Monkey Business {Advanced} on Charms

Professor Light

April 27, 2012 4:28 PM

Monkey Business {Advanced} by Professor Light

On the weekends, homework ungraded and test scores postponed, Caesar filled a canteen with water, picked a direction, and started walking. The lines between wizard and muggle blurred under the hot Arizona sun. Caesar moved with the shade, polished nails digging into crevices within the rocks, grunting as he pulled himself up, earning pale scrapes along his tanned skin. A beautiful view at the top, a lone tree shading the weary traveler, and Caesar shared the small patch of cool air with whomever wandered by. Territory unmarked by either party, wizard or muggle. All that really mattered was the orange glow seeping over rock, the hard surface melting under its heat. Birds spread their wings against the sky. Sweat coating his vision, Caesar shared canteens and lazy murmured stories, blinking at the rush of blurred pink, orange, yellow and red.

Above all things (professor, explorer, brother, son, friend, ex-boyfriend) Caesar was a student of history. He knew of countless battles fought between muggles where wizards were used first as weapons and then scapegoats. Witch trials, drownings, hangings. Witches and muggle women tied to the stake, facing their own families, villagers, their last breath filled with smoke, the last touch felt with fire licking their skin, the last sight was their eyes filled with hatred and confusion, and the last screams they heard uttered were ones of horror and cruel barbaric satisfaction. Caesar was a student of history, and as with all good students, he knew that all history had the potential to repeat itself. To sit in the shade, head leaning back against bark, sharing a water canteen, sharing a cold beer with a clueless muggle buddy appeared harmless enough on the surface. But so it appeared thousands of years ago too.

“Good morning, class.” Hazel eyes remained light but there was a slight stiffness in Caesar’s jaw as he smiled. “Please take out your homework,” The assignment was to annotate an excerpt from Repellent: The Necessary Divide of One World Into Two - Volume I written by A. Lloyd Denver, a historian, who described the ten biggest and most disastrous conflicts occurring between wizards and muggles from ancient times up until the twentieth century. “and extra credit if you have it.” An opinionated essay on their views on why or why not they believe it either necessary or desirable to have muggles kept ignorant of wizard kind. Caesar thought that it might be a controversial subject for some so he refrained from making it a mandatory assignment. “Keep them with you and take your seats.”

For the beginners and advanced classes the room stayed similar to last term; seminar-like seating with two sets of wooden stairs creating levels for each row. Within the semicircle Caesar usually sat at his desk, head tilted up to survey everybody. Around the room posters of favored bands blasted soundlessly to perceived roaring crowds, Italian Chasers glared at Egyptian Beaters, Caesar’s most admired philosopher Dalia Torrez peered from her restrictive 2D setting to see out the nearby window, California Quodpot players grinned with the sun in their eyes. The posters and pictures of Caesar’s family were scattered along the walls, divided by the shelves of charms textbooks and references, favorite plays and novels as well as the usual dishes of candy.

“For the next few weeks we’re going to focus on various charms used specifically to guard ourselves against muggles. I want you to know that I take these lessons very seriously. As sixth and seventh years your time of graduation is fast approaching. Some of you may seek additional advanced education, but I expect most of you will leave the life of a student behind. When you do, you’ll be a fully grown wizard and expected to act responsibly. One of the responsibilities you’ll be expected to uphold is in keeping the secrets of our world.” He ran a hand down his jaw, feeling the light brush of his thin honey-colored beard. “Some of you are muggleborn or halfbloods, some of you are purebloods with perhaps a curiosity for muggles. It is not forbidden to interact with muggles, and of course those of you who have muggle relatives are allowed to talk with those of your immediate family about our world. But you must all be very aware of how limited your interaction must be for the sake of both our safety, and theirs.” He ran his eyes along the rows of students in front of him. “Now I invite a discussion where you may either read the whole or an excerpt of the essay if you wrote it, or just speak out on your opinion of the situation. What do you believe should be the status of both worlds in regards to one another? How important is it that muggles remain ignorant of us? Is it still necessary or is the idea antiquated?” He called on the first person to raise their hand.

As the discussion drew to a close, Caesar drew out his wand and rapped it twice against his extended right wrist. A crack struck the air and a sizeable bamboo cage appeared on Caesar’s desk. Within it a white-headed capuchin monkey peered from between the bamboo bars, lips curving until a low coo greeted the classroom. “Repello Muggletum is one of the charms to ward off muggles. Junior,” His sister Ava Marie had named the pet Caesar. “is a white-headed capuchin,” He pointed his finger through the bars. Junior grasped the finger with his own thin digits and began to tug in eager familiarity. “which are highly intelligent monkeys. Since we can’t haul in muggles to practice warding spells on, we’re going to use Junior as a substitute, as well as some of his friends.” He directed his attention briefly to the monkey. “Suéltame.” Junior let go after only a second’s hesitation. “I’m going to let Junior and his friends roam free throughout the classroom. I’ll hand out pouches full of little monket treats that I want you to scatter around the room. You know, sliced bananas, salty nuts, pretzels, various fruits, you get the idea. Just scatter them around the room wherever you want them to go. The capuchins will be seeking them through smell. This is just to ensure that they’re kept moving. Your jobs are to divert the capuchins from wherever you don’t want them to go.” He paused. “Is that clear? Treats, scatter them, capuchins head toward the objects with the treats, you charm the objects so the capuchins are repelled by it.”

He drew out his wand. “Repello Simia.” His wand motion curved into a deep U-shape and then a quick arch of his wrist and then he flicked his wand down. A jet of red light struck the portrait of Dalia Torrez. She jerked back and glared fiercely at him, the picture frame rippling before it simmered down. Huffing, the philosopher bid him a disdainful look before marching out of the side to visit her much calmer duplicate in Venice. “When the capuchins near the objects you’ve charmed, you will know that the spells work if they make a quick dash away from it. For muggles, when they near a location or object that has been charmed to repel them, often they will believe they remember a pressing engagement or appointment and immediately turn around to leave. It’s a very useful spell in keeping our world secret from theirs.”

He began handing out pouches of treats to students, and then rapped his wand against his wrist three times. Three more cages of capuchins appeared. “Alright, begin!” The cages opened and tentatively the simians crawled out, perked ears and noses scanning the new environment. “And have no fear, they won’t hurt you, they’re very friendly.” Caesar began to walk around the class along with the students, keeping a rotating eye on all the activities about to occur at once.

ooc: Remember to put your house so I know who to give points to. Posting at both the Discussion and Activity thread gets you bonus points. Both threads can be organized like the Quidditch games are, where no one has to wait a specific turn before posting again.

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