 Rhibear ~ Madam Solo ~ Dark Brooding Girl ~ Accio Jedi ~ Gryffinclaw ~ Just a doll
Tina spent the next couple of minutes dangling her pendulum in front of her, admiring the way the green stone glinted in the fire light, until Professor Sutton moved on to the next activity. Of course, she'd read the chapter on pendulum divination in her textbook before coming to class, so she had some idea about calibration. But it was still nice to see it in action... easier to tell when you're doing it right that way. Tina watched the professor's demonstration intently So, calibration was basically asking the pendulum known yes/no questions until you got a consistent movement to indicate a particular answer? Okay, that sounded pretty straightforward.
Tina took out a piece of parchment and neatly labeled three sections for yes, no, and undecided/inconclusive. Now came the fun part, the actual calibration. She held up her pendulum and asked quietly, “Am I Desiree Marchand?” The pendulum slowly moved front to back. So that must be a no. Tina started to write down her findings, but her pendulum was still moving, this time in a counterclockwise circle. Now she was confused. Did both of those movements mean no? She'd better try again to be sure!
“Do I have green eyes?” she asked, watching the pendulum intently. This time it started swinging left to right. What? Tina frowned. She needed less movement possibilities, not more of them! When she looked back at her pendulum, it had once again fallen into a counterclockwise circular motion. Maybe the clockwise circle meant no, and the other movements were just a coincidence? Tina hoped so! She really didn't want to have to repeat the cleansing process, especially after she'd worked so hard to make her pendulum look like the Bellefeuille leaf!
She decided to give one more “no” question a go. “Am I in Gryffindor?” she asked. For a moment, she wondered if that hadn't been the best question to ask, as the hat very nearly did put her in Gryffindor until she asked it not to, but she breathed a silent sigh of relief when the pendulum spun in a counterclockwise circle. So it seemed safe to say a counterclockwise circle meant no. Thank Merlin! Now she could move on to the next thing.
Tina took a moment to think of a good “yes” question, something less basic than “Am I…?” She had it! "Is my cat's name Nemesis?” she asked, smiling slightly as the pendulum bobbed up and down. That movement was kind of funny! It almost looked like the pendulum was nodding. She hoped that was her sign for yes, but she had to test it again to be sure. “Was I born in France?” she asked, and again the pendulum made he up and down “nodding” motion. Good, at least the yes part had been easy!
Tina looked at her notes again after writing down the yes movement. Now how was she supposed to determine what movements meant “undecided/inconclusive”? Ask the pendulum questions she didn't know the answer to, and any movement other than the ones she marked as “yes” or “no” meant inconclusive? She'd give that a go and see if that worked, but first she needed to think of a question… and there was one in particular that had been weighing on her mind since she left Beauxbatons. “Will Cassius Rosier ever get what's coming to him?” she whispered under her breath, hoping nobody would hear. The last thing she needed was for Professor Sutton to overhear and draw the wrong conclusions!
Tina watched the pendulum intently, secretly hoping to see it bob up and down, but it didn't. Her heart sank. She took up divination to get some certainty about her future, not be even more confused by it! Instead of bobbing, the pendulum drifted lazily from left to right. So that meant inconclusive, right? Well, she supposed that was something. If she couldn't have the answer she wanted, at least she got one that helped her with her assignment!
__________________ Old voices I had thought long since dead whisper of another life I might have led
If I could take that second chance, If I could make my life anew, If only dreams came true... |