Marshall was impressed that there were a handful of Americans here at Hogwarts. It was nice knowing that he wasn’t the only one there. As Scabior started making dots on his own blown-up map, he was rather surprised at how many non-Brits had spoken up. Where were all of the native kids? (They were probably skipping class. Tut, tut.) Foreign or not, Marshall was still the coolest one out of the bunch. You just couldn’t beat the greatness that is Boston!

Then another question was asked. How do you lose a city? Well, in order to do that, you had to be really forgetful … or the place was hidden from outsiders really well.

“A city can be considered lost due to its location not being known, though it is still part of a legend or myth that many believe to be true,” Marshall said, raising his hand before he spoke. He then quickly added, “Like El Dorado, the Lost City of Gold.” Hopefully that was in the ballpark of what he was looking for.

How do you lose a city?

There were many ways someone could answer that question. Literally, although it seemed rather hard to misplace a city, considering they weren't really tangible objects... There were other ways, too. A city could sink into the sea in a hurricane or a tsunami or something. Or... "All throughout history, cities have been taken over by other stronger, larger cities. If the government and/or armies were weak, it was easy for the other city to destroy them and take over." Thus, the smaller government lost their city to someone else. That made sense, right?

fjogjdmgdfmgdf.

How to lose a city? What sort of question was that? You couldn't LOSE things like a city.

Keys, maybe. Not cities.

Theodore blinked his eyes a few times, and purposely thought of a stupid answer. OHYEA, "A black hole would swallow up a whole city." He stared at the professor for a moment, then broke all eye contact and buried his head low. Hiding, pretty much.

Alyssa thought for a moment. 'How does one lose a city?' before remembering what happened to some of the ancient cities like Babylon.

So she raised up her hand and offered her answer. "Professor, some cities get lost through wars, or as the civilization dies, like the Anasazi tribe, or even through natural causes like the city of Atlantis."

"If it's through wars, the city physically doesn't disappear like, for example the city of Babylon. Alyssa stopped to take a breath.

"Control of the city exchanged hands many times throughout history until eventually although the place where the city used to be still stands, the city called Babylon no longer exists. It was just divided into other cities and eventually it became part of the country of Iraq" Alyssa hoped she made sense.

Keefer's hand shot into the air. He loved his hometown. "I'm from Aberdeen, Scotland, sir!" A beautiful place.


Keefer just blinked several times. What on earth does that mean? He furrowed his brow. It wasn't like you could just misplace a city like you could a hair brush.

"Um, well, if you've lost something then you can't find it, and the easiest way I know of making something impossible to find is to make it Unplottable or invisible, but I don't think that's what you're getting at." Although, with Scabior you could never tell. "Unless you're referring to something similar to the Bermuda Triangle effect where things just mysteriously can never be found." But he doubted that was right either.

Annabelle thought long and hard about the question. "How could you lose a city..." she thought to herself. Belle decided to raise her hand "Professor could you lose the city due to economic struggles like not paying it debts to other countries and through natural disasters?" she asked unsure if she was right.

How to lose a city, indeed?

João pondered the question as he listened to the others as well. They all had nice theories... but he felt that wasn't what he was asking. He thought harder, trying to decipher it somehow but it was no use... he knew that wasn't what the man was looking for, but he just couldn't lay a finger on what it was either.

Better to just remain silent and examine the map some more.

How to lose a city that was an interesting question, Minerva put up her hand. "Professor Tornado's can destroy a city in one swift movement and if the city is near the ocean a hurricane could do the same as a tornado." Minerva remembered the news channels when this had happened and remembered being stuck in the basement during warnings.

Justin thought for a moment then raised his hand, " Professor, Earthquakes and Sunamis can wipe a cityy from the earth." he said proud of himself for having thought of it...

Eh? How to lose a city?

What if there was once a city but it's gone? She remembered for example the classical movie she had watched before 'Gone With the Wind'. War caused the place Tara to lose its status, though she wasn't really sure. IF Professor Scabior was talking specifically, then war cannot only destroy a city, it could destroy a state or a country. It may lose its natural resources and its people.Though Erin really wanted to say the war, why not answer a different one? She raised her hand up in the air and speak "If the people in that country forgets the essence of the place? Like if they're not taking care of it anymore. Throwing garbage everywhere."

Heh?

Sophie blinked a couple of times, thinking about the question. That was a very weird question! She slowly raised her hand. "Could it be like... when two cities um... become one because of some reason...? For example, when their names sound alike, or because the government people just feel like merging them?" ... what?

Okay, that didn't really make sense, did it?

Lose a city? What the heck? Emmanuelle floundered on that question a good bit before finally her brain kicked into gear and figured out what the professor meant. She raised her hand before answering, in a flat, not at all cheerful voice. "You could lose a city to any number of things, professor. Natural disasters; economic ruin; war; pestilence; bombs; nuclear accidents, like what happened to Chernobyl..." Yeah, this was getting too dark for her. She needed something to cheer her up, now.

Yeah he picked up on that, those who didnt name a city and a town. He had his reasons of course. Which made this Ravenclaw wonder if the Historian was onto him...

... but hey the other guy just said where he's from so its all good as far as this Ravenclaw was concerened still not gonna give specifics though.

Now how do they lose a city? Up goes the respectful hand "Save for natural disasters and political upheaval?" which would mean literally losing a city "... Render the place unplottable." and thats the most he's gonna say about where he's from mwhaha!

How do you lose a city? Umm..

Lose a city. Lose a city. Was The Professor mean like City of Atlantis? Hands up. "I think natural disaster would be the cost we lost a city, Professor. Like The famous city of Atlantis. It said that the city sank into the ocean by tsunami." Or something like that. And till now the city has not been found

How to LOSE a city?

Well, if they talked about protests during their first lesson, and he made them protest as an assignment... he wouldn't make them completely destroy a city now, right?

"Either natural disasters," Nora said after raising her hand, "either a world war." There were lots of ways to lose a city... they were just like a vase, waiting to be broken in many different ways. Yup.

Oichi gave a bit of thought to the professor's question, How do you lose a city? Thats an odd question. You can lose the things in a city but to lose the city itself, not possible, it lives on in peoples memories even if the things in it have been tuned, right? "Proffesor, I don't think you can lose a city. You may lose the things in a city due a number if disasters but the city itself lives on in peoples memories and can never fully be lost. It is always there in ruins or intact", Oichi responded with her hand raised high.

How could you lose a city?

Hmm.. What an interesting topic.

Gary thought for a while. He knew that there were some city lost. "Well, Professor." said him, raising his hand. "We could lose a city either by natural disaster or by a war." He answered. "And I think unstable politic situation could be a factor too, since it caused war, chaos, riot, and etc." he added his opinion.

Here was a question Jory had never thought about before and he was sure not many others as well.He raised his hand after some thinking.

"A city can be destroyed by wars or uprisings such as the ones in Syria or by natural disasters,'' he said.

How did one lose a city? Of course Atlantis would be mentioned. That was one of the famous ones. But Anya was surprised another famous one wasn't mentioned by name.

And so, after a few seconds of silence, Anya's hand shot up.

"Natural disasters like volcanoes!" she said excitedly. "Like the city of Pompeii. One day it was there then..." She clasped her hands together and then started to make an exaggeration explosion motion. BOO--"

Her input was cut short though. For little Anya Phillips froze in place. Her eyes still wide with excitement. Her hands halfway to making an explosion movement. And her mouth still hanging open.

Kennedy turned his attention to the front of the classroom where the same map that was on his desk appeared. He then shifted his gaze back down after the question was asked. How do you lose a city? He tapped his quill against his chin in thought.

A few seconds later he raised his hand to answer, but waited for the young Gryffindor, Anya, to finish. She was still as excited as she had been at the the protest it seemed. He waited...and waited...

...and waited...

He turned to her because he was sure her sentence didn't finish at BOO-...whatever she was going to say. His eyebrows shot into his forehead when he saw her...petrified appearance. Merlin, not again.

His hand stretched higher into the air as if that would solve anything. "Professor Scabior...Anya froze." If the man was up to date, which Kennedy didn't doubt, then he'd know what he meant.

How did you lose a city? Cities didn't just disappear overnight with a Poof! Surely that wan't possible, so how did they. Thinking for a second, Daisy remembered seeing muggle newspapers, with pictures of destroyed buildings and hungry children. Something must have destroyed them, something really powerful. Muggles had all sorts of war.
'Conflict like war,' she raised her hand, 'but only really serious conflict and violence like...' she paused, twirling a piece of hair in her fingers whilst thinking, 'like Hiroshima in Japan years and years ago...' She thought back to some old book she'd read one really, really boring summer.

For some reason Derrick was starting to like this lesson.

''Professor you could lose a city by A natural disaster.Like Earthquake or Volcanic Eruption.''He explained.

''Or,By losing power of the City.So by War.''

A small, crooked smile was tugging up the corner of Vicker's lips, what with the mention of Altantis sinking and now Pompeii. He watched the young Gryffindor girl made the motion of something blowing up, waiting if she was going to clarify that Pompeii didnt blow up but the neighboring volcano Vesuvius...

... seems like he will be waiting a while since the youngun wasnt moving. Was she building up for theatrics?

But his head shifted immediately towards the Slytherin Prefect when he heard those words-- FROZEN.

Anya. Frozen. Anya-- was that the Gryffindor girl?

Out of reflex he dropped the map onto his desk as he shrank back into his seat. The contamination in Potions at the dungeons, is it making its way up the castle? He crossed his arms across his chest as he casually raised one hand to cover his nose and mouth, making it appear in such a way as if he was pondering the situation. "Should we... send for a Healer?" seems like Healer= Hazmat team in Hogwarts.

"Professor, cities may get lost by a variety of circumstances, either a plague can kill them off or a natural disaster. Also the population of a city may die out by people moving to a more populous city or a city with more to offer, like jobs, education, food or by people dying leaving no decedents. There was Roman city called Pompeii that was lost when the volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, and buried the city in 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of ash and pumice. It was rediscovered in 1748." Sarah said, upon raising her hand. She then realized that Anya, a fellow lion had frozen. What on earth -so it was't just prefects and professors that were freezing.

Minerva looked at the second year who had just froze with concern. "Is she alright?" She had been sick and missed classes, so this was something she had never seen before. "What happened to her?" Minerva liked the idea of getting the healer, what was going on. How did someone just become frozen like that.