The Art of Divining; Divination Class

[OOC: Hello! Welcome to class! Please keep your posts between 100 and 300 words if at all possible. If that means using different accounts to post different students, feel free to do that. But remember to take turns instead of posting back and forth with one other person. We want everyone to feel included, and want it to be easy for them to catch up with what is happening. Also, remember that failure is part of the fun, so don’t be afraid to let your student take a while to understand the task that is asked of them.]


“The Divine Art is mysterious! It is elusive! In a word, it's shy.  It is however deeply powerful and if used correctly, incredibly revealing!”

There are ways to start the first lesson of the year and there are ways to start the first lesson of the year. Melissa Hayes, professor of Divination, was beginning it while stood on top of one of her students’ work tables. Clad in bright mauve robes, her hair piled on top of her head, she looked every bit as hair-brained as what was coming out of her mouth. You wouldn't believe it's teaching.

“Let's all have a bloody good cup of tea, shall we?” She suggested, hopping down lithely from the table. With a wave of her wand, Millie sent boxes of tea, cups, saucers and teapots to every table. “I'm rather partial to peppermint,” she commented to one student*,  a bright smile on her face.  

“I presume you have learned some sort of fire-making charm, yes?” She raised an expectant eyebrow at her class. “Light the Bunsen underneath the kettles on your table and start boiling your water. I want the smell of tea to fill the room!”

Turning, she flicked her wand at the black board and in orange chalk, the spell they needed to use appeared. Incendio.


* Whoever posts first, feel free to be the student that Millie speaks to.

My post is just over 200 words so as a general guideline, you can do a little bit more than this or a little less. If it sort of looks a similar size to what I've got then you're on the right track. (:

Ariane liked divination. The lessons were relaxing and she could make up her homework at the last minute and nobody could prove she hadn't predicted the stuff she wrote down.

When Professor Hayes (the missus, her husband had left the school this year) asked them to make tea, Ariane knew what to expect. Obviously, today was a day for tea leaf reading.

It was one of the more boring methods of divination (why did they never get taught anthomancy?) but at least they got to eat and drink in class. You almost never got tea without biscuits, after all.

The professor made some passing remark about how much she liked peppermint. If there was one thing Ariane hated, it was teachers who tried to be her friend. It was awkward and weird.

"I prefer strawberry," she said.

It was great to be back at Hogwarts in the magical world again. After an entire summer of not being able to perform magic one of the first things that Francesca did in the castle was a simple summoning charm for her timetable that began to blow away in the wind of the courtyard. Upon being reunited with her timetable the Hufflepuff was glad to see one of her first classes was Divinations and it wasn't long before she was sat in the steamy classroom listening to a rather eccentric introduction from Professor Hayes.

Looking around the classroom Francesca saw some familiar faces. On her table was Ariane Catchpenny, a fellow sixth year Hufflepuff who shared a dormitory with Fran and judging by her face she didn't seem too keen on the idea of tea leaf reading.

Francesca herself had mix feelings about the topic. On one hand she loved it, finding shapes and symbols in the tea leaves was somewhat fun but drinking the tea herself was something the brunette had never enjoyed. It was either too watery, too milky and she could never get the quantity of sugar right.

'I don't like tea at all.' Francesca whispered worriedly to Ariane. 'What do you think I should do?' She asked, glancing from the teapot to her fellow Hufflepuff.

Ophelia loved tea and she was very curious about what the leaves would predict about her future as well. So, although she was excited, she stepped carefully into the classroom and observed curiously the surroundings, noting every corner, books, the teacher and the students who were already there, waiting for the lesson to start.

Once again and like usually, she chose the front seat due to the bad sight she possessed and turned her bright blue eyes towards the professor who soon enough started the lesson with an enthusiastic speech and by hopping on the table. Probably to get the attention of the students or maybe because she liked so -- Ophelia didn't know, but it was interesting to see this kind of method, especially since almost every professor seemed to be so calm and quiet and dedicated in their own method of teaching.

Once the professor Hayes hopped down from the table, Ophelia looked at her admirably and took out her wand to start the fire beneath the kettle. Tea. Oh how she loved that drink! And all sorts of teas were welcomed to her, even the peppermint although mostly she preferred black, but everything suited her and she was not the one to complain.

Waiting for the water to heat up, she looked again at the professor, eyes glimmering in the light. She could already imagine the fresh smell of peppermint.

Ariane glanced across at Francesca.

"You don't have to drink it," she whispered.  "The mystical auras come from it being in contact from your magical self."

She flicked what any muggle would have recognised as "jazz hands" at her partner, in a vague attempt to look mysterious.

"Just swirl it around and then chuck it out the window," she advised.  "If you're really lucky, you might hit someone on their way to Herbology or Magical Creatures."

Not many people took divinations seriously, as was the case with magic that was a little less out there, not as firmly rooted in the science of facts. Although a lot of what they learned probably wasn't useful in foretelling the future Fran still liked to believe that the funny shapes at the bottom of a cup did mean something. It made her feel more comfortable knowing there were more powerful forces of herself and her actions and to simply throw her drink out of the window brought the Hufflepuff back to reality.

'I guess you're right.' Fran sighed, her eyes glancing from the window to a potted plant on a shelf behind them.

'Or... I'll just water this plant.' She told Ariane, rocking back on her chair to stretch her arm out so that she was able to pour the freshly made cup of tea into the soil.

CRASH!

Fran had leaned a little too far back, the chair legs had slid from underneath her and the sixth year now found herself with a lump on her head, lay on the floor surrounded by shattering bone china and a puddle of tea.

'I think I broke my cup, Professor.' Fran called out as she attempted to push herself onto her bottom.

When the crash rippled through the classroom, the professor was half way through pouring herself another cup of tea-- not to do any divination with but just because she really wanted to open the packet of rich tea biscuits she had bought the week before. She had been waiting precisely for this lesson to start on them.

Launching herself back to her feet, Millie rushed over to see if Francesca was - first of all - alive still. She spoke readily enough, which the witch took as a good sign. Leaning down, Millie attempted to help the girl back up, at least into a sitting position. Then, she removed her wand and flicked it at the remnants of the cup. They shot together again and thus the cup was, albeit shoddily, fixed.

"Are you alright?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at the young girl. "Never mind the cup - do you need to go and see Victoire in the hospital wing?"