The Orb [3-7]

[PRESTON BURKE]

The start of a new school year meant the students were adjusting to the academic load, always more intense than the year before. Therefore, Preston preferred to start each term with a simple, relaxing topic that would require very little effort from his pupils.

Today, and for the weeks to come, they would be crystal-gazing. The older students would be familiar with the practice, but the third-years would need a brief introduction. "Welcome back to Hogwarts - I hope you all had a great summer break." He flourished his wand, summoning a dozen crystal spheres and placing one in front of each student. Wedged into ornate marble stands, they would remain firmly in place; nobody could accidentally drop and break one.

"As you might have guessed, we will be starting with a course about the crystal ball. One does not need to be a Seer to see glimpses of the future in a crystal ball, although it helps. All you need to do is relax your mind and get rid of background thoughts - preferably without falling asleep in the process. It might take some practice, so don't despair if all you see is swirling white mist." As a student, he hadn't been able to see any imagery in the orb during his first term of Divination classes. He wouldn't be giving any poor grades to those who failed.

LIA FLETCHER, JAROD RAINES, LISA WHELAN, ANNABELLE BECKETT, GAVYN SCURLOCH, MAEVE THORNE (+ all other Divination students who have yet to sign up)

[ANNABELLE BECKETT]

Annabelle sat in class and yelped for a minute there as the crystal sphere showed up in front of her. As it startled her as it showed up out the blue and all. Even if Annabelle knew that Professor Burke made it appear and all but it was so sudden as well as fast that it definitely startled her a bit. She then looked around at everyone in class and then she glanced towards the professor as she listened to him and then she glanced at a crystal sphere. "Professor Burke, what if you some purplish green light in the crystal ball, sphere, is it something to worry about or is it normal?" Annabelle asked over sudden as she raised her hand as well as an eyebrow as she saw that in the crystal sphere, crystal ball in front of her. She didn't really believe in any of it but she was still confused and weirded out, as as well as startled by seeing a purplish green light in the crystal sphere, ball in front of her. Annabelle had no idea what to think or believe about any of it. She didn't think it showed the future, more like that it was broken or something like that. No more nor less than that.

PRESTON BURKE ,

[GAVYN SCURLOCH]

Divination was sometimes considered a silly branch of magic, an evaluation that Gavyn had always found to be rather dismissive. If they knew there were Seers, and had a whole inventory of prophecies that had ever been given, then why did so many people dismiss it? Either way, he liked learning about the different sorts of divination and it had been a no-brainer to continue taking it to sate his own curiosity. And who knew, maybe he'd awaken some unknown skill in him, it was possible right?"

"Professor, how does anyone know if they are a Seer or not? Is it a sorta of feeling or can anyone be a Seer and not know it?" Gavyn highly doubted he himself was but he was curious about whether it was something that could be learned or not. If it could be he really wanted to try to. The crystal ball in front of him didn't seem to be doing anything impressive as he stared into it, letting his thoughts wander and quiet all while trying to focus. Were the swirly clouds turning blue or was that just him?

PRESTON BURKE

[LISA WHELAN]

Lisa was glad that all she had to do in this lesson was stare at a crystal ball. Her world had been turned upside down in a way she never could have imagined over the summer, and she wasn’t sure that she could cope with doing anything really complicated. She tried to relax her mind and clear her thoughts, but she was anything but relaxed and her thoughts swirled around just as much as the mist inside the ball. At least it was quite pretty mist. She wasn’t going to put much pressure on herself to see things today, and wasn’t sure if she really wanted to anyway. Maybe it was better to just sit here and let herself zone out. She didn’t think even a crystal ball could predict her future now.

[JAROD RAINES]

Jarod sat in class and looked around at everyone. Then he looked in front of himself as he listened to the professor and to everyone who spoke. Jarod then glanced at his table and at the crystal sphere, crustal ball and tried to look at it as he tried to figure out what was he supposed to see to know what he was trying to see in order to know if he saw something or not. He wasn't sure if any of it was real or not, as none of it made any sense, not to him at least that was for sure. The more Jarod studied the subject the more he wondered if there was a point to the class or not. The whole thing was too confusing. Jarod wondered if anyone ever saw the future or anything like that or if it was fake subject and a make believe and just something some considered fun or what. He shook his head to those thoughts as looked
around at everyone there and then at the crystal sphere, crystal ball on his table and tried to see if he could see anything.

[MAEVE THORNE]

This would be her last year of wondering why she hadn't dropped Divination. Maeve was prepared to tough it out, so Father wouldn't accuse her of giving up. Even though she considered not signing up for the Divination N.E.W.T. exam itself, she could at least complete the course.

Today's topic was fairly undemanding; all she had to do was stare into a silvery orb for an hour and let her mind wander. In her fourth year, she had tried to do as Professor Burke instructed - clearing her mind of all thoughts, relaxing her consciousness... it did no good. All she saw in the crystal ball was the dull white mist, sometimes accompanied by reflections of the room of the light hit it in a certain way.

She folded her arms on the table and focused her gaze on the orb. Her thoughts took off on their own, studying the events of these past few days and the progress she'd made with her new study group. Zoning out, she unfocused her eyes so everything around her blurred a little.

[PRESTON BURKE]

As his students began gazing into the orbs, questions inevitably followed. Preston only hoped nobody would get too excited about seeing a reflection, or begin imagining things out of boredom. He walked over to Annabelle, preferring to answer her question quietly so as not to distract the rest of the class. "It might be that you are seeing something of the future. Colours by themselves are not easy to interpret, however. Try watching it for a little while longer, and see if any coherent imagery forms."

Gavyn presented him with a different type of inquiry. "One could not be a Seer and not know it - unless they are extremely young. Seers have visions of the future, visions that can be easily separated from the most vivid daydreams. Occasionally, Seers also utter prophecies they might or might not remember afterwards. While the ability runs in families and might skip some generations, it will not be latent in a person who possesses it. Visions start coming at an early age. In most cases, a Seer would know they are a Seer before even starting to attend school."

ANNABELLE BECKETT, GAVYN SCURLOCH

[MAEVE THORNE]

Maeve's awareness was pulled back into the present moment, against her own will. She could not easily shut out a professor's voice, even during a nugatory class like Divination. Was someone already seeing images in their crystal ball? It had to be imagination rather than true visions. Shaking her head in a barely perceptible motion, she returned her gaze to the swirling mists within the sphere on her table.

[LIA FLETCHER]

Divination has been an intriguing subject to Lia the moment she had seen it on the list of possible elective classes. Growing up she had obviously heard about fortune tellers; her mother had even visited a few of them over the years, hoping for some vision of her future. Lia had never been sure if their gift was genuine, or merely a way to scam gullible people out of their money. She wanted to believe it was true, but the predictions always seemed so generic. So when she had heard of the course, it had immediately piqued her interest. Perhaps there was some truth to those fortune tellers. Perhaps they were actually wizards performing magic unbeknownst to their muggle customers.

Obviously Lia had to find out for herself, and so had signed up for the class. If it truly was a skill one could learn and there was a chance she could learn to predict the future, how could she not at least try. The first class was on a subject she had seen before, although never in such an academic setting: peering into a crystal ball. In her excitement to get started, she bumped the table as she moved closer to the ball, causing it to fall over. She expected to hear a crash, another horrible accident from her clumsiness, but instead found the ball still safely encased in its marble holder. She exhaled the breath she’d been holding. Thank goodness the professor had come prepared for students like her. Quickly righting the crystal ball, she began peering into it, following the professor’s instructions.

Trying to channel some of her mother’s meditation practice - although she’d never been successful before - Lia focused on her breath in an attempt to clear her mind. No thoughts. Just empty. No thoughts. Just focus on the ball.

[JAROD RAINES]

Jarod continued to peer into the crystal ball as he tried to see if he could could see something. For a bit there ge only saw a fog as he sighed to that. Typical Jarod thought to himself as he continued to look at the crystal. He sighed and shook his head to that. Then over sudden stuff began to change as he paled at that. "What the...?" Jarod exclaimed. Then he took a deep breath and titled his head as he watched a couple faces show up in the crystal ball as he blinked as the whole image disappeared as he began to wonder whether he imagined it or not as fog replaced it. He shook his head as he began to believe that he truly imagined it only for the image to come back not long after as his eyes widened. "What the....?" Jarod exclaimed again. He watched the image progress as he watched the couple talk and laugh, then go home, only to never make it back as he sceamed at that. "It isn't real, it isn't real, it isn't real, it isn't real, it isn't re...," Jarod tried to tell himself as he jumped back and crashed backwards with his chair loudly as he screamed, while ay the same time he shook himself. He got up and fixed his chair and backed away. "It isn't real," Jarod said and repeated that again none stop.

[ANNABELLE BECKETT]

Annabelle looked at the crystal sphere, ball as the purplish green light was still in it. She was still confused, weirded out and she even began to get scared by that as well. Annabelle looked at Professor Burke as he watched him walk over to her. Then she listened to him. Annabelle was definitely surprised and shocked by his reply, then again she figured that it was his answer because he taught the subject and no other reason than that but she still listened to him. She looked between Professor Burke and the crystal ball, sphere as she listened to him. Annabelle nodded to him in understanding and to let him know that she would keep looking at it until she saw a coheret imegery formed. She doubted any of what he told her but said nothing about it as she nodded to that instead. Annabelle did just that as The Professor helped another. For a while she saw was a purplish green light until she started seeling something as she yelled and jumped. Annabelle then sighed and shook her head to that. She continued to watch as she hoped that it was her imagination playing tricks on her. Yet, the longer that had passed the more unsure of that Annabelle had becomehe still tried to convince herself that she imagined it all as it had to be that, right? She was sure that it was the case or at least tried to convince herself of it. Annabelle continued to look at the crystal ball, sphere not sure what to think or believe, like before that. As none of it made any sense to her and yet it was what she saw. It didn't seem like Annabelle imagined it and yet she tried to convince herself that it was indeed the case.

[MAEVE THORNE]

While Maeve saw no benefit in learning Divination, at least the classes were peaceful. Usually. Today, it seemed two of the younger students were incapable of controlling their emotions as they forced everyone to endure their screams and yells. How was she to 'relax the mind and get rid of background thoughts' when the likes of Raines and Beckett couldn't stay quiet?

Irritated, she reached for her bag. The pair of black earmuffs she used during Herbology classes was still there, even though she hadn't yet utilized them this year. Who could have thought she would find a need for them during Professor Burke's class?

After donning the protective accessory, she returned the bag to its place. She could still hear some sounds, but they were heavily subdued; feeling a little less annoyed, the seventh-year resumed watching the crystal ball.

[PRESTON BURKE]

Preston was used to occasional exclamations of surprise when a student spotted something in their orb. Nobody had ever screamed after seeing something, however. And now two students were producing sounds of terror at the same time. Had someone cast a Confundus Charm on them, muddling their minds and forcing them to behave so erratically?

"Mister Raines, Miss Beckett, please restrain your emotions. Whatever you may be seeing in the crystal ball should not cause such loud reactions." Would it be better to take the two to the school Healer and have her administer some Calming Draught? Preston considered this but decided to first try pacifying the two verbally. "Do not worry - even if it truly is something terrible you saw, it does not mean it is going to happen, only that it might happen. No vision or prophecy is ever set in stone; the future is changeable. Now, please try to be quiet and abstain from distracting your classmates. Write down everything you are seeing in your crystal balls and hand the notes to me at the end of the class."

JAROD RAINES, ANNABELLE BECKETT

[GAVYN SCURLOCH]

"Aww...guess that means I'm definitely not then." Gavyn would have had visions and stuff before now if that was the case. Oh well that was okay, it was probably for the best he hadn't. From his understanding a lot of the visions and dreams could be pretty intense, not exactly the sort of thing he wanted to go through. Plus he was fairly sure it didn't run in his family either. As a Muggleborn he sort of figured his family line had nothing more special than him in it.

The screams made him look up with a puzzled look on his face. Why on Earth were people screaming? The only thing he's seen right now was a colour change, but from the sounds of it two of his classmates might be imaging things. I mean, if only seers really saw things then they shouldn't be able to right? or maybe he was getting things mixed up again. Either way he sighed and looked back to his crystal Ball which had gone back to nothing but swirling white smoke. "Bugger."

[JAROD RAINES]

Jarod took a deep breath as he looked at everyone horrified. He did his best to calm down and tell himself it wasn't real. Jarod might have been able to see visions before and all but with him being in denial as well as horrified, that he figured that he might have imagined it all. Yet, at the moment he had no idea what to think of any of it. Jarod tried to catch his breath and calm down but his mind had time processing any of it. He was terrified by what he had seen. To say that Jarod was shaken up was an understandment of the century. He was shaken to the core. Jarod listened to the professor but had no idea how to react as he breathed hard, almost chocking as he was terrified by what he saw. Even if what the professor said was reassuring it still didn't calm him down as he had no idea how anyone would change it fast as even he gad no idea when it would happen or where. "It can't be real. It isn't real! How something so horrible can even happen to anyone?" Jarod said as he stuttered. He then nodded to the professor as he slowly and carefully walked back to his seat and sat down as he got what he needed and wrote down everything that he saw in the crystal ball.