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hermygirl · #1 (**permalink**) 03-01-2019, 11:25 PM

The classroom looks pretty much the same way as it usually does as you enter: the desks are set up in front-facing rows, each individual workstation set up with a burner and tripod for your cauldron. It was clearly a practical lesson today, even if you hadn't checked the schedule; the side workbench had several trays of ingredients laid out neatly.

All seemed normal then. At least until you cast your eye on the front desk. There, you see a the cluster of small, brightly coloured balloons on strings floating next to where the Potions professor was lent back against the front desk.

Was it Noble's birthday? Or were they for the lesson?

Lesson Progression
Greetings and first question
Why might we want to change our voice?
What does helium do to your voice?

Ginevra · 03-02-2019, 01:36 AM

Daisy entered the classroom, relieved that she didn't have to answer a series of questions in order to gain access to the room like the previous lesson. "Hello, Professor Noble," she greeted with a smile to her Head of House as she made her way to her workstation. Those balloons were capturing her attention.

Kayla Taaffe · 03-02-2019, 02:54 AM

Vivienne walked into the classroom and waved at Daisy. It was so quiet... She then waved at Noble. She wished she was in Hufflepuff so she could have Noble as her Head of House. Then she saw sparks fly when she saw the balloons.

DuckyLinJi · 03-02-2019, 12:40 PM

Holding his small cauldron in his arms, Dorian felt glad that they did not have a door to door quiz today the moment he entered the classroom. The classroom looked like usual except for a couple of colorful balloons floating next to Professor Noble. "Good day, Professor" he greeted as his blue eyes looked from the balloons to the man and back again.

Of course he was curious about why there were balloons hanging around but he didn't bother asking. He figured they would get an answer soon enough. So with a small nod of his head, the fifth year turned around and sat down near the front like always.

Govoni · 03-02-2019, 01:52 PM

Aaron... remained wary of Potions lessons, following that faithful entrance quiz.. More than usual. No matter who you were, pop quizzes were stress-inducing. Even if he knew the material, the surprise of it always managed to blank his mind out.

LUCKILY, the door was already opened today, no parchments riddled with questions in sight. Some of the tension in his body eased, as he threw himself fully into the room. The room was still pretty bare as he chose his usual workstation towards the back. And then he was raising his eyebrows at the colorful balloons, and Professor Nobel.

The cheerful colors did brighten the room. So, whatever their purpose, Aaron approved.

"Hello, Professor... Having a good day so far?"

MadMadamMalfoy · 03-02-2019, 04:05 PM

Tina wasn't sure what to make of potions class anymore, not after that crazy door maze lesson! She still couldn't say she approved of the boils, but she wasn't angry about it anymore. Learning the reason behind it had helped, and she had to respect Professor Noble for answering her question about it instead of punishing her for asking. Just because she wasn't angry didn't mean she was going to let her guard down, though!

Tina was prepared for surprises this time, but she had all her materials with her, just in case the information on the class notice wasn't a misdirect. As she approached the classroom, she half-expected to be met with another stone wall with a piece of parchment attached to it, but thankfully that didn't happen. The door was in its proper place, and she breathed a silent sigh of relief as she opened it and let herself inside. Her dark eyes darted around the room, noting the familiar setup. Maybe they would have a nice, normal lesson today… she hoped!

“Good day, Professor Noble,” she greeted, giving the man a polite nod. When she'd looked at him to say hello, she noticed the brightly colored balloons, the one thing in the classroom that looked out of place. She was sure they must be for the lesson - Professor Noble didn't strike her as the colorful party decorations type - but what were they for? She mulled over the possibilities as she took her seat. As long as they weren't filled with some mysterious substance that would injure them, she supposed it didn't matter.

Hey Ju · 03-03-2019, 02:30 PM

Here she was, for yet another Potions class. Anna really had to start putting major effort into it all because OWLs were fast approaching, but... would she really ever need Potions after she graduated?

In truth........... probably.

Sigh.

The Gryffindor Captain entered the room with all of her belongings inside her cauldron, which she was holding by the handle like a handbag. "Hi, professor." She greeted the man, only to do a double take because of those balloons. Anna studied professor Noble and the balloons as she just stood there for a few seconds. "Are you alright, professor?" She asked, an amused half-smile making its way to her lips as she resumed walking towards a workstation.

"Hey." Anna greeted a fellow fifth year (Tina) with a friendly smile. "Do you mind?" She lifted her cauldron a bit and gestured with her head to the seat next to the girl.

Lissy Longbottom · 03-03-2019, 04:51 PM

Nettie could tell the second she walked in to the lesson that it was a practical lesson today. Thank MERLIN! Practical lessons were her favorite, and now that she wasn't holding an unreasonable grudge against this class, she was eager to get started.

"I like the balloons, Professor!" she said with a smile as she came in and took a seat. She wasn't sure why they were there, and they probably weren't his, but it didn't matter. She was in a good mood. Despite the fact that she still had a heavy bun on the top of her head. She'd tried to cut some of the length off last night, only to find it already growing back at the same speed this morning.

littledhampir · 03-03-2019, 04:57 PM

The first thing Indigo noticed when he stepped into the classroom was the balloons. It was out of the ordinary, see, so they stood out to him. And he wondered what the reason was for them being there. Balloons usually meant a celebration of some sort. There were no words on these balloons to give him a clue as to their purpose. Was it somebody's birthday? Somebody else's birthday? Today was Indigo's birthday, actually.

"Hello professor," he greeted as he headed to take a seat. The balloon mystery was interesting, but Indigo was a pretty patient person so he had no problem waiting to find out the purpose.

MadMadamMalfoy · 03-03-2019, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hey Ju

Here she was, for yet another Potions class. Anna really had to start putting major effort into it all because OWLs were fast approaching, but... would she really ever need Potions after she graduated?

In truth........... probably.

Sigh.

The Gryffindor Captain entered the room with all of her belongings inside her cauldron, which she was holding by the handle like a handbag. "Hi, professor." She greeted the man, only to do a double take because of those balloons. Anna studied professor Noble and the balloons as she just stood there for a few seconds. "Are you alright, professor?" She asked, an amused half-smile making its way to her lips as she resumed walking towards a workstation.

"Hey." Anna greeted a fellow fifth year (Tina) with a friendly smile. "Do you mind?" She lifted her cauldron a bit and gestured with her head to the seat next to the girl.

Tina had just finished neatly arranging her materials at her workstation and turned her attention back to the balloons at the front of the room when an unexpected voiced distracted her from trying to guess what they were for. She looked around to find a girl about her own age smiling at her. She didn't know her very well, but she immediately recognized her as the Gryffindor quidditch captain. "Not at all," Tina replied, returning the girl's smile with a small one of her own. This girl seemed friendly!

Tina moved her equipment over a few inches to make room for the Gryffindor. She wasn't very good with socializing,
but she supposed she should do the polite thing and inteoduce herself. "I'm Tina," she said, "Tina Dantes."

Harron Peasley · 03-03-2019, 06:42 PM

Something about the presence of the balloons made Józef feel werid. There was no reason why, of course, apart from the fact that they seemed so out of place in the potions classroom - and indeed Jó looked around the rest of the room just to make sure.

With everything else looking normal, the second year made his mind up. "Happy Birthday, Professor!" he said with an uncertain grin, before he made his way to a desk somewhere in the middle of the room.

hermygirl · 03-03-2019, 07:21 PM

SPOILER!!: Daisy

He wasn’t surprised when the Hufflepuff was first through the door, and Noble gave her a slight nod. “Good morning, Daisy.”

SPOILER!!: Vivienne

Well someone was in a good mood, although Noble didn’t wave back. “Do find yourself a seat and get your things organised, Vivienne.” Really, he shouldn’t need to say these things by now. Even if she was only a first year.

SPOILER!!: Dorian

“Morning, Dorian,” he greeted as the Ravenclaw headed to the front row as usual. Noble was silently glad that Dorian decided better of asking the obvious; all would be revealed soon enough.

SPOILER!!: Aaron

Aaron was one of those students that showed promise, but sometimes lacked confidence and froze in the moment. Thankfully, the fifth year still had some time to overcome that before his OWLs, although always skulk at the back. Not that anyone could hide, in Noble’s classroom. “Not terrible,” he replied to the boy’s question.

SPOILER!!: Tina

There was no stone walls today; apparently these children didn’t understand the concept of a one off. “Good day, Tina,” he replied in kind as she took her seat.

SPOILER!!: Anna

It was always interesting to see how OWLs year changed people’s attitudes to learning, and it seemed Anna was one of those who’d chosen to knuckle down in class this year. It was a nice change from her previous boisterous, over-excitable and careless self. “Morning, Anna.” An amused smirk crossed his lips at her next question. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

SPOILER!!: Nettie

The slightest of smiles curled in the corner of his lips as he saw Nettie’s good mood. “Glad you like them, Nettie.” Though they were there for a purpose, and not just to brighten up the classroom.

SPOILER!!: Indigo

It wouldn’t be long Indigo had to wait, as a quick glance at the clock told Noble that it was almost time to start. “Hello Indigo,” he greeted the Ravenclaw with a nod, already unholstering his wand to shut the door.

SPOILER!!: Józef

The youngest Kowalski had barely made it in time, and once he’d stepped properly inside the classroom, the door slammed shut behind him. “You’re three weeks too early,” Noble responded, rolling his eyes. Seriously, did the boy think he actually celebrated his birthday? Not alone with balloons?

Kowalskis.

Regardless, it was now time to start, and just in case the door banging hadn’t got everyone’s attention, he now clapped his hands together too. “As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, we’ll be brewing today.” If they hadn’t, well…more fool them for not being aware of their surroundings. “However, first…a question to start thinking about today’s topic: how do we communicate?”

Lissy Longbottom · 03-03-2019, 08:40 PM

Communication? Interesting. She wondered what this lesson could be about - maybe a babbling type of potion? Some potion that helped you translate other languages? Being a linguist herself, she instantly became more intrigued in this lesson. She assumed he meant communication through WORDS - not something else, like writing.

She raised her hand. "We communicate through speaking different languages," she answered. Please let this be the right direction, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEEEE!

Hey Ju · 03-03-2019, 09:52 PM

Why wouldn't he be?

Well.

Anna chuckled at the Potions' Master's answer and sent him her cheeky smile that was meant to say 'you know why!' as she moved to take her seat.

"Thanks!" She said to the Ravenclaw girl, placing her things on the workstation and taking a seat. She noticed the other girl clearing some space for her and sent her another warm smile as a thanks. "Nice to meet you, Tina. I'm Anna." Well, Tina seemed nice enough!

Yeeep, she was aware they were brewing that day. ~~Why did he think she picked a Ravenclaw to sit next to? Heehee.~~ Professor Noble's first question surprised her, though. Communication? In Potions? Huh! Maybe there was some hope for her in that lesson after all.

The fifth year shot her hand up. "Through messages. They don't have to be verbal, necessarily." That look she sent him earlier? That was communication! See, Anna knew about this topic.

She was pretty good at it. Waaaaaaay better than at Potions, really.

Govoni · 03-04-2019, 12:28 AM

..... Well, at least it hadn't been terrible. So, that was something. "Good to hear, Professor!"

Settling down into his seat, Aaron went about pulling materials from his bag. Notebook, ink, quill... Potions was one of those subjects that required all of his focus, and meticulous note-taking. If not, he always managed to bungle something up. His 'potion fails' had been spectacular in many previous lessons. But he was still trying to better his skills. Or, at least, he hadn't given up yet.

...and he wasn't surprised that they'd be brewing today. The workstations were all readied, and there were ingredient already laid out for use. He wasn't knowledgeable enough to figure out the potion based on the gathered ingredients, so he just refocused on Professor Noble. And his odd question.

Trick question? "Verbally and non-verbally. Through speaking and hand gestures."

Watson · 03-04-2019, 01:29 AM

How do we communicate?

Interesting question for a potions lesson.... Hmm... He paused, wondering where the lesson would be going today. Chase stopped his thoughts from progressing elsewhere and remained silent as he tried to focus on the question at hand. He had listened to his peers questions. His fellow students had already mentioned verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. "[B]Body language is a form of communication/B]." Sometimes you could learn more about a person through their body language than through their words. A person could speak a phrase with one meaning could have a completely different meaning based on tone of voice and body language.

MadMadamMalfoy · 03-04-2019, 05:18 AM

Tina was about to reply to Anna when class started, so she gave her a quick nod instead. She didn't have to be a Ravenclaw to know that talking over Noble would be about as smart as poking a sleeping Hungarian Horntail! Speaking of talking… Professor Noble's first question was about communication. Well, that was unexpected! Still Tina was curious how this would relate to Potions. Were they making a potion to help them communicate better? Possibly something to stop communication? And whatever they were doing, how did the balloons fit into it?

Tina carefully considered the question. The obvious answer was speech, but someone had already said that. Then she thought of body language, but somebody else beat her to that answer too. She bit her lower lip, lost in thought. For a fleeting moment, she considered art as a possibility. It was basically communicating a message using images instead of words, but the more she thought about it, the less confident she felt. That was probably too much of a stretch! She decided to go with a safer answer. “We can communicate through the written word, things like books or letters,” she said after raising her hand and being called on. She was already doubting her answer as soon as she spoke. It seemed almost too safe to be acceptable!

Ginevra · 03-04-2019, 05:32 AM

Daisy decided to go with a different train of thought. She raised her hand. "Well, some tribes like the Native Americans used smoke signals created by fire to communicate. I am unsure if that still happens."

siriusblackliveson · 03-05-2019, 12:24 AM

Patrick had been sitting at his brewing station watching everyone else arrive as he tried to think over what they may be doing that day. He took out his notebook and his pencil from his leather bag. He did not want to be in this class for a brewing day this was almost worse than all the questions that one time.

He heard the question about how to communicate and he agreed with everyone else. "Well if you mean actually communicate verbally and non-verbally. If you mean what methods, well in early American history they used candles. Telephones were also a big thing." He wasn't sure which kind of communication Nobel wanted.

littledhampir · 03-05-2019, 01:53 AM

How did they communicate? The obvious answer was through speaking to each other, but that had already been said so Indigo didn't want to repeat it. A more complex answer was that there were lots of verbal and nonverbal ways that people communicated with each other, but that had also been said. Indigo would have to either think of something different or just not give an answer. He would have been fine with the latter, honestly, but he didn't like saying nothing in class. It always made him feel like he was going to get in trouble. Luckily, he thought of an answer that he hadn't heard anyone else say yet. "Our facial expressions can communicate a lot about how we're feeling."

hermygirl · 03-05-2019, 02:49 AM

SPOILER!!: Nettie

Nettie was looking particularly keen today, as her hand shot up first, and Noble was relieved to see that perhaps fially she was over her slump, moody teenager or whatever else phase it had been. He nodded at her answer, although it was hardly specific. If she was hoping they’d be doing a linguistic potion, she’d be sorely disappointed. “A very broad answer, but we do, yes.”

SPOILER!!: Anna

The potions professor deadpanned at the look she gave him; no, he did not know why. He hadn’t the foggiest idea, actually. Which was actually rather ironic, given the question he asked. “Such as…?” He knew it had been an open question, but seriously…they couldn’t come up with specifics? They spent enough time in his classes illicitly communicated, surely they could given one solid example.

SPOILER!!: Aaron

Was it good to hear? Noble wasn’t convinced. And Anna had already covered the verbal answer, so that only earnt the Hufflepuff a grumble. Thankfully, the fifth year redeemed himself with the next bit of his answer. “Hand gestures, yes. There’s even whole languages made up of hand gestures.” To link back to Nettie’s answer.

SPOILER!!: Chase

His gaze now settled on Chase, and he could almost sense the cogs turning as he considered the question. The answer he gave was decent enough those. “Body language is often key to communicating meaning, yes.”

SPOILER!!: Tina

This was meant to be one of those starter questions where there was really no wrong or right answer, so she really had no need to doubt herself. Especially when she had a considered answer. “Indeed. The written word is a very important form of communication in our society indeed.”

SPOILER!!: Daisy

Was he surprised by Daisy’s answer? A little. It was a tad out of the box. But it was still a method of communication, and he hadn’t specified it needed to be a commonly used one. “I believe it does,” Noble said with a nod.

SPOILER!!: Patrick

And apparently they were on a theme of using objects for communication. “Yes, a lit candle in the window was once used to communicate safety. And telephones allow Muggles to talk over a long distance.” For those who hadn’t taken Muggle Studies to know.

SPOILER!!: Indigo

It wasn’t necessarily wrong to stay quiet in the discussion, as Noble wasn’t one for contributions for the sake of contributions. But Indigo’s answer was decent enough. “Yes, they do. They can help give nuance to verbal communication.”

Were there no more suggestions? Noble gave a slight roll of his eyes, a scowl threatening on his lips. There was a glaring omission from their answers. “You’ve covered most of the major categories…but I’m rather disappointed that no-one chose to mention drawings or pictures.” He knew several in the room were fans of comic books, and those relied as much, if not more, on the graphics than the words. “Regardless, today we’ll be focusing on the voice, and verbal communication. What are some different ways we can we manipulate our voices? ...and can you think of any reasons why might we want to?”

Lissy Longbottom · 03-05-2019, 04:04 AM

If Nettie had known about Noble's inner thoughts, and known that HE of all professors had noticed she had been moody and distant, she would have thought it hysterical. Instead, her face fell a bit as it became obvious that this potion wasn't some sort of cool translation sort of potion, as she had hoped. SIGH. That was a long shot, she supposed - but STILL.

She raised her hand again. "If you don't want to be recognized, you would want to change your voice so people wouldn't know it was you speaking, if they knew what you sounded like. It would probably be beneficial to also do some sort of transfiguration on your face, unless they can't see you." she explained. Like if someone was on the run from the law or something.

LilFox06 · 03-05-2019, 04:19 AM

Valencia raised her hand. "Sometimes my dad has a really even voice when he's 'disappointed' in something my brother did." True story. "I think he does it so we know he's not mad -- but the voice is kind of worse."

And yes, it was usually always her brother that was in trouble.

Ginevra · 03-05-2019, 12:13 PM

Daisy scratched her head as she thought of an answer. Did Professor Noble mean both magical and mundane methods? She raised her hand and bit her lip. "I might be way off the mark here but there is the Volubilis Potion. People like to impersonate the voices of others for a lark."