E-tea-quette {Girls 4-7}

[Moira Prewett]

DATE: April 7th, 1884
TAG: Years 4-7
OUTFIT
WORDS: 260
NOTES:

Moira much preferred the older students, she thought it every time she saw the backs of the younger ones trail out of the classroom. They didn't need as much correction (most of the time) and the ones with good backgrounds were already fairly knowledgeable and made the whole process a lot less tedious. A silent class when she was asking questions, however, was enough to drive her crazy. Questions didn't answer themselves, after all.

Once the girls were seated, Moira shut the door and conjured a tea set right onto her desk. "Many of you may not have had the privilege to experience a proper tea and many of you likely never will, though that does not render today's lesson of no use to you so I will not tolerate students who fail to pay attention. For those of you who have taken tea before in a proper setting, you may be able to give useful demonstrations to the rest of the class." If no one volunteered, she'd have to force some students to demonstrate and she would purposely pick those she thought incapable, simply to show them up. "Who can demonstrate to the class how a lady of good breeding holds her teacup?" Whoever was brave enough to walk up to her desk and correctly show the class the proper way to hold her teacup would almost certainly earn their house some points. The way the points currently were, Slytherin and Ravenclaw could do with making up for the hundred or so they had each been docked of late.

  

[Tatiana Carrow]

Despite her relationship with Narcissa, Tatiana was still carrying something of a torch for the etiquette professor. It made her unusually eager to please in that class, and she quickly raised her hand and waited to be called on.

Walking elegantly up to the front of the class and picked up the teacup, holding in perfectly. "The saucer is held in the left hand, with the thumb resting lightly on the rim to stabilize it. The right hand holds the teacup, as so, with the index finger through the handle and the thumb above; the middle finger is below. The last two fingers follow the curve naturally, and while some people raise the lower finger I personally find it to be putting on airs to do so more than very slightly. One never cradles a handled cup in their hand, nor swirls their tea."

  

[Moira Prewett]

DATE: April 7th, 1884
TAG: Years 4-7
OUTFIT
WORDS: 224
NOTES:

Miss Lestrange had proved herself to be one of the most reliable students in the class and certainly the most consistent, in fact, she was one of the few students she taught who didn't act like a timid puppy in her class. She could respect someone with a backbone. As it was, she was pleasantly surprised at how in-depth the Slytherin went, having only expected some half-wit to volunteer and simply hold a cup and saucer thickly in front of the class. "Perfect. Ten points to Slytherin for an exceptional demonstration and explanation." If only all of her students were as competent.

"You needn't sit down quite yet, Miss Lestrange." Moira summoned a spare desk from the back of the room, wishing she could drop it on some of her less intelligent students but refraining like the terribly kind and responsible member of staff that she was. Setting it down at the front of the class between her desk and the start of the students' desks, she summoned two chairs for either side of the table and moved the tea set from her desk to the newly established tea table. She gestured at the new set up, "Miss Lestrange, take a seat. A second volunteer or I shall pick someone myself." She raised her eyebrows as she surveyed the class for willing victims.

  

[Annette Fontaine]

Anne didn’t really mind etiquette classes. She’d spent most of her childhood (or so it had seemed then) balancing dictionaries on her head or led on a backboard, so it nearly all came naturally to her. It was just the teacher- Professor Prewett could be said to be almost vindictive. Anne still carried a grudge about the sleep-walking incident a few months earlier, but was determined to prove herself despite this.

She carefully raised her hand, waiting to be called on before walking to the table gracefully, hearing her governess’ words with every step. Back straight, head up, shoulders back. Anne set herself down lightly opposite Miss Lestrange and led her napkin across her lap, grateful tea napkins were small and didn’t need folding. She carefully folded her hands in her lap, ever attentive to her posture.

  

[Persephone Van Helsing]

Persephone had never found attending etiquette classes to be a chore, but she did find the class to be a waste of time. Indeed, it was beneficial for those who could not afford to receive lessons in etiquette lessons, but she was of the opinion that the class should be optional rather than mandatory. She could make better use of her time committing to other academic obligations, and she was certain that many of the other ladies in the classroom would agree with her, but alas, she was being forced to attend, and therefore, she must bear the (useless) time spent with Professor Prewett, a woman whom she found to be quite odd.

The day's lesson was on how to properly take tea with another, including how to hold a teacup - pinkies extended and all. While Persephone had never taken tea with a friend before, she and her sisters used to hold occasional tea parties when they were younger under their governess's watchful eye, but etiquette had rarely been present during those events as the Van Helsing girls were willful, and Persephone had personally enjoyed irritating the poor woman. Suffice to say, however, she had been taught how to correctly take tea, but she had never participated in a real tea party.

Therefore, she watched on with interest as Miss Lestrange demonstrated the proper way to hold a teacup before Miss Fontaine joined in to further exhibit the correct way to take tea, and she could not help but note how very graceful and collected the two young women seemed to be and wonder whether or not she would soon be witnessing a bit of friendly (but subtle) competition. Perhaps now things will get a bit more interesting, Persephone thought as a hint of a smile formed on her lips, her blue eyes swiveling back and forth between the two.

Words: 312 | Tag: Etiquette Class | Outfit: School Robes

  

[Gertrude Baker]

Of all of her lessons ever, Gertrude hated etiquette the most. In fact, it was the only lesson she had ever taken that she genuinely despised. It was just awful, nothing on Earth would make Gertrude enjoy this lesson. It was even the pretentious nonsense of it all, nor was it the fact it would have absolutely zero impact on her life, it was just the fact it was awful and Gertrude could not do it to save her life.

Usually, she decided to cower by Anne and hope that in copying her she would not fail so much. Yes, she forgot it as soon as they left, but she didn't care in the slightest. However, her shield ditched her when Anne decided to take part in the demonstration with Miss Lestrange. So, instead of just wanting to frown because of her surroundings, she also wanted to frown because she felt quite... vulnerable. That was even before the confusion, the whole etiquette of how to hold a teacup baffled her. Didn't people just grab the cup or just hook their finger though the handle? Apparently not. All she could do was just try and keep a straight face, although she was concerned her eyes would give away her utter confusion.

  

[Tatiana Carrow]

Tatiana took her seat with her back straight and her ankles crossed and tucked under her chair. The student who sat across from her was a halfblood, and so Tatty was hiding disdain behind her perfectly lovely expression. She waited patiently for further instruction from Miss Prewett.

  

[Moira Prewett]

DATE: April 7th, 1884
TAG: Years 4-7
OUTFIT
WORDS: 166
NOTES:

The one who bravely volunteered was none other than Miss Fontaine, Miss McLeod's night-time exploration partner in crime. Perhaps she might make amends to her house by performing well. Moira had her doubts. "Miss Fontaine has invited Miss Lestrange to tea," she announced. There was no real tea, milk, cream or sugar but the empty containers were. She specifically made Miss Fontaine the host in order to test her, or as she thought, to potentially catch her out. She doubted Miss Lestrange would need any correction being from such a family as hers.

"Miss Fontaine, show the class how a hostess serves the tea." She watched the table like a hawk, ready to catch her out at the slightest mess up. There was a specific order of things and if a person were ignorant of that, failure would be likely. "What sort of food should be served alongside the tea?" she asked the class, not removing her eyes from Miss Fontaine and the tea table.

  

[Tatiana Carrow]

A tiny smirk curved Tatiana's lips; there was no way that Miss Fontaine would be able to do this perfectly. She would, of course, be dreadfully offended at the smallest slight. If Miss Fontaine so much as chose the wrong song or tea, everything could be ruined -- and as a Lestrange, Tatiana knew how to be disdainful of those below her.

She did not expect the class to be very complete in their answers, but the question was clearly not directed at her and so she did not offer an answer. If Miss Prewett was disappointed then surely Tatty could come up with a better response.

  

[Cillian Notting]

If Professor Prewett weren’t one of the scariest women Cillian had ever met she might actually have fallen asleep during the lesson. Nonetheless she sat perfectly in her best ‘upperclass with a broomstick up my arse’ pose and watched as the lesson began. At the mention of ‘good breeding’ Cillian resisted the urge to ask how she, as a whore’s daughter, should be holding her tea because Cillian highly doubted she was ‘qualified’ for this snore-fest. Keeping her lip tight though, she watched as Miss Lestrange performed the most elegant act of holding a teacup - FASCINATING!

Of course that wasn’t simply enough! Now there was a tea party going on that basically was a contest to see whose broomstick was up further while they were being raised. Cillian did her best to hide the small smile on her face as she mentally put her bets on Lestrange being that winner. As everyone then began to watch intently on the 'prime' tea example, Cillian hardly gave a care for what kind of foods were suppose to be served. Her answering would only lead to snarkiness and lost Gryffindor points so she pretended that the tea service was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen.

  

[Persephone Van Helsing]

Persephone rose one blonde eyebrow at the older woman's question. Why should that even be a question? It was quite obvious which foods were served alongside tea during a tea party, but she supposed that there were some young ladies present who were ignorant of the whole tea party business, and when none of the other girls seemed to want to answer Professor Prewett's question, Persephone rose her hand.

"The usual complements that are served along with the tea are scones, tea sandwiches, and sweets," she answered simply before elaborating. "However, other dishes such as cakes, bon bons, nuts, and candied fruits may be also be included."

  

[Annette Fontaine]

Anne could all but feel the classes’ eyes boring into her back as Miss Prewett gave her her task. She’d anticipated it- the teapot spout was facing towards her, and of course she wasn’t going to be given an easy task. Either way, she wasn’t totally uncomfortable. She’d been serving tea since she was tiny- the same ritual, again and again. Miss Lestrange’s smirk didn’t go unnoticed either- but of course, she was some dirty halfblood whose great, great, grandparent had been a muggle and King Louis’ closest friends. What a startlingly tainted bloodline. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, instead turning to the task at hand.

Anne was a little unsure as to why a cream dish had been put out- cream was too heavy and would spoil any tea, but knowing her luck it was there to try to trip her up or a premonition of a scone round later on. The order was a little complicated at first, but once she’d mastered it, she’d felt like she could do it in her sleep. She took one of the teacups and saucers in her left hand, arching her fingers elegantly and resting one thumb on the rim to hold the silver strainer on.

“Do you like your tea weak or strong, Miss Lestrange?” She asked, keeping her perfectly gracious facade on. This bit was easy- for weak tea, the cup was ‘filled’ half full and then hot water added till it was filling ¾ of the cup, whereas for strong tea, the cup was filled ¾ full straight away. Milk was never added first- the 'tempering the teacup' idea was nonsense giving the tea wasn't boiling hot when it left the pot, and it also wouldn't let the guest to inspect the strength of their tea. After pretending to pour the desired strength, she placed the teapot back down carefully, removed the tea strainer to the correct dish and turned to her guest again.

“With milk, sugar or lemon?” She asked again, with a sweet smile.*

[OOC:*I can’t really say what Anne pretends to do till I know what Tatty takes, cause it has to be complicated like that XD]

  

[Tatiana Carrow]

"Strong, please" Tatiana said in a pleasant tone, "with honey. I find anything more damages the flavor, do you not agree?" It was the sort of idle chatter that was acceptable for a tea date among near strangers, especially at the beginning. She had noticed the small honey pot, tucked in by the sugar bowl; however, she said nothing about it not being offered.

  

[Annette Fontaine]

Anne resisted the urge to frown a little. She’d heard taking honey in your tea was something they did in America, from Margo, but she’d never heard of anyone taking it in England. None of this passed her hostess facade though, and she merely smiled and extracted the honey pot. She carefully added the ‘honey’, making sure she didn’t ‘spill’ it all over the saucer before placing a small silver spoon onto the saucer and offering the cup and saucer to Miss Lestrange. It was totally unacceptable to just place it in front of a guest- you had to make a show of allowing them to ‘inspect’ it, though unless it was impossibly undrinkable it showed bad manners to not accept it.

“Yes, although I am partial to a little sugar myself.” Anne smiled as she made her own ‘tea’. “I hear lemon makes for a refreshing tea in the summer, but I’ve never tried it myself.” Idle chatter- a still every upper class woman learned from the cradle. They’d be on to the weather or monarchy next, followed by the difficulty of finding reliable servants or choosing the upholstery for the drawing room, like good ladies.

  

[Tatiana Carrow]

"I find that it quite depends on the blend," Tatiana said; she 'found' her 'tea' to be 'acceptable' and let Miss Fontaine continue with their little farce. "Ones that already have citrus notes, of course, work quite well; however, past that it is a matter of matching flavors correctly and a wrong step with lemon is quite disastrous."

  

[Moira Prewett]

DATE: April 7th, 1884
TAG: Years 4-7
OUTFIT
WORDS: 160
NOTES: OLIVE DID RESEARCH AND IS OVERLOOKING THE HONEY THING BECAUSE TECHNICALLY IT'S NOT A THING WITH TEA IN ENGLAND BUT WIZARDS.

"Five points to Miss Van Helsing." She was in Slytherin wasn't she? Moira hoped so but focused instead on the scintillating little tea party she'd set in motion. As it was, there was a certain edge of tension between the two, both of whom seemed proficient in the ways of hosting a tea party. A disappointment really, Moira had been hoping to scold and correct someone, preferably Miss Fontaine who had already proved to be a troublemaker by stalking naked housemates in the middle of the night.

"Very well," she concluded with a subtle note of disappointment in her voice. "You both have earned your respective houses ten house points for your accurate demonstration. You may all begin an essay on the social expectations and faux pas of hosting tea to be handed in first thing in the morning. I want no fewer than three rolls of parchment. You will be marked down for poor grammar, spelling, punctuation and handwriting."