Aria McLeod was always excited for DADA. Who knew what the reason or reasons were but the point was, she was there at the classroom early. OOH?? What’s this? A gorgeous forest in the Castle?? SIMPLY SMASHING!! Aria was already a big fan of today’s lesson set up. Spotting dear Professor Madigan sitting on one of the many tree stumps, she happily skipped over to him. “Hello, hello, Professor!” the sixth year greeted and wiggling some fingers at him in what was supposed to be her version of a wave.

The only thing was, that action sent a small gust of wind at full speed towards Madigan. Aria’s eyes widened in horror and she hurriedly put her fingers - all of them - out of sight. “I’m so SORRY, professor! I don’t know how that happened!” It was true. These mishaps just seemed to keep happening and she had no idea how or why.

Feeling dejected, the Slytherin randomly picked a stump and sat, hugging her bag to her chest. The spotted trees hadn't even been noticed by her.

Yay! Outdoor lesson! It wasn't really outdoors, but it felt real enough. Ash skipped cheerfully through the forest, with large amounts of colorful(not gray this) time flowers popping up in her footsteps. Was she doing it on purpose? Just a little. She arrived in the clearing and took her choice of tree stump to sit cross-legged on. "Hi Professor!" More flowers started growing out of the stump, and Ash didn't mind at all. She concentrated on growing them until her tree stump looked pretty enough to stop and let the flowers decide when they wanted to grow. She pulled out a marker to draw on her arm while they all waited, right above the tattoos near her wrist.

Bella entered the Dada Classroom in a happy mood. A forest inside the castle was really cool. That the trees had spots on them was however not noticed at least not right away by the sixth year snake as she skipped over to greet her professor with a big smile on her face. Stopping in front of the tree stump her was sitting on Bella beamed broadly as she gestured to the trees around them. "Hi professor Madigan, is this forest supposed to mimic the forbidden forest. If it is it's pretty cool." Next second a swarm of colourful butterflies appeared as if on command, and started to circle around Professor Madigans head."Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry professor Madigan. I don't know how those butterflies got here." she blubbered out in shame as she hid her hands in her robes, while her face turned tomato red with embarrassment. Why did this happen? She hadn't thought about butterflies at all, and they still had come.

Walking into the classroom, Tadhg looked around and smiled at the sight before him. It was truly magnificent and a beautiful site for sure, he was in awed by it. Walking further into the room he seen Professor Madigan sitting on a tree srump. " Hello Professor, hope you're well." Giving her a soft warm smile he took his seat beside Ash giving her a smile. "Nice flowers Ash."

Taking his things putting them down he looked down at himself and seen that he blended in with everything around him. " Oh come on, not now!" Taking his books out, all was seen was his book and quill looking like they were floating, but it was him getting them out. Looking at everything he said. "Sorry everyone and Professor, I don't know what's going on sometimes I can control it and others times it comes and goes."

Since receiving his wand, Solomon was feeling very determined during his classes, particularly the practical ones. Defence Against the Dark Arts was one of his favourites, mostly because his wand was good for dispelling dark magic, so the wandsperson had informed him.

Upon arriving, he found that there was something strange going on with the students in class. Actually, he’d noticed it around the school in general. It kinda freaked Solomon out, so he sat down very quietly to observe. Them, rather than the trees and surroundings of the clearing.

“Professor, this is so trippy. How are we inside and outside? Like, I know…magic…duh…but like, this is wild.” Hooper was impressed and a little freaked out but mostly impressed as he entered the Dark Arts classroom to find that somehow, he’d ended up in an open clearing with several tree stumps.

As Hooper walked over to the stump, his robes billowing in the wind which was weird as he was still inside! He flashed a smile at Ash before he eventually settled himself down on a stump ready for the lesson to begin, not a thought was had about the trees in the distance or anything else remotely weird that was happening.

Maxine was excited for another class - she really did enjoy Defense Against the Dark Arts ... mean what Gryffindor didn't? But she was actually really good at this class. But coming into class today seemed different. Why were they in a forest? What was on those trees. She had so many questions, and so little answers as of yet.

"Hello Professor" She said as she drew closer and took a seat.. anxiously waiting.

One minute he was on the third floor heading to the latest DADA class and the next he appeared almost out of doors in the forest as he walked through the door. The joys of magical classrooms spelled by creative professors. Walking further into the ‘classroom’, his satchel slung over his shoulder, it seemed to be sprinkling as if a light rain had been added to the charmed faux scenario. Such attention to detail.

However, even as he came to the more brightly lit clearing, he could still feel a drop or two or five upon his head and the shoulders of his school robes. A sun shower than. As long as it wasn’t magicked to behave like a full-blown monsoon Rajesh supposed it was all fine. Time would only tell as he spotted the professor sitting there, a bunch of classmates already there before him.

“Good day, Professor Madigan,” he greeted the man as he took a free spot for a seat.

Appearing not to notice the change of scenery, Milo stepped barefoot through the "forest" and silently joined the gathering group of Defence Against the Dark Arts students. He put plenty of distance between himself and every other being visible to his current eyes, hanging well back in the shelter of the trees, and had his school jumper tied around his head so that it covered the lower half of his face as a makeshift mask.

The strange afflictions all around had unnerved him, though only briefly, and while Milo had by now witnessed Peeves himself doing whatever-it-was-he-was-doing with that book of his, he still could not be certain of the specifics. He would not risk an affliction passed to him by close contact, nor of falling victim to one in some other way. Maybe that was the point. Maybe that was why he'd not been afflicted yet. Or maybe he had, but just didn't know it. He blinked hard, his face a riot of twitches, and looked down at his hands.

Milo would have preferred not to show up at all, but his attendance record had been noted again, by the powers that be who did not would not could not understand that, even before the strangeness, withdrawal had been paramount to his safety and sanity. Knowing what threats came next, Milo suspended his isolation and rejoined with his pees. But his mind was far afield.

Further afield than usual; though, as he was not in the habit of greeting his professors or peers on arrival, to the un-Milo'd eye it was likely impossible to see.

Kins was really trying to keep up in DADA this year. Swear on her life. Even though she wouldn't be taking a big NEWT exam for it at the end of the year, she wanted to show her parents that she had made improvements. It was really, really important, ok? Her nan needed to know. Fortunately it was easier to manage nowadays, with her new wand that seemed to like her a lot more than the old one. No weird outbursts of magic. Just regular ones.

It was also easier to concentrate now that she was feeling more up to her usual self. It had been a weird eight months, ok?

All of this to say, she wasn't totally out-of-her-mind uncomfortable as she stepped into the- .... great outdoors? "Hi ..." She greeted Proffessor M hesitantly, head turning as she took in the rest of her surroundings. "Professors are allowed to hold classes on the grounds." Because if he didn't know, he did now. That way he wouldn't have to fake it next time! You're very welcome, sir.

Vera had little to NO idea what was happening throughout the school, outside of the fact it clearly had to do with the LEGEND that was Peeves the poltergeist. She'd seen some interesting ailments from her classmates, not excluding the ones briefly noted as she entered Professor Madigan's er.... Not classroom? Not that she'd be complaining about being pseudo-outdoors, though silently she echoed Kinsay that REAL outdoors would have been better.

Skipping her way in, with the most VIBRANT rainbow robes imaginable, which while they had not been a choice, you would not hear a single word of complaint from the girl, she beamed at the DADA professor. "Hello, sir! Are we going to use those trees as some type of target practice?" Or maybe this was secretly a free labor class and he was going to make them chop down more trees for even MORE seating options? Which... To be honest, she was entirely here for that if it meant someone would let her use an ax like a lumberjack!

Skipping her way to a vacant tree near Solly, she plopped herself down and grinned at him. "What do you think we'll be doing??"

You know that feeling when someone tells you not to think about pink elephants blowing bubbles...and then all you can do is think about and picture pink elephants blowing bubbles? That was where Atlas found himself in life presently. Only he wasn't thinking about pink elephants...or Victorian Era fascination with ankles...or really anything one might expect a 16-year-old teenage boy to be thinking about. No, Atlas Flamsteed was spending his days trying NOT think about looking at anything for too long. That meant no lingering gazes and eyes darting around everywhere to the point where his optical workouts had him exhausted. WEIRD things happened whenever he looked at something for too long. At least...that seemed to be the pattern. Sorta. His journal tracking the phenomena that he had now officially ruled out 'mastering wandless magic in my sleep' and there just was no ruddy pattern to when or how strange things happened...just that they did...and it involved him looking at something and it then moving.

Or thinking about it.

Sometimes it was just easier to keep his eyes closed, which is what he intended to do once he found his spot in the Defense classroom...which OF COURSE had to be all...nontraditional and messy and he really needed to use his eyes to look around.

Thanks, professor. Thaaaaaaaaaanks.

Shuffling in and trying not to consider anyone or anything for too long, Atlas plopped himself down on one of the stumps next to the odd little eagle who was wearing his jumper all...well, he really just would not be asking questions at this time before the more he LOOKED at the knot or the jumper itself...the more the Gryffindor was inviting chaos to happen.

There was barely a mumble in greeting for the professor from this mediocre Defense Against the Dart Arts student (but hey, he just barely scrapped by on his OWL with a low A score). In fact, there was hardly any eye contact to be had at all since Atlas had now shut his eyes tight as a well intended preemptive measure. Only Vera just haaaaaaaaaaaaad to say something and now the trees were his pink elephants of the moment. His eyes opened and he STARED at the trees in the distance. One in particular began to sway as if there was a very strong breeze attempting to make it bend to its will...or fall over.

...curse you, pink elephants!

An outside lesson, inside. Keigh always enjoyed these. Not as much as an actually outdoors lesson but they were the next best thing. So each step the fourth year took through the 'forest' was more like a skip, beautiful flowers of various colors and kinds springs up through the dirt in her footsteps.

Reaching the clearing, all too soon if anyone cared what she thought, Keigh smiled brightly at those around sat around. "Hello, Professor! I hope you're having a good day." Choosing a spot she sat herself down on an empty tree stump, her blue eyes finding Ashley. "I love all the flowers, Ashley! So bright and colorful!" It looked like the older Ravenclaw may have figured out how to control this strange new 'power'.

Leaning her fingertips over the bark of the tree stump she was sat upon more flowers slowly sprouted through the bark. More and more and more flowers. So many that she began to pick several of them, weaving the steams through her long blonde hair while she waited for the lesson to begin.

So far Phoenix was perfectly fine as he entered the DADA classroom. Of course he'd noticed something weird happening with much of the student population, though for a while he had been focused on himself and his own affliction. Though he wasn't sure it was exactly an affliction as it was kind of a cool "power" to have. He just wished he knew how it happened and how he could control it better.

"Good day, Professor," he greeted the man respectfully as he walked in, looking around curiously, wondering why he'd turned the classroom into a forest of sorts. As he took a seat on one of the tree stumps, the second year pulled out his notebook to make some observations before class began.

Oooh, interesting. Yukie had been indeed expecting the usual classroom set-up for today's DADA lesson, but she was quite pleased to see the 'change of scenery'. Sure, this still was the classroom but she was willing to let her senses be fooled today. Maybe one day they could have a lesson actually outside, for the funsies and the real fresh air, but this will do.

Yukie approached the rest of the class and gave a big smile to Professor Madigan. "Good day, professor!" The Hufflepuff greeted before looking around to find someone to sit with. She quickly spotted Hooper and made her way to him, settling her stuff on the stump seat beside his. "Hi, Bush Boy!" She wondered what today's class would be about, especially with those spotted trees by the professor.

Those aren't poisonous, right?

Tasha hurried down the hall but slowed her pace and walked into the classroom at a normal pace. "Good morning, professor." She greeted as she walked over to the seat she had picked, near the front of the room.

Attention seekers, all of them! And yes, he realized how rich that was coming from him. But that was the only explanation for all the sudden instances of random magic. It irritated him to no end too. Which explained the scowl on his face as he entered the classroom, squishing the one girl's (Ash's) flowers underfoot as he did so. Not on purpose, though it wouldn't have bothered if he'd realized.

"Mornin' Professor," Alfred mumbled out, plopping down on a tree stump. Nope, he didn't notice the spots on the trees but he did wonder why they weren't outside instead of the converted classroom.

Well, now seemed like a great time to begin. The small smile remaining on the Professor's face before he gestured the entire room. "Excellent, welcome back everyone." Not expecting any returned greetings to it. "As previously discussed, the importance of Defensive magic is preparing and learning how to face and endure a challenge. As I'm sure a number of you have been wondering what we're doing here instead of the real outdoors.." Letting it sink in for a moment. "Given the colder climate of the season, today's challenge would be more accommodating in a sectioned and sunny environment," And it would temper the outside danger factor, ahem.

"What are some of the signs you can pinpoint that would make this forest suspicious? Has there been a time outdoors where you felt something was off?" To start it off. Whether they could answer one or the other or possibly both.

--
OOC: Feel free to get creative with answers. Class will continue sometime the next day.

Hooper watched as student after student filed into the classroom. He even managed to spare them a nod and smile as they entered and sat down on the stump. It wasn’t until Yu-kie-oh sat down on the stump next to him that he spoke. “Is it time to duel already?” a cheeky smile on his face now as his mind flashed back to the day he’d spent in a rhododendron bush costume in Diagon Alley.

Just as he was about to burst into conversation however, the lesson started. Eager not to get another detention under his belt, quickly turned his attention to the lesson at hand. “I mean I hope it’s wild professor. I hate lessons where we just write.” Was he supposed to say that to a professor? Oops. Never mind. Time for the lesson to move on, quickly.

Listening to the Professors words carefully, Hooper took a moment to actually really think before he answered out loud. “Uhhh….honestly Professor, I think it’s kind of weird that there are a load of tree stumps around here. Like, who cut these trees? Why these trees? Why leave the stumps? If we have magic, surely whoever did this would take the whole tree? And what’s happened to the rest of the tree Professor, huh? HUH?” It was all very suspicious.

The important thing was that she hadn’t hurt Professor Madigan. She hated to think of the consequences if she had hurt him or someone else accidentally. She had noticed these weird happenings with her for a bit now and could not pinpoint how this came to be. Once, there had even been a tiny tornado but that had occurred when she had been alone in the girl’s bathroom. She needed to talk to Caes, to ask him if anything funny was happening with him. However, she did notice things happening with some of her classmates - the flowers and what not. Were they all connected??

The Slytherin sat there in moody silence, watching all the happenings all around her. Right now, Aria just wanted to crawl back into bed and take a nap. It was too late for that now for Madigan had gotten started. What would make the ‘forest’ they were in suspicious? Had she felt something off outdoors? Aria thought then cautiously raised her hand, her fingers curled into her palms so that she made a fist. No usual wiggling fingers today.

“Once I was out in the yard at home working on a project when I thought I could feel eyes on me. You know that weird feeling you get that you’re being watched? There didn’t seem to be anyone around but it was just my brother. He thought it would be fun to jump out at me to scare me plus dump glitter on my head.” Aria rolled her eyes. Caes was so immature! “Anyway, from then I know to pay better attention to my surroundings whenever I observe that feeling.”

Needing a controlled "outdoor" inside space certainly made sense to the sixth year for the professor’s reasoning in answer to a few students wondering why their location was their location. So the occasional rain drizzle WAS part of the professor’s plan, the man seemingly reacting to it as well.

“Sounds…a forest shouldn’t be too quiet like there was no life within it.” Because most if not all forests were biomes teeming with some sort of living things. “If the creature inhabitants of a forest are quiet…or if they are actively reacting way too loudly…something is up.” They were often very much aware of dangers before their human counterparts were, especially those considered more prey in worry of being in potential trouble.

"Well there's those funny spots up a head." Maxine added motioning forward with her head ... "I don't see them any closer - so I have to say I don't like it for now." Maybe it would turn out to be butterflies or something ... but she didn't like the look of it from a distance.

She wouldn't be disappointed??? So they WERE doing target practice!? Oooooh she could not WAIT to see what type of spell they'd be using then! Were they practicing Sectumsempra? That had to do with slashing didn't it?? Although, seemed an unusual choice to teach a bunch of children but once again - there would be no complaints from this little lioness. Because how COOL would it be to know that spell and be able to successfully cast it! Probably not on other people. Her chaos had yet to get to THAT type of a level.

Anyways.

Questions. The most booooooring part of lessons. Primarily because it was SO difficult to sit still, which was probably why History of Magic was where she struggled the most. This was DADA. Couldn't they just... jump right into it. Who needed theory?? Or like... proper application or any of those deets. BUT she'd play the game. Majority of the most obvious answers were taken, outside of the fact that... this wasn't the real outdoors which was VERY sus if you asked her. But instead of pointing that out, she decided to expand on Hooper's answer because she'd already been thinking it too. "The fact that only THESE trees are cut IS very concerning, but not because why THESE so much as... why not those?" She pointed towards the ones with the little dots. "Do they house bowtruckles? Is there mistletoe up there and just like... an infestation of Nargles?"

Keighley had momentarily lost herself in her own thoughts and braiding colorful flowers into her hair. How could she resist when there was so many beautiful flowers all around her. By the time Professor Madigan began the lesson, the fourth year had a nice amount of flowers all through her blonde hair.

The warm smile that had been on her face was still there as she pondered over the question that was being asked. Most of what she wanted to say had already been said. Which left her to really think even more. Back to when she had first walked in. Raising her hand she gave her answer, "Well one of the things I did notice was when I first walked in how light it was even through I was clearly walking through a forest. Shouldn't it have been.. darker?" She hadn't given it much thought at the time but now that she was it did seem a little odd.