The giggle had him momentarily wondering if he should have asked someone else. Because... why giggling? Girls were weird. First years even more so. But despite the weirdness, he was usually better with younger students so he'd just roll with it. He'd already asked if she wanted to partner anyways. "Nice to meet you, Remy."

Evan nodded in agreement at her suggestion, thinking that definitely sounded like a good reason to want to remain hidden. "Absolutely. Hiding from a potential danger is definitely a good reason to need the dark. It does present it's own dangers too though since you might also have a hard time finding them but... I do like your example of troll specifically. They are one of the less intelligent and they're big and loud." Which meant the other senses would work well to make up for the lack of sight.

"For more every day and less dangerous applications, there's also surprise parties. Having a dark room while you're waiting for the guest of honor means you really can surprise them."

Once their discussion had started, Remy felt a little cooler about being partnered up with an older student. She always scouted older students, but they usually skipped over her and went with someone else. Remy felt grateful that Evan had graced her with his partnership. The least she could do would be to COOL it - especially the creepy giggling.

The way Evan had described her example made it sound much better. She nodded in agreement. "It wouldn't be much helpful if you were hiding from anything other than a Troll," Remy laughed a little. She KNEW what she read about Trolls being stupid was true.

"Oh, yes, good idea!" She replied enthusiastically. "That must be the only reason why being in the dark results in something good." Remy couldn't think of anything else but welcomed Evan to share any more ideas. If not, were they supposed to share with the class now?

So baaasically, she had the best answer. Had to, why else would the professor call hers out specifically? There was a certain satisfaction as she leaned back into her seat, pleased as pumpkin juice. It wasn’t every day she got called out in a good way during a class after all.

Now then, what was this business of partners?

Talking about things and the dark and what you could do in the dark? It didn’t take more than one cursory look around the room for her to make her decision. ”Nemmmm. Pssssst. Nemesis.” Emm slid out of her chair and walked over to the older Slytherin. This room was full of pansies. Only Nem would be on the same wavelength during a discussion like this and she didn’t feel like making silly compromises like agreeing you want the dark to steal cookies from a jar. Grow up.

No. She needed REAL discussion. Stuff that would actually benefit her. ”We’re partners, okay?”

Pleeeeaaasse?

Quinn's blush deepened. Oh God, she saw. Why did the Professor have to say that? He was glad she was just being nice but... that's embarrassing.

For one of the first times ever, Quinn wasn't sure who he wanted to partner with. No one in here was anyone he usually partnered with... maybe he should take a more active role in choosing a partner, then? He usually just sort of... let them come to him. Or he chose a friend. So when he heard the little first year ask for a partner, he decided that he would go for it. Her name was... Lisa, right? Wasn't she Aboli's boyfriend's little sister? At least Quinn thought he was her boyfriend. Either way, she was a newbie Ravenclaw, so... it was kind of his responsibility to help her acclimate, right?

Quinn went over and took a seat next to her. "Uh...hi! You're Lisa, right? Are you alright being partners?"

Had it not been for a certain Headsman at the start of term, Nem might have thought nothing of that little comment from Peralta, about losing one's sense of touch. Lack of sensation. Still, they didn't barrel down the path of irrationality - not their thing - but silently stared at the professor as they considered the matter.

Another professor hitting so close to the mark; idiotic to write it off as coincidence a second time. But Nem knew how to deal with it now, and they said nothing more. Peralta was out.


Peralta was out, but Nem was still staring unwaveringly in her direction when the activity got underway. They didn't drag their eyes away until they heard their name, and looked instead towards Cambridge.

Partners. "Sure thing," they said, ever the helpful and gracious student. Spying an abandoned chair nearby - some other student who'd gone to partner with someone a fair distance away - Nem reached out a long leg, hooked a foot around it, and dragged it over for Cambridge to sit at their desk too. "Step into my office."

They drummed their fingers on the desk, leaned back in their chair, and briefly side-eyed Peralta again before turning their attention properly to Cambridge. "What do you reckon? I'd say darkness is good for stealth, but honestly, what better way to seem wicked sketchy if you're found. Out in the open is usually better. For hiding too." Nem didn't so much as smile, but the sentiment was there. "So something more practical."

The third year perked up when Violet agreed, and promptly plopped into a nearby chair. "What are your ideas? I'm thinking...like, when you're night hiking or camping, the lights attract bugs, plus it screws up your eyes so then you can't see as far away in the dark." Margaret knew all about camping, and even if Muggle vs Wizard camping lights were different, she was pretty sure the basic idea still applied. Moths liked torches. They probably would be attracted to a Lumos'd wand, too.

He was just glad she didn't seem to be entirely too timid or silly. Her idea had been well thought from the beginning and she hadn't been shy in sharing it so Evan was pretty pleased in partner choice. Although.. if he were honest he didn't think any of these first years could be quite described as timid, not the ones he had noticed anyways.

"It might be helpful with some others but... I can't really think of any of the top of my head." Which maybe he should be able to. "I suppose it depends how smart the other creatures would be or how well they could see in the dark too. The only one that comes straight to mind who it might not work for is a dragon." You know, cause fire breath and all and fire could light up the space anyways.

He couldn't help a small smile at that and a tiny shrug, "Dark can be good for scaring siblings or friends too." There were some fun uses. Glancing around at the other partners as well, he looked back to her. "You want to use your idea? I think you had the best. And do you prefer to present or would you like me to?" He didn't mind much either way.

Charlie had made it further into the classroom dodging a few of the obstacles and letting a surprised giggle out of her mouth when she slid down a slide. That was fun, even though she heard many of her friends bumping into things times after time. she had made it further into the room but as she was one of the later to enter the room she was just shy of her desk when the lights started to come on. Man she almost had it.

Taking her seat she listened to the others rattle off why they found it difficult to see in the dark. She had been fortunate enough that she had tons of practice. She wrote down a few of their answers to show that she was interested when really she was just surprised that so many people couldn't see what was going on.

Glancing to the side again she tried to see if there was anyone left that needed a partner because she did not want to do this on her own.

This activity had Heath confused on two levels! One, he couldn't understand why anyone would want to move in darkness without a light! The only reason he could think of was for an acting role, and that was technically a requirement, not a want. Two, why did they have to pair up? Couldn't this whole list and presentation thing be done solo? Come to think of it, what was with all the group work in general this term? It seemed like there was even more than usual!

Never mind... Heath supposed he didn't have to understand it, just go with it. Merlin, let's get this over with! he thought. His dark eyes scanned the room in search of a partner, only to find most everybody already paired up. Great…

Then he saw Charlie. Grabbing his quill and parchment, he beelined for her. Nope, he wasn't going to be stuck without a partner! Not again… He'd been there, done that way too many times, and it was awful! "Need a partner?" he asked.

Violet hadn't thought of camping, that was a good idea. "Yes, I hadn't thought of that, that's a good idea. And also, if you were out at night, the light might attract other things as well. Besides bugs. Dangerous things." Violet was a Slytherin and couldn't help suspecting the worst would happen.

"I was thinking that if you were trying to keep someone from knowing you were there, or where you were--like if someone had broken into your house, or you were trying to run away from someone in the dark--then it would be useful to find your way around with using a light and letting them know your location."

SPOILER!!: Pheebs! lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"You're in luck, Blaze. I'm all yours," Phoebe turned in her seat and propped her elbows onto the desk of the fellow sixth year. She'd let Claudine take notes for them, if she wanted. It didn't necessarily seem like one of those topics that required detailed note taking.

"Now then... what are some things that might benefit from the dark? Maybe if we decided to become master criminals, it would be much easier to commit crimes in the dark. No one could tell who we are, no one could see what we're up to. So criminal activity! Good in the dark!"

Claudine recognised that voice on the first syllable. “Hi, Phoebe.” Without even thinking much of it, she picked up her quill. Note taking was always a good way to go, and she’d just be taking the main points down. She could wait to hear what Phoebe had in mind.

[/i]Oh.[/i]

“Master criminals, huh? Not a bad one,’’ the Snakette remarked, amused. Yes, that was jotted down. “How about if we wanted to go on an important quest in the Castle for some reason? The professors finding out about it is a big no-no."

Ollie turned as the boy flagged her down. What was up with his eye? She noted that she had not seen this guy before and he definitely was much older than she. She walked over his desk noting his Gryffindor robes. "Hi, I'm Ollie. Are you alright?" She tilted her head at the boy. She racked her brain, seeing if there was a spell she could use to help him out. She knew that any she had learned in class wouldn't help, but she had been reading about other spells that she would learn in the future years. Still nothing came to mind.

She hoped that whatever he had going on wouldn't distract him from the discussion they were meant to be having. "So... Whats a scenario that you'd want to move around in the dark?" She rephrased the question for him just in case he had forgotten, or wasn't paying attention originally. Ollie couldn't think of any time she would want to move around without light completely. Well, maybe if she was being kidnapped. "I would want to be in complete darkness if someone was chasing after me. That could put some distance between us." She didn't think that thats what the professor was expecting her to answer, but thats what she could think of.

"An adventure?" Phoebe was delighted by the prospect. Yes, they absolutely needed darkness for a proper adventure. And one that the professor's were not privy to? Claudine Blaze, you pretty little snakette... imagine being so interesting to have these interests up your sleeve.

"What about if you want to get a snack in the middle of the night and you don't want your parents to know? Especially if the snack is like, leftover birthday cake or super special cheese from your fancy aunt and you know that it's what someone else would want to eat in the morning, so you have to be soooooo quiet or else you'll have to share. You can't turn on the light for that!"

She was surprised to see an older student steal a seat next to her but she beamed when he knew who she was. She felt flattered and oh so excited that he HAD KNOWN HER NAME. With a big grin, she smiled back at the older boy. “I am Lisa. Lisa Nam at your service. And you are Quinn, yeah? Nice to meet you! I’ve heard you have baking skills. Can you teach me? Please?” She then flashed him some desperate cruppy eyes.

“Soo.... what do we do now?” she began before her eyes widened when she remembered what the Prof has asked them. “So Quinn. Tell me about a time where you’d navigate through the dark without light? That’s the discussion, yeah?”

"I think most creatures are used to the dark, whereas we're... not so used to it." For example, if a student went blind into the forbidden forest, they'd probably not have a good time. Remy's eyes widened when Evan mentioned a dragon. "That definitely would not work." She giggled. Unless you were super good at hiding, she supposed. Here's to never going up against a dragon!

Remy nodded in agreement, a smile on her face as she recalled her own childhood with siblings. Annoyingly, she was the kid sister so she was often the one getting scared. She was pleased to hear that Evan thought her idea was good. "I don't mind sharing." She nodded.

The blonde raised her hand, trying to catch the professors attention. AHEM. "Evan and I think that a way darkness can benefit you is when you're hiding from something, either from danger, or..." She smiled back at Evan, "... when you're trying to sneak up on someone or something." Now for her example, "For example, when hiding from stupid creatures, like trolls," no offence, trolls, "not being in their direct vision would probably save your life." Because there was no point in attacking a troll if it couldn't see you, right?

"Erm... not really, but I'll be fine. I'll live." he had far worse accidents to date, and getting a foam wedge thrown at his eyeball could be easily downplayed. He'd like to keep his eyesight, however. He's got things to do with his sight, thank you very much. Noah took a quick swipe at his itching eye and blinked a few times at the girl to give her a good look. He'd grinned at the first year Slytherin and hooked his right foot on a nearby chair, and pulled it towards his partner, so she could sit. "Nice to meet you, Ollie. I'm Noah." he returned the greeting, and gestured for the young snakette to sit down.

What would he do in the dark, hmm? A few things came to mind, but he'd go for something he'd done many times over. "Darkness is perfect for sneaking out of the house when I'm not supposed to. Or sneaking back in when it's way past my curfew." Noah's thoughts however came to a halt when Ollie said that she wanted to be in the dark while being chased by someone? Did... did he hear that right? "Oh? You mean when you want to escape your captor, is that it? Like a distraction?" it was a legit question. Besides, he's dealing with a Slytherin. They do have their cunning ways, yes? He was intrigued and amazed at how their brain works.

She narrowed her eyes at him as he said he'd be fine. His eye was very red and it definitely looked painful. Whatever, if he wanted to remain in class in pain who was Ollie to stop him. She sat down as he nodded to the seat he pulled over. Some smooth moves. But Ollie didn't pay it much mind.

Sneaking around? He must have been talking about at home because Ollie couldn't imagine sneaking out of Hogwarts. Not only did the surrounding area seem frightening, but also administration. She would never want to get caught sneaking out! "Well yeah I guess thats something you'd want to do in the dark." She shrugged at the boy's response to her answer. She hadn't ever been in a situation where she needed to out run someone, but if she was she figured the darkness would come as an aid. Unless it caused her to run into something. Then maybe not. "Well I mean, if I was kidnapped and somehow managed to get away, and was running for my life, I'd want it to be dark. Wouldn't you?" The only reason she could think of for wanting light is so she couldn't run into anything. But then her captor could see exactly where she was. Her thoughts stopped for a moment. Did anyone else think like this? Ollie couldn't be the only one, right? "That way they couldn't see where I was going."

SPOILER!!: This vivacious little lady <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emzily

"I think most creatures are used to the dark, whereas we're... not so used to it." For example, if a student went blind into the forbidden forest, they'd probably not have a good time. Remy's eyes widened when Evan mentioned a dragon. "That definitely would not work." She giggled. Unless you were super good at hiding, she supposed. Here's to never going up against a dragon!

Remy nodded in agreement, a smile on her face as she recalled her own childhood with siblings. Annoyingly, she was the kid sister so she was often the one getting scared. She was pleased to hear that Evan thought her idea was good. "I don't mind sharing." She nodded.

The blonde raised her hand, trying to catch the professors attention. AHEM. "Evan and I think that a way darkness can benefit you is when you're hiding from something, either from danger, or..." She smiled back at Evan, "... when you're trying to sneak up on someone or something." Now for her example, "For example, when hiding from stupid creatures, like trolls," no offence, trolls, "not being in their direct vision would probably save your life." Because there was no point in attacking a troll if it couldn't see you, right?

An adventure, a quest… something of the sort. Claudine had the image of her in a brightly coloured, dramatic cloak, with a staff in hand and… sweet Merlin. She was nerding out. Heath was definitely rubbing off on her. This amused her, you know. Anyway. Phoebe liked her idea which meant that this second idea would be jotted down too.

The third idea actually made her laugh. “That’s a smart one! Especially handy for when you’ve got a large family and they love to eat.” Nope, Claudine wasn’t secretly aching here for her family. Nope. This was added to the list. “Hmm. I reckon we’ve got some pretty good ideas here. You want to share with the class?’’ Or they both could? Claudine was fine with either.

"I'll do it," Phoebe grinned and bounced to her feet. She didn't mind a little public speaking, especially on a topic as interesting as this one. Turned out that Blaze was a bit deviously minded, which was... surprising. She seemed like a real rule follower.

"Miss Blaze and I have resolved that darkness is ideal for criminal activity. Specifically, in our new quest to become super villains, most of our work will have to be done where prying eyes and law enforcement can't see what we're doing."

Dangerous things? Margaret didn't want to think about anything more dangerous than bugs or tripping over something in the dark. "I think running in the dark would be too hard," she argued. "You're going too fast, so you're liable to run into something, or trip, and be noisy." And then the bad guys would hear. Probably.

"I like my camping answer." Not only because it was less scary than Violet's answer, but it was her idea. And she hoped not very many people had the same idea. She didn't know how many wizards went camping...hmm, maybe everyone would have the same idea.

Quinn turned a bit pink. Where had she heard that from? He hadn't baked that much at Hogwarts, yet... "Er, yep, I'm Quinn. Kingsley. And, I mean, I know a thing or two about baking, but I wouldn't say I'm much of an expert..." he chuckled awkwardly. "But, um, I guess I can teach you some things, if you really want." His Gram taught him, and he thought it was fun to learn, so... maybe it could be fun to teach, too?

He nodded once Lisa asked him the question. "Uh, let's see..." he thought for a moment before coming up with, "...well, if you were in a room with a basilisk or a cockatrice, it would probably be good that it was dark. That way you couldn't see their eyes. But, uh... you also wouldn't be able to see anything else, so... maybe not actually the best situation..." He frowned, trying to think of something else. This question was a bit tricky, wasn't it?

As the children paired off, Neva stood and slowly started to place little covered baskets here and there throughout the obstale course. Each basket contained a magical mouse and each mouse had a pattern on its fur. From polka dots and paisley to houndstooth and herringbone, each was perfectly unique. Once she'd made sure there was one basket for each student in the room, she turned her attention to the discussions going on.

Miss Gaeltheos and Mr. Nam seemed to be coming up with a few good scenarios where having the cover of darkness would be an advantage. The brunette smiled a bit as the Gryffindor shared for her group, nodding in agreement. "Hiding and sneaking are good examples, though the person trying to sneak up on someone in the dark might not be able to accurately locate their target unless they have some type of advantage."

Miss Blaze and Miss James seemed to equate darkness with evil-doing and they weren't exactly wrong. Super villians certainly did tend to do their business at night, or at least that's what many books and movies would lead you to believe. "Though I must advise you both to steer clear of any involvement in criminal activities, I do think darkness would help hide some of this type of activity. Good." Neva was amused, could they tell?

Miss Burke and Mr. Mordaunt had some good ideas going, though Neva did catch that bit about sneaking out and sneaking back in. She raised her eyebrows a bit and murmured, "Teenagers," under her breath before moving past this group and on to the next one.

Miss Blackthorne and Miss Turov seemed to be having a bit of a debate and the Charms Professor stood by them, listening intently. "You're both correct in your thinking that the lack of light might keep away lots of unwanted attention, whether that come from bugs, other creatures, or even an intruder. Good thinking, both of you."

Miss Nam and Mr. Kingsley were cute and seemed a bit unsure, so Neva gave them some time to talk things over. She couldn't help but smile a bit at the second year's thinking regarding creatures you wanted to avoid eye contact with. "Keep brainstorming, you two."

Miss Cambridge and Nemesis were quite the team and Neva couldn't wait to hear what ideas the two of them came up with. So far, Nem was providing pretty good reasons why darkness might do someone more harm than good if caught sneaking around, so she gave them a bit more time to talk things over and moved on to the next pairing, though Miss Rivers and Mr. Jones seemed to still be working out their thoughts as well.

...

Glancing down at her watch, Neva's eyes widened a bit and she moved back to the front of the room. "Alright everyone, we'll be moving on now! Thank you for swapping ideas and for sharing situations in which darkness might be helpful to you. Hiding in the dark is the answer that is most pertinent to the activity we'll be participating in shortly, but first, let's talk about a new spell.

Earlier in the lesson it was mentioned that humans are not meant to live in the dark. There are creatures who thrive in darkness, though. Creatures like owls and cats are able to navigate, capture food, and generally thrive in darkness, and that has a lot to do with their eyes. With the Night vision Charm, witches and wizards can also thrive in the dark, but for a much shorter period of time. The incantation for the Night vision Charm is Visionem Nocte and the wand movement is a circle drawn around each eye, first the right and then the left. If done successfully, you'll be able to see objects in the dark from great distances away, and these objects will appear green in color and have a bit of a glow to them. While this charm can be useful and provide you with a fun experience, use of the Night vision Charm for longer than an hour can cause headaches, blurred vision, and excessive eye watering. Something to keep in mind if you ever decide to practice this charm on your own." She paused, letting that information sink in.

"For the last part of class, I'm going to turn off the lights again and I want you to practice this spell. Please give yourself a few moments to adjust before attempting the spell on yourself. Once you feel that you've got it, you may approach any of the covered baskets in the room and open it. Inside is a toy mouse charmed to move around like a real mouse would. Each mouse has a unique pattern so that you can locate it in the classroom, though it won't be easy once all the mice are at play. Place your mouse on the floor, count to ten to allow it to get a good head start, and then your job is to capture it again and place it back in the basket. Now the obstacles around the room might not give you as much of a problem now that you'll be able to see, but it'll give the mice plenty of places to hide, climb, and trip you up if you're not paying attention." She grinned a bit. This kind of chaos was what she enjoyed. "You'll have the remainder of class to capture your mouse and return it safely in the basket to me. Once you've done that, you can go." Leaving early was a good incentive to work hard and play hard, yes? "If you haven't got any questions, the lights are going down in ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...t hree...two...one." And the room was dark again. She left her own eyes slowly adjust to the new lighting and then performed the spell on herself. "Visionem Nocte!" Now she could watch the show.

OOC: Hi friends! I apologize for the delay! I'm doing this on my break at work because the power is still being wonky at home! The final part of the lesson is all about putting the Night vision Charm to the test! Please have your charrie:
-Practice the charm so that they're able to participate in the practical portion of the activity
-Grab a basket and let their mouse loose
-Start the chase!
You can do this in as many or as little posts as you want! Have fun and feel free to RP your mouse's actions, but know I'll be jumping on here and there to cause some mouse madness! You'll have until the end of class on May 28th to complete the activity! Please PM me any questions you might have!

Claudine, in fact, was a little devious minded. It was just that keeping to herself most of the time did not allow many to see that side of her. “Go for it,’’ she told Phoebe, leaning back in her chair. It was a good thing the Gryffindor volunteered; Claudine sometimes didn’t do a good job of explaining things. The Snakette, upon hearing Phoebe’s explanation, hid her mouth by pretending to rub her nose with her hand. Behind that hand, she was laughing. “Good job,’’ she complimented the Lioness. “I reckon Peralta thinks we wouldn’t actually involve ourselves in any criminal activity.”

As they were moving on now, the sixth year proceeded to make her notes. In her opinion, both wand movement and incantation were simple. This was a good thing. As for that activity? Claudine understood fully what was to be done. With the room dark once more, she began to mutter the incantation. “Visionem Nocte. Visionem Nocte. Visionem Nocte.” See? Easy. That wand movement was even easier.

But she had a question.

“Professor?’’ Claudine stared around in the dark, obviously unable to see Peralta. “Does it matter if the circle is clockwise or counterclockwise?’’

”Excellent question and one I should’ve addressed. My apologies.” Neva’s voice came out of the darkness loud and clear. ”For this spell, it does not. Just be sure to make a complete circle around each eye and you’re good.”

Violet was glad Claudine had asked that question about clockwise, counterclockwise circles--she wanted to make sure she did this right. She always had misgivings about learning spells that required you to point a wand at yourself, because that left a lot less room for error.

Whoops! Lights out!! Already. Violet kind of wished they'd been able to practice a bit before things went dark--she hoped she was pointing her wand at her eye and not her nose or ear. She hoped she didn't poke herself in the eye, either. Hmm...better practice the incantation a few times first.

Violet lowered her wand and muttered under her breath, "Visionem Nocte. Visionem Nocte. Visionem Nocte." Well, that seemed easy enough--no really weird words or tongue-twisters there. She thought she had it. Okay, here goes.

Violet pointed her wand back at her right eye, made a circle (Hey, the circle was clockwise if you were thinking of the wand pointing at the eye, but counterclockwise if you were thinking of yourself staring at the wand! that was probably why it didn't matter!) But now Violet had become distracted by her own thoughts and lowered her wand and started again, one more time. She pointed her wand at her right eye, circled it, and spoke firmly and clearly: "Visionem Nocte!", then she quickly moved the wand to her left eye, made another circle, and repeated the incantation.

At the very last minute, she had the horrible thought that if she did something terribly wrong, the room was too dark for the teacher to see she was in trouble, but it was too late, the words were already out of her mouth.