Lesson One: Pod One

“Palmistry,” Millie declared, clapping her hands together.

It hadn’t been until her class had settled that she’d decided to talk, content to let them get out their things and all the rest while she finished off marking a few bits and pieces she’d gotten off of her seventh years. Then, after setting down her quill she got up with a little bit of visible effort, still stiff from the accident, and sidled around her desk to lean against it. Again, like with the other class that had taken place a few hours earlier she was looking to do something a little bit simple to wake them up and get them ready for some Divination.

Sitting herself down amongst the students at what was, technically, the head of the round table, Millie put her hands down flat, palms against the table top. After blowing a lock of blonde hair out of her eyes she looked at each face, deeming that she did recognise them well enough indeed. She smiled gently and looked at them curiously, wondering what they knew of it. They should have done it early in their fourth year – third at the earliest when they started the course. As it was, it happened to be something of her favourite and by far the woolliest of all of the branches of Divination – the most imprecise, too.

“For the exam, you will be asked to weigh up the usefulness of this branch of magic but first… what do we know about it?”

Apollo was truly horrible at Divination. Just awful. And yet he had signed up for it. Why, you might ask? Well, frankly, he wasn't sure. It had the benefit of not being a class with his brother, so he definitely wouldn't complain about that. He supposed that it was also a bonus to have class with Hitame. After everything that had happened before the school year started, he was lucky that she was back at school.

The only problem, he supposed, was everything that had happened with the train. His eyes darted to the professor, half wondering if she had known it was going to happen. Apollo supposed she probably hadn't, if only because nobody was there right when everything collapsed. But then, he had never been a huge believer in Divination. It was more a chance for him to try something new and continue trying to prove himself to those who continued to doubt him - be that his father, his brother, or anyone else.

When Professor Hayes - the new one - asked for information about the topic, Apollo ducked his head, letting his hair fall in front of his eyes due to the length. If he could keep from having to answer, he would. But he couldn't exactly keep the professor from calling on him either, so he just had to mentally cross his fingers and go from there.

Was it a good thing that she had been able to go to Hogwarts, even after what happened to her before the year started? Probably. It showed that she was still capable of learning correctly. Of course, it was also a bad thing, considering what had happened with the train. She was just glad that her friends were safe.

Divination was a personal favorite of hers, being that she was good at it. Someone had mentioned to her that someone in her family had been a Seer, but she wasn't sure if that was why she was good at it, or because she was one herself. Just because someone in your family was good at something, doesn't mean you will be too right? Either way, she liked the subject. Which was good since Apollo was in her class and he was bad at it. She could help him if he needed it.

Hitame raised her hand at the Professor's question, seeming a little over excited answering, "Palmistry is the branch of Divination where you can tell someone's future by reading their palms. Palm-reading basically."

In truth, the Slytherin was glad to see that Hitame was doing fairly well thus far. She hadn't always been as outgoing as others, but after what had happened over the summer, and then with the train, Apollo was just glad that she was feeling open enough by that point to speak up in classes. She had always known much more about Divination than Apollo did himself.

While he was almost jealous of her because of it, it was clearly not something he could begrudge anyone. He really only took the class to be different, to go outside what he usually would do. By that standard, he was doing pretty well already.

Apollo passed Hitame a smile and a look that clearly said he would be coming to her for some help with studying. His eyebrows lifted in slight embarrassment, but he just hoped that if they got partnered up in class, he would be lucky enough to be paired with her. If they were, though, he could admit to being nervous that they might not actually get anything done. He had a habit of being really unable to focus on school work around his friends. Maybe since she cared so much, though, he wouldn't find himself lost in class anymore.

Pepper was mortified.

Absolutely mortified.

She had thought that Divination would be a lovely, interesting lesson for her to take that would open up a new branch of magic for her. Her interest had always been piqued by Seer's and she had asked her parents on numerous occasions if she would be able to purchase a deck of tarot cards so she could try her hand at it herself. Unfortunately, they had refused, at least until she had some experience in the field and she knew what she was doing.

Now though, her heart was in her throat and she was desperately clutching at what little she knew about Divination that would give her the answer to the professors question. Wide eyed, Pepper decided that the best course of action was to stare at the parchment in front of her until someone else had given the answer.

Thankfully one of the older students provided it and Pepper deflated very slightly - she actually knew a tiny bit about palm reading. The name is what threw her off, it sounded very advanced when really she wouldn't mind attempting to palm read if that was what the professor desired them to do this lesson.

Flicking her eyes up at sporadic intervals to look at the other students in the class, Pepper worried the edge of her grey skirt between her fingers - in order to occupy her hands.