A mood. This Ravenclaw had one. Wait, was that even the right pairing of words? Whitney didn't even know anymore. What she did know was that she wished she'd forgoted (that was a word, right?) where this class was. She sooooo wasn't in the mood for exercise. Which lead her to lifting her knees with more energy than was entirely appropriate and splashing water all around. Some of it was so high as to go over the shorter people's heads. Until.......

"AHH!" SPLASH. There she went onto her butt in the pool. She tried to stand back up but slipped back onto her bum again. One more attempt to stand was successful this time, but her mood only worsened.

Curse this class!

They were studying... Water aerobics? Hogwarts seemed to get stranger and STRANGER by the second, but honestly? She was not complaining on this one. In fact, she was EXCITED. Physical exertion was the BEST type of therapy, and it honestly felt like they would all be needing some therapy these days. So really, maybe Professor Schmoe was trying to lift all of their spirits with this lesson plan? Bless. And for that, she actually did let out a small excited squeal of "YES". But also immediately got embarrassed, so... Nothing to see here.

And then they were starting! So she did a couple of quick wiggles to stretch out her limbs and loosen up, before beginning to lift her knees as high up as they could go. Right knee, left knee, right knee right knee.

Wait. Had she just done that one?

With his very clean and neat feet safely tucked beneath the water, Finny turned his attention to his notebook, ready to take notes. Which... come to think of it..... why were they taking notes in a pool? With water where.... paper could... disintegrate? Um........

A half confused, half helpless look was shot at Professor Schmoe. Finnegans did not question authority. But they did give LOOKS.

The leather bound notebook was clutched tightly to his chest, his quill sticking out prominently. With every splash, Finn flinched and turned away from it. No notes were getting wet on his watch. And... um.......... did he really have to start doing those knee lifts?

He shoot another look in Schmoe's direction before quickly jotting down what it was they were doing in class and how!!! upset he was!!! about the possibility!!! of getting his notes wet!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Claudette? That wasn’t her name. Claudine remembered that much. The gaze she fixed Abiola with was one of indifference and puzzlement. One: she didn’t care about being called the incorrect name. Two: why was Abiola being so rude to her? Didn’t they usually get along? She looked away, her mind already wandering and forgetting about the girl beside her.

Yes, cricket was quite the popular sport around the world. There were even World Cups for a few of the formats of the sport. But what were even the formats? This Snakette didn’t remember. Also, cricket was the only Muggle sport she knew a bit on. She couldn’t remember how though. Hmm… quite a lot was slipping her mind recently.

But leave it to Naya to be the next prim and proper {after Bellchantess or whatever her name was}. She was prim and proper enough to make Cole choose her as his girlfriend {Claudine was over him, by the way} and always prim and proper to get correct answers during lessons. What was she? A walking encyclopedia? The Snakette rolled her eyes.

Anyway.

Exercises. Yes. Schmoe seemed to be awfully fond of those, didn’t he? Claudine focused her attention solely on him for now, copying his moves. Left knee lift {she was actually lifting her right knee} and then a right knee lift {now she was lifting her left one. Repeat, repeat, repeat. This was actually fun, especially with the water splashing about.

Maybe it was the way Schmoe had mentioned the idea of being afraid of heights but the idea of seeing Schmoe climbing took hold somehow in the prefect’s mind. It was amusing. Was he afraid? He didn’t know but he so wanted to find out. “Would you have a go of climbing professor? You know, if we had somewhere to do it at Hogwarts?”. It was a pity that this would be his last year because the idea of Hogwarts bringing in a climbing wall appealed to him. Did someone say Hogwarts Climbing Club?

Either way, he didn’t have time to focus on that now. With more students coming into the pool and the lesson actually starting, he had to focus. After all, with his memory being less than reliable, he couldn’t afford not to. Flashing a small smile towards Heath, he turned his attention towards the lesson at hand.

Although, did he really need to focus now that they were only actually doing water aerobics? The idea of doing it without a full pool of water was less than appealing to him though. Looking around, he couldn’t help but get the feeling that some of his fellow students also felt this way or maybe they just weren’t feeling the lesson in general? If he was Whitney though and he’d fallen over in this puddle of a pool they were exercising in right now, he wasn’t sure if he’d be feeling it either. Smiling a little, he plopped over to her and held out his hand to his fellow Ravenclaw.

“You seem like you need an extra hand?” , his voice only slightly amused at the predicament in front of him now and really, could you blame him? If he’d had his wand, he might have offered to try off her robes but with things being as they were, she was stuck with wet robes.

Ummm.

Was it muggle studies or exercise class? Because was this all they were going to do today??? Aboli was unimpressed, but at least it was going to be an interesting class.

She started to follow Schmoe's leg-lift lead. Right. She was shortly out of breath, and they were all kind of...splashing around a bit as they did them. Would have been better if they were in bathing suits -_-

Ahem.

She DID NOT notice Claudine's look at her, and she just...focused on her leg lifts and not falling sideways into the water.

Islay had been there just, standing her rather badly painted toenails tapping as she stood in the pool. Had she said a hello to Professor Schmoe – who knew? Had she taken her shoes off? She looked at her feet quickly and yes, yes she had so clearly that meant she had to have greeted Professor Schmoe too...right? So...they were doing water aerobis – water...water oh merlin she could barely see her translucent feet in the water.

She gave Heath a nod of the head as she began moving. KNEE up other knee up..KNEE up foot slipping foot sliiiiiping girl going down. “Eeep” she squeaked out as she slipped on the slippery surface of the pool and flopped sliding a bit in the shallow pool. This was fun.

So fun.

Dear Merlin ... it was the jazzercise class all over again. Blake turned around looking for Bernadette to see her reaction. The last time they did this the sky started turning crazy colors... Blake though ... started raising his right and left knee quickening his heart rate ...

"Pro.....fessor ..." Blake was already starting to breath heavier. "The last time we did this out on the lawn ...." Blake took another deep breath after raising his knees again ... man he was out of shape. "The weather went crazy."

So doing water aerobics in ankle deep water probably wouldn't do a bit of good. The aerobic part might, since people around Phoebe were sweating and falling over into the water, but wasn't the point of doing these exercises in water to, like, help relieve stress on joints? Splashing in water that was so shallow actually seemed harder on her joints.

But her joints were fine, so who cared? She splashed enthusiastically, kicking up water and working up a sweat and only SORT OF following the professor's instructions. And not falling, because why were people doing that????

Why were people falling?? Watch your feet! Austin conrinued on with the exersice with everyone else thst wasn't falling. He was glad they were able to cool off.

Isla shook her head. Chicken fight? Dangerous? "Oh, no, it's not dangerous. If you fall, you just fall into the water," she explained. Well, hopefully you fell into the water. Regardless, it sounded more interesting than water aerobics, but he was the professor, and she was the student. Water aerobics it would be!

Isla started moving around, lifting up first her left knee and then her right. Left knee. Right knee. Left knee. Right knee. OHHH, LOOK! There were splashes in the pool. Isla got distracted and enjoyed the splashes of water instead. You know what Hogwarts needed? A pool. You know what Hogwarts didn't have? A pool! Sure, they had the lake, but pools were crystal clear and usually didn't come with grindylows.

She should probably do a few more knee exercises... Left knee! Right knee! Left knee! Right knee!

Nora looked at Professor Schmoe as if she was looking at her father. That was his way to make her interested in Muggle activities, when talking about science and something that didn't require so much... technology. She could bring up to mind a few times her father made her take swimming lessons for safety, in case she was ever in some sort of Bermuda Triangle situation when it came to magic. And just like that, her memory blurred a bit again. Little moment of nostalgia gone in seconds. Sigh.

Here comes another headache, dizziness.

Once everyone around her started doing their knee ups, she followed, smiling at the splashes of water everywhere and among others. Maybe it was exercise her brain needed to not feel so off.

Right knee. Left knee. Right knee. Left knee. Up, down, up down.

Heath took an automatic step back in a futile attempt to avoid being splashed by Professor Schmoe’s kick. Wow, he had not expected that reaction to his answer! Something else that he didn’t expect? That younger girl’s (Isla) answer. Please tell him they weren’t going to play chicken today! Just the thought of someone sitting on his shoulders - or worse, having to sit on some other person’s shoulders himself - made his skin crawl. Thanks, but no thanks!

He was relieved to learn they were doing water aerobics instead… or he was of all of the fraction of a second it took him to realize everything that could go wrong with that. It was going to be impossible to hide his feet while imitating Schmoe's movements. What if someone made fun of him? What if he got the movements wrong, or worse, what if he fell in the water in front of everyone? Slurping sarlaccs, there were too many ways this could turn into a joke at his expense! Yeah, no. No one made a punchline out of Heathcliff Ellison Jones! He was just gonna… try to hide behind Ewan. Or not…

His eyes followed the older Ravenclaw as he went to help their fallen housemate (Whitney). Nooo, don’t leave me here by myself! Now exposed, Heath had no choice but to try to keep up with the exercise. He lifted his left knee, then his right. Left, right… or was it supposed to be right, then left? Gah! He was doing it wrong, wasn’t he? Despite his confusion, this wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. There was an awful lot of splashing, but at least he managed not to slip and fall, unlike…

Heath’s dark head whipped around at the sound of an unexpected squeak, and he saw Islay slip. All thoughts exercise forgotten, he slogged his way over to her. “Need some help?” he said, offering her his hand.

Would Schmoe have a go at climbing? He gave Ewan a nervous look. ”Perhaps…” Perhaps directly translates to ‘lol no’ in adult. But he smiled anyway. No one said Hogwarts Climbing Club! Especially not Schmoe because he was leading some non-water, water aerobics!

Why weren’t they doing this in actual water instead of this errrr ankle deep situation? Well, there was actually a simple explanation for that. He had forgotten the explanation for that. Maybe it had to do with forgetting to fill up the rest of the pool? Who knew!? Not Schmoe. That’s who. AnYwAy.

Knee lifts. That’s what they were doing.

”Errr… Are you alright, Ms. Quartermaine!?” He winced as she fell once again. Oof. ”That’s the spirit!” he gave Ms. Amstern a tHUMBS UP. What was her name? Why couldn’t he remember? Finneas was pleased with most, but confused by some. Some being Finnegan. Er. Notes?

Well.

Uh.

”Excellent work everyone!” Specifically the shoutout was meant to go for Ms. Blaze, but names were…. hard today. ”You can hold onto the walls if you need, Ms. Song!” Some names were easier to remember than others. It all depended on the very minute though. He watched Moreau cautiously. They were slipping and sliding, but wasn’t that part of the fun!? He gave a thumbs up to Ms. James, Mr. Spencer, Ms. Bellchant, and Ms. Barrie! They were all GREAT. The enthusiasm was GREAT. Woooo!

Mr. Ryan’s question was met with IMMEDIATE discomfort. ”Well…. Yes. That is true… But…. It is highly unlikely that our movements errr summoned the weather…” And they were indoors this time so? It’d be fine? Right?

As he turned his head to see how Heath was doing, Finneas addressed the class loudly once more! ”Let’s do some lunges everyone!” He demonstrated by moving one of his legs forward, bending his knee. ”Take it at your own pace!” He normally had music for this sort of thing. But it seemed he had forgotten his battery powered boombox........ "Does anyone want to sing us a song while we workout!?" Improvisation. Incredible. "Or errr... If anyone else would like to lead us in a move? You may, er, call out any suggestions!"

OOC: There's still time for this part of class! 1.5 days to be almost exact!

Valencia was not dressed for this event. Knee raises weren't terrible... but lunges would definitely get her uniform wet. That's not something she wanted to deal with, ESPECIALLY since she most likely wouldn't remember why she was wet in the first place. That would just lead down some very awkward conclusions.

So, instead of a full lunge, which she could do, she instead leaned slightly forward on a bent knee, careful to be faaar above the water level and splash zone.

As for songs, all the tunes she was familiar with were classical, which probably wouldn't go over well. Exercises, however, she was about to suggest squats, and even got as far as raising her hand and opening her mouth, when she quickly decided against it. Nope. She did not want to wet.

"There's load of arm movements they do in those classes." she said quickly covering up for her almost awful suggestion. "Like holding your arms out to your sides and making circles. Although... it's a much more practical form of exercise when the water can cause some resistance."

Why was Schmoe so obsessed with aerobics?! Bernie got it, she got that he liked legwarmers and headbands and boomboxes and other aesthetics that were soooooo last century... but this? This was a lot of basic exercise. And like Blake, she was tempted to look up to the ceiling to make sure it wasn't changing colors like the sky did the LAST time they had to do knee kicks.

"I've got a song," the Gryffindor piped up, happy to do something besides splashing about in shallow water. No offense to Schmoe or anything, but she was with Phoebe on this one. THEY NEEDED MORE WATER.

So anyway, the song. Bernadette inhaled real big and then started them off, OBVIOUSLY also doing the hand motions as she sang.

"Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo.
Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo.
Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo.
Baby shark!!"

Pause for breath. "COME ON, EVERYONE." She elbowed those nearest to her to join in on singing this TERRIBLE earworm of a song.

Why was there a swimming pool in the muggle studies classroom, Carsyn still had literally no idea. Was she meant to wear her bathing suit? She hadn't recalled seeing any special comments about wearing a bathing suit to their next lesson, but then again, she hadn't been remembering many of the finer details lately it seemed. But it seemed they were getting into the water which wasn't that deep so maybe swimsuits weren't necessary. Hopefully because she couldn't even use magic to dry off if she did get soaked.

At least skirts were better than trousers in that she had a distance before the hem of her skirt touched the water. She could comfortably stand in the water, trying to not think about the cleanliness of some of her peers and if they washed their feet recently (hers were clean, FYI despite younger boys might thinking otherwise but they were obnoxious and didn't know what they were talking about). One of her favorite muggle exercises went right along with what Phoebe had said about running around, but more specifically just running. With nowhere to go. There was nothing like a run in the Scottish background, with the cool crisp air on your skin. Really, it was almost as good as flying.

But it made sense that they would be doing a water aerobics today, since swimming pool.

Left knee, right knee. She lifted them up .... except not TOO high, because SKIRT. But it was high enough to get them moving. Why was there no announcement to wear shorts today?? Had Schmoe forgotten? And what was that song that Bernie was singing??

"Can you ---" but before she finished, the sixth year found herself humming along to the baby shark song too. WHYYYYY?!?

Claudine did not know, of course, that she almost was called out for her ability to follow Schmoe’s instructions to the letter. Had she known, she’d have been immensely pleased. What now though? Oh, lunges. There was a pause in movement from her as she observed Schmoe. Okay… she thought she had this down. One leg forward and bend that knee. Oh, look.. it was so easy but somewhat strenuous. Claudine repeated the movement with her other leg.

Sing a song? Lead a movement?

No.

This Snakette would not be embarrassing herself like the random girl {Bernadette} over there. Random girl had a terrible voice, did she know? And what a God awful song that was chosen.

One leg extended with the knee bend. Repeat for the next knee. This set was done as she watched a Ravenclaw {Valencia} demonstrate some moves.

K simply returned the thumbs up to Professor Schmoe, continuing her leg lifts and settling into a rhythm. She could see a couple other students fall, including Islay, but they were already being assisted up so she didn't stop from her current movements.

That was until Schmoe changed up the routine. She glanced at the water, before looking to her uniform briefly. If she REAAAALLY lunged she would probably end up getting her clothes wet. Which she didn't particularly want to do. BUT at the same time she didn't want to not give exercising her FULL participation so.. sorry clothes. She started moving into her lunges, leaning as far as she could in order to get maximum stretch to her legs. She wasn't much in the mood to add any exercises, deciding to just follow along after everyone else.

But the SONG did get a small groan. That darn infectious tune. Did they have to choose THAT one?! The kids at the ballet studio back at home LOVED that song and it was endlessly playing through her head when she heard it. Not to mention it was now giving her FEELINGS for wanting to be home and singing the silly tune with her favorite class of 4's and 5's.

But she was her and she didn't like feelings, so instead she channeled the emotion into following along with the dance. NO SHAME. She would refrain from singing however, for the safety of everyone else around and their poor hearing.

Yessss. She had made a good guess. They were going to be doing aerobics in the pool. Naya was always down for some exercise. She started to stretch a bit so her muscles could be loose for the water aerobics. Let the splashing begin.

They were starting with knee lifts. Naya began to lift her knees.....left.....right, to the rhythm of the professor’s instructions. Left, right, her knees went higher and higher. This was fun. Oh wait, they were changing to the next exercise. Lunges. Ok. Naya lunged forward, leaning over her knee. Stretching.......and then she switched to the other leg. Right leg lunge and stretch. Annnnd now they had musical accompaniment. That Baby Shark song that got into your head and refused to leave.

Naya couldn’t help but bounce to the DO DO DO DO DO DO DO part. Man that song was annoying, but so very catch. Switching legs again, Naya continued to lunge. This was turning into a good workout. She was kind of sad that she had missed the Jazzercise classes that had happened earlier in the year. Maybe the professor would make these exercise classes a regular thing.

Perhaps? Oh, how he wanted to see Schmoe climb now! But he knew he was fighting a losing battle from the get go. Still, it was amusing.

Even now as he started to move back to where he was close to Heath and he started to copy Schmoe’s motions, he couldn’t help but feel a little silly. The level of water really wasn’t appropriate for what they were trying to do and honestly, more people were likely to slip and land on their butt.

Still, who was he to refuse an opportunity to exercise? Taking a steadying breath, the prefect stepped forward into a deep lunge and held the position for a few seconds before swapping legs. “Do we have to sing a song or…” but before he could finish, Baby shark was blearing out across the pool.
Ew.

Really?

It was like the was trying to pick the worst song she could think of. He’d grown up with muggle music but of all the songs?

He would not be DO DO DOING with the rest of the class.

Heath was so distracted trying to help Islay that he barely registered Professor Schmoe's next set of instructions. What did he say they were doing now? Something about lunges and someone leading the next move? Nope, hard pass! The only way Heath would willingly draw attention to himself was if he was playing someone else. Then if he did anything to look foolish, his character would be the one judged for it, not he himself. Besides, he couldn’t think of a move to lead even if he wanted to, unless… If Schmoe happened to have some of those foam pool noodles, he might (might being the key word in that sentence) be persuaded to lead the class in a sword lightsaber noodle fight. Actually, that sounded pretty fun!

Still unsure of what he was supposed to do, Heath watched the other students and tried to copy their movements. One leg forward, bend at the knee, and - Blink, blink. Why was that Gryffindor girl (Bernie) singing? Oh, right, Schmoe had said something about singing a song, but really, of all songs in the world, why Baby Shark? That had to be one of the most annoying songs in existence!

For one split second, the thought crossed Heath’s mind to drown out that song with some showtunes, but he would never actually do that for several reasons. A) Most of the showtunes he knew were either too slow to lend themselves to workout music or meant to be sung by more than one person. B) Schmoe might dock points if he did that, and even if he didn’t, the singing girl had friends who would almost certainly call him out. C) Most importantly, his years of theater experience had taught him to NEVER interrupt someone else’s performance!

Pushing that idea out of his mind, Heath turned his attention back to the exercise. He tried to switch sides, but as soon as he moved his other leg forward, he wobbled. He tried to reach back to grab the pool wall behind him, but he missed his grip and fell back with a splash. Of course, it was bound to happen eventually. He should’ve guessed it was too much to hope that he’d make it through… whatever this was without looking silly! He rose, breathing an annoyed sigh as he tried to inconspicuously wring out his robes. Maybe that obnoxious Baby Shark song would distract everyone from seeing that…. He hoped. Please?

Water aerobics? So basically a repeat of jazzericse by the lake, but this time, in the pool! Well, Avalon could always count on Muggle Studies to provide a unique and interesting lesson. She actually ended up having a great time doing jazzercise. But she was a little worried about slipping and falling in the water....kind of like what Whitney just did. Now that would be embarrassing.

The Ravenclaw started with some gentle knee-ups, taking care not to lose her balance. Right knee, left knee. Right knee, left knee. She found a pretty good rhythm, but it would be better with some music. Avalon was about to ask Professor Schmoe if they could use his weird sound box thing to play some tunes when he suggested that they sing their own songs. Uhh, Avalon wasn't a great singer. Nor did she know of any songs that would be energizing for this type of activity. But it seemed like Bernie had them covered. Whatever it was that the Gryffindor was singing was actually pretty catchy. Albeit a little repetitive.

Avalon transitioned to some lunges as she bopped her head to the song about the shark. She didn't have enough confidence to sing in front of everyone, but she could at least enjoy the music. As annoying (yet catchy) as it was.

Could always count on Ms. Grantham to chip in with some helpful contribution! He wasn’t familiar with the song (or perhaps it had escaped his memory…), but it was so repetitive which helped him. So he joined Ms. Grantham with the chorus (OFF KEY and EVERYTHING). "Dooooo dooo dooo dooo!" Did he notice the dread shared by Prefect Rose, Ms. Blaze, and Mr. Jones? HA. No. Of course he didn’t. Nor did he notice any ~feelings~ that Ms. Amstern was currently ruminating over. Teenage angst? NO THANKS. HA. bIG YiKeS. He did grin big at all those bouncing around with the tune, like Ms. Lindsay, younger Mr. Jones, and Ms. Sinclair. Those three were always so positive in class. A true pleasure to teach, honestly? Honestly.

”Baby shark,” he continued, grinning before nodding. ”Arm circles, wonderful suggestion Ms. Phillips! Everyone, let’s do some arm circles!” He demonstrated for them before continuing to speak once more!

”Valencia brings up a great point! Obviously we can’t work with water resistance today, but that is one of the unique advantages of doing WATER aerobics!” Why didn’t they have a full pool of water? Why had he done this? ”What might be some other advantages of WATER aerobics?!” He paused so everyone could THINK. ”And errr if you can’t think of any that haven’t been said I’d also like you to consider, what might be the benefits to GROUP exercise?”

OOC: hiiii thanks for your patience! You'll have at least 20 hours before we move along!

Schmoe is asking 2 questions, but your character doesn't have to answer both! Just trying to give some ~options~, ja feel?

Arm circles? She threw those in as Professor Schmoe requested, per Valencia's suggestion. Did she feel silly doing this without actually being submerged? OF COURSE. But it didn't really matter, most things at Hogwarts seemed silly to be perfectly frank.

Hearing the questions posed, well she quickly forgot the first but thankfully was able to remember the second since he had JUST said it. She paused her arm circles to lift one hand in the air to answer the question. "In reference to group exercising, it can be used therapeutically. Like, when you exercise you generally produce endorphins which makes you happier. When you do it in a group you can feed off of each other, and if there are any miscommunications WITHIN said group an exercise high is usually a good way to start an open dialogue." Was this more opinion than scientific? Absolutely. But she was sticking to it.