Archer was absolutely, positively sick of the weather outside, okay? It sucked being not being able to go outside whenever she pleased. Plus, it just lent a gloomy air to everything. Not cool. Though, she did appreciate the staff's attempts to make the environment inside the castle more pleasant.

"Evening," she replied to Professor O'Hara as she plopped her self down in one of the seats. What, surely a person as truly over it as she was deserved a seat?

Why did it have to rain? It just gave Vivienne more pain. Vivienne sat down beside Archer. It was nice to have a friend.

Holly didn't mind the rain, it just reminded her of walking along the beach at Kilcreggan when it was windy - and she definitely liked the snow that had followed it... even if she had been shocked at how quickly it had stuck to the already wet ground. It hadn't mattered though, as she'd wrapped up warm and had gone out for a fly earlier. Personally, Holly loved Winter.

With a soft wave, the Slytherin gave the Professor a smile. "Evening, Professor..." And then, she moved over to the side of the classroom and sat down on the floor, back against the cool wall. What? The Professor hadn't said where they had to sit. She liked sitting on the floor.

Avalon tightened her scarf around her neck as she made her way across the castle for History of Magic. Winter was definitely here, and the weather was getting colder by the day. Thankfully, the classroom was heated and cozy with the addition of the torches. "Hello, Professor," she said politely as she took a seat and put down her belongings. Practice good posture? Not one of Avalon's strong suits. And what did that even have to do with this class? Nevertheless, she took in a deep breath and rolled her shoulders. Her back muscles barked in protest. After spending so much time hunched over studying and racing around on her broom during Quidditch, she was not used to sitting with proper posture.

Patrick walked in glad he had grabbed his sweater that morning. He glanced around noticing that he wasn't the first to arrive but was certainly early. He grabbed a seat off to the side and gathered his things. Then he heard he should practice good posture...scuse me? He had no idea what that would have to do with the history of magic. But rather than be a terrible student he simply pulled his shoulders back and sat up straight. Then finally gave a, "Good evening Professor"

"Good evening, Professor," Vita greeted politely as she entered the classroom. She was tired, and though she very much wished she could be curled up in her bed, the seventh year was working harder than ever to be on the ball with classes, schoolwork, and her prefect duties. It was exhausting, but it was important to her.

Spotting Patrick, the brunette offered him a smile and settled down nearby, making sure to sit up straight.

Lucas didn't like winter normally - and was already grumbling about the cold weather - but then the snow came. It was wet and cold and rainy and even more cold but hey, this was the PERFECT weather to have hot chocolate, right? Right.

Pity he couldn't have any right now.

A small sigh escaped his lips as he walked into the.....

......... classroom?

There wasn't anything weird about the classroom. It was a classroom, with desks and chairs and even torches to keep them warm. What was weird was seeing Professor O'Hara sitting on one of the desks instead of up front. Was she not teaching today? Were they supposed to teach themselves? He was so confused.

And even more confused when she mentioned that they had to maintain good posture while they waited.

He straightened his back and made a beeline towards Holly, who was sitting on the floor, for some reason. This didn't do anything for his confusion but you know what? He wasn't going to ask. Instead, he simply sat down next to her, figuring that it wouldn't be good to leave his friend sitting on the floor on her own.

"Hey!" Smile.

Eloise Fairfield was one such Slytherin that enjoyed being outside more than inside the castle. The castle lost its magic to her a couple of years ago and she liked skateboarding or going to the gardens.

So this rain was making her so bored. She even read ahead in her books out of boredom since there is only so many rumors you can spread before people start coming after you or realizing it is you.

Like the Finlay...ley one for example.

"What's happin Professor?"

Yeah she was going to stand and slouch around waiting for class to start. didn't really feel like sitting on the floor right now.

To be quite honest, Eiji found Professor O'Hara to be rather embarrassing. And not in the same manner that someone like Professor Dopple had been. No, the History of Magic professor had a...different sort of air about her. Thankfully, Eiji respected the subject enough to maintain his focus and studious persona.

Entering the classroom and seeing the changes to it, the Slytherin gave a small sigh* Hopefully whatever was planned here wouldn't be too...unconventional.

Offering nothing more than his usual nod of acknowledgement to the professor, he took the woman for her word and found a spot in the back of the classroom and leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.

Tina hated this cold rainy weather! All it did was make her long for France even more than usual. It never got like this back home… one of the hundreds of reasons Beauxbatons was superior to Hogwarts. Stupid weather, stupid school! At least the holidays were coming soon.

Nonetheless, the dark-haired Ravenclaw was prepared for whatever this crazy school had to throw at her. She walked the halls bundled up in a scarf and cloak over her uniform, and she'd even placed a mild warming charm on herself. As she entered the history of magic classroom, her mood instantly brightened. She enjoyed the predictable nature of this subject, and Professor O'Hara was one of the few teachers left at this school whom Tina genuinely respected. The extra torches were a welcome sight too! They lent an almost cozy feeling to the room.

"Good evening, Professor O'Hara," Tina greeted, removing her extra layers and returning them to her bag. "Thank you for the extra torches." The instructions about posture sounded a bit odd to her, but she didn't question it. It wasn't that hard to follow. She made her way to her seat, sitting up straighter than normal as she arranged her supplies in front of her. She was looking forward to a nice, safe, totally not chaotic lesson!

Jackson tried not to let it show, but the stress and lack of sleep was starting to get to him. Studying for NEWTs, doing patrols, Quidditch... it was a busy year. His eyes could feel the sting of not having slept in who knows how long, but he was determined to keep a smile on. He was still a Prefect and he had to show that they had made a good choice with him. Upon entering the classroom, Jackson spotted his professor. "Good evening, Professor O'Hara, I hope you're having a good day." In all honesty, Jackson loved History of Magic. He found the information quite fascinating. The Seventh Year made his way to the side of the room and chose to stand because, if he was being honest, he would probably fall asleep on the desk if he sat down for too long.

"Good evening Professor O’Hara!" Ellie greeted cheerily despite feeling a little down because of the bleak and terrible weather outside. It was like the rain would never stop and Hogwarts under a muggle comic cloud where it only rained on the castle and nowhere else. At least the classroom was warm enough so she didn’t need to freeze. Picking a seat in a desk near Avalon she put down her backpack and did as instructed and sat up straight to practice good posture. What this had to with history Ellie had absolutely no clue, but it was always better to do as instructed then to blatantly refuse.

The weather had been a little irritating, but then all Stasya had needed were a few charms to stay warm and dry as she’d made her usual trips out to the barns between lessons. By now, she was rather well practiced in those, and she’d actually been almost happy when the rain had turned to snow. It was colder, but it was so pretty. Besides, the professors seemed to take their comfort into consideration anyhow. She hadn’t really been surprised to see the extra torches in the History of Magic area when she’d arrived.

By now she was practiced in keeping herself from feeling too overwhelmed by everything she’d voluntarily taken on, too, so her smile toward the professor was entirely genuine. “Good evening Professor O’Hara,” she greeted her, heading for her usual seat and settling in. Posture straight as usual.

Dorian loved the snow covering the Grounds and the rain pouring down but only when he could watch it from the inside of the castle. There was something really soothing about being in the warmth of the classroom while it was cold outside.

"Good evening, professor O'Hara" he said as he walked inside the room and spotted the professor before he chose to take a seat at the front instead of standing somewhere. He didn't have to think about a perfect posture, he always had one.

Rylee hadn't much minded the rain that had been falling almost nonstop over the last few days. In fact she had been out in it a fair bit. From checking on Cosmos her kneazle and the other creatures in the barns to going to the greenhouses to check on her plants to flying around the pitch training for Quidditch. Chances were she could've even been seen out there going for her daily run, walking about or even jumping into puddles. Yeah, rain didn't really bother her much... nor did the rain. Things still had to get done no matter the weather.

So as it was, Rylee entered the classroom with her usual warm smile. "Good evening, professor." Rather than stand about she made her way over to the tables and sat down beside Dorian. "Hey, Declan," she greeted him quietly with a soft laugh. Still after all these years she was using that nickname.

Taddy entered in the classroom for another History of Magic lesson. He wondered what today's lesson would be about. The weather wasn't his favorite, all the rain and strong winds did not make for easy Quidditch practices after all. When he entered in the classroom however, the warmth took away the dreariness of the outdoors.

"Hello Professor." Practice good posture, sit or stand? Taddy was curious on this. He sat down at a seat to wait.

It had been a horrible day from the start. Not only was the weather a terrible mess that couldn’t seem to make up its mind, but Nina Castillo had run out of her contact lenses. She had surely packed enough to last her through the winter holiday, but apparently she had miscalculated. How was that possible? She typically went through her checklist at least three times. She was nothing if not cautious, and yet somehow she had miscounted. And there was absolutely no way she would walk around the castle with her glasses on. She’d rather die.

It was with absolute care that the Slytherin made her way to the lesson today. She took her time walking down the corridor, careful not to bump into anything. She was starting to get a massive headache, but she’d manage. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world. As she made her way into the classroom, she looked for her Professor. It was easy knowing that Professor O’Hara had a typical spot. Made matters easier. Unbeknownst to Nina, her Professor had chosen a different spot today, which is perhaps why the fourth year unknowingly nodded to Sterling instead of her Professor. From a distance, they looked very similar. Especially seeing as she couldn’t exactly see anything beyond a blur of colors.

She quickly hurried to find a place to sit, bumping into a few chairs along the way. This was so not her day. She wanted to get out of the way as quickly as possible before anyone gave her weird looks. Not that she’d be able to tell. As she made her way further and further to the back of the room, she decided against sitting and instead found a place to stand near…. Uh….. Um….. She squinted for a moment, trying to place the dark hair and gangly body. ”…… Eiji,” there was slight hesitation, but she smiled in relief at the end. Definitely Eiji.

She did not have high hopes for the lesson today, it was difficult enough to make it through the afternoon.

Lenora entered the classroom for her next lesson, unusually happy and cheerful. Yes, the weather was dull and History of Magic wasn’t one of her favourite subjects but.. she had reasons for the bright smile on her face and nothing could bring her down, to be honest. It was just one of those days.

“Evening, professor.” She greeted with a nod as she entered the classroom, pausing for a moment to look for an empty seat. Oh, there was one next to Eloise. She sat down next to, the smile still present on her face. “Hi, Eloise. What’s up?” Also.. even though she was in a good mood, she wanted this lesson to be over already. It was going to be boring, she knew it.

While he was taking out his writing material and textbook out of his bag and placing them neatly infront of him, Dorian gave a small smile as Rylee sat down next to him. It had been around four years now since they started using alias names for each other. Something they both did not seem to forget. But if he had to be honest, he couldn't remember which one of the House elves had been responsibly for their inside joke. "how's exam year? Stressed yet?" he asked, though not in an unfriendly manner. But rather in a somewhat concerned way.

Alice waited until the very last student had come in through the doors. She didn't move her seat and she didn't slouch even the slightest in the whole time of waiting. To set an example and all that.

Something that mildly troubled her was seein how disorientated Ms. Castillo seemed to be. Was she ill? That could bode ill for what she had in mind for today's lesson. Hmm. She'd keep an eye on her just in case.

"All right, students, please stand if you are sitting. Our subject for today's lesson is ghosts." Yes, they were jumping right into it. She clasped her hands together and quickly looked at all the assembled students. Seemed everyone was here. Very good. "You have all been graciously invited to attend the Death Day party of Edgar Cloggs. Please follow me to the spirit room. Prefects, bring up the rear and make sure no one falls behind."

With that, the history of magic teacher strolled out the entry doors and began walking down the corridor. She could tell without looking back that the students were right behind her.

"Can you all hear me?" she called out in a louder than usual voice (though not exactly shouting) as they walked down the corridor. "Stick closely to one another so you can hear when I speak. We are going to be brushing up on our knowledge of ghosts as we make our way to the party. Who here would like to volunteer an interesting fact about one of our school's many fascinating ghosts? Discuss." She was structuring this question more to be a conversation starter than a pop quiz. It would be about twenty minutes until they arrived, so they had time.


ooc:So many replies - woot! So even though technically we are walking through the castle, we'll keep posting in this thread until we arrive at the party. Next post will have a personal reply to everyone.

Anna actually made a bit of effort not to show her true feelings about History of Magic solely because she liked professor O'Hara. She had chosen to stand near Jackson as they waited for further instructions for the same reason as the boy - so there wasn't any risk of her falling asleep, especially with the heating charms and general cozy atmosphere.

As soon as the older witch said what they'd be studying that day, however, the Gryffindor perked up a little. Practical lessons like that - as in, they were about to go around walking and attend a party or sorts!? - were much better than just sitting down and discussing pointless things of old.

The sixth year was about to take the lead when professor O'Hara asked prefects to bring up the rear. Hm... fine, she could do that. It'd mean she wouldn't have to pretend to be super engaged with the topic just to be polite.

But she did know a thing or two about her House ghost, actually. All those conversations in the Common Room when she was supposed to be doing homework instead were becoming more useful than she'd expected! "Nearly-Headless Nick was decapitated because he didn't get a spell right." She told anyone who was listening. Anna had always thought that was a bit wild because she had seen many, many, maaaannyyy people get spells wrong - and sometimes with pretty bad consequences - but to kill someone over that sounded horribly... unfair to say the least.

Annnnd they were standing again. Okay. Vita moved towards the back of the group and did as instructed, making sure to shoo any stragglers along.

The bloody baron wears chains in penance for what he did to the grey lady." Vita knew it was a horrible, tragic situation and she didn't care to add much more than that.

Not pleased that they were leaving the classroom just when he had finished setting everything on his desk, Dorian let out a small yet frustrated sigh as he placed his stuff back inside of his bag. He didn't feel comfortable having his stuff lying around for anyone to grab, and he was sure that not every student at Hogwarts was as honest as they said they were.

As he pushed his chair backwards to get up, the Ravenclaw slung his bag over his shoulders and pushed the chair back against the desk.

As he followed the professor to the death day party, his first thought was that it sounded pretty boring. First of all, there was no food at such party and whsn there was they couldn't eat any of the food because it would be spoilt. So what was the point? And second, he knew that ghosts did not grow character wise. They were forever stuck in the loop of how they were before they died. Always the same stories, always the same grudge on how they died. It sounded like a real party killer.

Though, Anna's words about her House Ghost did spark his interest a bit. He had known that the ghost had died from a failed decapitation by a blunt axe but he had never bothered to find out the reason he had been decapitated. "That's horrible..." he said as a shiver ran through him at the thought of having your life ended because of not getting a spell right. He had made a lot of spell mistakes before last year...the thought alone! Yikes

"The Grey Lady is intelligent yet very evasive and shy. But she is there for us most of the time when it doesn't require her to open up much. I heard her offering help to one of the fifth years to help with their exams in the common room." he said. There. A positive fact.

Indigo had been sitting next to Vita as he waited for the lesson to start, but now that they were moving that might be more complicated. She was supposed to be in the back, since she was a prefect. Indigo was tempted to drift that way as well, but he was worried about getting in trouble. He was still near the back, but decided that if he couldn't be next to Vita he could walk with Nina. He gave his friend a small smile as he fell into step beside her.

What did he know about the school's ghosts? Not much, to be honest. Indigo didn't really pay them much attention, beyond what was polite. He hadn't been there since his first year, either, so it wasn't like he'd been among this school's ghosts his entire school career. If he was asked about ghosts at Beauxbatons that might be an easier question, but she had asked specifically about Hogwarts, so he tried to come up with a fact he knew about that. "The Grey Lady's name is actually Helena Ravenclaw, and her mother was Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the founders of Hogwarts." That was probably pretty common knowledge, but it was really the best Indigo could do.