When describing Kale Trent the word quiet would not be counted among the first descriptors. And yet he'd been eerily silent this whole lesson. The war had been less than two years ago and somehow investigating a family that by and large touted pureblood superiority-- just like Rosier-- was on the docket. It made the seventh year livid.

None of this was helped with the mere existence of Nemesis Upstead. They polluted the room with their knowing grins and scheming, stupid face. Murderer. Traitor.

Kale didn't offer up anything to say at any point in the lesson because he knew nothing he said was going to be constructive, and he really did promise his Dad he'd be better. More mature. And starting fights did not fall under the whole do better thing he was trying to achieve.

So he grit his teeth as his classmates discussed the Blacks and tried not to think about that void. The never-ending darkness. The way his father's face has melted off that opening feast.

Kale was so possessed by the fury that sometimes lurked underneath whenever he thought about the war that he didn't even notice when the activity was announced. He blinked rapidly and looked around the room. "What?"

Apollo had been distracted momentarily by the fact that both his dormmates seemed to be feeling ill? And Nemesis was leaving too? Had he missed some key memo about skiving off history of magic today with fake illnesses? Because the Flamsteed duo hadn't seemed ill when he awoke that morning? Or had he been completely oblivious to it? The latter was probably likely. Also, no more debates or discussions had the third year frowning. Why did it seem like the final activity was mostly busy work? Except for the acting gig. He had done pretty decent as Michael Darling last term in Peter Pan, so maybe someone wanted to do the re-enactment.

That was when he heard Heath asking if anyone wanted to do a re-enactment. "I'm in, if we can get three more people. Although, I suppose we could always play multiple parts." He noticed Charlie glance Heath's way like she was interested, but then she had got supplies for the college. He sighed, glancing around the room for any other takers, maybe.

Heath’s dark eyes darted around the room in search of potential scene partners, but so far there were no takers. He caught Charlie’s smile, returning it with a slight nod. For one wild moment, he thought she was going to join in the re-enactment, but his heart sank as he watched her gather supplies for a collage. Panic began to set in. What if he couldn’t find anyone else to do a re-enactment? It was probably too late to start on a collage, and besides, his art skills were atrocious!

Then an idea occurred to him. He’d write a script for his re-enactment idea so he’d at least have something to hand in. He was so hard at work scribbling down lines that it took him a second to register Apollo talking to him. Setting his quill down, he looked up from his parchment with a small smile. “That could work,” he said, stifling a laugh as he imagined himself playing one (or more) of the Black sisters. “If we don’t find anyone else, we could each take one of the Black brothers and one of the sisters. Then we could flip a coin to see who plays the remaining Black sister.” He was only half joking about that part!

“So we’re supposed to re-enact a Black family dinner party, and I was thinking what if the party takes place on the day Andromeda was disowned? Like, maybe she announced her marriage to Ted Tonks at the party or something… what do you think?” He was open to other ideas if Apollo had any!

Simon walked around the classroom, observing the students work. Evan, Claudine, Ash, Charlie, and a few others had started to work on paintings. He walked past, not adding anything so that they could focus on their creations. He was merely an observer.

Kale’s exclamation drew his attention. “Yes, Mr Trent?” he asked before turning his attention to Heath who had asked a clarifying question. He had not specified. “For the class!”

He continued walking around the room before reminding the class. “Thirty minutes before we end the lesson if you cannot finish what you’re working on, please take it home with you.”



OOC: Last call for posts- 24 hours before i close the lesson!

At first Apollo was about to go follow his older housemate to the cupboard to get supplies to start working on a collage and ditch the script idea. But it seemed the Ravenclaw was keen on working with him after all. He chuckled at the flipping a coin for the extra part. "Although, I'm not sure that Andromeda would have a big part. I'd imagine she storms out at the party and the result is the remaining Black family members discussing this and her traitorous ways. Although I could see Sirius trying to stand up for her." he said thoughtfully, as he heard Professor Holden announce about finishing it up.

"Suppose we don't have time to actually enact it anyway. So maybe just some highlights for how each sibling would act? Sirius would probably get annoyed at his siblings lack of empathy and likely disappear to the Potters house for refuge. Whereas I could see Bellatrix blasting both Andromeda and Sirius off the family tapestry, as they tainted the Black family name." As far as Regulus and Narcissa, well, they would probably just go along with what Bellatrix did? Maybe?

Violet had been torn between the assignments, not because they seemed appealing, but because she felt she was equally bad at both acting and drawing. But she remembered Claudine had once told her her art wasn't so bad, long ago in that Butterfly Garden. Just before Violet had been possessed by a ghost, which was probably why she'd buried the memory deep in her brain until now. And what with ghost possession, being imprisoned by pureblood fanatics, and getting drugged, Violet had not been working at it. But it was better than role-playing, so she gathered some art supplies and went at it.

It took her a while to think of an occasion where those particular five members of the Black family would have been together. Surely they had at some point in time, at some uncomfortable family dinner or something. Once she had the idea, it took her a while to execute it; she felt she had to outline it in pencil first, in case she made mistakes (she did), and then used charcoal to go over the lines.

What she came up with was the five Blacks at a formal dining table. Andromeda was seated on the left side between her sisters and was sitting looking down at her plate, because she had just announced she was going to marry Ted Tonks, a Muggle-born wizard. To her right, Narcissa had drawn away from her sister, a look of disgust on her face. On her right, Bellatrix had leaped up, shouting, and drawn her wand. Sirius Black, also shouting, had leaped up from the other side of the table and crossed over to grab the shoulder of Bellatrix's wand arm, protecting his cousin, while his brother Regulus, having overturned his wine glass, was staring at Andromeda with a horrified expression on his face.

Violet surveyed her drawing. Not too bad. Not too good, either, but you could at least tell who was who and what was going on, more or less. If only she could have written it out, instead of drawing it! Looking at the scene one more time before turning it in, Violet felt she understood perfectly why her mother had chosen to avoid such a scene and elope in the middle of the night.

It hadn’t been thirty minutes yet, had it?

Simon pressed the button on the top of his pocket watch to check the time. His eyebrows raised slightly. It had. Well would you look at the time? It was time to end the lesson. He closed the watch, slipped it into his pocket, and glanced around the room. He noted that several students seemed to be finalizing their assignments.

“Unfortunately we’ll have to call time for now so we’re all not late to our next lesson. If you want to continue working in here, you are more than welcome too. Please look at your syllabus for the next reading assignment which is on the Marauders. I anticipate an exciting discussion!”



OOC: aaaand that’s a wrap folks Thanks for attending HoM! Twas a hoot! See ya next Time!