...and it was then that Isla realized they wouldn't be baking cookies today. They wouldn't even be baking at all, as a matter of fact. When he had first asked about cleaning charms, Isla had thought that maybe they were going to clean up after they baked, but no. They were just going to clean. Dirty dishes, to be exact.

She followed the professor inside the kitchen, and it didn't take her eyes long at all to set themselves on the piles upon piles of dishes. Would it be in bad taste to ask where the house elves were? ... She watched as he plastered a piece of parchment on the wall. Hmm. The incantation and wand movement actually seemed really easy, which was a welcome relief, since she wasn't exactly doing something she'd consider fun.

Isla withdrew her wand and moved it into a swirling motion, pretending it was cleaning and sanitizing dishes. "Lava Patina," she said, getting a feel for the words. See? Easy Peasy! She tried it a second time. She swirled her wand around again, thinking about making the motions to clean a plate. Afterwards, she put down her wand and said, "Lava Patina!" Alright. If they had to do this, she was as ready now as ever.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

She was nopeing right out of this one.

As soon as she heard the words 'dirty dishes' and 'cleaning' Cora well and truly zoned out. The incantation? Instructions? Anything he said? NOPE. She didn't hear any of it. Soz.

While everyone else got cracking on with whatever it was they were supposed to be doing, Cora looked for a way out. An escape. Would anyone noticed if she just slipped out? The professor DID seem to be distracted with that one Slytherin girl, the snooty one, who almost got knocked out by a plate.

Best part of the lesson so far by the way, LOOOL.

So their lesson being held in the kitchen had nothing to do with cooking but rather... cleaning. While the seventh year would much have preferred to be cooking, cleaning wasn't all that bad. She had been helping out in the kitchen since she was a small child which always required her to clean things by hand. Using magic to wash some dishes wouldn't be a problem at all.

Not even having Serafina (FAKE-baby) in the baby sling that she had transfigured on her own should cause an issue. Many times had she helped out at home while carrying one of her nephews. Nothing could go wrong.

'Lava Patina' didn't seem to be a difficult charm. The incantation was easy and after repeating it quietly to herself a few times she knew she was saying it properly. As for the wand movement, well that was easy too. A simple swirl movement over the dirty dish. Feeling confident, Rylee was reaching for the wand that was holstered to her arm when there was a shriek and the unmistakable sound of a plate shattering against the floor.

As if perfectly on cue, her FAKE-baby began to cry. Loudly! Had they been charmed by the professor with a startling affect or something because the timing was just to right. "Shhhh.. it's alright, everything's alright," Rylee whispered soothingly, cradling her right arm underneath the baby sling to gently rock Serafina in an attempt to calm her. She hummed softly while still rocking the Fake-baby, her eyes shifting over towards Nina and the professor to see if she was alright.

So far things weren't going as planned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

Bernie glanced over her shoulder to see who had broken the dish, and rolled her eyes as she noticed that it was Austin, the annoying, argumentative Slytherin. Looked like Nina was somehow involved too, but that was none of her business.

"I hate doing dishes," Bernie answered Claudine, "but not enough to break them. I can't wait to use this spell at home!!!!" Maybe not this summer, but by the time she'd be of age, of course. The second year picked up another plate. "Lava patina!"

Claudine grinned, something she did with Bernie now that they were friends again. “Does this mean you like doing other housework?’’ She herself hated doing the dishes, especially since so many persons resided at the Blaze mansion and on occasions, it seemed like every single family member chose one particular point in time to return home. “Enjoy washing them manually for the next five years.’’

The Snakette felt she was now ready to try a plate so she carefully took one and held it with her left hand. With her right, she began doing the movement. “Lava patina.” At first, it seemed like nothing was happening and Claudine was about to sink into a tidal wave of disappointment but then the little pieces of food began to disappear. They disappeared until the plate was left sparkling clean.

Tom had been watching with interest, he hadn't said a word since coming into the classroom, but now it was time to practice the charm and so he started to whisper under his breath. “Lava patina!’’ “Lava patina!’ “Lava patina!’’ Tom started with the incantation. “Lava patina!’’ “Lava patina!’ “Lava patina!’’ Tom said a few more times trying to make sure he had the incantation down.

Tom then decided to practice the wand movement, he had been paying close attention to the Professor since the Professor had done it and now he tried to do in a few times, which he did as the wand movement was just a swirling motion, he did it a few more times to make sure he was doing it exactly like the Professor had done.

After waiting for the bulk of the class to head into the kitchens first, Kaiser followed behind. He wasn't even all that concerned that the temptation of food, glorious food would be nearby, on account of he hadn't been much of a human vacuum lately, even at meal times. Nor was he too disappointed that the lesson seemed to be about cleaning, and cleaning in the kitchen specifically. In only a matter of months he would be ageing out of Stemp House, off out to live in the world on his own, when he would indeed be required to do every last bit of cleaning and housework himself. Learning spells for such a thing was actually pretty useful, and not something to be even remotely annoyed about.

Drawing his wand from its makeshift holster (aka, tucked up his sleeve), Kaiser rolled the thin strip of wood between his fingers while Fuller-Thompson explained, and then finally bade them start practicing.

"Lava Patina," he mumbled to himself, swirling his wand around at nothing in particular. It was a relatively easy thing to practice, and even being conscious of his accent and sounding the words out accurately wasn't too difficult. The problem, he expected, would be remembering the spell and incantation later down the line, when he had to take the exam. At least once he lived on his own he could stick a parchment on the kitchen wall, reminding himself of the spell, which he fully planned to do. But exams didn't seem to care about such practical solutions. "Lava Patina." Swirl.

The problem was, it was so easy that it allowed Kaiser's mind to wander. Never good, never fun. He stared over at the dishes, not really seeing them, as a great heaviness seemed to bear down on him all at once. Even when there was a shriek and a shatter, Kaiser didn't look around, though he found himself half-listening all the same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2111jen

Austin blinked and set his wand on a near by table.
"It was an accident professor, I swear. I was practising the spell amd the dish went flying and hit her head," he said. Austin glamced between Nina and professor. Was this what he got for talking bad about her?

The last thing he needed was students flinging plates at each other. He was hoping this was a total accident and he was hoping Nina would be just fine. Piers sighed at Austin. "It's alright," he muttered, even though a cleaning charm gone awry really shouldn't result in a flying plate. [b]"Just try to focus a little more next time.



Anyway, it was time to move class along. He didn't want to stay in here too long because he knew some of the house elves would be itching to get back in here.

"Alright, everyone, wands down." Piers moved back to the "front" of the class, where he was standing before and waited for everyone to stop practicing their incantation. "Now, we're going to move on and take care of the mess in here, but we're not just going to go at it. I need you all to lead a discussion as a class to figure out the best way to go at this. Should you all do your own thing? Should you start an assembly line? Break into groups? Getting this kitchen clean is entirely up to you and I want you to figure out how you're going to do it. Because the sooner you do, the sooner you can leave." See, there was a benefit to team work.

"So, start pitching your ideas. This discussion is less about charms and more about collaboration and teamwork." Which he knew was pretty hard for some people (especially some of his Slytherins) to do.

OOC: Thanks for all of your posts! Like mentioned, this next question is just meant to act as an open discussion for your characters to discuss. After they decide what to do, we'll move onto the main activity. Class will move on in about 24-26 hours!

Fiona thought about what would be her ideal method of getting the kitchen clean and then raised her hand. "I was thinking that the class divides into groups of various years and each group deals with a part of the kitchen. Having different years in each group would be beneficial in terms of experience in spellwork."

Phoebe was feeling a little stabby with her wand, but she turned her attention back to the professor. He was going to make them touch dirty, grimy dishes now, and there were no snacks. This was the truth of things.

"Professor." Sigh. "I think we need most people washing, wish a few running to put things away. It doesn't make much sense to assembly line when there's only two jobs to do." She paused before adding, "Can we have a snack?"

Austin nodded. Yeah. Sure thing. He decided he'd wash the dishes by hand sense he didn't want to mess up another spell.

It seemed that practice time was over. Naya put her wand down, as instructed and listened to how the class would proceed. The students were going to plan the activity? The Gryffindor thought of the best way to get the job done.

Raising her hand, Naya presented her opinion on the matter. “I agree that we should break into mixed groups. If we have different ages working together, the more experienced students can help the less experienced ones.”. That should make the work get done in a timely fashion.......and there was a lot of work to be done.

Hmmm, no. Bernie hated cleaning of any kind, but she had a lot of experience with it because she did make a lot of messes. "Vacuuming is alright, if I had to choose," she answered after a thought. Yuck, five more YEARS of this?! "I think I'm gonna hafta adopt a house elf..." Perhaps one of the school ones could come home with her this summer, yeah?

Bernie stopped washing as the professor addressed them all again, and nodded along to (most) of her classmates' answers. "I agree with Phoebe, that we should have a snack," because really, this was just unpaid labour without a reward, "and we should work in pairs or threes. One to wash, one to rinse, and one to dry the dishes." This was why her parents had had three kids, right? Though Bernie wasn't even sure the dishes needed rinsing after this spell....,

Blake had listened to his classmates discussion, they all seemed liked fine ideas to to him, he really didn't care, he would be washing dishes one way or another so really lets just get to work so they could be done with today's lesson.

"I like Claudine ideas idea, groups of three would work, wash, rinse, put away... unless the rising part is unnecessary, and then pairs could work to just wash and put away and maybe switch half way through .. so each of us gets a turn using the spell." There ... of course he agreed with Claudine ... when did he ever not ... well okay most of the time outside of lessons they disagreed bout everything.

Even Cora knew better than to try and escape while he was looking, so when the professor started addressing the class, her attempts at sneaking out came to a quick halt. For now anyway. There was still no way she was cleaning.

So when he asked them to discuss what the best way to go about this was, she knew the answer straight away. "Get the house-elves to do it! It's their job, not ours!"

Simples.

Cole's fears we're answered. Professor Fuller-Thompson wanted them to clean the whole kitchen and collaborate. Teamwork obviously would make all this go faster and easier. Raising his hand Cole chipped in to the discussion going around. He ignored Cora's comment which would most likely put her in trouble with their professor. "Wouldn't it be good if the groups of 3-4 focused on different areas of dish; like pots and pans, cutlery, glasses and plates and that sort of thing? It seems pointless and timewasting if all groups focused on the same areas. It's better if we divide the dish and then if a group get's done quickly with their 'assigned' part of dish they can then pitch in where there is most dish left." The elder years helping the younger was though a good idea Cole mused silentley.

Tom raised his hand and smiled as he answered the question. "Well Professor, we could pay someone else to do it, like a maid, they would be grateful for the opportunity." Tom was sure that there would be someone in need of Galleons, so why not give them the opportunity to earn some.

Claudine only just had time to admire her handiwork before Fuller- Thompson told them to put their wands down. The girl lowered hers but did not literally rest it on a surface. Her eyes went from the mess to her Professor to Bernie in that order for a few times as she considered the question. She hated to work in groups, but this was only because she preferred to complete tasks on her own. That and she disliked being around others to an extent.

“By ourselves or pairs.’’ Yes, Claudine would stick with Bernie, naturally. Another option would be to work with Cole, whom she was slowly starting to like a lot. Blake? Undecided. So, regardless of the outcome, Claudine would be doing this beside a certain Gryffindor.

Isla stashed her wand away, for the time-being, and turned toward the professor. She still wanted to know why the house elves weren't doing this. Had there been some kind of strike or something? An uprising from S.P.E.W.? She didn't mind washing dishes, but she still had questions that didn't have answers yet.

"I'm thinking small groups," she said, raising her hand. "A full assembly is a big line for just a few steps, and I can see a whole bunch of stuff being broken if we just go at it at once. So I vote small groups!" And she wanted the hardest workers in her group. She had heard rumors of people being terrible group members and ditching all their work while leaving it for the others to do. That kind of thing was going to be a big ole bag of nope for her.

That one kid that spoke up...Tom or something? He had the right idea in mind! They should just all throw in a knut or two for someone and call it a day!

Text Cut: replies

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ginevra

Fiona thought about what would be her ideal method of getting the kitchen clean and then raised her hand. "I was thinking that the class divides into groups of various years and each group deals with a part of the kitchen. Having different years in each group would be beneficial in terms of experience in spellwork."

And the first vote went to... group work. Piers nodded. ”Alright, dividing into groups,” he repeated, making mental note of that vote in his head.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casanova_

Phoebe was feeling a little stabby with her wand, but she turned her attention back to the professor. He was going to make them touch dirty, grimy dishes now, and there were no snacks. This was the truth of things.

"Professor." Sigh. "I think we need most people washing, wish a few running to put things away. It doesn't make much sense to assembly line when there's only two jobs to do." She paused before adding, "Can we have a snack?"

Piers listened to Phoebe’s response, noting that she really didn’t seem too excited. ”Okay,” he said simply before she mentioned a snack. ”Possibly,” he replied, again very simply, because he wasn’t going to TELL her whether he had snacks planned or not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11

It seemed that practice time was over. Naya put her wand down, as instructed and listened to how the class would proceed. The students were going to plan the activity? The Gryffindor thought of the best way to get the job done.

Raising her hand, Naya presented her opinion on the matter. “I agree that we should break into mixed groups. If we have different ages working together, the more experienced students can help the less experienced ones.”. That should make the work get done in a timely fashion.......and there was a lot of work to be done.

Piers gestured to Naya when she raised her hand. ”Alright, another vote for group work.” He had a feeling that might be the most common suggestion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

Hmmm, no. Bernie hated cleaning of any kind, but she had a lot of experience with it because she did make a lot of messes. "Vacuuming is alright, if I had to choose," she answered after a thought. Yuck, five more YEARS of this?! "I think I'm gonna hafta adopt a house elf..." Perhaps one of the school ones could come home with her this summer, yeah?

Bernie stopped washing as the professor addressed them all again, and nodded along to (most) of her classmates' answers. "I agree with Phoebe, that we should have a snack," because really, this was just unpaid labour without a reward, "and we should work in pairs or threes. One to wash, one to rinse, and one to dry the dishes." This was why her parents had had three kids, right? Though Bernie wasn't even sure the dishes needed rinsing after this spell....,

House elves, snacks, missing the point... ”Group work is your vote then?” he asked, ignoring all of her other comments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by love-for-HP

Blake had listened to his classmates discussion, they all seemed liked fine ideas to to him, he really didn't care, he would be washing dishes one way or another so really lets just get to work so they could be done with today's lesson.

"I like Claudine ideas idea, groups of three would work, wash, rinse, put away... unless the rising part is unnecessary, and then pairs could work to just wash and put away and maybe switch half way through .. so each of us gets a turn using the spell." There ... of course he agreed with Claudine ... when did he ever not ... well okay most of the time outside of lessons they disagreed bout everything.

And another vote for group work. ”Alright, very good input,” he said, tallying another vote in his head.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waterloo

Even Cora knew better than to try and escape while he was looking, so when the professor started addressing the class, her attempts at sneaking out came to a quick halt. For now anyway. There was still no way she was cleaning.

So when he asked them to discuss what the best way to go about this was, she knew the answer straight away. "Get the house-elves to do it! It's their job, not ours!"

Simples.

...... ”You’re missing the point.” Moving on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

Cole's fears we're answered. Professor Fuller-Thompson wanted them to clean the whole kitchen and collaborate. Teamwork obviously would make all this go faster and easier. Raising his hand Cole chipped in to the discussion going around. He ignored Cora's comment which would most likely put her in trouble with their professor. "Wouldn't it be good if the groups of 3-4 focused on different areas of dish; like pots and pans, cutlery, glasses and plates and that sort of thing? It seems pointless and timewasting if all groups focused on the same areas. It's better if we divide the dish and then if a group get's done quickly with their 'assigned' part of dish they can then pitch in where there is most dish left." The elder years helping the younger was though a good idea Cole mused silentley.

Ah, yes, another vote for group work. ”Alright, group work,” he commented before moving onto the next hand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weasley174

Tom raised his hand and smiled as he answered the question. "Well Professor, we could pay someone else to do it, like a maid, they would be grateful for the opportunity." Tom was sure that there would be someone in need of Galleons, so why not give them the opportunity to earn some.

... Piers sighed, disappointed. ”You’re also missing the point. Another comment like this and I’ll take points.” Because the kids thought they were funny, but really Piers was just irritated by it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FebruaryLover19

Claudine only just had time to admire her handiwork before Fuller- Thompson told them to put their wands down. The girl lowered hers but did not literally rest it on a surface. Her eyes went from the mess to her Professor to Bernie in that order for a few times as she considered the question. She hated to work in groups, but this was only because she preferred to complete tasks on her own. That and she disliked being around others to an extent.

“By ourselves or pairs.’’ Yes, Claudine would stick with Bernie, naturally. Another option would be to work with Cole, whom she was slowly starting to like a lot. Blake? Undecided. So, regardless of the outcome, Claudine would be doing this beside a certain Gryffindor.

”A vote for individual work, eh?” he asked, intrigued. There hadn’t been too many votes for that, and for some reason he hadn’t expected Claudine to suggest it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Isla stashed her wand away, for the time-being, and turned toward the professor. She still wanted to know why the house elves weren't doing this. Had there been some kind of strike or something? An uprising from S.P.E.W.? She didn't mind washing dishes, but she still had questions that didn't have answers yet.

"I'm thinking small groups," she said, raising her hand. "A full assembly is a big line for just a few steps, and I can see a whole bunch of stuff being broken if we just go at it at once. So I vote small groups!" And she wanted the hardest workers in her group. She had heard rumors of people being terrible group members and ditching all their work while leaving it for the others to do. That kind of thing was going to be a big ole bag of nope for her.

That one kid that spoke up...Tom or something? He had the right idea in mind! They should just all throw in a knut or two for someone and call it a day!

Ah, this one was a rational thinker. Piers didn’t want to have to glue together any broken plates, so he appreciated her suggestion. ”Good point, Isla.”

Once the discussion on how to proceed died down a bit, Piers hushed the group down and brought the attention back to himself. ”Alright, most of you had some helpful suggestions. The overwhelming vote, however, was to break into small groups to divide and conquer, so that’s what we’ll do.” That was democracy, kids.

”So, I’d like everyone to break into groups of three or four. Pick a section of the kitchen to work on and divide the work between your group members. Some of you can wash, some of you can dry and another can put the dishes away, or you can set it up however you’d like, just please,” emphasis on the please [b]”please, actually get to work. I won’t let you leave until I’ve seen you make an effort. The sooner you’re done, the sooner you can leave. So he would expect them to get to work right away.

”Alright, hop to!” Piers shouted and signaled for everyone to get to work. Time to clean, clean, clean!

OOC: Welcome to the main activity! this is the last portion of the lesson! You can have your characters break up into groups (but Piers won't get mad if they choose to work alone) and start cleaning up the kitchen. Your characters can use the spell they learned or they can use different spells they may know! I'll check back in periodically, but class is set to end in about FOUR days from now.

Although Isla had silently liked Tom's idea, she was super glad she hadn't said as much out loud. The professor was definitely not too happy about it. So it seemed like she had agreed with the majority of the people. If they had to do this, which it seemed like they did, then at least they had some help in the form of group members!

She didn't really want to be the one responsible for putting the dishes away. It just seemed a lot easier to cast the charm they'd learned and then pass on the dish to someone else. "Anybody want to work with me? I can cast the charm, if somebody else wants to dry or put away?" she offered. Or she could dry and put away. Whatever got them finished with this, so the dish-cleaning class could end!

Isla lingered awkwardly for a moment. She hated that time period in between asking for a partner or group and just silently waiting for someone to speak up.

Valencia headed over to the younger girl. "I can help." she volunteered. This seemed like an easy enough activity. Not heavy on magic and high on useful life skills -- seemed like an ideal lesson really.

She looked around wondering if they could get a third. If not, she was fine drying and putting dishes away.

And so they are going to clean, Jillian somehow called it earlier. She had a hunch that they will be cleaning the are. Not that it was a big deal since the students have been doing a ton of cleaning ever since they returned to Hogwarts. She could still remember the amount of dust in the Slytherin's common room she had to scrape off under her bed- yes, it was disgusting and it made her cringed but seeing how most of the areas are now cleaned makes her happy. And so this activity will as well.

When it comes to cleaning teamwork is the only way to go. It works faster that way, like the one Claudine suggested. That system is 100% efficient when it comes to loads and loads of cleaning. Easy and fast.

Cleaning the kitchen is... well.... going to be a lot of work. Can she be part of the organizing part? Like the stacking of the plates, cups and making sure that all utensils are in place? That seems more of her speed. She would love that but of course she can help with the cleaning part to. Jillian stood for a bit, her eyes wandering around which area of the kitchen she wants to clean. Hmmmm….

“Yes,’’ Claudine said to Fuller-Thompson. She looked up at him, wondering if that came as a surprise to the man. This introvert usually found it less draining to simply be by herself or around a select few. She groaned inwardly when they were given the instructions to work in groups. He ideal partners to work with would be both Gryffindors: Bernie and Cole.

“I’m sticking with you,’’ Claudine whispered to Bernie. Her friend was more sociable than she was and would bound to be eager to work with more than just her. That would be fine but no one should expect this Snakette to be talkative. She just wanted to get the dishes done so she could collect herself by doing some sketching. “Which task do you want to do?’’

Austin was feeling a bit anxious right now. Even though he talked more often now, that didn't mean he still strutted with being mute. He put his wand in his pocket and went to a sink. He found a rag. He dipped it in the soapy water and started washing it. If the professor said anything, he'd find someone to be with. In the meantime, Austin continued on with what he was doing.

Blake looked around the room trying to decide who to work with. He had seen that Claudine had snagged Bernadette right form the start, and Blake still hadn't forgiven her for the jam incident in the great hall earlier in the year so he decided it was best to just skip that all together. Seeing Isla and walked over to her.

"Hey Wife!" He added with a smile and a tease, of course being married at 12 was not actually allowed in his life, but they were partnering together on the baby project ... so this added to them playing house. "I guess if we can raise a baby together we can do dishes." he added and then turned toward the other girl the didn't recognize.

"Hey, I'm Blake, nice to meet you. I can put them away if you're going to dry." He didn't mind running them across the room. "Maybe we switch things up half way through?" he added, thinking that way they each got a turn doing all 3.