Divination Class Two: Overview

[Bridget O'Neill]

Bridget had an afternoon class this time around, a gloriously sunny day that was crisp and cold as an apple. She knew her class was surprised by the path she'd put them on in this area of study. Well, being from the States did give her a very different view of Divination. Back across the pond, folks treated Divination like a science.

It was a strange way to look at things, and she'd come to realize that from reading the essays the students had given her. Most of them saw Divination as an Art, one full of uncertainty and strange outcomes. But the few who had also considered it a Science were open to the possibility that Divination was something that could have measurable results. It was a fascinating conundrum, and one Bridget intended to explore.

Today, she was planning on talking about how to measure and record those results. She planned on discussing the different types of Divination out there, and how they were used in her everyday Wizarding life. She'd even brought her journals from her days with the Guardians along, so they could see what she'd been doing over the past ten years or so. The stack of journals lay on her desk, their waterproof dragonhide covers gleaming in the light.

Bridget walked over to the blackboard, brushing some imaginary lint off her teacher's robe. She was dressed for comfort underneath, with her wands up her sleeves as usual. She picked up her chalk and began writing on the board. Welcome again to class. Please prepare to discuss various methods of Divination and ways to record the outcomes of using them. Bridget wrote on, making a list of the three Divination tools she had handed out in the last class. She wrote the one on top of each other on the board, with a line next to them. She planned to record how many people would choose to use each tool for their homework.

Bridget smiled to herself, and sat in her chair, relaxing a bit. Class would start soon, and she was ready for it. They'd be discussing what Seers, Touchreaders and Finders did for starters and then she'd expand into other types of Divination. It was going to be interesting hearing the students' reactions. She had a suspicion that there were some students gifted with the Sight, but she was going to be patient. Having such a Gift was often viewed as a curse by the person involved, and she wasn't going to push anyone. Let them come to her in their own time. Bridget sat up as the door opened and the first student arrived for class. "Good afternoon, and welcome!" she called out to them.

[Katherine Knightswood]

“Good afternoon, Professor O’Neill!” Katherine smiled. It had seemed like ages since she’d wanted to smile given the events of the past week or so. There was so much sadness among the Lightfighters and so much grief. Katherine thanked Merlin and Morgan that she’d made O’Neill her Guardian. Apparently the Professor knew how to block off her Gift when it got out of hand and they were applying the same lessons to Katherine’s new ability to sense emotions. Empathy, the Professor had called it.

Katherine reminded herself to schedule herself for another lesson in those techniques. It had been a bad week at Hogwarts, and she needed reinforcing on those lessons. As she settled into her seat, Katherine read the blackboard. Please prepare to discuss various methods of Divination and ways to record the outcomes of using them. She copied the phrase dutifully into her notes, and then put her books and her divination tools out on her desk.

Katherine had been working with her rune tiles, and had just done a drawing the evening before. She’d gotten Isa, Uruz and Jera: Freezing Ice, the Wild Ox, and the Plentiful Harvest. The young student had drawn the tiles in her notes, and then written down their meanings. After much thought, she’d decided that this was a reading about her current emotions and her new Gift. It had been frozen in the past as she had, had come to stubborn and wild manifestation, and she hoped to harvest its power in the future. She wanted to discuss the reading in private later with her Head of House.

Katherine looked over class outline detailed on the other side of the board and her eyes widened. So, they were going to get into types of Seers today! That should prove interesting. And the Professor was going to share experiences from her past? My, that took guts. Katherine had heard a few stories, some from the Professor herself, and they weren’t all that pleasant. Katherine nodded to herself. Must be important if the Professor thought sharing those tales was necessary. Katherine looked up from her musings as the next student came in.

[Caitlin Collins]

Divination was one class that Caity was a bit unsure about going to today. With all her visions and dreams she had been having of late, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to learn any more about it. If it really was an actual seer gift, or if she was just going crazy. She remembered what seemed like years ago, when she had come across Bryan with that drawing of her and Mallan, and realised he must have had a seer gift. It still made her uncomfortable, knowing that at any moment someone could have a vision of what she was doing. That old saying again; ignorance is bliss.

But having missed Divination previously due to Caira taking the class and her general state of mind at the time (and still now, technically, she just had better control over it), it might not be a good idea to provide any more reason for her prefect status to be taken away. She was aware how useful that power could be for patrolling at night, and frankly, it might be the only usefulness she could give to the lightfighters right now. Dee might think she could still be useful afterwards as a mediator, but afterwards wasn’t much good right now.

Making her way into the classroom, a sigh escaped her lips at the thought of Alessandro. She couldn’t avoid it, coming into this classroom. He’d been one of the first people she’d met at Hogwarts, and now... he was gone. Or not, if her suspicions proved right. But she held very little hope that they were, and tried to suppress even that small hope. Because she knew when she was proved wrong it was going to break her all over again.

Katherine was already in the classroom when she entered, but no one else yet. She settled into one of the chairs and pulled out her notebook and pen, not greeting either of the other occupants in the room as she wrote down the title on the top of the sheet of paper.

[Bryan Kelley]

Coming into the Divinations classroom, Bryan noted that there were already two students present, plus the Professor, of course. Bryan knew the two students barely. They were all apart of the light fighters but Bryan had never really interacted with either, well Caitlin to an extent, but not the younger girl. But Bryan pushed these thoughts aside. To some extent, Bryan was a bit of loner; he was friendly and talkative to those who chose to converse with him, but he never really ever went out of his way to seek companionship. As it was, as he walked into the classroom, he directed a smile to those present, not lingering over anyone, but he took the same seat he had sat in before.

Bryan was aware of the missing Ravenclaw, aware of the emptiness that was the seat the other boy normally took. He had been present before class had begun the last lesson they had. Bryan could not say if he had not known about the death before hand if he would even had noticed the open space. It was disturbing in a way and for a moment Bryan frowned. Again, he brushed the thought away and pulled out the material he would need for the day. He then settled on his sketch book and just began to sketch the Professor's desk and the stack of books on top of it.

His pencil only halted when Professor O'Neill had chosen to start the lesson. He quietly closed the sketchbook and popped the pencil inside the silver spirals.