"Hello Professor" she said "How are you today?"

Well, as long as he was there, he might as well top up his mug, right? Right. Once that was done, Kellen returned the toast and headed back to one of the braziers for some external warmth.

Slipping into the room, Sabel spared a quick glance about, taking note of his friends locations. Giving Headmaster Tate a weak smile and nod, he moved up beside Arya and wrapped his arms around himself. It was times like this he wished he had a beanie for his head like Arya. Or a hood to cover the small cut and bruising under his eye; he just hoped his friends didn't notice.

Aww it was just hot chocolate? Nothin else speshul in that thar steaming jug? Fletcher eyed his mug sadly but filled it up nonetheless.

"Thanks, sir," he tipped his hot chocolate toward the Headmaster before heading back to his seat. His seat as far, far, far, far, far away from Kellen Stern as possible.

"Ah, Mr. Fletcher," Tate nodded at the champion. "I was hoping some of my Triwizard participants would show up to this class."

Tate banished the pitcher of hot chocolate to his bookshelf and turned to face the class. "I must say... after the thorough lesson we had on vigilance and your histories at this school, I am shocked that no one even suspected the hot chocolate was questionable. Do you always imbibe whatever is offered to you?"

Lexi was about to take a sip of her hot chocolate as Tate spoke. Immediately she set the cup back down and frowned. That was definitely a big mistake to take something without questioning it... but it was Tatertot... Still, he had a point. Especially seeing as the shopkeeper was the one that Imperiused everyone two terms back.

Kellen might have put more effort into consciously snubbing Fletcher, if he wasn't suddenly sending very suspicious looks at both his drink at Tate. Given that Tate was the Headmaster, and this was a class, and Kellen just plain didn't think about things that way...

"Um, yes?"

Riley had been happily sipping his hot chocolate and was half way finished when he heard the headmaster speak....


"WHAT?!" he shreiked and then started to whine slightly. "I already drank half of it!!!" He was gonna die wasn't he?! WHy didn't he pay more attention? Stupid, stupid stupid!

As Professor Tate vanished the hot chocolate and began class, Simon turned his attention to listen almost chuckling at his words. As one of the few if not only student who hadn't went to retrieve some of the offered hot chocolate, it seemed he might have been the cautious one. "No professor I do not," he answered honestly.

Adam was glad he hadn't taken any chocolate- he really wasn't in the mood for it. But the Professor had a point in why no one had asked if the chocolate had been tempered with."Maybe-but chocolate is so good- but that's no excuse for asking where it came from right?"Adam said in a quiet voice.

A Headmaster making questionable hot chocolate. Scratching the back of his head, he folded his legs under himself and sat down. Some Professors, yes, hot chocolate would be very questionable. But Tate? The man who wanted knitting magazines for the waiting room, it just didn't seem like a reasonable prospect.

"There's reasonable questionableness though, Sir. I believe pretty much everyone will agree to say that questioning your hot chocolate is unreasonable."

Bristol was freezing but she loved this time of year. She walked into the DADA Classroom just in time for hot chocolate and class to begin. Yes She said siliently. She took and cup of hot chocolate and added mashmellows. She took a sip. As she walked by the desk she smiled and waved at the Headmaster "Hello Headmaster, how are you? thanks for the hot chocolate." She took her seat and got her wand, paper and quill out of her bag. She sipped on her hot chocolate while she waited for class to start. when it did she spit the last sip out. "I do if I'm cold and want something hot to drink"

Blink. Did the Prof just say what Salander thought he said?

The lad looked down at his nice, warm cocoa mug, down to about half by now. He gulped, then looked back up at the Headmaster. "Uhm.... yeah?" he replied shrugging. At least he was being stupidly honest. But then pointed out quickly "But Headmaster, you drank from the same jug too." Whatever's good enough for the Headmaster was certainly good enough for the Slytherin boy right? Or was the Professor some kind of Houdini and did a switcheroo right in front of the class?

HUH!?

Marie never even thought to question the hot chocolate that Tate had offered them. Come on, this was Headmaster Hottie. He wouldn't do anything to them... right? Plus, he himself did take a drink of it. Or at least it looked like he did. "Um not always," she said remembering the cookies in Runes class. The very cookies that she did NOT eat. She set her mug on her desk deciding that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to drink it right now. She wasn't that cold anyway.

Vienna sat there listening intently to what the Headmaster was saying
Inwardly she sighed with relief grateful she hadn't touched the hot chocolate
She did wonder though about the headmaster drinking from the same jug

Hahahaha...

All of them! He poisoned all of them right? The ones that took the hot chocolate!? She knew it. KNEW IT!

Nothing good could come of chocolate.

Yea, Evelyn totally didn't take any of the drink. She never ate or drank anything that wasn't made by herself, or the house elves. Even then she was hesitant with what the elves made. Taking out her notebook, she set it on her desk before tapping her fingers on the desk top.

Was everyone gunna turn into birds? Or...flobberworms? Or birds AND flobberworms and then all the birds will attack the worms and she would laaauuugghhh...and laugh some more.

The small puff sipped, sipped, sluuuurped her hot chocolate. Mmmm, good and warm. She glanced up at Sabel when he joined her side, only to give him a warm smile, maybe a hug if she could pry her fingers off her coco mug, when she noticed his face. What did he run into?

Her lips twitched into a slight frown, and she was about to question him about it when Tate spoke.

...Oh.

Her frown deepened as she lowered the cup of coco. She was going to respond that it was him, Tatertot, and that they trusted him. But she knew that wasn't a good reason. Not after everything that had happened to her first year.

"Chill out," Tate held up a hand to the... shrieking boy. Shrieking? Really? Overreaction much? "I didn't say I DID poison you. I asked why you didn't even question it."

"I suppose that's logical, Dakest. You know you can trust me, and if you can't... I don't belong here as your Headmaster. But sometimes the people we trust the most cannot be trusted. Any examples spring to mind? I'm willing to share the podium today."

"Logic. Did you notice I drank some before accepting it? I would say it's safe to assume that if you're sharing food or drink with someone, it is safe for you. But I could have taken an antidote ahead of time... but I like where your head is at." You know... only grammatically correct.

Lexi spoke up and said, "Yeah, I can think of an example. That Remi dude was supposed to have been the barkeep of the Hog's Head... There was no reason for any of us to distrust a shopkeeper in Hogsmeade. We see where it got us all though." Yeah she was still a bit bitter about the situation. Meh. But she would never distrust Tate.

A frown ran across his expression, bringing him to pull his hand up and lightly cover the scratch on his cheekbone with two fingers. "I would argue that it's not the people we trust the most, that cannot be trusted. But the anger and jealousy inside them. Those emotions...if provoked under the right circumstances, can be possessive."

Riley's face turned bright pink, and not from the cold either. He was very embarassed but could you blame him? He had just been fake-poisoned for Merlin's sake. 'That's what I get for getting mine first.' he sighed to himself.

Riley tried to think of some other reasons not to trust everything someone close gives you. He couldn't give any from past years at Hogwarts because he was new here but one thing did come to mind. "Professor perhaps something I saw in Diagon Alley could count." he said speaking up more calmly now. "The edible Dark Marks in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, they seem harmless and are advertised to hand to you enemies as if you are giving them a treat." he nodded. Very evil in kid's standards.

Did the Headmaster drink it before offering it to the class? The lad thought he did, but then again he wasnt sure. Details isnt exactly the lad's best suit. He nodded silently when the Professor said that he could've taken an antidote ahead of time, but then smiled at the end. Logic. Salander. Huh, who whudda thunkit?


"Uhm,family members..." the lad replied slouching slightly, trying to avoid any eye contact. "I mean other than teachers and friends, you'd think family members would be the people you'd trust the most right? Kinda sucks for people who knows you that well turns around then treats you like dirt."

Daisy had no honest response to the situation at hand. Yes she had been foolish for accepting a drink with out suspicion, but it's cold and hot chocolate is well...hot. Why would she question that logic especially coming from her Headmaster. "Well I guess it would be safe to assume that you shouldn't trust anybody. Even the closest family members and friends." Daisy said raising her hand. "What with all the ways to control a person it would be safer to question almost everything." Was that a correct answer? Shrugging, she took another sip off her hot chocolate, it most definitely wasn't poisoned.

Emmaleigh timidly raised her hand, "Um well, couldn't anyone fall in that category? I mean, anyone can drink some polyjuice potion and become someone else. After all, wasn't the DADA professor during Mr Potter's time in the Triwizard tournament actually a death eater in disguise?" Emmaleigh was sure she had read that in her studies of Harry Potter. "But we really can't live in fear everyday thinking our professors are not who they seem."

"That's a very good example," Tate agreed quietly. "You enter a restaurant or a pub or a shop, and you expect service. You don't expect to try on a dress with a tightening charm or run into a shopkeeper who wants to Imperius you... and most of the time you'd be right."

"That's a very fine distinction, but I'm not entirely certain it matters. The fact is that sometimes people we trust let us down, regardless of the reason for it. Whether their emotions are justifiable to you, whether they were overcome by a hunger for power or greed or it was just simple fear, sometimes... it happens." Personal experience, of course.

"Ugly things. Bad taste. But just candy. And sometimes making light of the scary things makes them a bit less scary." Dakest should remember that Tate often took this point of view. Well. Now they all had heard his philosophy.

"I don't want to say that you can't trust anybody. You must choose wisely who to trust, and you must remember that we are all human and have human failings. Magical or no, you might betray a friend to save your mother, for example." Ah. Bad example.

"Let's move on, though. I didn't poison you, but I want to keep you on your toes. Just furthering the lesson on vigilance, which we covered in depth last time. I found your homework responses very enlightening." He rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully. "Last time, I asked you to consider the adage 'the best defense is a good offense.' Today's adage is 'think outside the box.' It's a very Muggle saying... not really sure what this box is they refer to, but does anyone know what it means?"