((Sorry I didn't get back to this sooner. Life got busy!))

During the break: Lenore looked at Liz () thoughtfully. She wondered just how much her family had gone through, dealing with the stereotypes of old pureblood lines. And the Parseltongue on top of it all?

"I know what you mean. Some things just seem to be linked with the darkness in people's minds." She sighed and her shoulders fell. "To be honest, my family has had some dealings with the Aurors. It's not a great secret that one of my uncles was a death eater. And then we had some friends, good family friends, who were taken to Azkaban. I still don't believe that they were justly accused but that doesn't seem to have mattered to the Ministry. That's why I worry so much. Even families who never sided with the Dark Lord aren't guaranteed safety." She looked at her friend and smiled sadly. "I think the next presentation is starting."

Later: Lenore watched quietly for a while, taking notes that she didn't really want as she thought about her conversation with Liz. The knowledge that Liz was willing to open up so honestly to her like that should have made her happy but it only gave her a sad pang of guilt. For her part, she hadn't been honest at all. When the opportunity arose, she slipped quietly out the door.

((Lenore will be back for the dinner :) ))

Private Outfit "That's a very good question, Miss. Poppy. (). "For me, anything involving children tend to be more severe. There have been severe cases of werewolf bites that broke my heart. The child may recover from the wounds, but unfortunately, not only are the scarred for life, they have have a terrible disease that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

"I've also have seen some nasty hippogriff attacks. One man had actually been trampled by one he offended. He had severe internal bleeding. He was lucky to survive"

[img align=left]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/373953.png[/img] Poppy thought sadly about Magnus. No wonder he often looked exhausted and just completely drained. The Ravenclaw was a happy-go-lucky sort, but his affliction sapped him of his strength and spirit and Poppy often noticed him looking unwell. She hoped he was resting comfortably wherever he was at the moment. Playing with pets by the Ravenclaw Tower fireplace hopefully. At the Black Lake picnic, he hadn’t seemed excited about the food and had looked especially pale.

Andy’s answer about the hippogriff made Poppy mad. The poor hippogriff had more than likely been executed. The beasts couldn’t help their natures and people really should have proper training and understanding before they even got within 50 feet of any hippogriff. Accidents were so common too. Her parents had forbade her from getting close to the Hogwarts Paddock until she had reached hippogriffs in CoMC.

“Thank you Andy ().” She had another question but decided to hold on to it to give the others a chance.

Zoe listened to the potions presentation, It had been interesting but not a career she saw herself in. The same went for the magizoologist and now healer. Everyone seemed really nice and all but she couldn't see herself in those fields. The problem was, she never had been one to have thought of what she'd do as an adult. There were so many options and she felt very overwhelmed. When it came to making the choice for her extra classes, she'd chosen arithmancy, ancient runes, and care of magical creatures. When she went to her Owl classes she had gone to advanced arithmancy and carried on with the others as well. She loved all three of the subjects and kept them all when she went to her N.E.W.T classes the start of the year. In her sixth year and still no clue what she wanted to do. The girl was doodling runes on her paper. She hoped the workshop would help make everything much clearer, but it didn't feel very clear to her.

Now that the magizoologist was finished, Jona lost all steam in being attentive. He looked around the for the first time to see who all was there, a little disappointed to note that most of the faces were familiar ones. He wanted to meet new people! Turning to Zoe (@/Raven), he asked, "So, what're you hoping to get out of this? I, er, obviously came for the magizoologist. Though, I was a bit late." He smiled sheepishly.

Sauvage wracked her brain for a question to ask Andy (@/Tardis), but was still swimming with the information and disappointment of the potions talk. So, she simply smiled at him and shrugged apologetically when they made eye contact. Finally, she asked, "What is ze most difficult illness you 'ave ever treated successfully?" Then she blushed, realizing Poppy () had just asked that question. "I mean, um...never mind." She sighed and sagged in her chair.

Marcia listened to Andy's () presentation, though was somewhat distracted. She had really only come for the potion's presentation, but it was much too rude to get up and leave mid-event, so she had to at least feign interest in the other subjects. Besides, curse breaking sounded like it might be interesting? Her ears perked up though with Andy's mention of the Battle of Hogwarts.

"He had been there....?" She thought, raising her eyebrows. "That's incredible."

She furrowed her brow in her effort to think of a question to ask him, about anything, not just the battle, but she came up empty. She didn't know much about medicine in the first place, so it was hard for her to think of anything. Hopefully others would ask more questions instead of her.

((ooc: sorry for being so spotty during this rp. I had a busy weekend!))

Zoe shrugged. "I do nee know. I really have nee idea what I wish to do when I graduate. I was hoping this would help. But I still have nee idea."

Private Outfit "My pleasure, Miss. Poppy ()" he answered with a smile ((ooc - that's fine))

He looked around and asked, "are there anymore questions?" He gave a smile to Sauvage ()

"Also, before I forget, I would like to get to know Millie's friends more so, I'm invite you all to dinner at the Three Broomsticks after Ms. Prewett 's lecture on Curse Breaker. You are welcome to stay for as little or as long as you like. Professors, you are welcome to join us as well" ((ooc - I'll be making a separate thread for that either Wednesday or Thursday))

[img align=left]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/373953.png[/img] Furtively, Poppy scribbled a note to and folded it into a star, dropping it in the girl's palm as she got up to stretch her legs and refill her pumpkin juice. Sauvage, The teacher of one of the toughest core classes here thinks you can handle it. Believe in yourself. 💛 Poppy She took back her seat quickly to ask Millie’s father one last question.

"Andy, is there a maternity ward at St. Mungo's? I know going to the hospital is almost always because of bad news, but visiting family friends who've had babies is wonderful. Do witches give birth there?"

Poppy thought back to visiting her godmother Clarissa over the summer holidays. Her new baby Isla was precious. It was the first time Poppy had held such a tiny person. As far as she was concerned, infants ranked high on her list of favorite ages of children.

The invite out to dinner was welcome too. Not that Hogwarts didn't have delicious food, but it did get monotonous after a couple terms. She smiled warmly at Millie, giving her a thumbs up. It would be great to go out to dinner with some friends and forget about school for a while. Poppy loved being a Head Girl, but it was going to be a nice change of pace to leave school and teachers and books behind for a pleasant night of food and fun.

Out of nowhere, a paper star fell into Sauvage's palms that were cupped in her lap. She looked around, blowing her hair out of her face when it got in the way, just in time to see Poppy sit back down. She looked questioningly at the girl for a moment then unfolded the star. She blushed at what the loopy handwriting said and bit her lip to keep from smiling in too goofy a way. Nodding with a new affirmation in mind, Sauvage quickly scribbled on the other side of the paper, folding and charming it so that it flew to Poppy as a little butterfly. When it landed gracefully on Poppy's knees, the butterfly parted its wings to show Sauvage's note:

Thank you, Poppy! That is truly so kind of you to say. I hope we have more time to get to know each other this semester. I feel you're one of my closest friends and yet, at the same time, I barely know you.

Private Outfit Andy cleared his throat. "Another excellent Miss. Poppy (). St. Mungos does not have a maternity ward due to it being a hospital for magical malaldies. We really wouldn't want to expose a new mum and baby to some of the illnesses. However, there are other smaller wizarding hospitals throughout London and the rest of Great Britain that do have maternity wards. Also, many soon to be mums opt for a midwife and give birth at home. It's completely up to the mother where she feels more comfortable."

"Are there any other questions?"

((ooc - sorry for the delay. I keep getting getting these terrible sinus headaches. I'll post the next part of the lecture tomorrow. And not a problem with keeping the dinner in the same post))

Andy cleared his throat again. "I'm sorry to say Miss. Prewett had a personal emergency come up and she had to leave. So, if everyone wants to return to their common rooms to fetch their coats and hats, and anything else, I would like to take you out for dinner at the Three Broomsticks. I'll be waiting for you there with a table. Professors, you are welcome to join us if you would like"

Millie rushed down to the Hufflepuff common room and grabbed her coat, hat, scarf, and gloves and met her father by the front doors. He left the list of students who attended the workshop by the front door and escorted Millie down to Hogsmeade.

Once they arrived at the Three Broomsticks, he and Millie set several tables together and started a tab for students to come in and place their order.

"I think it went well, Mills. You should be proud of yourself. I am" he said as he gave Millie a nudge. "I'm sorry Ms. Prewett wasn't able to give her lecture but you know where to find her." Millie gave a sad nod and went to place her order and told them to hold it until others arrived

((ooc - I decided to just scrap the Curse Breaker lecture and move onto dinner at the Three Broomsticks. Sorry if you were looking forward it it. It felt like the thread was dying))

Zoe didn't need to go fetch her coat seeing as she'd been outside. It was a bit disappointing that the curse breaking lecture wasn't going to happen. She was still nowhere closer to figuring out what she wanted to do when she "grew up." She walked slowly, making sure to give Millie and her father plenty of space. She slipped into the quill shop and bought a quill before heading into the Three Broomsticks and sitting down with a smile. Why was she rubbish at socializing?

[img align=left] https://i.imgur.com/g47U61m.png[/img] After gathering her coat, Sauvage lingered in the classroom before following the others. She looked over at Poppy. hoping to catch the girl's interest and walk with her to the Three Broomsticks.

[img align=right]https://i.imgur.com/RhUZfcO.png[/img] Jona squeezed his arms together, undermining the chilly air that awaited them outside. "Woaaaah..." He stumbled over his feet as he circled through the cobblestone roads, always slowing down only to run and catch up with the crowd again. Galloping up behind Zoe, he said in a hushed tone, "So this is Hogsmeade? Pretty nice..." He did his best attempt at a whistle - which wasn't very good.

Zoe nodded. "Aye it tis," she said, "we'll do shopping later on another visit. Tis a lovely place I think. It's good to walk about in and watch people shop."

((Ooc: sorry I missed out on so much of the rp everyone. On Monday night I got really sick and have been bedridden the past couple days. Hopefully I can catch up today.))

((OOC: Oh no! Glad to hear you're feeling better, at least. That sounds terrible. I hope there weren't any holiday traditions that overlapped with your sick time - it sucks to be sick during the holidays!))

Jona felt a sudden burst of energy. He turned to Zoe ) and said, "I'll meetcha there!" And then he was gone, running off ahead to where he saw Millie () and the healer guy go inside a building. He ran in to that building, too, until someone yelled at him to slow down and he came panting up behind Millie. "YES! First one here! Woooo!" He smiled stupidly and nodded at the man in the tie who had spoken last. "I mean, after you guys, of course. Man, I'm starved. What's good around here? Also, I think someone told me you're in charge of this event, right Millie?" He turned the Hufflepuff girl and apologized. "It was lame of me to run in once it had already started, but I had been getting familiar with the Hufflepuff common room - did you know how many plants exactly that we have in that room? Because I don't! There are so many! Anyway, I was doing that when I lost track of time and raced down to the event. Luckily, I got there just in time to catch the lecture that I'd been dying to see! But, uh..." He looked back and forth from Millie to the older speaker and laughed awkwardly. "Long story, long. Thank you for planning and I'm sorry for crashing."

(( feel better))

Zoe blinked completely confused as Jona suddenly ditched her. She sat down quietly feeling like was wasn't really wanted. After all before that Jona asked her what she wanted from the workshop and though she replied he said nothing to her. She had no idea if this was how friendship worked since she'd never had it before. The girl look at the menu not knowing what to say to anyone.

Jona chugged a glass of water too quickly then burped. "'Scuse me," he said. He look the menu up and down, noting that absolutely everything sounding delicious. He decided to wait and see whatever else would get first. Once Zoe entered the building, Jona skipped on over to her a smiled. "Hey, how's it goin'? Do you know what you're gonna get to eat?" At the moment, all Jona could think about was food.

Millie had been chatting with her dad while they both enjoyed a glass of hot butterbeer when Zoe () walked in and sat down at the table.

"Hey Zoe (), I'm glad you made it" she gave the head girl a warm smile. "I was wondering if anyone was going to show up. Did you order something to eat yet?" She could feel Zoe feeling overwhelmed. "I hope you liked the workshop. I'm pretty bummed about the Curse Breaker having to leave but she had a work emergency. I have her contact information and she said she would love to come back another time." She wasn't sure if she was helping or making things worse for Zoe. "Oh, if you'd like, my dad gave me some money so I can go get a gift for Magnus's mum and the new baby, if you'd like to come. It can be from the group". Now she was feeling awkward. She was normally an introvert but she went out of her way to make others feel comfortable.

Millie noticed Jona's () excitment over Hogsmeade and the Three Broomsticks and she remembered first years weren't usually allowed to leave the castle. "Pretty awesome, huh Jona? Their butterbeer is the best. It's fresh. You can either get it hot or iced. I'm drinking hot right now but I'll get an iced with my dinner."

While sitting at the table, Millie saw Poppy () and Sauvage enter and she gave both girls a friendly wave and smile.

(( I hope you're feeling better. I keep getting really bad sinus headaches because they weather in my area has been all over the place.

((have a blinding migraine. Hope it passes but I'm trying to play lol.))

"I do nee know what to order yet," she said to both Millie and Jona, giving them a smile. "How about ye both? Mr... Andy?" She gave Millie another smile. "It was very nice and informative. I was disappointed too. I would nee mind looking. Though ye do know Magnus better than I do."