Standing at the head of the class room, looking rather fiendish, Bonnie quickly straightens her desk. The classroom is spotless, as it had been at the start of the year. It looks almost as if there were never any people in the room to begin with. Many a diagram decorates the chalkboard, of various crystal balls, and each desk holds two crystal balls, one for each student. The rainy weather casts a dim atmosphere over the generally cheerful classroom, and various candles are lit to provide additional light.

Amy Windlebee climbes into the classroom quietly as usual and takes a seat at the first desk available. The crystal ball is reflected in Amy‘s thick lenses as she stares into it. “Oooh thease are pretty.” She muses to her friend who comes to sit next to her. “I whonder if we can get some of thease for the girl’s dorms”

Elianna Marleean clambers up into the classroom, perhaps making more noise than necessary, but, at any rate, she makes her way to a desk. Sitting down, somewhere nearer the back of the room, Elianna casts a subtle glance around the room.

Quintus Helit edges into the room, peering about uncertainly, glaring at each student he passes in turn as if he suspects they have committed some heinous crime against him but have yet to be found out, before finally turning to Bonnie. A hooded cloak is around his shoulders and he pulls the hood over his head, concealing his identity as he speaks. “I don’t have a class at the moment,” he offers, gaze directed about four inches to the left of her head. “Do you mind if I sit in on your lesson? Get an idea of your ‘technique’?” The last word is said derisively, and his gaze falls to the ground, not daring to actually look his coworker in the eye.

Lara MacLennan drifts into the classroom, looking happy and carefree. The Huffle, a tall, willowy sort of girl with dark blond hair and bright brown eyes, took a seat near the front, putting down her bag carefully. She looks with interest in the crystal balls, staring into one, trying to decipher the shadowy figures drifting within.

“Why is this tower so darned far up?” Maggie Opheal hisses, somewhat out of breath after making her way finally in to the Divination tower. A terribly, terribly Irish young lady, with dirty red-brown hair, green eyes, pale skin and freckles as far as they eye can see, Maggie the sort of girl who could stand to probally put down a few pounds, or grow a few inches. One or the other. Never the less, it’s fairly evident that she’s not in peak shape. Huffing a fairly deep breath, she sheds her annoyance with a small sigh, resumes her usually happy expression, and moves over to the nearest seat. “Oooh, they are, aren’t they?” She replies to Amy, having heard her comment. “Quite pretty, indeed.”

“Take your seats everyone. Immediately.” There are no games to be played in Bonnie‘s classroom today. She picks up a stack of parchment, glancing at all the students as they file in noisily and then to Quintus. “Feel free, Quintus. Melvina took that seat in the corner there.” She waves to said seat and glances around as everyone gets settled. “Hush. Quiet. I don’t want to hear so much as a peep while I’m talking today.” My, who put acid in Bonnie‘s pumpkin juice? “Do not touch the Crystal Balls until I say so. Now.” Bonnie glances around the room, waiting for everyone to comply, then continues. “These essays that you all handed into me are abysmal. I’ve never seen a worse written essay in my life.” A slight fib, but effective, nevertheless. She begins walking around the classroom, slamming down the essays rather harshly on the desks of each student. “You will be rewriting these essays, and I am tacking on four inches to this one. This is in addition to the homework that will follow today’s lesson.” Her face is stern, and there is not a single sign of her softening very soon.

Elianna Marleean sits quietly, as commanded, by the professor, making not even a little face as to the newest addition to their homework. Instead she simply accepts her homework when it’s handed back to her, no arguement given.

Amy Windlebee looks utterly horrorfied by her essay and she thinks for a momment on raising her hand and seeing if there must be some kind of mistake. Just as she is about to though her friend elbows her in a warning and she decides to let sleeping Hypogriffs lay with a sigh.

Ansley McGowan is absolutely shocked by the marks on her essay, but says nothing as she quietly writes down her assignment for next class. Readying her quill, she waits patiently for what is sure to be a long class.

Quintus Helit stalks to the indicated seat, though he evidently does not feel comfortable sitting for he merely stands behind it, leaning on the back with an ugly expression, turning his hooded head and shadowed eyes onto each student in turn. Female. Female. Female. And that says everything about his opinions on the subject of Divination. He remains mostly silent for the time being, though he does offer a disdainful snort at the horror some of the students are undergoing as they spy their work. Well. Serves them right for writing such awful essays, see?

Lara MacLennan takes a casual look at her essay. It’s bad. But not as bad as the professor’s tone and desk slamming would indicate. She shrugs her shoulders, then quietly takes out her parchement, quill, and inkpot. Nothing to do but to keep quiet, pay attention, and try not to screw up. So much for Divination being easy.

Maggie Opheal blinks, dropping in to her seat with wide eyes. Professor Kensington’s mood obviously catching her off guard as her essay is handed back — cringing almost immediately as she notes her score. She almost immately turns her gaze up to Bonnie with a horrified expression. “In addition?” The words fall out her lips in a heartbeat rush, but she immediately regrets it, reaching up to clap a hand over her mouth in an appologetic way.

“Quiet!” Bonnie snaps, pointing to Maggie blatantly as she stalks back to her desk. “I am very disappointed in you all right now. Your essays are meant to reflect not only your reasarch ability but also what you learn in class. Not one of you displayed either ability. So, you are expected to review last class’s chapters and rewrite your essays. Now, if everyone would take notice of the board. Copy it down.” With this, Bonnie takes her seat at her desk, pulling out her copies of the assigned fourth-year books, and opening all to certain chapters. She busies herself doing this while — she expects — the class copies down what she has previously put onto the board.

Amy Windlebee stares at the teacher for a momment and begins copying down the board wrigting down on the margin of her parchment. “Note to self …. never cross the Divination Professor.”

Lara MacLennan starts taking note dutifully. She writes in a neat, loopy kinda of script, filling up way more of the page than she has to, and instead of dashes as bullets points she draws happy little stars and moons. Girls.

Elianna Marleean nods slightly as she dutifully takes down what the professor had previously written on the board. The young Gryffindor takes care to ensure that her every word is precise, obsessive much?

Not wanting to upset the already irritable professor, Ansley commences her near perfect copying of the notes on the board. She takes her time however, and is going almost at a snail’s pace, trying extra hard to keep her handwriting neat and legible.

Still standing at the back of the room leaning on a chair in his hooded cloak like a big forboding shadow, for the first time Quintus seems to approve of one of his female co-workers nodding his head slowly as he watches her – or rather, watches the air right next to her. His dislike of being caught staring seems to not apply for whatever reason to the students, and his eyes flicker to each of them in turn with a certain degree of contempt. Exactly what it is that has him in such a bad mood is uncertain – then again, perhaps he simply doesn’t like sitting in on a Divination class.

Maggie Opheal cringes, violently, as Professor Kensington’s finger lands upon her. Slinking back in to her chair with an almost childish whimper, her pale, freckled cheeks turn a rather brilliant shade of pink. With a small, involuntary squeak, she begins digging through her pack and pulls out her parchment and a quill, jotting down things a bit more quickly then she should in order to keep her writing legiable.

Standing again, Bonnie looks around the room, to see if everyone has finished. Whether they have or not, the professor stands and looks over one of the books. “Alright. Please take a look at the crystal ball in front of you, but do not touch it.” This is said in a stern, no-nonsense voice. “Admire its attributes. See how the crystal shines — don’t touch it!” She looks sternly at a Ravenclaw boy and then back to the rest of the class. “The base is solid, and it does not rock back and forth. If you can see cloudiness in the globe, you have a bad ball and need to replace it. Tell me, who can tell me what other important attributes a crystal ball must have?” Bonnie‘s anger seems to have mostly subsided, at leas vocally.

Amy Windlebee peers again into her crystal ball looking for any cloudyness but all she can see is white smokeyness. Amy raises her hand slowley hopeing to answer the question.

Elianna Marleean peers into the ball, though refrains from touching it, as instructed. After a bit of looking she raises her hand.

Maggie Opheal draws a deep breath, obviously somewhat frightened of Bonnie Kensington. Turning her gaze forward, looking in to the ball carefully. Her eyes somewhat wide, her lips parted. She stares, but she doesn’t raise her hand, considering obviously doesn’t understand what she’s looking for. Glancing briefrly, she looks to Amy and then Elianna, as if to try to figure out what exactly they’re noticing, but coming up just as empty.

Quintus Helit seems not to take kindly to the students raising their hands – but, by the same token, he remains silent, presumably realising it is not his class to dictate such things to. However, his opinion on handraising remains fairly evident, for he glances to each student in turn with a derisive little sound in the back of his throat, before lowering his gaze down to the seat of the chair he stands over.

Ansley McGowan is still copying down the notes at her consistently slow pace. She hears the question, but is too absorbed in her note taking to think of an answer. When she finally finishes copying, Ansley looks straight into the crystal ball and strains her eyes to see if there’s something in there. Satisfied that there is nothing important going on in her crystal ball, she waits patiently for an answer to the question.

“Amy first, then Elianna, and then I think we’ll hear from Ansley. Mmmm.” Bonnie continues with her trend of calling on those who do not entirely seem to be paying attention. She leans against her desk gently, holding one book to her front as she awaits the answers from those she has designated.

Amy Windlebee smiles and sits up straight. “Its very important for a Crystal ball to be perfectly round and smooth. Any little scratch or imperfection can seriously scramble any information that the ball reveals. Also … and I don’t know how tru it is but my Grandmother says that you should never let a Crystal ball be touched by sunlight and that you should set it out in the moonlight after every few uses.” Amy sinks a little lower in her chair. “But I don’t know how… true that is.”

Elianna Marleean nods a little. “Miss Windlebee said part of my answer,” she notes. “But, also, I believe a crystal ball is supposed to be clear, not have any cloudiness in it’s natural state,” is offered to the professor by the quiet girl, though she speaks loud enough to, hopefully, be heard.

Obviously unprepared for the question, Ansley quickly tries to come up with an answer. “Well, yes, I agree with Amy and Elianna, but, perhaps this is a bit obvious, doesn’t the globe need to be made out of crystal, not just any clear stone?” She secretly hopes this answer will suffice, but trys to scan her notes for any signs of another appropriate answer.

Maggie Opheal seems terribly glad that she didn’t get simpled out, though as the others give their answers, she gazes in to her orb as if to try and identify those things mentioned.

“Very well, all that is true, save for what your grandmother told you, Miss Windlebee. Crystal Ball readings may be done in sunlight, and indeed, one must have sufficient light to do a correct reading. Dimness makes the ball difficult to see through.” Bonnie nods and sets the book down. “To get better acquainted with how the balls were originally made — before the technique was refined — read chapter four of The Secret is in the Crystal, and write an essay for me about the properties and how they evolved. It must be at least twelve inches. I would not complain about more.” The woman pauses and glances around. “You may now touch the crystal balls and examine them. Please take the cloths I have provided to wipe them clean of your fingerprints afterwards. A spotty ball does nobody any good.”

Amy Windlebee sighs and whispers. “Well gramma’s a muggle… makes sense.” As she pick up the ball and looks over it still stunned by its beauty. “I whonder if we get to use them today…”

Elianna Marleean examines the ball a little more, before gently touching her fingertips to the surface of it. She doesn’t make any sudden movement with this particular item, for fear she may break it.

“Alright, take your time and examine the globes as long as you need. Please take care with them, though. Those are painstakingly made and do not come cheap.” The woman strides around her desk and sits at it, closing the books and putting them back into her drawer quietly. “Remember, revision of the essay, as well as the essay I assigned today. They are both due tomorrow, and I expect them to be up to quality this time. And before anyone says anything, yes, I am aware that you have other classes and that this weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend, so I expect you will arrange your time appropriately.” Bonnie nods curtly, scribbling some things onto a length of parchment in front of her, while discreetly watching the students handle her crystal balls.

Amy Windlebee takes the cloth and carefully wipes the crystal ball clean of finger prints and dust before setting it back down. She takes down her assignments with a half sigh whondering why teachers assign homework so close to fun events.

Elianna Marleean does similar to Amy, carefully cleaning the crystal ball, doing her best to ensure every imperfection that she put there is gone. That done she takes a note on the same page that she previously was writing, ensuring she knows what homework is to be done.

Other Interesting Logs:

• A Curious Proposition
• A Foray into Palmistry
• Office Hours in the Divination Tower
• The Art of Seeing
• The Divinator and the Arithmancer Should Be Friends