[September 4th] Divination: First class of the new year!

Mattie followed a few other kids to the Divination class. It was a long walk coming from Potions only just a short time ago. Finally getting into the class she looked around with bright eyes. It was so much brighter uo here then in the danky dusty dungeons.

She was staring in awe at the giant tome in the classroom. It was larger then she was and that amazed her. She grabbed a table and stared at the crystal ball for a moment before looking up to the Professor. She liked him much better then her Potions Professor, though that probably accounted to the fact that she spoke with him the day before.

The memory of that bringing a smile to her face.

Yelena is tardy arriving to class. She looks around, spies Mattie, and goes to sit with her, sitting down with a sigh. She hates the idea of Divination. Doesn't like the idea of anything to do with her life being preordained by some higher force. She smiles at Mattie, but looks curiously at the very young Professor. She'd seen him at the sorting ceremony. Up close, he looks even younger, and amazingly cute. Maybe for a professor like this she can tolerate Divination.

Ambrose would finally move about a minute after Victoire entered. Looking around, he recognized some faces and saw some new ones. Nodding, he began just as last year...by taking a walk. "Welcome to Divination. My name is Professor Ambrose Oakwood. You are here to learn about a magic that some will call strange, ludicrous and downright useless. However...I promise you that you will all learn at least one thing. Either something about others in the world...or something about yourselves." He stops near Victoire and smiles. "Welcome back Miss Weasley. I understand this summer was...enlightening in various ways?" He nods to her and moves on, stopping near Liliana. "Welcome back Miss Garcia. Don't even think about it..." He gives her a wink and keeps going.

Stopping near Yelena and Mattie, he gives them both a smile. "Miss Adamson...welcome to my class. I hope you enjoy yourself. And...that would make you Miss Albatros," he says, looking over to Yelena, storm grey eyes seeming to whirl slightly. "Don't worry. Not everything is at it seems." He smirks and heads back to the front of the class, standing in front of his desk with the giant tome.

"Any questions before we get started?"

Kiami skitters up to the door, Gomez clawing her shoulder in anger, He had hated climbing that dreadful ladder more then she had. She swatted at him in annoyance as she stood at the door, smoothing her robes and unruly curls before quietly stepping in. With less sound then a vampire makes, she moves swiftly across the floor as the professor makes his way around the room.

The light from the sun, and the horrible brightness of the walls themselves made Kiami squint in distaste as she took her seat.

She hisses quietly at Gomez as he prances about the robe above her shoulder, determined to make himself comfortable. Slinking down, she hoped the professor wouldn't scold her in front of the other students for being late to the class.

Once quietly comfortable in her seat, her dark eyes scan the room, noting the different students that sat around the weird round tables that seemed to float above the floors.

Kiami beams over at Mattie, seeming to perk up when she spotted her friend. With quick fluid motions, she scoops up her divination supplies, and hurries across the room, Gomez still snug on her shoulder.

Her deep green on her robes flashed brilliantly in the bright room, as she made her way to Mattie and sat next to her, leaning in to whisper while the professor seemed lost in his own words.

"Hey! I didn't see you when I came in. How are you?"

Kiami stiffens as the divination teacher calls her out. "Crap." She thinks as his storm grey eyes land squarely on her. Something in his eyes made her growl with annoyance on the inside, her eyes flashed at his question, settling back into her chair and placing her hands behind her head, she leans back making it look as though she is thinking over her answer.

Her eyes never leave the professors, as she drops her hands into her lap, leans forward and with a deadly serious voice and a look never seen in her eyes she responds with..

"Well, a tower can fall, a magician can die, and death can take any form."

Her fingers dance silently on her knee before she continues, her eyes still locked on the professors.
"So, what do they all have in common? Dumbledore. Like the tower he fell, like a magician he died, like a fool he let death take his life."
She finished, the silence of the room ringing in her ears.

Mattie smiled at Kiami and was about to answer her but then Professor Oakwood spoke first. She hushed herself and listened.

What did they all have in common? she listened as Kiami started talking mostly to herself and then answer.

To say she was shocked was an understatement. She wasn't raised in the magical world like Kiami but she like everyone else heard the great stories of Dumbledore. Her jaw dropped and her gasp was loud and then she stared wide eyed at the girl she called her best friend, the girl she had a crush on.

She was flabbergasted. She blinked and stared. Silence filled the room. She couldn't believe Kiami had just used one of the most famed Wizard's ever as her answer.

Vic gave the Professor a smile, "It was, though left me with some questions. May have to see you at some point to see about getting a few answered."

Like everyone else, she heard what the first year had said and she did get a little heated. Maybe it was because of who she grew up around and the stories she heard when they were in a story telling mood. So she had a little more information than what the papers had put out about Dumbledore. And while she did want to say something, she decided against it because it didn't serve a purpose. So she let it be.

Ambrose nods slowly as he listens to Kiami's response. Some of the other students seemed to react to what she said in a varying number of ways. Ambrose simply nodded and then smiled. "An interesting way to look at those three things, Miss Summers. I understand that Professor Dumbledore was one of the greatest Wizards for a long time. However...he has passed. Time and fate have made way for new witches and wizards to take that mantle." He looks at her for a long moment and then nods. Turning, he heads to the cabinet and pulls down a wooden box. The box looks engraved with the symbol of a crescent moon on it. Walking back over, he takes an empty chair and positions it to sit directly in front of Kiami before sitting down. Opening the box, he pulls out a deck of cards with a spider based design on the back. Moving the box aside, he set them in front of him vertically and looked up and into Kiami's eyes.

"Miss Adamson, Miss Albatros, if you could move to sit on either side of Miss Summers. The rest of you, please gather round. Today, we shall use a form of divination that started began in the late 18th century though the cards were originally designed to play various games in a number of places in Europe during the 15th century." He pats the deck. "Tarot cards." He looks at the deck and picks it up, smiling at the design before looking up at the three in front of him. "Fitting that a spider is on the back. Like a spider's web, Fate's skein is woven...just right." He begins to shuffle the deck and looks up at Kiami once more.

"Miss Summers, By showing us that you have a bit of a rebellious attitude in you, I think you would be perfect. One thing about divination...it goes against any sort of order. Goes against Fate's perfectly planned out skein. Because they have a plan and you're supposed to wait and see...and divination spits in the face of that. So..." He grins and sets the deck down equidistant between himself and Kiami.

"Cut the deck...and let's begin..."

Lili watches Ambrose for a long moment and listens to his words.  As he pulls the box from the cabinet. Was it... it was! Her eyes go wide just slightly at the conversation of Tarot cards and his explanation. She was always intrigued by Tarot. A way to let the cards and fate chose them. It was much different then her ability, seeming to have more control rather just reaching out to touch someone.

She girl places her gloved hands, laced together on the table as she watches the deck, her eyes seem fixed as they are cut and handled.

Chalice gave an inward sigh when asked to move. She saw the box and was curious. Was it old? Handed down by several generations of witch or wizard? She decided to wait for him to sit and then choose to stand where she could see, but not really be seen. She didn't know what Tarot was or why it was such an old art form of divination. Chalice saw the cards and heard the explanation that seemed to make sense. She wondered if the cards had different backs like playing cards. Would he change his description of fate based on the backs of the cards? What would he say about them if they had a picture of a Raven?

Chalice looked at Kiami after getting into a safe position and noticed she seemed angry when pulling the cards. What happened that she missed? It was just a deck of cards, how could they be harmful? She shrugged and waited for the next statement from the professor.

Yelena seemed vaguely interested by the tarot cards. Enough so that she sat quietly and didn't sigh or fidget. Her gaze was mostly on the cute professor, though, than the cards themselves. She liked the way he looked and talked. There was something different about him and she wasn't sure what it was but she really wanted to know.

Taking the cards, he did not shuffle them again but placed the whole deck in front of him once more, vertically and pointing at Kiami. "Now...when using the Tarot, the Diviner will make a card spread, with each position of each card meaning something different. For this demonstration, we're going to use a simple three card spread..." He takes the top card and lays it down to the left of the very middle of the table, the next card in the middle of the table and the next card to the right of that. Once all three cards are there, face down, he smiles up at Kiami. "These are my cards...but you cut them. By cutting them, you added your energy to the mix and what should come to the top in these three cards will be something for you. Shall we take a look?" he asks, eyes flashing at her.

Reaching for the first card, he turns it over and reveals the Magician card. "Ah...here we go. The Magician. This is you, Miss Summers. Self-confidant, a bit driven...and I bet if you think it, you have no problem speaking it right?" He chuckles and glides a finger down the card. "And all of that supports a big ambition...of that I have no doubt. An interesting beginning to this. Let's look at the next card, hmm?"

Flipping over the next card, Ambrose reveals the Death card. "Hmm...interesting. Death is an interesting card. It doesn't mean actual death. It's more...change. Shedding the old and bringing in the new." He looks up at her and smirks. "Got your letter....came to Hogwarts...made new friends I hope? Are things here very different from when you are at home with your parents? Both are wizards as well, correct?" He taps the Death card and nods. "Ambition followed by Change...I wonder..."

Reaching over, he finally reveals the last card. The Tower. Ambrose nods slowly before he speaks. "The Tower. Especially in this position where follows change." He looks up at Kiami,two fingers on the card. "The Tower here means there is conflict ahead...complicated and not something that comes easily...but something more disruptive instead. Those who usually talk about this card say that there is always tragedy in life." He glances down at the card for a moment. "I say it's a matter of you handle it..."

Kiami didn't realize that she was watching and listening to the professor with bated breathe, and large curious brown eyes, that stayed glued to the three cards as he placed them in front of her.

Unknowingly she shifted in her chair, leaning forward as Professor Amberoseoakwood began to flip the cards one at a time, stopping for a moment at each one to explain the meaning behind them.

With each explanation of the cards, dozens of emotions flittered through Kiami's body language. But, none stayed or seemed to scream the loudest as excitement did.

Fear was evident but even that was dimmed by the excitement that quickened her pulse, and heated her blood.

She laughed, half to herself and half out loud as the professor explained the meaning behind the first card.

"I definitely don't know when to keep my mouth shut. Plus, it spices things up when you talk and don't think." She grins, listening once more to his explanations.

Her eyebrows arched slightly at the second card, her breathe caught for a moment, at the mention of death. She stared at the card, amazed. She was indeed going through a change.

She smiles once more, looking briefly from the cards to the girl next to her. Yelena.

She seemed just as transfixed as Kiami herself. Though Yelena was more fixed on the teacher and not the cards, it made Kiami chuckle.

"I have indeed made new friends, and Slythrin is most definitely not the house I thought I would end up in."

Kiami continued to answer the questions behind each card, drawn more and more with curious excitement, even a hint of dark danger in her expression. As the third and final card is flipped, Kiami stiffens.

Her expression dark as if some unseen thing has made its way to the surface. Her voice tinted with thick determination as she stares matter-of-factly into the eyes of her professor.

"Whatever the change is, whatever the conflict may be, whatever loss I may face, I'll be ready. You can count on that. Tragedy or not, let life bring it. I will be the best."