Would anything beat last year's first class of the term? Thinking back to that utterly entertaining disaster of a lesson, Nem wasn't sure, though they weren't discounting it either. Placing Defence Against the Dark Arts as the first lesson back after the holidays just seemed like asking for trouble. Maybe that was why the Headsman did it, and the exasperation was just an act.

Hopefully not. It would be so much better if it was real.

Nem strolled into the classroom and quickly took stock of the place, from the desks to the Headsman at the window, the candles, and eventually the blackboard. They had to squint only slightly to see what it said, before arbitrarily choosing a desk somewhere in the midst of the classroom. Hardly mattered where.

"Morning, sir." Nem greeted, pleasantly, amiably. Alert. Headsman Trent remembered they were meeting him later, right? Of course he did. "Are greetings considered unnecessary? Subjective, I guess, but I just wouldn't want to upset you first thing back." The Gryffindors, especially Vegetable Trent himself, had already started him down that road. Nemesis would simply never dream of it.

Believe it or not, Adam HAD gotten a good night's sleep despite all of his excitement at the feast. In fact, he had had so much adrenaline pumping through him that the second his head hit the pillow, he had been OUT like a light. One would think that he'd be bouncing off the walls again this morning, since it was the first day of classes - and while he was DEFINITELY doing that internally, he was in full on LEARNING mode now. That was SERIOUS. It was time to get down to business and learn stuff like a real wizard! He'd gotten up, had a full breakfast, a little bit of sugar to start the day by drinking two glasses of orange juice, and now he was READY. BRING. IT. ON.

"Hello Headmaster," Adam greeted politely as he came in and took a seat near the back. He found he could concentrate better if he wasn't RIGHT up in the front while he had been in primary school. He took out his parchment, his quill, and set everything up neatly in front of him. OK. HE WAS READY TO LEARN NOW!

Ashley walked into the classroom. She was early, of course. "Hello" she said politely, to nobody in particular. She took a seat near a slytherin in the middle. She took out her stuff and arranged it neatly, with her quill and ink on the left side. She looked around to make sure nobody was watching before pulling out a muggle pen and starting to draw on her arm. It was going to be a girl surfing, and it was rather good. 'When I'm an adult, I'm going to get a cool tattoo' she thought to herself. As Ashley drew, she tried to remember everything she had read about this subject. Always good to get prior knowledge.

Coby had been up and lethargically brushing his teeth at 05:45 this morning. It was the very first day of school and he wouldn't let something as trivial as a lousy night's sleep get in his way of retaining every single word his professors said today. Following the new habit acquired during his summer, he'd gone out for a quick run, showered and had time for a quick breakfast all before he walked into the DADA classroom in relatively high spirits. He still missed Tavie, and he assumed he'd continue to miss her throughout the term, but all in all this was a great way to start the term.

He hoped Emma and Matty were having a similarly excellent morning. But he doubted it.

"Good morning Headmas-" Coby began his customary greeting before catching sight of the words on the board, with some effort. "-ter." he finished off the word quietly, unsure if the instructions were a way for Trent to tell them to not speak at all. He wouldn't put it past the Headmaster to do so, and it was very early in the morning. Not that Coby talked much, or at all outside of answering questions, but he was still wary of breaking rules. With a small wave and an unsure smile at Nem, Coby settled at the very front of the classroom and waited.

Day one and she was already counting down the minutes until the end of class.

Never a good sign.

Walking in behind Nemesis, a little first year (Adam) she noticed at her table, some other first year (Ashley) in blue, and a boy she hadn't gotten to know well (Coby)--she figured greetings were best made in simple, short, and very very quiet tones. She couldn't believe someone so rule followy and boring had a sun as bright and bold as Kale Trent. But she figured now was as good of time as any to select a seat so she could get the best one. One close to the door.

Moving further into the room, but still near the door she greeted the Headmaster finally, "Morning." He really wasn't playing, and hadn't since she got here, about the getting sleep before your first class with him. Every term it was some wild activity and she was honestly hoping for a boring dry lecture today. Could they please get a lecture today? Turning she spotted the board at the front of the room.

This is not the great hall, this is a classroom

Boy did she want to snort and giggle at that. Sure he made the great hall feel nice and social last night as he took points from Trent and told her to change into the drab grey that should be the primary color for Hogwarts palette of color. Grabbing a pen and paper she tried to keep her eyes open and attention at the ready for when he magically closed the door.

Torin was always tired in the mornings. It didn't matter how long he'd been waking up at 6am over the years. He was still. Always. Tired. Shoving down a yawn he walked into the classroom, book bag slung over his shoulder and uniform neat; ready to start a new school year.

"Good morning Headmaster." He said quietly as he took a seat beside Nem. They weren't the best of friends, but at least it was a familiar face and he wasn't sitting in the front.

Now that he was seated he could properly take in the classroom. Dark, candles lit and a sign up front he could hardly read, but clearly stated that he wouldn't be chatting much in this class without consequence. Trust the Gryffindors to have gotten the Headmaster in a foul mood for the start of the year. Hopefully this isn't a trend that continues.

Like every year, Minjae was excited to find out that Defence against the dark arts was the first lesson of the morning. He was even more excited that he could continue the subject after receiving an Outstanding in his O.W.L exam. Was the Headmaster proud? He better be...

Admittedly, he had not gotten a very good night sleep but he was still wide awake. He would take a nap later on in the day when he had a free period. While entering the classroom, Minjae was a bit disappointed to see that the desks were set in place. What made him keep his curiosity though was the fact that the room was dimly lit by candles only. The Headmaster himself wasn't hard to miss either standing by the window.

As he passed the blackboard first, the Hufflepuff read the message and rolled his eyes "What a killjoy" he whispered under his breath before turning to the Headmaster with a smile. "Good morning Professor"

Now, where to sit?

It wasn't surprising to find that the first lesson of the day was Defence. It also wasn't surprising to find that he was feeling a lot more tired than he expected to be as he made his way to this classroom. He knew what to expect by now: a weird, overly-active lesson that would only make him feel more anxious and scared than he already was.

What he DIDN'T expect was to be met with rows and rows of desks.

Eyes wide, Lucas came to a sudden stop and....... stared. He didn't have any complaints, oh no no. In fact, after reading the message on the blackboard, he was feeling relieved. If anything, tHIS was more like the Defence lesson that was suited for him. Quiet and no chance of danger or injuries.

But as glad as he was, there was a part of him that was wondering if he should be worried. Because, well, didn't Trent always talk about constant vigilance? Speaking of, his eyes landed on the Headmaster himself as he made his way further into the classroom. "Good morning, Headmaster," he said, giving the man what could only be described as an awkward smile before shuffling over to a seat near the middle of the classroom.

Bernie always got her best nights of sleep at Hogwarts. How could she not?! She LOVED this place! She had such a big bed! Her walls were not purple here! SHE HAD FRIENDS HERE! And Phoebe had a cat, who sometimes even let Bernie pet it!!!!!!

Best place ever. And now, for her best class besides Muggle Studies ever. Of COURSE she was skipping into DADA!!!! Teehehe. Bernie even plucked a big GREEN apple down on the Headmaster's desk, like she'd done once upon a time ago as a naive first-year. She was older and wiser and SOOOOO well-behaved now, though, so she even took a beat to read the board.

Oh. Hmm. They were playing the quiet game, were they? Maybe the Headman had a migraine named after his own kids or something... ah well. Bernie nodded solemnly to him to show that she understood and skipped off to find a seat. Where should she... where should she.... oh, hey Nem, Bernie nodded to him, he looked like he'd had a good summer.... hmm...

There, besides Minjae the Jukebox Burner. "Hey." Bernie plopped down beside him, dropping her bag on the top of the desk with a thud. She leaned in a little to talk but also to be quiet because THE BOARD had said so. "Did you go anywhere fun this summer?" He probably did, but did he go like to the Statue of Liberty and the top of the Empire State Building? Like she had?

BERNIE JUST NEEDED TO TELL SOMEONE ABOUT HER EPIC SUMMER, OK.

Well, that was a disheartening message. Headmaster Trent was probably still feeling grumpy about the feast and she was sure her Gryffindor robes weren’t winning her any points as she arrived, looking around at her classmates. Hm.

”Hello headmaster,” She offered a little more quietly than she normally would, her smile a little more tentative. Like, she wasn’t trying to get yelled at for being too excited about class or anything. She was also stopping herself from wrapping her arms around the headmaster and giving him a squish, since those usually made her parents feel better when they were grumpy. Maybe later.

After finding a seat somewhere in the middle, Minjae sat down and dropped his bag next the desk. He pulled out his textbook , although he hoped that they weren't going to be using it today, and leaned back in his chair with his arms behind the back of his head.

He wasn't exactly thrilled to have Bernadette as a seat mate, he still held a grudge against her for BETRAYING him last year. Okay that might be a bit exaggerated.... He didn't really hold grudges but he definitely did not forget about it.

"No, not this summer. Family stuff happened... I did go play laser tag with Noah though" he whispered back. "What about you?" he wasn't really interested but sitting and waiting in silence before the lesson begun was something he could not do.

The message on the board? It stunned Claudine somewhat. Maybe her memory was failing again, but she could not recall him leaving that sort of message for the class. Face devoid of any expression now, she glanced at Trent. Was he occupied in his own world? It seemed so. A greeting from her was not necessary then, right? A mental shrug later, the fourth year set off to find herself a seat, noting there were quite a bit of students there already. She had nothing to say to them.

Now… where to sit?

The light, or lack of, was a bit annoying. She squinted, figuring that she’d take her usual spot at the back of the room but she recognised Nem. Claudine liked them, you know, so she made her way over. “Hi, Nem,’’ came the quiet greeting at the moment she sat. Because this fourth year girl was not a talker, she got to work on setting up her materials for the lesson.

Mamie had not gotten much sleep last night, what with being just way too excited to be at Hogwarts that she couldn't fall asleep, and with getting up early to be extra ready for class. After getting lost--twice--Mamie found the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Mamie let her eyes adjust to the dimmer candlelight as she walked into the classroom. She squinted as she noticed the writing on the board... They were supposed to be quiet and int he dark. Was the headmaster trying to help them go back to sleep? Then she shrugged to herself and took a seat in the second row.

The sight of the mundane-looking classroom nearly stopped Avalon in her tracks. And what was with the harsh message on the board? Was Trent still holding the first lesson of last term against them? Granted, it had been a bit of a disaster. But was he seriously still forcing them to do boring stuff as punishment, an entire year later? Maybe he did have an interesting lesson in store. Perhaps the classroom was just deceivingly....plain.

The Ravenclaw took a seat at an empty desk. Was saying hello to the Headmaster considered unnecessary chatter? She felt rude to completely ignore him....it was only courteous to greet the professor at the start of a lesson. And now that she a prefect, she should be setting a good example for her peers. Avalon settled for a subtle smile and nod in his direction. Trent was never really one for pleasantries anyway.

Bright and early! Aboli was ready! Her hair was brushed and braided in two plaits on either side of her head, and her badge was niiiiice and shiny because being prefect was still new and she was STILL a bit braggy about it all right? Never in her wildest dreams would she think that she would ever be chosen!

SHE.

ABOLI SONG.

SPAWN OF EVIL.

Lots of familiar faces as she strode inside, but there was no "incessant chatter" allowed, apparently, and she was not about to be a rule-breaker. NOOPE. So she gave Minjae, Claudine, and Bernie all friendly waves before taking a seat next to Avalon. "Hey."

And that was it.

No chatter here, sir YES SIR.

Speaking of.... she just smiled in Headmaster Trent's direction. And SINCE she was prefect, she needed to offer her toenail hex services again...you know, if he needed like...bodyguards for anything ever.

Naya did not sleep well and for that reason she was a bit tired for the first class of the day. Stifling a yawn, she tried to force her mind awake and look like she was totally ready when she walked into the classroom. “Good Morning Headmaster”, she said, as she crossed the threshold.

The room was filling up fast and Naya took note of who was already there. As she headed for an empty seat, she happened to notice the blackboard. Oh ok, they weren’t allowed to talk to each other. Sitting down at the first empty desk, she began to get out everything she would need for class. With a conscious effort, she kept her mouth shut and waited for class to begin.

What did he mean by incessant? What exactly took someone from chatting to incessant chatting? Because Phoebe found all chatting necessary, and she preferred hard and fast rules. All talking was allowed. No talking was allowed. One or the other.

She'd ask, but that seemed to err on the side of incessant. What if everything was incessant and they had to sit in silence the whole class? That would be terrible. Phoebe fixed worried eyes on the Headmaster and fluttered her fingers at him. See, no greeting, but you were stressing this child OUT.

She seated herself near Bernie and mouthed 'HELLOOOOO'.

So this is what classes here are going to be like. Interesting. Amabel Bracken walked in and saw the Headmaster looking out the window and glanced towards the board. simple enough instructions to follow.

Would be a pretty bad idea to get on the wrong side of the Headmaster on your first day of classes.

Anyway, guess it was time to find a seat and not catch up with her friends not that she sees many people she knows besides a dormmate and Mr. Trips A Lot.

[spoiler] [/spoiler]

Sophie had been one of the very first to arrive in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She had given the Headmaster a respectful and polite greeting before taking a seat in the middle of the classroom. She had almost chosen one of the first row sets but didn't want to appear overly eager. Still, it was very important to be punctual and ready for the lesson. Reading the Headmaster's message on the chalkboard, Sophie smiled to herself with approval. Good, it seemed Professor Trent wouldn't put up with any sort of shenanigans. He might just become her favorite professor.

Sophie glanced up as another first year girl took a seat next to her. By the crest on her robes, she was a Ravenclaw. She had respect for the studious, clever Ravenclaws. This one appeared to be writing something on her arm. Was that a Muggle pen? Sophie was familiar enough with the Muggle world since her own dad was one, but she had never been very interested in it.

Before Sophie could help herself, she commented on the girl's artwork. "Hey, that's really good. I'm Sophie by the way."

She glanced quickly toward Headmaster Trent. Yes, she approved of his message but surely it was all right to introduce oneself.

"Thanks," Ashley whispered. "I'm Ashley. Nice to meet you." She glanced in the direction of the headmaster, who seemed especially grumpy today. She hoped he couldn't hear her. "It's a surfer." She would have elaborated but there was a sign that said to not make "chatter". Ashley thought this was dumb but she wasn't about to say that at her first ever class. She colored the wave in blue. Blue marker. Where did that come from? Unclear(to the untrained eye), but Ashley's robes definitely had some hidden pockets full of art supplies. Because why not?

Josh generally really liked Defense Against the Dark Arts, which he supposed was a pretty stereotypical Gryffindor thing, even if his OWL score had not entirely reflected and most skilled wizard with the subject. The written part had actually been more what he had done well on compared to the practical which he had just barely scrapped by with. It was a little hard to have such easy command of spells and everything when you had just spent about six months sans the ability to channel magic at all. Then there was the time to actually prepare for exams between everything pops had piled on to him and...well...he was no perfectionist and an E was nothing to stick one's nose up at...but anyway.

AnYwAy.

The strap of his bag hanging over his right shoulder and balanced along the curve between his thumb and index finger, Josh entered the classroom with a light whistle to his lips when he saw the notice on the board and that same tune sort of just trailed off...like the sound effect in a cartoon before a character went SPLAT against the ground. Thankfully there was no splat here and just an apologetic bow of the head from the sixth year as his feet shuffled to find a seat.

Sorry...neeeevermiiiiiiiiind.

Though not before he offered Bernie a bit of a wink, and another for Phoebe, and a sort of 'sup' nod to Aboli, and a 'bro fist' attempt was likewise made as he passed behind Minjae (they were gaming later with Hero, right?), and eventually settled into a seat behind one of the new Gryffindors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

Believe it or not, Adam HAD gotten a good night's sleep despite all of his excitement at the feast. In fact, he had had so much adrenaline pumping through him that the second his head hit the pillow, he had been OUT like a light. One would think that he'd be bouncing off the walls again this morning, since it was the first day of classes - and while he was DEFINITELY doing that internally, he was in full on LEARNING mode now. That was SERIOUS. It was time to get down to business and learn stuff like a real wizard! He'd gotten up, had a full breakfast, a little bit of sugar to start the day by drinking two glasses of orange juice, and now he was READY. BRING. IT. ON.

"Hello Headmaster," Adam greeted politely as he came in and took a seat near the back. He found he could concentrate better if he wasn't RIGHT up in the front while he had been in primary school. He took out his parchment, his quill, and set everything up neatly in front of him. OK. HE WAS READY TO LEARN NOW!

"Hey," he greeted as he flopped into the seat and slipped his bag off his shoulder to flop unceremoniously on the desk in front of him.

Quiet and no excessive noise...were they doing a thing with a sound sensitive creature again?

"HELLLLLLLLOOOOO," Bernie mouthed back to Phoebe, only she wasn't so good at just mouthing and NOT speaking, and so a loud little Euphegenia Doubtfire-esque HELLLLLOOO might've, just might've, come out of her mouth.

Ah, well. She was TRYING, Trent, she WAS. LOOK AT HER TRYING. She waved back to Aboli, PREFECT Aboli that was, and WINKED back at Josh without saying anything. So that was progress???

Had that really just been last year? Bernie was pretty sure it was like three terms ago. Maybe even four. Maybe even five terms ago. Minjae should probably just let that one go, right? Because she'd just been doing her job as Muggle Studies Teaching Assistant and Professional Schmoe Encourager, alright? Hm.

"Oh laser tag! That's fun!" Bernie whisper-chatted back. She'd been laser tagging just once, at a birthday party in primary school, and it had been the BOMB.

By the way, in case the Headmaster heard her, this WAS catching up on her own time, since class hadn't even started yet. "I went to NEW YORK CITY," Bernie answered, again perhaps accidentally raising her voice in an attempt to do her best American accent. She couldn't help it! SHE REALLY COULDN'T. "I went with Blake Ryan." Wasn' that impressive, Minjae? Huh?

Kinsays always wake up early. That's what Kinsays do. So having a lesson bright and early was nice because it meant she didn't have to be bored and awake all by herself before the day got started. Only... It wasn't bright and early. It was just early because the classroom wasn't very bright.

It was a little spooky. Were classes always this dimly lit? She wondered all of these things while making a beeline for the desk right behind Phoebe. Also. The Headmaster looked very busy at the window and it made Kizzy wonder what he might be looking at. Maybe he was looking for something. Was it unicorns? There were unicorns at Hogwarts, Kinsay knew. She hoped that he'd tell them if he found one because she'd like to see one too.

Taking her eyes away from the man at the window, the Gryffindor climbed onto her chair with her feet on the chair so that she could bend forward enough to whisper in Phoebe's ear. "Hi, Fifi."

And then she raised her hand. Because Kinsay had a question.

The reminder about lessons hadn’t come as a surprise to Carys, after having gone through the last six terms dealing with the same. She’d gotten up early for her routine run before breakfast and prefect duties as it was, so she was ready to go when time came around to head to the DADA classroom, an apple inside her school bag just in case she got hungry between lessons. Thinking ahead was never a bad thing, especially considering who knew what Hogwarts might throw at them. Even if it was probably too early in the school year for anything to really happen as of yet. Besides, there was the whole matter of new professors to consider. Professor Rainwater hadn’t been a traditional Herbology professor, but now she’d have a whole new professor to discuss possibly studying the subject in uni after graduation. Unless she just wrote to Professor Rainwater, but she planned on giving the new woman the benefit of the doubt before resorting to that.

First was Defense, though, and the surroundings as soon as she’d stepped into the classroom were both ordinary and yet curious. Especially the message on the board, but then after the feast, maybe it was necessary. “Good morning, Headmaster,” she greeted the man simply, giving him a smile as she found a seat. Giving Minjae a bit of a pointed look as she sat down, having heard the tail end of his little aside, not to mention the sight of him discussing something with Bernie. Where was her sister when she was needed? She hoped Carsyn wasn’t trying to skip the first lesson. Either way, she kept things to just the look. She wasn’t going to talk when they’d been asked not to.