Naya was busy taking notes as the professor explained how they should deal with dangerous creatures. And then the mystery was solved. Trolls. Now the Gryffindor was a lover of all creatures, but trolls were not exactly at the top of her must see list. Nevertheless, she was a bit curious about them.

When the next question was posed, Naya raised her hand. “You should definitely approach trolls with caution, if at all. Their behavior tends to be unpredictable and that’s a problem. But......since they aren’t the most intelligent of creatures, you might have a better chance of outsmarting them.” That is, if you could avoid getting eaten long enough to come up with a plan.

Okay, what? Morgan was SURE that Williamson would have chided that first year girl for suggesting that it was okay to keep a dangerous creature as long as you didn't tell anyone about it. Because wasn't that what adults did? Made sure kids were following the rules? If he knew he was going to be that lenient this year, maybe he would have pushed for getting a kneazle from his parents instead of a rule-abiding cat. And he was sure none of his dormmates would have ratted him out.

And also? Williamson was lucky that Morgan liked CoMC because night classes were not where it was at. That was his time not school time. But he wasn't too bitter about that or the kneazle sitch. Schnitzel was a cool cat, after all, and he wouldn't trade him for the fiercest kneazle now.

Anyway, what was the question?

Morgan had gotten a little distracted in his thoughts, but the answers of his classmates eventually snapped him out of that. Right. Trolls. He didn't know too much about trolls because they weren't as exciting as dragons or as fun as jarveys, but he raised his hand. Until that older girl in his house said exactly what he was going to say - they were dumb and you could outsmart them. Nevermind.

"Why do you need to handle them though?" he said anyway, not really having another answer. "Couldn't you just leave them alone?" Especially if they were big and dumb and smelly and mean.

TROLLS???

Kale audibly giggle!snorted. Trolls. Oh man, TROLLS. They were talking ‘bout trolls, folks. All of his peers were being the M O S T polite, but Kale didn’t understand why. Everybody knew what the deal was with trolls. So Kale raised his hand and said what his classmates didn’t have the courage to blurt out. Blurt being the key word. “Sir, trolls are dumb. D U M B. Dumb.”

And because they were large and stupid, you could do lots of things to outwit them. The range of goofy traps were open to bajillions of possibilities. Kale added, “I’m thinking if you have a wand, a slingshot and two rubber ducks, that should be plenty to handle them.”

The wand cuz magic.

The slingshot because they are too tall to hit with pebbles by hand.

And two rubber ducks for, WELL, obvious reasons.

Dangerous creatures? They were going to deal with dangerous creatures??!? Did that seem advisable... oh. It seemed like a theoretical discussion, which made Phoebe feel much more comfortable with the idea of TROLLS as a subject matter. She'd prefer not having to explain to her father and mother how her sister had been squashed before Halloween.

"Even if they're not very intelligent creatures, they are sometimes trained and employed in security situations. Guard trolls, right? So that suggests that they're not incapable of learning and having a goal set for them. By them. Whatever."

Wait wait wait. They were learning about TROLLS?! OH. EM. GEE. It took literally all of his willpower to not let out an excited little squeak when Williamson announced that. It sounded terrifying, but he also was SMART and fully intended to hide behind all the older students if there were going to be real trolls involved. Gah, he was just SO smart. He really should have been a Ravenclaw. He was also vigorously nodding along in agreement to Williamson's little speech about respecting creatures and only using defensive spells. That was rule number one! They were likely more afraid of you than you were of the creature. That was what he had always been told.

Now, for his question...Adam raised his hand. He actually didn't really agree with his classmates who insisted trolls were dumb. "Well, I think trolls are probably a lot like us. They probably have families. Some are probably more popular than others...and they probably also have a troll who is a leader. I bet their society is a bit like ours, honestly," he explained. It seemed so obvious and simple to him!

Valencia thought for a moment before raising her hand. "I actually don't think they are given enough credit. They must live in tribes that have enough intelligence and organized thought to dress, communicate, and eat." It was fairly known that there have been a few wizards in history capable of communication with trolls. And they were always depicted as having some sort of clothing.

"There's been security trolls as well. So they're capable of having human type jobs." Just saying. "Isn't it rude to have the worst failing grade named after an entire sentient species?"

That being said, she had no desire to run across any. "I think the best way to handle the situation would be to steer clear. I'd think they wouldn't attack unless they felt threatened or scared."

'Don't be an idiot',someone had replied and the professor's voice followed, praising them and their 'Excellent advice', which prompted Ninette to furrow her brow slightly.

Well. Duh. That was just solid GENERAL life advise.

When her own answer is validated (uh, sort of - she was still taking it as a win even though the snacks part hadn't been the best idea), she stand a little straighter, content smile spreading across her lips.

Ahhhh yeees. She's off to a good start this year.

Ninette nods along. Have your wand and your wits about you, bring a buddy impediment jinx, disarming spell, never go on the offensive against a magical creature -

WAIT - should she be writing all of this? She probably should. Hand quickly reaches into her rucksack, fingers haphazardly searching for a quill and some paper. It all sounded only logical but she probably should.

Play stupid games win stupid prizes, she finally scribbles down. No. There were things before that but oh boy now they had already moved along and she once again opens her mouth to speak without fully thinking her answer through and then it sinks in ... trolls? What did she REALLY know about trolls? And, huh, troll society?

Trolls have... societies?

Uh was she supposed to know that? Did everyone already know that?

Glancing around the other students and hearing their answers apparently they did...?

"If there any different species of trolls they probably have different ways of behaving and, huh, cultural traditions." Do trolls even have cultures? Oh well, she was here to learn right? Right. "Like, at my house we always eat dinner at 8pm but when we visited my aunt - who lives in Italy - they always eat at 9pm and think it's weird to eat earlier AND because she lives near the coast she eats a lot of fish so maybe trolls who live near bodies of water eat a lot of fish and trolls who live in forests eat... other things -" Perhaps this addendum hadn't exactly been necessary, but Ninette presses on. "- and maybe some trolls are more aggressive because they are less used to seeing people, and when people come into contact with them they usually disturb them instead of respecting them... even if they are a bit dimwitted they still deserve respect, I think."

Emmerson could ALWAYS count on Kizzy to back her up and beamed widely when her friend went to chime in with her answer. "Yeah! Finders keepers!" A golden rule that she was only willing to amend for a select [/i]few[/i]. Most people were on their own if she happened upon something she liked that happened to belong to someone else.

As to the professor's concerns about dying creatures...

"That's okay." Emm said, with all the innocence of a girl who'd seen too much and understood too little. "If it dies, Auntie Jessa can bring it back and then it'll never be able to die again and there'll be no way we can hurt it no matter how little we know." Then they wouldn't need to go get a professor or anyone else and wouldn't risk having it taken away. Kid had a whole plan where this was concerned and it was growing all the more elaborate by the second.

Oh but they were moving on. Emmerson nodded along while the Professor explained precautions they needed. Going with someone else was easy, she would always have Kizzy and they'd just go together. Where were they going? Could they go NOW?

T R O L L S?!?!

"I know, I know!" She said, her hand shooting up. "I can SHOW you. So--okay--you gotta look--okay, are you looking?" Emmerson turned once more to her bestfriend, slouching her shoulders and using her fingers to train her brows into a straighter line. Very serious. The little girl grunted a few times at Kizzy, as she imagined trolls did all the time. Then. "Me troll, you troll." She hit her chest hard, nearly coughing in the process but it was a convincing performance, she was sure. "We together now." Grunt grunt grunt.

She turned to the professor again. "Only they don't really talk but I bet that's what the grunting means half the time. Very simple creatures. They don't ask for much. Best to avoid, they look hideous in pink."

Kinsay straightened her back a little bit when their Professor praised her for her right answer. It was so right that it even made him scratch his jaw thoughtfully because he probably hadn’t ever heard an answer that creative and right before. ”What if they look sad?” Hugs were very helpful for getting rid of sads. Daddy’s hugs were magic for that, but Kinsay was good at them too. If professor didn’t believe her he could ask Teddy.

Emm’s echo of the finders, keepers sentiment made Kiz feel more confident. Finders keepers was okay because it was different that stealing, even though she probably wouldn’t actually just take something she found anyway. These things were different in practice. She would likely feel too awful to take.

Speaking of feeling awful, the thought of dead creatures made her a little sad, but Emm made a REALLY good point and Kizzy found herself nodding along. Auntie Jessa was real good with the undead. Kizzy knew because she saw some of the kneazles when she was hanging out at the manor. ”And they always look good as new.” She added to make sure that Professor Williamson knew that Emm was talking serious business.

Anyway, they were moving on and Kizzy made sure to pay attention because apparently they were going to see XXXXX rated creatures today. The rules were easy enough. [b]”Hey buddy,”[/b] Kiz whispered to Emm with delight. Emm was a built in buddy. This stuff was easy.

Kinsay didn’t raise her hand to answer the question right away because she needed to think for a moment. But when Emm raised her hand and turned to start demonstrating, Kiz was quick to play along. She slouched her shoulders too, mirroring Emmerson, and gave her best grunt. ”We troll!” She pounded her chest too. Grunt, gruuuuuuuuunt, grunt.

Also, Kinsay had a question. ”How come they’re so dangerous? Do they eat people?”

Nem was following, sure. It was easy enough. A little too easy maybe, because it was either stuff that everyone with two brain cells to rub together should know, and then recapping all that same stuff. But whatever. This was how classes always went, and at least in Care of Magical Creatures there was usually some kind of payoff in the practical.

Trolls then. Not too terrible. At least Weevil had them delving a little deeper than textbook facts. That was enough to keep Nem defaulting to joke answers. They raised a hand. "Well, they like antagonising people and winding them up, don't they? Upsetting people, starting arguments, red flag to a bull kind of thing. So, rule one: don't feed the trolls." Okay, so it wasn't quite enough to stop them. Schmoe would have appreciated it though. "Oh. Trolls trolls. My bad." Oops. How embarrassing. So sorry. Et cetera. Et cetera. "You could learn to speak Troll if you're that invested in trying to deal with them. Couldn't hurt."

Unless you decided to troll the trolls. And they decided to bonk you on the head with one of those giant clubs.

Speaking of idiots. Know who was an idiot and absolutely knew he was one too? This guy right here who was mostly nodding along but also absolutely took note that Thing 1 and Thing 2 were i kahoots again. Or at least Thing 2 was just tagging along with whatever Thing 1 was saying which was...kind of cute and low key alarming too.

His warm amber eyes shifted back to Aboli when she explained what the fancy looking dish was, but that just made him a little more confused because WHAT did a soup bowl of memories have to do with creatures? What did that even look like? DID it look like a bowl of soup? Like...with each memory looking like a different shape or were they more like noodles? Like chicken noodle soup?

.....he was starting to get hungry thinking about food now.

"Oh," nods in response to her as though that just made everything crystal clear and there was absolutely no need for follow ups. If only. "Why is it here?" A question surely that should have been directed towards Professor Narcissus Williamson himself but here they were.

He was finding it hard to concentrate on the bowl of memory noodle soup beside the professor to entirely hear what the man was lecturing on...but he DID hear something about winning stupid prizes for playing stupid games that warranted a sturdy chuckle from the sixth year. Even if he had very little context for what that was in actual reference to. Listening in to what everyone was saying clued him in a bit though.

Trolls. Right. Sooooooooo...what did he know? Not too much to be honest but he had his own views and opinions which seemed fair ground to share...views that it seemed like his little buddy Adam Luck shared too. It brought a slight smile to his face and he hoped the first year caught the sixth year's look.

"Like Adam said...I imagine that at the very core and baseline of it all that troll society isn't really too much like our own. Like, you know, in terms of social groups and family units and all that...their own language that can be studied and learned too. I sort of have always pictured them like undisciplined beaters. Like in quidditch. Only without a broom...but maybe with a Graphorn. Just in concept of whacking and defending things that are theirs or their territory. And like several others have also mentioned...they are able to be integrated into our own society and social constructs, giving sort of professions. Seems kind of shady that they aren't considered Beings if you ask me. They've only been knocked off that because of their intelligence compared to wizard's, right? Seems a little elite. I mean...they tick off at least half of the...maybe even up to 5... of 6 signs of civilizations."

But also...was Thing 1 talking about zombie creatures? Because....yo. YO. YOOOOOOOOOO.

Olivia was...silently watching.

While this class sort of perked her interest, she looked like she couldn't be more unimpressed. Saying she didn't want to be here was an understatement but definitely pointless to angst over - and she didn't like dwelling on things she couldn't change anyway.

So .... she watched them all talk about Trolls, while her quill idly moved on the parchment in front of her - drawing what she thought trolls possibly looked like. One resembled the boy who had cracked that awful joke on the train, and the other resembled the slytherin prefect. Lovely.

She had nothing against them, or maybe she did, but mostly they had lovely faces to morph into trolls.

Hey, she’d been spot-on about the spells! The blonde couldn’t help but grin, feeling pretty pleased with herself. It also made her feel good to get something right in this class ‘cause she knew her mum would be extra proud over it. That was the goal. One of the goals. One of the bigger ones.

”I bet troll society is smelly and loud, but that it works for the trolls, so we shouldn’t judge.” Because if trolls wanted to be smelly and loud, good for them. Also Josh likening them to beaters was pretty brilliant, did he know? ”I think it’d be awesome to see a troll close up because I never have and they’re huge and I bet that’d be cool, but it’s probably smart to avoid them if you can unless you’re like a troll-ologist or something. Is that a thing, Professor?”

It felt good to be right about more than one thing in the first COMC class of the year. Cole felt like petting himself on the shoulder but he decided not too. Instead he took diligent notes, writing down what his peers and Professor W was saying about how to handle dangerous creatures.

Then lo and behold it was revealed that they were discussing trolls tonight. Were they going to get to see a real troll? Cole looked around curiously. No troll in sight. As for the question Cole contemplated what to say when everyone else had pretty much said it all. Thinking he raised his hand to say. "Trolls I've heard from my grandma come originally from scandinavia. Mountain trolls i believe aren't as stupid as some of the other troll types since they can tame and ride graphorns. Also since most trolls are violent and aggressive you should if possible avoid them all together. If not an option you should approach a troll with caution and speak to the troll in simple words since most trolls know some human words, have your wand nearby and be ready to flee at first sign of danger."

Trolls, huh? Definitely not a species she thought about often or chose to study in depth about. So this would be an interesting class for sure!

The other students were covering a lot of facts and ideas about them pretty well, though Kale's answer in particular caught Ivy's attention. "Why two rubber ducks specifically?" she asked curiously. The wand was obvious, and probably really the main thing you needed anyway, but she could see a slingshot being useful too. But rubber ducks? Did trolls have a special liking for them that she hadn't heard about? Or was there something else special about them?

Oh, and as for the professor's question... "I also kinda agree with Valencia," she said, raising her hand. "I don't think they're always given enough credit either. They might not be able to get, y'know, perfect O's on an exam, but they are intelligent in some ways. They're still around and haven't gone extinct for all this time, so they must have some understanding of how to function and get along with other trolls and other species."

Trolls. Their topic for today were trolls and for some reason it felt like Professor Williamson has a friend back there- a troll, suddenly greeting them all hello with his huge limbs and its fee, fi, fum language. Whatever. That sounds terrifying in his head. Eron has read about trolls obviously- everyone else did and he's trying to recall as best he can about trolls. Shame that he hasn't done any extra reading on them.

"I've read that they are quite aggressive and they're attracted to rotten smells" Eron answered. He agrees with the others, trolls are the smartest creature but they can understand human language. Odd but that's a good thing right? Plus their diet is consist with raw human flesh. Eron cringed at the thought. "I agree with Valencia on this one. Steering clear away from them is the best way" he nodded. Also to quote what the professor said earlier, NEVER go on the offensive against a magical creature. Emphasis on the never. That right there is already a great advice.

'If you play stupid games, you'll win stupid prizes.' Catherine raised her eyebrows in pleasant surprise and nodded solemnly at that statement. Very fitting for the topic being discussed and she appreciated professor Williamson saying it, given some specific people who attended that school. She knew exactly those he had directed that comment towards.

When the man said they would be looking at trolls, Catherine's mind went back to the layout of the area. That along with the topic weren't a good combination, in her opinion. That was the man who had brought a dragon to be hatched at that school when her parents had attended, so Catherine didn't quite put anything beyond him. Having a real life troll there would not be fun and was definitely not something Catherine would look forward to seeing. At all.

Troll society? The Ravenclaw didn't know a whole lot about trolls, but the way professor Williamson was speaking, it was like they acted somewhat like... giants? As in they all lived in a colony of sorts, probably depending on their exact kind? Breed? Was it breed? It was probably breed as they were classified as beasts, she thought.

They lacked sapience for sure, that much she knew.

They were discussing high-leveled creatures??? Honestly, at the first mention of all those Xs, Carsyn was mildly optimistic that they would be doing a lesson on dragons today because didn't Williamson work with dragons before Hogwarts? After Hogwarts? She wasn't quite sure but she had a vague recollection that there were dragons involved. Maybe. But the optimism was quickly deflated when trolls were mentioned and honestly all Carsyn hoped for was that she wouldn't get a troll on any of her exams. Why then if trolls were thought to be stupid creatures were they untrainable? Were they really untrainable? There was mention about guard trolls, after all, which means they could be specialized.

"I think it's not that trolls are stupid, but that they're underestimated because they have their own language of communicating in grunts. And somehow grunting has been equated by our human society as low intelligence. Trolls, like everything have a purpose... but i think it's important to know what kind of troll before you can determine what their purpose in life is." Did that make sense? Maybe?

Gemma had been here the entire time and listening about trolls and the society, honestly she found it interesting but her attention just wasn't always there to show it. Her eyes scooped the area making sure all her friends were there, because why else would you come to class except to see your friends and then there were the older kids to watch and giggle when her brother did something strange.

Putting her hand up she decided to answer, but everyone else seemed to give all the correct answers. "Trolls live in a fun community with music and singing, some even have sparkly gems in their stomachs." She tried to look fully serious as she talked about the muggle versions of trolls, but she knew Williamson would see through it, he had been at her house a few times with her parents, so he knew she wasn't muggle only with things.

What the Students "Know" About Trolls

• they've low intelligence
• are aggressive
• fight among selves
• don't survive well in large packs
• dangerous
• don't make them mad
• don't go into their territory
• solitary, maybe live in small groups
• possibly attracted to bad smells
• different set of values from wizards
• be wary of their bad smells
• grunt and point to communicate
• stinky, giant, not very smart
• possibly easily aggravated
• make yourself small and unnoticeable
• use a dungbomb to distract them
• unpredictable
• can be outsmarted or tricked
• leave them alone
• sometimes they're trained
• make good security
• troll society is probably like ours
• trolls have families?
• not given enough credit
• steer clear of them
• different species have different traditions and behavior
• simple creatures
• eat people
• I wish I could speak troll
• reserve your judgment
• approach with caution
• steer clear
• they have some purpose
• pierced belly buttons???

Wellp, that was a good discussion, annnnnnnd now he was tired. Thank Merlin he'd recalled this spell to have the students' paraphrased answers come out of his wand like smoke, right? Smoke words? Like smoke rings from a fire? Williamson blinked as the last one, Gemma's answer, about belly buttons, floated past him and dissipated. Uhhh okay. He cleared his throat. "It's time to test these theories and bits of information and non-information out by VIEWING a glimpse of troll society."

He picked up the stone pensieve with both hands and set it down on the ground, a little ways away from the table it had been on and closer now to the students. "Alright, I know you may be hesitant to jump into one of these, but let me assure you that it's just a memory, and, uh, it's one of mine, and there are plenty of mistakes in there and things to observe and discuss. So take your biases and judgments and ideas with you, and hopefully you'll leave some of them behind as you jump in. I'll be coming too, of course, since it's my memory, and... well, let's go."

Williamson took a step back and motioned for the first student to step up and... well, fall into the pensieve.

They'd be falling into a forest in Eastern Europe, where they'd see a young, very young, and thin, and much less gray William W. Williamson walking toward a bridge, wearing a backpack and a backwards cap, whistling something very out of tune to himself.

No trolls in sight.... yet.

OOC: Welcome to the mini-activity! For now, you just have to follow along with my posts and act/react according to your student's personality! I will post every few hours. This is the 'observation' or 'we do' portion of the class. The 'you do' main activity will follow in about two days.

Torin bit back too big of a smile. He always has liked being right, even more so when it got him points, being only two was of no matter to him. He inclined his head slightly in thanks to the Professor as he moved on to the other students.

If you play stupid games, you'll win stupid prizes. Sound advice. He thought to himself as the Professor continued on.

Torin was inclined to agree with Phoebe. "Phoebe is right sir, they are known to be steadfast guards. I can only assume that water trolls are the best known for this, even Muggles have tales of trolls guarding bridges." He continued, "Mountain trolls tend to be the more aggressive of the three, but I'm sure even they have some sort of society or hierarchy set up. Maybe like a survival of the fittest type group? Also, weren't their whiskers used for wand cores a while back?" He heard a rumor about it, but the more he thought about it the more embarrassed he was. He really hopes he's not wrong. He's never actually met anyone with a wand core of troll whiskers.

OOoooooo now this Torin was excited for. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together before jumping into the pensieve. 'He'd always wanted to try one of these', was his last thought before he felt himself falling quickly towards the earth. Too quickly! Too quickLY!! Too QUICKLY!!! TOO QUIC-"OOF!"

Torin was winded and still running off of some adrenaline he had in his system from that fall. Where was he? What's going on? And who was whistling!?

He looked up and saw a man with a backwards baseball cap and backpack that was the culprit. Probably some American. Wait! He's in Professor Williamson's memory so that must be..."Professor Williamson!?"

Of course he didn't turn around. It's a memory you dummy. Torin was a little weirded out. He'd never seen the Professor so....happy? It was kinda nice. But very weird.

Cole would have to write a letter to his grandma tomorrow and tell her that Professor Williamson said that she was spot on about trolls. With a pleased smile pursing his lips Cole did his best to take notes whilst standing up. It wasn't ideal since it was dark too but he wanted to remember the imortant stuff. Pocketing his parchment and quill Cole wanted to jump up and down on the spot for the opportunity they got moments later. They we're going to get to see a real troll society from inside Professor W's pensieve memory. This was going to be awesome.

Taking his place in the line Cole soon fell down into the pensieve water. He landed on the forest ground some moments later with his face down on a tree branch. Wincing a little Cole sat up and tried to orientate himself. They were in a European forest and the man he was seeing the back of was Professor W. Getting to his feet Cole resisted the urge to yell 'wait for me' and instead started to walk after the professor's figure. In a memory you can only watch right? And not get hurt?

Kale was chuffed that Williamson appreciated his ingenuity. It wasn’t every day students changed the game so, y’know, you are welCOME, Professor. And he knew, just knew, that someone as cool as his CoMC Professor would go on to tell as his creature wrangling buds about Kale’s fairly obvious plan to outwit trolls.

He gave his Professor a thumbs up in solidarity.

When Ivy asked for clarity, Kale giggle!snorted. Not in a mean or malicious way. No, Kale was amused by Ivy’s totally joking question. Cuz she was big time smart. She knew what the rubber ducks were for, Kale was sure of it. So he prodded her with his elbow and flashed his teeth, still giggling, “Phew! You almost had me there, Ivy. Good joke. Why the rubber ducks???? Hehe. Killer.”

Still wiping tears from his eyes, Kale followed after his Professor. Dropping into the memory.

A lot of talk about Trolls and a lot to write down if you know this was a normal classroom and she wasn't standing so guess it was just try and commit as much of it to memory as possible. Though to be fair some of it was pretty obvious.

Viewing a glimpse of Troll Society sounded interesting. Her parents probably would have thought it way too dangerous since she was only eleven but since it seemed it was only a memory with that thing Williamson has. Why not.

Amabel followed Professor Williamson right into his memory.

Weird.

Ashley went straight into the pensieve. She had no worries about doing so, because she had never seen one before and didn't exactly know what they were for. She could see a younger version of the professor walking along, whistling out of tune in this memory. "Is he about to get jumpscared by a troll?" she whispered quietly.