This lesson contains a DISCUSSION assignment. Please remain in character. Any out of character comments should be put behind spoiler tags!

Rox listened carefully to professor Brookvale, wanting to learn more about muggles. She came from a wizarding family and the only experience she had with muggles were the couple of muggles that had lived close to them, which really wasn't a lot of experience as most of them hadn't been from her age and didn't care much about her and her family. There had been some muggles of her age around, which she had enjoyed playing with when she was younger. Rox did known about the trains they had. One of the muggle neighbours had invited her to come to a birthday party once, for which they had to travel by train. She had also seen cars before, but she never had the pleasure of driving in one of those before. It was the same for the bicycles. She had never seen a ship or an airplane ever before and she was fascinated by the stories the professor could tell about those.

[Rox-Gryffindor]

Goldy listened, trying to pay attention to the lecture. Her parents were both muggles so it wasn't anything new to her. She thought about the ways her family traveled. "Usually my family drives a car, we go for bike rides if the weather is nice, and I rode a horse at summer camp once. I-I really liked riding the horse." she piped up. She didn't like talking in class but there was a long enough break between her question and any answer she felt it was necessary.

Chook listened carefully paying attention to the lecture Professor Brookvale was giving. She had had the pleasure of using several types of muggle transportation: car, bus, bicycle, plane even a skateboard. But the one that she loved the most was riding a wave on a surf-board. The adrenalin rush, the dive-bombing seagulls, the anticipation of waiting for the right wave, surging balanced on a wall of water. Those sensations were something she would never forget.

Gryffindor

Turokai turned to "I rode a donkey once. They are kind of like horses, but smaller with long ears. It wasn't much fun though. The beast tossed me off it's back and bit me in the..., um..., a tender area."
Raising her hand to get Professor Brookvale's attention she added, "Professor, I got to sail on a muggle ocean-liner from New York to Southhampton when my folks came here from the States. My ma is afraid of flying you see. It was neat to see the merfolk swimming along with the ship, though the muggles thought they were dolphins."

(ooc; Slytherin)

Vin slightly fiddled with his wand as he listened to Ms. Brookvale. Since his mother was a muggle, he knew about cars and bicycles and such. He had been driven to a regular muggle school for a while by both bus and his mother's car when she took him there. Vin listened to Goldy and Turokai speak first. He then rose his hand once they were done speaking, before saying, "I used to ride in cars all the time before learning to use a broomstick. I even took a plane once on vacation as well, I think."

Goldy turned to look at , "Yeah, donkey's are a pain in the um... rear... They're a lot more stubborn and opinionated than horses, from what I've heard." she whispered back.

Aderyn listened to the input of students around her as professor Brookvale opened the floor up to discussion on modes of muggle transportation. As a pureblood witch, she’d grown up travelling by floo network and on the back of her parents’ broomsticks whenever they’d gone out. Her parents had always been far too busy with work to take her on vacation, and so she’d never been on a plane or train – that is to say, never before the Hogwarts Express. She’d seen cars go by, as well as buses, lorries, motorcycles, and even carriages, but she’d only ever been on one mode of muggle transportation.

Raising her hand, Aderyn waited patiently to be called on before speaking.

“Growing up my best mate was a muggleborn,” Aderyn explained. “Turned out that she’s a witch, but before she knew that, she let me try her bicycle once. Unlike Chook, I wasn’t very good at it, I’m afraid… My father had to patch me up after I crashed into the post box…”

Blushing a little, she adjusted her glasses, sinking back into her chair and poising her quill on her parchment again, ready to listen to another student speak.

[ Aderyn Jones // Ravenclaw ]

Akela raised her hand and waited to be called on. Once she was she started her answer. "I grew up with a muggle father so we rode in cars quite often. We even took an airplane to visit some of his family but that was quite scary. I used to ride horses all the time in 4-H." She looked around at a couple of puzzled looking students.

Hannah had to think about it. Then when it was her turn to answer she said: "The only transport I can remember was cars and planes. Mostly to visit distant relatives." She would have said to visit her friends at home, but she mostly just walked to their houses. "If only Caleb was here..he knew so much about the muggle world since he lived there most his life," she thought to herself. She only knew a little of the muggle world through just her family tree. [Ravenclaw]

Fade sat upright and tried his best to pay attention to his Muggle Studies Professor as she relayed the lesson. Having grown up in the Muggle world the topic of what sort of vehicles Muggles used seemed somewhat juvenile. But honestly this lesson was a welcome relief from the really grueling coursework he was suffering in his other classes. When Professor Brookvale extended the invitation for them to share their experiences with Muggle transportation Fade was happy to oblige.

When it was his turn he spoke up. “I haven’t ever driven, er that is, piloted anything besides a bicycle. But I have ridden inside my dad's car loads of times. My mom also has a moped, she says it reminds her of flying on a broomstick. It resembles a motorcycle but it’s much quieter and can’t go as fast, and it only has room for one person. I’m not old enough to get a licence so I haven’t gotten to try it out yet. But my favorite out of all of them would have to be an airplane. I’ve only been in one three times, but being up above the clouds and seeing the different patches of earth and everything, it was really cool.” At this point he felt like he was rambling and decided he had said enough.

((Fade / Ravenclaw))

Elune tottered on the edge of her seat as she listened to Professor Brookvale's speech. She rubbed her temple with her fingers to appease her surfacing headache. She never imagined Muggle Studies could be this complex. Didn't all muggles walk or drive? Apparently not.

Her jaw dropped when she heard mention a donkey. She had heard of such creatures in a storybook once, but she imagined they were rather unreliable. How often would donkeys need rest or food? How fast can a donkey really go?

She attempted to compose herself, but her curiosity got the better of her when Fade () spoke. She turned her head and asked, "Are these vehicles safe?" She wanted some context for the airplane, epecially. She had been fairly certain before that muggles were grounded, unable to enter the sky. But the airplane sounded a lot like flying on a broomstick, which she heartily approved of. She made a mental note to ask Rin () about the "mechanics" behind these vehicles later.

(Elune, Ravenclaw)

"Four-aech?" Turokai asked "Where's that? Do you know how the saddle-thingy that helps you stay on horses works? The old muggle with the donkey said he wished he had one. "Course even if he had, the local goblins would likely have filched it, they really hated him trying to mine their gold."

Beth enthusiastically jotted down notes. Although both her parents are Half-Bloods, she hadn’t had much of an opportunity to be around Muggles. She had seen pictures and drawings of some of the vehicle's Professor Brookvale mentioned, mostly in her father’s comic book collection. She vaguely remembered one trip her family took in America many years ago. They had taken the subway to go to some Quidditch Convention. She remembered how dirty the floors looked and how packed it was inside. “Lynn and I rode the subway once many years ago. Some Muggles were standing and others were sitting. There were interesting posters inside, but none of them moved.”

Gwen smiles at this lesson, she has always had a fascination with the things her mother grew up with and has learned a lot about them.

With her mother a muggle Gwen has experienced a lot of different types of transportation. She actually loves being on the sea in a boat, whether a sailboat or a cruiser. When she was little her mother explained the way that powers each type of boat, it seems like a type of magic all of its own. Gwen even has her own row boat that she built (without magic), it is one of her most prized possessions.

She does not like the muggle bikes. She does not understand how a person says on the two wheels. Her mother tried to teach her how to ride one but she was so nervous she thought a falling leaf was something to be avoided – then slipped on a newspaper and fell. That was it for that adventure.

Rin sat in a seat near the back, copying down notes methodically. There was nothing in today's lesson she hadn't already known but that was alright, she had been prepared for days where she wouldn't be learning anything. It was the different perspective she enjoyed.

Fade smiled slightly at ’s question, it was weird to feel useful in the classroom for once. “Well, there are certain risks involved with any vehicle I think. They do install safety measures like seat belts, and airbags in lots of them, the idea is to keep your body safe if you do end up in an accident. Um, seat belts keep you in your seat while airbags are theoretically designed to cushion your head from hitting anything hard inside the car if another one hits you… Or you know, you run into something. But my cousin was in an accident and the airbag broke his nose so I don’t know. Guess a broken nose is better than a broken face?” He shrugged slightly, it was hard to explain. To a witch or a wizard, a broken nose could often be immediately mended. Muggles on the other hand, they had the misfortune of having to naturally heal their injuries. “Planes crash too, but there are way more security precautions that are taken with them, and less people are allowed to pilot them. Not to mention how much of a pain it is to actually get on one. I think that would lead to fewer accidents in general.” He paused and chewed his lip while considering the possibility that the general public simply wasn’t made aware of airplane issues as often as car accidents.

Akela smiled at the question. "4H is a club that young muggles, still in the homes of their parents, can join. There's so many different ones. There's horse clubs, pig clubs, sheep clubs, even dog clubs and rabbit clubs! But I decide to join the horse one. Pretty much, you and your chosen animal train all summer for what's called the Fair. At the fair, you and your animal compete with other like competitors and challenge them in different classes to see who trained harder and who has a stronger bond with their animal.. It's a ton of fun! And yes, the saddle has what they call a girth. It's the strap that goes around the horses belly. It's made of material that doesn't slip and gets tightened very well so the saddle doesn't bugde!" Akela looked at her classmate, hoping she didn't sound like a know-it-all to them.

Elune listened to Fade explain muggle safety precautions to the class. She strained, attempting to envision concepts such as "airbags" and "seat belts." But, overall, she was grateful that he was able to bring some light to the study.

"Broken noses? I guess that doesn't sound too bad," she nodded her head in agreeance. She'd witnessed worse accidents during Quidditch matches. But at least a medi-wizard was nearby for healing.

She glanced at the airplane model that hovered near the ceiling. She couldn't imagine riding in something like that, but she thought it might be nice to relax whilst in the air and allow someone else--a pilot--to steer.

"The Tube is the Muggle underground train system, or subway network, in London. It's mostly clean and comfortable, and a pretty fast way for Muggles to travel. I've taken it to go exploring since I like big cities." Poppy smiled fondly at the memory of it.

"It connects via stations to aboveground trains too, like the Muggle trains at King's Cross. Sometimes the workers strike for fair wages and London turns very chaotic. I got lost once in a big crowd of people trying to take buses that weren't nearly as nice looking as the Knight Bus. It was a rough day and I ended up walking to Diagon Alley."

(Poppy, Slytherin)