Raine Almasy    Kiba Attawood Kirby Gracean

Cassie Flitwick Seto Spalding Loriane Edevane

Absinthe Darby Sasha Schlagenweit Peyton Wentworth

Waverly Roh-Ballentyne Raven Whitman Huxley Ward    Neely Woolfolk

Taryn Dickenson    Cain Abernathy Agatha Pellegrino    Odessa Eisley Leonard Nagde

Élodie Fontaine Cécile Fontaine    Leonardo Duarte

[1]



Welcome to Muggle Studies! Please thread as if your character is coming into the room, and choosing a seat from the diagram below. Once I have posted for the second time, please do not thread your character walking into class (unless it is a pre-discussed lateness! Just remember, lets keep this fun, and please do not post if there aren't 2 posts between your first and second post. I.E. John posts, Suzy posts, you post, Alfred posts, I post, you post. Alright! Let's have a good year!

This is how the room's set up. Please state which desk and which chair you are sitting in. Please do not sit at the teacher's desk.

Althea sat down in her blue chair, dusting the orange chalk dust off her hands from writing WELCOME TO MUGGLE STUDIES in big, somewhat obnoxious orange letters. She tucked her large, green, fluff filled turtle under her arm, and took a deep breath. First class of the day. She could do this. Sure, it was a huge class, and only one of her, but she wasn't going to let it get to her. She was going to be the best gosh darn teacher this school had ever seen!

She was happy that Minerva was as excellent as she was, allowing Althea to teach. She was grateful, because here she was, getting her classroom ready to teach her favorite class with students that she hoped would be as excited as she was. Althea looked around the room, the desks making a nice circle. She always liked circles. Unity. being one mass, and all being equal. Growing up, she never liked that the teacher had so much more power over everyone. This way, everyone got a chance to feel equal.

"Good morning!" She said loudly to the first student who entered. "Lovely weather we're having!" It seemed like overkill, but let's face it. Althea was finally, FINALLY talking to one of her actual students!

1.	If your character is signed up for this class, but isn't on the list, feel free to just post! I'll add you!

It was a Wednesday.  It was a full moon.  It was a week and a half until Hogwarts Exams.  It was two weeks until Sasha would be sitting the GCSEs back in London, the muggle equivalent of OWL examinations.  And, it was three weeks until Christmas. 

All things considered, Sasha was feeling surprisingly awake and alert and very curious about how the coming class was going to go.  Sasha was under a fair bit of pressure to consider dropping a couple classes and, as they trudged closer and closer to the exams, Sasha was starting to acquiesce and admit they did have a point.  As much as he enjoyed the class, Muggle Studies was definitely towards the top of the list of potential sacrifices.  It was a toss up, though - the class had the potential to be extremely useful to him.  Or, completely inapplicable to his own goals. 

He had been wanting to see where the class would go before making any final decisions. 

Sasha glanced up towards the front of the class as the Professor greeted him and offered a grin.  "Allo."  The Ravenclaw glanced towards one of the tower windows, just to verify it was, indeed, winter outside.  The cold rain had, finally, shifted over to snow but he still wasn't sure if Scottish winters could be described as 'lovely.'  "I ... yes, ma'am.  I suppose.  At least it limits the distractions for exam preparation."

Sasha's bag, weighted with the myriad of books and notebooks he'd need for the full day of classes, hit the floor with a dull thud.  The Ravenclaw settled himself at the second seat at Table 3 and gathered his supplies for the class. 

So, this kid was focused, huh? He seemed quite determined, which was a valuable skill to have, and a skill Althea lacked. "Yes, I guess it does limit distractions, but don't you like to go outside and have fun? I know I do!" She smiled. "I'm actually planning to go out one of these days and build a snowman. I think that'd be very fun."

"But what do you like to do during this time of the year?" She said, engaging him into the conversation. She was so excited to speak with a student, that it seemed like the energy would just burst out of her. Althea loved talking to people, and her mind began to race to him becoming her favorite student.

Sasha blinked then stared at Professor Santucci for a moment.  He wasn't entirely sure what the professor meant by going outside and having fun but he was skeptical that his usual extracurricular activities would qualify.  He wasn't really prone to getting caught outside building a snowman, no.  Finally, Sasha shrugged and grimaced apologetically as he shook his head.  "No.  Not usually.  I used to do stuff like that as a kid back at our home in Germany.  But, it has been a few years." 

Sasha shrugged, awkwardly, again as he tried to come up with an answer for her question that sounded even vaguely interesting.  Finally, he had to resign himself to the fact there was really only one answer that was even remotely truthful. 

"With exams coming up, I ... I pretty much just study," Sasha admitted.  "Or, class.  Sometimes people drag me into things.  Under the guise of funerals for pets.  If I'm home, though, I do enjoy skiing.  Or, I know it's cliché, but sleigh riding in the snow.  With mulled wine and ..."  Sasha's voice trailed off as he blushed, distracting himself by straightening his books and supplies.

This kid was more adult than Althea was! Mulled wine, sleigh rides? Althea hadn't gone on a sleigh ride in her life! Clearly, this kid was fancy. Or, well, at least more fancy than Althea ever was. "That seems... Nice." She said with an apprehensive smile. She didn't know to respond to that. She couldn't relate. She couldn't tell some funny story, or anything like that.

Althea changed the subject. "So." She said. "Why did you elect to take this class?" She smiled, awaiting his answer.

Teagan had been looking forward to this class.  Muggles, she wanted to know everything there was to know about them!  In her little town in Ireland, all the muggles and magical folk tended to keep apart from one another, so she didn't know much of anything of Muggle folk. 

She entered the class, surprised to see it was still nearly empty.  "Hi! Good morning," she said, smiling at the teacher and then at the lone student in the right hand corner.  The teacher looked cheerful, excited.  Well, Teagan was too!  It made her smile to see a teacher so enthusiastic about her job.  She wanted to be a Professor herself one day and when that happened, she'd like to be exactly like this Professor. 

She sat down on the first chair at the second desk.  Teagan preferred sitting in front so she could see better and hear better, allowing for better absorption of the class material. 
 

Another student entered, and Althea's face lit up. "Well, hello there! How are you, on this shining, and lovely day?" She asked the girl. A second student! Althea couldn't wait to meet all of her students. She thought that she'd be able to form strong bonds with all of her students, or so she had hoped.

"I was just talking to Sasha about winter activities. What do you like to do in the cold?"

Teagan smiled in surprise at the Professor's friendliness.  "I'm doing good and how are you?" she answered.   "I'm looking forward to this class!"  Teagan always felt rather shy around authority figures and tended to keep a bit of a formal distance between them.  This Professor, however, seemed like someone you could befriend.  She adored this woman's cheerfulness. 

"Oh!  Winter activities?  I like to walk around outside, the snow blanketting everything is quite lovely to see.  Otherwise, it's been a while, but snowball fights are fun," she said.  "I love to ski and skate too, even if I wipe out constantly." 

"What about you both?"  Teagan glanced at Sasha, smiling, noticing he looked slightly uncomfortable.  Perhaps uncomfortable with the Professor's friendliness? Teagan wondered.

   

A hint of color rose in the Ravenclaw's cheeks as the professor seemed to struggle to find a response.  His answer hadn't seemed too out of place in his head but, in retrospect, maybe they did seem strange.  He glanced towards the door as Teagan joined them before looking back towards the professor and shrugged. 

"I usually spend the holidays with my family in Germany," he offered, hoping that helped offer some explanation.  Maybe that didn't help on the sleigh ride side of things but mulled wine was everywhere at the Christmas Markets during the holidays.  As were waffles and chocolate covered fruit.  And...maybe he could convince Jacoba to go down to Munich with him for a few days over the holidays. 

"Here at school, though, it's mostly studying.  I've got a full schedule of classes and ... other independent studies.  So, I don't have a lot of free time here." And, what little free time he did have was usually earmarked for sleep.  And, these days he was lucky to get a few hours of sleep each night.

Georgiana, being thwarted in her usual technique of sitting near, but not quite at the back of the class, instead had collapsed down in the first chair at the sixth desk shortly before the class was supposed to begin. Occasionally, she idly kicked her backpack, and made a great show of looking over her nails as if debating what color to paint them.

It was  a new teacher day, and between the orange lettering and the turtles Gigi was already developing a headache. Maybe she'd get lucky, and this Santucci would come equipped with a big red do not push button. Which was to be pushed, of course. This wasn't Mimiron. Teachers were nothing compared to his laser-invoking buttons.

And winter activities? She rolled her eyes a bit at the responses when the professor was looking at the other students. Apparently, winter was the time to maximize how utterly cliched they could be. But, when a gap in the conversation arose, she resigned herself to jumping in. "I'm planning to fight a gazebo and own noobs over break. Open presents. Have quiet." Assuming Cy's giggly little friends could keep quiet. If not, she'd be convincing Tappy into some noise-cancelling headphones amid the presents.

Teagan listened as Sasha talked about his holiday plans.  "Oo, I wish I could visit Germany someday.  I've never left the UK," she said, sighing dreamily as she thought of visiting Europe the instant she had the money.  Maybe some time after graduating from Hogwarts she would have the opportunity.  Teagan planned on becoming a Hogwarts Professor and she would most likely have a chance to take a trip during the summers. 

Teagan then glanced at the new girl who arrived, noting her smug demeanor.  As the girl talked about her own holiday plans, Teagan listened and then blinked , staring slighty curiously at her.  She had no idea what the girl could possibly mean by picking a fight with a gazebo and "owning noobs".  Perhaps it was intended as a humorous or sarcastic comment, she thought.  Teagan just smiled kindly at the girl, but she had the impression the answer was more to shock them than to add to the conversation.  As such, she decided not to comment.

"I might be going to a friend's Christmas party this holiday," Teagan said.  It was a change for her as she tended to keep to herself, shying away from big crowds and parties.  But Chloe was becoming a good friend and Teagan didn't have the heart to say no to her.  Anyway, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to make an effort to be social once in a while.     

Althea smiled at the small chit chat that was happening. People were conversing. It was nice. Althea stood up from her chair, walking around, and putting her arms crossed on the back of the chair. "Winter holidays are fun. I always like making snowmen, and having snowball fights with my little sister. I really like to do that."

More students folded in, and took seats.[1] Althea smiled, as the conversation started to wind down, and she started her introduction. "Alright. So. My name is Althea, but you can't call me that, since this is school, so I guess you can call me Professor Santucci. I was raised in a magical household, but I went to University in the muggle world, I've written two books about muggle culture, they never did well. And, this is my first class, ever, so bear with me!"

"A little about this class, I never liked the class like class. So. This is rather, a gathering, than a class. Homework won't be a huge aspect of class, so don't worry. I don't have many rules, but pretty much, state your opinions, respect everyone's opinions, don't raise your hand, I don't like the idea of me being more powerful, or more important than you guys. Oh! and if something doesn't seem fairl, let me know, I wanna make everything fair."

"Yes, no? What do we think? Can we make it through the year with these rules?"

1.	You still can join in, if you haven't so far! Just RP like you walked in with this swarm, or just come in late! Both are great options.

Sitting where he was at the second seat at table 8, Sasha had to pivot slightly to peer across at Georgiana with obvious confusion.  Fight ... gazebos?  Had she meant fighting in a gazebo?  That alternative didn't seem more normal, necessarily, but at least it made some sort of sense.  He wasn't sure if Georgiana was aware of the holiday plans, yet, but he could only hope attacking gazebos wasn't some strange Trishna holiday ritual.  And, more importantly, that he wouldn't be obligated to join in.

Whatever that meant.

But, Professor Santucci directed their attention to the lesson and Sasha turned forward again.  Apparently, for a class that was usually quite easy and straightforward for Sasha, today was proving to be one of the more confusing classes he'd sat through.  Homework wasn't going to be important?  No rules? 

Out of habit, the Ravenclaw started to raise his hand but lowered it, again.  "Ma'am," he said.  "I don't understand.  What will our grades be based on?  Will we just have exams or projects instead of homework?  Or..."

Derry had arrived slightly late.  On his way to class, he lost track of the time as he loitered in the hallways greeting and talking to fellow students.  Entering, Derry exclaimed: "Good morning!  Sorry I'm late!  How's everyone?"  He waved happily at the Professor and, noticing Teagan, went to sit beside her at the second desk. 

Derry had heard the Professor's introduction and smiled contently as he heard her say that homework was not an important part of the class.  He nodded his head in agreement at having a class that's more like a gathering.  "Brilliant," he said.  "This Prof seems great," he said, turning to Teagan.

Muggle Studies was one of the classes that Derry liked.  Even though it was still challenging for him, he already knew a bit about the subject since he had had Muggle friends back in Dublin.  On top of that, he had always been fascinated by anything Muggle-related.  While Derry listened to Sasha's question, his restless personality compelled him to play drums - at least he did so quietly - on his lap.   

No rules. Georgiana started to pick at her cuticles, then hooked her shoe under a strap of her backpack. When she lifted her foot, the few books inside made a soft thud as the backpack swung back and forth. And for once, she found herself agreeing with Schlagendweeb.

Either the professor was unbearably naive (a likely choice, in Gigi's opinion), or they were just going to be stuck with a selection of unwritten rules that devolved down to boot-licking. She'd like to see Sasha try that.  Whatever it was, no rules was something that just screamed to be toyed with. "We just going to be graded on discussion, then?"

Discussion meant talking. Loud talking. And if Santucci wanted that, Gigi'd be milking it every chance she got. They could talk about Muggle diseases! Hopefully the professor had a weak stomach.