throwing bits of parchment can be fun too on Elective Hall

Laura Keaton

April 20, 2005 2:45 PM

My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nineteen Pizzas by Laura Keaton

Laura knew the only thing about her that could possibly be construed as girly was her effort in school. She was a know-it-all, which had been part of the reason why she hadn’t had many friends in primary school. Although she usually didn’t mean too, she often had come off as demeaning to others by correcting people and always answering questions in class. Laura, however, couldn’t help it, she was a perfectionist and competitive. Grades, as far as Laura was concerned, were like a big contest, where the teacher acknowledged who had won by complimenting a paper, or announcing to the class that so and so had gotten the highest test score. Laura was quite used to being that person, and she had no desire to allow that to change at Sonora. Hence, she had read every text book during the summer, since she had nothing better to do in the Arizona heat. Plus, that meant she would have less reading homework to do while actually at Sonora, and that meant more free time, which translated into more time for Quidditch.

When Laura entered the astronomy classroom, the first thing she noticed was the huge, moving model of the solar system above her head. “Cool,” she mumbled as she spotted Asher and took the seat beside her friend. Asher didn’t seem so keen on the model, and kept looking up at it warily.

Laura’s attention was suddenly drawn to the professor, who, Laura immediately decided, was not a woman she wanted to cross. Laura could understand how, as an Astronomy Professor, this woman would have to be outside a lot at night; but jeez, didn’t she ever go out when the sun was shining? The woman introduced herself as Professor Dione, and expressed in a no nonsense way, that she expected to be called that, and only that. She then proceeded to inform the class that dimwits would not be tolerated, which Laura hoped meant that she would openly acknowledge the exceptionally bright students.

“We’ll be starting with the basics first, a quick overview of the solar system. For those who hope to pass this class, you might want to take a few notes. I teach the material, whether you succeed or fail is your problem. But first, let's see how much you know already. A bit of a pre-test, if you will. No, it will not be graded, but whoever gets the most questions correct might win a few house points. Number a piece of parchment from one to ten. Everyone ready? You may begin..."

Points! A contest! A competition! Now the stakes had been raised even higher; there were two competitions here for Laura to excel in. Exceedingly glad for the time spent reading that summer, as well as the short lesson on Astronomy she had learned at her Muggle school, Laura eagerly pulled out a piece of parchment, her ink, and a quill. Immediately she dipped the quill too far into the ink, blackening her finger tips. Wiping them impatiently on her robes, she tried again, a little less enthusiastically this time. Despite having a witch for a mother, she had mostly only used Muggle pencils and pens to write with.

Laura read question one and immediately recited in her head ‘My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nineteen Pizzas’, as she wrote the names of the planets in their order. Moving on to the next question, Laura wrote out in a whole sentence, as she had always been taught to do, that Jupiter was the largest planet and Pluto was the smallest. So far, this pre-test seemed really easy. Laura had learned all this at her Muggle school. Question three was another simple one, and Laura remembered how they had learned about the planets’ orbits by pretending to be the planets themselves. However, questions four and five were a bit more difficult, and Laura had to stop and think back to what she had read during the summer. Without realizing it, she was thinking with the tip of her quill on her parchment, leaving a large, ugly ink splotch. This caused her to have to move down the parchment a bit to continue writing, leaving an awkward gap between question three and four. Question six and seven got easier again, but eight, nine, and ten required actual thought. Finally, Laura smiled as she scribbled down the answer to the bonus question. And her mother had told her that there was nothing good about chocolate, well, all those Chocolate Frogs and their cards had just nailed Laura a bonus point.

Leaning back in her seat, Laura looked contently down at her splotchy parchment and untidy hand writing. She had written a lot, but that was her usual style. Always give more than the teacher wanted, because sometimes you get bonus points for it.

1) The nine planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
2) Pluto is the smallest planet and Jupiter is the largest.
3) The planets’ orbits are elliptical.

4) Venus is the hottest planet because of its thick yellow clouds which act like the covering on a greenhouse, trapping the heat on the surface.
5) There are four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. They orbit the planet Jupiter.
6) The Great Red Spot can be found on Jupiter, and is a giant hurricane.
7) True
8) Uranus’ moons are named after Shakespeare’s characters.
9) There are many differences between the terrestrial and jovian planets. Three differences include density; the terrestrial planets are much more dense than the jovian plants: the presence of rings; the terrestrial planets do not have rings and the jovian planets do: and the number of moons; the terrestrial planets have only three moons between them, while the jovian planets have over forty moons.
10) Retrograde motion makes a planet appear it is moving backwards, and is caused by the faster orbits of the planets closer to the sun than the Earth.
Bonus: Hesper Starkey

Satisfied with her work, Laura turned over her parchment to prevent any wandering eyes from stealing her excellent answers, and waited for Professor Dione to collect the test.
\n\n

0 Laura Keaton My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nineteen Pizzas 0 Laura Keaton 0 5

Professor Dione

April 21, 2005 10:18 PM

No matter. Just as long as you're willing to learn. by Professor Dione

Upon returning to her desk after reprimanding a certain student, she picked up a piece of parchment that had been placed on her desk and looked over the contents. It was a pretest from Kaylie Brockert…The planets were in their right order, a good start. The smallest and largest planets were correct also…Hmm, number three was incorrect, but it was a common mistake. It was logical thinking that the planet closest to the sun would also be the hottest, but this wasn’t the case. Looking over the rest, she saw quite a few were wild guesses, but she preferred this over a blank or a ‘no idea.’ An attempt was better than completely giving up, in her opinion.

Walking from seat to seat, she finally found a student without a pretest in front of them and concluded that this must be Kaylie. After passing the parchment back to her, she gave the student a nod, a gesture she often used to show that she was pleased with someone’s work.

“There’s no need to turn them in. I’ve just been looking over the tests as I walk about. We’ll be self-correcting these shortly, so hold onto it so you can make needed corrections. You made a good attempt, and that is all that matters at this point.”\n\n

0 Professor Dione No matter. Just as long as you're willing to learn. 0 Professor Dione 0 5

Juliet Lee

April 22, 2005 1:33 PM

Pola-Who? Ursa-What? by Juliet Lee

In Juliet's opinion, whoever desgined the Asronomy classroom should have been lynched. She absolutely thrived on sunshine and the fact that the entire vicinity was bathed in shadows gave her a mild case of claustraphobia. She noticed that the professor's outer appearence somehow matched the classroom with her pale skin that was almost as pale as Juliet's and raven hair that almost swallowed all light.

"We'll be starting with the basics first, a quick overview of the solar system. For those who hope to pass this class, you might want to take a few notes. I teach the material, whether you succeed or fail is your problem. But first, let's see how much you know already. A bit of a pre-test, if you will. No, it will not be graded, but whoever gets the most questions correct might win a few house points. Number a piece of parchment from one to ten. Everyone ready? You may begin..."

A written exam? On her first day of actual classes? What a disappointment. When she had left her Muggle elementary school, Juliet had pictured herself transfiguring teapots into frogs and throwing hexes across a duelling stage, not taking another test. But she didn't want her teacher to think she was lazy so she snatched a piece of parchment and a quill from her satchel.

Holding a writing instrument other than a pen or pencil felt foreign to her but she managed.

1. Name the nine planets in order starting with the one closest to the sun.

Juliet immediately felt a considerable amount of tension and nervousness fade away when she read the first question. It was very easy; something that she had learned as basic knowledge in Muggle education. Her mind conjured up an image of herself sitting in Science class, blandly reciting the planets in order.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto

2. Which is the smallest planet in our solar system? Which is the largest?

The smallest planet in our solar system is Pluto and the largest is Jupiter..

3. What shape are the planets' orbits?

Juliet almost slipped up and wrote down "circular" but she stopped herself in time. Remembering that her Science teacher, Mr. Adams, had reprimanded a student for being so "blatantly ignorant to the study of astronomy" to believe that the planet's orbit was circular, she changed her answer.

The shape is elliptical.

4. Which planet has the hottest temperatures and why?

Once again, Juliet was tempted to place the most obvious answer, which would have been Mercury due to the fact that it was the closest to the sun. But she was once again assaulted with the memory of her psychotic Science teacher berating a student for their lack of science knowledge.

The hottest planet is Venus, due to the sulfuric acid clouds creating the "greenhouse effect".

5. Name the Galilean moons and name which planet they orbit.

Uh oh. Here was a tough one. This was a question she would have to dig deep into her subconcious to unearth the answer to.

"Think, Juliet, think. The Galilean moons orbit...they orbit...Mercury, Venus, Uranus...JUPITER! THEY ORBIT JUPITER! Ok, ok. I've got that down. Oh dear, what are their names? I know one of them has a really short name and another one sounds like a continent. South America? No...Asia. Um...Europe? EUROPA! EUROPA! And...and...erm...the other one began with a vowel...U? A? I? Io...IO!" Juliet finally halted her thought process, knowing that if there were any more Galilean moons, she didn't know their names.

The Galilean moons orbit Jupiter and they are Io and Europa.

6. Which planet is known for the Great Red Spot?

Jupiter is known for it's Great Red Spot, which is actually a hurricane.

7. True or False: The Sun is larger than all of the planets put together.

True

8. Most of Uranus' moons are named after characters of what famous Muggle playwright?

What kind of question was that? Mr. Adams certainly never taught her class whether or not the moons of Uranus were named after characters in a play. Panic began to spread through her veins and Juliet feverishly wracked her brain for the names of playwrights. Agatha Chrisie? No, that didn't seem right. The only other playwright Juliet could think of was...William Shakespeare. That made sense. Many of the names of planets and moons sounded like names Shakespeare would write in one of his plays. Making an educated guess, Juliet wrote her answer.

Uranus' moons are named after characters by Shakespeare.

9. Name three differences between terrestrial planets and jovian planets.

Argh! Another stumper. Juliet rubbed her temples, cursing herself for not paying more attention in Mr. Adams' class. She remembered that Saturn was a jovial planet and Venus was a terrestrial planet. What were the differences between them? Hmmm...well Saturn had rings and Venus didn't. That was obvious. And Venus was more solid while Saturn was made up of mostly gases. Realizing that it was the best she could come up with, Juliet grudgingly scribbled down her answer.

Terrestrial planets are made of solid materials while jovial planets are made of mostly gases. Jovial planets also have rings while terrestrial planets don't. I couldn't think of a third example.

10. What does it mean when a planet has a retrograde rotation?

It means that the planet looks like it's rotating backwards.

Bonus: Who was the witch who studied the use of phases of the moon in potion making? Clue: She is on a Famous Wizard Card.

This question Juliet didn't even bother to search her mind for because she knew that there was little chance of her producing an answer. Being a Muggleborn had its limits. Juliet was about to ask the Professor to check her exam when a hand appeared out of nowhere and slapped a sheet of paper on her desk. Practically squealing in shock, Juliet jerked backwards in her seat.

"Cool, huh?"

Juliet gasped and looked up, her eyes locking with another first year. Realizing that the girl meant the paper, Juliet looked down and noticed intricate doodlings of stars and planets on the paper and she smiled weakly.

"Um...yes. You're a good drawer."
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Juliet Lee Pola-Who? Ursa-What? 0 Juliet Lee 0 5

Laura Keaton

April 22, 2005 2:19 PM

There is no one answer to that question by Laura Keaton

Laura had moved well beyond smug when Professor Dione had complimented her paper and awarded Crotalus house five points; she was beaming! Her face would have overpowered the model sun if anyone had cared to look. However, her look faded back to just plain smug again, when Professor Dione stopped at Asher’s desk. Laura couldn’t hear what the professor had said, it had been too quiet, but when she walked away Asher was looking beyond furious.

"Think the rest of the professors are going to be as anal as her?" Asher asked, her head nestled in the crook of her arm.

Laura immediately looked around, hoping the teacher hadn’t heard Asher’s rather loud and bold statement. Laura really didn’t want to loose those five points she had just earned. Competitions weren’t Laura’s favorite thing when she was on the loosing team.

Whispering back honestly, “Well, I certainly hope they are a little more warm and friendly than she is.” However, Laura also hoped they rewarded right answers as well as Professor Dione, because if they did, Laura would be racking up the house points
\n\n

0 Laura Keaton There is no one answer to that question 0 Laura Keaton 0 5

Marcus Sampson

April 22, 2005 3:54 PM

My Very Efficient Memory... by Marcus Sampson

Marcus walked into the Astronomy class with no idea of what to expect. What was astronomy anyway? His mom read her horoscopes every day, maybe that was what they would be doing. If that was true, then this would probably turn out to be a pretty boring class. Who cared whether Jupiter's tenth moon was in Venus's second house? Well, his mom apparently did.

The class seemed to get even worse when the teacher told them that they would be having a test. No, a pre-test. Not that there was much difference. It just meant that there would be another test to follow. Thankfully, he had learnt a bit about the solar system in his previous school so hopefully he wouldn't look too stupid. Hopefully.

1. Name the nine planets in order starting with the one closest to the sun.
That was easy! My Very Efficient Memory Just Stores Up Nine Planets!
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto

2. Which is the smallest planet in our solar system? Which is the largest?
Well, Jupiter was the largest...and by the looks of the model in the centre of the room, Pluto, the one furthest from the sun, looked like the smallest.
Jupiter is the largest and Pluto is the smallest

3. What shape are the planets' orbits?
Well, they went around the sun, so it stood to reason that the orbits were round.
Round

4. Which planet has the hottest temperatures and why?
That one was obvious!
Mercury, because it's closest to the sun

5. Name the Galilean moons and name which planet they orbit.
Galilean? What was that when it was at home? It sounded like a lyric from that Queen song...something about a raspberry...and the singer was that guy...Mercury! Fred Mercury!
Galileo and Figaro, they orbit Mercury

6. Which planet is known for the Great Red Spot?
Mars was known as the Red Planet, that had to be it.
Mars

7. True or False: The Sun is larger than all of the planets put together.
Marcus looked up at the model of the solar system. Hmm...he tried to work out how big the planets would be if there were all squished together. Yeah, they looked like they could be bigger than the sun.
True

8. Most of Uranus' moons are named after characters of what famous Muggle playwright?
Well, there was only one Muggle playwright he had heard of.
Shakespeare

9. Name three differences between terrestrial planets and jovian planets.
This really threw Marcus. He had always assumed that planets were just planets. What was the point in giving them stupid names?
Terrestrial planets are where ET comes from, Jovian is spelt with a 'j' and terrestrial has three 'r's in it

10. What does it mean when a planet has a retrograde rotation?
Something stirred in the back of his mind. Retro clothes were clothes that were old but people thought were cool. And they came from back in time!
They go backwards

He wasn't even going to attempt the bonus question- he didn't know what a Famous Wizard Card was, and didn't have a hope of getting the question remotely right.\n\n

0 Marcus Sampson My Very Efficient Memory... 0 Marcus Sampson 0 5

Zoey and Dillon

April 22, 2005 5:46 PM

Oh goodie! Class. by Zoey and Dillon

Zoey and Dillon walked into the classroom together. Just as they did for every class they attended together. The redheaded Welsh twins took their seats in the middle, off to the side. To them, this was probably the best place to sit. Most of the time, the Professors ignored people who sat in the middle and off to the side. Like they were sitting in the teacher's blindspot or something.

When the professor began to talk, Zoey turned to her brother and whispered, "Nope, still like all the rest. None of them seem to have much of a sense of humor."

"And you do?" Dillon whispered back, earning him a hard slap on the shoulder. As srawny as Zoey seemed, her basketball skills toughened her up. Dillon rubbed his arm before returning the love she had showed him. This continued for a minute before they both heard the Professor mention a test and they immediately returned their full attention to her.

"Work together?" Zoey asked. Dillon nodded, taking out his green quill while Zoey pulled out the parchment.

Zoey and Dillon Welsh. Zoey wrote in her rather large handwriting.

1. Name the nine planets in order starting with the one closest to the sun. Zoey took this opportunity to answer first before Dillon grabbed the quill and finished.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars... Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto...

2. Which is the smallest planet in our solar system? Which is the largest?

Pluto is the smallest... and Jupiter is the largest.

3. What shape are the planets' orbits? So far this pre-test hadn't been very hard. They were surprised by how easy it was actually turning out to be.

Elliptical

4. Which planet has the hottest temperatures and why?

"Isn't is Mercury?" Dillon asked his sister.

"Nope, there are new findings that have been reported that show Venus has having these clouds that block in heat." Zoey commented, making sure she wrote everything down as she spoke it. Dillon only shook his head at her. Leave it to Zoey to read every book, journal, or newpapaer within her reach, while he kept to his sci-fi books.

Venus because of the clouded atmosphere that surrounds it.

5. Name the Galilean moons and name which planet they orbit.

The names of the Galilean moons are Callisto, Io, Europa, and Ganymede. They orbit Jupiter.

6. Which planet is known for the Great Red Spot?

Jupiter has the Great Red Spot. It is caused by a hurricane.

7. True or False: The Sun is larger than all of the planets put together.

We would only assume this to be true.

8. Most of Uranus' moons are named after characters of what famous Muggle playwright? Now this one Dillon knew.

Shakespeare.

9. Name three differences between terrestrial planets and jovian planets.

Terrestrial planets are far more dense than Jovian. Jovian also have more moons. And Jovian planets have rings around them.

10. What does it mean when a planet has a retrograde rotation?

Retrograde means that it appears to be going backwards.

Bonus: Who was the witch who studied the use of phases of the moon in potion making? Clue: She is on a Famous Wizard Card. This question forced the twins to look at one another. They didn't know what or where anyone could get a Famous Wizard Card. They both shared digruntled looks about not being able to answer the bonus but said nothing. They were finished and returned to their little punching teasing game they did with one another while disgussing how things were going for them and the new first years.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

6 Zoey and Dillon Oh goodie! Class. 39 Zoey and Dillon 0 5

Robbie Bates

April 22, 2005 9:06 PM

...if you've got enough nerve by Robbie Bates

Robbie had flushed a little when the teacher told him to look back at his answers. If Professor what's-her-name thought he was lagging behind, than she might make him stay for extra help, or something like that. He wanted to spend as little time focused on scientific things as possible. So crumbling the parchment into a ball, he took out a new piece of parchment and began all over again. He was going to be extra focused this time. Nothing was going to distract him now.

Robbie Bates, Teppenpaw

1. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, in that order.
2. Pluto is the smallest planet. Jupiter is the largest planet.
3. Planets orbit the sun in an ellipse.
4. Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system. The reason has to do with greenhouses

Alright, that was what he had so far, now on to new questions. Next one had to do with the Galilean moons, and which planet the orbited. There was Io, like the cable service, and another moon that started with a g... was it Granny's meade? Nah, it was only one word, maybe Granymeade. But which planet did the orbit- he had no idea!

5. The Galilean planets are Grannymeade and Io.

The sixth question had to do with a Great Red Spot. Mars was known as the red planet! It would make sense for it to have the Great Red Spot.

6. The Great Red Spot is on Mars.

The seventh question was a true or false. Usually, these types of questions turned out to be false. So false it was.
The eighth question was simple. Robbie had only heard of one playright, by the name of Shakespeare. So Shakespeare it was. As for the ninth question, well, Robbie knews some differences. He wondered if their was partial credit.

7. False
8. Shakespeare
9. Terrestial planets are smaller and rockier than the jovian planets, which are really, really big, and gaseous.

Robbie looked at the last question, and the bonus. He thought he was doing pretty well so far. The tenth question wasn't too hard, retrograde motion was when the planet went backwards. But Robbie didn't like the bonus. It was biased, favoring those with a magical heritage who would have eaten a chocolate frog before. He himself had no idea what the answer was, and he had never eaten a chocolate frog either.

10. Retrograde motion is when a planet moves backwards.
Bonus: This is a biased question. The hint is geared towards those who would have eaten a chocolate frog, meaning those with a strong magical heritage. My mother thought it was cruel to eat chocolate shaped like frogs.

Well, he was done. He wondered what he should do now. Picking up the crumpled ball of parchment, he threw it lightly at Earl.

"Hey," he asked, not even aware that the teacher was talkin to Earl, "what are we supposed to do now?"\n\n

0 Robbie Bates ...if you've got enough nerve 0 Robbie Bates 0 5

Professor Dione

April 23, 2005 12:17 AM

Blast that Enter key! by Professor Dione

OOC: Please ignore that one reply I made above. I was trying to hit shift when, whoops, I hit the Enter key. That's what I get for trying to make reply after reply at one in the morning...

BIC
As she looked over the students' papers, she noticed a pair of redheaded twins working together on the pretest. Since it didn't count for anything, it didn't matter much in her opinion, just as long as they didn't do the same during the actual tests, there was no harm done.

Looking at the answers, they had a good amount of knowledge between the two of them. She could only hope they could do as well when separated. They completed all of the questions, save the bonus, with acceptable answers. If only the two could stop punching each other. Ah well, as long as they didn't hurt one another, or become a distraction, she didn't care too much about it.

"Good work, you two. Just make sure there is no collaboration on an actual test."\n\n

0 Professor Dione Blast that Enter key! 0 Professor Dione 0 5

Professor Dione

April 23, 2005 12:28 AM

If only everyone could find it this easy by Professor Dione

Professor Dione walked around the classroom, taking mental notes on common wrong answers, how many found the test easy versus how many had difficulty. Just a simple assessment to see how much she would have to focus on the basics. So far, most of the students were doing an average job, while a few others were either impressive or completely off the subject.

The parchment she happened to be looking at,Bella Santoro's, was definitely an example of an impressive paper. Save for number eight, which might be due to the fact that she was unfamiliar with Muggle literature, she had everything right. It was nice to see that a few of the students already were confident with the material.

"Impressive. Very good work."\n\n

0 Professor Dione If only everyone could find it this easy 0 Professor Dione 0 5

Dalila

April 23, 2005 11:19 AM

I wish I may I wish I might... by Dalila

So she was in Teppenpaw. Good. Dalila wanted more friends in her house. It would get rather dull if she were sitting in the common room alone poking the fire with as stick every night. And Juliet, was her name? Dalila's not very good with names, Juliet seemed like a nice enough person...and smart considering she had finished so fast.

"Well, J-Juliet, is it? Yeah...I'm glad to meet another member of my house. This year is goingto be so great, do you think? I can't wait to get this year really started. Do you think potions will be fun?"

Dalila stopped and caught her breath. She had a tendency to talk herself purple. Her grandmother used to reprimand her, saying that good girls and fine ladies only talked when nessessary. But grandmother was far away, and not even her magical hearing aid could pick up this conversation.\n\n

0 Dalila I wish I may I wish I might... 0 Dalila 0 5

Asher Tallow

April 23, 2005 12:21 PM

Gonna have to go look this up now...bleh. by Asher Tallow

Asher bit down on her cheek as Professor Dai Oni passed by again. Definitely a Dai Oni, she had decided not moments earlier. Most definitely one of the ice demons that lurks about, all straight backed and chilled. She planned to keep that nickname a mental one however, as some inside jokes are best kept between brain and thinker. Her eyes settled on one of the many posters on the wall, this one depicting some kind of colorful cloud cluster with beady dots of glowing lights. The movement was barely noticable, yet one of the glowing lights seemed to be growing.

She scowled at the poster and pointedly turned her head away from it. Just because one of the posters looked interesting did not mean in the least that Dai Oni's class would be interesting. To further demonstrate her vast disinterest in all things astronomical, she flipped over her paper and shoved it under her blotter. She shrugged into a slightly better posture, only half slumped as opposed to fully slumped over her desk top.

"I had figured this would be my favorite class, too," she mumbled half heartedly, "what with most of it being book stuff and looking through telescopes. Everything else seems hands on," she added miserably, disliking Dai Oni even more for having stolen away her one chance at a likable class. Her attempt at sitting straight fell through and she slouched flat over her arms. "What a great year this is going to be."\n\n

0 Asher Tallow Gonna have to go look this up now...bleh. 1466 Asher Tallow 0 5

Robbie

April 23, 2005 3:01 PM

throwing bits of parchment can be fun too by Robbie

Robbie looked over in Asher's direction. He remembered her from the Opening Feast. She had baffled him when all she ate was that little roll before running off. He still couldn't see how someone could go to a big feast like that, and still eat so little. He probably never would, either. But that suited him just fine.

"She could be a good target," nodded Robbie, "I wonder what kind of reaction we could get out of her. We just have to try and do this when the Professor... what was her name again- isn't looking. She seems kind of creepy."\n\n

0 Robbie throwing bits of parchment can be fun too 0 Robbie 0 5

Earl

April 23, 2005 5:17 PM

especially when they're aimed at people... by Earl

Good. Robbie was up for it. It might seem stupid to get this excited over throwing paper at someone, but Earl was an eleven year old boy who tends to hold a grudge. And Asher just flying off like that after the hospital wing was grudge-worthy.

He tossed the paper in the air again. His eyes darted over to Professor Dione. She was walking around the room checking students work. Her back was currently turned as she corrected someone's paper.

"Excellent," he whispered. He aimed the paper very carefully and lobbed it at Asher's head. He missed by a bit. The balled up parchment ended up hitting her leg and bouncing to the floor. He wasn't even sure if she had felt it.

"Do you think she felt that?" he asked Robbie.\n\n

0 Earl especially when they're aimed at people... 0 Earl 0 5

Laura Keaton

April 23, 2005 5:27 PM

There's a foul plot a foot by Laura Keaton

Laura heard Asher mumble something to herself about her favorite class, and then the comment, "What a great year this is going to be." The phrase was so full of sarcasm someone could have rung it out.

Laura was about to comment back that the other classes would surely be better, when she got the distinct feeling that someone was looking at her. Swiveling her head around, she panned across the classroom before seeing two boys on the far side staring in her and Asher’s direction. Wondering what was up with them, Laura turned back to Asher, still trying to ignore that ‘being looked at’ feeling.

“Don’t let her get to you,” Laura told Asher, referring to the professor. “If you think about it, even Muggles learn astronomy. But we’re at magic school, so is astronomy even all that important? I mean, we don’t even get to learn how to hex things in this class.” Laura grinned widely at the thought of learning hexes; she had several cousins lined up in her head who she’d like to practice them on.
\n\n

0 Laura Keaton There's a foul plot a foot 0 Laura Keaton 0 5

Adam Whitney

April 24, 2005 4:40 PM

joining in cos I'm bored by Adam Whitney

Adam walked into the classroom with his excitement at an all time high. This classroom was awesome. It was so dark and mysterious and it had moving things to keep him occupied.

He settled himself in the first seat he found and looked around at everything. His mother had told him to make sure he kept his attention focused on the tasks at hand, but Adam had trouble keeping his mind on one thing at a time. Especially this crappy lady. The one who looked like some creature of the night. He frowned as he tried to listen to her, but his mind wandered once more to the charts on the walls and the moving solar system.

Pretest

That word brought him back and he settled in with his quill and parchment for some work. Even though he had no clue what anything was.

1. Name the nine planets in order starting with the one closest to the sun.

Polar, Big Dipper, Earth, Orion, Little Dipper, Rings of many, Uranus, and the little planet.

2. Which is the smallest planet in our solar system? Which is the largest?

Polar is the largest and the little planet is the smallest.

3. What shape are the planets' orbits?

they circle around the big yellow sun.

4. Which planet has the hottest temperatures and why?

Earth during the summer because it's the summer.

5. Name the Galilean moons and name which planet they orbit.

Adam was about to answer this question when he heard something fwooo by his head. He looked around, but saw nothing and decided to continue with his work.

Galilean was an evil Sorcorer who wanted to still the precious Jewel of the Gods, but the Gods stopped him and sent him into outerspace so that he can never be evil again. He now orbits Uranus for all eternity..

6. Which planet is known for the Great Red Spot?

Orion cos it's all red.

7. True or False: The Sun is larger than all of the planets put together.

true, the sun is big and yellow and the planets are small and multi-colored..

8. Most of Uranus' moons are named after characters of what famous Muggle playwright?

Again that strange noise happened and he looked around with is large blue eyes, but spotted nothing. Shrugging, Adam continued,

Me!!!.

9. Name three differences between terrestrial planets and jovian planets.

They are spelled differently, and pronounced differently, and they are obviously two different things..

10. What does it mean when a planet has a retrograde rotation?

Alright, that time there was definitely something that sped past him and he looked up in time to see a flying ball whiz passed him.

"Hey" he said quietly in surprise and looked around to see a group of boys and another group of girls playing a game. Adam frowned because they hadn't asked him to join, but then lit up at the prospect of playing anyway.

The test now completely forgotten, Adam grabbed two pieces of parchment and rolled each up into tight little balls. When he was satisfied, he lobbed one at the girls and the other at the boys, wearing a goofy smile while watching for thier reactions.

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

6 Adam Whitney joining in cos I'm bored 69 Adam Whitney 0 5

Chris Dupree

December 06, 2006 9:19 PM

Looking for Kaylie by Chris Dupree

Once Chris entered the Muggle Studies classroom, he immediately searched for Kaylie. Part of the reason that he was taking this class was to spend more time with her. The other part was that he wanted to know more about Muggles. Unlike the rest of his family, who simply thought Muggles should be nonexistant, Chris was fascinated by them. What did they use all those strange things for?

Spotting his girlfriend, he quickly took a seat next to her. He was so lucky to be with Kaylie. He thought she was absolutely perfect. She was pretty, like Quidditch, was fun to be around, and nice. What more could one ask for?

He gave her a charming half grin and a slight squeeze of the hand, before pulling out parchment and a quill in preparation for class to begin. Not unfortunately, he had to almost immediately put them away. The professor told them that they were going to get to have fun.

His curiousity peaked, he glanced over at Kaylie, wondering if she was just as excited. When Professor Williams started throwing out items, Chris grabbed one for himself and looked to see what Kaylie caught. He thought it looked quite strange.

Attention drawn back to his own item, he tried to figure it out. It looked like a mouse, but wasn't real. Now, why would someone need a fake mouse? What was wrong with a perfectly good, live mouse? He poked at it some, wondering if it would come alive, but alas it didn't. He turned it over in his hand. Not only was it fake, but it appeared to have four wheels.

Now, why would a fake mouse have four wheels? What was the purpose? He studied it closer. What was this...a button? Eagerly, Chris pressed it. The mouse sprung into action, as the wheels began to move. Chris put it down and it zoomed off his desk and under Kaylie's chair before stopping.

He had figured out how to make the item work, but still, what was its purpose? He pondered this, as he got down on his hands and knees to retrieve the mouse. When he got back up, he checked to see how Kaylie was doing with her item.

Touching her arm gently, trying not to disturb her, Chris asked, "How far have you gotten with yours? I finally figured out how to make it work, but I'm still clueless as to what it's for."\n\n

0 Chris Dupree Looking for Kaylie 0 Chris Dupree 0 5

Mia Kerova

December 11, 2006 7:50 PM

Nice skid by Mia Kerova

Mia entered the Muggle Studies room, her black scribbled on bag draped across her body as it had since she first came to Sonora. Thank god for the adjustable strap. The strap half covered her prefect badge, but it was there nonetheless. She didn’t purposely flaunt it, but she still felt sort of proud to wear it. Mia was half looking forward to this class and seeing her world from a magic point of view, and half wondering what in the world she was doing there. It was a pretty easy question to answer. This was one of those ‘easy A’ classes. The name certainly suggested it, spending more than half her life not knowing magic existed. She thought she deserved a break a few times a week since regular classes were bound to get harder.

She smiled to herself as she predicted what her friends from home would say. ‘What do you need an easy A for, Mia? Every class is an easy A for you!’ And she’d say, ‘that’s not true.’ And they’d roll their eyes at her and laugh while muttering ‘yeah, sure.’ She took a seat at the end of the second row and put her bag down by her chair. She didn’t think she had the same reputation at Sonora and if she did, no one had said anything about it. Possibly because people didn’t expect it of her, being muggleborn and in Pecari, but she had long since proved herself beyond any stupid labels like that.

The professor was already there and seemed to be ready to start when the students who chose to take the class arrived. Looking around, it wasn’t as full as the required classes, but she saw a few familiar faces and a lot of familiar objects. She didn’t know if Stephen was taking this too. Why not? He took Ancient Runes, which looked a lot harder than this. Mia stopped her eyes from wandering and focused on the teacher when she started class, looking very excited to teach about ‘how the other half lives.’

Mia caught the palm pilot tossed towards her with a grin. There was a time when PDA’s were a big fad back home, but it meant very little to her, being in elementary school. What did a nine year old want with a palm pilot except the games? That was all Mia wanted with it now. When the teacher finished her speech, Mia quickly took the little stick that came with the device and started messing around with the Palm. She found the games and scrolled through what it had on it. Not a huge selection, but her eyes went straight to javanoid and she started up a game.

Mia’s game was interrupted by someone slipping on her bag and losing his balance. She held out her hands to help steady him and saw it was Saul rushing in. She had taken some initiative to memorize names and faces in her house since it was probably important to know as a prefect. He apologized to the professor and then asked her what they were doing. She picked up the PDA again.

“Professor Williams gave us some muggle things to mess around with. You can get one from that box over there.” Mia pointed to the teacher’s desk and then tapped the screen of the palm to get the next ball going. “We’re learning how the other half lives.” Mia quoted with a small chuckle. Well she thought it was amusing, anyway.\n\n

0 Mia Kerova Nice skid 0 Mia Kerova 0 5

Briony O'Leary

December 13, 2006 10:34 PM

Tag! You're it! (Adam) by Briony O'Leary

Briony always felt a little weird when meeting a new professor. She always felt like they must expect her to be more like her dad. With the exception to her hair color, she really wasn't like her dad. She supposed she was more like her late mother, who was muggleborn. Taking this class, she hoped to learn more about her mother's world.

Being an attentive student, Briony chose a seat towards the front of the room, ready to take notes with her quill and parchment. Her wand stored safely away in the sleeve of her robes, as she assumed that they wouldn't need it since this was a class about Muggles. Ever since she got her first wand, her dad had insisted that she learn how to store it in her sleeve, always ready if need be.

Once the professor began lecturing, it became clear that they wouldn't be taking notes. Along with others, Briony put her things away in her tote.

When the items were passed out, she caught one that was rectangular. It was red, except for another rectangular piece on one side. That was clearish. Written in script were the words 'Etch a Sketch.' Opposite that were two white knobs on either side of the clearish part. She turned one of the knobs gingerly. A line appeared on the clearish rectangular part. She turned the other knob. A line in the opposite direction appeared. She continued to turn the knobs and they continued the lines.

Based on the name and the fact of the lines, the artifact was obviously used for drawing pictures, but seemd a little limited since it didn't appear to let you do circles. Wondering what she might be able to try drawing with this, she looked around the room. She noticed a boy that was sitting with an older boy and girl.

The girl she knew to be Kaylie Brockert, the Tepp prefect. The other two she didn't know at all, but both boys were awfully cute. She guessed that the older one was Kaylie's boyfriend since they kept making googly eyes at each other and touching each other. The younger seemed awfully unhappy. She knew she was staring, but she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away, then all of a sudden the younger boy looked in her direction. She could feel herself turning red. How embarrassing!\n\n

0 Briony O'Leary Tag! You're it! (Adam) 75 Briony O'Leary 0 5

Adam Brockert

December 14, 2006 8:28 PM

Yup....that's me, I'm an "it". by Adam Brockert

Adam been looking forward to all the elective classes. Finally, he would have class with Kaylie! If they had to have partners, he could work with her.

Quickly, however, all of his hopes were dashed by his entrance. The lesson was ruined now. He was there and would monopolize Kaylie's attention. The Aladren boy didn't acknowledge Adam either, just started getting mushy with Kaylie. Apparently, he must have found Adam a bother.

Adam frowned and listened half-heartedly to Professor Williams. His excitement for the class had deflated like a punctured balloon.

A red rectangular object was tossed Adam's way and he ducked. He had to be the least athletic person in the world and certainly wouldn't be able to catch the thing which narrowly missed his head and landed with a crash on the floor. Little yellow objects spilled all over the place. He got down to pick them up, scooping them into his hand. Adam picked up the red thing as well and placed all the items on his desk. He looked over the red thing without any real enthusiasm. The top was blue and had little slots in different shapes in it. It had a circle thing on it with numbers. Next to that was the word Perfection . Had Adam not been so unhappy, he might have appreciated the irony of himself, the least perfect person in at least the whole class, if not the whole school, getting such an object.

He glanced over at Kaylie and that boy, who seemed to be talking happily with each other. Adam gave a low sigh and turned his head, when he noticed a girl with red hair was staring at him. His face flushed as much as hers did. Adam could guess she might have been embarassed that he'd caught her. He wondered why the girl, whom he knew to be the DADA teacher's daughter, was looking at him. Had her father pointed out Adam as an incompetant person that the girl, Briony he thought her name was, should avoid at all costs? Was she thinking him clumsy for not catching his object and laughing for the way he'd had to get down on the ground to get all the yellow things? Was she thinking him a baby because he seemed so upset about Kaylie's boyfriend being there.

That's when Adam noticed the yellow piece by her foot that he'd missed. He groaned inwardly, he was going to have to go over there and get it. That meant he was going to talk to have to talk to Briony who probably thought he was an absolute moron.

Adam stood up, wishing he knew the summoning charm so he could just get it that way. He approached her. "Um, excuse me," said Adam, his stomach knotting up with each word. "I seem to have dropped part of my object. Can I please get it? It's down by your foot."\n\n

11 Adam Brockert Yup....that's me, I'm an "it". 78 Adam Brockert 0 5

Dillon Welsh

December 18, 2006 12:34 AM

Isn't that more like Divination? by Dillon Welsh

Dillon had no idea what possessed him to take this class. It wasn't like he didn't live eleven years of his life in the muggle world with his muggle family thinking he was just as plain and ordinary as all of his friends and neighbors. Or that he didn't go back to pretending to be plain and ordinary whenever he was home for Christmas or the summer. But, he thought it might be entertaining to see how Muggle life is looked at through the eyes of the Magical.

He sat in a random seat and waiting patiently for the lesson to begin. Almost immediately he wanted to laugh. They were playing with muggle inventions? He could see some of these 'toys' that the professor passed out. A gameboy, a cell phone, a heating pad...yeah, random. The 'toy' given to him was no toy at all. Instead, it was a toaster. Well, that was a waste of his time. He couldn't make toast without some bread.

Dillon sighed and leaned back in his chair. At fifteen, Dillon stood at 5'10, now matching his sister's height. Luckily for him, he was still growing while Zoey finally seemed to have stopped. His red hair was longer, falling easily into his face. His glasses slipped slightly down his long nose, but he quickly pushed them back up. Soon, his mom said he could get contacts.

Looking around he noticed the girl next to him, Lily if he remembered correctly, was talking to an eight ball. Lucky. He smirked slightly when she asked about Earl. He thought it strange that she would ask such a thing considering they were teammates, but it amused him just the same.

"Hey Lily, want to trade?" Dillon joked, picking up his toaster to try and intice her. "I-uh-have no bread to toast, so this is just a wasted item for me."\n\n

6 Dillon Welsh Isn't that more like Divination? 44 Dillon Welsh 0 5

Mia

December 18, 2006 9:30 PM

And you weren't misinformed by Mia

Mia nodded when Saul made it clear he knew what the PDA was. He must have heard of them before, just like he must have heard of a Gameboy before. The nodding was almost mechanical as he explained about his family since her focus was split between him and the game.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested. She wished she knew more about the magic world, since she had no idea what the Magical Cabinet was. It sounded political, like the President’s cabinet in the muggle world. But since Simon’s, she connected the name with the groundskeeper who must’ve been related to Saul somehow, father ran for president of the Magical Cabinet, it had to be a bigger deal in the magic world. Mia, not being interested in politics, was actually interested now. She had half a mind to question this Magical Cabinet thing further, but chose to let it lie for the time being, not wanting to sound completely ignorant.

“Sure, why not?” she said when he mentioned that his family lived mostly in the muggle world. “The muggle world is pretty cool.” She gestured towards the room and its many muggle trinkets with another grin as the javanoid ball got caught above the blocks and bounced up there for a short while. “So none of the muggles that the witches and wizards in your family marry, mind that they married someone with magic?” She managed to make it sound like a perfectly fair question rather than the slightly envious question it felt to her. For her, the problem wasn’t marrying someone with magic. It was having a child deemed a freak for having magic.

“Your family works in Ren. Fairs?” Mia couldn’t keep the amusement from her voice. “That’s cool. Not many come by where I live and the ones that have weren’t that good. There’s this medieval place pretty close by that my friend says is amazing. They put on this big interactive show with the horses and the jousting and the sword fights and the cheesy princess love story. Something your family might like if they haven’t heard of it already.”

Saul’s family sounded interesting. A strange sort of interesting, but interesting nonetheless. The things they were missing made it seem a little rough to live that way, like an actual house for instance. Mia smiled again when he mentioned they lived in tents, but had cell phones. Her mom didn’t think it was worth it to have one if she couldn’t use it for three quarters of the year. Mia was working to convince her otherwise, but nothing like that was even mentionable as long as the wedding was priority.

Saul took the game and Mia watched him play. It wasn’t a long round and after a few bounces, the third ball was out of play. Mia shook her head, dismissing his comment. She took the Palm back to start up a new game so he could have three balls to start with rather than just the one she had left.

“Don’t worry about it. You get better as you play more. Like Tetris. Once you get it, it’s pretty easy. You want to try again? You can try a different game if you want. It's not a very big selection though." Mia scrolled through the other games. “Oh, it has Tetris. And Snake.” She added, mostly to herself and kept scrolling.\n\n

0 Mia And you weren't misinformed 0 Mia 0 5

Professor Williams

January 03, 2007 12:12 AM

Ah ha... by Professor Williams

Genevieve was watching the class with slight amusement as they played with their objects. Of course, this was only a starter class, there'd be more "structured learning" type classes, but today was a fun day. Everything seemed to be going well, that is, nothing had exploded yet. Genevieve had been warned about the Craven Twins and their mischief, but so far no one had exhibited signs of similar destructive behavior. That was a plus.

It was only moments after she'd finished her quick inspection of the room when a student called for her attention, informing her that he had no bread with which to use his toaster. Genevieve smiled serenely and approached the student's desk, surveying the toaster as if there were something wrong with it. She picked it up and examined the inside slots as well as the bottom.

"No, it appears you're correct, I see no bread to toast, Mr...?" she asked, placing the toaster back down on the boy's desk, awaiting a name.

She took the moment she'd given the boy to respond and brandished her wand, whispering molto panis. Sitting on the table was now a platter full of sliced bagels, breads of all kinds of colors and flavors, and other seemingly 'toastable' items. Genevieve smiled, opening her palm towards the platter in a quick displaying guesture.

"Is this a sufficient amount of bread for you, dear?" she asked, a twinkle playing about in her green eyes, "Anything else I can do to assist you?" \n\n

0 Professor Williams Ah ha... 0 Professor Williams 0 5

Connor

January 15, 2007 4:08 PM

Don't have an answer for that one. by Connor

"Yeah," Connor said, surprised, when Anne asked about the singers he'd mentioned. "They both had their own careers, but they did some duets - the Urban Cowboy soundtrack and all that. I used to try to find that in Wal-Mart, but they never had it..." The time the 'How May I Help You?' guy had gotten annoyed with him and Bev the time she'd come up with the bright idea to ask the salespeople in the section for help stuck out in particular. "Waylon Jennings did the theme song for The Dukes of Hazzard, too, and the part of the Balladeer. Good show."

As usual, he ran out of things to say. He hated running out of things to say. Anne was no Gwen, to have something to fill the void almost before it opened up, at least not by reputation, what he'd seen, and the little Gwen had told him. Which left him with thinking of something to say himself or letting her listen to Beethoven while he feigned interest in a hairdryer. When she spoke again, he wished that they had both been content to stay bored.

"She didn't tell you?" Not the most ingenious stalling tactic ever come up with, but better than nothing. "I thought you girls told your friends everything. Me and her haven't been talking since Christmas last year." It occurred to him too late that Anne could have been setting up some kind of bluff. "That's why I was kind of surprised when you didn't try to kill me on sight, actually." If saying that didn't make things worse, he doubted anything would. \n\n

0 Connor Don't have an answer for that one. 68 Connor 0 5

Anne

January 15, 2007 5:00 PM

Titles are the revenge of the RP gods. by Anne

Anne tried to follow the line of conversation about cowboys and Wal-Mart and hazardous dukes with balladeers, but got lost in the terminology. It was like attending a class that started midway through the coursework the minute the door closed on the first day without having read the textbook first, and she gave up in short order. "Yeah," she agreed, deciding that was safest, when the show about the hazard-friendly dukes was praised.

The subject change was intrusive and involved things that were none of her business, but she felt awkward listening to and enjoying her music while the poor guy had to fake interest in something he clearly already knew everything about. Though she didn't know it, she joined Connor in wishing she'd kept her mouth shut and let silence reign when she got an answer. "Gwen's not my friend," she said. "She's my half-cousin. There's a difference. And as for the other bit..." She shrugged, a habitual defensive gesture, knowing that the next bit was going to sound more than a bit off after such blatant prying. "What y'all do or don't do is frankly none of my business."

Everyone, it seemed, was in something romantic this term except her. First it had been finding out about Geoff and Kate getting together in England. Then it was Geoff and Kate continuing to send each other long, apparently lovey-dovey letters the former, at least, treated like a state secret. Now, Gwen and Colin, who she'd accepted as a fact of life at Sonora since first year, had split up. Lenny'd probably be next; she was the most delicate of them, and the most prone to "girly" feelings.

"Look on the bright side," she said, feeling a little obliged to offer some form of comfort after stepping on a landmine like that. "You being here proves you can live without her or however the old song goes. And I'll actually have an excuse to remember your name, now." That hadn't come out quite right, but it even she knew it wasn't polite to tell someone he hadn't previously been worth the trouble of remembering on account of being an appendix to someone else, even if that someone else was her favorite cousin. \n\n

16 Anne Titles are the revenge of the RP gods. 59 Anne 0 5

Anne

January 16, 2007 6:19 PM

Nobody's perfect. by Anne

"No, she doesn't," Anne agreed once she managed to stop laughing and get her breath back. "Which I can promise you is in your health's best interests, because she's crazy and what you just said would make her crazier. She overdoes the whole pureblood loyalty thing sometimes." That was enough to set her off giggling again. The look on people's faces if this one got into society's grapevine...Purebloods liked their names a lot, and there were so few of them that Anne couldn't think of two separate families with the same one. "It wouldn't be the ha-ha-that's-funny kind of falling over Eileen did over you, Pierce. It would be the oh-the-scandal-pass-my-smelling-salts kind."

It sounded impossible to her that Gwen had never told him, but that was what it looked like had happened. Why would she have kept it to herself? Maybe at first there had been the scandal aspect of things, but raising heck wasn't that big of a deal for her after that first Christmas. She didn't think she could have kept her mouth shut about something like that for four years, but then, she wasn't a Crotalus. Even the nice people out of that House were a little weird.

"The New Hampshire Pierces," she said deliberately, "are a family of purebloods from the northeast. They're rich and they've got pretty good connections, which means they ain't the people to mess with. Your existing constitutes messing with them. It's just your good luck that all of them go to Salem as far as I know." She shook her head, still half-disbelieving. This was crazy. "I can't believe Gwen never told you any of this. She should have been freaking out from the minute she met you." \n\n

16 Anne Nobody's perfect. 59 Anne 0 5

Connor

January 19, 2007 8:04 PM

Nope. by Connor

Pass-my-smelling-salts? Did rich old women really still do that? He could see Sadie Belle - she had made it perfectly clear, in the short visit connected with her unfortunately unsuccessful attempt to stop her daughter-in-law's dating, that she would never answer to Grandma or any other age-implying title - pretending to do that, but to do it for real...unless Anne's grandmother, Eileen, was another one with an actress complex. It would explain a lot if Eileen was one of those types and the single grandparent Anne shared with Gwen.

Connor had given up on really being mad at Anne's pretty cousin at some point, but not because he thought she'd been right. Being mad at Gwen was about as pointless as being mad at a little kid, and he wasn't a fan of wasting his time, even if he wound up doing it more often than not. Telling Gwen any of that, though, would make things worse even if he caught up with her long enough to say anything, and there was that he only cared anymore when he thought about it...or saw her...or saw Anne...or those twins...or the brat...

Yeah, the situation was definitely starting to get more than a little pathetic, not to mention old. Something had to be done about it, but he didn't know what, and had other things on his mind within seconds, anyway.

When Anne stopped talking, Connor sat staring at her for a moment, distantly sure he looked like an idiot. She could have been lying, but he doubted it, somehow. Anne had no reason to lie; he was a blip on her radar screen, not worth the trouble. Besides, it made a lot of things make sense, like Gwen taking him under her pureblooded wing. He decided not to think about the other Pierces at all, as that would just lead to panicky thoughts about getting killed. Panic was not good.

"Yeah," he managed, still trying to process what she'd said. "Lucky. Gwen never said anything I heard." If she'd been freaking out when they met, then she'd done a darn good job of hiding it. Not sure what he was supposed to say, he compromised by changing the topic. "What's that music, anyway? I've heard of Beethoven, but I don't know anything but Fur Elise." \n\n

0 Connor Nope. 68 Connor 0 5

Anne

January 19, 2007 11:04 PM

Agreement is good. by Anne

The exclamations she'd expected weren't present, but Anne decided that Pierce - it was, all things considered, a lot easier to remember that than his first name - was reacting with appropriate levels of shock without them. She tried to imagine what it would feel like to get information like that from a nearly-impersonal source, but couldn't. She'd always known, after all, that there were Muggles called Wright. It would take an imagination at least equal to Helena's to see this, and she used Helena as her reference mostly out of loyalty.

She felt bizarrely like a gossip, something she couldn't remember feeling like before in her life. Geoff and Lenny compared notes about everyone's business while Anne sat and listened. She never had any gossip to contribute, herself, and had never wanted any; her stance had always been that the more she knew about people, the worse having to deal with them would be. She couldn't say for sure if she had been gossiping, but she resolved not to do whatever it was she'd done again. It felt too weird.

Anne was relieved when Pierce finally said something. She didn't like being stared at even when it was in a good way, which this obviously wasn't. The sentances were a little choppy, but they were a sign of a return to the land of the living. The question about Beethoven was a pretty sloppy attempt at changing the subject, but she went with it. "Fur Elise is the classic famous one," she agreed, nodding. "One of the pieces little girls learn to play on the piano, that one. I figure I could still play it, if I had a piano. This tape's a medley of some kind. The one that's playing right now is one of the crazier pieces - Scherzo's the only bit of the title I can remember."

Reluctantly, she shoved the whole apparatus towards him. "You can listen to it if you want. Good stuff." It took an effort to keep from going into the musical movement it had been composed during, with references to magical music of the times. She found the subject fascinating, but it was like her endless, circular discussions of Quidditch: most people just weren't that interested. Geoff said her jerkiness put enough people off without her adding droning to the mix. Anne didn't think she droned - if anything, she got too excited for most people's taste - but it was the point that mattered.

She looked at Pierce for a moment. If she hadn't learned his first name by now, she probably wasn't going to, and while she thought she could remember his last name, calling a Muggleborn a Pierce felt like calling a duck an ostrich. She had heard of the purebloods before she'd heard of him, and it was easier to forget the second usage than the first one. If he wasn't Gwen's shadow, though, then she'd have to call him something. Your name is now Jack, she thought, then realized she'd said it out loud. \n\n

16 Anne Agreement is good. 59 Anne 0 5

Connor

January 20, 2007 9:13 PM

In the right contexts. by Connor

Connor had grown up in Texas. In Texas, there was a lot of music, and even some music that the schools liked to define as "cultural", which, for most people, meant boring. Unless Abby Allan's rendition of Fur Elise at her second cousin's wedding shower counted, Connor had never heard or been all that interested in Beethoven or his music. Under the circumstances, though, he was more than willing to let Anne be a show-offy Aladren and parade how much she knew about the subject. He was even willing to pretend interest in her dead Germans, if it kept her on them and away from what had been the topic of discussion.

Of course something had to go wrong. Anne started to talk about Beethoven and piano - she didn't look much like he would have thought a piano-player would look, but to each her own - and a crazy piece with the improbable name of Scherzo, but then stopped. Either the music was just a side thing, not a matter of serious interest, or she was cutting herself off on purpose. He couldn't figure out which one it was, but that didn't really matter. Either way, he still had no idea what to say.

"Uh - that's fine," he mumbled when Anne offered to let him listen to Scherzo or whatever was playing. He thought it was the first time he'd mumbled the entire conversation. It had to be a record. "You can keep it." Widening of horizons was all well and good, but not to the point of self-torture by means of classical music. Even the best things went bad if they were pushed to a certain point.

It was when Anne announced, seemingly at random, that she was changing his name that he made up his mind. She was as hard to figure out as her cousin, and probably crazier to boot. Maybe all girls were crazy, but only a few of them showed it. He surprised himself by laughing out loud. “Sure it is, Betty,” he said.\n\n

0 Connor In the right contexts. 68 Connor 0 5

Professor Williams

January 21, 2007 8:05 PM

[CLASS CLOSED] (nm) by Professor Williams

0 Professor Williams [CLASS CLOSED] (nm) 0 Professor Williams 0 5

Daniel Nash II

April 19, 2010 8:01 PM

I'm well motivated at least. by Daniel Nash II

"No, not a halfblood," Daniel agreed when she guessed 'the Second' meant he was a pureblood rather than a halfblood. It wasn't worth correcting the assumption, and she was already going on about the blood statuses of her parents and then jumping back to the subject of her new quill. This was why he didn't like Pecaris.

Still, Daniel began an attempt to answer her question about how to keep her bag as tidy as his own - she clearly needed the information and it would make him feel better to know the disaster in her bag was going to be seen to - but about halfway through the description and history of the charm he used to protect his things from breaking, he realized she was working on her assignment and not paying any attention to him.

He blinked, uncertain if he should be offended that she was blowing him off or mortified that a Pecari was doing the lesson while he - an Aladren - talked about something completely unrelated to the project at hand. He'd obviously broken character, and badly.

Horrified with himself he looked down at poetry book and found it was open to a page already. Decided that was as much fate-chosen as one could get, he wrote down the title and author onto a fresh piece of parchment.

My Daughters in New York
by James Reiss

Not exactly the poem he probably would have chosen, seeing as Daniel had no daughters (possibly would never have daughters, if he took after Dad as much as he was beginning to fear he did) and he lived in California. Still he held his wand up with one hand and the pebble up with his other hand, and cast "Alea Sollicito."

Despite himself, he found himself holding his breath as the little stone swirled around in the air before coming to rest on a stanza of the poem. With a sense of foreboding (he prided himself on his pessimism, so a sense of foreboding was the only way to approach the future) and moved the pebble aside read the line underneath it.

"What footloose new/ freedoms allow them to plow through all stop signs?" Daniel read aloud, mostly to himself. The feeling of foreboding increased.

He dutifully copied that down onto his sheet as well, and circled 'footloose' and 'stop' since those were the two words the pebble had partially covered. Frowning down the line, he couldn't imagine what it might mean in specifics, but it was clearly a bad thing.

He looked over at Cassy and found she was looking at him oddly. Had he been muttering? He hoped not. Being related to Holly was already more evidence than he wanted to give his classmates that maybe he wasn't entirely mentally well-balanced.

"This class should come with a warning for pessimists," he stated. "There is no way this is not ominous," he told her then read the line: "'What footloose new freedoms allow them to plow through all stop signs, careening at corners, hell-bent for the road to blaze straight?' It outright states I'm trying to destroy myself." He shook his head and frowned at the poetry book as he added, "And the line right before it was: 'that pinball goes bouncing off light posts & lands in a pothole, on to pop up & roll in the gutter' - That's the definition of futility, isn't it? I'm desperate to throw myself into the path of disaster and there's nothing I can do to stop it from getting worse."

He sighed and realized that didn't sound at all like something he'd do, but it did sound remarkably familiar. "Oh, God. It's about Mom and her marriages and divorces. I told her not to marry Anton. I told her."

1 Daniel Nash II I'm well motivated at least. 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5