The Room of Serenity. The last time Adi had been here was last term when he was his Charms homework- practicing that spell that warmed up the place. He was here to do more homework though this time it was Divination. And he had brought along someone too.

Adi knew AJ was right behind him when he stepped into the room. "I just know I'm not going to see anything again,'' he muttered. He wondered for a bit why the subject of Divination was growing on him when he was rubbish at it.

"So, you ready to get started?'' the Puffer asked AJ. "I think we should work at separate tables. Because my hair and I distract you so much.'' And she distracted him right back.LOL. But seriously, if the duo intended to get any work done, it was best the sat at separate tables. It could help even if it were a tiny bit.

It was time to get started on her homework, and this was perhaps one of AJ's least favorite things to do. Divination really wasn't so bad though, and AJ had Adi with her, and that automatically made everything better in her opinion.

The lion followed the hufflepuff into the room, and smiled when he spoke. "You don't know that. You might be surprised." AJ wasn't expecting to see anything either, but she was going to give it a good go anyways.

"I guess so." The sooner they got started, the sooner they could leave. She laughed. He really did have a point. It didn't matter where Adi sat, as long as AJ could see him, he would be a distraction. "I think you have that backwards. I am the one who distracts you." She could play that game too. "Separate tables it is then." The brunette highly doubted that would help, but she would humor him.

Adi smiled. "True,'' he said, eyeing the Room. "Wonder if you're going to be seeing me like Angel saw Benny.'' Well, Angel hadn't spoken out directly whom she saw but which boy could it have been? "I think we should get tea...'' Professor Cassie did say it helped. Not that it had helped him during the lesson but maybe that was because he had been too distracted. Plus the music was there already.

The Puffer set a kettle down on one of the tables. "Chaudensis!'' A circular motion over the kettle with the wand followed by moving his hand over the kettle told him it was warming up. Next, some tea leaves went in. "Aguamenti!'' When the kettle was about halfway full, he stopped the charm. The tea was just for the two of them, anyway so not much water was needed.

Adi turned back to AJ. "You do distract me and you know it very well, Miss Unicorn Lover.'' He tickled her. It was safe to say they both distracted each other. "But I'm not going to let you do that this time. At least now I don't have to be sitting in front of a Crystal Ball, sipping tea and wondering what I did that made you ignore me.''

Adi now grabbed two teacups. He filled them both with tea and held out one to AJ. "Here you go. Sip this and gaaaze into the Ball. You might see me.'' With a wink, the fourth year cleaned the kettle, returned it to the shelf, grabbed one of the Crystal balls from the back shelf and took a seat on one of the revolting fluffy pillows. Time to get this show on the road.

Wasn't he sure of himself. Maaaaybe I will. You will never know." If she did manage to see him, she would most likely keep it to herself. Didn't want Adi thinking that she was even more crazy, did she? Tea. "That's a good idea. Need any help?" It didn't seem like he did since he got straight to work.

AJ walked over to where he was working and watched each step that he did. Chaudensis wasn't a spell that she had ever done before, and it might just come in handy down the road. "Make tea often?" This was much faster than the process they had to do at home to brew tea. If only there wasn't that pesky no magic at home rule.

"I'll try to keep my charming ways to a minimum so you can focus on your homework then." He distracted her too so hopefully he would return the favor. AJ was actually giggling as he tickled her. "Adiiiiiiii." Once she caught her breath, she gave him a look. "I wasn't ignoring you then. I was just sad about you asking out another girl." Turns out that the lion was wrong. She was the girl.

"Thank you." A sip was taken from her cup before she walked over to get herself a ball. "I wonder what that would mean." If she did end up seeing Adi that is. She would soon find out. Walking to another area away from Adi she set her ball down and took another sip of tea. Here goes nothing.

"Nope. I've got it covered,'' Adi replied in relation to needing help with the tea. "Watch the pro at work,'' he joked then shook his head. "Not really. Just made it a few times.'' Tea wasn't really his thing.

"Good. Then there's a chance that I'll see something in that Ball then.'' Oops. Maybe that part had been his fault. "I hadn't meant to make you think it was another girl. I thought that you'd figure it out when I described her. You know that no other girl can match up to you.'' AJ was the best in his eyes.

Adi grinned. "If you saw me, it would mean you can't get me out of your head.''
...............................

Adi took a sip of tea as he listened to the soft music playing in the room. He did feel a lot at ease and his mind was calm quite unlike how it had been during the lesson days ago.

After taking another SIIIIP, the Hufflepuffer closed his eyes. He tried to think of nothing, not even the music which he happened to be quite enjoying. Yep, his mind was being emptied though sometimes AJ's face would pop up. But hey, he was doing a lot more better this time around.

Opening his eyes a few moments later, the fourth year allowed his eyes to travel over the Crystal Ball. Seconds later, he fixated on a particular spot. Would he be seeing anything?

During the first Divination class, Kevin hadn't seen anything in the crystal ball they had been gazing in. Perhaps this was because he simply didn't believe in that type of mumbo jumbo and that was why his *inner eye* hadn't seen anything. But for once, he wanted to try and see if he could. See things from a different perspective.

That was why he found himself in the room of serenity. A room he had never been in before so the moment he had entered he had to look around. It looked....typically divinationy. With the low tables and the soft music playing.

. Now...what was he supposed to do? He hadn't really paid much attention in class... Oh right he first needed a crystal ball! He turned his direction and went to grab a crystal ball before returning to the back of the room and sat down at one of the tables. He placed the ball on top of it and looked at it with a blank expression. There were steps he had to follow right? The boy thought, trying to remember what the Professor had said ...but most words had just been blablabla to him.

He had to clear his mind right? Well, that was gonna be a problem but he'd try. He closed his eyes, willing himself to think about nothing. Which proved to be more difficult than he expected because he had been thinking A LOT lately. The Gryffindor needed a relaxing tea.

Kace decided to come to the Room of Serenity and take a stab at trying to read the crystal ball again. He had two different visions before. It was confusing to him. Maybe his mind was all over the place? It could have been because his girlfriend could be distracting sometimes. Anyways as he made his way into the room, he noticed a few fellow students were here doing homework too! He was glad he wasn't the only one. He saw Adi and Angel and he gave them friendly smiles and waves. He also saw another Gryffindor Kevin was it? No it was. He nodded and took a seat the next table over. He needed to not be distracted this lesson.

As he put his stuff down, he noticed the crystal balls were in the front of the room. He got up and went to go get one. He noticed the swirling colors. He now was getting some tea and try to relax. He saw she had cups and tea bags in the front. Perfect! He went over to go get some. He got his cup filled with hot water in the front and brought the tea bag and cup to his table.

Cool. AJ was okay with just sitting back and watching because she really wouldn't be much help with making the tea anyways. "Show me how it's done." She didn't think that she would be brewing tea regularly, but the spell could be useful down the road. Hmmm... it looked like he had made it more than a few times. Then again, how hard can tea making really be?

"I guess we will see." Hopefully, if he did end up seeing something, he would tell her. Together they could maybe figure out what it meant. She laughed. "I guess I should have figured it out, but I just knew that it couldn't be me considering you flat told me you didn't like me in that way." Things obviously changed.

"I don't need a crystal ball to tell me that." Did that really just fall out of her mouth. Oh well, it was true. He could feel how he wanted to about that little piece of information.

__________________________________

Okay. It was time to relax, focus, and clear her mind of everything. She took one last look at Adi, and then took a sip of tea. She tried to let the warm liquid relax her body as it went down her throat. Slowly her eyes closed. She held on to her cup because the warmness on her hands was oddly relaxing.

Inhale, exhale, and repeat. The majority of her thoughts seemed to slip away. It was really hard to not think of anything at all though. Little things that Adi would say to her would come back into her mind, and she shook her head in an attempt to make them go away. Now was not the time to daydream about the boyfriend.

Taking a deep breath in, she opened her eyes and looked at the crystal ball. So far she didn't see anything at all, but she wasn't going to give up so early. Her eyes stared at the same spot for what felt like forever. Let something come to her, anything.

After getting the hot tea and sitting back down, Kevin waited for the tea to cool off while closing his eyes again. He tried to clear his mind. Get rid of every thought, he thought...wait that was a thought. Thinking about getting rid of every thought was thinking. UGH this was difficult! How could people do this?!

He opened one eye to look at the other students in the room and observed them a bit. Seemed like they had some problem too. And anyways, he wasn't the type to ask for help expect when he really needed it. He opened both his eyes now and took a sip of tea. His tongue burned the moment the tea touched it and his eyes watered up. He blew in the cup before taking another sip and taking deep caaaaaalming breaths.

He didn't realised when but sooner than expected his body started to relax more. He wasn't sitting upright anymore and his shoulders weren't tensed up. Instead he was leaning a bit to the side, supporting his weight with his arm and yawned. If he got even more relaxed he would fall asleep... So the Gryffindor stared at the crystal ball on the table in front of him while placing his chin on the table.

Would he see anything? He doubted it. No wait he had to believe that he would see anything. But the longer he stared the more boring it became. "This is stupid" he mumbled under his breath.

As Kace put his tea bag into his tea cup, he smelled the good smell of just tea. He sniffed it in and it gave him a sense of calm. He kept the crystal ball in the center. Once all set, he closed his eyes and listened to the sound of silence. He was actually more relaxed than in his classroom setting. He relaxed his mind and was getting into his inner eye or whatever the teacher said last class. As he opened his mind and it was clear of thought, his eyes drew him to the center. He was starting to notice something form while his mind was still clear and away from straggling thoughts.

He noticed it was turning yellow, he was starting to see some dirt. Then he saw a house forming? He kept concentrating and breathing in....and out....in and out. He was feeling relaxed as possible. Then it changed and it was getting more prominent. It was shaping into his house from home! His heart was aching because he was a little homesick.

Ian had read the homework assignment on the Divination board. He decided the best thing to do was go ahead and see if he could be successful with the Ball. He headed to the Room of Serenity and try.

He walked into the room and was immediately surprised to see Adi and AJ there. He considered leaving and coming back later, but he needed to get this done. He hated that he had done nothing to contribute to his house's points by skipping out on the class and he needed homework to get it done. He walked quietly over to the bags with balls in them and looked for one that didn't have a name on it. He scanned the bags and was a little startled to see one with his name on it already. There it was Ian Tinker. That was a little creepy. He hadn't even decided to stay until Professor Hadley spoke with him.

He reached out and grabbed the bag and looked for a place at an empty table. He carefully set the bag down and down. He opened the mouth of the bag and saw the ball in the bag and a parchment. He opened the parchment reading a note from the divination professor expressing her knowledge he'd be here. He smiled, believing it less magic and more confidence in him as a student.

His mind was clouded, what with all that had happened recently and the presence of two of the people involved. He closed his eyes and began some deep breathing exercises he had learned from his mum. She had really begun to get into the yoga thing lately and felt he would benefit from the techniques. He began to do the things he had learned in class. He focused on his breathing. In...out....In....out...In....out...and continuing on, trying to clear his mind and focus on the task at hand. It was a challenge, but he was determined to get it done.

Kace thought he saw his house back in Lawrence, Kansas but the image went by as quickly as it came. He decided to do it again. He needed to get more tea. He got up from his seat and got some hot water. He filled up his cup and then got another tea bag and let it soak. He let it cool for a bit and then took a big sip and felt the calming effects already. He smiled and closed his eyes. Man he was gonna fall asleep that is for sure. He was feeling so relaxed from the sun blazing in, smelling the perfumes and just for the room being quiet. He was getting deeper into his mind relaxation. He groggily opened his eyes and it focused on the center.

He saw starting to picture something. He saw a face appear with blonde curly hair, her eyes were nothing like he had seen. They seemed beautiful than before. He saw her smile and bubbly personality. He smiled and knew exactly who it was. He didn't imagine it in class. He really saw Emmy in his inner eye. Well at least he could tell Emmy and he could get some boyfriend points right? He was glad he could see something at least.

Ian began to imagine the gentle breezes coming from the sea toward his home in Northern Scotland. He saw his mum lay out a fresh platter of chocolate chip biscuits to cool on the table and his mum's gentle smiles as he recounted the events of his time at sea with his dad. He could feel the smile across his face imagining home. This didn't help him clear his mind, but it certainly made him more comfortable.

Finally, he focused himself on his breathing again to clear his mind. He opened his eyes and looked at the ball. He tried to remember the things on the note that helped him to understand the process. He started to see a small yellow mist swirling in the ball. He resisted the urge to reach out and pick up the ball and shake it to make the mist swirl more. As soon as he had the thought to pick up the ball, the yellow mist disappeared. Ian's shoulder's slumped and he considered not trying again, but he needed to continue this so he could finish his assignment. He started his breathing exercise again and decided this time to add body relaxations techniques.

"Well, I've change my mind, obviously,'' Adi said in a light tone. "Better late than never, right?'' Sure, it had taken him a good part of last year to realise he really liked AJ and he had been really confused about it back then but things had worked out now. And it couldn't have been better. He grinned at what she aid next. "Well, tell me if you see anything, anyway.'' Adi was interested very much in anyone seeing stuff.
................................

Gazing...

...gazing...

more gazing....

NOTHING.

Where was the stuff he was supposed to be seeing? Adi let out an exasperated sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. This was exactly the kind of thing that made him dislike Divination. But the subject was so fascinating at the same time and that's what made him like it.

The Puffer could feel his mind getting all...uncalm again. Instantly he closed his eyes and did some of those breathing exercises they had done in class. When his eyes had settled on the Ball once again, the gazing continued.

Gaze...

....gaze....

When he entered the room of serenity, Cutty slowly felt the loss of every ounce of stimulation from the antcipation of this meeting drain unit by unit. The scene was so quiet and serene and UNIFORM that he could feel nothing, nothing save uninspired. There was nothing to get into. No immediate entries of mischief and it bored and drained his soul (if he could be said to have one). One thing was for certain, though. The new Divination appointment cared about order and fancied herself a decorating expert of sorts.

Purple. Puh.


"My summeh went well, Professor." He remarked, though omitting the fact that his father had been home and how that had made him feel. His large eyes roamed the room until they stopped on the crystal balls, which he made a bee line for. "Wotofyers, Professor?" He said before taking out his wand and aiming it toward the first ball he saw causing it to levitate on over. This would be the first one he'd be giving a bath to.

Ian continued to breathe deeply and slowly. He began to imagine his toes relax, and then his foot...ankle....calf and up his body. As he took a breath in, he thought about the next part of his body relaxing. After a period of about ten minutes he had reached the top of his head. He felt a wee bit light-headed, but completely and utterly relaxed. He was hesitant to open his eyes because of how relaxed he was and he didn't want any light to intrude on that. He knew though if he was to complete the assignment.

He slowly opened his eyes, focusing on the lower part of the ball facing him. He saw a wisp of yellow begin to lift a tendril up to the top of the ball. As he watched the top of the misty finger rise, he saw it extend like a spider's webs as it separated. Shortly, the whole ball was full of the yellow mist. It was extremely mesmerizing to see the mist swirl to and fro in the ball. He no longer experienced outside stimuli. The world of Hogwarts faded away and his eyes only saw the mist. He was drawn closer to the ball, seeing wavy lines emerge that caused him to squint his eyes, hoping to bring them into focus. As he pushed his head forward however, the mist began to dissapate and as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. The ball was now a crystal of light he could see through that reflected the light of the room.

His eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped and he felt absolutely devastated. He was crushed that he had seemingly gotten so close and yet the image in the ball eluded him. He placed his hands over his face and took deep breaths, trying to calm the disappointment and unexplainable anger he felt at the time. He wondered to himself why the ball would do this to him. Did he not have the requisite amount of sight? Did the ball consider him unable to handle what it held? Ian couldn't quite make sense of it. He really wished he'd been in class. Maybe then he would have been able to understand more about this mysterious magical device.

Tossing her book bag on the floor gently, the first year sat in one of the more comfortable chairs and sighed. Yeah, she didn't want to be here. Yeah, the room was nice or whatever, but Divination was obviously not her THING. She spent the whole class period trying, and it didn't work out at all. All it did was convince her that this class wasn't for the likes of Ophelia. Which sucked. But for some reason, she was here doing homework, which made her feel like she was actually a good person. Maybe for more of that teacher praise stuff that's been going around?

Grabbing a crystal ball, she sighed and set it down, getting some parchment and a pen out of her bag. Yeah, she had given up on quills. They caused too many left handed problems for her and it she was getting tired of seeing ink all over her pale skin. Uggh, all of the time NOT outside was turning her back into a normal Clarke child. Gross.

Anyway, homework time. How did you do this again? She literally spaced out almost all through this class, and the notes the firstie took were vague. Grreeeaat. That was gonna help out a lot.

Taking several quick glances at the people next to her, she decided to see what steps they were following while trying to look as uncreepy as possible. Because maybe this assignment was going to be more interesting than she thought.

Walking into the Room of Serenity, Lux was happy to see that everything looked the same as it had the last time she was here. That was her Valentines Day date with Bay, which hadn't gone so well since stupid Peeves had decided to crash and cause havoc. She still hadn't forgiven him for that.

Smiling and waving at the people already in the room, she headed straight for the crystal balls, grabbing one and placing it on a table near the door. Next, she went to get herself a nice cup of tea to give herself something hot to drink. Hopefully she would have better luck this time, though it had been a little reassuring when Professor Cassie told her that it sometimes took a while; at least she wasn't alone.

Sitting cross-legged at her table, she took a sip of her tea while staring at the ball. She needed to remove all distractions and focus on the positive energy. Placing the cup on the table, she closed her eyes and started doing deep breathing.

Jasmine arrived at the Room of Serenity with bit of reluctance. She wasn't sure whether or not what she had seen in Divination class was real or her imagination. Now she had to give the crystal ball another try and she was afraid. She was afraid of what she might see or what she might not see. It was a no win situation.

Walking over to the shelves, Jasmine found a crystal ball to use and carried it over to one of the little tables. This room seemed rather mellow and comfy, like the Divination classroom. There was the ever present scent of lavender in the air that was not unpleasant. Jasmine sat down on the pillow and tried to get comfortable.

Time to focus. Jasmine started taking deep breaths, trying to empty her mind of thoughts as she exhaled. Closing her eyes, she wanted to see nothing but blackness.....no faces, no places........nothing to interfere with her connection. Jasmine had made sure that she was well rested. There was no way that she was going to fall asleep, so if she saw anything it would be a real vision.......not a dream.

Ian wasn't sure he was in exactly the best state to be trying to get a reading from the crystal ball. He carefully packed his ball back up and returned it to the storage area and smiled to see his name upon the bag.

Having cleaned up the table area he had used, Ian picked up the rest of his items and headed out to descend from the tower and worry a little less about the noble art of divination and more about his current situation and how he could go about making it successfully through the year.

Jasmine practiced some relaxation exercises that she had learned when preparing for a dance performance. Alternately tensing and relaxing her muscle groups one by one, she tried to become as free from stress as she could. When Jasmine had gotten as close to zen as she could possibly get, she opened her eyes. Taking a couple more deep breaths, she stared into the crystal ball. She found a point to focus on and kept looking there, all the while trying to maintain her relaxed state. Jasmine stared at the orb for what seemed like forever. Just when her eyes were starting to blur and random thoughts were threatening to invade her mind, something happened.

Was that the beginning of a swirly mist starting to form inside her ball? Always wondering if her mind or her eyes were playing tricks on her, Jasmine decided to believe that it was real this time. She blinked several times and continued to stare into the crystal ball. Keeping her breathing steady, Jasmine kept looking, determined not to break whatever connection that was developing. As she watched, the mist continued to develop and the ball became cloudy. At one point, her mind began to wander and it appeared that the must was going to fade. Fortunately, she was able to push away the stray thoughts and regain her focus in time. This was incredibly hard work, but Jasmine was determined that if the crystal ball had something to show her, she would see it.

She walked into her Room of Serenity and smiled. It was hard not to smile when she was in here. It was just so peaceful and wonderful. Well that was until she saw Cutty moving. She watched him curiously, did he see something she hadn't?

"Oh my summer was just woooo.....CUTTY!!!"


She moved quickly towards where he was, "Cheese and Crackers please be careful with those. We can not have any broken." Setting down the Crystal Ball she took a deep breath.

"Now this is the special cloth that we use to clean the balls. Now how to clean them it is very important that she do the right hand motion." Holding the purple cloth she moved her hand in a circular motion. "Now start at the top and do the circular motion around the Crystal ball to make sure it is fully clean."

He could do that correctly, right? Oh course he could, her students were all just amazing.

The snake boy stopped what he was doing. Alarm. He recognized alarm in Professor Morgan's voice. He knew the familiar rise in volume and speed from his own mother's voice. She wanted something.

Ohhhh...

There was a way to do it. From the snap cup and just Divination in general, Cutty gathered that Professor Morgan had a soft spot for ritual. So when he took the soft purple cloth into his own hand he did it exactly as she had shown by example. "Of course, Professor Cassie. These things are pretty sensitive, aren't they?" He wondered why, but that wasn't exactly why he'd come. "Soo, yew seem to be enjoying yerself teachin'...Booht, what's the deal with the snap cup before class starts?"

"You mean that you came to your senses." He could call it whatever he liked. The point was that they were together now, and that was all that mattered. She nodded at Adi in agreement. She would tell him whatever she saw just like he would tell her. "You got it." All she had to do now was actually see something. That was the hard part.

_____________________

The first attempt was a complete flop, and it was kind of discouraging because she followed all of the rules, and really tried this time. She peeked over at Adi to see if he was having any more luck that she was. He didn't seem to be in the zone so most likely he was having as much trouble as she was. Was AJ on his mind?

AJ picked up her cup of tea once more and took a huge gulp. She breathed in deep and held it for a minute before exhaling. She did these two steps rather dramatically a few times. Her shoulders would rise and fall, and she was actually feeling a bit more relaxed.

She closed her eyes and once again tried to clear her mind of everything aka Adi. After a few minutes she opened her eyes and stared at the crystal ball. There still wasn't anything to see. No way was she going to give up this easy again. More staring wasn't helping. How could she be sure that people were really seeing anything at all? Maybe her ball was broken.