Rae, who was now sitting with this group of guys stared in amazement at Salander. How did he know all this stuff? He seemed to have about six answers to every question. Which Rae had also heard in Arithmancy. How come Rae didn't know anything? Her thoughts showed through to her face. She felt really stupid. Whatever baseball was, or cricket. Rae would beat everyone when it came to how to live on your own. However books, school, being a student. Rae was doomed.

Sports?

They were going to study muggle sports?

Mia groaned and thumped her head on the desk. She hated sports! She sucked at sports? Raising her hand in the air but leaving her head on the desk, she spoke but her voice was kind of muffled. "It looks like a baseball or softball bat. A cricket bat is flat not round." She should know. How many times had she been chased out of the vegetable garden with one? "Oh and my name is Mia Gibbins, fourth year Hufflepuff."

It seemed sports were well and trul covered so Patroclus tried to think of something else!

"Patroclus Hudson, Fourth Year Lion Sir," he grinned, "Muggle could use them at Sideshows at Circuses, the one where you have to try and knock the pins........Oh yeah that would be a bowling pin. Welll, "the boy had ruined his own answer, "They look kinda like a policeman's baton, the ones they use in Riot situations!"
There that would do!

They're going to learn Sports?and most of all Muggle Sports??

Aww..This is going to be interesting. Freya always loves sports. Some of the students said about baseball.Huh?What's baseball? She didn't know anything about muggle sport so she just stayed quite until the Professor explained to the class what sport will they learn today. Oh..She definitely couldn't wait to learn this sport.

Kurumi found is very amusing that she ended up learning about Quidditch during Muggle Studies. Then again, for everyone else around her, Quidditch was the familar whereas muggle sports were not.

Were they really going to play baseball?! Kurumi had only played catch with her brothers when she was younger - although they had taught her how to pitch a pretty mean fast ball and a wicked curve ball, but it would be a nice escape from everything wizardy to take part in something from her world. "Professor, are we going to play baseball?" she asked hoping the answer was yes. "If we are, I can be a pitcher or catcher."

GAHHHHH!!! NOT MUGGLE SPORTS! Adeline just sat there and sighed. Awhhhh. Why the heck was she taking this class when most of her friends at home were muggles?!?!?!

Aiden leaned back in his seat, watching as Professor Zookara twirled the beater's bat around a bit and asked them questions about quidditch. He looked out the window and sighed. Too bad they weren't playing quidditch for class. But his attention returned to the teacher when he asked what a muggle would be doing with the bat. Baseball, of course. Or maybe even for defense at times. "Yeah, I'd think they'd just play baseball with it. Usually, at least," he said, in agreement with a few of his peers.

Ehhh.

What would muggles use a beaters bat for? Destiny had no idea since she and muggle things rarely got along. Like during the summer, when the muggle box tried to EAT her and Evelyn. Yeah..why was she taking this class again?

She had no idea.

Finally thinking of something that muggles could use the bat for, she raised her hand hiiiiigh, "Destiny Shepard, Professor. And muggles could use that bat," the bat that she secretly hoped clobbered the man in the head, "to crack walnuts!"

Like the muggle hammer thing.

"Good morning, Sir", she smiled sweetly,"sorry for being so rude.I am just all excited about this lesson."
Oh yeah introduce yourself,Feenella.
"I am Feenella Schwarzberg,Slytherin."



They were going to learn sports?Muggle sports? UH NO !
Fee was sooo bad at sports, except it was Quidditch.
Ah glitter, noooo...

Taylor sauntered into the classroom- "So sorry i'm slightly late." she exclaimed, smiling her pearly teeth smile at the teacher. She took a seat near Fee and put her LV on the floor, she straightened out her skirt and ruffled up her blonde curls.

They were doing muggle sports? Ohhh, Sarah liked those. She never participated in them very much, but she was an avid watcher. Scribbling down a quick note, she sketched a beaters bat and listed some of the things people said it could be used for. There wasn't really much point in her saying anything, everything she could think of had already been said.

Baseballll. Scribble

Couldn't resist. *whistles*
 

Before he had the chance to react to anybody who had raised their hand to answer his question, the classroom door opened to reveal a young girl. A young girl who was MAJORLY late. Without a word at first, Jeremy's gaze followed the girl as she took a seat next to another girl.

"5 points from-" His eyes flickered towards the girl's robes for a moment to make out her house. "-Slytherin for tardiness." As much as he disliked taking points, he would absolutely not tolerate arriving late for class and interrupting his lesson. Now, back to the lesson...



Now, this was going to be interesting. Jeremy moved his gaze towards one of the unhappy teenage girls as he noticed one of them raising her hand. He almost said 'Yes?' when she paused for a moment before saying...Muggles could crack walnuts with it? She wasn't serious, was she?!

Though, something made him think she was. "Well, thanks for that creative input, Destiny." He almost turned back towards the class to resume his lesson when he thought of something. Something which made him smirk a little. "Though, on second thought, maybe you're right." And with that he fished a walnut out of his pocket (no, don't ask why he had one in the first place). "Would you like to try that?" He asked the Slytherin girl with an innocent smile as he placed the walnut on the floor at a (hopefully) safe distance of him and the rest of the class.


As he waited for Destiny to either agree to try or refuse Jeremy - still on the other side of his desk, as far away from the walnut as possible - turned to face the class again. "Now, in the meantime...I think we've by now all agreed that this lesson will NOT be about hitting somebody or vandalizing but rather about Baseball. Like in most games, there are two opposing teams. Can anybody tell what they are called?" He asked, his eyes flickering over to Destiny to make sure she wasn't sneaking up on him with the bat see how she had decided.

"The Boston Red Soxs?" she asked, having no clue wha that meant, but just answered cause she was a good girl :D

Head Girl is here. *whistles*
 

They were doing baseball then? Coolio.

Grinning as she actually noted that down as well, Sarah's ears perked up at the next question. Opposing teams? Ummm.

"Sarah Griffin, sir, Hufflepuff. Head Girl," yes she thought it best to say that anyway, even though they had met the week before. "Do you mean the batting team, and the fielding team?" Or was there some mystery to it she didn't know?

Sports ? Not her favourite thing in the world but nonetheless Callie's hand shot in the air. She was a muggleborn, therefore Muggle studies was her new favourite lesson so yeah she was aloud to be enthusiatic, no ? She opened her mouth and confidently said "Would that be the feilding team and the batting team. Or the home and away team ?"Now wouldn't it be embarresing if she was wrong. *erm face*

Oh, woooooops.
"Sorry, sir. It's Ella Ainsworth." She said with a smile, in response to her rubbish non-existent listening skills. Hitting balls, right. Ella listened to the other students and a few sports were being said. Baseball. Hmmm. She really had no idea.

"Would it be... one team hitting, and one team.. catching?" Sounded like a pretty boring game. But there may be some exciting twist to the game? Hm.

Trying hard not to laugh Jeremy just grinned at the girl who had answered for a moment before saying, "Okay, I'm sorry, let me rephrase my question. I don't want you to tell me about the individual Baseball teams there are." He really wanted to know why the girl had mentioned the Boston Red Soxs, though. :P "There is a specific term for the two opposing teams, however, the teams take turns in representing that term throughout the match." Okay, had he just confused them even more? Probably. He rubbed the back of his neck with a slightly crooked grin on his lips, trying to think of a way to re-phrase his question so that it actually made sense.

...or maybe there was no need for that after all. The Head Girl seemed to have understood his confusing question. "Yes, thank you, Sarah. I was talking about the Batting Team and the Fielding Team." How come he had missed the Head Girl before anyhow? O_o Had she been hiding? Okay, probably not. He had been too occupied with remembering the names of all the people currently in his classroom, probably.

And more people who knew the answer. Or almost anyhow. "Yes, I was talking about the Batting and the Fielding Team, Miss...?" He raised an eyebrow in the direction of the first Slytherin girl who had spoken up (Callie). Then he turned his attention back to another girl from the same house. "Correct, Ella. Though, we call them the Fielding Team - which would be the 'catching' team - and the Batting Team - which would be the ones 'hitting'." He gave her a friendly wink.

Okay, another 'easy question' before he started explaining how Baseball was played in more detail. "Anybody know how many players there are per team? Without the substitute players." Obviously.

Daisy breathed a sigh of reliefe. No clowns. Thank you. Baseball, her first guess obviously. Not to self trust instincts. The two names of the teams? "There are nine players per team." Daisy said her hand raised high.

Alice smiled at Professor Zookara as he seemed pleased with her answer. Alice was also picking up that he was confused why she was embarrassed. She hadn't really been very concerned that he had mentioned it to the class, or at least she was a little, but that changed after the looks she received from just about everyone in the class. Alice hated sticking out like a sore thumb.


Alice raised her hand gently. "In baseball there is a batting team, who is in the scoring position really, and then there's the other team which is in the field. The team batting is trying to hit the baseball far away enough from the team in the field so that they can run through as many bases as possible, ultimately trying to get through all of them so they can get a run. The team in the field is trying to stop the batting team from getting to the three different bases...well I guess four if you count the base you stand next to when you bat..." Alice stopped...perhaps that was a bit more detail than he had wanted.

So turns out watching tv programmes James wanted to watch, i.e baseball and football, came in handy sometimes. Hence muggle studies. "Callie, Callie Parker." she said as the professor asked her name, or so she thought he was talking to her. Lets hope he was. "And theres nine players on a baseball team..I think." she should really start listening to James more often. Seemed to come in handy.

Destiny rolled her eyes. What did this guy mean by her maybe being right? She KNEW she was right about this. How else were the muggles supposed to crack walnuts? Use their hands? Yeah right! She'd like to see that happen. She rolled her eyes once more at the very thought. Pffft.

Watching his every move, because he seemed like a shifty fellow, her eyes widened when he dug in his pocket and pulled out a walnut. An actual walnut! What..why was he walking around with a walnut in his pocket? She opened her mouth to ask but thought it best not to. It could have been personal reasons and she really didn't want to know anymore of the Professor's business. Hearing about Lafay was enough for a lifetime.

Hehe.

He was going to let her crack the walnut. Nodding her head, she skipped made her way to the front of the class and held her hand out waiting for him to hand over the beater's bat. "The walnut isn't enchanted to bite me is it?"

For the safety of his head, it better not be.

Hehe, she'd got it right. But why was the teacher giving her a weird look? He seemed....confused that she had spoken up. Had he not seen her before, or something? Gasp! Invisible!Sarah. There was a thought.

Grinning at him, she stuck her hand up again to answer the next question. "That would be nine, sir." Yes, she loved sports.

Okay. So... Ellie knew none of this. She had heard of baseball.... but didn't know ANY of these specifics. All she knew was that it was a flightless, American sport. How much fun could it be then?

But, she pretended to be interested as everyone else answered.

Leilani tried not to giggle as the proffesor sent her a wink. My, he was good looking now wasn't he? Hehe. :eyebrows:

Awww... they weren't gonna get to hit stuff?! Dang. Hitting stuff was fun. Oooh, but he'd winked at her *giggle* Crap. Ah, well she could tell Carley how good looking he was-- she would most deffinitely want to know. Mabey she'd inherited the guy-obsessed thing from her?

"9 sir, isn't it?" Lani asked, turning her attention back to the front. Yes, nine... Right, yeah, that sounded right.

Baseball!

She knew a good deal about that sport, mainly cause her little brother played. Arya began to raise her hand when.......what?! He was giving her a beaters bat? Obviously he was crazy.

He probably hated them all too, wanted them dead. Had to if he was giving Destiny of all people a beaters bat. The girl was crazy; cracking walnuts with a bat. Pfff! How did she even pass Muggle Studies.

Wary eyes still on Destiny, in case she needed to make a break for it, her hand raised to its full height. "Arya Lovegoods, third year Hufflepuff." Don't give her the bat she's crazy!!!! "There are nine players on each team...." She had more to say, but he had only asked for that bit.

So it seemed he had been right about Daisy, she was obviously quite relieved to hear this class was not going to be about clowns. He was too, by the way. "Yes, correct, Daisy, there are nine players per team." Jeremy gave her an approving smile for answering first and of course correctly.

Despite the fact that of course Alice's answer was absolutely correct, Jeremy just regarded her for a moment. He had NOT asked for a detailed description of what the two opposing teams were doing during a match. He had only asked for the correct terms for the two. "Yes, Alice, that's right. Though, let's leave the details for later, no need to confuse the rest of your classmates." He gave her a smile which did not quite reach his eyes.



Hearing the correct answer multiple times, Jeremy didn't see the need to confirm it all over again. So he ended up, giving the four girls a simple thumbs-up and a smile. "Correct, well done." Wait, had Destiny finally decided on what to do?


...it seemed she had. Why was he not suprised that she had agreed on trying to crack a walnut with the Beater's Bat? Not that he knew her or anything but she just seemed like the girl who liked to do that. Especially right now.

Without hesitation - he had his ways to defend himself, should she attack him - Jeremy handed her the Beater's Bat. "Here you go." Smiling he went to stand in the aisle between the first two desks of the classroom. He had decided it was probably safer if he stood on that side of the room. In case she like went crazy with the bat or something. Hormonal teenage girls could be dangerous. He would know.

"Of course not." He replied with a shake of his head as if the idea was simply outrageous to even consider.



As if to prove that Destiny was no source of danger - yes, he HAD acknowledged the look on Arya's face - Jeremy half turned back to the class, clearing his throat to attract their attention again. They would HEAR it quite clearly when Destiny hit the walnut. Or you know, not. Either way, it would be hardly possible to miss. "On the baseball field there are 9 main positions which are again divided into three subgroups called Battery, Infield and Outfield." He wasn't going to bore them to death with too many details but he found it essential for them to have at least a little bit of background knowledge. "Now, can any of you tell me how the nine positions are called and to which subgroup they belong to?"

You couldn't be seriously injured by a walnut to the head right?

The positions. Well that was basic ABC's to Daisy. One of the quirks of being aan only child and daddy's little girl. "Well in the battery there is the pitcher and the catcher. In the outfield there is Firt base, second base, third base, and the short stop. And in the outfield there is the left field, center field, and right field," Daisy said her hand still raised. she doubted it'd ever be put down.

Why was HE eyeing her too?

*Pout*

She raised an eyebrow slightly over at jeremy the professor. He'd better not tell her father about that... Actually no, that might have been a GOOD thing. Depends...

Just because she was giving evil grins towards her bestie didn't mean she was a complete menace when it came to beaters bats. Even though she most certainly was. She was dangerous with them. Maybe it WOULD be best for her to keep her distance from the lethal weapon, though she hadn't held one in ages, and wouldn't get to this term either. Must. Grab. Bat!

Bleeeeeh. Muggle Sports was certainly not one of her strong points. She KNEW he played professional Quidditch before, couldn't they just forget the Muggle aspect of the lesson and go ahead and talk about Quidditch some more?

Positions? Huh? Hang on where they talking of fielding positions? And did he want one each or all of them?

"The pitcher and the....." Oh goodness, bad memory was not good. "The catcher...I think, are battery positions?" She hoped. Pfft. "First, second, third and...." why was there always one more? "...shortstop are Infield?" Maybe. "And then left, center and right field are all outfield positions?" That would do.

Destiny was going to what? Eh.

She spaced out there for a moment.

Blinking a few times, the Slytherin sat up straight, glancing around at everyone else before listening to what the Professor ZooMan was asking. Battery, infield, outfield...baseball positions...

They had to say all nine positions!? EH! She could only remember 4! "Well...there are the first, second, and third base men people..." Yea, those people. "And they are the infield." Right? "And then there is the pitcher who is in that battery thing group..."

Trailing off, she lowered her hand and thought over it. "And that catcher guy is also in that battery group..." And that was all she knew. She could not for the life of her, remember what the outfield positions were called along with that other person near the infield. "Um, yea...and those other ones too."

No matter how easy they were.

He turned his back to her?!

Yup. He was crazy. Not Lafay crazy either. A few fries short of a Happy Meal crazy. Turning his back to Destiny.

She would miss him.

"The pitcher and catcher are in the battery field....." She let her eyes drift from Destiny to Zookara, hand raised. She needed one last look at him before she wacked him. "All the bases and shortstop in the infield....and outfield positions are all left, right, and center." This reminded her that she was missing all of Peter's games.....kinda sad.

Upon seeing Professor Zookara's face Alice realized she had said far too much. "Sorry Professor," she said, shifting her eyes to her notebook. Perhaps this was a class she would be better just sitting and observing in, since so far she was off to a horrible start.

Alice observed as the professor handed the girl named Destiny the bat. She had to admit she had a feeling this might not go very well. After all if the girl missed the walnut there was the potential for a new and improved dent to form in the desk, but if she hit it just slightly off, there was a very good possibility that the walnut could fly and hit someone in the head.

However, the matter was really out of her concern, so Alice just watched the girl and listened to Professor Zookara who had moved on in asking them what the nine positions were.

we are NOT crazy Arya!! :P
 

YES!

Snatching Taking the beater's bat out of the Professor Guy's hands, Destiny made her way to stand in front of the walnut. Sure, it was on the floor and all, but she could still clobber the shell out of it. They should definitely have a lesson on walnut cracking, and maybe when the Professor sees how good of a job she does, he will consider it. Hehe.

Leaning the bat against the guy's desk, she quickly rolled up her sleeves, making sure to give a little smirk in the direction of her arch enemy, Arya. The Raccoon Girl should be scared. TERRIFIED even!

Destiny was feeling evil.

Once her sleeves were rolled up, she picked up the bat by the handle, and raised it a little before bringing it down on the walnut, sorta like a jackhammer. Of course she didn't hit the walnut on the first try, so she had to try again.

She raised the bat and brought it down again.

BANG!

There would probably be a dent on the floor.

BANG!

It'll look like a meteor hit the classroom.

CRAAAAACK!

MWAHAHA!!

After moving her hair out of her eyes, she raised her arms, while still holding the bat, in triumph. She KNEW those bats would crack walnuts! "LOOK! Perfect for walnut cracking!" she exclaimed, lowering her arms. "You," she pointed the bat at the Professor, "gonna eat that?" she moved the bat to point at the very dead walnut.

If the Professor didn't want it, Destiny was sure a certain little raccoon girl would.

Kurumi gulped as she realized she had already forgotten her manners in class. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself first," she squeaked bowing in her seat. "My name is Kurumi Hollingberry. I'm a first year Gryffindor." Somewhat of a nice recovery, but she made it a point to write down to always say her name after answering a question in class - at least after the first time.



Lisa: I'll consider this answer OOC when giving participation points. ;]

Louisa beamed up proudly, well, it could be the only class that she'd answer freely and confidently in. Living with muggles who don't appreciate magic wasn't that bad after all.

She raised her hand once again and now she was on the edge of her seat, "There are nine players for each one of the teams, sir." She glanced around the classroom and followed the students' answers and was really impressed by how many knew about muggle sports. That wasn't something she expected.

"There are the pitcher, the catcher, first baseman, second basemand, third baseman, left fielder, center fielder, right fielder and an umpire." Louisa answered slowly trying to remember all the players she met with her stepfather when they used to spend weekends at games. She didn't like this sports but being benefit from those wasted weekends was totally awesome. She should tell Jason that it was worth it after all.

Sophia had realised she hadn't mentioned her name. "Sophia Lomardi, sir." she said, smiling."Pitcher and Catcher are in the battery field." she said. "1st Base, 2nd Base, Shortstop, and 3rd base are all infield postitions."she said. "While Left Field, Center Field, and Right field are all outfield positions." she said, smiling. "Sometimes there are Right Center Field players or Left Center Field players." she said. "Sometimes, but it is very rare." she said, smiling. "And then, there is the batting team." she said.

"Hi My name is Katie Star" Katie said before she answered the question "There is the 1st, 2nd and 3rd base, Pitcher, Batter, Fielder, and theres others but I can't remember the names" Katie said.

Rex raised his hand. "Sir, their is two teams in baesball. One is the visiting team and then the other is the home team. " For instance, if my muggle team , the Texas Rangers are playing in Arlington, Texas and say the muggle team from Oakland, the Oakland A's( Athletics) are playing the Rangers, the A's are the visiting team. The home team always bats last." "Also, my Texas Rangers have to play in the Oakland Coliseum, the A's home park sometime during the season, so the A's would be home team at this time.". "The reason for this schedule is to be fair to each team.
" Pitchers and catchers are called Batterymates. Then their is infielders and outfielders. The infield consists of a first baseman, second baseman, third baseman and a shortstop. The batterymates are the pitcher and catcher. They can be considered part of the infield when you are a scorekeep for yoru team. the outfield consists of a Left Fielder, a Center Fielder and a RightFielder. Now when you score, there are numbers associated with their repective postions. Pithcrer-1, Catcher-2, First Base-3, Second Base-4, Third Base-5, Shortstop-6, Left Fielder-7, Center Fielder- 8 and last but not least- RightFielder-9.

Well, there is a Dh I forget. " The DH is ony a batter and not a fielder" rex said to the professor.

But he can replace any player and take their place in the line up.... looking to the professor "Sir do you really want us to get in to the debate I am from the school of no DH"

Amber's ears perked up as she heard the word baseball. She might be a pureblood and she might know absolutely NOTHING about muggles and their silly little world, but she knew everything about baseball. It was a secret hobby of hers. She raised her hand and said, "Battery has the catcher and the pitcher, infield has first base, second base, third base and short stop, and lastly outfield has lest field, center field and right field." She smiled. She was a total baseball nerd, even though her parents hated it.

Brant raised his hand again "Professor, sir..... I know theres a catcher and a pitcher, and 1st, 2nd and 3rd basemen. But thats all I know." he said.

Oh merlin...
 

This professor guy, what was he thinking? Giving Destiny a walnut and a bat! Then just letting her at it! He was insane, then again, any wizard who had a profession with the study of muggles was insane. So, it made sense then.

A what? "Battery..." Rae repeated, "Is that the one thing that makes the muggle items work?" They had all kinds of weird stuff.

" you are right, the Dh can replace any player in the field, but then the pitcher must bat" Rex sort of agreed with the boy. "Sctually, I watch the National league teams like my favoirite like the Houston Astros and say the St. Louis Cardinals. I believe the Dh is thee worst thing to happen to baseball since " The Black Sox"Sandal " In the National League, you really have to know how to manage because baesball is a game of strategy." DH's are just
old men who are around too long or young men who really can't play a
position" big deal, a Dh comed up all the time and the Amercan League manager keeps his pitcher in the whole time and uses hardly any players."

Kurumi was about to raise her hand to answer the professor's question, when a debate emerged between her classmates. She decided to, instead, return to her notes and drawing of a baseball field with tiny stick figures neatly labeled for their position. Now to draw the scoreboard...

We don't play Baseball in Oz.....I'll have to google it.
 

Usually a wiz at Muggle Studies, Patroclus would gladly admit, that he was stumped.

It seemed that he was actually going to learn about something he knew nothing about.....which after is what School is all about.
Listening to his school chums, the boy was growing quiet confused with the Numbers that were position names.

The boy felt sorry for the Players who were knowing only by a number, poor diddums.


The boy raised his hand, "Professor, there is also the Umpire, he is kinda of like another player. He gets to yell out, YOU'RE OUT!" Patroclus bellowed, that was as much as he knew on the subject, and that had come from watching Muggle TV.

Vienna was really enjoying her muggle studies class as a pureblood she knew next to nothing about the muggle world. Baseball sounded exciting to her but in all reality she was not a sports fan muggle or wizard

Kurumi looked around to see that the boys were still debating and put the finishing touches on her drawing on her parchment of notes.


She looked up and hoped that class would continue soon. She was eager to do something active - apparently, the potion from last night was still leaving some of its affects on her.

Rowan listened intently. Having lived with muggles for half of her, life she was very interested in hearing the magical world's take on them. Besides, she liked baseball.

Aha. Let's see. How much he knew about baseball? Besides the fact that there was no one resembling a seeker in that game?

Treyen raised his hand. "So, basically, the infield positions are held by a man in first base, a man in second base, a man in third base, and a shortstop...whilst the outfield positions held by a left fielder, a right fielder and a center fielder...AND..." the boy made a dramatic pause, "...the ones in the battery are the catcher and the pitcher...playing their own little game".

He rested his case.

Rubiey had sat silently in the lesson, which wasn't like her. Ireland wasn't that big on Baseball. She wasn't exactly clear on the rules. Or anything about it, for that matter. Meh, at least she was learning about it now.

She preferred Quidditch.

Bristol smiled. She was really going to like muggle studies. Being a muggle born, she thought that this would easy. She knew the answer. She played baseball before, and loved it as much as wizards liked quidditch. She slowly raised her hand.

Oh, right. His name. He contemplated making one up, just for the heck of it. Hey, it'd give him a little bit of amusement, right? In the end, though, he decided against it. Gryffindor was in SECOND for house points and every singular point counted! No Slytherin win this year. "Aiden Chevalier," he finally answered.

Mmmhm, niice. The whole baseball thing was right. He only hoped that they would actually get to play. He glanced around at the other students answering all these questions about baseball. Sheesh! Some of them had to have been big fans of the sport. Seriously, though. Who names their team Red Sox? After SOCKS?! Pfft.

Dorks.

Hugo was really good at Muggle Studies, and started counting in his head.
After 5 minutes of thinking, he didn't know the answer and sighed.
Bluh.

Oh, what a clever class he had. With a grin tugging at the corner of his lips Jeremy nodded slowly as more and more people began to list the different positions in baseball. "Yes, very good. Well done." He smiled at them while making a list of the positions on the board for future reference.

Battery
- Pitcher (P)
- Catcher (C)

Infield
- First Base (1B)
- Second Base (2B)
- Third Base (3B)
- Shortstop (SS)

Outfield
- Left Field (LF)
- Center Field (CF)
- Right Field (RF)

He was just about to move on when he heard a few interesting replies.The first one being a debate between two of the boys who seemed to know quite a lot about Baseball.



DH. This position was exactly something to discuss with newbies to baseball. Not. Which was why he was teaching and not Michael and Rex, right? When Michael asked whether he wanted them to continue their discussion, Jeremy shook his head a little irritated. "No, I don't. And I only asked for the names of the 9 different positions. Let's not confuse the others with too many details." They weren't the only ones in this class and he was pretty sure that some of the others hadn't even quite grasped why he was holding a Beater's Bat when they were talking about Baseball.

Or rather Destiny was holding the bat at the moment.

Oh, the Patroclus boy managed to come up with a different yet correct answer too. A small grin flashed across his face when he heard the boy's description of the Umpire. "Thanks for mentioning the Umpire, Patroclus. They are actually refereeing the game so you normally wouldn't say they are 'players'." Like the Quidditch Official during a Quidditch Match.

On his way back to the front of the classroom Jeremy passed by a few desks...and stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted something. Something interesting. Walking backwards for a few steps until he was standing next to the desk which had caught his attention, Jeremy grinned down at Kurumi. "Did you just draw that?" In case you were wondering, yes, that question was meant rhetorically.

Which was why the next moment the drawing was in Jeremy's hand and leaning in slighlty he said, "4 points to Gryffindor for that. And you don't mind me borrowing this, do you?" And if she did then, well, tough luck, because he was taking it with him to the front. Hehe.

It took Jeremy a while but when he finally grasped what the girl was talking about, he couldn't help a small chuckle to escape his lips. "Yes, you're absolutely correct. Muggles use batteries to make some of their items work." Yes, because the girl was absolutely right. Not that it had anything to do with baseball but he had just answered her question.

Nodding approvingly when Arya listed the correct terms, Jeremy was quite surprised by the look on the girl's face. Was something wrong? Cocking an eyebrow at her questioningly, he was just about to ask her just that when...



CRASH!

Flinching inwardly Jeremy whirled around, away from Arya and the rest of the class, to look, no rather stare at Destiny. Destiny and her attempts to kill crack the walnut. Maybe this-

BANG!

...hadn't been such a good idea aft-

CRACK!

...er all. This was so going to leave a little dent in the floor. Hopefully nobody had heard that. Yeah, right. Okay, scratch that. They would have to be deaf not to have heard that. It had sounded like a troll trying to bring down the castle after all. So, rather hopefully nobody cared to check what was going on during his class.

"Yes, just perfect." Jeremy muttered with a smirk as he moved forward...only stop instantly when he found a bat pointed at his chest. Err. Was he going to eat that? Squinting down at the mess which had once been a walnut he glanced back up at Destiny and said, "Well, there's not much left to eat, is there?" Holding out his hand for Destiny to give him the bat back, he made a mental note to get her a nutcracker for Christmas.


Shaking his head slightly to get the image of Destiny smashing up the walnut out of his head, Jeremy turned to face the class again. This was sort of going on for too long. He wasn't going to dwell on too many details but rather give them a simplified version of baseball. "Now, first of all, thank you to Kurumi for this lovely drawing." He magnified the drawing so everybody could see it. This was definitely going to help explaining the general concept.

Photos!: Pretty image

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/baseball.jpg
Thanks to sweetpinkpixie. ;]

"The positions on this sketch are the positions of the team which is currently fielding. The other team - the batting team - will take turns in batting. The pitcher-" He pointed at the little stick-figure which was labelled 'pitcher'. "-throws the ball into the direction of the batter of the other team, who is standing slightly in front of the catcher." Cue point to the Catcher!Stick-figure. "The batter tries to hit the ball with his bat. Behind the catcher there is one of the Umpires, the referees." He turned away from the drawing and back to face the class. "If the batter fails to hit the ball, the Umpire decides whose fault it was. What are the two words he might say if the batter doesn't hit the ball?" Did that make sense?

Trixie raised her hand slightly hesitantly. Okay, she didn't like sports whatsoever, but he knew, maybe Jeremy would change her mind completely, her father had certainly done that for Quidditch anyway. But how she missed holding that lovely beaters bat.

*Pout*

"Is it Strike?" she asked biting her lip. No wait that didn't quite sound right...

Kurumi turned bright red in her seat as the professor took her drawing and showed it to the entire class. Had she known this was going to happen, she would have spent more time and maybe given the stick figures hats or something. Kurumi checked the hair and noticed a slight change in color and took several deep breaths and thought about watching golf to calm herself down. She looked back down at her notes for a moment to avoid the stares of her classmates before raising her hand to answer the professor's question. "When the ball is too high, too low, or too far to one side from home plate they yell ball. When it is within a certain range over home plate then yell strike." She was glad she had earned her house some points...but she still couldn't bear to look around at her classmates or her drawing that was now magnified in the front of the classroom.

Leilani raised her hand warily. "Uhm, strike aaand..." Ph, what was the other one? "Foul ball?" Wait! But that was three words...??? *flail* Well like, "Or he could just not say anything." Yeah, hadn't she seen that one time? Yeah, she thought so. Then again... her memory wasn't always something to count upon... *flail* Siiigh. Baseball was confusing... And that was coming from the girl who's father watched more baseball than he did quidditch.

"That's a really picture Kurumi," Daisy said smiling at the Gryffindor. The all of a sudden, "Oh, oh, I know, " Diasy said practically jumping up and down. "He either would say strike or ball which is the equvialent to a foul ball." She was feeling so hyper all of a sudden.

Amber smiled. This was so easy! "He could either yell strike or ball. Ball is when the ball doesn't go directly over the plate and strike is when it does." She fiddled with her quill, waiting for the next question from the professor.

Kurumi blushed and sunk a little further down in her seat. "Thank you," she whispered as she continued to look at her blank piece of parchment as if it were the only thing in the world. She hoped that they moved outside to play baseball or something soon.

Alice scribbled down the different baseball positions into her notebook, and also draw a little sketch of the one similar to the one Kurumi had drawn underneath.

Alice gently raised her hand to answer. "Does the Umpire usually call it as a strike or a ball?" Alice said, trying to remember back to the one or two games she had watched on tv.

Keefer raised both of his hands into the air, just as always. "Professor, I believe that would be 'strike' if the ball was in the strike zone--that's the area over the plate that's under the batter's shoulders, but above the batter's knees. If the ball was outside that area, then the umpire will say 'ball.'"

Holy smokes...

She needed to get Destiny a bat. NO one would mess with them then if Destiny had one of those. Not after witnessing her trying to crack open a walnut with it.

Hehehehe.

Smirking, the Slytherin crossed her arms, and then her legs as she went back to listening to what the professor was saying, half of it going in one ear, and the other half going straight out the other. Wha? Two words...if the batter doesn't hit the ball.

"You...fail?" If the pitcher guy couldn't pitch, and the batter guy couldn't hit, then they totally fail! It only made sense!

"He might say Strike one, depending which strike it is or Ball if it goes to high or low or Foul Ball but normally they say foul ball if you hit the ball but goes out of the triangle that you are supposed to hit it in, and professor have you ever heard of soft ball and rounders? They are quite like baseball, just different rules" Katie said with a smile on her face.

Brant was pleased how well Kurumi was doing he gave her a grin. Brant knew how to pick them thats for sure. "Great job Kurumi." he whispered to her. Then he raised his hand and said "If the ball goes faster then the batter swings his bat then the umpire will yell Out!, if its a foul ball meaning that its the pitchers fault the umpire would yell Ball. I think if theres enough Ball's called I think about three, then the player thats up to swing the beater bat thingy, gets to move to the first plate thingy?" Brant knew about Baseball but he wasn't an expert.

Baseball. Ohboy!Ohboy!Ohboy!Ohboy!Ohboy!

Salander was grinning for ear to ear. He was hoping that they get to go out to the greens again and play an inning at least. He wanted to get a chance to show off his mad skills at batting.

Then he stared at Cauldron Girl Destiny showing who's boss with the walnut. Ok so maybe not that kind of mad batting.


Salander had to Laugh.Out.Loud with this. They was right in a sense, but its probably something fans from the stands will be yelling at the players on the field. plus throwing copious amount of popcorn and whatever else to make their point.


"A Ball and Strike" he replied, lifting his hand. "a Batter is allowed 3 strikes before he's put out and 4 balls before he's allowed to Walk to 1st base."

So the boy had been right and wrong.

Right as in, that the Umpire was an important 'player', in the game, but wrong as the Umpire wasn't a real Player-player.

However the next question played to the boy's solo knowledge of the Umpire. Raising his hand Patroclus smiled at Professor Zookara, "Yoooou're Out!" the boy bellowed again, beforing adding, "He can also say, Strike! and add a number, depending on his mood, STRIKE TEN!"

Seriously the boy had no idea about this game.

Louisa listened carefully as the teacher spoke. She wasn't very good at getting this baseball thing although she attended lots of games. She looked over at the two boys who discussed it very skillfuly and was impressed to see that Rex is one of them. Well it was more like a guys-sports anyways.

"He says 'Strike' and followed by a number. Which means that the batter is out, I guess." She answered after raising her hand.

Rex raises his hand. "Sir, if the batter fails to hit the ball, it is a strike." Rex told him. " now, of course, if the batter hits the ball to the left or right of a white line marked on the field, right of the right field line, left of the left line, these are called foul balls and still are strikes" Rex did more explaining more of the baseball term. " Now you get only three stikes if you miss the ball all three times , but you can hit a lot of fouls balls which two fouls are strikes and then until the batter swings and misses or the umpire thinks the pitcher throws a great pitch, then the umpire can call "Strike three- You are out" Rex said to the professor.

Ehhhh.

Professor Zooballoon didn't want to eat the walnut. Not that Destiny could blame him or anything. It was sitting on the floor and was just PULVERIZED by a, probably used, beater's bat. "Oh well." she said, glancing at the mess. She didn't have to clean up the mess, did she?

Handing the bat back, since she was done with it..unless the Professor had MORE walnuts in his pocket..she waited until he turned to address the class again before a smirk appeared on her face. Using her foot, she scooted the crushed walnut under his desk. Hehe. If one can't see it, it isn't real.

Like Thestrals.

Now that everything was done, was she supposed to go back to her seat? The Professor didn't tell her to, so she figured she was to stay up front. Hehe, the view from up front was not nice..having to look at Arya all the students all day..eww. Crossing her arms, she lent up a little to get a look at the picture being shown. She had no idea what those stick figure people were doing..looked like some weird, robotic dancing, until the Zooballoon started to explain.

Yeah..she still didn't get it.

What she did get was, that if this batter person didn't hit the ball, they had to hit something else. And what else was there to hit but the referee person themselves, RIGHT? Uncrossing her arms, she raised her hand even though she was standing behind the Professor, "The referee says 'That hurts!'"

Emmaleigh slid her hand into the air. She definitely knew the answer to this question. "The u-umpire would yell 'S-strike' if the batter swings and m-misses the ball. It means that it is the b-batter's fault. If the umpire yells 'ball' then it is the p-pitcher's fault for not throwing the b-ball over the plate. Three strikes means the b-batter is out, and four balls means the batter gets to w-walk to first base."

Professor, there can be bad pitches, four of them to be exact and the umpire will tell the batter to take first base. This is called a walk. Now there is an exception to the strike out rule, if there is no one on first base, the batter could strike out, but if the ball gets behind the catcher, the batter could run for first to be saf even though the batter strikes out. " now the catcher can throw to first base or tag the batter and h the batter still strikes out while being tagges or thrown out. If the batter runs to first base before the catcher throws him out on a strike out, the pitcheer is credited with a strikeout, the catcher will be charged with an error and the batter would be safe at first.

Wow, Rowan thought to herself. Baseball is much more confusing when your describing it to someone. I wonder if the Professor will let us watch a game.

Chloe was a bit familiar with baseball so she knew the two things he may say. Thus Chloe raised her hand high and said, "That would be strike or ball cause a strike is when the pitcher throws the ball perfectly at the mound and the batter misses it in mid swing or does not swing at all. A ball is called when the pitcher throws the ball toward the batter in such away that it is too far off the center for it to be called a fair ball that the batter can hit".

Again, so many with the right answer...or partly anyhow. But he was really glad that most of them had at least a little bit of background knowledge of baseball. This was going to make this a lot easier. "Yes, right, the umpire could say - among other words of course - ball or strike." Just as he was about to repeat what some of the students had said already concerning which was which, a few answers caught his attention.

Turning to Trent, Jeremy smiled and nodded approvingly, even though, 'out' was not one of the two words he wanted to hear. But it was correct nonetheless. The umpire COULD say 'You're out' too. Clever gir-

You suck?! He couldn't quite refrain from chuckling slightly upon hearing her second answer. "Well, I assume he could say that too. Though, unlike the two words I wanted to hear, this one probably won't show up on the scoreboard." Hopefully. Unless the person operating the scoreboard was trying to be funny.

He probably should have expected answers like these. Rubbing his forehead absentmindedly, Jeremy turned to grin at Evelyn before asking, "He COULD say that too, yes. But who would it be directed at?" Because that was the actual question there...whose fault it was when the batter missed the hit the ball.

WHOA! His head jerked into the direction where the loud sound had come from and Jeremy found himself staring at Patroclus who had apparently imitated the umpire during a match. "Absolutely correct, Patroclus. He could say 'You're out'. And of course 'Strike'." It was probably wrong to snort at a student's answer, right? But he very much felt the urge to. No, he couldn't. Cough!Snort. "Well, no, there's no Strike Ten. After the third Strike the player's out."

Jeremy almost wanted to say 'See? Destiny can be trusted.' to Arya but then again this might have suggested that he had doubted it so he refrained from doing so and simply took the bat back from her. "Trust me, there are easier ways to crack a walnut though." He said with an amused grin while placing the bat back on his desk.

Now, where was he? Failing to notice that Destiny had in fact NOT gone back to her seat Jeremy continued his lesson until he made the mistake to decide to turn around and walk back to his desk. Only there was something between him and the desk. Or rather someone. Someone who was raising their hand. Coming to a halt only a few inches from Destiny so as to not run smack into her, Jeremy blinked a few times. "Err...why would the referee say 'it hurts'?!" He took a step backwards to increase the distance between them again, before walking around the girl and back to his desk.

Why WOULD the referee say that? Unless he had like a cramp or something but...err...:blink:



"Anyway, as some of you have mentioned, the umpire would either say 'Ball' or 'Strike'. If he says 'Ball' then this means that the failed hit was the Pitcher's fault. The ball was thrown either too high, too low or too far left or right of the home plate and was therefore outside the so-called 'Strike Zone'. I won't go into detail how big the Strike Zone is exactly. You don't want to become professional Umpires after all." Or so he assumed. Hopefully. They would probably just go around telling people they fail and suck when they miss the ball. "If the Pitcher has missed the 'Strike Zone' four times, and therefore has four 'Balls' then the current Batter is allowed to go to the first base." He moved his finger across the drawing to indicate which way the batter would go.

Now, on to 'Strike'. "If the Umpire decides that the ball was indeed inside the 'Strike Zone' and the Batter still misses the ball, it is called a 'Strike'. After three 'Strikes' the current Batter is 'out', which is why the Umpire normally says 'Strike' plus how many strikes the current batter already has, for example 'Strike Two'." And not 'Strike Ten'. Cue small grin in Patroclus' direction.

"Different scenario now. Let's assume the Pitcher throws correctly and into the 'Strike Zone' and the Batter manages to hit the ball. What would he do?" Then to speed things up a little, he added, "And what would the currently Fielding Team do?"

OOC: Yes, I do know it's a little more complex than this but let's not confuse the poor magical Baseball-no0bs. ;]

"Well hit can mean it was hit into the inner or outer field in which case the the fielding team would either try to catch the ball if it's a high fly ball or throw it to one one of the bases to get a man out depending on how many bases are filled and where the ball is hit to", Chloe responded knowing that may have been a bit much on information, oh well.

Kurumi, not wanting to bring more attention to herself with her drawing still up on the board. Knowing how Hogwarts worked, the professor would probably charm the stick figures to animate his point. *shiver*

Instead, Kurumi wrote her answer down in her notes.
She put her quill down and waiting for others to answer. She wondered if there was going to be more cracking of walnuts or baseball debating between the guys again...

"The batter must drop the bat first, and immediately sprint to the first base and if he hasn't been 'put out' as he reaches first base, he is said to be safe. The batter may also proceed to second base and beyond as far as he is confident that he'll be able to reach the said bases safely," Cedric answered upon raising his hand, finally shaking the hush-hush out of him.

Recalling that the professor had a question about the fielding team, he continued, "... and the fielding team? They endeavour to prevent baserunners from scoring." He could had explained further about the mentioned team, but didn't bother to do so.

Laziness, boredom... please go away... ?

What would he do? What WOULD he do? Hmmm. Rack your brain, Sarah, and try to remember from when you watched it on tv.

Screwing her eyes up, she visualized a play, and what exactly the batter and fielders do. Hand shooting up, to be polite as always, she went off on her own explanation. "It all depends on where the batter hits the ball, sir. If it's out of the ground or into the stands that makes it a home run, and he can drop his bat and run around all the bases to make it back home." At least she thought that was the term for it. "But if it's not far, and goes into the infield or outfield, the fielders themselves can try and catch him out, or scoop up the ball and throw it to whichever base the batter is running at. If it gets to base before the batter does, he's out." Yeah. Right? "Of course it's not just the person that hits the ball that could be out. If one of the base riders, I think they're called, runs at the same time, he could be out too, if he doesn't make it to the next base before the ball does."

Wow.

She really needed to stop watching so much sports on tv.

"Well the batter will attempt to make it to first base, before someone in the outfield grabs the ball and throws it to the other outfielder at first base. If the outfielder can tap the base while holding the ball before the batter gets there, then the batter is out." Alice wasn't sure if that's what he was aiming for or not....

Steam was practically rising from Rubiey's pen as she copied down EVERYTHING Professor Zookara said. She wasn't a baseball wiz, that much was obvious, but she thought she should have a go. "Umm, wouldn't the batter try to run to first base before the outfield team got them out? By, like touching the base thing?" She said. It made sense, but having never even picked up one of these bat things, she didn't really have a clue. Rubiey had known coming to Muggles Studies would be worth it; she was ACTUALLY learning stuff about the Muggle world, despite having lived in it for 11 years.

Ugh..

Fee hated muggle sports. But school was school.

Raising her hand she spoke.

"The batter will try to get to the first base, before someone in the outfield gets the ball and has the chance to throw it to his partner. If the outfielder can touch the base while holding the ball before the batter gets there, then the batter is out."
She took a deep breath.
"The fielding team will try to avoid the others score."

Daisy raised her hand, "The batter would run as fast as he can as many bases as he can and the Fielding team would try to tag him or the base with the ball to get him out or return the ball to the pitcher."

Emmaleigh raised her hand and said, "The b-batter would run to first b-base while the fielding team w-would try to get him out. to get the batter out, the f-fielding team would have to c-catch the ball before it hits the g-ground, or they would have to tag the batter or the b-base with the ball before he m-made it to the base." Was that it? yeah maybe. Baseball confused Emmaleigh.

Blink.

Whaaaa?

Nevermind, though cuz... SHE KNEW THIS ONE!

"Ruuuuuun!" Ellie said, quite loudly in her excitement. But. It's true. They did run. She sawwww it on her grandpa's tv.

No Strick Ten?

Professor Zookara, needed to double-check his notes, Patroclus was 200% sure that there was a Strick 10!!........or perhaps that was golf......golf?

Patroclus listened to the next question, taking mental notes of what the others were saving. "The batter runs, and then does a huge dive-slide where they just make it to the cushion and the crowd goes wild!" Yep yep, they do! "And the Fielders, run around with their Engorgio'ed hands in the air and try and catch the ball!"

Thats what happened in movies anyway.

"Run like the wind." Salander grinned "When the Batter hits the ball he runs to first base with the purpose of touching base before the ball is caught by the 1st baseman. But if the batter hits the ball real strong, sending the ball deep into the stands or even 'outta the ballpark' then he can try to go for the home run."

"The Fielding team's purpose is keeping the batters from advancing through the bases. They do that by catching or grabbing the ball that was just hit by the batter, then tossing it to the baseman that can most likely take that batter out."

Funny is Funny. XD
 

Trent laughed a little at the thought of 'You Suck' appearing on the scoreboard. "Well... It would be true if they didn't do their job..." Trent voiced quietly, rolling her eyes as she failed to see the point of having a batter who couldn't bat. Explain?

As she sighed, she grinned a little at Salander who had chuckled at her response. It wasn't her fault she had no clue about this... base-ball Zookara was talking about was it?



Sighing, Parker moved to rest her chin in her hand as she waited for the next question to be answered. It seemed that everyone knew more about base-ball than she did and she didn't like it. However, she just simply couldn't understand the need for sports on the ground with no magic... so she wouldn't be educating herself in advance for this class. The sports were just so... boring.

Yup.

As the Professor explained the true answers, she made small notes on her pad in front of her and then when he asked the next question she grinned. "Do their job to prove that they are better than the batter's that suck."

She had NO idea what their job was, or what the batter had to do after they had hit the ball... but she knew that the "fielding" team had to prove that they were better. They were trying to win against a team that couldn't hit the ball... So it shouldn't be too difficult.

Right?

Ahhhh, Treyen sort of knew this. The boy raised his hand, "Professor, if it is a hit, meaning the ball is inside the field, then the batter would run with all his mighty strength towards the first base, the fielding team would be trying to catch the ball and out the batter" he said, with a nod, "If the batter hit the ball but it was a foul, then he has to try again, and the pitcher...er, pitches again..." yeah, that, the never ending circle, but Treyen wasn't done..."If the batter hit a home run, then he still needs to run, but he has to go through all the bases and get to home again....the fielding team gets upset" and maybe curses a little.

He straightened himself in the chair, squeezing the ducky pillow even more.

Are they going to play? Grin.

" First off, the batter would run to first if the ball goes into the outfield and for no sake of argument he is safe at the base. " The fielding team would try to get the ball and in this case, again for sake of argument, the outfielder throws it tto second to stop him. " Now on the other hand ,again for sake of argument, he hits grounder or a pop-up to one of theinfielders the batter should be out. The infielder would grab the ground ball and throw it to first base for the out. The pop- up goes high in the air and than one of the infielders could catch it for an out. Now there could a be a flyball to one of the outfielders and again for sake of argument, he catches the ball, he is out.
So in the first part ,the batter would be called safe by the umpire, then in the other two, the umpire would call the batter out. now if the ball is dropped by one of the infielders or outfielders, it would be called an error, but the batter would be calle safe by the umpire.