Ohh… so that’s why Heath couldn’t guess which single historical figure tied the items on the board together. He was right in thinking they applied to more than one person… specifically the Gaunt family. Bunch of evil blood supremacists, the lot of them! An uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, and that feeling only got worse as he heard the question. Why were they talking about this? This felt like a topic that would’ve come up last term, so much so that painful memories came rushing back to him, and he glanced frantically around the room just to be sure Rosier and his Hoods were really gone.

He kept his gaze fixed on his desk, trying to push away his feelings on the blood status issue to focus on Professor Recard’s question, but that Gryffindor girl’s (Emmerson) comments caused his head to jerk up. He could not believe what he was hearing! Did she have any idea how that statement came across?! Saying there were purebloods who “know better than to tangle up with muggles” implied that those who do choose to associate with them are stupid or reckless for doing so, and he could not for the life of him understand why someone who’d been here last term to witness the damage caused by that line of thinking could believe that! He was beginning to understand why Aboli Song snapped at that girl a few terms ago. He was sorely tempted to do the same!

Instead, he made his feelings on the subjects known in a more factual and non confrontational way. “Some of the families, most notably the Weasleys, protested their inclusion in the Sacred Twenty-eight,” he said after raising his hand. “The Weasleys argued that they almost certainly had muggle ancestry somewhere, and that it was nothing to be ashamed of.”

Lisa heard what Serena had said and simply went, “Ohhhhhhh.” She had forgotten about that. Her Wizarding History wasn’t as strong as her Muggle History. That was for sure. “Thanks Serena!” Bright beamy smile now. She gave Professor Recard a smile as she sat and then listened to the beginning of the lesson.

Lisa wasn’t exactly sure what the Twenty Eight were but as she listened to her classmates she began gathering information. She didn’t like Emmerson’s comment about Ash’s answer and Muggles. “Another way of looking at “better than being tangled up with Muggles” is that those pureblooded families are just hurting themselves. Eventually they’re all going to go mad because incest is a thing. Serious illnesses and afflictions can result from it.” She drummed her fingertips on desk as she commented with a deadpan expression. “Too bad their pride is jumping in front of common sense. Talk about eventual population extinction by stupidity.”

Lisa realized she hadn’t answered the Professor. “As to your question, I’ve read about it in a book but I’m not entirely familiar but based on my classmates answers…. It sounds miserable.”

Basilisk. Someone had mentioned that word earlier, and yes. Giant snake. V decided she would never like to meet one ever. Noooo thank you.

And class started, and she leaned on her elbow and siiiiiiighed. This was when it was boring. But they were talking about the Slytherin family today, and since she WAS a Slytherin, she wanted to kind of pay attention more than usual.

Alas, she knew nothing about what Professor Recard asked, so...she stayed quiet and listened to everyone. It sounded pretty ominous to Victoria. It sounded like these families were snobs. And while V was a pureblood, she was sure her family weren't part of the sacred 28, and she knew her parents did NOT care about it at all. So. Yeah.

Not that she knew much about muggles. Her mum had more dealings with them than she did.

SPOILER!!: As promised, responses! A little late but...they're here! lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat

Ash picked her head off the desk and looked at Kayne (who was NOT her 'special friend', if anyone was wondering), despite her tired and sad mood. "Feeling awful today, vice president," she reported, suddenly guilty about skipping so much class. "You, on the other hand... nice outfit." He was pretty clearly doing well today. "I like the heels especially." She was cheered up, just a little bit, even managing to smile at him before putting her head on the desk again.

"The sacred twenty-eight were like, a group of British families who were still completely pureblood by the time the list was made. Like the Malfoys and um... nevermind." The Rosiers. "That's why they were called sacred, I guess." More like the scared-of-muggles twenty-eight. She picked her head up off the desk to be heard more clearly. "Do they still exist? That was like, a super long time ago. Its hard to see how anyone could be completely pureblood anymore." Which made Rosier extra extra dumb, because he was probably related to muggles as well.

Ash put her head back on her desk (AGAIN), not able to see why the professor was in such a good mood. The subject matter honestly seemed kind of depressing.

"Not all of them," Gabi responded to Ashley's question. "And that list was not all inclusive. If any of the pureblood families at the time were pro-muggle they were excluded. There are still plenty of pureblood families in existence," she told her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

Violet had been looking at the pictures and surmised they had something to do with the founder of her House, so she was interested in where this lesson was going. But she was not particularly interested in the Sacred Twenty-eight.

"That was the list published in the Pure-Blood Directory back in the 1930s, wasn't it? So those were the families that were considered pure-blood back then," Violet observed. "But there were families who were pure-blood who were left off that list, not because of their blood status but because of their views on Muggles. So it wasn't really accurate."

"Very good!" Gabi grinned at Violet - once again, she was EXTRA peppy today, and gave Violet a nod of approval before moving on to the next answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Claudine got her stuff ready for the lesson and was also watching everyone filter in as she did so. That’s how she noticed Heath making his way towards her. “Hi, you,’’ she told him softly and with a smile. It wasn’t long after that Reccard got things started and the Snakette gave the woman her full attention.

The Gaunt Family.

Claudine had been correct with her guess. As for the Sacred Twenty eight? Of course she’d heard of them. Her hand went up. “To expand on what Violet said… there was at least one family left off of the list due to their surname being a common Muggle one - the Potter family.’’ If you asked her, this list was a heavily biased list.

"Good job, Miss Blaze. Many families were left off the list, and Potter was certainly one, despite their ties to other families," she explained. More on THAT later...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Phoebe gave the professor a brief grin, although the woman was FAR too happy for anyone to consider her altogether sane. This place was crazy, and happiness wasn't the going emotional state.

She waited for her first few classmates to answer what exactly the Sacred Twenty-Eight were before offering an opinion. "I think it's like a cool kids club, Professor. This is the collection of families that one snobby someone thought still retained the right blood lineage to be considered 'pureblood', but also the right attitudes and social connections. They left out pretty notable families because they didn't like their 'attitude'. What nerds."

Gabi chuckled a little at Phoebe's choice of...descriptors for the list of families included on the list. "It's true there was more than a LITTLE bias behind the article, but it's still a good place to start when studying pureblood families."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hey Ju

Kay, so Scarlett had heard a LOT about what had happened last year, but not enough to make her TERRIFIED or anything. Then again, it was known it had been a BIG DEAL, and she knew THAT much.

She herself wasn't pureblood, but MOST of her relatives were, including her own father and his entire family, as well as half of her mother's family. It was a LOT of purebloods she was related to. A LOOOOTTTT.

Hence her agreeing with what Cambridge was saying by nodding her head, looking from the Gryffindor to the professor. Pureblood families going to great lengths to stay that way, inheritance covenants, genealogies, yep yep yep. "Yeah, it's all very detailed and some people make a big deal of it." WHICH she didn't care about one bit, but many, maaaannnnyyyyyy people in her family did. THAT didn't mean they were anti-Muggle, though only a minority was. "You can be a pureblood, maintain the lineage and still like Muggles." She added JUST in case.

"That is true. There are many pureblood families that have nothing against muggles - they simply just have never interacted with them, and never married because they just don't come in to contact with each other," Gabi explained.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

By now long used to seeing Limpet's face turn back towards them at the start of class, Nem gave her a little nod in greeting when they saw her do exactly this. That was all, up until the moment Recard launched into her lesson.

She was making this easy. A little too easy. Nem could have provided a certain name, maybe it was even expected of them by some, but they didn't. Until Cambridge spoke, they didn't say much of anything, but then chimed in with, "They also marry internationally. More options." Which was also one of the ways you could be a true pureblood in this country and yet have a name not on that list.

Not the case for Nem's family, obviously. They and their siblings were not pureblood, as evidenced by Pax and Ezra's automatic presence in that room last year, but as far as Nem had been able to find out, they were distantly descended from at least one of those Sacred Twenty-Eight families on Jake's mother's side. Their paternal grandfather claimed Yaxley pureblood heritage too, but Nem had never found any reason to disregard that whole obscurity. Even their surname had been born with Heath. Becca was muggle-born, so nobody on her end.

There was more they could have said - an actual answer to the question, perhaps - but Nem left it at that.

"Yes, that is correct," Gabi nodded at Nemesis as they - shockingly - contributed to the lesson. She had expected them to sit quietly and threaten tipping over on their chair as they usually did. "International marriage certainly opens up the pool of dating options."

Quote:

Originally Posted by natethegreat

Kayne couldn't help but take notice of Ash's sad disposition today. Which was rather quite odd considering the girl was cheery most of the time. At least she was able to crack some form of a smile when he had joined her. "Do you need to talk later? You seem kinda upset right now, and I'd hate to see you this way. And thank you!" Kayne told her. Thank Merlin someone had noticed his outfit. The boy wore it for that exact reason after all.

Turning back to the Professor when class had fully commenced, Kayne heard the question and was rather intrigued by it. This was something that he had actually been recently reading about, which was kind of ironic. Raising a hand, the starry eyed fourth year replied by saying "The Sacred 28 were the group of the most notable wizarding families here in England. This included the Lestranges', the Blacks', and the Longbottoms' if I'm not mistaken. The author of this Pure-blood registry was widely believed to be Cantankerous Nott." Unfortunately for Kayne though, everyone else had already touched upon things that he was going to say. So there wasn't really a point in just reiterating what they were all saying; especially since he didn't really have anything more to add besides that.

"Very good! The list included many notable names of the 20th century, many of which I'm sure you're all familiar with," Gabi said with a smile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

Ohh… so that’s why Heath couldn’t guess which single historical figure tied the items on the board together. He was right in thinking they applied to more than one person… specifically the Gaunt family. Bunch of evil blood supremacists, the lot of them! An uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, and that feeling only got worse as he heard the question. Why were they talking about this? This felt like a topic that would’ve come up last term, so much so that painful memories came rushing back to him, and he glanced frantically around the room just to be sure Rosier and his Hoods were really gone.

He kept his gaze fixed on his desk, trying to push away his feelings on the blood status issue to focus on Professor Recard’s question, but that Gryffindor girl’s (Emmerson) comments caused his head to jerk up. He could not believe what he was hearing! Did she have any idea how that statement came across?! Saying there were purebloods who “know better than to tangle up with muggles” implied that those who do choose to associate with them are stupid or reckless for doing so, and he could not for the life of him understand why someone who’d been here last term to witness the damage caused by that line of thinking could believe that! He was beginning to understand why Aboli Song snapped at that girl a few terms ago. He was sorely tempted to do the same!

Instead, he made his feelings on the subjects known in a more factual and non confrontational way. “Some of the families, most notably the Weasleys, protested their inclusion in the Sacred Twenty-eight,” he said after raising his hand. “The Weasleys argued that they almost certainly had muggle ancestry somewhere, and that it was nothing to be ashamed of.”

"That is an excellent point, Mister Jones. There are many people who argue that there has to be some cross of muggle ancestry in their bloodlines. Many times, if the muggle ancestry was more than a few generations ago, it's left out of consideration when assigning blood status," she explained. The whole thing was far more complicated than they could cover in one lesson, ya know?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Watson

Lisa heard what Serena had said and simply went, “Ohhhhhhh.” She had forgotten about that. Her Wizarding History wasn’t as strong as her Muggle History. That was for sure. “Thanks Serena!” Bright beamy smile now. She gave Professor Recard a smile as she sat and then listened to the beginning of the lesson.

Lisa wasn’t exactly sure what the Twenty Eight were but as she listened to her classmates she began gathering information. She didn’t like Emmerson’s comment about Ash’s answer and Muggles. “Another way of looking at “better than being tangled up with Muggles” is that those pureblooded families are just hurting themselves. Eventually they’re all going to go mad because incest is a thing. Serious illnesses and afflictions can result from it.” She drummed her fingertips on desk as she commented with a deadpan expression. “Too bad their pride is jumping in front of common sense. Talk about eventual population extinction by stupidity.”

Lisa realized she hadn’t answered the Professor. “As to your question, I’ve read about it in a book but I’m not entirely familiar but based on my classmates answers…. It sounds miserable.”

Oh yikes. There was yet ANOTHER conflict brewing in her classroom - why was history of magic always so controversial? She supposed it came with the territory. "Miss Nam, let's remain civil please," she reminded her. She was just a first year after all - as for Emmerson, SHE should know better at this point...

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

So...no sword of Gryffindor today, even with Kizzy backing her up on how careful she was going to be if allowed to hold it? Disappointing, truly. Myrtle had been dead for a long time, she didn't think the ghost truly cared anymore whether they dived into her past. Instead, they were looking at....purebloods?

Uh...

Seemed like a bad idea. Emmerson was here for it.

The Third Year went and took the seat next to her bestfriend, sinking down some. Keeping her head down. Not causing trouble. Until Ashley Fox said something stupid. "Shows what you know. There's still plenty proper purebloods who go to great lengths to stay that way and know better than to tangle up with muggles." It really wasn't that hard. If a family wanted to stay purebloods, there were circles, events, things people like Ashley Fox would never be invited to and so would obviously never know.

"There's blood magic and inheritance covenants and besides that a simple genealogy search."

Duh.

“Miss Cambridge, that’s enough. I thought the events of last term had made it very clear to everyone here that muggle ancestry is something to be celebrated, NOT looked down upon,” Gabi corrected her with a warning glare before turning back to the class. ”Do not jump to conclusions. The purpose of this lesson is not to divide but to show that we are all connected. Any attempts to bring up any anti muggle rhetoric will be met with detention. No if’s, ands or buts.” The lady had spoken. Now back to the matter at hand…

“Great answers everyone! You all touched on very important bits about the so called “Sacred Twenty-Eight”,” she began. ”Essentially it was a list of so called sacred blood lines - purebloods - that were deemed elite because of their extensive history of marrying within magical families. Many families were actually left OFF that list due to their pro-muggle viewpoints, so it’s not accurate in the sense that those are the ONLY pureblood families. As many of you pointed out it is very difficult to maintain that - and many probably had muggles somewhere in their line that they chose to ignore, or they were unaware of. It is not impossible to be considered pureblood today, as Nemesis pointed out, many wizards married out of the country as well bringing in additional families.” Not to mention if there WAS muggle background but it was a number of generations back, they were usually grouped in the pureblood category to simplify matters.

“Because so many families were obsessed with this idea of pure blood, as many of you pointed out - that makes the dating pool rather shallow. Many purebloods in our history were related to other purebloods distantly. Not all, but many!”

She turned and waved her wand so a list of names appeared on the board.

Quote:

Terry Boot -- Bellatrix Lestrange
Neville Longbottom -- Ron Weasley
James Potter -- Marvolo Gaunt
Sirius Black -- Arthur Weasley
Lucius Malfoy -- Albus Potter

“Your task for the mini activity is to figure out using your textbooks if these individuals are related or not. You may be surprised at the answers! Write down your answers and we’ll go over them in about ten minutes,” she explained.

OOC: hello! I am having a WEEK yall. I was stuck at work with an emergency yesterday, we are having people over today for the holiday and to top it off I woke up to my internet being down this morning! Hence the very condensed post. I wanted to keep rolling along with the lesson but sadly I am on my phone and just this small bit has taken me all morning haha. I WILL come back and individually address each post as per usual once my internet is back up. Regardless I will be moving the lesson on in about 36 hours!

Ash had looked up one final time to nod at Kayne and give him a thumbs up. We can talk later. She hadn't the heart to tell him that she was usually like this, and her behavior around him was the exception and not the rule.

And then Emmerson happened. Of course she did. It was always Emmerson, wasn't it? So many things went through Ash's mind all at once. Her mind split into four. She wanted to hurt Emmerson. She really did. But also, Emmerson had proven Mamie wrong, and now she also wanted to punch Mamie for ever suggesting that she forgive Cambridge. But also, she wanted to unfriend all of her friends who liked Emmerson, seriously. Enough was enough. And the final thought Ash had? That she should just give up. What had they even fought a war for? They hadn't won, they just hadn't lost. And the cost was a bunch of dead bodies and a bunch of sad people. Nobody liked muggles any better. They just didn't.

Ash looked at Emmerson for a brief second, and a look was worth a thousand words. It was a look of hurt, but also of anger and despair and a little bit of glee about being right about unfriending Mamie. It said every single thing she had ever wanted to say to Emmerson that would have gotten her expelled. And because Cambridge and Kinsay were sitting next to each other, she may have accidentally given Kinsay that look too. No matter. She was Emmerson's best friend. She could take blame too.

And then Lisa- Ash almost choked when she heard what she was saying. She was very proud of her imaginary little sister. Really, Ash couldn't have said anything better. She still felt miserable, but at least there was someone who could take her place when she was too sad to say anything. Lisa was the best, seriously.

Ash really wanted to respond to Cambridge, but something stopped her. Maybe it was because the professor was talking to Cambridge and people looked horrified and Ash knew that she had been right this whole time. There was absolutely nothing that could make this better. Ash felt happy in the worst kind of way. When someone pushed you off a cliff, but you took them down with you. When someone hurt you irreparably, but hurt themself in the process. That sort of thing made Ash happy, in some inexplicable way. She might be destined for misery, but the whole school could know whose fault that was.

So Ash started to work on the assignment in total silence, not sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry at what had just happened. Maybe she'd do both later. She flipped through her textbook to look for some family trees. Hey, if she found any of Emmerson's ancestors in there- she wasn't LOOKING, but if there was an opportunity- she was gonna look to see if there were any muggles. And if there were any muggles there, she'd tell Emmerson all about it. Because that was the kind of mood Ash was in at the moment.

At least she hadn't punched anybody yet, right?

The Snakette glanced over at Heath. She knew how the subject of blood status affected him greatly since last term. Seeing him staring down at his table made her want to reach out to him but Reccard probably would call her out on it. Claudine just hoped that Heath knew that she was there for him as always. Her attention shifted back to the others in the room. A part of her knew that what Emmerson was saying was true - there were indeed pure bloods that avoided Muggles in any possible way. For that reason, Claudine didn’t think the third year was being rude or mean… she was just pointing out a fact. An unfortunate fact.

The Snakette cared none for purebloods though she happened to fall into that category. Blood status never mattered to her despite what her family constantly tried to drill into her. As she’d grown older, Claudine had formed opinions of her own, which were mostly very different from her family’s, and she’d been forced to keep her opinions to herself for her own safety. By now though? She was sure they knew where she stood and was surprised that she wasn’t dead as yet like her mother.

She sighed softly and began jotting down the names. She would set to work now, and forget about the other Blazes. Or she’d try to.

SPOILER!!: Notes

Terry Boot -- Bellatrix Lestrange = Not related.
Neville Longbottom -- Ron Weasley = Related.
James Potter -- Marvolo Gaunt = Related.
Sirius Black -- Arthur Weasley = Related.
Lucius Malfoy -- Albus Potter = Related.

Claudine eyed her answers. Were these even right? It was just that… well, she’d never given a thought to the interrelations of certain families before.

Emmerson's whole face went red with indignation. A year ago, she'd have looked to the back of the classroom and waited for Recard to be crucio-ed. Two years ago, she'd have cried at the reprimand and the way it singled her out in such a poor light. This go around, she would not be made the villain.

Not today.

No one would rush in at her defense, she bet a few of her friends would side eye her now but...that was a problem for another day. She was quite sick of everyone turning her into this horrid person on account of their own actions. The Gryffindor had grown a lot in the last year. Not all of it was good growth, but it happened all the same. Much like many of her classmates, her family had sat her down after the war. They'd explained things to her and cleared things up. She knew what she knew and knew when to say it and right now, this seemed like a good time to say it. The Third Year straightened her back, squaring her shoulders as she met the Professor's gaze.

"I didn't, you did." Jump to conclusions that was. "I haven't said anything wrong. There are purebloods who do go to great lengths not to breed with anyone that has muggle ancestry somewhere down the line. They DO exist, you can't pretend they don't then tell me I'm preaching anti-muggle rhe...rhe...stories. They don't think muggle heritage should be celebrated and you can't pretend they do to make people in this class feel better about themselves. That's not what the sacred 28 believed in and if you're teaching about them you have to teach both sides. They DID hate muggle heritage, didn't want to be related to them. I didn't make this up, they did. I didn't say muggles should be avoided, I said they thought that way, because they did. It's not like most of them went out hurting muggles like stupid Rosier did, they just didn't want to marry them and WHAT is SO wrong with that??" Who wanted to have to always worry about the statute of secrecy at family reunions anyway? Who had the time to be explaining basic stuff that a first year would know to a grown person? Who wanted to be forced to make a ton of accommodations because the partner wasn't magic?

Some people, surely, but not everyone and that wasn't the end of the world.

With a huff, Emmerson settled back down in her seat and began quietly taking notes. Of course, the anger never left. In truth, it wasn't entirely about Professor Recard's reprimand, or the look Fox gave her that she never saw (because who cared enough to look in Ashley's direction in the first place?) or this topic. The Gryffindor still carried around a lot of anger from the previous term, anger she'd buried for the sake of "peace" and "good standing".

Sometimes she felt fit to burst. This was one of those times. Rather than ramble any further, she passively aggressively began filling out her guessing card of names on parchment.

SPOILER!!: notes

Terry Boot -- Bellatrix Lestrange: Probably
Neville Longbottom -- Ron Weasley: Probably
James Potter -- Marvolo Gaunt: Probably
Sirius Black -- Arthur Weasley: Probably
Lucius Malfoy -- Albus Potter: Probably

Phoebe wasn't really glad that she hadn't seated herself near Emm now, since she felt like she might have been able to help her pseudo-sister work through this bludger field of a classroom. She wanted to give the younger girl a hug, but it wasn't the moment. They were doing QUIET WORK now.

They'd see how long that lasted.

Phoebe flipped carefully through her book, trying to connect the people from different famous families. Not to be a bummer about it, but the interesting thing would be seeing how many of the kids in this classroom could trace some lineage back to the Sacred Twenty Eight. Probably almost all of them had someone up their tree.

She scribbled her answers on her parchment, keeping a half eye on Emm's sagging little body. She was fine. Emmerson was fine.

SPOILER!!: classwork

Terry Boot -- Bellatrix Lestrange - I mean, probably they ARE related, but the Boots aren't very well documented, so I can't find it. But PROBABLY.
Neville Longbottom -- Ron Weasley - There's a Longbottom-Black marriage, and a Black-Weasley marriage. So, as always, everyone is connected through the Black family.
James Potter -- Marvolo Gaunt - Potters married into the Black family. Rumor has it that Bellatrix Black Lestrange had a daughter with Tom Riddle, who is the last of the Gaunt family. So rumored?
Sirius Black -- Arthur Weasley - Arthur Weasley's MOM is a Black. Disowned, but it still counts.
Lucius Malfoy -- Albus Potter - LIKE I SAID... Everyone is related through the Black family, including these dudes.

Violet was annoyed that she felt tired and fuzzy-headed all the time and was convinced now that it had something to do with that darned bread that was all over the place. She listlessly took a quill and her books and begin to fill out the lesson.



Violet hoped that being related by marriage counted. And she wasn't quite sure about the Weasleys and the Longbottoms, but felt that, given how all the old pureblood families were intermarried, it was fairly safe to say yet.

Kale was high-key surprised at Cambridge. She had a cute, lil lion disposition, but merlin was she saying some stuff. It wasn't Rosier level of filth, but it was Alliance-adjacent. And that made the sixth year nervous.

He tried to swallow those feelings as he pulled out a spare bit of parchment. With a siiiiiigh, Kale started to tab through his history of magic book. He was lookin' for some family connections. But mostly, even with the book in his posession, Kale guessed.

SPOILER!!: notes (aka mostly Mr. Cecelia Summers doodles)

Arthur Weasley was the father of Ron Weasley. Ron Weasley was the uncle of Albus Potter (lame name, btw). James Potter was the grandfather of Albus Potter.

Lucius Malfoy was married to Bellatrix Lestrange's sister. Bellatrix Lestrange was cousins with Sirius Black. Bellatrix Lestrange had a baby with Voldemort (ew) who was a descendent of Marvolo Gaunt.

And Terry Boot was some dude?

Gabi let out a small sigh at Emmerson and resisted the urge to shake her head in disappointment. The Gryffindor was getting BETTER, but she still had a ways to go when it came to tact. "Miss Cambridge, the way you worded it alluded that purebred families know better than to get 'tangled up' with muggles. Stating a fact is one thing, but your choice of words and attitude towards Miss Fox sends off the wrong message entirely," she informed her. So yes, she had been correct that purebred families still existed and still tried to keep their lines "pure" - but the opposite wasn't WRONG, and her tone had certainly suggested as such.

"While you're working, I'm going to move along to the next question," she told them, since many of them still looked like they were working on their mini activity. "There are many pureblood families in our history, but today we'll be focusing on the Gaunt family. What makes the Gaunt family so significant in the history of our world?" she asked the class. "And if you're still working on the mini activity, I'll give you another five minutes," she added before grabbing another piece of watermelon bread from her desk.

OOC: Internet is back everyone! WOOOO! You have about 24 hours to answer this question AND catch up on the mini activity if you haven't done so already, then we will go over the answers to both! As always let me know if you need me!

Claudine sat there kind of bewildered. Had she been the only one, perhaps with the exception of Nem, who hadn’t misunderstood Emmerson? [i]Whatever.[i/] This wasn’t her problem, especially since Reccard seemed miffed by Emmerson’s lack of tact. She ducked her head into her textbook, searching for something interesting to read. Not that she actually did any reading then. Her hand almost immediately raised at the question.

“Tom Riddle’s relation to them. Merope Riddle was Tom Riddle’s mother.” The Snakette sat back, her thoughts drifting to Merope. If she’d been in the woman’s position, she’d have been glad to have died before she ever saw what her son turned out to be.

Just when Heath thought he couldn't be any more disgusted with that Gryffindor girl, she said that. Had she just shut up after Recard scolded her, he could've chalked it up to a case of misspeaking, but no. It took every bit of restraint he had not to point out to her that it wasn't what she said that was wrong but how she said it, but he resisted. It wouldn't be fair to Professor Recard or his other, less annoying classmates to cause further disruption. Besides, if she was willing to argue with Recard, she'd probably just argue with him too, and what was the point in that? Anyway, he didn't have to say anything because Recard had already done that.

He was trying to keep an open mind, but he still didn't understand how this topic showed that they were all connected. Okay, technically that wasn't true. He understood that part; what he didn't understand was how this topic better lent itself to that than one that was slightly less divisive. All he could do was hope it made more sense soon and focus on the activity in the meantime.

He copied down the names written on the board, his eyes shifting between the parchment and his textbook as he consulted the latter. Two pairs of names jumped out at him right off the bat. James Potter and Marvolo Gaunt… that one was easy! Both families were descended from the Peverells. As for Sirius Black and Arthur Weasley, wasn't Arthur's mum a Black? He cross-referenced his book. Yes!*

The other three sets of names were more difficult. Terry Boot and Bellatrix Lestrange? He didn't think those two were related, unless there was a marriage somewhere between a Boot and a Black that he didn't remember, but he'd leave that one blank for now. Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley? He knew both the Longbottom and Weasley families were related to the Blacks through marriage, but was that enough to make them related to each other? Lucius Malfoy and Albus Potter… that one was even harder! Albus Potter was probably related to Charlus Potter. who married Dorea Black. and he knew Lucius's wife was also a Black… but he couldn't recall any marriages between the Malfoys and Potters themselves.

Making his best guesses, he jotted down:



It was only after he finished writing that Heath registered Professor Recard's question, and that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach was back as he thought of the Gaunts and their pureblood fanaticism. No. that wasn't fair. Surely they can't all have been evil, right? As he thought, he remembered a kernel of information and decided to take his answer in a more positive direction. "The creation of Ilvermorny," he said after raising his hand. "Isolt Sayre, the school's founder, was the daughter of Rionach Gaunt and William Sayre."

V wiiiiilted slightly, listening to Professor Recard talk. Wah wah, wah wah-wah, wah. Emmerson also made some good points....who WOULD want to marry a muggle? It seemed like a lot of work and a LOT of hassle. But then she remembered Lisa was a muggleborn, and Lisa's parents, though she hadn't met them, seemed very nice and kind and great. Better than her parents, even, in some ways.

Maybe it wasn't ALL bad, yeah?

But the assignment was totally not something V felt like doing, so she wrote all the names down in her notebook and began to doodle next to them, soon getting lost in the doodles and forgetting the assignment. It was only when she heard some mumbling from classmates nearby that she decided she ought to TRY to do the assignment.

So she opened her book and began to search for the answers. So many words. SO little time. SO little time...ugh. She wasn't done when Recard moved on, and it made her stomach flutter a little, in that "oh no, I'm getting lost" kind of way. Breath breath breath breath brea-

The Gaunt family? V was lucky she had seen that name in her book, and she knew the name from growing up with magical families, luckily. "They're related to Slytherin, right?"

“Sorry,” she said quietly. She still thought historical purebloods were du- a little silly. Hopefully the genetics would play it’s part… she thought but decided not to say anything more as she had said her peace. Saying more would mean trouble which is evident by what happened next.

So Lisa heeded the Professor’s request to remain civil. She folded her arms and remained silent, listening to Emerson’s response and then the Professor’s later response. She bit her lip and tapped her foot lightly on the ground. She glanced at her notebook with the written names, and then began her guesswork. Now that Emmerson had phrased it that way- she did feel a little bit bad about her outburst. It was just triggering. She did write the name Rosier down for research purposes to be done at a later point in time.

Terry Boot -- Bellatrix Lestrange <—- Hopefully not related for Terry Boot’s sake. Wouldn’t personally wish to be related to Lestrange OR a Malfoy
Neville Longbottom -- Ron Weasley <— Not Related?
James Potter -- Marvolo Gaunt <— Related
Sirius Black -- Arthur Weasley <— Related by Marriage????
Lucius Malfoy -- Albus Potter <— Hopefully not Related

She listened to the next question and refrained from adding a reference to incest in her answer. “They were Parsletongues?”

There were so many things to think about as class was getting started and none of these things had to do with the history of the Gaunt Family. For example, why was Phoebe sat so far away? Was it because two first years (Victoria and Serena) decided to take the seats close by? Because to be honest, Kins didn’t want to sit by first years either, so she could understand despite her disappointment. First years were such trouble (except for Alfie, Lisa, and Jasper) (but they didn’t count).

She tried to pretend like she was paying attention though, for Professor Recard’s sake. It was just so hard because she was soooo sleepy and her mind just keeeept wandering off. It’s like the world wanted her to stop paying attention to history today.

…. Never mind.

Because despite her inability to focus, Kinsay did listen when Emm offered up an answer (as a best friend should) and um. It was. Um. She could instantly feel the tension in the room. She didn’t need to see the way Ashley looked at her to know (but she did see it and she did know). Ashley was upset, Lisa was upset, Professor Recard was upset, Emm was upset. Everyone was upset. Including Kinsay James. Though, um, Kinsay was only upset because everyone else was getting upset. She knew that Emm didn’t mean it the way everyone took it. She really, really did know. But all of the sudden everything was happening and it was happening so much that she didn’t know how to jump in and help. So instead of doing much of anything, she sat with her notes still incomplete, looking absolutely sick to her stomach. It was just like last year.

SPOILER!!: …. notes, but not really

Her parchment was a little worse for wear too, covered in all sorts of ink splotches and she didn't really want to answer the next question either, her mind still reeling from all the uneasy feelings. She could tell Emm was angry. She could really, really tell. And Kinsay couldn't shake the feeling that maybe Emm was mad at her. It was making Kins feel all sorts of anxious and uneasy and all the antsy, uncomfortable ways. She half expected to turn around and see the Hooded Figures standing behind them with their wands out. Or for Rosier to walk through the door. Or for--

She really wasn't feeling too good.

Emmerson made no attempt to answer the second question, in fact she sat with her eyes stubbornly trained down on the parchment she was writing on, refusing to look up or say anything else that could be considered "tactless". When she ran out of names to write "probably" next to, the Third Year simply began doodling along the parchment.

Emmerson didn't nod or otherwise acknowledge Recard's further reprimand, nor did she look across at Kizzy or anyone else. She simply doodled little figures dancing across the page, expertly avoiding the word clutter that took over their stage.

There was a ton she could say about the Gaunt Family like how they came from Slytherin himself somewhere further up the line, how the dark lord was tied up somewhere in there, too. How they were really wealthy. Emm knew enough about this sort of thing that she could meaningfully contribute to the rest of the lesson, but if her classmates were going to throw a fit every time she spoke, she was just as fine being mute and pretending she was somewhere else.

The kitchen maybe, if it would ever open again.

"The Gaunt family--they were known for the ability to speak Parseltongue, weren't they? I hear somewhere that they tried to breed the trait in their line, marrying their cousins and such, but that would probably just introduce genetic instability into their line." Violet savoured the new word -- genetic instability -- which she'd picked up from her ex-governess in their conversations following the battle last year. Violet was not sure she entirely understood it, but what she did understand led her to believe that being totally Pureblood was more of a liability than something to be proud of.

Morgan wasn't sure if History of Magic was more of a snore than usual today or if he was just more full of restless energy than usual, but Merlin, was he fidgety. And he wasn't exactly paying attention, allowing his mind to wander during the discussion on pureblood families. He half-wondered if any of his family was part of the Sacred Twenty-whatever or if they were related to anyone on it. But that was as far as his interest went, sorry professor.

The argument between Emmerson and the professor was a little more interesting and watched idly for a moment before turning his eyes to the board and the assignment they were supposed to do. He had been a little surprised by Recard's response as it seemed like Emmerson was just talking about how certain families were, but he hadn't really been paying attention to what started all that, so he couldn't speak on it himself. It was a little distracting from their assignment though, not that he wasn't already distracted. So, more distracting.

Wait, did they have to do all the names, or just choose one? Because some of them he didn't even recognize. Like, who the heck was Terry Boot? And what a terrible name to be saddled with. But he had heard of Sirius Black before and decided he'd start there because that dude was cool. He even had a motorcycle. Wicked! Now... how was he meant to figure out if he was related to this Weasley guy? Morgan quickly flipped through his book to see if anything useful caught his eye.

He vaguely heard the next question and his classmates answers as he did his research. Gaunt sounded familiar, uh... oh. When Claudine answered, Morgan nodded without looking up from his book. "So basically Voldemort's mum." That sounded pretty significant to him.

The air in the room was...tense, of course, and Gabi wasn't surprised. After the events of last term she had expected everyone to be a bit on edge whenever bloodlines were mentioned, but she thought she had done a pretty good job of leveling the tension - hopefully. It was hard to remain down in the dumps, though, when she knew she had a delicious slice of watermelon bread waiting for her after she went over the answers and released them to the main activity!

"A quick segway before we go into the history of the Gaunt's - here are the answers to the mini activity! As you can see, some of them are related by blood that you might not have expected," she said with a pause - who would have thought Bellatrix Lestrange and Terry Boot of all people?? "And some are NOT related but have some sort of connection via marriage or distant DISTANT cousins," she added.

Quote:

Terry Boot -- Bellatrix Lestrange (RELATED)
Neville Longbottom -- Ron Weasley (NOT RELATED)
James Potter -- Marvolo Gaunt (RELATED)
Sirius Black -- Arthur Weasley (RELATED)
Lucius Malfoy -- Albus Potter (NOT RELATED)

"The point, as I'm sure many of you have guessed, is to show that all purebloods have, for the most part, ended up being connected in some way. It really doesn't matter where you come from, but what you DO with your life that makes you important." No one was better than anyone else just because of their bloodline. That much had hopefully been obvious after the events of the past year.

Now, back to the Gaunts!

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Claudine sat there kind of bewildered. Had she been the only one, perhaps with the exception of Nem, who hadn’t misunderstood Emmerson? [i]Whatever.[i/] This wasn’t her problem, especially since Reccard seemed miffed by Emmerson’s lack of tact. She ducked her head into her textbook, searching for something interesting to read. Not that she actually did any reading then. Her hand almost immediately raised at the question.

“Tom Riddle’s relation to them. Merope Riddle was Tom Riddle’s mother.” The Snakette sat back, her thoughts drifting to Merope. If she’d been in the woman’s position, she’d have been glad to have died before she ever saw what her son turned out to be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

Morgan wasn't sure if History of Magic was more of a snore than usual today or if he was just more full of restless energy than usual, but Merlin, was he fidgety. And he wasn't exactly paying attention, allowing his mind to wander during the discussion on pureblood families. He half-wondered if any of his family was part of the Sacred Twenty-whatever or if they were related to anyone on it. But that was as far as his interest went, sorry professor.

The argument between Emmerson and the professor was a little more interesting and watched idly for a moment before turning his eyes to the board and the assignment they were supposed to do. He had been a little surprised by Recard's response as it seemed like Emmerson was just talking about how certain families were, but he hadn't really been paying attention to what started all that, so he couldn't speak on it himself. It was a little distracting from their assignment though, not that he wasn't already distracted. So, more distracting.

Wait, did they have to do all the names, or just choose one? Because some of them he didn't even recognize. Like, who the heck was Terry Boot? And what a terrible name to be saddled with. But he had heard of Sirius Black before and decided he'd start there because that dude was cool. He even had a motorcycle. Wicked! Now... how was he meant to figure out if he was related to this Weasley guy? Morgan quickly flipped through his book to see if anything useful caught his eye.

He vaguely heard the next question and his classmates answers as he did his research. Gaunt sounded familiar, uh... oh. When Claudine answered, Morgan nodded without looking up from his book. "So basically Voldemort's mum." That sounded pretty significant to him.

"Correct!" Gabi nodded at Claudine and Morgan when they brought up Voldemort's mum, Merope. "Merope Gaunt had a son with a muggle, Tom Riddle, and of course passed along that name to her son," she explained. Voldemort had had some FEELINGS about that, of course, and had quickly changed his name. Obviously.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

Just when Heath thought he couldn't be any more disgusted with that Gryffindor girl, she said that. Had she just shut up after Recard scolded her, he could've chalked it up to a case of misspeaking, but no. It took every bit of restraint he had not to point out to her that it wasn't what she said that was wrong but how she said it, but he resisted. It wouldn't be fair to Professor Recard or his other, less annoying classmates to cause further disruption. Besides, if she was willing to argue with Recard, she'd probably just argue with him too, and what was the point in that? Anyway, he didn't have to say anything because Recard had already done that.

He was trying to keep an open mind, but he still didn't understand how this topic showed that they were all connected. Okay, technically that wasn't true. He understood that part; what he didn't understand was how this topic better lent itself to that than one that was slightly less divisive. All he could do was hope it made more sense soon and focus on the activity in the meantime.

He copied down the names written on the board, his eyes shifting between the parchment and his textbook as he consulted the latter. Two pairs of names jumped out at him right off the bat. James Potter and Marvolo Gaunt… that one was easy! Both families were descended from the Peverells. As for Sirius Black and Arthur Weasley, wasn't Arthur's mum a Black? He cross-referenced his book. Yes!*

The other three sets of names were more difficult. Terry Boot and Bellatrix Lestrange? He didn't think those two were related, unless there was a marriage somewhere between a Boot and a Black that he didn't remember, but he'd leave that one blank for now. Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley? He knew both the Longbottom and Weasley families were related to the Blacks through marriage, but was that enough to make them related to each other? Lucius Malfoy and Albus Potter… that one was even harder! Albus Potter was probably related to Charlus Potter. who married Dorea Black. and he knew Lucius's wife was also a Black… but he couldn't recall any marriages between the Malfoys and Potters themselves.

Making his best guesses, he jotted down:

SPOILER!!: Heath's answers

Terry Boot -- Bellatrix Lestrange: ???

Neville Longbottom -- Ron Weasley: Probably not related, though connected (Sisters Callidora and Cedrella Black married into the Longbottom and Weasley families, respectively)

James Potter -- Marvolo Gaunt: Related (Both the Potter and Gaunt families were descended from the Peverells)

Sirius Black -- Arthur Weasley: Related (Cedrella Black married Septimus Weasley)

Lucius Malfoy -- Albus Potter: Probably not related, though connected (Lucius married a Black, as did Charlus Potter, a likely ancestor of Albus's)

It was only after he finished writing that Heath registered Professor Recard's question, and that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach was back as he thought of the Gaunts and their pureblood fanaticism. No. that wasn't fair. Surely they can't all have been evil, right? As he thought, he remembered a kernel of information and decided to take his answer in a more positive direction. "The creation of Ilvermorny," he said after raising his hand. "Isolt Sayre, the school's founder, was the daughter of Rionach Gaunt and William Sayre."

"Ah, a good point that is often forgotten! Yes, the Gaunt's have a connection to our friends at Ilvemorny is one often overlooked for their...more nefarious impact on our history," she said with a small frown. More on that in a minute...

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

V wiiiiilted slightly, listening to Professor Recard talk. Wah wah, wah wah-wah, wah. Emmerson also made some good points....who WOULD want to marry a muggle? It seemed like a lot of work and a LOT of hassle. But then she remembered Lisa was a muggleborn, and Lisa's parents, though she hadn't met them, seemed very nice and kind and great. Better than her parents, even, in some ways.

Maybe it wasn't ALL bad, yeah?

But the assignment was totally not something V felt like doing, so she wrote all the names down in her notebook and began to doodle next to them, soon getting lost in the doodles and forgetting the assignment. It was only when she heard some mumbling from classmates nearby that she decided she ought to TRY to do the assignment.

So she opened her book and began to search for the answers. So many words. SO little time. SO little time...ugh. She wasn't done when Recard moved on, and it made her stomach flutter a little, in that "oh no, I'm getting lost" kind of way. Breath breath breath breath brea-

The Gaunt family? V was lucky she had seen that name in her book, and she knew the name from growing up with magical families, luckily. "They're related to Slytherin, right?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Watson

“Sorry,” she said quietly. She still thought historical purebloods were du- a little silly. Hopefully the genetics would play it’s part… she thought but decided not to say anything more as she had said her peace. Saying more would mean trouble which is evident by what happened next.

So Lisa heeded the Professor’s request to remain civil. She folded her arms and remained silent, listening to Emerson’s response and then the Professor’s later response. She bit her lip and tapped her foot lightly on the ground. She glanced at her notebook with the written names, and then began her guesswork. Now that Emmerson had phrased it that way- she did feel a little bit bad about her outburst. It was just triggering. She did write the name Rosier down for research purposes to be done at a later point in time.

Terry Boot -- Bellatrix Lestrange <—- Hopefully not related for Terry Boot’s sake. Wouldn’t personally wish to be related to Lestrange OR a Malfoy
Neville Longbottom -- Ron Weasley <— Not Related?
James Potter -- Marvolo Gaunt <— Related
Sirius Black -- Arthur Weasley <— Related by Marriage????
Lucius Malfoy -- Albus Potter <— Hopefully not Related

She listened to the next question and refrained from adding a reference to incest in her answer. “They were Parsletongues?”

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

"The Gaunt family--they were known for the ability to speak Parseltongue, weren't they? I hear somewhere that they tried to breed the trait in their line, marrying their cousins and such, but that would probably just introduce genetic instability into their line." Violet savoured the new word -- genetic instability -- which she'd picked up from her ex-governess in their conversations following the battle last year. Violet was not sure she entirely understood it, but what she did understand led her to believe that being totally Pureblood was more of a liability than something to be proud of.

"Very good, all three of you!" Gabi smiled at Violet, Victoria and Lisa in turn as they all brought up the Gaunt's being descended from Slytherin - and by extension, being parseltongues. Probably the best known fact about them...aside from the Voldemort connection. "In addition to being descendants of Salazar Slytherin and inheriting his ability to speak parseltongue, they were also descended from the Peverell family."

"Many of you brought up most of the big things the Gaunts are remembered for. Nearly everyone in our history knows the sad tale of Merope Gaunt and her unrequented love for Tom Riddle - and eventually marrying him under the guise of a love potion, and having a child with him. The Gaunt obsession with status had caused them to spend all their money years prior to that, however, and by the time Merope fled with Tom Riddle Sr. the family was living in poverty," she explained. "Aside from that, however, the Gaunts have popped up in various ways throughout our history. Mister Jones brought up the interesting tale of Isolt Gaunt, who fled to what would eventually become The United States to open Ilvermorny with her husband. There is also Corvinus Gaunt, who helped design the bathroom that currently houses the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. He knew it existed - since they were descended from Salazar Slytherin - and used his design to conceal the entrance when the school decided to put in plumbing," she said. Who knew something as simple as putting in bathrooms actually had a bit of an interesting past?!

"Just about everything the Gaunt family did in our past revolves around one thing - blood purity. The Gaunts were obsessed with it. They took great pride in their ancestry to both the Slytherin family and the Peverell family, and spent all their money trying to uphold their social status," she told the class. "Based on this information, for our main activity today, YOU will pick someone from the Gaunt family and try and determine how they would react to the following events that have happened since their downfall," she explained before pausing to put a list of events on the board.

Quote:

-The Battle Against the Neo-Alliance at Hogwarts
-The IMPS competition featuring visitors from America - the Ilvermorny Students!
-The Separation of Hogwarts into Cooper and Belle's schools for boys and girls (respectively)
-The Cult of Walpurgis takes over the Ministry

"You can pick ANYONE from the Gaunt family, and using your textbooks, read up a bit on their personality and their attitude. Some of the Gaunt family might surprise in their attitude towards muggleborns and might not be what you expect!" she said with a grin. Even Voldemort himself was an option!

"For example - Marvolo Gaunt would have 100% been on board with the Neo-Alliance. In fact, he likely would have come to the Battle at Hogwarts to try and gain some street cred for the Gaunt family! Naturally, he would have been unsuccessful, and probably just made the Gaunt family more unpopular in the wizarding community," she told them all her fantastical scenario with a small chuckle to give them an idea of what she was expecting.

"You can work alone and write out a synopsis of what you think might have happened and turn it in at the end of class, OR if you'd like to work with a partner, you can brainstorm together to write a scenario out featuring two characters - or you can even do some roleplaying in front of the class! Whatever really gets those creative juices flowing!" she encouraged them all with a small clap before popping another small bite of watermelon bread in her mouth. Normally her activities would have a bit more structure but...why not let them run wild with this and have FUN?!

"You have the rest of the class to work on this. Have fun!" she told them all with one final clap of her hands, and they were officially free to begin!

OOC: Main activity time! As Gabi said, you really can get creative with this as long as you present her with the following - pick a Gaunt family member, and tell her how they would have reacted to the historical events provided. Those are all SS RPG historical events! Obviously I am a dinosaur and have been here forever but I know most of y'all haven't which is why I linked to the archives for those events so you can read up on them you might some a familiar woman popping up in the Ministry cough cough. You can also utilize the SnitchseekerRPG Wiki which may also have some helpful information! You have until July 10th at roughly 8 PM CDT to finish up the main activity before I close it up. If you have any questions, please let me know!

Morgan did not finish the assignment before they were apparently moving on, but he'd guessed that Sirius Black was related to Arthur Weasley , or rather did the research to come to that conclusion, and he was pleased to see that he was correct. Sweet!

The professor had a lot more information on the Gaunt family and Morgan was unsure why they thought they were so great. Sure they did a couple things, but most families had someone who did something. He wasn't that impressed.

And you know what impressed him even less? All of this work that they now had to do! This sounded like A LOT of research and he couldn't help the groan as he flipped through his textbook. He didn't know too much about most of the events that were listed and he really didn't want to talk about the battle from last year. Too soon, professor. Too soon. So that meant even more research. Ugh.

The moment Professor Recard said the words Sacred Twenty-Eight, Apollo wasn't sure he wanted to be there anymore. In this class. Why did History of Magic have to be a mandatory lesson? He was just reminded of his first year and the terrible trauma that like eighty percent of his classmates had been through in being sentenced to the room. And the torture. And the unneeded deaths of innocent victims. He, as a pureblood, knew of the sacred twenty-eight, but also, did it even truly exist anymore? Because even though he considered himself a pureblood, he knew there were muggles in his bloodline. Didn't just about everyone have non-magic blood these days? It might be distanced - like four generations back, but it existed.

He glanced up at the list. Were they connected? Doh. Wasn't EVERYONE technically related? Sure some might be super distanced and not DIRECTLY related, but in theory they were all products of their parents who descended way back to Adam and Eve and ultimately a higher being and the Big Bang, so even if they weren't directly incests, they were all related on an indirect level, at the bare minimum. Did he have to show how they were all related or was just using the Big Bang as an explanation enough?

SPOILER!!: Apollo's Notes

Terry Boot -- Bellatrix Lestrange {Related}
Neville Longbottom -- Ron Weasley {Related}
James Potter -- Marvolo Gaunt {Related}
Sirius Black -- Arthur Weasley {Related}
Lucius Malfoy -- Albus Potter {Related}

Or apparently Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley were not?? But weren't they both purebloods? Which meant that there DEFINITELY was some blood connection there!! He frowned too when Recard said Lucius Malfoy and Albus Potter weren't related either. Uh... Yea, he was pretty sure that was fake news. The Potters and Malfoys definitely were related too. Weren't they? Oh, connected via distant distant cousins. But didn't that mean related?

Still frowning when Recard introduced their activity, he looked over the event choices. The battle from last year would have been an easy one, since Recard practically gave them their answer, but it was the third choice that caught his eye the most. Belle and Cooper schools. He recalled the stories his Grandma Mia and Grandpa Tancred told of their seventh year and just knew that he had to delve into researching more on those schools and how the someone from the Gaunt family would have felt about it. He already had some knowledge about the school separation, but he wanted to fill in the gaps.

He started to write on his parchment, as he flipped through in his textbook to the event from over thirty years ago. Would his grandparents names be mentioned? He hadn't actually considered that before, but that would be kind of cool if they were.

SPOILER!!: Apollo's Notes

The Separation of Hogwarts into Cooper and Belle's schools for boys and girls

-
-

Okay, so two out of five being correct for the mini activity meant that she was a failure. Claudine hastily hid her work should anyone decide to peer at it. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. Heath’s interesting fact was something Claudine hadn’t known. Leave it to him to know all the things. But those thoughts were soon forgotten as Reccard continued speaking about the Gaunt family. All this blood status nonsense… she for one had no care for it, regardless of the family background she came from.

Claudine wasn’t thrilled with the amount of research she’d have to do so she’d put that off for now. She opted to begin reading on Merope Gaunt’s personality first. When that was done, Claudine set about getting the

SPOILER!!: Claudine’s notes

Chosen Gaunt family member: Merope

• The Battle Against the Neo-Alliance at Hogwarts:

Given the fact that Merope fell in love with a Muggle, I would say that she would not have sided with the Alliance. After all, her own child {or children if she’d had more with Tom Riddle Senior} would have not been purebloods.

Phoebe dropped into the seat beside Morgan and tipped her whole desk toward him with a pleased smile. He looked SO excited to be doing this assignment, to be generally stuck in History of Magic, but she was here to save his bacon.

"Chin up, MoMac. We'll do an easy one. Isolt Gaunt founded Ilver-whaty, right? And one of those events is Ilver-what against Hogwarts in some big juggernaut competition? I bet it's easy as pie to come up with how she would feel about that. Or we could make it complicated. Maybe she's feeling conflicted about putting her babies up against the best Wizarding school in Europe."

Morgan looked up from his book to see Phoebe smiling next to him and he gave her a pleased smile in return. "Sup, Feebs?" Cool. He liked Phoebe in general of course, but even better that she wanted to work with him. She'd have some good ideas and then he wouldn't have to do as much work.

See, she already had some ideas. "Oh yeah, someone did say that she founded Ilvermorny," he remembered from the class discussion. He never would have remembered her first name though, but he wrote that down in his notes now since they probably needed that. He squinted up at the board where Recard wrote down the events. "That's the IMPS competition, right?" It sounded kind of familiar, but kind of before his time. And then he paused to consider Phoebe's thoughts about how old Isolt might have felt about it.

"Do you think so? What if she was super competitive and an old battleax who thought her school was the best, and she was more like, 'We're going to kick your butts, Hogwarts!' And then maybe one of her distant cousins from Hogwarts was like, 'No, we're going to kick your butts!' And then it started some big family feud because the whole family is competitive and just generally thinks they're the best." Yep, sounded pretty on brand to him.