First Years, Lesson Four

Gabrielle had let her students know to dress more casually for this lesson - muggle clothes if they had them, or at least no robes. She was a little hesitant about taking such young students on a field trip, especially into the muggle world, but given the amount of lecturing they'd been subjected to this semester she figured they deserved a break. She knew she needed a break from the classroom as much as any of them. "I'm sure you're all clever enough to have figured out we're going on a trip today. Even I get sick of lecturing. So, since you can't apparate as yet, we need a way to get out of the school. Can anyone tell me what this might be?" she asked, gesturing to her sphynx statuette and nodding when a student gave the correct answer. "That's right, a portkey. If you've never taken one before, I'm so sorry, hope you haven't eaten recently. We're going to Te Papa Tongarewa, the museum of Aotearoa. It's in Wellington, and yes, it's a muggle museum. I expect you all to be on your best behaviour and blend in. No magic discussion until we're safely back. You must keep your wands away." Gabrielle was stern, but it wasn't out of malice. She did just want the trip to be a safe one.

"But you've been working hard this semester, and you deserve a break that I can at least write off as vaguely educational. You might hopefully learn a little more about this country, but at the very least you'll be getting out of the castle for a couple of hours." Gabrielle smirked, gesturing to the students to gather around. "Alright, I want you all to make sure you're touching the portkey, get at least a fingertip on it, and brace yourselves. Do not move your hand from it until we land. You'll need to wait for my okay to move once we land. Stick together." Within a couple of moments, once they were all ready, they were sucked through space and ended up in a clear spot nearby to the museum but private enough that they were not easily spotted. Which had been hard to find, but she'd looked around for a while to manage it. Gabrielle gave them a few moments to recover, especially the students who had never used a portkey before. Once they were ready to go, she made sure they were all together and led them through the museum. She thought better of letting them go off on their own while they were still only eleven and twelve and instead they went through as a tour group of sorts, letting the students stop to play with some of the interactive exhibits, marvel at the dinosaurs and megafauna, and making a point of stopping at the giant squid. They stopped to have some water and sit around in the harbour for a little while, enjoying the sunshine, before it was time to return to the school. Gabrielle hoped that the students could all at least find something interesting about the day out, even if it was just that they'd gotten the opportunity to go somewhere else and not worry about studying for a bit. She did probably bring the mood down in dismissing them reminding them to make sure they were studying, but it was her job, she supposed. What was a history professor if not a complete killjoy? At least she was a step up from Binns.

Homework
RP the lesson. The site for the museum is here: https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/
First poster to answer the question can get a bonus point.

 

[Winnie Calida]

Winnie had remember the professor telling them about this field trip they would be going on, in the week before. It was certainly going to be an interesting lesson, she could figure out how they would get to it. She was in the room and the professor got started. "It's a portkey," Winnie said in answer to the question before the professor continued. Telling them a little about how they would be getting there and what museum they would be going to. It was a museum that Winnie had been to before, in fact she had been several times. She listened to the professor's few other words and then took ahold of the portkey when she was supposed to. She, with the rest of the class was taken to the museum and with a few extra instructions they were allowed to roam free. She headed off on her own, near immediately and then went to all her favourite exhibits that she knew existed in the place. Making sure that she had time to see each one. The two hours passed relatively quickly and then she headed back to the meeting point and was taken back to class.

 

[Nox Walden-Cade]

Nox was excited for a field trip because it meant something different than sitting in the classroom taking notes for an hour. He’d never been to a Muggle museum before and was curious about what they'd see. Wearing casual clothes felt odd, but it was a nice change from robes. Nox had never used a portkey either, so he was nervous but tried not to show it.

When they arrived in Wellington, Nox took a moment to steady himself. The museum was unlike anything he'd expected, it was big and it was a lot busier than he expected in the middle of the day. As they wandered through the exhibits, Nox found himself captivated by the giant squid, wondering how a magical creature would compare. He also enjoyed the interactive displays, trying to blend in with the Muggles while marvelling at how different their world was from his.

Sitting by the harbour afterward, Nox felt grateful for the break from lessons. The sunshine and fresh air were exactly what he needed to clear his head. Even though Professor Moncrieffe reminded them to keep studying, Nox didn’t mind. The trip had refreshed his enthusiasm for learning, and he felt ready to dive back into his studies with renewed energy.

 

[Sayuri Edogawa]

Sayuri, dressed in a casual hoodie and jeans, stayed toward the back of the class, grabbing Jonah by the scruff of his neck to remind him to behave for this class. The mention of a portkey didn’t faze her much, she doubted that it fazed Jonah either. They've both had their fair share of portkey travel so this shouldn't excite him aside from the fact that they get to get out of school. They were going to be heading to a muggle area, so they just had to remember dad's reminders about going to the muggle world. As the students huddled around the sphynx statuette, she lightly touched her fingertip to the cold surface and prepared herself for being yanked across space. When they landed, Sayuri steadied herself quickly and glanced around with quiet curiosity. Throughout the museum tour, Sayuri tried to listen and absorb the information, especially when they reached the interactive exhibits and the giant squid display. She was finding the muggle museum unexpectedly fascinating. The massive skeletal structures were something she couldn't help but stare at curiously. Sayuri wouldn't mind more lessons like this she decided, even if she usually preferred her routines.​