The curtains were drawn and only a few pumpkins, hallowed out and carved with runes, lit the room. They sat on Ananke's desk and cast flickering orange glows onto the students seated at the black desks and chairs. As the robust red-headed professor walked in front of her desk, a shadow passed across the room as the witch nodded and began speaking, "By now, many of you have been working on understanding the supernatural limitations of the world around you as well as the chaotic circumstances that might offset those limits."

Ananke then reached over and held up one of the ornately carved pumpkins, "Today, you all will all group or pair up, and try and divine an object, belonging to one of your classmates, within those limitations," the witch then threw one of the pumpkins towards one of the desks, but the glowing gourd suddenly slowed its trajectory and began to float and hover above the desk. The fire inside it flared for a moment and then floated inside the pumpkin as well as the older witch began speaking again.

"So, you are attempting to understand the object in regards to its owner," she picked up and tossed a few more pumpkins at the remaining desks, letting them rise and float above the heads of all the students, "Afterwards, you will all then attempt to divine the owner of the object through the object, with the Divination techniques you should  all have found and been comfortable with by now, and also by focusing on a date." Ananke then regarded the students, making sure they were paying attention to instructions before she gave a satisfied nod and added, "You each may no begin procuring an item for classmates. But also---"

The witch then raised and waved her wand and the flames inside the pumpkins took on purple, blue, and green hues, "Can anyone tell me what is so supernaturally peculiar about jack o' lanterns? Or perhaps these ones in particular?" She then sat herself down on her desk and calmly and patiently waited for one of the students to answer.

Alvis stared gloomily up at the jack-o-lantern as it came to rest above his desk. More pumpkins. After Transfiguration yesterday, they were the last things he wanted to see. He'd hoped that Divination would be a break from the constant reminders -- there were only a few fourth-years in the class and most older years didn't know him well enough to connect the rumors, yet -- but with Halloween coming up, he just couldn't escape the darn things. Sigh.

As the Professor's opening lecture continued, Alvis dug through his school bag in search of an object that might suit the class requirements. The blue Affinity Aid he'd been assigned was strapped under his left shoulder, and it shifted from hot to neutral to cold as his fingers brushed from belonging to belonging.

Perhaps he should offer the new pendulum he'd made over the weekend. The Aid grew particularly warm when he picked it up, his magic resonating with the turquoise stone. But...no, that would be too obvious. He'd favored pendulum dowsing more and more since the possessed desks class and, besides, he'd probably need it for the assignment. His notebook, then? No, too ordinary. Maybe the watch his Gran'd given him when he'd got into Hogwarts? It did resonate a bit...

At the bottom of the bag, his hand brushed cold stone. The Affinity Aid went almost a warm as when he'd touched the pendulum. Alvis fished the white carving out of his bag and blinked at it, bewildered. Of course. He'd forgotten he had this...

Professor Cosmos asked a question, startling Alvis out of his own thoughts. Alvis forced his thoughts back to the lecture at hand, glanced back up at the hovering pumpkin, and raised his hand. "Are they possessed? Not like, with Hogwarts ghosts, but...well, jack-o-lanterns are associated with spirits. Will-o-wisps, at least."

---

Naomi sat back in the black padded chair and glanced at Alvis staring up at the pumpkins like they were glowing storm clouds about to break into a downpour. No doubt he was thinking about Transfiguration--it seemed to be the class where Sandusky decided to pick on Ravenclaws--maybe the guy just liked Hufflepuff and Gryffindor more, but it wasn't a subject Naomi cared to divine about.

As Professor Cosmos instructed them on the course of the class Naomi only crossed her arms and stared up at the glowing pumpkins as her green affinity band was wrapped around her arm, lukewarm and snug. What could she give someone else to divine...

At the subject of carved pumpkins Naomi sat herself up straight and pulled long and thick batch of curls over her shoulder, listening to Alvis while she finally had an idea for what she could give someone to divine, "I definitely don't t'ink the lanterns are guides for living beings," Naomi added as she looked from Alvis to the red-headed professor, "But 'dey aren't really mischievous are dey?"

With her eyes still quizzically trained on her professor, Naomi pulled her armful of a python duffle onto the sleek glass surface of the black wicker desks. The bag was gently worn and slightly discolored (hard to see in the dark), currently black at the moment, showing its wear and tear from general roughhousing and magical spells over the past four years. It gave a rough grumbling purr[1] as Naomi ignored it and continued talking.

"And is it 'di same wit' turnips?" the witch then turned back to cast a lazy gaze on Alvis's carved pendulum, while she still responded to the professor's question, "I see some in Ireland."

1.	It's been like this for a while, and was the result of a prank her brother pulled on her bag that she could never undo, so stopped trying

Divination.  This was one of the few classes that Sasha was having a progressively harder time convincing himself he needed to continue taking.  Even though he'd managed to scrap a decent enough grade to get into the NEWT class, his performance had probably been based on a clinical understanding of the technique only. When it came to the actual artistic side of Divination, he floundered. 

And, he'd always been a bit uneasy about the class.  He didn't like sharing the inner secrets of his life with most of his classmates - if he didn't get to pair up with someone he was remotely comfortable with, he was usually too nervous to 'find his inner eye' when it came to his turn. 

So, when Professor Cosmos announced the day's lesson, Sasha immediately cast a pointed and borderline pleading glance in Alvis' direction.  He doubted he'd be allowed to partner with one of the fourth years and he settled himself with the NEWT students.  He turned to rummage through his things in search of an item (that wasn't a textbook) while the class considered the jack-o-lanterns hovering around the classroom. 

"Yes.  They aren't guides for the living, from what I understand.  But, for the dead.  Those, like their namesake, who could neither find their way into the realms of Heaven or the Devil.  Which - would be those who might still roam amongst us.  Like wizarding ghosts?" 

Good chunks of the last few weeks had been devoted to preparing for Halloween night but he'd been planning on using the night of Halloween to communicate with the dead largely for its mythology.  If their theories on the current class discussion were correct, Sasha couldn't help but hope that, maybe, they were on the right path.

Like always Divination was a class that just confused Ayla. She glanced around at her fellow fourth years who seemed eager to add in their two cents in regards to the questions at hand. Ayla however had no idea, the most she knew about Jack o Lanterns were their muggle uses and the odd depiction of the headless horseman either wearing one or using one as a weapon.

She leaned lazily on her hand which was propped up by her elbow, wishing this was one of the classes she could get away with having her pink diary of recipes out in. Instead of answering the question or responding to her classmates responses she decided to focus on the object she would choose for her classmates to divine. Though the whole process of divining an object was still going over her head.

She thought of the little pink diary nestled safely in her bag but figured it would be too obvious, it was rare to see her without it these days. She thumbed the golden ring on her right hand's ring finger, a golden circlet with a round ruby in the middle, on the band itself was a small carving of a wizard on a broom, the ring itself was supposed to look like a chaser sinking a quaffle through a Quidditch hoop. She would have chosen the ring but she didn't exactly want to divulge the origin of that particular piece of jewellery.

Finally her thoughts settled on the topaz amulet that was nestled under her robes. The necklace had been a birthday present from a one time boyfriend. Though the origin of the necklace wasn't far off from that of the ring, her necklace was something she had for almost a year and many of her classmates already knew about it.

Once the students finished making their points Ananke gave a firm nod towards Alvis, "In this case a Will-o-wisp is probably the most appropiate comparison, because jack-o-lanterns will each attract some creature, person, spirit, or other kind of magic in some unique way" then her eyes fell from Naomi to Sasha as she added, "But I wouldn't say they are guides for any person or thing in particular, there are far too many tales, stories, evidence, and strange circumstances to define a jack-o-lantern as such."

"Let's also consider that people can carve out simple pumpkins and  any other vegetables, like turnips, and it still have some magical properties," she cast her stare around the dimly lit room and walked towards the desks as she raised a hand to the glowing gourds, "But that it will only take a magical environment to have such colorful effect," the room flickered with the indigo and green hues accented by dancing shadows as a satisfied grin blossomed on the professor's lips, "And that it is only on Halloween when they will all behave similarly."

She then walked towards the desk where some NEWT students sat and let her firm tone carry through the room, "All right now, everyone get their things out, and decide who will divine what," then she sat herself down by Sasha and gestured for him to get his things out; she didn't miss the pitiful look he gave Alvis earlier, "I will start off with you as my partner, Mr. Schlagenweit," then she let her voice carry through the room again,  "So, for the purpose of our lesson today, let's assume magic is sentient, has a personality, and is capable of leaving a unique part of itself on people, object and places."

She then looked around at the students in the room as the room flickered to a ocean glow, "So if we are to divine something from an object, what could be one of your first steps?"

Chloe sat with the other NEWTS seriously starting to ask herself why she chose this class in the first place. She didn't even really like divination. But, she wanted things to do. So, she decided to take the class. But now, as she sat dormant in the class doodling in the corner of her notebook, she seriously started to wonder about dropping out. Chloe was barely paying any attention. She was bored. This class was boring.

She watched as the professor droned on and on about objects. They were going to have to pair up. They were going to divine each other's objects. So, now, Chloe had something to think about. What object would it be? Sure, she had plenty of personal objects that she kept in her room, but something she carried around with her? Now that was hard. It had to be something that would have a good story. She could always do a paintbrush, or something art related.

Maybe one of the 24 Crayola crayons she had on her, or something like that. Nope. Well, maybe. The teacher asked a question. But she honestly didn't care. So, she sat there. And doodled in her notebook.

Everything still felt different here, Damien couldn't get used to any of it. The classroom was much different than the one back home, and it just felt like it was messing with him. He absolutely loved Divination, it was one of his favorite classes. Even with all of the discrepancies, he still felt at ease in the classroom.

He paid attention to the teacher, eyes trained on her and ears waiting for every word, every instruction. Damien began wondering what he could use as an object. He thought through what he had in his bag, what he was wearing, anything that could be useful for the class. Normally he was so prepared, but he just didn't know what he would use.

Absentmindedly, he reached up for his necklace. Well, it wasn't really a necklace. It was a pendant; the earth, a rope, and eagle, an anchor. It was the symbol for the United States Marine Corps. His dad was a Marine, and when Damien was seven, and his dad went on his second tour overseas, he gave the pendant to Damien. He said that no matter what, it would protect him and that if he didn't come back home, then if he wore the necklace, he'd always be with him.

It was a very significant thing for Damien, and he reached up to take it off and slip it out from under his robes. It glistened in the dim light, still shiny and good as new. He looked around for a partner, noticing a girl sitting near him, completely oblivious to the rest of the lesson. She was doodling in her notebook, not a care in the world obviously.

He leaned across the table, "Excuse me. Would you like to be partners? I think everyone else has paired up..." Damien trailed off, the question hanging in the air. He outstretched a hand, "I'm Damien by the way. I don't think we've met before. I'm from Salem."

Chloe looked back at the guy who had just asked her to be partners. "Sure." She said with a smile. She took his hand. "I'm Chloe Harris. I hope you're good at this." She joked. It was a true joke. She was confused on what she was doing. He seemed like he was tuned in, by the way he was acting in class; his eyes trained on the teacher.

"So," She said. "What's your object?" Chloe was attempting to make conversation about something she wasn't even crazy about.

Professor Cosmos selected Sasha for her partner. Good. The corners of Alvis's mouth twitched into a relieved smile. He'd caught the pleading glance as well, and more. Really, if the class made him so uncomfortable, then Sasha probably shouldn't be taking it -- lord knows his workload was heavy enough already -- but trying to get that through the sixth-year's head was like trying to do the same, literally, with a text book.

Alvis glanced between his fellow fourth-years, trying and failing to get up the nerve to approach a partner. He held his chosen offering, a carved white stone, in both palms. The stone was ovid and roughly the size of a chicken egg, three-quarters-of-an-inch thick at its center, with one flat edge so it could sit on a table without rolling off. Its rounded carving bore the shape of a bird with its head lowered in sleep and its wings tucked close. It might have been a dove, except for the tail feathers that wrapped around the bottom half of the stone, so long that its head used their fluffy tips for a pillow. Alvis knew it to be a caladrius, the name he'd remembered the name back in the tomb. He wondered if any of the others would know it.

"So," said Professor Cosmos, "if we are to divine something from an object, what could be one of your first steps?"

Alvis pursed his lips thoughtfully, setting his stone on the table where the others could reach it. "Well, objects acquire value based on what people ascribe to them, which can lead to a build of magic. So, I'd start by figuring out what significance it has with its owner." Alvis could figure that sort of thing out with a cursory examination, a little concentration, and a good view of the person's face, but he guessed that the Professor would want him to, er, 'show his work.'

"It starts with how well they treat it, like the condition it's in or whether it's been maintained, especially if it's got working parts. Where it's kept is important too, like, that things they carry all the time or wear close to their heart, or hide somewhere with a lot of protection. That all says something. How willing they are to let a stranger touch or see it, that's important too. It gives you a place to start with, at least."

Divination under Professor Cosmos was usually very intriguing, what with possessed desks and scrying unknown knowledge. The first thing was finding an object although Ligeia felt that she had nothing interesting enough in her schoolbag. Her crossbow and repaired shrunken head was in her room and any artistic piece of taxidermy or her joke cracking skull ashtray was back home. Anything else in her bag was mundane school materials with her frequent mentions of divination.

However, a brief search found something surprising. Ligeia did not remember leaving it in her bag for how rarely it was used.[1] She laid out a quill on the table. Long, a black that was nearly dark red, a rather stiff feather and a dangerously sharp point.

"How has the meditation been coming along with your divination skill?" she asked Elijah Grimlish conversationally as her fellow Ravenclaw was sitting close.

1.	last use in correspondence

Neely loved fewer things more than being invited to look at the contents of another’s purse. Those spreads in seasonal issues, showcasing what stars kept in their clutches while out on the town, were made for Cornelia Woolfolk. It was as if the professor understood her needs and desires-- of course, that was what a true Diviner did. She offered the professor a pearly, sweet-child-in-ribbons smile, tinged with the maturity and knowingness that everyone knew Neely Woolfolk possessed. It was a confident precursor to a perfect O if Neely ever knew one. (If she wasn't always confident about her marks, if she was, at turns, rather nervous about proving herself academically, that was not something she expected anyone to divine.)

As soon as she heard they would be partnering up, the small Slytherin sat up a little taller (her posture, of course, was perfect). Her eyes scoured the room, making giant, invisible NO signs across many a face, mostly younger students with whom she would not be forced to partner, anyway (Naomi Foley had potential, but she wasn’t a N.E.W.T. student). She spotted Sophie[1], and leaned slightly in the girl’s direction. “Sophie!” She called, a sort whisper-shout-chirp. Neely beckoned forth the Gryffindor with white-coated fingernails (white in autumn was chic now, none of that passe keep it in the summer nonsense). Neely’s face relaxed into an adorable, inviting grin, all bunched cheeks and I’m going to divine you, as she blindly reached forward, shoved her books a half-foot away from herself, and forced the younger student sitting nearest from his seat. If he needed a more obvious ‘move,’  she could oblige.

What would Sophie give her to divine? Neely was thrilled at the prospect. One could tell so much about a person by the jewelry they wore, the things they kept in their school bags, the bags themselves. These innate talents of Neely’s were probably a part of the reason she was so good at Divination. It also ran in the family. Astrid’s abilities bordered on creepy.

But the small task of producing her own belonging was a little more... laborious. Neely had good taste, and was proud to show off what she owned, but it had to be something that confirmed she was a very skilled Divination student. She wanted to make sure the object spoke to her (and Sophie, who would be interpreting it after all), and about her. Could she offer her entire purse? No, no. She would have to choose one thing.

Her fingers dug through the bag in her lap until she found what she was looking for, a fragile, creamy antique compact mirror inherited from her grandmother, its pearly exterior inlaid with silver where the edges met. She pulled it from the bag with two cupped hands, keeping it in her lap as she waited for Sophie to join her and listened to students offer answers to the professor's question.

She leaned toward the Gryffindor in the colluding way of teenage girls. They were not exceptionally close, but they were friends, got on well, and usually had fun together; Neely expected this partnership to be fun, a lot more than it would be with one of the fourth or fifth years, or more tepid students. (Though Neely was very good at taking charge of those groups.) “Let’s do yours first.”

1.	this was planned

Ah sometimes Divination was just uncomfortable for people--Ananke noticed one of the NEWT students was an odd man out, and there were only so many people who would take Theo Whitman in their stride. Schlagenweit would probably not appreciate her leaving him alone with the Slytherin so he gestured for one of the younger years[1] to join him, and then Ananke's steely gaze landed on Chloe.

As soon as she saw the student doodling in her notebook Ananke quickly flicked her wand and Chloe's notebook and quill jumped away from the Ravenclaw and in front of the professor. Then, without saying another word to the girl she picked up the quill and began drawing her own doodles in the notebook, "Possible, Mr. Norling, that is one way. And since none of your other classmates offered a suggestion--"

The red-head then lifted her eyes from the book as she let her voice carry through the room, "Let's see how well it works--everyone sit down and pay attention," a red eyebrow arched over Ananke's condescending stare as she cast it towards Chloe, before looking to make sure everyone else had picked up partners or gathered into groups. Then she put down the quill and leaned onto the notebook as she turned towards Sasha, "Mr. Schlagenweit, an object," she gestured towards him and then nodded towards the table, "If you please."

1.	Naomi Foley

Sophie was mildly relieved to hear Neely pssting at her. She looked at the round faced blonde with a small smile and situated herself in the desk next to the other girl before flipping open her bag and and staring down into the contents. She never could decide how she felt about Professor Cosmos or her teaching style. It was abrupt and demanding, but effective in being memorable. After their assignment with the possessed desks she was a little apprehensive about the idea of spirits and guides. Her Seer mojo already having been thrown off by the upcoming holiday.

The contents of her bag were not particularly personal; text books, quills, her tarot cards, a few folded notes that had been passed between she and Deus ages ago and she'd never gotten around to throwing out... she frowned, attention split between the professor/Sasha, and her search for something to give the eager blonde. The locket around her neck would be too obvious, it had been her mother's and that was not a path she could go down today. Instead she slid the worn gold band from her middle finger. It had belonged to Nana Flickwick and passed down from Seer to Seer in the family until it came to rest on Sophie's dainty little hand over the summer.

The shape had always reminded her of a crescent moon[1], filled with a row of little pearls, a single tiny diamond placed in the center. It was all very symbolic for Sophie (the diamond representing the wearer, the pearls being those who had come before) but would Neely be able to tell all that? A part of her worried the other girl might find the aged pieced of jewelry distasteful, it certainly wasn't like anything the stylish blonde seemed to wear... besides the meaning was all made up in her head. It wasn't as if Nan had ever told her it was supposed to mean anything significant, it was just a trinket passed from one Flickwick to another. Still, Sophie nervously set it before Neely, though her eyes stayed on the Professor and Sasha.

1.	description based on this ring

As usual, Sasha took dutiful notes as those around him spoke and gathered their items.  The artful element of Divination usually eluded him but, as always, he typically managed to do well enough on the clinical, technical aspect of the class' academics.  His saving grace.  Without his strong study skills, Sasha would have failed out of divination years ago. 

Sasha looked up, clearly startled when the professor sat opposite him, declared him her partner and requested a Divination object.  He was certain he didn't relish the idea of the professor, obviously an expert in the field, delving into his thoughts.  There were far too many secrets tucked away in the recesses of his mind.  But, of course, resisting would only draw further attention and that wouldn't help. 

"Yes, ma'am," Sasha agreed when the professor pointedly requested an object.  He leaned over and fished in his bag, shuffling past the far too obvious items: textbooks, quills, notebooks and other study equipment.  The meaning behind those could be divined from within the depths of the bag. 

Sasha was about as prone to emotional displays as a peacock was prone to slouching so he wasn't exactly in the habit of carrying around memorabilia or keepsakes.  In fact, there really wasn't anything not academics-related in his bag.  Except, he supposed, a homemade bookmark.  The Ravenclaw tugged his well-worn copy of Franz Kafka's Die Verwandlung[1] from his bag and flipped it open to the length of braided thestral hair, collected from brushes after several grooming sessions, that served as a bookmark. 

"Will that work?" he asked, setting it on the table between them.

1.	The Metamorphosis