Beginning Charms, Lesson II [years 1-3] on Charms

Professor Aaron McKindy

March 06, 2010 12:32 PM

Beginning Charms, Lesson II [years 1-3] by Professor Aaron McKindy

The Beginning Charms group was the biggest Aaron McKindy taught—not quite big enough to warrant him actually expanding his room, but the numbers were certainly up there. At the moment, though, they were his only group not preparing for exams, and were therefore something of a relief to teach. The exams themselves were in two weeks’ time, and although he was fully confident in the abilities of all of his students, the students themselves sometimes lacked that confidence. But that was neither here nor there; at the moment, the Charms professor would just relish the chance to actually teach and not direct exam review.

“Good morning, guys,” the Italian said with a wide grin as soon as he thought all of his first-through-third-years were in attendance. There were quite a lot of them and Aaron could never be sure, but it was his best guess at the moment. “Today, we’re going to learn a little bit about breaking and entering,” he had figured that might be the best way to phrase it. Since student reactions ranged from perplexed to interested, Aaron decided it had been a good description of the lesson he was about to teach.

“Breaking laws is a generally bad idea,” the professor continued. “But these spells aren’t exclusive to that sort of activity anyway. I’m going to go over three charms: Alohomora, the unlocking charm; Immobulus, the freezing charm; and Lumos, the lighting charm.” Aaron flicked his wand at the board behind him and the three charms appeared on it.

“There are a variety of different uses for these charms, but both the freezing charm and the unlocking charm work on things with mechanisms. You can also use the freezing charm as sort of minor version of Impedimentia, but I really don’t suggest it.

“I’ve set up obstacle courses in the two adjoining rooms,” really Aaron’s former quarters and a storage room he’d made some changes to, “that will let you use these charms. Because there are so many of you and only two rooms, I’d like you to collaborate on a poster on the uses of one of these charms while you’re waiting for your turn. I’m not going to explain exactly how to do these charms today; you should work in groups of two or three to figure out what to do and when, and then when you’re ready, let me know.” Aaron smiled at the class as they began to find their groups.

Both obstacle courses consisted of a series of alarms that had to be stalled by using the freezing charm. Of course, there were no lights in either room—the obvious need to use Lumos. Some of the alarms had mechanisms attached that reacted to the freezing charm itself by triggering a different alarm. The entire set-up was somewhat akin to what happened the movie that Aaron had watched with Garen’s godson when he had babysat Henry over the Midterm. Except instead of Muggle laser beam things, there were magical tripwires with alarms attached. At the end, there was a series of chests similar to the Russian dolls one saw at novelty shops—one inside the other, and each had to be unlocked with the Alohomora charm. The kids, Aaron thought, would have fun with this.

|OOC| Ten sentences, follow the rules, please and thanks. Once your group is ready to go, feel free to mention that you’ve talked to Aaron and he’s said that the point is to retrieve the articles inside the chests at the end. You can make up what the articles are—they’re sort of prizes, like chocolate bars or something. Have fun, and tag me with questions!

0 Professor Aaron McKindy Beginning Charms, Lesson II [years 1-3] 0 Professor Aaron McKindy 1 5

Jethro Smythe

March 16, 2010 10:57 AM

Unlocking and... I forget by Jethro Smythe

Earlier that day, Jethro had done something he'd never done before. He had actually checked his charms homework. The longer he stayed at Sonora, the more he'd settled into a routine. The more he settled into a routine, the easier it became to remember to do things like wear his uniform robes, brush his teeth in the morning, and put the correct textbooks into his back. Having done his charms homework the day it was assigned - as he always did with his homework (when he remembered), because otherwise he would forget it (and that happened far too often) - Jethro actually had time in the morning to check it before he went to class. He thought he might actually get a passing grade this time, providing he'd written about the right thing. He could never be sure.

As he entered the classroom, Jethro took a seat near the front of the class - this meant he had less in front of him to distract him from the lesson, such as watching his peers make notes, play with their hair, and that sort of thing. Instead, he took out his quill and some fresh parchment. He wrote the date on the top (it was a couple of days out but close enough) and his name, in case it got lost somewhere in the school. Then, as Professor McKindy started speaking, Jethro began making notes:

Breaking and Entering
- Alohomora - unlocking (mechanisms)
- Immobulus - freezing (minor version of Impedimentia)
- Lumos - lighting

He didn't write down that there would be an obstacle course, because that sort of thing didn't usually require writing things down. He did write down that they had to do a poster in groups of two or three. Then he smiled to himself. Jethro liked group work, because he could pass on a lot of the responsibility for remembering their task to other people in his group.

Turning in his seat, Jethro offered a smile to the nearest student. "Hello," he said. "Would you like to work in a group with me?"

0 Jethro Smythe Unlocking and... I forget 146 Jethro Smythe 0 5