great big beautiful sky [samuil]

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Today, Georgie was going to start learning how to control her clairvoyance, or at least start to. Professor Delov said that it could take time, but he probably didn't understand just how stubborn Georgie was. She wasn't going to leave the Divination tower until she learned how to control her powers or passed out. She had to learn how to control them. Then, maybe her parents wouldn't leave again, because she would be the better version of the daughter they had left behind the first time. She would be able to take showers and wash her hands without screaming or crying or becoming overwhelmed. She'd be able to go swimming with Louis, actually swim with him, and they could be happy. Learning to control her powers would open up a whole new world for Georgie, and she wanted that new world desperately. 

Georgie reached the trapdoor that led up to the professor's room and knocked on it, hard, three times. She was balanced on the ladder leading up to the room, waiting for the trapdoor to open and lead her to her salvation.

@samuil

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Samuil let out a heavy sigh, setting the Daily prophet down on his desk. Of course they'd done an article about the upcoming tournament. And of course they mentioned him. It shouldn't have surprised him. Heck, he was Clairvoyant! He should have seen this coming! But it'd somehow blind sided him. HE'd been so distracted with everything else going on that he'd completely overlooked the possibility. He'd.... hoped to keep that bit of his past quiet. The Durmstrang students knew, obviously. Several of them had already stopped by to ask if he'd help them if they were chosen. But he'd hoped to keep the Hogwarts students in the dark. They didn't need to know that their new Divination's teacher had won the last Tri-Wizard tournament when he was a student. Dang those reporters....

Rubbing his temples, he almost missed the knock at the trap door that led to the tower. The sound brought him back to reality, and he looked up in surprise. Right, Georgiana was coming by today. Again, he'd forgotten. Boy, he was having an off day. With another sigh, he rolled his shoulders and stood up. Well, there wasn't much he could do about it now, might as well accept his fate, and get on with life. Approaching the trap door, he easily pulled it open, holding it open as she finished climbing up. "Georgiana, right on time. Come in."

He closed the trap down behind her, and lead the way back into the main portion of his classroom. It looked quite different then previous years. The heavy curtains had been stripped away, letting rays of sunlight stream through and brighten the whole room. Most of the decorations were gone, the desks and chairs stacked off to the side. He didn't use them most the time. And in the center of the room was the remnants of a bonfire, still smoldering. Most of the familiar scrying objects were missing. No tea cups. No star charts. And definitely no crystal balls. In their place were a stack of rune stones, crystals, bones.... Whatever sort of Divination Samuil favored, it was probably none the students had ever been exposed to. "Did you practice those breathing techniques I taught you over the summer?" It might seem silly, but that was the first step. The breathing techniques he'd taught her were, when done properly, a way to clear the mind, and calm the soul. If she wanted to learn to control her power, she first needed to learn to control herself.

@georgiana

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It took longer than Georgie had expected for Professor Delov to reach the trap door - it was still only a moment or two of hang time, but with the way he had behaved at the orphanage, anticipating her every move, it was kind of strange to have him behave like a normal human being. She scrambled up into the tower, and was once again surprised. It looked so...empty. It was the good kind of empty, though, just like the professor behaving like a normal human being was a good sort of thing. Suddenly she wasn't a girl stepping into a world full of mysteries she could never hope to understand - she was instead a student, stepping into a place of learning, with a teacher who was only a little less clueless than she was. Well, probably a lot less clueless, but the point stood that, at some level, she and Professor Delov were still both imprecise in the use of their powers.

"I did." Georgie responded with a nod when the professor inquired about the breathing exercises. "A few of them made me really dizzy, though, so I didn't do them as often as you said - only once or twice a week, maybe." The ones that hadn't made her head spin she practiced faithfully, once when she got up in the morning and once before she went to sleep at night, even when she'd been at Louis's house. The breathing exercises were a welcome reprieve from the craziness of the world around her, especially when it came to her not-dead parents showing up out of the blue. "I didn't know how to contact you so I didn't know if the dizziness was normal." She added, just in case the professor thought she was just being lazy. No - Georgie wanted this, and while she could sometimes err from a course set for her, when she wanted something, she was the epitome of a hard-working Hufflepuff, and nothing could sway her.

There was one question Georgie had, though, that didn't pertain at all to their study. She had heard whispers in the Great Hall that morning about Professor Delov and the Triwizard Tournament - apparently he had been the winner of the Tournament's last cycle. Georgie didn't particularly care about that part, though. She just was curious about the portion between when he had been selected and when he won. "Did your clairvoyance give you an unfair advantage in the Triwizard Tournament?" She asked bluntly. "Did you know you were going to win?" Georgie knew the professor had been much younger then, and maybe didn't have as much control of his powers, but she was still curious. How many of the Hogwarts students had an unfair advantage? All of the clairvoyants she knew were underage, but there were other powers to have, and Georgie didn't think it was particularly fair if anyone won because of those powers.

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Samuil crossed the room to take pull down a chair for Georgiana, setting it in the center of the room, before grabbing his own and placing it a few feet away, facing her. "Please, sit down." He motioned to the chair, taking the other and leaning forward so his elbows rested on his knees, and listened to what she had to say. "That's alright. It's not meant to be easy at first. But it will get easier." He knew some of those exercises would be tiring, but at least she'd kept at them in some way. Those techniques he'd taught her? He still did them every day. Rigorously, religiously, never missing a day. But it'd taken a long time, and hard work to form those habits. He didn't expect her to be perfect in just a summer.

Before he could 'start' a lesson of any sort, Georgiana posed a question he should have expected. Not many students knew he, himself, was clairvoyant. Just those he'd told. So of course one of them would try to make a connection between the Tournament he'd won and his inner eye. It didn't surprise him that Georgiana was the one to discover it though. He smiled softly. "No. Was his answer, no question or waver in his voice. "I couldn't see the near future then. I was still a student, not much older then you, Georgiana. Still trying to discover how to stop my visions rather then embrace them." He paused for a moment. "I did know I was going to win though. I'd had a dream long before the tournament was even announced, but I didn't understand it until sometime later." He knew that he hadn't had an advantage. He'd won, fair and square. "But even if I had been able to control my power, it wouldn't have given me an advantage. The Tournament is more then just knowing. It's not uncommon for champions to find out what a task is before it's announced, after all." He smirked a little. It was actually extremely common for them to find out in advance. Either through their teachers, subtle hints, simple exploration, or even the other champion.

@georgiana

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When the professor set down the chair, Georgie sat down in it as soon as the invitation was out of his mouth. She looked like she was fidgeting less when she was sitting, and this was definitely a situation wherein she would fidget more than normal. Georgie wasn’t the best at charming adults, especially when she was one-on-one with them. Things hadn’t gone that poorly with Professor Delov the day in the orphanage, though, so Georgie was allowing herself to have a moderate amount of hope. Her fingers still drummed against the outside of her thighs, betraying her nerves. She gave the professor a relieved smile when he said that it was fine that she hadn’t done some of the breathing techniques as much as he had prescribed. Hopefully her lungs would get stronger and she wouldn’t be as overwhelmed by the exercises as time went on.

She listened, more patient than normal, as the professor explained that his win had been legitimate. “Well, that’s good, I guess.” Georgie said after he had finished talking. There was one more question she had about the tournament, though it was slightly more lighthearted than the grilling about rather his clairvoyance had been an asset in the competition or not. “Are you going to cheer for Durmstang or Hogwarts?” Chances were that he’d know the Durmstang champion, but maybe not the Hogwarts one, if they didn’t take N.E.W.T. level Divination – and most people didn’t. It seemed like a strange conflict of interest to George, since Professor Delov had moved schools so recently. Georgie didn’t want to think about it. She knew that the professor still cared for his old students, but he was Hogwarts’s now. He was Georgie’s now, not some stupid Durmstang student’s.

@samuil

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Georgiana didn't mention anything else about the exercises, but that didn't mean the subject was dropped. Samuil needed to ensure she understood the purpose of the exercises. Why he'd asked her to do them, and why they were a part of her training as a clairvoyant. But for now, he'd answer her other questions first. "I could always cheer for Beauxbaton, and solve that whole problem before it even begins." He joked lightly, smiling. "I suppose I will cheer for all of them. There are worthy students from all the schools." Such a diplomatic answer. But he knew he couldn't play favorites. Some people expected him to help Durmstrang, and others felt he should discard his attachment to the school and it's students and swear allegiance to Hogwarts. "I am, and forever will be, a son of Durmstrang. It is a part of me. But, I am also a proud professor of sons and daughters of Hogwarts. Including you, Georgiana."

"Georgiana, I want you to understand something. These breathing and mediation techniques I taught you aren't for your physical strengthening. They help, but that isn't the purpose. Clairvoyance draws it's power from our mental strength. By strengthening our mind and our will power, we learn to control the flow of magic. Think of it like a dam. We have a well of magic inside us. Deep, powerful. And every time you have a vision, the dam opens, and water comes rushing out. Only you can't control the flow, so it keeps going until nothing is left, and you are drained. We're going to teach you how to control that." He stopped, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "It won't be easy. Or pleasant. And it may even hurt at first. Do you still want to learn?"

@georgiana

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Georgie frowned at Professor Delov when he said that he could just cheer for Beauxbatons. It had been a serious question, and she had expected a serious answer – she hated being treated like a child. Her frowned softened into a look of mild distaste when the professor went back on what he had said before and explained further his allegiance to both schools, blah blah blah. Georgie was technically a daughter of Ilvermorny, if you wanted to go back to her American roots, but you didn’t see her cheering for American Quadpot games, did you? It was the wrong answer to give, and it put her in a foul mood, which was only worsened by his monologue about strengthening her mind and how it wasn’t going to be easy. She hadn’t asked for easy, she hadn’t wanted easy, and she hadn’t expected easy!

“When has anything in my life ever been easy?” She snapped at him. “I moved across an ocean when I was ten just so I could come to an orphanage, and then, just when I was beginning to accept that my parents were dead, nope! Still alive and well, just on the run from criminals and separated from their children for five years. It’s all good, right? I must be fine, because at least I have parents now! I should be happy about my parents willingly abandoned me!” Georgie seethed, crossing her arms and glaring at the professor. “The world hasn’t done me any favors so far, and I’m not expecting it to start now.” Maybe the professor had forgotten that he met her in an orphanage. Maybe he hadn’t heard that the Linleys had existed on hand-me-down clothes and handouts from the orphanage. Maybe he just didn’t care. In any case, Georgie was used to hurting. A little more wouldn’t make a difference.

@samuil