Scarf in hand, Nicholas entered the classroom, still surprised that he'd passed the professor in the hallway.  "Um, is he coming back?" He asked as he set his bag down on a desk near the door.  "If he doesn't do you think the house elves will send food up early?"  Though he'd have to take off some layers before he could go sit in the great hall.

Picking up on the conversation in the back of the room about what torture Kesali was likely to force on them he spoke up, "Of course he does it on purpose."  The only other option was that the man had actually lost his marbles and that was a scary thought.  "He probably plans on turning us all into icicles before lunch."

Jordyn didn’t like when professors didn’t seem to have their lives together.  She loved learning charms, but she would have preferred if whatever was bothering Kesali was kept outside of the classroom.  If they were expected to sit and leave their lives out of the classroom, why shouldn’t professors be expected to do the same?  They were much older than them and were supposed to be adults.  Honestly. 

Whatever the case, she had no interest in going on any sort of hunt for him.  She’d done everything he asked before she arrived – wasn’t that some kind of contract?  A social one.  You follow through with your promises and the other party was supposed to follow through with theirs.  She could basically recall something historical with that premise. 

Wasn’t it possible, were that the case, to revolt?  It seemed, some people were only really concerned about dinner – she noted as she watched Bevans take a seat closest to the door. 

She couldn’t even worry about it, however.  One, she wouldn’t do it anyway, and two, Corey – eternally frustrating for a host of reasons walked in.  She felt a blush creep onto her cheeks (despite herself) when he complimented her hat – even if he wasn’t serious, and murmured a “Thank you,” before she watched him actually sit in the front of the room: much different from the usual.   

Surprises would, apparently, never cease, and Jordyn fixed her posture… just in case.  She figured some old habits wouldn’t die hard… and if eyes wandered her way, she didn’t want to have poor posture and look like a slob. 

Gigi had slipped in plenty of time to see Kesali well, she had to wonder why she was going without internet for that. Maybe between the sleeping and running off he he was trying to get fired. Seemed as good a bet as anything. She shrugged beneath her robes in her seat as she listened to her classmates.

"No one past five should throw tantrums. Least not in public." She leaned in towards Zel and the others and managed to keep her expression to a slight smirk.

Then she opened up her backpack and turned to bend attentively over her notes. The badge thing helped with the focus, sure (as did getting caffeine via owl), even if it wasn't DADA.

Plus, in between reading notes there was this drawing of bloodfang she wanted to finish.

When one gets 'Hypothermic Frostbite' in their morning divination of Terr-Oh! it might influence their perception of the weather, i.e. perhaps being terrified of rogue blizzards. Unless you happened to be Ligeia Canterbury. Or the quidditch players of the Tutshill Tornadoes that frequently had games in inclement weather that the league would often weight Tutshill games at handicap.

Ligeia was particularly excited because 'Hypothermic Frostbite' rarely emerged from her Terr-Oh! deck so today she had taken to wearing her hunting furs. A tad excessive for Scottish Winter this time of year but you never know, an invasion of ice gnomes might charge out of the Forest intent on making human flesh popsicles.

Such a drawing occurring the day of Professor Kesali's announced outdoor excursion was making Ligeia exceedingly excited. She almost wished to have her crossbow along, although she doubted the professor would be utilizing sharp projectiles in a demonstration.

Storm maybe. His lessons tended to be deliberately bellicose as opposed to Nightengale's touches of hostile charm happenstances.

"He probably plans on turning us all into icicles before lunch."

Well then, Zel thought, he would be a rather large and tall icicle. The thought wasn’t very appealing. He didn’t have to dwell on the thought of being an icicle for too long, Georgiana Trishna was a semi-plesant distraction. Which was better than it used to be. Gigi still had her terrifying, intimidating moments, but Zel was slowly growing accustomed to them whether he wanted to or not.

“Uhhh.” Geez, he really was surrounded now.

"No one past five should throw tantrums. Least not in public."

Zel’s face flushed and he looked down at his desk quickly. “Er. Yeah, definitely.”  There was no way in hell he was going to admit to Gigi, or anyone else around, the giant tantrum that he had thrown in front of Figaro last night. He gave Fig a shifty look, silently hoping that his dormmate wouldn’t mention a thing. Though, somehow he felt that talking about Zel’s tantrums wasn’t exactly high on Figaro’s priority list.

“So what do we do then, while we wait?” Zel tugged at his scarf. He didn't dress for cold weather for nothing.

Gracie looked up from her sketchpad, where she’d been drawing up plays and prospects while the conversation went on without her. A game of ‘hunt the professor’ might sound fun or interesting to her classmates, but in her case she was, maybe, a little more weary of hunting in general than most, and it was complicated enough without factoring a teacher into it, much less one who’d been a bit of a mad duck since day one, and rather irritable since. If Kesali wanted them to wait for him, then she’d stay here—though if the class had been emptied of everyone but a select few, she would have tracked him in a heartbeat. “Practice warming charms, maybe?” she suggested distantly, as she turned a new page. Frankly, she could do with a cooling charm herself.

Bulstrode, she wrote, nibbling on a lock of hair. Since lopping most of it off in October, it was still quite short, at least compared to its previous length. Inkwood, she added, after the usual amount of hesitation. Admittedly, it was wishful thinking on her part, just not very hopeful wishful thinking, nor was it very enthusiastic.

Even less enthusiastically, she scribbled down Hoult. And then she closed the book, making a face. Slytherin would be drowning in fouls if he ever played.

---

More and more, they trickled into the classroom in Kesali's absence.

Raine had leaned back in her seat, tilting it precariously and not paying much mind as she continued to fiddle with her cardigan buttons like a restless child- she only glanced up at Figaro's mention of knights, smiling dryly at the Hufflepuff, and then again when Gigi made an entrance.

"So what do we do then, while we wait?”

They had all centred on Zel without thinking about it. He looked rather uncomfortable but not, she thought, so uncomfortable that he needed to be rescued. Gracie distracted from him at least.

"I'd much rather practice freezing charms." Raine complained as she finally pulled off her cardigan (irritable in the knowledge that she would only have to put it all on again). "Didn't we only read about one last week? It's stifling in here," her chair settled on all fours while she slumped across the desk like an indolent cat.

Avalon scribbled a few things on a few notes and quickly had them folded into paper airplanes so that he could levitate them to the direction they were supposed to be going. One to Figaro that said 'True Dat' and the other to Raine asking her to not stop with just the cardigan if she was going to be taking clothes off? A catbird this one, and his cheesy little written one liners always kept him in the friend zone, but hey....a  boy could dream right?

It was strange to see his father's work up there and he gave the helm that had been forgotten a look before getting up to get it, and put it on Beaven's head.

Sensing movement at the corner of his eye, Theo glanced across the room. He had ceased to bother after it had only proven to be his classmates arriving, rather than their capricious teacher, but even he was susceptible to hope (-or at least, something like it), and so against his better judgment, he looked, at least open to the possibility that the man had decided to act like a responsible adult again. After all, he had been here since October, and seemed more erratic than actually idiotic. A boy could dream.

Alas, it was only Alex’s unfortunate classmate—interacting with Bevans in what was, presumably, a friendly, ‘quirky’ manner typical of a socially inept person. How… droll.

Like water on oil, Theo’s gaze slid downwards, returning to the game at hand. Something far more interesting was demanding his attention, and unlike the mundane habits of the Common Roth, it required more than the minimal amount of intelligence needed to deal with the general populace, such as foresight, resourcefulness and a flexibility in thinking. Although Theo’s stare remained unblinking, his brow furrowed slightly in thought.

“Knight to G5,” he finally said, and a corner of his mouth curved upward as the piece slid into place– gallantly tipping its helmet at the other piece before killing it with a sweep of its halberd. As it shook the dust off its blade, the Slytherin smiled. The move left the pawn at D2 defenseless, but…

As far as Theo was concerned, Harcroft could always take one for the team.

---

Coffee made everything better, and Gale was a bear without it. Upon his return, even in the coat of arms he seemed to have enough of himself gathered up that he was going to actually enjoy this class. I mean really...what was a better way to start a day by trying to cook your students? He hated them. Gale had come to realize this over the past week. He hated each and every one of them, wanted them all to be turned to toads and let lose in the forest. He could forget about them there, and do the entire school a favor. Maybe even their parents would be pleased, this he could get behind, because he did in fact hate...no he didn't.

Entering the room again he paused at the door, looking in on the rag tag group of misfits and teenagers who all sat there so....polite...no...sat there like students, and seemed as eager as he was to be out of the castle. No doubt they were judging him, making their assumptions because teachers didn't have feelings nor bad days, but he didn't care. He would still lay his life down for each and every one of them, a few faster than others, and with a sigh Gale wrapped his fingers around his tumbler before breaking the silence from the hall,

"Alright you worthless maggots, let's go. Outside. Single file. No touching, no talking, and hang onto the rope. We are heading to the Quidditch Pitch. I would hate to have to leave you behind." He was teasing of course, though half the time it was hard to tell with him, but at least he said so with a smile.

"Mister Bevans, please bring that helmet along," Gale turned to lead them down the hall, but waited a moment to let Ligeia catch up to him. It was good seeing her, he felt as though it had been ages since the Yule Ball, "Hello M'dear, it's good to see you. How are your other classes going?"

Gale was back!

Zelig stood up immediately, grateful for the chance to not be surrounded by people! He kept close to Raine and Fig. He considered them to be his best friends. Honestly, he didn’t think they would have been friends if he hadn’t been bitten. It was some sort of convoluted blessing in disguise, he supposed. This experience had forced him to reevaluate his definition of friendship, and while he was uncomfortable around most people he had learned how to be himself around others once he was comfortable with them.

 Gale’s words bothered him. He didn’t take too kindly to being called a worthless maggot. Zelig couldn’t tell if the charms professor was joking or not, but he took it as an insult that was directed at him. After all, he was the reason Kesali was upset, right? The professor had every right to be mad at him. Zel wasn’t sure though, that he had every right to call his students worthless maggots. It didn’t make him feel comfortable in this learning environment, despite having Raine and Fig close to him.

He held onto the rope, but he felt like a child for doing so. Zel slouched and bent over, so that he wouldn’t force everyone else to hold the ropes higher than was comfortable.

Getting up from his seat at the back of the class - having arrived late and too lazy to drag himself up front to his friends  - Bran threw his scarf behind his back as he approached Jordyn, while everyone else was arranging themselves in a single file. He put his head on her shoulder and sighed deeply. "Oh, lookie, hon. Kesali's playing knight in shining armor" he said quietly with a soft chuckle. His nose crinkled at being called a worthless maggot but Bran's complete amusement at the professor's sudden change of behavior had him amused enough to snort quietly. "Such a sad day" he said mindlessly looking in front at the silver haired man. 'Poor confused Gale... ' he thought to himself with another snort.

"I figured if anybody was going to lose it while teaching here, it would be Trelawney" he said in a completely bored voice. "Thought Kesali was getting some. Enough to keep him sane, anyway..." he said softly ending with a tut. "Shame. He's pretty." And with that he quickly kissed his friend's cheek, grinned at her and took his place in line, back straight and whimsical look on his face. He'd been there to witness Nightingale Kesali's complete breakdown... If the lesson proved a bore, at least he'd have that to amuse himself over.

Unlike some, Alex had managed to remember that they were supposed to dress for the cold, and had a coat slung over the back of her chair. Instead of rushing to gather appropriate clothing, like Jeun, she was watching the board on the table in front of her, uninterested in her classmates’ discussion. It was unlikely to be important, and focus was essential in order to win.

“Knight to G5.” Alex frowned slightly as her piece was destroyed. Although it had been necessary, it was preferable that sacrifice, which tended to cause copious amounts of regret later, was avoided. She had been hoping that Theo wouldn’t take the move – but it worked in her favour as well, not because she could now get rid of Harcroft without sacrificing another piece, but because he had helpfully allowed her to move her Queen into place without the danger of being taken.

A last scan of the board confirmed that her move was safe, and she smiled, “Queen to C5.” Sword hefted over one shoulder, the piece strode forward in a passable imitation of Raine’s own stride, stopping on the square and turning to stare at the opposing King, sword lifted in readiness. “Check,” Alex said at the click of stone, eyes moving up to stare at Theo instead.

Prevented from seeing which piece he would choose to sacrifice by the untimely interruption of their teacher, Alex sighed, picking up her wand and tapping the board twice. The pieces filed neatly off the board without further assistance, stepping neatly into their assigned places while Alex picked up the board, slipping both into her bag and standing up while Kesali pretended that he was a scary teacher, rather than one lacking sense and consistency.

“Come along, worthless maggot,” she said, eyebrows lifting briefly, “we have a rope to be tied to. Perhaps Kesali is going fishing.” Sadly, it wasn’t outside the realms of possibility, and Alex joined the back of the line with a heavy heart. The chess would have to wait for later.

They had devolved into an infantile procession, marching down the Castle passageways.

Raine, however, was fairly tolerant about mood swings and tempers in spite having quite a fiery one herself, insofar as not minding Avalon's cheekiness. Their Charms professor could call them all manner of things if it suited. The only one here acting like immature larvae was Kesali after all. She was positioned just in front of Zel, the Hufflepuff mercifully keeping the rope at a comfortable height.

Every so often she'd glance over her shoulder to observe him and the others (Theo and Alex appearing particularly suspicious) but nobody was breaking order- yet.

Gracie strutted confidently in front of her and Raine poked at the witch's lower back surreptitiously. "Graaaciiiie," she whined. "I'm bored. Entertain me." They couldn't be out of the Castle soon enough.

Jordyn was fairly relieved when Kesali came back to class.  Obviously, she didn’t want to listen to anyone speculate anymore, but she also wasn’t sure she wanted to go through with this lesson.  Going out of doors just seemed so unpleasant in February, it was bound to be frigid and wet. 

Of course it couldn’t have been as chilly as his words and actions. 

At least Bran finally came to his senses and joined her, touching her on the shoulder – which made her tense.  She hated touching.  But, she allowed it, of course, because he was Bran, and he didn’t mean anything by it.  Not wanting to upset their already volatile professor, Jordyn rolled her eyes at his knight in shining armor comment, followed by several others in the same vein.  Jordyn could not let it continue and hissed out, “Oh stop it!” with a swift and stern little slap to his upper arm. 

She was far more likely to just follow the rules, but she did take a cursory glance around the room before examining the rope.  The only sensible place to be would be in a more open space, just in case some other choice company wanted to join, and Jordyn shuffled toward the rope with little enthusiasm for something so juvenile.  It seemed like the sort of thing one would do for first years.  She was just glad to drag Bran along with her. 

Leaning forward a little she whispered in his perfect ear: “I just pray we’ll be spared any other indignities,” and finally clasped her gloved hand over the rope.