Paul smiled when Jessa volunteered becaaaaause it was right up her alley, wasn’t it? “Okay, come up here by me.” He gestured at her. “And no, not really,” but that’s ALL she was getting at the moment.



Paul would have let her be a volunteer if she had done it, yes, but he was okay with just using Jessa for now. “Good day, Olivia!” he said cheerfully, even if a bit more tiredly than usual.



Paul merely raised an eyebrow at the Gryffindor child. “Well, Miss Spinnet, it’s a reference to a set of books that some of your peers may or may not have read. And I don’t appreciate the attitude. So...you should lose it,” he said, semi-sternly. And he had only recently caught on to her little….tone problem. And Paul KNEW IT WAS BECAUSE OF THE PLAY, ZORYN SPINNET. And his patience was running THIN, MISSY.

Ahem.




“Okay Jonas, come right up, then!” He smiled at the boy, WHO WAS IN A BETTER MOOD THAN ZORYN.



Paul sent Natalie a small little wave as she came inside. One of the quieter ones. No problem, though.



“Helllllo, Stazy!” he said in a chipper tone, not realizing he had completely GOTTEN HER NAME WRONG. Good Lord, Paul, if he had heard himself - WOW.



“OKAY I’ll take you, too, yes, come on up, Etta!” he beamed at his prefect being all prefect-y. What lovely student leaders he had. Such NICE AND WONDERFUL STUDENTS. UNLIKE ZORYN SPINNET.

HMPHHHHHHH.



And Ronan had arrived. A Gryffindor Paul thought was increasingly helpful if he wanted to be, but not always. He liked the kid enough. “Well hello to you, too, Ronan. Nice day today!”

Oh, the chitter, the chatter, of casual conversation.



….ha! “Well, I said the HUMANE hunger games. So everyone will hopefully be surviving...and if not, I’ve clearly done something seriously wrong. Botched up something along there…” considering what he had planned, literally NO ONE should get hurt! They were having a nice class...a relaxing class!



Ha! Another one who knew! “MUCH nicer..and MUCH more humane, I promise,” he winked at Cassie.



Paul didn’t hear any of Derf’s mutterings, but no matter. He still waved at the boy warmly and nodded in his direction. So, his quirkiness was growing on him, even if Derf HATED PLANTS. He thought that aspect was getting better, though, too, and Derf was a student Paul had a haaaaaard time forgetting over the summer.



“Hello, Juniper. Feeling well, I hope?” he asked softly, since...yeah. All the things. And his mind then went to Junia, who he didn’t see yet, and then to...other Botros children who he had HEARD had been pulled from school.

Which...broke his heart. It was with a sort of heaviness that he thought of their grandfather, someone he had worked under and with for just a year, but in that year, he had shared many thoughts and ideas and just...friendship with the man. And he felt he had let that man down, not only in not protecting his family, but in….just…..how could he not have felt guilty? He hadn’t been paying attention--and it was then, for the first time, that the twinge of guilt, snowballing downhill into a bigger ordeal, began to pick at his internal thoughts.



Professor...M? “Merlin, child, Professor M?! I’ve never been called PROFESSOR M in my life. It’s...short. Is Myers not short enough for you?!” he asked with a chuckle. “And I think I have enough tributes up here..thank you, though, Tencius.”



Sam Tyler had arrived, and he met her gaze a split second longer than anyone else, smiling earnestly at her. “Good day, Sam.” His tone was warm.



Eddie never greeted him, or at least he hardly did, but Paul still waved at him. Hellllllo there, Eddie. We see you.



Paul smiled at Remy as the timid student came inside. IT WAS ALMOST TIME TO START NOW!

Okay. OKAY. He got his three volunteers (Jessa, Jonas, and Etta) and gestured them forward. “Okay. I’m going to pretend to give you all some berries. Then, you must act like you ate and act out the results of eating these berries. These berries would cause you to fall on the floor and DIE.” He smiled! “DIE. So pretend to eat these and die. Make it as dramatic as you want, of course.”

And Paul cleared his throat to turn to look at the class. “You all are going to GUESS what berry these guys are going to act like they’ve eaten from watching their actions closely. They won’t be eating any actual berries at this time--” the last thing he needed was for Derf to not be paying attention and then FREAK OUT when people suddenly fainted from eating a berry. Especially not in the current climate within the castle. NOPPPEEEEEE. “So they’re ACTING everyone, acting.” Just to clarify.

“But my VOLUNTEERS, here are some berries...now eat them up--” Ahem. “If anyone is familiar with the Hunger Games muggle series you may already have caught on to what plant this is.” There, there was a difference...the one in the books was BASED off the real plant, though their effects were pretty much identical. But he’d address that shortly.




OOC: SOOOOOO CLASS HAS BEGUUUUUUN. A day later than I wanted, but I had a REALLY hard two days and yeah. BUT I'M ON BREAK SO HERE I AMMMM! Hello! Those of you who volunteered, go ahead and post acting out what Paul said. Others of you can start guessing as soon as it's possible. No rush. I'm not putting another time limit because I don't wanna not keep to it xD SO GO FORTH AND POST.