Sonora needs YOU [fifth years and above]
by Henny B-F-R
Just after lunch on the first day of classes, Henny made her way into the Cascade Hall. She glanced hopefully towards the teachers' table. She hadn't really believed they would be there but... this seemed so final. They really were going to accept that the adults had gone and put the responsibility onto themselves. At least they were a 'they' at present. They'd more or less agreed what to do and worked well together as a team. Hopefully that could continue, and the rest of the school would pull together with them, rather than against...
With that in mind, she pasted the notice they'd agreed upon to the wall of the Cascade Hall.
Volunteer Sign-Ups – for fifth years and above
Whilst the staff are absent, we need responsible older students to act in a variety of positions, such as tutors for younger students, common room monitors, library monitors etc. Multiple people may sign up for the same role, and you may add your own idea for a roll you wish to fulfil in your sign up.
She felt they really had covered almost every eventuality in their discussions but you never knew... It would also be necessary to have multiple students for each role, partly because they would be tutoring the students in smaller groups, especially for dangerous subjects such as Potions, but also because the fifth, sixth and seventh years would need time off to attend to their own studies. They couldn't be expected to take on the equivalent of a full time teaching job.
She herself had not been sure what to volunteer for, apart from obviously avoiding Care of Magical Creatures. She was not keen on Defence Against the Dark Arts, and had indeed also quit that after her fifth year. That didn't mean she wasn't capable at basic spells in it, however, and thus had offered her services to tutor in that, Potions, Transfiguration or Charms, as needed. She was also going to carry on with her usual shifts as a library monitor, and was more than happy to spend time keeping order in the common room. Apart from her knowledge of the library, she wasn't particularly specialist in anything. She was a good all-rounder really, apart from COMC, so was happy to wait and see what gaps needed filling. That would, of course, depend on what everyone else volunteered to do....
OOC – as with Quidditch sign ups, the usual 200 minimum applies. This also gives plenty of opportunity for explaining what qualifies your character for the position they're signing up for. I assume the prefects have already contributed this information at the meeting. However, if prefects who were absent, or who have not covered that content in the meeting, want to post here, describing what they contributed, that would be great.
Subthreads:
Volunteering by Annette Pierce
Contemplating... by Jade Owen
Signing up by Melanie Lennox
13Henny B-F-RSonora needs YOU [fifth years and above]211Henny B-F-R15
Given the strange circumstances of the first day of 'classes', Annette Pierce was secretly kind of glad that neither she nor Annabelle had successfully earned the prefect badge and this was Wendy's mess to deal with. She was less pleased that (judging by the sign-up sheet) Jade appeared to have given the Assistant Captaincy to Rupert, but with the coach being MIA, who knew if or when that might start up this year.
What was going on seemed to be that the older students were being asked to sign up for addition responsibilities with the younger kids. Annette wasn't particularly skilled at any subject, but she felt she could at least tutor beginners with basic stuff. Especially if she had her sister's help doing it, since they were still stronger at practical magic together than apart.
So she put both of their names on the volunteer sheet the prefects had put up.
The second part she added on impulse, since they liked to wander the gardens regularly anyway. Who knew if there might be lost first years in there, elves that needed direction in their hedgework, or Garden animals that were venturing too close to the populated areas.
There were really only two ways this could go, Jade mused to herself as she read Henny's note. One possible eventuality was that the fifth years and above who cared to would be successful in organising the rest of the students into some sort of coherent schedule that allowed for continuation of learning while the staff remained absent. The other was anarchy.
As a creative concept, Jade much preferred the second option. If there was ever an opportunity for rebellion then this was surely it. However, she was one of those (theoretically) more responsible older students, and as such she could only foresee headaches from the smaller students and endless whining from Alicia Bauer if things didn't go the way the prefects had planned. Fun as that may be for a couple of days, there was currently no information whatsoever on how long the school might stay without its faculty, and, in the long run, chaos would become tiresome.
It was against her nature, really, but Jade felt compelled to offer her assistance. Not for the benefit of the badge-wearing brigade, but for her own sanity, and for the sake of the younger students who might otherwise present themselves as pains in her backside. She wasn't going to do anything she didn't want to do, but as she had done better than most in Care of Magical Creatures (and not very many advanced students continued the subject on) she could probably offer some valuable assistance in that subject. She had also already taken to monitoring the Quidditch pitch to help prevent fliers from turning themselves into soup, so she might as well claim that job - otherwise there was every chance Thad might try to pull that rug out from under her. As ever, Jade desired nothing so much as when people said she couldn't have it, so that scenario wasn't really a desirable option. Jade lifted a quill to add her details to the sign-ups:
Jade Owen - Quidditch pitch monitor, tutor for CoMC.
Still contemplating the anarchy outcome (she could instigate it; she had a decent amount of following, with her membership of various clubs and her tendency to loudly interject her thoughts and opinions into others' conversations...), the brunette seventh year tossed her quill back into her bag, slung its strap over her shoulder, and meandered back out of the Hall to continue to engage in nothing in particular.
Ever since the staff had disappeared, Melanie had wanted to help out more than anything. She was used to taking care of people and with Valerie not here, she didn't really get to do that much anymore. On the other hand, this was a time when everyone at Sonora needed to pull together and put aside any petty differences, regardless of things like blood differences or Houses or age. The older students could only help the younger ones, though naturally she didn't expect everyone to help out. That was a reason why Melanie needed to do so even more.
So, she was extremely glad to see that a sign up sheet had been put up for those who wished to contribute. Even though it meant discussing her good qualities again, which was awkward. The difference between this and applying to be Vice President of Book Club was that she wasn't trying to compete with anyone else-even though nobody else had really applied for that, which actually made her wonder if that was the only reason she got it and not because she was really the best person out there.
But it wasn't about that. It was about doing what Melanie could do to show how much she cared and at the risk of sounding egotistical, there was admittedly a lot that she was capable of doing. She got excellent grades-probably the very best at Transfiguration of anyone in her year, Carrie wasn't that impressive, certainly nothing compared to her brother.
There were other things she could do too. She could tutor in any subject, though in DADA and COMC she could only handle the Beginners, having quit those after her CATS. Melanie was more than capable of taking care of order in the common room, especially given that it was Teppenpaw, the house least likely to cause issues and of course, she'd been helping in the library for years.
So, just like the time when she had to apply to be the Book Club Vice President, she wrote the list of what she was capable of contributing, which was a good deal. Melanie just hoped she came across useful and not like she was bragging.