Cillian hustled around the Divination tower. Unfortunately in the January weather the windows didn't provide as much heat as they did in earlier months, with the sun hiding most days. Cillian stoked the fire some more making sure the tower room was warm and comfortable without being stifling. The short little Irish man was sporting his usual jeans, t-shirt and dinner jacket, today of a soft golden brown color. With the fire blazing adequately he began to scrawl on the chalkboard that stood next to his favourite perch, the endtable next to the highback armchair that he was supposed to sit in.

On the chalkboard there was three bullet points:

• History of Tarot
• Major Arcana
• Minor Arcana

Cillian watched as the students began to file in. He smiled to each of them and took up his usual spot crossed legged on top of his small wooden endtable, "Welcome back e'eryone, hope ye all had a good Holiday."

It was the middle of the morning, first day of classes.  To say entering the classroom and finding his seat had been a surreal experience was an understatement.  It had been in this class Sasha had been sitting when, six weeks ago, a scrawny third year had poked his head through the door to ask Sasha to see himself to the Headmistress' office.  If Sasha had had any idea what lay in store when he'd climbed down that ladder, maybe he could have done something different.  Run and hid in his room.  Gone to Professor Frasier for help.  Swallowed his pride and begged and pleaded with the Headmistress to let him stay at school.  Something.  Anything.

But, he hadn't known.  In fact, he hadn't had a clue.  Ironic, considering the class.  It didn't help mattters that the last time Sasha had seen Professor Cuthbert had been when Sasha was declaring his transfer to a muggle school over an entirely awkward dinner at Professor Bombay's residence. 

Saying Sasha wanted to be here was a complete and utter lie.  He'd never been fond of Divination - the subject made no sense and it had, apparently, never agreed with him, either.  And now, more than ever, the concept of Divination just didn't sit well with him.  And, those he'd willingly choose to sit with in this class were dreadfully few and far between. Knight, Harper, and Tawse were obvious nos.  Neely now was likely a no though he couldn't resist a curious glance in the Slytherin's direction.

But, in the end, he'd decided not to chance it.  Settling himself at a table near the edge of the room, Sasha was careful to make sure the cloud-banked window, not an unwelcome classmate, flanked at least one side of him.  Hopefully, fate would actually give him the benefit of a partner he wanted to work with. 

He avoided the Professor's gaze as the man looked around the room.  The question Sasha likewise ignored.  After all, this was Divination.  The Professor should know the answer to that. 

Sophie was freezing. The long walk across the commons with bare knees had not agreed with her. Of course that was the trouble with being a girl, in order to be stylish one often had to sacrifice comfort. Her red jumper - while stylish was not much defense against the cold. Her teeth were chattering as she climbed the ladder into the Divination classroom, and tried not to smile too brightly. For Sophie no other classroom felt so much like home. The room was small obviously and gave off a very cozy feel - but it was here that she felt she most understood even in her lack of understanding. The principles of Divination, her visions, this was the only place she didn’t find them terrifying. Alone in her room - whether at home or trying not to wake her dorm mates, she felt she had no protection. Here, with her mind at ease she could welcome whatever it was that needed to come to her.

Glancing at the board she felt more contentment form all the way down to her tiny toes curled in her shoes. Tarot was, without a doubt, her most prolific talent in Divination. She’d spent a great deal of the break working with Nana Flickwick and the cards - well at least after the whole world had gone cockeyed at the stupid Mixer and she lost the desire to speak to most people. Hiding out in her grandmother’s room had been the only comfort Sophie had been able to find when she and Fauna quit talking. Then there had been New Years and that was another fiasco entirely - though not an unbearable one. Sitting toward the middle of the room, cross legged on an ottoman, she smoothed out her skirt, and started digging through her bag. She had a recently blessed set of Tarot cards Nana had given her and couldn’t wait to give them a proper working over with Professor Cuthbert.

Divination would be much more enjoyable if they didn't have such a puff running the class. It was like taking lessons from Ferguson Bloody Amherst. They needed more dignified professors around this place. Ones who weren't still wet behind the ears. And he dressed so... inappropriately. A professor ought to be wearing proper robes- not blue jeans. What the hell? Callum grumbled loudly as he dropped into his seat.

There weren't very many students gathered- but he did notice that Schlagenweit was back. He was the worst attention whore. He was the new Harry Potter. All he wanted was to be in the media and try to gain sympathy. Not from Callum. Callum fully intended to continue to make the Ravenclaw's life hell- regardless of what the media said about him. The filthy partbreed didn't belong in their school.

His holiday had hardly been enjoyable. Not with the whole crap he was having to deal with as far as Imogen was concerned. Really, who had arranged marriages anymore? His parents could have at least chosen someone his own age...

Xavier entered the tower classroom with little notice to anyone around him. He hadn't spent time with anyone on the train back to Hogwarts - much to Bella's dismay as she let him know with a well placed hex - and had been quiet as he settled into his dormroom the night before. Thankfully none of his friends had asked about the bandages on his hands. He doubted he would have told them anyways, none of them would have understood anyways.

He settled into a seat near the window and away from most of the people he usually sat with. His cold grey blue eyes ran over the words on the chalkboard. He actually believed in the predictions one got when using Tarot cards, as long as they used the right deck. He had one he had been using since his third year, blessed it himself and consulted it every once and a while when things didn't seem to make sense.

He looked over those gathered for the class and rolled his eyes before looking out of the window. Normally he would have enjoyed the class. Normally he would have been thrilled by the aspect of delving further into the practice of divination that he used himself on a fairly regular basis but ever since running into his father again nothing seemed normal anymore. His life at Hogwarts, his love for Bella, even his joy of being around his friend wasn't working for him.

Percival Archibald Dervish...poor guy.  He was chilled to the bone, but at least he'd filled out a little bit recently which actually did help against the cold.  Still...Percy was simply cold natured and had to dress in multiple layers.  This was one of the reasons that Percy didn't mind wearing the wizarding robes, but actually appreciated them.  Yet another shield against the bitter cold that sometimes lashed out at Hogwart's.

Professor Cuthbert was one of the most relaxed professors that Percy had ever encountered.  Everything about the man was relaxed.  This seemed to decrease pressure sometimes, but Percy wasn't really certain how to interact with the man as it was too much like a genuine social interaction.  Now if it had been a strictly professor to student conversation, Percy would have been fine...but not when Cuthbert spoke in such a casual tone and had such a cool air about him.  It was intimidating and stifled Percy.  Maybe if the professor was more rigid and "professional" as Callum was hoping for, Percy would have felt more comfortable.  As Cuthbert inquired as to the holiday...Percy nodded somewhat, thinking that his awkward cupcake kissing incident was not so horrible a fate to suffer and he'd had no real problems.  Percy nodded and stifled an instinctive response to ask how Professor Cuthbert's holiday had been in exchange.  Being too polite was considered kissing up...and that was the last type of image Percy wanted.


It seemed everyone had run into troubles or at least aggravations recently...Percy wasn't up on these items of news however.  Percy saw his good friend Sasha and smiled faintly, but Sasha looked to be in another world entirely.  Percy's smile faded a bit and his brown eyes drifted about the room before falling upon Sophie Flickwick.  Sophie had a notorious affection for embarrassing Percy, but at this moment Percy found himself staring at her.  She really was a beautiful girl...even if she did have to mother him to bits.  She was nice.  Fun.  Funny.  Maybe he'd be able to utter a syllable to her...Percy opened his mouth...but...no.  No syllables came.

It was a chilly day to be in the tower for Divination.  Evelyn Pascal was certain to dress warm, knowing it would most likely be quite cold there.  She took her time making it up to the classroom, and settled in her usual seat, somewhat away from the others, especially Callum, in the back corner.  Evie wasn’t looking forward to Tarot readings, but hoped that she would be able to do it well.  She normally enjoyed Divination, which was why she was able to tolerate the cold and walk up to the tower.

Once settled, she pulled out a set of cards her mother had given her.  Evie thought the art on them was quite beautiful, and hoped they would work for her, given the correct training.  Professor Cuthbert would hopefully be able to give her that training.  Despite his lack in a proper fashion sense, Evie believed him capable in the art of Divination.  Setting up her table area, she waited for the directions for their lesson.

As the class began to file and settle in Cillian got to his feet and greeted those that had answered his own greeting. Many of the students had simply given a smile or soft murmurs in regards to his well wishes about their holidays. He was able to tell just from body language which of them truly meant it. It seemed the Slytherin boys were a little more disgruntled than usual but frankly that wasn't Cillian's area of expertise, he could leave the teenage angst to that Wickwood woman. As long as it didn't disrupt his classroom he really couldn't care less.

"Fer thee next lil while we'll be learnin bout thee practice o' tarot. Often one o' thee mos notable an' recognizable practices within Divination tarot has a long history tha' dates back to thee 15th century. Fer centuries Tarot cards have bin used in many countries cross Europe." He paced the front of the classroom his soft hazel eyes moving from one student to another, "What mos people don' know, an' mos wizards won' admit, is tha' Tarot cards weren' used fer Divination till the 18th century - a whole three hundred years afta they were firs created."

He settled himself back onto his regular perch - his wooden end table - sitting cross legged and looking out at the class, "When they were created in thee mid 15th century they were created by muggles. They were used for card games like Italian Tarocchi. Muggles created them an' used them fer entertainment. Now because Tarot was created by muggles there's very lil information on thee origins o' how it went from a simple card game to a form a divination predictin' thee path o' ones soul. Many wizards o' thee time were ashamed tha they hadn't come up wit it themselves an' alot o' thee information regardin' it's origins have bin wiped clean from thee history books. So I'm not goin' ta have ye do an assignment on thee origin part o' tarot history since there's not much fer ye ta find. I've spent almost a decade researchin' it an' I've barely come up with anything.

However what I did manage ta find was this. In 1704, Cyrus Liverich, a notable Diviner, found a group o' men playin' a game in an Italian pub. He sat in a few games wit 'em an' noticed thee significance o' thee cards. While the muggles believed they were jus a pack o' cards ta play fun games wit, Cyrus was able ta notice thee possible spiritual connection these cards had. He spent thee rest o' his natural born life travellin' across Europe trackin' down as many different variations o' these cards as he could an' bringing his findin's back to thee wizarding world. Many thought Cyrus was a crack pot but eventually, slowly mind, Tarot became more an' more prominent in wizarding society, especially amoung those tha practiced Divination."

"Now how many o' ye are familiar wit using Tarot? Have ye perhaps used it yerself or have a family member that relies on thee spiritual connection the cards hold?"

Callum raised his hand. "I have used Tarot cards before. I have relatives in my family who are seers, and they have all told me that I possess a special talent for these things. I'm certainly not a seer by any means, but I have a gift. She taught me how to use them when I was younger. She refuses refuses to do anything or make any decisions without consulting her tarot cards," he stated.

"She told me that if you don't have the gift, then they don't work right. And that you have to seriously focus on whatever you're seeking help with. You can't just expect it to work without putting any effort into it. That's why when Muggles have tarot cards, they aren't always accurate. No magical inkling there."

"Excellent." Cillian smiled widely glad that Knight had supplied a great answer, one that wasn't argumentative in the least. He had to admit that the other Professor's opinions of the boy were started to rub off on him. Aside from their first day Callum had been a good student. He had always gotten his work done on time and clearly had a thorough knowledge of the subject. He was actually probably one of Cillian's best students, "Mr. Knight is correct. Even muggles tha use tarot fer divination purposes nowadays 'ave a hard time connectin' properly ta them because o' their lack o' magic. Tarot can be seen as one o' thee more accurate o' Divination techniques, one tha even non seers can become very proficient in."

"Fer today we'll be goin' ova thee Major an' Minor Arcana. By thee end o' these classes I wan' all o' ye ta 'ave made yer own deck. Ye'll find tha' one ye've made yerself will 'ave thee best connection ta ye an' give ye thee best results."

He looked over the class again before continuing on, "Now can anyone tell me wha thee Major an' Minor Arcana are?"

Sophie glanced up and happened to catch Percy looking at her - a slightly confused look puzzled her features for a moment before she raised her hand and wiggled her fingers, offering a small smile. When Professor Cuthbert began to speak she shifted her eyes to him. All of this was sort of a…review for Sophie. She tried not to sigh - realizing that not everyone had a Seer and Tarot expert for a grandmother and maybe some people hadn’t learned about this before they could walk. Sophie had always - even as a toddler been fascinated with the Tarot. Nan loved to tell stories about how many hours Soph would spend looking at the pictures, using them as chew toys, and every so often handing one over that had a particular significance that could be discerned. 

When it became obvious that no one was going to speak up she slowly raised her hand, “If we look at a Tarot deck like regular playing cards the Minor Arcana are like the regular suits - but instead of spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs we have coins, wands, cups and swords,” chewing the inside of her cheek she reached into her bag and withdrew the new deck her Nan had given her for Christmas as she continued, “The Major Arcana are a set of  twenty-two cards which make up another suit in game play. They’re a trump card basically”.

Without having shuffled her deck the major were at the top, and soon all twenty-two were laid out in front of her, “In terms of Divination they are believed to symbolize deeper significance or higher purpose while the minor are related more closely to the everyday world and things of immediate significance,” she had to stop herself then from going into what each card meant. She could talk for hours about it. Reading the cards for fun was something she and her sisters had done for as long as they could remember - and her father honestly would not make any decision before consulting them. He wouldn’t read for himself because it was considered sort of taboo, at least in her family.

A smile sat on the young Irishman's face as he listened to Sophie. Her and Astrid were his prized students. He was happy to see the next generation of seers and was eager to offer his help and guidance to them. He'd hate to see anyone go through the trouble he did when he was first developing his ability. Then again neither woman had to deal with the sort of morbid, torturous visions that Cillian had to endure. It wasn't easy being a thirteen year old Seer at the peak of Voldermort's reign.

"Correct Ms. Flickwick, but don' be holdin' out on us." He gave the girl a wider smile and a nod of his head encouraging her on, "I know ye know more'n tha'. Feel free ta elaborate." He lifted his gentle hazel eyes to the rest of the class, "Unless anyone else wants ta tell us thee significance o' thee different Major Arcana."

As much as he wanted to encourage Sophie to share her knowledge he was also curious of whether any of his other students knew the material already. If they were familiar it made teaching them a lot easier than if they had no idea. He didn't want to spend too much time on the subject given how close their OWLs were. Although he doubted his ability to teach young students he wanted to make sure they were as ready for their Ordinary Wizarding Levels as they could be.