DADA 7.2

[Tamis Raynor]

It was good to be back. The one thing that Tamis Raynor could not stand to sit around and do was nothing. Having others step in to teach her classes for her on her maternity leave had been absolute torture. But now Leah was old enough to survive without her mother's constant or almost-constant presence and Raynor had returned to work.

Thank Merlin for that.

She had received notes from Ryder about what the class had covered and spotted that they had not really made progress in the dueling class -- or rather not as much as she had hoped. Which was exactly why all the desks had been removed and a large rectangular stage was encompassing the majority of the classroom. There was just enough from for the students to file in around it.

Raynor herself sat cross legged on top of the immense thing, her chin propped in her hands, face conveying innocence. Too much innocence. This was not boding well for the seventh years. Not boding well at all.

[cappuccino]

Ivy practically ran into towards the classroom and squealed like a silly little girl. She wanted to be the first one there... that way, she might have some alone time with Professor Ry-Ry, and admire his manly librarian qualities. Manly...librarian...qualities... She half-skipped and half-ran into the classroom. "Good morning Professor Hai-" Ivy stopped in midsentence, her smile dropped slightly.

She's back... she thought sadly. Ivy had nothing against Professor Raynor, but she was looking forward to seeing the librarian again. She gave Tamis a small smile, and tried to regain herself from the embarrassing act. "Hello, Professor. Welcome back!" she said sweetly. "How's Leah?"

She was a bit disappointed to see that Mr. Hailey was gone, but she was happy to see Professor Raynor once again.

(I know that Ivy and Tamis have never RPed before, but I'm just going to pretend that Ivy's been here the whole time. x.x)

[Benita Hendrix-London]

Beni had known and remembered that Raynor was going to make a comeback this time. She had in her mind on her hand just so she could remember. But as she strutted her way down to the DADA class, she had somehow forgotten that.

"Mr--" She spotted Professor's Raynor face and cursed herself for forgetting. "Did I say Mr.? I meant.... bah." She pointed at Ivy and added, "What she said. How's the little kidder?"

[Tamis Raynor]

Well, it was no wonder that Ryder had been so eager to hand her classes back over. Than man had been caught between the likes of these two. And Merlin alone knows how many other girls had been shooting him glances? That was if she had read Ivy and Beni's disappointment correctly. Poor, poor man. He was not bad looking and caught in the mist of seventeen year old female hormones... oh dear.

The Professor found herself trying to swallow a fit of laughter. The result was a very strained smile a series of clearing her throat before she trusted herself to speak.

"I am sure you both mean 'Professor Raynor', and yes, Miss Hendrix. That would be 'Mrs.', if it was otherwise, I believe there would be a lot about my husband that both of us don't know." She replied wryly, but not without humor.

It was sad that this was her last year with this particular class. She could not deny that they had been amusing through the years. And Beni's Shakespeare debut? As much as she might try to say otherwise, she would miss them.

"Leah is doing splendid," she replied to both of them. "Cries constantly."

[Sora Blake]

Sora succesively hopped, skipped, and jumped towards class, which was hard since he had his pack on him which the strap kept slipping off as he went towards class. He kept constantly readjusting it as the class came nearer. The reason that Sora was in a good mood was because Professor Raynor was on leave. It meant another period to happily doze in without interruptions.

So when Sora entered the classroom, his jovial spirits crashed and burned when he saw the Professor in thought standing upon the rectangular stage that was used for dueling.

"Erm...Professor...shouldn't you be resting?" he asked, hopefulness in his voice as he wondered if she was just visiting and would be leaving soon. He really needed the sleep.

[Allegra Thornton]

Allegra swung herself into the classroom, glad that Professor Raynor was back. Oh, Hailey had been a good enough substitute, but she wanted the real thing teaching this class. Allegra had bombed her DADA OWL and was determined not to have a repeat performance on her NEWT.

"You look perfectly rested to me," Allegra piped up. Well, as rested as a mother of a one month old could look. "Besides, you can't be expected to lock yourself up in your quarters until the baby is old enough to come to school. It's good to see you up and around."

[Kellen McCrea]

Kellen gave a silent sigh of relief when he walked into the DaDA classroom and saw Professor Raynor at the head of the class. Sure, it might have been earlier than most women returned from maternity leave, but...that was fine with him. Especially because it meant he didn't have to ignore all the girls fawning over the teacher anymore. Finally.

"Welcome back!" he greeted cheerfully as he found a place in the room to put down his things.

[Brittany Garland]

Brittany had the same feelings as Kellen as she entered the classroom and realized that Professor Raynor was back. She couldn't help but show a huge grin across her face as she walked further into the classroom. It had been such an annoyance to have the girls of the class batting their eye lashes at the professor and they weren't able to get anything done. Though it had been an amusement to see what fools they made of themselves. Noticing the dueling stage for the first time, she felt a surge of intrigue run through her.

It would be a very interesting class if they would be dueling. She was sure of it. Though with Raynor you could never tell what she was going to do. "So glad to have you back Professor!" Brittany chimed in with the others who seemed glad to see her.

[cappuccino]

Ivy gave a final smile to Professor Raynor before taking her seat next to the beautiful and dazzling Brittany Garland. She had decided that she was indeed happy to see Raynor back, but not exactly glad. There was a difference, you know.

"Hello, Brittany!" Ivy said cheerfully, tilting her head coyly at the Gryffindor. Of course, she could sense hate-rays from the girl. Ivy, although strange, irrational, spontaneous and idiotic, was not oblivious to the extreme disdain of others. She wasn't very sure of her feelings for Brittany, but found it fun to bug her nonetheless. "You look wonderful today!"

[Brittany Garland]

Brittany resisted the urge to raise her eyebrow at the seemingly-fake cheerfulness that was being expressed from the Hufflepuff girl. The last class she had been one of the girls that had drooled over Ryder and the most annoying of them all. She had also noticed through out all of her classes how caught up the girl was in her self and found the girl to be quite different from anyone that she had ever met. For some strange reason, there was something that irked her about the girl yet she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was.

"Thank you. You're looking equally fabulous today, as always." Brittany complimented Ivy back. She could throw on a fake smile and dish out a flattery anyday. Though it hadn't been very girly or 'preppy' sounding, it sounded sincere......enough. She was willing to give everyone kindness until they truly struck something in her. No problem.

[cappuccino]

Ivy beamed at Brittany before turning away to unpack her usual cosmetics. Let's see... mirror-- why yes, where is that mirror? She took out a compact from her purse and flipped it open to examine her flawless face. There was nothing that needed to be retouched up, so she snapped it shut with satisfaction and placed it back into her purse. Lately, she needed to look tip-top all the time, for two reasons. First: she was semi-sort-of-seeing Mike; second: she never knew when she'd bump into Mr. Hailey.

Remembering that she hadn't yet reviewed over the notes Kellen copied for her her notes, she got them out and began to scan the pages. Dueling, well-- that's not too tough, is it!

[daniel]

Leave it to Daniel to not give the professor any cheerful 'welcome back' after coming back to class surprisingly early after 'maturnity leave'. Slipping into the class, Daniel tugged at his top lip with his bottom set of teeth. The reason being no desks. He had always done better at the lecture essay-writing aspect of magic rather then the real magic. The second reason being. Miss. (or Mrs.) Raynor was sitting in the middle of the room looking innocent. That couldn't be very good, could it? Innocence and Raynor. Well. The two didn't mesh together.

[Tamis Raynor]

Amusement indeed. "No, Mr. Blake, I'm in perfect health as Miss Thornton kindly pointed out. You will just have to wait for another class to rest yourself," She replied. It was a constant everyday battle between the two. The last time Sora actually had fallen asleep, Raynor had animated his desk. That had been a rude awakening in her opinion.

For the rest, she nodded her thanks to the seventh years, murmuring thank yous, face still composed in that ever innocent expression as she sat atop the stage. Most of the class was present and -- was that make-up?

"Miss Xin, as you so kindly see fit to waist my class time beautifying yourself and therefore have no concern over what you might be learning today, you have just volunteered yourself to be my first victim of the day." She said pleasantly. " Put the cosmetics away and join me on the stage."

While the girl did that, Raynor stood up, brushing herself off. "Mr. Hailey, who kindly filled in for me, says that we did not make as much progress on Dueling as we would have liked. He left you off with the rules of an organized duel, I believe. Does anyone know something they believe might or should be considered a rule?"

They would get through this stage of it. But Raynor wanted to get through it as quickly as possible. She was anxious to get to what was really planned for the day. Some of them might like it, the Professor would love it, but most would hate it no doubt.

(( Class has officially started. Post yourself late, and you'll be late. That simple. ))

[cappuccino]

Ivy blinked at the Professor Raynor, hoping that she was kidding. She hesitantly put away her make up and made her way slowly to the stage. "Er... v-victim?" she stuttered, she gulped and prayed silently. In China where Ivy was born, it is said that more dangerous than the most vicious tigers and dragons were women-- specifically women during and right before pregnancy. Professor Raynor definitely fit that category.

She stumbled on her way to the stage, half-tripping and gripped on her wand tightly. If she had to protect herself-- she wouldn't hesitate. "O-okay, Professor,"

[Allegra Thornton]

The rules of dueling. It had been this exact thing that had thrown the seventh years last time. "Do you mean the niceties of formal dueling like the bowing, ten paces back, and wands at the ready? Or are you talking about actual combative dueling where the enemy will take the opportunity to curse you if you decide to bow?"

If it was the former, she had basically given the rules. If it was the later, there really weren't rules, other than stay on your guard, keep your focus, and try not to get hit.