Fourth Years, Lesson Three

Gabrielle leaned against the desk, watching as the students entered and giving them a smile. "Hello, everyone," she started, once everyone had taken their seats. "We're going to have a pretty laid back class today. Kind of." She shrugged, looking at the students with her face twisting into more of a smirk. "Before we get into it though, I thought I'd briefly touch on what we started with the Labyrinth of Crete. Hopefully you'll remember who built it. Anyone?" She waited expectantly for someone to give the answer, and was somewhat relieved when they did.

"Thank you. Yes, now Daedalus didn't just build the Labyrinth. He was a very talented inventor and builder, and perhaps his most known creation is also something of a cautionary tale." Gabrielle pushed herself up to sit on the desk, casually swinging her crossed ankles. "Daedalus had a son, Icarus. When the two of them were put into the labyrinth, Daedalus built them both wings of feathers and wax in order to fly up and out. A precursor to our brooms, perhaps. But Icarus was warned not to fly too close to the sun...and he flew higher and higher, until the sun melted the wax and he fell to earth. Nowadays, we use the phrase 'don't fly too close to the sun' to mean don't get too carried away." She noted the somewhat bored looking faces and chuckled to herself.

"Alright, I'm not actually lecturing today, promise. I do have something slightly more interesting planned. I don't know if any of you know about the Triwizard Tournament? A couple of them were held here...way before any of you were born. No issues if you haven't, as you'll learn about it properly with Professor Borisyuk, but to summarize, it was a dangerous test of skill, where promising young witches and wizards were put into situations that would probably raise some alarm from workplace health and safety. You know, stealing things from dragons, diving into the depths of the lake, and so on. There was quite the death toll. The most famous tournament was held in 1994, when Harry Potter competed. He was a fourth year at the time, so, imagine you had to go steal an egg from a dragon tomorrow. Wouldn't be great, would it?" She raised an eyebrow at the students, before continuing. "The final test was a maze that was filled with all sorts of traps. No minotaurs, though. But here's what I want you to do for the rest of the class. I've got a few books from Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology and Defence Against the Dark Arts here. As well as some history books, of course. So let's say that we were, as a group, going to build either a maze or a labyrinth for some entertainment purpose. What I would like each of you to do is to come up with one trap. It could be something you've learned about already - maybe you'd put a boggart in a dark corner of the maze. Or something you might not have, which is why I've got these books here as inspiration - maybe Devil's Snare, if any of you are keen herbologists." Gabrielle looked around with a grin. "So, grab some snacks, have a look through the books, chat amongst yourselves, and let's build a horrifically dangerous labyrinth that nobody in their right mind would want to get stuck in."

Homework
RP the lesson and come up with one trap you would put in the hypothetical labyrinth for full marks. Doesn't need to be extensive, you can just say you'd slap a dragon in there and call it a day. Bonus points for creativity! Extra credit to the first poster to answer the question.

 

[Millie Walden-Cade]

Millie listened attentively as Professor Moncfrieffe introduced the idea of building a labyrinth, drawing inspiration from myths and famous tournaments. She found herself intrigued by the story of Daedalus and Icarus, particularly the cautionary tale woven into their escape from the labyrinth. The mention of the Triwizard Tournament and the dangerous challenges that had taken place struck a chord with her, it had been something her father had campaigned to bring back when he ran for minister, she could never understand why.

As the professor introduced the activity, Millie felt a flicker of excitement. She reached for one of the Herbology books, her mind immediately drawn to plants. The idea of using Devil's Snare appealed to her, its dangerous ability to constrict and immobilize those who unwittingly walked into its grasp, seemed like the perfect challenge for a labyrinth. Though she didn’t much like the idea of being the person trapped in it. After some time flipping through the pages, Millie jotted down her idea, imagining the scene vividly in her mind. She envisioned the Devil's Snare disguised among other plants, hidden in the shadows of a narrow passageway, waiting for an unlucky competitor to stumble into it. It would add a psychological element to the labyrinth as well, forcing participants to act wisely and remain calm in the face of danger.

As Millie shared her idea with the group, she quietly enjoyed the collaborative nature of the lesson, finding it both creative and engaging. Millie enjoyed the lesson and once it was over she packed everything away and made her way out of the classroom.

 

[Callie Cardoso]

Callie walked into the history of magic classroom and took her usual spot in the room. Her gaze moved to the professor at the front of the room as the woman got started. She took her quill and her parchment and began writing down what the professor was telling them about the labyrinth of crete. She nodded lightly, as the professor asked the question, and wrote down more about daedalus, the name wasn't one she knew until the professor talked about the man's son, and that story she knew well. She knew the story of icarus. She knew it pretty well really. The professor then stopped her lecture on that subject matter and instead focused on the triwizard tournament. She shook her head since she didn't know anything about it. Instead focusing intently on what the professor told them about it. Making sure that she didn't miss anything that was being said about it. The professor them told them that their work and homework was to come up with a challenge. She looked at some of the books, for some ideas of things before then writinf down a couple and trying her best to make sure that she got all of them down, to just then elaborate on a dangerous labyrinth that she could build knowing hers would be a room of flowers with ones of varying danger, with mostly muggle ones, to test the person's ability to know how to deal with non-magical things. Eventually she headed out of the room.

 

[Enoch Goldewyn]

Enoch walked into the history of magic classroom and took his usual spot in the room. He glanced at the professor as the woman got started. He pulled his notes towards him and began writing down what the professor was saying about daedalus and the labyrinth before they then moved on to the next part of the lesson,the triwizard tournemnt and then they were moved on to the next part of the lesson, which was them using the books and everything to come up with something. he rolled his eyes this was pointless, and he just wrote down that his labyrinth would include a room with a sleeping potion challenge, where of the potions only one would be safe and would counteract any sleeping potions drank. The challenge would be ensuring that they could drink the right ones before they passed out. With that he then was able to pack up his things and head out the room, work done.

 

[Veronica Walden-Cade]

Veronica liked the idea of a laid back lesson, though Professor Moncrieffe’s caveat of ‘kind of’ didn’t fill her with confidence that their ideas of laid back would match. Before they got to what would allegedly be the interesting part of the lesson, Professor Moncrieffe said she wanted to touch on the Labyrinth of Crete, which felt like a way to sneak in some useless ancient history by promising something interesting after. Sneaky.

After a quick detour onto the labyrinth, Professor Moncrieffe moved onto the main item for the lesson and it began with her talking about the Triwizard tournament. Veronica knew a little about the event as it was something her father had campaigned to bring back during the election, by all accounts it wasn’t something people were interested in on account of it being incredibly dangerous. Their task for the lesson was to design a trap for a maze, like the maze in the third task of the 1994 tournament. It seemed strange to go that far back, there were more recent examples of the tournament, but she supposed it was the most famous.

Veronica grabbed a few of the books and riffled through them, chatted to Millie and a few of the other students in the class and jotted down her idea, it was a simple one. Put a dementor in the persons path, potentially deadly? Yes, but manageable if you know the spell to defend against them. She gave her suggestion to Professor Moncrieffe and made her way out of the classroom at the end of the lesson.

 

[Teddy Pirrip]

Teddy was having a difficult morning due to a particularly volcanic spot that had broken out on the end of his nose. Naturally, he’d popped it because who wouldn’t? But all that accomplished was a satisfying splat on his mirror and a red, throbbing beacon that now dominated his face. He couldn't escape it every time he crossed his eyes, there it was, glaring back at him. Sitting in class, Teddy tried his best to keep a low profile, tilting his head down most of the lesson. But when the professor asked who built the labyrinth and no one jumped to answer, Teddy spoke up, "Daedalus."

As the lecture moved on, Teddy thought about the perfect labyrinth trap. He wrote down his idea, inspired somewhat by his current issue, and handed it in to Professor Moncrieffe. At the end of the lesson he packed up and left the classroom.

Spoiler: Extra Credit

My labyrinth trap would be a room filled with mirrors that all show slightly different versions of you. Some reflections are taller, some shorter, some wearing different outfits or features. The one mirror that shows you exactly as you are is actually a hidden door that leads to the next part of the labyrinth. But every time you touch a mirror that isn't the door, a random prank spell is triggered that changes one of your features, like turning your hair a different colour or gives you a hideous zit on the end of your nose, so each time you touch the wrong mirror, your true reflection become harder to recognise.

 

[Dominic Owens-Lee]

Dominic still had a few weeks of the semester left, and so he was looking forward to whatever his classes had in store for him. He had been trying to keep up with everything, especially with his responsibility on the quidditch team and the extra classes. It was proving to be difficult, and all Dominic could do was try his best not to stress out about it too much. He often contemplated heading to the library to find some meditation books, but it just stressed him out even more as he supposed he could have been using his time to do better things. Trying to keep all of the thoughts out of his mind, Dominic made his way to his classes.

Dominic entered the History of Magic classroom, wondering what the professor was going to lecture them about that lesson. As the lesson started, she announced to them all that the lesson was going to be 'pretty laid back', but Dominic wasn't sure what she meant by this, especially as she began lecturing them. Thankfully however, the lecture didn't go for long and the class was then given a task they could do with their imagination. Dominic spent a long time thinking of what his challenge in the labyrinth could be, but when he was finished with it, he handed it in to the professor at the end of the lesson before heading straight to his next class.

Spoiler: Extra Credit

Dominic Owens-Lee
Hufflepuff Fourth Year
History of Magic Lesson #3

In my labyrinth, there would be thousands of rows of flowers that are harmless, however some of them will be bewitched/enchanted with a stinging component, so that when touched, they will cause the victim to be stung. The catch is that the victim will not know which one has the spell on it and which one doesn't. They have no choice but to walk through this field of flowers, and if they get stung too many times, this will cause them too much pain to be able to continue on.