Did Caolan NEED to be here? Absolutely not. Did Caolan want to be here? Of course! Muggle Studies would be an absolute breeze for him and despite the fact that he knew he wouldn’t be able to do an OWL in the subject (it probably be cheating after all), he A) had nothing better to do and B) Muggle Studies was just a load of fun. He was there bright and early and eager to ‘learn.’ He had greeted his Head Of House and the other bloke when he had entered the classroom location with a firm nod.

It didn’t even bother him that the lesson was outside today, he just wrapped up warm with layers. His eyes had absolutely lit up when he had spotted the bat and the wickets and..

CRICKEEEEET!!!!!

Anyone that knew him knew that Caolan was a massive fan of cricket and used to play for his junior team back home. He basically considered himself a pro which would once again probably be cheating but who cared?! Boy was he GLAD that he had decided to go to Muggle Studies that morning! He would’ve brought his whites had he known.

Best. Lesson. EVER!!

He didn’t offer up an answer when the Professor asked what they would be playing that lesson for a few of his fellow students had already suggested so and he didn’t want to repeat them. However the huge grin on his face and the shifting of weight from one foot to the other (which could either be interpreted as excitement or needing to pee) was evident enough that Caolan knew EXACTLY what was coming to them that lesson.

Jackson listened as the others all seemed to be on the same page. When Torii spoke up though, Jackson found himself nodding at her answer. He had heard of cricket but that was all. Perhaps he should have known more about it, but just like the Slytherin girl, he had grown up in America and was really only privy to a handful of sports if he was being honest. After moving here, it was all about Quidditch and gobstones!

"I'm on the same page as Torii... I'm going to have to guess cricket as well?"

Have a seat and we’ll see if it gets worse.

Max pulled an unimpressed face (which hopefully would pass as a pained expression) and did as he was told. He plopped his butt down on one of the tree stumps and huffed unhappily under his breath because ughhh.

He didn't really know what cricket was, but that seemed to be the general consensus among the other kids. Except for Cam who guessed marbles...? Maybe Cam was feeling sick too because they'd have to be some pretty giant marbles to require helmets. Bats and helmets could only mean whatever was going on, it was something Max wanted zero part in.

And the fact that Stewart had decided to drag them all outside for this class obviously meant that she intended for them to PLAY it.

"UghhhhHHhhHhh." Cue more stomach clutching. Oh, the pain. The PAIN.

Grumpy, miserable, unhappy Abra was grumpy, miserable, and unhappy about the outdoors. It was even worse now that he wasn't walking, but sat still. He pulled the neck of his shirt up over the bottom half of his face just to get the full benefit of the warming charms. November was cold.

Uhhhhhhhh... huh. Yeah, Abra had no idea. He didn't follow muggle sports, and he didn't read his textbook before he absolutely had to. So... yeah... he didn't know.

A bunch of other kids seemed to have an idea though, and one word kept cropping up, so Abra joined in and raised his own hand, freeing his mouth from his shirt as he did so. "Oh, definitely cricket," he said, with bags of false confidence. Now he just had to hope that everyone else was right or he would sure look foolish. Also, that he wouldn't be singled out for a follow-up question, because there would be no blagging his way through that.

... Uhh... was Max okay?

He heard everyone rattling off cricket as an option and he figured that would be what was going on. He knew with 100% certainty that it wasn't baseball. They would've been out on a field with way more space needed. "Well if there were no helmets I'd swear we were playing croquette. But I'd have to agree with the others that we're playing cricket."

He watched as someone continued to hold their stomach as if they were about to get sick, he subconsciously stepped to the side. He rubbed his arm trying to scratch an itch that would not go away. Looking between Professor Stewart and Adi he waited to see what else they would be learning about this cricket that he had never heard much about.

SHE WAS LATE!! OHMYGOD SHE HAD NEVER BEEN LATE BEFORE!!

Chloe stood at the door just staring at it. She needed to open it to go out on the ground, but she was already late, did she want to make it known to everyone? Couldn't she just stay in the warm castle and maybe they wouldn't realize it. She had a stomach ache and spent a little too long in the bathroom. That was another issue she was hoping NO ONE would go in there for a little while, whoops. Now though she was late for class and she couldn't miss class, it would hurt her grades and she was not going to have bad grades. So she opened the entrance hall door and hurried out of the castle.

Running out on the cold ground she might have forgotten to grab gloves and now her hands were already starting to hurt, but that didn't matter she was late and she had to get there. Stopping just back far enough she watched the group and noticed someone that she didn't know with the professor. He was going to be part of the lesson she was sure, but who was he and now she wouldn't fully know.

Sneaking into the group she hoped maybe, just maybe she wouldn't be seen. Sometimes being smaller than five foot was a good thing.

Malachi looked over the equipment again and held back a flinch as he recognized what it was. "Cricket, I very much dislike cricket, I always end up getting hit by the ball. Most of the time in the face..." With that said he moves as far away as possible from the balls.

Disrespectful? Did Zoryn care about anything this stranger had to say? No. He didn't even go here so. Technically, he was disrespecting her mhm.

The Gryffindor turned to give Cameroni a smile as he came to sit nearby, before turning her attention back to her Professor who had just started class. "Quodpot," was Zoryn's answer of choice despite fully knowing that Quodpot was not, in fact, a muggle sport. Could they move on? This was the worst part of every lesson. If Professor Stewart was meant to teach them about the sport, why'd she have to go and ask THEM to tell her what it was? Had she forgotten?

Zoryn was already regretting showing up today.

The pen sounded like something that meant more than just a pen to Professor Stewart. "I didn't... I'll keep an eye out for it though." Losing the mundane but important things was a frustration. Losing something sentimental was upsetting.

Muggle sports was fun, Hanna having grown up in a wizarding-but-mostly-muggle family. They played plenty of muggle things when the family got together. Quidditch too, of course, but muggle sports was easier in the muggle neighbourhoods. She listened to Adi introduce himself and felt almost star-struck. So he was a professional Gobstones player, and he had a Dragon and Hippogriff reserve!? That was so coooool.

She didn't have to offer any suggestions. She knew it was cricket, having played with similar items at home, but plenty of the others knew that too. She remained silent, but bounced her legs excitedly.

Tina nodded, returning Professor Stewart's smile with one of her own. "Yes, Professor," she replied enthusiastically. "I like outdoor classes." Even if it was a little cold today. Nothing a warming charm (or some exercise) couldn't fix! But there wasn't much time for small talk. The lesson was starting.

So the mystery guest was here to help with the lesson... Tina felt a bit more at ease around him after he introduced himself. At least she knew he wasn't with the Board of Governors, and it seemed unlikely that he was an impostor. And he told off Lava Girl for disrespecting the professor... that was a huge point in his favor!

Tina bit her lip, lost in thought as her brain searched for a guess. She had no idea what sport the equipment went with; she didn't keep up with muggle sports as much as she did wizarding ones! She glanced at the equipment, hoping that would jog her memory, but the only thing she could think of was quidditch... and she knew that wasn't the right answer because this was Muggle Studies. Ugh! She didn't want to give the wrong answer and look stupid, but if she said nothing, it would look like she wasn't trying. She hated not knowing the answer. Uncertainty was the most annoying thing ever!

Tina was only half listening to her classmates' qnswers as she tried in vain to come up with one of her own, but she overheard cricket mentioned a number of times. Well, that explained why she didn't know the answer! Cricket wasn't as popular back home as it apparently was here; in fact, Tina had mever evem heard of cricket before she came here! Since the right answer had already been said several times, it didn't need repeating so Tina stayed quiet... until a thought occurred to her.

Her hand went up, amd she waited to be called on. "I-I don't actually know, but since several others have said cricket, I'd guess that's the correct answer," she began, feeling more embarassed with each word. "But I noticed some of the equipment here looks a bit like quidditch equipment, so that has me thinking... Was quidditch inspired by cricket? Or possibly the other way around?" She didn't realize how dumb her words sounded until after she'd spoken, and she felt a hot blush on her cheeks. Never mind, she was just going to keep quiet now...

Nothing like having a former Muggle Studies professor for a mom to expose you to all sorts of stuff that constituted appropriate subject matter for his own classes in the subject. That and the fact that Professor Stewart’s guest was none other than one of said mother’s favorite students whom they had run into a few times over the years helped him think of the game they would likely be learning even before some of his classmates spoke it aloud. Wouldn't she be interested to hear about today's lesson!

Just not about Zoryn and her antics.

“Cricket, Professor,” he answered, echoing the rest with his own submission from his own tree stump. Just to show that he was paying attention and participating.

f

SPOILER!!: Cameron! <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lislchen

....................huh.

Cameron might have stared at the young man for a brief moment longer than necessary after he'd entered the classroom. Mostly because he hadn't expected anyone there, you know. Other than Professor Stewart. No other reason. Absolutely not. Making sure to politely greet both of them, he'd then taken a seat near Zoryn and had waited for the lesson to start.

Why did Professor Stewart need people to help her today?

"........is it Marbles?" Cameron more asked than said after raising his hand to answer the professor's question. He wasn't entirely sure if that WAS in fact a sport but then again people considered chess to be a sport also so who knew. If they WERE learning about Marbles today, though, he would be kind of disappointed. There were way cooler Muggle sports. More active ones, too. And more interesting ones.

Kay pointed to Cameron whose hand was among the first she had noticed to go up. At his answer, she smiled and shook her head. “Not marbles. Marbles is a lot less complicated and would not require a helmet, bat or any of the equipment that are here. I appreciate your thinking though.’’ Attempts are what was important.

SPOILER!!: Silently thinking kiddos!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi

Dorian held his hands in his pockets as he stood will he looked at the assistant with mild interest. He hadn't seen the professor using an assistant before that was not from this school anymore and he wondered what would happen.

The equipment made no sense to him and he got even more confused when some of his classmates answers was that the game was called cricket and he showed his confusion but scratching the back of his neck.....

...wasnt cricket an animal?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lottiepot

Did Caolan NEED to be here? Absolutely not. Did Caolan want to be here? Of course! Muggle Studies would be an absolute breeze for him and despite the fact that he knew he wouldn’t be able to do an OWL in the subject (it probably be cheating after all), he A) had nothing better to do and B) Muggle Studies was just a load of fun. He was there bright and early and eager to ‘learn.’ He had greeted his Head Of House and the other bloke when he had entered the classroom location with a firm nod.

It didn’t even bother him that the lesson was outside today, he just wrapped up warm with layers. His eyes had absolutely lit up when he had spotted the bat and the wickets and..

CRICKEEEEET!!!!!

Anyone that knew him knew that Caolan was a massive fan of cricket and used to play for his junior team back home. He basically considered himself a pro which would once again probably be cheating but who cared?! Boy was he GLAD that he had decided to go to Muggle Studies that morning! He would’ve brought his whites had he known.

Best. Lesson. EVER!!

He didn’t offer up an answer when the Professor asked what they would be playing that lesson for a few of his fellow students had already suggested so and he didn’t want to repeat them. However the huge grin on his face and the shifting of weight from one foot to the other (which could either be interpreted as excitement or needing to pee) was evident enough that Caolan knew EXACTLY what was coming to them that lesson.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessiqua

The pen sounded like something that meant more than just a pen to Professor Stewart. "I didn't... I'll keep an eye out for it though." Losing the mundane but important things was a frustration. Losing something sentimental was upsetting.

Muggle sports was fun, Hanna having grown up in a wizarding-but-mostly-muggle family. They played plenty of muggle things when the family got together. Quidditch too, of course, but muggle sports was easier in the muggle neighbourhoods. She listened to Adi introduce himself and felt almost star-struck. So he was a professional Gobstones player, and he had a Dragon and Hippogriff reserve!? That was so coooool.

She didn't have to offer any suggestions. She knew it was cricket, having played with similar items at home, but plenty of the others knew that too. She remained silent, but bounced her legs excitedly.

Naturally, there were the silent kiddos. “No guesses, you three?’’ Kaysha asked, not for one moment guessing that at least one of her Ravenclaws was a huge fan of the sport or that the other was thinking that cricket was an animal.

SPOILER!!: Max! <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waterloo

Have a seat and we’ll see if it gets worse.

Max pulled an unimpressed face (which hopefully would pass as a pained expression) and did as he was told. He plopped his butt down on one of the tree stumps and huffed unhappily under his breath because ughhh.

He didn't really know what cricket was, but that seemed to be the general consensus among the other kids. Except for Cam who guessed marbles...? Maybe Cam was feeling sick too because they'd have to be some pretty giant marbles to require helmets. Bats and helmets could only mean whatever was going on, it was something Max wanted zero part in.

And the fact that Stewart had decided to drag them all outside for this class obviously meant that she intended for them to PLAY it.

"UghhhhHHhhHhh." Cue more stomach clutching. Oh, the pain. The PAIN.

That was it. She was not going to let Maxton sit here anymore if he was in that type of pain. However, she did notice a slight trend that when it came to certain lesson topics, the ones that involved physical activities, the Slytherin opted out of them. Was she overthinking? “Mr. Carden, you’d better hurry along to see the Healer. But before you do…’’ She reached into her satchel to retrieve the notebook with purple pages and a less precious pen. A note was scribbled for the Healer:

SPOILER!!: Note!

Healer Adara,

Mr. Carden has reported a stomach issue to me. He thought that perhaps he has eaten something that does not agree with him and the pain seems to have gotten worst. Kindly look into this and if in your best opinion that he is well enough to return to my lesson after you have administered any potion to him, please let him do so. This is his NEWT year, afterall.

Thank you,

“Kindly pass this note to Healer Adara.’’ It was neatly torn from her book, folded and given to Max. Being taken advantage by the Williams twins terms ago because of her trusting nature definitely had made her more cautious as the years went along.

SPOILER!!: Quodpot!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Disrespectful? Did Zoryn care about anything this stranger had to say? No. He didn't even go here so. Technically, he was disrespecting her mhm.

The Gryffindor turned to give Cameroni a smile as he came to sit nearby, before turning her attention back to her Professor who had just started class. "Quodpot," was Zoryn's answer of choice despite fully knowing that Quodpot was not, in fact, a muggle sport. Could they move on? This was the worst part of every lesson. If Professor Stewart was meant to teach them about the sport, why'd she have to go and ask THEM to tell her what it was? Had she forgotten?

Zoryn was already regretting showing up today.

Excellent! Zoryn was not going to continue with that particular suggestion. Kay shook her head upon receiving a response to the question, certain that the seventh year had purposely suggested Quodpot. “Quodpot, no.’’

SPOILER!!: Cricket

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

Nettie's first guess had been baseball, because it was the first muggle sport that came to mind when she heard about bats. But it WASN'T baseball? But...what else used bats??

She tried to think about the muggle sports she'd seen on advertisements around town. She'd never really had a reason to remember them, because let's be honest - none of them held a candle to Quidditch.

Then, one that she'd totally forgotten about popped in to her head and she raised her hand. "Is it cricket?" she suggested.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ginevra

Daisy's hand immediately went up. "It is definitely cricket. I recognized the equipment as soon as I laid eyes upon them. It was my father's favourite sport. He was a Muggle after all."

She felt a little pang in her heart that she hadn't felt in a long time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Torii hadn't gotten a chance to speak to the professor's assistant, so she gave him a smile and a nod as the lesson got underway. He was super cute, but apparently he was married, which meant he was off limits. Not only that, Torii was only fifteen, and Mr. Hotty was what? Thirty? Something like that...

The fourth year looked over the sporting equipment and narrowed her eyes. Huh? She hadn't remembered seeing many of those in America. Somebody had said marbles, and a few others had said cricket. Well, it was definitely not marbles. That much she knew. What in the name of Merlin was cricket? She had no idea, but she ended up raising her hand anyway.

"Well, I've lived in America all my life, and I honestly don't see this equipment much," she said. "Well...at all. I've only ever heard the name cricket, and I know it's a sport. I don't know much about it. I'm going to guess cricket, though, since it kind of makes sense for the equipment I've never seen to go along with the sport I know nothing about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dokimoto

Jackson listened as the others all seemed to be on the same page. When Torii spoke up though, Jackson found himself nodding at her answer. He had heard of cricket but that was all. Perhaps he should have known more about it, but just like the Slytherin girl, he had grown up in America and was really only privy to a handful of sports if he was being honest. After moving here, it was all about Quidditch and gobstones!

"I'm on the same page as Torii... I'm going to have to guess cricket as well?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Grumpy, miserable, unhappy Abra was grumpy, miserable, and unhappy about the outdoors. It was even worse now that he wasn't walking, but sat still. He pulled the neck of his shirt up over the bottom half of his face just to get the full benefit of the warming charms. November was cold.

Uhhhhhhhh... huh. Yeah, Abra had no idea. He didn't follow muggle sports, and he didn't read his textbook before he absolutely had to. So... yeah... he didn't know.

A bunch of other kids seemed to have an idea though, and one word kept cropping up, so Abra joined in and raised his own hand, freeing his mouth from his shirt as he did so. "Oh, definitely cricket," he said, with bags of false confidence. Now he just had to hope that everyone else was right or he would sure look foolish. Also, that he wouldn't be singled out for a follow-up question, because there would be no blagging his way through that.

... Uhh... was Max okay?

Quote:

Originally Posted by siriusblackliveson

He heard everyone rattling off cricket as an option and he figured that would be what was going on. He knew with 100% certainty that it wasn't baseball. They would've been out on a field with way more space needed. "Well if there were no helmets I'd swear we were playing croquette. But I'd have to agree with the others that we're playing cricket."

He watched as someone continued to hold their stomach as if they were about to get sick, he subconsciously stepped to the side. He rubbed his arm trying to scratch an itch that would not go away. Looking between Professor Stewart and Adi he waited to see what else they would be learning about this cricket that he had never heard much about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malachi

Malachi looked over the equipment again and held back a flinch as he recognized what it was. "Cricket, I very much dislike cricket, I always end up getting hit by the ball. Most of the time in the face..." With that said he moves as far away as possible from the balls.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

Tina nodded, returning Professor Stewart's smile with one of her own. "Yes, Professor," she replied enthusiastically. "I like outdoor classes." Even if it was a little cold today. Nothing a warming charm (or some exercise) couldn't fix! But there wasn't much time for small talk. The lesson was starting.

So the mystery guest was here to help with the lesson... Tina felt a bit more at ease around him after he introduced himself. At least she knew he wasn't with the Board of Governors, and it seemed unlikely that he was an impostor. And he told off Lava Girl for disrespecting the professor... that was a huge point in his favor!

Tina bit her lip, lost in thought as her brain searched for a guess. She had no idea what sport the equipment went with; she didn't keep up with muggle sports as much as she did wizarding ones! She glanced at the equipment, hoping that would jog her memory, but the only thing she could think of was quidditch... and she knew that wasn't the right answer because this was Muggle Studies. Ugh! She didn't want to give the wrong answer and look stupid, but if she said nothing, it would look like she wasn't trying. She hated not knowing the answer. Uncertainty was the most annoying thing ever!

Tina was only half listening to her classmates' qnswers as she tried in vain to come up with one of her own, but she overheard cricket mentioned a number of times. Well, that explained why she didn't know the answer! Cricket wasn't as popular back home as it apparently was here; in fact, Tina had mever evem heard of cricket before she came here! Since the right answer had already been said several times, it didn't need repeating so Tina stayed quiet... until a thought occurred to her.

Her hand went up, amd she waited to be called on. "I-I don't actually know, but since several others have said cricket, I'd guess that's the correct answer," she began, feeling more embarassed with each word. "But I noticed some of the equipment here looks a bit like quidditch equipment, so that has me thinking... Was quidditch inspired by cricket? Or possibly the other way around?" She didn't realize how dumb her words sounded until after she'd spoken, and she felt a hot blush on her cheeks. Never mind, she was just going to keep quiet now...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

Nothing like having a former Muggle Studies professor for a mom to expose you to all sorts of stuff that constituted appropriate subject matter for his own classes in the subject. That and the fact that Professor Stewart’s guest was none other than one of said mother’s favorite students whom they had run into a few times over the years helped him think of the game they would likely be learning even before some of his classmates spoke it aloud. Wouldn't she be interested to hear about today's lesson!

Just not about Zoryn and her antics.

“Cricket, Professor,” he answered, echoing the rest with his own submission from his own tree stump. Just to show that he was paying attention and participating.

Cricket! That was the answer. “It’s definitely not croquette, Mr. Dooley, and Mr. Mitsue? I’m sorry to hear about that. Hopefully, using a helmet more often and correctly would help.''She admired how confident some like Nettie, Daisy , Abra and Septimus sounded. Even Torii's and Jackson's reasoning behind the answer was great. Tina's question made Kay think; it didn't even cross her mind that it was a silly question or anything like that. "If I remember correctly, the evolution of Quidditch began a lot earlier than that of cricket. Quidditch evolved with the aid of a few other sports like Stichstock and Aingingein, so I doubt there's a connection. Great question. Don't ever worry about asking questions, it's how you learn.'' Because those red cheeks were not unnoticed!

“That’s right, everyone. Indeed these are the gear of cricket. Now, the sport was invented in South- East England a very long time ago. In the sixteenth century to be exact.’’ Kaysha paused, allowing the kiddos to make their notes. They were making notes, yes? “It wasn’t until the eighteenth century that it became the National Sport. Soon after that, it became popular globally. It might not seem so, but here’s an interesting fact: Cricket is the second most popular sport after football, soccer for those familiar with American terms.’’ Truthfully, Kay had only found this out from her research earlier in the term as she prepped for the lesson. She thought it would have been basketball taking second place but no. Cricket was what it was.

At this point, Kay began to trek among the tree stumps slowly, speaking loud enough for her voice to carry.“There is a governance committee that looks over the tournaments- both minor and major-, keeps track of statistics and ensure the rules called the ‘Laws of Cricket’ are followed. This committee is called the International Cricket Council or ICC.There are many members of the ICC and countries such as England, Ireland, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand and the Caribbean whose team is called ‘West Indies’ all have their respective International teams. Now, there are a few formats of cricket which I’ll let Adi briefly explain after you each have your opportunity to attempt to deduce how the sport is played.’’

SPOILER!!: LittleClaw!Chloe <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga

SHE WAS LATE!! OHMYGOD SHE HAD NEVER BEEN LATE BEFORE!!

Chloe stood at the door just staring at it. She needed to open it to go out on the ground, but she was already late, did she want to make it known to everyone? Couldn't she just stay in the warm castle and maybe they wouldn't realize it. She had a stomach ache and spent a little too long in the bathroom. That was another issue she was hoping NO ONE would go in there for a little while, whoops. Now though she was late for class and she couldn't miss class, it would hurt her grades and she was not going to have bad grades. So she opened the entrance hall door and hurried out of the castle.

Running out on the cold ground she might have forgotten to grab gloves and now her hands were already starting to hurt, but that didn't matter she was late and she had to get there. Stopping just back far enough she watched the group and noticed someone that she didn't know with the professor. He was going to be part of the lesson she was sure, but who was he and now she wouldn't fully know.

Sneaking into the group she hoped maybe, just maybe she wouldn't be seen. Sometimes being smaller than five foot was a good thing.

It was while she was almost to the last of the tree stumps Kay saw movement. This movement turned out to be one Chloe McCarthy who was obviously late. “Five points for lateness, Ms. McCarthy,’’ she said quietly but pulled off her own gloves. “These might help keep your hands warm. I have an extra pair.’’

He was still here, duh. Adi was still casually bouncing on his feet. Alright fine, he might have zoned out a bit because he had been reminiscing on being a student. Those were great times and his fellow students at that time had been a great bunch.

Anywho, he came around in time to hear the answers being given. Was he judging incorrect answers? Of course not! It wasn’t as though he knew everything while at school… and he still didn’t. But there WERE students who recognised the gear! AWESOMEEE!

Adi nodded to Stewart, letting her know (even though it had been worked out during the lesson planning) that he was ready to explain the formats but understood that he couldn’t do so before the second question was answered. If he did, then he was going to just give away the entire thing.

OOC: Thanks for playing along so far! I enjoyed those responses and look forward to your kiddos going bonkers with the second answer if they want to You are still welcome to jump in at any point since catch up is allowed. The mini activity starts in 24 hours!

Chloe was fully distracted from the question of SPORT. Mostly, she just didn't know anything about Muggle sports, but also her arms were on FIRE. And mostly mostly, she wanted to talk to the guest professor about his other job.

She raised her hand eagerly, lowered it to scratch her shoulder, and then raised it again. "Sir? Mr. Atreyu- Rehman? Could I talk to you after class about your reserve? Also... um... pogs?"

Daisy had to really think about the question since she hadn't watched a match for years. She slowly raised her hand. "Well, from what I can remember, there is a batsman or woman at the 'striker's end' in front of the wicket. A person bowls the ball which in a test cricket format is red to the batsman/woman that's on strike. The batsman/woman aims to hit the ball to score runs. More can be scored if the ball hits the boundary."

Daisy paused. "Sorry, Professor but that's all I can remember."

Welp....there it was. Archer had actually been about to agree with Patrick about the croquette. But no, apparently it was cricket, which she knew absolutely nothing about. Not something she had ever really been interested in, to be honest. The bug or the sport.

"Could it be played like croquette? Maybe a more extreme version of it?" Since there was obviously a need for padding and such. Oh, wait. Something suddenly popped into her head about it. "Can't matches end up lasting for days on end?" Why she'd never taken much of an interest in it. Unless it was Quidditch and she was playing, she didn't want to be stuck watching a single game for days, thank you.

YEEEEEEES!

How the Professor didn’t know that Caolan knew what they were doing from the huge grin on his face and the excited bouncing from one ball of the foot to the other was beyond him. Of COURSE he knew the answer but he just didn’t see the point in repeating what everyone else had said, it wasn’t like he could add anything on to it after all without going in to far too much detail and he was sure she’d ask a lot of questions about it later. “I thought I’d let everyone else have a go first” he replied to her question.

The next question however, that was all his to answer and he was going to with full gousto. Professor Stewart explained the history of Cricket and he nodded along until..

The hand shot up perhaps a little too eagerly. “Daisy has gone over the basics so I will elaborate. The game is played between two teams of eleven players. In addition to the batsman who is the one trying to score the points and the bowler are the wicketkeeper who stands behind the wicket and the fielders who are the rest of the bowlers team. They all try to bowl the batsman out in between his runs by knocking the wicket down. This progresses through the whole of the batsman’s team and then swaps to the bowlers team who then become the batters.” Was that simple enough an explanation? “It can go on for hours depending on the Umpires call - they’re the ones who decides who is in or out. Obviously the team that has the most runs wins but the points awarded in runs don’t just include each time the player gets there and back but also depends on how far the ball is hit and whether it bounces.” Yeah he was going to stop now, he was making this sound more confusing then it should be. But truth be told Cricket wasn’t that simple but it was an amazing game. Unlike football it could last hours and the scores could be ridiculously high.

When he'd started feigning the whole stomach pain thing to get out of class, Max had been expecting Professor Stewart to just tell him to go back to his dorm and sleep it off or something. What he hadn't anticipated, was being told to visit the Healer.

Still, a visit to the Hospital Wing had to better than running around with bats and helmets and still clutching his stomach for dramatic effect, Maxton went ahead and retrieved the note from the professor.

He did feel a little pang of guilt.... Professor Stewart had always been decent enough but nope. No running around. He'd done enough of that last term, thank you very much.

With a quick thank you, and more moaning and groaning because owww poorly tummy, Max turned and slowly trudged back towards the castle.

The next question was for Jackson to just listen because Caolan had already begun going into detail on the sport. This suited Jackson, since he really had no idea how to play the game. This was kind of embarrassing since it was apparently so popular, but he had never been that interested in researching it. All he could think about was how much he now wanted to play some baseball… not to mention he loved the thought of wizards playing baseball.

Rylee smiled at Stewart promptly plopping her tush onto her seat when it was mentioned. As both Stewart and this new man whom introduced himself as Aditya Atreyu-Rehman her eyes widened slightly. He played for the Hereford Hippogriffs. That explained why he may have looked vaguely familiar to her at her. However that wasn't what had gotten her full attention. It was when he said he owned a Hippogriff and Dragon reserve! Now that was awesome! Only he didn't focus on that part and continued talking about sports.

Taking a good look at the equipment that was laying around, she was able to quickly eliminate a large selection of sports. Everyone seemed to be convinced they would be playing Cricket today. It made perfect sense really given all the things that were laying about. So rather than repeat what was being said again, Rylee remained quietly waiting for the lesson to move on.

And move on it did. Once again there really wasn't much point in explaining how the game was played. Both Daisy and Caolan had done a great job at that. What she did do though was pull out some parchment and a quill to take down notes just to keep herself busy. Plus who really knew what would be on any exams she might have to take in the future.

Ash was amazed that they were going to be playing cricket but a couple of her fellow students had gone over the basics so ash just took down notes on what they said

Nailed it. What a guess.

Or. Well. Okay. Educated guess.

... Okay. Stolen answer. Fine.

The point was, Abra had given the right answer and avoided looking like a fool (which definitely would have happened if he'd answered with such confidence and been completely wrong), so he was considering that one a success. They were, however, still only in the first few minutes of class, which meant plenty more opportunities to mess something up.

Like the very next question. Ummmm... No. This wasn't one where he could just tag onto someone else's answer, and actually Abra didn't actually know anything about cricket, other than that you probably hit a ball with a bat, and that answer paled in comparison to some of the others that had been given, so... he just kept quiet.

........ Uh.

Was there a question somewhere in there because all Zoryn heard was "blah blah blah blah." Like no offense (ACTUALLY, ALL OFFENSE!!!!!!!!) but when would they be learning something interesting in this class? Zoryn didn't care about this croquette sport or whatever.

"Crickets are also an insect," fyi. Incase Professor Stewart didn't know.

Zoryn was SO GOOD at Muggle Studies.

what did he know about cricket.... abso-lutely-nothing. He was going to let the rest of the students take over answering all he knew was that they hit something with a flat bat. It was a way more running intense version of baseball. And no actual field like baseball. He wondered what the actual appeal of cricket was to people.

Why would someone want to potentially play a game for hours on end. Although he supposed Quidditch technically could go for days on end. He listened to all of the other students possible answers and took note of them.

There weren't many reasons why Noble would be found approaching a Muggle Studies lesson, but today was an exception. Mainly because it was on one of his favourite sports, the same sport his daughter played professionally, and his daughter's coach happened to be the one visiting today to demonstrate. It was also fair to say he didn't particularly look like his usual self, usual dark robes replaced by pristine white trousers, white shirt, and a white v-neck knit sweater with the emblem of an Invictus horse.

After giving a small wave to Adi to announce his arrival, the potions professor folded his arms across his chest and remained on the edge of the makeshift classroom of treestumps for the moment. He didn't want to interrupt Kay's flow or disturb the students - some of whom were admittedly already looking rather confused. Seeing Caolan's excitement made a smile spread across his lips though; it was clear the boy was already a fan.

So quidditch hadn't been inspired by cricket... that was good to know. Tina nodded in reply to the professor's answer, though she still felt a little sheepish for asking. She should've guessed quidditch predated cricket! At least Professor Stewart didn't treat it like a stupid question, but then again, it wasn't her reaction Tina was worried about. She wouldn't put it past some of her classmates to make fun of her, and she really didn't want to lose points and get sent to the headmaster's office for hexing anyone today… or ever. The less she encountered Headmaster Trent, the better!

Blink, blink. Tina stared blankly at the sports equipment, trying to riddle out the answer to the next question. How was she supposed to guess how to play cricket? She'd only known of the sport in name before this class started. All this not knowing was really starting to annoy her! She felt completely out of her element; she was used to having all the answers and knowing exactly what to say.

Tina thought for a minute. So the bats must be used with the balls… was the object of the game to hit the balls and try to knock over one of those things (wickets)? Or maybe it was to stand in front of the thing and guard it… bat the balls another person throws at you away from the thing? Both? Neither? For the second time in a row, Tina didn't have an answer to a question. And she'd had such high hopes for this class!

Not wanting to look stupid again, Tina kept quiet this time. She listened carefully to the answers from people who seemed to know what they were doing (Daisy and Caolan), trying to make a mental note, but she was even more confused than ever! Striker's end? Bowler? Wicketkeeper? Bowl the batsman out? They might as well have been speaking Gobbledygook… although if they had, Tina probably would've had a better chance at understanding them!