It was easier not to pay attention to what happened with other kids now, for a lot of reasons. Honestly? Flynn would rather stay in the room than come to lessons. It felt safer in there even though it was a literal prison. He closed his eyes for a second, not looking in Aboli's direction at all, and then the professor asked that question. Flynn's eyes flew open.

The thing was, he had. Three of them all at once. He had been small and they had been big and they had been violent and there hadn't been anything that young Flynn could do. Sometimes he wondered how different it would have been, had he been old enough to have a wand, or if a grown up with a wand had been there. And there was another question too, how much worse would it have been if they had known he was a wizard? Worse, probably. Much worse.

In consternation, Flynn looked towards the hoods. The neo-alliance was bad and they hurt people, but maybe some of them had been hurt by muggles too? Maybe that was why they were like this? Of course, it hadn't made Flynn like that, but perhaps that was because the muggles hadn't hurt him for being magical, they'd hurt him because he was.... for other reasons. They had hurt him for other reasons. And those reasons had changed everything about who he was, hadn't they?

He put his hand up, but he didn't look up at Schmoe, Flynn's gaze was fixed on the hooded neo-alliance members in the room.

"Um... excuse me? Sirs?" Had anyone ever actually said what they were supposed to call them? How to address them? Flynn had missed it, but he felt, even if there were some women or anyone else under some of those hoods, that they should also be sirs for some reason. "Have muggles ever hurt any of you? What I mean is.... I would be interested to know if any of you have dealt with v-violent muggles, and if so... what happened? I um.... hearing about real world experiences that are recent instead of a gazillion years ago might be.... more useful to us." Or maybe they'd stupefy him and he could just not think about any of this.

Honestly that would just be fine too at this point.

Ash was gonna go full 'repeat propaganda' mode until everyone here felt uncomfortable and saved her. She was gonna do it. "I assume you don't want us to use muggle fight strategies, so I wouldn't get in a fistfight with them. I would just hex them with something nasty. I'm not an adult, so I don't know Unforgivables. Maybe something that made them... shoot sardines out of their nose." Actually, she definitely would get in a fistfight. That was the first thing she'd do. And she didn't say the last part for no reason, either. Every word she said was carefully crafted to make everyone else feel uncomfortable. It was the wizarding world's fault that she was stuck in here. And she was going to make them regret it.

Dahlia wasn't sure what to make of Schmoe's reply. Muggles frighten easily, keep that in mind. Was that a hint towards the remainder or the lesson or... something more. Whatever it was meant to be, she was going to remember it.

Hearing Schmoe speak up to the evil hooded minions the way he did, Lia was proud. Yet, she wasn't. It was clear the Aboli needed to be taken to the Healer but standing up to those guys... she hoped they wouldn't hurt the professor. And Flynn too?! He was actually addressing the hooded minions directly?! Lia's stomach was beginning to hurt. She had a feeling things weren't going to end well. Please don't let anyone else get hurt.

Trying not to look around too much, Dahlia did her best to keep her blue eyes only on Schmoe as she raised her hand. "Uhh, well.. if I was older and really going at Transfiguration I would turn myself into a large creature that could scare them away." Yup, the scare tactic.

Hrrm. The Salem Witch Trials. But like wasn't that just a majority of Muggles killing other Muggles or some of their own kind offing Witches because magical people are petty and would do anything to get back at each other over stupid feuds. Sure some of it was Muggles killing witches but out of 20 "witches" killed it had to have been like 4 or something. Not a very high number.

"The Exploding Charm" . Will uttered not really wanting to be heard. The practice worked on the dummies in the Defense Against the Dark Art class. It was a brutal practice one that he really just switched to imagining all the dummies were Rosier back then but now...now that was even a bad idea. Just comply quietly to all demands and try to look as normal as possible.

Claudine’s heart hurt for Aboli and was relieved when Schmoe stood up for her. But goodness, he didn’t look so good himself. Poor guy… all these events were definitely taking a strong toll on him. It was all the more reason that there be some sort of a plan to take back the school. Sigh. Was that ever going to happen? Anyway. It didn’t seem as though anyone else would be getting into trouble and being hurt.

Except maybe Flynn who was addressing The Hoods. If that Hufflepuff wasn’t careful with his words, he could be next.

“Simple,’’ the Snakette said, hand raised. “I would Stun them. That would save me from having to deal with too much trouble at once. After Stunning them, I’d use Incarcerous.” A quick and easy plan in her opinion.

Was that a screech.

Of course it was.

Leave it to Schmoe to be the underlining noodle for this absolute joke of a situation. Coward was right. And then Whitlock was... well, whatever. True to form, Nem did not look that way, simply pretended not to have noticed; Rent-a-Snitch were there for that. Instead they continued the Schmoe stare-down, but this time they had an answer too.

Sort of.

"The best laid plans-" of mice and men "-often go awry." All this to say, "I don't rely on plans. I'll wait until the moment comes, and make the decision then."

Which was not the kind of answer Schmoe was looking for but, shock of shocks, Nem did not care. Their mind did often explore all kinds of eventualities of all kinds of situations - more fantasy than brainstorming strategies, though to Nem those weren't so different - but they weren't in the business of sharing how their mind worked. Generally.

They hadn't exactly lied though, either.

Professor Schmoe looked a bit like a Chihuahua, small and shaking and scared. Cece got that feeling. She'd been there. It wasn't a nice place to be. He deserved better, Schmoe did.

Speaking of scared, the blonde blinked when Flynn addressed the horrible hooded guys directly. His question made her worry, about him and what was going on in his head and more importantly, what might happen to him now that he'd tried to start up a conversation with them.

As for her own answer, the blonde shrugged. "Ebublio could work." It would create a barrier that the muggles couldn't break free from. She had Bernie and Kinsay to thank for the idea.

Octavia knew the question Schmoe asked could very much be triggering for her best friend, but she didn't know it would cause him to question the hooded men that surrounded their class. It wasn't surprising, but it did afford him a cautious look. He... he was fine. This entire lesson was fine.

Her eyes lingered on Flynn for a moment before she gave the professor her attention again. "You don't have to attack. In situations like this you can use shield charms or simply disarm the muggles. Violence is not always the response to violence."

Wait, Schmoe was sending Aboli and Valencia to the hospital wing? But those were his friends. He didn't want them to leave.

He tried to tune in to what Professor Schmoe was saying. Salem Witch Trials, right. He was pretty sure that he had learned before that technically they didn't get many (or any?) actual wizards because they could use magic to defend themselves and make the flames harmless or something like that. It was still bad, though. Muggles had turned against each other and hurt each other. But it wasn't like wizards didn't do that either. Looking at you, hooded figures.

Of course, Alexandre didn't say any of that out loud. Instead he raised his hand to respond to the actual question asked. "I would just apparate away, if I knew how." Of course he didn't yet, but he would soon.

He offered Schmoe a small smile when the man had blessed his fake sneeze/slip of the tongue. “Thanks,” he replied quickly, trying to be as polite as possible and on his best behaviors so the Hoods wouldn’t notice. Nope. Nope. He was going to be a good student. He nodded at the rest of Schmoe’s response to his answer as his mind was focused on Aboli and Valencia. Headed to the Hospital Wing? Could he go too? He was about to raise his hand to offer help but quickly remembered that if he went then he would more than likely be escorted out of the premises like the President of the United States.

Heh. The comical thought brought a smirk to his face. Heh. That would be a sight to see.

Anyhow........ class. Focus Nam, ok?

Oh right. Sound bored. Very bored. “Memory Charm. I’d waste too much time and too much energy fighting them off. I’d prefer to remove the memory of them trying to attack and then just be on my merry way.”

Heath watched, feeling a strange mixture of anger and gratitude as Schmoe fought, or more accurately, begged for Aboli. Where was this attitude when he was imprisoned? Or Avalon? Or Ivy? Or any of the other Ravenclaws who didn't do anything wrong all term? Then it dawned on him why Schmoe was willing to stand up for Aboli but not the students in his own house. It was because she was a pureblood, right? That was the only thing that made sense. Whatever. He was just glad Schmoe was willing to stand up for anyone at all, even if it wasn't him.

Heath was long past the point of being shocked or appalled by the question. The constant anti-muggle speech seemed normal now. In the past, he had trouble coming up with ideas for these questions, but now the problem was that he had too many ideas! All he had to do to put himself in the right frame of mind was substitute the word "muggles" in that sentence for "Neo-Alliance followers". He genuinely wanted every last one of them to suffer as he had, starting with their leader!*

So given that scenario, he'd go for spells to cause maximum damage with minimal effort… Bombarda, Stupefy, Sectumsempra, possibly some spells that weren't designed for use on humans like Diffindo or Defodio… spells that he never would've even dreamed of using on a human being before his imprisonment. In the end, he opted for something slightly less dark. "Cascading Jinx," he said after raising his hand. "Takes out multiple opponents at once."

Atlas once again found himself holding his breath as their professor, the shell that was left of him, tried to fall on the sword for Aboli. It was a kind of behavior the first year could not quite understand, especially with he and Aries always been quick to point the finger at each other for something that had gone wrong. Or the cat. That was working less and less these days though, back home at least. So the Gryffindor was sort of just staring back and forth between Professor Schmoe and The Hoods™, certain that he could not stomach another demonstration of the Cruciatus Curse.

But his breathing seized again when an older Hufflepuff spoke...and directly addressed The Hoods™ and boldly too assuming that they were all 'sirs'. Atlas once again found himself staring in horror, though with the sense to cover his mouth a bit so he wasn't obnoxiously gaping, and glanced nervously back at the professor and then back to Aboli and the Ravenclaw girl who...may or may not be leaving class. Atlas would like to join them too, please.

Eyes downcast now, he found himself liking the answer of that one older Ravenclaw. The one who had suggested just...leaving. That was his thinking too. Running away or just disappearing on the spot. Like...as in Disillusionment Charm.

Neither of which he could perform right now. He and his wand were...not seeing eye-to-eye this turn...and he was too scared to answer with 'run and hide'.

So...another round of silence from Atlas Flamsteed it was.

There was, in fact, a ma'am among them. She was the one who raised her wand to set off a series of rapid-fire hexes at this Hufflepuff, but the raging Rosier fan next to her stayed her arm.

Instead, he sent one spell to the boy who dared to question their backgrounds. A silent silencio, as it were. That should shut the brat up for the pathetic professor's sake.

To the hospital wing? The hospital wing?

No, that would not be enough of a punishment. The duo that had their wands out would have their revenge on Song and Phillips (the woman made a certain mental note of their names) but perhaps they could...restrain themselves for the time being. Perhaps.

The femme sent a small but highly effective trip jinx in the direction of Phillips. It was true, after all. Sometimes, when people were outside, they tripped. The ground was uneven with lots of sinkholes this time of year.

Ivy felt the tiniest bit of relief when Professor Schmoe stepped up to send Valencia and Aboli to the hospital wing - but only a tiny bit, because she wasn't sure what the hooded squad's reaction to all this would be. Would they allow it? She generally expected the worst from them, especially at this point in the term, and it was difficult to even hope for something different.

And then Flynn was directly asking them a question. It was related to the lesson, at least, so it...might be okay? Would any of them actually answer? They never seemed like big talkers. Just attackers.

It turned out that no, they didn't respond. Not verbally at least. A couple spells were cast, but their response didn't seem to be...overly aggressive this time. Which wasn't necessarily a good sign...

But...back to the actual discussion. The topic that had been repeated over and over ad nauseam. Um.

"I'd use Protego to protect myself, Professor," she said, raising her hand, "and then use the Body-Bind Curse on them. Then they can't do anything to me, and I can get away from them."

Finneas flinched as the Squad sent another spell towards his students. But, er, perhaps he could right the wrongs here. Maybe there was some hope. ”The Inquisitorial Squad has, er, er… Given us a good t-teaching opportunity.” He began with as much conviction as he could muster (which was not a whole lot). ”The, er, the tripping jinx is.. Er. Another one that can be … er. Used to slow the muggles down, while you er. While you get ready for a bigger blow.” …….. He looked over in their general direction for a moment, before averting his gaze altogether.





Finneas twitched as he looked around the outdoor space. Time was elapsing very slowly today. ”For the rest of class, we will er… We will be playing a game.” He paused for a moment, before slowly continuing. ”A simulation of … sorts. Er. A game of Muggle Hunt.” A twist on the classic game Man Hunt. Er. He twitched some more, looking up at the sky and noting that the sun was starting to set.

”We will, er, b-be splitting up into t-two teams. M-muggles and w-wizards. The rules are simple. The wizard team must capture muggles and put them into the muggle pen,” here he paused to point to the fenced off area at one end of the circle. Again, he looked around. The curriculum hadn’t specified here and Schmoe was … going to, er, he was going to take some of his own liberties here. ”I will be assigning your team and errr. Those who are deemed muggles must turn in their wands. You will, er, get them back at the end of the lesson. Wizards, you can collect nets and other supplies should you need them to capture your muggles, but errrr… You will also be allowed to use your wands…. I recommend incarcerous, ebublio, and Petrificus Totalus. Muggle team, you are expected to, er, put up a fight, resist, hide…. Do what you need to do to stay away from the pen.”

He paused again, taking another sharp breath. ”Before we begin, please come to the front and collect your team pinnies. One pile is labeled MUGGLE and the other pile is labeled WIZARD. And er, with the extra time, please feel free to strategize with your team.”

OOC: hi apologies for the delay. I've been a lil under-the-weather. This post is kind of a mess, but I'll explain the game again in my post to start off the main activity to clear things up.

But FOR NOW all you need to do is:

1) Say that Finneas assigned you to either the MUGGLE team or the WIZARD team - Title your post accordingly
2) Come to the front and collect your pinny/scrimmage vest for the team that you've been assigned
3) Muggle Team: Give Finneas your wand (to be returned at the end of the lesson)
Wizard Team: Collect "hunting" supplies (ropes, nets, etc)
4) If you have time, you can strategize with your team


We'll be starting the game/activity in 48 hours! I'll go over gameplay again in my next post because this one got sort of messy.

Of course Ash was on the muggle team. And she was secretly glad. She was proud of her muggle heritage. She collected her pinny and turned in her wand. "Professor? When we are escaping, we're not supposed to hurt anyone right? I'm assuming that since the point of this activity is for wizards to win, we're not supposed to punch anyone. But if it's supposed to be hard, then I'd be happy to increase the... challenge level." Here was a girl who spent much of her time avoiding people, fighting people, and saving herself, even in the muggle world. She could escape if she wanted to.

Eden had been standing in silence the whole lesson, zoned out for large parts of it. The squad was active today and if she doubted she would be able to remain respectful if she tried to participate.

When they were split into teams, Eden hid behind some older students. She walked up to the piles of pinnies and put one on that clearly marked her WIZARD. She already barely got to use her wand - she wasn't trying to be told she needed to give it up for this class. Let some of the ~precious purebloods~ see how it is. Eden took a thick coil of rope and slung it over her shoulder.

The first year kept herself near other students (especially taller ones - it was a good day to be 4'8", okay?) and waited for someone else to say an idea. She worried some adult would make her be a muggle, and so was attempting to stay under the radar until the hunt began.

Did Bernie even have her wand anymore? She had kind of given up on resisting so... who knew where it was at this point ... she kind of just followed Ashley Fox over to the Muggle team, collecting her jersey or whatever as she went. She hadn't even answered the second question about the Muggle hunting because it made her hurt and and and it reminded her of that lesson with Rosier, when they'd had to explode the seaside town?

Maaaaaan, now she was really feeling down, feeling like a sudden bout of sadness had hit her. Bernie kicked at the grass as she walked, completely not paying attention to anyone or anything.

Emmerson had learned a lot in the last few months. Namely, she had learned to mind her own business and stay in her lane when others decided to stupidly act up and test the hoodie squad. She didn't know how much more Headmaster Rosier and his men needed to do before they got the clue and frankly, she didn't care.

In fact, Aboli who? Valencia where? Flynn asking questions for why?

The little girl kept her eyes trained on the professor, choosing to ignore him whenever he addressed any of the disruptive kids who were still trying to get themselves and everyone else killed. As if being locked up wasn't enough.

With the questions out of the way, Emm moved up to the front. It was the greatest blessing in the world that Finneas Schmoe assigned her the role of wizard. There was too much room for error otherwise. Like her accidently pitching a fit about NOT being a filthy muggle then losing her friends all over again.

Emm got her vest and her hunting equipment, ready to fully get this show on the road.

And yes, even now, she still saw nothing and did not know what was happening.

At all.

And now she was being KICKED out of class? She didn't want to leave. She hardly ever missed class unless there was EXTREME illness or something. But maybe it was a good thing she didn't have to sit through this....but also also, VALENCIA had to escort her, and she knew Valencia was about to have words with her. Aboli would have zero words back until the silencio had ever worn off or someone undid it.

She hated that Noah, Minjae, Mamie, Bernie....Cece...others had all had to witness her stupidity. So maybe it was a good thing to leave. She felt that awful feeling of humiliation after all. Blegh.

She closed her eyes at Flynn's question and wanted to leave immediately. So she nodded at Valencia and was like...heyo, let's get OUTTA here, friend. And if she had known the lady hooded figure was plotting REVENGE she would have been CONFUSED because Aboli felt she had done relatively LITTLE WRONG. She finally tugged at Val's sleeve, like, LET'S GO - she was unaware of the tripping jinx sent her way.

Could work. Would work. Not to mention, that would not exactly be a bold assumption, Finneas Schmoe.

It was really a testament to how things had been going recently, that the phrase 'Muggle Hunt' did not stir anything in Nem - probably because it was preceded by the words 'a game of', but who could really be sure. They went up to Schmoe and took the proffered vest from him, shaking it out to read the 'WIZARD' label. Smart man.

But they weren't very interested in taking part in the activity itself, and had yet to decide what they'd do. More than likely, they'd wait until the moment arrived, as per their previous answer. They bypassed the available equipment entirely and joined the wizard group, vest still held in one hand, wand in the other hand (and still in their pocket), and also opted not to say anything.

Being a team player never had exactly come naturally to them.

Schmoe was right: Claudine didn’t actively go seeking trouble. She always preferred to stay out of the spotlight unless it became necessary. That’s why she simply nodded to him when he acknowledged her answer. In silence, the girl listened to the others and observed the happenings that took place due to The Hoods.

Muggle Hunt?

Claudine was careful to keep her face devoid of reaction. No Muggles would actually be involved… right? Her mind wandered back to the DADA lesson and decided that she wouldn't’ be surprised if Muggles would suddenly unwillingly show up. It came as a relief to her when the outline of the game was given. No Muggles. That was great.

As it turned out, Schmoe assigned her to the Muggle team. That was fine. She handed over her wand then collected a Muggle pinnie. So, uh, now she just find the other ‘Muggles’? Claudine gravitated towards Ashley. “Fancy you being assigned to the same team,’’ the girl muttered to the Ravenclaw. It was a lame attempt at keeping Ashley’s spirit up but Claudine was used to being there for Ashley since they had been locked in that Room.

Minjae tried his best to ignore everything that was happening at this point. He hated having to watch his friends get hurt, he hated how frail the Professor looked as he tried to stand up for Aboli and Valencia and he hated how he could do absolutely nothing but keep his head down and tried not to cry or cause a scene himself.

He did catch the sympathetic glances of Claudine and Heath but did not react to them.

After the professor had explained the rules of the ‘game’ , Minjae shuffled forward as a mantra of ‘please let me be a wizard’ went through his head. He approached the professor to collect his vest and when he was handed one he looked at it. ‘please let me be a wizard’ ‘please let me be a wizard’ ‘please let me be a wizard’

He opened up his vest and read

Muggle Team

Of Course

This was all some big cosmic joke wasn’t it? Why did the universe hate him so much?

With a defeated look, Minjae put the vest on and turned to the Professor and handed him his wand this went easier than he had expected , perhaps it was because he was getting used to it ”Are teeth allowed?” he asked as he looked up at the professor. Cause if he was going to get hunted down he was going to RESIST the best he could.

The first year was shutting his eyes TIGHT at the first sign of any kind of flashes of light...just in case they were green especially. When no other screaming came from his peers, however, he knew it was safe to open his eyes and that nothing particularly terrible had just happened. Such skewed perspectives on reality these days, but compartmentalizing things was one of the few coping mechanisms Atlas had to process everything he was seeing and feeling.

Though most things went into a rather large box labeled "THINGS WE JUST DON'T THINK ABOUT". Problems for future Atlas. Eventually. Hopefully never.

Part of him just wanted to be assigned to the muggle side of things...so he could hide, but there was also relief in being made a wizard. It meant...he didn't have to hide anymore and as long as he was doing some sort of casting with his wand then he was safe. As long as he was being a wizard...he was okay. Unaware of how much all this was truly warping and molding the young impressionable Gryffindor to certain whims, Altas gladly took the little vest and slipped it on before heading over to collect some materials. All his baking with Quinn earlier in the term...before everything went even more sour...had at least helped him hone a few spells that he knew he could rely on for this activity. So he hoped, anyway.

And since literally everyone else on the wizard team wasn't speaking...he would keep silent too. And also try not to make direct eye contact with Nemesis Upstead.

This was fine.

Lilith felt bad for glaring daggers at this poor noodle man of a professor. She was just so scared and frustrated. Her eyes had softened a little, but when the hoods attacked Aboli, her gaze shot towards Schmoe. DO something. But no. A feeble 'consequence' no one took a bite of. He could have equally done nothing.

Like the rest of them.

Lilith remained frozen on her spot and tried to keep her gaze on the professor. If she glanced at Aboli, Lilith couldn't promise to stay in her spot. And something about Aboli said 'no one come to my rescue'. So Lilith stared at the man ahead, her eyes burning with anger.

When it came time for the activity portion of the lesson, the Slytherin slowly made her way to grab a vest and be sorted into the wizards group. She was slightly relieved. For far too long she's felt the hunted here. Now she wasn't. No completely.

Shrugging the vest on, she went on to join the wizards group, making sure to stay as far away from Nem as possible. Some of their answers in lessons this term disturbed her. There was no way she was getting close to that.

It was so quiet, which Lilith was okay with. She needed to get herself together before casting. Waiting for the rest to join, she remained quiet, wand already in hand.