This was unexpected on Mirage Chamber

Professor Kijewski

September 06, 2011 8:35 AM

CoMC Advanced Lesson Part 2 by Professor Kijewski

The lesson thus far was going well, or at least, in Kiva’s opinion. She could never expose her students to actual dragons, but she felt that this scenario that the Mirage Chamber was able to provide was pretty realistic. She was sure that the dragons wouldn’t be in quite so much harmony amongst one another, but the Chamber was able to create living conditions that the dragons would naturally live in. It wasn’t perfect, but it was plenty to work with for the lesson.

Kiva was watching the students intently to make sure they were actually figuring out the dragons and not goofing off with one another when a slight flicker of something caught her attention. Looking slightly behind her, Kiva stared at the sky with a fierce glare as she tried to figure out what she had seen. All of the dragons were on the other side of the chamber, Kiva was closest to the Vortex. Suddenly, she saw a rippling in the sky and slowly, as though her mirage was being ripped apart, a new setting began to form. “Everyone!” Kiva yelled, calling their attention to her. She didn’t understand what was going on. There was no reason for the image to change and she had the chamber booked so that other Professors knew not to bother with the room that day.

“I need everyone to come to me, please.” Her voice was firm, thankfully, and didn’t hold any tinge of uncertainty or nervousness. She felt like it was the sand storm all over again. Even as she watched the students do as she said, the chamber began to slowly change. The sky and ground dissolved away and was replaced with instead a large wooden looking display case. On the shelves were trophies of various awards that students had been given over the centuries. Kiva couldn’t believe the length of the case.

The Chamber was completely changed now and on the side where there had once been dragons was now filling with various images from long in the past. The other solid objects other than the trophies were the older uniforms and books of the past. Within the flashing images, she could see students receiving awards and doing various events. There was a continuous image of a man though and Kiva felt a familiarity about it.

And then Kiva recognized where she had seen the face of the man. It was a young Clurican. If she recalled correctly, he was the reason for the Mirage Chamber and they were celebrating his 500th birthday. Of course, this had to happen during her lesson. She had all the luck. “Well, this puts a damper on the lesson.” She said casually to her students, her worry no longer had her on edge. “The Chamber must have been designed to release this on his anniversary. Points to anyone who can tell me who ‘he’ is?” She inquired, looking at everyone with a rather amused look.

"We still have time, so I suppose you can have a look at Sonora's history."

OOC: This is part of the anniversary plot. Feel free to indulge on the images and on the trophies. Extra points to those who posted in both parts of the lesson.

Subthreads:

Divinations Intermediate Lesson Part 2 by Professor DiAnna Diaz with Professor John Fawcett, Alessa Hinckley, Nic Sawyer

This was unexpected by Acting Headmistress Sadi Powell with Professor K

0 Professor Kijewski CoMC Advanced Lesson Part 2 0 Professor Kijewski 1 5

Professor DiAnna Diaz

September 06, 2011 10:02 AM

Divinations Intermediate Lesson Part 2 by Professor DiAnna Diaz

Once they’d completed the circle, some students obviously feeling more comfortable than others at this stage, DiAnna prepared to move onto the second part of the lesson. “Okay, everyone, if you can just put your desks back together...” she’d already begun to walk back to her own desk at the front of the class when she trailed off, as something she saw out the corner of her eye caught her attention; she thought a couple of the students might have noticed it, too. A short, stout man had forced his way into one of the paintings in DiAnna’s classroom. This in itself wasn’t necessarily newsworthy – the subjects of Sonora’s paintings did wander around from time to time – but it was certainly unusual for the subjects to take form and clamber out of the frame. DiAnna hadn’t even known such a thing was possible.

Not allowing her movements to be slurred by her surprise, DiAnna quickly stepped over to where the man – stood at around only three feet tall – was righting himself, having climbed out of an ornate frame to stand in the classroom. “Excuse me,” DiAnna attempted, not at all sure on how to proceed with the situation. “Can I help you?”

The rotund figure turned to face her with a beaming grin. “I do believe it is me who’ll be helping you,” he said, following his statement with a cackle sufficiently loud to draw the attention of everyone in the room. He was quite a pleasant looking fellow, with a warm, friendly face, and a gait that could be described as nothing but jovial. His visage was fairly familiar to any student of Sonora who’d paid any attention to the numerous portraits adorning the internal walls of the building, and his broad Irish brogue and dated attire would perhaps have clued the most perceptive into his identity before he introduced himself thus: “You’re privileged to be in t’ company of Headmaster Clurican,” he dipped into a bouncy bow and tipped his hat for good measure. “I’m here to be telling y’ of m’ latest amusement! I’ll be requirin’ your presence at the portrait of Tavarius Mims down in the entrance hall.” He could perhaps see the reluctance on DiAnna’s face – she wasn’t keen to listen to the words of a sentient being that didn’t technically exist when she was supposed to be teaching a class – so added, “I’ll be hearing no complaining! It is a momentous occasion, and y’ll be part of it!”

Defeated, DiAnna glanced to her intermediate class. “Best do what the Headmaster says,” she said, and began ushering her students out of the classroom and down to the entrance hall. She didn’t know what it was she’d been expecting, but discovering Mims’ portrait empty and swung forward, revealing a swirling vortex behind it, certainly hadn’t been it. Some of the more eager students among her class had already passed through the vortex before DiAnna did so herself.

Once through, she found herself in a room she hadn’t previously known existed. One wall was lined with hundreds of trophies and awards – leaning in, DiAnna read the plaque that proclaimed them to be awards for Furthering the Progression of Magical Education in Northern America. The far wall was like a Muggle projection screen, showing images of times long since passed, if the outfits were anything to judge by. They didn’t seem to be the only class there, either – Kiva and her advanced students were also present. As DiAnna looked back towards the entrance, it seemed more students were on their way in, too.

There were activities to be enjoyed in the chamber, too – an area where students could try on uniforms of past years, and other historical outfits for formal occasions. There were tables laid out with old exam booklets, and textbooks, some of which were for subjects no longer taught at Sonora. It was like a presentation of Sonora through the ages. DiAnna had been fairly interested in history while she was at school, and she began to sift through some papers on another desk, some detailing cost of board for Sonora’s students, and some with list of acceptable punishments for various misdemeanours.

(OOC: You're welcome to interact with this room and with characters in other classes as much as you like. Don't forget to post in Part One for extra points!)

0 Professor DiAnna Diaz Divinations Intermediate Lesson Part 2 0 Professor DiAnna Diaz 0 5

Professor John Fawcett

September 07, 2011 11:37 AM

Potions Beginners Lesson Part 2 by Professor John Fawcett

John was scanning the room for any sign of trouble - a burner flaring up, something boiling over, plumes of oddly-colored smoke, students preparing to think he wasn't watching and throw things atceach other - when a flicker of movement on the wall caught his eye. Generally, the subjects of the potions posters he had spaced out at even intervals either dozed or looked pompous, with one beaming at students amiably, they weren't particularly sophisticated moving images, but even the most active did not have color or...bulge off the paper.

"It seems, class, that we have a visitor," he said, wondering if the Advanced students from another class were perhaps either running an exercise or pulling a prank and who he'd need to have words with if this was so. He also had a hopefully discreet hand on his wand in case it was something...unpleasant, though hr hoped it wasn't for many reasons, not least of which was how long it had been since he'd practiced practical Defense. "Keep working."

He didn't expect them to obey, but it had to be said. To his surprise, the figure, once he pushed his glasses back up and got a proper look at it, seemed to be...Tribble, the Founder generally seen above the entrance to the Cascade Hall with his companion Clurican. Not an overly tall man, shorter than John if still taller than Clurican, he had an air of reserve that even portaits of Clurican did not, with sharp dark eyes that took in most things. He also did not look best pleased at the moment.

"Your lack of paintings is something of an inconvenience, Professor," he said, the accent such that John had to listen carefully to him.

"They dislike the steam," he said, as though he carried on conversations with dead headmasters every day. "May I ask what this is about?"

Tribble glanced cautiously at the no doubt very curious students. "The year's events," he said finally, in a slightly lower voice. "If you could gather the class and proceed to the Mirage Chamber...."

So it was David he'd - well, at least very much want to have a word with. He didn't think the sixth and seventh years would try a prank quite this elaborate, not on a staff member. "Class," he said, still keeping an eye on the...figure, which nodded slightly in approval. "It seems we have been summoned by Headmaster Tribble, who, for those who are unaware, was one of the Founders of our school, along with his friend Headmaster Clurican whose birth we have been celebrating this year. Bottle samples of what you have and put out your fires."

With that tome, then him Banishing the remaining potions in cauldrons and getting them all lined up, he supposed another class must have beaten them there and a third already been present, because Kiva and DiAnna were already there, along with what looked like most of the student population and a vast array of Sonora historical artifacts. His inner Aladren had to be restrained from going to examine old textbooks himself immediately, and perusing old awards.

"It seems Sonora history is to be part of our anniversary celebrations," he said to his pupils. "You may enjoy the exhibits, if you wish, and mingle with other classes." It wasn't likely that they could do real damage to things in here, anyway, and three adults should suffice to prevent any older students from picking on younger ones.

For his part, John found another adult and took a moment to say, very quietly, "Did you receive a memo about this?" It was, after all, possible, if not probable, that he was only surprised because of carelessness on his own part.

OOC: And here is part two. Feel free to post in part one for your Potions lesson and to explore here for the anniversary plot.

0 Professor John Fawcett Potions Beginners Lesson Part 2 19 Professor John Fawcett 0 5

Linus Macaulay

September 08, 2011 8:16 AM

This isn't a potions class by Linus Macaulay

By midterm, Linus thought he had adjusted fairly well to his new life training to be a wizard. he was getting on more or less aimiably with his peers, doing above average in all his classes, and while he was slightly concerned that his math and science scores might be starting to drop, he was gradually adjusting to the idea that this didn't matter. He was, by now, accustomed to seeing adults wearing robes, to preparing odd concoctions in the potions lab, and occasionally seeing older students with peculiar temporary disfigurations. It surprised him, therefore, when Professor Fawcett began talking to a man who had climbed out of his portrait frame (or technically someone else's frame), and then bade his class to stop their brewing and follow him to the Mirage Chamber, where Linus' first potions class had been held.

Diligently doing as he'd been instructed by the Professor, Linus joined the rest of his class in heading to the entrance hall, and then through the space beihnd the portrait that was normally inhabited by a stern ex-teacher who liked Crotalus students above others. From what he understood about the Mirage Chamber, the first year had expected it to be different from the way he'd remembered it, with fields, marshes and trees, but he hadn't been prepared for the peculiar living history lesson it now represented.

Having been given permission to explore, Linus wandered off round the chamber, and paused to watch a scene of a Quidditch game, wherein a large Keeper saved one attempt at goal after another, stopping each and every attempt the Chasers made. He wondered who the Keeper was, and when he'd attended Sonora - it probably wasn't very recently, because the robes were different. As Linus looked, he thought the Bludgers were bigger, too - he didn't play Quidditch himself, but he'd had flying lessons, read library books on the topic, and had been to spectate both of Sonora's games so far. Looking down, Linus saw a box, like the one the Coach used for the Quidditch games, at his feet. He opened up the chest, and inside were some ancient-looking balls. The Bludgers were definitely bigger than modern ones. "I wonder why they made them smaller," he mused aloud.

0 Linus Macaulay This isn't a potions class 205 Linus Macaulay 0 5

Acting Headmistress Sadi Powell

September 08, 2011 11:02 AM

This was unexpected by Acting Headmistress Sadi Powell

The general disturbance that had erupted round the school all at once had been sufficient to alert her attention to the fact that the entire student body was gatheringin the Mirage Chamber. Sadi joined them in heading down to the concealed room; she couldn't deny that she was curious, and was exceptionally surprised that she hadn't heard any anything being planned for that day. It was therefore a relief to find a few staff members were assembled amongst the students, though Tavarius hadn't been present in his portrait for Sadi to make her own enquiries directly to him.

Passing through the vortex, Sadi paused momentarily to take in the living history currently enclosed within. She wondered whether this was something that David had planned, that he hadn't had chance to mention to any other staff, or whether its occurence had nothing to do with the current Headmaster. The more she saw, however, the more Sadi became convinced that this hadn't been organized by any current staff member. Of the numerous trophies that lined the walls, some were as old as Sonora herself, whereas others, closer to the Vortex end of the room, were much newer.

Reading the names, Sadi was surprised to see the names of some students that were familiar to her - she was fairly sure these students hadn't been given these awards first hand. She had been a professor at the school for the entire duration of Josiah Ashwood's education there, and was confident he'd never been handed an award for initiating a charms club, yet here was the plaque for it. Other familiar names included Saul Pierce and Pepper Jones, whose awards were for guiding first years to their classes and offering ongoing support for the duration of their education, and, most recently, for Dulce Garcia - currently in her fifth year - for offering a free tutoring service to her fellow students. All the awards were apparently for furthering the progression of magical education in the USA, in one manner or another. As an advocate of the cause, Sadi couldn't help but feel proud of the numerous students who'd done this to a recognizable degree within Sonora's history.

Turning back towards the room, Sadi took a couple of strides over to Kiva, who she thought might have been holding a class in the Mirage Chamber shortly before its transformation to the current state. "This is unusual," she commented lightly to her colleague.

0 Acting Headmistress Sadi Powell This was unexpected 0 Acting Headmistress Sadi Powell 0 5

Sullivan Quincy

September 08, 2011 5:07 PM

I don't mind, really by Sullivan Quincy

Potions had been going about as well as Sully could reasonably expect potions to go. He doubted he would ever really be good at the class, but if he let his partner do most of the work and if he managed not to confuse the ingredients (seriously, how was he supposed to know if that had been a rat's spleen or a frog's spleen? He felt proud enough that he'd found a spleen instead of a liver or something), it usually turned out okay. He had not yet caused an explosion, and he'd only been left with a black smoking sludge twice. He felt this was an excellent potions record, and he'd been well on the way to another non-catastrophic potion brewing when the class had been interrupted.

Honestly, it hadn't really struck him as strange that a painting could climb out of a frame and converse with Professor Fawcett. Once he'd come to accept that portrait paintings could move, he'd sort of taken their ability to do unorthodox things for paintings as a given, and he'd been far more surprised that other people in the room seemed surprised.

He welcomed the chance to close down his potion before he had a chance to muck it up (the last steps, he thought, were a little tricky and he really wasn't sure which of the vials of oil in his potions kit was the clove oil - most of the labels had peeled off or become illegible after he'd dropped the kit in that puddle last October) and quickly vialed a portion and happily allowed the rest of it to be Vanished. Or Banished. Or something. Whatever it was that magical potions masters did with bio-hazardous material.

He'd been to the mirage chamber for that Scavenger Hunt back at the beginning of the school year, so he expected the trek back to the Cascade Hall and through the vortex. What came as a bit more of a shock - despite the painting's insistence that everyone come see - was that everyone seemed to be in there. Like, the whole school, everyone. Since most meals were a come-when-you're-hungry-leave-when-you're-full sort of deal, the whole school only really congregated for major feasts. He didn't think he'd seen this many of the other students all at once without singing the School Song before.

He kind of expected pieces of paper with the lyrics to appear in front of them and someone to speak up and tell them all to start now everyone was here, but nothing like that came to pass, even after waiting for it for several seconds. He was only a little disappointed.

Feeling vaguely incomplete after Not Singing the school song, Sully wandered between the historic scenes, feeling a vague curiosity toward what his school used to be like. He stopped next to Linus and looked down at the mighty bludgers of yesteryear, and he wasn't quite sure how the other first year didn't already know why they'd gotten smaller. Sully thought just looking at those monsters made it self-explanatory. "Too many players died," he answered, feeling certain that this was the Whole and Unvarnished Truth rather than mere conjecture.

1 Sullivan Quincy I don't mind, really 207 Sullivan Quincy 0 5

Fae Sinclair

September 08, 2011 9:38 PM

At least it doesn't have mothball smells by Fae Sinclair

Fae was rubbish at Potions. She knew this was the class that would completely bring down her grade point average and the moment she had completed her CATS, she wasn’t likely to ever enter the Potions classroom again. She had absolutely nothing against Professor Fawcett. He was actually one of the professors she enjoyed. He was fair and straight with them. They knew what to expect. He didn’t try to scare them or play games with them. Granted, she wasn’t too happy about the lesson in the Mirage Chamber because of the forest and how she had fallen into just about everything, but she could forgive him for that because the lesson actually taught them necessary information.

But even her liking him as a professor wasn’t going to make her stay in this class. It was just far too stressful for her and Fae’s life was just too complicated to keep up with something that wasn’t likely to be in her distant future. Heck, she probably didn’t even need the Advance lessons in general considering her family just wanted her to be a pretty wife to a wealthy prominent Pureblood family. Not that Fae planned on skimping out on these lessons. She was thus far pretty okay with Charms and Transfiguration.

She was in the midst of completing her potions when the professor called to their attention. It was then that Fae noticed the other adult… or what seemed to be another adult. Her perplexity was rewarded as Fawcett explained who the other adult was (it made sense now as to why he looked funny, he wasn’t real) and that they were to follow him. Bottling up her only half done potion with a grimace and hoped that Fawcett would be kind to her with the grading, Fae lined up with the rest of the Beginner class.

They made their way back to the Mirage Chamber and Fae almost made a choking sound of displeasure when she realized they had to enter it. She wasn’t quite ready for another adventure in there. At least, not until Arnold had taken her successfully through the gardens. If she could survive real life wildlife, she could survive a fake one too.

Except, it wasn’t a forest.

Fae’s eyes went to the trophies. There were hundreds of names that lined the wall. All of them of a student who had been awarded with something. She had never seen an award ceremony and from the looks of the other exhibits, these awards must have been something of the past. Looking closer, she realized some of these names were of current students. Maybe they had awards but no ceremony? That seemed sad, how else would they know they had won?

Moving on, Fae went over to the old dress robes. She had seen vintage robes before in shops. Some liked to wear odd things. Take Derry for instance. He always went around with that silly hat. Selling novelty robes didn’t seem farfetched. Still, she sort of liked the puffy sleeves…

“Excuse me.” Fae said politely, would you mind holding my robe while I try this on?” She really wanted to know how uncomfortable these were so she could be grateful for the current style of clothing wear.

6 Fae Sinclair At least it doesn't have mothball smells 194 Fae Sinclair 0 5

Professor K

September 09, 2011 7:29 PM

It was in the works for quite some time. by Professor K

Kiva was looking over the trophies and awards when the others started to enter into the Chamber. Her curiosity over the whole thing had dwindled. By the show of the entire student body, Kiva knew that this was definitely something that was planned. Whether it had been planned with the current Headmaster/Mistress or with the very first remained to be seen.

Looking over the trophies once more, it was amazing to see just how many names were on the shelves. In the back of her mind, she knew how long the school had stood, but seeing it all mapped out the way it currently was actually made her see just how old the school really was. All these students who passed through the halls, herself included. All the deeds that they had done over the centuries. It was so hard to believe and yet, here it all was staring her in her face. So much had changed since the start of the school. One never really gave it any contemplation. It just… was. She was actually pretty happy that she was able to experience this.

She didn’t realize that Sadi had approached her until the other woman spoke to her. She gave a little laugh. “Since becoming a student here, I have learned that the unusual is rather usual here.” She commented back. Sadi had taken Kiva’s spot as the Deputy Headmistress when Kiva had taken maternity leave. It had only been meant to last for two years and Kiva would return as the Deputy Headmistress. But, in those two years, Kiva realized her priorities had changed and Manfred had decided to retire. Kiva had been left a choice. Either come back full time as the Headmistress of the school, come back only as the Care of Magical Creatures professor, or step down completely. She had chosen to step down completely. It was a decision she never regretted and she had only heard that Sadi had done this school well. Although Kiva had never planned on returning, the current Headmaster had asked for her help and now here she stood. A full circle or so it seemed.

“I’ll take this over another sand storm though.” Kiva joked. She couldn’t remember if Sadi taught here when the sand storm happened, but she was sure if she hadn’t, she had at least heard about the crazy charm mishap. “No missing students lost in a maze of craziness. Just very ancient looking exhibits. I can handle this.” She commented, looking rather amused by it all. “I take it that this wasn’t in the plans while you are Acting Headmistress here? Who would have thought our Founding Fathers were such jokesters.”

0 Professor K It was in the works for quite some time. 0 Professor K 0 5

Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

September 11, 2011 3:44 PM

A delightful escape from Potions by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

Kitty wasn't happy, the so called simple potion was just as difficult as every other potion she'd tried to brew for this class, and had gone just as wrong. As her frustration started to get completely out of hand at failing yet another potion there was a disruption at the front of the class. The man who entered looked familiar and that familiarity was confirmed when the Professor introduced him as the Point Keeper painting guy. Wow! I didn't know they could leave their paintings. That's so cool Kitty thought with delight as she studied the person who had come to rescue her from this awful class.

Sadly she wasn't allowed to scrap the potion completely, quickly she bottled a sample of her botched potion and packed everything up. Excitement tingled along her spine as the whole group followed the Professor out the door. What was going on? It was clear that the Professor hadn't been expecting this to happen, so it could be anything. It could even be a trap set by evil wizards to capture them! Kitty giggled at the thought, wondering who would come save them, or thinking of the different ways the students could band together and save themselves from the clutches of evil.

When they entered the Mirage Chamber Kitty grinned, well it wasn't evil wizards but it still looked like fun. And there were a bunch of other students already there. Kitty had always loved museums and without a second glance skipped up to the first exhibit. "This is so cool!" Kitty said as she bounced on her toes to get a better look. This was way better than potions!

0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren A delightful escape from Potions 0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren 0 5

Alessa Hinckley

September 15, 2011 3:22 AM

Wandering around in history by Alessa Hinckley

The activity that the Intermediate class had done was the most miserable time Alessa had ever had at Sonora and that included flying lessons and the myriad of athletic activities inflicted upon students during Defense. There was nothing like being insulted by a near stranger even if the stranger had also complimented her. Nor was it very easy for Alessa to do the same to someone else that she barely knew.

It went against everything she'd been taught. The Aladren had taken years of etiquette lessons to overcome her natural tendency to say whatever stupid or rude or potentially embarrassing thing that popped into her head. Little incidents from her youth where Alessa had said something that had sounded humorous in her head came out completely wrong and accidentally offended some family member or rich important member of society.

She didn't want to go back to that ever. Alessa would prefer to do her best to be the graceful society lady that she was expected to be. Which came about as natural to her as running did to someone paralyzed. She still didn't like remembering her cringe worthy statements though.

So Alessa was massively relieved when the horrid activity, which to her way of thinking had nothing to do with Divination as well as being humiliating, at least the wretched activities she was forced to do in Defense had relevance to the subject,was over. The Aladren awaited the second part with dread, Merlin only knew what she was going to be required to do now.

That's when a short rotund man climbed out of one of the frames. Alessa recognized him as Leith Clurican, one of Sonora's founders. She got up at his request and Professor Diaz's instruction and followed him to the vacant portrait of Tavarius Mims and through the swirling vortex behind into the Mirage Chamber.

No longer was the Chamber set up as haunted forest like the last time Alessa had been in here. Now there were awards and trophies on one side and historical scenes on the other. She made her way towards the awards. She didn't expect to see any Hinckleys there, as she was the first to ever attend from her father's side of the family, but Alessa hoped to see many of her mother's relatives represented.

This was wonderful. After looking for her family members amongst the trophies, she would be able to peruse other historical artifacts. The Aladren was quite pleased to have so much history at her disposal.

11 Alessa Hinckley Wandering around in history 150 Alessa Hinckley 0 5

Nic Sawyer

September 15, 2011 9:09 PM

I can be exceptional by Nic Sawyer

Honestly, Nic would have preferred to stay in class. Professor Diaz was building toward something and it felt incomplete to just get up and go instead of finishing out the lesson. Plus, he felt like Divination was useful and he couldn't say that whatever some dead headmaster wanted them to do would be as relevant to his life.

On the plus side, the walk there would give him a chance to eat his pretzels, so there was that. (He'd already eaten his cookies while the insults/compliments went around the rest of the circle.)

He entered the vortex leading to the Mirage Chamber wearing an unimpressed look even before he saw what was on the other side. It flickered for a moment as he took in the changes from his last visit but he got it up again before anyone had much time to notice. He was cool and unflappable. Anyone looking at him could see how unflapped he was.

Nic walked around the place, eyeing some of the moving images from Past Sonora, but mostly looking over the trophies. It occurred to him suddenly that he wanted a trophy. Probably not for Progressing Magical Education or whatever, but for something.

Surely, there was something he did exceptionally enough (besides being an exceptionally bad Keeper) to warrant a trophy. Like . . . DADA. He was totally acing DADA. He should get a trophy for that.

Walking up and down the rows of trophies proved he didn't, though. There was no justice in that. Never mind that there were no DADA trophies in the case.

Loosing interest now that he knew nothing in the room carried his name, Nic moved out of the way and found a good spot to loom. (He was exceptionally good at looming, too, and yet, no trophy for that either.)

He definitely would have rather been in Divination.

1 Nic Sawyer I can be exceptional 165 Nic Sawyer 0 5

Sara Raines

September 17, 2011 1:55 AM

I don't think I'd wear it if it did. by Sara Raines

She didn’t avoid it the way some people did, but neither did Sara go out of her way to spend time in the library, so it was pure chance that she was returning a book she had borrowed to help with understanding a concept in one of last week’s Charms lessons when Professor Mims came through with his announcement. The content was a surprise, as was seeing Mims away from his books in the portrait outside of the Cascade Hall, but she decided to go mainly out of the sort of curiosity she supposed had gotten her put into Pecari in the first place.

Stepping through Professor Mims’ portrait after Professor Fawcett’s Beginners’ class, she caught her balance, made a little dizzy by the passage for a second, and then looked around her at what seemed to be…a museum. Not one too much like the one she had accompanied her parents to a fundraiser at over the summer, but a museum nevertheless. More specifically, a Sonora museum.

Well, it wasn’t the strangest thing she had ever seen at this school. Just the usual run of things they met in the Mirage Chamber ranked above a monument to the school’s history, especially when the theme of the year was about it. She did wonder, though, how the headmaster or acting headmistress or whoever had done it had gotten the paintings to do what they did, though. She had never seen that before.

Lacking a class to stay near, she began to walk on her own, looking at things and being mildly surprised to see the name Raines on one award even if she had never heard of a Benjamin before she saw someone she knew and felt reasonably comfortable going up to. She didn’t know how it had happened, but she had somehow found herself spending more time with the second years than she did with the other third years, and for some reason – maybe because she was small, maybe because she didn’t try to be impressive in her extra year, maybe out of boredom or pity for all she knew – they seemed to accept her. Some did, anyway. Enough. It wasn’t exactly how Sara would have chosen to structure things, but since she had never quite fit in with her year, she thought beggars couldn’t be choosers and she should just be happy that she was making proper social contacts at all, and that it wasn’t even onerous. Her smile when Fae Sinclair spoke to her as she approached was genuine.

“Of course,” she said to the request. “We’ll switch when you’re done.” She guessed this was an advantage to the museum most likely being an illusion instead of something made up of real things, real artifacts; even with magic preserving the collections, real museums usually didn’t allow any touching things, never mind trying them on if they’d even fit.

0 Sara Raines I don't think I'd wear it if it did. 179 Sara Raines 0 5

Fae

September 20, 2011 8:34 PM

Nobody really should if they did. by Fae

Fae was happy to find that it was Sara who was willing to hold her robes. She hadn’t spoken to her in awhile, but she did like to sit near her in Transfiguration. Sara wasn’t so opposing as some of other Purebloods that Fae had to become acquainted with. This had nothing to do with size (although Sara was as small as Fae, if not a bit smaller, so Fae felt oddly comfortable around her) and everything to do with Sara’s mannerisms. Always polite and always seeming to have a smile on her face. This automatically put her at ease. Other females that Fae had seen usually looked as though they had something foul beneath them that they couldn’t stand. Of course, this could just be Fae’s imagination, but she didn’t think so.

Pulling off her robes, Fae handed them to Sara. “Thank you.” She commented lightly with a smile. These older robes were quite odd. Some were of velvet material. Others were the similar wools that they currently wore. Some had lace around the collars and wrists, others had puffy sleeves and high collars. She chose the velvet one with the lace collar and wrists. She had no idea what century this one came from. Pulling it on, Fae immediately disliked it. “They had to wear these?” Fae commented, looking grim. “It’s really heavy and the collar makes me itch.” She was doing all she could to not suddenly start scratching at her neck and leave red splotchy marks all over her pale skin. “And this is ridiculously hot!” She added, not even bothering to keep it on any longer and pulled it straight off. She held out her hand for Sara's robes so that the older girl could have her turn with the outfits.

She didn’t understand why anyone would ever consider this to be a good idea for a uniform. Maybe it was the only available material during that time that was inexpensive. She wasn’t sure and she didn’t think it mattered at this point. She didn’t like their current uniforms, but they were far better than the ones in the past. “Why do uniforms always have to be so ugly?” Fae asked Sara conversationally. “They could make them a bit more stylish for us.”

0 Fae Nobody really should if they did. 0 Fae 0 5

Sara

September 21, 2011 1:18 AM

It's much better this way. by Sara

Sara giggled at Fae’s description of the robe she tried on even as she winced in sympathy. Most of her clothes, even her formals, were comparatively light and easy to get around in, but she had a few sets, especially for last year’s Christmas party, which matched the description of the old uniform very well, and listening in on all the pre-party talk whenever she was home had led her to believe that some girls almost never wore anything comfortable in their lives.

Once the current uniform was returned to Fae, Sara slipped out of her own and handed it to the other girl with her own thanks before trying on something in the same dark green they wore now, but with a very high collar and a lot of lace at the wrists. It reminded her a bit of one of the patterns they had looked at for her ball dress over midterm, and though it fit as though Aunt Lila’s very expensive seamstress had fitted it to her exact measurements, she hoped that what she wore to the dance wouldn’t feel quite so stiff at the neck. She knew it wasn’t nearly as bad as it felt, but it still felt as though she were holding her chin far too high in the air, like she was trying to balance an apple on her nose.

“Our necklines are more comfortable,” she said. “How do you think it looks, though?” Her hair was loose, now, but she could just imagine it up…If she could make her chin cooperate, she thought the effect might be very good, if she stopped being thirteen and aged a few years all at once.

She found herself remembering the conversation she and Mr. Stratford had about age at Fae’s party last year. The appeal of his point of view did become clearer when she thought of things like that.

Getting out of the outfit proved harder than getting into it had been, and her brown hair was mussed a little out of its careful styling and back toward its natural waves by the time she did, but she got back into her own robes without any really embarrassing incidents, rubbing her neck a little as she settled the modern robe around her shoulders. “I don’t know,” she said when asked why the robes were never really satisfactory. “I’d like to blame the Founders for being men, but we’ve had Headmistresses since then.” She made a slight face, but then smiled again. “Still, we’ll just look that much better to everyone in our dress robes at the end of the year, right?”

0 Sara It's much better this way. 0 Sara 0 5

Madeline Parry

September 22, 2011 6:04 PM

My dad will be jealous forever when he hears about this by Madeline Parry

Madeline had been trying to break the habit of biting the sides of her fingernails when she was waiting for something to happen, reminding herself about the resolution a lot, and that was probably why she was doing it as she waited for one potions step to complete so she could add the next ingredient to the cauldron. She never would have noticed, though, if the sight of a figure dropping from one of the paintings hadn’t made her bite down so hard in startlement that it actually hurt for a second.

She shook her hand a little, but was too busy first looking at the spectacle and then remembering her potion in time to flinch and hurriedly take off the heat before she ruined it to upbraid herself for forgetting not to do that. It was really an understatement to say that she had assumed Sonora had yet to come close to showing her all of its mysteries in a year, but to judge by how some other members of the class were looking at the apparition as well, she was pretty sure this was not something that was routine in the wizarding world that she just hadn’t heard about yet because she didn’t live in a magic house when she wasn’t here. What was going on?

The answer came out soon enough. She guessed thinking that having a museum trip for a birthday party wasn’t weird was an upshot of being a history professor’s daughter, though it was pretty bad when it came to the part where everyone was just walking over and touching things. Dad would have had a stroke if he saw her trying on a clothing exhibit, or handling books that old….

….Unless they weren’t real. The forest she’d come to in here earlier in the year hadn’t been real, or at least, she was pretty sure it hadn’t been real after her examination of some plants with Cherry. If they could make realistic-looking plant life and bugs and stuff, then why not books and trophies? And it would take away the whole problem with touching things….

Dad would have a fit if he saw this, but it would be because he wanted it even more than he wanted a translation of the complete works of Goethe. After all, wasn’t one of the things people hated about history that they couldn’t touch it? The question was where to go first. She looked around from the middle, trying to pick.

She realized someone was standing beside her and smiled. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to do two potions one day now,” she said, not thinking Professor Fawcett would really think that the Founder having a surprise birthday celebration of sorts was a good reason to not complete something on The Syllabus, “but this is still cool, don’t you think?”

0 Madeline Parry My dad will be jealous forever when he hears about this 188 Madeline Parry 0 5

Fae

September 26, 2011 7:14 PM

Better to play dress up with. by Fae

Fae kept her school robes in her arms so that she could keep trying on the clothes without having to constantly get out of her own robes. She enjoyed playing dress up because she could pretend to be someone else for a little while. This wasn’t the same sort of dress up as when she had to look nice for parties. Ever since her parents had one with her school mates, Fae had to go to all of their parties. It was exhausting, but at least she was able to look nice and she didn’t have to wear her every day things.

Like today. As usual, she wore a skirt. This one was cream colored and had a nice free flow to it that ended just above her knees. Shelby told her that her peachy complexion made the off white colors look good on her, so, Fae tried her best to follow her sister’s advice. With her skirt, she matched a pale blue blouse with a small floral pattern of a light pink. Her sister had picked it out for her. Fae didn’t really care for floral, but who was she to say anything? Shelby also said that when Fae was older, clothes would flatter her more, but right now she felt like a child trying to play dress up. She didn’t know why she felt like that since she’d been wearing clothes like this for as long as she could dress herself, but she did. Maybe it was because of all the other females she found herself near. Sara was an example of that. She was always so prim and proper. Something Fae was supposed to be at all times but was fairly certain she never was.

Fae watched quietly while Sara fitted herself and was almost immediately glad she had chosen the velvet one because of the neck on Sara’s chosen outfit. She felt her own neck straining just thinking about it. How in the world did people get along with outfits like that? What was the point of having such a neckline like that? Still, when Sara asked how it looked, Fae wasn’t sure what she should tell the older girl. Be honest or be sweet? Would Sara be upset if she didn’t look nice in something?

“Well…” Fae began, giving her a look over with her blue eyes. Her eyebrows were furrowed as though she were giving it much thought. “The material seems lighter than the one I tried on, which is a plus and I like the lace.” Here she paused and chewed her bottom lip for a moment. “The neck could use some work. It seems… unnecessary.” Fae finally said, although unnecessary was a nicer term than she wanted to use.

Fae tried not to be amused when Sara struggled out of the robes, but she couldn’t help it. The robes were ridiculous. “Yeah, I’m fairly certain you are right about men being the designers. Maybe the current Heads do not realize how unfortunate and uncomfortable these robes tend to be?” Fae suggested as her dainty hands plucked through the other uniforms. “I can appreciate the wool uniforms in the winter, but it would be nice for lighter material uniforms during the fall and spring. Maybe like a change up sort of thing. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

0 Fae Better to play dress up with. 0 Fae 0 5

Linus

September 27, 2011 8:44 AM

I don't, either by Linus

Sullivan Quincy offered an answer, and despite the certainty with which it was offered, Linus somehow doubted that his yearmate was an expert on the subject. For starters, he was a Muggleborn, like Linus. Secondly, he didn't play Quidditch for any of the Sonora teams, so unless he, too, had been researching the sport in his spare time (plausible, but unlikely), Linus was confident he possessed the greater knowledge in this field (and probably many others). Still, the response didn't sound altogether ludicrous, it just had one obvious oversight. "One would have thought they would simply remove the hazard altogether, rather than just making it marginally easier to avoid," he suggested, only looking up to meet Sullivan's gaze once he'd finished speaking. His expression was politely curious; although he suspected his peer of making up information on the spot, he wouldn't call him on it. To do so would be rude (and on the off-chance that Sullivan actually was right, it would make Linus appear foolish).

"I'd actually been considering trying out for House Quidditch next year," he shared with his companion after a short pause, "now I know a little about the game." It would have been imprudent to have signed up in his first year, when he didn't even know how to mount a broom, let alone learn the six hundred odd fouls possible to commit during the game. At only twelve years, he didn't have a burly build traditionally associated with contact sports on this nature, but neither was he scrawny. He was drawn to the idea of being a part of the only sports team Sonora seemed to offer, particularly if his House continued to play as well as they had done in their first game this year. He would much prefer to play on the winning team than otherwise.

Linus picked up one of the bats on the display and wiedled it in his right hand. It was quite heavy, but not uncomfortably so. He felt the inclination to join both his hands together on its handle, but remembered that his left hand would be needed to keep a hold of his broomstick (he had tried taking both hands off his broom in flying lessons, with negative effects). "I'm not sure which position I'd be best at, though," he continued speaking, unconcerned whether or not his companion was finding the conversation interesting or otherwise. It might be irrelevant; if Crotalus only had one spot to fill then he'd obviously have to aim for that position if he really wanted to be on the team. The other option was to decide on a preferred position and keep trying until that spot became vacant. Both approaches had their appeal.

0 Linus I don't, either 0 Linus 0 5

Sullivan

September 29, 2011 12:41 PM

We are in agreement, then by Sullivan

Sullivan shrugged when Linus pointed out that logical people would have removed bludgers from the game altogether if people had been getting killed from them, but the other thing that Sully had learned about the magical world - in addition to the impossible being commonplace - was that logic didn't often have a lot of pull in policymaking.

"You would think that, wouldn't you," was all he said, though. He wasn't sure a historical room that had been introduced to them by Sonora's founder was really the place to criticize wizarding policies. As he understood it, Clurican was the reason why Sonora played Quidditch instead of the other wierd flying Q-sport that Sully gathered was American Football to Quidditch's Soccer.

Sullivan had no idea of that one had bludgers, but he had faith that it could possibly be even more deadly. Wizards liked deadly, he thought, otherwise they wouldn't teach eleven year olds how to brew potions. He couldn't imagine the kind of beaucracy muggle schools would have to go through to even bring an open flame into an elementary school nevermind potentially explosive chemical reagents.

"Good luck with that," Sullivan offered in response to the admission that Linus was considering joining Quidditch next year. It wasn't really something Sully had much interest in himself, but he felt no inclination to discourage Linus from it if that was what he wanted to do. "I'm good with just watching it." As Linus had pointed out earlier, nobody had yet seen fit to remove Bludgers from the game and Sullivan was still fully convinced they had a fair potential to be fatal, even in their modern reduced size.

Eyeing Linus's build and the bat he was trying out, Sullivan offered the only advice he felt was reasonably helpful, "You'd probably do better as something other than beater. I mean, most of the beaters this year aren't very big either, but you don't have the traditional build for it."

0 Sullivan We are in agreement, then 0 Sullivan 0 5

Sara

October 03, 2011 12:00 AM

Are we worried about anything else? by Sara

"That's one way to put it," Sara said with a smile when Fae described the neckline on her borrowed robes as 'unnecessary'. It was pretty, but the collar was starting to bother her. "I suppose it would encourage good posture, but..." She found herself giggling at the renewed mental image of how she must have been holding herself. "There's other ways, too."

Her mother, anyway, had not needed to give her a permanent crick in the neck to make her learn to hold her head up and stand straight. A dancing tutor and a strict etiquette tutor to reinforce Caroline's own formidable knowledge of the topic, but no more than that. If wearing garments like that all the time had been the only way to learn to keep her chin up, Sara thought she could have almost made a case for it being better to be one of those girls who never took their eyes off their hands. Almost.

"It would be," she agreed wistfully to the idea of a bit more variety in their uniforms. "I guess it would negate the whole point of a uniform, but I wish we had some other colors, too." She glanced at Fae, taking in her and her outfit. "You have better coloring for it than I do, but it's still probably a pain sometimes, isn't it, matching everything to green?"

She pulled out another set of girls' robes, one not as different from what she had worn in here. "This must be from about the time they decided girls' uniforms and boys' should look more the same," she concluded. "I don't really like that. I know I must look like I'm walking around - I don't know - in a tablecloth cut for Mother sometimes."

Her mother was a slim witch, but also a tall one even by the standards of people who weren't small for their ages. Sara really did not understand how she had come to be so short. Most of the Raines family was tall except for Ellen, who was on the lower end of average, and Uncle Charles and Aunt Margaret, who were still not as small, adjustments made for age and sex, as Sara but were both well below average height. She took some solace from them being two of the family's most successful members, but she didn't see why she couldn't have been a little taller and successful at the same time.

0 Sara Are we worried about anything else? 0 Sara 0 5

Linus

October 12, 2011 10:36 AM

On this matter, at least. by Linus

Sullivan commented on Linus not really being the right build for a Beater, and the first year tried not to take the constructive criticism as an insult, but he lowered the bat with a little more haste and force than was strictly necessary, all the same. His peer was perhaps right; Beaters were traditionally of a bigger, bulkier physique than Linus' own, but, as Sullivan had also admitted, that wasn't true of all Sonora's Beaters. It was, however, a fact that Crotalus already had two Beaters, and one of them was Linus' roomate. Competing against him for the position was bound to be bad for dormitory morale, not to mention the likelihood of Paul being the victor, considering he'd held the position successfully for a year already.

"You might be right," he said to Sullivan with a resigned nod of his head. All the same, he thought he'd have prefered to be one of the players with a bat, should a metal ball come racing towards him. "It's weird, playing a sport on broomsticks," he observed. Perhaps no more odd than polo, which was played on horseback, but Linus didn't see any normality in that event, either. "I wouldn't be able to practise over the holidays," was one of the many downsides to his joining a magical sports team. Unless, of course, there was a recreational Quidditch ground hiding somewhere within Vegas. He had already learned that magic supplies could be purchased within the city, if one knew where to go, so this might actually be a possibility. How did wizards find these places, though? It was frustrating; Linus thought that after so many months at a magic schoool he'd know a little more about this new world than he really did.

"I sometimes think that we'll go away for the summer, and wake up one day realising we've imagined the whole thing," he commented quietly to Sullivan. It wasn't a thought that he could share with his roomate, who didn't even know what a computer game was, but Sullivan was like him. Sullivan might understand.

0 Linus On this matter, at least. 0 Linus 0 5