Muggle Studies: Lesson 1 (All Years)

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This new professor appeared to be someone with whom Joshua would get along with rather well. He seemed casual, yet not too casual whereas he'd be too invested in being the good guy to actually show the class that he was the teacher. The Hufflepuff had encountered the "I'm just like you, dude" professor before. It was not as effective an approach as one would assume. But this guy seemed to know that he was the boss. And he seemed to want the rest of the class to know this as well.

"I would be honoured to hand in such an assignment," Joshua told him, putting a hand over his heart in order to show that this was a statement of genuine sincerity. After showing his appreciation to the professor, the boy felt an impact on his shoulder, more than likely caused by the Slytherin sitting next to him.

"What the hell, Henderson?" He asked, momentarily turning his attention from the professor to his friend-ish-person, Corbin Henderson.

"You may want to let the professor teach the lesson, Abbott," Corbin stated, a smug expression on his face that Joshua assumed was meant to hide his satisfaction with Joshua's actions. "That is his job, as long as you haven't driven him to an early retirement."

Joshua laughed at the male. He'd taken in exactly none of what Corbin had said, yet did the Hufflepuff ever actually pay attention to what others said?"

"Oh shut up," He said. "You know you love me." Joshua's eyes grew as if this joke of a statement had actually sparked an idea in the boy's mind. "In fact," he began.

With a sigh, Joshua left the comfort of his chair and lowered himself to the floor. From this position, he nonchalantly whispered an Accio charm towards one of the female students' hands. A small ring flew into his grip and the boy held it firmly in front of Corbin Henderson.

"Corbin I-do-not-know-your-middle-name Henderson," He began, a fake tear building up in his eyes. "I know that it has been only a short while that we have known each other, but it feels as though I have known you for a lifetime. I love you, Corbin and I want to frolick together in our chairs forever."

A part of him felt sorry for the professor, having to deal with this bullshit on his first day. But Joshua was nothing if not a handful. He smiled to the professor. Maybe he'd write the IKEA paper just for the sake of not being a complete disappointment.

Guest

'Late,' she thought, panic erupting from inside of her heart. Julienne rushed quietly throughout the castle, her feet light as she rushed to the Muggle Studies classroom. She'd gotten the time wrong. Her mind had recalled the class as being an hour later than it realistically was and the girl had not realised this until minutes after the class had begun.

'Everyone is going to notice,' She told herself. She would open the door to the class and be greeted by the gazes of her classmates who had come into the room on time. They would judge her inability to read simple details, such as the time in which a class was set to begin.

Slowly, Julienne pushed the door to the Muggle Studies classroom open, her heart beating quickly as she anticipated the ridicule that was about to come towards her.

But there was nothing.

Instead, the main attraction of the class was a boy that she recognised as being a seventh year who belonged to the same house as she. He was on one knee, supposedly proposing to a boy whom she had never seen before. Part of her knew that this must have been a joke, but there did appear to be a hint of honesty in the Hufflepuff boy's eyes. She doubted that the other classmates would see this.

Carefully, Julienne snuck into the back of the classroom and took a seat next to a polaroid camera. She allowed herself to sigh in relief as she focused her attention on the professor. She wondered how he would react to the public display of affection.

Guest

Mathew's thoughts on the subject had been correct, as only shortly after he'd entered the classroom did Roxanne enter the room. She did not lay eyes on him, but did, instead, sit before Mathew. Just about close enough to touch... if he so wished.

He did not move to do so, though, instead, his eyes moved from their original location, to the auburn locks of the witch before him. He did not mind that she had not acknowledged him, it meant he could watch more easily.

Though, of course, should the Ravenclaw turn, Mathew's eyes would have averted subtly before she could catch him.

There was commotion with another Hufflepuff boy - the kind of Hufflepuff that Mathew was more than willing to deal with should he continue - but Mathew paid him no attention. Unfortunately, the professor - whom Mathew didn't believe to be adequate to the job - acknowledged the stupid behaviour, which could only lead to more of it. And, even as Mathew thought that much, it happened.

The drama continued, and, beneath the desk, Mathew pulled out his wand. Thinking of the Pus-squirting hex, Mathew willed it quite hard - which would invariably make it a very severe case of the spell's effects. There was a loud bang that filled the room, so all they could do was wait.

Mathew, meanwhile, returned his wand to his pocket - with very subtle, unnoticeable movements. His features turned to faux concern as if he did not know what had happened. But, before another ruckus could occur.

"A Polaroid camera is a camera that prints photos in the instant they are taken on to a piece of paper. You usually have to shake the paper to help it develop. You can't delete, or edit these pictures on the device. They just are." Mathew explained, his tone even, with little interest in the subject, but he knew the answer.

OOC: Jake was granted permission to send the spell at Joshua. FYI - there is no beam of light, or incantation, and Mathew did this subtly, as not to cause anyone to be suspicious. Please PM me if you want to work with this point further.

Guest

Elleon walked into the room, his hand already holding the piece of paper with his usual note on it. Hi, I'm Elleon Caverly. I'm Deaf. When you speak, could you please face the front of the class so I can read your lips? Thank you. He'd heard that they were going to have a new teacher for Muggle Studies and had prepared the note ahead of time. He gave the note to the professor with a smile and waited, expecting a nod and a smile in return. What he did not expect was for him to sign.

"Hi, E-l-l-e-o-n. I speak little BSL. Can talk but not understand a lot. Sorry."

Elleon was so surprised that he remained silent for a while. Once it registered that the professor had actually spoken to him in sign language, Elleon broke out into a grin. He didn't fault the professor at all for not being able to understand well. He knew some Hearing people who also had trouble with their receptive skills. It was enough that the professor knew BSL, even if just a little.

"It's okay. My name, Elleon," he responded, introducing the professor to his name sign and going very slowly.

After settling his things on the desk, he spotted the polaroid camera in front of him, eyes lighting up in excitement. He loved photography, the artist in him always looking out for the perfect moment to capture and keep forever. It fascinated him how one second of a person's life could be etched into a picture that lasted for such a long time. He had a camera of his own - not a polaroid - which he used when he wanted to capture a moment and paint or draw it later.

The professor started the class and Elleon frowned, already feeling a headache coming on. He hadn't expected the professor to interpret everything he spoke, considering his limited knowledge of sign language, but he also didn't expect for him to speak like that. He was very hard to read from the way he rambled on, and Elleon found himself rather lost trying to keep up with the pace of his speech. There was something about a potion, and the repeated word of professor. Was he trying to say that he'd taught potions before? Things only got a little better and he managed to make out a few words of the professor's question, filling in the blanks for the words he missed. The rest after that was a big jumble. He'd have to write the professor another note requesting that he speak slower.

But before he could do that, the professor began signing and Elleon watched, surprise showing in his eyes. The grammar wasn't perfect and he fingerspelled big words like polaroid, digital, and non-digital, but it was enough for Elleon to follow what he was saying.

"I'm new teacher, unless old teacher drank p-o-l-y-j-u-i-c-e potion."

Oh, so that's what he meant by the potion. Already, Elleon liked his sense of humour.

"Call me Professor M-a-s-o-n, B-l-a-k-e, or whatever. What difference polaroid, digital, and non-digital camera have?"

From the position he was sitting in, he couldn't really make out what Zoey said (he finally learned that Zoey was her name, not Chloe or Joey), but a movement caught his eye and he turned his head to see Professor Blake interpreting for him. Elleon really did not expect for him to go to such lengths and it only made him like Professor Blake more. He signed a "thank you" to Professor Blake before opening up his sketchbook.

Turning to a clean page, Elleon began to write his answer, lifting it up for the professor to see once he was done.

A non-digital camera relies on a film roll which is then later developed into pictures. This is usually done in a darkroom.

Although he really appreciated what Professor Blake did, signing out his answer would take too long as he would have to go really slowly and fingerspell almost everything if he wanted to be understood. It was just better to write it out.

[[OOC: Permission to GM given my Mel. Italics dialogue is in sign language.]]

Guest

He'd spent a month or so undercover at a place that taught BSL (he was tracking a suspected squib sleeper agent) and picked up some basic things during said month. At the bare minimum, he could fingerspell fluently -- although not as fluently as a Deaf person could -- and knew basic sentences that would help. So, after speaking each phrase (and after each student gave their answer), Blake spent some time interpreting (not translating; Deaf culture and terminology was one of the first few things he learnt) it for Elleon. It was clunky and he had to fingerspell a lot of the time, but he hoped it was enough.

He'd have to take a course during the summer to improve. They offered those kind of classes, didn't they?

"Five points to Ravenclaw," he said, at the first answer given. "That is correct; you can view the images you take in digital cameras."

But then, before much of the class had a chance to answer, the Hufflepuff with the chair obsession was ... proposing? Blake's expression turned into a smirk as he watched what was obviously a joke taking place. Was he annoyed at the interruption? No. Was he amused? Definitely.

He watched as the Slytherin accepted the proposal in a manner not quite as dramatic as it had been delivered, and then cleared his throat. He was about to make a comment when he heard the explosion; reacting automatically, he glanced around, wand already in hand.

The pus was obvious, and Blake didn't even hesitate, flicking his wand in Joshua's direction. The pus was cleared up almost at once, leaving no trace of it behind. Another flick cleared up any remains on the floor or table, and then Blake slid his wand back into his pocket and glanced around. It had been done non-verbally, and obviously in spite.

Who was it? He hadn't seen any movements... His eyes fell on Mathew for but a moment before he let his gaze continue. There was something about the boy that read as off, as dangerous, and Blake didn't discount his instincts for a moment. There was no proof it was the male, and Blake wasn't going to even try and accuse him, but he couldn't help but think that, if it was anyone in the room, it was Mathew.

He ignored the answer given and turned to Joshua once more. "If you could give the ring back to its rightful owner, that would be much appreciated. Next time, I suggest purchasing the ring yourself; it's much easier that way." He paused for a moment, and then added, "Congratulations, by the way. I expect an invitation to the wedding."

Then and only then did he nod towards Mathew. "Take five points for that answer. That's the fun with polaroid cameras; the pictures appear at once and are printed out at once. It's got to do with light and dye and chemicals and things that we won't get into, mostly because I can't understand it. Maybe it's even magic. I don't know. All we know is we press the button and out pops the thing. A few minutes later, we have a picture."

The last and complete answer came from Elleon, and he nodded. "Good. Hufflepuff earns another five points." He paused, then read out the answer. "This is put perfectly. Are you sure you didn't copy that from wikipedia?" he joked, translating it to bad BSL before continuing. "I won't go into details of darkrooms today, but basically, they're a place you develope the pictures on film. It's technical and sciency and I'm not Bill Nye -- and all you muggleborns who don't know this, shame on you -- so I'll not bother trying."

"Next class, we'll try out digital cameras. This class, though, we will practise taking pictures on polaroid cameras," Blake went on. "Now, this is how it works." He picked up the camera, pointing to different parts as he spoke. "This is the on button. Press it once to turn it on. The lens will come out. Aim it at what you want to take a picture of, and look through the small hole. What you see is what you get. Make sure your fingers aren't covering the flash or the lens."

He moved the camera slightly, as though randomly choosing a location. In actuality, he was making sure that Mathew was directly in frame and unhidden, although not the only one in the picture. "Once you've got what you want, press this button; the flash is bright." He demonstrated, and then removed the piece of plastic that came out the bottom, placing it face down on his desk.

"Now, as Mathew pointed out, sometimes you shake the picture to help it. Do not do it this time. I repeat: do not do it! This brand doesn't need shaking; if you shake it, it will be less bright or sharp. Lay it flat down, photo down, for a minute or so."

He paused, making sure everyone got that, and then went on. "You each have ten film. That means each camera holds twenty pieces of film. In groups of two or three, practise taking pictures." Blake took out his wand and gave it a wave; in the corner of the room, objects that he'd hidden were revealed -- random costumes and other dress-up items. "Have fun. Out of the ten, you may keep nine. On the back of one picture of anything, write your name and date it. This will be your classwork."

Picking up the picture he'd taken earlier, he glanced at it and smiled. It came out how he wanted, with Mathew in the corner, and other students around as well; he'd send it back to his team leader with a note asking for them to perform a background check on Mathew. Holding it up for the class to see, he said, "This is how it should look like. Now shoo. Have fun."

[[OOC: Sorry this is so long.]]

Guest

Before the professor had announced the assignment, Julienne's hands were already cupped around the small photography device. Being a person who spent her hours examining the expressions of different speech patterns and the pulsations of varied movements, the young Hufflepuff had once or twice dabbled in photography before. She had found it to be a way of immortalising the genuity in moments that she encountered.

She remembered one specific example of this; a young couple whom she had encountered whilst she was in Italy for her mother's portion of the Summer holiday. She remembered the glow of the girl's skin as she laughed at her significant other trying to maintain control of their gondola. Her partner had stuck out their tongue, neither confirming nor denying if this was what could be classified as a funny situation. There were no other emotions in the air except pure happiness and it was beautiful.

She'd taken a multitude of photos that day, capturing the adventures of the gondola romantics. She saw as they experienced gelato for the first time. She felt his brain freeze with a single bite. It was refreshing to see such purity in a moment; even more so so see purity in every moment the couple shared. At the end of the day, Julienne had left an envelope of photos on the seat of their mo-ped. She wanted them to know how photogenic their love was, even if it only appeared so for a day.

Looking back to the camera before her, Julienne smiled. She watched as a young boy walked into the classroom, allowing his hands to speak for him in a way that she imagined words never could. Her eyes squinted into the device she held, capturing a candid representation of his language. A part of her noticed the flash of light that accompanied her action, but another part of her was sure that the class would just assume her fingers had slipped. Out of the camera came a small rectangle that would soon be an image. It was better than magic.

She then noticed a figure coming up beside her, a top hat and false mustache accenting his natural features. Kylian.

"H-hi," she smiled nervously. The girl was still getting used to the sensation of being noticed above the rest of the world. She'd never been sought out before, but it was not a feeling that she did not enjoy. Kylian had been nothing but kind since they'd met, engaging her in conversation but not becoming impatient with her uneasiness of speech. She found herself enjoying his company more and more.

Her finger moved to the button on the top of the camera as Kylian moved his hand to his chin, creating a sort of high society thinker type look. The flash felt like fire, transfiguring the two of them into moths grasping for the warmth.

"I like your hat," She said softly. Upon hearing this, Kylian took the top hat from his head and placed it over Julienne's. He then gently took the camera from her hands and captured her image.

"It looks better on you," he smiled.

Guest

Elleon grinned at the professor's joke, shaking his head but not responding for fear of interrupting his instructions. He only knew this because he spent one summer working at a photography shop. The process of developing film into pictures had been a fascinating process, one that Elleon enjoyed doing.

Once they were allowed to take pictures, Elleon gingerly lifted the polaroid in front of him, familiarising himself with the various buttons and mechanics. His own camera - one that his parents had bought for his birthday the year before - was a digital one. It wasn't sophisticated, but it was good enough to capture moments and put them on paper later.

Since he had no partner, Elleon decided that he would follow his instincts and take candid shots of other students. He lifted the polaroid to his eye then frowned. Here was one feature he didn't really like. On his DSLR Canon, he could play around with the lighting and adjust the settings to get the best possible picture; he did not have that with this polaroid.

He'd just have to do it manually then.

Relying on his heightened sense of sight, he stood up and moved around the room, judging certain angles and the way light would fall if he took a shot a a certain place. Inconspicuously, he made his way around the room, careful not to get in the way of other students as he took pictures of them taking picutres.

There was the crowd at the dressing table as they decided what props they wanted to use, another of as students figuring out how the camera worked, a third of another pair goofing around, a fourth of students handing in their pictures to the profesor, and some showing the joy and laughter in their eyes. It wasn't difficult at all with his talent and eye for art, and most of his snaps came out quite aesthetically pleasing.

It didn't take along for him to finish his film, and he took the pictures and camera back to his table, sorting through the ones he wanted to keep and looking for that one particular picutre he thought was worthy enough to submit to Professor Blake. His decision made, he flipped the picture to the back and wrote his name and the date on it before handing it up.

Guest

All of a sudden Joshua's big day was destroyed by an unpleasing substance that seemed to be emerging from inside of him. From the texture, colour, and smell he could tell that this shit was pus. He remembered one time when he was little he'd gotten a cut on his knee after getting into a fight with another third grader over the concept of putting pineapple on pizza (Obviously, Joshua was pr-pineapple. The combination of sweet, tangy pineapple with the warm cheese of pizza just made sense). Little Joshua'd been worried that the cut may have been infected, but his mother had told him, "No puss, no muss, no fuss."

He didn't know what muss was, but he was very sure that this was puss, so he was very sure that he had every right to fuss. But by the time that he opened his mouth to make said fuss, the puss was gone. He looked to Corbin, grateful that the pus hadn't hit him. Their friendship may have gone into quite to rough patch if he'd pussed on the boy.

"You could have just said 'I object!'" Joshua announced to no-one in particular. Wasn't that the entire reason that they always said "Speak now or forever hold your peace?" HOW COULD YOU HOLD YOUR PEACE IF YOU WENT AROUND MAKING PEOPLE PUSS THEMSELVES.

At least the teacher seemed amused at Josh and Corbin's outburst. Though he did tell Joshua to give the ring back to its owner. He shrugged, tossing it to the girl from whom it had been taken.
"Catch," he announced as the ring fell to the floor in front of her. "Woops."

"Of course you get an invitation!" He told the professor, astounded that he'd ever assumed that Joshua would leave him out of the love fest.
"It will be a summer wedding, of course," He said. "So make sure to dress accordingly," he smiled.

Once the wedding disruption had come and gone, Joshua grabbed a Polaroid and pointed it at Corbin Henderson.

"Did you get my good side?" He asked.

'Aren't they all your good side?" Joshua countered.

Guest

Frowning at the two boys - one a Muggleborn and the other a Halfblood - who were being highly immature, Stephanie tried to tune them out of her awareness. What she really felt like doing was going up to them and telling them to behave themselves, that their behaviour was unacceptable. She could just imagine herself with her arms crossed over her chest, giving them a disdainful glare as she told them off. Granted, she was younger than the both of them but she was a Richardson, someone to be obeyed and respected at all times. But she could hear Toryn's voice nagging at her in the back of her mind. Merlin curse him with all the hairy warts in the world!

But Professor Blake handled them and Stephanie kept her mouth shut - no easy feat for her. She listened as the other students responded to the question, filing away the information in her brain to go through at some later time. When they were given the green light by the professor, Stephanie glanced around the room, wondering who she could partner with. Her gaze landed on Toryn but she immediately dismissed that idea. There was no way she was going to further humiliate herself by partnering with him. No, she would not give him that satisfaction no matter how much sense he made.

Feeling awkward - something she'd never felt in her entire existence - she picked up the camera with the tips of her fingers like it could suddenly come alive and devour her. Turning it this way and that, she examined the contraption. Seeing the button, Stephanie pressed it and was assaulted with a bright light in her eyes. Her fingers released the camera and it landed with a thud on her desk as her eyes squeezed shut. Slowly, she opened her lids, blinking against the bright spots that coated her vision. Once her eyes were settled, she gingerly picked up the picture that the camera had spit out. Unfortunately, the lens had been facing a rather unflattering angle when she'd pressed the button and she was greeted with the sight of her nostril holes and the underneath of her chin. What made it worse was that the picture was overexposed from being too close to her face.

An embarrassed blush bloomed on her cheeks and Stephanie slipped that into her bag, making a mental note to get rid of it as soon as she possibly could. Picking up the camera again, she pointed it in a random direction and pressed the button. Half of the back of Toryn's head came out. She sighed, frowning as she studied the picture. This was coming out all wrong. What had the professor said? Something about looking through a small hole. Turning the camera round again, Stephanie spotted something that might fit that description. Glancing around to make sure attention wasn't on her - something she'd also never done before - she lifted the camera to her right eyes and looked through it, pointing it this way and that, marvelling at the way she could see the room through the hole.

Aiming it out the window where there was a good view of the grounds, Stephanie pressed the button and waited as the picture came out. When it showed, she smiled softly at the image. So this was what Toryn meant about Muggle technology. I guess it's pretty cool to be able to capture specific moments. Lifting the camera to her eyes again, Stephanie took a couple more shots until she ran out of film. She sorted through the pictures she'd taken, her eyes widening in surprise as she spotted one of Toryn mid laugh. She hadn't even been fully aware that she'd taken it. She studied it for a while, noting the angles of his face and the way his eyes showed his emotions. He was actually not that bad looking. For a Muggleborn, of course she added quickly. She tucked that picture into her bag and selected the shot of the scenery out the window to submit. Flipping it around, she wrote her name and the date in her perfectly neat handwriting before handing it up.

Guest

TOTAL GRYFFINDOR POINTS: 10 points
Cade Sawyer
+5 (attendance)
--------
Total: 5 points

Severine Charlot
+5 (attendance)
--------
Total: 5 points

TOTAL HUFFLEPUFF POINTS: 70 points
Elleon Caverly
+5 (attendance)
+5 (answer)
+10 (participation)
--------
Total: 20 points

Joshua Abbott
+5 (attendance)
+10 (participation)
--------
Total: 15 points

Julienne Ambroise
+5 (attendance)
+10 (participation)
--------
Total: 15 points

Mathew Howard
+5 (attendance)
+5 (answer)
--------
Total: 10 points

Rebekah Carlton
+5 (attendance)
--------
Total: 5 points

Toryn Callagham
+5 (attendance)
--------
Total: 5 points

TOTAL RAVENCLAW POINTS: 20 points
Lainee Chamberlain
+5 (attendance)
--------
Total: 5 points

Roxanne Förstner
+5 (attendance)
--------
Total: 5 points

Zoey Kingsley
+5 (attendance)
+5 (answer)
--------
Total: 10 points

TOTAL SLYTHERIN POINTS: 25 points
Ambroise Durand
+5 (attendance)
--------
Total: 5 points

Corbin Henderson
+5 (attendance)
--------
Total: 5 points

Stephanie Richardson
+5 (attendance)
+10 (participation)
--------
Total: 15 points

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