(no subject)
Well, everything is set up and ready for the afternoon's festivities. Myself, Professors Sinistra and Rabins and Madam Pince have come up with some rather brilliant clues and tasks for our treasure hunt--not that I'll be giving them away here.
This does look to be a rather fun day, one of those rare opportunities for the entire school just to get out and dispel some tension. The OWL and NEWT students certainly look like they could use it, not to mention the staff.
Off to lunch, and then the fun begins!
You wouldn't believe how much I'm looking forward to this. To say it's been a rather tense week is a gross understatement, and I'm not the only one by any means. The whole business with Cain and Snape...
Well I'm still not sure that I can put my thoughts together coherently on the whole subject, even now. Needless to say it's been another one of those weeks where the professors have to pretend everything will be just fine, when inside they're just as scared and worried as everyone else.
And thinking of things related to the Cain/Snape incident... How thick am I? I must have been the last person on staff to put it together that Prof. Lupin was a werewolf. No, I've never heard someone actually come out and say it, but really, I now realize I've heard enough clues in passing to have figured it out. Some detective I'd make.
It wasn't until I overheard a conversation in the staffroom that basically spelled it out for me that I realized I'd missed every clue. I can't remember the exact wording, but someone mentioned Snape outing Lupin's lycanthropy a few years ago, and it was only then the lightbulb went on in my head. Though perhaps comparing it to a candle would be more appropriate, considering.
I hate to admit it, but I did have the usual knee-jerk reaction people have to werewolves, though I didn't say anything, of course. But now that I've had a chance to think about it, I'm smacking myself for that. Lupin has been here for one full moon and nothing major happened, so obviously it isn't a threat to the students and teachers. Looking through some of his posts, he mentions a potion for lycanthropy that I suppose helps at that time of the month, so it's not something I should be worried about.
It is rather odd picturing Lupin as a snaring wolf though--I don't know him very well at all, but he seems rather mild-mannered. Needless to say, however, the revelation was a bit of a shock, especially considering what a bad week it's been.
News from outside our walls is not helping my mood either. No improvement in the war situation, no captures, no plans foiled, and still people disappearing... I suppose the only thing that has given me any comfort on that score is the fact that the woman who went missing a couple months ago near my parents hasn't ben found yet. It seems to hint that her disappearance was more mundane than magical, as generally those who disappear due to magical means aren't missing for long. That possibility helps a little--the thought that Death Eaters could have been so close to my parents' house...well, it just makes me feel a little wobbly.
Anyway, off to lunch, then to the afternoon's festivities. Pince, Sinistra, Rabins and I have managed to put together a couple different courses--ones for the older students as well as the younger, using most of the disciplines taught here. The students have to solve various clues to direct them from station to station and eventually to the treasure. Some of the stations just have written clues--usually some little piece of doggerel they have to decipher--but some have things they have to do as well, like the one Pince devised, where the students have to find some means of transfiguring an object to allow them to reach a clue hung in a tree branch. That was a particularly brilliant one, as there are a number of ways to do it. The clues relating to Muggle Studies are mainly bits of trivia or based on games from the Muggle world; one uses the game "leapfrog" in that the next clue will be found in a certain number of leaps from the last one. And we did actually do it ourselves to test it.
Should be an interesting afternoon, at the very least.
This does look to be a rather fun day, one of those rare opportunities for the entire school just to get out and dispel some tension. The OWL and NEWT students certainly look like they could use it, not to mention the staff.
Off to lunch, and then the fun begins!
You wouldn't believe how much I'm looking forward to this. To say it's been a rather tense week is a gross understatement, and I'm not the only one by any means. The whole business with Cain and Snape...
Well I'm still not sure that I can put my thoughts together coherently on the whole subject, even now. Needless to say it's been another one of those weeks where the professors have to pretend everything will be just fine, when inside they're just as scared and worried as everyone else.
And thinking of things related to the Cain/Snape incident... How thick am I? I must have been the last person on staff to put it together that Prof. Lupin was a werewolf. No, I've never heard someone actually come out and say it, but really, I now realize I've heard enough clues in passing to have figured it out. Some detective I'd make.
It wasn't until I overheard a conversation in the staffroom that basically spelled it out for me that I realized I'd missed every clue. I can't remember the exact wording, but someone mentioned Snape outing Lupin's lycanthropy a few years ago, and it was only then the lightbulb went on in my head. Though perhaps comparing it to a candle would be more appropriate, considering.
I hate to admit it, but I did have the usual knee-jerk reaction people have to werewolves, though I didn't say anything, of course. But now that I've had a chance to think about it, I'm smacking myself for that. Lupin has been here for one full moon and nothing major happened, so obviously it isn't a threat to the students and teachers. Looking through some of his posts, he mentions a potion for lycanthropy that I suppose helps at that time of the month, so it's not something I should be worried about.
It is rather odd picturing Lupin as a snaring wolf though--I don't know him very well at all, but he seems rather mild-mannered. Needless to say, however, the revelation was a bit of a shock, especially considering what a bad week it's been.
News from outside our walls is not helping my mood either. No improvement in the war situation, no captures, no plans foiled, and still people disappearing... I suppose the only thing that has given me any comfort on that score is the fact that the woman who went missing a couple months ago near my parents hasn't ben found yet. It seems to hint that her disappearance was more mundane than magical, as generally those who disappear due to magical means aren't missing for long. That possibility helps a little--the thought that Death Eaters could have been so close to my parents' house...well, it just makes me feel a little wobbly.
Anyway, off to lunch, then to the afternoon's festivities. Pince, Sinistra, Rabins and I have managed to put together a couple different courses--ones for the older students as well as the younger, using most of the disciplines taught here. The students have to solve various clues to direct them from station to station and eventually to the treasure. Some of the stations just have written clues--usually some little piece of doggerel they have to decipher--but some have things they have to do as well, like the one Pince devised, where the students have to find some means of transfiguring an object to allow them to reach a clue hung in a tree branch. That was a particularly brilliant one, as there are a number of ways to do it. The clues relating to Muggle Studies are mainly bits of trivia or based on games from the Muggle world; one uses the game "leapfrog" in that the next clue will be found in a certain number of leaps from the last one. And we did actually do it ourselves to test it.
Should be an interesting afternoon, at the very least.