HoM Lesson I- TBA

[Watson]

As you enter the History of Magic classroom, you’ll find it sort of- yeah sort of looking normal- yeah- mostly normal save for a few holes in the wall from the vines and a piece of parchment waiting on each desk.

The chalkboard at the front of the room has simple instructions on it.

“Welcome. Take a seat and get your sleuthing started!”
Professor Holden, himself, is standing up front, finishing his preparations by straightening a couple of the easels. His OCD tendencies were getting the better of him. Feel free to greet the Professor but he may be slightly distracted with trying to keep the covered talking paintings from talking. Right now, he’s trying to tell them what a SPOILER means! Fortunately one of the paintings is lecturing the others to be quiet especially one particular LOUD one. Who are our lesson’s visitors?

OOC: Welcome to the first History of Magic lesson in Term 60! Super excited to have you guys here. C’mon in, take a seat, aaaand have fun with the puzzle!

We’ll get started shortly (in a day) but please make sure you familiarize yourself with the rules.

Class Progression: CLASS HAS BEGUN!

• Question 1
• Question 2
• Mini-Activity
• Portraits 1, Portraits 2, Portraits 3
• Question 3: Reveal Your Answers!
• Main Activity

[MadMadamMalfoy]

SPOILER!!: catch-up

Desiree listened intently to Portrait A's answer. Creating innovative solutions to better Hogwarts? That sounded hard! She didn't think she had that kind of creativity, but she appreciated the portrait's answer nonetheless. She thanked the portrait and moved on to Portrait C, skipping over that big meanie Portrait B entirely. But before she could ask her question, time ran out. Darn! She was just getting started!

She returned to her seat and took out a piece of parchment to make her guesses. Okay, so Portrait B was clearly Slytherin. Nobody else here seemed to have a problem with muggleborns! And Portrait A… that one valued intelligence and creativity, and the answer she - he? - it gave was detailed and informative. Probably Rowena Ravenclaw. So that left Portraits C & D, neither of which she had the chance to talk to. Desiree was stumped!

She tried to remember what she'd heard the other portraits say. It wasn't much, but she knew Portrait D had a really loud laugh. Hufflepuff wouldn't have had a loud laugh, would she? That seemed more like Gryffindor! Not at all confident in her answers,she wrote down her guess:

Quote:

Portrait A - Rowena Ravenclaw
Portrait B - Big Fat Meanie Salazar Slytherin
Portrait C - Helga Hufflepuff
Portrait D - Godric Gryffindor

Desiree was so busy thinking that she forgot she was supposed to give her guesses out loud until Professor Holden gave the answers. Well, what do you know? She got them all correct, and she was mostly just guessing! Her mood brightened even more when she heard what the next activity was. They got to create their own school? Cool! Hers was going to be the prettiest, most princessy school in the whole wizarding world! And they got to work in groups too? Yay, new friends!

She looked around the classroom for a partner, only to find that everyone else was already taken. Even Summer had a partner! Fine then, she’d just work by herself. She had more than enough ideas of her own. Taking out a fresh piece of parchment, she jotted down her preliminary ideas. She knew her school would be in a fairytale-style castle, but where? Her first instinct was France, but they already had Beauxbatons. They didn’t need two wizarding schools, did they? Probably better to put it somewhere that didn’t have a school. She seemed to recall that there were fairytale castles in Germany, and she didn’t think they had a school already. Seemed as good a place as any!

Now she needed a name, but nothing came to mind. Merlin, she wished her dad was here! He was soooo much better at naming things than she was. Wait, that gave her an idea! She knew how much her dad missed teaching at Hogwarts, so what if she put his name on her school and appointed him headmaster? The Marchand School of WItchcraft and Wizardry… did that sound boring? She hoped not! It was the only idea she had.

Her school would have magic carpets instead of brooms, meals served on enchanted dishes, lots of pretty flower gardens, and cuddly animals like kitties and pygmy puffs in all the common rooms for the kids who didn’t have pets. Ooh, and every student would be required to take at least one creative class, like art or music or ballet. The girls would wear frilly princess dresses, and the boys would wear princely suits. For the houses themselves, she was thinking something equally princessy. Her first idea was to pick four Disney princesses and borrow their names and traits for her houses, but that didn't really fit with the school name. If her family’s name was on the school, the houses should represent them, right?

There were four members of Desiree’s family (her dad, mum, brother, and herself), so that worked out perfectly! Each of them could have their own house. House Adam was for people who were quiet but really smart, people who liked to read and were good at science-y stuff like her brother. House Rosalyn was for people who were nurturing and strong. Not like the muscle-y kind of strong or the loud Gryffindor kind, but the subtle, steady kind of strength like her mum’s. Then came the most important house, her dad’s house. House Gaston was for kind and selfless people; only the best of the best got to go there!

That was three houses down, but what could she say about her own house? She wasn’t as kind as her dad, as strong as her mum, or as smart as her brother. What did she have that they didn’t? Well, she was dainty and princess-y. She liked making friends, and she didn’t easily give up, even when she should. Maybe that’s what House Desiree was… people who were graceful and friendly yet determined.

Now that she had her house names and traits, Desiree drew a large shield shape at the bottom of her parchment with an X in the middle to separate it into four sections. In each section she drew a symbol to represent each member of her family: a heart for her dad because he was all heart, a rose for her mum because her nickname was Rose, a potion bottle for her brother because it represented the science-y stuff he was good at, and a crown for herself because she was practically a Disney princess. Then she filled each section in with each person’s favorite color: black for her dad, purple for her mum, blue for her brother, and pink for herself.

Desiree was so busy admiring the crest she drew that she almost forgot that she didn’t have a motto yet. Whatever it was, it had to be princessy! She thought of several Disney quotes. Dig a little deeper? No. Let it go? Even worse! Have courage and be kind? Better, but still no. Beauty is found within? Ooh, she really liked that one, but did it represent the rest of her family? She wasn’t sure, but that quote did remind her of what her dad and her grandmother always said about seeing the good in others. Maybe she could do something with that!

After scribbling down a few more notes, she set her purple quill down and admired her work:

SPOILER!!: Desiree’s notes

The Marchand School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Location: a fairytale castle in Germany
Motto: Goodness always shines through (should be in German, but I don’t know the words!)
Houses:

House Gaston
Color: black
Symbol: heart
Traits: kind and selfless

House Rosalyn
Color: purple
Symbol: rose
Traits: strong and nurturing

House Adam
Color: blue
Symbol: potion vial
Traits: quiet and smart

House Desiree
Color: pink
Symbol: crown
Traits: graceful and determined

Other ideas:

• Magic carpets instead of brooms
• Meals served on enchanted dishes
• Lots of flower gardens
• Cuddly animals in the common rooms
• Girls’ uniforms are princess dresses. Boys’ uniforms are suits
• Students must take at least 1 creative class

[Watson]

oh okay. Cool cool cool. These students sometimes made him feel like he was thirteen again. “All good.” He wasn’t offended by Ash not wanting to partner with him… This wasn’t like being the plays person chosen to be on the Quidditch team… Nope…

He glanced around the room, watching the students. Aria, Violet, and Maxine seemed to be in deep discussion but he did overhear reference to an MnM house which made him want the beloved Muggle chocolate coloured candy. He hadn’t had those in ages… He heard Celyn explain her perspective further on house assignments and then cast his gaze to see how Ash, Delilah, and crew were.

“I like the trial idea.” He didn’t want to offer too too many ideas because this was her school. Song?! There was a song? Simon scratched his head for a moment before remembering his sister’s awful joke of if he scratched his head too much then he’d go bald. Psh! No scientific evidence in regards to that, yeah? So he smiled at Miss Valentine and then glanced at the song. “Summersville is the name of the school?” and did he have to sing? “How does the tune go? Simon was relieved that he would be talking and she presenting. “Alright alright. We’ll present first…” He wasted no time jumping in to the discussion and then waited for Summer to do her song. He cleared his throat and glanced at her. “After you..”

And then they did their presentation.

He then looked to Delilah’s group. A magical school in India called Ekajutata. He knew which house he’d be sorted in. Schola for sure. He thanked her group for presenting, paused for any additional questions, and then he moved on to Ash’s group.

Her explanation of the Australian School included a lot of rambling. He did have to blink several times to understand everything that she was saying in more depth because he kinda got lost? But he quickly came back when she mentioned no houses at all. “Interesting motto too.” He had more questions but he’d save them for another time.

He looked to others to present their ideas next.

Once the whole class had gone, it was time to get the students to their next class.

“And with that, we’ll end today’s lecture as it’s time for the next class. Feel free to continue working on your Wizarding schools!” He exclaimed excitedly. He couldn’t wait to see what else the class did with this topic. “In the meantime, your reading assignment for next time is on the purpose of Wizarding tournaments in our society. Be ready to discuss the IMPS and Triwizard Tournament in our next class.”


OOC: Thanks for a terrific class folks! I’ll leave the thread open for one more day to allow for ending posts and wrapping things up!

[FearlessLeader19]

Gosh. There were so many aspects of putting a School together that it was getting to be mind boggling to Aria. “Purple! That should be the main colour of the school since it represents royalty,” she enthusiastically told Maxine. “It could also be the colour of the uniforms.” That made sense, right?

Aria bobbed her head thoughtfully at Violet. “Spanish… definitely.” Cue her scribbling furiously again. Her fellow Slytherin’s laugh was contagious and Aria found herself laughing as she too pictured red sledgehammer-like birds. “Okay, okay! We definitely need to include that!”

Man, she was having the time of her life with these ladies.

Then it came time for her to present. Well, her group but she was going to introduce their School and the first House. Aria took her spot at the front and center of the class. Her gaze swept the room. Were all eyes on her? They had better be. Right then. With a clear of the throat, she confidently began. “My group members and I, Violet Blackthorne and Maxine Bixby are Founders of a School located deep within the Huantsán mountains, named Peruvian School of Magic or Escuela Peruana de Magia in Spanish, one of Peru’s native languages. The primary colour of the school is purple since it represents royalty.''UNDERGROUND, FOLKS! Did you hear that?

"The first House is called Mix and Match or Mezclar y Combinar. Over the years, the nickname MnM emerged. The Students Sorted into this House have an ‘outrageous’ quality. This is meant in a good way: they would usually break down the barriers of what is a norm. They’ll have chocolate milk with their cereal, they’ll crush family traditions if it interferes with modern times and their lifestyles for the worst. Basically, they aren’t afraid of doing what they need to or want to. Oh yes. I almost forgot - the House colours are peach and bitter lime - the latter is a shade of green so use your imagination to figure out what it looks like, people. These colours were chosen not only because they clash but also because those are two fruits that are completely different from each other.”

Aria, unfortunately, couldn’t hog the spotlight even though her aspect of the presentation was over. She curtsied. “That’s the end of my presentation. I’ll hand you over to another group member now.” She flashed everyone a toothy smile before moving off.

[sweetpinkpixie]

One of these days Celyn ought to just cover his mouth to get him to stop droning on and on with his analysis when he was missing the point or misinterpreting it. Though there was a whole lot more he wanted to delve into, speculate, when she mentioned having students pick where they want to go and then what that implied with the Sorting Hat and what they knew historically about a few key players in wizarding history and what houses they all ended up in but...another day. Perhaps they could talk and lightly debate things over lunch.

There were, er, colors to decide now.

"You can have rainbow," he mused, not thinking that Mercer would mind at all if Celyn were to take it. Though, technically, since the other two were part of the spectrum of the rainbow...did that then mean that Celyn's house was the symbolic stronghold and foundation of the school with Cooper and Mercer's branching out of it? Honestly...it made sense when you thought about the trio's dynamic, Celyn being the balance between Cooper's way of thinking and Mercer's. He was a fan. "Unless you feel strongly, Mercer, can I have purple?"

Taking the paper back from his little brother to admire the portraits he had drawn, the seventh year chuckled a bit at the hat and feather while listening to the new suggested break down for housing...which he had no real arguments against. Though he did much prefer how the current arrangement was...but there were plenty of benefits to Mercer's suggested one, especially in the seventh year's housing situation where there may be some real life applications in how to live on your own after school. Which, well, Cooper was focusing on the NEWT bubble at the moment. Anything that came after was hidden behind a heavy pair of blinders.

"I like that too," he nodded, draping an arm around Mercer and ruffling his little brother's head lovingly. "Great thinking." He smiled over at Celyn as well, and she had a very good point in yearmates naturally migrating to one another anyway...so it was logical and practical to just encourage that. Those were the people that would have some of the greatest impact on shaping you during your time at school. He knew this to be the case for himself for sure.

So...they had a name. They had colors. They had a means of assigning the student body their living arrangements, which were quite fluid, and Cooper had wanted to dive into some curriculum logistics (a specialized school or at least a school that placed certain emphasis had been in his thoughts), but things were moving along again and people were beginning to present. So, fresh piece of parchment in hand now, Cooper set to writing down the things that they had decided as a trio. "We could use a school motto," he mused.

Hopefully Professor Holden enjoyed their somewhat offbeat interpretation of a wizarding school.

[MadAlice]

Text Cut: Aria's presentation

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Then it came time for her to present. Well, her group but she was going to introduce their School and the first House. Aria took her spot at the front and center of the class. Her gaze swept the room. Were all eyes on her? They had better be. Right then. With a clear of the throat, she confidently began. “My group members and I, Violet Blackthorne and Maxine Bixby are Founders of a School located deep within the Huantsán mountains, named Peruvian School of Magic or Escuela Peruana de Magia in Spanish, one of Peru’s native languages. The primary colour of the school is purple since it represents royalty.''UNDERGROUND, FOLKS! Did you hear that?

"The first House is called Mix and Match or Mezclar y Combinar. Over the years, the nickname MnM emerged. The Students Sorted into this House have an ‘outrageous’ quality. This is meant in a good way: they would usually break down the barriers of what is a norm. They’ll have chocolate milk with their cereal, they’ll crush family traditions if it interferes with modern times and their lifestyles for the worst. Basically, they aren’t afraid of doing what they need to or want to. Oh yes. I almost forgot - the House colours are peach and bitter lime - the latter is a shade of green so use your imagination to figure out what it looks like, people. These colours were chosen not only because they clash but also because those are two fruits that are completely different from each other.”

Aria, unfortunately, couldn’t hog the spotlight even though her aspect of the presentation was over. She curtsied. “That’s the end of my presentation. I’ll hand you over to another group member now.” She flashed everyone a toothy smile before moving off.

Violet had been hoping--expecting, really--for Ari to do the whole presentation herself, since she usually seemed to like being the center of attention. And Violet would have been happy to let her, but apparently she was not going to be so lucky. Thinking that Maxine might be nervous about going next, being younger and all, Violet stood up and took the second turn. "The second House is called ContrariWise House, or Casa Contraria. The members sorted in this house are well-known for their tendency to do the opposite of what's expected of them or what they're told to do. They often eat meals out of order, they want to play when they should work and vice versa, and are not very good at following rules.They are famous for their yearly Backwards Banquet, where all the courses are served in reverse, from nuts to soup. Their mascot is the Parrot." Violet stepped away and turned to resume her seat, looking over at Maxine as if to say, "It's your turn, kid."

[love-for-HP]

Welp, that made it Maxine's turn. "The final house in the Perfect house or rather Casa Perfecta, they are known for doing every single thing right, all their Is are dotted and Ts crossed." Maxine said this with a big hand motion to prove she crossed her ts ... yup! "They certainly wouldn't be caught dead at a backwards banquet and they are frequently at odds with the ContrariWise House." That made sense, right ... she kind of made that part up, but it sounded like they would.

"They're flagship color is blue - and their mascot is the Blue Macaw" Maxine did a little curtsey to finish. Nailed it!