Divination Lesson One

[Professor Adimu Ibori]

((OOC: OWL + NEWT merged))

And so the time had arrived, it was nine'o'clock and the chimes of the school bell resonated throughout the brick walls of Hogwarts. The bell signified the time, however, more importantly to Adimu, it signified her first ever lesson. She'd spent months prior intricately creating the Divination syllabus for the year, a fascinating mix of more traditional Divination methods, with some from her own country which she was sure the students would probably be unfamiliar with. She was determined to eradicate the reputation Divination seemed to have gained over the years (mainly thanks to Trelawny), and establish her subject as a challenging and above all else, serious and valuable lesson. One that would benefit the school's young witches and wizards in later life.

The students had begun to push through the silk purple curtains that warded off her classroom at the top of the tower to the staircase below. Admittedly, her class was rather small, a slight dissapointment to her. However, she intended to get her lessons known throughout the school in hope to entice possible students into her subject.

Once it seemed like all the students had assembled and chosen a cushion, she stood up behind her desk, placed two slender hands on the exotic oak below and began her introductions.

"Welcome, my dears. To the Divination Classroom. You have chosen a very delicate and mysterious art, by sitting here. However, my dears, I would like to assure you, that the decision you have made, was the right one." She said smoothly, pausing for dramatic effect.

"My name is Professor Ibori. I, like you, studied here at Hogwarts in my yough, I sat in this very classroom and absorbed the knowledge of the art of Divinatipn which proved so important in my later life. But firstly, I believe to see the future clearly, we must be fully aware of the past. If you will allow me, I would like to tell you about myself."

She gazed out at the students to be sure they weren't falling asleep and then continued.

"I am not from this country. I grew up in Nigeria, in a small witching village. I learned a magic art very different, but very similar to what you will learn in this very classroom. Of course, the 'muggles', as you call them, were not sympathetic to us and tried to slaughter us when they learned of the 'dark arts' we were performing. I fled the country with my mother to South Africa and it was here that I learned of Hogwarts and eventually applied to the school and was accepted."

"After my schooling years, I pursued a carreer as a magical embassador for a number of years and then went on to work in the Divination department within the ministry. I learned a lot within my previous jobs, stuff that I'd like to teach and share with you.""

Adimu then stepped away from her desk and opened her arms almost like she was trying to embrace her students.

"Now, I must know about you. What do YOU know about the art of Divination?" she asked, a subtle smile playing with the corners of her mouth.

[Thom Seivert]

Thom Seivert was the last one to enter the classroom before she started her lecture. He wasn't even sure why he was there, other than the fact he was curious to see who was going to be his new teachers. Teachers he would meet once and not appear for the rest of the term, unless it was for detention. Way back when, Thom appeared regularly to class only to miss a select few times, however now he was barely in attendance.

He looked at the new teacher with feigned interest. She was tall, dark skinned and even-toned. He didn't know where to place her yet and hoped it would be on the easy side this year. Maybe his wiley ways would work on her like it did on Anna Starr. Hey, he could try.

He scoffed loudly at the question she asked them all. Thom isn't aware of his divination skills. He thought his readings and interpretations were all of chance and basically assumed he could fake it very well, which is why he chose to sign up for it now. He looked over at the three Ravenclaws with him: Lucas, Rose and Bear.

Ugh. Even though Bear was a musical genius, the pair got along less and less. He didn't have to explain his disgust of Lucas and Rose.

[Lucas Montgomery]

Lucas was very excited for the first day of classes, especially all of his. He was very fortunate to take courses that dealt with his specialty of Divination. What was even more pleasing was that he found most of his housemates in the class with him. Having Rose & Bear present was great but seeing Thom Seivert take the course was a little discouraging.

Lucas tried to help Thom last semester, but the tutoring sessions weren't very helpful. He primarily blamed that on Thom's lack of motivation. Still, Lucas tried. Maybe Thom would show a sign of improvement this time around.

Looking up at his new teacher, Lucas gave a smile. She seemed very confident and knowledgeable. He was hoping she would present something of a challenge. After being asked what they knew, Lucas raised his hand and spoke.

"I'm Lucas Montgomery, Ravenclaw House. I am familiar with Tarot, Tea Leaves, & the I-Ching. My mother used to be known as Madame Fiona of the Cards and was quite accurate," he said with some pride.

[Trall Sho'chira]

(OCC My bad hadn't got round to Tralls classes yet))

Trall sat next to Lucas with folded arms and scowling the only way a blind person could. She immdiatly didn't like the teacher or the rest of the class, Lucas didn't count but she still didn't like his tone of voice towards the tutor.

[Bear Nayet]

Bear sat at the next table next to Lucas, sharing with Rose. They went on one date and though it wasn't official, the pair had been spending more time together. He looked at the Professor and decided that she wasn't so bad and that there was something mystical about her.

He wasn't thrilled that Thom was in the class. Bear needed Thom in his band but more and more trouble followed him. Bear wasn't too keen on dealing with drama. After Lucas said his piece, Bear then raised his hand.

"Um. I can do nature-like divination.. like interpret smoke from a fire and wind patterns. I can also asset the meanings of the appearance of animals." Bear shrugged his shoulders. He didn't see it as a big deal and he wasn't accurate all the time.

"And I can kind of do tea leaves..." Bear added on, knowing that they did that stuff more than what he listed prior.

[Lucas Montgomery]

Lucas looked over at Bear and nodded with some surprise. They had been best friends for a while, but he really didn't know just what Bear could do in terms of divination. As far as he knew, Rose, Trall, and himself were the only ones in Ravenclaw with knowledge on the subject.

Looking over next to him, he saw Trall sitting there with the usual displeased look on her face. Thankfully, she couldn't see him roll his eyes at her. A smile on her face was a rate occurrence and if there was one, it was more than likely Lucy in control. On that particular matter, Lucas still had conflicted feelings.

Focusing back on the teacher, he waited to see what Professor Ibori had in store for them.

[Mallory Starr]

Taking a seat next to Thom she examined the new professor teaching the class. While Mallory never was a teacher's pet she certainly didn't manage to get on their bad side like her delinquent friend. Professor Ibori seemed interesting enough, so perhaps Mallory might actually learn something in Divinations this year. Still she wasn't excited as Lucas, the dork probably had been looking forward to this all summer...lame.

Why had she taken this class in the first place? After all Mallory certainly didn't have any psychic powers or gift, and she didn't really care about the future. It was best to live in the now and take the punches as they came.

Still it had always been an easy enough class, with the last professor she just faked her way through the class. Just doing the homework, and showing up for class was easy enough. But was an easy good grade worth listening to Lucas Montgomery gush about what a freak he is?

Pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill she started to doodle, pretending like she was taking notes. Instead of notes there was a picture of Lucas dressed up like a fortune telling gypsy. Tapping Thom's arm she pointed to the picture.

[Professor Adimu Ibori]

Adimu was glad to see at least some of the Ravenclaw dominated class engaging with her already. She hoped this bunch of students would be the type to ask questions rather than sit huddled in the corner. Nobody really learned that way.

"Well thankyou Lucas. I hope you are as accurate as your mother, or at least will learn to be within my class. I'm looking for achievers. It seems we have a few with the sight in this class." she replied to Lucas and gave him a smile, flashing her white teeth. She could see the boy was talented, she'd also heard he'd prophesied whilst in school, something she had done too.

It was Bear's turn to state his prior knowledge. She was impressed, yet again, somebody with talent.

"Thankyou Bear, I'm very interested. You will have to show me some time, perhaps some time soon. You too Lucas."

"Nothing from our Slytherin members?" she asked, looking up at the few green uniforms.

[Thom Seivert]

"I guess really well." Thom said sarcastically, not realizing that he had a knack for reading tea leaves and palms. He shrugged his shoulders and looked over at Mallory.

"I'm not talented like our natural son, Lucas. Oh Lucas, I wish I could be you." Thom put his hand over his heart and batted his eyelashes at him.

[Trall Sho'chira]

Lucy was cross she had been insulted in what she considered as being her birthright.Trall tried to keep a tap on her but it failed; Lucy broke forth and addressed the professor.

"It's nice to see your inner eye working so efficently professor, you have clearly already made an observation and therefore intrusion on our entire, lifestyles. You have accuratly assesed our capabillities and then gone onto insult those that you do not favour. It seems that you have also taken into account that people with certain dissabillities are doomed to fail this particular class, despite there grades at Owl level."

Trall didn't like the new divination teacher as much as Lucy but she had wished she had kept her mouth shut, but there was more.

"Although Lucas is apprently the shining star within the class professor, you may find he has recently been released from St. Mungo's. You know the plaice where people go with, hmm lets say inacurately constructed minds."

Trall knew she was going to be in trouble, she didn't care about being in trouble with the professor but Lucas being cross made her feel very guiltiy. Trall sanpped back into reality, she needed to leave before Lucy caused anymore damage.

"Professor, may I suggest you throw me out of class. That is unless you have something worthwile to teach us for example how would someone go about improving there capabillity reguarding forsight."

[Lucas Montgomery]

Immediately, Lucas snapped his head in Thom's direction with a scowl. He knew that Seivert being in this class was an obvious mistake. Why the Headmistress insisted on him helping Thom last year was still beyond him. Thom had no desire to learn anything about Divination and eve if the boy had some ability, he would never use for anything good...at least the good of wizarding society.

Lucas scoffed and looked back towards Professor Ibori only to feel his hair stand on end at the words that were now coming out of Trall's mouth. At first it was the usual blather Trall said to agitate people including himself about being a shining star. But then she hit a nerve that was completely uncalled for.

"Although Lucas is apparently the shining star within the class professor, you may find he has recently been released from St. Mungo's. You know the plaice where people go with, hmm lets say inaccurately constructed minds."

Lucas froze in his seat in horror at what was just said. It was no secret to the students where he was the last several months, but for Trall to just broadcast that so openly to the professor, Lucas felt as though his credibility just went out the window.

He turned at looked at his housemate with dismay but could not speak any words. He could only feel the stares from everyone around the room.

[Professor Adimu Ibori]

It seemed her encouragment of the Slytherin side of the class had not been her best idea. A mini feud seemed to pull the two sides of the class apart, a feud that seemed to be instigated by Thom Seivert. She watched, slightly bemused, yet still hoping the situation would diffuse itself. She never liked teachers who felt the need to step in all the time, and hoped she wouldn't turn out as one herself.

A dark haired girl spoke up, she looked down at the register to find her name. Trall Sho'chira. The name struck a bell, she wasn't sure how. But it did, and it didn't seem to be the pleasant recollection. Adimu shook the feeling out of her and continued to address the girl's insistence on being thrown out.

"I'm not going to throw you out, Trall. You have the choice to either stay in this classroom, or leave optionally. You have not, so far, exhibited sufficiently bad enough behaviour to be kicked out. If you wish to leave the classroom, the door is wide open", she replied to the girl, trying to match her in sarcasm.

Adimu felt the argument had run it's due course and felt it was now probably appropriate for her to step in.

"Okay, okay class. Calm down please, you can keep your rivalries out of the classroom next time." she pointed to the door to emphasise her point.
"Now, can we please continue with the lesson." she said forcefully.

Next to her was a large table, cloaked in a black cloth. She puled the black sheet from the table, for little more than dramatic effect. Underneath was at least a dozen dark wooden bowls, with a diamter of two hands put together. There were weathered tribal carvings decorating the sides of the bowls.

"Now. I doubt any of you know what these are, so I won't waste our time with questions. These are divining bowls, they originate from my home continent."

She cast her wand over one of the bowls and muttered a spell, causing the bowl to fill up with water. Besides the bowls was a large container full of bones, tribal figurines and other oddities. She scooped up a handfull and wavered it over the bowl.

"Now, this is an ancient form of divination. Essetially, an expert of divining through this method will be able to do the following.." she said and slowly relinquished her grip, causing the contents of her hands to slowly fall over the bowl, which slowly moved across the water.

"Experts would be able to divine perfectly from the movements made by these different objects. You see this form of divination is about studying the patterns and routes travelled by these objects. I of course don't expect you to be able to do such a thing, instead I will ask you to each fetch yourself a bowl, a container of divining bones and a copy of the parchment chart which will help you to define what movements mean what. Please do so and return to your seats as soon as possible." She instructed.

[Lucas Montgomery]

Deciding he wasn't going to let his favorite class be ruined by a malcontent house mate and an under achieving Slytherin, Lucas nudged Bear and got up. He made his way down to the table he picked up the tools Professor Ibori presented to the class.

He turned to look at the woman and gave a genuine smile to her. The professor was not like the previous ones he had encountered at the school. There was something intriguing about her and he was hoping that when classes had dismissed for the day, he could talk to her. She said she was Ravenclaw and he wondered if perhaps he knew of his mother. Any connection to the past would be helpful.

He sat back down and waited for the other students to acquire their bowls and begin.