, symbols and a few other bits and pieces, Hooper pulled out the leaves which he’d shoved in his pocket and lumped them down onto the table. With this wand quickly in his hand, he took aim and paused for a moment. What was the spell for drying things through? After casting a shifty around the room to see if anyone else had cast it, Hooper quickly raised his hand and tried to get the attention of the Professor. “Uhh…Miss? We have a problem over here. I don’t know the hot air spell. Can I use Incendio?” Not that he really knew how to use that either if he was being honest. He only really knew about it because….DUH, it was a spell that makes things catch fire. In other words, a super cool spell which would totally come in handy.

Oh.

She’d written the steps out on a little board. Never mind.

Squinting at the board, Hooper quickly turned back to his leaves and dried them without too much fuss. Part of him wanted to use Incendio just to see them burn but he figured that wouldn’t go down well in a room full of flammable stuff and things. Grabbing the brightest and most colourful mug he could find, the first year turned back to the instructions and followed them to the best of his ability and only spilt some water on the floor as he filled his cup.

“Cup is full of water and it’s warm Miss. Professor.” Picking up his leaves, Hooper threw the crinkly leaves into the mug and gave them a poke with his wand so that they all fell to the bottom.

Summer had been listening to the Professor, she didn't want to speak at the moment because to tell the truth she didn't know what to say about divinations. She put the water into the cup and took out her wand, like seriously surely the Professor had a kettle that would be so much easier than using a wand.

Once she had the water up to the temperture she wanted she picked up the leaves and put them into the cup, now was she supposed to just leave them and see what happened?

Noted! Coffee grounds were harder and messier to read! Another reason why Aria would prefer tea. That all went out of her mind the moment she stepped into the tent. Practical aspects of lessons are what she liked best, hence her limited attention span at the moment. Aria found a workstation as instructed. The eight leaves were then and rested on the station, the stevia on her left and the chamomile on her right.

Hearing Hooper speak up, Aria wiggled her fingers in his direction to get his attention. “The incantation is Ventus. And the wand movement…” The Slytherin demonstrated. If Hooper, or anyone else watching, needed more clarity, she used the combination on her own leaves. Soon enough, the greenery had faded somewhat and they looked dried and brittle.

She grinned at Hooper then moved on with the instructions by filling a mug with water, adding the dried leaves then heating the water via magic. She allowed the water to reach a boiling point because in any case, it would cool off while the leaves steeped.

"Yes Hooper you are correct with the text book. Very good comparison. " Her students were doing very well today, which she wasn't shocked about at all. They were very bright young students and she was always proud of them. "Thank you Aria for the help, two extra points for being a great leader." That was very sweet of her, especially since it was later in the term so simple spells should be known.

Looking at her watch she knew they were cutting it close, but wanted to give some time. "Go ahead and take a few more moments to finish the drying and making of your tea. If your tea has sat at least 5 to 10 minutes you can go ahead and enjoy drinking it. That will be the next step in tea reading."

Obviously you had to drink the tea to look at the leaves.

“Thanks Professor. What can I say, geography was something of a favourite of mine back in my old school. They used to call me “Hoops”…Uh…Hooper…UH..”” and his voice trailed off as his mind went blank. They didn’t call him anything. Well, Parker called him Super Hooper but that didn’t have much to do with geography.

Moving on from his embarrassment, Hooper turned to the wriggling of fingers in his direction from one of the older children (Aria), Hooper quickly turned, giving them a brief nod as they mentioned the correct spell even though it was already on display for him. “Thanks, I’m all good now though!” he replied, pointing down at his own cup of weird, mushy leaf water with a wide, goofy smile. The demonstration was sort of useful though. It helped him perfect the spell , not that he would remember. “Your leaves look so much more…dry than mine,” he noted briefly as he looked back at his, which were well and truly soaking in his mug. He meant before they went int the mug though. That was clear, right?

Hooper listened to the next set of instructions and just…did he really have to drink it? Unsure if he really wanted to ‘whine’ a little more, Hooper quickly grimaced and decided to voice a different question instead while he waited for his to cool. “Professor, if we didn’t drink our tea, or someone else did even though we made it, who’s fortune would it be then? Or say if it go spilt it or something, what happens to the fortune then?”

Usually Violet wasn't that keen on Divination, but this was almost like brewing a potion. She had picked Lemon Verbana leaves, a tea she particularly liked, and was happily drying the leaves using the drying spell. The leaves were curling up nicely and turning a dull green color. They were nearly ready.

Aria grinned from ear to ear as she watched Hooper do his thing. Also, she liked the nickname Hoops. Would he mind if she called him that at any time? The Slytherin watched him give the spell a try and was delighted to see that he was successful. “Look at you go, young one!” She wiggled her brows then stepped a little closer in his direction to scrutinise his leaves. “That they do. Still, they look good enough for steeping to me.” Aria was tempted to pat this delightful little firstie on the head but refrained.

“Oh, thank you, professor! That’s very nice of you.” Two extra points for Slytherin! They could be rather useful in overtaking the House directly ahead of them. She waited slightly over five minutes while the leaves stepped then took her first sip. The stevia worked wonders in sweetening the liquid. And as usual, the chamomile was a wonder in soothing her. Truly a beautiful combination these two leaves made.

Aria also had a question and raised her hand after Hooper started talking. “Professor, is stirring the contents of our mug allowed? Or does stirring affect the natural process of the leaves settling at the bottom of our mugs and can disrupt the shapes to be interpreted?”

"Hooper it needs to be you to drink it for it to be your reading. No one else can drink it to have a clear reading for yourself." She picked up her own tea and sipped it for a few moments. "Oh you can stir of course and swish Aria, that is actually a step we will discuss here soon."

It did look like they were ready to move on and some had started drinking, "Drink and enjoy your tea, but please leave just a little bit in the cup. You will want to swish the tea around two to three times and then empty that water onto the towel that is on your work station." She demonstrated with her own tea, "Once you have done that look at the leaves and see what image you can find. You will open your book to the symbols and meanings and jot down your answer. If you would like to work with the person near you that is fine too."

Violet had been enjoying her tea very much, but now sighed as the time came to divine from the leaves. Divination was not her favorite, or her best, subject. She didn't know why she continued to come to these classes any more, she was not going to try for a N.E.W.T. in the subject, except that she supposed she had some faint hope of someday miraculously getting better.

She expertly swirled the tea in a clockwise direction, flipped the cup onto the towel, and closed her eyes a minute in a plea to the universe that she might see something in there. Then she lifted the cup carefully, turned it right side up, and peered inside.

What in the world was that? A kind of--blob thingie over to the bottom left, some watery trails of tea with a few stray bits in them on top, and...maybe a smiley face thing in the middle? Violet began paging rapidly through her book to try to make sense of this. At the same time, she occasionally stopped to look around and see if there was anyone near her who she could partner with, someone who hopefully knew more than she did.

Points to be noted: they were to drink their own tea that they were to be reading from and stir and swish. Excellent points to know in her opinion. Aria nodded enthusiastically in Euka’s direction then continued to drink her tea which was perhaps one of the best that she had ever had. She kept glancing into the mug to make sure she left just a teeny bit. Was she disappointed to leave some behind? Of course.

With a sigh, Aria swished the remainder around three times then upended her mug over the towel. Once all the remaining tea had drained, she peered into her mug to see if any symbol immediately jumped out at her. None did. But that simply meant that she would have to look harder, right?

And so she did.

The Slytherin ended up tilting her head this way and that. “You look like… a fish!” Whatever did THAT mean? She scanned through the list and meanings in her textbook. “Good news from another country,’’ she read to herself. Hmmm. Which country would that be? South Korea, the country of her birth? Another?

FASCINATING!

Walking around she watched as the students drank their tea and worked on their readings. She made sure to observe notes as she went along making sure students were getting the lesson and able to understand what was going on. It seemed everyone had grasped the concept and she was happy with the way the lesson went.

"Alright everyone, I hope you have a new understanding of the work that goes into tea making as well as the readings of the leaves. We don't always get to see the process from start to us enjoying our teas, but today you got a short version of that opportunity.

Class is now over, please clean up your work station and I will collect everything once everyone is gone."



**I'll leave the class open for a few days if anyone wants to catch up and finish.

Thereafter, Aria struggled slightly to make out symbols. She turned her mug this way and that, squinted and did a whole lot of jazz to finally find a symbol that looked like an owl. She thought that would have meant something good in terms of the interpretation but when she read it… NOPE! “Indicates sickness or poverty. Warning against starting a new venture.” She’d be owling her fathers to let them know that they should not be getting into any new venture. You bet she was!

HEaring Euka calling the class to an end, Aria magically cleaned her station by packing all her materials to one side and getting rid of any bits of dropped tea and dregs. “See you around, professor! I particularly enjoyed today’s lesson.’’

With that, the Slytherin was off for the Castle.

Violet had finally decided that the smile thingie was the Moon, and the trail of bits was birds in flight, and the blob thingie was...just a blob. So...that was...(she thumbed through her book)--good news, and--fame and prosperity! That sounded pretty good--maybe it meant she was going to find out she was going to have a story published, at last! At any rate, this prediction sounded a lot better than I don't know, so she wrote it down, handed it in, and, saying "Goodbye, Professor!" gladly escaped one of her least favorite classes.