Quote:

Originally Posted by WhittyBitty

With the door closed, she made her way back over to the front of the class and sat down on the grass, crossing her legs. "Morning, everyone. I am sure that you are all wondering why we are inside for this lesson when we could be outside. Well, the fact of the matter is that I wanted this atmosphere, but it's quite impossible to be outside for a lesson after dark." Of course there was Astronomy, but that was different. "Plus this way, you get the feel of darkness but without any difficulty in seeing." Now one DID get accustomed to the dark, but it was much better to avoid that all together and have decent lighting.

And now was the time for her to ask the first question. "Anyone have as guess as to what we are going to be doing today?" Rosalyn was sure that she was going to be getting some good answers; the students never disappointed her.

Rhea was feeling completely run down.

With everything that had been happening, - with boys, OWLs, Luci and Emmeline - she'd completely lost any motivation to participate as actively in classes as she'd been doing before. So, when Professor Marchand asked whether anyone had any guesses about what they might be doing today, Rhea kept her hand down and mouth shut.

But ideas still bustled about it the back of her mind.

Maybe they'd be learning about the history of.....?

Nope. She didn't have any good ideas. It was a good job she'd kept her hand down.

What did the Curly Top really think they would do today, given the theme of the classroom?

Camping. Stargazing. Complete with bonfires and smores. They just need to set them up right? RIGHT?

But that was his inner child talking, of which lets be honest, will never go away. He is aware that this is History class and there had to be a reason for the way the classroom looked the way it did. Also girlfriend's reply got him back on track...

Given that, he might as well go out on a limb here "Are we going to talk about the Battle of Hogwarts?" He thought it took place at night. What other big events of Hogwarts occurred at night? Ok there was Dumbledore's death but thats too morbid and a real buzzkill.

The classroom was...interesting. To say the least.

Not in a bad way, though. Cameron kind of liked it in fact. It made him think of being outside in the dark with Farah the other day for some reason. Probably the grass. And well, the darkness. Unfortunately, there weren't any fireflies or at least none that he could see. Although, those would've been distracting anyway. And they were here to LEARN.

Sitting down in the grass near Zoryn, he sat cross-legged, pulling his parchment and quill onto his lap to take notes. Now, what could they be learning about today? He wasn't sure if the darkness aspect of it was relevant but it was clear that it had something to do with Hogwarts. With the castle itself maybe. "Maybe we'll be learning about the time when Hogwarts was built?" He suggested after raising his hand.

Etta grinned as Derf took a seat next to her, giving him a light side-hug. She was always happy to see him, you know? She was about to speak when he said that he had something for her.... ooooh, like a present? But... it could also be that he was going to return something that he’d actually borrowed from her sometime ago. Gosh, no. Not in the middle of a class! She hoped he had better sense than that. She wasn’t sure. “Okay... ?” She eyed him doubtfully.

—

As far as the professor’s question was concerned, she had no idea at all. But if she really had to guess.. “The history of this castle, perhaps?” The girl answered with a hand raised before her attention drifted back towards the younger Hufflepuff, feeling curious and worried at the same time.

The atmosphere. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm....was that a CLUE? Because Derf could think of at least a dozen different ways in which holding a lesson outside after dark would be entirely plausible. The first being one that addressed the issue of lighting because floating candles and bluebell flames were all the rage, you know?

But he was trying not to let his own thoughts wanted TOO much already considering class had only just now started. But it was kinda hard since he was also thinking about the thing in his bag that he needed to give back to Etta now that his experimental period was over. At least the initial stages of it.

Er...what had the question been again? He was really only half listening to other's replies to try and figure THAT out. Everyone seemed to be talking about the castle - learning about when it was built or a specific event - but Derf was far more interested in looking at the sky at the moment. Pity he knew, well, very little about what all was up there so this was no real help either. He figured that the professor was done bringing up things to do with muggles considering how every time conversation and such kinda got snubbed...which made his eyes look around for the Head Girl because she always got super fired up with that topic...so talking about the castle being unplottable and stuff slipped out of his mind.

But not entirely since, well, enchantments and stuff on the castle were still a thing...

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuh....nope. He had nothing really.

Maisie was in her element. It was the night sky, but indoors! It was almost like the enchanted ceiling in the hall, but this was almost as good! It was like being in her two favourite classes at once! She'd grabbed some snacks and punch on her way in,
grateful to the Professor for making a thing of Halloween. They were witches and wizards after all, it was their holiday.

She munched her snacks and thought about the question. Maisie had to keep dragging her eyes away from the ceiling. It was class and she was a Ravenclaw. But the sky! Stars!

She raised her hand. "History of Astronomy?" She said excitedly, gazing at the ceiling while she spoke. Maisie couldn't believe her luck. This was the best Halloween present ever!

Miranda thought on the question posed to them by Professor Marchand.. Hmm?.. Really it could be any number of things really.. She took a few moments to look about the classroom.. Maybe there were clues as to what the lesson would be about...

She raised her hand as a thought popped into her head... Although she was less certain of it's accuracy, but points for trying, yes? " Are we going to be learning about the ceiling in the Great Hall?.. And why it's enchanted? "

The setting of the classroom was indeed mesmerising. The outdoor feeling, the stars and of course the castle. It all felt very familiar, except Aymeric has never been on school grounds, at night. Shame they had a curfew.

After wandering in his own thoughts for a few minutes, it hit him. He was in the middle of a class and a question was asked. History of Magic wasn't really his cup of tea, so staying focused has always been challenging.

The Ravenclaw raised his arm, "Errr... Perhaps we'll be learnin' about the history of this whole area. Such as, major historical events which occurred in Hogsmede, Hogwarts maybe even in the lake," they were outside, right? And there was a distance between themselves to the castle. Aymeric really did feel as if he was outside. He was beginning to wander in his thoughts again.

Ohhh, this was new and interesting! When Maddie had first walked in, she'd paused and thought about turning around and walking back out. It looked like she'd wandered outside, but she really hadn't. She had to get used to the way these professors enchanted their classrooms! She'd been seated for about two or three minutes, when the door was closed and the lesson was started.

She had no idea why people were getting mixed up with the professor's last name either. Had it once been something else entirely? Then there were people congratulating the professor, but Maddie had no idea why they were doing that either. All she knew was that there was Halloween candy, and that made her happy. VERY HAPPY.

Guesses as to what the lesson was about? Maddie thought about that. She really had no idea. Was the room some sort of clue or something? All she could think about was HALLOWEEN CANDY. "Are we studying the history of Halloween?" she asked, raising her hand.

Okay so the dark walls were definitely misleading because Skylar had to remind herself that she had just gotten up and had breakfast. That it wasn't nighttime. That they were inside.

Which brought her attention to the first question; what were they going to be studying? That was such a broad question and they didn't have very much in the way of clues, but something about what Cameron said about the history of when Hogwarts was built made Skylar think of something else. "On the subject of what Cameron said, perhaps, we can be studying Magical Architecture?"

Emmeline could feel her shoulders visibly relaxing as a witch entered the History classroom. She knew it was sexist and wrong, 'cause witches could be EVIL just like wizards and wizards could be GOOD like Derf, but her body was calming down anyway. The observing witch wasn't the crazy old man from DADA and that was enough. Plus, her bestie had come over and sat next to her. Emmeline shot Stasya a grin and said, "Hiiii, Stas!! How're Albus and Dobby?" Juuust like she always did. She wasn't recovering from a mild freak out or anything, nope.

And then the lesson started. Emmeline frowned a little at the professor's questions 'cause there could be a million different things they could be learning about. Hogwarts was like thousands of years old after all. Still, she decided to at least try and answer Professor Marchand's question, so she put her hand up and replied: "Are we learning about something that happened on the grounds outside the castle from a loooooong time ago?" 'Cause why else would the illusions put on the classroom be outside and stuff?

Patrick looked at the way the walls were decorated one would think that it would be the castle. But if the whole reason the class had changed to the outside it was likely because there was a reason. He glanced around the room and raised his hands, "The castle looks obvious to me, are we learning the history of something to do with the stars?" He scratched his neck looking up at the stars, "Not astronomy though, but the actual people professor?"

Although the more he stared at the room surrounding him the more he wasn't sure if his answer was right. He figured he'd know soon enough what they were doing.

Once class began, Professor Marchand wasted no time in throwing out the first question. What did everyone think the class would be doing today? Shay took a moment to survey her surroundings once more. Okay, they were outside on the Hogwarts grounds and it was a dark, starry night. What piece of history could this possibly relate to? Obviously it had something to do with Hogwarts, but what?

Shay was at a loss. The nighttime setting had to be significant. What important event had happened around here at night? Slowly Shay raised her hand. Willing to take a random stab at the answer. "Maybe we are learning about.......how ......Halloween was celebrated at Hogwarts long ago." As soon as the answer had left her lips, Shay knew it was lame. She had drawn a complete blank and just went with the first thing that came to her mind. Surly the real answer was better than that.

Annnnd right off the bat Rose was chuckling. She really hoped that Zoryn managed to stay awake for the lesson and would like the activity. Of course if she DID fall asleep she would lose a couple points; rules were rules. "Nice guess, Miss Spinnet, but unfortunately no." It WAS just after breakfast and they should hopefully be more awake by now. Hopefully.

Olivia got a smile from Rosalyn, who was happy to hear that she was doing well. And her answer was rather creative, which got approval. "Now that is a very good idea, Miss Holden! We are doing something else today, but I might just have to put that on the back burner." Seriously the girl had given her some ideas and she was going to have to figure out a way to use them at some point maybe... Now THAT would be an interesting lesson. Miss Swann also got a smile from Rosalyn who was happy to hear that she was doing great. She and Miss Kramer both were on to something with their ideas. "Very good! It isn't on the history of the entire castle, but certainly a big part of the castle's history." Nod. Miss Sparkes was on to something as well. "We are indeed," she told the girl with approval. A century DID count as a long time ago. "Good guess, Mr Tamesis, but this is something that happened quite a while after the building of Hogwarts." In fact she had covered that very topic a couple years ago, but of course she knew how easy the students could forget things when it came to the subject. This was just the way it went.

There were a few silent students (Mr Carter, Miss Durant, Mr Ashburry-Hawthorne), and Rosalyn sent them all encouraging smiles before moving on. Maisie, Skylar, Maddie, and Patrick had creative ideas, and she certainly approved of them. "Very good guesses, Miss Dimple, Miss Diggory, Miss Kemp, and Mr Dooley. We aren't covering any of those topics today, but I would certainly love to do them another day." Well, maybe not the history of Astronomy as that wasn't her forte by any means, but she DID know a far bit about certain magical buildings and Halloween. "We won't be talking about the enchanted ceiling today, Miss Blaze, but very good guess! The stars certainly look like the ceiling does." And through the use of magic, they looked realistic and moved, though of course they weren't REAL. "I love the idea of looking at how Halloween was studied at Hogwarts in the past, Miss Morrison. Another great guess, and something that can definitely be covered at another point." It would certainly tie in with a lesson about Halloween.

"Very good, Mr Willis. We are certainly learning about an event that happened at Hogwarts." And they would be covering things from Hogsmeade later on, and possibly Wizarding villages as well. But her interest in Hogsmeade had increased since moving there.

It was Tenacius that managed to hit the nail on the head as far as what they were covering today. "That's right, Mr Salander! Today we will be covering the Battle of Hogwarts." Rosalyn was looking forward to hearing what the students knew about this topic, and for them to learn more about it. "Now that we know what we will be talking about, what can you tell me about the Battle of Hogwarts? Can be anything at all, all answers are good." She just liked to see how much they were aware of things. "On top of that there are a couple more questions you can answer if you choose to, or instead of the first one. Reply to all three or only one or two if you wish." Basically they could do whatever they felt comfortable and sure about. "One: Why was there a Battle of Hogwarts? Two: Do you think the battle was inevitable, or was there another way that things could have been handled without bloodshed?" Yes, it was Voldemort, but she still wanted to know what people thought about the matter.

OOC: Awesome responses everyone. I really hope I didn't miss anything when moving things around; if so I am very sorry. It was not intentional. There are a few more questions, but it is completely up to you and your character how many are answered. You can reply to one, two, or all three. Or none of them if your character has no idea! I'll be posting again in approximately 24 hours.

Daisy raised her hand, having recently read about the battle. "The Battle of Hogwarts occurred on May 2nd, 1998 inside the castle at Hogwarts which resulted in the end of Lord Voldemort's terror-filled reign. I personally think that bloodshed was always going to happen, no matter what. Lord Voldemort wasn't going to go down without as much destruction and death as possible. Voldemort couldn't kill Harry Potter when Harry was an infant so he wanted to finish the job no matter the cost."

Ah and Mr. Parole Officer himself had nailed the plan of the lesson today! A big smile graced her lips and she stole a glance at him. Vi smiled at him. Look at the boyfriend go! Nailing the point of the lesson...

Vi raised her hand to the Professor's question. "I think it was inevitable given Lord Voldemort's personality or what we know of it.... Well if Harry Potter had turned himself in, surely Lord Voldemort still would have killed the people who stood with Harry... So yes... I think the battle was inevitable." There would be casualties on both sides. People didn't just believe in Harry as a person. He had represented so much more. All of Dumbledore's army had. It had given people hope of a better world.

Whoah he nailed it? Well whaddya know, call him psychic. Just nobody ask him what the next lottery numbers are. He returned the grin of the girlfriend with a beamy one of his own. #Inspiration

Ok so what did he remember about the Battle of Hogwarts. He looked around the room and this occurred to him "Professor, I could guess that the reason why our room is night-themed is because its related to Voldermort's ultimatum, he wanted Harry Potter to surrender to him by midnight in exchange for him not killing everybody at Hogwarts. But Harry couldnt leave just like that because he was on a mission to recover and destroy all the Horcruxes, one of which is located somewhere in Hogwarts castle. The destruction of the Horcruxes is the only real way to defeat the Dark Lord." Kinda like a Catch 22 there for 'ol Potter. "I'm not sure if anything can be done avoiding bloodshed by that point-- I mean theres a whole lot of cruelty and bloodshed even before the actual Battle took place. If Wizards had wanted to avoid all that, then maybe they shouldve listened to the clues and the signs that led to Voldemort's return and prevented that from happening. Nip the problem at the bud my folks always say."

Hugging his legs, Aymeric listened carefully to the Professor. He heard so many stories about the Battle of Hogwarts, but never did he really properly study it. Thinking about it, most of what he knew was from stories and barely anything from books. The Ravenclaw gave himself a negative point - one of the most important and major events in worldwide history, and he barely read a book about it. Embarrassing.

The Ravenclaw raised his arm, "Well, the battle occurred at summer almost a century ago. I think the importance of the Battle of Hogwarts resembles the one of D-day in Muggle history." Although he was a pureblood and knew sparsely about Muggle 'anything', some historical events are too great to be ignored. "Meaning it was a turning point in the war that was happening in Britain. The war was between two pacts. The first, Voldemort's pact, which fought for Magic and Pureblood supremacy over Muggles and Muggle-borns. The second pact, Dumbledore's Army and The Order of the Pheonix, which fought for freedom and justice in the Wizarding World as well as peace with the Muggle community." Merlin, he was talking a lot. "Basically what happened was Harry Potter defeated Voldemort resulting in an immediate victory to Dumbledore's Army and The Order."

Aymeric paused. A lot of information spilling was going on right now, and he wasn't a very talkative person. "In my opinion the Battle was necessary and inevitable because Voldemort had to be defeated eventually. Otherwise half of the students at the school wouldn't exist." Frightening yet true fact. "But I do think some of the bloodshed at the battle itself on both sides could of been prevented." Some people might disagree with his opinion, but he was simply answering the question as honest as he could be.

Battle of Hogwarts! Vivian wasn't exactly the biggest fan when it came to history, but she very much liked this topic. Perhaps it was one of the few she actually enjoyed and took time to read about during her spare time. And that's already saying something, considering how this Slytherin wasn't exactly the biggest bookworm.

But yes, Professor Newton... err, Marchand... had the prefect's attention for this lesson. Vivian raised her hand to share her thoughts. "The Battle of Hogwarts is the climactic ending of the Second Wizarding War, Professor, where Harry Potter defeated Lord Voldemort once and for all," the blond said, nodding along. "And I think it was inevitable, Professor, considering Voldemort didn't seem like the kind of person to put up a fight on his own." He wasn't sorted into Gryffindor, after all... right? "Whether there was a Battle of Hogwarts or not, Voldemort would have done whatever he wanted just so he could lay a finger on Harry." Because, apparently, Voldemort was just one of the many fangirls who liked the Chosen One, of course. Why would he be so obsessed with a teenage boy, after all?

Wow... okay. This was definitely an interesting topic of discussion. Etta was about to answer but she couldn’t help but notice her bestie and Ace being super cute with each other. Aww, they really were adorable. She almost wanted to squeal with happiness.

Ahem. Anyway, back to history. Etta had done some reading about this, of course.. if only she could remember properly. “To add something new to what other have said, I think it’s the final battle in which the elder wand took part.. and even though I wish that there had been a way to avoid the battle, it was inevitable because Voldemort and his allies, who were way beyond evil, needed to be stopped.” To put it simply.

Did this mean....they were...going to WATCH the battle unfold?

..................


Suddenly Derf did not like this lesson nor did he want to be in it. He did not want to see any sort of magical reenactment nor watch the protective charms fall around the castle - which was where his imagination was taking him at the moment.

"C-Conflict of beliefs," he stated simply, eyes somewhat unfocused as he stared ahead at no where in particular. "One side believed our world...wizardingkind needed to be purified ... and that meant killing muggles, muggle-borns, and blood traitors...so that Voldemort...and his followers...could achieve a global dictatorship under their magical regime...while the other side fought against all this...with a different belief system. A belief in...a free wizarding world..."He paused to swallow,
palms sweating nervously. He didn't really like thinking about this stuff...and in light of what had happened with the rumored Thunderbird...it made Derf nervous. There HAD been a lot of upset last term after the first and third tasks specifically because of muggle (false or otherwise) involvement. "W-War...between two sides like that...one being driven by a leader who...didn't posses a soul himself really since he had split it into seven pieces...is inevitable..."

Derf stopped there to look at his hands, thinking a bit more before pressing onward.

"Professor...is...what happened at Hogwarts..." he paused to bite his lip, thoughts drifting back towards the insecurity he felt back in first year with the portal and the Monster. With that as his impression of Hogwarts, it was impossible not to...feel frightened by recent happenings. "...the blood...with the bird of prey...is that a warning message that...you know...conflict is coming? Like...when the Chamber of Secrets had been opened...and there was...bloodonthewallsthentoo.." Thunderbird or hawk or whatever it had been...there was something there, you know? Soaring above Hogwarts...keen eyesight...watching them... "Especially if, you know, the rumor is true and it was a Thunderbird...those LIKE to fight...and...er...are highly sensitive to danger..."

Sure felt like a warning or message to him.

Having read the adventures of Harry Potter, Kitty was familiar with the battle of Hogwarts and the things which preceded and followed after it. It was a very interesting (not too mention frightening) part of wizarding history. It was strange to imagine that it had all happened right here in this castle.

She raised her hand as soon as she had an opportunity. "Technically the Battle of Hogwarts could have been stopped, but bloodshed was inevitable." What did she mean? She continued: "Voldemort was a despicably evil bigot who had to be stopped one way or another, there was no way to end that war without killing him and several of his followers. The battle would have happened somewhere, and Hogwarts always seemed like the place it would happen - if you consider that it was under Voldemort's control, that several hocruxes came from there, and that the founders of the Order of the Phoenix all had their start at Hogwarts. Theoretically the battle to stop Voldemort could have taken place somewhere else, like the Ministry of Magic, but we don't know how it would have played out. Perhaps Voldemort would have won, and we'd all be enslaved." Shudder.

Oh. The Battle of Hogwarts...? That was much more interesting than the things Rhea'd thought they might be learning about today. She perked up ever so slightly. Because of the way she'd been raised, she didn't know as much about the history of wizardkind as other people her age did. There were some things she didn't care to know about because they were boring, of course, but there were other things - like the Battle of Hogwarts - that she did find interesting and thought were worth knowing about.

Wait a second....

Rhea looked around the classroom again. They weren't going to be watching the Battle of Hogwarts go down, were they? That seemed like something that would be inappropriate for the younger students to see. A lot of people died during that battle. And... how exactly would they watch it? It seemed unlikely that there would be visual records of it. No.... They must be doing something else. Identifying the areas where key events took place, perhaps?

Ah. More questions.

Rhea didn't know a great deal about the Battle of Hogwarts - just what her mother'd told her - but she did know that Harry had been a student at Hogwarts and he had been searching for horcruxes in the castle, hence the reason for the battle taking place at Hogwarts.

"No. I don't think it could've been avoided. The sheer number of followers he had meant that, in order for good to win, people had to fight. They," - they being the good side - "did try and prevent the attack, but their defences were broken through. And... from what I've heard, Voldemort wasn't someone who could be easily reasoned with." Though he did offer to let everyone live if they gave Harry Potter up and joined his side, right? "It could've been held elsewhere, if it wasn't for the fact that Harry Potter needed a horcrux that was hidden inside the castle." Her answers were basically along the same lines as her fellow classmates' but, you know, they weren't wrong, so....

Yes, Juni loved history, and one of her favorite topics was the second wizarding war. It was just something about the Good vs Evil battle and the whole conflict that was the battle of Hogwarts. The battle that took place right on these very ground nearly 100 years ago. She thought it was pretty cool, the school already had so much history even before the battle.

So she had her opinion ... and lots of them. But she also listened to others opinions before raising her hand and speaking out. "I think that things can be sorted out in a diplomatic manner. But in the case when there are no diplomatic solution, war is inevitable. But with Voldmort he wanted be the most powerful wizard and would stop at noting to get there bloodshed on both sides I really don't think there was any other way to defeat him."

Sadly, there really wasn't a diplomatic way to deal with Voldmort, some people just couldn't be talked out of things. She was sure that professors, members of the order and possibly even some of his own follows even tried to talk him out of things when the when to far or got too drastic.

The Ravenclaw looked up and over at Derf when he asked about the thunderbird on the ceiling. She was there and had seen it first hand with her own eyes. Something still just wasn't right, about it.

She didn't actually know too, too much about the specifics of the Battle of Hogwarts. Honestly, reading about battles where people had DIED -- people only a few years older than her and everything -- kind of bothered Emmeline. Especially since it didn't seem like Hogwarts had gotten loads safer since those ancient times. The blood bird at the bulletin board was basically proof of that, right?

She was kinda inclined to agree with Derf that the bird had been a sort of warning. And Emmeline knew enough history to know that warnings written in blood never ended well.

As for the questions, the Gryffindor raised her hand and added: "Professor, the Battle of Hogwarts was kinda different from most battles 'cause kids fought in it too, not just the adults. Loads of students fought and made a biiig difference. And and I don't think they could've avoided the Battle 'cause Voldemort wasn't gonna give up without a huge fight. He wanted loads of power wayyy too much, mhm. And battles always mean bloodshed AND I think Voldemort kinda enjoyed the killing and violence by that time too. Since his soul was all mangled and stuff." The Battle was kind of a dark time, mhm.