Muggle Studies...

Another lesson where they had gotten a new professor. But then Benny had met or at least seen this one like he had the animangus charms professor...at the Gryffindor meet and greet the first night. "Hello Professor," he greeted as he came into the classroom and noticed the woman awaiting them there. There was a ping for the missing Hadley but he wasn't going to let it mare the woman in front of him anymore then he had with the other herbology professor after Bentley was gone.

Turning to see the desk layout, he spotted Adi and Angel already there. The former sitting at a desk that shared with Abby. That got a slightly raised eyebrow from the Gryffindor in reaction and curiousity. "Hey," he said simply for the three of them as he took the free chair at the desk Angel was seated at besides the other two. As he took out his belongings Ben noticed the name tag and the instructions on the board, the fifth year pausing to do as instructed.

Quote:

Benjamin Atreyu
Ben
Fifth Year
Gryffindor

*FLOP*

That was the sound of Toby seating himself at a desk in the Muggle Studies classroom, one by the side of the room and by a window, as usual. He was in a weird in-between state. Floppy, but fidgety, wishing he didn't have to come to class but eager to come and learn and meet the new professor, not-happy but also not-sad, tired but hyper. One big mixed bag of everything and nothing.

But, BUT, he still had that ingrained thought. About keeping up appearances and his cheerful reputation, so THOUGH he was floppy, he was still able to offer the new professor a huge smile.

"Hi Professor Moxley. Welcome and stuff. I like your post-person vest." Like... post as in mail. Not like... post-person as in after-person. That would make no sense.

Okay, so... oh. Name tags. Well... alright. Once Toby had all his note-taking things out and ready on his desk, he grabbed a quill and loaded it up with ink before filling in the name-tag before slapping in on his robes in the general shoulder region.

With that done, Toby leaned his arms on the desk and rested his chin on them, watching the professor as she was sure to start class soon. He might have looked tired or something, were his feet not energetically tapping below the table. And still he smiled, warm welcome and all.

MUGGLE STUDIES. YES. If there was any new class that Dot really needed to take, it was the one that would keep her from making some obvious and terrible gaffe in the Muggle world. She didn't want to go to jail, after all. She was not a fan of jail.

"Good day, Professor." Dot paused and bliiiiiiiiinked at the professor in surprise before adding, "That is a boss vest. I like the shiny bits. If you want it more shiny, I know how to glitterfy things. I'm very good at that charm." She wiggled her fingers cheerfully before grabbing a seat near the front.

Quote:

Charlotte Wojack-Gusey
DOT
Ravenclaw
3rd year

She saw the peeking head of one Muggle Studies professor, and so Beverly accelerated her pace. It was impossible she was late. After making sure there were no Slytherin stragglers back at the common room she'd checked the time. She had time.

Jeez, responsibility, man.

Tossing her long brown hair behind her shoulder, catching her breath slightly, she sighed in relief. She wasn't late. Thank the dragons. Deciding the desks up front seemed more inviting, that and she was closer to the professor, Beverly opted for one of those, in the process shooting Caleb a nod.

"Good day, Professor." She quickly took out a pen -- a new fancy one Kennedy had gotten her for her birthday -- and jotted down on her name tag, slapping it on as instructed. Hiss! She glanced up at the woman again and flashed her a timid grin. "Beverly Wayne, nice to meet you." And the rest of her information was on her tag, see. :3

Margo blushed a deep red right down to her toes. She honestly could not be any redder. Ugh....face palm, she would actually do the motion if it didn't make her look even dumber.

"Sorry Professor, Hello." Margo said a little bashful, she usually was OVER talkative really, so how she failed to say hello to the Professor was beyond her. Jeepers! This was turning out to be a great first year at Hogwarts....first the lake incident when she first arrived, her charms not working at all, and now getting on the wrong side of the professors. Brilliant Margo....just brilliant....

It seemed the last of the students were filing in now and it was just as well. Meredith was itching to get to the activity and time was a wastin. Her epic debut as a professor was about to happen and everybody should be super excited.



Clapping her hands together, Meredith jumped down from her desk and went over to shut the door. Anyone not in this room would be missing an epic class. Sad days for them.

”Hello! As most of you have probably figured out, I’m Meredith Moxley, your new Muggle Studies professor. “ How lucky were THEY, right? She was the best of the best. "I see not everyone read the notice board about attire but no matter, you'll be just fine doing the activity in your robes, if not a bit restricted. They weren't exactly good for physical activity. ”I’d like to start by-“ Her hands had somehow found the zipper of her vest again and she tugged at it absently as she talked. ”Hearing your opinions on this course. Why do YOU think we study muggles? She looked at them expectantly JUST as she gave the zipper ONE last hard tug and the thing BROKE right off, the actual zipper part flying off into the first row of tables.

”Watch your heads!” Heh, oops. ”Guess I don’t need a zipper after all. ANYWAY, on with the discussion. Let’s hear some opinions, people!”

OOC:Please remember not to post your character arriving late! Just pretend that they have been here all along (or face lost house points! DUN DUN DUN) !

Abby thought and said "Well we should study muggles to try to learn what is different in there world" Abby was a muggleborn so she should know stuff about muggles better than others

Kate wanted to bounce along in excitement over the professors cheery attitude. This professor was going to be AWESOME, zipper or no zipper. "That's okay, Professor," Kate said, looking at the zipper, "I had one of those break off my coat, too. Pesky little things." She didn't want the professor to feel bad at the start of her first class and all.

She didn't raise her hand to say that, because...well, that wasn't the question. The question was what Kate had an answer to, and so she extended her hand now instead of before. "I think it's because witches and wizards sometimes need to blend in with the Muggles," she answered, "We don't want them to get suspicious and think something's up when we don't even know what simple things like...rubber ducks are."

Margo had a dodge the little zipper just slightly. No big deal, it's a zipper, not like it could hurt really right? Thinking of muggles and why we should study them. Why should wizards. Well Margo being half muggle thought it was very important.

"It can help teach witches and wizards how to interact with muggles, also help teach us how to keep the magical world a secret. And they are frankly a little funny to watch sometimes." Margo finished, remember how many times she had seen her mother do little tricks on her father. Maybe that's why he started to work more often as Margo go a little older.

Moxley was funny, wasn't she? She looked so determined with that zipper that Adi actually grinned. It as one of the things he did for days. "Slowly but surely, Professor,'' he said.
.....................

Angelfish had joined him. He smiled at her and watch her stick the tag to her robes. She had actually written down Angelfish on it... not Ang as AJ called her or whatever lovey dovey name Benny gave her. He wondered if everyone was going out of his way to make him feel better. "It looks great.''
.....................

And there was his bestie! "Hey, Benny.'' The raised eyebrow did not go unnoticed but Adi was too preoccupied at peering at Benny's tag as he wrote on it to even think of replying. Ben? "I think you left out 'N-Y','' the Hufflepuff stated, reaching for a quill. But too late... Moxley was starting the class. Hmph.

O__O

Adi pressed his lips together as the zipper went airborne. Ahh, poor Moxley and her zipper. Still, wanting to laugh, the fifth year raised his hand. "We study muggles because they're fascinating despite their lack of magical abilities."

Well, they were. Loads of persons Adi knew back home were muggles and they were awesome. Including his dad.

It took Amur a minute to realize that the Professor was speaking to her, but when she did finally realize it, there was no question as to why. Amur sunk down in her chair, sure that her ears would have shrunk back against her head if she had ears that could.

"Apologies Miss." She had...A lot on her mind. No, no excuses. Admit, fess-up and move on. That was the best way to handle situations. After all, it didn't sound like the Professor was about to start jabbing fingers her way. Remember for next time. Yes, she most definitely would.

She bobbed her head quickly as she dropped onto her chair. "Good day, Miss."

And then there was the zipper, departing suddenly and unexpectedly from the Professor's vest. Amur's eyes widened as she watched it clatter away, the question posed nearly eluding her attention.

Why study muggles? Amur's hand went up slowly, unsure if she really wanted to answer after not saying anything on her entry. She cleared her throat. "Because muggles make things like zippers, Miss. Things we need and use."

And because they were interesting, curious, two-legged creatures with improperly wired brains, stout hearts and very peculiar mannerisms. So sayeth her father. So-eth she would not repeat.

Toby saluted the professor at the 'good observation' thing and went on watching the woman and the other students in the remaining minutes before class started. By this point in his Hogwarts career, he'd learned to notice the signs that meant a teacher was about to start, well... teaching, so when she went over to shut the door, and straightened up in his seat and made the effort to look more alive.

Mkay, mkay, mkaaaaaaaaay. Why do we study muggles? Toby waited until a couple other people had answered before putting up his own hand, and waited until he was called on before speaking.

"I don't know if it's the reason we do it, but I think it's important for living peacefully alongside them. Like... muggles don't know about us, and if we didn't know anything about them either, then there might be all sorts of confusing situations when the two communities overlap that nobody would know how to prevent or fix, and it could expose our world or something. And, also, and... sometimes people don't like what they don't understand or know very much about, so if wizards learn about muggles it means people will be more tolerant of them. And leave them alone. And not be mean." Toby knew that had been an issue in the past, with muggle and muggleborn hate, but he was quite confident (or hopeful to the point of fully convincing himself) that this was no longer the case.

Attire? Glancing down at her Ravenclaw robes, Tia frowned. How had she missed that memo? She was normally way more attuned to these details. Sigh. At least Professor Moxley said they would be okay doing the activity.

And as she asked the first question and her zipper came flying off at those in the front row, Tia was grateful for taking a seat somewhere in the middle.

But moving onward; why did she think they studied muggles? "To learn their social habits to be able to blend in when necessary, so we don't break the Statute of Wizardry Secrecy."

That question was the best the Professor could ask. Quite frankly, Oleander didn't know what he was doing here. He could live around muggles and blend in perfectly well. Yet the wizarding perspective could sometimes be rather interesting.

Wanna know what's more interesting? He kept doodling on the S for Slytherin on that nametag, and for some reason that it the one side that kept having issues with sticking to his clothes.

So, people were probably giving adequate answers, Oleander was better off dealing with the tag.

Norah grinned excitedly and nodded when Professor Moxley commented on how mature she was. IT WAS WORKING! The growing up thing was working! And even if she missed Professor Hadley 'n all this one seemed NICE. She made sure to make the handshake nice and firm because that was a grownup thing too, but gave an excited bounce before letting go. She couldn't HELP it okay? Bouncing was in her nature.

SPOILER!!: Hayden

Quote:

"Hello professor," she greeted when she entered the room. At least this one wasn't a cat. Well, probably not. Hayden looked around the room. "Hey Norah, can I sit with you?" First nametag. Right.

Norah gave her dorm mate a nod and a smile as she motioned for her to sit down. "Sure!"

Oooh! Was it comfy clothes time? Norah had READ that part on the notice board, but she had worn her robes on TOP of all the comfy stuff just in case a professor stopped her on the way here. Everybody in the entire school seemed to be getting detentions these days, and she did NOT want to be one of them, 'specially because that would be very un-mature of her. She took Professor Moxley's words as her cue to take the robes off from over her t-shirt, which was quite a relief 'cause it was getting ITCHY and HOT under there, and draping them over the back of her chair. Ahh. Much better. The third year then peeled her name tag off of her robes and put it in the table, leaning over it to add

Quote:

no nicknames except one day I'll change my middle name to McSparkles

in cramped handwriting under her year. THERE. All done. Did they seeee how the sparkly purple ink matched her shirt? 'Cause it DID, which was making Norah all wriggly an excited all over again.

Oooh right. A question. Her hand shot straight into the air and started waving around. Muggles! She knew about this one. "Well, muggles are people too and its good to learn about people who are different from us so we can be more considerate of them. Plus muggles are really smart 'cause they figure out alll these ways to get on without magic so learning about them can teach us about problem solving too." She put her hand down and smiled at the professor. Having answers to share was ALWAYS fun, especially when she was wearing purple. Purple made every situation better, just like glitter.

Caleb honestly had no idea WHY they studied muggles or why it was necessary...but ah well. He didn't care. He was here for points and to prepare for OWLs, and that involved coming up with something to answer this question with...

He raised his hand. "We study them so we can understand just how hard life is without magic, and it helps us appreciate our powers more," he said. Awww. Those pooooooor poor muggles.

So she HAD read the notice board correctly, whoop whoop! She was definitely having to restrain herself from giving a fist pump. Because she wasn't the one that was being weird. And there went the professor's zipper. Oops. Heather liked this professor already, though. She had kind of the same enthusiasm as Professor Airey, which she liked.

So, why did they study muggles? "So, we know their habits and can blend in with them so we don't expose ourselves. Er, our magic anyway." Yeah, that.

Cilla had been quietly listening. It was rather fascinating seeing how wizards studied muggles. She lightly fidgeted with her name tag as she listened.

Cilla could not add any further answers to what had already been said so she attentively listened.

Lux smiled at the Professor. She was so nice and it was nice to wear more casual clothes for once in a lesson. Hopefully they would be doing something really fun today.

Raising her hand, she offered an answer to the first question. "I think it's important to know about Muggles because we live in close proximity to them even if they don't know about our existence. If we know their habits and behaviours we can blend in with them easier. There are magical folks who live where muggles do, such as myself so it's important for me to know their behaviours. Besides, muggle things are just so interesting because they have to do everything without magic." Hehe, that was a rather long answer, but she didn't think Professor Moxley would mind.

Annnnd thankfully Tia had given him the OK, so he had a seat. And that meant the hard part of class was over. Unless, Professor Moxley liked to throw in some curve balls just to make muggle studies even harder for the Muggleborns. That, Zander would not like thanks. Ahem. And ooh, that other girl making her way over... Uh, her name was uh... Heather right? Gryffindor. Merlin, he'd have to really get down on this memorizing thing. Especially with the new badge and all, it'd be embarrassing if he didn't get it down by midyear. AND it was already so far into the term not really but sorta, so not much time left on that. This AND studying for OWLs? He was going to go absolutely insane, he was.

But um, the question. Well, Zander could answer with one of the obvious ones like the whole 'blending in', cohesive life thing. But he had to offer a different perspective 'cause first of all getting on the good side AND secondly, he had a different perspective on the subject 'cause you know... Obvious reasons. Such a heritage or whatever people called it.

And you know what?! For being a PREFECT that Newell guy's answer was very, VERY demeaning. 'How hard life is without magic.' Well, they didn't need the pity because he actually did perfectly fine before Hogwarts rolled along thankyouverymuch. Also, PREFECT Adi's answer was quite similar too. 'How fascinating they are'. Not zoo animals. Doublethankyouverymuch. And this is exactly why he took mugglestudies. Plus, he could use all the good OWL grades he could get. They'd help balance out the Runes ones probably.

"Well, Professor Moxley," he didn't forget her name either, nope. "There's a lot of stigma around muggles," he was using big words like 'stigma', see? "But really, they're not much different from witches and wizards. And I think that Muggle Studies doesn't just teach us the differences... But also similarities too? So that way we can blur the lines and not look down upon people who are muggleborn--," Oh ahem. "Uh, I mean people who are muggles."

He wasn't sold on the subject, it had been utter rubbish last year, but he was giving this new lady a fair go. Hence his presence. He only hoped he wouldn't regret wasting his time.. or something. No pressure.

Filling out the little sticker tag thing, he stuck it to his chest while he was waiting.

Quote:

Zeke Rogers
Gryffindor
Second Year

And then it was time to kick things off... and Merlin, she was odd already. Was that a muggle-in-wizarding-world thing??? Perhaps.

Nevertheless, he had opinions on why to bother taking the subject, so he way as well share them. Hand up straight, he offered his views point blank. "I think muggle studies is about understanding how muggles live their lives, not understanding all the useless things that half the muggles don't even know themselves, but things that can help us if we had to interact with other people in the muggle world." Yeah, yeah, not about mixing chemicals to make photograph negatives when shops did that for cheap.

Dima had filled in his name tag appropriately, swinging his legs in his seat next to Dot all the while. To be frank, he didn't know very much about Muggles or anything Muggle-related otger than what his dad and tutors had taught him, which wasn't all that much. So clearly a lot of knowledge was to be gained from this class, right?

He listened to a few answers, then threw up his hand and gave the only answer that made sense to him.

"Because we like to make friends, magical or not, and we can't do that if we dont understand them." Mhmmm.

Oooookay, Ruby wasn't sure if that vest was supposed to be a fashion statement but props to Moxley for owning it anyway. Ruby had shown up in comfy clothes JUST as instructed. Sneakers, soft, worn denim shorts, and a comfy tank top. Even Bellaire couldn't ping her for this, right? She was just following instructions.

Speaking of instructions... Ruby kind of wished name tags could be more fashionable. Even Flamsteed had made some effort there. So of course she designed a little border on hers before adding her name and everything.... though she only added her first name for the nickname part because that would be weird if a professor called her what one of her boys called her, right?

And this was a discussion she could get behind. Discussions were way better than stuff she couldn't read written on a blackboard. Ruby stuck her hand up.

"Professor, a lot of us came from them, or our parents did, or their parents did, sooo it isn't as if they're a whole different species or whatever. Its more like studying another culture, which is always exciting, you can learn so much that can improve your life.... like... muggle fashion for instance." Just an example off the top of her head. Most everyone dressed muggle these days, though some were quite behind the trends. "And sometimes the muggle ways are actually the best ways to do things, especially if a spell for something hasn't been invented yet. Learning about how the muggles do something can actually inspire witches and wizards to invent new spells or potions." She was inspired all the time actually.

For like, nail art reasons.

Nicole thought about the professor's question. When she took the course, she did not think carefully about why she wanted to study muggles. Her mother was a muggle, and she grew up in a muggle environment. To be honest, she did not need to learn about muggles. However, she got the answer after thinking about it more.

The Ravenclaw raised her hand. "The wizarding world might lose its magic one day," she said, "and we have to get ready to live with muggles, without magic." Nicole did not want that to happen, of course, but she liked to live in the muggle world.

Angel raised her hand. "Because they are interesting and we might decide to live like one or marry one when we are older." Angel smiled.