Ary was dressed in his comfortable footwear; one side happened to be patterned in hippogriffs, the other patterned in dragons. Again, this was a custom-made product done for him by his fathers {who seemed to spoil him an awful lot with these sorts of things, even if such acts never got to his head}. His hands were stuck in his pockets of his trousers as he came down to the Courtyard, Bryony chattering incessantly beside him. Ary may seem as though he were not paying attention to her words, but he definitely was.

Spotting Professor Fergersnout, he gave her the usual two finger wiggle wave greeting. Hi, Professor! Love the robes, by the way! Over the months, the Slytherin had gotten quite used to the woman’s style, all of which he happened to like, including the woman herself. But was old fashioned robes their topic today? It would be an interesting one if it were!

History of Magic wasn't one of Bronwen's best subjects. Though, to be fair, best wasn't much of a qualifier seeing as she was having trouble keeping up in nearly every class listed on her timetable. It was difficult, going from tutoring on the road to a proper classroom, being beholden to a strict schedule, learning alongside a classroom full of students and distractions. Besides, History never was one of her strong suits. There were too many names to remember, to many dates to keep in order, and it really hadn't helped that she had left her textbook at home and hadn't noticed until Atti had owled about a month in.

But despite all of this, she really liked her professor and the strange way about her. And so, when she made her way to the courtyard, it was with curious eyes and a soft smile. An outdoor lesson sounded absolutely divine. "'Ello Professor," she bowed her head slightly in greeting. "How do you keep your hat so perfectly pointy?" This is what usually occupied her thoughts during their lessons.

t was a perfect day for an outdoor class! Nice and sunny weather, and awfully mild for this time of year. What could be better? Not having to wear a full uniform, of course! Desiree loved classes that allowed her to spice up her wardrobe. Well, technically she was only allowed to spice up her shoes today, but it was better than nothing, right? Today she'd opted for comfy high top trainers in a glittery yellow to match her Hufflepuff tie.

She practically skipped outside to the courtyard, immediately noticing Professor Fergersnout's attire. Looked like something from the 1800s, if she recalled correctly from her fashion books. Possibly a clue to today's lesson? "Hello, Professor," she greeted with a smile and a friendly wave. "Lovely outfit!" The other students (Ary & Bronwyn) also received smiles and waves in greeting as she joined the huddle.

Ezra did have a soft spot for the eccentric – people of that particular leaning were usually the most fun to be around with their unpredictability - you never knew what to expect.

Professor Snout, as he liked to call her in his head, was such an interesting character. She seemed to be in her own little world full of sunshine and rainbows. She was a stark contrast to what he was used to when he was at home – there was something very grey about his close family. Not ones to step outside of their comfort zones and embrace the wonderful, colourful and fascinating world out there.

Pfft. They were the ones missing out..

He arrived to class wearing a pair of trainers as the notice board had advised the students. The mind boggled as to what they would be getting up to today. History of Magic could have been a total yawnfest. But with Snout at the helm, he was prepared for a fun lesson. The very BEST way to learn.

“Hello Professor Sn--” Uh.. Oops. “--Professor Fergersnout .” He corrected himself as he joined she and the other students who had gathered. He gave her a big smile to cover his blunder. “I like your hat.” He added, tipping his imaginary one at her. He liked her vintage costume too.

Bryony was all too happy to have a lesson outside! Especially when told to wear comfortable footwear (today's were various shades of pink). Had she told Ary how much she liked his sneakers? Chances were it had come up at least once during her very constant chatter while they walked side by side, her arm brushing his as she skipped along.

"Hello Professor! I'm glad you choose to have our lesson outside, it's really nice out today." Bry smiled bright, wiggling her fingers in greeting as per usual. Cue wiggly fingers at Bronwen, Desiree and Ezra too, hello!

It was a good day for an outdoor class. Yes, a little chilly on the walk down, but he had soon warmed up from walking briskly. Solomon was most definitely eager to enjoy another history lesson especially after his pleasant encounter with Professor Fergersnout. She was quirky, friendly, and maybe a little bit cooky, but was definitely in his good books - he hoped he was in hers. Though unfortunately despite her advice, his toad still hadn’t turned up.

It was starting to seem like no hope but he had at least told his father, and had not received a howler just yet.

“Lovely day for a lesson, Professor.” No ma’am’s in sight, although he had forgotten to say hi. Solomon huddled with the nearby students, unaware of any of their faces, not trying to remember any of them neither.

When Sloane had saw that her History of Magic lesson was being held outside, she’d actually let out a scream of exasperation at the thought of it. Why did it have to be outside? IN NOVEMBER! Honestly, she was one light breeze away from being turned into an actual germ, such was the severity of her cold. Wrapped up warm in several layers of thick clothing, the first year Slytherin looked like the State puff marshmallow man as she waddled out into the courtyard for her lesson, sniffling and groaning like a zombie.

There wasn’t a soul in the class that could miss her at this point though as she wandered out into the…sun light? Her outfit, despite having many layers, had culminated in a particularly colourful unicorn rainbow onesie picked out by one of her temp-moms No points for guessing which one. The colourful onesie had however distracted her enough that she’d forgotten to squeeze her robes over the top of the onesie. Luckily for her however, the weather was actually not as bad as she’d feared it would be although this in itself had provided the first year with another set of issues entirely.

Doing her best to not focus on how warm she was in her layers, Sloane headed straight across the courtyard to the rest of the students that had started gathering, ready for the lesson. Flushed in the face from the heat and waddling, Sloane sniffled her way over to where the rest of the students, only offering the Professor a red-faced nod as she did and the other students a grimace.

Unfortunately, Professor Fergersnout would not find an excited face when she looked in Regulus' direction, though, fortunately, she would not find a frown there either. He was, by now, a seasoned professional at keeping his expression schooled - the challenge was in figuring out just how schooled it ought to be - though the light of curiosity could still be detected in his eyes from time to time.

For this lesson, Regulus had worn his running shoes; more often than not, the 'wear comfortable shoes' kind of instruction tended to mean some kind of physical activity would be involved. If that was the case, these would be the better option, and if it wasn't they were plenty comfortable anyway. They didn't match his uniform terribly well, but there was nothing to be done about that, short of charming the shoes (and Regulus was not so concerned with style that he even considered it).

Regulus joined the gaggle of students clustered around the professor, noting the enchantments that kept the area warm even as he moved into their range. In lieu of giving the professor a verbal greeting, Regulus sent a small smile in her direction. History of Magic being one of his better subjects, it was best to stay in the good graces of the professor - not that he had any reason not to otherwise, no matter how exuberant and eccentric she seemed to be.

He did, however, stay well clear of the sickly first year, and from anyone else who seemed plagued by germs of their own. Regulus had no intentions of getting sick, nor of infecting the most vulnerable of his relatives.

Once satisfied that the students had gathered and with the clock ticking past two in the afternoon, it was about time for the lesson to truly start. The Professor cleared her throat and sang a long, loud operatic note in order to gain the students attention and hopefully silence any of the general chit chat still wafting through the group.

“Thank you my young Kookaburras and Kelpies for taking note of your notice boards and arriving here promptly.” It was best not to ask where Fergersnout got her inspiration for the names she used from, delving into her mind would be a confusing place. “I promise that we’ll get moving along in a few moments but I trust that it is warm enough for you all for the time being?”

“I know many of you probably consider studying history to be quite tedious which is why I thought a change in scenery might do you quite well. We are also going to be covering an exciting topic today, one that should hopefully pique everyone’s interest and give you all an opportunity to get your limbs moving.” Exercise AND History, what could be better?!

Onto the lesson subject. “Now Hogwarts and the Wizarding World in general has seen its fair share of conflicts throughout the centuries from petty disagreements to warring families to huge battles right here on the very ground we stand our little tootsies on. Today we will only be focusing on one specific event but could anyone give me an example of a conflict they can recall in our existence?” Textbooks would not be necessary, the question was simple enough. “Just one answer per student please.” There were plenty of examples to go around.

OOC: The lesson has begun. Feel free to dive in if you haven’t posted already as if your student was here all along. Any latecomers will be dealt with IC as Professor Fergersnout sees fit. Just one answer per student for the question please so that everyone gets the opportunity to answer. Don’t forget, house points are awarded for participation and not just for correct answers. Lesson will move on in around 20 hours.

Just as long as he wasn’t poisonous, Ary was content to be one of Fergersnout’s toadstools. Did she have a garden of those, anyway? But the woman was quite right, yes: it was the perfect day for learning about Wizarding history! At least he could tell that today’s was going to be another delightful lesson.

Was he warm enough? Oh, quite. Ary bobbed his head in reply to the professor’s question. In addition to the weather, his trainers left him incredibly comfortable {maybe Bry sensed their comfortableness and that was part of why she kept commenting about how much she liked them}.

Conflict that took place at Hogwarts? Ary could immediately think of a few, two wars having occurred long before he was born, the other not so long ago. At least it didn’t seem like it was that long ago, not when he had memories of his dad leaving home to join in the battle. Ary had only been about four years then but he still remembered being scared, wondering if he would see his dad again.

But one thing about Aryan Atreyu-Rehman? The boy disliked conflict of any kind, whether it be small or big. He tend to just want to retreat into his corner when there was any around. As usual, he opted to remain silent, preferring to listen to his classmates.

Having classes outside definitely suited Nadia. The weather was still fine and the fresh air was a nice change from how the castle could get at times. Beside the deep winter could keep them inside for a lot of time soon enough. The third year took in their surroundings for a bit, noting the presence of certain fellow classmates including her brother, before finally turning her attention to Professor Fergersnout as she spoke up once more and began the lesson in earnest. Conflicts…that was an interesting topic in history. Certainly not as boring as other events, though filled with mixed emotions.

Thinking on the matter, the Gryffindor opted not to go for the more obvious answers, her eldest brother and parents had dealt with the events of the most recent. The last one to take place on the grounds of Hogwarts like the woman mentioned. Nah to fresh. The girl settling on one as she raised her hand to answer. “The Goblin Rebellion of 1792,” she remarked, lowering her arm back to her side.

Brandon sighed aloud when the word 'conflicts' was said, even though he tried his best not to. He hated conflict, and really always had. He associated it with yelling, fighting, death, misery, war, and a whole bunch of other awful things. Wizarding conflicts were a sensitive topic in his family, to say the least. While Brandon had only been five at the time of the third wizarding war, his sister had been a second year. And, well, that had really broken her. Not that their whole family wasn't messed up already. His body language became more reserved, with his hands in his pockets, and his interested expression more shut off. He knew that conflicts were very important to history, but that didn't make him at all comfortable with talking about the ones he had personal stakes in. "There was the third wizarding war. Eight years ago. With Rosier and the Neo-Alliance infiltrating and overtaking Hogwarts." He wished he'd thought of a different conflict first, though. The War drew to mind bad memories only.

You know what was really interesting? This spot on the ground in front of him, which was in the opposite direction from the 'war memorial' plaque thing that he was deliberately avoiding. He poked at a crack in the ground with his toe and frowned heavily, clearly not paying attention to what was being said. He was pretty sure he needed to go to the bathroom. Like, now.

Freddy was a fan of professors steering away from the classrooms - something about them always made him feel rather stuffy. So, he was gladly leaning against some wall as the class begun. He had never been a fan of History but his aunt had insisted he needed to [I]do it all[I] - if he wanted her to keep funding him.

But anyway, despite seeming uninterested, he was listening - and aware of what all was happening in class, so naturally he spoke up at the professor's question as well, "there was also a bit of conflict with the merpeople - where they abducted people at a ministry's event, and politely kept them hostage for like .... a year?"

This young lady nodded her head rather quickly causing her blonde hair to end up all in her face, some stuck to her lips but a simple wipe of her hand fixed that. "It is! I love being out and getting to explore." She also learned a real lot by being able to adventure and figure things out for herself as she went along. Hopefully Professor Fergersnout would be taking them all on an epic adventure today!

Ooooh! This was cute! Being referred to as a Kookaburras or Kelpie made her think of her mama since she was the CoMC professor and she briefly wondered if Fergersnout liked creatures as much as her and her mama did. Then it had her wondering which one of those two the professor thought that SHE was! Maybe she would ask her later when the woman wasn't talking and she was meant to be listening. She was trying to listen, she was, honest!

The mention of conflict here at Hogwarts had her tilting her head and looking over at Aryan, she knew how much he tried to avoid anything of that nature. Bryony's nose crinkled up when Brandon mentioned the war from several years earlier. She had been little at the time but she remembered her parents both going to help out with that. An arm slid around her bestie and she gave him a squeeze knowing that if she was thinking about it, he had to be too. "The was the time when the Chamber or Secrets was opened all those years ago.. and it was opened again when my mama was a student too but then it was explored by students and professors." Her free hand was raised in the air before she had said anything.

Desiree beamed at the compliment her shoes received. She replied with a warm smile and a nod of gratitude. Thanks, Professor! Fashion compliments were always nice? More smiles followed for the other students who arrived after her, one of whom (Sloane) was wearing a unicorn oneself. Blink, blink. Did she read the notice wrong? She thought they were only allowed to change their shoes, not their whole uniform. No? Never mind then.

Desiree focused her attention on Professor Fergersnout as the lesson began. Kookaburras and kelpies? Those creatures didn't go together, did they? Still it was a cute saying. She gave a slight nod in response to the question. Yes, she was quite warm, thank you. And if she got cold later, she knew how to use heating charms.

History and exercise? Hmm… she wondered what that might entail. Nothing messy, she hoped! Oh well, she supposed she'd find out later. For now, she focused on the question. Wizarding world conflicts…

Desiree's thoughts immediately turned to the Third Wizarding War, and she was hardly surprised when it was one of the first things mentioned. She was nine at the time, old enough to understand what was happening. Thank Merlin nobody in her family was at Hogwarts then! Her muggleborn dad probably would've been tortured or killed, and she and her brother would've been subjected to who knows what. If one asked her, Lucien Rosier was worse than Voldemort! At least Voldemort mostly left the Hogwarts students alone. Speaking of Voldemort…

Her hand went up, and she said, "There's the Second Wizarding War. It started with Voldemort's return to power in 1995 and ended with the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998."

She HAD remembered. Solly sighed, “No, he hasn’t come back yet.” He shrugged and kicked a stone sadly. Because apparently kicking a stone sadly was a thing.

As for the first question, it required some major thinking on Solomon’s part, although he absolutely couldn’t remember dates if that’s what the professor was looking for. Thinking on a subject of interest - sport - Solly raised his hand to offer very bare detail. “Can’t remember the day… month… or year…” or who was playing, even, “there was a riot of Death Eaters at a Quidditch World Cup final, once.” Hopefully Fergersnout would know the one he was referring to, he had no doubt that she would.

Wait... There was a Costume Closest right here in the school and Ezra never knew about it?

Was he too old for that stuff?

Probably. But come on! Costumes were so much fun! He would be recriuting some of his friends after class and heading there post haste..

His attention began to waver as they waited for the rest of the students to arrive and he was looking around at the other kids when a loud operatic note jumped his attention back to Professor Snout. A small giggle escaped him in response. See what he meant about the eccentric?

And on to learning.. Battles? Conflict? Ooh.. What were they going to be learning about today?

“I heard that about forty years ago a group of students were inflicted with the Imperious Curse to fight each other in an arena in the Forbidden Forest. Then later the same group were made to attack the school and there was a big fight. Staff and students vs students.. with explosions and things.” That was all the details Ezra's brain could muster. Wait. No. That was it. Old adult people talking about their youth was a sure fire way to make the Ravenclaw's eyes glaze over.

The Professor was quite impressed by the plethora of answers the students had offered. “An excellent array of different types of conflicts. As your fellow students have described, conflict doesn’t necessarily always equate to the huge wars that we have all heard about but can be a singular event. With that being said our topic today is concerning a war however not one that’s been previously mentioned nor what I imagine you expect.”

“You might have noticed my attire today is a little old fashioned in comparison to usual.” That was an understatement, there was very little colour at all comparatively. “That is because we are talking about a series of conflicts from the nineteenth century with the rather formidable opponents, the Giants.” If she had a chalkboard in her presence she would’ve written that up on the board but alas she was not that organised.

“The Giants have a history of holding a vendetta against our kind and therefore the Giant Wars weren’t just one singular event but a series of them pre-1900’s. Giants also participated on Voldemort’s side during the Wizarding Wars after an unsuccessful attempt to recruit them by Hagrid. Can you tell me what makes a Giant a particularly difficult opponent to battle?” Once again one answer per student was plentiful and out of the box answers were always appreciated by this eccentric Professor.


OOC: One answer per student please. Lesson will move on in around 24 hours.

Roman had sidled along to class at the correct time, dressed exactly as had been recommended, and he found himself squinting at the lesson at hand. Maybe he needed glasses or some sort of magical attention to his eyes, but he was not suuuuuuper fond of this outdoors thing. He remained quiet, mostly keeping to himself as he paid attention. He had his book in his bag, but he was too interested in History to pull it out right now.

The giants, then? He crinkled his nose at the mention. "Giants are fairly stupid, are they not, professor?" he asked bluntly, unaware of what his answer could be construed as. The fact that they were large was so apparent to Roman that he didn't think to even mention it.

One thing that Ary appreciated about his professors was that they never forced or goaded him into providing answers; they seemed to have gathered by now that he wasn’t much of a talker. But he always was attentive in each lesson. Which was why he immediately winced when Brandon brought up that particular moment in history. It was as though all the trauma and all the fear he had felt back then came rushing back. Thankfully, Bry’s comforting hug helped and he gave her a small smile.

It also helped that the lesson wasn’t going to be about that war or any of the others. The giants. Ary felt a wave of sadness for the giants. He knew many a life had been lost then too. This was why war and conflict should have no place in the world.

This time around, Aryan lifted a hand. “Spells don’t have much effect on them cos of their size.’’

Though there were many historical conflicts she could have named for the first question, Florence had opted to remain silent and let her other classmates offer their answers. She liked having the answers herself, but she didn't want to hog all of the attention, right? That would be rude, and then she'd look like a know-it-all. Which, well, she did know a lot of things, especially about history thanks to her gran. But there was no need for everyone to know that right off the bat.

She would answer the next one though. The Slytherin had no intention of being entirely silent in a lesson. So she raised her hand.

"They also don't like big complicated discussions," she said. "So even if you are trying to resolve something verbally, you have to simplify it to their level before they decide to just fight you instead."

Yep…there was the mention.

Nadia unconsciously shivered at the mention of the war that had taken place when she and Dy were 5 or 6, not even fully registering the professor’s response to her own. She couldn’t help glancing at her brother to see how he faired though thankfully he wasn’t as old at the time to remember too much from the time. And Bry was helping. Raj had been the sibling stuck with the stronger memories and she remembered the worry about him that the parentals had tried to hide even before Daddy Adi had went to help. The third year swallowed as she looked back to the front and absently listened to the other answers, trying to pull herself back from the past.

Grateful they were pulling from another more distant topic for the subject of today’s lesson, Nadia thought for a moment about giants. “Their size definitely makes them very dangerous, even just by falling in defeat.”

Whoopsies.

She had thought the Great Hall was unusually quiet and it hadn't been until she had overheard a couple of older students talking about seeing Professor Fergersnout with her class out in the courtyard. Then all the sirens and alarm bells were running off and her, with her school bag that would not have had her History of Magic textbook regardless but DID have parchment and essential writing implements, trying to shove the last bunch of grapes into her mouth before she pushed open the big an entirely too heavy doors out into the open air. She had sprinted, of course, but thankfully the distance between the Great Hall and the courtyard was not all THAT far. Not like...Hufflepuffle common room to the Astronomy Tower, for example.

So, being late to class was obviously oopsie daisy number one. Oopsie daisy number two would be....a, yes. Her dropping a couple of grapes on the steps down from the double doors and into the courtyard proper and then smushing them under her fun sized feet. At least she didn't slip on them, so that was a victory in itself, though she lamented the loss of grapes because they had been so yummy. She was just in time to hear the discussion on GIANTS and certainly had her own thoughts on this and that. It was kind of funny, for a flash of a second, on how giant was almost a matter of perspective since SHE was a giant to the grape that she had now just squished and there was a lot of talk about how giant, er, giants were and their size made them formidable. Could squish a witch or wizard like a grape and not even necessarily on purpose!

"I don't think it is fair to call giants stupid!" she interjected a bit breathlessly as she caught up to the class. She HAD been sprinting, after all. "It's more...they aren't the most patience of species and as a result one cannot even hope to hold negotiations or really form treaties with them to avoid conflict unless you bring them something really...really really really really REALLY appealing to appease them. But even THEN I reckon it's a hard to form peace treaties if you wanted to. Using their raw brute strength to solve conflicts is easier to them and doesn't require much thought, which suits their aversion to patience."

So someone like Anna really shouldn't try negotiate with any giants simply because she talked so much and they would probably think of her like a mosquito and flick her away or squish her like a grape.

Also, limbs moving? Yup, Anna, the drum of her heart in her chest, and her bouncy curls had that covered already.

"OH! Sorry...for being late, Professor Fergersnout. I...well...it's a poor explanation but I just .... forgot."

Honest to a fault. Oopsie daisy number three.

Hmm.. Giants.

So close to humans yet so far..

Anna (the girl with marvellous floofy hair who arrived late) had a great point. It WAS unfair to call them stupid. In terms of creatures, they were intelligent like in the way a dolphin could be considered massively intelligent.

Ezra thought about this. His love of creatures didn't extend to giants.. although, could they really be classed as creatures? They were humanoid, capable of intelligent thought and even had opposable thumbs! Brilliant for their future evolution. They had the ability to construct basic weapons and tools, and they wore simple clothing (thankfully - no one needed an eyeful). And they could talk; some even bilingual - that was pretty damn smart. Give them a few hundred thousand years and they may even evolve to be of human intelligence.. capable of critical thought and with a deep conscience.

Ah, the mind boggled. But as for a giant being a difficult opponent, Ezra was pretty clueless.

“I mean.. they could just stamp on you in battle and it would be game over.” Let alone crush you if felled like that older Gryffindor had mentioned.

Ezra now had the desire to go and learn more about his giant counterparts.