Episode Seventy Three

            Dumbledore finally approved the Ouranian Barbaric project, which sent Gwen into a tailspin of work. He had agreed that the prospect of allowing any students in would be risky, and so she decided to offer it as an extra credit project which only seventh year students in good standing could apply for.

            With the help of Dumbledore and Trelawney she sorted through over forty applications and narrowed the main research group down to ten, with eight backup candidates. Their first meeting was to take place in Professor Trelawney's tower classroom on the seventh floor.

            The main ten and Gwen met on the landing and climbed the silver ladder up into the hazy classroom. Gwen felt her memory traveling back four years. The reeking scent of incense hadn't changed at all. The dim, reddish light, the heavy window treatments. Everything about Madame Trelawney's classroom remained the same and Gwen remembered ruefully the very day she decided to quit divination.

            Of course, she hadn't left until the end of the term , she dropped it after a long conversation with Sibyll in her office.

            "I just don't think divination is for me." Gwen said boldly. Even at fourteen she'd been a handful, more than willing to tell a teacher off if she felt the need.

            Sibyll gazed at her through her thick glasses, her gauzy, green shawl drooping on her shoulder. "Guenivere, I see that divination will play a key role in your future."

            "That may be, but I just don't have the patience for it." The bristling young girl replied. She was right. She had the gift, but she couldn't bear to sit all day and channel. She just didn't have the tolerance for it.

            "Very well." Sibyll said coolly.

            Perhaps, Gwen thought, Trelawney had taken my quitting the subject as a personal offence. Perhaps that's why she wasn't very keen on helping out at first. Good thing Gwen had attained a measure of patience since her fourth year. Otherwise she couldn't have sat through two hours of flattery and tea to get Sibyll to help.

            She shook her head, throwing off the dazed feeling the warm room left her in. She smiled, cleared her throat and began. "As you all know this is a very important project and I'm very enthusiastic about the ten of you."

            Harry Potter was among them, even though he'd faked all of his divination homework for the past three and a half years he proved to be one of the more qualified candidates. Gwen felt that if he only concentrated enough he would find scrying simple work. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil of Gryffindor were also members of the research team; they had both received glowing reviews from Madame Trelawney.

            Lisa Turpin represented Ravenclaw along with Terry Boot, Mandy Brocklehurst and Padma Patil. Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot and Sally-Anne Perks represented Hufflepuff house. Divination seemed to be a fairly feminine gift in the seventh years at Hogwarts.

            Unsurprisingly, no Slytherins were chosen. All who had applied from that house had rather questionable backgrounds. Gwen sighed. She didn't want to let the sins of the father (or mother more often then not) prevent their children from working on such a project, but she wasn't willing to take the risk.

            Gwen continued. "Our main goal is to uncover enough words that they may be useful to the Order of the Phoenix."

            The students oh'd at this. They understood that Ouranian Barbaric was a relatively young magical language and they knew that Gwen had uncovered it. She alone knew the current vocabulary and soon all ten members would as well. However, they had not expected that their work would be aiding the Order of the Phoenix. This would become a source of pride for everyone involved on the project, and none of them would betray the Order. If all went well, everyone would be inducted as members before the end of term, or so Gwen hoped.

            She handed out ten pieces of parchment that she'd carefully copied herself. "These are the words that I remember. There are several that I've forgotten." She said, shaking her head as if to apologize. The list was two feet long, alphabetized with two columns. One was English to Ouranian, the other the reverse.

            "I haven't decided what other words we should attempt to scry for. I was hoping that you all would provide some input based on the list we have already."

            After an hour of suggestions and sorting through which words seemed more necessary than superfluous they had a working list of two hundred words they would spend the rest of term scrying for.

            As the research team climbed down the ladder Gwen smiled back at Madame Trelawney. "I think this is going to work." She said a huge grin spreading over her face.