The moment of truth on Charms

Professor Lorraine Taylor

April 09, 2008 8:45 PM

Beginning Charms, Class I [Years I and II] by Professor Lorraine Taylor

It was the beginning of a new year, and Lorraine’s second year of teaching. In her opinion, the woman had done a rather good job. She had gotten a group past the CATs and a group past the RATs, none of whom had put forth less than their best in the examinations, she was sure. Granted, there were some students who were simply hopeless as far as Charms went, but that was only to be expected. Not everybody had the knack to move on into a higher level Charms class, and Lorraine wished those who would not be joining her in an advanced class the best. Some of those who had graduated she was very impressed with and expected to hear from in the future.

But that was last year, and this was now. Her first class of the day was, fittingly, a group of second and first years. The woman always had conflicting emotions about teaching the younger children. On the one hand, many were eager to learn. On the other hand, they simply were not capable of grasping some of the concepts she would have liked to teach. Quite the conundrum, but to be dealt with at another time.

On the raised dais in front of the classroom was her own desk, made of a solid wood. Neat, although not completely spartan (there was a framed picture of her family stuck with a neat Sticking Charm to the wood so as not to be accidentally summoned by an overzealous student), the desk was currently host to several stacks of papers she was prepared to hand out to the class that should begin coming in shortly. Today, the matter-of-fact professor had clipped her short, grey-blond hair back, out of her face, and was not wearing any jewelry. The second years would not be surprised by this; Lorraine never wore jewelry, if she could help it. She was also clad in dark green robes that had a distinctly professional look about them with shoes that could, if you were so inclined to describe shoes, be described as ‘sensible’.

The desks were arranged in careful rows that slowly filled as students began to enter the room. When the time arrived at which the class was supposed to begin—Lorraine strode over to the heavy door and shut it purposefully. Then she waited until the class was silent, giving very pointed looks to latecomers, before she launched into her beginning of term speech as she passed out the syllabuses.

“I am Professor Taylor, your charms teacher. For those returning students, I welcome you and would request that you remain politely silent as I go over the basics with the first years.” another pointed look at one of the more loquacious second years. “The papers I am currently passing out contain the syllabus for this class. This must be signed before we commence this class, and those students who would like to take issue with this may come up and speak to me privately.”

The syllabus essentially covered her educational background (seven years study at Sonora Academy as an Aladren, magical college in California, then several years of work as a magical engineer in Nevada), the materials required for class, what could be expected for homework, and a few rules:

1. There will be no tolerance for name calling based on race, religion, ethnicity, 'purity' of blood, ability to perform in this class or others, etc.

2. There will be no tolerance for dangerous behaviour (running around, dramatic or careless use of wands, etc)

3. There will be no food or drink of any type in the classroom.

Refusal to comply with these rules may result in detentions, loss of House points, or meetings with your Head of House.

At the bottom, there was a space for student signatures.

“Today, we will be learning a charm that can be particularly useful in many instances; the Severing Charm. It is also known as the Diffindo charm, due to the focus word used. This charm has quite a few uses, owing predominantly to its neat severing edge, which renders many knives quite useless. I would not suggest using this charm in your Potions class without first consulting Professor Connell, as some knives she may instruct you to use will have special properties stemming from their use.

“To perform this charm, one simply makes this motion and concentrates firmly on the spot you wish to sever. While safety is, of course, a concern, I would like to reassure you that, when wielded by one with little magical experience, this charm only rarely cuts flesh. I would not suggest you test this theory.

“Please get into groups of two—no more, no less—and practise the charm in the materials provided,” Lorraine flicked her wand industriously at a tall cabinet in the corner of the room. The doors swung open revealing three neatly organized shelves filled with many different materials and two higher shelves marked in distinct handwriting ‘DO NOT TOUCH’. “Your homework is on the board. Please begin.” With an equally industrious flick of her wand, Lorraine made the homework (discuss one of the problems associated with using the Severing Charm) appear on the board and set off to do her rounds of the classroom.

OOC: Minimum of ten sentences please. Anything shorter than that will not count for House Points. If you are having trouble writing the ten sentences, try to include what your character is thinking, feeling, seeing, etc. Site rules should be followed, of course. Beyond that, please be creative and tag me if necessary. If you wish to do the homework, please post your response in the ‘Homework Bin’ above; each entry will count for a minimum of ten points extra house credit and a maximum of twenty points extra house credit.

Subthreads:

Severing, sounds painful [TAG: Krisalyn Koli] by Andrew Tudor with Krisalyn Koli, Andrew .T

Lucky lucky charms by Renaye Warren (mentioning of Josh) with Ian Grimm, Renaye

Magic Bullet time! by Laurie Cider with Sophia Xuereb

Class I of Beginning Charms by Holly Greer with Alexis Ashwood

The moment of truth by Seamus with Delany

Partner up. by Delany with Professor Lorraine Taylor

Not the ideal student by Hannah Cooper-Forrester with Mark Johnson, Hannah C.-F.

One beginner, right here! by Jera Valson with Finely MacGregor, Jera

0 Professor Lorraine Taylor Beginning Charms, Class I [Years I and II] 0 Professor Lorraine Taylor 1 5

Andrew Tudor

April 10, 2008 2:44 PM

Severing, sounds painful [TAG: Krisalyn Koli] by Andrew Tudor

Andrew shuffled into his class, granted a little late, and started searching for Krisalyn's long, auburn hair. Noticing her, he went over and, smiling at her, pulled out a chair and sat down next to her. He glanced around and noticed that there seemed to be some older students in the classroom and became very aware of his height and young age which was intensified by his freckles that covered his nose. He shrank down in his chair and closed his eyes, praying that the Professor was nice and he was actually competent at small spells. He heard the classroom door close and, opening his eyes, saw the professor looking at him briefly. Her look unnerved him slightly and, knowing it was because of his tardiness, he attempting to smile in an apologetic manner. He was still getting use to the enormity of Sonora and got quite lost on the way, all the corridors seem to be so similar! He jumped when the professor began talking and then felt totally idiotic for being so nervous.

“I am Professor Taylor, your charms teacher," she began, and Andrew made a mental note of her face and name hoping that he wouldn't forget as that would just be typical. A piece of paper was being passed round that they were required to sign. Andrew had never had to sign anything in his life but, even though he felt quite nervous initially, he signed his name and carried on listening to Professor Taylor. “Today, we will be learning a charm that can be particularly useful in many instances; the Severing Charm." 'Severing Charm?' Andrew thought, feeling a little bewildered, 'sounds painful.' He grimaced and thought he should perhaps really pay attention as he was known to be slightly clumsy at the best of times. He listened intently to all of Professor Taylor's instructions and the tall cupboard in the corner of the room opened suddenly, making him jump again. 'I hope Krisalyn will be my partner' he thought. 'I still don't really know anyone'. Everyone had started talking and getting into pairs, so he looked at her and swallowed, knowing he would stutter.

"Uh, K-Krisalyn?" he swallowed again, afraid she would say no. "W-would you like t-to w-work together?"

0 Andrew Tudor Severing, sounds painful [TAG: Krisalyn Koli] 0 Andrew Tudor 0 5

Renaye Warren (mentioning of Josh)

April 10, 2008 10:46 PM

Lucky lucky charms by Renaye Warren (mentioning of Josh)

Charms. Not necessarily the best class, but not the worst, by far. The twins each agreed on this as the made their way to the classroom. Charms were cool, but getting them down wasn't so easy. Josh had laughed when Renaye suggested that Professor Taylor was secretely a carefree party girl on the weekends. Josh had told her she was delusional, but Renaye stuck to her theory. By the time they had reached the classroom, the two were onto the subject of any possible charm they could come up with, which yeilded entertaining results. By the time they had reached the class, the two decided to split.

Professor T began her speech and Renaye's attention instantly slipped, instead going to her notebook. She spent her time instead drawing small doodles of stick fugures playing Quidditch. Raye's head snapped back up at the mention what they would actually be doing that day. Severing charm? They were going to teach them how to slice and dice? Interesting...? They were instructed to pair up. Renaye noted sadly that a group of three with Laurie wouldn't work out. Renaye exchanged a glance with Josh, and they silently agreed to go seperate, this time.

Renaye walked over to someone near her and lightly tapped their shoulder.

"Hi," she said, brushing some of her blonde hair from her face, "Partnered up yet?"

0 Renaye Warren (mentioning of Josh) Lucky lucky charms 0 Renaye Warren (mentioning of Josh) 0 5

Laurie Cider

April 11, 2008 11:48 AM

Magic Bullet time! by Laurie Cider

Laurie liked her Charms class; there was something in the practicality of the course that encouraged her to practice when not in class. She had even branched out from her normal fictional mystery reading to tackle a book on charms or two. The reading had been heady, most of it theory based rather than hands-on use, but it had given her a better understanding on what caused the dynamic. There was the intent, the words used to focus that specific intent, and then her own latent magic to bring those two to completion.

She liked the immediate feedback as well. When in class- and out- it was simple: say the spell, do the motion, and then! It was success or failure, one or the other, and she liked the lack of grey to it.

She slipped into class early, wanting to get in ahead of the other first and second years. She took her time arranging her materials on her desk (the same she took in all her classes, third row, left side of the middle): a notebook clearly labeled, a pencil, a quill (only for parchment use, she still wasn’t entirely used to the utensil yet), a pen for notes that needed emphasis, and finally her wand. Her father had thoughtfully provided her with a holster of sorts that she could slip over her neck when running between class, or at meal times. It was discreet, a thin loop of black thread that resembled a necklace more than anything else. She could also loop it around her wrist when in class and that was what she did now.

As the rest of her classmates continued to enter, she took a quick moment to put her hair back in a braid. She sent a nod of welcome to Josh and Renaye when they entered, and another quick wink to another of her friends. And once Professor Taylor began to speak, Laurie gave it her full attention. The Diffindo charm...

A spare thought skipped through her mind, a consideration that requested her to give it further attention at a later time. It occurred to her that her father never used magic when in the kitchen, no matter what it was he was cooking. Even she, raised in a mixed household, couldn’t help but think it a strange habit for a wizard. All that slicing and dicing and mincing and chopping, all of which could be easily completed with a charm, this Severing charm she was now to practice. She would ask him, next time, why it was he so rarely used his wand at ho-

Laurie started with a jerk. Her elbow had slipped from beneath her chin, and someone was talking to her. She glanced up at her classmate, expression apologetic. “Oh, sorry, I was... elsewhere." She gave her notebook an unnecessary straightening. "So the Severing charm- you want to partner up?”

0 Laurie Cider Magic Bullet time! 0 Laurie Cider 0 5

Holly Greer

April 11, 2008 1:02 PM

Class I of Beginning Charms by Holly Greer

Of all the strange new classes offered at Magic School, charms was, perhaps, Holly's favorite. Care of Magical Creatures had potential to have single lessons that were more enjoyable, but it also had some lessons that she liked much much less. Charms was more consistently enjoyable.

When the syllabuses were passed out, Holly read it over carefully, to make sure it hadn't changed any from last year. Once she determined that it looked the same to the best of her memory, she signed it and passed it forward with everyone else's. Her father the lawyer had given it the okay last time, and he'd told her what traps and pitfalls to look out for when signing something, but the syllabus had none of them.

She did, however, take a moment to feel smug about her own purity of blood after reading the clause about name calling. Holly was, after all, a pureblooded muggleborn. There was not one single witch or wizard in her family tree but her. She was very special. And, of course, wealthy.

Holly sat up straighter in her chair as the professor began to talk about the day's lesson. Severing sounded dangerous, but Holly relaxed a little bit when the teacher told them the risk was minimal at their level of skill. She took out her wand (made of Holly wood, how fabulous was that?) and looked around for a partner of the appropriate pedigree.

Such people ought to be easy to spot by the care they took with their appearance. For example, Holly's own dark hair was very elegantly styled with a pretty pink bow to add a splash of color. Her nails were manicured and painted a matching pink. She wore a clear lip gloss (which tasted like raspberries) and her school robes were of the very highest quality. All of that, combined with her perfect posture, ought to make her instantly recognizable as someone of class and hopefully draw an equally prestigious partner to her.

1 Holly Greer Class I of Beginning Charms 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Alexis Ashwood

April 11, 2008 3:37 PM

Am I a worthy enough partner? by Alexis Ashwood

Charms. Alexis had little to no opinion on this subject. She hadn't experienced it enough to like it. In fact, Alexis couldn't say she liked any of the classes offered at Sonora. It was much better than what she heard about the dreadful RMI. Forced to take Muggle Studies? She'd rather stay with her cousin for a day.

However, Alexis found the Charms professor quite dignified. She had a kind of air around her that made everyone listen without question. She respected teachers like that, and wouldn't dare to try and pull something with her in the room.

She sat down in a seat, glancing around the room. She guessed that the group she was in was first and second years, seeing as she couldn't recognize over half of the class. Professor Taylor began to speak and handed out another syllabus, the muggle garbage. Seriously, if she had signed it once, why would she have to sign it again? Without even reading it this time, she signed it in her usual cursive and set it on up to the front.

Alexis' face brightened when their charm was introduced. Thoughts were already racing through her head. She still had to get Laurie back for her attitude during the Opening Feast. She had classified the girl as an ally, but a lesson still had to be taught. And of course, there was Josiah. The ideas of what she could do to him with a severing charm were cut down with the words: "When wielded by one with little magical experience, this charm only rarely cuts flesh."

She crossed her arms at this and waited until they were excused to look around the room again. Holly Greer caught her eye, and Alexis got up, wand out, and came to sit next to her. "Hello Miss Holly." She said happily. "I trust you had a good summer?" She smiled at the girl. When it came to Holly, Alexis looked the other way at her mudblood heritage. With her muggle connections, Holly was an asset. "You look nice today, as usual."

Alexis herself, like Holly, took pride in her appearance. Her red hair was slightly curled, enough to give it a bounce. A brown sweater styled dress that went down to her knees was worn with a brown and gold belt wrapped around her small waist. With her own clear painted manicured nails and butterbeer flavored lipgloss, Alexis and Holly seemed to be the perfect match for the class.

"How do you suggest we start?" she asked.

0 Alexis Ashwood Am I a worthy enough partner? 117 Alexis Ashwood 0 5

Seamus

April 11, 2008 9:43 PM

The moment of truth by Seamus

Seamus looked lovingly down at his most treasured possession. Nine inches long, but not as thick as most, still it was something to be admired. He’d had it only a few days now. He’d polished the oak shaft so many times, it gleamed in the dimmest light. Its core was a hair from the mane of a particularly swift granian. The wand maker said it’d won the Irish Winged Cup two years in a row when Seamus was still in nappies. Seamus never asked the horse’s name to look it up. Why would the old man lie?

It was incredibly frustrating to wait to use the wand until he made it to class, but his mother was one for the rules and she would let him so much as flick it until he had his first charms class. The day had finally arrived and if the crone in the front of the class would just stop talking about behavior and get on with the instructions, he could cast his first spell.

Drawing a quill from his bag, he quickly signed his name to the parchment declaring that he understood and would follow the rules. He would have sold his soul to the devil himself if it meant he could actually use his miraculous tool. When he was supposed to be studying the ordinances of the seven Holy Sacraments, he’d hidden his charms textbook within the pages of his catechism book and read it from cover to cover. Silently he’d mouth the incantations and using his quill, practiced the hand movements.

The nature of the beast drew his eyes to the top two shelves of the cupboard they were supposed to get the supplies to use with the severing charm. Do Not Touch was like an invitation for a curious boy of eleven to help themselves and explore. No, Seamus shook himself from the temptation. If you get into trouble, she might just ban you from using your wand for the rest of the term.

Tearing his eyes from the forbidden shelves he turned to his neighbor. One thing about working with partners, Seamus was meeting and making friends quickly.

“So, do ye want to have a go?” He asked with grin and a shrug.
\n

0 Seamus The moment of truth 111 Seamus 0 5

Delany

April 12, 2008 9:32 PM

Partner up. by Delany

Delany looked around the room. All around her people were partnering up and starting the assignment. She looked around hte room nervously. The hard part was introducing herself, and then asking if they wanted to be partners. She quickly stood up and looked around. Josh Warren was across the room from her. She quickly grabbed her Rowan-and-hippogriff talon. The wand-maker said it was the best for Charms. So if hte wand chose her, then she must have some decency with Charms. She walked over to where he was and tapped his shoulder.

"Hi. I'm Delany. Do you want ot be my partner?" she asked as she rolled her wand in her hands waiting for an answer. honestly, it killed her. What few seconds it was seemed like minutes, hours even. She took a deep breath and tried to keep her focus on him.

0 Delany Partner up. 0 Delany 0 5

Delany

April 12, 2008 9:45 PM

Seamus! by Delany

"So, do ye want to have a go?” she heard from behind her. That accent sounded so familiar. She turned around and sitting behind her was Seamus. She had met him in front of the Common Room the day of the feast.

"Seamus, is that you?!" She asked as she turned around in her seat and smiled at him pulling her hair behind her shoulders.

0 Delany Seamus! 0 Delany 0 5

Professor Lorraine Taylor
April 12, 2008 10:40 PM

Professor Lorraine Taylor
Peripheral
Written by:

Just a quick note by Professor Lorraine Taylor
Delany,

This is a quick 'OOC' or 'Out of Character' note. I'm so glad to see you posting in my class! However, there are just a few things that I'd like to ask you to do in accordance with Sonora's rules.

Firstly, we do ask that you capitalise the beginning of your sentences. Also, we request that you keep each post to a minimum of 10 sentences. If you have trouble with that, try writing down the thoughts, feelings, and observations your character is having.

Don't worry, you're not in trouble--just keep this in mind and have fun with Seamus!

Professor Taylor

0 Professor Lorraine Taylor Just a quick note 0 Professor Lorraine Taylor 0 5

Ian Grimm
April 12, 2008 11:48 PM

Ian Grimm
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

Now I want Cocoa Pebbles. by Ian Grimm
Ian gave his syllabus a lazy glance before applying his initials in an equally as lazy manner. He briefly considered the purpose of requiring a signature. He thought it probably had more to do with the Professor's concerns, then the students'. It all probably stemmed from a student having, once upon a time, claimed she was never informed about something Professor Taylor had stated and then the matter was dropped as there was no proof to dispute it. His brown eyes watched his meticulous Charms Professor for a moment; she didn't strike him as the sort to let a student one-up her more than once.

At least, and he smothered a grin behind his hand, not willingly.

He opened his charms textbook to the passage he had read the night before, and then discreetly withdrew one of his black notepads, writing out a few additional notes to add under the subject heading: Professors, subsection: Charms, part: Taylor, Lorraine. In addition to the scrawled 'fmr Aladren,' 'mag engnr,' and 'uni in CA', he wrote down the following: exacting, doesn't appear sentimental. The notepad disappeared back into his knapsack, and he returned to appearing engaged from behind his spectacles. It was an expression he had mastered ages ago over late night business dinners in which his parents shuffled him around, displaying his 'charming precociousness.'

He stifled a sigh once the assignment was given. What was it with these teachers and their hang-up on partner work? He really did prefer to work by himself; far more was accomplished when he could concentrate on himself and himself alone. That maxim about two heads being better than one really only applied when the second head added an advantage. Not that he was particularly smug or anything, but Ian felt that his nature was more suited- and far more industrious- when left on its own.

The tap on his shoulder put a pause to his mental griping. He turned and gave the girl- mentally, he noted: second year, blond, Crotalus- a slight nod of welcome before pushing his desk aside obligingly. "No, I haven't. Ian Grimm," he introduced, a bit tonelessly, and then turned to his already twice read text and pointed to the demonstrated movements on the page. "How do you feel about practicing the movements first?"

His hand waved lazily in the direction of the storage bins. "That way we can keep the destruction to a concentrated minimum."

0 Ian Grimm Now I want Cocoa Pebbles. 110 Ian Grimm 0 5

Sophia Xuereb
April 13, 2008 11:25 AM

Sophia Xuereb
Peripheral
Written by:

Is that better than muggle bullets? (Professor!) by Sophia Xuereb
Sophia walked into the Charms classroom with typical slowness, examining the room carefully as she did so. It seemed a good, serviceable room. Nothing to showy or ridiculous and no unnecessary decoration. She made her way to an empty desk still paying careful attention to her surrounds. Next to her was another Crotalus, from the badge, but she didn't recognise her from the dormitory, so clearly the girl was from the second year. She had her desk nearly organised in a manner of which Sophia approved - everything was clearly given a place and was easily located and used. She would have to work on something similar for her own things, but that would happen over some time as she worked out what was the best arrangement for her. The other girl was clearly more interested in other people who were arriving, so Sophia kept quiet and moved her attention elsewhere.

At the front of the classroom their was a slight dais. It was interesting that the room had a dais, and Sophia wondered if that was true of all the rooms and, if not, why it was the case in this particular room. Clearly there had to be some reason. The room was a quite functional classroom. It wasn't because the professor needed extra height, she decided, examining the greying blonde up on the dais. Professor Taylor seemed of a quite reasonable height. She seemed interesting enough. Dressed quite neatly, which Sophia approved of as was well apparent from her own neatly pressed uniform. Hair back so it wouldn't get in the way, rather like the method Sophia's dark hair was tied back. Even the robes were of somewhat similar colours, although the dark green wasn't quite the same shade as the uniform's forest green. She looked quite businesslike, in a professorial way, which Sophia hoped would carry over into the lessons as well. Sophia checked the clockwork watch her father had presented her with on the day she was accepted to Sonora and, it seemed that Professor Taylor moved into her lecture right on time.

Listening carefully, Sophia pulled some parchment closer and dipped her quill into the inkwell so she was poised to take notes if it was necessary. For the moment, it didn't seem quite so pertinent, so she held the quill over the inkwell while she listened, to prevent drips ruining the parchment sheet. Her attention moved to the syllabus when it was handed out and she took it with her free right hand to read it through carefully.

Point one was quite clear, and made sense. Those subjects tended to cause fights, noise and disorder, things that Sophia preferred to avoid whenever possible. She was in complete agreement.

Point two was similarly sensible and approved of. Doing anything even remotely dangerous was not the kind of thing to be done lightly, and thus nothing she had intention of doing, least of all in the middle of a class.

Point three... what if they were studying culinary charms? Or a charm that resulted in a foodstuff or drink. She was quite aware that those existed, and it seemed rather strange to completely ban such things from the classroom. If nothing else, it rather restricted the fields of charms which they would be able to study, which didn't seem right in a school of magic. It was bad planning, which made Sophia unhappy, as in all other things she'd been rather impressed with this class so far.

Everything else seemed fine. It was interesting, reading her teacher's qualifications. She hadn't seen anything quite like that in any of the other classes so far. And the list of course requirements and reading materials was also concise and seemed neatly ordered for optimal usability. It was just the blindness of a total ban on something that she thought would have a legitimate purpose in this classroom - in the correct circumstances - that continued to grate on her. She hesitated over signing, even as the class was explained, looking to the side to see if anyone else was sharing her concern over signing the papers, but not seeing anything promising. And now they were being told to partner up. Sophia looked at the syllabus one more time and then sideways at the girl next to her.

"Excuse me," she said. The girl didn't appear to be listening. A faint frown line formed between Sophia's eyebrows. "Excuse-"

“Oh, sorry, I was... elsewhere." The older Crotalus moved the notebook that was already neatly arrayed in front of her on the desk. "So the Severing charm- you want to partner up?”

"Yes, if you didn't have anyone you're prefer to partner with," Sophia said honestly, "but I was just going to say I'd be back in a moment, I wanted to talk to the Professor for a moment first. Do you mind waiting?"

She paused a moment for the answer and then nodded, placing her quill back in the inkpot for the moment and standing. She moved to the front of the classroom, attempting not to be too disruptive, and came up beside the Professor's desk.

"Excuse me, Professor. I'm just not sure I can sign this," she indicated the syllabus. "The third rule... what happens if we're studying a food orientated charm? Or practising one of the charms that you used to pour a drink from your wand? If I sign this then I'd be breaking your rule to learn such charms in your classroom in the future, and that doesn't make sense to me."

0 Sophia Xuereb Is that better than muggle bullets? (Professor!) 0 Sophia Xuereb 0 5

Professor Taylor
April 13, 2008 1:15 PM

Professor Taylor
Peripheral
Written by:

No bullets are preferable, I think by Professor Taylor
It was with a small amount of surprise and a slightly larger amount of gratification that Lorraine realised that a small girl had approached her with a question about the syllabus. Whether or not her students thought so, the woman truly appreciated it when they thought for themselves or beyond the confines of the class. It was a particularly exciting thing to see in a first year, and often an indicator of someone who would continue in her classes throughout their years at Sonora. The Charms professor took note that the first year seemed to be nearly organised as well, another good sign. Who knew, perhaps she was looking at a great wizarding engineer in the making! First years were so exciting.

"You will not be learning charms that involve or result in either food or drink until you are much older, don't worry," Lorraine responded. "First and second years spend a good deal of time learning the basics of what to do and why. In the future, you will be building off these skills to develop the more advanced ones--such as conjuring food and drink. The rules adjust as the class advances. Do you have any other questions, miss..." The woman was smiling down at the first year, although it might have come off as a bit odd. Lorraine was not a woman who smiled often, nor was she a woman who generally interacted with others unless she had to. However, in some cases their were exceptions to this rule, and this was one of them.

It didn't look like there was any commotion in the class as such; most of the students were still finding a partner. This accounted for quite a bit of milling around, which would hopefully decrease as soon as the children settled. In a room of eleven and twelve year olds, Lorraine almost counted it a miracle that there had been no accidents in the year she had taught already. Idly, she wondered if the previous charms professor had such luck or hers was about to break. It wouldn't be unexpected, but it was something that Lorraine wasn't hoping for. Well, what teacher did? She supposed that it was simply the spell she was teaching that made her a tad nervous. It was on the curriculum, true, and very unlikely to injure anyone. However, Lorraine was one who liked to plan for the 'just in cases' of life, and she was keeping a sharp eye out even as she talked with the first year.

0 Professor Taylor No bullets are preferable, I think 0 Professor Taylor 0 5

Seamus
April 13, 2008 2:19 PM

Seamus
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

Delany! by Seamus
“And who else would it be?” Seamus grinned at Delany. She was a bit on the daft side, but friendly enough. Yeah, he could work with her. Turning to his text he went over the chapter about the severing charm. Holding his preacious wand in his right hand, he practiced the movements and mouthed the spell silently until he felt he had it down fairly well.

“This doesn’t look so hard.” Seamus remarked. “The loop on the end is tricky.”

The truth was, while growing up in a magical household, the only time he’d ever cast a spell was when he’d gotten a hold of Colleen’s wand when he was about five. His older sister’s wand was particularly in tune with her and rebelled in the hands of a stranger. A mere color changing charm blew out the wall of the living room and earned him extra lines out of his mother’s prayer book about obedience for days. Consequently, he was a bit nervous about trying his first official spell on his own and in front of a girl.

“Well,” Seamus swallowed a lump in his throat. “I suppose we should get a few things from the cupboard.”
\n

0 Seamus Delany! 111 Seamus 0 5

Holly Greer
April 13, 2008 6:20 PM

Holly Greer
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Nathan

Age in Post: 12

Yes, of course by Holly Greer
Holly smiled warmly when she was approached by Alexis. They'd only spoken before at the preparation party before the ball, but she'd had a lovely dress and the other Crotalus girls had welcomed her readily, so Holly had only good things to say of her. She had thought at first there might be some form of tension with Alexis, but the other girl had acted perfectly kind, so Holly decided that it had only been her imagination.

"I had a lovely summer," she returned upon being asked, "Thank you. I hope yours was pleasant as well?" Her eye was caught then by a glimmer of light and Holly's eyes lit up, "Oh, that is a gorgeous belt! Is it new?"

With those important topics covered, they could get to the lesson. Holly sat down and opened her book to the relevant page, saying as she did so, "I suppose the best place to start is to look over the chapter and then just try it out." Having found the page, she looked over at the cabinet that many of their classmates were already crowding around to collect practice materials. "That should also give us some time so we don't have to mix with the thickest part of the mob."

1 Holly Greer Yes, of course 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Delany
April 13, 2008 8:04 PM

Delany
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Written by:

Hello! by Delany
“And who else would it be?” Seamus grinned at Delany.

"Just you, I guess." she said smiling and pushing her hair behind her shoulders.

Seamus turned to his text and started to read on the Diffindo charm. Delany watched Seamus as he practiced the wand movements from his book. He tried it three or four times before he looked up at her.

“This doesn’t look so hard.” Seamus remarked. “The loop on the end is tricky.”

"Ok. I'll watch out for it." She said as she watched him practice it the last time.

She grabbed her wand and rolled it in her fingers. Perfect for charms. , she thought as she looked back up again.

“Well, I suppose we should get a few things from the cupboard.” Seamus said.

Delany nodded and stood up from her seat and headed over to the cupboard. She looked through it and at all the objects. Once she read the 'Do Not Touch' sign on the top two shelves, she quickly dropped her gaze lower.

"So, what do you think we should use?" She asked as she placed her right hand on her waist. She could tell this would be fun, just by the way it sounded. She played it in her head a thousand times. Her messing up, Seamus cracking up, then she starts cracking up and trying again, and the cycle repeats. She smiled as she turned toward Seamus.

0 Delany Hello! 0 Delany 0 5

Laurie
April 14, 2008 9:22 AM

Laurie
Peripheral
Written by:

Think like the infomercial- the blender thingy. by Laurie
“Yes, if you didn’t have anyone you’re prefer to partner with, but I was just going to say I’d be back in a moment, I wanted to talk to the Professor for a moment first. Do you mind waiting?”

“Um. . .okay, sure,” Laura replied, a little put off. She watched as the first year went up to their professor for a moment, but since the two seemed rather involved, she decided to go ahead and get the supplies. She cleared her desk, putting her text on her chair, leaving it opened to the proper section. She picked carefully over the three shelves, keeping in mind to take doubles of everything. Pieces of wood, both thick and thin, strands of some kind of rubbery substance, two thick copper coils- she put each selection in the crook of her arm until finally, she felt there was more than enough to practice on.

She didn’t know her partner’s ability level, but she knew her own. Her learning process was fairly simply: practice the motions with her wand several times without saying the spell, one attempt with the spell which would probably fizzle, and then a second attempt which would result in a success. . .of sorts. Considering this particular charm’s objective, whatever results came about should do some amount of damage.

Laurie grabbed one of the empty desks and pushed in to hers and then spread out the materials, setting aside the duplicates for her partner. She gave a quick glance toward Professor Taylor; they were still talking, and it looked- she squinted- like it was about the syllabus. She sighed; might as well begin practicing. . .

And practice she did, until, after her third spoken attempt of Diffindo! resulted in a halved copper coil and a gash over the back of her hand. It was rather ironic, she thought to herself, that she would get cut not by a charm for severing, but by the backlash of the severed piece. She touched the scrap and winced. “I think a band-aid’s in order,” she said more to herself than the public. “Ouch. . .”

0 Laurie Think like the infomercial- the blender thingy. 0 Laurie 0 5

Sophia
April 14, 2008 11:04 AM

Sophia
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Written by:

Agreed. (I'll get back to you again soon, Laurie. Sorry!) by Sophia
Sophia was sorting through the answer she had been given. It didn't really reassure in quite the way she suspected the Professor had intended for it to. Saying they would be studying charms that would defy the third rule, even if it wouldn't be for several years didn't change the fact that she was being asked to sign a declaration that said there would be no food or drink of any type in the classroom. The rule seemed pretty set in stone, and there were no time parametres actually written down to verify what Professor Taylor was telling her.

Finally, because she knew that she had to do something, Sophia looked at the wording again. "Xuereb," she answered the Professor, filling in the blank as she read the words on the page again.

1. There will be no tolerance for name calling based on race, religion, ethnicity, 'purity' of blood, ability to perform in this class or others, etc.

2. There will be no tolerance for dangerous behaviour (running around, dramatic or careless use of wands, etc)

3. There will be no food or drink of any type in the classroom.

Refusal to comply with these rules may result in detentions, loss of House points, or meetings with your Head of House.

"One other, Professor," Sophia said. "I'll be back in a moment."

She moved back to the desk, apologised to the older Crotalus, picked up her quill and in her careful, neat hand, made a couple of adjustments. She examined it critically for less time that she'd have liked to give to the task and then signed below. At least now she felt as though she wasn't in any danger of perjuring herself by offering her signature to something that she couldn't guarantee she would keep to. She moved back to the desk and offered the signed document to the Professor.

3. There will be no food or drink ~~of any type~~ in the classroom. within the period commencing with the beginning of my first year and finishing at the end of said school year, unless it is expressly allowed at the discretion of Professor Taylor in the pursuit of scholastic learning in the field of Charms.

Refusal to comply with these rules may result in detentions, loss of House points, or meetings with your Head of House.

Sophia Xuereb

"I have no intention of refusing to comply," she said, by way of explanation. "I just prefer that there is more definite timeframes and an escape clause in place, just in case it proves necessary. I hope that's alright."\r\n\r\n

0 Sophia Agreed. (I'll get back to you again soon, Laurie. Sorry!) 0 Sophia 0 5

Renaye
April 16, 2008 4:18 PM

Renaye
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Written by:

They turn milk chocolate! by Renaye
OOC: So sorry about the belated reply... Lots to do, and somehow, classroom posts take me longer. Go figure...

BIC:

"No, I haven't. Ian Grimm. How do you feel about practicing the movements first? That way we can keep the destruction to a concentrated minimum." Renaye smiled at him. She hadn't seen him around. First year, then.

"Hi, Renaye Warren," she replied with her own name. "Really, I think a bit of 'accidental'destruction would make this class a little more interesting..." She grinned, in hopes of putting across that she was joking. In case that hadn't gotten it across, Raye pulled out her wand and moved it through the motions. The Diffindo charm seemed to be relatively easy. Renaye hoped she got it right or she would feel like an idiot... She practiced the motion once more and turned to Ian. The kid seemed a little... to-the-point. She hoped he would try to help her make this class fun.

"Ready to try this?" she said. "I'll let you go first. Charms isn't my strongest point. I'm not terrible, but... Well, I'm not great either."

Renaye had liked her Astronomy class last year. Now it was cancelled! That class had been enjoyable and she had actually found herself paying attention, despite the distractions around her. Her another class she was pretty good at was Potions. She didn't mind the creature that were necessary for potion-making. Touching them was a little gross, but she didn't complain. It washed off easily. Potions was pretty cool...

0 Renaye They turn milk chocolate! 0 Renaye 0 5

Ian Grimm
April 17, 2008 4:10 AM

Ian Grimm
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

The best post-midnight snack out there. by Ian Grimm
"Really, I think a bit of 'accidental' destruction would make this class a little more interesting..."

Somehow, Ian did not find the humor in the statement, but he still presented his partner with a polite smile and pretended interest. He devoted the rest of his attentions to actually completing the assignment. The Diffindo charm's motions were thankfully rather simple; he quickly determined that the real challenge came with funneling the proper amount of focus and power into the spell- it was, essentially, a spell of aggression. Unlike defensive spells, this would involve a specific intent. Instead of just bam, and then a shield, he would need to actually choose an object and dedicate his focus on that.

It was, he decided after trying the charm by motion alone several times, a trying task.

He bit back his irritation when the Warren girl suggested he go first; really, she was the upper class man, shouldn't she be the one to take point? And then admitting to it being a weakness; this was one of the reasons he did not like girls, they were always so quick to feign lack of ability. "Right, because you as a second year have a zero chance of being better at this than me." He spoke so smoothly that his sarcasm was almost masked by the polite tones. Almost. "I'll try it on the wood first."

He tugged off his glasses, his movements all annoyance, and then in direct opposition, carefully positioned a piece of wood on the center of his desk. He decided it might be best to consider the wood made up of something he particularly disliked. The first thing that came to light was a stringy brunette from his neighborhood who continuously liked to think of him as lonely. For one stinging second, her grating voice clipped through his head, and with that sound in mind, he pointed his wand and ordered, "Diffindo!"

His first spoken attempt had rather decent results. The wood, while not completely halved, had a good sized wedge removed from its middle. He resisted putting his glasses back on, even though he was forced to squint at his results; he was quick to turn his eyes away, not wanting that particular weakness of his to be noticed. "Half way there, then. Have a go at it." And then, rather surprisingly, his lips unfolded into a crooked smile. "Bet you can't finish the job with one try."

His goading, of course, was not actually disguised encouragement in any way. Naturally not. That just wouldn't be the Ian Grimm way. The smile, however, sort of gave him away, though. . .

0 Ian Grimm The best post-midnight snack out there. 110 Ian Grimm 0 5

Seamus
April 18, 2008 10:01 AM

Seamus
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

And how are you, this fine morning? by Seamus
Seamus looked over the possibilities. The cupboard was stuffed with a huge variety of odds and ends. Quite frankly, it looked like the arts and crafts cupboard of the pre-school at his parish. There were pieces of parchment, felt squares, gauzy things that looked like scarves muggle magicians used, construction paper, some old milk jugs, and assorted blocks of wood.

“Why don’t we grab a bit o’ everything.” Seamus suggested. “We can start with the parchment and construction paper and if that goes well, we can move on to the harder stuff.”

Gathering up a few items, he made his way back to his desk and dumped them. On a clear space, he lay out a tattered piece of old parchment. It looked like a rejected start of homework someone started a threw away. The Charms prof must have retrieved it to recycle in classes like this. The heading said, Stephen Baxter, Charms, First Year Peccari, Professor Bulla. What followed were several false starts and scratch outs.

“Mary Mother of….” Seamus stopped the epitaph, remembering his manners. “I didn’t know Headmaster Bulla used to be the Charms professor! That must have been centuries ago. Well, here goes…”

Now was the moment of truth. His first ever official spell. Seamus was surprised to feel his heart racing with excitement. His hand trembled a bit as he held it at the point the slice would start. He was about to make magic, real honest and true magic.

Diffindo He felt a surge of energy from the core of his being build and leave his body along his arm and through the wand.

The parchment splint in twain. Grinning, he held up the parchment for Delany to see. Instead of a nice, clean edge it looked as though someone had ripped it with their hands. The edge was very jagged and frayed.

“I did it!” Seamus declared proudly, “Not very pretty, but I did it!”

\n

0 Seamus And how are you, this fine morning? 111 Seamus 0 5

Sophia
April 19, 2008 9:37 AM

Sophia
Peripheral
Written by:

I'm not familiar with the infomercial... sorry by Sophia
OOC: Also, it's been a couple of days without a response from the Professor, so I'm assuming that all is well and my adjustment is acceptable. BIC:

Sophia thanked the Professor and apologised for taking up so much of her time before picking her way back to her desk. In her absence it seemed that the older Crotalus had been busy. Two desks had been pushed together and two sets of the class materials had been set out. Sophia took up spot at the place that had clearly been set aside for her glanced at the other girl intending to apologise once more for the disruptions when she realised that the she was nursing an injury.

Staring at it in wide-eyed horror, for all that it wasn't the worst gash in the world Sophia went slightly pale. "Are you ok?" She asked, as it seemed the most pertinent question going through her head. "Did you do that with the spell? Is this the kind of spell we should be learning if you can get hurt?" The questions came out quite rationally, with on a minimum of hesitance and certainly no rush, but Sophia never the less was looking less than certain by this stage and heading in the definite direction of worried.

Relax. Calm. Think.

Worry about the spell later. What do you do when there's blood? Staunch it. There's not much. Haven't studied any healing charms. Sticking-plaster?

"Is there a first aid kit in the classroom?" she asked, glancing up at the other girl. She hadn't noticed one in the classroom, but then she'd not yet subjected it to her full scrutiny. Clearly this had been a mistake.

0 Sophia I'm not familiar with the infomercial... sorry 0 Sophia 0 5

Delany
April 19, 2008 11:58 AM

Delany
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Fine sir, and how do you fare today? by Delany
Delany looked over the stuff in the cabinet.

“Why don’t we grab a bit o’ everything.” Seamus suggested. “We can start with the parchment and construction paper and if that goes well, we can move on to the harder stuff.”

Seamus grabbed a bunch of the stuff out of the cabinet and brought it over to a table. Delany grabbed a piece of parchment and a piece of cardboard. She walked back over to where Seamus was.

" Mary Mother of..." Seamus said before stopping himself. “I didn’t know Headmaster Bulla used to be the Charms professor! That must have been centuries ago. Well, here goes…”

Seamus did the spell and Delany watched as the parchment split in half, maybe not perfectly, but he had completed the spell.

“I did it!” Seamus declared proudly, “Not very pretty, but I did it!”

"Congradulations!" Delany said as she clapped her hands. "Could I give it a go?"

Delany grabbed a piece of parchment and set it down on the open table next to the piece of cardboard. She pulled out her wand and took a deep breath. She concentrated completly on the paper being split in half and flicked her wand adding the tricky flip turn thing at the end.

"Diffindo." She said. When she finsihed the wand movement she felt that familiar burst of energy go through her. OK, the energy she had read about in her books.

She opened one of her eyes and peeked at the parchment. She had missed, and hit the cardboard. It had cut clean in half.

Delany was excited and absolutly horrified at the same time. She had just cut cardboard in half. She was thrilled! But, now Seamus must have thought her the hugest showoff and geek ever! It wasn't even her. The wandmaker had said, "Your a lucky one. This wand was made for charms."

Delany decided she would play it off. She looked over at Seamus and smiled.

"OK. Your turn." she said as she crossed her arm over to the pile of scraps, fabrics, blocks of wood, milk cartons, and whatever else possible that there is to completly shred to peices.

0 Delany Fine sir, and how do you fare today? 0 Delany 0 5

Hannah Cooper-Forrester
April 19, 2008 1:43 PM

Hannah Cooper-Forrester
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Written by:

Not the ideal student by Hannah Cooper-Forrester
Hannah slid the syllabus to a corner of her desk, far away from her. She wasn't planning on reading it. Who needed boring rules and the teacher's whole life story? Certainly not the hazel-eyed girl. Tying her light brown curls into their usual pigtails, she wondered just what the professor would do if Hannah didn't sign the syllabus. Was there any way for the professor to know? Probably not. Probably she just assumed that all of the students would act like goody-goods and sign the thing without a care, or at least, tell her about it. Hannah wasn't a goody-good, and so she planned on doing neither.

Nodding at what seemed to be all the appropriate moments during the lecture, Hannah didn't bother to take notes. She had three older cousins - surely they had to have decent notes between all of them. Actually, there was no reason to take notes in any class, now or ever. Oh sure, at the beginning Law might protest, or warn that his notes weren't impeccable, but eventually he would cave in, Hannah was certain of it.

With the help of her abnormal height, she was able to lightly kick the seat in front of her without much trouble, "Dude, wanna work together?" she asked the other person.

0 Hannah Cooper-Forrester Not the ideal student 0 Hannah Cooper-Forrester 0 5

Alexis Ashwood
April 19, 2008 3:07 PM

Alexis Ashwood
Alumnus
House: Crotalus
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

That makes me feel really good by Alexis Ashwood
Alexis smiled at Holly's response about her summer. It was really easy to be herself...ish around her. She didn't seem one to judge just because she was a pureblood or kept her appearance nice or anything. Not that the other girls' opinions bothered her. It was just nice to get away from that and not worry about putting on a mask every five seconds.

"Very pleasant, actually. Much better than our first day back." she shook her head. "There was some Crotalus drama that day." "Oh, that is a gorgeous belt! Is it new?" Holly asked her, and Alexis smiled sweetly.

"Only the best." she replied. "My cousins, the Silverleafs, own the line Wicked!, both magical and muggle. This is one of their latest. I'll be sure to get you a trial or something if you don't have one." She'd write Chrysi that night to ask, that was for sure.

Alexis nodded, turning the pages to her own book, finally finding the right page. She smirked a little. "Very good point Holly. Smart idea." She browsed the chapter. "It basically says everything Professor Taylor told us." she sighed, shutting it in the end. "Wand movements and all."

She glanced up at the cabinet, seeing that not many people were there. "You want to go get our materials?" she asked. "It seems to have cleared out nicely."

0 Alexis Ashwood That makes me feel really good 117 Alexis Ashwood 0 5

Mark Johnson
April 19, 2008 3:19 PM

Mark Johnson
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Ain't that the truth by Mark Johnson
Mark only just made it to class in time, but when he sat in his desk he started to feel tired. Maybe it was because of his lack of sleep due to excitement or just because of the Professor’s boring tone in her voice, but Mark felt very tired.

Mark stared at the syllabus blankly. He read it over and over to try and keep focus. Mark lazily signed it with a scribble that looked mostly like his name and pushed it aside and still tried to continue to listen to the professor go on about this severing charm. As he continued to listen he made note of what it did, and that it was called Dippindo or something like that, but as Mark continued to listen the more his head started leaning towards his desk.

After about ten minutes or so, Mark started to doze off and was thinking about what quidditch would be like. He couldn’t wait to go to the practice and see what everyone did. Mark also thought of basketball and thought he would make a great chaser since the two jobs were so similar.

Mark continued to doze for about another five minutes and daydreaming about the year to come when something caught him by surprise. Someone had kicked Mark’s seat and it caused him to jump up and said in a startled voice, “I’m listening!”

“Dude, wanna work together?” was all Mark heard after that. Turning around and looking somewhat surprised, Mark looked and the abnormally tall girl with a sheepish grin and said, “Why not? The name is Mark Johnson, but recently people have just been calling me Ark.”\n

0 Mark Johnson Ain't that the truth 0 Mark Johnson 0 5

Laurie
April 19, 2008 5:28 PM

Laurie
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Written by:

I can provide a link! by Laurie
OOC- Check here.

IC-

Laurie blew gently over the gash, the sting lessening for a few seconds. The cut, while long, didn’t seem too deep. The blood seemed to clot almost immediately upon exit, but her hand ached, a dull throb strumming down past her wrist. “Are you ok?” She glanced up, through the thin wisps of hair that had fallen over her eyes, ready with words of reassurance. Sophia seemed unduly upset; she glanced back down at the gash. She supposed it did look rather bad, definitely worse than it felt, even though, at the present, that throb was beginning to pick up speed.

“Well, I think I need a band-”

“Did you do that with the spell? Is this the kind of spell we should be learning if you can get hurt?”

Laurie held up her hands and immediately regretted the movement. Wincing slightly, she brought the hurt hand to her chest. “Sophia, it’s okay,” she reassured, the roles oddly reversed. “It’s not the spell; it’s from the copper.” She picked up the offending half as evidence. “Guess I gave it more gusto than necessary,” she tried to joke.

Sophia definitely seemed a bit frazzled. As much of a cry baby as Laurie was, most of her childhood’s tears were emotion driven and thankfully not from physical pains. She was always getting cuts and scrapes; skinned knees and sprained wrists. It was part of the hazards of being the youngest child of three, and the only girl at that. Her brothers were always off doing older, boy things, and she had wanted to be a part of that. And thus, the damage.

It occurred to her that other girls might not have the same experiences, and plainly, to Laurie, Sophia seemed to fall in the category.

“Is there a first aid kit in the classroom?”

Laurie decided it was time to reign this in. Purposely, she placed her unhurt hand on her partner’s shoulder and tried to provide her best ‘I’m-perfectly-okay-so-there’s-no-need-to-worry’ expression. “Don’t even worry about it. Class is already over half-way done; I’ll just stop by the infirmary on the way to lunch. The medic’ll throw on some alcohol and a band-aid. It’ll be just fine, okay?”

She thought it wise that she best direct her partner’s concerns on something other than her hand. It wouldn’t hurt to have something else to focus on for herself, either. Her hand really was starting to throb, even though the blood had stopped. Gingerly, she picked up her wand and then switched hands once making a fist proved a bit too much. “So, how about you give it a go? Practice makes perfect.”

She bit back a grimace at the pure cheesiness of her words. As her right hand was out of commission for the moment, she definitely was not about to trust herself with this particular spell and her left hand. She would simply play out the part of watching partner and hope that Sophia would prove a slow study. Thankfully, there were only a set amount of minutes left. . .

0 Laurie I can provide a link! 0 Laurie 0 5

Sophia
April 20, 2008 10:19 AM

Sophia
Peripheral
Written by:

Thank you. by Sophia
OOC: I'll have to watch it later, however, as I'm a mite bit short on time at this very moment. But I will watch it. BIC:

Sophia considered what the other girl explained to her, still feeling more than a little dubious and worried about the content of what they were learning. And not entirely convinced that things weren't worth worrying about just because it was a bit of metal and not the spell that had caused the injury. There was that thing you could get it you cut yourself with metal, after all. Sophia paused to recall what it was. Tetnis. It was supposed to be quite bad, as far as she could remember and she wanted to bring it up too, except that she was getting the distinct impression that she was close to causing some kind of scene. And that would never do.

Taking several further calming breaths, Sophia nodded, and turned to the notes she had written taken earlier, feeling dissatisfaction with herself as they weren't as succinct or concise as she would have liked. She had been too distracted by her uncertainty over the syllabus and neglected the rest of her studies. She'd have to make an effort to not repeat that particular demonstration of bad planning. She really wasn't making the best impression in this class, and felt she had to make up for it.

The incantation was straightforward enough. Diffindo. Sophia tried it out a couple of times, working on making her enunciation as crisp as she could manage. She was reasonably happy with the practice and so looked at the items that had been put on the desk for her. Giving the copper a dubious look she looked aside from it at the other items. After considering the dowelling and other pieces of wood for a moment she dismissed them as well. Whether this worked or not, she preferred to keep potentially dangerous elements away from what she was doing.

The rubbery substance seemed far more aligned to what she was after. She picked up a piece, stretching it and the putting it back down, somewhat removed from the rest of the items.

Smoothing her dark hair with one hand and pushing non-existent strands away from her face, she picked up her wand and pointed it at her target of choice.

"Diffindo," She said crisply and quietly, focusing on what she intended to do. Upon investigation it appeared that there was the slightest of cuts into the surface of the rubbery item, barely visible to the naked eye.

Sophia considered it for a moment. "Did I forget a wand movement?" she asked the older Crotalus, somewhat perplexed.

0 Sophia Thank you. 0 Sophia 0 5

Seamus
April 21, 2008 11:18 AM

Seamus
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

Very well, thank you. Fine weather we're having, what? by Seamus
Seamus admired the clean cut in the piece of cardboard. “Well, I see you’re better at this than I.”

He tried the severing charm again on the parchment. It went a bit better this time. Well, Seamus was no artist or architect, so the line wasn’t exactly straight. He pushed the cardboard to the side so he could try a block of wood and in doing so, push one of the handkerchiefs off his desk. He watched it flutter slowly to the floor.

“I’ve got an idea!” Seamus said gleefully. “Watch this.”

He grabbed a red handkerchief and balling it up in his fist, tossed it high in the air above them. The handkerchief opened and started floated down. Seamus pointed his wand at it, careful to use the right hand movement.

Diffindo

One moment, Seamus felt the magic course through him and the next, there were two pieces of material sailing to the floor. He grinned, proud of his genius.

“Can ye do that?” He asked Delany.
\n

0 Seamus Very well, thank you. Fine weather we're having, what? 111 Seamus 0 5

Laurie
April 21, 2008 11:11 PM

Laurie
Peripheral
Written by:

I do love my linksies. by Laurie
Laurie felt relief once it became evident that the first year girl was beginning to calm. She watched, sending silent encouragement, as Sophia finally decided on one of the rubbery strands- it had the consistency of a licorice stick- to test out the spell. Somehow, she imagined that Sophia would be a wiz at this; there was something in the girl’s manner that bespoke competence, and so Laurie was surprised when the only product from the spell was a slight indentation in the strand.

“Did I forget a wand movement?”

Laurie bent her head in consideration. “I don’t think so. You did the movements correctly. It could just be your intent.” She demonstrated the proper movements with her left hand, the gestures slightly awkward. “See, right when you bend your wrist here, you need to both say and think the spell, think about what you want to do with it.”

She tucked her wand into her back pocket and reached for the other rubber strand, and cleared the desk to make space for it. “So I’m not exactly an expert at this, but this time, put some energy behind the spell when you say it. Maybe if you think of something you really want to cut?”

The suggestion fell a little flat, and Laurie had to grimace at the clumsiness of her words. ‘Think of something you really want to cut?’ Sophia was probably going to think she was some sort of angry girl who liked to sulk in the common room, dreaming up revenge plots and practicing dark spells. Or, and her brown eyes lightened briefly, Sophia might simply be encouraged and the advice might work.

Maybe.

“Try it again. Right?”

0 Laurie I do love my linksies. 0 Laurie 0 5

Jera Valson
April 22, 2008 4:43 PM

Jera Valson
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

One beginner, right here! by Jera Valson
School was daunting. First off, there were just so many people! Hundreds of them! Secondly, the building was big enough that a person could get lost for hours at a time, which, although being quite exhilarating, was also mildly worrying. However, school did have its redeeming points. Within only a few hours, Jera had discovered the library (or, more accurately, had been lead through it by her Head of House). She’d spent most of her time there ever since – they had books on everything. Jera had already read a chapter or two on a book about the history of Sonora, and there were plenty other titles that had already caught her eye.

The other advantage of school was, of course, the classes. They were periods of the day set aside specifically for learning – how awesome was that? Jera was still nervous, but she looked forward to each new class, desperate to sample everything. Charms class started out with the signing of a syllabus; Jera presumed that each professor had different teaching methods, and that would make sense – it just wouldn’t be sensible to teach care of magical creatures the same way as potions. Glancing over the rules, Jera decided they were all reasonable, and she passed her sheet back to the front.

As Professor Taylor began speaking again, Jera hastily retrieved a quill and a some parchment, and wrote down all of the important points. She hadn’t ever used her wand before. The druids had made it for her, and her father had carved runes down its length. It was the most precious item Jera had ever owned, and she couldn’t wait to start using it properly.

Once the lesson had started for real, the first target was to find a partner. Jera preferred to work alone, but the professor had been quite exact about working in pairs. So, with her hands clasped tightly in her lap to keep her nerves in check, Jera turned to the student seated at the desk next to her. “Do you have a partner yet?”

0 Jera Valson One beginner, right here! 112 Jera Valson 0 5

Delany
April 23, 2008 6:41 AM

Delany
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Certainly. Fine and Dandy, I must say. by Delany
Delany watched the two peices of fabric float back down to the ground.

“Can ye do that?”

Delany watched the fabrics until tehy hit the ground and smiled.

"Well, since I actually hit the cardboard by missing my target, I highly doubt that I can hit fabric out of the sky." Delany said as she went over to the pile of materials.

She pulled out a handkerchief and balled it up in her fist. She nervously peeked over at Seamus. She smiled, took a deep breath and threw the ball of fabric up into the air. The ball unfolded and Delany pointed her wand up.

Diffindo.

Delany watched as the handkercheif floated to the ground. Unharmed.

"If I didn't hit the fabric, what did I hit?" Delany said as she looked around her.

0 Delany Certainly. Fine and Dandy, I must say. 0 Delany 0 5

Sophia
April 23, 2008 9:39 AM

Sophia
Peripheral
Written by: Emily Lewis

It certainly seems so! by Sophia
Sophia paid close attention to what the older girl was saying, hoping that as an older student with a year's worth of experience on Sophia she would have some insight that might help. She held her wand and mimicked the pose and movements that were being demonstrated, trying to work out how they differed from what she had done the first time around. It was fairly obvious to her that she had both thought and said the spell. So it had to be the wand movements.

It had to be.

Except that the older Crotali seemed very convinced that it was Sophia's intent that was at fault. Sophia resisted the impulse to say that it wasn't, that she'd been thinking on what she was doing very strongly. Instead she put aside whatever feelings she had about the opinion expressed and concentrated upon examining it as dispassionately as she could. Was it possible that she had not put enough mental force behind the spell? She hadn't said the incantation loudly, rather she had gone for a civilised volume and properly enunciated expression. She'd thought that that would prove entirely enough, when combined with an intention for the spell to work as it was supposed to.

Perhaps the other girl was right.

Sophia hadn't actively considered violence against the rubbery whateveritwas. Really, when it came to the heart of the matter, she wasn't particularly inclined towards violence in any situation. It was messy, loud and the antithesis of pretty much all she valued. So. What would she really want to cut? It was inanimate, which made it almost ok, but the mess and the horribleness were still something to consider.

Still, if this was the only way...

And if she didn't try it, then she'd never know...

And it could be controlled.

It was as simple as that. What would she want to cut? Paper. Cardboard. Cheese. A lot of things, so long as they were properly cut, with restraint and proper handling. It wasn't quite like the idea she got from the older girl, but it was the best she could come up with.

It would be better if she could come up with a good reason for wanting to cut the rubbery thing though.

Shaking her head ever so slightly to clear it, Sophia pointed her wand, bent her wrist as required and focusing as clearly as she could on the desired outcome, spoke again.

"Diffindo". It was clear. It was concise. It was said with as much conviction as she could muster and with such careful enunciation of each syllable of the word that really nothing about it could possibly have found fault with a listener.

It had just as much effect as the earlier effort.

Sophia sat there for a moment, not moving a muscle from her spellcasting pose. Then, with an air of disbelief she shifted forward to examine the rubber. Her mind ticked over slowly and she looked up at the other girl and then back down again.

"Is there a spell on the item?" She asked, quite aware that she was probably grasping at straws here but trying to remain calm, in control and above all attempting to consider every possibility.

39 Sophia It certainly seems so! 0 Sophia 0 5

Holly Greer
April 24, 2008 5:30 PM

Holly Greer
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Nathan

Age in Post: 12

I'm quite pleased myself that you sought me out by Holly Greer
Holly nodded in sympathetic understanding as Alexis remarked on the Crotalus drama. Cecily had vaguely mentioned some trouble with her roommates last year, though Holly still wasn't sure which ones were the problem. All the Crotali she had met seemed nice enough, though Renaye wasn't exactly the type of person Holly would spend any time with outside of the Potions classroom (since Renaye was happy to do most of the disgusting parts, Holly actually liked partnering with her there).

She nodded with more enthusiasm when Alexis spoke of her cousins that owned the Wicked! line, and smiled in eager excitement at the offer of a trial belt. "That would be fabulous!" Holly agreed, delighted by the opportunity.

After skimming quickly through the chapter, Holly took another minute to reread the part on the wand motion and gave it a couple of practice runs with an imaginary wand as she made sure she understood what it was talking about. She had just finished the fourth go-through when Alexis spoke up and brought her attention to the thinning crowd around the cabinet.

"Sure," she agreed and stood up. Holly gave her textbook a stern look, as if to warn it not to lose her page while she was gone, then smiled at Alexis to see if she was coming. Once that was determined, Holly set off for the front cabinet to get practice materials.

1 Holly Greer I'm quite pleased myself that you sought me out 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Seamus
April 27, 2008 11:24 AM

Seamus
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

Candy is Dandy by Seamus
Seamus’ eyes looked down at the untouched handkerchief and then up toward the ceiling, fearful of what he might discover. The last thing he wanted to do was to get in trouble for causing damage his first day in classes. There did seem to be a faint line along the ceiling. It was had to tell for sure. There were also light colored patches in the shapes of squares, rectangles and circles as if someone had hung pictures up there. Seamus doubted that. Would in their right mind would hang pictures on the ceiling?

He hunkered down in his seat. Never in a thousand years, nay, ten thousand years, would he have thought that if you pointed your wand at something, it would miss the target. He didn’t want to hurt Delany’s feelings. She was nice enough after all, but was she blind as well as a bit odd? Still, he was taught that a girl was not to be treated the same way you would treat one of your mates, so he could really say what was really on his mind.

“Well, the ceiling didn’t come crashing ‘bout our ears so I guess we’re good.” Seamus smiled, deciding to make the best of it. He picked up a piece of wood. “Perhaps we should work with closer targets.”
\n

0 Seamus Candy is Dandy 111 Seamus 0 5

Krisalyn Koli
April 28, 2008 2:06 AM

Krisalyn Koli
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Written by:

Hi, sorry it took so long! by Krisalyn Koli
Krisalyn walked into her first class at Sonora, Charms. She smiled at just the name and found a seat very near the front of the classroom, because she was almost the first one in the classroom. She blushed at her tendency to be early to classes, and vowed to be late to a class at least once this year. She did NOT want to be labeled a nerd or geek or anything book-worm-ish. 'Again' she thought, sighing. Soon the room started to fill up, though, and Krisalyn looked around for Andrew's already familiar brown hair and freckles. She didn't see it, and when everyone started to settle down for class, she began to get worried.

But luckily, just as the teacher walked up to the front of the classroom, Andrew shuffled in, smiling apologetically at the professor. He glanced around for a moment, then his eyes lit up in recognition a Krisalyn. She smiled, and then perked her ears as she listened to her new teacher tell about the sheet they were supposed to sign. She glanced over and skimmed the page, liking the requirements for behavior. She signed her unique and loopy autograph and passed the sheet back.

Krisalyn grinned when she heard that they were to be learning the severing charm; it sounded interesting, if not a bit scary. She listened intently, taking a few notes for later reference, and was slightly shocked when the cupboard popped open quickly. Eagerly, Krisalyn wrote the homework down, knowing that it would be completed soon.

She jumped when Andrew spoke next to her and she smiled at him, hearing his last few words, "-Like to work together?"

Krisalyn smiled heartily at the question and replied, "Definitely! How about I go get the materials, and you set up?"

She walked through the throng of students to the cupboard and got most of the supplies needed, granted that there weren't many left. She shuffled back to their table and spread the items out on the board. Taking out her wand, and glancing once at Andrew, Krisalyn began to concentrate on the center of the block of wood her wand was focused towards. She readied herself, then said quietly, "Diffindo!" It was the first bit of magic she had ever (purposely) performed, and it was exhilarating. Krisalyn watched as the wood split nearly perfectly in two, smiling widely.

0 Krisalyn Koli Hi, sorry it took so long! 0 Krisalyn Koli 0 5

Delany
April 28, 2008 12:52 PM

Delany
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Written by:

I like candy. by Delany
Delany peeked up at the ceiling one more time. Minnimum damage only. No one will notice. She looked over at Seamus and smiled.

"I guess I'm not as good as others." she said as she went over to the pile and pulled out a piece of wood from the pile. "But if i did hit it i would totally have sliced it to smithereens."

She set the piece of wood down on the table and twirled her wand between her fingers. She finally stopped and opinted her wand a little of the center of the wood to the right.

Diffindo

She watched as intently as possible. She thought she could actually see the mark being formed on the wood, but it was so quick that it was hard to tell if she really did. She pulled back to get a better focus and looked at the wood. From her side you could see a deep gash in the wood, but when you turned it over, there was a thin strip still holding the wood together. She piked up the wood.

"Sooo close." She said before she quickly snapped the wood in half in her hands. "So. Do you want to try?"

She looked around and stopped on his face before turning her gaze to the peice of wood in his hand.

0 Delany I like candy. 0 Delany 0 5

Andrew Tudor
May 02, 2008 2:59 PM

Andrew Tudor
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Yeah, I should apoligise too really = ] by Andrew Tudor
"Definitely! How about I go get the materials, and you set up?" said Krisalyn. Andrew watched her walk over to the cabinet and then he decided to move all the things off their desk, just in case the spell missed the object and ruined something else. When Krisalyn returned, she spread the items out on the board and picked one up. Andrew watched in amazement as her block of wood broke neatly in two.

"Wow" he murmured. He looked at Krisalyn and she had a huge smile on her face, obviously pleased. "Th-that was really good!" Andrew smiled. He was slightly shocked, as he didn't expect anyone to do it as quickly as Krisalyn did. 'She must be really talented' he thought. 'I wonder if I could do it at all, let alone nearly perfectly in half...' He looked over the objects she had brought over with her, looking for a piece of wood that wasn't bizarrely shaped. He picked up one piece of wood, only to put it down again, smiling slightly. "P-perhaps if I g-get a smoother, more normal one it m-might be easier!" he chuckled and smiled properly, trying to think positively. He had never been very good at picking things up quickly, but he had always had a lot of patience and determination, so hoped that if he didn't get it as quickly as Krisalyn he would get it eventually without shaming himself too much.

He looked down and picked up the most normal looking piece of wood he could see. His hands felt sticky with sweat as he was slightly nervous, 'what if I miss and ruin the board? Or catch my hand?' he had remembered that the Professor said it wasn't strong enough to cause that sort of harm, so he calmed down slightly. He held it in his hand and picked up his wand. "D-d-diffindo!" he said, and a small gash appeared in the wood. It just looked like something a blunt penknife would make. He frowned, blaming it on his shaky voice and looked at Krisalyn. "W-well.. that didn't work..." he muttered, slightly ashamed. He smiled, exasperatingly.

0 Andrew Tudor Yeah, I should apoligise too really = ] 0 Andrew Tudor 0 5

Laurie
May 03, 2008 6:07 PM

Laurie
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Written by:

On occasion. by Laurie
Laurie was of an ever growing opinion that her partner was, perhaps, a little tightly strung. Sure, Laurie had managed to pull off the spell with seemingly little effort, but Charms was one of the few classes that she seemed to have some natural talent in. Potions, which was her favorite, proved to be much harder. After Sophia gave it a second try and the results seemed no different, it appeared plain that Laurie really was out of her league when it came to teaching.

"Is there a spell on the item?"

"Er," Laurie offered unhelpfully. "I don't believe so. . ."

Honestly, she didn't see what there was to be so freaked out about. No one was expected to ace it right away, otherwise what would be the point of going to school for magic? If everyone could do a spell just from hearing it, then. . .well, yeah. Same point. There really was no reason to stress over this; she bit back a sigh. And her hand was still throbbing. Maybe the cut was a bit deeper than she thought.

"I don't know your background or anything," she began hesitantly, "but it's not unusual to have to try a bunch of times before it actually works. For me, that was just a. . ." she paused, smiling wanly. "Just a fluke. So just keep trying, you know?"

Laurie really hoped that Sophia did know. Because she was out of advice at this point.

0 Laurie On occasion. 0 Laurie 0 5

Alexis Ashwood
May 03, 2008 7:59 PM

Alexis Ashwood
Alumnus
House: Crotalus
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

Well then we are all pleased by Alexis Ashwood
Alexis wanted to tell Holly everything, but she could almost guarantee that Cecily had weaved her own end of the story, making Alexis out to be the bad person. But Holly must have believed it, otherwise they wouldn't be working together, correct? Maybe they would get into the subject again. She didn't have anyone to talk to besides Chrysi, and she hadn't responded to her last letter yet! Oh how awful the world was to a twelve year old girl!

Holly's delight only brightened her mood. The first thing she would do would be to owl Chrysi, Annabelle if she had to, and get Holly that deal straight away. It wouldn't just be a trial belt either, but a trial anything. Maybe over the summer they could go to the source and get complete makeovers. Chrysi's predictions of the latest style were never wrong.

Alexis didn't want to practice the spell or the movements, she already knew how to do them. She didn't believe that the spell couldn't harm someone, not at all. She'd have to test it later. If it could end up cutting the cover of a textbook, then it could cut Josiah, Miss Prefect, or Talitha. Yes, she could have fun with this, and maybe even come up with some ideas for P.U.R.E.

Noticing that Holly was standing in the middle of her thoughts, she returned the smile. Holly was one of the few mudbloods she would keep safe. She was unsure of Laurie's heritage, but if the girl grew on her, she'd keep her safe too. Heading to the cabinet, she pulled out a hideous Christmas trim with muggle pictures of dancing elves.

"Ew." she wrinkled her nose. "I can't wait to shred this, right?" Giving a small laugh, she grabbed a few more fabrics with awful patterns on them and, jokingly holding them away from herself as if they were filthy, went back to her seat after Holly got hers.

"Would you like to go first, Holly my dear?" she asked with a smile. Alexis was positive she could do this spell, no problem. The only thing she had to worry about was missing.

0 Alexis Ashwood Well then we are all pleased 117 Alexis Ashwood 0 5

Sophia
May 04, 2008 10:00 AM

Sophia
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Meeting a brick wall by Sophia
Nodding slowly Sophia picked up the rubber to examine the shallow twin cuts across the top of it. From what she could see they were practically identical. Obviously an examination with magnification would probably prove the initial examination wrong, but for all effects and purposes she'd managed to recreate the spell in exactly the same way in both attempts.

Which, she admitted to herself, wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She just would have preferred a more effective use of the spell. And improvement.

"My background?" she asked, looking back at the other girl. "You mean my family? Magical. Mama and Papa are both quite qualified at magic. I'm not," she admitted, "quite used to having to repeat things several times before they work. I've found that proper understanding of what one is doing, accompanied by proper execution generally leads to far better results than I've managed here." She paused and then spoke again. "I'm Sophia, by the way, I should have mentioned that before. Sophia Xuereb. And thank you for your help, it has been appreciated. I don't understand why I can't do this properly, it just doesn't make sense."

Putting the rubber back down on the desk, Sophia placed her wand beside it while she undid and retied her dark hair. The action had a calming familiarity to it, as her hands and fingers performed the necessary twists and actions to do the job, leaving her hair almost freakishly neat and orderly.

Picking her wand up again and trying to get into a mindset which would allow her more success. "What's that saying the Muggles have?" she asked. "'Third time is the charm'? Perhaps they know something we don't."

0 Sophia Meeting a brick wall 0 Sophia 0 5

Seamus
May 05, 2008 1:23 AM

Seamus
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

That's because you're sweet by Seamus
"I guess I'm not as good as others. But if I did hit it I would totally have sliced it to smithereens."

Seamus couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’ve no doubt you could have. Once ye’ve perfected your aim, I wouldn’t be surprised at all that you’ll be able to do any spell ye put your mind to.”

He watched her use the charm on the wood warily, resisting the urge to lean back into his chair. Professor Taylor said it would slice through skin, but Seamus could help but feel a bit twitchy about a misaimed attempt finding its way to his chest.

Relieved that the spell landed were it was supposed to, he let out a sigh of relief. Actually, she’d done a really good job. Seamus couldn’t help but feel admiration for his partner. The speed at which she picked it up showed a natural talent for wand work. Delany was doing their House proud.

“Almost? I’d say that was closer than ‘almost’. Good job!” Seamus said, obviously impressed. He thanked her as Delany handed him the second half of the wood she’d rendered and began to concentrate on not making a fool of himself. Paper and handkerchiefs were flimsy, insubstantial things. Wood was different, it was thick, it had substance.

He repeated the wand movement, imagining himself to be an artist carving a dragon. Diffindo! Nothing happened. Flushing a bit, he tried again, this time focusing on a corner with the idea that a smaller slice might be easier.

Diffindo! He commanded. There was a scratch. He tried again and the cut was a bit deeper, but the charm failed to slice through the block like a hot knife through butter like when Delany tried it. After about four or five times, there was a definite cut that reached maybe a third of the way through the wood.

“I know we’re in the middle of the Painted Desert, but did she have to give us petrified wood?” Seamus grinned up at Delany, covering his embarrassment before trying again.

“Diffindo!”

The repeated charms in the same area of the block caused just enough friction for the edges of the wood to ignite. Within seconds, the slice Seamus had been working on charred black and a curly wisp of smoke rose from its depths.

“Damnu air!” Seamus swore and jumped up from his chair and back. His mouth dropped open in shocked surprise.

“The bloody thing’s caught fire!” He looked desperately at Delany. “What do I do now?”

\n

0 Seamus That's because you're sweet 111 Seamus 0 5

Delany
May 05, 2008 7:02 AM

Delany
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Thank You. Your not to bad either. by Delany
“The bloody thing’s caught fire!” He looked desperately at Delany. “What do I do now?”

Delany couldn't help but stare. The piece of wood had asmall sliver of smoke seaping off of it. The more she looked at it the more she felt a small tingle in the pit of her stomach. But this was serious. She coudln't start laughing now. But what were they going to do?

"Uh...We could...Find...Some water." She said as she looked around the room unsuccesfully trying to hide her grin.

"Ok. Maybe we could lick our finger and put it out the way they do in those plays. Well do you go to plays? Well, anyway, they lick their fingers and then they just pinch the flame and it goes away." Delany babbled as she tried to think of ways to stop the fire. "Would that work?"

She looked around hte class room one more time. Nothing. Ok. She would try it.

Delany looked at the piece of wood and took in a deep breath. She licked her fingers and reached over to the wood she piched her fingers on one spot. Ssssh. She heard a sizzling noise before she quickly pulled her fingers away.

"OW! That hurts." She said inspecting her fingers. They were a little red where they had touched the heat but they wern't burnt. "Well. at least it worked."

Delany looked over to the spot where she had piched the wood and, indeed, the smoke and fire had disappeared from the area, leaving a small charred area of wood.

"Well. Now we know it stopped it. Your turn. Because my fingers have to heal." She said as she pointed to the block of wood.

0 Delany Thank You. Your not to bad either. 0 Delany 0 5

Hannah C.-F.
May 05, 2008 4:15 PM

Hannah C.-F.
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At least we've got personality by Hannah C.-F.
OOC: Sorry for the delay! BIC:

Hannah laughed when the kid in front of her totally freaked out. She didn’t giggle, because only girly-girls did that, and she most certainly wasn’t one of those. Though she was pretty sure she recognized the kid from around the Common Room, Hannah was thankful that he mentioned his name, because she couldn’t really recall ever hearing it before. Hannah was usually pretty good with kids’ names, what with all the moving around and new schools she attended. It was only adults that gave her problems.

“Cool, I’m Hannah,” she introduced herself quickly, before letting her curiosity take over, “And why do people call you Ark, anyway?” It sounded like a pretty weird name to her. Zane was also a pretty weird name, and that was her cousin’s real name. But then, Zane was a pretty weird kid, so she supposed it fit.

Getting her wand out of her robe pocket, she placed it on her desk. It wasn’t anything special, Hannah couldn’t even remember what was in its core or what it was made of. Eventually, when it irritated her, she’d write her mother and ask about it. Probably her mother would be annoyed that Hannah had forgotten before her first year was even halfway through, but whatever.

“So, Ark,” that nickname was as weird as ever, Hannah would have to do something to fix it in the near future, “What are we s’posed to be doing, anyway? I kinda sorta wasn’t paying attention. At all.” Hopefully this kid knew what was going on, or else they’d have to find a nerd to bully into helping them. And if that didn’t work, well, then they were just going to have to blow off the assignment altogether, something Hannah wouldn’t have minded.

0 Hannah C.-F. At least we've got personality 0 Hannah C.-F. 0 5

Seamus
May 10, 2008 10:04 PM

Seamus
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

Awe, gee by Seamus
Seamus blushed furiously, his scarlet face clashing horribly with his auburn hair and brownish freckles. He couldn’t believe he made such a complete fool of himself. Missing a scarf tossed in the air was one thing, but to almost set the classroom on fire as a different matter all together. Well that took a total idiot and wasn’t he the perfect fool to do it.

“Thanks,” Seamus mumbled, trying to ignore his burning face and ears. “I think ye’ve saved my behind.”

"Well. Now we know it stopped it. Your turn. Because my fingers have to heal."

“I think I’ve done me share o’ damage for today.” Seamus grinned ruefully. It was a sad epiphany indeed to learn you weren’t a natural at wand magic. Okay, so he wasn’t a total squib, but he wasn’t as good as he’d imagined he’d be. At least practicing spells would be far more fun than doing the essay.

Seeing Delany’s discomfort, he moved to her side and caught her injured hand up in his. Worriedly, he studied the injured fingers. There was a bit of redness along the tips.

“They don’t look like they’re going to blister….” Seamus thought out loud to himself. “Too bad we don’t know enough to conjure a bit ‘o cold water to put them in though.”

He looked up at Delany and began to blush again. Seamus Michael McFarlan! What are ye doin’, Man? She’s not one of your baby cousins that needs lookin’ after.

“Ah.. well… ah… “ Seamus stammered as he let go of the girl’s hand and went back to his chair, scrubbing the back of his head with his hand to cover up his discomfort. Slumping back in his seat, he hid his eyes in his hands as he pretended to read over his notes.

“If ye blow on them real gentle like, it will take the sting out.” He suggested as soon as he felt he could put two words together without stammering.
\n

0 Seamus Awe, gee 111 Seamus 0 5

Delany
May 11, 2008 12:58 PM

Delany
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Shucks. by Delany
Delany watched as Seamus inspected her hand. Seeing Delany’s discomfort, he had moved to her side and caught her injured hand up in his. Worriedly, he studied the injured fingers. There was a bit of redness along the tips.

“They don’t look like they’re going to blister….” Seamus thought out loud to himself. “Too bad we don’t know enough to conjure a bit ‘o cold water to put them in though.”

He looked up at Delany and began to blush again.

He quickly pulled his hand away from hers and walked toawrds his seat.

Delany smiled and looked at her hand.

"If ye blow on them real gentle like, it will take the sting out."

Delany smiled again and slightly blew on her hands. Aww. That was so sweet of him. No one at my old school would have done that.

"Thank You. It really helped." she said.

She could tell that Seamus was embarrased. She walked over to the desks and sat down next to him. She quickly bent over and gave him a side hug.

"Thank you. It was really sweet." she said as she let go of him.

She looked over all the stuff they had tried and sighed.

"So...Wanna do th eessay together or seperate. I don't think it would go to well if we tried other stuff." she said as she lauged.

There was a burnt piece of wood. a torn up cloth, two pieces of slashed paper, one untouched cloth, a sliced piece of cardboard, and an untouched piece of parchment. and a mark in the ceiling. Yeah. She thought it was time to start the essays.

0 Delany Shucks. 0 Delany 0 5

Laurie
May 14, 2008 4:57 AM

Laurie
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And then promptly rebounding. by Laurie
OOC- Really very sorry about the lateness in the reply. Will attempt better promptness ^_^.

IC-

As Sophia explained herself, Laurie found herself in that ever problematic position of balancing formalized speech with someone who looked, from all appearances, to be nearly same age as herself. Talen and Cecily both presented themselves in a similar way: as if contractions, despite their use, ought to have no place sullying the clause with their unnecessary shortcuts. It made conversation difficult, at least on her side, because she felt so much more the part of a subordinate relating to a superior. It would be very much as if Professor Taylor pulled her aside and starting bemoaning her current relationship woes in dialectal slang- not that Laurie felt Professor Taylor seemed particularly inclined to experience relationship woes, needless to say.

It just felt alien, hearing so very clearly the presence of grammatical structures she was supposed to know and yet never really practiced slipping out of the mouths of her supposed equals. She sighed mentally; maybe it was just some weird kind of Pureblood thing, and since most Pureblood families seemed to carry inordinate wealth, perhaps the generalization could be pushed to include the richer population as well.

“Sorry,” she immediately blurted the moment Sophia explained her family’s situation, feeling all parts of the blunderer. “I didn’t mean my question to be rude, in case it came across that away. It’s just that, see, my dad’s a wizard, and I’m used to always seeing him have to practice a spell over and over again before he has any sort of results. I thought if you were a Muggleborn then maybe you didn’t realize it doesn’t always come about right away despite things.”

The official introduction gave her a slight pause. Laurie had picked up on her partner’s name from the girl’s conversation with their professor; it hadn’t even occurred to her that she had never reciprocated formally. To do so now felt strangely awkward. They did already have a frustrated practical lesson and an injury between them, after all.

“Laurel Cider,” she supplied in kind. “But only my dad calls me that; to everyone else, it’s just Laurie.”

She watched, feeling a warm sort of kinship, as the now officially met Sophia first dissembled her hair and then promptly reversed the action. It reminded her of her own somewhat retentive habits: the color coding of her closet, the brushing of her teeth four times a day, and of course how she always had to ensure that both halves of her shoelaces were equal in length before tying them. She nearly forgot about the throbbing in her hand in the distractions of the conversation.

“What’s that saying the Muggles have? Third time is the charm? Perhaps they know something we don’t.”

Laurie couldn’t help the chuckle, and good-naturedly she explained. “It’s just another superstition about the number three really. I’m sure you’ll get the spell down under way. Maybe you should try another material, like this one.”

She plucked one of the thin pieces of wood from the adjoined desk and replaced the rubber strand with it. Rubber was a fairly elastic material after all; maybe it was just better at absorbing the spell’s energy than some of the less elastic materials. “Just a suggestion though: don’t stand quite as near to it as I did earlier with the copper. I don’t want my clumsiness infecting you or anything.”

0 Laurie And then promptly rebounding. 0 Laurie 0 5

Holly Greer
May 15, 2008 3:50 PM

Holly Greer
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Nathan

Age in Post: 12

Sorry for the delay by Holly Greer
Holly looked over the selection of practice items and decided the one most deserving of today's lesson was a toy snake. It wasn't as realistic looking as the ones Danny sometimes left around the house and scared her half to death with, but she decided it would be an adequate substitute for some vicarious revenge. Pity she wasn't allowed to do magic at home and do the same to Danny's fake snakes.

Returning to her seat, Holly looked over at the object Alexis had chosen and wrinkled her nose at its gaudiness. "It's horrid," she agreed, laughing along with her friend's eagerness to destroy the wretched thing. "You'll be doing humanity a service by shredding it to bits."

Despite Alexis's clear desire to end the existence of the awful Christmas trim, she was kind and considerate enough to offer Holly the opportunity to go first. Holly gave her a smile and as much of a curtsy as one could give when one was sitting down, and said, "Why, thank you, Alexis. I do believe this unnatural pink and blue snake with the disturbingly long tongue has reached the end of its days, don't you?"

Holly drew out her wand from its usual pocket with only a little bit of melodramatic flair and pointed it at the snake in question. "Diffindo!" she cast, moving her holly wand as Professor Taylor and the book had demonstrated and concentrating on the point that would be a neck on a person, but on a snake was little different from the rest of the body except that it was closer to the head.

Sadly, the snake was not beheaded completely. Only a partial cut was made into the half inch diameter of the soft, flexible rubbery-plastic material that the snake was made of. Holly made a face of annoyed disappointment that it hadn't worked as well as she would have liked. "I guess fake snakes don't cut very easily. Let's see you you slice up that awful trim before I give it another try."

1 Holly Greer Sorry for the delay 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Finely MacGregor
June 03, 2008 11:15 AM

Finely MacGregor
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make that two beginners by Finely MacGregor
Fynn had basically dragged himself out of bed this morning to go to class. Not that he didn't want to go, he had promised himself that he would put in the effort for class, but for some reason he was just extremely tired. Luckily enough, a warm shower and a good hearty breakfast had perked him up a little and he was ready to go. His hair was still wet as he entered the Charms classroom and took a random seat, not really paying attention as to where it was in the classroom.

Fortunately he didn't have to wait long as the professor started shortly after he'd sat down. Glancing through the syllabus she had handed out, Fynn read the rules and signed his name, rather sloppily on the line as it had been a while since he'd used a quill. That and he had always had abysmal handwriting.

As Professor Taylor continued with her instructions, Fynn perked up even more because the diffindo charm seemed rather intersting to him. How cool would it be to be able to cut thing with just your wand? Awesome, that's how cool. He looked down at his thirteen inch, oak with a core of Augurey tailfeather wand, excited now to use it. He hadn't really thougt about it yet, but he hadn't used it all that much and was eager to do so.

Right so, first order of business was to find a partner. He was about to turn to the person next to him, but she had already beat him to it. Grinning he nodded at her. "Sure, name's Fynn." He'd been working on talking slower so that his Scottish brogue wasn't as thick and hard to understand, but that all went out the window when he got excited, he'd have to pay attention to it. "Whah do yeh think we should stahrt with then?"

0 Finely MacGregor make that two beginners 0 Finely MacGregor 0 5

Krisalyn
June 07, 2008 2:06 AM

Krisalyn
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Well, I think I should apologize more! by Krisalyn
OOC- I am so extremely sorry for the delay, but school is finally out, which means more posts! And I didn't even realize it had been this long! I'm SOOOOO sorry! <:C

Krisalyn smiled and blushed at Andrew's compliment, and replied, "Oh, I'm sure that that was just beginners luck! I most likely won't ever do a spell that well again!" She watched as Andrew looked over all of the objects she had picked up, and and giggled when he looked sourly at strange shaped log. She agreed with his theory about the smoother the object, the easier, too.

Andrew looked really nervous, and his hands were shaking as he prepared to cast the charm. She only hoped that he wouldn't miss, if only for his sake. He shakily repeated the incantation, and the wood slightly broke with a small cut. He looked sad and ashamed as he said, "Well, that didn't work..."

Krisalyn replayed his first try in her head, and recognized his mistake. "Don't worry! Actually, I think the only problem was that you didn't perform the hand movement. Otherwise, that was perfect!" She hoped that her words would cheer her friend up, and smiled at him. "Here, why don't you watch?" She moved her arm and wrist as she had previously, and smiled at Andrew again.

Suddenly. though, she felt ashamed. She knew that she sounded bossy and like a know-it-all and reprimanding, and didn't want her advice to come out like that. So, hoping to make up for it, she complimented, "Actually, you must be really powerful to cut the wood without even moving your arm! Great job!"

0 Krisalyn Well, I think I should apologize more! 0 Krisalyn 0 5

Jera
June 08, 2008 12:34 PM

Jera
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Everyone has to start somewhere by Jera
The boy she'd spoken to agred to be her partner, which at least saved Jera from the anguish of having to approach yet another stranger. He introduced himself as Fynn, and he was yet another boy who spoke with an odd accent; Jera was sure that everyon she'd met so far, with the exception of her roommate, had come from Europe. She'd probably as Fynn about his home when she'd worked up the curage, but for now offring her on name was about as far as she dared to go. "I'm Jera," she replied, omitting her surname because he had done.

"Well, we need to get some materials from the cupboard," she said shyly, not meeting his eyes, "but I don't mind what. Um, I'll go get us a small selection if you like." Without aiting for an answer, Jera hastily stood from her seat and headed for the supplies cupboard. She was awful at talking to new people, and Sonora was, in that respect, a real trial for her. She knew she would be so nervous trying to think of sensible conversation that she wouldn't be able to concentrate properly on the class. Still, Professor Taylor had insisted they worked in pairs.

Having collected an armful of materials, Jera headed back to the desk with her head down, so her straight, dark hair fell forward to hide her face. She placed a lump of wood and one of clear wax, and two different squares of fabric down on the desk before hurriedly retaking her seat. "Um, I just got a few things," she told Fynn, and hoped that he wouldn't think she was too unusual for having just got up and collected their objects without discussion.

0 Jera Everyone has to start somewhere 0 Jera 0 5

Andrew .T
June 09, 2008 4:37 PM

Andrew .T
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Aweh don't worry about it. I know everyone's really busy = ] by Andrew .T
Andrew watched closely as Krisalyn preformed the hand movement that went with the spell and realised what he had done wrong. He had of course flicked his wrist slightly, but that was more because of nerves rather than ability. He really appreciated her help and felt better from her words, however he still felt rather defeated. Despite this Andrew wasn't one for giving up so mesmerised what she did and played it back in his head. 'Failing to do it once is bad enough' he thought 'I can't fail again".

"Actually, you must be really powerful to cut the wood without even moving your arm! Great job!" after Krisalyn spoke Andrew blushed immediately and felt a lump rise in his throat. He had never been complimented in such a way before. 'Powerful?' he thought, 'I've never thought of myself as powerful...' He couldn't help himself and a huge grin broke out on his face.

"W-wow... thank you, b-but I wouldn't say powerful," he laughed nervously, "b-but thank you!" he looked down at the scratched block of wood in his hand. "L-let’s see if I can do it now..." he held his wand as Krisalyn had and mimicked her wrist flick. As he did so, he closed his eyes and said "Diffindo!" The block of wood instantly felt different so he opened his eyes. It had now turned into two rather wonky, splintered looking pieces of wood. "Yes!" he cried, exceedingly pleased with himself. "W-wow," he said, slightly shocked, "thank you, Kr-Krisalyn, f-for your help, that-that really, uh, helped!" He smiled at her. "P-probably better that I didn't stutter either! And n-next time, I won't close my eyes, you know, just in case I miss!"

0 Andrew .T Aweh don't worry about it. I know everyone's really busy = ] 0 Andrew .T 0 5

Sophia
July 02, 2008 12:03 PM

Sophia
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If only by Sophia
OOC: I'm sorry, I did try to work out how to get the wotw into this, but Sophia just isn't that kind of girl. BIC:

"Laurel's a lovely name," Sophia said. "Would it be alright if I called you that rather than Laurie?" Laurie, she rather thought, was more of a boyish type of name, while Laurel was a lovely feminine name. She was only a little distracted as she spoke, focusing on her mental preparations to get this spell right.

This was made easier when Laurel picked out a piece of wood for Sophia to make her next attempt at the spell on. At least in this case there was a practical reason to want to cut the wood. Wood was meant to be cut - for firewood, to make furniture and other necessities of life. It was practically logical to want to cut it neatly with a clever cutting spell.

She sent a brief but heartfelt smile of thanks in Laurel's direction before taking up her by-the-book spell-casting pose for the third time. "I am very rarely clumsy," she commented absently, but still heeded the words and taking a step further back. "Diffindo."

The faint jet of light that marked the path of the spell travelled true, hitting the length of wood quite squarely. And there it stopped. With barely a groove to show where it had hit. Just the faintest of grooves, similar to Sophia's earlier efforts. Sophia stood there, struggling to control her face.

"Perhaps I should write to Papa," she said distantly, her voice only slightly betraying her frame of mind. "I was so certain I would be better than this. And I'm not a squib," she said, pausing and removing the note of desperation before continuing. "I have my acceptance letter, which is ample enough proof. They don't let you into Wizarding schools unless you're magic."

And she was magic. She'd performed magic just then. It was just... absolutely awful. Pitiful even. Horrendous. Plateauing at mediocre. Sophia, more than anything else, felt desperately ashamed.

"Perhaps you should have another turn," she said to Laurel, pulling up a seat and placing her wand carefully on the desk in front of her. Perhaps it was the wand. Perhaps it wasn't properly suited to her. That was supposed to effect magic, wasn't it?

0 Sophia If only 0 Sophia 0 5

Professor Lorraine Taylor

Beginning Charms, Class I [Years I and II] by Professor Lorraine Taylor

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Holly Greer

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Alexis Ashwood

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Delany

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Think like the infomercial- the blender thingy. by Laurie

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Renaye

They turn milk chocolate! by Renaye

Ian Grimm

The best post-midnight snack out there. by Ian Grimm

Seamus

And how are you, this fine morning? by Seamus

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I'm not familiar with the infomercial... sorry by Sophia

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Fine sir, and how do you fare today? by Delany

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Not the ideal student by Hannah Cooper-Forrester

Alexis Ashwood

That makes me feel really good by Alexis Ashwood

Mark Johnson

Ain't that the truth by Mark Johnson

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I can provide a link! by Laurie

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Thank you. by Sophia

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Very well, thank you. Fine weather we're having, what? by Seamus

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I do love my linksies. by Laurie

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One beginner, right here! by Jera Valson

Delany

Certainly. Fine and Dandy, I must say. by Delany

Sophia

It certainly seems so! by Sophia

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I'm quite pleased myself that you sought me out by Holly Greer

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Hi, sorry it took so long! by Krisalyn Koli

Delany

I like candy. by Delany

Andrew Tudor

Yeah, I should apoligise too really = ] by Andrew Tudor

Laurie

On occasion. by Laurie