The divination classroom appears to be rather neat and tidy, as classrooms often are at the start of a school year. The room seems to have been aired out from the smoky atmosphere that it previously embodied. Above the entryway into the main classroom a sign is posted that states, “PLEASE HANG UP YOUR BAGS AND WEATHER GEAR. SUPPLIES ONLY IN THE CLASSROOM.” Bonnie is seated at the desk in the classroom, a stack of parchment to her left and a quill in said hand. She stands to stride over to the board on the side of the classroom and posts two lists, one of books, the other of rules. There is space remaining, and one might wonder what the space is exactly for. The woman appears to be quite calm and ready to begin her first year as a Hogwarts Professor.

Entering the Divitnation classroom with a bit of a flourish and a bit of redness to his cheeks Vincent seems to be in a rush to get his bag hung and his supplies ready. “Blimey I thought for sure I’d be late. Who went and changed the castle around like that?” He asks another Slytherin close by. Vincent quickly takes a seat and smiles to Professor Kensington.

The approach of Kelly Pantall is, as usual, determinable from a distance of several metres at least, with the sound of her excessively loud voice and the clunking of her heavy boots echoing through the castle and giving warning of her boisterous approach far before she comes into sight. This is quite a change from her melancholy these last few days, certainly, but the content of her chattering does not give it away at all. “– reading a muggle ‘paper over the summer, right, and it had this really great article about the history of Jack the Ripper and all the theories so now I have it all in one nice succinct report, and it has this picture of a guy skulking in the darkness, but it’s a bit dodgy in my opinion because you can hardly tell he’s skulking because he’s not even moving –”

Rudy Foster manages to crawl through the hole in the floor and slouches the rest of the way in, dutifully hanging his things before taking a seat near Bonnie. The boy is clutching his copies of the Guide to Everything in Divination and Unfogging the Future like they were life preservers. Probably just nervous. “Professor Calwern, I think,” he offers quietly to Vincent as he finally sets down his things.

Puffing with exertion as she reaches the top of the ladder, Katherine Nichols steps into the Divination room, looking around with wide, wondering eyes at her new surroundings. A crisp new bookbag – already overflowing with crumpled parchments and Chocolate Frogs both wrapped and unwrapped – is slung over the plump little Hufflepuff girl’s shoulder. She calls out a cheerful greeting to a few of her housemates as she enters…but shoots a wary glance towards Kelly, and pointedly takes a seat on the opposite side of the room from the Gryffindor girl.

Felicity Wexler steps slowly, quietly in to the classroom at the top of the divination tower; a slightly abashed, fearful look dancing across her tired, puffy features. Her cheeks and eyes were still red from after her last cry after being told off by another group of upperclassmen from her house about the points she had helped lose. After a small cry in the privy, she’d collected herself and hauled on to class; after all, she’d been looking forward to this all summer! Who wouldn’t be? Fortune telling, knowing the future.. It would be brilliant, just like those love readings she’d seen done in the common room last year by the same girls who had just told her off.. It would be brilliant. But she wished she’d had more time to clean up.. Hanging up her bad and cloak, as instructed, she looks for a seat, taking the nearest one to her.

Sit all the way across the room from Kelly? Why ever would one do that? Clementine enters not long after her fellow Hufflepuff in the last phase of braiding her own second pigtail sloppily. She slips in to sit by Kelly once she’s shed her cloak outside of the classroom, crossing her legs and tossing a furtive little glare towards Brandie while finishing with her messy hair.

Melvina Prichard strides in to the room a few moments after the last student has entered and hung his things, moving to unobtrusively a seat at the back of the classroom as though it were an entirely usual, normal, everyday occurance that the Headmistress would show up for third year divination. Smoothing out her emerald green robes and politely removing her wide-brimmed, pointed hat, the Melvina leans back in her chair and crosses one knee over the other in a comfortable sort of way, hands clasped together in her lap. She doesn’t say a word to anyone unless spoken to, though she does offer a few smiles and nods as she shifts her gaze toward one of the windows, humming an amused noise to herself as she watches the a light, but steady rain fall just beyond the glass.

“Alright, alright, settle in everyone,” Bonnie says, returning to the center of the room. If the woman is nervous at all, it doesn’t show. “Welcome to Divination! My name is Professor Bonnie Kensington. As you all know, this is my first year at Hogwarts as a teacher. I hail from Ravenclaw in class –” she stops herself. “Well now, that isn’t important, now is it?” She chuckles for a moment and sets her quill down, and picks her wand up, swish-and-flick, forcing a piece of chalk to write her name onto the Blackboard. “This term, you will be introduced to Divination,” the chalk follows, itemizing things as she speaks, “And all of its facets. We’ll have brief overviews of all the subjects, and then after the winter Holidays we will begin our in-depth study of the reading of tea leaves. Now, this is all posted on the board behind you, so if you are unsure, I encourage you to check on that board for confirmation. You are also welcome to come ot me with questions at any time. Now, if I could have you all introduce yourselves aloud, starting from my right,” she finishes, gesturing to the student at the table to her direct right, smiling around at all the students.

Vincent Molbie stands up and clears his throat. A gentle almost timid voice comes from the Slytherin. “My name is Vincent Molbie, Professor. And its a pleasure to meet you. Im sure this will be my favoright new class.” At this a few of the other students snicker as it sounds like hes sucking up a bit. “Errm thank you…” He says unsure of himself and retakes his seat.

Rudy Foster blinks once at Vincent, then slowly follows suit, standing and staring at his classmates. “Um. Rudy Foster.” Easy enough. He quickly sits and starts fidgeting with a quill.

Standing seems to be the thing to do, so Katherine bounces up to her feet, scattering a Chocolate Frog wrapper on the ground as she does – the frog itself is nowhere to be seen, but a few telltale smudges of chocolate cling to the edges of the girl’s mouth. “I’m Katherine Nichols,” she says, offering a bright, hopeful smile, and slips quickly back into her chair again.

Felicity Wexler blinks as it comes to her, and with a slightly sudden expression–trying to wipe the red from her cheeks with an all-to-obvious inconspicuous brush of her shirt sleeve, she rises and tries to find her most confident voice but failing. Think of something to say! THINK! “I-I’m Felicity Wexler, and.. and..” She swallows, stammers, and blurts out the first thing that hits her lips. “..and I want to learn how to do love readings!” She gives a little, embaressed squeak, opens her eyes wide, and sits down quickly, for once in her life glad that her wildy, golden locks are so curly and bushy, as it gives her something to hide her blush behind behind.

Clementine stands up quickly, calling out in a squeak of a voice, “Clementine Duncan…but everybody jus’ calls me Clem.” She lets out an obnoxious nervous little giggle. In a moment, her tiny peep of a voice is gone and she’s back in her seat, slouching over slightly and throwing an alarmed glance towards Kelly as if to comment on how incredibly stressful and difficult this class is already. Standing… and talking… Ugh.

Kelly Pantall looks up at Clementine as she sits down, smiling to her broadly. “Hello, Clementine!” A pause, and she looks up at Bonnie, leaping to her feet with a broad smile. “I’m Kelly Pantall,” she begins slowly and thoughtfully. “I want to do this class so I can find out all about, um, like, who murderers are and stuff! Like, if I can see the crime occurring and can see who they are, so they can be caught!” Crime fighter! She then sits back down and offers, in much lower tones, akin to a hoarse whisper, to Clementine, “Hey, guess what!” Then, before she can guess, the Gryffindor explains. “I have a date to the barefoot social.”

Melvina Prichard glances around the room with a bit of amusement as it comes to her, but without missing a bit she uncrosses her legs, smoothes her robe, and stands for all the class to see. Grinning softly to one in particular. “My name is Bertha Melvina Prichard, and I think also will be my new favorite class and would like to learn how to do love readings. I enjoy spiced tea.” Her gaze shifts toward Kelly, and she arches a brow toward the girl with a slightly amused look. “Congratulations on your date, dear.” That said, she slips back in to her seat and resumes the same pose she had a moment before. She does pass Professor Kensington an amused expression, though. Clearly, she’s having fun.

“Alright, fantastic,” the teacher exclaims and turns for a moment to wipe the board clean of everything except where the chalk has written each student’s name in a line, though spellings may be botched here and there in the list. “If you would all open your books to the first chapter of The Unabridged Guide, I would be much obliged. And please retrieve that bit of litter, Miss Nichols. And girls, I know the social is exciting, but please save the chatter for after class. Thank you.” The thanks are expressed in such an upbeat tone of voice that one might expect that Bonnie hadn’t just given a direct order to a student. The woman gives a single smile to the Headmistress, but pays no particular attention to the woman. After all, it is the students she is to be teaching.”Now, let us start by talking about Divination. Everyone has got their preconceived ideas of what Divination is and what it strives to achieve. Can someone give me some examples?” Her eyes scan the room for raised hands.

Kelly Pantall turns faintly pink at this sudden attention from the Headmistress, though she doesn’t sink down in her chair or anything of the sort – no, no, she must face these things headon. “Er.. thank you, Headmistress.” She does, however, stop whispering and sit up all the straighter, eyes focused completely on Professor Kensington.

Vincent Molbie hurrys and opens his book the the aformentioned chapter only glanceing at the Headmistress through the corner of his eye. Whispering to a friends next to him Vincent asks “Is she taking a class? How odd is that?” Perking up and raising his hand high in the air Vincent is sure he can give a fair example.

“Yes, ma’am,” Katherine gulps. A quick blush pinkens her plump cheeks, and she hastily bends down to retrieve the candy wrapper, and tucks it away in her pocket. Then down she goes again, tugging ‘The Unabridged Guide’ out of her satchel, and she flips hurriedly through it, bending down the corners of a few pages in her rush. But her hopeful smile remains, and she puts her hand in the air, brightening with the pleasure of knowing an answer to _this_ question, at least.

Barely a moment passes before her exhuberance returns and Kelly waves her left hand in the air, surrounded by a sudden silent aura of ‘ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!’. Her right hand, however, scrawls a message on a piece of paper, and pushes it over towards Clementine – ‘you’ll never guess who’, followed by a little happy smiley face with big eyebrows. The book is opened in front of her, too. What a good student.

“How about Miss Nichols first, and then we’ll hear from Mister Molbie,” Bonnie states, directing her hands to each of them in turn. “And we can hear from Miss Pantall following them. Be sure to let the others finish first.” A glint is in Professor Kensington’s eye, as if she is playfully winking at the students who raise their hands, directing them in what order to answer.

Somehow ‘please save the chatter for after class’ translated into ‘chatter more quietly’ in Clem’s mind. She smiles to the Headmistress – deciding, for the moment, that the woman is nice. She whispers softly, leaning in close to Kelly, “I know I was with Rafe when he got your note!” Clementine holds down excited giggles, biting down on her bottom lip hard. She follows directions swiftly while she whispers, finding the time to jot down on the paper ‘He was so excited!’. She looks up, worried, when Kelly’s name is mentioned. Oh crap, what are they doing?

Rudy Foster does open the book as bidden, but raising his hand? Not happening. He’ll just… wait to see what happens next.

Felicity Wexler just sits quietly, her hands folded in her lap, red up to the ears.

Eagerly, Katherine wriggles a little farther forward in her seat – almost as far as the edge of her desk, except that the corner of her book pokes her first, bringing her to an abrupt and uncomfortable stop. “Er. Yes, ma’am,” she replies, bringing her hand down again. She glances around the room – but there are no cues to take; she must make the decision herself, and after another moment’s hesitation, Katherine wriggles out of her seat and stands up to answer the question. “It’s, well, it’s telling the future,” she begins, with the same hopeful smile. “With stars, and tea, and cards and things. And…if you know when someone is born, you can figure out where the stars were, and you can tell about their future.” Katherine is starting to falter – there is much more hope than confidence in her smile now – but she still pushes ahead valiantly. “And…if you look at the bottom of a teacup, you can see what’s going to happen. Although not if you use a teabag. But Mum says that doesn’t taste as good anyway. Er.” She hovers for a moment in the aisle, and then plunks back down into her seat, looking uncertainly up at the professor.

Vincent Molbie smiles a little hearing the Hufflepuff’s explanation and waits poligihtly untill she is finished before speaking in his own very quiet voice. “Divination is the ability to predict the past, present and future be deciphering the different patterns all around us. Be it tea dregs in the bottom of a glass or even dice or dominos or even in some places a coin flip. Some tools are more effective than others and some seers do not have to use tools at all and have an ability to sense the future.” Vincent blushes just a bit and looks around before sitting down and saying nothing more.

Melvina Prichard agreed, the students were the most important part, and she was very content to simply sit quietly and watch for the rest of the lesson. To know someone, is to see how someone fulfills their passion; that is the measure to knowing peeking in to another heart and another soul. If it’s true that one’s passion were teaching, her little sit in would tell Melvina more about Professor Kensington than a hundred staff room conversations filled with idle small talk.. And it was an equally valuable chance to learn about her students, as well. To see what motivated them, to understand them. Bonnie’s polite acknowledgment, but heedless regard about Melvina presence spoke very highly over the divination professor, the headmistress thought. Melvina‘s usually sly, amused grin warmed in to something of a small smile of businesslike respect, ready to see and learn about the denizens of her school.

For a moment, Kelly looks slightly annoyed – how can people go around spoiling her fun by being present when it happened? Some people are just so inconsiderate. The note seems to puzzle her, however, to say the least and her eyes widen considerably as she scrawls in big letters, underlined several times, ‘EXCITED???’. Now, that doesn’t tally with her knowledge of the situation – which is limited to say the least, but still. She lowers her hand as she is called on, however, and offers, “And crystal-gazing, Professor, you can see what’s happening. That’s how you can use Divination for crime-fighting, Professor, because if you’re good you can see things happening as they happen, or before they happen, or after they happen…” She trails off a bit at the end, apparently realising she makes no sense, and diverts her attention back to Clementine, adding to the note on the paper, ‘how did you know what the note was about?’. The word ‘you’ is underlined.

Clementine Duncan smiles a little, though she does seem to develop a little more tact as far as their ‘chatter’ goes. She at least tries to pay more attention… She scribbles on the paper, ‘Well… surprised. It was in the middle of the commons – everybody was there! He said I put you up to it or something but it seems like he wanted to go I suppose.’ She also adds, ‘I don’t have a date.’ And ‘I don’t like your sister very much.’ Ehem.

Nodding slowly, Bonnie listens to the ideas that the students present. “Myself, I wouldn’t include dominoes and coin-flipping as intricate parts of Divination. They are much less consistent than the other methods you all have mentioned. I do think you’ve all got it about right, though. Divination is an art, and while all of you might have a passion for the art, I cannot guarantee that you will all have the gift. I will do everything in my power to help you find this gift within you, though. Let’s see, what else do we know about Divination?” The teacher pauses and glances around the room, seeing many very attentive students and one who, perhaps, is not paying full attention. “How about we hear from Miss Duncan next?”

After a moment of peering at this written correspondence, Kelly reaches over and offers a quick written response. ‘Everybody? Oh dear. He should know you didn’t put me up to it. But I guess he must have wanted to go, because he ended up saying yes.’ As Clementine is called on, however, she drops the quill in an effort to resume looking completely, one hundred per cent attentive. Good student. Yay.

Melvina Prichard shifts her gaze toward Clemintine with a slightly raised brows, her look of appreciation for the woman heading the class grows. It was a small thing, note-passing in class. But the world was made up of small things, and the how we handled the small things dictated how we would handle the large ones. Clasping her hands in her lap, and tapping her tangling toe against the air the headmistress watches.

“Ah, finding knut, pick it up, if it’s face up, all the day you’ll have good luck?” Felicity asks, her voice regraining some of it’s vigor, though still fairly soft. Honestly, she wasn’t sure she’d been heard at all. She turns her gaze toward Clementine as the hufflepuff’s singled out, widenning her eyes a little. After the headmistress greeting, she felt a little better; it was easier to laugh at yourself with someone else, though she still didn’t feel entirely comfortable with the woman so close by. Not after what happened in the common room with Kelly, Briony, Rawnie, and she. It was pretty clear what was going on, though. Passing notes with one teacher in a room was somewhat silly, with two.. it seemed kind of, well, dumb.

Vincent Molbie begins absently reading the chapter to himself as his young mind has a tendancey to whander. Though when Felicity speaks up about finding a knut and picking it up for luck he cannot help but have a bit of a laugh and the sillyness of it.

As her housemate is singled out, Katherine‘s smile fades away entirely, leaving only a worried frown. Clem might be sitting next to Kelly, but she _is_ still a Hufflepuff, and Katherine looks across the room towards her housemate with a mixture of concern and encouragement.

Clementine gulps as she’s called on, immediately feeling as though all time has slowed down. It’s no secret how absolutely horrified Professor Kensington has made her. BUSTED. “Um…” She tilts her head, twirling a braid between her fingers, pushing the note under Kelly’s book and breathing out a nervous giggle, “I-I don’t know much about Divination, but I read somewhere about people who can really see… wi’out anythin’. I-I ferget wha’ they’re called but they…” She moves a shaky hand in the direction of her now pale-white face, “Not many people can do it but there are a few in hist’ry that could… but they can… predict… the future… and stuff… without any help.” Her voice moves faster and faster as she goes off into a random rant of absolutely anything she remembers, growing higher and higher in pitch. When she finally does give up, she just cowers in her seat, covering her mouth and averting her eyes. Ugh. Kelly is a bad influence on her. If the Hufflepuff could simply stop her heart from beating… Now… Yes… Now would be a terrific time to figure that out. Not that she’s not dieing anyway.

“Thank you for your contribution, Miss Duncan,” Bonnie responds with a smile. “Good save.” Bonnie raises her eyebrows at the girl and turns to face the blackboard for a moment. “Now, you’re all aware of the most common types of Divination.” She flicks her wand and the chalk poises itself at the chalkboard once again. “We have crystal balls, tea leaves, astrology, and cards, which are easily the most popular of methods.” She pauses. “Well, take this down; you’ll need it later. You’ll find that taking notes is important in this class.” A pointed look goes to Kelly and Clementine. “Notes relating to the subject matter, that is.” She nods a moment and then continues. “Does anyone know the methods that are just as effective, but less popular?”

In response to the professor’s instructions, Katherine springs into action – she grabs her quill and hurriedly starts scribbling in her notebook. Eccentric diagrams accompany her enthusiastic notes – an oval crystal ball, a lopsided teacup, and a sketch of a tarot card spread that starts too far over on the page to fit all the way, so it starts to curve around. But Katherine‘s hand stays down this time – she has reached the end of her knowledge, it seems.

Vincent Molbie begins copying down what Professor Kensington is giving them. His scrawl is quick and quite tidey using up very little of his parchment and ink.

Kelly Pantall takes out a fresh piece of paper, one that is free of notes about the social, and writes some very detailed notes on the matter. *Balls, *Tea, *Stars, *Cards. See, brilliantly detailed notes. Then, her hand flies up in the air again, to answer this next question, though her expression indicates that it is entirely possible that she has absolutely no idea.

Clementine Duncan huffs out a long sigh of relief, smiling a little to herself and pulling out a new bit of paper. She jots down messy little notes about Divination, spelling it miraculously wrong even though the word seems to be just about everywhere she looks. She peaks over at Kelly’s notes, which are better then hers, and steals a few tidbits from them to put in her own.

Bonnie‘s eyebrows raise slightly as Kelly raises her hand, but the woman keeps all other traces of surprise from her face as she glances around the classroom. Nobody else? “Alright, what else is there, Miss Pantall?” Bonnie glances back as the chalk has continued writing, and is in fact not writing susinct notes, but every spoken word. She flicks her wand in its direction and the chalk falls to the floor. Waiting for Kelly’s answer, the woman stoops and picks up the chalk, examining it, then setting it back to the chalkboard, set to copy down the additional forms of Divination.

“Er… it’s a funny word I can’t pronounce. Um. Fren-oh-log-ee?” Kelly hesitates a moment, waving her hands vaguely. “Like, feeling the bumps on someone’s head so you know stuff about them. Like if they have a bumpy head here, they’re creative or something.” This really is more of a personality detector than divination, but you never know. “Oh! And, like, palm reading!” She looks quite proud of herself for knowing and being able to put words around this.

Katherine‘s quill has strayed to the margins, doodling little animals on the backs of her squashed tarot cards. And then something sparks in her mind – and her hand goes up. Her hand doesn’t waver, but the little Hufflepuff girl’s confidence is not complete – her irrepressible smile is, well, repressed, and she chews on her lower lip as she turns some heavy and difficult thought over in her mind.

Clementine Duncan raises her hand as well – obviously hesitant about offering another answer but rather set on at least making it up a little to the Professor. She didn’t even take points off or anything…

“Unfortunately, no Phrenology is not a form of Divination. While Muggles still seem to take it as a legitimate form of fortune telling, they are often entirely mistaken. Muggles are rarely gifted in this way, and even when they are do not know how to harness it properly.” The woman smiles. “However, palmistry is another form of Divination that is also rather popular in certain areas. Anyone else?” The woman glances around the classroom, as if to see if anyone has further input. “Miss Nichols, what have you to say on the subject? Miss Duncan, you can follow her answer.” The chalk at the board seems poised and ready to continue its list. “And before you keep looking, Mister Smits, you won’t find it in the first chapters of the guide.” Bonnie smiles at the boy and returns her attention to Katherine.

Vincent Molbie hurrys to copy down the facts as they come. Who would have guessed that the lumps on your head hold absoloutly no meaning at all? Vincent grins drawing a picture beside his notes of a Muggle franticley rubbing his head while looking at what seems to be a stock portfolio.

“Well…” Katherine begins, wriggling uncomfortably in her chair, “didn’t people – a long time ago, I mean? Didn’t they, well, kill animals?” She swallows hard, as her unhappy frown deepens. “And look at their insides and things? And tell the future from that? But I don’t think they do anymore – and I can’t see how killing animals would _help_ anything, even telling the future!” On the verge of saying more, Katherine suddenly catches herself, and closes her mouth abruptly, covering it with one chubby hand as if to hold back any more outbursts of words.

“Maybe that’s what Jack the Ripper was trying to do?” Kelly offers by way of explanation, though it is a quiet comment, as though it is said more to amuse herself than the rest of the room. She does, however, jot this addition down on her notes, taking not of the fact that ‘not phrenology’ and ‘palms’ and ‘organs’.

Clementine Duncan smiles, giggling and blushing, “Oh…” She sighs, motioning towards Katherine, “I was gonna say tha’ too! Entrails er somethin’ like tha’ it’s called?” She makes a disgusted face, “We’re not going to be doing that are we?” She pauses, staring at the Professor worriedly for a long moment before shaking her head, “Oh! If we were my da’ is a butcher… He could probably give us animal guts for free.” She smiles sweetly, writing some things down on her notes before hearing the professor’s reply. There are some eerily mixed messages in the girl’s reaction to cutting open animals to see the future…

“You’re both right on that one. A point each to Hufflepuff for coming up with such a method and sharing it with the class.” Bonnie turns to see that the chalk is still writing correctly, then turns back to face the class.”Other forms include the reading of bird entrails, as well as fire omens. Bird entrails reading is not a favorite with many, and we will not be spending much time on that. These methods are all ones that we will learn through the course of your years in Divination, be they three or be they five.” Bonnie swishes her wand again at the chalk and it stops writing and falls to the lip on the blackboard. “You’ll all likely enjoy fire omens far more than you wil enjoy bird entrails, but in order to have a well-rounded education of Divination, it is necessary to study.” Bonnie pauses, offering a generous smile to the occupants of the room. “Now, I’ll take questions from whoever has any. One at a time, please.”

Kelly Pantall looks rather obviously annoyed that though she has volunteered two answers to questions, she has not received any house points, so she too starts drawing little pictures. It’s a stick figure woman, with squiggly lines on top of her ‘torso’. What a beautiful artist’s impression of entrails. Then, she nudges Clementine again and writes another note. ‘You know him better than me, right?’

Under most circumstances, Katherine would be beaming, under a professor’s approval and friendly smile. But she looks no happier than she had before – if anything, she looks less comfortable and more apprehensive about the prospect of Divination class. “Do we really have to kill birds?” she blurts, before she can stop herself, and before she can raise her hand. She claps her hand over her mouth, and her round cheeks begin to redden with embarrassment.

Clementine Duncan beams, even going as far as pretending to pay attention for a few more minutes, ignoring Kelly’s note for about an entire second. She jots down a quick reply as if taking notes, ‘No! He just sits there all alone all the time!’ Not that she has room to talk, being the girl who throughout her first and second year had a tendency to run through the commons and up to her bed crying. She looks over to Katherine, frowning a little and adding to the note, ‘I don’t think Katherine is Jack the Ripper in case there were any doubts.’

Vincent Molbie makes a bit of a face at the very thought of using entrails of any sort. He whispers to a friend beside him. “Isn’t that kind of thing more for potions work? Gutting stuff I mean…” With a shiver Vincent adds the new information to his notes.

“No, dear, we won’t be. It’s a liability, and besides that, it’s rather messy and disgusting. We will be doing extensive research on the subject, however, and in order to complete that unit you will be expected to hand in several essays about the topic. That isn’t for several years, however, and you needn’t worry about it just yet, Miss Nichols.” Professor Kensington glances to Vincent as he speaks up. “I also view it as work for another subject of study, Mister Molbie. No one present need worry about having to interpret actual bird entrails while I am Professor of Divination here.” Bonnie looks around the room again. “More questions?”

Relief floods back into Katherine‘s face, and her cheerful smile beams forth again. She lets out a deep sigh, and relaxes back into her seat. “Thank you, Professor.”

‘Doubt it.’ Kelly scrawls in turn, glancing over at Katherine with a confused sort of expression. Then, after a moment, she adds, ‘Really? That’s sort of weird, isn’t it?’ She’s not in much of a position to pass judgement on whether or not people sit alone all the time, especially as she’s currently sitting next to probably the only person she knows who would come and sit next to her voluntarily.

‘I guess. I’m kindof used to it though. It’d be more weird if he came up and started talking to everyone. Do you like him?’ Clementine underlines the world like many many times before she raises her hand, waiting to be call on patiently. She’s actually fairly confident now. She’s already been humiliated. She’s sitting next to Kelly. And she got one point.

Vincent Molbie blushes just slightly as the Professor overheard his question. “Right… sorry.” He says quickly and pretends to read the chapter again not wanting to embaress himself any further than he has allready.

‘No, Clementine.’ Kelly writes in response, looking at the other girl and rolling her eyes pointedly. ‘I asked him to the social to prove exactly how little I like him.’ The word little is also underlined several times, and just to prove her point, she draws another little face on the piece of paper, but this one has narrowed eyebrows and a frown.

“Well, if there are no more questions, then I think we’ve had a good introduction for the class. As homework, I would like you all to read the first two chapters of The Guide as well as the first chapter of Unfogging the Future. Please write me fifteen inches in summary of these three chapters to be turned in next class.” Bonnie sets her wand down on the table. “If you have any questions, you are more than welcome to stay after and ask them. I will stay here for the express purpose of clearing up any confusion. Otherwise, I will see you on Thursday, and please be careful descending the ladder.” A nod and a smile is given to everyone before she adds, “Class dismissed.”

Clementine Duncan jots down her little reply, ‘Oh good. Because I’m pretty sure he just said yes to spite you I just didn’t want to hurt your feelings.’ She pouts as she’s not called on, moving back down her raised hand with a sigh and turning to Kelly. “Did you pick out what you’re wearing ye’ an’ all tha’?” She asks this idly while she collects herself, stuffing the notes taken today into her book and thinking about how frizzing her hair is going to be when it dries.

Vincent Molbie smiles and puts his parchments in his book after writing out the homework assignment. “Peice of cake.” He comments to a friend as he walks toward a hanger to retreive his bag. “Up for a game of exploding snap after we finish?” With that the Slytherin decends the ladder to hurry off to his next class before this maze of a castle gets him lost.

Kelly Pantall looks down at the paper with a slightly hurt expression, then back up at Clementine, locking away the sudden hurt and offering a bright smile in response. “Well, I dunno. I don’t actually have any dress robes, but I wrote mother to send me some. I don’t know if she will, though, I’ll probably have to just brush up my normal school robes.” She hesitates for a moment, almost as if she’s on the verge of asking something, a hint of her despondency returning, then shakes her head as if to shake water from her ears, and grabs at the personal notes, tearing them up in her hands. “I don’t want anyone else reading it.” She explains.

Clementine Duncan sighs, looking as Kelly turns away, easily catching the little turn away expression. “But I think he was lieing. I think he loves you and wants to marry you and have lots of babies. Otherwise he wouldn’t have said yes at all.” She half teases, walk-skipping away to climb down the ladder.

If nothing else, Kelly seems to feel that remark deserves a good thump in the head, and forgets all about the notes she was tearing up, shoving the tattered remains in her pocket and hightailing it after Clementine. “Clementine! DON’T say things like that! People will hear you and then everyone will know and that… that would be bad.” I mean, never mind all the people she’ll tell straight-up and the fact that half of Hufflepuff already knows.

Clementine Duncan just offers her same old infectious cackle and continues on.

With that bizarre little comment, Kelly follows Clementine down the ladder, muttering all sorts of mild threats about it.

It takes a while for Katherine to assemble all of her books and parchments and quills and candy wrappers, and toss them into her satchel – most of the other students are gone by the time she finishes. But there are still a few – _not_ Kelly, and by extension, not Clementine – with whom Katherine can dawdle and chat as they wait to descend the ladder, back to the rest of the castle.

Felicity Wexler is the last to gather up her things, having stayed quiet most of the class. She did, however take rather good notes, for personal reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with love readings. Well, maybe some, anyway. Working her way from the class, she passes a glance back to Professor Kensington and Professor Prichard, before exhaling a small sigh an climbing out with the bag and cloak she had hung up before.

Melvina Prichard waits for all the students to depart before slipping from the chair she’d taken, smoothing out her robes, and replacing the wide-brimmed hat she’d respectfully removed earlier back on to her head. After adjusting herself properly, so that she feels properly garbed again, she starts toward Bonnie with a pleased, but decidedly more businesslike expression. More serious, perhaps, that the face she enjoys putting on for students. Both honest aspects of her personality, but each for it’s specific time and place. “Very nice lesson, professor. Thank you for allowing me to sit in on it.”

“The pleasure was mine, Professor Prichard,” Bonnie assures the headmistress, stepping behind her desk to reorganize things. She opens a drawer and files papers into it, taking another stack out. “The lessons will get more interesting in the future, I’m sure. This was merely an introduction, as I’m sure many of these students think rather poorly of Divination as a subject.” The woman’s laugh rings out and she looks up, now organized for her next class. “It went rather well for the first class, I think.” Bonnie smiles up at her ‘boss’ and closes the drawer.

“Indeed,” Melvina concurs, giving a wry sort of grin as she cants her head slightly. “And if I may say, you handled the note situation with Miss Duncan beautifully. I’ve looking very much forward to working with you.” If nothing else (and that was hardly a problem, as she had plenty of positive things to say about Bonnie after one simple course), Melvina was certain that her Professor of Divination was passionate and serious about her work. Naturally, her work history pointed toward that; Bonnie clearly had many years not only mastering her trade, but studying the theory and the practical implications, but she seemed determined to approach the course from the concept of “imperfect, but useful science”. At least compared to the divination master Melvina herself had when she was in school (an old coot who told riddles and three tarot cards at people), Bonnie seemed to have a solid head on her shoulders. Yes, Melvina liked her. Melvina liked her very much. “Is there anything I can do to help you get settled in? Any supplies or requests?”

“You know, I think I’m fairly well settled. I’m so glad I thought to purchase all of these decorations, though. The past professor of Divination seems to have had rather poor taste in decor.” She pauses as she looks about the classroom. “This is much more cozy, in my opinion.” Bonnie, glancing at a pocketwatch she has stowed in her pocket looks the Headmistress in the eye. “You really ought to join us when Professor Fallon and I collaborate during the Astrology unit for Fifth years. That should prove a fascinating class.” The woman steps towards the door slightly. “Fancy some tea?” Bonnie suggests, her arm pointing towards the door, as if she’s suggesting a trip to the staff room.

Melvina Prichard laughs softly, before politely declining the tea. “I’d not made it up here before you redcorated, I’m afraid, but if it was anything like I remember from being a student, than I would say terrible taste was a small understatement. And no, thank you, dear, but I really must decline. To late in the day for me, afraid. If I have a sip now, I’ll not be able to sleep.” Her genuine, thankful smile does show that offer is appreciated it, though. “And if neighter Professor Fallon or yourself mind, I would love to attend.” Her arms clasp behind her in the way they tend to do, and she grins a little. “I really must be going, but I do have to say, thank you again for the lesson. Introduction or not, I believe that I learned more about divination today thay I ever did before I graduated. And the nostalgia was a pleasant gift, as well. Professor.”

“Alright then, I’ll see you at supper then,” the woman tells the Headmistress with a smile. “I hope your other sit-ins go as well as this one appears to have gone. This looks to be a promising year.” Bonnie sighs happily, her own nostalgia seeming to back up on her again. How many hours the woman had spent in this room during her stay at the school… “I shall see you again soon, and go to get myself a cup of tea. You’ll be alright descending the ladder, won’t you?” Bonnie does not look entirely concerned about this, given that Melvina is not exactly decrepit, but asks out of consideration nevertheless.

“My dear woman,” Melvina gasps in clearly mock astonishment. “Whatever are you suggesting?” Her great grin following, though, seems gentle enough. “I’ll be fine, dear. Thank you, though. At dinner then.” And with that, Melvina makes her way from the tower, feeling that it had been a pretty good day.

“At dinner,” Bonnie answers with a laugh and follows the woman as she descends from the tower, for her own part heading to the staff room for a spot of tea that she feels is necessary. First class: Successful. Bonnie goes to the staff room with high hopes for the year ahead.

Other Interesting Logs:

• A Little Free Advice
• Office Hours in the Divination Tower
• The Art of Seeing
• Snarking in the Staff Room
• The Divinator and the Arithmancer Should Be Friends