Yes Skylar had a group; most of which was older kids but there was Gunnar and well, there was no limit and so from her peripheral vision she caught Emmalyn just sitting there. By herself. And while the girl wasn't a Slytherin, she liked her well enough to give her a small wave and beckon her to join her. If she wanted. She wasn't about to beg her to.

"You can join us, Emmalyn" again. If she wanted. The offer was on the table. Cause apparently the young Hufflepuff looked lost and apparently Skylar did have a small empathetic side that made her want to feel inclusive (mostly).

"Thank you," Quinn said, taking a seat next to Beth. Luckily for Daniel, she wasn't doing her usual watch and study everyone today. No, instead Quinn was glaring sharply at Reese's back from across the room.

He was the one that called her passion rubbish, not the other way around. What was he so mad about?

She sighed and turned her attention back on her group, listening to Beth assure everyone that with her in the group, this project was going to be easy. Well, Beth wasn't wrong. This class was about fiction, and seemingly more specifically, fantastical fiction. These were some of Quinn's biggest passions. "I'm not entirely convinced Professor Curtains didn't write today's class specifically for me, honestly." It was almost more serendipitous than serendipity was capable of.

She gave the group a small shrug.

Vivian watched as her minions fellow students formed their own groups and was quite pleased that things were going on as peaceful as possible. Still, she remained behind but had already looked at Kye because she was joining wherever her dorm mate was heading off. Until she looked to her side when someone had approached her.

...

The Head Girl stared at Nathan for a good three seconds before tilting her head, wondering why exactly he was here in front of her, asking to be part of her group... when she clearly didn't really have a group yet. Vivian almost made a face, because she really wasn't expecting him to ask anyway. But she figured it wasn't Quidditch-related and there wasn't anything he was rivalling her against. "Uh... sure," she replied, casual but still at a loss for words. He was probably here to annoy her again, right?

"Sky, I'm joining," Vivian announced. Did she still need approval, though? Because the seventh year didn't really think so. Besides, most of the people in their group were either friends or house mates. "And he's joining too." She gestured behind her, towards Nathan. Vivian wasn't rude unless she had a reason to be, anyway.

Oh, and... "Hi, guys," she greeted Gunnar and Juni.

Wait, how many teams was that now? It seemed like a few more than the requested three or four. Basically, the whole thing was an imbroglio of epic proportions, as the whole grouping up thing usually was. Another reason why he didn't like the whole 'group work' thing.

Anyway, since he was being forced to do this, he might as well do the 'Head Boy' thing and join some of the young ones. He approached a group that seemed (seemed because, again imbroglio) to consist of just Maddie Kemp and a younger Ravenclaw who he didn't recall the name of. "Hey, okay if I join you?"

It felt like his grin somehow doubled in size at Bel's obvious enthusiasm at partnering up with him. "Awesome!" He had no idea what the task even was... This was History of Magic after all though so it could likely be something incredibly mundane. Either way, it was still gonna be awesome.

He noticed everyone else was still forming their groups and that some of the groups were getting pretty big. Apparently, it seemed no one wanted to join their group though. If you could even call it a group. This was one of the other perks of sitting right at the back, yep.

"Psssst. If it ends up being just the two of us, you better do your fair share of the work." His expression made it clear he was totally only teasing of course. If a smaller group meant twice the workload he was all for it.

Bel blinked at Max for a few seconds before noting the expression on his face, then she grinned at him. Just the TWO of them.

That would be fine. Great even! No, not great, just the normal kind of okay. Except great because it was always great to get to work with a friend on something. Except what if it was something that she wasn't any good at? Then it would be really obvious and it wouldn't be like she could just hide being a dummy. Not that she wouldn't do her best. She would definitely do her best.

"I'll do my share, but you're the creative one. Hey I wonder if we can do something to do with your comic book stuff, that would be ace."

Hopefully the professor wouldn't make them smoosh with a bigger group. Not that she would mind working with other people. That would be fine also. It was all fine, in fact. Maybe if she didn't look at anyone then they wouldn't think to come and join them. Not that she would mind if they did. Or if they didn't.

This class was awesome wasn't it?

Lydia couldn't help but feel vindicated by the professor's comments about the quote, and then he even quoted Philip Pullman, the author she had mentioned! This was great. But when he mentioned getting into groups, Lydia groaned internally. She was no good at finding a group. Back in the muggle world, she'd often been one of the last picked for any group activity or sport in physical education class.

As she turned around, the class seemed to be in chaos. Groups were forming everywhere, probably a few more than the professor's three or four. Lydia groaned again. This was crazy. But then she noticed a few younger kids who also seemed to be in need of a group. One was a Ravenclaw and the other a 'Puff, and holy cow, was that the Head Boy joining them? Ok, she needed to be over there.

Lydia approached the little group and cleared her throat. "Excuse me," she said. "Do you mind if I join too?" She smiled at the badger and eagle, who she'd never met before. Hilariously, she realized that their group now consisted of one person from each house! This would also be a good opportunity to introduce herself to the Head Boy.

Ooh. Group work. Hattie liked group work. This meant that she didn't have to do lots of work, because it was more evenly distributed among the group. Hattie also loved group work. It meant she could get to know her class mates better, and help out the younger kids. It was great. And history of magic was an alright lesson, so group work made it even better. The blonde was pretty excited to see what they were going to do in this lesson. She smiled, looking around to try and find a good group. She didn't just want to group with her friends. They were mostly seventh years, and that wouldn't be great them all being together. So she was looking for a different group.

She spotted Bel and Max together, just the two of them, and figured that maybe they were a good group to join. Not too many, and they were a few years younger than her. So it was good. The hufflepuff headed in their directions. "Hey guys.... Am I okay to work with you?"

Comic book stuff!? Why hadn't he thought of that? So far the topic had been about books and fiction and Professor Curtains had said comic books counted in the discussion so should the opportunity arise in this activity... definitely!

He was about to tell Bel that yep, that would be super neat but was momentarily distracted by someone potentially heading their way. Oh, it was Hattie. She wouldn't want to work with them, she'd rather work with her older friends, right? She was probably on her way to another group close by, yeah... but... wait...

Nooooope... she was definitely coming straight this way.

"Huh? You wanna work with us?" He shot a glance at Bel and then turned back to Hattie, no explantion for the strange twisty feeling he just felt in his tummy. "Uhm. I don't see why not... Yeah... I mean, that's cool with me." He could hardly tell her no, could he!? And he was positive Bel wouldn't either.

So two was about to become three.

Honestly, she wasn't expecting any activities in her History of Magic class. The Professor might have thought of trying out an experiment to make the subject a little less of a bore. Olivia, not exactly much of a reader, scanned the room and looked for a group that would give her a bit of an advantage without doing that much, really. There were the first years with Quinn & Beth's group, joined by Nettie. The Head Boy's group. The Hufflepuff Captain's Group. The Gryffindor Captain's Group. And then there she was, Vivian Fairfield! With the Slytherin Captain! And some more of the older students. She recognized the tiny boy too, Chloe's brother? And the second year Hufflepuff. Was it Emma?

She went closer to Vivian, "Can I join your group, Vivian?" she almost whispered. She knew no one from her own group. Vivian talked a bit about some of them during their Hogwarts tour, but she wasn't formally introduced to neither of them.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh noooooooooooooot that she had any problems with Hattie joining them! Hattie was great, obviously. Bel looked up to the older girl, actually. She was so poised and together and generally all the things that Bel failed to be. She exchanged looks with Max, trying to figure out what he was thinking and then he said Hattie could join them and well, of course she could. Of course. It was no big deal.

So she grinned at Hattie. It wasn't her best grin. A bit strained actually, but she was trying.

Be cool, Bel. Be cool.

"'course, Hats."

She had been here the entire time and really listening, but when you were short and in the back row sometimes your hand just didn't get up high enough and you were over looked a little, but that was alright to Chloe she didn't mind. The bigger kids were way smarter than her anyway and she was learning so much. It was quite interesting to observe the lessons, so much different then her old school.

When it was time for a group though she peered around the room, who would she work with? Everyone seemed to be grabbing on to partners quick and Chloe felt a little shy all of the sudden. This was going to be her group for an entire class and she wanted to be a great team mate, so she looked around and when she didn't see anyone right away that needed her to work with them she finally stood up and made her way towards the center of the room.

"Does any group need someone else?"

Hi, Chloe McCarthy wanted to work with you!

Rylee was actually sort of maybe hoping that no one would come over and she would go unnoticed and get to work completely alone. However that didn't happen. Lifting her blue eyes slowly to meet the face of one of her own house mates (Ari) who oddly enough she had to admit she didn't exactly know very well... yeah that was bad... and thinking about it she had to fix that... soon... like right now...

"No.. you can be the first in my little non-exist group if you like," Rylee gave the girl a soft welcoming smile. Despite her own grumpy mood she wasn't going to take it out on someone that wasn't involved.

Now if little Ari taking her surprise was something, Reese coming over was a storm of confusion. Rylee fixed her baby blue on her brothers matching ones. "When have I ever turned my back on you? Though I should warn you... the outcome of whatever it is we're doing today doesn't look good for our little team of three so I suggest we bring our A game, okay?" Rylee smiled at both her group mates then.

A flash of color caught the corner of her eye and Rylee turned her head. It looked like someone else needed a group. Rylee looked at Reese and Ari before lifting her hand towards the younger Slytherin girl (Chloe) and waving her over. "You can come join us if you want to!" It was really up to the girl but they didn't mind adding one more to their little group.

Appreciating the friendliness of the group, he sat down and faced the rest of the group, a wide smile on his face. It was true that he had a different opinion on magic to some of the other children here as he was a muggleborn, but, he was pretty sure Quinn would know most, if not all of what he was going to say. That girl loved to read, more than him surprisingly.

Ignoring the tension between Reese and Quinn for a second, he reached down and grabbed him bag. Taking out his quill and parchment, he wrote the date and heading before finally underlining it. He didn't need to do this but it was more of a habit. His previous muggle school made them do it every lesson. Sometimes, he really did miss his old school and friends. But hey, they didn't get to learn about the history of magic!

She spun in her seat when she heard Skylar say her name. "Oh, thank you. I'd love to join you." She quickly gathered her things and headed over to the larger group of mostly older students. She felt small, and rather inexperienced, to be with the group. However, she knew she would do her absolute best to help them out.

Once part of the team, she began to feel a bit silly about being afraid to approach them. She had known most of them for over a year and they were all nice. At least no one had ever been unkind to her. "Hi everyone." She greeted the group.

Just when Maddie thought she and Septimis might just be a mere group of two, the Head Boy approached them and asked if they minded him joining in, as well. WHOA. The HEAD BOY?! This was big! He was like...the ruler of all the students or something like that! Maddie just bet he was super smart, too! With a smile and a nod, she said, "Yeah, of course you can!" She was pretty sure they were meant to be with more than two other people, though. "Did the professor say groups of three or four or three or four groups?" she asked. It didn't seem to matter, though. There were like...fourteen or so groups now.

Then a Slytherin girl approached them and asked to join, too, which of course Maddie agreed to. This was going to be awesome! With four of them, one from each house at that, surely this would be one easy group project! "Sure," she said. "I'm Maddie Kemp, by the way."

Patrick glanced around a few times trying to decide how he was going to join a group. When he glanced around again he noticed that most of his friends were forming a group. Sliding on over toward Skylar, Gunnar, and the others that he knew well he looked them all over, “Care for one more?” he tried to smile and not be nervous. He wanted to be the confident guy that he should be, but usually he was more of the shy quiet guy.

This term was the term to grow into his height. He smiled again and stood a bit taller hoping that he would start to relax, he knew everyone in the group of course they wouldn’t say no.

SPOILER!!: Team Hogwarts

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Maddie didn't know if she agreed with the Snicket guy. She also didn't know if she disagreed with him. Would it be detrimental to her grade in this class if she didn't form an opinion one way or the other? Maddie just didn't care what Mr. Snicket had to say. She didn't even know him, nor had she read any of his books. It seemed a lot of people got worked up over that quote of his, though. It had kind of worked in her favor in that she got to sit and just watch for a while.



Then they were dividing up into teams, and Maddie found herself glancing around for someone who needed other people to work with. Nettie seemed to already have a group, and Maddie didn't really see many other people she knew right now. But then there was a guy she'd met a while back, and he needed a partner. Maddie approached him with a smile. "Hey!" she said. "I need a team member!" Maybe they could stick together and find others who also needed members.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

Wait, how many teams was that now? It seemed like a few more than the requested three or four. Basically, the whole thing was an imbroglio of epic proportions, as the whole grouping up thing usually was. Another reason why he didn't like the whole 'group work' thing.

Anyway, since he was being forced to do this, he might as well do the 'Head Boy' thing and join some of the young ones. He approached a group that seemed (seemed because, again imbroglio) to consist of just Maddie Kemp and a younger Ravenclaw who he didn't recall the name of. "Hey, okay if I join you?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nyx

Lydia couldn't help but feel vindicated by the professor's comments about the quote, and then he even quoted Philip Pullman, the author she had mentioned! This was great. But when he mentioned getting into groups, Lydia groaned internally. She was no good at finding a group. Back in the muggle world, she'd often been one of the last picked for any group activity or sport in physical education class.

As she turned around, the class seemed to be in chaos. Groups were forming everywhere, probably a few more than the professor's three or four. Lydia groaned again. This was crazy. But then she noticed a few younger kids who also seemed to be in need of a group. One was a Ravenclaw and the other a 'Puff, and holy cow, was that the Head Boy joining them? Ok, she needed to be over there.

Lydia approached the little group and cleared her throat. "Excuse me," she said. "Do you mind if I join too?" She smiled at the badger and eagle, who she'd never met before. Hilariously, she realized that their group now consisted of one person from each house! This would also be a good opportunity to introduce herself to the Head Boy.

The first person to approach him was someone he knew, or at least he had met and introduced himself to. At Floreans…over the summer. “Hey…” Septimus returned before nodding. Thank Merlin for someone willing to join him. “Then we can work together.” And he wasn’t completely lost and missing a group to work with for the lesson. Just had to find a few more to add to their number to build the team the professor wanted. Something that didn’t seem so hard after all as a Gryffindor this time, Mr. Head Boy himself, had stepped up to them.

“Sure…sure you can.” The second year wasn’t about to turn down his help. “I’m Septimus,” the Ravenclaw introduced since they hadn’t really met before. And then Septimus heard someone clearing their throat nearby only to turn to see a young Slytherin there as she spoke up to them clearing any thought that she was going for someone else. “Nope…not at all.” It wasn’t like he had anything against her or anyone now in his group. And as long as all went well, he wouldn’t.

Maddie agreed and reminded him the newest newcomer didn’t know him either. “And I’m Septimus.” As for the puff’s question about the groups, he finally knew the easy answer to a question in this class. “Three to four groups I believe.”

Abra's level of anxiety once he'd asked to join the group was probably exactly equal to the level of relief he then felt at Chloe's words - even when she used his old nickname (it wasn't like everyone here didn't already know it). He gave her a huge grin, a little more characteristic of his usual demeanour when he was among friends, and nodded. Naturally, he couldn't bring himself to fully believe that the group wasn't a group without him, but he appreciated the sentiment all the same.

"Brilliant," he said, still grinning. Taking up a free chair from nearby, he slotted it into the space Chloe had made for him and took a seat. "Thank you." This was added a little more quietly to Chloe as he got himself settled and ready to... to do whatever it was they were doing.

Group work was not his favourite thing in the world, sure, but that was mostly because of the risk of being stuck with people he didn't know. This? Was much better.

Group activitities were definitely not his first choice as he prefered to work alone. But even he felt left out while everyone was making groups and...no one wanted him. That was how he felt, in reality they probably had not heard him asking if he could join one of the groups...which made it even more depressing now that he thought about it.

The third year let out a deep sigh and figured he had to take action by himself. He scanned the room and its groups and bit his lower lip as he willed himself to walk over to a group which he realised by looking at their uniforms were from all four houses. "Sorry...to break up the founders" he jokingly said. Nice one Dorian, start with a lame joke. "But i don't have a team yet, can i join?" pretty please, cause if not than he would be the only person left alone and he did not want that to happen.

He waited until all of the class had found a team to join. Thankfully no one had problems finding partners. He had considered dividing everyone by house, but in the end decided it would be better to allow the students to pick for themselves who they wanted to partner with.

And yes, he did hear Ronan's comment about Hitler. He decided to let it slide for now. Not that the Gryffindor's comments were necessarily WRONG, but Charles wanted to get this activity going. They could discuss that topic on some other date.

When everyone was settled down, he sat back down behind the desk and began giving instructions. "All you need is your writing materials, your collective imaginations, and your teammates. For this activity, you are going to create a fantasy world with its own system of magic. You will be writing this all done in your notebooks. When you are finished, you may deposit your notes on my desk. Your fantasy may be urban fantasy (set in our world with our laws but with some changes, such as Aquila Albert or Mortal Instruments) or it may be high fantasy (set in another world, but with a historical setting like Lord of the Rings) or it may be an alternate reality (like Golden Compass.) Add richness to your world with details, stories, and characters. Consult with your teammates. Ask questions to each other about how the magic works, where it came from, and about potential problems and/or benefits which could arise in such a world. You have the rest of this lesson to work on this, so no rush. You are all writers now!" Even the ones who had never read a fantasy book were writers now. Wasn't that fantastic? And they all had forty minutes left to complete this assignment. They could create a system from scratch or they could copy from other writers.

He bent back down over his finished papers as the children got to work. Oh wait, he already finished these. Straightening in his chair, he twiddled his fingers and watched the students. "You may wonder what creating your own fictional stories with magic have to do with history, but I believe it is a wonderful thing to have an understanding of how Muggles have viewed and written about magic through the ages - even while generally disbelieving in it at all. Muggles are not aware that magic even exists, yet that does not stop them from writing about it and trying to imagine how it would work if it did exist. What's to say there aren't things we have not discovered yet either, perhaps even other societies with forms of magic while living among us?" That was not say that he BELIEVED in other forms of magic. Honestly, who knew? He did think it was nice to keep an open mind about such things, though. Plus, writing was fun. It stimulated the imagination. "Hope I didn't interrupt anyone's train of thought. Carry on. Ignore me."

It was just a random thought that he had felt like sharing with the class. Speaking of which...

What ever happened to the ice cream? Had Professor Curtains forgotten all about it?

OOC: You have 48 hours to complete this assignment!

OOOOOOOOOH. Well, this was kinda neat now, wasn't it? Only Derf's choice in fiction had always been along the lines of more historical fiction rather than the sort of fantasy that was being alluded to. None of which...he head read himself, which sort of meant that a lot of this conversation was going in one ear and out the other or otherwise over his head. Really though, Mr. Kennedy should have been here for this with his expertise on books and stuff.

Though it made him think about breaches in the Statute more than anything, which was a thought that he had in the forefront of his mind as he turned to his group. "What if...um...what if we took this assignment and sorta looked at things through the lens of a muggle who happened to see something that they ought not to have? You know...like the kelpie in Loch Ness, Scotland? So...we take something...maybe a jarvey because animals capable of human speech is unnatural unless through imitation for them...but a jarvey just offers up insults left and right, yeah? So...how does a muggle who knows nothing of our world make sense of a ferret who is suddenly talking to them? Or, well...insulting them. Or maybe...something with fwoopers since their song can drive a person mad and all. Birds having the magical properties and...I dunno...owning feathers from any one of those birds gives you some magical ability?"

Bottom line was...he really just wanted to use creatures in this...and he knew he was sorta in a group where the creature angle could really be appreciated and take flight.

Pun...moderately intended. He was his father's son, after all.

Oooo they'd be writing their own fictional story?

... he was quite useless, since it wasn't exactly his area of expertise. But that didn't mean he didn't have an open mind and wasn't excited about it!

Pulling out some parchment, his quill, and an ink pot, Daehyun was ready to take notes and merge everyone's ideas. He'd begun doodling on the parchment, but really, it was only his way of concentrating, when an idea struck him. "How about a world where everyone is magical, but the use of magic is restricted? For example... maybe something terrible happened in the past that led to it? And only very few elites earn licenses for use of magic?" Where was he even going with it?

Shaking his head with a small frown set between his brows at his jumbled up thoughts, he slumped back in his seat. "I don't know what I'm saying," he grumbled more to himself.

Everyone had agreed with her idea of them all being a group, which made Stasya relax a little. Plus, she hadn’t had any issue at all with Abra joining them. Of course he was allowed to join them. She didn’t have any reason not to believe what Chloe had told him. Plus, it was one more person to contribute. Maybe. Depending on what they were actually supposed to be doing in their group, since she was still hyper-aware of the fact she knew Russian and Icelandic legends way more than she did any of the stories that had been mentioned in the discussion.

As Professor Curtains explained, however, her worries lessened. If they were making up their own stories, their own worlds, it didn’t matter if she wasn’t familiar with the ones he’d mentioned. They were creative enough… and she’d brightened exponentially as she heard Derf’s suggestion. Creature-involved magic was so their dynamic. “Maybe the muggle finds a fwooper feather, or some kind of magical bird feather and it draws them into a world where they see all sorts of things that normally they wouldn’t. And we can bring a jarvey in too, because of that. Maybe a kneazle, or mooncalves, or…”

She trailed off, looking at the others when she realized maybe they had other ideas.

Nathan gave a nod of greeting to the group. The more the merrier, right? Too bad the only reason Nathan agreed to join a group so he wouldn't have to think so much. "Okay, anyone has some suggestions?" he asked his big group. What kind of storyline were they going for? Murder? Thriller? Magical creature attack? He preferred dark themes kind of stories.