With the capture of Verandi Farley and several high-ranking Trossach members, the British wizarding world has finally caught a break. The rate of rogue werewolf attacks have started dropping at a steady rate and, hopefully, things will stay that way. The Ministry is starting to loosen some restrictions, like not arresting werewolves standing on the street for loitering, however there’s still an obvious power imbalance between wizardfolk and werewolves.
The Cotswolds pack are continuing to advocate for the rights of werewolves and petitioning to change the legislation that has been set in motion by the current Minister for Magic, whilst the remaining Trossachs members are trying to stay out of the spotlight and keep a low profile… for now.
Whilst the British wizarding world seems to have calmed down, the same cannot be said for over in Northern Europe where a rebellion of magical creatures has risen. The state of things has gotten so bad that the European Ministry has enacted protocols to protect those under eighteen whilst their adult witches and wizards fight to keep control of their countries.
Students from Durmstrang have been sent to Hogwarts to keep them safe and those not old enough to attend school have been sent to live with relatives or designated British Ministry officials outside of Europe for the time being.
Will the low rates of werewolf attacks in Britain continue? How long will Durmstrang students stay at Hogwarts? Will the creatures usurp the wizardfolk in Northern Europe? Only time will tell.
SEPTEMBER 2019 It's been a very long, eventful summer in the wizarding world. A baby was stolen, several high ranking Trossach members were imprisoned, and werewolf attacks have drastically dropped as a result. What will happen now school has returned?
MAY 2019 An attempt to capture the beta of the Trossachs has been launched. Were the Aurors successful in their mission? Go read more here!
Post by ASTRID SØRENSEN on Jul 27, 2019 13:18:12 GMT
With her legs folded underneath her, Astrid sat on top her desk, eyes closed and taking a few deep breaths she waited to hear the tell-tale sound of students entering her classroom. She wasn't nervous, per se, because that wasn't typically an emotion she felt. She was just... getting ready to face a room full of students, all of which were likely skeptical about divination, as most members of the wizarding community were. Astrid had heard it all - people calling her craft from things ranging from poppycock to a lot more explicit. A few years ago, it used to bother her but now? She tended to just shrug it off, and she just hoped she could convince these students it was a worthy subject.
As the first lot of her students trickled in, a smile crossed Astrid's face and she gave a few of them a small wave. She was quite certain she was a shock to see, given that she had only just filled the position of divination professor and it was their first class after the Christmas break. Unfortunately, the last professor had left during Christmas, a result of all the skepticism thrown their way after not prophesying the attack at the dance. It was as if people expected the old professor to make prophecies out of thin air, but that wasn't how it happened. Astrid had made a few in her time, and none of them had occurred on demand.
Finally, after a few minutes, Astrid clapped her hands together. "Good morning, class! As you can see, I'm a new face here at Hogwarts - hi, hello, how are you? My name is Professor Sørensen, although you may call me Astrid, or Prof, or Prof S. Just don't call me a fraud and we'll be all good," Astrid said easily, shrugging. She wasn't one for formalities in any aspect of life, teaching included. "Now, today we're gonna be studying tessomancy! It's gonna be a really chill class, and I'm here to help if you need me to. But first! Who can tell me what tessomancy is? Quick, so I can give you some points and make your classmates jealous!"
TAG: @suzie , @roxanne , VIOLA ROSALINE , FLORA SELWYN , @desiree , @aria , @cooper , @matthew NOTES: Set in January 2019, after Christmas break. There's less than ten students, hence why the class is combined.
Matthew was sitting in the Divination classroom and listening what was going on. For once the boy had been there before the class had started. It was for him lately the miracle be there on the time. Anyways the boy tried to focus a bit more on his grades than pranks. He knew he needed to succeed after this year and get good grades on his exams. So he can get out of this school. Matt listened what the new professor said, when there was question asked the Gryffindor boy thought for awhile until he raised his hand. He did know the answer what was surprising for him. "Tessomancy is know as art to read from the tea leaves the future someone holds," the boy answered there now. "Different things have different meanings," he added even.
Although Tessomancy was one of the less exciting branches of Divination, Roxanne was no less happy to be back in the class. There was something about trying to glimpse the future that seemed more magical than most other magic, perhaps because it was so much more difficult. Making things explode was something young children could do by accident, but truly being able to divine anything? That was a real mystery to explore. And Roxanne loved mysterious things.
She only hoped the new professor would be nice and good at teaching and like her, something which was always worrying whenever a new teacher showed up at the school. The rumors from those who had known something about her had been saying, though, that she was a real Seer, which made Roxanne a bit worried. She wasn't a real Seer. She was just a girl who wanted to know things, to figure out how to work with star charts and crystal balls even though it didn't come naturally to her. Even when Professor Sørensen introduced herself as a "chill" professor, that didn't mean anything yet.
The professor did have cool hair, though--Roxanne wondered if she could braid her own like that. Would it be too strange to ask about that? Definitely not in class. Since one of the older students had already answered the question of what Tessomancy even was, she decided to stay quiet. There was sure to be another question she could answer sometime, so she didn't look like she didn't know what she was doing here.
Post by ASTRID SØRENSEN on Jul 30, 2019 8:47:27 GMT
The person to pipe up and answer Astrid's question was a Gryffindor boy with dark hair. "Yes, marvelous. That's exactly what it is, Matthew. Ten points to Gryffindor," Astrid said with an encouraging nod. It was good to see that some of these kids knew what she was talking about.
With a wave of her wand, Astrid levitated the teacups with tea leaves pooled at the bottom and teapots full of hot water that sat on a table at the back of the classroom to each students desk, plopping them straight in the middle of the table. "Now, these teapots are all filled with hot water - please, don't burn yourself. I don't want my first class to end in people landing up in the hospital wing. People would think I'm awful at my job and I really don't want that," she said, scrunching up her nose.
"Okay! So, can anyone describe the process of what we're about to do? Do you think we should just chug it back like my -"Wine. No, that probably wasn't appropriate thing to say. Astrid remembered the rumour mill very clearly during her time at Hogwarts, and whilst all her students seemed pretty cool, she didn't want the whole school thinking she was an alcoholic. "- cups of tea when I'm not reading them? How will we read the leaves?"
Not wanting to just leave it at that, Astrid shuffled her bottom off her desk, feet landing on the floor as she started to wander around the room, hoping it'd get the creative juices flowing regarding questions to ask. These kids wanted to be stimulated, right? Gliding over to the windows, Astrid gently tugged a curtain back, letting the light stream in. Maybe they'd help too and as to be expected, it did as a thought struck her and she light up, whirling around with a smile. "Oh! Another good question for everyone. Who can tell me some of the types of symbols you might wind up with and what do they mean?"
TAG: @suzie , @roxanne , VIOLA ROSALINE , FLORA SELWYN , @desiree , @aria , @cooper , @matthew NOTES: Set in January 2019, after Christmas break. There's less than ten students, hence why the class is combined.
Flora tucked her long locks behind her ears as she got comfortable for the class that … to be honest … she'd decided to take as an elective just because she knew it would drive her sister cousin up the proverbial wall. Now that she was halfway through the second year, Flora still enjoyed the class even if she were not particularly gifted with premonitions or what not... she loved the symbology that was heavily used in Divination.
"So uhh Prof S, do we just... drink the tea? What if we accidentally drink a symbol and it doesn't get read," Flora asked as she watched the cups and stuff travel over to their tables. She could hardly wait to get into the lesson and read what wonderful things people had in store for them. "Oh... does it matter what kind of tea we use? Because I like chamomile tea but I'm not really very fond of normal tea. Or do I not need to drink it at all? Or would not drinking kind of give a bad reading because it's not really being very personal … like a universal quid-pro-quo? I'll let you in on your future but first you have to drink me?"
This new professor seemed to be down-to-earth and super duper nice. Willow enjoyed hearing her say how little she cared about what they called her, and he loved how it seemed like honesty just floated out of her mouth without any hesitation or attempt to appear intimidating. Already after one minute, he felt relaxed in her company and could not wait to go on with this class. It was his absolute favourite one, and as they learned that they were going to read tea leaves today, he was sure he would be so eager that he would burn himself.
Calm down, you fool.
Willow chuckled as he looked at the tea pot in front of him and raised a hand to answer the question. Gosh, he wished he could just speak without having to look like some kind of puppet, but classes required good manners and that you raised your hand if you wanted to speak. So, he had to behave like the good person he was.
“Oh, the Skull means danger in your path!” Willow quickly said as he remembered seeing it in his morning tea right before the attack – well that was at least what he had told himself afterwards, when he had been lying in the Hospital Wing with several scars on his back.
Matthew smiled when he earned some house points for Gryffindor. It was quite rare when he earned them, more likely he tend to lose them over the years. So it was good thing he earned some. He knew a few of those symbol meanings even. He listened what professor and fellows classmates said next then thought a bit if to answer again or not. At the end he decided it would be nice to be part of class a bit more. So the boy raised his hand once again. He knew it would be nice to earn some more points.
"Cross is known as the trias and suffering on your way of life," the boy said. He had no clue what they should exactly do with the this tea. He had forget that part, so he just looked at the tea in front of him now and wondered if he should drink it or not. He knew that tea leaves were at bottom of the cup.
Cooper had been enjoying being back at Hogwarts, because being with his family had truly been annoying. Even if he loved his older sister, but being back at school was better. And it meant that Cooper was going to get back into Quidditch and he was looking forward to getting back into competitions and prove those badgers wrong. The Slytherin had been sitting in the class as the attack that was placed on the school had gave them a new professor, and it was probably a good thing. Even if his parents didn't seem to care that he was stunned at the dance.
The Slytherin listened as his cousin had showed that he was actually good at Divination, and he let out a chuckle. "Didn't know you were good at Divination."he said giving his cousin a smirk. Not caring in the slightest if he offended his cousin. And when Professor Sorenson asked the next question, and everyone gave their answer. "Another couple symbols that are Divinations symbols are the Sun which stands for great happiness and The Grim which stands for death." he said with a smirk. Hoping to get his house some house points.
Post by ASTRID SØRENSEN on Jul 31, 2019 12:22:48 GMT
After opening yet another curtain, Astrid was met with a barrage of questions from one of the Slytherin students. Everyone tended to pinhole them into being vindictive types, but Astrid had always found house rivalries a bit moot and she quite admired the ambition that came along with most Slytherins. "We do drink the tea, that's right, and if we drink the symbol then maybe it's meant to be drank. The universe wouldn't let us do something without a purpose," Astrid said calmly, swishing around the room once more before standing in front of her desk. "As long as you use tea leaves, it doesn't matter what the flavour is - usually I'm a green tea kinda lady, but y'know... whatever floats your boat. You can tip it out, but what's the fun in that? Who doesn't like a good cup of tea?" Flora's last question had Astrid's lips twitching, however, because, "Personally, I think you get the best reading when you drink the tea. But use your own sense of initiative. You're an empowered young person, follow your heart."
When none of the other student's answered Astrid's question on the method of what to do with the tea, it was no biggie. "Okay, so what you've gotta do is put the tea leaves in the bottom. Arrange them however you want, sideways, horizontal... across each other. Doesn't matter. Then brew your tea," she explained, before making a split second decision that demonstrating would probably be easiest. Plus, bonus points of being able to drink tea in class. Whipping out her wand, she levitated a tea cup, a pot of water, and some leaves over to her desk. She put the leaves into the bottom of the cup, then poured the water on top. "Okay, so we'll leave this for a few minutes to brew. Everyone can do this with their tea now please. While we wait for our tea to brew and cool, let's keep talking about the symbols."
The first person to answer her question about the symbols was a boy named Willow and Astrid shot him a small smile. She quite adored his name, it was very earthy, much like her cats who she'd named Sage and Juniper. "Yes, correct, Willow! Five points to Hufflepuff," she said with a nod, before addressing Matthew. Again, the Gryffindor boy eagerly answered her question. She wondered if perhaps he was interested in going down the path of divination in the future. "Yes, exactly. Five points to Gryffindor again. Well done, Matthew... and looks like that's five points to Slytherin too, Cooper. Marvelous. I'm glad I have such eager students and if anyone has any other symbols to add, please pipe up. I'd love to hear from everyone in this class since we're such a small group."
Turning back to the topic before, a pleased expression crossed Astrid's face as she realised her tea was done brewing. Lovely. "Okay, so now we drink the tea," Astrid said, before doing just that and swallowing her tea in a few swift gulps, leaving just a tiny bit of liquid in the bottom of her cup which she showed to her students before swirling her cup a few times. "There we have it! Now, before we start reading our cups, can anybody which part of the cup we start reading from first and what each part of the cup represents?"
TAG: @suzie , @roxanne , VIOLA ROSALINE , FLORA SELWYN , @desiree , @aria , @cooper , @matthew NOTES: - Including the above post, these points have been added to the house points claim. + 5 Hufflepuff + 10 Gryffindor + 5 Slytherin - Info comes from here and here.
It felt absolutely amazing gaining house points for Hufflepuff, and he really wanted to answer another question correctly, but as the professor moved on, he had no idea what to reply. After all, Willow was here to learn, and he did not know much about reading tea leaves. He had just tried on his own by drinking his morning tea and having the divination book open next to him. This was how he had spotted the skull in his cup. Otherwise, the boy had no idea how you did the reading correctly.
He bit his bottom lip and sunk down onto the table to rest his chin against his hands as he looked at his own reflection in the tea pot. Willow was fascinated by how much there was to the most mysterious class in a magical school. Divination was so far off that even some students (and professors) did not believe in it. It was absolutely amazing, and he wanted to learn more. Therefore, he hoped that some of the other students knew the answer so that he could get on with his reading.
Post by JUNAID ZALAYAT on Sept 10, 2019 20:21:55 GMT
Divination always managed to get this Hufflepuff’s nerves up. As someone who searched for a meaning behind life, he took this class quite seriously. It was fascinating and also frightening that the future could be predicted by magic. Junaid was curious to learn about it. At the same time he was also scared of what he might learn. But he tried his best to stay positive and hope for good omens. However he preferred not to have his read at all. One of his aunts was a seer and taught him a lot about divination. Sadly the information wavered over the years.
The Hufflepuff Prefect was quiet as always in class. It was hard enough to catch up as he was only practicing this language for two years eagerly. He took notes which were still a mixture of English and Arabian. Within time he’d get better.
This class was amazing, they’d get to drink tea. When the teacher shared which flavor she prefered, Junaid lost his focus. “Oh! I love tea, especially fruit and mint flavors,” he randomly said despite having said nothing so far the entire class. “Professor can I share the halva I made yesterday with the class? I made it yesterday, they’ll go great with the tea.” His big grey eyes shone when he spoke of food but when he realized he blurted out in class, Jun gasped and returned to his usual quiet self. A healthy blush shone on his olive cheeks as he took his still empty cup.
The Prefect didn’t really dare to speak or look at anyone anymore. So he decided to answer the question by pointing it out. He held the handle towards himself and started tracing his finger clockwise. First he bridged the outer rim, where he mumbled: “Now.” Followed by the sides, still going clockwise. “Soon.” Last he pointed at the centre. “Far future.” If he remembred his auntie’s teaching correctly this should be it. These cups were slightly different from the ones they used back home but they should work the same.
Post by ASTRID SØRENSEN on Oct 3, 2019 12:05:49 GMT
Out of seemingly nowhere, a Hufflepuff that Astrid had learned was named Junaid, piped up with his enthusiastic view on tea. "I think mint tastes like straight up toothpaste, but fruit tea is the best invention known to man. I mean, peach tea? It's awesome," Astrid enthused, before nodding her head. "Yeah, go ahead. I had the most incredible halva when I was in Croatia last year. I mean, really, it was one of the best things I've ever tasted. Save me a piece, yeah?" Astrid shot the boy a small wink, watching as he retreated into himself a moment later. It was a shame, she quite enjoyed the vibe he gave out to the rest of the class.
But then Junaid was speaking again a moment later, answering her question about what each part of the teacup represented. "Yes, that's right! 10 points to Hufflepuff, man. Great job." Displaying her teacup to the rest of the room, Astrid re-iterated what Junaid had said. "So, the rim of the cup show designates the present, the side shows us events that aren't too far in to the future, and the bottom of the cup shows us the far future. We're going to be mostly focusing on the image at the bottom of the cup, so... everyone, now that the tea has cooled, drink up! Then turn to your table partner and start talking about what you can see. Yell if you need a hand, or if you're confident you've got it right and I'll come and look. Got it?"
With her instruction laid out, Astrid returned back to her desk, sliding onto it and crossing her legs. What was about to unfold in her classroom was bound to be interesting!
Tea leaves. Nice. Zoë'd been in Divination for several years now, so she was familiar with the whole tea thing, but this one was always fun just because of how many symbols you could get. If you squinted hard enough, a lump of tea leaves could be literally anything, and what was better than shocking everyone who actually believed she could divine anything by predicting all sorts of death and destruction?
She wasn't much of a fan of tea, something that reminded her of stuffy parties and all sorts of pointless fancy stuff, so she raised the cup and chugged it as fast as possible, nearly slamming it back down to the table. "Alright," she said, swirling the leaves around and turning to her table partner, "let's see what we've got here." The stuff in the cup just looked like soggy leaves, but that was what imagination was for. Even though this professor was new, she'd used the Grim enough times before that it was getting boring. She looked through her textbook for any item that might be usable.
"So. Bottom of the cup and stuff. I see a lynx, danger of divorce or breaking an engagement." If only Rodrik took this class--she'd tell him later and they could laugh about it. "And then--" She couldn't just leave it at something as obvious as that, could she? Predicting bad things was more fun. "--a ferret. Active enemies!" Glancing around the room, she grinned, an eyebrow raised playfully. "So which one of you is it?"
ASTRID SØRENSEN + I don't know who Zoë's sitting with so someone can claim that table partner spot
kasia's riot grrrl // 5'2" // single // born in england // lives in cambridge note: tag is zoevaleria, since she's the 2nd zoe onsite!
Emilian hadn’t said anything for the entire class similar to most classes they participated in. The Ravenclaw was always quite passive when it came to, actually quite a lot of things. Mili had taken the everything happens for a reason and the universe decides everyone’s destiny a little too literal. Nothing really mattered, they couldn’t change a thing.
So they sat in class, wearing their sunglasses like always. They both provided cover for Emilian’s sensitive eyes and also allowed the Ravenclaw to nap without getting noticed. Despite having their eyes closed, Emi hadn’t fallen asleep yet. They still listened to things being said in class. When people started reading out cups, they joined the class again.
A Gryffindor, was reading Emilian’s cup. Now, one plus one made two. Emi who took divination quite seriously could be considered shocked in rare occasions. “D-divorce?” Emilian lowered their classes and moved closer. “Are the spirits weeping?” The Ravenclaw mumbled to themselves. “C-could you please check again if it is truly a lynx?” Emilian only got nervous on rare occasions. Actually a lot of students and teachers believed the Ravenclaw to be entirely void of emotions. But the thought of their upbringers divorcing after 300+ years of marriage was something they couldn’t even imagine. ZOË VALERIA , Note: I hope it's okay. Emi was dozing off they'll do the reading later