They'd gone from numbers to beards in a matter of minutes. Lucian was impressed by the speed of subjects moving, but you know who wouldn't be impressed? His mother. He got thinking of what Professor French said, and his mom was huge on feminism and stuff, so she'd probably have hexed him down by now. He internally laughed to himself. Ha. Imagine his mom all angry and stuff and chasing Professor French. There had to be a Parents Back to School Night. SNORT.

The first year stood up and peered around the line. He hoped the potion would taste nice. Like apples or something. When it was his turn Lucian ladled some of it into his cup, all the way like instructed and downed it all in one swig. Not bad.

His eyes crossed as HAIR grew from his CHIN. It grew and grew and grew and grew until it was down to his chest. Whoa. This is probably how Santa Claus felt. A heavy face. He stroke it and winced when his finger got caught. Heh. It needed its own personal hairbrush.

Bliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink.

They were actually going to grow a beard....? A beard from a bot-cauldron? Vesper looked to the cups, cauldron, and ladle...and then back to the professor. It was like COSPLAY! Too bad she didn't have her Gandalf outfit and hat. Things would've gotten VERY Lord of the Rings in here...

You. Shall. Not. PASS.

Vesper beamed.

Slowly creeping forward, not paying much attention to the others in the room, she did as was requested, grabbing one of the cups and filling it with gunk from the cauldron. FULL CUP, too. Not thinking about a smell or taste...the Ravenclaw tossed it back, swallowing as quickly as she could...

Then the cup was tossed in the trash...and she was returning to her seat.

How long did it take the potion to take effect? Mindlessly, Ves felt at her face...clearly excited.

Rub...rub...rub...

Where was the hair? Come on......

Józsua blinked and then staaaared at the professor. Fake men, women and children? Whaaat? He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked around the room at the other students to gauge their reactions to this..

Today EVERYONE would grow a beard.

...Yes okay thanks?

Glad he wasn't a female, he watched one of the girls from his own house, the one with the red hair who was in his year, enthusiastically grab a cup and swig back the potion.

Yea.. Well if SHE could do it, then so could Józsua.. although the thought for the well-groomed boy was rather off puting. She looked rather hilarious complete with beard though and he let out a small laugh.

'Time to man up yea, Józsua?'

Literally. What with all the facial fuzz.

He got up and made his way to the line and waited his turn, eyeing the kids who had already done the deed with a mixture of fascination, amusement and ever-so-slight disgust.

He ladled the potion into a cup, pinched his nose and swigged it back. Potions always tasted baad. He tossed his cup away and returned to his seat and waited for his facial hair to begin to sprout.

Which is already had.

It kind of tickled and itched. He reached up to have a scratch and sure enough felt beard. A shortish, trim one. Pretends he's in uniform.

Eyebrows raised, he looked around the room at the other kids again, a small smirk playing on his lips.

This was NOT how they taught Arithmancy in France.

A Beard. Now this was something interesting.No idea what a beard has to do with numbers. But awesome. Nigel slowly got up and got onto the line. So he had to take the full potion alright.

Nigel filled up his cup, looked at it for a second, and drank it . It was not the most horrible thing Nigel ever drank. Then suddenly hair started to gorw in his chin.

Awesome.

He now had a full beard and boy did he look awesome.

This was all proposterous, yet Sarah's acting skills kept her from laughing at the suggestions... Gryffindors good at grooming? Well Sarah and her mom could not care less about that. The part about mustaches....WHAT A LAUGH! It is ssaid that people get wiser with age, but this guy was absuloutly senile!
He then began to thretan her to be quiet. Sarah would not mind vonsequences if they affected her only, but she did not want her house so suffer (especially coz Alice got them ten points already) so she decided to keep quiet. Hopefully by now the rest of the students would see the holes in his theories. So even with that completely discriminatry comment came on, she kept quiet, yet notated. This was against HUman Rights. But the beard part was cool.
Sarah stoold up and went to the potion. Despite unpleasant experiences with potions with Lafay last year, she did not want to upset him and besides beards were fun in such an instance. She went over to the line and waited her turn, and once she got a cup she ladled it to the top and drained it quickly into her mouth. There was tingly feeling and behold a long beard began to grow. It was nice and long. "I like the amount of surface area... I can use it as a cloth to clear up messes" she said. Then she began to sing, "Does your BEARD hang low?" she stroked it "Does it wobble to and fro?" she gave it a wobble "Can you tie it in a knot?" Sarah attempted to knot it, yet rain out of time before the tune called for "Can you tie it in a bow?" Now she was quick and she made it into a bow but then the next part came too soon "Can you throw it 'oer your shoulder like a continental soldier?" So Sarah flicked her beard which was in a bow over her shoulder "Does your hair hang low?". And so she moved onto the next verse

A beard, eh?

Ella was curious about hair and hair potions but she'd seen first hand what a messed up magical hair growing spell could do. Remember the nose hair whipping, Theodore? Yeah, it wasn't pretty. The other students in the class did seem pretty trusting, though. And she'd already seen some of the people who'd been in line ahead of her grow beards without trouble so maybe...

When it was her turn, the blonde grabbed a cup and ladled it full of the potion. She hesitated for only a moment before gulping it down, her nose wrinkled from the taste. Now to wait.

After throwing away her cup, she headed back to her seat and waited. And waited...and WOAH BABY!

A beard. She had a beard. A LONG BEARD at that. It was softer than she'd expected and while she'd seen lots of beard stroking going on around her, she was more interested in beard braiding. If she was going to have to rock one of these things, at least she was going to look nice doing it.

Just saying.

OOOOOH, so Caleb was going to get a unique glimpse into his future, eh? He could deal with that. He grinned and hurried up to the front to get some of the beard potion...stuff, and as he stood there waiting, he decided that this professor wasn't TOOOO bad. For now. If he didn't start teaching them some REAL STUFF before OWLs, however, Caleb was going to throw a fit.

He got up to the front, and decided he didn't want to get TOOOO crazy with the beard stuff, so he took three small sips of the potion and waited for it to take effect. When it did start making his beard grow, it felt so weird! Like little caterpillars crawling out of his skin!

As he walked back to his seat, admiring the nice stubble that was now present on his face, he passed Lucian, who had a very impressive Merlin-esque beard growing down his chest. "Nice, Lucian!" he said, high fiving his dorm mate as he returned to his seat.

Upon being snubbed by the professor about her Arithmancy skills Jayden was a bit put off. And THEN he had the nerve to say that men were better at Arithmancy because they had beards. OH THE SEXISM. But of course, not wanting to lose house points, she proceeded to bite her tongue, arms crossed and her eyes and lips forming a semi permanent scowl.

And then the real fun began. A beard potion. More beards. Her scowl softened a bit as she headed to the front, watching her fellow classmates faces change into full out goatees and santa claus style beards. Hopefully hers wouldn't be too bad.

"Bottoms up!"

And then things started to get a little hairy in Jayden's world.

"I HAVE THE BEST BEARD EVER!" She cried, running her hands through her little mini beard. Okay. So maybe Arithmancy wasn't what she was used to anymore. But beards were awesome.

So THAT'S what the potion was for!

And Alec, who was busy staring in awe at the potion, didn't seem to notice that people had already gone up and gotten their beards! Shaking his head, he got up and stood at the back of the line. THIS WAS IT. No... fake beard nonsense and certainly none of that itchy nonsense you get from not shaving. Now he could see what he looked like with a beard!

Was Tag here? WAS HE? ... He might possibly need advice. Maybe.

When he reached the front, he filled up the cup halfway with the potion, a nervous grin playing on his face. It would go right, yeah? They weren't going to be stuck with beards forever, right? Because as great as this probably could be, he really didn't want to keep a beard for life. He held the cup up to his lips, took a deep breath and then downed the whole thing. All of it. Half of the cup. Gone. GULP.

He set the cup down again and started heading back towards his seat, scratching and rubbing his chinny chin chin as he went. Scratch scratch... rub rub... scratch scratch scratch... When he reached his seat, he sat down and continued rubbing at his chin. It felt... hairier. And not as smooth as before. He looked down towards his chest as the tips of a fluffy, dark beard started to grow longer and longer until it reached somewhere close to where the top of his diaphragm should be.

A grin spread across the seventeen year old's face as he started stroking it. Looks like he was destined for fluffy hair, after all. ... Or facial hair.

.....

.....

.....

"You d0 not understand. That is obvious, yes. You need a beard for the activity, this Arithmancy act1vity. Men grow beards, so men are better at branch of arithmancy, therefore you see okay they are better arithmancers. Please stand up now, you will need a beard yes okay."
"Tears may influence your interpretations and arithmancy readings... yes okay... very good, well done."

"Yes, yes of course not, okay yes thanks."

Professor French took pity on this girl. She couldn't count, she couldln't follow directions, and yes okay she would fail Arithmancy. How embarrassing yes. For her, he waved his wand and a CURLY BR0WN BUSH of a B3ARD appeared on her face.

"Yes okay very good well done you yes."


"This is not the time for experiments. We are in the middle of a lesson. Please follow instructions, you will N33d a B3ARD to D0 THIS L3SS0N!!!!"


"G00d, good, I'm sure yes. But you will do great, well done, please get in line now thanks."

...

"These acts will have affect on your readings. B3ware of that, yes okay thanks."

"It is very nice, yes well done, very good beard. You will get good readings, very good readings I bet. Better than your sums. Well done."


---

"YES YES OKAY! THESE B3ARDS ARE COMING IN N1CELY! YOU WILL DO GOOD READINGS WITH THESE! While the rest of the class okay is taking their potion, you may do some gr00ming of your beards okay! Simple brushing, yes okay, massaging and fluffing. You need as NATURAL as a beard as you can get. NATURAL and RAND0M will get you the best results when we dip your beards into paint. GR00MING while we wait for everyone's beard to gr0w! Yes okay well done yes!"

OOC: hehe. Gonna give peeps more time to post and grow before we start with the paint. You can groom your beard. Or your friends' beards. Or more outrage. All good yes okay thanks well done.

Minerva was super annoyed and now outraged that he just gave Ariana a beard. "Professor no offense, but I do not need a beard to be good at arithmancy and I can prove that, but I am not growing a beard on my face." She would just leave class if she had to, but she was in no way growing a beard. She folded her arms and noticed Penelope still didn't have one either. See she wasn't the only one. Looking at Ari she shook her head, "Unbelievable" was all she could say to her friend. This was just outrages. These professors were just getting worse and worse weren't they.

Looking around the room she was just applaud that so many girls just agreed with him that girls were not as smart. Even if they didn't say they agreed their actions said it. They just hurried to get beards. Which the action showed they agreed with this sexist horrible unprofessional fake professor. Yes he had to be fake, because no professor would act this incredibly weird. He was making Flamsteed seem very very normal.

Laura wasn't sure if she wanted to do this after all it wasn't very ladylike to have a beard but if it was for a lesson then she would do it, though if anything went wrong and she was stuck with it forever she wouldn't be really happy.

Laura looked at the Professor and smiled when she went up-to the desk to get her potion, she then just stood there, did she really want to do this, she decided that she would drink it.

Laura drank the bottle and then she put the cup away before going to sit down and then wait, she waited and waited then O_______________o Laura saw the beard started to grow she was starting to look like Father Christmas here.

She kind of preferred the kind of the lesson where she'd sit and nod pretending to comprehend. Though, usually she enjoyed practical lessons over theoretical ones, she now wanted to pass. She totally didn't look nice in a beard. She had goofed around with her brother and wore costumes enough times to know that.

But did she have a choice?

The snake sighed then got up and stood in the line. Maybe they'll run out of potion?!!?! HOPEFULLY?! She knew a couple of people who'd like to gulp down as many as they could to get beards. She'd totally give them her share of the potion.

Needless to say her thoughts didn't mean a thing as she stood before the potion and reluctantly ladled some into a cup. Cassia sucked in a breath then gulped down the liquid.

She walked back to her seat and sat down waiting. She was going to look ridiculous. At least she wasn't alone?

While waiting for the potion effects to kick in, she looked around her taking a look at the others. Merlin! She was going to look as ridiculous as they did.

Not long after, she ran her hand over her chin to find HAIR THERE! Ewww. So unlady like. This was awful. A frown appeared on her face as she dipped her head down. She can't be seen like this.

Finally. Some half-hearted praise.

BEAM.

Jayden grinned, stroking her beard as she listened to the crazy professor instruct them to fluff, stroke, and groom their beards... and their friends beards. Weird, but she could roll with it.

"Merlin's beard. This is probably the easiest class yet.." She mumbled under her breath. And then he brought up dipping their beards in paint. PAINT3D B3ARD$. Even better. She grinned, grooming and braiding and un-braiding her very curly black beard of awesome.

BEST. CLASS FOR A TROUBLE-MAKING CLAW EVAAARR.

Frankly, Adi was so happy Min was standing up to the Professor. One should stand up for what they believe in, after all. Who was he to say men were better at Arithmancy, anyway?

Crazy Professor say whaaaa?

They had to dip their beards into the paint?? Adi shook his head. What a subject Arithmancy was! It was crazy just as the Professor was! But right now, the firstie just focused on "brushing" his beard by running his fingers through it. Right there and then, he decided he was never having a real beard when he was older. It was so bothersome!

One plus two plus three plus....

Oh...they were moving on already? Abigail scratched her head for a moment and tried to forget about the previous numbers for now. She'd somehow remember them later or just make up some of her own, cause that was clever too no?

But BEARDS. Why was this French talking about BEARDS?

Her ears perked.She had to WHAT? Grow one? Did she look like Santa to this man? NUH HUH! She had NEVER heard of a fairy with a beard. But guess what? She was going to GET one anyways. She'd show them all that fairies could even be cool with hair on their faces.

YEP YEP. COOL FAIRIES WITH HAIR ON THEIR FACES. *cough* THE SANTA FAIRY! That be her!

The little girl moved along towards the line and just like everyone else drank a cup of the potion. BEARD WAS GROWING. She tried to look down to see it.Looooked weeeird.

GIGGLE. AND DID HE SAY PAINT? FUN TIMES....even with a beard.

BEARDS? Schuyler, shocked AND amused, immediately turned to Olly. "Well, let's go don some beards." Wearing a light-hearted smile, the Gryffindor went on up towards the front of the room. She didn't really have a problem with this whole beard thing because a.) the whole class was required to do it, b.) it would only last for the duration of this class, and c.) she might as well experience it once just for kicks, right? A few people before her were pouring the potion into their cups, but soon enough it was Schuyler's turn.

She carefully ladeled some into her own cup, but before she raised it to her mouth, she turned to Professor Graybeard over here. "But women are just as good at Arithmancy as bearded men, okay yes. Yes, okay." Us girls were right.

Okay.

Yes.

Schuyler downed the drink all at once and crinkled her nose at the taste. And then.. out sprouted a shiny, brunette beard that must have been at least a good foot long. With a small laugh, she stroked the beard with her hand. "I'm going to braid mine."

And that's precisely what she did.

Sorry...what?

Ascanius had JUST grown in his beard, something he had been dreaming about the whole summer and now this weirdo who had obviously never seen a gym before in his life wanted him to dip his beard in paint? No. It was too soon. He and his beard were hardly acquainted and now he recognised the guy was a nut before, but this solidified it.

He wasn't going to dip his beard in anything. Yeah?

....but he'd groom it. That he would do. 'Cause it was all about maintaining a look. A look he naturally had. Though, he did notice a certain Gryffindor in the corner of his eye and she got a thoughtful look. Did she like?

She still sat their arms folded.. rather proud that Min and Penelope we're taking a stand with her.. she wasn't going to just let this happen, she just WOULDN'T do it.. surely there was another way to do said activity without a beard. "This is pointless." she mouthed over to min as she glanced over to her. really really pointless. She rolled her eyes and was about t say something else to the professor when he was pointing her and at her and she felt it... instantly...

NO
NO
NO
NOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

"No." he COULDNT do that could he!? FORCE her to confine to his Sexist rulings! he COULDNT she had a right to deny doing this weather it was a class or not! but they were sticking them in PAINT.. she could use her REAL hair from her head for THAT! it was SUPER long... "Why can't I just use the hair from my HEAD for paint, why this! take it off.. please." or she was leaving..

TrueFact

The only beard Tobias was interested in getting was the lime green beard that Min got in Astronomy. And that was only because it looked so bright and colourful. And obviously not permanent. WOULD THESE be permanent? Tobias didn't know, because he hadn't been listening. He just knew he didn't want to have to start shaving at thirteen.

Some people were getting longer beards than others, so maybe he could hope for some nice short hair growth. OR a long lime green one. They were the only ones he wanted. And it had to be a NICE one. Not scruffy.

Tobias went up and got joined the line, watching everyone else grow their own beards until he had a cup of the potion.

Deciding not to dwell on it too long, Tobias just went ahead and downed all the potion in the cup, before hurrying back to his seat. He squeezed his eyes shut and crossed his fingers on BOTH hands and hoped for a lime green beard. Toby's face was all tingly and weird and he felt the hairs tickle his chin. Eventually it stopped and he opened his eyes.

Purple.

A purple beard.

A LONG purple beard, by the looks of it. So long the end of it reached under his desk. It wasn't lime green, but Tobias decided he LOVED it. He sat up a little straighter and flung the looooooooong beard over one shoulder like a stylish scarf.

Yes. This would do quite nicely.

DIP IT IN PAINT?

Awwww

But she liked her big bushy ginger beard. It was cool. Beards were cool.

It was warm though, and she was thinking she'd probably never grow one again. Cause it made her face hot and a little itchy. She began to groom it carefully, making sure to keep it fluffy. Fluffy Ginger Beard.

Paint was a no. Nigel was just beginning to be one with his beard. It could use some grooming.Sure. But Nigel planned on doing that anyway. But paint was too much.

He began grooming. But he did not really know what he was doing. He could shave. He learned how to do that. Grooming was not something Nigel though he would need to learn. But he was grooming his beard, none the less.

He should prehaps trim it. It did seem it was a little to fluffy. He did look a good couple years older.

What? Claudette hadn't questioned the whole beard thing when the question was posed to the class, even if it was completely bizarre and seemingly irrelevant, but to say that men were better arithmancers than women just because of facial hair?! That made no sense whatsoever and, even though the subject wasn't anything close to her favorite, was awfully offended by the notion. She had never heard such a thing and, if she hadn't questioned the man's mental state, she certainly did now.

And then her eyes widened as her mouth went slightly agape. Take a potion to grow a beard.. HECK NO. She did NOT need a beard to perform any sort of Arithmancy and she certainly would not look cute wearing one. Sure, the boys looked mature and pretty good with them, she noticed as she watched a few of them take the potion, and apparently many of the girls did not agree with her line of thinking as the jumped up to get their own beard-sprouting potion.

How were they so sure they wouldn't last longer than class? What if they ended up permanent? She wasn't so sure she trusted this nutter and she threw him a suspicious look. What if she got stuck with a beard and had to shave it off, leaving her with stubble? GROSS.

And if there was any doubt left to the man's sanity, he mentioned something about dipping the beards into paint.. which only made her fears about being stuck on her face for a long time more apparent. What was this class even?

She was thankful to see a couple other girls stubbornly sitting out the activity, though she let out an audible gasp and threw her hand over her mouth as Ariana got charmed a beard onto her face. Oh no.. what if she was charmed a beard too even if she refused to drink the potion.. ? Claudette glanced over at Minerva as she reiterated her argument and nodded. "I agree with the prefect, sir.. I don't think we don't need to grow beards to divine in Arithmancy.." Since when was facial hair a prerequisite for a class anyway? "We'll show you how good we are at numbers and calculations without them.."

Grow a beard? Was he serious? Brodie sighed and got in line taking a cup, he didn't have a choice it seemed, he knew he shouldn't have come to this class... He drank the cup full like the professor said to. He threw the cup away and gave a small sigh feeling it already growing and itching his face. He hated this... Absolutely hated this...He was really thinking he would never come to this class again now... but he wouldn't be the one to argue with the professor.

And now... he was painting with the beard? Lord this was getting worse and worse... Yeah, no more class for him... He looked over and smiled at Claudette, she was cute arguing no to the beard... But with any luck she'd end up like Minnie and the other girls saying no, he'd just put the spell on her himself... Brodie looked at him and then someone else's question did make him wonder, "Professor, this will come off won't it? Or if I shave it off it will stay gone and not come back this quickly right?" Please say yes... He didn't want to have a beard for the rest of his life.

...

Alexa took a glance over at Sarah...who'd thought to correct her unnecessarily. "I'm aware of that. I didn't say they couldn't, note the use of the word almost when I spoke."

The man already had her in a bad mood, no need to make it worse. She decided to leave that where it was and instead focus on the Professor. No telling what he'd be asking for next. With any luck, something would go BOOM in one of those cauldrons.



Or not. Just more rubbish talk.

People with beards being the best Arithmancers? Well that solved everything! She didn't want to be a famous Arithmancer in the first place soooooo...

But the beard.

The beard.

Min had gotten a beard in Astronomy class and she remembered she'd wanted one too. This man might have been a loon but she wasn't about to pass this up. Lex hopped out of her seat and casually made her to the cauldrons. "Professor? Is there any way I could get my beard in blue?"

Girls weren't meant to have beards but they were all getting them, might as well continue with the weird yeah? If the potion didn't do the trick she'd make it that colour herself.

This class was getting stranger and stranger...she wasn't sure how she felt about this but she drank a cup of the stuff and watched the beard slowly springing up as she made her way back to her seat. It wasn't blue. This was disappointing.