Marigold grinned as she brought the computer closer to her and scooted her chair in. She would finally play the game Moo had told her about aaaages ago, but never played because she hadn't gotten around to it. First, she turned the computer on, then clicked the shiny button.

SPOILER!!: Clicky

Then, she went to the page where the game would be. "Flappy Bird," it was called. She would probably be AMAZING at it.

SPOILER!!: Game page

She pressed the start button, then started playing. She was really bad at it and crashed into the very first… whatever that green thing was.

SPOILER!!: Playing and failed screen

She was frustrated, but didn't want to give up. She played again, and got 0. Then, she played and got THREE!! She would stop there. She didn't like the game much, and three was probably the highest she would go.

SPOILER!!: Final score

Oh awesome, they could mess around with the computers now!! It was a good thing the Professor had already mentioned which button was the power button and such but like, pfffft, she would have been able to figure it out anyway because it was the same button you found on a television set and they happened to have one of those. Things that happened when you had a muggle in the house, yeah? Though that was hardly a thing anymore but Lex didn't mind. The TV could be interesting some times, even with her choosing not to spend too much time with it.

With the computer 'booted' or whatever they called it, she found herself looking at a screen with a lot of those icon things from earlier. Only problem was she didn't know which one she wanted to click.

So....she wasn't all that sure what she was meant to click but this one looked good. A click, then another click and she was brought to a screen. This...actually kinda seemed promising. It wasn't like that moving card game someone next to her was playing but these options might not have been so bad.

Of course she wasn't up for any pansy games so after what took like ages of fiddling around she figured out how to scroll she found one with a car. OPPORTUNITY FOR ROAD RAGE!!!! Cliiiiick. Taking her to....this? Neat.

It didn't take too long after she began playing for her to realize she was losing. Like what even? How did you steer this thing?? Her car kept going from one side of the road to the next, crashing into walls like the driver inside didn't understand what his job in all this was. Jeez, how'd he get himself this car and why'd he have to be HER driver?? Just look at him heading for another wall.

"Bloody hell, can you not though?" She mumbled watching him swerve away only to end up in another wall no matter what buttons she pressed. Dumb game this was a very dumb game and it was either she had given up or the man because there was another wall headed right toward them.

In her frustration Lex might have just started pressing buttons at random. Surely something would make the man grow a brain and better his driving! Suddenly, this happen:



"................................Okay." Have it.

Hazel grinned. This was the coolest class ever! She typed 'checkers' into the search bar and clicked on the first result.



She quickly caught on to the game. She'd heard of the game and knew the idea of it, but the puffer had never really played before. She kept playing.



Ooh! She had a 'queened' checker! Or was it called 'kinged'? She didn't know, but she was excited to keep playing. This was the best she'd ever played a computer game!



Hazel was getting better at this! She had two 'kinged' checkers now. She began feeling more confident that she would win!



Yay! She won! Now, Hazel had clicked on 'Easy', but she was still proud. She won her first computer game!

Though Toby was always a very energetic and hyperactive kid, there was one thing that required sitting and focusing but that always captured his focus perhaps a little TOO well, and that was video games. Of course, they didn't have his kind of video games here in this lesson, but computers had games all of their own. That was close enough. And he knew computers well enough that he could use them with practiced experience.

It felt good, being around technology again. Going to a magic school was awesome, but sometimes you just missed little things like this.

Toby reached down to the PC terminal to press the on/off button, then did the same with the monitor. He held onto the mouse and jiggled it around a little while he waited for the computer to go through the various loading graphics, until it finally reached a familiar log-in screen. There was only a guest account available, with a little flower as the icon, so Toby clicked once on that and resumed mouse jiggling once more.

It was a fast computer, and pretty soon Toby was at the desktop with a bunch icons up on screen. He looked momentarily at the little internet icon, but quickly moved on to the paint symbol, which was tempting. But no, he was here for the games.

Instead of clicking on any symbols, Toby instead looked at the keyboard to search for his specific shortcut. Finding it, he tapped on the key that looked like a cross between a window and a flag (the windows key), and the start menu game up. Next, he typed 'ga', and looked up to see the 'Games' option right there. Using the arrow keys, he navigated to it and pressed 'enter'.

Hmmm... not many that had ever really captured his attention before. This computer didn't seem to have the games he really liked, and Toby was about to click out and get to 'paint' after all, until he finally spotted a game he loved. Tetris.

Without hesitation, Toby clicked on the icon and waited for the game to boot up.



He took a moment to go through the instructions so he knew which buttons did what, before maximising the screen using one of the buttons in the corner of the window so that it filled the whole screen. The Hufflepuff paused briefly to stretch out his fingers, y'know, just limbering up, and then clicked on 'play game' and moved the cursor out of the way.

This was one of those games he often played for a long time. It was something that could keep him sitting still and hyperfocusing for an obscene amount of time. It could be a strange sight, to see Toby focused on something for so long, but folks, you're seeing it now.

It took a few restarts of the game before Toby really got the hang of it again, and then he was well and truly into it, all of his energy evident only in the speed with which he tapped the keys on the keyboard. He stared at the screen captivated.

Merlin only knew how long he played for, but he knew it was time to stop when his eyes began to hurt. Toby leaned back in his chair, blinking and rubbing at them. Soooooooooo many colours.

Okay, so Ben was trying to focus really hard on what everyone was saying and talking about around him. Sure he was a half blood and had muggles or at least muggleborns in his family. Sure he had at least seen a computer before if not really used it all that much. He certainly wasn't aware of half the things about computers that some of the others seemed to know.

The third year watched as Professor Hadley's computer turned on and what was it...loading? He wasn't sure but at least he knew were to look later when the woman asked them to turn their own one. Half circle button...half circle button. Pressing it as he found it, Benny wait and waited until his screen matched the professors. And just about everyone elses.

SPOILER!!: desktop

He fiddled around until he figured out where to go to get anything he might be doing. For what Professor Hadley wanted them to try out on the muggle computer. One button led to one thing, another led to something else and then there was a final screen that seemed promising.

SPOILER!!: programs

Debating on what to do, he opted to write. At least that should somewhat resemble typing on a type writer. That he had actually been shown by his uncle who seemed to enjoy the activity.The Gryffindor followed the instructions they had been given to find the various items, almost clicking on one called Dragon but finally stumbling onto a program called Word. Ben clicked on it. He was certainly going to be using words...right?

SPOILER!!: jackpot

When he opened, it almost looked like a piece of parchment. Right there...up on that...what was it? Screen? And there was this blinking thing on it. Benny tentatively pressed down on a key, a w, and it appeared. Getting ambitious, hit the keys that held the letters for his name, spelling it out first in his head and then on the faux parchment.

SPOILER!!: document

Time to turn it on, finally!

Penelope found the power button pretty easily and then it was just time to wait for it to load...which didn't really take all that long really. Surprising. But a good surprise. She didn't wanna sit around waiting for too long after all.

So now she needed to find the games - which was also pretty easy. But what wasn't as easy was deciding which game to play. There were LOTS of them on here. Hmm... Well, she didn't really want to play a card game. Something different would be more fun, one she'd never played before...like this one with the funny name. Mahjong Titans? Could be interesting.

A new little window popped with a selection of layouts for the...cards? Tiles? Whatever the little rectangles were called. Wasn't hard choosing which one to do though - she was immediately drawn to the cat one.

So now...how to play? There was a little pop-up at the bottom that sorta explained, though it seemed kinda basic. But she tried it and got one match, but then the next one wouldn't work. Could only use ones that didn't have a tile on the right or left? Meh. Okay.

She did okay for while, though she kept forgetting about the not using ones that had tiles on either side so the little message kept popping up. And then it was kinda hard to see which matches she still had, so she might've used the hint option a couple times. This thing was much harder than she expected...but also kinda fun.

But just when she was kinda getting the hang of it and liking it...

It ended. Merlin's beard. Ughh. So close too. She only had a few left.

...She was gonna try again. Yep. She clicked the "End Game" option and started a new game.

Beverly frowned when she clicked on the games folder icon. It highlighted it, but other than that nothing else happened. Scowling at the monitor, then at the mouse, she clicked it again and again and BAM. Folder opened. Huh. Two clicks did the trick.

Scrolling down, the Slytherin's multi-colored eyes stopped on something that looked clever enough to be played. She double clicked on it. Tetris. Also, she's played that before on Kennedy's blasted portable phone. It was fun-ish. It was okay.

The window popped up, demonstrating her the keys she will use to play. Space bar and Enter. Okay. She HAD this. Let the game begin!



It was pretty simple as to what to do at first. Build up blocks, make them fit, create lines and knock the opponents'. She was doing well until the game sped up and the opponent started knocking lines at HER. How DARE it do that? Who did it think it was? Just a computer. Pffft!

Beverly was full in You're-going-down Zone. Pressing away at the Space bar and Enter button. Keeping her eyes on the left box, she connected blocks, made them fit and knocked lines over at her computer. Then BAM!



GAME OVER.

Winner: Beverly Juniper Wayne.

As it should be. Leaning back on her chair, arms folded across her chest the fourth year smirked at the computer screen. Yeah, what now, bud? HIIIIISSS!

Did this mean that they could play games in class?

FREAKING. YEEEEEEEEEEES!

As excited as anything, Grayson turned the computer on by pressing the Deathly Hallows like symbol. He knew exactly where it was, thanks to a certain third year Hufflepuff who had shown him what to do. Really, thank you, Lux. Otherwise he would have looked daft in this lesson.

Actually, he did look daft. Now. When the start screen came up.

Er.

The boy leaned closer and started looking around for a familiar looking start button. It had an image that was similar to a window and-- OH! THERE! On the bottom left hand corner. Grayson clicked on that, which brought up a small section, full of icons that he could click on. Some were ones that looked like the ones he used at home and others............... not so much.

Photos!: Screenshot

Next? All Programs. Because he wanted the GAMES. Not seeing any in the immediate icons list, Grayson scrolled down until he saw it: Games. Another click on that happened, which brought up ANOTHER list of applications. This one............ had a lot of games. Half of them didn't even look like ones he wanted to play. There was one, however, that he liked the look of so..........

Photos!: Screenshot

................ he clicked on it. Which brought up another two screens. Er. Alright then.

Photos!: Screenshot

Brilliant! It was time to start the game! But first, he needed to select a difficulty level. WELL............... this was going to be the first time playing the game so there was no way that he was going to select the most difficult option. Too much risk to his ego. The easiest one wasn't the one he liked the sound of so... the boy selected the middle one. Intermediate. Not too easy and not too hard.

Photos!: Screenshot

The window on the right hand side disappeared and a new board was opened up. There was a small notice on how to play the game, which Grayson looked over and then closed hastily. Minesweeper. Click on the blue tiles and try not to select a mine. It sounded DEAD simple. The boy continued clicking until..........

Photos!: Screenshot

What?!

WHAT?!

ALREADY?! He had only clicked on TWO FREAKING TILES.

Photos!: Screenshot

Oh you have got to be kidding me.

Done. He was DONE. This game was stupid.

Okay so now he had gotten into the thing and sorta gotten used to how it all worked. Typing on the computer. Even if he didn't feel anymore connected with the muggle contraption. But Benny still had something else to do. He had to continue typing and put together some thoughts so he fuddled around and came up with something that was at least halfway legible. Or understandable in this case.

SPOILER!!: paragraph

Alright game time! What could Kace play! This was his favorite class ever. Hmmm he really liked burger games! So he clicked and typed in a burger game of his choice and got one he really liked!

He started off with a tutorial!


Then he began to start playing his game, he was starting to get good at it. Psshh this game was easy!



Then at the end he got his check and happy customers! He was pretty happy!

Playing games? COOL! That actually sounded like a lot of fun! Turning to his computer, he went to the games folder and opened it, taking a look at all his options. He'd never heard of half of these - but aha! There was chess - he could do chess. He knew how to play the wizarding version, how different could this one be?

He opened the file and the game popped up. It was just a plain old chess game, not a wizarding set, but he had expected that. So he was white, yes?

SPOILER!!: Game on!

He clicked the first piece and moved it, starting out slow with the pawns. The computer was pretty reckless though- after two moves, it decided to move it's queen! That was bold, Mr. Computer, super bold. He moved his king out the way and attempted to move the computer's queen into a good position to take it out - and ended up getting himself into checkmate.

Oops.

SPOILER!!: For real that's what happened play by play

Angel couldn't believe she was getting to play with a computer, she loved them, well she liked playing on them at home, she had even played a few games on them when her friends were all too busy to go out and play, so she decided to play a game that she liked.



Angel beamed as she clicked on the button, this game sounded simple enough but she would have to wait and see, she had thought about playing a hard game but decided that she didn't have enough time for that.



Angel was totally enjoying herself now and then she saw one of the one's that got her extra points and she beamed as she continued to play the game, she loved this game.



Angel had been caught up in the game too much, she never realised that she was losing lives regularly and all too soon the computer was saying game over which was weird because she couldn't remember losing all her lives.



Oh well she realised she would just have to practice more when she got home, though she totally loved muggle studies.

Awesome!!! Game time!!!
Lucy had played with the games already with her mother's PC!!
Lucy loved this game!!
Lucy started to play the game..
Lucy and her mother often had fights in this game..they agree that the loser washing the dishes...
After a few games Lucy decided to close the game...
She was really happy and relaxed..

OOC: sorry I didn't loaded the images because I have some problems with my PC..

Jasmine turned on the computer and the monitor. Unfortunately having a heads up on the Muggle world was not going to help her much in this situation. A computer whiz, she definitely was not. How she was going to make it through this task, she did not know.

Looking at her choices, the possibilities weren't good. She saw something that she knew even less about than computers and that was chess. Her dad had always wanted to teach her to play, but she had never learned. She had watched him play, but only had a vague knowledge of the game. So why would she choose this game to play? Call her crazy.

Looking at the board, Jasmine tried to remember all of the pieces and how they could move. This was not going to go well, she knew it.



Making her moves, Jasmine watched as the computer countered each of her moves. More than once, she got a "ding" when she made a move that wasn't allowed. She had no idea what she was doing, but she continued to play. Maybe she would learned something from this total annihilation.

Amazingly, Jasmine was able to capture some of the computers pieces. Unfortunately, that usually led to some of her pieces getting captured in return. Finally she heard the dreaded word "Check". She knew enough to know that if she didn't get her king out of the situation, she would lose. "Ding, ding, ding" No way to escape apparently. The game was over. Jasmine had lost her first ever chess game as expected. Best two out of three?

Ah that made sense. Used it before. Yup, cause he totally seemed like he knew what he was doing. Nodding at him, she walked around to the next student to see how they were doing.

... and nearly cracked a smile when Beverly explored her computer station and the mouse.

"Oh that game looks interesting. Looks very ... numbers oriented." And she should know and be one to say such things about numbers.

Heh, tic-tac-toe. "I loved playing that with my sisters when were little." Though she never tried playing with a computer, but she reckoned her sisters probably challenged her more than the computer would have anyway.

AND then she heard it and she DID crack a smile at Sophie's comment. "Tell me about it... but that game looks like it takes strategy..." Who said computer games couldn't be educational?

As did chess. Not wizard chess sadly. But she was doing okay ... better than she'd do, probably. "Too bad muggle chess isn't really like wizarding chess."

Sudoku puzzle! "Ah another numbers game! I love this one and nice work," Hadley beamed at the Snake.

Another chess player! It seemed there were quite a few; perhaps they should start a chess club to cure the winter blues? Bad joke? Okay then. "Nice try"

And props to to Ethan as he found his way on the computer. They really were simple pieces of technology; and surely something their young minds could easily grasp and figure out.

Ooh spider solitaire! Another good game for winter days ...... and one that didn't require the partnership of the evil computer for an opponent, which made it even better.

Heh, nice ... someone (figures a ravenclaw) who didn't play games but typed up a paragraph instead. Which considering some of the computer games out there, this was definitely the simplest choice...

Another spider solitaire player! Giving Adi a nod when she passed, it didn't seem as if he was having trouble.

Oh this one looked similar to what Bay was playing; nodding at Marigold as she was playing, she watched a few moments and frowned when she didn't seem successful at it. "I swear some games are just rigged..." Hence why there were other games out there to play which you COULD actually win at.

But then she heard reactions that she did NOT want to hear ... frowning over at the Gryffindor Prefect, she sighed, as she saw that blue screen of death. "Oh for the love of Wenlock, what HAVE you done, Prefect Cambridge? The computer is NOT a bludger target ... nor is the game you were playing. No need to be clicking so - aggressively." Because now she's done it and she WAS not fixing the computer for Cambridge to wreck again. She could mess around with a computer again on her own time.

"Ah checkers! Very exciting! Well done," Hadley beamed at the young student. Apparently computer checkers was proving easier than computer chess.

And a tetris player over here. Nodding approvingly at Tobias, she continued walking around observing.

And another writer ... who hadn't written anything yet, but at least he got the program up and running.

And another one who was playing the game that looked kind of like dominos but with funny symbols on the pieces... who also was unsuccessful at the game. "Better luck next time."

And back to Beverly who selected a game - tetris. Who seemed successful as well. Hadley beamed at the fourth year approvingly.

Oh Wenlock. Someone seemed frustrated. Clearly did NOT have the patience of a Hufflepuff. "You need to have patience; if you click to hasty than you set off the mines..." Yup, she'd experimented with that game before.

"Looking good there," Hadley nodded, as she glanced over Benjamin's shoulder at the words he'd typed up.

"ah that one looks educational ... future shopkeeper on our hands, I think," Hadley noted at Kace's screen.


Another chess player! Who lost. Funny how both Newells chose to play the same game; did they think that up on their own ? Telepathic communication?

"Next time," Hadley noted at Caleb.

Hmm this one? Interesting game choice... observing Angel clicking randomly a moment or two, she waited until the game was near over before speaking. "Well that game seems ... interesting."

And another game player who Hadley watched and observed...

ooc: so no images, but could you at least provide a play-by-play in-depth descriptions of what game you played? What happened in the game? I need some more details to give you more participation credit ...


Yet another chess player! Yup they totally needed to start a chess club. It would go right along with the gobstones club or anything else really.


Making her way back to the front, Hadley took one glance at her computer and sighed, "Oops, time flies when we're having fun! It seems as if we're out of time for this lesson." She glanced around at the class. "Make sure you take those computer diagrams with you and study them along with the definitions for each component that we talked about. Your homework is simple; head back to the technology center and play around the computer some more. Play a different game, draw something on the paint application, type up some of your other homeworks, just try something new on the computer."

ooc: yes, class is dismissed. If you have any questions, please ask them now. Homework will be posted officially up tomorrow or Monday, but the gist of it is what we mentioned IC =)

Jasmine was a teeny bit disappointed that class was ending. She really wanted to give chess another try. Oh well, maybe she would get a chance to play later. Trying to figure out how to play chess had taken Jasmine's mind off her troubles for a moment. Now class was over and it was back to reality.

Preparing to leave, Jasmine put her things back into her bookbag. She made sure to not to forget her computer diagram. Then she walked over to Professor Hadley and said, "Goodbye Professor." "See you next time." With nothing left to do, Jasmine turned and headed toward the door.

Awh done already? But-but he wanted to play some more games! Sigh. But the Gryffindor was starting to get tired. Maybe he could just venture back to the dorms and take a nap?... Yes. That would be absolutely perfect!

Gathering his things, he logged out of the computer and headed towards the door. "Bye Professor Hadley," Even though the lesson hadn't really taught him anything new, at least he'd be able to do the homework easily! AH, being a muggleborn sure does pay off every now and then.

What? They were done already? The class seemed really short, but that might have just been because they were having so much fun like Hadley hypothesized. Alright, Hayden would accept that hypothesis. She closed out of her game and pressed the power button to turn the computer back off. She was excited about the homework; they just had to play more games? Sweet. Best homework every. Hayden left her desk and moved toward the exit. "Bye Professor Hadley, thanks for the fun lesson." She smiled brightly and made sure to grab her diagram before heading out the door.

Aww man! Class was done already? Adi had been having so much fun, it was like being home on his own computer once again. He made up his mind to come back here soon. And it seemed the universe agreed for that homework would bring him right back here.

He gathered up his stuff. "Bye, Professor. Fun lesson.'' Adi grinned as he left the Technology Center, heading back to the Common Room.

"Me too, sudoku's the best!" said Simon with a grin as he shared Professor Hadley's warm smile. Then she walked away so he refocused on a different puzzle.

He had just begun another sudoku puzzle when Professor ended class. WHAT? No. No. He was going to be quicker this time when he solved it. He knew he was. His mind was ready to solve more puzzles. Frowning slightly, he packed up his things. Oh well, he'd just have to go find a sudoku book somewhere around the school to do for fun. At that thought, he grinned a little more. "Bye Professor Hadley! Stay warm," he said as he prepared himself to go outside into the chillier corridors. He crossed his arms to help himself keep warm and walked back to his common room.

Lucy smiled to her Professor and said:" Thank you for the amazing lesson, Professor!"
See you later!

.....and yes!!! MORE COINZ!!!

Whoa wait, class is over? Nuuuuuu! Just when he's about to recover from his cabin fever! Merlin, blame the stupid weather outside okay? Apparently, Ethan discovered that this is now the next best thing to beat his boredom, so props to you too Professor Hadley! At least they got computers now to fill their free time.

Nodding and packing up his things, Ethan stood up from his seat and waved at the professor up front. "Thanks for the lesson, professor." Ah nooooo. The corridor again? Ethan's brows furrowed as he turned his jacket's collar up. Every single day is war against nature, did they know? Merlin. The third year decided to run for it this time. He seriously can't handle the extra cold nowadays.

Lex stared at the screen. It had gone blue, did anyone else see it go blue for a couple minutes before just shutting off on its own? Was it even meant to do that? This was like technology taking over. Hadn't someone warned the Muggles this would happen--Hadley say whaaaaat???

"But I--it...I didn't..." It wasn't HER fault. She was told to click buttons and she clicked buttons!! The instructions were super simple and she followed them to a 'T'. Not her fault the computer chose today to rebel and there was nothing she could do about it. "Miss Cambridge, please." Not said with a tone or anything, more like a request. Same reaction she'd given Collarbin and Professor Smiles when they called her Prefect Cambridge. Did not wearing the badge since January mean nothing to anyone? She was not a Prefect. Merlin knew she was rubbish at it. How many Prefects got detention for trying to help. Exactly.


But before she could ask what they'd do about the computer with a mind of its own, they were being dismissed? Really? So then......she wouldn't have to do any fixing? Neat.

Lex gathered her bag and hopped out of her seat. When she came back here she'd obviously choose a different computer because this one was a dud. "Sorry about what happened to your computer Professor. I suggest you give it obedience training or a more effective spell." Because that was how computers worked.

Obviously.

What? The class was over? But she just won a computer game!!!! Hazel was disappointed that they couldn't stay longer. She picked up her diagram and started heading for the door. "Thanks Professor! I really enjoyed today's class!" she said. That class had inspired her to start using her mother's old computer more often, not that her mother knew how to use it anyway. She grinned as she skipped out the door.

Marigold picked up her stuff and started heading to the door. "Thanks for the class, Professor!" she said. It was fun, except for that hard game. Humph.