May 7th, 1895 — Divination Classroom, Hogwarts

The professor sat placidly, small frame fitting nicely on her side of the cramped table. A crystal ball sat on the tabletop between Dido Bloom and her pupil, but the tool was not for her, not today.

"Don't be nervous," she reassured. "Just do your best!"

With examinations on the horizon, Dido had devoted the month of May to revision in her classroom, both practical and theoretical. While her own class examination would not require a practical component, it was important for the third- and fourth-years to keep thier skills, such as they were, as sharp as possible. For the fifth years, the practical component of their Ordinary Wizarding Level necessitated the practice of their divination abilities. Today: the crystal ball.

As the students had paired off, their ordinarily nice, even number was down by one—one of the third years, Dido had been told in a shy whisper, was indisposed, and the witch had known with a sudden certainty, as well as she knew her own name, that the girl was indeed suffering her first monthly cycle. Rather than the awkwardness of a group of three, Dido had volunteered herself to partner with the odd student out, not realizing at the time—or, indeed, now—that this bore its own brand of awkwardness as well.

Her smile was an encouraging one as she waited for her pupil to begin, doing her best not to allow the somewhat stilted, quiet conversation around them to distract her.

Invitational to one Divination OWL student!
Eros Mohr Bonnie Greyback Lucy Tatting Wren Burroughs Harriet Bythesea Antelope Grace Cadogan Glynn

  

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mj makes such pretty things!

Wren had always been utterly and truly awful at Divination. She only continued on in the class because willingly dropping out of it would mean that she had a lack of initiative. Plus, all her friends thought it was fascinating when she pulled out the tarot cards even if Wren nearly always failed to recall their meanings. That was the bonus of none of them being Divination students.

The downside of that was that she was consistently paired up with random students in the class, which was mostly fine, if a little awkward. This time, though, she had looked up from her parchment doodles of crystal balls to realize she was without a partner.

Professor Bloom was kind, if odd, but having to decipher visions of the future in front of the professor was far more terrifying than it would be in front of one of the other girls. Mostly because Wren was almost certain that Professor Bloom would know that Wren was making up everything and that she rarely saw anything in crystal balls.

"Okay," Wren took a deep breath, trying to let the nerves wash over her. She wished she was actually good at this. Then she would've been able to see enough into the future to know not to come to class and embarrass herself.

"I see..." Wren peered into the crystal ball, trying not to let the frustration get to her, "I see...um, white clouds, maybe? Or snow?"

She looked nervously up from the ball to Professor Bloom.

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Thank you so much, Bee!