Looking up from her notes, Arya watched as the Slytherin girl was slid across the classroom floor. It looked like fun, she wanted in. But it didn't look like she was enjoying herself. Either way she still wanted to slide and scribbled a few notes on her parchement so she wouldn't forget.

Putting down her quill she looked at the hammer at her workstation, placing her hands in her lap. She wanted to hammer things. Or a nail, whatever. she glanced at Sir Lawson waiting for instruction.

Well he took that as a yes that they were all paying attention and he picked up a hammer and tossed it in the air. It twirled a couple of times before he caught by the handle again. Lawson belatedly remembered that the students were watching and he gave a somewhat sheepish look.

"Okay none of you do that. I've been practicing that for weeks and let me tell ya it hurts when you don't do it right." Basically he had just wanted to show off some.

"Alright in the large container at the back of the room you will find some off cuts of wood, I want you to use those to practice hammering in your nails. Now before you run off and get your wood I want you to watch how it is done."

He placed a piece of wood onto his desk and then picked up a nail. "Firstly hold your hammer by the handle with your dominant hand. With your other hand place the nail, pointy end resting on the wood. Hold the nail near the base like this. Then gently and I mean gently tap the head of the nail with your hammer until it penetrates the wood by at least a centimeter and the nail can stand on its own."

Lawson gave the nail a couple of taps until the nail was reasonably embedded in the wood. "Then take away your hand and hit the nail with the hammer a little harder until it has completely gone in and the head is flat against the wood." He removed his hand and hit the nail with three good hard hits and the nail was in.

Looking up at the students he gave them a serious look. "Now I ask that you all don't go stupid and try and belt the living crap out of the nail because let me tell you if you miss the nail and hit your hand...it hurts." And yes he was speaking from experience. He had lost count at how many times he had hit his thumb.

"Also this is muggle studies and we are here to do things muggle style so before any of you ask...no you can't use magic to protect yourself. It's all about using common sense." At that last comment he heaved a deep sigh, there were a few students lacking in that department.

"Alright off you go. If you need a hand just give me a yell."


ooc: I'll be back online in about 8 or so hours.

Gabrielle was doing what a professor entered. She held a nail and a hammer in his hand and tried to just do something. She tried to nail him but unfortunately he fell to the ground and hammer on hand yelled "Auuuu, Professor I banged" But it hurt her so she went to try on. She was glad that she finally succeeded in something, smiling and not thinking of it that I came across a little arm went on.

The practical fun was about to begin!
Walking to the box at the rear of the class room, Patroclus selected a nice, thick wide piece of off cut lumber to whack with a hammer.....nail into. Patroclus searched his brain, to find something he was angry about, because armed with a hammer he was sure he could beat his anger away, but alas he was rather content with life at the moment. Hmm.
Returning to his desk Patroclus lifted his hammer, in his hand the wooden handle felt worn, small nicks and chunks were missing from repeated use. He didn't mind the feeling at all, it made the hammer feel more powerful, like that it had survived many hammering jobs, many whacks, bangs, and pows!
Placing the offcut on his work bench, he used his empty hand to put his safety googles on his face, he didn't want any riccochetting pieces of wood or nail fly into his eyes, no sir.

The nail looked like a small silver muggle pencil, and to check it wasn't he tried to write his name on the offcut, but found no ink to come out. The nail did however make a large scratch in the grain of the wood. Placing the nail between his fingers like the Professor had demonstrated he gave its head the slightest tap. The pointy end sunk into the wood the tiniest bit. Now came the time to whack it all in. He raised the Hammer up to about the height of his face, and then went to smack the head again, but in a moment of fear, in the last second before contact, he let go of the nail. The heavy end of the hammer whacked the nail, but instead of sinking the rest of it into the wood, all Patroclus' hammer did was bend the nail.
"Oh." he muttered looking around for the answer of what to do next, to rectify the situation. He was unsure whether to pull the nail out wit his teeth, or to use another nail. Hmmmmmmmm.....
"Professor?"

Luna held the nail and hammer like the Professor was demonstrating. The nail she was holding was shaking in her hand. She closed her eyes before raising the ahmmer and pressing it down perfectly into the wood. WOW, she thought. That went...well she smiled.

Noir walked to the back of the room, she spotted large container..Noir took some off cuts of wood, and used those to practice hammering in her nails as Professor Lawson said..

Noir hold her hammer by the handle with her right hand.. she placed the nail with her left hand, pointy end resting on the wood..she hold the nail near the base..and then gently she tapped the head of the nail with hammer until it penetrates the wood and the nail stood on its own..she did it very carefully so she won't hit her own hand like Professor Lawson said..

Then Noir took her hand away and hit the nail with the hammer several times and she saw the head of the nail now is flat against the wood.."Yaaayyy..I did it and I didn't hurt myself.." she said in a very low voice so she won't disturbed others..

Of course. Gold had worked with muggle tools, before. When she had made her last rune-set. Because she had wanted to personalize the experience, and tools had helped her channel her energy. In her opinion, that is. She eyed Xylon, before her eyes flickered to Rae, and wondered if there was something going on between the two.

Then she nodded, to Professor Lawson.

"Yes, sir."


Right. Gold watched the demonstration, hands clasped in her lap, before rising to her feet and heading to the back of the classroom. Where, of course, she found the container. Selecting a stubby piece of wood, and several nails, the sixth year made her way back to her desk, where she placed both gently down. Didn't want to drop a nail!

It could hurt someone. BAD.

Once she had sat down, the sixth year picked up the piece of wood, and set it down right in front of her. Then she lifted a nail and hammer; and, placing the former on the piece of wood, raised the latter with her left hand. Tap. Gentle stroke of the hammer, and Gold had achieved her purpose - to make a little point in the wood. She tapped the nail with the hammer again, until she could feel that the nail had penetrated the wood. Then she tapped a bit harder, lowering the hammer to eye the nail.

Sure enough, it could now stand on its own.

Gold lifted the hammer again, tapping harder and more easily this time. It took less than thirty seconds, for the nail to be driven in. Gold placed down her hammer, and eyed the nail. She couldn't see the body, now. That had been embedded into the wood. But the head stared right back at her, from its place on the surface of the piece of wood.

Job done.

One class where she didn't have to use her wand! Abbi was smiling, well not really, she was beaming like a kid on a snowy Christmas morning! THIS class was her place of comfort where she knew she'd do some thing right for once and BE dependable on her own.

She skipped her way to collect a hammer, wood, and enough nails to get her duty rolling.

Alex collected the wood, hammer, and nails she would need worriedly, she was more likely to do it right but still, it was dangerous. She eyed them holding the nail like the Professor did tapping the hammer lightly against the nail., didn't do much. Alex tried again tapping it harder. Wel at least it went in Alex thought looking at the crooked nail.

Awe, yes, the practical part. But hammering nails, really. She had never been good at tasks like this at home. That was partially because she had never been all that strong. Shure she could whack when she put all her energy into it but everytime she had tried to hold the Hammer lightly over the nail it always fell limp in her hands. Though she was older now. Maybe she could do it, she was not sure. She watched seeing how it was done for the umpteenth time in her life and when given the go ahead she grabbed a piece of wood and nails and brought it back to her work station. She then up anil and held it in place with one hand and picked up her hammer in the other which was heavy but somehow this time she managed to lift it over the nail and tap lightly. TAP, TAP, TAP. Before she knew it the nail was held firmly in place by the wood. It was time for the fun part that once caused her quite the muscle spasm. Not recently though, that was back from even before her Hogwarts days. She lifted the hammer and brought it down upon the nail in a few light whacks and it was not long before her nail was firmly in the wood. That was pretty much the first time she did that task right and she grinned at her success. Knowing how much trouble she had, had in the past when younger she raised her hand and said, "I'm done professor, but this is like the first time I've done this task right on my own. When I was younger I was not quite strong enough for it. Do you think the older students could help the younger students who may need help with holding the hammer with them and helping them get their nails in the wood.".

OOC: I still sometimes have trouble holding a hammer straight cause to me they are heavy.

Kate took the hammer and a nail. Placed the last one straight on the wood and hit it with the hammer one time...A little hole was marked in the wood

Great...I have to remember how my grandpa used to do this...careful...careful...

SNAP!!

Damn it!!!!

With a "too strong" stroke, the nail was bended and ended like this

I need another nail...

She took another from the box and started again. I have to do it more delicate...

Snap - Snap - Snap The nail could stand by it´s own so...

SNAP!

The last tap finished the work, leaving the nail completely inside the piece of wood. Great!

camille gave her hanging bangs a playful blow after hearing the professor`s instructions.
she tried to push her glasses back by jerking her head a bitbackwards to push her glasses nearer; while gathering the materials she needed. yeah, she`s a bit lunatic and hyper in a way today.[XD is it me or wash teath a lame rhyme??Xp whatever] she settled her gathered materials in her table and starred at it for a while, behaving very still[as a rock].she blinked a few times, gathered her strength..and started working.

Like how do i….? , she started to question her self looking at the things settled in front of her. She twinced her right check in annoyance. Alright, she breathed positioning the nail and hammer, secretly looking at others. She displayed a neutral face as she attempted to do it. Slowly but surely, she held the nail in position and started tapping gently the hammer against the nail`s head slowly, holding it;her hand and finger serving as a foundation blah of the nail. She noticed as she banged the nail sinked a bit in the wood[?]. COOL! She thought ,fascinated. Slowly the nail sanked or penetrated into the wood and it arrived to the point where you need to remove your finger serving as the foundation of the nail to avoid your finger being hit by the hammer. She breathed contentedly.

Success! She yelled in mind.

Done.

Giving silent looks sideways, she settled. Blinking a few times while composing her stuff and self..she started to ask….

What now?

A mitre box? Her dad didn't have one of those.Probably the reason the corners on anything he made from wood were never very straight.Maybe she'd buy him one for Father's Day or something.Yes, a nice gift.

Sarah straightened in her seat, as Professor Lawson went about demonstrating how to hammer a nail into wood.She knew how to do it already, but it didn't hurt to watch anyway.Especially as this was a lesson, and they HAD to pay attention.

Demonstration finished, Sarah slipped off her seat and made her way over to get some wood, a hammer and nails.Placing them all out nice and tidy on the desk, Sarah rolled her sleeves up further, and stuck her tongue out in concentration.Picking up a nail, and the hammer, she carefully lined them up on the piece of wood.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

She gently knocked the nail into the wood as far as they were told, removing her fingers to check that it would stand on it's own.Using the same hand to hold the wood down (her left), she flexed the fingers of her hammer holding hand. "Okay little nail, prepare to be hammered...." YES, she was talking to it! So what?

Now Sarah didn't have that much strength in her arm, so she was certain it would take more than the three hits Professor Lawson did it in.She was resigned to that fact.But this was going to be fun anyway - IF she didn't hit her thumb.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Each hit sent the nail further into the wood, and after three there was only a little of it left sticking out. "Hmmm, couple more should do it.Least it's straight I guess..." Sarah mumbled, tilting the wood and eyeing it up.

Bang. Bang.

Annnnnd flush into the wood. "Brilliant.Now - lets do another one." Sarah got hold of another nail, and proceeded to do the whole process again.

Ellie walked over to get a few nails and a piece of wood. This class was really too easy. She began nailing. The first two were a little crooked once in, but out of five, three looked pretty perfect. She swept her hair back with a flick of her head and looked around the room at other people's progress. She wondered if she might be able to help...

Alexandrie tried with her second nail holding it like the Professor said to before hitting the nail..hard. The Hammer was heavy which was why she had lightly tapped it..and she just hit it hard causing the hammer to fly out of her hand and land on the floor behind her..thankfully not hitting someone other then the her shoulder when it flew behind her.. "Opps." Alex uttered blushing picking up the hammer and trying again this time actually getting the second nail in perfectly..

Fallon was shocked by the sheer simplicity of the task they had to do. She had done this loads of times with her dad, much to her mother's dismay. She went and grabbed a hammer and some pieces of wood. She went to go look for the right type of nail. She grabbed a some thicker ones, just so the wood would stay together.

Fallon took her first nail and held it where she wanted to hit into the wood. She started to pound the nail into the wood. She hit it really hard and watched as it started to sink in. She kept hitting it until the nail was safely in the wood. She decided to look around the class and see how well everyone else was doing.

Selena glanced at the hammer and the nail. She had drawn a picture of it into her notebook and labeled it 'Dangerous'. She would probably hit her hand... or drop it. She lifted the hammer. It was quite heavy. Selena took a piece of wood and took the nail. She held it to the wood. Selena hoped she didn't accidentally kill herself. This class was dangerous! She swung her hammer and made sure she had a firm grip. Didn't want it flying after all. She hit the nail. Hard. Oh look!! It went in! Selena grinned. Yay~

Sidney's heart sinks the moment Professor Lawson mentions hammering nails. She can't hammer a nail to save her life. The problem isn't only hitting her finger which she's done on numerous occasions. And boy you only have to do it once to remember how badd it hurts. The real problem is she can't seem to hit the nail the right way. She can only get in the wood so far then it won't move another inch down. Sidney usually ends up bending the nail in two or worse, but this is Muggle Studies Class. Like it or not, she got to give it her best shot, then she can go to the hospital wing in defeat.

Sidney gets up and goes the back of the room. She picks out a piece of wood first. After examing about a dozen pieces, Sidney thinks she's found one that looks soft, sounds soft, and she hopes will love having a nail driven into it. Sid walks back to her desk and sits down. She decides she'd better put her safety google on just in case. You never know when a nail might fly out of your hands. Sidney selects a nail. Hello nail. My name's Sidney. I don't plan on hurting you, but just in case I want to tell you how sorry I am for damaging you in advance. She then puts picks the hammer up with her right hand. Sidney places the nail in the center of the board holding it in place with her left hand. She consentrates in the nail and visualizes in her mind hammer it in the wood. It works for performing magic. Why not hammering nails too? Sid takes a deep breath and lower the hammer down on the nail. The hammer hits the nail with a loud crash. Remarkable the nail goes into the wood. After two more swings the nail stands on its own. Now comes the hard part. Hammering it in the rest of the way. Sidney tries to copy what Professor Lawson did and use three swings. The first one seems to be okay. The nail seems to be still standing upright anyway. I'm not really sure if it move further into the wood or not. Sidney's second try isn't so good. The nail starts to bend to the right just a little bit. Then Sidney really give it a hard swing. That did it. The nail now is bent perfectly to the right side. It's still only about a third of the way in the wood. Sidney looks down at her pitiful nail in defeat. Don't muggles use something similar to a permanet sticking charm? I think they call it wood glue. U-u-u-g-g-g-h-h-h... Glue... I'd probably permanently stick myself to the bird house. Face it Sid. You stink as a do it yourselfer.

Nymphy took his hammer and held it up. He thought it would be easier to hold it with two hands and swing up and down, kind of like a motion made when vigoursly shaking someone's hand with both of your hands.....if that makes sense. But in the end, he decided just to use it the way the professor had showed him. He hit the hammer into the nail, but nothing happened. Maybe he had to hit it harder......

Wow.....Muggle life is so hard without magic. His father was a Muggle, but Nymphy always took it for granted that magic would always be there. "Professor......?" he asked, rasing his hand. "Do muggles actually do this on a regular basis? I mean this is hard and not very practical for use. They must have a better solution.....right?"

Having been slightly disappointed that Lawson had caught the hammer when he threw it, Evelyn leaned against the table once more, head in her palm and with a slightly bored expression now, even though a few giggles escaped her at the memory of Marie gliding across the floor to sit by Destiny again.

Watching him demonstrate how to hammer a nail into the wood, the Slytherin raised a brow at all the caution of making sure not to hit you hand. Well duh, that was just like...common sense to do it that way. Finally, able to get a piece of wood, Evelyn picked up the hammer and nail closest to her, making sure to scoot away from others so they didn't hit her and -

EEP! Hearing a loud thud behind her, Evelyn looked over to see the Lufoy girl picking UP a hammer off of the floor. Holy Merlin! Staring in shock at the girl, Evelyn moved around the table to she was able to keep an eye on her. At least get a few seconds warning if the hammer was heading her way. Jeeez.

Placing the wood carefully on the table, the third year picked up the hammer and nail once more before positioning both on the block of wood. Alright, so...slowly at first...

Tap, tap, tap...

Letting go of the nail, she quickly pulled her hands to her side, including the hammer, seeing if the nail would stand on it's own. It...DID! It did? Pffft, this was easy! Unlike some other things being taught in this class.

Now, continuing to hammer the thing a little harder now, after a minute or so, she finally got the whole nail in the wood. Perhaps, hitting the nail a little harder next time would save some time too. But thinking of that was for later! Wooot! Hammer and nails were easy! Ish.

Bored, Ellie decided she could answer this kids question.

"Well, muggles have this thing, called electricity, and they have electric nail guns and such and it makes it loads easier. You don't need a hammer, you just point the gun and pull the trigger and a nail shoots out." she stuck her tongue out and squinted her eyes, and held her hands out in a gun shape, demonstrating.

Wow.....a firstie answering a question. Did she want to teach the leasson as well????

He decided that the best way to handle things was politness.....

"Thank you little deary, but I was kinda hoping the actual teacher could answer me. That was a fine responce, but an experts opinion still helps...." he said, stilling looking for an answer from the Professor.

"Suit yourself." Ellie said. She did the exact same thing in Arithmancy when Alex tried to answer her question intended for the teacher. So she didn't mind. Though, she thought Lawson would probably say about the same thing. She didn't care.

Fallon turned back to her work. She drove nail after nail into the wood. Soon she was down to the last one that she had grabbed. She held the nail in place while she looked around the room. She saw a firstie trying to help a second year that didn't seem to want to take the help, even though the younger student was right in the first place.

Fallon should've been paying more attention to what she was doing though. She started to bring the hammer down, but didn't realize that she had accidentally moved the nail. This resulted in her hitting her thumb. She let out a small "Ow!" and started to shake her hand to shake off the pain. She was completely all right. It only stung a little.

Lawson was a show off, that's what he was. Destiny was hoping that the hammer would hit him right in the head. She needed a good laugh since she was once again sitting next to Marie. Ehh, she could just laugh at her friends face..so that is what she did. She turned to face Marie, and let out a laugh. Well, that felt good.

As the demonstration started, she leaned up in her seat to get a better look. Oh jeez! This was dangerous. She needed a piece of parchment so she could keep count of how many people hit their hands with the hammer.

"Common sense? What is that?" she snickered before walking to grab a piece of wood. It better not be one of those really splintery kind..picking out a piece that looked like it had the least amount of splinters, she walked back over to her seat, grabbing a hammer and nail. The nail was so LITTLE, how was Lawson able to hold it with those giant hands of his? Shrugging at her own question, she leaned over the board and held the nail in place. She lifted the hammer and was juuuuuust about to hit the head of the nail when she stopped.

She wasn't ready.

Heaving a sigh, she lifted the hammer again, about to bring it down on the nail, but stopped once again. Lawson did say to yell if they needed a hand, right? Destiny definitely needed a hand, someone else's hand to hold this nail in place. Plus, if someone else was holding the nail, she could accidentally hit them with the hammer..she wanted to do know bad it would hurt. Glancing at Marie for a second, she changed her mind at asking. She'd probably just get in trouble and all..

Besides, she could do this on her own. Yeah, she didn't need any help! Lifting the hammer over her head, she brought it down fast, but as the hammer closed in on the nail she slowed down a LOT. She gave a few gentle taps, and soon the nail was standing up on it's own! BAHAHAHA! It was MAGIC! Tapping the nail a few more times, only a little harder this time, soon, the nail disappeared into the wood! It..was dead! She had killed the nail.

Heh..could she try it AGAIN!?