Substitute Prof. Cleo Rocamboli

October 08, 2010 3:53 PM
A new Divination professor having not been hired, Cleo found herself in the smoky purple room that had last been Ichabod Linn’s. Since this arrangement of Cleo teaching the class was only temporary—though she was enjoying the supplementary substitute salary—the medic hadn’t redecorated, although she was becoming a little tired of the furnishings. Cleo fancied herself something of an interior designer; she liked changing up the way a room looked. The Hospital Wing had had a few splashes of color added since the medic started at Sonora, and Cleo had absolutely gone to town on the cottage she now owned.

This classroom did have an air of mystery, she supposed, but it was also the kind of environment that made it pretty easy for students to fall asleep. If it was up to Cleo, she would’ve replaced the hardwood floor with some nice carpet, brightened up the room with lanterns or something, and done away with the low-lying fog. She hadn’t changed anything, though; the layout of the classroom was the same as Ichabod had left it, although today each table had two bags of sand or fine dust on it. Cleo was excited for the lesson—it wasn’t one of her favorite forms of Divination, but it was kind of an obscure art. She thought that was pretty cool.

“Hey, all,” she said, when the Divination students seemed settled in. “As you can tell, Professor Linn hasn’t been replaced, so I’m covering again.” Her light blush was (hopefully) obscured by the freckles that covered her face. Cleo liked teaching, but public speech was never one of her strengths. “Today we’ll be practicing abacomancy—using sand or dust for divining. Some call it amathomancy, but it’s the same thing. Muggles have abacomancy too, but obviously our way of doing it works a little better for anyone who’s not a true Seer.

“Basically, you pour the medium—sand, dust; it doesn’t matter too much—evenly on your table, and touch your wand to it. There’s no incantation for the spell—” Divination was, after all, still one of the more imprecise branches of magic—“all you have to do is concentrate on a question you want to ask, and direct your magic to answer it. Some people prefer to do this with their eyes shut, but that’s just a personal preference. The sand or dust will move into a pattern or shape, which chapter twenty-one of your book can help you interpret.”

The russet-haired woman surveyed the classroom for a moment. She didn’t think she’d forgotten anything… which meant it was time to let them work. “So… if you need any help interpreting stuff, you can ask me. Otherwise, partner up and get to it!”

[OOC: Well, if you’ve made it to seventh year, you should know the mechanical rules by now. You can pretty much see and interpret anything within reason in the dust, but here’s a good place to look if you need ideas. Have fun!]
Subthreads:
0 Substitute Prof. Cleo Rocamboli Advanced Lesson (VII): Another one bites the dust 0 Substitute Prof. Cleo Rocamboli 1 5