Yes, the professor was way too happy to be real, but that wasn't what was drawing her attention now. No, it was the head girl. Did she usually act this way about chocolate? Judging by the reactions of the other students, the answer to that was a big fat no. And why was she acting confused as to why people were calling her 'Alexa' or 'Cambridge'? According to the portrait that hung in front of the Gryffindor entry, that was her name.

But, even though Miss Head Girl was acting like a huge brat, she had to agree with her. The cards were pointless. "Miss......." whatever she had said she wanted to be called ".......is right, basically. Some people do collect them like Muggles do with baseball cards, but ultimately they're useless." Heather opened the frog then, quickly pulling it out of the package so that it wouldn't have a chance to get away. She bit off the leg and tossed the card on her desk without looking at it. Mmmm, chocolate.

When Professor Glendower a asked about the chocolate frog trading cards, Jasmine had to think about it for a minute. Then she raised her hand to respond to the question."There are snippets of information about famous witches and wizards on the cards. People can learn facts better when they arent bombarded with information. The chocolate that's included makes the whole package more attractive and appealing to the customer." Come to think of it, there was probably a history reason for why trading cards and chocolate were paired .

A minor misunderstanding of the term, fabulous trick had Cutty searching about the room. His literal mind making the most of the situation. His glance however, was for naught. Not even the lingering scent of VERY inexpensive perfume.

He appeared untouched at this minor let down.

However, his interest turned upward at the topic of discussion. So the chocolate frogs did have a purpose, afterall. Granted, a different purpose from the one he'd had in mind (read: resale value), but one related to the lesson nonetheless. Cutty shook his in the box meanly and dipped and pulled the closure open. The little frog hopped out and upon it's second leap was skewered onto the wooden surface of Cutty's desk by the sharp end of his wand. Cutty meanwhile occupied his mind with the famous wizard card inside, which had he not taken his potion might have opened up immediately. Not because Professor Glendower had told him not to, but because it would satisfy the urge to do right by the self.

Good question! This had marketing ploy all over it. A little like what Caleb had said. But, perhaps the opposite. A rose that came with thorns or perhaps the other way around. He lifted his hand skyward. "The cards could be used to amass a small amount of wealth for yerself. With new cards cooming out all of the time, soom of the oldeh ones are quite valuable." And this was history of magic. "Value in what came before 'n all that. And I suppose they're included with chocolate frogs because they'd reach a larger group of people. Chocolate frogs are by far one of the more popular sweets." At least in his experience. They even outsold his supply of droobles.

The little chocolate frog, meanwhile continued to struggle to get away as it's chocolate body remained pinned to the desk by Cutty's wand.

Josie refused to lift her head, she was still mortified at what had just occurred when she'd entered the classroom. But on the plus side, the Professor wasn't upset with her, in fact she'd actually hurried to check to see if the clumsy third year was alright. And had actually told Josie not to apologize? Well, that certainly made her feel a lot better.

Before class had started, she couldn't help but lift her head briefly though when she'd heard the sound of a boy singing the words to this..strangely creepy & odd music. And who was this boy? ...Ethan? Josie couldn't help but glance at him as he proudly sang along to the music & also couldn't help cracking a smile as he sang, but quickly covered her mouth to hide this smile.

....

Class had begun & the Professor had given them permission to eat their chocolate frogs, which Josie did do almost instantly, even if she did believe it was a little early for chocolate snacks. Her father would definitely not approve, although he wasn't there & besides by the time she could even think about what her father might say, the chocolate frog had already vanished...into the third year's tummy.

What was that about trading cards? She actually hadn't gotten the chance to hear what was said unfortunately, so perhaps she'd just let someone else answer the Professor's first question?

Angel looked at the Professor and smiled as she raised her hand. "Professor it's like with newspapers... one of them did something bad and so the sales went down and to try and improve sales they gave away free stuff." Angel smiled. "I take it one year this company had bad sales and so decided to create the chocolate frog to sort things out.

The weird part was, in all of that madness and in all of his years of dealing with Alexa Cambridge he had not noted a difference in her behaviour enough that he thought anything of the upset underclassmen. Sure, they deserved a welcome to Hogwarts 'n all, but that was just Lex. Or Maleficent as she was now calling herself.

Maleficent. He liked it. Sort of a cross between Malicious & Magnificent. Yup. And the black hair?! Whaat?! It suited her.

He thought about this as Angel's squeaky little voice filled the room.




He allowed this paradise to lull him into a false sense of loving this class.

Samantha raised her hand. "Frogs have long been associated with witchcraft and wizardry. The inclusion of the card with the frog could be a symbolic gesture but done in the guise of a fun little toy, for lack of a better term, that helps younger witches or wizards be more aware of the history of magic."

After she had finished her answer, Sam unwrapped her chocolate frog and took a small bite out of it.

Norah stared at the frog, giving into temptation and removing it from its wrapper. She crammed half of it into her mouth before she remembered she should pace herself. And, y'know breathe 'n stuff. She pushed the card to the side of the desk and busied herself with note taking so she wouldn't have to look at it. She WANTED to know who it was! Her whole body ITCHED for it, because what if it was Agrippa, who she STILL didn't have? Aha, that seemed like a good answer to the question. Norah raised her hand- "Everyone looooves chocolate (riiiight?), so everyone would buy a chocolate frog, and the cards are so fun to collect that everyone just wants more and more. At least I do. So its a good way to sell them, because everyone wants 'em." At least she wanted them. She wanted them ALL.

Zander finally sat down after getting the OK from Kyroh. But uh pretend like they don't know each other? Huh? Bad guys...? Were they some sort of superhero gang now? Because Zander LOVED the superheros from all the comics y'know? Like BATMAN and SUPERMAN!! But were they- what huh? "I-uh-Okay. I'm good at pretending." Kind of. He could try? But he was still super, super confused. Because huuuh?

The Gryffindor gave a small smile to the little girl who walked towards them next. Uh, Maddie right? She was Sophie's friend and Kyroh's too. One of those Ravenclaws from their little trio. He remembered her from that paintball game that one time. You know, the time he and Kevin were supposed to take over and beat everyone... But instead just ended up getting beaten themselves? Yeah, Gryffindor Goobers need to work on their paintball game. But anyways, he smiled at her because she seemed nice enough, but then went back to looking at Professor Glendower incase class was about to start.

And then, Lex happened. What was going on with her? The Gryffindor just watched wide-eyed at the scene that unfolded in front of him. AND THEN SHE TOOK HIS CHOCOLATE FROG?!! Uh.... Everyone knew about Lex's chocolate thing, but uh was that really necessary? But before Zander could even say anything about it that Toberson guy stepped in, so instead he decided to help Kyroh out because that Tobiath(??) guy seemed to have taken care of things. And then Professor Glendower. And then Lex. AND THEN HUH?

Taking his chocolate frog, he RELUCTANTLY extended it towards second year!Kyroh. "Hey, you can have mine Kyroh." Can everyone please acknowledge this act? Because it was a pretty big deal. Zander didn't just give his chocolate to anyone. That stuff was treasured okay? This is as big deal here. But of course, the chocolate frog on his desk wasn't the only one he had!! He had actually taken the summer holiday as an opportunity to restock in the chocolates incase they went through another snowpocalypse again. So of course he had plenty more in his bag!!

Pulling one of them out for himself he looked at Kyroh and gave him an encouraging smile. "There, now we both have one." He mostly did this because uh, he didn't like crying. Or well, he didn't know how to handle crying. He had seen she-who-must-not-be-named, AHEM, Lux cry like what two times? And both times he almost ran away full speed in the opposite direction. It was hard enough trying to keep up regular conversation, let alone comfort a crying person. Because that stuff was hard.

And as for the question, well... He didn't really give an answer considering everything else that was going on. But he did listen to everyone else's and besides, they all basically covered everything anyways. Not like he'd even have something amazing to contribute. History was CB's thing, not his.

Layla knew this school was full of a weird bunch of students but this girl was just taking the mickey. The blonde stared at the one standing up pretending to be some evil villain or something like she had lost the plot. Which quite clearly she had. Girl belonged locked up rather than in a classroom. Layla herself hadn't bothered to make much of an entrance, in fact she had made one in the literal sense of 'entering' the room and sitting down which was where she was still now.

She hadn't touched the chocolate confectionary before her and she had no temptation too either. She pushed it to the front of her desk where she left it and didn't even look down. She didn't eat unhealthy stuff, she didn't like it anyway. As for the question, she supposed she could rustle up an answer for it. Didn't sound too complicated after all and it could be referred back to her muggledom.

"People like collectin' things. You get a couple and then suddenly there's the temptation to get more. An' more. An' the closer people get to one full set of somethin' the more likely they are to try to complete it." she started. Sounded more like business studies. "Marketers play on how gullible people are to buyin' products with an extra item. It increases their sales." and that was it. It was probably no different to the muggle world.

See? She hadn’t had to do anything ridiculous to get a smile from the professor. Professor Glendower, apparently, as she had introduced herself once the lesson started. Brooklyn had merely played with the chocolate frog box that had been on her desk, watching as the whatever it was the head girl was doing continued to unspool. At least she hadn’t dared steal her frog. There would have been a lot more than just words or even the failed spell if she had, whether or not the older girl fancied herself Maleficent. Fairy tale characters weren’t real. It was just another example or people being weird, and she’d rather just be the princess she was. Be better than all the weird people.

There had been the question posed to the class, but her answer had been said. It was obvious that the point of the cards were to sell more frogs. Or to teach people about history, but in the end it still sold more frogs. Why there needed to be a discussion about that didn’t make sense to her. If they were discussing the actual cards, maybe, but they weren’t even supposed to look at them yet. Maybe they were going to talk about specific cards later, although she didn’t particularly care. She didn’t collect them. It was easy to just ignore the card, as she bit the head off the frog that had been inside the packaging. She wasn’t about to speak with her mouth full anyhow, so that meant question answered.

Well.

Maddie didn't understand Kyroh's emotions. Most people's, actually. But from what her freckled f-word had told her about them, hugs were meant to help. And Kyroh knew that Maddie didn't do those voluntarily so the best she could do was a hand squeeze and when the boy rejected this, the brunette was puzzled. She might be new to this whole f-word thing but wasn't comforting someone when they were upset supposed to be a nice gesture? And how come Kyroh seemed not to want it. Maybe he just didn't like it when it came from her. She wondered if it had been Dima or Toby whether he'd act differently. She wondered about Dot too. And all the wondering and confusion was a lot for the thirteen year old so she wrote a few of her theories down in lieu of notes. At least it'd LOOK like she was paying attention to whatever her classmates were saying about chocolate frog cards.

And Alexa Cambridge was off her rocker, did Glendower KNOW? She probably needed the healer. Probably.

So maybe Eden wasn't USED to this whole...friendly teacher thing. It was always 'speak when spoken to' at Durmstrang. She just wasn't used to saying hello to them yet. But she would learn. She smiled and waved at the professor as she said hello and settled in her desk once more.

Ah. She had NOTICED the chocolate frog until now. Duh. She unwrapped hers and lay the card face down so she wouldn't see it...and she like, ate the whole thing.

But how could a girl turn down chocolate?! That stuff was the BEST. Ahem. WHY did they put the cards in there? Well everyone had already taken the GOOD answers, so Eden raised her hand and sighed. "I mean--they COULD just want to honestly inform the general public about important PEOPLE from history--" right? LAyla's answer was probably right, though. "Also, it's cool." Yeah, Eden had to add that bit in.

So far this wasn't boring. Eden could dig this class!

Just WHAT was up with Lex? Kevin knew she could be mean , he experienced it each time they met but she wasn't THAT mean was she? And quite frankly, the acting started to get boring. "Show off" he muttered before ignoring her and turned his attention to the Professor.

Eh? so they weren't supposed to have eaten the chocolates just yet? Mweh too bad cause he had already done it. The card was in his hand right now though he hadn't looked at it yet. The last time he had eaten a chocolate frog was at the dormitory last year when Zander and him had to fight off Peeves.

He grinned at the memory.

"It can be used as an excuse to curse Peeves" he said without raising his arm. Yeah the professor probably had no idea what that meant but Kevin's gaze went towards his friend and grinned even more.

LOL. Lulz. Had the badge gone to the girl's head. Oh MAN. If Lex was gonna start parading around and telling people what to do, Grayson was all up for it. There was something hot about a woman who knew how to take charge. And as long as she didn't expect him to comply tooooooooooo much, he didn't really care what she did. Just don't make Kyroh cry again, mkay? There was a limit.

Help himself to some chocolate frog? Don't mind if we do.

Ripping the packet open, Grayson grabbed the chocolatey sweet from within and took a huge bite from it. Good stuff. He'd had this conversation WITH Lex about being able to eat in class and look at them now! Glendower knew how to get them to listen. Obviously.

Pity all the munching meant that he'd almost missed the question being asked. Almost. What are the cards used for? "It can be what people aspire to, can't it? People who want to be big and famous and to be considered an important witch or wizard generally like to see their name and face on a chocolate frog card. Boosts up your profile, that does. Give 'em something to aim for and whatnot. People up and down the country who read the cards will know about them and what they've achieved. Who wouldn't want that?"

It was good to be back in this class. It was always an adventure with a story that was acted out. Merlin, their last class had been so much fun. Smiling at Professor Glendower, he nodded. "Ah, good. I'm glad to hear that he's behaving," he said chuckling a little. The Australian smiled once more when she asked about his summer. "I wasn't expecting much of a summer but it genuinely surprised me." With that, he headed to the empty desk next to Prefect Holmes.

Simon grinned at Ethan. It was good to see his mate again. He felt as if he was truly back into his element with Ethan beside him. Everything was right. "Always ready," said Simon as he pulled out a notebook, keeping a straight face. Then Alexa Cambridge happened. He stared at her for a brief minute before raising his notebook over his face briefly so SHE wouldn't see Holmes and Watson at work. Was she okay? Or was she just getting really, really into character? Or did the whole badge go to her head? She wasn't usually this passionate about classes or was she? He couldn't remember... It was weird. But then again, maybe it was normal. "Errr...... Do you think...?" he whispered but before he could finish his question Professor Glendower was addressing the class.

SCORE. They could munch on the chocolate frogs. But first, the Professor had asked a question about the purpose of the cards on the inside? Well not only did the cards tell them facts about wizards and witches, they also were good trading cards. He took a bite of his chocolate frog and continued to stay silent. Simon nodded, listening to his fellow students present ideas to her. After a while, he raised a hand to offer an answer too. "It could be a way to teach people information about famous wizards and witches who've made contributions to society in a fun way without them even realizing that they're learning." He took another bite of the chocolate frog.

Because food generally was a good incentive to make people learn, right?

This class was awesome already, because it was focusing on Chocolate Frogs which were Lux's favourite candy by a long shot. This was even making her forget about Lex being mean and stealing from her.

After shooting another glance at the Head Girl, she listened as Professor Glendower started talking about the Chocolate Frog cards. Well, she would voice her thoughts on them but it seemed that a lot of people had beat her to it. Remaining silent, she took what was needed from her bag in order to take notes.

Bay was barely paying attention to anything that was happening well lesson wise, what was going on with Alexa?? she was acting so weird and she didn't seem herself.. should he speak up or maybe something more physical? he would be okay with something like that, but man was no one paying attention to this girl? staring around the room he tried to see how many people were paying attention to this…well he didn't know what this was.

Time to be alert and really watch her to see if he needed to step in and help control the issue here.

Oh there was a reason? Ah he nodded and placed the chocolate frog back on his desk. He thought it was a treat. But then he heard the professor move on with the lesson. He heard the question and he heard all the student's answers and raised his hand, "Professor I know the chocolate frog cards can give you more information on witches and wizards around our school. I recently got one of Helga Hufflepuff and it told me she was responsible for all the recipes for Hogwarts to cook." he said giving a little example.

Ethan allowed Simon to recite his answer first before responding to him. Merlin, Lex was really pushing it as she told the professor something about silencing the girl inside her with chocolate frogs. Lex is a sucker for said candy, and Lex!Maleficent was determined to keep Lex!HeadGirl quiet with it...?

Well, this is a very strange, but interesting play. Did Glendower and Lex talked about this? If so then, they're both being impressive. Ethan continued to look on, and nudged Simon. The prefect tapped his temple twice, then pointed at Lex!Maleficent. That means, 'keep observing, Watson.'

What was WRONG with this girl? She was stealing chicolate frogs amd she made a generally optimistic second year start to cry! Who did that? And the retaliation. Did people start drinking their potions from class early? And did this Gryffindor girl have like ten of them? The was a box being thrown and someone had a spell going that missed and .... Merlin! There was a full out war starting and it was hard to imagine this stopping without a prefects help. Then again, even teachers had trouble controlling her this year. So that was going to be tough going. Sigh. So much was going on tonight and it was making her slightly dizzy. Should she stand up and say something? Her mother taught her to stand up for others, but this girl was a seventh year probably and Ophelia was a five foot two first year. So that was going to be interesting.

Just before class started, the blonde turned towards Kyroh and offered him a small smile of consolation. Awful consolation prize, but the chocolate frog was HERS and that wasn't negotiable. Sorry, she wasn't THAT nice. Maybe give him a bit.... Wait, that would involve something like ripping it in half... and that was't happening. Sounded too gross. And possibly messy. What was the anatomy of these chocolate frogs? How did this thing work? Uggh, no time to figure it out. Sighing, she held out her chocolate frog to him, nodding. Whatever. she'd be nice to him. Ophelia had sandwich baggies full of melted together candy in her suitcase, she'd take from that later. This kid needed the frog more.

Sorry professor, it was hard to focus while things were happening in the background. Like a billion things. All at once. But chocolate frog cards, yes. That was the lesson and this was the part where she thought it through and answered. Okay, what was the use? Well, they were a familiar item in her household, as her brothers and sisters collected and traded them like they were going out of style. Which meant that Maleficient over there was wrong in a way. Oh yeah. There was no way to hide the smug expression as she raised her hand.

"The cards are used to teach people, like someone else said. See the person, read the facts and then learn something new. " And here came the part she was afraid of. Should she stand up for this? Run out of the room? She already made someone cry. What could that woman do next? But it was important, because the cards DID have meaning.

"And they're used for trading, like between my brothers and sisters. They trade them like they're going out of style, sometimes even in exchange of a favor, like doing chores or eating someone else's vegetables." Hence how she lost all of her cards, and why her mom put a temporary ban on Ophelia having cards in the first place. Anyway, that brought her to the peak of her answer.

" So, no disrespect, but doesn't that make them currency, like bartering" yes, that was sort of geared towards a special someone, but it still tied in with the lesson. Ooh, it might be a good time to look who was on her card. Rowena Ravenclaw. Ooh cool.

He was already in his seat next to Dot, right behind Kyroh and Maddie, when Lex Maleficent strode in.

And then came all the drama.

As ashamed as he was to admit it, Dima spent the whole time Lex/Maleficent/whoever bullied his friend just gaping. What... was going on? The Head Girl was very straightforward but never blatantly rude, and Dima was POSITIVE she would be freaked out by a kid crying. Or almost crying. Or... what was Kyroh doing? All Dima could hear were the sniffling noises. And the words 'ugly toad' echoing in his ears. Over. And over. And over.

"No toads are ugly." They were all BEAUTIFUL, okay? And Dima thought Kyroh was beautiful too. His friend would get that.

In the midst of all this, he didn't even have TIME to answer Professor Lovely's question. Sorry, Glendower. Dima still loved you. XOXO.

There was a purpose to the chocolate frog cards? Hazel had always just assumed they were there for decoration or trading or something pointless like that.

"Perhaps they teach younger children about these famous people, but since it's chocolate, they don't even know they're learning. Also, it's quite smart for the business because everyone wants to find the rarer cards, so they'll buy more." It was a very smart tactic. She still thought they were completely pointless, but why would the professor ask a question who's answer is, 'there is no point'. She picked up her frog and nibbled on it a bit. YUM!

Yes, I still got it. Darius thought, now sitting in his seat very pleased with himself after such an applause from the Professor. This was a very interesting start to a history class. The dread that filled him moments before he made his entrance was long gone now and what replaced it was eagerness for the lesson to start. When it did, he sat up just a bit straighter in his seat, happy to hear that they could eat the chocolate frogs. A candy he had taken a strong liking to over the summer. Good thing he didn't rush to open it or he might have looked at the card inside, but instead he carefully took it out face down and ate the frog.

Darius wasn't expecting the question so fast after that his mouth was so filled with chocolate that it would have been rude to answer. It was a shame that a few others didn't have very good manners to not talk with their mouth full, besides all of the good answer was already said. If why they put the card inside the chocolate frogs was anything like muggle prize candy then the main reason was to honor something and to make a profit for anyone who would buy them to collect the items.

Gabriel had taken a seat in the very back, notebook out and special quill clutched tightly in his hands. This...THIS........was another one of the subjects that he loved. Well, Gabe loved it when he was at home with his tutors. This professor was a woman...and that...Well, that had forced him as far away from the front of the room as humanly possible. As to why he loved the subject, though...Well, History didn't change. It was one of those things that...would always be the same. Like numbers. They were like in every language.

Wiping the back of his sweaty palm across his forehead, he stared down at his notebook...and his quill. Ruby had gotten it for him for his birthday. Where Gabe usually had several different ones for the different ink colors...this one was able to switch between the colors without blending them or compromising the integrity of the shades. The type of preciseness his particular mind enjoy, of course...Something else his anxiety could fuss and worry over eliminated.

When class officially began, a slight tremble settled into his body....but he stayed silent. Gabe stuck to jotting down people's answers...far too terrified by any forms of public speaking to intone with his own...BUT HE WAS LISTENING, OKAY? Hopefully...that would be okay with the professor...

Wiping at his brow, again....Gabriel sighed; trying to regulate his breathing.

Was it...uh, hot in here...to anyone else?