Muggle Studies Lesson Two {the Technology Center}
 

{ Muggle Studies Lesson Two }

For those of you who have never ventured into the technology center; today's class will be taking place in that room which has been re-arranged into something like a muggle computer classroom (re: straight rows of desk with ginormous old-fashioned Dell computer in front of each workstation)

The brunette was sitting at the front workstation, readjusting the wires connected to her computer to allow it to project onto the front board.

Glancing up when people started entering, she smiled warmly at them from her spot [meddling] on the floor. "Take a seat in front of the computers but don't do anything yet. We'll begin shortly. Also, if you haven't filled out one of these waivers, you'll do so now and leave it on my desk."


Reminders: Please be sure you've read the rules prior to posting. No excuses! Also, this lesson will start in a few hours, so just post getting situated and whatnot... Lesson has started so please pretend as if you've been here the whole time!

Lesson Progression:

• Question One
• Activity One
• Question Two
• Activity Two :: example from Bay

AJ was looking forward to another muggle studies lesson because FOOD. Not one to be early she was surprised when she walked into the classroom and noticed that it was just her and the professor. "Hello Professor Hadley." Looking around she couldn't help but notice the computers. "So Hogwarts does have computers." Ancient ones at that. "You know there are way newer models right?" Just in case she was pure blood and was not up on these sort of things.

Well, AJ would have her pick of any seat, and decided on one towards the middle. What was the professor doing on the floor? This whole getting to class early thing was not the business. It looked like there wasn't any food either unless maybe they just had to google a recipe before they cooked. Fingers crossed!

Adi was wondering what technology they'd be learning about since the lesson was being held in the Technology Center. He now saw it would be computers. Of course he'd have an advantage at this lesson as usual as he was half blood.

"Hello, Professor,'' Adi said. Waiver? He was sure he filled out one already so the Hufflepuff decided to go find a workstation. Oh. There was AJ. "Hi.'' Since the book club meeting, the two hadn't spoken. Was things still awkward between them?

It took every bit of strength that Jasmine had to drag herself to Muggle Studies class. She felt so sad that she didn't know how she would ever make it through class, but she had to do it. She had to keep working hard. She had to keep going when all she really felt like doing was giving up.

Walking into the Technology Center, Jasmine saw the Professor at the front workstation and said, "Hello Professor Hadley". Barely noticing Adi and A.J., she gave them a little wave before sitting down at a random computer. Normally Jasmine would be excited for this lesson, but today.........

Technology, wasn't that totally different to cooking? Smiling at the difference between the two lessons, Leah walked into the technology center. Computers, were they? She looked curiously at the many computers in the room before greeting the professor.

"Good day, Professor Hadley." the Hufflepuff said to her HoH, who was.. on the floor? Then Leah went to find a cool workstation to work at. She noticed her friends already present too. "Hi guys." she said, and sat down next to AJ. She caught her saying something about Hogwarts's computers. "So, tell me about those newer models." the second year said, smiling. She was willing to know.

Well, sadly enough, this was likely one of Sophie's last Muggle Studies classes. She'd talked to her parents and she'd probably be dropping a few electives next school year. This class, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Divination among them. Those were all electives, right? She just didn't see the need to take classes which had nothing to do with what she wanted to do in the future. Plus, she wasn't very good at any of them.

So it was with this in mind that she gave Hadley a long, hard look when she walked into class. Sorry, Hadley. "Hello, Professor," she said, then she looked away and went to sit at a computer station.

Adi was the first one to come into the classroom after her. Of course. Wait a minute. He had spoken to her. Maybe things were getting better? "Hey Adi." He even got a smile from her. She was over the drama and didn't even feel the same way anymore. Lots of things had happened.

After Adi, there was Jasmine. She smiled at her and returned the wave. AJ had the card she made her in her dorm. As Leah made her way in she was glad to see that she sat down next to her. "Sup Leah."

This was on purpose wasn't it? You refuse to cook one time and suddenly there's no more food to be had in Muggle Studies. The Professor said she was sorry....but the Gryffindor didn't think the woman was very repentant about this. It was probably what she wanted all along and you know what? Lex would not walk in sulking because that would give her the satisfaction of knowing how hungry the Gryffindor was.

Sniff. She'd be fine.

"Hello Professor." Lex greeted with a firm nod as she entered. Weird how she'd signed that waiver but she'd never actually been in the technology centre room place thing. No real need, she never had a computer at home, couldn't figure the use in the end. What could they give that she couldn't get herself?

Alexa headed to a table--didn't matter which at this point considering there was nothing to munch on on any of them and waited to be told to push buttons. That is what you did on these things, yes?

Yes. She was in class for a change. BUT hey this was something she could actually enjoy. AKA computer games she would find them! YES! ! Eeep! See so fun lesson-to be, deserved an Abbi appearance, because DUH the fun only started when she walked in. RIGHT?

"Hello Professor!" A beamy smile was worn as she walked into the classroom and passed the Professor meddling about.

With that she found herself a computer station and looked about waiting for someone she knew to sit beside her.

Ian ventured into the technology center to take part in the second class. He was excited they would get to work with the computers.

He saw Adi and AJ and greeted the professor on the way in. Hello, professor.

He went and selected the seat next to AJ. Hey there. How's things?

Simon entered the Technology Centre and smiled when he saw it looked like a familiar muggle computer lab with dell computers all around the lab. It reminded him of his younger sister's computer lab's at her school. "Hello Professor! How are you?" he asked as he made his way further into the classroom. He spotted the waivers up on the desk but fortunately, he had signed the wavier a couple days ago. Without anything else to do, he made his way to an open computer. He took a seat and waited for further instruction.

Bay made his way to the Technology Center and when he opened the door he saw that there was a few people here already, cool. spotting the Professor he said hello "Good Morning Professor" he started to make his way to his desk, it was a good day today and hopefully they got to learn some neat things.

Uh, Well Hadley had certainly rearranged this room or it was always like this. It had been a while since he had been in this room. Look at those giant machines. Nigel had a guess to say they were really old TV's or maybe computers. So blocky.

"Hello, Professor Hadley. You sure these will work. They look like they are from the paleolithic era"

Though it did look like if you dropped them the floor would break and not the machine.

Lucy walked into the Technology Centre..
"Hello, Professor Hadley!"
She found a free seat and she sit at a computer station...

Angel walked into the classroom. "Hi Professor Hadley." Angel beamed she totally couldn't wait to see what they were learning today, she totally loved muggle studies because well she was muggle and it was interesting to see what the magical people thought of them. "How are you?"

Mentions of Abbi!
 

Mentions of Lux.
 

As Kace made his way to muggle studies, he noticed they were in the computer room. AWESOME!! He hoped to be playing some computer games on these puppies. He saw the technology waivers and already filled one of those out. He saw the professor and smiled, "Hello Professor! Will we be able to play some computer games?" he asked curiously.

After that, he made his way to find his seat. He noticed Emmy and Lux were there. He smiled and sat down next to them. "Heyy guys. Fancy meeting you here out of all places." he grinned.

"Afternoon, Ang- AJ," she smiled at the Gryffindor Twin. She was getting soooo used to these twin things, she'd be pro soon and identifying differences, haha. "Yes, they do. Only here though." She frowned at the first year's comment though about there being newer models. "Yes, but these models are inexpensive and they work just fine for the few times we use them at Hogwarts." They weren't a technology school. They were a WIZARDING school. Gosh. Now the dial-up connection could have been upgraded .... cough, cough.

"Afternoon Adi," she smiled at him as he found a workstation.

... o.O

The expression on Jasmine's face was just confusing. Was the girl alright? She didn't know. Perhaps she ought to speak with Leo on speaking with her; maybe she was having troubles in some way that he could help her? He was her head of house.

"Hello Jasmine. Welcome"

"Afternoon, Leah!" Hadley beamed at one of her most cheerful students.

That look. What was THAT look about? Yes, Hadley most definitely noticed it upon the female Newell when she entered and she didn't like it one bit even if she had no idea about its details it was just ... disconcerting. Especially when she looked away after greeting her ... Sigh. "Hello," she smiled warmly at the third year.

"Afternoon Alexa," Fina greeted the Gryffindor Prefect when she entered .... not sulking about the food thing, surprisingly. Had she outgrown it? Eaten before she got to class? Too much pride not to show her? Regardless of the reason, Fina felt somewhat satisfied.

Another smiley face. "Hello Abigail!" Fina beamed back.

"Hello Ian," she greeted in return.

"Hello Simon! A bit gloomy, honestly, all this cold and snow has me wishing for warmer climates..." she mused, thoughtfully glancing hopelessly out the frosted window. When will it end?

"Hello Bay!" she beamed at the sixth year.

Hadley shook her head at the Ravenclaw Prefect's comment about the machines at their workstations. "Positive that they work but not to worry Prefect Barrington. They're only from the Millennial Era. They didn't even have machines like this in the Paleolithic Era - it was all using stone back then." And they were REALLY cheap too. Instead of it costing the equivalent of a hundred galleons for one newer model, she got ALL of them for that price.

Nodding at the male Newell who sat down eagerly waiting she beamed at him. At least one of the Newells looked eager to be here.

"Hello Lucy!" Fina beamed at the first year lioness. Quite the eager one; she would go far, no doubt, with that enthusiasm.

Ah there was the twin she almost called AJ by .... "Angel, hello!" she beamed at the gryffindor.

"Hello Lux!" she grinned at the happy Hufflepuff. Another excitable face. Good, good.

"Hello Grayson," she greeted back, noting the Slytherin seemed slightly more friendly this time. Speaking of friendly Slytherins - where was Ascanius? She kind of missed his charming self. Grayson she wasn't sure she'd miss just yet, but she didn't really know him soo.... there was still time.

"Hello Emmylou," she nodded at the Gryffindor in return. And everything was just about connected and in order now.

"Hello Kace! Computer games? Hmm, I don't know ... you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" she eyed him, a mysterious twinkle in her eye.


And she really should not have been sitting on the floor in a skirt and heels. It wasn't the skirt - she knew how to sit in a skirt for Wenlock's sake! But the heels ... standing up from the floor with heels on was especially challenging. She managed however, smoothing out her skirt once she was standing up.

"Technology comes from the Greek word techne and logia," Hadley began. "When we have a suffix -logy at the end of a word it means the study of. But techne ... any ideas what that means?" No jumping into turning on the computers just yet. They needed some basic knowledge first.

Tag listened to Hadley's words and then her short description on the origin of technology. And then the question. The question was basic and simple enough and if anyone could not figure it out then, well, we'll just see what Hadley has to say right?

So, the boy raised his hand and then spoke when he was called upon. "Its the study of technology. Technology has the ology in the end and that makes it, as you previously had told us, the study of, so its the study of technology." He said, giving it a short example of how he got his answer.

Was it him or did Jasmine look distracted? Adi returned her wave never the less. But he smiled back at AJ, his spirits lifting. He never realised before how down he had been feeling since that day at the Beech Tree. Next came Ian who got a grin from him.
...........................

Right. The lesson was starting. Adi thought it was a wonder his Head of House did not loose her balance as she stood up. But he figured she must have had gotten used to heels. Anyway... Techne? Hmmm. The third year raised his left hand. "It means creating, perhaps, Professor?'' That was purely a guess.

Kace eye's widened when the teacher didn't answer no. Maybe they could play some computer. Maybe old games by the looks of these computers. Still it would be fun! Now the lesson started when he heard the professor talk. He heard her ask the question. Hmmm he wondered what it could mean. What could techne mean? Kace thought about it and he did agree more on the lines of Adi's answer.

Kace raised his hand, "Professor maybe it is like an art? It is along the lines of creating like Adi said.." he nodded towards his fellow puff.

Well that thing does look like a gigantic stone. Would never break that was for sure. And with that class was starting with something new for Nigel to learn. Techne. Always thought it was Techno like the music genre. Good music to get a beat to and and just nodded your head too. No dancing required.

Perfect.

Nope, no answer to the question. Since he was learning the answer. Which apparently people knew. Must be in the textbook Nigel never opened. Well, the only thought he had is. Can these computer play Techno Music?

It would make this class more enjoyable.

Beverly signed the waiver with effort and not very pleased for reasons. From her seat she watched as Professor Hadley managed to stand up with heels. HEELS for Merlin's sake. Had it been Beverly she'd have toppled over and ended up with a dozen bruises. HOW did women get so good at walking in heels? This intrigued the Wayne more than it should.

Logy?

What?

Beverly blinked. Oh, right. Class time. Woah! That'd been an odd train of thought. Jotting down what Professor Hadley was saying, the Slytherin underlined the question. Unfortunately she had no idea what techne meant on its self. Which was frustrating because Beverly Wayne liked knowing and not not knowing. But her quill was at the ready for taking down notes.

Jasmine started taking notes as soon as the Professor started speaking. She wrote down the important information that Professor Hadley shared as well as the comments of her classmates. Jasmine hadn't really planned on talking, but she decided that she would add her two cents to the discussion. She raised her hand and said, "Techne has to do with the way we go about making something or accomplishing something". There, she had made a contribution. She was taking this class one question at a time today.

He nodded in agreement with the Professor's comment about how gloomy it was outside. Simon couldn't wait for the weather to pass. He just wanted it to be spring and warmer. Any weather that was slightly warmer would be much appreciated by the boy. Ohhhhh yes. Please send it our way, okay? Thank you, mister weatherman.

He began jotting down some notes when the Professor began speaking. Where did techne come from? He raised his hand and took a guess. "If "-ology" means the study of, then would "techne" mean the ability, skill, or manner by which the something, the study, is gained?" asked the Snake as he thought it through. It made sense to him.

Lex was starting to get the feeling it'd be a while before they pushed any buttons. Of course there would be questions. No food but questions. You couldn't get full on questions, just so you know Professor, in case you were wondering...which we're pretty sure she wasn't, eh. This was a lost battle. For some mystical, out of this world reason, you weren't meant to have food around these things. Were they food munchers?--Of course not that would be too exciting to be a muggle invention.

Lex's forehead thudded softly against the desk by her computer and she just sat like that while the class discussion became a thing. At first she didn't know the answer but then she did know the answer thanks to everyone else and didn't feel like repeating.

Don't worry, she wasn't falling alseep, just resting her head and waiting to be told she could push the buttons. Pay no attention to her.

Bay had no idea how to answer that question but the rest of the class was surely giving out great answers, taking out a quill and parchment quickly he wrote down some of the things that everyone was saying.. wow… everyone was just so smart.

Well wasn't someone just being a Sherlock right there with his answer. Fina fought the urge to roll her eyes at the Gryffindor when he basically just restated that it was the study of the term she was asking them to define. "Yes, the study of technology, but not what I was asking."

Creating. Making. Building. Yup, all synonyms for basically the same thing. The correct thing. "Yes, yes. Techne refers to the creation or building of something. So put together those two words, techne and ology and you get the study of building something, an application method to solve a problem or improve a pre-existing solution to a problem."

Gryffindors. What was with them being more daft Sherlock than usual today? Again, Hadley fought the urge to roll her eyes when another Gryffindor answered with the same thing the question was.

"The term technology can be applied either generically or specifically to such areas as construction, medicine, or information technology. In essence, many of the advances in technology today actually brings muggle societies one step closer to being able to do what magical communities have been able to do for decades." It was sort of magic, some of the advances coming about in the muggle community, when one considered it. "The technological advances help to make muggles more productive, which in essence is what magic already does for us."

"Take five minutes and brainstorm different technological advances in muggle society - be in the computer or something less concrete like the internet - and write down its magic counterpart. For example, you might compare the telephone to the patronus. Try and write at least five examples on your papers."

Layla was familiar with the term, but she'd never really thought about the breakdown of the word. What was the point, when you could just go to a dictionary? So, she just sat there, trying to resist the temptation to just start pushing buttons.

Nope, not even a tap on the keyboard. Uh-uh. Not from this Slytherin. Well, maybe just one, on the 'L' key.

And now they were moving on. To another thing that Layla had never really thought about before. Muggle advances and their magical counterparts. And she had never really connected patronuses to the telephone. Hmm.

Anyway, she started thinking about this now. Really thinking about it. The concentration probably shone on her face. And after about four minutes, she thought she had it.

Oh no. The Professor was going to make them think today, really think. Jasmine was not sure if she was up to the task, but she was going to give it her best shot. Trying to make her brain work was a challenge. She wasn't sure that she could come up with two answers, let alone five.

He wrote down the definition in his notes and continued to listen to the Professor. Different technological advances in muggle life? His blue eyes widened. Ooh, he could do that easily. Yes. He could get started. Then he heard the next bit and a frown appeared on his lips. Oh dear. He had to list a magical counterpart. He was unsure if he could do this effectively.

Oh... Brainstorming time.

He got to work. Five examples were all that he needed to come up with, right?


He pursed his lips and glanced at his thoughts. Uhh.. Sure. Some of those worked, right? He really hoped so.

Um... Could they go back to making pizza again? Because thinking was not going so well with the Gryffindor today. He just wasn't in the zone, you know? You've got to be in the zone for class, and he was like five hundred kilometers far from "the zone". Wadya say Hadley? Move this technology center lesson down to the kitchens? Look at the technology in the ovens or something?

No? Alright... alright... One list coming right up.

He hates this.

Why did he even bother to attend this class? This just made him remember something from his past that he didn’t want to resurface. This week is just getting worse. Ethan kept quiet the whole time, and decided to concentrate on what he can achieve for today. New knowledge, perhaps? He knows…the computers and stuff. He doesn’t live under a rock, but maybe…something more interesting than that, no? Anyway, onto the activity.

The third year got a parchment and muggle pencil from his bag and started to list down five muggle things and its magical counterparts.




Ethan tilted his head and realized that growing up in the muggle world, even if he’s a pureblood has its perks. At least he doesn’t look stupid. Heh.

Angel was going to try and do this, she wasn't sure she would be very good at this because well, she hadn't really seen much of the magical world to know what was going on but anyway she knew a lot of muggle stuff. Angel quickly took out her parchment and started to write.



Angel had done an extra one because she wasn't sure if the fourth one on her list counted because it wasn't really a devise but well it would do for now and she would wait and see what Professor Hadley had to say.

Lucy listened the instructions of the professor..then she started to write:

Adi grinned at his Super Els as she sat next to him. He would miss her after this term but the term still had some time left before it ended. He was so pleased when he got a little hair ruffle from her, too. She was so cool. And she and Kace were agreeing with his answers. Awesome!

The boy listened to Hadley explain stuff and then the activity. Interesting matching telephones with Patronuses. He put his pen to paper and began to write:

Okay, Adi was all done and he felt pleased with his work.

Mentiooons of Grayson
 

Well *cough* WELL WELL WELL! *cough, cough, cough*

HELLO to you TOO Grayson.

As soon as the annoyance, named Grasyon, sat beside her all Abbi did was give him sassy looks. WHAT did he think he was doing? He did know if he tried ONE thing to annoy her she had a gazillion ideas to repay him, right? RIGHT? Or maybe never mind repay him, she could pay him in ADVANCE. Cause seriously why else would he be there?

HEHEHEHE.

The sassy looks turned into a huge wide smirk, this was going to be good. The third year shifted her chair closer towards the oldie beside her and then lifted her feet to lie on top of his lap. LEG REST OH YEAH. Now this was chinchilling.

Oh..wait..what...the Professor had been talking?

Meeeehhh. Abbi grabbed her some tools and scribbled away on her own lap.

"Hey Ian." she whispered to her friend as he took a seat next to her. She was just about to answer his question when the lesson started. The first year would just have to catch him after class. Her eyes moved to Adi and she caught his smile. This was different, but she'd take it.


---------------------------------------

So AJ missed the first question, but she was totally listening and taking notes. Mmmhmm. For once there was a question asked that she knew the answer to. She would be having no problems at all with muggle studies. Getting a fresh piece of paper, AJ immediately started jotting down examples.



She was done. Too bad there wasn't any food.

OH OKAY, time to write some stuff down, Bay pushed up his sleeves as he pulled his parchment and quill closer to him

hmmm he looked at the paper.. hopefully these were all good.

don't mind us
 

...

.....

Slowly the Gryffindor lifted her head from the desk and looked over at the Professor asking them to compare muggle things to what they had. How in Merlin's beard was she meant to know that? It wasn't like there was some kind of manual on this...unless it was in her textbook? Definitely wouldn't be finding it then.

Very casually the Gryffindor leaned over to the closest desk and took a peak at the parchment but merlin could these people write any more terribly? What was that even saying? SIGH. Just across from her was another parchment that she considered fair game but not even squinting could help her see. These people were ridiculous. Looks like she'd be making these up on her own. Yup.

Here went nothing. Scribble. Scribble. Scribble.

And a couple she could think of too...

Ian listened to the beginning of class and decided to take a measured tone to see what might come of it. Soon enough it was time to do something. He took out his parchment and quill and began to think. Shortly, he came up with the following ideas

He was satisfied he'd done an adequate job.

Okay, right... muggle technology for magic things? Derry could do this. She knew stuff like this. Thank you, muggle mother.

Derry picked up her quill and started jotting down examples on her paper.



... That totally made sense, right? Right.

"Candles and fireplaces aren't specific to magic society, but other than that, good." Hadley commented on Caleb's list.

Hadley nodded approvingly at Layla's list... even though she'd chosen to do only spells, it counted and worked so...

Pausing at Jasmine's workstation, she pressed her lips together thoughtfully. "I wouldn't necessarily equate airplane with portkey; airplane seems more equivalent to broom. Car maybe portkey though..."

"Good yes," Hadley said stopping at Simon's desk and given a nod of approval at his list.

"Again, airplane I would equate more with broom travel. Buses probably would equate with portkey as do cars..." Hadley said in comment to Lux's list.

Ooh, gillyweed. Nice comparison there. Hadley nodded in approval at Zander's list.

"Traveling by aeroplane I would think is more similar to broom travel, but other than that, good, good," Hadley nodded at the list. Actually, come to think of it, she wasn't sure there was anything really similar to apparition in the muggle world.


"Good, yes," Hadley nodded in approval at Sophie's list. Very good, actually.

"Good ... patronus doesn't have to be specific to mobile phone though, as I think it could be any type of phone," Hadley explained. "And I think owl mail would be the equivalent of more e-mail or the muggle post."


"Good except owl mail is more equivalent to e-mail or muggle post mail than phones. And I'm not sure necessarily that shooting stars are .... magic in nature." But otherwise the list was good.

Hadley nodded at Adi's comparisons. "Ah yes, very good, very good indeed." He definitely wrote some unique ones too.

"Good, good," Hadley nodded at Abigail's list in approval.

"I wouldn't necessarily compare cars to broom. Cars more to floo or portkey, but airplanes more to brooms. And candles aren't necessarily magical, but the way you described it, alright fair enough."

"Good," Hadley nodded in approval at Bay.

And a nod for the Gryffindor prefect too; see, we knew you could do this! Nice unique comparisons too for some of them.

And nod for Ian too; Hadley gave him a brief smile

"Good, good," Hadley nodded surprisingly at the slytherin when he actually wrote down somewhat unique answers. At least the paint one was unique.

"Excellent," Hadley nodded at the seventh year Greenwell. Merlin, wasn't it like JUST yesterday when the other Greenwell was graduating? Where had the time gone?

Ohhh more unique answers! "Good, good," Hadley smiled nodding in approval at another seventh year.

And nod for her prefect too, because even the ones with question marks next to them were good; at least Hadley didn't see anything wrong them. "Good, good," she nodded at Elodie approvingly.

"Right, so as you can see, muggles have quite a few technological advances that they've developed over the years - decades even - to make their lives simpler. To, in essence, be us without being us." Because why wouldn't they want to be them? They did everything faster and more efficiently, two things that humans ALWAYS seemed to want done. "Technology is developed to make life easier. To make life more efficient. To move at the speed of light, if you will, if its possible."

"The piece of technology we're specifically studying today is the computer. The general purpose of it being to carry out arithmetic or logical operations in automatic fashion." Picking up a stack of papers, Hadley passed some to the person at the end of each row, "I have here a diagram which highlights the important terminology and components to a computer. Select one of the terms you see on there and tell me what you think it does?"

You know those times when you are trying to pay attention and then you are suddenly in the future and you have no idea what happened. Except you had an awesome daydream. Yeah that just happened. It might have had sea stars and gorgeous hair in it.

But Nigel could not remember.

Well that question was an excellent segue to the point she was making. Muggle were really fascinating once you started to care about their lived and stuff.

"The power strip supplies the computer with electricity,the thing we learned about last year, so it can work."

But effort.

Angel looked at the Professor and smiled, she wondered if her sister would tell the Professor all about computers because at home her sister loved them more than she did, she would rather do girly stuff instead of playing on a computer but her sister wasn't into girly stuff.

Angel raised her hand. "Professor the CD-Rom has data on it that can be used on a computer, it's like with football manager and other top games, they use the disks so that the computer doesn't have to use all it's memory and if you want to swap games you can uninstall one of the others to make room and you can re-install it using the disk later, it free's a lot of space." Angel beamed before continuing. "Though now something called stream is starting to get rid of disks, this is basically so that they can tighten up the security." Angel could tell the Professor more but she decided to leave it as that because she didn't want to get into trouble for talking to much.

Derry owned a computer, so this wasn't exactly difficult. She mentally listed off what every thing did, but figured she wouldn't say what they all were, since that was kind of hogging the limelight. "The speakers play sound from your computer." she said, after raising her hand. "Anything that happens on the computer that plays sound comes out of them. Music, sound effects, video soundtracks. That kind of thing..."

...

Any of the purebloods got something to say? That could be funny.

Tag took the paper that was passed to him and looked at each spot that was marked on it. Finding a piece that he felt comfortable answering with. He glanced at it for a bit before speaking up, "Icons are like programs. You click on the 'icon' and a particular program should pop up, or a window should appear that relates to that program. Like, if you click on a music note icon then, you should get a new 'window' that has a program all about music." Tag said.

He'd realized earlier that he had answered the question wrong. So, this time, he hoped it had been more on the right track. The boy didn't want to say something completely wrong from what Hadley had asked.

AJ had messed something up in Muggle Studies? How was that possible when she was nothing more than a muggle less than a year ago? Moving on. The lion paid attention and made adjustments to her notes. All better now.

Once the diagram was passed to her, she wasted no time putting her two cents in. With a said hand she said, "Professor, the mouse is used to access what you need to on the computer. You move it around, and then click on the program." Although, it was funny that that mouse had a wire still attached. Everybody was wireless nowadays.

His list was good. Phew. He thought it had been terrible but he figured that he ought to stop doubting himself so much. Now Professor Hadley had a diagram of a computer up. Alright... Cool! Simon knew kind of how they worked but how could he explain it. He paused, tried to form some ideas about the monitor and then raised his hand. "The monitor gives us some feedback of what the computer is doing when you work or play on it. It does it through the use of images and text?" he offered, really unsure. He then simplified his previous statement. "Basically it allows to see what we're doing on the computer." Man. Explaining a monitor was difficult and he was just extremely grateful that there was one attached to a computer.

Well at least Jasmine had gotten part of her answer right. She equated the portkey with an airplane because they had taken a portkey to Peru this summer and traveling from London to Peru seemed like an airplane situation to her. Anyway.....

Listening to the next question, Jasmine raised her hand to give her answer. "There are many keys that make up the keyboard. Each key represents a letter, a symbol or a task to be performed." Anything else to add? Probably, but that was all she had at the moment.

Hazel raised her hand eagerly. "The CD-ROM drive reads the data off of the CD and allows the user of the computer to view the contents of the disk." That sounded a lot more professional than she would have expected. It kind of goes in the name, "CD-ROM drive" that it has something to do with a CD. Still, she was proud of her answer. Maybe it could even be right! That would be exciting.

Adi studied Professor Hadley's diagram. Not that he really had to. He was familiar with a computer and most of its components. He waited for a few of his classmates to give their answers before he raised his hand.

"The cursor, Professor. It's used to select the item such as an icon, the tool bar or an item on it- basically anything on the monitor.'' The keys on the keyboard can be used for that purpose too but he thought a mouse was much easier to use.

Hayden studied the diagram Hadley showed them. She thought she knew what most of the things were. Even though her mother's family was pureblood, her dad was a muggleborn so she wasn't completely oblivious to muggle things. She knew what a computer was. She listened to what other people were saying so she wouldn't give the same answers as them. Hayden raised her hand.

"The sceen shows you a picture of whatever is on your computer." There, that one was pretty easy.

Wait, what, what, WHAT?!

Sophie had just missed what was pretty much the entire class. A list?! She hadn't even made her list yet. What was she supposed to--oh, yeah! Comparisons. She might be able to do that. She dipped her quill in ink and began scribbling away.

Light bulb - Lumos
Telephones - Owls
E-mail - Patronus

Err..., that was all the Muggle terms she knew as far as technology was concerned. Anyway...there had been a question, right? Sophie turned toward the diagram.

"Well, I know what power means," she said, raising her hand. Duh. "So the power strip would be what made the whole thing turn on."

Kace was hearing everyone's answers and he thought they were pretty good. He was dazing and missed out writing his answer. But anyways onto the task at hand. He squinted to the board and saw the computer there. She asked what tasks they each have. He saw the toolbar and raised his hand and said, "Professor the task-bar is at the bottom of the computer screen, it shows the user what application you have opened or you can switch between active windows." Yup that pretty much sums up what he thought the task bar does. It reminded him on the computer he had in his basement.

It was nice that Hadley didn't tell her she was completely wrong and make her look silly in front of everyone. Soph appreciated that about her, even though she still wasn't certain that her answers were all correct. She'd just hope, though.

A computerrrr. Culloden had showed her how to work one of these in the technology center last term - at least, he'd given her a brief overview, so she wasn't completely unfamiliar, but... she also wasn't really sure what all of those terms meant. People were good at listing them all off, though, and Soph jotted quick notes as they did so until there were only a few unanswered terms left. She wasn't sure exactly what a taskbar was - but then Kace filled them in, so she raised a hand and guessed at another term, "Well, going by the diagram, I'd say the tower is that part of the computer sticking straight up and down, like a building kind of tower. I think... it's like, the main part of it, yeah? The thing that does all the... computing? Like the powerhouse of it?" Or something?

Thinking about what she had said, Jasmine realized that she hadn't really answered the question. She had explained what keys were, but hadn't said what they were used for. She really was out of it today.

Raising her hand again, Jasmine tried to correct her mistake. "The keys are pressed to type out words, numbers, symbols and also to perform actions like delete and return." She hoped that she had cleared up her answer.

MERLIN GEEEEEEZ! LIKE HOW RUDE!

Trying to make her fall off her chair now, was he?

ARGHH.

After regaining her balance from almost falling off her chair Abbi made sure she gave him quite the STRONG nudge. "Oops. My bad, was just trying to reposition myself." All whispered of course, because class. HEHEHE. See, she could totally play little miss innocent. HAH. NOT like he could.

Anyways DISTRACTING from Grayson was not cool when the Professor asked another question.

OHHH. This diagram, she could ace this.

"Professor, The tower has like a board inside it and that's where all the components of the computer connect together and work together, I think." All said after a hand raise, of course. She'd seen the inside once when their computer at home got fixed, so she knew some about that.

Ethan looked up at Hadley when she got to his station and checked his work. Aeroplanes is to brooms. Head scratch. Hmmkay, then. The third year did not erase his answer though, but added Hadley’s comment as a note. He wasn’t going to throw his own answer away just because the professor corrected it.

…

The Slytherin eyed the diagram and his eyes were drawn straight to the tower. Why? Because he had seen Thomas do things to it. Hand up. “Professor? The ‘tower’ is where you place the CD-ROM drive, memory banks, and different electronic chips to make the whole system run. It basically houses the brain of the computer.” Well, that’s how Thomas had explained it to him when he literally took out every piece of chips apart from his own muggle PC. As a pureblood, it was a fascinating thing to see.

But Thomas.

Ethan leaned back on his seat and wore a placid look on his face and continued to stare at the diagram.

Leah took the piece of paper that was passed down to her. Whaa, nice diagram. Very detailed. Not to mention complicated. She looked for an item that would be easy to explain. Yep, this one! Mouse mat. Raising her hand, the Hufflepuff said, "This thing, mouse mat or mousepad, is like.. a MAT for the mouse. Lets the mouse run around easily, making it comfortable for both the mouse and the person using it."

Well, her explanation was not quite the same as her favorite prefect Elodie's, but did Leah's make sense too?

Hope had remained silent so far. After all....she felt like everyone else was doing a good job at covering everything and it gave her a chance to see the perspective of other people, after all she was raised by muggles. She took the diagram and stared at the picture of a computer and shrugged. If she really wanted to be a wise mouth about it she'd break each and every bit of this diagram down and explain it in perfect detail, but no, not today.

With her hand in the air she said softly, "The CD-ROM drive is where you would input a CD. It could be any kind of compact disk really, even a blank one. It would then allow the computer to read the disk and it would put whats on the disk on your computer if you wished or you could put stuff from the computer onto a blank disk. Things like pictures and music." Yes...she felt like that summed it up properly.

Cutty still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about his answer to muggle two-way mirrors and cellular phones, but he'd moved on from that in a split-second. In almost the same moment, Cutty was looking down a diagram and passing the rest up. His eye immediately drawn up toward the little symbols the diagram called icons.

Cutty heard everything that Tag had said and although it definitely formed a series of actions each related to the one before it, the things from which the boy could draw reference made the icons sound as if they did something quite impossible. "Professor?" Or anyone, really. "Aren't icons joost symbols. Symbols that when used cause a specific thing related to the symbol to occur?" Like Runes?



That was fascinating. Did that mean they could perform memory modification charms on it. And what was a computer memorizing anyway? Didn't Professor Hadley just state that the devices before them basically just worked out logical operations? He wasn't entirely unfamiliar with computers, he'd seen one before but he didn't own one and hadn't ever before used one.

Would you look at that? A fancy diagram that had things this blank screen wasn't showing her just yet. It's fine she could wait. Button pushing could happen at any point in this class and her index finger was fully prepared for this moment that would of course happen once this guessing game was done.

If Lex said she knew what those things did, she'd be an absolute liar so she opted for saying nothing at all. This worked too. She could just.....place her head on the desk again, listening to the information from others passing over her head, grasping on to something every now and then so it could never be said she wasn't paying attention.

For something that made life easier, it certainly sounded useless. What fun was anything her classmates had said and how would this better their lives? Couldn't they point to things themselves? Did they not know how to draw their own pictures and make their own signs? Why were they sitting at screens all day? Wasn't this bad for their sight?

Muggles needed to question things more often.

*resists the urge to break the 4th wall with this class* ;)
 

"Precisely, yes, the power strip is what allows the computer to work. Good." And nice application of previously learned topics.

"Yes that's all true, albeit the diagram depicts a CD-Rom drive, which is the place that holds the CD-Rom ... a storage device."

"Yes, speakers play sounds ... good." Hadley nodded. And they could maybe get the chance to explore that? "OR if you're in a public setting and don't want to disturb people with speakers, most computers have a small circular jack ... a headphone opening ... where you could plug a pair of headphones in to listen to music or video soundtracks without disturbing others."

"Yes, icons are little symbols on the display which are shortcuts to programs. Good." Some of them were more obvious than others, even if you knew nothing about computers.

"Yes, exactly right." Nothing more to add about the keyboard; it was one of those straightforward items.

"No, no, a mouse is the thing cats chase... " Hadley winked, before shaking her head. "Just kidding. Yes, a computer mouse is whats used to access items on the computer."

"Yes, the monitor. Displays the information from the computer tower."

"Yes. Good." That was in essence how the keyboard worked. Via the keys.

Hadley just nodded at Caleb's answer; which basically was what was already said, but correct nonetheless.

"Yes, the toolbar. Each application on the computer has its own unique toolbar."

"Yes correct, the CD-Rom Drive reads the data from the disc and interprets it."

"The cursor, which may or may not be whats represented by the mouse on screen... but yes."

"Yes. The screen displays the picture. Good."

Hadley nodded at Marigold's answer, which had basically already been given.

"Ah the mouse mat. A smooth place for the mouse to move so you can actually use it. Good."

"Yes, good." Hadley said when someone else commented on the power strip. They BETTER all know about the power and power strip, given last year. Unless they were new to muggle studies, in which case okay.

"Yes, good," Hadley nodded. "Task-bar for the computer. Not to be confused with toolbar for each application."

Ah finally someone mentioned the MAIN part of the computer. The part which controlled everything. The brain. "Yes, the tower. The main part. Very logical assumptions there too about it being the thing that did all the computing and the powerhouse. It is the brain of the whole device."

"Yes, the window is what opens when you click on an application. Good."

Hadley nodded when Zander explained about the toolbar as someone else had before him except he elaborated slightly more.


Hadley nodded at Abigail when she also discussed the tower as Sophie had. Yup, it connected the various components together and made them work together. Good.

And nodded again when Ethan elaborated more on the tower. The powerhouse.

And then she nodded again at Leah when she explained ... re-explained? the mouse mat as Elodie had discussed too.

And then nodded again at the re-explanation of the cd-rom drive? Did they cover all the parts on the diagram or were the remaining ones unknown to everyone?

"Yes, icons are symbols which represent a specific thing. Good." Another thing someone else had already mentioned sort of? So they covered everything? A glance at the diagram told her that she was pretty sure that was everything.


"Right then, time to turn on the computer. There's a power button for the monitor - usually - as well as one for the tower. The power button is the one that is like an incomplete circle with a vertical line through the circle. Almost like a variation of the Deathly Hallow symbol but without the triangle." Good analogy, right? Demonstrating the computer at the front of the class, the 'windows loading' screen was projected on the whiteboard.

"Computers are vital for many functions muggles take for granted. They help perform inventory functions at the local retailer. They control traffic lights so that you don't end up with a huge mess when driving places. They even are used to calculate how much you owe when shopping and ring up your merchandise." Hmm, computer was almost loaded. "The computers all should be unlocked, so once your computer is loaded, click on the windows menu and go to the games folder. Select a game and play it. OR you may open up the word processor and type up one paragraph about prospective career options."

ooc: so here's how this going to work. we all have computers (ooc). Yes we do? Regardless of whether or not its a mac or pc, you can do something - game, word processor, graphics, music, etc. Once you've done what you think your character would do/play, screencap its start and finish, upload it to your image account (such as Photobucket) and post it here under a spoiler cut. You can/should make RP posts regarding your character working on whatever it is they're working on =) you have 24 hours. GO!

ooc2: if you have questions about screencapping something, don't hesitate to ask me!

Oh awesome they were going to get to play some games… now first things first he had to turn this thingy on.. and there was more than one button to do it.. alright.

Looking around he spotted one on his screen as he pressed it and then looked for the other one.. The other one was somewhere on the tower thingy… and yay he found it. Pressing that one too he saw a light come on and the computer made a little noise.. doing a little song to let him know that it was waking up.. "cool" he said as he followed the instructions.. Games… yeah thats what he was looking for.

Looking at the screen he saw that there was a game on his computer called "Angry Birds?" this seemed like it would be very violent and scary, so naturally Bay clicked on it. and the picture that he saw was this.



so there were levels huh? Bay moved his mouse thingy over to the number one and clicked on it. When the window loaded Bay saw that there were birds and pigs.. what an odd combination… and the birds were on the sling shot thingy.. so he assumed that he needed to throw the birds at the pigs.



He moved the mouse over the bird and drew back the sling shot as he saw he could adjust the height and other things with the mouse, He moved the bird all the way back and let it fly. he hoped it would hit something.



and his first attempt didn't work out so well but he had two other birds waiting to be flung across the computer screen so Bay followed his own steps and threw another bird.



and direct hit! Bay had almost said "woot" out loud for everyone to hear and look at that he had gotten 5,000 points so far. He was amazing at this game.. or so he thought because you know it was his first time trying it He had one more bird left so he did the same thing, he threw the bird.



once he finished breaking through all the poor little pig's a window popped up to say that he had finished the round… "awesome" he smirked as he debated on going on to the second round while he waited for everyone to catch up.. he he he… best class ever! got to make food and now computer games!! AWESOME!!!!!

Quoting after only one post because GOOD EXAMPLE here!
 

And Bay wasted little time in getting his computer on and situated .... "Excellent job, Bay! Well done! You've used a computer before either in the technology center or at home?" she asked curiously, because he seemed to know what to do... either that or it was beginner's luck.


ooc: prime example of just ONE of the possibilities that you could do... ALTHOUGH there's more than just this. You could SOLITAIRE even, if you want to ... really the possibilities are limitless, but this is a good example of what i want with the caps and the RPing, so props to Robyn/Bay on this =)

Bay was totally into this game now when he heard the Professor talk to him. He hit the little pause button on the screen and looked at her. Ohhhh she wanted to know if he's used one of these before. "I've used them a few times before.. When I went to visit an aunt she has one.. Still not sure how to work it all but this game " he pointed at the robot " is a lot of fun. Thank you professor " he smile at her.

No matter what Beverly was told about how muggles were close to magical folk in their advances, she refused to believe it. Mainly because she didn't want to give up on her mother's beliefs for reasons. Also, there was a certain muggle woman who Beverly despised more than peas.

And that was quite a lot. She'd set peas on fire.

Snapping from the train of thought, but making sure to remember to send a Dungbomb to said muggle woman after class, Beverly brainstormed about these different technological advances. She didn't necessary dislike muggles or muggle-related stuff, she just...didn't care about it.

But she cared about the lesson.





They'll never be us, Beverly simply thought. Damn. She was grouchy today. It had to be because of the crazy weather and not being able to go outside. Actually. It was exactly that. Too much energy turned to edginess.

Blinking at the diagram, Beverly squinted at it. Squint. Squint. Squint. Bloody contraption. That's what is was. Still, she took notes and selected the screen. Of course that one was easy, it was were things were view on. Like a window to whatever they were doing on the computer.



So...they were going to play games? Beverly blinked at the computer in front of her and hesitantly moved the mouse. What the hell? It didn't even resemble a mouse. Where were the tiny ears and eyes or tail? HMM? NOT a mouse.

Moving said mouse around she moved the cursor toward the games folder and clicked it. Thank goodness for her brother or she'd be sitting here like a total loser not knowing what to do. Even if his had a touch pad instead of a 'mouse.' Now...all she had to do was find a game she wanted to play.

Last time they'd cooked pizza, and now they were being told to play a game? Hayden liked Muggle Studies. Luckily she wasn't too bad at it either. She knew what the power button looked like, and she pressed it. Her computer took a couple seconds to turn on, and then it was time to find a game. Hayden clicked on the windows menu, and then the games folder. There were many different choices, a couple she'd heard of and several she hadn't. She studied all of them, trying to figure out what to play. Finally, she decided on a game called 2048. She had no idea what it would be like, hopefully not too much math. When she clicked on the game it opened up a new screen that looked very confusing at first.



What was she supposed to do now? It would be very helpful if the game came with any sort of instructions at all. Since it didn't, it looked like she'd just have to figure it out herself. She pressed the up arrow and both boxes moved to the top of the screen, and a new box with a 2 on it was added. She pressed the left arrow and when two of the boxes ran into each other they formed a 4. She messed around with the arrow keys for a couple more seconds until she thought she finally had the hang of the game. She concentrated hard, even though she really didn't know what the point of the game was. To get to 2048, maybe? That was what the game was called after all. Hayden hoped Hadley hadn't said anything else because she was too focused on her game. She thought she'd done pretty good so far.



128 was pretty good, right? It seemed like it, especially since this was her first time playing the game. Hayden glanced around the room quickly and noticed that everyone else was still playing games. Hadley hadn't said anything. Hayden was glad that she hadn't been so caught up in playing that she hadn't missed anything. But seeing as nothing new had happened, she went back to playing. She focused on getting all the blocks together with other blocks of the same number. She grinned happily every time she reached a big number that she hadn't reached before. It felt like a pretty big accomplishment. But the longer she played, the harder it got. She had to concentrate more and more on what she was combining as there were less spots available. Eventually she just couldn't do it anymore, and all the spaces were filled with no opportunity to make any more combinations. The words 'game over' flashed on her screen.



Another quick glance around the room confirmed that Hadley still hadn't said anything else. So Hayden started the game over to play again. She tried to pay attention at least a little bit on what was going on, so she would know when they were moving on in class.

Brain of the whole device, yeah! That's what she meant! "Cool." Because it was. Even though they didn't need to, Sophie totally wished wizards used computers.

As instructed, Soph located the power button first on the tower, then the monitor, and peered up at the projection to look for what was next. A loading screen... yes, yes, good. The waiting game was making her antsy, but things LOADED. And the screen looked right! This stuff was way easy, so she pressed on, awkwardly taking the mouse in her hand - she lifted it from the mat, examining the underside of it curiously before setting it back down and blinking up at the cursor on the screen. She mooooved the mouse a little and watched the cursor move one way, then mooooved the mouse a little the other way and was pleased when the cursor followed her movements.

This was so strange. And so cool.

Windows menu, windows menu... Sophie clicked what Hadley had in her demonstration and looked at all the options that came up in the menu - pictures, documents, all sorts of weird things she didn't know the use for. She discovered the option for the games, though, and also eyed the one for a word document. Hmmmm. Normally, Sophie wouldn't mind bragging about her career aspirations, but... GAMES. On a COMPUTER. That was something new and fun. So, TO THE GAMES IT WAS.

She scanned over the list of games, finding... all sorts of weird names. Things she'd never even heard of. What did Mahjong mean? Curious, she clicked at it and leaned in close to the screen, examining the window that popped up. Click on the layout...? DRAGON! Her favorite! She moved the cursor carefully and clicked right on it, then sat back with wide eyes to examine the board that came up. That didn't look anything like any dragon SHE had ever seen. Weird.

Squinting at the little box in the left-hand corner, Sophie shrugged a little. The gameplay seemed simple enough - a game of matching. She was quick to find a few matches at first before she came upon an error. Oh. She'd tried to click a tile that wasn't available - ahhh, as she dragged the mouse and the cursor across the tiles, she noted that the available ones lit up. Good note. She pressed on, then, playing a bit more and eliminating tiles gradually - at one point, she thought it looked more like a skull than the original dragon it was supposed to be - before not too long, she ran into a dead end and HUFFED loudly.

"It cheats." What a rude game.

Listening to the Professor, Simon nodded. Okay first step first was to turn on the computer. He quickly turned on the power of the computer tower and then he monitored. As he patiently watched the screen load, he wondered what games the computers had on store for them. A colourful beach ball appeared and spun a couple of times around which made Simon bit his lip a little bit. It was the colour wheel of death. He took a deep breath and relaxed. By the time he had exhaled, the computer had sorted itself out. He touched the mouse and quickly moved it to the menu bar. He clicked on it and read the options that they could choose from. Where was the games folder? His blue eyes hungrily searched for the section and widened when he had found it.

Clicking the game folder, he opened it up and found a sudoku game. Ooh, he thought. He liked puzzles. Puzzles were fun. A smaller window popped up revealing a puzzle. He started working out where all the ones were. When he couldn't find all the ones, he moved onto the twos and threes. A couple minutes later, he had a puzzle that looked like this. Pursing his lips, he tried to figure out where all the other numbers went. Becoming more and more unsure by the minute, he checked his answer by clicking a single button. The puzzle application told him that his answer was right so far and that he should continue playing. Alright... thirty more.. he thought and added more numbers.

He added a couple more numbers here and there, making sure that they worked in the puzzle. Eventually, he made his way to a puzzle like this. With fourteen left, the puzzle became much easier and he was putting numbers here and there until he solved the puzzle. The application popped up with another screen, informing Simon how long he had spent on the puzzle.

He'd spent seven minutes? He bit his lip. That was not good. He would have to practice. But practicing was for another day. He glanced around the room and noticed that some of his classmates were still working. Could he work on another puzzle perhaps in the meantime? Yes, he'd do that quietly. He reopened the application and started solving a different one.

Oh, GREAT.

Sophie + Muggles = Not good.

Sophie + Muggles + Computers = ...

Well, she didn't even want to imagine the chaos that was probably about to happen. She had no experience whatsoever with computers, let alone playing games on them. Why would you want to play a game on a computer?

Oh, right...because they were all snowed in and couldn't go outside anymore. Well played, Hadley.

So anyway, Sophie took a deep breath and began the search for the Deathly Hallows-like symbol she was supposed to push to turn the whole thing on. That didn't sound too promising, but other people had started, and they hadn't had chaos erupt yet. She found the power buttons and the computer sparked to life.

Sophie stared at the computer as if it was a three-headed dragon. WHAAAAAT did she do now?! O_O. She fumbled around with all the buttons and after a while, a long while, she located a menu:

One

Applications was a word she knew, and if there was anything she did know about Muggles it was that they had the same terminology MOST of the time. Applications likely meant the same thing, and so she selected it and began browsing the applications on the computer. Garage Band?! Ohh, cool! Sophie would choose that, because it did look cool, but she didn't know how to play in a band. NEXT!

CHESS! This was something familiar!

Two

Sophie selected "Chess" and began to play.

She made the first move and noticed the computer played along. She blinked at it as it called out its move.

Three

Uhhh, so what now? Sophie suddenly got the feeling that the computer knew how to play better than she did. WHO was playing with her? It was like a weird ghost was in there or something.

Four

Sophie continued playing along, with whoever this was, until finally her piece on E4 was overtaken. WHAAAAAAT. This computer WAS better than she was! Crazy! There was a THING beating her at chess!

Five

Oh yay! They get to do whatever they want? They get to play? Ethan sat straighter and examined the computer before him. Yes, of course. He's got to power it on first before anything else, yeah? Maybe...pressing the power button on the tower should go first because it's closer to the power supply...correct? Upon closer inspection, Ethan found the right button, pressed it and the computer started to whir. Pleased with that, he pressed the other power button on the monitor. The screen came to life and...it did exactly what Professor Hadley's monitor did, so yes, he was on the right track.

Now...MERLIN. Where in Salazar Slytherin's armpit is the start button? THIS...IS...CONFUSING! Ethan did tap the monitor, but nothing happened until he accidentally bumped his mouse. "Oh. Ooooh." The pointer thing moved, and it showed a smaller...screen thing on the side...and right at the middle was the word and icon that said START. "Huzzzaaaaaaah!" the Slytherin let out a small cry and clicked the thing.

And as he did, Ethan's eyes widened as MORE icons flew across his screen. Wait it can fly? Anyway, the Slytherin slooowly moved the mouse like a grand daddy, eyes squinting until he found an interesting icon. "Oooh. What does this button do??" CLICK. Oh bravo! A game...A GAME! Yusssss! "Achievement unlocked!" Success! Hehehehe.

Ethan followed the instruction, and occasionally flail at his monitor because the instructions went by TOO fast. Merlin! A few more clicks and the Slytherin FINALLY figured out what to do. Matchy-match the colored coins and unlock a new puzzle...or was it a treasure? By the way, that frog thing on top? FUNNY.

Anyway...

Click, swap, match, win. Repeat.

GAME TIME? REALLY?

OHHHHH YEAH! Abbi was SO ready for this. Though she was going to do this old school style. Spider solitaire style that was. She at first waited for her desktop to load and then after that she clicked on the start button searching for games where she found her solitaire. LIKE WHO would even write a paragraph when games were there?

New game dealt. Boy she was ready and she would TOTALLY not use help. Like who needed that anyways?

After sometime she switched cards about, untill finally she got her first full set. ONE POINT FOR ABSTER! She had this. MHHHHHM. Took her a while though and mostly because she couldn't find herself a free Jack. Finally thoug she nmanaged to get one, thank goodness.

Hmmm..the others then? She clicked about, again having a lack of the Jacks and began to get slightly annoyed at the computer, but soon enough it granted ehr wishes and she was able to complete everything with a fairly alright score if you'd ask her. She was way too impressed with herself. Though she had to admit, maybe she should of opted for a more exciting game. This one...well it was a bit adultish.

OH WELL. STILL! She WON. TOO COOL! MHHM

So what was Grayson up to then?

Well that was interesting. All the different things that make up a muggle computer. First time Nigel used one was a simply awesomely awesome experience. Nigel listened on and wanted to find the one with the least amount of work. He was feeling more lazy than usually today. Maybe to was the cumulative effect of the cold.

Lets go with that.

Nigel was not in the mood to play simple computer games. The one paragraph thing on career options sounded better. Plus Nigel has been thinking about that a lot more than he should. So there he went, typing away until his paragraph was finished.



Perfect

Awesome! They got to do whatever they want? Adi knew what he was going to do! Play Spider Solitaire. It was one of his favourite games because he won most of the times. Well, that was because he usually set the game on 'easy' mode. Hehe. The Puffer turned on the computer, waited for it to boot up and opened the game.



It always took sometime for him to form the first deck because there were so many cards to sort through and sometimes the cards he needed were blocked by others so he had to move them out of the way. But never the less, in about five minutes he successfully made the first deck.



Onto deck two! Adi switched some cards around and added some new ones from the deck on the right hand corner of the screen. The he did some more switches until he had another deck.



After forming deck three, the third year began building deck four. Once again, he added a deck from the right hand corner of the screen, switched some cards around until he had a complete deck.



In less time than it had took Adi to complete the previous decks, he formed another. This was because as less cards were in play, the faster one could swap around the remainder.



Soon, deck six was up. He was going to win this and he knew it!



The second to last deck was completed within seconds. Just one more remained.



Now finally, the last deck1 Just as with the previous one, Adi completed it within seconds. And looky. Fireworks were bursting on the screen, indicating he had won. He grinned broadly. This was an awesome game. Eight decks completed in 112 moves and giving him a score of 1188.