Lyra walked into class and noticed what was posted on the board. This should be interesting. She took a seat towards the middle of the classroom and began to gather her things for class.

Smiling, Lima walked into the class and took a seat at the front of the room. She took out her stuff and waited for the class to begin. She was hoping that it would be as interesting as the other ones had been.

Slipping quietly into the classroom, Raiden found himself in the same situation as he had been in in Ancient Runes. Celandine Toussaint was surrounded by boys... he stared for a second, utterly nonplussed (why was it all boys? She had girl friends, didn't she? He was sure he'd met at least one...), and then spotted Daphne Hopton. Hooray Daphne Hopton! He made a beeline for her. She... didn't look happy.

"Can I?" he asked, indicating the seat on the other side of her, and without waiting he sank into the seat. If she didn't want him there, she would tell him, and he would move. No big deal, right? He smiled at her, then rummaged around in his bag for his book. Tales of Beedle the Bard... he liked that. It was fun.

"Oh!" Cela let out a little exclamation and looked at the note that had seemingly dropped out of nowhere. She picked it up and read it and turned to smile at Plymouth. He was so clever.

Cela stood up, note in gloved hand. She smiled at Copernicus and glanced down at her pink bracelet for a split second before half-skipping up to the Professors desk.

"Excuse me professor Truebridge? This is sorta for you!" Cela held out the note, right in front of his sunglasses.

Kayla looked around at Gabben and grinned at him, her eyes dancing with mischief. She put her finger to her lips, "Shhh..."

Spotting Mads as he walked in, Kayla remembered that she still had to give him his Christmas present. She gave him a smile and nodded back to him as he took a seat near her. She turned back and looked at Plymouth again and could see that Webster, had now managed to make his way up to Plymouth's shoulder. She wondered if he would scream like a girl...most probably.

Ethan jerked slightly as if he'd just woken up, but actually he'd been busy attempting to scry the future on the insides of his dark and shiny sunglasses. He took them off and eyed Celandine for a moment before taking the note and reading it.

"I suppose it sorta is." Truebridge muttered something about Ravenclaws being to clever for their own good before swinging his feet off the desk and staring around the room as if he were about to make a serious announcement.

"It's a bit nippy in here."


Pause.


"I suppose we should learn things now. Celandine return to your seat," he looked at Plymouth Morgan's shoulder, "Tarantula, return to your owner."

Happily Celandine complied, skipping back to her seat and smiling around at everyone. Ooooooh Tarantula!

Celandine eyed it greedily.

She still wanted one of those!

Oh bugger!!! He was no fun at all, Kayla looked at Webster and gave her head a small nod gesturing for him to come back to her. Honestly Plym, was lucky that it hadn't been Charlotte she probably would have taken a bite out of him. Kayla could feel her getting a little antsy and she reached up and gave her a quick stroke to calm her down.

Using her foot she lifted up the flap of her bag and waited as Webster finally made his way back into his haven before lowering her foot and looking back at Professor Truebridge a somewhat innocent look upon her face.

Elizabeth's humming trailed off as she had to stifle a snicker at Professor Truebridge's "announcement" about the temperature in the classroom. But after a second, she regained her straight face and made sure she had her supplies out on her desk, as it appeared class was actually going to start, although the tarantula on Plymouth's shoulder had caught her attention as well.

But cold is soooooooo good! Jake let his eyes shift towards the window, fingers ACHING to open it. He was... so close... and... and...

And his desk was driving him absolutely insane. Grabbing onto the edges of it, Jake used all of his limited strength to shift it so it was straight. A few times it made a noise, but a ridiculous cough or two sorted that out, so Jake thought. Finally, after much exertion, it was straight, and Jake could relax.

Tales of Beedle the Bard... Isn't that the book I stole borrowed from Tabitha? Rings a bell...

Looking back out of the window, Jake saw a hand snaking out to try and open it. His hand. "No! Bad hand," Jake whispered quietly, dragging the ne'erdowell back in. He looked up to evil spaceman professor and let his feet swing back and forth, trying to focus on what the now apparently awake (*poke*) man would say...

Attention... focu- Hey a shiny reflection! NO! Focus!

"The tales of Beedle the Bard." Ethan began, "Some of you may have heard of it, those of you who are muggleborn most likely have not, but fear not you will soon know all you need to about these 'tales'." Truebridge looked around the room.


"Firstly, who is Beedle the Bard?"

Cela raised her hand, "Beedle the Bard is a popular author of childrens literature for wizards. He was born in Yorkshire and lived in the fifteenth century. He had a really awesome and luxurious beard apparently; and based on his tales, he liked muggles but thought them ignorant and wasn't a fan of Dark Magic or dark artists."

Jake searched through those ever present filing cabinets in his mind, looking for some sort of memory.

Nothing.

So, raising his hand, he figured he could probably guess. Jake's guesswork was usually... erm... okay...

"A man..." he said, arm raised. "Or... a woman... Who is a bard... And they must have had cruel parents to be given a name like Beedle."

In his mind's eye, Jake could only imagine a large beetle doing bardly things... he let his hand drop, satisfied that he had, indeed, tried. Even though his brain was seriously malfunctioning at the moment.

Elizabeth's hand shot up in the air. "Beedle the Bard is the author of popular Wizarding fairy tales. He lived in the fifteenth century, in Yorkshire, athough that's about all we know about him, other than what we can assume through his stories."

Kayla raised her hand, "He was a wizard that wrote stories to entertain young witches and wizards with his stories. A bit like muggle fairytales in some sense."

Oooooh. Beedle the Bard! Little 7 year old Evangeline absolutely loved his stories! Raising her hand, she smiled slightly and replied. "Beedle the Bard was a english wizard that lived in the 15th century, born in Yorkshire. We dont know that much about him since he has always been a mysterious wizard, but if we can judge him through his tales, we can say he was pro-Muggle." That was why Elizabeth Green made sure her baby daughter knew the stories from an early age. "Also, he didnt seem trust Dark Magic."

Raiden's hand shot up. "Uhm... Beedle the Bard was a wizard who wrote and told faerie tales. I think he was from the early 15th century. And he liked muggles, some of his stories seem to be very pro-muggle. At least, the one about the hopping pot seems like it."

"And you pretty much summed up everything we know about the Bard." Truebridge nodded.

"You have a good point. It's a terrible name, but a wizarding name, and quite an old one."

"Quite correct, Elizabeth."

"Ah yes, thank you Kayla. Very much like muggle fairytales. We will get to that."

"Thank you, Evangeline." Truebridge spoke gravely, giving the prefect of his former house a respectful nod.

Ethan nodded and winked at Raiden. "Right."


"Celandine mentioned a beard. How do we know he has a beard?"

Raiden raised his hand again. "There's only one woodcut thing, with his picture on it, left over from that time. In it, he has a big beard." He smiled. Beedle the Bard was something he knew a bit about, at least...

Cela raised her hand, "We know because there is a woodcut that survives him, it depicts him with a beard. A woodcut is a relief printing technique also known as Xylography." Cela added, "And it kind of makes sense for it to survive, since it is wood and whatever it might been used to print on wouldn't likely survive so long since the type of technique used at that time, stamping, was usually done on cloth or paper."

Kayla raised her hand again, "Apparently from the only surviving woodcut showed that he had a beard." She put down her hand and looked to the front, eh she thought that was right.

Oh, she knew this one! "We know that because in the only known woodcut of him - a xylography, actually - he's picture has having a rather luscious beard." She said after raising her hand.

Beedle the Bard,it was Cedric favorite book in his childhood...he then raised his hand,"because of the woodcut with his picture and it also explain that he have a beard

Elizabeth raised her hand again. "The only surviving image of him is a woodcut, which shows him with not only a beard, but an 'exceptionally luxuriant' one."

Erm... because he grew it? Because they found a beard hair in the original notes? I don't know...

Jake raised his hand again. "Erm... because, he, like... had a picture done? Or, maybe... like, people thought 'Beedle the Beard' instead, and he was all... wow, 'I'm keeping that' and it ended up famous and people told each other... But... maybe he cut it off and they preserved it."

Jake didn't know, why was he learning about facial hair of old people, in any case... No, Jake... be patient...

Jake listened to everyone else's answers.

Oh how he despised smart people at times.