Hmm. Perhaps campfire songs would have been preferable, because the way it sounded, this lesson sounded like a whole lot of talk about feelings. And Avalon didn't exactly want to share those with everyone in the class. Maybe Schmoe was just using this whole empathy discussion to introduce some new Muggle object or something, though. Her Head of House didn't really seem like the type to get deep into his emotions. He was just too...awkward.

Her eyes narrowed at a few of her classmates' answers, particularly Emmerson's and Pax's. Avalon might not want to talk about feelings and stuff, but she didn't think empathy was stupid or a waste of time. In fact, come to think of it, lack of empathy was the reasoning behind everything that happened last term with the Neo-Alliance. So the Gryffindor calling it a pot of dung was...a little uncalled for.

Thankfully, some of her other friends gave more acceptable responses. The Ravenclaw didn't have much more to add to the definition, but she raised her hand anyway to contribute an example. "I think Muggle Studies in and of itself is a good example of empathy. Not the strictly emotional kind, but the fact that we're trying to understand Muggles and put ourselves in their shoes. When we come into this class, we try to put away our magical abilities for awhile and experience what it's like to be a Muggle. You know, by using their inventions and what not." It was more than just feeling bad for Muggles that they didn't have magic to make their lives easier. And that was what really constituted the difference between empathy and sympathy, right?