1st and 2nd Years :: one

[Queety White]

[[ooc: yo, I'll catch you if you didn't read my post on the HOM board or this post here. I'd suggest you read it because things are a little different this time around. - Courtney]]

Twenty minutes into the class, it seemed like everyone was about to fall asleep. Queety looked up at what she had written on the board, making sure it was legible and turned back to her students. The lecture, about the Ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses was supposed to be something of interest, but when Queety finally turned around and saw her class' reaction, Queety figured she better take a new approach.

Normally one who lectured in a style that usually kept her students somewhat interested, Queety had expected that no one would be bothered by her straight up lecturing for once. She had thought she prepared a more exciting lecture but [not surprisingly] her memory seemed to fail her. So, she had not choice but to improvise.

"All righty then," Queety sighed, putting her chalk down. "Let's get into discussing specific Gods and Goddesses. I'm gonna split you up into four groups." She began walking up and down the aisles, pointing at the students and assigning them a number one through four. When she made her way back up and looked at the entire class, she said, "Okay, now group one needs to go over here, group two over there, three over there, and four right over here. I'm going to assign you each a Greek God or Goddess and you guys have to discuss for a few minutes what you know. Then I would like a representative from each group to stand up and tell us what you guys know so far. I will add in any extra comments as necessary.

"So, go on. Get in your groups and in five minutes or so, I'll call you all back to your seats and we'll continue with our discussion," Queety smiled. "Group one will take Zues. Group two will take Hera. Group three will discuss Aphrodite and Group four will discuss Poseidon." She then sat on her desk, and began looking through her notes trying to remember when she had written them. After five or so minutes had passed by, and the students were done with their small groups, she clapped her hands to get their attention.

"Okay, so which group would like to go first? Send up a representative to come to the front of the class and tell us a little bit about their god or goddess. Tell us the name of your god or goddess and any information you'd like to share."

[Ava Lynn]

Well, this was actually pretty boring. Ava's first class of the year was somewhat early, and so far the teacher was succeeding in boring her. If this was how the rest of the term was going to be... She sighed silently, which was about when the teacher was setting down her chalk. Ava took a moment to study the young woman. She was sort of ditzy, and she definitely hadn't noticed that the majority of the students were practically in a stupor. Or if she did, she hadn't done anything about it until that moment.

At least she had the sense to take initiative. Ava was assigned to group two (what was a Hera?). She looked around, realizing she hadn't bothered to notice who else was assigned her number. Resignedly, she slumped her shoulders and made her way over to the allotted area of the room. This was going to be fun. "Sharing" information she knew none of with people she didn't know.

Well, the good thing was, she didn't have to be the representative. That was an automatic given.

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[Brayden Christiansen]

History of Magic, Brayden's first class of the year. Unlike most students, Brayden was relatively intrigued by this class. He thought it interesting to learn about all the different cultures and customs of past civilizations throughout the world. Today, they were having a lesson about the Greek gods and goddesses. Brayden had some knowledge on the topic, but not a lot. Queety decided she would put them into groups and they had to come up with informations about the god or goddess they were given. Brayden was sorted into group four, which ended up being Poseidon. Hmmm, he thought about it for a while, and then spoke up to the students also assigned to group four. "I'm pretty sure he was the god of the sea," he said.

[Aiden Marks]

History of Magic?! Oh my, sounds... boring. Aiden was quite depressed to find that his first class of the year was History of Magic. He was hoping it would've been something exciting like Transfiguration, or Defense Against the Dark Arts. But no, that was not the case. Although, a plus to the class was that the teacher wasn't some grumpy old person who did nothing but find ways to get children in trouble. It was actually a young woman who seemed to be pretty nice.

The lesson was about Greek gods and goddesses, and was pretty much a snore-fest, as it was only a lecture. About halfway through the lesson, though, the professor decided to switch gears and start a group activity. Each group would have a different god or goddesses to think of as much information as they knew of them. Aiden was put into group one, which was Zeus. He walked over to the rest of the group and instantly started into the conversation. "Okay, he's like, the supreme god, and that's about all I know."

[Dominic Lee]

Dominic was bored stiff. He cursed whoever it was that made History of Magic a required class. Sure, he knew it was important to know. However, it didn't mean he had to enjoy it. In fact, he loathed it. The attention span of a teenaged boy was low enough as it was, but add little excitement and it was a sleepfest. Every now and then he would close his eyes and doze off quietly before the professor stuck them into groups, waking him out of his dreamless sleep. What group was he in? He couldn't remember.

Oh, yeah, that's right. Aphrodite. Of course, he'd get this one. He slunk over to his group and slid into a seat, stretching. "Aphrodite is the goddess of love, I think." He actually knew a small bit about this particular goddess from some book he'd read. "Wasn't she born from sea foam, or something?" Proud for remembering something with some sort of relevance, Dominic slouched down into his chair and waited for someone else in his group to add to his piece.

[Bianca Shardae]

As she sat in class, Bianca's mind began to wander. One day back and already she couldn't keep focus. Though if you asked her, she couldn't be completely to blame; the lesson wasn't exactly exciting. She knew that once she got into it, the class wouldn't be too bad. Frankly the Mihael girl was just glad she had succeeded in passing to her second year without too much difficulty. As she looked around, Bianca noticed she wasn't the only one bored out of her mind. After a little while, Queety seemed to have changed her mode of operations by splitting them into groups.

Oh, what a joy it would be, she thought sullenly as she walked over to a group of people she really didn't recognize. "Alright, so we have Hera. She was the queen of the gods, and she was always jealous because Zues kept cheating on her with random beautiful women. I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can remember." As she stopped talking, Bianca realized she probably seemed annoying, spurting out without being asked if she knew anything. With a sheepish grin, she looked at her group members. "A-anyone wanna add t-to that?" Oh, great. Here comes the stuttering.

[Chadwin Forwick]

It had been a long day, and Chad had not particularly been focused on the class he was in at the moment. It was only twenty minutes into class, but it seemed like hours had gone by. Chad glanced at the clock repeatedly as Professor White lectured on, and on, something about old Greek people, and their worshiping ways. Chad checked the clock once more, before he heard the dropping of chalk. Causing Chad to react in the way that usually meant class was over. "Let's get into discussing specific Gods and Goddesses. I'm gonna split you up into four groups." These were the most depressing words Chad could hear at the moment, he felt his brain was quite inactive.

Chad was put into group four, where they were assigned to discuss the Greek god Poseidon. "I'm pretty sure he was the god of the sea," A blonde student spoke before anyone else. Chad decided to add to this "I believe his symbol was a trident, and he was believed to be the force behind earthquakes," he said. Indeed, Chad knew many things about the Greek gods and goddesses, as a result of muggle school. Though he would not say to much, as not to get chosen to go to the front of the classroom. "I'm Chad by the way," he spoke calmly, and comatose.

Chad looked around the room, he recognized many students he had met during break. There were two specific students he made out while looking around. Ava, and Dominic, in which they had an encounter in Hogsmeade, there was another student there by the name of Selene. But he hadn't seen her in the classroom, though she was in his year. Chad sighed, and looked back at his group.

[[ooc: i tried keeping it 2 paragraphs lol.]]

[Elliot Miller]

Elliot walked slowly to class hoping to miss as much as she could, it was the first day back from term break and Elliot’s first day at Hogwarts EVER, and yet she didn’t care to be late. She didn’t wear a watch so she wasn’t able to tell exactly how much she had missed so far, but she was hoping it was a significant amount. Today she was dressed simply, blue jeans, a white puffy shirt that seemed to flow around her body and a pair of long black boots that sat below her knee. Her hair was tied back into a braid and a few strands hung loose around her face.

Holding her books in one hand she reached the classroom, obviously she had missed something as the class was split into four groups which were scattered across the classroom some in deep conversation, others half asleep. Glad to know I didn’t miss anything important she thought to herself looking up at the clock she wished she had taken more time. She scanned the room, blushing when she saw Chad, she looked up where the teacher stood by the door“Sorry I'm late, I got lost"” she hoped she would fool teacher into thinking she wasn’t purposely late, with her brothers continuous explanations on Hogwarts it was hardly likely for her to get lost.

[Lola Rose]

While Lola had never been a big one for paying attention, she sat slightly straighter today as she listened. There wasn’t really an alternative anyway, as taking down notes or reading from the board was hardly something she could go about doing in each class. Not only that, but it proved amusing to watch the class literally ‘fall asleep’ while the professor continued speaking without a glance in their direction. Professor White finally did turn though, sensing the class’s lack of enthusiasm and began taking a different approach.

She almost groaned. Socialising was not exactly her forte in the first place, and having to do so in class was just plain irritating. She was put in group three, and she watched with narrowed eyes as the others moved over to their allotted groups. Lola huffed quietly, and finally stood; taking her time as she also joined the group, who were currently discussing Aphrodite. One Slytherin boy chirped in, and she smirked and faced him. “Wow, you think?” she said, flatly. “You must be a genius for working that one out.”

“The foam was created from the genitals of Kronos,” Lola said, quirking her mouth to see if the other students would be so immature as to laugh at that. “Who was Zeus’s father. Technically, she’s Zeus’s sister in that respect, but it’s about the changeover of power, the femininity in the patriarchy.” She paused for a moment, wondering if there was any need to continue and then finished with a nod, turning away from the group almost instinctively. Really, she was just using the information they’d been given, but if certain people chose not to listen, than it was hardly her business. In fact, she was more than happy for people to doze off in class. Anything that gave Lola a head start was certainly worthwhile.

[Jennifer Gray]

It was the first class of term, Jennifer was quite bored, but not any more bored than she had been over term break. Sure there were some interesting parts about the break, it wasn’t a total drag but neither was this class. The teacher was trying very hard to make things interesting, but with a bunch of teenagers on the first day back, it’s not likely they’re going to be enthusiastic. It seemed that almost everybody was still in relaxation mode, Jennifer had found it hard to get out of bed on time that morning.

Jennifer had spotted Dominic when she first walked into the class; but she was too shy though to talk to him. She had given him a quick glance though and sat down on the other side of the room. So far the class had been about Greek gods and goddesses. It had been hard to take the information in especially when most of the other were half asleep.

Finally around twenty minutes into the class, she stoped, she put the students into four separate groups. Jennifer was put in group two; Hera was the goddess they were supposed to discuss. Great she thought. Jennifer knew about most of the other gods and goddesses but only a little about Hera. Luckily another girl had spoken already. The main things that Jennifer knew had already been said by the girl. She had asked if anyone wanted to add something, if I got Zeus, Poseidon or even Aphrodite, I might add something but I guess there’s not much I can add. Then she thought about what she knew of the other gods. One of them had to relate to Hera in one way or another.

Since no one else had said anything yet she reluctantly spoke “Um she’s Zeus’s brother as well as his wife, and she’s the goddess of marriage.” She might as well get involved in the class; it might make it slightly less boring.

[jasper]

Really, there was little that could faze him. Heading into History of Magic and being assigned the lucky number four, it seemed that Poseidon would be his friend for the day. Or at least the subject of any intelligent conversation he might have to take. "Jasper. Thought I'd get that out of the way first," Jasper piped up as he joined his group, now comfortably made up of Brayden and Chadwin at the moment. Giving a wry smile as he ran a hand through his blond hair, he sat himself in one of the available seats, doing his best in trying to at least rack in some information about the gods.

Truthfully he knew next to nothing - it wasn't his fault that he wasn't the least bit fazed about Greek Mythology. Chinese Mythology had long been his area of interest. Apparently, Asian culture had been his calling since his birth, and not pursuing it was nothing short of foolish. "So, we've got God of the Sea, trident, caused earthquakes - pretty destructive guy, don't you think?" he summarized, before shaking his head. "Anyway, if I'm not wrong, he's Zeus' brother, or something like that. Hades, Poseidon and Zeus were siblings. One took control of heaven, one of the underworld and one of the sea. Pretty unfair split, me thinks. After all, must be drafty in the underworld. But that's just my opinion, so."

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[Crystal Middleton]

As nervous as every she entered the class, while the teacher was lecturing she seemed to be the no bored one. She was able to take a few notes and learn some new things. To her shock the course of class seemed to change, had to work in groups. Well since this is Crystal's first day and first time interacting with unknown people this would be rather a different experience, but nonetheless it was bond to happen.

She got up, but she couldn't move she watched the groups as they discuss their assignment. She gathered the courage to go to her assigned group which happened to be on Zeus. She stood there for a sec, then she spoke. "Zeus, none as God of the sky and thunder...he was known to be the father of the other gods and goddess by different goddess." She only remembered that part cause her home teacher read it to her.

[Selene Falicon]

Selene watched Queety writing on the board without enthusiasm. Selene loved to learn, but she just couldn't focus as Queety's voice drawled on about Gods and Goddesses. Frankly, this wasn't a subject that Selene even cared about, so that wasn't helping her pay attention. She covered her mouth as she yawned, her eyes taking a glazed over look as she stared at the board without seeing what was on it.

Suddenly, Queety became animated and turned to face them. Selene took her chin off her hand and paid attention, starting to get excited. She received the number 2. Waiting to find out her God, she watched to see who else would be in her group. She recognized Ava and smiled, not that Ava would see this. She recognized a few other people, but she didn't really know anyone else in the group. When Queety announced that her group had Hera, she stifled a laugh, thinking of the Muggle movie Juno.

Selene got up and moved to the spot Queety had designated for Group 2. Ava made no move to use her wand to speak, and Selene didn't blame her. One girl in her group spoke up first, spouting off information, then timidly asked if anyone had anything else. Another girl added her information, and Selene mentally sighed, knowing she didn't really have anything to add. Not wanting to seem unhelpful, she shrugged her shoulders and quietly added, "She loved vengeance and was easily made jealous...." It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

[Emily Jacobs]

As ever, Emily was displaying some amount of enthusiasm towards the day’s class, much more so than some of her fellow student body. Though even she wasn't completely alert. Slightly hunched over her desk, the scrawls of her notes lacked usual precision, instead written as though forced rather than a genuine keen interest. It wasn’t that the subject matter was dreary; mythology was fascinating in its own right. Yet the cardigan that she pulled tightly across her frame gave the indication she wasn’t too fond of the oncoming winter weather. Skin that easily tanned bronzed in comparison to paler classmates. Term break had been good for the Ravenclaw, bestowing a glow that only a holiday to Spain could acquire.

She didn’t make any immediate movements to find her group. Instead lingering, eyes peering to trace just who she would be joining. She knew Lola Rose from last term; the boy was new, though she knew something about him at least. The green and silver of Slytherin was embellished onto his uniform. Emily joined the two, just as the Slytherin boy spoke. Smiling as she sat she nodded her head in agreement, opening her mouth to comment just as Lola spoke. Emily shifted uncertainly at the red heads flat words. So much for team encouragement.

“Don’t forget the parts she played in some myths. I think we should make it clear that really she was a key player in the Judgement of Paris, so we could say she’s a very influential figure. Manipulative too, I mean, she did try and kill Psyche,” she paused, noting down a few points on a spare piece of parchment and reading over them. “Okay so how about we start the introduction with her role as a Goddess, then her origins and what that could mean,” she gave a brief glance to Lola, “then finish with some of the stories she’s involved in and summarize her overall character?” The brunette looked up, looking for an agreement from the Slytherin duo. “Oh and we’ll have to nominate a key speaker…”

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[Queety White]

Queety wrote up on the board the names of the four gods and goddesses she had chosen. As each student came up to give a little information whether in their groups or if they spoke it out loud to the entire class, she began writing it down on the board. Perhaps these little groups were a good idea, it gave all the students a chance to put in input, even those who were not speaking out loud at all. Plus, it gave them reason to get up for a moment to rearrange themselves in their four groups. Queety smirked at her ability to come up with these ideas on the spot.

Zues
- supreme leader
- god of sky and thunder

Hera
- goddess of marriage
- Zues' sister and wife

Aphrodite
- represented love

Poseidon
- god of the sea
- symbol was trident
- force behind earthquakes

"It seems that you guys understand the gist of each character's stories," Queety grinned after she had written up everything she could as quickly as she could. She could not tell if she was missing some. For some reason, she would hear the words but not remember it long enough to write it all down. She winced, thinking it was close enough and turned back to the class again. "Well, not that you seem to have a basic idea of how the muggles view each of these four gods. Based on the information I had given you before, how do you think the witches and wizards actually see history."

Even the crickets were silent as her class stared back at her. Queety sighed softly, not wanting to lose her patience. "To recap what I had said before this class, the beings that many muggles considered to be gods and goddesses were actually just wizards and witches. And these brilliant witches and wizards used the fact that they were a minority to their advantage. They continued on with that story and made themselves actually believe they were gods and goddesses."

Queety smiled softly. "Now, that you remember what I had just been lecturing about for the last twenty minutes, could you guys think of things to add about each of the 'gods and goddesses' in relation to magic?"

[[ooc: You'll gain some cookie points if you come up with creative answers.]]

[Chadwin Forwick]

Chad was an impatient person, and at this moment he was thinking on what prank would be particularly great for this class. Another student that introduced himself as Jasper entered the group. Chad noticed the white, and yellow crest om his robe. "Hades, Poseidon and Zeus were siblings. One took control of heaven, one of the underworld and one of the sea. Pretty unfair split, me thinks. After all, must be drafty in the underworld. But that's just my opinion, so" the wizard said as he sat down.

Chad noticed the teacher desist to walk around the classroom. She then scrawled something up onto the board. Chad could not read it from where he was sitting, as he was sitting nearly at the back. He figured it had something to do with the subject, as teachers are not random. Though he couldn't be sure with Professor White, she seemed as a bit of a free spirit.

Chad's attention continued to be directed toward the Professor. She was now asking a question, and Chad was not particularly interested , and did not pay attention. Although, he did hear the next part of his assignment. "Well, Poseidon probably used the Aguamenti spell alot, the water spell. Causing others who saw to believe he was the god of the sea." he said, "If you ask me, he was just an egotistical magical fish..."

[Dominic Lee]

'Wow, you think You must be a genius for working that one out.' The girls comment shot through Dominic and he narrowed his eyes, debating on whether or not he should retort. Deciding that arguing with a professor so close probably wasn't the best idea, he let it roll off. Score one for anger control. The girl spoke again and Dominic tried to pay attention. 'The foam was created from the genitals of Kronos, who was Zeus’s father. Technically, she’s Zeus’s sister in that respect, but it’s about the changeover of power, the femininity in the patriarchy.' Another girl joined their group and added to what they had. 'Don’t forget the parts she played in some myths. I think we should make it clear that really she was a key player in the Judgement of Paris, so we could say she’s a very influential figure. Manipulative too, I mean, she did try and kill Psyche.'

Dominic took down some notes to refer back to later, if needed as the girl continued. 'Okay so how about we start the introduction with her role as a Goddess, then her origins and what that could mean, then finish with some of the stories she’s involved in and summarize her overall character?' The Slytherin boy shrugged. "Sounds good to me." As they all continued to work, the professor wrote what they had been saying on the board. "So, Aphrodite was probably just some attention-seeking witch who slipped love potion to unsuspecting guys, right?" It made sense to him, more than anything else he could think of. Dominic tensed a bit, wondering if the snippity girl would comment on that, as well. He wasn't so sure he could keep his mouth shut a second time, and looked around the room for a distraction. He noted the three people he had spoken to the other day and nodded in acknowledgement to them, if they had even noticed.

[Emily Jacobs]

Emily stared blankly at Professor White for a few moments, as in captured by disbelief. Even after a term it still came as something as a shock to be told her viewpoint was essentially very narrowed in a wider perspective. Muggle born, Emily often found herself faced with limited knowledge concerning a wider, magical world. And she couldn’t say she was so impressed with that fact. However she was a Ravenclaw, and so was supposedly bright, surely not with what she known. As a new task was settled, the brunette paused, contemplating whilst another Mihael boy spoke. Silently Emily pieced together was could be assumed as love orientated traits, and the magic that could make them appear to be real.

She was just about to voice an answer as the boy of her team spoke, and Emily’s eyes widen. Attention-seeking witch? Now, Emily didn’t particularly have all that much faith in the concept of love, but she could see its importance, and so felt the need to argue the case of a witch who had been dead for a lifetime. “She used a potion, that’s probably inarguable. But attention-seeking?” her lips frowned, “I wouldn’t say that. She did help others, according to myth at least. A matchmaker of sorts. Which is why I’d guess that she could use Legilimency? It would allow her to find out what appeals to a person, and then drawing them to a partner with that quality. As for her own appeal. Who says she done it on purpose? She could have had Veela heritage.” Her shoulders shrugged, and the girl cast a look at the Slytherin boy, subtly daring him to disagree with her argument. A Ravenclaw she might be, but Emily could be as fiery as she was intelligent.

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[Elliot Miller]

Elliot slipped quietly into a seat, regretting her decision to get to class so late as she didn’t know what was going on but glancing up at the board she could tell they were discussing gods and goddesses. She knew quite a bit of this topic from both her muggle school and her mother’s teaching. She had found that the way muggles perceive gods and goddesses to be was entirely different to the way it was taught and seen by witches and wizards.

She sat down at a table that with what she could gather were talking about the goddess of love, Aphrodite. Professor White was busy writing everything that had been said under the headings of four gods and goddesses, and when she turned she began to talk of how these gods and goddesses were in fact wizards, and that eventually they made themselves believe they actually were gods and goddesses. Elliot spoke uneasily “Umm, excuse me Professor, but what’s to say these witches and wizards were not gods.” She paused thinking for the right words, “all I mean is that just because they were witches and wizards..., I just don’t see how this means they can’t be gods as well? I was always taught that all a god is, is a supernatural being that is somehow worshiped. So I do not see how they could not be both wizard and god seeing as…” she broke off unsure of whether to continue, she fell silent before adding quietly "sorry I should not have said anything."

[Claire Evans]

Claire sat in history of magic tapping the table quietly with her pencil, they were talking about Greek gods and it was only until about 20 minutes into the lesson that she actually began to get involved. They were split into four groups Claire had been sorted into group two and they would be discussing the goddess Hera. She made her way over to the group and was thankful to find that Jennifer had also been sorted into group two, at least that was one person she knew.

She didn’t say much as she must have have been sleeping through the lesson where they had taught about gods, back home in her muggle school. Instead she just listened to the comments and remarks made by other students jotting down notes as she heard something interesting as part of her new “I think I might listen in class” plan. Turning her head she smiled at Jennifer, it was nice to see her again.