It should come as a surprise to no one that Bernie was the first person to visit Schmoe for the baby project check-in. She didn't have her baby with her, though, as Finneas' OTHER mother was carrying him today.

"Don't worry, professor," she sing-sang as she skipped into the classroom, "Phoebe is bringing Finneas right along." She had the baby bag though, and plopped it on a table to start adding more baby supplies to their collection. Bernie was happy and not at all stressed by this project; probably because she had a great co-parent. "Guess what, professor," Bernie continued chattering. "We decided that OUR baby, Finneas, is going to become a professor when he grows up. A professor and a quidditch player. BOTH. He's gonna be AWESOME one day. He is so SO smart."

And Bernie was so SO PROUD.

There was a big contrast to how he had walked out of the room when he had first gotten the doll and how he walked back in now. Although he looked tired and he had dark circles under his eyes though he was less tired since the daycare had been set in effect he did hold the baby more naturally as Kiddo was wrapped in a warm teal colored blanket he had been able to Transfigurate after two weeks of trying and a pacifier in his mouth.

He moved to one of the tables to stock up on new diapers and food. He set the doll on top of the table and he sat down on the chair after putting the supplies inside of his baby-bag. When he was done he turned his attention to Kiddo and decided to play peekaboo with his hands while he waited till the professor was done with the others.

This project might have been more than Chloe had thought it would be at the beginning. She really thought it would be easy with having younger siblings, but it wasn't. She didn't know if it was the awkwardness that started with her and her best friend or that fact she was making a rubbish doll mom, but that doll seemed to hate her and love Ewan. She had the doll in her arms when she entered the class and she took a seat towards the back. Ewan would be on his way and she could happily hand off the little one to him. She had been just grateful it wasn't screaming for the moment.

Giving a nod to the ones already there she kept quiet and not moving much as she sat. Mila was not going to cause issues if she could help it. As she sat there she thought about some of the interactions she had with Mila and Ewan and how great he was at this father to a doll thing.

The halfway mark for this assignment came sooner than expected. It also didn't help any that she had an entire month less with her 'baby' than everyone else did. Nothing could be done about that though. All that she could do was make the very most of the time she was given to take care of Serafina and that was exactly what she was doing. Each day was dedicated to teaching Sera something new whether it was Latin, the beauty of plants and flowers, all about the stars and planets or the violin. Anything and everything was turned into a learning experience.

Rylee made her way into the room looking waaaaaaaay to cheerful and not at all tired with Serafina nestled comfortably in her wrap against her chest, the baby bag slung over her right shoulder. Sending a warm smile Professor Schmoe's way, she headed over to the table to collect a few things she was running a little low on. Not that she really needed all that much as she rather liked making Serafina's clothing and other things herself.

With everything tucked neating into the baby bag, Ry made her way to an empty desk and slid down onto a seat. After placing the bag under her chair she went about carefully removing Serafina from the baby wrap to instead cradle her in her arms, gently fixing the legs of her little denim overalls. She took a small unicorn stuffie from her pocket making it 'dance' about to entertain the 'baby' in her arms.

It didn't come as a surprise. Though, in all fairness, nothing Bernadette did surprised Finneas anymore. Expect the unexpected. That's something he had learned whenever she was involved. What was surprising, however, was her lack of baby doll. Had she..... lost it? Because Finneas didn't have replacements.

Er.

"Ah," he visibly relaxed his shoulders. Baby Finneas made him very uncomfortable because he did not like having a doll named after him. Not one bit. But he did try to smile and nodded as Bernadette continued to speak, she was very good at speaking. Did it a lot. "A..... Professor?" Awkward. Yes. He felt very awkward.



There were some kids who worried him, but there were others that pleasantly surprised him. Mr. Minjae was one of the latter category, believe it or not. The gangly man had a few more sentences to read of his periodical before he made his way over to the young Hufflepuff. "Mr. Yoon, how are you finding the assignment?"



Finneas made his way over to Chloe with a big, awkward smile on his face. "Hullo, Ms. McCarthy," he looked down at her baby and, er, smiled. She was doing quite well, it seemed. "How are you doing today?"



You know? Finneas was very proud of his students. Especially those who were taking the assignment seriously. He was, however, slightly concerned for those taking it a bit too seriously. Which is why he approached Rylee cautiously. "Hullo," he smiled uncomfortably as he looked down at the baby.

"How are you feeling today, Ms. Prichard?"

Sitting there at a desk, with Serafina in her arms, Rylee couldn't help but glance around at the other students with their 'baby's'. One person that caught her eye was Minjae and his 'baby' Kiddo, who were playing peek-a-boo. She thought back to the day in the butterfly garden where she had played her violin for them. That had been a really nice time. Sure the butterflies hadn't been out yet and most of the flowers hadn't been in bloom either but the simplicity of it all and the company of her friends had been perfect.

Hearing Finneas approaching, Rylee set the stuffed unicorn down on the desk and reached into her pocket pulling out a paci which she removed from its case and gave to Serafina. "Hello, Professor," she greeted brightly with a warm smile. "I'm feeling greet, how are you?" She was no doubt about it feeling tired and some days were incredibly rough when trying to juggle her lessons, homework and other things with tending to Serafina but she had made it work. Co-parenting with Stefan was a great idea and they worked perfectly as team, this assignment had definitely brought them even closer together and helped them understand each other more.

"Serafina is doing really good too, aren't you, Sera?" She laughed softly looking down at the 'baby' cradled in her arms completely unaware of Finneas' discomfort.

The fact that Jillian managed this assignment half way already is a big accomplishment. She's quite proud of herself for 'trying' to handle this fake baby really well. The first eight days was brutal especially because she doesn't know what to do. This baby was quite a learning curve but after awhile she got the hang of it and now she has a system on how to get it to cry less... Just do whatever the baby wants basically.

She usually stays in the library or in the music room. Less people meant no stares and she gets really anxious when people stare which tends to happen when the baby is nonstop crying in a room full of people.

She took the baby bag with her and the baby to go back to Professor Schmoe for a checkpoint. She's not sure what he might do but as long as the baby is in top shape and not a scratch is found in any part of the body, she's good to go. She's relieved to see extra stuff for the baby on each table. She needed to restock so she got to the nearest table and set her baby bag on it. "Hello, Professor. How have you been?" she smiled with the baby on her hand.

Phoebe skipped into the classroom with baby Finneas strapped to her in an elaborate sling made of towels, a bandana, and a pair of socks. He was very comfortable and so stylish with the little gold and red snitches fluttering around his sweet baby face. Her very favorite socks.

"Hi, Momma Bernie! Hi, Professor Schmoe! Finneas and I are ready for a check in. He's eaten, and I changed his nappie, and he's awake and happy. Well." She checked on him... sleeping. "He used to be awake, but still happy." That's right, happiest baby ever. Only cried about half the night, keeping the whole dormitory awake.

"Were you talking about Finneas growing up to be a Quidditch star? AND a Professor? He takes after his Grandpa James."

Claudine had offered to take care of Christopher for some extra time since OWLs were drawing closer for Cole and he had to study. But since her partner hadn’t agreed with her, she wandered, not absentmindedly, into the classroom. It was drawing near the time she and Cole had set to meet with Professor Schmoe after all. Claudine was in good spirits (since she was able to have a few hours to herself) as she made a beeline straight for Schmoe since she was able . “Hello, Professor,’’ she greeted, pokerface very much in place. “Cole will be here shortly with Christopher.’’

And she fell into a silence where she was thinking about just how exhausting it was for an introvert to constantly have a needy, clingy, small ‘human’ in her possession.

Simply exhausting.

Cole had surprised himself when he had declined Claudine's offer to take care of Christopher so that he could immerse himself fully in his owl studies. It wasn't that he didn't want Claudine to take care of Christopherm it was just that he had oddly grown as attached to him, like to his favourite stuffed bear. It was unsettling and weird and just a cause for a lot of thoughts and emotions which he didn't need right now. He had OWL exams to worry about and prepare for.

Super tired, but refusing to admit it Cole entered the classroom, with his head feeling cloudy with baby Christopher safely resting in his sling, close to Cole's chest. The night's without full sleep we're wearing him down and he was in for lack of better word in a sour mood. Spotting Claudine over by Professor Schmoe he slowly made his way over to stand next to his co-parent. Plastering on a smile he greeted "Hi professor Schmoe, Hi Claudine! I've brought Christopher along and he is a very energetic baby."

Naya entered the Muggle Studies classroom dragging, with baby Sierra in tow. She was soooooo tired. How did parents survive the baby years? “Hello Professor”, she said with weary cheerfulness. Really, Sierra was a sweet baby. Naya enjoyed her time with her little bundle of joy. It was exhausting, but fun. If it wasn’t for the lack of sleep part, it would be pretty good. Participating in this project did let Naya know that she was not ready for motherhood anytime soon.

Noticing the supplies on the table, Naya went over to restock. She took her baby bag off of her shoulder, taking care not to wake Sierra who was napping in her snuggly. Naya grabbed more diapers, wipes and baby food. She was definitely running low and a baby’s gotta eat. Eating leads to, well you know the rest. Once she had refilled her bag, Naya found a seat and sat down to wait for the professor. She was sure he would be asking about how things were going. Naya had some stories to tell, but she hoped she was being a good mommy,

When her head of house said hello she smiled but didn't say too much in fear that it would wake Mila and that was something she was trying to avoid. Though like the doll could read her mind at that moment she started to scream. With a small sigh, she picked up the doll and started to rock her a bit. Taking the binky from the bag and trying to see if she would want that. "She was just changed and fed, so I'm not sure why she is upset."

Ewan was so much better at this.

Asking her how she was as fun as a quidditch game she couldn't find a snitch. "I'm fine, how are you sir?" Could he see how horrid she was at this mother thing? This would scar her from kids for good.

Finneas smiled awkwardly, holding his clipboard close to his chest. "Very well," he replied with a bob of the head. He laughed uncomfortably, looking down at the doll and taking a few notes. "I can see that." Yes. Very good, very good indeed. "And how are you finding the assignment? Any unforeseen challenges?"



Finneas smiled when he saw Jillian enter the room. She was a good one. One of his favorites, even. Was he allowed to have those? Uh. Errrrrrr. AnYwAy. He took his time adding another sheet of parchment to his clipboard before walking her way. "Hullo," he returned the greeting with a nod. "I am very well. How are you?"


Ah, yes, the other half of the dynamic duo. "Err... Excellent," he smiled awkwardly, looking down at baby..... Finneas. The 'excellent' was to all the things she said, because she said many things.

He smiled at the pair, taking some bulleted notes on his clipboard. "How have you two been finding the assignments? ... What has been most difficult thus far?"


Was Claudine ever happy? Finneas couldn't tell. Either way, he greeted her with an awkward smile, waiting for Cole just as she had said. And then when her partner arrived, Finneas greeted him with a smile too. "Er... How are you both doing today?" Small talk? Yes. He could engage.


Finneas could tell Naya was tired and he felt pretty guilty about it, not gonna lie. "Err... Hullo, Naya," he gave her a cheerful sort of smile as he watched her move to restock her supplies. After stacking a few papers, he made his way over towards her table. "How are you? How is Sierra?"


Finneas smiled awkwardly, noting how quiet Chloe was as opposed to her usual chirpy self. "Hm... Well, you're doing all the right things, it seems." He nodded. "Some are more temperamental than others." This was meant to help her relax, maybe. "I'm er, I'm well," he nodded, looking down at his clipboard and taking a few notes. "How has the assignment been going for you?"

Rylee was all smiles. The only thing that shown any indication of her tending to a 'baby' 24-7 for the past several weeks was a turn of her head away from the professor to yawn into her shoulder. Everything wasn't always peaches and cream, no matter how easy she made it look at times. There had been many nights AND days where Serafina cried uncontrollably no matter what she did to sooth her. It had taken time, patience and working with Stefan to figure out what worked for Sera and what didn't.

An even brighter smile was given to Finneas at his words. The seventh year was almost literally bursting with pride. His questions didn't take her at all by surprise and she was happy to tell him how she felt about it. "I'm enjoying it, honestly. It's almost a little bit like being at home... I have a lot of nephews and a niece that I help care for whenever I get the chance." Okay, so maybe only two of those were actually blood related and her nephews BUT they were all still family. Not to mention she had always been the motherly type. There was nothing more she wanted out of life than to be a mum one day and yes that was even more important to her than Quidditch and Herbology, which some might find it hard to believe.

"It was much more challenging in the beginning. At least for me. It took quite a bit of time to learn what Serafina liked and didn't like. Did we pat her back or rub it to help her? Should we hold her in our arms or in a moses basket? Use a paci or not? There was so many questions and even more solutions to each one. Some things that I've seen my sister do for my nephews didn't work for Sera." Rylee took it all as a major learning experience. "Someday's are harder than others and there have been times where nothing I did worked to calm her and I had to let Stefan take her for awhile so I could get a break on my own." Sometimes a few hours sleep, a shower or a walk outside was enough to get back into the swing of things. "The longer I'm with her though, the more I learn about her. Now I know what each cry means and therefore I can handle the situation much more quickly. I know what situations to avoid that would likely upset her and the things that help her calm down. We have our own morning and nightly routines as well." Maybe she was taking this assignment a little out of hand but she didn't think so.

Blake was ready to be done with this assignment. The lack of sleep, the constnt carrying for another human being. He was over it. He was 12 for Merlin's sake, and Isla was a first year. Kids shouldn't be taking care of kids. Schmoe did his job..... Blake would not under any circumstances being having a baby anytime soon. Thinking back to the time when Isla, him and their baby "Ellie" in the common room was enough to make him want to be done.

"Professor Schmoe ... how much longer does this assignment last?" There ... he had done it ... sounded whiny, but he had asked, for the sake of all involved he wanted to ditch this kid.

Isla followed Blake into the room, with little baby Ellie in tow. She sat down beside him and placed the diaper bag on the floor beside her. She gave Blake a sideways glance when he asked about the end of the assignment. Truth be told, she would be just fine if Schmoe collected Ellie today and brought her back to...wherever it was she'd come from. Blake had just been brave enough to ask the question out loud.

At least Ellie wasn't crying at the top of her lungs like she was doing that day in the common room. That one little incident had been enough torture to make Isla want to stay away from babies for a very, very, very long time.

"You want to hold her?" she asked Blake, knowing that he didn't really want to but hoping that would take her from Isla all at the same time. The baby squirmed a little then settled in Isla's arms. It made her feel bad for thinking so poorly about her.

It was her turn now and as Professor Schmoe approached, he asked the $64,000 question. How am i? “How am I?” Pause. “I am fine Professor, exhausted, but fine. Thanks for asking. This motherhood thing is no joke though.” The struggle was real people. The struggle was REAL. “Sierra is great. She really is a sweet baby. If she just didn’t have her days and nights confused, she’d be perfect.”

It had been a learning experience so far. Yes it had. Although Naya had experience with babies, she had never been responsible for one 24/7. It was a real eye opener. It was different when you could hand the baby back to its mother when it was fussy. Now, she was the mother. “I just hope I’m doing a good job Professor.” Hopefully Sierra wouldn’t be in doll therapy in twenty years because of her bad parenting.

Small talk with a professor that wasn't his head of house?
This was weird. Thinking that it couldn't hurt the potential house points he might get at the end of this baby assignment Cole quickly looked up and said with a big beam. "I'm great professor. How are you? Did you eat the pancakes at breakfast? The house elves had really outdone themselves on the crispness of them and the strawberry jam was super yummy." Glancing down to see that Christopher was still sleeping he asked "How much are babies supposed to sleep professor? Because it seems our little guy sleeps quite a lot."Maybe that was normal? He didn't know.

SPOILER!!: Finneas & Finneas & Phoebe

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

It didn't come as a surprise. Though, in all fairness, nothing Bernadette did surprised Finneas anymore. Expect the unexpected. That's something he had learned whenever she was involved. What was surprising, however, was her lack of baby doll. Had she..... lost it? Because Finneas didn't have replacements.

Er.

"Ah," he visibly relaxed his shoulders. Baby Finneas made him very uncomfortable because he did not like having a doll named after him. Not one bit. But he did try to smile and nodded as Bernadette continued to speak, she was very good at speaking. Did it a lot. "A..... Professor?" Awkward. Yes. He felt very awkward.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Phoebe skipped into the classroom with baby Finneas strapped to her in an elaborate sling made of towels, a bandana, and a pair of socks. He was very comfortable and so stylish with the little gold and red snitches fluttering around his sweet baby face. Her very favorite socks.

"Hi, Momma Bernie! Hi, Professor Schmoe! Finneas and I are ready for a check in. He's eaten, and I changed his nappie, and he's awake and happy. Well." She checked on him... sleeping. "He used to be awake, but still happy." That's right, happiest baby ever. Only cried about half the night, keeping the whole dormitory awake.

"Were you talking about Finneas growing up to be a Quidditch star? AND a Professor? He takes after his Grandpa James."

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Ah, yes, the other half of the dynamic duo. "Err... Excellent," he smiled awkwardly, looking down at baby..... Finneas. The 'excellent' was to all the things she said, because she said many things.

He smiled at the pair, taking some bulleted notes on his clipboard. "How have you two been finding the assignments? ... What has been most difficult thus far?"

"I WAS just talking about that," Bernie answered Phoebe proudly, nodding and beaming at the professor, and pretending not to notice how Schmoe seemed more tongue-tied than usual today. She patted her baby on the head as he arrived in Phoebe's sling.

So, uh....what had been the most difficult so far? Bernie exchanged a glance with Phoebe to see what she would say, then offered, "Changing poopy nappies. I HATE them."

Finneas glanced down to take some notes on his clipboard. He was still slightly weirded out by the intense joy that Rylee exhibited in regards to this fake baby, but he kept all of these thoughts to himself and instead returned her smile with an awkward one of his own.

"That's great to hear," he bobbed his head up and down. It was nice to know that she was enjoying it, you know? Because he had received some big complaints from some of her classmates. He listened to her describe the challenges as he continued to inspect the doll. "I hope you were also able to learn about yourself during this process as well." He smiled knowingly before making one final mark on his parchment. "Well then, I can see you're errr doing a great job already. If you don't have any questions, you may pack up your things and head out."
OOC: You now have permission to move on to THE FINAL PHASE.


Finneas was just putting away some papers when he noticed Blake and Isla making their way inside one after the other. One of them looked less excited than the other and Blake's question was rather telling. Finneas chuckled uncomfortably, "You've reached the halfway point, Mr. Ryan." Meaning it was almost over. Sort of.

Ho, ho, ho. Ha, ha, ha.

AnYwAy.

Finneas began to take some notes on his clipboard as he made some initial observations. "Have there been any challenges with raising your child so far?" He asked the pair. "Any victories?"


Finneas smiled awkwardly, shifting a bit in his stance, but still taking some notes. "Er... Yes, not a joke," that was exactly the point. He was glad that much was clear at least? If nothing else. Parenting was, indeed, a full time job! Not that he'd know. Not yet, anyway.

AnYwAy. "I believe that your concern over the matter is telling in itself," he smiled. "Speaking of the job, have you faced any bumps along the way?"

Wow... she couldn't believe she was at the halfway point of her assignment, just seems like yesterday that she gotten Caspian from Professor Schmoe. To say that she haven't gotten attached to him was a understatement, she cared for her 'baby' as if it was hers and Oceanus child. Walking into the office she sat down happily with Caspian wrapped up in his wrap sleeping peacefully. She was a bit cheery today, but even with Professor Rainwater watching Caspian while she doing some studying it waa still hard for her to leave him.

Packing her diaper bag of the necessaries that she was running low of, she checked off everything on her list that she needed, but her and Oceanus been good on making sure they don't run low or out of anything. From watching the clouds with him and Oceanus, to walking around the castle having adventures she knew Caspian very well and knows what he likes and doesn't like. What was weird for a doll he sure was a mixture of her and Oceanus, which she found funny and quite amusing. As Caspian started crying she frowned. "Oh.... dear mummy is sorry, I was just chuckling at how much you're like me and your daddy." she said softly. Singing softly to him she rocked him in her arms.

Rylee adjusted Serafina gently in her arms while Finneas was taking his notes. The brief moment of silence was enough for her to check on the 'fake-baby' making sure she was doing alright, the little one dozing off peacefully. A warm loving smile on her face as she watched her for a moment.

Was that also what this assignment was about? Them learning not only how to care for a baby but to learn more about themselves? That did make a lot of sense now that she thought about it. "I did, Professor. I realized that no matter what gets thrown my way, whether I'm prepared for it or not... I can make it through." Okay, maybe she was speaking about a little more than just taking care of a 'baby' with that answer but it was the truth. "Taking care of Sera while it wasn't always easy I learned how rewarding it be when she was calm or when I was the one who got her to stop crying. That it was okay to ask for help when I needed it." There was so much to learn about yourself when you had someone else depending on you.

And just like that, she was told she could go. Unless she had questions. Which she did. Hopefully he wouldn't try to evade her questions this time. "Actually, Professor I do have a question or two..." Rylee brushed a lock of ginger off her face as she smiled at him. "I'm sure you won't tell me now since there's still a few more weeks left to this assignment but... what charms are you using on the 'babies'? Clearly these aren't the average muggle type ones that are used." There was obviously some extensive charm work done to make these 'babies' function they way they do. She did have her own dolls that she had specially made for herself or received as gifts that appeared to look extremely life like that she was testing charms on BUT they didn't cry, drink, or wet nappies.

Challenges ... did Professor Schmoe just ask if there had a been any challenges????????????????? O......................O. Blake defleated like a balloon right there on the spot!!

"Well for starting our baby never stops crying ... never .... and we dont' sleep ... and ... well .... well....." Blake couldn't come up with anything else .... he wasn't sleeping after all ... how could a young man think without any sleep ... who wanted to be parents anyway jeez. Blake did all of this while of course taking baby Ellie from Isla .. she had after all asked him to hold her and he was the best of the best co-parents .. right?? RIGHT! So taking the baby and rocking it while he talked to Schmoe was second nature really.

Mission steal someone else's baby to claim as there own hadn't exactly been successful yet. Cora wasn't worried though, they still had plenty of time to pull off a kidnapping and she doubted Mr S would notice the thing they'd bought along wasn't actually a baby.

In her arms, Cora held the burnt teddy bear. The good news was, it no longer resembled a burnt teddy bear. In an attempt to disguise it, it had been thoroughly wrapped up in toilet paper they had raided from the girl's bathroom. Anyone who used the second-floor loo was going to have a nasty surprise, oops.

"Remember," she lowered her voice and leaned closer to Shiv. "If he asks, we're just playing dress-up with the baby." If anything, they should get extra credit for being extra good parents. "Today's outfit is a mummy."

The baby was a mummy. Hilarious, right?