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The History of Magic classroom had been temporarily re-done; the room was shaded and dimly lit, and three large round tables were placed in the center of the room. The tables were covered with cloth, but it was mostly done out of care for the different artifacts placed on each table (a bowl of currency, a batch of arrows, and some medallions, respectively) rather than for ambient purposes.

The board simply read:
 

History of Divination and Understanding the Past Through Divining Techniques

There can only be, at most, two Divination students per table, and other students may sit where they please. Everyone may take one object per table, while the Divination students handle the remainder.

Ananke waited patiently as the students filed in and took their seats, while her old mentor, now colleague, Austerlitz stood by her with her  hawk-like stare zeroed in on each one, until they all were finally seated.

"Hello," the red-headed professor spoke with a chipper tinge in her didactic tone, "For those of you who don't know, I'm the new Divination Professor here at Hogwarts, Professor Cosmos," she gave a terse nod and stepped forward towards the tables with her palms pressed together.

"I approach the subject quite differently than past professors, for example," she raised a hand toward the board, "We will be doing an exercise today that will give each group their own perspective of the past. For reading events that have already happened, there are a lot of..." She let her gaze peer at the ceiling contemplatively as she shrugged her brows up and let herself admit, "Supernatural forces surrounding them, and with objects from said event, or time period, as well with you lot being in groups," she lowered her gaze as she looked around at the room, sizing up the students, "you all should get plenty more sensory signs than you would for, say looking at a cup of leaves," her voice, besides being mildly jovial, was deathly serious, and no smile cracked tugged at her lips at the utterance of the comment.

"It should prove to be interesting," she let her head bob in another nod as she continued, "Now, to begin, does anyone know more about these objects?"[2] Ananke didn't think that was too difficult to guess, from what Austerlitz told the Divination Professor about her recent focus on Oriental history, and someone who was a particularly aware Divination Student or just a bright student, in general, could be capable of figuring it out on their own.

1.	Divination students are in pink
2.	There is information on the polyvore link about the objects.

Professor Austerlitz stood a few paces before Ananke Cosmos, watching the students file in with hawk-like eyes and a stone-set expression. The younger Divination teacher was a previous student of Hildegarde back in her scholarly days, and she was adamant that her induction into Hogwarts would be smooth and unproblematic. Students had a habit of taking new professors for a ride, and plenty fell at the first hurdle when fifteen year old vultures were involved. A blend of the academic would be an interesting avenue for the fifth years, and laying down the lay with Professor Cosmos was a must; just because the woman was a seer didn't mean she was a pushover. Professor Austerlitz would be more than happy to eject any trouble-makers.

The faculty newcomer was considerably more cheerful than her History of Magic counterpart, and Professor Austerlitz merely trotted around the classroom slowly, heels clicking and arms folded. Overlooking a select few, she nodded slowly in agreement with everything Ananke said. "The work we've devised today goes arm-in-arm with our study of the Oriental, and what better way to unearth their practices than to perform them ourselves?" As usual, her tone was cold, hard and uncompromising, but at least the wizened academic was providing an alternative to the usual 'textbook/discussion' approach.

Professor Cosmos pitched a question the class, and Hildegarde had made her way to the opposite side of the classroom, looking around for any raised hands. It'd be interesting to see how their behaviour differed in a more practical lesson like Divination. As a historian, Professor Austerlitz was somewhat dubious of some future-predicting spells, but Ananke was the real McCoy. Her experience and talent was not to be sniffed at.

Xavier was not Happy.

True to his word the Slytherin had not set foot in the History of Magic classroom since he had stormed out in January. He had already resigned himself to trolling out on his OWL (if he even bothered to take it) Unfortunately the new Divination Professor saw fit to join their classes and so Xavier was forced to enter a room he swore he would never step foot in for the rest of his Hogwarts days. However instead of cowering he set his cool grey blue eyes on Austerlitz just to let the old witch know that he still wasn't intimidated by her.

He had chosen to sit at a desk as far from both Professors as possible. Though he was a regular participant in Divination (Grimlish had been a psuh over and Cuthbert had just been mental) Xavier refrained from answering Comos' question. His jaw was set and his arms were crossed. His glare at the older Professor almost dared her to hex his desk again. At least this time he knew he wasn't going to be caught bickering with Callum.

Despite everything that had happened the two were back on amiable ground. Though they weren't as close as they once were, being on the Quidditch team had helped mend some of the broken bonds they shattered when Callum had broken Xavier's face in.

Peyton was not a Divination student, when he had picked his electives back in the third year he had chosen ones that he thought he could do at least a decent job in, which had led to him picking Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies. However he wasn't exactly a model History of Magic student either. He often forgot dates and tended to mix up the names of important wizards. With OWLs on the horizon Peyton had been stepping it up a few thousand notches but still HoM eluded him. He was lucky if he managed to end the class this year with a P. Thankfully he would be allowed to drop the class after this year.

His only saving grace for the past few months of History had been the fact that his brooding psycho brother had decided to drop out of the class early. While Xavier hadn't tried to beat him up since he had returned back from his two week disappearance Peyton wasn't about to forget the beating he had gotten over Christmas holidays (not to mention the many black eyes and split lips over the last five years) He simply didn't trust the Slytherin. His heart sank as he watched Xavier enter the classroom and he suddenly wasn't so sure about the wisdom in combining classes.

He turned his attention to the front of the class trying to form a decent answer to the question asked. Even if he looked like an idiot doing it at least he would have tried, "Umm well they all look like they're from around the 1300's maybe early, probably 1200's actually." He leaned closer to the bowl of coins in front of him suddenly more interested in inspecting the coins than actually finishing his answer to the new Professor.

Liviana was a fair student in all of her chosen courses; History of Magic bored her to tears but she had an excellent memory or even if Austerlitz was a psychotic old bat with a penchant for the dramatic (i.e. slamming desks into the ceiling) so long as you paid attention and didn't act an ass, her lessons were survivable. Divination, on the other hand, was far more enjoyable. It had been Liv's guilty pleasure class - and an excuse to have a lesson with two of her very favorite people Mimi and Neely. Also Grimlish had been hilariously off beat and kooky. Of course now they had yet another new professor. She was surprised anyone even bothered learning their names anymore; it was such a regular occurring to walk into a familiar room and see a completely different face than you had just last lesson.

Noting both the scowl on Xavier's face and her general annoyance for what a moronic Ravenclaw Wentworth actually proved to be Livi opted for table three; offering both professors a sweet smile and nod as she passed. Just because she secretly hated Professor Austerlitz she never gave the woman cause to attack her. It had been an early lesson in the Wiedman household; it was better to stay on the good side of power hungry people - and Hildegarde did love to lord her power over her students. Liv couldn't decide what sort of learning experience she'd get from Cosmos but it was sure to prove interesting. She found it rather hard to believe that the History of Magic Professor would share her platform with anyone; she was such a control freak.

Still; the passports proved to be very interesting as the slender Slytherin inspected their inscriptions before turning her attention to the arrowheads. "Early 1200's actually," she spoke distractedly, just because the way they were taught HoM was boring, didn't mean Liviana didn't retain the information. "The arrows all have different purposes; like this one," she paused holding up the 'fire arrow', "It would have been used for battle; or at least an attack - it's a four sided tip bit longer than the others so there would have been room for a burning cord. It's designed to inflict collateral damage; not just injury".

Figaro had sat down next to Xavier and ye gads he looked like murder.  He'd tried half-heartedly to cheer him up.  Making some comment like, "Oi, I'm a fletcher, get it?" and making some gesture with one of the arrows. 

But the new Divination professor was hard as nails - like a mini Austerlitz - and Figaro more or less ducked and covered once things got started.  Fig had dropped Divination early in the year.  He'd just had no knack for it and he didn't like the extra homework.  But History was still required and so sneezing over dusty tomes and dodging death glares from Austerlitz was business as usual.

"They are very old..." Figaro said slowly and carefully, fingering one of the coins.  He held it up to his eye and had a peek at Xavier. 

"This one has a hole in it...Looks muggle-y."

First day back and, like some conspiracy, they'd managed to taint History of Magic with Divination.  With one new Professor (they always seemed to come when he was gone) and one Professor whom, despite being amongst his favorites, Sasha had last seen when he'd limped away from werewolf-Olivia with an unconscious dog and a collection of deep gashes across his abdomen.  He'd told the Professor he'd been uninjured.  He still didn't know if she was aware of the lie. 

At least Sasha had managed to catch up on the last of his History over the weekend so, while he'd missed the lectures on the Orient, he had a pretty solid understanding of what they'd covered.  Neither of the Slytherins looked like they were having a particularly pleasant day and both of them were Divination students.  Luckily, the Professors had both provided limits to the number of Divination students at each table and three separate tables.  Sasha more than willingly settled himself at Peyton's table as he glanced, pointedly (with an expression that clearly conveyed both his unease and curiosity), from his fellow Ravenclaw to Tawse and back. 

But, Peyton had turned his attention to the coins and Sasha followed suit.  He picked up one of the coins as well as one of the passports and surveyed them both.  He raised his hand and offered his own observations.  "They've got writing on them," he said, characteristically starting by pointing out the obvious.  "In this one, it almost looks runic but they're not from either the Elder or Younger Futhark.  Maybe regional text?"  He held the passports up closer, peering closely at the details.  "Looks to be three different types of script - three different alphabets.  The figure at the top," Sasha said, holding it closer towards Peyton.  "It looks like a bird with a human face.  A harpy maybe?  That suggests more near-Eastern origins."

Lucas and History of Magic weren't on speaking terms.  Which is to say, he didn't really care for the subject at all. His father taught history at a muggle secondary school, so anything to do with dates and eras never really stood a chance to begin with.  Sure, the he did like to learn about the magical side of his family and what not, but past first year, it all blended together after a while.  His memory could keep him in decent grades, but keeping ever focused in class wasn't likely to happen, now or ever.  Thankfully he'd be able to drop this soon enough and put an end to getting called out.

The History of Divination seemed like a good way to get in trouble, in his opinion.  He'd not taken the elective class for good reason, and here it ended up in his face anyway.  Although, what money and arrows had to do with telling the future was beyond him at this point.  There was a bit of hope on the horizon however, they weren't starting with a lecture and instead were dropping right into analysis.  Luc could b.s. with the best of them, and since this had to do with their Orient lesson, it should be a no brainer all around. 

Luc didn't consider his seat position until after he'd sat his things down.  One table featured Xavier and Figaro, two faces he didn't care to deal with at the moment.  A the other table he noticed two of his dorm mates.  Perhaps he should have thought this through a bit...

The dark haired Slytherin girl piped up across from him, and Luc grabbed another arrow to follow up.  Other then the era, he wasn't so sure what any of these things had to do with the other.  "This is piercing, hunting?  Pretty straight forward, the other one is slicing though.  In war fare, you wouldn't be about to push it through without causing more damage.  Nasty stuff."

Divination. Didn't matter if you didn't take it, you apparently could not avoid it. Tiresome. Raine entered the History of Magic classroom with a skeptical expression and a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was disappointing, coming in from something as exciting as Charms into this. Even if today's arrangement looked interesting.

The arrows were tempting- they looked ancient and lethal and full of murderous adventures. They were blunted though, the Gryffindor observed as she passed by the table with a scrutinizing eye. Liviana was headed in that direction and the smile she gave their professors sickened the Gryffindor a little bit. Raine dragged herself over to one of the other tables, spotting Figaro, Wentworth, Schlagenweit and a rather discontented-looking Xavier. She opted for frowning Slytherins over smiling ones, any day.

"Good afternoon," she greeted her classmates politely when she reached the table, and set her eyes on the bowl of various currencies. They were all helping themselves to the archaic coins and making observations. Raine reached in and plucked one out, not really interested but forcing herself to study the piece. She ran her fingers over the engravings, studying them with a quiet and intense gaze. Sasha had picked up a passport medallion from the other table and made some observations about the latter. Raine broke of her own examination, looking up at the medallion in the Ravenclaw's hand.

"Certainly an Eastern script, the first one on the left. Perhaps Aramaic, Arabic...?" Raine added to the observation. History of Magic was not her forte and she had very little sense of language progression by era. Still, she knew that the script resembled ancient Arabic, if the religious texts in her father's study were anything to go by.