Back to the Future [OWL Divination]

[Elliot Carmichael]

The bell rang, and Elliot flicked his wand to close the trapdoor up to the north tower. Today, the Divination classroom was arranged in a slightly different manner than usual. He had turned the desks into stools, and had them arranged in a circle in the middle of the classroom. Elliot's stool was sat in the middle.

"Today, class, we're going to be working on dream interpretation," he announced. Privately, Elliot considered dreams to be a rather fuzzy subject, but interpretation was a part of the OWL curriculum, and learning to recognize symbols would help his students when they moved onto tarot next term.

He pointed to one of the students in the circle. "Can you describe your most recent dream to the class?"

@'Blythe Fairchild' @'Ruby Urquart' @'Tripper Jameson' @'Flora Halliday' @'Katherine Yaxley' @'Maybelle Marriot' @'Demelza McGonagall'

  

[Flora Halliday]

Divination was one of those classes that Flora usually got by without much issue. She decidedly was not a seer, but that didn't mean she could play along and do her best to fulfill the classroom tasks! The Ravenclaw prefect had seated herself beside the Slytherin prefect girl as she listened to her professor eagerly. She had to do well on her OWLs, and they were just at the end of this school year! She had to listen and be prepared.

After she raised her hand and was called on, Flora began to explain what she'd been dreaming about to the class.

"I've always had this reoccurring dream where I'm being chased by something, but I've never been able to identify what that something is. All I know is that it obviously terrifies me enough to where I run — and I'm no runner," she offered with somewhat of a joking grin. "I usually have to go through dangerous place that I'd never usually venture to to escape it."

  

[Ruby Urquart]

Ruby was glad that she wasn't called upon. Her own dreams were starring her twin and wolves too often. There was a recent addition to Quidditch themes, but Topaz would always make an appearance. Her latest dream had involved her flying over a pitch filled with dogs, while Topaz, dressed in the Hogsmeade Howlers' pink, was throwing colourful balls at her.

She suspected that Professor Carmichael already knew that and that he wouldn't make her answer any particularly personal questions in the process. Most of the professors treated her differently this year which was to be expected, given her eventful summer! Professor had already offered she sat out of her lectures involving werewolves and she wouldn't be surprised if Professor Darrow extended the favour once it was time to cover fallen Ministers!

  

[Elliot Carmichael]

"Thank you, Miss Halliday," Elliot said cheerfully, grateful that the Ravenclaw had such a substantial dream for them to work with. Dream interpretation seemed fake to him, but it was easier to work with when people could actually remember their dreams. "Now - could one of you please try to interpret Miss Halliday's dream for her?"

  

[Ruby Urquart]

Ruby raised her hand.

"It sounds to me like Miss Halliday is experiencing stress lately," Ruby started. She glanced at her classmate. "Those worries are translated by her subconscious by taking the form of a predator. The new places... They might mean that she'll experience a great change in her life and this is her subconscious attempt to warn her about it."

  

[Elliot Carmichael]

"Excellent attempt, Miss Urquart! Take five points," Elliot said cheerfully. He would have given her the points even if he hadn't felt bad for her - she could be him, after all. He had been much older when Ginny was bitten, but... A Ravenclaw, bitten under unfortunate circumstances, never to return to Hogwarts. If Ginny had been outed, their situation would be sorely similar to the Urquarts.

Instead he had a Vow, a tarot card that came up in every reading done for him, and a hidden body. And now near-silence in one ear, although that had nothing to do with the werewolf situation.

"Much of dream interpretation boils down to that: vague interpretations. Can anyone tell me the benefits or drawbacks of such an approach?"

2-3 different students can answer.

  

[Tripper Jameson]

Tripper was no expert in Divination class, but he was intuitive enough and could piece together basic logic and reasoning well enough to come up with a few answers to the Professor's question.

"Interpreting dreams vaguely allows you see things from a wider perspective and take in all the options. Not to mention it's harder to get your prediction wrong," he said with a slightly amused smile. "And the downfalls of that is the opposite: it's difficult to get a clear answer. It can sometimes seem like a bunch of guesswork to someone who doesn't take things seriously."

  

[Elliot Carmichael]

Elliot listened patiently to Jameson's answer. "Interesting perspective, Mr. Jameson," he said, "But many diviners consider dream interpretation to be like astrology - more fumbling guesswork than divining."  

"For instance: let's say the only thing I can remember from my dream is a fire. Can some of you tell me the symbolic meanings of fire?" 

  

[Flora Halliday]

Flora glanced down at her textbook for a moment, trying to find anything on the page about fire. She wanted to avoid looking like she was just going to recite the answer from a textbook, so she would give her best effort?

"When people see fire, they often feel trapped," she said sincerely. "It's also used to represent determination and sometimes impulse. Some people - er - see fire as empowering. Like the fire burning inside your soul," she guessed. There were like ten different answers, so how would anyone know which was which?

  

[Ruby Urquart]

Ruby noticed Miss Halliday looking down at her book - something that Ruby regarded as cheating. When she didn't know the answer she simply didn't answer it!

She also raised her hand: "It also depends on the context of the fire. There are different meanings for a forest fire, a fireplace, a campfire, a candle flame and so on. And interpretations often vary according to the guide you're going off of. That is why it is difficult for dream interpretation to be considered credible."

  

[Elliot Carmichael]

"Five points to Miss Halliday for the effort, and ten to Miss Urquart for hitting the proverbial nail on the head," Elliot announced cheerfully, "Dream interpretation has so many variables - which is why many scholars don't put credit in it."

"After all," he added, "Sometimes a dream is just a dream."