So Lucian was a fighter in the Great Goblin Rebellion. He had studied about it before, not something he was proud of in actuality...considering his kind had won over the battle a long time ago. What was there to celebrate? War was just another bloody messed up way to gain control in power. The wand ban helped wizards maintained that status. It was all the same everywhere in the world right now. Magical or non-magical.

"Mr. Warrington, why do you think its necessary for the wand ban imposed for the non-humans creatures?" he asked. Wouldn't this be a great point to make in his summary. Hmm...

He should get started in writing soon...

Colt heard Elliot answering his question. Hmm that was interesting, least he wasn't repeating himself with his questions. Least his were unique. He began to observe and thought about his next question. Well he was going to ask if he broke any rules but he felt he would never answer that one. He went with his plan B. "Why did you want to work in the law enforcement area of the ministry? I mean let's face it you could have chosen any department." Being colt he would have chosen the games and sports side. He wouldn't chose the boring law enforcement side. Nooo way.

Well that is not true. He might chose the auror side but he heard that was tough to get into. You need like high grades and all. I mean they don't want an idiot catching criminals.

It seemed that Esme and Violetta shared an interest in at least one composer. Interesting.

She would have asked something else about music, but there was only one question left and it seemed that the portrait was going tired of the lesson. She was going to have to make this count.

"Is there any bits of wisdom you can share with us?" As such an esteemed member of society - which she had CLEARLY had been - there had to be SOMETHING that Violetta could impart on the younger generation.

Right?

Did Zeke seriously.....take what she said as a compliment? Kind of her......She wasn't sure whether she was more in disbelief that he might actually be that dense and self absorbed, or if she was more irritated that she didn't get a rise out of him. What on this little blue cosmos dot went on in that severely self inflated head? She shook it off and ignored him for now.

Time to ask the portrai.............DID DANTE JUST ASK THAT!?!?!?!!? Her face showed a bit of surprise as she came to the realization....that he had in fact just actually asked that question and the portrait became furious with him. Not that she could really blame him for saying something like that from what she knew of him.....nor could she blame this non person , person for being mad. But......5 more points lost.....really? *sigh*

She approached the portrait of the seemingly self absorbed 'lady' with as sweet a smile as she could muster. "Lady Bullstrode, if I might ask, how long was your career? And what would you consider your magnum opus?" Yes, she heard her speaking a good deal about herself. If she could keep her going she knew it would be easy enough to slip the questions in and write enough of an essay. She had to admit Zeke seemed decent enough at it, much to her chagrin. Whatever, it benefitted her.

[QUOTE=The Portraits;11866634][spoiler=Elliot questions]

”“Don’t worry, you’re secret is safe with me.. When I was at school, teachers were much stricter and studying was very important. Of course, there was always fun to be had though. Sometimes we would have grand balls.”

Jessie winked at the potrait. She likes him so much "Thank you, Elliot.I`m glad to choose you as my source of information." Jessie laughing "Wow.... grand balls! Is that be held every year?"


She began to think that she could attend the ball with the one she likes "Could you tell me about that grand balls moreeee...?" Jessie`s smile turning into smirk


It would be interesting. And will be fun if she could tease Elliot about this.

Janelle smiled as Ms. Timms answered her questions. She was so nice and accomodating, but really..........Janelle wodered if she had taken one too many bludger shots to the head. Just saying. But now, she needed one more question to ask the Quidditch player. it needed to be a good one because the professor said it was time to wrap things up.

Then it came to her. Janelle tried to get the woman's attention for her final question. "Ms. Timms, I'd like to ask you one more thing.......If you don't mind. What is the one thing that you would like people to remember about you?" Janelle liked to ask that question. She found it to be very telling. Hopefully it would be so for Ms. Timms. Then she added, "Thank you so much for letting me interview you. I really appreciate it." Soon it would be time to write.

This was getting really confusing. How was Violetta even managing to keep up with all the questions that were being asked? Hady was finding it rough to keep everything being said straight which was why she was quickly writing it all down. Zeke's question had been rather blunt and to the point but it was a curious question indeed one that should be asked.

Shifting from foot to foot she tried to come up with her last question. Finally she thought of one. "Madame Bullstrode I'm sure you've played in front of many witches and wizards during your career but whom was your favorite to play for?" Was it her family or someone equaling as famous as herself? This seemed like a fine question to ask before beginning to write up her essay.

Kitty was absolutely loving talking to Augustus Flume, it was a shame that they were almost done. She had written down the answers on her notebook to not only her questions but also Tenacius's, Rachel's, and Tia's. By now she had a feeling that she knew who Augustus was, even though there was still a lot more she wanted to ask him.

"Hey Augustus, what parts of the castle are your favorites to hang out in? And can I come visit you in between classes?" She wanted to become friends with him. Of course Kitty also wanted to meet Violetta, and then she could introduce them!

As Ariadne waited for the portrait to answer her fifth and final question, she wrote down a few more responses just in case she forgot everything later. Miss Timms seemed busy talking to so many students, so Ariadne knew the woman would get to her soon. She looked up when she heard the professor's voice. COOL! He was standing on a desk! Ariadne tended to relate more to the professor's who did things like that. It always reminded her of things she would do, too. Super cool Finch!

So she kind of WAS in a hurry now, but she had other things she could do, like piecing together her paragraph. She hurried back to her bag and pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and then dipped her quill in her ink to make sure she was super ready to go! She then went back to the portrait, so she could be there for the answer to her last question. In the meantime, she began to write.

Artemesia Timms

Artemesia Timms is a really cool and awesome Quidditch player! I'm sure there's so much more to this amazing lady, but Quidditch was the focus of our talk today. She would also like everyone to know that she most certainly is NOT dead, so please don't make that mistake like I did! She insists that she is from the 21st century, so let's all keep that in mind when telling all about her. She was born February 27, 2043 and grew up just outside of Sheffield.

The most important day of her life was the day the Caerphilly Catapults recruited her as their starting seeker. I've never seen her play, but I just bet she was AMAZING to be recruited as a starting seeker! The first game her team won while she was a player was against the Holyhead Harpies, which kind of makes me sad, since that's the team my sister plays for!

Although she doesn't play Quidditch anymore, she had some advice for me should I ever become a famous Beater. "Don't try too hard to hit the other team, especially the Seeker, and especially in the head!"

That was all she had until the woman answered her very last question. When she did, Ariadne would finish her paragraph and share it with the class!

Did she tell them what house she had been at Hogwarts? Artemesia certainly didn’t remember. But it didn’t matter, she could tell them now. “I was in Hufflepuff,” she smiled. “You are quite welcome!” She looked to the other girl, still smiling. “Well, I’d hope people would remember that I caught the snitch in, well.. one of the International Tournaments.” She could not remember which one now. And unfortunately many people did not remember her as her career was so short-lived. “Oh, you’re welcome, too!”

Augustus smiled broadly at the next girl to arrive near his frame. “Why I’m doing just fine, young miss! And how are you on this fine day?” He didn’t even have to think about the next question. “I’ve always loved the dungeons! Though that is not where my portrait currently hangs. Oh, please do! I would love to have you visit so we could chat more!” What a lovely girl!

Honestly, Violetta felt like she had answered this question so many times. Good thing she was always so patient for her fans. “My greatest accomplishment, as well as what I consider to be my magnum opus, is the composition and performance of Who Cast the Spell on Music? Not everyone can play 15 instruments and sing all at once.” Sure, it was through magic, but that took great talent! How did she die?? Violetta looked squarely at the boy who asked such a question. Good thing he was rather charming so she could forgive such effrontery. “One should not assume such things. No one said I was deceased.”

She graced the very polite Charlotte with a faint smile. “I don’t know, but I’m sure there must be. Are you a very good writer?” Perhaps this devoted fan would want to if there was no such book, but she couldn’t imagine that someone would have written a biography about the woman after whom she was painted. “I retired shortly before this portrait was painted.” She would not tell the children that she had little success after her big show because that was not her fault that not everyone could appreciate the talent she possessed! “My favorite person to perform for other than my devoted father was a French dignitary named Marquis Bonnard.” But she would not delve into her personal life more than that. Wisdom… hmm. Of course this would be the kind of question asked to a celebrity. “I suppose I can impart this – great success not only takes talent, but hard work as well. And if you believe in yourself, that is what is important, not what anyone else says.” Was that all the questions now?

”Many, many years ago, I did go to Hogwarts, yes,” Lucian nodded at the young boy. Didn’t all great wizards of this region attend this fine school? The man in the painting sighed. “Appearances are not what is important, accomplishments are.” And he didn’t think this boy was going to get that any time soon as he seemed to be very stuck on the idea. Perhaps he never would. “Well, I’ll talk about what this boy just asked.” It was almost an intelligent question. And he had little patience for nonsense. “The wand ban was very necessary, especially at the time.” And if he kept up on his recent events, which he didn’t much as a portrait, he might still think the same – or not, it all depended on what was going on or if things had changed much over the centuries. “There was much hostility in those days, and it increased to the point of uprising, rebellion, and battles. It was very dangerous and powerful magic in the hands of those who showed such viciousness and no restraint would be catastrophic.”


Still so many questions! Elliot could answer them all day, even if he did hear the professor telling the students that they were nearly out of time. “I came from a fairly big family – I had eight brothers and sisters, and I was somewhere in the middle,” he chuckled. The exact order was tough to remember. Hmm, one of the boys seemed rather confused. “No, son, I didn’t work in Law Enforcement, writing laws and enforcing them are two very different things. But I suppose I chose that line of work because I think it’s important to help shape society for the betterment of all.” Which led him to why he helped to enact the statute, even if it was a rather sad story. “Well, as you might know, there was much fear at the time that caused some muggles to hunt down magical people and try to destroy them. Unfortunately, it was many muggles that were accused and put to death. A muggle girl from my village was even thought to be a witch. I did help her to escape, but it also probably affected my decisions.” Though that kind of thing was happening more and more that pushed the law to be made. “I think putting that law into action was probably one of the most important things that was going on then.” It was still taught about today, wasn’t it? He chuckled at the girl who was interested in the balls that happened during his day. “Not every year, but it was something special when they occurred. We would dress in fancy costume and dance to delightful music.”

Rachel was finished asking her questions but she would remain standing with her group because she was learning many fascinating facts about the human Augustus Flume. “Mr Flume? I think I’ve asked enough questions so I’ll just listen to the others now. Thank you for answering my questions.’’ She offered the man a smile which faltered somewhat at Haddie’s whisper. Oh, no. Please don’t be mad at her, Haddie. “I’m only looking out for you,’’ she whispered then bit her lower lip worriedly. She won’t be able to stand it if the girl got angry at her. She watched as Haddie move to talk to Augustus and just to distract herself from worry, Rachel buried her head in her book as she scribbled away, arranging her notes into a paragraph.

SPOILER!!: Rachel’s Notes!

Augustus Flume’s human counterpart is no longer alive, having departed the material world due to old age. He was precisely 87 years old when the portrait was painted. Mr Flume has excellent and well kept hair, as many other students pointed out and he gives credit to potions for this though he is not very fussy about his appearance. The real Mr Flume was a potioneer, coincidentally. This makes sense as he stated that he prefers to get into practical activities rather than theoretical. He discovered quite a few uses for Bundimun in potion making and was successful in brewing the very first Bundimun Pomade. Mr Flume completed his education at Hogwarts and after graduating he became an apprentice of "a great potions master’’. He was rather dedicated to his work and as such, he never got married.

The portrait of Mr Flume would appreciate and welcome any student to visit him for a chat at any time.

Rachel re-read her notes, feeling rather satisfied with what she had written. When the activity had broken up, she stood in front of the class (feeling a little uncomfortable because she did not like being in the spotlight) to read her notes to let her peers know a little about the extremely interesting Augustus Flume.

Hufflepuff! That kind of made sense now, because the woman was so very friendly...except when she was being called dead, that is. Then again, anybody would get upset at being called dead. "Thank you so much, Miss Timms!" she said. "I enjoyed talking to you. I have to go back to my desk now, but have a good day!" Ariadne quickly added the woman's house to her page of notes and then headed back to her desk to finish her paragraph.

Artemesia Timms
By: Ariadne Greingoth
Artemesia Timms is a really cool and awesome Quidditch player! I'm sure there's so much more to this amazing lady, but Quidditch was the focus of our talk today. She would also like everyone to know that she most certainly is NOT dead, so please don't make that mistake like I did! She insists that she is from the 21st century, so let's all keep that in mind when telling all about her. She was born February 27, 2043 and grew up just outside of Sheffield. She was in Hufflepuff while attending Hogwarts.

The most important day of her life was the day the Caerphilly Catapults recruited her as their starting seeker. I've never seen her play, but I just bet she was AMAZING to be recruited as a starting seeker! The first game her team won while she was a player was against the Holyhead Harpies, which kind of makes me sad, since that's the team my sister plays for!

Although she doesn't play Quidditch anymore, she had some advice for me should I ever become a famous Beater. "Don't try too hard to hit the other team, especially the Seeker, and especially in the head!" I really enjoyed talking with Artemesia Timms. She was really nice and outgoing, and it sounds like she's really into my favorite sport of Quidditch! The End.

When it was her turn to present, Ariadne gathered her finished paragraph in her hands and half-skipped up to the area everybody was meant to be presenting in. "Hi! I'm Ariadne Greingoth, and I'll be talking to you about the fabulous Artemesia Timms!" she began. She then proceeded to read to them the paragraph she'd pieced together about the woman. She hoped Artemesia liked it, too!

That was SO MANY brothers and sisters. Jaemin blinked at the portrait in surprise. Why did people ever have that many children? He didn't even have ONE sibling! A few of his former classmates at his Muggle school were the same way... did their parents just get really overexcited about babies or something?

"Erm... um..." One more question. He had had one, but he'd gotten hung up on the 'Muggles trying to destroy Magical people' thing and immediately forgotten it. While he was sure that deep down somewhere he'd known that... it still felt bad. "Did you always want to work at the Ministry before going there? Or was there something else you wanted to do?"

Jaemin already knew what he would be doing after going to school, but some people weren't sure... or had ideas that changed. At eleven years old, he was 100% sure his wouldn't change.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Portraits

Violetta was still in a bit of a huff even after that dreadful boy left her sight. Perhaps she should just leave her frame and let these children fend for themselves. But there were true fans here and she didn’t want to just leave them hanging. Could they see how terribly gracious she was being in the face of such insult? It took a moment for her to calm down, but she soon acknowledged the imminent questions, especially since she could sense the talent of a select few of them.

“Why yes, I am a pureblood,” she told the boy whose father was much too young to have attended school alongside her. “I was the only one in my family with such true and pure talent so of course I was allotted the best of educations.” It was fortunate for her though. She looked to the mannerly Charlotte next. “The one that I mentioned, Who Cast the Spell on Music? is of course my favorite. It was quite the accomplishment. I wrote the piece for all the instruments and charmed them all to play myself while I sang. As for other pieces I like to play.. “ Or at least what her human counterpart liked to play. She looked to one of the girls who asked that question. “I prefer the musical arrangements of the wizarding composer, Aldred Cantus.”

The questions were starting to become tedious. When was this class over because she was tired of this and would rather do something else now. “Yes, the harp, not the harpsichord.” Of course she knew what it looked like, for Merlin’s sake! “Very good. And they are both unbowed stringed instruments.” Apparently the other young man came in to the group late as she had already answered this question much, much earlier. “I did not attend Hogwarts. As a matter of fact, I attended the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts.” A much better school in her opinion. “My artist’s name is Benjamin Coombs and I’ve hung in his studio several decades.” Time meant very little to portraits, or at least this one, and she couldn’t be bothered with the exact number of years. “I suppose the hardest thing is having a private life..” And answering incessant questions about her life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Portraits

Honestly, Violetta felt like she had answered this question so many times. Good thing she was always so patient for her fans. “My greatest accomplishment, as well as what I consider to be my magnum opus, is the composition and performance of Who Cast the Spell on Music? Not everyone can play 15 instruments and sing all at once.” Sure, it was through magic, but that took great talent! How did she die?? Violetta looked squarely at the boy who asked such a question. Good thing he was rather charming so she could forgive such effrontery. “One should not assume such things. No one said I was deceased.”

She graced the very polite Charlotte with a faint smile. “I don’t know, but I’m sure there must be. Are you a very good writer?” Perhaps this devoted fan would want to if there was no such book, but she couldn’t imagine that someone would have written a biography about the woman after whom she was painted. “I retired shortly before this portrait was painted.” She would not tell the children that she had little success after her big show because that was not her fault that not everyone could appreciate the talent she possessed! “My favorite person to perform for other than my devoted father was a French dignitary named Marquis Bonnard.” But she would not delve into her personal life more than that. Wisdom… hmm. Of course this would be the kind of question asked to a celebrity. “I suppose I can impart this – great success not only takes talent, but hard work as well. And if you believe in yourself, that is what is important, not what anyone else says.” Was that all the questions now?

So many notes... so many notes on the talented, pureblooded Ms. Bulstrode... Davie glanced down at his hand/arm now, where his quick-quotes-quill had been taking notes... and now he realized that most of these notes had smudged all over his skin. SMUDGED! SMUDGED HOW?!!

Davie was distraught. How was he to complete the essay and and and and the presentation without proper notes?! The second-year edged in closer to Ms. Bulstrode's portrait so that he could ask her a few last-minute questions, his mind RACING with how to salvage his score in this class period. He would probably be able to remember MOST of what she had said without notes, but-- but now his presentation wouldn't be as amaaaaaaazing as it could have been WITH the notes. He wouldn't show up Haddie as well now. Fizzing whizbee!!

"Ms. Bulstrode?" he piped up with two final questions for her. "What advice would you give someone who--- who might have stage fright?" He was starting to get intimidated by the prospect of presenting in front of the class without proper notes. Uggggggggggh. Oh and one final question--- "Did you have any children to whom you passed your musical talent?" Just curious. He'd hoped no one had asked that already; it was good question to put into a bit of a biography about the woman.

Jessie nodded in understand. Now she tilting her head and smiled widely.

"As my last question,sir, if you don't mind, before I finish my essay to Professor Finch.." Jessie clear her throat " Do you have any advices to me? As a first student I still have many years to struggle."

Jessie began to collect some sentences she'll use in her summary later.

It was really hard to her.

Colt heard Elliot answer his question. Wow what a noble answer. So he wanted to help shape society basically. He nodded and gave the portrait respect since apparently the teacher was watching them after Dante's incident. He also heard Elliot mentioning about his big family. He thought he came from a big family but he was mistaken. Woah eight siblings and he was in the middle of it all? Damn imagine having eight siblings. Yeah I think his mother would be insane. She could barely handle him. The slytherin decided on another question to ask. He needed two more because he asked three already. He thought he asked three really good ones so far. Colt heard him mention a ball, he smirked and had to ask this question.

"Who was your date to the ball? Was she cute?" Come on man be a little honest with us. Tell us her name and what she did.

BOY, this teacher was determined to make Matt ask questions to them silly portraits! Detention?? So extreme! "Urgh..." The Gryffindor faceplanted the table again before pushing himself up. "Ok, I'll go ask them about their life, sir." Matt said in his most non-enthusiasic tone because he really didn't care what those people had once done in their lives when they were alive. It was no use to him, so why should he know??

But Matt wasn't up for getting a detention so easily like that, so he went up to one of the portraits simply because he had to, boredom written all over his face. "Hii..." Sigh. "What did you do, then, that was so important to history, ma'am?"

Violetta had gone silent for a little bit, but eventually she seemed to give in to their questions. Well they were showing polite interest, unlike some, so it was nice to be rewarded and have stuff shared with them. Olivia listened to what was being said with interest, her quill busy taking notes of some as she did. She could understand the interest and passion for playing an instrument, even if her time with the guitar had been short so far and it wasn't quite the same as the harp and other instruments Ms. Bulstrode spoke of.

As for her question...

Private life...she could see that.

Now for another question to ask. The one that came to mind concerned advice she might have for her fellow performers yet Esme beat her to it. So Olivia simply listened to the answer that was given while she tried to think of something else. Think Olivia....think! There had to be something she could come up with. Her thoughts were interrupted by Professor Finch speaking up once more to the class as a whole.

Yikes...they were running out of time!

Um....um....

"If you had the opportunity to anything else would you have done it?" Olivia asked as the question came to mind. No one had asked that...right? And since she had two questions she needed to ask, she added..." And what would it be?"

Janelle really enjoyed speaking with Ms. Timms. Although, she was a little concerned about the retired Quidditch players' ADD and apparent memory loss. That was not good sign. She would have to ask the professor about that.

Once the interview was done, Janelle returned to her seat and began to review her notes. She was going to have to turn that information into a coherent paragraph or two. It was a good thing that several girls had been asking questions at the same time that Janelle was. That way, she was able to hear the answers to their questions while waiting for her own. Facing the daunting task of making sense of it all, Janelle took out a piece of parchment and began to write.



When Janelle finished writing, she put down her quill and read over her paragraphs. When she was satisfied with what she had written, she sat back and waited for her turn to present to the class. At last, it was time. Janelle stood and read her information to the class. She hoped that with her limited information, she had captured the essence of Artemesia Timms.

"Thank you for answering our questions" said Kitty, smiling at her new friend. "I'm going to write my paragraph now, so I won't be asking any more questions. But I promise to come visit you in between classes."

She joined Rachel and the others in her group to share notes. Then she began assembling her paragraph from the notes in her notebook:

Today I got the chance to talk with Augustus Flume. It was really awesome! Mr. Flume's painting is the one that looks like an elderly man with very cool hair. Mr. Flume was a famous potion master who invented many interesting potions, including the Bundimun Pomade. He completed school at Hogwarts and after graduating he studied under a famous potions master. Mr. Flume never married and he was very dedicated to his work. Augustus Flume's portrait is very friendly and can be found hanging around in the dungeons.

When she had finished Kitty stood by the side, not certain if she was supposed to read her notes to the class. She was shy about speaking in public and would only do it if the Professor asked her to.

”You’re welcome!” Artemesia smiled at Ariadne. “You have a good day, too!” She waved to her as the girl walked back to her desk, then she turned her eyes on the cute little boy just arriving. She supposed she had time for one more question. Oh.. was she that important to history? She didn’t really think so… “I’m not so sure that I did anything that had such an impact on history, though I did have some important Quidditch accomplishments.” Not that the portrait was so aware of the fact, but her name was recorded for posterity in tournament records.

Augustus smiled widely at the girls. They were so very nice and polite. “You are very welcome, I had a wonderful time talking with you today!” It was probably the highlight of his week. And he really did hope that they would come visit him sometime.

Violetta was glad that class was coming to an end and, as a result, so would the questions. She didn’t mind answering some, especially for her adoring fans, but she was getting tired and quite frankly needed some beauty sleep. Someone who might have stage fright, hmmm… She wasn’t sure if she ever suffered from that malady, but she thought a moment before answering the boy. “Well, if you are prepared for your performance and have the talent and drive to go behind it, then just remember how wonderful you are at what you do. In fact, you are so wonderful that it’s you that deserves the spotlight and attention.” It would probably work for her anyway. She thought about the next and last question before shaking her head. “No, I don’t think I would have done anything else.” She wasn’t exactly Violetta Bulstrode the person so it was rather difficult for her to think of doing something that Violetta hadn’t.

Sadly, Elliot knew it was just about time for class to end and so would his time with the students. He hoped that one of them might stop to say hello sometime. “Well, I think so,” he said after a moment about always wanting to work at the Ministry. “Maybe I thought something different when I was very small.” What young child really had dreams of working at the Ministry? “But I worked towards that end while I was in school.” He smiled at the girl asking him for advice. “Just study hard and do your very best with a cheerful attitude.” That was always the best advice he could give as it worked well in his own life. Oh.. haha. Elliot chuckled a little. “I didn’t take a date, but I always had my dance card full,” he added with a wink.

Now that class was coming to an end, it was about time for the portrait interviews to come to an end as well. He could tell some of the portraits were getting a little tired and probably needed to be put away too. "Time for questions are up, class," he announced, once he saw many of the students finishing up and returning to their seats. "You'll have a little bit of time to write a summary of what you learned, then we'll have our groups present."

Ansley listened to the presentations on Augustus and Artemesia, then politely applauded their efforts. They got most of the points on Augustus Flume, and most of Ms. Timms as well, though he wondered if the students who interviewed her knew why her memory was so poor. Or if they found out that he painted her, though that wasn't pertinent to her story. "Okay, we still need to hear about Violetta Bulstrode, Lucian Warrington, and Elliot Kegworth when those groups are ready... Then that will wrap up class for the day. You can leave your written summaries on my desk." And maybe he could get a few volunteers to help him put the portraits away.


OOC - I am going to leave this thread open for a few more hours (12ish) for anyone that wants to finish up RPing - writing the assignment, presenting, turning it in, etc. That is it for portrait questions/answers though. Thanks for coming, I hope everyone enjoyed this lesson, I had a lot of fun with it =)

Well, Davie had asked five questions exactly, so... it wasn't his fault Miss Bulstrode didn't answer his last one. It had been kind of last-minute. He nodded respectfully to the portrait, murmured a soft, "Thank you, ma'am," and went off to write his paragraph. Thank MERLIN he didn't have to work with the group he'd sat with. He'd quite liked the Ravenclaw girl and Dot and Hady (the GOOD Hady) and Esme. They made a good team.

But anyway, time to write. Time to suck it up and deal with his smudged hand-notes. Davie sighed at the sight of them and tucked his quick-quotes-quill away for now. He got out a regular quill instead, and took his time to slowly write things on his parchment and to scrub away at his inked-out arm. Eventually, he had a solid essay to present. When it was his turn, he stood up, pushed his glasses up his nose with his clean hand, and read from his parchment as calmly as possible.

"I had the pleasure of speaking with Ms. Violetta Bulstrode, a very famous graduate of the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts, or WADA, as it is called. Ms. Bulstrode's greatest contribution to the art world is not her beautiful portrait, as one might assume." He paused here for dramatic effect, and also because, c'mon, that was a decent pun. "No, Ms. Bulstrode's most famous accomplishment is her musical Who Cast the Spell on Music?, in which she sings and simultaneously performs 15 different musical instruments." Impressive, no?

"The youngest of four, Ms. Bulstrode was born in 2000 in the village of Castamere," his notes had smudged here, so he'd had to guess the town's name. "She attended WADA from 2011 to 2018, which is where she learned to play the instruments, including her favorite, the harp. She is from a proud pureblood family, and if I may hypothesize," even though he hadn't been asked to, he was going to, "she could be related to Millicent Bulstrode, a classmate and distant relative of Harry Potter." Davie couldn't resist throwing a bit of shade at Haddie Dunceaker, if she were even listening right now. And even if he were wrong about guessing this portrait's family history, it had been worth it to drop HP's name. Harry had loved History of Magic class, right? WHO DIDN'T? C'mon!

Time to wrap things up, though, so other people could talk about Bulstrode. "Ms. Bulstrode retired not long before her painting was painted. She believes that great success takes talent AND hard work, and also gave me the advice to always believe in yourself and to not be afraid of the stage. She said that if you have prepared for your performance with talent and hard work, then you just have to remember how wonderful you are at what you do. You DESERVE the spotlight and attention. She said that. To me. So in conclusion, Ms. Bulstrode is a great performer, and her portrait should be hanging in the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts, if it is not there already. The end."

Davie may have held his paper too close to his mouth and probably didn't talk as loudly as he should have, but hey. He tried. He'd gotten through it. He'd lived. He'd done a good job, and had (probably) just succeeded at making Haddie really mad. And now that he was ALL done, he felt a lot better, and he felt very confident in his writing talent, per Ms. Bulstrode's advice. So it was a good class.

When everyone was done, Davie got up to hand his essay in. "Do you need any help putting the portraits away, sir?" He paused by Professor Finch's desk for just a moment. He was kinda curious if Ms. Bulstrode had heard his essay or not.

They were running out of time, which meant that Esme was going to have to quickly write up her paragraphs on Violetta. It was a good thing that she had a lot of material to work with, because otherwise she didn’t think that she could manage it.

Then there was the presentation.

As Violetta shared her bits of wisdom, she took special note of it. Good stuff; something that she could completely get behind. ”Thank you so much for answering my questions and sharing wisdom with us,” she told the portrait politely.

Back at her desk, she took out some parchment and began to write:

SPOILER!!: Esme’s Notes

Violetta Bulstrode
By: Esme Darcy

Violetta Bulstrode is a witch who has led a rather interesting life. Born in the year 2000 in a village called Haslemere, she was the youngest of four children. Instead of attending Hogwarts, she was a student of the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts, which she attended from 2011 to 2018. Like me, she is musically gifted, mastering 15 instruments - her favourites being the harp and piano. She is a fan of wizarding composer Aldred Cantus and has composed and solely performed the well-known operetta Who Cast the Spell on Music?. When asked what it is like to be a portrait, she said that it does not compare with being on stage in front of her adoring fans.

As a celebrity, she had a few bits of wisdom to share: ‘Great success not only takes talent, but hard work as well. And if you believe in yourself, that is what is important, not what anyone else says’. These are wise words to take to heart and live by and I think that if the whole world thought this way it would be a happier place. Violetta is a wise woman and it was a privilege for me to have the chance to speak with her.

Finished, she re-read her notes a few times to see that they were correct before standing in front of the class. Esme was not a big fan of presentations, but she was okay doing this for her and Olivia. After clearing her throat, she began reading off of the page, gaining more confidence as she went.

So he'd always sorta wanted to be a Ministry person? It was good that he'd done it then! Jaemin nodded lightly to himself and waved to the portrait before zooming off back to his seat; he was a bit more at ease with them now than he had been at the beginning of class. Elliot hadn't been scary or had creepy eyes or anything! The small boy slid back into his seat and wiggled a bit as he tried to focus his thoughts enough to write a paragraph.

Quote:

Elliot Kegworth was a person way back in the 1600s. He helped to make the Statute of Secrecy, because there were some Muggles who tried to hurt magic people (but not all Muggles are like that! At least not now!) because they didn't like magic. He went to Hogwarts before he worked as the Junior Undersecretary at the Ministry of Magic, and he was on the International Confederation of *illegible scribble/mumble*. It's good that he got to work at the Ministry, because he always wanted to do that! And he had lots of brother and sisters. Probably a few too many. His parents probably could have shared a few of them with others.

The small boy waited for his chance to present his paragraph, and did so with gusto - especially the small note about Muggles not being mean or wanting to hurt Wizards anymore. He read the words straight off the paper before looking back up at Train Teacher, setting the page on his desk, and making a beeline back to his seat to listen to the rest until the end of class.