CoMC Valentine's Class Partners
Please sit with your partners. Team A should sit on the left side of the room, and Team B should sit on the right side of the room.

Team A Sophie Flickwick & Fauna Blake Callum Knight & Naomi Foley Baxter Fox & Sasha Schlagenweit Peyton Wentworth & Evie Pascal Erin Harper & Blake Knight Imogen Marsh & Julian St. James

Team B Ayla Collins & Joshua Harcroft Xavier Tawse & Mystique Ketteridge Daryl Harrington & Figaro Sellaphix Dax Fayette & Quinn McAvoy Nikolas Falkenrath & Adelia Delacroix Bridget Nilson

Declan sat at his desk in the back of the room, in front of him were two bowls- each filled with small, brightly wrapped boxes. As his students began to filter in, he pointed their attention to the board. "Everyone sit down with your pre-assigned partners," he called out. "The lesson will begin after everyone has gathered."



(If you do not have a partner, you did not sign up in the plotting thread. Send me a PM if you wish to join up in this lesson.)

Dax looked at the boxes curiously, glancing at the board? Quinn, eh? Well, that'd be fun. He grinned; party girls were the best sometimes, though in Professor Ó Móráin's class that wasn't always the ticket to success.

Not that this was Dax's field of study, of course, but mucking about outside was always fun unless it was raining. He was rather disappointed to be indoors today, since the weather was beginning to clear up and turn a little less snowy. Still, this promised to be interesting. Or disastrous. Either way they were in for an adventure, eh?

He lounged across his desk for a moment before sighing and pulling out his DADA textbook, flipping to his bookmark. Dion had been after him for weeks to study and it had gotten through, if only because he hated disappointing his brother. Dion's bitching didn't do much, but his disappointment, and quite apt point that not getting good scores in DADA axed their chance at becoming Aurors, did. They'd wanted to be Aurors for years and Dax wasn't about to screw that up, at least for himself; Dion would make it in for sure.

Dax settled in to read as the rest of the class wandered to their seats.

Mysti seemed to be one of the first people into the Care of Magical Creatures classroom that day.  It was kind of an exciting day.  One with a new partner project.  It also made her a bit nervous, as to who her partner would be.  What if she got stuck with someone she didn’t like? Well, Mysti knew she’d have to deal with it for a good grade, but she always dreaded it.  But as she walked into the classroom, she saw herself paired up with Xavier Tawse.

Looking around, she couldn’t see the Slytherin in question.  Mysti had never had many problems with Xavier, and hoped that it would continue that way.  He seemed to be a decent person, though she couldn’t remember how well he was doing in classes.  All she could do was hope that he was going to be a good partner for the project.  Since he wasn’t there yet, she took a seat and waited.

As she waited, she noticed the small boxes in the bowls.  The Hufflepuff smiled a little at the wrapping, as they were pretty and bright colors.  Thoughts of small animals popped into her head, but she didn’t know what to expect. Previously they had to take care of eggs, and Mysti wasn’t sure if that’s what was going to happen this time. All she could do, as she’d already been doing, was hope.  Hope for it to be something she could do well with.

Fauna looked curiously at the wrapped boxes on the professor's desk as she walked in, but she knew better than to go near them, unless she wanted a doxy to fly out and bite her in the arse. No need for a repeat of that! She wouldn't mind doing another egg project, though she wouldn't be happy if she had to babysit on Hogsmeade weekend.

Glancing at the board, she was relieved to see that Sophie was her partner, and took a seat on the left side of the room. She waved a bit at Mysti and Dax, who were already there (Hufflepuffs represent!). Dax seemed pleased about something, and so did Mysti, though Fauna couldn't fathom why in the latter case. Fauna gave her friend sympathetic look, having noticed that Xavier was listed as her partner.

Nikolas peered up at the board in confusion, trying to put a face to his partner's name. 'Adelia, Adelia, where have I heard that- oh yeah, Addie.'   Niko glanced around the room to see if she was around. He was kind of nervous to  be partnered with one of his sister's roommates, to be honest. Who knows what kind of stuff Julianna had told Addie about him, probably none of it good.

Deciding to worry about it later, Niko grinned and walked over to Dax, punching him lightly on his shoulder. "Hey Dax. Dion finally got you hitting the books, eh."  Nikolas flopped down in a nearby desk to wait for his partner and waved at Fauna and Mystique. Hopefully whatever this mystery assignment was it wouldn't be boring.

Sasha filed into the classroom along with the other somewhat early arrivals, glancing up to read the board as he found his way towards an empty seat.  Another group project.  Those could be good or bad, depending on a variety of factors - the most important one being chosen one's partner. 

And, it looked as though Sasha could have done worse in the partner arena.  Baxter was a fellow Ravenclaw and, from what Sasha had seen around the tower, he was fairly good-natured and studious.  Just as important, Sasha hadn't noted any real animosity or suspicions from Baxter since he'd returned to Ravenclaw Tower and classes.  All in all, Professor O Morain could have given him a much more difficult partner. 

Baxter hadn't, yet, arrived.  Sasha glanced quickly at the students ... Hufflepuffs and a younger Gryffindor... already assembled before finding a seat and settling into it.

Evie was not quite looking forward to this partner project as much as others might have.  She wasn’t much of one for working with others.  Of course, when she needed to, she would.  And she would do it with grace. But the possibility of having a partner who could potentially flake out, or having her do all the work instead made her cringe.  Evie could do it all, but if someone else was supposed to help, she wanted to make sure everyone did their fair share of that work.

Peyton Wentworth.  Evie released a sigh of relief upon seeing her partners name on the board.  From what she’d known about him, he was a nice Ravenclaw in the same year as herself.  Assuming he followed the typical Ravenclaw type, he should be a good partner.  Looking around, she only saw a few Hufflepuffs, a young Gryffindor, and then Sasha being the only Ravenclaw present so far.  She decided to take a seat, and would wait for Peyton to arrive, and for class to start.

Baxter paused as he came into the classroom, studying the large message on the board. Valentine's Edition? He frowned. Baxter was not entirely sure that Professor O Morain doing anything for the holiday would be good for them in the end. While he hadn't put anyone in mortal danger yet, the professor seemed to enjoy partner projects and tricking his students.

But now that he was the Deputy Headmaster, nobody questioned his methods. At least not out loud when he was around. Finding his name on the list, he nodded. Sasha Schlagenweit. There had been a lot of rumors about him this year, and he'd had a tough time. It seemed since the beginning of the school year it had just been one thing right after another. Poor kid. Baxter pitied him, having to deal with everything. And it was no secret that he was a common victim of Slytherin bullying.

Hopefully them being partners wouldn't make him end up on that list, too. Because Baxter was not going to be mean to Sasha. He wasn't in the habit of being mean in general- he was just bossy. Like his dad. He smiled at Sasha and sat down next to him. "I don't think I want to know what he's got planned for Valentine's Day," Baxter said quietly. "He doesn't seem the sort to enjoy the holiday."

Partners? Pfft. Callum frowned, studying the board. He noticed that the teams were pretty evenly split between houses, which had to mean something. But it wasn't like Callum was going to run around causing problems in this class. He was trying to prove that he was a model student and tone down the bullying. He would still get his kicks, but he had to figure out a way to do it that wasn't as obvious or dangerous to his own reputation.

His own partner was, at least, a Slytherin. He wasn't very familiar with Naomi beyond that, though. She had a weird accent and that annoyed him- because Callum likely the most prejudiced person on the face of the planet- but if they were going to work in partnered groups he could have had a worse partner assigned.

And at least it wasn't Imogen. He had a feeilng, though, she would get agitated and jealous at his being paired with a third year other than herself. It wasn't his fault, though, and Callum wasn't going to say anything about. So he sat down on the correct side of the room at an empty table and waited on Naomi to arrive.

Naomi wandered into the Care of Magical Creatures classroom looking around at the few students who had already been seated. Another joint class? The combined classes were actually fun, but she wasn’t sure if she liked the idea or not yet, then her eyes fell on the board and she pursed back a cringe—

Valentines Special? And she was paired with Callum Knight?

She understood the pairings, older kids with younger kids, and it looked like most of the girls were paired with guys. In fact, Naomi didn’t even have a problem with Callum, despite his past outbursts which she could have cared less about. He was a good student, and as far as she knew otherwise civil unless it concerned Schlagenwhatever and Amherst.

Naomi was more concerned about his brat of a fiancé.

After *helping her to shut up her endless annoying jibber jabber, she doubted Imogen would be happy that Callum was paired with her. Who knows what unrelated nonsense would start to flow unstoppably from her flapping mouth after this. The worst part being if Naomi had to listen to it.

The Dark-skinned girl, however just held back her frustration, and took her seat next to Callum, hoping that everything would be explained soon so that all those irritating thoughts she had been ignoring could just be discarded.

Although Naomi did crane to watch the door every few minutes to see when Imogen was going to arrive so she could ignore her properly.

---

*refers to the end result of this thread

Partner projects. Why the hell was every professor - and particularly this one - so focused on partner projects? Erin would much, much rather work on his own. And, sure, okay, so his last partner hadn't ended up being so bad. There were worse ways to spend a class than attached by the hand to a pretty girl. But this time he was with one of the Knight kids, stuck playing babysitter to the younger kid who, if he followed in the footsteps of his older brother, promised to be a little nightmare. Erin didn't mind giving him a cuff about the head if Blake needed it, but trusting him with their assignment was another thing entirely.

He was the first of his partnership to enter the class, eying the board with a faint sneer before switching his gaze to the brightly-wrapped packages in front of O Morain. And that was another thing... if this was a Valentine's celebration class thing, then why was he paired with another boy? Completely unbidden, thoughts of Razzy sprang to mind, and Erin hastily amended that train of mental complaint to wondering why many of the students were paired same-sex.

If Blake tried to kiss him, Erin would going to have to go homicial on his arse. Call him paranoid, but Erin had already had more experience in that area than he'd have cared to. Only Razzy could get away with that sort of thing, and only then because threats didn't seem to faze him.

Addie was hardly taking her sweet time to get to the classroom; it seemed students had their feet jinxed to the floor by a similar product that Callum had used. Either that, or they were simply this lazy today. "OIY! MOVE IT!" she hollered over the huddled bunch of fourth years that were poking along in front of her. Addie hoped she wasn't going to be late as the sea of slowpokes finally moved, causing Addie to head on the merry way.

Her arrival was hardly late, but she had forgotten about the turn & column before the room, so it was soon to be heard her yelling as she rammed her arm right smack on the column. "For the LOVE of Merlin's baggy-OWH!" This was already proving more dangerous than anticipated but the arrival had been met in standing time. Her cheeks tinged a rouge color for a few moments as she entered the room, looking over at the board.

Pairs? Hm...really now, Addie thought as she rubbed her sore arm, heading to her desk. A feeble wave to her housemates was given as she took her seat next to Nikolas. Much like his own anxiousness about his sister talking about him, Addie wondered what, if anything, did Alfie say about her? Maybe she really didn't want to know, not today. "Wotch'r, Niko," she said, giving a warm & comforting smile, feeling pretty good about the pairing. They were like minds on a few things, so that always made it easier, didn't it?

"How's y'classes going, eh?" she piped up, hoping to encourage something out of Nikolas - he needn't to be shy. Her bark & bite was on the peace path once again, so any tensions would be easily dealt with in a positive matter. After all, it was a Hogsmeade weekend (and Valentine's Day, t'boot) - what wasn't there to not be somewhat happy about?

The third year in question found his way into the classroom and over to a seat next to Sasha.  Looking up from his notebook, the fifth countered the other boy's smile with an uncertain grin of his own.  He straightened up in his own seat as the young man sat down next to him before looking up towards the professor in question. 

"I ..."  He reread the board, this time paying more attention to the little information that had been presented about the assignment.  "Valentine's Day class?"  That sounded ... Sasha wasn't sure.  Sasha glanced at Baxter and dropped his voice, leaning over so his comments would be harder to overhear.  "A valentine's day lesson?  That sounds ... last time we did yeti.  He's not going to have us-"  He blinked, and looking quite startled, glanced from Baxter to Professor O Morain.  No ... he wouldn't ...

Sasha shook his head, looking back at Baxter.  "No.  He doesn't.  And, usually, don't those types try to ruin holidays for other people?  I'm not sure he's the type, though.  Maybe it's just ... we're doing something in preparation for the ball?  Coloring pixies for decoration or something?"  He didn't know.  He was grappling for ideas.  Anything that seemed a viable substitute for magical creature husbandry.

"Wotch'r, Niko."

Niko forced his nervousness a side and grinned at Addie, after all, whatever Julianna had to say about him he could probably find something worse about her in return. "Yo, Addie."

"How's y'classes going, eh?"

Nikolas ran his fingers through his mohawk, "Classes are going well I guess. They've been normal, nothing strange or drama filled like you'd find in the fifth or first year class." He shrugged, "I'm doing well grades wise, all though if I wasn't Mom would skin me alive."

He glanced at the front of the room, eying Professor Ó Móráin and the bowls with the wrapped paper boxes before turning back to Addie. "So what do you think that this project is going to be about anyway?"

Twelve days into February and Sophie was still spooked. It was getting better, but there was sort of a cloud of guilt hanging around her shoulders. For someone with a “gift” it had not served her well. This was something she felt any time real disaster struck and there had been a long span of months with no dreams or profound tarot readings. A part of her felt she should have known Ava’s death was coming. Something as disturbing as that, the cosmos should have opened up and spoke to her. They didn’t though, the Cosmos had been mostly silent, but then she hadn’t been asking a lot of questions. Mostly she laid awake at night caught between trying to will the visions to come and fighting to keep her eyes open so she wouldn’t have to see.

For the most part she’d thrown herself into planning the SAWS concert, trying to find a place to hold it, talking to her dad about bands that would get behind the cause, asking her mum’s advice about the best places to snoop around for a venue, it was very time consuming. Actually it was proving to be a bit more work that Sophie had originally thought. Actually it was a lot more work that she had originally thought and while she was plugging ahead and doing the best she could… she was starting to doubt that they’d be able to pull it off. Sophie had never had low self esteem in her life but lately more and more she questioned her ability to even walk down the corridor without disaster striking.

When she arrived at the CoMC classroom door she gave a cursory glance inside to the board. She was silently grateful that her partner was someone that she not only enjoyed but wasn’t likely to mouth off and cause a scene. Sophie wanted to get through one lesson without someone starting a brawl. Squaring her shoulders and putting on her most convincing smile and bouncy walk she made her way toward Fauna [there might have been a long momentarily lingering look shot to Harper, maybe] and plopped down with a flourish, “I believe Fergie has stolen my kitty hat and is going to burn it. My ears are subsequently very cold”. She grinned at the older girl and nudged her shoulder a little, glancing past Fauna to a scowling Dax, “Who'd you supposed pissed in his pumpkin juice?”