Woaah it had been three whole days already!? Man this field trip was getting awesome. He even noticed he was getting tanner. He smirked to himself and now they were being lead to these ruins. He got his hard hat on and his wand out and muttered, "Lumos!" and now he can see better. He heard Professor Airey ask a question and Kace loved the idea of mythology. What did he know about Gaia? He heard of it before. He spoke up and said, "Erm professor I know Gaia was the prime opponent of the heavenly gods." Being the nerd he was about Mythology he kind of new about this stuff.

Yo!!!! This was the best trip EVER!!!! Following the group down the ladder to the underground he grinned as he looked around the dark room they were in and rocked on his heels in excitment. As if finding the Merpeople fossils weren't enough for his young mind they we're now inside an old Greek building that they had FOUND well, Professor A had found but THEY as a whole, okay? His mind went back to the Merpeople as he took out his wand and flicked it "Lumos." dark in here. light they needed.

He had to strain a bit to hear Professor A and what he asked but he heard the name.. Gaia and he knew that name! He knew his Greek Mythology! He had went back and re read up on as much as he could before the trip ever since he signed up and he knew alllll about Gaia. "Gaia is the Goddess of the Earth, mother to Uranus the God of the sky, Pontus God of the sea and more. She was believed to be the primal Greek Mother Goddess creator and giver of life to the earth and well all the Universe really." ................ He should shut up.. And let someone else talk... He could go on for ages really. did anyone else want to know all of this he was willing to share notes because he had those, notes, back in his room he was staying in. Tons of them, yes. Anyone?

Before Justine could even open her mouth to speak, the other students had already chimed in giving detailed eloquent answers and totally making anything she might say redundant. Which was a shame because this was a topic Justine was very fond of. Myths, legends, even the urban kind were the sort of thing she went for. Perhaps she could add just a bit.. "As zee others said, she is zee mother of zee earth and zee 'eavens, and 'er Roman counterpart is terra, vhich means earth, or ground," Justine piped in, making sure this time to use her accent. She couldn't afford another slip up. "Vas zhis temple devoted entirely to worshipping 'er?" Justine curiously asked, raising her wand eye to see her surroundings better.

Marigold blinked. She was about to say all the stuff she knew about Gaia… but other people already had. Darn. She opened her mouth and said stuff anyway. "She was the mother of pretty much all the gods and titans and earth and universe and stuff. And cyclops. Cyclopses? Cyclopi?" Marigold ended on what sounded really unintelligent point. She really needed to start studying for OWLs. Darn.

So yeah, this was pretty cool. David was enjoying this field trip a lot, even the educational parts. Was Hogwarts going to be this cool and interesting? He sure hoped so.

He lit his wand with Lumos like the others and followed along, looking around. Pretty big, wasn't it? Weird how something so big could just be buried like it was.

And now they were gonna talk Greek mythology? He could do that since he knew some stuff about it. "She took care of Zeus when he was little and helped him defeat his dad, Kronos, I think."

Mitchell walked slowly wanting to take it all in. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. If they found something cool, he wanted to make sure he had an exact play-by-play. He also wanted to touch the wall. Was that allowed?

Eh. Worth it. He walked toward a wall and put his hand on it. Victory! He touched something that may or may not one day be famous.

He listened a little to the commentary going on. So this was the temple to a Greek goddess?

Grayson felt like he was in one of those Muggle adventure movies. Indiana Jones and the like. And you know what it made him feel?

Epic. He. Felt. EPIC!

The fifteen year old hopped off of his ladder and pulled out his wand. Like the others, he lot his wand with a quick "Lumos!" and cast his eyes around the building that they had discovered. No, correction: that the others had discovered. Found deep in the sand or whatever. Because Merlin knows, Grayson Douglas Whitlock would NOT be able to concentrate on something like a bit of the roof of a building when there was something prettier on sight.

Now, though? Now he was almost in an educational setting but, obviously, much cooler. It wasn't the learning part that interested him, it was the sense of adventure. This wasn't going to be your everyday field trip. Nuh uh!

Gaia? Honestly, the name only rang a bell and it wasn't until the others had mentioned a fact or two that Grayson remembered something he miiiight have come across before. Soooo, he piped up as well. "She was so......" The right word for this wasn't appropriate. Not that there was anyone here that was too young; he kinda didn't want to get on Romanos's or Flammy-o's bad terms with his language. "She was so EPIC! I mean, the Uranus dude tried to hide her kids in a secret place inside her which caused her a LOT of pain but she was having none of it! She then took her revenge in a very sly way. She created this sickle which Cronus used to defeat Uranus. THEN, from his parts, she created more beings, including Aphrodite." See? Epic! You don't wanna mess with someone like that.

Using his wand to illuminate the walls as he went, the astronomer pause every now and then to look at an engraving, but nothing extraordinary was catching his attention at the moment. Just your standard engravings and such. Which WERE interesting in their own right, but not the sort of thing the astronomer was looking for. Nothing that was supporting his theories.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Awarlesta Black

It had been three whole days since they discovered the roof in the sand and now, Dec was following the professor into it, still in shock. Like what do Muggles do on their field trips??? Do they also battle trolls, zombies, and find underground buildings orrrr??? It's a hard knock life being a wizard, isn't it?

He also lit up his wand like the rest of them, just to have a reason to have his wand in front of him at all times. Gaia. Dec was all into mythology. It was cool. All the stories deprived from the Greek and Roman myths were entertaining. It was a common interest between him and Rorie, but he couldn't quite remember all of the history behind Gaia. "Goddess of the Earth or something, right?"

"Precisely, Mr. Hazelwood," he nodded towards the young man. "She is especially referred to as the personification of the Earth."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin

Woaah it had been three whole days already!? Man this field trip was getting awesome. He even noticed he was getting tanner. He smirked to himself and now they were being lead to these ruins. He got his hard hat on and his wand out and muttered, "Lumos!" and now he can see better. He heard Professor Airey ask a question and Kace loved the idea of mythology. What did he know about Gaia? He heard of it before. He spoke up and said, "Erm professor I know Gaia was the prime opponent of the heavenly gods." Being the nerd he was about Mythology he kind of new about this stuff.

"Very good, Mr. Lecium," he replied. Not that the other gods were exactly sunshine, rainbows, and chocolate frogs or anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JennMarie

Yo!!!! This was the best trip EVER!!!! Following the group down the ladder to the underground he grinned as he looked around the dark room they were in and rocked on his heels in excitment. As if finding the Merpeople fossils weren't enough for his young mind they we're now inside an old Greek building that they had FOUND well, Professor A had found but THEY as a whole, okay? His mind went back to the Merpeople as he took out his wand and flicked it "Lumos." dark in here. light they needed.

He had to strain a bit to hear Professor A and what he asked but he heard the name.. Gaia and he knew that name! He knew his Greek Mythology! He had went back and re read up on as much as he could before the trip ever since he signed up and he knew alllll about Gaia. "Gaia is the Goddess of the Earth, mother to Uranus the God of the sky, Pontus God of the sea and more. She was believed to be the primal Greek Mother Goddess creator and giver of life to the earth and well all the Universe really." ................ He should shut up.. And let someone else talk... He could go on for ages really. did anyone else want to know all of this he was willing to share notes because he had those, notes, back in his room he was staying in. Tons of them, yes. Anyone?

Airey grinned at the Gryffindor. "I didn't know you were a Greek mythology enthusiast, Mr. Walker." Learn something new everyday!

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicole black

Before Justine could even open her mouth to speak, the other students had already chimed in giving detailed eloquent answers and totally making anything she might say redundant. Which was a shame because this was a topic Justine was very fond of. Myths, legends, even the urban kind were the sort of thing she went for. Perhaps she could add just a bit.. "As zee others said, she is zee mother of zee earth and zee 'eavens, and 'er Roman counterpart is terra, vhich means earth, or ground," Justine piped in, making sure this time to use her accent. She couldn't afford another slip up. "Vas zhis temple devoted entirely to worshipping 'er?" Justine curiously asked, raising her wand eye to see her surroundings better.

Er.....what? Airey had become a little more...accustomed to accents over the years since taking up his position at Hogwarts, but there was just something about Miss Janvier's accent that....there was just something about it.

"Perhaps...yes," he replied vaguely.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Marigold blinked. She was about to say all the stuff she knew about Gaia… but other people already had. Darn. She opened her mouth and said stuff anyway. "She was the mother of pretty much all the gods and titans and earth and universe and stuff. And cyclops. Cyclopses? Cyclopi?" Marigold ended on what sounded really unintelligent point. She really needed to start studying for OWLs. Darn.

"Right, Miss McAlistor," he nodded as he moved a little closer so he could whisper to her. "And the word you are searching for is cyclopes."

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

So yeah, this was pretty cool. David was enjoying this field trip a lot, even the educational parts. Was Hogwarts going to be this cool and interesting? He sure hoped so.

He lit his wand with Lumos like the others and followed along, looking around. Pretty big, wasn't it? Weird how something so big could just be buried like it was.

And now they were gonna talk Greek mythology? He could do that since he knew some stuff about it. "She took care of Zeus when he was little and helped him defeat his dad, Kronos, I think."

"An excellent little tid bit, Mr. Hensley, and quite the story." Although it seemed as though plenty of his classmates knew a thing or two about Greek mythology, so hopefully one of them could tell him the full story. Airey was a little sidetracked looking for anything significant on the walls.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone

Gaia? Honestly, the name only rang a bell and it wasn't until the others had mentioned a fact or two that Grayson remembered something he miiiight have come across before. Soooo, he piped up as well. "She was so......" The right word for this wasn't appropriate. Not that there was anyone here that was too young; he kinda didn't want to get on Romanos's or Flammy-o's bad terms with his language. "She was so EPIC! I mean, the Uranus dude tried to hide her kids in a secret place inside her which caused her a LOT of pain but she was having none of it! She then took her revenge in a very sly way. She created this sickle which Cronus used to defeat Uranus. THEN, from his parts, she created more beings, including Aphrodite." See? Epic! You don't wanna mess with someone like that.

His parts.

Yeah, there was some immature astronomer chuckling going on right now, but thankfully his face was turned away from the majority of the students and towards the wall. "Yes, *snort*, very good, Mr. Grayson." His parts...MEHAHAHA.

Lowering his wand a little so he could get a better look at the wall before him, Airey reached out and ran his hand over the rocky surface. There hadn't been any engravings or paintings for a while now, and it was rather suspicious. Not to mention depressing. Maybe there wasn't anything in here after all?

"Gaia was also the mother to Python, the earth-dragon of Delphi, who may have been represented in the carving we found on the outside of the shrine a few days ago," he explained. "For those of you who elected to chart stars at night, did you notice how the constellation Serpens would align with the temple? Particularly Serpens Caput." Not that there was a real connection between Gaia and the constellation, but more of something he had observed since their discovery.

And then his hand felt a carved surface and he stopped. Peering a bit closer, he used his hand to brush the dust and dirt off the wall to reveal what looked like could be a door. A door with words engraved on it that he could not read. "Don't suppose anyone here can read Greek or, er, ancient Greek?" he asked, eyes on Medea because he hadn't actually done and language learning prior to their trip. Oops.

Gross. Gross. Everything was dark and dirty. And gross. And what if the stones were diseased? Ruby wasn't a huge FAN of all of this and had initially wanted to volunteer to like, supervise from the top or something. She was also seriously considering 'hurting' her ankle, then a cute boy could rescue her. That'd be fun.

Way more fun than all this learning stuff. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy did they have to know things to be here? Ugh. This stuff was right up her brother's alley though. Greek? Didn't he know some of that stuff? Who even knew, his face was always shoved in books. And wasn't Phoenix Greek? SHE sure didn't know a single thing about any of this, the only Greek stories she knew were relating to hers and Gabriel's middle names. They weren't getting graded, were they? Ew. The only stars she had been charting since she'd been here were certain hot boys.

Though actually, in spite of her internal protestations, Ruby WAS having a good time. Not just the parts where she had made her own fun -ahem- but the actual parts that were like, science, or whatever. They were interesting enough.

But what was with that one girl (nicole black) who wasn't sure if she had an accent or not? Ruby eyed her curiously for a moment and then abruptly decided she had far better things to worry about.

She held her wand up and looked around.

"Professor? What exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Because so far it was just a really old house that seriously needed a make over.

Gabriel was basically shadowing Jeremiah...because Jere had become his field trip lifeline, clearly. Since he knew the guy's face and remembered him to be fairly sane and normal....and recognizing that he himself was also sane and normal, it made legitimate, logical sense.

Also, said lifeline was having an...episode?...about Ancient Greek Mythology and Gaia. Gabriel wouldn't have guessed that Jere was so into this specific area of study, as he had a particular carefree look about himself....but that was good. Very, very good. Gabe had hoped for a sane ally going into the new school. Good job of him finding one with like interests and without much difficulty. The urge to vomit and then faint was much less somehow.

...and Ancient Greek....Gabe DID know that particular language. He'd started out learning modern Greek for the field trip...and then when that had taken less time than he'd anticipated, he'd sought out more difficulty with the Ancient form. However, he wasn't at all comfortable with volunteering. Far too many people watching...and they were already in a cramped space....strangers....and Gabe was sweating profusely.

He just...couldn't talk. Opening his mouth might've ended badly for whomever was in his direct path. Even muttering Lumos had been a chore...BUT....did anyone else know it? Surely...the uh, lady teacher would. She seemed....erm, knowledgeable...

Vinnie wasnt sure what she was doing here but it was kinda cool how they had found this house....apparently a greek goddesses house even. What a coincidence that they had found it so quickly....Or maybe it wasnt a coincidence? Hmm..... Eyeing both the professors the brunette bit her cheek.

It was probably the sun getting to her head but oh welll.....this was still pretty exciting. But weird and dirty and stuff anyway. She was supposed to lay in the sun right now and listen to music and drum on some shells. Instead she was in here....looking for....what were they even looking for?

Telling this story to her friends that didnt come along and to Jun, especially to Jun, was gonna be so cool though. Would sound like a true adventure. Which it was. This was mysterious some how and Vinnie liked that kinda stuff. Maybe they could wash of the dirt in the water later. It was just one step away.

So far the Slytherin couldnt complain about this holiday.

Phoenix had been distracted, and was all... distract-y. He was wondering if he could climb stuff and make some fun out of this. ... Gaia, what? Phe had literally no idea what the professor was going on about now. He had tuned out ages ago and now it was kind of difficult to pick up where they were going with this.

WAIT. SOMETHING HE COULD DO!! "Um... Prof?" he bounced towards the front. "I'm Greek, sir. I can do that." Probably. He'd have a go, y'know? If it was ancient, he couldn't guarantee that he'd be totally right about it all, but he could try. After all, he was awesome.

It wasn't that Toby didn't care about all the stuff Airey was on about. On the contrary, he cared a whole lot. It was all pretty interesting, and Toby DID recognise the name of that Gaia that had been mentioned, though his knowledge stopped at that. Thing was... well, it was the same problem he'd been having for forever: capturing his focus was easy, and holding it was another matter entirely.

And so he'd allowed himself to drop back a little further behind in the group. It seemed fair to let those with better attention spans and superior memories to go up front where they had a better chance of learning. Fair, but incredibly frustrating. If he could just focus for more than a minute, Toby would be totally engrossed in all those... words that Airey was saying. All of 'em.

But he wasn't one for dwelling on this stuff. Instead, Toby's own wand was lit up with lumos and he was having the time of his life taking in this place from his spot at the back of the group, keeping one ear out to listen to Airey's commentary, but still finding himself constantly tuning in and out. He was looking back the way they had come when the Astronomy professor asked if anyone could read Greek, at which point the Hufflepuff turned back. Not because he knew, Merlin no. But it sounded like there was something interesting up ahead.

And, as someone who didn't know any extra languages, Toby really admired anyone who did. Having the patience and skill to learn something like Greek constituted as a super power in Toby's eyes.

Like... that kid. The one with the hair. Toby watched him closely.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

"Professor? What exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Because so far it was just a really old house that seriously needed a make over.

"A VERY interesting inquiry, Miss Banner," he replied, perking up a bit as he turned his attention away from the wall. "As that IS the question of the moment and one that there may be no specific answer to until we find it." He knew what he was looking for, sort of, but what he wanted to find and what others may hope to find were most likely entirely different things. All what you wanted to get out of this little adventure. "Just look for anything eye catching," he concluded with a salute.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustAlice

Phoenix had been distracted, and was all... distract-y. He was wondering if he could climb stuff and make some fun out of this. ... Gaia, what? Phe had literally no idea what the professor was going on about now. He had tuned out ages ago and now it was kind of difficult to pick up where they were going with this.

WAIT. SOMETHING HE COULD DO!! "Um... Prof?" he bounced towards the front. "I'm Greek, sir. I can do that." Probably. He'd have a go, y'know? If it was ancient, he couldn't guarantee that he'd be totally right about it all, but he could try. After all, he was awesome.

"STELLAR, Mr. Toros," Airey applauded as he stepped to the side. Points to you, young man! Not that he had any real points to give other than his patented 'awesome points,' but those counted for HIM for reasons. "See if you can make anything out of what is written right there," he instructed as he pointed towards the engravings on the wall.

He looked over his shoulder and threw Medea two big flashing thumbs up. This was going to be STELLAR. He could just FEEL it.

"Wands at the ready," he reminded. Just in case they didn't have them already and just in case....well....just in case.

Wand, right, yes. Phe twirled the redwood wand in his fingers, drumstick style, and looked towards the wall. Hmmm... Okay... this was written... well... not in any way that really made sense to him. He understood the letters, and he could probably pronounce it, but it didn't immediately register as anything he really understood. Part of him felt kind of stupid, since it was supposed to be his first language and everything. But if it was ancient then maybe he could... wing it?

Phoenix scratched his head with the tip of his wand and eyed the writing. "It doesn't really say anything I understand sir..." he said, frowning slightly. "It sounds like..." Squint, make sure, have a go. "Heeesa-hasha?" ... Right? "Wait, no. Other way round. Hesha-hassah" Or something like that...

Oh, great. Just brilliant. Professor Space Rocks found some sort engraving on the walls or a door?? Something! And now he was having the new kid with THE HAIR read it out loud?? Hasn't anyone seen any mummy movies? Anyone? YOU DON'T READ THE THING. Of course they weren't in Egypt, but Dec was pretty sure those supernatural laws applied everywhere.

Wands at the ready.

Well, this is the part where everyone dies. "It was nice knowing you all for whatever time we had." He mumbled, looking around and nudging Vinnie in front of him. Friends take supernatural curses for each other, riiiiiight??? GRIN. Declan ducked down behind Vinnie's shoulder, hovering his hand over it to point at the door of DEATH. Char...I'm sorry.

.................................................. okay so apparently Professor Flamsteed could say a whole lot of nothing with a tooooon of words. She rolled her eyes slightly.

Besides, she'd already FOUND the eye catching things in the room, didn't the professor realize? Because hot boys definitely caught her eye far more than boring scratches on an old wall. Mhmm we see you Grayyyy.

Sighing to herself slightly though, and not bothering too much with paying attention to whatever was going on pretty much, she wandered around and examined some of the wall writing stuff, reaching out her fingers to touch some of the engravings. They were a pretty pattern she supposed. Maybe she could do something like that for nail art?

Justine didn't notice the Astronomer's curiosity, he sounded slightly distracted, but she supposed that was because he was more interested in the temple than her question. Justine did notice the odd look the girl with the dark bangs ((Tegs) shot her, and though it irked Justine slightly, she didn't say anything to her. She was much too busy looking over the elegant curved patterns of the temple walls to give the girl her full attention.

A second later, Justine's attention had shifted, now set on watching the boy who spoke greek ((JustAlice) - She was rather impressed by that- in his efforts to translate the ancient text. "Hesha-hassah..." Justine thoughtfully said. "Sounds like 'issing," Indeed, the more she thought on the odd words the more it sounded like hissing in her head. It wasn't exactly pleasant.

I wonder if i'll be able to keep anything from this like we did with the old money... Justine thought, eyeing bits of a broken statue with interest.

Zahra had come a long way from the first day of sulking. She'd been INTO this digging thing after all. Her brother was a digger, too, so she'd written to Copernicus about all this junk and generally gotten into it. But she was the first to laugh at Professor Knobby Knees when he answered Ruby -- and again the first to SNORT VERY LOUDLY at the idea of PHOENIX being the one to decode whatever Greeky stuff was on the wall.

Snort. Yeaaah right. "Heeeeesha haaaaaaashaaaaaaaaa. Maybe it's parseltongue. ANYONE SPEAK SNAKE?" SNort. Zahra waved her wand around wildly, following the light around with her eyes.

His wand was AT the READY. But his brain... his brain was not.

Toby's concentration had already drifted, if he was honest. Well it wasn't really hard. He just kind of stood back, waiting behind the wall of students, occasionally peeking over someone's shoulder in a failed attempt to get a better view, but for the most part just kind of trying to stay attentive and ready.

Wait... did he just hear someone say-

"Snake?" There was a SNAKE up there? AWESOME! TOBY wanted to see this snake. He couldn't speak to them, other than one-sided chitchat and the like, probably, but STILL. "Can I see?"

Marigold bliinked loads of times. Whaaat? Snake? "Where's the snake? CAN WE PET IT?"

…oh. Language of snakes? She just left her previous comment out there because - of there was a snake, she still wanted to touch it and all that. Yeeees she did. "Wait… if it's parseltongue, would it be… translated into Greek from snake language and then English?" Confused puff was confused.

Vinnie chuckled slightly when Phoenix offered to do something for a professor. Like...something in a school kinds context. His home tutor would be soooo proud, or maybe he would be fuming. Either way it would be hilarious to watch.

But of course he had to show of his greek to all the ladies....only that it didnt really work out. Snort.....and it didnt really sound like greek, did it?! Not that the brunette really knew what that would sound like.

Did Declan really just say good bye to everyone? The Slytherin couldnt help but laugh. "Dont be so dramatic,Hazlewood." He was being such a baby and Vinnie really really wanted to take a video for Char. She'd find this hilarious. Of course when showing her at home, right now she'd probabaly freak out. Haha.

Noticing that the OLDER boy was hiding behind her the sixth year patted his head."Its alright, Vinnie will protect you, little one." She would tease him about this for the rest of his life. Yup.

Nothing happened after Phoenix Toros spoke the words upon the wall, until suddenly, the sound of stone loudly scraping against one another filled the room. The wall behind them was moving! Dirt and pieces of stone and rock fell from the ceiling as the building shook with a rumble as echoes of "hesha-hassah" were eerily spoken in a snake like fashion from what seemed like within the walls of the ancient building.

__Hesha Hassah....____Hesha Hassah...________Hesha Hassah...

Out of urgency from Professor Flamsteed and Professor Romanos, the group began to hurriedly head back up the ladder from which they entered from, only pausing as a loud HISSSSSSSSSS echoed out from the now large dark gaping hole in the far wall. The lights conjured by their wands were suddenly put out, like a gust of wind extinguishing candlelight. It took only moments for most of the group to climb to safety, and the remaining few had to be tugged out as something grabbed hold of the bottom of the ladder and crushed it to pieces. A quick fired Bombarda from the professors collapsed the entrance completely, blocking the beast from making it's appearance and perhaps even ending it's life. What was this giant beast one may ask? A basilisk!

With the remaining days of the field trip, the group was granted permission to continue to stay on the dig site and continue to participate in digs and educational lessons about archaeastronomy. Or perhaps just to soak up as much sun as one could and perfect the stories they were going to tell their friends and family once they returned home; which was both on time and executed in a safe manner.