SPOILER!!: Mini activity catch-up
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Fireheart 
Shreya had been worried about Heath all class, but now, she was even more concerned. The poor Ravenclaw looked absolutely shell-shocked. And angry. "I'll be your partner, if you want," Shreya said gently as she passed by. She didn't expect him to agree. Some students would be embarrassed to work with the professor, and Heath seemed particularly on edge today. But she would surely work with him if he was up for it. "Tell me, what are some phrases or words that you tend to say a lot?" she asked, just in case he was up for proceeding. If not, at least it was worth a shot. Shreya never wanted a student to feel left out or alone, especially now.
With all the other emotions roiling within him, Heath had no energy left to feel embarrassed about having the professor as a partner. It wouldn’t be the first time it happened. Little did anyone here know, being paired with the teacher was a regular occurrence back when he attended muggle primary school. The memory made him even sadder.
I’m always going to be the odd one out, aren’t I? He thought darkly.
Too magical to fit in the muggle world, and now too muggle to fit in the magical one…
He silently nodded in agreement. He was still hurt by Varma’s earlier comments, but he’d give her credit for not leaving him unable to complete the activity. And he’d much rather work with her than some others in the room! His dark eyes turned to the professor, studying her posture, her facial expressions, anything that might help him should he have to impersonate her. He had just begun to take down some preliminary notes when her question caught him off guard.
How was he supposed to answer that? He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t want to put her life and his own on the line either! He sighed, nervously running a hand through his hair.
“I’m afraid there aren’t any, Professor,” he replied, choosing his words very carefully. The last thing he wanted was for That to overhear him make a reference to something muggle and turn him in to be vanished!
“The phrases I once said often are now taboo, so I try to say as little as possible.” He looked at her, hoping she would read between the lines and understand. He was trying to tell her that the phrases he said most were quotes from muggle plays and films!
“Sorry, Professor, I know that doesn’t answer your question,” he said, giving her an apologetic look. He really didn’t mean to be difficult, and just to show he was making an effort, he asked,
“May I ask you a question instead? What hobbies do you have?”
Heath listened as Professor Varma spoke again, growing more confused by the second. He still didn’t understand how this was okay and acting wasn’t! The only difference he saw was that this used magic instead of makeup and costumes to change one’s appearance, and… Blink, blink. That was a hypothetical example, right? Should he try to find a different partner to change into or was he actually supposed to polyjuice into Professor Varma? If so, wouldn’t it be a dead giveaway who was who when the person who looked like the professor had no idea how to conduct the class or when the person who looked like him took over? Come to think of it, wouldn’t their uniforms be a giveaway anyway?
He watched as the eagle emblem on his robes disappeared. Well, that answered one question, but he still had no clue how to proceed with this activity since he was unable to find a partner! He looked questioningly to the professor, but before he could ask her for clarification, he noticed not one but two students who looked like That headed toward her and beelined in the opposite direction. Nope, he wasn’t going to get mixed up in whatever was about to happen, and he wasn’t going to waste time trying to figure out how there were two of them or which one (if any) was the real one! Looked like he was on his own to figure out how to do this…
Since he had been unable to find a partner to polyjuice into, Heath thought the next best thing was to act as if he were someone else polyjuiced into himself. He stood a little taller than usual, assuming an air of false confidence as he roamed the room in search of a partner until he happened upon
someone who looked like Dahlia. Not wanting to be without a partner again, he immediately launched into the questions.
“Do you have any pets? What kind of music do you listen to? What’s your favorite candy?” he asked, speaking with a voice much higher and louder than normal to throw them off.
There were two reasons behind the barrage of questions all at once: 1) He wanted to get this done as fast as possible and 2) no one would expect the real Heathcliff Jones to talk that much! The only hint that he wasn’t a polyjuiced imposter was the way his hair fell in front of his eyes, and there was only one person in the room who would recognize that hint.